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Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 20, 31 October 1879, Page 2

OniCKET Club.— A. meeting of the Foxton cricketers is to take pi ice to morrow evening at Whyte's Hotel (not the Athenaeum, as stated in our last issue), and we hopo to see a lai-ge gathering of the knights of the willow on the occasion. With the talent that Foxton possesses, we believe that a team second to none in the dis'rict can be got together, and we trust the matter wiil be taken up vigorously this season. Manawat-j Highways Boaud. — The usual monthly meeting of the above ISoard was held at Palmerston yesterday. The gist of the principal business transacted appears in another column, and our full report will appear in next issue. Kautjiqoake — Earthquake shocks are becoming unpleasantly t'rpquent. Yesterday morning, about 2.27 o'clock, a very severe one was felt throughont this district. The rumble was loud, and the " shake" ex tremely long and heavy, the last shock being by far tho worst. About 3 o'clock a slight one occuned The direction appeared to be from East to West. With the exception of a few breakages in shops and paivate houses, no damage ajpearsto have been done. Old residents assert that the shock of yesterdtv morning was the heaviest that has occurred since 18>8, when the Wesleyan Church in Wellington — a brick building — was levelled to Hie groun'l . Valukk. — Tenders are invited for theoffice of Valuer to the Otuki Highways Board. Thb IFokomai. — This vessel, which was recently ftrunded at the Waikanae River, is once more in her native element at the Otaki River, having received no injury through her forced sojurn on the beack. ItKMOVAh. — The business conn cted with the Masawatu Hkrald will in future be tr msacted at the new offices, opposite the Courthouse. Council.— The County Couno.il will sit on Monday next. For The Show. — Foxton will be very worthily represented at the approachiug Wanganui Cattle Show, as we understand Mr Christopher Simpson, of Bainesse, forwards six animals including the magnificent bull, Matilda's Double Brunswick, which should carry all before him. Mr Gower intends to forward two cows and a calf from, the Moutoa Estate, which should stand well up ; it is also probable some exhibits from the Oroua Downs station, will be sent. Wasted, an Avology.— Mr Gray, Chairman of the Foxton Local Board, has received a letter from Mr Messrs Joseph Nathan & Co, demanding an apology for the remarks he recently made as to their payment of rates due. It is very unlikely the apology will be furnished. Education Boakd. — At the Education Board meeting on Wednesday last, the application of the Foxton Committee to have the sexes separated was rejected, the Inspector having reported strongly against it. An application by the Kurere Committee for increased teaching power was left over. Otaki School —A tender has been accepted for the new school house at Otaki, the price being £348. Catholic Meeting.— lt is unnecessary to remind our Roman Catholic readera of the meeting called for this evening relative to the erection of the proposed new church . It is an object that must commend itself to everyone interested, and we trust that some praotical steps towards the erection of the building will te the outcome of the meeting. Steamboat Company. — A meeting of persons interested in obtaining a suitable steamer for trading purposes in the ATanawatn, Otaki, and Rangitikei Rivers, Was held at Messrs Thynne.Liuton & Co's office on Wednesday last, Mr lhynne in the chair. Thare were nine people present. Mr Thynne stated that 49 share 3, representing £'190, had been taken in the proposed company, and it was for those present to discuss the matter more fully in regard to detail, and decide if any further stops be taken. The plans of a new steamer, which a Wellington engineer had offered to build, were laid on the table for inspection. The chairman also statod that offers had boen received of vessels already built, and fit for sea. After a lengthy discussion, the meeting was adjourned for a week, in order to allow some more information to be obtained from Wellington. Licensed Viotuailees. —'I he Wellington Licensed Victuallers committee have drawn up a report on the Bills of Messrs. Saunderß and Acton Adams. The principal suggestions are that licenses throughout the colony should be i'4o when the houso is opened to eleven, and £50 when to twelve o'clock. Publicans should only keep lights till hoar of closing; Clubs should pay hotel licenses There should be different Glasses of licenses for town and country, for hotels, accommodation houses, and ferry places. The clause re supplying liquors to travellers should be reduced from five to three miles. On the question of the re newal of licenses, the committee objected to the right of females to vote, suggesting that the franchise should bo extended only to those upon the ratepayers' toll. The report suggests the establishment of a LiI censed Victuallers Association, and a yearly meeting: of delegates of the trade from all parts of tie colony. With regard to the fund within their own body, which it was reckoned would give £2000 a year, half of this it wan proposed to spend in the pur chase of plant. It was also recommended to establish a widows' and orphans' fund. It was recommended that there should be a mutual interchange monthly of the names of persons who availed themselves of the Tippling Act to "stick up" drinks to an unlimited extent, this list to be called " the black list." The Mirage.— According to a paragraph in the Lancet, a singular example of the optical illusion known as th ■ mirage recently occurred at Tenby. A photographer happened to take a photograph of the church spire of that town ; whilst doing so he observed nothing extraordinary, but on the development of the plate there appeared across the spire the distinct outline of a boat with colours flying fore and aft. It was ascertained that exaotly at the time the photograph wns being taken, -a gunboat was launched from the Pembroke Dock, exaotly answering in appearance to the outline which so mysteriously appeared upon the photographer's plate. It is an undoubted scientific faot thai where there happens, from any meteorological cause, to be a stratum of atmosphere of considerably higher power than that immediately below it, the upper stratum acts as a kind of mirror, and may reflect objects at a very considerable distance. The most extraordinary instance of this phenomenon is the well-known case of Captain Scoresby, who

whilst engaged in the whale fishery, obtained tho distinct effigy of his father's ship suspended in the air, aid thu9 ascerlainod the fiiot, of which ho hid been prov'o isly unaware, that his fath< v was in the same quarter of tho globj as himself. The vessel in question turned out to have been thirty miles distant when iS ivfractud image was seen. In the hot countries of the soutu and east (ho mirage is frequently soen, and in the Scraits of Medina it ha* a -quired the name of the " F.iti Morgana," ' from the ancient superstition of if* fairy origin. It ia, perhaps, a littlo doubtful whether, if wo accept the apparently truthful accounts of travellers, the phenomenon of the mirage is ontirely explained by the theory of i\rfraction. Very frequently the incorporeal bit realistic visions of the air are ovidently exict images of objects at a distance. But on the coast of Sicily, we ore told, the phantoms often take the form of magnificent palaces, stupendous castles, and vast armies of men on foot or on horseback, objects which can scarcely be supposed to have their •ounterp'irt on the adjoining shores. Again, ki the African desert, when tho mirnge appears in its most cruel form, and the exhiuated traveller is cheated by the delicious image of distant groves and fountains, it seems at least likely that the illusion arises from a morbid and feverish condition of the retina of tlie obsjrver, such as that which produces, for example, the frightful spectres of delirium trcmeiis, rather than from the refraction in tho atmosphere of some actual oasis. In some cases, indeed, in which the mirage has been observed in the desert, the distance from any real oasis must have been immense. — Globe. Postal. — The postal revenue for the Soptember quarter shows an increase of £4,012 os 4d over the same quarter of the previous year. Tho postage stamps sold returned £26,368 7s 3d ; money order commission, £1,727; private box and bag rents, £260 10s ; postal guides, £6 ISs 6d ; total, £32,502 15s 9d. How the Wind BrjOivs. — Asa good indication of tho state of the working classes iv the Colony, we may mention that whilst in the quarter ended September 30, 1878, the excess of deposits over withdrawals from the Tost oflice Savings Bank amounted '.o £17.1 Si 10s Od, during the same quarter in the present year the excess of withdrawals over deposits was £26,274 15 7d. The total amount of deposits for the period mentioned was £172,269 12s sd, against £190,938 0s 9dfor the same quarter last year. During last quarter, 3,299 accounts were opened, and 2,782 closed. Money Orders. — The number of money orders issued in New Zealand during the September quarter of 1879 was 29,509, of the value of £104,441 5s 2d. The Carpenters. —At a meeting of master carpenters held at Wanganui on Tuesday, it was determined to reduce the rate of wages for journeymen from 11s to liis per day, in view of the depressed state of trade, and the low prices prevailing for contracts. The late Mr Chavannes.— The remains of the above gentleman were interred at Wanganui on Tuesday last with full MaBonio rites, a large number of the craft paying the last tribute of respect to the deceased brother. Wanganui Dissipation:. — It will be seen by the advertisement in another column that special trains will run on the line between Foxton and Wanganui, next Thurs day and Friday, for the purpose of enabling those who desire to do so, to attend the Agricultural Show and the Sprinsf Uace Meeting. The trains are timed so as to reach Wanganui in time each day for the first of the amusements, and return tickets- at single farea will be issued for the two days named. • Immigration. — The following letter, containing instructions to the Agent General regarding immigration, and dated August 14, was recently laid on the table of the Hou,ge of Representatives: — •' Sir, — The question of continuing under existing circumstances of the colony the present system of free immgration has engaged the attention of the Government, and I have the honor to communicate to you for your information and gvidance generally tho fol j lowing conclusions at which they have arrived on the subject. The engagements which under instructions from this office you have already made for granting free passages during the current financial year will result, as far as I am abl« to judge, in the despatch at the entire cost of the colony of three thousand immigrants. Telegrams (copies annnexod) have been sent to you to stop, bo far as engagements which you have made permit you to do so, the despatch of immigrants under present terms, and the future conduct of British emigration is to be on tho following conditions : — (Ist) The sum of £5 to be paid in advance to Government on occouut of each male Government immigrant, and you are to engage j no passages unless previously advised that this sum has beeu paid iv the colony, or unless you have received it iv the United Kingdom. (2nd) Each immigrant to be suitable in all respects, aud be selected after proper inquiry by you out of tho nomi natcd list, and from other applications received in your office, nominated persons to have priority. (3) Free passages may be given to female adults, married, who are not more than forty-five yean of ago, and who have not more than three children under twelve years of ago. All eligible single females will receive passages upon the same terms as at present, that is to say, free railway fares to the port of embarkation, and the remission of this usual outfit money of £1 per statute adult. This new arrangement is to apply to all emigrants whose passages have not been engaged, or promised to be .engaged, and I shall be obliged by your informing me as early as possible as to the probable number likely to avail themselves of this system during the present financial year. With respect to the special class of 2lst May last, I have to state that while Government have no objeution to your eudeavoring to make arrangements with the New Zealand Shipping Company for th-j passages of these men and their fainiliies, it must be distinctly understood that no liability or responsibility id entailed thereby on the colony. The company must altogether look to the men themselves for all payment?, and, as informed by cablegram, you are not to afford atiy pecuniary assistance to this class of persons. — W. Giaborne, Minister for Immigration." Protection and "Wages. — The Toronto Globe states some plain facts showing that the introduction of a protective tariff in Canada has brought down the rates of wages : — " The latest reduction has been made by the Canada Southern Railway Company. Not only has the company lowered the pay of its employes 10 per cent., but the working staff has also bean consider übly reduced. The manager has stated that the reduction of expenses in this way has been rendered necessary by tho increased cost of running since the introduction of the protective policy. Coal costs the company 50 cunts per ton more than it ought to cost, iron is taxed from 17| to 3s per cent., locomotives and cars pay 25 per cent., bridges, 2o per cent., and hardware, 30 per cent. On the other hand, the receipts have been diminished by the qarae cause* The increased cost of living tends to lessen tho passenger traffic, and according to the

returns of the port of Montreal, the shipments of grain have fallen off, tha quantity exported from January Ist to May 14th, this yrar, being 1,473,790 bushels, against 1,898,83'» bushels during the corresponding period of last year— v decrease of nearly 23 per cent. Meanwhile, as the working man's wages are reduced, his expenses are increased. Flour, which three months ago cost him 3-fiOdol. per barrel wholesale, now costs 4-lfidol. ; sugar is 1 cant per lb. dearer; oitmeal has gone up 15 ncr cent. ; bacon is 10 per cent, dearer, and beef is also higher. Clothing has likewise advanced in t.rice." Culinary.— Miss Fidler, whose sUill in teaching the art of practical and economical cooking has long preceded her, is now in Wellington, and she announces that it is her intention to give a course of twelve les--Bons, beginning with three free lessons, not included in the oom-se, on Wednes^iy next. There are probably few in whose ordinary pursuits the preparation of food plays an import-tnt part, who are prepared to say that they have noihing to learn, and who can benefit nothing by being instructed by one who has made ihe subject a study. We venture to say that the large majority of those who become Miss Fidler's pupils in this city will readily admit, when the course is concluded, that they have profited largely, from an economic as well as a sanitary point of viow.— Wellington paoer.