Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1896. Constitution Reform.

Manawatu Herald, 11 July 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1896. Constitution Reform.

» A Minister has introduced a Bill into Parliament entitled the Local Boards Constitution Reform Bill, in which provision is made that all members of such Boards shall be elected by the people. To tickle the palates of the noble army of workers the Bill is likely to be of use to the Government at the ooming ejection, but to the people who have to pay the piper the Bill, if made law, will not be so pleasing. To pnt the fault of the Bill very plainly, it substitutes a Cumbrous, and expensive machinery in place of the simple and cheap method for, eleoting members now in force. However, as it is to please the people, possibly it will pass." In most cases .cited the Bill does not affect this district, but in one important particular it does, viz., in the election of representatives upon the Education/. Board. , We have, in con j uric tiorf with the school committees representing, the largest schools in Che district^ protested at the present .unfair, system of giving equal votes to every committee, irrespective o£.sha roll number of tha school. We may be considered ungrateful at $n,djng fault wrth >this Bill, aait proposes to alter the system of election by placing it in the hands of the peoplejustead. of in the power of (ih& committees. Unfortunately, we shall. jDQt berselfvered from the control 'of the .minority by this method, as the Board is directed to subdivide the; (district. into nine subdivisions, and each subdivision shall only elect one member. A very little consideration of the present district will enable the position to be easily grasped. What we, however, wish to dwell most strongly on, i? the unnecessary expense thus en-, tailed upon the Education Boards for such very little purpose. The Boards are always in a state of hardupness and the cost of an annual election will necessitate further inroads into their limited resources, [t is a fact that very little interest is displayed by parents, either in the selection of a school committee or the Board, and an election requiring a householder to go somewhere on a certain date to record hia vote will end in a lamentable failure. All this round-about business is thought pecesaary to please the people, whom it does not please to care for the iuestion issue. A quicker and more satisfactory amendment to the present Education Act could be made this session, by simply enacting thai the election to the Boards

should be after the manner now in force, excepting, that in proportion to the children upon the roll of the school the committees should be granted so many votes. By dint of much energy a school committee is annually elected, and it may be presumed that those connected with the working of the Board Were iri a better position to prtirtouuGe M opinion .as to who would be their best representative on that body, than the average householder Who is unaware as to how many teachers are employed in the local echobh The proposal in the Bill is, no doubt, meant well, but has been drafted by one who can have had but slight experience of the working of school . matters. We commend this suggestion to our Representatives in the House. The N.S.W. Treasurer estimates a surplus of £207,800 for the current year. Mr R. Cobb obtained £8 18s Gd each for two rains, and £9 2s each for three ewes at the Sydney sales, Mr Alf. Fraser has been appointed agent for Meßsra Harcourt's property in this district. • . - A» Maori named To'roa murdered his Wife and -then shot himself at ' Maungataa ■ tail the other day. ;• ' Mountainous ceas were running In the , bay at Napier on Thursday, said to be the heaviest ktjowh for years. The earthquake wave which devastated the coast of Japan rose 85 feet in the Hawaiian Islands. We regret to state that yesterday afternoon the eldest daughter of Mr H. Webb, Theresa, died at her father's residence. On Sunday ihe Rev. Q. Aitkens will (D. V.) hold morning and evening service at Foxtoth ¥here will bfc Holy Gemttiunion at the morning service. The s.B. Queen of. the Sooth came in yesterday and went up to Wirokino, where she took in 1300 sacks of chaff from Mr John Davies. The long-looked -for post and rails for repairing the school fence arrived by train yesterday, and are being carted on the ground to-day. A return presented to the House shows that there are 20 cadet corps in the colony in connection with colleges and collrgiate schools, the total membership being 1081. It is probable that the Legislative Council will appoint a committee by ballot on the Banking question. It is to be hoped they do so. Colonel Pox told the Napier volunteers, the other day, that probably that would be the last time he would appear before them in his present capacl'y. The Otaki Cottage Hospital oomm-ttee have carried a resolution to exhaust every available means towards obtaining funds before resorting to voluntary subscriptions for the erection of the Hospital. The Minister for Lands in Thursday asserted Jn the House that the writer of a leading article in the Post was a " base liar." Beautiful language ? He was properly called to order by the Speaker and had to withdraw the words. On Tuesday Messrs Abraham and Williams hold a stock sale at Colyton and one at Shannon on Friday. Next Saturday, at Palmerston, they hold their horse sale, for which 50 unbroken horses are already entered...,'■• ■ .„'■• ■ •■- The Chairman of the School Committee has been authorised to write to Messrs J. G. Wilson and F. Pirani, M's.H.R., setting forth the views the Committee hold on the proposed Bill dea'ing with election of members for the Education Boards. The experiment of using Pintcsh's patent gas for railway carriages has been made down South and pronounced a success, la a few dayß, so it X3 said, the carriages on both North and South lines will be fitted up with the new light. We have to thank the Department of Agriculture for a copy of the proceedings of Conference of Australasian Fruitgrowers. It is a large pamphlet of over 200 pages and we shall take another opportunity of reviewing it. The approaches to the Wirokino ferry have both been filled up with silt by the last flood and until this is cleared the ferryman can only cross vehicles on the punt at high water. He is working very hard to get the road cleared. As some little misapprehension exists as to the name of the mine Mr T. P. Williams was floating we are able to state that it was not Waiririki but was Waitemata special reserve, but which as we have noted elsewhere has been found wanting. ' Elsewhere Mr J. S. Ennis announces where his present tailoring establishment is to be found. For some time past he has been plaoing his light under a bashel in a manner of speaking; but now he has determined to make public his good work. For which he is to be commended. Dr McGregor, in his annual report on the asylums of the colony, states that the total number of inmates on the dlst December last was 2214, being an inorease of 46 on previous year's total. The proportion of the insane to the population is : — Males, one in every 300; females, one in 393. . In the case, for stealing a watch, against the accused Thomas Donnelly, it was mentioned by a witness that he was present when the owner of the watch, who was inebriated, told a policeman that the accused -had taken the watch, and the accused cooly turned round and said it was all right, he had the watch and ktfew the owner ! Wi Katene has reported that he has discovered, at the foot of the ranges between Shannon and Ohau, the Hapua Korari lake. The Government offered a reward of £100 for its disoovery (says the Otaki Mail) and thus Wi is glad. It is much to be hoped Wi manages to find his way back again, but bo many odd things have been, presumably, found and lost in that direction that we are just doubtful. At the la3t meeting of the School Committee it was agreed upon that a special appeal should be made to the residents for pecuniary assistance towards the school funds, the Committee finding thpt some £15 was needed to clear their liabilities. Each store has promised to hold a list, and the public are asked to contribute something each, when the sum needed will easily be raised. It was O'Malley, an insurance agent, who, in Tamania a few years ago in conjunction with explorer Stanley and Snazelle solemnly instituted proceedings againßt a local parson who averred that a heavy earthquake shook was the result of his prayers for a divine warning to the Tasmanians in their iniquities. The trio Bought to have the cleric bound over to keep the peace, on the ground of his being a menace to the public safety. The court (proceedings were immensely droll, and the two secured a splendid advertisement for th«ir particular lines.

We learn that the Archdeacon ia unable to comply with the request to open the new church at Levin, This will leave the opening to be arranged differently to that hdped for. Rama run into some money, especially if you buy a Tasmanian "President." He was offered at the Sydney sales and curiously endugh ttto Tasnianian breeders bought him aba tdbk him back again. They had to pay £1600 for him. We learn that the land Mr T. P. Williams thought he had under lease in the Auckland mining district, and to work whiah he waß floating a company, haß been found, after survey, to be absorbed by neighbouring properties. The money reoeived ia now being returned. Mining rights ard apparently not right until a Burvey declares it so. On Thursday evening a cottage on the property owned by % Mr P. Guerin. a few chains from his residence caught fire and was totally destroyed. Mr Guerin cannot account how the fire ocourred as there had been no fire in the house for months and no one was living there. The cottage was insured in the New Zealand Insurance Company. The following extract from the Public Health Aot 1876 appears to be of some moment at the present time :— " Any person who, while Buffering from any dangerous "disorder, wilfully exposes him* self, without proper precautions against spreading the disorder, in any-public place, shop, inn, or public .conveyance, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £5." The scholars of the Methodist Sunday School generously voted their annual prize money (£2 10s) to the funds of the new school. On Tuesday next they are desirous of helping still further. A children's concert at popular pric63 has been worked up under the oare of MifcS Silby, Miss Gibson, and Mr Osborne. We bespeak a large audience to encourage the juniors in such an* undertaking. The.College-street (Palmeraton N.) school bdys did ildt arrive by this afternoon's train to play their match with the boys at' tending the local school, and consequently they are disappointed, as the headmaster and his assistants fully expected them up the last minute, and had received no intimation whatever to the contrary. A nicely arranged lunch had also been prepared for the expected visitors. If the members of Parliament want to do a nice thing, they could not do better than send an enlarged photograph of Her Majesty of one of the islands of the Cook Group, who so kindly sent them some cases of oranges. It is possible to do this, as Mr McElvVain, photographer of this town, has an excellent likeness of this noble lady, which he could easily enlarge on receipt of a responsible order. A capital photograph of a Baratonga church has been taken by Mr McElwaln, which testifies to the able workmanship of the islanders. The ohurch is built of coral and has stained glass windows. Among other views are some of the white men's houses which are made of frame work and then faced with coral ground like lime, creating a plaster of the be3t kind and making the buildings neat, clean, and cool in appearance. Two young lads had a race up the Avenue on Thursday afternoon with an unfortunate result, as Mrs J. Newth and her son, a very small child, were also going in the same direction, and the child frightened at the sound of galloping moved, as he thought, to get out of the way with the unfortunate reßult that he was knocked over and has received a nasty shock. Those x'xAiag horses should «ortain)y display more oare when but. Mr McElwain, our local photographer, has, in his time, " sailed the ocean blue," during which he visited Tahiti, and also the islands of the Cook Group These last lot of islands are, what may be termed, dependencies of this colony, aud Mr Moss, at one time M.H.R., is Governor, under the title of " British Resident." Mr McElwain admired the scenery, but he did more than that, he photographed many ba&utifal views and interesting spots, and he has been approached to exhibit them at the j next Church of England socia 1 . Lord Salisbury (writes Mr Henry Norman in the new number of Cotmopolis) ia at this moment the most interesting figure in I Europe. Never in modern times— not excepting Bismark — has there been suoh a dictator as he. And nobody knows this fact better than himself, and nobody is more indifferent to it. He believes in himself, and he is consoious of the purity and patriotism of his own motives. He launched the Egyptian expedition with the same cynical confidence with which he perpetrated a frank political " job," and equally oareless of either Parliamentary or newspaper criticism. When Lord Salisbury haß placed one of his friends, or a troublesome member of his party in a snug permanency, he simply pays no attention whatever to anything that is said about it. To anybody who is entitled to make re* marks to bis face about his appointee, he says, with a smile, " I consider him likely to make a valuab!e public servant," and that » the end of the matter. Certainly the most effective medicine in the world is Sanders and Son's Eucalypti Extract. Test its eminently powerful effect in Coughs, Colds, Influenza ; the relief instantaneous. In serious cases and acoidents of all kinds, be they wounds, burns, soaldings, bruises, sprains, it is. the safest remedy — no swellings — no inflammation. Like surprising effects produced in Croup, Diphtheria, Bronchitis, Inflammation of the Lungs, Swellings, &0., Diarrhoea, Dysentery, Disease of the Kidneys and Urinary Organs. In use at all hospitals and medical clinics ; patronised by His Majesty the King of Italy ; crowned with medal and diploma at International Exhibition, Amsterdam, Trust in this approved article and ejeot all others.— [advt.] One of the drawbacks of country life, at least to the small settler, is undoubtedly the increased price he has to pay lor any articles of clothing or general drapery, by reason of the extra charges for freight or carriage. This drawback need exist no longer, for extra charges are done away with under the new parcel system which has been inaugurated at Te Aro House, Wellington. Under this system any of the parcels advertised will be sent to any address in New Zealand, post free, the prices charged being exactly the same as those at which" the goods are sold over the counter in Wellington. As may be imagiued, however, this liberal offer is only extended to cash customers, and all orders for advertised parcels must be accompanied by cash for the amount, before the order can be executed at Te Aro House, Wellington. In illustration of the system we will give an example. Take for instance No. 7 parcel, which contains 7 yards of double width stylish fancy check tweed ; 2 dozen buttons and silk and twist to match ; 2 yards of body lining and 4 yards of skirt lining. This complete parcel will be sent, post free, to any address on receipt of 15s 9d, from Te Aro House, Wellington. McKee and Gamble, Photo-Engravers and Lithographers, Wellington. Send for dotation,