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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2749, 25 February 1890, Page 2

The Rev. 0 H, Garland will Breach next Sunday evening in the Ohaupo Hall, at 7 o'cli:ck. Mr W. J. Hunter will hold another sheep fair »t Oiiaupo in March, entries for which are solicited. Th» r,rain arrangements and tares from Waik.-ito stations on Saturday next, '■u the nee isi'in of the Mercer Regatta, will be found in our adverti.-in<r coloums. The r.-f-ilw iy returns for the four weelc.s ending Fdbruary Ist show an increase in the receipt of ovm - £1200. This is not confined to any one line, but appears to be distributed over all. The Tamahere Road Board would do well to'have a couple of bridges on the Victoria K(>a,d repaired. There is a plank looso in one, and at tho.other there is a nasty drop that' plays havoc witli .buggy wheels. , Mr J. Jone3. auctioneer, Auckland, draws our attention to a somewhat smioas mistake made in his advertisement. He renders account sales of fruit weekly, aid not monthly as previously stated in the advertisement in question. James Smith, alias Murray, was Wrought up yesterday, at Cambridge, before A. Clements, Esq., J.P., charged with tains drunk. He pleaded guilty, and was ttriftd 5s or 48 hours' imprisonment. He ulected to take tha latter alternative. Tne annual racs meeting of the Te Aroha Jockry Club will be .held on Friday, March 21st. at Wood's farm, Te Aroha West. A liberal programme of seven events has been prepared, and full particulars nro advertised elsewhere. The names of the gentlemen elected as Licensing Catnmissioners for the districts of Rangiriri, Kirikiriroa, Tamahere and Kihikihi are advertised in this issue, together with the dates and places of holding the first and quarterly meetings. 1 The ladies and gents' committees nf the Hamilton Amateur Swimming Gala are requested to meet at The Waikato Times buildings at 4 o'clock p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) for the'purpose .of arranging an entertainment at which the prizes won by competitors may be presented. A public meeting was held at Oamaru oil Friday night to urge upon the Government the advisability of cutting runs into smaller areas than they are now heltl in, for el'iser settlement. 'Resolutions were passed in favour of this being done, and they were ordered to be forwarded to the Government. Mr James Russell, the well-knpwn carman of Mr Thus. Wells, of Cambridge, met with a nasty accident on Sunday morning. He was thrown from his horse near the English Church, and fell across a rail fence, severely injuring his back. Dr. Cushney is attending him, aud is afraid he will be confined to his bed for some days. An effort is being made to establish a boating club on the Waikato river at Hamilton, and the promoters are meeting with considerable success. It is to bo hoped that a club will be formed, as the exercise to be derived from boating is about the best that can be got. We understand a meeting of the supporters of the club will be held on Saturday evening. The programme of the Raglan race meeting will be found in another column. The stakes offered are not of a Brobdignagian character. The amount of piizo money is, however, quite a secondary consideration with the Raglan sportsmen they are not a so did-minderi class— and the fields are generally large, and if the equine cracks of the colony are not to We found amongst the competitors, the sport is none the lc.»s good. We trust our Raglan friends may have a successful meeting on this occasion, and at their nest be in a position to offer larger stakes. We are given to understand that Mr Maunder contemplates removing his flaX'inill plant from its present position at Kaniwbaniwha to RagUn. A good deal of standing Sax exists in Raglan, but there are nine or ten, if not more, flaxmills already existing In that ioflaljty. No doubt the chief reason for Mr MaufjtJer removing hi" plant is that hn will be able tos-iul his flax to the market moie c«n.* ye# ntiy by shipping it on to the 4*eame<* it R.iirKn, whereas at present he has to b.i-.e it all fie way ft? Hamilton, a distance yj jjtteeu oy aixtepp ijjil^S;

A whirlwind of unusual size passed along Victoria-street, Cambridge, on Sunday afternoon; passing from the direction of the Presbyterian Church across Queen-street and into the Government paddock. Tho whirling cloud of dust quite -filled'the street, and towered aloft to a great height, while the strong, breeze accompanying it made people clutch their head-gear apprehensively.

Last evening, at Ngaruawaliia, we saw a good sample of aoal, which was broken off a seam cropping up above the ground, on Mr J. Foster's property, Firewood Creek, and about eight miles from Ngaruawahia. The coal is stated by-ex-ports to be very similar to Newcastle coal, and it is intended to put it to a test to try its quality as smithing 6oal. A sample will be on view at this office in a few days.

In different parts of the district there is a great necessity for finger posts, and one place in particular that requires attention in this respect is at Turner's corner on the Matamata road, as strangers going to Matamata have great difficulty in choosing the right road, as one,-that which appears to be the most used, leads to the railway statiou and the wrong one for persons wishing to go to Mataiwita. We trust the Piako County Council will see to this as the absence of a guide at this place has put several strangers to inconvenience by thejr having to go some distance out of their way.

An ancient Maori agricultural implement was discovered at a depth of six feet from the surface last week by a , native named Te Rata te Ahu whilst' digging a drain near the Whanjrape Lake. It is made of black "maire," and is a little over two feet in length, the shape being somewhat similar to the native paddle, and it has evidently been worked considerably. Popata Paoa, to whom it was shown yesterday, said it was a" ko ko," used in the olden days.for the cultivation of the kumara and taro, and that it was probably 100 years old. The owner of this relic of the past, Mr T. G. Sandes, intends forwarding it to the Auckland Museum. An unusual sight in the shape of a miniature waterspout was witnessed on Sunday morning by some gentlemen who were out boating near the island just ahove Hamilton. A whirlwind rushed down the river bank, and striking tho water lifted it up in a column several feet high, [t continued its course across the river and then up the opposite bank, where the sand was swept up instead of the water. After traversing a short distance up the bank, it turned again towards tho river, and again lifted the water, but not with such force as previously, and its power was soon spent. Those who saw it say that the sight was very interesting, but nevertheless they did the quickest time on record down the river to,get out of its way. The "Evening Herald"' bitterly complains of the miserable attendance at the recent annual meeting of the Protection League in Dunedin, and condemns the selfishness ol the leading Protectionists in holding aloof now that they have got all they want, unmindful of the fact that there are others who have not yet received their share of the benefits. This shows a sad want of brotherly love on the part of the Protectionists, and a lamentable ignorance of human nature on the part of our contemporary in expecting anything different. There is no principle to fight for or defend in Protection ; it is from the beginning a crusade of selfishness, in which every man is fighting solely for his own hand—for his own aggrandisement—at the expense of his fellow-colonists. Beyond that the protected manufacturer does not care a rap, and is profoundly indifferent to the interests of what the " Herald" calls '' his unprotected brother." We are glad to see that this fact is beginning to be understood even in the Protectionist camp. Ciptain Wood and Lieutenant Grantham, the officers in charge of the Cambridge corps of the Salvation Army, have received their marching orders, and leave on Wednesday, the sth March. They have made many friends in Cambridge outside the army, and their departure will be much regretted, while they will carry with them the hearty good wishes of all with whom they have been brought in contact. To-night they bid farewell to the Cambridge West people, and on Sunday farwell services will be held at the barracks. On Monday the officers visit Tauwhare, to say good-bye there, and on Tuesday night a coffee supper is to take place at the barracks, when several new and original local songs are promised, and a largo attandance is expected, so as to give the Captain and Lieutenant a good send-off. It has been stated of late that the army's influence in Cambridge was waning, and that it was decreasing in number, and recently, during harvest operations, the attendance at openair meetings has been thinner than usual ; but nn Sunday the crowded meetings told a different tale, and a muster of thirty-five in the march and ring in the evening, certainly showed no falling off. Some weeks ago, we have been told, a great quantity of dead fish were thrown up on the coast, near Kawhia. pointing, it would seom, to some volcinic disturbance out at sea. Amongst them the natives remarked two varieties very scarce and rarely to be met with in this part of New Zealand, namely, the Moki and the K iihu ; the latter is not mentioned in Mr Sherrin's handbook of the fishes of New Zeilind, and it may be only a local name assigned to it by the Kawhia natives. A correspondent writes that he took the following paragraph from the Taranaki Herald on this same subject:—At the end of last week a great quantity of fish was washed ashore on the coast from Bell Block on the north to Oakura on the south, and the cause of the phenomenon, for such it may aptly be designated, has been the theme of conversation. Some of the fish are strangers to this coast, or, at any rata, the species have never been caught here befor®, and thus the event is made more interesting. The general opinion on the matter is that some sub-marine disturbance has taken place at a remote distance, and the fish have suffered thereby, and driven shorewards. Other more or less conjectural theories are also advanced. The fish which were perfectly fresh-looking have been eaten Uy scores of people without any bad results, and thus the cause of the fish being cast ashore is an exemplification of the adaee, " It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good."