The Waikati Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2120, 9 February 1886, Page 2

The Waikati Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state 01 persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

TUESDAY, FEB. 9, 1886.

We are not concerned at the fact that the Waikato has lost a visiting singing master ; we are indeed rather glad than otherwise. For some time past an enlightened public opinion has canvassed the comparar tive merits from an educational point of view of singing and drawing to the manifest and undoubted advantage of the latter. For those with a taste for musical education for their children it is certainly lucky that there is hardly any school of any pretensions in the Waikato that has not one or more teachers competent to teach the melodious art. But the question forces itself on us whether the State has anything to do with such a luxury. The general arguments in favour of singing are two, one founded on morals, the other on physiology. We are told in the first place that a musical education refines and elevates the character, and in the second, that it expands the chest and develops the lungs. The last, it appears to us, need little development in Waikato at any rate, and the chest would, we should think, be at least equally well expanded by the drill compulsory in all schools and not requiring any salaried specialist. As regards the mdrals Bishop Butler remarks that active habits grow stronger, passive weaker, by repetition, and even granting that all the songs sung by our school children are distinctly moral in their tendency, we think Bishop Butler right, or else how is it that most musical societies blow off all their charity in their music, and leave none for the mutual intercourse of their membe^-*! TJie question m^y, however,

be dealt with on much less debateable ground. The only justification the State has for interference in education is its neglect by the persons primarily responsible, parents and other guardians, and the consequent danger to society ; a positive advantage gained by the teaching of a subject likely otherwise to be neglected would also justify Government in stepping in. We apprehend that there is nothing either to fear or to hope in music ; certainly not to hope from the boys in the Waikato if we are to believe the expressed opinions of our singing teachers. Seriously, any one wishing to learn music will find plenty of teachers at a very small cost, even in these bucolic regions, and taxpayers have far too heavy burdens without providing such luxuries. We may be accused of a narrow local patriotism if we say that all the same the Waikato cannot afford the loss of this £250 a year, hitherto paid to the music master. Our shoulders are, however, broad and strong, and our argument broader and stronger. Mr Stout, however much he may have lost or won in the general esteem by his nominal Premiership, has at any rate conferred a boon on education by making the teaching of drawing compulsory in public schools. Our proposal is, that the funds hitherto devoted to the impractical art of singing should henceforth be assigned to drawing. Not merely is drawing a very valuable accomplishment in itself, qualifying those acquainted with it for numbers of remunerative occupations, but it is essentially and pre-eminently an educational means. The great fault of education as charged by its foes and admitted more or less by its friends, is its want of practicality, its failure to bring children face to face with facts. The charge is, of course, often enormously exaggerated, yet there is a pretty solid substratum of fact beneath all the exaggeration. Now the capacity of observing things correctly is of very slow development, as everyone knows who has heard in a Court, or elsewhere, two independent accounts of the same actually witnessed fact. Drawing would correct this inaccuracy of observation to a very large extent. The subject has been largely depreciated by the old-fashioned system of teaching it, when pupils rarely drew from models or actual objects, and rushed into colour as soon as their teacher's skill was equal to making their crude conceptions of form not wholly chimerical. But drawing from the square or round, familiar objects where practicable, and afterwards from moire complicated combinations of the same, would be as valuable as the former practice was distinctly deleterious. Thorough practical drawing from mathematical models or from natural objects would not lead to a system where hardly any child but a bushman's can tell the difference between a rimu and a kahikatea.

Members of the Hamilton Choral Society are requested to meet for practice on Thursday evening next at 8 p.m., not on Wednesday, as previously arranged.

A number of carpenters have arrived at Hamilton for the purpose of erecting the cottages for the employes of the locomotive department of the railway who are shortly to be stationed at Frankton.

Those who intend to visit Auckland by the excursion train on Friday are advised to procure their tickets at the various railway stations a day or two beforehand in order to avoid » crush on the morning of the excursion.

There is a probability of our suggestion that a letter-box should be erected at Mr Roed's store in Cambridge beiug carried out. Mr Bis*, Chief Postmaster, has instructed the local Postmaster to make enquiries and report on the matter.

Large quantities of plums continue to be brought to the Cambridge Jain Factory, of which a large quantity has already been tinned. Supplies of peaches are expected very shortly. We are glad to see the fruit-growers are beginning to appreciate the utility of this industry.

A little boy, twelve years of age. a son of Mr Steadman, bricklayer, Hamilton East, met with » painful accident on Sunday. In company with some other lads he was practising pole-jumping, when ha fell and dislocated his right elbow. Dr Murch was called in and set the litnb, and the boy is now getting on all right.

The Government hav3 quietly impounded thesuDsidy coining to Hamilton in order that the borough's share of the contributions to the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Board might be Abstracted. We understand that the Mayor proceeds to Waiwera on Wednesday to interview Sir Julius Vogel with reference to this and other questions affecting the borough.

Mr J. Forrest has made a suggestion to us that that the Jam Factory Campany at Cambridge should undertake the cunning of honey for the local producers, the latter payinj? for labour and all expensed, and using their own labels. Mr Forrest thinks it would remunerative to the company to do this, and wo recommend the proposal to the directors.

The Raglan road is on the whole in a very good condition, though here and there it requires looking to. There is a rotten plank on the vVaitetuna bridge which ought to be replaced forthwith, and the bridge lately planked by Mr Loane at the foot of the range on the Raglan tide requires a band rail. A buggy nearly capitized here a day or two ago. Several slips also want attention.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company have received a telegram that their annual meeting was held in London on the 15th inst. The usual dividend and bonus, together 15 per cent., are payable (whereof an interim dividend of 10 per cent, was paid fur the half-year, to 30th June last). The London telegram advises £19,000 added to the reserve fund, and £14,965 carried forward to profit and loss new account.

Eawhia has been gazetted a police district, and will, we presume, be placed in charge of Sergt. -Major McGovern, whose title we hope shortly to tee changed to that of Sub-Inspector. Mr McGovern richly merits the promotion, and while deeply regretting his removal from this district, the residents will heartily rejoice to know that his good qualities have at length met with suitable recognition. We trust that he will not be allowed to sever his connection with Waikato without a public expression of the good opinion entertained of him by everybody in the district. Ssrgt, McGrath, late of the Thames, arrived at Hamilton last night to take Mr McGovern'a place.

Dr Huxtable, of Auckland, was found dead in his room on Sunday morning. It seems that the doctor, who had only recently returned to Auckland after an extended European tour, had been troubled with sleeplessness, and was in the habit of taking choloroform to induce sleep. He procured some on Saturday evening, and told his wife he would lie down in the parlour. In the morning he was found dead on the floor, having apparently fallen over on his face, the basin in which he had put the drug being under his mouth.

Although the agent for the NZ. Government Life Assurance ha* for some , time past been actively canvassing this diitrjet, Mr SUrke^r, rrbQ re^reienta thq

oldest established and moat successful Association in the Southern Hemisphere, the Australian Mutual Provident Society, lias followed closely in bin wake, and lias been ho far very successful in obtaining lives. He leaves Hamilton to-morrow for To Awamutu And the surrounding districts, and will be glad to meet and enlighten intending assurers who are at present undecided I as to which office is the best to invest their money in. A meeting of the chairmen of the Raglan, Karioi and Whaingaroa boards has been arranged for Tuesday, 9th mat., to discuss, previous to laying the matter before their respective board*, ways and means for resisting the collection of tht tax inr.pmed by that " pauper-forming machine," The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1885. A meeting would have been held sooner but was delayed waiting a reply from Mr Hodson, chairman Pirongia Board, that has not yet been received, though* a fortnight has elapsed since he was written to, and the chairmen of the other hoards have now determined to act without him. :

The Hamilton Koad Board held the usual monthly meeting on Saturday last. Messrs Atkinson (chairman), Exelby and Way were present. A letter was received from Messrs Waite and McPberiwn, contractor*, asking for an extension of time for the completion of their contracts, the work in the drains at Stokes's Bush having been found heavier than anticipated, also suggesting the advisability of cleaning out the outfall drain to railway line. It was resolved to allow them to the sth of March to complete the work, and when completed, Messrs Way and Ridler to pass the contracts. The secretary was instructed to write to Mr J. Goodwin re damage done to the road running through his land by fires he had lighted. Accounts passed : secretary, £5; Waikato Times, £1 16s 6d.

One of William Black's creations is made to say that the force of expression is like mud thrown by a boy against a wall, while the force of feeling is like the wind that carries the ship across the ocean. Our little contemporary at Rotorua ii very prone to indulge in the former. This i» what he has to my about Te Kojjti :— "According to the latest intelligence' we are not going to have a second visit at Rotorua from that fiend Te Kooti, who, after staying at Te Awahou for a day or two, has taken his departure for Cambridge, whither he started with a black-eye, and in a semi-state of intoxication. That such a human monster should be permitted to roam about the country with a large armed escort is an astounding fact*, and will ever cast a lasting disgrace on the nativ* administration of the present Government. * * * * It is currently reported that he is drinking very heavily, and we devoutly hope that this will finally carry him off."

The following special messages to the Press Association, dated London, February 6th and 7th, have been published : — In connection with the action of the French Government respecting the New Hebrides, Sir Saul Samuel, Agent-General for New South Wales, and Sir Arthur Blyth, Agent-General for South Australia, will not enter any protest until receiving instructions from their respective Governments.—ln the French Chamber of Deputies M. Rochfort's Amnesty Bill has been rejected. In the French Chamber the Extremists have tabled a Bill providing for the expulsion from France. M. de Freyciuet opposes the Bill introduced by the Extremists for the expulsion of the Princes from France.— lt is announced that Messrs Chas. Penschoff and JEuiile Richtner have been appointed Austrian Constils at Melbourne and Sydney respectively.

The question of the Royal Jubilee (says an English writer) is one which it belongs to Her Majesty to decide, while there can scarcely be considered to be any fixed rule as to the observance of so uncommon an event. Curiously enough, scholars still differ as to whether the year of a Jewish jubilee was the forty-ninth or fiftieth. But the golden wedding and "centenary" festival of our own civilisation are always held to mark the completion of the round number of years. George lll.'s jubilee was, nevertheless, celebrated on the first day of the fiftieth year of his reign— 2sth October, 1809— when a proclatnationwas issued for pardoning all deserters from the fleet, whether they returned to their duty or not; and another, pardoning all deserters from the land forces, provided they surrendered in two months time. The Lords of the Admiralty also ordered an extra allowance of four pounds of beef, three pounds of flour, and a pound of raisins to every eight men in hi» Majesty's ships in port, with a pint of wine or half a pint of rum to each man. On the same day eleven Crown debtors were discharged from prison in addition to above one hundred liberated by the Society for the Relief of Persons imprisoned for Small Debts. The City of London haa subscribed £1000 to the funds of the society.

A meeting of the Waitetuna School Committee was hold in the schoolroom on Saturday, the 6th inst. Members present : Messrs W. H. Wallis, J.P. (in the chair), Robertson, Moon, and McDonald. The minutes of the fonnor meeting were read and confirmed. Letters from the Central Board were read in reply to the prote.it of the committee as to half-time school, and informing them that existing arrangements would not at present be interfered with, also a reply to protest, and suggestions from united committees, thanking them for same, and informing them that the inspection of schools as at present carried on was done in accordance with an order from the Governor-in-Council. It was remarked by some members of committee that even so, the sooner an alteration is made so that examinations may be conducted by printed papers uniform for every standard and for the whole colony the better for the cause of education. The committee having brought to the notice of the board the absolute necessity for shingling the school and teacher's residence before the winter sets in, the board asked that an estimate of the cost be forwarded. The matter was fully considered by the committee and an estimate made, which the chairman was requested to forward. It was resolved to call for tenders for ploughing and relaying down in grass the paddock around the school. It was also resolved to bring the compulsory clauses of the Education Act in force, the attendance of children within the prescribed ages and distance having been very intermittent. A vote of thanks to the chairman brought the meeting to a close.

Another American swindle has been unmasked. By the mail which ( arrived in Hamilton yesterday, we received a circular from the well-known and reputable advertising agent, Mr H. P. Hxibbard, warning newspaper proprietors against accepting any advertisements from the socalled "Norman Electric Light Company." The circular contains the following extract from the New York Tribune of the 6th January:— , " Philadelphia, Jan. 5 (Special).— Mayor Smith thin morning received a letter fjom the Inspector-General of Police of New South Wales and a citizen of New Zealand, asking particulars about the "Norman Electric Light Company, of Philadelphia," which has been advertising extensively in Sydney and other parts of the colony. The authorities answered that the company is doubtless one of the schemes of Emu Basset*, of New York, who, under the name of Marsh Bassett, was detected in carrying on a bogus watch business in this city and is now awaiting trial in the United States Court." The '' citizen of New Zealand" is in all probability the manager of the Waikato Times, whose letter should have reached Philadelphia about the time indicated. The advertisement was sent to this office, as well as to numbers of other newspapers in this colony. Our contemporaries have given the bogus notice insertion ever since, but the manager of this journal only allowed it to appear twice in these columns, and then he sent his letter of inquiry to America,

The Deputy Assignee has requested us to draw the Attention of the creditor* in the estate of David Bruce to tho advertisement in to-day's issue, calling the first meeting of creditors, which ia to ba held at the courthouse, Cambridge, on Thursday next, at 11 A.m., and not on the 12th, as at first notified. Mr J. Knox will sell on Saturday, at the Hamilton Auction Mart, produce, furniture, poultry, &c. Messrs W. J. Hunter and Co. will fell at Ohaupo to-day, 000 head mixed store cattle, fat cattle, sheep, &c. On Wednesday, the 17th inst., they will hold their usual monthly sate of horse* at the Commercial Hotel Yards, HamiV ton, when they will offer 60 horses, pies, dairy cows, empty bags. Persons wishing to sell dairy caws, pin, &c, are requested to communicate with the auctioneers that they may be advertised. On Monday, the 22nd, they will hold their usual cattle sale at Ngaruawahia. They will h»ld their annual sheep fair at Ohaupo. List of entries to date in the advertisement. They bar* received instruction* to sell at an early date the live and dead Stock of l^essn BUi«, Bros., {