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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3066, 25 April 1881, Page 2

A big bush fire at Tahoraite, burning for the last fortnight, has destroyed at least £5000 worth of totara trees belonging to the Maoris.

The share of the Milton Pottery Works Company closed on Saturday, and we are glad to learn from the local agent, Mr F. Pell, that nearly four hundred shares have been applied tor by residents in this town.

Considering the number of lonely and badly lighted roads in this town, a mounted police patrol would not altogether be unadvisable. For instance, a lady last night, when coming down the Milton road, was insulted by a man, who only left her on arrival at the lamp-post at the junction of the Cameron road.

Although the distruction of hawks has been very great during the last twelve months there are still a few left in the country districts where the crusade has been chiefly carried on. Mr F. Sutton saw a hawk pounce upon and kill a hen pheasant yesterday, and in the same paddock he observed evidences of a struggle between a cock-pheasant and a hawk, the feathers of both birds lying on the ground leaving unmistakable marks of the battle.

W. W. Charters, mentioned in our telegrams of Saturday as having left Lyttelton in the ship Orari for London, and for whose arrest a warrant has been issued, was formerly Mayor of Sydenham. He belonged to a firm of drapers, and was manager of the Sydenham Building Society, the accounts of which show defalcations to the amount of ,£2OOO. At the last elections he was a prominent supporter of Sir George Grey, and was secretary to the Liberal Association.

Mr H. C. Coulthard, whose death is announced in this issue, was lately in the employment of the General Government in the Public Works Department, and has been superintending the ereotion ot the machinery in the Napier railway workshops. During his stay in Napier, by his courteous and obliging manner, Mr Coulthard made many personal friends, and his unexpected death will be sincerely regretted, while from his long experience his loss will be severely felt by the department in which he was engaged. Mr Coulthard leaves a widow, but no family.

'" ■ •' ■■»»■■■—W—l A hitch has occurred in the matter of the removal of tho :nn«-szine from the side of the* Hospital. It ■ ppears that Mr J. A. Sm ith,.on the- strength of conversations with the Under-Secretary and the Premier, believed that he had received the necessary authority to have the magazine removed, a nd j£ that end took Major Routledge and Mr W. Miller co the Hospital hill for tho purpose of selecting a new site. On Satur- -J a.-:/, however, Major Routledge received a telegram from Colonelßeader which stated that no authority had been issued for the removal of the magazine. Thus things remain as before. The diorama and the ventriloquial entertainment at the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening l went off satisfactorily, but in the distribution of gifts there was trouble resulting from one of the ticketholders mistaking his number, whioh was 13, for 73. It was decided by Lieut. Herman that there should be a seoond drawing, which gave dissatisfaction to a number in the audience. Mistakes will occur in the best regulated entertainments, and whatever had been the course followed in this caee some would have been dissatisfied. To-night the entertainment wil be repeated, and the gifts will include another handsome suite of furniture. A good deal of Corporation money seemg to be frittered away upon street formation and repairs, to the neglect of more important works of the same kind. We may mention the formation of Herschel-street as a case in point. This is a thoroughfare that commences at a disused quarry at the foot of Mr P. Dinwiddle's residence, passes the side of the Athenasum, and so on to its junction with Emerson-street at the beach. It is a roadway that is scarcely ever ÜBed by vehicles, yet it has been nicely formed, footpathed,&c. Agam,|fchere iVßaffles-streefc, which is never used at all; and now we see that the Shakespeare road is being broken up for repairs that could have been held over. In the meanwhile the White road is left in a disgraceful condition. In his speech at the supper given by the officers to the Fire Police Company the other nisrht, His Worship the Mayor complimented the Corporation upon the amount of improvement that has been effected. We do not deny that much has been done, at the same time we think that under proper management very much more might have been done, and at a less ooßt. _ A special meeting of the Borough Council was held to-day at noon. Present: His Worship the Mayor (in the chair), Councillors Swan, McKay, Leonerd, Cotton, and Monteith. His Worship said the meetingwas called principally for the purpose striking a rate. It would have given satisfaction if it had been possible to do with a rate of 9d in the £ ; it could easily be seen that it would not be possible to do with less that als rate. Last year, instead of getting the subsidies in full, they got ?s 6d in the £, and this left them in snob, a condition that it was utterly impossible to do with less than a Is. He moved " That a rate of Is in the £ be levied on all rateable property in the borough, to be made from the 24th of April, 18*1, to the 24th of April, 1882, and to be payable in two instalments, on the Ist of July, 1881, and the Ist of January, 1882." Or. Swan seconded "" the motion, whioh was carried. His Worship the Mayor and Crs. McKay and Mcnteith were appointed to sigh the ratebook for the year. The book was then signed. His Worship the Mayor and Crs, Swan and McKay were appointed to sign the burgess roll. The roll was signed, and the Council adjourned. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this moraine:, before Mr B. Lyndon, J.P., and Mr S. Y. Collins, J.P., Phillip Barry was charged with drunkenness. The prisoner having been in custody for 48 hours the bench discharged him.—James Chase was charged with the same offence, and fined 5s and costs, or 48 hours imprisonment with hard labor.— Albert Williams was charged with stealing a pooket-book containing one ten-pound note, one five-pound, and eight pounds in gold. Sergeant O'Malley said the offence had been committed in Wellington, and on the police receiving a telegram the prisoner was arrested on the arrival of the steamer at Napier. He asked that the prisoner be remanded until to-morrow. Granted.— Koberfc Gallgher, alias Andrew Gallagher, was charged that, on the 9th of December, 1876, he married at Napier one Eliza White, his former wife being still alive. The police asked that the prisoner he remanded for eight days to enable witnesses to arrive from Auckland. The benoh granted the remand, and were prepared to accept bail of two sureties in £100 eaoh, and the prisoner himself in £100.—The following civil cases were disposed of:— McDonald v. Bridge, claim for board and lodging; judgement for plaintiff with costs. Hoarnui Kuiti v. R. Vaughan, claim for £10 for wheat sold and delivered; Mr Lee appeared tor the plaintiff, and Mr Lascelles for defendant; the defence was that the ~~ price arranged was 4s per bushel, and ** defendant had a set-off, and had paid, the balance into Court; after hearing the evidence, and counsel for both plaintiff and defendant, the bench gave judgment for plaintiff for amount claimed, allowing the v amount of set-off. The taking of evidence in the case Sainsbury v. Abbott was postponed for 14 days. The Court then adjourned. The Evening Post, on the subject of the Wellington Lunatic Asylum, says:—Bad as the system undoubtedly is, its administration by Dr Skae is still worse. The matter cannot possibly end here. Public feeling 1 will not tolerate the continuance of so grie- T vous an abuse, or the retention in office of those who are responsible for it. Painful as it is to say it, the truth must be told, the public confidence in Dr Skae has been not merely shaken, but totally destroyed. He is regarded—and we cannot say without justice—as morally no less culpable than the subordinate who is undergoing prosecution. Never again will any relianoe be placed on his watchfulness over the safety, comfort, and well-beinj? of those unfortunate and grievously afflicted fellow creatures whom the law compels their relatives and friends to place under restraint. Their committal to a publio lunatic asylum has been proved tantamount in many cases to their condemnation to punishments of revolting cruelty, inflicted on them merely on account of the dreadful affliction which should have been their safeguard and passport to universal protection, kindness, and sympathy. And the Inspector, who holds in his hands the moral power to remedy this shameful wrong, calmly " passes by on the other side." If the Government do not _>. take immediate and extreme steps to prevent any possible recurrence of a state of things so disgraceful to us, as a Christian and civilised community, they will deserve /k to be hurled from office by the blast of popular execration. The Inangahua Herald reports an accident to Professor Haselmayer. He was being driven in a two-wheeled vehicle, when on reaching Try Again Terrace one of the > horses fell, dragging the trap and its occupants over a siding 22 feet in depth. Pro* -*» feasor Haselmaye and Madame were thrown out head foremost, as also the driver, but some large boulders kept the vehicle from rolling down the embankment. The force with which the Professor landed on his head shot that member through the crown of his hat. The latter no doubt saved his neck from dislocation. The others were severely shaken, but after resting for an hour were enabled to resume their journey. An exchange says:—"lt is the commonest thing to find Australians, in every class of life, settled in New Zealand. It is an exceedingly uncommon thing to find a New Zealander settled in Australia. There never has been any ' exodus' wortn . speaking of yet, and we do not think there ' is going to be any now." A smoker's pledge card is being circulated in Auckland. It pledges to abstinence from tobacco, the evil influence of whioh on health, it says, is attested by the " sallow and pinched features'* of youths who smoke.

A Bill was reoentlyin troduced into the Senate of Indiana, United States, which is designed to prevent the marriage of persons where either is a habitual drunkard or criminal, or is weak-minded, or has the taint of hereditary insanity.

During one of those wretched recent January nights in one of the performances at the Folly Theatre, Mr Toole, the wellknown actor and lessee of the house, ordered several paijs of hot whisky punch to be made, taken up to the gallery, and tumblers of the drink to be given to each person in that, the cheapest part of building, so as to counteract the bitter cold of the evening. He is, in consequence, now by far the most popular actor in London with the working olaeses.

The Taranaki Herald says:—"An instance of canine sagacity was shown a few days ago by a dog belonging to Mr Courtney. The creature had a favourite oompanion, a dog owned by Mr Watkins, whioh was considered by its owner as unfit to live, and was therefore sown np in a bag and deposited in the Henui River. Mr Couotney's dog got " scent" of the ooour renoe, and went into the river and nobly rescued his oompanion. He was found tearing up the bag in the endeavour to liberate his highly esteemed friend." It is said that the young ladies of the west of Scotland, when under strong irritation they are tempted to use the name of a gentleman whose name is never pronounced in polite sooiety, substitute for it m delightful euphemism the name of another gentleman who goes in body and soul for God and the Queen of England. Thus, for example, if a rude or awkward young- gentleman should pull down the back hair or disarrange the fringe of one of these spirited misseß, he is not unlikely to be met with the indignant query, " Why theßuskin did you do that P" The new synonym has been in vogue since that famous letter, addressed to the president of the Liberal Club, was published in the newspapers. — Glasgow Herald.

The diorama and ventriloquism at the Theatre Royal to-night at 8. Meeting of the Clive Rowing Club tonight at 7. A public meeting in connection with the Sunday School anniversary of the "United Methodist Free Church will be held tomorrow evening at 8, The annual meeting of the Jockey Club will he held on Thursday at 11 a.m. Messrs Blythe and Co. have hats to meet the change of fashion. Mr J. C. Cullen has a four-roomed cottage to let in the Coote-road. Messrs Banner and Liddle will sell tomorrow Hobart apples, &c, at 11 a.m., and on Friday furniture. A pigeon shooting match will take place at Taradale on the Queen's birthday. Mr E. Lyndon wiil sell on Thursday a quantity of useful furniture. Messrs Large and Townley have just received a consignment of the new Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Maohine. A meeting of the Taradale Ploughing Match Committee will be held on Thursday evening at 7.30. It is notified that on and after May 2nd the afternoon train from Makatoko will stop at Kopua for passengers lefreshment. The Meanee Post Office store is for sale. General meeting of the Gymnasium Club to.morrow evening at 8. A number of new advertisements will be found in our " Wanted " column.