The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1518, 28 March 1882, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

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

TUESDAY, MARCH #8, 1882.

The possession of the faculty of enterprise is one of the necessities of life inNew Zealand, as in all young, and indeed in most old countries. The greater number of those colonists who have acquired what is called " an independence" owe it not so much to labor (though this is an invaluable adjunct) as to the judicious investment o£ their original capital in undertakings which their mother wit,aided by careful thought, pronounced to be sound and good. But there is a wide distinction' to be drawn between the quality here referred to, and that which might be designated reckless' trading. It is

true that between the two there is often a very close resemblance, sufficient in too many instances to deceive the uninitiated, and to lead to disastrous results. To such an extent has the evil grown that it is no matter for wonder that measures are being taken to check it. If search be made for the root of this evil, there is little doubt it will be found in the " fatal facility" with which the hap-hazard speculator can rid himself of those troublesome creditors with whose money, so to speak, he he has been playing ducks and drakes. Of late years the number of those who have taken advantage of the lenient bankruptcy laws of New Zealand has been ! vastly out of proportion to the population. To make matters -worse, the category includes a large number of persons not in trade, people who from the nature of their income ought to be in a position to avoid bankruptcy, but who,it would seem, are tempted, into an act of dishonesty — for it is little else — by the facilities ■which the law, as it at present stands, has afforded them. Men in business are often, through no fault of their own, borne down by pressure of circumstances, but no excuse at all, it may be said, can be found for many of the failures which are from day to day chronicled. Among other bodies, the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce has been actively moving in this matter, and at a recent meeting the following resolution, moved by the chairman, was carried :—": — " That it is urgently necessary in order to induce greater caution in trade, and prevent the abuse of credit, that an amendment should be made in the bankruptcy Act, providing that no debtor shall receive his discharge until he shall have paid a dividend of not less than 10s in the pound ; but that persons whose insolvency may be purely the result of misfortune, may, on obtaining the written consent of three-fourths of their creditors in nimiberandvaluereceive their discharge, oven if they have not paid so much as 10s in the pound." A deputation from the chamber had previously waited on the Premier, who had promised to confer with the Attorney-General, and ascertain the opinion of the commercial community. In moving the above resolution, the chairman made a remark which is worthy of more than passing attention. It was that the colony would perhaps not greatly miss a certain class of legal practitioners whose special avocation would seem to be to pave the way through the Bankruptcy Court for persons for whom its jirotection could hardly have been intended. But there must be some other causes at work to create the class upon which those persons referred to find it so profitable to work, and one of these is undoubtedly the system of giving unlimited credit which obtains all over the colony. The subject is an important one. An attempt to amend the existing laws was made last session, and a bill embodying certain very necessary alterations passed the Upper, but was dropped in the Lower House, an understanding having been come to that the matter would receive the fullest attention at the hands of the Government next session.

The meeting of the Cambridge Farmers' Club, called for 3 o'clock on Saturday last, lapsed for want of a quorum.

Since the deliberate attempt to fire the Notional Hotel at Cambridge, a watchman parades the streets all night. He is paid by a shilling a-week subscription among a number of the business people.

At the usual fortnightly sitting of the R.M. Court at Cambridge, on Friday last, before Mr H. W. Northcroft, R.M., a few unimportant cases were disposed of.

Constable William Bulfprd has been gazetted registrar of marriages, and of births and deaths, and also Araccination inspector for the district of Raglan.

At a meeting of the Wesleyan Church trustees, held in the Cambridge church, on Friday afternoon last, tenders were opened for the erection of a new Wesleyan Church in Cambridge West. The following are the tenders':— Millar and MacFarlane, £155, and Potterton, £186 14s. The former was accepted.

In the window of Mr Y. Granville, fruiterer, at Cambridge, is to be seen a splenc7id bunch of black grapes, grown in the garden of Mr J. G. Ncal, near the old wharf. The bunch, which has been grown in the open air, is very compact, and weighs 21bs loz, a weight very seldom attaitied except when grown in a hothouse.

The election of a councillor for the Waikato County Council to fill the place of Mr R. H. D. Fergusson, resigned, took place at Cambridge on Saturday last, Mr J. P. Thomson acting as returning officer. The following was the polling: — Mr B. Hewitt, 146 j Mr J. J. Smith, 53. The former was accordingly declared elected.

The Gore correspondent of the Otago Times writes :—"I hear numerous complaints in reference to the rabbit plague from over the Waihaka River. Whole fields of capital wheat are being cut down and rendered scarcely worth harvesting, and this on farms where there was scarcely a rabbit to be seen at the close of last winter.''

Some idea of the wealth of London may be obtained from the amount of business done by the various insurance companies. The total of their fire policies on property in London in the year 1880, was £657,294,128. The companies' contribution, at £35 per million, to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, reached upwards of £23,000. The Sun stands first, with a total of £76,192,511, followed by the Phoenix with £63,440,681, the Law with£45,802,077, and six other,offices with upwards of £30,000,000 each.

A* contemporary, in acknowledging receipt of a copy of the United Ireland newspaper, says:—"lf anything could show the difficulty the Gladstone Government has in governing Ireland this newspaper would. Notwithstanding what Mr. Gladstone has /done, and is doing; and what ho has .promised to do, f hVis denoUuced with a virulence that is un.

surpassed in journalism. No statesman has done for Ireland what the Premier of England has done, and yet there is not only no thanks, but falsehoods are told of him and of his actions." I

The kon. Mr Rolleston left Hamilton ou Saturday morning by train for Auckland, "to join his colleague, Mr Bryoe.

Major Mair Iras left Auckland for Rotorua, to preside at the Native Lands Court at that place. It is not yet known who his successor in the office of Native Agent will be.

A telegram from Timaru dated Sunday states that at a general meeting of the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase Club held on Saturday afternoon, it. was resolved to hold the annual races at Christchurch during the Exhibition instead of at Ashburton.

We are pleased to learn that arrangements are being made to hold a series of cheap entertainments (musical and literary) during the winter mouths in the Hamilton Public Hall. A number of ladies and gentleman have kindly volunteered their services, and all lovers of music are to be invited to assist.

A cable message to the "Age" states that American Trade - unionists have held a meeting at which denounce the Hon. Mr. Lowell, the American Minister in London, for having refused to intercede with the British. Government for the release of the American subjects who are imprisoned as suspects for their connection with the Land League. The meeting also passed a resolution demanding the re-call of Mr. Lowell.

The following is the number of Socialists expelled from three important towns in Germany :—Berlin, 155 ; Hamburg and environs, 195; Leipzig, 70; total, 420. Most of these have wives, children, and relations dependent upon them for their bread. The majority have emigrated to England or America. Four had been previously members of Parliament.

A facetious writer says :—The Czar of Russia has invented a very useful way of testing his popularity. He recently a dvertised for an ungiven number of youngmen who resembled him in stature and personal appearance, to walk up and down the main street of St. Petersburg!! between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily. The salary was fifty roubles a day, and they were to get themselves up as much like the Czar as possible. Out of the fifty men who volunteered to personate the Czar only one escaped, and his name was Ivan Storogofi' MichaelpeanutsovitcL He had the sense to put on a red wig, and go round with a bomb in each hand, and thus passed for a lover of freedom. The other forty-nine were all assassinated within the hour, their last moments being embittered by the reflection that they had not drawn their salary in advance.

A somewhat unusual scene was enacted in Duke-street, Cambridge, on Saturday morning last, shortly after 8 o'clock. A young man named Rowe followed the daughter of Mr E. Guinby, cabinetmaker, down Puke-street, and, on overtaking her, insisted on her accepting his amorous overtures. On returning to his business lie was accosted by the father of the girl, who had witnessed his behavior towards his daughter some few minutes previously. Gumby struck at Rowe several times, when the latter retaliated, and a hand to hand scuffle ensued. At this stage of the proceedings an onlooker, who was passing by at the time, came across the road and proceeded to thrash Rowe for daring to fasten on an old man. Rowe, finding the odds too strong, decamped; but the battle was not permitted to end here. The brother of the girl entered the shop where Rowe was engaged working, and challenged him to combat, but after getting his nose knocked out of shape, was obliged to retire. We hear that the matter will not be allowed to end here, but that it will be brought before the Resident Magistrate's Court at its next sitting.

A public meeting was held in the Te Aroha Dining-rooms on Saturday evening last, Mr J. F, Cocks in the chair, for the purpose of taking the necessary steps for the formation of a brass band for Te Aroha, when it was resolved :—: — (1). That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable to form a band in Te Aroha. (2). That in order to raise a fund for this purpose, the members of the committee be requested to canvass the district for honorary members, the fee to be one guinea;' and that subscription lists be opened for the same purpose. The following gentlemen were elected a provisional committee :—Messrs Quinlan, All wood (treasurer), J. Gordon, Lawrence (secretary), J. W. Wright, A. H. Whitehouse. A considerable sum was paid or promised, and the prospects of the new band are very promising. The secretary was instructed to write to the Thames Scottish, in re the necessary instruments, and votes of thanks to the chairman, and Mr Lawrence for the use of the room, brought a very successful meeting to a close. —[Correspondent. ]

We have always regretted that in Ireland the shooting has been all on one side. It was, therefore with great pleasure that the other day we learnt that on one recent occasion, if there was not anticipatory shooting on the part of those wha advocate the payment of rent, there was at all events a turning of the tables on a Land Leaguer. A certain Land league agent went round the tenants of a large landed proprietor, and warned them that if they paid their .rents he would certainly shoot them. Hearing this, the landlord's agent went upon the first market - day to the neighboring town and said : " I hear that you have told the tenants on the estate for which I am agent that if they pay rent you will shoot them. Now, mark my words, if they do not pay their rents on the appointed day, as sure as you are alive I will lodge you in Kilmainbam." This address so much impressed the the apostle of organised dishonesty that he straightway paid a second visit to the tenants, and informed them that if they did not pay their renta punctually he would shoot them. The result was that there was not a single defaulter on the estate.—Vanity Fair.

OanonFarrar, saysacontemporary, is called the most eloquent preacher in •the Church of England. The editor of the American Evangelist recently heard him preach in Westminster Abbey to the Volunteers, who were present in their uniforms. He said that the true glory of England was not in war, but in. peace, and her highest ambition should be Justice rather than Conquest. The policy of Justice he commended in, all parts of the British Empire—in India, in South Africa, and, most difficult of all, in Ireland. "In closing," says ' the Evangelist editor, " he spoke of the relations of England to America in such terms as for a moment filled my eyes so that I could hardly see the preacher, although I could hear his ringing voice."

The "New Zealand Times" says:— "It is really,'time that some change should be made in the training of our clergy, so that they might avoid those errors in mental, andstillmore in physical, science into which they so often fall. The congregations''to' which-they preach often,know only a; little about such matters, but they usually < know much more than the preacher does., about them, and become accustomed to desjpiae. his dog-

matic assertions about other subjects, which perhaps, he has studied far more than they have. We are told that when Martin Lurther preached, eveiy sentence of his sermon fell like a thunderclap on his hearers' ears. There is not much of that kind of effect now. The preacher need not fear about offending his hearers by too strongly denouncing any vice or error of theirs. He is fortunate if he does not find a fair proportion of them, fast asleep, and if he could see into the minds of the remainder he would notice that the large majority had wandered off in other directions, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise, and the ladies into much aesthetic criticism of the costume of their neighbours. The preaching does not reach them —it is as if from a balloon, to use Mr Gladstone's illustration. We could mention one worthy clergyman in the South of this colony the staple commodity of whose sermons consists of reiterated denunciations of what lie calls "modem thought. "Yet surely it might occur even to the more obtuse of his congregation that to denounce modern thought among modern people is only to glorify icdocy; and to condemn free thought is only a feeble effort to suppress the one kind of thought which alone can be worthy of the name*" i

A cablegram in another column announces the death of the poet Longfellow. Men of the Time has the following notice of the poet:—Longfellow, Henry Wads'vorth, born in Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807. At the age of fourteen he entered Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1825, and was for a few months a law student in the office of his father. Having been offered a professorship of modern languages in Bowdoin College, with the view of qualifying himself for the post, he spent three years and a half in travelling in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, and England, and returning to the United States in 1829, entered upon the duties of his office. On the resignation of the late Mr George Ticknor, in 1835, of the professorship of modern languages and of belies lettres in Harvard College, Mr Longfellow was appointed to the vacancy. He gave up his chair at Bowdoin College, and again went abroad, in order to become more thoroughly acquainted with the languages and literature of northern Europe, and having travelled more than twelve months in Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland, returned in the autumn of 1836 to enter upon his duties at Harvard. In 1854 he resigned his professorship, and was succeeded by James Russell Lowell. Whilst an undergraduate, lie wrote many poems for the U.S. Literaly Gazette, and while professor at Bowdoin College contributed some valuable criticisms to the North American Review. His translation of the Spanish poem by Don J^rge Manrique, on the death of his father, with an introductory essay on Spanish poetry, appeared in 1833; "Outre Mer," in 1835; "Hyperion," a romance, and "Voices of the Night," his first collection of poems, in 1839 ; "Ballads, and other Poems," in 1842; "Poems on Slavery," in 1843; "The Spanish Student," a play, in 1843 ; " The Poets and Poetry of Europe," and "The Belfry of Bruges," in 1845; "Evangeline," in 1847; "Kavanagh," a tale, in 1849; "The Seaside and the Fireside," in 1849 ; "The Golden Legend," in 1851; "The Song of Hiawatha," in 1855; " Miles Standish." in 185S ; " Tales of a Wayside Inn," in 1863; " Fleur de Luce," in 1866; a translation of Dante, in three volumes, in 1868; his " New England Tragedies," in 1868; "The Divine Tragedy," in 1872; " Three Books of Song," in 1872; "Aftermath," in 1873; "The Hanging of the Crane," in 1874; "The Masque of Pandora," in 1875 ; and " Keramos," in 1878. He also published new and complete editions of his poetical and prose works in 1869; and a revision, with additions, of his " Poets and PoetL-y of Europe," in 1871. His works have been frequently reprinted in Great Britain, and many of them translated into the continental languages. He revisited Europe in 1842, and again in 1868 and 1869. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge in June, 1868, and that of D.C.L. by the University of Oxford, July 27, 1569 ; and in 1873 he was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Science, and in 1877 a member of the Spanish Academy. Complete editions of his poetical works were published by Messrs Routleclge (who have purchased the copyrights of his more recent works), in 1865 and 1866.

/'Oivis/' wri*in £ on the servant girl question in the Otayo Witness says : —On all sides there are eager enquires for girls, especially from country townships, and these enquires are difficult to satisfy. The fact is that the marriage market year by year draws a large number of young women from service, while at the same time, in the middle and higher strata of society, it increases the demand for ■• helps." Since immigration has been stopped, the supply is manifestly short of the demand. There are about 3509 marriages a year in New Zealand, and taking a thousand to represent the number of brides annually drawn from the domestic servant class, and five hundred to represent young married people who want a servant, here we have a new demand every year lor 1500 housemaids, cooks, and general servants of all grades. Where do they come from? I have before alluded to the unfortunate reluctance of colonial-bred young girls to take to domestic service, and their strong preference for other classes of employment, and when the supply from outside is stopped it is noways surprising that the market becomes bare. To say nothing of quality, the actual quantity of female labour is necessarily in short supply. Here is another matter for a paternal Government to take in hand. If we don't get an outside supply of domestics soon, there will be no holding those we have got. They can already pretty well dictate their own terms. I feel for the sufferings of unhappy mistresses compelled to part with helps at most inconvenient times, and quite unable to replace them. It is dangerous to remonstrate with your cook in regard to an overdone joint or a badly concoted curry. A mistress must shut her eyes to dust on the mantle-pieces, or an unnecessary consumption of coals. The tables are being rapidly turned, and it will soon be the maids that will employ the mistresses, [ and not the mistresses the maids. And 1 yet I suppose there is still a large surplus of female labour at Home. When one reads these accounts of decent young girls being decoyed over to Belgium in numbers for the vilest purposes, and of, a Congress being about to sit at the Hague to put a stop to the traffic, one cannot but wonder that these colonies are ,so ill supplied with domestics. Here a girl can be sure of good wages, a safe and comfortable home, her "Sunday out," and in due time a decent "young man," if she only behaves with reasonable discretion. What do they want to go to Belgium for ? All the Government has to do is to smooth their passage across the herring pond, and we'll, receive them here with open arms and kindly hearts. New Zealand alone can take a hundred a month all the year round; For all that, mothers ought not to neglect the home, manufacture, which after all, ought to be the best article.

The Hamilton Cavalry Volunteers are requested^ meet at Gwynne's Hotel, oh Saturday'next, dpon b*Usincss of great importance to the troop, , . ,<.;..',