The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 140, 22 April 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1879.

In our last issue we referred to the Acs passed in 187G for the destruction of rabbits, In our present one we propose to give a brief summary of its provisions. In the first place, ten residents in any district may, by petition, get it proclaimed a Rabbit District unless a counter petition, signed by a greater number of residents, is not lodged within thirty days. These districts may subsequently be altered or abolished by proclamation of the Governor. Rabbit districts proclaimed are to be governed by three or five Trustees, elected at a meeting of residents, at which each resident will have one vote only. The Trust will he an annual one, expiring on the last day in February in each year, and a fresh body being elected on March Ist. The Trust will have a power of levying a rate not exceeding one halfpsnny per acre, and may do all that is necessary and proper to ensure the destruction of rabbits in a district, They can either

call on landholders to destroy rabbits, or they by their servants, enter upon lands, search, for, aud destroy them, The only proviso r being that, without the consent 1 &f -the owner of the land, poison is not to be used.' No doubt some of those wno are interested in the public meeting convened for Monday evening next will be able to' say how far the adoption of the Act has been a success in the Middle Island. It is well known that many rabbit districts have been established there for some time. If they have been profitable it would undoubtedly be worth while to try the experiment in the Wairarapa. We believe it is proposed to amend the. Act of 1876 during the coming session, but the general scope aud tenor of it will remain, in all probability, much the same, and any projected change will be no reason for not at the present juncture taking advantage of it.

The Banks will be closed to-morrow, St, George's Day. The Oddfellows Lodge, Masterton, meets this evening. Parliament lias been further prorogued until Tuesday, the 10th of June. The terms of the Gazette extraordinary show that a further prorogation is intended.

We hear that the Foresters of Carterton intend holding sports on the Queen's biithday, and winding up in the evening with a dinner.

We are given to understand tlmt the preliminary survey for the Grey town and Waihinga Railway is nearly finished, and that the Hon, John Martin has forwarded a cheque for £25 as his part of ilio expense.

The committee of the Greytown Athletic Club met on Saturday and passed several accounts, but could not finally settle the accounts of the meeting, some of the subscribers not having paid in their subscriptions, The new Presbyterian Church at the Upper Hutt was opened yesterday. The opening sermon was delivered by the Rev. Jas. Paterson to a large audience, and in the afternoon by fcho Rev. Mr Ogg. The district is much indebted to the Rev. Mr Grant for his exertions in behalf of the new building. The Alfrcdton mail boy met with a curious accident the other day which might have terminated fatally. He was riding through the bush, when a branch from a tree struck his horso on the head, causing the animal to rear up and plunge violently, and then jumped across a nar row ravine and fell over with him, The boy, fortunately, was one of the best liders in the Wairarapa, and by his coolness and skill escaped injury. We regret, says the New Zealauder, to have te chronicle the death of Mr Joseph Bull, one of the oldest resident printers in Wellington. He had been ailing for some time, so his decease was not altogether unexpected. He, in conjunction with his brother, carried on business as a newspaper proprietor, the Wellington Advertiser being owned by them, but of late years he has been connected with the New Zealand Times office here, and previously to that with the Wellington Independent, He leaves a widow and large family to mourn his loss.

£< Atticus,"in the Leader,writes:—"l have to record an act of generosity on the part of a patron of the turf, a parallel to which it would be rather difficult to find. A steeplechaser of his had this season won two races at Geelong, the same number at' Hobart Town, and one race at Launceston, As the success of the horso was mainly due to the good form in which he was brought out, the owner felt that it was incumbent upon him to recognize in a substantial manner the skilful services of the trainer, He opened his heart and his purscstrings, and, remembering the goodly amount of money he had won in stakes, in a fit of reckless generosity presented his trainer with—an umbrella,"

We extract the following from the Timaru Herald" We have heard of a great many blunders, intentional or otherwise, in filling in the valuation forms for the Land Tax, but the oddest of them all was reported to us a few days since, as having occurred in this district, The owner of considerable acreage of unfenced tussock land put down the natural value of his proeprty at two thousand pounds, but reduced this sum to live hundred pounds for taxation—thus claiming exemption from the tax altogether—by valueing his 'improvements' at fifteen hundred pounds. The valuer could not see any'improvements' except a lean-to, worth, perhaps fifty pounds; aud on inquiry as to how tho fifteon hundred was made up, was rather staggered to heat* that the proprietor classed as 1 improvements' two mortgages which he had effected on the land, one for eight hundred and the other for seyen hundred pounds, The valuer heartlessly refused to accept these as improvements, in spite of a liberal offer on the part of the proprietor to ' throw the shanty in'; and the latter says, he doesn't ihink much of Sir George Grey, if he won't let a poor man get a fair start in life." Mr Oswald Curtis writes to the Nelson Colonist contradicting a statement that, with the exception of Dr Henry, the members for the West Coast did not support the members for the northern districts of Nelson in their exertions to obaain railway communication for that city. He says" In justice to Mr Woolcock and Mr lleeves, the members for the Grey Valley, ho thinks it only right to say that they attended every meeting of the Nelson members upon the subject; that they accompanied the other NelsOn members at the interview with the Government which resulted so satisfactorily ; and that they loyally worked with and assisted the members for Nelson proper upon the railway question throughout the session, and further that he sees no reason to doubt that thoy will continue to do so without pressure from their constituents or from any other quarter." We have been favored by the Clerk of the Wairarapa West County Council with the following returns:—Aggregate number of electors on the County roll, 1242, with a total number of 1815 votes distributed among the County ridings as under

Riding. No, of Electors, Totes, Alfredton ... 104 140

Masterton ... 375 548

Carterton ... 367 . 528 Grey town ... 118 200

Featherston... 228 318 Otaria ... 50 80

It will thus be seen that the Masterton Riding, both as regards the number of electors and votes, is at' the top of the poll, with Carterton running it very close. The reduction on this, in contra-distinc-tion to last year's return in the Greytown Riding, arises from the Greytown Borough having absorbed the whole of the Greytown Lotal Board, and part of the Featherston Highway Board.

The friends of Mr R. J. Duncan will, says the Times, be sorry to hear that a son of his, Bertie Duncan, while out shooting with some other boys at Parkers Bush, near town, accidentally shot himself in the shoulder, His companions carried him three miles to the nearest house, but by the time lie reached homo he had lost so much blood that ho died some three hours after being wounded. He was only about 14 years old,,