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Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 44, 10 August 1872, Page 2

The clause in the " Highway Boards' Empo e ing Bill" restricting the power ov rating to "tiw, percent, on the annual value of any property, or Id in the pound on its value to sell," has already had a most pernicious elFect throughout the colony. Mr. liillies, on the 25th July, moved the second reading of. a Hill to repeal the restrictive clause. As most of our readers are aware the Highway Boards A.et of this Province empowers the ley viiig of a maximum rite of ()l per acre, or 2s Gd in the pound on the annual value, or .3d per pound on the value to sell. There is little doubt that the Bill will pass the. Legislature, every member who spoke on the question being in favour of it. Unfortunately a guud deal of damage is already done, as the Highway Boards have now held Iheir annual meetings, and fixed the rate for the present year in accordance with the objectionable clause. It would be well if a clause were inserted in the Act granting power to the ratepayers to meef. again and increase the rate i' thought desirable, otherwise many useful works •vill have to be held uvur till next year. It vi'l be seen by an advertisement in another column that the Kev David Bruce will deliver a lecture in the Presbyterian Church, Hamilton on Thursday next ; the subject selected by the rev. gentleman is '* Stonewall Jackson," the eelebrael IJuueral of the Southern an.iy during the American civil war. A private letter, published by the <)hujo Daily Thin:*, gives the following amusing account of " Vaccination fioin the heifer," as practised in Aucklan I:—"Attracted by the glowingdesodp'-ious in the papers, I found myself, with forty or fifty others, at Dr. W 's, waiting for my turn to be vaccinated. The Doctor's house is a remarkably nice one, and the gardens and grounds among the best in Auckland. The doctor was one of the lucky Caledonian holders, remarkable for the tenacity with which h« stuck to his shares, and the rea liness with which in adverse times he paid his calls. Now he has his reward, and has become a great public benefactor by purchaeing heifers, vaccinating them from the liumaa subject, and then re-vac-cinating from them. Of course it was necessary to make a small charge to cover the loss in re-selling these heifers, as the newspapers put it, which small charge the doctor has fixed at os. On my visit the scene was curious. A heifer tied to the verandah post, and surrounded with iron hurdles. Inside the hurdles the doctor with, two assistants, and hanging over the hurdles an array of arms, white, black, and whitey-brown. Outside the hurdles, the owners of the said arms—men, women, and children, of all ai;es, sexes, class, and colour. On the verandah a crowd waiting its turn, and a gentleman with a small table, registering names and taking fees. In a corner another small crow I, round a young lady, who had fainted under the process. What is doing at Dr. W 's is only a sample of what may be seen at the house of every medical man in town, excepting in some cases the heifer, which is neglected by those who prefer the arm-to-arm process. This small-pox fright will soon wear itself out, but it is a sad pity the disease has been introduced, and there is a strong feeling to prosecute those whose false declaration alone made the introduction possible."

An important decision has been given by the Resident Magistrate in Christchurch, bearing on the " Stamp Act," as regards receipts. It appears that a Mr. Fereday, who is a solicitor, gave a receipt as follows, April 30, 1872 :—" .Received from Mr. W. H. Strange, a cheque for fifty-nine pounds ten shillings and ten pence, being amount of half a year's rent (60/), due from him to Miss Ellen Hoskyns, in respect of Harewood Farm, to Ist April. 1572. less nine shillings aud twopence, paid by him for Waimakariri rate.—W. JT. Fjjreday. " His Worship, after taking time to consider, gave judgment as follows :—"The defendant in this case is c larged with having written aad signed a receipt lor tue payment of money upon paper, without the same being duly stamped. The receipt is worded, ' Received from Mr. W. H. Strange, a cheque for fifty-nine pounds ten shillings and tengeuce, being amount, &c.' This acknowledgement of tae receipt of a cheque cannot be held to be a discharge, nor is it a ' note memorandum or writing given for or upon the payment of money,' as provided for iu section 15 of the Stamps Act Amendment Act, 1860. The case will therefore be dismissed." The solicitor for the piosecution.ga.ve notice of appeal.

The eectiyns to be sold on the 29th inet., at the '. Waikato Land Office, are advertised in another j column. We have also received plans of the sections which, together with the Gazette giving the upset prices, can be seen at the Post Office, Ngaruawahia. The Canterbury Press says—" We are informed that a bullock on the farm of Mr. W. Todd. of Lincoln was lost for three weeks, and then found in a*traw*tack, into which it had eaten its way, the animal seemed .noife.,the worse for its long confinement." It is not uncommon for cattle to undermine straw-stacks in this way and get temporarily buried | through the stack ' capsizing uii them, but tbis circumstance is remarkable, as showing the length of time a beast coukVsubaist on dry food alone, _ The Tarns, writing on the English Permissive I'.i 1 .!, says :—" We have not that insatiable craving for the Permissive Bill which consumes Sir Frederick Hevgate and his sixteen supporters. There are some things which arc sn.id to please though ten times told, but there are others whicb even on a first hearing are as wearisome as " h twice-told tale " Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man ;" and we are more inclined to ask whether the Permissive Bill ever had any charm than to doubt if it has nut l.nig since.been exhausted. We shall have the sympathy of our readers in dismissing it with exceeding brevity, and in asking how it happens that this Bill and other social Bills can become such disturbing elements iu our political system. As to the principle of the measure, we are content to take our stand with the 'Bishop of Peterborough in his Void declaration that he would rather, if compelled to make'a choice; see England th?n sober. There is hope in freedon, there is none in compulsory pupilages. The advocates of the Bill are of a different opinion. They are all for fencing people oIF from all opportunities of ein. It is plain that if they had; controlled the Garden of Eden, there would have been no tree of temptation in the centre, I and Eve would never have fallen. Mr. George Trevolyan, indeed, who now etumps the country periodij cally as an advocate of the Bill, has discarded all I h'>pes of regenerating Englishmen by education, re- ; or any influence, if they be not forcibly 1 debarred from access to all liquor capaple of proj ducing intoxication. We can have nothing to do i with reasoners of this kind but to protest against I their principles." I The Philadelphia, Ledger pays that opium eating 1 has become common in the United States, and parti- ■' cularly in the West. The Legislature of Kentucky, in order to check this practice, has just passed a bill i that on the affidavit, of two respectable any person who, thrqugh the excessive use of opium, 'arsenic, hasheesh, or of any drug, has become ir>■ 1 competent to inawvge himself or his estate, may be confined in an asylum and placed under guardian--1 ship as in the case of habitual drunkenness or i lunacy. .