MAKARETU.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2451, 24 May 1890, Page 2

MAKARETU.

(own correspondent.) May_23rd, 1890. School matters are in a tangled knot. On the 10th May the teacher informed tho Committee he wished to leave on June 6 and the Committee duly informed the Board that they acquiesced. They passed a resolution expressing regret at Mr Bat--8ot)’» departure, but did not see their way to press him to stay as his reason, for leaving was ill-health. It now appears by the newspapers that Mr Batson afterwards wrote to the Board withdrawing his resignation, but did not inform the Committee. Of course the Board could only refer the matter to the Committee ; they have not done so yet, but no doubt will. When the Committee received Mr Batson’s letter of the 10th, they considered his reason for leaving fiual, os it appeared from his statement that he could not possibly remaiu over the winter, and ar advertisement was wired to the Schoolmaster, which appears on the 15th of every month. Consequently applications wi 1 be received in a few days, and it does not seem clear how to deal with them. It >s a pity the Board do not make it an instruction to teachers to communicate only through the Coinraittoe. Of course it is

understand to be a rule, but ought to be printed on the annual report. I am exceedingly sorry if, aa you eay, I have annoyed any of your readers by my remaiks about gates. I did not refer to any particular gate, but will do ao now. The two I object to moat are between Onga Onga und Hampden, about 200 yards apa>*t. What I wish to say is that the local authority should take steps to remove all gates erected without permission. As to being too lazy to get off my horse, that is true. No local authority has any power to give permission to erect any gates except “ swing ” gates. If every man has a right to put a gate across the road wheie he pleases, and of whatever soit he likes, the inconvenience is very great. Round Opunake way they actually put up slip panels ! It is exactly the same thing as erecliag a toll. I would far rather pay a half-penny ev*ry time I go to Hampden than be compelled to open and shut such gales as I find there. A bona fide settler called on me yesterday and asked me how he should apply for some onsurveyed laud near Woodville. I told him he must plank down £4l odd for suvey, deduct this from the price (£500) and pay half a year’s root on tbe balance at 5 per cent and add 30s for lease. I added tbut as the Government do not guarantee to complete tho survey within any fixed time, he could not reckon on beginning work within a year or two. I also pointed out that the excessive intricacy of our land laws is all in favor of capitalists. In fact I advised him to let it alone. If you happen to have any special knowledge of the matter, pray aay something, as if my information is wrong I shall be glad to be corrected. I advised him not to attempt to let contracts for felling until he had his lease and working plan, and knew the pegs were io. I said also that in my opinion for a man to tackle 500 acres unless he bad at least £IOOO in cash was folly, and £2OOO would oe more to the point. Say you take up 500 ecres. You can fell and buru for suy £BOO ; then you can borrow to sow, fence, stock and build. If you don’t fell the lot you are paying rent on virgin bush that yields no return, and you cannot compete with those who do fell ibe lot. There are a lot of incidental expenses in the way of surveyors, lawyers, agents, etc, which ere never foreseen, but yet are inevitable unless you leave your work and live on the place. What should a gardener do ? One would imagine that beans, peas, salaling, and hardy annuals might all be eown with a fair chance of success. They ought to grow rapidly, and before winter really sets in be sturdy enough io live through it and grow again vigorously in August. Pheasants are numerous here, hot not put chaseable, as the ordinary shoolist can’t hit them. Quail are in crowds but also hard to hit. I hear a lot of popping, and am told none take out licenses. This seems to me a dirty trick. At home, where Hodge is a servile tbiDg, one expects to make money, for you can be inspector and agent for others, pack stuff up, sell beef, take contracts for sowing and fencing. The best line is to take up about 100 acres as far from civilisation as possible, get it grassed and stocked, and wait for the land round you to be taken up. Then all the new-chums are your prey. They buy your beef, t utter, > potatoes, onions, and you are a little king while it lasts. You can take up another 500 acres then and pay for the faMing in beef! But even this needs a certain 1 amount of capital. | Is it winter here or what ? the temperature rarely sinks much below 41 degrees at night ; I have a minimum the mometer, ( so I know. No one imputes moral blame to a peasant who steals apples, or poaches. ( But here, where a working man is ( spoken of as Mc —, and has voting powers, and is a ratepayer, be ought to havo more self-respect than to glo>y in shooting without payment game that r other people paid to introduce. If 4 democracy means that every decently-breJ man is to be under moral obligation fo ) act honorably, whereas every “ working man ” is at liberty to prig what he can, ’ and repudiate his obligations, when not j legally bound to them, wo shall have to 1 invent some way of mitigating evils that already assume considerable proportions. Employees complain they are not treated liberally ; that if they fail to carry out the letter of their engagement they a-e | fined or refused payment. This is true enough, but the reason is that employers ’ too often find no disposition on the employees’ part to attempt honorable fulfilment of their promises. The fact is } that the privileges of free men cannot be . enjoyed unless the duties are assumed ; and one duiy into act honorably and not pilfer from one’s neighbours. Unless this duty i is not only consented to to cork the mouth, t but received in the heart, freedom means nothing but licence. Probably the diffi- ’ culty wi'l disappear when tbe risiog generation grow up. If it does, tbe relation ’ between employer and employed will grow far more cordial, and both classes will ' benefit ; tbe employer will ge„ honest ’ work, and the employee better wages, for P nine employers out of ten recognize tbe value of faithful intelligent service and j would gladly pay more to get it. Must I r illustrate this by an example V I have a small garden and want it trenched. Mv ; sl* possible course is to do it myself. No working man could be trusted. , Directly I was out of sight he would ' leave off his two-foot delivery and begin merely to scrape the surface. Yet I am i perfectly prepared to pay for the work. I The same thing applies to many kinds of work, and consequently much outlay takes , place oq superintendence, which is abso- “ lutely thrown away in an economical sense, as it is non-productive. Mr Adolf Berkhahn was married tbs j other day, and has begun housekeeping in I a new residence. So here is an addition to our list of householders. I wish he, and half a dozen more, would { al’ow me to give them one word of advics. Keep your gardens small. Have them fenced, exclude dogs, pigs and hens, and you will get double the produce off » | quarter the area. Most people here fence j a large garden, let three-quarters revert to grass ; let in dogs, poultry, calves, and pigs. Hence you find poor returns. I often see the total produce of say eight yards by ten is some twenty cabbages; whereas under proper tillage 180 of tbe largest sort could be grown. Whatever garden you fence, should be trenched two feet deep, drained, and kept absolutely clean. As to flowers, a border 4 feet wide and 40 feet long will contain all the best » perennials io abundance. If a man has roses, jasmine, heliotrope, violet, ebryeen* l theinum, narcissus, and a dozen more, j what a wealth of bloom f Good sorts are just as easy to grow as bad, but deep ; tillage is absolutely necessary, and io a garden of two acres absolutely impossible. , I paid a man £2O once to trench a chain l and a half. That outlay was equivalent to renting the land at 30s a year. Bot I think it was well laid out. I bad r him watched, and he did bii r work, and the result was astonish* ing. The ordinary garden bare if * ‘ failure because it is only scratched, and , six inches below the surface you find root* j and yellow clay. If land is trenched, tbe l sub-soil not being brought up but merely well mixed with manure or weeds, drought is impossible, and no future tillage if l needed bar ordinary digging, worth about j 10s per chain. t Mr W. C. Smith visited Ashley-Clinton t tho other day, aud we hope for a viflt soon. Much as I dislike him and bif doctrines, I dislike the conservative ps©P^ 3 more ; for while both are Dgrrow-minded

sod opposed to i ntel'i gen tpog less, people like Capiaio Russell and Mr Tanner do absolutely nothing, wbte Mr Smith does “ bis best for his const taen-8,” wherefore I am very much iochoed lo vote for him. But be knows very \ il that if an intelligent conservative (why should I be ashamed to call a spade a spade?) appealed, I should dese t him. As, how* ever, a conservative of that stamp seems not produceable, I luink M* fcmith is pretty safe.