LATEST TELEGRAMS. MAJOR ATKINSON AND THE ELECTORS.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 305, 20 March 1878, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

MAJOR ATKINSON AND THE ELECTORS.

[per press agency.]

WELLINGTON; March 18. A supplement to the Gazette of the 14th',contains notices of the appointment of Mr Stout to the Executive Council in the room Of Mr Larnach ; arid also’ of his appointment as Attorney-General. The Government steamer Stella has been! ordered from the north, where she has been buoying several harbors, to return tO Wellington to' attend on Sir John Goode during his inspection of .New Zealand harbors.HOKITIKA. March iS: A specimeri of quarfi has been brought to town’ from a new reef at Barry’s Creek,’ Taipo district,- Christchurch Road. The' reef is four feet wide, with gold visible' throughout. The prospectors have appliedto lease the ground; A new seam of coal has been opened up between Hokitika and Ross, at the foot of the Bald Hill range, a bout-20 miles from! the Hokitika river,- Sis applications for blocks of land ’AO acres each have beer# applied for at the Wasfe Lands Board Office, in consequence of the discovery.Several prospecting parties' are out" through the district for gold iri new localities. These are supported by small' weekly subscriptions by the public’. Oritf party are now on board the’ steamer Maori/ going to prospect the sounds south of Jackson’s Bay for minerals. CHRISTCHURCH. March 19. The Premier made a brief visit to Kaia-’ poi, yesterday, and was presented with ad address by the Town Council, and also 1 invited to-luncheon In the evening he addressed a public meeting at Woolston, a 1 small township in the Heathcote districtfor which the' Hon: Mr Fislfer ismeraber. DUNEDIN. March 18. After the Judge’s summing up in the’ JoneS v Whitaker libel case, the jury retired/ and after half an hour’s deliberation rbrought in a’ verdict of not guilty,- and* accused was discharged.March luT The inquiry into .the circumstances under which a child (found in a soap box at' Blueskin) met with death, was resumed at the Hospital this afternoon’. A'ffer some' further evidence/ the Coroner summed up/ and the jury returned a verdict —“ Child’ died front suffocation by the hands of its' mother, and that wilfully.” INVERCARGILL. March 19. ; Forty-four thousand salmon ova and fifteen hundred trout ova arrived to-day per Alhambra being part of the consignment per Chimborazo to Melbourne. They have been taken to ,the Wallace, town' pond, but the result of the inspection has not been ascertained. Sir S. Wilson examined them and in his letter of advice to Mr Howard says that of the ova in two boxes packed by Bu’ckland only 270 were' looking likely to- hatcb out. The boxes packed by Youlle looked splendid r the ova being large and healthy. ♦ ; 1 AUSTRALIAN NEWS' The Rotorua which arrived at Auckland yesterday, brings-the following items from' Sydney : —’ Higginson, of New Caledonia, has issued' a writ for £soofor libel against the Age. The militaiy establishment at Freetnantle’ is to be broken up. ■ A Political Association-has been 1 formed , to abolish free immigration and reform- in the Upper House. Colonels Scratchley and Richardbori have’ gone.to Newcastle to carry out defensive’ measures.' ; /; Burglaries are fieqnent at Sydney.The barque Pacific Slope, from NeW Zealand to Shanghi, had cargo shifted and had to put into Noumea and The chief steward jumped overboard and was drowned.

A largely attended meeting of electors 'was held in the Carlyle Town Hall on Friday evening last, ih response to invite from Major Atkinson, for Egmont Electoral District, Dr Croft was voted to the chair. Major Atkinson in opening his remarks stated that he could not take the blame some people were inclined to saddle him with. He had beeh exceedingly hard worked for 'some years, and there had been nothing requiring the special atten-. tion of electors. He thought members should be allowed to fix their'O'wh'tihie for addressing electors. Referring to the letter signed J{ . Elector,” which had appeared in the local ’paper, Major Atkinson stated that he should prefer to 'meet birr. face to face, as bo himself was at all times ready to defend his own action. " Elector” had charged him with ’neglecting the interests of his constituents arid of local requirements. He 'had invited " Elector” to meet him at aiiy Or all’of the different places he had ananged tohddress his constituents, in order that the charges might he dis’cussed. The invitation had not been responded to and Votes of confidence had been awarded at each meeting. After "some further similar remarks Major Atkinson addressed himself generally to : the action of the late and present Governmonts. The speaker was listened to f with attention, and was frequently „v Applauded. . At the conclusion of the address, a number of questions were asked, to which Major Atkinson replied. Harbor.—He considered this a matter Pf great importance and had taken ccn- ; siderablo trouble in the endeavour to get 'the harbor scheme to its present satisfactory position. He had intended daring last session to ask for borrowing powers, '•hut hearing that people w r ould not be Satisfied with less than £60,000, he thought it would, be useless to ask so largely, ‘arid decided to introduce the ,Amendment Dill in the form in which it 4 had passed. Had be not done so, the Bill would have been thrown out. He Would try next-session to get the House •-to rissent; to horrovrin sr powers. Mountain Road,—The late Govern’'merit had fully intended to put the road ■through this - summer. A great deal of fuss h'ad'bCen madc by some people about the'proposed deviation which had arisen ■ through a misconception on the part of ’the Government. The matter had now : .'been placed in the hands'of the County ’Council, and he considered electors 'should use 'their best endeavours to get ;the road’made as soon as possible. He Roped the Conftcil would'not lose a "Say, but would call a special meeting to decide the matter. •Local Expenditure.—He challenged ; any gentleman to show by ‘figures where this district had riot got its fair share of, ‘expenditure and endowments. He was ■prepared to prove that the 'district had ’obtained more than its "share, but would Rot do ’so -in .’-figures ’’unless ‘some one would step forward arid endeavor to show ’that’such had not been the case. Port'of-Entry.—-Making Patea hj port l of entry, would entirely depend'upon the '■quantity'of goods received aRd sent away. -He believed Waitaraduties were paid at, New Plymouth. Education Board:—-He wa's ’exceod'ihgly sorry that it should have been Recessary to do away with the Patea Education Board after it had got into 'such good working order. It was an, affair which bad to be decided in Cabinet 'and he could riot therefore give the 'reasons for the action taken. Govern-: ■meht were'obligecl to apply the same rule to this district as to ‘Others, and he himself thought it was better that Patea: ■should be attached to Wanganui than to Taranaki. He Would not be in favor of each County having the management of its own schools. Railway Extension.—Jtwas impossible ’ 'to have pushed on faster than had been ! •done. If railway works had been pushed , faster here, which was a comparatively ; : small iplace, it would have had to bedone I : in other parts, and there would have i been no money left. for Government to ‘carry on with. To a question of why only about three men had beeh employed on the Patea Ride of the river on the Mountain Road, whereas large numbers had been employed "on the Taranaki side. Major Atkinson stated that £10,060 had been voted for bridging strehnis between Inglewood and Hawera, and [sar’castically] he had not taken Rotice whether there were more rivers on the Taranaki than on the Hawera side. No Confidence Motion.—The Opposition had given the Grey Government plenty of time to make their statement. There was ho need why the No Confidence motion should not have been Rioved immediately after the Grey party were -seated, as they werfe only scheming to get’Orit’of making a statement to the House. After all their pretension they 'should ha’veheori prepared to eome down at once with a statement;., Government were in a minority which was a further justification for moving the motio'h early. Waka Maori Libel.—The particulars 'of the publication of the alleged libel *were stated. A letter had been sent to the late Sir Donald McLean, and after ’repeated enquires from the sender, it was inserted without being read by the Native Minister. The Waled -Maori •haid beeh published with the consent of the House for years. Sir Ho’nald teas a Snember of the -Ministry, and as he was Responsible for the appearance of the letter Government had to stand by him. i She Law Officers of the Grown had been

consulted, find gave it as their'opinion that it was a good case to defend. Government were therefore, perfectly justified in defending the action. Mr Wilson. —He considered Government were perfectly right in calling Mr Wilson, of Napier, to the Upper-House,

Appointment 'of Magistrate. The present R.M. was ‘appointed on the score of economy, when Major Turner’s connection with the Constabulary ceased. He did riot believe the R.M. received any extra salary over and above what he had been receiving in ‘connection- with the Lands Deportment. 'Government were compelled to retain the services of Captain Wray, because he Was So intimately acquainted with the land ih'the district, arid it was with the object of saving a salary, that the offices were combined, and the lI. M. appointment made. Opening up Country. There had been no unnecessary delay in this matter, and he himself had urged it to the utmost. Major Atkinson repeated what he had said at Taranaki, with regard to Government interference in regard to survey of Waimate Plains Patea Ferry Reserve.—He did not know why the Ferry Reserve had not been vested in the Harbor Board. It might have been held back by Government, to see what they could do with it by-and-by. Someone calling out for Captain Wray to speak, Major Atkinson said he did not think it right that any public officer should he called upon at a public meeting To reply to questions. They should call upon some other person. Mr Sherwood being called upon, stated that the Harbor Board was in communication with the Government on the matter. Major Atkinson said the electors had better let it remain until the a'ffair was settled between overnment and the Harbor Board. To the question of whether or not Captain Wray had asked that the Ferry Reserve should be sold, Major Atkinson replied that he would not feel justified in divulging any private conversation he might have had. If the reserve were sold, lie (Major Atkinson) would be responsible, and not Captain Wray. Scab Inspector. — This district was being worked under two Acts or Ordinances, arid a separate Inspector could not bo appointed until a new Act was passed, tie had tried to got a General Act passed, to suit this, and other districts similarly situated; but it had been rejected by the House—therefore another appointment could not be made. He considered that an enquiry should have been held into Mr Hat*ly’s conduct, and was under the impression that such had been done by the Departmental officers. He mentioned the necessity for enquiry to the Provincial authorities at the time of the agitation. . He did not actually know, but would ascertain if the enquiry had been held. Mr Hatoly was Chief Inspector of the Taranaki Provincial District. From petitions received by him at The Time of the scab agitation, it was his impression that the majority of sheep owners in the district wanted Mr Hately kept on, and to satisfy the minds of electors, he would, bn arrival at New Plymouth, forward papers sent by sheep-owners. He did not think it necessary to appoint an Inspector for ■ the County, arid could riot pledge himself to eiideaTdrirmg to get an Inspector ’entirely for This district. Sheep owners ought not to bo subjected to inconvenience. He did not Thfrik ; it ; rieccssary to vest the administration’of the Scab Act in the County Council, as it would lead to confusion. He woilid not be in favour of taking £IOO from Mr Hately to ’givb to Mr Hickson. Whether the district was large or small, the Inspector had to devote the whole of bis time, to his duties, and he did riot think the salary any too high. ~ A vote ‘of confidence was moved by Mr W. Dale, which was seconded by Capt. Newlarid. Mr H. I. Davis proposed a vote of (brinks only, which was seconded by Mr F. G’S. McCarthy. The vote of confidence wa's carried almost unanimously.

Strangers and country settlers coming to Carlyle, are very often at a loss to know which is the best and cheapest General Drapery and 'Clothing ‘Establishment in the ‘ district. It. A. Adams’ Cardigan House, offers special advantages 'that can be met with'nowhere else in the district. Ho keeps the largest and best 'assorted; stock of every - description bf drapery' goods, imported direct—and fi'birithe best colonial housefe ; which, being ’bought on the most advantageous terms, and haying thorough, knowledge 'of enables him to .offer goods of sterling quality at prices that*cannot be ''improved on by any other house in New Zealand. Every article is marked in plain figures, from which there is no deviation'; so that inexperienced people are as well served as the best judges, the terms being 'net cash, without rebate or abatement of any kind. Note the address—R. A:. Adams;' Cardigan House, nearly opposite Town Hall, Carlyle.—advt.