The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1101, 19 October 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Governor will visit New Plymouth in. the course of about ten days and subsequently will pass through Hawera and Patea on his way to Wanganui. No doubt His Worship the Mayor will shortly’ take steps to call a meeting of burgesses to see what can be done by way of showing our loyalty and our respect to the Queen’s representative. Sir W. Jcrvois is great on harbour improvements, and such works, and a visit to the breakwater would prol ably interest him.

Hawera is agitating for sittings of the District Court to bo held there.

We regret very much to notice that our old townsman, Mr G. F. Sherwood, has had to succumb to the hard times, and call his creditors together. Mr Sherwood has struggled hard to establish an important local industry, but the enterprise grew to dimensions exceeding his financial strength and he has been compelled to abandon the attempt. Mr Sherwood, wo arc sure, will meet with many sympathisers in his present position.

Wo Icarti from Wellington that His Excellency the Governor is suffering from a severe cold, and has postponed his departure for Nelson until this evening.

A meeting of tlio directors of several of the mining companies at Tcrawliili was held at Wellington last night, to discuss tho adviaahility of amalgamating and thoroughly testing the country. Several resold lions were proposed, and a long discussion ensued, hut ultimately (he meeting broke up without coming to any result. The general opinion was expressed that each company should work out its own ground. In Gisborne, according to a correspondent of the local Herald the salaries paid by the Borough Council and Harbour Boa'd (there one body) amount to £1,077 i A rate of Is in the pound yields a revenue of £1,200, so that the whole of the rates, with the exception of £123, is spent in salaries ; other working expenses, such as rent, printing, advertising,- stationery, office expenses, etc. may safely be put down at an additional £3OO, thus making a grand total of £1,376 16s per annum for running the municipal coach, or about 50 per cent on the gross revenue. We may mention that an engineer at £250 is one of the officers. A woman named iSarah Ann Boos living at Dunedin met her death under extraordinary circumstances yesterday morn ing. She has for the last three weeks been living with a man named Augustus Kelly* and yesterday morning at 1 o’clock they went to bed, she being under the influence of liquor. When Kelly awoke at 9 o’clock he found she was unable to speak, and he went for medical assistance, but before the arrival of a doctor she died. Dr McDonald says that as far as he can judge the deceased died from apoplexy, in all probability brought on by drunkenness. It is said to have been the result of intemperate habits. She was a widow, having a family in Manchester, England. She was 33 years of age. The European Mail says that while farmers are congratulating themselves on the fine weather that has enabled them to secure their grain crops in better condition than they have done for many years past, the spread of cattle disease comes to dash their hopes. They have been severely tried for several years now, and are hardly in a condition to bear heavy losses through the destruction of cattle. If the disease continues to extend, it will neutralise to a considerable extent the benefits to trade that were expected from the fine harvest weather.

American newspapers have discovered a new field for professional enterprise. An heiress directory has been published by a Sh Louis journalist, giving the names, ages, and incomes of the girls place, together with such descriptions of their appearance as would be likely to interest gentlemen on tho look out for wives. The Post says—There seems a growing appreciation on the part of the public of the facilities offered by the Public Trust Office for tho administration of estates. A noteworthy instance of this is to be found in the September list of estates which had been placed under tho charge of the Public Trustee for management during that month. Among those was the estate of William Clarke, of Blenheim, deceased, which is valued at £s2oo'or thereabouts, and which, by will, lias been left to the Public Trustee for administration.

Edwards, after bis defeat by “ Young Scott,” is reported to have made tho following speech : —“Ladies and gentlemen —lt is a long time since 1 bad the mortification of coming before tho public a beaten man, and I do not like it all, lean assure you. Nevertheless, I have been beaten on this occasion—horribly beaten — on my merits, and I am man enough to own it. But I should like to say a word as to tho circumstances of my defeat. In tho first place, during tho early part of tho match, I was suffering from slight indisposition ; but besides this I held Scott altogether too cheap. Ido not wish to detract for a moment from tho grand performance ho is capable of doing. Ido not believe, in fact, that there is a man south of the lino that could beat Scott for 24 hours ; but still 1 may bo allowed to say that I held him much too cheap. Nevertheless I hope you will look over my defeat, and in tho next contest this week I may hope to reverse matters. I wish to say that I always walk, and always throughout my career have walked to win, and when I am beaten, I am beaten on my merits.”

The Lnncasliiro Cotton Spinner’s Society has passed resolutions declaring that the depressed state of (lie cotton goods trade demands a reduction in both spinning and weaving departments. At a meeting of the supporters of Bradlaugh on the 16th September, it was resolved that at the next session of Parliament the House of Commons should be given no rest until Brad la ugh be admitted to Ids seat or his legal disqualification finally determined.

An occurrence which aroused the indignation of largo crowds took place in Clerkcnwell on August 22. The contractor to the Holborn Union was in the act of removing from the public mortuary five dead bodies, which were to be interred in the cemetery at Finchley ; and while passing through Fxmonth street the conveyance broke down, and the coffins containing the bodies wore precipitated into the street. A largo crowd assembled, and great excitement prevailed. In answer to the indignant remonstrances of the populace, (ho man in charge of the funeral conveyance said that the contract with the guardians was so ridiculously low that he could not afford to lake the-bodies to the cemetery one at a lime, and had to wait till four or five wore ready for burial The shells containing tho bodies were taken back to tho mortuary on the shoulders of persons who volunteered (heir services.

The Petersburger Herald , a German paper published in the Russian capital is responsible for this story 1 “ A peasant in a village of Southern Russia was accused of theft. The accused kept out of the way, but sent an advocate to plead his cause before the local judicial magnate. The lawyer employed all his eloquence to convince the judge that his client was innocent ; but his clever appeal had no effect upon the magistrate, who know the accused, and had probably condemned him before he heard the details of the case. He gave the sentence—five-and-twonty blows with a rod. The village Solomon was informed that the criminal could not be found. ‘Never mind,’ he observed, ‘Justice must have its course. As the criminal is not in our hands, we decree that liis advocate shall receive the flogging. The man who lias the face to defend such a rascal deserves to be punished.’ The lawyer in vain protested against the illegality, absurdity, and utter injustice of the monstrous sentence. The loss of his time and ins fees, ho contended, would be quite sufficient punishment. But the stiff old Hussjan Solomon was inexorable, and the lawyer was actually seized, bound, and received the twenty-five strokes, as the representative of the absent criminal.” Such a story seems almost incredible, but a journal published in the capital would scarcely dare to invent, and, so far as we know, it has not yet been contradicted. Her Majesty has given Mr Tennyson a commission to write some beautiful verses about the late John Brown, wldch she will have engraved on some of the numerous memorial crosses and monuments which are being prepared by her order. Theodore Martin will also write a biography of Brown.

The same despatch adds that the Poet Laureate’s income from his works is no longer what it was. His publishers used to guarantee him £3OOO a .year, but can do it no longer, as he has been wasting his time writing rubbish for (he stage.