Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1255, 22 February 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1872.

His Honor J. D. Ormond, Esq., and J. Oarrutbers, Esq., engineer in the Public Works .Department, arrived here this afternoon, per Nevada. We 3 1>e indebted to Alley, purser of the Nevada, for delivery of files, and for other 'favors. The hills around Napier, and the country generally, which, but a week p,r two back, presented a wry dry and parched-up appearance, now look delightfully green, consequent on the late refreshing falls of rain. From all we can hear, there will he a great scarcity of potatoes in the Napier market during this season, and, as a- consequence, prices will probabl) rule high. Rain came too late to benefit the potato crop to any great extent. Jn the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, two civil cases came up for Rearing—Hague v. Igoe and Bowwan v. Igoe. The defendant was in prison, having been arrested yesterday, on the affidavit of Mr J.. Topping, one of his, creditors.,, that he intended to the Province by the jfee <i\YQ, qa&es. wcve adjourned sim $e K

The Nevada, which left this port today, had on board £20,498 bullion for the Bank of England, London. The Bishop of "Wellington, accompanied by Mrs Uadfield, were passengers to Napier by the Nevada to day. The Napier telegraphic correspondent of the Evening Post states that at the meeting held at West Olive on the 17th insfc., " the opinion was, that railway works are less required than others, and that no confidence is felt in ths completion of the railway." This is altogether untrue. The whole object of the meeting, as shown by the resolutions passed, was to urge that the railway line should run through their own district. The Keera had not been notified as having left Wellington for this port up to the time we went to press. The question of temperance, late papers inform us, is beiDg more widely discussed now throughout the United Kingdom than at any previous period. What we all want to learn is tersely expressed in a late number of the London Times. We will quote the paragraph i —" Political reforms are and must be ineffectual to regenerate the world. They may assist in improving it; they may clear the way for the operation of more powerful agencies; but unless something more be addec*, the freest trade, the widest suffrage, the closest ballot, the most thorough-going abolition of privileges, will not avail to prevent the recurrence of old evils, as at first." About half-a mile of the West Pier of Leith was destroyed by fire on the 2nd Dec. The loss is estimated at from £12,000 to £14,000. New uses for paper are continually being discovered, One of the latent is to employ it for the manufacture of mil way carriage wheels. The paper is out into discs the diameter of the wheel, less the thickness of the tire, and subjected to a pressure of one and a half ton to the square inch, and then secured by iron flanges held by bolts passing through them and the paper. The wheel then receives a steel or iron flagged tire. The advantages claimed for the use of the paper for this purpose are, that it is noiseless, does not spying or shrink with the weather, affords a stay to the tire, and a lateral support in turning curves, adapts itself to any trifling inequality of the inner surface of the surrounding tire, and is stronger than any other material of the same weight of which a wheel may be made. Shakespeare is at last 1 o have a statue erected to his memory. The site chosen is at the end of Park Lane and Hamilton Place. The matter arose in this way. A benevolent lady left a large sum of money for a drinking fountain to be placed at the site mentioned, and requested the Commissioner of Works to choose the subject and carry out the necessary arrangements. This has been done, and a suitable design chosen. It repre*ents Shakespeare, supported on the one side by Chaucer, and on the other by Milton. At the back of the poets is the figure of JFame blowing a trumpet, and underneath there is a verv narrow rill of water perpetually trickling. The barque Oden, of London, official number 26,062, sailed from Cardiff with a cargo of coal, bound to Demerara, in the latter part of September last. Having encountered some rough weather in the channel, the master was obliged to put back again, and go on the mud for the examination of the ship, which he patched a little. The leak, however, was not stopped thereby, and the cargo was discharged again in dock, and the ship placed on the "gridiron." No sooner was this accomplished than a sharp change of wind upset the unfortunate vessel, and partly stove in her side. This occurred on October 29, and the friendly mud was again resorted to two day- afterwards. " What next 1 " remains to be seen. The vessel, we believe, was originally a Russian prize; but now belongs to Mr Stribley, of Padstow. The Princess Alice of Hesse-Dai mstadt, Queen Victoiia's daughter, has written a novel, called "Ways of Life," which depicts social life among the higher classes of Southern Germany. Happiness is like a pig with a grevtsed tail : every one run,s after it, but nobody can. hold it.

A literary phenomenon has arisen at Greenock, in the form of a policemanpoet. Mr Kenneth M'Lachlan, who was for many years a member of the police force in that town, has. in the press a volume of verses, entitled " The Beauties of Scotland." Though selftaught, he is said to be a good classical scholar, as well as having pretensions to be a poet. Sailors (observes the Globe) may well feel uncomfortable. The 11-inch muzzle-loading rifle gun of 25 ton<, at a range of 200 yards, has sent a Palliser shell straight through the side of a target considerably stronger than the broadside of any iron-clad now afloat. On this occasion, moreover, the gun used a reduced charge of 75 lbs., its full charge being 85 lbs. We may fairly expect, therefore, that the employment of the full charge would ensure the same result at a range of over 1000 yards. The target in question consists of a solid wrought-iron plate of 8 inches in thickness, backed by a double layer of 6-inch balks of teak timber, a solid wrought-irou plate of 5 inches in thickness being worked between the layers of timber. There is also an inner skin of 1 J-inch U'on, and the usual iron ribs. This amounts to a total of 13 inches of armour and 12 inches of backing, exclusive of the skin. Our readers may imagine the confusion caused between decks by the. bursting of a 530-lb. shell, in addition to the shower of tragments from, the gaping hole in the vessel's side..