The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 273, 25 September 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1879.

We trust the present session will provide the Colony with a good useful Premier. Efficient Premiers are very difficult to obtain, but we hope that it is at last our turn to get a good one. Even in England a good all-round Premier is not obtained above once in a generation. A brilliant chief like Disraeli, or a mass of genius like Gladstone are chosen by their respective parties; but neither of these illustrious statesmen have been as efficient as their much less gifted predecessor, Lord Palmerston. Common sense, experience, and tact are really the qualities which make any man successful at the head ot a Cabinet, and they are rarely found in combination. We believe there is a fair chance of their being found in Mr John Hall; but among the Premiers we have had of late years in New Zealand they have been more or less deficient, and we have almost to go back to the regime of Mr Stafford to get a fair combination, Since his day we have had Mr Waterhouse, who proved a failure mainly because he tried to do too many little things; Mr Fox, a fish out of water; Mr Yogel, too meteoric; Major Atkinson, too excitable; and last, but not least, Sir George Grey, our present ruler. Sir George is a sort of Davenport politician! Mysterious sounds proceed from his Cabinet, He invites his audience to tie him up with questions—to doubleknot him with promises—and then, when the house think they have him bound and irrevocably fixed, he emerges, from his Cabinet free and unfettered. As a stage performer he stands unrivalled, but as a Premier he-is a failure. We hope soon to see some steady-going, sensible man at the head of affairs, who will be distinguished more for common sense than either genius or eccentricity.

The timber trade is improving in the Manawatu district. Tenders close to-morrow for painting a cottage in Perry-street. The Masterton Volunteers parade tomorrow evening in the Hall. Tenderß close for 14 chains drainaga on the Hospital ground on Saturday at noon, To-morrow the adjourned meeting of the creditors of Mr J. A. Petherick takes placo in Mr Skipper's office.

The London wool market is reported to be quiet. lorna and Perguason hold tin extensive sale of mixed cattle, stores, etc., at the yards, Masterton, next Saturday. Wc remind surveyors that tenders close on Saturday next for cutting up the property of the late H. Bannister into 60 and 100-acre sections. The night of meeting of the Masterton Quadrille Club has been changed to Thursday, The first assembly takes place this evening. The secretary of the Masterton Park Trustees desires to acknowledge with thanks a donation,of trees and shrubs juat received from the Wellington Botanical Gardens, for the use of the Masterton Public Park. The first horse parade of the season takes place at Greytown on Saturday next, in the Rising Sun Hotel paddock. After the parade Messrs F. H. Wood & Co. hold a large sale of thoroughbred horses on the ground. We have received from Mr W. Hoisted another letter re Scandinavian voting, but we do not think there is the slightest advantage to bo derived by any further discussion on the subject, According to a Swiss paper, the Asaecu-ranz-Blutt, Prince Louis Napoleon, before starting for the Cape, had his life insured by an English insurance company for £30,000. * ' It is said by the Otago Daily Times that the recent election for Waikouaiti cost the winning member a large sum of money, variously stated at £SOO and upwards. One hotelkceper's bill sent in to the committee represented the modest sum of £l2O. _'_' Atlas" in the World, writing of the visit of the three hundred and fifty Irish tenant farmers to the Prince of Wales at Marlborough House, says—" The Paddies were regaled with biscuits and whisky. They carried away the biscuits as heirlooms, and they-diiink the whisky. As one burly Carlow ' boy' lifted the glass to his lips, ho eyed it viciously a moment, and muttered, with a droll tremor of affection,' Ah, whisky, you divil, I'll not lave a dhrop ov'you. You killed most of me family!'"

Thomas Carlyle, in his own quaint fashion, shows the British workman who is ins taskmaster, and the passage is characteristic of the " Chelsea philosopher": "No man oppresses thee, O free and independent franchiser! But does not this stupid pewter pot oppose thee 1 No son of Adam can bid thee come or go, but that absurd pot of heavy wet can, and does! Thou art the thrall not of Cedric or Saxon, but of thine own brutal appetites and this accursed dish of liquors. And thou protest of thy " liberty," thou entire blockhead.

Not long ago a gentleman made an inquiry of one of the banks, claiming a balance which he believed to bo in his favor, arising out of an account some ten years old. and which he required should be paid to him. Books for many years had to be gone through, and at length the account was traced. It was found that the balance was a debit balance cf 4s against the inquirer, The result of the search was communicated to him, He has not (says the Insurance and Banking Record) called to pay the amount. The Oamaru Mail tiius speaks of the new member for Rangitikei:—" Major Willis, who has been returned for Rangitikei, the seat relinquished by Mr Balance with a view to contesting one of the seats for Wanganui against Sir William Fox, enters upon political life for the first time. He was some few yeah since a captain in the 14th Regiment, but sold out, and took up his residence in Wellington, carrying out the Scriptural prophecy of the sword being turned into ploughshares. He is a man of intelligence and a fair, speaker, and should prove a very good member of Parliament."

i A young man, who was travelling in the South train between Christchurcli and Ashburton yesterday, had (says the Ashburton Mail), an exceedingly narrow escape. He was riding in the first-class smoking carriage, when he stepped out on to the platform, and leant against the movable iron bar. This suddenly slipped from its socket, and the passenger was thrown between the carriages in °a most dangerous manner. Fortunately he had a firm grasp of the iron stanchions, and he succeeded in regaining his footing, thus saving himself from falling between the carriage, and encountering a fearful death. It seems high time that the moveable bars, which are little better than passenger-traps, were superseded by somethins of a safer character.

The other day, Mike Maloney, who, we need hardly say, being a working man, is a gentleman of elegant Milesian leisure, concluded to earn an honest penny by catching rats for Jack Snyder, Esq.'s, great rat hunt next week, He accordingly scattered some cheese around in the cellar of Doolegan's saloon, and whensufficient time hud elapsed, rushed in, stopped up tho holes of exit, and began transferring the squeaking rodent to an empty barrel previously provided. The first rat Mike seized with his tongs was a large gray fellow, which he speedily slipped into the barrel, quiclqy covering the top again with a cloth. In a few minutes he caught another, and then another. The rats were all large, game-looking fellows, and after snaking them out from behind the boxes and corners for some hours, Mike concluded that he must have a couple of hundred, and braced himself to a square lift to get the barrel on his shoulder. _ It was so light that in amazement the industrious man raised the cover and looked in. Instead of four or five bushels of dog bait- he saw nothing but a bung-hole he had forgotten to stop up. Mr Maloney had been catching the same rat all day. The Sydney Telegraph says :-A grand tour is being organised in Melbourne, in which a number of influential gentlemen are taking part, It comprises a visit to Hobart Town and other places of interest in Tasmania; thence to those wonderful freaks of nature, the Sounds or fiords of on the West Coast of New Zealand; then overland across the ranges, and through the lake and river scenery of that romantic region, and through the various townships, diggings &c, inland and coastwise of New Zealand; thence to Newcastle and the Hunter district, and on to Sydney, with a view of visiting tho Exhibition, Blue Mountains &c, previous to returning to Melbourne. It is proposed to charter, a first-class steamer, and to start about the middle of December, the trip to extend over 50 days. The tour is under the management of MrR. P, Whitworth, the well-known litterateur, who has explored this part of New Zealand, and who may be said to know every inch of the country, Mr W. R, Guilfoyle, director of the Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, who will accompany the expedition as botanist, acts ashon secretary, and will gladly forward circulars containing full particulars to any gentleman applying for them.

We are glad to notice that at the opening of Parliament yesterday, Mr John Hall took the position of leader of the Opposition. The Hon, 6. M. Waterhouse is mentioned as a possible candidate for the Mayoralty of Wellington. From Premier to Mayor would be a tumble. A correspondent, in another column, suggests securing a site for a watchman's platform, stables, etc., necessary'for a Fire Brigade. Masterton can hardly afford these improvements just at present but it would be prudent to anticipate them by securing a suitable site. Despite the inclemency of the weather on Tuesday evening there was a capital attendance at the soiree in aid of the Wesleyan Church Organ Fund. A large number of songs, <k, were given by lady and gentlemen amateurs who acquitted themselves admirably, and a most enjoyable evening was spent. 'Lamp Post,' in our open column, suggests that second hand lamps might be procurable from the Corporation of Wellington. We think very few lamps would suffice for this town. The shop windows in Queen-street are so well lit up by private enterprise, that our principal street but dark and gloomy. A caucug meeting of the Opposition says the Times, was held at the residence of Mr George McLean, M.H.E., yesterday, but nothing definite was resolved upon, several members of the party not having arrived in Wellington. The Opposition are satisfied with their prospects, which under the present aspect of affairs are decidedly favorable. The Borough of Martonhas suggested that the Mayors of Wanganui, Palmerston, Masterton, and Marton should be authorized conjointly, to raise a loan of £IOO,OOO, to be subdivided according to the requirements of each Borough. We only see one objection to the proposal, and that is, supposing Masterton accepted the proposal in order to secure a loan of £B,OOO, it would be responsible to the Borough quaternion for that amount, but it would also be responsible to the English capitalists for £IOO,OOO, and ' there's the rub.'

A telegram received in town yesterday (writes the New Zealander) conveys the information that a party of surveyors, employed in the neighborhood of Fitzherbert, had found a low saddle in the Tararua range which would connect the West Coast with Maaterton by a far shorter route than the present one by way of the Manawatu Gorge. The importance of the discovery can hardly be overestimated, for should it be used, the distance between Masterton and Foxton or Palmerston would probably be reduced by nearly fifty miles, while a great part of the present disagreeable road, and some nasty rivers would be avoided. In all probability the saddle referred' to exists at one of the headwaters of the Mangahao or Mangatainoke, and the nearest settlement on the eastern side would, therefore, be Eketahuna, The new road would, in any case, open up a large area of rich and valuable land. The following is the telegram referred to:—Palmerston, Sept. 22.—1t was reported in town to-day that one of a party surveying 12,000 acres at Fitzherbert reached the top of the range on Sunday, and distinctly saw Masterton in the distance. The news created much excitement, as it has always been believed there was a low saddle across the hills.