Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 59, 6 February 1884, Page 2

Local and General.

Cancelled Avtosstsibst.—The cancelled appointment of Mr, W. F. Hale as a licensed interpreter, notified in the of the 24th ult,, is, we suppose, owing to certain matters which cropped up during the late ease of Hale v, Reeves, which occupied the attention of oar R.M. some time ago.

Rivkb Acckwmodawo n,—-Owing to the silt, ing up of the river in front of the new wharves, the schooner Columbia is compelled to discharge her cargo on the foreshore. Whabv Extuas.—The vexed question of wharf extras again came before the Harbor Board last night, but was further postponed until next Tuesday, when they are likely to cause a warm discussion, the Public Works Committee being at variance with the Engineer as to several items,

Quick Tbavewno. — Information has reached us that Mr. Cecil Ward rode from Gisborne to Napier in twenty-two hours, without changing his horse.

Mixed Ideas,—The Napier Daily Telegraph is our authority for the following “ The people of Sydney must have very mixed ideas as to the class of people that are attached to a Land Court in New Zealand, as the following extract from a leading Sydney paper will show :— 1 Land speculation has broken out virulently in the Bay of Plenty, N.Z. The prospect of a railway from Tauranga to Opotiki has caused a fresh outbreak of ground fever, and the poor Maoris are pestered to death with land agents, interpreters, missionaries, touters, loafers, lawyers, gamblers, counterfeiters, confidence-men, sneaks, thieves, bogus-cripples, bummers, whisperers, vevers, hoodlums, and all the thousand and one sharks that hang around the Native Lands Court. Interpreters and land agents no longer carry their swags and boil their own billies while travelling the country; they now ride in carriages or on horseback, each attended by a live J.P. ready to swear anything down in the way of circumventing the heathen." A Mental Shock—The Wairarapa Daily says:—" It is reported that occasionally the conveyance of persons of unsound mind in the public carriages on our railways is attended with danger to passengers. We hear that the wife of a settler who had the misfortune to travel in the same carriage as a man who was going down to the Wellington Asylum received a mental shook which has caused extreme anxiety to her friends. It is very desirable that persons of unsound mind should be prohibited from travelling in the public carriages.

Trial of Strippers.'—From the of the 2Nth ult, we learn that “ the annual trial of Htrfppers, under the auspices of the (Jiinferbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held on Saturday last, at the farm of Messrs. Henderson and Mcßeath, at Spreydon. The competing machines were sent by Messrs. I*, and D. Duncan, Booth and Macdonald} and R. Wilkin and Co* The weather was all that could be desired, but owing to the late heavy rains the crop was not in good condition, as there was a strong second-growth of grass, which prevented the machines working as well as they might otherwise have done. The judges were Messrsj W. Dunlopj J. Johns, and S. Brileyi Work was commencedced at 11.20 a.m., and was finished at 2 o’clock p.m., each machine stripping three acres, The awards were given us followsP. and D. Duncan first, Booth and Macdonald second. The judges considered that this machine was almost equal to the first-prize one, had it been as well handled. They also considered that Messrs. R. Wilkin and Co.’s machine was a good, useful machine, but not so convenient for emptying or driving as either of the others,”

Female Swag-carriers.-—The Waitara Press says that “ it is quite correct that the wives of four of Mr. Carkeek’s survey-party acconv panied their husbands, and were of great use in carrying swags, and are as thoroughly entitled to Government pay as any of the party. We did not question the right of these women to payment if they gave their services. But we do not think it should be necessary to employ Native women on surveyparties.”

Death of A Veteran.—The *Y. Z. Times of the Ist inst, reports that an old sergeant of the 14th Regiment, named Frank Hartnatt, about 53 years of age, died in the Hospital last Friday morning, where he had been an inmate for the past two months suffering from consumption. The deceased was well known in this city, having arrived here with his regiment some twenty years agoi and from which, after seeing active service during the Maori war, he obtained his discharge with a pension when the regiment was ordered Home, Subsequently he became a warder in the Wanganui Gaol, and afterwards obtained an appointment as messenger in the Legislative Council, a position he retained up to the last session of Parliament. He leaves a wife in Wanganui and a grownup family, several of the latter being now residents of Wellington.”

Bad Prospects in the Wairarapa.—From the A T . Z. Times we learn that “ the stormy and very wet weather prevalent during the early part of the week throughout the Wairarapa was simply terrible. Large areas of corn crops were nearly beaten to the earth, most surely indicating serious loss to the growers. Hitherto the weather had been most propitious to the late potato crop, but growers now want more warm sunshine to fructify the yield. Orchards this season in the district are making but poor returns, gooseberries excepted. On Tuesday, in Greytown, the wind and rain was more violent than most winter storms, but happily there are no floods to chronicie, the rivers, although full to overflowing, finding an outlet in their natural channels. Not so, however, on this side of the Rimutaka; at the Upper Hutt on Tuesday morning ‘ old settlers’ coining down could see the river bank-high, As the Silverstream was reached, paddocks on either side of the line were inundated, and upon nearing the railway-bridge, all around, the paddocks were under water, and for some distance the old coach road was also flooded—an event never before seen by the oldest settler present in the company.”