The Press. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26,1868.

Press, Volume XIII, Issue 1731, 26 September 1868, Page 2

The Press. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26,1868.

;_ __ .._....,., ___, .._ I We said tha other-<lay that it was hardly worth while to discuss the financial., policy-.-.or. the "Until we knew whether they intended to staud-l? it or not. Tha experience of last session showed ihat' whether! they vrouldf da l?o or not depended oa'"( tlve ' wliathei' , il.is chance of] luajutainiog ofiicc wcro gK?atei* hy j sticliinjf to i'leir policy or abandoningit. "Well, we leatn from AVc-lliiigton , that ihe policy of the iinancial statement is already abandoned. Of course it is.—--who doubled but what it woi;M ber.,,ln the euphonious language of] office, the Government will ytand or •

fall by their first; resolution, but will " be ready to listen to suggestions " as to the subsequent proposals. Now the first resolution is simply the enunciation of the main principle put forward by the Financial Eeforai Associations. It is no more a principle or policy of the Government than of the scavengers. They are therefore brave enough in determining to stand or fall by a policy which the colony has resolved on whether they wish it or not. ae.l which they only announced when they found they could not oppose it. The remaining resolutions relate to the details of what is called the adjustment, by which the policy of putting an end to the Provincial and General partnerships is to be carried out. It is said that if the debts are all generally charged, and the provincial debts not surcharged, economical provinces will have to pay the debts of extravagant ones. So the Government propose to put tho economical provinces in the same position as if they had been extravagant, and so make matters pleasant for all. Thus. Wellington was offered £15,000 and Nelson £90,000. The rest nothing. Here was at once a glorious door opened for manipulation —log-rolling— or by what ever name the corruption of a public body may be most neatly designated. The paper of sugar plums is chucked into the crowd and the scramble has commenced. The price of "provinces" is now regularly " quoted" we are told, in the lobbies and in places where members most do congregate. Nelson stands at £150,000 by the last telegram ; Otago is rising; Wellington, easy; Auckland tight ;| Marlborough, not enquired for ; and co on. ; Who will get what ?—that is the cry. And to this our New Zealand Parliament has come at last! And where is,this : money to come from ? Has the Government found a gold mine. It used to be said that the old Stafford Government had a sheep run somewhere, in which all had a share. This time the Premier must have dropped ou a quartz reef, rich in ore, at the very least. Surely these prices of provinces cannot have come out of the Seven Million Loan? We were uiider the impression that the loan was all wanted for past liabilities. So Ministers said, at all events. Friends —these bribes to the provinces to keep the Government in office, couie out of your pocket and oura. It is a questionable transaction bribing at anytime; but there are those who assert their right to do what they will with their own money. Bribery is said, to be an exciting Amusement, even when you bribe at.j the cest of your own pocket; but what jolly fun it.must be to bribe with other folk's money! Aristides himself, let alone Stafford, cottld nofc have withstood such a, temptation. These moneys, which rire to make matters pleasant with the provinces, come out! of the Sinking Funds. Now the Sinking Fund of each province is its own property. If we have borrowed upon the security of a sinking fund, our debt at .any-, moment is not the whole money .borrowed, but that sum less the sinking fund .accumulated. We have paid that sum out of our -pockets in tlie form of taxes in dimi-1 nutiou of our debt. The lark of the present scheme is—for it is really a financial lark in its supreme folly — that our sinking funds are to be taken to make matters pleasant with some other provinces! That is the simple explanation of the whole matter ; and this is called " adjustment!" No doubt Mr Stafford will utter some of his usual harmless maledictione ou the press, and Mr Hall's eyes will start out of his head when we talk of'bribery. " Accusethje Government of bribery !■■ Why the arrangement of last , session was made by a select committee*" m And. this session, if there is not a committee within the walls, aro there not- innumerable caucuses—so says fame —in lobbies and elscvyhero. All true : that is the real and only point iv which Stafford's Government is worthy of all admiration. V In j?ff'*Z*aw«»fary dodging it is unrivalled. It has the true histrionic power —tha arscejare artern. It spends our money, buya support, stays triumphantly in office, and looks! supremely virtuous and indiguautly honest all the while. Still, you see, we have to pay for it all the same.

Loc.vi, iKDtrsiKT.—We h*re been shown a, sample of flower pots made by Mr John Wilson, potter, Kaiapoi Island, that are "equal if not better than the imported article. Mission.—By an announcement the Koiapsii Auxiliary ilissiouary , Sermons _ will be preacittd fo morrow, iiud the anutial "meeting j vvjit lake plat-e on Monday. KU>\U£>"T Ctazettk. —The f.rovinci:il CSiirernuient"Q-azrtie of the 25th instar.t, coil- j tains a statement, of the account j of ths prov. ince from Oetohep J, 1553, «b M:«rch 31, 186 S. Edvcatiox Hatb,— A proclamation in the '•' »_!:i2t"!to *' of 3-estt?riiay announces i-iiat " The j E-iu,«t:r..M Jwi'to in Aid Ordia:-.nce, 1865," | conic j i:.\o fv.»iC£ ihis ti iy. liic Actprovid •* i liint alt liude, buikiing-i. tcn.-uionts, shctfji, or i otUi-r pioperiy wuich =ha!i;b4:Qij&Ei,fo.- thu ! inaintetiance or rejwiii*. cf-rQStds, or far muni- j <e:;ml pu-po a«. bo rujfetfilj and all p«vso»s j liable to pay cueh rated will ba liable;for -tS-.L*! -r&te. . .''■■'.■ i to <iraw:thc uttention of our readers ta an g.d-1 Tettiiasneiit in another coluinii, eaiH. g a i general meeting of the members of tho l>yt- j tdtoii, Port I'ictoria Horticultural Society, for•,{-. Wednesday xevcniiig' next. I'lia-drnfi rsiiest!.; have been revised by ihe provisions* con:? J will be submitted to the meet- j ing for.approral, ana the permanent office;a lot the eocieiy will thea be eleded.

Cobbection.—lnstead of Sims v. Jannaway, in the report of the Resident Magistrate's Court, Kaiapoi, read Jannaway v. Sims. llokticultukai, Society—A special general meeting; of the members of this society wa* held in Wilson and iUport's rooms yesterday evening, for the purpose of deciding whether a^ftow'-Should be held in connealmri''withr' the Agricultural Association's forthcoming cxhi•»<4oh- W - occupied the chair, ?md explained that the.meeting liad been called in eoneequTieo of a resolution passed at the i monthly ' meeting-held last Friday. Those pre?ent on that occasion were unanimously of opinion that a show could advant.-n-'eoiu'v be In-Id on tho 9*h Z-Tovembcr, since not oufv would a large number of flowers and tabl"3 be in season, but t-.e society would have the benefit of the large assembly, usually about 4000 persona, -which always collected at the agricultural exhibitions, as well as of the band, -while tho Agricultural Association had offered to allow the society the use of the ground gratis. It was propo'ed to charge 1b for admission to the.tent, which the committee estimated would more than cover the expenses to which they would be put in getting up the show. In reply to a question, tho Chairman stated that it was proposed to give prizes out of the money raised by means of the admission' fees, , A desultory discussion took plsce, the principal objections to the scheme being that the proposed show would interfere with the one to be held in December ; that in all probability there would be but a small display of flowers and fruit; and that it might interfere with the projected Lyttelton show. Fire&Uy, Mr; Angus moved— "That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable that an exhibition of the Christchurch Horticultural Society should be held on the 9tli November, in connection with the Agricultural and Pastoral Society's Show, upon the same ground and at the same time," to which Mr D. Nairn moved, as an amendment —"That in the opini ; n of this meeting it is undesirable to hold any extra exhibition in November, as the public of Lyttelton intend to hold an exhibition about that time." Both resolution and amendment, upon being put to the meeting, were lost. A cordial vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceeding**. ' Litbiiahy —The quarterly meeting of the members of this Institute was held in (he reading room on Thursday evening. About a dozen persons were present. The proceedings were to have commenced at seven o'clock, but did not begin till some time after that hour, when there being neither president, vice-president, treasurer, nor a single member of the committee in the room, Mr E. Denham, the honorary secretary, was requested to take the chair, which he did, Mr Reader, the clerk, acting as secretary for the occasion. Tho minutes of the annual meeting having boen read and confirmed, a statement of the receipts and expenditure for the quarter ending the 24th September, was laid before tho meeting. The account stood as follows :— Receipts—Balance in hand at commencement of quarter, £11 Is ; subscriptions, £55; rents, £16 ; proceeds of lectures, lis 6d ; totol, £82 12s Gd. Expenditures-Salary of clerk, £25 ; Hing, £6* Is; insurance, £14 2s 6d; lamp, £3 10s ; sundries, £1 16s 8d ; printing and advertising, £1 12s ; periodicals, £4J?s 6d ; balance, £25 13s; total, £82 12s 6d. Another statement showed the liabilities of the 1 Institute to be—Mr Hughee, for books and periodicals, £24 13s; " Press " subscription, £2 5s ; liiwood and Bilton, account book! £1 ' 10a ; Mr Davenport, for kerosine. £7 10s ; I totnl, £35 18s. The Chairman Btated that at tho hist meeting of the committee it waß ' resolved that they should ask certain iniluens tiol gentlemen to co-operate with them in endeavouring to put tho Institute upen a more satisfactory footing ; and these gentlei men had since, ho believed, promised to lend their assistance. Letters had lately appeared in the papers commenting upon the government of the Institute, but the reason why the committee did not make the rooms more comfortable and get a fresh supply of books, was simply because they had not money fo do so. In reply to a member, the chairman further stated that the enlarged committee had not yet had time to draw up a report, but they would hold a meeting shortly for the purpose of taking the position of the Institute into consideration. lie would remind members that a suggestion book was kept in the library, which was laid before the committee at every meeting, so that members had every opportunity of expressing their views. The meeting then adjourned.