The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1047, 15 June 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

The following uniform and decorations .were worn by His Excellency the Governor at the opening of Parliament : Uniform, Ist class of the Civil Service ; star and ribbon of the Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, Companion of the Bath ; South African war medal, and war medal for Perak (Malay Peninsula). Mr John Keys, who for many years has been known and respected on this coast, died this morning at 7 o’clock. His illness has been tedious and painful, and death was not unexpected. Although a young man, be was looked upon as one of the pioneer settlers. He was a trustee of the Wesleyan Church, and always took an interest in the welfare of that church. We believe reference will be made to his death at the Sunday evening service. The funeral leaves his residence on Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock. At the Harmonic Hall on Wednesday the Willmott Combination again appeared. Though not so large as on the previous evening still a very fair house assembled which taking into consideration the bad state of the weather, must be considered a very satisfactory tribute to the ability of the Company. The piece selected for that evening was “ East Lynne ” in which the principal character, that of Lady Isabel, was sustained by Miss Louise Crawford, who so ably filled the part that the audience were fairly carried away; and entered into the spirit of the scene. Especially was this the case at the death of Willie Carlyle. The various other characters also received full justice at the hands of those on whom they were placed. Mr Willmott, we are glad to see, has decided to appear again for two nights here on his return from New Plymouth in about a fortnight’s time. It would be a great convenience to business men and others if the, state of the weather in other parts of the colony was posted at the Telegraph office every morning. This is done elsewhere, and at all places where there is shipping it has been, found to be of considerable use. A meeting of shareholders in the Colonial Land Settlement and Endowment Association is called for Monday at the Central Hotel at 7-30 p.m. The weather yesterday and the previous night was extremely boisterous and cold. The s.s. Waverley left Patea at half-past three o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, and after being out a few hours the wind suddenly changed tothe S.E. and she had a terrible time of it. She arrived at Wanganui at 4 p.m. yesterday, having crossed the bar through a terrific sea. Captain Gibbons says that during twenty years experience he ..never encountered a more violent gale than that of Wednesday night. After leaving Patea very good progress was made, the vessel averaging 8| knots until Kapiti was nearly reached when the wind came away with terrific violence. In wearing the vessel, the main boom carried away, and, finding it impossible to make any headway, Captain Gibbons put the Waverley before the wind and ran for Wanganui, arriving as above. All on board speak in high terms of the seagoing qualities of the little steamer, and the only daotage she sustained,besides breaking the boom, was to the gloss in the cabin skylight, which was shattered by a sea which found its way over her quarter. The Waverley was to leave Wanganui for Wellington this afternoon. A novel, if not a very practical way of disposing of the dead, so that the remains will not tend to imperil the existence of the living, has been brought forward hy Dr A. Mayer. He advises the adoption of colid glass coffins, which, after the introduction of the corpse, are to be closed airtight with cement. Two holes are in the coffin. Through one of them carbonic acid gas is forced, and by the other atmospheric air escapes. When the ordinary air is supposed to be all drivon out the holes are closed.

The treasurer of the Patea Harmonic Society wishes to remind the members of that body that the annual statement of accounts is made up at the end of June, and that he has no desire to show unpaid subscriptions in his statement. This hint is given so that members may be enabled to pay before that time ; further, that the mere fact of members resigning during the current half-year does not exonerate them from their subscription, as it is always payable in advance. At the indignation meeting of the women of Sydenham, near Christchurch, held with regard to the issuing of licenses for that district, it was resolved to forward two resolutions to the Minister of Justice, condemning the action of the Licensing Committee in granting new licenses. Mr Montgomery’s speech at Christchurch is made the occasion by the Lyttelton Times for a vigorous attack on the Colonial Treasurer and the present Government. It expresses the opinion that “ a few more speeches like Mr Montgomery’s and the days of the Government arc numbered. The head of the Government, after waiting till almost the last moment of the recess, issued the weakest challenge that ‘a public man in New Zealand has ever given to an opponent. The leader of the Opposition has, almost immediately, made a reply that is among the most effective of recorded replies.” At a late meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, among other resolutions a motion was passed unanimously urging Auckland members to press upon the Government the immediate construction of the railway from To Awamutu to Cambridge.

An Auckland bulcbcr named Pascoehas been fined £5 and costs for having beef in his premises unfit for human food. Last evening, about half-past five o’clock, a chimney, in a house near the Central Hotel, took fire. There' was a considerable blaze, which lighted up the neighbourhood for some time, and attracted a number of people, who evidently thought the fire was of more serious proportions. Luckily, however, it was soon got under, with no worse results than that the internal arrangements of the house were somewhat interfered with. In a private letter received from London, says the Post, the writer refers to the frozen meat as follows: At a big butcher’s shop just across London Bridge I saw posted up in gigantic letters ‘ New Zealand Mutton.’ The sheep looked perfectly natural, and we brought a forequarter and some chops at BJd per lb., which would have cost Is 2d for English meat. It was impossible to distinguish it from fresh meat.” , .

Nows has been received (says the New Zealand Herald) of Mr Hursthouse, who some weeks ago started from New Plymouth for the purpose of making a survey of the Mokau country. He has arrived at Totoro, a small native village on the banks of the Mokau River, at which Mr Bryce’s party slept one night on the occasion of the recent journey of the Native Minister through the King Country. Here, it is stated, Mr Hursthouse met Wahanui, who objected to his going eastward or northward, and requested him to confine his explorations to the country between Totoro and Waitara. This somewhat curious piece of news is further supplemented by the statement that Wahanui •was not personally obstructive, but that the natives have objections to Europeans going towards Tuhua (the region lately traversed by the New Zealand Times special correspondent), and that there are some turbulent spirits northward. It is, however, more important to know that the country through which the surveyors passed presents no engineering difficulties ; and as the proposed track of the new line northward of Totoro to Te Awamutu is well known,, it may be concluded that the contemplated main trunk line to join the railway system on the West Coast is a thoroughly practicable undertaking. Mr Archibald Forbes is writing a series of articles in the Sydney Morning Herald entitled “ Queensland Jottings. ” In commencing he says:—“ I wonder whether it has ever occurred to the physiologist that the people of Australia (men and women alike) are stronger in the region of the spinal column than are the inhabitants of New Zealand? It may be asked what evidence we can adduce in favour of this assumption? I reply by calling attention to a detail in the fittings of the passenger steamers plying around the coasts of the respective colonies. There is not a vessel of the Union Steam Navigation Company of New Zealand that is unprovided with support for the backs of passengers as they sit at the saloon tables. I have not had very extensive experience of passenger steamers in the coastal service of Australia, but I have journeyed in no vessel in this trade which is furnished with this appliance. The vessels plying between Melbourne and Adelaide are smart enough as regards their powers of steaming, but their passengers have to lean on their own spinal col urns or else collapse.” The steward of the Hospital begs to acknowledge receipt of copies of Christian Herald from Mr Stanton, Waverley, for the use of the patients. The Taranaki Herald's Urenui correspondent writes : “The natives from this district are leaving for Parihaka. They say they are coming back, but I notice carts going that seem to be loaded with , things as if some of : them wore going to stop there. Not many have gone as yet, but more go to-morrow, so as to bo at Parihaka on the 18ih.” Mr Hursthouse has discovered a practical route for a railway line from the mouth of the Mokau. An old Maori woman named Flipora was burned to death at Wangaehu on Wednesday. Her wharo caught lire whilst she was asleep. A witness giving evidence before the Avon Licensing Committee on Monday stated that he thought a licensed house was necessary in the district, as his wife was subject to “ spasms.” The hard hearts of the Commissioners were, however, proof against even this appeal, and the license so feelingly advocated was refused. At a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, Mr A. McKay’s report on the geological survey of the East Coast of the North Island was read. He described the geological survey of a scries of low hills nnd gullies about 14 miles from Master!on, and showed a model indicating a well-defined crater, which he had no doubt was the low neck of an extinct volcano. He inferred from adjacent strata that the volcano was not ancient in a geological sense, though he offered no comparative data as to the period of its activity. M. dc Lesseps has completed a careful survey of the country between Gabes and Marsh Lakes. He declared that the soil will allow of the excavations necessary to connect the lakes with the Mediterranean, that the works will present no extraordinary difficulty, and that the concessions asked for. with regard tothe forest and adjoining lands will make the scheme remunerative, and wholly independent of State aid, subvention or guarantee, A report favourable to the projected inland sea was telegraphed by M. de Lesseps to, the French Government, and he himself arrived in Paris on April 10. He is about to float a company for “constructing” the sea.

Mr Allwright, M.H.R., addressing his constituents at Lyttelton lately,.said he was not altogether pleased with the present Government, though.hc did not at present see where a better could be got. There was one member of the present Government whom he would follow almost blindfolded. He alluded to Mr Bryce. It would be a national calamity if the country lost the services of that gentleman, who, if he were not interfered with, would succeed in altogether abolishing the Native Department. He hoped Mr .Bryce would be a member of whatever Government was formed during the next session. In the course of a review of Rusdon’s History of New Zealand, the Melbourne Aye says,:—“ I,t .is worthy of .remark, in, view of recent events, that during the fi.st Governorship of Sir George Grey, in 1848, he on more than one occasion urged the Colonial Office to extend the Imperial Government through:, out the Pacific. New Guinea, he thought, ought to be annexed, and Tonga and Fiji were then tendering allegiance.” A man named Raby, whilst out prospering at Kumara on Wednesday, fell down; an abandoned shaft 52 feet deep, and escaped with a sprained wrist.