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Patea Mail, Volume VI, Issue 534, 17 June 1880, Page 2

Patea Garrick Club hold their first weekly rehearsal this evening. Waste Laud Boards are not to be made elective. Bacon-curing is being started by settlers at Kupokonni, on the Plains. Railway Iron, 230 tons, is to be conveyed from Wellington to Wanganui; Mr Keith Ramsay, of Dunedin, being the successful tenderer. Doctor Bennett, formerly RegistrarGeneral, died at Wellington on Tuesday, aged 72-

The Catholic Bazaar, to be held at Patea, is postponed to enable the ladies to complete the numerous articles promised in aid of it. The bazaar will be opened on the 22nd July. New Justices are gazetted as follow:—Henry Brown, Francis Ronalds, New Plymouth ; F. De la Cour Cornwall, Taranaki ; John Elliot, Waitara. The Outgoing Mail via ’Frisco leaves Wellington on Sunday, and we believe that letters posted to-day (Thursday) will be in time for despatch by the usual coach from this district. At a meeting of Directors held on Tuesday evening, Mr Edward C. Horner was unanimously elected manager of the Patea S.S. Co., Mr Harris having resigned that position. Mrs M’Leod, of Waverloy, was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment, on Monday, for obscene and indecent language at Waverlcy. Dr Croft and Mr Christie were on the bench. Land Tax. —Eighteen cases of summons for arrears under the Land Tax, now abolished, had been lodged for hearing in the Court at Carlyle. All have been settled, except three, and these are adjourned to July 13th. The Quadrille Parties arranged by the Harmonic Society are postponed till further notice, owing to an unforeseen difficulty in obtaining the intended room. The sooner the Society can complete their new Harmonic Hall, the pleasanter will be their arrangements for special concerts, for dances, and for practices. The Contract for local railway works is likely to be tendered for by persons in this district. If the whole job be taken by a local man, it will be with the intention of snb-letting portions, and controlling the whole of this large operation. The work must be completed within 15 months after acceptance of tender,, with a penalty of £2O a week for delay. The deposit on a tender is £2OO, and a bond for £ISOO has to be executed by the contractor. Some particulars of the extent and character of the work will appear in our next issue.

Patea Brewery has changed hands. The property has been sold by Mr T. Haywood, through Mr Cowern, and we believe the price was about £IOOO. The purchaser is a ; brother of Captain Gibbons, who has been engaged in brewery business in Nelson. Mr T, Haywood must have found it inconvenient to bestow the necessary attention on the brewery business, in addition; to Lis management of the principal hotel in the town. ‘ •

Major Brown is engaged in the Waverley and Waitotara districts in arranging for settlement of native claims for Railway compensation, some of which are likely to be disputed in Court; and he is also preparing for; the sitting of the Native Lands Court at Patea early next month, when a number of native claims of ancestral title to lands will be disposed of, as between different tribes and members. This is preparatory to putting a large quantity of native land along the Waitotara river into the market, for regular settlement, by sale and on deferred, payments. The Tender of Messrs Berry and Newman for the Waingongora section of the Railway has been accepted, the price being £18,400. The New Plymouth portion of the line has been let up to a point four miles from Normanby, and there is an expectation that, tins length may be got into working order within, twelve months.. The Wanganui portion is let lip to Waverley, s and that is expected to be finished by‘ Christmas, giving a connected length of line up to Foxton. The “missing link” between Normanby and Waverley is about 27 miles. Why not push on the connection, and make the line remunerative ? . ! i

Wanted, a Cattle Wharf.-—The Harbor Board received a communication from the Patea s.s. Company, conveying a resolution of the directors, as follows:—“ That the Patea steamship is detained an unreasonable time in loading and discharging cargo, owing to the lack of wharf accommodation ; and that the Board be respectfully requested to provide better wharf accommodation, and facilities for shipping stock.” To this the manager, Mr E. C. Horner, added—“ I beg respectfully to impress upon your Board the urgent necessity of attending to this matter without delay, the steamer only being able to discharge one hold at a time, from lack of room, and consequently losing a groat deal of time. With reference to better facilities for shipping stock, there is no doubt that were suitable accommodation provided at the wharf, settlers generally would take advantage of the same, instead of driving, as at present, to Wanganui, where better accommodation can be obtained. A Public Meeting is convened at Hawcra for Saturday next, to express local opinion on the “ robbery ” of 25 per cent, of land revenue from the Plains, for experimenting on an impracticable harbor at Now Plymouth ; and as to the urgency of settling a European population on the Plains. It seems to us not less desirable that the movement for obtaining a County Member should be supported by an open expression of approval at such a meeting. A New Process of preserving fresh butter - has been brought into notice-by' 4 Mr A. Hood, at New Plymouth. He seals up the butter in a tin, and then encloses it within a second larger tin, filling the space with a chemical mixture which is not costly, yet operates to preserve the butter from deterioration. A tin of butter preserved three months on this principle has been tested, and we are told was found to be quite fresh and sweet. The cost is not stated. If butter can bo preserved on this principle and exported to the English market, this splendid dairy district ought to benefit specially by the new trade. The** combined municipality”scheme is being* discussed in a serious spirit fit ■Hawcra and Normanby. This is the way a local resident puts the case : “ This corporation business is one which requires deep consideration. At first, when mentioned to Hawcra people, some of them said, no doubt without thought, Oh, we arc not going to give Normanby a start, by being tacked on to them ; they can’t even form a Town Board yet, and even if they could, they would not have a penny to spend ; they cannot improve their streets, because the Road Board and County Council have other ways of spending money. Likewise, when the subject was mooted, the men of Normanby stuck up their independent chins, and said, Oh, a likely thing; you cannot form a borough by yourselves, and want to make, a stepping-stone of Normanby; it’s not good enough. There is an element of truth in both these statements.” The reported outbreak of small-pox on the Norfolk, the first direct steamer from England, has been found not to be that infectious disease. The Lyttelton authorities have released the passengers from quarantine. The Norfolk is expected to leave for Wellington to-day, and will proceed thence to Sydney for Homcwaid cargo. Civil Servants. — : Representations are being made to the Government respecting the hardship of farther reducing the salary of the clerk at Patea, he having been reduced twice since Major Atkinson became Treasurer under Mr Hall, A suggestion in a letter in Tuesday’s Mail was that all salaries above £IOO might be reduced in a ratio say of 5 per cent, (not 50, as printed), leaving those below £IOO untouched.