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Waipawa Mail, Volume X, Issue 1023, 16 December 1886, Page 3

Some sparring lias been going oil in a Napier paper between its correspondent and the Rev J. C. Eceles, hon. sec. to the Waipawa School Committee. The cause of the disagreement is that the school committee met on its last monthly meeting day, but that it did so in such a manner that the reporters could not lind it. Our representative was not in attendance, on the evening in question, but we were most courteously supplied with a report of the minutes of meeting on the following day, and the same gentleman who gave us the information spent some some time looking for the Telegraph reporter, though unsuccessfuly. We have always found the Waipawa school committee and its secretary most willing to give any information to the press, and we feel sure that there was no intention to depart from the usual custom on the last meeting day. We were in error in stating that the English church Woodville had held a Hospital Sunday. The collection was taken up iu the Rev J. Miller Smith’s church, Presbyterian, and it is duly acknowledged.

We need hardly remind our readers of the bazaar, which takes place to-morrow and on Saturday, in connection with the Church of England, Waipawa. There are times when institutions of public worship have to appeal to the public for support. This is only to be expected. There is i.o established church in the colonies, and if we desire to have churches we must pay for them. Some people object to bazaars, and say that subscriptions ought to be raised without them. But it must be admitted that if some sort of sale or exhibition were not organised, subscriptions would not be raised. The ladies of tho district have been conscientiously working for some time past, aud it is only to be hoped that numbers of people will assist in the good work by attending at the bazaar and purchasing a few articles, and so help the minister to pay off the debt on St. Peter’s church.

We are requested to state that a public distribution of prizes in connection with the Waipawa District school will take place to-morrow (Fiiday) afternoon, at 2 p.m. Mr Rechab Harding has consented to be present and preside. The Rev J. D. Knipe announced at St Mary’s church Waipukurau, on Sunday last that next Sunday would be set apart ns Hospital Sunday. The Rev A. Grant’s congregation held their Hospital Sunday on the sth., which was the day origiually intended for all the collections to be taken up, had some organisation existed. A communication lias been received by Mr Popplewell to the effect, that the Kaikora township has been brought under the Town Districts Act, aud that the announcement will be gazetted at once. The ratepayers in the Tamumu riding of the Patangata County are practically unanimous in their desire to borrow £SOOO for constructing a bridge over the Tuki Tuki river at the Tamumu crossing. All the ratepayers have signed the petition, excepting two, and both of these would sign, were they at baud. The Telegraph still adheres to its misrepresentation of the finnuces of Waipawa County Council. It ridicules the Idea of Government statistics being wrongly arranged. For the benefit of those who are open to conviction we repeat that the statistics in question shwon as “ salaries,” iuclude a large amount of expenditure which really took place in the execution of public works, such as the employment of surfacemen &c.. Wages of this description are usually charged to public works, and the balance sheet, which bears the auditor's signature, shews most undeniably that the salaries were only £504, as wc have already stated. There are only two salaried officers on the staff of the council, and there were only that number during the time with which the balance sheet deals. It is an absurdity to maintain that they drew £IOOO odd between them, yet this must have been the case if the Telegraph is right. Probably our contemporary thinks to have a dig at Mr AV. C. Smith, but he is out of it again, for Mr Smith had only been cliairmau about four months at the time the balance sheet was issued, so his share of the salaries could not possibly have exceeded £3O at the most even had it been drawn. Wo do not understand the allusion to ourhaving “taken a leaf out of Mr Smith’s book.” If by that is meant that wc arc willing to give Mr Smith fair play, well then we have. Our contemporary’s motto is evidently “ Tell a lie and stick to it,” and it would be difficult to fiud a more contemptible one. Mr J. Dunlcevy has been appointed post master at Makarctu.

Mr 11. Coupland Harding sends us a copy of his Almanac for 1887. It is rnultum iu parvo and must have taken an endless amount of labor to compile. It commences with an index to everything then follows an article on eclipses and astronomical symbols ; then an exhaustive article on the meanings of the symbols used to describe the seasons of the year aud the months &c ; then Mohammedan and Jewish calendars ; a calendar for 105 years ; a calendar in Scandinavian dialect and one in Maori ; an article on the volcanic outbreak ; a table of pastoral returns ; a nautical guide ; a garden guide; an article ou “our garden enemies,” articles on Wattle culture, and strawberry culture ; Crown lands and postal guides ; a good description of the different districts, and in fact, everything possible in the shape tf useful information and general and local knowledge. The committee who were appointed to canvnss the town on the fire insurance question met the public on Tuesday evening, when it was stated that the sum of £216 17s 6d had been promised for the purchase of a fire eugine, on the condition that the rates of insurance are reduced in consequence. This sum only comes from the main street, and it is now intended to canvass the rest of the business people, and then try and come to some conclusion on the matter. The meeting was not well attended, and the business people generally appear to be in the same lethargic condition they have always suffered from iu this particular direction.

We have asked the Rev. J. J. Eccles if it is his intention to set apart any Sunday as Hospital Sunday this year, and he replies that he is not only willing but that he is anxious to do so. It appears that Mr J. 11. Nelson, the Hospital secretary, waited upon Mr Eccles and asked him to promise a Hospital Sunday. Mr Eccles acquiesced, and left it with Mr Nelson to make similar arrangements with the other clergymen in the district the understanding being that wheu a day had been selected, Mr Nelson should notify the decision to Mr Eccles. No notification has since beeu received, and the result is that a Hospital Sunday has been already been celebrated in Woodville, whilst the Presbyterians will celebrate it next Sunday in Waipawa, the rest of the churches, except Waipukurau, following presumably, at different times. This is a deplorable muddle and it is only right to relieve Mr Eccles from any of the blame.