MEETINGS, AMUSEMENTS, ETC. The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1926, 8 November 1884, Page 2

MEETINGS, AMUSEMENTS, ETC.

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Thih Day. Royat, Japanese Troupe. — Public Hall, Hamilton, 8 p.m. Monday. Oxford Racks.— On the Club's course, Oxfoid. Kihikihi Athletic Sfokts. — First race at 11 a.m. ; ball in the evening.

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

SATURDAY, NOV. S, 1884.

The next English mail via San Francisco, will close at the Hamilton Post Office, on Monday the 10th, at 9 a. in. Lord Derby has stated that the ! New Guinea and Pacific decision is final, but he admits that the protectorate means annexation. We understand that the member for Plankton in the Hamilton Legislative | Association ban accepted the task of forming the new Ministry. Mr Edgecuinbe's proI bable colleagues will be : Messrs A. tiwarbrick, Minister for Public Works and Education, and F. H. Terapler, Colonial Secretary and Postmaster-General. The Premier will take the Treasurership. The remaining portfolios have not yet been allotted. The association meets at the Pub. Uc Hoty on

The complimentary; concert to Mr Meacham will be (riven in the Hamilton Public Hall on Tuesday, November 25th, Particulars will appear in a futuro issue I

The Rev. Mr Evans, of Cambridge, has, we are sorry to hear, been obliged to take a short holiday to recruit his health. He left Waikato on Wednesday, and wfll bo absent for about threu weeko.

The Rev J. S- Hill is advertised to bo at Cambridge on the 22nd and 23rd iiibt. Ho will give his popular illustrated lecture on " The Pilgrims Progress "on the , Saturday evening, and preach at S. Andrew's on the Sunday. '

Great sympathy has been expressed in Cambridge for the unfortunate couple, Mr and Mrs Osborne, whose children were burned to death in their cottage on Thursday. About £40 has already been collected for thorn.

Monday 10th inst., will be observed as a close holiday at the Poat and Telegraph Office. All mails usually despatched on that day will be closed at 9 a.m. and as Monday it English mail day, the public will do well to bear this in mind.

Mr W. K. Carter is the successful tenderer for the mail contract between Cambridge and Ohinomutu and Ohinemutu and Tauranga. Both contracts are triweekly. Mr Carter's new American coaching plant has arrived at Auckland.

After we had gone to prass on Thursday morning we received a telegram conveying tho intelligence that the Legislative Council had passed the Consolidated Stock Bill, Lifo Assurance Bill, Muncipal Corporations Bill, Beet Root Sugar Bill, New Zealand Loan Bill, (after a protest from Dr Pollen) and tho Property Tax Bill.

The Japanese Troupe will appear m tho Public Hall, Hamilton, to-night for the last time. The company have performed for three nights at Cambridge, and have met with a irioit enthusiastic reception, as indeed they deserved. It i* not often that we have an opportunity of enjoying such * treat as that provided by Mr Woodward, and it should not be neglected.

A special telegram to the Press Association, dated London, November sth, states that Lord Wolseley offers to withdraw the English troops from the Soudan on the condition that General Gordon is granted a free and safe pabsage from Khartoum. On the bame authority we lenrn that the Mudir of Dongola has been created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. The ceremony of investiture wa» performed by General Lord Wolseley on the 4th at Donjfola.

It seems strange to hear of fires in the middle of November, yet the weather of Thursday and yesterday drove people to the ingle nook, and the gorgeous tissue papers which form the summer adornments of the fireplace had to give way to logs and coal. Tho weather has boon very unseasonable, and all growth has been stopped. Great damage, too, has been done by tho cold winds th the fruit trees and the apple crop, which promised so well, will not come up to expectations.

It is proposed to have a cricket match on Sydney Square, Hamilton, on Monday ne\t, play to commence at 11 o'clock, with an adjournment for a btead and cheese luncheon at, say, two o'clock. As a challenge from the Cambridge Cricket Club is expected every day, it is hoped that all players of whatever strength will turn np. A suitable pitch will be provided. It i-, proposed to select teams from mariied and {.ingle, East .and,!. West sides, or to have an alphabetical match, as may prove best.

The Amateur Negro Minstrels will give theu popular entertainment, entitled, " Recollections of Di\io," in tho Oddfellows' Hall on Tuesday evening next. The full programme appears in another column, and from this it will be seen that all the items, except some one or two, which are repeated by special request, are new to Hamilton. The chorus has been greatly strengthened by boys' voices, and as the* company has been sedulously practicing some really good vocal music may be anticipated. The jokes and conundrums are quite original, and tho comic songs and the negro sketch are calculated to cure the worst case of dyspepsia.

The Havelock correspondent of the Marlborough E\picss writes.:—The rats continue to be a great nuisance in tho district, and are destroying crops of peas and potatoes. Some idea of the great number m the Pelorus, may bo formed by the report of a bottler. Having left a buckut half full of water, on which floated a little chaff left by the horses after drinking in the btable, in tho morning eleven dead rati were found in the water ; surely a novel trap. The report that the lato heavy rains have driven them from the bush is not correct, as most of tho settlers agree that the vermin are moro numerous in the bubh that in former years, and fresli burrows are to be seen everywhere.

Mr W. A. Graham returned to Hamilton yesterday. He informs us that he met with a most gratifying reception at Wellington, and is of opinion that the bubjeet of sugar beet culture will be warmly taken up all over the colony. In order to fully test the feasibility of his scheme, Mr Graham has laid all the information in his possession before an influential committee of Auckland business men and Waikato residents, composed as follows : —Messrs E. Mitchelson, M.H.R. (late Minister for Public Works), A. Heather, R. Reynolds, John Grice, E. 13. Walker, Joacph Gane, ,T. F. CLirko, R. Bradley and R. 11. Hunt. These gentlemen have promised to go fully into the matter and report in a short time.

The anniversary of the Battle of Inkermann was celebrated by a dinner at fcho United Service Hotel, Auckland, on Wednesday evening. The chair was occupied by Capt. Handley, and there were about a dozen veterans present, besides a number of guehts. The utual toata were proposed and responded to, and tbe soldiers and sailors who fought on " the Black and the Baltic Sea" thirty years ago spont the best part of the evening in recounting the stoiioH of the old days, and fighting their battles o'er apain. Owing to some unfortunato niisundorbtanding, the body of Crimean veterans in Auckland has become split into two. One section commemorated the fall of Seb<istopol a short time ago, and its members were not present to do honour to those who fought at Inkermann.

A correspondent writes :— The Whatawhata Branch of the Blue Ribbon Army held another of their pleasant and instructive entertainments on Tuesday evening, in the schoolroom, and a largo audience enjoyed some really good songs, recitations, and reading** intersperced ' with musical selections of no mean order, Mrs Iwersen and Miss Day accompanied the singing, and Mjss Day, piano, and M'isb Richards violin, rendered musical selections. The singing, reading, &c, wan so good that I can scarcely particularise, but I must say Miss Stewart was the star | of the e\ening, and I am sorry to hear we are soon to lose her from the district. The organisation has a very energetic committee, who beem determined to keep the good cause before the public. Their secretary read the quarterly report, which < was very flattering, and stated that the members are increasing. — I think he laid they now number 78,— also that tho cash balance is on the right aide. I only re- | gret that we have to wait a month for j repetition of thesa most social and interresting meetings.

The usual monthly meeting of the I Kirikiriroa Road Board, was held yesterday at the Waikato County Council Chambers. Present : Messrs Primrose, (Chairman), Smith, and T. Runciman. The correspondence was read and tenders opened for gravelling at Hukanui as follows :— J. C. Booth (accepted), No. 1 iection, Is 2d per yard ; No. 2 do., Is lid ; Kay and Miller, No. 1, Is 3d per yard ; No. 2, la lid ; Doctor Te Ahu, No 1, Is l^d per yard,. The latter tender was understood to mean Is 3W per yard, and was consequently thrown out. The engineer reported that Hinton's Gully work was completed, and that the contractor, Mr W. Jones, had made a very good finish of the work ; also that Casby's contract and Owen's were being very well carried out. Instructions were given to the engineer to call for tenders for reforming some^two miles of road between Ngaruawahia and Taupiri, for claying and gravelling at Hinton's Gully, and also for forming on the River Road, provided the settlers give some ploughing. A number of accounts were passed, and the meeting adjourned.

For some time past (says the NZ. Herald) there has been a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst the merchants and business people of Auckland in regard to the direct steam service of \the New. Zealand Shipping Company, anfl the fact, that the ports of arrival and departure; b»v© been of l&te invariably southern porja, jhas placed our mercantile community at ,*'■) forest disadvantage,, and the fact that the. latest .stewnejythe Poric, ,hat ta^ejn !het t departure tapiJNw. M^^W^RP jw

Auckland portion of her cargo reached thin l>ort, did not tend to create a very pleasant foeling. As already stated, the Chamber of Commerce, through their chairman, Mr J. Reid, communicated with Mr T. Peacock, M.HvR. ? , in order that the matter might be brought under the notice of tho Government. Irrespective of, this, 'tho following telegraphic communication hat aluo taken place between Mr J, C. Firth and Mr Coster, the manager of ♦.he New Zealand Shipping Company : — "Auckland, November 3. Great discontent manifest here about no direct •fceamors coming to Auckland. It looks like growing into a combination to *hip exclusively by other steam routes. , Committee of Chamber of Commerce meet'fcod.iy, to consider action re direct Btc*m recently taken. I hope you will at once check the rising movement by acting promptly and liberally.— -J. C. Firth." To this the following reply was receirod yeaterday :— " Christchurcn, November 4. Have jutit arrived from Wellington, and received your telegram. The directors of Shipping Company are prepared to see that a fair proportion of our steamers como out direct to Auckland, and arrangements will bo made accordingly.— J. L. Costku." What is wanted by the Chamber of Commerce and the mercantile community generally, is that throe or four months' notice should bo given of when a steamer would leave London, and whether she would land and receive cargo at Auckland, and then importers and exporters would be alike propared. Mr Coster'i reply i«< hardly explicit enough, but so far as it goes is satisfactory.

Hanlan, in presenting the prizes •t St. Philip's Grammar School to the boyi who had been eucceofifulin thesohool iporti, laid, addressing a wee boy, who gazed with awe into hii faco, "My brother athlete, I wish you to succeed, and in mining you to succeed, the only advice I ffive you — without which you can never xueceed —is to bt » good boy. Take all posiiblo care of yourself, keep away from bad company, use no liquor of any kind, and do not •moke. If you act upon that advice 'I ace you haro both the mental and tha phyaical capacity for aucceu." Speaking iub•equently, in the course of his remarks Hanlan said, "All the advice I can give to mj brother athletes in that if they would mak» a succesi in the athletic world they mint tnke care of themselves. I suppose I wai 23 years of age before I knew the taste of a glass of liquor or even ■moked a cigar. And it is to this that I attribute my success. My advice to athleteß is to keep away from intoxicating liquors and tobacco, without which there is not the least use in any of you trying to excel. From my own experience 1 know that, although as far as your physical constitution is concerned you may be the greatest wonder in the world, there ii no chance for you if you do not care for yourselves ai I suggost. 1 dont suppose that any of you will enter into the professional world, but whether you do or not, always low to win.

There is one person (writes a London correspondent) who can look back upon the session with great satisfaction, and whoso prai-sos at the present moment ore in everybody's mouth ; th.it person ia the new Speaker (Mr Arthur Peel.) Your readers will no doubt remember that when, at tho commencement of the session, it was known that the Government intended to put this gentleman in nomination as the successor of the presont Lord Himpden, a general outcry was raised against his fitness for the post. Although he had sat it Parliament for upwards of 20 years ho way, politically speaking, a nobody. Ho bud rarely, if ever, addressed tho House, and when he had, few of his observations contributed anything material to the debate. In fact, so unfavourable was the estimate formed of his character that there wcie not wanting those who accused the Government of seeking to put into tho chair someone who would be merely a tool in their hands. As hoon as Mr Arthur Pool took his seat in tho chair, howc\er, all was changed. The few words in which he expressed his snnse of tho confidence which tho House had placed in him made a favourable impreWon, which has been deepening ever since, and he was no booner called up to excerciae home of the sterne functions of the chair than he displayed the posoesHion of a latent strength which no one ever credited him with. There will bo no need to entrust the chair with any further powers so long as Mr Arthur Peel is the occupant of it ; for ho has proved that he knows how to cope with all the growing evils that \\ ere bringing our legislative system into disgrace, with ho weapons already to his hand. He has snubbed Mr Warton, cowed Mr Bigg.ir, coerced Mr Healy, reprimanded his own brother, reproved Mr Chamberlain, Jind even called the Grand Old Man himself to order.