The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1106, 31 October 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1883. NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Secretary of the A. and P. Association invites tenders for publican’s booth and refreshment stall.

The Public Trustee was here yesterday on his periodical tour, consulting with the agent and other business of the district. He left this morning early for Waverley en route to Wellington. A meeting of the creditors of Mr G. F. Sherwood was held yesterday, at which it was unanimously resolved to recommend the debtor for immediate discharge. A peculiar affair cropped up at the meeting. The debtor stated tiiat one of the causes of his filing was pressure by the Bank of New Zealand. The Bank had proceeded against him for an amount of £225 of which he paid £75, the Bank agreeing to wait four months for the balance. Those four months were now about up, and in bis statement of assets and liabilities lie had set down the Bank as a creditor for £l5O. Mr Christie had since the filing drawn his attention to this item, and had said it was incorrect, the Bank having no claim whatever against the estate, A letter to the same effect from Mr Christie was also read.

Tho Patea Oil ami Fibre Company’s plant arrived at Lyttelton a few days ago by the Westmeath. Mr 11. J. Barclay, who succeeded Mr W. L. Dean for a few days as clerk of tho Court, has been appointed a similar position at Havelock.

From to-morrow the jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate in Patea district will be extended to sums not exceeding £IOO. Mr F. R. Jackson has two sales at Kakaramea on Friday. In addition to the usual sale of stock, he will offer sections 3, 4, and 5, M.mntahi, at present occupied by Mr D. McGregor. The land contains about 30 acres.

Wo have received from the Government printer a copy of the book upon dairy and cheese factories, issued by the Govern ment. The meat-freezing business seems to he in active progress all over the colony. The Wellington Company will send 5000 carcasses by the lonic, which will sail from there about November 11. The Timaru company has disposed of 3220 shares, and it is expected 4000 will be applied for. The committee appointed to obtain suitable premises will shortly report to the shareholders.

Lady Florence is included in the acceptors for the Waverlcy guineas.

The proposal that two of the directors of the Meat Freezing Company should visit the Southern works, was moved by Mr McLean, not by Mr Livingstone.

For the convenience of settlors at Waverley, a few entry forms for. the forthcoming A. and P. Show have been forwarded to Mr Fookcs, and may be obtained at his office. The special prize list, so far as at present contributed to, appears in an ithor part of the paper. Messrs Nolan, Tonks, and Co., sell stock at Manaia to-morrow. Entries arc very numerous, and a good sale is anticipated.

Mr W, Palmer has taken (he Wavcrlcy Town Butchery, ami notifies that he intends to keep nothing but tlie best of meat. At Havelock, on Monday, a miner named Finlay MeMillny was killed by a tree falling on his whare, which wascompletely demolished. From the position of the unfortunate man it is conjectured that he was sitting in his bunk putting on his boots at the time the tree fell. While playing at Tapanni at snapdragon six children were severely burnt. Three of them are now in a dangerous state. A man’s body, not yet identified, was found in the river Heathcote near Christchurch yesterday.

A requisition is being signed, iisking M. F. M.. Chapman to convene a meeting at Hahotu, for the purpose of taking steps towards getting a school.

Archdeacon Slock, of Wellington, has been asked by Mr Stone, the Director of the Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford, to forward his observations and work in connection with the late transit of Venus.

On the arrival of the express train at Palmerston from Dunedin on Thursday morning, it was discovered that one of the passengers had died on the way up. The deceased was the daughter (aged 10 years) of two of the passengers by the ship Nelson, named Kinney, and was with her parents on their way to join their friends at Hyde. She had been ailing in Dunedin for some days previously, but was considered by the medical man who attended her here as able to stand the fatigue of the journey. It is expected his Excellency the Governor will return to Wellington towards the end of the week.

It lias been arranged lo celebrate Luther’ B fourth centenary in Dunedin.

Edwards has been challenged by O’Connor, of Timaru, to walk one to twenty-five miles for £SO. The Agent-general under date of London, 27th instant, wires the departure of the ship Waitangi, for Lyttelton, with 304 Government immigrants, and the ship Victory, for Port Chalmers, with a complement of 330. The body of George Reardon, who was drowned at Napier was found on Monday. At the inquest the jury strongly condemned the construction of the boat, and wished to have it destroyed, but the Coroner said ho had no power to make such an order.

On Saturday, an old man was arrested by the police in Wellington helplessly drunk. On being searched, he was found to have £lO9 in Bank notes.

Tlio Star reports that on Friday Mr F. R. Jackson sold Mr Wallace’s farm, Whakaraara, about 300 acres, to Mr Smail, who has for some time been agent at Patea for Messrs York and Cornfoot. 1 he price was £lO 5s per acre.

An Auckland gentleman has in his possession a pair of paste buckles formerly owned by the celebrated James Me Kay, the personage from whom Sir Walter Scott drew his inimitable character, Bailie Niccol Jarvie. Ihe buckles were worn by McKay on the occasion of his presentation to George 111.

A lunatic prisoner at the Napier Police Court on Monday suddenly produced a knife, which ho laid iu front of the dock. The Resident Magistrate strongly condemned the police for inefficient search. The man was violent in confinement, and attacked a warder with a billet of wood, but fortunately seemed to have forgotten the possesion of the knife.

The London correspondent ot a contemporary writes :—“ Even the present Duke of Wellington has acquiesced in the fiat of the Chief Commissioner of Works that the statue of the Iron Duke, in London, should be broken up and find its way to the melting pot. The Chief Commissioner is giving effect to the unanimous wish of the Committee appointed to decide what should be done with the statue. Nevcrlhlesa, 1 society’ is divided on the subject ; and the Duke of Buccleueh and others make the realistic character of tlio statue a reason for its preservation. It ia no doubt eminently realistic, especially the cocked hat and cloak, but there is a total absence of that dignity of posture and that air of command which it is usual to associate with a great wanior. Her Majesty was at first anxioUs to retain the statue, but I believe that she is now in favour of its supersession by a nobler memorial of the groat Duke.”

Earnest Owen, whoso parents reside at Auckland, met with a distressing accident at Lyttelton yesterday. Ho is an apprentice on board'the Waikato, and somehow he fell down the hold of the vessel and fractured his skull besides damaging an eye terribly. He is expected to recover.. The Wavorley left Wellington for Picton yesterday afternoon. Siie sailed from Picton at midnight, and arrnvod at Foxton this morning, but is unable to get out owing to the heavy sea. If she gets out to-night, she will leave for' Nelson and Wellington's advertised.

The steamer Grafton, which left Wellington yesterday for Nelson and the West Coast, met with an accident. When between Terawhiti and The Brothers the crank shaft of the starboard engine broke. She worked the port engine, and put back to harbour for repairs, which will occupy a day or two.

A man was found dead.in the Waitara river on Monday. At the inquest yester" clay it was shown that he had arrived from Hawera about a fortnight ago but his name was not known. Deceased was about 5 feet 8 inches in height, medium build, .grey’hair and moustache, and shaved clean on (he chin. Ho had been working for Mr James Bailey on the Waimate Plains. An open verdict was given.

The Education Board are going to advertise for ft new inspectoral a salary of £SOO per annum. Mr J. B. Imrie met with a painful accident at the Railway station this afternoon. .He was coupling the engine of the afternoon train from the North when his loft hand got jammed between the buffers and badly-crushed. He was taken up to the Australasian Hotel and attended to by Dr Keating. Patea is likely, someday, to be famous for something besides bad debts and bankruptcies. M. P. Gillard, a Frenchman, from the Manchester block, has taken up one of the up-river sections, where he has settled with his family. His intention is to plant a vineyard and by-and-ly to enter upon wine manufacture. Soil and climate are, in his opinion, highly favourable to the successful culture of the vine. The Education Board met at Wanganui yesterday. A-' letter was read from settlers in the Momohaki District, asking that a school district bo proclaimed and school built, or that a subsidy be granted in the case of children attending a private school. —Resolved, That capitation be granted, subject to the regulations being complied .with. Letters from Woodville and Waverley asking for increased school accomodation were held over. An application from the latter place to retain Miss Jordan’s services till after Christmas was agreed to. At the inquest on the body of the child Whitcly, who lecenlly died at Dunedin, the evidence showed that the mother and, father had both been drunk on Sunday The death of the child had been caused by suffocation either through the mother over laying the child or.in some way heaping the clothes over it. A verdict of manslaughter was returned against the mother, and the father was severely reprimanded by the Coroner and jury. A serious accident occurred on Monday at Portobello, a suburb of Dunedin, when a bull attacked a boy named Francis. The lad’s mother very courageously came to his assistance, and succeeded in diverting the animal’s attention from him, but unfortunately towards herself. The result was that two of her ribs were broken and two teeth knocked out by the brute.

There'are 200 of the unemployed at work on the Otago central railway. Mr J. E. Brown, M.H.R.,Jrom Canterbury, who has accompanied Major Atkinson to New Plymouth, is delighted with the country between Wanganui and Hawera, and quite admits that he has underrated the importance of the West Coast of the North Island.

The death is announced of Captain Mayne Eeid, the well-known novelist, aged 65.

Messrs Hallenstein Bros, proprietors of the New Zealand Clothing Factory at Dunedin, employ 400 hands, who are served with tea for lunch every day at the expense of the firm..

The abutment of the Maumahangi bridge, on the Opunake side, gave way on Sunday morning. The timber was literally rotten, and it is fortunate that no serious accident occurred. The Courier says that the old bridges require overhauling.

The Taranaki Road Boards are moving to abolish the County Council.