NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 996, 12 February 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr John Milroy, as Mayor of the Borough, has been gazetted a Justice of the Peace.

We draw the attention of our readers to Mr Barker’s Ram and Ewe Fair, which will take place on Wednesday at noon, when a large number of Lincoln rams will be sold by public auction. As most of the entries, arc very choice, the sale affords a splendid opportunity for farmers and stockowners to improve their flocks. A number of horses and a large quantity of grass-seed will also be disposed of. A youth, named Percy O’Dca, who could not swim, had a narrow escape from drowning yesterday morning through getting beyond his depth. Uc was rescued by three of his companions, named Whelan, McCarty, and Baldwin, A summons has been issued against Mr John Black, the late Clerk and Trcasnrerof the Patea County Council, to account for monies received by him and not paid into the Council funds.

A parade of the Patea Rifle Volunteers will be hold to-morrow evening, at the barracks, after which a general meeting will be held for the purpose of starting a committee of management for the ensuing year, and to transact any other business for the welfare of the corps. Recruits will receive their arms, accoutrements, and uniform. Legal" proceedings are to bo taken after to-morrow night against all those cadets who have not returned their rifles, &c. ; also against those members of the Patea Rifles who did not re-enrol, and have not yet returned their uniforms and accoutrements.

A local cricket match is to bo played next Saturday between the Manutahi — Kakaramea settlors, (including the resident members of the P.0.C.) and the remaining members of the Patea Cricket Club. A ver3 T interesting match may be looked forward to, and the townsmen must go in for practice (his week or they will get a beating. Cricket must be getting at a very low ebb, when last Saturday was allowed to pass without a game. Mr A. S. Tonks, a gentleman well known in Auckland commercial circles, has joined the firm of Messrs R. H. Nolan and Co., of Ilawera, which will in future be known as Nolan, Tonks, and Co. We are glad to hear that Messrs Nolan’s business has shown such satisfactory progress as to render the addition of an active partner a necessity, and we wish the new firm a long career of continued prosperity.

The members of the Lyftelton Harbour Board are afraid that the rolling stock of the railway's will prove quite insufficient to overtake the large grain traffic this season, and the chairman of that body regards the matter as a very serious one. “With a few weeks fine weather,” said Mr Cunningham, “ it is a reasonable estimate to suppose that wo shall load this season from Lyttelton for Europe from eighty-five to 100 ships, and forty to sixty for intercolonial ports and other parts of the world, in addition to our largely, increasing fleet of steamers and coasters, but I foresee very great difficulty as regards railway rolling stock.” A dastardly assault was committed by a bullock driver named Tapp, on a farmer named O’Shanncssy, at Kakaramea yesterday. O’Shannessy, an old man, found Tapp’s bullocks trespassing on his land, and started to drive them to the pound, but was shortly followed by Tapp, who took'the whip out of his hand and belaboured hinnwith it until the old fellow was fearfully cut about. Tapp will likely be brought before the Court to-rnorrow to answer to the assault.

Bidel’s menagerie while on exhibition at Rouen fair, was a scene of a tragic occurrence. A woman named Maria Cordick, employed in the show, having occasion to approach a dangerous elephant, was seized by the beast, which dashed her to the ground and gored her with both its tusks. The elephant was at once attacked by the assistants, but the woman released after sustaining very serious injuries.

The latest frauds in the diamond trade arc thus described by a London paper : “The diamond fields of South Africa produce large quantities of yellow diamonds. This color, of course, lessens the value eonsidcrablj’’, and a white diamond is worth five to six times as much as a yellow one of the same weight and quality. It was recently reported .that a method of removing the color had been discovered. Such is the case, but the important addition has to be made that the yellow reappears after a slight washing, as some French merchants lately found to their cost, after purchase, at a high price, of some perfectly white diamonds. The method is a simple application of the law of complementaiy colours. The yellow diamond is put -some violet solution. A slight coating of violet suffices to render diamonds of the most pronounced yellow tint perfectly white,”

A very distressing accident occurred at Bunnythorpe (Wellington) one day last week, by which a little girl aged two years daughter of Mr F. Bassett, lost her life. It appears that she was plaj'ing near a big matai tree, which was burning, and it suddenly fell right upon the child, killing her instantly. Her father was working 30 chains away, and was called b}' a man named Anderson. By their united enendeavours they succeeded in removing the tree off the child, but she was found to be quite dead, though not much crushed. When found she was lying with her face in a waterhole, into which it had been driven by the tree. , The Daily Times thus describes the late fatal buggy accident near Dunedin on the sth inst:—A fatal buggy accident occurred on the Brighton road, near Saddle Hill, yesterday morning. It appears that Mr James Maxwell, of the firm of Messrs Reid and Maxwell, saddlers, Princes street south ; Miss Jane M’Dowall, a domestic servant ; and a little girl, a daughter of Mr Reid, were in a buggy driving from Brighton to Dunedin, between 9 and 10 o’clock, and that coming down Speight’s Hill, two or three miles from Green Island the horse, from some unexplainable cause, bolted. Mr Maxwell was driving, and kept hold of the reins for about a mile, but in turning a corner the vehicle capsized, and the occupants were thrown out. Miss M’Dowall was precipitated against a fence at the side of the road, and her head struck a post, the result being instantaneous death. Mr Maxwell, who was momentarily stunned, and the little girl escaped without injury. The buggy must have righted itself soon after the capsize, for the horse was still attached to it when stopped at Green Island. The deceased young woman had been for some time in the service of MrsTurtou, of the Glen, and was going to a situation that morning after a week’s holiday in the country.

The next ordinary meeting of Court Patea Ancient. Order of Foresters will be held in the County Council Chambers on Thursday next, 15th inst., at 7.30 p.m. Sheep worrying has been a rather common occurrence on the Whenuakuraof late. Three of the dogs were..caught in the act yesterday and recognised. A party on horseback went out towards the Maori pahs yesterday and, as stated by themselves, obtained permission from the natives to ■ gather some peaches. The natives afterwards detained their horses for a considerable time, and took possession of the peaches. The expenditure incurved over the Melbourne Music Festival is reported to have been extraordinary and unprecedented in the experience of business managers. A woman, has died from having been accidentally knocked down by a bicycle in Lonsdale street, Melbourne, the bicycle being ridden by some person unknown. The Executive Committee of the Congregational Union have sent the Rev. E Walker ns a special missionary to the Home Country with the object of raising £15,000 for placing Congregationalism, as a religious body, on a sound footing in Now Zealand. lie had already sectored £IOOO, and with this sum valuable aid had been given to several rising churches. At a recent meeting of the Ludlow Board of Guardians, Mr Bach, the vicechairman, said an application for school fees was made by a man from Oldbury Parish, and although this man at the same time had his wife ill at home and was seeking aid from the union, he smoked in one week no less than nine ounces of tobacco ! At the above rate the man in one year consumes over a hundred-weight of tobacco, at a cost of £5 17s. A boy at Walsall, England, named Day, stole a pair of boots from a shop, negotiated a loan upon (hem, and got drunk with the proceeds. The lad, who is 13 years of age, then Avcnt home, and, after making an unsuccessful attempt to cut his throat, was found in bed by the police “ dead drunk.” Ho is now undergoing a month’s imprisonment. The Socialist newspaper FreJieii, which was formerly printed in London, but which has lately been set up in Switzerland, has been seized by the Swiss Government. The Socialists now contemplate removing their journal again to England, They have written to Sir William Harcourt, asking if they might be granted permission to print it on British soil.

Australia and New Zealand can now export 700,000 tons of meat a year, or 2000 tons a day, which is not much more than is wanted in England, without reducing even the present capital number of their sheep and cattle.

Miss Kate Vaughan is still down on the Gaiety bills, notwithstanding the decree of divorce pronounced in suit of the wife of Colonel the Hon. Frederick, Arthur Wellesley. The sroung5 r oung lady is advised to emigrate from London. She is received with marked coldness, amounting to a decided demonstration of disapproval. The North China Herald publishes a letter from the King of Corea to the Emperor of China, in which his Highness announces that he has agreed to a treaty of Commerce with-England. The treaty, which consists of 14 articles, is similar to the: agreement which the King of Corea has already concluded with the United States Government.

“One Who Knows” writes to the Auckland News respecting the Armed Constabulary as follows :—“ I think tho general public of New Zealand are under the; impression that in the event of any difficulty arising with the natives the Constabulary are ready to go into the field at a moment’s notice. There never was a greater mistake made. The Constabulary are at the present time as a body one of the most irregular, undisciplined bodies of men it is possible to meet with. It is a notorious fact that some of them don’t know their right foot from their left ; so that it is impossible that they could act together effectually in action. A difficulty might spring up at any time with the King natives, and I should like to know where we would bo then. Wo might bounce them, but we could not fight them, as our men are not drilled. Before tho ‘siege’ of Parihaka there was not a finer or better drilled body of men in tho southern hemisphere than tho constabulary. But now they would bo no hotter in action than an armed mob. The men should receive a certain amount of drill, and not always bo kept at navvy work, which so unfits a man for a soldier.” Another Cambridge correspondent complains that though tho field force has been reduced from 1100 to 600 men, there are nearly as many non-commissioned officers as ever ; also of tyrannical conduct on the part of non-commissioned officers and officers. In a case at the Abadaro Police Court the other day, in which a young man named Hooker was ordered to contribute towards the maintenance of his father, it was stated that the defendant’s mother had had thirty-two children. Defendant stated that on three occasions' she gave birth to twins, twice she had triplets, and afterwards four children at a birth. Tho quartermaster of tho mail steamer Ballarat fell down the hold at Sydney, breaking his ribs, besides sustaining other injuries.

Tho rabbits on the South Australian border arc reported to have eaten all tho feed and barked all the trees as high as they could reach. The South Australian Gazette contains a list of nearly 1000 credit selectors whose land is liable to forfeiture for failing to make returns of improvements. Disastrous fires are reported from the southern districts of South Australia owing to the fearful heat. Much damage was done, and many farmers are ruined.

Mr J. Riseley, having disposed of his interests at Kakaramea, is about to take up Ins residence on his land at Okiawa. The German residents of Auckland arc raising a fund in aid of (he sufferers by the Rhine inundations.

The steamer Waihi, which brought a full cargo on Saturday morning, left again for Wellington on the same tide. Her passage here was prolonged by the north west gale and heavy sea. We are sorry to learn that the new steamer Waverley, now in course of construction for the Patea S.S. Company will probably have to be employed in some other trade as the Insurance offices will not insure her for this port. A “converted ” Sydney thief has been fined 40s for singing “In the sweet by-and-bye ”in the street. He indignantly demanded if the Salvation Army were to be permitted to parade the streets singing hymns, whilst he, for having allowed the fervour of his newly-converted spirit to pour itself out in song, was condemned to pay 40s fine, or be imprisoned for seven days. Just at the present moment (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Southland Neios ) the pnblio of Melbourne is much exercised in mind over the tea question. A shipment of the leaf which is commonly supposed to he a large constituent element in “ the draught that cheers but not inebriates ” has been analysed. Mr Newbery, a well known analytical chemist, has pronounced the so-called “ lea ” to be a vile compound of rubbish, consisting mainly of “ dust gum, sand, earthy matter, hair, and other matter of animal origin ” ; while Mr Johnston, the Government analyst, is equally positive that the aforesaid tea is “jsound, unadulterated, of good flavour, very uniform in strength, infuses well, and is a fair merchantable article.” In the face of the extraordinarily conflicting statements of the two leading chemists the public are fairly puzzled which to believe. Captain William Morgan, the Freemason who is said to have divulged the secrets of the order, and afterwards mysteriously disappeared, has had a monument erected to his memory at Batavia. It is a shaft 40ft high, with anti-Masonic tablets. He was a native of Virginia, and served in the war of 1812, in which he was promoted to a captaincy. The Pope has entrusted Mr Erriugton, M.P., with an autograph letter to Her Majesty the Queen. In this communication His Holiness thanks the Queen in cordial terms for the interest she has shown in the welfare of Catholics all over her dominions ; and for the religious freedom which they enjoy under her government.

Vanity Fair gives an amusing story of Sir Arthur Gordon, which may be new to many of our readers :—“ While cruising about in one of her Majesty’s ships, during the time he was Governor of Fiji, his relations with the captain were, to say the least of it, strained. The captain therefore determined to pay him out, and ha did so as follows :—Sir Arthur was in the habit of going ashore early in the morning, in a deshabille suited to his errand, to have a bathe in one of the streams flowing into the sea. His garb consisted of a pair of loose slippers, an old pair of trousers, a shirt, and a very unofficial hat. One morning,- on reaching the top of the companion-ladder on his return from his alfresco tub, he, to his dismay, found the yards manned, sidesmen present, the captain ready to receive him, and heard the word of command, ‘Look aft.’ He felt himself to be in by no means a condition to bo thus honoured and ‘ looked aft ’ at, so enquired the reason of all this elaborate ceremonial. The captain calmly replied that all ceremonies and compliments commenced at 8 a.m., and that it was then past that hour. The Governor did not love the captain more for his politeness.”

There is a farm of 8000 acres in Besa County, Texas, which to a youngster’s eyes must dresent a spectacle of delight which no show on earth can equal. It is devoted to the raising- of Shetland and spotted ponies for the special benefit of children with indulgent parents. The diminutive horses roam over the prairie with the docility and contentment of sheep, and are always on the best terms with each other, and with the human family.

It is understood that various changes are in contemplation with respect to tho system under which tho industrial schools of the colony arc conducted. These alterations, if carried out, will tend to relieve tho pressure on these institutions, and to improve the condilion of the inmates.

The influx of pupils is so great at the Wellington College that the Sunday School class-room at St. Mark’s Church has to bo utilised for some of the classes. The erection of tho new wing to tho building has absolutely not been decided on a moment too soon, for the additional space it will give is urgently needed. Oil-paintings, it is said, are produced wholesale in the United States for sale to ignorant provincials as tho valuable work of famous artists. They are genuine handpaintings, not chromos, and are executed some 20 at a time, in the following manner: Tho walls of tho studio ?re covered by a long strip of canvas, divided into compartments, and tinted white with a huge brush. Next the artist paints the skies, one after another, long practice giving him rapidity, then dashes in the back grounds, one cloud at a time, till all his 20 pictures arc finished, probably in two day’s steady work. Only simple designs are chosen, generally an old mill, or a ruined castle by the river side. One Australasian (says the Argus) is worth more to the English manufacturer than a dozen Americans, 18 Frenchmen, or 20 4 Germans.

- A Gospel Temperance Society lias been formed in Wellington. Dr Keinp and Archdeacon Stock opposed it because the members had. to be total abstainers.

A scamp who concealed himself in ambush at the Oroua river, near Awaburi, and watched the movements of a number of Maori girls who went to bathe in the river, had a very rough lime of it when they discovered him. They surrounded him, dragged him to the river, beat him with sticks, and but for the timely arrival on the scene of a policeman the probability is that the infuriated dusky maidens would have pitched him into the water.

Writing ot the trial and sentence to exile passed upon Arab! Pasha, the London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus says :—“ When England has carried out her good work she will, Arabi feels certain, “ in her humanity and high sense of justice,” permit him to return to his beloved country, and see with his own eyes the result of her humane and civilising work before he dies. He adds : “I am grateful to Mr Gladstone and to Lord Granville for their interposition on my behalf ; and for having saved mo from so perilous a situation. They will soon learn that I was no rebel when. I set myself at the head of a people who wanted nothing but justice. I also thank Lord Dufferin and Sir Edward Malet for the kindness and generosity they have shown to mo. I also owe a debt of gratitude, which I can never repay, to my dearest friend, Mr Blunt, who spared neither his efforts nor his money to assist him in the hour of distress and need ; when my Egyptian friends of happier days had one and all forsaken me, I can never sufficiently acknowledge the noble and untiring efforts and the zeal, loyalty, and devotion of Mr Broadley and Mr Napier on m3 7 bcljalir, and on behalf of my fellowprisoners. I thank the British people, as I thank you,, sir, and the great English Press, which was unanimous in demanding that I should have a fair trial. I thank those members of the British Parliament who have often and nobty spoken on my behalf, and I thank Sir Charles Wilson for the kind and vigilant care he has bestowed on me in the days of my captivity. I leave Egypt with the firm conviction .that, as days pass by, the justice of our cause will become more and more "apparent, and that England will never have cause to repent of the generosity and humanity she has displayed towards a man against whom she has fought.” Oscar Wilde says the people all over the South sang in his ears the old melancholy refrain—“ You ought to have seen it before the war !” I was once sitting on the portico of a country house,” he said, “ with a young lady, admiring the beauty of a limpid stream under the rays of the moon, and I said to the young lady, f How beautiful is the moonlight falling upon the water!’ ‘lt is beautiful,' indeed,' she replied ; 'but, ah ! Mr WTUhT you ought to have seen it before the war !’ ”

ThePiirac Minister’s grant from the Grown of £l5O to the most venerable actress living—Frances Maria Kelly, now in her ninetyrthird year—is a graceful tribute to the dramatic art, and one that will be heartily appreciated by every member of the possession. Bearing in mind that we are approaching the close of 1882, it is startling to remember that Miss Kelly actually made her first appearance on the boards, of Drury Lane before the end of the last century. For it was in the December of 1799 that, as a little creature of nine years old, she took part in her uncle Michael Kelly’s operatic spectacle of “ Bluebeard,” Curiously enough, upon the ' same occasion, Edmund Kean,, who was three year's her senior, also first faced a London audience. To realise the effect of perspective in the grand scene of the entertainment, an ingeniously arranged winding procession advanced from the very back of the stage, represented in the distance bp doll figures, intermediately by children, and eventually in front of the footlights by the adult actors. It was in the child-ren’s-part of this procession that Bluebeard, mounted upon a miniature elephant, was enacted by the future tragedian, little Fanny Kelly, with a drawn scimitar in her grasp, tripping before him among the ranks of his retainers. Miss Kolly in the earlier half of this century, enjoyed for thirty-six years the highest repute as an actress on the boards of Drury Lane, Convent Garden, the Haymarket, and the English Opera-house, in association with many illustrious contemporaries, conspicuous among whom were Mrs Siddons, John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Munden, and Mrs Jordan. Let me add what will give to this venerable lady even greater interest in the eyes of many, that she was the intimate friend of “Lamb, the frolic and the gentle,” that she was the “ Barbara S.” of the “ Essays of Elio,” and the subject of two of bis sonnets. —Home letter. In Queensland any solicitor of five years’ standing is eligible to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court or District Court. The now Government in New South Wales have announced their intention of making all promotions in the Civil Service by seniority. James Lowe, a well-known miner, and at one time tributer in the Tookcy mine, died at the Thames hospital of consumption, aged 50.

The official Journal do Rome states that proceedings are to be commenced for the canonisation of Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher are martyrs to the faith.

The sparrows in South Australia are being destroyed in great numbers. From October, 1881, to the end of last year, 37,875 heads and 200,793 eggs were paid for by the Government. Some clever swindlers have been successful in passing off a number of counterfeit bank notes recently in Sydney,

The Autumn show of the Patea Horti cultural Society will be held on the 29th inst.

At the ordinary monthly meeting of the Patea Institute there were present, Mr Taplin (in the chair), Messrs Hamer ton, Adams, Eedgrave, and the Secretary. A letter was read from Mr McWilliam, of Wanganui, asking what amount of money the Committee would require, and the rate per cent. . The Secretary was instructed to reply giving full particulars. It was resolved that an ‘immediate supply of books be obtained from Mr Kenworthy, and that arrangements be made for ordering a batch from home, instructions to be given for the replacing of the Contemporary Review and Temple Bar, by the Nineteenth Century and Harper's Weekly. Application is to be made to the Borough Council for leave to erect two more posts opposite the Institute. An active canvass is to be made for new subscribers, and the Secretary was re-elected for the ensuing year. Since the meeting was held a letter has been received from Government stating that £37 12s 6d will be paid into the credit of the institute. Subscribers desirous to recommend books for purchase can do so by placing the names and the approximate cost and author’s names in the Suggestion Book. The Ballarat School of Mines possesses the skull and upper and lower jaws of a whale weighing Iton 2cwfc. 3qrs. They, arc to be painted and mounted on a stand to be placed in the reserve.

It is now certain that hares have bred upon the Waimate Plains, as two young were seen a day or two ago by two of the sons of Mr Hastie, on his farm. Mr Hastic himself saw four hares, all of them either full grown or nearly so, on the farm at one time a few days later. Mr George Gordon Bennet, the proprietor of the Bern York, Herald, is setting to work very much as if he were about to “ finance ” a special cable of his own under the Atlantic. Of course it would be open for public messages too, but would take his own work seems the cost of cablegrams, as the Americans - call submarine messages, for his paper at present amounts annually to about a tenth of the cost of laying a cable through 3,000 miles of ocean. With a special wire of his own he could increase the supply of news tenfold, and yet save ten per cent on the outlay. Three girls, varying in age from ten to fourteen, named Cattaghan, were drowned while bathing in the river at Cornering, New South Wales, being carried out of their depth by the tide. Over £3OOO was received at Sandhurst as fees for publicans’' licenses for 1883. A man was recently fined at Burra for cutting the ears off a number of sheep, Mr Louis Adolphus Durricu has been appointed auditor of the accounts of the Gisborne Harbour Board. It is exactly half a century ago since Mr Gladstone took his seat in the House of Commons for the first time. In connection with the Hawthorn railway accident, claims to the extent of £95,000 have been sent in by those who received injuries. rv>innfi Tupman. the chief of the Transit of Venus Party at Burnham, has left for England, via San Francisco. The Brisbane Courier is of opinion that representative government is breaking down in Victoria. It is proposed that Bismarck’s system of compulsory insurance shall be introduced into Victoria, The Timaru Herald tells an amusing story ot a swindle perpetrated on the amateur gardeners in that district by a man named Bussell. Mr Russell represented himself as the brother of the head gardener to Lord Abergavenny «t that nobleman’s place in Kent, and stated that having come to New Zealand on be brought a few bulbs of choice plants recently introduced by his brother. They consisted of 24 new varieties of gladiolus, their special points being that they were double scented, and of rare colors, including several shades of blue. His stock was necessarily small, not exceeding 100 dozen bulbs, or 50 complete sets of 24 varieties. , It was only last year, he said, that his ; brother had been allowed to dispose of any, and then only out of England, Lord Abeigavenny having given him £IOO as a - premium for the perfection of these charming novelties. Mr Bussell spoke highly of the horticultural tastes of NeV Zealand people ; sold alljhischoice varieties for about £IOO, and disappeared. Those 24 varieties of double, blue, scented gladioli are now coming vigorously into bloom, and they turn out to be, one and all, without exception the common old brick-red and yellow gladiolus, which is a weed and a nuisance in every garden, and the market value of which is, say, sixpence a barrowload in your own barrow !