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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 11 March 1881, Page 2

The !oe.sl Board of Health (Inangahua County Council) have appointed to meet ontbel9th instant, for the purpose of taking into consideration the sanitary condition of the town, and the advis* ability of appointing an Inspector to look up the back yards. Members of the Fire Brigade are reminded that the regular monthly prao tice will take place this evening. The contractors in the Low Level Ton* | nel have reached a distance of 186 feet,. At 5 p.m. yesterday a flash of lights ning broke directly over Reefton, giving a bluish tinge to the atmosphere, which lasted for some seconds, causing great alarm to timid people. A- large tree in Smith's paddock was struck by lightning at the same instant, and shattered to pieces. A plank was stripped off the tree as evenly as it could be done by a saw. The tree was fired by the lights ning, and continued to burn throughout the nighty There can now be no doubt that the Hminous body seen at Soldier's the other night was what is known as St. Elmos Fire. The phenomenon is common enough in mountainous countries in Europe, and is frequently seen about the masts of ships at sea, during storms, but it is doubtful whatever it has ever before been seen in New Zealand, That the air is charged to an extraordinary degree with electricity, is beyond doubt, and from the occurrences of the past few days, we are inclined to believe that we shall be fortunate if we escape some worse casualty. We are advised by the agent that Professor Haselmayer, the renowned wizard, will visit Reefton about the first week in April. The following weights have been de» dared for the Boatman's Cup :— Messrs William's Bros. Forester, aged, lOst7lb : Mr Warren's "Rustic, aged. lOst 71b ; Mr Moonlight's Dandy, 9st 4ib ; Mr M'Gin* ley's Youn? Totara. syrs. 9st 21b; Mr Gallagher's Lillipie, syrs, lOst 21b ; Mr Cairn's Gammy, aged, 7st 101b ; Mr Gallagher's Harkaway, aged, 7sl 101b, Handicappers, Messrs C. Lyons, and J. Billet. Mr O'Connor will inspect the Maruia railway route about the 20th instant. The County Council held a long sitting on Wednesday last and got through a deal of general business ; the number of resolutions passed authorising* new works to be undertaken would go to show that members have still a large amount of confidence in the financial rr« sources of the body. The proposal to continue the protective works further down the stream in the direction of the hospital, is beyond doubt a wise one and the sooner the work is taken in band the better, as another heavy flood would leave the present training wall in mid* stream, We understand that a batch of forty summonses have been prepared for issue .against defaulting owners of dogs. The Reefton market has this year been almost wholly supplied with fruit of local growth, Mr Minderman's orchard at the Inangabua Junction furnishing the bulk of the supply, We extract t)ie following from the Police Gazette :— " Georga Wolatenholme's Chan-cery-lane Hotel, Melbourne, was broken into on the morning of the third instant, and the following described property stolen therefrom :— Seven cheques on the Melbourne Banking Company, signed ' E. Crisp.' marked • N.S.F.,' ranging from £1 to £3 j a cheque on Bank of New South Wales, drawn by E. Bobinson, dishonored ; a cheque for £8, marked ' N.S.F.' signed ' John Chalk ;' two cheques signed ' George Farley,' for £10 arid £5 respectively, on Bank of New South Wales, Maldon, marked 'No account j' also Thomas Harwood's cheque for £1 10s., some 1.0.XJ.'8, and other papers,— O.Bo6. sth February, 1881.' The thief who succeeded in making thi3 haul must have been indeed , delighted at the value of the find.

The Grey Sfcir says:— Public subscriptions to make up the defalcations of a clerk • wee A pedigree.' is the latest charitable dodge in GJreymouth. : The estate of E. W. Mills will be declared insolvent. The assets are £190,000 and ' liabilities £135,000. j . Lottie Wilmdt, seisatinnal lecturer, struck the editor of the Telegraph with a whip for an uncomplimentary notice. The Kav. Dr Ccjpland, of Dunedin, res marked the other day, that for bad logic, doubtful theology, and turbid rhetoric, the Presbyterian Synod would be hard to beat. At Temora there is great excitement about & new reefing district, opened two and a half nr.iles southswest of tbp upper portion of the town. Claims have -Wen pegged out for a great distance. The Southland Branch Land League numbers over a hundred Btrong. At a meeting held on Saturday it was decided to invite Mr Robert Stout to visit Invercargill to deliver a lecture on the land question. In consequence of cases of imposition having been discovered connection with the maintenance of the Sydney Lunaoy Departmwi^tiofchas boon mado, which has discovered half-a-dozen shameful impositions upon the jtate by people in easy circumstances. At a meeting of the Oamaru School Committee, one "of the members said that he looked upon the pasting of examinatins as a mere farce, and said it was a mere matter of manipulation on the part of the teachers, who put the scholars back a Standard each year. The Tasmanian Mail reports that 77 shares in Biecboff's (tin) iftve been Bold for £4000, or £50, each. Three years ago the same lot' warsold at £5 2s 6d. The Key J. U. Davis, of Dunedin, is about to get up a monster petition to Parliament for the suppression of consultations, sweeps, lotteries, and other, common forms of gam* bling. The Oamaru Mail suggests that the law should so far recognise sweeps, as to bring swindling by their promoters within the criminal code — that investors should have the power of entering a criminal prosecution against anyone who misappriated the funds entrusted to him by the subscribers to a sweep. In reference lo a projected penny morning paper at Oamaru the North Otago Times sensibly remarks that if intending promoters would only put their capital into a beetroot sugar factory, deep-sea fishing, or a company for the suppression of the property tax, they might receive a better return for it, con* fer a benefit on their fellow colonists, and be better thought of in the community. It is a favorite amusement of young New Zealand telegraphists to obaff each other on the wire, always of course, when the ' heads ' are away. Once two youths, one at Napier and the ether at Wellington, were carrying on a wordy warfare, and judging f£ojs the vicious clicking of the instruments,' the Msr cuesion was pretty warm. Pres^U^^l august Dr Leroqfo stopped info tie vvel" l : ngton operators' room and quietly walking up to the lad, • scruffed' bira.oUt ofhiß seat and occupied it himself. H^had barely settled himself whet) the machine clicked out 'You pudding head! The worthy doctor gasped, and presently clicked baek 'I'm Lemon.' The boy at Napier didn't believe it. he telegraphed back ' Well go and get squeezed,' Dr Lemon speedly arrived at the conclusion that that that boy had been an ornament to the civil service long enough. The Lyell Times says :— We understand that Mr Smith has disposed of his interest in the sluicing claim known as Smith and O'Brien's, Upper Buller, for the sum of £300. Mr John Maher, late of Reefton, is the purchaser. ■>■ Last night's Post alludes in a paragraph evidently communicated, that if the Government department had communicated to the police certain information which it had in its pos-r session, the Tararua gold robbery would have been explained long ago. The Post prac* ticallv admitted that this is correct. It says :— " It mifeht Buffice to say that the Government department referred to is the Telegraph, and the information merely such as would be derived from private telegrams by the operators who transmitted them. It may readily be judged whether, it would be proper for that sort of information to be com** mumcated to the police on the chance of its convicting somebody or other." The simple faofc is that it demurs to allowing the police access to a telegram lying in one of the Nelson district offices, which there is every reason to believe would give a clue to the robbery, and which can be obtained without any searching process. The Auckland Free Lance says : —Sailing vessels don't run into one another except in \ case of being disabled by stress of weather loss of spars. &0., and yet steamers, with all their superior advantages, are continually running foul of something or another. Either foul of some promontory by trying to £ save three or four minutes time or smash in* to some unfortunate sailing craft which has been struggling for half an hour to get out of their way. And yet the proportion of steamers to sailing vessels cannot be more than one to ten. Something ought to be done. Perhaps if one or two of these Union skippers or their boss, Mr Georga McLean, j were hanged it might do some good. When j the English shot Admiral Ryng, the French said it was done pour encourager les autres — to encourage the rest. The adoption of a similar course might save many a valuable life as well as many a goodly vessel. The Wellington correspondent of the News wires that the new loan of three millions is to be raised as soon as the time allows, and that the papers left by the outgoing mail, It is stated that the Goyernmedt have also prepared an exhaustive report re value of property and works of colonial railways, which is thought to indicate the selling of the lines to Brogden's, and the formation of a corns pany. The action of Government in offering bonuses to encourage the establishment of certain new industries in the colon v, is al«

ready bearing fruit. The annual report of the Directors of Kenapthorne, Prosser. and Co.'s New* Zealand Drug Compa iy, contains the foll^og' paragraph :—" Tiie Government naw having publicly advertised that a bonus of £500 per annum will be g'ren for three years in succession for the production each year, by machinery established in New Zealand, of not Icsb than 50 ions of good | marketable . sulphuric acid ; and as it was the intention, as embodied in the prospectus of the company, that sulphuric acid worts should be erected in connection with the business, the directors have resolved to immediately procure the necessary plant, and erect the works." A Letter has been received in Wellington from a welKknown Taranaki eettler, from which the Lyttelton Times publishes the foh lowing extract:— "lt is a blessing for the Colony that Bryce has retired. More land swindling, in connection with Government patronage and the proclamation business, has j taken place under his administration th«n ever did before. A glance at the proclamation withdrawn in the Gazette will indicate that every block released is in favor of Goa vernment supporters; and an estimate of acreage and probable value shows that a mil* lion of money has been tost to the ooldny, besides the loss of land on which to place immigrants arrivin; here. One man, an Atkinson supporter, has secured 36,050 aores near Hawera at gs 6d per acre. The land is splendid, and worth now £2 10s and £3 per acre. This land the Government paid a large deposit on four years ago, and after wards banded it over to supporters. There are numbers of such blocks, and larger areas. Fancy D and H— - , of Auckland, obtaining 160,000 acres at 10a 9d to lls per acre ! and this average in value one-third say £1 one-third £2 remainder £4 to £5 !' A nice state of affairs, if true. Even that driest of all dry blue books, the official return of import duties levied abroad upon the produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom, contains some entertaining reading. We learn from it for instance, that British Guiana must be endeavoring to create an " unrivalled breed of horses of her own." Influenced by this ambition the colony imposes a duty of £20 16s 8d on every imported stallion under 14£ hands high, whereas thone above that height are admitted on payment of £1 9s 2d each. The evident purpose is to fill the sat clement with big horses. Barbadoes seems to be of a different way of thinking, and to prefer ponies, for the duty on horses above 13J hands is quadruple the rate levied, on those under that height. Democratic Victoria shows its dislike of aristocratic appearances by imposing a* duty of 2s 8d on " dress hats," while admitting more plebeian head gear at a much lower rate. Canada has no particular distate for foreign hats, but evidently considers foreign clocks objectionable, as they ape charged with an ad valorem duty of 35 per cent. It would, therefore, appear that the Dominion eutertains some hope of building up a clockmakingj industry of her own, after the example of the United States, As might be expected, Victoria shows a strong aversion to private carriages. But curious to say, she dislikes some sorts much more than others. Thus a waggonette or a four wheeled bnggy is passed through the Custom House on payment of £20, but a barouche, 'brougham, mail phaeton, or dreg must pay £50. New Zealand and Tasmania both object to English picHes and sauces, and indeed, all through Australasia theso condiments have to lay their account with hostile tariffs. Jamaica has no feeling of that sort, English dried fish being her pet aversion. Thus "pickled alewives," whatever they may be, have to pay half-a-crowu a barrel, while smoked salmon is taxed to the extent of 18s per cwt. India is almost equally unkind towards British fish, but makes exceptions of any " fish maws, beche de mer, and shark fins " that may come to her via the United Kingdom. English pork is banned by South Australia and British i Guiana, and the Cape of Good Hope exhibits a dislike for perfumed soap. Canada, while she lays heavy fiscal burdens on almost all descriptions of British produce, is particularly inimical to perfumery and toilet requistes. If a Canadian belle wishes to render herself " beautiful for ever," she will have to pay tbe Government 30 per cent ad valorem duty on the cosmetics she uses for her purpose. Evidently there will be a " Wo« men's Bights" question in tbe Dominion before long if this iniquitous impost is sot abolished.