Untitled

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 719, 25 January 1877, Page 2

Instructions were received 3'esterday to close the Hospital at Ngaruawahia. No reason is given for the order, and we may presume therefore that it is one of those inexplicable movemeuts in the direction of economy, which like the sudden and sweeping reduction just made in the Armed Constabulary force, is intelligable. only to the official mind. It certainly is nob so to our own, nor will it be to the minds of those directly interested in the matter, the public of Waikato. We readily grant that the Hospital at NgaruaAvahia since its institution has not effected the good it might have done, that where it received one patient it might have received three, but whose fault was that ? Simply the fault of the Government which hampered the reception of patients with restrictions which narrowed the usefulness of the i nstitution as far as it • was possible to do so. But during the period the hospital has been open, there have been a score or more of cases known to most of us where the advantages of hospital attendance would have been gladly availed of, and in several cases paid for, had admission been procurable There 1 are those, indeed, who do not hesitate to say that it was never intended by the Government that the hospital should be established as a permanence, but th>tt the regulations for its conduct were so flamed as to give the Government an early opportunity of closing it, and at the same time shelving the medical offi- ; cer in charge, whose long services in connection with the militia and defence force entitled him to better treatment at their hands. Be this as it may, we cannot too strongly condemn cheeseparing economy of this kind on the part of the Government. The pruning knife should be put -upon the dead and sterile branches of the official tree, not on the green and healthy shoots. "There is no economy in doing away with really useful and much needed institutions, while a score. 6f offices may be pointed out in a moment's reflection created and kept in existence for no possibe object but to provide for their incumbents. We understand also that Dr Waddington has received official notice that his services as medical officer to the A C Force in Waikato will be dispensed with. Either the Government must feel positively certain of peacefully arranging all Maori difficulties that may ever arise, or it can care little for medical necessities of its men.

Tenders for the erection of Mr Wood's new Hotel, at the Piako, must be sent in by Monday next. Mr Longbottom's Estate. for the stock in trade belonging to tho es'a'o of Mr Longbottom will bereoeivHd by tho trustee, Mr Edgeoumbe, up to the lstiust. Alexandra and Ohatjp > Road.— Mr An Irew rTay, Chairman of the Rangiaoh a Bo ir, l calls for cendars for making six cuttings on the above road, and for erecting a bridge on the Alexandra road near Ohaupo. Tenders must be sent in by 4 p.m. of the 10'h February. Bucklind's Cambbidge Cattle Sale takes plaoe onThursiay next, and already a large number of choice sheep and cattle have been advertised. In to-day's issue will be found a notice that a pure bre 1 Lincoln ram, imp >rted from the celebrated flock of Mr Kirkham, of Lincolnshire, will be offered for sale among the rest ; also two sheacliog rams by an imported ; am. A Royal Douceur,— One of the objects of Mr MaokayV visit to Waikato, has been the settling with those tribes t@ whom sums of money were promised on account of their claims to tho Te Aroba block. It is said that Tawhiao is to receive £500, not so much on account of any right which he has. to the land, as a recognition of his position, or ntana, and because his acceptance of the money will be taken as a pledge that he will make no difficulties at all about its occupation. A Lower Depth of Emotional Desp\ir. — They had scarcely got back frum the funeral, and the bereaved husband had but bitten into a sandwich, when his oldest boy came up from, the cellar with his face aglow with distress. 'O, pa,' he breathlessly exclaimed, ' the bung has come out of the cider barrel, and its all over the cellar.' ' Well,. 1 declare,' gasped the stricken man io a despairing voice. ' One trouble follows right : on the back of another. First my wife went, au' now its the cider. 1 shan't try olive.' The Weather continues boisteroup, the wind bein^ accompanied with rain •quails. We have dot heard of auy aeiious damage having been done to the crops in this district;, but elsewhere complaints aro general. In the neighborhood of Auckland the oats are said to have suffered on several farms, and potatoes also, whpre planted in heavy clay soils. In Canterbury, the damage has been great, especially in all the swamp land districts. Barley has suffered most, so much so, that very little of it will be any good, certainly not for malting purposes The Hon. Dr Pollen has been occupied some time in arranging native matt-rs at Tauranga. His mo"»t important work has been that of settling all dispU'es respecting the Te Puke block, which lies between Tauranga and Maketu, ahd.is said to be land of the best quality iu the Province. The ' Herald,' alluding to these arrangements says, "we expect within a few months to find it (the Te Puke block) in the h inds of the Waste Lands Board, to be dealt with." Doubtless this will- be so, and we tout the Waste Lanls Board will see fit to deal with it in the interests of the public at large. The Waikato Steam Navigation Company, it will be seen, has made '(.rrangements wheroby visitors to Auckland during the cricket match can take return tickets at single fares. Some sort of concession to tbe public convenience h*s been made by the ra'lway authorities in placing extra trains on, but, says the 'Herald,' not to a sufficient extent ; besides, they need to do more than this. Like the steam boat company, tbey should reduce v their fares. To see tho advantage of doing this is, however, mora thin can. be expected, from the material of which such authorities are composed. The steamboat company also extend the same opportunities to Auckland people visiting the Waikato during the forth- , com<ng races. It will be seen, on reference to their advertisement, tbnt they hive altered the date3 during whic 1 such tickets w ill be available from thoe stated in the first appearance of their advertisement on Tuesday last. A Wife Sslt.ivg her Husb vnd. — Itisno unusual chingathometoh-arof a husband selling his wifo with a halter round her neck for half-a-crowa aud a pint of beer, and most of them would doubtless be dear at tho price, but it is not so often we read of tin husband being sold by the wife. Such a thing lately occurred in America. Mr O'Neill, an American citizen, thinks that he has been very bard'y used by the tribunal of Lich6eld, in the State of lowa. He appeared before t ! ie jud^e under an accusation of bigamy, aud, conducting his own defance, crossexamined the Jady who passed as his second wife. The fo'lowing dialogue took place, the husband asking : — • When we were married, did you believe I was legally entitled to contract a marriage?' A. — 'That I don't know, not being a lawyer ; I merely consulted my own inclinations.' Q — 'Did you not purchase me ?' Tbe .Tu Ige interposing — ' Purchase you ! What do you mean by that?'. The defendant— 'l mean what I say ; I ask whether Bhe bought and paid for me.' A. — ' I bought you of your first wife and paid for you.' Q — 'How much ?' A, — 'She asked ten doMars, but I gave her fifteen, because I thought it it was too little. Yoy see it was rather humiliating for you.' Q— « Was not the matter entirely settled between you and her?'' A, — 'Yes: she siid that h*r father had given yon soma m >ney when she was married toyuu, and that she bad a perfect right to sell yon if sie fe'.t inclined.' At er the exp anatijns, Mr O'Neill turned triumphantly round towards the judg», his countenance beam* ing with the assurance of having put his accusers to confusion. Pamful therefore, must have been his surprise when the judge, a f ter pondering for a few moments said, ' O'Neill, I think we must make it eight unnths, with hard labour,' Shoddy Leather. — We live in an age of shams. The last issue of Soribner's Monthly contains an interesting sketch of a new product design as a substitute for leather. This product is named by the writer as " vegetable leather ;" but why the name "leather" should be ap. plied to it, considering the definition of the word is "the skin of an auimal dressed and prepared for use," is a question, as the new invention is comp >sed entirely of vegetable matter. Passing the question of title. ho*ever, we present, as a matter of intrest, an account of the material and process used in manufacturing the so called vegetable leather. The materials are cotton, or cotton waste or dust, cocoanut fibre and other textile products and fucis crispus, a marine moss abundant on the New England coast. The waste is first carded into sheets of wadding of uniform thiokness, and then laid on polished zinc plates, kept at high tempera ure, and msistened with a decoction of the focus till thoroughly saturated. The sheets quickly become dry, and in a few minu es may be lifted from the plates and passed between hot polished roils a-ljusted to give any desire i thickness to the finished leather. These rolli are under heavy pressure and completely felt the materials into strong, tenacious and fl >xible sheets. The sheets ! are next coated with boiled lin-eed oil | and dried in the open air, or iu a dry-

room. When dry, they are ooated with vegetable wax and run through hot fl ited rolls, aud are finished by a dual p-i«Ha«e between polished rolls. The leather may then be bronzod, silvered; varnished or otherwise treated like ordinary leather. To produce a white leather, clean oottori is used and the whitest pieces of dried moss, and bleached with linseed oil. Very Good of Him. —The newspapers state t hut a well-known banker in Paris has absconded, leaving a large deficit behind. Mrs Partington thinks it was very good of the poor man to leave it, when he might hive .got off clear with everything. An English paper writes .—A very sensible proposal is being urged upon cHckfcters. viz, to increase »he number of bulls delivered before an over take's place. ft is a loss of time, and renders the same almost dreary to spectators, especially as cricketers move off to their respective places in suoh a lethargic way us to infect the looker-on with something of the same all-forlorn spirit. The controversy might be settled by letting the two bowlers bowl each four balls frotn one end of the wicket. There would he no extra fatigue for t'*e bowlers, and less time lost in ohanging the position of the fie d. Advertising Extraordinary. —They understand the art of advertising in Omaha. In that enterprising town of th.H Far West, as we learn from an American paper, an individual is printing an edition of the prayer book, which he gives away to every attendant at church. The right hand page contains the usu'l prayers, and the left hand is allotted toadverfcisemenbs. Another person was endeavouring to purchase the privilege of using the outside of the pulpit for posting the merits of a pa'ent baby jumper. The same journal is responsible for the statement that in Chicago the backs of the police are let to advertisers by tho Town Council. The Auckland Cricket Team.— Oa Monday night, at the Thames Hotel, the following players were chosen to represent Auckland in the coining match with the All ttnglaud E'even. It will be seen that the name of no Waikato man is on the list either of players or emergency men. Team: — C Abraham, W F Buckland, Jo eph Bennett, C Hay, H R Cotton, G Carter, H Crawford, F S Dufaur, C Gleeson, H N Garland, Kent, G Lankham, D Lynch, J Mumford, T Maoky, W W Robinson, W L Rees* J Steadman, W H Sim cox, W Swanson, S Whitford, H E Whitaker, R J Yatea. Emergency men : Ist, W Philson ; 2 id, Wells ; 3-d, Blunden ; 4th, R Mason. Umpire: Levi Coupland. Scorer: J Nolan. The uniform has been decided upon, and will b white shirt and trousers, with blue cap, belt or sash. The 100 ton G-rrN —In our last we stated that the success of the luO ton gnu, the largest gun in the world, made for the Italian Government, uas induced the British Government to have a gun double that weight constru"ted. -The following is some account of the experiments at SpeZzia with the 100 ton Armstrong gun. What one double, that size will be able to do will be a terror to ironclads. The targets in all cases had a strong biGkirag, and a skin about 30in thick, faced with different plates, two ol Schneider's Bteel, oneof Cauirn ds wroughtiron, and one of Man-ell's wrought-iron. All the plates were solid, and 22 n thick. E ch nlate weighed about 22 tons. Not one of them Could withstand the shot of the Armstrong gun fi-ed with 34)Llbs ol powder ; but Schn ider's steel plates, though they broke up; stoppjd the pro jectile from quite piercing the backing, whereas the targets covered with wroughtiron plates were completely pierced, leaving large ragged ho'es. Tlu shots had enough velocity remaining to have knocked outplaces on ihe other side of the ship and would have carried complete ru:n into the interior. Those which failed tc pierce the steel-clad target wouTd have sha ten the whole structure an 1 caused c leak. The highest velocity wts 15)0h and the heaviest blow was equ.ilto 51,250 foot-tons. FXTRAVAGANOE OP COUNTY CoUNCrLS. — If county councils are g>ing to bf worked at double and treble the expense for official silaries as were provincial governments, then w.s sh 11 have gaineil lit lie by the change. The " Thames Advertiser" devotes a loug article in iu issue of tha 19ch, denouncing the extravagant outlay wi h which the Thames County Council has com neneed operations. No I es a sum than £940 Ins been voted for the annual salaries of officials t-.> the Board, and ond or two appointments remain yet to be male, "It is very desirable," says our contemporary, " thit the income of the council siiould he ascertained before lavish expenses are incurred. If all the counties in the Auckland provincial district are as lavish then the old provincial party may well .ask, where is the saving which wag claimed for the new administration ? If the nineteen counties which succeed th e provincial government in this province ure all conducted on the same scale of expenditure, then wo have nineteen engineers, nineteen clerks, nineteen salaried chairmen, nineteen valuers and assistants, aud an expenditure on their account of nineteen thousand pounds for wages only." Of course, if the rafep iyei'B of the Thames chose to put up with this they have no one to blame but themselves. People in a f ee country, and under democratic institutions such as those of New Zealand are just as well governed as they deserve to be. Earl Beacons* ield Thirty-nine Years ago. — The "World" observes it is 39 years ago, on tne 7th December next, since Mr Disraeli made his maiden speech in the House of Commons, an oration which, amid a storm of ridicule and opprobrium, he concluded with the memorable sentences thus reported in the "Morning Chronicle" of the Bch Dec, 1837: — "I am not at all surprised, sir, at the reception which I have received (continued laughter). I have begun several times many things (laughter), and I have succeeded at last (iresh cries of 'Question'). Ay, sir, and though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear me." Not "shall hear me," as we have been accustomed to quote it with | due emphasis any time during the last f twenty years. This historical speech is printed at full length in the first weekly part of a " Life of Benjamin Disraeli,'' now issuing from the press, which bears evidenoe of a remarkably exhaustive research amongst original authorities. | Here is a description of Mr D.sneii's personal appearance on this memorable ni^ht, as described by an eye-witness : — "He was very showily attired, ' bein* dressed in a bottle-green frock coat and a waistsoat of white, of tha Dick Swiveller pattern, the front of which exhibited a network of glittering chains ; large fancy pattern pantaloons and a black tie, above which no shirt collar was visible, completed the outward man. A countenance lividly pale, set out by a pair of i tensely black eyes and a broad but noc. vary high forehead, overhung by clustered ringlets of coal-black hair, which, com ed away from the right temples, fell in b-nvshes of well-oiled small ringbts over hia left cheek."

Whangape Riding. —Saturday next at noon, ia appoiutf-d f >r the nominatiou of candidates for the Whangape Riling, and the 31st inst. as the day of election, if a poll ue taken. In the advertisement, a clerical error occurred, the prooee ling*, beint; taken not under the 4th, bat the 46th section of the Act. Our Almanac for 1877 is is ued with to-days paper. We make no apology for the delay, for the excellence of the almanao fully makes up for that. The information oontained in it is locally useful, and it will be matter of constant reference by our subacrib rs. Altogether, though we say 90 ourselves, the Waikato Times Almanao is about the best country alraaaac we have seen. Rack Course Booths. — Yesterday afternoon Mr Kennedy Hill s )'d the privilege of erecting two publicans booths and a teetotal refreshment stall on the Ohaupo Kace Course. No. 1 stall, with privilege of trectingr a grand stand over head, was knocked down to Mr Pinch, of Alexandra, for £25 ; No. 2 stall, no Mr Walker, of lha Commercial Hotel, for £21, and the refreshment bojth to Mr Pearson, for £7. The attendance was only moderate, and the bidding far from spirited. Undeb the heading ' New Zealand as a Field for East Indian Immigrant*,' the •Ceylon Observer,' of November 8, publishes the fallowing letter from a correspondent :—' Dear Sir, — In your issue of the 31 At of last month' l notice that you advise ambitious and enterprising young burghers to proceed to New Zealand. Now, I don't preteud to know where the fault lies, but colonials regard ' Indians ' in a very unfavorable liyht.. They are not popular for some came or other. I uevtr knew a person who resided in India ever getting on in the colonies, except perhaps a professional man, #t encore. All offices are swamped winh applicants, and an Eurasiou would make but a poor navvy in a country where he would have to compete against the bona fide article shipped gratis to New Zialand by Yogel an I Co. Ihe bu-gber would be out of his el ment altogether. Colonials have their own half-castes to provide for ; even Ukinamen can't do the work required of them, and turn their attention to hotelkeeping, vegetable growiug, working abandoned claims, &u. The passage mmcy from Ceylon to New Zealand would cost £35 at the very least, and that lsatjoun on jyear's] wages in the antipodes. We »11 know the country ia healtuy, and so is Coylon, as far as that goes, but as a fie d of emigrttion for burghers it is not the place. The Eurasion would find himself in the wrong box.' Clever Scheming}. — A correspondence of a capillary nature was recently attempted between a need Parisian thief in durance vile and his comrades outside. The prisoner was sent a letter from his fiancee containing merely a lock of hair wrapped in the leaf of a ook. The gaoler did not consider the souvenir important enough to be delivered, but a few days after came a similar enclosure, and yet another. This aroused suspicion an i the Governor took the matter in haud. He examined the leaf of the book, which was ouly that of a common novel, twenty-six line3 on a page. Then he studied the hair, and noticsd the small quantity of the gift. Counting the hairs, he found them of unequal length, and twenty-six in number, the sime as the lines of the page, struck with the coincidence, he laid the hairs along the lines o- the page which theygrespectively reached, beginning at the top with the smallest hair. After some trouble he found that the end of each' hair pointed to a diff^r^nt le ter, and that these letters combined formed a slang sentence, which iuformed the prisoner the next time hi lefc thd prison to be examinad, an attempt would be made to lescue him. The governor laid, his plans accordingly ; the attem >b at rescue was mid), bub the refccaers fell into their owu trap. Feminine Snobs.— The " Saturday Review" says:— lt would seem that there has ever been class distinction, and that there must ever be ; but there is no valid reasou why a number of purly-arti-ficial barriers bhould be rai ed between the ' diff ireut sections of a communi y. Now-a-daya society does not consist ine.ely ot three clisse3, but a score or two, the members of which luartly hat* and Jmistrust eich other. Indeed, it is not going too far to say that society is divided Jmto an immense uuinber of contempts b e ciques ; the le-ult being that when a bundled people are drawn together promiscuomly, the majority are so impressad nhh a sensi of their importauce and exalted condition that they proudly decliue to condescend to have anything whatever to say t) nine-t3nths of those by whom they are surroindnd, A man may have brains, 'he m»y have retined taste-s, he may be hard-working ani upright iu ail his doings, and he may be) of presentable appearance ; but ho ia notsaved from receiving cruel, rebuffs, as he journeys through life, from those who are vastly inferior to him and might be much* improved by friendly intercourse with him, and who flatter themselves they are his superiors in position. Now, men are largly responsible for this melancholy state of things ; but we are inclined to think that tho greater portion of the blame for what is deplored' must rest upou female bhoulders. No tionbb, there are many male snobs; but, as a rule, men are not so particular as to whom they associate with as are women, and it » highly probable that, if they were not exposed to female iufluence, they might be led to ace so that linos of demarca tion which seperate people might become le3s b-oadly defined, and in many cases entirely obliterated. A Correspondent of the Melbourne •• Christian Review" writes: --" It is a remarkable fact that immediately following the great revival with which Scotland baa been blessed, we hear uuiyersal complaints as to the prevalence of intemperance. One is not prepared for this. We should have been more prepared to hear that the national vice had received a decided check ; bnt it is not so. One minister speaking at a meetiug in Edinburgh during the sitting of the Assemblies, insisted that drunkenness had increased with unparalleled speed in the town in which he labored during the past year. Others bear similar testimony, the Inspector-General of Hospitals in the British army has publishel a letter in the "Times," begiuning with the startling words, "Soot land is drinking itself to death.' " A sort 08-IBuaBtcANB n a small scale >as*ed through Hamilton yesterday traversing but a very narrow strip or country, from West to East- Ia its course through tho upper portion of the township it tore away several panels of fencing, smashing a peach tree six inches m diameter, short off like a carrot, some four feet from the ground, and catching up a child about eight years of a^e lifted him a distance of some twenty yards, depositing him unhurt in a furze bush. The whirlwind then struck the river between the Brewery and Mr Coate's house, and swerving in its track, the direction, probably, altered by the current of air caused by the banks, fol- - 1) > o-l up the strema a few hundred yards, 1 f tiug the. water in a small wave as it went, after whi h its course across the oountry on the opposite bank was distinctly visible by the agitation of th-> scrub and the loose pieces of ti-tree and rubbim carried with it in its train.

IHB New mtbamkr Wa. pa, belonging to the Wuikato Steam Navigation Comp>ny, w.ib fowed to Mercer on ; Monday last and will there receive 'her boiler and machinery, and then be towed back to' Agaruawtthia to be finished at the comIv y * ll Wo 't 8ba P- lfc ia expected that ■thiaw.ll take about six weeks to com. plete. Tub Thamks Nativps are still, we learn from the » Herald," in a great state ot excitement. Only on Tuesday it was reported that some of the Te Aroha natives were coming down the rivee, and the Ohinemuri people determined to uphold the b'ockade which they have declared against the Te Asoha natives, in retaliation of the stoppage of Repata and others on their way to Cambridge. Tha Ohinemure people resolved to march to a place about 10 miles above the settlement, where they were to blockade tho river, and to fire upon any persons attempting to force the blockade. Hat* Paka, who carried an enormously long sword, was generalissimo of the forces, having as second in command Takerei te Putu., Several Amazons aUo marched in the ranks. What the upshot was, of course we no not know, but we have no doubt that if the Aroha natives attempt to come down the river they will be turned back. There need, we think, be no apprehensions that anything more serious will occur. Pabisian Beggars.— Among the cur:* ous atones told of Parisian beggars ia one concerning a blind man— really blind-— who was always to be found near a csrtain gateway on the Boulevard Sebastojdl. A passer-by, who was in the habit of giving him a ouple of sous, one day dropped a double louis in his hat by mistake. On discovering hi3 error, some time after, he returned to reclaim his go^- The blind man was gone, but a cripple in ths gateway directed his&*|a^ the Rue du P. tit Carre»u, whtre, he '■> said, • Monsieur B* jamin lived.' The inquirer went io the address indicated. A nicely-dressed servant came to the door. • Monsieur Ben jamin in ?' 'Yes, sir,' Our friend is shown into an elegant iaute-room, through which one could see nto the dining-room, where there was a table admirably appoiated with tine white linen, crystal, and silver. The maid came to say that Monsieur Benj imin would be glad to see his visitor, and at tin same t ; me she opened the door of an apartment furnished in the Turkish fashion, in which the b.ind man was seated on a divan* • Y"ou wish to speak to me,' he said. '■Yea, indeed, sir,' "replied our friend, rather embarrassed. 'I am sorry to trouble you, but the fact is— l believe— l rather think— that in passing along the Boulevard Sebastopol this morning I gave you by mistake, two louis for two bous.' The blind man said wi'h the utmost coolness, • That is quite possible ; theca9hhas not been looked at yet j and if there is a mistake, nothing is easier than to rectify it. ' He rang the bell, which was answered by the mai<\ • Ask M. Jiarneit,' he said, *if in the receipts of this morning ha f mnd a piec9 of forty francs.' Th* pieoe was there ; the maid fetched it, and at the bilding of her master presented it oi a tniy of Chinese lac to his vinitor. Tha visitor pounced upon his coin, and with* out more ado proceeded to take his leave. 1 Pardon, tir,' said the blind man, * you have forgotten somefhjng. There are two sous to return to me/ The Cottage op Content Hotel, Victoria and Hobson Streets, Auckland, W. B. Langb ridge, Proprietor, having bden Enlarged and Inproved, affords unequalled Accommodation, »ind will be found a Really, Well-appointed, F.rstc'hss Hotel. — [Advt ] Or/R fellow-settlers will soon be visitingAuckland and we advise them, before making any purchases, to walk int) the Cily Hall ircade. This is au establishment conducted after the London style. By buying there you c*n procure all you require in the way of Clothing and Furniture. The goods are carefully packed and despatched without trouble to the purchaser. We see there the greatest disphiy of go ids in Auckland. Furniture for the Drawing, Dining, Bedroom, and Kitchen ; Carpets, in immense variehy, from 8d to 7<s 6d per yard ; Floor Cloths, all widths ; Bedding of every description, and Upholstery work. Hollow.iy anlGarlick hive secured the aerviersof Mr It Uranwell to. superintend the furnishing department, and his long experience is a guarantee for good work. A nicely-assorted stock of Men's and Boys' Clothing, tho latest fashions in Drapery and Millinery G-oods, Baby Ware and Underclothing. The proprietors seil at. low prices to command a Cash Trade. Go to Uolloway ani G-arli.-k's City Hall Drapery and Furniture Arcade (show rooms 166 feet long), Queen-street., Auckland [Advt.]