Taupeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1892. " MEASURES, NOT MEN." LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1870, 13 February 1892, Page 2

Taupeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1892. " MEASURES, NOT MEN." LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The number of deaths reported in London for the past week from influenza is 376. The death rate of those attacked by the epidemic is 31 per 1,000. The Palmerston School Committee, before voting, decided to ask candidates for seats on the Education Board whether they are favourable to retrenching the office expenses of the Board. There were eleven patients in the Tuapeka Hospital last evening — six male and five female. Three patients were admitted into the institution during the week and one was discharged. — The wardsman acknowledges the receipt of a quantity of qpples from Mrs White. THE following are the prices ruling at the London wool sales : — For crossbreds : Fine greasy average §d lower ; coarse scoured remain at par; lambs at par to i<i higher. Merino : Greasy superior, par to id ; average, £d ; inferior, Jd to fd ; scoured, good average, Id, inferior Id lower ; lambs, greasy superior,^ |d dearer ; other sorts, £d lower. The market" » steady,

This products of rabhit tinning factories are just now a drug on the London market, stocks having iucroase-1 out of all proportion to the demand. For this reason, tlip. Cromwell "Argus" understands that, the proposed factory at. Mount Pisa will not at present be gone on with.

The gold returns for the past week* work from the following mining companies are to hand :— Ettrick Dredging Co., lloz 12lwt; Jutland Flat Dredging (Jo., 29 >z 14<iwt for 144 hours' wages time; Upper W.iipori Alluvial Dredging Co., No. 1 dredge 15oz lOdwt-, No. 2 dredge 7oz l&Iwt.

A MAN named Dalton was found murdered :itEkatiihunn,in the Mastertou district, yesterday morninp-. He was a grass-speder, and Imd been drinking during the prweiling day with two mates. They quarrelled abom, midnight, and Dalton was found in the morning with his throat cut and a stab in his bjek.

We are glad to lrarn that Mrs Peters, who was brought down to Lawrence on Tuesday from Ries Junction, where she had been since the late nnfortun.tto coach accident,, is makiug most favourable [iro^re-i.H, though still confined to her hfil. Mr Peters, who was also a stiff erer by the accident, w .s able to return to Roxburgh on Thursday.

The "Clntha Leader" states that the rrmoval of Mr Kerr, from the charge of the Waipahi railway station to Lawrence, is deeply regretted. His affable, obliging disposition made him extremely popular, not only with the residents of the district hut with multitudes of the travelling public. Steps are being taken to present Mr Kerr with a tangible token of respect and esteem.

In referring to the announcement of the Napier " Evening News," that, it will suspend publication after Saturday first, the Wellington " Post " says it is one more instance of the almost impossibility of a newspaper estab itshcd for party purposes making good its position against old-established and well-con-ducted journals, whatever their politics. It is understood over £10,000 has been sunk in the "News."

The railway revenue of the colony for the four weeks ended 2nd January amounted to £104,065, and the expenditure to £50,266. In the corresponding period last year the revenue was £98,381 and the expenditure £49,725. The North Island lines contributed i' 38,170 as against £34.122, and absorbed £17,901 as against £15,437. The Middle Island lines contributed £65,894 as against £64,258, and absorbed £32,365 as against £34,314.

Lord Onslow : s successor is the seventh Earl of Glasgow. He was born in 1833, and succeeded to his title in 1890. He is a Scotch Peer, but has no seat in Parliament. He served in the Russian and China wars. He is descended from a distinguished Scottish legal family. His father sat as M.P. for Buteshire in 1865, and was appointed Lord Clerk Register for Scotland. The new Governor owns the estate of Shewalton in Ayrshire.

Mk John Watson, an old Blue Spur miner, who recently held the position of manager of the defunct Commissioners Flat Goldmining Co., has been appointed manager of the Lararaerlaw Antimony Co.'s mine. There were thirteen applicants for the position, but those who know) anything of Mr Watson and are acquainted with his qualifications as a practical miner and a shrewd, conscientious and industrious man, will have no difficulty in endorsing the selection made by the company.

A farmer on the Kakanui river (says the " North Otago Times ") whose wheat sheaves began to float about as the river rose employed men to recover as many of them as possible. Before the flood he reckoned that his yield would be about 50 bushels to the acre. The exertions of the men, however, surprised him as to the yield, for he now estimates it at about 120 bushels to the acre. The wheat, too, is not all of the same variety. He thinks his wheat must have got mixed with someone else's.

The return laid on the table at yesterday's meeting of the Tuapeka County Council showed the expenditure on day labour, etc., during the month of January, to be as follows in the various ridings : — Waipori (3 surfacemen), i.26 12a ; Gabriels (2), £23 10s 7d—including carting f5 10s ; Browns (5), £47756d — carting, £2 8s ; Clarks (1), £8 Is ; Waitahuna (1), £8 11s 6d ; Beaumont (2|), t2O Gs—carting, 8s ; James (3), £27 7a— carting, 8s ; Teviot (2i), £28 12s— carting, £5 10s ; Tapanui (2), £28 14s— carcing, t'lo 3s.

THE " Argus " has good reasons for saying that, in the event of the commonages at Clyde and Cromwell being taken over by Government and sold as pastoral licenses, they will not be each sold in one lot. The idea of the Minister of Lands is to cut them up into two thousand acre blocks. In view of the probable loss of the commonages, there is certainly a grain of comfort to be found in the way they are to be dealt with. Next to retaining them, we prefer to see them held by a number of settlers than to be gobbled up by the nearest runholder.

It will be noted with satisfaction from a perusal of our report of the County Couucil proceedings that Messrs Brown and Co., of the Beaumont station, have come to terms with the manager of the Island Block Goldmining Co., and so avoided the contemplated litigation that threatened to suspend operations in the mme — a course that, besides seriously injuring the prospects of the Island Block Co, would greatly inconvenience a number of men who are in the employment of the Company. The difficulty has been got over and law proceedings obviated by an arranged deviation of the road and the construction of a bridge, both of which works will be carried out under the supervision of the County Council and at the expense of the Island Blook Co. All's well that ends well.

The mine manager of the Amalgamated Waipori Deep Lead Goldraining Co. reports for the week ending 6th February as follows :— "I bottomed the pothole mentioned in my last on Wednesday and washed up on Thursday, with the result as advised by telegram, viz., 390z 2dwt. Finding the water running short, on Friday I prepared for dry weath°r and got the pump fixed and put into working order, and on Saturday I put in new nozzle and liner ready for future operations. I obtained 2oz 4dwt gold from cavities about old nozzle and liner. The dam, although not quite finished, stood the flood well, the stonework, as yet unsupported to its full height by the puddle backing, being apparently uninjured. As a large body of water is still (Monday, 3 p.m.) discharging over the stonework, I cannot at present tell what injury (if any) have been done to the backing."

An inquest was held on the body of Walter Swanson on Wednesday last at the West Taieri Hotel, Outram, before Mr F. W. Knight, J.P., and a jury of six, of which Mr J. A. White was chosen foreman. After evidence had been taken, the jury returned the following verdict : — " That the deceased Walter Swanson came to his death by being ac cidentally drowned on Monday, Bth February, while attempting to rescue some horses from a paddock near the West Taieri bridge, the said paddock being flooded by the waters of the Taieri River." The jury added the following rider :— " That the jury are of opinion that a boat should be kept at Outram, to be used in cases of emergency, as had ono been there the death of the late Walter Swansou would in all probability not have occurred, and we re* spectfully ask the Coroner to bring this before the proper authorities."

At the last meeting of tne committee of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association, a letter was received from, the Waitahuna Farmers' Club acknowledging the receipt of a circular letter re a case of disqualification that took- place at the last show of the Otago A. and P. Association,endorsingsame,and promising to join in the formation of a stringent rule to meet such cases should they occur in future. — The Club quoted a case and asked the opinion of the Otago A. and P. Association thereon. It was stated that in one class at the Club's last annual show there were only two exhibitors*, Messrs Russell and M'Kenzie, both of whose exhibits— although passed and awarded prizes by the judges— were afterwards protested against, and the protest in both cases was sustained by the committee, The club asked whether the fact of a person being disqualified debarred him from the right of protesting. It was resolved to reply—" That Mr Russell, as an exhibitor in the class, had a perfect right to protest against any other exhibitor, in accordance with their rule 10. Mr Russell was not disqualified ; it was the animal exhibited by him."

At the Lan.l B.wrd meeting on Wednesday, the Tuapeka County Council forwarded .supplementary lists showing on what roads it was intended to expend money accruing from deferred payment, perpetual lease, and small grazing run lands to November 1, 1891. — Approved. G. F. B. Poynter applied to surrender small grazing run sections 8 and 12, block XII., Glenkenich.— The Board resolved that they could not consider the application unless all arrears of rent wpre paid. The Receiver of Land Revenue forwarded a list containing the n»mes of 106 perpetual lessees who are in arrear with rent. The lessees are in all parts of the district, and the amounts due range from 12s to £63. — It was agreed to notify the lessees to p;iy the rent within a month, or show cause why their leases should not be forfeited.

A JOINT meeting of the shareholders of thr United Hercules Co. N<\ 1 and the Hercules Co. No. 2 was held in Dunedin on Wednesday to take into consideration a proposal for completing the construction of the reservoir sit. Lake Onslow. The' Chairman (Mr J. H. Perry) said the directors of the Hercules No. 2 Co. were restricted to an expenditure of £250 on the work. He thought a temporary dam that would last for years could be constructed of four inch planks at a cost of about £300. By this means a supply of water could be got for four months for all the companies without a drop of rain to replenish it. To complete the dam with stone would cost several thousand pounds. In Auckland they built dams of the kind he spoke of 60ft or 70ft ' high, but theirs would only be 7ft high. After considerable discussion, the meeting was adjourned to enable the directors to investigate whether a wooden structure on the present dam could be constructed for a sum not exceeding £400

We have an apt illustration now before us (says the Wairarapa " Daily ") of the old fable of the wen and the head — the wen that grew so big that at last it claimed to be the head and declared the insignificant head to be the wen The Hon. Mr Ballance is the head of the Ministry, but he has cultivated an enormous wen iv the shape of trade unionism, and this wen has at last spoken plainly. It has presented itself before the public as the head, and puts Mr Ballance in his proper place as the wen. It, is well known that Mr Ballance, while suffering under the delusion that he was the head and the trade unions the wen promised seats in the Legislative Council to certain people — compacts have been made in which, on the one side, certain services have been rendered and on the other, appointments have been promised as the payment for the same. Before, however, the pledges given ha.ye been redeemed, the trades unions step in and say : '• We have to be consulted in this matter — it is for us to make the appointments ; please bear in mind, Mr Ballance, that we are the head and you are the wen ! " Even Mr Ballance's political opponents must feel sorry for hi m,for when was a Premier in such a plight before !

The Maniototo Rabbit Preserving Co. have issued a prospectus, with a formidable array of provisional directors and capital of a very fragile sum. Some people seem to move about with their eyes shut and a fixed determination not to allow themselves to be influenced in the slightest degree by experience, no matter how striking the lesson or how appropriate the moral may be. It looks as if the Maniototo Company attached a good deal of importance to a big directory and next to none to money. A Mashonaland or a Bonanza goldmining prospectus wouldn't carry such a heavy directorate as the prospectus for this projected rabbit factory does. Here's the lively and lighthearted strain in which it reels off a reference to the financial part of the business : — •• It is confidently anticipated that the operations of the Company will not necessitate the calling up of more than two shillings and sixpence per share, inclusive of the amount paid on application and allotment." This, it further states, will render available for plant and working capital a sum of £750, and it is confidently anticipated that £350 will be sufficient for the supply of all the plant necessary for dealing with 2,500 rabbits a-day. All this, of course, is based on the comfortable supposition that everything will be profit, and that there will be no thing as losses. But suppose, like the Clinton Meat Preserving Company, heavy losses were experienced during the first year's business. Where then will the Company's "confident anticipations" be? Vanished, most probably, like the modest capital on which they rely to carry the venture on to prosperity. A glance down the affairs of the Clinton Co., which we published in our last issue, will illustrate our meaning. We wish the projected company every success ; but success, as experience demonstrates, can only be achieved, all other conditions being favourable, by bringing substantial capital into the venture. Without that the experiment, in our opinion, bristles with risk.

Mr J. K. Simpson was entertained by |a number of friends at a social gathering at the Golden Age Hotel, Wetherstones, on Monday evening last, by whom he was presented with a handsome marble timepiece suitably inscribed. The gift was subscribed for by a number of Mr Simpson's friends, as a proof of their esteem on the auspicious occasion of his marriage. The employe's of the brewery also took advantage of the gathering to present Mr Simpson with a gold albert and Maltese cross. Mr H. Hart presided, and in handing the presents to Mr Simpson expressed the great pleasure it gave him to be the medium of conveying to that gentleman such signal and, he should add, very handsome and substantial proofs of the friendly feelings entertained towards him by those who knew him so long and had so many opportunities of becoming acquainted with the many genial and gentlemanly qualities which they all knew Mr Simpson to possess. As, of course, they were all aware, Mr Simpson was about to take upon himself the responsibilities of wedded life. They would all join with him in wishing him all the pleasures, along with all the responsibilities, that that blissful state is ge. erally held to be fruitful of. Mr Simpson, in responding, said he had been connected with the Black Horse Brewery fot the past twelve years, and during that time he had made many friends and formed many pleasant associations,all of which he valued very highly. He thanked his friends for the very great kindness they had evinced towards him, and also the chairman for the complimentary manner in which he had spoken of him, and hoped always to retain their good opinions.— Mr Simpson was joined in the bonds of wedlock on Wednesday forenoon with Miss Pope, the Yen. Archdeacon Beaumont performing the ceremony. In the afternoon the happy couple took their departure en route for Christchurch, where they propose to spend the honeymoon. ' We should mention that the wedding cake, which was a perfect work of art, was manufactured by Mr E. Mills, and exceeded 60lbs iv weight.