NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1116, 23 November 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr McCabe is going (o settle down in Victoria.

Gift)' suitable for pottery is said to have been discovered at Kaupokonui. Bishop Redwood has returned to Wellington from Ins Australian trip. Matanaka has been scratched for all engagements at the Dunedin Autumn meeting.

Messrs C. H. Beresford and C. E. Gibson, of Normanby, have filed declarations of insolvency. The third of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s steamers—the Ruapehu—has been launched on the Clyde.

The barque Antares, Capt Lewis, has arrived at Auckland from Loudon with Judge Mailing’s body on board. The machinery for the Patea Oil and Fibre Company arrived by the Waverley yesterday. There were 30 tons of it altogether.

Mr William Bayly has been elected Mayor of New Plymouth without opposition, this being the third year he has held that office. We notice from the Star that a meeting will be held at Hawera on Saturday to make arrangements for sports on New Year’s Day, The resolution passed by the Patea County Council, dissolving the Wairoa Highway Board, appeared in the Gazette of the 16th instant.

The wheat crop in the Waikato promises to be heavy and of excellent quality. It is also in forward condition, as some will be in full ear this week. The twenty-four hours’ walking match between Edwards and Scott, which is to take place at Wellington, has been postponed till Friday and Saturday next week.

Mr Hesford, the well-known actor, who was last in Patea as a member of Mr Willmott’s Cornpan}’, has retired from the stage and gone into the publichouse business at Riverton.

The Directors of the Queen of Beauty mine, Makara, have decided upon having a ton of stuff from the claim tested at a berdan fitted up at one of the Wellington foundries.

It is proposed to open the tomb of Shakespeare in order to ascertain whether the MSS. of his plays were buried with him, and also to measure the bones, in order to settle the point whether the bard was tall or short.

Mr R. A. Adams notifies to Waverley people that he intends holding a great sale of drapery in Skelly’s store for one month. The goods were purchased in the estate of J. S. Adams, Hawera, and are to he offered at half cost. TJie barque India, which was wrecked at Auckland (he other day, was hound for Rockhampton, Queensland, and had over 115,000 ft of timber on board, the greater portion of which was intended specially for the construction of tallow vats for the Rockhampton Meat Preserving Company.

Several Hawera fanners who went to the Auckland show have returned. They complain that business is very dull, and though the weather in this district may have been bad, they say it could noc have been worse than what has been experienced in the north, where the rain has been excessive.— Star. American papers report (he death o£ the fattest woman in the warkl,” Fanny Conley a member and one of the special curiosities of Nathan’s Cleveland Circus. She was found doarh lying on her face, In the sleeping wag. ,r ip of the company, and the presumpti n was that she was unable to turn in her bed wi hout assistance, and was so suffocated. Him weighed 1971b, Mr Cowern will have a busy time of it to-morrow afternoon. At 1 o’clock he will offer the whole of Mr Sherwood’s furniture for sale, and after that has been disposed of, the plant upon the works will be submitted. There is a large variety of useful articles about the pottery which no doubt will find ready purchasers. The whole of the property will also be offered for sale, upon terms to be mentioned at time of auction. The particulars of these sales are advertised elsewhere.

A Chamber of •Commerce has been established at Nelson. Messrs Geo. Fisher and W. Hutchison have been nominated for the mayoralty of Wellington, Applications have been received for 21,612 feet of space at the. forthcoming Industrial Exhibition at Christchurch..

; Ten enthusiastic “ Gladstone ” cricketers turned out for practice at five o’clock this morning, The'scenc of their operations was Storey’s paddock. Glass is beginning to take the place of wood and iron in making railroad bridges in England. The inventor makes blocks of glass, .which he hardens by a special process. In solidity it is said they leave nothing to be desirfed. The experiments already made have given, surprising results, and' the cost is below that of bridges of wood or iron. Moreover, the glass can not bo injured by insects like wood, nor rusted like iron. ' A Cprrespondcht of a Home paper suggests the oiling of the Straits of Dover. He writes: —“A passage a mile broad would cod roughly £250, or, if done daily, £75,000 a year. Perhaps the oiling would not have to be done daily, as probably after a few weeks the sea would bo thoroughly becalmed ; but even if it should cost that sum, it would not exceed the endless sums that arc now spent in quackeries by intending passengers and advertising the said quackeries, or the inestimable Dims which passengers would give when half-way across.”

Members of the Patea Cricket Club are requested to turn out to-morrow for the purpose of.-practice-prior to the New Plymouth match. which takes place on the 12th December. 15y advertisement members will sec that overdue subscriptions must be paid al once, or they will not be considered by the Match Committee when they are selecting the (cam. Apart from this the Club arc in debt, and that alone should prompt members to pay up. Mcs c rs Homer, G. W. Gower, H. llamcrton.„and. Soul 110,7 were elected members of flic Chib last night. The same rule re ' subscriptions will apply to new members also. '

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Waverley, School Committee was held 011 Wednesday, 21-d inst. Present—Messrs Thurston, McDonald, Davis, Dickie and Bridge (chairman) The Chairman reported that he had made enquiries, and that thereyyas no reserve for planting in the Belt paddock. Unsolved, “That the following accounts be passed for payment ; Edward--, LI 7s ; G. Taylor, Iss ; Mrs Rolfe, L 3 15s. After some discussion the committee resolved that they would give no prizes this year. The meeting then adjourned. Speaking of the topographical uses of the balloon.-,Mr Simmons, the aeronaut, in connection with his late voyage across the English Channel, thus writes ‘- Not only the land lay below us like a map, but the sea is clearly seen in every direction. Every- channel ami shoal is sharply' marked and forms a fibrous network. By the aid of instantaneous photographs there would be n,o- end to the increase of out knowledge of the-sea- through balloons, or charts of greater exactness than any yet existing could bo made of the bottom of (lie sen, at least of shoals shallow enough to offer danger to sailing craft.”

Speaking'" of the recent Christchurch races the Canterbury Times says:—Allowing a floating capital of £15,000 for the folalisators and sweeps on the course for the three days’ racing, putting the expenses of the 20,000 visitors to the show at £SOOO, calculating £4,000 for steam and other fares for show and races, assuming that £9,0.00 went in refreshment, and throwing in £7,000 netted by the Jockey Club, wejiave the nice total of £40,000 for a week’s.amusement —independent of the bookmakers’ transactions or the milliners’ bills.' We have not taken count of the many unlawful games allowed on the course. Of them nobody knows why they were allowed under the noses of the police, or what was the amount of their certainly large gains." The Victoria Baring Club have expended up to date no less a sum than £150,000 on their course and accommodation for the public, and they con’emplate further improvements to the tune of £80,0.0. The Flcmington course, with its Datura! advantages, especial!}' the hill (a natural grand stand,. capable of giving many scores of thousands of people a fine view of the racing) is "already considered by many the brslVacccmirse in the world; under the influence of £BO,OOO mure it ought to he a perfect paradise. The Club are bound by law to spend all their surplus receipts on the course or in giving prizes. When they have spent all they can on the ground they intend, so if is said by n Melbourne paper, to make their stakes the richest in the world. But this will bo some time yet. The thunderstorm which caused the loss of life in Southland was experienced in the Tiinaru. neighbourhood also. The Herald says: "The storm passed along the hills at the- hack of Tirnaru, and it is stated several trees on a plantation close to Mount Horrible were shattered by lightning. -The electric fluid did con-

siderable damage to the telegraph line near Bankside, north of the Rakaia. It there struck and split into splinters no less than 10 telegraph poles, five out of the six wires on them being thrown to the ground. Communication was interrupted on the line but for a short time only, the telegraph linemen soon erecting temporary poles. It was reported in town last evening that a child had been killed by lightning on the plains, but the rumour was not corifirned.” Writing by last mail from London to a friend in O.airnirn, Mr John Reid, who has chartered the Delhi s.s. to load frozen meat at that'/'port, says : I have had. a good deal to,do with Bell, Coleman, and Co. in this matter of the Delhi, and I am sure they would grant very liberal terms if we got machinery from them, but it is possible that * new patent will soon be brought out by M r Lark-worthy anti some other capitalists, which, they sa}', will completely eclipse all the present methods of refrigi rating. I had a long talk with Mr Lark worthy about it some time since, and he spoke jery confidently. If there is likely to be anything if) it, it might be advisable to wait a little until the patent has had a thoroughly practical test. The machine is nov being made on a large scale, the'modal having worked most satisfactorily. Statisticians have pronounced the United Stales to-bo not only potentially, but actually, richer than the United Kingdom. Counting the bouses, furniture, manufactures, railways, shipping, bullion, lands, cattle, crops, investments, and roads, it is estimated that (here is a grand total in the United • States of £10,000,000,000, Great Britain is credited with something less than £8,000,000,000. or nearly £2,000,000,000 less than in i!tc United States. Hie wealth per inhabitant in Great Britain is estimated at £232, and in the United States at £99. With regard to the remuneration of labour, assuming the produce of labcur to be 100, in Great Britain 56 parts go to the labourer, 21 to capital, and 23 to Government, In France, 41 parts go to labour, 3G to capital, and 23 Vo Government. In the United States 72 parts go to labour, 23 to capital, and fjve J:o government.

The Gear Meal Preserving Company have sent a circular to the West Coast Company offering storage for frozen meat in their new hu'k in Wellington Harbour. No doubt the local company will come to some satisfactory arrangement with the Gear company who have throughout shown a most friendly disposition to Patea, which we are glad to think will result in mutual profit. Wo should like to see the directors of the local company taking some steps to carry out the objects for which they were appointed. The time is going on and not much appears to have been done yet.

It is with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret that we have to announce the approaching departure of Mr H. C. Tcnhent, the popular manager of the Bank of New South Wales here. We say pleasure, because we are glad to state teat Mr Torment lias received promotion to the management of the Bank of New South Wales in Wellington ; and we say regret, because bis presence here will be much missed. He lias been among the foremost in every movement—social or public—in the place, and to his energy we owe (ho establishment of many of our local institutions. As Mr Tennent does not leave for a few weeks yet, we shall have another opportunity of saying “ good-bye.” In the Lyttelton Timas of yesterday a correspondent signing himself Q.E.D. suggests a combination of shippers of meat throughout the colony to form an agency' company, to undertake the distribution of meat throughout the United Kingdom, with a capital of £250,000 in £5 shares, the first issue of 10,000 shares to be distributed throughout the colony as follows : —Christchurch, 2001 ; Dunedin, 2000 ; Wellington, 1500 ; Auckland, 1500 ; Nelson, Napier, Invercargill, O.imaru, Timaru, and Wanganui, 500 each. The proposal is for the establishment of a large dep6 s in London, with retail depots throughout London and the large towns in the United Kingdom. Shippers of meat are invited to communicate with ‘‘Q.E.D ,” Lyttelton, if disposed to support the proposed Company. Another favourite illusion (says the Pali Mall Gazette) has received its death blow. Arctic exploration, even when most successful, is but a gathering of Dead Sea apples. The No'th wqst passage is discovered only in order to demonstrate its uselessness, the myth of an open Polar Sea, with a circumpolar continent inhabited by happy men who live behind the north wind, has vanished into thin air; and now Professor Nordensjold announces that Ins successful expedition into the interior of Greenland finally dissipates the hope ho lias so long entertained of discovering oases of fertile land behind the ice bolt on the coast. “ Over the whole island there is ice.” Greenland is no green land as the explorer had hoped to find it, but in very truth a desolate wilderness of eternal ice. It. must have been a melancholy task for the famous traveller to destroy bis own hypothesis, and instead of achieving one of the triumphs of scientific prediction, to register his own mistake, but that is the fate, more or less, of all Arctic explorers. Even the North Pole, when it is reached at last, will probably add but one more item to the long list of the disappointments which have awaited all travellers in the frozen seas.

The late Professor Denton writing from New Guinea to a friend in Sydney, gives the following opinion upon Australian habits : —I found your cities larger, grander, and in many-respects better than I had anticipated ; your people were cultured and more readily disposed to hear unpopular truths than I had any reason to expect ; your public gardens, schools of art, and public libraries, are incomparably superior to those in America in cities of equal size, and give promise of a glorious future for a country that in less than a hundred years will probably consist of a number of flourishing United States, occupied by more than fifty million English speaking people. There are, however, many dark features in your country, to which justice compels me to refer. You are the moat drunken people that I have seen since I left the colliery districts of England, forty-five years ago. I saw inure drunken men and women in Sydney and Melbourne within a month than I had previously seen in the United States for I think fully thirty years. At the same time I had more invitations to drink intoxicating drinks in private than 1 had previously received for, I think, a lifetime. lam told that as a people yon are improving in this respect, and I think this is the case ; but drunkenness will curse you just as long as it is fashionable to take intoxicating drinks at private tables.