Ashurst Notes

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 125, 14 April 1891, Page 3

Ashurst Notes

' .. (FROM OUR OJWN CORRESPOirDENT.) - V Good Evening; Mr Editor, quite cold autumn weather one, is it not ? It is, the air bites absurdly, niy lord. Yes, } it is an eager and nipping air; We feel - it is so in this Hamlet, it Shakes— pears, and applesi from our trees^ Many sorts of apples ttiat should hang another month . yet are dropping^pflf. l / . >; :- - Here's a modern example of Msop's bundle of sticks— Some" of the settlers on i the Pohanginaliave to g6;aboull2 uiiles | up stream ahcl cross 23 "fords.. These good"^3lows\ have banded" together and are eattingbridle tracks by the side of the riyer, to make the road shorter ; they expect to be 1 able to reduce the number of :~ fords to be crossed by nine. The road on the river bed for miles up is well worn, . and solid as a macariemised road. The emount of traffic would surprise you. Mr Palmer has sent a petition, signed by the residents of our end of the Harbor Board Block and Valley road, to the Post Office Authorities, praying_ that a • branch post office be opened; in his store. Our potato crops are not good this year, some on dry soils give promise of a good , yields but in the majority of cases the "Btrength of the plant -seems to have gone into the haiilm, leaving" the roots small, and when the ground is heavy, rotten tubers are fotind even now. This will / account for the present low price— the value of the mam crop from dry' soils should be greater. '■'■:'■''■■■ ■..;'■'.-.■. ...-. " The railway is already benefiting us in rather an uulooked-for-way. Matai fire- : . wood is being supplied to the Longburn Freezing Works. One would hardly think it could be delivered such along way and pay for doing. ; _ A tourist from the Empire City stayea here this Easter (I- might mention, by-:the-way, that he brought the first bicycle :• by rail to Ashurst). In tbecourse of conversation,'he said that a certain Welling-. .-■■ ton paper had been writing about the large sum of money the Queen of England receives every year. There is a good deal of misconception..- on this subject. Many. ■■ -a commoner, many ; a noble, in England has a greater revenue than the sovereign' - -of that Empire on which the sun never •sets. • Many a New York Exchange man, .•,iinauy.a landed proprietor in. that country which j by calling itself a republic,, would ;have us believe in fraternite and egalit^, lias a far greater income Shjinythe present occupier of a throne which far eclipses ithat of the Gaesars. It is a;".misnbiner_tp. ' isay the sun rises, so also to say the HQueen's income ia 4385,000 per annum ■ gust because that amount is paid her from ithe consolidated fund.. Let the " Star " •arise, and by the brightness of its rays, itdispel some of the fogs and mists that Slave gathered round this" question, and : ; show that although Her Majesty draws ■this amount annually she does not cost •the British taxpayer one pennypiece, but ;' iihat, on the contrary the nation makes •jnoney out of its transactions with her. On the. 3lst of December 1837, the year of her accession to the throne, the ,-Quf en, : iacting on the advice of -her ministers, mide san agreement to surrender her rightful , ?and hereditary estates to the nat'oi, on Condition of receiving a civil list of i' 385- ,--• 000 par annum in exchange. Eer Majesty gave a lease of her estates for her lifetime. The sixth clause: of the agreement says : '"■ln the event ofthedeath of Her Majesty (whom may Heaven preserve) the rents <of the said hereditary estates must and •shall be paid to her heir and successor." • Therefore the Prince of Wales will come 3 into the rights and rents of the estates without agreement or lease, unless he «hpse to make one, he being then in the same position as any heir in the kingdom, f large or small. Mr Gladstone,- speaking «n the subject, said that the civil list of Her Majesty was less than her predeces- • sors, and also said that in 1871 the rents, Ac, of the estates produced the same sum ; as the ; civil list. The . Queen has o»ily - ;^60,000 of this sum at her own disposal, "the remainder is spent as the Treasury ■directs for national purposes, and for pensions to meritorious and deserving persons. In 1869 there was a profit of £97,991. The money received by the Prince of Wales is managed in the same way. -ie has ;in his own title, in his •own right, properties in Cornwall, on which are iron, copper, and tin mines. The Prince surrendered the royalties of these to; the Government and received a fixed income instead. In 1883 the nation made a profit of £27,000 oirthis bargain, and this is still kept up. So that, sir, you 'can assure' your readers that all that . tirade about the expense the Eoyal 'Family of England is to the nation, is ■without foundation, and will, like the baseless fabric of a dream, vanish before the rays of the " Star" and leave not a wrack behind. You hear many a man say how much better and cheaper the „American form: of Government is than our own. How is that- so ? . Look at this—- since.our Queen came to the throne the /United States haye had 13 general «lectionß for .the Presidency, .and each - Election costs a good deal of money.