Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1014, 11 May 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1871.

A sale of impounded stock will take place at the Meariee Yards at noon tomorrow, unless the same are previously redeemed.

We understand that an inquiry into the cause of the late tire at Meanee will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday next. The Gourlay Family were performing at Wellington at latest dates. The United Napier Garrick and Artillery Volunteer Clubs gave another performance in the Oddfellows 1 Hall, when the "Ticket of Leave Man" was again produced, and, owing to its ex treme length, constituted the entire programme. The attendance was large, and the performance as a whole passed off very sueces> fully. The Volunteer Artillery Band were in attendance during the evening. The Supreme Court sat ihis morning in banco. Considerable discussion took place among the legal gentlemen on technical matters, but the points con siclered were of interest only to the parties immediately concerned.

To-day wns appointed as the time for hearing tin application by Mr D. Vaghhan for a licence for a house proposed to be erected at Clive, plans of which had been laid before the Bench of Magistrates. The application, however, was withdrawn, not being in order.

We learn that Colonel Harrington, after inspecting the country companies of militia, will proceed over land to Wellington The annual inspection parades of the Hawke's Bay Yeomanry Cavalry, under Captain Tanner, the Napier Volunteer Artillery, under Captain Routledge, and the Napier Rifle Volunteers, under Captain Rohiuson, took place yesterday afternoon on Clive Squat e. The inspecting officer, Colonel Harrington, after putting the brigade through several evolutions, expressed hiniself as behig satisfied on the whole with the manner in which the movements had been, executed, and with the clean state of the arms and accoutrements. The bands of the Artillery and Rifle corps were on the ground, and played some choice selections of music. There was a very large concourse of spectators throughout the time occupied by the pai ade. Yesterday, after the close of the inspection parade of the Napier Rifle Volunteers, Sergeant A. H, Blake, of that corps, was presented by Colonel Harrington with the medal awarded to him as the highest scorer forthe district prizes of the Province of Hawke's Bay. Very heavy floods ha~e occurred during the past week in tjie,.Canterbury rivers, the Waiuiakariiri particularly. The Rakaia and Jlangitata: Jmve also been very high, and traffic across the latter stopped., (White's bridge on the Rakaia stood Very well:; although .it sustained some damage, traffic was not interrupted.

A child, thirteen months old, has died in Christcbureh from suffocation, occasioned by a, piece of potato getting stuok in tlie windpipe. The mother was at dinner at the time, and had the child on her knee.

The Resident Magistrate in Dunedin has...decided. that—ginger wine -comes within the definition x)f spirituous and fermented liquoW under the Licensing Act, and that persons selling it without a license are liable to the penalties* of sly grog selling. By a Syney telegram, in a Melbourne paper, we learn that the Governor in , his speech at the railway celebration, intimated that the Imperial authorities did not intend 10 remove their military stores, as the troops might be sent back to the Colonies. Remarking on the above, the paper from which we quote say.- :—"Judging from Earl Belmore's statement that the Home Government do not intend to withdraw its military stores from Sydney, as Imperial troops may be sent out again, it would seem that we are to have the whole question of self-defence opened up again. It is quite possible that the revival of the military spirit in England, coming simultaneously on the freshened interest given to the Colonial question by recent controversies, may have extended beyond the immediate centre of disturbance, and that the duty of re-garrison-ing the distant dependencies of the Empire may have presented itself a» part and parcel of the general scheme which seems to have been decided on of military organisation, Jamaica is to be fortified, we know, with a general view to the protection of the West Indies against America, and second thoughts might have suggested to the Colonial Office the propriety of contributing something to the defence of the Australian Colonies. It remains to be seen what form the contribution will take, however, before the Colonies are likely to be overcome with any weight of gratitude at the prospect. The old arrangement under which we paid for the men in time of peace, and the Englihh Government reserved for itself the right of withdrawing them in time of war. was an absurdity. And if regulars are to be incorporated in our .scheme of defence, we must have a substantial number—the best part of a regimen*, instead of the skeleton of one. And then the expense would be a consideration. Regretting that the troops should have been called away, and arranging for them to come back again, are two very different things." A telegram dated Queensiown, and published in the Otago Daily Times, says:—Two men have arrived from Martin's Bay. They report trat an indignation meeting had been held there, and that they had been sent to: Queenstown as deputies, to urge the Government to send supplies to the Bay. They have telegraphed to the Government. They report most favorably regarding the prospects of the settlement, and state that the want of provisions is the great obstacle to its progress. The Mayor of Adelaide has brought under the notice of the public the fact that some families have been poisoned by eating mutton which had rendered unfit for human food by the sheep having fed on a poisonous herb. The symptoms were violent sickness, purging, and pains in the limbs. A paper hunt took place at Wellington on Saturday last, and appears to have .been productive of some capital sport.

Another rifle match bet-ween the Hutt and Wellington Volunteers took place at the Adelaide Butts, Wellington, on Saturday last, and resulted in a victory for the city marksmen, they having beaten their opponents by 65 points. The deciding match will take place on the 20th inst. The Evening Post has good authority for stating that W. B. Rhodes, Esq, has liberally offered to place the sum of i. 50 in the hands of his Worship the Mayor, for the purpose of erecting a fountain in front of the Supreme Court House, Wellington, as soon as the water is laid on to the city.

A few days ago we (Evening Post) hinted at the possibility of communi cation being established across the countryi lying between the advanced telegraph station in the Taupo country and Waikato, os er which the Maoris

prevent the telegraph line from being erected, by means, of the semaphore; but science has taken great strides since the days when the semaphore was used, and we now find that the subject has been under the consideration of the Manager of the Telegraph Department, and the same end proposed to be accomplished by superior electric light. It is calculated that in ordinary weather a light could be displayed from spots within access of either station, visible from the other, and by flashing alternately bright and colored-lights, communication could be obtained almost as readily as by the wire. This would be an interesting experiment, and we hope to see it tried. We take the following from a late Advertiser : A man named Alfred John Cox, we regret to say, was, recently, accidently killed at Palmerston by a tree falling upon him when working in the bush. The deceased, some four years ago, was convicted of bigamy here, for which he was sentenced to. and underwent two years' ijtnptisonnient. During the last two years, however, Mr Cox had resided with his family at Palmerston, and was much respected by all who knew him. He was brother to Cox the solicitor, of Auckland, who, some of our readers, may remember, was appi'ehended in Wellington on a charge of misappropriating certain funds belonging to a friendly society at Auckland, for which he was Secretary,

A mo*t unfortunate accident occurred in Wellington harbor on the afternoon of Thursday last. 4th instant The following particulars are from the Evening Post:—•" A. little before two o'clock the first cutter of the Virago was coming ashore under sail. When about half way a sudden gust of wind caught and capsized her. The crew.consisted of six men and a boy ; Mr Crosbie was steering and Mr Foster and Mr Maxwell were on board. The boat was turned completely over, and the men and officers, some of. them with great coats and knee boots on, had to swim for it Unfortunately, one of the men, Taylor, warrant officers' steward, and the boy Smith, were unable to keep afloat, and were drowned. The capsize observed from the ship and from the shore, and a number of boats hastened to tlie rescue. With the exception of Taylor and Smith, all were picked up and brought ashore, much exhausted, having been for at least eight minutes struggling in the very rough water. The unfortunate man Taylor only joined the ship in Auckland about three months ago."—Neither of the bodies had been found up to our latest dates from Wellington.