COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 14 April 1881, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

To-morrow being Good Friday, the Mail office will be open till noon. At the Post and Telegraph office, Sunday hours will be observed on Good Friday and Easter Monday. The ec-ho in the new Court House at Wellington is very confusing. The Patea steamer leaves for Nelson at 8 o’clock this morning, at excursion fare. It is reported that 47 wild cattle on the Plains were shot Inst week by a party of four, who were out six days. The new wharf at Patea harbor is now open for shipping, the shed being completed. The lessee of the Patea Boiling-down Works has been unable to pay rent, amounting to £sl 3s 4d, and a seizure of effects has been made. Murdoch, one of the Australian cricket team is a bankrupt, and professes to have had no profits from the tour. The Hawkesbury (New South Wales) Antnmn Handicap was won bjr The Barber, with Major second, and Falmouth third. The new Clerk of the Court at Patea, Mr Deane, is likely to be transferred back to the Wellington Court, and a junior sent here in his place, these two removes being a saving in total salaries. The Public Works Contingent is making rapid progress with the formation of the road from Stony River toOpuuake. The whole line of road will be completed in two or three mouths. The Church of England offertories on Easter Day (and where no service is held on that day, at the next following service) will be considered as an Easter offering to the curate, and bo banded to him, in accordance with a resolution of the Synod. It is known that Major Baddeley has terminated his connection with the public service at New Plymouth, perhaps as a victim of official economy. He intended removing to Hawera to commence business as commission agent, his two sons being also located there : but this scheme is doubtful, and he has not removed. A Sydney cable says a miner received a threatening letter, and afterwards a parcel through the post so arranged that by touching a tack it would strike a cap and explode dynamite inside. The surprise is that, in stamping the parcel at the post offices, the infernal thing was not exploded.