COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 9 December 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

The contract for railway extension at the Bay of Islands coal wharf is stated to have been let to Larkins and O’Brien for £25,000.

Wo learn from the Taranaki Herald that Carlyle will be out of sight in a short time ” if the thistles on various sections in the town arc not cut down.

Bush Reserves arc now being set apart for the use of settlors on the Waimale Plains. Mr Wray, land commissioner, announces that settlors can take licenses at £1 a year to cut timber for their own use, and a sawyer’s license to cut for sale is £5. A bush reserve of 1000 acres lias been surveyed at Te Ngutu o tc Mann, and a reserve of 2000 acres is being surveyed near Mnnnia. Other reserves not yet allocated will follow. Licences will be subject to forfeiture if in the opinion of the commissioner the holder causes unnecessary waste or destruction.

Patea Masons, Kilwinning Lodge, met at the Town Hall on Tuesday for the annual installation of officers. The installing officers were P.M.’s Archer and Wilson, Wanganui,and P.M. Hamerton. The R.W.M. elect, Brother A. Black, was duly installed; and the other officers for the year were :—D.-M., H. E. P. Adams; S.M., J. Thomson; S.AAL, G. Beamish ; J.W., AY. Dixon, S.D., A. Chisholm; LG,, G. W. Taylor; Treasurer, Brother Taplin: Secretary, Brother King. The visiting brethren included Brother Fergus, Dunedin ; Brother Robinson, Nelson ; Brother P, M. Gowland ; and Brother Carroll, AVanganni. A banquet was afterwards hold at Brother Haywood’s hotel, twenty-two being present; and some mysterious musical ceremonies arc believed to have been gone through at a late hour.

For pulling the nose of Solomon De | Beer, at Dunedin, Gilbert Mathesonhas been fined £5 and bound over to keep the peace for three months.

Miss Sutherland has resigned the position of matron of the Wellington Hospital. Applications at £IOO per annum arc invited.

A report from Kaikoura says that the property of Messrs Stoke Brothers, valued at £IOO,OOO, has been left by will to London hospitals.

The Timaru breakwater is nearly completed. The No. 2 contract was for 333 feet, and only four feet have yet to be laid, a month’s extension of time being allowed.

The sale of the Bainesse station, in sections, took place in Wellington on Monday. Three lots, about 119 acres each, sold at £5 an acre average price. Throe other sections were withdrawn, the reserve price not being reached. Shareholders in the Patea” Pcrmaa nent Building Society met on Friday, and adopted a code of Wanganui rules. Directors were appointed as follows out of eleven nominations : Messrs. Sending, Aitchison, W Dixon, J Whelan, T Eyton, A Black, and J Keys. Mr W Dale was appointed manager. Mr Aitchison was elected chairman of directors. Nearly 700 shares have been applied for.

It is understood that Ministers have already commenced the consideration of their programme of measures for the coming session, advantage being taken of the Attorney-General's stay in Wellington. The six Ministers now in town meet in Cabinet daily, the meeting occupying a large portion of each day, and it is intended, we believe, to have the principal measures to be introduced next session in a forward state of preparation at an early date.— Post. A portrait of Miss Dobic, which perhaps docs not do justice to this unfortunate lady, shows a face of ordinary type : an intellectual forehead, shoit nose, heavy chin, a placid intelligent expression, with no sort of romance. There is many a tace which a sculptor would not choose for its Hues, but which lights up with interesting sweetness, and wears a domestic charm which could not be found in classical types of beauty. Miss Dobic’s tastes wero artistic, as the public know : she was also a vigorous walker, and lias often been scon striding through fern and flax with the dash of a grenadier.

The first wool shipment this season from Wellington was by the ship St. Leonards last week. The cargo was valued at .£70,499. The largest exporters were 1349 bales, value £ 19,215, Levin ami Co.; 613 do. £9,514, E. Pearce: 1187 do. £17,677, Murray, Roberts, and Co. ; 367 do, £8,984, Krull and Co.; 152 do, £3,134, Deacon; 38 do, £667, J. Joseph and Co. ; 324 do. £6,306, Betlumc and Hunter; 22 do, £440, J. and W. Young; 4 do, £3B, Turnbull and Co, Total, 4,029 bales, £69,975. Of tallow there wore 486 casks, value £4833; sheep skins and basils, 120 bales, £2,453; rabbit skins, 17 bales, £461; and miscellaneous cargo, £1,687. The rush to Te Aroha goldfield has almost emptied Cambridge. All sorts of people there have abandoned business and gone to try their fortune on the new field. After the first pegging off, many disputes had to be arranged. As soon as one set of disputants settled their differences, fresh claimants to the same sections turned up ; and the first few days after the proclamation were lively with squabbles and appeals to the warden. A brilliant idea was hit on. Somebody proposed that the claimants should amalgamate and form a company, with a capital of £15,000 in one-pound shares; 3,000 shares to be offered to public subscription, while the miners would work the ground with money subscribed by the public, and would pay up nothing themselves. This plan suited the miners admirably. The company is called the Bonanza, a lucky Nevada name. We do not hear how much the public have subscribed yet.

The wharf at Wellington yields a «lear profit of £3OOO a year. A musical orchestra of eight performers will assist at the dramatic entertainment of the Patea Garrick Club, announced for next Thursday. The prospectus of the Caswell Sound Marble, Portland Cement, and Mining Co, limited, is advertised in the Mail. The share list closes December loth. Patea County Caledonian Society met last night, at the Albion Hotel, and elected officers. A programme of sports was drawn for Now Year’s day, when about £7O will be given in prizes. Turn has made yet another confession to a lady who visited him. He said ; “I saw the white woman near a flax tree, and I called out to her ‘ What are you doing there ?’ She did not reply. I grew angry and repeated my question. She said { I don’t talk to Maoris.’ [Probably she said she could not talk Maori.] This made me worse, as I was half drunk at the time, and I jumped off my horse. She became frightened and gave me some money. A few moments afterwards she said ‘ I shall tell the soldiers you took my money.’ This caused me to think I would get into trouble, and I seized her. In the struggle I stabbed her in the nock. She reeled about and scorned in pain, and to put an end to her suffering I cut her throat.” If those are Tulips words, they arc not his ideas, but wero probably suggested by leading questions, in our opinion. A Farewei.i, Banquet was given to Mr John Duthic by residents of Wanganui, on Tuesday evening, about 60 being present. The Mayor occupied the chair, aad the speakers included Mr Bryce, Native Minister, Mr Ballaucc, M.H.R., Captain Watt, Mr J. G. Sharpe, .Mr D. Peat, Mr J. Morgan, and Mr J. Hutchinson. Mi Duthie explained that the starting of a direct steamer between Patea and Wellington bad necessitated his removal to Wellington, in order not to lose his “ pet Patea hardware trade.”

For Printers. — A summer “ comp” plaint : “ I’m out of ‘sorts.’ ”