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Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2465, 28 April 1888, Page 2

"Thorn's " letter on the Propertytax will appear in our next issue. Frosty nights and warm days have prevailed during the week. Mr Pannell purchased the racecards yesterday at £2 11s per hundred. The Mariposa, with the 'Frisco mail, was expected to arrive in Auckland last night. The bachelors of Cambridge gave a dance in Mib Government school last evoning, which was well attended. Dancing was kept up into tho " wee small houn" of the morning. Mr J. S. Buckland resamed his ol d calling at Ohaupa on Thursday, and wielded the hammer with all his ancient spirit. 1300 head of cattle were yarded, of which 900 were disposed off, but generally at very low figures. A meeting of the Hamilton Licensing Committee will be held to-day to consider the application of Mr E. L. Smith to transfer the license of the Royal Hotel to his son, Mr H. Smith. We hear Mr Smith, senr.. has taken the Ponsonby Club Hotel, Auckland. Mr D. Lees, of Hamilton East, has purchased Mr J. K. Handyside's large patent wood-cutting machine, and intends supplying fuel during the coming winter. Mr Handyside, as well as his brother Alex, the bicyclist, have left for New South Wales to try their luck in that colony. The three youths Kennedy, Doyle and Howell, charged with stealing horses at Cambridge West, were brought up before Mr T. Wells J.P., at Cambridge on Wednesday, and were remanded till May 2nd. They were sent down to Mount Eden by th« train on Thursday morning, as tho accommodation at Cambridge is somewhat limited. The following apology is very comprehensive. A Transvaal newspaper advertises one in which "A. C. du Plessis " expresses himself thus :—" I hereby retract everything I have said against the innocent Mr G. P. Bezuidenhout, calling myself an infamous liar, and striking my mouth, with the exclamation, " You mendacious mouth, why do you lie so?" I call myself a genuine liar of tho first class.—Signed, etc' A gentleman who visited the Rankleburn lately inform'! the Courier that he witnessed Jive ferrets destroying a sheep. The sheep had got on its back, and while in that position, was attacked by the vermin, and in a very short time destroyed. The ferrets took very little notice of the sportsman's approach, and would not desert their prey. No doy.bt in the lambing seasons tho ferrets will work havoc with the young lambs, as they are said to be literally swarming along the river banks. The Hamilton local option poll on Thursday resulted as follows :—For an increase in the number of publicans' liconses 11, against 3; New Zealand wine licenses 11, against 2; accommodation house licenses 9, against 4; bottle licenses '.), against 4. It was rather prominently declared in the Herald a short time back that tho Hamilton people were "determined to have prohibition," but neither the above result nor the lack of interest shown in tho proceedings indicate the existence of any such determination. Our attention has been called to the slow progress being made with the erection of the Hamilton saloyards. Uuless more expedition is used iu their construction, the yards cannot bo ready for the opening sale by Mr J. McNicol on the Oth prox. If farmers, driving cattle for sale on that day, find tha yards unprepared for their reception, it will cause great dissatisfaction and act injuriously on the success of subsequent salon. Since writing the above we have received a letter on the jeot from the engineet, Mr Handee, which appears elsewhere. Rather a good story comes to us (Wunganni Herald) as indicating how recommendations from clergymen are sometimes looked on, and how even the smartest of local bodies get taken in at times. A council on this coast requiring the sorvices of a clerk, advertised in due eourse for some one to fill the vacancy. To go through these a sub-committee of threo was appointed. Their method of procedure was simplicity itself. All the candidates who were recommended by clergymen were immediately shunted, the subcommittee being unanimous in tho opinion that recommendations of that class were as a rule not tho best to be obtained. Having done this they proceeded to select a man, who in duo course arrived. When last hoard of, this gentleman—who was selected because he happened not to bo recommended by a minister— was preaching in tho local Wesleyan Church, and it turns out that he has boon a parson himself.

It is denied in official circles, that there will be any vacancy in the AgentGeneralship. The Government, on the contrary, have offered Sir F, D. 801 l a further term of service. The adjourned meetingfaf the Cambridge West School Committee was held at the school-room on Wednesday at 7.15 p.m., all tho members being present. It was proposed by Mr M. Dillon, and seconded by Mr Goorgo Bailey, that Mr Hugh Fitzgerald talce tho chair pro tern. The Chairman said the business for which they had met was to elect a chairman for the ensuing year. Mr M. Dillon proposed, and Mr W. Tucker seconded, that Dr. W. Hooper be chairman. Carried. The Secretary was instructed to invite tenders for cleaning the school, which are to be considered by the committee en Wednesday, 2nd May. A recent issue of the Australasian which has never had much love fur Sir Julius Vogel or Sir George Grey contaiiiH the following:—New Zealand is about to lose two statesmen who have secured prominent places in her history—Sir George Grey and Sir Julius Vogel. From a> strictly political point of view, sympathy with her is not uigently called for. Her loss may be her gain. Theses two men, dissimilar in many respects, have been alike in one. They are faddists. There seems to be something in the climate or scenery of Now Zealand that is favourable to the production of extravagant notions in the political world. The mountains must have something to do with it. Before everybody disbelieved in everything, dwellers living on or near hills were the strongest adherents of fancies about fairies, gnomes, and genii. No colony has ever had amongst its statesmen such a large proptvtion of men with extravagant fancies as New Zealand, au d no other Australian community has ever been led so far astray by .such persons. " For airy whims and fancies lead To certain loss, and ne'er succeed." Even a strong, substantial politician like Sir Harry Atkinson, tho present Premier, has had his fad. If we recollect rightly, he had a strange hobby which careered into the arena on one occasion It was the compulsory lite assurance of all colonists. It is difficult to decide which politician has done the most harm to New Zealand—Sir George Grey or Sir Julius Vogel. Probably the latter has. Certainly he does not stand so high in public estimation as Sir George Grey. Once Sir Julius Vogel carried everything before him in New Zealand ; there are now no politicians so poor as to do him honour.