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Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 887, 28 February 1878, Page 2

Thb News feok Europe becomes more and more interesting, though it would be only time wasted to attempt to argue the results of agreeing to any such demands as those now made upon Turkey by Russia. The amount of the money indemnity is simply an absurdity, so, too, is the proposal to take possession of the Turkish iron-clad fleet, and the tributes paid by Egypt to the Porte, on which Great Britian already has a lien. The money indemnity is utterly , beyond the power of such a state aa Turkey to redeem, and the British nation must be blind indeed if it allow fleet or tribute to paw»to the fwds of Rueui-W g^ 9

i .-lodging of its resources by Turkey could only mean one ultimate result, f ilnre to wit' i ■ he. obligation, and the alternative of nation il .-tbsorption into the greater powyi-. SV'e have, however, received so many no-omits of moves made by the one power and Mounter moves put forward by the other to defeat them, of advances and forced retreats, that we can look on nothing as final till the " check mate " comes, or the game is declared a drawn one. To morrows telegrams or 'to-days ' may bring us the intelligence that Russia has toned down her ''demands m this respect aud withdrawn them m the other, till the terms come to bear quite a different signification. Rye-Gbass Seed. — MrR. D. L. Duffus advertises 300 bushels of Waikato-grown rye-grass at seven shillings and sixpence per bushel. Twenty Miles op Fencing. — To-day is the last on which tenders for fencing the Te Akau estate will be received by Mr McLeod. Notice of the times and places of holding the Assessment Courts for the several districts of the comity of Raglan appear m an advertisement elsewhere. Coursing. — A proclamation allowing the coursing of hares m the provincial district of Canterbury between the Ist of May and 31st of July appears m the . c Gazette ' of the 14th inst. Lunatic. — Yesterday morning George Pennyfield was brought before W. N. Searancke, Esq., R.M., at the Police Court, Hamilton, and on the evidence of Drs Carey and Waddington committed to the asylum as a lunatic. Messrs J. D. and K. Hill will hold theu- regular fortnightly produce and furniture sale on Saturday next, at their Mart, Victoria Street, Hamilton, and will also offer for sale one of the most valuable acre lots m West Hamilton. The Right Revd. the Loed Bishop op Dunedin, Dr Moran, who is also Catholic administrator of the Auckland diocese, arrived m Auckland on Monday night by the s.s. Wanaka, and was met by several of the local clergy. Messes Hunter and Nolan will hold their usual monthly sale of cattle, sheep, and horses afc the Ohaupo yards this day, when some twenty head of beef will be offered for sale. The other stock comprises some 200 head of all sorts. The Waikato County Council has appointed Captain McPherson of Hamilton to be Inspector of slaughter houses witiun the county of Waikato for the purpose of enabling the Council to carry out the provisions of the Slaughter House Act 1877. Abolition op Tolls on Waikato Bridge. — In a ' Gazette' published on the 14th inst. a notice appears under the hand of Col. Whitmore, the minister acting for the Minister for Public "Works, cancelling and abolishing the scale of tolls for the Waikato Bridge, Ngaruawahia. which was fixed m December last. The notice takes effect on and after to-morrow the Ist March. Election op School Committees'. — The meetings of householders for the election of school-committees, for the districts of Cambridge, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, Ohaupo, and Pukerimu, take place to-day; that for Hautapu, to-morrow. On Saturday, the meetings of electors for Alexandra. Harapepe, Kihikihi, Ngahinapouri, Paterangi, Rangiaohia, Rangiriri, Te Awamutu, and Waitoa districts, will he held. The elections at Ngaruawahia and Whatawhata take place on Monday. The Wobld, of the 12th December, published the following. It will be observed that the first event has como off : — " A dealer on the stock exchange has the following twelve events written on the front page of his jobbing-book. He says they are sure to come off within the next six months, and he is even sanguine about them doing so m the ordor named:— Ist. 'Death of the Pope/ 2nd. 'Civil war m France.' 3rd. 'Retreat of the Russians into Roumania.' 4th. ' Repudiation of Egyptian debt.' sth. ' Bank rate 5 per cent.' 6th. ' Bank rate 6 per cent.' 7th. 'Russian 6 per cent loan for £25,000,000.' Bth. 'Ultramontane disturbance m Gsrmany.' 9th. ' German armies on the French or Austrian frontier — perhaps, both.' 10th. ' 2 per cent rise on Bank rate, to 8 per cent.' 11th. 1 ' General European war.' 12th. • ' RusI sian Government pay their dividends on paper.' " The Maobi Mubdebebs. — Discussing the possible arrest of the several murderers at present sheltered m the King country, the 'Post' states that the Premier held no communication with Te Kooti during the recent ministerial progress. But, says the ' Post,' it would be a grievous failure of justice should a bloodthirsty miscreant like Te Kooti — a midnight slayer of women and children, a very Nana Sahib of New Zealand — escape the punishment of his crimes. Nor should the other murderers; whose crimes possess little or no political significance, escape being brought to justice. Puru Kurutu, the murderer of Sullivan, Nuku, the slayer of Todd, and Winiata, who killed Packer, should all, if possible, be brought to trial and punishment. Sir George Grey has already obtained a certain footing aud influence with the Maori King. Let v. hope he will exert it, m order to obtain the delivering up of these murderers to justice. We were aware that Tarapipipi was ill at his settlement, for many natives have left Tauahere, and the upper country to visit the old chief m his affliction during the last few days. We now learn from the * Thames Advertiser ' that Dr Payne and Mr G. T. Wilkinson returned from Tarapipipi's settlement on the Piako oh Saturday morning, where the doctor had gone m response to a telegram from the Hon. the Native Minister to administer relief to the chief, who lies dangerously ill. The doctor found Tarapipipi surrounded' by • the principal Ohinemuri chiefs. He was man exceedingly weak state, suffering from inflamation of the brain, aggravated by a general stoppage of the secretions. He has not been able to retain any food upon his stomach for the past six weeks. The inflammation has spread to his ears, and as a consequence he has been quite deaf for a forinight. On his arrival at the settlement, the doctor found that a doctor had been sent from Hamilton by Mr Whitaker, but had left before Dr Payne's .arrival. No good resulted from his visit, for the patient grew worse. A messenger had been sent to the King for a new form of prayer and special incantations. These arrived during the doctor's stay. The chiefs met m conclave, and the decision arrived at was that aa it would take four days for the charms to work, the doctor be requested to return m four or five days, bringing with him everything m the way of medicine or diet that would possibly tend to the patient's' recovery, and likewise to be prepared to prolong his visit for about a week. The doctor informed them that he thought he would be able to do some good if allowed to administer to the patient at once. He even essayed to explain the proper procedure under the circumstances, but although the matter was lucidly explained by Mr G. T. Wilkinson m choice Maori lore, they failed to comprehend tho exact design of the pakeha medicine man, and, .as a consequence, the doctor's well-meant offer met with a somewhat rude rebuff. It is very probable that ere the term allowed for the exhaustion of the King's charms has expired, the great Piako chief Tarapipipi wilj huta j?«»wl fcoi» Jilt unto doat^ r

The Rev C. Bice 'will, we understand, officiate at the Holy Trinity Church, Ngaruwahia, on Sunday next, and the Rev H. Penny will assist at St. Peter's, Hamiltou. j It is humoured iv Wellington tha c Mr John Martin, merchant of that city, will be offered a seat m the Upper House, ■ now that the Hon Mi* [Rhodes is dead. Mr Martin, it is thought j would represent commercial interests tp. ; the Legislative Council.' , Bablow's Circus attracted a large audience both on Tuesday night and again last night. The performances of the fairy ponies — Butterfly and Selim — were much admired, and the performing dogs and monkeys were especially attractive to tho more youthful portion of the audience. Our young friend Roma, whose riding was so much admired on the occasion of Barlow's flrst visit to Hamilton, was the life of the performance, uniting m his own person clown, acrobat, and equestrian. His riding was really splendid, and Ms acrobatic performances, skilful as they were, became almost painful to witness.. Possibly the lad's bones have beeu taken out m infancy, and a composition- of india-rubber has been nm into their place. On no other supposition can we understand the possibility of the series of; bodily contortions, the cleverness of which drew down the applause of the house. The I company performs to night and to-morroW night at Cambridge Compulsory Education. — The ' Poverty Bay Standard' says: — " When our school committees have been elected under the new Education Act, one of their first duties will be to decide whether the compulsory clauses shall be put m force. The State now gives free education to all, that none may be excused upon the plea of poverty. It makes educatiou secular, m order that school teachers shall not interfere with jthe duties of ministers of religion, who might naturally be supposed to feel indignant at any attempted usurpation of their great privilege ; it allows committees to make it compulsory that all children between a certain ago and below a pertain standard of education shall attend one or other of the public schools. We trust that these compulsory clauses will be enforced, at least so far as Gisborne is concerned. The larrikin element is rapidly developing itself m our town, and, for the greater number, the larrikins are those who do not attend school. If parants neglect the duty they owe to the State,itis only right they should pay the penalty the State directs to be inflicted. Parents will keep' their children from school for many reasons. In some cases, a child is useful at home ; m others, the boy or •girl may earn a few shillings weekly m service; m others, again, parents are altogether indifferent whether their children receive any education or not. All such excuses and neglects must not be admitted. Shop lads, who cannot read, write, and ciphjr, must be taken from their employments and sent to school. Young girls must be dealt with m the same way. Laws deal with people who allow filth to collect on their premises and m their back yards, m order to prevent disease and pestilence. An uneducated youth makes the pestilent man, the scourge of society, the inmate of prisons, the denizen of the poor-house, and the corrupter of moral- . These evils must not be permitted to exist where there is a power to prevent them. We hope, then, our local committee will not flinch from doing its duty, and will, without fear, favor, or affection, enforce the compulsory clauses of the Education Act. Thb Loafer m the Street, writing to the 'Canterbury Press,' says: — "It is j reported that, in-;.a district within the boundaries of our late province, the far- | mers made up their minds to net the sparrows m clap nets. They, accordingly, set to work, and, at the end of the morning's work, along a line of gorse fence, they computed the number of birds secured to be about 150 brace, which Farmer No. 1, on his side of the fence, disposed of by wringing their necks, while Farmer No. 2, on the other side, operated on his -birds by tearing their ■heads off. During the afternoon, two ' passed that way — the one who proceeded along the path of Farmer No. 1 discovering numbers of dead sparrows, with their necks wrung ; the other, along the path of Fanner No. 2, picking up many headless birds. In the evening, the fact waa discussed m the Maori pah, m reference to the large find of dead sparrows and the particular mode m which the birds had met death at each side of the gorse fence m question. Finally, a meeting was held at the big house, when the I Maoris therein assembled came to the unanimous conclusion that the sparrows must have fought a great battle, and that the Russians had decapitated the Turkish dead. This decided the argument. The question was asked if the dead were fit for kaikai (food) ? This was about being decided m the negative, when a tatooed chief, with much dignity of bearing, sug- I gested that a trial out to be made. There was an elderly lady m a whare, close to ; approaching " that bourne from which no traveller returns," and she might decide. the question. If she lived, the sparrow would be good kaikai, and if she died it. wouldn't matter. This proposition was agreed to. Some of the birds were cooked, and served up to her ladyship, who seemed, if anything, to revive after her meal, and now the Maoris ot these parts are on the look out for sparrow kaikai.