Untitled

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2586, 7 February 1889, Page 2

Professor Baldwin, the daring parachutist, marie a successful descent from a balloon in Auckland on Monday, before an iimnciiic number of admiring spectators. The Taranaki Herald designates Mr (i. V. Shannon, "the soft goods detective," and adds that on Saturday laat he was in the locality in plain clothes. "The Rev. Mr Griffiths, of Cambridge, has gone for a short holiday, and during his absence Eider Speriding, of Auckland, will conduct the ;nrvices at the Baptist Tabernacle. Mr J. McNicol has now established his oltices at the Colonial Bank building, in < ';ii)ibridge Mr Bradley, formerly connected with Mr J. A. Buclcland, has joined Mi McNicol au RCcuimUnt.

Mr Gisborne's book on "New Zealand " is a financial success. Captain Jackson, R.M., had a clear shoot at the Resident Magistrate's Com t, Hamilton, yesterday. At Ngarnawahia, on Tuesday, the case against Oayle was proceeded with, but not conclude 1. In another column will be found a ti legram from our Auckland correspondei.t, giving further particulars regarding the arrest of Mr J. M. Gelling by the tierman authorities at Samoa, brought by the mail steamer. Tobacconists in Wellington assert thi.t a large quantity of tobacco, &c, is sn tigged and sold in that eity, and they h:.ve decided to petition the Government to require that a license shall be taken out f r the sale of tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes. Notwithstanding the large number of reapers and binders introduced into this district by .Messrs Morrin and Co. this season, we hear that all are fully occupied, and indeed, in some eases disappointments have been sustained, owing to the sudden and general demand since the rain last week. A match was played on the Hamilton Lawn Tennis Court yesterday afternoon betweou Messrs Brookfield and Kdgecumbe, senior members, and Messrs H. Hume and Gwynne, juniors. The result was as follows :— Ist set: Seniors, ti; juniors, 1. 2nd set: Seniors, 0; juniors, 4. The last sot was a love one, making games IS to O. Mr W. F. Martin, produce factor, of Sydney, writes under date 3lst January to a gentleman in business in Hamilton to the effect that potatoes are now realising from £15 to A!Hi per ton, and that he is receiving supplies from Auckland firms. He is open to do business with New Zealand producers. People in England are prettywell informed on colonial subjects. At a meeting held by Mr W. L. Rees one speaker handled him severely, and asked why he came to the Old Country tor people to place on the waste lands of the colony when our own large cities were swarming with unemployed. Several others condemned his scheme Mr Fish, M-H.R , is very wrath at the Denni.ston appointment, and in a letter to the Otago Daily Times says :—" In my opinion the appointment of Air J. E. Ueuuistou as one of the Judges of the Supremo Court is a wrong done to tho bar, bench, and country. What. I have further to say upon this subject I shall say upon the floor of the House, where I have no doubt the appointment will be pretty freely canvassed." Mr Walter Mitchell, a resident in Hamilton a few years ago and known to most people by his connection first with Mr J. S. Buckland and -if late with Mr J. MeNicol, is about leaving the district, having received a good and permanent appointment with Messrs A. Buckland and Sons of Auckland. Everyone who has come in contact with Mr Mitchell, whether in business or socially, will wish him good fortune in his change. During the last six or seven mouths the natives in the King Country have been paid for destroying nearly 50,000 rabbits. The Inspectors have had theneyes opened on one or two occassions, when the innocent children of nature had introduced rat sUins for bunny's ; and, as a further advancement in the " tricks that are vain," had tried to palm off the skins from the heads of old rabbits for those of the whole skins of young ones. The Taranaki graziers have commenced the shipment of fat cattle to Sydney, and are to be commended for their prompt action in taking practical steps to prove the value of that market. The s.s. Taupo took the h'r.it shipment, consisting of 120 head, from New Plymouth last Saturday. The animals, a tine lot, were railed down to the vessel's side and slung down the hold, where there \v,is plenty of fodder for them. Messrs Godsal and Milne are in charge of the shipment. At a meeting of the Hamilton Library Committee held at the Borough Council chambers on Tuesday evening, the resignation of Mr Panned as secretary was accepted, and Mr J. M. (jelling was appointed to succeed him. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Pannell for his past services. The librarian had notified to one of the committee that .more stringent rules for the conduct of the library were required, and a sub-committee was appointed to re visa the present rules and submit the same to a future meetinp. At the meeting of the vestry ot S. Peter's, Hamilton, on Tuesday evening, it was decided to relieve the organist at once, but to retain Mr Connell as conductor of the choir, at a salary of £15 a year, The services of the verger were also curtailed of lighting and ringing the bell for church services. Twelve families have agreed to do the cleaning month by month for the year. Mr T. G. Sandes has also obtained tho names of a good many parishioners who have agreed to subscribe towards obtainine an immediate sum of money to pay off arrears of salaries. A match will be firei on Saturday next, at half-past 12 o'clock, between the team which represented the Hamilton Light Infantry in their recent match at Te Awamutu and a team of right other members of the corps. The conditions arranged are Wimbledon targets, ranges 200, 300 and -100 yards, any position. The following are the names of the challenging team :— Lieut, Kdgecumbe, Bugler McKeuzie, Bandsman Alu'.iro, Privates Hammond, Kent, W. O'Neill, Dent and Barker. Emergency : Private Parr. Says the Napier Herald:—We have received a copy of Mr Rees' journal now published in England, "Capital and Colonisation." Accompanying the journal is a form of order, requiring us to state how many copies we want. We don't want any. The journal contains a portrait of Mr Rees, with his eye-twinkle woll shown, and appearing to say, "Now you see me, now yon don't;" but we do not want any more copies. One portrait of Mr Uees is enough, and if it were not, why should we get more, seeing that the original will bo beaming upon us again shortly? We cannot help remarking that Mr Rees, with the twinkle, is a good manager, and trots out Wi Pere at meetings in London with excellent effect.

A very neat little swindle (says the ,; Lyttelton Times ") is reported to have been perpetrated here recently. It is stated that a person, represented as coming from Dunedin, purchased a section in a certain embryo township in the vicinity of New Brighton, and proceeded to erect a house thereon. He paid cash for the land, and raised a loan from a building society, ostensibly to cover the cost of erecting the cottage—between t'loo and £500. He paid the contractor £100, intimating that the balance would be paid on the completion of the work. The house is now, it is said, finished, and the contractor has received, not his money, but a letter from his employer stiting, that by the time the epistle was in his hand th 3 writer would be far away from New Zealand. The latter has, it is stated, netted about fooO by the transaction.

" Puff " in the Wellington Press writes :—The Melbourne Argus gives New Zealand a pat on the back ! You mean it butter* it up ? Yes, it congratulates it on the return nf prosperity, and give reasons for believing that greater progress will be manifested in the next few years ! That's very kind ! 1 wonder what the reasons are ! Well, the price of New Zealand exports is a pretty substantial v«as >n ! It's something splendid ! Vex, I .see New Zealand butter is fetching 84s to ILlis, per cwt, in London, and flax, from i' 33 to £-10 ! By Jove some of these fellows who've been going largely into flax, ought to make a pile ! So they will at that price, but will it last? [don't know what has caused flax to go up so wonderfully ! Nothing but the failure of the Manilla crop, as far as can be ascertained ! J3ut it is possible that the New Zealand flax is permanently coming info general use as a substitute for Manilla! Then whathascansed the rise in butter? The failure of the tallow ciop ! The fact is, New Zealand butter is as cheap as nasty foreign grease this year ! But the trade in cold dairy stulf from the antipodes is a, new thing, and it is destined to bu a very big thing quite independently of temporary causes ! Talking about cold stuff, a company is being formed at Melbourne, with a capital of £20,000, to import frozen lish from Now Zealand into Victoria ! What did I. tell you? You said, before this summer was out, wo should see New Zealand supplying fro/en food to Australia ! 1 did ! Well, they're beginning with fish, and meat and butter will follow ! They're getting an awful dose of typhoid over there ! Three old residents of Ounedin are dead and more are dying ! Then they shouldn't go there ! It's imposiiible to drink whiskey in such a hot climate, but without whisky the Dunedin constitution will not boar up against disease !

A charge of insniting language against Mr von Sturmer at the swimming races at Hamilton ou the 2!) th ult. was withdrawn by Mr Cowper, the matter having been amicably settled out of court.

The Marlborough Press is responsible for the following :—ln a previous issue we pointed out that more gold has been got at Mahakipawa than a casual observer would imagine, an assertion that has again been strikingly exemplified. It appears that a gentleman while on a trip to Wellington for Ins Christmas holidays met a man carrying a dirty tin billy inside an old Maori kit, and having struck up an acquaintance was asked if he would give sixpence for the kit and its contents. Our friend declined to accept the offer, but on being shown what was in the dirty receptacle referred to, ho has been sorry ever since he let such a golden chance escape him. The billy contained £800 worth of gold. We can vouch for this story, as our informant handled the precious metal.

The control of the railways have now passed into the hands of the Commissioners. Referring to the subject the Post states:—•" No material changes in the system of management will be made until Mr M'Kerrow, the Chief Commissioner, returns from a tour of inspection of the railways of botli islands, upon which he will start next week. The first important act under the new regime has been the issue of a circular to the officers of the department throughout tho colony, giving them tho option of continuing in the service of the Board or retiring with the usual compensation allowance of a month's salary for every year spent in the Government employment. The idea is that tho servants of the Board are not tJ rank a* civil servants, and be entitled to compensation on retirement. Those who elect to remain, however, will not extinguish the rights they have already acquired, but will simply hold over their compensation claimsuntil they may happen to quit the service. All the Board's employe's above the rank of day labourers will be required to insure their lives."

Referring to the recent libel action, the Lyttelton Times says :—" But however sorry we may be to see the proprietors of a usually respectable paper suffer through the credulity of those in their service, there can be no manner of doubt that the Press of Auckland generally is indirectly responsible for tho miserable pettifogging, prying, personal spirit which seoms to have taken possession of Auckland era and those who represent them. It is impossible to read the comments of Auckland writers on tho colony's business without noticing tho narrow vision and carping tone which are tho outward visiblo signs of their spirit. They appear to imagine that politics are conducted in the manner in which small parcels of groceries are bought and sold over a counter in a back slum ; that politicians are not only to be discussed as though they were a lace of small hucksters, but as though they were hucksters anxious to adulterate and cheat at, every turn. If public men are to be regarded as given to perpetually committing the meanest of petty tricks and knaveries, if they are constantly talked and written about as though this were the case, it will most csrtainly end in the management of public affairs falling, partly at any rate, into the hands of men who thoroughly deserve this style of criticism."

The New Zealand Times, referring to the large amount of money expended by proprietors of newspapers for telegraph;-..-accounts of races and other spot-tin;* information, says:—"Of course there is always a percentage of newspaper readers who are interested in sporting news of all kinds, but wo think, not to put too fine a point upon the matter, that sporting news is "padded"oat far beyond its real value. Cricketers are anxious to know the scoring of rival teams in other parts of I he colon v. but the score." are, we think, quite sulticient to be wired without the long-winded and. often garbled account of what each individual—Tom, Dick and Harry—did or did not do in the matter of fancy hits and eccentric runs. The racing fraternity certainly require the exact results of the important race meetings, but the long rigmarole of the separate doings of each horse as they pass and repass each other in a race of two miles or so may be left to those papers who make a speciality of racing matters." The Times goes on to say that the racing clubs practice the most rigid economy in advertising, knowing that the newspapers are foolish enough to publish the nominations and handicaps free of charge. While we are only too glad to publish anything that will interest outreaders, we may point out that it is the rule with all papers to charge as advertisements such matters as handicaps for athletic sports, regatta meetings, art unions, and such like, and it is hardly fair to publish free of cost to tho racing clubs similar information.

It is very seldom indeed that any persons, who have been fined at a temple of justice for a broach of the law, which constitutes an offence against Her Majesty the Queen, her crown and dignity, ask the Court to 'take it out' in oats, but such a case occurred at the sitting of the local Court recently. Two natives, who were each fined live notes and costs for having commenced the now year badly by having a pugilistic encounter, whereby a serious breach of the ipeace might have been occasioned, looked aghast when told by the interpreter the amount they had to pay for their indiscretion, and said they had no ' hoot.' The moaning they sought to convey by this expression was that they did not happen to have a sufficient amount of superfluous cash on them at the time to meet the fine in which they had been mulcted by the august R.M. One of them scratched his cranium, thought for a moment, and then coolly asked the Court if it would take so many bags of oats in payment or, in other words to "take it out in oats." This proposition caused a smile to pass over tho countenances of all and sundry, and the R.M. said that ho could take nothing but cash. Tho idea of the Government receiving oats in payment of tines inflicted in a court of justice, and starting a State produce depOt probably amused him. Tho natives asked that they be allowed time to pay, saying that their oats would soon be ready for sale, and then they would be able to meet the fine. Inspector Kiely said that lie had made enquiries from the chief of the tribe with regard to tho defendants, and he stated that they had oats which would be ready for market shortly. The R.M. agreed to allow them fourteen days grace, with tho stipulation that the costs should bo paid in the meantime.—■ Napier News.