PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

Patea Mail, 1 February 1881, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1881.

The date fixed for the payment of the first instalment of the Property Tax is the Bth March, and for the second, instalment the 22nd of that month.

The letter “ H.” appeared by error in the account of meeting in last issue of Mr F. Williamson’s creditors. The new clerk of the Patea R.M. Court, Mr Deane, late a clerk in Wellington R.M. Court, arrived in Patea yesterday. Major Baddeley—who has been promoted to the position of Clerk of the R.M. Court, New Plymouth, vice Mr G. F. Rawson, now R.M.—will probably take his departure for New Plymouth to-day. Mr G. N. Baggett, has been appointed Receiver of Land Revenue vice Major Baddeley. It has been reported to us, by Mr Daniels, that a throwing 561b weight match took place last Thursday, at New Plymouth, between M. S. Daniels, of Kakaramea, and T. Stretch, of Auckland, for £4:O aside, Daniels winning by a throw of 2d feet 7 inches, Stretch throwing 23 feet. Singular such a big event was not publicly announced or notified in New Plymouth papers.

The boundaries of Recreation Reserve at Manutahi; comprising 3 acres 3 roods 2 perches, have been gazetted, and powers of management delegated under “ The Public Domains Act, 1860,” to the following residents—who are styled the “ Manutahi Domain Board ” —John George Ginger, Duncan McGregor, W T illiam Balmfortb, George Balmforth, and Richard White Foreman. Rules for the guidance of the Board are also gazetted, of which the following is a summary : Meetings to be held monthly at the Block House, or as may be otherwise decided by the Board ; first meeting to be held Tuesday, Bth February. Special meetings may be convened by chairman, or by any two members, two days’ notice being given, and business specified. Three to form a quorum. At first meeting, and annually afterwards, chairman to be appointed, who may join in discussion, and will have original as well as casting vote. Chairman holds office till successor appointed. In case of absence of chairman another member may be chosen to conduct the business of meeting. In case of resignation or otherwise of chairman, fresh chairman may be appointed at ordinary or special meeting. All questions to be decided by the majority of votes of the members of the Board present at a meeting.

Railway material and two more new engines for the New Plymouth railway arrived in the Waitara on Friday last, A large number of boys have been sentenced to a whipping, and one to three month’s imprisonment, for robbing orchards in Auckland. The appeals from Auckland taxpayers against the assesment of the Property Tax Board Reviewers have resulted in the valuation being sustained except in trifling cases. The Wellington Seamen’s Union have passed the following resolution :—“ That all boats strike for the eight hours movement on the 31st of January, and come out if they don’t get it, the eight hours to be on the articles.

The chief Surveyor of the Wellington, Land District reported to the Board that during the month of December the following surveys are completed:—7B62 acres Crown lands, Fitzherbert Block ; 2301 acres old applications, Aohanga; 2745 acres Wairarapa Lake. The applications near Mauriceville were being pushed on, and when completed a start would be made with the survey of about 6000 acres of Crown land in* that locality.

What a fall from the Arcadian simplicity and guilessness which Taranaki, “ the garden of New Zealand,” formerly boasted, does the following account of its laiTakins, from the News , disclose:— “ Organised bands of young people have been engaged in unhinging gates, robbing gardens and hen-roosts, and in calling quiet citizens from their beds on lying and alarming pretences. We are sorry to say that as regards garden robbing, the mischief has not been perpetrated by the sterner sex alone, there being well-founded suspicions of females indulging in midnight raids on the strawberry beds of suburban residents.” Rumour had it lately that the Hon Mr Oliver was sulking down south, and the usual form of notification that his company at Cabinet meetings in Wellington would be attended with benefit to the colony, having failed to bring Mr Oliver to his colleagues, the task of hunter and' pacificator fell to the lot of Major Atkinson. How well he has acquitted himself may be judged by the intimation that the two are now doing the south in company, and amongst other pleasant experiences have been banquetted at Invercargill. Major Atkinson in his remarks preached retrenchment, called for patriotism instead of popularity hunting, and while reiterating that his much-condemned financial statement had not depicted the state of the colony blacker than in fact, expressed confidence that the exercise of thrift would quickly bring prosperity. Mr Oliver, indicating with almost certainty where the shoe had been pinching, recounted the difficulties he had experienced in railway and other matters which it had been his duty to inquire into and attempt reforms, and claimed indulgence for further retrenchments which fell to him to carry out. Probably after the expressions of good-will at Invercargill and elsewhere, he may submit to be led back to Wellington by the Hon. and gallant Major.

The final draft of stations for Ministers agreed to at the Wesleyan Conference held at Nelson, placed the Rev. G. Luxford for Patea; Rev. P. W. Fairclough, Invercargill; Revs. McNicoll and Harper, New Plymouth ; Rev. Mr Williams, Wanganui. The Rev. J. Law, formerly at Patea, has been appointed to Lawrence. Manawatu has been divided into three districts, the new districts being Sandon, Feilding, and Palmerston North. Taranaki and Wanganui district arc changed to Wanganui District. It was resolved, “ That it is desirable that the New Zealand Conference should be represented at the Methodist (Ecumenical Congress, which meets at London in September.” The stations showed 314 churches and preaching places, 67 active Ministers, 3,542 church members ; 13,365 Sundaysohool scholars; 35,389 attendants on public worship. In addition to the foregoing, Conference has charge of 4,000 Maoris and 500 Scandinavians.

Frederick William Brookfield has been appointed Deputy Commissioner of Stamps, and Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, at Wellington. Urenui natives, lately returned prisoners, retain their faith in Te Whiti, the ruling idea being that all the land from Pukearhue to Waitara will revert to Urenui natives. Cable message announces that the butter lately arrived in England by the steamer Protos has realised Is per lb, the total return showing a large profit. From the fresh meat, after payment of all charges, there is a profit of fully £IOOO. The fire at Parihaka, announced by our Wellington correspondent Friday evening, is confirmed from other sources. Information was received at New Plymouth that the bush inland of the native settlement at Parihaka had taken fire, and destroyed a quantity of the food. So excited were the natives at the loss they were sustaining through the fire that many of them were disposed to rush amongst the flames and to die with the food that was being destroyed. Notice has been sent to the various school committees in the Wanganui Education District, stating that nominations for the three vacancies on the Board must be sent in to the Board’s Secretary not later than 19th February. The written consent of the nominees must accompany the nomination papers. The retiring members are Messrs W. H. Watt, J. W. Baker, and D. McGregor. The Taranaki Herald says: —A certain Boniface in town who had been boasting for some time of a superior kind of cheese he was lucky enough to purchase from a farmer, at last produced it on his table ; and to his surprise all the boarders rose and left the room. He thought something was wrong with it. He sent it down to the kitchen, when the servants, in a body, immediately came and gave him warning, saying that they would leave if he did not send that cheese away. As a last resource he had the cheese conveyed to a house infested with rats, but it was so strong that they could not stand it, and one and all left the place. We can hardly believe that this was Taranaki cheese, but our informant swears it was—and he used a double D too when telling us of the circumstance.

The Taranaki Herald is of opinion that the Governor has acted wisely in refraining at present from visiting Parihaka, and after enumerating, impossible to grant, but probable concessions which Te Whiti would have required, says—- “ If the Governor sought to shelter himself under the wing of his Ministers and reply that the matter would receive his most serious consideration, Te Whiti would at once underrate the Governor’s power and position, and would not consider him “ a high and mighty chief of the Pakehas ” if he could not deal with him without the assent of those inferior ephemeral beings called Ministers. In whatever aspect we view it, it bristles with possible difficulties, humiliations, and dangers.

Information has reached Wanganui from Murimotnto the effect that, acting under instructions from Kemp—Purekura, Tutuwha, Winiata have seized the bulk of the wool clip on Moorhouse’s run and now hold it in charge for a claim for grass money. The wool has not been taken off the block but has been housed in whares built by the natives who claim the ownership of the land. There is a difference of opinion among the natives inasmuch as Albert, one of the chiefs, sides with the white occupiers of the land. He has not taken possession of the wool, and matters are in statu quo pending the arrival of Kemp. To the plea of a lawyer in Wellington against a judgment in the R.M. Court, that justice had only been rendered “according to his lights,” Mr Justice Richmond replied, “We are all sworn to do justice,—subject, however, to a very important qualification, viz., to do justice according to the law —which makes a very great difference sometimes.”

The post-office at Taratahi will in future be known as Clareville. Seventeen native prisoners released by Government in the Waikato, are on their way back to Parihaka. Objections to valuations under the Assessment Act, Wellington District, total 158, of which 126 are from Wellington city, and 32 from the country. The ruling of Mr Shaw, the Wellington R.M., our late District Judge, is that a verbal guarantee to be responsible for another person’s debt is of no value, even under the “ equity and good conscience” clause of the Act. All such guarantees must be in writing. From Dunedin we learn that 1,140 shares in the Caswell Sound Marble Company have been applied for in Wellington and other places, 200 in Christchurch, and 500 in Melbourne and Sydney. The steamer Hannah Mokau has been seventeen miles up the river Mokau, the furthest yet. She only got up twelve miles before. The news respecting the coal and the opening up of the country is reported satisfactory. The Taranaki Herald reports that natives have commenced felling bush for the purpose of making clearings at Waitahi, which is part of the block beyond Parihaka, intended to be offered for sale by the Government. The native who is the ringleader in this affair was one of the prisoners who were recently landed at Opunake. This is a new method of opposing the sale of the confiscated land, and it is expected that the Constabulary will receive orders to arrest the natives who are trespassing upon the land. T. K. Macdonald, secretary of the New Zealand Titanic Steel Company sued the company for £342 for services rendered as secretory since 1876. As there had been no general meeting since 1876 the directors were in doubt if they could legally pay away the company s money, and objected to being made personally liable for the amount. Mr Justice Richmond said Mr Macdonald seemed to be a sort of tap that had been left running, and there was no one to stop it. He did not think, if the opinion of the court were given, it would bind the directors. The judges, after argument, thought the directors had power to call a general meeting to appoint fresh directors. They, however, gave no decision.

The Wellington Post, in the semiofficial authoritative manner now commonly assumed, undertakes to clear away misconceptions in reference to Mr Bryce’s resignation. Until Mr Bryce ] himself undertakes a further clearance of misconceptions, the following version will doubtless be generally accepted : “ It is true that Mr Bryce did not advise Te Whiti’s arrest as a first step, but the arrest of Hiroki, but this was only to be the prelude to the other, it being taken for granted that Te Whiti and Tohu, in accordance with their previous course of action, would either resist or obstruct Hiroki’s arrest/ or else would afford him facilities for escaping, or, at any rate, would in some manner so evade or prevent his arrest as to afford a reasonable pretext for arresting either, and, perhaps, both of them. The object of the proposed advance on Parihaka, therefore, although nominally the seizure of Hiroki, was, in reality, as stated before, the arrest of Te Whiti and Tohu. It is obvious that were this not the case, there would be no sense in attempting, at this particular time, the seizure of an accused person who has so long been permitted to remain at large, and his case in abeyance. Further, we believe Mr Bryce thoroughly concurred in the advice tendered by Ministers to the Governor that the celebrated “ light on the mountain” letter should be sent to Te Whiti, that being an essential feature in his policy. He wished that special effort to be made to induce Te Whiti to be reasonable, but he looked on it as a last attempt at bringing the Parihaka prophet to reason by gentle means, and he held that its failure placed Te Whiti outside the pale of amicable negotiation.”