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Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1639, 22 December 1874, Page 470

Mr Weld, the new Governor of Tasmania, has arrived by the mail steamer. During the month of September, 2,262 emigrants were forwarded to New Zealand.

The emigration returns from Liverpool, for the quarter ending September 30, show a decrease of 9,512 compared with those of last year. Tho death is announced at Paris, in her nineteenth year, of a sister of the Ex-King of Naples. The Princess married, only a few months ago, Count de Bardi, nephew of the Count de Chambord.

The election for East Ward, Sydney, has resulted in the return of Messrs Parkes, Macintosh, Stuart, and Davies, the Premier being the only Ministerial candidate. Mr Farnell, Minister for Lands, was defeated at Paramatta.

Mr Michael Banim, the last surviving member of " the OTlara family," whose delineations of Irish rural life and scenery are known throughout the whole reading world, died shortly before the departure of the last mail.

The following telegram has been published in some of the Southern papers : Adocument addressed toTe Whiii Fanapa, a rebel chief, urging him to oppose the sale of the Ohinemuri land to the Government, has been intercepted, and will probably form the subject of Government inquiry. It purports to come from a newspaper man, who was endeavoring to get it translated when it was seized by the interpreter and forwarded to Civil Commissioner Kemp. The Grahamstown Evening Star, 7th December, says :—We publish no sharemarket quotations to-day. There were none to publish. It is presumed that the Association have become tired of quoting the value put upon stock by sellers and buyers, without being able to record a sale. This looks ominous for the Exchange. Other pursuits should be more profitable than booking just now. Alittlehard work, it might almost be fancied, would be preferable to some—certainly more profitable.

Some curiosity is expressed in Wellington as to what is likely to be done with the unfortunate Lowry Bay property now that Sir James Fergusson has departed. It will be remembered that the sum of £2,000 was advanced for expenditure on this property, his Excellency undertaking to pay interest on it while in the Colony, and the undertaking was that the property should be sold if his successor objected to continue the arrangement. It is considered very unlikely that the Marquis of Normanby will do this) and it is very doubtful whether the interest on this advance has ever really been charged. Late English papers report a crime of peculiar atrocity, prompted by lust of gain. John Boyle, aged 37, a hairdresser, residing at 10, Oakley-street, Lambeth, has been remanded, charged with setting fire to his dwelling-house, an aged cripple and two females being in the house at time. Oiled rags were found on fire in several places by the firemen, and on the prisoner being searched there were found in his pockets two policies of the London and Liverpool Assurance Office on the life of Frederick Keeth, his uncle, the aged cripple discovered in his house, besides his will, leaving all to the prisoner. He had also the receipt for the ensuing year's fire assurance in the London, Liverpool, and Globe Office for the sum of £2OO on the fixtures and furniture.

The New Zealand Times, 14th December, says : —A tawji —one of the few old customs to which the Maoris tenaciously cling—was held at the Te Aro pa yesterday on the remains of the old and venerable chief Hobbs. The deceased was a member of the Te Atiawa tribe, which is now located principally at Taranaki, and had attained an almost incredible age—in fact, some of the natives say he had reached his 104th year. It was evident to those about him on Thursday last that the old veteran would not last much longer) and a messenger was despatched to the Petoni, Hutt, awl Taiti natives—all of whom belong to the same hapu—to acquaint them of the anticipated early decease of one of their most respected chieftains. The poor old man died early on Friday morning last. The natives assembled at the pa on Saturday, and the customary tanyi was held yesterday ; the women decking their heads with karaka, ngaio, and other leaves, and maintaining a prolonged weeping till after dark. The body of the deceased was laid out in the customary manner, mcrcs being conspicuous in the house in which he lay, denoting his chieftainship. The feast usual on such ccasions was liberally provided. Ropiha Motuora (the deceased's nitive name) will be interred in the Wes- . , ...i cemetry this afternoon, he having .icccived Christian baptism at tkeh'uuls of a Wesleyan Missionary named Hobbs, whose name he adopted.

During the month of November the estates ot : eighteen persons who died intestate were placed in charge of the public .trustee. The largest amount left was under £SOO, by Christian Lawson, of Greek's Gully, Westland, who was accidentally shot. Of the eighteen, seven died in hospital, one died at sea, one was drowned in the Waiwera river, and one was killed by a fall from a horse. According to the Ballarat Star, a medical gentleman has discovered that the whitebait exposed for sale in that town were infested with tapeworms—a delicacy which most lovers of whitebait would rather dispense with. The bottom of a fishmonger's basket was literally covered with the disgusting parasites, and out of seven fish opened and examined, five were found to contain " a vigorous tapeworm." The Otago Guardian is of opinion that " there is considerable looseness in the police arrangements at Macrae's." A correspondent of that paper states that he has been informed by Mrs Simpson, who resides near the Duke of Edinburgh Reef, that an intoxicated individual came to her house on Wednesday, the 11th ultimo, between 9 and 10 o'clock, and demanded admittance. On her refnsing to admit him he became very troublesome—broke into the dairy, upset the milk, threw a quantity of hops into some cream, and ultimately lay down near the door and fell asleep, snoring in a very offensive manner. Mr Simpson was in Dunedin at the time, and, being without protection, Mrs Simpson went to the police-station, a distance of three miles, but the police refused to interfere, intimating that the intruder was " quite a decent man, and only the worse for drink." Afterwards Mrs Simpson induced a Mr Phelan to interfere on her behalf, and he succeeded in getting the drunken man away from |the house. The intoxicated person, however, returned, but was ultimately removed by two neighbors.

Referring to the settlement of immigrants at the Karamea the Auckland Weekly Herald makes the following observations :—" Thirty families of immigrants, our telegrams inform us, are to be sent to the Karamea, in the Nelson province, as the nucleus of a special settlement. These immigrants are to be guaranteed 8s a day for three days in the week for six months. Each family is to have 55 acres of laud at a rental of 2s an acre for 14 years, when it becomes free hold. Verily, many a struggling colonist who had paid his passage out to Nelson ( together with that of his wife and family, would only be too glad to have one-half of the advantages conferred on him which are offered to the stranger. It really becomes a serious consideration, and not in any light to be looked upon as a joke whether it would not be advisable for old colonists to take passage home to come out again as immigrants, with a free passage, 24s a week guaranteed for six months per man, with 55 acres of land at a rental of 2s an acre, and to become freehold in 14 years. Encouragement may possibly be carried a little too far in this direction, when the money for such a thing is drawn from the settled population of the provinces. It places a new arrival in a far more enviable position than those who have been fighting many years for a bit of freehold where the owner might sit under the proverbial fig-tree.

Perhaps our readers will be patient with us (says the Otago Guardian) while we point out to them a curiosity of legislation. Cheap law and cheap legislation are favored in this country. We have to consider a specimen of cheap legislation and, in doing so, we give our readers the benefit of some cheap law. Everyone knows something of the Conveyancing Ordinance, of which we are all very proud, It abolished many ancient and revered forms, and instituted a few clumsy ones of its own. Among these the most curious was the method of executing and attesting deeds. In England a deed must be (1) sealed and (2) delivered, and is usually (3) indented, or professes to be; but this is not necessary. It is naturally usual to sign deeds also, though this is unnecessary, as in olden times when the common law grew up comparatively few could write. Attesting, too, is wholly unnecessary. The Conveyancing Ordinance abolished (1) sealing, (2) delivering, and (3) indenting, and made it imperative that every deed should be attested by two witnesses, and enacted that "the place of abode of the witnesses, their calling or business, shall be stated." This provision was not sufficiently attonded to, so by the Amendment Act of 1860 our sapient legislators repealed that section absolutely) and simply enacted that every deed should be attested by one witness. The words were as simple as the legislators; but mark their effect; Sealing, delivery, and indenting, the three ordinary incidents of an English deed, were abolished. Signing was not necessary at Common Law, and was abolished in New Zealand. All that was apparently required to make a deed was that a piece ot paper should be " attested by one witness! " The crowning effort was that of the Legislature this year. An Act was passed containing a disingenuous confession of the blunders we have mentioned, by which it is enacted that the Act of 18G0 shall be read as not repealing that part of the Conveyancing Ordinance which relates to the signing by conveying parties, and also " that such signature shall be attested by one witness, whose place of abode, calling or business shall be stated on the deed." This last provision is very interesting to our legal brethren. Itwill certainly be neglected, and some day there will be a big lawsuit to decide whether these words are " mandatory" or " directory." We confess wo cannot state the difference ; but perhaps the Supreme Court will be able to do so to the infinite satisfaction of suitors. The existence of this Act is not extensively known yet, and we have no doubt that numbers of deeds of conveyance, executed since August last, are defective through non-compliance with the provision as to the address and occupation of the attesting witness.

The Colonial Prize firing for 1875 is to take place at the Thames, commencing on Monday, 25th January. • Professor Wilson, of the Melbourne University, died very suddenly, on December 11, from paralysis. A telegram has been received by the Victorian Government from Sir Andrew Clarke, stating that O'Farrell, the clerk who defrauded the Land Department, lias beeu arrested in Singapore. It seems O'Farrell, lulled into a false security, left Noumea and proceeded to Queensland ; from thence he went by the Torres Straits steamer to Singapore. A detective has been despatched to bring him to Melbourne.

It is with much regret, says a Wanganui contemporary, we have to announce the issue of a warrant for the arrest of Mr D. Lyell, sub-manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Marton, who is charged with having misappropriated funds belonging to the bank. Mr Lyell had received leave of absence to visit the hot springs for the benefit of his health, and was apprehended at Tauranga, on the East Coast. This event, adds our contemporary, will create a wide feeling of regret in the district, where Mr Lyell was much respected, and it will be the anxious wish of many that he will be able to establish his innocence.

The New Zealand Gazette, 18th December, notifies that the Hon. Charles C. Bo wen is appointed a member of the Exocutive Council, and also appointed Minister of Justice and Commissioner of Stamp Duties. Lieutenant Irwin Charles Maling, 35th Regiment, is appointed Private Secretary to his Excellency the Governor, and Lieutenant Lord Hervey Lepel Phipps, of the New Zealand Militia, is appointed Aide-de-Camp and Lieuteuant R. F. Le Pastoural extra Aide-de-Camp. Lord Hervey Phipps is appointed Lieutenant in the New Zealand Militia; his commission is dated from the 3rd December. Mr Samuel Herbert Cox is appointed Assistant-Geologist for New Zealand.

The following from a Hamilton correspondent of the Waikato Times, may apply to districts out of Waikato: "Commercial travellers are swarming in the district just now. Every second man you meet in the various townships is a ' Traveller.' Once in every three months appears to be tho time for their invasion of the Waikato. And they all come at the same time, racing for the cream of the plunder. If Mr J—'s traveller catches sight of Mr H—'s young man starting off in any particular direction, he is after him like a shot. They are bad companions, however, and seem to have a peculiar but decided preference for 'little bills' over hard cash. The question often occurs to me —What is the cause of the eagerness of the Auckland merchants to get off their goods? Of course 'push' in business is a most desirable thing, but when you see twelve or fifteen agents besieging the various stores with applications for custom at the same time, in a comparatively poor district like ours it means something more, I fancy. Anything for 'paper' to melt seems the order of the day, and the temptation to the smaller shopkeepers to trade beyond their means which is held out by the facility with which goods can be obtained, if they will only give their acceptances, is very great. The goods are not, and cannot with the present limited demand, be disposed of when the bill matures, and then tho merchant comes to the relief by placing the balance wanted to meet it to the credit of his customerBut what a regular collapse there would be amongst the small fry if three or four big town houses went at once! "

To Clean and Preserve Silver, Electroplate, tDc—Oakey's [London] Non-Mer-curial Silver-smiths' Soap is garanteed to be free from mercury or any other injurious ingredients too often used in the manufacture of plate powder, and is sold in Tablets by storekeepers generally. Knife Polish. —Oakey's [London] Wellington Knife Polish.—Old knives cleaned constantly with this preperation bear a brilliancy of polish equal to new cutlery. As will be seen by their in our clumns, it can be used with any kind of knife-board or knife-cleaning machine