Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 161, 19 June 1884, Page 2

Local and General.

Mails.—The English mail will be despatched per Rotomahana on Sunday, the mail closing on Saturday, at 7 p.m., instead of per Manapouri.

Lunacy.—An unfortunate woman, Mrs. M. S. McDonald, was brought up at the R.M. Court this morning, charged with lunacy, and was remanded until to-morrow for medical examination.

Missing.—Up to one o’clock this afternoon nothing had been heard of Mr, Downes. The worst is now feared. It is known he did not reach the Mahia. With the exception of this district all the returns are in, giving Mr. Locke a majority of 194 votes.

Declaration of the Poll.—Mr. D. Johnston, Junr., Returning Officer, announces that the official declaration of the Poll will be declared in the Court House on Saturday next at 3 p.m. This will enable Mr. Locke to take his seat in Parliament on Tuesday, as the representative of the East Coast District.

Special Service.—The Bishop of the Diocese is expected to-morrow from Auckland. A special service will be held in Holy Trinity Church on Saturday evening, at 7.30 p.m., during which the new Incumbent, the Rev. J. E. Fox, will be formerly instituted to the cure of the parish. Thanks.—Mr. Gannon, through our advertising columns, returns his sincere thanks for the support given him by the East Coast electors in the late contest. Mr. Gannon thinks Mr. Locke will not be able to take his seat in the House. It will be seen in another place in our columns that, barring accidents, Mr. Gannon is mistaken.

R.M. Court.—At the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday three Maori boys, charged with horse stealing and the larceny of £6, who had been brought in on the previous day from Awanui. The charge of horse stealing was withdrawn, and two of the youths were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, and the other, the youngest of the trio, to six strokes of a birch rod.

The Fresh,—The heavy rains, which have caused a fresh in the Turanganui River, it is to be regretted, has done very little to remove the silt which obstructs the navigation of the river to the wharf. The silt is composed of timber debris, which, with long grass and washed-down creeper plants, have come to form a mass which it is feared no fresh, however strong, is likely to remove. Billiards.—A match, 1000 up, was played last night between Mr. Weiss, professional, and Mr. S. Stewart. Mr. Weiss conceded 600 points, and was beaten by 193. The professional was not in his usual form. The night was wet and stormy; the attendance small; the table not so lively as it otherwise would have been. Mr. Stewart made some brilliant shots, but did not get large breaks. Mr. Weiss played with great care, and scored well during the first part of the game ; but he had given too many points for such a strong adversary, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Carrol being the two best players in the Bay. Druidism.—A meeting of the United Ancient Order of Druids will be held at the lodgeroom, Good Templars’ Hall, this evening. We shall be pleased if some one or other of the older members of this ancient and venerable institution will furnish us with an account of the origin of Druids’ lodges, the rise, progress, and success of the institution. It will, we are sure, be read with great interest. In the reign of the first George we read that numerous lodges were in existence, and that many of the nobility and some of the blood-royal held lodges under the greenwood-tree on their own estates.

Depression. — Not withstanding the reported depression in this colony, the working people of Australia still seerd to have more faith in New Zealand than the great continent which they inhabit. For some months past the balance of immigrants from Victoria has been in our favor, and lately the tide has been turning from New South Wales also. The last four steamers from Sydney brought over a total of 141 immigrants. This is not strange, however, as every number of any of the Sydney papers contain comments on the unemployed question. Most of those who have come here from both Victoria and New South Wales lately have been emigrants of a very good stamp, and likely to make useful colonists.

Patched Breeches.—We have before us a report of the Inspector of Schools—Mr. H. Hill—for the Hawke’s Bay Educational District. As usual the Gisborne School comes in fur a full meed of praise. But why, oh why, year after year, report upon report, does Mr. Hill dwell so copiously, and so persistently upon Captain Russell’s sewing prizes. This good old Captain has a mania for giving a valuable prize to the girl who best patches the seat of a pair of old and wellworn breeches, together with the knees of the same. Is it a nice thing, we ask, for young girls to go running about seeking for old pairs of well-worn breeches, gone in the seat ? We think not. When a man’s breeches which are (upon the conditions) to be very old and very much gone in the seat; is it not time for the man to get a new pair? Surely girls might be asked to test their skill in needlework, with something less offensive and more delicate than operating on the seat of an old pair of breeches. Why, even in the days of great poverty when, as the song has it, “Bryan O’Lynn had no breeches to wear.” He never asked to have them seated. He simply cut up “ Some hair-skins to make - him a pair, with the furry-side out, and the fleshy side in. These were the breeches for Bryan O’Lynn.” Two much of this sort of thing—of breeches patching—is insisted on by Captain Russell, who in his boyhood days may have found the benefit and economy of patched breeches, but which were then done by old women and housewives; not by young girls, who were instructed in the manufactures of much smaller articles of wearing apparel against the time when they would probably be the mothers of babies.

A Sad Mistake.—An amusing incident occurred this day, as evincing the innocence of the Maories in the matter of corporal punishment. A lad, charged with complicity in a horse-stealing case was sentenced to six strokes of a birch rod. His fellow Maori prisoners, under the impression that the boy would be flogged with his trousers on stuffed the seat with rags and an old shirt. Fancy the terror of the youngster when he was ordered to strip. It was an awful mistake—very much so. The boy only too soon made the discovery. Not at all Impossible.—lt is not a wholesome sign of our oil prosperity, when close upon 21,000 unpaid-up shares in the South Pacific Petroleum Company are to be offered for unreserved sale to-morrow by Messrs. Carlaw Smith, & Co. There may be a fortune ; perhaps half-a-dozen fortunes in these forfeited shares. Who can say? The cry may come down of “ struck oil,” at any hour of the day or night. Then there would be groaning and gnashing of teeth on the part of scrip-holders who had failed in their calls. There are many in Gisborne who remember the Happy-go-Lucky claim. It was sold by four men for £2 and a “ shout ” all round. Two days after gold was struck in the mine, and in twenty-four weeks turned out 90,000 ounces of gold. The richest, or one of the richest oil wells in America, known as “ The Something or Nothing,” was deserted. The ground was bought for a potato plot, when one night oil burst through the shaft and swamped the land for miles round. That claim came to yield 50,000 dollars worth of oil a year. Who knows but what something of this kind may not happen to the South Pacific.

A Knotty Question. —This is the question that troubles a French Justice of the Peace. A drover and a butcher in the market adjusting their accounts went to a tavern to dine together. During the meal the butcher took from his pocket a bank note of a 100 francs value wherewith to pay the drover, but in handing it over let it fall in a dish of gravy. He snatched it out, and, holding it between the thumb and forefinger, waved it to and fro to dry it. The drover’s dog, accepting this as a friendly invitation, and, liking the smell of the saturated note, madeu spring at it and swallowed it. The butcher was furious. “ Give me my money I” he demanded. “ Kill the dog and open him I” “ Not by a blanked sight I” replied the drover, “ my dog is worth more than 100 francs,” “Then I owe you nothing. Your dog has collected for you before witnesses I” “My dog is not my cashier. And, besides, where is your receipt?” “The justice will have to settle this.” “Let him!” And now for weeks the justice has vainly been seeking law or precedent for such case.

Hard on Gisborne.—The Auckland Free Lance is facetious anent the Gisborne election. The Gisborne people, it says, in meeting assembled, have declared Sir George Grey the proper leader of the Liberal Party in New Zealand. This is gratifying, but it dosen’t necessarily mean a great deal. Of course Mr. Rees may shine in Sir George’s reflected light, and while the meeting lasted I daresay he shone with tolerable brilliancy. This sort of illumination is apt to be very short-lived. Sir George Grey may be a great Liberal leader, but in choosing a member the Gisborne people will want to know what Mr. Rees and Mr. Locke, respectively, are likely to get for them. The highest bidder is the man for Poverty Bay. A politician may be a great speaker or even a great Liberal leader, and yet one may be able to get very little out of him after all. This is the spot where the Gisborne shoe pinches; and not all the eloquence of Grey or any other man will make the electors forget the pressure for very long. Meanwhile they have had their oration and have paid the expected compliment in return, and may now go and vote comfortably for the candidate most likely to get them some substantial benefit.

Gisborne Institute.—At the request of those present, the Ven. Archdeacon Williams postponed the reading of his paper on “ Some Neglected Out-door Recreations,” from last night, until next Wednesday, in order to admit of a larger attendance. A paper on “ Small Beginnings,” was given, and the Rev. Mr. Fox made some interesting remarks on “The Advantages and Disadvantages of Tobacco Smoking.” An impromptu debate on various subjects was taken part in by all present. A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the proceedings. Several new members were enrolled. A meeting of the committee will be held in the Library room on Saturday evening at 7.30. The reading of a very interesting paper by the Ven. Archdeacon Williams on “ Some Neglected Out-door Pastimes,” will be looked forward to anxiously. The subject, treated as we know the reverend gentleman can handle it, may lead to very good results. When out-door sports were more indulged in in Gisborne than they are now, there was very much less of larrikinism. Boys now smoke cigarettes and fancy pipes, and lounge under verandahs, and spit, and use slang. They do not play cricket or football or rounders, or leap-frog, or hop-scotch, as was their wont. If Mr. Archdeacon Williams with others at his back to assist him succeed in .inducing boys and young men to indulge in wholesome, health-inspiring games, larrikinism would soon decrease, or altogether cease in our midst.