The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1866.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1194, 4 September 1866, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1866.

There seems to have been little doing in the General Assembly since the reconstruction of the G-overnment of interest to-the colony at large. The principal matters discussed have been the Otago Land BUI and Municipal Council Bill. A considerable part of the Estimates have been passed, but the Defence Estimates still remain to be discussed, and it is upon the latter that the main difficulties surrounding the finance of the colony depend. The current expenditure for the defence of the. Northern Island was proposed to stand at about £100,000 a-year, and a reduction even upon this amount is promised. Our readers will remember thatin the discussions which took place prior to the elections, Mr. FitzG-erald argued that this sum would be sufficient, whilst Mr. Ward and the Separation party strove hard to prove that a much larger amount would be necessary. But besides this there is a sum of upwards of £200,000 on the Estimates for the Waikato

and . other military settlers, which' we were'promised should be borne upon the balance of the loan. The loan, however, is nearly all gone, and this charge appears upon the Estimates for 1 the year.

,Two; questions are preparing for discussion as. soon as the Financial Statement shall have been made. 1. Are stamp duties necessary ? 2. Shall this charge for military settlers be charged upon the revenue of the current year ? The Treasurer we understand supports the affirmative of both propositions, the Provincial party the negative. And here we may take occasion to remark upon the curious change which has taken place in Mr Stafford's position'during the present session. At the commencement of the session His firm supporters were those who brought him into office, the Auckland patty -and party of Otago. Now the scene is not only changed but reversed The Auckland and Dunedin party appear to be the opponents of the Government, whilst their support comes from the opposite side of the House. The change in the tone of the Auckland press is very amusing. Mr Stafford, to whom a few weeks ago they were burning incense, appears now to be the evil spirit to he exorcised from the habitations of the Government. There appears to have been a complete upsetting of all parties and creeds, nor can any one say. who is leading what party uponwhatprinciples.

For the nonce, however, the Government take up % position on the stamp duties, and the payment of the military settlers out of the annual revenue. The Ihroviricial party oppose the stamp duties; but then they see clearly enough that upon? a large current revenue depends the amount which will remain for the provincial share of the Customs. Mr Moorhouse, therefore, proposes that the charge for military settlers shall be borrowed on Treasury Bills, and shall be extended

over the next three or four years. This, of course, will relieve the current revenues of £200,000, and will to that

extent enlarge the provincial share of the Customs for the current year. With the settlement of these two questions the present session will probably terminate, and we do not anticipate that, whatever may be the decision of the House, the position of the Government will be disturbed. The Q-overnment has accepted the conclusion that the troops are not all to leave. We-confess, therefore, we do not see why they should not abandon the two othercardinalpointsofMrFitzherbert's dnancial policy of 1865, and give up the stamp duties and the resolution not to extend the three million loan. If we can possibly get on without stamp duties, and if the policy to carry out which they were proposed, is to be (abandoned, we really cannot see why they should be imposed. Mr. Stafford has put his income tax scheme into the waste paper basket, and it would be but an act of corresponding courtesy that Mr. Fitzherbert's stamp duties should follow. This we believe is unquestionable, that had Mr. Stafford's late Government remained in office the stamp duties would have been opposed by all the leading men of the Weld party. The operation of saving £240,000 a year was still imperfect when the late Government resigned —let it be continued a little longer and stamp duties will surely be unnecessary. As to the extension of the charge for- the military settlers over three or four years, we can give a less decided opinion. There can be no doubt that it would be convenient for the provinces; -but the extension of our credit at the present time would be on other grounds most undesirable. On the whole, however, considering that the charge is one which will not recur again, and is not of the nature of a current or permanent charge, we cannot help thinking that its distribution over two or three years would relieve the colony from a pressure which weighs heavily upon it at the present moment. If this money could be borrowed upon reasonable terms it would, we think, be more prudent to charge it upon two or three years revenue than upon the revenue of only one year. And this might be done without enlarging the permanent debt of the colony. The whole matter, however, is one in which the vice of our financial system becomes peculiarly apparent The claims of the Provincial Governments enter as ja disturbing element, and frustrate all the calculations of the Treasurer.

In the resolutions proposed by Mr. FitzGerald which resulted in the defeat of the late Government, the principle was asserted that this uncertainty as to the Provincial revenues should be put an end to. That the time has arrived when the Provincial and General chests should be entirely separated is patent to every one who has paid any attention to the financial affairs of the colony. There can be no real difficulty in the way of such a proposal, and we did hope that the solution of this difficulty would have constituted one of the principal proposals of the present Treasurer. "We still hope that the Financial Statement may bring us some information on this subject; but up to the ; present time we have not gathered that anything of the kind is contemplated. It is at all events impossible that the resolutions moved by Mr FitzGerald can have been framed without some clear idea existing in the mind of the authors as to the manner in which a separate and independent revenue should be secured to the provinces.

Theatbb Rotai.—Last night the drama of the ?• Flowers of the Forest" was played to a very good house. It is a piece which requires a great deal of scenic effect to give it fair play. The manner in which it was put upon the stage was very creditable to the manager. The part of Cynthia was of course taken by Miss Juno, who displayed a great deal of tact in the way in which she delineated the character. During the impersonation of the part she had taken she was greeted with acclamations from all parts of the house. The part of Ishmael, dr the Wolf, was taken by Mr \W. G. Carey, who has on a former occasion appeared on the Christchurch stage. We must certainly congratulate Mr Carey on his reappearance, his voice being very much improved and Ins acting still more so. He took the part which was assigned to him, and acquitted himself with great credit, and we only hope that Mr Carey may be added to the company which at present exists. Mr Jones deserves especial praise for his rendering of the part of the Kinchin. Mr Jones is an actor who takes peculiar pains to get up his part, and when acting it does it, to advantage; he, as a manager, is very painstaking, and we hope that his efforts may not be. without avail, as hitherto the performances have been of a very meagre nature. Lemuel was j taken by Mr Creswick, who acquitted himself j with credit. Cheap John (Mr Pollock) also deserves notice, although he does not come up to the Cheap John we have been accustomed 1 to see in the old country. Alfred (Mr Grteme) ! deserves credit for the way in which he acted his part, and we only wish that he could have been placed in a more prominent position in the piece. Mr Graeme is a painstaking actor, and with encouragement, will get on well. Starlight Bess requires to be taken by a more experienced actress than Miss Herbert, but allowing for the fact that she has appeared only recently, her performance of the part was very creditable. The other parts were carefully taken. The plot of the piece is so well known that we do not require to give & detaLed account of it. The farce of 'The Turned Head" was played afterwards, and went off with considerable success. To-ni»ht the same pieces will be repeated. Wobkiko Men's Association. — The usual weekly meeting of this association will be held this evening in the Foresters' Hall. Instead of the usual debate, Captain Wilson will delivers lecture on misaierism.

Land Sales. —The following is the return of waste lands sold yesterday, in the various districts :—Ashley, 20 acres ; Ellesmere, 77 acres; Lincoln, 20 acres; Mandeville, 28 acres ; Malvern, 153 acres ; Timaru, 500 acres; total, 798 acres, yielding £1596. Compensation, 36 acres. English Mail.—The mail for England via Panama will close at the chief Post-office, Christchurch, on Thursday next, the 6th instant, at eleven a.m.

Thb " South kbst Caoss" ok Mc Stafford. — The warm admiration which the Auckland papers used to express for Mr Stafford seems to have greatly cooled since his opposition to Mr Whitaker's resolutions. The " Southern Cross " speaks of his late administration in the following terms : —" The Stafford Ministry lived, during its short existence, on false pretences. Its leader, Mr Stafford, appears to have spent a lifetime building up a reputation as a politician, to destroy it utterly; for, after the experience the colony has had of him for the last twelve months, we apprehend it will ne?er again trust him, except in a subordinate position. Mr Stafford has demonstrated, to the satisfaction of everybody, that he can conduct the office business of a department; he has likewise demonstrated that he has no claim whatever to the title of " statesman," as applied to him by ourselves and his admirers, in the innocence of our faith. Indeed, it is more than apparent that the reputation of the first Stafford Government was not justly attributable to the Premier, but as the Canterbury party has often asserted, to his colleagues. ■ Mr Stafford took office at the close of the last session, under circumstances which ought to have made him unusually circumspect. He was selected, from amongst New Zealand politicians, as a man of honor, truth, and uprightness;—as a man who would administer, ; with strict impartiality, the affairs of the colony, until separation had been decided. But for this expectation, he never would have been Premier; yet how has he fulfilled the expectation of his friends ? Has he shown himself an impartial Minister ? Has.he acted 1 in any one way in keeping with the expectations which he encouraged ? We say emphatically that he has not, but that he has acted since taking office as a time-server and wouldbe dictator. _ , Accident. —We are glad to hear that the prisoner White, who had his leg broken by the falling of a piece of rock at Officers' Point, on . Friday last, is progressing favorably.

Inquest at Ranguoba.—On Saturday last an inquest was held at Rangiora, at Baugh's hotel, before 0. Dudley, Esq, J.P., and coroner for the district, respecting the death of a child, aged nine or ten years, named Sarah Evans. Jane Evans, sister of the deceased, aged eleven, deposed that she, with a little brother, the deceased, and a baby, were left on Thursday last at homo by the father and mother, who went away about four a.m. to go to the Heathcote valley. They returned next day late in the evening. About the middle of the day. of Thursday, her little brother went about playing with matches and set fire to some grass which caught his sister's clothes. Witness tore the clothes off her, and went to Mrs Beattie, who came and with her husband put the fire out, and sent for two uncles and aunts who live near. Witness had an elder sister about sixteen or seventeen, but she went with her. parents. John and Agnes Beattie were called and corroborated the evidence given by the last witness. W. B. Tripe, medicalpractitioner, residing at Rangiora, stated that he was sent for on Thursday last, about seven o'clock p.m., and found the deceased burnt all over the lower portions of the body. He applied the usual remedies. The child appeared to suffer little pain. She died next morning ; the burns were the cause of death. The jury returned a? verdict of Accidental Death, with a rider expressing their disappro bation of the conduct of the parents in leaving so young a child as the first witness in sole charge of her younger brother and sister.

The Pibe-Bblli. — It ■ was decided last evening, at the weekly meeting of the City Council, to erect, in place of the present firebell, a tower fifty feet high, surmounted by a large gong and platform. The tower will be placed in the Market-place, on the ground of the brigade, and will he entirely under the supervision of the company. The cost will amount to £125.

Fire Bbigade.—-The quarterly meeting of the Volunteer Brigade was held last evening, at the' Station, Mr Harris, the engineer of the company, in the chair. The business transacted was of no public importance, and after nominations had. been made for officers for the ensuing year, the meeting broke up.

Thb City Councili.—A short time since a, resolution was carried by the City Council to admit six " intelligent" ratepayers to hear their debates. At the first meeting after the resolution was carried, one attended; at the next two ; and last evening the very comfortable bench placed in the chamber for the use of the ratepayers was vacant.

Rangiora and Mandevelle Road Board. —In consequence of the dissatisfaction exhibited by several of the ratepayers of this district with reference to the assessment of last year, which possessed the disadvantage of being very costly, the Board resolved to adopt a novel plan of getting at a fair valuation of the properties throughout the district; and though many of the high assessments of previous years will be reduced, there will be no assessor's salary to pay, which, as a rule, is a large item in Road Board expenditure. This advantage, it is expected, will counterbalance this reduction, and the consequent less amount of rates to be collected. Eleven of the principal residents in the district were applied to, with a request to make out a valuation of the properties in their respective neighbourhoods, and attend the Road Board office, Rangiora, to compare notes and make out the assessment roll for the current year. Tuesday, Angast 28, was the day appointed for meeting, at nine a.m., when the following were present: —-Messrs M. Dalziel, Rangiora plains ; John McFarlan, Rangiora ; P. C. Threlkeld, Rangiora swamp; Robert Chapman, Oxford; William Coup, Kaiapoi Island; Thomas Wilson, Woodend; ; George Bowron, Banner down ; and Captain Rowe, River F*yre. Three others : Messrs. Joseph Clark, Kaiapoi Island, James Wylde, do. do, and Wm. Ivory of Rangiora, were also expected to be present, but did r not. appear. ? The others, therefore, went through the old roll carefully, and prepared the assessment for the current year. The whole of Tuesday and Wednesday was occupied in the work, from nine a.m. to nine p.m., with but few intermissions, at the close of which each of the assessors were presented with a lithographed map of the district in recognition of their services. The best agricultural lands were assessed a£ £1 per acre, the Becond best at 15s, and inferior land at 10s. The uninclosed lands were assessed at from 5s to Is per acre. Exceptions were made in one or two instances where land was known to be of a superior, or an inferior character to others. It is hoped that this proceeding will prove satisfactory to the majority of the ratepayers of this extensive district.