Local Intelligence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 304, 15 November 1873, Page 2

Local Intelligence.

The Tuapeka floricultural, horticultural, and agricultural association is going to have a polycultural show. Now, some people who do not know Latin might think that this means a bhow of one-horned coirs, for * cow with an unmarried horn is usually styled a "poly" cow. In striving to be learnedl> brief, we often succeed in being intellectually confusing. The Secretary for Works and Goldfields, accompanied by the Provincial Engineer, visited Waipori on Wednesday lost, in connection with the drainage channel. They visited the ground in company of several members of the Channel Committee, and followed the course of the proposed channel for a distance of 9 miles, to the falls. Mr. Bastings, we are informed, feels con* fident, judging from the amount of evidence brought before him respecting the payable nature of the ground, which had been abandoned for want of proper fall to work it, the results from the construction of a drainage channel will be all that can be desired. It will be the means of giving remunerative employment to hundreds of miners for years to come, and the quantities of gold which will be unearthed will, to some extent, directly recoup the Government fcr their outlay. In the evening, upwards of fifty of the residents entertained Mr. Bastings to supper in Mr. Reynolds' HoteL Mr. Buchanan occupied the chair. After the usual loyal toasts were given, the Chairman proposed the health of the Goldfields Secretary. In his reply, Mr. Bastings touched upon the public works policy of the Government, and dwelt at considerable- length on the commonage question, which at present is exciting no little interest on the goldfields. He explained the steps which tbe Government purpose taking with rettard to the leasing of certain poitiom of I the commonage. Various toasts and songs were given, and a very pleasant evening spent. No dependence can be placed on the present weather in Lawrence. A sunshiny moinin; frequently is the forerunner of a dismal after noon, ami an evening that suggests the adoptiou of light sillp^pparel. frequently precedes a rainy to-morrow. It is popularly supposed that a "clerk of the weather" presides over the elements. Perhaps, like some telegraph clerks, j she is a lady, and, if she is a lady, we venture to say that she is a flirt "She " changes her wind and mind almost a dozen times every 24 hours. There are intensely illiterate parents who, although destitute of teaching capacity or experience, aßsert that children of two, three, four, and five years, are "too young for school." This ii assertion only, and is the assertion of that which is logically and inexpertmentally erroneous. Mere playing- objectless playing, or its opposite "cramming," are the two extremes we must avoid. They are the two extremes, the rash adoption of which has lend to the making of superficial assertions of tbe class allnded to, and condemned. Suit the gubject, and its treatment to the juvenile mind, and a child of three years, if not deficient in senses, may be taught spelling, reading, calculation, and grammar and geography. A. master of arts would object to being intellectually spoon-fed with the alphabet, and a child's men t;il "stomach" fails to digest subjects incoinphrensible to its capacity. But it is one thing to give strone meat to babe*. an«l quite another, and a very foolish thing, to give it nothing at nil, because it objects to masticate educational forced meat. The London School Hoard adopt* a very minute system of educational classification. In a general way the Board schools are each of a triplicate diameter, the three divisions being respectively for boys, girls, and infants and babes, the last class being of children from three to five years of age. On reaching the age of five years the ltabies are promoted, and tyscome " infants T On attaining the age of seven years, they are again promoted, and separated into " boys " and " girls." an*l taught thereafter, classified, according to their respective sexes, and to their attainments and capabilities. Mr. Mouat lately said that he did not like the practice of "Oath against oath." It is a terrible practice. It may not always involve perjury ; it may be, on one side, the resnU of wrong impression, but an honorable man, jrhose memory was confused, would sorely avoid the awful test of calling his God as a witness to a lie. Human nature is such a complex arrange, uient of prejudices, that all our legal knowledge seems incompetent to wage a successful battle with perjury. " The demand considerably exceeds the sup* ply." Thi9 is the report which now regularly emanates from the various Colonial Immigration Depots. Of course some of the demands result from colonists preferring new arrivals to " old chums;" but the bulk of applications, we learn, are the lesult of actual needs. The new arrival is, however, frequently, for a few months, more pliint than the old resident. It is obviously unjust that the first criminal offence of a juvenile should be publicly investigated. Publicity may do good for the public, but it is not, we opine, good for the accused, especially when he or she is of tender years. Why should, what may have been, the result of a mere evil impulse be published in the light of day, and "proclaimed upon the house tops." Surely England's constitutional lawyers might have known that notoriety and infamy, in popular estimation, are synonymous terms. A public meeting, it will be observed, will be hell in the Wetherstones Schoolroom on Monday evening next, at 8 o'clock, to take steps in matter of the annual Christmas sports. We direct attention to tbe pro&pectas in oar advertising columns of the new Waikaia Gold Mining Company. When it is considered that our present resources were developed by men whose dauntless energy constituted theii sole capital, and when it is considered that such men were the fathers of gold mining, tbe- ptst ought sufficiently stimulate capitalists to undertake any fair attempt which aims at tbe development of tbe precious metal. We should imagine there will be no difficulty whatever in floating this company, which is for flle purpose I of working some of the most auriferous country i yet discovered in Otago. In the case of White v. M'Kellar, we leain that the jurors received only £1 for eleven «luys. In this connection, we may mention that the jurors engaged in the great Blue Spur case received £1 per juror per day. We believe that Vioth law and justice demands a patriotic sacri1 fice occasionally, but a fee of £1 for eleven days is, we opine, nothing short of cruelty to animals. A LARGE quanity of timber for the Beaumont bridge is stacked at the Victoria mills, Tapanui. waiting teams to enrt it to its destination. Loading being so plentiful, the teamsters do not care al>out taking it at the ordinary rate of cartage, the logs being of a great length. 9s. per 100 feet has been offered for cartage and refused. Thk shearers about Tapanui have been out on strike for some days- -their demand of £1 per hundred not being acceded to by the rauholders, who wish the men to start work at last jear's rate, namely, 15s. The matter has since been compromised, the men accepting 175., and all the sheds about Tapanui that were ready for shearing have been filled at that rate. Messbs. Caldeb & Bell, the contractors for the railway bridge over the Mataura at Longford, have resumed work. The timber for this bridge ■will be sapplied by Mr. fi»ttertoa t of Tapanni.

We were somewhat surprised to observe the Mayor sitting on tbe Bench yesterday, when the appeal cases against the Lawrence Corporation assessment were being heard. The position he occupied was rather an anottolons one, being that of judge of his own acts, as he, in common with the Council, had previously approved of the assessment.. An, accident of a rather serloas nature oe v curred to YeenTs B&loluths coach on the 12th inst , as; it was returning to Dunedin. It appears that when the coach was abont 500 y*vto beyend the Volunteer Hotel, ohoak three mil** from Dunedin, one of the front wheels came «&» The result was that the driver was thrown from his seat, and, becoming entangled with the axle* tree of tbe coach, was dragged for the distance, of about 20 yards, when the coach captued. The lynch-pin coming oat, the horses bolte4 with the front carriage for a distance of halfo* mile, and were stopped at the bottom of Look* out Point There wen six ladies and two children as inside passengers in the coach at the times and six men outside passengers, all of whom apparently escaped uninjured. Tho driver, whose name is Henry Mills, was found to be very severely injured abont the head and f-ce, and his tongue cat in a fearful manntr. He wm carried to the Volunteer Hotel, and subsequently brought to the Dunedin Hospital at about half -p*st eight o'clock. Thk immigrants per Lady Jocelyn were open for engagement at the barracks on the 12th inst. All the female servants were readily engaged *• wages varying from £26 to £35 a-yenr. In we instance as high as £2 per week was given for a cook. A number of the immigrants— about 50— were dispatched by the Wangurai to Southland. Mb. Jakes Stumbi.es, the contractor for tb» Mussel Bay Reclamation, met with «. very cover* accident on the 12th inst This accident wa« caused by a fall of earth. He was carried ta to the Dunedin Hospital. Mr. Ltng's properly will be offered for sale at two o'clock to-day. We observe from the ", Provincial Government Gazette" that the following seotions, situated on the Beaumont road, bar* been reserved for Municipal purposes, vis. — Seotfen* 1. 5. and 6, block LXIV., and 1, 2, and 3, Wook LVH. The tramway into the Tapanui bush from the Victorian mills is now one mile in length. The proprietors have the contract for supplying the telegraph posts for the Switzers and Tapanui line. They have already commenced catting; them. The posts are of black pine. The contract for carting them on to the ground ha* also been let. The first load left the mill this week. Last night the St Lawrence Lodge of Good Teni]>ltra was formally constituted in the Athenaeum Hall. Boss Place, a worthy Chief Templar, Bro. Adams, of Dunedin, officiating. About 30 members joined. The business terminated at an unusually late hoar, as thtre wm » doable initiation, owing to one candidate arriving late. Every member speaks gratefully of the business ability and gentlemanly d*> ineauor of Bro. Adams, who was. we are informed, most ]KiinsUking in his efforts to initiate the brotherhood. A lamentable case was heard at the Lawrence Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday, before a bench of justices, viz., H. Bastings, E. Herbert, and V. Pyke, J&sqt., (chairman). We refrain from publishing any name in connexion with this case, for, on mature consideration, we do not approve of wholesale and indiscriminate publicity of* incidents, which, experi nee shows, are only too often made a peg whereon to hang any amount of most unfair exaggeration. The case to which mc r?fer was one of juvenile delinquency. The Bench on the occasion sympathised with the father of the, youthful larcenist, and stated that be (the father) was one of the most respectable residents of Lawrence. The lad seemed to receive his rebuke from the Bench with penitence. The Court sentenced him to one month's imprisonment in Lawrence Gaol, with suitable hard labor, and twenty lashes for the first offence ; and with seren daya imprisonment, with hard labor, for the second offence. We may add that both offences were committed within a very brief period of time. Mr. Pyke (the chairman of the Bench) stated that be considered that the lad was the victim of a mental disease for which, however, tbe law made no provision when such disease assumed a criminal aspect. Ix " A Mother's " letter, Which appeared in our last issue, " Mr. Clerk or Councillor" should have read " Mm. Clerk or Councillor.'* Ox the occasion of the examination of the Balclntha District School, the eye of the Inspector fell upon a stocking, which he at once seized, and holding it up to the* gaze of all present, said that was the kind of crochet work he liked io see girls employed upon ; if they only learned to knit stockings, make-under-clothing for their little brothers and sisters, and a shirt for their father, they would be able to acquire the art of fancy work whenever the necessity pressed ilself upon them. Sir Charles Lyell, has been nominated an honoured member of the Otago Institute. On the evening of the nomination Mr. A. H. Koss read a paper ** On Observed Irregularities in the Action of the Compass in Iron Steam Vessels." The Scott Scholarship dramatic entertainment should be a financial success — the Theatre has been granted on most favorable terms. The " Otago Daily Times " has in the most handsome manner kindly foregone the usual charges for advertising and printing ticket*. The " Otago Guardian M and " Evening Star " La-re alvo acted in the aamo liberal spirit.