Local and General.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume V, Issue 436, 15 November 1876, Page 2

Local and General.

The wish ie, with a select few, father to the statement, which for the last two or three days bas been industriously circulated, to the effect tha*i the Kaimai Committee has col* lapsed. No euch thing — no such deplorable public lobb— has occurred. The Kaimai Committee has met regularly every day, since the proceedings were last published, and next, issue we hope to be in a position to publish a most important communication from the I 'ornmittee to the Government. Loyal to the promise made to the Honorable Frederick Whitaker, the Committee has studiously refrained from taking any active part in the late negotiations between Commissioner Brabant and the Ngaiterangi and Ngatiwhakawa tribes ; hence tho proceedings of the Committee have been of a merely routine character | and therefore, hare beon of no great public interest ani required no publicity in our columns, This silence has been misoonstnied into collapse by as we before said, a select few We oau assure the public, however, that the Members of the Kaimai Committee are wide awake, and at the proper moment, will doubtless again interfere, should interference be needed, whioh, it is hardly necessary to add, we earnestly hope will not be.

On Monday afternoon fourteen intending prospectors, representing some thirty men, waited on Mr Commissioner Brabant, and told him they are prepared to go out to Kaimai, provided he would give them written authority to prospeot. The inajorify of them decline to go out unless accompanied by come of the leading Ngaiterangi men, such as Te Kuka, To Puru, Te Moananur, Harawira, rnoka Himi. or Matimati. Mr Peter Grant, one of the intending prospectors; during the interview, naked the Commissioner for authority to arrest any obstructing natives; tie told the Commissioner that it did not require an any to oover prospecting partie?, the obstructionists only numbering come dozen or bo of tho Pirirakaus. Mr Brabant; deolined giviDg autho> rity to arrest natives found obstructing, and stated that he had no control over the Piri 1 rakuua.

The first wool clip of thn season arrived in town lnafc evening from the V\ illow Barru, Judea, (Messrs Jordan Bros.). The wool haß a first-clans appearance, being very clean ; was clipped off a flock of Laicestesa, and average* Qlbs'the fleece.

The Town Board met. yesterday morning | and went through the Assessment Roll for,; the ensuing year, and determined on inviting-- ; applications for the offloa of Secretary. .. .- i There are many Tbameß and' Coromandel diggers in Tauranga just now, waiting to gi> ' out to Kaimai, when assured that no obetruc tion will be placed ia their way by the I Pirirakaua. Mr Commons has presented to the Tauranga Mechanic's Institute the November No. of Bradshaw's N Z. Guide, and has promised to continue the presjntation for the next, twelve months. . : At the meeting of the Good Templars on Monday evening, a ''ommittee was appointed to draw out an address of welcome to Mr- - Broomhall, .and meet him on his arrival in •' Tauranga. Mr Broomhall waa expected to v arrive at Tauranga yesterday evening. . .-■-, ,<: A New Zealand Gazette of November the 2nd contains a notice, eigned by Sir Donald McLean, suspending the appointment oi Abraham Warbrick, Bag,,, of Tauranga, «» a native interpreter, A New Zealand Gazette contains a pro' clftojatioi by the G-ovarnor, under sections Band 12. <f the Abolition Act, appointing; Keader Gilson Wood, Esq., of Paraell, Auoltland, to exercise the powers and perform the duties hitherto entrusted to the Superintendent and his executive. Some people don't believe in advertising, - because they say •'.' .No-body reads Che-papers." J : But >et them get into a scrape, and we'll find ~ them flying round to the newspaper office*--with the request, " Please don't mentis that - little .-ifair, it is a mistake; I don't #?»$» my name published all over the country. '*^> ■ The pecuniary result of the entertainment held on Wednesday evening ia»t in aid of tho Mechanics' Institute is as follows : — Total receipts, £17 Bs. txpenditure— Hall and ■ piano, £2 10a; stage properties, £1 sa; cleaning hail, ss ; prizes for spelling bee and" advertising, £3 16s ;. musician for danoe (Mr Russell), £1 ; total, £8 16s. handed over to the Mechanics' Institute, £8 12s. The See* retary acknowledges with thanks the receipt of this amount. The installation of the officers of 4he T*a- , rang* Lodge of Good Templars for the present quarter, took place on Monday ' evening. The ceremony was conducted by ■ Brother MeOaw, Lodge Deputy, assisted by Brothers Mas well and Munro. The following- .' officers wre installed : — Bro. Tovey,.W.O. T. •.-••' Bro. Henry, W. V.T. ,• Bro. Whelan, S. ; Bro. •; B Ihompson, F.S. ; Bro. Grey, T. j Bro. Snowden, 0. ; Bro. Harper, M. j Sister Munro, D.\l. ; Hro. Jbalin, 1.G. ;. Bro. Fitzgerald, 0.G. ; Sister Puroell, R.H.S. ; Sister Curtis, L.Ji.S.— (Contributed)* The fate of several members of the Yogel Ministry ought to be a warning to our public mci not to retain office for more than a reason* ■ •ible time — not to be too greedy of power.. Sir Julius VpgeJ, though still a young man, ■ is a confirmed invalid, and it ia doubtful if ha „ will ever ugnin recover robust health. Sir . Donald McLean ought to have retired two ynirs ago, when lie received his Knighthood. •■: He has been suffering come time from ill* h.mlfch, and worst than all, he has loat forever • his fame and prestige as Native Minister.'That he might have retained, and have kept his f»me f>r ever, it' he hil baen wiso enough . to retire from office in time there is no doubt. Or Pollbn has been in iil-hea th for some con* siderabla tim-,nnd probubly this is the last seBK ' sion during which he will take any prominent •■ part in the legislative Oounfiil. He also ought ■ to haveretired some year or tw<» ago. After Divine Service in the Temperance Hall lust Sunday afternoon, held by the Rev D. Bruce, of Auckland, a meeting *vus held of ~ all persons interested in the establishment of • a Presbyterian Church in Tauranga. Th« Rev. D. Bruce presided, and alluded to the prospect of additional mim'Bterial supply, as ■ presenting a favorable opportunity for estab* ' lishing a Presbyterian clergyman in the BayofPleuty: — I. '4t waa agreed, by consent. of parties, that the existing Oommittee -should/ * in coneequence of changes that had occurred, be dissolved, and it was dissolved accordingly." 1 11. " That the Presbyterians of Auckland be requested, with all convenient speed, to estab* lish a clergyman at Tauranga to take the spiritual oversight of 'the people there 1 resid # ing, as also of the residents of the Bay of Plenty generally. 11l "Jt was agreed that . Messrs Gray, Commons, Douglas, Snodgrass, ' Maxwell, Brown, Warbrick, and Home, bo ap« ' pointed a Committee, to take measures for ' obtaining subscriptions towards the stipend 1 fund, the building of a church, and forward 1 ing of the general interests of the congregation a>-d parish." *-£T y " Our Whakatane oorro«pondont "The Beasoji i 3 now approaching w^n' road work may be profitably undertaken.' There an- two unfinished roads leading from Whakatane to Te Tefeo, and up tlie Whakatana Valley respectively, on which monej has already been expended, but not. judiciously 1 . It is to he hoped that the summer of 18.76-7" will see these blote on the escutcheon of the Public Works administration removed. It is worthy of remark that the only serviceable / road here, that from the port to the schoolhouse, was commenoed ' after the personal inspection (during which a sea of mud had to be waded through) of the Honorable the-i°? Native arid Defence Minister, during that:- ; gentleman's visit to the School House in.* December, 1873, Immediately" after that".'": visit, the honorable Knight called on the constable in charge of a handful of men .here' ; " to set; to work at once on the road, com* mencing at the worst part. This was done, \ somewhat to the wrath of the officials inter* vening between the Minister and Private Hutton, that the orders had not circulated in the ordinary red tape routine fashion, and the Voud, whioh is about, three quarters of a mile long, was nine months work, by an average of one man and a half working fdroe, This formed a very good illustration of the value of the maxim • slow and 'sure* ; for the road to Te Teko, whioh was commenced by some hundreds of workmen at both ends at once, is still unserviceable in opening up the country,' because the contrary rulo .wa> v followed, and the worst parts were lifbi&H&^ji last, which last is still in the region of. thdv: future The present moment is eatfcabli^ft^^ road work here, as the.! Mapria^asa.-.^ngp^y;: hard up and supporting nafcure by thff r -iakiiig^s; of fern root. A highly respectable ohi©^-^ who is a government annuitant also, war heard ta exclaim the other day that be felt ; ' ; giddy (through weakness probably)> after a > feed of that eeculenb, and found it necessary ■'" to hold his head under & waterfall to presewa his equilibrium/! . '■."--, :^

Mr Floyd, Telegraph Inspector, has kindly furnished us with tho following-news received 05 him oh Monday morning from officers 'in charge of Telegraph stations: — At 8 o'clock p,m. on Sunday, there was a great, thunder, etorm passed over Tarawera Station, causing considerable damage. Three poles and one wire were broken south, and one pale and all the wires were broken north of the station. The wires were put right at 9 o'olook a.m. on Monday, All the wires at tbe test board were burnt, and new ones bad to be put on. At TaupO, a' portion of one of the lightning guards was fused, and the telegraphist at Porongabau reports, **A large ball of fire entered my office window, end bnrnt like a sine pounder behind my ohair.witb a stinking smell, set papers on fire, and chipped brass connections ; fused wires and blackened the walls like powder, I ' bad tbe lines to earth, luckily."