Hawke's Bay Times. Nullis addictus jarare in verba mugistri. TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1388, 30 July 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullis addictus jarare in verba mugistri. TUESDAY, JULY 30, 1872.

The Supreme Court was once, more adjourned this morning—this time to the 12th August, for which date a new jury lias been summoned. There were no eases in the Resident Magistrate's Court this mnining. A new shipping company has been formed in Wellington with a capital of £ 100,000. It is intended to purchase .six ships for conveying goods from England to Wellington, thence to be transhipped to the various ports. £50,000 are to be raised there, and whatever balance is not raised there will be guaranteed to be raised in London. By way of Sydney vve learn the following relative to the action taken in "Victoria for the prevention of the foot-and-mouth disease—a subject about to engage the immediate attention of our own Legislature in New Zealand : —The foot and-mouth disease commission has been continuing its labors and investigations, and the efforts made to stamp o-jI the disease have so fai apparently proved successful. The quarantine established in the infected district, and the thorough fumigation of the farms where the diseased cattle were located, seem lo have prevented the disease fVom spreading, but as it is of so insidious a character it is impossible to say that it "ill not suddenly break out in .some other district. There are pomplamts made of the Commission's Want, of energy, although with very little reason. The general, absence of a knowledge of the disease, its symptoms, (node of communication, and so forth, necessitated the taking of a great deal of evidence, which has necessarily occupied mucji time. There have been also examinations of suspected cattle in several localities, and the mateiials are Collected tor a full report, which will be shortly submitted to the Govern W.eul. The question of prohibition, entiie or conditional, of cattle from ftihev countries, has been discussed, and il*<? Argus a.vlvQGates the former. The-,

National Agricultural Society has been considering the question, and amongst thera; are advocates of total prohibition for the present, as no practicable amount of ''quarantining would, according to recent experience and information, afford the desired security; but a majority of the Society arrived at the resolution that it was desirable that all animals" which had been affected during their voyage, should be killed, and all others placed in quarantine. Writing on political subjects, the Evening Post has a severe article on the Government, and congratulates the Opposition on its prudent reticence. It counsels chose opposed "to Ministers to wait patiently until the proper time comes for enunciating their principles.

A Wellington telegram in the New Zealand Herald says . "Mr Brogden has instructed his manager ro commence work on the Waikato rail v* ay line on all points between Newmarket and Drury on the 22nd July. The con tract for the Onehunga branch will, be settled in a few days. Train* will run thiee months after the contract is signed.' A. Coromandel telegram in the Daily Southern Cross, dated July 2<i, a p.-m., says : "The stormy weather of the past few days has culminated in heavy floods. The upper portion of the To-kai-ea tramway has been washed away. Mining is at a standstill. There is considerable damage and loss in the district." The town of Westport, on the west coast of the Middle Island, appears to be doomed. It is now over three years since the sea commenced encroaching upon the line of the main street facing the sea beach, and from that time to the present, at shorter or longer intervals, one block after another has been swept out to sea, ennied away by the action of the ocean breakers. What has long been proposed will now iiave 10 be carried into effect, which is to reniO'e the site of the township to the terraces nearest to that part of the river naugahb* for steamers and sailing vessels. Westport, like Hokitika, is built on the sea beach, which only a few years back had formed a portion of the ocean bed. With respect to Westport, the sea is claiming its own again, as it did five years ago at Hokitika, when over 600 buildings were either swept into the sea, or pulled down and re move Ito more distant sites. The de struciion of property at Westport. has be<m immense, and many scores ot business people have been utterly ruined by their sections —which were at. one time the most valuable in the town, and upon vvhich very costly buildings had been elected—now being covered by- the sea We hear from Greymouth, which is situated about 80 miles further south on the same coast line as Westport, that there ate such vast accumulations of snow on the terraces, and on the ranges at the back of them, that should warm weather, accomppanied by rain, set in, nothing can save the town and the low-lying districts from an inundation, more severe in its destructive, results than any which have preceded it. Au appalling accident happened a short time ago at Aiisaig, by which two vouuff siirls lose their lives. Actuated by curiosity, they went to see a steam threshing machine at work. During the temporary absence of the person in charge, one of the girls seems, to have <rone so near the machine thai her ciothes were caught by the machinery and she was dragged in. Her companion, in attmepting to extricate her, was also drawn in. The altered noise of the appaiaius brought the man in charge to the spot, but, being stunned at the frightful sight that met his eye, he was unable for a moment to stop the machinery. It was then found that the unfortunate girls were literally torn to pieces. The deceased were named M'Donald and M'Dougald respectively, and were each about fourteen years of age. They were both the daughters of widowed mothers,

A heavy find is reported in the Irish Times :—A fanner, Jiving at Boyle, was psepaving to cut turf a few days ago, and while so occupied lie came ucroHS a bag filled with .silver coins of the yeaiv 1566 and 15,72., The hug weighed plwut %$ . s to.ne.,

THE POLITICAL SITUATION. The Wellington Independent, of the 16th July, has a long apologetic article in favor of Ministers. It admits the errors of the Government, and re" marks: — :i It would be saying a great deal morn than could be said of anv past or possible future Government of New Zealand to assert that no grounds of complaint are to be found ; or that no sins of omission or commission have been committed. The large scheme of public works and immigration was in itself such a revolutionary change in '.he work, of a New Zealand Ministry that it was inevitable that in the 01ganisation of the necessary machinery to carry it out, mistakes would be made and experience purchased, at some considerable cost. But, in spite of all the difficulties which had to be surmounted, we think it will be found, when the House comes to consider the amount of actual practical work accomplished, that on the whole the administration has been careful and painstaking. Probably the great source of weakness in the administration of such a large colonial policy has been the political exigencies arising out of our divided form of Government. The demands upon the Ministry to satisfy simultaneously the wants of "each political division of the colony could only be met by incurring great disproportionate cost of time and money, and it will be found that much ot what has been called wasteful expendituio has been due to this cause. That the Government has succeeded in bringing the proposed works in the various provinces to their present stage in the time they have is no mean cause for congratulation by the country and approbation by the Legislature. The con ti acts already entered into by the Government embrace the most important sections of the main lines of railway, and possibly it will be found that with the existing extraordinarily high price of railway material the Government would have been unwise to encumber itself with contracts v hich might reasonably be delayed. The work of immigration has not b a en devoid of great difficulties. At the outset of this portion of the A gent-General's operations he was met by not only great and superior competition, but by obstacles arising in a great measure out o\' the conflicting provincial system which had been in force. It is possible and open to question that the AgentGeneial overrated these difficulties at first, and was induced to pay more at ten Lion than later experience has shown to be necessarv to foreign sources of population. But the papers to be laid before Parliament will probably convince the Legislature that the Government in the matter of immigration has been fully alive to the propriety and advantages of deriving fresh population from the shores of Great Britain, and that satisfactory arrangements have now been established for securing a re gular supply of the most desirable class of immigrants. A few of the rocks ahead are indicated on the political chart of the Independent. Thus—- " The Government will have no doubt to meet many antipathies—per sonal and political. Ti ey will have to be prepared to explain to those who consider that the appointment of a Resident Minister for the Middle island was a sign of weakness or an admission that local supervision, is necessary, that the residence of a responsible minister in the Middle Island was not only a political concession justly due, but has been productive of advantage. They will have to convince some of their opponents that the concurrent offices of Superintendent of Hawke'.i Bay and .Minister of Public Works were not incompa'ible with the efficiency of the Minister, and that the peculiar condition of native matters in Hawke's Bay rendered it advisable that temporarily Mr Ormond should continue to hold his position as Superintendent of that Province. The predictions of wasted finances, and a failing revenue, wilJ no doubt satisfactorily be met by the official returns of expenditure and the general revival of trade and revenue. The mail contract is a rock ahead, but u; spite of all I.be mischances which of

late have threatened this service, we do not expect it will be regarded as any greater occasion for hostility to the Government than'it was last sassion. Purely domestic questions more than others are likely to cause anxiety to Ministers, and upon some of them they will have to take a firm stand. The demands also for constitutional changes which come from various parts of the colony will have to he attended to, and in dealing with them the Government can hardly escape committing itself to a policy vn Inch will find earnest opponents. The last paragraph in the article is short but pregnant. It is not at all jubilant. ft anticipates a probable hostile vote, but hopes the Assembly will give Ministers just another term of office, when—we suppose it may be inferred they will voluntarily resign. Thus;— "On the whole, we are inclined to think that if the Ministry conduct their business with proper (act and firmness, they have established for tbetnsehes a sufficiently strong majority to enable them to carry on the government of the colony for another term."

We take the following from the Thames Advertiser, July 22:—Our readers will remember that considerable .<paoe was occupied in the newspapers a, few weeks ago by an abduction case which occurred at Coromande], in which a Maori woman had been taken awuy from her lawfully married husband. The husband, Makoare, is a JSTgapuhi, while his wife is a member of the Ngaiiniaru tribe. She was Uiken to an island near Coromande:!, and although Makoare engaged learned counsel to assist him in the recovery of his wife, the law coul 1 nob be put in force, as it was said the Maoris would resist any attempt to take her away. Dr Pollen, Mr Mackay, and Taipari were all employed in the negotiation, bub the disconsolate spouse oould not recover his wife. Some time ago, the Ngatimaru brought the woman up from Coromandel to Shortland for medical advice, as she is excedingly ill, and lodged her at the Thames Hotel. Makoare followed, and made various attempts with European friends, to have an interview -with his wife. He was resolutely denied, and the woman was at length taken up to the native settlement. Makoare followed. Yesterday the natives attempted to take her out of the creek, intending, it is said, to lake her back to the island at Ooromaiidel. The boat struck on the bank, and Makoare, hearing of the removal, went down with several Europeans to endeavor to recover his wile. He was resisted by the natives, but at length they agreed to bring the woman hack to Shortland. On her landing Makoare took hold of her by one hand, while a native of the opposite party seized the other. The woman then sat down, objecting to being pulled about. Taking her husband's hand, she rose, and was walking with him, when several natives rushed up, and quite a scene of disorder ensued, a rare occur reuee at Shoitland en a Sunday. A large crowd of Europeans gathered, noc knowing what all the row was about. Taipari got into the row, and Makoare and another native had a stand up light near the Com r house. Both were at length taken into custody for commit' ting a breach of the peace, while the woman who was the cause of all tbw warfare was led away to Taipari's house. Her friends declare that Makoare was unkind to her, while he says that they are forcing her, and that he will be content if some person in whom he has confidence see* her, and hears from herself that she does not wish to live with him. We (New Zealand Herald) leam that a large colony of starlings have taken possession of a number of rata trees m the neighborhood of St. Peter's-in-the-Forest, and are actively engaged in preparations foi nidification. The settlers in that neighborhood will nodoubt be glad to welcome and protect such colonists. They aie the real > i frimers' friends, and the determined tf I enemies, of all grubs, as well as the,,! professional extirpators of insect «i|e l »| the bane of the iNew Zealand ttgricttl- ; fo'VWth