COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10132, 15 May 1896, Page 6

COUNTRY NEWS.

[ruQii oca OWN COREKSPONDENT.] Hamilton, Thursday. As will be seen by advertisement) in another column, Mr. John Knox will offer for sale by auction one of the moat valuable business sites in the principal street of the town of Hamilton, The sale will take place on Saturday week, the 23rd instant, by order of the Public Trustee, in the estate ot th 6 late Mr. D. Elliott, and has a frontage of 3$ feet to Victoria-street, almost immediately opposite the Post-office and Wynne's Hotel. Upon it, fronting the main street, is the shop lately occupied by Mr. Darby aj a drapery store, and in the rear of this allotment is a comfortable dwelling-house of 12 rooms, built by and occupied by the late Mr. Vialoa. There are large ntpres at the back, coachhouses, with feed-rooms and stables, 53 feet by 14 feet. The building are sufficient to carry on an extensive business. The early-closing movement is likely to become established in Hamilton. Mr. John Knox wrote to the Borough Council as follows" I have the honour to forward the enclosed requisition to the Minister for Labour, Wellington, and respectfully request your Council to takethenecessaryscepsaccordinßto the Shops and Shop Assistants Act Amendment Act, 1893. The number of the dissentients are eight, namely, Messrs. Home, Davey, Bettley, Willis, Mclnty re, Tucker, Howden, and Shedding; and the number of shops in the borough is 38, being considerably over a three fifth majority. He read the requisition, which was as follows" We, the undersigned shopkeepers in the borough of Hamilton, respectfully request that the shops situated in the borough be closed at the hour of 9 p.m. onSaturday evening in each week." Here followed 30 signatures. On the motion \ of Mr. Sandes, seconded by the chairman, it ' was resolved that the Mayor be requested to sign the requisition and for ward it to the Ministor for Labour. There voted for the mojiiou the Mayor, and Messrs. Sandes, Jones, Slide, Salmon, and GWynnes against: Messrs. Triitam, Davis, and Tippia, It is, therefore a foregone conclusion that the prayer of the petition will be granted. Ohaopo, Thursday. The committee of the Farmers' Club appointed to arrange the prize schedule fc the root show, which will be held next month, recommended the adoption of last year's schedule, with two exceptions, and this was adopted. The prize for pumpkins will now be for the best two, instead of the two heaviest, and the prize for carrots will be for the best field wrrots, instead of, as heretofore, for the best white Belgian carrots. At the suggestion of Mr, Reynolds, exhibitors of carrots will be allowed to trim the tops on the roots to within three inches of the crown. » There is now to be seen on the Hamil-ton-Ohaupo road an instance of the adviaableness of sowing the softer varieties of turnip, early in IhojioMOu, to oome iD before the swedes are ready. Some 20 acres of Aberdeen turnips were sown a day or two before Christmas, and dressed with two cwt. of bones-/ .id phosphate along with the seed, and a splendid crop is the result, although the weather has not been very favourable. Some forty head of cattle have been fed off oil it for these past six weeks, and there is still a lot of feed to be got off It, which comes in just as .the grass falls off and before the swedes are ready for feeding, NcNicol and Co. turnip sale of .cattle on Tuesday last was Weil attended. Some 700 head were yarded. Some of the Poverty Bay bullocks realised as much as £7 2s, and some big bullocks from the King Country fetched as muoli as £7 17a 6d. There was good competition for turnip cattle in forward condition, but for young stock and grown cattle in low condition there ' was but little demand. The sale altogether was a auooeaaful one, and a marked improvement

on previous ones.: The following are some of the prices realisedßullocks,' from £5 lOi to £717s 6d; heifers in good condition, £3 2s 6d; steers, £310s; ■empty cows, £3 8s; 2i year-old steers, £3 3s; small ditto, £2ls; fat cows, from £4 ICS to £5 931 18'inonthsold Hereford steersin grand conditito fetched £335. ' . - v ;• ~, y- ' Kihikmi, Thursday. The annual reunion and dinner of the oldsettlers and their friends will be held at the Star Hotel on Monday, the 23th. Complaints have been made in . former years that many worthy and bona-fide old residents were passed and not invited, while some who bav been but comparatively new arrivals have been seen at the festive board. The committee on this occasion have therefore resolved that invitations shall reach all old . identities, and that the meeting shall be in fact, as well as in name, an old settlers' reunion. ...... Mr. W. J. Hunter held his monthly eattle and produce sale on Saturday. There was, owing to the bad state of the roads, and the swollen condition of the rivers in the native country, bat & small rooster of cattle. Prodace, furniture, drays, and farm implements were well represented, and met with a ready sale, The auctioneer notified the settlers attending that during the _ winter lie would only hold his sales here bi-monthly, as bad roads and high floods prevented both Euro* peans and natives bringing cattle and produce to sale. Te Aboha. Thursday. Tho new track from the domain to the top of the Bald Spar is now completed, and is a decided acquisition to the place, providine as it does an easy access to one of the show spots of the locality. The grade is very easy, and the track has an average width of three feet all the way. There can be little doubt that this track will be a great attraction to visitors, as it has already become decidedly popular with the residents. Large numbers have availed themselves of the opportunity to go to the top and enjoy the magnificent view of the surrounding country which can be obtained from that position. The Domain Board intend approaching the Government for an additional grant to enable them to carry the l track to the trig station, which is about 500 feet higher up. Owing to the nature of 2the country this would not be an expensive undertaking. It is estimated that the work could be done for well under £15, and the unrivalled view which could then be obtained would be well worth the money spent. The season which has just closed has been a most successful one in the matter of visitors. The baths were of course the principal attraction, and were freely used. Much inconvenience was experienced by visitors in getting bathing facilities on account of tie generally crowded state of the baths. With a vew to remedying this the Domain Board has determined to make i additional provision in that connection before next season. They have decided to make a substantial addition to the number of private baths, and with that end in view plans and estimates are being prepared.

RoToaoA, Thursday. The article in lust Saturday's Herald commenting on the insanitary condition of the town has been widely read here, and needless to say, universally approved. That we have been disgracefully neglected by the Government in the matter of sanitary arrangements is patent to anyone who visits the town, and if the present conditions are allowed to continue, there will be a general exodus from the place before long. The Town Board being a nominee body, is not a popular one— Rood they achieve is passed over in silence, and their faults are magnified and not allowed to be forgotten. Their action in leasing the Board paddock to the proprietors of the hotels here, to be used by them as & receptacle for the sewage of their homes has roused not only those living in the vicinity of the creek, which, it ( is anticipated, will be contaminated, but the residents generally, to a state of frenzy. Petitions against the utilisation of the paddock for any such purpose have been largely signed, and telegrams have been seat to the Government asking them to intervene.

Although the season is virtually over, there are still a few tourists about, and the ooach proprietors are still kept pretty busv, The bath returns compare very favourably with last year, the total amount'received being £502 8s 9d, being £6719s 6d in excess of last year. The Bishop of Waiapu arrived here, via Taupo, at the end of last week, and preached in the Anglican Church on Sunday. He left yesterday for Maketu, and will also visit Te Puke and Tauranga, revisiting this place on his way back to Napier.

PUKEKOHE. The Literary and Debating Society met on the sth inst. 'at 7.30 p.m., Mr. Maun, vicepresident, in the chair. After the routine business Mr. D. Russell was called upon to read_ a paper upon "Burke's Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful." Burke's chief arguments as to the causes of the sublime and beautiful were briefly set forth. A very animated discussion ensued. Several speakers took exception to the essayist's idea that terror was the principal cause of the sublime. Messrs. Laßoche, Pulman, and Brooke contended that smoothness was not an essential property of beauty, and crazy-work and a landscape were evidenced in support of the contention. Almost all the critics dissented from Burke's argument that proportion is not essential to beauty. Mr. Blackwell Quoted a hostile criticism from Chambers' Encyclopedia, and said some of the causes of beauty were proportion, order, harmouy, and perfection. The essayist was also criticised bv Messrs. Crawford - , McDonald, and Mann, after which Mr. Russell replied. He said that in his opinion some points had been made against the author of the famous " Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful." At the next meeting of the society Mr. Laßoche is to read a paper on " Optics, "-f A Correspondent.}