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Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2627, 14 May 1889, Page 2

The Hamilton Light Infantryparade tliis evening at S o'clock. The Salvation Army had a big house at Cambi idge last evening. Sir Chas. Russell's fee for defending the Parnellites is ten thousand guineas. A meat Freezing Company has been formed at Longburn, Manawatu, and works are to be erected there without delay, Parliament will be opened by the Governor in person. Lord Onsiow is very well satisfied with his residence in Wellington, and seems to have formed a very good opinion of the capital. A meeting of the committee of the ■South Auckland Kacing Club is called for Thursday evening next, at the Commercial Hotel, Hamilton, at which important busi ness will be brought forward. Mr Hewitt did not take over the Criterion Hotel yesterday, as had been arranged, some misunderstanding having arisen between him and Mr Bach which, we hear, is likely to result in legal proceedings. The City of Paris, of the Inman line, has beaten the record for the Atlantic passage, doing the distance from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in one hour under six days, a performance quite unequalled hitherto. Lieut.-Colonel Shepherd was in Hamilton on Saturday, enquiring into the position of the Volunteer Hall trustees, and also obtaining evidonce in connection with the misconduct of volunteers during the Kaster encampment. On Saturday last Detective Herbert arrested William Costello (Onehunga Xiivuls), Thos. Butler and William Thornton (Waitemata Navals), for feloniously stealing an accordeon, valued at 3.">s, and a jar of brandy, valued at £i, from the Mercer Hotel. Trouble is brewing among the colliers at Newcastle. The men working in the South Warn tan mine have passed a resolution demanding an increase of sixpence per ton in hewing rates, and as the proprietors do not feel inclined to agreo to the request, a strike is feared. The following tenders were received for the drain at the back of Mr Harper's property, Hamilton West : — Mullions, £'.) 10s ; Kelly and Proctor, £0 ; Smith and Wails £7 10s; McKenzie and Crawford. £7 5<:W. Cannoll, «i 10s; J. Steadman (accepted), £(> (is.

The Presbyterian concert at Cambiidfje to-ioiinn-.v evening promises to be u very good one. Mrs Kilgour, of the Thames, will smg "Sins;, Sweet Bird," and "Dear Heart, Stay With Me." Another Thames lady will also assist, and a host of the best local talent will give their services. The programme was unfortunately too late to appear in this issue. The handicaps for the various events at the Claudelands Gymkana will be published on Tuesday, *2lst inst., and not on Saturday next, as previously advertised. We would also draw attention to the alteration made in the Pony Race, it having been decided to make it a Maiden Pony Raco with catch weights, instead of a handicap race. The opening of the Acme Rink last night, for the siasou, was very successful, the floor being in splendid order, having been planed since last season. The arrangements under the manager, MrPannell, were very satisfactory, and all those present, a goodly number, prophesied a good season. It is intended to hold a fancy carnival in connection with the rink on the evening of the 24th. Mr Gisborne, a Canadian electrician, has published a proposal to lay a cable along the coast of the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Roughly speaking the route would be from Columbia to Atu, one of the Aleutian Islands ; thence to Japan and Luzon, cue of the Philippines, whence it would stretch across to New Guinea, and connect with Australia at Port Darwin. The length is estimated at OliOO miles, and the cost at seven million dollars. The proposition has been favourably received. The Salvation Army held special meetings in the Hamilton West Hall on Saturday night and on Sunday, the occasion being the first anniversary of the Hamilton branch of the Army. The hall, (which was kindly lent for the occasion) was decorated with ferns and evergreens, and presented a very pretty appearance. The meetings were led by Major Rolfe. and other visitors from Auckland, including Mrs Rolfe, Captain Sutton, Rangi (the musical Maori), and Cadet What ford, who delivered special addresses for the occasion. The meetings wore well attended all through, the hall being crowded to the doors on Sunday evening, To-night the anniversary tea takes place in the Oddfellow's Hall, Hamilton East, and promises to be a succesn, '

" Atticus," in the Leader, writes : I have not seen Profos-or Uoini's menagerie of performing djas, bit I remember many years ago seeing their ancestors in the mother country. It may be news to some of my readers to hear that tho Queen commanded these interesting insects to bo brought to Windsor Castle to let her and the Royal children see them at work. At the close of the performance one of the team was missing, and the professor, with tears in his eyes, said he was certain it had jumped on the Royal person. " Might ho ask—dare he hope—that her Majesty would condescend to retire and secure it, and so save a poor man from ruin?" With the good nature for which the august lady is celebrated, she left tho room, and after a few minutes' absence returned, holding the wanderer between her forefinger and thumb. She handed this to the professor with a smile, and he was profuse in his thanks. But when ha took it from her his countenance fell, and with a voice of anguish he cried, "Oh, your Majesty, this isn't my flea!" A resident in Wellington, says a local paper, recently got five notes in exchango for a£s cheque. He paid one of the notes away in due course to liquidate a £1 liability. The person who received it went to a tradesman in this city to convert it into silver, and got 20s for it. Everybody was satisfied until the first tradesman who had changed tho cheque realised that he had given a £5 note among that change, and the last tradesman, in counting his cash for the day, found that he had £4 too much, which he could not account for. Not one of the parties had noticed that £5 cavorting around under the guise of a " single" though it had passed through five pairs of hands. It is sufficient to say that the £4 surplus was restored to its rightful owner, who has been holding quite a levee to-day of friends and others anxious to congratulate the man wdio did possess a " fiver." But it might have gone round the city as a " single " for all that anyone would have examined it close enough to find out the difference. "Fivers" have, in fact, become so rare in Wellington as to warrant their being added to museums, collections, etc., as curios.

The travelling reporter of the Melbourne Leader ("The Warrigal") thus sums up his •pinions regarding the Waikato district: —" After spending a considerable time in the Waikato district I have come to the conclusion that the most happy and prosperous of its inhabitants are men who own farms of from 100 lo 400 acres, They don't make fortunes, but they have all the neccessaries of life and many of its luxuries, they enjoy privileges envied by most of the world, and have advantages, in climate and surroundings, that dwellers in few other countries p issess. What a grand race of people might spring upon the banks of the Waipa and the, Waikato, what gardens and orchards might flourish there, if only the right class of people could and would buy some of those thousands of acres lying idle on tho banks of each river, buy small farms and make homes of their own. With 50 acres of land and £S0 to start with, the man is a useless animal if he cannot make a home for life on the terraces of the Waipa. When the Coromandel peninsula is covered with miners, from Cape Colville to Mount Aroha, as some day it will be, there will be a splendid market for all kinds of produce raised in the, Waikat.i district. liven the miners there should be purchasing Waikato produce, but everything goes to Auckland an-1 will do so for years to come. Most of the wheat crops T saw growing in the Waikato would yield over 30 bushels per aero, and the wheat grown is of excellent quality. Oats and barley show well too, there being scarcely any difference in tho yield of either grain or straw from the yield of these things in the general districts of Canterbury. I saw much of the country about Hamilton and Cambridge, finding friends who drove me about amongst the rich and beautiful farm lands, which are a great contrast to the dreary uncultivated country one sees on the railway journey between Ngaruawahia and Cambridge."