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Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 68, 5 October 1872, Page 2

We hay.e been requested to notify that Mi?s Aitkrn will read in the large room of the Uamioks, Hamilton, in place of in. the Hamilton Hall, as otherwise notified. We call the attention of. the settlers in the neighbourhood of Ngaruawahia to the meeting called this afternoon, at two o'clock. All should attend ; it is desirable that the meeting should be a> large one. In another column will be found the- dates on which l)r Carr will appear in each of the townships in the W.aikato.. A meeting of the ratepayers of the Cambridge Highway District was held at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel,. Cambridge, on the Ist of October, at 6 o'clock, p.m. The business as stated in the advertisement calling, the meeting, was " for the-purpose of considering the present position of the ratepayers, and other matters connected with, the district." The evening was very unfavourable, but notwithstanding the continuous downfall of rain and bad roads, about fifteen ratepayers assembled at the appointed hour. Mr J. H. Smith was called upon to occupy the chair. The Chairman, after having read the notice convening the meeting, spoke in. strong terms of disappointment of the conduct of certain of the Trustee .u having, after the late annual meeting, taken possession of the voting lists. He unhesitatingly condemned the manner in which these gentlemen had acted after having discovered swpposed error in the voting

lists ; as they had, in the onnnunication they made to the Superintendent, entirely ignored not only the chairman.of the annual meeting, but also the scrutineers, whoso- special business it was to see to the i-oriveiness of. the lists in, question.—Mr Pearson, as one of the scrutineers, expressed his opinion that the addition wliieh was afterwards said to be erroneous was quite correct, and that Mr Runeiman had boen duly elected. —Mr Runeiman stated that fully a fortnight after the annual general meeting he had received a letter from Mr Clark, the Chairman elect of the Road Board, telling him.lie should have notice of the next board meeting, thus recognising him as a Trustee, although it was since sought to be denied that he had been duly elected,.and through the action of the gentlemen already referred to, another ratepayer had been gazetted as Trustee in his steadi —Mr Robinson bought that the business for which they had met was to consider whether the present Trustees were legally elected or not. —Mr Forrest stated that if there Mas any doubt as to the legality of the election of any of the Trustees,, the proper place to test it would be in the Resident Magistrate's Court. It was stated that one of the sitting Trustees was not a ratepayer at the time of his election, and was therefore disqualified from acting as a Trustee, and had further i*. iideivd himself liable to a heavy fine by taking part in a meeting of ratepayers. —Mr Runeiman said he did not acknowledge the existence of the acting board, and expressed his determination not to pay his rates unless matters were rectified.—Mr Robinson moved, " That the Chairman of the Annual Meeting lay a statement of what then took place before his Honor the Superintendent, and inform him that the ratepayers do not recognise the present Board of Trustees as being legally constituted." —This motion was unanimously agreed to. It was resolved that a committee be appointed to look after the interests of the ratepayers. Such committee to consist of Messrs Allwell, Forrest, McNickle, Robinson, and Smith. It was resolved that legal advice be taken as to the proper course-for the ratepayers to take in regard to the whole matter. On the motion of Mr Allwell it was decided that the meeting sliould be adjourned till Saturday, the 12th October, at 7 o'clock p.m., when it was expected there would, be a large attendance of the ratepayers.. After passing a vote of thanks to the chairman >.the meeting separated. Since writing, the above, we understand that one of the questions to be brought before the adjourned meeting "reill be " the position of the ratepayers should the Government decide upon .withdrawing the grant to the road boards as at present contemplated."

We are glad to find that Papalura has had its meeting to protest against the Road Board and Confiscated Land Policy of the Government. The following resolutions were carried by acclamation : — " That this meeting regrets that the Government have resolved to discontinue the grant to Road Boards,. and. has heard with surprise that the hon the Colonial Treasurer should have stated to the House that those grants were viewed' with indifference by the Road Boards, as the grants would ultimately lead to increased taxation." " That this meeting views, with great alarm the proposal of the Government to return to.the natives the confiscated lands, as such an act, if carried out, would be a bad precedent as well as disastrous to the colony, and more especially so to the. North Island. 5 . 5

On Wednesday afternoon the quarterly meeting of the Preebvtcry of Auckland was held in St. Androw * Church : The' Moderator, the Rev Thom.vs Norric, (presiding), Kcv D. Bruce, Kcv J). Hamilton, Kev 1. E. McKenzie, Efcv Sir Wallace, Kev R, F. M.ekumey, Rev J. Macky, and the Kev R. F. MacNicol, (clerk)Eldora: Messrs Rhodes, A. Dingwall, J. \.bteveneon, Davis, and R. Somerville.. The meet nig wms oiK-ned,bv the revewnd. Moderator reading.tho-4th chapter "of the Second Epistle.of-Timothy ; after which he engaged in prayer. * The Rev Mr -Nome vacated the chair as Moderator, and the Kov Mr McKinnev, his successor, assumed it and delivered a most interesting address, We regret that its extreme len-'th prevents its insertion in our column*. Captain Turner. Resident Engineer,.returned three davs n"0-to.Te Papa from the direction of Intel ere. w.."iore he had been engaged in surveying the projected, lme of road froin.Tanrauga to Cambridge. Ihis work, has been successfully accomplished without any hiudrance from the natives, who met him on all sides in a most friendly manner. Thus a new outlet of great importance' to the district is now practically secured, and will probably be in-an excellent state of working order in about six mouths, placing the inhabit ants oi' Tauranga within a day's ride or drive ol' the Waikato district,, the advantigtsof which means of eonnnunicaiion to the population of each end of I the line can hardly be over-estimated.—-/>. X. Cross.

Wo are glad to learn that Mr Vogel has given notice that he will move a vote of want of confidence in the Ministry. We sincerely trifst that the House by this time has come to its senses, and thub it will be carried by a large majority. On Saturday last the members of the Cambridge Cavalry Volunteer Corps met for the purpose of deciding'who should become possessed of the ten Snider Carbines forwarded for the use of tho corps by the Government. It had been decided, that the ten men making the highest scores at the three usual practice ranges" viz. :—l5O, 200, and 250 yards should'be entitled to the r-orbines. Whether it was thai in consequence of the excitement attaching to the desire to shoot well or not, we cannot my, but certainly the sore* made were not nearly so high as those made on the usual practice days—the highest score being thirty-seven. The carbines fell to the following. v j z . :—Sergeant Clare ; Corporals Fisher and Allwell ; Troopers Garland, Pearson, Walker, O'Xeil, Leslie, Randerson, and O'-Bi-ien. The carbines theins -lves are magnificent weapons, being very light and portable, and a smart man could fire with tho:n with tremendous rapidity and accuracy, as they do not require capping, and there is only one single movement in loading. In the course of his speech on the Wnnt-01-conh-denco motion, Mr J. Williamson said, " There is one word which I desire to utter with regard to my honorable find esteemed friend v.-ho sits at the head of the Government of this country. If he wore to retire from public life on those benches, he need not consequently retire from doing a great public good. There arc ten- of thou :mds of people in this country

who are prepared t<\ make him their prcii i r, in carrying out a great, holy, and noble work. They want a leader ; and there is no man of mark in the colony who is more trusted than the honorable gentleman ; but while he sits at the head of any government, the chief revenues of which are paid over by the pale, emaciated hand" of the demon of strong drink, I say that his.usefulness is very much curtailed. The feeling is abroad, in the colony,, and it is growing, that if he come from among the Government, and take his place among his fellow-colonists, the end of his days would bring him the consolation of knowing that he had left the people in the way of accomplishing a very great and good work—a work which has yet to be done in all new colonies like this, calculated to raise it in the scale of social existence, and to bring the blessings of peace and contentment which cannot be secured without it. The honorable gentleman will, I trust, pardon me for making these remarks, but I do think that if lie retires from those benches, he will not fail in his duty to his country, and that he will find work to do which will be an honor to himself and a blessing to the country."