The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1071, 6 May 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. Hero shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

TnE Proposed Special Settlement. — In the report of the Auckland Waste Land Board's meeting of Friday, we find the following :— " Mr G? V. Stewart, writing in reference to his application for land (published some ten days ago in the Waikato Times), for a special settlement on the western side of the Waikato and Waipa rivers, gives staastics of improvements effected in Katikati, and asked that if the land for which he now applied was not at present available the Board would give such an expression of opinion and recommendation to the Hon. the Minister of Lands as Avould facilitate arrangements for entering into nogotiations to settle the same or some other blocks of land which may be available for the purpose of such special settlement. The statistics of Katikati improvements furnished is as follows : — Value of houses and buildings, £12,000 ; fencing and grass, £10,000 ; drainage, planting, and miscellaneous, £2000— £24,000. Three years ago these lands were a wilderness of fern. — It was agreed to inform Mr Stewart that the land is not under the control of the Board, and the following letter was sent in reply to application : — " Crown Lands Office, May 2, 1879. Sir,— l have the honor to inform you that the Waste Lands Board are unable to accede to the request contained in your letters of the 17th ult. and Ist inst. respectively, and for the following reasons, viz., : That as the law stand at present there is no power to set apart lands for special settlement purposes. Further, I beg to state, at the instance of the Board, that the block applied for is not at present subject to their -administration, nor are they, I am to add, prepared to make the recommendation solicited in the concluding part of your letter of yesterday's date. I have Seo., D. A. Tole, Commissioner of Crown Lands. Two of the blood mares lately imported by Mr R. H. D. Fergusson passed through Hamilton on their way home yesterday. They arrived from Auckland by the mid-day train, having come up from Napier to Auckland on Saturday. , They had been down to Napier on a visit to the stallion Patriarch, and have, it is said} returned in foal to that horse. On Saturday morning the Taupo chiefs at Alexandra presented an address to the Premier and Native Minister. They expressed their loyalty, and went over the , boundaries of their territory, extending in the centre of the island from Waikato by Tongariro to Wanganui. They declared : that all this country was open ; that they would give lands for townships, and they ] desired that the railway whioh was to go from Auckland to Wellington should pass through then* country. Sir George Grey replied, saying that he woidd keep their requests in mind. Mu Jas. Buchaxax, the travelling agent for the New Zealand Government Insurance Department is now iu Hamilton, and ready to take the life of any man, woman, or child, who comes across his path. Our readers will find the advertisement announcing his visit in another column. Lime Light Exhibition Cambridge. — A Lime Light Exhibition with dissolving views, diversified by vocal and instrumental music, will take place this even- ' ing in the public hall Cambridge, in aid of the fund for providing prizes and amusements for the children attending the Cambridge Publio School. Death op MathewDe Vere Hunt Esq* — We regret to announce the death of Mr Mathew De Vere Hunt of Hokonui who died yesterday, afternoon at 3 o'clock. Mr Runt who died of dropsy had been for some weeks given over by his medical attendant. He was an old settler and much respected in the distrtct and doubtless his funeral which leaves Hokonui for East Hamiltan at noon to day, and will arrive about 3 p.m., willbe largely attended. Mrs Hardinge Britten, at a meeting of friends, made the following extraordinary statement : — " When a child she was a noted somnambulist, and there never was a time within her recolection when she was free from visits of angelic forms. Having an extraordinary voice, she was taken to Paris, where she studied in the Conservatoire of Music. The progress she made there was a great surprise to her teachers, hut it was all owing to her invisible companions, under whose directions she wrote her tasks in her sleep. She knew nothing of mathematics, but, when in 'a somnambulistic state, she solved the most difficult problems. Her spirit friends deprived her of her powers as "a singer, and trained her to the platform. When she spoke she was utterly under their control. All of the education she possessed, she owed to the blesd beings she believed to be the spirits of just men made perfict." At the Waste Lands Board on Friday the Crown Lands Ranger furnished a report of the improvements effected by the Waikato Steam Navigation Company on their lots at Newcastle (Ngaruawahia), and the buildings they had erected, together with a rough plan of the same, _ r I * T Y a * agreed, subject to the approval of His Excellency the Governor, to offer the lots for sale, burdened with the improvements. Mr Robert Muir applied to lease three small islands in the Waikato River, situated near Rangiriri. Tho Board declined to deal with these islands.

Katikati Settlement. —Mr G. V. I Stewart reported to tho last meeting of tho Waste Lands Board, that he hud completed the amount of improvements on his selection at Katikati, and asked that his Crown Grant might issue. It was agreed to recommend that the Crown Grant should issue. The Otago sheep reports show about 3,500, 000 sheep in the whole of that provincial district, being a decrease of nearly 150,000 on last yoar, accounted for by losses mainly attributable to the snow storms of last winter. The meat preserving establishments consumed 24,500 during tho year. Tke Ohaupo School.— Quite a discussion took place at the Board of Education on Friday, on an application being made for a teacher's residence at Ohaupo. The Inspector, in reply to questions, said the teacher had no place to lodge, except at the public house. The erection of a school building would, probably, cost £300. The teacher is a single man. It was one of the urgent cases, because it was very undesirable that the teacher should havo no place to lodge, except at tlio publichouse,—Mr Peacock: The erection of schools should be the first care of the Board. Was it necessary to .put up a house that would cost £300 or -£350 for the accommodation of a singlo man. tit would be better to communicate with the local committee, and ask for information as to what accommodation would be required.—Colonel Hauitain: There have been two sums of £18,000 voted for school buildings, &c, for this and next year. We have been allowed tO incur liabilities against tho £18,000 for the next year, and we have incurred liabilities against it to the extent of £11,000. — Mr Dargaville: I think we should expend the money voted for the objects of the vote where the necessity for the expenditure is urgent. I think there is no doubt we will get an addition to the grant if it is required. Look at the South— there you see magnificent schools, magnificent teachers' residences, and I had almost said magnificent teachers. (A laugh.) Of course we must expend the money for the purposes we received it, and the only consideration should be, whether the work was necessary. I quite agree that it is very undesirable we should allow our teachers to reside in publichouses. Then as regards Ohaupo itself, it is a rising district -it has all the elements of permanence about it ; it jwiU steadily increase in population, and the necessity for a residence for the teacher would appear to be indicated by the prospective advancement of the locality. Depend Upon it, if you dot expend the money to the extent of the authority given you, it will be said when-a further vote is asked, — " You have not been able to expend the money you had." I think it is disgraceful to have to ask people how much they would subscribe towards a school. It was well known that this part of the coleny had not received anything like its fair share of the public funds for this purpose as for others. I move that the application be granted. — Mr Peacock : We are here, I think, to administer publio funds to the best of our ability and as economically as possible. I do not think it is desirable we should outrun our means.— The Chairman : It might happen we would be placed in a position that next year we should have nothing. That would he very undesirable. — Mr Peacock: I will move an amendment, "That the committee be requested to state what will be the cost to the Board and the amount of accommodation that will be required." Mr May: I will second the amendment. If power were given the Board to overdraw; that power should be exercised with care. I know several places where a residence for the teacher is equally, if not more urgent. There is Panmure, for instance, with a very considerable population. — MrTLuke : I know several cases where residences for tho teachers are quito as much needed. There is Stokes' Point, for instance, where the teacher has nearly a mile to walk to the school in all weather, and over unmetalled roads. Hew many schools are there in this district which have not teachers' residences connected with them ? The Secretary : There are 198 schools, and of that number only 58 have teachers' residences connected with them. — Mr Moat : I know cases where the school teacher is obliged to take up his quarters with large families in very small houses. — After some further discussion, the amendment was carried. Traveller No. 2 writes as follows : — "Sh*,— C A Traveller' writers to the 'Herald' the other day respecting the uifair way the superintendent of the Raglan and Waipa Road contract acted by supplying trade to the natives employed on the works, to the injury of storekeepers in the district ; hut I think he should have gone further, and stated how unfairly the works have been carried on throughout. As an instance, the contract for the bridges was given to a friend, his not heing the lowest tender. By plan and specifications strap bolts were to be used to all the bridges, but they have been dispensed with at a sav ing to the contractor of about £30. That, with the extra price given for the work, makes a difference to the public purse of £60. If the whole of the public works are carried on in the same loose manner, there is not much to be said for the Government on the score of economy." A special meeting of Hamilton Highway District Board was held on Saturday. Present: Messrs S. Steele, Atkinson, Brown and Edgecumbe The engineer reported with reference to the contract for bridge over Stokes creek that Ross' deposit had been forfeited and the next tenderer Mr Punch has heen instructed to carry out the work, the earthworks at 9d per yard and that the width of road would be 14 feet. Tlie engineer also reported that the earth'works completed at Mystery creek amounted to 2852 yards at 6d, which with extras amounting altogether £96 19s was paid and ,it was decided that Mr Riddler should complete the contract. Mr E. Wilson was noticed to complete his contract for forming the approach to the Narrows bridge (west side) wirhin one week or it would he completed by the engineer at the contractors expense. Thf Pakuranga Hounds opened the season yesterday, throwing ofl at the residence of Mr J. S. Bucldand, at Ohaupo. There was a good field, Cambridge, Hamilton, Te Awamntu and even Ngaruawahia being represented. Several casts were made, but the dogs came aorops not even the scut of a hare, and as a last resource for sport a drag hunt was got up off one side of the road, and down the other, between Buckland's and McCabe". At the conclusion the field was hospitably entertained by Mr J. S. Buckland, and it was resolved that the next meet should he en Wednesday, at Walkers National Hotel, Cambridge and ou the following Saturday at Gwynnes, Hamilton, the latter occassion giving theJHamilton Contingent which will then be on drill an opportunity of trying their horses .across country.