WHAKATANE.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 341, 15 December 1875, Page 3

WHAKATANE.

(from our own correspondent.) December 13. Youa editorial remarks on the 4th inst., regarding the Ohiwa Ferry, are rather severe. The ferry was not tdkm from Hemi Kaketu’s people, the resident natives, as they gave it up, as not suiting them io keep up the contract. Mr Bell took the ferry service from the Ist inst., and his canoe is very suitable for the - work, being steady, comfortable, and safe for carrying six persons in smooth water. Mr Bell has also a boat which he holds in readiness for rough weather, or for the use of fastidious travellers. In fact Mr Bell is bound to launch bis boat if demanded, but may charge extra, as the boat requires- an extra man as crew. The charges are sixpence for a man and sixpence for a horse by the canoe;. and by the boat eighteenpence for-a man and one shilling for a horse, double fares by night. This is a new arrangement, and it is well that the public should know of it. The fault of .all these ferries seems to.be that they have

no board painted with the rate of fares plainly stated. Abo ferrymen ought to be told that any person paying a fare is entitled to return the same day without paying more. This rule, I believe, holds good in law m regards all tolls and ferries. A dreadful flood visited us last week. The Whaketane river was in flood on Friday higher than it has been for many The poor Maoris along the river bank bad just finished their planting labours for the season, and were looking forward to spending a merry holiday at Ohristmastide, but woe has befallen them, and swept soil and seeds to the main. It is to be hoped that a beneficent Government will now atep in and supply them with a few tons of potatoe and other seeds, otherwise destitution will be the rule of life at Whaka* lane in the year 187$. Bails, posts, wire, and logs from the settlement at Oporiau came sweeping down, also any amount of drift •wood, which was quite a godsend, supplying some twenty tons of fuel to our bakers and other townspeople. The Whakatane Native School was exa> mined by Mr Brabant, EM., to»day, when 60 children showed up out of a roll of 67. This probably is the largest Native School in the colony.

THI FLOODS AT OPOTIEI, (fsom oub own cobbsspondent.) Opotiei, December 13. One of the heaviest floods on record occurred at this place on Thursday and Friday last. Both the Otara and Waioeka rivers rose with incredible rapidity, and soon the greater portion of the flat was submerged, and boats and carts were sent round to take off the families from the houses which were endangered. Numbers of pigs and sheep were drowned, and quantities of crops destroyed. On Friday the Waioeka broke through the bridge embankment, washing away one end of the largo bridge, and entirely removing the smaller one, which it carried away intact, end left standing further down the stream, pointing up and down instead of across, rendering both, of course, impassable. The flood has now happily subsided, and the Resident Magistrate has at once established a ferry adjacent to the broken bridge. The schooner Atalanta, Captain Stevens, got ashore at Ohiwa yesterday (Sunday) morning, but is not seriously injured. She is expected to be got off this morning. The Aireo Troupe leave here to-morrow for Tauranga overland. They think of having a benefit night for Captain Sellars, as an expression of their high opinion of his merits,

OUR AUCKLAND LETTEB. (FBOM OUB OWN OOBBB9PONDENT.) Auckland, December 11. All this week the talk in town has been of the dock fiasco perpetrated by the Harbour Board. There is not a dissentient voice from the general opinion—that a barefaced impost* tion has bees played off upon the public and the contractors. It is now roundly assorted all through the city that, although Captain Doldy, the chairman, was so hot about the western site being the proper one for the dock, that he has all along had no intention of getting the dock built there at all, but Has been simply contending to get the foreshore reclaimed in this portion of the harbour for the purpose of benefiting hia own property. This reclamation could only be brought about by making it in connection with the dock. The site having been determined on and confirmed by the Harbor Board Actpassod last year no time was lost in getting the necessary vote carried in the Board. It was nothing that the Act specified that these subsidiary works in the great scheme of harbour improvement should be carried out with the surplus funds from the main works. It was nothing that the tenders for half the reclamation came to nearly double as much as was estimated by Mr Moriarty for the whole. The vote was carried through, and the filling in has already been done, and the new land thus obtained enclosed from the sea by a fine solid scoria wall. To finish this nice little job will coat altogether about £21,000, or nearly three times the engineer’s estimate; and now the Board suddenly discovers that the dock cannot bo built with the money they have le&. No wonder | they have just reversed the Aot. Instead of making the reclamation out of the surplus from the dock, they were going upon the plan of attempting to build the clock out of the surplus from the reclamation. Their last performance has been of a piece with the hole and corner nature of the remainder of the business. When they found that all the papers were wiring into them, and the people generally indignant, they saw it was necessary to do something, and yet could not bring themselves to discuss the matter at a regular meeting of the Board, where the Press would have been able to publish the mutual recriminations they were sure to indulge in, so they adopted a very ingenious plan. The chairman called a meeting of the Works Committee to consider the matter, and bring up a report, and at the seme time sent an intimation to the members who did not belong to the committee that they were welcome to attend and take part in the discussion; By this means what was in |reality a special meeting of the whole Board was got together, and as it was nominally a committee meeting reporters were of course excluded. The meeting thus constituted passed four resolutions, which were to the effect that all the plana and specifications prepared by Mr Moriarty at such expense and trouble should be discarded, and that Mr Srrington, C. 8., should be asked- to prepare fresh drawings and estimates for a smaller dock. So far as the result is concerned, I believe it is the best that could have been arrived at, but the Board has come at it in such a bungling fashion that public confidence in its utility as a public body-has been* terribly shaken.

lotting is yet made public as to Sir George,a intentions with regard to the Thames, at the same time it is considered settled that be will stand. His meeting at the Thames wp bungled by an injudicious friend, Mr Cowell, proposing.the rote of thanks, .and mixing with it the request that Sir George would represent the borough. This raised- a diseussion, and prevented the unanimous ex* preseion of confidence which would hare been acceptable to the Superintendent and his political followers. To make- it worse for them the steamer gave,its warning whistle in the middle of the war of voices, which the indiscreet move provoked,) and Sir George-had to hurry off without giving any answer to .the requisition. Following on the dissolution of Parliament addresses have appeared from candidates on all sides, Mr Von der Heyde has retired from- the. contest, for Waitemata in favor

of Ilia partner, the former member, Mr Thomas Henderson, sen., who baa just re** turned from England* Intake it that lb® move is not without its political significance* Mr J. S. Msofarlane, - in* spit® of hit’ two rebuffs last session, baa come out again i and « Mr W. J. Hurst is also in the field,- Mr Ton der Heydo was by no mean* certain to be elected, while it is considered that' tbs- bulkof the constituents will again rally round s their old member. Messrs-Buckland and May addressed the electors of Franklin a few day* ago, and obtained a rote of thankt* but the meeting could not be described as cordial. Mr Buckland dwelt at some length upon*’ the Indemnification Act, and did his best to show* that he had no occasion for its protecting" clauses. There are eight of 'em out for this district already, viz. j Messrs May, Wood* ward, H. H. Busk, Hamlin, Corbett,, Crawford, Troupe, and Goodfellow* They, represent all shades of public opinion, so that* the electors will hare anything but “Hobson’s Choice.” It is said that Messrs Hamlin and Lusk will run on the Mime ticket. Buckland is not likely to stand, but will use all his influ - ence to keep Lusk out. Besides the general election we hare the election of Mayor to amuse us just at present; The nominations closed on the 6th instant, and the polling takes place on the 16th. It is the first municipal election underjthe new Act, by which the ratepayers do the electing instead of the Council. We hare only two candidates, the present Meyor (Mr F. L. Prime) and Mr Benjamin Tonka. Why on earth Mr Prime is nominated again no one knows, unless, as is generally reported, Mr Philips, the Town. Clerk, wants to keep him in to suit his own ends. It is certainly not because hemade such a good Mayor during his first year of office. It is, in fact, no libel to say that he is about as arrant a duffer for such- - a position as can well be conceired. He has - no pronounced opinions of his own j he is as ' bashful as a girl when called upon to speak or do anything in public, and, as a matter of consequence, speaks and acts in a stumbling • undecided way. He Is reputed to be fairlrv honest, but people do not give him as muon credit for this rirtue as they ought, .because, as they say, he has not the brains* to.be. knave. Mr Tonks, on the contrary, is vetnr well adapted tor the office. He is well educated, has a good address, andean “speak a piece” when called upon unexpectedly very fairly. He is the popular candidate, and I think will go in. Mr Hurst among his other aspirations, bad made up bis mind that he was t o be Mayor, and it was announced in the * Cross that he was to be nominated. He had* it all cut and dried that Mr Prime was to retire in his favor, while Mr Tonks was to bofrightened out of his candidature by the circa* lation of a rumor, concocted over some champagne which Hurst ” stood” the Oounoil'ors at his place at Lake Takapuna last week,*, that the Mayor’s salary was to be cut down from £l5O to £lO per annum. The dodjj'edid not work, however,, for Tonks said- it did * not matter to him what tbo- salary was. So, , instead of Tonks, Hurst retired .and now the Council] ora-are very mad at the prospect of an. • outsider invading their charmed circle.. The Pacific Mail Service is in a great fog at' the time I write. No one knows where tbo Colima has got to. According to Sydney arrangements she was to have called at Kandavu on her run down from ’Frisco, sent on her mails and passengers for New Zealand by the Cyphrenes, and then gone on to Sydney ; but the last San Francisco paper®. state distinctly that she was to leave on the 10th, and come straight through to Auckland \ via Honolulu. The Cyphrenes has returned ■ from Kandavu without seeing anything of her, and the agents and everybody else are in total. darkness as to whether she is to be expected? 1 here or not. Looking at present indications, it will be at least six months before the boats will begin to run anything like regularly. I see the San Francisco News Letter is very hot against Hall’s appointment as Sydney agent, and gives it him smoking in. two articles, headed “ Another meal come to the surface again,” and 11 The Pacific Mail Company’s Bead to Buin.” The Auckland Steam Packet Company held its half-yearly meeting last Monday. Asusual, very few shareholders were present, and. the directors had it all their own way. So long as the Company pays its 10 per cento 11 suppose this apathy will continue, but it is a.* bad sign, and is one instance among many of the way Auckland institutions drift along. I believe if this company was properly worked - as it should be it would be paying, not 10*. but 30 per cent. It has a sphere of action nearly in a virgin condition, and from the ■ position of Auckland enjoys mostounequalJed, advantages. A meeting is to be hold next Monday, com* posed of sons of old colonists, who intend to * move for grants of laud on similar terms to - those accorded to the Katikati settlers. No - one can deny that they have as good a right - to such a concession, but it » anotber-thing» whether they will be successful in their application. This reminds me of a little incident which occurred at the City Council meeting last week. The Council., passed la motion granting to the. Improvement Com* nmiioners power to contravene the Building Act, by running up wooden building! on*, their allotments in the Barrack Besom# .pro* - vided they put iron or slate roofs on them. Councillor Isaacs, who like myself does notsympathise with the Commissioners, asked i that a> similar concession might be made to - private land owners in the same neighbour* hood, but the idea was scouted so utterly, that the euggestor withdrew his motion, before it was put to the vote. Circumstances alter oases, always have, and. I, suppose always* will!

Oxygen is Life.—Dbi Bbioht'B Phospho* dyke. —Multitudes of People are hopelessly Buffering from Debility, Nervous and Liver Complaints, Depression of Spirit, Hypo« cbondria, Timidity, Indigestion, Failure of Hearing, Sight and Memory, Lassitude, Want of Power, &c, whbse cases admit of a permanent cure by the new. remedy Phosphodyke (Ozonio Oxygen), which 5 at * once allays all irritation and excitement, imparts new energy and life to the enfeebled constitution, and rapidly cures every stage of - these hitherto incurable and distressing maladies. Sold by all Chemists and Druggists throughout the Globe.—Caution ; The large and increasing demand for Dr Bright's Phosphodyne has led to several imitations under somewhat similar names; purchasers of this medicine thould therefore be careful to observe that each case bears the Government Stamp, with the wordo“Dr Bright’s Phosphodyne" engraved there» on, and that the same words arealio blown in. the bottle*.