The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY MORNING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20. Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 312, 20 December 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY MORNING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20. Local and General.

The first meeting of creditors in the estate of A. Stevens, of Patutahi, will bo held on Tuesday next. . Sir George Whitmore, who has completed his shearing operations on the Coast, was a passenger fur Napier last evening.

The case of Piesse v. lhe Gisborne Gas Company was brought on at the B.M, Court yesterday, and adjourned for one month. Mr. James Fulton, M.H.R., has returned to the Treasury the £lOO voted to him as salary in his capacity of Chairman of the Waste Lands Committee of the House of Representatives. The Southern Cross arrived from the South early yesterday morning, and left for Uie North at 7 o’clock, The Rotomahana arrived from Auckland about 2 o’clock, and lais for the South shortly after 7. For peach trees suffering from decay a contemporary says a few brass or copper nails driven into the tree will promptly stop the decay. Absurd though it seems, the remedy is worth a trial. An Auckland bookmaker is said to have wagered a level £lOO that the Auckland Cup winner will come from Salvage, Tim Whiffler, Welcome Jack, Vanguard, and Radames. On paper he has now quite 2 to 1 the worst of it. At the B.M. Court yesterday judgment was given for plaintiff in the following eases:— Hepburn v. Waldron, £25 2s; Wilson v. McLeod, £77 5s ; Tharratt v. Aratapu, £°6. In the case Trimmer v, Porter, £3 12s 10d, plaintiff was nonsuited. The Matawhero school picnic and sports came off on Thursday on the Roseland grounds, when a very pleasant day was passed by the children and their friends. The concert took place in the evening, and passed off most successfully.

Our readers will recollect the recent case of a man named Lake, residing on Whataupoko, having been sentenced to six months imprisonment in default of the payment of a fine of £5O for having an illicit apparatus in his possession by which whisky could be distilled. The penalty was the lowest the Magistrate COUld impose. At tlio llciuiug o£ thio uuao it was admitted by the police that the accused had no illegal motive in having the apparalua in his house* Efforts have been made to have the man released, and it has been represented that although legally guilty, morally the man is entitled to ba released from custody. The attitude of the natives in regard to the land on the route of tha North Island Trunk Railway is as a rule favourable. Mr. Ballance will talk over the whole subject with the Maoris at the great meeting on the Wanganui River next montn, and will also disclose to them in detail the native policy which the Government intend to pursue next session. The survey is being pushed on as rapidly as possible, and it is understood the line will be commenced simultaneously at Marton and Te Awamutu next February, that two “ first sods,” one at each extremity of the line, will in fact then be turned.