The Patea Mail, Established 1875. MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1093, 1 October 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail, Established 1875. MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Tlie Paten Crjcket Club will’play their opening matcli, Married v. Single, next Saturday, commencing at 1 o’clock. Mr Rose has been entrusted to get the single team together, and the Secretary (he married. The following members will represent the Married Team : Messrs Jacomb (captain), Redgrave, Wailt, Tennent, Tap’in, Bright, Dixon, Hatching, Shields, Cowern, Gibbon-, Norman, Hamilton, R. 8., and Whitlem. The Single Team are Messrs Rose, Harden (2), Read, Doneghue, Fulton, Newton, McKnight, Horner, F. H., Horner, E.C., and Nicholson. Any gentlemen desirous of joining the Club are also invited to be on the ground next Saturday to take part in the above mentioned match. At a Committee meeting held last Saturday evening, it was decided to accept the challenges from the Hawera Club, the first match to be played at Hawera on the 27th inst., and the return at Patea on the 19th January. Mr Rose was elected as match committee man in conjunction with the Captain and Secretary. Messrs W. and T. Brown, the well known proprietors of the Halls of Commerce at Patea, Hawera, and Normanby, have made unusually extensive preparations for tiro Spring drapery trade. Over sixty cases of new goods are to hand, and tiie firm have issued a catalogue setting forth some of the new goods now in stock. The Provisional Directors of the West Coast Meat and Produce Export Company meet to-morrow afternoon.

The ordinary meeting of the Borough Council will be held this evening.

Shareholders in the Patea Steam Sawmill and Wood ware Manufacturing Com-

pany will meet (his evening for the purpose of electing a Board of Directors.

The Government have decided to establish an Armed Constabulary post at Kawhia, and the men who are to be stationed there will leave Wellington on Wednesday by the Government steamer Hinemoa. The Government have ascertained that the manage to the beacons at Kawhia was the work of a.small section of a Waikato tribe, and was at the disapproval of the Ngalimaniapotos. The Hon, Major Atkinson and the Hon. F. Whitaker, late Premier, will represent New Zealand at the Annexation Conference at Sydney, in November.

A communication has been received by the Colonial Secretary from the Sandwich Islands, stating that His Majesty King Kalakaua is very desirous of making a tour through New Zealand, and will come if assured of being accorded an official reception. The King anticipates that the lrjp would prove of great interest to him, owing to tlie near kinship of the Hawaiian and Maori races.

A strong whirlwind of singular, but happily harmless character, occurred recently in Auckland. All at once the dust gathered in the centre of the street) and began to whir), and then ascended in a column to a height of about 150 ft, when it spread out like a cloud. Bits of paper were seen flying high above the cloud of dust. When the dust began to ascend it appeared as if it was an eruption bursting out, as it looked like black smoke. Several of those who were near ran away to get out .of danger, A baker’s cart was close, at hand, but the horse was evidently frightened, and stopped. The circle at the bottom was about 20ft in diameter, and tbc ascending column about 4fr. The phenomenon lasted about five minutes. One singular feature was that i£ did not travel alone, as whirlwinds usually do, but kept to the one spot till it subsided ; and another was that the spectators, standing only a few yards away, felt no wind whatever.

The Post hears that the preliminary arrangements for a thorough reorganisation of the Civil Service have been set on foot, and will proceed steadily during the recess. The undertaking is a very formidable one, but will be resolutely pushed on to completion before next session, A telegram from Napier states that the refrigerating works at Tornoana are now in progress, and negotiations are going on for one of Shaw, Savilleand Go’s steamers to call monthly. Hawke’s Bay can export 10,000 sheep per month, but at present the surplus goes to Auckland and Wellington.

The Canterbury runholders, acting in concert, have now definitely decided to erect a rabbit-proof fence all along the southern boundary of the province,

Tho first part of a tale, “ On the Drop,” will be found on our fourth page. Mr Heron notifies that he is prepared to undertake the tuition of a class in music under the Tonic sol-fa system.

The County Council meet oh Wednesday morning at the usual hour.

We remind our readers of the lecture to be given in St. James’s Hall to-morrow evening by Bro. Cameron, G.W.S. of the Good Templars. Sir W. Fox will take the chair.

The wet cold weather on Saturday effectually put a stop to the horse parade, which has been postponed till noon of Wednesday.

Mr Cowern will hold his monthly sale on Wednesday at the Lincoln street yards The Napier came in this morning, and went out again on tho same tide. She left Wellington on Thursday, and has been sheltering over at the Sounds. It is reported that there is some likelihood of a hotel being erected at Ngaire. It is stated that Mr Theodore Espagne has purchased Mehaffy’s hotel, Stratford. We have to acknowledge receipt of the first number of the Freethought Review published by Mr A. D. Willis, Wanganui. Tho contents of the new journal are likely to prove interesting to readers outside those for whom tho Review is specially designed. The printing and genera! get up are excellent. Professor Sample delivered his initial lecture at Melbourne on the 12th instant. The Argus says that at the conclusion he secured sixty pupils for his class. What was possible under the existing bankruptcy laws (observes a London paper) is illustrated by the liquidation of Messrs Overend and Gurney, who failed on May 11, 1866, more than 17 years ago. The shareholders are about to have returned to them 5s per share. At the end of 17 years, after so many persons have lost fortunes, after so many have lost their lives, the settling is still going on ; and even now tho business is not wound up. It will not be wound up for some time to come.

A woman perished in the snow' at Beechworth, Australia, recently. A singular accident, which unfortunately had a fatal termination, is reported from Sydney. Gregory, a railway guard, and Randall, his assistant, together with some of the permanent-waj' hands, were playing cricket with a pick handle, and a wooden railway key. Gregory was trying to hit the key, when he struck Randall violently under the ear, and the latter expired almost instantaneously. Gregory was arrested and admitted to bail. The following telegram from Sandhurst appears in the Age : —“An extraordinary affair, which has created great excitement, occurred at Ironbark on the evening of September 16. A young man named Henry Keast attended the revival services at the United Methodist Church, Ironbark, and appeared to be greatly affected. On Sunday evening he listened with deep interest to a sermon by Mr Gill, a layman, and during the devotional exercises he suddenly rushed forward and threw himself before the P penitent form,” declaring that he felt his sins forgiven. Ho then appeared to go off into a trance, his face becoming rigid. He was removed to his home, but did not return to his senses till Jong afterwards. He then declared that he had been conducted by an angel through Heaven and Hell, in both of which places he had met several acquaintances.” The Post says that the directors of the Gear Meat Preserving Company have succeeded, after some little difficulty, in purchasing a hulk suitable for refrigerating purposes, the vessel selected being the barque Jubilee at present lying in Sydney Harbour. The hulk is built of oak, and was constructed in England, where she is classed A 1 at Lloyd’s for four years. She is about 750 tons burthen and capable of accommodating several thousand carcases of mutton. The machinery with which she is to be fitted has been placed on board the lonic, which left Plymouth on the 22nd instant, and may be expected to reach Wellington in about six weeks’ time. On arrival here, no time will be lost in placing it on board, so that the work of freezing may commence as soon as possible. As many of our readers are doubtless aware, the intention is to kill the stock at the company’s abattoirs at Petone, and run the meat to be frozen down to the hulk, which will be moored alongside of a wharf to be erected in the vicinity. When a cargo of meal is required to be sent Home the vessel will be towed over to the ship about to sail for London, and the carcases transhipped with as little handling as possible. Tlie directors have entrusted Messrs Robertson and Co., of the Pboonix Foundry, with an order for the construction of a 40-horse power boiler. The first shipment of meat will be made in January by one of ShawSaville’s steamers.

Angelique Therasse, whose case was recently prominently before Parliament, has been arrested in Wellington for drunkenness and mulcted in a fine.

Experiments were made recently in Paris with one of the Omnibus Company’s large three hoise vehicles. It was driven by electricity at a rate superior to that at which omnibuses generally go, and was turned with surprising facility. At 5 o’clock M. Cochery, Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, M. de Lesseps, MM. DiefZ } Heavier, Blanchard, Burgues, Colonel Barolez, and several gentlemen got into the omnibus, which, to the astonishment of a large crowd, was seen to move off rapidly without horses. The mechanism by which it was propelled was simple. Faure accumulators, weighing 2500 kilogrammes, and giving out a force of 72 horse-power, had been placed under the scats and put in communication with a Scimens machine fixed under the vehicle.

There is a nice peach grove on Mr Chapman’s farm at Rahotu, which has only just been discovered by its owner. Some of the trees arc very ' large, one measuring not less than 38 inches in circumference, and about 30 feet in.height. The Rahotu district will be one of the finfist fruit-growing areas in New Zealand. — Courier. To-morrow the year 6644 of the Jewish Era commences. The Dunedin Refrigerating Company have received a cable, intimating that tlie aveivge price realised for the lonic’s cargo was 6|d. There are 13G0 shares in the Meat Freezing Company subscribed for in the Patea district, and 250 from districts around Hawera. There are still about 50 more to come in from Wavcrloy and Woodville, making 1660 in all. Allowing that the odd 60 turn out to bo “dummies,” there wilj still be 1600 good shares applied for. In other words, £BOOO of capital has been subscribed. The committee who first investigated the meat freezing question fixed a capital of £6OOO as sufficient for our requirements, and thc.reforertherc is a substantial margin above their calculations. All that remains to be done is. to go on with the work of forming the company, as quickly as possible. The shares that have not been applied for can bo sold by-aml-by at u handsome premium, as when once the company is in operation there is no doubt people who have hung back will be only too glad to have an interest in the concern.

The Marlborough Express gives publicity to a report now current in. the Piclun ami Wairau districts that Mr Justice Johnston will shortly retire and that Mr Conolly will be elevated to the Bench in Ids stead. ' It is alleged that Judge Johnston will retire during October.

The Dmstan Times hears that the machinery of the law has been set in motion to decide a very nice point, and o'n which there appears to be a division of opinion. The question is :H is a woman who has been living with a man in concubinage for a number of years any claim on the property and estate gathered together by the combined industry of the man and woman ? The steps are being taken by the woman to test her rights.

As a result of the starting of the local Freezing Company, the Marlborough Time’s learns that several hundreds of acres of land have been broken up and planted with turnips.