The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 210, 12 July 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1879.

We give, in place of out- usual leader, the Report on County accounts to the 30th June presented at the late Council meeting. The Report states that the Finance Committee beg to submit to the Council the accompanying sketch balance sheet, showing as nearly as can <be ascertained before all amounts are brought to account the position of the County Fund (after charging against it all votes passed by the Council) irrespective of receipts from Government under tne head of special votes, on the 20th June, 1879. Jt will be observed that the account shows a deficit of £467 5s 2d, but as the sum of £4OO voted for repairs of Black Bridge is charged as voted but has not been expended, this must be allowed for in considering the actual position of the fund. In making this Eeport the Committee consider it is only fair to the present Council that the following facts should be put on record:—When they took office they were unable to ascertain their real financial position, and had to proceed on the assumption that they would at least receive the whole of the County Fund for expenditure during the year, In this they have been most grievously disappointed. In consequence of the way in which the Treasury accounts are furnished to the County, it has only been possible quite recently, and after very careful inquiry, to ascertain how they really stand. In November, 1878, half tho subsidy due to the County in accordance with the returns of rates collected by the Highway and Local Boards, was placed to the credit of the County Fund, It could not, therefore, reasonably be expected after this payment that any liabilities existed, as if so, they should have been charged. Instead, however, of receiving the other half of the subsidy, viz., £1124, in April last, as was expected, the Treasury deducted from this amount £493 4s 11(1 for existing liabilities and £374 13s 3d as amount paid to the Highway Boards, being the proportion for the months of July and August, 1878, the Counties Act, 1876, having been only adopted in full on the 31st August,- 1 187 8. On inquiry into the grounds on which these deductions have been made, it appears that £460 out of the £493 4s lid is charged for works carried on by the Government prior to the 31st August, 1878, and charged against

the County subsidy, In other words,, that the Government expended upon the roans £460 in excess of the whole subsidy for the year, and thus a legacy of debt to that amount was left to the present Council, which has had to maintain the road with the same subsidy as was expended (with £460 inaddition) by the Government last year, and also make this refund of liability. In addition to this, the greater portion ■of the sura of £374 13s 3d, as stated above, was paid over to the Highway Boards instead of being retained against the current liabilities for July and August. As the County was charged by the Government with the maintenance of the main road for July and . August, the Boards have received this amount without having the work to do. This statement will fully explain .the financial disadvantages under which the Council has been placed during the first year of its existence, and there is reason for congratulation in the fact that notwithstanding them the main road has been kept in repair, The ensuing year will be begun under much more favorable circumstances. Annexed is a statement of the probable income for the year, which it may fairly bo hoped will be sufficient to meet the expendituie required with the exception of the section of the road between Manawutu and Opaki, on which the Engines report .shows an estimated expenditure of £1156 3s as required for the year—a sum so vastly in excess of any possible revenue of the County that special action has been taken with regard to it by the Chairman, as will be explained by him.—C. Phakazyjt, Chairman of Committee,

A general meeting of members of the Masterton Union Club is convened for this evening to receive the report of committee and appoint date of opening.

We remind our readers of Messrs lorns & Fergusson unreserved Sale of Furniture &c to day. We are requested to direct special attention to the announcement that the Holy Communion will be celebrated at St Mark's Church, Carterton, to be followed by the baptismal office, to-morrow.

The residents of Kuripuni arc invited by Kuripuni School Committee to attend a meeting on Tuesday'evening-next, to recensider the motion relative to the site given by Mr Donald Donald. Thursday's supplement to the New Zealand Gazette, contains a classified list of certified teachers in the colony with the status assigned to each. The following list of the teachers in the principal schools in the VYairarapa district with their rank, is given by the Standard—Tom Wakelin, B.A, Groytnwn B 4: John Gurr, Featherston 0 1 ; John James Pilkington, Masterton C 3; Charles Alfred Richards, Carterton D 2; James Badland, Wailienga E4; David Barry, Claireville D 3; Fredk. Gover, Fernridge E2; Miss Matthews, Opaki E3; Mrs Hester Hanson, TenuiEO.

Perhaps one of the most perfect industrial establishments connected with Masterton is to bo found on the premises of Mr James Thompson, who at the present time possesses a monopoly of the bakery trade of the Borough. Mr Thompson uses two sets of premises, one being the central shop formerly occupied by Mr Prentice, and the other his original shop, opposite Mr Pmnall's mill. It is at the latter that, the manufacturing branch of his business is carried on, and a stranger would hardly believe the amount of business conducted in the neat but unpretending clustor of buildings at the rear of his shop and dwelling. The first is devoted to the manufacture of [crated waters and cordials and is fitted with labor-saving machines of all kinds, for generating gas, bottling cleaning corking, &c, all of the most approved character. The various compartments in which this branch of the business is carried on are a model of good arrangement, and of a judicious outlay of capital. His larger ■ shed is devoted to the bakery business, and consists of two floors; on the upper one, sacks of Adelaide and Masterton Hour are stored, and pour forth their contents as required through a funnel into a trough in the capacious room below, where the bread is made up and baked. The ground floor where the latter operations are carried on, is particularly clean and well arranged; two immense ovens, with furnace Hues and fittings specially imported from England, supply a population of nearly 2,000 souls (or rathe.i stomachs), with the staff of life. These ovens will take in a batch of some 700 loaves, and turn them out to perfection, Of the loaves we saw, which had just emerged from their recesses not one appeared either overdone or underdone. Masterton bread is always admired by visitors, and it is to the care and enterprise of Mr Thompson that the Borough has this good thing said of it. Biscuit and cake machines of all kinds form a part of the stock-in-trade we saw. What struck us most, however, was the ease with which the hard work of the establishment is done with an ordinary horse mill, which saws up wood, turns machines, works ii pump, and keeps the whole place as it were constantly going. It is pleasant at times like the present when there are too many expenders and too few producers to visit an establishment like that of Mr Thompson where a profitable industry on a large scale is being carried on to to the advantage of both the proprietor, and the public and which is conducted with all the mechanical advantages except steam which could be found even in a London bakery, The religious papers in the United States occasionally offer little gifts to those who will subscribe to them for a fixed period. These offers are, however, made, as it is generally explained, not for the pecuniary benefit of the proprietor of the publication, but for the spiritual bonefit of the purchaser, who cannot fail to derive good from a perusal of the columns thus pleasantly brought under his notice. One of these papers, the Church Union, is now endeavoring in its own words, "to extend its usefulness," and with this object offers "to every new subscriber, on payment of three dollars, a genuine seven-shooter revolver, full nickel plated, rosewood stock, steel barrel and cylinder, and finely rifled." The revolver is not intended to be used for the adjustment of difficulties in an offhand fashion, but should, it is suggested, be only used for "tramps and burglars." The publisher of the Church Union thinks this offer is not inconsistent with " the spirit of its columns;" and certainly if the spirit of its columns is of akin to that displayed by some of the religious papers on this side of the Atlantic, is no inconsistency worth mentioning in the offer of'a " seven shooter" to subscribers. The idea, however, of a religious paper circulating revolvers is a novelty, and will possibly startle nervous and serious old ladies not accustomed to firearms,

The Education Board advertises for an ■ assistant master for tlio Masterton School. Is this because the Committee recommended' the appointment of a mistress I The Board happily doesn't know it, but it has a irueor way of doing business. Arepprting machine at tho Paris Exposition known as " La machine Stenographique Michels," the latter being the name of its inventor, attracted much attention. The claims made respecting it are, that after a fortnight's practice, any person can take. down in shorthand character a speech however rapidly delivered, Jt is a small instrument, pianolike in form, with twenty-two keys, white and black, and the'stenographic characters are small, and impressed on slips of paper. Signor Michela claims' to have classified all the Bounds which thp ■human organs of speech are capable of producing, and to have so constructed his machine that it shall report with unerring fidelity whatever is said in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and English. The' machine is highly ingenious, and seems to have stood several practical tests satisfactorily.

A classical man in Venice, Illinois, has christened his cat " Othello," the mewer of Venice,