AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1686, 26 April 1883, Page 2

AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Ecjual ,md evict justice to all men, Ot uJi*tM)o\er state or ijcrbu.is.ion, religious or political. Here •ili.ill the Press the People's ri^h^ m.iintainj Unawed by lnftueutc and unbnbcd by g.iin.

TIIURSDA r, APRIL 20, 1883.

The proceedings at the opening- of the Native Lauds Court at Cambridge yesterday morning were somewhat interesting. On the one hand we had an "'explanation" from a lcavned counsel of his conduct in a recent case, and on the other a homily from the learned Chief Judge who preside-* over the destinies of the great "title machine." \\ r P may dismiss the first matter, as'posswWng very little interest for the general public beyond the fact that the " explanation " was callocl forth on what is probably the first iuslanco in which an adverse judgment ha« tempted counsel to forsake the paths- of decorum to such an extent as to threaten the judges in open court with an appeal to Parliament. En pamtnt, wo are sorry that the learned counsel did not in the course of his remark* apologise for ' his insinuations against ono c>v both I of the asbOSbors, who formed at tho ' timv a portion of tho sitting court. This portion of our subject may bo dismissed hy joining in a goodhumoured laugh with his Honour, vdio, when commenting; on counsel's statement that "ho would advise his client* to keep within legal and constitutional means," congratulated the colony generally on the narrow escape the country had had from a j civil Avar, which must have ensued if such peaceful assurances had not fallen from Dr. Duller. With rea- 1 pecfc to the remarks of the " chief " we may at once say that they are ' entitled to the greatest weight. Tho Native Land Court of New Zealand is, next to the Supreme Court, sitting in its criminal jurisdiction, far and away the most important tribunal in New Zealand. Of course, life and liberty are above everything, but as far as property and the rights ot property are concerned, the Native Land Court deals in one year with greyer and more valuable interests than do .all the courts in Australasia in two ' years. It is not an uncommon thing to see two and three hundred thousand pounds worth of property i dealt with in some fornt at one sitting of one out of two or ilirea or , more Courts adjudicating on native land in various parts of the island oQ-ncwmsnfcly. Any remarks, therefore, whfah fall from the Chief Judge tit this most important judicial jorga»f?*tjon must, by the very nature ot thlnp ; possess an importance wliieh it' & i hard to The Chief Judge alluded to r the fact that he had spent a very [pleasant day at Ellerelie raeecoui'se lasfc Saturday, and drew a comparison between' that eiysiiim ojf. " ' ftis, hi%

own court, in the course of which he declared in favour of the former as a place of " trust, confidence, and innocence " when placed alongside the latter. Wo cannot help indulging in a little, joke' at the expenso of thejearned judge when we recollect tho growls of discontent that are occasionally indulged- in at the exponso of a racecourse judge when the event is decided "by a nose," nor refrain from wondering why he did not carry his imrallel a little further. But, seriously speaking, to what aro wo to attribute the state of matters which has called forth such severe remarks in referonce to this Cambridge Court ? There have been at Cambridge three large courts since 1875, at which none of this discontent now apparent existed. Two, threo, or at most four months sufficed to do all the business. Titles were obtained to somewhere between four and five hundred thousand acres, and at small expense to the natives. At this present court, on one occasion, Mr Hheehan appeared in something over twenty important sub division cases, disposing of them in two or three days. At Q-isborne the same judges that sat in the interminable Whetu and Waotu No. 1 cases disposed of their extremely important sub-division cases last month in eight days. Mr Eees and other lawyers appeared, yet there seems to have been no obstruction nor any of that " jockeying" to which the Chief Judge so feelingly alludes. There certainly has only been one case here in which, to use his Honour's words, " the jockeys on the Native Land Court course did not pull their horses, but ran them to death, and even when they were dead went in for a resurrection." The fact of the matter is this — 'lawyers can bo a great help or a great drawback to the proceedings of a Native Land Court. If they contine themselves to smoothing over difficulties, and reconciling the claims of the conflicting hapus they render immense service to the court and to the interests of justice ; but if, upon the other hand, they persist, for the sake of fees, in fighting cases which are founded only upon the avarice and cunning of outside natives who have really no claim, and in prolonging the proceedings by the production of witnesses who require to be " briefed," in order to drill them into the " goose-step" of the evidence required, then they bring upon the whole court the obloquy of the public. We shall revert to this subject again.

Probably no district in New Zealand boasting of a line of railway has greater cause of complaint regarding the workingofthelinefchan has the district of Waikato Though our lineis known to be about the best paying branch in the island, our song seems to be one perpetual complaint about its working. It never seems to afford us the accommodation which we require, and which all railways under ordinary circumstances afford. Still, notwithstanding our grumbling and our numberless complaints, we seldom or never hear of reform. Judging from the past it would seem complaints are treated as mere matters of form, and it is questionable whether our railway system would be thought complete without them. An instance has been brought under our notice recently which in itself is complete as showing the non-efficient, we might with reason say the shameful working of our local railways. A number of settlers who make Ohaupo their transmitting station »vera successful in securing a special train (it having, of course, been previously shown to the authorities that such a liberal concession, on their part would be remunerative to the department) to convey th>|r fat cattle to the Remuera market on We^nes* day last, Shipping operations commenced at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the train with its Jive freight left Ohaupo for its destination about ',) o'clock. Now this being a special train and having its comp'cruent, there was nothing to prevent its proceeding direct to Remuora had things been properly managed ; but, unfortunately, things on this occasion were not properly managed, and the cattle, which were for the next morning's market, did not get into Remuera until 10.45 the same night. According to this the rate of <jp<3<3d on our railways is fast decreasing, for in tJji.s. gasc the train only averaged about ki% Wjj'les an hour on the journey, including stoppages. Now this is not the worst feature of the affair, for the unfortunate beasts, on arrival at Rsnjuera, through the excessive shunting and, fjplay which they had been subjected to, «v#rp in a most pitiable condition, bruised and njaid from thirst and hunger. In one carriage one fat beast had succiuttbecj to the miseries of the journey, and several others were in a dying condition, The result was that the whole wore greatly depreciated in value, in some cases to the extent of about £1 per head. Butchers assert that Waikato cattle are more bruised, and suffer more from knocking ftbout than, cattle brought up from the South per steamer. This is a state of things against which any community would rebel, and we feel sure "Waikato settlers will no longer tolerate the in#ic#9ft o.f such injustice.

The case Hammond v. ayj# ]$s fo?en settled by the defendaut payiflg pIfMF #00. Tfte &s&a& of Auckland Iwill entertain lias Jsxftejtei^y fhg Governor at a b»U fa-night. Mr L*ur#nes .Gy.ssen, ©istr^t Surveyor, who vgflifc tf)WJjgJ) J;l).e *•' J^jng 1 ' country with Mr Bry6£, petjjiri)^^ t$ Hamilton yesterday. , , The Pukekohe Cheese .Factory promises, to be thoroughly , successful. The capital has been fixed at £ 6060, in ($OO shares, '2000 of which are to be held in vastew&f The number already applied for is nearly SOGO, The Pukekura Highway B9ard have granted permission to the Cambr-idge Town Board to remove 20,0yd5., of gravel on the Cambridge \Veat;side of^thi W^ai-

the Karapiro bridge approaches. Messrs? Fisher have been empowered by both boards to see that the work is satisfactorily carried out. At a meeting of the Waipa County Council, held on Tuesday last, Mr T. Or. Sandcs was appointed county engineer. The opening service of the new Anglican Church at Tamahere has had to be postponed, and will probably be on the evening of Monday, May 14th. Archdeacon Willis expects to hear definitely from the bishop in time to advertise in our next issue. A Maori named Kereopa was arrested at Te Awanmtu yesterday for larceny of a coat. He will be brought down to Hamilton to-day, and will be charged before the Resident Magistrate with the offence. Some confusion appears to exist in regard to the proper course to be followed in obtaining licenses to kill game within the Auckland district. An advertisement in another column conveys the information that they are to be had of the Chief Postmaster at Auckland, but that country residents, by forwarding the amount of the fee by post-office or telegraphic money order, can procure them by first post. A very enjoyable concert in connection with the Hamilton Presbyterian Band of Hope, took place at the Oddfellow's Hall on Tuesday evening, and was well attended. The Rev. J. Dukes (Wesleyan), and D. Raeburn (Presbyterian), delivered excellent and appropriate addresses, and a programme of vocal and instrumental music was executed very successfully. The chair was occupied by Mr John Cochrane. The swamp road between Cambridge and Te Awamutu has once more relapsed into its old — we injght sav> its historical condition. Indeed, this year promises to eclipse anything which the road has ever been in the past. Unless the highway boards interested take immediate steps to improve its condition the road will be closed, entirely not partially, during the winter months. The meeting of footballers called for Saturday evening last, at Kirkwoods Hotel, Cambridge, we regret to say, fell through, owing to the paucity of attendance. At the hour appointed for the meeting only three gentlemen turned up. The meeting was adjourned till Saturday evening next, when it is hoped all who can make it convenient to attend, and have the interest of this manly game at heart, will be present. In the New South Wales Assembly on the 17th. Sir H. Parkes moved a resoluforan address to the Queen, disapproving of the recent disloyal agitations in I Ireland and this colony. Upon this Mr. Stuart moved the previous question, which has carried by 48 to 25. It Mas held that the motion was unnecessary. The success of Mr. Redmond had not been so great as thathe should be elevated to a pedestal. Mr. Redmond had undermined the loyalty of no one, and he would go back a sadder and wiser man. At a meeting on Tuesday, the Otago School Commissioners passed a resolution .agreeing that ono-tliml of a block of 20,000 acies at Waikaia should be disposed of on the perpetual leasing system, but added the following resolution, "The foregoing resolution was passed at the urgent request of the Government in consequence of their threat, that unless it was agreed to they would decline to open the land for settlement, the perpetual leasing system being in the opinion of the majority ot the Commissioners an objectionable mode of dealing with the endowment." The programme of the Roman Catholic concert, to be held at Cambridge on Wednesday evening next, the fiist night of the races, appears in another part of tin's issue. Three of the best vocal amateurs of Auckland have volunteered their services, together with amateurs from other parts of the district. The concert in a musical sense promises to be one of the most successful which the Cambridge public have ever had the pleasure of attending. The programme being a most enticing one, we have little doubt the efforts of the committee will be suitably rewarded. It would seem as if warning?, unless practical, are seldom effectual. Time alter time attention has been drawn to the exposed and dangerous condition of the road between the Karapiro and Waikafco bridges at Cambridge, there being no rail along {.ho bank of the river to prevent, in case of accident, a dray or buggy being precipitated into one of the most dangerous corners of the Waikato river. Of late a considerable portion of the bank has been washed away by the vain, making tho road more dangerous than we have hitherto seen it. At a meeting of the Cambridge Town Board held some time ago, at which the subject was brought forward, it was agreed to let the matter remain in obeyance until after the new bridge had been erected, but now that this has been donethematter seems to be entirely lo3t sight of. It is a tnatter- decrying of attention, and we hope it will not te lost sight of,s A correspondent, at Kihikihi, writes j— The Armed Constabulary gave ft complimentary dance in the Public Half mi F^Way last. Nearly two hundred invitations WQJ'o issupd, a large number of which wore aooopted, The hall was admirably decorated with evergreens, in addition to which the arms of thp pQnqtabiilaily were tastefully converted into stays, &0,, by Messrs Toge, Patterson, Bird, Box and several others of tho force, who worked indefatigably the whole day to make the thing a success. The Te Awamutu Band was in attendance, and dancing commenced at about half-past eight o'clock. Refreshments were provided, and thoroughly enjoyed by the guests. The whole affair went off splendidly, and reflects gieat credit upon the promoters. Vi in a cmriQuq, a,nd. it may be s.aid a very unpleasant faat that so soon as the wet season sets in, so soon do our local bodies commence their road improvements, and with a result better known than described. Every year affords fresh and striking proofs of this ; and, notwithstanding, wo seem to travel on over the same road year after; year. In |be Cambridge district at the present time road improvements are being carried out on a very extensive scale, &]|d we are already afforded examples of what the loads thus treated will be in the course of a few months — infinitely worse than they would ever have been had they not been touched. The earthwork approaches to the now bridge at Cambridge promise to afford anyt|jfng[ but goijßoJation during the coining winter, as they are exceedingly bad already, Qn the west end of the bridge the road is quite unsafe for heavy traffic, and it something be not done here before the H^her ggps wprge the result will be serjpus, The conßtruefeioH. ef the 4rgt part of the Thames-Rotorua Hup, that under the District Railways Act, will now shortly be proceeded with. A large portion of the rolling stock has already been ordered, and consequently in this respect no delay m ay b§ anticipated. For some time it wajs ppnsiderG,4 fj}at fchpugh the oppqsition offered by Qpyernftjfigt %qugh the Thermal Springs. Reserve 1 4fJ fc Foqld not prove ruiubus'tp tlje scheifle, it would at all events b(B a sptjrce o.f much incon,venienge and. trouble. We feel con : viflgect, Jipsyeyer— H}da.a.d we are assured o»'se mWWt $4 th £ Glwammeni;, instead of frbrojying dftficuljjfeg jni fte ,\yay of fch§ Hn4fiFtakf n S, will do evecyfchjng in their powet? to facilitate matters by re : lieving the company of the restrictions enforced by the act above referred to. Mr Daniel, M.H.R. for Wallace, will remember the Colonial Treasurer in his prayers. We find the following reported, under the head of " Deputations " in the Southland* Times' \— i% A further deputation, CQiiQigtjuig ,pf >a number of de-ferred-payjijent gejeotorfl fa Itoj-Qa} 1

district, headed by Mr Theft. Daniel;> M.H.R., interviewed the Miniated on the 1 street, as he was hurrying > to 'the Bluff train, 'to urge upon him the 'necessity that ■ existed' for pushidg forward the Mararoa railway. Major Atkinson, after hearing the spokesman, replied, that he was quite willingto give the v matter his favourable , cohsideratibn, but added,' speaking to the settlers, that their member was to blame for the bad odour the line was in the House, as he (Mr Daniel) had characterised the land in the locality mentioned afe little better than a gravel-pit. , ' I ' > ', Men of science may amuse themselves by speaking of life being brought to the earth by the arrival of a meteor, in leality a fragment of some once peopled world which has been' destroyed by contact with another or byinternai disturbance. But this is more a scientific jest than a srave reality. Astronomy knows nothing of the worlds coming into conflict. On the contrary, the laws,of motion assure us that if anything is so unlikely that it may be regarded as absolutely impossible, it is the encounter of two orbs in mid space ; nor have \\ c any reason to suppose that a planet can be rent into fragments by internal convulsions. If we had, we have not the slightest reason for eupposing that orbs thus unfortunate would be more likely to be inhabited than their more lucky % fellow worlds. If these were inhabited already, we gain nothing by bringing to them the fragments of other Avorlds which have exploded ; and if they were not inhabited, whilst the burst or shattered worlds were, we are called on to imagine (for no one can believe) the absurdity that only inhabited worlds are liable to destruction, for the benefit of those which are without inhabitants. To which absurdity this additional one is superadded, that the seed of life would survive the destruction of their planet home, and the journeying through millions on millions of years (rather millions of millions) which science assures us they would have to make through the cold of interstellar space before they would fall on any other world. And all these absurdities to no purpose, so far as the origin of life is concerned, for they take us back but a step, which brings us in reality no nearer to all life. — Professor Proctor, m Jielgraoia, The practice which prevails in oertam fashionable circles of getting several clergymen and church donatories to " assist" at a single marriage, seems (3ays " Civis" in the lPitimi,) to be likely to prevail in the colonies, even in quarters which are not strictly fashionable. For instance, I read in the Daily Tuncb the other day an announcumentro'f acountiy inariinge, where the bade and bridegroom arc simply described by their Cluistian names, but the marriage was performed by the Rev. , assisted by the He vs. and . Women are generally regarded as kittle cattle, but it is not usually supposed that they are so unwilling to enter the hymeneal bonds as to requre that three men should be employed to " ropu up" one woman. Possibly there may be some value in a triple blessing, but the piecisc advantage of announcing in the adveitising columns of a newspaper that this blessing has been given is not obvious. Another peculiarity of the "hatched, matched, and despatched" column is, that people -w ill, e\ery now and then, put in a clause asking Home or Colonial papers to "please copy." Do they really think that Home and Colonial papers, receiving as they do such intimations from all parts of the world, take any notice of them ? If so, they must be very simple-minded. The only nay in which other papers are likely to be induced to copy such announcements is by the advertisement being sent to them, accompanied by a few current coins of the realm propoitioned to the service desired. I merely give this disinterested hint to save advertisers trouble, and printers the unnecessary labour of composing a good many useless lines.