COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9032, 19 April 1888, Page 6

COUNTRY NEWS.

[FROM OUR own CORRESPONDENTS.]

Hamilton, Wednesday,. Farmers are beginning to accept present low rates for wheat, and Waikato mills will soon be full stocked. That of Messrs. Knox and Ridler is going night and day, but will be stopped on Friday to allow of a complete set of new silks being put in. Colonel Forbes, though but a few months since he was formally gazetted, has resigned his commission as Honorary LieutenantColonel of the Hamilton Rifle Volunteers, the department having come to the determination not to allow field officers of the Imperial service to hold _ these positions in connection with the colonial volunteer force. The question of the erection of the public buildings is again occupying a considerable amount of public attention here, and much surprise lias been expressed that the Mayor and Council did not interview the Minister of Public Works on the subject when he was here last week, but left it for one or two councillors in their individual capacity to talk to him upon the matter. That we are on the eve of a great mining boom along the whole' line of the Thames and Coromandel Peninsula is the general opinion, and i such an event will bring an, enduring prosperity to the whole Waikato district. .If these . buildings are to go up, now will of course be the time to build them before higher prices set in, and now that Mr. Mitchelson has advised the expenditure of a sum of £2500 for wooden, instead of one of £5000 for brick or concrete buildings, and the Government is still prepared to give the £1000 and the site as its share of the cost, people who objected to the expenditure of the larger amount are loudly asking why the Borough Council is so supine about the matter. The loss of Mr. Graham from the Mayoral seat was never more regretted than it is now. Huntly, Wednesday. Nothing to lead to the solution of the mysterious disappearance of the money-bag from the guards' van of the train, which took place a week ago at this station, has yet been found. The acting stationmaster here on the occasion referred to, stated that he placed the leather bag now missing in its proper place in the van, and obtained a receipt for the same from Mr. Such, the guard. Later on, however, when the latter looked for the bag it was not to be found. Inquiries have been made by the police into the matter, but hitherto no evidence, it is understood, has been obtained to throw light upon the occurrence. Te Awamutu, Wednesday. Full trains up and empty down from Te Kuiti, and the prediction made during a recent official visit that when the present traffic caused by line construction ceased, the grass would choke up the rails, points to the desirability of opening up a traffic which would be an inestimable boon to Waikato, in quarrying and bringing down as ballast the inexhaustible supplies of rich limestone which arc obtainable upon the line itself within the working distance already traversed. Whether the stone were burned upon the spot, and the lime in its manufactured state brought into Waikato, or whether the stone and the coal were brought to some central position in Waikato, practical men say that the lime could be manufactured at a price which would enable it to be used over a large area of the Waikato district. If Waikato is to become an extensive wheat-producing district (and despite low prices ruling there is nothing better than wheat - growing that farmers can turn their attention to) lime will be found a most important factor in the production of heavy crops and the best quality of grain. For our orchardists it would prove invaluable.

[BY TKLEGEAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENTS. ] Rotokua, Wednesday. The lecture given by Major Dane last night, "Up the Rhine and over the Alps with a Knapsack," created a most pleasing and lasting impression on the large audience which turned out to hear him. Mr. Glover, the Alliance temperance advocate lectures to-night.