BANQUET TO MR D.H. BAYLDON.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 387, 24 July 1889, Page 5

BANQUET TO MR D. H. BAYLDON.

Before leaving the Thames, a banquet was given to Mr Bayldon, at which there were about seventy persons present thoroughly representative of the Thames district. Mr T. L. Murray (Bank of New Zealand) occupied the chair, and Mr G. deß. Campbell (Bank of New South Wales) the vice-chair. The usual loyal toasts were proposed and responded to. The Chairman proposed the toast, " Our Local Governing Bodies," and in doing so referred to the rashness with which men accepted office on these bodies. Messrs Bagnall, McGowan, and Wood responded. Mr Bagnall, Chairman of the County Council, proposed " Our Mines and Their Development.'' In doing so, he remarked on the small extent of ground worked compared with the total auriferous area in the district. Aid was required to work this area, and that aid capitalists seemed at present shy of giving 1 . He knew of a property that had been offered for £600 and refused, and that had since paid £14,000 in dividends. In purchasing property, there was too great a tendency to ignore local experience and skill. If capitalists had consulted Mr Bayldon before purchasing, they would have had less cause for complaint than exists at present. Mr Bayldon knew every drive, crosscut, and. lode on the field. After this toa&t had been replied to by se\eral gentlemen, the Chairman proposed the toast of the evening — " Mr D. H. Bayldon." He spoke of the high esteem in which Mr Bayldon was held as a man and a citizen. His standing as a mining surveyor and engineer was second to none in the colony, and his name was familiar to mining circles throughout Australia and on the London Stock Exchange. He was a thoroughly upright, honest man, and he hoped soon to see Mr Bayldon back on the Thames. The toast was drunk with three times three. In reply, Mr Bayldon thanked those present for the honour they had done him. He would always do his best for the good of the Thames district. He hoped soon to see a much larger area of ground prospected and opened up, and to see the field in a thoroughly flourishing condition. The health ot Mr Montgomery, of the School of Mines, was next proposed and received very heartily. Mr Montgomery is about to leave for Tasmania, where he has been appointed Inspector-General of Mines. Various other toasts were proposed, and songs were sung by Messrs Ralph, Percival, etc. Mr Percival deserves great credit for the manner in which he managed all the arrangements preliminary to the banquet, taking a load off the shoulders of the other friends of Mr Bayldon.

The following anecdote gives us a charming glimpse ot the Princess Alice in her unostentatious life ab Darmstadt. The Princess had told a certain lady that the would come to tea in the afternoon. This lady made great preparations to receive her royal guest, and had scarlet cloth put down in front of the house and up the staircase. " She even sent one of the servants to the top of the house to keep a sharp look out, so that duo notice might be given bo everybody of the approach of the Princess. Satisfied that everything had been thought of and adjusted, the hostess repaired to the drawing-i oom, and waited the course of events. Suddenly the door opened, and a lady entered, robed a in macintosh, with goloshes and an umbrella. As she stepped in, she remarked, ' Here I am. It is terrible weather, and I have done my besb in coming upstairs not to make a mess on the beautiful red cloth which I saw in the hall and on the steps. 5 It is perhaps needless bo say^hab the speaker was none other than the PJfncess Alice of Hesse." The astonishmeno^of the hostess must have been a trifle iudicious. The Government Statist of Victoria has recently issued a comparative return showing the live stock in the various Australasian colonies at the close of the years 1880 and 1888. From these we find that the total number of sheep in the seven colonies has increased from 75,158,683 at the end of 1880 to 96,563,376 at the end of 1888, the increase amounting to 21,404,693 or 28^ per cent. The principal progress has been in New South Wales, whose flocks have increased from 35,000,000 to 46,000,000, the gain being 11,000,000. In Queenland the increase, though nob so large absolutely, has been far greater in proportion— viz., from about 7,000,000 to 13,500,000— the gain being 6,500,000, or nearly 100 per cent. The same remarks hold good wibh regard to Western Australia, where, however, the progress has been on a much smaller scale, the increase being from 1,200,000 to 2,100,000 or about 71 per cent. ; New Zealand rising from 13,000,000 to 15,000,000, has gained 2,000,000, or 16£ per cent The increases in the other colonies have been insignificant, both in amount and in procortion; the number of sheep in Tasmania^ showing an actual decrease.