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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 926, 16 March 1881, Page 4

Constable Villers, on Saturday last, arrested two Native youths on a charge of stealing two sheep, the property of Mr, W. S. Greene. They will be on view at the Court on Saturday next. A rough and tumble fight occurred in Gladstone Road, yesterday morning, between an European and a Maori. At the start the latter had all the best of it, but when the white man commenced to bustle about, the aboriginal skedaddled. It is stated that a dwarf measuring only two feet three inches in height has arrived in Gisborne and will exhibit himself in aid of the Roman Catholic Church funds to-morrow evening. He is said to be a native of Bengal and reputed to be very wealthy. The practising at the butts in anticipation of the rifle contest between the honorary and the working members of the J Battery corps, is being well sustained. At present the former are the favorites, having made some really good shooting, but the others seem to be detetmined to make a desperate struggle.

An act of brutal cruelty was committed on Sunday afternoon, by a Native on the other side of the Turanganui River. He caught one of Mr. Doull’s sheep by the leg, and deliberately placing his knee upon the limb, broke it. He is known, and we are informed it is intended to bring him promptly to justice. The Thornton Dot Troupe have most kindly volunteered to give a benefit in aid of the widow of the late Mr. W. H. Robinson, and have selected an excellent programme, which they will be enabled to carry out with the aid of some of our leading amateurs. They deserve a bumper house for their generous offer.

A fisherman informs us that on Monday morning, when coming in over the bar, he saw a huge shark, fully eight feet long, moving slowly about. Bathers should be cautious not to venture into the water at the sandspit of the Waikanae ; but we are informed there is no danger whatever along the beach, where the surf is breaking. Mr. William Adair has presented the Roman Catholic Church with a very handsome silver cross, which we understand will be used as an adornament for the altar’ The real beauty of the gift is in its simplicity of design. It is now on view in Mr. M. G. Nasmith’s window and has been during the last few days a great attraction. Mr. Adair, although not a member of the Roman Catholic Church, has shown a liberality of feeling, which in days to come, will no doubt, be rewarded.

By lan advertisement in this issue it wifi be seen that the Union Bank of Australia opened, on the Ist of March instant, a branch of that institution at Palmerston North in Manawatu County. The Hawke's Say Herald says that several prominent members of the Union Rowing Club, feeling dissatisfied with the defeat of their representative crew at the Regatta, state that they are willing tp back the same crew to row the winners for £5O a-side. We are informed that a formal challenge is to be sent to-dav.

A rutnour has been afloat in town to-day that Capt. Gudgeon will shortly return to the Bay to carry on the double duties of Resident Magistrate and Collector of Customs. This may or may not be true, but the amalgamation of the two offices would be, in our opinion, almost an impossibility ; but even could it be done, we venture to assert the work could not be carried on as at present. Mr. J. W. Jolifison’s long pending land negotiations are, at length brought to a close; and, we learn, on mutually satisfactory terms. Mr. Johnson retains 11,000 acres of Maraetaha, and 383 acres of Te Kuri, for which he can obtain a land transfer title as soon as he pleases. He gives up, in exchange, and for other considerations, to the Native Trustees 4,950 acres of Pakowhai, and 3000 acres of Te Kopua. We regretted to see the very small attendance at McFarlane’s Hall, on Saturday evening last, when the Thornton Dot Company gave a really good entertainment. The performance commenced with “The Soldier of Fortune,” and was followed by a musical interlude. The concluding piece was “ Two to One.” Notwithstanding the paucity of attendance, everything was faithfully gone through, and Mr. Thornton and his clever family deserve praise for the manner in which they carried out their engagements with the public, in the face of most disencouraging circumstances.

Mr. M. G. Nasmith has imported some magnificently finished “ luminous dial ” watches from the celebrated establishment of Messrs. Russell and Sons, of London. To the traveller, or in fact anyone who has occasion to be abroad at night, one of these is invaluable, as no matter how dark the night, he can, without the aid of a light of any sort, see distinctly the time indicated by the hands. Mr. Nasmith also announces that he has received a new and large assortment of silver bijouterie, and invites inspection.

The Roman Catholic Church Gift Auction and Conversazione promises to be highly successful. Donations are being handed in from all sides, and ladies are actively engaged in procuring the necessities requisite for their respective tables. A wonderful freak of nature in the shape of a dwarf only two feet three inches in height, has volunteered to exhibit himself, and this in itself should prove a great draw. But with so many attractions there cannot fail to be a crowded hall. By the way, a very spicy newspaper is to be published in connection with the fete, styled the Mosquito. It is said that some stinging remarks are already in print.

Messrs. Seed and Batkin, appointed to condense, if not improve the efficiency of the Government department in this place, left by the|Kiwi on Monday, for the South. We fancy all they would find opportunity to condense here would not be much. We honestly believe that these official swindles, and humbugging attempts to economise, cost as much as any saving they may effect; that they are a cheap means of Ministers gaining a spurious popularity; and are the devices of certain departmental Satans to let their officers have periodical trips to improve their health at the public expense. The Wairoa correspondent of the Hawke's Say Herald thus desports himself :—I am always pleased when it falls to my happy lot to chronicle improvements in our townships and works of public utility. The time-honored log under the willow trees in front of the Clyde Hotel, on which log so many generations of Wairoa “ hishingtons ” have sat and pondered on their latter ends, has been replaced by a new one. A good many trouserseats will have to be worn out, ’ere the new log attains the high degree of polish achieved by its predecessor.—l am sorry to say that the damage done to the hop grounds is larger than lat first anticipated. The high winds blew down a large number of vines, and will most materially affect the crop. Hop picking has already commenced, but owing to the extremely variable weather much progress has not been made.