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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 850, 25 October 1870, Page 2

An unusually severe hail-storm passed over Westport recently, by which a number of skylights were quickly demolished. The Times says : —As to the size of the hail opinion varies considerably. On informant, who on this occasion at least had good reason to rejoico iu the possession of a " bell-topper," declares solemnly that the hail-stqm'B were fully the size of a pigeon's egg, and thar. but for the protection afforded him by this calumniated style of head covering, he must have been knocked senseless. He escaped without casualty other than the total annihilation of his beaver. The storm la-ted only a few minutes, and, on going out of doors, tha ground was covered with hailstones fully the size of large marbles, many of which were visible the following day, kvhen lodged in sheltered situations. MrSpurgeon, when laying foundation stones, disdains the use of the silver trowel, as unworthy of a true workman, and with an ordinary implement does a quarter of an hour's hard work, and actually and positively lays the stone. —South London Press. We learn from the Army and Navy Gazette that the Lords of the Admiralty hare decided upon making s,f>mo vaiuablo additions to the ironclad navy, and have called upon the leading ship-building firms in the United Kingdom to tender for the construction of four vessels of the Scourge class. It is also in tended to build two ships similar to the Cerberus. " Mr Gladstone," says the Spectator, " has delivered a speech upon the ballot, which, but for the war, would have been an immense event. He declared for manhood suffrage. ' When we have adopted household suffrage, we have, I think, practically adopted the principle that every man who is not disabled in point of age, of crime, of poverty, or through some other positive disqualification, is politically competent to exorcise the suffrage ; and it is the Bimple question of time and convenience when this suffrage shall be placeu ,'in t his hands. 'To draw a distinction between housebold suffrage and lodger suffrage, provided the lodger be a person w,!io has a certain parmanenpe in his residential tenure, woidd be, in my opinion, almost impossible j to draw a distinction between boroughs and counties is, I think, virtually impracticable.' Every man, in fact, of full age, not a criminal or a pauper, ought to have a vote. It will ccmo to that at last; no doubt, though we hope first to educate the people; but only two months ago. that speech would have acted like a shell thrown iiito the Liberal party. Even now we wish Mr Gladstone would giye us a little light upon the war,-and England's duty in it, instead of : pressing propositions which nobody denies, and nobody wants to take put of the region of |i abstract thought. Vote for cottagers by and :• bye i. jus,tj now we want Spiders tor the |; volunteers,"

The Wairarapa Mercury is glad to be able to record that the first step has been taken towards the Wairarapa Railway. Mr Blackett, who has been engaged by the Government at a salary of £I,OOO a-year, has directed Mr Kochfort, an engineer of considerable experience, to explore the best route for a railway between "Wellington and Wairarapa, and will, we are informed, lay off the most suitable and direct line to Napier. .4-8 a caution to persons engaged in the dres? sing of sheep for foot-rot (says the Geelong Advertiser) it may be mentioned that Mr R. Willis, butcher, of Steiglitz, ia unfortunately likely to lose the sight of both his eyes, caused by having rubbed them with his fingers whilst engaged in foot-rotting. We have often to go abroad to hear news. The following is the latest instance of the kind; —The Melbourne Telegraph informs its readers that the late earthquake in New Zealand was one of the most severe on record in that part of the world. It caused a universal panic, and the excitement did not subside for some time.

A Sydney contemporary has the following. The remarks are fully borne out in various ways:—The Colony of Western Australia seems to have found in Mr Weld a Governor determined, first, to find out the resources of the country ; and secondly, to let the rest of the world know about them. He hud no sooner entered on his duty, and disposed of the necessary formal business, than he set out on excursions which involved in the aggregate a journey in the saddle of 2,100 miles, and thus obtained a personal knowledge of the country whose affairs he was to administer. The Evening Post under date 18th instant, says :—A rumour was in circulation to-day, to the effect that the whole of the Constabulary in the depot here had been ordered to prepare for immediate departure for the East Coast. The rather sensational manner in which this report was circulated, led to the conclusion that the Government had received intelligence of some fresh outbreak on the East Coast; but we believe that such is not the case. A considerable number of the men at the various East Coast stations have recently been discharged from various causes, and it is to take their place that the men now now in depot here aro to be sent. A good many of the arms now in use are also said to be unfit for service, and as soon as the Luna can be spared, she will be sent up the East Coast with the men and with a fresh supply of arms, the old ones being collected and brought back here.

A correspondent of the Australasian, writing on the subject of sheep-washing, advocates the use of salt water on stations near the seaboard. He writes : —" I will now state a fact which mav startle and surprise many of your readers who may peruse this: that I had for years in Tasmania an excellent flock through my liar.ds, which was every year washed in salt water from the sea, or, in other words, in the sea, with an occasional swim Bomo time before the annual washing. There was never any complaint, but the contrary. The wool was well and properly washed, and well dried 5 scab was never known in the flocks; the we» the? wool always obtained the highest price in the market of its kind, the wool brokers praising the length ad strength of the staple."

Writing on the abominations known as "chignons," au English contemporary says;— •' When the patient sheep, the ingenious inventor, the careful dyer, the dexterous starcher, ai,d the tasteful peruquier have completed their tasks, the ladies betake themselves to their secret places, and there "with irfinite *kill inweave or conceal with art what nature has bestowed, and build up those astonishing fabrics which overawe and horrify the other sex. • Our streets, our theatres, our churches, our chapels, and all our places of public resort are crowded with magnificent beings whose hairdressing must be the chief occupation of their lives, it indeed it is not completed by one tremendous effort, then left to flourish and fall like other monumental glories. Utterly reckless oi' tho opinion, preference, or objection of half the world, the ladies of the period diess at and from and to and for and against one another. Could they but know the deep disgust provoked in many bosoms.by their voluntary self-abasement, and self-willed corruption of their natural beauty, it is possible they might repent if not reform ; but the courtesy of chivalry is mum in the presence of beauty, even when hidden or spoiled ; and the foolish creatures grow bold in their inelegant and uncleanly fashion. They have nearly killed all sentiment; because men will not give themselves up to fanatical admiration and the inditing of sonnets when, for aught they know, the glossy rin»let with which they toy .tuay Miap and prick their fingers, or the proud black hair which challenges their reverent dread may be the spoil of the grave or the refuse of the slaughter house. They soou discover that it is dead. They may sport w-ith it, but there will bo no smiling rebuke, for the wearer will never know it. There may be 'rapes.oi" locks/ as in the days of Pope;, but if so it will be a case for the police and not for the poet. Some of these fascinations cost more than their weight in gold ; and an amoroug swain who should seek to steal a souvenir from the locks ot his lady love, might do it, no doubt, with present impunity, but with a strong probability of having to expiate his offence behind the locks of a gaol. The whole fashion is so vile that its adoption indicates incipient insanity, and. it is useless to. argue with the mad. We can but rail at the custom, and scout it as a trespass against taste and decency. The wearers dare not turn their heads very quickly round for fear of accidents, but if ever they did they would detect the. scorn and nausea which sensible men evince when they see before them, wherever they go, mass* s of dead hair. —as dead, and. as evidqntly dead. as. bristles on a bruslj.'* v •'-'"■ •* •

NATIVE MATTERS. [FROM THE EVENING POST, OCTOBER 18.] Do men lose the ordinary feelings of Englishmen when they emigrate ? One is almost tempted to answer this question in the affirmative, after reading the debate in the Provincial Council of Taranaki on Mr H. Richmond's recent motion, relative to offering terms to Titokowaru. It is almost incredible that any public body, even a Provincial Council, could have passed such a resolution as the follow* ing;— That, in the opinion of this Council, it is urgently necessary, in order to present the renewal of hostilities on the West Qoast, that the Government should at once decide as to the terms to be offered to Titokowaru, »nd that the continuance of the present condition of affairs, under which although a proclaimed rebel, he is allowed to march through settle* meats of Europeans and disarmed natives with an armed body of supporters, is fraught with danger to the peace of this part of New Zealand ; and that a committee consisting of Messrs GHedbill, Lawrence, Webster, I. Bayly, and the mover, be requested to draw up a memorial setting forth the danger of leaving the manner in which Titokowaru is to b« dealt with undecided ; the memorial to b« laid before the Council at its nc*t sitting.

Yet, such is the resolution which was actually agreed to on the voices after the word M offered " had, on the suggestion of a Mr Gledhill, been altered to " allowed." For the credit of our name as British colonists, we are glad to say that at least one voice—that of Mr raised agaiust the motion as being '* too humk Hating to be borne." But Mr Richmond and the other members of the Council, were determined to be in charity with all men—murderers and cannibals of the most atrocious character not excepted—* and no considerations of humiliation or self abasement interfered to prevent the motion being carried. Mr Richmond, when proposing to eat dirt, supported his motion by the arguments " that there might be said to be three ways of dealing with the matter: the first being to commence fighting again for the purpose of capturing and punishing Titokowaru ; the second to leave things to drift on without doing anything; and the third to make some sort of peaceable arrangement with him. The first was practically out of the question. No one seriously would propose it, all things considered, and the Colony certainly would not agree to it. The second course he believed to be ex* ceedingly dangerous, as Titokowaru,. although he had only a small force, waa quite powerful enough to upset all peaceable operations now going on on the. West Coast, and would very probably do so if his offers were disregarded. . He therefore thought it of urgent importance that reasonable terms should be allowed to. him at once." This simply amounts to a confession that Titokowaru is master of the situation, and that the allowing him terms is merely a figure of speech. Iu fact, if Mr Richmond's argument and resolution amount to anything at all, it is to this, that we are completely in the power of Titokowaru and his 80 followers, that the present peace is delusive, and that we must be content to condone all that is past, and humbly sue for peace. It is all nonsense to talk of our offering terms to the arch rebel, unless we are prepared to accept the alternatfve of his refusing to accept the terms offered. If we are not able to enforce the acceptance of the terms offered, it is Titokowaru who, is really in a position to offer us terms. He is not suing for peace; he is, apparently, satisfied with his position, and,, in a dignified way, gives us to understand that as long as we leave him alone, he will leave us alone, We had thought, that the recent scene at the Pariaka meeting had filled the cup of our humiliation to the brim, but Mr Richmond and the Council of Taranaki have managed to squet-ze in one 'drop more of gall. We must not only allow Titokowaru to escape scathless for past crimes, but we must humbly beg him to be a good boy for the future, and we will give him what he likes as a reward. How the wily savage must have exulted over the degradation of the Pakeha when, as no doubt he has long ere this done, he read the account of Mr Richmond's speech. We cannot believe that the General Government will, for one moment, lend itself to the proposal made, and the only comfort we can extract from the fact of such a proposal ever having been ventured on, is, the reilection that it will afford another proof of the utter unsoundness of the pre-. sent policy in native matters. The Go-, I vernment is for ever crying peace where> there is. no peace. They will, not admjfc,

that there is still danger looming from Titokowaru on the West, and Te Kooti on the East; and yet the Provincial Legislature of Taranaki is evidently more frightened of Titokowaru than the starving inhabitants of Strasburg of the armies by which they were surrounded. We wonder if the members of the Ministry will, when they receive the Taranaki memorial, call to mind the position which Titokowaru occupied at the time they took office, and immediately proceeded to undo all that their predecessors had done. It is under their rule that Titokowaru has been Allowed to become so dangerous a 3 to frighten the Taranaki people into degrading themselves in the way they have done. When Mr M'Lean took office, the rebel chief was a naked, starving fugitive in the swamps at Ngaire—thanks to Colonel Whitmore's unceasing pursuit. It is their policy which has allowed him breathing-time, and has rendered him dangerous. The great alarm evidently felt in Taranaki now does not speak much for the public confidence in the policy of the Government, or the protection of the demilitarised. We can understand that men who have suffered as the Taranaki settlers have from native wars are anxious to secure peace at almost any p; ice; we know that men under the influence of panic will do strange things; but still we cannot believe that the body of settlers of New Plymouth will endorse, or even view with patience, the action of their representatives in this matter. The Plymouth men are celebrated in England's chronicles for their colonising efforts, and for upholding the honor of their country in intercourse with savage races; the inhabitants of New Plymouth come of the same stock, and should be the last to sue for terms from the savage who has committed every conceivable crime against fchemselyes and their fellow settlers.