The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, MAY 21 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 167, 23 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, MAY 21 1879.

Last year the Masterton Borough Council raised the sura of five pounds sterling, in the way of revenue by means of carters' licenses, and it would, we think, be a decided advantage if the Council abandoned for the future, this somewhat equivocal mode of procuring ways and means. It is true -that municipalities possess a taxing power with respect to vehicles, but the object of giving Boroughs this authority is to enable them to defray the cost of inspecting vehicles, of regulating the rate of their charges, and of providing convenient stands for tliein, Where a. Borough supervises such matters in connection with public vehicles, it has a right to collect a small sum to cover the expenditure connected therewith, but it has no right for revenue purposes, to take a pound from a carter without giving him or the public any service in return for the money paid. . It is not only unjust to collect a fee of this kind, but we are also sorry to find that the tax is but partial in its operation. There is nothing in the by-laws to define exactly what vehicles are. liable or what vehicles are exempt from the payment, Consequently those persons who have been ready and willing to pay have paid, while others who have been less eager have escaped payment altogether. Of course, this gives rise to a considerable amount of prejudice in the minds of those who have paid, sis they naturally blame the Council for not making others pay. It is generally understood that a tax which only produces a.nominal revenue, and which is vexatious in its operation, is a bad one. The cartel's' tax, as levied by the Masterton Borough, is therefore in our opinion not only unwise, in being vexatious, but also wrong in principle, as it is raised for a service which is not performed. Another Borough tax, on hawkers, is open to objection <>:t another ground. It is quite right that travelling vendors of goods who pay neither rent nor rates should he charged with a fee, but we understand that the by-law in its operation precludes an old settle? in the Borough who pays rates on a bit of garden from sclling'tlie cabbage he grows in it. If such lie the case the by-law wants altering. There is ahotlicr ridiculous tax on travelling companies which realised last year the sum of £4 19s. The price lUnsterton had to pay for this paltry gain was to get a bad name carried about in every part of New Zealand. The toll is illegal we have every reason Id believe. In practice if a company wen; foolish enough to pay it, well and ;; >ud; if a company disputed it, why, sudi a compauy is exempted. The fact appears to be that almost the whole of the present Borougu by-laws require reconsideration and revision. AYo hardly oxpect tne Council, as at present constituted, to give time and attention to such matters—members of if. being too much engrossed in trying to solve the Engineering difficulties of the small contracts they have under weigh. There are several pretty pieces of patchwork on hand, which must give come of our Councillors sleeples nights, Wc trust, however, at some future time to see a change in the Council, which will put matters on a better footing.

The ensuing session of Parliament will commence on Thursday, July 2-tth. A meeting of the Masterton Ilillus takes place tliis evening in the Town Hull. The Horticultural Soiree comes off this ovening in the Town Hall, Groytuwn. It is again notified that poisiou is laid on Abbotsford Run, Stray dogs arc very troublesome in that locality. Mr Crosse, surgeon-dentist, announces that he will be at Kibblewhilu's Temperance Hotel on the 30th and .')ki. inst. The Masterton storekeepers announce that they will close their shops mi Monday next, instead of inconveniencing their country customers by closing on Saturday. On Saturday next, being the Queen's Birthday, the Telegraph Office will keep Sunday hours, Post-offices will be entirely closed, but mails delivered mi Friday evening at Masterton will lie sorted into the private boxes, . The Postal and Telegraph Departments itt Masterton; hitherto under the charge of one officer, are now separated, Mr Bagge, of course, retains the postmastership, and Mr Bunting, a new arrival, takes the, superintendence of the Telegraph Station. Tho householders on the east side of Queen-street, between Farmer's old promises and the Waip'oua, have agreed to subscribe one-fourth of the cost of continuing the footpath in front of their properties, provided that the Council undertakes to do the work. Wo trust residents on the west side willbc stimulated by this example to do likewine.

Tlio Banks will be closed to-morrow in honor of Her Majesty's, birthday.

The Cartei'ton.Eifles meet on on Tuesday evening next for the election' of officers;

The Featherston School Committee hold a Spireo on Monday next in aid ofthe School fund. • : - ' " The Rev A.'Halbwachs notifies that St. Patrick's Church', Masterton, will be consecrated by Bishop Redwood, on Sunday June 1. In Court yesterday,'Mr P. Linn com r plained that a case in which he had beeii defendant had been given against him, and an execution'granted and put in force without notice having been given to him of the case being about to be called. The solicitor for the plaintiff denied that .the case was brought on unknown to tho defendant, His Worship said that his good nature was trespassed on to a considerable extent by parties who frequently cases postponed or recalled; for the future he would strike out any case in which the plaintiff did not appear when first called. In the present case he would make inquiries as to the, accuracy of the statement made by tlib plaintiff, and if necessary intervene.

A report of tho discovery of another goldfield in Asia comes from Burmali. I'lie statement is that a gold mountain has been discovered at a distance of a day's journey from Mandalay. If for "gold mountain" we read " quartz vein," the story may be received as credible. Burmall has long boon recognised as more or less perhaps rather less than more of an auriferous region, The precious metal has been - found in both British and Independent Burmali, and probably the most recent find is only a re-discovery.

The various brandies of the Volunteer Force in New Zealand have a total strength of 7073 officers and men, belonging to 123 corayanies. This is an increase on the number of volunteers in the yrevious year of 524, but a decrease of four in the number of corps, The total of Cavalry, 11 corps, 551 men; artillery, 9 corps, 059 men; engineers, 2 corps, 123 men; rifles, 5G corps, 3344 lnen; naval, 5 corps, 434 men ; cadets, 4 corps,. 1982 boys. : The total strength of the Armed Constabulary amounts to 824 men of all ranks, distributed over 183 posts. There are 38 commissioned officers, 145 non-commissioned officers, and G4l rank and file, 1 Dr. E. R Heath, in apaperon "Peruvian Antiquities," describes a strange people living in a town called Eten, in 7 deg. south latitude, and about two miles from the sea, They number about 4000, and they speak, besides the Spanish, alanguage which some of the' recently brought over Chinese laborers understand, but there is no other similarity betweenthe two peoples. They intermarry uncles' nieces, brothers and sisters, nephews and aunts, that is, promiscuously,' and with no apparent curse of consanguinity; but they will not permit intermarriage into their number, or with the outside.woi'ld They, have laws, customs, and'dress of their own, and live by braiding hats and mats, and weaving cloths. They will give no account of the place whence they came, or of the time they settled at Eten. History does not mention their existonce before the Spaniards arrived. Among them there are no sick or deformed persons, their custom being to send a committee to each sick or old person, and those who are reported past recovery or usefulness, are promptly strangled by the public executioner. Eten orders it, they say, and with Eten's orders there is no interference.

The Argus, in a criticism of a work on India, says" The Hindoo is a hard and cruel landlord, an extortionate moneylender, and a perverter of justice towards his fellows, when he happens to be possessed of means and authority, On the other hand, the great mass of the people seem to have confidence in the veracity, fairness, integrity, and equity of an Englishman. "What they distrust and dislike is our cumbrous and costly methods of administering justice. They want a machinery which should be simple, summary, and inexpensive. 'Justice within the gate,' immediately and always accessible, prompt to decide, and swift to execute its judgments—this is the great desideratum of the Hindoos, and Temple Court will be pained to learn that—' If a villager wishes to level a withering sarcasm at the head of a plausible, talkative fellow, all promise and •no performance, ready with tongue but not with purse or service, he calls him a vakeel—that is, a lawyer," This is very,sad, but we must not be too hard upon the poor .ignorant Hindoos, who thus thoughtlessly disparage the members of one of the learned professions when we remember what hard things have been said about them, even by the most ominent dramatists and novelists of Great Britain. No doubt the victims of such grievous calumnies will console themselves with Wolsey's reflection, that it is 'the rough brake that virtue must go through."

Notwithstanding the continued depression in the fat stock trade throughout New South Wales, it is pleasing to notice, observes the Sydney Evening News, that in Queensland matters pastoral are looking up, especially in the fat bullock line, for we learn that Messrs McDermott Bros., stock and station agents, of Sydney and Bockhampton, have easily placed 3000 head, from the well-known Tilpal herd, at L 3 10s, This figure, at first, would fairly astonish many dealers down here: but nevertheless the quotation is correct, the inspecting purchaser being Mr William Pattiaon, of Bockhampton, who intends, in the present stock depression, to try how the export of salted meat will affect the market, for he lias decided on salting all the prime meat of the bullocks, and boiling the refuso for tallow. There is no doubt there is an opening in this branch of meat-preserving, seeing that there is always a ready sale in the European markets for salted meats: and now that cattle are so low, it is to be hoped that many of those stock-breeders now inundated with a plethora of cattle will follow in Mr W, Pattison's wake, and try a sample shipment to Europe. The markets of the East also afford on opening for Australian salted meats, and' already Messrs McDennott Bros, are in the field with a shipment by the E, and A.M, Company's mail steamer Menmuir, for Singapore, and we shall await anxiously the account sales as a future guidance in shipping to that market. The frog that was found the other day in the piece oi coal at the railway station (says the . Southland is still alive,and appears to enjoy existence in tlie bottle in which its captor placed it,' It is on the whole a remarkable specimen of the Batrachian species. It is mouthless, for although there is the form of a mouth, the orifice is wanting, this having been ascertained beyond doubt. The nostrils are perfect, and through them it breathes, and also utters an occasional melodious croak, or perhaps, considering the process, " snort" would be the more correct term. It takes no nourishment whatever, and literally lives upon air, and chameleon-like changes its color frequently—sometimes a slate color, then dark brown with stripes, and anon emerald spotted.. The creature

is very livoly, and:-has. evidently gained J •in atrengh andyitalitysince.itwas caught. It ia in the possession of James Pomery, one of the emylbyes at the railway station, and ho .will be happy to show it to any person curioutf.in'BUch matters.'. One remarkable trait of the creature is its evident aversion-for water. Placed near the fluid, it hurries to avoid' it; and ' recognises its captor, hopping to him without fear when taken out of the'"bottle. That the frog was found imbedded was hot surprising, but that' it should be as it is without the usual natural orificeß, and yet live and ehrive, is certainly remarkable,