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Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 228, 16 June 1877, Page 2

The Football match which was to have been played to-day at Hawcra has been postponed.

Two letters stand over. The via San Francisco British mails were due at Auckland yesterday. The Wellington portion of the telegraph line was in bad working order on Thursday, through breakages. The rough weather again yesterday hindered transmission of messages.

A meeting of members of the “ Patea Lodge,” 1.0. G.T., will be held on Monday evening, at the residence of Mr J. E. Keys, Carlyle.

British mails, via Suez, will close at the Post Office, Patea, on Saturday, the 23rd instant, at 9.30 a.m. Via San Francisco, on Monday, the 25th instant, at 1.45 p.m. The Wellington Argus says : —Private letters by last mail state that Sir Julius Vogel was again seriously ill, and that he had been unable to attend the office for nearly a fortnight. The Telegraph says;— The Napier police have just completed a census of the town of Napier. From this it appears there are 911 inhabited houses, the total population being 5,135. The house containing the largest family is the Gaol, where, on the day of the census, there were 40 inmates. The Canterbury Times advocates improvements in ploughing matches, and says:—“ Good ploughing is one of the chief requisites for successful farming. Without it grain cannot be cultivated to proper advantage, and therefore it is desirable that anything which tends to promote careful work, and the acquisition of skill by ploughmen, should be warmly encouraged. . . . Ploughing matches

have become far too common. Nearly every little district with a dozen or two of farms, has had its annual match ; the prizes have become proportinately small ; the honor attached to winning has frequently existed more in name than in reality ; and so "‘the ploughmen have gradually lost interest in the competitions.” It recommends the amalgamation of a number of districts, so that good prizes might be offered, and says—“ It is needless to say that a champion match for the whole of Canterbury is a thing much to be desired. The pecuniary value of the prizes at such a competition, and the great honor attached to winning them, would now, as formerly, be the strongest incentives to rivalry and emulation amongst ploughmen; besides which, it would do what district matches never can—enable men from all parts of the province to compare styles, and learn, something from each other.”

The Telegraph office atManutahi, which lias been placed under the charge of Mr Dawson* formerly at the Stony Elver Telegraph station; and late of New Plymouth, was opened for transaction of business on Saturday last. The eccentric Eev. J C. Andrew, after much badgering on the part of the Press and privately, has resigned his seat for the Wairarapa. He had to elect between resigning the Ecctorship of Nelson College or his seat in the House of Eepresentativcs. Ho gave up M.H.lt. It is likely the seat will be hotly contested. Five or six. names of probable candidates have already been published, whilst others have been suggested.

A Mr Raynor has sent the Marlborough Express a specimen of parchment of bis manufacture made by hand, and as such it certainly compares favorably with tho home article.

A large quantity of land will bo put in wheat in the Manawatu district for next season.

The police are going to enforce the dog tax in the Borough of Napier with rigour.

Wo (Wairarapa Standard) have been obligingly furnished for general informa tion with the following return relative to the produce from boiling down 441 full" mouth Romney Marsh ewes at Mr A. Tyre s boiling-down works last month :—441 skins at Is lOd, £4l 7s 6d ; legs, £2O 10s ; 6 tons tallow, estimated at £4O, £240 —£301 17s 6d, Boiling down, at lOd, £lB 7s Gd ; 23 casks, at 13s, £l4 19s ; carriage of tallow, £ls 10s 6d —£48 17s. lota! £253 6d. Thus the net produce of the boiling down of these 441 ewes amounts to a little over 11s each, or 3s per sheep more than what was offered by the Wellington butchers.

Thn electoral rolls for the various Ridings in the Patea County, have been made up. The II aw era Riding, which extends from the Tanga Ataia River to the Mauawapou River, contains 204 electors ; the Otoia Riding, extending from the Mauawapou to the Whenuakura River, contains 461 electors. The Waverley Riding, extending from the Whenuakura to the Waitotara River, and on to the Eangitatu Ranges, contains 182 electors. The Greymouth Star cays, that for the ■week ending June 2nd, nearly 1000 tons of coal were taken by rail from the mines to Greymouth. Thomas Humphries, Esq., has been gazetted Deputy Inspector of Surveys, for the purposes of “ The Native Lauds Act, 1873," for the Provincial District of Taranaki.

The block of land called Ahuroa-Rata-piko-Manawariri, in the provincial district of Taranaki, containing about 12,600 acres, has been gazetted as Waste Lands of the Crown. The land is bounded towards the North by part of theHuiroa Block, and on the South by the Patea River, as far as Kopuatama.

A sitting of the Native Lands Court will be held in Wanganui on the 18th July next and following days, when claims to land in the Rangitikci, Kai-Iwi, Waitotara, and other districts will be investigated. A Yankee, to economise the scratching power of alien, places her and her chickens in a narrow cage just wide enough to fit between the rows of potatoes. The cage is moved along between until the ground has been thoroughly scratched, the potatoes nicely hoed, and all the insects eatenMr Z. W. Wells, of Mangarei, Taranaki, who grew the monster pumpkin last year, has again surpassed all other growers. A pumpkin grown by him this season weighs 243 lbs.

Mr W. Dale, in addition to the furniture and effects of Mr Sicely, which he has been instructed to sell, will to-day offer for sale, land at Kakaramea, and a miscellaneous lot of wines, spirits, and general merchandise.

The Secretary of the Town Hall Company (Mr W. Dale), has taken advantage of a favourable opportunity which presented, and has had the proscenium of the stage tastefully decorated. The work done has greatly improved the appearance of the hall. If funds would allow of lining and papering being continued on the thre® unfinished sides of the hall, after the manner of what has just been done, the hall would be both snug and attractive) and a credit to the Hall Company, as well as to the township.

Some of the Boards in the district appear to be not very particular in regard to carrying out the provisions of Ordinance under which they are constituted, judging by the slackness shown in publishing the annual balance sheets. Only two out of five Boards in the district have yet done anything towards complying with the law. On Wednesday next, a sale of Patea Harbour Reserves will be held by Mr W. Cowern, at Carlyle. The properties are all leasehold, but the long terms for which they can be held should be strong recommendation to persons desirous of acquiring first-class open land in good localities to compete. Catalogue of lots to be offered may be seen in advertising columns. Plans can be seen and all information obtained on application to the auctioneer.

Nominations of candidates for the Town Board must be made before noon of Monday next, at the Court House, Carlyle.

Since the Hon. W. Fox’s visit to Waverley, the township lias in one way or other been kept lively. The Temperance Society have had a very successful meeting;, and an addition of nearly a dozen has been plumped on to the members’ roll. When Mr Fox was there, he was interviewed as to the formation of a Local Board, as for want of some authorised body, roads in the township and other important matters affecting townspeople were being neglected. On Tuesdaj' evening, a meeting of householders was held, when it was agreed that a Local Board should be formed, and that the limits of the town should bo extended. A petition has been duly drawn up, and is in process of signature.

Mr W. P. Ford has started business as a tailor in Carlyle.

The Wanganui Herald , commenting on the late public meeting held in New Plymouth, and an article which appeared in the Taranaki Herald says : —“ Taranaki is a district which has all the elements of prosperity, and which we desire to see prosperous ; but we cannot refrain from expressing the opinion that the potty selfishness of her politicians in later times has done as much to retard it as even the Native wars. It cannot expect that the cry against the Government will obtain the slightest sympathy from any other part of the colony. Indeed the Premier could hardly take a more effective way of increasing confidence in himself than by incurring the wrath of his constituents, who have to bear the opprobrium of New Plymouth self-seeking. Last session strange developments and plots were seer, which filled the cup of antipathy to overflowing. The manoeuvres of the late Superintendent over the central prison—a question of colonial importance —and then the scandalous charge that the same representative had been preferring claims to the colonial estate amounting to ;P17,000, for winch he was to receive a commission , did more to injure the reputation and to prejudice the interests of Taranaki, than its representatives can undo by years of patriotic conduct, purity and self-denial.”

The Wellington Argus, commenting on the proposed new Native Lands Act, after seeing draft copied, says : —“ The Bill is exactly what wc thought it would be, and we sincerely trust that it will never pass into law. Its doing so would be a death blow to the progress of settlement in this island, would ultimately build up colossal fortunes for a ring of capitalists, and would in all human probability involve the colony in another native war, in protection of their interests.

An attempt to blow up a snag in the Hokitika river, with an 801b charge of blasting powder, resulted in the destruction of about 30 feet of the adjacent wharf) leaving the snag still definitely obstructive. A public meeting; has been held at Sandon with the view of forming a steam flour mill company, with a capital of £3,000, in shares of £5 each.

The Napier Muxury o£ the 9th instant eaj-s :—Flour, we were told on Friday by a Napier baker, cannot be purchased here under £24 per ton. From a Wellington telegram it will be seen that good flour is procurable there at £l7 10s. The Kangitikei A dcocate says:—A movement is on foot for the erection in Marlon of a hall for the Excelsior Lodge of Good Templars. The Hon. W. Fox has given the site, and the deed of conveyance has been duly executed. At the annual poulty exhibition held in Christchurch on the 7th instant, there were 368 exhibits, generally of superior qualities.

The revenue of the Inangahua County is said to be £7,000, while its expenditure is estimated at £14,310.