The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2119, 6 February 1886, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Enu.il and exact justice to all men, ,Of \vbajsoe\cr state oi persuasion, religious or r political. Here shall the Press the People's riirht maintain, Un.iwed bv influence and unbrtbed by gain.

SATURDAY, FEB. 6, 1886.

On our fourth page appears a somewhat remarkable letter from the pen of Mr G. M. Reed, reprinted from the Otago Daily Times. Mr Reed is well quali6ed, nobody better indeed, to speak on the subject of immigration. He has served in the capacity of immigration agent for the ' Government, and has had since the expiration of his engagement ample opportunities ' for studying the English people from the standpoint of an intelligent colonist. What he has to say, therefore, is worth listening to. He sees clearly what a great many other people have seen, that it is no use importing labour unless we introduce capital as well, but unlike many others he comes forward with a proposal to meet the case. Of course there are ' difficulties iv the way, but nevertheless there really is something in it. We shall no£.go intofhe details of theschSnie in this column; our readers can follow Mr Reed for themselves ; but a word or two of comment will not be out of place. Without being unreasonably incredulous it may perhaps be doubted whether five thousand families, each possessed of £5000, or even £25,00, could be induced to leave Great Britain for New Zealand, even though we offered them . a < free passage!" Mr Reed is confident' upon point, but it seems to that,"lookiug at the long period'-of depression through which English farmers have passed, very few .of the proper class are left in possession of as much money as they are credited with. If they are, then .we fear that the love oi home, inherent in Britons, will incline them to give the Old Country another trial before tliey throw up the sponge. Those who have mst managed to weather the storm might be glad enough to emigrate and would doubtless appreciate a saloon passage to the colony, but we are no more in want of impecunious farmers than we are of the destitute of other callings. Mr Reed, however, as we have sq,id, sees no difficulty in the way, and as he is not fishing after the office of capitalist immigration agent himself, we are quite willing that his scheme should have a fair trial. We presume that the Agent-General would satisfy himself of the bona fides of the immigrants, that he would examine their banking accounts, and make strict enquiry with regard to their financial position before providing them with passages. Whether the Agent-General, supposing we should ever have one smart enough, would make use of the information, and so swell the incomes of himself and his friends in the colony, would of course depend in great measure upon the number of would-be immigrants willing to submit to cross-examination is to the condition of their finance! It is- easy enough to provide means for , the transportation of great and small upon the one, level, but, when it coraesitp a question of different}}? ating the conditions upon which people with money might be brought out it is quite another thing. We do hdh want to deprecate the proposal, because, if it were possible, and somebody might yet hit upon a solution, ■' its adoption would do an immense amount of good, but on the other hand we are bound to point out what seem to us to be its defective features. We want men with capital undoubtedly, and if people are prepared to prove to our satisfaction that they belong to that, class, by all means give them a free passage arid' make that passage as pleasant , to them as possible. Nearly- everybody will endorse this seutiment. But how are we to get them 1 ' Mr Reed ' points out" a way, but will everybody who considers the question calmly come to the conclusion that the scheme is feasible 1

The personnel of Mr Gladstone's new Cabinet indicates that a split; has, occurred in the Liberal party. The moderate Liberals, or the Whigs, as.it is now the fashion to ealj, them; are not prepared, • as the recent election utterances plainly showed, to go with, the Radicals on the questions of land tenure or Irish policy, to say nothing of disestablishment, looming in the future. • Hence we miss the names of Lord Harrington, who has been looked upon as Mr Gladstone's first lieutenant, Lord Derby, Lord Northbrook and others from the list published this morning. Sir Charles Dilke's name is also absent; but not, of course for the same reason. It is more than probable that the Member for Chelsea is unwilling to take office pending the hearing of a certain case to which he has unfortunately been made a party. When the proper time comes, a vacancy can easily be created. The new Ministry is admitted in England to be a weak one, and fears are entertained that its continuance 1 in office will depend' in great measure upon the temper of the Irish party. .

A concert and Christmas-tree will be held in the Public Hall, Hamilton r on Easter Monday, the 06th April, in aid of the, Wesleyap Par»u»ago Fund.

The Earl and Countess of Dalhousie ariived at Cambiidgp on Thursday, fnnu the Lakes, and proceeded to Auckland yesterday morning. They leave for England by the Tongai iro. The evangelistic services in the Public Hall will

Cambridge be continued to-in arrow evening. Mr F. Forrest is making satisfactory progress with the formation of Chapel-street, Cambridge. A son of JVlr Archibald Scott of Hamilton has passed, we are pleased to notice, the Matriculation examination of the 5 Zealand Uu.iver-.ity.

It' is probable that the Cambridge Town Board will introduce a by-law against the indiscriminate display of goods by storekeepers outside their premUos. Although Inspector Kiely and Detective Benjamin have been diligently enquiring into the chcunistances surrounding the ca-ie, nothing has transpired to shed any light on the Churchill mystery. At the E.M- Courb, Cambridge, on Thursday, befoie Mr Russell, J.P., VVm. Elliot, a labourer, was fined 5s and costs, aud 20s for being drunk and disorderly.

We are requested to remind our Roman Catholic leaders in Waipa county that there will be no mass at Kihikihi and Rangioabia ' to-morrow, owing to the absence of the Rev. Father Luck, 0.5.8., who has gone on a visit to the South.

A service of song, entitled " Buy your owu .Cherries," will be given in the Public Hall, Hamilton, on Tuesday, the lCth inst., in connection with the Gospel Temperance Mission. The Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, of Cambridge, will read the connective passages.

Mr T- W. G-lover, the great temperance reformer, opened a campaign of five nights in Auckland last night. At a preliminary meeting on the previous evening he was accorded a hearty reception by the" representatives of the varions temperance organisations in the city.

The ketch Fanny Kelly, bound from Auckland and Mongonui, struck on a sunken rock at Kauri Mountain, , near Bread Head. The crew were saved, but Mrs Turnbnll, wife of the hotel-keeper at Mongonui, and her three 'children, who were passengers, were drowned.

Waikato is again"^suffering from an invasion of " lifers." Mr W. J. Speieht, the energetic representative of the Government Life Assurance Association has been in the district for nmne time, and has been very successful. -He bas been followed by Mr SUrkey, of the Mutual Provident, who h now busily scouring the country.

, A .committee appointed for the purpose by the General Church Synod, now sitting in Auckland, has presented the following resolution for- adoption:— The Synod is of opinion that, in cures where adequate provision is not made for the spiritual wants of the people, lay evangelists should be employed under the sanction of the Bishop, and with the consent of the clergyman of the parish, to undertake short ser\ ices, and to preach in mission rooms or in the open air."

The monthly meeting of SPeter's branch of the Church Society was held at Mi&s Newell's schoolroom on Thursday evening. There was a good attendance of members and the chair was occupied by the Warden, the Rev. R.O'C Biggs. Eleven new members and associate's were admitted and the meeting then proceeded to the election of officers. Mr R. F. Sandes was elected lay-warden,- Mr F. H. Tern pier secretary and Mr G. Scorgie, treasurer. -The meeting was opened and closed with prayer. '

The ' annual meeting of shareholders of the New Zealand Timber Company was held on Thurbday at the company's office, Custonis-htreet West. Mr 0. A. Hariis (Chairman of Directors) presided. The amount available for appropriation was £13,620 5s lOd. A dividend at the rate of ten per cent, per annum for the six months ending 31&t December, 1885, was declared ; £4000 was carried to the reserve account (which now stands at £24,000) ; £4000 was carried to royalty account ; and £1874 was carried to new profit and loss account. Mr G. Harper was re-elected a director. — Herald.

By the last out-going English mall, Mr E. E 4 wards, the hon. sec. of the Hamilton Band, sent home for a 12 months' supply of Messrs Wright and Round's Band Journal, so that the band in three months will be in possession of the newest music. The bandmaster (Mr Munro) has got the instruments into thorough going order, and a meeting of the committee will be held on Tuesday evening, when the date of the first practice night will be decided upon. There are already several instruments taken up, and persons desirous of joining had better malic speedy application. The rules of the old band will be strictly adhered to, members being balloted for. The secretary will be happy to receive subscriptions from those desirous of assisting the band.

A special meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council was held last night for the purpose of taking into consideration ' the proposal to raise a loan of £6000 for the erection of public buildings and the ' improvement to the lands about to be handed by the- Government. A resolution was ' proposed and carried (and appears in full in our advertising columns.) Instructions were ■ given for the proposals to bor , brought before the' burgesses, in accoidfance with the Act. Within ten days after the last publication of the proposals • the Mayorwill call a public meeting of the ' burgesses co discuss the whole matter, after which he will direct a poll to be taken as the lawful expression of the ratepayers. The result will be sent to the Colonial Secretary, and will be "gazetted, and, if favour- • able, the loan will then be negotiated and allocated to the several objects intended. — 1 On the motion of Cr. Knoxj seconded by Cr. Edgecumbe, it was resolved that his Worship ,the Mayor be authorised to employ Mr tO'Dea.to prepare sketch plans and approximate estimate of the buildings proposed to 'be erected, cost of said plans not to exceed £10. <

The usual monthly meeting of the Kirikiriroa Road Board was held at the W^ikato County Council Chambers, Hamilton, yesterday. Present : Messrs A. Prim rose (chairman), Lovell and Steele. The Property-Tax Commissioner wrote advising , the board that the sura of £187 10a, being 75 per cent of the subsidy payable on the {rates collected during the past year, had been' forwarded.— The Engineer was instructed to inspect the road between No. 2, I Kouiokorau, and Whangamairo Bridge, and to take steps for clearing the same, the cost not to exceed '£s. —The Engineer was instructed to inquiio by what authority the Railway Department had erected gates on the public road near Lovells Hotel, Taupiri, and report to the chairman, who was , empowered to take action in the matter. — ■ Tne'Engirieer reported that about 20 planks were required for repairing the bridges at Taupiri, and authority was given to him to procure the same, the surfaceman to use ' them as required. — Air Davis, the contractor for the maintenance of the Hulcanui main road, applied for 130 feet of- 9-inch pipes for culverts. The application was granted.— The Engineer reported that' he had lejb the .clearing near Hendersons, Newcastle North, ,to Mr Z. Owen, at Is 9d a-yard. Some other business of a routine character was dealt with. Accounts amountihg'to £G2 14s lOd were passed for payment, *nd the board rose.

The first meeting of the new committee of the Hamilton Public Library 'was held on Thursday evening last, when a sub-committee was appointed to canvass for subscriptions, said committee consisting of Messrs Bindon, Edgecumbe, Scott, Tippen and French. It was also resolved to orgauise a series of entertainments in aid of the funds. As a start the Conuis Dramatic Club has been asked to give a performance in aid of the joint funds of the library and band. It takes about £20 a year to run the library, independent of newspapers, magazines, or new books, but we have no doubt that much more than this will be forthcoming. To show the good the library has done dnring its year's existence, we may mention that 621 works have been taken out during the past year, mainly by some 30 subscriber. It is gratifying. to notice that young men and boys are the principal reading subscribers, and, that solid and scientific works form by no means a small proportion of those taken out, persons with papers, or books which they have read aqd do not care to keep will do .well by sending J;h§ro to this excellent institution. They will be thankfully received by Mr Gelling, the hon. sec., or by *ny member of the oommittee.

We learn from the New Zealand Herald that a meeting of the Executive Committee of tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Bpard was held on Tuesday. The correspondence with the Government relative to an advance of a portion of the subsidy to meet current liability, and, the division of tbo dittriQti waa road. The Government

replied to the effect that tlioy could not ad vance the money, and advised the board to try and arrange with the bank, and stated that the board had full power to sub divide the distiict. The executive thought the reply was indefinite, as the general teim board was used. It was resolved to notify the Government after February 9 of the names of boroughs and counties which have not paid their contiibutions, with a request that the flame be stopped out of sub-tidies payable to the respective bodies. It was resolved that when practicable patients should Mgn a gu irantee for payment of fees prior to entering the Hospital. The .Secretary was directed to apply to the trustees' of the Uostlcy bequest for the amount duo to the board, and to apply to the Government for the subsidy on it. In answer to in inquiry fioiri the Chairman of the Biy of Plenty Hospital Board, it was resolved that when there is no hospital in a distnot patieut-i arc not to be sent to the Auckland Hospital until the Auckland Board has been communicated with, and that the charge for patients sent would be deteiinined by their ability to pay.

On Monday evening last, a special service was held in connection with the Church of Christ, in Le Quesno's Hall, Hamilton. The was a large and attentive congregation present. The service was conducted by Mr G. Aldridge, who for some years resided in Hamilton, having the oversight of this branch of the Church, and whose amiable and kindly manner has endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. The lecturer, who took for his subject, "The Rainbow round about the Thione," from Revelation, fourth chaptci and third verse, commenced by stating that except by earnest bible students the Book of Revelation was regarded as an isolated portion of God's word and seldom mid. but the earnest student of God's levelation to mankind regarded it as a grand structuie, entire, and complete, whose foundation was laid in Eden, and whose several layers of prophetic utterranco", Apostolic injunctions, and God'B vaiied dealings with His people through all their wanderings, can only be fittingly capped by this grand dome of divine revelation of the things which must shortly come to pass. The lecturer then, in a rapid and masterly manner, took a survey of the incidents related in this IV. chapter, in connection with the Throne, of the creatures upholding the Throne, of the rainbow round about the Throne, and of the thrones surrounding the Throne, and they who sat upon them, and their signification in relation to God's dealing with man, and just here leinarked that we live now in an age of grace; that we are taught to love our enemies, to pray for those who do us wrong ; but the time spoken of in this IV. chapter of Revelations, which are yet in the future, is to be an age of judgment, when God, who has said "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," will exercise his prerogative. The lecturer then ably reviewed the current idea, held by a section of mankind on the first appearance of the rainbow, immeI diately after the flood, and so many hundreds of years after the Adamic creation, and presumably thousands or millions of years after the incidents related in the first chapter of Genesis, viz., that the rainbow existed from all time, but comb i ted this argument by stating that men who held these \iows, although quite justified, arguing from cause to effect in the present day, forget that the natural conditions existing prior to the deluge are altogether changed at the present day. In confirmation of this view, he quoted II Peter, VI verse (see new version), thereby giving force to the thought that, although the appearance of the rainbow is caused at the present day, by refraction of the rays of light, * still, who can say that in antedcluvian times such was the case, or that the atmospheric conditions then existing were fa voui able to the production of this beautiful phenomenon, especially in the face of Peter's, record. He, the lecturer, assumed that it was quite correct for man to argue from the known to the unknown, especially when an unbroken lino of evidence offers, but in this case he aigned that the line uf evidence is not continuous, consequently it cannot be affirmed with regard to the rainbow that as it was in the beginning so it is to the present day. He then concluded his lecture with a brilliant peroration, drawing a comparison between the Gospel of the Blessed God and the Rationalistic teachings of the day, as to which goes further to meet man's great osfc neeH, life hsio and Jioreaffcev. One j-»a.r-ticular feature struck the writer of this, that although this lecture may be classed as theologically abstruse, as all prophetic lectures are, still, like a golden thread running through the woof and warp of some rich fabric, " Christ the life-giver" was held up all through as the one grand central figure around which all interest seemed to cling, and from which all of that which is hoped for seemed to radiate. The service closed with the usual devotional exercises. — (Communicated).