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Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2609, 2 April 1889, Page 2

Oil springs are said tc exist in the Waiotapu Valley. A concert will be held in the M;t.ngapiko schoolhouse, on l'Yiduy, April 12th. Mr Bettley, of Hamilton, is erecting a butcher's -sliop next to Tub W.aika'l'ij Timks Uuilding. Mr Elliott has the work in hand. Mr J. Wright continues to make good hauls of mullet from the Waikato Kivt-.r, in tho shallow abovo the Hamilton tr;il!ij bridge. Mr J. Frear has established a timber yard <>» tho open ssiaco in V ictoriastreet. Hamilton, opposite tha Borough Council Chambers. The Manavvatu Railway Company 1,-tvo resolved to sup. tho Government for the payment of £30,000 in connection with some laud dispute. We understand that Colonel Knrbt.- intends to deliver a lecture in the J'u'olic Jla'l, Hamilton, on Master Monday night. The subject, will tie " Codwnpore." A young man named Lewis, son of Mi Lewis, tin; sheep inspector, broke his collar bone, which he received in an accident whilst riding from Tamahere yester day. The tenders about six miles of /dicing on Mr G rice's estate were opened on-Saturday. Mr W. Moon, of Waotu, has the contract for supplying the posts, and Mr Meredith, of Alexandra, is to do the carting. A man named Gosney was drowned in a creek at Morriusvillcj on Sunday whilst bathing with a cntupanion named II body was recovered and an iuquiwt was held yesterday by Mr Searanckc, at tho J*ii««;;iix Hotel. The " Tasmanian Mail," in an article on Victoria, asks what is the matter villi the plar.f. and points out that the exports of articles produced or manufactured in tho colony, which at one time were as high as f1.3,U«2,2iM, had fallen in JSS" to t>',oo2,!i'r'.'. According to the San Francisco Journal of Commerce, the value of the ex- ' ports thence to Australia and New Zealand increased from 1.2!)S,000 dol. in 1887 to i>,]i;o,oood.ll. in ISSS ; but tho imports from tiio colonies (exclusive of specie) showed ft trilliiu' decrease, from 1,453,000d01. to i, m.ooodoi. The Orient Company's steamer fberia is now fitted with air-shafts to increase the ventilation in the hold, and thus ensure fniit .shipped on board keeping in good condition. We trust that our local l'iners trading to London will be able to offer the same advantages to New Zealand fruit shippers. \ Dr. Kenny has convened a meeting for this afternoon at Tn ]•: W.\ikato Ti meh buildings, of the general committee selected In organise t.lie proposed Calico I'.ill at the hospital. The idea of inaugurating the completion of the new hospital in this manner has been on the tapis for some time, and the meeting is now called to finally arrange for the affair coming off. The British Government have prohibited the import of live sheep from Germany and Holland owing tn the foot and month disease. The annual import from I hose countries was 800,000. Subsequent]/, the Vrivy Council accepted tho assurance that Holland is free from the disease, and have decided to admit sheep from that country. There was a good deal of excitenieuL in Hamilton »n Saturday on receipt of tho news of the great disaster at Samoa. Whilst everyone, expressed sorrow for the losses sustained by the Germans and Americans "• feeling of pride was felt at the escape of the gallant Calliope, and the splendid seamanship displayed by Capt. Kiiuo and his cre'.v. At the Dunedin Exhibition ceremony, someone in the crowd asked Sir William Jervois to "speak up.*' .Sir William replied, "1 am sorry the gentleman cannot hear me ; but in the words of my friend. Lord Westbury, I should have thought his ears were long enough to hear mi at any distance." Laughter on the pirt of the audience, and silence on tho plit of Sir William's interrupter followed this retort. Mrs Greenwood is making a plucky effort to carry on the hairdresser's business in Hamilton, of her late husband. An experienced artist, from Messrs Mason's establishment in Auckland, has been engaged. av.d under his skilful hands, tho .-hop window has assumed quite a (Jjeeu•<ti\ot aspect in its tasteful arrangement. Mr Cornish, who came from the Thames, and opened an opposition business, has retired from tbo field, and as Mrs Greenwood poasessos tho full sympathy of tlift entire population, wc trußt soo will succe*(J ill earning a living for herself aud family.

The following tenders were accepted by the House Committee of the Waikato District Hospital, on Saturday : — Hospital supplies, J. Knox; drugs, It. F. Sandes and Co. ; meat, T. Qualtrongh ; milk, W. C. Castleton ; rations for destitute, J. T. Home ; funerals, 1). Elliott. In reviewing the recent advico3 regarding the wheat market, the '* Lyt'.elton Times " ventures to adviso those who are in a position to deal as they like with their crops, that in the very exceptional state of the Australian market it would be a wise plan to sell a third of the crop at once, a third four months hence, and the remainder later on. In this way a fair average of the prices ruling through the coming year would be obtained. What is the value of good farm land? The answer should be—Just what you can make out of it. We were told lately on the best authority that a farm of good aj-/n was offered for sale a short time since, inclusive of the growing crops, at £8 an acre without finding a buyer. The crop matured, was reaped and threshed, and the produce disposed of. Tho net result was a sum representing nearly one half of the price at which tho farm was offered. What is the value of that farm now ?—Tuapeka Time.'. Mr J. W. Ellis having secured the Rangiaohia bush, lias beßim t'peratimis there with the machinery lately used by Messrs Coulthard aud Graham at Te Ralui. As this firm is doing the sawing for Mr Ellis, it will be a sufficient guarantee of the excellent quality of the work. The plant is a very complete one, and the timber sawn by it at Te Rahn gave unqualified satisfaction, and as the same experienced hands will be employed at Rangiaohia, the public and builders will bo supplied with excellent timber. We direct attention to Mr Ellis' advertisement in another column. Some exceptionally high yields of grain are reported from the South this season. One of tho heaviest yields of oats is estimated to give over 100 bushels to tne acre, while good judges assert that the yield of wheat from a paddock near Woodend will bo considerably over 80 bushels to the acre. A crop of oats in the Woodend distiict has threshed out 79 bushels to the acre. At Kaiapoi Island a crop of barley is estimated to yield 70 bushels to tho acre, and a crop of wheat almost as much. At Rangiora a crop of barley has thrashed out 52 bushels to the acre, while a field of the same cereal at Vernsidc is estimated to give a return of.about (10 bushels per acre. A correspondent writing from Paterangi says that great disappointment was felt there when it became known on Friday morning that the Taupiri Cricket Club h id backed out of playing the return match with Paterangi. which had been arranged to come off at Hamilton on the following day. The secretary had not time to inform all the men of the fact, and several of them had got half '.vay to Hamilton befote he eou'.d let them know, as Pateranm is only a district place with no telegraph office, aud only a mail three times a, week. It seems that Taupiri could not get their strongest team together, owing to races at Huntly, and therefore broke their engagement, or, at, it is said, having an unbeaten record to date, are afraid the cup-winners will lower their colours. A Melbourne paper says:—The commercial outlook is becoming more gloomy every week. The stock and share market is a farce as regards business done, file amount of the transactions every week is not enough to pay interest on the total rium mem Vera have paid for their seats. It is only the fortunate original few who are making a living out of " legitimate business. Land sales, in the language of commercial editors, are restricted to trade requirements, which means that the only purchasers are those forced to buy, speculators and free investors holding aloof. With regard to commerce, Mr Iteid, the chairman of the Melbourne Chamber of Manufacturer*, wis quite right, that the greater number of wholesale men have over-bought, ani when the time comes which will be soon, when they must have cash, if tie banks do not behave liberally, disaster will be inevitable. Messrs T. H. Davidson, (foreman engineer) and G. W. Gongh (draughtsman), in the employ of the New Zealand Implement Company—Begg and Wilkinson's establishment—have (says the Dunedin Star) jointly produced a machine which it is claimed will cheapen tho preparation of flax. It is a patent for scraping the Hax. The Maoris used to scrape the fl.ix in the early days, but with them it was a laborious process, and not without a serious disadvantage, i:i that the fibre was frequently torn and aud otherwise impaired, and of lata yean tho sera". ;g process has been generally abandoned ill favour of beating or bruising. Messrs Davidson and Gough's invention is to supersede these bruisers. It will scrape both sides at once, and though working at a high rate "f speed, putting through from two aud a-half to three tons of green flax pot' day of eight hours, the patentees assert that the fibre is not damaged in tho least. Tlie new machine also does away with the necessity of bleaching tho fl-ix. The stuff can be at once passed into a drying chamber, and then scutched ready for the market. From what we saw we think that the anticipations of tho patentees are likely to be realised. There is certainly a great savinir, in that the flax is handled less fiecpiently than by the old-fashioned process, and doubtless the experts who were present will give the invention a fair tiial. The following are the conditions arranged by the Shooting Committee of the Hamilton Light Infantry for the competition for the gold medal presented to the corps by Mr J. Endean : — Tlie competition to commence at 11 a.m. sharp on Saturday, April (sth. An entrance, fee of 2s lid will be charged, which will includo payment for ammunition. Drawing for places will take place punctually at 11 o'clock, competitors arriving after drawing has taken place to fire in the order ii. which they arrive on range. One drawing only will take place, and competitors will tire in the same order throughout the match. Competitors arriving on range after the " cease lire ' has been sounded at any distance will be precluded from firing at that range. The ranges are: —200, 500 aud (500 yards ; seven shots at each, one sighting shot to be allowed at eacli distance. The match will be conducted under the New Zealand Rifle Association's rules. All entrance moneys must be paid by competitors before firing. As no ammunition will be on the range, each competitor must provide liioiself with saine before proceeding there. The medal has to be won twice, either successively or at intervals, before becoming the absolute property of any volunteer. Writing as an instance of what it calls " Shannonism," tho Wellington l'ress says Among other goods, the merchant imported an odd lot of " indiarubber hose-piping.' It was so invojcod to him, and as 'indiarubber hose-piping' is ' free' he of course paid no duty on it. Well, that- sounds all right, and so it would have been all right before 'Shannonism' came in ; but ' Shannonism' prevails, and on the 13th March the merchant received from the Customs a 'short payment of duty ' memorandum ; that is, a demand for payment of duty on the ' indiarubber hosepiping,' which the memorandum stated had been passed ' tree' instead of as ' textile goods made up.'—Claim H7 — x 14s=£7 14s Value for duty at 25%, £2. The merchant of course asked what this meant, and ' Shannonism ' answered—' Why, indiarubber piping has two layers of linen weft inside, and so it is "textilo goods marie up."' 'Shannonism' has, in fact, the impudence to allege that, because of this miserable linen lining the indiarubber hose is converted into a 'textile fabric made up,' and that, because of this linen lining, of a value of perhaps 100 th part of the rubber piping, a duty of 25 per cent, ir.ust be paid on the whole piping." The farmers in the harvest season sometimes encounter strange types of "working men" among the hordes of loafers who vacate tho .dams in tho towns tor a ramble through the cornfields. Their number just now (writes a Canterbury farmer) is legion, but their quality ! It would harrow up the soul of any man to Bee some, of those gentry shape. They greet the lucktess cockatoo with the invariably recurring inquiry, " any chance, of a job ? " If a chance is offered it has to ho discussed in all its bearings, thoroughly examined, and favourably reported on before it is accepted. One gentleman, says the aggrieved settler, took a job, I gave him his own price, and told him to get on with the work and get the stuff in. "No fear of tlm-t, boss," he declared. "You know I've got the stamina ; I've got-, the stamina ; if I take a job In hand it's bound to ?u through, for I've got tho stamina." He started that afternoon and stooked a few acres. In the morning the bird had flown. He literally " folded up his tent," like tho Arab, and stole away, taking with him a good supply of Nelson, Moate and Co.'a best blend, Beveral pounds of sugar, with the other more substantial accompaniments, in fact, a fsoo4 week'a " tucker."

A good story is told apropos of the high values to which Melbourne city properties attained during the late - 'boom," and which in no small degree has been contributed to by the use of elevators. The latter have rendered convenient for business purposes buildings of nine and ten storeys, where but a few years ago it was the rare exception to find a business house in Melbourne with more than three or four storeys. One immensely high building is in course of erection at present on the site previously occupied by a bank, at the corner of Swanson street and Flinders lane. The ele.'ator which is to be used in the edifice is of a kind requiring for the working of the piston a well as deep as the lift will run high. The other day a wellknown city clergyman was passing the scene of the operations, and observing the shaft that had been sunk in the centre of the foundations he said to a by-stander, " What in the world is that bole for ?" " Well, sir," was the reply, "do you knowthat they gave £1,000 a toot for this land, and now they're obliged to go up to heaven and dov/n ta hell to make it pay." Competition is the life of trade, j antl from our telegrams this morning this colony bids fair to have some considerable "life" introduced into it. The three lines of trading steamers to New Zealand are alarmed at the prospccts of tho competition shortly to be offered them by the Colonial Trading Company of Liverpool, who are preparing to enter largely into the New Zealand trade. The above lines of steamers will, our telegram states, secure additional steamers for trading to this colony, and it is probable the firms will combine to establish freezing stores at Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. If this is done it will mean doubling very soon our output of frozen mutton. Although, at the present time, we are shipping a considerable quantity of mutton to London, there is room in tho United Kingdom for more than treble the amount of trade being done, and should this new arrangement be satisfactory, and freezing stores be erected in such important centres as those above mentioned, the demand for our beef and mutton will be on a very large scale. It is within the range of possibilities that should these firms find that they are in any way not making a fair uro'tit out of carrying meat to England, they may try foroign markets, such as China, India, or Japan,—N.X. Tiraes. In reference to the ofier which has been made to the (Jovernuient tor the right to advertise on the back of postage stamps, a correspondent of a contemporary suggests that the Government should themselves use the face of the stamps as a means of advertising New Zealand His proposal is that in place of tho present (Queen's head and filagree fancy work, there should be printed 011 the face of the. stamp :■ legend to the following ell'ect" For full information about New Zealand intending emigrants are requested to tend sixpence in stamps to the Agent • General for Xew Zealand, Loudon, or to the Minister for Lands, Wellington, Xew Zealand." There would be ample room for this announcement on an ordinary postage stamp. He says, in support of this sug geslion, that it would cost the Government n 'thing, the advertisement would circulate over the whole world, to the immense advantage to the colony; and that, being such an original idea, it would be commented upon everywhere, and would attract attention to the c 'lony as a go-ahead place determined not to hide its light under a bushel. One objection to the proposal is that, the "defacing" of the stamp would in many oases render the printing illegible, and, besides, it U doubtful whether the Government would have the courage to depart. so from red-tap,} traditions and prejudices as to put the suggestion into practice.