AND THAMES VALLEY, GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1613, 4 November 1882, Page 2

AND THAMES VALLEY, GAZETTE.

Erjii.il and exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever it.ite or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Un.iwed by inlliience and unbribed by gain.

SATURDAY, NOV. J,, 1882.

Tub proceedings at Alexandra on Thursday, reported elsewhere in this issue, affords us some slight ground for hoping that the long {standing "difficulty" impeding the settlement, and barring the material progress of the northern part of the colony, is at length about to be removed. Whatever the influence may be to which we must ascribe the apparently favourable turn which affairs have taken, one thing is certain, and that is that the present Native Minister has goi.e about his work in a way totally different from that adopted by any of his predecessors, and utterly at variance with the traditions and usages of the Native Office. There is no protention of secrecy ; no mysterious and occult utterances delivered ; everything is fair, square, and above-board. He tells Tawbiao plainly " Here are our conditions ; wo arc not afraid to let everybody know what they are, because wo have no double purpose to serve in coining to terms with you. You can accept our offer, or leave it alone ; but you must not accept what you please and reject that which does not suit your taste." Mr Bryce and the Government know perfectly well that the day is coming when the country now closed to settlement will be freely opened up. lie gives expression to his feeling on the point when he says, in that figurative language in which the Maoris themselves indulge, " The sun is setting." The object of the Govern ment, indeed, has is much of philanthropy in it as anything else, and their action is a curious commentary on the vapourings of the English press regarding what they are pleased to call the oppression of the natives by the European colonists of New Zealand. We sincerely hope that for his own sake, and for that of the tribe to which he belongs, Tawhiao will see fit to accept the liberal offers of the Government. That he will be loth to relinquish the mioiu attaching to his kingship — which, assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, is real and tangible, not a mere shadow of authority — one may well imagine, though if left to himself we are inclined to think he could be brought to lay it down. It has been said that the Ngatimaniapoto are anxious to be rid of the Maori " monarch," for whose pretentious to sovereignty they have no higher respect than that entertained by the average new-chum, and many have argued sapiontly therefrom that the Government have committed an egregious error in negotiating with Tawhiao at all, instead of going to the fountainhead of power, the Maniapoto chiefs, l?owi and "Wahanui. The reticence displayed by Wahanui and his followers has been accepted as a proof that they objected to be passed over for Tawhiao. There may be some grounds for such a theory, but if so, the report communicated by our reporter, that the Ngatimaniapoto have decided to oppose Tawhiao's session of the kingship, reads trangely. Tawhiao will meet Mr Bryce again to-day to give his final answer, so that we shall not long remain in suspense. Meantime, we can only hope that the great chief's good genius will attend him, and prompt him to take the course best calculated to serve the members of his race and the colony as 1 a whole.

Tne next out-going English mail via 'Fiisoo will close at the Hamilton on Monday, tith, at 10 a.m.

The steamship Zealandia, with the New Zealand mail for England, arrived at San Francisco on the 29th October.

The Right Rev. Father Luck, the newly appointed .Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, hag left Melbourne for New Zealand in the Union steamer Wairarapa, and may be expected in Auckland in a few days.

Steps are being taken in Auckland to present Dr Philson with some mark ot public approval on the occasion of his retiring from the poat of surgeon to the Hospital, which he lias held for a period of a quarter of a century.

A telegram from Melbourne, dated Thursdaj', give 3 the following market quotations : — Malting barley is firm at iis 2d to 5s 4d. . Wheat is weak at 6s Id. New Zealand oats are quiet at 4s 2d to 4s 4d for feed, and 4s 5d to 4s 6d for milling.

Col: Tupman, who is in charge of the Imperial expedition for the observation of the transit of Venus has left Auckland for Christchnrch, where he will be met by Lieut. Coke, R.N., who arrived in Dunedin on Tuesday. '

A formal enquiry into the strandinn; of the Rotomahana at the Bluff was held at Dunedin on Thursday, before 'Mr Hack worth, Collector of Customs. All the evidence went to show that the accident was caused by the ' strength of the wind anil tide, which was unusually great, not beiugt sufficiently alloweu for. * l ■ ' ! '

The Chief Postmaster, Mr Biss, returned from Raglan' yesterday, hatf ug fully ascertained the wishes 1 ' 6i , tlte settlers iv the district in 'regard^to'tlie^ •mail service. Our correspondqndeut. gives an account, in another column, of a^ deputation that waited ou Mr Bias.j There seems every that a"' , coacli . service , will, , after all, ,be , estabjWished. > ■/, '/,•]•'', '/, „'v i ;

\ Thursday 1 l *atf ;* he third Aaky*'6f • the Victoria Racing Club's Spring >Mesg ing.' '- rr T!ie^Royal?»Par^|Stokes7w^|\vbn',

cap was won by Standard Bearer, Lesbia and the Czar coming jn? second and third respectively. For ttteFlying Stakes the positions were :— tejngadalg^ 1'; Sfr. Laurence, 2; "and Earpent,r^-*j and for" the Oaks Stakes,' Vauoluse, l ? 'j Solitude, 2 ; nnd Eva, 3. r „'" J T

To-mortow, J>eing' t the flst Sunday in November* is f.ho day appbinted*by tfte Auckland Diocesan Synod on which it is recommended that collections be made in all the Anglican Churches of the Diocese in aid of the Pension Fund. - The object of the fund is to/fnake some provision fdr superannuated .'and invalid clergy, .aj)d the widows and orphans of clergymen. Collections will be made at S. Andrew's, Cambridge and Christchurch, Ohaupo.

The telephone between Hamilton and HanUpu, (Robertshaw's store), is now open to the public. Mr Furby, officer m charge of the Auckland Telegraph Station, and inspector for the district, is at present in Waik.ito on business connected with his department. He lias inspected the telephone in question, and finding everything in working order, has opened it as stated.

With reference to a letter from Mr W. A. Graham, in another column, we have seen a petition signed by 40 ratepayers in the Cambridge aud Tamahere Highway Districts, praying the Minister for Public Works to form the roads leading to the Tamahere and Fen Conrt stations on the Hamilton-Cam-bridge Railway, over Crawfords Gully, and past the Hautapu school-house respectively. The petitioners rely on the promise made by the late Premier, Sir John Hall, that these roads should be made.

Mr J. S- Buckland submitted to auction, after the cattle sale at the Waihou Yards on Thursday, the privileges in connection with the forthcoming Piako races. The prices realised were as follows :— Publican's booth, £9, Mr Quinlan ; gates and cards, £5 ss, a native (Mr Buck, of the Pluenix Hotel, has re-purchased them from him). A steamer will run from the Thames to To Aroha, and a coach will meet it there and convey passengers to the racecourse. With the assistance of good fields, and the promise of fine weather, the races ought to prove a, great success.

It has been finally decided that the Waikato cricket team to play in Auckland between the 10th and 16th in&tcint will consist of the following players :— Messrs Wood, Browning, JJyng, Stafford, Smith, Forrest, Gleeson, Grieison, Palmer, Cotton, Hunt and Pilling. Most of the above players will go down to Auckland on the Prince of Wales' birthday, although the dates of the matches with the various clubs have not yet been decided upon, as the replies of the Auckland clubs to the Waikato challenge have not yet been received.

Messrs J. and W. M. Douglas, Tamahere, rcceiveil a telegram on Wednesday, from Mr A. A. tfantham, saying that he had taken first and second prizes at the Patea Show with the Lincoln ram hoggets bought from them on the 27th September last. The Messrs Douglas have exercised great care in the breeding of their present flock, and the intelligence referred to is additional evidence of their success. They intend showing ram and ewe hoggcU at the Auckland Show next week.

A correspondent, who signs himself "Victim," writes complaining that people who invite tenders for housebuilding do not furnish unsuccessful tenderers with a complete list of the tenders, with price, &c. He is under tho impression that in one case to which lie more particularly refers, another person took up the contract at his price and so sucked his brains. Our correspondent should know that it is scarcely the right thing to swear in a letter, even though lie feels strongly and does but use the initial letter and a long dash.

Speaking of the comet, a writer in the coutcinpory says :— The most brilliant comet of the piesent century was that of 1811 ami which will not return again for thirty centuries, so it must have a tremendous orbit, ami equally bo, that space must be infinite through which it wanders. The head of tins comet measured 112,000 miles in diameter, whilst the diameter of the luminous nucleus was little more than 400 miles. The tail, of prodigious dimensions, attained a length ot 112,000,000 miles. Do not such figure! give some idea, however faint, of the scale upon which the universe is built?

A recent telegram from London stated that the publication of the wellknown " Eraser's Magazine"' hail ceased. It had been published for upwards _of fifty-two years, the first number having been issued in February, 1830. Among its early contiibutors were Dr. Maginn, Barry Cornwall, Coleridge, Hogg, Gait, Dunlo'), Jordan, Edward Irving, Mahoney (Father Trout), Gleig, Garlyle, Allen Cunningham, Count D'Orsay, Moir (Delto), Sir David Brewster, Lockhart. Theodore TTook, Southoy, Gillies, Broker, Banks, Colonel Mitchell (Bombardino), Lady Bnhvcr, Lady Mary Shepherd, and Scott. These carried all before them in the wide range of themes at their command. Of late years, as the old " Fraseritina" one by one died out, the character and influence of the magazine changed, and not for the best, though Kingsley and J. Stuart Mill contributed, and some of Whyte-Mclvillc's best works appeared in its columns. Principal Tulloch, who took charge in 1879, thought to bring about a revivification by identifying " Fr.iserV with the Liberal paity. But he failed in this, and his subsequent retirement has brought about no better results ; its waning vitality was never renewed, and it has now sunk into oblivion.

The following passage (says a Home paper) may be found in the " Soldier's Fockct Book" (p. 249) by Sir Garnet Wolseley, and may perhaps throw some light on the news of the plan of attaet on the Abonkir Forts, —"An English general of the present day is in the most unfortunate position . . . being surrounded, by newspaper correspondents, who, pandering to the pubic craze for ' news,' render concealment most difficult. However, post and telegraph will always be in the general's hands, so he can lay an embargo on mails whenever he wishes it, without its being known for a long time ; or he cai'i by spreading fa he newt, among the gentlemen oft/ie.press, use them as a medium by which to deceive an enemy. 1 ' (The italics are not SjrGarnet's. )j) j It is, however, only fair to t give Sir, Garnet's defence or excuse of tins practice.' This will be found on p. 02 in the .same work, and consists of the following* words :—": — " As a nation we are bred up to feel it a disgrace even to succeed by falsehood ; the word spy conveys something as repulsive as slave ; we will keep hammering along with the conviction that ' honesty is the best policy,' and that truth always wins in the long run. These pretty little sentences do well for a child's copybook, but the man who acts on them in war had better sheathe his sword for ever." The enunciation of these principles will be a guide to the public in estimating the value of news from the seat of war.

An amusing instance of the engineer hoist, with his own' petard, has been communicated to us. Our readers will, recollect a paragraph which recently appeared hi 1 the pajter,s to the' effect that a' large quantity vt of. bogus tea was, in the' Melbourne market, some .of which would very i probably reach New Zealand. Whether this prediction ''has 'been veri£ed oTriot^w&haxiie no.meaif&jjf judgiugj but ihiso^wertknpw.'thati a quantity of stnffihto been soldfor the Svhichjit isattly bejaffirmed nej,-er fn ffeybuthfurgreeuness' felt the3almy ' brcezes^of'the Flovfary Laud. .A peripatitic ;nierphautUufp*o*s*sessi6n 6t a "cbn-^ \ol thiswlelecfe'ljleijnixture re- " 4eiitfsisiM?gSh^iBtHt^ filfaji'a tliqu"^^^^^^^^^©^..^^^.^^^© of fl

merchant's j4s»y( atffP certain unpreteiuling \4llafte:Flfe^pift'tfp ajLthe only hotel, the lamUcpril oft\v,hicji isji hit of a wag in Bis way.;|Gr«ajjin& the calibre of his*gwest,~he one ifift'ef noon inseated ail augur.into one of the latters.tea? , chest", and abstracted just sufficient of the odorous compound to . prepare . the lijuiid refreshment foY tlie s |efening*meali The company being seated,' the following colloquy took place :— Boniface (sipping his ten) " Well, well, to think that Blank (the, storekeeper over the way) should attempt to impose' on his best* customers 4n this way. I never tasted such rubbish in all my life. To call such stuff asjthis tea!" Peripatetic Tua Merchant :- (Knowingly elevating the spoon to his lips two oi 1 three times), "Disgraceful! 1 Do you mean to say that your local storekeeper deals in such vile trash ! as this ?" Bonif.ice : "Such is the fact, though I must say I thought better of him." l\ T. 'Merchant (swelling with indignation) well its my opinion that the man who sells such tea 1 ought to be hanged." The good humoured landlord had not the heart to set his guest right, and allowed ill tn to go away in ignorance ; but, "if this should meet the eye" of our wandering friend, he will know that though he has been in blissfully oblivious of the extent to which he was victimised, others are acquainted M'ith the true facts, and will hesitate before again investing in an article which the vendor condemned in such terms.