Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9131, 13 August 1888, Page 4

Our cab 1 messages this morning state that the Tibetans are making gi-«u preparations for attacking the British position. Ail attempts to arrange peace have failed, and it now appears as if operations on a and costly scale were inevitable. Fru'u South Africa it is reported that Diniziu and one thousand followers are aoout m cross over into the Transvaal. Maxwdi, who murdered a-young Englishman it i:. Louis and was subsequently arrested on board the mail stx-aiiur at this note. ';.• been executed. He made a confession of Licrime. The London publisher of ZoL-.-. '''realistic novels" has got into trouble, proceedings having been taken against lib en the ground that these Looks are ir.dectt., Amongst the through passengers to Europe by the Mariposa is his Excellent M. Nouet, lately Governor of the IVenca penal colony of .New Caledonia, who is returning to France, accompanied by his wire and family. The Telegraph Department advises:— "Chinese land lines beyond Newekwang interrupted. Xo messages for Japan via Corea can be forwarded/"' Mr. Frederick Tomlinson has been nominated for the seat in the Parnell borough Council to fill the vacancy caused by tiie resignation of Mr. Dewes. Mr. Tomiiu.-on is an old resident in Parnell, and we havf no doubt he will make a very useful rucai ber of the Council. At the examination of the Royal Aeaclem) of Music in March last, Miss Flora L. Power was one of the successful candidates and is therefore an associate of the R.A.JI Miss Flora Power is a daughter of .Mrs. E. H. Power, of Parnell. She is a New Zealander by birth, having been born at the Thames goldfields in the year 1870. and was educated at Ffarington College, Blackpool, and Moseley College, Birmingham. She took first-class honours at Trinity College, London, in 1886. The Thames footballers, who played a match with the Auckland representatives at Epsom on Saturday, returned to the Thames by the s.s. Rotomahana, which left yesterday afternoon at four o'clock. About lot) persons witnessed their departure, ant! as the vessel steamed out from the whan the cheers which were given by the visitor; were returned by those on shore. During a visit to the Okoia Factory Mr. McCallum, the dairy expert, said that the cheese made is too strong, and is kept until it is too old. For the English market, which should always be kept in view, vm cheese should be quite new—should, in fact, be shipped as soon after it is made a: it will hold together. During the last ten years or so women and children have bo come to a much greater extent cheese eaters, and they naturally prefer comparatively new and mild cheese, the result beuij that a great change has come over the E&g lish market. A carbine contest for a medal presented by Bandmaster Hunter, and for money prizes, took place at the Mount Eden riiw range on Saturday afternoon amongst the members of the Artillery Band. Some very fair scores were made, and a pood deal ot interest was shown in the match. Band--man Jas. Lepine won Bandmaster Hunter; medal and 10s, Sergeant Reed won the second prize (a chest of tea presented by Captain Geddes), and Bandsman G. Wright won the third prize (a silver Maltese cross presented by a member of the band). The creditors of A. Crawford, bankrupt, met on Saturday morning at the Otheia Assignee's office. The debtor, in answer to questions, said he borrowed £35 from Major Lusk about fifteen months ago to met" some bills. The promissory note for tne money was backed by his brothei'-in-la and witness had paid Major Lusk *■■* . per quarter since the note was made. } ''■ list of his debts had been made outworn memory, and might be incorrect. " UU i'l had never purchased 100 acres of land either directly or indirectly. The meeting i* 33 adjourned till the 17th instant, no resolution having been arrived at. A meeting of the Auckland Institute is advertised to be held in the Museum biasings this evening at eight o'clock, tfn Mr. Pond will give a lecture on '" l nt Chemistry of Agriculture." We nnder stand that the lecturer will deal fully vnw the composition of the soils of the rov " cial district, pointing out what constitue are required for successful pl'= r0 * _> what are easily exhausted, or not often . p t[l> sent in sufficient amount, and what; l-v, best means of supplying them. "he al --V tability of certain classes of soils to c ?" yj crops will also be touched upon, ami u be pointed out how the range of our :~ cultural products may easily be e«en .- The subject is one with which Mr. r °" hat known to be familiar, and we feel sure, the audience will be large. The first of a series of three came _«J shows, under the auspices of tne . _ Horticultural Society, was held on *• day at the Newmarket Public Hall, aa« highly successful, the show oi « . n< flowers, fruit, and vegetables being did, and the financial results lair > « , d The second show of the series wl "? on Saturday at the Drill-shed, an.l W* on the following Saturday at the ro - HalL

""™Tfollowing Auckland patents have .„,. applied for during the week John r'inno'n Vaile, of Auckland, gentleman, and V m Rinnon Vaile, junr., surveyor, for file's Stent Self Counter-sinking crew Joseph James Macky, of Auckland for an improved form of metal pen, to be called the " Marriage Pen."

The Borough of Hamilton finds itself in peculiar position. The Waikato News * , ._" In the hey-day of W. A. Grahamism we raised a loan of £6000 at 5$ per cent. interest. We wiped out bank overdrafts incurred in cutting gorse and forming byeroads in back streets, the localities of which are scarce known to the oldest inhabitants ; we built public baths above high water mark ; fenced and improved Domain lands mid let them to tenants, who rival the Parnellites of the " ould counthry " in their antipathy to rent-paying, and managed to get rid of £'2000 out'of the £0000 we borrowed. But the remaining £4000 what fIi.iII we do with it The'' public buildings' have turned out to be veritable chateaux d'Espagne, and the money for which till last week we got 5 per cent., now lies at fixed deposit for another term at 4J tier cent, per annum."

"An Old Salt" sends us a letter in regard to the naval and military land claims. He says that they only claim their honest rights, and have to thank those gentlemen who voted in their favour, and accuses those ho voted against them of ingratitude to those who had fought and bled on the blood-stained battlefield. They had bled freely for the country, and made its roads, and enabled those who voted against them to ride and walk about in peace and safety. Agitation would never cease on the subject until their rights had been given to them, and he asks if those who voted against them would like their salaries put back until next time as their claims had been. Yesterday a week of special services was begun at St. John's Wesleyan Church, l'onsonby Road, when sermons were pleached" morning and evening by the Rev. K. Bavin and the Rev. C. H. Garland respectively to good congregations on both occasions. " To-night, at half-past seven, the Rev. E. Best and the Rev. J. S. Hill will give discourses : to-morrow (Tuesday). the Rev. E. Best and Mr. A. C. Brown ; on Wednesday evening, the Rev. C. H. tiarland and students from Three Kings College : on Thursday evening, the Rev. C. ]i. Garland and " a converted Jewess" will i-oeak : on Friday evening, the Rev. E. Best and Mr. Hanson : while on Saturday ; evening a fellowship meeting will be held. fcvtiikey's hymns are to be used at the ser- \ ices, and that the hard times shall be no obstacle, it has been decided to take up no collection. From the interest taken at the services yesterday, it- is anticipated much good will be done.

On Tuesday evening last a meeting of the Swan«on village settlers was held at the house of Mr. Mettam. Mr. Brown, one of the settlers, presided, when the following resolutions were agreed on : —" 1. That a iremorial should be drawn up, signed, and "resented to Mr. Percy Smith, asking him to use his influence to get ' relief works' set on foot for die settlers of the district," '"2. That a deputation of three of the villagers should wait on Sir George Grey, on iris arrival in Auckland from Wellington, to lay before him their position and wants, UTid to ask his advice and assistance."' '• M. That a letter of thanks should be sent to Mr. Monk, M.H.R., for his services in presenting to the House of Representatives the settlers' petition." From statements made at the meeting we learn that gum is scarce and low in price, and the men have enough to do to live, and find difficulty in gathering their rent money. They have had little help beyond their £'20 for house .hiding. They are bothered much with cattle straying also. These eat up in a night the fruits of the settlers' labour for a year or two, and the law is such that unless they have -i legal"' fences, which are far too expensive for them to erect, they can get no redress.

Miss Kells, who for the last ten and ahalf years has occupied the position of assistant teacher of the Paninure public school, being about, to leave the employment of the Board of Education, intends to give an entertainment to the children and parents on the 31st inst.. before severing her connection with the school.

We take the following from a late copy of the West Australian —" A gentleman who has just returned from Golden Valley has favoured us with a few of toe impressions he gathered during his visit. Be considers it a wonderful place, abounding in reefs, many of which from their appearance will be very rich. Like every one else who visits the fields, he was greatly impressed with the value of theColreavy reef, and also thinks very highly of Clarkson's reef, but he is quite certain from what he both saw and heard, that these are not the only rich ones. He expects that a good deal or trouble will arise shortly in connection with many of the claims held up there. Men are already on the look - out for promising-looking ground, and when once vii- water difficulty has been overcome, it is not improbable that many of the claims will be jumped. Their want of water is at present very great, and he says the Government should take immediate steps to remedy this. More money is urgently required, and additional men should be employed in sinking for water, and to no all that is necessary for placing an adequate supply within the reach of the miner?. Should this not be done before the rush, which many anticipate the workings of the next few weeks will bring about, the results will be disastrous. He was also very much impressed with the suitability of the country for pastoral purposes, but there is. however, so much salt there, that some facilities for watering stock will be necessary before it can be settled or used for pastoral purposes. He thinks the country i- similar to that of the eastward of Victoria Mains, and believes, in consequence, that sold will, by-and-bye, be found in that locality also."'

A Taieri paper lias the following : — li V-=. I've been working on the Otago Central; one of the 'unemployed,' employed at 4< 6d a day. Live on it'.' No, ye live on rabbits. How did we catch 'tin? Easy enough. The country is so rough there that the rabbits dare'ntrun for f'icr of slipping and tumbling into the Taieri. You never saw such rough country. There's not level ground enough for a man to stand on to eat his dinner. I got used to hanging on with both hands whilst at work, rather took a fancy to it; but 1 got tired of rtbbit. Boiled with onions in a kerosene tin they are quite nice for a time —but rabbit-and-onion stew twenty-one times a week got to be too much of a good thing. I tell you I got ashamed l " look a rabbit in the face, and used to hide behind a rock whenever I -aw one coming along. Central Otago Weather is as rough as the country, or rougher. The first day I saw out it rained like a waterspout, the wind split my tent to smithereens, and I had to camp under a wheelbarrow. When it's not blowing a s?ale or raining it's freezing, and you can't nave a lire there. Can't afford it. Newcastle coals cost 10s a bag, and none of us had 10s : would not have spent it in that sort of fuel if we had. For cooking ? Oh, there's some scrubby little broom there, "'"'H two feet high, as thick as a pipe -tela, and a handful to the acre. You may ?'';•' the country's cleared ready for settlement, as far as that's concerned, for miles round the camp. Fine days we carried the billy along over the top of tussocks, and set hre to them, and everybody goes out on Sundays to hunt for scrub that had been missed before. Certainly the railway should be made, to give the rabbits a Chance to travel into decent country." •A dress rehearsal of "The Pirates of Penzance" was held at the Opera House on Saturday evening last. The dresses and scenery were much admired, and the soloists and chorus acquitted themselves to {•fie entire satisfaction of the management. Jl ie orchestra were in excellent time and tune, and reflect great credit on Heir Carl '-tii-iiitt, who has spared neither time nor trouble with them. The opening performance on Wednesday evening next would be an unqualified success.

he rinks on Saturday night drew good nouses all round, both of skaters 'and onlookers. The fixtures for this week are ft three-mile handicap race at the Columbia to-night, and a five-mile engagement of rrofessor Rollinson, the champion trick D'cyele rider "of the world," at the same Hi, . The . Caledonian rink . St. Benedict's al has fixtures a juvenile fancy dress primal on the 25fch ' and an adult carnival i > the 2Sth. In connection with the rinks, »tootball match is to take place at Potter's nock to-morrow, between teams picked UOto the Columbia and Eureka rinks.

e The best paying railways in Queensland n are those connected with the goldfieldH— d Charters Towers in the North, and Gympie ' r in the South. Those which chiefly carry 0 wool and agricultural produce, having : " further to go for traffic, do not show such ° good results. The returns, however, are better for 1887 than for 18S6, as the great p industries of the colony have partially re- .„ covered from the severe droughts of 1885-6. In the Maranoa district the sheep num- :" bered 1,000,000 in 1883, but only 413,728 '' in 1885, while the total for 1887 was ," 1,300,000, indicating a wonderful recovery j in three years. The rate of interest yielded by the railways as a whole is ' stated by the Brisbane Courier, in its , comments on the Commissioners' report, to be a " diminishing quantity," having 1 fallen from £4 4s I'd in 1883 to £2 '2s GM in 1886, and £1 ISs Id in 1877. A fall is inevitable, because as the lines are ext tended they penetrate into more thinlypopulated districts ; ..and, as the returns from the gold fields lines prove, you must have population along the route to obtain ~ paving results. 1 " The sole redeeming feature of the present session,'" says the Wellington Press, '•is its comicality. It has been not merely futile from the point of view of the public ', interest*, but. extremely mischievous. It has been so horribly dreary, as regards the ' i debates, that the oldest liafntuin of the gal- ' lenes are changing their habits in disgust. ; They declare they cannot stand the twaddle j and mumbling and tomfoolery that goes on for hours and hours and hours. Even the ' members themselves, who do not usually like to admit that the whole thing is a degrading farce, candidly confess that this session, what with a Government without a ! tail, an Opposition without a head, parties ! without any sides, and no business brought forward which is not squared or compromised outside, the tone of the House has ? just, about reached its lowest level. We > have never before known Ministers, mem- - bcrs, officers, visitors, and observers so unanimous in their expressions of contempt 1 for the New Zealand Parliament as they are i this session." Concluding, it says :" ' Alice in Wonderland ' is sober sense compared to the session of 1888." The following important extract from a letter from Messrs. Edward Stavenhagen and Co., London, is published by the Christchurch Press :—" Since our mutual friend, Mr. Kummcrer, gave you Ids opinion on tine wools, things have altered materially. There have been great changes in fashion and machinery. The class of fleeces washed, short-grown wool, which was once all the go, is now totally neglected. Wools like XE (in diamond), even if they got back to their old style, would, not command such prices in relation to others as they used to be in former times. The wool which is in favour ami likely to remain so, is a tine, elastic combing wool—it need not be too long; and if, with the help of your tine sheep, assisted by the good soil and climate of New Zealand, you can produce a wool of medium length (if rather more than medium length it will be all the better), tine, sound, and elastic, you will have the article which is required. You must- shear in the grease, as greasy wools command the best conipeti tion. Fleece washed wools have from year to year become worse of sale, and are a drug in the market. We wrote years ago to the late Mr. C. K. Cox to the same effect, but Mudgee was not the country to produce combing wool, but New Zealand is. A very enjoyable social re-union was held in Wake's Hall, Mount Eden, on Friday evening. The chief feature of the proceedings was the presentation to Mr. and Mrs. H. Waite, by the members of the weekly assembly, of a beautiful album containing the photos of the members. Mr. J. Wilson made the presentation, which was suitably acknowledged by Mr. Waite. Dancing was then commenced, and continued until morning, Mr. <;. Wilson being M.C., whilst Messrs. MeComish contributed the music. Refreshments were supplied by Mr. Johnstone. During the evening Miss Wilson rendered two songs very creditably, ami gained loud applause. The hall was tastefully decorated. The annua! concert and social of the ' Artillery Band will be held to-night at the i City Hall, under the patronage of Lieutenant i Colonel Shepherd ami the officers of the i Volunteer force, the Fire Brigade, and i other.-. An excellent musical programme : has been arranged for the occasion, including band selections from popular operas, songs by our leading amateurs, including; -Messrs. J. Knox and T. M. Jackson. Miss Harris, Mrs. Hunter, and other ladies. A violin solo will be played by Master Walton, and Mr. \\ ebb's class will ' play the " Eakoczy March" as a piano { quartette. A feature of the conceit will be 1 the performance of the valse," Gipsy Bride" ( (Metcalfe), said to be one of the most beauti- , ful valses composed. In the interval the , medal and other prizes won at Saturday's J contest at the Mount Eden Rifle Range will ( be presented. A dance will follow the j concert, and Captain Geddes, of the "A" , Battery, and Lieutenant Smith, of the i Auckland Navals, will officiate as M.C. } Volunteers have the permission of Colonel ( Shepherd to appear in uniform on the occa- . sion. ' The usual Saturday evening meeting at ] the Temperance Hall in Albert-street again { drew a large attendance. The chair was taken by Mr. Chatwin, who opened the proceedings with a few pertinent remarks. A . short address was also given by Mr. J. Jenkins, while the evening's entertainment was provided by the Mar.-on family and Mr. Allen. There were five persons in the lock-up last evening charged with drunkenness ; a 1 case of disobeying an order of Court under ] the Destitute Persons Act, 1877 ; and Thos. } Clothbridge, charged with stealing a piece of beef from Messrs. Fisher and Co.'s butcher's shop in Queen-street. i Messrs. Saigood, Son and Ewen have now re-marked the extensive stock of Messrs. Owen and Graham, which they recently purchased at a heavy discount off landed cost. The sale will commence on Wednesday morning Jic.\:, in the premises of Messrs. Owen 1 and Graham, Queen-street. The goods will li be offered to the trade in .suitable lots, and t at such prices as will command a ready clearance. > o