TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2235, 4 November 1886, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU.

(FROM OUR OWN COKKKSPONPKNT.) The result of the school inspector's examination of the childien of this school discloses a st.ite of things satisfactory in the, extreme, thn percentages of passes being BG"3. In the class subjects with a ina\i muinol^lOO marks the following are the marks received for the vaiious subjects :—: — Drawing, 55 ; history 7 , 95 ; geography, 90 ; elementary science, object lesions, &c, 70 ; a total of 310, the percentage b^ing 77 5. Additional subjects with a maximum of 20 marks {—Repetition and recitation, 19 ; dull and exercises, 20 ; singing, 10 ; needlework, 14 ; subject matter of reading lesson i, 10; total, 85. " Results, discipline, and tone very .satisfactory " was tho foot note appended to the examination report by Mi Fidler. This mibt bo miht satisfactory not only to Colonel Smith, but to the children and parent*, also. ]n history and geography the muiuimn was very nearly leached, while in tho useful accomplishment of needlework 14 mirks out of a possible 20 were given. Since- the rails were laid and the train run to Otoiohonga Mr Coates has ueen in the lial>it i>f taking up inatciial leqmred foi liis Kuiti contract, besides goods for the stoickee] era and pipes, vails, &c. for the Government, On Siturday last he received a letter fro»n the Distiict Engineer, warning him against carrying goods of any description other tl.an those required on the Puniu contract, and stiting that if he persisted in doing so aftei receipt of the letter traffic rates would be charged for such goods or material carried, and the amount would be deducted from the next payment on his contract. This seems a curious action on the part of the department, as freight by waggon from the Te Awamutu station to Otorohamya is about £4 a ton, and it is strange the authorities should elect to put the country to the expense of such cartage when the articles could be taken up by rail for a very small sum. 1 On the morning of reoeiving the order ni less than 30 tons of Government material were sent on by Mr Coates, while a lot moie is now lying at the station ready loaded in trucks. All this will, of course, ha\e to be unloaded again. The charge imposed for Government goods was only the cwt of loading and unloading, a mere tufle; while the cartage will be, as I ha\e stated, about £4 a ton. This course, of action will have tho effect of expediting the completion and handing over of the line to the Government, when the hea\y cartage will be done away with. Meantime the country will be put to considerable expense for the conveyance of any timber, pipes, rails, or other things reqxiired by the department in connection with public woiks along the line. As regards the heavy cost entailed on business people that is their own look out, with that the public have nothing to do. Theic is one curious feature in the case; that is the strict impartiality displayed by the Government in not making an exception even in favour of their own goods, but it seeing odd in the face of the fact that there is an enormous deficiency hi the revenue (about a third of a million) that the countiy should ba put to any more expense than is absolutely necessary. At the firing for pii/.cs List week Trooper Gray was again top score winning the troops belt which is now his private propeity he having won it twice in succession. Trooper H. Short takes the troop medal and Corporal H. North wins Messrs Lewis add Simpson's presentation which, I hear, is a tea Ben ice of the value of £5, or any other article of equal value which the winner may select.