THE Bay of Plenty Times, "THE SPIRIT OF THE SHALL TEACH ME SPEED." KING JOHN, ACT IN SATURDAY, JULY. 10, 1880.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IX, Issue 909, 10 July 1880, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times, "THE SPIRIT OF THE SHALL TEACH ME SPEED." KING JOHN, ACT IN SATURDAY, JULY. 10, 1880.

We desire to remind the- Ratepayers < that before the close of the present month they,wilhbe^a_lS_a , i)n tptuppfcint a Bbaid.' ; men at present in-office have been pretty attentive tj> during the past "twelve "months, and, as we ,>f*iWj;*h«_ afewft tjjereajoojplion of Mr Kirk,£seek redaction, it be for the ratepayers to say whether or not jMjfimriW'Wtiutiea, or whether an infusion of new blood would not be desirable. In addition to th© oldlmeinbers five new candidates-in the field, and whatever tr diversifcy of .^aualifications and seem to prefer working under cover

and -'sedulously avoid ctny public announcement of their desire for office. 'iltf-iß;a very suspicious in the character of persons seeking positions * "«#• :6r«St ! fend 'responsibility to shrink from .aUowing'\t!h'eit.|claLpig' to be exp6se"a to the full lighted public opinion, n l\ke ther mole, to Carry on their operations in % the dark. Underhand i- prde6edihgs itf any case are most obbut in none are they more to be deprecated than in persons who ;; claim the confidence of their fellowtownsmen in matters affecting the .'.Welfare ,of the, whole community. The ratepayers would therefore ..consult their own interests if they would take the short and decisive course of saying "No" to every candidate that has not had the manliness to make ia public announcement of his , candidature, and give the fullest opportunity of- criticising his pretensions. ■What "Vith the heavy debt due the bank, and the stoppago of the Govern,..inent.subsidies, it will require clear and cool heads to administer the affairs f of the town in a satisfactory and econoniODher, and. the ratepayers * should exercise the'utmost carefulness none,but the best persons entrust with the management of ™kff affairs. The new Trustees will ♦ nbfi ; find' 'their work a sinecure,' as A . ;^ere . are various matters calling for ( immediate attention, and a satisfactory arrangement with the bank have to be made about the' Overdraft. The lighting and drainage of the town are that,.cannot much longer be deferred, and it will not do for the < new .Board to postpone dealing with those questions till the Municipality is We ,haye ( no certainty that tte u „(3jO?erhm6nt will accede to the f application for a Municipality, but if .at should l that is no reason why public -improvements should in the meantime be Allowed to' come to a standstill. It be the duty of the ratepayers to see that none are appointed•but persons thoroughly qualified to 'Steer our barque through the existing shoals and quicksands.

'The Hon. Mr Whitaker's Gaming and Lotteries Bill, which has been transmitted "from the Legislative Council to the House of Representatives for its concurrence, has .for its object.the suppressing of gaming ( and betting housos, and the effectual aholi--tion ol lotteries. A gaming house is defined as any " betting house, or any house, .room, premises, or place where any be_tiiog is conducted/ Any Justice of the Peace, .on complaint made before him on oath that there is reason to suspect any place to" be'kept or uscd'ae a gaming house, may issue a warrant to' any peace officer to enter such premises and to arrest and search all persons found in tho house as well as, seize all instruments of, gaming or he. may find. The keeper, or owner, as well as all persons in any way concerned in the management, will be liable on conviction to a penalty not •exceeding £100, or a term of hard labour mot fexbeeding six months, and every per-, son found in the house or premises without lawful cicuso, will be liable to a •jfenrilty o? hot moro than £5. Every placing or betting by way of or'gaming in any public place, .'at,or with any article used as an instrument Orleans of such wagering or gaming, at any gamo or pretended game of chance, Will on .conviction be liable to a -MBalfcpnot exceeding £50/ or a term of hard labour not exceeding three months. ' Persons connected with lottery houses, receiving deposits on bets on horse races or fights or _ games of chance, as well as written acknowledgments o.Hho jrcceipt of such deposits, will bo liable to a_ penalty of not more than £50, and persons' exhibiting placards or pub,ysjring advertisements in favour of batting houses and for the purpose of encouraging suchbets and wagers, and persons in any way inviting persons to resort to betting houses, will be'liable to a penalty of £30. _Fhe sale or disposal of lands, shops, or goods by means, of any game of skill or cliance' or by lottery is prohibited, the penalties being any sum up to £100 for infringing the Act, and £200 for establishing and conducting a lottery. Agricultural: associations .may dispose of stock, poultry, and agricultural produce by lottery, and: art unions are also exempted, provided, the articles of association have .obtained r the sanction of • the AttorneyGehetalv ■' The'pblice may enter premises "where billiards or games, of a lilce kind are played whenever and as often as they think -proper, and persons obstructing jheni will ho liable to a penalty of not jhbre than."£loo.. - Obstructing the entry of a constaTbJeis to,be regarded as evidence of the" house being a gaming house, as is also the existence of any bolt, bar, or chain, or any.contriyance for the purpose of delaying entrance into a hcuse, or any part'or it.' Any person found in a gaming house and refusing to givo his name and address will he liable to a penalty of not Xjnore than,£so> oi ,one month's imprisonment, and Justices may require persons apprehended in a gaming houso to be sworn and to give evidence. Any one cheating, at play will he deemed guilty of obtaining money under false pretences, and may be punished, accordingly, and no wager* can.be recovered at law. Nothing in theAet 'extends to any person receiving or folding.money by way of stakes or to be paid to the winner of any rape,*jor lawful sport, game, or exorcise, or to the owner of any horse engaged in any race... In-every case in which any person in"auy respeot offe'rids against this Act or any provision of it? in regard to which no penalty is specially-mentioned, for any such offence ho! shall forfeit a penalty not exceeding £2Gs Th'fi Qolonial Secretary may grant licenses to use tlio totalisator under certain coujlitjions./ The Bill is in many respects a counterpart of the Betting introauced before the New South VBVales Legislature, and, should it become it cannot fall to havea verybenefieial effect of colonial aooiety.

The finder of a plain gold earring lost by a lady m town, is requested to leave in at this office. -. . . .

The members : of' the Football Club are requested t& meet on the ground at 3 o'clock, to take part in a scraten'mateh.

The annual meeting of. the Te Puna Highway Distriot ratepayers is fixed to take place at Mr Buck worth's residence on the 27th inst. " ' .'""!•

The quarterly meeting of the Court Royal Oak, 6497, A.0.F., will be held in the Good Tempkrs'jHall athalf past seven on Monday evening.' -All the members are requested to

.i The advantage that settlers derive from an circulating in their distjiot ia that they get true reports of public meetings that may be held within it, whereas, a jovial rarely 4are?. to tell the

Mr James Bodell notifies that he intends to sell by auction at noon to-day,, at the residence of Mr Adam Phillips," Cameron Road, a quantity of household furniture anil effects.. ' '-'.". ;'"

The s.s. Glenelg returns to Auckland today at noon to enable her to take the lona's trip North on Monday. She will leave Auckland again for this port on Wednesday as per tirae-tablo.

Gapt. Tunks, returning officer for this district, intimates by advertisement that he has fixed Monday the 26th inst., for the election of five trustees, two auditors, and two fenceviewers for the Tauranga North Township Highway District.

The Secretary of the Town Board informs the public that Mr George Redf em is authorised to receivethetaxondogs. Persohshaving unregistered dogs, should get them registered at once as we understand proceedings will be taken against defaulters.

On Monday next, the 12th inst., Mr Bodell will hold two auction sales. The cutter Rover will be sold opposite the Town Wharf at noon, and immediately afterwards twentysix thousand feet of cheap timber will be put up for sale opposite the Good Templars' Lodge Room. Wharf Street.

We have been shown a piece to the beacon at the blind channel, leadinginto the harbour, wjjich was blown off during a recent gale. The wood is all worm-eaten and thoroughly rotten. Attached to the piece was a lftrge barnacle which was the only solid thing about the fragment. It will, be a' change for the better to substitute buoysior beacons, as the former are not so liable to accidents as beacons.

It is a good sign of the progress of the district to see our settlers exporting quantities of agricultural produce to the chief centres of population. We noticed lying on the wharf yesterday a number of trusses of well saved clover hay grown on the farm of Mr Buckworth at Te Puna, intended for transit to Auckland by the Glenelg. The quality of the hay speaks well for the character of the land in Te Puna.

The Oamaru Presbytery have carried the following resolution, on the motion of the Rev. Clark, of Otepono :—" That in the judgment of this Presbytery, horse-racing is a disgrace to modern civilization, a waste of time and means, and incentive to gambling and other vices, and deserving the reprobation of all professing Christians, as injurious to piety and morals ; and instruct the ministers t)f the bounds to direct the attention of their congregations to these evils."

The latest local industry at Palmerston North is the building of portabl-3 folding canvas boats. We Rangitikei Advocate saw one at the workshop of Mr Dixon there the other day, which would carry three passengers comfortably, and which could be folded up and carried about by one man as it weighed only forty pounds. Mr Dixon, who is a late arrival from Auckland, alno showed us a sheep-shearing machine of his own invention and construction, which he is about patenting. It is a most ingenious and simple affair, and one, we hope, which will prove a source of considnable pro:it to its clever inventor.

The following plan for curing the blight In pear trees, is recommended by a coriespondent of an American horticultural paper:—" Salt sown around the roots of the pear tree is a sure cure for blight. It will {>revent blight without fail, and cure it „n----ess the tree is. too far gone. Tho cure is gradual, but in two or three years a blighted tree will regain perfect health. I have trying this treatment for upwards of twelve years upon my own trees, and each year strengthens my conviction that salt is the long-sought remedy. I was led to try it by seeing it stated that the pear tree originated in some of the salt marshes of Europe. Brine, especially old meat brine, will not do. Bury dry salt near the surface. The moment you see tho pear leaves looking as if sprinkled or hastily dipped in ink, you may be sure it is blight, and the tree will surely die, unless the disease is arrested by the use of salt."

A novel system of seed-sowing which almost rivals the work of machinery for speed is recommended by an Australian agriculturist a Mr McDonald. Instead of walking over the land on foot carrying the grain and scattering it broadcast, Mr McDonald has trained a horse to walk slowly up the furrows, between the lands, which are ploughed a suitable width, and carrying the seed on a saddle in front of him, he scatters it a* he goes along. By this means he is enabled to cover half the land on each side of him, and returning down the next division he completes the half left on one side of him, and sows also half of another one. The horse apparently quite understands his work, never stepping out of the furrow, and turning at the end of the field into the division between the next two lands. By this aid it is said that 40 acres can be sown per day, and thus the work isjnot only performed speedily, but advantage can be taken of a suitable day, and a larga area put in at once. A curious little trial is going on at Philadelphia. The head of a ladies' school is accused by her pupils of unfairness, and a sort of commission has been appointed to enquire into the matter. The main charges are that the lady has favoured her own niece, has marked improperly in parsing, and has even shown favouritism in the matter of Shakespeare studies. At first public opinion was much against the mistress on account of this supposed behaviour; but fortunately for her, her pupils were allowed to teil their own story, and it was with great difficulty that order was maintained in the full Court. The young ladies wanted to speak all at once, and were never content unless two or three were speaking at one time. Through the conflicting evidence, it appeared clearly that most of the malcontents were in the habit, according to their own account, of '* cheating awfully," their general conduct throughout the enquiry has been such that public opinion is now in favour of the lady who had such awkward pupils to handle.

_ A gentleman, who for sundry reasons, desires to be nameless (says the Rangitikci Advocate), but upon whose veracity implicit reliance may be placed, invested in a packet of melon seeds some six or eight months back, and planted them, in the usual course, in his garden. Owing to a slight disappointment to his horticultural aspirations, caused by their maturity into pumpkins, for which he held no particular liking, he allowed them to remain in the obscurity of the weeds with which a bounteous season in the fulness of time enveloped them with a garland. A few days ago when clearing the garden and turning up the earth in anticipation of the coming season, he was surprised to see the objectionable gourds grown to a .gigantic size, and perfectly hollow with a small aperture at the bottom of two of thena, from,which members of rival swarms of bees were issuing, apparently in search of btossoming plants. A closer investigation disclosed the. existence of a small quantity of honey in the comb, but probably owing to the odour given off by the decaying vegetable, it was fliifit for use.