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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 8 July 1881, Page 2

Lloyd's newspaper has a circulation of 600, 000. For each issue it uses 610 miles of paper. The following is a summary of the chief provisions of the Gaming and Lotteries Bill. It will be seen that its enactments against all kinds of gambling are of an exceedingly stringent nature. It is intituled * A Bill for the Suppression of Gambling and Betting Houses, andfor the ropre effectual Abolition of Lotteries.' It is introduced into the Lpgislative Council by the Hon. the Attorney General, and follows much the same course as the Bill of last year. The new clauses provide that ; the owner or keeper of a gaming table shall be liable to a fine of £100 or six mon'ib s imprisonment; that he shall forfeit all the 1 money found in the establishment, and that every person found in a gaming house with r out lawful exruse shall be liable to a£s penalty. Gaming with coins, cards, or instruments is declared unlawful. The use of tfie totfllisatori is only to be permitted whin that instrument is sanctioned by the Colonial Secretary on the recommendation, of a recognised Raci»g Club. Betting-houses ire prohibited under penalties ranging up to £50, or three months' imprisonment The sale or disposal of good's by lottery under any guise is forbidden under a penalty of £200 fine, or six months' imprisonment. Persons who, when apprehended in gamins: houses, giye false names or addresses, are to be fined £50, or imprisonment for a month. •■ There is a second -clause- imposing penalties on persons keeping gaming houses, the penalty in. this case being £500, or twelve months' imprisonment. Obstructing a constable is punishable with £100 fine, or six months' imprisonment. The provisions of the Bill dp not apply to genuine art unions, but sweepstakes under whatever name are declared illegal lotteries, subjecting their holders to the severe penalties above specified. ■' Mr Berry 19 charged by lm puny op - ponents with trifling with this question, with changing front, with abandoning certain professed principles (says the Geelong Advertiser). If trifling means, in the end, BUC— I cess, Mr Berry ha 9 trifled to an extent that | will win , for ,him the reputation of a wise [ staresman ; if he has,chonged front, so have ihiis adversaries, but, he ha? done, so to better purpose; and if,' he hi 9 abandoned certain p>-ofe?9ed political principles, the advocacy of which was detrimental to public interests, the whole colony should rejoice that a man of such ability has had the courage and patriotism to rise at a great national crisis above petty party aims in order that the country shall obtain ' peace with honor.' Whatever may be the outcome of the conference, Mr Berry has honorably performed his duty to the country, and whatever loss he may sustain in, Parliament, by the alienation of members - of his party holding extreme opinions, will, we are convinced, be fully compensated for in the general snpport he will receive when he next appeals to the country,' The Melbourne correspondent of the HokU tjka Star says:— 'Mr Molloy is still here (of Eeech and Molloy, Kumara). but he spends mo«t of h?s time in Csstlemaine with a twin brother, which by the by, is no brother of,his at all, and is only taking for one as they look so alike each other. Mr Trenery is also in Melbourne, and has beeu two or three times in Ballnrat and B.endigo, studying deeply the most economical way of mining, and hast machinery used for quartz anrl treatment of antimony. I think that Rcefton will be put in possession of some very valuable information on his return. Mrs Walker is also hero, looking as jolly as erer, and always ready to take the last shilling over the counter of t he American Hotel, in Bourke street. Mr Hex. formerly a printer, is also here, and has a restaurant, but he intends to go back to TSW Zealand. He says he could do much better over there. He has been a great loser by bringing hia furniture over here, which cost him nearly as much in freight, duty and breakage, as they are worth, on arriving in i Melbourne. I saw Mr Kobert Neal yesterday. In the early days of Hokitika he was connected with 'Evening Star,' afterwards in the Bnrne line in Brighton and Charleston. Ec his a weekly paper in Williamstown, and appears to have dotio well in Australia. Mr Sam Rich, also an old West Coaster, runs a Pub iii Sandridge, and says that he has no reason to compla'n of coming to Australia. Mr Gutheil, chemijt, formerly cfEoss, has

not been in his usual health, suffering from a nerve in connection willi his eye, and in consrquence, the usual amount of beer was not drunk in his neighbourhood. Montague Brown i» subeditor on the Herald. So far as drinking is concerned, the Lager beer is-in great demand. Every principal hotel sells ft in town and country. It is a favourite drink J with all those that drink for the sake of company. It has this good quality, that there is not a headache or (drunk) in a barrelful of it and people find it is better than any other strong drink. I speak from experience the Co'onial freer is not r early so good as that of New Zealand. The weather here a present i? very bleak, and I feel the cold more here than in New Zealand. I shall leave to-morrow over-land for Sydney, and will stay a day at Albury, when I will write to you ngain. Sir Williaai Stawell generally bits the right nail on head (says the Melbourne Punch) , and he did ?o the other day iv summing up the libel action Broadbent v: Small, when the Chief Justice is reported to have said that •'public men and public measures were pub- ' Ho property, and it was the privilege of the public to discus 9 those men and those meas* ures, as it was termed, without actual malicp. This was a privilege which they must all cherish. No doubt these criticisms were oc* \ casionally not pleasant. Courts of justice came in occasionally for attack or censure — whether justly or unjustly it was not necessary for him to say. Judges were censured, an J even learned counsel did not escape. Perhaps when those attacks were first read in the • morning they were not very agreeable. If they were deserved, why they must be borne ; if they were undeserved they could do no harm, and they probably served, to amuse some people. Unless public criticism wa9 allowed on public men and public measures, the community would lapse mo a condition which would be irksome to the public generally. If discussions were not allowed, why the community would be in a state of perfect slavery.' This is the language of common sense and sage experience. And none but fools and knaves stand in dread of honest criticism, of just censure, and of fearless satire. Anyone walking through the streets of London lately (writes a correspondent of an American paper) can hardly fail to have been struck with the number of people of both sexes who have, adopted the military style, of mourning, and wear a band of black cloth around the arm, just above the elbow, in place of tlie conventional black broadcloth hatband for men, and heavy swathings of crape for women. Probably no country in the world is mo»e wedded to old-fashioned observances than this, and I have been nur- - prised therefore, .to see how rapidly the new fashion has found favor, which is undoub'ted'y largely owing to efforts of the Church of EngFunpral Association ,to restrain the extravagances so frequently displayed by poor people in their method of burying and mourning for their deceased friends. It is a singular fact that the lower classes in tliis country con.stder it; a far greater disgrace to be buried by •the parish after they are dead, than to be supported by it while they are living : and the way 'in which popr people will strip ..themselves of everything, and run is debt to hoot, in order to ' cut a show ' at the funerals of relatives, is almost incredible. An illustration of this came under my notice recently. A man in humble circumstance died leaving a widow and several children. The relict, in orden to honor the memory of her late husband, gave him a funeral, described by a parochial relieving officer, as ' fit for a duke.' There was a hearse drawn by four coal black steeds, three pair horse mourning coaches,, black velvet pall, nodding plumes, &c. All the employes of the undertaker wore black kid gloves and scarfs, for which the widow paid. The dead man's income when he was alive was perhaps £2 per week, certainly not more. The expenses of the funeral amounted to over £30. Of course, all the family went into mourning too, and, almost equally of ooar?e, went into the workhouse a week or t,wn later.