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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 65, 16 March 1877, Page 2

The Tauranga Highway Board hare demolished the Gate Pa. The Bay of Plenty TYmessays:— "The earthworks of the Pa have been levelled to the ground, and well nigh all the memorial of the scene of the memorable; Gate Pa fight is thus destroyed. What ppfesiblc motive could have actuated the Board in thus acting, or how they could have dared to destroy this interesting relic of the past we are at a loss to conceive. The historical associations connected wLh the Gate Pa are not only of local but of world-wide interest. It was one of the first spots an Englishman would go to see when passing through this district, in conjunction with the cemetery where the remains of the gallant soldiers and sailors who fell at the fight are interred. Rumor ha 3it that the Pa was demolished at the instigation of a settler in the vicinity, who acted without the slighest authority, and that a searching enquiry will be made into the circumstances. An enquiry should certainly be made at once, as the demohshment of this landmark must not be allowed to pass unnoticed by the settlers in

The consequence of appealing against the | Taluation of a piece of property (says the N. Z. Times) was distressing to one gentleman yesterday; Ie had 5 been found necessary that Mir Ames; the city valuer, should revisit the property ia que^stidn, and he-, went there P aid 10s. The valuation was sustained, and the property holder was ordered to pay the 10s cab hire and the court fee. Melancholy fate. The property holder ou hearing about that ten shillings looked gloomy; but gloom was nothing to the expression, which his face assumed when Mr Baker; Glerk : ,of -"the Court, called out, with affiable, airy briskness— "Come and pay the costs!" He expressed disgust at the law which compelled one man to pay for another's calr hire, and seemed generally to think that the '.liberty of the subject was being interfered with. A distressing accident attended with fatal " I results, happened at Wanganui on Friday to a little girl of Mr D. land's. The mother of the poor little thing had been busily engaged in washing, and, leaving her child in the kitchen (where there was a pot of clothes boiling on the fire), went to milk a cow. During her absence the little girl seized hold of the -stick anjl begSn Mo stir the clothes; While so doing! her frock and apportion of her underclothing caught fire, and on discovering this she ran out 'towards her mother but before she reached her every stitch of clothing; was liberally burnt off her back. Notwithstanding; every care and attention the injuries she received were so severe that &% seven o'clock on the same night she died from their effects. A string of seyen bf Mr Redwood's horses passed through I Wellington on Tuesday in the. Hawea, en route, to the Christchurch autumn meeting. - - The Wanganui Borough Council is "a frightful example " of what municipal institutions may come to. The Herald states that it contains " a rowdy bacchanalian element," that some of the; councillors; attend the meetings disguised in liquor, and that one councillor named BJowe, at -the last meeting, broadly accused ; certain brother 'councillors of being - drunkj-having.inade which statement he left th^ room in disgust. ; To judge lby whafc" the Herald says^ some of these YVangauui councillors must be a nice lot.V Tae Herald should endeavor to raise their moral tone, while the Chronicle , should get Mr Fox. to givje a lecture, on the evils of; strong drink, and the virtues of total abstinence. Just think of it ! A town councillor drunk ! What next— and next?— Post. The steamer Agnes returned to port last evening, having successfully accomplished the work of laying the second Cook Strait cable which is now complete from shore to shore. The Agnes left this port on Friday, anchoring in Woraer Bay for the night, and starting for tha cable ground at four next morning. The work of splicing was performed with entire success, but there wa& too much surf on to allow of landing the shore end until yesterday afternoon, when it was got ashore, and four horses being yoked on, it was taken into the cable house and tested by Dr. Lemon, and Mr Grigor Taylor, the electrician attached to the Agnes, the communication being found perfect. This important work, therefore, after so many rexatious delays and mishaps, is at length succeasfuly completed. — Post, March IS. A fatal accident (says the Post of Tuesday) occurred at Lyell's Bay yesterday morning. A boat containing six men, and belonging to the steamer Agnes, was being used for the purpose of taking the shore end of the cable to the beach, when a rope to which the cable was fastened suddenly became detached from the boat, and a big wave rolling in capsized her, the men were of coarse thrown into the water, and all but one of them managed to get on the bottom of the boat. The sixth man, Andrew Illasatnburu, appears not to have been able to swim, and though one of his mates ment to his assistance, the unfortunate man sunk, and was drowned. The man who had tried to rescue the deceased had to look after his own safety, and accordingly swam ashore. The body of Illasamburu was washed ashore a few minutes afterwards. As the water was not at all deep where the boat capsized, it is believed that in the capsize the deceased must have been iiijured in some way which prevented him from helping himself. . The boat and the men on it were washed ashore. The story of a felon's career is (says the Telegiaph) invariably interesting, and the confession of a criminal at the Collingwood Police Court the other day was particularly so. A man named Isaac Standish was brought up on two separate charges of larceny—the first for stealing a hand, truck, valued at £2 10s, the property of Recce Miller, a corn-dealer in Wellington-street; aud the second for larceny as bailee of a truck valued at £3, the property of Adam Clements, a. laborer in Hoddle-streeii. To both of these offences the. prisoner pleaded guilty, and, in extenuation, recounted his misfortunes through life. He said that one time he was in a large 'way of, business as a dyer; but through the infidelity of jhis wife he became a broken man, and, getting into trouble, became sooirthe occupant of a prison ' cell. He had lately been discharged from Pentridge, after having undergone a sentence of about ten years' penal servitude^ cumulative upon numerous small convictions, and had since tried and obtained work at his trade as a dyer. He was a good workman, and as he gave every satisfaction his wages were quickly, increased, but unfortunatelyshortly afterwards his former career became known to his master. He was dismissed from his employment, and, from the same cause, could never, succeed in obtaining honest means of existence. JHe also informed , the Court that he expected to receive another term of three years' .imprisonment from the General Sessions .on other charges., The Bench, considering the numerous convictions recorded against the prisoner, sentenced him to six months' imprisonment on each of the present charges. ' Operations of a very mysterious character (says the Wellington: c Argui) have been going on' in' the neighborhood of the Parliament^ houses 'for niore than a month past. During that time a number of workmen have thrown up a series of earth works round the building, and instituted a subterranean research remarkable as much for the assiduity with wh?ch it has been conducted as for the secrecy of the chief movers in the plot. Residents in the locality and persons from a distance, whose curiosity has been aroused by the alarming accounts of the nature of the work, are completely nonplussed as to the object of the explorations. It is believed that the bowels of the earth in that particular locality entomb no antique relics such as are found at Herculaneura, Nineveh, Porape'i, or Jerusalem, aud, except a conjecture that the whole thii:g is a magnificent joke, for which Mr Mante-1 is responsible no feasible explanation of the undertaking is as, yet forthcoming. During the excavations the workmen have come across a number of fcotid drains of sufficient stench power to destroy all the population within a radius of a mile. ' The ground around the buildings is beautifully reticulated with brick, wood, and pipe drains, which may have been laid down at any timewithin the last half century.. These, iv themselves, are sufficient to account for" the aroma' which made the Parliamentary library such a charming resort,,'duririg last session^and gave to the atmosphere, such a delightful fragrance in all parts of the Parliament House Whatever the object of the little diggings that has been going on so quietly, the unearthiug and removal of the drains is a piece of news that will gladden the hearts of those members who come to Wellington for their annual treafc ! s

During Monday the divers, Mr Gough 1 and son, were engaged at the hulk Eli Whitney, and they managed to recover the two donkey-' engines, valued at about £400.