Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri MONDAY, FEBRUARY 37, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 954, 27 February 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri MONDAY, FEBRUARY 37, 1871.

" Elector " to-morrow.

The Triennial Census will be taken to-morrow morning. Heavy Rain has continued to fall at intervals since our last.

Acknowledgment. —We have received from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary the Journals of the House of Representatives for 1870. Clive.—The nomination of candidates to represent the Clive district in the Provincial Council will take place at noon to morrow, at the School house, "West Clive.

With reference to the inquiry into the late tire in Shakspeare-road, we have been requested by Mrs Bell to say that the statement made by one of the witnesses to the effect that she (Mrs B.) was dressed when the fire broke out, has no foundation in fact. We have al*o been requested to mention that the whole of Mr Young's property was saved.

Telegraphic.—Under this heading our evening contemporary of Saturday calls the attention of the authorities to the inadequacy of the telegraph staff maintained at Napier. We would not mention this, but that the writer takes occasion* in the way of comparison, to make a gratuitous attack on the Spit department. In making this comparison he misrepresents the staft of both offices. In Napier, he says, " the statf consists of two operators and a cadet, who, though doubtless painstaking, is hardly of sufficient experience to materially lighten the labors of his superiors.......At the Spit office there are two operators" At the Spit office there is one operator and a cadet, recently appointed, who?,e experience is no greater than that of the one in Napier, and who also acts as messenger. In Napier there is a regular messenger, not mentioned by our contemporary, as well as a lineman, who is for a part of. his time in the office, where he is very useful. As regards the comparative amount of work done at the two offices, our contemporary might easily have obtained correct statistics as to the daily average of telegrams received and despatched to and from Napier This, however, he did not do, but hazards a wild guess as to the Spit business, where, we read, the average number " per diem is probably seldom more than ten ! " The press "telegrams (with the exception of the English summary, which is usually taken for the whole of the press in the" Napier office) ail come to the Spit as well as to the town, and the telegraph is also freely used by the merchants whose places of business are at the port. The daily average of telegrams is about thirty, and forty is not an unusual number. To make a fair comparison, our contemporary should have added the post-office staff in Napier to the telegraph operators. The Napier telegraphists Iwe but one department to attend to ;Mr Oalders has four. He is postmaster and telegraphist, and is also in charge of a money order' office and savings bank; each department involving the preparation of complicated return*,. Under these circumstances no one could grudge him his assistant. That " there is no Sunday work'' in the telegraph department on the Spit we admit, and do not desire that there should be; but there are frequently mails to receive and despatch on Sundays, which necessitates the attendance of the postmaster. In the town office, we read, long after 8 p.m. " the lights may be seen in the office." Perhaps our contemporary does not know that the operators reside in the office. They frequently work overtime, we are aware, but the lights are no proof that they are doing so. We do not doubt that the Napier telegraphists are fully employed ; for aught we know they may require further assistance; but we object to the misrepresentations and invidious comparisons to which our contemporary has resorted. In conclusion we may mention the uniform courtesy and attention with which the press has always been treated by the officials of both offices.

Steamboat proprietors (says the Evening Post) have on more than one ocea sion complained of the practice pursued by the Government in granting free passages from port to port in that expensive plaything, the Luna ; and certainly the practice has been followed to an unfair extent. We learn, however, that a slop has as last been put to it When it was known that the Luna was about to visit the southern ports the Government was inundated with applications for passages. Although the Phcebe was to go down south next day with excursionists at extremely low tares, these applications were granted until at length they became so numerous that it was evident the Luna would have more excursionists than the Phcebe, and that there would be absolutely no room on board for those the Luna was specially going for —the volunteer representatives. Then came the re-action. The Government decided that no pas> sages should be granted at all, and as this decree was not promulgated until the last moment, the disappointment experienced by the host of ladies and gentlemen, who, with their babies and nurses, were all ready for starting on'a cheap trip, was inlense, and the complaint % if not loud, were certainly suf ficiently deep.

The Wanganui Chronicle speaks thus of fche election for the Western Maori Electoral District:—" The voting commenced at 9 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m., both of the candidates having agents, who were actively canvassing votes ail day. * Mr Reimenschneider acted as poll clerk, Pehira Tarei as scrutineer, Hekaraiah Horako and Wirihana Puna assisting and taking account of the votes as polled. The plan adopted was as follows: —Mr Keimenschneider was furnished with printed forms, ruled off in columns, bearing a heading in Maori

and Eng'ish—the first column having the name of the voter; second, the tribe; third, the hapu ; fourth, the place of abode. Each voter came up to the table through one door, and then passed out at another, at each of which policemen were stationed ; he was asked his name, tribe, hapu, and place of abode, and then who he votes for. On his naming the candidate, the poll clerk tilled in the name, added his own signature, then handed it to the scrutineer, who initialed and tiled it. Maori suffrage is ' manhood,' the only qualification of a voter is that he should be a male adult: many ' infants' came to vote who were objected to." The Wairarapa Mercury, Eeb. 18, says : A man named James Noble lost Hmself in the bush near Morrison's rim on Sunday last. Constable Byrne went in search, but could not find any trace, and it was not until Friday that he was discovered on the Waihenga Race Course, having been four days, without food.

A Thames paper states that on the 10lb inst, a board of officers, consisting of Lieut. Woods, Mr. Stewart, C.E, and Captains Burgess and Kennedy, proceeded to the Manukau Heads in tlio Airedale, to determine and fix upon the site for the light-house and beacons at that station, to facilitate the navigation of the port. The Auckland Evening News of the 14th instaut, says :—" A distressing sight was witnessed in the Police Court this morning. Among the more than usually numerous unfortunates who occupied the drunkard's corner, was the figure of a woman in tattered dress and with dishevelled hair, whose face showed the remains of a former distinguished appearance. This wretched cieature was in a dreadful state of prostration bordering closely on that of delirium, tremens. While in the dock she fell into a kind of collapse, and had to be carried out to revive. On being assisted into Court she just contrived to plead guilty, and again fell back—her eyes glaring at the Bench with the wild stare ot mania. Few who witnessed the fearful sight of one of God's creatures utterly wrecked by the demon alcohol will ever forget it. It was a lesson worth a thousand temperance sermons." From the Plymouth Western Daily Mercury of the 13th December last, we observe that the following address of congratulation was presented to Major Hamley on his return to his native town alter an absence of thirty-three years in New Zealand :—" To Joseph Osbertus Hamley, Esq., We, rhe Mayor and burgesses and other inhabitants of the borough of Bodmin, in public meeting assembled at the Guildhall, on this the 12th day of December, 1870, beg to tender you our sincere congratulations on your arrival in this your native town, after an absence of thirty-three years in a distant land; and it is doubly gratifying that you are accompanied by Mrs Hamley, and your son and daughter ; and we further beg to assure you that it has always been a source of much pleasure and satisfaction to learn that your exemplary conduct in the execution of your important official duties has upon all occasions been appreciated by those with whom your have been associated in Australia and New Zealand, and moreover that the urbanity and kindness shown by you to those w r ho from time to timehave emigrated to those Colonic? from this town and neighborhood has been most gratifying. We also heartily wish for you every success in your fiture career, and this, the first visit of yourself and faniil} r to your native town, will afford them much pleasure and gratification. And should you at some luture time take up your residenceamongst us, you may rest assured that a sincere and hearty welcome will await, you and your family."

X fatal accident of a veiy painful character is reported by the Lyttelton Times as having taken place at the Styx flaxmill, Christchurch, owned by jf r W. L. Hawkins. Unlike previous accidents with flax machinery, which have generally resulted from carelessnefes, in this case no blame could be attached to any person. At the time of the accident seven persons were at work ill the large room ; and one of the machines was being fed by a boy, while another, named Charles Schumacker, a ]ad of thirteen years, was sitting underneath it, taking the stripped iibre from the machine. • Suddenly the large castiron drum of the machine, 22 inches in diameter, which was making 1,400 revolutions per minute, flew to pieces, the fragments being projected with immense force in every direction. Schumacker was struck by several of the pieces, one of which fractured his skull, while others shattered his left arm and mutilated the hand. The other hands in the room escaped by a miracle. The injured youth was taken up, and received every attention, but expired at 1 p.m. on the following day. One of the pieces of the drum, weighing about 501 b, was thrown upwards, and after smashing a rafter fourteen feet from the ground, passed through the roof, and fell fourteen or fifteen yards away, grazing the hat of a little boy who was passing, but doing him no injury. The cause of the accident is a mystery.