Untitled

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2543, 27 October 1888, Page 2

Major Jackson addresses his constituents at Te Awamutu to-night. The Hamilton Light Intantry parade this evening at 5 o'clock at the Volunteer Hall. Mr John Murray, late Inspector of the Hank of Now Zealand, has been appointed General- Manager. W. Waring Taylor, whose term of imprisonment expired during the last week in September, is said to be living in the Rangitikei district. The threatened strike of seamen on the Union Company's steamers has been averted by an amicable settlement with Mr Jaines Mills, the Company's director. Messrs Nelson, Moate and Cohave lundly presented the Hamilton Lawn Tennis Club with a 51b tin of their best tea, for use at the Saturday afternoon socials at the court. We hope there will be a good muster of those interested in the Hamilton foot sports, held usually on Boxing-Day, the meeting for considering which is called for this evening at the Royal Hotel, Hamilton. At the Ohaupo sale on Tuesday we were shown two fat cows that had just been sold for £'3 and £3 5s respectively, that were purchased at one of the Hamilton sales for ill 2s lid and £1 ss. This ought to be good enough in the way of profit. The annual soiree and concert in connection with the Trinity Presbyterian Church will be held in the Public Hall, Cambridge, on Wednesday, November 14th. Special services will beennducted by the Rev. R. Scott West, of St. David's, Auckland, on the following Sunday. Mr Hutt, while at work in the Ngaruawahia saw mill, had the misfortune to get the first finger of his left hand jammed between two logs, tearing a portion of the flesh away. Dr. Murch attended to the injury, and hopes to avoid amputation. The illnesses and funerals of two German emperors within the year, the pomp and show of a third emperor oil his travels, and the disputes of the doctors over the cause of death of the second must have cost the newspaper press of the world as much money as all Germany is worth. — Exchange. We are pleased to hear that Mr G. W. Russell has sold the farm near Cambridge known as "Calvert's" to Mr J. McNicol for a client at a satisfactory price. It is quite a relief to hear of land changing hands again. This is another decided indication that the corner has been turned. Mr J. S Buckland is advertising a very important sale of high-class horses and cattle to be held at Cambridge on November !21st. Although fifty-seven horses are catalogued, there will still be room for settlers having good animals to offer. With such an array of well-bred hoises and cattle, buyers from all parts of the province are sure to attend, and good prices may be looked for in consequence. The earnestness of the Government in their promise to taper off the Public Works expenditure is shown by the fact that the expenditure for the six months ended 30th of September was £237,000. Never before has the amount for a similar period been so small. The abolition of the Department is being proceeded with, and the changes mean the discharge of 45 officers between now and Christmas.—Star. At the quarterly meeting of the cemmittee of S. Stephen's, Tamahere, heid in the vestry on Wednesday, 17th October, it was resolved that there should be a fete held on Easter Monday, similar to that of last year, to pay off the remainder of the Church debt. It was also resolved to organize a " bee' to paint the church at an early date. The committee also passed a resolution approving of the action being taken to enlarge the Church grounds, and have a portion consecrated for a cemetery. A correspondent writes to us from Rangiaohia, and says I notice in a local in yesterday's paper yon mention that the price of wheat in Auckland is coming down, and mention 3s 8d and 3s Cd being offered. I tried to sell a first class sample, part Winter and purt Spring, the week before last, and all I could get was 3s 3d. I would be glad to hear of any Waikato farmer who has received anything over above prices in spite of market quotations 4s and 4s 3d. The railway returns for the four weeks ending 15th September, and for the corresponding period in ISB7, give the following results on the Auckland sections : — Passengers, 20,530; last year, 23,(537. Parcels, 3,083; last year, 3,413. Live stock, 4,384 ; last year, 3,002. Goods, 11,312 tons ; last year. 11,070 tons. Revenue, £7,577 ; last year, £7,834. The total revenue for the colony for the year up to that date was £438,278; last year, £453,85_8 ; and tho expenditure £300,050 and £327,055, respectively. The Melbourne Argus in an article on Mr Westgarth's colonial consolidation scheme says Can it be expected that New South Wales will join with Victoria in a guarantee for a loan that may be floated, when she is irritated and harrassed by border duties, or whether these twooolonies will shield New Zealand if the Government of that country should hit upon the brilliant idea of borrowing money freely and spending it lavishly, in order to retain power We must, therefore, assume that the colonies who credit stands highest will hesitate to give a guarantee for the others. The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian is informed that a deputation is being organisod to visit Aus ? tralia, New Zealand, and India, with the object of interesting Highlanders abroad in

tho crofter question. The deputation will include one or two crofters, and probably Dr. Macdonald, M. I'. for Ross and Cromartv, the treasurer of the Crofter Aid Fund. It was intended to visit America also, but owing to the Presidential election that part of the projected tour has been abandoned for the present. The same or a similar deputation will probuWy visit tho United States next year. We are requested by Mr Isaac Coates to state, for the benefit of men who are thinking of leaving for P.ilmerston where Messrs Coates and Metcalfe have a large contract in baud, that operations cannot be commenced on tho works before December. The Palnier'ston B'O'ongh Council have not. yet secured the land from private owners through which the water conduit has to be taken, and they have only now notified that tiie land will be taken under tho Public Works Act. Locally there is already a large amount of unemployed labour making applications for work, far more than will be required by the contractors. A fortunate escape from what might have been a serious fire took place in Hamilton yesterday. The roof of tho shop in Victoria-street, occupied by Mr Pnat, was seen to have become ignited from sparks which had fallen from the chimney of Mr McCiillougti's dwelling next door. Young Walter Gaudin, the driver of ono of the 'buses, passing at the time, observed the flames and gave the alarm, when several persons came to the scene, and with a few buckets of water soon extinguished the lire. A strong wind was blowing at the time, and bad the fire once obtained a hold the whole of that block of buildings from tho corner of Victoria and C'llingwood-streets

to Mr Tucker's .-t ire would have been destroyed. Under the title lAn Australian J Lesson,' Mr Edward Pnlsford contributes an article to the current number of tho | Nineteenth Century, in which ho closely | examines and compares the progress rela- ( tively made by New South Wales ar.d Vic- ( toria, with tho view of arriving at ail opinion , as to the merits of the rival fiscal policies of j the two cnniiti ies. His verdict is altogether j in favour of the freetrade colony. He holds | that " tho protective colony is behind in growth of population : behind in wealth ; j behind in revenue, behind in imports and | exports; behind in shipping; behind in ( number of manufactories, etc.'' In fact, , behind in almost everything, while "nearly ' the whole body of Victorian manufacturers are dissatisfied with their personal position, and are eagerly looking for an increase in the amount of the protect! ve duties." Colonel Hume, in his last report | shows a decrease per head in cost of maintaining prisoners from U3B Ds lid (in 1881! 7) to £2S 3s 5d (for 1887-8). In England, where the number of comse is much larger, the cost last year was C 22 7s Id. The substantial decrease in cost, the Inspector remarks, " cannot be looked upon but as satisfactory, so far as it goes but, he adds it must be "apparent to anyone studying the subject that keeping open small prisons at such places asTimaru, Nelson, and Lawrence is disastrous alike to the taxpayer and the criminal." The smaller the prison the greater, of course, the cost per head. At Nelson, for instance, this amounted in 188 li to £110 Us Bd, with as low a daily average as four prisoners ; whii.-t at Mount Cook, with a daily average of (>3, all of whom are what may be termed remunerative, the net cost per head was only £22 -is !)d. The Evening Post says An impudent imposture his lately bpen practised upon several residents at Newtmvn. The modus operandi lias been described to us by one of tho victim-! as follows:—A lad goes to one of two neighbouring houses on the pretence of selling a bundle of wooden moat-skewers, and whether he succeeds ill making a bargain or not ht ascertains the name of tho occupant of the house and that of the neighbour. Next he visits Mrs 15 and delivers what purports to bo a request from Mrs A for the loan of a shilling. The unsuspecting Mrs B, willingto oblige her neighbour, hands over the coin, which, of course, the cute yjuth appropii;ites. One householder the other day, af'er lending the money, watched the lad and saw him hand it over to a man who stood at a little distanco evidently waiting for it. On two friends comparing notes about the fraud tli«y found that both had been induced to lend small sums on the strength of each other's names. Mr Grainger Hargreayes, who spent some months in Australia and Now Zealand studying the Chinese problem during tho most acute stage of the recent agitation, has been reluctantly converted to Mr John Blight's belief that Imperial Federation is a dream. He admits that persons born in the United Kingdom still cherish a warm attachment for their homeland, even after years of residence in the colonies, but his observation has convinced him that "the young Australian regards Australia as his fatherland, and for him England exists as any other country exists which he has not visited." Mr Hargraves explains the reasons which have forced him to this conclusion in a letter to the. Spectator. In it he states that " the problem of the future will be how the federate Republic in Australia may best be established so as to preserve a kind and generous feeling betwesn England and the Continent in the Southern Pacific." Mr Hargraves imagines that ho discovered in the course of his travels, " striking indications of a growing jealousy and estrangement between Australia and New Zealand." The Bay of Plenty Times of Mon- ■ day lust thus refers to the arrival of Mr Geo. Vesey Stewart: —•" On Saturday last Mr G. V. Stewart arrived in Tanranga, by the s.s. Clansman, where a number of his friends were awaiting his arrival. Mr Stewart, who appeared to be in excellent health and spirits, was received with much cordiality. Mr Stewart states that he has arrived in the colony as the accredited agent of an important London combination of capitalists, whose objects are the acquisition of land between Tauranga and Napier, the making of an East Coast railway between these points for directing tho trade of the East Coast via our magnificent harbour, and the settlement of railway , lands by immigration from the old country. The capital of this syndicate, which will be all paid up as soon as arrangements in i New Ze.dand are completed, is £1,000,000, ! and of this amount £5,000 is ready to be impounded with the New Zealand Government as soon as the necessary Act has been passed. Mr Vesey Stewart on his arrival in Wellington recently, had a satisfactory interview with the Premier on the subject. The project, we understand, is not connected with Mr Rees'u scheme for the crofter settlement of Cook County.

A wonderful exhibition was given in the Theatre Royal, Wellington, the other day by Donaldson Bros,, the contortionists who belong to the Clark's All Star Company, now performing there. The brothers performed a number of extraordinary movements, and some medical gentlemen present were invited to examine the athletes, and were specially interested to the peculiar power of one brother to throw either hip out of joint at will. The action is a most remarkable ono, for the head of the thigh bone can be seen to move out of the socket, to which it returns with a perceptible thud. The three doctors agreed that there could be no donbt that dislocation of the hip joint was complete, and that it was entirely under the will of the performer. Dr. Caliill expressed the opiniou that the feat was simply wonderful, and commented with admiration upon the remarkable physical development of the two men. Dr.s. Hansel I and Martin spoke to a similar effect, but Dr. Martin said he hoped no one i else would try to perform the same feat because the long practice bad made it safe for Donaldson. It was attended with a considerable amount of risk on the part of any other person who attempted it. In ordinary cases there was danger of rupturing the capsule of the joint, but in Donaldson's case, as far as he could make out, the capsule was elongated and loosened, enabling 1 the dislocation to take place without any danger. If medical students had the opportunity »-f studying such living subjects as the Donaldsons, there would be no need for the use of the dissecting table in examining muscular development. Their physique was, in his opinion, comparable to nothing that could be seen apart from Greek or Roman statuary. Thus the Waisganui Herald on the Natne Acts of last session We pointed out shortly after the session that the only hope of making the Native Acts a success would be in a vigorous administration of the Native Land Court. At the saine time wo expressed the fear that tho Native Office would relapse into its old ways, leaving weak incompetont judges to twaddle along fulfilling the old official prescription of ' how not to do it.' Our worst fears are bsing realised. Mr Mitchelson was always a greatly overrated man. though artful and cunning, and as be knows nothing of native matters, he adds ignorance to incapacity. I-Ijs iinder-secretary is a very clever gentleman, but his duty is to discover the natural inclinations uf his chief and avt accord-

ingly. All the landshark papers are crying out that legislation has pr ved abortive. Tliey cannot get the hind they wanted, and they are nil waiting outside, tile gato of tho temple. It is truly a lamentable farce. How rests the matter in this district? An energetic officer could take a million acres of land through tho Court in a few months i without the slightest difficulty, but it would not suit the purpose of some people to let t anyone else occupy a position where he ( could display ability; ami so nothing n dooe. We never thought the Acts would ' work. They were conceived in iniquity, and muddled in their passage through ( Parliament in an extraordinary manner, the Native Minister himself taking a •' back sent, while the Treasurer, without ; experience, exeicised his native wit in | evading difficulties. There has never been such a muddle in tho history of legislation. ! The only redeeming featuro of the whole . business is the pitiable lamentations of tho land-grabbers. On every side there are - muffled sounds of grumbling. The next f demand will be to sweep everything away —Native Office and hind Court— and leave the lands of the natives the I prey of tho vultures of the air.