The Waikato Times

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1288, 30 September 1880, Page 2

The Waikato Times

Equal and exact justice to all men, Oi whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain Unawcd by influence and unbribed by gain.

THURSDAY, SEP. 30, 1880.

By the courtesy of Captain Steele we have been permitted to peruse an advance copy of Messrs. Grant and Foster's pamphlet on the agricultural conditions and prospects of New Zealand. It will be remembered that these gentlemen—farmers of much experience and substance — arrived in this colony at the end of last year as delegates from the tenant farmers of Lincolnshire, with a view to determining the nature and extent of the advantages which could be held out here to the suffering agriculturists in over-crowded England, and to that end they travelled over the greater portion of the country. The pamphlet hoav before us is a record of their observations and impressions ; whether just or unjust it is a work which will in a large degree influence the minds of intending emigrants, and as such it becomes us as colonists to regard it closely. To a colonist thoroughly acquainted with the details of those matters with which Messrs. Grant and Foster of necessity only deal in a general way, the book will not present the same aspect as it will to our brethren in the mother country who are totally ignorant of, or at most possess a very partial knowledge of the condition of things here, . and after all the lying rubbish which they have unwittingly swallowed, will not be disposed to take much for granted. It is therefore difficult for us to arrive at anything like a clear perception of the estimate of New Zealand, which this book will create in the minds of those English farmers who read it. But there is one test which we may apply with some degree of confidence as to the result, and that is bv satisfying ourselves as to the truthfulness of the book. If the descriptions contained in it are true, and the statements made strictly consonant with what we know to be fact, we need, we think, have little fear in the ultimate influence of the book for good. If one or two English farmers settling here can add their testimony, based on actual experience, to the written testimony of the delegates — and if it be the truth, there is no reason why they should not — it will give an immense additional weight to the latter and must do good. On the other hand an incalculable amount of damage will be done by further dissemination of any soapy stories about our colony. Naturally enough, many people will, looking at the position which the delegates hold, be ready to believe statements however glowing and however baseless coming from them, but time is bound to undeceive them, and the result would be infinitely more calamitous than anything which could be brought about by such men as Mr Arthur Clay den, or "Capt." William Jackson Barry. The reaction would be greater in proportion to the credit advanced. Looking carefully through the report it is gratifying to feel" that about the considerations we have referred to we need have little anxiety. It is surprising to find how clear and correct, considering the cursory character of the delegates' inspection, is the idea which they have seized. We venture to say that few of our best informed colonists could write a better account of the country through which they passed than Messrs Grant and Foster have sneceeded in doing. It were nonsense to say the book is without demerits of any kind, it is not possible for any such publication to enjoy so pleasant an ; immunity, but its faults which, are ] no where very glaring, arise from defective information rather than from any desire to exaggerate. We shall not attempt within the limits of one article to give even an out- ) line of the book. Our chief est con-

,Q3rn is to know that its effect will be liealthy, and believing this, we .Q^jft>from time to time deal with many of the more prominent points which Messrs Giant and Foster raise in regard to our methods of agriculture, our soils and our climite. First of all it is well to be satisfied upon this : that having based their conclusions upon a fair and just examination of the Colony's claims they have answered the question, "Is ISew Zealand a good Held of emigration for British tenant farmers" in the affirmative. ' Upon the advice which they tender to prospective emigrants as to what part of the colony is. best adapted for the various pursuits of a country , life, we shall take occasion to touch in another article.

A judgment of a somewhat important character was delivered in Wellington a few days ago by the local District Judge, the bearings and particulars .of ,w,hich are of more than usual interest to all branches joi the community. It appears that during the land furore of two years ago, which mania seems to have extended to every part of New Zealand, the plaintiff in the case we are referring to had purchased a piece of land at auction on what is understood as " terms." The terms as stated at the .sale were one-half to be paid forthwith in cash, and the balance at the expiration of six months by means of a bill. As is usual, the conditions of the sale had been read by the auctioneer, and one of the clauses of that document was in effect that the vendor, the owner of the property, contracted to give a full and proper title to the purchasers within fourteen days after the second instalment of the purchase money. The name of the vendor was not mentioned in the conditions of the sale. The plaintiff, upon one section of land being knocked down to him by the auctioneer, in due course handed over the amount of purchase money in full, and awaited for a transfer of the title. This title for some reason or other never, came, the owner of the land not having the means of giving it. After repeated applications to the auctioneer for a refund of his purchase money, the plaintiff at last took legal proceedings. ■ The ruling of the judge, it must be conceded, whether it be based upon sound law or not, is certainly to our minds, based upon common sense. He held, notwithstanding the contention of counsel for the other side, that the law M*as clear that an auctioneer occupied the position of a stakeholder ; that in such sales the auctioneer was liable to the purchasers for the completion of the sale, and was responsible for the purchase money if the owner of the property refused or failed to give the purchaser a title. And the ruling went further, he added that the auctioneer had no right whatever to hand over a single shilling to the vendor until such time as the purchaser obtained his title. The auctioneer's legal advisers lodged ho appeal against the judgment, so it is to be presumed that they admitted the deductions upon which the decision was based. We believe that in Wellington, and indeed in niany other parts of New Zealand, innumerable cases have been discovered of uncompleted contracts effected in auction-rooms and elsewhere during the land mania of 1878. In Dunedin not many weeks ago a large number of people were made to suffer heavily from the inability of the owner of a " cut-up " estate to furnish them with titles at the maturity of their payments for sections purchased at auction. The original title to the township itself was successfully contested by third parties, the unfortunate purchasers, most of them poor men who had scraped all their savings together to acquire a little freehold property, never receiving back a shilling of their purchase money. The Jiasco, not to use a harsher term, was on a gigantic scale, and we do not hear that anyone troubled the auctioneer as in this Wellington case, while all the time the vendor was not worth powder and shot. Great prudence and care should without doubt be exercised by people dealing at haphazard with land at auction sales. A little learning is a dangerous thing, especially so in regard to land. In matters of title-deeds and of the investigations which those who transact business based upon their sound validity, must necessarily make, the man who is his own lawyer of a surety has a fool for a client.

It having been industriously circulated by the correspondent of an Auckland paper that Mr 8. E. G. Smith has severed his connection with this journal, and joined the staff of a local contemporary, we beg to give the mischievous statement an unqualified denial.

Captain Edwin, R.N., telegraphed yesterday afternoon; — "Look out for bad weather and heavy rain from N. to N.E."

The complimentary banquet to J. B. Whyte, Esq, M.H.R., is to be held next Thursday evening at 7 o'clock, in the Public Hall, Cambridge. Tickets can. be obtained from the Licensed Vituallers of Hamilton and Cambridge, and from any members of the committee, or from the secretary, James Thomson, Esq., Cambridge.

T. A. Whitaker, Esq., M-H.R. (Waina), arrived in Hamilton l»y last night s train.

Hamilton, as a rule, is not behind the times in sport. It can boast of its racing, cricket, lawn tennis, and football clubs, a Debating Society, but no boating club. With such a splendid sheet of water as it possesses iv Cox's

TJffcKe, it id a wondei* that a boating club h?w not j^een established }iere long ago, ioviitjs&pne of wgtq maute pastimes, so. cbsonraK to all*|comimußnkies as the means 'of affording healthy recreation, giving full scope to the rising generation. The lake is within a short distance of thfe towp, .and easily roaohed. There is nearly a two-mile pull round, and as boats can be had at very reasonable rates from Messrs J. W. Can 1 and Sons, Avliose advertisement \\ ill be found in our columns, we hope to be' able to 'note, at no distant date, the' formation of a Hamilton Rowing Club.

■ At a special meeting of the Tamahere Road Board held at the residence of Mr Leslie yesterday, the following tenders were received for works required by the Board, viz. : — No. 1 contract (cutting at Crawfords gully) : Thompson and Graham, £70 ; Cowley, £69 ; Barclay and Stewart, £64 8s 9d ■ Potter, £64 ; ' Mullins and Luhre, £39 ; Lovett alid Cassidy,, £58 10s ; Livingstone and Booth, £oo (accepted). No. 3 contract (tramway cutting) : Mclnnes and Co., £135 ; Barclay and Stewart, £94 2s : Lovett and Cassidy, £79 ; Livingstone and Booth, £73 ; Mullins and Luhrs, £73 ; Coleman and Coombes, £70 (accepted). The consideration of tenders for the bridge and other works was deferred till Wednesday, the 13th October next.

The public will be glad to learn that on and after Ist October the under* mentioned stations are to be exempt from the additional charge of 6d on messages : — Charleston, Clinton, Coromandel, Darpaville, Driving- Creek, Featherston, Geraldine, Greytown (north) Halcombe, Huraiuu, Katikati, Huraura, Nsaruawahia, Ohanpo, Otram, Oxford, Rangiora, Southbridge, Temnka, Te Awaniutu, Waikouaiti, Waipukurau, Waitaki (Blueskin), Waverly, Winton, and Wyndliam. Our new weekly contemporary (the Auckland Obscrvry) will contain on Friday next several life-like pictures of the New North Road Murder.— [Advt.]

A man named Eccles, chamman to a survey party, had a narrow escape from being drowned in the Maiigapiko Creek on Tuesday. Eccles, who cannot swim, had already sank twice when Mr EdwardPillingseeingthe situation jump d in, and brought him safe ashore in a very exhausted condition.

There is one farmer in the district at any rate who has resolved within his own mind to make a crusade agaimst the thistles. It is his firm conviction that they can be kapt down, and he means to demonstrate this at whatever cost. We shall carefully watch and note the operations, believing" that the result will prove of immense interests to everybody engaged in the cultivation of this thiatleencumbcred soil.

Farming operations under the benignant influence of one of tlie most favourable springs experienced for years, have been vigorously pushed on. There has not been a very laige area of land sown down in grain this season, but what crops have been put in are very promising. The sparrows have in some cases done a vast amount of damage by pulling up the young blades of oats'or wheat and eating the grain thus brought to the surface. In one or two instances where the plan suggested by our correspondent " S..T. *' of applying coal tar to the grain before sowing, has been followed the sparrows have done comparitively little damage, still at harvest-time they will prove as they dill last' year, a real curse to the farmers and should be destroyed. A large quantity of land is being sown in potatoes this year, and only that the means of transport to the Auckland market are accessible, this produce would I be exceedingly cheap bye-and-by. The young autumn sown grasses are looking very forward all over the district and indicate more than anything- else perhaps, the favourable nature of the season we are now enjoying. Rye grass and clover are springing up with astonishing celerity, in old pastures as well as in new, and there will soon be an abundance of food. Spurred by the success of previous year", we believe a very large area of land will this summer be laid down in turnips. It will year by year be found that as the winter comes round food for stock will be more plentiful, because farmers are fast learning that it is just as necessary to feed cattle at that period, as it is that they ehould graze during the summer.

The crossing at Martyns creek on the Cambridge Koad is too narrow to be very safe at any time, but it is extremely dangerous, when two or three panels of the fence are down, as is now the case. The country Board should look to this matter at once .

Town improvements are steadily going on in Cambridge. The curbing in i Duke-street has been carried round the corner into Victoria-street towards the barracks, and if it has no other effect, it certainly gives an air of completeness to the corner. 1 lie works near the National Hotel are progressing.

Referring to the paragraph in Friday's Star, in which Mr Tniver.s, the wellknenvn Wellington Barrister is reported to have scathingly denounced lawyers' Bills of costs and blunder.*, it is suggested to us, that the learned gentleman may have rcferre i more to his own bi'ls and blunders than to those of the profession generally. We confess to a misty recollection of hearing that a barrister from Wellington about Mr Travers size, engaged for Brogden in certain Railway cases in Auckland, had presented a bill of costs amounting to £120 and that it was subsequently reduced to £8 10s. Apropos of blunders in pleading the same learned gentleman i.s reported to have made in the same cases, a blunder which might have cost his clients £1200 but it was amended with costs against them amounting to considerably less. We do not defend excessive bills of costs or lawyers blunders, but must record our opinion that any learned old biped who blunders along to the verge of the grave fattening on costs and then as the time is fast approaching Avhen there will be no more drawing- of costs turns thus upon his Hnd, is mean.

We would again remind honorarymembers, Volunteers, and those interested in the welfare of the Hamilton Light Infantry Band, the desirability of punctual attendance this evening:, at half-past seven, in the Oddfellows' Hall, Hamilton East, to discuss matters of importance in connection with the band. A full muster of the band, with instruments, is requested.

Full particulars of a series of murderous assaults by a Fijian in Auckland will be found culled from our Auckland evening contemporary in another column.

An addition to Messrs Hunter and Nolans Ohanpo spring sale, and also two others will be found in our third page.

A meeting of the committee formed for the purpose of giving a banquet to J. B. Whyte, Esq., M.H.R., in recognition of his Parliamentary services during last session, was held in the Public Hall, Cambridge, on Tuesday afternoon. There were present — Messrs "Wells (in the chair), J. P. Campbell, Keid, R. Reynolds, Smith, and Pearson. The following names wore added to the committee : — Messrs Hosking, G- Wynne th, Raynes, and Fanfchara, and the two former took their seat*'. Letters were read from Messrs E. Maclean and James Hally regretting that they were not able to act on the committee. Mr Jno. Fisher also | wrote, declining to act, as he was an 1 elector ot another constituency, and in-

tuymting that the member for Waipa had alsV worked, assiduously for Cambridge, >Gaptaius Steele aud MoPherbon, and Mr ''A. Pi imrose wrote accepting the position of cornmittcemen, butcxplainingtTi.it they could not attend that meeting. Mi 1 J. P. Campbell refeued to what had been done by the c'otmnittee Since their last meeting. They had ascertained that the 7th of October would be suitable to Mr Whyto. I It was, therefore, resolved to hold the banquet on that day. Some discussion j then took place regarding the price of the 'tickets, and this "was ultimately fixed at 12s 6(1, On the motion of Mr Campbell, the following were appointed ft, sub-com-mittee to carry out the details in connection with the banquec : — Messrs Wella, G. E. Clarke, Pearson, Reid, and Hosking. It was understood at the meeting that the member for Waipa and the Hon. the Attorney- General should be invited to be present.

The jemissness of those who neglect to plant trees cannot be attributed to any want of encouragement, because wherever their culture has been attempted the moat gratifying resujts have followed. On Mr Tisdall's property on the Alaxan-dra-Te Awamutu road there is a pretty little plantation of pines on the bank of a small creek. The trees have not been planted many years, but the)' are already assuming very large proportions. The real value of even small plantations of this kind cannot be overestimated.

The appearance of that portion of of the surveyed township of Alexaudra, which lies across the Waipa induces in any one a, feeling almost akin to sadness. The native troubles have years ago driven all the original occupiers away, though here and there a decaying cottage and an unkempt orchard mark where they have beei. The allotments are nearly all m one or two hands but nothing much is being done in the way of cultivation. Just now, the peach trees blossoming foith. relieve the desolatencss of the picture somewhat ; and here it may be said that theee trees appear not to have suffered as much foom the blighting influences which have destroyed many trees in other parts of the district, and give promise of a very fair crop.

If I want information (says an American merchant) I seek it in the local papers, and become a subscriber to the most influential journal, but I do mortally detest (he further remarks) when I reach home to find that the paper has been lent to Mr So and So, or to a next door neighbour, as is often the case, and perhaps torn or lost. Still I have to pay for other people's pleasure, some of whom are better off than myself, but are evidently too mean to subscribe to the looal print, and thus support a local industry. Yet these people expect to be paid for whatever work they may accomplish. But the question is, how are the over-taxed printers to be paid, if the bomnvers wont pay for their love of reading? — An American paper.

On Monday evening, in the billiardroom of the Royal Hotel, one Hugh Rae hal some words with the marker, Wm, Allen, which resulted iv Rae thro winyAllen down, choking him and tearing his coat. Mr Allen, through his solicitor, Mr 0 Neill, has taken out a summons for assault.

Mr Walters thoroughbred entire Hippocampus reached Hamilton, as we in labt is'-ue h.iid he would, by the evening train on Tuesday, and proceeded yesterday afternoon to Mr Garland's farm, near Cambridge. Hippo was put up for the night at Mr Mofflin's commodious livery Btables at Pcarce's Commercial Hotel, and appears in splendid form. A Tearful HEsroNbiuiLiTY.—Clergyman to newly-wedded pair: —"The marriage state imposes various duties. The husband must protect the wife while the wife must follow the husband whithersoever he goes." Bride —" JLor, sir, can't that be altered in our case? My husband is going to be a country post- I man."

D. A/Ink 1, Esq., Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, notifies th.it certain Town .Suburban and Rur.ii Lands in the Xowc astle, ioAioha, and Cambudgc- distiiets will be offered by public .motion at the Crown Lands Office, Auckland, on Fndav, 29th Oc tobei, at 11 a m. Ihe Annual Cattle .Show, m connection with the Cambiidge Faimeis' Club, avill be held on Oc tobet 21, when special prizes will be offeu d bv Mis A. Ra\ nes and Messrs Fergusson, nf doiton, F.mthain, Mi Lean and Co., (leo. Jl,.J 1,. Clark, and Ravnes. Lntnes must bo sent to Walter Scott, Ksq , Secret. n\, in writing (w ith entiance mone\) addiessc.il to the Post-otfu c, Cambridge. b\ lucsdav, 12th October. Late entries will be received till Monday, 18th Ot tober, bv paving double entrance fee. Mi J. S. I'm kiand holds a s.ile of horse 1; at Cambridge 011 week, and ot cattle.it Oh.uipo on Luc sda\ week, iith October. Mi sms Hunter and Nolan hold theii fiist spung sale- of cattle to-da\,at Ohaupo, at if) o'( loc k, at which a latge number ot head will be offeied, togethei with well-bred hoises. Messas Hunter and Xolan hold a sale ot cattle, sheep, and horses, at the \ nds, Xg.iruawahia, next S iturd.n. A large number of stock will be j.ndi d. Messrs Huntei and Nolan hold their tiist cattle s.ile of the season at Raglan, at the Okete yaids, on luosdaj, Oc tober 10th. An emeigenc}' meeting of the Sons of Ulster, Xo. 0, L.0.L., will be held this evening, at the Vie toi 1.1 Hall, .it half-past se\ en. The ttill piogramnic foi tlm season of the pine bred Cljdesdale horse "Piesident" appears in our adxeitising columns. Tin new I^ure Cash S\stem nowbointj initi ited b) (1. and C. will certainly prcne a benefit to the public. It has been a sjieit success 111 S\dne\ «md Melbourne, and when stiu tl\ carried out the customer who bins at an establishment where the sjfoods are murkt d low tcj ensure a rapid s tie must be a ijie.it sj.imer. (x. and C sell their elrapen millinan, and clothinir at such put es tor cash as jji\es the Inner the advantages of a shareholder in a c o-opciati\e soi iet\, without the risk ot beinjf c.illed upon to bear aportion ot theloss should the ) car's business prove unsatisfactory, (larhck and Cranwell will aim to retain the confidence whu h the public have hitherto shown them, and are detei mined to i, r i\ c the pure c ish stem a fail tiial: whethei they gain or lose the first _\e,>r. Country bmers on remitting c ash with order will be supplied with goods at <o-opeiati\e piices; just the same as though they m ule a personal selection. Furnishing goods, sue h as carpets, floor cloths', bedsteads, bedding, and gcnci.it house furniture, the largest poi turn ot whu h is turned out at our own fac tory, avill be- marked at the hmest rerminerath c prn es, and a discount of fi\e per cent, will be allowed to those who p i\ at the time of purchase. G. &C. having icilised the c ntire value ot their stock dining their late c ash s lie, the present stoi kis \i w \\n i 111 vpi Y nori.ui. An mspei tion is invited.—Gm<f k iv \\n Ck \nvvi 11, City Hall Furnishing Arcade, Queenstreet, Auckland.