TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1881.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1390, 31 May 1881, Page 2

TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1881.

Mr Percy Smith, Chief Surveyor, accompanied by Mr Laukuncb Cussen, District Surveyor, returned to Hamilton on Saturday evening from P.itetere, where they have been on a visit of inspection to the surveyors who have charge of the aub-di visions of the lands which were awarded to the Government by the Native Lands Court lately sitting at Oambridgp. This land, comprising some 10,000 acres, is to be sub-divided into sections suitable for small holders, and to be offered to the public, portions on deferred payment. '1 he quality of the land is some of the best in Patetere ; it is near the Waotu bush, and offers the Greatest advantage of, perhaps, any portion of the Patetere country for small settlers. In the centre of the block a reserve for township purposes, and suburban sections is to be made. The main road to Napier, that by Hora Hora to Rotorua, and also the direct line between McLeans township of Oxford and the Waotu will pass through the township. It is expected that this land will be in the market very shortly. The Government, show their wisdom in chosing this part of Patetoi'e for small settlers, and it will be seen from the manner in which these allotments are sought for whether that section of the community is so numerous and as anxious as credited with being, to acquire land of this description. The Government, however, in order to encourage the taking up of these lands, should cause the roads to be put into a better state of repair than they are at present. During the winter months the main road from Cambridge to Waotu will be in a very bad condition, and for a slight expenditure a very fair road for all seasons could be made between Cambridge and these Crown lands. We urge the attention of the question of these roads to our District Members.

Parliament meets, as our readers are aware, next Thursday week. Compared with the state of things as they existed at the close of last sessionj Government will meet the House under decidedly improved auspices. There will be a total of £1,892,746 on hand, consisting of balance of loan, amounting to £1,860,373, and land fund, after meeting all charges thereon, £32,373. Of loan, about half a million may be said to have been appropriated for contracts and works in progress, the cost of which w ill equal that sum. Alluding to this improved aspect of affairs, a Southern contemporary writes : — " This state of things has been " brought about partly by pushing " forward one month's expenditure " into next year ; but then, as " against that, at least £40,000 of " the property tax, which should " have come into last year's, will " come into this year's account. " The new taxation, apart from " some increase in the Customs, is " comprised in the property tax " £219,716, and the beer tax " £45,9G8 ; but the total raised by

" taxa.ion otily* shows an increase " from £1,512,300, as estimated in " 1879-80, to £1,716,141 in 1880-81 " —that is to say, an increase of "( £204,000, or about gightjshillipgs ■" per -head of the • population. <■* Is " that anything, to be alarmed at 1 " The balance of the deficiency has " been made up by retrenchment, " and we really may now congnitu- " late ourselves on being once "more " on firm ground, with an improv- , " ing outlook." ' - ' '

Mr J B. Whyte, M.H.R., during lant week paid visits to Taupiri, Huntley, and the Paako district and was interviewed at each placo by the, leading settlers, who laid before him the requirements of their several localities, which they may rely will receive the most careful ana coniicientious attention on the part of the honourable gentlemen.

The meetings of the Hamilton Chest* and Dobatiug Club will be resumed on Friday evening next, when a full attendance of members is requested.

The last of the late Ouida's works entitled "A Village Commuen" arrived by yesterday's Edghsh mail. Copies may be had at Mr George Dickenaoii's, ! Hamilton. The approaches to the M&ngaonua Bridge, Hinton's Gully, on the Kinkiriroa side, have been completed, and the road is now opened. The work has been carried out by the Waikato Council, and the cost charged to the Kinkiriroa Riding.

The comet was clearly visible alain on Sunday and la*ji night, its position, being a little above the horizon in the direction north-west by west, and not east, as unudvortently stated by us on Saturday. Apparently the eoraeb is increasing in brilliancy.

In compliance with a numerously signed lequisition the Mayor of Hamilton has convened a public meeting for Thursday ovening next, at the Council Chambers, Hamilton West, to consider the best means of urging upoc the Government the desirableness of declaring the Hamilton Cart Bridge free of toll. The requisition appears in another colnmn.

P. A. Whitaker, Esq., M.H.R. for Waipa, notifies in our advertising columns that he will a<ldress his constituents at the Court-house, Hamilton West, on Saturday next, previous to his departure for Wellington.

In our obituary columns is notified the death, at the advanced age of 91, of Mr Robeit Gwynne, father of the respected proprietor of the Hamilton Hotel. The Newry Telegraph, in referring to his demise, says : "Mr Gwynne was a kind-hearted man in every relation of life, and he was deservedly esteemed by Jill who knew him."

The significance of the new Canadian trans-continental railway is hardly yet realised in this colony. To Australia and New Zealand the new railway will mean nothing short of a revolution in their export trade. By the projected line it will be possible to carry dispatches from London to Esquimalt, the naval station on the Pacific, in 13 or 14 days, and New Zealand will be reached in lesa time than it has ever been yet.

A meeting of the Catholic Ghurch Committee, writes our Cambridge reporter, was held yesterday (Sunday) after service, at which it was resolved a suitable residence should be erected on the church grounds, to be used for Presbytery purposes, and that the cost be defrayed by public subscriptions. Already a considerable sum has been promised, and it is expected that before long the necessary amount will be forthcoming,

No better testimony of the extraordinary drought which we have been suffering from can be found than in the dryness of the swamps throughout the districts. Creeks which have never before, since the settlement of the Waikato, been without water, are this season perfectly dry, and the rivers without exception are lower than they were ever known to be before, wells hitherto yielding an abundant supply have given out. And notwithstanding this the barometer still keeps up, and so far there is no immediate prospect of rain.

The other day one of the principal " knights of the cleaver " of Hamiitou had occasion to shoot a bullock, and he proceeded to the spot where the innocent was gruzing. Getting within 100 yards he fired and hit him, but not fatally. One of the Hamilton crack shots out pheasant shooting appeared on the scene, and, the butcher taking advantage of his presence, politely asked him if he would have a shot. "Certainly," replied the "sport," " give me the oArbine and I'll fetch, him down." Bang went the gun ; the beast roared and scampered off, " Why you did'nt hit him in the right spot, " cried the man ot sirloins, "No by Golly," answered the pheasant hunter, "Hut if he had been on the ivtiuj I'd bet 1 would have fetched him down.' 1

Since the Land Court closed and the various representatives of the dusky tribe taken wing, homeward bound, Cambridge writes, our correspondent, has assumed its normal condition. The contrast between the state of the town now and what it was a month ago is really striking. Instead of being like unto a Scotch fair or a London Smithfield, with all the fraternity of the cheap Jack cosbermonger and strolling player, varied by the Maori haka and the native wardance, the place has settled down into a state of quiet respectability, such as the good folks of Cambridge are wont to observe. The building trade, however, would seem to be brisk, additional wings and new tenements being in course of erection all over the township.

A special meeting of the Cambridge District Highway Board was held at Camp's Hotel on Friday last, for the purpose of receiving tenders for raising bridge and road near Broad Meadows ; formation of road between the same and Selby's ; and on from there to main road. There were present, Messss. Main, Smith, and Snowdon, the latter in the chair. The following tenders were received'— Crouch, for bridge and road, £9 15s ; road formation, (No. 1 Contract), 6a 3d per chain ; No. 2. 53 ; No. 3. 5s 6d; ; fiilling up old gravel pit, £3 16s. E Hatchings hndffo and road, £18. Ferguson and Crio.kett. £19. CS. McCallum, road formation, No. I. 5« per chain ; No. 2. 5s 3d ; No. 3. 3s 4d. fiilling old gravel pit, £3; M Hannon, No. 1. 7s ; No 3. 5s lOd. J.. Wyatt, No. 1. 6s; No. 2. ss; No.. 3. 6s per chain. The tenders of Charles Crouch for bridge and No. 2. road formation were accepted, and that of C. S. MoCUlum, for road formation, Nos. 1.4 3. It was decided also to place pipes at each end ' of culvert on the main road near Mrs Russel's. This was all the business.

At a time when we hear so much about payment of rent in Ireland, it' may be interesting to many of our readers to , know the origin of the payment of re nt for land, and the time at which it commenced. In 1350, agriculture, an earned on under the feudal system of villein age or servile tetinfe, by which labourera'were bound to the Roil and transferable with it from one owner to another, received a severe check owiniy to the pestilenoeiknpwa , as the •'Black Death," which had carried I

off lWffl§jtfsi taU^the '^#utatiori>, "if fcnglaafan the preceding year. Labour being scarce, the villeins, or labourers, hoped to improve their position by obtaining daily w.igea for their daily work, but th^'ratTo? j,Wf tf|n wa<<fi*ga byTjjirliameTat at toVlow h soa'te to adcnit Of any amelioration of their wretched condition, "a-jd things went on in the old way uutil 1381, wheu the imposition of a poll tax in addition to'the'ot^er grevia'noe provoked; the insurrection 'under *Jack Cade and Wkt Xyier., , When fthjq w«ft.quelled the abolitioft of villeinaare was ajrain brought before Parliament, -which refused to sanction it by direct leginlation. A few landowners, however began at this period to take money payments from those who held land under them instead of persounl suit and service, and thus arose the system of tenant-farming which is still in vogue, and which may be considered to have been in operation in England for exactly 500 years.

New Zealand has come to a bad repute in the Old Country by reason of a . pig. It seems that there was lately an agricultural whow held in one of our northern towns, at which a most beautiful pig was exhibited ; so great was his beauty, they boasted he had oorae straight out from Berkshire, and the judges were about to confer the highebt prize upon him, when some unlucky accident they found he was only a counterfeit that had been polibhed up by the aid of lamp-black to dazzle all beholders. And the mischief of it is, we are told, he waa exhibited by a member of the Legislature. From this, the Dublin 1 Freeman draws the following moral : — "Koguery ia rampant in new as well as in old countries." But we refuse altogether to admit the justice of such inference. Why shonld not a member of the Legislature try to make his pig look as well as possible before he subjected him to public gaze ? It was only duly respectful towards his constituents for him to do so. It is preposterous to suppose there was any rngueiy in the ra ittor, or anything more than a decent regard to the public eye and becoming appearances. If all members of our Legislature, in fact be free from every suspioion of trickery except that accruing to them from the very proper wish of one of their number that his pig should make a handsome show in public, and raihe the character of bacon in the eyes of all beholders, we have a Legislature that may challenge the world. We set the Fieeiiiutt at open defiance. This matter of the pig only proves us to be a people of neat taste, and addicted to elegance. — Tablet

With respect to infernal machines employed to compass the destruction of the Czar, a statement from Geneva describes them as glass globes filled with nitro-glycerine by women, and stoppered with tubes containing an acid. On these bursting, the acid mingles with the explosive compound, and a more than ordinary effect is produced. Almost the entire lower portion of the Czar's body was blown away, and the greatrsfc dith'culty was experienced by those who had to dress out the body for the lying in state. I may tell you, as a matter of fact, that as far as can be ascertained, the Emperor did not, as reported, L r et out of his carriage to enquire after the wounded by the first explosion. There really was no time • all lie said vras to the Coi'-ack in attendance," Givemevour handkerchief," the man replying, " Sire it is too dirty ;" at the same moment the second explosion took place. — 'Report has it that the new Czar lias already been threatened. Scarcely had he been Emperor three days before he found a letter on hia pillow warning him of death in six weeks if he does not by that time grant a constitution. — The Princess of Wales accompanies her husband to St. Petersburg at her own wish, and contrary, it is understood, to the wish both of the Queen and of the Government, but affection for her sister overrode political or other considerations. All the members of the House of Denmark are much attached to each other.

Mr W. Avenell, of Te Awamutu, makes an important announcement in our advertising columns. Mr John S. Edgecumbe, trustee in the bankrupt estate of C. Kay, bricklayer, of Hamilton, notifies that a first and final dividend is now payable at his office, Waikato Times' buildings, Hamilton. Messrs Knox and Ridler have 1000 bushels of oats on sale. The new pure cash system now being initiated by ix. and C. will certainly prove a benefit to the public. It has been a great success in Sjdnry and Melbourne, and when strictly carried out the customer who hu)s at an establishment where the goods are marked low to ensure a rapid sale must be a great gainer. G. and C. sell their drapery milhnary, and clothing at such prices for cash .is gives the buyer the advantages of a shareholder in a co-operative society, without the risk of being called upon to bearaportionof thelossshould the year's business prove unsatisfactory. Garhck and Cranwell will aim to retain the confidence which the public have hilheito shown them, and are determined to give the pure cash system a fair trial ; whether they gain or lose the first year. Country buyers on remitting cash with order will be supplied with goods at co-operative prices ; just the same as though they made a personal selection. Furnishing goods, such as carpets, floor cloths, bedsteads, bedding, and general house furniture, the largest portion of which is turned out at our own factory, will be marked at the lowest remunerative prices, and a discount of five per cent, will be allowed to those who pay at the time of purchase. G. &C. having realised the entire value of their stock during their lai-e cash sale, the present stock is Nhw a\d cheaply hough i. An inspection is invited. — Gaki.ick and Cr wwell, City Hall Furnishing Arcade Oueenstreet, Auckland