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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5557, 20 January 1879, Page 2

The Public Works Department is now seriously obliged to face the sleeper difficulty. Large quanties are required, and advertising for tenders is almost useless, none being received in reply. The practice of obtaining hardwood sleepers from Tasmania was some time since discontinued; but owing to the impossibility of getting supplies in New Zealand, and as the only means of preventing delay in works now in progress, it is feared the Government will be obliged to send large orders out of the colony. Mr. Maoandrew, Mr. Swanson, and others have repeatedly complained of the practice of sending out of the colony for railway sleepers, but the former gentleman has now to admit that owing to the scarcity of labor in the colony we are not able to supply ourselves. It is not the •raw material that is wanted. The North Island forests are full; but the difficulty is in getting labor to work it up for market. Offers to supply a million sleepers from Tasmania have been received; and as a temporary measure to prevent absolute stoppage of one or two works approaching completion fifty thousand have meanwhile been ordered from thence.

The Taiaroa, with the English mail, arrived on Saturday at 6 p.m. There was a delivery at the private boxes, and the country portions of the mail were sorted, so as to be despatched at the earliest moment. The general delivery will take place to-day.

By a typographical error in a paragraph of our issue of Saturday it was made to appear that the City Council had resolved to carry out Olimle’s drainage scheme. It is almost needless to state that the Council entrusted Mr. Baird with the work of carrying out Clark’s scheme.

It is understood that at the next meeting of the Trust and Loan Company, which is advertised in another column, the directors will recommend a dividend at the rate of 12J per cent.

A most narrow escape from fire occurred on Saturday evening at the premises of Messrs. Robertson and Co., Phoenix Foundry, Old Custom House-street. About half-past 9 o’clock one of Messrs. Whitehead’s employes noticed a blaze on the premises referred to, and on going to see what was the matter found one side of the workshop on fire, the flames extending to the ceiling. He at once called for the assistance of Mr. Whitehead, and between them, by the aid of a small hose and a plentiful supply of water, the fire was got under. It was a narrow escape, and had the fire got a firm footing in this very closely packed neighborhood, great damage would inevitably have been done.

Councillor Fisher has given notice of the following motion for the next meeting of the Council:—“ That whereas it is provided in the deed of agreement between the Corporation and the Wellington City Tramway Company ‘That so long as the undertaking shall be used and enjoyed by the promoters, their executors, administrators, or assigns, they shall pay to the Corporation on the last day of each year a sum equal to £lO per centum, computed upon the net profits realised by the promoters, their executors, administrators, or assigns, for the use and enjoyment of the undertaking.’ And whereas it is further provided “ That so long as the business of the undertaking shall be carried on by the promoters, their executors, administrators, or assigns, the Corporation shall be at liberty, at such intervals as they shall think fit, by any person whom they shall appoint for that purpose to inspect all books of account which shall be kept by the promoters, their executors, administrators, or assigns, of their receipts, disbursements, and transactions in connection with the undertaking’—That in fulfilment of the terms of agreement above recited the Tramway Company be requested to furnish the Corporation with a statement of receipts and disbursements for the term ending with the year 1878.” A meeting of the regatta committee was held at the Pier Hotel on Saturday night, Mr. George Allan in the chair. Additional subscriptions, amounting to £l2 Bs. 6d., were handed in. Considerable discussion took place regarding the entry of the cutter Lena for the coasters race. It was at length resolved, on the motion of Mr. Hayes, seconded by Captain Hose, —That the entry be cancelled, and the entry money be returned to the owner, as in the opinion of the committee the Lena was not considered a bona fide coaster. The committee then added enough money to allow Mr. Berg, her owner, to enter his boat in the firstclass yacht race. It was suggested that at future regattas a second-class coasting race should be added to the programme ; this, however, will be considered subsequently. Captain Rose and the secretary were requested to see Captain Setten, with a view of obtaining his vessel for a flagship. Captain Holliday, who has acted as starter for the Wellington regattas for many years, informed the committee that this year he would rather that some one else undertook the task, and Captain Roberts was appointed. Captain Devitt and Mr. Coffey kindly undertook to seal the centre-boards and measure the yachts. Captains Holliday, Prater, Setten, and Messrs. Allen and Brown were appointed judges. Messrs. McDermott, L. Blundell, and Hayes consented to act asasub-committee to look after the arrangements on board the flagship. Messrs. Dransfield, jun., Moss, and Kent were appointed a wharf committee. The following charges were fixed : —To the wharf, Is.; to the flagship, 3s. fid. (including boat fare). After the places had been drawn for the different boats, the meeting adjourned. We are asked to draw attention to the advertisement of Mr. Duncan by the sale of the reclaimed land. Notwithstanding various rumours which have been in circulation, this very important sale will positively taka place on Tuesday, 4th February, at 12 o’clock sharp. It appears that the total number of sections to be offered will be 43. The site for the new Supreme Court has been wisely altered from Block vi. to Block VII. The terms of payment are now published for the first time, being a cash deposit of 15 per cent., the remainder in bills at six, nine, and twelve months, without interest. To all holders of city property the result of this sale will no doubt be watched with a very lively interest. Tenders have been called by Government for the formation of Whitmore, Featherston, Ballance, and Stout streets, also for a portion of Water-loo-quay. Mr. Francis Sidey’s auction sale of freehold properties, at the Arcade, on Saturday, was fairly attended, and the bidding slightly batter than usual of late. Mr. Sidey reports actual sales as follows :—Cottage, in Tory-street, to Mv. Williams, for £230; four-roomed dwellinghouse in Donald McLean-street, to Mr. Cooper for £250 cash ; three small houses in-right-of-way, off Tory-stieet, to Mr. Meyer, for £345 ; also a number of sections in the township of Carnarvon, averaging about 90s. per allotment. We are afraid (says the Lyttelton Times) that the practical administration of the Land Tax Act will more than realise all our fears as to the cost and trouble of allotting and collecting the tax. Already more than two hundred valuers have been appointed, and, probably, the number is not yet complete. We are not aware what is their rate of remuneration, but, as their duties are professional, we may assume that they will be paid accordingly. The vote taken, £lo,ooo,for the collection of the tax this year, is absurdly small. Two hundred valuers at one hundred pounds each would alone make the cost twenty thousand pounds. And there is, in addition, the cost of clerical labor, and of the permanent department. . . . As for addition to the tax, with a view of lessening the proportionate cost of collection, we are rather sceptical. We doubt whether Parliament will agree to further taxation in pursuit of the “ unearned increment,” the philosopher’s stone of modem political alchemy. The P.M. s.s. City of New York, for San Francisco, carried away the following heavy mail from Auckland on Tuesday, exclusive of that from other ports:—ssl letters, 360 books and parcels, and 5,170 newspapers, contained in 26 bags. The mail service has increased so much of late that it has been found necessary to provide the mail agent with an assistant.

At the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Saturday Lucy Hickey was charged by the police with abducting two young girls named Mary Hebley and Isabella Hebley. After hearing the evidence, his Worship considered that the accused was rather too young to come under the Act, and discharged her with a strong caution. The two younger girls were handed over to their parents.

A fire broke out in premises occupied by Mr. Dodsworth, next the Albion Hotel, Courtenay place, at 3 o’clock this morning. The brigades arrived quickly, and the damage was confined to the inside of the building. The house is insured in the New Zealand Office.

The half-yearly meeting of the Wellington Working Men’s Club will be held this evening. The case of Carkeek v. Williams, appointed to be heard this day by a special jury, will not be brought on, but will stand over until next sitting of the Circuit Court in April. An extraordinary general meeting of the New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Company will be held this evening, at the Exchange Land Mart, corner of Grey and Featherstonstreets.

Mr. Oily Deering, a most deserving actor of considerable talents, and a great favorite of Wellington playgoers, will take a benefit at the Theatre Royal on the evening of Anniversary Day. At the Theatre Royal on Saturday night “ The Governor" was produced to a really good downstairs house. The mirth of the audience was unrestrained throughout. This performance concluded Baker and Farron’s season.

We see by our Auckland exchanges that Mr. O’Rorke, the well-known Chairman of Committees in the House of Representatives, has been censured for delaying to address his constituents. Mr. O'Rorke writes to the Herald on the 15th to say that he is only waiting until a decision has been come to on certain matters of importance to the town of Onehunga, which he has submitted to the Government. When that decision is made known he says —“ I shall publicly announce it if favorable, and denounce it it unfavorable.” In view of the early departure for Nelson of Inspector Atchison and Mrs. Atchison, a number of the members of the police force decided to present Mrs. Atchison with a testimonial expressive of regard. A deputation waited upon her at her residence on Saturday. Constable Lester, of the Upper Hutt, said that as the oldest member of the police force in New Zealand, he had been deputed by the members and a few ex-members of the force to present to Mrs. Atchison a sum of money subscribed by the force in Wellington and by a few ex-members, for the purpose of purchasing some memento of her residence in Wellington, and of expressing the kindly feeling which the police of the Wellington district had ever entertained towards her husband, the Inspector. The police force wished her and the Inspector God speed, and long life and every happiness in their new home at Nelson. Constable Lester then handed Mrs, Atchison a small satchel containing 75 sovereigns. Mrs. Atchison said she felt deeply the kindness conveyed in the testimonial and the words of Constable Lester. She would purchase with the money a souvenir which would remind her and her husband as long as life lasted of the happy days they had spent in Wellington and of the pleasant feelings that had existed between her husband and his subordinates here. She felt deeply, and was wholly unable to convey to them what her feelings were, but she was sure that they would take the will for the deed. Ex-Sergeant Smith said that as he had retired from the force, and could therefore speak impartially, he thought the present was a fit opportunity for him to emphatically testify that he had always found Inspector Atchison acting in a thoroughly honest, manly way towards the public. The company then drank with enthusiasm the health of Inspector Atchison, Mrs. Atchison, and Miss Atchison, and having shook hands with all, departed. The following is a copy of the agreement ultimately made between the A.S.N. Company and the seamen ;—“ Sydney, 2nd .1 anuary, 1879. Memo. —Seamen’s strike with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. It has been this day arranged by the parties hereto, representing respectively the Australasian Steam Navigation Company and the seamen, and firomen, and wharf laborers on strike: —(l) That from and after this date the seamen’s strike be at an end, and all the men, so far as practicable, return to their respective positions, the details of such returns to be arranged by the men ; (2) The company to retain in their service not more than 180 Chinese, reducing the number to 130 within a period of three months from date ; (3) The wages, and discharges of men where such have become necessary, due up to the 18th November, to he paid by the Australasian Steam Navigation Company in due course. George R. Dxbbs, Chairman A.S.N. Company. Signed for and on behalf of the seamen and firemen of the Seamen’s Union, C. F. Poole, Secretary; William Collins, Treasurer. Witness, W. K. Lockhbad.”

In an article on education, the Melbourne “ Imperial Review” says“ The primal object of education is to teach everyone to procure sufficient food and clothes. It is almost superfluous to remark that this is the great point in which education fails, because most people are behindhand in their food and clothes. The art of securing these things includes many ingredients, which it is the duty of the educators to he able to teach. First, there must be a rational business, which takes, as it were, a proper slice out of the roast beef and cabbage of the world. Then the young aspirant for honest tucker wants to have his, or her, mind instructed by precept, example, and habit, to run in that moderate grove wherein alone happiness and usefulness are possible. Human creatures are most plastic. They are bom to be moulded right—not wrong.”

The Sydney correspondent of the Argus writes as follows :—ln the easy-going days of the colony we seldom had the annual or quart terly abstracts of revenue published in the Gazette before the 11th or 12th of the month following the period referred to, but of late there have been greater efforts after promptness and punctuality. The tables for 1878 and the last quarter of it appeared in the Gazette on the 2nd inst., and were distinguished for the first time by a classification of receipts under the heads of “Taxation,” “Land Revenue,” "Receipts for Services Rendered,” and “ Miscellaneous.” This may fairly be regarded as the result of persistent discussion in the Press, which, though much against the grain at first, has at last compelled public men to acknowledge that the Consolidated Revenue fund may consist of capital as well as income, and that it is right to discriminate between the Customs and the railway receipts. In round numbers the revenue for 1878 was a little less than five millions, whilst that for 1877 was five millions and three-quarters. The decrease was, in fact, £760,000, but it is to be noticed that the land sales, which yielded a total of rather more than £1,900,000, had decreased by £925,000, partly, perhaps, through the pressure of the drought, and partly through the action taken by the late Government to restrain the selling of land by auction. As it was, however, the proceeds of auction sales exceeded a million sterling, and represented the alienation of a million acres, while the deposits on free selections amounted to £298, which represents the conditional alienation of more than a million and a half—an area which could not possibly have been required or taken up within the time for loan fide settlement. These deposits, however, show a decrease of £26,000. The revenue from taxation shows an increase of £76,000, obtained almost wholly from the Customs. The railway receipts are now running into large figures. The total for the year was £860,000, an increase of £60,000. The pilotage, harbor, and light rates yielded £32,000, one-tenth of which was increase; a matter of- interest not so much on acount of the actual sum as for the indication of commercial activity afforded by it. Terrible as is the disaster of the Scotch Bank failure, says the Australasian, there was one characteristic incident with a gleam of humor in it. An old maiden lady, who was postmistress and telegraph agent at Wick, had all her savings in the local branch of the City of Glasgow Bank. A message came through early addressed to the manager, instructing him not to open the doors, as the bank had suspended payment. The old lady presented herself at the branch at the opening hour, and drew out all her cash. She then proceeded to the bank parlor and informed the manager that as an important telegraphic message had arrived for him she had just brought it along herself!

The following letter, re the terminus of the West Coast railway, has been addressed by Mr. Knowles to Mr. Halcombe “Public Works Office, Wellington, 10th January, 1879. Si r Referring to the subject of your interview with the Hon. Minister for Public Works this afternoon, I am directed by him to inform you that before fixing upon any specific route for the proposed West Coast Railway, the Government will be furnished with full and accurate reports from the Public Works departments ; and that in determining upon the best route due regard will be paid to cost of construction and to opening up the largest extent of country most available for settlement. Probably this information may render the deputation to which you refer unnecessary.—l have, &c., John Knowles, TJnder-Secretary for Public Works. To A. F. Halcombe, Esq., The Club.”

The Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing Company held their first half-yearly meeting on Wednesday last at their offices, Kaiapoi. The directors’ report reviewed the proceedings of the company, and pointed out the fact that owing to the low price at which the plant was purchased there was every promise of future success. The report concluded with a very satisfactory balance-sheet, which, on the motion of the chairman, Mr. Isaac Wilson, seconded by the Hon. .T. T. Peacock, was adopted. The company have now greatly enlarged their premises, erected twenty new looms, with all the proportionate machinery, and will shortly be prepared to manufacture fancy tweeds, &c. Oue of the directors (Mr. G. N. Blackwell, Mayor of Kaiapoi), is at present visiting the city, in the interests of the company, and an advertisement concerning it will be found in another column. The company are turning out woollen goods of n really first-class character, and it is to be hoped that a local industry of such importance will prove successful in every point of view. We hear that a private letter received from England by the last mail states that the Caledonian Bank will have to be wound up simply through owning four shares in the City of Glasgow Bank, which is due, of course, to the unlimited liability of shareholders. The distress in Glasgow is very general and very great. The Hamilton Spectator relates that oue effect of the Kelly scare is that “by Thursday’s train three bank managers, one of whom was from Portland and two from Hamilton, left for Melbourne in charge of treasure belonging to their respective banks. The managers took with them about £25,000. It is not so much from fear of the Kelly gang that the banks are organising an escort system of their own, but rather from an apprehension that in the present lawless state of the colony the immunity enjoyed by the Mansfield gang will cause a bad example to be imitated by others. 1 ’ The Wairarapa Daily says that the rabbits may prove to be the means of forcing the proprietors of large estates to cut them up into small holdings.- Referring to the Huangaroa estate it adds :—“ We fancy the Hon. John Martin would have liked to have lived on his purchase, and ridden over miles of the best land in the provincial district as their proprietor. But the Hon. John Martin is not the man to sacrifice a fine estate to sentiment and rabbits, and so he is cutting it up into small holdings. It the project turns out, as we believe it will do, a profitable speculation, other large proprietors will follow suit, and there will be an influx of population into the Wairarapa that will soon double and treble its present productive powers. The question whether poor bunny is a friend or foe is yet ts be determined. We ourselves are inclined to believe that ultimately he will prove to be the former.” A tea and public meeting in connection with the United Methodist Church, Courtenay-place, will be held this evening. Mr. J. H. Wallace will sell, as advertised, at the Queen’s Wharf tills day at noon, twelve tons of corrugated iron, in lots to suit purchasers.