COMMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1883, 31 July 1884, Page 2

COMMENTS.

1 If, as everybody expects, Tawhiao's mission to England will in a political sense be as barren as the desert of Sahara, it is at least equally certain -that the King's visit will do a r vast ampuutjOf good., .When TawbW left Wliatiwhatihoe, we foresaw that his appearance in the streets of London • "Would >noji provide amuseraen* f,oi; the healthy .gamin, bujj

that it would be taken an * guarantee by the faint- hearted that New Zealand i* no longer a buttle field. The event will most probably do a great deal more. Tawhiao could not have gone to England at a mote oppjrti.nj time. Tired out with endless .speculations about the situation in the Soudan, worried almost beyond the point ot endurance with Irish affairs and the County Franchise, the public mn 1 would naturally turn for a few moments' relief to the Maori chieftains. And the newspapers, those faithful purveyors of the intellectual food of the nation, proved equal to the occasion. Wo hwe before us as we write the Pall Mall Budget of the Oth, and the (iiaphio of the 14th June, both of which contain portraits of the distinguished \ Litor. The sketch in the Budget is extremely good, but the likeness in the Uraphiu, notwithstanding that Tawhiao give its special artist a sitting, is poor. The characteristic expression of the Ling's face is missing, and the portrait might, with veiy little alteration, be made to do duty for "Sitting Bull" or any other of the ledoubtable savage warriors of history. The biographical notice in the Budget is at once concise, complete and cortect, a circumstance which, by the way, is worthy of special note. As we have aheady seen Tawhiao has been lionised to Ins hcait's content, and if after liis visit there can still be found people who piofess ignorance of New Zealand, then their condition is to be pitied. It is a singular, and, at the same time, a lucky thing that Tawhiao's visit to the Mother Countiy should be coincident with the return of Sir Julius Vogel to New Zealand. At the dawn ot a new era in the history of the colony, at the beginning ot a period of renewed confidence, in the dying hour of political fads and land tenure exptnments, the eistwhile arch-enemy of the country's piogiess is unwittingly, but perhap not unwillingly, advertising the colony thionghout the length and breadth of Europe.

Wiitlk upon this subject we onpht also to mention that the Graphic has published a seiies of sketches under the general designation of " Exploring in the King Countiy." These embiacc views ot "Lake Taupo,' "Mount Tongaiiio (Ngauiuhoe'r) by Moonlight.'' "Souice of the Waikato River at Lake Tanpo," "Upper Waikato River, near Lake Taupo, showing terrace formation of pumice rock and boiling spring." and " The start for the ascent of Mount Tougariro." As specimens of the wood engraver's art the sketches are above the average, but that is really all that can be said in their favour There is nothing in nature in the Taupo district to which they can be likened. "We weie not suipiiscd on futther enquiry to find that they were enslaved hoin drawings by a ceitain Mr J. H. Kerry Nicholls, a gentleman who a shoifc lime ago amused the leaders ot the Auckland lieiald by recounting what he facetiously called his "explorations" in the King countiy. In the innocence of his hca.it lie forgot that this supposed unknown land was by no means unfamiliar to quite a large number of people, and he was doubtless surprised to find that Ins stories of hair-breadth 'scapes fell lather flat. Hence the concluding chapters of the nanative lacked that spirit of confident asscition which characteiised the opening papers. But Mr Nicholls subsequently went Home, and iheie, far away from the scene of his daring exploits, he once more deemed it safe to air his fictions. Once more we find the King country desciibed as a tcira incognita; once moie we find the area ot the countiy, and the altitude of the mountains o\cibtated. It is perhaps hardly worth while to attempt the task of uudeceh ing the English people, but lest the Giaphic should fall into the hands of any young N"e\v Zealander and fill his mind with false impressions, let us just give a few facts about this gioat " undiscovered '' country lying across the confiscation line. Mr Nicholls, having on his magnifying glasses, informs us that the "territory" over which the King holds " moie or less ot sovprcign sway," and which has hitherto (i.e. until Mr Nicholls went there) been a " sealed book 1 ' to the Europeans, is bounded by Auckland on the North, Napier on the East, and New Plymouth on the West. He puts dowu the area at 20,000 square miles. Now, the boundaries ot this "territory" are the Puniii Ruer on the North, the Waikato River on thp East, a line from Ruapehu to the White Clifts on the South, and the sea to the Westsvaid. The area is about 4.500 squaic miles, or less than onefouith that given by Mr Nicholls The King Country has not been the ten a uictiyitUa it is represented. Many Eiuopeans have been over it. Mr S. Percy Smith, the present Assistant Sur-veyor-Geneial, with a party of young friends connected with the Survey Department, made a journey twentytwo yeais ago from Taranaki, via Mokau and Tuhua, to Taupo. Seveial prospecting parties have since been into the country. The expedition under Colonel MacDonnell aiter Te Kooti penetiated much farther into the country than Mr Nicholls did. Mr Nicholls route lay chiefly along a well known track, which was the old mail lonte between Waikato and Taupo. His explorations to the southward weie for the most part over a settled country, a block of Government land having been surveyed beyond his route ! Mr Colley, a photographer irom Napier, ascended Tongariro and Nganuihoe ten years ago, and. the mountains had been previously ascended by more than one European. Since then they have been frequently visited by Government surveyors, and trig stations have been erected in Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. The King countiy is now well known, and there is scarcely a prominent peak which has not a tiig station ci ected on it. Motives of policy on the pait of Government prevented Europeans from visiting this couutiy for years past, but within a year a complete survey of the country will be before the public. The chief part of the agricultural land lies in the valley of the Waipa and its tributaries between Kihikihi and the Mokau river, whilst to the east and west the land is rugged and of volcanic, and limestone formation, chiefly covered with heavy bush. Mr Nicholls gives the height of Ruapehu as 9850 feet, the trigonometrical and true height being 8920, whilst Tongariro he gives at 7800, the true height being 7508 feet. The head of the Mangorongo Valley, through which a stream flows, emptying into the Waipa, he gives as 50 feet above the sea, whilst the Waipa, which receives the water from the Valley, is 150 feet above the sea three miles lower clown. From the old mission station at Kopua, near Alexandra, a track leads through the King country to Tuhua, and this was well-known to and frequently traversed by the missionaries in the old days. Besides this, two Europeans at the least, Mr Hpttit and Mr Ormsby, have lived in the country during the last forty years. This is the downright truth about the King country, uuembellished by poetry or metaphor, and though we may not be able to prevent some of Mr Nicholls English readers from embarking oil an expedition to hunt savages in the backwoods of New Zealand, we have at any rate endeavoured to tell the truth about ourselves to ourselves.

Commander Edwin telegraphed at 1.30 p.m. yesterday -.—Expect bad weather between west and south find southeast. Glass rise and weather unusually cold. The Pakuranga Hounds will meet at the schoolhouse, Hautapu, to-day, at 11 o'clock, when, shouH the "weather be "at all promising, there will doubtless be a large, attendance. '„*,'' * ' It is rumidur^d, ! and "'tor a Ms 6 number believed, ' J;hat->Jth&, ,(^yern'm§ntintends renio'vi% tne^ Cbm\>mjslsQ&tt§xip ■ telekrajjh offipe T f|oin TpbsxJ^ai Ito the' Vailvvay,' station!' * ! Ve ''are&ol^^rlr that anyfbundation/^xißta ( 'iqrM)m^^^> .The \pt\sori>'ot "respeiij|p|irlty|||^^^h||

ohange has been presented to Mr J. B. Whyte, and aa a counter petition is likely to be got up, the matter will be considered on its merits and apart from the desiro of any portion of the community.

Snow seems to have fallen heavily in the e.xrly part of the week in the vicinity of the Rotoruit bush and Patetere. Along the Rotorua bnsh road the snow in some pKices was nearly six inches thick. There was about two inches of snow on the Patetere Plains.

We understand that Mr Marsden lias definitely abandoned his proposed scheme ot lighting Cambridge with gas, having something butter in view. We think he might have had the courtesy to communicate hib intention to withdraw from his proposal to the boaid.

The petition to the Colonial Secretary asking to have the Cambridge Domain Board made elective has now been extensively signed, beaiiug over 150 names. The names of Messrs .Torm Fisher, E. B. Walker and E. Hewitt members, of the beard, are amongst the number.

The standard examinations at Hamilton East were concluded on Tuesday. Mr Fidler examined the pupils of the Pukete school yesterday, and to-day he will be at Wh.itawhata. We are given to understand that the result of the examinations at the Hamilton schools is highly satisfactory.

Four sisters of " Our Lady of the Mib&ion," who are to preside over the Roman Catholic School at Hamilton East, arrived by yesterday's train. Two came from New Plymouth, and two from Napier on Monday. The Mother-General was too ill to accompany the sisters, but she hopes to be sufficiently recovered to leave New Plymouth next week. It is expected that that the school will be opened on the 10th pi ox.

The first run of the season with the Pakuranga hounds in Waikato took place on Tuesday. A start was made from Gwynne's hotel, Hamilton, at 11 a.m., in the direction of Hukauui. A hare was found in one of Mr Chitty's paddocks, and a sinait run of about an hour followed, but no " kill " resulted. The country was not particularly (veil suited for hunting, but ne\cithelebf> those who took the field enjoyed themselves. Three ladies and about thirty horsemen followed the hounch, and no accident worth mentioning occiuiod.

A son^-thrush, the first we have hoard in Waikato, has taken up his quartets at l'Yankton, and 111 tine weafchei may be Heard smging almost all the day through in a clump ot ti-tree about mid-way between the junction station and Hamilton. We tiust the bhd may escape the gun of our boy spoitainen, and that it will be the foielunner of many mole of its species. The thiush liiii many vn tue&, and ib not, like the blackbiid, addicted to strong fancies foi fruit, being entirely insectivevim-s, and the sworn enemy of the hoiibeback biiail.

The Plumpton Park Coursing Company aie offeiing ten shillings each for live hares, supply not equal to demand. If any of our bottlers find the haic-> on their pioperties a- somce of annoyance fioin being too numeious we would I'ecoimnend theii putting themselves in communication with Mr Payne, who i-> at pie^ent in the distiict in the interests of the above company, provided with all the necev,ary appliances for netting haies, and so fai com* plains of the great scarcity of hares in the pait-s of the distiict he has visited.

An American paper says that Mrs W. M. Cogswell has uiitten a frank and honiewhat chilly letter on the practical outcome of the women ,suffia<?e in Wyoming, wheie she baw it m opeiation. She bays : " I venture to bay not two women in the tenitoiy would vote for a Republican if her husband weie aDemoci.it or \ioe versa, and, indeed, most women take then tickets from their husbands and never look at them at all, but cast them in, and, )f there i.s any scratching done, it i.s never done by the women."

The usual monthly meeting of the Waitoa Road Board was held on Sa.ti.ii day. all the membeis being piesent. A general rate of a halfpenny in the £ was made as adveitised. Most of tho ordinary business intended to be transacted wai 1 ut off till the Oth August piox., to give the engineer-* tune to measure up and pass or report on woiks said to have been completed o\ei two months ago. At the public meeting of latepayers held the same day ie closing loads, it was unanimously 1 evolved that the eight portions of loads as ad\eitised be closed.

Now that the constabulary quarters at Cambridge have been abandoned, the question ha*> naturally aiiben. What do the Government intend doing with the valuable piece of giound, so well fenced in and planted, which the constabulary have lntheito had the use of? It can now be of no f ui ther service to the Government, unless it is cut up into town sections and disposed of it in this way. If the town board and the domain board agiee and make representations to the Government on the matter, they might possibly succeed in obtaining it as- an endowment to either body ; or po&sibly it might be handed over as a high-school reserve or endowment.

The new constabulary quarters a?b Kihilcihi having now being completed and ready for occupation, the staff at present at Cambndge will move over to Kihikihi today. The buildings remaining of the old quarters at Cambridge, including the Colonel's quarters, the orderly room, the btore-room, and that apartment occupied by Mr Scott, the registrar of bhths, deaths and marriages, will lemain as at present, to be occupied by the civil police of the town. Cambridge will doubtless mit>s the presence of the armed constabulary, who have hitherto been a considerable factor in the population of the place.

A meeting of the Gospel Tempeiance Mission was held at the Wesleyan Schoolroom, Cambiidge on Monday night. The chair was occupied by the Rev. H. R. Dewsbuiy, who delivered an interesting address on the progiess of the mission. The Rev. J. Dukes, of Hamilton, gave a very able addiess on the objects of the ai my, in the course of which he animadverted strongly upon the statements contained in a letter which appeared in these columns a few days ago accusing the supporters of the movement of being lukewarm in the cause. He said such people as this deiived their intellectual nutriment from reading the emanations of fifth-rate journalist^. The leinainder of the evening was filled up with singing, lecitations, &c. We are glad to note that the movement is not losing any of its .spirit, and tuist that its usefulness may extend.

Mr H. H. Smith's "Diorama of the World " was exhibited a", Hamilton West on Tuesday, and at Hamilton Ea&t yesterday afternoon and evening, to good audiences. The views, which were more than ordinarily good, were exhibited by means of the lime-light. The views of the Lake Country and Milford Sound were especially good, and the same might be said of the illustrations of Auckland old and new. The pictures of the Zulu War belong to a lower order of merit, but at the same time they give a good idea of the subject. A number of comic slides were introduced and afforded great amusement to the youngsters. The entertainment is well calculated to entertain the youthful mind and interest those of an older growth. The panorama will be exhibited at the Cambridge Public Hall at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to-day, and at Te Awamutu at the same hours to-morrow.

The following special messages to the Press Association, dated London, July 28, have been published :— At the forthcoming Federation Conference, the Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith will propose, and Early Roseberry will second, a resolution to the effect that federation is indispensable to the unity of" the Empire. A second resolution advocates the formation of a society for the furtherance of federal objects. — Hon. Evelyn Ashley, in the House of Commons to-day, stated that the attention of France had been directed, to the fact that the duplex control over Egyptian finances had expired.— Mr Gladstone will probably prorogue Parliament on August 12.— The prospects of the wheat crops are excellent. —Mr Fawcett, PostmasterGeneral is confident "that the system of parcels post will not involve a loss to the revenue.— The Admiralty will employ the Queensland gunboat to survey the Northern Australian '■ waters. — A political crisis is anticipated in France in connection with the revision of the*Senate.-T7-It is reported that the hop ( blight is extending.—Hartniann, the chief, has committed, suicide. , The cause is attributed ip poverty." ' — Mr H. M, .ptanley ridicules the rixpedi-* tion ( to t be sent^ to the" relief .of General ,GoVdp'n..ii;TheEssexßegim'enfc, stationed aY qaft<Y/*half «Been - fyrdeted $ - proceed ! £to. •lAflgdugto'V'"'-''"^ i «')/•">«> r'U'U \%'}^ -

ing to obtain the vote- of so many as twothirds of the entire ratepayers in its favour. It will be remembered that some few months ago an attempt was made by the Cambridge Town Board to raise a loan of £000, whereby to improve and enlarge the public buildings of the town, but as it was impossible to get so many as two-thirds of the tatepayers to vote in its favour, the proposal had to be abandoned. It is justly thought, considering the number of absentees, &c, that the vote of one-half the ratepayers should be sufficient for all purposes. The internal accomodation of the Cambridge Public Hall does not reflect credit on town, and the library and read-ing-room building is altogether unsuitable. It is with the desire of seeing the oiiginal pioposal in regard to these building* carried out that we hope to see the necessary amendment referred to become law.

The Siberian cattle plague has (says> the St. Petersburg coi respondent of the Times) this year assumed enormous propoitions. To .say nothing of European Russia, and even St. Petersburg — where the authorities in April last forbade the turning of cattle out to grass, according to the annual custom, on St. Geoige's Day, in order to prevent contagion — the disease is now raging in the region of its origin on the other side of the Ural with unprecedented violence. The Government Gazette of Tanisk says that, although losses of cattle from disease m Siberia are common at the present season, they are unusually great this year. The village of Postilikha, for instance, in two months lost 607 head of cattle ; Makhanoff lost 413 head ; while in le&s than one month 400 head fell in Upper Aleisk ; and 210 in the village of Parigin. From the Jst to the 15th of January no less than 533 head perished in Tchiginsk, 217 in Bielotf, 170 in East Aleisk, and 140 in Zimin. In the district of Tcharitthesky the lo&s in three weeks among live villages amounted to 1150 head.

At the half yearly meeting of the Highland and Agricultural Society, held on the 18th of June, ult. Mr Mackenzie repented that the main feature of his experiments at Porfcmore in the feeding of stock with silage could not yet be completed, as the V2 store cattle experimented on had not yet boen sold. Six of the cattle were fed for twelve and a half weeks on 80 lta turnips and 1-1 lbs oat straw each per d.iv, costing 3s (id per week. The others leceived daily 28 lbs of grass silage each, with 4t lbs mixed caked per head, costing per week abouh 4s. The gaiii live weight during the twelve and a half weeks of the tni nip-fed cattle was 101 lbs per head, and that of the silage-fed ones 134 lbs 1 , showing a diffeience in favour of the latter of 30 lbs per head. Since the cattle have gone to gnss. however, the turnip-fed ones have made better progress. The lots were weighed yesterday, with the lesult that the silage gain had been reduced to 19 lbs. The animals would soon be sold, and he Mould bo glad to make the then completed financial results of the experiment public. Mr Mackenzie then gave statistics showing that the mcieaso in live woight had been procured moie chiefly fiom silage than turnips. The silage had also been very successfully used in the poled herd, with the dany cows, and with blackfaced and Cheviot in-lainb. Forty of the latter got 2 lbs each of silage per day, with what they could pick up in the pastures, and these, as well as their lambs 1 , have quite as good an appearance as those that were getting a full supply of turnips at much more expence than the silage. At Porfcmoie they could detect no bad taste in silage milk or butter. He was so much pleased with the first year's work that he intended to double the quantity of ensilage, and would be happy again to give the Highland Society the facilities and advantages which his experiments might afford.