Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1873.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 316, 27 December 1873, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1873.

"MEABURES, NOT MEN." goal Jtitellipttn. o One of our Tuupeka settlers wrote a letter to the Government lately, drawing their nttention to a very common custom adopted by some people in the district in the construction of sod i fences along fehe course of road lines by using sods fiom any pivt of the road, thus making it almost impossible to traverse them. In the case in point, the settler j;»skod';the Government what stops should be taken to prevent such a thing j being done, and received the following reply ! from th,e Provincial Solicitors — '* Duneilin, i 20Hi December, 1873. Sir,— Your letter of the 20Ui November to the Secretary for Lands and Works corupluiniug of the destruction of the roads in your district has been referred to me, in otder that iiroceediogs may he taken against the offenders by the Government. I shall be gl^d to receive any information you may passuss, such as the names of the parties, and the kind of il.ihinge done, the locality, &c, so as to enable me to carry out the wishes of the Government on the subject.- -I have the honor to be, &c, Gibson K. Turton. Provincial Solicitor." — The complainant, believing this notice v/ill be a sufficient warning to guilty parties, refrains from any further proceedings. We have reoeived from the local agent, Mr. George Jeffery, of Ross Place, a copy of " Mackay's tltago Goldfiftkls Almanac." TMr. Mackay does himself an injustice in designating this work a " goldfields almanac." as although the goldfields, as they deserve to be, are well cared for, every other poition of the province receives au equal amou,nb of attention. 296 pages of this yearly-increasing volume are devoted to all the class of information which is to be found in the better class of almanacs. Indeed it is a ready reckoner, a calendar, a gazetteer, and an official catalogue. We have only to add that paper and typography is as good as usual. Wb have received '* Wise's Shilling Almanac, 1874." There are 157 pages devoted to municipal, political, financial, and general statistics. The paper and printing are excellent, and a similar remark is applicable to the classification of the news. The " Otago Business Directory" as specially, good, and presents, as a specimen of typography, a very satisfactory appearance, Messrs. Burton Brothers inform us that their photographic gallery in Lawrence will positively be olosed'on the last day of the year. During their visit on this occasion, they have Lurued out many excellent pictures. The tender .of Messrs. H. and J. M'Cay for the Waipoii school, being the lowest, has been aceppted. The amount is £229 15s, There were four tenders. The Waipori Board of Wardens have removed all sheep from the Waipori commonage. Loud and continuous have been the cries of the sheepists 'against this action, but all to no purpose* A FIXE broke out "in the Waipori bush on Monday last. It oontinued for several days, and has caused considerable damage to a large quantity of timber. We regret to record two accidents which occurred at the Lawrence sports yesterday. A sou of Mr. Michael Nash, of Wetherstones, was kicked in the stomach by a horse, and a lad named Irwin, of the Blu,e Spur, was thrown from his horse and kicked on the back of the head. Dr. Stewart, happening to be on the ground, was immediately in attendance, and ordered the youth to be at once taken to the Hospital. The kick produced a fracture of the skull, but we are glad to learn it is not of a veiy serious; ohjavaoter. Young Nash, we are informed, was not seriously hurt. Christmas Day ia Lawrence passed of? with all the quietness of a Sunday. There were services in Trinity Cburoh in the morning, and vespera in the Roman Catholic Church. A Mb. I£irAy, a certificated teacher from the Scotch College) ' Melbourne, has been appointed teaeh'er of the Waipuri school. On the 20th instant, the eldest son of My*. Theyera, of Alexandra, was run over by a bullock dray. 'It is really marvellous how he escaped instant death, as the wheel of the drasr passed 'oVer his "back. ' Fortunately he was not serionsly injured, and our latest information is to the effect that he ia leccvering as well as can be exsecte«l,

' wbsr genial rainfall commenced thfcAnorn"W which promises to compensate 0> the late drought.

On Monday evening next, 0. R. Chapman, Esq., barrister, will deliver a leotare in the Commercial Assembly Boom, "Lawrence. The subject seleoted is a very interesting one to the residents of Tuapeka, namely— " Building Societies t their objects, working advantages, and influence on society," The Mayor will preside upon the occasion.

The successful prospecting of the O.P.Q. reef, at Waipori, has caused quite a quartz mania amongst the residents and others of that township. Large areas of ground are being pegged off daily. We trust this excitement will end in something good for Waipori, which has latelj been in the shade.

A paragraph appeared in the " Otago Guardian " a few days ago, bearing evidence, we imagine (it may only be imagination) of having been supplied to it by some member of the police force in Lawrence. It was as follows : — " On the 18th instant two Chinamen went into the Bank of New Zealand, at Lawrence, and one of them asked Mr. Fisher, the bank clerk, to give him a £10 for ten £1 notes. This Mr. Fisher did. John then asked Mr. Fisher to give him a £5 note for 10 half-sovereigns, which he at the same ti.ne placed upon the counter. These Mr. Fisher examined, and found that they had been tampered with, by having a hole scooped out of the middle of each coin, and the cavity filled with lead or some other substance, and then washed over with gold. Of course, John's request was not acceded to, but he was foolishly permitted to depart, probably to try on the same game somewhere else, Mr. Fisher not even reporting the matter to the police. A Chinaman named Ah Moon was suspected of being- the delinquent, but, on being found on the railway works, near Manuka Creek, nothing was discovered upon him which could lead to his crimination." The correct version of the matter was simply this : In the course of business some mutilated coins were presented at the bank counter, and declined to be taken— a thins; of every-day occurrence in all banks. As to the coins h£|ng been manipulated by Chinese in the manner stated, it is merely a matter of conjecture. Mr. Jamison, the manager of the bank, being desirous of removing the slur which had been unjustly cast upon Mr. Fisher, his inferior officer, wrote to the manager of the " Guardian," recommending him to obtain a correct version of the circumstances, and at the same time tendering him a little friendly advice (for managers of newspapers, and it may be even of the "Guardian," are after all only human beings), but instead of making the correction and expressing gratitude for the hint, the ' ' Guardian," in its selfsufficiency, endeavors to inflict a gratuitous injury on the officer of the bank by violating the good faith of journalism, and dragging into print what, we are informed, was distinctly stated as not intended for publication. We quite agree with our august couteinporary that ' ' newspapers have to depend upon the veracity of their correspondents, and are liable to be misled." This is daily felt by any person who has the management of a newspaper ; but the ' ' Guardian " does not on that account free itself from responsibility, and if its correspondents endeavor from private spleen to brand a respectable young man as a consummate ass, it should have more savey than give a place to such correspondence, unless it is of a much more reliable character than that to which we have referred.

Mr. J. L. Hall, the talented comedian so well known at the Thames, made his first appearance in England, at Liverpool, on September 20th in the Persian extravaganza, "KissiKissi."

A coBBESFoifDENT of the " Bay of Plenty Times " writes ;—"; — " One great mistake in the colonies is that two many spirit licenses are granted, hence much competition which ruins the trade, and keeps the proper kind of people out of it, because honorable and respectable men will not descend to the low practices wtich are universally resorted to for extorting large profits by dram selling." »

A noticeable fact in colonial politics at the present time, says the " Lyttelton Times," is that in almost all the Australian colonies some cause of quarrel has arisen between the two Chambers of the Legislature.

A miner named Bamshaw has been crushed to death by a fall of coal at the Company's mine, Newscasfcle, New South Wales.

The Wesleyans in Chris fcchurch have adopted the plan of holding a religious service upon the arrival of every new body of immigrants from the home country.

The Australian Central Gold Mining Company (limited), with a capital of £16,000 in £1 shares, has just been formed for the purchasing from the Australian United Gold Mining Company the central mines in the colony of Victoria.

The natives in Southern India have been solemnising Lent by miracle plays.

The Patent Safety Compressed Gun-Cotton Company, Stowmarket, England, has purchased and enclosed with a stone wall 10£ acres of land at Braybrook, on the Saltwater River, near Melbourne, on which are erected apparatus for drying and finishing gun-cotton for mining purposes, and magazines for storing gun-cotton both in the wefc and dry state. Eighteen master bakers in Melbourne have already conceded the eight hours' system, leaving forty-five who still hold out.

The "Smythesdale Advocate" says that Dr. M'Crea is at last giving the medicine of the Buangor Chinese doctor for the euro of diptheria a fair trial.

The "Medical Circular" says: — "Fortytwo wheaten loaves contain as much alcohol as a bottle of port wine. Good Templars are consequently advised not to eat forty-two loaves all at once." IN Victoria, the State School Boards of Advice complain bitterly of the tone adopted towards "them by the Department of Education,

The death is announced of Dr. Godfrey Howitt, a brother of the belebrated Wm. Howitt, and for thirty years resident in Melbourne.

The colonial farmers' pest, the thistle, fa said to spreading in Westland.

At a late meeting of -the- Invercargill Education Committee- a Mr. Kingsland asserted that our boys and girla went walking up and down the streets at an angle of 45 degrees, and all for the want of a little training.

A writer in the " Bay of Plenty Times" says :—"I: — "I can truthfully state, afte? many years experience in the colonies, that three-fourths of the large number Of lunatics who crowd the asylums and gaols, were rendered raving madmen by twoodsciously drinking bad spirits."

A wbitbb in the " Thames Advertiser " supplies the following information :—": — " Good Templars may manufacture currant wine to be used at the Eucharist, but for no other purpose. It is recommended that the use of intoxicating vines at the Eucharist be discontinued." At the Thames, the Kauwaeranga Girls' School is under the charge of Mrs. Colclough (alias " Polly-Plum ") a lady who has made herself widely known by her clever and spirited writings* . ,

In reply to Mr. Honore, a North Island missionary, To Whlti, a fanatical Maori, exclaimed, lately, " we are now in the kingdom ; Te Whiti is flocfe; Te Whiti in Jesus Christ ; Te Whiti is the image of Nebuchadnezzar's -vision ; Te Whiti is one of the witnesses prophesying 1,260 days in sackcloth and ashes,"

Thb Bank of New Zealand, Greymouth>' v gave iJflAdj^r a bank site^app. •■'•■ 250 g^esta attended the Auckland Licensed Victualler s Ball. The question of " Smoking and Thinking " is discussed in the "\Buifcler," the verdict arrived at being decidedly adverse to the use j tobacco. \ J », ' - 1 It wivs remarked in a magazine two or three years ago that all the Prime Ministers in the United Kingdom, from Walpole down, excepting Mr. Disraeli, have been descendants of Edward I. The "Pall Mall Gazette" says :— "Heller, - the celebrated pianist, met his death in Mexico, having been killed by a sand club." A Mr. Heller (pupil of Haselmayer) who two years ago was in Dunedin, was not long ago in India. Wizards travel quickly, but wo doubt that' the pianist referred to in the t " Pall Mall Gazette *' is the pianist and conjuror known in Otago and Australia. The sand club is made simply by filling an eelskin with fine sand, and is described as " a very pliable and deadly weapon." A chickex with four legs and twenty toes was lately presented to the editor of the "Bay of Plenty Times." The Dunedin " Times " objects to the in* consistency of those " unco quid " folk who w.tfuld stop Sunday trains, and w%6 would nevertheless force their cooks to bake and boil on Sunday. Towards the end of last year, a number of Scandinavian girls arrived by the Palmerston, and went into service m .various parts of the province. Such was the force of the wind at Anderson's Bay on Saturday that a four-wheeled bus standing empty and without any horses harnessed to it, in front of the Anderson's Bay Hotel, was blown into the sea, capsized,** and damaged. Thb Frederick the Great Claim in Bendigo, is giving profits at the rate of from £50,000 to £100,000 a-year. Tenders are called for the erection of an Immigration Barrack at Oamaru. The collection at St. Paul's Church, Dunenin, on Christmas Day are to be devoted to the Benevolent Asylum, The Eev. A. M. Henderson, of the Collinsstreet Congregational Church, stated lately from the clerical platform (he docs not use t» pulpit) that a certain journalist told "* malicious lie." "We have ourselves heardjj|> reverend gentleman call a sinner "a scoring drel." There are in Chicago's new hotel, the Grand Pacific, 59 flights of stairs, 39 miles of wire, 999 windows, and 1070 doors. The "Spectator" ajnd other English journals give a favorable review of Mr. Buller'ti " Birds of New Zealand." Blackening eyes, chewed thumbs, free fighting, and stabbing are among the delicacies of the season, in which the good people of the Lyell have been revelling during the late , period of excitement. 1 On the subject of a labor famine in Oaraaru, ' a Dunedin correspondent writes : — " As for i their wanting 2000 men for the harvest, I ' fully believe that, but I am also sure they j won't require 25 per cent, of them after the j harvest is over," , The Rev. Alexander Reid (late o f Duuedin) ! Chairman of the Auckland Wesleyan Circuit, ' preached anniversary sermons at the Grahamstown Wesleyan Church on the 7th instant. With the close of 1873, the legal labors of Mr. A. C. Strode will terminate. At tho Waikari District School, Half Way Bush, a girl named B, Johnson, aged twelve years, played a duet from " II Trovatorc." A YOTTNa Norwegian girl received 24 hours imprisonment for larceny in Dunedin, on the 20th instant. A proof of the scarcity of labor in this province is the fact that Mr. E. CL Wright, railway contractor, has been compelled to. advertise in other provinces for men. The cost of taking the line of railway through Taranaki town, for compensation alone, will amount to £15,000. The Canterbury Match Committee desire ■^ the Interprovincial Cricket Match to be played on the 12th and 13th January. The Fiji Government cannot afford to contribute towards the subsidy for the 'Frisco mail service. In consequence of the difficulty of procuring ! hands it is thought that a large number of sheep on some of the stations will be condemned to wear their wool for another year. No less than 2091 tons of sugar were imported into this colony during the quarter ended 30th September last. This, is equal to 621 b per annum for every man, woman, and child in New Zealand. The excess of receipts over expenditure oa the Canterbury railways for the year ending September 30th is given at nearly £20,000. The engineers, mechanics, and laborers, employed on the railway workshops in Sydney, have adopted the eight hours movement. It is said that Miss Julia Matthews' success in Great Britain has been of su *h magnitude that she has been compelled to decline several ' brilliant offers made to her to revisit Australia. The export of beef from the United States in the year 1872 approached 27 million lb. Extensions of the electric telegraph lines have been made lately to an important extent * in Western Australia. The want of regular- steam communication between Napier, Poverty Bay, and Auckland, is about to be supplied. It is said that the Rev. Newman Hall has filed a petition for divorce from his A departmental post office, a post office savings bank, and a telegraph office are pro* posed for the Water of Leifch. The Dunedin Council's valuator claims £100 for his services. Councilor Barnes stated recently in the Council, that " It would not do for the papers to publish all the nonse?ne said in the. Council."

Professor Black has bean requested to report on the quality of the Dunedin gas. The " Chroaicle " asserts that gold only, for twelve years, has been the sole resource * of the Naseby district. The Maniototo plain, atnut a million acres, could, the- Naseby paper thinks, be made a grand basis for homes for, a thriving population. Merchants complain that Port Chalmers' wharf, is ridiculously inadequate for the work of the place. The "Mount Ida Chronicle" gratefully refers to the fact that the Turnbull Bastings Ministry have declared three large blocks into Hundreds, and Opened 30,000 acres on deferred payments— the utmost limit allowed by the Act. The Dunedin "Star" says, very truly: — To advertise in the " Provincial or New Zealand Gazette" is something like sticking a posting bill in a dark corner which nobody looks into. Ik DtLnetlin, the 41b. loaf is now eight pence. Thb Kaikorai church bazaar realised £210. The committee are. arranging for a visit from the Governor to the Taieri Agricultural Show on the 26th instant. Thb following ia the monthly statement of the business of the Naseby Hospital, for November : — Bank balance, £1 6s. 7d.; cash in hand, £2 ; patients remaining in Hospital, 4, ; admiftect, 6 ; discharged, 5 j in hospital at date of report, S. Thb railway from Oamaru to Waitaii is %. a very advanced <t»tev