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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3122, 19 July 1892, Page 2

Commander Edwin wired at 12.17 p.m. yesterday : —Ea«t to north and northwest. Heavy gale with heavy rain after 10 hours from now. Glass further fall. Robbers stopped a train in Adrir, Missouri, aud, after shooting the police aud guards, opened the safe by means of dynamite. Eight thousand pounds was stolen. The Examiner states that the syndicate who are taking up the dairy industry in the YVoodville district are prepared to expend £15,000 in the erection of factories and creameries, Mr J. McNicol announces his spring horse fair, in connection with the annual stallion parade under the auspices of the Waikato Farmers' Club, which will be held in Cambridge during September. Extraordinary vacancies having occurred in the Taotaoroa and Cambridee Road Boards, elections to fill same will (if necessary) be held on 20th proximo, Nominations will be received up to noon of 10th. Henry George is getting experience on the law and lawyer question. Five years ago a New Jerseyinan left him i £6000 to be expended in the propagation ot his views on the land question. The will was disputed, and the lawyers have now eaten up the bequest except £120 for which Henry is still suing his own attorney. We were glad to notice on Saturday that Messrs Vincent aud Nickisson's flax-mill, at Hamilton, started work again. Operations wore retarded at the mill all the previous portion of the week, owing to the Waikato river being so high. Notwithstanding the recent very wet weather, the proprietors have had a good supply of green Hax, and no doubt it will be kept up. It is to be hoped that flax will continne to rise in price in the market, so that the mill will be kept going continuously. There was quite a rush on dogs at the time of the visit of the Rotnkino to Oainaru,says a local paper. The Indian market, it appeal's, is capable of absorbing a considerable number of dogs, aud the prices going for all kinds is pretty good. It is therefore needless to state that a large number of dogs were missed after the Rotokino left. One Oamaru resident lost a fox terrier, but telegraphed asking that it should he returned. It was sent back by the Wakatipu from Sydney. There are numerous dogs in Oamaru which could be well spared for the Indian or any other market, bat the fanciers generally take the most valuable digs.

We hear from a visitor to Te Aroha that the Te Aroha Jockey Club have started a new racecourse close to the township, which, when completed, will be 1J miles rouud, and will make one of the best courses out of Auckland. If the present committee push work along as well its they have done so far, it should be in fine form for next March races. Those few upon whose shoulders all the hard work has fallen, deserve, for their pluck in taking the matter up, to be heartily backed up by, not only the whole club, but the citizens of Te Aroha generally, for once the course is fit for races, the number of entries and general attendance of the outside public will be greatly increased, besides improving the appearance of the surroundings of the towu. The new valuations sho some rather startling alterations in the various .road districts; some of them have advanced considerably in villus, while others hare decreased. In the Waikato County, the figures) are as follows :— Rangiriri, increase, £19,809; Kirikiriroa, increase, £34,435; Tamahere, decrease, £543; Cambridge, decrease, £1,070. The Rangiriri Riding is valued at £42,352 more than all the rest of the county united together. The increased valuations ill the Rangiriri and Kirikiriroa Ridings must, in a great measure, be caused by land being brought into cultivation, while in the Cambridge Riding the whole of the land has been cultivated, and has evidently had too high a price put on it ; hence the reduction in the valuation, The Taotaui'u.i Hiding, of the Piako County, has increased £702 in valuation, and a 4 the next re-valuation we expect it will be further advanced, as we learn that some of the big companies that own a considerable amount of property in that riding iuteud breaking up a area.

We learn that a very successful attempt to .-•melt the West, ("oast ironsnnd, has lately been made at. the Onehunga ironworks. In tho present instance, however, instead cf the ore being used in its raw condition, it w.'u mixed with clay and formed into bricks. Several tappings of the blast furnace have been made, and a large quantity of first-class workable iron obtained. Tt is estimated that by this mode of treatment, the iron can be produced at a profit. We shall look forward with much interest to further developments of this important industry.

A petition is in course of signature among the school teachers throughout th.j colony for presentation to the present Parliament, praying that the education system be placed under cnntral control and the preseat system of Education Boards done away. One of the main objects desired to be gained is the equalising of the salaries paid to teachers. At present great differences exist in the salaries, those paid in Taranaki, Nelson, and South Canterbury in particular being considerably lower thau in the other districts. We understand that the petition has been very generally signed throughout this district and also in the South. Anyone would hardly imagine that a great increase of sheep in a district would causa blacksmiths to be busy, and yet such is an undoubted fact. Mr Jas. Webber, of Cambridge makes harrows with tinea that are flattened out, and these harrows are used to rake up the turnips out of the ground, and render them easy of access to the sheep. One gentleman tried a set of these harrows, and was so pleased with them that lib at once ordered two more sets, and now the orders are coming in so fast that the implements cannot be manufactured quick enough to supply the demand. We have seen numbers of hariowa that have been impoited into the district, but we think farmers could get equally as good, and probibly better ones, made locally, judging by those above referred to.

The subjoined extracts show that in spite of our unfortunate experience in Waikato, co-operation among tanners is being carried on successfully in other parts of the colony. Upon one point we have always held a fixed opinion, and that is this : That in a proper realisation of the farmers' strength and importance lies the secret of his future success; towards which nothing can as.-sist so powerfully as the lever of co-operation At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Fanners' Cooperative Association on Saturday, the 9th July, the directors' recommendation of the payment of a dividend of practically II per cent, was unanimously adopted. The seven retiring directors were re-elected. The Chairman stated that the expenditure on new buildings (£0000) had been provided for out of income. One thousand new shares are to be issued during the coming year.'' "At a meeting of Oamaru farmers, on the 9th July, it was decided to establish a Farmers' Co-operative Association, with a capital of £2,300. A provisional directory was appointed."

We are pleased to learn that the Cambridge Cheese Factory is not to be closed (as wo were afraid it would be when we knew the owners had decided not to lease it, except for a lengthy term), but on the contrary, that tho same Association that has hitherto conducted the business and brought it to such a successful issue will continue to carry it on. The inhabitants of tho district generally will be pleased to know they will still be able to procure the celebrated Cambridge cheese, and the suppliers of rnilk will welcome the enhanced price which the Association offers this season. The factory will commence operations with the month of September, and continue to work till tho end of May ; the prices of milk for the two above-named months wil! be 3Ad per gallon, and for the months 3d, of course subject to the usual addition of for each per cent of cream over 10 per cent. We predict a hrger supply during the forthcoining season, and wish the Association every success in their undertaking.

An interesting reminiscence of by-gone days of New Zealand savagery is contained in the following yarn, which is Kuing around the " classic" village of Taupiri. One of the principal chiefs of the Maori persuasion, who himself has attained the proverbial three score and ten years, has a visitor, in the person of one whom he designated his uncle, repnted to be upwards of one hundred years of age, but who is atill hale and hearty, as the subsequent narrative would imply. About eighty years ago, during one of the tribal wars, an attack was made by a rival tribe upon the then thickly populated Maori village which at that time existed upon the western bank of the VVaikato River immediately opposite the present village of Taupiri. The attack was repulsed, and among the prisoners taken was a warrior chief of high degree, who possessed a magnificent greenstone mere. This chief was duly knocked on the head, cooked and ate in the orthodox manner with the rest of the prisoners, and after his body hai duly satisfied the appetites of the victors, the bones were carefully collected, and, together with the greenstone mere, interred iu a suot near the village, which " mine uncle," being one of the active combatants, and may be presumed as having partaken of the subsequent feast, vividly remembers. The uncle has now returned to the locality of his youthful days. The mere is now of great commercial value, the superstitions prevalent in former riays have become somewhat deadened and that uucle has resolved to go for that mere. He visits the spot but alas ! the improvements wrounht by the white man have somewhat disarranged the bearings implanted in his cranium. He digs energetically and a considerable amount of ground is turned up but the "locale "of the grave has not yet been found. However. '■ mine uncle" is wonderfully philosopical— there are plenty of eels in tho Waikato. He is merry withal and quite sanguine that he will ultimately be successful, and when he is tired of mere digging and eel catching he wiles away the time by making a mechanical marionette perforin the " haka " or Maori war dance which the veteran centenarian accompanies with energetic if hot musical vocal powers.