The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9,1889. The Property Tax.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3125, 9 February 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9,1889. The Property Tax.

I'he Premier on Wednesday last endeavored to persuade an Auckland audience that the Property Tax was the fairest and hest method of extracting necessary money from the pockets of the colonial taxpayer. Assuming the premises taken by Sir Harry, that three hundred odd'thousand pounds are needed annually to supplement indirect taxation, the conclusion at which lie arrived was sensible and logical. 'Yet the Premier has no business to go about the colony making stump speeches, It is simply mischeivous when colonial 'politicians travel from public platform to public platform with tlwobject of personally influencing the masses as to any particular line of policy. Their duty is to advocate in the House, where the representatives of tho people assemble, such measures as they may deem needful, but not to discuss large public questions at gatherings like that which Sir Harry met on Wednesday last. We prefer a property tax to either a land or an income tax, but it is not a vital question which we shall pay. If three hundred thousand pounds, or'four hundred thousand pounds have to be found, the bulk of the money comes out of the same pockets whether it is demanded as an income, aland, or a property tax. The evil lies less in the form of extraction than'ia a new country being compelled to pay such heavy direct taxation. . But whatever form the tax takes, it is far better to let it remain unaltered as a fixed known levy which is understood and provided for, The mischief Sir Harry Atkinson has done by his defence of the tax before an Auckland audience is to suggest to the London financiers and other influential personages, upon whom we depend for our capital, that the Property Tax is an insecure impost, and one which may be upset in favor of a land and income tax. -New Zealand has •suffered in the past from adventurers and demagogues, The adventurers latterly have been frozen out, and even demagogues, have been less prominent than they formerly usedj to be, but Sir Harry is setting a bad' example, He is not exactly a demagogue; but he has a weakness for demagogism, and l|is A ucldand speech is another illustration ol this failing of his. 1 As lie gains ground as a platform .orator, lie will lose caste With the House, The' immediate effect of his speech will be to remind the outside public of the instability of bur finance, and to recall to tlie minds of the inside publio certain weak points of the impost with which they are fairly familiar. The .Property Tax is a necessary eyil ■ at present, but tlie less saiil tUe better,

1 Tho liev. J, Dellow, of Groytown, occupies- the pulpit of ..the. Miiatevtoii Wesloyan Church to-morrow.- ■

J, Williams has accepted Murphy's challenge and offers, to fight hiiii ill Dunedin during the liace week for a stake cither Queeiisbury or London prize j riDg rules, Messrs Lowes and lortis add. to their sale foi" latli, 200 fat

The enterprising host'of the' Empire Hotel, Mr T. Thompson, is having a four-horse power steam engine ereoted at the rear of his promises for_t.ie better supplying of wator for tiro extinguishing purposes, also for aupplyiug the baths, cutting firewood, chaff. &c,

A specially summoned meeting of the Loyal Mastorton Lodge 1.0.0. F., M.U. is convened for Tuesday February 12 at tho Lodgo Koom, Perry-Btieet. Messrs Lowes and lorns add to their sale.list a good second-hand horso power and intermediate by Reid & Gray.

We hear that the shinglbs of the shop occupied, by Mr l'ybus, of •Kuripimi, caught alight the other day, and that an incipient conflagration was arrested by the prompt application of water from one of Kingdon's boss pumps. These little sqnirtcrs will reach tho roof of a house or send a stream ,of water up a blazing chimney. At Featherston, on Wednesday morning, Mr A. McKenzio found one of his most valuable horses had got one of its fore legs broken some time during the previous night. It had to be killed immediately ; and as it was valued at about £35 tho ownerhas sustained aseveto loss. The injury may have been caused by a kiiik from another horse.

At the Taratahi "Sale Yards, on Thursday, February 28th, Mr F;_ H. Wood notify that ho will sell, in conjunction with Messrs L'oWes & lorns, on account of Mr W. C. Buchanan, two thousand Lincoln crossbred ewes, in lots to suit purchasers, The fisk Jubilee Singers who were so popular on their first appearance in Masterton will play a return and farewell visit to this town the week after next. They will appear for two nights only and announce themselves forWednesdayand Thursday the 20th and 21st inst., \yith new glees, new quartettes, and new solos. The second night there will be a change of programme. Popular prices will be charged for admission and reserved seats can bo obtained at Mr T, E. Prices.

Messrs R, 0. Shearman & Co., Stock Station and General Commission Agents of Wellington request their friends and tho public who have properties for Bale or to let to place them in their hands when every effort will be made to dispose of them without delay and to the best advantage. This firm also having large sums of money at their disposal aro m a position to advance money at the lowest current rates. Forms can be obtained on application, and the utmost dispatch will he used in transacting business,

At Dudley, a train car, breaking away from tho engine, dashed down a hill, toppling over at tho bottom with a tremendous crash and injuring fifteen passongers.

During ail idolatrous ceremony in South Arcot lights swung by devotees ignited somo powdor which had been placed before an idol, Mlliug twenty-five of the worshippers. General Harrison, the new American President, oue morning received letters that no fewer that forty-four baby-boys had been named " Benjamin Harrison" after himself. Female children in the States are in like manner being named 11 Carrie Harrison.''

Hon. Sydney G. Holland, eldest son of Lord Knutsford, the Secretary for the Colonies, was driving to Ipswich Station, with his lady, when the horse took fright. He was thrown out receiving severe injury to his head. Lady Holland escaped with a few bruises, The Freuchtnan who slept for a fortnight in Soho luis again fallen into a trance, and has been removed to the Alexandra Palace. Galvanic batteries were used to try and awake tho patient but without avail."

Mr Brooke Lambert, the Rector of Greenwich, bus confessed that lie has been stirred by (lie glorious ideal of the Church of England as the successor of the Papacy; and on ft recent Sunday evening he, who had worn a Geneva gown in the pulpit, took part in a sorvico in which inceiiso was freely used, and preached at St, Cuthbert's, Earl's Court, trom a pulpit which, the York Herald London Correspondent says, is an almost exact representation ,of the pulpits in Eonian Catholic Churches. The Morcer County Medical Society devoted the better parts of session, on January Ist to the examination of William King, the colored man who is said to have two hearts, He is about 45 years of 'aye. The examination proved that lie has a divided heart, such as is found in tho lower animal kingdom, The heart beats are perceptible on both sides, excepting that the sound is less 1 perceptible on the right than on tho left, He claims, to be able to drop his ribs like a a set of donble-actionwindow blinds, but this was done, it was detected by his control of the oblique, transverse and rectus muscles. He claims that he can change the locality of his double hearts, but this was pronounced a piece of jugglery, tho result of long practice. Ho caused his hearts, pulse, and temple to cease beating for a period of CO seconds, and 'the physicians .pronounced it a successful effort.. King is now in the county jail for being drunk and disorderly. He announces tlwt his mother discovered, his double heart when lie was six months old.

The pianos lately seized by lI.M, Customs were put up.for sale by public auctioiv on Thursday, by Messrs S. Cochrane' and Sons, There, was a crowded attendance, (says .the Otago Times correspondent), and bidding was very, brisk. The instrument! fetched prices ranging from .£25 to-£6B, the average price being about £35. The total sum obtained tor . the pianos amounted to .£7OO, aud it is estimated that the Government have mado a profit of about i'lso out of their sale. Some of tho pianos 6old higher than they could bo. bought at ..the dealors, the publio being on for "great bargains," The, Herald says; One feature of such a seizure. is worthy of notice- namely, that tho Government is empowered to hand ovor a portion of the profit made to the officers concerned in the seizure. The effect of such a reward will have to be closely watched,' boCauso.it would not do to unduly stimulate official zeal. Any pianos imported into Auckland might bo Liken, and it they are extensively advertised as these \\m been, and are sold siugly to bidders the Government are certain to make a profit. It will be interesting to see what profit it obtained and to know how the surplus is divided between Mr Shannon and tho ■ other officers concerned iu the seizuro. We have decided to have a sale of overplus Surplus Summer Stock, commencing on Friday, February Ist, at Te Aro House, Wellington, That there will be bargains, as there always have been at our sales,goes without saying, and though tho exigencies of State, according to our present rulers, demand an almost crushing taxation, on drapery* goods, yetwe shall not be debarred from offering to the publio such marvels of cheapness as may not occur again /or years at TeAro House, Wellington. The balance of Cur Summer Stock in all departments is marked at prices to sell quickly. In washing and other dress fabrics in mantles and costumes, in nqilliuery and underclothing, in carpets and calicees, in boys' and youths' clothing there is' au abundant \ariety of |ome of the cheapest lots ever seen in tljo city, sufficient to convince every unprejudiced mind that the proper place, the best place, and_ tho only place to secure undeniable bargains is Te Aro HotisVWellinj^o,". '• The sale will only last 14 dWi will como to an end on Saturdayifebruary 10th and in conducting it we mean to bo 'fghort sharp and deoisiye", at Ta Aro House, .Wellington' . ■ .Wo should certainly, recommend a visit to this sale on the part of all honsskespers, hotelkeepers, statiODholders and headsof lamiles. Money will be saved by-'-wiling the sale of overplus Sitbck.at Te Aro House Welliugtjn,

Mr .J. Williams: announces a largo variety of valentines for sale.

It is bolievod that the exports from Hawkes' J Bay, this ,'yto mil total a million.

Mr P. ILWood adds to his Taratahi

Stock Sale catalogue '4OU, cross-bred wethers, 100 good owes, and 24 steers,- , Notice is given thaf Edwin King o Carterton, Butchet, has been adjudgeda bankrupt, Tho first meeting, of oreditors is convened fpr Friday next at Masterton. V ..

Mrs E. 'Taylor has a large variety' of locally grown .fruit at her establishment which she is Belling at extremely - liberal 'rates.' . ' Messrs Lowes & lorns shipped Jor

steamer on Thursday last 60 Rornney Marsh r'amß to Nelson, to the order of Messrs Sharp and Sons. The rams were purchased from Messrs E, Dorset and F, Gray- . ; The Masterton School of Design classes will be resumed at the Institute Masterton on Monday next February 11th Orlando, . the Winner of the hurdles at the 'Wellington races "on Friday, was soldtoMrHowman, .bLNapier |or 100 sovs. ;v'• - The following team of Stars will play Carterton on the Masterton Park Oval on Saturday, 16th inst., play to commence at ono o'clock sharp:— W.Wickens, W. Welch, A. Winifie, H. Welch, A. Richards, W, Holford, 6. Welch, E. libblewhite, A. Matthews, O.Bentley, E. Welch, T. Hawlte, A.. Boulcott, T. Barber, Emergencies— W. Day, A, Eussell, Judge Ward at Ohristchureh in replying to tho expressions of regret made by Mr Weston'and 'the gentlemen .of the Bat' concluded, as- follows!—!' would

rather that men should ask why. I was not appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court than whv I was appointed, ,aud I shall always remember with gratitude for the rest of my life the kind courtesy and cordial good feeling shown to me by the Bar of (Jhristchurch during my term of office as Acting-Judge. Some of the handsomest shops inParis

are now devoted to the sale of Japanese wares, and aro wholly conducted by Japs. An Englishman named J, F. Buxton has beon arrested at Paris on'ii charge of embezzlement, at the request of the Swiss Legation in Paris, and on instructions received from the police authorities

of Berne, A Jesuit priestin Spain urged'on some students to attack an asenfc Of the Bible Society. The excited youths obtained possession of tho agent's stock and made a bonfire of the Bibles. The judges declined to punish tho offenders.

One hundred men had a terrible experience in a Flintshire lead mine, Tho winding-gear collapsed, and the men had

to traverse a drainage tunnel for a couple of miles against a strong current, the water for tho most of tho distance reaching up to their shoulders. It is offically notified from tho War Office tliac at every regimental district head-quarters in Great Britain a thousand stand of anus and sets of acoquntruinents are to be stored for 'the prompt equipment of the army reservo attached to the respective lino regiments, for use whenever it may bo necessary to call up tho reserve men under the Army Mobilisation Scheme.

Dean Hole, of Rochester, liab excited the ire ot the teetotal organs through a temperance sermon in which he spoke of tho temperate drinkor as a," more noble and manly" being than the total abstainer. One paper called his argument positively disgusting, and the Dean in reply, quotes tho authority ot the lato Archdeacon Grant,. wlio in a temporate | sernion some years ago, said, " Tomperance is a virtue. If I am a total abstainer how can I practice that virtiie ?" A telegram from Zanzibar states that natives from Bagamoyo report • that Abushiro attacked tho town on the 7tli instant, and occupied a large store near tho quartors of the' German Company, upon which ho opened fire. The German flagship thereupon fired on. tho town, causing largo.loss of life and great destruction ol property. The Times correspondontt'elegraphsThe British Consul General sent a ateamer on Saturday to Bagamoyo to bring off many Indians who had returned there against orders. She came back on Sunday with 70 refugees. It is reported that Bagamoyo is utterly ruined and deserted. Bushiri, it appears under tlio influence of panic caused by a false report that tho land surrounding the German stronghold was sown with torpedos, suddenly withdrew with his entire forco to a village four miles distant first burning the town,gutting the houses and lootin? tho Indians' stores. He

abandoned his guns. The Unyainwezi caravan porters, 'lodged in a house accorded to them in tho town by tho Germans, wore surrounded by Bushiri'B forces. Their ivory was seized and all refusing to join Bushiri were killed or had their hands cut off, - Tho effect ot all this in the iuterior is likely to prove disastrous, Two Gonnans were wounded and 100 insurgents were killed during Friday's fighting. AtLindi the insurgent tribes have forcibly seized all tho gunpowder in tho Indians' houses and' in the Sultans stores. Bagayoiyo, now utterly ruined and destroyed, was two months back tho most prosperous place on the Bast Coast, The only real losers by the coast disturbances, so far, are tho Sultan and British Indians." In the lastrcportof the curator of the Mgiri Gardens, attention is drawn to the new use for tho refuse fibre of cocoanuts. Dr Lawson says that his attention was'drawn to the subject by Mr Money, a planter in tho Nilgris, who sent him an article in the Revue des DeuxMondes for August lst,Jßß6,by M.dela Barriers, entitled " Batiment do. combat efc de la guerre," in which the author described how tho refuse of cocoanut, after the process of retting, might be used for backing tho iron plates of ships of war. The method of proceeding was to take a quantity of tho powdered rofuse before it was quite dry, and subject it to pressuro, whon tho natural viscidity of the macerated cellular substance of the nut caused the whole to cohere and to form a plate which in general appearance was like a mill board, ouly much moro brittle. Owing to tho hygroscopicity of this substance, if a hole is made through it, the parts adjacent to the puncture absorb wator, swell . up, and immediately close the orifice. Dr Lawson got a sack of this refuse and made a plate' 18in square by about |in iu thiokhess, which he placed between two boards, and then fastened it to one .side of a' box, which contained a head of one foot of water. A bullet half an inch in diameter was fired through it, but not a drop oozed out. This experiment was repeated throe times with the same result. Then a |in' bullet was fired through the plate, when, a-few drops only made their way through. Lastly, a bullet nearly an inch in diameter was fired through tho plate, when a large jet of water shot through, but in tho course of a fow seconds the stream decreased in volume, and in less than a minute had ceased to flow altogether. " Whether'or not this material could be advantageously used for- the purpose which M. de la Barriere suggested, or for any other purpose, is a matter worth considering, for, as ho truly says in his article, millions of tons float away annually down the rivers iu India," The following is from the contributors' column in the Now Zealand Herald " An interesting sight may bo seen on one day next week at one of our suburban churilies, when a father, a son, and a daughter, will all stand at tho altar at one ' time .'to be wedded to tho chosen of their hearts, Ido not think I have heard of such a case before". Seventeen yoiing ladies (unmarried) sent from Home by the Chiirch Emigration Society, ~ recently arrived l in ■•Melbourne;'whereupon a writer asked, "on belialf of the Australian spinsters generally,' Is this a protective coiVntry, and, if sor'why is it that unmarried women—the one'Jiartipidarol^s;.jn'.'the community, who are'generajly cpnqidered (b need prptecfion-don't get it, " ■ : ' Skinny MES .

" \Vell's /health; renewer" restores healthiand yfgor, cures Dyspepsia, Impotence,' Sexual Debility.' At chemists and druggists. Keraptliorno, Proaaer& Go,. Wellington,