COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 12 October 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

Subscribers whose accounts for lust quarter may be inaccurate are requested to communicate with the manag'd’, as some errors arc found to have occurred before Mr Houghton acquired the property. He is anxious to rectify errors without delay. These arc compliments hurled at the Wellington Post by the N.Z. 'Times : “ Temporising, time-serving, sycophantic, popularity-hunting, huckstering, and from a journalistic point of view utterly mean.” Bush Reserves are being made on the verge of the Waimato Plains, by order of Mr Bryce, to afford a slock of firewood for the new settlers. That is sensible, but how about roads to get the firewood ? Six thousand one hundred trout ova were landed at New Plymouth on Friday. The Botanical Gardens arc to receive 200, the Huatoki stream near town 400, tributaries of the Waitara 3,200, Oakara streams 1,300, and some in Stone.y River district.

Tilt; Patka Stkamkk sailed for Nelson with cattle last Wednesday. A sale of stock fixed for Wednesday at Nelson had to be postponed till Thursday through delay in the Patca reaching that port. Where was the delay ? The Patea had conic from Wellington on Monday, had gone to Opunakc and returned on Tuesday morning, and sailed for Nelson next morning with 150 sheep, hides, and general cargo. “There is a little rift within the lute,” said Dr Wallis in the Assembly. Hansard reported him: “ There is a little rat within the flute.” This confounding of poetry with comic prose is hardly so distressing to the orator as that other* accident which happened to a Liverpool paper in reporting one of Mr Gladstone’s election speeches. Said the fervid orator, “We have burnt our bridges and abandoned our boats.” This historic trope got printed thus : “Wo have burnt our breeches and abandoned our boots.” That reporter did not emigrate, or wc might fancy he had been engaged at Wellington to ornament Hansard.

A “ practical farmer ” says “ When land near Wanganui in a high state of cultivation (first-class land) don’t pay, and would not letch more than from £lO to £l2 per aero at present, including homestead and all, it would be the height of madness to give £5 or £G an acre for land at Waimate. I want 200 acres of good wild land at from 20s to 40s per acre (and plcnt}' too) and would not give more for the best in Waimate. I think you will agree with me in saying that land bought at from 2s Gd to 5s per acre (as only members of the “ landshark ” fraternity can buy) is a far better spec, than going in for “ fancy Waimates.” I’ll bet that the honorable Frederick Whittaker (chief of the land-sharks) would not take the whole Waimate Plains at £5 per acre on deferred payment.

Mu Boulkston is being prayed for at Taranaki. His condition is considered almost hopeless, but the Brethern are giving him a last chance to reform. Many halfacre township sections allotted to military settlers in the good old times arc still unoccupied. Being township sections, they could not be sold at less than £3O per acre, whereas if they were proclaimed as village sections, they might be transferred at £5 an acre. The Land Board asked the Government to proclaim them, so that they might be grouped into paddocks for sheepfarming. The Minister complied, but in his own way. He proclaimed them as deferred payment sections, with compulsory occupation, and no selector to have more than half-an-acre. The Land Board at Taranaki arc now angry with the Minister for altering their recommendation. The Herald asks what the Minister can be expected to know about the local wants of New Plymouth, and adds : “ We never anticipated that the question of settling people on the land could be reduced to an absurdity.” It says Mr Ilollcston’s work-ing-man theory is crude ; and after asking several posing questions, the Herald “ pauses for a reply.” What an awful pause that must be !

Markets will be found on the fourth page. Mr skeet, dentist, visits Patea to-day. Deferred Payment Selectors arc directed to an advertisement on our first page. Patea Harror Board met yesterday, but deferred taking over the breakwater from the contractor till next month. The rumor that Parliament will be summoned on the arrival of the new Governor Sir Arthur Gordon is without foundationOctopus is the latest delicacy for fastidious palates. This toothsome seaspider is sold in Paris as tinned lobster from Labrador. Imagine a cold devilfish for luncheon—ugh ! County matters are to be ventilated at a meeting of Otoia Riding ratepayers, who arc invited to meet Messrs Horner and Dale, representatives of that riding, next Saturday at Patea. The main question is the transfer of roads from the Council to Road Boards.

The WAKA.ru Steam Bit -vviJl complete an unfinished contract for carrying railway iron to Wanganui in a few days, when she will enter on a regular service to Patoai calling here once a week on the average’ and making the round of four ports, Patca’ Nelson, Wellington, and Wanganui. IIKTUKNUU PloughM kn . —Mr Bryce, in his letter to Wiremu Kingi, said : “Large and ample pieces of land will be sot apart for those natives who desire that trouble should cease ; roads which will benclit both Maori and pakcha have been made, and arrangements have also been made for friendly occupation of land by both races side by side. It onlj r remains for the natives to accept what is oJfcrod crc it is too late.” Mr I3rycc adds that the desire of the Government is to release the rest of the prisoners, and this will be done if the proposals now made to the natives are accepted. The letter concludes with an earnest appeal to Wi Kingi to help the Government in causing the confusion to cease, and in promoting the real interests of his people.

The great Jennings property in London, worth about seven millions sterling, is still going a-begging. An agency firm of Unjackc & Co. are engineering this huge property. They discovered aMr C. Jennings at Kangiora, and wrote saying they' could trace the next-of-kin to him, and offering to put matters in train if he would engage by deed to allow them a commission of 121 per cent, on the amount to be recovered. The fish did not swallow the bait. The hook was baited again and again, but al way's with the same condition, namely that a deed to the above effect should be prepared as soon as he forwarded £5 5s to pay for its execution. This member of the great family of Jennings sticks to his £5 ss, and lots the seven millions go a-begging. Meanwhile the industrious firm of Scrcwjack & Co.—wo mean Unjackc—are persevering in their efforts to find a Jennings who will have a deed prepared at a first cost of £5 ss. Tub Ckicket Match on Saturday' at Patea, married v. single, has put matrimony at a discount. The Benedicts were “ nowhere.” They' allowed the Bachelors to beat them all to pieces. The only feasible explanation is that the ladies of the neighborhood did not come to the rescue of the Benedicts on Saturday, and this absence of the accustomed support operated to depress the spirits of the married team. They must take the consequence. Bach had a second innings on Saturday, and the following scoring tells its own talc :

MAURI ED. Tennent, caught Dascnt 5 Owen, sip Head 0 Fairclough, b Pringle 0 Dixon, c Dasent 2 Taplin, b F. Horner 3 Jacomi), c Turner 10 Baggett 14 Black, b Kitchen 0 May, b Kitchen 0 Eyton, b Kitchen 2 Croft, b Cooies 0 Woods, not out I Byes 6, widcs 4 10 Total 47 Total of both innings, 102.

SINGLE. ■F. T. Horner, b Jacomb 4 T. Head, b Jacomb .II Hatching, b Jacomb 24 Pringle, b Jacomb 0 L. Head, b Jacomb 0 Coutts, b Dixon 12 L. G. Horner, c Dixon 8 W. Dascnt, c Taplin 3 Drake, c Tennent 0 Turner, b Dixon 0 Gibbons, not out 0 W. Kitching, b Jacomb 3 Byes 4, log-bye I, wides3 8 Total 73 Total of both innings, 160,

Tenders are invited for constructing a culvert over the Eukatere stream, in continuation of the railway formation near Man u tali i. Mr Cowers ’s monthly stock sale takes place to-morrow at Kakaramea, when over 200 head of stock will be offered. The quarter!}' revenue returns showCustoms revenue, £645,000, or £19,000 over the estimate; beer duty, £II,OOO. The other classes are also found to be satisfactory.

The Triad of two Chinese diggers for the murder of a woman at Kyeburn, Otago, has resulted in sentence of death being pronounced on Ah Lee. The other Chinee, Lee Guy, was acquitted. Superior Officers of the police force are to be allowed to remain in subordinate positions, in lieu of dismissal. This is the Government’s “ second thought,” and ought to have been its first. Fire at Wanganui. —Mr Duthio- has asked for an inquiry into the cause of the fire at his residence, in order that tlio circumstances may be investigated and the facts given in evidence at the inquest. The jury will be summoned without del ay. — Herald.

Bioamy has been committed by a black smith lately of Kakaramea. He “levanted” from that township recently, leaving his wife in domestic service. His nest performance was to marry a young woman at Wanganui, giving out ho had not previously been married. Ho and the deluded young woman have now cleared for Wellington. A copy of the marriage register at Wanganui has been shewn to us, and also a certified copy of the first marriage register at Belfast in 1872. The wife is naturally reluctant to take steps for punishing a scamp who is after all her husband, but wo think the police would do well to vindicate justice and morality by prosecuting the man for bigamy.

A young man partly dressed was hanging to a window-sill the other morning at a house in Cuba street, Wellington. In his left hand was a carving knife, which he brandished threateningly in the air, uttering cries of “ murder.” Presently he let go his hold ef the window and alighted uninjured on the ground. By this time a constable arrived on the scene, and took the young man into custody as a maniac. His name is lid ward Fcaron, and his mind had become over-strained in studying lawbooks. He was articled to a legal firm in Wanganui, and had gone to Wellington to read up for examination. He began to fancy his food was poisoned, and that there was a Homan Catholic plot against his life. The poor youth is now in the lunatic asylum. A Rifle Match was fired on Saturday, between twelve of the Wanganui City Rifles, and the same number of the Patea Kiflcs, the Wanganui team being the challengers. The following scores of the local team show an average of 431 per

Total 522 The totals of the Wanganui men were : Lancc-Corpl Moosoman 49, Lance-Corpl Peake 48, Sergt Purnell 46, Vol Mooseman 42, Vol J R. Wilson 40, Vol T. Johnston 40, Vol Parkcs 38, Bandsman Cribb 38, Lieut Wilson 38, Corpl Neary 38, Vol Jensen 34, Color-Sergt Flyger, 28 ; total, 477. Several of the City team were unwell, and not able to fire with their usual skill. ThePatca team won by 45 points. Mu B. Horner's announcement of veterinary surgery appears in another column.

Round the World in 75 days is the latest travelling feat. A member of the Liverpool shipping firm of Ismay, Imvay, and Co., left that port on March 23rd, and touched at Suez, Point de Galle, Singapore Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Yokohama, San Francisco, and New York, which comprehensive tour he contrived to effect in 66 days, leaving himself barely nine more for his passage across the Atlantic to Liverpool, where he arrived on the 75th day, having travelled 25,000 miles. A Chinaman, bitten by a deaf adder at Beaconsfield, Queensland, and made drink six bottles of brandy, recovered.

Lord Beaconsfield is said to. be arranging the materials for ins own biography. Mata is being backed for the Melbourne Cup at 12 to 1. No intelligence has been heard of the crew of tiie wrecked brigantine A. Stewart, stranded at Kaipara. Coffee Palaces in large cities are an immense success. The Sydney Coffee Palace is taking £2,000 a month. The Homeward ship Brisbane, from Timaru June 14th, reached London last Friday. The latest traslator of the “ Odissey of Homer into English verse is Sir Charles Du Cane, K.0.M.G., formerly Governor of Tasmania. Mr M'Fie, of Airds, N. 8., has presented £5,000 to the Free Church of Scotland for the establishment of a Chalmers lecture-

ship. It is awful hard to realise that a woman is an angel when one sees her pick up a clothesprop 14ft long to drive a two-ounce chicken out of the yard. Bryce, Summer and Co., Wellington, have joined the Union Steam Shipping Company, and the latter have taken the steamer into their fleet.

News from Samoa by the Coronet is to the effect that Savaii is in a disturbed state. All are prepared for flight, and matters arc so threatening that the public meeting of the Missionaries’ Society had to be postponed. A Conference on the Chinese immigration question is proposed to be held at Melbourne, and the colonial governments are being asked to co-operate. They want the heathen Chinee to stop in the Flowery Land.

At Buisuane, the editor of the Courier served the proprietors of a Catholic paper, called the Australian , with a writ for £3,000 damages for slander. The latter published a complete apology, and acknowledge their statements to have no foundation. Svdxev Gold Rush. —The rush to the Bermagni Beach, near Bega, continues. There are nearly 400 people there, and £l6O was paid for a one-eight share in a claim near the prospectors’. Tho country inland looks favorable. Provisions are cheap and plentiful.

At Grahamstown information was furnished to the Government that a plant of arms and spirits existed at Whangamata, and upon the arrival of the Stella at Auckland she was dispatched with Constabulary to the. locality. The plant contained spirits to the value of £l5O, but no arms. In these days of newspapers the ease and celerity with which a thought or a system permeates a community is truly wonderful. Perchance this arises from the fact that the majority of people decline to think for themselves, hut look to the writers of the daily Press to think for them. —W. L llccs. John’s Fattiek. —A customs officer at Sydney the other day pounced upon a Chinaman with a carpet bag which the official suspected of containing contraband goods. It contained the bones of “John’s” father, which he was bringing with him to the “ flowery land,” with a certificate of i‘ resurrection ” from Castlemainc, where they had been disinterred.

Amateur Opeeaix Dunedin.— lt is stated by one of the Dunedin papers that Signor Morlcy is engaged upon the composition Of a new opera of a serio-comic nature, to be entitled “ Isidora, ” which will probably be completed and ready for production about the middle 'of November. Signor Morlcy will also produce, at the same time, the wcllknown opera of " Lucrczia Borgia,” which some of his pupils arc at present studying. Fair Cricketing. —The following letter was received by Mr W. G. Grace, the cricketer, before the Gloucester match with the Australian Eleven : —“ Dear Sir,—l must ask your pardon for giving such an astute cricketer as yourself any advice, but as I am anxious to sec the Gloucester men win the match, I thought I would give you a tip or two. Well, then, to begin with, the Australians can’t play slow underhand a bit. If you have a man who can bowl underhand fairly well put him on early. Look out for Blackham (wicketkeeper) ; he does not scruple to ask anything, and gets many out through frightened or nervous umpires. 1 have given you this advice because I dislike the Australian cricketers greatly. They are moneygrubbers, and there is not a gentleman amongst them. lam an Australian born, and know all the team and their play.— (Signed) One Who Knows.” To his credit be it mentioned, Mr Grace at once showed. this contemptible effusion to the Australians.

man ;— Pate a Yards 200 400 500 TlVolunteer Pringle 15 17 18—50 Corporal Chadwick 14. 17 18—49 Sergeant Smith 17 16 14—47 Volunteer W. Kitching 13 16 16—45 Volunteer Carey, iun,... 17 16 12—45 Captain Black ... 17 13 14—44 Volunteer Graham 14 17 13—44 Volunteer Black 1G 17 11—44 Color-Sergeant King ... 1G 13 14—43 Sergeant Kitching 13 16 12—41 Sergeant Kells 15 13 9—37 Sergeant Carey 15 7 11—33