NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 973, 18 December 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Patea County Council advertise, for tenders for gravelling the main road through Waverley township ; also for carting only on the same contract. The following tenders were received for the Stony River contract, County of Taranaki. Accepted Berry and Newman, New Plymouth, £BOS, Declined—Henry Hooker, New Plymouth, £856 ; Jay and Haynes, New Plymouth, £859 ; N. Hooker, New Plymouth, £BBS ; Mace and Bassett, Patea, £923. Messrs Nolan and Co. hold an important sale of freehold property at Hawera tomorrow. The sites to be submitted comprise the best available sites for commercial purposes and are well worth attention. Particulars are given elsewhere.

The sale by auction of Crown Land will be held at the Court-house, Patea, on Wednesday, commencing at 11 o’clock. Some fifteen applications have been received for the deferred payment sections and others are expected. Mr W. Cowern announces the sale of the privileges in connection with the Caledonian Society’s sports, The sale will take place on Saturda3' next...., , A little boy aged four years, son of Sergt. Donovan, was bitten oh the face by a katipo spider on Friday, ‘ He was out in a paddock and it is supposed that the insect got into his clothes. The child’s face was swelled very much, but some timely remedies applied; by Mrs Donovan reduced the inflaination and Dr Keating, who was called in, completed the cure. The clouds of dust which were flying about to-day were the cause of many anxious inquiries as to what had become of the water-cart project. The inconvenience to pedestrians and the damage to stocks in the shops were considerable, and when shortly after two o’clock a shower came on, it was really welcome. The formal installation of Mayor takes place at the Council chamber at noon on Wednesday. ; ! Mr Dale held a large sale of furniture at his mart on Saturday. There was a numerous attendance, and, considering the scarcity of ; money, - fair prices were realised. /. Mr 0. Ranson, of Hawera, was presented with a purse-of ’ sovereigns on Thursday evening. Mr R. H. Nolan made the presentation, and spoke highty of the manner in which Mr Ranson had carried out his business and social duties. He wished him success in Auckland, whore ho was going to reside. Mr W. H. Skeet, Surgeon dentist will arrive in Patea to-night, and may be consulted at Mr A. A. Gower’s till Wednesday next. A notification appears if our a vertising columns that the partnership hither, to existing between Messrs Doneghuo, Chisholm, and Smith has been, dissolved, and that the business will, in future, be carried bn by Mr Doneghne. A purse containing £54 in notes having been lost last Friday evening between the Central Hotel and Taplin’s corner, a reward of £5 is advertised to be given to the finder on his delivering the money to B, Mail office. The firing for the district prizes commences to-morrow morning at 6 o’clock, and Volunteers are reminded that they must appear in uniform. The government inspection will take place the-same evening at 7-30, and after parade a meeting will be held to consider the now regula-. tions and receive a : report and balancesheet of the Company’s affairs. The Patea-Cadets will meet for firing and inspection at the same hours onWednesday; The entries for the Patea Caledonian Society’s sports .came in .very freely on Saturday night,- with the, exception: of those fora few events which were post entry, and no doubt they will fill well on the ground. Entries were received from Wanganui, Maxwelltown, Nukuiharu, Waverley, Manutahi, and several outlying districts, and should the weather be‘ favourable,' it is anticipated that the meeting will be a great success. A committee meeting of the Caledonian Society was. held on Saturday evening. Sub-committees were appointed, and it was decided to have the course laid off to-day. The secretary was instructed to have the privileges in connection with the gates, refreshment and publicans’ booths offered by public auction on Saturday next. Socialistic troubles at L3 7 ons had reached such a.height on the 29th ultimo that troops occupied the railway and all strategic points in the city, at the same time holding no communication with citizens, and the forts dominating in Lyons were prepared at the word of command to lay every portion of the city in ashes. The man Lambeth, who attempted to commit suicide on Wednesday,, is rapidly recovering. l At the ; time ‘of the rash act, he was suffering from delirium, and was labouring under the 'delusion that some people had decided that he should b& cut into little pieces, and that a well-known hotel-keeper had been deputed to do the job. This impression was so strong, that Lambeth appears lo have hidden himself in some outbuildings, but his-foars overcame him, and he fled homo determined that rather than meet with the horrible fate his imagination led him to expect, ho would destroy himself. On arriving at the place where he was lodging, ho seized a knife, and made an attempt (o cut his throat. It was too blunt however, and ho tobk the carving knife and after deliberately sharpening it, committed the act already described. The crowd which gathered round him, ho-imagined; to bo those who had sentenced him to bo* cut up and who had come to carry out their intentions, hence his repeated attempts to open the wound in his throat. Lambeth is sober now, and knows what a fool ho has made of himself through drink, but ho remembers all that .occurred, ami it;, took a good deal of persuasion to convince him that, ho was the victim of hallucination. The Ashburton Cheese Factory has now been in operation for a month, during which lime 12,3-lOlb of excellent cheese have boon made. The supply of milk has been gradually increasing, until.(soo gallons are now every day delivered at the factory. Cheques to the amount of £221 liave been paid away to suppliers of this milk, and in several instances cows have yielded their owners £2 per head each per month. The cost of producing the cheese, including the price paid for the milk, is now a little short of <I-Jd per ‘lb, and if the milk supply was increased to 1000 gallons per day the cost of production would be only 4i per lb. The factory, it is claimed,* must prove a benefit not only to Hie promoters, but’to the famcis ; amV indirectly to the community at large.