The Western Star. (PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1885.

Western Star, Issue 945, 6 May 1885, Page 2

The Western Star. (PUBLISHED 81-WEEKLY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1885.

At the hour appointed on Monday for ro ceiving nominations for tho office of Mayor in place of Mr Chapman, resigned, it was discovered to the surprise of many that no nominations had been lodged. This is tho first occasion since tho municipality was established that such a lack of public spirit was evinced in filling the important office of

gether bo attributable to want of interest in the matter. It was so generally understood that CrG. Robertson would bo a candidate that apparently the burgesses were so well satinfied with such a nomination that it was not deemed necessary to make a contest. That at anyrato is a feasible explanation, as. there are many well qualified and competent gentlemen !who would' have heed only too glad to have offered their services.

A poll for tho return of a member of the Aparima Road Board for Jacob's River subdivision will take place at Mr Hopcroft's, Gummie's Bush, to-morrow. The candidates aro Capt. Stevens and Mr J. Play fair,

.At a special meeting, of the Riverton Rifles held at the drillshed on 4th inst., it was decided to proceed with the arrangements for the annual ball to be held; on the 25th inst. An enorgetic committee were appointed and also sub-committees to carry out the different departments necessary to complete success. It was resolved to have a handicap rifle match (civil and volunteer) on the morning of the 25th; the match with the G Battery being postponed. A committee was appointed to canvas for prizes. Intimation was received from Major Thomson that the next quarterly inspection would be held on 25th inst. Oapt. Acheson was requested to try and get the parade held in the afternoon. Tt is rumored that a meeting of the Southland volunteers is to take place at Riverton on the 25th (anniversary of the Queen's Birthday). Nothing authentic is yet known.

The Board of Management of the Wallace and Fiord Hospital held their monthly meeting on Saturday, when there were present: Messrs Melnnes (who presided in absence of the Chairman), Tort, Hajcs, Dr Young, and G. .0. Cassels. The Surg-'On-supertnten.tent's report, as follows, was read and adopted : ' Gentlemen,—The last montii has been one of the most active we have had in the hosnital for many months, and also one of the most unfortunate, as of our six patients admitted. three have already died, having been introduced in a moribund condiJon. Indeed it were well that public attention were drawn to advisability of bringing sick persons for treatment before their cases are almost hopeless; it is a too common practice to wait so longAgain, oneof our recent deaths occurred under painful circumstances which may be avoided in future. Not only had this one's disease run a neglected course for many months, but also the patient was introduced here without anyone to give us information as to the history of" the case, she at the time being delirious from exhiustion, from which she never recovered, her journey having been long and somewhat difficult. At present there are six males and one fercale under treatment in the wards and two of them have very poor chances of recovery. The other cases though serious are doing well. As winter is approaching and our roof is in bad order I hape it will soon be put into better condition. It only remains to say that the need for increased accommodation is greater than ever, and that notwithstanding the extra strain recently, the resident staff have performed the work in the usual satisfactory way."— The following donations were acknowledged with thanks :—Mrs A. Grant, sucking pig j Mrs Blacksteck, apples and eggs ; Mrs Ward senr., apples ; Mrs Hunt, jam; Mrs Clark, useful linen ; Mrs H. Wood, onions; Mrs Donald Mcintosh, fowls and milk $ Mrs J. Cilder, milk ; Mrs Gunn, jam and fruit cakes; Mr J. W. Collins, vegetables ; Mr Blackstock, chaff jMr With:rby, cod liver oil; Mr Featherstone, fruit and vegetables. Accounts for the month as follows were passed for payment : J. W. Bridge, £9 Is lid ; Petchell Bros. £7 6s sd; Mrs Clark, £3 10s 3d ; W. Hunter' £4. 19s 9d; C. Campbell, £3 17s 3d. The Secretary wos authorised to procure wire lines and posts for drying clothes; also to get repairs effVe'ed to roof and verandah, and to get the deal house enlarged.

Our Orepuki correspondent writes:—A concert was given in tho schoolhouse, on Friday evening to provide funds for prizes for the school children. The attendance was good, and over £<> was received. The first part of the performance, which was enacted by tho pupils almost .en masse, gave great satisfaction, and was quite a surprise. They gave part singing, recitations, and one or two comic pieces by the very youngest children brought down thn house with applause and hearty laughter. " The Pocket," with combined action, and " Two Little Kittens" were quite novelties to us, and I am suro Mr 11. Young deserves credit, for the excellent drill the children showed; tho orderly manner forty or fifty children presented themselves on the stage and left without the slightest confusion displaying prompt obedienco to the word of command. The second part was well filled by our favorite singers, whose efforts were received with the usual applause. The stago was tastefully decorated with ferns and°llowcrs. A dance, of course, was the finale, but what time the dancers tired aod the musicians rebelled I could not say, for your correspondent was long before at home, in bed, and fast asleep. Major Thompson, commauding the Southland Volunteer D strict, officially announces that the Militia rolls have boon posted at the various police stations throughout the district. Persons liable for enrolment and not so enrolled within 21 days from 2nd May will be guilty of an offence under the Militia Act,

The City of Sydney, with the English mails via San Francisco, arrived at Auckland yesterday morning. A The first match between the Goro and Riverton Football Clubs i : was played on Saturday at Tnvercargill, and resulted in a win for Kiverton by two tries to nil. The game was well contested throughout. In the forward play the Riverton team had decidedly the best of it. It would be difficult to pet a team to work harder than did Birkett, Cuff, Dow, Pankhurst, Lee, Dobbin, and McKillop. For Gore: Lebntt, Sinims, Ambrose, and Wiseman worked very energetically. Stirling was the hero of the day, his runs were loudly applauded by tbe large number of spectators. The game was rather noisy, but friendly and pleasant withal. The Gore footballers are certainly the most agreeable team that Riverton has ever played agai st, and the return match is looked forward to with L

By aFms Association Wellington telegram published elsewhere, there appears a proba* bility of another match between one of our. local scullers and Hearn, the champion af New Zealand. It is there stated that W. Boniface has challenged ;the champion to;ro,*r n threemile race bv Rivereon for £IOO a-side, the champion to concede a. start of one rriimte. Hearn has replied that he' is perfectly willing to meet Boniface, but declines to give a greater concession than half a minute. ,

We leirn that the concert i and ball at Otautauon Friday evening, iu aid,, of., the Athenmum funds, passed off very successfully. The farce by Riverton amateur* was greatly appreciated, and evokod hearty applause. The enjoyment of the ball was greatly marred by the unruly conduct of oho or two persons, whose behaviour on the occasion is likely to form the subject of an inquiry before the R. M.

The new time table in connection with tho Western District railways, which comes into operation to-day, consequent upon the .opening of the Orepuki railway, is a great improvement upon tho former one in every respect except one, but the exceptien is so important that nothing short of a return to the old time table will appease the great dissatisfaction felt at the change. Wo refer to doing away with the through servico from Dunedin, consequent upon tho afternoon train now leaving Invorcargill ■at 4.5 instead of 5 o'clock. All the advantages which tho new time table, confers, arc merely subsidiary to this important point, to gain which four-fifths of the people of the district are prepared to sacrifice the slight advantage gained rather than forego the through service. Already a deputation from the Farmers' Club have interviewed Mr Gaw on tho subject, and on Monday the Town Council passed a resolution in favor of the through service being maintained. .Amongst the advantages of the new time table may be mentioned that the running time between Rivertftri and Invorcargill isreduced by 15 minutes, and passengers ifor Riverton will be allowed two hours' longer stay than at present. There will be it daily train to Orepuki, and on Tuesdays and Saturdays a double train. Reference[ toT6;uE'a'dX vertising columns will show the full time tabic.

At the B. M. Court, InvercargiH, on Monday, Timothy 0!Donnell was charged //"with having, at Wairio, threatened to take the life of one Francis Cassidy.—Mr Wade appeared for the complainant, t»nd Mr Finn for the defendant.—Anne Cassidy, complainant's wife, gave evidence to the effect that O'Donnell came to her house when her husband .'was absent, and, after a few angry words about Caasidy's cattle trespassing, on his lard, threat3ned to have the complainant's life.— Francis Cassidy deposed that he was not present when the threat was made, but he was afraid it might be carried out, the defendant being a big rough, strong man. This was the first row lie had ever iiad with O'Donndl.— Timothy O'Donnell deposed that he had no animosity whatever toward* the compluinant. He believed he had used the words specified in the heat of passion, ps he was much annoyed at thetrospass of complainant's cattle,and damage they ha I done to his stacks.—The Bench after warning tho defendant to refrain, even' when angry, from using words which might be construed into threats, dismissed the case there not being sufficient grounds under the circumstances for binding the defendant over to keep the peace. A horribly brutal inridont is reported in the "Timarn Herald." Two aen had a qmrrel nt Otai> over a division of some payments for cropping, which soon resulted in their comin" to blows. They soon came to the ground, and when rolling about together one of them named Kennedy suddenly bit the other's upper lip and tore a portion of it completely away. The sufferer, after getting his wound drpssed, placed the matter in the hands of the police.

Speaking at New Plymouth the other evening Major Atkinson stated that he lied no hesitation in saying that the present Parliament was one of the best they had ever lud in the Colony. He knew there were people who said that every Parliament was worse than the one that came before, but speaking impartially he knew differently. One of the chief reasons why the Parliamnnt was attaining such a high standard was that, the people of New Zealand themselves were nnvjjn* more ftttwh'oa tg ft? tyfttftr i for

they must bear tlm in mind: as are the people, so are the Parliament. The people were advancing, and Parliament must also advance; arid in asking them to pay more attention to the subject, to look more after their members, and their politics, they must not mistake him as introducing party politics.

A boatman named Blanvillo,'and three navvios named Timothy Doyle, Pat Hickey, and N_, Neilson, lest tho defence works, Auck-* land, on Monday, in an open boat to go to tho head of Evans' Bay for for a cargo of sand, and have not since been heard of. Search parties are out,'but so far they have boen unsuccessful. It is believed tho boat was swsmped oh the return trip The barque Oceania, fr omSouth Australia to Wellington, struok on the rocks shortly after passing Cape Terawhiti at 7.30 yesterday morning. The crew had barely time to get into the boats when the vessel dissaprcaredThey succeeded in rowing close to the shore, when the Hina, from Wanganui, was seen to round the Cape, and brought; them to Wellington. The vessel was of 350 terns register, Was valued at £4OO, and insured for £IOOO.

• On Monday evening the steamers Wellington and Macgrcgor collided between Tiritiri and Kawau, .Auckland. After getting clear the Macgregor, in a sinking state,jwas headed for Kawau, and she just managed to reach the island when she sack. The passengers were conveyed .by boats on board the Wellington, which returned 'to Auckland early yesterday morning, a number of her bow plates having been stove in. The Macgregor's crew remained with tqe vessel. Tho "North.Otago Times", is responsible for the following •—" The fiat has gbne forth that female pupil teachers in Otago". public schools are not to wear their hair in the form of. ■' fringe.' " ' We ■(" Evening -Star") are sure that our Oamaru contemporary has been imposed on by some wag. As illustrative of the extent and Activity of the Auckland timber industry (says the Herald) the following figures respecting the export from Kaipara during the quarter ending on the JUst March last may be regarded as interesting. Of: dressed timber there were exported 1,154,937 ft; of rough sawn, !1,627,628ft; and of baulk, i,125,329ft; giving a total of 3,007,99 ift. Tho value of the material thus sent out amounted to' £17,538. This is, of course, exclusive of the amount exported from Auckland city and other parts of the provincial district.' ■ :i j It would be as well for persons having claims against bankruptcy estates'-to carefully peruse the clauses in the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, relaling to proofs of claims. Clause 107, sub-section 7, of the Act says : " No proof shall be admitted or amended after the expiration of three months from the date of adjudication, except under special circumstances approved by the Couit as sufficient to justify the delay." A good deal of disappointment is often felt by creditors on claiming a dividend when they find they are shut out for neglecting to. prove. The only way of avoiding (his is for c-editors to prove i promptly. The Bankruptcy Court has held that mere neglect is, not a sufficient ground of application to hare a proof afterwards admitted. A number of the firemen of the steamor ' Coptic who refused to go to sea as her, destination was not known, were brought before tho B.M. Court, Wellington, on Monday, and sentenced to ten weeks' imprisonment and ordered to forfeit two days' : pay and defray a portion of tho costs. Should tho captain apply to have the men sent i on board, they will be romovdd from gaol. •' :: '"'".'' On Sunday morning tho wife of W. J. Painton, storekeeper, Wakefield/ Nelson, cut her throat with a razor so severely that her life is despaired of. Recently she returned from an asylum for inebriates at Christchurch., , , ~-,,. ~.,., ~,■;,;

The result of the local option polling in the Orepuki and Kiverton Jforth and South Licensing districts is published. , R.E.V.—Annual ball on 25fch. Church of Bngland7-Services, • Education Board—Tenders painting. J. R. Mills and Co.—Stock sale at Thornbury; water right; freehold property. Wilson, Taine and' Co.—Entries Otautau : stock sale. ••'•-.«'

Boaz.—Xinth grand drawing. R. Birrel—Fruit and forest trees, &c. F. P. O'Reilly intimates that he has money to lend and that he will be absent in Invereargill on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Railway Department publish new time table of Western District trains. **""• . Otautau Licensing District —Local option poll. * Carswell, White and Cb.--Clearing sale of farm implements, stock, &c. ST. M. and A. Co.-:-Entrie3 for Fairfax sale.; ( Corporation—Mayoralty election.