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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 11, 14 December 1872, Page 2

t Grass Seed.—The season for grass cutting and seed harvest has opened upon us with a full blaze of sunshine, this being the first J settled summer weather we have yet had. Mr. Mullooly and Mr. Trimmer, each with about 40 natives, have recently arrived from Tologa Bay, to commence operations on our bountiful plains. The weather during the close months has been such as to induce the belief that the crops will yield abundantly, and we trust the supply of eed this year will maintain it celebrity for inquiry abroad, as an item of export.

Nothing further has been heard of the unfortunate sailor Michael Brickley, who went out to sea in the pilot boatfon Wednesday night . Somehopes were entertained Pthat the Rangatira (which arrived from the North last night) might come across him in the Bay, but the chance was a very slight one; and as might have been supposed, he was not seen by those on board. Much indignation is felt at the heart less neglect on the part of the authorities, which has left a fellow-creature to perish alone, it may be in sight of land, in an open boat —without making any effort to save him. The misery of such a position, drifting helplessly beneath a summer sun, without a drop of water, searching vainly for the help which may never come, can only be appreciated by those who have gone through it. A Government official or a Maori chief would not have been so abandoned. But Michael Brickley is only an English, sailor. — Haicke's Bey Times.

Billiards. —Those who really enjoy this noble and scientific game will rejoice at the speculative energy recently displayed by our enterprising fellow-townsmen Mr. Alexander Blair. Daring the last two months, Builders, Carpenters, Plumbers and Glaziers, Paperhangers, Painters, Decorators, and workmen, have been actively employed in and about the Argyll Hotel, to the positive bewilderment of those who are not supposed to know sufficient of their neighbour's business as to be able to determine what he could, would, should or ought to do in the management of his own affairs. Anything in the shape of improvements, and especially where they combine elegance and comfort with utility, must always be a source of gratification to the settlers of a young community, who are not only glad to see their town extended, but take a positive interest in the perambulating tendencies of many of our tenements that have not yet made their piles, and watch with interest their progress from one part of the town to the other. A spacious dining room, and commercial parlor on the basement, with an addition of some half dozen bedrooms above, will add much to the comfort of hotel visitors and travellers, while billiardists can have the luxury of a spacious and comfortable billiard-room, in a semi-detached building, communicated with from the hotel by a private passage. The new table, by Alcock, with paraphernalia complete, under the superintendence of an experienced manager, was opened for play on Tuesday evening. We congratulate the spirited proprietor on the new undertaking which, in keeping pace with the times, places the Argyll Hotel in a position replete with every convenience and comfort. We regret to hear that an accident occurred in Mr. Blair’s new billiard room on Tuesday night. It appears that after the lights had been ext inguished, one of the lamps over the table came down with a crash, to the utter astonishment of those remaining in the room, the covering cloth had only just been put on the table for the night, and the marker about to retire. The assistance which was luckily at hand, helped to save the beautiful new cloth, in a great measure, which had only been put on during the day, but the kerosine from the bursted lamp, and the broken fragments of glass, have shorn it of its pristine newness. An examination showed that the lamp had been defective, and, although the damage is great, it is as well it did not fall while the lights were in or a conflagration might have resulted. A guarantee having been given to Mr. Blair, the loss, we understand, will not full on him; play has, in the meantime, been resumed with vigour. The new Stamp Act came into operation on the Ist December. All cheques now require merely a penny stamp, and stamps of similar value will have to be placed on all receipts over £2. Mr. Worgan, in defending himself before the Commission at Wanganui, referred to his career in Hawke’s Bay, which he said was “ a warrant as to his ability and prbbity.”

The Crown Prosecutor has received instructions to proceed criminally against Captain Bain, late master of the barque City of Newcastle.— Hawlce's Bay Times.