Untitled

Dunstan Times, Issue 1223, 7 August 1885, Page 2

By reference to advertisement fa another column it will lie seen that the second monthly sale at Alexandra will be held on Saturday, the 22nd of August, The attention of the business men in the district is drawn to the advertisement calling for tenders for supplies to the Dunstan Pistrict Hospital for the term ending 12th January, 1836.

The first prosecution in Clyde under the Police Offences Act for allowing horses to roam at large in the streets 'occupied the attention of the Resident Magistrate on Tues* day last, resulting in a fine of 2s 6d and 7a costs. Mr Hickson. R.M., said it being the first case he had had brought before him he would minimise the fine, but it was well to be known that under the Act the penalty could be as high ae LlO.

It is our painful duty this week to record the death of the wife of Mr John Richards, who for many years carried on business at Bannockburn, and which took place on Monday last after a brief illness. The deceased lady was highly respected, as was testified on Wednesday afternoon by the largo concourse that followed her remains to the Cromwell cemetery.

The death of Mr Arthur, Chief Surrey or, of Otago, is announced. The deceased gens tlemau will be remembered by many residents in this district.

By the new regulation under the “Mines Act,” d e ging claims are limited and are not to exceed 30 chains along the course of any river. We had thought that Mr Larnach was to have encouraged mining, but if that is enenurag* jnent, we do not know what strangling means, as it is not at all likely that any individual or company will go to tho expense of thousands of pounds in the con iL> ue'iou of a dredge for so insignificant a claim as 6 0 yard*.

As tb o Gaming and Lotteries Bill finally passed both Houses, it comes into operation on tiro Ist November next This Bill allow* 6s sweepstakes on racecourses, provided that the total does not exceed L 5,

The SUSteine newspaper gives an account of an audacious swindle committed in that town at the house of M, Gaucher, the receiver at the railway station. A man presented himself during M, Gaucher’s absence, and informed his wife that he was a detective, and that her husband having been arrested as a coiner, he had to search the house and seize the furniture. After searching in a wardrobe he sealed up the door and left, telling Mile. Gancher that he would render her personally responsible if the seals should be broken. At breakfast time M. Gancher returned home and found his wife in tears. She upraided him with having been guilty of coining false money j and M. Gancher, on hearing of what had passed during his absence, broke the seals on the wardrobe and found that a sum of 350 francs was missing. The police are endeavouring to trace the atrocious thief. The enormous quantity of 6‘127,522 acres of the best land of the Colony is held by 218 private individuals and 17 companies. Not bad this for a young and struggling Colony attempting to grapple with the problem of depression! Most of the land enumerated above is'of first-class quality> and close sea, river, or railway. A tax of Is per acre on this land would yield a nice sum, and would go a long way towards relieving the straitened finances of the Colony. The following are! the total amounts of money received from the Government by the County Councils during the year ended March last. Rates on Crown and Native lands, L 21,616 ; receipts from lands sold on deferred pavments, L 5.245 ; goldfields re* venue and gold duty, 137,304; fees and fines under the Financial Arrangements Act, L 1,399; grants under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, L 92.272; special grants 1.48,579; other receipts from the Government, L 9712. Total, L 216.129,

The Ve i ling ton “Press,” in an article headed “ The Beggars Petition,” gives Sir Julius Vogel a good wigging. It accuses him of dishonestj, and points out that his claim has already been considered by the House and rejected by an overwhelming majority. When notified to that effect by Sir John Hall, Sir Julias acknowledged the perfect fairness with which his claims had been tried, and, at that time, regarded the decision as final. “ Farther to grant his prayer,” says ,the “Press.” “would be to brand Sir John Hall as a swindler and the House of Representatives as an assemblage of rogues and fools.” Pretty hard- hitting this ; but nothing more than is perfectly justifiable underjthe circumstances, and the “ Press ’’ deserves the thanks of all true colonists for exposing worked-np jobs like the claim of Sir Julius Vogel He has long enough bled the Colony to suit his own private ends; but if he would agree to quit the Colony for ever and take no further hand in manipulating its finances, L 6.000 would be'a cheap price to pay in order to get rid of him. lu answer to a remonstrance on the part of Mr Robert Wilson, of Dunedin, against the atthu le of the Otago members of the Cabinet the Hon. Mr Larnach has given that gentleman a little bit of his mind by means cf a telegraphic reply, which coo* eludes as follows “ The Government are not going to sacrifice the interests of tne colony in aoy arrangement they come to tor any public works. Yon had better go to sleep, or go away for a few months, and get rid of the cobwebs that aoparently are gathering about your caput.” - Commenting on Mr Laruach’s telegram to hlr Robert Wilson, the ‘ Oamaru Mail’ says:—lt Otago Central cannot proceed withontthe making of so unholy and ruinous a concession, then let it be stopped. The people have been now afforded a peep [behind the scenes which should fill (heir minds with a feeling of utter disgust. The Otago Central Railway, says, in effect the high authority we have quoted, cannot be constructed unless by a system of .log-rolling which must be renewed year after year, as votes are required to carry it on. The intention is too imperfectly disguised to escape detection. The Otago Central Railway must be bolstered up by the peipetuation of the most abhorrent knavery that ever cursed a State—the votaries of two rehemes for robbing the public combine to help one another —the public’s pockets are to be rifled by a set of conspirators, who are headed by a Canterbury newspaper and a Minister of the Crown, whilst the whole Administration views the situation unmoved by a single manly feeling. Wo can only hope that the designs of these men will be frustrated, and that a Ministry who have acted so traitorously as not to at once wash their hands of the whole affair, instead of temporising with a view to personal advantage, will bo driven from office. We could not fare worse under another Atkinson Administration, and there is a possibility that we would be fortunate enough not to be able to get any Administration at all. With a Government the Colony has drifted towards ruin j without one, it might be arrested on its journey to such a disastrous goal.” A case believed without a parallel in this colony has just been decided on the Thames goldfield. Some months ago a young and bnxom Maori damsel, one of the wifes of an educated Native chief named Taipara, who occupies a beautifully furnished house of twenty rooms in the suburb of Parawai, wh discovered to have had illicit relations with two young aboriginals. Thej guilty trio were brought before a properly constituted Maori Committee, and each of them was fined L3O. The unfaithful spouse and one of the men paid their fine in cash, and the other culprit gave Committee a promissory note for the amount. When the bill became due the money was not forthcoming, and the chairman of the Committee there* upon sued the man for thh amount. The case was heard in the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Thames, before Mr 11. Kenrick, R.M., and two Native Assessors, and judg. meat was given for the plaintiff with costs. It is understood that the whole of the fines go to the injured husband.