The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 9425, 1 July 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Haeboe fob Otago. —At a public meeting held at Waikouaiti last Thursday,and attended by 150 persons, it was unanimously canned—- ‘ That the member for this district in Parliament be requested to ask the Government to got a report on the Waikouaiti Bay, to ascertain the probable cost and suitability of the bay as a deep sea harbor for the provincial district of Otago.

Presentation. —On Thursday evening last, a few of the residents met at Rangitata to present Mrs Beechey, who is leaving for the North Island, with a small souvenir, to testify to some degree their appreciation of the many kindnesses she has shown to both Sunday and day school children. She carries with her good wishes for happiness and prosperity in her new home. Land Agitation in Scot a\nd.— The agitation for the modification of the Scotch jand system is gaining strength. Mr Gladstone, in reply to a deputation, expressed the determination of the Government to bring in a Bill this session for the extension in Scotland of a liberal system of tenant-right, but he would defer introducing it until the Procedure Bill was disposed of. The Egyptian Difficulty. —The Turkish Government have sent a circular note explaining the reason for the Porte declining to take part in the Conference. The circular insists, generally, on the right of the Sultan to deal with tributary stav.es, and his ability to settle the affairs of Egypt without the interposition of the Powers. It also points out the inutility of a Conference, the Porte being fully prepared to deal with any emergency, and the Egyptian Government and people fully recognising the Porte’s authority. Frozen Meat. —At the Otago Harbor Board meeting last Thursday a letter was read from the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, stating that the Company had contracted to deliver from 150 to 280 tons of frozen mutton early in September to a steamer from London at Port Chalmers, and in view of this asking that the depth of water alongside the wharves there should be increased to allow a steamer of 1000 tons to load there without touching the ground. The matter was referred to the Works Committee;

Tbotjbsesome. —A party of natives came last Thursday into Taupo from the King Country. Since the Whatiwhatihoe meeting nothing new has transpired. Te Wahanui, who is well known to be the real power behind Tawhaio’s throne, declares that no railway via Mokau or elsewhere through the Ngatimaniopoto’s country, will be allowed daring his lifetime, or until a Parliament sitting at Auckland, shall have passed new laws to ensure the maintenance of Maori authority in the King Country. An Off-hand Way to Measure an Agee. —Pew farmers know the size of their fields, or how'many acres they contain. A field of the writer’s before it came into his possession had been ploughed and reaped by contract for fifteen acres. On measuring it it was found to have but twelve acres. It is desirable, in fact indispensible for good work, that a farmer should know how many acres each field contains, for otherwise he cannot apportion seed or manure for it, nor can he tell how much time it should require to bo ploughed. A measuring cord should be part of the furni. turo on every farm. To make one, procure sixty-seven feet of strong rope, one inch round, make a loop or fasten a ring or a bar at each end, and make these precisely sixty-six feet apart. This is four rods. Then tie a piece of red rag in the centre- One acre of ground will be a piece four of the cords (chains) long and two and one-half wide, equal to sixteen by ten rods, making 160 square rods to one acre. The advantage of the ring or loop is that one person can measure alone by driving a stake in the ground to hold the rope while he stretches it out. The rope should be soaked in tar and dried, which will prevent it from shrinking when wet.

Quadrille Assembly. Attention is directed to an advertisement in another column to the effect that a quadrille assemblywill be held next Monday evening. The names which appear in the advertisement is a sufficient guarantee that it will be con-; ducted respectably. On two former occasions an attempt was made to hold a similar entertainment in the hall, but the weather was so bad that it had to be postponed. It is to be hoped that this will not be the case next Monday evening, and that the hall will be crowded to repay the perseverance with which the getting up of it has been carried out. Eakaxa Eailway Company. —The annual meeting of the Eatiaia and Ashburton Forks Eailway Company was held last Thursday. The profit for the year was shown to be £1930, equal to about 2f per cent. The Government has paid its thare of the deficiency under the provisions of the District Eailways Act, which requires 7 per cent to be guaranteed, but it appears that the Ashburton County Council have hitherto refused to levy a special rate to supply the remainder as required by the Act. It was stated at the meeting that the difficulty was expected to be got over, and it was resolved that when the money was paid a dividend of 7 per tent should bo declared. The line is valued at £74,000, and the report states that the unwillingness of the Ashburton Council to levy the rate is the only thing that proven t 8 it being extended, which every day’s experience showed to be necessary. E.M. Court. —At the above Court yesterday, before S. D. Barker and J. Mendelson Esqrs, J.P.’s, George Henry Lynch was brought up charged with having been drunk and disorderly, and fined ss. He was further charged under clause 167 of the Licensing Act, with being a person who by excessive drinking was wasting his estate, etc,, and an order was made forbidding any licensed person to supply him with drink for the term of 12 months. Thomas Thompson who was up before the Court a short time ago on a similar charge appeared to answer an accusation of having been drunk and disorderly, and was fined 20s or the usual alternative. Thompson has a grievance. He considers it a great persecution to be locked up in durance vile, and he is determined to spend £2O on having redress. He is going to expose it in the papers, and have the matter brought before Parliament, and upset the whole country unless the law is altered. So he says, at any rate:

New Zeadand Tinned Meats, —The London coi’respondent of the New Zealand Times writes . —*' A friend of mine, one of the largest importers of tinned meats in London, stated to me yesterday that the demand for this kind of food is brisk and increasing. The New Zealand tinned meats, he says, have lately improved in quality, particularly that from a firm in Canterbury and Mr Gear’s establishment in Wellington, which ranks as a first-class article; but he further explained to me that the American method of preserving suits the English market and palate better than the old or New Zealand mode. American ‘ canned ’ meats, both beef and mutton, as soon as killed, are slightly salted for a fortnight, then cut up into pieces, boiled, pressed, and tinned in the usual way. But to do it properly, by a company in New Zealand, machinery would have to be imported from New York, and a man who understands its preserving process must be procured from Chicago. ‘ There’s a fortune to bo made out of this,’ says my informant, whoso firm in one year sold £500,000 worth of tinned meats, principally American. 1.0.0. P., American Order. —The annual election of officers was held last Wednesday evening, the 28th iust. Bro. Blyth, S.P.Q., in the chair. The following were duly elected : Bros. R. White, N.G.; Dr Camp, bell, Y.G. ; W. Et. Upricbard, Secre larj; and J. Whitehead, Treasurer. The following trustees were elected : Bros, Blyth, Franks and White. Past Grand Master Bro. Wheeler, and Grand Secretary Bro. Reid, both of Dunedin, addressed the lodge at considerable length, and reported on the progress of the Order in general. They concluded by thanking the members for the reception given to them that evening. Bro. Blyth briefly replied on behalf of the Lodge, and hoped they would visit more frequently in future. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Bros. Wheeler and Reid for their attendance, and the valuable instruction given by them to the members of the Lodge. In reply both Dunedin Brothers, compliments d the officers, especially the secretary, for the manner in whicn he had carried out his duties rim the last three years. Bro. James Blyth was elected auditor. The receipts of the evening were £l2 4s 9d, The Lodge then closed.

An Amusing Story.—A most amusing story of Irish character comes from Bunshire, where Her Majesty’s ship Dryad was lately anchored. Thera was also a sailing ship from Cork, which one day displayed the ensign of the Royal Yacht Club, which is so like the flag of an admiral of the fleet that a Persian might well be supposed not to know one from the other. The commander of the Dryad sent his first lieutenant to order the captain of the ship from Cork to haul down the flag. The captain said he would not take it down, whereupon the lieutenant took the matter into his own hands, called up the men from his boat, and carried off the flag. Next-morning another flag of precisely the same description was run up to the masthead of the Cork ship. Again the lieutenant started, and returned completely baffled; Then, as the story goes, the captain of the Dryad himself visited the obnoxious ship. The master said he would not take down the flag, as he had a right to fly it. The captain of the Dryad then told his men to take it down, but they could not, for it was nailed to the mast and the mast well greased, so that no one could ihount it. Thereupon, it is stated, the captain read out to the master the penalties of disobedience, which had the desired effect, and after a whole day spent in scraping the mast the flag was taken down and stowed away.

The Murderer Wxniata. —Last Thurs day the trial of Winiata in Auckland created a sensation. Seven hundred people lined the streets to see him. As usual with Maoris,he had a dream on the night previous to his arrest to the effect that he was travelling in a train dressed all in white, and from this ho inferred that he was in danger. He had £2O in the Auckland Savings Bank when he murdered Sullivan, and this will go to defend him. Barlow, the half-caste who arrested him is six feet high, nineteen stone weight, and of Herculean strength. He denies having drugged Winiata, who had a five barrelled revolver in his breast. Barlow had to abandon his home, horses, cattle, and 200 pigs, so that he loses considerably by the transaction:. Sunday School Treat. —The children attending St. Saviour’s Church Sunday, School were treated yesterday on the grounds of the Volunteer Hall. About 110 children were in attendance, and several juvenile sports were indulged in. About sixty prizes, bought at the gift auction, were given away to the successful competitors in thej games, which were carried on under the supervision of the Eev Mr Chaffers-Welsh, Mr Eutland (superintendent of the school), and the Sunday school teachers. In the afternoon tables were laid in the Hall, aud thr children, partook of an excellent tea, cakes,and buns, provided by the ladies connected witn. the gift auction, after which all of them returned to their respective homes ' well pleased with their day’s recreation.

Messrs R, Wilkin and Co., Timaru, will hold their weekly sale of horses, etc., to-day. Mr A: Clyne notifies that any person, found trespassing on his property,, near Winchester, will be prosecuted. Special attention is directed to the sale of trees by Messrs R. Wilkin and Co. at Timaru on Tuesday next. An advertisement containing an extract from the Civil Service Gazette setting forth the peculiar properties of Epps’* Cocoa appears elsewhere. Messrs Maclean and Stewart will hold a sale ot horses, drays, and barn ess, at their Timaru Horse Bazaar to-day. On Monday next, at Studholme Junction, they will offer a large number of cattle

and sheep. Attention is directed to Mr W. Wheelband’s advertisement which appears in another column. There is a novelty about this advertisement. It contains a piece of poetry, in which of Geraldine expresses gratitude to Mr Wheelband; for having supplied him with the finest fruit trees in New Zealand, and advises all young ladies to get their “ pa’s” to buy fruit trees from Mr Wheelband, and promises that if they do so no beaux will be able to withstand them. They will then have an Eden of their own, like the poet, and will bless the day their “ pa’s” patronised Mr Wheelband* There is one part of the poetry to which we object. We refer to the verse about Adam and Eve. Now that is an old story, and there is no use in reminding people of the mischief that was done on that occasion. The children of Adam and Eve have been suffering ever since for the mischief that one apple did, and it is not right of our Geraldine poet to make a song about it. He says that it was because fair Eve bad this fruit Adam felt so very fiat, and then urges young ladies to go in for it, and have Edens] of their own all over the country. If there were Edens all over the country, aad Adams and Eves in them, it would be very nice certainly, but the consequence would be dreadful if each of them yielded the same amount of mischief as the orignal garden of that name. What fearfully flat falls of Adam there would be. Some of them may not escape as well as the ‘ old man’ even did, and it may be that the apple, in stopping in their throats would choke them. Nobody can estimate the evil consequences of such a thing, and it is very wrong of our Geraldine poet to put such ideas into the ladies’ heads. They know enough already. They have inherited from their mother Eve the power of fascinating poor men, and of making them do many foolish things. If they were to go through the Garden of Eden business on their own account there would be no standing them. We trust the good sense of the ladies will prevent them from taking advantage of the hint given, perhaps in a moment of poetic phrensy 1 by the Geraldine poet. If mother Eve had to go through the same ordeal again we feel sure she would try to avoid it. We have no doubt Mi Wheelband has excellent trees in his Oxford Nursery, and now that it has been immortalised by a poet his business ought to thrive. While we trust that it will we should suggest to him to take care and not disseminate through the country the seeds of the fruit with which Eve wrought so much mischief.