Woodbille Examiner (PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY.) TURSDAY, DEC. 8, 1885.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 218, 8 December 1885, Page 2

Woodville Examiner (PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY.) TURSDAY, DEC. 8, 1885.

We have to hold over our leader and several local items to-day. Another batch of Justices of the Peace has been gazetted. Woodville, where another in the town is wanted, is left out. The Road Board office, Pahiatua, is gazetted the place where the Crown and Native land rates for the Pahiatua district are payable. News comes from Wairoa to the effect that in making bread some natives mistook strychnine for soda. From eating this bread one native has died, and four others are seriously ill. We understand that Mr Fennell has resigned the agency of the Equitable Assurance Association, and taken over that of the Northern Assurenco Company from Mr Nicholson. At the entrance to several of the Wellington churches on Sunday, copies of a petition to the City Council, praying that body to prohibit cricket playing on the Basin Reserves on Sundays, were placed for signature. On Saturday afternoon next a tea and concert is to be held at Pahiatua to celebrate the opening of a good Templars Lodge there. The promoters are sparing no trouble to make the affair a great success. We are pleased to see that the initiative has been taken for the formation of a Fire Brigade for Woodville. The object is a most desirable one, and as the town is growing largely a well organised brigade would be a valuable acquisition in the case of fire. A coroner's inquest was held at Takanau on Thursday, on the body of the newlyborn infant of Agnes Moran. The evidence showed that the child had lived, but had apparently been smothered in some way immediately after birth. The mother is committed for trial. The following is a list of those to be tried for criminal offences at the Napier Supreme Court sittings : —Jean Josephs, Waipawa, housebreaking ; Paul Victor, Napier, larcery (two charges) ; Louis Victor de Clison, Ormondville, house, breaking; Charles O. Thompson, Napier, indecent assault ; King! Karawia and Ohi Hinekiwi, Wairoa, perjury. Ex-Professor Blackie, writing to the Pall Mail Gazette, under date of August 2lst, says:— ”As definitions ought to be short, I will give you one which I hope may appear satisfactory in a single sen tence. Liberalism is that tendency in the minds of politicians which inclines them to grant us much freedom and scope to individual self-assertion in the mem hers of a social body as is consistent with the general good of the whole ; while Con servatism, as an antagonistic force, is that tendency in the minds of politicians which leads them to preserve as far as possible intact the rights and privileges, functions and interests of the governing classes as they have been handed down to the present by the institutions, laws, and consuetudes of the past. The watchwords of the one party, accordingly, are liberty and progress ; of the other, authority and stability ; and in the balance of these two antagonistic forces, according to time, place, and circumtances, good govern ment consists,"

Local option polling in all the three wards at Blenheim yesterday resulted against the granting of licenses of all kinds by a majority of four to one. A house at Kaikora occupied by W. Anderson, fellmonger, was destroyed by fire on Wednesday. Owing to suspicious circumstances Anderson was arrested, and has since been committed for trial. The Coptic has arrived from London. The passage was made in 51 days, less 6 days 3 hours detention. She brings 2364 tons of cargo. Before going south she load some 8000 packages of frozen meat.

At an inquest on Wednesday at Napier on the body of Margaret Nester, an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum who had persistently refused for forty days to take food, the verdict was death from voluntary starvation.

The following are the returns of the Waipawa County Hospital for the week ending December 5, 1885, :—Patients in hospital—males 16; female 1; received during the week, males, 2; discharged males, 2.

The building at Makatoku formerly occupied by Mr D. Smith, and used as an hotel till about 18 months since, was destroyed by fire about half-past 9 o’clock on Monday evening. The inmates had to rush out in their night clothes. No clue as to the cause of the fire is obtainable. The building is insured in the Standard office for L500.

The new by-law passed by the Napier Borough Council, designed to put down the Salvation Army nuisance came into force on Wednesday. The army announced its intention of defying the by-law and accordingly marched with more hideous noise and absurd antics than ever. The police will prosecute them at once. As showing the general desire from all parts of the colony to put down the nuisance the Napier Council has received applications from nearly half the municipalties in the colony tor copies of the by-law. The railway authorities are funny people when it comes to a question of freights and rolling stock, but they can be even more funny—to the pitch of exasperation —when dealing with the sites of railway stations. At Mata-iwi, instead of placing the station in a plain near settlement, where several main roads from other large settlements converge, the conveniences for passengers and traffic are stuck on the top of a hill nearly two miles out of everybody’s way. To people not “ railway experts ” this method of arrangement seems worse than absurd. —H. B. Herald.

The Hawke’s Bay Herald has the following :—Those who like to hear of the progress of legitimate local industries—industries not based upon compulsory robbery of the consumer to provide profits for capitalists—will be pleased to learn that the Woodville Cheese and Bacon Factory is proving a most successful undertaking, Under the able management of Mr H. Wagstaff, the factory is turning out tons of the finest cheese. This meets with such a ready sale that it is difficult to supply the demand, and incidentally opens up to farmers an excellent means of making the most of their land and stock. The settlers of Woodville are to be congratulated upon the successful establishment of a flourishing industry that must one day assume very large proportions, and also upon the high class manner in which the details of the industry are superintended.

Mr Ballance has received from Wahanui the taiahai, or sceptre of war of the Ngatimaniapotos, which indicates that henceforth no more bloodshed will take place between the Europeans and the Waikato tribes. The taiahai is said to have been in the hands of the Ngatimaniapotos for upwards of 100 years, and its passing out of the hands of the natives is a matter of the highest importance. The “sceptre,” if it may be so termed, is a long shaft of hard wood, clubbed at foot, and pointed at the other extremity, the point being carved and decorated with dogs' hair and kaka feathers. A very large spot is visible on the disc of the sun just now. Seen through a good telescope it appears of a very rugged irregular shape, and the umbra and penumbra are most distinctly observable. The Timaru Herald says it probably consists of a rent or cavity in the photosphere, at least 50,000 miles long and nearly 30,000 miles broad in its widest part. There are three or four other spots also visible, but none to be compared with the giant to which we have referred. It should be worth while looking out for aurora now, as these usually occur at the time of great solar disturbances.

Mr J. C. Crawford and Mr W. T. L. Travers at the luncheon given at the laying of the foundation stone of the Wellington Woollen Factory at Te Koro Kero on Saturday, related incidents of the landing of the first settlers at that spot 45 years ago and the difficulties they had encountered in those early days. These gentlemen gave something of the serious side of the affair, but Mr McDonald gave an incident which was somewhat amusing. He said a number of enthusiastic Scotchmen got together one Sunday morning and planted the only thistle which had survived the voyage out. They marched in procession with a minister at their head, and they knelt down prayed over and blessed that it might increase and multiply. (Laughter). How many were there who now blessed those enthusiastic Scotchmen who had planted the first thistle in the colony

We take the following from the Wanganui Herald :—By train last night, Mr T. D. Cummins brought in from Ashurst some samples of stone from tho Pohangina reef. These do not differ in appearance from the ordinary grey stone brought by different parties from this place; but while at Ashurst, Mr Cummins saw a specimen which showed gold plainly to the naked eye. Anderson says that the reef has been struck and good stone has been taken out. We understand that Messrs Bassett and Beaven have gone out to peg out a claim from which the stone tested by Mr Bassett came, and so satisfied are the shareholders with their prospects that they have decided as soon as the base is granted to set to work at once and get out a lot of stone. There is a rumour current of a good thing which another company have got on, the samples of which were procured some six years ago from a native woman by a Wanganui business man, but with regard to this we can say nothing at present.

The Feilding Star of Saturday says:— The results of the tests of stone from Pohangina, made under the direction of Messrs Macarthur and P. Bartholomew, have proved so satisfactory that several gentlemen of capital and influence have joined together to form a company with out a properly equipped party of prospec tors. The sum of money subscribed and paid is more than sufficient to defray all possible expenses of the

A sharp shock of earthquake was felt in Woodville just before midnight on Sunday.

A sitting of the R.M. Court will be hold on Thursday. The decking of the bridge over the Tamaki needs the attention of the county overseer. In one place it is particularly dangerous, and looks as if a horse might put his leg through at any moment. Mr Hill, Inspector of Schools, visited the Kumeroa School yesterday, and today he will be engaged in the examination of the Woodville School. To-morrow he will visit the Victoria Block to see the site of the proposed new school. In consequence of Col. Whitmore’s visit to Napier, Major Nelson is unable to come to Woodville this week. The class-firing has, therefore, been postponed, much to the inconvenience, we hear, of many of the members. Complaints are made to us of the damage done by cattle trespassing in the township. There is no doubt that the place is growing so much as to necessitate its being put a stop to, and this will be done when the Road Board by-laws come into force.

Palmerston has now direct communication with London through the medium of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, which has made special arrangements for cheap freights to the metropolis of the world, also to intercolonial markets. Our attention has been called to the inconvenience which contractors are put to in having to travel to Feilding to inspect the plans and specifications of the bridge over the Manawatu. This is no doubt true ; but, on the other hand, it would cost no small sum to have several copies made for distribution over the district. The case Bradbury v. Woodville Road Board comes on at the Supreme Court, Napier, tomorrow. Mr Florance and Mr Cornford appear for plaintiff, and Mr Morison appears for the Board. Mr Hall, who was chairman at the time, and Mr Fennell, clerk, are called as witnesses, and left to-day for Napier.

A meeting of the Directors of the Maunga-atua Valley Cheese Factory Company was held at Mr Hyde’s residence, Victoria Block, on Friday night. There were present : Messrs Hyde (in the chair), Hughes, Dickons, and the secretary (Mr G. R. Hutching). Mr Haggen was elected chairman of directors, and it was decided to have a prospectus and share application forms issued. The Mail says:—“Mr Peter Gow has bought two fine stags' heads to ornament the fine hall at the Tavistock Hotel, Waipukurau,” We may add that Mr Gow is sparing no expense' to make this fine hotel the best in Hawke's Bay. Handsomely built, and as handsomely furnished, it has become quite a favorite resort for visitors and holiday-makers. A cricket match, Danevirke v. Makatoku, will be played at Makatoku on Saturday next, the 12th inst., weather permitting. The Danevirke eleven will he chosen from the following players: - M. Henderson, W. G. Henderson, J. Bargh, W. G. Hallott, T. Hallett, A. Gordon, T. H. Edwards, W. Cowper, F. G. Cowper, H. N. Knight, T. Grange, Brown, J. Allardice, Hall. Anyone of the above unable to play should send notice to the secretary at once.

The Railway Department announce a cheap excursion from Tahoraite and intermediate stations to Napier on the 17th inst. the fares for the double journey being 9s first-class and 6s second-class. For time-table see advertisement. We are pleased to see that the Railway Department has commenced to run cheap excursion trains, and should the excursion on the 17th he at all liberally patronised we may expect others to follow. The time allowed in Napier will be something over five hours and a half.

We clip the following from the Chronicle :— “More about the Pohangina. Some stone forwarded by Mr McDonald was brought into town yesterday by Mr Thomas Nelson of Ashurst and tested at Mr Forbes’ establishment. Mr Snelson expresses himself so well satisfied with the result that he intends to send some similar stone to Dr Skey for analysis. While on the subject we may mention that a Feildiny resident who was in town yesterday stated that Mr Macarthur had discovered, just before he left, a piece of stone thickly impregnated with gold.’’ A meeting of the committee of the Woodville-Tiraumea Special Settlement Association was held at the Examiner Office on Saturday niyht. It was decided to levy a call of 5s 6d per member to pay off the further liabilities, such call to be paid within fourteen days. The Secretary and Chairman were authorised to interview Mr Marchant and arrange with him for Government paying their proportion of the survey fees. The Secretary was instructed to send to the Government the names of the members and the number of the sections drawn by them in the block.

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