MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1738, 2 August 1886, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr H. Livingfcton, district auditor, found it necessary to raise several objections to the balance-sheet of the Lake County Council. After pointing oat exceptions and reservations in his certificate, Mr Livingston says: "There is a matter occaring during the halfyear to which I must specially reftr — viz., the disappearance of the rate book for 1881-2, 1882-3, and 1888-4. In my last report I Milled your atten* tion to the fact thai nncollected rates (18812 and 18828) amounting to a very large snm had been written off by minute, and expressed a hope that be-> fore doing this the council had Uken certain precautions which I had several times previously recommended. J find that during the past half-year the un« collected rate (1888-4) had also been written off, and, so far as I could learn, without any steps to discover whether the total correctly represented the items then unpaid. I ragret to say that on asking for the rate book on my recent visit, your clerk, after diligent searoh, assisted by the late clerk, was obliged to admit that it had never been in his custody, and was not to be found. I must also refer to the f»ct that the balance-sheet was not published list half-year and that the I document itself has disappeared, which as you are aware, is the cause of the delay in certifying to the present halfyear's accounts. In the belief that ft better state of affairs has now been brought about, I do not wish to advert to the past, bit hope that this may be the last of * long series of adverse reports, any one of which, yon will pardon n»y saying, would in any other conntyin my district have canted the proper remedy to be instantly applied." A motion was carried ••That Mr Bonlt(the late clerk) be requested to find the lost rate book for 1881, 1882, 1888, and 1884, with a view to its being placed upon the council table at its next meeting ; and failing which, this council will then consider what farther steps shall be taken for ill recovery." A resolution was also carried calling upon Mr Qilmoor to account for rates received by him as rate collector from several parties who hod his rttteipt ; failing which, he be trosesnted.

In an address delivered at Melbourne Cardinal Moran, after giving a general estimate of the life and labours of the late Archbishop of Melbourne, said though not a prelate at the time, it wax Dr Goold's privilege to be honoored with a seat in the first Australian Synod, held at Syduey in September 1 884. It was worth nating that this sy nod was not only the first under the auspices of the church in Australia, but it was the first Catholic synod held in the British dominions since the Reformation. In other parts of the Brit ish Empire so much bigotry prevailed, so many delusions were afloat concerning the doctrines Ind discipline of the Catholic Gh«v«Mfa«jHt was found impossible for the bisfttos to assemble in public coi>forensi!; fjappily a great many of tho«e <f^«sio«B had been dispelled, aad jkuok*Ka was entitled to the credit <#%&*, the first portion of the British Awtfnions to throw no ohetacle in the way of the prelates of the Catholic Church meeting in public conference. Dr Goold visited Rome no less than five times, and when he visited it as a member of the Vatican Council of 18701 he took *ith him several nnggets of AuftralkgjtiU* and it waitritfi tbfee n»*xeU fialm comineraorativo in«fciM l *** llt " a ' t0 eacn of the 800 bishops who attended the Council were made. The Auckland Herald states that old Tuhoto, who was dug out at Wairoa after being buried 104 hours, and who subsequently died at the Rotorua Hospital, could not have been under 100 years of age, as Natives who are old say Tuhoto was old when they were young. He was tue last of the ancient Maori priests, or tohnngas, who, before the advent of Christian missionaries, had charge of all the religions concerns of the Maori race. These priests were specially educated from an early age. The tohnnga had enormous power, and had life and death in his hand. He it was who cast the omens when a war party went ont, and read whether the warriors would be snccewful or not. He it waß who imposed the mysterious power of tapu, and he alone could remove it He performed the ceremonies when a new house was opened ; he pronounced the necessary incantations when the kumara or taro were planted. The Maoris, while still heathens, had baptismal ceremonies when a child was a few days or^ weeks old, and these were directed T by the tohnnga. The introduction of Christianity, made a considerable change'in the power and influence of the tohunga. But still, after the lapse of fifty years, the Maoris have not got rid of their old ideas. The Natives believed, in . tapu, and when, only a year or two ago, th« Ohinemutu Natives decided to give a piece of land at Rotorua on which to build St Faith's Church, they sent for Tuhoto to the Wairoa, and he, by certain ceremonials, re r^oved the tapu. Tuhoto had lived tlu+m§k .miffaty changes. . He knew the days before Christianity prevailed, he could repeat fche ancient incantations to the gods, and had much knowledge which in a philological point of view would have been greatly valued by European savants. He remembered the oM Maori wars and the time whe«. Tnhcurangi, their laud then unvisited by tourists, was a great and powerful tribe. And he lived to see the event of a million years — the great explosion of Tarawera and Rotomahana, an event such as those of which geologists tell us. One wonders what Tuhoto thought of it all I M. Camille Flammarion, the illus trious astronomer, has wounded the self *love of some of his compatriots by declaring that in twenty or ttmty centuries from the present time France will have ceased to exist, and there will be no one on ea*-th who will be able to speak the French language. But, after all, we need not concern ourselves much about what will or may happen Iwtneen the years 4,000 and 5,000. W Salmon canning is one of the most valuable industries of British Column bia, and there seems to be no limit to its extension. In 1876 there were only three canning establishments, which put out 8,300 cases, each containing four dozen one pound tins. In 1883 there were thirty-one canneries, with an output of probably 320,000 cases, or 15,360,0001 b.