The Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1884,

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1381, 31 March 1884, Page 2

The Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1884,

Ths failure of the earlier local governing hu'ly in Reef ton to secure the reservation .if a suitable piece of ground for public recreation purposes was certainly a i most unfortunate oversight. Ten or twelve years ago such a reserve in the very heart of the town might have been obtained by the public body for the mere asking. The opportunity was, however, I missed, and the residents of later times have been made to feel how great the loss is. It has so happened, however, that the use of Smith's paddock has been at all times available for the purpose, and at a reasonable charge, and but for this the inconvenience and annoyance to the public would have been great indeed. But so long as that property continued in private hands there was no certainty from one year to another that it would remain accessible to the public, and that the Jockey Club acted wisely in purchasing it outright for public use there can be no two opinions. The price paid for it was high, i* will be admitted, but the interests involved in the purchase were of a nature which did not warrant haggling over a few pounds. The community now possesses one of the finest domains to be found anywhere in this part of the colony, and as time rolls on, it will assuredly prove a great public blessing. The purchase has had the effect of crippling the financial resources of the Jockey Club for a season, but the gain is to the community and the townspeople, and we feel sure that in any appeal which it may be found necessary , to make to the public for a moiety of the , purchase money, people will gladly show a liberal appreciation of the action of the . Club in the matter. '. The annual meeting of members of the Reefton Jockey Club for election of stewards and o'Boers for the ensuing year will bo hold at Cochrane's otel this evening, at 8 o'clock. A writer in a Dunedin paper alleges that mining companies in the Inangahua have been known to declare dividends while paying interest to the bank on over draft, and that pay-sheets have been held back in order that the amount of the dividend might be increased. Fisher's Company gave their concluding performance on Friday evening last, and , being a benefit night for Mr Fisher, a ] number of amateurs rendered assistance. 1 Mr F. Pitt sang " The Death of Nelson," i very effectively, and the audience persist- ( ing in an encore he sang '• Waiting " in his usual finished style, and was loudly applauded. Mr Harford also contributed a good song, and was warmly approved. After several meeting and conferences Dunedin shareholders in Reefton mines have decided upon combined action, and ( the following is tho programme of the as- l sooiation : — "1. The obtaining and dis- * semination amongst its members the fullest i information as to the working and finan- f cial position of mining ventures. 2. To t bring together the shareholders in any mine, so that they may make their influence felt in the control of the expenditure and the general working. 3. To appoint, wheu necessary, competent persons x to investigate the books, and to inspect * and report upon the working and pros- 1; pects of the mine." These are briefly the objects of the association, and* they are perfectly legitimate it. will be 'admitted. Although the new Mining Companies a Act has scarcely been a year in operation c ] innumerable flaws have been discovered l in it, proving it to be very little, if any, iniprovon'.ent upon its predecessor. A. 'i'll-uitv has now arisen under the Act, a wd &hi>u!.l the argument raised for the appellant in ca^e now before the Su- s

preme Court, Wellington, be upheld, as we more than suspect it will be, a, vast number of shareholders, and mining com- j panics will fnd themselves in a very awkward predicament indeed. The case is thia. A slmvoholiler in a company at Terawhiti made default for more .than the prescribed twenty-ono days in the payment of a call. The company made a second call, sued the shareholder, and obtained judgement for the amount in the Resident Magistrate's Court. The defendant has appealed against the decision of the Magistrate, on the point that by the, forfeiture resulting from his non payment of the first call he was released from any subsequent liability in respect to the shares, they having at the expiration of the twenty-one days become in the words of the Act "absolutely forfeited to the company, without resolution of the directors, or the rules of the company." The point is not a new one, as it has haunted mining managers here ever since the Act came into force, but this is the first time it has been brought befor the Courts for a distinct ruling, and it is perhaps unfortunate that it should have cropped up at a time when there is so much depression in mining throughout the Colony, to plead as an excuse by those who may feel inclined to " take the benefit of the ct." The point is not yet decided, the case having been adjourned till Wednes day next. The particulars of the action are furnished in our telegrams this morning. A special European cablegram reached the Colony on Saturday last through Reiiter'a Agency announcing the death of the young Duke of Inany, the fourth sun of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. No particulars are given, beyond that he died at Cannes, in the South of France, where he had been for some time for the benefit of his health. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, was born in 1853. and was therefore only 31 years of age. He was married two years ago to the Princess Helen, daughter of Prince Waldeck, and leaves a daughter. The Duke was of feeble constitution, the thinness and delicacy of his skin being sudh that he' suffered much through bleeding at the pores. The Lyttelton iTimes slates Mr FitzGerald, member for Hokitika, mercilessly over his recent speeches in Westland, and this would-be representative for Inangahua gets hit off to a nicety. The writer properly says : — "The types of politicians who, combining with the Conservative ! element, muke the Government irresistible, are not Conservatives by nature or choice. By nature they are nothing ; between principles their choice suffers no embarrassment. Mr FitzGerald, of Hokitika, is one type. We had a speech from him the other day in trief form by telegraph. To hear him speak one would say a great Radical. A great, lover of his kind this FitzGerald, who will never suffer any political wrong to be done with his consent. "I am for a Land tax," says Mr FitzGerald, and he takes care to let you understand that the tax he is in favor of must be stringent and far-reach--ing -a regular " burster up." He also proclaims his hatred to the Property tax, and he vaunts his preference for an Income tax, "to catch all the drones. Sir." He would no doubt obligingly inform you were you to ask him to honour you with an explanation. But in spite of these professions Mr FitzGerald . supports the Government through thick and thin, without a waver. The Government would see him in his grave with six feet of solid earth rammed over him, rather than agree to hi 3 principles. He is, moreover, a man of intelligence, to whom the wrong doing of the Government must be patent. Yet he votes with them always. Mr O'Callaghan is another type. He condones and forgives and continues to vote always. In the midst of the agitation against the railway rates Mr O'Callaghan declares that it is bad form to make political capital out of this trouble into which the Government has placed itself with the utmost possible deliberation."