Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 54, 31 January 1884, Page 2

Local and General.

Ruakiture Block.—Referring to the purchase of this block by two Sydney and Melbourne capitalists, the Wairoa Guardian says:—"We trust this event will mark the commencement of a new era for Wairoa.” Now, instead of seeing any reasons for congratulation in the above event, we cannot look upon it in any other light than that of a serious drawback to the progress and development of the place. After the great expense of surveying and eutting-up the land in sections suitable for settling, and placing it on the market, two Sydney and Melbourne capitalists step in and purchase the whole block, with the result of, instead of flourishing homesteads and thriving and productive small holdings, converting the same into a run, with but a couple of shepherds, and perhaps a boundary man. Possibly, our Wairoa friend, like Mark Tapley, is so strongly imbued with philosophical ideas as to be able to see cause for congratulation where more obtuse individuals can only find reason for regret. Oca Wool Crops.—ln our last issue we announced the completion of the loading of the Asterion by Messrs. Common, Shelton and Co., with a cargo of 2,800 bales, valued at £28,684 6s. lOd. This, with the Lochnagar’u cargo of 1,691 bales, valued at £20,672, gives a total of no less than 4,491 bales, valued at £49,356. This total is made up as follows:—Common, Shelton, and Co., 1,133 bales; Loan and Mercantile Company, 1,167 bales; Graham, Pitt, and Bennett, 1,573 bales; and H. E. Johnstone, 116 bales. These figures must be a source of congratulation to all who are interested in the progress of Poverty Bay, and tend to prove, when compared with previous seasons, the rapid strides with which our district is advancing.

The Waxa Mabel—This new publication bids fair to become a marked success. The proprietor did not intend issuing the paper until the 22nd of February, but, as adver. tisements have come in readily, and subjects of importance cropped up, he has published a gratuitous issue, to bring the periodical under the notice of intending subscribers. There has been a large amount of support guaranteed to the Waka Maori,, and, therefore, the Journal will be published fornightly, Instead of monthly, as notified. This new Maori paper should be very acceptable to intelligent Natives, and we wish our young friend a long, profitable, and useful career.

Booth Pacific Petroleum Co.—The manager of this Company, Mr. Isles, received a report from the acting-borer yesterday, in which it is stated that the depth reached is 395 feet, and the indications are very encouraging. Every time the sand-pump was used, since Monday, oil was brought up in large quantities. This report is confirmed by Dr. Pollen, one of the Board of Advice, who returned yesterday from the Springs. A change in the strata has been discovered—instead of soft papa, hard quartz and small pieces of iron pyrites have been met with. Specimens of the new strata were brought down by Dr. Pollen, and anyone interested can see them at the Company’s office.

Successful Tenderer.—Mr. W. O. Skeet has been the successful tenderer for Mr. Barker's proposed large and elegant residence, to be built on the Whataupoko, for the sum of £1,489, Mr. W. P. Finneran being the architect.

Unpaid Calls.—lt is notified in another column that all those shareholders in the South Pacific Petroleum Company who have not paid their twelfth call, due on the 9th instant, must do so on or before Wednesday, the 6th proximo, or their shares will become forfeited.

Price or Land in Victoria.—The Melbourne Leader of the Sth January reports that " another of the large estates is about being 1 burst up ’ from natural causes. It appears that the estate of Gnotuk, which belonged to the late Mr. John Cumming, was put up for sale by auction at Scott’s Hotel a short time ago by the auctioneering firm of Messrs. Fiskin and Gibson, but the highest bid was only £8 per acre, and as this did not reach the reserve the land was withdrawn from sale. It is reported that the estate will be cut up into allotments and offered for sale in this way, when it will doubtless fetch its full value. As showing the rates at which country property is valued, that of the late Mr. Robert Birney, at Lancefield, was disposed of

a few days ago with the following results: — The homestead of 190 acres was bought by Mr. Lachlan Campbell) at £27 per acre j Burton’s paddocks of 120 acres were bought by Mr. Henry Vinnicombe, at £l9 per acre; and the freehold known as Heapey’s, of 110| acres, by Mr. W. Dowling, at £lO 10s. per acre. The growing crops and farm stock all brought good prices. About the same time the farm at Lancefield known as Wright’s, the property of Mr. Matthew Fawkner) and consisting of 120 acres, was sold by Mr. H. Stevenson to Mr. John Harley, of Hesket, at £22 10s. per acre. Also of 200 acres at Lancefield (having six years’ lease to run, at £2OO per annum), to Mr. John Dunn, at £25 per acre. Mr, W. P. Carr sold lately, by public auction, 40 acres of land at Point Henry, belonging to Mr, J, Henshaw, to Mr. Cornelius Ryan, for £600.” What is a Packed Jury? — The N. Z. Times puts it thus “ This question was raised by implication yesterday, as the result of the practice of ‘ challenge,’ Joseph Lyons was charged in the Supreme Court for passing a valueless cheque, The accused be, ing an Irishman, and the principal witness of the same nationality having been rather unwilling to prosecute, the counsel for the Crown exercised his right of challenge by objecting to six different names of jurors as they were called, these being apparently Irishmen or known friends of the accused, The counsel for the defence, or the prisoner himself, objected also to one juror. The principle was therefore the same, though carried further on one side than on the other. The trial resulted in the prisoner being convicted) as reported elsewhere ; and on his being Asked what he bad to say why sentence should not be pronounced, he said, “ I thought I should have got a fair trial, but it seems I have got a packed jury.” This complaint had some show of reason on the face of it ; though the com. plaint could only mean, in its worst sense, that unusual care had been taken by the pro. scouting counsel to exclude countrymen or friends, because their sympathy might possibly interfere with their strict discharge of a public duty as jurors, If the six men who were objected to had got on the jury, would it then have been a packed jury ? The prisoner’s complaint should apply either way. The essence of fairness is, or ought to be, the exclusion from the jury-box of any known or suspected motive other than that of strict justice.”

Turf Frauds.—“ An extraordinary turf fraud has recently been brought to light at Coney Island, New York, after having cost Messrs, Bauer, the proprietors of a poolhouse, upwards of £3,000, The proprietors of this establishment, at which betting is carried on upon a large scale, had noticed that two of their customers were in the habit of making heavy bets upon races at the last moment, and that they invariably won. This led them to set a watch upon the operations of these two persons, and they ascertained that the latter had hired a room over their club-house, and laid on a telegraph wire from the racecourse, through which, thanks to the complicity of a clerk belonging to the company, they received the results of the races several minutes before they reached the agency. They then went down and made their bets with the certainty of winning ; and if they had been content to invest their money on a losing horse occasionally, the fraud would probably not have been suspected at all, A warrant was issued for their arrest, but they had disappeared. A still neater thing in the Way of turf swindles is reported from the land of stars and stripes. It occurred recently at Jerome Park. For the second, third, and fourth horses, wrong horses were telegraphed as winners to the main office in New York, and thence all over the country. It was not until the return came through for the last race that the telegraph operator at the head office, so he says, “ tumbled ” to anything being wrong. It was too late then, however, to repair the damage already done, for at nearly every pool-room in the country the holders of tickets on the horses which were supposed to have won had received their money. The custom is to pay over on each race as soon as the despatch in cypher comes through, so as to give the patrons of the room a chance to put up money on the next race. They cannot manage these things so successfully in England, for recently at the Manchester Assizes, Hulme, a compositor, and Lamb, a telegraph clerk, were sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment each, with hard labor, and Garside, another telegraph clerk, to six months' hard labor, for tamper, ing with sporting telegrams.”

Morbid Sensationalism.—The students of morbid sensationalism will find the following paragraph, taken from Society, interesting reading :— “ Jesuits say that ‘ the end justifies the means,’and as the Peterborough Cathedral Restoration Fund is in sore straits, perhaps one ought not to look too narrowly to the means resorted to wherewith to replenish its coffers. Yet man would certainly draw the line at hangman’s derelicts. Some people, however, are not so thinskinned; and they handed round a ' Cathedral Restoration Collecting Box’ at the conclusion of an exhibition at the Golden Lion, Peterborough, of the late Mr. Marwood’s stock-in-trade. The purchaser exhibited the various ropes and straps, and a commercial traveller permitted them to be used upon his person, only objecting to the fatal noose. The exhibition lasted nearly an hour, and the exhibitor explained that he had purchased the property from Marwood’s executors for £250, and had been offered £500 for it by Madame Tussaud, who was willing to give £3OO for the three ropes that had hung Peace, Kelly, and Joe Brady. But he had declined this offer for the London Chamber of Horrors, as he expected to get from Mr. Barnum £1,000 for the lot. Bartholomew Binns, who reigns in Marwood’s stead, went to Horncastle to purchase the ropes of his predecessor, and found that both he and they were sold.