The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2142, 1 April 1886, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Eoukl and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state 01 persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's rifjht maintain, Uiuwed by influence and unbribed by gain.

THURSDAY, APRIL /, 1886.

The present is an age of schemes of salvation. We use the word in a social, not in a spiritual sense. Almost every other politician you meet has in his possession a specific for the removal of those material ills under which poor humanity has been groaning for about four thousand years, more or less. They do not flaunt in our faces mere plans for the acquirement of riches, such as formed the capital of John Law and the promoters of the South Sea Bubble. The aim of the modern politico-philanthropibt is not to bestow wealth, but to eradicate poverty and its concomitants, ignorance and crime, and make all the nations of the world happy and contented. This is the gospel of the present century. Its key-note is the land question. Everything depends upon that. It is not a gospel of work, but one of "hey! presto !' We have only got to alter our Bystem of land tenure in some way, and lo !, as it were at the touch of a magician's wand, the •whole scene changes. 111-condi-tioned farms, now scarcely producing sufficient to pay the rent, will glow with golden harvests ; huge expanses of sheep pasture, park and common, and woodland and waste will do homage to Ceres;dark, dismal, damp, squalid streets will pour their denizens out over the sunny meadow lands ; hollow cheeks will grow plump and rosy ; h.irsh cracked voices will break into song, and one universal chant of praise will greet the ears of the deliverer as he goes forth to survey the glorious results of those few hours upent in

■ consuming the midnight oil. What .1 flood of light li.is been produced by that tiny drop of kerosene ! This is no fanciful picture. Henry George, in his study oil the, Paoitic^ .Slope, felt when tie had perfected his Land Nationalisation Scheme, th.it the millenium av.is within measurable distance — had come, to use a current phrase, within the range of practical politics. Mr Chamberlain thinks, if we may believe his critics, the gift of three acres ai/d a cow to the agricultural labourer will effect a complete revolution in the social iife of England ; Mr Parnell and Mr Davitt conscientiously believe that the expropriation of the landlords and the assumption of their rights and privileges by a Parliament on College Green will transform Ireland into a heaven upon earth ; Sir George Grey practically tells us that nothing short of the adoption of his scheme for buying out landowners with 4 per cent, bonds, and settling people on the land -it a rental of 5 per cent, on the capital value, etcetera, can save N"ew Zealand from destruction. And a hundred other reformers of lessor note are imbued with similar ideas. It is the land, the land, always the land ! " Let me but make the land laws ot the nation," the modern reformer might say, " and I care not who takes charge of everything else.'* Occasionally a patriot here and there starts out with a notion that the regeneration of mankind can be accomplished by other means, but he gains no honour, nothing but sneers and ridicule. Everything; comfort, health, happiness, education, even godliness, is dependent upon land reform. Labour and thrift, worldly wisdom and sobriety count as nothing by themselves. They cannot be admitted into the argument until the land question is settled. This is the creed of the reformer. Fortunately, very fortunately, it is not the belief of the world. The generality of mankind withhold their sanction, not because they feel that existing land legislation partakes of the character of an exact science. Far from it. There are few things more susceptible of improvement than our agrarian laws. Reform in many directions is urgently necessary and must and .shall be obtained. But the process must of necessity be gradual. What the people* or at least that section of the people who do not bother themselves to think about the subject, require to be warned against, are the specious schemes of those soi disaat wizards, who, if only we would give them leave to try, would soon bring about a change, in comparison with which the most bewitching transformation scene ever manipulated by the machinists of Drury Lane would be tame and spiritless.

There was a very large attendance at the sale at Mr J. S. Buckland's, yesterday, and the furniture and other property realised high figures.

The dispute over the sale of the Cambridge racecourse to Mr Cartel has been amicably settled between the parties interested.

There was no business of importance at the Resident Magistrate'^ Court, Hamilton, yesterday. Only one small civil case was set down for hearing, and that was adjourned. There was no criminal business on the charge sheet.

Nothing corroborative of the repoit that a man had thrown himself into the Waikato River at Cambridge has been gained ; the police therefore conclude there aie no grounds for accepting the story as *Tue.

The quarterly meeting of S. Paul's Wet>le.yan Church was held on Monday evening, at the termination of >vhicli the Rev. Mr Dewsbury was presented with a well-worded valedictory address by the parishioners.

Mr Horneybrook, from Te Arolia, arrived in Cambridge on Monday, and at once proceeded to Taofcaoroa with Mr C. Brunskill to inspect the Teefs. We shall now probably hear some authorative evidence of the value of the find. Further proof has been exhibited of the existence of minerals in the immediate vicinity of Cainbndge,and we were shown a sample of finelooking galena found near at hand, and of which it is said there are large deposits.

Between four and five o'clock yesterday afternoon, a carpenter named Henry YVright, engaged in the erection of the Go\ eminent cottages at Frankton, met with a lather painful accident, which dislocated his shoulder, by falling with a ladder from the side of one of the buildings m course of construction. The building had only recently been painted, and the paint not bein? sufficiently dry the ladder slipped and fell to the ground, carrying Wright with it. Fortunately, the fall was not great, otherwise the accident might have been more serious.

The usual monthly meeting of the Waitoa Road Board was held last Saturday. Present :— Messrs Chepmell, Parr, and Turnbull. The Chairman reported that subsidy amounting to £187 10s bad bpen received. The Collector, on reportin? that he had not got all the rates collected yet, wa"» requested to lose no time m suing all defaulter*, so that the balance of the subsidy may be obtained on the whole of the rates. Most of the contracts which were i«t are now finished, but in several instances long after the specified time, consequently penalties were indicted on several contractors for overtime. The want of fundb compels the board to leave undone for the present several jobs which they were anxious to do had the funds admitted.—(Own Coi respondent.)

The following special messages to the Press Association, dated London, March 20th. have been published :— The Loyal Patriotic Union, which has been formed in opposition to the Irish National League, is appealing to Australia for assistance.— The University of Edinburgh has conferred the degiee of LL.D. on Sir Chas. Nicholson, Hart., who was the first Speaker of the first C2neensland Legislature. —It is believed that France will agtee not to send convicts even to New Caledonia after the lapse of seven years.— Sir Phillip Cunliffe Owen is extending the colonies a helping hand in the establishment of colonial markets.— Tho bill brought in by Prince Bismarck for the purpose of establishing a Government monopoly in the irianufactute and sale of spirits, has been rejected by the Reichstag.— The Agents(Jeneral will be allowed free admission to the debates in the House of Lords.

It will be s^en by our advertising cluii.nß that tbf burgess list for the year 188G-7 is now open for inspection, also thu defaulters' list for the same year, and the collector was very bu«y yesterday, in reminding the burgp-^e-' th it the end of the financial year h.id arrived, and that »f they wanted to keep «n the bur(Ces'* roll they should pay up. However, we find on enquiry (and it is worth while enquiring about on this occasion) that the burgess roll lias to go through a certain routine, and during the time it is being revised any person owing rate3 to the 3Ut Match, 1886, can, by paying them, claim the prit ilege of being taken from the defaulters' and placed on the burgess Hot. Our object in making these enquirie« on the subject anrl referring to the matter ia to ahow and inform our readers th.tt during the next 14 days th»ire h just one more chance of becoming what is termed a legal burgess, and taking part in tho voting and allocation of

the £'<JOOO which the ratepayers have nuthoi iicd the council to raise, and ns the next, -throe yearn may be reasonably ox|!ecfijfl"t<ibe eventful ones, wo ndu-c the piopeit) owners to wee to it within the nuxt tew d.iyi.

The Cambridge Jam Company have olovd their factory for the reason, ,md the managers, Measr* Foster and (roslibp, leave for Auckland to-div. The director* fiml great difficulty in getting in the capital, and are forced to entert.un the -tep of .-uegestinpr th'e winding-iip of the concei 11 until adcqiiiitc support 'be fortliamiinX' On the whole their first year's npoutiyns havo l^ap very nucces^ful, and' firtt-clatss articlen liave beenSnanufactured, but it rftuid* to rtJiison it cannyt lie carried on' without Capital.

The Ngaruawahia race com mittuo ha%o l-siied a very attractive prok'l.unme for Easter Monday, find should tlio we.ither prove fine we fully expect to see a laree attendance at the^ meeting. Tlie principal event on ttie programme is the Nganmwahia Handicap of 20sovs., wliich certainly should attract attention. In - addition >• to the above there is a Handicap Hurdle Race, Maiden Plate, Hack Selling Hurdle Race, and a Consolation Handicap. Year by year tbe above races bare grown in popularity, and a«i the racecourse ii situa ted in close proximity to the township, pleasure-seekers will find no difficulty m reaching it. The Ngaruawahia lacc-i are always looked forward to as a pleasant day's outing, for the drivo along the road is not only charming, but the hconery is everything that can bo desired. A1)A 1 ) I^garuawahia pos&es^es an excellent band, no doubt their services will be called into requisition on that day, thereby adding much to make the meeting a fauccohs.

"Mid-off" writes: -In your report of the county match of lust Saturday, you have not done justice to Edney's excellent batting and Connolly'H equally good bowling. Had the ground been anything like true the latter's bowling would have been simply unplayable. Barton's and Polling's bowling was also quite phenomenal m will be seen from the analysis appended.

Ist innings— Waipa. Overs, mds runs wkts. Browning 8 3 15 3 Connolly 7 2 6 2 Pilling 2-3 0 2 3 Hunt .. ..1011 2nd Innings— Waipa. Overs, mds runs wkts. Connolly 26 '3 7 43 4 Wood 11 1 24 2 Pilling 9 1 22 3 Hunt 8 0 2l> 1 Browning bowled one and Pilling two wides, and Hunt one no ball. Ist. innings — Waikato. Overs tnds. runs wkts. Browne 11 3 18 2 Hinton . . . 11 1 30 3 Barton ... . 5 4 12' Mclntosh 4-4 2 4 2 2nd. innings — Waikato. Overs mdi. runs wkts. Browne 5 2 5 0 Barton . . . . 5 2 5 3 Mclntosh also bowled one wide.