ROADS AND BRIDGES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 3961, 13 October 1880, Page 2

ROADS AND BRIDGES.

A telegram informs us that the expenditure of the money voted as part of the bribe to the Auckland "Four," has commenced in earnest on roads and bridges north of Auckland. The amount voted altogether was £165,000 for the North Island. Of this sum neither the Counties of Wanganui, Rangitikei, nor Mauawatu have received a farthing, and when the Chairman of the Wanganui Covmty Council applied some two or three weeks Bince for £2000 to complete the road to Murimotu, he was met with a decided refusal. In Taranaki the expenditure out of this vote has been proceeding for some time according to the rate of progress ot public money in that part of the colony. One would imagine a conspiracy existed to -Anjure this district. The survey of the line between Waverley and Patea lias not oven been ordered, though the Minister of Public Works stated that the money was voted. The 20 % to counties is gone, the subsidies are reduced to 7s 6d in the pound, and the special vofce ot £165,000 for roads and bridges is being used for purposes of political bribery in a few districts where it is likely to produce the desired results. Briefly, this is how the policy of local public works is being put in force.

The Mayor of Oamarn went to Wellington lately to borrow £10,000 out of the Trust Funds for water works, but the Treasurer would not give it. This is how the Wairarapa Standard comments on the transaction : "Had the Mayor of Oamaru been 1 wise he should before he started have got a written , promise from the members for Waitaki that they would support the Government next session, and then the Major may have said "yes," if the money was not wanted in Taranaki. The Waimea Railway Company fot an advance of £40,000 out of the Trust 'unds and the Commissioner of Annuities, Major Atkinson told the House, was very anxious for the investment j but then the Shareholders in the Waimea Railway were — well we will say not Messrs Shrimski and Jones. What sweet simplicity the Oamaru people displayed in sending their chief officer on such a foolish errand. " The work of acclimatizing British fish in the Wanganui river is proceeding rapidly. On Tuesday about 3000 young trout were landed by the Wakatu, having been brought from Nelson. We have received a copy of the New Zealand Turf Review and Coursing Calender for 1879-1880. The Review has been compiled by "Mazeppa" the sporting editor of the N.Z. Public Opinion. It contains j among other items of interest to sporting men, a list of every horse in training, with a detailed account of their performances for the year. The book will be of immense service to racing men, and should command a a ready sale. A man named Baude, in the employ of a baker at St. Denis, was recently sentenced to death for a diabolical effence. Hia master having refused to give him the usual Christmas box, on account of his pilfering practices, Baude resolved on vengeance, and forthwith proceeded to obtain, at different times and under false pretences, a quantity of arsenic. When he had procured enough he put it in the kneading trough one night aa the bread was being made. The next day about a hundred persons, customers of tho bak&r, were taken ill, Fortunately the poison was only fatal' in one case, And that happened to be the pet poodle of an elderly lady. The doctors, however, said that there was enough arsenic to poison three hundred people. • A third squad of the Wanganui Rifles commenced class-firing this morning, when the following passed. Sergt. G. Ross was in charge. Corporal Cummins, 72; Sgt. G. Ross, 70 ; Vol. W. H. Churton. 69 ; Vol. H. Ross, 63 ; Bandsman Forbes, 61 ; Vol. Spurdle, 56 ; Vol. Signal, 53 ; Vol. Kenny, 47 ; Vol. Nicholson, 41. The Trustees of the Wesleyan Trinity Church have now introduced the gas into the church, school-room, and vestry, and are also doing it into the parsonage. The work has been done by Messrs Mills and Graham, the successful tenderers, and reflects credit I upon the firm for the efficient way in which they have done the work. The church has two sun-lights with 18 burners each, there are 2 burners in the rostrum and 2 in the

gallery. The school-room has two sun-lights of smaller dimensions with 12 burners each, both the church and schoolroom being very well lighted. The new and fine organ which has just been imported was played for the first time, with good effect, on Sunday evening last. We (Manawatu Times) are pleased to learn that a memorial is about to bo signed praying the Government to remit the £25 fine imposed upon Dr. Rockstrow by the Foxton Bench. We have but little doubt that the efforts of the memorialists will be crowned with success. It would seem that the Manawatu timber trade is not tho only industry threatened with extinction by the new railway tariff. The Lyttleton Times mentions the following case :— " During the past three years, Mr Smethurst, of Kaiapoi, has been working most energeticaly to establish a trade with Christchurch for the various grades of sand and shingle, of which there are enormous deposits at Kaiapoi. At the late Industrial Exhibition, Mr Smethurat displayed no fewer than 30 distinct samples of this mineral wealth, and the exhibit deservedly won very high commendation. It did more than win praise, for since the exhibition Mr Smethurst has found his required output steadily increasing ; and he had begun to feel assured that the longr struggle for financial success had resulted in a victory. In order to compete successfully, he had been obliged to cut down his prices to the utmost limit, the haulage to Christchurch being 2s 4d per ton. Now,Jiowever, an extra shilling per ton for haulage is to be charged, aud this, so far as Mr Smethurst is concerned, will effectually prevent him from carrying on his important undertaking. It will be a matter for great regret should this particular industry be thus swamped, seeing that experts are unanimous in their praise of the Kaiapoi sands and shingles, and that the local pits must soon become exhausted. " One of the passengers tells " Atticns" that on the night when the Sorata struck, all was confusion, women fainting, men running hither and thither, and seamen swearing with true British energy. At this critical moment, when the cry on all sides was for the boats, and when trunks were being eagerly opened by owners anxious to save a few valuables, the under-stewards went the rounds and presented the wine bills for settlement. The Lyttelton Times thus summarises a recent discussion of the Christchurch Acclimatization Society :— "The question of Sunday fishing was under discussion yesterday, at a meeting of the Acclimatization Society, and the prohibitive principle was affirmed unanimously. One member suggested that the trout certainly ought to be enabled once a veek to " thank Heaven for 24 hours rest." Another member, however, submitted that the trout were free agents, and need not take the bait unless they chose to do so ; while the unfortunate birds were very differently circumstanced, and were shot nohntes volentes. The recommended restriction of Sunday fishing is to be enforced by a fine 'not exceeding £20.'" A distinguished fungologist, writing to the Gardeners' Chronicle, says : — A very curious circumstance occurred after the dreadful storm with which we were visited on the 10th and 12th, when four inches of rain were recorded— the lightoning wa3 unusually severe. Yeast seemed to have lost all its virtue, and the bakers lost whole batches of bread, because it was powerless. It is rei ported that German yeast, when falling accidentally from a great height, loses its power of germinating, as is supposed, by some change in the polarity of the particles, and something similar has probably taken» place here. The circumstance, at any rate, is worthy of record ; it is, at least, new to us. The locality indicated would be in the neighbourhood of Sibbertoft, Northampton. A clearing sale of fancy articles at Mr H. A. Brown's repository, Victoria Avenue, is notified. Prices have been arranged so as to ensure a speedy clearance. The priveleges in connection with the Waverley- Waitofcara race meeting will be sold at Ballam's Hotel, Waverley, by Mr F. R. Jackson on Saturday next at 3 p.m. They are having a taste of "Justice's Justice " in Wellington just now, it seem 3. A Mr Ebenezer Baker has been presiding at the R. M. Court and making the place hot for all offenders. The Chronicle has been roasting the Baker with paragraphs. The N. O. Times says that since the late raid on the Oamaru publicans for adulteration, a number of hotel bars are ornamented with placards bearing the words " All spirits sold here adulterated with water." The Times expects to see this changed bye and bye for " All water sold here unadulterated with spirits." j There are reviews and reviews, but for a remarkable specimen of this kind of literature—a regular cold water cure— commend us to the following from the Wairarapa Standard: — "There has been sent to us a pamphlet about the "Bible in Schools" compiled by " Prophetcs" which we do not care to make any comment over save this. Sev- j eral Educational Acts and some statistical matter will be found in these pages which may prove valuable to those who want, but I do not know where to find such information. It is published at a shilling. Our copy may be had at half the price." ' This is how the Melbourne police suppress gambling. The Telegraph says : — "Suspicion having attached to several publichouses that I gambling was allowed to be extensively carried on, two plain-clothes constables visited one of the suspected houses. After indulging in one or two games of btiliards, they gained admission to a room in which 'poker ' was being played, at which they took a hand,and thus allayed the suspicions they first aroused. After a while they proceeded, much to tho astonishment of those assembled, to bar tho door and handcuff the inmates, the landlord being amongst the number." The Fiji correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes : — "The most foolish stories are told of Sir Arthur Gordon, especially about his bad temper, but those who know his best describe him as a reticent, retiring, and even-tempered, warmhearted man. He certainly is never to be deceived, and not to be trifled with. Those who have discovered his ill-temper have perhaps learnt that fact also. His work here was not finished, and his retirement from the colony at the present time is much to bo regretted." Although the last quarter, ending September, did not include our wool season, the value of wool exported from Wellington amounted to £45,252. This is how a musical critic at Ashburton describes one of the performers : — "He glided through the softer passages with the voice of a seraph, and declaimed the angry defiance of the Macgregors with the tones of an archangel." The Waikato Times complains that some of the oatfields in that district have been " literally sacked " by sparrows and skylarks. The New Zealand Times says : — The measure of success achieved by Sir Arthur Gordon in Fiji is shown by the revenue and fiscal returns ot that colony. In 1875 the entire revenue did not much exceed £15,000; in 1876, it stood at £38,000; in 4877, £47,000 ; in 1878, noarly £61,000 ; and in 1879 it had reached £70,000. The exports \ which in 1876 only amounted in value to a little over £100,000, last year reached noarly double that amount, and it is worthy also of note, as showing the habits of systematic industiy inculcated among the natives, and their conformity to British rule, that whereas in 1785 the native taxes only amounted to about £3500, they now, by payments in kind contribute value to the amount of £20,QQ0 annually tothe Treasury. It would be hard to pass a" higher enconium on Sir Arthur Gordon's administrative abilities. The Patea Mail says : — Bigamy has been committed by a blacksmith lately of Kakaraamea. He " levanted " from that township recently, leaving his wife in domestic service. His next performance was to mavry a young girl at Wanganui, giving out he had not previously been married. He and the deluded young woman have now cleared for Wellington. A copy of the marriage register at Wanganui has been shown to us, and also a certified copy of the first marriage register at Belfast in 1872. The wife is naturally reluctant to take stops for punishing a scamp who js after all her husband, but we think the police would do well to vindicate justice, and morality by prosecuting the man fop bigamy.