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Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1373, 20 August 1895, Page 4

The duty bn flannelettes is to be reduced to 10 per cent, ad valorem. Mrs Knowles, we hear, intends rebuilding the “AH Nations Hotel ” at Cardrona, The Cromwell Tradesmen’s Club programme has been passed by the Dunedin Jockey Club, Our Alexandra correspondent wired us this morning that Hyde and party’s dredge obtained 21oz sdwt 6gr, value £Bl 17a 3d, last week, Messrs Ah Kew and party struck good wash in their claim on the Molyueaux last week, and it is reported that they extracted £47 worth of gold from it on Saturday, Owing to the indisposition of the Cromwell Quadrille. Assembly’s musician the dance was held over last week, but we are requested to state that it will be held on Thursday evening, without fail. Messrs J. Partridge and W. Gair just finished constructing a spoon dredge last Wednesday, and immediately started operations below the Haiff-way House. We hear that they bottomed a “ duffer ” in their first attempt. . The “Pirates of Penzance” was repeated on Wednesday evening in Cromwell to a fair house. This performance went even better than the first, an improvement being noticeable in all the performers. This was especially observable in the case of Miss Waddell who seemed to have completely shaken off all nervousness, being thus enabled to do full justice to her part, The “ Pirates ” will be produced at Alexandra on Wednesday 2Sth inst,, when it is to bo hoped our neighbors will roll up and give the Cromwell amateurs a bumper house.

Giun-boots are penalised five shillings a pair by the new tariff. This is fostering the mining industry with a vengeance. Queensland has lately passed an act prohibiting consultations in that colony. “Taltersall” goes to New Caledonu. Our obituary column to day announces the death, in Dunedin, of Mr Hoskiug formerly Mine Manager at Bendigo. The Hon. Mr Larnach advocates borrowing £5,000,000 to complete our public works, and no further borrowing this century. Speaking on the Budget proposals, Mr Carncross urged that a rest from laoor legislation was necessary, whereupon the Premier was observed to give an uuinistakeable nod of approval. Mr Larnach says the kindest thing he can say of the Budget is to apply to it the words of Horace : “ Parturiunt monies , nasciiur ridicnlus mus ” —the mountains are in labor, and a ridiculous mouse is brought forth. A strange circumstance is related in connection with the recent slip in the road a. Kawarau Gorge. A lady in Clyde missed her birthday book sone six weeks ago, ana the other day it was returned to her, having been found among the debris of the slip She has not the remotest idea how it gj there. Mr Button says the Egyptian Joseph’s administration led to the enslave meat and taxation of the people, till they sold themselves for a mess of pottage, ana though that was, 3)000 years ago they hav not yet recovered. He hopes the brilliau administration of “our Joseph” will no have similar results here. ‘•While the Minister of Lands is, figuratively speaking, sitting on his stack oi •z50,000 sovereigns, the cities in the soudn are being turned into huge pauper camps i a manner never before witnessed.” Thus spoke Mr Tanner, when dealing with the failure of the Government to acquire land.for settlement adjacent to the centres. v The Imperial Institute Journal for June (to hand by last mail) contains the following startling piece of information .■ — “ The Imperial Government having conceded to New Zealand an extension of the Coinage Act, that colony will, it is expected, undertake the coinage of its own money.” But we (says the Evening Star) have not acquired the “ printing press and bale of paper ’ yet. At the S.M. Court, Cromwell, on Satuiday last, before D. A. Jolly and W. T. Taiboys, Esq’s., J’s.P., George Wait, convicted on three charges of mischief and one of assault, was mulcted in the aggregate sum of £7 lls fines and coats, or in default 15 days imprisonment in Clyde gaol. When asked, by the clerk whether he would pay the above he said “No, I will take it out.” Mr Thomas Mackenzie, M.H.R., who has long advocated the equity of all forms of wealth being laid under contribution for charitable aid, at the County Council’s Conference succeeded iu carrying the following resolution : “ That in the opinion of this conference the moiety raised towards hospital and charitable aid be levied on all property, real and personal, and not confined as now to real property.” News from Brunnerton, West Coast, says: There is a serious difficulty here at present. Two hundred and fifty men and boys employed at the mines got two days work for a fortnight.,,. There is much destitution, and owing Ho the position of district there is no outlet for the impecunious men nor work jrtr, the Grey Valley. The Mayor is in communication with the Premier urging that the extension of the Midland Railway should be commenced from Jackson’s. The Wellington Post has a remarkable editorial on binder twine monopoly. It says that if the House was in earnest there would be no hesitation in removing the / binder twine duty. The Tariff Commission recommended its re moval, but the Colonial Treasurer has not adopted the recommendation. The duty, unproductive from a revenue point of view, has fostered the formation of a monopoly wfcich is declared to be as great a public scandal as any of the American rings or trusts which colonists hear so much about and so virtuously condemn. The Council last week (says the Wellington correspondent of the Daily Times) passed through its final stages the Criminal Code Amendment Bill, the object of which is to give the right of appeal to the Full Court in its criminal juris diction to Louis Chemis, convicted of murder in 1889. The case is familiar to the public, the murder beiug in the neighborhood of Wellington and committed with most determined thoroughness. For years Mr Charles Mills, the Government whip, believing in the innocence of Chemis, has sought to have the case renewed, and by sheer pertinacity, combined with evident conviction that wrong has. been done, has at length succeeded, and this, too, in face of the fact that the leading lawyers of the House have throughout declared that the prisoner had a fair trial, and that his guilt was proved. There has, of course, been a remarkable amount of lobbying over the business, in which the wife of the prisoner has not unnaturally taken a prominent part. It is alleged that a unique document abdressed from somewhere near Dunedin and signed by eight presumably very astute ultra-Democrats was recently received by the Premier. Accompanying it was a newspaper report of the statement made by the Colonial Treasurer (Mr Ward) at Home, that the amount of wealth to the credit per head of the population in New Zealand was £232, and the indebtedness £57, and the tenor of the letter was as follows:—“In accordance with the enclosed statement of the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer, we, the undersigned members of the State in New Zealand, hereby make application for the respective amounts to our credit, as stated therein. We may say that as we are desirous of retiring from the partnership we have no objection to receiving payment in State notes. The aggregate amount of our claim at £232 per head is £lßs6—less the £SB per head which we owe, £4s6—total, £I4OO, settlement of which we will be glad to receive at your earliest convenience,— We are, etc.” The last issue of the Dunstan Times contains a local dealing with our remarks about the granting of an honorarium to the Secretary of the Vincent County Horticultural Society. This local is very misleading, whether purposely so or not, is known- only to the writer. It says that the Cromwell oommitteecould not have paid their retiring secretary a bonus as they had only Is with which to do it. This statement is the result of crass ignorance or is made with the deliberate intention of misleading the public. The Cromwell Committee received from their predecessors the sum of £l6, which they decided not to touch if possible, but to hand it on to their succeesors. Their idea was to make the Cromwell Show entirely self-supporting, and they more than did so. They handed to their successors the £l6 odd intact, and a sum of 3s or 4s in cash, besides assets to the value of £l9 8s 4d, part of which are now at Alexandra ; some being stationery, saved the funds of the society this year, and all of which are the property of the society. The balance-sheet for 1894 shewed a credit balance of £l6 7s, as may be seen in the report published in our issue of 4th September last. The only patent object one can see in the paragraph in question is a desire to dig up the Clyde v Cromwell war hatchet. We hope our contemporary will rectify its mistake. This poor lonely Colonial Robert seems to stick in our contemporary’s gizzard. We suggest that he liquidate it next time wu meet,

Advocates of the free coinage of silver are losing ground in the United States. The gold returns for Queensland show an increase for the past six months over the corresponding period of last year of 6045 ounces. Two hundred designs have been received for the new issue of postage stamps. The board of experts to consider them began sitting yesterday. The cruel poverty in Melbourne is evinced by the fact that last year the Druids lost 1000 members, Oddfellows 781, Foresters 749, and Bechabites 360. The Maerewhenua estate of 11,150 acres 2 roods and 35 perches is gazetted as haying been purchased by the Government under the Laud for Settlements Act. The London Daily Telegraph National Shilling Testimonial to Dr W. G. Grace amounted, on the 28th June last, to 48,088 shillings, and contributions were pouring in freely from all sides. The application of Nicholas J. Rowe, for an occupation license of 35 acres in block 1, Ofomwoll district, was granted by the Land Board subject to survey and road; at a yearly rental of 9d par acre. The actual number of applicants for relief work in Dunedin L 950, and yet, if we remember right, wo were told the other day that there were only about 700 unemployed in the whole colony.— Truth. The value of wheat exported irom New Zealand in 1891-92 was £359,803, while in 1894-95 it was £2557 ? Oats show a decrease from £385,195 to £159,356. All the.cereal products showed large decreases. It is understood, (says the Southland News), that the local authorities object to Minnie Dean’s body being buried in the Winton Cemetery, and it will therefore be interred in the grounds surrounding “ The Larches.” , The expenditure on strong drink in New Zealand for 1894 was £2 17s 2d per inhabitant. Ten years previously it was £4 5s per inhabitant, and 15 years back (in 1879) it is alleged to have been as high as £6 10s. At a meeting of Representatives of various religious bodies in Wellington resolutions were passed in favor of the introduction of the Irish National school book of Scripture lessons into the public schools of the Colony. The value of the personal estate on which death duties were declared in Great Britain during the year was 18 millions sterling under that of the previous year, and 50 millions less thau in 1891, during which influenza was so prevalent. Another retrenchment roar (says the Star's Parliamentary correspondent) seems to be setting in, and all the proposed increases of salary for the higher paid civil servants are to be strongly resisted when the Estimates come under review. At Ashburton, on August 14th, Tom Long, the hangman, was convicted of drunkenness and discharged on condition that he left the town by the next train. He was taken off the express train the previous night when he was very drunk. Thus the Tapnnui Courier : Mining at Greenvale is likely to go ahead in spring. Besides gold, a valuable shale deposit has been found there, and from Waikaka we hear that remarkable rubies are occasionally round. One specimen is said to have been sold for £6. Steam has been turned off in Block II mine, Broken Hill, and gas is being relied oh to suppress the remainder of the fire. A small amount of vapor is still rising, and blocking the outlets is continued as a precaution, but it is considered that all danger is over. Great Britain has protested against the cession by China of a portion of Kenhung, which will extend French territory in Farther India to the Mekong, and practically abolish the buffer State intended to prevent the two European Powers from coming into contact. The following coming from so strong a Ministerial paper as the Lyttelton Times is significant of the real position of the colony’s finances. That journal the other day, says :—“As we have already pointed out, this'country is practically face to face with the alternative of increased taxation or reduced expenditure.” At the half-yearly meeting of the Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Melbourne, Mr M'Bride stated that he was satisfied chat the damage by tire to Block 11 mine would not exceed £20,000. The directors would be unable to pay monthly dividends during the coming half year, bat hoped to pay five of a shilling each. Complications have arisen over the first prize in the Bank of Van Diemen lottery. The Trustees have received an injunction restraining them from dealing with the prize to the extent of one-half on the application of Mr Davis, of Western Australia, who claims a partnership with the holder of the winning ticket. The charge of murder against Samuel Evison, of Auckland, has been withdrawn, and he has been discharged by the magistrate. The investigation in Nottingham in no way substantiated Evison’s confession that he had caused the death of a girl there some yeaas ago, and the chief constable believed the confession to be untrue. In the opinion of Mr Larnach the mining community has as much right to State.assistance as the settlers of the colony. Ha urges the Government to taka into consideration the desirability of raising or borrowing—he does not care what it may be called—£2so,ooo for the encouragement of the mining industry generally, and of making large water reservoirs in different parts of the colony. The North Otago Agricultural Society on the 14fch inst., discussed the advisability of asking the Government to collect the agricultural statistics earlier, Mr R. Church, speaking as an old collector, said he collected these statistics in March, and it had been 30 to 33 per cent, above the actual yield. It was a matter of guesswork, and it would be more so if collected earlier. Mr Borne thought the statistics purely guesswork, while the chairman thought they were a farce, and members thought they would not be so reliable, as they were unreliable at present. Mr Williams: Mr Ryley gob them early enough.—(Laughter.) The meeting were strongly of opinion that no good purpose would be served by the earlier collection of the statistics. Mr Larnach, in his speech on the Assets Company, said that reference had been made in the Budget to the Estates Company in connection with the Bank of New Zealand, It was a very delicate matter for the Government to deal with, and he had no doubt there would be a very large gap to fill up there. Whether the Government were taking a wise step in appointing a committee to deal with the question he was not going to say. Perhaps if the committee were given power to thoroughly go into the position of both institutions good might result. As to the £2,000,000 guarantee, he believed that was only a drop in the bucket when bed rock of the two institutions was reached. The Government and the colony were now in that position that this matter will go on for a considerable time unless they took one of two alternatives—they must either put the the institutions into proper order, and that quickly, or they must wind them up. Ho liked to speak plainly in all matters he gave an opinion upon. He was in no way responsible for the guarantee, not being a member of the House when it was given and he would not say whether the House had acted wisely,

Cancer was responsible for 408 deaths in New Zealand last year, or 100 more thau in 1893.

The London correspondent to the Christchurch Press writing under date 28th June says: Wool seems to be decidedly looking up ! There is a general tendency to rise. I heard to-day of a man who held a quantity of English wool and who had refused lOd per lb only two or three weeks ago. against the advice of his friends, who strongly counselled him to sell. He would not sell then but yesterday he did and got Is, an advance of 10 per cent. A very eminent woolbroker told me to-day that he confidently hoped to see a 10 per cent rise all round very shortly. American papers contain the announcement of the death of Dr John M. Byron, of the New York Hospital, an eminent bacteriologist, who has fallen a martyr to science. He died of consumption, and his own explanation of the manner in which he contracted the disease was as follows;—“I have been making culture of disease germs for twelve years, and I suppose familiarity with them made me careless. It was our custom to get the sputum of patients in the hospitals suffering from consumption and to find this bacteria. These are generally confined in bottles or tubes when not in use, but when we want to put them under the microscope they are spread on glass. One is practically safe as long as they are wet, but when they become dry they till the air as so much dust, and you cannot help but inhale them. It is in this way, you know, that consumption spreads.” He had been doing some experimenting with tuberculosis -bacteria, and some of them had been allowed to dry, and found their way to his lungs and killed him.