The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1779, 29 November 1883, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and p\.irt jnstirc to all mm. 01 wli itsoe\er st.ito or puisuasion, religious or politic tM. Here sli.ill the Press the People's rig-lif- maintain, Unaw( d by inlluen( c and iinliribcd by {jiiin.

TUURSDA Y. NO Y. 20, 1883.

Sixck Saturday wo have been at some pains to find out the true position of partners in regard to the Property Tax. We are glad to find that the department is more generous than the gentlemen who first brought the matter under our notice expected. The following sections from the Property Assessment Act will perhaps nnke this clear: — (21). " Partners in any branch of commerce, trade, manufacture, adventure or concern, carried on by two or more persons jointly, shall be a'-ses-.ed jointly in the trading name of the firm in respect of the property belonging to the firm jointly, ,uid shall be chargeable jointly with thp tiix payable in respect thereof ; ivud such assessment shall be kept separate and distinct from the individual assessment of any such partner, and shall he subject to the ordinary deductions. Every partner shall be separately responsible for the due furnishing of statements of property belonging to the firm, and be liable in respect of any default therein." (24). " Hio interests of every person in any property shall bo separately assessed, and every such perSrtu sh.ill he liab fi to Nation in rns\u><2t of the value f his interest in t-nck property." rii.* " ordinary deduction*" would iTM'in tli-'so ni'-ntioned under clause ( 2G : " All agricultural implements in actual uao, ifcc." From this itwill be seen that the two brothers referred to in our previous «trticle are allowed ,£5OO exemption on their individual assessment, and thai the assessment for the " firm" is allowed exemption for the ordinary deductions only. It seeroa that there arenianyi firms similarly' instanced to those already referred to, and' in erery case misapprehension has arisen, i The, 'fault clearly "lies jw^th,thf} department, in that the.derinands for the ta« are notsuffio^ei>tly.

explicit, and we tvUttb that sufficient time will bo allowed those who hive boon in « # i < manner prejudiced to rectify the orror they have been unwittingly led into.

Tug report of Tuesday's meeting of tho Cambridge, School Committee, which appears in another column, will doubtless be perused by the parento and others concerned with much interest. Tho main question at issue is, Shall the suggested remodelling' of the teaching staff be recommended to the board, and is the clvmge advisable 1 As we advanced when dealing with the question on a previous occasion, the principle for which the committee is contending, that a superior man should not be consigned to an inferior position in tho school, and vice versa, is a good one. But there is more than the mere logical soundness of a principle to be considered ; its advantageousness when in practice co those most concerned — the pupils and the school in general in this case — and it is beyond doubt that the change suggested would be ,m advantageous one. The district is not sufficiently advanced to support two separate schools — the primary school and the High School — under two distinct heads ; and, therefore, Necessity says we must bo contented with the two in one, and under one head. But in tho face of the resolution arrived at by the committee, the parents of Ihe children attending the primary school say : "In forwarding the in terests of the High School, the pupils of which constitute a small minority, you ignore the welfare of the pupils of the primary school who form the large majority — you desire to benefit one to the detriment of the other — and, consequently, if you cannot do equal justice to both, let the matter remain as it is. Mr Stewart has greatly advanc-d the primary school ; we are satisfied with him, and if he is removed it will be to our loss, and the education of our children will suffer by the change." A casual observer would at once say, " Why not divide the school into two separate institutions, a High School and a primary school, and engage a teaching staff for the former indopendeiit of the latter?" But our circumstances at once prompt us to roply that we are unable to do so ; and we must, therefore, of two evils choose the lesser, viz., the adoption of the recommendation of the committee, which has been decided on, we presume, after mature consideration. But there are several other minor matters in connection with this question which we cannot pass unnoticed. Hearing that some opposition was likely to be experienced, several parents who were presumed to be hostile to the present head master's administration were solicited to send in letters of complaint against tho head master, and supporting the action of the committee in bringing about the suggested change. Tn a large number of cases these solicitations elicited the necessary epistle, and a bundle of these found their way on to the table at Tuesday's meeting. Again there is a want of manliness discernible in the way in which the proposition recommending the board to abolish corporal punishment in the case of girls, was carried at the previous meeting of the committee. On the mere /pse clixit of the chairman — the reliability of which we do not in any way question — and without any formal complaint in writing being before the meeting, a proposition containing specific charges is brought forward and adopted. It may be that it was only the principle which was aimed at, but the ready manner in which the resolution was withdrawn on mature consideration does not speak well for the way in which the committee performs its duties. It has been averted in certain quarters that the committee in some respects in these particular matters have been actuated by personal prejudices; but this is a question which we are not in a position to touch upon. Probably one of the most anomalous features in the whole case is the fact of the head teacher himself being interested in a petition in his own favour. The effect of the recommendation on the Board of Education will doubtless be lookod forward to with much interest.

Tenders for the Pairiri bridge, Canibiidge-Taupo raid, close on Saturday.

The foundations for the large concrete culvert at Crawfords gully ai c now nearly finished, and laying the concrete will be started probably to-mon-ow morning. It ha* been found' necessary to lay a platform on which to build the structure.

Mr J. S. Buckland held a most successful sale of cattle, &c. , at Ohaupo on Tuesday. Between 500 and (iOO head of cattle were yaided, and nearly e\ery thing was sold at highly satisfactory figures. Cattle at this sale fetched fully 10.s a head more than at the previous one, a very healthy sign.

The Rev. W. Tebbs, of S. Matthew's, Auckland, will preach on Sunday next at Cambridge, in the morning, and at Ohaupo and Hamilton in the afternoon and evening respectively.

Statistical returns presented to the annual district meeting of the Wesleyan Church in Auckland show an inciease of 270 fully accredited Church members, IG'J!) adherents, 7 class leaders, 30U SundaySchool scholars.

The Roman Catholics of Auckland, at a meeting held on Tuesday, resolved to proceed immediately with the erection of a new cathedral in Wyndham-street. The amount of money already in hand for the pmpo.se is £3000.

In the returns of the retorting at Te Aroha, published in our last issue, a very important error occurred. Tho amount of gold from the Waitoki was given as 1580z., wheieas it should have been 30oz. The mistake was made by our correspondent, wjio evidently mistook the quantity of amaigaw) for the amount of retorted gold.

The difficulty concerning the extradition of the yQupg man Smyth, accused !)( eiybe?zling the njoueys pf the Bank of Aus^vafosia, A,ijicklauqi, ijayjujg been settled, Sntytfo lyitt ty brpught ,Qve.F f^nj.

Captain Steele, Messrs J- P Campbell and E. Lake, chairmen, rsspeq* tively, of the Waikato, Piako and , Waipa County Councils, were ve-electcd at yesterday's'meetings. Reports of the proceedings appear elsewhere in this issue. \ >,

A' meeting was held last night, at tlie RoyaJ JJotelj -Hamilton" East', to make arrangements &H?;K6lding' the usual annual sports' on,J3ydney Square on Boxing Day. 'Mvi^CSpjtqbwj/^as^nt/ftaJehaiir/t The;f6l-;

the arrangements : — Messrs J. Coombos Y. Forrest, Tippen, Tristram and E. Pearson. A programme will bo drawn up and published at an early dafce. The choral festival for which the choirs of S. Peter's Hamilton, S. Andrew's Cambridge, and S. Stephen's Tamahere, have been preparing for some time past, under the conductor-ship of Mr T. A. Bell, is announced to be held nt S. Andrew's Church, Cambridge, to-morrow (S. Andrew's Day), at h,ilf-iust .seven. The Key. W. Tebbs, of S. Matthew's, Auckland, will be the preacher. The choirs will meet for practice in'the afternoon, at half-past four o'clock.

The remains of the late Mr T. Y. Fit/,patrick were followed to the gr.n o on Tuesday l.i.st, at Ngai uawahia, by ovei thi'ee limidiccl son owing 1 fiiends. People from all parts of the district attended, and niany of the old Ngaruawahi.i identities were brought together, homo of whom had not met for the hist eight or ten yoaiN. Universal .sympathy was expressed foi the young and orphan family of the doceas'ed, which are left but poorly provided fOl,f 01 , .uid it is to bo hoped that thoir uufoitunato position may be represented in the light quarter to effect a settlement of a long pending question of title to some native land*>, occupied for many years past by the late Lamented gentleman, as this is almost the only source from which his orphan children can in any way be provided for.

The following special cable messages to the Pi ess Association, dated London November 20th and 27th, have been published in the N.Z. Herald: — The Arabs lepoit that theie is a laige <vmiy belonging to El Mahdi, in close pioxinnty to Klnrtoum, and that there aie only 2000 troops in the city to protect it. All means of retieat from the town by land have been closed, and the river h also menaced. Steps are being taken to fortify Assouan, <i town neat the first cataract of the Nile. — H.K.H. the Prince of Wales has stated that he hopes to obtain a fiee giant of a site at South Kensington for the establishment of a Colonial Museum. — The captain of the ship Mir/.apove, which recently foundered on the French coast, has been censured for negligence, and his certificate suspended for a year. — Baker Pasha (Colonel Valentine Bakei) staits for the Souakin in a few days. — The Tuikish officers of the Egyptian genda-j mes refuse to serve in the Soudan, and they and the tioops imdei theii command have refused to proceed there. —A rising is i>\pected in Upper Egypt.— Mr Mm lay Smith, AgentGeueial for Victoiia, has formally piotested against the Itecidiviste Bill now before the French Senate.

A resident of North Otago, recently returned fiom a visit to the Hanmer Plains hot spiiug.s for the benefit of hi-, health, states, in a description of the spring-, iuicl Ins journey supplied to the Oamaiu Tinier, that the (ro\ eminent .110 now making improvements for the conveniences of \ isitois to the spring-., which have been rescn cd for a sanatorium. At piesent the nearest accommodation house, the Jolhe's Pass Hotel, is three milts distant, but a, new one is to be built ten chains from the springs. This is to be built by prtvateenteipuso, accoi ding to plans appro\ ed by ( Jovernmont. Tlhj(to\ eininent aie themselves erecting a bath house at the pools and fencing in with sheet 11 on two of the lingo pools. Theieaieten distinct spiings vithiii a ladius of a hundred yauK eight of which aie hot and two cold, the temweiatuie of the f owner langmg fiom 80 to 120 Fall. The laigest pool is foity feet by thhty, and lanstis fiom two to five feet in depth. Tho writer only mentions cures of rheumatism as being effected by these spiings, but in general terms he describes them as being of equal efficiency to the hot springs of the Noith Island, to which so many invalid* lesoit. He points out the advantages these .springs otfei to Canteibury and Otago 1 evident-, as no sea voyage need be encountered in \ isiting them. The iourney at present is peifoimed by iail from Cliristchurch to Waikau, about 50 miles, and thence to the Plains ovei a very lough road by coach. The writer concludes, " when the piopoaed impioveinents aie completed, the Haimnei Plain hot spiings will become the favoiuij;e spa for the deni/.ens of Canterbmy and Otago, espcciiilly for those who, -while in search of health, requiio at the same time to study economy."'