The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 27 July 1881, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

The Inangshua, and the West Coast penerally, are not the only parts of the Colony where the local government farce hs represented in our County system has been thoroughly played out. A public meeting was held at Waitakeri, in the North Island, the ether day to consider the question of local government, and the following are the sensible conclusion* arrived at ; — • Thit in the opinion of this meeting the Counties Act is expensive, furabersome, inefficient, and opposed to the best interests of the settlers, and therefore ought to be abolished in the districts north of Auckland, and that the counties revenue ought to be distributed amongst tbe Road Boards, as they are the best and cheapest, and being more under tbe immediate control of the rate* payers are befter^adapted to fhe wants of the country. (2) Tbat Road Boards should be continued end enlarged, the Government retaining the management of the main county road?, and the Engineer haying supervision over Road Boards where assistance is given towards any woiks they are unable to do. (3) That triennial valuations in country districts are quite sufficient, and the Road Boards should be quite competent to deal with objections, and dispense with un necessary and expensive Assessment Courts. (3). That 'copies of the foregoing resolutions be sent to all tbe Nor* them members, and tbat they be entrusted to Mr Header Wood. M.H.8., for the district, with a request that he would use his best influence to have them given effect to in the ensuing session of Parliament." This is toe experience of' a large part of tbe North Island as to the working of the County system, and one has but to turn to Hansard to find in the debate on tbe Hospitals and Charitable Aicf Bill that it is tbe experience of the Colony generally. From one end of tbe country (o the other the same cry of denounciation against the system is heard, and it is one which will not easily be silenced, as the Government have no doubt learnt by this time. It is not that any legislation is needed to kill the wretched system, for it has killed itself outright. Legislation is, however, re quired to give tbe Colony something in its stead, and we are confident we speak the feeling of the majority of tbe community when we declare for a return to the simple arid Inexpensive Road Board system. It is past all reason to think that a County like this can continue to nay, as we are now doing, something like £1400 a»year in salaries and departmental contingencies, to collect and ex* pend £1200 of rates. The whole thing is so utterly monstrous, that it is a marvel it has survived so long. And these rem&rks apply witb equal force to every County on tbe West Coast. However grotesque it may appear, it is nevertheless in great part a fact that the County system has been ruined by a plethora of money, for bad their revenues in the past been more scant the Councils would never have sought to play the part of Parliaments, with all the gorgeous concomi« tants of salaried County Chairmen, salaried County Clerks, salaried County Engineers, salaried County Solicitors, and salaried County Collectors. Time was when the whole public business of the district was efficiently carried on by a Road Board of unpaid members and one paid clerk, bat we are told that we must not dream of returning to tbe Road Board system because it would land us a step nearer Provincialism. But let us ask those who affect to recoil in such pious horror from tbe very mention of the word Provincialism, to simply alter the titles of the functionaries who annually eat up the bulk of tbe Counties' taxation, nnd then tell us in what particular essential of local government our County system differs from the very worst form of Provincialism that could be devised P It is in reality Provincialism in disguise, but instead of one we have three. Have tbe Counties not their paid Superintendents, their Provincial officials, their members' honoraria, their 1 travelling expenses, contingencies, their log* roll ing, and favoritism ; and \n the case of our own Council have! we not capped the climax witb a fear* fully and wonderfully constituted Exe» cutive P The Counties • cannot legislate, it is true, and this is probably tbe great « est hardship they have to endure, as it is the 1 only line separating them from Provincialism. " ' '' •' ''..I'-

A late Wellington telegram last night an tounces that tbe Government are now certain of a majority on Ormond's noconfidence motion.

The Welcome Company have in contemplation the opening up of a still deeper level. This will be accomplished by sinking r instead of driving, and the 'work will be shortly taken in hand. Mr Hobby, the new battery manager of the company, reached Greymouth per Hero, on Wednesday last, and is expected Here today. Mr Hobby has the reputation of being one of tbe most competent and highly .qualified mining experts in Victoria. Besides an experience of ove twenty years in the crushing and treatment of quartz atßullarat, Stawell, Sandhurst, and other centres, he possesses (he highest ere* dentials for knowledge and skill in the separation md treatment of refractory ores. Up to the time of his engagement by the Welcome Company Mr" Hobby was manager of the St. George Reduction Work?, Stawell, one of largest Crushing plnnfß in Victoria, and his coming here eannbt btyt be attended with great advantage not only to the Welcome Company, but to the field generally. Posfe'sin" a thoroughly practical knowledge of. all the latest gold-saving appliances, he will, no doubt, sec oo this field ample room for

improvement, and be able to point out what is required. We also learn that Mr Hobby b:,ingß.with him to the order of the company a set of the newly patented concentrators (percussion tables), as «ko a^e^of Tyrolese mills, and other amalgamating plant, all of .which will be erected .under his superintend dence. We can, W8 think, predict that Mr Uobbj's presence here will be attended with no small advantage to the mining interest generally. It is notified that aU creditors in the estate of th 6 Union Quartz Mining Company, Limited, (in liquidation), must lodeje proofs of debt with Mr GK C. Bowman, the official liquidator, on or before the 22nd day of August next. A meeting of the subscribers of the Reefton Atheiußum will be held in the Beadingroom, this even'ng, at 8 o'clock, for the purpose of forming a new committee, appointing officers, and adopting rules for the future management of the institution. We understand that Mr Atkinson, sur» veyor, has been engaged by the County Council to lay off the exchange of lands on private holdings through which roads have been constructed in the Little Grey district. We have been shown some of the stone recently met with in the Caledonian mine, Larry's Creek. The stone carries very nice coarse gold, and in quality would certainly be pqual to three or four ounces to the ton. The run, when crossed, was however small, but the fact of payable stone being met with on the present level, and trending as it does in the direction of the line where the main reef is expected to be interersected, the discovery is viewed as an auspicious rent in the dark cloud which has so long over-hung that part of the field. The company have an efficrusbing plant ready for immediate action, so that all the conditions are favorable in the highest degree for the company. The question has been asked why a small limited liability company should not be formed in Reefton to purchase a diamond boring machine, for prospecting purposes. The capital required would not exceed £1200 or £1500, and we see no reason to believe that the amount could not be raised locally. It seems impossible in the present condition of Colonial finance to expect any assistance towards such a purchase from the Government. We see week by week companies letting tenders for hundreds of feet of prospecting drives, and we all know bow often this work is unavailing. 'With the aid of a diamond drill any mine could be prospected for 1000 or 1500 feet across the course of a supposed line of ieef, and this in a few weeks, and at a cost of probably not more than one twentieth of the expense of ordinary driving. It is no doubt understood that the drill works equally well whether uprising, sinking, or cross-cutting laterally, so that the compressor once set up on a mine a great area of ground could be prospected without the cost of shifting the plant. The expenditure going on every week in our mines in blank drives and fruitless crosscutting must be comparatively enormous, and probably three>fourtbs of this could be saved by the use of a diamond drill, besides hastening the development of the field to a wonderful extent. It is true that an ordinary drive would have to follow the course of a successful bore, but there is this difference that the proof of the existence of stone in the ground would give immediate value to the mine. However, it is almost super flous to proceed to enumerate the advantages to be derived by the use of the drill, for they must be fully apparent to every oue. As we said at the outset, the question has often been asked why a company should not be found to provide the field with one of these useful machines, and we learn that in the course of a few days the people will be waited upon for an. answer to the question, one or two gentleman having decided to take the matter in hand in order to test public feeling on the subject. An advertisement in the Pleasant Creek News, intimating tbat Mrs Bacgeritz would conduct Divine service in the Baptist Church at Stawell, terminates with the following announcement :— ' Persons with coughs and bearers of children in arms are accommodated with seats in the vestry.' The estimated value of the Melbourne Public Library and Pioture Gallery is £500, 000. An Adelaide grain merchant has stated that Tictorian wheat this season is superior to their own. The Belgium Telephone Company have made arrangements so that any of the sub« scribers leaving word any evening may be awakened at any hour the next morning by means of a powerful alarm. Frofessor Darwin, though past seventy, and confined to his bed, continues to prosecute his researches. He is an inveterate reader. Tbe London Mayfair has a story about the manager of an aquarium. His wife induced him to go to church, where he fell asleep. The minister was reading the first lesson of the day, which happened to be the first chapter of the book of Ezekiel. As he pro* ceeded in the description of the wonderful beast which the prophet saw in the land of the Chaldeans, by the River Chebar, the aquarium manager moved uneasily in bis seat. ♦ Every one had four faces, and everyone had four wings.' The aquarium manager rubbed his eyes, and the preacher went on, lAs for the likeness of their faces, they four had 'he face of a man and the face of n lion on the right side, and they four had the face of an ox on the left side. They four also had the face of an eagle.' The aquarium manager was now standing up, his wife vainly pulling at his coat tails. • Name your price,' he cried , I 1 will take the thing.' A curious condition was attached to the renewal of a license at Gisborne the other day. The following is a report from tbe local paper :— • N. Fin Jay applied for a renewal of the license for the Wailotara Hotel Mr Finn appeared for the applicant. The only objection the police had against this applicant wns that be was unmarried.' Mr Finn said bis client was a good-looking man, and intended entering the bonds of matrimony as

soon as he could find a suitable wi f e. The Bench thought that females were necessary to conduct these places, and granted the license on the understanding tbat until Finlay gets married he keeps a married couple on the premises/ W« have a recollection of something similar happening in Dunedin. A Licensing Bench intimated that they would not renew a certain license unless the applicant got married ; but we cannot remember whether the magisterial injunction was complied with. If Victoria is cursed with lawlessness and larrikinism it is not through a stingy expenditure on national education. The department of public instruction will cost £535,180 during the present financial year ; and Mr Smith estimates that during 1881*82 the disbursements will reach £642,830, or between a fourth and a fifth of the total amount of the expenditure of the country. He endeavored to reduce this vast sum by lowering tbe salaries in the higher grades of the school teachers, and by compelling the masters and mistresses to teach singing and drawing in ad - dition to the other branches of education ; but the Assembly and the teaching caste proved too strong for him, and defeated every effort for retrenchment. . ,/i There is nothing which rfftjws toore clearly the truth and goodness of virtue than the universal homage that is paid to it. Those who I walk in its paths and those who stray far from them unite in pronouncing them to be the right roads to take. The drunkard never upholds drinking, the sensualist never recommends impurity, the swindler never justifies dishonesty, the oppresser never vindicates cruelty. .The flying squadron is not likely to be seriously inconvenienced by the quarantine regulations at Auckland, as in order to avoid unnecessary detention, they come from Sydney under sail. During the passage of tbe steamship John Elder, from Plymouth, some thief stole a gold watch and a lot of medals from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide. The watch was a present from the Pope. A resident of Invercargill was recently fined £5 for drunkeness in a railway carriage. It is stated that he is a member of the Licensing Bench. A boil in the kettle is worth two on your nose. A corn on your ear is worth two on your toes, Of course smoking is worse than chewing, for the old adage says, 'Of two eyils chews the least.' Tbe Western Advocate (Orange) says that the Slaughtering Company have received the fir6t parcel of fat stock intended for freezing and exportation to London from the Company's works. They are the property of Mr Thomas Baird, of Dundalimal and are from his noted Belerangar station, near Warren. As a specimen of what good breeding and splendid past ui age can do, we are confident these beasts will hold their own with some of the best English-fed beef. To Mr Baird be* longs tho honour of being the squatter who has actually got his cattle at the works first. The first number of a new weakly journal entitled Land, was issued in London on the 12th February last. It is to be devoted to all matters affecting landed and house property. It seems almost unaccountable that in a oouutry where the money value of the land is estin mated at £3,000,000,000 and where in the London Estates Exchange alone the recorded sales of houses and lands have during the last ten years amounted to £100,000,000, there should have been no journal specially devoted to landed and bouse property, especially as the various manufacturing industries have been so long represented by high-class papers exclusively devoted to their respective interests. The new journal will* amongst other topics, treat on Banitary matters, both urban and suburban, and on many subjects of general interest, such as experimental farming, forestry, water supply, &o. Referring to Admiral Symonds* suggestion to build swift cruisers for the British Navy, the London Times siys :— ' The object of building swift cruisers is, beyond doubt, that they may be able to defend our ocean trade. Yet we have not now in the navy a single vessel which could steam to New York on equal terms with tbe Gallia or the Germanic A steam cruiser such as it is now proposed to build, 315 ft long and 61ft beam, cannot po;« siblr, according to Admiral Symonds, have sufficient coal carrying capacity to take her across the Atlantic at a high rate of speed. ' What,' as he well asks, ' is a steamer without coals ? ' Such a ship as is proposed is therefore wholly useless for the purpose she is intended for. Admiral Synionds suggests that a much larger vessel should be constructed, and that tbe coalicatrying capacity should be greatly increased. Mr R B. Mitchell, many years ago clerk of petty sessions at Forbes (says the Forbes Times), and for the last fourteen years policemagistrate at Balranald ; has become the pos sessor of a handsome fortune representing some £160,000. He will leave in a short time for Scotland, where he will enter upon the possession of the magnificent estate of Folmood, in Peebleshire, worth upwards of £100,000. Mr Mitchell has been twenty-one years in the Government service of New South Wales. A Hungarian chemist has lately shown some surprising experiments in Paris with a new light giviDg substance, which burns with so little heat that its flame will not set fire to a handkerchief, carpet, or other fabric with which it may come in contact. A person may hold the burning liquid in hia band without injury. This new illuminating fluid is prepared from petroleum,." ■ • • Another evidence of the growing prosperity of New South Wales may be found in the large number of public works in progress. The additions to the new General Post Office are being vigorously prosecuted and are estimated tf> c6sfc £205,000 j four new lighthouses are : in course of "consfcructioii at accost of about £55,000} the Callan Park Luria tie Asylum, which will ' cost £229,000, ia being rapidly pushed v on ; about £50,000 " are' being expended in increasing the fortifications; the Goulbourn Gaol now in course of erection, is to cost £57,800 j while numerous Courtho uses

and Post and Telegraph Offices bring the total of works in progress (exclusive of course of railway extension) up to about £750,000, The Philadelphia Dispatch remarks : ' Man proposes, and woman often wishes that he would not be so long making up his mind to do it.'