The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 271, 23 September 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 187 9.

\Ye have been favored with a copy of the following report of a special settlement in the provincial district of Tara naki. Now that the question of bush settlements is attracting public attention, all facts relating to them have a strong interest. The report, which is from the Ranger to the chairman of the Waste Lands Board, Taranaki, runs as followsl have the honor to forward my second report on the portion of the Moa Block offered for sale on deferred payments on the 19th June, 1875, The report is accompanied by a plan of the district, and by schedules showing improvements made both on deferred payment lands and on lands sold for cash within the portion of the district referred to. The clearings made on the deferred payment allotments have in the large majority of cases been well done. In two cases only—viz,, on Allotments 112 and 114 have more trees been left unfelled than should have been done; but the road on which these allotments are situate being one of the worst in the district, some excuse may be made for the holders of the land, With the exception of two cases, all the holders of deferred payment allotments have made ample improvements, and these two have come so near the required amount that little objection can be made to them. The total area of land sold on deferred payments on the portion I now report on is 2057 acres, Of this 518 acres have been cleared and grassed, or equal to 25 per cent, of the whole; the total value of improvements iri clearing, building, and fencing being £2363. Within the same portion of the district 5608 acres have been sold for cash; of which 961 acres have been cleared and grassed, or equal to 17 per ceut,; the value of improvements, including clearing, being £7021; the total value of improvements on deferred payment and cashlandsnowreported on being £9384. In the portion of the district reported on in May last, the improvements made to that time were estimated at £7551. Since that time, and up to the present, quite XISOO has been spent in building, fencing, and felling. These amounts, added to the estimate of the block I now report on—viz., £93B4—give a total of £18,435 as the value of improvements made on the portion of the Moa block sold in 1875. These improvements, made within four years, in a district consisting entirely of bush lands (the timber being of the heaviest description), the roads being almost impassable for at least six months in the year, reflect great credit on the settlers in the distiict, and give promise that in the future this will become one of the most prosperous districts in the colony. It also speaks forcibly for the advantages of the deferred payments system, that in the large majority of cases the deferred payment allotments are held by laboring men (more than half of them immigrants, brought here during

tlio past four years), who commenced improving their allotments in advance of the cash purchasers, and who in the majority of cases were the first to occupy their lands by actual residence.

Tke Masterton Volunteers parade on Friday evening next, In another column will be found a trip to the Wairarapa reef by our special reporter. The Hospital Committee invite tenders up to the 27th instant for cutting 14 chains of drainage. Mr W. R. Waters lias been elected creditors' trustee in the estate of Mr J. G. Rockel. It is notified that the Masterton Quadrille Club will be continued every Thursday evening. The members of the Loyal Masterton Lodge, 1.0.0.P., hold a meeting in the Empire Hotel this evening. The Phoenix Lodge meets in the Forester's Hall this evening. Mr D. Cameron advertises in another column for 10 shearers for the Pahaua station at 17s Gd per 100. Wo remind our readers of the soiree to be held tips evening in aid of the Wesleyan Church Organ Fund, Tea will be on the tables at 6 o'clock, Wo expect to see a large attendance. The estate of Mr Charles William Hornblow, cabinet-makor, Greytown, has been assigned to Mr E, W. Mills for the benefit of the creditors, and a meeting of the latter is called for 11 a.m. on the 6th proximo. We are glad to notice that tenders are invited for subdividing the property of the late Mr Bannister into 50 and 100 acre sections. This property is adjacent to Masterton, and is admirably adapted for small farms. That wanderer from the Board, Mr Everiss, has announced that he is unable to carry on the Bible School by means of voluntary contributions. Ho therefore intends charging each pupil Is per w«ek for the future. We trust his next step will be to return to the fold which he ought never to have quitted. John B. Gougli, the famous temperance orator, is now in England and sojourning in his native County of Kent. He visited Sandgate, the town in which he was born (August 22,1817), and was made much of by the total abstinence portion of the community. They chaired him round the town and gave him a public luncheon. The first stone of the " Temperance Palace" was laid by him, and he made a retrospective speech on his career in America, opening with his recollections of Sandgate more than fifty years ago, when he ran about the streets barefooted,

Wo are glad to see the Masterton and Opaki Jockey Club coming to the fore again. Nothing daunted by the unusually depressed state of the times, they have decided to hold two days racing in December in spite of all warnings and persuasions to hold but one day. They are very sanguine of being able to carry out their two days' sport successfully. The balance sheet from last year appears in another column, and is more satisfactory than most of the balance sheets of other clubs in this province, and shows, after meeting all demands, a small sum to credit, notwithstanding many expenses incurred last meeting that will not occur again, such as amounts laid out on the improvement of the course, club furniture, &c, The programme which has been arranged for December will appear shortly, and it promises some very good prizes, At the last meeting of the Club, in addition to the present members some twenty additional names were proposed, and if the stewards and members of the Club unite to advance its position, we have no doubt that this race meeting will be the best yet held at Opaki. The last meeting, it will be remembered, was most enjoyable, and, barring an accident on the second day, which was the fault of one of the horses at the meeting, passed off very satisfactorily. The Opaki course, taking into consideration its picturesque scenery, the beautifui mound at the run in, the level and sound nature of the ground, and its proximity to the township, is the best in this Island, and with a little improvement it can be made the best in the colony, The erection of a grand stand should command the attention of some speculative individual, for the venture could not prove other than successful to the person undertaking it. If a grand stand were erected, the Club would be certain eventually to purchase it. We should like to see the pastoral and agricultural settlers of the neighborhood evince a little more sympathy to tho Club. It deserves their support and encouragement, as nothing tends to advance the breeding of good horses like a well-con-ducted Jockey Club.

The irey Ministry (says an exchange), like every other when the tide has appeared to turn, has suffered quite as much from false friends as from open foes. Prosperity makes friends, but adversity proves them," is an old adage but a true one. An observant politician once remarked that the principal difference between the partv going out of office and that which succeeds it is, that" the latter have to be sworn in, while the latter generally go out swearing." Lord Lyndhurst used to tell a good story about himself as to the difference between being in office and out of it. On the resignation of the Ministry of which he was a member he went, as Lord Chancellor to see Her Majesty and deliver up the Great Seal. Lackeys gorgeously apparelled, with their wands of office, preceded him, crying, " Make room for the Lord Chancellor of England !" On tendering his resignation he was left to find his way out of the palace by a back entrance as best he could. When standing there half dazed, a John Thomas came up, and slapping him on the back, said, " My good man, what can I do for you ?"

The Pas de Calais publishes the following particulars about the proposed submarine tunnel between England and France. The engineers who have been engaged in the work have not yet commenced the tunnel itself; all that they have done at present being to sink a shaft near Sandgate in order to ascertain the depth and currents of the water. When these preliminary experiments are concluded, the vork of making the tunnel itself will begin. The shaft now being sunk has a diameter of about nine feet, and is to go to a depth of two hundred and sixty feet. Work in the shaft has been suspended for the last three months as the water comes in so rapidly that it has been necessary to construct a machine which will extract six hundred gallons per minute, or double what the machine at first used could remove. The shaft has already been sunk to half the proposed depth, ana work will be resumed bifore the end of the year. The walls of the shaft are being lined with small oak planks with a backing of concrete. The earth which has been excavated is of a white, chalky nature, and very hard,

Mr Sellar give notice in another column that dividends are now payable in the estates of I. Hi, Oakley and J. C. B. Golder. A meeting was held at the office of P. H, Wood and Co,, Greytown, on Saturday last, for the purpose of taking into consideration the forming of a farmers' club. There was a fair attendance, but after some conversation, the meeting was postponed till Saturday next. A special meeting of the shareholders of the South Wairarapa Working Mens' Club Company was held on Saturday. There wa3 a fair attendance. After the minutes of the previous meeting had been read, the Secretary read the decision of the Directors, with regard to the shares. Mr Gray proposed that the 58 shares mentioned be forfeited, and 21 new shares be offered to shareholders. Mr R. V. Smith seconded the proposition, which was carried. It was resolved that notices be posted in the reading and billiard rooms, that 21 shares were to be allotted, application to be made to Mr Bock within four teen days. This concluded the business.

A French girl at a store, being solicited to allow a kiss, declined except at the price of a little bag which lay on the enamoured cavalier's counter, and which, ai she said, was filled with cent?. The bargain was struck, but, to the suprise of the Dulcidee, as well as to her satisfaction, on opening the bag it was found to contain in the place of cents, good full-weight florins, Tli 1 " gentleman claimed the bag, but the girl was unyielding. Thereupon resort was had to the tribunal, the plaintiff alleging that there was evidently a mistake, and that a simple kiss could not, by far, be appraised at such a sum. The tribunal, however, gave the case to the girl—first, because what is given is given; and second, because the value of a kiss cannot be estimated.

The Rusian soldiers live and fight almost wholly upon tea. The Cossacks often carry it about in the shape of bricks, or rather tiles, which, before hardening are soaked in sheep's blood and boiled in milk with the addition of flour, butter, and Bait, so as to constitute a kind of soup. The passion of the Russian for this beverage is simply astonishing. In the depth of winter he will empty twenty cups in succession, at nearly boiling point, until he perspires at every pore, and then, in a state of immense excitement, he rushes, rolls in the snow, gets up and goes on to the next similar place of entertainment. So with the army, With every group or circle of tents travels the invariable tea cauldron, suspended on a tripod ; and it would be vain to think of computing how many times each soldier's pannikin is filled upon a halt, One of the best jury stories I have heard for a long time (says a London correspondent) is told about a case which was tried at ..Westminster recently. The action was brought to decide a dispute between a water company and some of its consumers, and the evidonce in favor of the defendants seemed so irresistible that the judge expressed his wonder that the jury should want to retire in order to consider their verdict After being absent some time they came back and announced that they were all agreed with the exception of one, and the judge, indignant at a single person refusirg to accept the overwhelming testimony offered in favor of the defendants, made some remarks not flattering to the intellectual powers of the solitary recalcitrant, tho' of course no one out of the jury-box knew which of the twelve was the man. However, the jury had to be discharged, and it afterwards turned out that it was the twelfth who had taken the same view of the evidence as the judge himself, and the other eleven who had re) used to adopt what his lordship, and, indeed, everybody else in the court, thought the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the facts.

A fatal accident occurred at Nelson, on Saturday last, a little before noon, to thrte men who were working at the reclamation works. There were a lot of men engaged in getting stuff from a hill in Chaucer-' oad commonly known as " Soapside Gully," and five of them were inside a tunnel filling the trucks, when a large land-slip occurred, the stonaand earth f tiling on the roof of the tunnel with such force and weight, that the top of the tunnel conld not resist it, and the whole would have utterly collapsed but for. the trucks that were on the rails, Two of the men managed to get out by crawling under the trucks, and getting out at the mouth of the tunnel. One had a narrow escape, being caught on the leg by a descending mass of earth. He managed, however, to extricate himself. After a while it was found practicable to ascertain by crawling under the trucks, how the poor imprisoned fellows fared. Two appeared to be dead, but one was alive, and brandy was passed to him in a sponge. Relays of as many men as could work together, were put on, but it was past two before the bodies were got out, all three being then dead. It is supposed that the third man, John Quinn, was suffocated by the fine sand fiilling thu space in which he was. He was heard to ask how long they would be getting him out, and then when he was called to there was no answei. Quinn was a young fellow 21 years of age, and leaves a wife and child, The other two were James Clarke, 36 years, who leaves a wife and seven children, and Bartelette Taravere, an Italian, unmarried.