TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2197, 7 August 1886, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU.

■♦ • New Zealand Alliance. Silt William Fox and Mr Glover lectured here on Tuesday evening, and at Kihikihi on Wednesday. Rev. Mr Mather took the chair here and Major Jnckhon at Kihikihi. There wai an exceedingly good attendance at both places. The lecturers explained the object of their visit, which was to establish branches of the New Zealand Allhnce. This Alliance they explained was for % e^tinfjf the control of the hquoi U attic in the people, that is to -a,y, if the m.ijoiity of the resident- of a certain distiict desired to close all the hotel -9 they were to h<ive the power to do .so, thereby putting a stop to the Nile of any intoxicants in their di»tt ict. The Alliance embraces men and women of all nbadea of opinion, religiou> and political it is not necessity that the membeia .should be teetotallers. The object of the membershould be to bring prcssine to bjar on the Patliameut to legislate m the direction indicated ; this can be done if all are unanimous in returning members who will fmther tliit object. Strong political power Ks what is. aimed at. After explaining, the lecturerwent out ;to show the evil effects of drink \ upon the community in general. Only sixpence worth of labour was employed to produce a pound's worth of alcoholic drink, while in other branche-t of manuf icture ; from fix to sixteen shillings wmtii of labours as employed to produce goods of the value of one pound. They contended that the .spending power of the masse.wonld be enormously increased if there were no intoxicating liquor to be purchased. A shipbuilding firm on the Tyne paid their employes £10,000 a week, and £4,000 of thi-< found its as ay into four public houses in the vicinity. In the face of such facts as these, was it any wonder that when trade was dull that the labouring classes weie, soon after being thrown out of employment, reduced to starvation. It waonly fair and leasonable in view of the t-Mrible effpets of diink that the people should have the control of it in their own hands. The spenkeis weie listened to throughout with the greatest attention. A collection wab taken up t<» defray cost of lighting and cleaning the hall, advertising, &c.

The Hounds. The Pakuranga hounds in chaipre of Messrs T. Brown an<l (timxliuau, paid U> their annual visit this week ami two day*' pood fun waOiad. Some of the ladies were well mounted, and took their fences in a style that would have done credit to the best of fox hunters. lam sorry I cannot give a more detailed account of the hunt, as I was unablo to attend on either day.

General. Since writing my last on the imaginary r.ibbit nuisance I haw; heard th.it the poisoned oat-, bn.s heen doing its work, not on rabbits howe\ei, but on some young pig* and on tho pheasant.". The owner of thosr pigs wjll not feel \ery charitably disposed towards the inspector, and if he does cherish any ill-will, it will under the circumstance* 1 think, be somewhat excusable. 1 seldom wnte about the weather, as it is a topic on which everyone iv well posted, and it is a pour subject anyway to till up a column with, but T cannot refr.un from referring to the unusual severity and number of the frosts we have had th winter. We ha\e had such a of them that even green oats ha\e been cut down, which i.s \ery unusual, I saw one paddock which was completely destroyed. The oats were about two feet high, and it was so badly frosted that it tinned quite yellow. So bad was it that the owner turned his cattle on it to get what they could, and the remainder would be ploughed m. He had sown the paddock for winter feed for his dairy cow>, m> the destruction of it was a considerable loss to him. Since the Land Court opened at Otorohaugo, \ery few natives uo to be seen about. Those who have claims ;ue there to look after them, and those who ha\e not will be there anyhow in the expectation of cheap feeds, for as long as any food is to be had they will hang about. I heard a good story of one of them the other day. It would be worth bending to Mr Ches»on and ' the other membeis of the K\eter Hall meddlers, as it illustrates how httle the poor, ill-used, and down-tiodden aboriginal can look after himself. A shoit time ago a man came up fiom Auckland to look round the eountiy for a farm, A noble red man heaid he wanted some laud, so he went to him, and told him he lud some splendid land for sale, for which he wanted only£2tO»> an acie. The man asked if he could t<ee it ne\t day, and the bi'nple child of nature said he would I take him to see it, but before doing .so it would bo necessary U> pay v, subbtaiitial do-

posit t<> be forfeited if the man did not bu\. That I-, good enough I think even for a white man. It is needless to say the dejxwit was not paid, or that the 'm.in did not .see the land, for it i-. inoMt probable it wa« a myth, .»nd was only made use of ,-»s a " try on for boer uiuney. The -,4\ageii havij takeo (Je(M->ith from half-a-do/.en different njM'Cul.itor* on tin' vamt> piftt'of land befor# now, iuid then they would try to Kwindle the whole of them. In many instances tin* deposits paid amounted to n, on* than thr value of the land, and nttll Mr Clu>*on f>;iy>< they are badly treated. We inu^t ]>■•>' 'i poijjuj a hi\'i(J for our dog« t but the Maori* an; left off altogether. Thi» is infamous ; there i> not <i fanner on th« boundary, und even many a good way oa our side of it who ha« not had number? of valuable Mieep worried bv their dogn. In one instance ft man pave up keeping nhee* altogether. on, that account, and yet we -*t% told there is only one law for both race»!