The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1885. THE PREMIER'S SPEECHES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 30 December 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1885. THE PREMIER'S SPEECHES.

The Premier has recently delivered two speeches in Otago—one on jbho occasion of tho opening of a section of a railway leading towards a place (ailed Catlin's River, and the other at Dunedin before, his constituents. It appears that on the former occasion he unconsciously looked upon the affair as a political one, because he knows perfectly well that the lino is nothing more nor less than a gross political ' job for which Mr a colleague of his in a former is responsible. At any rate, he dived into the politics of the day, and madel several statements which are not exactly remarkable for their veracity. Perhaps fee considered that he was at a country meeting, and that ho could speak with a free and pasy conscience, with the feeling that there ;,vas no one present who could 'contradict him, and without fear of his utterances appear-1 ing in print. If so, the übiquitous, reporter sold him very badly, for the whole specie)) appears in the Otago papers. . Ariione; ..other things that Mr Stout said was snl when.'his Government took office, they had'io face ■'a deficit of £150,000, which iah few : months they had wiped off, having a) small surplus. There is a well-known, story of a men being delighted because; he had paid ijati importuning tradesman ; but when his friends came to ask how he had managed; be said, "Oh, I ■ just got .him to take a bill for four; montiio." That is exactly what the Government has done to .pay off the £150,000. ' It issued Treasury bills toi that amount, -which will have to be faced in somo fashion during the ensuing year. Mr Stout's way of .dealing' with a debt may be a very convenient oije at times, but we doubt would like to have all accounts wing-, to himself settled that way,' It RW'stSj hoped that Mr Stout would give some indication as t6 the intentions >$ "Jtihe Government with regard to future borrowing. It will be' remembered that the statement lias recently been made in the Press that the Government would probably bring down a comprehensive scheme of public works. which would cost between i

eight or ten millions. Mr Stout has spoken twice since that ap'peurai in print, and the Colonial Tresauref's manifesto to the people of Lawrence also saw daylight at a later period. But neither of them has thought tit to enlighten the public, At the Dunedin meeting nn elector asked if he was in favor of borrowing ten millious, and he is reported to have replied that "he would'not pledge himself to that; he did not think the Government should go in for any wild scheme of borrowing. If they did borrow they should seo that they borrowed for works that would b reproductive, and that would pay some interest on the outlay," Now, this was nothing more nor less than avoiding a direct answer, Every member, of the House who has a piece of pet public works that, he wimts constructed,'gives the assurance that it repays the outlay. Tf Sir Julius Vogel sees fit, he will bring down a scheme for borrowing ten millions for "reproductive" public works, and Mr Stout will he quite ready to declare that they will be reproductive—like the Gatlins River line, The fact is that Ministers are quietly and cautiously feeling the pulse of the country on the subject, and if the chances appear to be in favor of it, then it will be made aery at the next election. If not, we shall hear nothing whatever about it from the Ministerial benches, It is to be regretted that the information asked for has not been vouchsafed, because Ministers must have a decided opinion on the subject, to which the Jiulilio is entitled. Beyond the points we have touched upon we see nothing ! in the two speeches, that is of interest ' to the public, and as one of these contained a mistatement, and the other a ' refusal to give information on a point oi the Ministerial policy, they must appear vory worthless indeed,

With this day's issue of the Waikarai'A Daily we present our subscribers with & pictorial almanac for the ensuing year, and we trust that, like its predecessors, it will find a prominent plage jn every household. Subscribers who do not reqeiye a copy with their paper will please call at our office, whore the omission will be rectified. The Waipipi creek, which was spoken of as a means of providing water for the Borough, is'iiow dry. Wb direct attention to an advertisement relating,to the Hack Races of the Featherston Racing flab which appears in another column, Mr J. King, joweller, of Cuba-atroofc, Wellington, has a new and attractive advertisement in another column, to which we direct the attention of our readers. Kirkcaldie and Stains, the well known Wellington drapers, announce the receipt of a large shipment of Japanese and English fanoy go,p,dfy wickerware, and house-furnishing, such as carpets, etc. Their price list appears very at|r^t<ye.

Some bush at the back ,of Mr D. Ronald's residence, Solway, in which there}s.sconsiderable.quantity of dead timber, caught fire yesterday, and Mr Donald had .to put fin a gang of men to save the house; All dagger is now averted. The services .of the .Carterton Fire Brigade, with their engine, were required yesterday afteripn to assist in quelling a fire in Messrs W, Booth & Cp'.'s timber yards, which they accomplished after two buildings hud been burnt down, and considerable damage had been done. Mrs Eagle's store had a ujj.nw escape of being burned down, the shingles haying been ignited several times by sparks,' The flames were, however, on each occa-

sion extinguished before any serious damage was done, With the strong north-west gales which have been blowing, the only wonder is that Carterton has eo long escaped catching fire, tho whole of ibho pjf the township being ono burning ma,ss.

' A correspondent, writing.to% Sydney Morning Herald of the 2nd iijsfc.', referring to the hailstorm that passed over Watson's Bay and South Head on the previous Monday (St Andrew's Day), says:—"A lap percentage) of tho hailstones (accurately measured) wore more than two inches m diameter, solid and perfect spheres of ice ; while agglomerated hail fell in jrregular masses of much larger dimensions';' galvanized iron roofing was indented, windows broken, and stone and mortar chipped as wjtli a chisel, while plants were beaten to a pulp or '.dug mit by the roots. Tho waters of the bay were! thrown up in jots two feet high, and presented a truly remarkable appearance; and when the storm passed, and surrounding objects became again discernible, South Head appeared as snow-clad; while .the hollows and gullies about Watson's Bay were piled many feet doep in hail." The question,of the order of priority that shall goveiga preferential , claims against bankrupt estates' fcgts .moj:e than once cropped up in various parts 'gf tho colony, says the Auckland Star, and this! morning it was brought directly under the notice of Mr Justice Gillies, who,after due deliberation, ruled in the Assignee's favor. In this instance the point arose out of tho estate of Philip Lawton Bridges, chemist, of Karangahapo road. The assets realised only £ls, and as the joint claims .of tho Assignee, the landlord, and the bailiff amounted to £22, the questionwas, which of the thre,e phould be satisfied first ? His Honor ruled tii'at ,jjip bailiff does not come in after the Assignee, %t, after tho rent. In this case the order .off priority would be; first, Assignee's costs;i 2nd, the landlord's rent; and 3rd the execution creditor. ' A quApr story comes from New Zealand, ■ says the Bejr,pjfc Free Press. '' The owls in that district'aged .to be as harmless as doves; indeed, fchoyoncefip "mousing owls,'.' and, therefore, Useful,' fet pp. night a settler left a sheepskin nailed to j his roof, and an owl cn'mo fllfing and! tasted of the fat mutton left thereon,Tjkafc owl.becarae a sheep killer, alighting; on a jeep's back three days later. Still more strange, ,all the other owls began to ; like mutton, and" jo.gj the New Zealand bird of that species slays tkusands upon' thousands of sheep, their" apatites, increasingin 'proportion to'thoii'prqgpe%. < They alisdit on the backs of sheep, and! tear tho poor beasts with their beaks, : going $> .once down through the carcsseto 1 .tho kidney fajj, which to the owls tongue : isthe daintiest of morsels." The Kea, the bird'referred to,;tf .certainly a very funny sort of an owl.

. AMr Blaikie, of & uckland, who claims kto haye invented a method of roof-slating :which^avesfrom4oto.so per cent! on [present priues, has (says the local.' Sta'r') ;just returned from Sydney;' where his :plan-met;.with much favor from architects ■a,hd builders, Jh Sydney, the' ..Goyerii;menfc architect was so favorably impressed jwithithe system that >he au^hbrjsed' jir Blaikie to slate a lodge built incbnn'ectio'h ■with the extensive alterations at Admiralty House. Upwards of £2,000 worth of '/ork.wouid at once. have been placed in ,tho inventor's hands by Sydney architects [if suitable slates had beep, procurable.

The next outward English mail via San Francisco doses at Masterton on Saturday next at 1.30 p.m.

The Hon. J. Ballance and Mrs Ballance firo expected to arrive in'Masterton this evening. They leave again at *l o'clock to-morrow morning'for Paluatua, where Mrs Ballance will be the guest of Mrs McOardle The annual picnic in connection with the Presbyterian Sunday""School will be held in Mrs Yates' paddock, on New Year's Day. The usual sports, etc,, have been provided, and teachers and scholars should spend a happy day. Residents in Queen-street and visitors to it will be glad to learn that the Borough Council decided last night to have a watercart, It is high time the step was taken, and we only hope that there will be no delay in getting it going. Mr Maxwell,' the General Manager of Railways, was in Masterton yesterday. .We trust that his experience will convince him that it is absolutely necessary to make some alteration under which trains can arrive with punctuality. Both yesterday's trains were about half an hour late. - We remind the public of the amateur performance which is to be given at the Theatre Royal this evening. The programme consists of" A Happy Pair" and " Oliic," while between them will be the presentation of prizes to the fortunate winners at the Wairarapa Rifle Association's meeting, which of itself should prove sufficient to draw a full house, ' A meeting of the directors of the Caledonian Society was held at the Olub Hotel yesterday 'evening when several matters of detail in connection with the sports were arranged, The onlybusiness of importance was the engagement of a Band for Friday's gathering, and both the local Rands haying tendered at the same figure, the matter was decided by lot, the Volunteer Band heing drawn. , We aro requested to remind our readers of Messrs Ijowes and lorns' sale at their rooms to-morrow, It bejne: the last day of the year, the firm wish to close a number ofeonsigmuonts, and, in consequence, all goods on hand will be gold without reserve, The list will include new and secondhand furniture, crockery, outlciy, tanks, boilers, baths, sinks, and a few lines in poultry, A Hobarfc newspaper publishes tho following as an absolutely verbatim report of a portion of a speech lately dolivercd by a military member of the local tlouse of Assembly:- " I don't—l can't—there

•would be doubt that the course it lias beep to. him—if a—if this—a—if this House is a! party to interfere with—to—to—interfere with 'matters-Hiiatters of this kind,"

The bottle of peas in Messrs Price and Dickson's window is to be opened befqre a committee on Saturday morning, and those who wish to have a chance of securing the prizo will therefore have to exeroise it to-morrow. Tho contest is creating a considerable amount of interest, and the footpath in front of the window js occupied almost all day by men, women, and fiiiildven, who are trying to make estimates of the contends of the bottle, To avoid any misapprehension that may have arisen with regard to the hack Matumau, we may state the following simple facts:—Matamau was entered for the two hack races on tho first day of

the Opaki meeting by Mr K, MoKenzie. On the following day, having become the property of Mr T. H. Hill, he was pnt'eved, for the Hack Hurdle Eace as Maianiaji,'(laie P.iuau), Mr Hill having ascertained that' the latter was tho name "under' which ,tiie had been run on former '.' occasion?, In. doing this Mr Hill acted in,the most straightforward manner! He, of course, had 'nothing to dp with the proceedings ,of the preyfe day.' Those who will take the .trouble to n>reacl our yesterday's paragraph referring to the matter will find that it expresses precisely the game faefs. ''' "'* '' \ .On Ist December Susan Annie BJggan was stung by a'bee while attending school at Epson, pear Auckland, and blpodpoisoniug at once set in, from the effects of which she died within three days. This (remarks the ■Star') js' rather "ail alarming occurence, coming so soon after the death of a strong, active young man at tho Bay of Islands from a .similar causo. It is well known that at some seasons of tho year New Zealand honey is poisonous, because the bees feed upon the blossoms of a poisonous plant, an/1 jt would almost seem as though tho yirirjentji'ijnciple also affected the bees and're'ndfcred *heir stjng dangerous. A few days after ftp publication of the above particulars a gen'tle'man informed the ' Star* that several years ago a"p'ir,ty of Natives on tho Coast, who had been eatimr freoly of honey, about this season, were seized with symptons of poisoning, and some of them died. The Natives attributed the deleterious property of the honey to the flower of tho Waioriki, a poisonous shrub, growing in swamps, yluch is in bloom about this time of the year,' Notice r- Owing to the large number of Coupons for presents being issued, L, J, FoopeTs Co. find that it will bo impossible to distribute the wholo of the presents on the 24th of December as advertised, Holders of Coupons will, therefore, please present them on the 22nd or 28rd, and any time up to the 31st of December, until which time Coupons will continue to be issued, L. J. Hooper & Co., Drapers and Clothiers, Masterton.—[Advt.] We oteprye'ithat Mr ,J. Thorburn the woll-known clothier' ajjid 'putjfitter, of Willis-street Wellington, is 'paring a grand inducement to buyers of men's anjjl boy's clothing &c, &c, Nothing less than a ad. bonus of 3s In the £ is given to every purchaser of goods to the value of £5 and. upwards... This liberal distribution of cash will last from the Btli of December to the 9fch of January.—Advt. Venetian Blind and Revolving Shutter Manufactory. All Blinds guaranteed of the y^rfljes/'Ascription, Price list on application to ! B,'s. Henn (late Herin & Hansen.) Poneke Stearij Y,cijetian Blind and. Revolving Shutter Factory, Wellington.—Anvr Cmu/hs, Golds, BrorichitU,-die, are quickly cured by using Baxter's celebrated "Lung Preserver." .This oldeßtablished, popular medicine, is pleasant, to the palate, and highly extolled by the. of the medical, legal, and' clerical' Sold by a}l Patent MediGiije y'eijkpify Sag : testimonials ini^yfiiftjjjenifijitß.^rAfiV^.