Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Saturday, March 11, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1047, 11 March 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Saturday, March 11, 1882.

Throughout the colony the vital question exercising the minds of the many who dwell, or have their business establishments in cities, is, without a doubt, that of water supply. Not any of the leading towns seem to have a good and sufficient supply of that greatest necessary to life and cleanliness, and we need hardly add, to the security of property. From Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and other towns, we hear the oft repeated cry, “ We are short of water.” Yet these cries come from towns with large reservoirs emptying themselves through the main arteries into the smaller veins, and doing something, at any rate, towards the safety and security of life and property. In most of the colonial towns the arterial system of water conduct enables the fire brigades to act in cases of conflagration with good effect, but even in those towns complaints arise on all sides that the water supply is inefficient. To obtain a water supply may be a comparatively easy matter; but to obtain a good, and thoroughly sufficient, supply, is a matter which here, as in other places, requires mature and experienced judgment. In the Cape colony, where the question of water supply is equally important as far as the towns are concerned, and infinitely more so as regards the country interests, the Government wisely decided to obtain the services of a practical hydraulic engineer at a large salary, thus securing an engineer of repute ; an M.A. and honors man of the Oxford University. Borough or County Councils, requiring his services, obtained them by requisitioning the Government to that effect, and paying fees, which, small in themselves, and lightly burdensome upon ratepayers, are amply sufficient to recoup the cost of the employment of the hydraulic engineer and his small, though necessary, staff. To places situated as Gisborne is, the services of such an officer would bo invaluable. Comfort, reason, and duty alike combine to enforce upon the minds of the inhabitants the vital necessity of a good and efficient water system. It is no use bringing in a supply that will serve only for little boys to fill their squirts with. We want a supply that shall enable at least five hydrants to be acting full steam on one block simultaneously with a hardly perceptible decrease of power. We want drains constantly flushed—water, in fact, in abundance for every purpose. It is certain that the services of a hydraulic engineer such as we have just referred to would have helped us in a great measure towards the accomplishment of this object with the least possible expense. As it is, it may be months before a level is taken or anything done towards the actual starting of the work. We trust that when Parliament meets the appointment of a consulting hj-draulic engineer will be one of the first and most firmly pressed motions laid before it. Gisborne derives none of the advantages from railway or •harbour expenditure which has been lavished with such open-handed prodigality in other places. Surely it has a right to make itself heard in a matter that is calculated to benefit every place within the Colony equally with itself. Water Gisborne wants, and water it must have. In towns where the majority of the buildings are of wood, and that wood in many instances almost tinder, it becomes almost a choice of fire or water. Experience has given us a lesson as to what the power of fire is, and points our danger out to us most unmistakably. An old wooden building, a drunken man, and a match are sufficient to destroy many thousands of pounds' worth of property, and very possibly-do much injury to life and limb. Without a water supply the Fire Brigade can only serve as a Salvage Corps. Water is the soul of fireextinguishing, and the necessity of its instant and thoroughly sufficient supply becomes more and more apparent to us inhabitants of Gisborne every day of our lives. Not as regards fire alone, even; we may go further, and say as regards health and life. With fire on the one hand, and disease and death on the other, surely our clamor for water, the instantaneous and only remedy, is neither unreasonable or uncalled for. i

A first meeting of the Tologa Bay Licensing Commissioners under the new Licensing Act, the particulars of which will appear in our next issue, was held at the Court-house, Tologa Bay, yesterday. We are requested by Mr. M. H. Smith to draw attention to certain alterations and additions to the programme issued by the Pakirikiri Racing Club. The alterations are judicious and will suit the sporting public.

Mr. W. W. Carlile, well known in Gisborne and formerly one of the proprietors of the Hawke’s Bay Herald, is now in Napier on a visit. It is his intention to settle again in New Zealand, after an absence of nearly five years.

We learn that Cary’s Juvenile “ Pirates of Penzance Troupe has returned to Wellington from Wanganui, after a moderately successful tour of the principal towns and settlements along the East and West Coasts of the North Island.

We understand that measles in a mild form had made its appearance on board the R.M.S. Australia prior to her arrival in Auckland. Hence the six hours’ detention of the Arawata, after the arrival of the mail steamer, before leoving the wharf on her southward voyage.

At a meeting of the Waste Lands Board held recently in Auckland, it was agreed that a b’oek of land at Motu, Poverty Bay District, should be offered for sale on immediate payments, and 2000 acres in the Pukiri block on deferred payments, os soon as the same is surveyed.

Messrs. Carlaw Smith and Co., arc going to sell to day, at their mart, at 11.30 a.m., the gates, booths, and other privileges for the races to be held on Friday next, under the auspices of the Pakirikiri Jockey Club, after which they announce a sale of clocks, tea, 3 tons of splendid potatoes, and sundries ; also, at 2 p.m., at Stevenson’s stables, horses, including the well-known horse “ Charlie.” “ Crown sweeps ” were freely indulged in by Dunedin ladies at the recent races there, and the police were too gallant to interfere, or, as the titar puts it, possibly they were awed by the threat of the wife of one of the leading*citizens that, if they were to be summoned, she would go round the course and collect shilling subscriptions with which to pay the possible fine and costs. The name of old Traducer is so intimately connected with the annals of sport in Canterbury, and indeed throughout New Zealand, that any memento of the grand horse is regarded with interest. The Globe mentions that Messrs. Coates and Co., of Christchurch, have just completed a very handsome inkstand composed of one of the hoofs of the old horse, prettily mounted in silver. The following tenders were received by Mr W. P. Finneran, Architect, on Wednesday last, for the alterations and additions to the Masonic Hall, Gisborne : — J. Somervell ... ... ... £1,200 Harries & Lincoln ... ... £1,025 C. D. Berry £999 The latter tender being the lowest was accepted, and the building will be pushed on without further delay. The R.M.S. Australia, with the London mails from San Francisco, of the 26th January, arrived in Auckland at 5 p.m., on Thursday evening. She left San Francisco five days’ late, from what cause we are, as yet, unaware. The Arawata, which had been detained in Auckland for the conveyance of the mails for Gisborne, and Southern Ports, is telegraphed as having left Auckland at 11 p.m., on Thursday night. She may, therefore, be expected here at a very early hour this morning. Mr W. P. Finneran, architect, of Childers* street, calls by advertisement in another column for tenders for the erection of a six-teen-roomed dwelling house for Mr T. E. Read Bloomfield. The time of closing tenders having been extended to the 27th inst. Also for the erection of a 7-roomed dwelling house, the plans and specifications of which may be seen at his office. Tenders for this building will close at 12 o’clock on Saturday the 18th inst.

The Commissioners for the adjustment of the Naval and Military and Local Forces’ land claims notify elsewhere that all claims for grants of, or remission money in the purchase of land, must be forwarded to the officers commanding the Militia and Volunteers of the Provincial District in which such claimants are resident, on or before the 31st of March next, together with certain requisite information concerning the respective ranks, servitude, &c., of applicants, the particulars of which may be scon on reference to our advertising columns. On Thursday, March 9th, nt noon, the first meeting of the Licensing Committee for the Gisborne District was held at the R.M.’s Court. Messrs E. K. Brown, IT. Lewis, M. J. Gannon, S. Stevenson, W. Clarke, and Mr G. L. Greenwood, Clerk to the Committee, being present. Mr E. K. Brown was elected Chairman for the ensuing year by ballot. The only business before the Court was the transfer of license of the Gisborne Hotel from Mr William Jennings to Mr A. Allanach, which, after some little discussion, was granted. The police reports were read, and the meeting then adjourned. The Bay of Plenty Times says : —ln view of the late fire that has occurred at Gisborne, we hear that premiums payable on risks in country towns are likely to be increased by Insurance Offices doing business in the chief towns in the Colony. In fact wo hear that several of the foreign Companies have been so severely hit as to have decided on withdrawing from all country business. This will be a bat! job for such places as Tauranga, as it simply places them at the mercy of the local Insurance Companies. The only way to counteract, this is to get in a good and plentiful supply of wafer, and so reduce the risk of large or extensive conflagrations taking place here. When Insurance Companies look askance at taking fire risks in a township it is high time such a place began to seriously consider its position. If the risk is avoided by a Company making a business of taking such risks it behoves the community to consider the cause of such action.

Surely it is hard upon the Gisborne Volunteer Artillery Corps that they should not have a gun for their own exclusive use. It seems rather derogatory to have to borrow a gun at anj’ time that firing practice becomes necessary. The only gun they can really claim as their own is an old brass 21-pounder howitzer of 12cwt. 3qrs., such as used to be issued for the armament of launches belonging to ships in 11. M. Navy. For their late practice firing and for the firing for the Government prizes they are indebted to the Napier Volunteers for the use of their gun, an Armstrong 6-pounder field gun, which, however, they cannot retain much longer as it will be needed by its owners for their own work. The Defence Minister should be urged to grant the issue of a like gun for the use of the Gisborne Volunteers. It seems rather an anomaly that a Corps of Artillery men should not be provided with a gun, and stranger still that the Government, without waiting to be asked, should not have caused the issue of one. When men are, at some inconvenience to themselves, endeavoring to qualify themselves as gunners in order tliat they may be ready if called upon by the Government, for actual work in the defence of the Colony, it. seems only right that that Government should strain not one point only, but many, to assist in furthering their object.

In consequence of the inclemency of the weather on Wednesday, the Ist instant, the Rev. E. Williams has postponed the service which should have been performed then, in Patutahi School Room, to Sunday morning next, at 10.30. There will be a Church meeting after the service. The Nelson jam factory is proving a great boon to the settlers in that district as it ensures a market for all the fruit that cannot be sold for local consumption. An exchange says :—“ As showing the immense quantity of fruit that is being purchased, yesterday alone 7021bs of apricots, GOOlbs of plums, 3001bs of strawberries, and 41201bs of apples were received at the factory. 5452 pounds of fruit purchased in one day proves conclusively that those who have orchards and gardens are reaping great benefit from the establishment of the Jam Factory in this Ci t v.

A sad affair is reported in the Melbourne papers. It appears that an inquest was held at Collingwood, Victoria, recently, on the body of u newly-born male child, the offspring of an unmarried girl named Jane Rennie, residing in Carlton. On Sunday morning, about five o’clock, a man named Thomas Brailsford was passing down Johnston-street, Coll ngwood, when he saw the girl sitting on the kerbstone. On returning at 7 o’clock she was sitting in the same place, and had just been confined. Siie was taken to a Mrs. Lewis, a midwife in Ballarat-street, together with the dead body of the child. Dr. Daniel deposed that the body was that of a fullydeveloped male child, and had breathed. It had not lived more than two minutes, and the cause of death was suffocation during birth. From the position of the mother she could not have prevented the death. The jury found that the deceased died from suffocation during birth, and that the mother had no control over its death.

Amongst other interesting items connected with the Crown Lands Board, we clip the following : —The Secretary of the Cook County County Council wrote, calling attention to the nuisance arising from thistles, burrs, and other noxious weeds growing on Crown lands, and asked that a portion of the revenue arising from grass seeds might be devoted to clearing this land, otherwise that the land should be offered for sale.—The Chairman said the money derived from the sale of grass seed had already been paid up into the Treasury, and they knew how difficult it was to get it out of there. They could, however, recommend that a portion of this revenue might be applied to the purpose stated.—Mr. Tonks said he was not a farmer, and could not, therefore, speak with authority, but he understood that, thistles died out in three years. Some years ago they had appointed thistle inspectors at considerable cost, until one morning they awoke to the fact that thistles instead of being a nuisance were an advantage to land, and he understood that in some places thistle seeds were now being imported.—lt was agreed to inform the applicant that the money derived from grass seed had been paid into the Treasury, but that the letter would be forwarded to the Minister of Lands.

We append an extract from the N.Z. Herald showing the quantity of water pumped through the Auckland mains during the past year. Notwithstanding the fact of their being actually short of water, the surplus revenue to the Council for the year was nearly £3OOO ; £lOOO of this sum accruing from a Is. water-rate. Gisborne could do with less than a tenth of the Auckland supply, and affords far greater facilities for it; —“ The Mayor submitted a statement showing that there was a surplus revenue from the water supply of about £3OOO. The interest and sinking fund on the water supply alone was about. £9OOO, and the revenue from the special rate of Is. was over £9OOO, showing a profit from this rate alone of £lOOO. The question fur the Council to consider was the reduction of the consumers’ rate. The quantity of water pumped during the year was 126,614,000 gallons, at. an average cost of s|d. per 1000, but a large proportion of this, probably half, was for the abattoirs and city purposes, fires, standpipes, street-watering, Ac. The year’s income was £5066. The question of supplying water to the suburbs was postponed, and the Council not having sufficient data before them, appointed a subcommittee consisting of the Mayor, and Messrs. Goldie, Waddel, and Montague, to procure the necessary information, and submit it to the Council.”

A large number of Ngatiporous, under the leadership of their chief Tula Nihoniho, danced a haka on the vacant allotment at the rear of the Albion Club Hotel, on Thursday afternoon, both men and women taking part in the proceedings. Tuta was arrayed in a pictureque garb, grotesquely resembling that of a Colonel of Highland Militia, a resemblance heightened by a swordbelt and regulation sword. The Natives assembled on the bank of the river near the Turanganui Hotel, and marched up some ten abreast to the haka ground, where two barrels of beer were mounted on empty cases, iwaiting the arrival of the party. On arrival there they formed themselves into line three deep, and, led by Tuta, danced a haka in the most approved Maori fashion. It was wonderful to note the accuracy of time with which the various motions of the haka were gone through—still more wonderful the nervously* tremulous motions of eyes, hands, feet, arms, and legs with which the contortionate gesticulations were accompanied. After the haka was concluded Tuta made a short speech, informing the bystanders that in consequence of representations made by the police only one barrel of beer would be opened, the other being reserved until the next day. The Natives then dispersed. The physique of the dancers was the subject of many encomiums from the bystanders—especially that of Tuta, who, as he stood on a barrel, with his head thrown back towards his men. and his sword flashing in time with the motions of the AaAra, presented a picture worthy the pencil of a Velasquez or Murillo.

In the R.M.’s Court yesterday, an old man named William John Walters, who had been brought, before the Court, on the previous day, charged with illegally sleeping on certain premises, and was discharged with a caution by Mr. Price, was again brought up charged with the same offence in another place. He seemed, from the way the police spoke of him, t.o be one of that class known as “ old loafers.” Nothing of absolute dishonesty about, him, but a fixed determination to do no work, to “loaf” rather than anything else. The Magistrate animadverted in his summing up of the case to the danger these loafers bring with them. Must of them are smokers, nearly all carry matches, and every one of them will get drunk if he only gets half a chance. Given a drunken old loafer, two lucifer matches, a few pieces of straw, and an old wooden shanty near a block of wooden buildings. Required the amount of damage that old loafer and his ete’s may accomplish ? We give the problem up. Mr. Price reserved it for further consideration, giving the prisoner three months in Napier gaol in which to arrive at a solution. We wish the many old loafers who are “ knocking about” the Colony might learn what they may expect if they come before Mr. Price, but we fear they don’t care much to read the papers, much less to profit by any warning contained therein. They are what the old squatters used to call “ sundowners,” or Murrumbidgee whalers vagabonds by nature and inclination, preferring a nomadic life to a decent home, and hating work with all the ein ;ority of feeling a certain august personage ia supposed to entertain towards holy water.

A case involving some very ghastly points came on at the Sydney Police Court a few days ago. A faithless husband died recently at the house of his mistress. While the body was lying waiting for interment, the man’s widow, accompanied by her two children and other relatives, took forcible possession of the house and all that it contained, the body included. The latter was buried at the expense of the widow, who claimed to retain possession of all she found in the house, as being the property of her late husband. She carried her point, too, in spite of the protestat ons of the other woman, who vigorously protested that she had purchased the furniture in the house. As, however, she could not produce the receipts, and the widow could at any rate show her marriage lines, virtue for once met its reward.

The Hawke’s Bay Herald says : —Lawyers sometimes fall out. There was an instance at the Resident Magistrate’s Court last week. When a case was half heard the plaintiff, who was previously unrepresented by counsel, engaged Mr. Lee. Mr. Lascelles, who was conducting the defendant’s case, objected to this. Mr. Lee contended that he had a right to appear, and hinted something about “ bolstering up cases,” resuming his seat with a laugh. Mr. Lascelles thereupon remarked, “My learned friend may laugh in his idiotic manner, but such a proceeding has never before been known in a Court of Justice.” This provoked the “retort courteous” from Mr. Lee, in the shape of a suggestion that the business of the Court would get on better if his learned friend “ did not go on in that, mad way.” After a few more compliments had passed a truce was declared, but subsequently Mr. Lee returned to the charge. Mr. Lascelles happened to laugh at something, when Mr. Lee inquired “ Who is laughing idiotically now ?” Eventually all things resumed the even tenor of their way.

In an article upon the Ponsonby seduction case in London, The Times has the following}: —“ The modern bar system has added enormously to the advantage on the man’s part and to the woman’s danger. It is well that this should be borne in mind. Young women who are exposed to special danger invst learn in time to take care of themselves. Emma Cummins’s terrible story will serve as a timely reminder to a good many of them. Girls who suffer themselves to be led away have no right to expect constancy on the man’s part. The certainty rather is that it will not be long before he tires of his new possession, and flings it from him with as little genuine care as he bestowed in first acquiring it. The after fate of the bagatelle he will not much concern himself about. Whether she ever takes rank again as an honest woman, or whether she goes from bad to worse, he will think it her affair, and not his. She has served his turn, and he has nothing further to do with her. This is the treatment which women must look for from their unaccredited lovers. It is the treatment they have received time out of mind. It is, so to say, a recognised part of the game. It is of little use to employ hard names about it. Shocking and indefensible it may most justly be termed, but it will be repeated all the same while human nature and the laws and customs of society continue as they are.” Three crack Australian pedestrians, viz., W H. Freeman, (sprinter), O’Brien, (miler) and O’Conner, (walkist), have started on a tour the aim of which is England. There they will be open to back themselves against the best runners and walkers of the day. They are at present in Dunedin but will work northwards and reach Auckland about the middle of March. O’Brien has done the mile within one second of the fastest time on record, and considering he won the mile race handicap at Dunedin in “ easily ” be must be no slouch, for there is nothing in New Zealand to make him stieteh himself. Freeman has a grand record of wins to show, but as his name is quite strange to me, and 1 saw a par in the Australasian wherein Applett was menioned as the sprinter of the party, I fancy that, he has adopted a nom de course. Applet!; beat Goodfellow, and Goodfellow beat nearly every man in England, so if it should be Applet!, he will sustain the honour of our colonial athletes well. O’Connor will be well remembered here, having w-on the mile championshipand £lOO, beating J. Brown on Ellerslie course about a year and a half ago, besides some handicaps. And he also walked 7 miles in 51nrins. 37 sees, (if I remember the time correctly) in the Lorne-street Hall. He has done 8 miles within the hour, and been second and third in several long time walks in Adelaide recently, so that he will be quite a match for the best he will meet in England. Mr A. Halifax, who was agent for the last Australian eleven here, is acting in the same capacity for this trio. They intended to give a grand programme of sports in Auckland, probably on St. Patrick’s Day, and our local men ought to start getting fit to try with them. —Auckland Star.