COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 29 July 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

Readers will observe that special telegrams and cablegrams of unusual importance are appearing in the Mail. Our arrangements for obtaining special news are now of a character which will bear favorable comparison with any journals published this side of Wellington, The expenditure on this enterprise will be maintained and increased, if the settlers throughout this large district will sustain the Mail by a generous support, and enable it to developo into a daily paper for Patea County within a short time. Moke Immigrants.— A second batch of poor immigrants, forwarded from Wellington by the Government, reached Patea yesterday morning. They number 27, and came by way of Wanganui in the Clyde steamer. Major Noake received them in charge, and lodged them in the Immigration Barracks, intending to talco them up to Kakaramea to-day. They will be camped near the Railway works at Kakaramca station ; and the formation of the permanent way will be commenced. Tenders are invited for drays and other articles. Other drafts from Wellington are expected shortly. About 57 men are now receiving Government pay as laborers in Patea district.

The Telegraph Operator at Patea station, Mr Bush, lias received notice to leave the service, in consequence of reductions in expenditure, as voted by Parliament. Mr Bush is intelligent and painstaking, is also very obliging, and has given satisfaction during his service at Patea. Uis place is to be filled, we believe, by an operator from Wellington. Hero,is a curious inconsistency. The notice of dismissal alleges the necessity of economy ; yet the clerk who is to supersede Mr Bush receives a higher salary to the extent of about £2O a year. The Government are economising by adding £2O a year to the expense of the Patea office ! This looks like manipulation for a purpose. Not a word can or need be said against the transfer of an older servant to Patea, in lieu of his dismissal, butthe official reason of “ economy” stands confuted.

The Patea s. s. is expected in the Harbour about mid-day.

Soldiers’ Graves. —ln the British House of Commons, Mr Onslow asked the Undersecretary for the Colonies whether there was . any recent information relative to the graves of the 43rd and 50th Light Infantry at Tauranga, in New Zealand. Mr Grant Duff said the Government knew nothing of the matter, but if the hon. gentleman would communicate with him privately, he would be happy to make enquiries. We would ask whether inquiry as to the condition of soldiers’ graves along the West Coast is not a proper matter for official care at Wellington, as it certainly would be a matter of anxiety at Home, if the facts were known to the House of Commons. The neglect is in some instances scandalous.

Poor Taranaki !—The News has a jeremiad on the wickedness of harbor obstructionists at Hawera, and says : “We have now only one line of egress to the outer world left us. The emissaries of Te Whiti are daily engaged in barricading our southern road, and the Liliputians of Hawera are blockading our harbor, and we have only the Mountain line left for communication with the outer world. With forests, ocean, and foes, we are hemmed in on every side.” Cricket has received a new development since the Australian team went to England. One batsman, a giant named Bonner, knocks the ball about with such spanking force that he has become a terror not so much to the players as to residents in the nearest town who happen to have stayed at home to rock cradles. Bonner was placing near Notingham, and report says he sent the ball once about 120 yards, nearly knocking an omnibus over in the street Another of his big drives sent the ball on to the slates of a house in the town, a house that was thought to be quite beyond cricketing range. The Aus. tralian team have promised to visit New Zealand on their way back. Now if that giant comeshere with his spanking drives, will it not be necessary to put up barricades? Local Telegrams. —The price of telegrams is to be raised at three stations within this County, to makeup for the unrenumerative business. Waverley, Waitotara, and Manutahi arc in the list of stations requiring sixpence to be added to each separate message. Stratford is put on the same footing ; and the number in the colony that have not paid workingexpenses is 88. The Commissioner of Telegraphs reports that Patea station despatched 6,379 messages during nine months, the value being £482 17s lOd, while the expenditure of maintaining the office was £234 15s lid, showing an apparent profit of £248 Is Id. Against this must be set a proportion of the whole cost for establishing and maintaining the telegraph service throughout the colony. Hawera despatched 6,351 messages, and received £472 15s Od, the cost of the station being £206 10s 2d, showing an apparent gain of £266 4s lOd. Normanby despatched 1688 messages, and received £139 15s sd, the cost of office being £B6 7s lOd, an apparent gain of £53 7s 7d. The loss at Manutahi was large in proportion to the business. The messages sent in nine months were 758, the amount received being £46 2s lOd, and the local cost £7B 5s 6d, showing a clear loss on the local office of £32 2s Bd. We believe the local settlers guarantee a certain sum to cover loss, else the station would be closed. Proposed Hunts.— The Master of the Otago Hounds writes to a sportsman in Patea as follows :—“ We had a capital run on Saturday, over 60 horsemen turning out, to say nothing of the number of buggies, traps, and vehicles which lined the roads to Aramoho. . . . Everyone

seemed satisfied, and more so. We are going out to Bulls and Marton, in the Rangitikei district, next week, and will likely finish up in Wanganui on Saturday. We intend coming up jmur way, if sufficient inducement offers ; and we would be prepared to give you two runs, one going up and the other on our return from Taranaki, which place wo purpose visiting. If you can raise £ls in Patea, or between Patea and Waverley, as a guarantee, we would be satisfied to take that sum, and what might be raised by subscriptions on the ground ; but as our expenses arc very heavy, we cannot do it for less. We have been guaranteed that sum from Hawera, and I have no doubt you will have no difficulty in obtaining the required amount in such a flourishing place as Patea. Reply early.” Mr W. Dale has been promoting business during bis visit to Wellington &c., and readers will notice a largo sale of various goods consigned to Patea, and advertised for Saturday. .

The West Coast Native Commission cost £1472. Was the report worth the money? Ned Kelly has been twice brought up at the Melbourne police court, and remanded. • TnE.inward 'Frisco mail is expected at Wellington to-day. The stud-horse “Patriaich ” arrived in Wanganui on Tuesday, and may be expected at Patea to-morrow. - English harvest prospects are again very poor, the season being unfavorable for the seventh year in succession. The Harmonic Society’s annual meeting was held on Saturday, when Mr Tennent was re-elected conductor, Mr E. C. Horner secretary and treasurer, Mr S. Taplin librarian, with the I bv. A. Dasent and Mr A. G. King as working members of the committee. The year’s receipts had been £9O 5s sd, and the expenditure £BS Is Bd, leaving a balance of £5 3s 9d. The Railway Commissioners, in their report just presented, recommend the early completion of the section from btratford to Normanby ; also that from Waverley to Kai Iwi. The length from Waverley to Hawera will be more expensive, and they recommend its delay until the northern portion is open for._, traffic. The branch from Normanby tqjta Opunake should be postponed. They speak strongly against the Foxton to Wellington section, and recommend a line via Manawatu Gorge. The Bulla, Greatford, and Sandon sections are not recommended. Floods at Rangitikei. —The floods in the Ran b itikci have caused many acres of Native land to be swept away from the left bank, below bulls. From the Junction of the Tutaenui, it is evidently about to resume its old course, where it has not run for ten years. This is over a mile to the right of the present stream. Mr. John Tiffin Stewart, of the New Zealand Public Works Department, has been elected a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers.