DISTINGUISHED VISITORS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1823, 13 March 1884, Page 2

DIS TING UISHED VISITORS.

(Contributed.) lAM not a hero worshipper Still less do I sympathise with the syopbant and the whole tribe of small eieatmes who do homage to either wealth or station. My language will therefoie bo neither that of flattery nor adulation, but to those who can read " sermons in stones ; book-, in the running biooks" some pat tieulars by way of remini^ences of your iceent " distinguished visitors " may perchance prove interesting and perhaps instruct! \e in the sense, that whatever is meritorious in the caieer of public men is invaluable as an example to others in such .t community as oius, wheie the path to wealth, honoui, and, better still, to public usefulness, is open to all. Mixing with a small crowd m fiont of your piincip.il hotel, I was amused at their curiosity as to who were the thiee gentlemen and two ladies just arrived in one of Johnson's first-class turnouts. The fine prancing horses and the coach iesei ved for state < C3isions denoted distinguished visitors. Who are they ? Some Australian tourists they surmised. I regretted I could thiow no light o\ cr the mystery, which was almost painful to so much eager curiosity. Getting a glimpse of one of the gentlemen, I exclaimed, " Surely I know that face ! ' It was but a dun lecollection rushing upon me fiom the dreamland of a far away past. Becoming more distinct I walked acioss, and sine enough it was the face of one X knew well in far other circumstances, far away among I the mountains of Austiaha, wheie the Buffalo and Mount Feathertop lift theii snow y peaks to the skies. He was then (it is (i\ c and twenty ye.v s ago) a miner, one of a noble race. Adventurous, educated, buoyed up by all youth's indomitable coinage, amidst misfortunes that weie well nigh overwhelming, one of those whose event- j ful hibtoims might fill volume-, but whose exploits live chiefly by the wayside inn, or the solitary hut, wheie men who weio scai cely less than hoi oes fight their battles o'er again. The Chens! The very mention of the name, I ha\e often found to act like a chaiui, mystic woids indeed to so many now getting into the seie and yellow leaf. The Ovens ! How often ha\elseen the woido bnghten weary, languid face-*, unsealinggia\ c and silent lips tellingof hope defoned, or some lucky find. The Ovens ' And you aie reminded of many an ad\entuie, of han -breadth 'scapes by flood and field, of the stilling, toimenting, aiuious, but e\er hopeful seaich foi gold. The Ovens ! And they recall to you many a political stiuggle and many a glonous triumph; of houses .shod with gold, and Cameion bong driven through the stieets of Beechwoith. The march of i the Cameion men. The Ovens ' and they will talk for hour-, of Tom Mooney, of " the faim, the \oto, and the lifle;" of the woolshed bosses, and skittle-, being played with bottle-, of champagne for niiiepiiis ; of the Buckland nots, when a handful of Europeans diove hundreds of Chinamen fiom the Buckland like a (luck ot sheep. The Ovens ! Wli.it a cloud of nienioiies the woid — now histoiical, and to s.) many, almost sacied— conjures up ! Long yea-, ha\e passed since then, but the lecollections of those emly days till usiup at pleasiue om thoughts and our im.igina fciojj. How man ellous, indeed, is the spell of old associations ' The Orais has li.id many icpicscntxtivos—sonic of them distinguished for ability, eloquence, and -tatesmanship. J. \). Wind, the "clever little lawyer,"' as Sn John O'Shanncssy called him ; (I. Y. Smith, who, but fc v his ojcentneity, might still lepiosent that constituency ; Alex. Keefer, who, alas ' died ci c his pnme. The fiee and enlightoneil elecloi-, w mo not, however, nlw.ivs sohaj>))y in theii choice. O'Connoi will be leneinbeiud, and the "Railway Poitei," who was, nevei thelesb, a "follow of infinite jest" But of all those who h.ue done honoui t.) the Ovens constituency — always of great impoitance— no one has filled so l.uge a space, filled it uioie woithily oi for such a lengthened peiiod as the Hon. Geoige Biiscoe Keifeid, the Attomoy-Oeueial of the preoent Administiatiou. Who is he ? asked one of the eager ciowd, and no one could tell. May I gratify the euiioMty of some by a buef notice of one who has woiked himself fiom lowly beginnings to such a distinguished position among colonial politicians. I first knew linn as a mei chant's clerk in Melbourne in V) 3 or '.">!. He came to the Ovens on business of the Run, and enteied into business as a wine and spmt mci chant. He afterwaid- built a bieweiy, which he cai ued on for some yeais, and which, if I mistiku nut, is now the piopeity of his Ovens' colleague in the House. In municipal matteis, and, indeed, in all th.it aiiected the wclfaie of Beech woith, he was painstaking, solf-sau if icing, l.iboiious, giaduating m e\eiy position in winch the suffrages of his fellow-townsmen could place him. He came fonvaid foi the House at an auspicious peiiod, and ever since has faithfully sei ved a constituency to which he owes much, and doubtless they also owe much to him. A seat m I'aihament was the appiopriate complement of a caieei of gieat loc.il usefulness, and he has ne\er failed to command the sufiiagos of a inability of the electois. Once m the House his ambition lose still higher. The bieweiy was discaided, and he studied for the law, in due course being called to the Victorian Bar. Since then he has filled unpoi taut offices as Minister of the down m several administrations, till, on the letnement of the late lion. J. G. Francis, he was chosen Piemier of the Government which succeeded. In the present Coalition he is piobably occupying a position of even greater relative impoitance. It is a strong government — the strongest, perhaps, Victoii i has evei possessed — James Set vice on one side, and Graham Berry on the other, afioi dmg the best guarantees for stability, statesmanship and progress. Thi* biief cluonicle of a man, a man sprung f lmn the people, a man rising not by reason of any singularly brilliant talents, foi Keif eid is neither a great orator, nor a gieat statesman, nor a gieat lawyer,— he never dazzles, but neither does he dis;q>l>i>mt. His rue the much mine xiseful qualities of great goad sense and sound ludginent, a perfect masteiy of such siiblects as he deals witii, and the invaluable faculty of clearly and earnestly expies->mg his opinions. He is, theiefoie, listened to with respect and attention while his tact and bon homine enable him to avoid personal entanglements and political hostility. His pioctical, useful and laboiious caieer affoi ding the best of all examples, and the gieatest of all encouiagement m communities, so freely opening the gates of eminence and fame to patient meiit, chiefly the gospel of hard woik, the divine att.ibutes of courage, pluck, and indomitable peiseveiance. The other "distinguished visitoi,'' the Hon. Duncan Gillies, I have not the honour of knowing so well. I am awaie, however, that he began life at Ballar at under even less favouiable auspices than his colleague of Beech woith. Awoiking miner, he bee line a lepiesentative of the Mining Boaid of those days, graduating like so many others for still higher positions. He, too, is therefore a self-made man. He has been long a Minister of the Crown, and has held several poitfolios, displaying in the several departments considei able administrative ability. I recently temarked to a high official of the Victoiiah Pailiament, another distinguished visitoi to ourshmes, that I presumed Graham Berry had no rival as a Pailiainentary debater. " No,"hereplied," notforimpromptuspeakmg, but on great occasions and in a set speech the House has no one equal to Duncan Gillies." May both he and his colleague enjoy their holiday trip to the wonderland of New Zealand.

Ch ircoal is highly recommended as a preventative of disease in sheep, and in an English pamphlet the following receipt for its use appears. The charcoal should be given mixed with the food, except in urgent cases, when it may be mixed in water or a thin gruel and given as a drench. The dose is one jjinl to every twenty-hve head of sheep or lambs, one-quarter pint per head for full grown cattle, horses, or hogs ; half the qnantity for young cattle, and two teaspoonsful to one desert-spoonful for young calves. Chronic indigestion produces among other results an uneasy, lestless habit, soft, ill-smelling clung, sometimes covered with slime or mucus. The animal usually has a good and sometimes a voracious appetite. There is nothing better for a horse in this condition than grass, but before he is turned out he should have a pint of linseed - oil, repeated the third day, and should not be permitted to gorge himself. It would be safe to cut grass for him and give a small quantity at first, gradually increasing it and watching its effect. Give an ounce of salt daily to Uofc with, a handful of ashes,