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Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 332, 25 August 1898, Page 2

On our fourth page will be found a report of Tuesday's sitting of Parliament.

Messrs Kempthorne Prosser and Co. on our first page publish a flattering testimonial, re their Westfield potato manure.

The annual meeting of the South Auckland Racing Club >vill be held on Saturday evening next at the Commercial Hotel, Hamilton.

J. Iv. Douglas, charged at the Magistrate's Court, Christchurch, with laying tote odds at the Canterbury Trotting Club's Meeting, was fined £lo and sent to gaol for 14 days. As will he seen from an advertise ment appearing in another column, a social will be held in the Te Awamutu Hall to-morrow (Friday) in aid of the Waikato West Parsonage Fund. The promoters have arranged for a good programme, and an enjoyable evening should be the result.

On Tuesday, September Gth, Mr W. J. Hunter will hold his Spring cattle sale at Ohaupo Yards. Upwards of 600 head of cattle have been entered, amongst which will be found a large number of choice bullocks, empty heifers, young cattle, yearlings and calves. Full particulars will be found in his column.

The "Waikato hounds will meet at Bruntwood for the closing run of the season on Wednesday next, 31st iust. They will then proceed to Tauranga, for a fortnight, during whish time they will be hunted six times. The Tauranga people are making great preparations for the visit, and should any of the Waikato sportsmen decide to accompany the hounds they cannot fail to have a jolly time.

Messrs McNicol and Co. have been favoured with instructions from Mr J. Alley to sell at his residence, Hikutaia, on Tuesday, 6th September, the whole of his stock, implements, furniture, etc. They will also offer his farm of 125 acres of really good reclaimed swamp, a really first-class property. The sale will commence at 11 a.m. sharp. Full particulars arc advertised in their usual column.

The advance representative (Mr John Hodge) of the popular entertainers, the Payne family, is at present in the district arranging dates for the appearance of the company. The family has just returned from a successful tornround the world and have added largely to their repertoire of popular and pleasing novelties. The company will appear at, Huntly on Wednesday, 31st inst., Ngaruawahia on Ist September; other dates to follow, particulars of which will appear later. We draw the attention of householders to an advertisement from Ralph's Taupiri Coal Company appearing in this issue. The cleanliness and generally superior qualities of this coal have already brought it into great popularity, and the public are showing there appreciation in demanding to be supplied with it in preference to all others. The company to meet the trade of those centres in Waikato, which are not in rail connection, has erected a wharf adjacent to the mine, and have made arrangement for regular deliveries by steamers.

A chess match between a party of players from the Hamilton Club proceeded to Naaruawahia on Tuesday for the purpose of tryiDg conclusions witli the local players. Play commenced at 7 p.m. and concluded at 11. The result was au easy victory for Hamilton. The visitors speak in glowing terms of the treatment they received at the hands of their guests and of the admirable arrangements made for their comfort. The following were the players :—For Ngaruawahia : Messrs Burr, Davies, Wells, Rathborne, Bradbury and McFarlane. For Hamilton : Messrs Home, Stevens, Lye, Going and Mcßae. The liability of a seller of seeds was illustrated in a case heard in Nelson receutly. The plaintiffs bought from a storekeeper a quantity of what purported to be brown Spanish onion seen, for which they paid £2. It grew into a worthless unsaleable onion, and as a consequence they sued the storekeeper for £7O compensation, calculated on the basis of what the crop of onions would have been worth had they grown to marketable value. The Magistrate (Mr Wilson Heaps. S.M.) held that there was an implied if not an express condition that the seed should be reasonably fit for the purpose intended, lie gave judgment for the plaintiff for the amount claimed and costs. Defendant gave notice of appeal. As the night watchman of the Empire Hotel (says the Lyttelton Times) was uoiug his rounds a little before two o'clock on Tuesday morning he discovered a man in the bar of the "dive." Upon being questioued, the man said he had been locked in when the bar was closed and had since been unable to get out or make anyone hear. Satisfied with his story, the watchman got a ladder and, placing it against the wall, allowed the man to make an exit by a small window high up in the bar through which, it was afterwards found, he had elfccted an entrance in the first place. A few hours later it was found that the visitor had not left without takiug a few keepsakes with him as a memento of a time pleasantly spent, and the barman is now bewailing the loss of two watches, while half a box of cigars and a bottle of whisky are also missing.

At the instance of Mr Ward a return has been laid on the table of the House, showing the quantity of grain and flour, and their value, brought from America by the. New Zealand Government subsidised 'Frisco and Vancouver steamers. The return goes bach two years. By the 'Frisco mail steamer 4SIO bushels of wheat, valued at £IOOO, were imported by tiie Northern Roller Mills, the property of the Bank of New Zealand ; 39,909 bushels of barley, valued at £6680, were imported by Messrs Johnstone and Co., of Wellington ; Messrs G. G. Stead and Co., of Christchurch ; and Messrs Speight and Co., of Duncdin. By the same return it _is shown that these steam services carried to New South Wales, in two years, wheat to the value of £46,459, barley to tiie value of £1245, oats to the value of £585, flour to the value of £'260,977. Including £10,680, the value of wheat imported from Australia to this colony (of which £9007 came to the Northern Boiler Mills), the total importation amounted in value to £327,027.

Two deaths took place at the Waikato Hospital on Tuesday. One was thatofMrJan-.es Meredith, formerly of Cambridge ; but latterly of Paeroa. '1 ho deceased only readied the institution the day before his death, the immediate cause of which was typhoid fever. The other was that of a young man, mimed Richard Cooper, who was brought to the hospital on Monday from Tiran, where he had been employed by Mr Frank Rose. He was suffering from pneumonia in au advanced stage.

At the Police Court, Thames, on Tuesday, a young man, named William A. Clarke (alias Powdrell), was committed for trial on a charge of stealing a horse at Warahoe on 30th June last, the property of one William Doughs. On a further charge of stealing a saddle and bridle from a native named Murray, to which he pleaded guilty, Clarke was sentenced to one month's imprisonment in Mount Eden Gaol. Messrs IVo. Wood and W. H. Lucas were the presiding justices.

Many of our readers will be surprised to learn that Mr J. M. Murray, who has occupied the pos'tion of head master at the Hamilton West school for about 20 years, has tendered his resignation on account of failing health. The resignation was received, and the Committee expressed its regret at the cause which obliged him to vacate the position which he has held so long. Mr Murray, wc understand, intends leaving the district and settling somewhere in the vicinity of Auckland.

Four natives named Te Rawhiti, Tupu, Tu Tawake and Te Ngoi were brought down from Otorohanga on Tuesday morning by Constable Stanyer, and charged, at the Magistrate's Court, Te Awamutu, with stealing two cows at Puketotara, valued £l2, the property of a native woman named Parihaka. The police applied for a remand of eight days, which the Bench granted. The prisoners were allowed bail in their own recognisance of £SO and two sureties of £SO each. Mr J. Walton, J.P., was on the Bench. Mr Swarbrick will appear for the accused.

A shocking example of what may happen to the man who docs not make a practice of regularly taking stock has (says the Australian Coachbuilder) recently come to light in Victoria. The Commissioner of Railways has discovered that no fewer than 26 locomotives, 168 passenger cars, 1667 goods waggons, which arc estimated to have cost the colony upwards of £500,000, cannot be accounted for. The explanation of the mystery is that the missing vehicles have been withdrawn from service and broken up without records being kept, or the requisite bookkeeping entries made, which would have caused renewals to be charged to working expenses instead of capital. A subscriber has called our attention to our report of the meeting of the Cambridge Road Board iu Tuesday's issue, where Mr Thomas is, said to have personally served on members a notice required by the Koad Boards Act, relative to the revocation of a former resolution of the Board. The CWk stated that Mr Thomas could not move as notified, as he (the Clerk) should have served the notices, 'l'he Board, however, upheld Mr Thomas' contention that he could legally serve such notices. A reference to Sections 7S and 148 of the Road Hoards Act will conclusively show that Captain McPherson was riyht. All notices are required to be served under the hand of the Clerk.

Yilliers, the war artist, had an exciting adventure at the battle of El Teb. He refrained from entering the square on account of the obscuring smoke which the fire would create, and accompanied the cavalry. With them he had excellent opportunities for depicting tin: battle scene. After its close, while sketching a pile of Arab dead, he had a somewhat startling proof of the truth of Radyard Kipling's quaint remark as to ' Fuzzy Wunzy,' ' that he's generally shamming when he's dead.' One of the apparently dead Arabs suddenly became alive, and springing to his feet rushed at the artist, brandishing his long knife. It's point was unpleasantly adjacent to ViUiers when a soldier shot him.

The following interesting passage (the Post reports) occurs in a letter to a friend from Lieutenant S. R. Davidson, a former Nelson College boy, who, for the last eight years, has been campaigning on the Indian frontier :—" The opportunities of getting into the army from the colony arc, on the whole, numerous, and I think I am light in saying that they often go begging for want of candidates. The want of means need not necessarily interfere, for there arc lots of openings for men without means, such as the Army Service Corps, West Indian Regiments, and, above all, the Indian Army. In this you are well paid, have splendid opportunities, and live an active, interesting life, Work is plentiful but congenial, and there is no couutry in the world which offers such good opportunities for sport of every kind."

The Secretary to Her Majesty's Legation at Tokio gives in his latest report a striking instance of the smartness of the Yankee in business, confirming the experience of the New Zealand Government in that respect. Referring to the importation of railway plant to Japan, he says that quick deliveries can always be obtained from America. As an instance, English locomotive builders required two years for the delivery of au extensive order, while the Baldwin Locomotive Works turned them out at the rate of two a day, and shipped the whole quantity in eight or ten weeks. Another case recently occurred whore the English time; for shipment of five locomotives was 10 months, and the price about 12,000 dol. gold delivered jn Japan, and America makers offered to ship in 14 weeks at about SOOOdol. gold. The same specification was submitted to both countries.

lb is understood that the Ministerial proposals for the preferential treatment of British manufactures imported into the country will be embodied in a Bill providing that on all such goods subject to duty there shall be allowed a rebate of six per cent, of the duty chargeable. Indications already point to this proposal meeting with considerable opposition from the Liberal side of the House, where the opinion strongly prevails that the £50,000 lost to revenue would simply pass into the pockets of importers and merchants, without cheapening any article appreciably. The members of the Conservative party will, however, generally support the measure as tending to cement Imperial connection and as being a step in the direction of free trade. What is absolutely certain is that there will be no resolution or Bill that will open the whole question of the tariff.

The following letter, which appeared in a recent issue of the Egmout Star, will probably be of interest, as we have from time to time heard of circulars being received by residents in this district bearing upon the subject referred to :—" J am not in any way interested in the sale of bicycles, but in the interest of the public who don't know how some of the bicycle frauds are perpetrated would like to warn your readers against throwing their money away on machines offered at fabulously low prices " in order to introduce them." I know of a number of bicycles thus introduced costing from £7 to £lO landed in New Zealand, which have in the course of a few mouths changed hands at about half price and were then sold well. They are in many cases absolutely worthless because ijuite unsafe to risk anybody's life on. I trust that people wanting bicycles will make a few enquiries before they purchase- a machine, or three or four machines, as tiiey are frequently asked to do.— G.A.H."

Thus the Tapanui Courier on the recent sly-grog prosecutions : —" The recent sly-grog prosecutions have been the all-engrossing topic of conversation for the past week, and the action of the police in taking into their service such men as the latest recruits is condemned iu no measured terms. Men like these informers must contaminate the whole. force and bring discredit on what was hitherto a highly-esteemed body of men. Prohibition is responsible for this ' informer business, 1 and any man not a rabid prohib. must now admit that licensed houses, properly conducted and under police supervision, are preferable t) sly-grog shops. It is evident that the people will have liquor at any cost, and that prohibitionists cannot stop the supply ; and, therefore, pending the whole question of national prohibition, why not renew the hotel licenses in Clutlia ? Instead of hundreds of pounds going into the Colonial Treasuty for fines, the local bodies would receive that sum in the way of license money, and be enab'ed to make better roads in consequence. The present state of 'no license,' with the continued and uninterrupted sale of alcoholic liquor, is a disgrace to the community, and is developing a race of informers—or ' grog spaniels ' —that is a menace to any civilised community."

An interesting case came before Mr J'oyton, S.M.", at Fielding, last week. A Mrsßeade, suspecting that her servant, who waa leaving, had stolen some of her property, cused the girl's portmanteau to be detained at the railway station, and subsequently taken to her house. There she opened it by taking out the pin which held the hinge of the look, and alleged that she found in the port tnanteau several articles which belonged to her. She then called in the police. When the girl returned to the house she denied taking the articles, and Mrs Reude laid an information against her. Air Poynton, in giving judgment, said that Mrs Readc had said enough in her evidence to show that her conduct was influenced by something other than the charge made" It would be a dangerous thing to convict ou such evidence, and, as an instance of evidence manufactured in this way, he quoted the ease of the children of Israel and the drinking cup. Mrs Reado should hive obtained a search warrant. That would have been legal and would have averted suspicion, whereas the course followed rendered the doer liable to imprisonment. To allow that a person could obtain the box of another by subterfuge, open it secretly, find goods belonging to himself, and, without corroborative evidence, obtain a conviction, would be a most dangerous principle. The case was dismissed.