COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 18 September 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

* The We eke. v Surw.KMKNTof 14 columns is given with this issue of the Mail. Sju Arthur Goiedon, the new Governor, is expected from Fiji at an early date. Tin-: House: Parade: this afternoon begins at 2 o’clock. The fencing parties now being sent by Tc Whiti are very young or very old. Many arc mere boys. Gjeev.mouth Co ai. is to be used exclusively at the Dunedin gasworks, and G,OOO or 7,000 tons ai'e to be supplied under contract during next twelve months. Mr Sheehan’s quarrel with Sir George Grey towards the end of the session has been smoothed ovoi - , and they arc again on speaking terms, with a certain coolnessThe concoction of spurious spirits lb'- a low class of publicans in Sydney has been so large, that 18,000 gallons of “ white spirit” (pure alcohol") were taken out of bond in one year, to use in tins abominable manufacture. Tin: Patea Cricket Clue; will hold a general meeting on Monday evening, preparatory to opening the season. Officebearers are to be elected, and a proposal for a valuable challenge cup open to County Clubs on the West Coast will bo considered. Mu F. Sluey, auctioneer, Wellington, has called a creditors’ meeting. His unsecured liabilities arc about £SOB. Another gi'cat contest between the Australian team and “ Players of England” is to come off in the Crystal Palace ground, S miles from London. Thu Wellington Amateur Dramatic Club has had a successful performance of Tom Taylor’s play, “ The Contested Election.” A PiiACTtCAi, JuKi; was played on Vincent Fyke, M.H.K. Bitting in the Assembly after the incident with the Ser-geant-at-Arms, a messenger handed to Mr Fyke a large official envelope addressed —“ Portfolio—To Vincent Fyke, Esq.— His Excellency has been pleased to offer you the portfolio of Minister of Mines and the position of Sorgeant-at-Arms combined,” etc. The corner of the document was turned down, and the following added by way of postscript : —“ Attached to the portfolio is the very delicate and difficult task of Acting Frima Donna Protector” (an allusion to an event which was recounted to Parliament by a member of the Railway Commission). The document was signed “ H.R." Mr Fyke looked pleased, then puzzled, then angry ; and he grunted. About 05,(100 acres of the Kaitangiwhenua block passed through the Land Court yesterday. A small native reserve is made out of the original area, leaving 95,000 acres available for European settlement. This will be an important addition to the settled lands of Patea County. The greater part of the land is good or fair, and some of it excellent. Two Coaches are to run daily between Patea and Waitotara railway, after this month. They will be timed to meet the trains. The special coach will leave Patea at 6 a.m., and return at 8.30 p.m. The other will be the through line of daily coach, which will continue with a little change in the times each way.

The Rutland Hotel at Wanganui is to be repaired by Messrs Alexander and MeFarlane. The railway extension to Waitotara was opened on Thursday, and regular trailic commences next week. Mr 13.VLi.Ajrs Clydesdale stallion Prince Arthur, and his thorough-bred horse Gladiator, are to stand the season in Waverley district. Scar has appeared among the sheep on Messrs lon Brothers’ farm near Waverley originating from some outside source. Theirs had been one of the finest Hocks on the coast. Messrs Hallkxstkix Brothers will open their Pateabranch of the New Zealand Clothing Factory next Saturday. Their temporary promises arc opposite Mr Dale’s auction room. Bumor says that Sir William Fox and Sir F. Dillon Bell are to continue their functions as West Coast Commissioners, to carry out the recommendations in their reports. A Wanganui “ ham ” sold after a tea meeting the oilier night was found to be a dummy made of totara, neatly greased and smoked. The party who sold that ham has saved his bacon. The Prince of Wales has abandoned his intention of visiting the Melbourne Exhibition. As the Princess was also expected, this change will be a severe disappointment to colonials. Some Ngaire sections for which more than one application had been made were put up to auction on Wednesday, and wont nearly at the upset price, the highest being £2 15s per acre. The state of the roads this winter has dissipated the romance of settling in the bush. Madame Lotti Wilmot, the latest acquisition to the Frccthought platform in Dunedin, addressed an audience numbering about GOO, in the Princess Theatre. Her text was “ The Devil,” and in the course of a long address she completely, to her own satisfaction, succeeded in abolishing his Satanic Majesty.— Herald. Sims Beeves, the great tenor of the ago, has long been training his son Herbert. The son has made his debut in Loudon, and a critic says : "The influence of the father is so distinctly traceable in the style of the son that it is difficult to believe he ever had any other professor. We have the same purity of phrasing which has ever characterised the elder Beeves, the same keen ear for correct intonation, the same faultless style of emission, and the same lovely quality of voice which, in years gone by, rendered Sims Beeves an English artist distinguished even among the Italians.” The Cantata “ Lady of the Lake,” which is to b performed this evening by the Harmonic Society, was composed for the Glasgow Musical Festival in 187 G. it has not been performed in the colonies. The romance of Scott’s immortal “ lay ” appears to be well expressed in Macfarren’s tuneful melodies and picturesque scoring. This romantic Highland story was dramatised for Drmy-lanc theatre by the late Andrew Halliday, an Aberdonian of keen poetic taste, whose genial friendship was a pleasure to London Bohemians. The drama proved to be too much of a pictorial panorama ; and the strong parts not being happily cast, the result was below par. Mr G. A. Macfarren, whose reputation is a guarantee of good work, has tried his hand on this poem with musical success. He has dramatised the story only to that slight extent needful to connect the solo parts. Action and dressing are no part of his stage arrangement. Ho has not turned the story into an acting opera. Much is left to the listeners’ imagination. Those who listen with appreciative car may guess the changing moods of the story from that witchery of expression which is the charm of good music. The opening chorus, “ Harp of the North,” should break on the audience like a wild wailing melody of hills and glens ; and the leading voices should carry the story through its stirring romantic episodes with pleasing interest well sustained. The characters who have part-singing arc seven, and it is to be hoped the talent of the Harmonic Society will be equal to this demand. Ellen, the heroine of Loch Katbrinc, “ lady of the lake,” is the soprano voice ; Malcolm Granne, her lover, a contralto (“ Each secret glance conveys the whole of my enthusiastic soul”) ; the wandering idiot maid, poor Blanche of Devan, is also a contralto ; Fitzjames, Knight of Snowdoun, tenor; Bhoderick Dim, the bluff cave robber, baritone ; James, Earl of Douglas, and John of Brent, both basses. The chorus assist the story with recitative, sometimes personating the clan Alpine, the English soldiery, or the courtiers.