The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 28, 1886.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1753, 28 May 1886, Page 2

The Bruce Herald. "Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, MAY 28, 1886.

The Colonial Treasurer delivered his Financial Statement on Tuesday evening. Our readers will, we are sure, be satisfied with a brief outline, and possibly only a fractional proportion of them will trouble to read that. To the majority, Financial Statements are of little interest, perhaps are not very intelligible, and it ia tolerably certain that however diligently such documents may be studied by the electors, and however muddled they may get in trying to make out from them whether the financial barometer is rising or falling, the prospects of the country brilliant or gloomy, things ( will go on precisely the same, aud neither their ignorance or knowledge of the Treasurer's Budget will make a particle of difference. With regard to the revenue and expenditure for \ 1885-6, we are informed that the ( revenue falls short of the estimate by £1954, and that the liabilities at the J close of the year are not more than ( is ordinarily the case. The Land . Fund shows a deficit of £20,384, al- \ though there was a balance in favor 1 at the commencement of the year of j £31,931. This deficit was attributed ( by the Treasurer to various causes, j He incidentally remarked that it was ( from this Fund that the Eoads and , Bridges Construction Act was to be , supplied with means, and the Act fell ( through when all chance of moneys . being available for its purposes from , the Land Fund ceased to be possible. That contingency may hare entered - into the mind of the Government 1 when the Act waa repealed last year, < but so far a3 we remember it was not ■

mentioned in the debate, nor is it likely that Major Atkinson would have defended his own measure to the last had he seen that it was fast becoming effete for want of an assured finance. However, the erasure of that Act from the Statute-book is not to be regretted, although it was hardly necessary for Sir Julius Yogel to have taken the opportunity of having a slap at a piece of legislation stamped with the name of his political opponent. Referring to the deficit of 1883-4, the Treasurer said that he was averse to permanently funding it, but proposed to provide therefor by transferring it to five years' debentures to the amount of £150,000, to be held within the Colony, which can be taken up and extinguished as circumstances justify such a course. Referring to the Einance of Local Bodies, Sir Julius Yogel sketched the various details of the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, and said that the present Government approved of none of those points. The proposal of the Government was that on the ratepayers should depend the responsibility of determining and accepting or refusing works, and that when the ratepayers approved money should be provided to the local bodies on very liberal terms. Those terms would be a payment of three per cent, per annum for twenty-six years on special rates, the Colony to be responsible for the payment of the principal sum, and to meet it by setting aside yearly a sinking fund of two per cent, to redeem the debentures at maturity. It would also be proposed that Parliament should determine from year to year the limits of the amount to be available to the local bodies, but that in the absence of any other provision the amount would stand authorised at not exceeding £200,000 annually. It was intended that these loans should only be for the country districts, and that the storage of water for irrigation and mining purposes shall be amongst the objects that local bodies shall carry out. Sir Julius Yogel stated that the Charitable Aid Act had answered well on the whole, but we are inclined to think that those who have had the responsibility of administering it will scarcely agree. The only modification hinted at is in the direction of a slight increase of the subsidy on voluntary donations, in order to arrest the tendency to depend too much upon rates. Considerable prominence is given to the question of Government loans to farmers, and we are glad to notice that Sir Julius Yogel does not favor the idea. We can understand the advisability of the Government providing for special works, such as drainage, but to turn the Treasury into a loan office for the benefit of one class of the community is unreasonable and preposterous. " The stand the Government now take," said the Treasurer, "is that at present the colony's credit would suffer by their entering into the business, and they are hopeful that private enterprise will give such relief to the small farmers as will render Government interference unnecessary." The estimated expenditure for the financial year is stated at £4,070,208, which is £89,030 above that of last year. Of this increase £20,978 is required for education, and the remainder for railways and subsidies to local bodies. The proposed expenditure for the year is— Permanent Appropriations, (Civil List, Interest and Sinking Eund, under special Acts), £1,915,304; annual appropriations, (Legislative, Colonial Secretary and other departments), £2,154,984— making a total as above. The estimate for the Customs Revenue is £1,410,000, nearly £5000 less than was actually received last year. Although of opinion that the diminished consumption of spirits, as shown by the Customs returns, and the diminished value of goods leave the people better able to pay duties, it is not proposed to increase them. The reception of last years' proposals, was, says the Treasurer, " not of a nature to induce the Government to submit similar proposals, and with great regret they feel themselves debarred from doing so." It is proposed to take one-sixteenth of a penny off the Property Tax, making it thirteensixteenths, instead of seven-eights. Congratulations on the successful issue of the New Zealand Midland railway business are followed by the announcement of a proposal for a loan of a million and a-half for railway purposes exclusively. Before proceeding to give a list of the objects of the proposed loan, Sir Julius Yogel made some remarks on railways generally. The Government would, he said, spare no exertions to have the North Island Trunk Railway between Wellington and Auckland completed in 1890, and proceed with moderate speed with the extension of the lines to the North of Auckland. Of the Middle Island railways, we are assured that the Otago Central will "be continued rapidly, and be pushed on with energy." The allocation of the proposed loan includes £50,000 for the Catlins River, and £200,000 for the Otago Central lines. The Statement is brought to a close by some remarks of a general character about settlement and industries, and the usual sermonising paragraph, which concludes with the very safe prophecy : — -" In all humbleness of spirit I dare predict that many generations will pass away before the colonies beneath the Southern Cross will reach the culminating greatness ef their destiny."

Attention is drawn to Dr. Speer'i advertisement, his address now being West minster Chambers, 36, Lambton Quay, Wellington. It has been resolved by members favor able to the reading of the Bible in Pnbli< Schools that the matter shall be brought before the Legislative Oouncil by the Hon, Dr Menzies. On Sunday next, the services in the Wes leyan Church will be conducted in the morning by the Rev. W. Morley, of Dun edin, subject, " The riches of the Christian-] possessions/ ahd in the evening by Mr C. King, subject, " The Prodigal's return." Thk prize-list for the examinations held inthe Edinburgh School of Medicine has recently been published. It contains the name of Mr John Cnnninghamc, son of Mr P. Cunninghame, late of Milton, who stands second in the senior division for midwifery and the diseases of women. These appears to have been quite a variety of opinions among New Zealand journalists as to the exact age of the Queen. Taking the cue from one of our contemporaries, and stupidly not consulting an authority, we made her Majesty to be seventy-one years of age. We trust she will accept onr apology. The Queen's age on Monday was 67. A meetikq of policy holders in the A.M. P. Society, attended by abont 200, was held in Dunedin on Tuesday evening. Resolutions were passed expressing disapproval of the proposal to extend the Society's operations to Europe. A telegram from Kaitangata stating that 20 policy-holders in that place were against the proposal was read to the meeting. The first meeting of the second session of the Brace Parliamentary Union will be held in the Council Chambers this evening. It is cot definitely known what business will engage the attention of onr local Parliament to-night, as the Clerk of the House is absent, and it is not quite clear what Government is in office. The Governor's speech, however, should be interesting in itself, and furnish material for a profitable evening's debate. The monthly meeting of the Inch Clntha River and Road Board was held on Thursday. The Chairman and Mr Rutherford were deputed to inspect and report npon a breach near Mr James Smaill 's. The Olerk was instructed to employ horse labor to remove hawthorn trees from river bank above Presbyterian Church. Accounts to the amount of £13 23 were passed for payment. The imminence of the danger to the Parliamentary buildinga was greater than has generally been supposed. The ' Evening Press ' says that within five minutes of tbe time when the fire was discovered, It wis usual for the Speaker's apartments to be locked np. The fire was in Sir Maurice O'Rorke's sitting room. The wooden mantlepieces are being replaced with marble ones. The hasty manner in which the oath is administered to witnesses in the Magistrate's Court has not escaped the notice of the presiding Magistrate. One morning last week, says the ' Evening Post,' when a lady had j entered the box, the Court orderly repeated the usual formula, and at once handed to her the sacred volume on which to seal her obligation. His Worship interrupted, and remarked to the orderly that it was always as well to allow the witness time to ask her Maker for the help which the words of the oath implied. The citizens of Invercargill have decided at a publio meeting thafc in the interests of civilisation and commerce, it is undesirable that France should annex the New Hebrides. This is the right way of putting it. So far ! as civilisation is concerned, It is apparent | that French recidivistes would demoralise the lowest savage races remaining on the earth, while, as far aB commerce is concerned, France has no record in her favor as to the practical commercial results of any colonisation scheme attempted by her. The Presbyterian Church of New South Wales is threatening to assume the character of a Church militant. Referring to the possible occupation of the New Hebrides by France the denominational organ says : — " It would be a constant source of irritation fco these colonies ; and although some, afc fche present time, hesitate tc say ifc, ifc would inevitably lead to the entire expulsion of the French from the Pacific. They will only imperil what fchey already possess by insisting on this. The colonies would only bide their time till opportunity offered, when evesy hostile Frenchman would have to retreat from these waters." Mk Stout is to receive, or rather to be offered, the honor of knighthood. It is said that there is a general desire thafc he should accept ifc. Sir Robert Stout, K.C.M.G., will look well, but it is hard to see on what grounds the honor is conferred. He has simply been Premier for two or three sessions, during which no opportunity has been afforded him of distinguishing himself in the cause of his country. Without hinting a word derogatory of Mr Stout's personal merits, we must say that the bestowment of such a title upon him would be absurd and meaningless. [A telegram iv list night's ' Star ' states tbat Mr Stout has accepted the title.] Thb following busiuess of general and local interest; was transacted at the meeting of the Land Board on Wednesday : — The Receiver of Land Revenue wrote regarding deferredpayment licensees who had capitalised their payments and were allowing the interest payable half-yearly to fall into arrear. — The Board decided that in the event of the interest still remaining unpaid for more than one month after thia date thoy will be compelled to forfeit the licenses without any f nrthcr notice. Mr J. C. Bannatyne applied, on behalf of August Orlowski, to purchase a portion of the reserve in block 2, Clarendon ; the area being about 50 acres. — Referred to Ringer Hughan for a report. R. Mill's application to exchange an agricultural lease for deferred-payment license over section 86, block 2, Table Hill, waa approved of.

i The British Government is prepared to allow experiments in tobacco-growing to be • made in selected localities. It has been pointed out in Parliament that tobacco can - be and has been successfully onltivated in 3 the United Kingdom. Lord Harris pointed t oufc thafc in 1829 tobacco had been profitably cultivated in Ireland, and also in Scotland. Experience showed that it could be grown at 6_d per lb., which, upon even the poorest i description of the artiole, wonld be l_d per . lb., or £8 per acre in favor of the producer. i In our report of the prize-firing by the members of the Bruce Rifles on the Queen's Birthday, we omitted to mention a rather exciting feature in connection with the day's i proceedings. No less than fire competitors I tied for the range prize at 400 yards, viz., ' Capt. Scott, Surgeon Reid, and Vols . Tough, •■ Mnrray and Grant. The Captain ruled that the tie must be decided by firing off shot for shot. In the first round, Surgeon Reid and Vols Murray and Grant made three , each, Tough two, and the Captain missed. In tbe second round, Vol. Grant led off with a bull's-eye, and Surgeon Reid and Vol. Murray followed suit. In the next ronnd, Vol. Grant scored three, and the others only made an outer each ; Vol. Grant therefore won. Mr A. Marshall gave a prize of half a dozen wine for the highest number of bull's teyes, whioh was secured by Vol. Murray, he having made six Candidates for Parliament at Home have to be very careful. Mr Duncan, who was elected for the representation of Yarrow, was unseated ou the score of "treating" voters. All he did was to furnish his Committee wifch some hot pies and coffee. If anything can be characterised as " goody " legislation, it is certainly that which is associated with the ballot-box. It must be founded on the assumption that all candidates are knaves, and all electors open to bribery. Probably it is thought that there iB some necessity for extreme precautions, seeing that the franchise is now so extended that all sorts of questionable characters and profound ignoramuses are included. It is very doubtful if either tbe personnel of legislators or the character of their legislation has been improved in the slightest degree by all these frantic efforts to make election procedure pure. "Armodeus" in the *N. Z. Mail' thus pertinently aud appropriately refers to the late catastrophe at the Princes-street cutting : — Hurrah, Dunedin ! Yon are showing ns how to do it. Your appraisement of high talent, talont to conserve the lives and limbs of hundreds of human beings, is sixpence a day is it T That is the princely remuneration bestowed, as extra pay, on a ganger, converted out of the unemployed, to supervise important blasting operations in the heart of the city. And the result? One woman done to death ; another almost ; a man's thigh broken ; holes knocked through roofs ; chimneys wrecked ; and all for sixpence a day. Couldn't have got ifc done cheaper anywhere, I know. Surely there's "someone as wants whopping," over this very, very, sad business. "Whopping indeed 1 " The man who had charge of the blasting operations deserves to be arraigned for murder, aud the people who employed him, for manslaughter. As is generally known, South Australia is like ourselves suffering from a season of severe depression. Artisans of all sorts are ont of employment. In order to somewhat relieve the sufferers, Sir Thomas Elder resolved to spend £10,000 upon building a mansion on Mount Lofty. He did not want the bouse, bufc contemplated Bimply the benefit of the unemployed. The lowest tender was considerably above the sum he designed to spend, but the contractor made an arrangement wifch masons, bricklayers, and carpenters, who agreed to accept rather lower wages than those previously current, and the contract was taken at a reduced price, the contractor binding himself in the usual penalties. When the foundations were laid, all the men struck for more wages, and the contractor has been ruined. This is another delightful specimen of human gratitude. Unless working men have a care, they will force capitalists to enter into combination against fchem, and in thafc event their trades unions, strikes, and so on, will do them little good. A Bill fco facilitate obtaining divorce is now before the New South Wales legislature. Cardinal Morau bas denounced the measure in unsparing terms. He declares that marriage after divorce is bufc another name for polygamy, and characterises the Bill as "an attempt to facilitate divorce among our Protestant fellow citizens." He declares emphatically that should the scheme become law, the Catholics will not avail themselves of ifc, bufc imitate tho early Christians, who the more such laws were multiplied the more fondly did tbey cheri'h the sacramental graces of the marriage bond. The Bill before the New South Wales legislature does we believe render the possible severance of the marriage tie too facile, but •urely no church is justified in condemning the law of divorce in suoh deoided terms. Catholics must be a remarkably holy and moral people if amongst them there never occnr such circumstances as to render the continuance of the marital union improper if nofc impossible. Of course if marriage is regarded as a sacrament, and all thafc sort of thing, the matter wears a different aspect, but those who content themselves with the ' teaching of the Scripture hold no suoh opinion. R_j_RßlNCi to tho birth of the Queen's thirty-fourth grandchild, the progeny of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, ' Modern Society * says : — By a happy chance, the new baby of the Irish people's own Prince was born on St. Patrick's Day. Paddy is delighted, of course ; and not a few simple souls in Erin's. Me credit; the Duchess of Connanght with having wrestled in prayer with the Holy Virgin that it might be so. The Irish are as quick at appropriating a compliment as they are at scenting an insult. Small attentions please them mightily. When the Queen wag in Dublin in the

i autumn of 1849 the Royal children were obi jeots of universal notice and admiration, and one stout old lady screamed ont to her Majesty, "Ob, Queen, dear 1 make one of them Prince Patrick, and all Ireland will die for ye ! " Nine months afterwards her Majesty was delivered of her seventh child, and, remembering the old Irishwoman's wordß, she included Patriok among his baptismal names, and later on made him Duke of Oonnanght. If he has neglected the country to whioh he was dedicated by his mother, his wife has surely purged him of his offence in the eyes of Erin's sons and daughters by giving birth to a child on " St. Patrick's Day in the morning." No one can be Bick if the stomach, blood, liver and kidneys are well. American Co.'s Hop Bitters keeps them well. Notice. Doirr Die in the House. — "Rough on Rats " clears ont rats, mice, beetles, roaches, bed-bugs, flies, ants, insects, moles, jackrabbits, gophers. Kempthorne, Prosser A Co., Agents, Dnnedin.