THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1882.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1098, 9 June 1882, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1882.

A number of Bills have been either introduced or given notice of already in the House of Representatives, and other much needed amendments in the legislation of the last session have been proposed, and are likely to be carried. The ridiculous stringency of the Corrupt Practices Bill has already been ameliorated by the Lower House, the amended bill having been read a third time and passed. A large number of the members had some very narrow escapes under its provisions at the last general elections, and hence no doubt the unanimity shown in agreeing to its amendment. There is no doubt that it will pass the "Lords' with little or no discussion in its altered form. That special abortion, the Gaming and Lotteries Act, is also either entirely doomed, or will be so altered that its own author will not know his bantling. Mr Downie Stewart has given notice of a veiy sensible amendment, by which it is provided that all sweeps drawn on a racecourse, or in view of any sports whatever, shall be excepted from the operation of the Act This doe* not relieve the largt sweeps that were the bore of tlie Colony, but it exempts pleasure seekers from being subjected to ridiculous penalties, for joining in a paltry little sweep, indeed, allows them to extend to the amount of £5 for each subscriber. There is no doubt that this will meet the approval of both Houses, though it is highly probable that much more serious damage to the existing measure will be done before it has run the gauntlet of both branches of the Legislature. A recommendation has been made by the Reporting and Debates Committee that Hansard be published in a broadsheet form, or that it be issued four times a week. The "orators" of the House, the noisy windbags, of which Mr Seddon is an admirable example, will strongly object to any alteration. Men of a certain stamp do not care to what empty benches they speak, merely for the purpose of being reported and seeing themselves in print, they do not care Whether members listen to them or not, and would be equally satisfied if they were addressing a vacant House and imaginary audience, provided their speeches appeared in Hansard. By adopting either of the Committee's suggestions they* would be brought up with a round turn, inasmuch as all speeches would in that have to be summarised, and they would be wasting their eloquence in air by taking up the time of the House in the gratification of their own vanity. The cost of Hansard is something enor- | mow. The salaries alone, without bonuses, which are repeatedly given to the reporters, amount to somewhere hear L3OOO a year, and that is only a small portion of the cost, the expense of printing the rubbish that now appears, binding, &c M being a very large addition to that amount. It is sincerely to be hoped that one or other of the committee's suggestions will be adopted. A Bill to consolidate all National School reserves in the Colony has been introduced by Mr Sheehan, but is hardly likely to become law, as the circumstances of the various school districts are so widely dissimilar in different parts of the colony. There are no less than two bills to amend the law of libel before tie House, both of them introduced by lawyers, one by Vr Sheehan, and the other by Mr Tole. Mr Holmes, one of the new members for Christchurch, has taken action towards making the " The Adulteration of Food Prevention Act " no longer the farce it has been for year*. Though stringent penalties are on the Statute book in the existing measure, its provisions have never been attempted to be carried out and there is no machinery whatever provided for doing. It would be just as reasonable to build a railway engine without wheels as to enact a measure of the kind referred to without appointing officers to carry it out. It is to be hoped that Mr Holmes will be successfull, for poisons, liquid and solid, are too frequently sold in New Zealand, Colonel Brett in the Upper House has one of his usually eccentric proposals, which is to give inordinate power to whip persona convicted of vagrancy. There i« no probability whatever of its b:?ing carried, the Act question is al ready too harshly elastic in many respects. The Government have propoEed an amendment in the Industrial

Schools Act, which is not to meet with any opposition. Mr ITeldwick. one of the proprietors of an Invercargill paper, has introduced a bill entitled the " Protection of Telegrams Act, 1882," the chief feature of which seems to be to preserve the monopoly at present enjoyed by the United Press Association, of which he is a member. There is little or no chance of the measure getting through, particularly as the penalties against offenders are most severe. There are many other new measures aud amendments about to be dispensed that we shall have occasion, from time to time, to refer to and lay before our readers. Altogether the session may be said to have begun well, and it is to he hoped that we may be able to say at its conclusion that it has ended satisfactorily.

The many Beefton friends of Mr H. Gaplin will learn with pleasure that he has passed his final examination for admission as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and during the present month will receive his formal call to the bar.

We observe by the Otago papers that Mr Bowe, geologist, who was lately on a visit to Beefton, has, recently, turned hiß research in the direction of matrimony.

There will be a sitting of the Magis trate's Court to-morrow, before the local Justices, when the case of Bowman v. Gin, involving a disputed share transaction will be heard.

Reefton, during Wednesday night last, was treated to the Bomewhat unusual nccurence of half a gale of wind. The storm began about 7 p.m., and raged with considerable violence till after midnight, the direction being from west to east. The residents of the Buller Road were somewhat alarmed by the constant moaning of the wind on the telegraph wire, the sound of which resembled exactly the toll of the fire bell, and it was not till a late hour of the night that people were able to sleep in tranquility.

Mr G. C. Bowman will sell by public, auction at 4 p.m. to-morrow, at this mart, Broadway, the agricultural lease on the Buller Road, lately the property of John Bell. The area comprises 59 acres of land on the north aide of Larry's Creek.

The Licensing Committee for the Boat* mans district met at Capleston on Wednesday last, when the whole of the applications sent in were granted unconditionally.

Mr William Gardner, mining surveyor, has just completed to the order of the Inangahua County Council a map of the County, showing the whole of the lines of reefs in the district from Sainy Creek to Larry's, together with the names of the companies occupying them, and the form and situation, of the respective leases. The map is three yards long by about two yards in width, so that the scale is sufficiently large to show the whole occupied area in a conspicious form. The map is got up and mounted with the taste care and skill, which characterises all the handiwork of Mr Gardner, and is probably one of the finest productions of the draughtsman ever turned out on the West Coast. The map is intended to be hung in the Christchurch Exhibition whither it was forwarded on Wednesday morning, and Mr Gardner may be fairly congratulated upon the result of his labors, and the County upon the good that is likely to result therefrom.

It is notified in the Lyell Times that an extraordinary meeting of the United Victory Company, Lyell, will be held at the Company's office, Dunedin, on the 10th instant, to "ratify the removal of the registered office, from Lyell to Dunedin, and new managers appointment." This appears to be the course which the Dunedin shareholders are desirous of taking in regard to the Inkerman Company, but it is to be hoped, not less for the interest of the company than the community, that it will be unBuccessf ul. The questions is one of some moment to business people here as it will no doubt eventually lead to the furnishing of companies from. Dunedin and consequently the withdrawal of a considerable sum of money from local circulation.

Tenders are invited by the Government for the erection of additions to the Reefton survey office. The additions include a private residence for Mr J. Montgomerie, District Surveyor.

An adjourned meeting of the shareholders in the Cosmopolitan mining application will be held at Beilby's Hotel, on Saturday (to-morrow evening), at 7 p.m., at which shareholders are requested to produce their transfers.

An entertainment of a very attractive character is announced to be given in the Oddfellows Hall, to-morrow evening. The performance comprises manifestations in spiritism, table-rapping, and delineations in phrenology : followed by some surprising feats of legerdemain. The performance is highly spoken of.

A few days ago a trial was made here (says the Sydney correspondent of a contemporary) of a machine designed for the purpose of separating the gold from the dirt without washing. This dry-blowing separator, as it is called, weighs about 1501bs, and occupies a space of four square feet. By its assistance two men can put through two tons of washdirt per hour, and the cost of the machine is £35. At the trial to which I refer, 4dwt. 15gr. of gold was mixed with about 501bs of dirt ; this was passed through the machine in four minutes with the loss of only |gr. of gold. On a second trial the whole of the gold was recovered. On such goldfields as Mount Browne and Temora, where water is unusually scarce, the value of a machine of this kind can hardly be over-estimated. The machine has been introduced from California by Captain Park, and will, no doubt, command a arge sale. %> The usual monthly meeting of th

Hospital Committee was hold at the Southern Cross Hotel, on Wednesday evening last. Present Messrs Aiken, (chair), Lee, Shaw, Patterson, Steele, Beeche, and Kater. The minutes of the previous meeting having been road and confirmed, the Surgeon-superintendent's report was read and received. The following accounts were passed for payment :— Pay sheet, £37 -6s 8d ; bread, £1 18s lOd ; milk, £1 18s : meat, £3 9s 3d : groceries, £7 Us; Times, £13 3s 9d; Herald, £5 12s 6dj secretary, £2 10s Total, £73 13s. Messrs Steele, Shaw, and Maequarrie, were appointed Visiting Commitee.

The Cromwell Argus Btates that Major Keddell, Warden and R.M., will represent to Government the impossibility of his overtaking the business of Dunstan, Wakatipu, and Mount Ida districts.

Old Mousetrap was sold for 40 guineas on Saturday last, Mr Deaoney becoming his new owner. Clarence, who won last year's Grand National and ran second this year wsia also sold, Mr Richardson purchasing him for 180 guineas. Katerfelto, the Grand National winner, was offered but passed in ; the bidding not reaching the reserve placed on him.

. Another glorious tradition is about to disappear from the French Army. Not content with suppressing the drum and the tambour major, the delight of children and their bonnnes, the War Minister has resolved to abolish the three cornered hat of the gendarme. Everyone knows the familiar tricorne. It is the first thing that strikes the visitor on landing on the French soil, and through every village it is the cynosure of the peasant's eye. It will be a fearful blow to the poor genarme, who relied so much on his head gear for the authority he impressed on humble mortals. It is to be replaced by a helmet.

The Palmerston Times relates the following :— The other day a settler residing in the County of Waikouaiti had occasion to leave home for Dunedin, and in the hurry of his departure he omitted to take with him that very adjunct to his personal convenience and adornment — his watch. On noticing the forgotten article those <at home conceived the novel idea of fastening the watch to the collar of the, dog, and sending it after his master in the expectation that the animal would overtake him before he reached the station. The dog, however, returned after a few minutes absence, minus the watch, and created some misgivings in consequence as to its having reached its owner in safety, A search was at once instituted along the road and in the river under the bridge the dog was supposed to have crossed — the planking being open enough, it is said, to allow it to fall through— but without success The watch was afterwards accidentally found in afield adjoining, little the worse for its rest in the lap of mother earth. Our informant assures us that the owner of the watch remained in total ignorance of ihefauzpas for some time, and those who had put their trust too implicitly in the sagacity of the canine nursed the secret with sorrowful regret.