The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1862, 12 June 1884, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

lujual and exact justice to a'l men, Ot whatsoever st.ite or persuasion, religious or politir.il. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbrihed by jj.nn.

THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1884.

The Opposition, it will he seen, have opened the ball, though in a soniowhat novel way. The leaders being utterly unable to agree upon any point, one of the Opposition " whips," the member for Wuimate, has been put forward to pull the chestnuts out of the lire. Ever since Parliament assembled negotiations have been going on with a view to united action, but the pride of Sir George Grey, the obstinacy of Mr Montgomery, and the self-sufficiency of Mr Wakefield have defeated every plan proposed. Mr Steward claims that he is acting as one of the executive officers of the party, but Sir George Grey repudiates him ; and, indeed, the amendment to the Address-in-Reply, coming from such a quarter, created general surprise on all hands. Mr Steward asserts that he has just as much right to move a nocontidence motion as anybody else, and as it is now the fashion for every other member to be the leader of a party, we suppose he has. To say that he has by his action complicated matters, would bo true if affairs had not before been hopelessly entangled ; as it is, the honourable member for Wairaate is merely blowing bubbles. Sir George Grey's notice to move a direct vote of noconfidence in the Government may be taken as a declaration that ho intends to act entirely independent of the Montgomery party, and what is now left to us to conjecture is whether the Grey party will walk out of the Heuse when the division on Mr Steward's motion comes on, and whether, in Buch an event, the Canterbury section of the Opposition will return a Roland for Sir George's Oliver. Meantime, this eruption of patriotism is very likely to block the way of all legislative progress, though this, perhaps, is a .calamity that will not fall particulary heavy upon us. Mr Bryce, if he retnainsin Office, is, determined ttvo v cirry his native land bill, and Itet ua hopo the Government will be equally tirm with the North Island Trunk Railway. The question of route seems now to have become a very simple one. One line runs from Te Awamutu to Stratford, and the other from, the former place to Marton. The coastal line, strictly so called, has virtually - been abandoned by the Government in favour of that to Stratford, as the latter, while it is said to meet the requirements of Auckland and "Taranaki" equally with" the Mokau line, will open up a much Larger area of available country than would the other. Auckland and Taranaki will therefore favour the Stratford line, and Wellington may hold out for the Marton route. The decision of the House will most probably hinge on the question of expense, and consequently the Stratford line has the better chance of being adopted.

It is no wonder that the Auckland Meat" Freezing Company should have wearied out the' patience of Waikato settlers. The remonstrance from the Tamahere Farmers' Club, which appears in our columns to-day, conies no sooner than might have been expected, considering how long a time has slipped by since the company was floated, and how little has been done to fulfil that clause in the prospectus which the club very aptly calls attention to in concluding its" letter. ; There are thoso who, do not hesitate to say that this inaction and delay has not been altogether purposeless ; that in fact it pays certain parties who, can largely control the operations of the cpmpany to leave matters as they are, and that the monopoly of supplying the Auckland market at high prices with meat ' purchased at low rates

from farmers, who havn no other outlet for the s:\lo of their meat, is more lucraative than pressing forward a spocuhit'on which, though profitti!>lu in itself, would raise the wholesale price of bee.f, and so interten; with th« larger gains of the Auckland " Muit ring." Tho cry is one which, raised by tho Tama hero Club, should find its echo, in every agricultural settlement in this part of the colony. True, the Waikato farmer, for instance, would profit little directly by the export of meat, which, for a time at least, would necessarily be confined to mutton, hut the exportation of mutton would very soon indirectly tell upon the price of beef. He is therefore as much interested in urging tho Auckland Meat Freezing Company to action as if we were as largo a producer of sheep as he is of horned cattle. If that company had kept faith with the public and, indeed, with its shareholders generally, we should by. this time have seen large slaughtering pre raises erected at Lichfield with their attendant fellmongery and woolscouring establishments, and a line of wayside stations established between Napier and Waikato for the convenience of driving over sheep from the former district. Instead of all fiis, our locally fatted beef has still to compete in the Auckland market with mutton which can find no export, and our graziers are still left in the hands of the ring which has so long drained the life-blood from them. But whether or no the Auckland Meat Freezing Company is roused into action by the remonstrance now raised by Waikato farmers (and if it is not, we recommend tho company to clnnge its name to that of the Auckland Farmer Freezing Company, as more appropriate to its operations than the name it bears) our settlers mutt not be content to sit quietly down and wait the event. Meat freezing company or no niea« freezing company, they must themselves take action ; by all means let them trust in Providence, but let them not forget to keep their powder dry at the same time. Let them call upon Jupiter to get their waggon out of the mire, but let them, a 8 well, put their shoulder to the wheel, and tint, too, wi h a will. Heaven helps those who help themselves ) and in the establishment in Waikato of local slaughtering yards, as we advocated last weok, where Waiikato cattle may be slaughtered and the carcases be sent for wholesale and retail disposal in Auckland under the management of the co operative association, our settlers have a | remedy for the present depressed state of the cattle market, which may be applied either alongside the t meat freezing movement, or without it altogether. They must not let slip the substance whilst grasping at the shadow, and therefore while we would have them nrike a determined movement to force the freezing company into action, they must at the same time keep the co-opera-tive association up to the mark in the matter of the proposed local slaughtering-yards, and, if needs be, assist them. A year and a-half ago the latter project fell though, and what do we see as the result? Exactly what Mr Goodfellow, in a letter to this journal in 1882, predicted would be the case unless tho project were carried out, namely, that in another year beef would be down to from 8s to 18s per lOOlbs, whereas, he pointed out, if the slaughtering company were formed the price might ha maintained at 25s per lOOJbs all the year through. The time is ripe for another attempt. We have now a powerful lever which we did not then possess, tho newly formed co-operative association, established in the interests of the Waikato farmer, and which could find no better difficulty to grapple with than this meat question. To do this is a paramount necessity if Waikato settlers are to continue in the occupation of their lands. • Thero is no blinking the question that beef is too often raised even at a money loss to the producer, while at the samo time the consumer pays the same retail price as when fat cattle realised from 30s to 35s per lOOlbs. The producer and consumer pay the piper, while the middleman does " all the dancing. The Co-operative Association must step in, assume the position of middleman, and hold the scales evenly betwoon producer and consumer. Such a project as this comes more \rithin its functions than the mere supplying of a variety of goods to the members. Lsfc it not fritter away its energies at first at any rate, upon the sale of everything from a needle to aa anchor, but bearing in mind that it was started in the intertst* of agricultural community, let it direct its earlier attention to the supply of manures and seeds, and secondly — and this is its greatest function of all — to the finding of a market for the farmer's produce. Find the farmer a profitable market for his meat, his grain and his dairy produce-; procure him cheap and reliable manures and seeds, and he can afford to live and let live, and leave to the merchant and • the storekeeper their profit on such other merchandise as he may use.

Our report of the Cambridge School Committee and Mr J. H. Mandeno's letter are unavoidably held over.

Commander Edwin wired at 4 p.m. yesterday : — Expect bad weather after 16 hours from now between north-east *nd west, and class fall after 12 houri.

In Another part of this issue will be found the -£f the negto minstrel entertainment to be ffiven in 'the Oddfellows' Hall, Hamilton East, on Tuesday next, the 17th inst.

In our report; of tha football match Hamilton East v. Hamilton west an error was made in the name of one of the players for Hamilton Wont. He was •tylod H*Uy bi^t phould have been Hope.

In another cofamn Major Jackson announces/ in'tiew of a probable dissolution of Parliament, that it is histfntention to again, offer hhhaelf as 'a candidate for the representation of Waipa, airitbat he will undo: any tfrcurootancas go to the poll,

Tho following %pecial messages t<i tho Preis Association dated London June 9th and 10th have' been published :— • Tho Government has consented not to pledge England^ with reference to' Egypt bofi»ro consulting Parliament.— -Tho Queen ccpreswi horaelt as deeply grateful- for" the sympathy expressed to her by Victoria, in regard to the death of the Duke of Albany. —Mr Murray Sirith is urging Lord Derby t'> pass 9,1 Australasian- Federation Bill at once, so a« to enabln t!io colonies to t.ike I action if noco«ary.— A Urge portion of tho Florida's frozen-meat cargo,- from Welling- j ton, has arrived in bad condition, and part of it is condemned. The > Smith field Freezing Company has been floated, and will commence operations in September, — At Kieff, a Russian town on the River Dnieper, forty officers have been arrested, ou suspicion of being connected with tho Nihilist plots.

A grand concert will be given in the Hukanui Hall this evening, and should the weather prove fine wo have no doubt, that a large audienco will assemble. Thofull programme, which appearij in another part of this issue, is an exceptionally good one, embracing selections by Auckland as well as the leading amateurs of Waikato. The Orpheu3 Glee Club are down for a couple of . quartettes, and the Hukanui Tonic Sol-fa are to sing two glees. The entertainment will conclude with a dan£e. Under the management of Mrs Henry Reynolds, of Woodlands, we may be sure the arrangements will bo perfect, and we can confidently predict that those who attend at the Huktnui Hall to-night will thoroughly enjoy themselves. Mrs Reynolds has thoughtfully provided tea for visitors from a distance on arrival, and at the close of the concert refreshments will be ready at Mr Martin's new cottage, adjoining the hall. For the convenience of those from Hamilton, Mr Johnson will run a special coach to Hukanui, leaving Grwynne's Hotel at half -past five o'clock.