The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1026, 25 April 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

A very pleasant little gathering was held on Saturday evening at the Commercial Hotel, Waverley, to bid farewell to Mr M. J. Cleary, who is about leaving Waverley to take charge of the Fielding station. About thirty gentlemen were present. The proceedings were- opened by Mr Fookes, who on behalf of the gentlemen present, and others who were unavoidably absent, briefly addressed Mr Cleary, testifying the great sorrow all felt at losing him, and wishing him every success and happiness in the future, winding

up by making a, presentation of a purse of sovereigns as a slight testimonial of the great esteem in which Mr Cleary is held by the Waverley residents. Mr Oleary, in responding, said he could scarcely find words to express how sorry he felt at leaving the district, - his short sojourn being an exceeding!}' happy one. He was quite taken by surprise at such an exhibition of good feeling on the part of the residents ot the district. Mr Cleary’s health was then drunk, with musical honours. After thisl the usual toasts were drank, commencing, of course, with “The Queen and Royal Family,” and including “ The Army and Navy and Volunteers,” coupled with the name of Mr Symes ; “ The Commercial Interest,” coupled with the name of Mr G Newland ; “ The Banking Interest,” with Mr Fawkner’s name ; “ The Farming Interest,” with Mr James Matheson’s name ; “ The Frozen Meat Interest,” with Mr Hair’s name; “ The Ladies,” coupled with the name of Mr M Smith, &c &c. During the intervals a number of songs were sung by some of the gentlemen present ; and the fun was kept up till the small hours of the morning, everybody being in the best of spirits, and thoroughly enjoying themselves. There is no doubt Wavirley folk will miss Mr Cleary iory much, for a more obliging and courteous officer it would be impossible to find, while in social circles he will bo equally missed. He will, however, obtain promotion in his new post. His place at Waverley will be filled by Mr Gear, of Wanganui. Mr F. R. Jackson’s Manaia sale takes place on Friday. A special meeting of the Borough Council will l>e_ held to-morrow evening.

The annual general meeting of the Patea S.S. Company will bo held tomorrow at 4 p.m. The New Zealand -Agricultural' Company’s settlers on the Waimea Plains have now in stack, says the Maiaum Ensiya, and including what has already been threshed—-300 stacks of wheat, containing 140.000 bushels ; 270 stacks of oats, containing 180,000 bushels and 2000 busheds barley ; over 2000 bushels linseed and about 6000 bushels grass seed. Thus fully 8000 tons of grain have been grown by these farmers, and when wo add the amount grown by the deferred-payment settlers in the same district (of whom there are about one hundred) the total number of tons must bo very large. The shareholders of the Ashburton Butter and Cheese Factory have authorised the directors to borrow 4i4000 upon security of the Company’s premises, for the purpose of extending the business. An extraordinary accident befel Mr Eskdale, the Oamarn manager for a Dunedin firm last week. He was walking between two stacks of grain in the store, when suddenly one of the stacks fell and completely buried him beneath it. On examination he was found to be suffering from concussion of the spine.

New Zealand wine licenses are now in force in Christchurch and other towns, and those who hold them seem to do. a good business. The correspondent of -a Southern paper says : I heard a very good story the other day, showing the ingenious way in which the holder of one of these licenses is able to euchre the Government. Customers who ask for New Zealand wine or ginger beer get what they want -without any trouble, but when a customer asks for whiskey there is a little change in the programme. “ I do not sell whiskey,” the proprietor blandly replies, “but I have a very nice freehold section which I am selling in small allotments, and if you buy one of these 1 will give you a glass of whiskey into the bargain.” He then shows the customer a number of pill-boxes arranged on a shelf which contain small portions of the section in question, and these lie disposes of at 6d each (title under the Land Transfer Act) to all those customers who want whiskey or other prohibited liquid. In this ingenious way he combines business with pleasure, for he takes very great pleasure indeed in getting to windward of the Licensing Act.

A sign of the times : The price of the Melbourne Argus is to be reduced to 2d. The latest, joke on tlie subject of the Egyptian war is that-Turkey shuffled, Arabi cut, England played the deuce, France only played the knave, and yet claimed honours.

The Chief Secretary of Victoria, MiBerry, takes a somewhat different view of the \ relations between Europeans and natives to that enunciated of recent years by New Zealand Governments. The policy here of late has been to impress the natives with the idea that they stood oh precisely the same footing with regard .to the constitution of the laws of the colony as the dominant 1 race. Mr Berry, on the other hand, recently granted’ an unimportant concession to the blacks on the ground that they, as the remnant of a fast-dis-appearing race, should not be treated with the same severity as white men. A man named James Falconer met with a fearful death in Sydney. Between 8 and' 9’ o’clock in the evening the deceased 1 was crossing the tramline opposite Christ 'Church/ Eedfern,’ and did not notice that a tram was approaching from Botany. Before he had time to step off the line he was knocked down and run over. Fully 20 minutes elapsed before he could be extricated, when he was discovered to be dreadfully mutilated. The unfortunate man breathed for a few minutes, but expired before reaching the Hospital.

Mr James met with rather a painful accident this morning in Bedford street. He was assisting a man with a cart to get out of one of the holes in the street, when his hand was caught by one of the wheels and badly lacerated.

The programme for the Volunteer Sports on the Queen’s Birthday appears elsewhere. Given fine, weather, a capital day’s sport should be enjoyed as the events are likely to attract good fields. Entries close on Monday 12th, at 8 p.ra. - ■

A telegram in the Melbourne Angus from Talbot, dated April 9 th, says:—“A singular adventure has happened to a young man named Coasen, aged 21 years, a resident of Talbot, who for two clays and nights had been lost in the bush. Couscn, who was a sober steady young man, left Avoca on horseback on Saturday morning, and, only reached here this (Monday) evening, when he arrived on foot in a semi-imbecile condition and greatly exhausted. He presents ho external marks of violence, but is totally unable to give an account of his experience. He was examined on his arrival here by Dr Cunningham, who states that his condition could not have been produced by over-indulgence, and the young man is known as a total abstainer. He cannot account for losing the horse he is known to have been riding when he left Avoca, and is unable to explain any incident connected with his wanderings. His condition induces the belief that in some manner he has sustained a severe mental shock.”

The latest joke about King Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands is that he cannot help being a good man. The reason assigned is that his ancestors ate so much missionary in their time that it worked into their system and was transmitted to their descendants. Missionaries who are eaten are, after all, not wasted, it would appear,