THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES. SATURDAY AUGUST 29, 1874.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 207, 29 August 1874, Page 2

THE BAY OF PLENTY TIMES.

SATURDAY AUGUST 29, 1874.

The .spirit tp" the tunes shall leach, me speed.” K I jcG JOHN, ACT IV.

Tiff-: following is Inspector Roberts’ recent U' published report of the duties performed by the Armed_ Constabulary Force in the Tauranga district for the year ending 31st -May, IS/ I. Xho report bus been slightly abbreviated by us, and will bo read with interest by settlors in the Bay of Plenty : Mtlitahv Drxncs. avebagr stuengtu or okfickhs and men. One In-.pec-.or, two Hub-inspectors, cue As-sistant-surgeon, 47 non-commissioned officers and men, CARRYING MAILS AND DESPATCHES. Mails and despatches have been conveyed with regular’ll v once a week, by mounted orderlies from head quarters, to and from Opotiki and the intermediate stations. ESCOUTS AND GUARDS. An escort of mounted men was supplied to His Excellency the Governor on his recent visit to the district. Mounted constables have been frequently employed as guides to gentlemen accredited by the Government. Prisoners sent to Auckland under sentence or for trial are conducted by- members of the force. making and improving taught hang S 3. The range at Opotiki has been greatly improved and pint in thorough order. A great amount of labour has been bestowed upon the butts of the Tauranga. range, winch require to be constantly attended to, owing to the action of high tides, &c. ISSUERS AND STOHEK KE.PRU3. Three storekeepers have been employed—-one at Tauranga, one at Opotiki, and one at Te Teko, the la!.ter also acting as issuer to the Native Contingent at that post. EUKCTI S OF ST CKADE3 AND REDOUBTS. A substantial block house, 30 by 20, baa been built, at Opotiki, weather boards, heart of kauri, and lined the space between being filled with gravel, which makes it perfectly bullet proof. Civil Ditties STEPS TAKEN TOR THE PREVENTION OV OR I.MR, At Tauranga one non-commissioned officer, and at Opotiki one constable, have been constantly employed on police duties, and received the assistance of other members of the force, as circumstances required. attending civil, courts. First class Sergeant Mason has been appointed Clerk to the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Opotiki, and Foot Constable Thomson acts as j Clerk in the Civil Commissioner’s Office at Tauj ranga. Within the last twelve months there have been 102 convictions in the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Tauranga, viz., —l, larceny (indictable) : 3, larceny, (summarily dealt with) ; 4, malicious injury to property ; 1, neglected children ; T, contempt of court.; 7, assaults on police ; 3 , common assault; 5, vagrancy ; 0, threatening language ; 14, breach of Municipal Police- Act ; 2, breach of Licensing Act; and 54 cases of drunkenness. Total amount of fines paid, £66 15a. 6d. STATISTICS. The census o f the East Coast Electoral "District, for sub-districts 1,2 and 3, and the agricultural statistics for the same, were collected by members of the force, as well as the Native census for the Maketu district. Public anti Useful Works. nature and extent of boad woke. At Tauranga, the following amount of road work has been performed on the Kati Kati and Tauranga r0ad:—2,238 cubic yards excavation, 923 cubic yards filling, 2,139 cubic yards of earth removed, 234 cubic yards embankment, 12,460 cubic yards of ditching, and 66 chains of road formation. At Opotiki, 53 chains of road, 38 feet wide, principally through heavy swampy land, has been completed ; 410 cubic feet of excavation, and 00 cubic Ret of embankment, 260 cubic yards of filling in approaches to bridges. A dray road, 150 yards by 10 feet, lias been formed through the entrance of the paddock to the block house, and nearly gravelled the whole way. At Whakatano, 12J chains of formation by 28 feet wide, has been made through a swamp, 25 chains of ditching 7 feet wide by 4 feet 6 inches deep and 3 feet wide at the bot tom, oi chains of road faseined, A drain 5 chains long 3 by 2 feet was cut from the road to the beach, ; for the purpose of carrying off the water, i BUILDING BRIDGES AND CTLTHET3.

At Opotiki, two bridge?, one 16 bj 16 feet, one 20 bv 8 ieot, and three bos culverts 23 feet 3 by 2 hare been made. tnrrr.myo hoitsks, stables, &c. At Tauranga, the barrack room, 70 by 20 foot, has been match lined, and racks and shelves fitted up in the room. Three coats of paint have been put on the barracks. Government store, hospital, and the Government house occupied by the Resident Magistrate ; the floor of the verandah of the last building entirely removed and renewed. 1 iie stable has been furnished with a hay loft, hay racks, and manger. A well, with anVseei!ent supply of wafer. 40 feet deep, slabbed 6 feet, from the bottom, fenced, and with drinking troughs around it, has been sunk in the Government paddock, close to the mess room and s( able. At Opotiki, a weather board building, 20 by 10 Ret, has been built for a mess room, and three coats of paint have boon put on it, the magazine, store room, and block house ; a well 18 feet deep.

and slabbed, has been stink close to the b! u-k house. At Wh.akat.ane, a whar.q 1 1 hv 10 fur forage, ivi i an.a her It by 12 feet, which g u .,.q as an orderly room, have been conipgi ed. barra-'k r nun, 2-> by 1 S fe-d , has bi*en re-( h i i'KNCINU PA l» DOCKS AN i) i.AYING DOWS' is: ORASS.

At Tauranga, 10 chains of ditching and banking have been done round the Government paddock, a state made and hung, and the h-nciim of the whole pad dock attended to and kept, in imed order. At Opotiki, to make the paddock secure it was necessary to erect chains of a bank and ditch and ISt chains of fencing, the material for which had to be carted several miles. A. stronogate baa also been put. in the entrance to the pul’! dock. At Wliakulanc, the old fence of the paddock has been kept in repair, and a quarter of an acre of ground broken up and fenced iu for a vegetable garden. 1? or AUK 3. In my remarks, 1 may state that the District Engineer has estimated the value of the road work performed by the Armed Constabulary in this district at £3ld Ids 2d Besides the duties already mentioned in this report and the works performed, 178,000 feet of limber was carted stacked, and issued to the settlers of the late Ist Waikato Regiment, which entailed a groat deal of work and time. The Militia and Volunteers iu the district have been drilled by members of the force. Constables have been frequently told oil' to clean arms, &c., in the Government store, and for other dudes which, cannot very well be enumerated. The fence round the Cemetery has been kept in repair, and the head boards belonging to the graves ot the Imperial soldiers have been repaired and painted. The Natives in the district have been industriously and profitably engaged on road work and agricultural pursuits,. A large quantity of wheat has been grown by them. The district is in a thriving state, roads having been constructed in various directions, opening up the country for settlement, which is already beginning to draw the attention of strangers, and enabling the old residents to occupy their land. The general conduct of the force in the district has been very good. Wo congratulate Constabulary and Settlors on the good feeling that exists between them in the Hay of Plenty district, and hope the present satisfactory state of affairs may long coutinue.

The lion W. Fox carries his aversion to spirituous liquor to the fullest extreme. At the least it would appear so from the following ia his special coin nan of ilia JS'eiv Zealand Times ; f 'Oar drug stores, which should bo the means of preserving health and life,are dealing forth destruction and death. Alcohol is put up into the form, of “ bitters”—bitters they are, leading to a hitter life, a bitter death, and a bitter eternity. A man will take bottle after bottle, until the cork of the last will i!y off, and a fiend will jump from out its mouth and, clutching him by the neck, will say, ‘Ah I I’ve beau chasing you those fifteen years. I’ve got you now.’ ”

In response to an invitation, says the Thames Advertiser, from the Highway Boards of Tauranga given to the Municipal Council of the Thames and the Highway Boards of Kauaeranga, W;;iotahi, and Parawai to assist in endeavouring to get a road between the Thames and 'Tauranga, the latter bodies have brought their influence to bear on the Government. The question of the extension of the road to Tauranga lias already been brought before the House of Assembly, but the manner in which it was dealt with is not considered satisfactory. Probably if the importance of the work is pointed out to the Government the Minister of Works may push it on with less delay than could be expected from his reply to Mr O’Neill (M.H.E.* for the Thames). Mr Goldsmith, of the Survey -Department, will proceed to Opotiki in the coarse of a few days to survey the race course reserve at that place. We learn that the lowest tender received for erecting a cottage for the Tauranga Pilot was that of an Auckland builder. A meeting of the Tauranga Cricket Club will be held this evening at the Court House at halfpast so vo a. By telegram, wo learn that the Luna left the Manukau with the Suez outward mail on Wednesday last. A telegram inform us that the s 3 Albion arrived at the Buff on Wednesday with the Suez mail five days before due date. The City of Melbourne, which leaves Sydney to-day for Auckland, will take an outward Californian English mail. She is expected to leave Auckland on the 4th of September, so there will be another chance, if home letters are forwarded by the Southern Cross next trip.

The Committee of the Parsonage Pent Fund Entertainment have requested us to publish the following result of the entertainment held on Friday evening, the 2lst instant Total receipts, £l4 os ; Expenses, £3 IGs 6d , Balance to credit, £lO Ss. 6d. A great fire occured in Ilunedin on Saturday : £20,000 worth of property was destroyed. A aog show wili be held in Auckland on tho 4tb of September. This information may be of service to owners of some of the thoroughbreds of Tan rung a. -The following lenders were received by tho Immigration Officer, Tauranga, on Thursduv, for the erection of ten four-room col tages at tauranga —Mr Moss man, £ls 10s ; Mr Koller, £l3, Messrs Bennett ami Kave, £l’ (aecepte.n per cr.lt age.

'UV are it)debted t.) Mr Corheit for a HR uf late I-iji papers. they contain, however, nothing of interest to 01 if rea Jot s. JJie next meeting of the Town Board will be luati a' {;ie u:nee (Air ISorris’s store' on Thursday morning next, at eleven o’eloc-k. 'Hie Country 13uurd meet at the same place on Tuesday after no oil. We direct af tent ion ?o at) advertisement to be found in another part of this paper relative to the thorough-bred racehorse Civ men ns. This horse is probably the bust bred in the coionv, and carries in his veins the blood of some of the finest racing stock in the world, tin) names of the renowned Eclipse and the mare Gnlnare appearing on his pedigree list. 14 Eclipse, ” #avs “ Vouatt on i i urses, was one of the best "horses ever Known in the racing world, lie was never beaten, ho never paid forfeit, and in his short racing career of seventeen months ho won fur his owner upwards oi TTS,UOO, Eclipse was afterwards used for stud purposes, and was the sire of the extraordinary number of UJT winners, who netted fur their owners upwards of d£ 1(10,000, exclusive of plates and cups.’ The graud-domOulnaro is one of if not the best mare in the New South Wales Stud ißook. V\ v congratulate owners of brood marcs arid sportsmen generally ou the introduction of C/jmenus into this district. The owner, Air Adams, may bo expected from Napier daily.

A description of the road alteration, Tauranga, to Katikafi, Auckland province, is gazettted ; also the definition of the roads portion of. the Tauranga and To Papa Road (Judea to lot 155), portion of the Tauranga and Xatikati Road (lot 119, to Waiawa River), and tae Opotiki Tabic x.and Road.

fi It has been suggested,” says Use Saul/ieni Cross, referring to the new Superintendent of the Auckland Fire Brigade, “ that os Mr Asher still hokig the oliiee of Fire Inspector, and has had a varied experience extending over a number of years in the suppression of fires, that be should be confirmed in tins oiiice by the City Council, and that the salary should bo increased to make the position worth holding.” la the interests of the public, arid as a matter almost of right to Inspector Asher, we hope the suggestion made by our contemporary will be carried out.

The Poverty Bay Petroleum Company have issued their report for the past year. The'balance shows that 1,143 shares had been taken up, but 07 had afterwards been forfeited, thus leaving 1,076 as the shares sold; 30s per share had boon paid, less £33 10s unpaid calls, leaving, £1,530 us the sum received from the sale of the shares. Deposits on shares forfeited, fines, &c., together with the overdraft at the Bank of New Zealand of £530 13s Gd, made the total sum under the head of receipts £3,165 Ss OJ. The schedule of expenditure included amongst other items £267 19s for preliminary expenses, £1,145 18s 7d for machinery, plant, and buildings, £l3O 17s for the purcaase ot freehold. The directors daily expected the barque Splendid with the manager of the works, Mr Farsons. A dray road has been farmed, and several new springs have been discovered, thus considerably enhancing the value of the property. °

A respected subscriber is of opinion that great credit is due to Messrs Mitchell and Davis—especially to Mr C. O. Davis—for the ability and energy with which they have acted in' this district in their capacity as Native Land Purchase Commissioners. Wo cordially endorse that opinion. The Ministry may at least lay the flattering unction to their souls that they have in Messrs Mitchell, Davis, and Young moat zealous officers and gentlemen, who thoroughly understand their work.

The ladies of the Bazaar Committee beg to acknowledge the following contributions with thanks :—Per Mrs Thomas Wrigley : 2 handsome wool antimacassars, bead fly catcher, parcel of babies’ boots, fancy wool balls, box of dressed dolls, Mrs Henry Gilfiliau and Misses Gilfiilan, Auckland ; 0 packets New Zealand ferns, C. O. Davis, Esq. ; 2 parcels crochet work, pin cushions, antimacassars, and edgings, Mrs Eudmao and the native school children, Makctu. Per Mrs Tanks : 1 box kauri gum ornaments, Mr Xing, Tauranga. Messrs Harvey and Kirk have kindly promised a Imm for the refreshment stall, and iMr Spiering intends presenting some choice plants in pots and also bouquets.