INGLEWOOD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 4119, 24 August 1882, Page 2

INGLEWOOD.

[from our own correspondent.] August 23. — I do not know that I have much news to report, for Inglewood has been rather dull lately. We have, it is true, had some persona here exhibiting views at the Government Building, and I am surprised to notice how easily people are cleared of superfluous cash to a very considerable amount and for which they get the most trifling returns. I also thought the Lotteries Act would have prevented persons at such places purchasing ticket after ticket for tho chance of winning some of the guns, pop-guns, chi.ldrens' whips, and other frivolous gewgaws, given in return for Is. or 2s. tickets. However, it remains a fact that families go, and from 10a. to £1 ia cleared oat of them — what for ? For a peep through a magnifying glass or two at a very few common scenes, and for this game of chance for a doll or two and a few flashy looking trinkets and toys. I hear of one youth spending 265. in tickets in one evening, and another person spending a pound in the same way. But what can be said against the gentlemen who live by such means, when our churches and chapels condescend to suck us and our youngsters in a similar way, and by means of similar tomfoolery at bazaars. Still, to those who wish to see New Zealand a great and happy and intellectual nation, it is sad to find that more money is got from each

family by such means than would suffice to pay a lecturer on astronomy to put before them the grand mysteries of the heavens ; or for a lecturer on anatomy to reveal the mysterious organization of the human frame, or to enable them to hear a lecture upon the great political events and changes now taking place, quietly, but none the less certainly and surely around them, and in which all are interested vitally. Unless New Zealanders awake, and those in power find better mental food to send into our agricultural and pastoral districts, we shall never be more than a third rate nation. At present no mental food worth mentioning :is provided. We never get anything mentally improving from the pulpit, because science is to the clergymen of every denomination tabooed, for— disguise it as you will— Science is Freethought, and therefore science cannot come from the pulpit, and so we remain with penny dolls, and pop-guns instead of intellectual advancement — the grand advance of the colony towards greatness amongst nations, towards knowledge and power and human happiness. Our scheme for a Town Hall has fallen through for a time, and it has been resolved to merely alter the form of our present building — put a porch or entrance to it, and line it. Of course, this will make it more comfortable, but it is not what Inglewood must ultimately have, that is, a good building for public leotures and entertainments. A poor little steer is to be seen by the railway side between Inglewood and Waiongona, and has been there for days, hobbling about with one leg smashed — no doubt by the engine. The owner probably does not know where it is, or he would slaughter it. I hear that a petition has been sent to Parliament to form and metal the road from Egmont Village to Bell Block, about eight miles. That looks well for the chance we have of getting the eight miles of Mountain Road still unformed and metalled, lying between Inglewood and Waitara, done, as it would be too glaring an inconsistency to form and metal eight miles of road merely leading from Egmont Village to the sea coast, even if a County Councillor does reside at one end of it, and leave unformed and unmetalled eight miles of the Mountain Road, which is the direct main road north and south, and along which lie such railway stations as Inglewood, Waiongona, Manutahi, and Sentry Hill — stations which contribute more to the income of the railway than any other four stations on the line, except perhaps the terminal ones, but to none of which stations can a settler yet take a horse and cart during the winter months. Imagine a road with four of the best paying stations on the railway lying on it, and over which a vast cattle traffic passes, and yet in such a condition that a horse and vehicle is not seen on it for six months at a time, which is a fact. I have spoken with several persons lately, who declare that if Government does not look to our interests a little in this matter they must remove to some district where they will, at all events, not be glued up in the way we are here, and whore the main road is reasonably fit to travel on.