SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1884.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 37, 16 February 1884, Page 3

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1884.

This is the day appointed for the nomination of candidates for Licensing Committees for the districts of To Aroha ami Wai to:i. By the hour of twelve uoon all nominations must be delivered at. the Court House, Te Aroha, and the School Honst 1 , Moirinsvillc, respectively. In our last issue we gave the names of the present Committees ; and we believe the gentlemen referred to have discharged their duties satisfactorily. A j Licensing Committee have a great j power vested in their hands. They must not expect to please every one, for ,->uo matter how impartially they may act, , some, will he sure to assert they have been dealt hartJily wilh. All who are Tealiy interested in the district will l'ke to see law an 1 order maintained, 1 and the , 'Licensing Aei faithfully administered,

and the election of a Licensing Committee ought to attract Far more.attert- • tcntion Hum it docs. We hope all who are entitled to vote, will bestir themselves just now, an 1 not give their votes without dvo thought and consideration. It is for tho electors to use their own j judgment and make their o\u\ selections. \ In Auckland and elsewhere the subject has been exciting great interest, and seems to have, resolved itself into a 1 question of Total Abstainers v. Licensed ! Victuallers. There are very many who, whilst they do not by any means believe j in total abstinence, still would wish to.j see the drink traffic kept within certain | bounds, early closing enforced, and only ; properly constructed and well appointed houses licensed. All who are concerned respecting the question should not miss the present opportunity of ventilating their principles and views on the subject. The election will take place on this day week. Feb. 23rd.

In our advertising columns will^ be found particulars of Mrs Mason's boardinghouse, Wollesley street East, Auckland. For the very moderate charge of £,1 per week Mrs Mason offers really comfortable accommodation. The house is well situated, contains plunge and shower baths, and commands a fine view of the harbour. An excellent table is kept, and the comfort of bomlers well attended to. The effects of the capricious weather have been more severe upon the youthful portion of the community than upon those of maturer years, and among the smaller children bronchial and other complaints have been rather prevalent. Happily, none of the cases have boon of a seiious nature. Our Maori neighbours are evidently of opinion that " the harvest in past, and the summer is end ;d." At anyr ite they seem to be tired of the vaaarics of that mythic il individual the clerk of the weather, and aie determined to wait no longer for the annual crop or! " herrens " and " hickapennies" which their poach groves brio <r them in. Jn despair they have commenced to gather the fruit i:i an unripe state, and large quantities of it in this condition have during the week been hawked about the town. Perhaps the recent visit of the irrepressible Ie Kooti with his numerous followers has left thorn impecunious, and necessitated this premature stripping of j the trees. We are informed th.it the calls ! made upon the hospitality of some tribes by that notorious individual are becoming i nither burdensome, and it will not occasion ! much regret amongst them if he now retires to tnc wilds or! the King country and vegetates there for the Remainder of his existence. Br tt's Auckland Almanac and Provincial Handbook for 1884 is the h?M budget of information respecting Auckland, and New Zeal.md irenei.tlly, that i> obtainable. It gives valuable information on a vast variety of subjects. No hou-e should be without one. On sale at the office of this paper. Pi ice one shilling. Fr m all qmir crs of the colony conus dolt'tul accounts of our ungenial suuiukt. From l^clsou we. hear ol! snow fa ' 1 ii i 141 4 on the hei^ht-^ in the middle of. January, and from Canterbury, of destructive hailstorms that have h >en almost ruinous to mnnv farmuvs. Neither have we in this neighbourhood fared well, >nd the oldest colonists aver that Che inclemency ol' the season has never been equ illcd in tlu'ir experience. At times it has bc:n almost cold enough to make one iii).ii>ine that the snow-clad lluapehu had changed places with the less majestic Aroha. But what in Americ 1 is termed the Indian summer is still before us. and it is to be hoped that the usual smiling skies and balmy breezes of that delightful though brief period will in some degree make amend-} for the chilling disappointments and discomforts of the past. " Let us to billiards " i< at present the cry amongst the lovers of that rasrin tting game. A grand tournament, m which mo'-t of our local knights ol! the green cloth are eno-a<;cd, is now being played on Mr Ilca .hy's table at Warren's Hotel. Several exciting contests h.ivo already taken place, and a large amount of skill displayed. The final result is looked forward to with much interest. ThecelcVration of the " coming of ago" of the Church Temp"ranee Society wa held on November 21st Ex 'ter Hall. in. the morning about 100 members of the Wmnen,s Union met in conference on " the evils of the gioeers' and shopkeepers' licenses." canon ICilis.iu presided, and •~a'd ihey were met to promote the reversal of in Act of Parliament which was passed, as it was believed, in the best interests of the people, but which they desired to repeal in the interest of' our female population. Ho could not say that the wholo of the increase of intemperance among the female population could bcattiibutel to the Act of 1860-Gl, but the evidence showed that grocers' licenses had been the cause of a material port of that increase, inas'iuch as 10,000,000 bottles of spirits, had been distributed by that agency. In Manchester, before the passing of the Act, the average number of women convicted fordrunke' - ness was 207. In the iive years ending ■ 1876 the average number was 2801. The advocates o*' the repeal of the Act contended that m-ocers 1 licen^s were working terrible rnischisf among the women of the middle and lower middle classes. The details given in this issue of a fearful minder that took place on Sunday last at Hawkes Bay arc very drcarU'ul, and they must be callous indeed who can read these details without finding their soul stirred within them. There is something unusually horrible abiut the whole affair. Something very awful in the thought that any one in human form could thus in cold blood on a Sunday evening when they were all asleep, deliberately murder fontfellow creatures. But the horror is intensified when we know the foul deed was done by the husband and father of the poor victims. That the, perpetrator of the foul act was not in his right mmd — that he was literally uiad~ at the time ho perpetrated the terrible df>ed we quite bylteve. But Avliut. timdo liini' so ? What vyao it caused- thiinmwhtp 'more thau, once

previously attempt to kill tho wife of his bosom ? What was it that turned n once hapfiy home into "a bedlam", and a' once' kind parent into a source of terror to his offspring ? If nski-d on the pillows before being deprived of that life which he must "justly forfeit (unless adjudged by the law *to bs insane), " What brought y>'i here?" what will his answer be ? Why, the same old story over again—Drink. Drink first brought misery into the once happy home, and now this is the result. Temperance advocates are often called fanatics and other hard names, but wensk, can any name be too severe for that which thus turns the natural affections of a parent and love of a husband into a madness such as never possesses or inflames a wild beast ? This tragedy, like many equally dreadful, will soon be forgotten. Edwards, like many before him, little thought what this drink wonld bring him too, w hen he commenced to take it in moderation. The tragic event needs no further comment, too plainly telling its own tale. How many will take warning' by it? In our advertising columns will be found particulars of Mr Whiteheads (Thames) well-known boot and shoe warehouse. To all who have not yet selected and despatched their valentines we would say — If you want to send your friends a really useful and handsome valentine you eanm/t do better than go or send to Lennox's, Queen street, Auckland, for same. From there you can obtain valentines useful as we!l as ornamental— purses, caid-cases, note-books, and a variety of other useful articles, beautifully got up, and forming really handsome presents, at prices to suit all coiners. That the members of the Domain Board were actuated by tho best motives in dealing with the £500 grant from Government, for the improvement of the Hot Springs reserve, no one has any doubt, bill it must be confessed that so far as the baths are concerned the result has been far from satisfactory. Many persons think the new bath-house was a mistake, and that public requirements would have been much better met by tho erection at borne of the principal springs of a plain btructure with the necessary shower bath, Mich as the one now in use near the reservior. Sepaiatp places could thus have been pet apait for males and for females, and each might have enjoyed their dip at all hours without fear of disturbing or being disturbed b}' those of tho opposite sex. We hope the greatest care will be exercised in the expenditure of the £200 grant just promised for the improvement of the baths, and that, if possible, a sufficient sum will bo set aside for the erection of another bath-house similar to the one now so much used and appreciated, which, though inexpensive and rough, yet is a great boon ; and the addition of a similar building would be a source of enjoyment that would be heartily welcomed. Weare in receipt of Mr J. R. Sanderson's Monthly Circular, which contains a great dual of valuable information respecting the money, property, and stock and share markets. The Education Boards of New Zealand spend a twelfth part of tht entire income of the colony. Mr. Firth has received the following telegram from Matamata, dated the 9th, in which Mr. Hopkins, the bee manager, reports " Tho humble bees, ex Doric, quite dead except two, which were liberated toil ly after feeding well. Both flew away <l lite strong/ It is greatly to be regretted tnat the second attempt made by Mr. Firth to introduce so valuable an insect as the humble bee should have practically failed. We understand that, not deterred by these repeated failures, Mr. Firth will immediately take measures to obtain a third importation o£ the humble bee. Victoria increased her agricultural area by 219,197 acres during last year. The be^t kind of increase. The Bank of New Zealand has shipped from the Thames during the last three months 17,0000z5. of gold. Lot 341, parish of Whangamarino, in the Piako survey district, containing 5 acres, has been reserved for a cemetery. The very extra ordinary and unreliable wpather which has been experienced dur ing tho past five months has proved most disa^trom to the farming interests of the colony, especially down south. Shearing operations have been seriously delayed throughout, and flock owners who generally get through their clip in about six weeks or two months had to keep their shearers for more than a month extra. We are credibly informed, and believe the estimate to be a low one, that the extra expense has amounted to 5s per hundred oi 20 per cent, extra. Luckily the fleeces "do not appear to have suffered, as is very often the case in continued wet weather. The frequent rains which interfered with shearing proved mo^t destructive in the hay field, and luck)* indeed was the farmer who stacked his crop undmnay-ed. In the pro- \ jncial district of Wellington three fourths of the hay that has been gathered in will provo to be of very indifferent quality, and nearly all the remainder lias been completely spoilt by the wet. Such hea.vy losses having been sust-iined, it was hoped that the g'*ain crops at least would escape, but reports of heavy damage reach us from all parts of the colony, and a telegraphic message from the Wiinganui district is to the effect that farmers finding it impossible to save their crops have tnm'd their cattle into tnem. From the- Waimrapa we learn that many fieldvS of grain have been beaten down as if a roller had passed over them. Such an unfavourable season has not been 'experienced within the memory of the oldest colonists, and even that of 18G2, when a large proportion of the wheat crop was lost, seems to sink into insignificance. The last few days the weather has been more seasonabfe. A' ltii6nglri many crops are long since damaged beyond .redemption, still fine, weather would still be joyfully welcomed by the farmors. A change in pupil teachers has been made in connection with the Aroha School. Miss Kate Cleave, "late pupil teacher at the Komienmga Girls School, is coming to suuucud the present pupil teacher. Owing to the "Patiki" being laid up, at tho Thames, for repairs, the, river traffi,c this week has . been, sustained by th.c j Waitoa. It k expected' the' 4 ' Pdtiki " will' resume running on Monday next. During* Ja^t week 200, sheep < and r lambs; the "pro--; pc t'ty o t the A A ueklft nd A;gTi pi 1 1 tii raj', ■ (JQ.f wvrsj*hipp,eii irdiii Jiei'O ,Xyr ; ;L)ninis! and Aiyil&uiitl market)." . »;.'■ ' , i-/\ J i 1? ; - 0^ > !• ' t 1

Qiiuket mutch this 'alter.nuon.Ty AroUtt v. Wniorongomai, to bo played oa tho Te Arflhu grdund. We W9IIM reniinil those of our reartprs who take nn interesc in musical matters that Mr Dewtir Ims commenced teiiching. JJis class for vooul uitiKio <I )3)eets in the Public .Schoolioom «n Monday evenings at 8 o'clock. Wo believe Meftsrs C. S. Stafford find E. I<\ Koche do not purpose coming forward om the present occasion as candidates for Licensing Committee. Messrs RoUson., Pavitt, and O'Hallomn are new candidates ; and Messrs Lavery, Lipsey, and Ad.uns will stand again.