MEETINGS, AMUSEMENTS, &c.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2664, 13 November 1871, Page 2

MEETINGS, AMUSEMENTS, &c.

THIS DAY.

Drillshed—Lyttelton, distribution of prizes at 8.30 p.m. Music Hall—Minstrels, at 8 p.m. Theatbe Royal—At 8 p.m. City Council—Weekly meeting at 7 p.m. Lytteltox Borough Council — Weekly '. meeting at 7 p.m. I MOnTja"*,-.. _____ . ,

Of the two points in dispute between the Legislative Council and House of Eepresentatives, the Council has persisted in maintaining its own opinion upon each, and in one instauce has been successful. As to the alterations in the Payments to Provinces Act, we do not propose to discuss the matter any further until we have the reaulc of the conference before us. We have

already shown that the ease is far from being so simple as appears at first sight,judging from the analogy of the Imperial Parliament. Tor iv New Zealand the Assembly has attempted to define by etatute the respective powers of the two houses, and in so doing ha,s put them both on a par. At least, whether or no the Council possesses tha right it claims under the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1865, depends on whether or no a certain inference is necessarily to be drawn from a certain provision in the Couatitutiou Act. The other dispute arose out of an alteration effected by the Council iv the Public Eevenues Amendment Act. The object of the Act was twofold; to empower the Colonial Treasurer to borrow, in the eveut of the revenue failing to cover the expenditure, to the extent of £100,000, instead of £60,000; and to give effect to the modified system adopted this session of provincial charging. But the G-overnment had added a clause at the end of the Bill authorising the Go- . vernor, when the office of Controller becomes vacant through the death or resignation of the present holder, instead of appointing a successor, to direct the duties of the office to be discharged by the Auditor-General. The Council struck out this last clause. The House of Eepresentatives disagreed with the amendment; but as the Council, after further consideration, refused to restore the clause, Government gave way, and, \ery reluctantly, as Mr. Vogel says, have consented to abandon it. This termination of the difficulty appears to us quite satisfactory. We are rather gad than otherwise that the clause in question has been dropped. It was not required. Mr. Vogel had announced that he would be prepared next session with a plan for amending the system of control, and had expressly disclaimed, on behalf of the Government, any intention of using this clause in. the meantime to bring pressure on the Controller to iuduce him to resign. Hβ would have gained nothing, therefore, by carrying it, except that he would have provided against the contingency of the death of the Controller during the recesa, that is, during the next seven months —an object which is certainly not worth attaining at the cost of a prolonged difference between the two Houses. Besides a mere proposal to combine the offices of Controller and Auditor-General is not enough for the purpose. It is too crude, too oIF-hand, and too fragmentary a way of dealing with the subject. That the system of control needs radical reform U, we admit, undeniable. The official statement of the Colonial Treasurer that the control is a farce, the manner iv which that statement has been exemplified on two or three notorious occasions, and the facts and figures quoted in the Auditor-General's last report, leave no room whatever for doubt on that head. But it does not follow that the only way of improving the control is to get rid of the Controller. ThafcG-overnmentshould take steps to strengthen a system of control which they find inefficient is creditable to them ; but they should do so openly, and so as to give opportunities for a full explanation and discussion of the changes they propose to introduce. A permanent office, instituted by a special Act of the Assembly, for the discharge of functions supposed to be of the highest • importance, ought not to he extinguished by a clause slipped in without notice at the end of an Act intended for aaother purpose — in which, by the way, it must have been inserted by an afterthought, since it is not mentioned in the preamble. ♦ We most cordially endorse some remarks that fell from Mr John Grigg in a speech delivered on the occasion of the dinner of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, with reference to the constitution of that association. The age of Mechis and Tiptree Halls, and experimental farming generally, is of necessity reserved in New Zealand for a future generation. With regard to the present, we must be content in the first place with ordinary and practical agricultural information, and whatever scientific principles have been iustilled into us from the old country, and formulae that have been confirmed by experience, and are as antiquated as the hills. Should we wishtoattemptany further novelties,we must accept the benefits which are said to accrue from their adoption at second hand, either upon the words of a, neighbor, or from what appears in print: and should the originally stated results be proved by us to be incorrect, we have acquired a knowledge, which, though..of a negative description, will prove to us most invaluable. Tor this and other reasons we heartily recommend the initiation of a system of periodical meetings of members of the Canterbury Agrieuli tural and Pastoral Association, such as suggested by Mr Grigg, where] the investigations of others may be traversed, and where an acquaintance with the modern systems of farming of Great Britain and America may be obtained, however imperfectly. Of course it is unnecessary here to enter into the details of the formation of these meetings, but one thing will be found almost indispensable, and that is, the presence of a few of the leading agricultural journals of the day, especially those that are illustrated, and conspicuous among these should be The Sural American, perhaps taken all in all, the jnost admirably conducted agricultural paper in the world. Wβ have thus far given one reason why we coincide with Mr Grigg in the adoption of these periodical meetings. But there are others all equally forcible, and by no means partaking of a secondary character. Eor instance is it not a fact that hundreds of people in the colonies have taken to farming without any previous training whatever, and are unable to reason from cause to effect, or vice versa, even in the most trivial casesj? They are too much in the habit of taking tbese matters for granted. Surely it would be better for these men, when they are waiting upon providence for certain results of their

labors, that they should have a reason for tbe hope that ia thorn, and be euabled to explain the why and the wherefore. It is at meetings such as we are advocating that the reasoning faculties would be exercised, aud all this special information acquired, so necessary to success ; rather than allowing them to remain in an unde. veloped condition, and the unhappy subject to flouuder along amiddt a mist of ignorance, and if he fails in his projects to be utterly iucapablo of telling you why he has failed. Then agaiu, though New Zealand is not ready for what is known as experimental farming in the abstract, yet all farming ia more or less experimental, aud in many instances results have been reached which have by no rneaus been expected, but by tracing back to the cause, the truth ia ascertained, and what can this discoverer do better than to await the next periodical meetiug of the association, at which to give forth to the world the result that he has arrived at ? And further, much is yet to be learnt in the application of manures — aud leased land will want plenty of it when the leases expire— aud in agricultural chemistry generally : much is yet to be learnt in the matter of machinery, and great judgment is required in ascertaining which pieces are more labor-saving aud economical than others, while in the matter of the breed of cattle and sheep and in the most favorite crosses, our most eminent colonial breeders will at once acknowledge that most of their work as yet has beeu but introductory; and that it is au open question aud will remain so for years, to determine what seeds are more suitable for some soils, aud what for others; and in the study of arboriculture, so necessary to the ultimate value of agricultural purposes, literally little or nothing has been done. Mr Grrigg is reported to have stated " that he had often felt that farmers were too isolated in New Zealand, and they did not enjoy the advantages which many had iv the old country of once a week meeting together in one large room to exchange their ideas upon subjects in which they are interested, and to gain profit by such discussions. It would be therefore a great advantage if that society weresomething more than a cattle show committee. If we could hold periodical meetings, at which papers would be read, and by which we could gain from the experience of other men, it would be a good thing." We commend these words to the earnest consideration, not only of the present members of the Association, but of the agricultural community of Canterbury generally.