The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1810, 12 February 1884, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

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

TUESDAY, FEB. 12, 1884.

» »Some few months ago the proposal to establish District High Schools at two centres in AVaikato—Hamilton and Cam bridge —was received with an outburst of parental enthusiasm seldom experienced. All were unanimous in believing it a step in the right direction, and all clamoured for an immediate execution of the scheme. Parents of promising youths gloaled in antici pation over tho easily and cheaply attainable educational status which High Sehoo's would ensure, The members of the school committees of the respective centres above-named, being thus encouraged by what seemed the universal approval of the parents, lost no time in'- laying the matter before the Board of Education ; and tho board in turn, receiving tho necessary *<<j#&bantee, readily conceded Jhe for ft time all wsnt

smoothly. Everything, even to matters of detail, savoured of success, and the educational institution of Waikato presented a condition of harn.ony not to be expected under ordinary eireu instances But there seems to have been a canker-worm at work somewhere. Day after day little unpleasantnesses have followed each other in rapid succession, and these, though frivolous in themselves, when combined have not only formed a very serious impediment to progress, but have, it would seem, proved fatal to the very existence of the High Schools. The principal cause of non-sucejss may be said to be the apathy of the parents, and, in the case of Cambridge, badly organised internal management. The Hamilton High School started with twenty pupilsless than the number guaranteed. This number, instead of increasing, has decreased, in the very short space of time since the schcol started, to ten, and from all accounts, this number is likely to h* further reduced. At Cambridge thirty-nine pupils were guaranteed, but only twenty-two were enrolled. Of this number, wo think, only twelw havu as yet put in an appearance this quarter, five having stayed away on account of the difference which has arisen between a number of the parents and a few of the members of the committee regarding the remodelling of the. teaching staff. Were this difl'erence satisfactorily arranged we have been assured the attendance at the Cambridge school would again rise to, if it did not exceed, the old average. In Hamilton, however, the parents have no such excuse as a difference of opinion regarding tin retention or removal of a teacher ; it has been a matter of ephemeral enthusiasm wivinf way to indifference — the realisation has not come up to the anticipation — and they have now concluded that the extra advantages in point of higher education which their children enjoyed are not worth the price paid for it We cannot but condemn the policy puisued by those parents at Cambridge, who, by way of giving 1 practical effect to their protest against the removal of the present head master, have kept their children away. It is truly a matter of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, and we-, feel certain that had these people given anything like mature consideration to the possible consequences of their action, they would have acted otherwise. After clamouring for a high school, and after pledging themselves to support it, they now set about undermining it, and for what reason 1 Such manifest indifference serves to show very clearly that a section of the original high school enthusiasts are beginning to believe that such an institution is altogether too premature in this district ; but we cannot congratulate them upon the means whic'i they have adopted to effect their end. If, on the other hand, parents are still desirous that their children should be afforded the means of obtaining a superior c lueation within the district, it is quite evident that they must lie up and doing. It cannot be expected that tho board wil subsidise schools whose average i so low as that of these in Waikato. In letting the schools go we shall put a weapon in the hands of our detractors, which they will not be slow to use.

'Echoes from the Cafe" will be found (.u the fnmth page of this issue. The annual picnic of the railway employs took place at Buckland yesterday, and m.vs a gieat success. The attendance v.v laiger than tit any previous time, and the usitoib passed a very pleasant day. On account of the success which has attended his visit to the Waikato, Dr Sinclan, dentist, has decided to piolong his stay in Cambiidge till Wednesday evening. On Thuisday and Fiiday he may be consulted at Hamilton. Nominations of candidates qualified to serve on the licensing committees of the licensing districts of Kangirni, Kinkuiioa, Tamahere and Cambridge must be doliveied or posted to Capt. McPliei'Mm, the lefcunung officer, Kiiikinioa, on or before noon of Saturday, the Kith nist. Te Kooti, with his followers, rrnved at Hukauui on Satin day, and is at piesent the gue&t of the natives living in th.it settlement. We understand that he pui poses paying a visit to Hamilton on Wednesday. A case of typhoid fever is reported from Hamilton West. The patient is a lateanhal from England, and the cause of the disease ib attnbuted to a tainted well A cable message in another column announces the death of Cetewayo. The e\-Kmg of the Zulus has given England lots of trouble, but with all his faults theie aie othets who might have been better spared — the Mahdi for instance. Mr J. S. Buckland's sheep fair, announced to be held at Cambiidge on Thuisday, promises to be well attended. The stock which will be offered for sale, as will be seen fiom our advertising columns, i-> an exceptionally large one. Those people who are in the habit of complaining of the lack of genuino amusement in Hamilton stand a good chance of being satisfied on Tuesday, the 2(sth mst. On the evening of that day the Orpheus Glee Club, assisted by some of the be»t local and Auckland talent, will give a concert, as advertised. The second part of the programme is to consist of negro minstrelsy of the old type. A narrow escape from a serious accident happened at Hinton's Gully on S iturday. As Mi" Hunt was returning from Cambridge his son, who was in the buggy with him at the time, got up, and in so doing fell foi ward. Mr Hunt, in trying to save the boy from going over the dashboard, pulled him back too quickly, and ho fell over the side of the buggy. As boon as he lecovered himself he ran to the horse's head, staitling the horse, which ran into the bank, bieaking tho shaft and traces, upsetting tho buggy, and th Lowing Mr Hunt heavily to the ground, who, however, escaped with a few 'bruises and a sprained wrist. The following special messages to the Press Association, dated London, the 9th inst., have been published ;— The creditors of Mesbi-s Young and Lark, Australian merchants, have agreed to accept payment; in full, extending over a period of two year". Their Egyptian liabilities are to be paid within six months, The London liabilities of the firm amount £3(50,000, but it is estimated that tho assets represent nearly double that amount. The London Chartered Bank of Australia ranks as a creditor for £190,000.— The frozen meat per Liguria and Tcmgariro has arrived in excellent condition. The Tongariro will make her next voyage th rough the .Suez Canal.— ln Parliament Minister* have intimated that they will accede to Lord Salisbury's motion fora Royal Commission on the housing of the London poor. — February and March shipments of wheat to London divaat have been sold at 41s, and for the Continent; at 435» It is a matter of much regret that the Union Company's faat' steamer, tbe

livtion us it was at firat believed she would be. As an inbtance of the great value of a quick service of this nature to the commercial and tra\ elling population of the colony, we quote tl c following letter, written by a gentlemen t > the Otago Daily Times :— " Jiiht fancy, Sir : I did a fair day's work on Saturday— delivering sheep, riding round giving orders, &c— before leaving home (Palmerston), up t.i 10.30, when I left by expio^s train for Lyttelton, and here I am (Monday) going up the Manukau Harbour, with every prospect of doing a reasonable afternoon-, business in Auckland, thus bringing the two gieat centres of population m the colony — Dunedin and Auckland — within one clear day of each other." From the Hawkes Bay Herald we learn that at the Hastings ram fair, held January 30 and 31, nearly double the number of rams were yarded as against last year, and with only a moderate attendance of buyers, and for the general run of sheep much lower prices had to be accepted than in previous years. Notwithstanding this we are .able to congratulate their district upon the satisfactory position obtained by a .shipment of 21 flock rams sent down by Mr beddon. which were sold in one lot to Mr J. H. Williams, reaching the top price of £7 7s. Mr Seddon at the same sale was a purchaser of a very high class Btud ram at 45 guineas, from the flock of the Hon. M. Holmes, Awa Mao, Oamaru. The Napier Telegraph says:— We have been shown to-day an ingenious instrument, or rather pair of instruments, namely patent barbing tools, invented and patented for the New Zealand and Australian colonies by Messrs Weodcock and West, barb wire manufacturers, Oamaru. The instruments are intended for barbing wire fences already erected, and consist of a pair of strong pincers, which clasps the wire into which two barbs are inserted, and a pripper whicn catches them, when, by giving two turns, a sharp fourpointed barb is put firmly on, and we nndei stand .uiv active man or boy can barb from 20 to 25 chains der day. These instruments, we believe, were shown for the first timo .it this New Zealand Industrial Exhibition now being held in Christchurch, where they attracted much attention, being looked on as a great boon to runholders and fanners, who can now conveit their plain wire fences into barbed ones at a trifling expense. Wo believe one of the firm intend to at once place them in tho local market, and uvorj pair of instruments will be accompanied with printed instructions for iibe. Messrs Woodcock and West are also manufacturers of single strand and dark steel twisted galvanised barbpd wires on an extensive scale, samples of which we have seen, they give employment to some twentymen and boys, and have turned out during the last twelve months over 200 tons oss theii manufactures, and fiom the pricef at which these are quoted we should say the hnpoited barb wiies will very soon be a thing of the past in this colony, The Taranaki News has the following :— " From the Waikato we learn that Rewi is kicking over the traces, and that he has intimated to the Government that he withdiaws from all his engagement., in regard to the survey of the King Country, and will stick to King Tawhiao. Ko great importance need be attached to the statement, for, in the first instance, no very important engagement was made between Rewi and the Government. There is one funny point about the subject though. When the terms, &c, were arranged and Rewi was a consenting paity, he was described as everything that was all good, all poweiful, and all influential. Now that he has lecauted the Government Agent desciibes him as " very weak and foolish." The Agent goes on to Hay "no importance whatever is attached to "rlewi's secession, as it is perfectly well known that he could be turned round again in five minutes weie he worth the trouble. While the real land owners, Wahanui and Taonui, remain constant, it matters little what either Rewi or Tawhiao may do or say, and even were Wahanui and Taonui to bo influenced like poor old Rewi by such a person as Taiwha,nga, which is highly unlikely, that would not no»v be allowed to form any impediment to the progress of the works definitely commenced with the hearty concunence of Ngatimaniapoto, and after full consultation with them. ' The Lyttelton Times thus refers to the knighthood of Sir Frederick Whitaker :—ln: — In the announcement of the rewards that have been so lavishly distributed amongst the members ol the Sydney Conference, we see an indication of the pleasure of those who advise the Sovereign. It is made manifest to all men that those who have agreed to impose Federation upon Australia have peformed a work great in the eyes of the Imperial authorities. No one need now doubt that the Federation Bill will be pnsssed by the Imperial Legislature and sent out to the colony in time to be submitted to the next session of Parliament. Of the two New Zealand delegates the choice has naturally fallen upon Mr Whitaker. Ex-Premiers, for obvious reasons, have the preference over Premieis in these matters. Mr Whitaker, moreover, had claims to the knighthood which could not be passed over. His services had been, at least, equal to the best services of those who had been knighted long ago. A contemporary of Bell and Fox in the earliest days of colonial government, and taking a more prominent part than either, he was passed over when they were promoted. In the Waitaia affair in the days of the Waikato war, in the memorable struggle of tho meinorandumiad, be bore himself just as his colleagues, but without the same u-gard. His star was high in the political heaven before the stars of Hall or Staff oid uere^eon to any advantage, but they both pieceded him in translation to the fiim.iment of honour. Mr Whitaker has sen wi the country long ; he has given it hi.s early efforts as well as the ripeness of his oldexpeuenco. A complete master of PailiainiMitaiv tactics, and an accomplished judge of human nature, he has been uncommonly successful as a public man. Whether the delay in the recognition of his services has been due to_ a reputation he has acquired of serving himself and certain great interests at the same time, it would be invidious now to discuss. Ho has, during a long public career, clone at least as much for the Colony as others who have been honoured. The opportunity came for ono of two New Zealand delegates to have honour. It was proper that he should hay c been the one selected. He will, at the same time, be for the public of this country a beacon of warning. Every time the name of Sir Frederick Whitaker is mentioned, men will remember that, unless they bestir themselves, the days of Federation are at hand. The Lyttelton Times of the 2nd inst. has the following :— Mr Bryce now has a great oppoitunity for settling the native difficulty on a permanent basis. The time lias come when the native demand has been formulated, without mystery or metaphor. The Maniapoto chief, who has done this in the clearest possible manner, has given the opportunity coveted by successive Native Ministers to Mr Bryce. Success is within the grasp of tho Native Minister if he chooses to act with enlighten-^ ment and that element of generosity which the interests of a fine race require at the hands of all Europeans. Enlightenment, however, does not consist in having the Maniapoto chief bianded throughout the country as an old dotard who has no landed property. The jubilations that ascended when Rewi signed the agreement to do something with the Waikato lands ought to have prevented this, for Rewi was then described as a chief of high rank, of considerable wealth, and of tried sagacity. To speak of him slightingly now on all those points is not enlightenment. Neither is it enlightenment to seek the causes of the present unexpected turn of affairs in the doings and sayings of land specula, tors. It is as well to turn our backs upon the old, old stories, and look the bituation fairly in the face. These Natives are not children, to be blown hither and thither by interested, shallow rascals. They are shrewd independent people, who have for nearly a quaiter of a century been steadfast to a cherished policy. They have, moreover, a complete distrust for what they call the class of land swallowers, founded upon accurate knowledge of their nefarious ways and dishonest works. _ If any one doubts let him read their petitions to the Legislature. It is not enlightenment to ascribe the attitude of Rjwf to "land swallowers." The best and grandest course i» for Mr Bryce to make up his mind to belleva that Mr Mcßeth's statement of the position is the ©orreet one, He knows how his surveyors have baen treated, and he knows what the real wishes and chapacr ters of the natives are. The tribes are standing together, and they may be conciliated once and for over. That is the summary of the position.

Reports from all parts of Russia state that the cattle plague continues with unabatfld fury. Qvev 100,000 cattle have fallen yietirtw to the, pjftgu^jn^hj nast