NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1069, 6 August 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

We have received from the Postmaster a copy of the Postal and Telegraph Guide issued by the Government. This publication, which is issued quarterly at the moderate price of sixpence, is becoming quite bulky in its proportions, and contains a large quantity of information useful to business men. No interest was shown in the Land Sale on Saturday last, only two persons being present. One allotment was taken up, vis., sec 24, consisting of 56 acres in Blk IX, Wairoa Survey District, at upset price, £3, with improvements £2O, the purchaser being Mr P Naughton. Tiie inward ’Frisco Mail may be expected to arrive at Auckland on the 17th or 18th instant, the City of Sydney having left San Francisco on July 28. An interesting gathering is to be held in Auckland on Monday, the 10th of next month. The old Crimean soldiers have resolved to have an anniversary dinner to celebrate the fall of Sebastopol, but the exact day being Sunday, of course the gathering had to be arranged for the following evening. The appointments of Mr Samuel Taplin to be captain, and Mr Henry Edward Percy Adams to be lieutenant, of the Patea Rifle Volunteers, are gazetted to date from 21st ult, A largo number of willow cuttings arc being planted on the river side of the embankment across the flat, presumably for the purpose of binding the earth together, in order to better withstand the wash of the river. Graham Tawhai, (son of thoM.H.R.) the Maori Blue Ribbon and Salvation soldier, is about to undertake a Blue Ribbon crusade amongst the Maoris of the Thames Valley. Johnny Bowerman,thc local Salvationist captain, would appear, says tho Star , to be a bit of wag in his way. Writing to head-quarters concerning his Auckland experiences, ho says:—“ Wednesday.—.— The hall full. Had a grand inarch. Tho devil at work all around. Mud and clay very plentiful. As wo neared tho hall, our larrikin friends saluted us wilh rotten eggs. There wore some good shots among them. One caught tho lieutenant tn.the eye. We wished they would bring fresh cooked ones ; them wo could make a good use of. Hallelujah 1 We got (ho victory ; Inside, powerful meeting. The soldiers spoke well, and sinners were forced to yield. ” Mr Menlove, of Oamaru, shipped 241 two-tooth merinos to London by tho Fenstanton. The net return was 26s Id per sheep. Mr A. W. Hillier, -Secretary to the Christchurch Fire Brigade, died on Friday morning, from the effects of a fall from the engine when going to a false alarm of fire on Sunday. He was much respected, and his untimely death leaves a widow and four children unprovided for.

We have received a letter from Mr T. Eyton, secretary to the Freezing Committee, but pressure upon our space compels us to hold it over till Wednesday. A meeting of persons interested in the formation of a Harmonic Society, was held in the Town Hall, Waverley, on Friday to receive report of Provisional Committee, &c., and to take steps to form the Society on a proper basis. Some twenty ladies and gentlemen were present. Mr Ellis being voted to the chair, reported as to what the Committee had done, and proceeded to read over the proposed rules of the Society. These were taken one by one and carefully discussed and amended as required. All present then gave in their names as members, and the Society being then considered as formed, the election of office-bearers was proceeded with, resulting in the election of a Committee of Management of five as follows : Conductor, Mr T. Ellis; Secretary and Treasurer, MrF. P. Fookcs ; Librarian, Mr S. G. Stunton ; Members of Committee, Messrs J. Muir, and E. Edwards. As soon as arrangements can be rnado for a practice room, a start will be made and practice commenced. An accident of rather a painful nature occurred to a man named Adams, at Mr Odger’s Australasian Hotel yesterday evening. Adams, it appears, had just left the reading room, and was going up the stairs in the dark, when somehow he slipped and fell, injuring his leg, though it is not known if it is fractured. It is understood that the opening of the railway ’will take place about the beginning of September. The time table has been so arranged that passengers will be able to get through from New Plymouth to Foxton in one day, and vice versa. The train will leave New Plymouth at 7.15 a.m., reaching Hawera at 10.55. Between Hawera and Manutahi will for a long time to come have to be got over in the coach, and the train for Wanganui will leave Manutahi at 12.50 p.m., and Patea at I. p.m., arriving at Aramoho at 4.20, and meeting there the train for the South which leaves Wanganui at 4.15 p.m. Foxton will be reached at 9 55 p.m., or 14 hours and 40 minutes after leaving New Plymouth. The morning train will leave Wanganui at 8.35, and reach Patea at 11. and Manutahi at 12.20. New Plymouth will be reached at 6.55 in the evening. A Press Associadon telegram from Christchurch states that several parties have returned from the Ninety Mile Beach with a few pennyweights of gold, and declare it essentially a poor man’s diggings. During the progress of the Property Tax debate in the House, Mr Montgomery referred to the present depression, and entered into gloomy prognostications with regard to the future of the colony. The Treasurer admitted that there was a depression in certain parts of the colony, but added that during all the winters he had gone through in New Zealand, this was the only one during which there had not been a great outcry on the part of the unemployed. Of "course, he said, there was always a number of unemployed, but so far as he knew, there was not at present a single able-bodied man on “charitable aid,”-and throughout New Zealand a fair rate of wages was obtained. The following paragraph is taken from a Home paper : —“ A horrible case of starving a girl has come before the Gateshead magistrates. Win Wells, painter, and Margaret Wells, his wife, were charged with neglecting their child Agnes, who,'on February 9, was found in a room destitute of furniture. She was little else than skin and bone, and although nearly 11 years old, weighed only 161b. Since being admitted to the Union house she had gained 181b. The woman, who is the child’s stepmother, said to a detective that she wished she had poisoned her. Mrs Wells was sent to prison for six months, and her husband for three months, each with hard labour.”