The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1875.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 419, 21 January 1875, Page 2

The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1875.

We regret that through the neglect of the agent <of the Anglo-Australian Telegraph Agency in Auckland the resalt of the ease -Chitty v. Jolly has not reached us. If some small boy ha<J hurt his 1 toe, or A woman's bonnet blown off her head, minute particulars of the event would* have been flashed to us, jind we should have had to pay wke chaises. A case in Court appears to be beyond the capacity o£ the agent, and we and our readers- are lett in the same happy state of ignorance as he. It will be seen by our report of the proceedings at $, public meeting held in Hamilton on Tuesday, that f \ memorial has been forwarded to Sir Donald Mel can, asking that a road be made from the Waifcato to the Thames Gold Field. We believe that this work can be done at small cost, compared with the advantages that woi^d accrue to both populations , and have every right to expect that the request willl be granted. The annual meeting of the members of the Church pf England was held at Alexandra en Sunday — the Key L. C. Brady in the chair. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. Major Mair read the statement of accounts, which shewed a credit balance of £5. Mr Ormsby called attention to the use by the choir of the '' H} mns Ancient and Modern," to which he objected, as some of the hymns were improper. The Rev L. C. Brady stated that the books were used because of the tunes Veing better than in any other; all the words used, Viowever, we "6 from the New Zealand Hymnal. Major Mair was elected by the incumbent as his churchwarden. Mr Dutfus was elected churchVfirden. Messrs Roberts and Hill were appointed auditors. Votes of thanks to the choir and the retiring committee were carried unanimously. E. J. Millet and W. Wayte, who, it will be remembered, were arrested for removing the body of iVliss Poich, were bro -qht before the Magistrates at Mercer on Monday. Ml he police having intimated ljO the Court their l^.. tiia,t tkoie was no criminal ij»tent| on, the part _' ih? pi it oners, they were dis li,hvvgcd iroirj ' custody A veing severely »4-

The annual meeting of the Alexandra School Board was held iv the School-room on tho 12th January. Mr Maclaujrin^occupied the chair. Major Mair gave a'Sfcatenient of^the proceedings of the expiring Board,, after which the meeting proceeded to eleofra Board for the current year. The following> on the motion of Mr A,ubin, seconded by IVfajor* Mair, were unanimously elected: — Rev L. C.- Brady,. Major Mair, Messrs Hill, Maclaurin, and Aubin. The lions of the English cricket field have bsen coming out strongly with the <' willow " during the past poason. The London Belts Life lately has been bristling with crioket statistics, and from that paper we glean the following particulars with reference to scores made of 200 and over : — For Northwood v. Freshwater, E. W. Collins, 388, not out ; for Clifton v. Thornbury, W. Gremace, 259 j for Thornbury v. Sneyd-rock, "V^. R. Gilbert, 254, not out ; for Zingari v.-< Kington. 253, not out * f in an Oxford match, W. H. Game, 234r> not out £ in a 95th Regiment match, R, O. Cotton 2(25 ; in k Cheshire match, Y. Boyle, 205; in a St. Aiban's match, £. Patroe, £00, not oat The above may prove interesting to crar local players. The British -Medical Journal calls attention to the fact that .the JNW Zealand Emigration Agency requires medical certificates as to all intending emigrants to that colony, but declines to pay the doctors for the operation. There is a delicate irony in requiring a labourer with a wife and family to pay fees for an examination that should at least be as carefully conducted as for an insurance office, and which of course cannot toe expected to be performed gratuitously. At any rate, it is evident that the examination is eminently necessary, inasmuch, as several vessels have during the current year arrived in the colony with cases of infectious disease on .board. The steamship Atrato had an outbreak of measles, during the passage, which caused 32 deaths and the last report of the Medical Officer of Health- for the port of London records that, "although British emigrants, after having been collected from various parts af the kingdom, are now quartered at a very convenient depot at Blackwall, and are medically examined on arrival there; a* huge number of persons, chiefly children, have, by direction of the Board of Trade Medical Inspector of Emigrants, been lately, landed at Gravesend from these outward-bound emigrant vessels suffering from contagious or infectious diseases." It is plain that some more stringent supervision of emigrants starting* for pur colonies' is necessary. The " Poverty Bay Herald," says—" Transplanting teeth is not as simple an operation as the transplanting of rose trees or cauliflowers, nevertheless, it may be done by a very skilful dentist. Mr Wilson who is now on a visit to Gisborne, lately performed an operation of this nature on a child, which was attended with the most signal success. The patient, a boy of about thirteen years of age, possessed' a left lateral incisor, which was evidently a superfluous tooth whilst the corresponding tooth on the right hand side was decayed . and useless. Mr. Wilson, thinking it would be a most favourable case for transplantation, removed the decayed tooth, extracted the lateral incisor, and inserted it in the space lately occupied by its decayed fellow. The tooth which was duly pressed into posiion, at first caused some slight inflammation but in tabout a week after the operation all pain subsided, and it was firmly rooted in the jaw as if it had grown there from the commencement. The name of the child is Johnny Brunskill, and his parents live a short-dis-tance from Napier." The sad affair of the Cospatrick ha? been the subject of much conversation and of some discussion in the papers during the week ; and naturally, after giving expression to the painful feelings excited by so shocking an occurrence, people have turned their thoughts to the question how such disasters may best be prevented or mitigated in the future. It is evident that emigrant vessels, and, indeed, all vessels that carry passengers instead of cargo are in special danger of outbreaks of fire, and also of the rapid spread of the flames when onco they have obtained any hold , PcU'titioued off into empty divisions of space by fittings of pine, they present conditions far mo" \ favourable to speedy destruction by tire than ships laden closely with stowed cargo. Hence a suggestion ihat fittings of iron or some other uninflamable material should be substituted. Another suggestion is that these ships should be abundantly provided with appauitus for the disengagement of carbonic acid gas in large quantities. Another is that each should have two powerful force pumps fitted to the steam winch, and having six-inch leather hose attached to flood the decks at a short notice. Another is that emigrant vessels should start together and sail in company, like ships under convoy in time of war, and so be able to assist each other. Another is that the boats should be kept ready stowed with provisions and water. And another is that no emigrant ship should be allowed to carry more than a limited number of passengers. This last suggestion would certainly reduce the risk of so many lives being lost at one time, as in the case of the Cospatrick: ; but it is probably impracticable, because opposed to the strong tendency of the day to conduct all travelling arrangements upon the large scale, the greater general advantage attainable thereby outweighing in the public mind the increased risk. — " Sydney Mail." From our Australian exchanges, received by che as. Wonga Wonga, we have further particulars of the loss of the ill-fated ship Cospatrick. From the " Sydney M. Herald^" of the 6th of January, we clip the following: — "A ships boat, bottom up (says the " Argus) was passed at sea on the 30th November by the Dutch barque Regina Maris, which has just aurived in Hobson's Bay from the Baltic. The boat waa seen in latitude 44.25 south, and longitude 3*3.47 east, and is described as being varnished, not painted. A quantity of planking belonging to a ship was also seen in the same locality." Little doubt remains but that the boat paased by the Regina Maris belonged to the Cospatrick. The position in which it was found, and in company with, a quantity of planking, clearly proves this.. Again the latitude and longitude where the boat was. found, is almost directly in the course usually taken by ships coming to the Australian and j\ ew Zealand Colonies. The report stated that the boat passed was \ arnished — not a painted one. The voyage prior to her being laid on for Auckland the Cosjutrick made a trip with coolies from Calcutta to Demarara. No doubt the master of the vessel on. taking these coolies would have to provide extra boats, and the ones obtainable in Calcutta are usually of teak build, and seldom painted but varnished. On the arrival of the ship at London the extra boat or boats would be kept, seeing that she was about to carry immigrants. Again the fact of the boat oeiug passed so soon after the fire on board the Cospatrick, and so directly in the track of Australian bound vessels, would lead to the belief that the supposition is not an unreasonable one. j It will be remembered that two boats left the Cospatrick on the day of the fire, November 19. One was picked up, and the other was never seen afterwards. The one passed bottom up on the 30th of j the same month will probably prove to be the one missing. It is not at all probable that any of the other boats on the ship escaped burning. Hopes had been held out of the second boat being picked up by some passing vessel and tho occupants saved, but we fear that the information contained in the i paragraph qu ted abo\e, only looclc.nly pi ores that ' the three me rescued by the .ship Uritiah Sceptic on Isfovembei 30, are the sob turviv<>rs o; those- un boara the C^^at.-iok."

We have worn' out at least a gross of pens in calling attention to the disgraceful state of the bridges in the Waikato,that we suppose we Bhall now be called on to expend a likequantifcy cnronioling the various accidents that are certain to take place unless they are repaired. One took place to a valuable horse belonging to Mr K. Parr. Jt was being driven across the Kaeripo bridge, and stepped upp.n a rotten plunk which broke and let one of its fare legs through.- Fortunately no damage waa don* beyond a. severe abraaion of the skin about eighteen inched in .length, the owner is likely to be * considerable loser, as the home in all probability will not be fit to work for several wee Vs. A very sad case of drowning occurred at Uiverhead on Sunday afternoon latat, by which two Norwegian boys lbst their lives in Roundhouse Creek. The father of the boys is located at Riverhead, and employed in gum-diggirig. * The boys were in the habit of attending Mr John Lamb's Sunday-school, and were aeen by that gentleman shortly before the school opened. As they did not come to school, Mr Lamb inquired of the boys' sister of their whereabouts. She did hot know, and had not seen them for some time. Yesterday morning one of Mr Lamb's men went down to the creek and found the, clothes belongmg-ta-tfae "boys on the bank of the creek. He immediately informed Mr Lamb, who sent to their father, to see if they were there. He came over and said that they had not been home all night. The creek was at once searched, and after some time the body of the elder lad was found, death having been caused, by drowning. r Jl)is was about nine o'cloolc, and Mr Lamb came up to town, leaving the men searching for the other 'body. When the Gfemini left Riverhead, yesterday afternoon, the body of the other lad had not been recovered. I send you a verbatim report of Te Wheoro's interview with Tawhiao last week,]at Waitomo which was very brief. After the usual greetings Tawhiao said :—": — " When yoi^ were sent for, the messenger wad mine. He went at the word of my mouth — other chiefs intermingled not. And this is why I send for you. My word to you is this : send for the Governor, f Bee n f m . Olir meeting is in March-" Te Wheoro asked, " Where will tho meeting be held I Will it not be best to hold it at Ko; pua settlement about five miles from Alexandra." Tawhiao replied, " Kopua is a Te Kuiti to mo and so is any and other places, therefore, why not at Te Kuiti. '• Tor, moreover," said he, "this meeting, will be mine, and is mine only — What came of all the past meetings ! Nothing. They were not decreed by me, but by the different chiefs, therefore came to nothing. But this is my meeting, at which I will be heard and will speak if the Governor comes. Te Wheoro said that the Governor could not come, but he (the Governor) would send McLean. Tawhiao replied, "Ifit is so, it is so." Erom this interview we may infer that the King wishes to say something, but what that is we can only know when we hear. There is one question, however, we may be pretty well sure he will bring forward, viz., the restoration of all the Waikato land confiscated during the late war. Te Wheoro has returned, and I beleive, has telegraphed to Sir Donald McLean. We here have not heavd whether he is or when he is coming yet. Though the King may decline to have much to say to him without the Governor, he may still pave the way for that event. It may, uny way, have the effect of bringing round him a number of the dusky friends of his humbler days. — " Herald.'