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Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2636, 4 June 1889, Page 2

The hanks in Waikato will be closed on Monday next (Whit Monday).

The Customs' revenue for the month of May was ££110,032 2s 10J, or £17,000 below the estimate.

The report of the Government Life Insurance Department shows a successful years' operations.

This being the first Tuesday in the month, the Hamilton Public Library Committee will hold their ordinary meeting at 8 p.m. The Licensing Committee of the Borough of Hamilton will hold their annual meeting at tho Court-house tomoi row at noon.

The London County Council has decided by a majority of sixty to nine m favour of opening Museums and Art Galleries to the public on Sundays.

Mr E. T. Davey, b ring the only candidate nominated yesterday for the vacant seat in the Himilton Borough Council, has been declared duly elected.

The exports from Hawkes Bay this year will exceed a million sterling, showing an increase of over 30 per cent, on last year's returns. Tho chief increases are in wool, frozen meat, and timber.

We remind our readers of the address to bo Riven by tho Rev. Mr Rooney, in tho Wesleyan Church, 1 lainiiton, on mission work in the Pacific. Mr Rooney is accompanied by a native associate, and he is able to keep his audience deeply interested on his subject.

The fruit used at the harvest thanksgiving service at S. Saviours Church. Alexandra, was sold by the local vestry, and the proceeds, £1 ss, have been fm warded to the Waikato Hospital as a donation. The members of the Church referred to arc to bo commended for their thoughtful action,

The following letter has been received by the Secretary of the Waikato District Hospital Hoard:—" Hamilton, 30th May, 188!!.—Mr Turner. Dear Sir,—Please accept and place to credit of your Board account, ten pounds sterling (610), from <1110 who has received benefit from public hospital.—l am yr.nrs, &e., 'A Sympathiser for the Afflicted."'

According to a Wellington correspondent the railway revenue for the first four weeks of the current financial year shows a great improvement, there being a net profit of £44,n00. If the avorage can be maintained throughout the year it will represent a return of 4.V per cent on the capital cost of the lines. We have been requested to draw particular attention to the sale advertised by Mr W. J. Hunter at Cambridge, on Saturday next, on which occasion, instructed' by the Official Assignee, in bankruptcy, he will offer the milling machinery, a quantity of flour, meal, sacks, horses, cows, harness, etc., in thi bankrupt estate of It. Chambers.

It is reported in Chicago that Alexander Sullivan, a member of the Claii-na-Guel s»ciety, persuaied Patrick Egan, treasurer of the L uid League, to grant u hundred thous ind dollars to prevent secession from the Clan-na-Gael society ; that Sullivan lodged eighteon thousand doljars only of this money in the Clan-na-Gael treasury, and transferred the balance to his own use.

A letter which appeared in ■Saturday's issuo on the Raglan County Council, to which was appended the signature. of Frank B. Sewell, "County Engineer." In the original Mr Sewell affixed the initials C. K. to his name, which the intelligent compositor undertook to convert into County Engineer, an error we wish to correct to save false impressions.

The musical public must not forget the Choral Society's performance which tnkes place in the Public Hall, Hamilton, to-iuorrow night. The programme, a very attractive one, is to be found in another column, and as Mr Connell lias, with his usual skill and care, got his company in good training, an excellent entertainment may be confidently expected.

The eldest son of the Hon. W. JM. Larnach, C.M.G., is to be marriedon the 2!) th of June to a daughter of the Karl of Cork and Orrery. It is only fair that whilst the sons of the British nobility are taking to themselves wives from their American cousins, that the daughters should become mated to young colonials of Australasia. That will about equalise matters, and still keep everything in the family.

A Melbourne correspondent writes :—The labour market uf Victoria is in a better condition than is usual at this period of the year. Unskilled labour may experience a scarcity of employment, but the artisans are in full work. The Ballarat strike is approaching a settlement, the masters acknowledging the local Union_ and acceding to the wages scale, but retaining the right to employ non-Union hands. The printers' strike at Brisbane is practically at an end ; and with the improved prospects, consequent upon the recent rainfall, which has been general over extensive tracts of country, together with tho higher prices realised for Australian wool in the London market and the improved financial condition, a fairly good winter may be expected. The Raglan County Council are making all the efforts they can to influence tho Government to make the traffic road from Ngaruawahia to the upper harbour, at Whaingaroa. There is a bridle track at present on the line, and is a continuation of the road constructed as far as the special village settlements at Firewood Creek. The proposed work is not only desirable, but would also be a productive one, as it would open up a very extensive area of excellent country, which is only kept closed for the want of means of communication to render it accessible. The Government have done many worse things than this road, which, if constructed, would induce numbers of people to apply tor land in the district opened up, and, thereby, benefit the country generally.

Flax owners in mill districts are getting handsome royalties just now. Rumour says the Oroua Estate receives £2800 a year royalty on a weed that they have spent much money in trying to eradicate. Another big West Coast estate is getting over £1000 a year in royalties. The favourite form of flax royalty is a rent of £14 per stripper per month for a day of 10 hours, whether the mill be working or idle. Some landlords charge a royalty of 7s Gd to 10s per ton of groen flax, and even higher prices arc mentioned. One of the Manawatu Road Boards has a novel source of income— quite new in the history of local bodies. It receives a royalty of i'2ooayear in aid of rates from a mill-owner for the right of cutting flax growing along the road sides. The flax there is very good, healthy and vigorous, and of course its cartage is cheap, as it is growing along the metalled roads. The following shocking instance from the evils resulting from sending children to Sunday-school is taken from the current number of_ ZeitgeistA prison chaplain says that in the gaol chapel every morning there were at least GO Sunday-school teachers; that, out of 64!) prisoners, 093 had been Sunday-school scholars, on an average for six or seven years each, and that out of 724 prisoners, 81 had been Sunday-school teachers. In the Leeds gaol, out of 2,000 prisoners, 1,400 had been Sunday scholars. From some other gaols the reports still show a much larger percentage. Most of the prisoners trace their fall back to the drink. It is supposed that 45,000 Sundayschool scholars become drunkards every year." From the above it would appear that Sunday-schools are the principal manufactories of our drunkards, and nurseries for our gaols, the pioportion of 5!)3 Sunday scholars out of 049 being startling indeed. Joking apart, the paragraph does not seem happily worded to convey the idea tlut is really intended.

It is said that Queen Victoria saves more than £1,100,000 per annum from the civil list alone :—The above extraordinary and amazing statement appears in the Auckland Star, and must have escaped editorial supervision. We have from time to time seen many mythical assertions made regarding the Queen's wealth and " savings," which have varied from two millions to fifteen millions, according to the wild fancv of those who delight in slanders against Her Majesty. This statement of our contemporary, however, caps everything. It was only the other day that Sir Henry Ptmsonby, the Queen's private secretary, in reply to a letter asking if it was true that Her Majesty had invested a million in City propei ty, assured the enquirer the < Jneen did not possess a million to invest. The total amount of the Civil List is now £410,000 per annum, of which the Queen receives fGO.OOO for her privy purse. This, together with the net revenue from the Duchy of Lancaster, brings her official income to about £110,000 pel annum, exclusive, of course, of income from privato source-, which can scarcely be cunsiderod out of the common.

A Cambridge correspondent writes: —Exaggerated reports have lately found their way to the Herald and some of the local papers about the antics played by some Maoris on the Queen's birthday ; the latest being that one of the natives concerned was in a dying condition at Matingatantari. It so happens that the man lives at Maungakawa, and when last heard from was all right. "Zeitgeist" caps all the statements by a series of gross exaggerations—" Dozens Maoris intoxtcated ; younff women with babies scarce, able to keep tho saddle," etc., etc. As a matter of fact only one or two men were drunk, and one, who complained he had beiMi robbed, not of £15 as stated, but of some land in a recent judgment of the Native Land Court, was certainly very noisy anil aggressive towards some members of the tribe to whom the land had been awarded, and in consequence was forcibly ejected from a buggy he wanted to take possession of, getting his clothes torn and a blow or two in the .scnffl). The women wero by no means drunk, indeed those who have been accustomed for years to see natives about the town know that it is unusual for the native women to get drunk, their favourite refreshment being some kind of a big drink that looks pretty, such as lemonade and raspberry, and they seldom take anything stronger than a " Scotch champagne, or brandy with plenty of lemonade. On tho Queen's birthday the natives had tho street nearly to themselves, and were more noisy than' usual in consequence, so that a stranger might mistake tho loud conversaturn of the women and the loose way ill which they sit their horses, for the elfects of liquor.

The following is a further extract from the article in Modern Society, commcnting on the recent To Kooti upifode, and is a Rood illustration of the gross ignorance often displayed by English journals when dealing with New Zealand history "The lung-expected insurrection of the Maori chieftain Te Kooti lias at length begun, and we must expect to hear some very dreadful news from Auckland for the •next few days. Te lvooti served for years with tho greitest distinction and devotion tinder Her Majesty's fl ig, and Rave numberless proofs of most distinguished and most noble and humane principles. The co-operation of such a man was, of course, invaluable, and to take only the base and sordid business view of the matter, nothing should have been spared to have kept this glorious and high-spirited warrior, who is like one of the heroes of antiquity, friendly to the British interests ; but we have done just the contrary, we have broken faith with him and his people ; his splendid services have been left unrewarded, and he himself has been wantonly and villainously robbed of all his possesssions, and then goaded, insulted, and persecuted into open rebellion. Yet when a price was put upon his head some timo back by onr people not a traitor was found to give him up and receive the price of blood ! One of Te Kooti's proud boasts is that he never told a lie, or injured a woman or child. How many of outcolonial officials could_ say the same Abundant proofs exist in London of the abominably cruel way in which poor le Kooti has been treated, and an authentic record of his splendid past services to the Imperial Crown could be easily procured at once. We speak now with the greatest earnestness and sincerity, hoping that somo one of our numerous readers will examine into this matter thoroughly while thero is yet time."