The Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE Cromwell : Tuesday, July 21, 1874.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 245, 21 July 1874, Page 4

The Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLDFIELDS GAZETTE Cromwell : Tuesday, July 21, 1874.

Election times are now upon us ; municipal election times certainly, which may be by outsiders considered to be worthy of little notice, and likely to cause little stir or excitement. But anyone who has known Cromwell for the last seven years, and has watched the history of its municipal politics, is aware that such an opinion is far from being a correct one. Generally speaking, we in Cromwell have gloried in the excitement of a Mayoral contest ; the thing came home to us with far more telling effect than any election of perhaps tenfold greater moment. But, as we have said, we are now in the midst of a Mayoral election, and though a contest there is, yet the stir and the interest displayed of yore are awanting. And this state of affairs is so unlike what we have been accustomed to, that we are led to cast about fo" a reason for the change. Some may argue that the change is a good and healthy one; that strife is kept down, that all bitterness of feeling is allayed, and that it is for the welfare of the community that elections should be conducted quietly and soberly. But we confess we should like to see more interest shown than is displayed on the present occasion. It is perfectly apparent that the public mind is not dead ; it only sleepeth. And that very little is required to awaken it is just as apparent. The quickening it received in one short hour on the nomination day is a strong evidence of this fact. But why, it is necessary to ask, is the public mind allowed to sleep 1 The question is one which it would certainly puzzle anyone among us to answer. The reason is not that there is a dearth of subjects on which the mind of the public might and should be exercised and brought to bear, and its opinion ascertained. The contrariety of views given on the Block IX. question last Thursday shows most strongly the necessity of some measure being taken to arrive at some proper understanding on this subject, at any rate. Evidently the views enunciated by the candidates did not meet with anything like universal approval. But however opinions may differ, the grand want in the matter is some decided action one way or tha other. And this, no matter who is elected, it is to be hoped will be one of the first subjects to which our municipal rulers will turn their attention. A settlement after some fashion is pressingly required, and felt to be required. As was remarked at the nomination, the question has been too long kept as electioneering stock-in-trade ; and the strong feeling then evoked shows plainly that many among us are thoroughly sick of seeing it in that position. Block IX., however, is only oue question. There are others, which, if they do not immediately affect the ratepayers, or a portion of them, so strongly, are still of the highest importance, and regarding which it is no less necessary that public opinion should be expressed. We do not think that the present candidates have given any fair opportunity for this. They seemed to toy with the bait of office in an exceedingly dubious and hesitating manner ; and this is doubtless one of the reasons for the public apathy. Only at the last moment did either make a sign, and one of them gave as a reason for coming forward at all, that he did it to save the town from the disgrace of the Mayor's seat going a-begging, as apparently no one was inclined to seek it. That such a confession as this should have been rendered necessary, is to say the least of it unfortunate. Before the issue of our present number, the Mayoral election will be so nearly over that anything we might have to say on the subject would be behind time ; and any suggestion would be thrown away. But the elections for Councillorships remain, and to these we would like to see more animation brought, and in them some interest awakened. If we but mention the subject of sanitary reform, we do not require to do more. That is a subject which has come homo to our townspeople with a tenable meaning, and it has left a warning that none can be disposed to neglect. To the new Council will belong the duty of carrying out steps to prevent a recurrence of the disease that proved so fearful a plague, and if this were their only duty, it would be enough to incite the ratepayers to a sense of the responsibility that rests upon them choosing energetic and earnest men I to represent thein and to recover for

Cromwell that good name she has lost among her contemporaries as a town of healthy and cleanly characteristics. And we hope candidates will show a more fitting eagerness for an opportunity of taking part not only in this, but in the other important subjects that must engage the attention of the body corporate during the coining year.

Communication with the North by telegraph having been interrupted, we find no parliamentary telegrams in the Dunedin papers to hand by yesterday's mail. Sales of sections in the following townships are advertised in the Gazette to take place on Thursday, July 30 : —Cromwell, JBendigo, Newcastle, Pembroke, and Gladstone. Mr George Jenour has been appointed Secretary to the Cromwell Jockey Club. From a report elsewhere of a meeting of Committee, it will be observed that Mr Heron's hotel is to be the " Tattersall's" of the Cromwell district. By notice in the Gazette, His Honor the Superintendent notifies that he has appointed Duncan MacKellar, Esq., to be acting Provincial Secretary and acting Secretary for Land and Works during the absence of Donald Pieid, Esq., now in Wellington. The ball and supper in connection with the opening of the new Schoolhouse is to take place, we need hardly remind our readers, on Friday evening. In consequence, the Quadrille Club Committee have arranged to hold their assembly on Wednesday evening. Mr M'Eachen, photographer, has now opened his portrait rooms, and has got fairly to work, in the building between the Bank of New Zealand and Mr Lindsay's blacksmith's shop. His portraits are certainly above the average as regards finish and general excellence, and as his prices are very reasonable, no doubt he will be well patronised. The Dramatic Club have decided to give their first entertainment in about three weeks. The proceeds, we understand, are very generously to be given to the funds of the local Hospital. This alone will secure a good attendance, but judging from' the exertions the performers are making to perfect themselves in the pieces to be played, the entertainment will be a highly pleasing and successful one.

4t the last meeting of the Waste Lands Board in Dunedin, " the Superintendent recommended the following appointments bv the Board :—Mr A. D. Harvey, Receiver of Gold Revenue at Clyde, to conduct the land sales shortly to be held at Roxburgh, Ettrick, and Blacks ; Mr B. R. Baird, Receiver at Cromwell, to conduct the land sales there ; and Mr A. R. Mackay, District Surveyor, the sales at Clyde. Approved."

A certain town clerk of a neighbouring township—(we have it on good authority)—who was in receipt of something like £SO a year, and who wished to g->t it somewhat increased, adopted the plan of asking his brethren in other municipalities as to what they were receiving. Amongst the replies forwarded to him wis one from a civic dignitary holding a similar appointment in a town not a hundred miles from Cromwell, which was to the following effect: "Twenty-five pounds a year ; ' pickings' increasing it to £125 ; —and too d d little for the work.—Yours, &c, B. B."

The Local Hospital Committee held a meeting on Wednesday evening last. The rrvun business was the matter of fixing on a suitable site for the erection of the Hospital buildings. Two sites were proposed, tbe one out on the flat immediately under the terraces, close to where the heavy break has occurred in the water-racea running along the terrace ; the other on the bank of the Clutha near Deadman's Point, where a block is put aside for Hospital purposes. On a, ballot being taken, six voted for the former site, and five for the latter. The former was therefore fixed upon. It was decided to invite designs from Mr Burwell, architect, Queenstown, for a building, the cost not to exceed £9OO.

Some little talk has been occasioned by the action of the Town Council at their last meeting, in leasing to Mr M arshall the vacant piece of ground between the Council-chamber and the office of this paper. A kind of impression had certainly arisen to the effect that the ground was not for disposal, but it is hard to say what cause there was for an impression of the sort. Mr Marshall may certainly consider himself lucky in getting possession of it so quietly, and on such easy terms. Anybody had the same chance probably, but he is lucky because he took advantage of it. Others are now beginning to cast longing eyes on the vacant allotment on the opposite side of the Chamber ; but how the Town Council in their wisdom may see fit to deal with it is hard to say.

Consternation was occasioned among dogowners last Wednesday. On that day, some eighteen of the residents in the town were summoned by Sergeant Cassels for non-compliance with the law as regards registration. The sergeant by no means made fish of one and flesh of another, for the worthy Mayor and one or two of his Councillors were summoned. There was quite an excitement on the subject on Friday morning last, when the cases came on for hearing. The Town Clerk came in for a good deal of abuse in connection with the matter, but .apparently his conscience didn't trouble him greatly, for he smiled most benignantly as citizen after citizen was called before the Bench. The defaulters got off pretty lightly, but the Magistrate declared he would not rob the Corporation exchequer another time, but inflict the full fine of £2. We have been told of rather a good joke in reference to the summoning part of the business. The sergeant took part of the summonses to one of the local J. P.'s, and part to another, apparently being determined to show no favour anywhere. As it happened, both the J. P. 's were defaulters, and each was mightily tickled with the ■ conceit of signing a summons for the other, of course, also, taking the hint to register as soon as possible. The feelings of both underwent a rrtpid change when the sergeant presented their I respective summonses, however.

The inquiry into the burning of the stacks at Corao Villa farm, near Alexandra, was adjourned until Monday, 20th instant, to allow <of the return of Mr Oliver, the proprietor, from Dunedin. The evidence already given is greatly against the likelihood of the fire being accidentally caused, and one person is. sworn to have ■said that he " was told three months since a match was to be set to it, 1 ' meaning the crops in stack.

A;s will be noticed by our Dunedin telegram, they have had a severe snowstorm downcountry. Here the snow was not very heavy on the flat, but on the hill 3 an enormous quantity has fallen. Mr Kidd's mailman, whoso weekly trip to the Nevis should have taken place yesterday, had to return afler reaching nearly the top of the Carrick Range. The snow was not, however, so deep as to render the journey impossible, but it was falling so thickly that he 'could not see the road or anything in the way of a land-mark to guide him, and. therefore he had to retrace his steps.

The Secretary of the Cromwell District 1 Hospital desires to correct a misapprehension Avhich appears to exist among the residents of the 'district around Cromwell to the effect that there is a desire to monopolise the management of the institution by residents in Cromwell. He wishes it understood that the present committee is only temporary, and for the special purpose of raising funds and selecting site for building, &c, but *that as soon as the institution shall be fairly started, the members of committee will be elected Tsy the subscribers, thereby giving every portion ■of the district equal facilities for representation. The arrival of the Sussex, with, close on •'509 souls on board, put the Immigration authorities in Dunedin in a fix, as the accommodation .provided in the barracks was more than occupied lay those who arrived in the three Home ships a •day or two before. Over 1500 have been landed here this week, being the largest number yet poured into any port in the Colony in a similar 4ime. Seventy or eighty will be sent to Milton. It is impossible to say how the rest will be dis•tributed, as they cannot be quartered hi the Barracks. Complaints are being made that the 'Government are pouring immigrants in too fast.

The Soutliem Cross, in alluding to the probable resignation of Judge Arney and Judge •Chapman, remarks : —" On the retirement of ■Judge Arney it is understood thai the seat of ithe Chief Justice, to which Judge Johnstone will succeed, would be removed to Wellington, instead of being in AuckUnd as at present. An arrangement, made by the Stafford Government, some years ago, provides that the AttorneyMr Prendergrast, will receive the offer •of the lirst vacant judgeship. The name of Mr Gillies, the member for City West, has more "Jthan once been mentioned as that of one who may be a judge."

To judge from the local Press, Dr Carr's (opening seance at Invercargill does not appear to have been very well attended, and the doctor iwas evidently disappointed. He.was not slow to say so either, and to add that after an abseuce •of over three years, during whichint«rval he had been well reported of throughout the' colony, he lhad deemed a warmer welcome due. In his happiest manner he went on to say that his <efforts would yet command audiences to his mind, and that " they would have to come, even af in order to make them it were necessary that he should mesmerise the whole of the city of Inyercargill.'"

A Cromwell correspondent of 'one of 'the Coroinandel papers lias the following to say >e mceruing the Cromwell Company's claim : ""■ At Beudigo all things remain as they were, our •claim, the Cromwell, maintaining its rich character ; but we are working on too primitive a scale, ■a, ten head battery aud only water.enough te Ikeep it going half ite time; no winding or pumping machinery, but doing all the winding by Worses, with whips aud whlins. This for a mine that possesses a reef four to five feet thick, and yielding steadily from six to seven ounces to the ton, and the reef proved for nearly nine hundred 'feet in length, driving and sinking still being (continued, ahditsrich character still being maintained, is mere playing at mining. If it were vigorously worked, it is the Nonpariel of New Zealand, as far as has yet been brought to light."

The following paragraph, which we find 3n an exchange, may be looked upon as of interest just now, taking into consideration the Tecent excitement on the dog registration question :—" According to the Auckland law the owner of any premises is liable for any unregistered dog found upon them, whether his own or not. One energetic member of the police force provision of the law ta,effect in the following manner :—Sauntering easily along the streets he perceives a collarless dog basking in the sunshine heedless of municipal police ordinances and city by-laws. The constable walks stealthily up and applies his foot to the animal's hinder parts, and watches the effect. Naturally -enough the terrified brute bolts on to the nearest premises, and then fortified by the extraordinary provisions of the Act which makes the person on whose premises a dog may be seen responsible for its existence, the constable forthwith lays an information, and obtains a conviction with costs."

A Donnybrook Fair scene on a small scale was enacted on and about the Railway Pier, Port Chalmers, on Tuesday night. The ship Caroline, with all her immigrants on board •excepting the single women, had been berthed at the Pier in the morning, and that the immigrants were permitted to remain on board all night, instead of being sent to Caversham, cannot be regarded in any other light than that of an error of Judgment on the part of some one or another. Either the immigrants should have been sent to town, or the ship oaght to have remained in the stream away from shore until time suited for the removal of those on board her. As it was, the " boys" went on shore and fraternised with the crew, and, drinking a great deal more than was good for them, the excitement thus engendered found vent in a tremendous hubbub that extended far into the night and gave the Police a great deal of trouble to quell. One of the men engaged in the affair met with an accident which resulted fatally, he having fallen into the water between the vessel and the Her when going on board, and having died next morning from the effects of his immersion.— Daily Times.

Mr Reynolds has given notice of his intention to move that the Souse go into Committee of Ways and. Means to consider the following proposition .•—-''That after the Ist of July, 1873, tlio duty ou Colonial distilled spirits be 7s ; after the Ist July, IS7C, Ss : and after the Ist July, 1877,95."

Mr Simpson, the Resident Magistrate, gave a ruling in connection with one of the unregistered dog c.xses heard on Friday, which lays down a principle directly contrary to what has been the usual custom of the police in collecting the tax. One of the defendants put in the plea that his dog was not six months old at the beginning of the dog-year, namely, in April, The police argued that this was of no consequence ; the law was that the registration-fee must be paid whenever the dog reached the age of six months, no matter how short a time that might bo previous to the Ist of April. The Magistrate, however, sustained the plea of the defendant; and observed that the injustice was patent if a person was required to pay for a dog in (say) February, and then again so soon as April. The police stated that this had been their constant practice, and they would make enquiries at the head of the department in Dunedin as to whether it would not be necessary to alter it.

Mali Hoy is the successful tenderer for constructing a dam for the Bannockburn Water Race Co. The amount of the tender was originally £297 10s., but £3O was taken off by the tenderer in consideration of the Company waiving the necessity of " sodding" at the back of the dam. Several tenders were sent in, of which Ma Hoy's was the lowest; the tenders ranging upwards as high as over £SOO. The dam is to be situated between Smith's and Pipeclay gullies, Bannockburn, and is to be a work of considerable magnitude. The width at the foot of the wall is to be thirty-five feet, and the wall in the highest part is to be twelve feet high. The culvert in it is expected to cost over £SO. At present there are to be eight and a third chains of wall, but when the dam is extended as proposed, there wiU be fifteen ; and then the height of the wall will be seventeen feet; so that ultimately this will be by far the most extensive dam in the district. The wall is to bo sown with grass seed, a fence is to be erected rouud the dam, and the enclosure planted with forest trees. It is also intended by the Company to erect a stone cottage for the manager, and in short to make this locality the "head centre" of operations.

Poor Mi T. L. Shepherd is already, thus early in the session, falling in with his usual fate, —becoming the butt of newspaper correspondents. The Wellington correspondent of the Guardian has the following to say about him : "Theirrepressible ' Smiler' has lost no time in coming to the front with his Goldiields Bill once more, it being understood to be a revised and improved edition of that of last year ; and Mr C. O'Neil is to ask the Government to-day why they have not fulfilled their promise of preparing and circulating, prior to the opening of Parliament, a Goldhelds Bill of their own. Judging from the Notice Paper, which is principally monopolised by the hon. member, the 'Smiler' is determinel that his light shall not be hid under a bushel, any more than in former sessions, as he is evidently aspiring to the position of the leader of the Opposition ; and much surprise has been expressed that he should have been the one to have sought to introduce the 'inevitable' Otago Waste Lands Bill, seeing that Mr Donald Reid now holds the position of Provincial Secretary of Otago, and that the Bill itself is supposed to emanate from your Provincial Council."

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS,

[from our own correspondent.] D U N E D I N. Monday, 2 p.m. The whole of the Ward and Chapman correspondence has been published, and the publication shows that the Daily Times telegrams bear close resemblance to originals. A Select Committee has been appointed to enquire into the matter, and also as to how the Times became possessed of their information in regard to the affair. The Government opposed the motion, but did not go to a division. The Government proposal to increase the duty on Colonial-made spirits was carried by a majority of 3G to 25. The motion was opposed by nearly all the Otago members. The Government havftpromised to refer to a Select Committee the question of compensation to distillers, as the industry was started under the belief that the duty would remain as first settled.

The services of Messrs Beal and Warren (of the Bank of New Zealand) and Mr A. W. Morris have been secured by the directors for positions in the new Colonial Bank. The appointments are generally considered as of much importance in connection with the interests of the Bank.

A heavy fall of snow took place in Dunedin last night and to-day. It is the heaviest fall known for the hist fourteen years. William Bartlcy, barrister, Auckland, son of the Hon. Mr Bartley, formerly Speaker of the Legislative Council, has shot himself. The supposed cause is low spirits induced by expectations of another attack of asthma, from which he suffered greatly. Messrs Brogden's steamer, the Patterson, and the Eliza Mary have boon wrecked on the spit, New Plymouth. The former was insured for L.5000, but the owners value her at L.14,000.

■ ❖ Tuesday. 10.36 a.m. The Supreme Court case, Henry Dawson v. Brace Herald, an action for libel, in which damages were laid at L.IOOO, was tried yes-

terday. A verdict was given for the plaintiff for L.50.

The Agent-General by telegram dated 3rd Juno to the Premier, states that he has despatched ships with immigrants as follows : For Auckland, 430 ; for Wellington, 870 ; for Otago, 1370; for Canterbury, 1400, making total number of immigrants shipped in last six months, 21,400. Alexander Brown, charged with incendiarism at Auckland, has been acquitted. A Westport telegram states that Mrs Carruthers, wife of the Town Clerk, committed suicide by jumping into the river. She had been drinking the same day. The Daily Times of Thursday last says a correspondent telegraphed to them from Wellington the previous evening as follows : " The Goldfields members generally endorse the action of the Government in advising his Excellency to disallow the Repayment of the Gold Duty Ordinance, for the reason that the profits would probably have passed into the coffers of the Bank, and that it would have caused the permanent retention of the gold duty." The Goldfields members are endeavouring to throw out the Mining Bill.