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Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 384, 19 January 1899, Page 2

Until further notice the Presbyterian service at Kihikihi will, from Sunday next, commence at 7.15 p.m. Butler, who was arrested in Auckland on a charge of appropriation •f the funds of a Newcastle company, has been committed for trial.

The Rev. W. E. Gillam, of Ellerslie Church, will conduct both morning and evening services at S. Andrew's, Cambridge, on Sunday next. It will be noticed from the programme of the South Auckland Racing Club that all stakes will be paid in full—i.e., the five per cent, deduction will not be made.

In reply to inquiries the Victorian Secretary of Agriculture has received information that the wheat harvest in Cape Colony is below the average. A considerable shortage will require to be made up,

At the poll of the ratepayers in the Mangahoi Drainage District, taken on Monday last, re the proposal to raise a special loan of £SOO for drainage purposes, there were nob sufficient votes recorded to render it effective.

Mr W. Leys, of Auckland, and ex-Chairman of the Ponsonby School Committee, notifies by advertisement in this issue that he is a candidate for a seat on the Auckland Board of Education, and solicits the Bupport ot School Committees.

A shoemaker named Cairns, at Price, South Australia, stabbed his wife several times and then attacked her with a fire-iron. He afterwards cut his own throat. The woman will probably recover, but the man'6 condition is serious. The couple lived uuhappily. Mr W. J. Hunter has received instructions from the Rev. J. Marshall, of Ohaupo, to sell at his residence on Thursday, March 30th, without reserve, the whole of his household furniture, horses, cattle, etc. Full particulars will appear in a future issue. The funeral of the late Mrs Wm. Winter, was held yesterday. The body was intened in the Hamilton East Cemetery, and the Rev. R. O'C. Biggs conducted the ceremony. A large number of friends followed the remains to the grave, as a mark of respeot to the memory of the departed. It is understood that the Ven. Archdeacon Willis' health is considerably improved by the holiday he is now erjjoying. We learn that the Rev. W. E. Gillam, of Ellerslie, will occupy S. Andrew's pulpit on the next and following Sundays. The rev. gentleman is well-known as an eloquent and earnest preacher.

On Tuesday the Hon. Mr Cadmaa paid a visit to Ngaruawahia. His object was to look into railway matters. Representations were made to him in reference to the fencing of tho railway, but he held out no hopes that the Government would undertake the work. He promised to consider the remission of some of the fines imposed recently upon owners of cattle found trespassing on the line.

A settler has asked us to call the attention of the Waipa County Council to the unsatisfactory state of the Hamilton - Whatawhata Swamp Road. He tells us that ou Tuesday the water was oveiflowing the road, passing from one side to the other. The road is impassable for pedesterians. This natter needs attention at once, otherwise much greater cost than necessary will be entailed in rectifying matters,

As showing the prolißc nature of the season, in regard to root crops, etc., there is on show in Mr Heather's warehouse, two roots of potatoes ; one grown by Mr Spencer, Frankton Hotel (of Lapstone Kidneys) weighing lOJlb ; this is a wonderful yield for a single root. The other ia grown by Mr T. Chappell, of Hamilton East, a root of 11 potatoes (White Americans), weighing Bjlb ; this is a beautiful sample, and one of such quality as is rarely seen.

We gather from Southern papers to hand by yesterday's mail, that it is absolutely necessary tor applicants under the Old Age Pensions Act to tender corroborative evidence regarding their age, residence in the colony and income. A r. umber of claims have been put back for further evidence on these points by Magistrates who have commenced the work of reviewing, and it will save time, and a great deal of bother, if applicants in this district will come prepared with all the available evidence at their command when their claims are called on.

At the meeting of the New Zealand A.A. Association, held on the 12th January, 1899, A. J. Melville was reinstated as a member of the Waikato A.A. Club. At the same meeting a matter which has been surrounded by a good deal of doubt, more especially in this district, was settled. In reply to Mr Atack the chairman said there was nothing in the rules to prevent an amateur being a member of a professional body. He did not lose his status so lone as he did not compete, as laid down in the rules, and could sign the declaration as an amateur.

It will be seen by advertisement in another column that a company of blind musicians, students of the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, will give a concert in the Volunteer Hall, Hamilton, on Wednesday next, January 25th. This company has never visited Hamilton before, but wo gloan_ from notices of their performances in the columns of our contemporaries that they are well worth hearing, aside altogether from their affliction, which should excite sympathy and a desire to encourage those who struggle manfully to earn their living under most disadvantageous circumstances.

We remind those interested in the meeting of the Waikato Amateur Athletic Club, which takes place on January 30th, that entries for the various events close on January 21st. A number of entries have already been received from outside competitors, and as a number of the Thames and Upper Thames riders have announced their intention of attending the meeting, and three of Auckland's best men have pro mised to compete, the meeting should bo a most successful one. The tracks have never been in such good condition on any previous occasion and no fault can be found in this direction. Excellent railway arrangements have been made. There will be a day excursion from Auckland, and the up train to Cambridge will be delayed until 5 p.m. A new departure will be made by the Club on this occasion, and afternoon tea will be freely dispensed to lady visitors.

Writing from Johannesburg to a Sydney relative, a correspondent says : —" But now, leaving the miues, we are going to speak of the most despicable Government in the world. The Jameson raid, which unfortunately was one of the greatest blunders ever made, has made the Dutch, or Boers, to so thoroughly dislike the English that they do everything to cripple the industry. They give no possible encouragement, but do all in their power against us, The capitalists, on the other haud, are using all their means against the Government to make them grant reforms—withholding their capital, and therefore bringing all the trades to a standstill. You may sum up the Boer Parliament in one man—Kruger, their President, who is a pig-headed, uneducated, stubborn old man. What he says is law—dopperdom to the greatest extent. If a judge docs not adjudicate to his liking lie sacks him, and says to the member.s, ' You must do this,' or ' You must do that,' and they always let him have his way. lam certain, from my experience of the Boer, that he is not a bad sort of fellow, and if the Jameson raid had not taken place, and a little courtesy had been displayed, things would not be as they are. But now they think that what you are after is their country, and nothing else. They will, however, lose it by their stupidity, especially if they don't try to progress."

The following little story from the Hawke's Bay Herald will be interesting to the members of the Old Forest Rangers residing in Waikato:—ln the Murimutu there are some doughty remnants still left of the Maori war period. Thero is one old hero up there who rejoices in the Victoria Cross, aud carried his life in his hand time and again during the troubles with the Maoris. He was a scout in the Rangers, led by Von Tempsky against the Hau Haus, and on two separate occasions was captured by the enemy, and would have been tortured and put to death but for the intervention of a dusky princess, whom he afterwards married, and who is still his wife in the regions under the shadow of Ruapehu. Tom Adamson, for such is the name of this pakeha, during the war with Te Kooti, hovered in the skirts of that rebel's camp. There was a reward at the time on Te Kooti's head of £SOOO, dead or alive. Tom thought he ought to get this anyway, seeing he had so narrowly missed potting Te Kooti on several occasions when he was on his intrepid scouting excursions. One day he dropped across the tracks of a rebel native, and following him up through the dense bußh he caught sight of his quarry and made dead meat of him. Tom calmly hacked the head off, and the bright thought struck him of presenting it at head quarters at Wanganui, as Te Kooti's caput. Te Kooti had but one eye, so the enterprisiug scout gouged out one if those in the head he had captured and arrived in Wanganui with his spoil. He received the congratulations upon his success with that stolid gravity and unassuming modesty which have ever distinguished him, aud calmly awaited the payment of the reward. Unfortunately a meddling officer who knew the rebel chief came to view the trophy. " Why," he exclaimed, "it is the wrong eye." Te Kooti had lost his left eye, and Tom had gouged out the right optic, so he didn't get the reward, and he has anathematised his waut of judgment ever since. That at any rate is how it was told to us.