THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARGE 6, 1886.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5438, 6 March 1886, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARGE 6, 1886.

The Sheep Act is a very necessary measure. It has'done a great deal of good in the colony. At the time it was passed many runholders had fallen into a careless way of managing their stock, and scab was prevalent, especially in the North Island, where there were many aboriginal woolgrowers, who are notoriously careless in the management of their flocks. But even in this Island all the European runholders could not show a clean sheet. The one exceptional place in the colony in respect to sheep raising and wool-growing is this coast. We do not raise mutton enough for home consumption. The bulk of the muttnn consumed here either comes from Canterbury overland, or is shipborne from Wanganui. Until veiy recently no difficulty had arisen between importers and the Sheep Inspector. The whole of Canterbury is a clean district, and according to the Act sheep can be travelled from the one coast to the other without being subjected to any precautions ia the shape of dipping, and are at once a marketable commodity to be bought, sold, or exchanged without let or hindrance. A difference, however, is made in regard to sea-borne sheep, even when taken from one clean district to another, though why any difference should be made is not easy to understand. For instance, Wanganui district is as free from scab, or sheep infection of any kind, as any part of the colony. Indeed we may say that with the exception of one run the whole of New Zealand is now free from scab ; and in a month or two even that exception will no longer exist, as the cleaning of that particular run has been taken in hand by Government. Yet, singular to say, every sheep landed here from Wanganui is religiously inspected ; and if the butcher who buys it should not have occasion to slaughter it within ten days he must, under a penalty of one hundred pounds, effectually dip it to the satisfaction of the Inspector. It does not matter that the sheep have been imported solely for slaughtering purposes, that they have not been traveled, and are not likely to be, that the district is not a sheep farming one in any sense of the word, and that there can therefore be little or no danger from infection — the Act provides a certain form to be gone through, and the local Sheep Inspector will haye the Act to its very letter. Responsible officers in his position are always invested with certain discretionary power. The most perfect Act that ever was framed will not provide for every contingency, and in some instances the enactment may be so harsh as to go beyond even what was intended by its framers. In such cases it is the business of the officer entrusted with its administration to exercise a wise discretion, and, while seeing that the principle and spirit of the Act are given effect to, to take care thntit is not made a hindrance to the

legitimate scope of trade and an instrument of injustice. This is the view of the law which we should like to see Mr Knyvett take and put into practice, but which we fear he does not do. Since his advent on this coast he has been as a new broom, only that he seems to be constantly oppressed ' with the idea that he is not sweeping clean enough. He has in consequence been a constant source of annoyance and anxiety to our butchers, who must get rid of all their sheep in ten days under penalty of having to dip all that may remain on their hands ; and after sheep have been dipped it is not considered safe to kill them for another period of ten days or a fortnight. At any rate if it was known that butchers did so, their customers would not care to partake of the mutton. The sheep may be carefully penned irom the time they leave the ship until they are wanted to be slaughtered— indeed they usually are so treated— so that there can be no danger of infection ; but the Inspector is obdurate : there is no reference to such a contingency in the Act, and dipped they n?ust be at the end of the ten days. Our local slaughtermen have complained bitterly for sometime back of this rigid enforcement of the Act as be'ng wholly unnecessary and entirely opposed to common sense, but without any relief. Although working under an Act passed in 1878, it is only within the last fe.v months that the importers and exportera of sheep have met with any difficulty s ich as th t referred to ; but M> Knyvett solaces himself with the reieciion that he is the only Inspcto • that has been on this coast who hai r< 3 his duty properly. Farmers at Wang vi ask how it is that they can send their sleep to Westport and elsewhere w?jhout being subjected to such a stringent interpretation of the Act as they have to contend against here ; and, if we arenbtnuV i formed, representations on the subject hay? been made at headquarters. _ It is of course canned out in the interests of the public absolutely esseny 1 that the law should be whenever necessary, but when it is unnecessary, against common sense, and opposed to the interests of the public in every way, it seems to us that whoever is entrusted with its administration would act wisely in not too strenuously enforcing what strictly speaking ought to be regarded as a dead letter.

A meeting of the Licensing Committee was held at noon yesterday for the purpose of electing a Chairman for the ensuing twelve months. Present — Messrs Lahman (chairman), Matheson, Walton, Arnott Hildebrand. Mr Hildebrand moved that Mr Arnott be appointed chairman. Before there was time to second the motion Mr Arnott said he must decline to stand, and immediately proposed that Mr Walton be appointed chairman, stating that his reason for doing so was, that he thought the honor of being chairman should be given to those elected in rotation. Of the four members re-elected three of them had already occupied the position. Mr Matheson seconded, and the motion was declared carried. Mr Lahman, before vacating the chair, briefly returned thanks to the members of the Licensing Committee for the assistance they had rendered him during the twelve months just expired in dealing with licensing matters. The chair was then assumed by Mr Walton. The only business before the new bench was an application from Mr W. J. Coates for the transfer of his bottle license from the premises situated on Richmond Quay to his store in Werita street. This was granted, and the Committee adjourned. The following telegram, received recently by the Minister of Mines from Warden Kenrick, at the Thames, has been placed at our disposal : — " The natives who have been obstructing prospecting operations in the King Country have finally given way. They took the prospectors to Wahanui, and he settled the difficulties. The obstructionists are now acting as guides, and prospecting proceeds without hindrance. A discivery that promises to be of importance has just been made in Ohinemuri country, about £pven miles from Whangamala, on the East Coast. The locality is new. About 20 men are on the ground. They tell me a well-defined reef, producing 2oz. to the ton, has been proved from their claim."

The "Called Back" Company arrive here from Reefton by special coach tomorrow evening, and make their first appearance at the Public Hall on Monday evening.

Cricketers are requested to muster in force this afternoon on the Camp Reserve at 2 o'clock. Sides will he chosen on the ground. It is probable that the Hokitika players will contest another match for Griffen and Smith's Cup next Saturday

Mr Service lately rpceived the following telegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in ronly to the address of the council for the atest official information as to the state of affairs in Samoa and Raiatea : — "No chancre in Samoan affairs. German Government has recently renewed assurance that it adheres st-pad-fastlv to undemanding between Germany, Englanvl, and United States, by which each p'wer is pledged respectively to th« other not to endeavor to acquire any privilege in group without consent of others. United States have also objected to any interference with existing arrangement. As to Raiaten, it is provisionally agreed that the French flag shall remain, subject to the stipulation that British ships and traders shall have equal footing with the French in Society Islands. These islands could at no time since 1847 have come under British flag. — Stagey."

Says Puff in the Wellington Evening Press : — " Did you go to the Conversazione last night ? Of course I did ! It was very amusing, but jolly hot! Why was it amusing 1 Oh, the way people went on ! The funny ideas some of them have ! As how 1 Things one would rather have left nnsaid : Mrs Leo. Hunter, on being introduced to Cardinal Moran : "Where are you staying, your Eminence? I should like to call on Mrs Moran ! " Tableau !

Skill in the Workshop. — To do good work the mechanic mustf have good health. If long hours of confinement in close rooms have enfeebled his hand or dimmed his sight, let him at once, and before some organic trouble appears take plenty of Hop Bitters. His sytem will be rejuvenated, his nerves stengthened, his sight become clear, and the whole constitution be built up to a higher working condition. Read. — Advt. v:

Strange Insubordination.— Who has not experienced a sort of malady when all the faculties Beam in rebellion, and

labor is absolutely impossible 1 It is a condition of nerves and stomach and brain that can only be cured by the use of that irresistiblgrjremedy. Hop Bitters. Read. — Advt.