Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1196, 13 December 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1871.

Wp learn that J D, Orrnond, Esq., may be expected to arrive here from Wellington to-jn or row by ihe Keera.

We understand that Brother Michael ypfiv, Past District Chief Ruler, Independent Order of JEiechabites, having received the necessary authority from the New Zealand District, will open the Tent at Meanee on Saturday evening next, 16 th inst, at 7 o'clock sharp.

The usual weekly parade of the Napier Rifle Volunteer*' takes jalace at 6 p/glock this evening. We have been requested to direct atse#tion to, the f#ct that the s.s t Keera ■will steam hence for Poverty Bay, Taujianga;, and Auckland to-morrow (Thursday) evening, instead of on Friday as M$ b ee P. previously advertised.

The English Mail via Sap Francisco is on board the Keera, which vessel will probably arrive here to-morrow-morning.

Major Campbell, Clerk of Parlia ment, has proceeded to Dunedin for the purpose of examining into and reporting Upon the accommodation available for the session of the Legislature in that city. The visit of the Italian Opera Troupe to Auckland has, it is stated, enabled the cabmen of that city to net over J 2500 during the season. It is also stated to be under their serious consideration whether it will not answer their purpose to subsidise Signor Cagli with a sufficient sum to play a second season, so perfectly satisfied are they at what has fallen to them through the first.

The Evening Post, Dec. 7, says : A portion of the outward Wanganui mail that left town by the coach today, had a narrow escape of being lost. As the coach was proceeding along the Ngahauranga road this morning, by some mean 1 ; or other one of the mail bags fell out on the road; neither the driver nor any one noticing the accident, it was left for the first passer-by to pick up. A man, named Styles of Ohario, was coming into town about the same time, with his dray, and took charge of it. Had his horse been a tolerably fast one he would have endeavored to overtake the coach, but the attempt with the animal he had would have beed useless. He brought the bag into town, and handed it over to the Post Office authorities, making, at the same time, a claim for compensation for his trouble. Whether he will receive any we have not yet heard. The Gvey Kiver Argus says that Mr Lightband, member of the General Assembly for the City of Nelson, made a good suggestion in the debate on the san Francisco service. It was, that a part of the subsidy should be paid in coals, with a view of developing the coalfields of Nelson aud the West Coast generally. There can be no doubt that the annual consumption of ,£30,000 worth of coals by these American vessels, must prove a great stimulus to the development of our mineral wealth, and to the construction of railways from the coalmines to the ports, i<j is clear that not only all the ocean-going, but all the coastal steamers will consume nothing but New Zealand coals. A melancholy accident occurred in the Hiver Wilberforce on Sunday evening last (says the Lyttelton Times, Nov. 25). Mr James Holt, a young man twenty-five years of age, and the son of Mr James Holt, St. Albans, was crossing the river on horseback, in company with three others, when the hind legs of his horse either sunk into a hole or slipped off something in the bed of the river, and the animal fell ovor on to him in the water. The horse got away and escaped from the river, but its unfortunate rider was not again seen in such a way as to enable assistance being given him. About two hours afterwards, Mr W. Adams, with his son, went in search of the body, and found it on a spit about a mile below where the accident occurred.

The Wanganui Herald, 25th Nov., says :—Sergeant-Mnjor Bezar informs us that ho discovered torday, at the back of the Rutland Stockade, the skull and bones of a human being. From the formation of the skull (the teeth of which are in excellent preservation) Sergeant Major Bezar conjectures that the remains are those of a Maori: probably one of those concerned in the atf'air of ] 847.

The following effects of lightning are given by the Brisbane Courier :—" On Saturday week last, during a storm, the lightning struck the gable of a house in Leichardt-street, about 20 feet from the floor, splintering the chamber-board and forcing in about two square feet of lath and plaster. It then passed down one of the head pillars of an iron bedstead, tore up the flooiing beneath the castors, and cutting a groove in one of piles on which the house is built, entered the earth, Two children were in the bed at the time it was struck, but they escaped with no worse harm than a fright. In another room some bricks were knocked down the chimney. The house was filled with a dense smoke for some minutes."