COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 23 July 1881, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

The Petition to form a new County is referred to in another column. Probably that petition will lapse through not being brought before the Assembly within ten days after opening the session. Government seem to have delayed the petition till the Law Officers advised them on it. As the question may have to be reconsidered in the district, it seems to us important to have the middle boundary altered. The present petition proposes the Mannwapou river. This would include in the Hawera district a number of settlers whose interests are more in accord with those of Patea. Those settlers send no produce to Hawera, and get no stores from Hawera. It is nonsense to carry the boundary so far south as to cut into tbe immediate neighborhood of Patea. Tongahoe river would be less objectionable as a boundary, m That would meeet the case to the extent b of making a counter petition unneces- r sary when the question arises again for settlement. If the present petition goes before the Assembly, it will be for the people here to consider whether’a counter petition shall be promoted, firstly in opposition to the boundary, and secondly on account of imperilling the claim to be made a County electorate. This can be done without opposing the claim for a new County on its merits.

The Harmonic Society will have realized by this time that their last concert was disappointing. The laborious perseverance of members in getting np new and difficult pieces of music is fairly entitled to better reward than the cold sympathy of friends who have not been gratified. Some familiar voices which usually lead were absent on this occasion, and it must be allowed that in a small society this temporary thinning of the ranks tells on the steadiness of concerted passages and weakens their volume and quality of tone. When the pieces go well, we can all clap hands and throw bouquets. When the pieces go otherwise, what are the auditors to do? Shall we make-believe to have been pleased when we have not ? Truth fairly stated is more wholesome than insincere praise. It is true that the concert as a whole was not equal to the bright success of that given - three months before. The deficiency seemed due to two causes: (1) the reduced strength and steady precision of choruses, and (2) the unsuitable character of the music in the “May Queen.” Those unmeaning and tuneless recitative passages should go to the winds. The integrity of a composition is nothing compared with the successful performance of those passages which have character and tuneful expression. But this is a matter of taste and judgment. The real difficulty appears to be that the suitableness of a cantata cannot be sufficiently tested till the parts have been practised together. This runs away with much time, and the? society generally finds no option but to go through with the music in hand or postpone the quarterly concert. When therefore the result of a concert has to be recorded as unsatisfactory, it should be understood that this carries no censure on members or conductor, who go through with their task because they cannot turn back. But those recita- . tives might be reduced to a minimum. The first part of the programme was varied and pleasing, Miss Gowland’s song earning much applause %nd manjy bouquets. “ Nil desperandum,” a barA tone song, and “My boyhood’s dream, a tenor, were also - nipely rendered ; and the other pieces in the first part gave fair satisfaction. The next concert will be in the new hail, and we trust the opening programme will, be a genuine success.' The mail steamer Zealandia took 7000 ounces of Thames gold for San Francisco. She brought no passengers from Sydney, had a clean bill of health, but waited outside the heads for mails and passengers from Auckland.

In the present crush of political news, most local reports have to be shortened, and others held over. The Patea steamer is supposed to be sheltering under Kapiti. A patient was admitted to the Hospital yesterday named Joshua Sigley. He had been living in a tent on the Waimate Plains with three other men. On Thursday, when some of them were the worse for liquor, the tent caught Are, and Sigley was badly burned about the face, head, neck, and hands. A slight fire occurred lest evening at Mr Houguez’s premises next Mr. W. Howitt’s. The building is unfinished, and the chimney not being carried high enough, a wooden top had been fixed temporarily. This caught fire, and made a brief blaze on the roof. Mr Houguez mounted the roof, pulled the burning top down, and the alarm was at an end. The Wakatu steamer got off the bank safely on Thursday afternoon’s tide, as was expected, and steamed into harbor. She had been stuck inside the bar on the west bank since Tuesday afternoon, and a south gale had been blowing since Wednesday morning. Yet she has discharged cargo and is found uninjured, except that one blade of the propeller was broken when the first heavy surf drifted the steamer on to the west spit. Captain Evans is to be congratulated on his success under difficulties. Waverley is to hold its adjourned meeting next Tuesday, at 7-30, to consider whether that Riding shall join the County in obtaining a local representative, Mr Bridge has put the conditions before his neighbours with force and . fairness, leaving the choice a simple one. It is to hoped the permanent interests of the district will be kept in view, and that the risk of losing local representation for many years will not be overlooked. Waverley electors will be deciding not for themselves only, but for the whole County whose political rights are now in their hands. Mr Holtham’s claim against Mr F. O’S. M’Oarthy, for balance of the contract price for building the Railway Hotel, Patea bridge, came before the R.M. Court yesterday. The defence was that various defects in the building which were pointed out before three months maintenance expired had not .been made good, The evidence as to the contract being properly finished was lengthy and conflicting. The R.M. eventually adjourned the case till Tuesday for the evidence of experts. Our report of the evidence will appear in next issue. At the Patea R.M. Court yesterday, William Bell, carpenter, sued T. Irwin, contractor and boarding-house keeper, for balance of wages. The defence was that plaintiff was employed at £1 a week and his board, and various sums of money were also lent. Plaintiff alleged that no rate of wages was agreed for, and he expected to be paid the ordinary rate, 11s a day outdoor and 10s inside. .After much evidence, the Magistrate said the plaintiff appeared to be entitled to £lO ss, and the defendant’s set-off seemed to be £4 19s. The whole affair seemed to be very loose. Verdict for balance, £5 6s, and costs £3 4s. The Contract for the new Catholic Church was let last evening to Mr Jas. O’Dea, Wanganui, at £742; the building to be finished by December Ist. There were ten lenders, as follow; Joseph Asthwith £I2BB, Fred Searling £ll4B, Boagley and Neilson £IO4B, Edward Holtham £1036, T. Haywood £954, Wm. Moris £897 15s, Aitchison £799, Mitchell and Co., £765, Ryan and King £745, James O’Dea £742. The successful tenderer has had experience in church building in America and in this colony, and he is expected to make a creditable job of the Patea building. The plans were specially drawn by Mr T. Turnbull, Wellington, and show a handsome modern Gothic elevation. The total length is 70 feet. The sanctuary and sacristy are at the west end ; the side-lights of the main building are five; the organ loft and choir occupy gallery space over the front porch. The auditory of the church will sent 300, being 50 feet by 30 ; and the sanctuary is a large bay, 18 feet by 17. The exterior front is effectively designed, surmounted by a belfry; and in the .middle of the facade is a niche for the statue of the Virgin. .The vestry meeting of the Church of ' England, held on Wednesday night, was adjourned after receiving the annual rek. port of wardens. The question of constituting Patea into a pai-ish, with right to appoint its own minister, is to be considered at the adjourned meeting. The Debate on Local Government is expected to conclude next Tuesday. We learn by telegrams from three source that the Government have won some waverers and now expect a majority of one, perhaps two : . If they escape thus narrowly, they intend, we are told, to wind up the necessary business of the session and make an early appeal to the country. This will mean that they will not attempt to carry bills without a working majority.

Mr Cowern will sell 40,000 feet of kauri timber to-day. Mr Dale sells sections, sundries, and trees to-day. Mr Barker sells trees from the Marton nursery to-day. George Adams, stableman, Patea, will be brought up at the R.M. Court to-day charged with stealing a watch value £4 10s from George Colville while drunk last February. The prosecutor was so drunk again on Thursday night that the police had to take him to the Jock-up to make sure of his appearing on Friday morning to prosecute for the theft. Then on Friday, when sobered, he complained of being kept hanging about the Court waiting for his case to come on. The police had to take out a warrant at short notice to ensure his attendance in the case. He is a lively party altogether. Good Templars mustered their forces for an anniversary reunion on Wednesday night. About 150 sat down to a good tea provided by Mr Howitt. The hall had been decorated with immense nikau palms, greenery, bunting, and mottoes ; making a bright and pleasing show. After tea, Mr Allsworth, of Wanganui, gave an interesting and encouraging address, congratulating the local lodge on substantial and healthy progress in a short time. If the three millions now spent annually on drink in this colony were invested in reproductive works, they would not need to borrow foreign capital for railways. (Hear, hear.) Choruses, songs, and negro fun and minstrelsy made up an amusing programme, which wound up with a general dance till midnight. The local lodge has over 70 paying members.