Untitled

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 730, 20 February 1877, Page 2

Bank of New Zealand. — An agency of this Bank opens to-day at Te Awainutu. Mr Veith, late of Ngaruawahia, will take over the business of Mr Wood, butcher, of Hamilton, from to-morrow. L.OL. the Sons of Ulster are noticed that a lodge mesting will be held on Saturday next, m the lodge room Victoria Hotel, It will be seen that Mr Kennedy Hill is agent for new grass and olover seed imported by Mr R Baird, samples of which may be obtained on application to Mr Hill. Bankruptcy. —Notice appears elsewhere that Mr J L Longbottom has received a full discharge ard relief from all debts provable m the liquidation order made m his eatate. Horse Stock. — It is stated that Mr Rives, oE Nelson, has imported a number of the progeny of the famous French horse, Gladiateur, and that they are entered for the Wellington Darby of 1878. School-house, Taupibi.— Tenders for tbe erection of a school -house at Taupiri will be received by the chairman of the Taupiri school commissioners, Mr T H White, up to the 14th March next. It will he seen by reference -to our advertising columns that Mrs Parffrt, the, well known milliner of Hamilton, has removed to the house lately ocoupied by . Mr Madden, solicitor. Cheap Meat.— We perc.-ive that our old frieads, Messrs B aud J Coleman who first reduced the price of meat m Hamilton are advertising a continuance of the first-class article with which they , have been .supplying the public. Hautapu School. — It will be seen by advertisement m another column that the opening of this school will be celebrated by a tea-meeting and musical entertainment. The following gentlemen have been appointed a committee for carrying the a'ffiir to an issue : — Messrs John Martyn (jun), T J Smith, T S Runciman, G A Runciman, W Selby (jun). H E Ewen, T Gerrans, S Reid, and S E Smith, the latter gentleman acting as hon Sec. Now that the fine weather has set m we need something m the way of amusement, piouic parties and even indoor entertainments such as concerto and histrionic performanceSjhaying been seriously interfered with by the rainy weather. We • have jus 1 ; leceived iutimatiou that H owarth's .'. great .Original Mammoth Hibernica and Comedy Company ' will shortly appear. in Hamilton, and. probably other Waikato townships, and we can assure them a hearty reception. The journey through Ireland, a diorama, enlivened by songs, comic and sentimental, national dance 3 and funny incidents, is one of the most successful exhibitions of the ; day. --Value of Sheep Doas.~-A good dog is often worth as much as the flock of sheep he drives. The following,' the "Scientific American" states, is said to be a Texan . practice fjr training sheep dogs: — A- pup is taken from; its mother before its eyes are opened, and put to a ewe to suckle.- After a few times the ewe becomes reconciled to the pup, which follows her like a lamb, grows up among and remains with the flock, and no wolf, man, or strange dog can come near the sheep, and the dog will 'bring the flock to the lold regularly at half-past 7 o'clock if he is habitually fed at that hpur. The " Wangarei O-nnet " says:— At the request of Chairmen of Road Boirds and others, Sir Robert Douglas^ M.H.R., applied to the Hon Mr Whitaker for information, which explains itself m the following answer rcCJived on Thursday last:— "Hon F Whitaker to Sir Robert Douglas, M.H.R. Auckland, February 6. ; Sir, — In reply to your letter inquiring whether the Government will pay subsidy toa County Council which has not levied , a County rate, I have the honour to inform you that the Government intend paying to the County Councils the sub udies provided by sub-section 2 of section 8 of the Financial Arrangements Act, 1876, although no County rates have been levied." Swimmer's Cramp. -• The loss of body heat m water is now held to be intimately associated with the cramp which so often seizes even able, swimmers. Here there is not only a general powerleasness . in-" duoed, but the spasm of the muscles connected with respiration diminishes the capacity of the thorax, and the crampstricken swimmer often disappears immediately without warning, never to appear alive. Tho buoyancy conferred by the chest being full of air is largely reduced by thiß diminished thoracic space, and the body at once goes under water. No skill m the art of swimming will secure any one from this risk ; and when the water is cool it is well that the swimmeis keep nearj the shore, or at least near each other, so that aid can be readily rendered if required. — Sanitary Record. .'■',!.'. Riding through Waikato to Ngaruawahia the other day, we were much sttuck with the general imrovement of the appearance of tbe country thereabouts since a previous visit of nearly twelvemonths. New homesteads are making their appearance, and old ones pushing put their boundaries still further a-fiold. Mr Hindies place was more than others worthy of note for such change. For come time past two ploughs have been constantly going, breaking up new ground intended, we believe, for sowing down to grasa, and, doubtless, MrHindle will reap the reward of his enterprise, If -.-a: man would sell, nothing will command- a better, price than well grassed land, and, if he intends, to occupy, nothing: wiiipay him better. The chief object with every settler is to get his land iuto grass, and the sooner he does this the better, for the sooner will bis farm turn m the maximum amount to be made ut of it. By . and bye, doubtless, when the supply of labour is more regular and less expensive and skilled agricultural labour is available which at present it is not, the regular cultivation of crops will be found profitable. Then the old fed grass land will be found to give the largest yields, while by, again breaking up a iif bh or a sixth of the farm and croping it an improved class of grass land, when it is again laid down, will be obtained. The lands about Ngaruawahia have lain somewhat under disfavour, but the crops ob tainid this year by Mr Morris and others, and the faith shown by &uch men as Mr Hindle m setting vigorously to work m breaking them into cultivation, shows that such character is very far from le.ng deserved.

Billiard Room to Let. — Tenders will be received by Mr Walker up to noon of the 21st inst., for the lease of the billiard room at the Commercial Hotel, "Hamilton. The rocm and table are m first class order. Says a Contemporary : —Oats are gradually going out of cultivation m the Albury district, Australii, local farmers nob being abe to compete with importation from New Zealand. Educational. — At the meeting of the Education Board, held on Friday last, the payment of £15 for desks and other school furniture for . the Te Awamutu School was sanctioned, and m respect to an application made for the erection of a school at Whata whata, the Secretary was desired to ascertain the particulars - accordance with the regulations. Knights (says /(the. " Herald ") are becoming rare ac public men m New Zealand, where a. short time ago they were so plentiful. Sir Donald McLean and Sir David -Monro . have died, within the last few weeks ;. Sir Julius Yogel has left New Zealand, and will probably never return ; Sir Franois Dillon Bell is out of political life ; so also is, Sir Cracroft Wilson. 'Sir George Grey, Sir R. Douglas, and Sir John Richardson are now the only knights who are members of the Legislature. In this the "Herald " is incorrect ; Sir R. Douglas is not a knight, but a baronet. The Late Race. Ball. —At the request of several persons interested, we give elsewhere some account of the race ball held on the Bight of the 9;h inst. The report would have appeared m th c usual oonrse,' but "as no Press ticket of invitation was "furnished to the office— the usual course where a report is expected—it was taken for. granted that a fuller notice than s'&ch as appeared m our issue of the 10th was. not desired. The UrooN Bank.— Yesterday, Mr Maude, who has been m Hamilton nin-e the end of January, arranging the opening of a branch of the Union Bank of Australia m Hamilton, returned to Auckland, having bean rrelieved by Mr Oharles Laiabley, who will Btationed permanently here as manager. >Mr Laishley, who is the son of an old colonist, the Rev Mr Laishley, has been for many years on the staff of the Union Bank of Australia iv Auckland. Better Soil for the ;growth of vegetables than the light soil about Hamilton could not be had, and as a proof of this, we are annually called upon to chronicle., not gigantic gooseberries, but monster carrots, pumpkins, onions and other vegetables. Mr Gwynne, of the Hamilton Hotel, has thevfinest and most productive, -gardeu m the place, but his friends occasionally send him a present of vegetables, if only to show him that though he can outvie them on the whole, they can beat him m detail. We saw, yesterday, at the Hamilton Hotel, a kit of vegetables which) had been sent there by Mr Hunter, grown down, towards No. 1 bridge, Onions, '.parsnips and carrots, which, for size and quality, especially the firm round white Spanish onions, could not be surpassed. At Mr Lequesne's there was also on exhibit a splendid' specimen of an iron bark pumpkin; weighing 42lbs, grown by Mathew de Vere Hunt, Esq., <Jn newly broken up fern land at Hokunui. Fruit growing, should form one of the standard branches of industry amongst the smaller settlers m Waikato. and would be found to give a considerable addition to the farmer's annual income. At present, little is done m the matter, but it is satisfactory to see signs of progress m this direction. A splendid sample of eating pears, many of which weigh • a pound avoirdupois" each, ■ ripe and luscious, and a tolerably large quantity of eating apples were sent m on Satur. day to the store of Mr Cox, of Hamilton, by the growerMr Johns; whose farm is half way between Ngaruawahia and Hamilton, but though some 5 cwts. altogether of both fruits they -will not last the market a couple of days. Our settlers should look further a-lioad and note what the enterprising American settler is doing. In that country the great markets are supplied with home grown fruit by the hundreds -of thousands of boxes m the course of the season, and m taking up a United States paper m the early part of the fruit -season local paragraphs from country districts are quite common predicting that Judge so and so, or Col. so and-so's orchard will send up five ten or twenty thousand boxes of peaches, or so many barrels of apples during the seajon. There is already m this colony a far larger market -than our local growers supply, and by the time 'the trees now planted will have come into bearing there will he a demand that will send not £30,000 a year away as now to Tasmania -for fruit, but possibly four or five thne3 that amount. The tree onoe planted grows while the owner sleeps, and costs little or nothing, yet their Bhare of the money sent out of the colony* for fruit, if distributed among 'settlers m country districts would do not a little towards increasing the gerieral prosperity. The Servantop THEJFaTUREis found. An orang-outang, is to dress my lady's hair, a troglodyte is to brush my lord's clothes, a gorilla is to superintend my lady's nursery. M Victor Meunier has solved the domestic servant question ; the monkey is to replace tbe man, and, according to this gentleman's showing, the change is to bo greatly to the advantage of masters and mistresses notwithstanding certain inevitable drawbacks. The daily increasing difficulty of finding domesiio Bervauts m Paris fitted for their duties, and not asking higher wages than a moderately well paid governess or tutor, has Set M Meunier thinking. The resu t of his cogitataioris is that things-have come to a crisis, and he boldly proposes to society: to- bring down the able insolence of "the J vailetaille by pressing monkeys into, the service, Mr Meunier assures us that up to the present time his proteges have not been appreciated at their just value. In his opinion, the larger species of monkey, when duly traineJ and taught, would be quite capable of replacing our Johns and Marys, having this advantage over the latter, that they are not 'enlightened,' would require no wages, and could not spread about reports of the little oonjugal skirmishes which occasionally take place m the most united households. In support of M Meunier's startling theory, a naval officer, who has passed many years m Senegal, states that he had n his service an orang-outang whom he had accustomed to various domestic duties, and that these duties were performed m a way that left nothing to be desired. He opened the door for his master's guests waited at table cleaned the boots ; m fact, was a perfect treasure to his master. Another, fortunate possessor of a remarkable fine monkey, relates, as. proof of the superior intelligence of the species, that on one occasion, when, according to his custom, he gave it a letter to post, the animal instead of Betting forth on his errand with his usual agility, remained thoughtfully, gazing at the stamp. 'What is wrong, Garo?' asked his master. The dumb servant continued j}to point to the stamp with his grimey nail. At length his mastr understood— ie had nut a 25c stamp on the letter, which being for Belgium, required 3Cc, I

On Saturday Mr Perkins, of the" "Occidental Hotel, Auckland, opened the new bar and billiard room,' which have been m course of erection during the last few months. The opening was celebrated by a billiard match between Mr Perkins and Mr Miasen, of Hamilton. The new billiard room is the largest m Auckland, and is fitted with two tables — an English one and^ar French one. At nine o'clock the matoh commenced, Mr Perkins giving 100 m a game of 500. The play at first was not very brilliant, Mr Perkins especially hand.ing the cue with much less than his usual dexterity. By.and-bye, however the play improved, and towards the end of the game Mr Perkins made so-ne beautiful strokes, ultimately beating his opponent, Mi- sen, b) 43. At the conclusion of tho match, supper was provided for those present. The London "Echo" says :— " We breath again England, bowled out by the Eleven of Sydney and two wickets to go down, went to Newcastle, New Sonth Wales, and there beat the Newcastle Eleven.' The account is bal lanced, so far, m an International, or to coin a word i Inter. lmperial-Colonial sense. Ib is dear that we shall have the Sydney Eleven over here, just to let them see what can be done at Lord's and on the Oval ground, conscerated by the mighty deeds of Grundy and Wootten, and of the Sbaws with the ball, of Tom Lookyer at the wickets, aud the Graces, tbe Walkers, and the great batsmen whose scores have run up to three figures. There is always a moral m these little events, and defeat is a more useful teacher than success. Who is the proper authority to Beleotand organise an Eleven of England to go to the Antipodes or the New World holding the honour of the Eaglish name, m cricket, m their bands ? How many .elevens should we have at one time? When are we* to have a confederation of the oricket counties, whose. autonomous rights of self-government are now getting a little troublesome ?" A Gounty Councillor's View op Taxation.— ln the Taieri County Council, on January 11, Mr Driver is reported to have sad, that he thought the Assembly had given them too much local power. He thought 4he . whole .policy of the people at Wellington was to Shove all responsibility on to the Counties. In reference to taxation" the speaker said, tint that portion of New Zealand had enjoyed for a number of years, privileges Buoh as no other country had eve enjoyed. The people. had their roads and railroads made, and their bnildings erected, without paying a shilling for taxes. People were continually getti g up and referring to the institutions of America, about which thoy knew nothing. He could tell them that none of the United States, ever enjoyed £1 of the land fund or Customs revenue. The Legislature of any State m the -Union never had a shilling to expend, except what .they taxed themselves for. The sooner they made up their minds thit direst taxation was comfng, the 'sooner they would realise what their future really was to be. He did not believe m the cry that they were going to be mined beoause they were going to be taxed. He thought it would do them a groat deal of good. Fair and even taxation did every community good. The Bed of the Ocean.— lt has been definitely ascertained, that the greatest depth of the ocean does not reach 3,000 fathoms m any. part where telegraphic lines have beeu laid. The bed of the North Atlantic consists of two valleys, the eastern extending from lOdeg to 30deg. W. longitude j the western from 30deg to 50deg. The extreme depth of the eastern valley is under 13,000 feet, which is less than the altitude of Monte Rosa. -This valley has been traced southward to the equator. It is separated from the western valley by a ridge m 30deg. W. longitude, m which the average depth is only i; 600 fathoms. ' This ridge terminates to the north of .Iceland and southward of Azires,; so that it is vol canio m its character at both extremities. Its extreme breadth appears to be under 500 miles, and the Atlantic deepens from it on both sides. Explorations carried on m the Mediterranean, the Red Sea; and the Indian Ocean, showed similar uniformity m the level of the-sea-bottom j and the general conclusions arrived at by Captain Osborn were, that m the deep sea there is an absence of bare rock, and that there are no rough ridges, canons, or abrupt chasms. -Moreover, that the bed of the. deep sea is not .effected, by currents or streams, even by those of such magnitude as the Gulf Stream ; but it rather resembles the prairies or pampas of the American continents, and is everywhere covered with a sort of ooze or mud, the debris of the rlower, forms of organic life. Sir George Grey at the Cape.— The friends of Sir j George Grey— and apart from his character as leader of tha Opposition, he has a host, of admirers, will read the following with pleasure : "In referring .to the rumour that the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope had been offered to ; Sir. George Grey, a correspondent of the "Poverty 'Bay Herald" writes * Talking of Sir George Grey, I was told a very good aneodote of a mat* ter that occurred when he wab 'supremo at the Cape. It appears that the Indian war had then broken out, and the Governor of Madras, or 3om other presidency, not having the means of communicating with England, sent a special vessel to Sir George at the Cape, and implored him if he had any troops there to send them at once as the natives m "the district were very dissaffected, and he feared a general rising, as he had no soldiers to keep them m check. Sir George Grey could not communicate with England otherwise than by leter, as there was no cable m those days, and thinking that ere he could raoeive a reply the Euro peans might be massacred, he took the matter entirely m his own hands. He collected the soldiers, formed two regiments, appointed officers under warrent of his own hand, and sent them across to India. The troops arrived just m time, and the Governor , wrote to Sir George earnestly thanking him for his timely assistance, and statirjg that his promt action had been the means of preventing a ruthless massacre. The Home Government, however, were m a terrible rage at Sir George Grey daring to take so much upon himself, and as the army can only be increased m number by a special vote.of Parliament, he was recalled from the Cape at onoe ; but before he arrived m England the despatch of the Governor to whome he had rendered such timely assistance had been received, and Sir George Grey was met when he landed, by some Under Secretary who seemed surprised to see him m England (as it appears Sir George Grey's dismissal had been cancelled, and a letter m a special boat bad been sent to the Cape to stop him, but had evidently arrived too late), and wished Sir George to return at once, and as quickly as possible. But the; old gentleman was as obstinate as he is now, and he refused to return until he had ( had it out' with the Colonial Office, and he got the best of it too, for he was reinstated with full honors, and a man-of-war was despatched specially to bear him to the Cape. The above is vouohed for by the person who narrated it to me, as he stated he had seen and read the whole correspondance."

Railway Charges. — The "Star" commends the following exfcraordinarv facts to the attention of tbe Railway Commission now sitting; — "Sir, — A few , weeks ago a young person lived with a respectable family m the Waikato m the capacity of cook, and as a necessary companion, she possessed a cookery book, not an expensive but a servicable one. The young woman met with an accident, broke her leg, and was m . consequence sent to the Provincial Hospital. She wanted her cookery book, which she had left behind her. It was sent to the Auckland station, and yesterday tho book was sent for, m the folowing terms : ♦Please let me know if there is a book left at the station addressed to Miss -. If so, can she have the same by sending an order for it.— E Henry " The answer was, "Yes, by sending the | sum of eleven shillings and sixpence* which you can pay under protest.— J;M. H. This is a remarkable charge for the carriage of a half-crown 'cookery book from Mercer, and whioh th - 9 cook is quite unable to pay. Surely matters are not what they ought to be on our railway: The cook's only hope of gettmg her bosom friend is a possible ohance of re-purchasing it one of these day* at Messrs Oochrane's auction rooms for eighteen-pence.— 1 am, etc., E.Hi" Forest Trees.— ln our last issue we dre.v attention to the value of forest trees as a crop for land not suitable for ordinary cultivation, Since then we have fallen upon the following which bears somewhat more closely on the subject. What is wanted^ t o be known is, how soon may the aboriculturalist look for a money return for his outlay ? What kind of timber combines early maturity with good marketable value? and what would be a fair average return m so many years ? Practipal reliable information on this point is wanted, and if it were favourable to the planter the additional bonus of £4. per acre now .offered by the Government m land for every acre planted with trees, according to the regulations published m our issue of Saturday, would induce many to enter on the work. The. following is the extract from a Middle Island paper to* whioh we refer above >.— "A correspondent of the Boston ■« Cultivator' gives his experience m the growth of forest trees. Norway spruce and Scotch larch were -planted, and m nine years the spruce trees were 15 feet high, with 12 feet spread of top. In 14 years the larch was 30 feet high, with a spread of 20 feet, and a circumference of four feet at the base. ■ One larch was 40 feet high m 17 years. Silver maple trees planted m 1864 are now 35 feet high and seven to ten inches m diameter at the base. Elms- planted, m 1856 now range from 30 to 40 feet high, and are 15 inches m diameter. From my own experience, I find that trees grow quite as rapidly m this country as they do m ■ America if the preceding account can-betaken as an illustration. In my garden the puriri and the English oak are keeping about the. same height, having reached some 18 ft iii about ten years. Last year I had the first lot of acorns. And speaking of oaks, no better tree could be grown as ehelter from the sun for sheep. If three or four were m the corners of paddocks, m the course of a tew years they would afford mosb desirable shade. It is pleasing to know that settlers m various localities are raising oaks from the acorns. Care should be taken of the young and tender plantß, so that they are not destroyed. A settler up north who located himself a few years ago on a farm consisting of open land, rather poor m character, can boast now of timber enough for firewood and other purposes. Very wisely, as he brougib his land into cultivation, -be planted clumps of gum trees,whioh have grown vigorously. Let those settlers who are living on open land, and who for want, of firewood are almost starved to death m winter, go and do likewise. An ounce of good gum seed ought to give upwards of a thousand trees."