The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 984, 15 January 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

We remind our readers that H.M.S. Pinafore will be reproduced to-morrow evening. We hear that the principals have greatly improved since the first performance, so that with the assistance of Miss Sparks the opera should go off with eclat. It is estimated by the Government that fully 1500 immigrants for the colony will leave England, during December and January. A large number of single women are making application to come to New Zealand. The whole of the courng immigrants are referred to as being most desirable colonists. The Wednesday half-holiday movement at Hawera has fallen through. A meeting of those interested in the formation of a Sash and Door Company will be held at Haweia this week. What about the proposed Company for Patea? The re-hearing for the County Council cases has been set down for Tuesday week the 23rd inst.

The return cricket match—Patea Rifles and Fire Brigade V. Patea Cricket Club—will be played next Saturday, on the Cricket ground. The names of the teams will appear in our next issue.

Mr R. Love, the agent for Woodyear and Ross’ Royal Australian Circus, arrived in town by coach this morning, to make arrangements for the appearance of the circus. They intend to open bn Friday, and will also play on the following evening, and at Hawera on Monday, Since the previous visit of the circus a vast improvement has been effected in every department. A spacious new marquee has been constructed, new horses, lady riders, a good clown, and several other attractions have been added. Short as the stay of the company will be we have no doubt it will be a profitable one, as the attendance is sure to be large. A rifle match between the Patea and Hawera Rifles will be fired on Saturday next. The conditions are 12 men a-side, 5 shots at 200, 300, and 400 yards. Each team will fire on its own range. The names of the Patea men are :—J. Kitching, W. Kitching, T. Nutsford, H. Nutsford, M. Carey junr., T. Haycock, I. Hyams, H. Chadwick, T. Kells, Hudson, Scott, and Powell. The Hawera men are practising so that it would be as well if our men took a turn at the range together. MrF. R Jackson will hold a stock sale at Hawera on Friday next.

A meeting for the purpose of electing a new committee for the Institute will ho held at the Town Hall, Kakaramea, on Tuesda}', the 23rd inst. The monthly meeting of the Patea Masonic Lodge will be held this evening, at 7.30.

The Hon the Premier, accompanied by the Hon Major Atkinson, passed through Patea on Saturday. Advantage was taken of the opportunity to drive the Premier to the Heads, to allow him to inspect the breakwater and judge for himself how far it had been successful. The Chairman of the Harbour Board, Mr Gibson and Mr Cowern accompanied the hon gentleman and explained the work that had been done, and what it was proposed to carry out. It is fervently to be hoped that the visit will result in something more practical than Ministerial promises, which however, the Premier was particularly careful not to make. The Hon Major Atkinson was interviewed by His Worship the Mayor, Capt Wray, R.M., Messrs R C Tennent, C F Barker, &c., who urged upon him the necessity of pushing on the survey of the University Reserve, .and the construction of the bridge over the Whenuakura in the vicinity, works which—it will be admitted—arc greatly needed. It was also pointed out that it was desirable that some attempt should be niade to ascertain the extent of back country lit for settlement, and the Major promised to give his attention to the requests The stay of Ministers was very short, but Major Atkinson will be here again on the 25th, when there will be another opportunity of conferring with him. He intends to address his constituents during the recess, but the precise day has not yet been fixed upon.

Mr Eylon, the agent for the North British anti Mercantile Insurance Co., has forwarder! us a copy of the excellent calendar issued by the company. The threshing machine and engine imported by Mr William Bassett are likely to turn out a profitable speculation. On Saturday Mr Bassett finished threshing a fifty-acre paddock of grass for Mr Jacob, of Woodville, to the groat satisfaction of that gentleman. The crop was a heavy one, but the machine made capital work of it and turned out a splendid sample of seed in a very expeditious manner. Perhaps this latter was due in some measure to Mr Bassett’s systematic way of working, he having had over twelve years’ experience in Victoria, but there is no doubt that he has a first-class machine to work with. The engine—a 9 h.p.—is one of Marshall’s, and the thresher is from the manufactory of T Robinson and Co> Melbourne, and combines all the latest improvements, which experience and ingenuity can suggest. Mr Bassett has another paddock of grass to thresh for Mr Jacob, and is engaged by other farmers for some five hundred acres of wheat and oats. Wo had a walk over Mr Jacob’s place on Saturday, and it was a pleasure to see the splendid condition of the hay which is about as fine a sample as could be grown anywhere.

The farmers in the Waitara District have saved most of their hay crops in good order, and are now preparing for harvest. The Herald says that grain crops arc looking promising throughout the district, although the wheat is inclined to be a little thin ; yet it is well “ corned up,” and there is every reason to expect a fruitful yield. The season is unusually dry for root crops, and the pastures arc beginning to look rather brown.

On Saturday afternoon (says a Wellington paper") a cuttlefish, measuring about 2ft Gin in length, was displayed in a fish stall on Lamhton quay, and attracted considerable attention. The owner of the shop was for some time greatly puzzled by the fact that a broad grin spread over the faces of a number' of those who stopped to see, but eventually ho discovered the cause in a strin of paper hearing the name of a well-known solicitor, which he himself bad attached to tire fish, in accordance with the usual fishmongers’ custom, to show (hat the fish had been sold.

Messrs Moody and Rankey are now in Paris, and are conducting their usual services at the American Chapel in the Rue do Bern, and in the church in the Avenue de la Grande Armee. They are being taken np'warmly by a host of sympathisers, mostly English ; while the “Salvationists,” who went there some 10 days previously, have ntterty failed to make friends, being setylown as “mountebanks.”

Hori Narco, a native from Bulls, charged with stealing a horse, the property of Mr Robert Cornwall, Whenuakura, was on Friday last committed to take his trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth.

A meeting to consider the advisability of suspending the Counties Act in the district was to have been held at the. Whenuakura schoolroom on Friday evening last, but on account of only six gentlemen being present it was resolved on the motion of Mr Coutts to adjourn the meeting to Monday the 22nd inst at 7.30 p.m. when it is anticipated a larger number will attend on account of the election of a school committee taking place, on that evening at 7 o’clock.

One of the principal objects of Sir J. Vogel’s visit to Wellington is understood to be to negotiate for lighting the Parliamentary Buildings with clcctricitjq for which a grant was made last session. Sir Julius saw the members of the Ministry on the subject, but no definite result has yet keen arrived at.

In the Egyptian campaign was seen, perhaps almost for the first time in history, a Government taking particular precautions to assure the comfort and humane treatment of horses in time of war. The horses shipped by the English Government to Egypt were protected with eye fringes attached to the brow band of the bridle, and reaching below the eye,' One veterinary surgeon accompanied each horse transport, and one was detailed for service to every 250 horses ; supplies of food, medicines, &c., wore of the best quality, and provisions wore made for the establishment of hospitals for sick and injured animals; instead of being hung up’by the bod}'over the side of the ship, the horses were walked into a box, which was hoisted by a crane on to the deck of the vessel, and the animal quietly walked out ; in bad weather, or when tired, a hammock was passed under the body, and so the limbs and feet could 'be. rested. This is the Government in whose legislative assembly 58 years ago the proposals to protect animals by law was greeted with shouts of laughter.

In a case which came before the English Probate Court the day, Mrs Waight propounded the will of her late husband. In 1876 ho executed a will, bj’ which all bis property was left to bis wife, and gave into her care. Some lime afterwards, in a quarrel, she tore it up, and threw the fragments into the lire. Weight collected the bits, and put them in an envelope, which be labelled “poison.” This envelope was found upon him after his death, and, the pieces being put together, the Court was asked to pronounce for it as the , duly-executed will. The Court was satisfied as to the execution of the document, and decided accordingly.

Saturday’s Chronicle says; The telegram received yesterday announcing the very successful floating of the million loan in the London money market, was received in Wanganui with the greatest gratification on all sides. The extra, issued from this office soon after 2 o’clock in the afternoon, was eagerly read, and it was evident that our busine a s men foresee better times in store for them, ‘now that the credit of -the colony has been so signally upheld at Home.

A revolting case of cowardice is reported by the New Zealand Herald. A mother and her two children went to East Taraaki with the United Free Methodist excursionists. During the day one of the children got into a boat moored off the beach, and thoughtlessly called on his younger brother to wade in and come to the boat. The little fellow, as the beach sloped rapidly, speedily got out of his depth, and splashed about in a drowning state. Three hulking follows saw the accident, but whether from a dread of spoiling their Sunday clothes, or a lack of pluck, remained passive spectators of the scene. The mother, who was in a delicate state of health, plunged in up to her middle, and brought out the half-drowned child.

The complete returns of the revenue of the colony have not yet been audited, but it is probable that they will appear in a supplementary Gazette this week'. The stamp revenue for the quarter amounts to £108,047.

Paterfamilias, writing to the Argus , declares that the real secret of the dislike evinced by Victorian girls to domestic service is “ their inability to form the acquaintance of young men.” Mr Edison is in London, and intends to illuminate with the electric light the West London Tabernacle, Notting Hill. This is intended by Mr Edison to be a demonstration in London of the efficiency of his system of electric lighting.

The Wesleyan ministers in and around Sydney have come to a solemn resolution —“That the spirit of onr laws and the usages of our church from the commencement of its history »re condemnatory ot the practice of dancing.”

One of the “Six Hundred ” mot with a horrible death lately- An English paper Ba y S ; —“ Mr Bos worth, stafionmastor at Northam, on the South-western railway, while walking up the lino on October 25th, was knocked down by an engine and cut in two. death being instantaneous. Mr Bosworth, who had been many years in the South-western Company’s service, was one of the survivors of the Balaclava charge, the 26th anniversary of which was celebrated on the day of his death.”

Mr Rotheram, manager of the Wanganui lines, is at present in Hawera, and we learn that he and Mr Harris, manager of the New Plymouth section are to meet Ministers, and endeavour to arrange a time-table, which will enable travellers to do the journey between New Plymouth and Wellington in two days.

Cigar-smokers in Hungary are in rather an anxious state since M. Muller, of the town of Izaged, found himself suddenly hurled on his back amongst the cinders oh the hearth in the midst of quietly smoking his after-dinner weed. It transpired, on examination, that the cigar had contained a tiny glass tube 'charged with dynamite, and that there were many others amongst the stock crn the shelves of the bureau de tdbac which were similarly prepared. The Austrian police are now trying to fiiu. out how so ingenious an outrage could have been committed ; but, meanwhile, there is a decided turn on the part of smokers in favour of pipes, the cigar trade at Izaged being well-nigh paralysed. Of course we like to hear of Socialistic designs ending in smoke, but not tobacco smoke. That is quite another thing.

A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times thus describes the effects of the very important experiment tried at Timaru in stilling the angry waves by .the use of oil :—“The result was really convincing. The oil spread remarkably fast, and although only about half a gallon was used on each occasion, an acre of smooth expanse became visible, into which a boat might have been lowered with ease and safety. The success of the experiment was undeniable, and in no instance was it more apparent than in one long roller which came down upon the Titan’s quarter. The portion of (he wave to which the oil had not extended was threatening in appearance as usual, but when it entered the region of the oil’s influence its force was quite subdued, and its menacing appearance quite smoothed awav.”

As an item of news, and a remarkable fact at tlio same time, we relate what occurred lately in connection with one case that was treated by Mr Milner Stephen in his reception room, in the presence of our Mr Harris and other credible witnesses* Mr and Mrs Clark, well-known and highly respectable residents of Wainuiomata, came to Mr Stephen to consult him about the state of Mrs Clark’s left knee. For two, years and nine months she had been suffering from what were apparently the effects of severe rheumatic seizure. The joints had become stiff and swollen, and the slightest movement produced great painOrdinary surgical treatment was of no avail, as she had been treated by private practitioners, and was also an out-patient of the Hospital. She was told that the oil in (he joint had dried up and that she was lame for life. She applied to Mr Stephen for relief, and had to be lifted out of. the cab that brought her to his door Ten minutes after he commenced operating she walked across the room without pain and without assistance, and* a few minutes later she ran from end to end of the roonn and declared that so far as her sensations went she appeared to be thoroughly cured. She stated, in the hearing of our representative, that for the last three months she had simply existed between her bed and the sofa of the sitting room—passing the night in one and the day on the other, and had to be.helped from one to the other. We simply give facts without comment.— N.Z. Times. We {Star) understand that the first crop of wheat to be cut on the Plains this year—consisting of about .twelve acres) belonging to Mr Exley—will be reaped on Monday, weather permitting. It is estimated to yield fully 35 bushels, and the grain is large and full-berried. The Gisborne Standard has an article on the Poverty Bay grass seed prospects of the present season, and says ; —Taking the crop as a whole it is not likely that it will be by any means an improvement on past years. There has been a great deal taken out the land, and it cannot last for ever at the magnificent rates of return which have been received from it in days gone by, Nor do people seem to have been so particular in preserving the quality of their grass ; paddocks which even last year produced seed of first-class quality are, in many instances, this year clogged with goose grass and clover.

Baron Wilhelm Rothschild, of Frankfort (says Truth), is so strict a Jew that, during bis recent tour through Switzerland, ho was accompanied, not only by his ritual cook and butcher, but also by ten devout persons of his own religion, who went solely for the purpose of praying with him, as, according to Mosaic law, a congregation must consist of at least ten worshippers. The baron returned his income for 1881 at £237,500, so that lie can certainly afford himself (hose ritualistic luxuries. An American Quaker lady—Mrs Hannah Hill —who is now on a preaching (our in Tasmania, is likely to visit Now Zealand within a short time. The s.s. Wakalipu on New Year's morning landed nearly a thousand excursionists at Oamaru from Dunedin. The Marlborough papers report a fatal ease of drowning and a plucky rescue by a Wellington civil servant. On Monday two daughters of Mr Winding, of Blenheim, named respectively Annie, aged 18 mouths, and Louisa, aged 8 years, were playing on the river bank opposite Mr Hickson's residence, when the youngest one suddenly slipped over the bank into the river and quickly disappeared. The eldest girl, mowed by fright , immediately jumped into the water, although she could see nothing of her sister, and was rapidly carried down the stream by the current. She managed 'o grasp a snag in the river but was unable to retain her hold', and was carried further down when she again caught hold of a snag. Her cries for assistance were here heard by VI r J. T. B. Hickson, who left his father’s house and without a moment’s hesitation plunged into the river after the half-drowned girl. Having secured hold of the child he waited until a rope was thrown to him from the shore and the child was dragged adt me. Up to the time of going to press, adds the Marlborough Times, the body of the young jst girl had not been recovered.