The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1877.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 2639, 6 October 1877, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1877.

: The liabilities of W. F. Oakeß, contractor, are put down at £10,664 15s. 3d. ; ossetß, £313.

Captain Morshead has forwarded us a monster brocoli, grown from seed he has obtained from England. It weighs nearly fifteen pounds. Mercury will" not "be visible "to the nakad eye during the present month on account of his close proximity to the sun. It will be in conjunction with the moon to-night. .^ The nspect of the evening sky is remarkably brilliant at tho present time, and will continue so during the month. The sun is in the sign of Libra and will be so until the 22nd when he will enter Scorpio, having then about 11 degrees of south declination. Some thoughtless persons have, we are informed, been placing stones on the railway line in the vicinity of Elliot-street station. A piece of wanton mischief like this, that might cause a serious accident, deserves vigorous punishment. ' An advertisement : elsewhere notifies that all arsons found tres- | passing on the line will render themselves liable to prosecution. The following abstract of the meteorological observations taken in New Plymouth during the month of September has been kindly supplied to us by Mr. W. Norlhcroft : — Barometer — Mean for the month, 30"072 inches; maximum (on the 2Sth), 3047 inches; minimum (on the Ist), 2932 inches. Temperature in the shade — Approximate mean temperature for the month, 51"93, Fahrenheit; maximum temperature (on the 30th), 650 ; minimum (on the 2nd and 3rd, at miduight), 35*0. Rain — Total rainfall, 4-8G ; rain fell on fifteen days ; maximum, rainfall in twenty-four hours (on the sth), l"90 inches. Jf-7/wZ— Average daily velocity for the month, 229*0 miles. Mean •amount of cloud (0 clear sky 10 overcast), 63. It will bo seen by a notice in our advertising columns, that His Worship the Mayor has called a meeting of persons desirous of assisting the sufferers by the Indian FamineTt has always been the aim of thoso subjects o£ Queeu Victoria who dwell under the "strange stars" of New Zealand, to identify themselves in every way with their countrymen in Britain. 9 There have been times when persons have' hinted that the loyalty of the colonist existed but in name, and that love of the Mother Country was not increased by living at a distance from it; but when the real test has come it has been shown, triumphantly shown, that our affection for the old land was strong and uumtatakable, and that though branch and trunk were at a distance from each other, the}' were still part 3of tho one tree. The reality of this good feeling has? been proved by tho fact that when England has put her hand to any good aud useful work the Colonies have uot boon slow to follow her example. For instance, when England shewed her sympathy with Bulgarian suffering, New Zealand quickly followed in her train. She is now seeking to help the famine stricken inhabitants of Southern India; and rihe has asked this Colony to assist her in the work. Wo are told that, eighteen millions of our fellow-men are sufferers by the famine in the provinco of Mysore, and that half a million of persons havo perished through lack of food. Let us remember, too, that these men are our fellow' Bubjocts, under the samo flag, and that there is scarcely a branch of the Christian Church which has uot its converts among these poople. It is for ua to show thorn that«the religion we profess, and which our missionaries havo labored to teach them, is something better than a name. We do not wish to underrate the importance of local claims, but (and let us be thankful for it) none of them are of Buch pressing uccessity as this one ; wo trust, therefore, that .the meeting to be held on Monday next will be well attended, and that the citizens of New Plymouth will not fail to show themselves at least equal to other parts of the Colony in their sympathy with the present movement,