The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 7000 Weekly. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1903.

Waikato Argus, Volume XV, Issue 6035, 4 August 1903, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 7000 Weekly. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1903.

Tiie Premier has introduced 'The Coastwise Trade Ace' So far as the Bill applies to the coastal trade of New Zealand, it will meet with the approval of all who recognise the necessity of fostering our mercantile marine, and if passed will probably be confirmed by His Majesty in Council. The Bill, however, goes beyond this. The right of the enforcement of the provisions of the Bill is limited to the vessels of those countries which place restrictions upon British vessels similar to those proposed. The second clause reads: 'lf it appears to the Governor that British ships are subject in any foreign country to any prohibition or restriction as to the carrying of goods coastwise in that country, he may, by Order-in-Council, impose such prohibitions or restrictions upon the ships of that country as to carrying goods coastwise in New Zealand or carrying goods from any port in New Zealand to any port in any other part of the British possessions as appears to him justly to countervail the disadvantages to which British ships are subjected as aforesaid.' The third sub-clause reads: 'lf the master does any act in contravention of such order the ship shall be forfeited, and shall be disposed of as directed by the Minister of Marine, and the proceeds of such forfeiture shall be paid into the public account and shall form part of the consolidated fund.' It is a pity that the Premier should have, by the introduction of such a Bill, made the country ridiculous. He should know, if he does not, that thtre is not the remotest chance that His Majesty in Council would consent to such a Bill becoming law. Imagine the Imperial Government conferring discretionary powers on Mr Seddon ! His measure has been accurately taken in the Old Country, and Lord Goschen expressed it in the courteous language customary in the House of Lords. In a speech on preferential trade that veteran statesman said, 'Mr Seddon is impetuous,' which, being interpreted, means that he is not a man to be trusted to deal with important imperial matters. Impetuous men are influenced by what appears on the surface, and are given to speaking first and thinking afterwards. As we wrote above, it is desirable that our shipping should be protected ; but the Bill now before th 6 House is not a measure calculated to hayo the desired cffecU

A series of burglaries were committed at Ashturtou on Sunday during church hours. Four houses were entered and small sums of money taken from three. From the fourth a gold chain, watches and jewellery io the value of £35 were taken. There is no clue so far to tho perpetrators, A cripple who applied to the Wellington Benevolent Trustees for assistance the other day, stated that he was able to do any kind of work, but since legislation haß been passed ontitiing workmen to compensation for accidents, he has been uoalde to get work, aB masters were unwilling to employ cripples, owing to their greater liability to accident. The Trades Councils of the colony have reßolved to bold public meetings at short intervals in their respective centres to protest against any forthur disposals of Crown Lands being made in a way that will permanently aienate them from the State. A meeting to this end was held in Wellington on Thursday, at which a resolution affirming the desirableness of following this course was passed. It seems almost too good to be true that, after so many years of dissension and bitterness, the ' Irish question ' is at last to be settled for good and all. It seems almost impossible when sixtyfour remedial measures have all proved miserable failures, and this, the sixtyfifth will be a brilliant success. However, for the first time in history the Irish themselves are a unit in favour of the proposal,—Argonaut, San Francisco. It has been decided by the Government that for the future no female clerk, cadette, or female temporarily employed in the Departmental Buildings, Wellington, shall remain in the buildings after six o'clock in the evening or return to the buildings after that hour. The step is understood to have been taken to stop the talk of scandal mongers, and in recognition of the fact that the Govern; ment ought not to set a bad example in overworking girls and women employed in the Public Service. It is pretty clear (writes the New Zealand Times) that there will be no licensing legislation brought forward by the Government during the present s-es-sion. ihe Times adds that while the licensed victuallers' deputation has some cause for disappointment on the score of immediate hopes, there is every reason to believo that before the next triennial election the law will be amended iu the direction of considerably improving the prospects of thoße engaged io the various branches of the liquor trade. An interesting development has taken place in connection with telephone and telegraph circuits in New Zealand, and is referred to in the annual report Hitherto there has been great difficulty io working a telephone circuit anywhere near the telegraph line, and the only means of overcoming induction on the for.ner has been by means of a metallic circuit, that is, a double or return wire, such as we have to Manaia. It is now found quite practicable, under certain conditions, to connect the two ends of a single telegraph and a siDgle telephone wire in such a way as to form a metallic circuit on the latter, free of all induction, and at the same time rather to improve the vvorking of the telegraph line. Our Waitetuna correspondent writes :—lt is a pity that the Raglan County Council does not make some effort to repair some of the worst places on the main Raglan-Waipa Road. There are some very bad holes about three miles from Raglan close to the water trough and also near Mr Arthur Moon's gate, Te Qku. These want faficining at once, aB they are dangerous. There are also slips on the road leading from Mr Hill's to Rangatai, which make the whole of the work recently done absolutely useless. It is to be hoped that Cr Johnstone will attend to these important matters. Owing to the bad state of the roads the mail did not arrive at Te Uku Poet Office ou Saturday until 4 o'clocktwo hours late. The delegates of the New Zealand Licensed Victuallers' Association were entertained at a luncheon by Messrs Stapes and Co., the well-known Wellington brewing firm. Seve'al speakers urged the necessity for combined action on the part of' the trade.' Mr Paul, of New Plymouth, in the course of his remarks, said they had not got anything definite from Mr Seddon yet. It had been shown that they must have some alteration. Their patience must become exhausted in time. He recommended that they should follow their present attitude up next year with another depu* tation, and keep the thing continually before the Government. If they did not get redress they must * show their teeth.i It has been decided (says the Lyttelton Times) to form an Auctioneers' and Land Agents' Association in Christ" church. Tho proposal was brought up by Mr Conway Alatson, at a meeting held to discuss the Land Agents' Bill. ' Every second man you oome across,' Mr Mateon said, is a land and estate agent, or something of the sort. Lawyers' clerks, bankers' clerks, grocers' clerks, and almost all other kind of qlerks, seem to take up the business.' He stated that if the Bill were passed an Association should certainly be formed. It might be amalgamated with similar Associations, which should be formed in other centres throughout the colony. There were many matters affecting the business that required to ba dealt with by a representative body, and rules ought to be drawn up. On Friday 31st inst., the third of the social evenings, So Andrews' Church, Cambridge, arranged for the social meeting of the parishioners was most successfully carried out. Io the absence ot Mr T. Hartly and Mr J. H. Edwards who generally take over the musical arrangements, the programme hurriedly arranged as soon as sufficient numbers arrived. Though somewhat of an impromtu character the entertainment was most enjoyable. Amongst those contributing were, Miss Ethel Cave, song ; Mrs Boßton-Couper, pianoforte solo and song (encored); Miss Cave, song ; Master E. Wall, recitation ; Mr W. Maddison, song. In addition some pretty part song* wcro sung by members of the choir, which drew most hearty applause. So many and varied were the musical items, that the usual intervals for conversation were very few and short, Dainty refreshments were provided, the evening closing at 10 o'clock with 'God Save the King.' In connection with the proposal to erect a suspension bridge to connect Claudehnds with Hamilton, the following description of a structure across the Makuri River, erected by Mr James Dick, of Ngaturi, a farmer, who has had absolutely no training as an engineer, will be of interest. It cost less than £IOO, and its strength has been teated by taking 250 sheep across it at once. The span is 255 ft, the length of the cables being 345 ft. The deck is 80ft above the water, and is carried by two 3Atn steel cables. The planking, etc., is all of totara. The anchors are strongly made, and are all of black maire. The posts with the screws through are 14fb long and 12 x 12 ; they are sunk 10ft. The po;t in front of it is lift long, and sunk Bft. All these are breasted up right from the bottom of the hole to the level of thr ground with 12 x 4 planking Bft long, the whole being bolted and braced together. The peer is 14ft high and is sunk Bft and well supported. The current number of the Weekly Press contains several illustrations of the structure, and several practical men who have seen them hove expressed the opinion that a similar bridge would answer all local requirements for a considerable time to come. For Bronchial Cough take Wood Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6 and 2/6 everywhere

The Railway Department are erecting lamps at either end of the platform at Hamilton West for the convenience of travellers by night trains. Messrs Davis and Co., auctioneers and land agents, Hamilton, report the sale of Mrs Ormiston's property, portion of White Hall Estate, Cambridge, of 500 aeiee, to Mr Russell. At St. Peter's Church, Hamilton, Rev. H. L. Snow will conduct the services on Sunday next, August 9th. as follows, viz;. :—Morning, 11 a.m. (Hoy Communion) and evening, 7 p.m. The new lamp-posts ordered by the Gas Coir.pany for the Borough of Hamilton have arrived, and are now be ing pliced in position. Ttiey are a great improvement upon the old style of posts, which will now be relegated to the back strec-ts. On Thursday next Messrs Davis and Co. have a sale in their mart were worth attending, where, as well as furniture, which iucludes chests of drawers, suite, tables (new), will be sold, fruit and ornamental trees from the Famous Bena Vista Nursery, Auckland. Intending planters should make it their business to attend this sale, where we feel Bure they will be amply rewarded. Recently at Epiphany Church, Auckland, Mr Charles Edgar Browning, second son of the late Mr John Browning, Quebec, Canada, was married to Miss Gertrude Vyvyen Frances Dormer, daughter of M rG. J. Dormer, Auckland late of H.M. Yorkshire Regiment. Mr Browning has leased ' Linley,' the pro* perty of Mrs Steele, on the Ngaruawahia Road, and will iu future reside amongst us. Throughout the Provincial Dis trictof Auckland yesterday the police took samples of beer, brandy, whiskey, rum and wine from all hotels, paying for the same. It is presumed that these samples were taken for analysis ; but us the policemen probably called in uniform, and even the vendor of the deadliest chain lightning in the hackblocks keeps a special brand ou the top shelf for his heat customer, who, on this occasion, would be the representative of law and order, the fallacy of the whole thing is at once apparent. Mr G. H. Goodall, auctioneer and estate ugent of Masterton, who visited this district last week has advertised a list of some Wairarapa farm properties he has for sale. As the dairying indusiry has hardly yet begun in the Wairarapa, property there is now obtainable at lower prices than in the more dairied districts. It is only withiu the last two years that the creamery has been opened in Masterton, and the farmers thore are begiuiang to find th--benefits ot cow farming, a fact which is steadily raising the value of the Masterton properties. While makin» connections with the water mains in Victoria Street, Hamilton, yesterday, Mr Littlejohn, the Borough turncock, discovered that the pressure almost ceased just below Dr Brewis' residence. He at oncd endeavoured to ascertain the cause, and, after making two or three shots, discovered a block of wood about 2in. x 3in and over a couple of feet long in the pipe just in front of the Doctor's gate. Ho had to cut the pipe and take a piece out to remove the obstruction. The remarkable part is that the wood was not noticed in the pipes when they were being laid. The postal authorities have obtained two of the new patent American receiving boxes for Hamilton. Like most inventions that come from the States they are attractively got up, but they seem to have the quality of strength as well. It will be impossible to extract letters without breaking open the box, the 3lot being purposely protected in this direction. The automatic appliance inside, when the box is opened, puts in motion a revolving disc, which displays on the outside the hour ac whioh the next clearanoe will be made. The standard times of clearanoe are also made clear. One has been erected at Moore's Corner, Hamilton West, and the other at the corner of Galloway and Albert-Btreeta, Kirikiriroa. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Company report an expecially large entry of stock has been received for their Nga« ruawahia sale, to be held on Friday next. Amongst a number of other choice lines may be mentioned the twenty firsts-class cows on account of Mr Duxfield, 20 very choice hand-fed heifers from Dingle Bros., some really good heifers and young cows from the Freshfiold Estate, R. Rathborne, L, B. Harris and others. A lot of fresh-conditioned 3£-year o'd steers and well-bred 2-year-old steers from variouß vendors will bo yarded. The contracting plant advertised on account of Mr Booth has been withdrawn. The sale will commence at 11 a.m. sharp, and immediately after the stock has bean put through the auctioneer will adjourn to tho Town Hall, where he will bring under the hammer a lot of first-cIaBSB household furniture on account of Mr Wilkinson, of Te Kowhai. Pull particular in usual column.