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Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2219, 28 September 1886, Page 2

TUESDA 7, SEPT. 28, 1886.

There has existed for many years a burning desire on the part of European speculators to possess a portion of the land now locked up in what is called the thermal district of Now Zealand. From time to time insidious attacks have been made on the Government with a \ iew to induce them to remove or modify in so:ne way the restrictions placed on the territory indicated. But the Government, with a commendable regard for the rights and interests of posterity, have remained iirra. The old string is being harped on once more. The distress of the Tuhourangi tribe is made the excuse this time. One of the chiefs is made, or has been induced to say that but for the fact that the Government had taken the mana of the natives away, they would not require to act the part of suppliants for food at the present moment. This is very likely true, but when we consider the interests at stake we are constrained to believe that it were much better for the Government to feed the Maoris during the time of their distress than to part with one acre of our national playground, for such the country surrounding tlu 1 centre of volcanic action will in time become. The disappearance of the wonderful White and Pink Terraces will not suffice to rob the Lake district of its charm. The loss we have sustained, a great and irretrievable loss truly, has compelled us to extend our researches, with the result that other beauties and other wonders have been brought within human ken, The glory of Te Tarata cannot be restored, but we have found a Wai-o-tapu, which will to some extent repair the loss, and out of the very chaos produced by the upheaval of the 10th of June has grown phenomena weird, mysterious and fascinating enough to attract the footsteps alike of scientist, and globe-trotter. We do not doubt that the crowds who will Hock to view the wonders of our thermal district during the coming season will far out-number those who in past years sought health and change in that enchanting region. As the years go by, as the means of inter-communication between the old world and the new improve, so will the marvels of nature lying in the centre of this island increase in repute. To rob the colony of one acre of this territory would be nothing less than criminal.

According to tlio Melbourne Argus it appears that the Victorian Minister of Agriculture is about to enter upon what cannot fail to prove a troublesome experiment, tlo iias given instructions for a bill to be drafted dealing with the destruction of insects which infect orchards. As the law at present exists the Government cannot enter gardens or orchards, and as the}' are multiplying rapidly, the prosperity of the fruit-growing industry will bo jeopardised unless steps are taken to arrest their progress. The Bill now being prepared will provide for the appointment of an inspector of orchards, upon whom power will be conferred to enter infected areas and order the adoption of measures for the destruction of insects. This is a subject which the New Zealand Government have with singular want of foresight left to be dealt with by private individuals. Wt3 need hardly remind our readers that the Victorian authorities are simply going on the lines adopted by the Waikato Horticultural Society. The Bill drafted by this body is intended to operate in the direction indicated by the Argus. It was sent down to Wellington too late last session to have any chance of success, but its framers are hopeful that it will meet with better luck next time. When the Government of New Zealand see that their confreres over the water are adopting vigourous measures to cope with tho insect pest it is not unlikely that they will be induced to follow suit.

The Piako County Council meet at Hamilton at 10.30 a.m. to-morrow.

The Hamilton Choral Society will meet for practice this evening in the Public Hall at half-past seven sharp.

A meeting of those interested in paying off the debts of the old Waikato Turf G'lub will be held at Delaneys Hotel, Ohaupo, at 5 p.m. to-day.

The following tenders were received last night for clearing and ploughing Lot 4, borough endowments, Hamilton East:—King and Keep, £3 Km per acre ;J. Winter, (accepted) £'.) lla for the whole.

The time for receiving tenders for disc harrowing Uallo way-street recreation reserve, has been extended to Monday next, the Ith in.st. No tenders for the work were received at the meoting of the improvement committoo last night.

Mr Joseph Banks was to have come up to Hamilton this week to consult with the Mayor and others interested, on matters in connection with the proposed slaughter-yards, but as he has to go to the West Coast, he has been obliged to postpone his visit.

Those haying claims for land on account of military or naval services are reminded that these must be sent in to the Hamilton Post Office not later than Thursday next, the 30fch inst. Tho Commission will hit at thu Courthouse, Hamilton, on Friday and Saturday next.

The Hamilton Band, under the leudiT-liip "f Mr P- Munro, played a inunibM <>f -i'l'M-tioni in the open air on both -.id--. n[ the jiver last night. Tho lu;i<l luuj uiv.itly impioved of lato, and gue pionme uf doing gicat things in the futme.

The following entries have been received for the horso parade at Ohaupo, thN day, at 11 a.m.: -Clydesdale^ : Bonnie Pn'nce, Klgm, i'niice "Charlie, L*o\vcioti Tarn. Thorouirhbieds : ingomat, Bothsvell. Jjo.idsfccr-j: Young Stonewall, Jackson, Merry legs r'olt. Capt. Man arrivod at Ecljrua on Satvuday, with a welcome supply of food

for the natives. It is reported that, but for the Government restrictions, the natives w ould put some of their land in the market, :<nd so relieve themselves in their present necessity.

On Saturday last Mr John Knox sold another batch of Hamilton East borough endowments leases, the prices Riven being as follows:—No. 1, J. Hume, l(ss per acre; No. 2, do., 20s; No. 3, E. C. Martin, 335; No. 4, J. Murphy, 255; No. 5, E. 0. Martin, 325; No. 6, do,, 21«.

The Waikato Dairy Company, which has risen on the ashes of the Waikato Cheese and Bacon Factory Company is now fairly afloat. In another column the director! notify that they are prepared to receive applications for shares. All suppliers must be shareholders. Tho directors also adveotise for a Secretary.

Owing to the unsettled weather we have been having recently, affection* of the throat have been very prevalent. The ailment has almost become an an epidemic, and several residenta of Hamilton aro at the present time laid up with it. Tho medical men advise that great care should be taken as the affection might lead to serious results.

We are glad to see that Mr John Knox has sufficiently recovered from his lato severe indisposition as to be ablo once more to attend to his business. He conducted the sale at the Hamilton Mart on Saturday, when, in addition to the borough lease*, a large lot of drapery and furniture was disposed of at full rates.

Byron's well • known comedy, "Our Boys," will be repeated on Tuesday evening next at the Oddfellows' Hall, Hamilton East, in aid of the fund for painting the fence of S. Peter's parsonage. To those who have «een the performance, we are sure no recommendation of itK merits is required, while to those who have not witnessed it we can only say, (Jo and pee it.

There appears to be an epidemic of tires in Auckland just now. Early on Sunday morning nn unoccupied house in Ponsonby was destroyed, there boing no clue to the origin. A fire broke out in the premises of Mr Eagleton, baker, Queenstreet, at about 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, doing damage to the amout of about £100 before it was subdued. The tire was communicated from the boiler grate. At an early hour yesterday morning Moore's boot factory in College Road were burned down. The damage is estimated at £1200, and the building and stock were insured for £900. The cause of the catastrophe is unknown.

The result of the recent Standard Examinations in the Hamilton East School show that out of a total of 144 pupils attending the school 80 were presented in the various standards, the remainder being infants. Of this number 70 passed. The inspector, Mr Fidler, reports that in the ordinary routine subjects the results are satisfactory, and in the additional subjects fair, but the work in the class subjects, especially natural ncience, was weak. He has no doubt that the cause of these results is to lw looked for in great-measure in the recent changes in the high school, which have interfered with the proper work of the primary school. He reports that the order and discipline of the school is good.

The Indian Mirror says:—"We think that Mr Lalmohun Ghose was not indulging in a chimera when, lately at a political meeting in England, he observed that if Home Rule is grauted to Ireland, India will not long be content without it, and that the concession of Home Rule to India was within measurable distance of practical p >litics. It would, perhaps, be a surprise to many English politicians, and specially to our Anglo-Indian friends, to learn that not long after the British Government will have satisfied the Irish Home Rule party, they will have to contend with an Indian Home Rule party, perhaps more formidable than the Irish one."

One of the best known mining engineers in the United States, in fact the man who built many big mines and tunnel* on the Pacific coast, whom we will call Smith for the sake of the story, told the 'Casual Observer.' the other day that while superintending the construction of a mine at Virginia City, on which mostly Chinese labour was employed, the foreman of one of tho tunnels ca»ne to him one morning and said: "Mr Smith, a Chinaman was killed this morning by a fall of rock in tho tunnel. We'll have to kill another before night." "Why so?" was the inquiry in reply. " Well," said tho foreman, as he took a fresh chow of tobacco, " it's easier to carry two dead Chinamen out of thocimp than one." The engineer got mad at thU and prohibited his reckless exposure of life. But sum enough before the night fell another Chinaman had been gathered to his fathers. The manner of carrying the dead Chinamen out of the camp was to hang one body on each side of a mule. If there was only one dead Cliinaman it took two men to carry him off, one at his head another at his heels.

"Some men are born for great things," but it is not often that a man rises to the eminent position of a Chief Justice because the weather was too cold to allow of his being a clerk of petty sessions. Sir James Prendergast, Chief Justice of New Zealand, started his colonial career as C.P.S. at Maryborough (Victoria) in the earlier days, and immediately after his accession the authorities at Melbourne began to bo worried by the receipt of sheets of foolscap covered with cuneiform inscriptions, a.nd footed by a signature *hat looked like a tight between a spider and a gridiron. At tirst very little notice was taken of the matter, it being concluded that the documents were copies of B«lshazzar's washing bill, or something of tho kind, which had gone astray, and they were simply re-directed to 4<Poat>office, Babylon ; to be left till called for," and passed on. At length, however, the trouble became too great for human endurance, and it being discovered that the illegible sorrows in question issued from Maryborough a commission of enquiry was sent up. They found that Mr Piendergast's office consisted of an old Government tent pitched on a mud bank, the flooring consisting of an inch of water and three of Irish bog; and as it was the depth of winter and bitterly cold a little ice lent variety to the scene. Inside this cloth mansion a benumbed clerk of petty sessions was making pot-hooks and hangers in his official capacity as a member of the Civil Service, hia stiffened lingers rendering it impossible to produce anything more legible. The Commission, as in duty bound, inspected and reported on the blue-nosed officer, but they did not take extenuating circumstances into account in these days, and Mr Prendergaht received his dismissal. His early ambition being thus nipped in the bid, he took to the law for consolation, and is now a Chief Justice with a title, instead of a bush Dogberry in a leaky tent. His story should point a valuable moral to young men who are unable to write decently in cold weather.—Sydney Bulletin.

The following late Australian news if to hand:—Melbourne, September 22.—One thousand ladies and gentlemen will be present at the banquet to be given on October 1 in connection with the laying of the memorial stone of the Parliament House.—The steamer Sikh from Hongkong via Port Darwin brings l."> 0 unsuccessful diggers from Kimberley.—The council of the Wool Growers Association of Australasia have received an encouraging letter from Mr G. Watson, Yokohama, as to the feasibility of establishing woollen factories in Japan. The council has decided to endeavour to raise £1."3,000 to start the project.—An application has been made to the Insolvent Court to release tho estate of Herbert Henty, late of the firm of James Henty and Co. Judge Molesworth has granted an order.—The Government Geologist has returned from inspecting tho Mount Lyell Goldfield", and spoaks in glowing terms of the prospects if properly developed and scientifically _ treated. — A vote of want of confidence in the Tasmanian Ministry has been proposed. The debate is proceeding. It is probable the Government will have a substantial majority.—The statement made by Mr Gladstone that Home Rule had worked well in Tasmania, although an absolute majority of the population were convicts or descendants of convicts, has been received with great indignation in the colony. — Sydney, September 22.—Sir James Martin, Chief Justice, speaking at a banquet to M. dv Bounere, acting French Consul, at the French Club on Saturday, expressed himself in favour of yielding the New Hebrides to France in order to secure the stoppage of the deportation of criminals to the Pacific. Sir P. Jennings also spoke, and expressed satisfaction with Sir J. Martin's utterances. He added that in his opinion it would be a great boon to Australia to h.avo tha French settled in the Pacific. Sir H. P.irkfH called attention to the matter in the Assembly, pointing out that while the Piomier was making such utterances the Ai?ent-General in Londou was working in an entirely opposite manner.—The Hon.

Jainea Byrne, a very old colonist, has died at the ago of 82.— Trenton cnnie in l»me after the Spring Stnkivt on Saturday, and it is doubtful if he will see the post for the Melbourne Cup. —Adelaide, September 22. — Hie artesian well struck water at Strangeway Springs at 300 feet from the surface. Tho yield is 4000 gallons per hour. Drinkable water has aNo boen struck on the Mallabona Plains at the end of the Australian Bight at a depth of 7000 feet. Thia discovery, as the country is excellent for pastoral purposes, will cause the occupation of 30,000 square mile* of country.