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Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1094, 28 June 1879, Page 2

A detachment of 26 men of the Armed Constabulary stationed at Cambridge, are ordered to hold themselves in readiness to proceed to Taranaki. The dato of their leaving has not, however, been fixed. The 'Star' correspondent has been interviewing Rewi at Puniu Among the topics discussed was the affair of the ploughing at New Plymouth. Kowi is reported to have said that "he toid Mr Sheehon there -would be no fighting, and soldiers would go there on a fool's errand. The land at Hawera, &c, had not been bought from tlie right owners, and the l Maoris were, taking this step (ploughing) to bring the case strongly before the ' authorities, and the land should be restored to the proper owners, but there would be no fighting unless the Europeans started it. He said he and Te "Whiti were formerly one, but he left Te "Whiti and went with the Europeans. Te "Whiti is following his own course, and yet he believed Te "Whiti to be in the right path, and trying to obtain justice." The Annual Meeting of the Ratepayers of the Tamahere Highway District will be held on the 9th July, in the Royal Hotel, Hamilton. Hamilton Rifle Volunteers. — A meeting, for the election of officers and further enrolment of members, will be held on Monday evening next, at the Council Chambers, Hamilton. . Hamilton Contingent Cavalry Volunteers. — The. monthly parade for sword drill will take place to day, and the ordinary monthly meeting of members of the corp -will be held this evening, at the Commercial Hotel. The Cambridge Farmers' Club will hold' their usual monthly meeting on Monday evening next, and a meeting of the Ploughing Match Committee will be held at throe o'clock on the afternoon of that day. The Ploughing Match has been arranged for the 9th July, and will be held on the farm of Mr A. A. Fantham. A list of the prizes offered, appears in outadvertising columns; and in connection with it, there will bo a show of poultry, pigeons, implements, and locally grown produce. Mr J. S. Buckland's Hamilton horse Sfile will be held to-day, at G-wyimo's Hamilton Hotel, and the next Cambridge live stock sale on Tuesday, the Ist prox., when a number of fat cattle, quiet cows forward in calf, and fat sheep will be offered.

The Mtodeebr Hiroki.— lt is stated hero by well informed natives, at Waitara, that Hiroki, the murderer, has left Parihaka, and is on his way to Waikato, to seek refuge amongst the Kingites. In consequence of this report, the Government have taken steps to intercept him, by placing armed constabulary in the places he is expected to pass throxigh, and they are accompanied by haff -castes, and friendly natives who can recognise Hiroki, and who will assist in his arrest.,. Excitement among the Kingites. — ITndeif the above*hfes4ing, the <Star,* of Thursday, publishes the following sensational telegram, 'from its ' Alexandra Correspondent : —At JCawhia the natives were greatly excited - at the news of the Armed Constabulary having left hero and other settlements, for Taranaki. Rewini Pupuhi, one of the chiefs, at once wanted to attack Alexandra, and went to Whitiora for two kegs of gun-powder for the purpose. He was refused; There; was great excitement, and Tawhiao has promised to call all. the Waikatos, including the Lower Waikatos, to a meeting at Pekanui, to consider the present state of affairs, and see his actual strength. Rewi and the Noatimaniapoto Contingent.—The * Star,' of Thursday, contains the following telegram from Te Puniu:— Rowi desires it to be published that he knows nothing about the statement in Southern telegrams that five hundred Ngatimaniapotos had been offered to the Government^. Iris a false statement, which he requests to be contradicted. Rewi says: "Why should we fight ? I and Te Whiti are one. There is not the least fear of the Ngatimaniapotos fighting against their own people, nor assisting to oppose Te Whiti. The Ngatimaniapotos do not want to fight with Maoris nor with Europeans." The Thames- Waikato Railway would appear likely to become as. famous in the next session of the Assembly, and with about as much Bhow of reason, as the Piako Swamp became in a previous one. Opposition Members, in addressing their constituencies, have, many of them, expressed their intention of making this work a point of attack upo» the Government. Mr- Ormond, at Waipawa^ referring to the Thames Valley Railway, said, he hoped the House would in the strongest manner 'show its sense of Sir George Groy's conduct, in pledging the country so far as he could to the construe- • tion of a railway unauthorised by Parlia- , ment. Sir George Grey, he satd, even went so ;far as to turn the first sod of the railway. Seed Beans. — Mr A. Layburn, it will seen, advertises in another column seed of a plant too little sown in this colony — field beans. They grow well on strong clay lands, and the sort advertised " black ticks,", is one of the best. As food for. working horses, chaffed straw and all, they are invaluable. THEPakuranga Hounds are to pay Waikato another visit for a short hunting season, about the middle of next month, At the Resident Magistrate's Court, at Christchurchj'on Tuesday last, the defendant in a debt case stated that he had joined the Teetotal Society three months ago, and been unable to obtain a day's work since. The Court was convulsed with laughter. Me Oemond on the Electoral Bill of last Session. — Referring to the Legislation of last session,' Mr Ormohd, in addressing his constituents on Wednesday evening, is reported to have said: — Sir George Grey has promised universal suffrage, but the bill brought down by Government did not confer this. Js 'merely extended the franchise and had some advantages, but there was one feature of the bill to which he. strongly objected, that was the dual native vote. He had intended to bring in a bill dealing with native representation, increasing their .number of representatives if necessary, but they should not -be allowed to vote for European candidates unless they. accepted all the responsibilities of European settlers, and consented to pay rates on any property which they held. As the Bill was int.oduced' it was unjust, but duriug its passage through the House it was proposed to make itmueh more objectionable, in fact, it proposed to practically confer universal suffrage on the Maoris. This would have the effect of swamping the European vote in many constituencies in , the North Island. At the last election for Napier, the present Native Minister boasted that in time he would hold that constituency, and the speaker thought Clive constituency was also in his hand. He (Mr Ormond) regretted to say that the House, which was supposed to represent the people, passed the Bill, placing many Northern constituencies under the Maori heel, apparently because the Native Minister urged upon the House that, unless this clause passed, it would seriously interfere with the negotiation then said to be satisfactorily concluded with Tawhiao. The Upper House, which was so freely condemned by Sir George Grey, had the . courage to strike out this clause, and then, apparently merely because they could not carry the dual Maori vote, the Ministry determined to deprive the 70,000 unfranchised Europeans of whom Sir Georgo Grey spoke so pathetically, of the franchise. The Government had not announced what they intended to do with reference to the electoral question this year, but he might say that it was his intention to bring in a BUI conferring the franchise for a residential qualification, and another Bill, if necessary, for a small increase in the direct representation of the natives, who should not be permitted to vote for European candidates unless they paid rates.

The Weekly Mercury, published m Napier, referring 1 to ihe slanderous article of the ' Hawke's Bay Herald' of the 14th instant says : — " Majors Jackson and, Mair and Mr Searancke have done "> such service m the past and are as well known as some of our best settlers, that it is needless to say much on that head ; and as most probably a libel case will arise out of the question, it is needless now to discuss the matter further than to say that Major Jackson is an officer of a crack corps and a leading settler m Waikato. Major Mair too has fought .and gainedsome of the severest encounters against the enemy m the late war, Mr Searancke has been Land Purchase Commissioner and Resident Magistrate, respected by all parties, for the past thirty years or more. Those who can remember the telegram Major Mair sent to the late Sir D. McLean, stating the murderers were not present at his meetings with the King, when Sir G-. Grey made that bitter and uncalledrfor speech against the late Sir Donald, accusing him of '* lowering the dignity of a Minister of the Crbwn, &c." at that meeting, will see why the gallant Major Avas dismissed without compensation or any recognitition, for unfortunately Major Mair -referred to the escape of certain natives from the Kawau, which was not forgotten when the present party got into power."

Messes. J. D. & K. TTilt, -will offer for sale to-day, a quantity of household f iimitiu'e, root-pulpOT, oats, potatoes, &o.

The Chairman of the Cambridge Public Library desires gratefully to acknowledge a donation of magazines from Colonel Lyon, and a very handsome new fender for the Reading ;Hoom fireplace from Major Wilson. Also, an additional .61 from the Cambridge Dramatic Club, malting m all a total of .filo received from thorn out of their entertainment, kindly given m aid of the funds of the Library.

Mb John Knox is about to carry reform in prices into another business, that of ironmongery, and advertises goods at an advance of 5 per cent, only on Auckland prices. Services will be conducted to-morrow, in the. Wesleyan Church, Hamilton, in the morning at 11 o'clock, by the Rev. Henry Bull ; and at 6.30 o'clook, by the . Rev. W.' Herbert Jones. Mr Jones will also conduct .. the Cambridge Sunday morning service. •'.. , The' usual monthly meeting of the Sons of Ulster, L.0.L., will ;be held,. in. the Victoria Hall, Hamilton, on Thursday evening, the 3rd July, on business of the greatest importance. Wakato liAtstds.— At the Waste Lands Board, on Thursday, Mr Firth asked whether any application had been received in reply to the application to have the Waikato lands, hitherto reserved, placed under the control of the Board. The chairman replied in the negative. A passengeb who arrived yesterday} from Ngaruawahia, by the mid-day train, informs ns that they passed a cow, near Mr L. B. Harris' farm, lying alongside the lino, evidently knocked over by one of the trains, with both forelegs broken. When will the settlers wake up to the necessity of insisting on the fencing in of the railway lines?

Concrete Houses fob Waikato. — A. somewhat important matter cropped, up at the Waste Lauds Board meeting on Thursday, m refersnce to the Taupiri quarry, which has been occupied for railway purposes, the area of which was rather over four acres. The general manager, Mr A. V. Macdonald, recommended that it should be leased, as it contained material suitable for concreto biiildiugs. The railway did not now require it, and the material could be delivered by rail atld per ton per mile. By means of this material concrete houses could be erected at Hamilton cheaper than wood. The Government had a large amount of plant on it, which they would give to the Board, except the machinery and stone-breaking machine. Mr Brown 1 applied for the quarry, and it was agreed to offer the lease of it for seven years. Mr T. H. White, architect of Hamilton, could, we believe, favor the public with some very useful information respecting the use of 'this concrete for housebuilding purposes.

The Weather.— To say that it has rained cats and dogs for some time past, is to give but a faint description , of Waikato weather of the last few days; and now, as a climax to the disagreeables of the past week, Captain Edwin, the colonial Meteorologist, yesterday afternoon flashed through the ■ colony, by electric wire, the startling announcement that we may look out for a heavy gale between S.E. and' S.W. soon. This is cheerful.

A correspondent, under the signature pi " A Sufferer,' writing from Alexandra, states that the coaches leave there every, alternate day, greatly to the inconvenience of the travelling public, who very often have to wait at Ohaupofor the next day's coach. There is a daily mail to Alexandra, but on every other day it is carried by the Constabulary. It would be a great boon to the travelling public and settlers generally, if /it could be so arranged that the coach would leave daily from Alexandra for Ohaupo to meet the train on its arrival there, which, I hear, the Post-office .authorities could easily arrange with the present coach proprietor, by granting him a small subsidy. If this were [done, it would cause parcels from this and other outlying districts to be forwarded by railway instead of by water, as at present. Water-carriage invariably causes trouble and annoyance by long delays. Tht> carrying of parcels would also increase the traffic and returns of the Waikato branch of the New Zealand railways.