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Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3234, 1 July 1879, Page 2

Our readers will doubtless remember reading in the local papers some months back of the strange disappearance of one of Messrs Bagnall Bros', hands, a man named Scrimegnur. lie disappeared and no trace of him could be found. The news of the mystery that hung over his fate reached his brother in Scotland, and he has come to New Zealand to see if he cannot ferret out his whereabouts. Mr Scrimegour is at present on the Thames 'making inquiries, and all inf rmation respecting his lost brother will doubtless be thankfully received by him. This is how the story that heavy gold had been struck up Tararu Creek yesterday got about. A wellknown and respected citizen, who smiles behind an hotel bar in Queen street, thought he would take a little ramble up Tararu Creek to see how a claim ho has an interest in was looking. So be went and pottered about up at the claim till shortly after eleven o'clock, when the terrible thought struck him that he had not paid for his hotel license, and he supposed that if the Collector of Customs did not receive the money before midday, the license would lapse. .Disregarded now was the heap of quartz, and Boniface made tracks down the tram at a break-neck speed, and did the two miles irom the claim to the bottom of the tram in 17mins. losecs. He hailed a passing cab, and by bribing the driver with a doublffare, the old 'bus made the Tararu road rattle, as urged on by the driver the horses galloped Grabamstown-ward. The Custom-house is reached at 11.50 a.m., and the publican, with the air of a man saved from some dire calamity, enters Mr Murphy's domain, and hastily scribbles out a cheque. Judgo of his mortification when .he was informed that all his frantic haste had not been necessary, as he could have paid the money any time before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Messes Gellion and Co. sol<|by auction to-day the house and furniture of Mr J. B. Stoney, of Parawai. The house was knocked down to Mr J. E. Han sen for £100, and the furniture fetched fair prices. Heke is an old Naval Brigade mj|n to the front; —We were yesterday shown a very handsome silver cup, presented to the Arrow Rifles for competition, by Mr J. Hislop, jeweller, Princes street, Dunedin. It. bears the following inscription : —" Won by Sergeant Francis Sykes, of the Macetown Contingent Arrow Eifles ; highest scorer, April 26th, 1879."—Otago Daily Timea. . Messes Hamh'u and Hobbs have received votes of confidence at Mauku and Wairoa South. At the former place a unanimous vote of sympathy was passed with the Taranaki settlers in their present position, and requesting Mr Hobbs 'and. Mr Hamlin to use their influence in Parliament for their relief. ', ,i It is rumored that the Government have ofi'ered Te Whiti £500 for the purpose of employing counsel to defend his cause in a court of law, and that Eopata JSTgarbngomate has been requested to proceed to Parihaka to exert his influence with Te Whiti in order to bring him to terms. The inquest on the body of George Noble Gair, Manager of the National Eank, Tauranga, closed yesterday. The following,verdict was returned :—" Died by his own hands by firing a bullet from a revolver through his temple whilst in a state of temporary insanity, caused by the effect of excessive drinking and great mental depression." Another batch of parents were summoned by the Xaiapoi School Committee for hot sending their children to school. In four out of eight cases the magistrate made an order for the children's attendance. The action of the committee is said to cause considerable excitement. The Taranaki News, of Saturday's date, makes a number of extracts from " The Malicious Injuries to Property's Act, 1867," to show how justified the Hawera settlers were in the steps taken by them to eject the Maori intruders, and quotes as follows :—The 61st Section of the Act leaves no doubt on the subject; it is so important that we give it in extensjo : " Any person found committing any offence against this Act, whether the same be punishable upon indictment or upon summary conviction, may be immediately apprehended, without a warrant, by, any peace officer, or the owner of the property injured, or his servant, or any person authorised by him, and forthwith taken before some neighboring Justice of ilie Peace to be dealt with according- to law."' The action of the Hawera settlers, therefore, was strictly legal. By the 60th Section of the Act it is t enaeted that it shall be sufficient Io prove that the party accused did the act charged, without any necessity for proving that it was done with intent to injure or defraud. A MAN named Paul Clifford' was smothered at Christchurch yesterday whilst working as a diver at the wreck of the barque JBells. He had on a diving apparatus, with the air tube cut. When released a very small quantity was found s in the helmet, but the man was quite dead, although he had only been down a little over ten minutes. There was a sensation in Queen street; Auckland, yesterday, about 12.30. The Star says about it:—Some people thought Te Whiti had made a sudden descent upon the city, there was such a scatter off the east footpath, accompanied with dainty little screams of fright from the belles who were^'enjoying their mid-day promenade. It transpired that a man named Dennis Mills, in the employment of Mr Monro, blacksmith,.,,.was riding a a horse to the smithy, when the animal was suddenly seized with a fancy for making a flying inspection of the shop windows, and dashed down the footpath, the pedestrians politely leaving the way clear. It was observed that some old identities suddenly became young again, and displayed unwonted ingenuity. The horse continued his cantor down Queen street as far as the Thames Hotel,- where liis attention was suddenly uri'osled by the nvctacle of a vessel i:i lull sail, auil

while engrossed in the contemplation of this nautical incident a bystander secured ' him. ' A TEI eg ham appearing in our coliur.:;i-s souie days ago is explained by the following from the Taranaki JS'evrs : —i We have received from HY'Wera the following extraordinary disclosure respecting the conduct of one of our felloesettlers, whoso name we for the present withhold under the impression that the story is too strange to be true. The statement is as follows:—•" Macka'y has been saying openly, and it is confirmed besides, that Mr Blank, a Justice of the Peace of Taranaki, has been to Te Whiti with his submission, and asked him to give him some land to reside on with his wifs and family ; that he had been elected a Captain of Volunteers, but did not want the office : that he was afraid to remain with his family at Taranaki, and would rather come under the protection of Te Whiti. The accounts now vary. One is that Te Whiti promised the applicant land, gave him a koha or mat as a token of acceptance of his submission, and that the applicant has returned to Tarinnki for his wife and family. The other is that To Whiti told him that he miplifc remain on his land without fear, and that he would noi 1)0 injured, his sympathies and good wishes being all that he wanted. Mackay has it further from the natives that Mr Blank represented himself as Irish, of the tribe that shot the son of the Queen, and that he approved of what Te Whiti is doing. Mr William?, Captain Wilson, Mr Thompson, Mr White, of the Bank of New Zealand, and others, heard this from Mackay, and heard is confirmed by Mr R. S. Thompson, who went with him. Honi Pihama and the natives at Hawera hare also got hold of it." A.ll that we can say further about the matter is, that either Messrs Mackay and Thompson are spreading scandalous reports, or that we have an arch-traitor in our camp. .Mj& Theee has been severe weather during the last two days at Timaru, the Temuka being flooded, and fjujc persons reported drowned. The schooner Pelican was driven ashore. The wife and four of the crew are'reported drowned. The Adbir was driven ashore and hardly any vestige left of her. A seaman of the Beautiful Star was drowned by a boat being capsized. Captain Jones and two others swam ashore. The Patea Mail says :—" Whatever the Ministry ma||think, very few persons of common senscpin this district believe that the difficulty will be tided over without bloodshed. Our best citizens recognise the gravity of the situation, and Sy, ' Well, it must come and the sooner the j better.' Certainly if the present state of j things is prolonged, the district will soon loose scores of men who are thrown out j of work. They would gladly stay,to fight, but can't live on air while a Grey Government gets ready."

The following is from a visitor at Pariliaka :—" We sat down to breakfast in a very small whare, the sleeping-place of about a dozen men and women. The meal consisted of pork, potatoes, and kumaras, served up in the pots and pans in which they were cookedb; Fingers, after all, are more useful thai? forks, and a Rood rub in the, fern is the fay to get of superfluous fat. My native hosts adopted a stilLmore expeditious, if noL a better plan, or* cleaning greasy fingers— the hair of their heads. Breakfast over, pipes became-the order of the day. S* secured a seat close to the small door of i the whare, and was enabled occasionally! to get a mouthful of fresh air Whilst listening to the" conversation of the natives. It consisted of personal experiences and conversations Vith the pakeha. The present pakcha " scare " was the principal subject of conversation. The arming of the settlerswas the cause of the greatest ' mirth, and many a smart saying passed, causing considerable merriment. Each Maori had a tale to tell, interlarded with such expressions as '^Taihoa, the Government. make a hang Ti Whiti " and " Taihoa, the pjikeha make a shoqjfc all the Maori*' arid giving the names of settlers, both at New Plymouth and Patea, who have made jase of words to that effect.