CORRESPONDENCE.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 132, 11 March 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

[We do not nepessarily endorse tha opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

To the Editor of the Waikato Times. •£*> j Sic, — My attention has been drawn to a paragraph in" jour J issue of yesterday, written by jour Cambridge corres- fl pondent, in which it is 6lated thet the natives' on Messr? Walker and Parker's men in the Moantutua swamp was " of so trilling a nature as not to be wprth reporting" Tho "t\\o old Maoria" happened to hare ty?en nn old man and one young and powerful fellow. I was working in a drain five feet' deep, when the old man got into it and came, up to me, and shook hands in the most friendly manner ; ho afterwords, while I was going on with my work, got behind me, and made a blow at me with his taiaha; which had it taken effect where he intended it, would hare effectually dope for me,; fortunately ons of my mates saw him and called to me to leave my stooping position ; on turning halfround I received a blow on the lower part Of the right temple that penetrated to t.he bone 1 fancy if your correspon- | dent had received such a wound, he would have thought JI4P no trifle, i. c if he ever had the power to think again. I was nearly stunned, but the instinct of self-preserration caused me to grapple with him, and take the taiaha from him. I, then felt very weak, and fearing to fall into the water at tho bottom of the ditch, got upon the bank, and I remembered^ no more for nouie time. One of my mates pursued the old rascal, but as he had a chain start, and my mate not knowing how many more uatives there might be abont, did not think fit to follow him too far, so, ho got away with, the loss of his mat and taiaha In the meantime the younger man attacked another of my mates with a similar weapon, but my friend having heard the noise, was on his guard and warded off the blow. He then seized the taiaha and got possession of it ; the Maori then ran away, and my mate pursued him, and was gaining on him, when he threw off his mat, and put his haud to his belt ; my mate seeing something he took for a pistol barrel naturally stopped, and so this fellow got away also, It it just as well that my mates did not scatter in pursuit of the fugitives, as it has since transpired that there were three more natives concealed in th« scrub. There is a party of the Armed Constabulary working a, few hundred yardsj ivjm the spot, so we, thinking them the proper persons t<4H endeavour to capture the woald-be asaassisns, immediately I informed them of what had occurred. With respect to your con espondent's unwillingness to alarm the settlers, I think it is high time that all the inhabitants of Waikato should be put up m their guard, when a party of natives treachcr msly attack some Europeans who are following t'aeir lawful occupation, and who have never had the slightest quatrel, but on the contrary, have » always been on the most friendly terms with them, I am, sir, your, obedt. servt., James Lanky.

To the Editor of the Waik vto Times. Sic, I have to thank the Chairman of the Newcastle District Board for answering my letter of tho 20th ult. Tuo iigure3 given by Major Wilson sufficiently ahow hosv neamJ sary it is for tho ratepayers to interest themselves on tho subject. • Rates Trpro collected last yenr on loss than two thirds of the whole district, the remainder belonging to Government and imgetatable absentees Tims we find ouraplres pacing a yearly tax to improve public property amounting to nearly a lifth of the whole district, and what is a far greater hardship, private propoi ty to tho amount. The act passed the session before last to enable superintendents to advance- to Highway Boards rates on unoccupied , land, making them a permanent charge on the property, seemi to have become & dead letter in this province, owing, j I suppose, to the want of funds at the command of tUe Provincial Treasurer. Taking into consideration tho very meagre assistance received by this dutric-t from the General Government, tls least they can do ia to giro ua a workable act for the recovery of rates, and thus remove the anomaly of increasing, at the expense of the hardworking resident, tho value of land belonging to absentees who retard the opening up of the country. I am,, sir, yours, &c , A Ratepatk.

English Farming. — In a recent address to the farmers of New Jersey, the hon. lir Wall (himself a farmer) bears the following testimony to the excellence of agriculture in the British Islands, and thus summarises the groundwork of success.,, — In the first place it is to be found in their systematic attention to all the requirements of good farming, in the skij.l and exactness witjh, whiph all the operations of ploughing and throwing, clod-crushing, burning, scarifying are porformed ; in the perfect condition of ' tilth' to which they bring the land preparatory to the reception of seed ; in their careful selection of the best varieties of seed wheat ; in the extensive and prudent use of their barn-y»rd manure ; in the perfection, of all their instruments of tillage ; in the strength and discipline of their draught animals ; in thoj assiduity wjth which the^ extirpate every weed, and remove* every rock that can interfere with the cultivation of the land. Nothing is left to casualty or chance. No expectations are indulged that the bounty of Providence in an unusually favourable season will atone for shortcomings or npglorf Everything which huniun loresight, scientific skill, intelligence, well-directed labour, and mechanical aid can be accomplished- is donja to ensure the highest yield from the land. It is next to be seeu in the extraordinary liberality with which they eestore to the earth, by means of purchased manures, all those elements of fertility which are in the power of cultivation ; andi lastly," said Mr Wall, " I believe that nothing more perfect in rural economy can be conceived "than the English system of drainage, or their root crops. The root cultivation has been the salvation of England. With as much truth as force has it been said, that the power of the British Empire rests upon ha* coal, her iron, and her turnips and her mapgold wurtzels.'* Or/B Instjlab C^abacteb. — On November 10th, the Dean of Westminster preached at the Abbey for the first time after 5 lengthened, absence, and although the nerrice commenced at this early hour of ten o'clock and the morning was rather cold, the building was crowded. In the course of an able sermon the Deau found occasion to refer to the great natural bulwarks which surrounded the kingdom of tho ] Jews in P»lestiue, *nd n\d that tho valley ol the Jordan, the deepest fisaure that exists on the face of the earth, was so deep as to haye its own tropical vegetation and its own mysterious hiatoßy. Then, turning to our " island home," ho continued : " Let us too think for ourselves, as we read the words of ths psalmist, how much of our repose, of our wealth, and of our comfort depend on the physical features of our country, to which, after Our summer or autumn wan* denngs, wo return home, and m vrhioh our duty and our happiness lie. Thiuk ol the T»sb treasures which God ha« lfc\d up wv those d.e«p places of our land which hate been th« secret of so much of our power — those mines of coal whioh. feed the fires of our homos, our manufactories, and our steamships with their sails, and flarap, whereby we trarerjdj the globe. Xuink also of that ' silver streak ' of sea, tnosJl iron-bound coasts which have given us our isolated position, our rugged firniaf ss, our impregnable independence. Undorneatb the wafers of the narrow channel, scientific explpret* tell us there still may be discerned the forests winch in former ages united the forests of the adjacent continent. What a marvellous providence, hardly less than the passage of the E*d Sea, was the great convulsion of nature which overwhelmed that green valley with the sajt waters of tho ntgmg seu, and rent asunder the chalky cliffs on either side, and loft our island like a gallant ship to fight its way alono with its own insular character through tho tumults of tk* world " Marnngc ceremony as toooften performed —Clergyman (to lad}) ; " Wilt tliou taVe thu noblo-mansion-carnageß-jewols-self-wheeling-Bath - chair flannels • and - all • the - appli-ancus-for-tho-goui. to be thy wedded husband p " " I will."* Clorgymnn (to gentleman) : ""Wilt thou 'take this bale-of-cotton • Muscovite -chigiion- Grecian -bend-and-high-hoelecl-»boo» to bo thy woddvu « lib -" "I u ill "