The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1697, 22 May 1883, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Ega il .md exact justirc to all men, Ot whatsoever st.itc or pcrsunuon, religious or llerc"h.iU the Tress the Pcoplr's, rißlit m.iintain, Un.iwed l>j' influence .md unbnhcd b) gain.

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1883.

A poll of the ratepayers of the Borough of Hamilton will bo taken to-morrow to determine whether the " Public Libraries Act, 1869," shall be brought into operation within the borough or not. Section 3 of the act prescribes that the mayor or chairman of the governing body of a town or district may, on the requebt of f>uch governing body, or ten ratepayers, cause a poll of the ratepayers to bo taken on a certain day between the hours of 9 in the morning and '1 in the afternoon. Further on it is laid down that the result of the poll shall bo determined by a simple majority. Should the proposal for the adoption of the act be carried, the mayor or chairman must notify the same, and the governing body may then proceed to levy a rate, not to exceed one penny in the pound on tho annual value of the property in the town or district, which shall be called a "library rate." Tho poll of ratepayers is to be taken in the manner provided for the election of the governing body of the district. h\ the case of Hamilton, therefore, the voting will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation of Local Elections Act. There is not, it -will be been from this, any intricacy about the business, but in sight of the fact that in recent pollings— under the Roads Construction Act, and that in reference to the proposed drainage scheme for Hamilton — the modus ojwandi was peculiar, it is necessary to make a brief explanation. We should like to sco a little public interest taken in the event of to-morrow. Whatever other consideration may weigh with the opponents of the proposal, let us hope they will divest their minds of any local prejudice or jealously. It has almost become a custom in Hamilton when the establishment of aiiy institution having the improvement of tho people for its object is proposed, to subordinate the question of its utility to that of its location. It has already been pretty broadly hinted that, should the proposal to be put before the ratepayers to-morrow be carried, Hamilton East will be robbed to provide a free library for Hamilton West. It is bad enough that such ridiculous insinuations as this should be made, but it is nothing short of a public calamity that they should exercise so wide and deep an influence as they have in years past. The selection of a situation for the library will rest entirely in the discretion of the borough council, and that body has for some time, to its credit be it said, exercised its functions with the strictest impartiality as between the two divisions of the borough. It has also been objected that the amount which will be yielded by the penny rate will be totally inadequate for the purpose of creating and maintaining a library. To this we would reply by stating that the act makes provision for borrowing moneys, for library purposes, the interest and sinking fund to be provided for out of jbhp rates. It will thus be seenthat small a# $c amount

annually accruing from the rate may bo, probably not much over £4.0, it would be large enough to meet the charges on a respectable sum of money, and to provide for the moderate remuneration of a librarian as well. The act gives tho council power to set aside resorves for library endowment, and to make pro- , vision in the way of buildings, &c, for housing the books; nor must it bo forgotten that State aid will be forthcoming. Tho people of Hamilton have it in their power to grasp a solid advantage ; they will deserve reprobation if they let it slip out of their reach.

The continuation of " On horseback to the Lakea," crowded out of last issue, has again to be held over. The balance-sheets of the Piako County Council for the year ending 31st March last are printed in another part of this issue. Messrs S. Cochrane and Son announce that the sale of Ryans farm,

near Lam Bridge, is postponed. Some much needed additions, in the shape of cloak-rooms for the boys and girls, respectively, are to be made to the Hamilton West school. Tenders for the work are invited in our advertising columns.

The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council, whicli should have been held last night, lapsed for want of a quorum, the only members present being Crs. Peat, Bradley, Gaudin and Lovett.

A fancy fair will be held in the Public Hall, Cambridge, on Thursday and Friday next, in aid of the funds of S. Andrew's Church. The fair will open at 2 p.m. each day, and aa auction will be held at the close. Contributions are earnestly solicited, and should be sent in early.

Mr George Aldridge (Evangelist), will commence a course of three free lectures in the Public Hall, Hamilton, tonight, on the subject •• Man's nature : is he mortal or immortal?" To-morrow evening he will lecture ou the subject on " The nature and duration of future punishment, or is evil eternal ?" and on Thursday evening on " What is the (lospel?" All seats will be free, and theie will be no collection. Te Aroha is coming to the front at last. We learn that a trial crushing of one ton of quartz from the Welcome licensed holding (Te Aroha) adjoining the Worahiko Gold Mining Company, gave the splendid return of 7Gozs sdwts. melted gold, the value of which was £3 Gs 7d per ounce. The crushing took place at the Alburnia battery on Friday last.

A Cambridge correspondent desires us to correct some spiteful misstatemerits which have appeared in an Auckland paper in reference to the bachelors' ball. The communication should, iv the first place, be addressed to the editor of the journal in which the offensive paragraph appeared.

Strawberries in the middle of May are equally worthy of being clnonicled as arc the "big gooseberries, which afford a stray item to our antipodean brcthi en during a dearth of news. Last Sunday Mr Geo. Hamblin, of Cambridge, gathered a saucerful of the luscious berry in his garden, which had iipened in spite of the frosty nighti we have experienced lately.

Major Withers, the officer commanding the Auckland Volunteers, died at his residence, Auckland, on Sunday morning, of bronchitis, at the age of 76. The deceased officer was well known in connection with the war in New Zealand, and his death -will be unwelcome news to all those who served with him. The command of the Auckland district has been assumed by Col. Lyon, pending other arrangements.

Thursday next, the anniversary of the Queen's Birthday, will be quite a gala day at Te Awainutu. The annual races will bo a source of very general attraction, and should prove, if the weather is fine, exceptionally good. The train arrangements, as advertised, will enable people to attend the races at small expense. We are requested to state that the first race will start at 1 o'clock, not 12. In the evening there will be an enteitainment in the Public Hall by the pupils of the public school, and, judging from the suoceas of former efforts, the performance will be well worth going miles to see.

Professor Sample has altered his dates tor lecturing. To-morrow (Wednesday) he will dcliv er his free lecture in the Oddfellow's Hall, Hamilton, and on Friday in the Oddfellow's Hall, Cambridge. From the reports that reach ua from those who have attended his lectures in Auckland, his process is wonderful, and as he guarantees to impart it to others, who will be enabled to carry out the same process of making horses docile and quiet, he may safely be reckoned as one of the great benefactors of the age, All our young settlers should avail themselves of the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge of so useful a science in a district like Waikato where so many hoi-se3 are being bred.

Welsh service was held on Sunday i evening in the rooms of the Y. M. C. Association, Auckland, by Mr. T. Ellice Jones. There uas a good attendance. The preacher took from his text the 3rd chapter of John, sixteenth verse, " For Uod so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believcth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Owing to the scarcity of Welsh hymn-books, those of Moody and Sankey were used. The sermon was listened to with much attention, and those who hailed from the Principality were greatly gratified at hearing; again the accents of their native tongue in public worship. A number of the Welsh people remained behind, to make arrangements for a similar service to be held next Sunday evening at 6.30 o'clock, at the same place, the Y. M. C. Association's rooms. — Hcrdd.

The bachelors' ball given on Friday night at the Public Hall, Cambridge, went off with great <sclat. About seventy couples tripped the ' light fantastic toe ' to the excellent music provided by Messrs McComish, Eady, and Triphook, of Auckland, who were engaged for the occasion, and the opinion was expressed by many of the dancers that it was the best dance music they had heard in Waikato. The floor was a trifle heavy, in spite of the pains that had been taken with it, but this fou^t did not appear to greatly mar the enjoyment of t>hf)s& present, as dancing was kept up with great spirit until until 3 a.m. The costumes of the ladies were the theme of general admiration, and could not well be eclipsed in our large cities. An excellent supper was provided by Mr H. Bucklaud, and all appeared to heartily enjoy themselves. A return bajl, to be given by the benedicts of Cambridge, is gontimplated.

For downright hard swearing the Maori is not easily beaten. The motto, " What I says I says, and what I says I sticks to, and what I sticks to I swears to," appears to be adopted in its entirety. At the R.M. Court, Cambridge, on last Friday the evidence given by one of the defendants in the case Montague v, Fot^jm and. others, called forth a very plain expression of opinion from the bench. We do not remember hearing the like except on the occasion of the Magisterial enquiry re the manslaughter at Oxford, when half-a-dozen on , one side swore fco the occurrences, distances, time, &a, } with the ininufcept circumstantiality, although the utmost care was taken by the court to prevent the possibility of collusion, the whole of ; which evidence was contradicted by half-a-dozen oi the other side, who, also agreeing inj the minuteßb particular, ' told 1 quite another story. On that occasion, leaving tlW'99Wt? $ the midday a^jo\u'ninen|, qw i

reporter remarked to a friend, a native interpreter, who had been present, that it would puzzle any jury to siffc out the truth from the evidence, to which he replied, "Don't you know how those fellows do it, why the've been rehearsing for this trial night after night at their kainga until every man is letter perfect in his part. The devil himself could'nt shake those fellows' evidence." His Honour District Judge Smith delivered a lecture in the Public Hall, Hamilton, last night, on " The History of Writing," in aid of the funds of S. Peter's Church. Considering the threatening aspect of the weather there was a fair attendance, and the chair was occupied by the Rev. Mr Biggs. The Hamilton String Band, under the leadership of Mr T. A. Bell, kindly lent their services, and played a couple of overtures in first-class style. The lecture, of which j we regret we have not space to give even the briefest outline, was mo3t interesting throughout. The lecturer dealt with the subject of written and spoken language from the earliest ages clown to the present day, illustrating the subject by means of carefully prepared diagrams, and interspering the whole with humourous aneci dotes and references, which quite relieved the subject of that dryness which might I naturally be thought to be inseparable from it. At the close a very hearty vote of thanks was, on the motion of the chairman, passed to Mr Smith. We trnst that this is not the last occasion on which we shall have the pleasure of hearing the learned gentleman lecture before a Hamilton audience* With great regret, we have to record the death of Major Wilson of Te Koao. We are not in possession of any information beyond the fact that he died in Auckland on Friday night. On the Wednesday week previous he went to Auckland to obtain medical advice in reference to a tumour forming on one of the lower jaws ; on examination this was pronounced a cancer, and an operation was advised without loss of time. His family having been communicated with, Mrs Wilson proceeded to Auckland on Monday, the 14th inst., as it had been decided by Dr Richardson, the medical adviser, that the operation should be performed on Wednesday following. As far as we can gather, this was very successfully performed, and on Friday morning the patient was reported as progressing favourably. Some untoward circumstances must have intervened, as on Saturday morning the news reached Hamilton that the Major had succumbed the previous night. The late Major Wilson held a commission in H.M. 40th Regiment, and, subsequently, that of major in the 3rd Waikato Militia. Of late years Major Wilson has been better known in connection with local affairs in his own district, and was for many years chairman of the Newcastle Road Board, and notwithstanding little differences that arose some year or two ago in this body, all sections of the community who at any time came in contact wjth him will acknowledge his ability, and will sincerely regret what may be considered the untimely end of one who, up to within the last few weeks, appeared so hale and hearty.