The Bruce Herald. " Nemo me impune lacesset," TOKOMAIRIRO, SEPTEMBER 7. 1880.

More such men as Mr C. S. Reeves, owner of the Royal Milton Potter j "Works, and we shall do. Government bonus giving does not seem to be required at the Pottery, and Protection by means of increased Customs duties on crockery ware is absolutely repudiated. What do our great Protectionists say to this ? Here is a gentleman, shrewd, clear-headed, a thorough man of business, knowing well upon which side his bread is buttered ; also, that a bonus, or increased duties, would put money into his pockets and help him with more butter. But he-says he can make pottery ware, carry it to Dunedin, and undersell tho imported article without any Protection, other than j the 15 per cenb. ad val&rem, which the English article has now to pay, and which was imposed for revenue purposes only. "He does not require Protection." If this can be done in one instance — and we are convinced it can — it ought to be done in others, and the cry for Protection to Native industries should immediately cease. Mr Reeves has taken up these Works — -after they had previously failed on more than one occasion — he has gone in in a large-hearted way, asking ro spoon feeding in the form of bonus or extra duties, and risked a lot of money for the purpose of establishing an industry which must greatly benefit the District and Colony ; and for the simple reason that he has gone the right way about his work, he is on the. high road to success. It may be said, that in this instance Mr Reeves has been highly favored by having the best of raw material for the purpose ready to his hand. But, when he took the matter up, he did not know all this. He ventured fairly, worked hard, made his discoveries step by step as he went on, and was not unduly aided by any previous knowledge of the locality, or its natural producing power?, any more than any other person in his plac 3 , and having similar nous might, or could have been possessed of. Moreover, we think we are right in saying that Mr Reeves' proclivities are, or were recently, in favor of Protection. Not that this has a very great deal to do with the argument, except to prove that one other mighty barrier has been crossed in the march towards the principles of Free Trade, and probably one more important convert turned back from the crooked ways of Protection. If potteryware, therefore, can be made in the Colony at such a rate as to enable the maker to undersell the imported article, wherefore need boots, clothing, woollens, and the like be made^ss accessible to the general purchaser, by adding five, ten, twenty, or any other per centage to the duties now ruling at the Custom House ? There is no reason that will stand one moment's examination. The best of wool is here. It is truthfully naid that the very best of blankets and doth can be made from it. In this respect, the woollen manufacturer "is as well off as the potter ! The same remarks apply with equal force to boots, and many other things. There is as extended a market for the latter as for the former. Boots and all woollen goods are just as universally used as crockery ware, and whilst it is necessary for the manufacture of the latter, that many highly paid skilled h-inds must be employed, one or two managers are alone necessary for the conducting of the others mentioned. The rest of the work does not require any special training ; it is consequently quite wifchiu the scopo of youthful labor, and is, in fact, done by boys and girls. As we have had occasion to say before, one fact like this is worth a thousand assertions. It goes straight to the point, and hits the mark full and true. If it does not go a long way toward shutting the Protectionist's mouths, it will be because they will — as is usual with them fall back upon iteration and re-itera-tion of grossly missleading statements, having nothing about them except their extreme baldness to recommend them. As Free Traders, we never argued against the collection of Customs duties. They are necessary to aid the General Government to carry on the business of the country ; but for that only. And they should be as few, simple, clear to understand, and easily collected as possible. To complicate them in any of these ways is to create a costly machinery for collection alone — far more easy to establish than to get rid of. Wq. trust the day will never dawn for New Zealand, when Sir George Grey, or any other '• Liberal " Protectionist phall have the power to rob the general taxpayer for the benefit of a few manufacturers, whose position in the commercial scale, should be regulated by that great teat guage, " supply and demand."

Sib Hercules Robinson has sailed for Sydney. The quarterly licensing meeting is advertised to be held this day at noon, in the Court; House, Milton. r : '.: The Brace County Council/ will hold their, usual monthly meeting to-day at 10 o'clock, in the Council Chambers. One of the small 'nuggets. of gold fouud at tue Canada Reef last week was raffled*in Milton on Saturday night for 30s. c , . : As will be seen by our cablegrams, General Roberts has defeated and dispersed Ay oub Elan's army in Afghanistan. _...• The P. and 0. Co.'s steamship Assam, with the inward Suez Mail arrived at Eiag George's Sound on Saturday morning. '-■ A CLYDE built steamer is reported to have, steamed at the rate of 23 miles an hour— a speed ;never before reached by r any Bteamer. • I Toko, people are 1 complaiaing' loudly abjut the recent rise in the price of bread, and asking where John Butler is. Echo, answers, where? ' ■"' .! Mkssbs Hewitson Bros, advertise their thanks to all their kind neighbors and friends wno assisted in extihguisiiiag the fire at their stacks on Wednesday, the Ist iusbant! A scratch match of football, for the purpose of practice, was kicked off on Saturday afternoon. The day was exceedingly line, aud some good play was exhibited. It is not likely that the new schedules under the Property Assessment Act will be issued for a week. It may therefore be necessary to grant a further extension of tirao for sending in Che returns. We have received a letter from "Ratepayer" on the matter of tho nomination for Councillors last Friday; also one in reply to "Observer" on the subject of Protection, aud will endeavor to find room for them on Friday. Our present issue is crowded out. Several masters of interest being held aver. The adjourned enterlaiumour, in aid of the fund for the inaprovjmeut of tho pa -gvouod of the High School, is advertised for Friday night next. The programme includes a lecture on " The air iti relation to health," by Dr Reid, and a miscellaneous selection of songs anil recitations. Should the weather prove fine there ought to be a good attendance, to assist the Rector iv thj very laudable object he his in view. Too much of a good uhing is not ahvay ■• desirable, as for instance —l hj very fi;i« we itlior we have lately hv.en blessed with iv Hilton has had its effect upon tiie s nirc^a of water supply. Water is becoming sutrce, and tho summer is not yefc come. It w >-.il>l be impossible to wish for liver weather than wo have had of late ; but it is evident enough we have quite plenty of it at one stretch. A change bo raia would do a deal of good. The alterations to the Pres'-y dorian «. huceh appear to have beou conaplet<N.l, aud we must say that they have not improved the genaral appearance of that edifice. Tae high tower which it used to have, is missed from the landscape. It was, of course, nece sary to reduce in heigut for the sake of safety, but it seeing a pity to part with it after having had it for 18 years. We believe it is intended to build a new church altogether. The new buil liug is to be of stone, anil vvill be both cosily and oni irnentul, as well as permanent. The Bruce Rifles again p traded on Sunday, for the purpose of a 1 tendiug divine service. On this occasion, they proceeded to the Pres'oyseriau Church. About 37 uf ali rauks mastered, iucluding the Captain, and lot aud 2ud lieutauants. The Rev. J. Chisholin, Presbyterian minister, officiated, and. his first rvading was the XXVII Psalm, the second One was Epuesiaus VI, verse 10, to the end, aud the toxfc was Psalm LX. verse 4—" Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth." The sermott was an excellent one, well thought out, :uid was listened to with marked attention throughout. The weather on this", as on the last, nceasiou, was splen lid. The Bruce County Council are becoming of bad repute amongst their neighbours. Their difficulty with the Cluiha Council about the rebuilding of the bridge is a matter of history and now they have given the Taieri (Jouucil a grievance. They were very strongly spoken about at the meeting (if hhe laat uauieil body yesterday. It appears that some tiin-j ago tie Bruce Council asked f >r and obtained the entire control of the Ta;eri ferry bridge on the main South ro."d. The Taieri Council at thu time considered this arrangement a good one for their county, as Biuoe promised to defny all cost of maintenance. But the Bruce Council have within the last few weeks very quietly put on a toll, and by what their neighbours are inclined to regard as a smart trick, have imposed tue wh')le of the burden on ou '.aiders l>y granting f ree pvises to all residents in their own county. This, at any rate, is what is alleged a";iinst them, and the Taieri Council intend to protest vig .rously. — ' Times.' It is a'most impossible to speak patiently \vhi_u on tho snbjtct of larrikins. They arj so disgracefully malicious, destructive, and dangerous, to all respectable persons, as to make one destruoiive also when an opportunity off .is to knock any of the blackguards down. The la'est piece of vagabondism they have lieeu guilty of, was perpretated at Mr Julius' place, on Sunday evening, last, when he was at churoh. Mra Julius, not being well, stayed at home, :\n:\ was leading to some of her children in tie parlor, behind tho shop, by the light of a large kerosene lamp, when suddenly a shower of stones descended on the iron roof, and almost simultaneously a very largo stone came through the window, passed close to Mra Julius' head, and to the lamp, fortunately missing bot! , but smusliin ; a lot <>£ littl« things and doing much damage. The window of this ro _>m looks en to a small right-of-way between Mr Julius' and Mr King's shops ; it was theref >re necessary for some one to go up this alley for the special purpose of throwing the st-.ne, which weighs several tt»3. Had it struck anyone it would have hurt severely, or perhaps killed, as it came with great fores. Mr Juliu3 knows of no cause Of offence haviug been sjiveo. by any of iiis family, and is very properly highly indignant at this act. There appeared to be six or seven hoodlums present on the scene, and fortunately some of them can be identified. Oh for a cat with the provetbialnu.nber of jives turned i-ito tails, arid a sturdy fellow to use it well on the backs of uucalow ruffitus.