TO FILL THE IMPLEMENT SHEDS. LORD PALMERSTON ON RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY. KIHIKIHI.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2019, 16 June 1885, Page 3

TO FILL THE IMPLEMENT SHEDS.

LORD PALMERSTON ON RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY.

KIHIKIHI.

1 1 1 h i'iml isntix.i. In* reply to the lepiPseiitations of Mi Fauell, clianm.ui of the tovui board, le the Puniu budge, lie lecened the following tclegiam fiom Wellington yestciday, fiom the Department of Public \Voiks:— The chairman Kihikiln Town Boaid. In lrply re Puniu bridge, Ministei directs ino to state that tender will piobably be invited in about ten day-!. An unavoidable delay occurred in completing plans aftoi my letter of the 27th M.nch la-t, but it is not anticipated that theie will be any fuithei | delay." lam also to ounces iegr«t that y<wr telegram of the 3id in>t. was not answered eaiher, but the Distuct Kngmeoi at Auckland had to be communicated w ltli for inclination."' We may now look upon the piomise to erect a budge as something moie than ameie Ministen.il piomise to get rid of unpleasant importunities .The contractor^ for the laihvay and complaining bitteily of the want of a budge as they find it impossible without gieat nsk to foid the river when tliere is a fresh in it, and fording is out of the question when there lias been a weeks wet weathei. THK TOWN BO\K|). The board has decided to give a donation tow aids the project of introducing fish into ouniveis. I hope other go\eimng bodies will assist in this matter, for the money would be well spent. At the meeting which w ill be hold next Monday the .subject of Railway Refoim will be brought forwaul and discussed by the boaid, it nas their unanimous support. A gentleman heie got a mimU table ii[i from Auckland last week, and the freight .unounted to more than t\ie value of the article. Notwithstanding the notices issued sivoi eight months ago relative to dealing fuizc, no notice has been taken by some of the propei ty-holders, so the board is at last compelled to take proceedings agaiust those who have not complied with the notices. The boaid is reluctant to do this, but insist*, on having the l.vw complied with, as .some of tho contemplated improvements cannot he cirried < ut without clearing the fmve. At the ne\t meeting tho engineers report on the drainage and other woiks will be laid before the board, and othei matteis of interest to the town will bo discussed. K.\ri\K NEWS. I am told that some of the memheis of the native committee are about to resign, as they are dissatisfied with the working of it. In their opinion the whole thing is a farce and quite unworkable, as it does not meet the requirements of the natives, and no one will bring his l.md claims befoic the committee to havo his title investigated. Even the members do not care to bting theii land under the opeiatioiiß of these committee". It was nonsense to suppose that the appointment of committees would simplify the dealings with the land question. It would be impossible to get natives who are disinterested ; they would all be prejudiced more or less, and in quiries by them would not be productive of •my good lesults. Tho working of the Land Gomt, if properly cairied out, should be sufficient. The judges are supposed to be impaitial men, and they should be able to decide upon a quest'on of title as wrll in a Maori as in a European tase. That tho loseis will not be satisfied with the decisions is only to bo expected, for if they consider then claim a good one, it is only natural to suppose they will not be very well pleased with an adveise judgment. As regaids the disposal of the land, there will always be a diveisity of opinion in this matter. While the impecunious (and their name is legion), and somv of the young men will be disposed to lease or sell in ordor to raise money, the older ones will hold out against parting with it on any terms. It is, theiefoie, out of the question to suppose that all would be satisfied With the decision of those few in whom the right of final decision would be vested. Since the Government gave up tho pie-emptive light, the native land question has been a most difficult one to deal with, and no bill that has yet been bi ought in has given satisfaction to all. Each successive Native Minister thinks it incumbent upon him to tinker with tho matter, and in the end he finds himself no better off than his predecessor. ! Rewi hfl-> no intention at present of going \ to Paiihaka to visit his prophetslnp Te Whiti. In conversation with him on the subject a few days ago, Mr Giace said, " perhaps if you did go you would be con verted to Te Whiti 's way of thinking." Rewi said he would not go theie without the permission of the Native Minister, and ho would also take Mr Giate witli him as a guarantee that he was still friendly disposed to the Euiopean-. With regard to his piesent journey to Waihi (noith of Waitara), he has cone to take up a mere pounamu which lies under a laige whare there. The origin of this is as follows :—: — When Sir Geoige Giey held a meeting there in 1878 he said, " Why not plant o tree that will grow and be pioductive of good between the two laces." Rewi seized tho idea, and said ho would do so, and build a house for hint to live in theie. When the house was being built a mere was buried under the centie post by Rewi, and it cannot be removed by anyone except by him who put it there, this being an old Maoii custom. Tho place being tapu, due misfortune would fall upon the man who j dared to touch it. It can only be done by Rewi, or two other tohungas, and w h<», l>y certain incantations, can dispel tho tapu. As the natives wish to remove the house, the mere must bo taken up, and as oni of the tohungas is too old to go, and the othei is not in this district, Rewi must do tho business. The reason the meeting was held near Waitaia is when Sir Geoige Giev was up here he suggested that they .should hold a meeting, and bury all ill-feoling bo twecn the two race«. Rewi agreed to this, and said, as the trouble begpan at Waitaia, that was the pioper place to buiy the hntchet. Accoidingly the meeting was held there. He has wiitten to the Native Minister and to Sir George Grey, telling them of his visit, and directing them to send all communications to Mokau. In his letter to Uip latter ho said tho tree was growing and bearing fruit, but he says not a woid to eiUiei about visiting To Whiti — (Own Con espy ndeut.)

A coiuu.iroxm.NT of tlic Agncultiual Ga/ette « tites :— lt is to be assumed that all farmeis, no matter the acicagc they occupy, have some implements ; and the siucst way to odd to them is to take proper care of those you ha\ c. By the careless, and ignorant use and stoiagc, and neglect of cleanliness of the imple ments of the farm, thousands of pounds are annually lost to the farmers of England. During the month that has passed— No vcmbei, with its rains and storms— on most farms theie would be idle hours ; and we wonder in how many instances these hours wete utilised in cleaning tho implements. On many fauns, the machines in a few v.ears, cost sums equivalent to their original pri^c in repairs, whereas on otheis they will uoik on year after year, and, barring accidents, not a penny is spent o\ cr them. How often have we heard one farmer say to his neighbour — " I don't know how it is, but your machine never seems to need repairs, whilst miue breaks down every time it is used. You must have been lucky in getting a good machine." These grumblers are just the men who are ever heard abusing the implement makers, and constantly complaining of accidents to their machinery. In ninety and nine cases out of the hundred, the makeis are innocent of offence, and the accidents ai ise from the same preventive cause— a want of intelligent caie in the use of the machine or implement. How often yon find ploughs left foi weeks in the Held where List u^ed, and, when taken home, possibly shunted into a coiner of the yaids under a fence -anywhere to be out of the load, exposed to all weathers, dirty and lusted, and when the time comes lound, and tho ploughmen should start vvoik, possibly a handle snaps off at the junction of v\ood and iion, the maker is abused for putting in rotten material, and valuable time and money are wasted in rcpaiia Then, again, how often you see mote valmblc machinery, such as leapeis, moweis, lakes, scales, &c , after their work is done, put away without any thought of cleaning, or if thought of, the woiU delayed until a moie convenient opportunity. "What fanner would dieam of ticating his hoiscs so, aftei being at a day's woik, yet tho inanimate machine suffers as much from neglect of cleanliness as docs the living animal, and its wants are just as easily attended to. llm\ often, too, we find them stowed away for winter under some pent shed, only paitially covered fiom the < lams and exposed to damp from the soil, rusting, rusting the winter through. When they aie brought out to work, what sensible man if he would think the matter over, would expect these machines to work without a breakdown. Look at every smith's shop in our small towns and villages, during hay and grain harvest, piled up with machines waiting repair, and I have been crnlibly informed by many smiths that the principal cause leading up to the breakdown was absence of cleanliness— dirt and rust. It ought to be a fixed mlc on every faun, just as it is with legard to hoises, that when the day's work is done the machine should be piopeily "groomed and fed" — the gtooming to consist of' being wiped dry, and the feeding, to be propei ly oiled. All paits should be, after being wiped diy, nibbed o\ci with an oiled rag, and the friction.il paitswcll oiled. This treatment is inst tantamount to grooming and feeding the horse ; analogous to food and sleep for the man. Oiven these— men, horses and machines aie ready for woik nevt morning. Let such be one of the mles of the farm, and the men will no more neglect it, on the plea of being tired, than they will neglect their horses. One is quite as important as the other. It may be argued that if the horses ate not groomed and fed, illness will follow, and they cannot work ; but that if the machine is neglected it will work. Just so ; if the horses are neglected, thej too will work — until they break down. In like latio the neglected machine will work— until it breaks down, and then both men and horses arc idle until it is repaired. What farmer is there who has not experienced the manifold evils of a breakdown in a busy season ? The smith is up to his eyes in work, and must treat all his customers on an equality— first come first served. Had that penny w orth of oil and 10 minutes of " elbow -giease" been ex ponded, the machine would nave been still wot king. Now it is lying awaiting repair, noises anil men aie at a standstill, the weather shows signs of breaking, and master and men aie in the woist of humours. " Had that machine gone on all light, wp should have had that crop of hay housed without rain ; now it is not worth much more than half the value it would have been. Diat the machine ; I'll ne\ er spend another penny with that maker." Again, who around the table of the market ordinary is not familiar w ith the following • — " Oh but we had hard lines The very fiist day we began giain cutting the confounded machine broke down, and it l.iii for nearly a week at the blacksmith's before it was all light. We had haidly got started till theie was another smash. The smith had been that thionged with woik that lie had not half done the job. If it had not been for that we should have got our crop in much better condition, and at a deal less expense. There is no dependence to be placed on machines." In the latter rcmaik there is much truth, especially in the hands of those who are either ignorant of their needs, or. too apathetic to ticat them propei ly. On eveiy faun thetc is no building will pay better than a dry one for the machinery, with a floor free from damp. It is not enough that the shed is an enclosed one if the floor is of that nature, for at certain seasons the damp will arise, rust will set in, and there is no more destructive j enemy than rust to all kinds of implements. In the autumn, when the machines and implements have done their work, let them be thoroughly cleansed from dirt, dried and oiled, and some of the parts will be no woise for a coating of grease or fat, taking especial pains to well oil the frictional parts, with an annual coat of paint on the painted parts. This means very little trouble and very little expense On tho northern farms especially, where the men are hired by the half year, there are always seasons of bad weather, when the hands can do little good at outdoor work. In place of sending the men out in a drizzle to do some ditching or dyking, which, under the circumstances, will be but half done, ' and bring very little " grist to the mill" have an overhauling of the machinery and implements. Oil is cheap, and paint is cheap, and the work can be done under cover. In place of the men returning from the ditch or dyke soaked through with rain, probably afterwards limping about for weeks with colds and coughs, and discharging their other work in a half-hearted manner, let us have the machines out, and a jolly day of it. And it will be a day of improvement, too. There are many lanners who are shortsighted enough, and so blind to their own interest, as to refuse to allow their men to investigate the construction of a machine. This is clearly an error. The more knowledge your men acquire of such matters the better for your interests. Let tho machines be taken to pieces, bo far as they can be. Let each man and lad witness the operation, and let them all assist in putting together again ; or better still, let each and all try in turn to do the work singly It may be, at some time, that such knowledge might effect the saving of many pounds to their employer. Machinery so treated will be ever ready for use, will last for years without repair expenditure, will not disappoint you in your hour of need, will save jour pocket, and thus will help to fill the implement shed. To the careful farmer, alive to his interests, the above lemarks may appealunnecessary, and in such cases the writer feels they are co; but it unfortunately happens that we have but too many who are very neglectful on t'.ic point, and to th(so they may leal up to an awakening.

Tin following evtiact from the published "Life of Loid r.ilniciston " shows vh.it his views were in respect to thcencioachment policy of Russia •— " The policy and practice of the Russian Government has alv ays been to push foi ward ita cncioachmcnts as fast and as tar as the apathy or waut of Hi nincss of other Go vemments would allow it to go, but alw.iys to stop and retire vhen it was met with decided tcsistaiicc. and then to wait foi the next favomable opportunity to make another spring on its intended victim. In furtherance of this policy, the Russian Government has always had two stungs to its bow— moderate language and disinterested professions at St. Petersburg and at London ; nctivc aggression by its agents on the scene of opciations. If .the aggressions succeed locally, the Petersbmg Government adopts them as a Ja>t accompli, which it did not intend, but cannot in honour recede from. If the local agents fail they are disavowed and recalled, and the language previously hold is appealed to as a proof that the agents have over-stepped their instate tions. This was exemplified in the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, and in the exploits of Simonivitch and Vikovitch in Peisia. Orloff succeeded in c\toiting the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi fiom the Turks, and it was represented at. a sudden thought, suggested by the citcumstanccs of the tune and place, and i«)t the result of any previous instate tions ; but ha\ int.' been done, it could not bo undone. On the other hand, .Sunonnitch and Vikonteh failed in getting possession of Hci.it, in eonse(jtience of oar \igorous measuies of resistance ; and as tln-y failed, and when they had failed, they vcie disavowed and recalled, and the language picvionsly held at Petersburg \\a» appealed to as a ptoof of t lie sinu:iity of tin 1 disaNou.il, although no human being with two ideas in his bead could foi a moment doubt that they had acted under specific institutions