The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1886. The Constabulary Force.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1295, 22 July 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1886. The Constabulary Force.

The annual report of the Commissioner of Police, Sir G. S. Whitmore, is amongst the last budget of papers we have received from the Government printer. The report it not of a very voluminous character, but the information it conveys is in every way satisfactory. On March 31, 1886, the police branch of the Constabulary Force showed a strength of 494, as against 474 last year, an increase of 20 during the term covered by the report; while the field force shows a decrease daring the same period of 170. A table attached to the report, showing the proportion of police to population and cost of police per inhabitant in several Australasian colonies, contains the following figures :

The general conduct of the officers and other members of the force appears to have been highly satisfactory. The criminal statistics attached to the report show a small decrease in the more serious and an increase in the minor offences in the North Island, and a reduced number of offences of both classes in the South Island. With regard to simple drunkenness there have been increases in the provincial districts of Auckland, Wellington, and Hawke’s Bay of 175, 144, and 44 respectively; while in Taranaki there are fewer such cases by 25, in Otago by 249, in Nelson by 31, in Westland by , 79, and in Canterbury by 96.

In the House yesterday, In the debate on the Loan Bill, Mr Iveas assailed the management of the railways of the colony. He said that hon members would hare to meet their constituents shortly and g roan »c'.ou ilof their stewardship, md now, therefore, was the time to tell : ha Minister in charge of the Public Works Department that he had not (-ffjoted the reforms that were expected if him. Lie failed to sea where the Urge* reducti in in the tariff had 1 een aide He pointed out that it w»■ a question of rates on the Canterbury rail-

ways that had displaced the Atkinson Government, and they expected ‘hat whan the new Government came into office there would be a change in this direction, but they were disappointed, as two years had goue by and nothing had been done. He was not speaking out of opposition to the Government, as the Government had no more loyal suppoi ter, Chan he bat he felt itblsduty to refer to one of the G ivernment departments, which he considered was mismanaged. He said the same evils existed now as existed two years ago, and he thought it was time this state of things should be altered. It was commonly reported that the Minister of Public Works was second in comma id. and that the General Manager had ui >re to do with controlling the departm nt than its bead. He regretted the Minister had not carried out his promise to ast .lohsh Boards of Management, as be considered some system waa required by which the wants of different districts ghould be considered.

The first sitting of the Resident Magis-1 trate’s Court recently established at Metbven i will be held at the Road Board office on Wednesday, the 26th inst., at 11.30 a.m. A football match was played yesterday afternoon, between teams representing the Tinwald School and Ashburton High School. The game resulted in an easy win for the latter. White, Doherty, Innes, Buchanan Bros., and Williamson secured tries for tha winners, whilst Todd, Clark, Armstrong, and Williams played wall for Tinwald.

It is with much pleasure wa nota that Ur Tasker, the lessee of that part of the Ashburton Domain set aside for grazing purposes, baa aeootnplished a very much-needed improvement. For grazing purposes the further side of the Domain ia divided and sub-divided into paddocks. While this was so the right of crossing the Domain still remained with the public, bnt the passage of pedestrians has never to any appreciable extent interfered I with depasturing. Stiles were erected to I enable pedestrians to cross the fences, and for a long time they remained in use; but they were a great nuisance. Mr Tasker has removed the nuisance. He has taken away the stiles and substituted neat white gates at the several points in the Domain where means of ingress and egress existed, and in addition he baa renewed a large portion ot the fencing, arming with barbed wire those parts ot the fences which were a source of trouble through the laziness or mischief of certain youths who have been in the habit of preferring to climb over the fences to going round by the stiles. The work has been done by Mr Tasker, under an arrangement with the Domain Beard, an . arrangement, we understand, satisfactory to both parties.

We would remind members of the Caledonian Society of tbe second 11 Ingleeido” meeting to be held in tbs Town Hall tomorrow evening. Tbe evening’s amusement will begin at seven o’clock, and refreshments will be served in the upper room at intervals during the evening. The good things have been kindly provided by several of the lady friends of members.

A number of Ashburton residents left by last night’s express and the early train this morning in order to attend the Grand National Steeplechase meeting held at Christchurch to-day.

$ Farmers in the Newlands district are invited to meet Mr Leadley at the schoolroom this evening for the purpose of discussing the irrigation scheme. The adjourned debate on the Loan Bill was resumed in the House yesterday and further adjourned until to-morrow. The use of the Parliament buildings was granted for the purpose of holding a conversazione in aid of a fond for the relief of tbe sufferers by the recent Rotorua eruptions. Sir George Grey again brought forward bis question with regard to appointment of Justices of the Peace and was again unsuccessful. la the Legislative Council is was decided to insist upon the Councils amendments in the Local Bodies Loan Bill,

In the House of Representatives yesterday the member for Sydenham, Mr Taylor, asked whether there are any public works within the Provincial District of Canterbury provided for on the estimates for public works contracts which could be let at once, in order that a large number of men at present out of work in that part of the Colony may be employed upon such works. The Hon E. Richardson replied that tbe matter was now under tbe consideration of tbe Government.

A meeting of those interested in the formamatiou of a Dramatic Society will be held this evening in tbs Town Hall.

The Prm says that Mr J. P, Klein, the •x.proprietor of the Evening Star, Hokitika, left that place early last week ou an explor. ing trip, through the Browning's Pass, Malvern and Bakaia districts, his object being to •olleot valuable stones known to exist in those places, lor exportation. Mr Klein, although a young man, is a good authority on preoiona atones, and he was the first to condemn the supposed Alford Forest diamonds. He is understood to have a practical knowledge of cutting and polishing, and to possess a (magnificent collection cl cabinet specimens, nearly TOO in number, obtained from all parts of the globe.

One of the severest frosts experienced in Ashburton this winter occurred last night.

The London Times, it is said, as soon as the the news reached Home of the recent eruptions at Tarawera, sent a cablegram to the proprietors of one of the leading journals in Auckland, asking them to wire a lull account of the catastrophe. That they really wanted as detailed a description as was possible is proved by the fact that the amount up to which the Auckland journalists were authorised to go for the purpose was no labs than £BOOO.

The .New Zealand Loan and Mercantile

Agency Company, Limited, has received the following cablegram from London, dated July 20th, 1886 ; —Wheat—Market steady. Adelaide is worth 35s 6d; New Zealand average 335, and New Zealand long-berried 34s per 496'bs. Tallow—Mutton tallow is in demand, and so is inferior beef, but other sorts areneg-

tected. Good mutton and beef tallows are

quoted respectively at 26s 6d and 23s per owt. Leather—Market quiet, and best sides are worth lid per lb. Frozen Meat Market depressed, and mutton market is overstocked. New Zealand mutton, of 051 b to 70lb per carcase, is worth 5d per lb, and prime New Zealand lamb 6Jd per lb.

A man named Williams was fined 20a at Auckland yesterday for a breach of the Gaming and Lotteries Act, by promoting a rattle. This was the first prosecution of the kind in the colony.

The members.oi tb r " i' y League purpose holding a mec.,„ D u, *.ung;atalatiou at the success of the movement tor ttte construction of the West Coast Hail way. A respectably dressed boy, aged nine, named Henry.Johu Humphries, was arrested at Auckland yesterday morning by Detective Walker on a charge of stealing letters from boxes in the Poet Office. Ho subsequently appeared at the Court and was remanded until Tuesday. It appears that complaints have been made lately about missing letters, the result being that a detective was put on to watch. This morning ha noticed the boy unlock one of the boxes in which there were no letters. The lad then went to another box and abstracted a letter. The detective at once took him to tha police station, where, upon making the usual search, quite an assortment of keys was found. They were of various types, one being a new patent. They were kept in a purse in which were also twenty-three penny stamps, twentynine two-penny stamps, and one shilling stamp. This is supposed to be plunder for which the boy was then searching letters.

Place. Proportion of Polios to Population, Cost of Police per Inhabitant. B. (3. New Zealand 1 to 126G S 2 New South Wales 1 to 673 6 7 Queensland 1 to 502, 8 8 Victoria 1 to 803 i 6 South Australia 1 to 718 6 6