THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. "The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1874.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 148, 4 February 1874, Page 2

THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. "The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” KING JOHN, ACT IV. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1874.

Our readers will bo glad to learn that his Honor the Superintendent intends visiting tin's district at an early date. On Monday last we telegraphed to his Honor asking for particulars regarding the new Wangarei steam postal service, at the same time stating that the people of Tauranga —and with good reason, we think—were greatly dissatisfied with the present time table of the Southern Cross. "We have to acknowledge the courtesy of the Superintendent for the following telegram in reply ;

Jit' sfearner service : Explanation will be given on my arrival at Tauranga shortly.— John W im.tamson, Superintendent. From another source we learn Unit bis Honor will very shortly be amongst us, and wo, therefore, for obvious reasons, refrain from making any further comment upon the matter for the present. Prom our Auckland exchanges we perceive that Ids Honor has been warmiv received in every dis trict he has visited, and we of Tauranga must not he behindhand in testifying our respect for Ids office and our esteem for the man. There are many important questions materially affecting the interests of this district which should he brought before bis Honor—notably the Thames overland mail service, &c. Some kind of programme should bo arranged, deputations appointed, &c. ; and, perhaps, the best plan would ho to call a public

mooting, in order to discuss the affairs of tlio district.

[Since the above was written, telegrams—to bo found elsewhere—announce that hia Honor will, if all goes well, arrive hero to-morrow morning. An advertisement also appears in this impression convening a public meeting for this evening.]

The education rate for the year 1874 became due yesterday, the 3rd February, and the Board have levied the uniform rate of 20s on all householders. It is stated that the present cost of schools in the province is at the rate of L 1,250 per month, making a total of L 15,000 per annum for educational purposes. If the Provincial Council had not adjourned after a few days’ sitting last session, probably the taxing clause of the obnoxious Act would have been amended before this tune. Now, however, as the Council does not meet again until May, that idea is altogether out of the question. It is calculated by people, wise in their generation upon such matters, that the summary proceedings taken by the collectors last year to recover the rate will have a good effect upon “ long winded ” ratepayers, and that they will “ cash up ” promptly this year in order to avoid heavy legal expenses. It is useless, utterly useless aud absurd, to “kick against the pricks ” the rate will have to be paid ; —but it is to be hoped that the powers that be will bear in mind that a pound is a large sum of money to people of small means, aud will take steps to divide the dates of payment as much as possible. We, moreover, trust that on the opening of the Council our member will make his voice heard in endeavouring to obtain a repeal of the x’atingclauses of an Act, which has so much to recommend it as a wise and benevolent measure, but with those clauses existing is simply a disgrace to the statute book of our province.

Taubajs'qa is tolerably well supplied, witli Justices of the Peace, and jet when there is a necessity fora full Bench, the greatest difficulty is experienced in getting the required number together. The appointment, it is true, is merely honorary, and without emolument, but it was taken bj persons who, at the time, were desirous of the honor, and who should not evince any disposition to shirk the duties. Often and often have the proceedings of the Court been delayed, sometimes postponed, and suitors detained through the absence of a Bench. Gentlemen holding her Majesty’s commission of the peace ought to recollect that the office lias its responsibilities and duties as w'ell as honors and privileges • and we hope that those of Tauranga will remember that when they accepted the dignity, it was with the understanding that they were prepared to make sacrifices for the public interest.

The qualifications required by the Act for the registration of votes are as follows : —The applicant must be a natural born or naturalised subject of the age of 21 years or upwards, having a freehold estate of the clear value of Lso,situate in the district for which the vote is claimed, and to which he has been entitled for at least six months before the 30th April; or having a leasehold estate in possession of The clear annual value of LlO, held upon a lease which on the 30th April shall not have less than three years to run, or of which he has been in possession for three years or upwards before 30th April; or being a householder, occupying a tenement and residing therein six months previous to the 30th April, if within the limits of the town, of the clear annual value of LlO, and if without the limits of the town, of the clear annual value of L 5. Again we say REGISTER. ’ J

We are informed “ on authority ” that his Excellency the Governor may be expected to arrive in ISapier at. the end of toe present or commencement of next month. His stay in Hawke’s Bay will probably be but abort ; and we learn that it his Excellency's intention to ride overland to Tauranga, “doing” the Lake district en route. As soon as the probable date of his arrival here is made public, wo hope some of our leading settlers will take steps to accord Uie representative of our Sovereign a right loyal reception.

The Grahamstown Evening Star publishes oup remarks upon the establishment of a weekly mail service boiweon Tauranga and the Thames " “ Ifc wdl be remembered,” says the Star, “ that a mail service via Olnnemuri was started some three years since, but abandoned, owing to the obstructiveness of the natives. The opposition of t,.e native- seems to have been got over now, aim l it is to be hoped that the service will be resumed with every prospect of continuance. It would be advantageous m many respects to this district and a great convenience to the East Coast settlements ”

“ Dearh only this mysterious truth unfolds I he mighty soul how small a body holds.” A istiuo of the Liverpool ATcrcuru, one of the best provincial journals published in the united Kingdom, contains a return front the

Kegiblrar-Geuer.il of “ A Teat’s Deaths.” Let ua glance over the dark arithmetic. From it we Irani tnat there passed away to that bourne from winch no traveller returns, in England and Wales souls to the number of 514,879, thus giving a daily average of 1,410 deaths, or as nearly 'Vs posable one every minute. There are many facts of the deepest interest in the last “causes of deatn, from which we select merely two °, r h of,oe 16 OUlbroak ° f Bmal l POX is one ; it B !ew 2 persons in the year reported upon while for one week in London (says the Mercuru) not a single case of small pox is recorded.” This shows how-storm-like and spasmodic the assaults of fuen epidemics are ; and if we guarded against the vano.ad as wa do against the “ cholerad ” there seems no reason why the hideous invader saould over do such damage again Hydrophobia, heart disease and gout--the result of excess in eating—show a rise in their rates, but, deaths bv drinking are on the decline. That 2 471 women should have perished in childbirth cries aloud for the better education of trained nurses. The deaths of infants under one year of age are still monstrously excessive ; 125,548 of these little victims auccumbe i, beingafmrth of the whole death rate. It is nearly a sixth part of all those truvn, and Dr Farr suggests that the practice ot not suckling the babes in the upper classes, and ot giving them “ sleeping cordials ” in the lower has much to do with this sad mortality. One moat curious point in these returns is the uniformity in the ratio of suicides. Bixty-seven to the muhoa is the average. Among tae eccentricities ot tate were the following : —6G persons were Killed by sunstroke, 28 by lightning, 81 were Buffof ar _ 0( * D - v iood * , 4SO children by bed clothes, and *-77 by overlaying. A velocipede brought death ' to an aged woman ; two persons were killed bv the sting of a wasp, two more by the bite of a rat, another by swallowing a fish bone, and a girl was burnt to death by benzine.

“ Oh Death, all eloquent ! you onlv prove Wluit dust wo dote on, when ’tis man we love.”

We remind tli© public that the gift auciion at the Mechanics Institute will be held this evening.

The Sydney Morning Herald announces that the first mail via San Francisco was to have left Liverpool on the 10-:h January, New York on the 23rd January, and San Francisco on the 28th. It is high time that the postal authorities of New Zealand published a time fable of the outward and inward English mails for the present year.

Captain Palmer, of the a.s. Marrav, was presented with a testimonial—in the shape of a sum of inomy to purchase a spy glass—from the saioon and steerage passengers on board that vcsssel during her late trip from Napier to this port. The offering was presented by Mr Eastwood. ten, of Auckland, just before entering Tanranga harbour, in token of Captain Palmer’s courteous conduct and attention to his guests. The compliment was suitably acknowledged by the recipient, who in the course of his remarks expressed a hope that he would not long be a stranger on this coast, as he hoped shortly lo find sufficient inducement offering to run regularly between the various ports from Auckland to Napie".

Our s 'potiki correspondent’s letter of the 17th January reached us, via Auckland , on Monday last. Tim news contained therein ia now too ancient for publication.

The Rev Father Reniu was a passenger by the Murray on Saturday, and preached at the Roman Catholic Chapel on Sunday morning last.

In the Registrar-General's list of officiating ministers for 1874 within the colony of New Zealand —issued annually under the'Marriage Act, 1851 —we notice the name of the Rev Charles Jordan, A, 8., Incumbent of Te Papa. Mr Arthur Remington, of Tauranga, has been registered _to sell poison during 1874 under the Sale of Poisons Act.

We have received from the publisher a copy of a very interesting little pamphlet, “The Auckland Cricketers’ Trip to the South,” being a complete history of the late successful tour of the Auckland representatives to Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, and Nelson. We commend it to the notice of our cricketing friends as containing a lot of valuable information regarding “ the bloodless strife.”

In a Provincial Gazette of the Slat January his Honor the Superintendent invites the chairman and trustees of District Boards to report from time to time to officer in charge of the immigration dep6t at Auckland any demand for labourers arising within their district. The Hawke’s Sat/ Her (fid's Auckland correspondent states that “ Colonel Harington had, previous to his departure fur England, some intention of accepting a military command under his Majesty Cakobau the First, but abandoned the idea after patient investigations, which embraced the resources and climate of Fiji”

A considerable number of natives have come down lately for the purpose of catching eels for the great meeting that is to take place in March, to which all chiefs are invited, and also any Europeans who like to attend. Waikato Times. The death, we (Poverty Say Herald) much regret to learn, in circumstances of a very melancholy character, is reported of Mr Teuach Hecker, whom many of our readers will remember as having been a sheep farmer in Hawke’s But, and subsequently a member of the Armed Constabulary.

The Island of St. Marguerite, the place of Marshal Bazaine’s banishment, and which is to be his prison, forms, with a smaller one named St. Honoral, and a few rocks, the Lerin group. It is two and a half miles in length by threequarters of a mile in breach h, and is two and a half miles from the mainland at Cannes. The two principal islands are defended by a fort and several batteries, and, besides the garrison, the inhabitants consist of a few fishing families only. Babbits and partridges abound on them, and St. Marguerite is well wooded. The castle of St. Marguerite has long been used as a State prison, and is famous in as having been at one time the place where the mysterious Man of the Iron Mask was confined.