Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addietus jurare in verta magistri. THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 677, 29 April 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addietus jurare in verta magistri. THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1869.

It must be a source of great annoyance to officers who try by all means in their power to make duties which are by their very nature unpleasant fall as lightly as possible on the men under their command, and to exer cise the v.tmost leniency towards those whom they find fall short of what they are supposed to do, to find their motives unappreciated, and their forbearance imposed upon by those whom they have striven to favor.

Any one at all acquainted wi h the nature of military discipline must see that the MiUtia and Volunteers of Havke's Bay have hitherto been dealt with in an exceptionally mild manner. Absences from drill time after time on the part of many of the men, and other irregularities, have been overlooked and winked at until those who have regularly tried to fulfil their duties to the utmost of their power have felt a sort of negative injustice, in that those who failed to do the same seemed in all respects as well off as themselves. Kay, further than this, presuming on the forbearance of their officers, a shoit time ago a portion of No. 1 Company of Napier Militia and a few Volunteers «o far forgot what was due to those in command as to desert the camp at Petane before they were relieved. Happily, however, on hearing a word from their commanding officer on reaching port, they returned to duty, and marched under orders, until dismissed in an orderly way to their homes. Next we find amongst the Volunteers a few hrepressive spirits refusing to march to camp from a feeling (real or fancied) that they were suffering some injustice in the way in which their roll was taken; the consequence of which was that some of them were sent to jail, and the burden of camp duty fell on others who had but just come in from camp, but who preferred to volunteer to return rather than the public service should sufFer. It is not to be expected, however, that such self-abnega-tion will be repeated. The men who

try to do their duty look to those in authority to punish such as refuse, become a real injustic ■ is inflicted on those who, in addition to their own duty, have to perform that of other men. A meeting of the Napier Rifle Volunteer Company is announced for. to-morrow evening, when we belime this, amongst other matters, will be discussed. "We should be very sorry to see the little corps disbanded ; but such must certainly be expected if due subordination be not shown. It has been stated that the sympathy of the public is with the malcontents. We are happy to say that such is by no means the case—No. 2 Company of Militia having voluntarily placed their services at the disposal of the commanding officer for camp duty in case No. 1 Company should refuse to go. No. 8 Company —the men ovei 40 years of a£ re—we believe offered their serv ices for garrison duty at Petane—the general feeling being that that garrison duty is essentially necessary to the safety of the district. Some of the men complain of the situation of the camp. No doubt a better spot can be found for it, and it is quit© possible that a change will be made. The ammunition (some four kegs), and some of the tents were brought into town on Tuesday, consequent on the contemplated reduction of the guard at Petane.

The English Mail via Suez will close on Sunday next, and be despatched by the s.s. Lord Ashley. (See Post-office notice). A meeting of the Napier Rifle Volunteers is convened tor to-morrow evening at halt-past eight o'clock, — to take place in the Odd Fellows* Hall. All accounts against the barque William Cargill must be sent in to the agents, Messi«s Kinross & Co., this day. This splendid vessel, ere we again go to press, will most probably have left our port, and we take this opportunity of wishing her a safe and speedy passage to Old England. Reported Murder.--A correspondent from Auckland under date Saturday, April 24, sends us the following :—"A native has just arrived from Waiheke and reported to the Government the murder of Mr Harris, a settler. Mr Commissioner Mackay is leaving at once in the cutter'Emma' to make enquiries." Shooting Game.—A proclamation in the New Zealand Government Gazette allows all native game mentioned in the Protection of Animals Act, 1867, and the Protection of Animals Act Amendment Act, 1868, to be hunted, shot or killed, during, the months of May, June, and July in the present year, in the Provinces of Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, and the County of Westland. Agricultural Statistics. —The following is a return of the agricultural statistics of the Province of Hawke's Bay, in February, 1869, as published in the New Zealand Gazette, April 8 :—The extent of land broken up but not under crop was 2,313 acres ; in wht'at, 715 acres, estimated to yield 17,530 bushels; in oats, 1,055 acres, estimated to yield 24,610 bushels; in barlev, 257 acres, estimated to yield 5,097 bushels; in hay, 1,692 acres, estimated to yield 2,459 tons ; in permanent grass including that in hay, 27,780 acres; in potatoes, 331 acres, estimated to yield 1,462 tons; in crops not specified, 97 acres. The average yield of of wheat per acre, is thus about 24 bushels; o.' oats, about 23 bushels; of barley, about 19 bushels; of hay, about tons; of potatoes, about 4 tons. The population of Hawke's Bay is 5,300. Allowing 8 bushels of wheat per head for food, and bushels per acre for seed next year for 800 acres, it would appear that the province will require to import 25,870 bushels.