PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1881.

Patea Mail, 8 January 1881, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1881.

An Illustrated Weekly Supplement is presented with this issue of the Maid. Terawhiti goldfield is almost deserted. School Committees in the district are to be elected by public meetings on the 24th January. Small contracts for railway formation are advertised, to complete cuttings and small unfinished portions between Patea and Manutahi. These are intended, we believe, for the convenience of working men who were brought into the district as unemployed, and are now able to shift for themselves. The Government are not losing sight of the importance of completing this link between Waverley and Hawera, and the people here will be grateful even for small concessions ; but for goodness’ sake do push on the lino more seriously. The dog tax in the Hawera Riding was let to Mr Jacomb, and on his attempting to collect the tax beyond Hawera, some over-wise persons raised a staggering difficulty, alleging that over the Waingongoro river is not within the Riding, being an outlying district. A meeting was held, and the collector was virtually told to go about his business. So he did. He telegraphed to the the County Council, and was at once instructed to collect all within the Riding, the so-called out-lying district being as much a part of the Riding as any other.

A severe accident happened to two bush-men, Eugene Sullivan and Nicholas Heeney, who were engaged in bush falling on Thursday afternoon near Manutahi. They were caught by a falling tree, and both crushed, but assistance being at hand they were carried to Manutahi, and medical aid was obtained from Patea during the nightSullivan, who is a very muscular and powerful young man, had sustained dislocation of shoulder, and was much bruised and strained in other parts of the body. Heeney had suffered in his chest, but had escaped better than his friend. Sullivan’s dislocation was reduced by Dr Keating, and it is believed that no serious results are to be apprehended in either case, except a short period of confinement to bed or enforced repose.

The Patea Town Hall Coy. is to be wound up voluntarily. At the annual meeting held on Thursday, five shareholders present, Mr Christie proposed to wind up the company. No discussion was attempted. The company was snuffed outy»*o forma, and there’s an end. Nearly all the shares had been bought up by the silent perseverance of one capitalist; and being now in a position to control the voting by holding the requisite majority of shares, he proposes to extinguish the company, Mr Milroy seconds his motion, the other three quietly assent, and the company’s affairs are practically in liquidation. The £1 shares have been selling lately at £1 14s to £2, and the remaining shareholders expect £2 10s“per share, A company whose shares are above par does not go into liquidation, as a rule. This being an exception, why is it so? The ground on which the Town Hall stands would sell any day for much more than the company’s subscribed capital. Talk of liquidation, when your shares are at a premium of 200 per cent. ! Put that problem to schoolboys. There’s something else, and that something ought to be explained. We have no opinion to offer except one which we conceive to be in the public interest. So far as we understand this operation, an exceptional benefit is to accrue to the chief shareholder at the public expense. The land was given for a particular public use, and when it ceases to be so used, the public lose that which is their just right. This is not as it ought to be ; and having invited the public to take note, our duty is done.

A football team of Australians, with five from this colony, is being arranged for an English tour. Another slight shook of earthquake was felt at Wanganui on Thursday evening. The Queen’s Speech in the Imperial Parliament will be found in our cable news. Deposits of chrome, of special use for quick tanning of leather, are being reported on in Nelson district. A train at Carolina, U.S., caught fire, and several persons were burned to death before it could be stopped, A monument to the late Miss Dobie is to be erected at Opunaki. It was subscribed for by A.C.’s on the Coast. The office of the Comity Council is now closed three days a week, as advertised, this being a new economy. The Boer insurrection in the Transvaal is assuming a savage character. Those who refuse to join are killed, or their houses burnt. A grant of land for the through line from Canterbury to Westland will, it is said, ensure the construction of the line by private capital. The Premier promises to consult his colleagues as to giving the land.

A cricket match between Patea and Marton is arranged to be played at Wanganui next Saturday. Practice will be necessary to enable the Patea team to face this contest with confidence, and it is desirable that a serious effort should be made to practise together two or three times in the next few days. A good start might be made this afternoon. We understand that operations will commence to-day for erecting the sash-and-door factory for Messrs. York and Cornfoot, of Wanganui. Mr York has arrived in Patea to direct the work. A plot of about three acres at £BO rental has been taken as a transfer from Messrs Thomson, Tregear, and Fraser, who leased from the Harbor Board. The land is near the bridge, opposite the Masonic Hotel. The Wakatu is expected to bring part of the plant to-day.

The new dredge for Wanganui river has been tried on the mud flat, and is a partial failure by reason of the sand dropping back into the river instead of being delivered into the receiving punt, which cannot be got near enough to catch each flop of sand as the bucket turns over. Ingenuity may rectify this. The snags are only small ones so far. Major Kemp is being sued for a large sum in the Wanganui Court. One local journal stated the amount was £4OO, and promised this Maori chief a kind welcome by his old friends if he went to Wanganui. But the other journal denied some of the particulars, and suggested that if Kemp did come he would be sure to fraternise with the staff of the other paper. Such is the cat-and-dog courtesy of Wanganui’s model journals! What must be their influence on local manners ?

Fenian raids on Volunteer stores in England are apprehended, and extra precautions are ordered. A torpedo was reported to have been placed under an ironclad ship in the Firth of Forth, and a Fenian plot was suspected, but the report, after causing some alarm, turned out untrue. A fire at Liverpool docks did a little damage, and this is reported to be the work of Fenian incendiaries, who imagined they could destroy all the shipping in five miles of docks by one grand conflagration. A night patrol of military has been attacked near Cork, but the assailants soon fled. Three trustees of the Patea Recreation Ground have been nominated by the County Council, namely, Messrs R. Horner, W, Dale, and R. C. Tennent, to co-operate with four trustees already nominated by the Town Board. The ground will now be brought under the Public Domains Act, and the trustees will have power to lease for short terms, and to apply the money in making the ground more attractive as a public resort. They will be able to impose penalties for damage done, and to regulate the use to which different portions of the ground may be applied.

Patea R. M. Court. Friday, before Dr Croft and 11. F. Christie. WATCH THEFT AT NORMANBY. John Brennan, aged about 50, and without coat, was charged with stealing a watch and chain, the property of Edward Blake, a half-caste, from Brett and Johnson’s Hotel, on the night of the Caledonian sports. He had been apprehended at Patea, partly drunk, by Sergeant Donovan, on Tuesday night last, after trying to sell the watch and chain in question. Blake deposed that lie slept in a parlour that night, the door not being locked, and in the morning his pockets had been rifled, some papers being strewed about, and his watch and chain, value £ll 10s, were missing, and a sixpence. Knew the prisoner’s face, and saw him on the day of the sports, but knew nothing more of him. Identified the watch by his engraved name, and the chain by certain marks. W. J. Neill, saddler, Patea, deposed that the prisoner came to his shop several times on Tuesday, bothering him to buy the same watch and chain for £5. Refused, but when the man came at night saying he was hard up and wanted a bed, he offered to lend him ss. if he would leave the watch and chain till the money was repaid next morning. Then Sergeant Donovan spoke to him, and witness gave up the watch and chain to the sergeant. Sergt. Donovan said when he arrested the prisoner on Tuesday night he was partly drunk. Prisoner told him he did not steal any watch at Normanby, and had not got a watch. Obtained the watch and chain from Neill. Prisoner said it was no use saying anything now, but he had a great deal to say about it when his trial came on. Committed for trial at New Plymouth. CIVIL CASES. SEEING A NATIVE. Messrs Skelly, drapers, sued Raumati, a native, for 13s 4d, value of clothing. Defendant disputed receiving the articles. Judgment for amount, with 7s costs. Mr Williams interpreted. Ranraati said afterwards that perhaps Mr Williams would pay for him, as he had not got any of the Kaitangiwhenua money. Then he offered to pay in a month. Defendant was dressed in a velvet coat and light trousers, and was quite a tiptop swell. OTHER CASES. Coutts v. Williamson, adjourned for a fortnight. Taplin v. Adamson, struck out. Gowland v. T. W. Foster, summons not served. Court adjourned.