Woodville Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 122, 18 April 1884, Page 3

Woodville Items.

1 "'- . r l> \ -'(Exti'-iui'v.) The scenery aad effects purobased by the local cub from the Wan^atiui LVaraa« tie Club have ariived, Mr Peebles doing the carriage free from Palmevsto:-. It is time the Club were thinking of their first entertainment. : ' .

• Mr Kollatt, who lias been, laid up from Jkidnoy disease for' .-some time, was ;on Friday, Uat rempved to the Waipawa' Hospital, The sick man ,was carried down the bridle track on Friday, arid a • brake stared with him from ' 'Eu ojerpa -in-the evening. ,T he party pawed Crane's Tamaki. Hotel before- 10 o'eloolc, and as 1 KoHatt bad been complaining of the cold' (the blankets id which he waa wrapped' being white with hoar- frosty,, they asked 'for. some rags or blankets at' the hotel to wrap him up' better ; bat the request wap refused, and Mr Bunnihfc todk the rug which he had brought for himself and used it to -assist m making the unfortunate patient more comfortable. The matter has been reported; to members of the Licensing Committee." '

The School Committee held a 1 meeting , on Thursday eVem'ng to consider the apV ; pHcntiom for the martership of the Wood" - Bbhool. The. whole of the members were present. The Chairman read seventeen applications fur the post, some of; "ihenTof aYery highjorder. After careful j considerations of the applications; the Couimittee resoltad on\ referring the application of one-Mr Jolin Campbell, of Canterbury, who prasented very high tea* timonials, to the Board lor approval, the general recommendations of this oandi* \ qa^e being superior to those of the other*!

. . One of the greatest bug-bears to the progress of settlement m the country ly» in-between Woodville Pahiatua is (he Wellington Corporation. They- have a large endowment there ought to . have beefc settled long ago. >The Mayor ' biF Wellington is Mr Fifiher, who is avowedly a man of liberal principles. When spoken to some time ago about the pale of this endowment, he said the Cor-, poration would hold it until it became ntor* valuable. Good offers have been made for tbe lease of the endowment, but the Corpotation will hare none of them.' This body may have the legal but not the moral right to lock up these lands,; and i£. they refute to do anything with ! thorn, the people here and m Pahiatua should agitate to have the land alienated ft-om the Borough of Wellington and thrown open for settlement. If Wellington requires no revenue for this land now she never will, and ehe can do without it.

Mr M»candrew, M.H.R. for Port Chalmeraarfts a visitor to Woodville qn Monday night en route for Wellington. Sine* passing through here five years ago he expresses himself well pleased with the 'progressive aspect of the bush country through which -*ie travelled, but does not thinW'the township, has advanced so much as the load manner m which it is spoken of outside would lead one to believe.

A large number of intending buyers hare visited Woodville for the purpose of inspecting the Wood villa and JPuketoi ..land\jd?6ut to be offered for sale. It - seems that aoWitfistanding the high prices the Government are, asking, most of the ; l«nd will be taken up.

. Mr L. D. Bickerton, the new landlord of the Aberccrn Arms Hotel, has now taken charge of the hoone, Mr Bickerton was very popular m Waipawa, where he hails. from, and will be a welcome addition socially m Woodville. Among other things he wastage manager of the Waipawa Dramatic Club, and will be pleased to assist the local 1 club m their organisation. As will .be seen from another paragraph, his departure from Waipawa was a matter of regret. He has determined to put the Abercorn Arms Hotel on a first-class footing, and is about to re-fur< nish and effect considerable improvements, No doubt Mr Bickerton will receive his due share of support m his new vpcation.

Mr Thos. Tanner had an " experience^' ".-on. his return from Woodville to- Napier last week. He attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting that day, md moved by the events of the morning he; proposed, " Tbatibe attention of the Minister for Public Works be called to the urgent necessity for fencing the line of railway through the Sev«nty»mile Bash, as stock rttay on tho line where the curves we

sharp ami the cuttings deep, and <luh render travelling dangerous, as the engine driyera a^e unable to see stray stock m time to prevent un accident." In moving the resolution Mr Tftnner said he had come down by'the early train from the|bush that morning, and as the train approached the Kopua bridge, which was 90 feet hiijh, there was a nnrrow escape from ah accident such as hia motion referred to. In the deep cutting near the bridge, where the grade waa 1 ;n 45, a cow was seen upon 1 " the line by the driver as the train rounded a curve, and consequently too late to stop. The engine struck the animal, which rebounded «i?ainst the side of the cutting, aud then fell back against the hiuder part of the engine. Had the cow fallen between the engine aud the carriage?, the latter wonld have probably left the line, and hare gone over the 90 feet doclivity spanned by the bridge. It was the duty of the Government to fence the line, ! ; „ '..-.'. .