The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1880.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 521, 21 July 1880, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1880.

Are things- worse now than they wore a year ago 1 Many people seem to think that they are, but as far as wo can judge we should be,disposed to believe that, taking .them as a whole, there is a marked improvement, We see plainly andtforcibly enough the ills we "bear now, but those we endured twelve months ago are less palpable to our senses, and consequently many men are wont to declare in an offhand manner that the country is going to the dogs, and that times are worse than ever. There are of course many men out of work now, possibly more destitute' 'persons'"than" there' were last winter, for the simple reason that a year ago the. bad times had only, just set in, and many people possessed a certain amount'of resources which have not held out for a second winter.... Men did not .regard the depression as of a permanent character, and in waiting for its departure, instead of meeting it .face to face, and fighting with it as a condition with ;which they would have to contend, however long it might last, they went to leeward. It is, however, tolerably apparent that business is healthier now than it /was a year ago, Fewer bad: debts are made, and where they are sustained they are lighter in amount than they formerly were, and in most eases "they can be anticipated with tolerable .certainty, and provided for. Failures still continue, but only for trifling amounts. . The extreme facilities which our bankruptcy system presents for a man to shake off his troubles and start afresh tempts men to file, who, under' other circumstances, would pull through without the aid of the law. There is little or noappre-, hension. now .of serious failures, but " a year ago" who did not dread them 1 The money market is now easy, then it was m hard as, a mill-stone. . The bank screw, of which so much was said last year, is now rarely alluded to. It is true that farming interests are still very depressed, but the fictitious values at which many settlers went on land a few years ago has made the process of very slow and tedious one. It is, too, rather against our present , prosperity that the Government should have been the last to put its house in order. In doing so now it must occasion .;& certain amount of temporary inconvenience, but when this ' particular' corner ii'turned there will

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lie a renewal of confidence in Now Zealand as a Colony, winch will bo of: the greatest value to us, It is difficult to guage the exact amount of progress which has been made in New Zealand during the past twelve months, but it is not too much to say that where lust whiter the majority of the settlers in the Colony were losing money they are this winter holding their own. Next year, if all goes well, they should begin to iriiike headway"''againr"'-" : '■

_ .The R,M t .Court sits at Carterton to- , day. The'Boroujjh Council have rinw erected the si reel.-,lamp ,atj.beiciirner of Hall and Queen streets near the Post Office. A general meeting of the Mafterton Football Club takes place in the Empire Hotel to-morrow evening. It will be seen by a marriage notice in another column that the Rev J. 0. Andrew, of Nelson, and ex-M.H.R. for the Wairarapa, is a bridegroom. This 'week a man named Moran went up to Mr Stuckey'a at Rangitumau, to apply for work. Apparently he was suffering from " the horrors," and two men were dispatched back with him to Masterton. The man waß too ill to reach the town, and he was left in a whare on the road to Rangitumau, where he died last evening. An inquest will be held in duo course. : • The Masterton Postmaster informs us that persons are frequently in the habit of enclosing correspondence in newspapers, or, writing on the inside pages of them. We would advise the culprits to discontinue the practice, us no such papers roach their distillation unless the persons they are addressed to, pay for them at letter rates.

With reference to the reward offered in another column for the discovery of the person who destroyed the trig-station at Mungatiriri, we ' might advise persons to be chary in interfering with any such landmarks, as under" The Trigonometrical Stations and Survey Marks Act of 1868" there is a penalty not exceeding £SO for such offences.

At.a meeting of tho Works Committee of the Greytown Borough Council, held at the Town Clerk's office on Monday evening, the following tenders were received for the drain across' Main-street, vix., J. Uly, >£lolos (accepted,) J. A. Hamilton, £loloa, J. Lewis, £1214s Gd, 0. Tait, £lB 15s, R, Rush, £l2 ss, (declined.) For the pound John. Udy £3 4s, (accepted.) W. Morris, £6 ss, H. Morris £5, (declined.) Mr Wakelin, was appointed to supervise drain, and Mr Gray, the pound.'

. The Greytown Debating Society held their first meeting at the Temperance Hall on Monday evening, but being the first . one. .was more . preliminary than otherwise, for the adoption of rules &c. The Society is likely to muster in good force when fairly established, many influential persons' having signified their intention of joining and listening to the debates. The next meeting will be held on Monday, August 2nd, A meeting of the creditors of W. Morrison, of Manaia, near Masterton, farmer, was held at the Supreme Court at 12 30 p.m. on Monday last, .The. liabilities were set down at. L 746, and the assets, at L 785, the chief item being leasehold property valued at LSOO, and mortgaged to that amount to Messrs Sellar & Hales. There were only- two creditors present, but as they held a number of proxies, there was no difficulty in getting on with the business of the meeting. Mr T. H. Hill occupied the chair. On the motion of Mr Sellar, Mr F. W. Hales was appointed trustee,

The annual general meeting of church members in connection with St John's Church, Featherston, was held iu the schoolhouse on Monday evening, the Rev H. V. White in the chair. Messrs Cox and Cobham were appointed churchwardens ; Messrs Gilpin, Toogood, Williams, Freeth, Luxford, and Oakley were elected vestrymen; Messrs Luxford and Freeth, auditors; and Messrs Cox, Oobham, and Gilpin collectors for the General Church Fund in the ensuing year. A discussion took plact as to the advisability of adopting the" free and open" principle with regard to seats', but it was decided to call a special meeting to consider this important question, which will be held on Monday, 2nd August. It is generally understood that it is the intention of the Comity Council to establish a toll-gate at Hurunuiorangi, as soon as the bridge across the Rumsnunga river will be completed and opened for traffic; the exact site of the toll-gate doe 3 not appear to have been definitely fixed yet, but an impression prevails that it is intended to place it on the eastern Bide of tho river, on the Gladstono road some Bhnrt distance from the bridgie, This of course means that any person travelling from Gladstone, Waiiiuioru, Pahaua, or any of the back, districts, to Hurunuiorangi, will be obliged to pay tolls although he may not have occasion to cross the bridge; and with the view of discussing the question, a number of influential settlers residing in that neighborhood, have oonvened a public meeting, which will be held at the Gladstone Schoolhouse, on Tuesday, at 2 p.m. We understf nd that tho principal objeot of the meeting is to urge upon the County authorities to place the toll-gate upon or in the immediate vicinity of the bridge, like those at Waihenga, and at the Black Bridge. The settlers in that district fully acknowledge the great advantages which the construction of this fine bridge confers upon them, but they argue, and we think not unreasonably, that if a toll-gate be necessary, it should be placed so that only those who are using the> bridge are obliged to pay tolls.