The Inagahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1881.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 14 March 1881, Page 2

The Inagahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1881.

%,!R» local Fire Brigade mattered for inonl|ly practice on Friday evening last, and we were glad to observe a very marked .improvement fnVthe attendant of memberi. It is evident tbat quite a new life bag been given to tbe brigade as fbown by tbe seem* ing sest. with which the practice was eondaoted by the firemen, one and all. Captain Cbllings is fo be congratulated upon the success of his efforts to place the organisation upon, a healthy and effective footing, and tbat be is so enthusiastically supported by the memberi ip the liest possible guarantee of tbe permanency of the change, which has been bought about. ! - " Government Inspector of Machinery niched Beefton on Thursday evening last, and baa 'Mnoe been engaged overhauling;, tbe engines and boilers in .the district, preparations are well advanced for . the coming races, under the auspices o( the Boatman's Jockey Club. The r^ga-gauise in Mr M'Ginley's paddock hns been greatly improved since last year, and the turf is now everything that could be cjesired. Tbe number of nominations for the Club's cup, together with the known entries for the other items on the programme, complete the assurances of good sports. The interest which some of our townspie manifest in the welfare of tbe Fire Brigade, is only excelled by the freedom with whioh they purloin and appropriate to their private use the buckets whioh were placed on the stands, at tbe public expense, for use in case of fire. At the Bridge-street stand, eight out of the twelve buckets have been stolen, and it is said are in daily doroestio use jn the neighbourhood. It is only the other day in a neighbouring town that a widow woman with a large family re* ceived a months' imprisonment, for stealing a fire brigade bucket from one of the street stands, but it would appear that in Beefton the line of "respectability " is not drawn at larcenied buckets. ; The contractors in this Low Level Tunnel on Saturday last encountered a great, flow of water at the face. It is jhought that the influx proceeds from an ofd drive overhead which was pu£ in some years ago by the Scandinavian Company. \ T^e much needed change In the weather took plaoe on Friday night, and\the rain continued without interruption until yesterday morning.. Owing to the rapid \ rise of the Little Grey af Devery's Terrace, tjie^up coach wit bailed up on Saturday evening, and did not come through until yesterday. TheLiangahua river at Beefton was not swollen to any great extent, but we learn that the Left* hind Branch was in strong flood on Saturday afternoon, and the repairs to the sti spent sign bridge not being completed, all commas nication with Boatman's was cut off. Eight shillings was added to the Fire Brigade funds on Friday evening last, in fines upon absent members. i. ■ .. o- .••; ••■••■ The census enumerators for the Beefton district will commence the distribution of the papers to-day. The papers are to be filled up on the night of the 31st instant. Ai very laughabje event happened in Smith's paddock yesterday, A number of intending competitors in the forthcoming foot-races were taking their daily exercise, and amongst the many spectators present were several Chinamen. At tbe close of the training a number of amateurs started racing round the course, and one young man who evidently " fancied himself " not a little, after doing a spin, wen tT up to the Obinamen and challenged one of the number to run. John at first declined, but being hardly pressed by the challenger, who counted on a certain win, £be Chinaman eventually yielded, and divesting himself of all superfluous clothing, he stepped into the ring looking as ferocious as a buck rat, while his European

opponent wore a smile of confident success. A good start was effected, but John rapidly drew ahead, and in spite of the most desperate exertions of his opponent, won the race hands down, amidst the greatest storm of applause ever heard on the ground. That young man went homejtbe back way, and last night when the people in church looked round and saw the empty pew, they just winked at each other. The weekly scraping up at the Welcome battery on Saturday last 'gave 851o» of amalgam, from 110 tons of stone. The general cleaning up will take place on Wednesday fleifcr-'.. '" ■-'■-... /-■.., ....:':^:r: The monthly meeting of the hospitat cornr mittee will beheld this evening, at 9 o'clock Waimate, Canterbury, has subscribed £40 toJPaimeirs. defence, fund. . . . ._.. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company hare paid £27,000 for a site in Collins street for a wool and grain warehouse. . i .! ""'■■■' < v OOru r ' Lieut. Paynter, of Stoke, Nelson is for the second time Champion shot of New Zealand, winning with a total in four matches of 269 ; Hutchison took second place with 261 ; Sutton, 259; and Hoskins 268. Armstrong, of the Thames won the Carbine Belt. j^^JJJMßneade. Bill read a first time in the he maintenance of efflcint fire brigadssby the insurance companies, jjayment of salaries, and contributions upon a' scale according to the gross amount held at risk. Returns are to be made annually, showing amount held at risk by any Company on the. preoeding 31st less the turns ire-insured with other offices, at* tested s in default (he company'il rendered liable to a fine ot £5 for everyday during which the default pontjnues. As the last train from Ashburton to Timaru recently reached the Bangitata, a great deal of commotion was caused in one of the carriages by a child dying in its mother's arms. The child wap ten month's old, and it was the daughter of a Mr Bobinson, then travelling with hjs wife out. journey from Napier to Dunedin. The child had been suffering from : an attack of dysentery, but it was not considered dangerously ill. Ita sadden and unexpested death distressed its parents^bejond description, and great sympathy was* felt for them by the other passengers in the train* An inquest was held and a verdict of ' Death from natural causes ' was returned. "- • The Press generally is discussing the question of Mr Stput being chosen as leader of the Opposition in the Blouse of Representatives. No one who has had experience of Mr Stouts leadership of tfee Grey Government in 1879 can deny bis ability, or question his argumentative power and wide range of political knowledge. But, it is at least equally certain thaf he makes political enemies all round him. That he snubs and sneers at those who venture to differ from him, and provokes parliamentary opposition by his special pleading, which is always that of an advocate blind to the force of any arguments adduced on the other side. In a word, an able 'but unpleasant leader to follow, and one whose legal training has marred, though it nay have helped to make his oaseeg. We (Hawera Star) hardly ever heard him state a. political case with fairness and impartiality. 41 Cambria " in the Auckland Free Lance says :— I saw a paragraph in one of the papers the other day referring to the rapid growth of coral reefs. Most people are under the impression that these coral reefs are the production of insects. Scientific men say so. But nobody has ever seen the insect. Then again the coral protuberances when they first appear are so soft that you can cut them as easily as cheese. At that early stage they are utterly unfit to be the habitations of any organized beings. The fact is, the white coral of the Pacific is a vegetable and nothing else. It is a hard kind of fungoidal growth upon the lips of the craters of submerged volcanoes. The craters in the moon are coral islands left, dry by the rush of waters to the opposite hemisphere when the rotation was suspended by coming into too great proximity to the earth. Bring me a pickle bottlo full of coral insects and I'll eat them without pepper or vinegar. Near Amecameca, where there is a congregation belonging to the. diocese of the Bishop of the valley of Mexioo (Bishop Rtley), a French archaeologist, has made some important discoveries which may illustrate the history of Mexico before the Spanish conquest, he having found two ancient cemeteries of the Cbichemecas. One has been discovered on the volcano Popo* oateptl, and is called Tenenepanco, and the other on the volcano. Ixtaxihuatl it called Apatlatepitonoo. M. Desire Charnay states that he found the latter at 3000 metres above the level of the sea, and that on excavating the ground he discovered earthern plates, cups, vases, idols, &0., at a depth of half-a--yard. He says that the valley of Apatlate* pitonco is like that of Rasselais, and is surrounded by a circle of rocks which separate it from the outer world and hang down from the immense snow mountain in such a manner as to render the place in most spots inaccessable. The road to it is some* thing really frightful, hence the unfortunate Indians who fled frpm Spanish tyranny could not have ohpsen a better place of refuge or more secluded retirement. Not only was a burial ground discovered here, but evidences that the site had been inhabited by Aztecs for a cpasicerable time after the conquest. The ©ablin .Mansion House Relief Com* mittee has Jisj^d- its balance-sheet The total amounj^^iTed 1 was £181,655 9s Id, of which Austttnja' alone: sent £62,875 ? » the amount received from Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand having been £94,022. There remained a balance in hand of £3 113. The total expenses of the fund, including the cost of printing pamphlets and appeals, was £4673. Grants of £150 each were made to the families of Doctors Robinson, Ponovan, and Greely, who had died of fever caught while discharging their duties as dispensary doctors at Skibe.reen and Ornamore, and the following resolution was passed:-" That the Committee be adjourned tine die] that the

balance of the fund be invested in the following nine gentlemen : -The Lord Mayor, Sir G. B. Owens, Alderman Tarpey, David Drutnmbnd, William Lane Joynt, Charles Kennedy, Colonel Davernon, T. M. Hutton, V. B. Djllon, jun., bb trustees, with full power to wind up the business of the Committee, to receive any other donations to this fund that may come to hand, and to pay all debts due or which may accrue in connection therewith, and to devote the balance a 9 speedily as practicable to the erection of boat slips, and the purchase of boats and fishing gear for distressed flsherxen on the western coast, of Ireland, according to their discretion, and to incur any tfiperirtiture they think necessary for carrying out this object. 1 At the outbreak of hostilities in Zululand, ttien colonel Sir G. Pomeroy Colley, C.8., 0. M. Or- was private secretary to Lord Lytton, Governor-General of India, and in that capacity it was generally understood that he was largely responsible for the direction of the Viceroy's general policy, particularly in Afghanetan, and was the guiding spirit of the military operations during the first campaign there. After the Isandula disaster Colonial Pomeroy Colley volunteered for service in South Africa, and was appointed chief of Sir Garnet Wolseley's aK. S. I, and promoted Msjor-General. In February of last year he was chosen to succeed Sir Garn>t as Governor of Natal, and Administrator of the Transvaal. The appointment was viewed with marked favor by the English. Indian and Colonial Press. Sir George's experience of Cape affairs was long and varied. He commenced his employ* ment there ej||iubaltern of the Cape frontier Rifles during %c troubles with Kreli in 1858^69, and as a magistrate he was employ* ed in conjunction with Colonel Gawley, of the 73rd Regiment, in suppressing a Basuto revolt. Since then he was twi<w in Natal —first with Sir G. Wolsely at the time of the Lsngalibele commotion, and last year as before stated, us chief of Sir Garnet's staff. Tfte following is a certified translation of a protest from some of the leading chiefs of Poverty Bay relative to the wholsale manner in whjch Mr W. L. Beet is squandering away the lands which he deluded the natives into convey ing to him intrust. The protest re* fe*red to was forwarded to, Mr Matthew Pripe, Trust Commissioner, Gisbprne, and read publicly in the Resident Magistrate's Court, in Mr Bees' presence, on Monday last : — [tb^kblation.] " Mr Price, Commissioner, " Friend,- -Salutions | This is a word from us, the people of the Crown Grants of Ifaraejaba, Te Kuri, Pakowai, tod the Kopua Blocks. We condemned Mr Bees' sale of the Maretatana and other blocks conveyed by 111 to him, in trust, in order that he might manage them for our benefit. Stay, his management is bad, his work as trustee is not right. He has plundered, us of our lands. These acts were by no means upright jwe have been deceived by that Pakeha lawyer. Sufficient; Our word to you is, do not give your certificate. to Jrisyleeds selling our lands. — Frqiti us, the people of Ngaitahupo tribes. From Ihakl Ngartngione, v Matenga Reweti, Rutena Kewa, Raihania te Aopapa, Homiona Riri, Mita Puku, Era Pohatu, Hemi Waaka, j Hirini te Ratu, and others." j