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Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 97, 15 March 1876, Page 2

Thanks to the thoughtfulness of tie Wanganui Acclimatization Society, Patca has been favored with six Australian minas, which were released yesterday morning in the vicinity of Mr James Houston’s holding at Kakaramea, in lie presence of Messrs Dale and Ivccs. r l hj ; birds, after clearing the cage, appeared but little the worse for their incarceration within (he wires, and Hew away quite strung. The minas have been highly prized wherever 1 bey have been introduced as valuable insectiveroiis birds, and have been imported by the Wanganui Society at a cost of At per pair. Wc trust that they will not fall victims to the indiscretion of amateur gunners —indeed we are satisfied that no person would woiitouly destroy them. The mi,la Ims a bug yellow beak, brown plumage, with white spotted wings, and is about the size of a quid or tui. Mr Henry also released six of the same species opposite Mr Kcwland’s, between Wairoa and Whcimakura, on Monday last, and the birds were reported to be in a healthy condition when liberated. We bog to direct attention to an important sale of building - material announced to beheld by Mr Dale, auctioneer, on the arrival of a vessel from Hokitika. This sale will present a first-class opportunby to settlers and others of acquiring timber at a moderate price for their contemplated improvements. We are g’ad to welcome this competition in the timber trade, as it is likely to give an impetus to the progress of our town in the way of the addition of several buildings, and the improvement of others.

Mr Aitchcson, the contractor for the Patea Pilot House, has completed his contract, and it is hardly necessary to add that the building has been turned out of bis bands in a moat creditable manner. The building has been painted a bright white colour, and will serve as an excellent land mark. The whole work has been completed within contract time. Tire Ketemarae school will be opened for scholars on Monday next, at 9 a.m., under the charge of Mr Brown, late of Nelson, who has recently been engaged by the Patea Education Board. He possesses high testimonials. Sir Julius Vogel addressed a meeting of bis constituents last night at Waitotara. He is advertised to address the electors of : Wairoa, at twelve noon to-day. We understand a number of the residents of Carlyle have resolved to be present. The usual quarterly meeting of the Licensing Commissioners for the Patea District was held at the Court House yesterday. Present—Major Turner (Chairman), Dr Croft, and G. W. Williams Esq. A license was granted to Thomas Scowen for the old Ketemarae Hotel, on the understanding that the house was put in a thorough state of repair, and a favourable report being made. Transfers were granted from John Gibson to S. Dixon for the Kakaramea Hotel, and from John Gibson to James McGregor, bottle license, Ketemarae store. The Commissioners directed Mr Odgers to erect a urinal, and to cover in a drain o£ hy one o£ the commitsinners. This completed the business. Tenders close at 4 p.m. to-day, at the Public Works office, New Plymouth, for the gravelling of 202 chains from the end of the present gravel,ing contract at Hawera towards Ketemarae on the Mountain Road. One important feature in the specifications is that every consideration will be given to the tenderer who under, takes to complete the work within 1 the least time, although nut the lowest in amount.

The return match between the Pateaand Wanganui Cricket teams, took place on Saturday last, but resulted, contrary to expectation,Tn a groat and decisive victory for the' Wanganuites. On the side of the Patea team, some very severe comments were offered in contrast in the hospitality i life red to their Wanganui visitors on the last occasion. We wish to nothing' disparagingly, hut extract the following from the Wan;/anul Chronicle of Monday last“ Play was to commence at 10o’clock hi it owing to the absence of Wanganui players it was between 11 and 12 before the game was nnderweigh. The wicket, too, had been allowed to look after itself, and was as lively as if such luxuries as water and a )oiler were unknown in the district. It was really painful to see two such well-imdched teams facing one another on such a miserable ground ; and our men must have experienced anything but selfcongratulatory sensations if they reflected at all on the contrast it presented to the evident care and consideration ’which marked everything done by their opponents in preparing for the match on the Patea ground. We make these remarks in nc fault-finding spirit regretting rather that there is any occasion for them.” Wanganui beat our local team in one innings, with 18 runs to spare, scoring a total of 120 against 102 scored by Patea in both innings.

The Carlyle Photographic Stu’dlo' will be closed after the 21) th inst, in consequence oh the dullness of business. We regret that ATr Warren should have occasion to suspend operations, and more particularly after the heavy expenditure he has incurred in refitting his studio, which will compare favorably with many in the older provincial towns. As Mr Warren has boon successful in turning out very faithful carte, dc visiten, wc would strongly advise the beads of families and others to pay a visit to his studio and secure the shadow ore the substance fades,”

The Patca Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s Annual Show takes place at the Society’s yards. Kakaramea, on Friday next, and, judging from the extraordinary large number of entries already to hand, it promises to be a brilliant success. There will be a good show of pure bred stock, among the entries appear the celebrated entires, (dladiator, Lord Lome, Surprise, Sator, Pivadlabane. The working committee have been most active in their exertions to render everything complete before the <lay of show. Wo understand that there are over 2UO exhibits entered of various slock, produce, Ac., and, if line weather continues, the show will be well attended by visitors from all parts of the Patca and Wanganui districts. A dinner will be held in the evening at the Kakaramea 'Town Hall. 1 )r Pool - , surgeon to (lie Kelson Hospital, is at present on a visit to the Patea district. We beg to draw the attention of our readers to two important sides of stock advertised to be held by William Cowern at the Kakaramea Sale-yard on Friday and Saturday next. The stock to be offered are really first-class, and as the number is largo, the sale should be one of the most attractive and successful ever held in this district. Blankets ’’ of la-own paper of a superior quality, perforated in such a manner as to permit a free passage to the cxbala tions of the body, without diminishing the wamilb, are advertised in London at 4d fid or Gd each.

A shucking fatal accident happened at Melbourne on Sunday afternoon (says the Australasiaii) Eli/a May all, aged 10 years, daughter of Joseph Parkin Mayall, photographer, 81 Bum ke-streot cast, was standing on the roof of the house hy a parapet near a skylight, while her father gave her a bath, by throwing water upon her from a Yan Yean house, when she overbalanced and fell through the skylight, a distance of 13ft to the floor. It was a double skylight, about sft by 3ft, with two plates of glass, one under the other. Dr Blair was called in, but the child died five minutes after his arrival. The cause of death was concussion of the brain, but the poor child was frightfully cut by the glass, sustaining one particularly horrible gash in the side. The Victorian silk is considered equal in quality to Japanese, and better than Egyptian, in Europe, and its culture is watched with great interest. About twenty per cent of the paragraphs in the Victorian papers have reference to the spread of scarlet fever in that Colony, or deaths resulting from it. A glass bottle unbroken has been found embedded in a hardwood tree in New South Wales. A curiosity in natural history can be witnessed at Hokitika, in the shape of a cat suckling a young rat in company with her two kittens. The Chemical Eevieiv states that in a drop of water obtained from a single snow-flake, and magnified five hundred times, were found pieces of coal frag ments of cloth, grains of starch, sandy matter, and an immense variety’ of other substances, not a fragment of which exceeded in diameter the three-thousandth part of an inch. Near Haiti and, NcW York, recently, a party of workmen discovered a newspaper bedded in gravel, and turned into stone. The priming upon it was plainly visible to the nuked eye.

'Jph&'Auckluiid : Btdr reports the iollow-. ing capture of an immense shark : —‘’.A chase was 'made by several boats’ crews, and Holbrook. Keane, and Johnstone wcr© the successl’a* liarpouners. The hafpoou went splendidly through the brute r but both boat and shark drifted too close to the Breakwater before he could be seemed. After securing- him, it took three boats to tow him in, and a small ileet of watermen accompanied them. It was some time before he was brought over, being of a tremendous weight. He was about 20ft Gin. long, and seemed as if he weighed a ton. He was at last tied to the cutter Dolphin, and preparations are now beingmade for exhibition.”

An old lawyer writes to the DarlingDowns Gazette that thegenei ally supposed privilege of the ladies “ proposing” during the currency of leap year, ‘‘is part and parcel of the common law of England.” Ho says that the law is that “ if a lady, during leap year, makes a gentleman an offer of marriage, he must nut refuse her.” He must marry her like a man, else he is liable to be excommunicated by tfie general voice of the Church, the law, and the general voice of society at large.” Seeing; how much of authority is on their side, the “ gentle sex” really ought to take courage and thin the ranks of hacb’olordom before the year is out, and gay young fellows ought to remember that on refusal of the fair prolfer “ the law disallows the benefit of the clergy.”

The Taranaki Herald (has records wanton destruction, that ought to meet with the heaviest punishment if the offenders could be traced :—“ S mis time since Mr Upj'chn had awhare built on the ranges to enable persons on a visit to the mountain to have shelter during the night. There were also left in the place a mattrass, blanket, and cooking utensils, and an axe and a bill-hook.' About eighteen months since some persons who 1 availed themselves of the accoiiimodation, abused it by destroying the articles they found in the wliarc. They cut the uprights of the whare, and notched both the axe and billhook. Mr Henry, who was up there the other da} 7 , says that some who have lately been making use of the hut, have again been guilty of destroying things found there, for they had smashed up the cooking utensils and cups, &c., left there by visitors, and had thrown them behind the fire-place. Such conduct is very disgraceful, and the parties, if they can be discovered, deserve to be exposed.” In our last issue (says the Wexford People) it was stated that a small yacht bad been found in Cardigan Bay, with a shilling and a telegram on board, and a note asking the finder to telegraph her arrival to Wexford. On Tuesday last she was brought to this town by the mate of the Briton steamer and sent to its owner the Very Rev. Dr Adcin Dean of Ferns’ She is very neatly got up, two and a-lialf feet long, the hull built on the cigar principle and rigged similarly to Mr Laurence Devereux’s splendid yacht. The Very Rev. Dr Atkins built and rigged the little vessel himself, and exhibited it at the bazaar in tiorey, where it had mamadmirers. He let it go at Cuurtown Harbour, bis object being to'test a selfacting tiller, his own invention. He nailed a plate on deck with the words, ‘ Please telegraph the arrival of this boat to W. Alkins, Post-office, Gurey, Ireland. A reward will be sent.” A shilling in a small linen bag was tied to the mainmast.

As a kind of consolation' to tlio.se who love sausages and pork we reprint the following from the Lancet : —“ Epedeinics of trichinosis are not frequent, but those which occur and are recognised are so vddespread as to render it increasingly evident that the disease has obtained and maintains no limited foot-hold. From the east and the west news of its occurrence reaches us. In Germany, indeed, its existence seems to be well looked for, and a corresponding decrease in tbe disease may be expected. But from America the account is less assuring. We have received from Dr Sutton, of Aurora, India, an instructive account of a carefully investigated outbreak of the disease which occurred in that town in 1874, in which nine persons were attacked, three of whom died. The disease in each could be traced to the same cause ; all had eaten of some uncooked smoked sausages made from the meat of a pig which was subsequently shown to be full of trichninje. In one of the fatal cases the muscular tenderness was so great that the patient could scarcely be moved, and persistent general oedema was very marked. In this case examination of the patient’s muscle after death, showed it to he so crammed with trichinai that their numbers were estimated at 100,000 in every cubic inch. Microscopic examination of the flesh of several shousand pigs killed in south-eastern Indiana showed that from 1 3 to 16 per cent, were affected with th& disease. The Western States are the chief pork-producing districts, it is estimated that iri them 5,000,000 pig’s are hilled and sent away each winter,• their flesh being the chief animal food of a large portion of the population of the United States.^ The following appears in the Geelomj Times of Tuesday Week “Mr Gatehouse, late mayor of Melbourne, had to appear before the" Quoenscliff Bench lately, to answer a charge laid against him for bathing in the open sea. It is jocularly said by some of his friends that he was trying to catch sharks, and he had a red flag flying from the top of his head, to warn people of their danger by coming too near.”

A strange freak on tin* part of an individual, named Alexander Heade, is described by the Bendujo Ailre.rtixer : —"Un Sunday forenoon he went to Messrs L. Maephersdn & Co.’s sale yards. There were two valuable colts in oneof the large pens there and Mr luuule, after addressing some youths oh the subject of horse-training and the wonderful effects of mesmerism upon them, jumped into the enclosure and caught one of them by the tail. The colt immediately plunged forward, dragging the infatuated man witii it round ami round the pen. ami eventually gave its tormentor the slip. He nothing daunted, however, went up to the terrified animal again, and began to make mesmeric passes over its face, whereupon it made a bound for the other side of the pen, collided violently with one of the posts, and dropped down dead. The animal, it is said, was worth £27. Mr lleade, when lie saw the catastrophe, also made abound over, but didn't fall or hurt himself, for in less than a, minute he was seen tearing down Charing Cross at full speed. £27 jokes are expensive to say the least of it. A curious kind of “ claimant” turned np the other day (writes the London corespondent of the Star) from your side. Some years ago there died al Drogheda in Ireland a certain Alderman Carthy, who cut up for £200,000. This very comfortable sum had been distributed amongst five persons who claimed to be next of kin, when hey ! presto ! there turns up from Now Zealand a female party claiming to be the paternal aunt of the late Alderman, and demanding the entire property, lock, stock, and barrel, much to the disgust of the five .sharers. When the affair first came before the Vice Chanchcllor’s Court, it was sworn that this blessed aunt was defunct, since she was eighty years of age when she left Ireland, ami that was no less than fifty-live years ago. When she went to New Zealand docs not appear, but if she went straight from Ireland in 1820, I should have thought she would long ago have afforded sound and wholesome nourishment to many a Maori warrior. However this may bo, a motion has been made to stay proceedings on behalf of this hundred-ami-thirfy-five-year-old fossil aunt from New Zealand. If she proves to be the very identical aunt it will be a grand thing for you. We shall all want to flee away from this land where wo seldom got over our four scon; years to a region where wo can feel up to a journey round the wo i I end a lawsuit at Ido.