DISTRICT NEWS RICHMOND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 85, 11 April 1902, Page 4

DISTRICT NEWS RICHMOND.

BOROUGH COUNCIL. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Richmond Borough Council was" hem on Tuesday, BUI inst,, at /dv p.m. Present : The Mayor _ (Mr Talbot), in the chair, Crs Molesworth, Harkness, Hunt, Higgs, Mttall, Croucher, Papps, ana Sheat. : The minutes of the last ordinary. meeting, and of two. special meetings, were reaa and confirmed. 1 Accounts were submitted as folows .—General, £21 5s 3d ; water-: works interest £75 ; water supply, £2 10s 6d. It was resolved that these be passed for payment. Two letters from the Secretary of the Nelson Hospital and Charitable Aid Board were read :•• one asJiing to be furnished with the rateable value of the borough ; the other notifying that the Board had apportioned the sum of £65 as the contribution of the borough for the present year. A circular from the Town Clerk, Sydenham, was read with reference to the high charges made by the Valuation Department for preparing and revising Valuation Rolls, and asking to be furnished with a return showiaig the cost of such under the present and former systems.— lt was resolved that the information wanted be supplied. A memorandum from the ValuerGeneral was read, asking to be advised of the date on which the general rate for the present year would be struck ; also that the valuation roll be forwarded for correction—The Town Clerk reported that both requests had been com-' plied with. A telegram from the Postmaster General, dated 25th March, was read, stating that he had on that date attended at the laying of the New Zealand end of the new Pacific cable at Doubtless Bay ; and referring to the advantages which he trusted would result from the completaion of that work. A letter from Mr Frank Shaw, Blenheim, was read, calling attention of the Council to a preparation manufactured by him for the destruction of small birds— lt was resolved that Cr Higgs be appoint ed a delegate toconfer with adjaccent local bodies, and to endeavour to arrange that a simultaneous effort be made throughout the dis- j trict for the destruction of these pests. A letter from the Town Clerk was read, resigning his office, and ) referring to the uniform kindness and support which he had received from the present and previews Councils during his 12 years' tenure of the post.— lt was resolved that the resignation be accepted with regret,, and that a successor to Mr Blair be advertised for. " The Town Clerk was authorised to appoint a deputy returning officer for the approaching election of Mayor. It was resolved that the' dupli. cate keys of the office safe he deposited in the Bank of New Zealand. The Cemetery Committee were authorised tohave some flowering .shrubs planted during the coming season. A special meeting was held thereafter, when it was resolved that the resolution of the special meeting of March 11th, levyibg the water rate for the current year, be confirmed.

An Auckland SAwmiller who passed through Wei ington on his-ju-ay back from Melbourne and Sydney, expresses tbe opinion to the Wellington " Post " that the impopil ion by our Government of an export duty on white pine logs and fii'chos i 3 in the best interests of tho New Zaaland timber industry, as it will have the effect of stopping the sending away of baulk timber I o tie cut in Australia for butter-boxes. During the past few months a considerable quantity of white pine in baulk lias been exported <o Melbourne and Sydney/ which has meant that the profit on the labour of sawing it into retail sizes has gone to Australia instead of to New Zealand. During his visit to Australia the Auckland miller made a close examination of Queensland pine, the use of which for buttei-boxes has beon advocated of late by certain members of the Federal Parliament. He says that the pine grown in Queensland very closely resembles kauri in appearance, and in his opinion it is almobt as durable. Its market price is nearly as great aa that of kauri, and he' cannot therefore see how it can compete with New Zealand white pine, the price of which is so much lees.

It was stated in a recent number of the Melbourne "Argus " that Mr Beddon had sent another "Btronglyi'worded" telegraphic message to tbe State Premier proposing that the colonies shou d unite in an attempt to have the army meat contracts revised. He urged Mr feacock to point tut that the colonial producers couid not compete with the foreign meat supplies of Argentina produced by cheap labour, and to say that the sacrifices already made by the colonies and the further sacrifices which they were prepared to make on behalf of the Empire entitled them to consideration at the - hands of the Imperial Government. Mr Peacock, it is refreahing to notice, did not qnjte agree with the tone of this meeage,- lie cabled to Sir Andrew Clarke asking him to co-operate with (ho Agents Generaf °^ t Qe other Mates in securing a revision of tbe contract. Mr Peacock, however, asked Sir Andrew to point out especially on behalf of the Victorian Government tLat it did not desire the revision on the grounds of the sacrifices that the State had made for tbe Empire, bat simply because ib was belie red that it would ba better to keep all the trade possible within the Empire itself.

The fact lhafc New Zealand barristers aro from practising in the English Courts was the cause of a deputation to tbe Premier from the Law Sociefcj at Wellington. jlc H. D. Bell. President of the New Zealand Council, asked Mr Seddon to use his influence to obtain reciprocity between England and New Zealand in the practice of the law, Mr Bell added that the legal profession had no objection, if the L gisature saw fit to amend the statute, to doing away hvth the necessity for the e^amintion oa oar laws of English practitioners wishing to be admitted to practice in this colony, A correspondent of the Napier '• Daily Telegraph/ writing from Hatuma, the ost a te in Hawses Bay acquired by the Government ' f ro m Mr Potves .Russell, says: "A few settlers, have been greatly disappoint with their sections and with thfk sh^P not thriving so well as expected. We Q ? ot >. m # ai ? E . n £ lisb, made a i iv ing during the last 11 months at Hatnmv ' rbe la ?t **?"?* quickly in hot w eathe^*°? a £ m fh the grass gets green at on <* in wet weather. Itisafinefclean.op^c 01 " 1^ and °° obnoxioua Veedstoan n <>y U8 at P^senb. Jnst too many of the n »* lye & r&3 ?*t aad not enough ot the sweeter bnglish one 8 for our sheep. Cattle and horses do well here. We want mor" of the former and less sheep, more green «°P 8 and subdividing fences in the iutnwj, when we bard- worked settlors oona n "«»» taei n.'