The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1876.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 103, 30 June 1876, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1876.

The first debate of the Session 1 •Ms brought td a close on Tuesday J hi^fiti './ The result is what we anticipate^* anb. ' what we in last issue expressed our ', ' hope it would be— the n_embe*rs : of rt Government retain their seats. Tliis is : the most that can be said of it, for few will regard it in thelig'ht of a victory ' ; gained by Ministers. :>T_ie debaters ; clearly brought put tlie fact thatrth^* members of fhe Go^rnmehtdelibemteiJ' '"'" broke their solemn pledgb, given to the House last Session, that tlie 7 whole matter of the sale of the Piako Swiefmii would be allowed to, stand iii abeyance until considered by the new Parliament V It has also been shewn that Mmifefersfr ; ! have acted illegally— contrary Wthe; laws they themselves framed, as T*reti as. ' '• in breach of their personal pledges,, and ' l have privately sold at a nominal price to a few of ' their own friends a large,.: tract of country, which is capable . of : supporting many hundreds pfJ f _a_dil^»V ; It may be asked how id 'ihe^&&(:6f ' such revelations, the Governmen^lnafl- ' aged to secure so large a majorlljf" at^ the division. This, is easily explained' r l^ In the first place Tthe Government vrare;' ,' ; quite well aware tiff, neither their own ] supporters nor^ M' opposition wished ; the question made '& party ohe,- and ihe Ministry at bncf _avy that. 'by taking their stand upon it they' would force, even their oppbnents tb.vote' withthenv toikeepthem in, power. 11 ; ; A considerable number cf members have . J to the Assembly to su|'prtrV «ibotition , and they feared a chang^/^'iiiistry' ; at ftreseia*, ' might have the effect'; of preV^|% this being brought a^bout. ' Thejrf^ere-' ' fore voted with the GoyernnienlFupott the Piako Swamp question, but,. when . once the Abolition question is decided^ k their support to |he Gdjj^hment will I *;' cease. So far as _fj| i^pf^ition^isi'eoti-. '•- s ' r cerned, it would haf e heeU a; very, uhr wise move to attempt to^wrii pig Go- T vernment out of office %t|tlje present .;. stage. They must first-^explain the financial position, and their proposals for the future, as also introduce tue Local Government Bill, and other measures promised. If the one half of current rumors be correct, there Will then be found abundant points upon which to join issue, and in which the Opposition will find themselves in the majority. . - ,' "'•'-.' — — '— + — . — __ ■; It will be noticed by pur report of the Resident Magistrate's Court on 'Wea^ ' riesday, that 'the anxiously; lpoked i; fq¥ judgmertt' l iii the case of the -Bankfof • =' New Zealand v. 'Hislop has been giyen, which sustains the point raised oy Mr Taylor, defendent's counsel, at the trial viz., that the plaintiff could not recover, there being no legal bill in existence, the same not being duly stamped. . This is a very important dicisiorij in regard to the law of adhesive stamps on bills of exchange, and one which the Magistrate has not come to without' great consideration. We do not know whether the point has ever been raised in the Colony* before, but as far as we can gather, the practice of the Banks has been to take bills with adhesive stamps cancelled : by the drawers, and • not by the acceptors, which accbrdihg to the decision appears to be perfectly ! illegal. * 7 •* ' ■-*;.. . ' — • — ♦ — --— / : *i In another .column will be found 1 a; statement by Sir Julius Yogel regarding the expense of his late trip to; England and the German baths.' ' Although he admits he was only' ehgaged -on the ; business of the Oolony^*.fei^ a 'partlof the time, still he' drew^pii : b^tal salary k_> and £4 4s a day of tr|^pii_&exp»en-e§ i' for the whole period. '^SlisiUes' this, he ! now makes a claim of £4'2£lfia_ a special allowance for services rendered,^thusmaking from £8000 to -eOqOtyasthe: expense ofthe trip. Some severe *c- '■ marks were made during 1 last Session as to the large drafts Sir Julius made : . upon the Colonial Treasury; and 4pf : which his colleUgiies^Were unable'ttb.give any account. The truth has forced itself into light 'anoVHt appears; the honorable gentleman" has drawn ■ and expended thg' sum of £4250" above *'.l the appropriation. --The ; House is 1 to;be asked to pass a special appropriation for that amount. Supposing it refuses; fo- ' do so, in^ what position will-the Premier h > and his family be placed. We cannot conceive that any sensible body: of jniehv will ever dream of encouraging/!:' or, tolerating any such 'impudent r extrava-- r gance on the part of even Sir Julius Ycjgel. If the Assembly does, it will belie the feeling' of the country upon the Subject. ' : ■'■ '-'■-■■-■ : i'ih h:: : ; ,-;*•:>;! *■ ;

Thb Premier has intimated that the Financial - Statement will be made on Tuesday next. inblll, for the murder of his wife at Tarn' N. S. W., was executed on Wednesday _ " Lain 'ki-.is mi r **.' ___s Mubska had a brilliant reception in Auckland. She will return to Melbourne yia the South Island.

Mrs Rainer, a spiritualistic medium, has mysteriously disappeared from Melbourne, and since the 22nd of May jio trace of her has been found.

A new copper lode of great size and considerable richness has being found in the Cotbing mine, Bathurst district, New South Wales.

Thk tender of Mr John Hollick^ of Tokomairiro, for £1790 2s lld, for wayside stations on the Tokomairiro-Lawrence railway haß been accepted.

At a meeting of the members of the medical profession, held in Dunedin on Wednesday evening it was unanimously resolved to form a branch of the New Zealand Medical Society in Otago.

We understand the river bank has been very much washed away between Mr Wm. Griffith's property and Port Molyneux. At some places the road-line ia reduced to two feet wide.

WBhear that the Bey. Mr Coffey, of Tokomairiro, has resigned his present charge, and that the same has been accepted by tiie Bishop. Mr •Coffey goes to Wellington, he having accepted a eail from Sk Matthew's congregation there.

Wb were yesterday shewn a sample ef K rough

gold obtained from the crop of a swamp _Ten shot by Mr James Young, of Inch Clutha, on the property of Mr A. D, Duncan, on Monday last. The gold is scaly, and seems as if water-worn.

THB Inch Clutha congregation has just pur-

-chased from Mr R, M'Kenzie a magnificent site for their new church. It is situated near to the end of the bridge now in course of construction across the Matau branch at Stirling.

We would remind our readers of the Matau

_^and Ou__a ; JHoughing Match, which takes place i_r_rp_ddock 7 ei&di^lnglis' farm, on Thursday next. A liv" of -the, special prizes offered will be found in the) present issue. Mb Stout is introducing into the Assembly a new licensing measure which provides for a triennial vote in each district, as to Whether or not any license shall be granted in the district. What action are the Good Templars and ternperance^nen and women to take in the matter ? Th_T township of Kaitangata suffered severely during tEe recent floods. 7 The water in the township -was atx some plaoei from three to four feet deep. 'The ballast 'of 7^^sml-way was washed away for a short d^lifm^'-K^t^was speedily repaired, the cost bein&^uly a-'^jatter of about «20.

We regret to have to record the occurrence of a fatal accident on the. .Owake river on Friday afternoon. It appears that John Newman, in

the employ : of Messrs M'Kensie and M'Pherson»

while returning from the Owake flat to the mills __txl by some means upset his boat, and he was drowned. The body had not. been recovered when the news left. Newman wa. a single man,

and had beef, employed as a raftsman. We have to ackrOwledge receipt from Mr George Matthews, nursery and seedsman, Dunedin, of tk catalogue of the seeds, plants, etc., on sale by ''him. The pamphlet also contains a garden calendar, which gives a great amount of useful information, and directions which would be valuable to all who possess a garden, and especially to amateurs. We would advise all such to procure copies.

At tiie half-yearly meeting of the Loyal DaL ton Lodge at the Athenseum Hall on Tuesday last, the various offices were disposed of as follows: — Grand Master, Brother Henry S. Rev. nert; N.G., Bro. Peter Mason; V.G., Bro. F. Johnstone; E.S., Bro. Wm. Hope; P.S., Bro. B. Marr. The installation will take place on the evening of Tuesday, the llth July, at half -past seven o'clock.

Wb understand the Waitepeka Railway Deviation Committee have sent circulars to a large number of members of the House of Representatives, soliciting their support to a memorial which has been forwarded to Mr Macandrew for presentation to the House, urging that the line be taken by the Waitepeka Valley instead of by the Four-mile Creek. The zeal of this Committee certainly merits Buccess, whatever may be the result.

Sighs of progress and advancement are apparent at the township of. Stirling. A store is being erected for Mr Roy, of Clinton, in the immediate neighborhood of the Railway Station ; a butcher's shop has been built by Mr Reid ; and two or three dwelling-houses are in course of erection by Mr Gilroy. Other buildings are in contemplation, and there is at present every indication that Stirling will shortly assume the appearance ef a respectably-sized township.

Ocb juvenile colonials yesterday enjoyed, to them' a new and pleasant exercise, viz., a good slide on the ice. After the hard frost of the previous night, the ice in the morning was quite safe, but as the forenoon advanced it got rather shaky, and not a few paid the penalty of their harshness by a good ducking. We would -ask thosain the parental position who may feel inclined to augment the punishment to call to' recollection their young days, and endeavor to count up .the number of times they found themselves in & similar predicament.

Monsieur ORiel exhibited his performing dogs _n Barr's Hall last night. ' We were sorry to see a poor house. The exhibition will be repeated to-night and to-morrow night. There will also be a midday performance on Saturday for the convenience of children. The entertainment is really a good ene, the performance of the dogs being something extraordinary. There is a spelling dag, au arithmetic dog, a second sight dog, and a. fortune telling dog, and their abilities in their various departments seem far to excel those of many of the human species.

Tub settlers in the Te Houka- district are a long-suffering people. - Although the district has been fully settled for they have never as yet either asked br obtained any of those postal privUegeswhicli axe enjoyed in many less importaht and more sparsely populated districts throughout 'the Colony. We know that the want of.a Post Office in Te Houka has occasioned much' inconvenience to many. We daresay the attention of the postal authorities only requires to be called ! to the matter to have an office arranged for. rl%ete being a school in the dis-

trict, there could be no difficulty in the inhabit-

ap*s getting their letters if they were taken there. "*^j_s wej. would suggest that a postal service anouldijbe established ibetween Balclutha and Cly^eyale Station twice a-week. This would also suit To and would accommodate theinhabitanSlof a very large district at small expense. We mereljr make the suggestion, and trust those interested will take some action in the matter.