The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1877.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 219, 16 May 1877, Page 2

The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1877.

A meeting of the Patea District Teachers’ Association was held on Saturday last, at the School-house, Kakaramea. Various matters connected with Education were discussed, and the meeting adjourned to Saturday, the 9th of June. Names of Carlyle Footballers chosen t° do battle against the Hawera Team, on Saturday next, on the Carlyle ground ; Messrs Tennent (captain), J. McCarthy, Marchant, Baggett, Hutchison, Skinner, Cobham, Ring, Williamson, B. Dasent, Harris, Thurston, Coutts, Jacomb, Turner, Pet ch, W. Williams, D, Williams, A. Hargreaves. All the players are requested tn attend punctually at three o’clock.

The 53rd half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the Bank of New South Wales was held on the 30th April. A dividend was declared at the rate of 15 per cent, per annum, with a bonus of per cent. The reserve fund now amounts to £430,000.

On Saturday last, Carlyle Footballers visited Waverley, as previously arranged, to play a match with the Waverley Team on their own ground. There was a full muster on both sides. Play commenced about half-past three, and was continued till live o’clock. The ground proved tolerably well suited for footballing. The Waverley Team made one force down and two balf-points, totalling three points. The Carlyle Team, nil. The Waverley fellows proved too heavy for the Carlyle Team, and the latter were unable to break through them. This is the first match that has been played at Waverley.

The Thames Advertiser says : —“ We learn that the County Council at its next sitting will consider a well-matured scheme for developing the gold-field at low levels by driving in two directions, —towards the Moanataiari slide and the WaioKaraka reefs. To accomplish this, it is proposed to raise a loan of £IO,OOO by way of mortgage on the pumping plant, freehold, and other securities now held by the County Council, and originally taken over by the Government for the advance of £50,000 for pumping purposes.”

The Taranaki Herald is now being published as a daily paper. In announcing the change, the proprietor states the case unmistakably plain, as follows : —“ In starting a daily paper after the repeated failures that have taken place during the past two years, wo know we are taking a somewhat rash step, but the proprietor does so purely in response to a wisii very generally expressed—that a paper should be published daily in New Plymouth. As it is perhaps better, in all business matters, to speak plainly, the proprietor would wish it to he distinctly understood that, as he ventures on this bold undertaking solely for the convenience of the public, if he finds, after a fair trial, that the support, which on all sides has been promised, is not afforded him, the daily issue will be discontinued. It will rest, therefore, with the public to decide whether the want of a daily newspaper in Taranaki is so great as it has been represented to he.

The back hone of a newspaper is its advertisements, and therefore it is to the advertisers wc shall look for co-operation and sympathy in assisting us to carry out successfully what wc are about to commence.” Business men and settlers in the Patea district might make a note of tho concluding sentence, and act accordingly. Our experience is, that people like a good readable paper, Avith the latest news from all parts of the world, but they arc backward in giving that substantial support by which only a paper can be made so. Subscribers, too, allow accounts to run on for six, nine, and tAvelve months—in fact, scarcely ever think of paying the newspaper account, and yet plume themselves on being liberal supporters of the focal paper. We hope the plain speaking of the Taranaki Herald will have good effect in New Plymouth, and that the hint will not be thrown away in this district.

On account of the all-absorbing interest taken at the present time in European affairs, we have made arrangements for obtaining the latest war cablegrams, commencing Avith the preaent issue.

In the recent inroads of the sea at Napier, the force of the Avaves carried a block of limestone, weighing a quarter of a ton, a considerable distance. The Inglewood correspondent to the Taranaki News, says :—“ Mr Langley, late host of the Inglewood Hotel, has giAmn a farcAvell dinner to his friends, at which between 50 and 60 guests Avere present) among whom Avere seAyeral gentlemen from New Plymouth. Mr Carter, in responding to a toast, observed as a sign of prosperity that there Avere hoav 6,000 acres of grass land in the Moa district, Mr Hursthouse said it Avould not be his fault if the railway was not opened to Inglewood by the 26th July next. Mr Langley has handed over the hotel.

Tho newly-elected member for Totara Mr Gisborne, is reported to have said.: — “ I do not think we have borrowed too much money for tho reproductive works, but there has been too much waste and extravagance in unproductive directionsReform is necessary in the adjustment of burdens ; the ad valorem system is wrong; unscrupulous traders may profit at the expense, of the just; it opens the door to fraud which may be the cause of the diminution in the returns of the present year. We are sinking deeper into debt down the slippery slope of Treasury Bills. These may be useful to adjust revenue for one, two, or three years, but when they increase to the amount of one million sterling, it may be disastrous to our interests. Borrowing in the dark is damaging, better at once go to the London money market and state plainly what we owe, how much more we require, and security we can offer for the loan. At a recent meeting of the Bruce County Council, a discussion arose as to the, design for the County seal. One member suggested it should consist of “ a cock crowing on its own dunghill.”

The privileges of the Hawera Race meeting, auctioned yesterday, by Messrs Inman and Co., fetched £42 17s.

On Saturday last, a bushman was brought before the Resident Magistrate, charged with drunkenness. It appears that he had been roving around back yards and gaidens on the Taranaki Road (within the town) evidently not knowing that he was straying. He was fined ss, and costs.

Pheasants appear to be plentiful in this district. Fine birds are frequently seen near the main line of road, close to the town boundaries.

A letter has been received from Mrs Evans, of Hawera, complaining of notice published by Dr Cole. Mrs Evans sets her own opinion against the doctor’s, and explains how the disagreement arose. As it is simply a difference of opinion between the doctor and nurse, who evidently thinks she knows best, we cannot interfere.

It is notified in Wanganui papers, that, on and after Friday, 18th May, regular trains will run between Wanganui and Turakina.

A little in the shape of town improvements has been effected in front of Captain Wray’s property. A neat looking fence has been erected and painted, and the old bank and gorse has been cleared away.

It will he seen by announcement in another column, that, Messrs Inman and Co., of Hawera, arc intending to hold monthly sales of stock and merchandise at Mr Brett’s yards, Ketemarae, commencing on Friday next.

The Zcalandia, with the New Zealand April mails, arrived at San Francisco on May 6th ; and the City of New York, with tlm London mails, loft San Francisco on April 25th,

Large parcels of New Zealand flax have recently been sold in Melbourne at £2O per ton.

The Taranaki Herald contains a full account of the Supreme Court Sittings, from which the following extracts are made :—“ The Criminal Sitting of the Supreme Court was opened on Monday) the 7th May, in the Court-room, at the Taranaki Institute. At half-past ten o’clock his Honor, Mr Justice Gillies, entered the Court and took his seat upon the Bench, and after congratulating the Grand Jury on the scarcity of litigation and serious crimes, said there was but one prisoner for trial, against whom there wore three charges of embezzlement. The law on the subject was explained when the Crown Prosecutor (Mr A. Standish) presented three indictments containing throe counts each against Edward Charles Meredith, late Clerk to the Bench at Carlyle, for embezzlement. The offence and punishment are contained in the 70th section of “The Larceny Act, 18G7,” and a person found guilty under this section renders himself liable to 14 years penal servitude. The Grand Jury found True Bills upon the three indictments. Edward Charles Meredith, on being placed in the box, pleaded Not Guilty. Mr Hammerton appeared for the prisoner. The jury were empannclled. —The indictment charged the prisoner with embezzling suitors’ moneys —in the first count, to the amount of 17s lid ; in the second, £1 ; and in the third, £3 6s. The Crown Prosecutor then called the following witnesses ; —Louisa Smith, shopkeeper, Hawera ; James carter, Kelemarae ; George Victor Bate, agent Bank New South Wales, at Hawera ; Henry Ferdinand Turner, late Resident Magistrate for upper district of Upper Wanganui ; William James Clerk of Resident Magistrate’s Court, Wellington ; William Connolly, bailiff, Resident Magistrate’s Court, Carlyle ; Gideon Inkster, Hawera ; Patrick B. Cahill, Sergeant A.0., Hawera ; Jamas Ball, fanner, Kakaramea ; F. J, Stewart, Hawera; and Frederick Woller, Patea. —After evidence had been taken, the prisoner’s Counsel addressed the jury.—The Crown Prosecutor did not reply.—His Honor having summed up, the jury retired for about three-quarters of an hour, and returned with a verdict of not guilty on the first count, and guilty on the second and third counts of the indictment, and recommended the prisoner to mercy. The Crown Prosecutor entered a nolle prosequi in respect of the other two indictments. His Honor sentenced the prisoner to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

Items from the Taranaki Herald :—Mr Nelson Carrington, the eldest sou of Mr Octavius Carrington, died on Monday, the 7th instant, at his father’s residence, after a painful illness of four months, brought on through wet and exposure, and the hardships he endured during the two years he was engaged in locating the line of railway through the Manawatu gorge between the years 1874-76, when for days together he was living in the bush, and sleeping under the trees on the damp ground. Mr Nelson Carrington was a native of New Plymouth, and one of the first European children born in the place—We believe that negotiations are in progress which are likely to result in a steamer being built for the Waitara trade—We have authority for saying that the statement contained in a paragraph which appeared in the Auckland Herald , wherein it was stated that the Government had abandoned the idea of erecting a Central Px-ison at Taranaki, is incorrect.

Dr, Gumming, preaching at the Scotch Church, Covent-gardon, London, said tlnat all students of prophecy were agreed that the world, and Europe especialty, were now on the eve of the greatest catastrophe which had ever happened in the history of mankind. Mr John Black, Clerk of County Council, has been gazetted Registrar of Dogs and Brands, for Patea County, and has issued notices to owners of dogs to register. The Wanganui Herald says:—-“ The Waimate Plains are usually quoted by residents on the West Coast as being Ibe very best land in the colony. The gratifying intelligence reaches ns that it is the intention of the Government to take immcdicte steps for the survey and consequent sale of the confiscated blocks beeween Waingongora and Kapukanui. Information lias been given to the original native owners that they must apply at once for reserves, which will be surveyed off for them, and the balance submitted for public competition, A writer in the Australasian says : ll Ecbuca is an important inland port. It is a great commercial centre. In has eight insurance offices, live banks, a town clerk equal to any six, some churches, fifty-two hotels, and no hospital ! I think they must have realised the want of a hospital in Eclmca when those poor follows with mangled tlesh and shattered limbs were subjected to 50 miles agonising railway travelling on their way to relief in Sandhurst. Who can gainsay the suggestion that the delay in treatment may have accelerated, even if the long journey and the delay together did not absolutely cause death ?”