THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1885.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5360, 3 December 1885, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1885.

It is very stisfactory to learn that the Property Tax is coming in just as freely as if no foolish writing had appeared apparently trying to make people believe that because there happens to be. a technical error in the Act of last session, its requirements become invalid and therefore no tax could be collected under it. . The first note of objection was raised in Auckland, and it was very freely stated that wealthy property holders in various parts of the North Island intended to test the matter in a court of law. Indeed one leading journal urged with what force it could that in order to remove all uncertainty, and obviate present as well as future difficulties, a case should be selected and submitted to the Judges of the Court of Appeal, for them to decide the point. Government very wisely took no apparent notice of the outcry made, and treated it with the gratuitous indifference that it merited. There is no doubt that a bungle was made in the last act, or else a most unpardonable one was made by the officers of the Department. The notices sent out by the Property Tax Commissioner are issued under the Assessment of 1879, whereas the Act of last session provides that the tax shall be paid under the Assessment Act of this year. It was also objected that as the Property Tax Assessment Act provides for the assessment being made every third year, and that as by this provision it could not be made till 1886 the whole of the legislation under the above-named Acts of last~Bession must remain ' inoperative during 1 ' the present year. Of course if these arguments were; sound, and Government allowed themselves to be intimidated, an awkward predicament would be created. But the Government of the country must be carried on, and it would be the height of absurdity to allow a deadlock in the finan.ceslof the colony such a trifling technical blunder. Any. propertyholder who would seize hold; of an off chance of that kind to evade paying, either temporarily or permanently, his just contiibutioa towards the maintenance of a government, without which the possession of property would be a precarious matter, would show spant of public spirit and great "shortsightedness, Fortunately the public have taken the sensible view of the matter by paying their taxes just as if no bungle at all had been made, and by doing so they will spare themselves and the country needless worry and expense ; because these could be the only result. Even if there had not been a perfectly proper means of escape from the difficulty, there exists one of these legislative safeguards so often introduced to meet difficulties of this kind. The 121 st section of the Property Assessment Act, 1885, does this, and thus prevents one absurdity being followed by others of a much more serious and annoying type. The clause run thus: — "Where in any unrepealed Act or enactment of the General Assembly, or in any instrument or document, reference is made to any Act or enactment hereby repealed, such reference shall be be deemed to made to this i Act or to the provisions of this Act corresponding to that of the repealed Act or enactment which is 4 referred to. " The telegrams hung fire last night, and compel us to give some of them in brief this morning. The Customs revenue at Auckland has increased. It has fallen off at Wellington as compared with the previous month. Christ-church and Dunedin also show a decrease as compared with the last eight months. There is a deficiency in the revenue of the colony as compared with the estimates of the i Colonial Treasurer. The beer duty also shows a falling off. — The Christcliurch Hospital Committee report finding the House Surgeon not in a fit state to attend to his duties. He is dismissed.— Bland and Dixon have been committed for trial. — Ballance visits Otago shortly. — Professor Black can find only traces of gold in the Pahangina quartz. — They are enthusiastic over a school of mines at Thames. A meeting of the Grey District Hospital and OharitablejAid Board was held yesterday at 12 o'clock at the Town Hall. The following members were present — The County Chair >nan (who presided), the i Mayor, Messrs Guinness, Marshall, Ryall, Foley, Clifford, Lalnnan, Sheedy, and I Cameron After considerable discussion it was decided to call for applications for the combined offices of secretary and treasurer, at a salary of £25 per annum, to be dealt with at next meeting of the Board. The Bank of New Zealand was appointed bankers to the Board. On the j motion of Mr Lahman, seconded by Mr Guinness, it was resolved to obtain from the County and Borough Councils a return of the rateable value of properties in the County and Borough, for the purpose of enabling the Board to assess the proportion payable by each body for the maintenance of the Orey River Hospital until the 31st March, 188G, being the end of the financial year. The hou. treasurer of the hospital stated that he estimated £500 would be required. The Mayor gave it as his opinion that the Benevolent Society would be able to carry on without any assistance from the Board. Messrs Gu;nness, Thomas, Clifford, and Lahman were appointed a committee to prepare bye-laws for the Board. The next meeting of the Board was .fixed for Wednesday, 6th January, 1886. - The County Council at their lasb meeting adjourned to noon on December 2. At that hour yesterday there was no

quorum, and as there wag a meeting under the Charitable Aid Act to be attended at the Borougn Council, such councillors present as are members of the Charitable Aid Committee went away to it, so that there being no quorum the clerk adjourned the meeting to nine o'clock this morning. The only really important matter calling for consideration by the Council to-day is in relation to the construction of the Arnold bridge, a dispute having arisen between the contractor and the Engineer of the County Council. It appears that while Mr Higgins wa3 away the Inspector condemned some of the bridge timber. Acting on the instructions of the Chairman, the Engineer visited the bridge, saw the condemned timber, and reported npon the condition and general progress of the work. The report is that Mr Kelly is making very good progress with the work. When Mr Higgins inspected the timber complained of (which was for the chord of the main stringer) he fourd that part of it was gone with dry rot, some was not of proper dimensions, and in some of it there was too much sap. He therefore maintained that the. Inspector had only done his duty by rejecting the timber. If timber with dry rot and too mach sap were allowed to be used the bridge would soon need to be repaired, and as the repairs would be in the long stringers the job would necessarily be of an expensive character. As he had heard it reported that the quality of the work was not as good as it was reported to be, he suggested that a committee of the Council visit the bridge and judge for themselves. They could also see the quality of the condemned timber. The volunteers will please note the alteration in Distrfct Orders, fixing 7 instead of 8 o'clock for Government parades during the month of December. This change is necessary in order to allow some men who joined late in the year to attend their requisite number of daylight parades. Messrs Hungerford and Mackay were a little unfortunate with a tolerably large shot that was fired yesterday evening. Some seven hundred pounds of powder were "exploded, but instead of the force of the charge going in the direction intended, it threw out across the road, which was completely blocked, besides breaking away a large section of the heavy stone wall between the road and the railway. The permament way is not injured in the slightest. A small size block of stone lies across one rail, while the corner of another is slightly in the way. By removing these obstructions, which could be done in half an hour, the line will be made quite clear. It will be a tougher job with . the road, but Mr M'.Kay expects to have it cleared for traffic by this evening. A line was vun up the road to the mass of stone as soon after the shot as possible, and the men and locomotive were kept hard at work all night. Leave was given by Mr Ronayne to take a crane up the railway line, srfas to get to work at the pile of stone from that direction also. It is a long?sime since a blast carried away any large portion of the wall, but such occurrences must al.vays be expected when the fjicjsLof stone .is so close to the road | arid in " this instance it was almost overhanging the road. The stone thrown out is a splendid sample, and is accompanied by very little mullock. It is to be hoped Mr McKay's expectations of having the road clear to-night may be realised. The dredge has been shifted to a fresh scene of labor, being now engaged in clearing the mouth of the canal leading ■into the lagoon, and only dredged out a couple of months ago. The only case in the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday was a solitary drunk, who had made his last appearance there eight years ago. Mr Jas. Barkley occupied the Bench. Discharging and sending a vessel away wi ! hin the one tide is more often talked about than accomplished, either here or elsewhere ; but Mr Tom Chambers and his merry men managed it yesterday afternoon, and wet the event in Host Robinson's best champagne. It appears that some time back Mr Robinson promised a bumper of champagne to the squad all round when they sent a vessel away full on the same tide that she came in, not thinking at the time that it could be so easily done. At two o'clock yesterday afternoon the s.s. Maori came in, discharged 25 tons of cargo, took in a full cargo of coal, besides a quantity of furniture and other stuff that entailed some delay, and was steaming over the bar on her way north a few minutes after six p.m., thus being only about four hours in port. She did not touch coming in although it was low water. Feels Young Again. — " My mother was afflicted a long time with neuralgia and a dull, heavy, inactive condition of the whole system, headache, nervous prostration, and was almost helpless. No physicians or medicines did her any good. Three months ago she began to use Hop Bitters, with such good effect that she seems and feels young again, although over seventy years old. — A Lady in R.I. — Look up. Doctors Gave Him Up. — Is it possible that Mr Godfrey is up and at work, and cured by so simple a remedy 1" "I assure you it is true that he is entirely cured, and with nothing but Hop Bitters, and only ten days ago his doctors gave him up and said he must die." " Well-a-day ! If that is so I will go this minute and get some far my poor George. I know hops are good." Read. — Advt. Nature is not Uniformly Generous. — To many she denies that vigor of constitution with which she blesses others. While it may not be possible to convert a weakly person into a Hercules, judicious tonic medication may, and assuredly does, infuse 1 no small amount of vigor into systems naturally destitute of it, and protects them against diseases to which they would otherwise fall a prey. The most suitable : invi^orant and protective is Udolpho Wolfe's Schiedam Aromatic Schnapps. — Advt.