COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 23 October 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

Tll i-: Wk kki.v Supplement of II columns, comprising stories and entertaining literature, is presented with this issue of the Mail, Sec I th page of the Mail for Markets, peasant farms, transfer of bees, wrecked or missing, the Judicature Commission, sending oats to England, what is pure water ? Flax is being worked profitably in Canterbury, by Mr Chinnery, at the llangiora mill on the river Cam. llai;i!it Skins advanced 2d to 3d per lb. in the London market during August, The large number of 735 bales were on oiler. Canteuuuuv Piioduce is being consigned to Patea for sale by auction. Mr W. Coworn announces a consignment, Ho will also hold a sale of stock on the Agricultural Show ground, Nov. Ith. Exit, iks for the Wanganui Agricutuval show to be held next Thursday arc ; Horses —l 3 thoroughbreds, 39 draughts, 31 miscellaneous. Callle—--20 bulls, 57 cows. Sheep —(!l ewes, 31 rams, 30 fat sheep. Miscellaneous — Produce, 37 : beer, 4 : dogs, 43 ; pigs, 10 ; implements, 51; harness, 21, What could bo more unexpected ? The engine which fell into the water at the Tay Bridge disaster has been fished up from the bottom of the deep estuary, and is now running on the railway “ as if nothing had happened.” Its first run after resurrection was made August23rd, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Crowds gathered to see it arrive at the stations during the first few days. The wreckage of the bridge is nearly all recovered. About 6,000 tons of iron, portions of the bridge, were fished up during five months, includingslo pillars; and the work cost £ 12,000. The reconstruction of the bridge is entrusted, not to the original designer, but to Mr Barlow, president of the Institute of Civil Engineers.

Sin Julius Vogel contradicts the report of his return to the colony. The death is announced of Mr Justice Thesiger, one of the Lords Justices of A ppea!, Patea Ha anon looked unusually lively on Thursday, with three steamers at the wharf at once, and the Amaranth schooner also in the river. “ Unto them that have, much shall be given.” So it is with the M.H.R. for Nelson. Mr Adams is reputed to have made £16,000 in three months by the sudden rise in value of his mining shaves—6ooo in the United Alpine Company, and 4000 in the Golden Fleece. SrnscKiPTioNs for a loan on Treasury bills in Victoria exceeded the amount five times over. The Government wanted £1,250,000, and they received offers from banks equal to £6,250,000. The loan was taken up chiefly by the Bank of New South Wales as highest tenderers. A Stimulus is given already (o the acquisition of superior stock by our more enterprising farmers, who feel a proper pride in competing for merit at the local Agricultural show. Purchases arc being made outside the district with a view to figuring well in the list of awards at the Patea show. Houses are so much in demand at Patea that a profitable investment would be found in the erection, on cheap back sections, of four-roomed and six-roomed cottages. It would be difficult to point out any single investment that would yield a larger or safer profit than cottages in the present state of trade. He must bo of slow nnderstonding who cannot sec that Patea township is making a bound forward. That Living Moa is still going about the southern wilds of the Middle island. That moa can be heard, not seen. Like some other big things, it is visible only to the eye of faith. But its footmarks arc there, huge and palpable—so the miners say. The singing shriek of a living moa seems to be a combination of a railway whistle on a stilly night, and the rasping of a cross-cut saw obligato. Those miners in the south will show you marks of the moa’s foot—marks of a claw 3 feet 2 inches long ; and what bettor evidence of a living moa could you have than that I Tuavkli.eus by the Mountain road tell terrible stories. Horses got stuck in the mud, and have to be dragged out by a team of bullocks. A traveller passing southward yesterday informed us the road was worse than the worst report he had previously heard. Ho saw two horses bogged in the sticky mud, and he saw the dismounted owners coming up with a team of bullocks borrowed from the nearest settler, and with these the horses were tugged out bodily. How did they do it ? u Oh, easy enough : a rope was put round the horse’s neck, and the bullocks were fastened to the rope, and when they pulled hard, the horse had to come anyhow.” Wc put a modest question ; “ Did the horse come out in sections or in bulk ?” Just then the traveller heard the driver calling “All aboard !” and he went off by the coach. A Holiday might be held with advantage to the public on the day of the Agricultural Show at Patea, Thursday, Ith November. Mr Chapman, Chairman of the Show Committee, has received a reply from the Colonial Under Secretary assenting to his suggestion for a public holiday, and stating that the Government offices in Patea will be closed on that day, except the Post and Telegraph offices. The banks might take action in the same way. The Ith is the usual day for monthly settlement, and is in a certain sense important, but could not the business be so arranged as to close at noon, by official announcement; or could not the settlement be carried to the stb, and the Ith be proclaimed a bank holiday ? So long as banks arc open, business must be going on ; and the success of a public holiday depends much on the banks.

Wool sent from this colony to the London sales in September exceeded in quantity that of any other colony. New Zealand sent 89,866 bales, New South Wales 87,403, the Cape 71,612, Victoria 49,984, Tasmania 14,428, South Australia 13,114, Western Australia 738 bales. W ixtEli has commenced early in Britain. A severe snowstorm fell throughout England on Wednesday. Snow before Christmas was a rarity until the last two winters. It was a standing joke that pictures prepared for Christ-mas-timo represented a winter scone of snow whore snow was not. Now snow is too plentiful before Yule-tide in the dear old country. Eight months of winter in the year, and cold wet summers, with precarious harvest weather, cannot be called pleasant. The state of New Zealand trade from a London point of view is reported on by the N.Z. L. and M.A. Company’s circular dated London, September 9: “ Commercial advices from New Zealand are of a satisfactory character. The volume of business passing was not largo, but trade generally Avas reported as sensibly brisker and healthier in tone than at the corresponding period last year. The caution which had been observable during the past few months had considerably reduced liabilities, and payments had been promptly met. Money was in more abundant supply, and rates were quoted easier.” Ten dels at New Plymouth for lowering the grade of tramway to the harbor breakwater were opened on Wednesday, Messrs Hcndeison and Fergus, who arc interested in the wharf contract at Patea, tendered at £2,850 for removing sandstone at 5s per cubic yard, and earthwork at Is per yard. The engineer’s estimate was Is 2d per yard for 6,500 cubic yards of sandstone, and 5d for 21,000 cubic yards of earthwork, total £Bl6. Five tenders were received, the lowest that of Cosgrave & Manning, at 7d a yard for earthwork and ] Id a yard for sandstone rock, total £945 11s. The Harbor Board have postponed the matter till next week. A cheerful report of British trade appears in the September circular of the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company of New Zealand, Fair activity had been manifested in the Home industries during August. The metal trades, however, have been somewhat dull, and prices for iron arc weaker after the recent advance. Wool is firm, and cotton, owing to active buying in consequence of scarcity of stocks for delivery, has advanced in price. In favorable weather, harvest operations had been almost completed, and with the prospect of a steady trade during the winter months, the tone in business circles was decidedly cheerful at the date of writing, Sept. 9th, The principal measure passed by the British Parliament last session, which ended September 7th, throe weeks later than usual, were the Burials Bill, the Education Act, and an Act for determining the Liability of Employers in accidental injuries to workmen. To these may be added an Act relating to Ground Game, the repeal of the Malt duty, the Savings Bank Act, and measures relating to the safety of Merchant Seamen, and providing for the safer conveyance of grain cargoes by carrying in bags or with fixed partitions. This last measure was the chief reform agitated for by Mr Plimsoll during some ten years. Philanthropists might almost despair after so long an effort. A Swamp Legend. —Now we will let the public into a little secret which they may think will satisfactorily account for Mr S. Cromnbic Brown’s enmity to the Native Minister. When Mr Bryce took office, MiBrown, though acting as correspondent to a newspaper which was rabidly attacking the Government, applied for the post of private secretary to the Native Minister, and his application was not accepted. Mr Bryce has in his possession the correspondent’s letter of application, though, of course wc presume the former will stoutly deny that he ever made overtures to any member of the Government,—Rangiteiki Advocate.

Green Flax is being exported to Melbourne, for paper manufacture. The export is increasing. j On the receipt of the news that the steamer Albion was in difficulty, the steamers Rescue and Williams proceeded to her assistance, and towed her safely into Melbourne, where she is undergoing repairs. In Auckland a large amount of housebuilding is going on. In the Mount Eden District alone there arc in course of erection; or about to bo erected during the ensuing month, some fifty bouses. “ lam in a position to state that the Government contemplate making an effort to open up the Mokau country almost immediately, and that, with the consent of some of the leading natives, Land Courts will shortly be established there.” —Correspondent Lyttelton Times Wasn’t it in 1874 that Sir Julius Voge proposed to make the fortune of New Zealand by annexing Polynesia. What a funny thing that in 1880 Polynesia should annex New Zealand—at all events to the extent of compelling its Governor to divide his attention between this Colony and Fiji. —Lyttelton Times. British Manufactures. —It appears (says a journal called Hardware) that in manufactures England at present stands pre-eminent. Its operatives number 2,930,000, as against 2,781,000 of Germany, and 1,936,000 of France, and 1,150,000 of Russia. The production per operative is given as : United Kingdom, L 224 ; Franco L 220 ; Germany, LlO3. In the principal textile manufactures, cotton and wool, the United Kingdom produces a total of the value of L 155,000,000 ; the United States; L 48,000,000 ; Fiance, LG8,000,000 ; Germany, L 48,000,000. Jesuits in Franco arc not all content to to be expelled. In consequence of the action which is being taken by the French Government to carry out the March decrees ami complete expulsion of members of al] unauthorised religious orders residing in France, the leaders of the order of Carmelites have determined to contest at law the legality of the action of Government in ordering their expulsion, and the necessary proceedings have been commenced. Mr Adams, M.H.R. for Nelson, has been most fortunate in bis reefing ventures on this const lately. He is reported to be the bolder of 6000 shares in the United Alpine Company, and 4000 shares in the Golden Fleece Company. His interest in these two mines have risen wifliin the past three months from a mere nominal value to the largo sum of L 14,000. Putting it in a New Light.— Lord Elcho, in the midst of an otherwise dull speech in the House of Commons on the Irish Relief Bill, thus amusingly satirised the action of the Government in connection with the Irish Compensation Bill: He said the principle of this Bill was put in a nutshell in a letter which he received from a correspondent at Bristol. He wrote: “My Lord, I am a soda-water manufacturer. (Laughter.) The last three years have been as disastrous to me as to the Irish husbandman. My landlord is inexorable. He will have every copper of rent, no remission whatever, and threatens eviction by distress on my plant and machinery, built into bis freehold. Smitten sorely by wretched weather and German spring competition—(laughter)— a Soda-water Relief Bill enabling me to claim my plant or full compensation in defiance of any legal process would put me on a bed of roses. It is useless threatening to shoot my landlord if he lias the audacity to claim his own—bis rent—as he is an officer of volunteers, and a far better shot than I am.” Marine Railway. —The shortest and most profitable railway in the world is probably to be seen at Coney Island, the famous suburban summer resort of the inhabitants of New York. Tin's is the marine railway which connects Manhattan Beach Hotel and the Brighton Beach Hotel. It is 2000 ft in length, is laid with steel rails, and has a handsome little station at each end. Its gauge is 3ft. Its equipment consists of two locomotives and four cars, open at the sides, and having reversible seats. A train of two cars is run each way every five minutes, and at quite a rapid rate of speed, a flying switch being made at each end. The cost of the miniature road, including stations ami equipment; was 27;000dols,, and it paid for itself according to the Raiheay Aye , in a few weeks after it was opened for bnsinss. The operating expenses arc BOdols a day, and the average receipts are 450d01s a day the entire season, 990d01s being sometimes taken. The fare charged is 5 cents. The property paid a profit last year of 500 per cent, on its cost.