Hawke's Bay Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY. MONDAY, 15TH APRIL, 1867. CENTRAL SUMMARY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 470, 15 April 1867, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY.

MONDAY, 15TH APRIL, 1867. CENTRAL SUMMARY.

uihuclus jiiia/e i:t cer'ni majhiri"

The Past Month Las been more prolific of incidents calling for the attention of the journabst than several cf those which have preceded it, commencing as it did with the elections for the Provincial Council, which have all been complete.: between the lltb and the 29th of '.larch. Never, perhaps, in the history of the province, did events of so great importance to its population pa-s oil’ with so little of public interest, —the apathy of the electors being so great that, not only |was scarce any movement mafic for | the returning of the most eligible canjdiuates previous to the nomination Mays, but even at the last, v.li- n tlu | actual elections to"k place, elect- rarer; mod more disposed to allow things t-« ■take their own course, than to inter fore with the view of controlling them for public good. The whole period ;antecedent to the eb-w ions was marked I by the almost entire ab-micc cf election addresses, public mee-ing-, and ail tile other etceteras of an election contest., and for the effect of the i ruling amount iof opposition offered to the successful I candidates, they might as well have jbeen allowed <■>•. walk the cor.:so. | The couscou nice is that the imees isarv element of opposition in toe new :Council is absolutely less than that in

11 he lust, ail powerl- I *' f'r •'■(-••I us thati ill o I ! was. in conseqm-nce of tlio overwhelm-j in? maioritv always in the hands of I " * .the Government. We are sorry for itbis, as the advantage to the public |afforded by the check of a const!Uuiional opposition to the most powerIful Government parties is too ohviousj ’and universally acknowledged to needj i demonstration. I j The .h 1 -mg ehv* new, :only awaits the public announcement; jof the same in the New Zealand Ga-j Izette, to be called together lor basi-j loess by the summons of the returning; lofficer, who will notify a day for such! jmeefing as soon as such Gazette shah; jhe published. ; 1 dust at the tune of the departure ot. j'ho last mail via Smz, we had Leon, i visited with a severe sduin that threat j ! ened the destruction of the Spit, aud| ;was accompanied by the total Ess ofj a cutter in the roadstead called tlu : ; Duncan Cameron, the sad details ol| which Wore j uGlishtG in time for tliu;; mail. One of the bodies of the poor! ‘fellows who were drowned on that oc-| i, , j jcasion was ailerworUs found waSlienj ; ashore, and discovered on the iVtam ] {beach hy Mr George Chariton, oa tin j 114th ult. Next day an inquest was 'held on the body, which resulted in I return of a verdict of “Accidentally ijdrowned,”

The next item of importance con nected with our province was the arrival of the immigrant ship Montmorency, and he? subsequent total ties tructioa by fire while lying in the roadstead. She arrived on Sunday afternoon, the 261 h ult., aud lauded her immigrant passengers nest morn ing. with the principal portiuu of their 1 ggage ; but the cargo was untouched, as also was the heavier ami more bulky goads belonging to the passengers, up tqilie time of her disaster, Full details of both her arrival aud loss will be fonud reproduced in another column, as also of the in quest held on the occasion, which took place ou the Ist instant, when, after i most patient investigation, the origin of the fire remained undiscovered. A sale of the wreck, cargo. &c., by auction, took place on Saturday, the 30th March, when large prices were realised for the several lots, amounting iu all to near £350.

We have also had one, if not two narrow escapes from fire. The first if them took place in the early morning of Thursday, 4th bust., and resulted in the destruction of a bakehouse, situated i in the centre of an extensive block of buildings, which for a time appeared . in imminent danger, but by the assist* 1 ance of a number of willing hands, ' and abundance of water, the fire was happilyconfinedto the building in which . it originated. A second case occurred 1 on Thursday last, on the premises of Mrs France, Coote Road, but we be-ih-ve the damage done was of a tri ,;mg nature. Reverting to matters of a more general interest, we observe that the fighting on the East Coast (we do not call it war! still continues. It appears (as is usual) that there are traitors amongst the friendly natives (Arawas), who communicate to the rebels our intentions, before they can be brought ; nto execution, and the consequence is ' that on making an attack on a rebel pah it is invariably found to be de-i sorted, but only to be re-occupied asl soon as the backs of the attackingj; party are turned. However, some amount of success has been obtained 1 during the mouth, including the burning of several pas and the destruction 1 of the supplies of the rebels.

j Ua the \Vest Court too there has j j been another murder by the rebels—j I of one Julia P.iady,—but which fur a {time was d to have been either | dir Parris ui a Roman Catholic priest J named Roland. Tlie victim, however, . appears to have been a discharged sol , dier, who was journeying aluug the coast accompanied by a half-caste. ITe murderers are believed to be live Jin number —Peru te Whet.u, Koromijfia te Mann, Hoki, and two Waikatos.j The latter, however, are said to have j J | objected, and ran away. The mur-j idcrers are well-known men. J j Of native matters nearer home we jluve to record the occurrence of a: J great meeting of Hau-hau and friend-j dies at the Wairua, a small settlement! a the banks of a river in the northern! !portion of the Province. This meet-! mg lias been talked of for twelve .'mouths past; and most extensive preparations hud been made. A goodly i j number of visitors from Napier were ;! present, including His Honor the Su ‘ perinleiident and J. 0. Richmond Esq. [juiu representative of His Excellency ! ’ hn i i H-ufO iV.* Pilft noflttA.’' t>«i ni In /1*.,» i t.iu o t vi aw* > a uv mi ii l v <2 uu lu uv'iv.u i nearly 2,000. Several matters of the .!greatest importance to the province .jwere discussed, including confiscation of the lands of those tribes that have I m.-ea iu arms against the Government : (some 70,000 acres), and its disposal; i —it being decided that ifo,ooo acres r should be appropriated by the Government for a EfiuUafy Beuleiiieut, &c.,j

arid tud remaining portion should bo bestowed upon the friendly tribes as an acknowledgement of the services rendered by them during the rebellion. The establishment of a military settlement at "Waifoa will bs the means of pushing forward that thriving district. Not the least noticeable events of tuc month ims b66n tns snorts muuo by the people of Wairoa to effect the progress of their settlement. They have started a scheme for connecting their fine river with Napier by means of steam communication —a schema winch bears the promise oi a successful issue. They have also held a large public meeting (a report of which will be found in another column), at which several measures of importance to their district were discussed, and which will be brought before the Provincial Council by their new member, Lieut.-Colouel Whitmore, who seems to have succeeded in gaining-the entire confidence of his constituency.