COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 31 July 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

A Weekly Supplement of 14 columns is presented with this issue of the Mail. Letters by the inward ’Frisco mail were delivered yesterday in this district. The mail steamer was delayed by thick weather and a storm. The Earthquake was so severe at Eastown that several chimneys are cracked, and two or three will have to be re-built. A scratch football match will be played this afternoon, on the Cricket and Athletic Sports Ground. Twenty-eight Maori Prisoners have been lauded at Christchurch. They ate Reported to be cheerful, and rather enjoy the novelty of their situation. The Land Board at New Plymouth have resolved to close the district office at Patea, and open one at Hawera. This subject needs looking into. The annual report of the New Zealand Shipping Company shows a profit of £37,297, ami a dividend of 10 per cent, is recommended. The late manager’s accounts show a deficiency of £2,438, which ho may bo able to explain satisfactorily. Gold Fields on the west coast of the Middle Island are attracting fresh attention, as recently reported in the Mail. On the Seventeen Mile Beach several parties are making £7 to £9 a week per man, and there are sixty claims on that beach, most of them doing well. Patriarch. —Mr Hearn returned from Napier yesterday, bringing with him the stud horse Patriarch. He appears to be everything his advertisement sets forth. Our Sporting Contributor will, however, have something to say about him in a future issue.

Hunting. —The Otago hounds meet at Bulls next Tuesday, and they may bo expected here in about ten day;, They will do a run to-day at Aramoho, Wanganui; and a number of sportsmen have takon up their horses in anticipation. It is practically certain that the subscription to defray the cost of two runs in this district will be raised. E.M. Court. —At Friday’s sitting of the Patea Court, F. Schmidt sued John Jeffcott, of Waverley, for £24, a disputed account, and obtained judgment for £2O ss> with £3 12s costs. He also sued R. Slattery, of Patea, for £l3 15s, a disputed account, and obtained judgment for £lO 10s 6d, with £1 16s costs. Judge Bathgate has resumed duty at Dunedin, after his long visit to England, where he delivered many lectures on New Zealand, and produced, we fear, an illusive belief that this colony has no bad weather, is always prosperous, has no crime, no bankrupts, and no earthquakes. The Education Board (Wanganui) have instructed the inspector to hold another examination of pupil teachers at Patea township, the other examination not having been conducted in accordance with the instruction of the Board, Notice is to be sent to all teachers advising them of intended redaction of salaries. The other business of the Board at Wednesday’s meeting had no reference to this district.

A programme for the Autumn meeting was agreed to. Plumbers are getting very high wages iu Wellington as compared with other towns.

Education.— The Napier Board has applied for power to enforce compulsory attendance in its district.

A special settlement is to be formed at Whangarei, about 40 persons being on their way from Lyttelton. The Lincolnshire Delegates have prepared a report on fanning prospects in New Zealand, and it is stated that their report, which is very favourable, will arrive here by next mail.

Telegraph Officers.— Mr Bush, who is leaving the Patea station, will be succeeded by Mr Hyams, from Wellington ; and Mr Allardyce, from Wellington, is coming to the Hawera office. These are older officers than those who have been displaced for reasons of economy ; and though these Wellington officers receive higher salaries than the operators at Patea and Hawera, yet they are sent here evidently as a means of relieving expense at the central office.

Prince George of Wales is expected at Melbourne shortly, on his Australian cruise ; and there is a probability of his visiting New Zealand. The Prince is the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and a very worthy sample of the Royal house he is. He is the heir of the Heir Appareut to the British Crown, He and his brother have been cruising in the fleet as “ middies,” and they are known on board as Herring and Sprat, most irreverent names for princes.

Alleged Embezzlement. —We understand that a summons has been issued for service on Mr Winchcomb, lately clerk to the Wairoa Highway Board, for alleged embezzlement of certain moneys received on account of the Board, and not paid over. Mr Winchcomb’s explanation is that this and other money was destroyed in the burning of his office. The present information is laid by the Chairman of the Board, and alleges that the following sums have been embezzled, namely : £4 paid by Thomas Hone, £2 5s lOd paid by Thomas Harris, and £7 12s 6d paid by R. Mackintosh. Mr Ward, barrister, is retained to prosecute, and the case will be heard at Patea next Wednesday. A Rifle Match is to be fired to-day between Wanganui, Wavcrley, and Patea teams, each firing on their own ground; 200 yards standing, 400 and 500 yards any position—s shots at each range, 12 men in the team. The Patea team comprises Messrs King, Kitching, Kells, H. Chadwick, Pringle, Fraser, J. Black, W. Dasent, O. Dasent, Thomson, Smith, Carey'; with Tregenr and A. Black as waiting men. The Waverley team consented for the Patea team to fire in two squads, one in the morning and one afternoon. A Burglary at the Court-house, Wanganui, took place on Tuesday night. A window was forced, and a door broken in the clerk’s office, where the thief attempted to force the iron safe containing about £lO and documents. Milner’s safe could not beforccd, but a desk-drawer was ransacked, though nothing taken. Another drawer was tampered with but not opened. There is something curious about this burglary, for the Herald suggests that “ documents, not money, were the objects of the search. Fortunately, no documents are missing, but those who are in the habit of putting two and two together will not be slow to conjecture what documents the thieves were in search of.”

A Chinaman jumped overboard from a ship the other night, during her passage from Oamaru to Port Chalmers. Many of those poor pariahs must lead wretched lives in these colonics, where every ordinary enjoyment is denied to them as despised interlopers. Some make fortunes ; others live and die like dogs. The Wanganui Jockey Club held its annual meeting on Wednesday, about. 40 sportsmen attending. The spring meetings were, fixed for the last Friday in October in each year. The autumn meeting is fixed for the second Thursday and Friday in March. Discussion took place as to the amount of the Derby Cup, which was fixed last year at £IOOO. That meeting was stated to be a great success, there being £4OO profit without the public subscription. A proposal to make the cup £SOO was lost, and it is to be £6OO. The Wanganui Agriculural and Pastoral Association held its annual meeting on Wednesday. There are 95 members, as compared with 125 in the previous year. The present debt is £4OO. Mr G. S. Robertson was elected president. Resolved that the show be held towards the end of October, a day before the Wanganui races.

Lambs were seen yesterday on MjHoneyfield’s farm, Whcnuakura. Tins is very early in the season.

The Native Population on the West Coast, between Waitotara and the White Cliffs, is officially estimated to number 3312, comprising 1307 males, 1109 females, and 896 children under fifteen years of age.

Complaints reach us of the treatment of unemployed on the camp near Chapman’s road. Their meat is said to be often insufficient, abont two ounces to each meal on the average, although the regulation quantity is pounds per day ; their tents are not water-proof, the canvas being old and in holes ; they have no bedding, although fern can be got with a little exertion, this being a fault of the men, if fault there be ; and they complain of tho slave-driving severity of one or two gangers. A long letter on this subject is obliged to stand over till Tuesday. Education. —A reduction of ten per cent, is being made in tho salaries of all teachers and others employed in the school system of the colony. Miss Neilson, the highly finished actress, has been starring in America, and will visit Australia from San Franciso by the August steamer. The tender of the Phoenix Company of Ballarat has been accepted for the construction of twenty railway locomotives at a cost of £59,490. Re-Populating Palestine.—Mr Lawrence Oliphant, with the approval of many Jews, has communicated to the Sultan, wdio received it favourably, a plan for establishing’ a Jewish colony on tho east bank of the Jordan.

'The Political Struggle in Victoria has resulted in Mr Service and his colleagues resigning, upon the vote of no-confidence, and Mr Berry, ex-Premier, is now forming a new Administration. In the Queensland Parliament an allnight sitting has been held, as a trial of endurance between the two parties, on a motion for |a direct steam service to England. The Opposition went on talking all night, all next day, and into a third day, sitting up in relief batches. This is faction in a disgusting extreme. An ostrich died in Rome lately, and its stomach contained 4 large stones, 11 small ones, 7 nails, a necktie pin, an envelope, 13 copper coins, 14 beads, a French franc, 2 small keys, a piece of a handkerchief, a silver medal of the Pope, and the cross of an Italian Order. At Invercargill the lease of a run of 44,000 acres was sold by auction at the upset price of £5 yearly rental. The run was purchased by a company of four, who intend to make their profits out of rabbits with which the property is overrun. Bishop Suter, of Nelson, has written a letter to the Rangiora Standard , in which ho says he docs not join in giving the “ odious appellation ” “ godless ” to the State schools. The Bishop says that the parents are the best teachers of religion to their children, and that as a fact the parents are now giving religious instructions to their children.

The late Dr Kenealv, who distinguished himself too much as advocate for the big imposter in the Tichborne case, has left by will his splendid library to be divided between the British Museum and St John’s College, Dublin. He was an Irishman ; and rumour said it was the excitement and defeat at the late election for Stoke that killed him. Dr Kenealy was ostracised from all society while in House of Commons. Only about two members in the House spoke to him, and one was Mr Bright.