WAIROA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3133, 13 July 1881, Page 4

WAIROA.

(from our own corbesponoentV July 9, 1881 An ex-military setter named W Id Davis ditd very suddenly on Tues i. lasr. lit w,i« bucing iv his garden, an from his position when iouid h>r evidently fallen down in a fit, with hi mouth on the loose earth, and so got smothered. An piqued was held on Wednesday, before F. F. Ormond, E«q . Comer, and a verdict found that th. deceased had died "by the visitation <•■ God." On the previous Sunday, William Davit*, iv a jocular manner, [-elected th. portion of thi cemetery he should like to be buried in, also picked out a plank in a Carpenter's yard for bis coffin, and extracted a promise from the said carpenter to see him buried decently. At the inquest it was pointed out by a juryman that even had &post mortem been considered necessary, it could not bave been done, as our only legally qualified medical man baa retired from practice. and had he consented to perform thexamination be could not have sat as Coroner as well, and on Wednesday last there was actually not a Justice of tbe Peace in Wairoa County. Since then, however, Messrs Steele and Powdreli bave been sworn in and taken their seat-* on the bench. The late William Davis kept a sort of diary or journal, extract* from which we r e read at the inquest, of which the following is a specimen. "July Ist. Fro«ty night. Fine day. No work. Wi-h I -vas dead." The laftifry was rv-.ade on th-- day he die.-. Deceased earn*- Irom India to Auckland in 1863 or 1864 in a troop transport. He then juined the Hawke s Bay military ee'tiers, and fought the Ejst Coast campaign under Colonel Fraser. Owing to the rain, the Rev. Mr Hill's lecture in tbe school-room on the telephone, microphone. &c, i« postponed to Monday evening next. E-ery credit isdue to Mr Hill far his endeavors to provide some instructive amusement for ttu inhabitants ot this remarkably dviJocality.

Another sacred concert or service o< song entitled " Eva" from Uncle Torn'B Cabin will be given in St. Andrew's Church on tbe 3rd August. " Moses" and the " Creator" are to follow in due eourae at intervals of a month each. H.M.S. Pinafore would draw a full house (or rather church).

I was quite out in nay prognostication tbat tbe Government had put a stop to Maori litigation by abolishing tbe interpreters, an in several Maori cases on Thursday and Friday last tbe Resident Magistrate acted as his own interpreter, or rather there was a conversation in the Maori language carried on between the parties to tbe cases and tbe R.M. I am consequently totally ignorant of what the cases were about, or io whose favor judgment was given. I imagine the two J.P.s on the bench were id the same position, but as a J. P. has no jurisdiction over a native in civil cases it did not much matter. However it is not every magistrate that is so fluent a Maori scholar as Captain Preece, and I tbiiik it will yet be found that while the Maori language continues to be spoken interpreters will be a necessity, at any rate till the two schools are built here, in which the intelligent Maori is to be taught the English language. Whether be will be able to learn it or not is another matter altogether. Tbe telegram stating that the Government had agreed to vote £5,200 lor roads in this district is tbe best news we bave bad for some time past. It will be money well laid out, as unless roads are made people will never purchase any of the thousands of acres of splendid land now lying idle and unproductive. A good coach road would enable people to ride through comfortably in a day to Gisborne. The annual meeting of the subscribers to the Wairoa public library was held on

Thursday evening, and a new committee elected for the current year. The funds -*ow a sredit balance of thirty shilling-*. The library is now about to be iaeornorared under the Public Libraries Powers Act, 1865. and the library committee will act with the trustees of the Mechanic's Institute. A lißt was started to raise funds for building an institute, and nearly £20 subscribed in the room.