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Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 751, 10 April 1877, Page 2

. QJhe .OHLcpo : Oattlk Sale takes place to-day, as will be s^eu a number of youug cattle ;are'otiej ing, also woikiuy bullocks and farm implements.

Til AwAMUTff CaTALRT VOLUNTEERS* — Tne halt-)eaily drill season has wel ni^h come r< uud a_ain. A notice appear® froiu the officer couiuaaDdiug tht»t it wir COQiiheupe on ilay the tit st.

Tenders for the erection of an eightrooriii d house in Hamilton West are called for, and will be received till noon of Saturday next. Plans aud specifications may be seeu a: Mr Gel ing'a office.

Timbhe FOR. Watkato. —We understand that ttie Waikaio Steam Navigation Company expect to shortly receive from the Kaipara a consignment of 50,000 feet of timber, all heart of kauri.

- A Wellington . contemporary aays that the Hutt railway bridge is sinking seriously, and the Orona, VVanganui, and railway bridges, although barely out of the contractor's hands, are already found to require strengthening.

Gunsmith. — Mr H. Webber's advertisement will be found elsewhere, notifying that he has obtained a liceuße us gunemitb, and ia prepared to execute all kind of general blacksmiths work and repair machinery.

Prize Onions — There where last week left at our office some fine specimens of, the white Spanish oaioua grown by Mr McNichol, of Ohaupo. Ihey measured thirteen inches in circumference ani weie well jirowu shapely vegetables. We are keepiug the in until some one sends a fat) sucking pig or goods ior us to samp 1. .

Caiholio Soibee. — It is intended, we learn to hold a soiree at Taupiri on Tm-sday the Ist of May neit iu aid of the building of the new Catholic Church lately erected in that distract. The new church is a han-isome building for its size built in the gothic style and calculated to comfortably seat aomo 70 to 80 persons.

The New StaMer Waipa, built at Ngaruawahia for the Waikato Steam Navigation Company, will run down to Mercer to-morrow taking tbe place of the "Waikato," which vessel will be laid up for a short time. We notice that the late rains have had the effect of making an appreciable rise in the river, and as the "Wai^a" ia of light araught the danger of grounding is^we suppose, now over for the soason.

The Soldiebs Geavfs at Te Waiare. — A writer in Saturday's ' Herald ' su>s : '< X nonce a eonvsp mdunt at the v\ aiKA.TO Times b is canel the attention < f Ihe authorities to the neglected state <>f the yrayi S of the soldiers killed at Te \Vaiarn. I have bear'l mai>y strong rein irks made on the fca>ne sut>j j cr. L uni credibly iuf >rm d thit five aces of ground nu which ara the «r*ve-i, was ui^deafrae grant by the Govtrnm-nt, ou cnufiition lhat the graves were kept in proper repair.. It ia to be h.-pe<l th-t the gtn'lemaii ou who e prop ru iii>.-y are will now see the advisability of putting an iron railiug rountl ttiem, so as to efTejtuallyprotectthemfr..nidaraageyhig caitle in th- i f ature. Tub exjje ••'e would ba but trifi ng in comparison t> the value of the laud by the Uoverument lor their proper mainteneuce. ..„....,.

A Startling- -Announcement, and an interesting oue to the fare sex, is that marie by J Moses in our advertising columns that he is now showing his first shipment of wiuter drapery. Our wives and daughters will now be rescued from the awkw.ard position in which miny of tli m feared they would be placed of "haying nothing to ware" during the winter season. . .

The New. Bane Buildings, Hamilton.—Yesterday men were busily engaged in removing shrubs, levelling, aud otherwise preparing for laying the foundations of the new buildings to be erected on the Victoria street frontage of Bank acre in Hamilton West. The date for receiving the tenders for the erection of Messrs Buird and Co 's new buildings has been extended to the 18th init.

A Clerical Calf. — A charming instance of that " vice of the pulpit, verbosity" — and it must be added of ignorance — is reported from the midlands. A town clergyman preaching there in a country parish, took for his theme the parable of the prodigal son. "Remember," he said, " this was no ordinary oalf that was to be killed ; it was no oalf suffering from murrain j no half-starved calf slowly awaiting death. No, nor was it only a fatted calf. It was the fatted calf, which had been prized and loved in the familyj/or many yearsl"

Applications to Register. — We understand that not nure than about thirty applications to be placed on the electoral roll of either district, Waipa, or Waikato had b<jen received by the Registration Officer np to the 31st ultimo. Considering the number of changes of residence and property during the past twelvemonths and of new arrivals in both >lintriots, it does not look as though the privilege of the franchise was much valued. A thorough purging of the electoral rolls may cause a fdw to fiad when too late that it would have been as well to have re- registered.

Educational. — At the meeting of the Central Board on Tuesday last, Mr Busby, of the Alexandra school appealed against the decision of the Dist iot

school Committee in dismissing him from the office of teacher The Chairman Mr D jVI Luckie, and Colonel Haultaiu, were appointed a committee to procee I in aeordanee with Bection 22 of the Act. For the iVgahiuipuri sohjaj £17 17a was i;rauted for school fiuiugs aud outbuildings. It was agreed that applications sliould be made Co the Government for a suitable site for a school at Whabawhata, and Mr W H Pooley'a appointment, as tn*cher to the Waitoa School was sanctioned, subjact to the lusptobor's approval.

Two PRISONERS committed from the Hamilton Court to the present sessions of the Supreme Court in Auckland, have been discharged as " Not guilty." Oue was Doyle, mentioned in our telegrams of Friday evening as having been acquitted on the charge of setting fire to a small building at Piako ; tha other is Colville, of Cainbri Ige, captured by Detective Jeffrey in Auckland, charged with stealing inaney from an ex-Constabulary man, at Noble's Hotel at Taupo. The Judge in discharging the latter prisoner, told him he had had a narrow escape, as the case was one of great suspicion.

Auckland Sat opon.— According to the Major of Auckland. Wellington, taat 'H..y_of biud- boxes, doea not Jo e a uhauca < f injuring ita naturally more fa^oiably en lowed rival, tne ooinindrcial capital of the INorbh Island. I u reftreuca t> the census retuins, the Mayor drew attention t ■> the unfair way in which the Aucklind census returns were made out ia Wellington, and compared with those of other town* ia the colony. The death-rate was grossly exaggerated, the effect of which *ould be to leud people at a distance to think that Auckland wa9 a very anhealthy place, whereas it was the healthiest city in New Zealand. Iu fact the whole of the Auckland returns as made up from time to time by the Government were incorrect. Arrangements were being made by him to have a census taken of the number of houses contained in the borough, and its popul ition.

The Sparrow nuisanob in Wai. kaxo. — Very general cornel lints are coming to hand, now that grass sowiug is going on, of the ravages committed by the sparrows, whiuh no longer in twos ml tnrees but in flocks of hundreds at a time sweep down upon the uewly sown lands. The miachiei will have to be met aud that speedily. To wait for any decision for or against the sparrow by the Acc.imatißation Society is simply futile. Away from homesteads their destruction safe and easy by meaia of poisoned grain thinly scattered so that as little as possible may be left for pheasants or other birds coming after them, The Alexandra correspondent in tbe "Herald" of Saturday last says :— " The sparrows are uow in flocks, numbering their hundreds all over the country where there is any cultivation going on. A large increase of grain per acre will have to be aown next season, or a very little grain will be left to be reaped."

Cambridge R.M. Court. — There were no criminal cases, and little on the civil side of interest. H ICeeley v Geo, Henson, claim £3 10s for wages, adjourned with costs to next Court Day. Judgments for plaintiffs : — E Hewitt v J Cluue, £1 2s 6d for board aud lodging ; Suuiuei Bnght v Ohas Gilea, £1 15s debt ; Heury Ashtr v William Revell, £3 0s 4 1 debt ; A Isaacs v Geo bmitbers, £2 8s 3d debt. A nonsuit was recorded iu the case of C Wylie v F J Lawrence, claim £iy 19s lid debt. Tue hearing of a judgment debt case by tue same p aiotiff v Geo Clune was adj umed till next court day. In the case of Jfidward Hewitt v C E Madden, a judgment debt of £15 2s 61., the Court ordered defendant to pay iu monthly installments of £5, the first payment to be made within 14 days, or three mouths imurisonmeut.

The Proposed Change in the Constabulary Force. — We are glad to see an iwble Seutfcem journal, such as the 'Lyttelton Times, 'thus advocating the case of the confiscated, districts : — "lt is our bard fate not to be able to receive the happy intelligence of the anticipated saving of £30,000 per annum with unalloyed pleasure. It is obvious, from the terms of the proposed arrangement, that ilns re luctiou wiU be almost altogether made in the present Armed Constabulary, and not in the new police. The sum mentioned represents at least 250 men, ann it is a matter, in our opinion, o( grave doubt whether an immediate reiluction to that e^f.ent of specially trained men, is advisable in the present circumstances of tin- c ilony. The nalire difficulty iiis by no means extinct, and ni'iy vet, uive u-t g^at trouble. In spite of Pollcnian ooli-*!:, our relations to tlie native race in many parts of the Nortu Ismnd are not very sitisfuotory. Is it wise, then, by a lar^e r-'ductiou in the hvaa, wincu we have at gr.-at c-st and with great i rouble sncsr-ss ully forme,!, io t:-uipt ihe recu rence of native disturbances, and at the same tiiuo lessen ou> ul>il>ky i.q pub them down ? Economy, u;:Vler such condition*, will probably be exf.nv >;atice The mjrjil of the eveuis of 1865 and 18G6 shoui'd nut be forgotten. Wo tiro now, ii is true, in an infinitely butter posi ion than we w>.ra in th :ii to copo with native outbreak, bnfc in out, lying districts we have many vulnerable

points, and any prevalent sense of insecurity there, aad the recurrence of guerilla warfare, would b^ disastrous to the colouy. No doubt, reduction may be made, but it should be made with caution and by degrees. And the greatest care should betaken, 'that wo may not be left in any future emergency to rely altogether on raw recruits. We should, for our own sake, treat with liberality our present trained officers and men, but we fear there ig no disposition to do so. A Budden and arbitrary disband ment of a large body of them may shortly entail irreparable ov«l."

Carlyle is reported to have written to a friend : — " A. good 6ort of man is this Darwin, and well-meaning, but with very little intellect. Ah, it's a sad, a terrible thing to see nigh a whole generation of men aud women, professing to be cultivated lookiug round in a purblind fashion, and finding no God in this universe. I suppose it is a reaction from the reign of cant and hollow pretence professing to believe what, in fact, they do not believe. Aad this is what we have to do. All things from frog spawn ; the gospel of dirt the order of the day. The older I grow — and 1 now stand upon the brink of eternity -t ie more comt-s back to me the sentence in the catechism which I learned when a child, and tje fuller and deeper its meaning beo mes, ' What ia the chief end of man ? To glorify God, and enj.»y him for ev«r ' No gospel of dirt, teachiug that men have descended from frogs, through monkeys can ever set that aside."

AOOLIRUTISATION SOCIETIES AND THBIR Pests. — A. correspondent of oue of the Christchurch papers complains bitterly of the ravages of hares, rabbits, and imported birds, and thus concludes his letter :— " I veoture to predict that before many years have elapsed, the curst: acclimatisation societies have been to JSew Zealand will bo fully recognised It seems intolerable that men otherwise harmless, indeed useful! colonists, should have banded together to attain an object that is fast destroying the resources <<f the colony, and yet have rendered them selves liable to no penalty, while poor Jolin Smith, for such a trivial offence as losing his equilibrium is fiaed 2<)s, or the option of forty-eight hours. Io may be taking somewhat too utilitarian, a view, but nevertheless I think the Legislature should (if it does not see fib to abolish these societies) pass a law forbidding th<introduction of auything that eats gra n, fruit, or gra>s unless it produces something of a marketable value commensurate with what it eats. One cuiuut predict what mad things even laud >wners will do. There id some excuse for Cockney sp rtsmen who wish to keep their game on other people's land. For instance, I have got a crotchety neighbor, who*e proper spuere of Ufa is that of an owner o£ a menagerie, who once brought two liv foxes on to his property, with a view of turning them adritc ; buc fortunately juso in time that was forbiddeu by law. He next procured a deer, but that a neighbor ate, bo that was a 1 right. Just at present he is concerting measures to obtain a fresh supply of deer, also half a dozen pairs of hares. A. mau like this id worse than an incendiary ; aud so the sooner the liberating vermin is prohibited under a heavy penalty, ihe Detter for tue colony. '

A Maori "Wedding.— An interesting Maori Marriage took place (says the 'Church Gtz tte') afc St John's, Waimate, on March 2. The parlies were ttiohar.t Otainuta, (bettor known as Riki or Dt>k) and i)eborah Whataparoa, daughter of a chief in the neighbourhood. The ceremony was performed by Arch deacon Clarke, assisted by Revs M Taupaki ana it P Tuua. The service was choral— vary hearty, the organ being played by Miss Stuart. Mr Marsdon Clarke gave away tho bri le. The bride-i-ntered very heartily into the service, taking an audiulo part iu the chanting, as w=ll as a p.oper interest ia what specially concerned himself. The bride, too, was perfectly self- possessed — did not simper, but spoke out; as if quite iu earnest. She evidently appreciated tne exhortation to .husbands as delivered by Rev ti P Tauu ; but when he came to speak of the duties of wives, which he did with deliberation and emphasis, the burden laid upon her was greater than she could bear. The sense ot hep lesponsibiliiies was so overpowering that she sank forwards on the communion rail, and had to be supported during the remainder of the service. It was edifying to see the resolution with which tue bridegroom and his best man, one on either side, held up that drooping form (no slight one) whilst the clergym-in, relendesly, and with apparently greater deliberation, explained her duties to the only-half conscious being before him. JSome ill-natured persons attribute the ca'astrophe lo the sompression she had been subjected to at the fair bauds of the pakeha young ladiei who had attired her for the occasion. A cup of cold water and the assiduous and tender tanning oi her devoted husband Boon restored the fainting bride sufficiently to enable her to hold the clergyman's hand while he signed her name in the regi ter. The party then adjourned to the Mission house, where brea fast had been provided for forty. Tho • kai ' censistid of a huge ortho iox wedding cake, anj quantity of tarts, bivad >md and jam, &c, and tea ab lib. The health of tho h ippy pair was proposed by tin Arciidencon aud 'eaten' in weddtng cake. In lih remarks the host epoke of the pleasure it gave him thus to show his appreciation (if the conduct of hia fanh;ul travailing companion, the bridegroom, who, for the last ien years, had accompanied him on his j jurueys, extending in that period to several thousand miles. After breakfast, the party went over to the hostelry for a Maori dinner, and epenfc the remai-ider of the d.-iy, not in dancing or other proh'tiesu amusement, but in earning an honest penny by working in tbe potatj field of a pakeha well- wisher.