Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1474, 13 December 1881, Page 2

Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and exact justice to all men, 01 whatever stale or peisUdMon, religious or political. Here hh.ill the Press the People's right maintain Unaucd by influence and unbnbcd by gain.

TUESDAY, DEC. 1-J, ISBL.

The result of Friday's contest must be looked upon as a decided victory for the Ministerial party. Avowed supporters of the Government, sum up 15, while the Opposition does not count within eleven of that number. That loaves precisely twelve European members whose political convictions ai'O not yet matured, and who are consequently, free to range on either side. It is not possible the whole of these " doubtfuls" will rank on the side of the Opposition. On the other hand, experience lias shown that, the teiidpncy of parties so situated is (o ca&6 m theiv lot with the strongest pariy, more especially if that party, as on the present occasion, happens to belong to the Government side. Under these circumstances, we may fairly conclude, Government will meet Parliament with a strong following ; indeed, certainly not fewer than the pronounced majority they can at prpsent lay claim to. In a condition of affairs like that, Wailcato has shown its entire acquiescence. One of its electorate's returned unopposed a Ministerial supporter, and although the other (Waipa) was opposed, or rather we should say hotly contested, the only candidates who made anything like a " show " at the poll were the two Ministerialists, while the Opposition candidate, with all the extraneous aid rendered his candidature by Sir Geokge Grey, was, in the language of the turf, "nowhere." Under these circumstances we are justified in regarding the elections as a \\ hole, -as being in complete harmony with the mind and will of the district. Of course these elections and their surroundings, furnish a correct index to the jH'edoniinating feeling of the popular mind. With one or two unimportant exceptions we are pleased to note that, no attempt has been made to resuscitate the vapid radicalism known in this colony as " Greyism." The head and front of that offending, found his own electoral engagements .sufficient to occupy his undivided attention. The only deviation he made from that ! " beaten track " was a flying visit to the Waikato, for the which we have good reason to know, his own professed friends do not now feel at all grateful. In this respect alone his proceedings stand out in marked distinction, to the memorable " stump he made throughout the colony in 1879. 111-natured people are not slow in reminding us that, in 1879 Sir George had a Government steamer at his disposal, whereas on this occasion, he was debarred from availing himself of that cheap, and rapid mode of locomotion. These persons, however, appeared to have measured Sir George's devotion to the cause of the people, by a mean, if not, an illiberal standard. Consequent upon, this reserve on his part, we are told there has been a great falling off in New Zealand of what is known as the " gutter politician," and that, the mere " larrikin candidate " was conspicuous by his absence. In further support of this argument, we are asked to consider {he fact that, with the exception of the Auckland G-arrard, the Wellington Dwan, and the Dunedin Jack Barry, there was at least, a form of respectability, about all the candidates presenting themselves for election. No doubt that is an improvement upon bye-gone elections; but it seems uncharitable to hold the Kawau knight solely responsible for the electoral outrages committed by these creatures, in the past. - We, are rather disposed taattribute it to an improvement in* the tone of public feeling, and a desire to esfci-

Several correspondents' letters, dealing chiefly with election matters, arrived too late for insertion in this issue.

In the published returns of the Waipa election an error occurred in regard to the totals for Paterangi. Mr Johns polled 7 at this place.

The bull belonging to Mr E B. Walker, of Monavale, that fell into the Kara pi ro stream at Cambridge, some iew days back and got disabled, has been ™reraoved in a bullock dray to the farm of its owner and is still alive.

A large flock of fine sheep, probably three thousand, arrived overland from Napier on Sunday last, and were taken to the farm of Mr F. Hicks at Pukekura. This is about the largest flock of sheep that has entered the district for some time past.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Wesley an Band of Hope takes place to-night in the Wesleyan Church, Cambridge, under the presidency of the Rev. Mr Bull. As a number of adults have prepared a few very good readings and other acceptable contributions to be brought forward, the members may expect to pass an enjoyable evening.

Mr R H. D. Fergusson writes: Sir, in your issue of the Bth inst you state that myself and Mr Kallender left Cambridge to tarn natives off Maungafcautari. Allow me to correct this. Mr Hunt and myself left for the purpose, not of turning off natives, but simply of taking possession of the property which for many years I have paid rent for. Mr Kallender was not with us.

The men engaged by Mr R. H. D. Fergusson, and camped for the greater part of last week on his land at Maungatautauri, have now returned to their homes. On Friday last a messenger named Hauhauran arrived on the ground, bringing Tawhiao's message, which was to the effect that the Europeans should be permitted to occupy the lands. A meeting takes place at Cambridge to-day, at which both the Europeans and natives interested will be present, when it is expected matters will be finally and satisfactorily settled.

The trustees of the Hamilton Wesleyan Church have received a letter from the Rev Thomas Spurgeon iatimatng his willingness to comply with the request of the trustees by opening tho new church on Tuesday, Jan. 10th. He will also be present at the soiree and public meeting on the following day.

A painful accident occurred at Piako on Saturday to a man named Gordon, working for Me W. Lovett on the railway contract. He was engaged picking in the face of the cutting at the Bocks, when a lamp of earth weighing about 1 owt fell on his leg, fracturing the bone. Gordon was brought into Hamilton by Mi Lovett and taken to Gaudin'a Hotel, where ho now remains under the care of Dr. Edgelow, who has done all that is necessary in such oase3.

We would a^ain draw attention to the Conversazione which tases place in the Cambridge]?ubUc,H»U, |<£moriW evening, in aid of the Criaity !;Pwsbyterian _ Church. Th© novelty of taja

Hotel towards night, for the purpose of hearing the latest from Hamilton and Auckland, tho telegraph office being kept open up to a late hour. When it became known that in Hamilton, Cambridge West, and Te Awamutu Mr Whitaker was a hundred votes ahead, everybody was convinced of the final result. Shortly after, throug-h a slight error in the telegram, it was Hhown that Mr Whitaker was only twenty ahead, aud to many his defeat then seemed to be possible. Nothing further was known of the Waipa poll until the arrival of The Waihato Times next morning, when there waa a general rush for the paper, as it was known it would contain the various results throughout the colony. The news of Mr Whitaker'rt re-eleotion was received with great satisfaction.

Out of 1000 girls married inGtermany last year 103 were married at the age of 26, and the same number at 27. At 28 there were 102 married, at 29, 95, and at 30 tho number was 82. There were 53 married at 35, and at 40 no less than 46 were married. For ages below 26 the figure? were as follows :—At 19, 51 ; at 20, 66 ; at 22, 80; at 23, 90 ; and at 25, 99. It thus appears that at 29 German girls have better chances of marrying than at any age up to 22. It is only after getting on the wrong side of 40 that their chances of marriage become very slight.

The Rev W. G. Humphrey, in a pamphlet that he has published, called " A Word on the Revised version of the New Testament 1' says : " I may observe in passing that the nautical details of Acts xxvii have been revised with the kind assistance of two naval officers, who possessed the double advantage of practical experience and an acquaintance with the highly interesting 1 dissertation of the late Mr Smith, of Jordan Hill, on the shipwreck of St. Paul. By their help we trust proper English terms have been found corresponding as far as possible with the technical terms of the original ; and the narrative has been rendered more intelligible both to professional and unprofessional readers."

The larrikins of Melbourne are proverbial in these colonies for their brutality and utter disregard of the law, and hardly a week paeses without one or more outrageous cases of violence being reported in tho local papers. The following from the Ageoi November 21, is ono of many instances of the kind :—A desperate encounter took place on Saturday evening, at the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets, between the police and a crowd which was trying to rescue two prisoners whom Constables Tratt and Paice had in custody. The constables arrested the men for fighting opposite the Colosseum, when some persons in the crowd incited the prisoners to resist, and assisted them by kicking the policemen. In a little while a large concourse of idlers and passers-by gathered and pressed hard on the constables, who were tumbled about in a rough fashion, and one of the prisoners escaped. Seniorconstable Mawhinney, who was passing at the time in plain clothes, immediately went to his comrades' assistance, and being a powerful man, he soon handcuffed the prisoner and kept the crowd at bay, The numbers, however, increased to such an extent that vehicular traffic was stopped for the time, and several of the crowd tried in every way to rescue the prisoner. A civilian, however, dashed through the crowd, and with his stick kept it back ,• and some constablesoa Gthec beats, hearing of the fight, arrived on the scene. The prisoner was placed in a cab, together with one of the crowd who had been active in bis attempts to rescue the prisoner, and was conveyed to the watchhouse. The manner in which the majority in the crowd behaved was disgraceful, several men, respectably dressed, being conspicuous in hooding the police, and throwing every obstacle in their way to prevent the constables from taking away their prisoners.