NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1088, 19 September 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

At the R.M. Court yesterday, two Natives, who had obstructed a guard on the railway while in the execution of his duty, received a lesson which will probably enlist their attention in a different sort of amusement hereafter. Tenders are invited by the Defence Department for the supply of rations to the Colonial Forces, between the Patea and the Mokau Rivers, for the period of twelve months. Mr F. R. Jackson holds his usual Waverley sale on Friday, at 1 o’clock. A meeting of the Cricket Club will be held in the Albion Hotel to-morrow evening. Messrs Nolan and Co. hold their Hawera sale at 1 p.m. to-morrow, when a number of entries will be submitted. We remind our Waverley friends of the entertainment to be given to-morrow evening by the Patea Musical and Dramatic Society. The programme will be seen elsewhere, and as the society has been rehearsing vigourously for some time past, a very successful performance may be anticipated. The Harbour Board’s engineer, Mr Thomson, was a passenger by the Waverley to Wellington. Ho is visiting the Empire City upon private business ; but, while there, will interview Mr Blackett i n connection with the river wall about to bo built by the Railway Department. On receipt of telegraphic advice from Mr Thomson the Harbour Board will call tenders for the work, A dramatic performance will bo given at the Harmonic Hall this evening by the Patea Sociables. The comedietta “ Used Up,” and the farce “ A Regular Fix” comprise the bill of fare.

A man named Peter Nelson was brought up before H. C. Tcnncnt and H. F. Christie Esqs, J.P.’s, at the R.M. Court this morning, charged with being drunk and disorderly and with making use of obscene language last night. On the first charge the prisoner was dismissed with a caution, and for using obscene language ho was fined 10s and costs. The attention of stock breeders and settlers is directed to the advertisement of Messrs Nolan, Tonks and Co.’s special sale at the Hawcra yards on the tenth of next month.- They will then offer, without reserve, 500 head of cattle besides other stock, the property of Mr W. S. Young, of the Plains. Purchasers will be allowed a fortnight’s grazing either in Hawora or Waimatc, or if desired, cattle will be delivered free between Opunake and Wanganui. The cable to-day conveys information of another collision in the English Channel, whereby the ship St. Leonards, bound to New Zealand, has been lost. Fortunately, no loss of life is recorded, although a large number of immigrants were on board. These mishaps must have a bad effect upon intending emigrants, many of whom will bo frightaned to undertake the voyagej

Mr Brj-ce has returned to Wellington,

Messrs Redmond and Walsh loft Auckland on Tuesday. They go to Hokitika, where they will deliver their first lecture upon the Land League.

The Auckland footballers intend to submit their dispute with Wellington to the Olago and Canterbury Unions. At Christchurch a man was fined £2 for throwing flour at the Salvation Army on Saturday.

Three thousand persons assembled at •ho Tuam street; Theatre, Christchurch, last night, to witness the presentation of colours by Mrs Barker to “ Captain ” Pollard of the Salvation Army. There was no disturbance for a wonder.

Miners working at the Ninety-mile Beach can make about 18 dwts gold per week. That is the amount shown by one man at the Canterbury Mining Exchange. The Patea District annual horse parade will be held on the show ground on. Saturday, 29th instant. Judge Gillies, who has been experimenting in sorghum culture, says, in papers read at the Auckland Institute“ These results astound me, and prove that sorghum, as a sugar-producing crop, to be valuable beyond my wildest imaginations.” Owing to the unsatisfactory nature,of the reply received from the Directors of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, the promoters of the Oamaru Meat Freezing Company have decided to take immediate steps to form a company. Oamaru is doing wisely. We hear, with regiet, that Mr D. Coults is ho unwell that ho has been obliged to go into Auckland for medical advice.

The Waverley brought seventy tons of cargo yesterday. It was put out with expedition, and the steamer sailed again during the evening.

The new Courthouse at Hawcra was used to-day for the first time. Work at New .Plymouth Breakwater has been resumed. Another 18ft section was completed on Monday.

At Port Elizabeth, between the Boiler and Greymouth, there is a scam of coal which has been burning there for the last thiiteen years. A party of miners had camped in the place, and not having extinguished their fire before leaving, the embers set the seam alight, and probably millions of tons of excellent coal have been burned since then, shortly after catching fire an offer was made to the then Superintendent of Nelson to put it out for £3O, but the offer was declined. The loss to the colony that 1 as been incurred must be very great, and steps should at once bo taken to put a stop to it by extinguishing the flames. The fact of a fine seam of coal burning away without any effort being made to check the fire is not a creditable one.

A meeting of sportsmen was held at Manaia on Saturday, to consider the advisableness of forming a .racing club. The opinion of the majority of those present was that it would be unwise to form a club at present, as the Egmont Club should receive support from the Plains for a year or fwo. Ultimately it was decided to hold races on Boxing Day, under similar conditions to those last year. An English barrister at Hong Kong has adopted a novel system which all lawyers would doubtless relish seeing in practice. Ho has issued a circular stipulating for cash payments in future—a course which will be apt to diminish litigation as far as he is concerned. There is small prospect of the rule prevailing in this country, for, whether clients lose or win, whether estates are eaten up in costs or fees or endless litigation, the lawyer always makes sure of getting good pay for his work.

Thistles, says an agriculturist, are not a dead loss. Their tap roots are so long that they derive their strength from a stratum of soil-fertility not reached by the ordinary crops of the farm. They therefore, are not competitors of the wheat or the hay, but rather independent neighbours. In the autumn, too, when they lie down, their decaying stems and their leaves] fertilise the crop, nourishing the surface-soil.

The special correspondent of the Leader, in a letter to that paper, was witness of the following incident, which ho believes to correctly represent the feelings of the Americans towards Britain: -—An English Cheap Jack, engaged in auctioning his wares in a San Francisco street, made a nasty allusion in connection with Her Majesty’s name, when an American stopped out and said, “Look here, stranger, you may talk about your Queen as a Queen, just as you have a mind to, but as a woman wo believe her to bo a good woman, and good women have to bo alluded to respectfully here , now, don’t you forgot it.” Cheap Jack repealed his offensive allusion, when our American friend sailed in and gave the vendor of Brummagem wares a severe beating with his fists, amid the approving applause of the crowd.