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Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3008, 5 October 1878, Page 2

County Council Chambers, Thames, Oct., 1878. Sir,—l have the honor to inform you the following resolution was adopted by this Council after discussing an application from the Waio-JCaraka Drainage and Pumping Association, which is attached in copy :— ''That inasmuch as the Gold Duty and other revenue of the County are hypothecated under agreement with the Government to the United Pumping Association-for the maintenance of their pumping operations, it is with much regret this Council is therefore unable to grant the assistance solicited by the WaioKaraka Association, but as the operations of the Association are being directed to prove the existence of gold at deep levels, which, if successful, would prove incalculably advantageous to the welfare of this district and colony, this Council is of opinion the Association is equitably entitled to be subsidised from the £5000 voted by the Government in aid of prospecting, and gazetted 17th January, 1873: Be it therefore resolved that the Chairman to urge upon the Government the -necessity of granting such subsidy." In commenting upon this resolution I d " sire to impress upon the Government the. fact that this Association is not only a large employer of labor in their own workings, but upon the continuance of their pumping 'operations depends the livelihood of an additional 200 miners and I their families. In the present state of our labour market such an accession to the ranks of the unemployed would be absolutely disastrous. The mines benefited by these pumps

of Beauty, City of London,,Piako, and Queen of the May"- Nor do I consider the assistance tho -Assaciation requires is more than of a temporary character. As explained in tho. resolution itself, the works in progress ar« for prospecting the deep levels, and.the opinion of our best experts is entirely in favor of a large find at no distant date. The Government may naturally enquire if such is'the case, why do not the companies themselves subsidise the pumps ? The answer is given ia their secretary's letter. , : If the Government would kindly con-' sent to a monthly contribution in aid, for say six months, out of the said vote of ,£5000,1 have no doubt it would be the means of placing these associated companies upon a permanent footing. In preparing this request on behalf of< those associated companies, I desire to bring under the notice of the Government the recent action of the Victorian Go-, vernment, who have, I am given to understand, voted the sum of £30,000 for distribution among those companies who are engaged in testing the deep levels of the goldfields in that Colony. I have, &c, Alexandee Bbodie, County Chairman. The Hon. the Minister .for Lands, Wellington.

The Thames people are doubtless lor-; since sick of the name—" Broomhall." The pros and cons of the proposed settlement have been talked about, written about, and ventilated from every standpoint, and the condensed dpinion of the people of this district may be safely put in this manner—'' Broomhall settlement Broomhall settlement, the Te Aroha land is the Canaan of the Thames people, and no one else has a right to it, no matter what the Auckland Waste Lands Board have done in the matter." The Thames people got'very jubilant- some time back at the Hon. Attorney-General giving as his opinion that the Broomhall compact was illegal, and since that time we have been living in a sort.of fool's paradise with.respect to this all-important matter. What did we care; the compact was illegal, and, as a natural sequence, we would Ret our promised land.. It does not appear to have struck anyone that, what' the Government declared illegal they could legalise' by subsequent legislation. This, however, they are doing now, as there is a Brll before the House called the V Broomhall Validation Bill," brought forward to validate the already declared illegal action.of the Board in granting to Broomhall lands which, at the time, had. not passed through the Lands Court. Nor is this all.. The Waste LaqdjL Board, doubtless with a view ofiHptihing the . nail on the other sidp passed the following resolution at their meeting held at Auckland on Thursday afternoon:—" That inasmuch as the. distinct understanding upon which the Auckland Land Board entered, into negotiations with Mr Broomhall For the sale to him of the block of" land at the Thames was the introduction pf a certain specified number of immigrants, and the erection of a specified number of houses; and inasmuch as it appears that Mr Broomhall is, or has been in treaty to transfer the rights granted to him to a public company, : who may not carry out in bona fides the Broomhall agreement, this Board is opinion that the " Broomhall Validation Act" now before the House might contain a clause embracing the original conditions of settlement upon which this Board concluded its negotiations with Mr Broomhall, before issuing the Crown grant." Thames people- should look to this,' as we can see that the bright visions of snug little homesteads on the slopes and at the base of the Te Aroha mountain are again looking, to use a Colonialism, just a little bit "dickey." . ' '■■!

In another column the Parawai District Board intimate their intention of striking a rate of 6d in the £.

The anniversary services in connection with the Grahamstown Wesleyan Sunday school will be held to-morrow. The Bey. Mr Willis will officiate at the morning and evening services, and in the afternoon the Eev. J. Nixon will address the parents and children. The Herald's correspondent telegraphs from Wellington that Mr C. H. J. Hill has been gazetted Ranger of Crown Lands for the land district of Auckland. The gentleman referred to is Mr Hill who has for several years filled the position of wharfinger on the Goods Wharf, and is besides a colonist of some 30 or 40 years standing. Mr Hill's many friends will doubtless be glad to hear of his advance* ment. % We learn that the Tairua Prospectors, Golden Arrow and other mining areas at Pakirarahi have lately been again taken up, and that it is probable some portions of the ground, will be subjected, to a systematic prospecting. A good many people believe that a payable reef will be found, as almost anywhere a prospect can be got on the surface, and besides, the one rich "pocket" of' 400 ounces taken out by the Tairua Prospectors, several smaller hauls were got at different times. The fourteenth number of Enoch is published to-day. It contains a letter sent ,by the Editor to Dr Somerville when the latter was here on his revival tour, a leading article on The Eastern Question (which we previously, and, as the Editor thought, prematurely, noticed), and a number of other articles, original and select.' ' ■ # ,

The steamer Lily was hired yesterday afternoon, says the Herald, by a member of a firm in town, and with him a legal gentleman proceeded round the.North Head in company with the s.s. Wanaka. The impression was that ihe gentleman in question went to see if any. boat boarded the Wanaka in the channel, probably to ascertain if any friend desired to leave for the South without the knowledge of his Auckland acquaintances. Another piece of mystery is thus referred to in last night's Star;— Some anxiety is felt, by a boot and shoe manufacturing firm, by the sudden disappearance of one of the partners since yesterday morning. Although inquiry, has been made, no reason is -yet assigned for bis absence or

The work cf filling up under the Goods, Wharf is now making good progress, about 30 men being employed, some at filling the trucks at the tips and others shovelling and spreading the stuff under the wharf. A considerable portion has been filled in, and Mr Eawdon, under whose superintendence the work is being carried out, inform us that he does not intend to' retain the stuff by flanking up the sides of the wharf as the stuff will soon set and will not require any artificial support.

The report of Professor Black on the sample of brawn from Oamaru, and which was supposed to have been the cause of the poisoning cases there, states that it showed all absence of mineral poisons, but under the microscope vibrio in great quantities were detected. It is well known, says the Professor, that vibrio are. evidence of putrefactive changes, but the seasoning present was sufficient to hide them, though putridity had advanced considerably. v-,j.-' o u

At the annual dinner of the Pakriranga Hunt Club 'the toast of "The Clergy." was proposed and drunk with more than ordinary cordiality, and the Bey. Father Biordan responded to the toast in a capital speech, suggestive of his being one of the muscular Christain school. He said in Ireland he had followed the hares, and as times changed, he became a chaplain in the British army in India, and he was then proud to be associated with brave men. He had also been with the Melbourne Bacing Club and the Werribee Park—in fact, he was in the midst of .them, and here he was now in the midst of them', between Ellerslie and Pakuranga, when only two years from the Mauritius, and still he found himself amongst brave men, and that waa the reason why he responded to the toast. (Cheers.) For some time he had chaied the hareß in Iroland, and afterwards, not without some trepidation, the timers in India. He had been stirred by feelings of anxiety on these occasions, and he felt reminded of happier times when amongst them that day.' He desired to express bis thanks to the Master of the Hunt and the members of the Club, who had invited him to enjoy this unique treat, in which he felt great pleasure in participating, (Loud cheers).

. The County Chairman hag acted promptly in carrying out the wishes of the Council, aa expressed by resolution at their last meeting, on the question of. aid to the Waio-Earaka Drainage Association. He has written the following letter to the Minister for Lands, and the suggestion embodied in the letter, that a portion of the vote for prospecting aids should be devoted to deep level mining, seems to us fair and reasonable. We trust the Minister for Lands will look at the matter in this light, and if more than' temporary assistance should unfortunately be required, the termination of the agree•ment at present in force, between the ocal bodies and the United Pumping Association may render the spending of the gold duty coming to County and Borough a matter for future consideration, in which case we feel sure the claims of the Waio-Karaka would be' favorably entertained:— ,

Under the heading " Our Leeches," a contemporary has the following:—" We have in New Zealand 450 parsons, the numbers being as follows:—Church of England, 156; Presbyterian, 108; Eoman Catholic, 57; and other denominations, 129— 0r, aboub one to every, 880 of the population.. There are about 262 lawyers of whom Dunedin claims 51, Auckland 44, Wellington and Christchureh, each 30, the balance being< pretty evenly scattered—the proportion being,about one to every IICD. Thy doctors muster 242, and Dunedin has aga?n the lion's share, 31; Christchurch following' with 24, Auckland 21, and Wellington with 15— one to every 1230; while of commission agents (those beings abhorirdd: by laWyeis), there are something like-Srai)/' 'I

Acontempobaby has tb« fallowing: *'I had a desire to be an autkor fliom early, boyhood," said Mr Farjeon to a Yankee reporter. " When quite a young man I found myself in New- Zealand, '.where I managed and became part proprietor of the first daily newspaper published in the colony. In it I occasionally printed short sketches. I wrote a little Christmas story and published it in book form. , A copy fell into the hands of Charles Dickens. He opened a correspondence with me giving me so much encouragement—based upon the perusal of my tale, which he had began, and says he didn't put it down until he had finished the last page—that my boyish idea became fired. I determined to go to London to try my fortune in the literary field. There I remained twelve months, making literary acquaintances and seeng as much as/I could 6f London life/During, that time I completed 'Grif in its present form. I offered it to Tinsley Brothers. They published: it, and its success induced them to ask me for a story for their magazine." In all the;times Mr Farjeon has been interviewed he seems never to have told that he commenced a story in the Otago Witness and got into such an interminable muddle with his plot and characters thathe had. to abandon them to their fate and leave the story uncompleted ; yet such was the case as the Witness files would show.

The conduct of the mistress of one of the up-country schools in. Canterbury having given offence to the committee, they held an inquiry, at which she was preseat. She appears to have been so annoyed at the way they conducted them* selves upon ihe occasion, that she immediately forwarded her resignation to the Board of Education. Sheconsidered that, in the holding of this enquiry, the committee were altogether too free and-easy, and, among other of their peccadilloes, they filled the room in which the enquiry was held with tobacco smoke. To such a way of doing business she naturally took exception ; hence her resignation. As it was evident that the lady and the committee were not on the best of terms, her resignation was accepted, and the Board resolved to recommend her to apply for another appointment now vacant. • „.

A petition from Christohurch was for* warded by the s.s. Taranaki on Thursday to the Governor, asking him to proclaim the city divided into wards.

The evidence pf W. W. J. Digby, secretary to the Christchurch Jockey Club, was taken on' Thursday, 3rd instant, before G, L. Melljsh, Esq., B.M. in the case of McGee' v. the stewards of the Auckland Jockey Club. The .evidence was taken by commission, and was in reference to. the disqualification of the race-horse Falcon. The evidence of Mr Digby went to show the confirming of the disqualification in question by the Canterbury Club, and also the receipt of a letter from Mr Percival, the Secretary of the Auckland Club, intimating that McGee, the owner, and the jockey, had been disqualified for two years, and the horse for ever. The evidence will be, forwarded to Auckland.

A meeting of the Dunedin Presbytery was' held 3rd inst. to consider the new bill introduced by the Attorney-General, and which has for its object, to deprive the Presbyterian Synod of the right to appoint the professors, of the Otago University, whose chairs are endowed out of certain church fundjL the third of which the Synod is compelled by law to expend for educational purposes. The petition submitted, and which it was resolved to | forward to the Hon. Mr Macandrew, and the Hon. Matthew Holmes, M.L.C., for presentation to Parliament, expressed regret at the action of the. Attorney-General in introducing a bill to denude the Synod of the above-mentioned powers. The Pjresbytery was not aware of any reason why the said bill, which seriously affected

"been, introduced without, due notice to the parties interested', and protested against it, which it submitted was an unjust and arbitrary proceeding, done in violation of the first principles of justice, and one which, if it succeeded, would produce a feeling of insecurity with regal'd to the vested rights throughout the colony. A somewhat bitter discussion followed, in the course* of which the AttorneyGeneral's action was .severely criticised.

A fkank acknowledgment is thus made by the Taranaki iN'ews : — '' We have to apologise to the editor of our contemporary, the Taranaki Herald, and to the Press Agency, for some caustic remarks in a sub-leader in bur issue on Saturday last. We had received considerable annoyance from our contemporary during the kst week, and intended to hit out hard, and, as is usual in such cases, overshot the mark."

Op the fifteen diplomatists who constituted the Berlin Congress, ten were Freemasons..