THE Poverty Bay Independent. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Tuesday, December 15, 1885.

Poverty Bay Independent, Volume I, Issue 86, 15 December 1885, Page 2

THE Poverty Bay Independent. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Tuesday, December 15, 1885.

Parliament has been prorogued until the 15th of March. The AUineda arrived in Auckland yesterday afternoon with the English Frisco mail on board. The Waireka, three masted schooner arrived from Newcastle on Sunday afternoon with general cargo. The sehooner, Waiapu arrived from Auckland on Sunday morning. She left again to land a load of timber for Mr James at Pakarae. A meeting of the Building Society took place last night, when Mr Finneran was appointed director in lieu of Mr Bushnell.

The Borough Council meets to-night and the annual meeting of the Council for the installation of Mayor will take place on Wednesday at noon. Mr Jobson, late of the firm of Monteinth and Co. Napier, has just purchased an interest in a sheep run in the Bay and leaves there to take up his residence here shortly.

His Honor Chief Justice Prendergast sits in Chambers this morning at 9.30. The followir.gjiurymen were challenged on behalf of W. H Holland—P. Malone, W. T. Taylor, and A. J. Thomas. Mr Walsh, who arrived in town, last night’ reports a very heavy sea on the coast, and that the Waiapu, schooner which left Tnloga Bay early yesterday morning was compelled to put back again through stress of weather. We understand there is a cutter now for sale suitable for fishing and now should be the time for pushing for the company which was mooted by Mr Ledger some time ago. Anyone interested in the subject can obtain all information at Mr Piesse’s office.

The Native Lands Court opened again yesterday morning when it was found that Mr Harris and Riperata’s party had been unable to come to any arrangements. The court then decided to ride over the block in order to see what the land was like, and providing no decision is come to by the contending parties, to proceed to take evidence with the object of effecting a division by the court.

The Tarawera arrived from Auckland on Friday with the following passengers:—Mrs Langford, and Misses Jessop and Bacon ; Father Mahony and Mr Coadley. She left for South the same evening taking Mesdames Thompson, Reardon, McDougal and family (2) ; Misses Mackintosh and Dawson ; Messrs Beck. McDougal, Sinclair, Hunter, Reardon, and the St. Leons Circus Company,

The Waihora arrived from the South on Sunday morning, bringing Mesdames Beswiok and family, and Lascilles; Misses Hansen, and Mason, Messrs Barton, Beswick, Lascelles (2), Gibbs, Bullen, Wilson, King, Joe, Holden, Bamford and son, Stewart, Reardon, Finn, Pitt, Cooper, Carrick, King, Martin, Judge Prendergast, Scifroy and 3 natives. She left for the North at 8 a.m. with Mesdames Oman, and King; Misses Lysnar, Sykes, Haache, and Broderick (2); Messrs Duscumbe, Spence and King,

“ Speakin’ o’ snakes,” said a Texas frontier man, “ reminds me ov a little adventure me and a chum had with rattlesnakes that made ms respect the rattlesnake ever since.” “ What kind of adventure did you have that makes you respect the rattlesnake ?” asked a St. Louis man. “ Well, one evening, just before dark, out among the Rio Grande canons, there come the all-firedest rain you ever seed. Before we could get out the water had risen so the only way of escape was to cross a canon about 80 feet wide and 500 feet deep. When we got to this canon we found about 1,000,000 rattlesnakes there. They recognised me as their friend, it seemed. I tried to keep my chum from shooting into a mound of em, for they crawled around me, and looked into my face, as much as to say, “You can help me over if you will.” I noticed that the snakes paid no attention to my chum, except a big rattler my chum wounded would look at him, and then go around to his followers and seem to tell them something. Well, I tied a knot in the tail of a big rattler, and then got another and looped his neck into this, and so on until I had made a snake rope about 60 feet long. Then I coiled it in my hand as I would a lariat, and throwed it across, and the head snake tied himself to a tree, and the last one on my side did the same. I had my lot of snakes to go over first, and then I went over on this snake-rope bridge. The last snake let go of the tree, and he crawled up, and the o-hers followed until all were across. My chum had done as I did, but he let the big wounded rattler have himself make the test snake, and tie himself around the tree, so when all his snakes were over, and my chum was going over as I had done, that big wounded rattler seemed to grin—showed all his teeth—and let go. Of course the whole shebang went down with a ‘ swish,’ and my chum was thrown off and smashed into jeiiy, and ” but the crowd had scattered and left the big Texan to himself.