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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3882, 8 June 1881, Page 2

The work of the journalist is a great one. He touches every sore place and makes the patient wince; he formulates the order of daily thought, and the very men who effect to ignore and be superior to himself repeat in broken doses his views on current topics. Like money, the thought of the journalist streams through thu community ; it blesses as it goes, but is not blessed , it confers v benefaction, but as a medium of exchange it is lightly esteemed.—Houston. Biohange.

A contempobabtt says:—The new Bankruptcy Aot which it is proposed to introduce next session, bears more hardly on debtors than former ones. Among other important amendments, it prevents respectable members of the legal profession from aiding those bankrupts whose assets are less than 50 per cent, of their debts. It directs that all sums paid by the bankrupt for legal assistance in filing and obtaining his discharge shall in future be paid through the trustee at certain fixed rates. Any bankrupt whose assets do not realise 50 per cent, of his debts will not receive his discharge until h« has earned and paid into the estate that amount of money, and [,'invons whose total dabts are below £100 shall not bo allowed to avail themselves of the provisions of the Act. The^number of times a man has been bankrupt is to be taken into account by the presiding judge before giving a debtor his discharge. The Aot provides more stringent regulations for the appointment and supervision of trustees, and the fees they are to receive.

Wb have it on good authority that Mr W. j. Haret, M.H.R., for Auckland City West, will resign his seat in the Assembly shortly. Mr Hurst is prosecutor in a libel action S6t down for hearing at the sitting of the Supreme Court in Julj. In other words, if he retained his seat he muat of necessity absent himself from his parliamentary duties for an indefinite period. Bather than sacrifice the interests of his constituents in that way he (Mr Hurst) has oleeted to resign. Whatever may be said of Mr Hurst otherwise, his bitterest opponents cannot obarge him with having shirked his duty, and his action in the step now proposed to be taken will prove his self-sacrifice in that way complete.—Waikato Times.

Air amusing incident occurred at Greytown. It appears that Messrs Freeman and Heppner have trotting horst s, and a match was arranged to take place from the Cemetary gate to Mr Freeman's shop. A start was made and Heppner's mare waa leading, when a man appeared at the side of the road with a bundle of hay in his arms, and the mare, evidently thinking it was for her, stopped up short to have some refreshments on her journey, thus leaving Freeman to win by about 40 yards, although his horee broke several times.—W. Standard.

Mas .Susan Wiltshibb writes to one of the Wellington papers :—" lam the widow of the late George Wiltshire, who was drowned at the wreck of the Tararua, and I believe I am the only person in Wellington who has suffered severely from that terrible catastrophe. I have five children to support, and as yet, for a period of nearly three weeks, not one has been near me to ask me if I wanted even a loaf of bread."

In response to an advertisement issued by the Board of Education, a meeting of tke Te Arpha " householders" was held a few evenings ago at the residence of Mr Reynolds, Waihou farm, to make the necessary arrangements for ot ening a school. The Rev. J. T. Pinfold was requested to take the chair, but explained that his position there would not permit him to do so; upon which Mr Reynolds was unanimously elected to occupy it. The advertisement which authorised the meeting was then read by Mr PiDfold, who also gave a statement of the efforts he had put forth since Mr Murphy first spoke to him about the matter; read the correspondence which had passed between. himself and the Board, and' congratulated the meeting upon their present position. TLe meeiing then proceeded to ballot for the committee,; and the result was that Messrs, Reynolds, Murphy, Hawkins, Reed, Stanley, Mace, and Borrie were declared by the ' chairman duly elected. An animated discussion upon the proposed boundaries followed. Mr Murphy, in an eulogistic speech, proposed a vote of thanks to the Rev. Mr Pinfold. This was seconded by Mr Mace, and carried by reclamation; aiid a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman for the happy way in which he had conducted the meeting, brought the public gathering to a close.—Herald. '

We frequently observe, in different agricultural journals, directions for making labels attaching the names to trees, which shall remain permanently for a long aeries of years. Nearly all recommend a wire loop fastened to the wood or metal label, for suspending it to the branch of a tree. This wire, by the con* stant swinging of the label ia the wind is gradually worn out, and the name lost, or, on the other hand, it may cut into the bark of the branob which holds it. The mode we recommended many years ago obviates both difficulties. The label is made of a single slip of metal a few inches long, half an inch or more wide at one end and the fourth of an inch at the other. The name is written on the broad end, and the narrow one is passed once or twice around the limb or a tree. It is very quickly done; the label clings closely to the branch, and expands and loosens as the tree growa. The metal may be zinc, and if written on with a common black lead pencil, the name will remain for years. If a lower side branch be selected, the name will be easily seen, and such a branch grows slowly, and is a better substitute.— Country Gentle man.

Ministers are in close oon?u'tatiori"in the Cabinet to-night over the Governor's speech, which is likely to be short, sharp, and to the point, without any waste of words. Ministers are still engaged actively in preparing Bills, mo3t of which, h >wever, are almost exact reprints of those dropped last.session. The Licensing Bill is undergoing a very careful revision. The principal new features.will be the provision , for ; licensing and and; police supervision of all clubs, the imposition of a £40 hotel license, and the introduction of a new license at a nominal charge for the exclusive sale of wines produced in New Zealand, this being with the-view to encourage wine production as tr new 'local industry. The chief difficulty experienced in regard to this measure is to provide adequite means for guarding against fraud by ensuring that only bom fide New Zealand grown wines, and no other liquor of any kind, shall be sold by such licensee. The penalty for breach of this clause will probably be made very heavy. The Charitable Aid Bill will differ but slightly rom last year's Bill. Its principal alteration will be in the direction of affording greaL.r scope and assistance to voluntary benevolent associations, giving them all possible facility for coming under the operation of the Act.— Herald.

The editor of tJw.Ci»rtersville(Ga.) Express ■ays:—" There is a little brown-eyed enthusiastic, high-spirited lady, who, after she has cooked breakfast, cleared the things away, set the tiouso to rights, attended the call of the bread wagon, and milked the cow, dons her hat and cloak, comes into this office, yanks us out of the editorial chair, pounces on the exchanges, amputates every item of interest, stacks them on the copy hook, grabs up a Faber, travels it over a quire of editor's manuscript paper, removes her snowy«white apron, shoves up her sleeves, grabs a stick and rule, and sets it into type, reads the proof and corrects every error. That's our wife, and she will get her reward in heaven."

The North Otago Times, discussing Mr Macandrew's speech says:—" To the country, however, it matters Tery little now whether the Hall Government hare exaggerated the mistakes or misappropriations of their predecessors. Those who are with and for the (3-overnment deny that there has been exaggeration, those who are on Mr Macandrew's side maintain that the exaggeration has been of the grossest kind. Mr Maoandrew'a own evidence proves his, and the evidence for the other side proves the contrary. If we consider the cases separately, we must give judgment first for the one and then for the. other party; but if we consider the evidence of both sides together, as we should do, we must in despair take refuge in the old saying— arcades anbo— and dismiss both pt»rti«B as the most arrant exaggerators that ever bewildered a peaceful community with their mutual aspersions. These, unfortunately, appear to be indispensable to the politicians concerned ; fortunately, though their sound and fury are distressing, the things themselves are of no moment to the country, notwithstanding the vociferous asinine braying tothe contrary, of the advopates on either side.

"Totjcsßto»b" Bays:—One of Mr Maoandrew's nuts must be cracked, and I am alive with curiosity to know what the Ministerial kernel will be. Mac. thus pats it: " JReadjustment of the representation upon the basis laid down in Oonstitmtion Act, viz., population." Ten to one the Government throw the Constitution Act overboard. They dare not offend the Cook's Strait hangera-ou by gividg the taxpayer* in AuckLnd, Christchurch, and Dunedin, their constitutional rights. Some special pretext will be found for the evasion.

The following are the nine objects to be desired as stated by Mr Macandrew in his late speech, and what " Touchstone " says are nine pearls of pure quality. He states them as follows :—l, Readjustment of the representation on the basis of population ; 2, The adoption of the railway scheme of 1878; 3, Reduction of taxation by tke repeal of the Property Tax; ,4, The resumption of modified nominated immigration; 5, Diminish-, ing the excessive cost of education by forbidding our primary schools to be a nursery for 5 year olds; 6, Reform in our law courts; 7, Direct steam communication with Europe ; 8, Restoration of a share of the land fund to local bodies; 9, And lastly, of divesting the' General Assembly of the vast amount of parish business they have aeßucned. We will never truly thrive politically until the neck of Centalism is broken, and a sound system of local government be brought into operation. It is at present in the power of a government to buy voteß, which ought not to be. A local government party should take the field. Home rule is not a senseless cry, where there is an over burned central parliament.

"An instance of how lightly people from England look upon what we in New Zealand have 10 much made ot to us—our indebtedness and consequent taxation—was exemplified here at the Hamilton bridge meeting on Thursday night. A vote of thanks to country gentlemen who had come so far on an inclement evening was accorded, and coupled with the name of Mr Barugh, the new proprietor of the Wartle Estate, and one who emigrated by the advice of Messrs Grant and Foster. Mr Barugh in returning thanks, referring to the matter before them —a request to the Government to vote £7000 to make the bridge free'—expressed, an opinion that the indebtedness of the colsny, made so much of by some parties, was a mere fleabite, and not so much as the capital account of a railway at Home, of which be was a shareholder ; that be was quite surprised at the lightness of taxation, which was a mere nothing to wh.ut he bad had to bear at home, either general or local, and that, in his opinion, if, the colony's was doubled, for reproductive purposes, the taxpayer here would still -it much easier than the taxpayer at home."—Herald.

The Native Lands Court awarded the ownership of the Little Barrier. Island to the Ngatiwai tribe, ousting the claims of the Chief Paul and others. The land is decreed by the Court to be inalienable, save to the Government, owing, to its commanding position for military purposes in the Hauraki G-ulf.

We would call the attention of our readers to the advertisement appearing in another column concerning the fruit trees, etc., Mr W. J. Palmer, of Carlton Eoad, Auckland, has for sale. Mr Palmer has apples, pears, plums, oranges, lemons, chestnuts, and many other varieties too numerous to particularise. His stock of roses is said tp be the best in the colony.

To moeeow night at the Academy of Music Professor Haselmayer will give the first of his entertainments. The Press throughout the Colony have spoken most highly of the performances of both the Professor and Madame Haseljiayer.

It is estimated that the wotk of forming the Komata road will cost £5000, and that it will take oyer thr, 8 months to complete. Tukukino remains passive, rad r*'s henchman, Tinipoaka, with his eye to the "bawbees,' would be perfectly willing if he saw an appointment to take a billet on the work.

Pabiiambnt opens to-morrow afternoon a two o'clock.. We expect to, be in a position to publish His Excellency's speech in to-morrow's issue.

We are glad to hear that the young man Tetley who fell down the Hupe Creek shaft last week is in a fair way to recovery, and will be able to resume work in a week or two It is a fortunate circumstance that he broke his fall by seizing one of the rings of the ladder just before he struck the bottom.

Wb understand that Mr Brodie has so far recovered that he is at liberty to leave his house. He wob expected on the flat to-day. These was a clean sheet at the E.M. Court this morning.

Messes Banks and Co. will; sell at their Parawai Yards tj-morrow the remainder of Messrs Jordans' prime draft of cattle. They are similar to those told last week, which proved so satisfactory to the buyers. They will also sell their usual lot of Napier sheep, &c, as well as a superior consignment of oaten chaff, the. sale of which will be continued weekly should t'ae prices realised warrant it.

His Honor' Judge Macdonald arrived by the Botomafaana tbis afternoon. He only reached Auckland on Tuesday from Taupo, riding to Waikato and then taking train.