LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 294, 4 May 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Park Company, this morning, oall for tenders for the erection of grand stand, outbuildings, &c. Mr Quigley is the architect. The City Rink will be open for skating s two this afternoon, and at three Miss Sylvester will give anexhibition of her accomplishments. The admission is fixed at a shilling. A modest institution, but a most laudable one and deserving of every encouragement, has been established by Mr Witty, and is now of great benefit to those interested. It is a free library for the use of sailors trading along the coast. There are now about a hundred volumes in hand, and additions to the library will be.thankfully received. By the Coptic, due in Wellington to morrow, there will come 1145 casks of cement for the Gisborne Harbor Board. A further parcel will arrive by Ruapehu on the 21st inst.; and 800 casks by the Tainui on 2nd June. These shipments should keep the Board sufficiently supplied with cement, but the stone is not being supplied as it ought, and the hands are frequently kept waiting for stone. The Board will probably have to make some arrangement for the continuous supply of materia). The Board of Reviewers have adjourned the Court till Tuesday morning next at 10,80, owing to the Courthouse not being available in the meantime. Most of the oountry work has been gone through, and part of the Borough. It is expected that the Court will last the whois day on Tuesday before the business will be concluded.

Judgments were entered up for plaintiffs in the following civil oases heard by Mr Booth, R.M.. on Thursday lastP.B. Park Company v J. Waugh, claim £3 10s, and costs 7s, Neil Blakeley vS. Phillips, claim £3 10s, judgment for £1 10s, without costs. J. W. Wade v Geo. Rowley, claim £2 ss, for £2 and costs 6s. R. Moore vA. McDonald claim £4 4s 63, and costs 6s. Boylan and Co,/ v J. R. Hurrey, claim £1 4s 4d, and costs Bs. . J. Bourke v F. Dufaur, claim £4 17s 6d, and costs 6s. J. Bourke v J. Thompson, claim, -81 14s 6d, and costs 6s. Boylan and Co. v. A. McDonald, claim £1 4s, and costs 6s. J. Whinray v O. Lynch, claim £1 Is fid, and costs 6s. H. Cannon vW. Maher, claim 9s, and costs 6s. Judgment summons, J. R, Brooke v A. J. Thomas, claim £1 10s, the defendant was ordered to pay the amount on or before the 23rd inst.

Our contemporary thus explains how it was that Judge Barton’s letter was not published until after it hud appeared in our columns :— 11 The above letter, which was posted, did not reach us until this morning, though owing to no fault of the Postoffioe authorities. A representative of this journal was not in Court at the tioio Judge Barton was stated to have spoken in soveer terms regarding the conduct of a lawyer and his client, hut we have every faith in the gentleman from whom we obtained our information, which has been in the main corroborated by several others who were in Court. Judge Barton is annoyed, end with reason top, that such expressions as ' try one ’ and ‘ bogus law ’ should be put into his mouth, and we regret having in mistake published these embellishments of our informant as the words of the Judge. We agree that a Judge is not licensed to behave discourteously to members of the Bar—nor to anybody elso. People should got their deserts, whether they will be professional men or laymen.’’ Wo have no wish to comment on the explanation, but we must compliment the editor of our contemporary on hi 1 ingenuity, at the same time admitting that we are so obtuse that we cannot see how a contributor who " embellishes " his paragraphs with such phrases as " try-ons ” and “ bogus law,” when those expressions were not used, is an informant who can be relied on. Or is the informant being blamed for " eniMUshiiieiits * ’ he a<w made f

The Victorian and New Zealand Courts are the most advanced at the Paris Exhibition.

SBMr Gladstone, in an article in the Nineteenth|Century, on the pretensions of the Papacy to temporal power, asserts that such claims are obsolete.

A mid is being made on the totalisator shops in Brisbane. It is reported that almost every tobacconist in the city had a totalisator. The matter has been taken up by private detectives. Wa are informed that Mr Stubbs intends

visiting the Minerva works on Monday next. Anxious shareholders will be pleased to hear he will return again if nothing hinders him. We anxiously await further developments. The above is written a la Weaver by a frantic shareholder.

The Napier Telegraph, in an article on the agitation for the appointment of Judge Barton as permanent Land Court Judge in this district, agrees that there can be no remedy for the present state of things until resident Judges are appointed for each district. The following nominations have been received for the Patutahi Road Board :— Messrs J. Clark, J. Ferguson, J. W. Sunderland, R. Stewart, J. Hills, E. Wells, and F. J. Harris. The election takes place on Thursday, May 23. Messrs Graham, Pitt, and Bennett, acting under instructions from the Sheriff,

will (unless previously settled) on May 25, dispose of various interests of Mr Allan McDonald.

A commencement has been made with the

erection of groins near the freezing works at the Western Spit, Napier. The first of these groins is being placed about two hundred feet from the western pier, and another at a sin ilar distance from the first. The flowing of the water through the western pier both on the flood and ebb indicates the danger to the beach more thap the effect of the sea wash, as at the point referred to, a subsidence has been going on for a long time.

At the Police Court yesterday Alfred J. Thomas was sentenced to 30, days imprison, ment for stealing a saw, the property of Mr Greenwood, The ensuing season of the Minerva Quaddrills Assembly (fortnightly) will commence on Wednesday, May 8, in Winrays. Hall; dancing begins at. 8 p.m. ladies by invitation, —A. Wade, Hon. Secretary.—Advt. A dancing class restricted to young men will be commenced in Winray’s Hall, on Monday evening next; partner’s for the polka at B.—Advt.

A Wanganui paper says that strange changeshave taken place la the Bank of New Zealand management in Auckland. It Is said that the only solicitor consulted at present in bank matters is Mr Button, and that the names of Whitaker and Russell do not appear on any of the newly made bank documents. Many of the old lights of Auckland, who for years were a great political force and held many seats in the hollow of their hands, exercising their power very often with an autocratic severity, are virtually extinguished. The order has gone forth to oall in the big overdrafts on the basis of landed security, which was referred to in the president’s celebrated announcement. In the meantime the bank stock is steadily hardening, and the splendid business of the instituis fully maintained.

It is stated that there are now 30 flax mills in operation in the district about Foxton, and a number of merchants have undertaken to buy the whole output of these mills, ranging from 120 to 150 tons per week, at £lB par ton delivered on the Foxton wharf, the agreement to have a currency of five months. Taking the lowest estimate of production—namely, 120 tons per week—this means, at the price fixed upon, £2263 per week. The amount of employment given by the flax industry may be calculated from the fact that each of the 30 mills in the district mentioned employs on an average 15 men and five boys, or in all 600 hands. There is a large property between Bulls and Scott’s Ferry whose owner valued it at £3 10s an acre before the boom set in. He has now sold the flax growing on it at £7 per acre, and has the land still to the good.

A former resident in South Africa, now in Auckland, has lately received a letter, from which is quoted the following passages: — “ Gold shares are rather low just now, and a in gold, but all shares have gone far too high to pay a dividend ; £1 shares going up to from £lO to £6O, you can very well imagine, could smash is expected, not because of the falling off not possibly pay. At the same time numbers have made large fortunes. Really, in Maritzburg, people have thought of nothing else. Meanwhile new companies are floated daily, and new fields are turning out. From what I can hear, they have found the richest field yet far north, on what is called the’ Murchison Range, and another diggings has just started near Pretoria. These are reported rich, too, and if what is said about these places is true, there is a great future for South Africa.’’ A lively scene occurred at a meeting in Invercargill of the creditors of W. T. Perkins, farmer, who has got into difficulties through connection with flour milling and the Grain Agency Company. The solicitor for the National Bank, which is the principal creditor, remarked that he could not understand the statement filed by the debtor, who remarked that he did not wonder at that, as his (the solicitor’s) head was too big, to which counsel'retorted that but for the bankrupt’s poition he would be tempted to make his head a little bigger. Perkins replied that he was quite ready for him, and had taken off his coat to many better men, At a later atage the debtor apologised to the counsel and the meeting for his remarks, Mr James Mills, in his interview with the representative of the Sydney Morning Herald, made the following statement with regard to his company:—The fleet consists of 45 steamers, the Mararoa, Manapouri, and Wairarapa bring the finest ships of their size afloat. The aggregate tonnage is 33,500 tone, and the combined strength of their engines 36,000 horse-power. Last year the ships steamed 1,490.000 miles, burned 140,000 tons of coal, of which fully one-half was quarried in N.S. W., and carried as cargo 70,000 tons of coal, all of which earns from Newcastle. Their employees afloat number 1372, of whom 804 were navigating officers and engineers, 684 seaman and firemen, and 384 stewards and oooks, All these people were Europeans, and very many of them Australian born, a number in all departments being natives of New South Wales. As the years go by. and the younger men displace the elders, the proportion of Australians perceptibly increases. Then there is the staff ashore. 150 hands at least busy with books and figures, and an army of mechanics and laborers dependent upon the company. £250,000 sterling represents the annual wages list, and 1000 tons of meat, equal to 33,000 sheep of 601 b each, is the annual consumption of meat on board the Union Company’s ships. Although in outward appearance things are very quiet in Gisborne at present, those who are capable of judging as to the future assure ua that the prospects of reviving prosperity are now more hopeful than they have been for a long time past, and it is evident that some of our oldest townsmen think so, too. The best proof of this perhaps is the magnifloent building which is now approaching oomplotion on behalf of Mr J. Whinray, cabinetmaker, Even in Us present unfinished state it is an ornament to the town, and is indicative of the faith which the proprietor has of the town in whiah ha has for many years been located. Precluding Mr Adair’s fine building and that of Messrs Graham, Pitt, and Bsnnett (end as a matter of course the Imposing structures of the financial institutions), Mr Whinray has outstripped all his fellow tradesmen in the building line, and his enterprise is deserving of success. As to ths architectural portion of the work no more need bo said at present than that Mr Finneran has control of that most important department, and ho has fully succeeded both as to usefulness and ornamentation, there being high enooniums passed upon his work, The building is of moulded brick, with stone facings, and in regard to material is the first of its kind constructed in Gisborne. As one humorous resident in the upper end of the town expresses it, 11 the upper end of Gladstone road need no longer play second fiddle to the lower part,” Wa congratulate Mr Whinray on his enterprise, owing to which Gisborne will shortly be able to plume itself on a splendid addition to its town build 0 lags., S

Mr Egeson, of the Sydney Observatory, predicts another period of rein. The fall will be heavier than that experienced in the past two rain periods, and ne advises preparations for floods.

Those who have sent in objections to the property assessment should take care and attend the Court, as it is imperative, if objections are to be upheld, that the objector should appear in person or be represented by an agent.

The immediate relatives of Americans who lost their lives in the wreck at Samoa will be entitled to pensions under the general laws. The pension is 6 dollars per month for a seaman’s widow, and two dollars per month for each child under 16 years of age. In case of widows of officers it is proportionately larger. Congress will probably also pass a special Act making a reimbursement for the effects and baggage of the officers and men lost in the wreck.

The eccentricities of Justice are quite as peculiar in Auckland as any other part of the colony. The other day a woman got a month for stealing a ham, value 10s. Some time back, it is stated, she got six months for stealing 61bs of corned meat, value Is—a month for each pound. For the repeated offence, and of greater magnitude, her sentence was less by five-sixths. A London correspondent writes:—lt will scarcely be surprising if you people in the colonies contrast unpleasantly the extraordinary fuss which distinguished patrons of sport in England (dukes, generals and notabilities galore) are making over the professional American baseball players with their absolute neglect of the amateur New Zealand footballers. I have heard the latter explained on the ground that the Maoris are too rough a lot to entertaim much socially ; furthermore, that they would not appreciate it. This may be true of one or two full bloods, but, applied to the team generally, it is libellous. Messrs Ellison, McCausland, Warbrick, and Co. are, to my thinking, far truer gentlemen than many of the basebailers who, unless common report and the ” man in the street ” belies them, can boast some howling “ bounders ” amongst their number.