Untitled

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1270, 8 February 1883, Page 2

At the meeting of the members of the Fire Brigade held last evening, it wae resolved that they should disband in a body. This action is taken in consequence of the insufficient support they have received from the Borough Council and Insurance Companies.

A new line of express steamships to etosa th© Athztio in 6| (Uys, averaging knot* an hour, is projected, .... , ' Choice Colonists for the Pacific I Thi j Paris correspondent of the u Times ” says < “ The murderer Fenayron left Paris on Nov , 11th, for New Caledonia* ’*

A sapient constable at Ballarat, on N few Year’s Day, arrested a girl whb is thus described Fourteen years of age, fnish complexion, full face, plump cheeks, bro' wn hair, beautifully large eyes, exceptiona Uy fine teeth, and rather hard of hearing,” Iwj cause she so much resembled the official Police Gazette description of the real cttb. prit—“ 16 years of age, of ruddy complexion, having a thin face, fair hair, and small weak eyes.” The South Australian/‘ Register” relate* that in a large establishment in Adelaide which makes extensive purchases in scrap cast-iron, attention was called to wjiai looked like a 12-lbs shell which had not been exploded. Upon examination it was found that this was precisely what the article was. The charge was intact, the shell having apparently been fired off without the fuse hav. ing been lighted, and been picked up and sold to a dealer in scrap-iron. Hau this harmless-looking piece of metal by any chance found its way into the melting-pot in the state in which it was whan bought the consequences would have been disastrous to the pot, the furnace, the premises, and all persons in the immediate neighborhood, for the shell was of the shrapnel order, and was well loaded with bullets, which would have proved awkward customers had an explosion taken place. An observation unprecedented in the history of comets was made at the Cape Town Observatory on September 17, at 4h. 50tnin, 58sec. Cape mean time, corresponding to 3h. 37min. 3sec. Greenwich time. “The comet was followed,” writes Mr Gill in a communication to “ Knowledge,” by two observers with separate instruments, right up to the sun’s limb, where it suddenly disappeared, at the hour named. To be seen under these conditions the comet must at the time have been intensely brilliant—partly, no doubt, from the effect of solar heat and light, but partly also, we conceive, on account of the resistance it experienced in its onward rush at the rate of certainly not less than 340 miles per second ! The Emperor of Brazil telegraphs to the Academy of Science** that the comet was visible in full daylight on the 18th, 19th, and 20th September. The spectroscope showed the presence of sodium and carbon. On the 26 th, from 4h. lOmin. to sh. 40min. in the morning, it was a splendid object. Mr R. A. Proctor has made calculations which satisfy him that the period of the comet and the length of the greater axis of its orbit are rapidly diminishing ; that it will return to us within a few months, and that it will BQO& be destroyed by being absorbed into the sun.

Detective Grace arrived from Napier this morning by the Southern Cross, and will remain in Gisborne for about a week.

The following tenders were received by Mr W. J. Quigley, architect, for building a house for W. Pere Harries and Lincoln, £l6O, extra for iron roof, £3 ; J. Ponsford, £l7O, extra for iron roof, £5; Martin and Thompson, £l7l, extra for iron roof, £5 ; R. Houloen, £179, extra for iron roof, £5 10s ; W. O. Skeet, £lB9, extra for iron roof, £5. The lowest tender has been accepted.

Mr Archibald Forbes writes as under to a Melbourne paper concerning New Zealand : “ New Zealand is a country at once fertile and rugge<l—-characteristic of Scotland. The climate is more or less pleasantly variable—also characteristic of the northern . country,» and I am informed that the soil here grows 80 bushels of oats to the acre, so that it is impossible for anyone to go without his porridge. The climate is also eminently suited for the maturing and purservation of whisky, and I have also observed that thistles grow to tinparrelalkd dimensions, andfurther, that the complexion of the ladies is not only good but apparently lasting.”

A meeting of the J, Battery of Volunteers will be held to-night, at the. Drill Shed, at 7 o’clock, for the purpose of swearing in recruits for the Volunteer Corps. This will be the last opportunity afforded persons who wish to join the Battery. If membeers do not roll up in jufficignt numbers to-night to form the'Uprps according to the regulations, it will simply be displaying an amount of apathy which should not be in a community like this, because a small force here will always act as a check upon the movements of the Natives. We hope that a sufficient number of men will see their way to come to the front, and allow themselves to be on. rolled.

As to the fruit whieh can be produced in Gisborne, we have had given us an additional proof. In the garden of Mr Bull, in Car* narvon-street, there are trees laden with magnifieent apples, measuring fully thirteen inches in circumference. This clearly evidences that if ofhers were to follow the same course as that pursued by Mr Bull, Gisborne would become the great jam-making centre of New Zealand. That we can grow fruit has been indubitably shown, and it is merely the supinencss of those who own land, and the prolific nature of our soil, paradoxical as it may appear, that keeps Poverty Bay in the background.

A meeting of the Poverty Bay Turf Club was advertised to be held to-day at the Masonic Hotel, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but we are unable to afford our readers a report of the proceedings for the simple reason that we were informed, on application, that as it was a Committee meeting, reporters were not permitted to be present. The value of advertising has again been proved. Mr P. E. Richardson advertised in the Standard yesterday that his two pointer dogs were missing, and threatened to proceed legally against any person who was found detaining them. The dogs returned this morning. FirrJ. tap.

In his speech made after the declaration of the poll at the Pepinsula, Bishop Moran announced his .intention of again seeking' the suffrages of electors wherever an oppor tunity might arise. We now learn from our telegrams that this indefatigable churchman is likely to make an endeavor to warm up the electors of Inangahua to an interest in his cause sufficiently strong to return him as their member. Messrs Graham, Pitt and Bennett adver tise that they will sell on Saturday next, a large and genuine stock of gold and silver watches, and articles of jewellery, which have been purchased in a bankrupt estate, and are now to be submitted to public com. petition. The ordinary meetings of the Cook County Council are appointed to be held on the second Thursday in each month, commencing on Thursday, the Bth instant, at 7 o’clock p.m. The finance committee are to meet at 4 o’clock on those days. The business for the meeting to-night will be the Issue of Slaughter House Licenses; to define the Riding boundaries under the Counties Act of 1882 ; to appoint a Returning Officer for the Patutahi Licensing District; and to give instructions to complete the Wairoa Road out of the Government grant, ?. e., £6OO, still to come. A committee on bye-laws, consisting of Cra. ! Ferris, Johnson, Gannon, and the Chairman, ■ will to-night fix the ime for meeting. The Council will then consider the Fencing Act of 1881-82.