INVERCARGILL JOTTINGS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume V, Issue 225, 30 January 1883, Page 2

INVERCARGILL JOTTINGS.

FBOM OTJKOWff' CORRESPONDENT. i 'The ; wool sales dispute] .about the charge of £d per 11) for delivery has continued to jjbe^ topic of printed and viva voce argument. The * Times ' defended the austioneers and Mr J. L. > McDonald,; as an intelligent outsider, took' up the case 'bf "the buyers, or rather reviewed the whole matter, concluding in the buyers' favour. He showed that the disputed charge was , inpt made ; in the majority, of markets ; that ( it was of the, nature of a second commission eiacte'd'through the buyer; that the auctioneer could not possibly be the agent both i of vendor and purchaser ; and that both commissions are virtually a tax on the producer. To this the / Times^ repljerljwith some lack of good temper, " If it were a tax on the grower, what was that to the buyer ?" Three leaders in the ' Times,' three letters from Mr M'Donald, and two long excerpts from the ' Australasian ' were as much as the subject was. worth. It appears to me an unassailable position' th^ falls on the grower. .He,) therefore, is the man to make the noise. . The . Mikiater of .Lands, was^duly bored witiyleputationa, and wenijjaway impressed with a sense of our modesty. About fourteen subjects , were brought under his notice, most of then*' of % trifling' nature. There is spinephing rotten in the state of ,. Denmark' .when a deputation had to wait oh 'a Minister about a railway crossing.'.', 'to 'enable a a settler to get on. to his land'.' ''itTs like ■ bringing a batch of " drunks "^before the Chief Ju-tice. The two subjects of greatest public interest were.'tfte'Oounty Offices andthe railway. The 1 County douricil 'did not want to be evicted'in March' next from . theold Government 1 Buildings without having where to lay its headj and it could only build on credit., Mr 'Rolleston could not give a'site to be mortgaged, but would give one upon, being satisfied 'that the Council was prepared, to build. Cold comfort! That old buildings which cost nobody anything, that save 'expenses to several public bodies, and that show, by contrast, tha progress n of VtEi^bwiii . should be destroyed to -gratify the .vanity of citizen* cannotobe:gpdd^ a country^where^ to develop, nipre. But "tfiel^fe loan has been^lsilccess^ -and -fc^ur credit is £ '.-%_ 4arl&wirjb4 k ru^bis/.y;a6n'pf^6^^|^H ticular has a fishy^smeU,^ less so as it is the .second venture <of i;; • the- 1 ; defaulter, , Like the mani in the ; jest he will pay 20s in. the &A\l hetlails often enough ; fpr he pays a shilling or two reach time.. iThe chairman of the creditors' meeting, TJdr Hatch, had occasion to remark, in his suave way, that the debtor's education had not,extended to' the first letter of the^word "' honesty," The debtor' certainly does excuse the attendance of that letter at times when it has some right to be present; but he amply compensates, by calling it in on other occasions. No doubt this peculiarity t is ', ...What.,, Mr . Hatch referred t0. . . . . It is feared that a respectable trades- a man is' also involyerl. in, the confused W smash jtist referred to, and a lot of ™ sympathy is expreised; .-' But drapers must learn not, to deal. in ; grain. ; , In another case of the fall of a respected tradesman, Dunedin • merchants have accused a local wholesale firm of persuading the debtor to keep going till he, got, in more stock .from Dunedin and of then slipping in and seizing the whole under a bill of sale. This would 'be what; the' Americans call ' smart,' but it is only one side of the story and excites the righteous indignation of the -said local firm. T , At th6 annual election bf our School Committee there was: the annual caat about Bible-in-Schools and about religious education. The praises of a | clergyman who, having -nothing else to do, has given a weekly lesson to about '.. the tenth part of the children attending the Sunday, school* of his own denomination, were duly sung. Something approaching reflection on those.jminiaters who did not. giye religious ! instruction !in the day schools" was indulged in. The ''small 'Bible-in-Schools Brigade whoMnake/ wi ( th \ the help of an old-womanish press, ' this considerable annual noise appear* not to see that the negligence complained of showed how little import- ! ance is attached to their fad by religious ' leaders. ■ • ' • i You have had a thunderstorm, we would gladly have taken half of it off your hands.; .There is quite a wateri famine in Invercargill. AH the tanks , have been dry for - weeks land 'the-very wells begin-to fail. The best 'water one sees like "the quality of mercy : is not's'trained," but it ought ! tobe,and boileditoo. It's a grand time for tankmakers and doctors, and I'm afraid th.e^ undertakers will be tha swim: ,too>x jfl That, .phrase "inatthe^ swim" W^ quite accidental and very inappropriate 1 'wh'en sneaking' ; of a ; water famiiie, but it strudk me as curious. that outmost popular-undertaker shouldf.be the leading spirit in our newAbqfc,.(prosperousswimming ..club. He, therefore, iaalways in the' J swim. '' Inveroargill, Jan. 27th, 1883. .