The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 188O.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 392, 18 February 1880, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1880.

The New Zealand Times has given in a recent issue some interesting statistics .of bankruptcy.eases, which show that the annual liabilities of New Zealand insolvents had increased from £474,000 in 1876 to £922,000 in 1878; the nominal deficiency of 'assets having waxed from £7y,000 in 1876, to £815,0001111871), In the Wellington Provincial District, during the past year, the number of cases, including deeds' of arrangement, was 278, being nearly double that of the preceding year of 1878, which was 149. The liabilities in these cases last year, were £571,805, as against £112,704 for the year 1878. Assuming, says our contemporary, that the average net amount paid to creditors is about three shillings in the.£, it is evident that in 1879 the loss to the general body of Wellington, creditors due to bankruptcies, was not less than £486,000. The sum of three shillings in thn £ is rather a low dividend, and it is pretty evident that the estates are not wound up to the best advantage when solow an average is obtained. We trust that when Parliament meets some enquiry will bo made for further returns of bankruptcy cases. We believe that in Wellington the winding up of insolvent estates has been made a speculation of by many needy adventurers, who have, as it. were, formed lings inimical to the interests of ordinary creditors. The average of filed usually show 20s in the pound, If of this sum only 3s be realised, it is oxpedienfc, in the public interests, to ascertain what becomes of the 17s, As far as our own observation goes,- and we have hail some practical experience, we are sorry to say, as creditors in a considerable number, the estates in the Wairarapa are more economically wound up than they are in the Empire City. Here we have got dividends as high as 10s in the £, but iu Wellington the trustees, the lawyers- and the other agents connected with estates, appear to leave little or nothing for the poor creditor. Supposing creditors at Wellington get 3s in the £, do lawyers got 6s 8d in it, .and are the relative slices fair deductions from estates ? If Wellington men of. business have dropped half a million of money during the past year, it behoves them to find out where it has gone to, and who has got it, The bankruptcy laws, as administered, are becoming a public scandal, and strict measures are required to put things on a more wholesome footing.

Mr R, W, Marshall announces himself as a commission agent at Carterton.

Mr Gordon Gooch, of the Oarandini Company, has been appointed music master to the Auckland Grammar School.

H, Tilly Browne & Co. hold a salo at the Ram Fair, Carterton, on 26th inst. of 100 Lincolnshire rams selected from the Braucepeth flocks. The Featherston and Carterton Cricket Clubs play a match on Saturday next in Mr T. Ray's paddock, Taratahi, We learn by a telegram that Mr James Bennett, of the firm of Elder & Co., died suddenly at the Club Hotel, Castle Point, yesterday morning, about 10 o'clock. The petition la'ely forwarded to the Postmaster-General from the residents of Greytown, has been acknowledged and promised early consideration, Greytown is fully entitled to greater facilities in (he matter of its postal and telegraph arrangements, and we hope to hear shortly of the request of the inhabitants being complied with,- ■

A meeting of the North Wairarapa Benevolent Society was held on Monday last. Present-Messrs Feist (chairman), McKee, and Mesdames Gapper, Hacker, McKee, and Williams. Owing to the demand for labor which now exists in connection with harvesting operations, there are no cases in the neighborhood requiring assistance. The Committee decided to hold its next meeting on Monday, April Ist. F. H, Wood & Co. announce a number of sales in our advertising columns. On Saturday next they aelfat their rooms, Greytown, new and second-hand furniture! and general merchandise: the lease «f the WaiheiiL-a toll-gate for one year, from Ist March ; 17 heavy draught horses, and a lot of. horses, .waggons, harness, and other articles, a full list of which will be found in another column, On Wednesday, 25th February, they sell at Featherston the balance of horses (about fifty in all), in the estate of the late W. R. Hastwell On Thursday, 26th, they hold a sale on the Society's Grounds, Carterton, of 30 pure-bred rams bred by J. D. Canning, Esq. of Napier, and on Friday, the 27th inst., the same firm hold their monthly market sale at tho Taratahi yards when they will sell bullocks, cows, calves, horses, &c. A strange disease, says the Banffshire Journal, hri made great ravages among sheep in the neighborhood of Lostwithiel, and during the past fe* weeks hundreds of animals, principally young sheep, have died from it, half a dozen or more dying in a single day on some small farms, The diaease is sudden in its attack, and proves rapidly fatal. Farmers have had their sheep examined and been informed that thoy were perfectly healthy; and yet in an hour or so afterwards two or three of the animals have been found dead. An examination of the carcases has done little to determine the nature of the disease the only peculiarity observable being the unusually red color of the flesh. Several flocks have been slaughtered, and something very much like a panio prevails among breeders in Lostwithiel, the most productive part of Cornwall in an agricul tural sense, and a large feeder of the London meat market,

The Now Zeiilander has ceased to.cxist, having become amalgamated' with-its con.'temporary the N. Z. Times. .;'■ .

'• The Carnndinig did not.have a vory large house last evening. The programme was well rendered throughout.' Messrs' M.. Oaselberg ■& Co,, announce for sale or lease 14 acres land and fourroomed cottage on Te Ore Ore; at present in the occupation-of Mr Oroad.?

Henry Gordon Gooch, R.A.M., late of tlie Oarandini troupe, has accepted the post of music-master, to .the Auckland Grammar School,

The Times states- that the Presbytery of Wellington held its quarterly meeting in thePiesbyterian Church, Foxton/on Wednesday last. The following members were present :-Rev Messrs Allsworth (Moderator), Duncan, Ogg, Paterson, McKee, Wright, Ross, Doull, and Ttirry, together with Mr Honore, Maori Missionary, and Mr E, McGregor, student in Divinity. Messrs Paterson, McKee, and Ogg gave in a report on the examination papers of Mr G. Grant, at present laboring at the Hutt, on Latin, Greek,.and Church History. Mr Grant's examination was sustained by the Presbytery. A report was also given in by Messrs Ogg, Paterson, McKee, and Doull, on the examination papers of Mr R. McGregor, in Church History, Greek and Hebrew, Latin and Theology-Mr McGregor' was also examined orally,'and read papers on subjects that had been prescribed to him. The Presbytery sustained his examination with approbation, and resolved to apply to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Ohurch for leave to take him on trial for license. Several commissioners were appointed to attend the meeting of Assembly to be held in Auckland next month.

We understand steps are being taken to form a Railway Celebration Committee in Greytown, to fittingly celebrate the opening of the line to that' town; It will not be attempted to come near the Featherston Celebration, us the opening of the line there was of importance to the whole of the Wairarapa and therefore the whole of the Wairarana should have the cost, but in the present instance Greytown and the Lower Valley only, will be permanently benefited and Carterton and Masterton temp nun ly, and the two latter places should hr-vo- to celebrate their own. What we would therefore suggest is, that his Excellency should be invited to perform the ceremony, (as soon as the exact date is known); that he should be entertained by some of the principal settlers, ■and Huh aire him mi opportunity of seeins; the Wairarapa (which, by the way, he has not visited officially). That a cold lunch be provided on a small scale, at say 5s or Is (id per head. The friendly societies from the various districts should form ill procession, and the throe volunteer companies form a guard of honor to his Excellency, and that the school children should be mustorod and sing some nttin« song of welcome. The good folk of Greytown can, thanks to the enterprise of a few gentlemen, boast of a good brass band which would no doubt'offer its services, and in this way the opening could bo celebrated in a fitting and inexpensive way. We would suggest that a committee be appointed at once to consider the mat ter. and would be satisfied to learn that some few of our suggestions were accepted in the spirit they are offered.

Mr Gladstone's personal appearance at the present time is thus sketched by a London correspondent of the Philapelphia Press:—"ln personal appearance Mr Gladstone ie an active, lithe, muscular man, rather tall, and of well proportioned frame. His face and figure have that clear-cut contour whichgenerally indicates several generations of intellectual activity and pei't'onal leadership. Mr Gladstone is the descendant of a.long line of Scottish lairdmen, of small wealth and limited posse si >ns, but acou'sioined to stand first in their community, to think,, and to lead. The face is scholarly, cultivated, its outlines boldly defined by that meagraness of muscle which distinguishes the professional athlete. There is not an ounce of superfluous flesh on it. The thin lips, and well-cut mouth and chin betoken firmness, determination, and endurance.. Seventy summers have sat lightly upon, him, but the years have brought their blessing of rest, and his face in' general 'wears the repose of strength and experience- strongly lined with the record of struggle and thought."

The Telegraph gives the following account of the trial of the Dcering harvester and string binder which took .place on Tuesday morning in a piece of wheat, belonging to Mr J. King, in ,a ■ paddockadjoining the Timaru Cricket Ground :- " There were about thirty or forty persons Di-e'ent. The trial' was not one of speed, but merely one to demonstrate : lfie way in which the machine is worked. -While the machine differs in construction from other machines iif seme respects, the sreat feature in it is the apparatus by which string is used foi'-binding instead'of wire. The knot is made by the machine itself by a piece of mechanism easily understood when perceived, tlvm«h it cannot be lucidly described. It is a knot which will not yield, and holds the sheaf firmly together securely.' Among the advantages claimed for the machine are the following: -It makes a positive separation of-bun-dles, whatever the condition of the grain ; it makes every bundle of uniform" size; it saves all the yrain absolutely; its 'easy adjustment to the length of the grain ; it is strictly automatic and easily iiuinged; it costs much less for twine than for wire bands, and is the most economical methodyet found. The machine this morning did its work in excellent style, and highly satisfied the critical folks who watohed it in operation." A public trial of this machine is, we understand, to take place m Dunedin shortly.

The Tapanui Courier states (hat a farmer of Crookaton, who leased a section of land on the Brooksdale estate, reckons to reap £BOO. worth of wheat off 100 acres of land.

A Paris correspondent says that it would- really appesr as if the Channeltunnel sclieino has some chance of becoming a fact. After a close and long ex« animation of the various plans yet sent in, M. Verard de Sainte Anne stated, in the presence of many eminent engineers, that the proposal was quite possible and practicable,