The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 689, 14 November 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to ill men, Oi whatever state or persuasion, reiigioui or political • * * • # Here, shall the Pre« 7 the Teoplz'b right maintain, Unawod by influence and unbribed by Rain.

TVESDA Y. NO VEMBER U, 1876.

To publish the Counties Act, with its 213 clauses and lengthy schedules, would trespass too far upon the available space of even a larger journal than this to be for a moment dreamed of, but we purpose, from time to time, to give our readers such a digest of the provisions of the Act as will enable them to form a pretty accurate idea of its scope and bearings. This district, it would seem, has been divided into four counties, if we except Kawhia county, which, commencing South of Aotea harbour, includes the King territory. The Piako Conuty is divided from the Thames County by the Piako river from its mouth to Pukorokoro, and thence by the confiscated boundary line to a point due west of the summit of the Aroha Mountain. The boundary then strikes eastward from hill to hill along the range forming the western Tauranga confiscated district to Poutihi, thence by a right line to Uira Gorge ; thence towards the west by a right lino to the snmmifc of Maungatautari Mountain, by a right line thence to Kopoahau, on the eastern boundary of the Waikato confiscated district to the boundary of the Thames County. Waikato County takes in a long stretch of country, from the high-road and telegraph line from Pukorokoro to Mercei', its northern boundai-y, away south between the Waipa and Piako Counties as far as the southern confiscation line. Waipa County consists of the lands in the triangle foimed by the Waipa and Waikato rivers, and the southern confiscation line. Raglan lies away north of Aotea, and south of Waikato Heads, on the west aide of the Waipa and Waikato Eivers. The Act came into operation on the same day as the Abolition Act, and is, to a large extent, permissive. It will rest with each -County Council, when elected, to say whether the County Board shall be merely an agtnfc or distul uimg body of tlio Colonial Govern iue..r, acting belucen the Govcrnrt nfc and tho Highway districts, India 1 it,

hhall take upon itself the powers ' iititi.iuii'' "i-jus, pro T iilu" 1 W the A(^ lf^-uithiU^ireo mouths af.er it/* tiibt meeting, a {Jonneii rioea nob uetuja^ine by icsolution that the whole A*il shall not come into operation in tho County, aud forthwith, send ji copy of such resolution ( ts> the Colonial Secre'ury, it will be 4&ken for granted th 1 1 the -Act has Leen. allowed to come in force. Nevertheless:, should a council ro-determine its first docis on, and afterwards accept the Act in its entirety, it may do ho in a special meeting of the Council, and by a resolution carried by a- clear majority. Such resolution, however, once made, cannot be repealed. Referring to the question of elections, we 6nd that each county will bo divided into ridings of not more than nino in any one county, and that every person of the full aga of 21 who.se name appears on the electors roll of a riding, and every person whose name appears on ' The valuation roll of any road district in respect of rateable property, or on the list of electors of an outlying district, that is, a district not not as yet a highway district, is entitled to vote for the riding in which such property is situated, and will exercise a plurality of votes up to five, according to the value of hia property. For the first election, all ratepayers or electors will be qualified to vote, and the day of election will be fixed by the Qoveruor by proclamation. Some time in the latter part of December, or beginning of Jauuary is spoken of as that in which the first election will probably take place, but this, of course, will depend upon the difficulties or otherwise which the government may meet in organising the system in detail. The Governor too will determine the number of Councillors to be elected for each I'iding, but so that the Conned shall consist of not less than six or more than nine members, exclusive of the chairman, and that there shall be at least one Councillor for each riding, livery elector, except specially disqualified, is eligible for the office of Councillor. The Chairman is elected by the Council from its members and may be paid such annual or other allowance as the Council may think fit. The first Council elected will hold office until the jnext general election, which will take' place on the second Wednesday in November, 1878, subsequent elections taking place on the same day in each third year hereafter. We have said that tho choice is left to tho Councils whether the whole Act shall come in force within their respective boundaries or not. In cases where it is decided not to accept the Act in its entirety, the Council will hold a meeting on or before the 31st day of March in each year, and determine" by resolution, us provided by tho .Financial Arrangements Aut, 1876, tho proportion in which tho ruonoys payable to the county under that Act shall be divided among tho road dis tiict3 and outlying districts comprised therein, and shall, in tho case of the latter ou!y x direct on what works i^he money shall be expended. Since writing the above an Auckland telegram informs us that the Government is pushing on actively tho work of organising the new county system.

Ir will bo remembered that about \ this tiuio last year an influential deputation in Aucklaud waited upon tho Colonial Secretary, and received from him the announcement that the formation of the road fiom Cambridge towards Taupo, aa far at least as the Niuo te Kiori bridge, would ,be at once undertaken by the Govcrumsnt. As in Scriptuial prophecy, tho G-overnmont, in calculating tune, uses different terms to tbos* employed by ordinary mortals, and tho '"at once" of the Colonial Secretary, like the ' ' d«y" of the pro, het, means a year. Wo are therefore prepared to learn that steps are now being taken to commence this work. Major Mair, we believe, is at the present moment aacortaining whether the views of the native tribo, who gave their oonseut last year are still in the same direction, and if so, the whole available force of the Armed Constabulary in Waikato, some forty men, will be told off fur tbe work. There are several tolerably heavy cuttings on the line of road, which is some sixty miles in length, bat when completed it will be of considerable advantage to the district, and to tbe colony, connecting Cambridge by a good ooaoh road with Taupo, and saving persons desirous of visiting tbe lako oouutry from Auckland the disagreeable sea voyage, by way of Tauran^a, "which has done no much to cluck the opening of that wondeiful country to tourists. With tho rail to Newcastle, and the coach direct through to Taupo, hundreds will be able to visit Rotomahana and the lake country, who otherwise would never have ventured to do so.

A. Coiimixtbe aisiCTiNG of the Waikato Agricultural aud Pastoral Association will bo held at Ohaupo on Thursday next at 2 p id.

.Education Bate.— Mr T V Fitzpatnckof JSgaruawaliia gives notice that, unless tbo Educftliou Kate is paid to hiiumJ j or agents within Uu days fiom this date will be issued for the recjvety thereof.

Mb 8 8 Gkaimm vrritu to us requesting that un error ni»y be correcitd in our rc^oit <>i t'.'j Miihoinc mrenvnial Mr Grab.im, ftii'i not l±r VV i umnnng is Iho W II mI tie Lod^- Beta, Air Cummuig wtu uutin^ ab i' G Ai on tl^e occahod, and Mr Grub-un ai Dt-puty PGM, bc:ug tbe W AI.

Hamilton East Purlio School. — S»me littu tide smco complaints were uindj to v". iioin several parties that, ttu.Hgh tb' lMuv'atiou Kite wn diligently culltclud Mit iLumlt"ii i'.abt, tue puliliu, Bohool had bten closed now for more-thm three months. W# nave sidco made en- • quities into tho matter, and find that *Llamiltoa fy''t .ijaJ good canse of oimj j t lftist Tbe Eddrttion Oomniittec, like ! that of Hamilton; Wett, received the j 3»me ttxra-n 4t;-'in the o<ntr*l Board for < the bnildiqg ot * tohool bouse, »ud they, \X>>, m the committee at the West Aide, , succeeded iv rniaing the necessary amount : in private subscriptions to qualify them to receive tbe Board's Grant, and proceed with tho bailiiug. Like the Hamilton YVeifcCojimittee«fb.ey have not, howevor, bteu »o fortunafceTu gettiog the trantfer of the five acre reserve applied for made orer from tho Gfovernment, aud bente the delay in th? building, As regaids tbe appointment, of a. maetor, the Committee were aslscd by Mr U'Sullivan if ho auould send them me, Lud replied that after their experience of teachers bo bUpplied, they wou'd prefer waiting until a hrst-clasa certificated teacher tui ned up, and the uudersUtiding was come to that tho tirat applicant of auoh character upplying to tho Board should b§ leootiiineudfd to them,; and there, we believe, ihe matter resU. " The delay in efleoting the transfer of the deeds of the reserve iv qu atiou will, Jit e trust, be at ooce seen to, ho that tho creation of the school and th« teacber'a hous« — the Govirijm«nt has granted the comm ttee one of the iruini. grants cottages — may be at once proceeded with. Until neoeesary accommodation of thi» kind is provided, a re•peoiable master aud mist^ss, suoh as the ooramitteo bave a right to look for, can hardly be expecbed to take the appointment.

Thk Otago Convention.— The followng are the essoati»l portions of the two mem rials adopted by the Dunedin Convention The first is as to the recall of the Governor, and is as follows :—": — " We have to deplore that His Kxcellunoy the Govoruor has identified himself with the Centralist party, and has tluroby become | the representative ouly of iha "pinions of the p»rty dominaut fur the tune being m the House of Representative*, and tho Legislative Council and that his recent action has had a teadency to impair the feeling of loyalty and respect which we have always choruhed for you-- M.t jetty's representative*, your peti loners therefore, pray that your Majesty will be | pleased to inqufre into thj grievances mentioned in our petition, ami appoint some person, to fulfill the onerous and responsible duties of Governor, who will not be biased against a political party, even though auoh party may be in the minority." Ihe chief points in the declaration Memorial ran thus: — " Tue Government from Welling on will neither be efficient or agreeable to the feelings of he people of this province ; that it will be injurious to the best interests of the colony, to havo about ono half of the population discontented with the fotin of Government, under which they live ; that your petitioners are earnestly of opinion that Otago should have granted to it the large powers of local self-government, bestowed by the Constituti >n Act, or that it should be created a separate and independent colony. That tho mauuer in whioh the Coustitution Act has been altered in a burned, thoughtless nay. Without reference to the opimoua of the local legislature, that the province was abolished in violation of the provision of the Constitution Act has created in the minds of your petitioners a great distrust of the General -Assembly and its legislation. Tbat your petitioners, thereforo, pny that your Majesty will be pleased to take the petition into your Gracious consideration, and grant that either the Province of JOtdgo should have, t^etowed on it the larga power* of local self-government grauted by the Constitution Act or due that Otago should bo eroded mto a aeperato and independent Colony."

Cbtcket Events.— We understand that the Ngaruawania cricketers are not yet done for, for they have made a proposal to tho Onito.l 0 C to amalgamate a team and try conclusions with tbe Zingari C C it Hamilton on the 3oth, St Andrew's d'iy. As there are several good men in both tho clubs, tbe match should be a good one. Should tho Ztngari win the match, we think they should challenge a team of Waikato playera to be chosen from tbo Frontier Team, United, Cambridge, and Ugaruawabia 0 C. If they win, it will be a feather in their oapi. and if they do not it will be no disgrace to them. As tbe matoh would be played on cbeZingari ground, tbe Zingari whether victorious or not (always supposing the matoh to eomo off,) might, we think, inrite their visitors to a diuuur and finish of the day with a dance, so that the Q £ (meaning the General Public) might participate in the fun as well as tbo cricketers themselves.

NaiHuiWAHußnipau. Dinjjebtothb wokkaiem.— Wo publish etoitfrhei-e come nccount of a dinner given by ftfc Taylor $he cjntracior for the above wort to ihe men employed on the undertaking/ vrhicb has been furniihed to us somewhat late- by a correspondent. Our corretponden^intlie note which accompanies it ipeaks feelingly of the Tery great good will wbl-h existed betwaeninasfcr and men throughout the .ontiiiuance of. a work which has beeh nearly two years, or twenty two niontbi, in construction. He also draws our atten! ion to a noticeable fact in connection wiih thu work, namely, that orer lha period not a »ingle Resident to life or limb husoccured, although, from its very nature, such might have naturally been •■xpecled. This fact he at tributes to the foresight and care tai«en by the contractor arid hit mating* r on behalf of the men ; and we quite agree with him, that it it both worthy of honorable mention and •* ill ever be a recommendation to the foreman, Mr Glendenninp, in the further cxercoe of hii profession.

The reception given to Mr Rowe, M H B, on hii return to Grnhamatown, was a spontaneous burst of fe ling on the p&rfc of the people 01 the Thames and intended to mark their appreciation of thepohrj cup j-orted by Mr Howe, and to publicly answer the charge made against him in the House bj hi* colleague that he murepresented the views of the constituency. As our readers are already aware, Mr Sowe was met by a torchlight procession on arriving by the evening steamor, and conducted to his home amid the hearty plauuits of an admiring crowd. Prom Thursday's " Advertn>er," now to hand, we leai n that tho ba quct, presided over by the Ma; or, given to him on ihe evening of the Bth, at the Govern jr Bowen Hotel, Orahuinstown, was in every respect a most unqualified eucc ss. The large dining room was orammrd and the hot of namo3 shows that of the hund/ed genilomen who sat down to table, the gi eater number were represrntatirc men ol tbe dufcfict. When opposition papan and opposition leaders I alii so glibly for " the people of Auckland" they will in future no well to remember tho expression of teelii'g and opinion just manifested by a sing locality in the province numboiiog tt population of 11 001) touts.

Wjikat> Agbicultural and Pastoral association — io-nv-rrow U the last iUy on which tbo Committee wiilreeefve entries for exliibiti, Sot many had been received, we understand, up to the end of laot wtek, but usually tbe entries come m with a rubb. during the last two dayi. So

long as they do come it is light enough, but very often the procrastir at ion extends just one day too much. For tho credit of the district wo do tni't that the united ofloit of W ukato 'Till bo wor.hy tho occasion. Ai the leading fipticul'urtil and pastoral di'triod of tho province much will b* expected from a», and it u lUcelv there will he many visitors from Auckland and elie.»herA. I hat there ia little money to distribute ia prizes •hould make little difference with our lettlcts, nor do we be,ie?e that it will do so. A healthy spirit of emulation and a desire to make this, the first Exhibition of the new Society, the sn -cess it deserves to bo, will, we feel confident, be lufficiont inducement.

Musketry Firing.— We announced a short time since that on the application of Mr Soall, of Auckland, the Government were about to appoint a Board to test the new system of musketry instruction proposed by him, and that it would probably be held in Waikato. We now learn that the Board, which will consist of Col. Lyon, president, and Capts. McPhcraon and Marshall (Nflson) will meot at Hamilton on the 2 1st mat