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Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1072, 10 April 1882, Page 2

A proof of the sympathy felt in this town with Mr Jones,, solicitor, in the loss $of his youngest child, was given in the larg? aite^^nce of a number of the heading qoo_iday last. In addition to the adults, about 150 of the schoolmates of deceased were present and' paid their last token of respect by throwing flowers on the coffin when lowered into the grave. It might be supposed that firewood was scarce in the vicinity of the State School,' for the fencing both at the hack and in front is being taken away piecemeal by some petty pilferers or other, and a new fence will soon be required at the presentrate of removal. There must be some mean thieves somewhere about, for a number of small depredations have recently taken place in the same neighborhood. It is to be hoped that they may fall at an early date into the hands of the police, and obtain a compulsory introduction to the Resident Magistrate. We are glad to say, and we are sure that many will be glad to hear, that a telegram has been received by a resident from MrBowman, in which that gentleman, who is now at the Waiwera Springs, near Auckland, says that a great change for the better has set in with him. We hope soon to welcome him back again completely renovated and set up, thanks to the wonderful hot springs of the north. We naturally feel flattered at our contemporaries extracting from our columns, but when they do so, it is but right that they should acknowledge their sources of information. Some of them entirely omit this usual and fair custom, and we draw their attention to it, hoping that they will see the injustice of omitting such acknowledgement. We understand that the contract for the alteration of Antonio's track into a dray road has been , completed, and the Engineer has gone down to report on and certify to it. It will prove a great convenience to a large number of residents. Good Friday is always a sort of compound of Sunday and week day, by many being observed 'as a fast, by others as a festival. In Reefton, on the Good Friday just passsed the hotelkeepers had much the worst of it, for they were ordered to close up strictly, whilst other trades, carpenters, bricklayers, and others pursued their usual avocations without interruption. A rather remarkable instance of what is sauce for the publican not being sauce for the bricklayer occurred in a Broadway hotel. The constable sent round to compel houses to close interviewed the landlord, and told him that his doors must be closed. Whilst communicating thia information to the landlord the constable was standing within a- few feet of where a new chimney was being built, and in full view* of the workmen employed. He had no power, however, to prohibit their working, and after having metaphorically shut up the publican, went his way to another hotel where ho delivered the same message, and where above his head as he stood, carpenters were busily at work. The observance of Good Friday last, according to orthodox ideas, was in Reefton ajdecided failure, and the sooner it is left to persons to decile by their own convictions how it is to be observed the better. The rain that has been threatening for some days 'came down with a vengeance on Saturday and has continued with little intermission since. The fall has been heavy and has made the hearts of the ground sluicers rejoice, as water was much wanted by them. At the time of writing the downpour continues and seems likely to put an effectual damper on to-day's holiday. We hear from reliable authority that it is the intention of the Now Zealand Insurance Company to withdraw altogether from Reefton fire risks. Tho Company will issue no new risks, neither will they renew the policies now in force after their various terms term 3 are expired, It is also rumored that others will follow suit and those that continue to accept risks will only do so at ruinous rates. Surely if there ever was a strong argument in favor of as quickly as possible procuring a ample water supply, the determination of the Insurance Companies affords it, and the sooner a borough is constituted here the sooner this necessity will be supplied. People in business in this town can readily imagine what the result would be if Reefton be half burnt down some time or other and the owners of property are uninsured. Far more unlikely things have happoncd in wooden towns before to-day. A resident has pointed out tho great need there is for the County Council extending tho presont road to Devil's Creek up to Rainy Creek, and on to Merrijigs, thus affording great accommodation to tlio Oriental, and a number of oilier leaso

holders. Throughout the district to be traversed there aro many woll known rich gold-bearing reefs, and a road of the kind would open up a large field for labor. If it was continued to the Big River, it woiild be of still further benefit, and we hope that the Council will take the matter into their consideration at the next meeting. A Wellington boot made of patent leather and worth £3 was, recently stolen in London. It was intended as a competitor in a New Year's show of boots among the bootmakers who had offered a prize of £1 for the best made article. At Mataka the other day, a son of Mikaeri of the Ngatirangiti tribe, was severely burnt through another child settingfire to his shirt. Mrs Hill attended the unfortunate little one and did everything in her power to alleviate the pain. After, a three day t s illness the child died from the effect of the burns, and the Natives held a tangi on the remains. On the morning after the death, the child arose and said, 'I am hungry, lam cold,' greatly to the astonishment ofthe assembled tangi party. The one thai was dead is now doing pretty well, says the Bay of Plenty Times, but as usual the want of proper nourishment will probably cause a more certain death in a few days. "'i&. couple of, ladies who thought they .would have some fun on the occasion of a wedding at Castlemaine (Victoria) received a lesson which will prevent them playing any more tricks of that kind for many a day. It appears that Mr Portwine had been married in the morning, and his two sisters-in-law, who were in the house with the newly-wedded couple, took it into their heads to beat some tins in front of the building at night. Portwine, not knowing who the persons making Jhe noise were, and thinking they were larrikins, bowled a heavy stone towards the sound, with the result that it struck one of his sisters-in-law on the forehead, rendering her insensible and swelling one eye. She was taken to the Hospital and the wound sewn up, but she did not regain consciousness for some hours. An effective method of dealing with unruly pit patrons at the theatre has been adopted by the Mastodort Minstel Company recently in a northern town. Just as tlie curtain was about to" drop at the conclusion of the second' act an individual referred to threw an apple on the stage, and after the curtain had dropped several of the performers came round into the ante-room adjoining the stalls, and assaulted him somewhat severely. This is a rough and ready of enforcing orderly behaviour,, but it is only necessary when unruly persons are admitted amongst the audience. The Manawatu Times is responsible for the following : — Sidney Smith asserted that it required a surgical operation to make a Scotchman understand a joke ; but if Sidney Smith meant to assert that a Scotchman could not perpetrate a joke, then Sydney Smith libelled the sons of Scotia, and Mr Inspector Foulis in particular. During a recent visit which that gentleman — Mr Foulis, not Sidney Smith— paid, to Karerfe, . he called upon the wife of a settler, and found her seated on the doorstep with a child on each knee, and another in her arms. Following her into the house, he was about to take a seat on a sofa, when he was startled by the warning cry of " Look out for the baby." Giving it a wide berth, he retreated to the other end of the sofa, and was again about to make himself comfortable, when the watchful mother forestalled him, with "Not there, sir; Willy is there." Casting a look round, he discovered a bundle coiled up in a rocking chair, assuming that it was another atom of humanity, he exclaimed in despair, " Surely, madam, there must be a season here for babies as well as mosquitoes ; and upon my word I think the former could give the latter long odds in point of numbers." A man named Hallam, while crossing a paddock near Timaru, was terribly gored by a bull. His injuries are of a serious nature. The bull was shot by its owner. On Craig's ground, on the other side of the Hokitika river, there are nine men at work, divided into three parties of three men each. They report making 14s a day. A rental of £5 per acre per year ha 3 to be paid to the proprietor of the ground.— Hokitika Star. North, the defaulting barber, is at Santa Cruz. He keeps a shaving saloon, but drinks and gambles all his earnings. Charles Barcester, keeper of a notorious oyster saloon near the theatre, Christchurch, has been sentenced to one month's hard labor, under the Vagrancy Act, for keeping a house frequented by thieves and vagrants. Prince Roland Bonaparte has been sued by a Versailles hotel-keeper for £1,800 for the board and lodging of his mother and sister, and money lent to him. An electric storm has been experienced at Hobart, the most noticeable effect of the atmospheric disturbance being the interruption of telegraphic communication. For some hours the wires worked only intermittently, and business was thus seriously retarded. The day was exceptionally hot and oppressive, and in the evening the vivid lightning formed a magnificent spectacle, one that was almost continuous for several hours. An English paper recently contained the following advertisement: — ''Curate wanted for Epsom, Surrey ', a decided Protestant, free from Ritualistic follies; gowns used in pulpit ; no intoning ; no blasphemous hymns, no eastward position (Ezekiel vii. 2) ; evening communion ; choir not surplicod." In the Assay Office, Washington, tho monster scales are so nicely adjusted that putting two pieces of paper in tlie scale, tlie balance is turned simply by tho writing on one of them. It will, we believe, (the Nelson Mail say-:) be interjsting to h<>p-growors, and

indeed to all who take an interest in this rapidly-growing industry, to learn the quantity of hops that aro sent away from Nelson, and with this view we have applied from this port for information on the subject, which has in every case boon thost courteously supplied to us. We publish to-day these returns for the three months of the present year that have already expired, and shall for the future give monthly returns throughout the year. For January, February, and March the exports were as follows :— January. February. March. Total. 24 bales. 11 bales. IGS bales. 200 bales The value of these at Is Gd per lb, supposing the bales to average 3001bs, would be £4500. The retrenchment in the Justice Department is causing some of the country magistrates to have plenty of work. At Macraes, recently, as has been stated Mr Robinson sat beyond midnight ; whilst at Tapanui, the other day, Mr Wood, owing to pressure of business, opened the Borough Assessment Court at half-past eight, and the R.M. Court business commenced at nine. Up to Monday (telegraphs a corres pondent of the Lyttelton Times) no less a sum than £235,000 had been subscribed in Wellington alone towards the requisite capital of the Wellington Manawatu railway. Several Wellington capitalists have taken up 2,000 shares (representing £10,000) a-piece, the maximum number allowed to be alloted to any one shareholder. The total number of £4 shares now applied for is abent 47,000, and it is intended to close the list on April 17th, as applications are coming in daily, and it is considered that when 13,000 more shares are subscribed, making 60,000 in all, representing a capital of £300,000 the company will be in a position to commence operations at once, without troubling the London share market at all. The papers have lately noticed the j death of a millionaire named Wyse, who left £3,000,000 sterling. Some of it, it is satisfactory to learn, coming . Waikatowards, one lady, whose son is settled in Piako, being a legatee for the sum of £100,000, and two cousins, brothers, one in Piako, and another near Ohaupo, coming in for some £15,000 or £16,000 each. On the most curious excuses we have heard was made at the Taranaki Courthouse, when twR men were charged with fighting. The counsel for the defendants stated that they were from different countiea in England — one from Yorkshire and the other from Devonshire. An argument was entered into as to which county produced the best fighters, and to settle the matter in dispute they adjourned to the back yard and had a " friendly fisht."