Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1046, 19 June 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1871.

The ss, TRangaiira, due here to-mor-row evening, is expected to be the bearer of the Hawke's Bay portion of the English mail via Suez. In the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning two individuals were charged with having transgressed the law of sobriety. One was fined ss; the other case was dismissed. We are informed that the body of McKenna, the Wairoa mailman, who was drowned on the 24th May, in the Mohuka River, was found at the mouth of that river on Thursday forenoon last. Decomposition had set in, but the body was perfectly recognizable, and the money and papers deceased had with him at the time of the accident were found upon the corpse. An inquest was to be held upon the body yesterday. We perceive by our Auckland files that the prospectus of a new morning paper, to be published by the proprietors of the .Evening News, has been issued. The well-know independent character of the latter journal leads us to anticipate that the new paper, if established, will be one wot thy the support of the Auckland public. Flour in Auckland at latest dates was quoted ut £l7 per ton. We have to thank the pursers of the Lord Ashley and the Wellington for the prompt delivery of our Auckland files, which extend to the 17th inst. Fifty thousand ladies in Germany have taken the pledge of total abstinence from chignon, preferring to preserve the sheen on their natural hair.

Thirteen Chinese, having made their respective piles in Otago, took tlieir departure for the Flowery Land the other day.

On April 5 a deputation of" x "ew Zealand merchants, consisting of Mr J L, Curtis (Nelson), Mr J A. Ewen (Dtiri> edin), JVfrjD. P. McSuen (London), Mr W f fjarris (Dunedin), Mr J, Koss (Dimedin),, Mr J M. Stuart (Napier), and Mr W. Turnbull (Wellington), waited upon Mr Vogei, at the Charing Cross Hotel, to take into consideration the present mail service of the colony, and to urge upon him the necessity of making the service to New Zealand via San Francisco, calendar monthly, instead of every four weeks Mr McEiien introduced the deputation,- and entered into explanations ot the objects sought. He argued that it was extremely inconvenient to the colonial houses in London to have their remittances arriving at irregular dates, besides the loss of interest and discount incurred thereby at both ends, and showed that if the service could be altered to a fixed date, instead of a shifting one, that the mercantile community would be greatly benefited without prejudicing the interest of any other class Mr Ross, Mr Turnbull, and Mr Stuart also, spoke on the subject, and many details were entered into. Mr Vogei in reply, admitted the desirability of the object sought, as a calendar monthly service would suit the New Zealand Government better for remitting interest for debentures than the present one, but pointed out some difficulties there were in altering the service, A four weeks' service had been arranged in the hope of getting the Australian colonies to. srbsidise the new line, by making it alternate with the Suez line, and thus secure to them a fortnightly service, but at present they did not seem willing to do so, although he (Mr Vogei) believed that ultimately the Australian* would see it to be their interest to fall in with the Californian route, for which, a sum of £53,000 had to be paid, the arrangement being for ten years; £20,000 of this amount, he hoped, would be recouped to the New Zealand Government from the Australian colonies, between which and the Sandwich Islands it had already opened up an immense trade in sugar; and he thought that there was no doubt that it would prove of great use, both to the merchants of New Zealand and their agents in London He further stated that if the Australian colonies did not fall in with this scheme within a reasonable, time, that the New Zealand Government would be prepared to consider the suggestions made by the deputation, the views of which he hoped to have in writing, and he would take care that they were well considered. The deputation then thanked Mr Vogei and withdrew. The New Zealand Herald, June 14, says :—We ha* 7 e several times had occasion to speak of the danger attending a too free consumption of native eels, especially those of a large t-ize, and we have now to chronicle an event that cannot be too carefully remembered by those who are in the habit of partaking of these fish. Three days ago, some boys who were on the beach near Freeman's Bay, made a great capture of eels, which thc j y caught underneath the rocks when the tide was out. These they did up into bundles, and sold in the neighborhood. Among those who purchased were Mr Slattery, the grocer, Mr Sullen, the baker, Mr Jakins, and Mr Stow. The next day those who had partaken of the fish weie seized with most alarming symptoms. Their bodies began to swell, and became coveted with, blotches, and their eyes started from the sockets. In the hou>e of Mr Slattery no less than four of the family were attacked at the same time. In addition to the symptoms mentioned above, the sufferers were seized with a violent and painful retching. Of Mr Sullen's family no less than five were affected in the same way, as well as a young woman who partook of the eels with the family. The remedies prescribed were those usually applied in such cases, and the patients were all caused to vomit, fhev are now getting better, but for two days they suffered veiy severely, and wilJ not soon forget, their feast of eels. Mr Stow had prepared a dish of the deleterious fish for breakfast, but hearing how his neighbors had been served, he very wisely abstained from eating them, and gave the prepared eels to his cat and dog, thinking thev would do them no harm ;

but they seemed to have suffered even worse than ihe human being* We .nave hear/] nothing that can in any way account for the deleterious quality of these eels, except that some poison U ]aid for dogs in Campbell's paddock, ,and it is supposed that some dog utter being poisoned may have been thrown into the water, and eaten by the fish in question, which were caught close to Campbell's reef. But whatever the cause, we venture to say that the inhabitants of Freeman's Bay will be very chary in future how they partake of stewed eels. Only a few weeks ago, Mr Howard, of the Theatre, was laid up for a week through dining off these so called savory fish, and it is only a few days since we warned the public against eating them. John BlackeH, Esq., has been appointed Marine Engineer for the Colony of New Zealand. The Governor, in his speech at Oaniarii, recently, after summing up the elements ot prosperity he had observed in Otago, and what he had gathered from statistics, observed :—" I wish to draw general attention to these facts and figures, for their signification appears to be overlooked in many quarters. They prove that the single province of Otago, after an existence of only twentythree years, already far exceeds in revenue, in trade, and in importance genet-ally, the entire colonies of mania ; of Jamaica and our other West India Islands; of Guinea, Nova Scot&, New Brunswick, and a large majority of the other dependencies of the British Crown." A. Chinaman, name unknown, was found dead in the snow on the Waipori ranges (Otago) on the 29th ult. Supplementary Estimates for the expenditure of the financial year 1870 71, have been brought into the British House of Commons. Among the items we notice one of u <£27l for.s'vorda for presentation to frieudly New Zealand chiefs/' These are the swords which, it will be remembered, were presented to Kemp, Bopata, and Topia by his Excellency the Governor last year.