COMMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1829, 27 March 1884, Page 2

CO MMENTS.

A report in a recent issue of the Brisbane Courier reveals a rather curious state of a Hairs in connection with the South Sea Island •' labour trade,*' as it is called. It appears that the schooner Ethel left Brisbane on the 26th January with 101 islanders, big and little, on board, all of whom Mere returning to their native islands. According to the Courier, these islanders took back with them, " as part of the prize of their industry, more than 200 firearms of a variety of patterns, some of the ' boys' being the proud owners of no less than four guns, ranging from the Snider to the Bhot-gun ; in addition to the firearms they had also some thousands of cartridges, and about 10001b of powder." When we next hear of a sanguinary outrage on some island of perpetual summer weneed not lift our hands in astonishment, and wonder why such things should be ; and when news comes to us that an internecine feud has swept away the inhabitants of one of these little spots of earth, we shall know where part, at any rate, of the blame ought to be laid. What is the use of extracting funds from the benevolently inclined in Eugland to support the missionaries for these darkskinned heathens, when the trader supplies them with much more attractive ware in the shape of powder and bullets ? It affords some satisfaction to know that this unworthy traffic is about to be closed up. The Ethel, it seems, is the last of the vessels engaged in the labour traffic leaving Brisbane in which the " boys," as the islanders are endearingly called, will be allowed to take back arms and ammunition with them. The Government has awoke to a sense of its responsibility, and has taken upon itself to say that it is not a white-man's privilege to supply the black-man with the means of his own certain destruction. j

We have received a very interesting souvenir of New Zealand journalism from the office of the Lyttelton Times. On March loth our contemporary issued for the first time from the magnificent new building just erected in Gloucester-street, Christchurch, and to mark the occasion the proprietors made two presentations to their supporters. The first is a " counterfeit presentment of the new building," and the second is a reproduction of the first number, published on the 11th January, 1851. Ihe Times is as proud of its initial number as of its new habitation, and with reason ;it was a worthy beginning of a long career of journalistic usefulness, the well-equipped forlorn hope of an efficient army that followed through the breach. While the eyes dwell upon this little eight page weekly journal, with its indistinct printing, the mind of the reader runs back over the third part of a century to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Lyttelton irom the good ships " Charlotte Jane," " Randolph," " Sir George Seymour" and " Cressy" ; to the busy groups of anxious emigrants, animated chiefly with a desire to go to " The Plains," then a virgin waste ; to the huts and " blanket tents" which were dotted over the place where Lyttelton now stands ; to the ships—big ships they were in those days—rocking on the ground swell in the harbour, long before the days of breakwaters and docks and wharves. In the happy words of the London Times, " a slice of England, cut from top to bottom," had landed on these far-away islands, determined to reproduce here the institutions which were the result of 1850 years' growth in the Mother Country. Thirty-three years ago everything remained to be accomplished ; today much, very much, if not all that the brave pioneers set themselves to do has been done. On the low marshy ground through which the Avon ran, a tangled, sluggish watercourse, three and thirty years ago, there stands to-day the third city in point of size and commercial importance in the colony, and under the shadow of its great Cathedral, where once was a stagnant lagoon, is up-reared the statue of the city's founder. It is perhaps not unnatural that we should undergo a species of disenchantment when, after contemplating the "counterfeit presentment" of this notable personage, we read in the Lyttleton Times for the 11th of January 1851, that he, in his capacity as Resident Magistrate, actually fined one Joseph Bennet, 5s for getting drunk ! Here, at the foot of an advertisement relating to the selection of some land, we find the name " E. Jerningham Wakefield." Who that then knew this man, just entering upon a career the brilliancy of which has had few parallels in New Zealand, could have foret)ld his speedy decline, meteor as he was, and his sorrowful end ? Like the Eddystone, he was at once an object for our admiration and a beacon to warn us off a dangerous reef. Other names there are printed in this little journal, the owners of which have played an important part in making history for us. The names of John Robert Godley, Edward Robert Ward, John Stuart Wortley, Judge Chapman, the Hon Mr Petre, and the Bishop of New Zealand (who by the way came down to meet the pilgrims) belong to the past; but a Mr W. Fox, and a Mr Fitzgerald are mentioned whose names have not yet ceased to be familiar, while a certain Sir George Grey occupies in our day probably a more important position than when, as Gover-nor-in-Chief of the colony, he went to meet the Canterbury settlers in H.M. sloop-of-war Fly, thirty-three years since. The Fly is out of commission years agone. The market report of those days is not without interost. From this we learn that the retail price of first flour was 25s per cwt ; bread 7d per 2lbs loaf; bBef, mutton and pork, 5d per 1b; fowls 3s, and ducks 4s per pair; butter was Is 6d fresh, and Is 3d salt ; potatoes were at £5 per ton ; eggs, 2s per dozen ; New Zealand cheese (they had no factories then), Is 4d per lb; maize, 5s Gd per bushel; ale, 2s 8d per gallon j ham and bacon (pigs were evidently not scarce), 7d per lb j firewood, £1 per cord ; and sawn timber, 16s to 18s per 100 ft. Mixed up with intelligence relating to the infant colony, we find it recorded that M. Soyer, the eminent cook, had exhibited his Lilliputian stove to Her Majesty, at Castle Howard, and that tho last mail from New York, <(by way of the Isthmus and California," had reached Oregon in thirty-nine days ! What a revolution has steam worked since then 1 How strange it is, too, when we reflect on our ocean cables, our own complete telegraphic system, to be told gravely by the editor of the Lytteitou Times that tho "cost pf transmitting despatches between New York and Boston, by magnetic telegraph is reduced to two cents each word," notwithstanding that tho two places are actually "200 miles apait." But we must close. The perusal of this printed relic of the past generation is fitted to convey many lessons, not the least of which is that we, the successors of the hardy pioneer* who in Rther days founded this young nation of ours, should not forget that they owed the success of their scheme no less to their own energy and self-denial than to the favours which a bountiful Providence »how§Pg4 them.

up9D Tne le»a of £209 lately tje*i?ew«d by tho Cambridge Town Uistnpt Board, is at present on its way from Wellington. The frit evening of the third session of the Cambridge Mutual Improvement Association, will be Thursday, the 3rd April. as case of the petition against fykQUupalicensimc election, will, be at me t|aii}l}rlsg9 I^eaicjent Magistrate's OpurMo-motFOW, befbF& MBM B JJ; «; Northcroft, R.M. • ' "' For some time past a few persons h,ave. bQao proßpwfong' for -.gold, wj jfoq

vicinity of Lichfield, Patetere. We have not as yet heard of any encouraging or^ promising circumstance in connection with 1 the search. Mr Spencer's party .having completed their portion of the boundary survey of the Ngatimaniapoto County, returned to ' Waikato on Monday. Summonses were served on Monday on three young men from Morrinsville for furious riding in Victoria-street, Hamilton. The Waikato Fellmongery Company will shortly lose the service of their manager, Mr Gray, this gentlemen having purchased a farm in the Piako, upon which he intends commencing operations at once. A large engine purchased by the Waikato Timber Company passed through Cambridge on Monday, en route for Waotu. The engine weighs about eight tons, and was drawn by a team of 12 horses driven by Mr Freeman. We are in receipt of the sixth annual report of the Wellington Young Men's Christian Association, containing the names of office bearers, the report, constitution of by-laws, list of members and associates, balance-sheets, &c, &c. To the Editor :-Sir,— l beg leave to contradict a statement which appeared in your paper of 22nd inst., in the case Beale v. OBrien, saying that I have paid full amount and costs. I beg to state that I I was not so foolish as to pay any such amount.— P. O'Bkien, Te Rapa. On Monday night the Ohristchurch police stopped Professor Payne shooting an apple from other than a lay figure. He had announced that he would shoot a cigar from between the lips of a barmaid. + The Great World Circus will open at Hamilton West, on the vacant ground behind the council chambers, this evening. The company possess a very fine stud of horses, and the lady and gentlemen performers are all excellent in their respective departments. The circus played at Ngaruawahia last night to a good house, and gave great satisfaction. Thirty-one trucks of fat cattle were attached to the train which left Waikato for Auckland j'esterday morning. Amongst the cattle we -noticed some fine beef from Mr Bruce Suttor's Eureka station. Owing to the length of the tiain, some delay was caused at Huntly, and the South train was consequently late in arriving at Hamilton. The number of thelllustrated New Zealand News for the current month, just to hand, is a great improvement on some of its predecessors. It contains, among others, a number of well executed engravings of New Zealand scenery, embracing pictures of Mount Aspiring, Manawatu Gorge, and a view in the Seventy Mile bush between Napier and Wellington. A cable message, dated Rome, March 23rd, states that the preconization by the. Pope of Dr. Moran, the newlyappointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, who has been nominated to the oifice of Cardinal, and is now in Rome, will take place at a n.eeting of the Cont-istory on Thursday (to-day). The work of forming Chapelstreet, Cambridge, will not be undertaken until all the property-holders in the vicinity, or at least those interested, have signed the permit relieving the town boaid fiom any liability to be proceeded against for damages. It is expected that some little difficulty will be experienced in obtaining the necessary signatures, as some of the owners are absentee-* The many friends of Mr Denniston, who, for the past eighteen months, has conducted the business of the Colonial Bank at Cambridge, will be sorry to learn that he is now about to take his departure from the district. Mr Denniston goes to Auckland to assume charge of the Auckland branch during the absence of the present manager, who bhoitly leaves for England. The present police station at Ngaruawahia is in a very delapidated condition, and though representations have been made on the matter from time to time, and piomises of immediate attention been given in return, nothing has as yet b^en done in the way of either renovating the present building or erecting a new one. Possibly the matter will receive the attention of Superintendent Thouibon during his present visit to the dibtrict. Mr Larkworthy, the London manager of the Bank of New Zealand, bent a frozen lamb to Mr Gladstone for the Ministerial dinner held >n February last (writes the Marlbnrough Express), and some time previously Mr Larkworthy sent a couple of lambs to the Prince of Wales. In order to further advertise New Zealand mutton, it has been arranged to have six frozen meat dinners at the forthcoming Health Exhibition in London. The following special messages to the Press Association dated London March 24th, have been published : — The Western Australian loan of £150,000, at 4 per cent., has been more than covered, the tenders amounting to £244,000. The minimum was 96|, and the average price realised is £97 Is. — Lord Derby has assured Mr.Murray Smith that he has no hope that a remonstrance on the pait of the English Government will be effectual in preventing France carrying out the Recidivistes scheme. He has however promised to consult Lord Granville again on the subject. The following is the list of cases up to the present to be tried at the next sittings of the Supreme Court at Auckland, which commences on Tuesday, the Ist prox, ; -John Matthew alias Hipio, stealing from the person ; Lawrence and Patrick Walsh, assault with grievous bodily harm ; Alexander Grant, maliciously wounding a gelding ; William Gouldstone, indecent assault ; Win, Skelly, larceny as a bailee ; Thomas James North, perjury ; The Same, breach of Pawnbroker's Act ; Qeorge E.van.s Skyers, burglary; Win, Henry Jones, attempt to murdei' ; Henry Wood, arson ; Henry Goodward, rape ; John Margetts, rape ; George Darrell alias Paverel, uttering a forged cheque. We have to acknowledge the receipt of a novelty in the form of calendars. It is called the " Calendar of Battles of the British Army," and contains a correct list of the engagements, seiges, &c, taken part in by our soldiers from Hastings to Tel-el-Kcbir. Evident pains have been taken to make the record complete, and the result will be of general interest to the public. The calendar also contains a full list of the regiments in the British Army, with the original, intermediate, and present designation of each, so that all confusion arising out of the late changes in the titles of the rogirnqnts js. obviatqej, We njay add thafi the calendar is got Up in the besfc sfevla of the lithographer's art. Copies may bo procured from Messrs Upton and Co., Queenstreet, Auckland. At about 11 o'clock on Monday night, Constable Murray found a man named John Dixon lying near the Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton East, in a help]es,s state of iqtQxication. The Constable was attracted to feha spot by hoariugVuian froaning, and trom the circumstance that )ixon's clothes were covered with blood it wa>s supposed at first that he was the victim of some outrage. A closer examination showed that the man's nose had been bleeding, an<J having been accomodated with a seat m a wheelbarrow, he was lodged in the lock-up, Dixon was brought faefope up at the Hamijtqn P>ohce Cqurj,, yesterday morning and fined ss, with the usual alternative. The correspondent of the Leader m America, writing from Chicago, says :— " The scene that daily ensues in the Corn Exchange beggars description, when the brokers meet for the sale of scrip representing so much wheat in the elevators, or so many bushels or pounds of 'futures,' be it grain, boef, pork, lard, or any other com : niodity, to be delivered on a oerfcajn for. ward date. Into the immense hall a network of wires leads from all points m the United States, and round the walls are posted the latest quotations from every important market centre of the world. Up to 11 o'clock you feel that there is a lament Bxcitement being kept under by pressure, bufc a.fc that hOHF th« striking of a gong cof} : verts the hall full of brokers into a yelling, struggling, frantic crowd, which can only be compared to the betting-rooms in Bourke street, multiplied by 20, on the night before a Cup race. The gong strikes again at L o'clock, and as suddenly as it began the iin quietens, to be renewed again with jfiual ffljrvqur qext f}ay," T|e¥im%vu Qerald pu.blish.9s the 'ollqwing; pathetic letter fronj a veteran 3ivil servant in Wellington :~-"Th.e Sovernraent have established a proper funk imong the Civil servants as > to the proposed eductions. They are keeping their scheme 'cry secret, but all sorts of vila rumours are afloat, and men ive in fear and trembling. We all pray hat 'our flight may not be in tb^ winter.' )Jd Macandrew's idea of giving all" Civil e?VftMitfsfym?sd w}th <JM apra qf 'ljmd nd their compensation wind be a good ne, L^d wosd, lw jro vm wftl&frt •* f we

'. pounds to start. I would go into the public- ■ house line to morrow were it not for the . awful spread of rabid teetotalism in this Island. lam seriously thinking of learning how to adulterate grog, etc, with a view of turning publican. A sinner I always was." ' « In a letter to a paper, states the St James' Gazette, Lord Charles Beresford tells a story concerning naval matters which is by no means pleasant reading. In the year 1878, when war between this country and Russia seemed imminent, a fast Russian cruiser was dodging about the Channel. "In the event of war breaking out her captain intended to remain a few hours on each of the great ocean highways leading to our largest ports, and sink every mercantile steamer, big or little, he saw. In 48 hours it is most likely there would have been many shipowners and insurance companies in a state of of excitement bordering on insanity, generally asking, ' But where is the navy V The navy could not have done much till after most of the mischief had been done, as the Sabiaka would never have stopped to fight ; and it is unlikely that, with only the one or two fast cruisers we had then, we should have caught her." Major-general Graham, now in command of the British troops in the Soudan, played a distinguished part in the Egyptian campaign. He was selected bv Lord Wolseley to command the troops which pushecjLon in advance after the landing at Ismailia. He met and defeated the enemy at Tel-el-Mahuta ; and he was in command at the most serious operation of the war, when Arabi Pasha endeavoured to overwhelm the brigade at the advance post of the Kassassin look. The enemy had a strength of 10 to one as against the British troops. The fight commenced at 4 o'clock, and was decided at dark by a general advance ordered by General Graham, the enemy flying before this attack, and their hope of success in the war vanishing also. At Tel-el-Kebir General Graham com'tnanded the light infantry brigade, and these troops were first under fiie, and are supposed to have been hrst,in the work. Lord Wolseley in his dispatch special mentioned the brilliant services of the Major-general. His Excellency the Governor •arrived at Tauranga in the Hinemoa on Saturday morning. During his stay, Sir William Jeivois visited the Gate Pa, Te Ranga and other places of interest, and received a welcome from the natives. Some of the leading residents were entertained at luncheon on board the Hinemoa. His Excellency left for Ohinenmtu on Monday morning. On arriving at Rotorua, the Europeans and Maoris of the township unyoked the horses and pulled the coach to the hotel door. On Tuesday the Governor mot the Europeans and Maoris in the Taina-te-Kapua, and received addresses of welcome. The natives fired a salute as his Excellency approached. The Governor unveiled the bust of her Majesty tho Queen, saying that she was the greatest monarch of the greatest etnpiie the world had ever seen. He also referred to the benefits the railway would confer on the district. The vice-regal party left for the Terraces the same afternoon. The following very remarkable statement is made by the Glasgow Daily Mail of Dec. 14 last :— ' Dr. Caiter Moff.it gave the first of a course of popular lectures at Stow on Wednesday night to a large audience— the Rev. Mr Burnside in the chair, with the Rev. Mr Beveridge at the harmonium. The subject was: "The application of chen.ical science to the improvement of vocal tone," and the lesults of Dr. Moffats chemical discoveries in Italty went to show that the beauty of Italian vocal tone is due to peroxide of hydrogen existing in the Italian atmospbeie, and that Italy ab a sanatorium is due also to the same constituent. The vocal illustrations were given by the U.P. choir, and it may be said that the inhalation of the chemical compound at once produced an extraordinary effect — a softness and mellow beauty of tone — which was greatly applauded. Dr. Moffot's own illustrations also went far to convince the audience of the exceptionally valuable nature of the plan of training the voice by chemical means. The doctor's voice has been made a tenor of astonishing range, some twenty notes from the lower F to the high C in alt, of great beauty, sweetness and power — the latter note being rung out clear and pure fioin the chest in the fine devotional air, " I willaii&e." The lecture will be delivered to numerous choial associations throughout Scotland