PALMERSTON NORTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5320, 15 April 1878, Page 3

PALMERSTON NORTH.

(from odu own correspondent.) We have at last a headmaster for our school again, after being without one for.more than six months. The new master is Mr. Locke, from Turakina, who bears an excellent name for getting his scholars forward, and who will "no doubt prove an acquisition to the town. ... , . , . The native game shooting in this district is not nearly so good as was anticipated, which may be principally attributed to the immense slaughter of pigeons and wild ducks by the natives before the season began. Unless something be done very shortly all native game will be simply annihilated. If the Pro tection of Animals Act were strictly enforced against natives and white men alike, and a yearly ten-shilling license (to be covered by a game license) for carrying a gun introduced and strictly carried into effect, there would be some chance of game, both native and imported, not being exterminated in a year or two ;'otherwise it most assuredly will be. Mr. Knowles, Under Secretary of Public Works, is at present here, presumably with the object of pressing forward the Wanganui railway. If this. be so there may be some chance of trains running through from Foxtou to Wanganui before this generation has passed away. . The want of a second constable here is becoming a really serious matter. The local papers report of the last Resident Magistrate s Court concludes as usual with “There was a perfect host of debt cases, but in all of which no proof of service of summons could be adduced, and they were consequently, postponed till next Court day.” If the Government would carry out their scheme of converting the buildings originally erected as stables for the .tramway horses into constabulary barracks, stables, and lock-up, it would, easily accommodate another constable.

The approaches to the Manawatu bridge are at length finished, and a small part of the road on the Fitzherherton side is now being formed. The result is that a substantial house is already being erected by Mr, Barton, C. 8., on that side of the river, and many others will probably soon follow his example. According to the census returns we have only 267 houses and 876 inhabitants in the borough of Palmerston. As, however, we had 310 houses in March, 1877, when the petition for the town to be incorporated as a borough was prepared, since which only three have been destroyed (by fire), and some twenty or thirty at least have been built, and as we have over 380 burgesses on the roil, I fear that this census will prove a very indifferent guide as to the population of New Zealand unless it has been much more accurately taken at other places than it has been here. The fact of the enumerator living in another district, and his being responsible for the returns of such a large area as the combined districts of Manawatu and Kangitikei, has probably in our case something to do with the unreliable result. Mrs. James Bull died suddenly last night at Bull’s. She had been suffering from asthma for some time, but I have not yet heard the immediate cause of her death.

Yesterday a man named James Aitken, while driving four young horses in a waggon, went over the side of the road between Feeding and Awahuri. The waggon was smashed to pieces, but both man and horses escaped with a severe shaking and some bruises. Another Feilding man named Atkins nearly severed his foot on Saturday last with an axe which he was using at the time. An inquest was held to-day at Feilding upon a German named Boer, who was smothered by a fall of earth while working for the Corporation.