The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1875.

Dunstan Times, Issue 691, 16 July 1875, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1875.

Beneath the rule of men entirely just the ri'N is mightier than the sword.

There may now be said to be an open rupture between the squatters and the people re the Heriot Hundred’s question It is doubtless very annoying to Mr John Herbert to find his newlyacquired property thrown open for occupation so soon after coming into possession of it, and, so far, Mr Herbert lias our sympathies. But the subject is one of very great public importance, and, adopting a well-worn maxim that “ to do a great right, it is sometimes necessary to do a little wrong,” we must be content to sacrifice just a small bit of Mr Herbert’s domain, that persons desirous of settling down into homes of their own upon this debatable ground, may do so with advantage to themselves and the Province at large When something like a sum of L4OOO is deposited as earnest money that people are willing to take upon themselves the responsibilities of becoming occupiers ot certain blocks of land, for which they have applied under the system of deferred payments; and while, in numerous instances, for particular blocks these applications are from five to ten to one for each selection, there can be no doubt of the bona files of the would-be occupiers. Public opinion is therefore not on the side of Mr Herbert, when he takes such strong measures as to procure an injunction from the Supreme Court to prohibit the Waste Lands Board from proceeding further in the receiving applicalions for the land from intending occupiers, as well as to set aside the Superintendent’s proclamation, declaring the land open for selection, on the very slender ground that the area is a trifle larger than what is allowed by law to be thrown open annually, in terms of the 47th Section of the Waste Lands Act. Had Mr Herbeit applied for an injunction earlier, so much might not have been said against him, but as the land has been advertised as open, for months past, and no opposi tion made until it is almost all taken up, when down swoops Mr Larnach, who is really not an immediately interested party, and procures the injunction, without even so much as giving the Waste Lauds Board an opportunity of appearing before the Court and setting out all the circumstances of the care, there can be very little commisseration felt for Mr Herbert, and he deserves nothing more than the bare compensation that may be agreed upon between himself and the Provincial Government as a salve for his loss. The continued high prices for wool have largely increased the value of station property, as well as considerably raised the price of land ; but that is no reason that the country should be preserved as a sheep pasture when it is required to provide homes and food for man, and squatters should know that they must give way before the superior demand. It is very clear that the country, where practicable, must be settled, or how are we to meet the immense drain upon it which we shall very soon lie in close contact with, to pay the interest upon the loans we have borrowed for the construction of railways, let alone the difficulty there will be to provide employment for the railways unless the land is peopled by an industrious population extracting wealth out of it, where, comparatively speaking, none was extracted before. The conveyance of the squatters’ wool to the seaboard, although it will provide a considerable item of railway traffic, will not be sufficient to keep them emploved all the year round, there must be something else, and chat can only eventuate from the land be ingdevotcd to its legitimate purposes. The squatters, as pioneers of a country, deserve our best thanks. Like every other class, they have their uses, and they should understand it was never contemplated to make them permanent occupiers of the soil, but so temporarily, until such times as it was wanted for other and more pi’ofitable purposes. Excepting towards the coast line there is not such a very vast amount of country in Otago fitted for the plough, hut what there is must be devoted to its legitimate purposes, and Mr Herbert must have known, from his own local knowledge, that when he acquired his present property he stood a very great risk of being dispossessed of it, to meet the growing demand for land, which, as an old Tuapeka resident, he could see every where springing up about him. The battle of the lands wc thought had been pretty well fought out, or, at least the difficulty had been arranged so far that it was easy of settlement by simple means, it being merely the amount of compensation to be paid. The action of Mr Herbert, or rather I that of his friend Mr Larnach, shows such is not the case, but that the squat ters are determined to be obstruc

tionists. Wo would, Jiowever, warn ;heso gentlemen that the cause of the people must pvevpil, and it is as useless to try and attempt to stay the current of settlement as to make a stream of water run up a hill.

The nomination of candidates for the office of Mayor takes place to-day, at noon. Up to a late hour last evening, the only names we heard mentioned as aspiring to the office wore those of Mr B. Naylor, the present occupant of the office ; and Mr J. D. Feraud. Messrs M'Connoehio and Tohill, contractors for the approaches to Spottia Creek Bridge, are pushing a-head famously with the work. The road, wo may expect, will be completed aud the bridge open for traffic within the contract time, six weeks. We understand that Mr Surveyor M 'Kay, with his staff, is now engaged laying off into sections the area on Mr Glassford’s Matakanui Run, the lease of which has lately been cancelled. The block surveyed, wo hope it will soon be open for occupation As to occupiers, wo have no doubt there will bo plenty. From our Cromwell contemporary we learn that the Cromwell Jockey Club have fixed upon Friday and Saturday, the Ist and 2nd of October for their Spring Race Meeting, aud that LSI) is to be run for on the occasion. From a private source we hear that the two principle events will be handicaps of L3O and L 25 respectively. John Griffith, Storekeeper of Welshman’s Gully, who was charged at the late Criminal Sittings under Clause 302 of the Bankrupty Act, 1537 with misdemeanor, was senteneed to six months’ imprisonment The Treasurer to the Dunstan District Hospital requests us to acknowledge receipt of LIO Cs, from Mr John Elliot, subscriptions from Matakanui Station. In the Government Gazette is published the full list of Justices of the Peace of the Colony, of whom there are 954. As amongst the list there are none who hold the position from year to year as Mayors of Municipalities, these included, the number will be little short of, if not over 1000. Estimating tbe population at 300,000, it will be seen that there is one Justice of the Peace for every 300 of the population. On Tuesday evening last a meeting of the Vestry of the Episcopalian Church, Clyde, ■was held, to take into consideration the question of building a new church, it being averred that the present building was not only too small for the increasing congregation, but was inconvenient aud unsuited for present requirements. Ways and means having been discussed, from which no difficulty was entertained of being able to raise sufficient money for the purpose from donations, and the sale of the present building and site, the latter being in an excellent position for a business site, it was resolved that a new church be built, and that a public meeting be convened (seeadvt.) to obtain an expression of opinion as to mode of progressing. During the meeting Mr J. Hazlett said he would be willing to give a piece of land in Sunderland street, contiguous to the Warden’s residence, as a site. The offer was accepted with thanks. As the general opinion for a long time past has been that a new building for public worship was a want, we] hope to see a full attendance at the meeting, to be held on Tuesday next. The only case in the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Clyde, yesterday, was that of Kirk v. Douglas, manager of the Pneumatic Gold Mining Co., for wages for looking after the Company’s property, now lying half submerged at her moorings’in the Molyneux. With respect to this Company we hear that summonses have been served on the whole of the up-country shareholders for calls. As we hear that the demand is to be questioned we refrain from comment. A memorial to the House of Representatives, praying that an appeal to the Constituencies should he made before any Bills “ for the Abolition of Provincial Government in the North Island ” creating such important constitutional changes becoming law, now lies at our Office for signature. The only item of mining news of particular interest is that several claims in the neighborhood of Alexandra are just upon a stand still for the want of labor. We will nor say that one hundred men coul I jump into a job, but we understand that a score or so of good men would find immediate employment in one or another of tbe claims in that immediate neighborhood. Ihe claims that occur to us being now at work are, Michael Kelt, Half-mile Gully ; Ballantyue and Co., Half-mile Beach ; Coleman and Anderson, Butcher’s Point; besides numerous others on the banks of the Molyneux between Clyde and Alexandra ; also in Butcher’s and Conroy’s Gullys. If the practice of putting amixtuieof wood and coal ashes around the stem of fruit trees and vines, particularly in the spring, were followed as a general rule, our crops of apples, grapes, peaches, &c., would be greatly benefitted in quality and quantity, and the tress and vines would last longer. 11 is not high crimes, such as robbery aud murder, which destroy the peace of society. The village gossip, family quarrels, I jealousies, and bickering between neighbors, j meddlesomeness, and tattlings are the I worms which eat into all social happiness. It is understood the Government will introduce early in the session a Bill for the consolidation and amendment of the present Stamp Duties Ant. Although the revenue will not he affected by the measure, it will, j it is believed, simplify the collection of the ' duties, aud at the same time facilitate the J transaction of business. The industrial statistics of New Zealand show that Auckland has only 111 manufac factories and works, and Otago 250, but the Auckland manufactories must be on i larger scale, for we find that they give cm ployment to 2353 male, and 40 female hands while those in Otago only employ 2GO; males, and 70 females, although, as ahead; stated, their number is double those o Auckland.

The General Assembly it is presumed will meet on the 20th instant. The Maori population of the colony is estimated at 45,470 souls, of whom 43,538 aro in the North Island. For the 7,0000 acres in the Heriot Hundred, divided into thirty-live sections, there were 725 applications by 350 applicants. Who, after this, can say there is not a demand for land t In his History of Advertisements Mr Sampson calculates that an average number of the Times contains about 2500 advertisements and the receipts from last quarter are about LIOOO a day. A number of the Daily Telegraph contains 7444 advertisements and these may he fairly calculated to produce LSOO a day, or thereabouts. Tbo Standard advertisements, it is remarked, do not fall far short in number of those in the Daily Telegraph. A San Francisco paper says :—“ One of the New Zealand flax plants ( Phormium lenax), growing in the ground in front of the I’ost-otiice, is preparing to bloom, the 11 .wer s'a'k being nearly seven feet high. The plant is a rarity in this city. Miss Jennie Nye has gone into theatrical management, and on Saturday next commences at the Royal, in Invercargdl. Mr Hoskins’s company opens in Christchurch the first week in October. According to our Tuapeka contemporary a requisition is in course of signature iu Lawrence asking Mr Horace Bastings to contest the forthcoming mayoral election, it 1 being understood that he has consented to stand if it meets with the approval of tlio ratepayers. The Melbourne correspondent of the New Zealand Times tells the following story : “We have at present a most sensational episode in criminal law. A man named Sperriu was some short time since convicted of indecently assaulting a girl, and was therefore sentenced to ten years’ hard labor and sundy floggings. He has undergone some weeks of his term of imprisonment, and has also suffered the first instalment of tbe lash. It now turns out that he has possibly been the victim of a vile conspiracy ; and the mother and daughter, upon whoso evidence he was convicted, have been tried at the Police Court, and after a patient and full examination, they have been committed for trial for perjury. The spectacle of a man suffering the torture of the lash and the pains of imprisonment, while those who brought him to such a terrible doom now lie waiting their trial for having sworn their liberty away, is sensational enough to afford ample food for gossip. A contemporary says:—Some people guage the merits of candidates for political honors by the promises they make with regard to purely local matters. But this is what that great man Burke said:—'“ Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostileiuterests, which interest each must maintain as an agent and advocate against other agents and advocates ; hut Parliament is a deliberative Assembly of one nation with one interest, that of the whole, where not local purposes nor local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed ; hut when you have chosen him. he is not a member for Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament.” The Southland Nows reports that two or thee daring, although not very extensive robberies have been committed within the past few days, and, from the methods adopted, it is supposed by experts. Among the places visited was the Court House, which was broken into and the contents of the Hospital contribution box stolen. The safe was tried, but either the appliances in the possession of the burglars were inefficient or they were disturbed in their operations. The details of the other depredations are for the present withheld in the interests of justice. The New Zealand Times of the Gth inst. has the following :—“The Otago Dai'y Tiraes’s own correspondent is at it again. In a recent issue of that journal we find a telegram from him : ‘ The Age’s report, re Sir J. Vogel’s return, finds general credence. We have on more than one occasion noticed with admiration this gentleman’s progn sc . in the art of falsehood. As usual, his latest’ effort is beyond his former works. He rises stage by stage. Beginning by inventing untruths, he improved his style into plagiarising them. Now he makes other people responsible for the inventions of himself and his fellows. His position in the social scale having its highest point in an hotel bar, and not being limited as to its lowest, he telegraphed for the community at large. The opinion he’’ might with justice claim (o represent being that of a gutter club, 1 o steps beyond the circle of bis social knowledge, and favors a tolerably limited circle in Otago with the public opinion in Wellington. To add that in doing so he disregards truth, would be a superfluous tribute to bis talents, his reputation in this way being so fully established as not to need notice. We have, however, a suggestion to him, namely, that in future he should, when sending communications of any kind, affix to them the seal of that society of which he is a member. Let him stamp them with the bottom of a pint pot. There will then be a trade mark for geuius such as ha possesses.” A correspondent residing at Ontario, Canada, in a general letter to a resident of Southland, says--" Our roads are kept up by every farmer doing so many days’ road work according to his assessment. The roads are laid off in beats, and a road-mas-ter appointed to each beat by the Council. He gets the list of the names along his boat, with the number of days each has to work, and as (soon as we get through wit;h spring seeding, we are called out with teams, ploughs and whatever is necessary and commence at one end of the beat and I work clean through sometimes two or three days over. Still it is for our own benclit ; the harder wo work we have the better road : —no tolls, only on the stone roads and cn the bridges.

tte Palmerston and Waikouaitl Times is | to bo the name of the paper that will j shortly bejpuhlished atj Palmerston. The | proprietary jhave purchased the plant and good-will of the Waikouaitl Herald. Spelling matches continue to rage in the United States, yielding lota of fun and augmenting the funds of various local charities. On A)pril "2S, in San Francisco, 300 dollars worth of prizes and the championship of California were contested for by the Sons of TemperanceJJand their friends against the Good Templars and their friends. About fifty male and female orthographists occupied the platform. Professor Knowlton propounded the questions and Messrs Reid and Holmes, Principals of the Boys’ and Carls’ High Schools acted as referees. A class was formed after some difficulty of about twenty members of both organizations, and Professor Knowlton opened fire by hurling “ cat” at the leader of the Good Templars, who Spelled it correctly amid great applause. “ Dog” next worried a Son of Temperance and was correctly given <• Guillotine” took down a Templar, and, oh, shame! “faucet” was the cause of the fall of three of the Temperance class. “Flaccid” knocked down a young lady Templar, and she' left the ranks in a limpy condition. A young man had to sit down because he incautiously spelled “ ecstasy” with a “ cy”, as given on the twenty-fifth page of Professor Knowlton’s “Champion Speller.” A young lady Templar was loudly applauded for spoiling banana without hesitation. The contestants were mowed down by such words as conch, conduit, Caribbean, connoisseur, imputrescible, ’kleptomania, nescience, myri hj, piquing, mignonette, catechumen, bdellium and belles lettres. W hen the Good Templars were floored it Was found that two Sons of Temperance remained standing. The first prize, an organ, was declared to have been won by the Sons of Temperance. Mysterious.—The following, which appeared in the Wellington Times of the 2Gtb pit, may possibly he intelligible to some of our readers:—We understand that those two distinguish provincial statesmen, Mr Dumip and Mr Hardup, have, at a meeting of dieir political friends, arranged a programme for next session, and thatresolutions to the following effect will be proposed: -1. That the power of the creditor has increased and ought to be diminished. 2. That any restriction upon, or interference with, provincial indebtedness is subversive of constitutional freedom. 3. That provincial liabilities to the colony were destructive of proper finance, and tbattheir paymentupsets all the calculations of a provincial treasurer. 4. That a Bill to compel credit and to abolish recovery of debt be forthwith in t winced. The announcement of these resolutions was received with applause, and promises of support were freely given. Mr Spendthrift, from Otago, made a long and oily speech, emphatically stating that a policy of that kind was essential to the prosperity of that province. Robert Glover, the actor, has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment at Wcl lington, for stealing blankets. The Cromwell Corporation despite the heavy drain on its exchequer for salaries and commission for the half-year ending 30th June—Ll 11 14s 9d, and sanitary purposes (scavenger), L 135 6s, for the some period —have still a balance in hand of L 287 1 Is 6d, and the sum of L 177 12s 3d due for rents and ra’cs, making a total of L 465 3s 9d ; whilst their liabilities amount to only Ll5O 4s sd. The receipts for the half-year "were rates, L 298 Os 8d ; rents, L 74 5a ; fines, L 8 Is; licenses, etc., under the Local Revenues’ Ordinance, L 255 6s 6d ; total, L 633 19s 3d. Expenditure for a corresponding period : salaries and commission, Llll 14s 9d ; scavenger, 1.135 Cs ; other public works, L 39 19s 5d ; sundries, LIIO 18s9d ; petty cash, L 5 ; total L 393 4s 3d. {For the above figures we are indebted to the Argus.) The Arrow Observer of Wednesday says : Our Cromwell contemporary is wrath because we publicly accused him of extracting matter from our columns without acknowledging it, and fains to make believe that no such literary kleptomania ever existed on his part. We will therefore charitably suppose that doctors disagree upon the violence with which this disease has afflicted the gentleman who now delights to advertise himself as the full-blown proprietor (?) of the Cromwell Argus. In looking over our files, assisted by an eminent practitioner, and one who has devoted considerable attention to kleptomaniacs, so much so that he occupies the position of a first-class sergeant among his brother Es■culapians, we find that our Cromwell friend •was suffering from his chronic disease, when a local on the success of the trout experiment at ButeTs Mill race appeared in the 'Observer. Also when an article on litho fracteur, written especially for our paper by Mr J. A. Miller, appeared in print, and especially again when the very interesting report of the Managerof the Sons of Fortune 'G. M, Company- (Mr J. A. Miller), was given through the Observer to the public. Such eccentricities as these, show our quondam friend and well-wisher to the Arrow, to be very frequently suffering from severe paroxysms of his direful malady, and unless ho finds himself getting better, we desire politely to intimate to him that in this town the hospital for diseases similar to that from which he is now suffering, has been considerably improved. It has not only "been rendered more comfortable, but the walls have been strengthened, while the chief medical attendant, the “Sergeant in Blue,” is most exemplary in his attendance to patients committed to his charge, and a guarantee of a perfect cure in one, two, or three months, and in some cases as little as fourteen days, or even less, may bo accepted with the greatest safety. We seriously recommend the quasi-proprietor of the Cromwell Argus to try for a short period the virtues of the Arrow hospital for kleptomaniacs—A ward for literary patients can be expressly prepared. The most difficult question of all.— “ Who’s your friend? ’

DU AST AN DISTRICT HOSPITAL. —o— The usual monthly meeting, adjourned from the Gth instant, was held in the Council Chambers, Clyde, on the 12th instant. Present—B. Naylor, Esq., in the chair, and Messrs Auckland, Holt, Cambridge, Clark, J. Samson, (Alexandra,) J. E. Stevens, (Treasurer), and G. Fachc, (Secretary.) The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The Visiting Committee’s No. 2 Report, recommending the payment of accounts for salaries, supplies, &c., amounting to L 77 4s 7d, was read and adopted. The Treasurer’s report, as follows, was read and received. RECEIPTS. Receipts (see advertisement) ... L 43 14 0 DISBURSEMENTS. Overdraft, B. N. S. Wales ... L 43 14 0 ASSETS. Provincial Government Subsidy for quarter ending March 31, L 139 2 1 ~ ~ ~ June 30, 53 17 6 Li 92 10 G I.IARII.ITIES, Outstanding accounts ... LI 15 11 2 Debit balance ... ... 22 11 7 The Surgeon’s report, as follows, was read and received. Number of patients in Hospital on May 31, G do. since admitted ... ... 4 do. discharged ... ... ... 4 do. remaining in house on June 30 C Mr C. P. Beck was elected member of the Visiting Committee, in place of Mr J, Hastie, retiring. Mr Samson said it has been represented to hindthat it was the rule of the Committee not to give tickets of admission to the promoters of any scheme, whether conceit, ball, or otherwise, by which funds were raised for the Institution. Ho thought smdi a course was injurious, it deterring many people from directly subscribing, or giving a helping hand to raise funds. He was induced to bring this matter prominently before the Committee by what had fallen from several of the principals in getting up the last concert and hall at Alexandra, wherel y L 22 was raised for the Institution ; in fact, he had been personally told by them that unless they received tickets they would not subscribe. A debate ensued ; a variety of opinions being expressed, some holding that the application was against all rule and should not be considered ; others, however, thought that as in all instances of the kind, the promoters or committee were at considerable loss of time and inconvenience, and in many cases, out of pocket, that they shoule be in a measure recouped. It was eventually decided that four of each class of tickets be forwarded to the Committee. The question of indebtedness by paying patients was next discussed, the prevailing opinion being that steps, and that of a stern nature, should he taken to recover. It was however, decided that the Secretary should write to all pa-ties, and M r Samson who volunteered, was instructed to wait on several parties. The meeting then dissolved with a vote of thanks to the chair.