NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1021, 13 April 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

': ♦ : A very painful case of destitution has just come prominently to light. At the back of a brick kiln, on the roadside, near the bridge, lives a woman and her children. The strueture which shelters them, and which is the only place by which they understand the word “ Home,” is a miserable affair. A few slabs roughly put together, and covered with old iron, form three sides of the building, the fourth consisting of a side of the kiln. Fireplace there is none, and the cracks and crevices are large enough to admit piercing blasts of wind and torrents of rain. Inside (his building the wretchedness is even more complete. No bedstead, and scarcely an article of common use ; on the ground an old flax mattrass, and lying on it the woman and a new born child. Such was .the position of affairs in this brick kiln hut in the early hours of yesterday morning. Kind neighbours did what they could to feed and, comfort the woman, and are deserving of praise. The child died during .the day, and it was rumoured that it had been murdered, but there is not the slightest foundation for that report. Dr Croft went down at the Magistrate’s request, and, after examination, gave a certificate of death. The husband of the woman has just,come out of gaol; where he has been serving throe months for vagrancy, and altogether the' surroundings of this case appear to be of a particularly painful nature. The Napier sails from Wellington at 8 o’clock this evening. She leaves here again on Sunday at 3 p in. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court ting morning a man named Quin was fined £lO, or in default 3 months’ imprisonment for creating a disturbance and using obscene language in York street on Sunday morning last, Mr McKittrick was also fined £lO for supplying him with liquor on the same day. It will be noticed by advertisement that nominations for commissioner of the Patea East and West Road Boards will bo received by Mr D. M. Harris, the, returning officer. Tenders are invited by the Patea West Road Board for stumping on the upper Ball road. ; The Manager of the Shipping Company notifies that the s.s. Waverley will be ready to IcaveAucklarul for Patea about the 24th inst. Consignees requiring goods from Auckland are, Requested to communicate with the Manager, who will supply particulars as to freight or passage. Services at the Wesleyan Church will be conducted on Sunday next by the Rev. H. E. Ensor. The subject for the evening discourse is “ Intemperance ; its effect on the individual, the community, and the nation.” The regular monthly meeting of the Patea Kilwinning Lodge will be hold on Wednesday evening, at 7.30. Mr James Simpson, who was for seven years at Mr C. Gorton’s stabies, Wanganui, has taken the Central Hotel stables from Messrs Balmforth Brothers, and will in future conduct them on his own account. ; The County Council. summons cases were heard at Court to-day. Most of them were undefended, and judgment went by default. It was so in the case of Frederick Schmidt, whom the Council sued for unpaid rates 12s 6d. We don’t think the judgment is likely to trouble him much, because he has gone to a better world, where it is to be hoped such iniquitous things as taxes are unknown. A special meeting of shareholders in the Patea Steam Shipping Company was rheld at tiie Company’s office at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Present : Messrs Tennnet (chairman), Gibson, Adams, Richards, Gowland, W. Bhlmfprth, G. Balmforth, Haywood, Tauroa, Gower, Lundberg, Williamson, E, C, Horner, Turnbull and Co (Mr Horner, proxy), J E Nathan (Mr Horner proxy), Sclanders. and Co (Mr Tennent proxy), and Mrs Tauroa. After some slight discussion upon financial matters, it was resolved, upon the motion of Mr Gibson, seconded by Mr Adams, “That the s.s. Waverley be run in the Patea trade without effecting any insurance oh her.” The meeting then adjourned. The Chronicle says : “ The Wallace, on her last trip from Nelson, brought over Mr Tennent (brother of the Manager of the Bank of New South Wales at Patea), who has become the purchaser of the business of Messrs Harris Bros,, auctioneers, Marlon. A whale fifty feet in length has been washed ashore on the north-east point of Bird’s Island, near Nelson. Mr Alfred Harley, in describing it in a letter to flic local paper, says—“ I was very curious to sec the size of the swallow om account of poor Jonah. I entered his jaws, which arc large enough for a dozen people to sit down in, but the swallow is very small—not more than two inches. The mouth has no teeth, but is furnished with a kind of sieve formed of thin strips of whalebone, such as is used by ladies. Inside the mouth is a kind of hair like the inussel beard!” Wd (Post) learn on good authority that the “ fatal fourth ” has passed off very satisfactorily in Wellington this month. Bills have generally been well met, and there is a marked improvcfmcnt in trade. There: are also distinct indications that money is about to become much - easier than it has been of late. The half-holiday system amongst tho drapeis at Nelson has fallen through. A meeting to consider the formation of a butter and cheese factory company is to bo held at Hawera to-morrow afternoon. A similar movement is being vigorously carried out vtFeilding. News comes from Samoa under date March 20th that a Chinaman, for,killing a girl, has been fairly tried by the Samoan Government by a jury of twelve, six whites and six Samoans, and fully convicted for murder. The execution is put off till Easter Monday, because this week includes Good Friday, and is Passion week, There is a report which requires substantiating, although it is given on good authority, that pressure of a very unusual kind has been brought to bear upon the English by the French Government in regard to the Channel tunnel. Tho secret has been very well kept in official circles, but we hear (says a Horne paper) (bat diplomatic courtesy has been strained to the utmost. Lord Granville has hitherto remained firm. The argument is tbot tbc English Government several years ago gave their sanction to the scheme, and that it is a breach of an international engagement to withdraw it now. There has been a flutter in tho newspaper world at Christchurch. A Press Association telegram states that the goodwill of the Globe has been purchased from Mr Pritchard by the Telegraph Company, who also purchased his share, five-eiprbtbs, of the jPress Compare*. The Press Company have purchased (lie Telegraph, which, in future, will be published instead of the Globe.

Messrs Mace and Bassett have . finished their contract for bridge work on the linq near the Heads, , Mi A. Davidson, Whenuak.ura, has had a misfortunewith a valuable draught iiiare. The animal broke a bloodvessel, a few days agojfand. it was thought it' wouldidie, but we hear -now'that he; is likely, to recover, ■ The, mare is valued at £7O. ' • ; . ... ’ ■ " One of the items of the«yolunteer programme of (he Queen’s Birthday sports will be a tug of war between the Volunteers and a team of Mamies. It is reported that at the next general election Te Kooti will likely be a candidate for the representation of the Western Maori Electoral district , in . the General Assembly, and, what is more, in all probability with success. A correspondent writes that the.s.s. British King, which' has just left Lyttelton with a cargo of frozen meat, will call at Rio, then touch at St Vincent, coaling at both places. The passage to the Straits is estimated by her captain to occupy 12 days. To show how direct steamships create traffic between the colony and England, no less than about 50 would-be passengers have been unable to obtain passages by tins steamer, half of tins number being saloon. The fact is, no one in New,Zealand —except the Union Company—has any idea of the large number of' passengers who come and go between New Zealand and England by steamers. Port Lyttelton is certainly making a name for itself, and, as one of the Christchurch papers remarks, the eyes of travellers from other quiet ports are favoured With a sight of masts which remind them of- the old Melbourne days. There are no less* than' 60 ships—all of th6m’ large—at the wharves of Lyttelton or in the Bay at the present time, hard at work loading grain. What is called a “ re-union of Spiritualists and Liberals ” took place in Sydney just prior to the sailing of the mail steamer, to bid farewell to Mrs Watson, a spiritualist well-knqwn in the colonies, who was leaving for her home iirAmerica. Mr Charles Bright, the well-known Free.thonght lecturer, occupied the chair, ami addressed the meeting. In the course of ■his address he paid a very high compliment to the Ability and character of Mrs Watson, and staled that be knew she was 'held In very high esteem in the United .States. After a musical programme had been gone though, an address was given by Mrs Watson, who spoke with great fluency, chiefly in eulogy of modern spiritualism and the advantages which it had conferred on the world. Songs and recitations followed, after which the hall was cleared and the proceedings concluded with a ball, to the very great delight of the young people of both sexes. The Auckland correspondent of the Bay of Plenty Times says “ Some excitement has been caused in polite circles this week by tile elopement of a sucking barrister of slender income with the lovely daughter of,, a worthy. ;skipper not altogether unknown in Tauranga. _ The “ happy couple” departed up the Waikato, were .made man and wife, and are now enjoying their honeymoon. The bridegroom, who is only nineteen years of age, is serving bis articles to a and is in receipt of the magnificent salary of 15s per week, while the bride, half-a-dozen years his senior, brings a. small dowry worth about 5s per week. The aspirants to : matrimonial’ joys will thus have an opportunity of studying economy which they should profit by. South Australia is . depressed by th? terribly poor result of the late \yhea fc harvest. According to the Register's estimate the average for the colony is set down at 4 bushels 321b, or a trifle'over 4£ bushels. In the old. districts,,within a radius of 30 to 60 miles of Adelaide the crops were very good, ranging from 8 to 25 bushels per aero ; but in the northern areas the want of rain and the prevalence of hot'winds in September destroyed the young crops. In some districts not one farmer in ten put a machine into bis paddocks ; in others the crops yielded only 71b or 81b to the acre. In Victoria, although the season has not been a good one, the average has not "been less than nine bushels. The last season in South Australia lias been the worst of three in succession, and the.farming population in the northern areas has been, reduced almost to despair. There have been four important failures upon the Const during the past few days. Mr James Hamilton, of Manutahi, has : tiled a deed of arrangement ; Mr A. Young, of Manain, lias gone, the liabilities being stated at; £3OOO ; and Mr J. W. Lurie, of Waitotarn, has joined the majority. Another Waitotara failure is that of Mr Fisk, Storekeeper. Wo hear that the latter case has arisen, not through anything going wrong with the business, but from the .’desire of one of the partners to retire from the linn. This the other partner would not agree to, neither would he soil his own or purchase his partner’s interest. Under the circumstances, therefore, it was considered the only alternative for the member of the firm who wished to retire to file his schedule, and this has been done. We believe .that the .estate will show a surplus of about £IOOO. , A caso of barefaced swindling was : dealt with at: (ho Wellington Resident Magistrate’s Court the other morning, when a Norwegian named Peter Johnson was charged with being a rogue and vagabond, and that, on December 20 last, he imposed upon the Bcmovojciit Institulion hy falsely ropif-scnling; tlmt he w.ia in a destitute condition. When asked how 'be intended to plead, the prisoner said lie might just ns well admit the offence. The evidence wont to show tlmt prisoner ami his family had for some time been in the receipt of £1 per week from the Benevolent Committee, whom ho led to believe lie was in very distressed cironinstances, whereas it eventually transpired that bo had a very sung little sum to bis credit in the Post-office Savings Bank, lie was sentenced to a monlli’s hard labour.: The value of public bouses in London may bo judged by the following circumstances Opposite (bn Mansion House there stands a dingy little tavern, (be demolition of which is desired in order to effect local improvements. But the proprietor is unwilling to part with it, for it brings him in the shape of rental an income of £3OOO a year. The steamer WakalipU, which arrived at Wellington from Sydney on Wednesday, passed a spar of a vessel off Stephen’s Island but it could not be made out whether belonging to a large or small vessel. A Wellington correspondent says that the statement which ,seems to have gone the round of the papers, to the effect that Longlmrst has admitted (lie justice of his conviction, is absolutely without foundation. He himself denied that he was guilty when examined as a witness at the second trial, and to bis friends ho has since repeatedly protested Ins innocence. At Ellesmere races yesterday Trumpeter won the Cup, with Curate second, and Whitbach third. \ Trumpeter also won the Flying Handicap. ■ j

The Opunake correspondent of the Taranaki Herald says that the general belief is that the reserves put upon the native leases are too high, and that better terms can f e got from private individuals. , v , The natives around Opunake complain bittefly-asto their treatment by the“ soldiers*’ at Parihaka. They say that when they went up to welcome Te Whiti and Tohu they were driven away in the rain like dogs. Wanganui natives are about to send large presents to Te Whiti. The rumour is that they asked if £SOO worth of flour, sugar, &c., would be sufficient. Tohu is said to have telegraphed back to this effect : —“ Send £5,000 worth. In future the Maori and the Pakeha shall eat; out of the same dish.” The Agent-General cables, under date London 10lh,—the departure of the steamer British Queer! for Wellington witn 285 emigrants, and the ship Forfarshire for Port Chalmers with' 267 emigrants and the Oxford, -.which was dismasted m the Bay of Biscay, will probably re-embark her passengers and leave for Wellington on the 25th instant. A meeting of the Institute Committee was hold last evening ; present, Messrs H. E. P. Adams (chair), Taplin, 11, A. Adams. A. J. Redgrave, and J. A. Wilkinson. Correspondence, from Mr McWilliam, agreeing to advance £SO was read ; and arrangements were ente’ed into for having the deeds registered, Mr H. E. P. Adams giving Ms services gratuitously. A letter was received from Mr E. C. Horner, enclosing Mr H. F. Christie’s. resignation as President; it was resolve.d to request that gentleman to hold it over for the present. On the question of new books, it was decided to make a small selection from Mr Kemvorthy’s stock, and to make immediate arrangements for a supply from Melbourne. Various small accounts were passed for .payment, amPflic usual -vote' of thanks to the chair terminated* the 'proceedings.