"OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1875.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 416, 14 January 1875, Page 2

" OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1875.

are glad io notice by advertisement in another •column that a meeting is called at Hamilton for 'Tuesday next to advocate the opening of a road from »the Waikato to Te Aroha. The distance from Hamilton to Te Araho is about thirty miles ; the 3road could be made at small expense, in fact the i*oad from Hamilton to Te Auao-"te- Waikato, in the JPiako, is already in use. Te Aroha can be reached in about ten hours by small steamer from Grahamstown. The advantages that would accrue to the populations of the Thames and Waikato" by the opening of cheap communication are apparent, — one is purely a mining population, producing little else but gold, the other a pastoral and agricultural people producing tlie necessaries of life. It is true that the exports from the Waikato, except of live stock, are very small both in Quantity and value. "This arises from various causes, one of the principal t>eing the want of a market to which produce can be sent at a reasonable rate. When the Piako Swamp is drained, we understand that it is the intention of the owners to cut it up into small farms ; the success of the scheme will to a very great esctent depend upon cheap communication being established with the Thames. The railway runs on the other side of the river, and the settlers on the Piako would have as far to cart their produce to the railway station as to Te Aroha, whence it could be shipped in small steamers and earned direct to the Thames market. We trust that the meeting will have the effect of inducing the Government to make the road asked.

Ten cottages for immigrants are in course of erection at liaglan, we presume, therefore, that the 1 C4overnment intends to forward some of the new arrivals to this — as regards Government assistance * — almost forgotten settlement. It would be well to ebtablish a special settlement at this place, there" is some very good land under the mountain at Karioi well suited to the purpose. If population increased sufficient inducement would offer to nrn a steamer regularly along the coast. If this* were done, Raglan would be as favorably situated as the Waikato for settlement, even when it has its railway. There is a class of people in evety eommu'nity whose fingers itch to appropriate anything in the shape of literature they way find knocking about ; the keepers of hotels are there most common victims. A complaint reaches us from all enterprising hoteldeeper in Hamilton that he cannot keep any of the publications he subscribes to* He puts them upon the table in one of his rooms for the benefit of his customers, anct common decency, to say nothing of abhorrence of ant a,ct to which a very ugly name 2j)ight be attached, should prerent their being removed. "We recommend hotul-keepers to prosecute fjor felony the fjrst me&u fcrgonr they can detect in 4ftft actc of .

of the races to take place on the 23rd and 24th of February, at Tamahere. We have seldom seen a better, and great credit is due to the Committee of the club. "We understand that there will be horses from all parts of New Zealand entered. We learn from a contemporary that Mr Mackay and party have brought in a little alluvial gold from Ohinemuii, and that the natives are -most' anxious for the country to be opened and encourage prospecting. The Waitekuri block is iavoiably spoken of. A township has been laid off at Paeroa by Messrs Russell Jackson and Brassey, the owners of the block. We have received a communication from a settler in the neighbourhood of Kihikihi, asking that the orderly who carries the mail to Te Awamutu should also carry one for that place. It is only, an additional three miles, and we feel confident that it is only necessary ta call the attention of the commanding- officer to the matter, and the request will be acceded to. We are very sorry to learn that Mr Millar, of Paterangi, will be a considerable loser by the burning of the Cospatrick. Mr Millar has already imported a large quantity of clover seed of the best quality into the district, and in pursuit of his laudable enterprise had ordered 60 barrels of the seed to be shipped per Cospatrick. We are sorry in the first place for Mr Millars loss, and in the second that the Waikato should be deprived of the seed. A Mr Jones advertises as follows in the columns of a Poverty Bay contemporary : — The undersigned begs to inform the public that he has gota new string i band lately from home, and will attend at any ball or party at which his professional services may be required." We wonder whether the members of < the band came out under the designation of ploughmen or farm labourers, or whether the " big fiddle " was packed in a case resembling that in which a plough would arrive in the colony. We have always believed that" a great future was in store for Poverty Bay, but we are rather astonished to find that the district can already support a string band. They must be a jovial lot on the East Coast ; we should like to live there. The Superintendent of Otago fired' the first glost kiln at Mr W. M. White's pottery, Milton, on the 15th December (says the Otago Daily Iwies), and we had the pleasure of seeing the final result of the ceremony in the shape of a cartload of finished pottery-ware, sent down to Dunedin as samples. These samples are of first-class quality, and show conclusively that Mr White's enterprise has been eminently successful in producing a good marketable article. The various jars, dishes, bottles, &c., show a fine smooth glaze, and are as sound as a bell, with a clear metallic ring in them. With a little experience, some improvement in the colour will doubtless be effected, and the goods will then be all that can be desired. The retail dealers who have inspected the samples expressed a high opinion of their quality, and showed the genuineness of their expressions by at once desiring to be purchasers from Mr ! White. We believe a large supply will be shortly placed in the market, and we have no doubt that Mr White will then reap the reward to which his efforts justly entitle him. In addition to the Provincial Government bonus of ,£250 which Mr White has now secured, he will be entitled to a further bonus of .£3OO from the General Government, on producing £2,000 worth of pottery- ware. Mr White has presented several specimens to the Museum, and as samples of the first glost ware burnt in New Zealand, if not in the Australian Colonies, they will doubtless be regarded with interest. We have another opinion as to the indebtedness of the colony. The Hon Mr Bowen, the newMinister of Justice, after delivering his address to the electors of Kaiapoi last week, was asked amongst other questions his opinion as to the indebtedness of the colony, and his reply was as follows :—": — " The indebtedness of the colony, including the provincial indebtedness, will amount to a little over£l B,ooo,ooo when the whole amount that was authorised is raised. lam now assuming that the wliole of the debts of the colony are united. Mr Vogel has gone 1 to England to endeavour to negotiate on the best i possible terms the £4,000,000, of which a certain ! amount has been already pledged, and which has been already authorised. The interest on the whole amount will be about £920,000 a-year. There is a sinking fund, of course, which is accumulating the means of paying off that debt in time, and it is hoped when the trunk line is made throughout the islands, it will be remunerative. There is no reason to suppose that it will not. In Victoria and New South Wales, where railways have been made at an enormous cost — sometimes at £30,000 and £40,000 a mile — the railways are paying. With regard to Mr Birch's other question, there will be no request on the part of the Government to get authority for any further loan until a fresh Parliament is called.— A voice : Is that £4,000,000 included in the £18,000,000?— The Hon Mr Bowen : Yes; I mean that when all the authorised loans are raised, the wliole indebtedness of the colony will be a little over £18,000,000."— Herald. In our article on Tuesday we protested in strong terms against the partial abolition of the provinces. Merely on practical grounds such a proposal seemed to us in the highest degree objectionable. To draw a line between two parts of the colony, and to establish on the one side a political system wholly different from that which exists on the other, must lead to confusion and to a general disorganisation of government which would soon be found intolerable. But we do not argue the question on these grounds only. Our objection lies deeper. Were the plan in every respect a practicable one, we should still oppose it none the less warmly on the score of its manifest inequity. We condemn the whole arrangement as based on a vicious principle, and as an act of gross injustice to the North Island. The effects of partial abolition will be to convert the North Island into a dependency of the Middle Island, 'the position of the one will be made distinctly superior, that of the other as distinctly subordinate.- Id.' fact the North will be reduced to something, of the condition of a conquered country. One could almost think that the people had recently revolted,' and that though returned to their allegiance,- and! acknowledged again as citizens, it was not thought safe to restore them in full equality of political: rights." — Canterbury Press. Th 6 Southland Times says that Mr K. M'lvor, wno left this district some time ago in the Mabel Jane witn sheep for the Auckland Islands, where he and 3J>r Monckton are forming a pastoral settlement, returned from a very successful voyage thither. On the outward voyage, the party were forced, through stress of weather, to take shelter in Poit William, Stewarts Island, where they remained some days. The voyage from Port William to their place of landing at the Auckland Islands occupied ten days, during six of which they lay becalmed, and the wind during the four remaining days continued light and variable. They lost only two sheep on the passage. Mr M'lvor landed 31 sheep in good health and condition — two qualities which they are likely long to retain, as the pasturage is sweet and plentiful. We trust that Dr Monckton's and Mr M'lvor's enterprise will meet with the success which it so highly merits, and that in the course of a few } r ears vessels will load at the Aucklands witli wool, hides, and other articles of of commerce, produced by the settlement which they are now opening. * ( The next mail for America and Europe will close ; in Auckland on the 22nd in&Uut.

vapram JLioyd, who was mrre^iag the road between Tauranga and Cambridge, has been stopped by the natives. It was generally thought that there would be no difficulty in caxr/ing on the survey. The natives say they want to see Sir Donald McLean, to know what road is required. They say that if the survey is persisted in they will take possession of the instruments and carry them into Cambridge, and bring Captain Ijloyd with them. This of coursjr is ojsjy another attempt to extract cash from the chest of the ** secret fund." Major Te 'Wheoro has gone to Waitoma to meet Tawhiao. It is understood that the visit is at the latters request, and that the supposed object is to arrange a meeting with representatives of the Government in March. We trust that no official will be allowed to travel a single mile to any meeting. If Tawhiao wants to see the Government Auckland is the place in which the meeting should take place. One of the passengers on boyd the *Oospatrick,' Frederick King, was brother of Mr Alfred King, a reporter on the staff of our evening contemporary the Star. Mr King left London to come to New Zealand by the * Northfleet." which was run down in the Channel. He was one of the saved on that occasion, and took passage by the * Cospatrick,' apparently to meet the fate he so narrowly escaped when on board the * Northflqet. 1 A warning to the topers of Lake Wakatip is conveyed in the following characteristic advertisement by a distressed and angry publican, which appears in the Mail :— " As it is impossible for me to get a verdict in this court against anyone owing me money, I hereby give notice that if all parties indebted to me while proprietor of the Prince of Wales Hotel,, do not settle their accounts within one month from this, I will advertise their names in full, and the amount of their accounts." A London journal says when the Legislature takes up the flogging question it may be well to consider whether punishment by the " cat" might not often with advantage be imposed, not necessarily as an addition to but in lieu of that of imprisonment. The excuse often made by magistrates for the lenient sentences they pass on exceptional ruffians for illtreating their wives is that a lengthened term of imprisonment means starvation or the workhouse to the wife and family of the offender. This difficulty would be entirely obviated by soundly flogging him and then letting him go. Moreover, to many of these ruffians imprisonment is no punishment at all, but on the contrary a pleasing relief from the necessity of supporting their families by labour. It must also be borne in mind that the good effect by example of a flogging would be materially heightened if the culprit were turned out of the prison doors smarting from his castigation instead of, as at present, being allowed to remain a burden on the public while his scars, if he has any, are being healed under the supervision of the prison surgeon. The Eveiiitig Post, writing of the present House of Representatives, says: — "There is a large proportion of men who can only have obtained their seats because no one else cared for the position — men who are without a single qualification for the office of legislator, and who in education and intellect are probably far inferior to the major portion of their constituents. There are others openly and notoriously waiting on Providence — men who invariably vote with the majority, and who always expect an acknowledgment in return. There are others eminently respectable, but without minds of their own, ignorant of politics, incorruptably honest as regards direct or material approaches, yet easily swayed by social influences. Still again there are some who, although they know what is right, fail to do it, because doing it would involve what they most dread — a little personal trouble. Deducting these mischievous or useless elements, the number of sincere, able, hard- working and honest men in the House will be found to be lamentably small. We hope that the electors of each constituency will at the next general election endeavour to add to it.