CORRESPONDENCE. [We do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 382, 24 October 1874, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE. [We do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

(To the Editor of the Waikato Times.) SiE, — Can you inform me who is the person at Whatawhata punt I My reason for asking you is owing to the following incident : — " Having occasion to go to Raglan, I crossed over in the punt on Thursday morning last, and paid the sum asked, viz. one half-penny ; upon my return, on the following Monday night, at half-past ten, the punt was at the other side, and I could not cross. I may here state that there was a nath c boy and another white man with me. The person to wLom the toll had been paid on the morning of Thursday was a native | known as " Sammy." — a preacher of the Gofapel, I was informed. This indi\ idual was quietly roosting in his whare in the midst of several damsels. He, upon being waited upon, politely refused to bring the punt across, or to take us over, or even to allow us the use of the canoe lying there, stating that the canoe was the property of the Hauhaus, and, also, that he had nothing to do with the ferry service, (although he gladly and with thanks took our money a few days previously.) After keeping us an hour waiting in the cold, he at last consented to take us over in a canoe, (not in the punt), if we paid him a shilling each. The person to whom he addressed his conversation could speak Maori, and told him that we had no money. His reply was : — " The lawyer got the money." (I may mention that there was a real live lawyer with us.) The ultimatum was that the lawyer had to pay Is instead of 3s so that we might not have to walk about the whole night. Now, sir, I may never cross that road again, but for the benefit of other travellers I wish to bring this matter before the public, so that they may realize the full meaning of the adage " forewarned is forearmed." I would also suggest to the members of the various Highway Boards the necessity of leaving sign-boards at the various junctions of the roads in the Waikato districts — this would prevent many hours' unneces&ary travelling. — Yours, &c., Traveller. 21st October, 1874.

The destruction of the Liverpool landing-stage by fire on July 29 may well be called a national calamity, ■ We do not know that we may not even go further, and call it a cosmopolitan calamity. The Liverpool landing-stage was to a lai'ge proportion of all the foreigners who visit this country the first monument of English engineering skill that met their eyes. From the United States and Canada, from Spain and Portugal and the Mediterranean, from Constantinople and Smyrna, from the African settlements, and more lately — that is, since the formation of the Pacific Railway — from China and Japan and Australia, the foreign traveller and the home-returning Englishman entered England by the gateway of the Mersey and of Liverpool. The visitor steamed up that broad and noble rivei -avenue past miles and miles of massive granite walls, here and there flanked by towers ; and behind the walls he saw such forests of masts as even the pool of the Thames could hardly rival and the East River at New York could not .show. When he came to the landing-stage he saw something which London or New York could not pretend to oner him. The Liverpool landing-stage was simply a "vast oblong platform of wood and iron; a great wooden roadway, if we may use such an expression, resting upon iron pontoons, moored in its place and connected with the quays by great iron bridges. The whole structure formed a promenade more than a third of a mile in length ; a river wall of wood and iron converted into a public walk and something like a pleasure-ground. The magnificent floating bridge has been saved, the only part damaged being the section adjoining the burning stage ; and the efforts of the firemen were directed to keep the fire underneath from spreading to a small portion of the stage near the bridge, which it is intended to use as a temporary landing-place. The woodwork of most of the bridges leading to the stages has been partially destroyed, and the iion plates blackened and twisted in many places. The stages are a complete wreck. The greater part of the flooring is burnt, showing the pontoons and the water below ; while even where the deck is not actually destroyed the beams and other woodwork underneath are so burnt by the fire which swept along below from one end to the other that the whole will have to be renewed. A number of the pontoons are being removed, and it is iound that several have burst from the intense heat. Mr Fox, in his temperance column in the N. Z. limes, calls on the Assembly to follow the example of the United States and Canada and abolish Bellamy's. He declines to reveal the mysteries of that institution for fear of being called to the bar of the House for breach of privilege, but cites, as an indication of the sort of refreshment sold there, the case that occurred during the discussion of the Licensing Bill, of "an lion member in a white tie and conspicuous shirt, who had evidently been dining out," making an exhibition of himself. "But abolish Bellamy's," he asks ; " was ever anyone mad enough to propose such a thing ? Yes, it was proposed once by Mr Carletou, member for the Bay of Islands, but he failed to find a supporter. However, it seems that fanatics have been found fanatical enough to do it elsewhere — at least to propose, and not only to propose, but to carry the proposal that alcoholic refreshments shall not be sold at Bellamy's. The United States Congress at Washington, some two or three years ago, decided to exclude intoxicating drink from the precincts of the Capitol ; and by last mail we have news that the Legislature of the Dominion of Canada has arrived at the same conclusion. In the Dominion House of Commons, at Ottawa, on the Ist April, Mr Chisholm moved that Mr Speaker be requested to give an-order prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors within the precincts of the House. The motion was opposed by several members, but supported by more, and finally was carried. The Speaker promised that he would endeavour, as far as possible, to enforce the motion of prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors in the House most rigidly." It may interest the members of the building societies — which are now increasing in number in New Zealand — to know that some doubts have arisen of late in England, a Bill has recently been passed by the Imperial Parliament to consolidate the laws relating to all such institutions. Victoria is about to follow the example of the United Kingdom, and pass into a law a measure to meet, on the model of the Imperial Act, the wants and requirements of Victorian institutions..

Igentlemau of a scientific and ethnological turn pid (says the Timnru Herald) was rscently Lr aome excavations in his garden at Timavu, Re came upon some bones, apparently of [tic birds, if not of human beings. They bore harks of tire, and near them lay embedded in tome fragments of the rudest earthenware, and [seemed to resemble a weapon of wood. The lipher's heart was heavy, and he bowed him[n deep humiliation when he thought of the te race of heathen fellow creatures, with no Lion beyond food or the chase, whose habits ncied these remains might signify. But when, le farther on, he dropped across a square gin c and a mutilated Knave of Clubs, his soul was gjhened, and he raised himself haughtily to his leight, for he knew lie was among the relics of ilised and Christian people !