The Waikato Times.
Equal and exact justice to all men, 01 whatever st.ite or pei suasion, religious or political ***** Here shall the Tress the People's r-'ght maintain, Uiiawvd by influence and unbribed by gain.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1875.
The rumour that has obtained currency in Auckland, that the disbandment of the Armed Constabulary was contemplated by the Government, is contradicted upon undoubted authority in our latest Parliamentary telegrams. The changes will be confined to limiting the force to its present strength, the dismantling of certain outposts, and the employment of portions of the Constabulary l"orce upon useful public works. As the force has been increase! from 6GB of all ranks to 737 during the past year, there is an ample rrargin for reductions by effluxion of service, and other causes. The satisfactory relations existing between Europeans and the Native race, the lapid melting away of old prejudices, and the gradually contracting bonds of trade and mutual sympathy between the K'ingites and the frontier settlers have prepared the way for withdrawing detachments from some of the outposts. The employment of portions of the Armed Constabulary on useful Public Works, with an increase of pay, will not only be beneficial to this and other districts similarly circumstanced but will, we feel confident, be welcomed by the officers and men, as a change advantageous to themselves. We know it has been the custom in some quarters to undervalue this efficient and well-behaved body. l\)r our part we cannot but recognize that they have rendered exceedingly valuable service to the country in time past, that their presence in the district has been a guarantee of peace, and has inspired confidence in i,liQ settlers, and that they have done a great d«al of arduous and onerous duty, We may instance the conveyance of mails, erection of barracks and stabling, laying down oi grazing paddocks and road works ; and we may tak3 this opportunity of directing attention to the able report of Major Clare published in our supplement, which par ticularizes the work done in Waikato.
We said at the time that the fuss made by Sir George Grey over the sale of the Piako Swamp was a hollow sham, mere smoke and dust in the foreground of the battle, to divert attention from the maiu poiats and conceal some cunningly devised manoeuvre. A highly respectable old proverb runs :—": — " By their works ye shall know them." Judged by this never-failing guage we know the leaderB of the present Opposition to be veritable shams. The great Pandjorum, Mr. Fitzherbert, has gone about like a weathercock on questions of Provincialism and Centralism, provincial borrowing and no borrowing at all, and on nearly all the main points of Colonial politics. It is evident, even to his admirers, that the veteran is in the sear and yellow leaf. All that his most enthusiastic followers and henchmen eluini for him is a questionable sort of readiness, in season aadout, to deliver long, dreary, weary speeches, for " the old man will be a talking." Some dignify these garrulous exhibitions with the name of "great efforts," but to those not blinded by friendship they are a mere darkening of counsel by words without knowledge. The other faculty with which Mr Fitzbeibert is credited is a certain sort of slipperiness in escaping from difficult positions, and evading ugly conclusions. In this he may be compared to those savages who grease their Fkins in order to elude the grasp of an enemy, " A man so various, that bo seemed to fee Not one, but all Mankind's epitome Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong, Was everything by turns and nothing long. Some of Sir George Grey's inconsistencies were referred to in our last. It is certain that the Piako Swamp ruse was hatched in the fertile invention of these two Champions of Provincial 1-cg-rolling and extravagance. The hoHowness of their afl'ected indignation is now apparent. When Sir Donald McLean moved, " That a select committee be appointed to inquire into the sale of Piako (Waikato) Swamp to Mr Thomas JRussrll and others, the committee to consist of Messrs Bryce, Cuthbertson, Sir George Grey, Jackson, Hunter, Macandrew, Ormond, Captain Kenny, Reeves, and the mover," Sir George Grey and Mr. Reeves, ( Beeves the disappointed and misanthropic, Eeeves the despised and rejected of Ministries) both begged that their names might be withdrawn from the committee, principally on the ground that it included too many Government supporters. They appear to have forgotten that such an ercuse was founded upon the inference that the rest of the committee were not gentlemen capable of acting fairly and conscientiously. Truly Sir George Grey and Mr Reeves you would have us believe that. "Ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you." There is an old proverb about measuring other people's corn with your own bushel which is singularly applicable to this morbid suspiciousness of the worthy pair. And this is the end of all the much vaunted highsouled patriotism of the recluse of the Kauwau, this the outcome of a 1 the honied eloquence that charmed the poor souls of Auckland City West ! Instead of a golden calf, have they set up an idol of clay, instead of a hero a poor mediocre Parliamentary part zan, that resorts to shifts and subterfuges like otlur tuorfals. Ko " Speaks an infinite deal of nothing more than any man in all Wellington. His reasons aTe as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff"; you shall seek all day ere you find them ; arid when you find them they are not *ortli the search.,"
The telegrams transmitted up to tbe very last moment last night by our Special Correspondent at Wellington will be found to contain aerpral items of unusual interest, especially those with reference to the Waikato, Thames, and Ohinerauri Road, and the probable close of the debate on the second reading of the Abolition of Provinces and Local Government Bills.
A leading article on the reports of Native Commissioners, several letteis from correspon dent 5 !, and other interesting matter ia unavoidably crowded out of this is^ue. Our supplement to-day will be found unusually interesting. !' lis not in mortals to command success." but it will be our earnest endeavour to deserve it, anfl make our Saturdays supplemem partn ularly acceptable to -every m< mber of each household. It was btated in the lottor of our Aloxandra correipondmt published in our last ieeue, that the industry of brickmaking was about to bo commenced m that flourishing township. We have since been informed thnt the enterprising originators of the new industry are Meisrs Aemuss and A. Ahiem. We understand that the Captain of the Hamilton Football Club has received a telegram from Mr Thomns Henderson, junr, Capt of the Auok- | land Footba'lClub, stating thattho Jatter Club will j phy a mut<*h against the lorcner at Pokeno, on any Saturdij -if tor September 3rd. We tiust our Jocul " kickista" will be able to do battlo against the pride of Auckland, aud do honor to the prowess of tho district. The Airec Cambiufction Troupe announce their first performance at .Ngaruawahia this evening, and again o« Mondaj. Tho bill of fare for tho occasion is most attractive. There will be an enfife change of programme on Monday nipht. The Press speaks highly of the Troupe, especially of Mr Auec, an) we have little doubt but that they will be well supported by the public of Ngaruawahia. It is to b«> hoped the Airec Troupe will extend their vieit to the priucipal .townships of the Wwikato. We learu th'it instructions hive been received from the Government to complete the formation of the Had way line, up I," the Hamilton Station site -nit bout delay, he work- will be com pleted by the men of the E.V.M. about to bo disbanded, and will bo done by contract. We areglud to see that some o< the navwes who have borne the heat and bui Jen of the day, are not to be left quite out in the cold under tho new arrangement. A meeting of gentlemen interested in organiziug a leries of Amateur Dramatic Entertainments, under tho auspices of tho Monthly Entertainment Committee, is convened to be heid in the Hamilton Botel, at half past 7 o'clock, this eveniug. We understand that the Oo ( d Tomplars are already preparing to play a comedy aud a farce, with a negro troupe in the interval. We are in receipt of correspondence which goes to shew that there is good ground for believing that an arrangement will be come fc<> between Cain bridge and Te Awamutu for holding a Control Waikato Agricultural Show in the Spring of next year. We shall notice the correspondence at length in cur next. We have also received some interesting particulars relative to the progress of acclimatization in the Cambridge district. The rivor steamer Waikato brought with hf>r to Hamilton on Thursday last six families of lin•inignmts, per ship Alluinbagh, recently arrived at Auckland from England, to be located in the Hamilton district. Three of the families have taken up their abode in tho houses set apart by tb* Government for immigrants on this side of the river, and the other three at Hamilton East. Besides these, several families wore shipped on to Cambridge. We understand that seventy of the immigrants who arrived by the Allumbngh ura being distributed among the vari >us eettl--rr.ents bit u ecu Mireer and Cambridge. Thy Waikulo left duriwg the afternoon for Cambridge, and cgain made her appearance in Jlamihon shortly after seven o'clock yesterday morning, and after a short etay proceeded on her dowuaaard trip to M"rcer. The courteous a-nd energetic Secretary of ili° Waikato Steam Navigation Company, Mr ScherfF has, our readers will be pleased to learn, succeeded in making arrangements with the Railway Department for forwarding goods to and from the Waikato at through rat-^s of freight. Down goods will be delivered in Aackland— freight payable on delivery. We congratulate Mr Scherff on the successful result of this negojiatipn. Addison defined the mission of a newspaper when he put up for the motto of his "Spectator" the lines :—: — " What e'er men do, say, think or seem, Our motley paper seizes for its theme." The case of R. Swayne v R. MeVeaah, lately heard^ at tho Resident Magistrate* Court, Cambridge, was a claim for tho value of certain sheep, which plaintiff alleged had been sold to defendant, but of winch he had reiused to t-ike delivery In the case a witness uamed Hickey gave eviJence for the defendant, but was bo shaken by tho Counsel for th'> plaioUff, that a humourist in Court hastily dashed off the following bun mot : — The evidence dickey Of Donegal Hickie Set off all the Court in a roar, And brisk little Madden, fcjat down like a cad 'un And voted poor Hickie a bore. It is needless to say, that *fter this, judgment was given for plaintiff. The '* Thames A dvertiser" lays political demonstrations ia Auckland are a mere question of a little money and organization, lv the article under notice, our contemporary refers to Mr Reeß as a "windbag" — a very apt epithet. A little quiet speculation on Change was transacted in front of Mr Vialou's on Thursday last. A number of our local athletes and quidnuncs were engaged in a trial of skill in estimating the weight of a bycyele, when one of the feyst^nders, well known for his speculative aud sporting characteristics generally, proposed a sweepstako. The idea was eagerly approved, and tho Yariou* individuals in the group proceeded to lift and poise the bycycle with airs of exceeding exactitude and skill. The fortunate winner was a local knight of the hammer, his guess beiug within lib. of the actual weight — 521bs. The General Government is about to institute a searching enquiry regarding tho amount of unsatisfied land scrip, still afloat in this colony, with the view of settling existing claims. An important letter by Mr R. B. Lusk, Receiver of Education Rates, is published in our corrcspoiadcnce columns, in which he describes the only mode of securing exemption from payment of the Educational rate Persons not exempted who refuse to pay, are liable to the summary infliction of a fine, and in default, to imprisonment with hard labor. Mr Lusk further intimates that proceedings will shortly be taken against those who have not paid the rate, and who aro not exempted. Some native chiefs have singular notions of what is due to their dignity. When Rowi recently visited a European settlement a photographer, desirouß of turning an honest penny by supplying the physiognomy of the great rangitira to an admiring public, offered to take him cheap. Rewi refused, stating that he did not think it ia keeping with strict propriety that the likenese of a great chief should be publicly exposed for sale at Is. This is certainly a strange piece of inconsistent squeamishness on the part of one of a race who formerly cold beads, and •pecially tatooed tho faces of their Blaves after the likeness of chiefs, in order to fetch a better
price. We understand that it ia the intentijn of the Newcastle Town Board to publish a full list of the nnmes of owners of allotments, also the number of each allotment, on which there are arrears of rates, in order that purchasers may not be deceived into paying ba"k ratea, after taking posseesiun of their purchases. This is an excellent plan. Wo are informed that disappointment is felt at Ngaruawahia, owin^ to the detention of goods in transit at Mercer. The delay has been caused by the formition of a turn-table in connection with the railway, the truckß being k-pt standing full on thu line until the table ii complete,.}.
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Waikato Times, Volume IX, Issue 511, 28 August 1875, Page 2
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2,294The Waikato Times. Waikato Times, Volume IX, Issue 511, 28 August 1875, Page 2
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