The Ashburton Gurardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1891. CURRENT TOPICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 2471, 26 September 1891, Page 2

The Ashburton Gurardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1891. CURRENT TOPICS.

The action of the Legislative, Council towards some of the most important Of the (jj.overnncent Bills has naturally created great indignation m the coun try, and some exasperation on the part of the Ministers m charge of the Bills. The excuse that such important measures should have the expressed approval of the country will not hold good as regards the Land Bill and the Electoral Bill, the principle of each of those Bills having been distinctly approved at the general election. The Government are being called upon somewhat loudly to take steps to make the Council representative of the opinion of the country, so that measures which the country desires way not m future be unmercifully thrown out. The pm*t«r of LanJsj whose Bjlfe

have met with the worst treatment, declares that persomilauimosity to himself is the cau3s of the Council's action, and , that he will rather resign -than submit a Bill to them again. The, Premier is very guarded m his observations on the subject, and we do not think he will go ■the "whole length, which is demanded of ■ him m some quartors, of making a ' large enough addition to the number of Councillors to place his party m the majority. There is precedent for such a course, and there is m" the present case a great degree of justification for it, but the Council will probably be given, like the barren fig-tre«), another year, by,which time it. is to be hoped tlie Councillors will have come to a knowledge of the errors of their ways.

Ministers have before them a busy recess. They have promised to reintroduce on more comprehensive lines the Bills that have been rejected by the Legislative Council —Land, Land for Settlement, Electoral, Payment of Members, and the rejected Labor Bills. Seeing the great majority of the House of Representatives m favor of Female Suffrage, that Bill may be taken up,as a Government measure. :-N|O doubt the^e Bills will be presented m a much more perfect shape, and the time spent m discussing them will not have been lost. The agricultural interest is .: promised attention next session, and the many side questions- of a Bureau of Agriculture, Importation of Stock, Rabbits, Noxious Weeds, and so on, make up a list formidable enough m itself for a session. ;

Though so many of .the,/ Government Bills were slaughtered by the Upper House the session has been by no means barren. The passing of the Land and Income Tax'Bifl-'was, as the Premier observed, a great achievement. By it the Government accomplished m what was practically their first session the great work which was entrusted to them by the country—the abolition of the Property tax and the substitution of aLand and Income tax. A great outcry has been made about the effect of the new taxation m driving capital out of the country and crippling enterprise, but the same cry has been heard for the last ten years, and it is no worse now than it has been at any part of that time. The present system will no more restrict the introduction of capital for the employment of labor than its predecessor. It will, rather,by lightening the burdens of those of small means tend to promote the general prosperity; s :

i: It is with much! repugnance that we mention the Shortland case, but the impossibility of adequately punishing a being guilty of; such heinous conduct has struck more than Mr Justine Connolly. The. young woman was couipelled by the persistence of the attacks to bring her persecutor to public account, and the ordeal which she had to pass through before a crowded court must have been excruciating, and excited the deepest commiserations For her wrongs she can receive no compensation, and her sufferings will probably never be entirely healed. Her character has been reinstated beyond question, nothing more. The attacks upon her will be remembered for decades. All with agree with Mr Justice Connolly that the act of a man who of set purpose schemes to destroy by slarder the good name of a pure girl is beyond the power of the law to adequately punish. Nothing can provide a right for the wrong that his victim has suffered.

The rain of yesterday and last night, we learn from correspondents' letters and telegratns, appears to have been general over Canterbury, and quite as copious elsewhere as m Ashburton. The fall was as heavy as any we. have had for three years, and cannot fail to do abundance; of good to all kinds of vegetation, and pasture and root aud cereal crop must greatly benefit thereby. Towards thi» morning the temperature fell very low, touching freezing point, and a somewhat severe hailstorm came on. During this period, we leirn that the weather was not without a malign influence on the lambing paddocks, and not a few lambs died, but the mischief done was far less than might have been expected, and will be counterbalanced by the resultant good to grass and crop. To-day the storm has been succeeded by bright ■unshine, and evidence is given that but little damage has been done to the fruit trees, most of which were clad with a garnienture of blossom far richer than has been seen for many seasons, and giving promise of an abundant crop of fruit. The blossom is now m its most critical stage, and if another week should pass without any very severe frost, the young fruit will be sufficiently advanced to be almost out of danger. Taken all round, the rainfall is the most valuable and the most welcome meteorological change either farmer or townsman could well wish.