The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1880. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 306, 19 October 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1880. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

To-night a public meeting of fanners and others in this district will be held in the Crown Hotel, Temukn, for the purpose of hearing an explanation by Mr Bateman, of Christchurch, of the principles of the Farmer's Co operative Associa tion, and also the advantages to be derived from a combined body of farmers and other exporters of New Zealand pro duce. During the last year in particular it has been the misfortune of producers to be fleeced of half their earnings by greedy over reaching men who have lived off the farmer, yet despise him as a humble supplicant entirely at their mercy. Thi s state of things ought not to be allowed to continue. Agriculturalists are, as is well known a very hard .vorking class of people, intelligent withal, and quite capable of conducting their own business ; but hetherto it has been the custom for him to place his business in the hands of others, paying in some instaoces as much as 20 per cent for granting the merchant the privilege of making money out of his hard eornings. The proposed association is for the purpose of .doing away with all per centages, and to allow the members the benefit of selling and buying at the best markets without com mission or other pickings which go to en rich the dealers at the expense of the pro ducers. It is to be hoped a good meeting will be the result of this invitation to hear a gentleman who is thoroughly acquainted with the subject.

It was announced at the Catholic Church on Sunday "ast that another effort will be made to raise a sufficient sum of money to complete the new church. The crowded state of the present place of worship is noticeable every Sunday, and, now that the hot weather is fairly setting in, will be very unpleasant, as well as injurious to health. The method proposed is very simple, and we have no doubt there will be little difficulty in raising the required amount. It is anticipated, should the required sum be raised, that the church will be completed in about four mouths.

We believe it is the intention of the Inspector of Nuisances to make a house to house visit during the present week, and, where necessary, to issue notices calling on persons to abate nuisances. This step is very necessary, and we are sure the residents of Teuiuka will readily assist the Inspector, by taking every precaution, to prevent sickness breaking out in our midst during the summer months.

We noticed on Friday and Saturday evenings last that the lamp in the lobby of the Post Office was not lit up to a late hour (if at all), to the great inconvenience of private-box holders. We suppose the Government is anxious to make a saving of a few shillings in keroaene.

Mr K. F. Gtuy will hold his monthly sale of stock, &c, at the Pound yards, tomorrow, at 1 o'clock. Messrs Maclean and Ste wart will sell, at their rooms, Timaiu, oxl Thuisday next, at 11 a.m., the privileges in connection with the forthcoming Agricultural and Pastoral Show.

Mr Hannay was to relieve Mr Conyers of the charge of the South Island railways yesterday. We learn from an exchange that ihe services of Mr J. H. Lowe, the engineer in charge of the Permanent Way Department of Middle Island Railways, have been dispensed with. His duties are to be performed in future in connection with the Public Works Department, under Mr Blair. Paivate letteis received by the last mail state that Sir Julius Vogel contemplates an early return to this Colony, and that it is his intention to re-enter the political arena. The No 1 Temuka Rifle Volunteers mustered for skirmishing drill on Friday evening last, on that vacant piece of ground between the Government school and the railway line. There was an indifferent attendance. The rifles were under the command of Oaptaiu Young, Lieutenants Finlay and White also being present. We would like to see the company practice skirmishing a little oftener, and have no doubt that in a short time the men would acquit themselves creditab'.y. The company's drum and fife band was also present, and played several popular airs.

Green flax is largely exporte 1 from Wellington to Melbourne for purposes in connection with the manufacture of paper.

It is expected that our new Governor —Sir Arthur Gordon—will arrive in Auckland by the 15th of next month. It is rumoured that Sir Arthur intends taking up his residence permanently in Auckland, except during the sitting of Parliament, At the Christchurch ft. M. Court on Friday morning, Charles Johnston was committed for trial for unlawfully wounding two barmen by whom he had been ejected from the White Hart Hotel,

Tke last survivor of the battle of Trafalgar is, ii appears, now in Paris in very straitened circumstances, His name is Henri Blanc ; lie was born at Gruissans, in the Ande, in 1787, and in 1805, at the age of 18, embarked on the Mont Blanc, a vessel comprised in ihe squadron commanded by Admiral ViUeneuve. Subsequently he was taken as prisoner to England, where he remained till 1824.. Although he is now in his ninety-forth year, he retains all his faoulties, it is said, his powers of memory being singularly stiong. Not only does ho remember the names of all the different vessels oa the memorable day, but he loves to recall to those around him every episode of the battle of which he was an eye-witness

The Melbourne Telegraph says :—•' Suspicion having attached to several publichouses that gambling was allowed to be extensively carried on, two plain-clothes constables visited one ot the suspected houses. After indulging in one or two games of billiards, they gained admission into a room in which 'poker' was being played, at which they took a hand, and thus allayed the suspicions they first aroused. After a while they proceeded, much to the astonishment of those assembled, to bar the door and handcuff the inmates, the landlord being amongst the number."

A London letter to the Melbourne Argus in the last mail news says:—"The appointment of Sir Hercules Robinson as the successor of Sir Bartle Frere is highly approved. He is known as a successful ruler, exceedingly popular, and withal thoroughly independent, and not to be mane a tool of. When the reoall was announced four names were mentioned, three of them being those of the autipodian Governors, viz,:—Sir Hercules, Sir Arthur Keunedy, Sir ArthurGor ou, and Sir H Bulwer. From the first it was anticipated thar the one who has been appointed would be elected.''

A correspondent, writing to a contem. porary from Mauritius says :— '* The dense population of this Colony is a subject which has for years past pre-oocupiedt he public mind; and the leading English journals in the Island has of late been strongly advocating emigration to the Northern Territory of Australia by our mechanic classes. A good carpenter or mason can be hired here by the month at about L2, so that there can be no doubt that they would improve their position vastly by the change." A curious and astounding calculation (says the Medical Eecord) has been made by an American physician, Dr Farrar. He estimates that not less than half a ton of pure gold, worth half a million of dols, is annually packed into people's teeth in the United States. At this rate all the gold in circulation will be buried in the earth in 300 years. He also calculates that threo millions of artificial teeth are annually supplied, aud that only one person in eight has sound teeth.

The French bankruptcy hvr is stringent, and dishonest traders and others (remarks an English paper) do not enjoy the " fatal faculti s " afforded to such porsons by our very defective law. In 1878 the bankruptcies in France, with a population of about 14 millions more than " ngland and Wales were only about half the number of the liquidations and bankruptcies among us. The comparison of the liabilities is still more unfavourable to us :—French liabilities, about L 13,000,000 ; English liabilities, about L 29,000,000. The French amount to about 7s per head upon the population ; the English to 24s per head. Whilst our Controller in Bankruptcy refers in his report to the deplorable increase of insolvents who continue to get rid of their debts by paying little 01 nothing to their creditors, the French report says that the number of ca-es in which the creditors got nothing was only 282 ; that in 34 cases 76 to 99 per cent, was paid, and in other cases the dividends ranged from lo to 5o per cent.

A patent has been taken by Mr Henseli, of Philadelphia, for a novel carstarter, wliich stores up the momentum of the car when stopped, by means of a spiral spring, in such a manner that when the horses began to pull it is immediately propelled about a yard forward and the horse, inetead of wasting his strength by a pull against the usual dead weight, requires to apply very littlj more force than when the car is in full motion.

Steps are being taken in Timaru for the purposes of holding a regatta there on the anniversary of the province. Mr Blackett's second report on the effect of the breakwater on the beach to the north is severely criticise J, as showing that the interests of the district should be sacrificed for the sake of a few ieet of clay cliff belonging to the railway the line being built close to the seabeach in face of knowledge that the sea was encroaching.

The census which has been taken in th« United States of "America goes to show, so far as the computations have yet gone to, that the population is at present about 49,000,000 r The State of California has a population of 863,000 an an increase of 202,753 over that m 1870.

After a year of patient labour a very ingenious automaton has just been completed by Mr Hornburg, of 535 George street (says the Sydney Echo). Its specialty is that it walks—walks in the same style and with much the motion ag a human

being does. The place occupied by lungs, heart, and other indispensable organs in the human frame are represented in Frankenstein—Mr Hornburg's creation—by machinery, and the rattling and gasping sounds which emanate from him would be anything but reassuring if they followed the exertion of gentle walking when undertaken by an ordinary person. The Wellington Post, speaking about Native affairs in a late issue says :—We believe that the promise made to Wiremu Kingi, to give him back a large piece of land in recognition of his good conduct on the occasion of the wreck of the Lord Worsley, will he rigidly respected and faithfully carrid out. The natives according to private information received by us from the district, are quite satisfied and, indeed, - greatly pleased at the provision made for them, and show all possible cordiality and friendliness to the surveyors, Armed Constabulary, and other Government officers. There certainly seems reason to believe our special correspondent at Hawera was correct in his judgmeut wheu he ex pressed the opinion that the native difficulty on the West Coast was steadily and surely "crumbling to pieces." It is earnestly to be hoped, for the sake of the colony, that this may prove to be the case.

In an article on the prospects of this Colony the London EcAo says :—" New Zealand has made marvellous progress during the last few years, but, like its neighbours, it has been spending money a little too freely. People and Parliament are just now sorely exercised about ways and means, taxation and retrenchment. Great reductions are to be effected in the Civil Service ; public works are either stopped for want of funds or curtailed now that the winter is over ; and out of the last L 5,000,000 loan, when prior engagements had been met, only about LBoo,ooo remained available. What is wanted is more capital to develop the splendid resources of the country. There are coal-mines, the produce of which is beginning to be used for local service, but they wont development ; the timber of the country is second to none, but the trade in it is at f resent limited, and so with the other riches of the land. Whether the New Zealand farmers will be able to compete with America, and make their exports pay, remains to be seen. Ther« are 13,000 miles to get over instead of 4000, and at present most of the New Zealand trade is in sailing ships, which take ft hundred days and upwards between the two countries. But if there is a profitable trade to be done in meat, we may soon expect to see steam communication between the Colony and the Mother Country greatly extended. The country is a magnificient one, and has, we believe, a great future before it, but unless capital follows emigration must be sore disappointment for many who have been taught to believe in New Zealand as a land flowing with mi k and honey."