AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8419, 16 February 1889, Page 5 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND.

(FflOM Oljß OffX CORKESFOXDEXT.

Auckland, February 7. Sir Harry Atkinson during his visit to Auckland lias been deputationiscd to bis heart's content on every possible subject— from the Lunatic Asylum to ,the CD. Act, and from Hanmiford's beacon light to earlt closing. Last nj g h t ] lc addressed ;i public meeting on the property tax, but although he came to bless, his hearers only remained to curse that impost. He bore the badinage to which he was subjected with imperturbable good humour. The noisiest opponents of the tax were those who had empty houses to let or had bought land at fancy prices during the allotment mania/ and those, strange to say who do not^pay any property tax and would escapo with a land and income tax They were simply "agin taxation." Sir Har ry bore with the interruptions from the atter class very patiently, and fully justified he statement which he made on his arrival that' he had not brought his hobnail boots with him. It was very amusing, however to see men with hobnail boots screeching themselves hoarse about the oppression and tyranny of the property tax. if I am not mistaken the most prominent parties in carrying the amendment for a laud tax -it the meeting do not own enough land to bunthemselves in, and never paid a shilling of the property tax since its inauguration, and lam not quite sure whether the income tax gatherer could catch them! Sir Harrr did not speak so effectively as he usually doe* probably owing to having an unsympathetic audience. He made, however, a good mamhits- m reply to his tormentors, while hf< explanation of the "frightful examples" of the tax, quoted by Mr Errington, showed them to be, in many cases, positively ludicrous, and in others, arising wholly from ignorance of the provisions of the law The 1 remier took his defeat with great saiu/froid and said he was so constituted that he took being turned out with as good a grace as nnn"? in- o addin * ",at "when the people of the South heard of the decision of the Auckland people on this S Onat°it" taXT! iOn> tlf y-W°Uld Sill^ Jaugn at it. The resolution passed by the meeting i S not likely to have the slightest appreciable effect upon political paiies here, and in the creation of a tax, likely to array city against country, the farm jngclasses of the country have'yetgo to have then- say. The Thames people are anxious that the Premier should visit the goldUe ds, and address them. It is j ust pos ? sible, if he goes, tnat the noble digger may prove more susceptible to Sir HarrK eloquence than the proletariat of Auckland Everything is now being got in train f o » the survey of the first section of the Kino,;°"f^;ff esfcthe confiscated line. Some little hitch has occurred between the Natives and the Government respecting the surveys, the former being desirous of employhV private surveyors as being cheaper? while the latter naturally desire to utilise the services of their own officers on the score of competency, and to prevent Native complications, llus important work should be well in hand this summer, and the inevitable result must be the passing into the hands of the Government or of private speculators in due season of a large area of Native land. It matters little whose hands it falls into so long as it is settled by a thrifty, energetic agricultural population, who will aid in bringing traffic to the North Island Trunk S J ? aA Wh, anga and Paul- «« well-known chief of Orakei, that he will attend the Orakei if ofhcial engagements permit, and listen to and redress as far as lies in his power any outstanding Native grievances. Some of these grievances, however, such as M.WII Home Rule, are quite outside the lauge of practical politics. Already the temperance organisations are mustering their forces for the annual licensing elections in city and suburbs. The brewers are loth to enter on the sfcrucgle, as the heavy expenditure they are put to in feeing electioneering agents, and in convincng.doubtfnl electors is taking the gilt off their profits. Every year the publicans are ess and less disposed to fight for them, as by covenants they are so tied up that they have practically little pecuniary interest in the hotels, of which, by a figure of speech, they are popularly believed to be the landlords. With the exception of Ponsonby, where the question of prohibition will be ought over again, the city licensing eleclonswi be contested on last year's plat-form-10 o'clock closing, and no Sunday trading, lhe temperance candidates have been returned unopposed in four wards the ...rewers reserving their strength and their finances to fight City East and Ponsonby. In tae iormer ward they have large interests while in the latter they uio bound w te^t ■lie application nf prohibition as :i matter of honour, as the initiation of v wjwm/ime the consc-qnences of which they cannot foresee Although there is 7000 of a population' there are only two hotels in the district, so v will be seen it is simply a case of war between two opposing principles, rather than a fight for vested interests. r, A, veiT successful meeting of the New Zealand Alliance was held the other nHit the teetotallers having captured a. big fish in the Premier and landed him in the chair fair Harry, however, rather chilled the ardent advocates of temperance by savin" tnat " he was not going to be drawn, he was also an awkward man to drive, while ho was not going in his speech into anything like a confession of faith." This is all very prudent no doubt, but it is not the stuff out of which temperance battles and temperance victories will come, but rather savours of blowing the trumpet with "an uncertain sound." His view of the whole situation was contained in a single sentence, " I have not very much hope in the direction towards which we are all striving, which is to give full power to the people to deal with the question, until we succeed in giving women votes—then, and not till then, will wo haye real success in this, and also in many other questions which are calling loudly for treatment in this and other colonies." An amusing incident took place at the meeting. Mr Glover, the Alliance agent, in the course of his speech said his colonial first-born son had appeared the other day and he had christened him " Harry Fox," in honour of the two Knights present at the meeting. I am afraid Mr Glover has been taking a bad leaf out of Sydney Taiwhanga's book. That worthy, when the Grey administration was at the zenith of its power, called his firstborn son "Hori Grey Hone Heanee"— George Grey John Sheehan—by way of homage to the powers that be* On the ejection of the Grey Ministry and the advent of Major Atkinson to power the wily politician hastened to worship the rising sun, and altered the child's name to "Aketana"— Atkinson. It is needless to say that the career of the lad has been a" somewhat chequered one owing to his being doublebanked, and thus heavily handicapped in the race of life

Tlie Auckland anniversary regatta passed oil with spirit and successfully. The Union Company placed their line steamer Hotomahana at the disposal of the committee as flagship, and as Captain Carey is personally popular it is not to be wondered at that she was crowded with pleasure seekers The contests were well fought out, and the harbour presented an animated appearance as the fleet of yachts with their snowy white canvas flitted to and fro on the waters of the Waitemata. It was anticipated that a much better held would have come forward for the champion whaleboat race, but the Waitomatas, owing to the successes of former years, scared away a number of competitors. Ihere was a good deal of bad blood over the race owing to the mutual recriminations as to unfair conduct, which resulted in the Waitematas being disqualified and the Thames men being awarded the race. This led to a good deal of challenging, which resulted in a challenge being accepted by the Waitoraatas to row the Thames men at the Thames. In the naval cutters' race the naval volunteers distanced the crew from H.M.S. Dart, who from the outset never had a chance with them. The committee expected to be able to get a good war canoe race and haka, but the Maori of to-day is a poor mongrel specimen compared to the noble savage of the oldon time. Thinking they had got the Regatta Committee in a corner, the Natives demanded £f>o for their services, but the good tiling did not come off. How different to ihe days when :!00 stalwart Maoris competed at a regatta' in their war canoes for honour and a paltry £120 pme, and when the famous Te Wherowhero (Potatau 1) did not disdain to take Ins place as fugleman, in order by song and gesture to animate his followers to victory t borne of our dealers in agricultural 'produce are dissatisfied at the grtat gap between whielX glVe" in, A«ckla^ those a l,& saT P««3«ce is being disposed of iSvdney.and intend establishing agencies "Sft s« "'ft the Auckland farmer TIM full beneflt 0? the rise. Such dissatisfaction can scarcely be wondered at when some of the Auckland farmers have got no more for their potatoes in the ground than 4,0 per ton, and which were subsequently sold, it is stated, at three times that liguro. £12 per ton certainly does seem a

wide margin for freight and charges and the middleman's profit. There is a decided improvement in business affairs, and it is getting more marked as the year grows older. jThe higher prices obtained for agricultural produce by the farmers is leading them to spend a great deal more in the town, and the beneficial influence or this state of things is most perceptible Ihe largely increased wool export will also lead to a considerable sum of money being distributed locally. For a long time past the Queen street merchants have been talking do efully about depression, but even thefare obliged to admit that business is much firmer, me confidence thus generated is infecting social h£e, and the people are again spendinf money freely, to the great satisfaction of the tradesmen A number of public improvements are being carried out, and building E llo"s'^ich were at a'standstill, a"! being lesumed. The AuckJanders who went oioi to Melbourne during the boom, are leturmng by degrees, and household property i» hardening in consequence. They give a dop o ra ble account of the state of tilings in Melbourne through the operations of syndiHinv an^ land rin«s- The >' state 1%, W0? Id ™1 ™- have a crust and Eveihp U . mind> in A«ck'^d, than i s c ™n 8 PJ^ure gambling life, with all s chan C e S) which alone seems possible in the Yictonan capital. The demand for land for country- settlement shows no abatement, and the oihcials at the Crown Lands Office S «i° i IG country is wifchout a Para"el since the days of ;1S(JO, when the wave of bieak of the first Taranaki war. So far the outflow of population is to the north, but hnnl-f ,° , Ule PTOvinoo are feeling the benclits of M,e new impulse which seems to lection 0 ofnUP °n tl\ Q Ulinds °f a considerable section of the population. There seems to be a revival of the volun tearing spirit, especially in the naval branch N^sTT A anmhoY Of th« Auckland Na.alb are about to undeigo a course of in Ruction in torpedo drilf and Sw£ mining. Some regret hag been c St S« a?^ al Satheri »S of the Auckland Rifle Association was not so well supported by entries this year as last, but this may be accounted for by the fact, that theS^ has been quite-an exodus of the young men who foimthe principal position of our volunteer corps to Victoria. The shooting, however was quite up to the average of former year ! and that is at least consolatory H,f Inr S \^ tle t0 record ia connection with the golduelds owing to the miners having but just fairly started to work during the last week or two after the various holfdays Ihe scientists are still busily employed on dp a HnlOtty %° hle? aS t0 the "best "cans of dea ing with refractory ores. The New SwhP,. Gv d ExLraction Company's plant CiSewbeiy-Vautin process) is not yet in full the Wailn Gold and Silver Mininff Company's tolU 1 lOn W°rkS in red™in g ore, but the clentlr n r' Penf GUtS made are not -vefc s^oMnonafva7CGtUo enable an autlioritative °J™ 011 ,tO. be passed on the process; at Ka angahake the representatives of the Casse 1 Gold and Silver Extraction Company SoS T m) ? omm <*cing operations. of l! g f ° ? lonous ""certainty of some w r« n n f apPhances» In th° »ame district, uas So ]d f or thß trifl . ng gum Qf £2Q beinV«hiV'>°i T f smartest busi»ess men uung lnt, by that venturo