A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 90, 17 April 1890, Page 4

A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS.

A'Wellington paper gloats over the fact that last year our railways paid three per cent, on the cost of construction, providing a sum of £400 ? 000. This is in itself good news, no doubt, and under existing circumstances we could hardly expect more from them ; but the extraordinary deductions he draws from this reminds ns of the impecunious debtor, who, when he had prevailed upon an unfortunate creditor to accept a three months' bill,. gave a sigh of satisfaction and said, " Thank goodness that debt is paid." The journal in question says : " That means a release of £10,000,000 of the actual interest - bearing indebtedness of the colony." • Can we not also exclaim, "Thank goodness, there goes ten millions oft our debt f' It is true he qualifies his sage calculations by stabiug, "for which the New Zealand taxpayer will not have to provide this year." Thab is all right, no doubt, and the debtor mentioned above staved oft" his debt for three months in precisely the same manner. At the end of the three months he discovered his debt was not paid, and at tho end of twelve months we shall find that £10,000,000 making itself again objectionable.

Our Southern contemporary, in order to place the matter more clearly, provides a beautiful illustration. He says :—"lf the railways had realised four per cent, that would have released in the same way the whole £14.000,000 which they cost." These railways cannot be such a bai public investment after all. With a little more imagination, the writer of tho article might have seen them realising twenty-fivo per cent., and "releasing " U3, as'he terms it, of the whole of our debt of £37,000,000. fle further quaintly puts it, " but the short statement is that the taxpayer is relieved of the obligation to pay interest on £10,000,000."

This may be a short statement, but like a donkey's gallop, it is very sweet. The taxpayers of this country will no doubt be overjoyea to hear that they are relieved of paying interest on £10,000,000 of their big debt. It is not of course to be supposed that the bondholders are kind enough to forego their interest, out of compliment to our railways for behaving themselves so well. Oh, dear no, the interest must be paid and is paid, and if the taxpayers of this country do not pay it, will our contemporary kindly ucnnainb us who does?

Then the writer soars into still higher flights and tells us that "it is claimed," he does not say by whom, bub no doubt ho refers to the friends who have come to the rescue above, that " the increase of profits on our railways from 2\ to 3. per cent, is a relief to the taxpayer of £4,000,000 more."

Now, this is just the sort of relief we want. We are of course to . add this £4,000,000 on to the ten millions wo were relieved of, through the railways earning £400,000 ; but in addition to this, because they paid 3 per cent instead of 2b, off goes another £4;QOO,000. We positively s.eo no limit to the benefit this colony may derive from this novel system of arithmetic. In fact, if we are justified in clapping on this extra four million, tho railways are paid for and free from debt.

As a matter of fact, the writer holds out every encouragement to us to anticipate something of the sort, for he says " A further relief could also be shown in the working of the Telegraph and Postal Department." Unfortunately, he very unkindly adds, " This has not yet been calculated."

This is downright cruelty, and we say by all means push on these calculations as fast as possible. The study of them is most invigorating and the future prospect charming. When the calculations are ended and each dopartment is made to show the number of million pounds of debt it can kindly relieve us of, our indebtedness will absolutely cease, and this colony will enter on the lnillicnnial age.

We have not quite done with our contemporary's . article, for in it he is good enough, inforentially, to Bupply us with the author of these heavenborn calculations. He says, " all this," that is, all the calculations finished and at present unfinished, and the total millions of which we are to be relieved, " will be made apparent when the Treasurer makes his Financial Statement next session."

Now, it is not conceivable that the writer would say this without the consent of the Treasurer, seeing it emanates from an inspired source. Therefore SirHarryAtkinson « evidently the propounder of this wonderful new scheme for paying old debts, and already in anticipation, taking it, of course, for granted that our contemporary's figures, facts, and statements are strictly accurate, we can now rejoice and say, " Thank goodness our national debt is paid." . <

The police have discovered a clue of great importance concerned the New Plymouth murder. It appears the boots which the prisoner w&re when arre3ted have been identified as belonging to the murdered man. The deceased purchased them from the Co-oporative Store, and afterwards had the heels partly taken off, and the man who made the alteration to the boots can iden> tify them beyond doubt. The accused states that he purchased the boots at a certain store in Opunake, and the police, it is said, oro prepared to prove that he did not. The police are accumulating other evidence of a damaging character.

The Federated Wharf Labourers' Union of Wellington have taken strong objection to the "system initiated by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce in. setting up a permanent Board of Arbitration, it being considered that the Board should be fairly representative of such a body, and not appointed,, by any single interest. The matter is to be brought before the Trades and Labour Council, says a Wellington telegram.

Concerning the Ministerial trip through the interior, a telegram from Wanganui says :—The party returned by the river yesterday from a trip along,the Main Trunk line. The Bons. Fergus and Capain Russellianded at Upokongaro, and took horse to catch the midday train at Aramoho for . All speak highly of "the magnificent country, and Mr Christie Murray declares the Wanganui River to be the most beautiful of any he has yet seen in the world.

It is now stated, says the "Te Aroha News," that Mr A. J. Cadman will stand for the Thames district at the next general election. If Mr Cadman has decided to do so his chance of boing retiirned ought to be good, as the constituency is almost exclusively a mining one, and among the present goldiields , members there is not one who has stiven more zealously to promote the prosperity of the mining district than he has done. .:. ■ ■'

At .the Onehunga R. M. Court, yesterday, the following civil cases wore dealt with :•*-- Quin v. Jackson, judgment summons, 18s 6d, with costs 5s ; to pay in three months. Morton v. Lord, £2 4s 6d ; judgment for plaintift with costs 6s. Marton v. T*r*or, claim,, £11 Iβ 9d; judgmentfforr r plaintiff with coste 6s. " ,:

The Chairman of the County of Whangarei, Mr P. S. Brown, has called a meeting or conference of the chairmen of the different counties in the North of Auckland on Wednesday, the 16th inst., to meet at Whangarei, and consider several questions of public interest, such as the administration of the Hospital and Charitable Aid 4.cts, and other subjects of importance to the inhabitants of the Peninsula north of Auckland. The tendency is to demand larger powers for the County Councils to be allowed to deal more effectually with these questions.

In order to allow those unable to afford it to_ visit the Dunedin Exhibition, an invitation has been sent to the Charitable Aid Board and benevolent trustees to issue tickets. Those who attend will be entertained by Mr Roberts, the. president. At a meeting held last night ib was decided to entertain Mr Roberts, president of the Exhibition, at a banquet, and to'present Mrs Roberts with a service of plate. Among the jurors' awards announced are the following :—Fireclays : Onehunga IronCompany, Ist; Kamo Colliery, 2nd, Indianite: j. Kenderdine, Auckland, 2nd. Glue and Size: E. Mitchelson and Co., Auckland, Ist. Department of Ethnology: —First awards (specially commended): Captain Gilbert Mair, Hawke's Bay; A. Hamilton, Napier ; Dr. Hector, Dunedin; first-class awards, Auckland Museum, general collection ; Sir W. L. Buller, Wellington, Maori foodhouse in excellent! condition. Photographs of natives of.New Hebrides, 2nd class: Bishop Selwyn ; A. R. Bloxam, Christchurch; Rev. Father Olier, Tongatabu ; J. J. Kinsey, Christcbarch ; 3rd class, New Plymouth High School; W. H. Skinner, New Plymouth.

An interesting and pleasing ceremony took place at the ordinary meeting of the Auckland branch of the H.A.C.8.5., No. 81, last evening, the occasion being the presentation of a beautiful gold cross each to P.P. Bro. D. Flynn, and President Bro. Wm, Beehan. The District President, Bro. Samuel Fairweather, made the presentation, and spoke in the highest terms, of the servicee rendered to the Society by both gentleman. Healludedtotheamountof time which they both had devoted to the business of the branch. Bro. Flynn '• had come into the branch at the earliest age, having previously been in the juvenile contingent, and had qualified for, and filled, the highest office in the Society. As for Bro. Beehan, he could only say that since his accession to office he had resuscitated the branch and infused a spirit into it which had done a vast amount of good. Both gentlemen replied in suitable terms. The crosses, which were suitably inscribed, were made by Mr Ponholz, of Lower Queen-street.

- The following is from the last issue of the Bay of Plenby"Times":—"Theßev. Father Mahoney takes hie departure from our midst next Wednesday by the s.e. lona, for Auckland, wherehe will reside permanently. Father Gillau, from Auckland, is to take his place. It is with much regret that we learn of the departure of the Rev. Father, as he had endeared himaelr to this locality by his thoroughly Christian and unsectarian demeanour. Father M ihoney, like the sainted Damien, is a credit to any church or sect, by his unpre. suming, charitable and Chi-istian conduce.' .

"Found drowned" was the open verdict returned yesterday at the 'inquest in Glee : eon's Hotel on the body of .the. man Patrick Sheehy, found in the harbour on Tuesday morning. 'Harry Keane* wace«man, who found the body in the , water, arid Constable Lamb gave evidence. 1 James Barratfc, an inmate of the Oid Men's Refuge, deposed to identifying the corpse as the remains of a former inmate of the Refuge. No evidence was adduced to show how the unfortunate man met .his- death, whether by accidentally falling over the wharf or otherwise. • ; ~ v ,

A meeting of the Committee, of the Auckland Amateur Athletic Club was hold h*-day Wjhen it was decided to vote £20 to assist in sending a New Zealand team of athletes to Sydney in May. It was also decided that orders on three houses for trophies be issued at once to the winners in the late sports.

On Saturday next the Onehunga Horticultural Society will hold their annual show in the Onehunga Hall, the exhibition being for one day only. There are a large number of entries, and the affair is expected to be a euccese. In the evening a promenade concert will Fruit will be a specialty of the show; and there will be some fifte exhibits of apples, one exhibitor haying no less than sixty varieties entered. There will also be a good show of chrysanthemums.

In order to sustain its credit in the financial world the Argentine • Republic has authorised the sale in Europe of over one hundred and thirty-eight millions of acres of State land, for colonisation purposes only. The area is larger than that of any European country, except Austria-Hungary and Russia. Offices are to be opened in all the principal cities of Europe, and the land is to be offered at an upset price equal to about 3s 3d per acre. This is. the largest offer of land ever made at one time, but judging from various reports the Argentine Republic is not in such esteem in Europe as it was a short time ago.

Mr George Russell, J. P., held into the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a young man named Edward Johnston, at Buckland. The evidence showed that deceased was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and wa322years of age. He came to;ihe colony last October for the benefit of his health, which- improved so much that he did not see any medical man after his arrival. On the morning of the 15th instant ho suddenly became very sick and died within ten minutes. Dr. Dalziel gave evidence that death was caused by phthisis aud syncope. ' Tha jury returned a verdict in accordance with this evidence.

The diversion of the waters of the River Oxus, or Amoo, from its present outfall in the Sea of Aral to the Caspian Sea, reference to which, as a Russian Bcheme, was recently made in our cable messages, would not be such a Herculean task as it first sight it appears. The river formerly had'its , outlet in the Caspian the coupe of theold bed will be found'marked in all gbgd atlases. The river rises in the neighbourhood of the Hindoo-Koosh Mountains, and for some distance forms the northern boundary of Afghanistan, so that Russia's object in diverting the outfall into her own great inland sen . can. :be easily discerned. It is believed that the Oxus has twice ' changed its course since 600 A.1).. A' great part of the old bed was explored a few years ago by, M. Stebnutzki, who ascertained that it has a fall towards the Caspian, ■ from which he infers that its course was not changed by an upheaval of the Tnrfcoman desert,; but -by the simple accidents of fluvial action on an alluvial soil. In his address to the London Geographical: Society in May, 1872* Sir Henry Rawlinson said the restoration of the Oxus to its old bed was then under the serious consideration of the Russian Government, that it was a work of no engineering difficulty whatever, and would assuredly be accomplished as soon as the neutrality of Khiva was secured. It'will be seen that the project is not a new one. Although it is denied that the scheme in contemplation, it would be quite in accordance with Russian \ritrigue if we were to hear shortly that the work had been began.

Mr Henry Varley addressed a Targe audience laet night in the City Hall. He chose for his subject, "The Cities of Refuge," and in the course of hisremarks gave an eloquent descripfciou of the old custom of the fugitive flying to the city of refuge to escape the avenger of blood. Mr Varley believed this to be the life of a Christian flying from. Satan to Christ, his Cityoißefuge,; v '

One* of our cable items in Tuesday i paper stated that Mark Twain's kory The Prince and the Pauper" has been ; successfully dramatised, and is' said to be - ; equaTto Mrs Prances Burnett's " Little ■ Lord Fauntleroy." It will be of interest td our readers to learn that the Compan* whichisnow playing "Little Lord Eaunt< leroy with so much success in Auckland is studying an adaptation of the "Prince and Pauper" by Edmund Finn, with a viewto its production in Melbourne in the springof this year. The colonial rights have already been secured. <The plot.'in & peculiar one, Henry the Eighth as a child changing clothes with a beggar-boy and going forth as an experience into the streets' while the youthful arab finds his way into the court. The experiences of the two form' the leading feature of the play., Miss Olivd Berkley has been studying the dual role b£ prince and pauper for the last ten weeks,and is said to be exceptidnally clever in he* interpretation ,of-the parts. The dram* will be a great spectacular, one,, and in the Male, which is a coronation scene at Wesfe minster, some 300 people take part. ■ "'

ty£ SI 8 * of Henry VarleyJ the well-known Christian worker, paying 5 visit to Wellington. He has mumcation with Mr C. A. Baker on'the 1 subject, and if not called to England ia almost sure to accept an invitation to hold' a mission there. • ,

In.our reporfc of what took place at the,* lailoressss Union meeting on evening, the names of several employeii were given as having acceded to theneW terms, amongst others the name of Mci Possenniskie. This is slightly inisleading,Ihe first-class tailors, includingi of course,' Mr Possenniskie, pay, and alivays have paidJ for their work wages far higher thaa ap-j pears on the Tailoresses' Union'log, the)reason being that they neither go iaj . for slop or second or . third-clasrf work, neither do they pay slop' wages. The tailoresses , log only really! affects clothing factories and those tailoraT who employ female Irtbourj and i=>vnof are not employed in what is known a3 first-class'work. The statenaent was in our report in cbneequence of one of thej members of the Tailoresses'Union :bein«;>i employed at Mr Possenskie's and her re-f muneration being raised to the price manded by the log.

Occasionally children of tender years ara produced as witnesses at the Police Court, , and at times a question arises an to theief; knowledge regarding the meaning of an' oath. This morning a girl of eleven years of age was put into the witness box.; ■ In answer to the Bench shj saidt that she did not know the differencai between falsehood and the truth. Sergeant J. Major Pratt suggested that the child did not understand the question. The . ' Bench then tried again, aridaskea "Is it right to tell lies?" to which thej child quietly replied "Yes." Sergeants' Pratt asked, " Do you go to school fVandJJ; the girl answered "Yes! St. JbiepM , The Bench declined to let the\ girl bej, sworn. *.:-.:,,. At the adjourned meeting pf the AudkJ land Poultry Association, laeb evening, heldj to consider the advisability or otherwise ofl' carrying on the show and operations of the! Society, it was resolved on the motion ois Mr Phillips: "That the Society be - continued,' arid that the annual Showf be held as under the following; arrangements :—iyo prizes, to be given» ; ■ but instead a champion medal fee.givenj ; I to each, family similar to those given/ in the Jubilee Show, and. thab, certifi- . dates be given 'instead of prizes; thai all entrance fees be aa follows Is 6d,' non-members 2s 6d; that Is front each entry be given to the pen fund, and? the remainder go towards the expenses o£ the Show; .that the" Show be held fo?;t»oX days only, and that all birds be in the nighb ;•; before." It was also resolved,'' That the ; Association have full confidence in the comiv .j mittee, and request them -to continue, in* m JJ ' '' office. • » . , A valuable collection of rare relies of. the Princess Caroline, together with pamphlets arid letters 300 and 400 yeara; ■ old, were offered for sale by auction.this; morning by Mr Gabriel Lewis. Two of the? letters refer to William Austin,; the childj f adopted By 'the and .;said ■ ■ at the trial ."..'&>. b> her . ; Some, of ...the , painpblets ■ should valuable. One is a- , petition .directed, to/ Queen 'Elizabeth', , praying for /furthecj - reformation of the Chujrch. It is* thi ee hundred years.; old, arid v beacs tther autograph of ; Lord' Bacon. Another inter-, ;, esting document is the ! Assignat of thai Reign of Terror. . There are also* & two Puritan pamphlets. One-deals with *,;» the subject "Women Speaking Justified by the Scriptures." Another old documenb ■ is dated 1550, and is in German black letter. Apparently there were no anti- ~ quarios amonst those who attended the sale, as no reasonable bid was received, and the lot were passed in. < >j,. The first of the season's socials in connection with the Caledonian dances wtia; held last evening in the Masonic £ Hailing Newton. There was a good attendance about forty couples, and a_pleasaht ing's dancing" was' spent. Several Scotcira U dances were introduced, arid a riumfct|M m of those present appeared in Highland m turae. Mr D. Simpson, who is a master tho art of Scotch dancing,: acted ;as With a good &6or arid:good music dancing , / ■ ;-i was kept up till an early hour this morn* ',d ing..- , ;. ;■;,■■,..;:;_-■;; v, ■.:,;:'. ■ !'h The. stock and plant of the Atlas Tobacco | Gompariy were oftered for eale by auctionfM this morning by Mr'Gabriel'Lewis. The ; Company was offered both as , a going con-, ■"■, Cerri and also in sections, bub there were no» ■.' bids. It was therefore passed, and is operi;'r2| for private treatment. The opening 're-union of Miss Johnson's -,■'' socials for thecomingseasoßtook place last . evening in the Victoria Hall, Eden Terrace, '• .. \ and was very enjoyable. About thirty, couples were present, and a pleasant evening's dancing was spent. A social, promoted by members pi St.. Benedicts Church, is to be held in St.. ' George's Hall, New.ton, on the evening of; the";'-25th to-morrow week, in aid ; of the Benedictine Fathers. Spectators 1 ' and dancers'tickets may be had from the Committee. The affair, which will be one * ; of the first socials of the season, ia ex- . pected to be very 'enjoyable. <|