NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1074, 17 August 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Rumour is busy with the names of intending candidates for the Mayoralty. Messrs R A Adams, Shenvood, andTaplin are spoken of and it is said that an attempt will bo made to get Mr Milroy to fulfil his term of office. If that gentleman would consent to do so, we feel sure that he would be returned unopposed. The Waverley left Nelson at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, but owing to the heavy gale she has been compelled to put into Wanganui. Should tbo weather moderate she may bo expected in the morning. She leaves for Nelson and Wellington on Sunday with a load of cattle.

Tlie Hospital Committee meet at noon to-morrow to ascertain what amount has been subscribed, and to decide upon the steps to be taken. The subscription lists will be called in on Monday, and a public meeting will probably be held on Friday. We hear that Mr Milroy has resigned from the committee.

The Borough Council meet to-night to elect a Mayor to hold office until the election of the new Mayor by the ratepayers. An attempt is to be made to start a bowling club in Patca, a meeting with that object being announced for Tuesday evening next. There is no more genial game than bowls, especially’ for those who object to violent exercise, and but little difficulty is anticipated in getting up the club. Provisional Directors in the West Coast Meat and Produce Export Company, will meet to-morrow at Mr Eyton’s Office at 2 p.m. “ La Don’s ” consultation of £IO,OOO on the Melbourne Cup is advertised in this issue. The first prize is £4OOO. Mr Cottle, dentist, notifies that he lias arranged with Mr Gower for monthly visits. The adjourned meeting of settlers interested in getting a siding at (lie Waverley Racecourse, will be held at the Town Hall, Waverley, to-morrow evening at 7 30. This is a matter Patea people are interested in, and we have no doubt that if a petition were got up it would be unanimously signed here. Mr Cowern sells a collection of shrubs and trees to-morrow, A rather severe accident has happened to Mr R. E. Mcßae. While going home up Ball road the horse he was riding on slipped and fell on its side, crushing Mr Mcßae’s leg very severely 7, but although hia foot caught in (ho stirrup, fortunately for him tho stirrup leather slipped otf. Although no bones were broken, still the mishap has confined him to bed the last two days, but it is hoped be will soon be able to get about again. The Committee elected to organise the Railway festivities met on Wednesday evening and resolved to carry out the programme upon whatever day may be fixed for the opening of the line. This will be known next week, Mr Rotherham having promised to acquaint (he Committee as early 7 as possible. With regard to certain remarks that the Committee desired to usurp the Mayor’s position, wc have been requested to state that nothing of tiio kind was ever intended. Ilia Worship was asked if ho would tako part in a demonstration, and be replied that he did not think it was necessary to make any fuss over it ; and further, that urgent private business would cause him to bo absent on that day. The statement that the Committee wished to usurp the Mayor’s position is further refuted by a resolution passed at their first meeting, “ That the Mayor be invited to attend at the opening officially, and receive the expected visitors.”

Wo aro informed Mint the amount on the Hospital subscription list stands at £157 8s 6d, including the £SO granted by the Borough Council ■ Some names that one would expect to see on such a list are conspicuous hy their absence, though it is to he hoped this omission will yet he rectified. And (he County Council that our Wanganui friends of the Benevolent Society call “ a body without a soul ” has not yet stated what ils contrihnlion will he. It is to he Imped it will dcnmnsl.’ife that i( not only has a son), Iml, that it is a liberal one. We expect shortly (o publish the full list of subscriptions, and we hope that their generous object will he attained. The entertainment in the Waverloy Town Hall that was to take-place on Tuesday next lias been postponed until further notice, owing to unforeseen circumstances. It will, however, he hold at an early date. A (las Company is being mooted in ilawora. The Borough Council will first he asked to take the mailer up. Alluding to the meeting on Saturday night re the opening of the railway, the Star says that the feeling shown il is very unfortunate, for considerable interest has been taken in Hawera over the progress of this section of railway, and an invitation to assist in celebrating tire opening to Manutahi would probably have been well received if arrangements had been made to run visitors from Manutahi to I’afoa and hack. For years past these petty local squabbles have been the curse of I'atoa, hut suicly on such an occasion as Ibis, mayor, councillors, and public m ighl have agreed to differ on certain ponds and have worked together for the common credit"

Wo are informed (hat a draft of 300 head of you ns cal tie (wcaners) have In-on sold, to go to Napier, from Mr J. Hair’s farm, at Waverloy. They were all of superior class, and had been well wintered on turnips, and consequently feiched a high [nice. We believe that the average was about L2 per head. The sale was effected through Mr F II Jackson. Christchurch papers are filled with notices and advertisements about the Diamond Companies. How happy the promoters and shareholders must feel now that the truth has come out that the “diamonds” arc worthless? Fancy the feelings of those who bought Piomcr shares at £55, £5 paid up, when the cablegram came from London staling that the stones were not genuine ! We should like to have been around just then to have heard what people thought about it. The new Meat Freezing Company at Christchurch, which is named after that town, has a capital of £IOO,OOO, of which it is proposed to call up £25,000 Professor Sample is at Tirnaru, whore ho is not meeting with much patronogc. Owing to a severe cold Mr F. R, Jackson is unable to conduct Mr Wallace’s sale at Whakamara, advertised for to-morrow, and it has accordingly been postponed for a week, Mr Monro, sheep inspector, Ins laid an informa ion against Mr Alex Howie, of Wavcrley, sheep owner, for breach of section 45 of the Sheep Act, in driving sheep to the sale yards, such sheep afterwards turning out to have been infecte ;1 at the time. Fifteen hundred people assembled on the Queen’s wharf, Wellington, on Sunday afternoon to witness the landing of “ Major” Pollard, the commanding officer of the Salvation Army in New Zealand. A strong force of police were present, ami averted any demonstration on the part of the larrikins, who were about in great numbers. In another column Mr John McKenzie publishes an explanation of his part in the Hansen affair at Kakaramca.

“ Countryman ” writes to us as follows ; —A vein of satire appears to percolate through the sub-leader of the HamraStar on 15th inst re the Meat Freezing meeting at Patea on the 11th. Had that usually intelligent paper got their information at first hand no doubt its strictures would not have been so severe, but as it came from a reliable authority the Star can hardly be held fully accountable for statements which, though not absolutely untrue, are calculated (no doubt unintentionally) to mislead the public. It is made to appear at first blush that the country settlers around Patea slinked away in twos and threes in order not to pledge themselves to take up shares. Such is at variance with facts, the proliminaty business of the meeting, which did not commence till 3.30 p.m., took up a longer time than was expected, and it began to grow dark before it was concluded, when, naturally, country settlers wished to return home. It would have been premature, not to say sharp practice, to have interrupted the business for the purpose of opening a share list when nothing of a really defined nature as to the objects or status of the Company was before those present. The article in the Star appears to he an ill advised slur on a few settlers who are unfortunate enough to live outside the boundary within which all who reside are under its protective wings. The settlers so calumnied are quite able to see for themselves where their best interests lie, and when the Company’s prospectus is issued and everything in proper training, they will no doubt act upon the suggestion of the Star so courteously offered, and show their approval of the Company in a substantial manner. Mr W. L. Martyn has agreed to lay off a racecourse on his farm near Manaia. A good mile and a quarter course, 5o feet wide, has been selected and surveyed, and will be ploughed and laid down in grass at once. A race meeting will be held on Boxing Day, when the promoters expect to give about L2oo as stakes to be run for, “ A fortune for five shillings.” The way to get this may be seen in another column.

The attention of shippers is directed to a very important notice re reduction of freight, which the agent of the s.s. Napier announces.

Mr John C. Macleod, of Opotiki, has invented and registered a machine for cutting maize. It is drawn by one horse, and capable of performing in one day the work of ten men. The members of the Opotiki Farmers’Club consider the machine a great success.

The sea was particularly heavy along the Timaru coast last week. The dashing of the waves against the rocks caused a loud, intermittent, booming sound in that town, exactly resembling the firing of heavy cannon at a distance of a few miles. This is the Timaru Herald description of it—“ It was a 'fierce bombardment of the Dashing Rocks by Neptune’s artillery, and such was the force of the waves that Lc Cron’s Terrace perceptibly trembled under the shock, causing the windows of the houses to rattle in their casements.”

There is now on view at the show rooms of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, says the Lyttelton Times, a collection which is well worthy the attention and consideration of farmers and owners of stock, especially those who are in the habit of using wire in binding their crops. The collection referred to consists of no fewer than 230 pieces of binding wire, varying in length from half an inch to four inches, all of which were extracted by a magnetic apparatus, from the wheat put through the cleaning- fans at the Canterbury Mills, during tiro course of eight hours. There are also some four or five nails, a portion of the flange of a threshing machine wheel, and an iron rivet, which were taken nut of the wheat by the same appliance. For the presence of these latter among the grain the wire binder is not responsible, but the quantity of wire, for which it certainly is answerable, fully justifies (bo remark of the manager of (be mill, who, in (he letter accompanying the miscellaneous assortment of hardware above described, observes “ If the cattle had a word to say in (he matter, they would sooner chow twine than wire.” • A telegram from Dunedin reports that a man named Thomas Kelly, employed on a road contract at the Beaumont, was found dead in a paddock there on the 12th instant. Ho was drunk when ho parted from his mate at the gate of (ho paddock early in the evening, and then stated that ho could walk no further. His mate was also the worse of drink. The verdict of the coroner’s jury was “ died from natural causes, probably accelerated by exposure.” The Waipapa lighthouse is expected to be finished in two months. A Indy correspondent of the Lyttelton Times docs not seem to have been favourably impressed by her first visit to the House. She writes :— i: I wont into the House and heard Major Atkinson speak. It’s not very edifying. In fact, it could not well be more undignified. Most of the members keep their hats on. A large number sit with their feet cocla'.d up on the seats or sprawl full length on them. They laugh and jeer and abuse one another like a lot of c.xpro.-ss clrlvers."