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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 95, 7 September 1878, Page 2

A correspondent, whw is 'evmenily inclined to be satirical, suggests that Mr Macalister's report upon tho Foxton. Local Board had something to do with the Marton conflagration. He insinuates that as the Road Board accounts were demolished, it was just possible the fire was provided wherewith to " cook them." The fortnightly visit of the ResidentMagistrate to the Manawatu has not- beer a very laborious one this trip. At Otaki, there wos» a clean sheet $ at Foxtail, there wns but one case, which was. adjourned- for a fortnight ; and although a good deal of business, particularly criminal, was sot down for hearing at, the Palmerston. Court, the whole was got through before" dinner. Mr ITi»yne3, the Engineer to* the County Council has called upon us witlv reference to tho letter signed " Martin J3.i!>c»gn,"w]iich appeared m our last issue. I [^Informs us that none of the men under life-charge are allowed to be an hour from wort without an especial reason, and that consequently there are no grounds- for the complaint preferred. We give this publicity fti justice to Mr Ilnyncs and the man accused, but as far as we ourselves were coneeriujd,- no contradiction. was at all nGcessary-rr-inasmuph as we valued the letter at ; its true worth, and guaged its credibility by the author. A meeting of the Piilmorsfcon Literary Society was held on Thursday evening, at the Reading-room, Mr It:.; Leary m -the chair. There was a large number present., ; nnd between twenty and thirty names for j membership were handed, m. Apologies were received from the Rev., Mr Pewsbury, ; and Mr C. If. Mitford, but expressing wishes for the welfare of the Society. Mr' John Dungan was elected president, and a managing committee of the following gentlemen appointed : Messrs Marsh, Qoleman, Patten, Green, T. King, nnd Walton, tho two vicepresidents, secretary nnd treasurer to be t also ex qjjivio members. After the proI gramme for next Thursday had been ar- ; ranged, Mr Patten read I he amusing sketch of ' The Bashful Man,' Mr. Green delivered 'Othello's Address to the* Senate,' Mr It. Leary read 'Manfred's Midnight. Thoughts,' and Mr Swift recited 'The Vulgar, Little Boy.' A number of subjects were summit ed from which to select for debate, the one chopen being, ' Is .Selfishness the Mainspring of Human Action ?' Six names were handed m; three of whom will be m the affirmative, and three m the negative, and the question will be fully discussed at the weekly meeting to be held on the l&h inst. For the four vacancies m tho Borough Council of Palmerston North only.five candidates hare come forward, two of whom are new men. The following are tho several candidates, with their nominators :-^Sylvester Colemnh,' "nominated by ifohn Wnldegrave and George Matthew Snehon; Thomas lit Walton, nominated by It. Leary and T. Maneon ; Alexander Ferguson, nominated by R>. Leary and Ed vraird Marsh ; Thomas King, nominated by T-liomas Wroy and Syl-vesler-Cttl&rron;* andi<Dhat)lfei>S > . ! QatUn, 3 . nominated by James .Lin ton and Thomas' ifbe. We have little doubt that the three members who retired- by effluxioin of time will, be returned, arid that the contest ior tho fourth seat will be between Messrs King nnd Gatten, and taking public opinion as an index of the result, the furmer should wrtuinly bo the favorite m tho betting. Mr King was a Borough auditor, and as ie was necessary ho should resign that oliidit to bo eligible for oouncillorship, a vacancy has occurred m the office held by him. It is to be hoped that the change of weather ushered m yesterday morning will continue for home time! Wo understand that the long-continued and teinpestu.au*' rains have been playing sad havoc wit h the ltunb.o, scores of which have been found dead each morning. This is tho moro to be regretted, aa were it not for this drawback the present lambing season would have proved an cv ewpt ionsilly good one. llnvever, now that it has tuken up, we trust we will have as long a spell of fine as we. have had of bad weather. The furious gales' which have raged along the coast during the week hay© not been '.without their eftwts, and airii>n«sb the .victims'. is the well-known coast al trader tluon Belle, driven ashore, about live miles this side of Foxton, On Wednesday night. Tlio following is the statement of .tho master, Captain Kerns; — "We left Wnnganui ut one p.iu. on Wednesday, and crossed the bar at 2.20 with a light KiSf. W. breeze and oalm sea. At 7 p.m. when it bout; twenty miles fro.m Wanganui, the wind, which had cli'»ns»e.l to W.S.VY., blew violently, with hurricane force ; I never knew it to blow harder ; we began to shorten sail at 4 p.m., .md at 7 p >». had lo heave to ; the gulp blew strongest at t a.m., ami as I was unable, to keep her off tho l.md, she was beached to save the lives of t!w

crew." The captain wa3 unable to say whether it was possiblo to save the vessel or not. . , \ . At the Pulmerston Licensing Court ! on Thursday, before Messr9. Ward, Dairy m pie nnd Monrad, Commissioners, a transfer of license was granted/for the Royal Hotel, from James Gilbert to John Octavius Bafcchelar. In tho course, of his remarks tho Chairman stated that according to the Police report the hotel contained four Bitting rooms, ten single and seven bedrooms, had fourteen Btalls,in the stables, and. three loose boxes. Although there wore three water closets, there were no urinals, and he requested the licensee to see to the matter. The Chairman likewise instructed the police to see that all the hotels m the district complied with the order.