The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1257, 20 July 1880, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

J_ __ _ Equal and e\act justice to all mm, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Una wed by influence and unuribed by gain.

TUESDAY, JULY 20, 18S0. It will be fresh in the minds of our readers that some time ago, after repeated applications, the Government vested the public reserves in Cambridge in a Board appointed for that purpose. The concession thus made was not, however, unaccompanied with the blunders which we have now come to regard as a concomitant of officialdom, and the Board, notwithstanding that the land has bsen granted, find themselves powerless to undertake any of those steps which the Highway Board, in making the application, thought desirable for the advancement of the town. In the first place a dreadful blunder was committed in the enumeration of the reserves so set apart. In the Gazette of the 3rd of June the land described in the schedule of reserves as sections 161, etc., being in fact not the town belt at all, but the farm sections immediately adjoining, granted to the military settlers and held under Crown grant. In a subsequent Gazette this mistake is rectified, and the land is described as lying between these sections and the land comprised in the town of Cambridge East, and comprises -±26 acres, more or less. No mention is made of Cambridge West, though in an Order-in-Couucil appearing in the same Gazette the two members suggested as representing that side of the river are duly appoiuted to the Board. But this is not the only mistake. In the same Order-in-Couucil the Governor delegates the powers vested in him under the Public Domains Act, 1860, to the new Board, except those conferred by sections 5 and 11, thereby robbing the Board of the very power which it is above all i others necessary that they should I enjoy. We pointed out some time ago that the object in view when the reserves were applied for, was to beautify them, and in other ways render them suitable for the purposes of a public recreation cn'ound. This was the sole idea, so far as we know, that was entertained at the time. The local bodies not having any means at their command to turn the land to this use, it was understood that it should be leased in suitable lots, the lessees to make certain annual improvements, such j as planting trees, etc., so that, within a prescribed number of years, the people of the town would have a domain or public recreation ground ready for them. But so far as regards the present position of the Board, the land for all practical purposes might just as well have remained as it was. Section five of the Act, which is one of the exceptions, actually contains all the provisions which are necessaiy : it gives power to manage and administer, and to lay out the lands ; to make byelaws ; to dedicate ground for specific purposes ; to make leases, to set apart land for squares ; to lay out carriage and foot ways ; and, in fact, to turn the town belt from the howling wilderness it now is, into the pleasant grounds which the people of Cambridge have in view. Section eleven, is so closely connected with the other, that its absence could not be missed were the other taken away. It is not to be supposed that the Board have been idle in this matter ; the chairman, Mr Wells, has written to the Government, and to the Member for the district, pointing out the mistake we have referred to, and showing that the land as at present granted, is perfectly useless. Believing, as we do, that the mistake is simply a departmental one, there need be little fear about the wishes of the Board being attended to. The matter being once brought under the notice of Government, the rest may, with safety, be left to the members for the district, gentlemen, who, so far at any rate, have proved that the great constituencies which they represent, have been with them the first consideration. It is, nevertheless, very vexatious that such errors should have occurred ; they mean delay in the carrying out of those plans which have been formed for the improvement of the town, and throw backward the attainment of the much desired object. It must be remembered that with all the powers conferred by the Act, the successful accomplishment of the work the Board have undertaken, will still be long in coming, and by that time a public recreation ground will be a thing much more requisite than it is vow. The Board might reasonably expect to meet with difficulties, and though the first which they have to fight is greater tliau they had any reason to expect, they will not fail of meeting it with firmness.

We may accept the result of the adjourned meeting of the ratepayers of the Cam bridge North Town

District on Saturday, as an earnest that they have confidence in the jjontlonien who composed the late Board. With one exception they have all been returned to office. It cannot be denied that they Inve not met with the approbation of all the ratepayers ; they have unquestionably spent the money at their disposal on only one portion of the town. But as that is the portion which should first receive attention they will not have their own consciences to upbraid them. If they have not spent much on the back streets, they have this defence : that without good main roads, the byways would be of comparatively little use. Everybody uses the one, while only a section are interested in the other. It has been very uphill work ; but, in spite of difficulties, the late Board have made good use of their opportunities, and can point at any rate to the much improved appearance of the most prominent parts of the town as a testimonial in their favor.

! AVb feel that we are in no way guilty of exaggeration in saying that the Debating Club which has just been formed in Hamilton, will, if it does its duty, perform a good work of much magnitude. It is the cant of a certain class of people to decry institutions of th's nature ; but the fact is to be accounted for not from any inherent defects in the thing cbj cited to but from a want of appreciation, and in many cases a want of sense in the objectors. We may doubt it, and if we were to judge by the common custom of the time, many do really doubt it, but our young men, members of a generation which is by-and-bye to reign, are not paying sufficient heed to the demands which humanity is making of them, that they should become good men and good citizens ; good sons, good husbands, good fathers, and good friends. We are afraid — nay, is it not so ? — that the youth of the present day thinks infinitely less about his moral and intellectual being than he does about his bat, his football, and his skill at billiards ? Far be it from our purpose to disparage those manly English out-door games to the influence of which a great soldier has said many of our victories on the battle-field are to be ascribed. But we protest against their being constituted the major part of a boy's education. Waterloo was not merely an affair of bone and sinew, but of much brains, and more culture. Let this be clearly understood : let our physical and our intellectual education go together. By al 1 m cans let us strengthen our bodies, but let us have a mens stnta in corpore snno — let us not acquire the prowess of a lion and neglect the wisdom of the serpent. It is not to schoolboys that we would apply these remarks. It is gratifying to think that so far as school instruction goes' our juniors are gainers. But the education we gain at school is not a tithe of that which we obtain in the span of an ordinary lifetime. Our fathers only provide us with the elements ; the real work of education is in our own hands, and commences just at that period of life when we bid farewell to the old familiar faces of schoolfollows and sigh over the old scenes and old places, and go forth into the world co fight our own battles. Men, by strenuous effort and unceasing application, have made of themselves scholars,- who have never sat under the eye of a dominie, and no man, though he had passed through the most splendid academies of learning, could accomplish this with less. Every man must educate himself. His books and his preceptors are but helps ; the labor is his alone. It is not alone then, when the world is still an untrodden highway, that we should apply ourselves to exercise those great faculties with which the Almighty has endowed us, but our whole life should be one unending study. To how few of us it is so it is melancholy to enquire. That there are some — nay, many — does not admit of a doubt, and surely, if they have a duty which they required to observe above all others, it is that of enjoining their fellows to follow the same course. In no better way can they exercise the talents which a good Providence has entrusted to them. Self-education in no way implies isolation. We are a gregarious people, and we can do better together than apart in matters of education as in everything else. If, then, we were asked to name any special means whereby the desired end might be attained, we should allot a prominent place to institutions of the character of that which we have now seen established in our midst. It is for those into whose care the young society has been given to see that its aims are pure and its working efficient, but these being secured, it is for the young men of our town to accept it as one of the means by which their position in the scale of humanity shall be raised up and maintained.

The Waikato Land Association are evidently determined to bring .all the dry portions of their estate under cultivation without delay. We notice that a large extent of country adjoining Mr. Brownings purchase from Mr. J. B. Whyte, is now being ploughed and will be laid down in grass this coming spring. Ploughing is also proceeding on the Hokonui portions of the estate, between Hamilton and the $ite of the future head

quarters. The work on the first section of the Whatawhata road contract is progressing, though somewhat slowly. The material excavated from the drains is extremely well {idapted for road making, and it is thought there will be a surplus efter making the adjaueufc road w.iy,

sufficient to make good tho bad places on the ro id through Jolly's swamp, though this will necessarily have to be deferred till tho dry season, as at present tho cutiiifT would undo nil tho good that could be effected. No. 2 socti nis progressing favorably, considering the weather, the men being delayed very much by the vast quantities of water in the swamp, ami the little fall in the outlet drain. A large party of men are at work on No. 3 .section, and if tho wenther holds good great strides will bo made on this portion of tho work.

At the Resident Magistrate's Omit, Hamilton, on Saturday, before H. VV. Northcroft, Esq., R.M., William O'neill and Daniel Murphy wero charged with having on the loth inst. stolen a swag, the property of one James Anderson. The evidence of the prosecutor (Anderson), Louis James, son of the landlord of the Railway Hotel, and Constable Foroman was tatcen, but it was substan tially identical with the account g'ven of the case in our laht issue. The prisoners iv their defence said they took the prosecutors B wag thinking he had gone and that losing their way they had returned to the Hotel. His Worship considered the charge proved and sentenced the prisoners to three months imprisonment each with hard labor. Charles Lake was charged with the larceny of three horses entrusted to his care at Waipawa. The prisoner was remanded to Waipawa.

In Thursday's paper in our report of the presentation to Miss Manueno, organist of St. John's, Te Awamutu, it is stated that Mr. Win&tone the local agent for the Bank of New Zealand, proposed that no report of the proceedings should be furnished to the Press, and our correspondent stigmatised Mr Winstone's proposition as "an attempt to stifle the Press. " At first sight such would appear to have been Mr. Winstone's object, but we are requested to explain that Mr. Winstone made his* proposition at the particular and urgent request of Miss Mandeno, and with the very best intentions possible. We are pleased to be able to set at rest any misapprehension which very naturally might ensue were Mr. Winstone's exceedingly strange proposition to remain unexplained.

The many friends of Mr Kirk for over two years Accountant at the Hamilton agency of the Bank of New Zealand will regret to leurn that he is about leaving the district, his place being filled by Mr William Tonks Any feeling of regret at Mr Kirks removal should bo set aside when we state that the more may be regarded as promotion, and the customers of the Bank of Now Zealand will unite with us in congratulating him on a step and the Bank in the discrimination evinced.

In another column we publish rery interesting statistics of the gruin crop 1879-80 respectively, compiled at the office of the Kegistrar-General.

Support Local Industries.— Messrs. Ridlor and Dalfcon, Kiwi Mills, are producing the best of flour from Waikato grown wlieat. For prices, see advertiser ment in first column, page two. — [Advt.]

It is pleasing, as a sign of pro- ! gress, to note that Messrs iMorrin and Studholme have commenoed draining the low lying portion of their property in the Piako on a large scale. Mr Isaac Coates the contractor, has a large number of men engaged in tnaking a drain from the eel weirs on the old track t» Moerangi towards the confiscation line. This drain •will have the effect of draining almost all the laud lying between the two points-

Stale news is proverbially to be found in the Herald. Yesterday the old woman of Wyndham street announces that " the whole of the South Auckland Cattle District is free from pleuro-pneu-monid, with the exception of Mr. R. Burkes farm, Te Awamutu, and the whole of the estate of the Wnikato Land Association. " The Waikato Times informed its readers of this important and most gratifying intelligence on Saturday, July 3rd.

A Wellington paper proposes that all the unemployed should ma'-eh out and comtueuce rabbit catching. They are to eat the rabbits and export the skins

The Kirikiriroa Road Board have always hitherto shown themselves desirous of placing and maintaining the main roads in a good state, and we would suggest to them the necessity for doing something in regard to the bridge over the creek at Hmton's Gully. The present structure ought to be replaced by a new one, and this ought to be situated on the proper line of road. Those who have occasion to travel that way cannot fail to remark how dangerous the present approach is and how easily au accident might happen. That very narrow escapes have taken place there is proved by the fact that on more than ono occasion the handrail has been carried away As the bridge stands at present it is pojitively unsafe.

The municipal authorities of Hamilton cannot be complimented upon the present condition of the western approach to the bridge. All along the embankment carriage locomotion is accompanied by a series of the most disagreeable jolts, caused by the unevenness of the fascines. Perhaps it would be well had the engineer, or the person in charge, adopted the suggestion of a correspondent contained in these columns a few ago, and laid down fern instead uf titree. We would also remark on the removal of the bridge handrails. We had all aloug supposed that these formed an integral part of the structure ; and if this be so their removal is, to say the least, very unwise.

We regret to have to record the death of Mr William Mellon at the ripe age of 73 years. The deceased gentleman was universally respected, and much regret is felt and expressed by his daughters and other members of his family that they did not hear of his death in time to attend the funeral, or have his remains brought up for interment atTe Awamutu, whore they reside. Deceased was for many years in the employment of the Government in the Survey Department : first under Mr Ligar in 1851, and from that time to the survey of the Waikato lands for military occupation, which was about his last work for the Government. He then became one of the pioneer settlers of the Waikato, where be had generally resided till within a week or so before his sudden death. j

The first meeting of the lately established Chess and Debating Club will take place on Friday evening next at 7.30 o'clock at the Courthouse. The first business will consist of the election of a President, Mr Northcroft, R.M., having been unavoidably compelled to decline the honor. A gentleman suitable in every way for the post has, we understand, consented to be nominated, and there is little doubt of his election. After some other business connected with the management of the Club has been disposed of, the remainder of the evening will be devoted to the discussion of the following motion, to be introduced by the Chairman of the Executive Committee : — " That in the opinion of this Club the foreign policy of Earl Beaconsfield tended to increase the greatness of the British Empire." It is to be hoped that on this the opening night there will be a large attendance of members. Visitors will be admitted by ticket only.

The residents of Whatawhata do not appear to be satisfied with the street improvements which we had occasion to refer to some few weeks ago. In place of the open grass flat which lay before the

pviucipnl buildings, has now given place to a quagmire — for such the now road is termed. We confess that we never could soo the utility of breaking 1 up the flat, which formed the bes-t kind of road obtainable.

The music-loving po tion of the townspeople will be glad to learn that it ia the intention of the members of the Hamilton Light Infantry Band to inarch out this evening, (weather permitting) as far as tho bridge, where they will halt and play sonic choice selections. We hope the practice will be continued, as it would not only add to the enjoyment of outsiders, but materially aid in the improvement of the Band itself.

The difficulty which, it was feared, would be created by the removal of the embankment near the Commercial Hotel in shutttmg off ea*y means of access to the school is, we are glad to observe, about to be obviated. The bank is boing sloped off to form a footway, which, for some distance up the hill, will be gravelled. The change will, if anything, therefore be for the better.

Messrs Maunder, of Hamilton, are the successful tenderers for the Waihou bridges. We have mfc heard the amount of the tender, but believe it to be something under £1,300. The bridges are three in number, and are on the Cam-bridge-Rotorua-road.

The Whatawhata road, if such the track may be called, is in a very bad and dangerous state. We do not desire to advocate the expenditure of any large sum on it in view of the formation of the new road, but a few pounds judiciously expended on the worst parts, would be a great boon to tne travelling public, and is, we think, due to these b'ettlers living alongside it.

A meeting was held last night at the Waikato Hotel, Hamilton East, for the purpose of getting up an amateur dramatic entertainment for the benefit of I Mrs Neilson. , There was a very fair attendance. Mr Le Quesne was appointed treasurer, and Mr 8. Pascoe lion, secre- | tary. A committee was formed to carry out the programme for the evening's | entertainment, which takes place on the j 2nd of August. A vote of thanks to the i chairman terminated the proceedings.

A sitting of the District Court will be held at the Courthouse, Hamilton, to-day.

The usual monthly inspection parade of the Hamilton Rifle Volunteers was held at the Oddfellows' Hall last night. Including two officers, there were 28 on parade and 10 bandsmen. The Company was put through the manual exercises, and the inspecting officer (Colonel Lyon) expressed himself generally pleased with the manner in which the men went through their drill.

A rather serious accident happened to Mr Wardell, of Eureka, last night. He was returning home from Hamilton about 8 o'clock, and when near the Waikato Hotel his horse either shied or tripped, throwing him to the ground and inflicting a severe cut on the back of his head. He managed to get as far as D.iwson's hotel in a semi-conscious state, and was attended by Mr llobson, chemist, who .applied some plaister to the wound and put the patient to bed.

Thi: annu.il meeting of ratepayers of the Rangiauhia District will take pl.ue in the Public -Hall, To Awiimutu, on Saturday, the 31st July at 2 p.m. Mfssits Hi'Nn.R and Not.w -\\ lll hold a sale of the whole of Mr D. b' Man's plant at the To Awamutu Railway Station, noxt Saturda}-, at 2 p.m. Tin first sitting of the Hamilton Chess and Debating Club will be held in the Court House, Hamilton, on Friday e\cning ne\t ; at halt p.ist 7. subjet t tor debate ; " iJeaconsfield's Foreign Pohcy.'j Sa.ml t ul Cckhrvyi. A\o Son w ill sell by auction at their .Mart, Fort-street, Auckland, next Monday, certain town allctmeuts in Hamilton E.ut .mil West. W. E. Mh \RS announces that he has purchased the stationaiy, music, and bookselling business lately carried on by Mr Newton Fairs, and having m.ide arrangements for regitlat supplier ot periodic.iK, newspapers, &c, customeis hnd their requirements .imply pioxided for. Mr Mears was tor many \eais with Mr K. AV.ijte, which is a sufficient guarantee ot his fitness for the busines-.. Ai 1. aci ounts due to or owing by Mr AVilli.im Smith, ot Whatawhat.i, should be referred to Messrs. Whitakerand Sheeh.in. Tin names of Tiustees of the Pukeki r 1 Highway District .ire ad\ertised for public information. Ml ssrs. S\i m.i \vij Co\n s announce th.it .ill accounts owing to thorn unpaid on the 31st Julj, will be placed in the liand~> ot a solicitor. Tnh Pukokur.i J rustoes intend striking a rato of 8d in the £on all rateable property in th .t district.