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Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 82, 15 April 1901, Page 2

The monthly meeting of the Charitable Aid Board takes place to-morrow night. The meeting of the Borough Council to-morrow night will be the last meeting under the old Act.

The tendency at the Borough Council meeting to-morrow night will bo to leave all important works over to the new Council.

The Druids’ annual social, one of the most popular social functions of the year, will be held as usual on the evening of the first day of the Steeplechase meeting. Opotiki wants a visit from the Duke, also that he bo taken over the far-famed Opotiki bar in a whaleboat! Is there to be no mercy for the Duke ? .Holy Trinity Qhm'di was full last night, when a most impressive confirmation service was conducted by His Lordship the Bishop of Waiapu. Thirteen girls were presented for confirmation. The Napier Bowing Club’s representatives did not arriye on Saturday' morning to row their annual races with the local Clubs, and consequently the fixtures have been abandoned for this season.

The opening concert of the Mutual Improvement Society takes place to-night, ij,t the Academy of Music. The tickets have gone off well, as they alwaj? do with “Mutual” entertainments, and a success may safely be anticipated. On Saturday the man Thomas Campbell Cummings was, on the information of the Haiti Boad Board (for which Mr Nolan appeared) fined £5, with costs amounting to £2 9s, or in default 30 days’ imprisonment. He was also informed that he was liable to a penalty of £5 per day for every da}’ that he left the rubbish there. We learn that the Orchestral Society. will be resuming practice on Wednesday evening next. This is a profitable and enjoyable way for instrumentalists to spend their winter evenings, giving pleasure not only to themselves, but to the public, who eagerly look forward to the concerts given by this Society. -The Cornish Society in Wellington, which is forming branches throughout the colony, is preparing an address to the Duke of Cornwall on his visit to New Zealand. It is desirable that if possible every resident Cornishman should append his name to the address. The matter is urgent, and as time is pressing, the assistance of the ITimes is asked to make the fact known in this district.

What might have proved a serious accident occurred on the breakwater yesterday morning. A youth, a son of Mr Lucas, started off on a bicycle with the intention of spending a few hours fishing off the breakwater. Matters went very smoothly until he had ridden to within one hundred yards of the end, when the bicycle suddenly swerved, with the result that both it and the rider went over the side into the sea. Assistance was soon at hand, and the lad safely landed on the breakwater. By the aid of fishing lines the bicycle was shortly afterwards recovered, neither rider nor machine being much the worse for their dip.

The hounds will meet at the Waikanae this morning. The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide has appointed a committee aud organised a movement to raise during the next three years a twentieth century fund amounting to £20,000. Considerable’ promises have been received.

The Minister for Mines is of opinion that many girls would find it to their advantage to attend a School of Mines, as the knowledge they would gaiu there would qualify them for positions in offices of the large mining companies.

A disease which threatens to do much damage among the bean crops has made

its appearance in the Ourimbah district, New South Wales. It first appears in the roots in the form of mildew, aud the plant turns yellow, and rots off at the surface. Beds badly affected leave very few plants alive.

Wairoa is pleased. The Guardian states :—“ We believe Mr Duncan’s visit will result in great good to the district. He impressed himself on all who heard him as an earnest, practical man, and one not given to making promises he had not the remotest intention of carrying out, and we thank Mr Carroll for securing us a visit from him.”

A well-known Gore resident, who was cycling on the Waimoa Plains last week, had a rather unpleasant experience (says the Ensign). The cyclist had passed a mob of cattle, and a young bull cantered up from the rear unknown to the rider, and, executing a smart flanking movement, tossed the cyclist off his machine into some tussocks along the edge of the road. The frisky bovine was content to allow the incident to terminate at that, and no great damage resulted.

When the Waikare was leaving last week a coach load of Maoris were driven down to the wharf, aud it was thought had missed the boat. Mr Dixon, the owner of the coach, explains that the natives were not going by the boat. He harnessed up in town to drive the natives down in a body, and the noise that they made was in the way of parting tokens in which the Maoris were very demonstrative. . It was certainly unfair to Mr Dixon to suppose that he had got late with a coach load of intending passougers, aud it would certainly have been very unlike him, as he is known far and wide for his care and punctuality. We learn (says the Manawatu Times) that a local syndicate has concluded arrangements for the purchase of Messrs Pascal Bros’ property on Foxton Line, and will utilise same for saleyards. A company to be known as the Manawatu Saleyards Company is being formed with a capital of 7000, to carry on auctioneering on the same linos as at Addington. We are informed that some of the leading citizens of Palmerston have taken the matter in hand and the prospectus, will be issued shortly. It is proposed to build a siding from the railway line to the saleyards, so as to facilitate the transport of stock.

The Tutanekai is shortly to make a trip to some of the islands recently annexed in the Pacific. It is understood

she may go as far north as Penrhyn. In the event of her calling at Rarotonga, it would not, perhaps, bo a bad idea if the authorities were to invite Queen Makea, and some of the other Arikis of the Cook Islands, to visit the colony on the occasion of the reception of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. Queen Makea certainly would be an interesting personage to have present on such an occasion, espe-

cially seeing that the Now Zealand Maoris and the Rarotongans are kinsmen.

It is with pleasure that wo have to record another indication of the progress of this district. Messrs Oxenham and Somervell (the former having for fourteen years conducted business as a brickmakor at Makauri), have decided to extend their business, and have introduced a splendid plant, considered one of the most suitable in the colony for the class of clay at thenyards. The machinery is the work of Mr W. Crabtree, of Wellington, and is capable of turning out from ten to fifteen thousand bricks a day. This should enable the firm to-cope with the increasing demand for their bricks, which have earned a splendid reputation. Messrs Oxenham and Somervell aro now engaged in erecting the plant. The clay will be carried up a tramway to a platform above the hopper, so as to obviate the necessity of carting it to the machine, which will save a great deal of time. An eight horsepower engine provides the motive power to drive the machinery, which cuts out 10 bricks at one time. In addition to their brick-making plant, Messrs Oxenham and Somervell have decided to introduce a pipe plant, and have engaged the services of Mr Smith, a West Coaster, who has the reputation of being a first-class tradesman. This plant is expected to arrive in the course of a week or so, and work is being hastened to provide buildings necessary for its accommodation. With such splendid clay as that at Makauri, this new branch of business should prove as successful as that which Mr Oxenham has so long conducted in the district, and we have pleasure in wishing ' the new firm every success in this new venture.