THE The Daily Southern Cross. UNKNOWN UNKNOWN UNKNOWN MONDAY, JULY 17, 1876.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5230, 17 July 1876, Page 2

THE The Daily Southern Cross. UNKNOWN UNKNOWN UNKNOWN MONDAY, JULY 17, 1876.

At tho mooting of tho New Zealand Reform Association, hold in Auckland, in September, 1874, shortly after the close of tho session of Parliament that year, Captain Daldv, who is a staunch abolitionist, and is equally in favour of maintaining tho unity of the colony, proposed the following resolution —"That the tune has arrived when the Piovincial Institutions of the Colony should be abolished through both Island*, and this mooting jilodgcs itsolf to support the League in endeavouring to accomplish thin object." In moving the resolution, Captain Daldy roiteratod his firm con viction that the Pro vincos "should bo abolished at once, because it had been a fixed idea in hia mind for many years past, and he was assured that no .strong, intelligent, Central Glo\ eminent could oxist while Provincial Governments existed. Were they to have a powerful single Government centrally situated, or a number of Provincial Governments ? That w.i$ the question. (Renewed cheering.) Ho thought a Central Government \ras of more importance to them than all tho Provincial Government. Provincial institutions interfered with the c»r- l

rymg on of a po\u>i of Central l»o\ eminent. His New Zealand to be considered a whole Colony or only a lot of petty States < " (Clieer3, and cries " It | is national.") Mr. H. H. LrsK seconded the resolution, declaring himself to be the most fitting porson to peifonn that duty. "The tune, he said, li.id arrived when Provincial institutions throughout the Colony should be abolished, and to that end they should .strive. Abolition, tot.il abolition, would be a good to the country." " It was their duty to strive to buns' about the dissolution of the whole of the Provinces." He ooncHdod by saying : " Let us try to bring all our influence to bear, and let m endeavour to mako the Colony united and piosperous, and well governed in future." Bvt it was thegallantC.C.C, the chairnian of the Central Committee, Mr. J. M. Sheka, who now supports a candidate who goes m for .Separatum and the preservation of the Land Fund to the Southern it was this youthful politician who was then so tervent an admirer of Abolition, and one Government, and one common Land Fund. The following are extiacts from his brief speech on that occasion, when he extolled the objects of the League — " The League proposes to change the whole Provincial system of the Colony, and to make the Land Fund colonial revenue." After urging organisation to bring this about, he said . " Gentlemen, the idea is to have one head for the Colony, and one parse. Non there are too many heada to tho piounciul system ; I had almost said it was a hydra beaded monster. The South in absorbing the Land Fund is perpetuating a grn>\o'is and irreparable wiong. (Applause.) I wish to see the Provincial system swept away because it fjsters narrow local prejudices, and confirms Provincial notions, and destroys Colonial sympathies and ideas. I therefore ask you to-night to say that you are for the simultaneous Abolition of the Provincial system throughout the whole Colony." Compare these strong utterances in favour of simultaneous Abolition of the Provinces, and in support also of what we have always advocated, — "tho land of the people for the people of the Colony," with this new and noisy unprincipled principle of Separation and disintegration of the Colony, and the localisation of the Land Fund to which some shallow Auckland politicians now profess to give their adherence. Had Auckland representatives stuck to the unerring doctrine of the complete Abolition of the Provinces, combined with the coloniah'sation of the Land Fund, the Vooel Ministry would have been compelled to follow the same course, or have given place to thnae who would. As it is we see no escape from this result now. We must either have additional taxation, or the Land Fund made Colonial levenue. Instead of the piecemeal and intricate proposals embodied in the bill for tho Abolition and Financial arrangements which we published in our telegraphic news on Saturday, it would have been far wiser for the Government to have boldly severed the Gordian knot, following Alexander's example, using the pen instead of the sword, and declared at once that the Land Fund shall be Colonial Revenue. Better have been defeated (and the defeat would have been but temporary) on this frank and decisive policy — a policy which the country would recognise and understand — than to deal in an indirect :md bit-by-bit fashion, of rendering the Land Fund liable to certain various charges, and creating a mazy systom of accounting, which we believe will bo found utterly unworkable. Trying to reconcile antagonistic elements has been too mudi the fault of the present Ministiy. It is wiser to lay down an open and distinct line of policy, pointing clearly to one end, as the absorption of the Land Fund, than to nibble it away, bit by bit, when it is evident that the lequiroinents of the countiy demand the action of ono bold stroke. Unquestionably this scheme of financial airangement points to this end, the application of the Land Fund to the wants of the whole Colony. If it does not, then we have little judgment as to the course ot events. Indeed it would seem as if the policy enunciated were intonded to make tho Southerners behove that tho Land Fund would remain their own intact, when in reality the actual issue will bo its ultimate and early absoiptnn. Why the bolder and direct course was not followed we cannot well conceive, unless it be that Ministers prefer a roundabout way of arriving at a point which the whole country must perceive is their detined goal. The strange and contradictory event in the business is that Auckland representatives, and a large section of Auckland people should be misled into crying out for Separation, which, considering the claims of the public creditoi, and the interests of eveiy laige financial and commercial concern in the Colony, 13 little else than a little boy crying for the moon. In the midst of an election in this city, based, as it is said, on the Separation cry, wo venture to pi edict that time will disclose that ho more unreal figment of a mistaken political dream was ever run after than this same will-o'-the-wupghtter of Separation. YVhenpeoj>lo are clothed and in their 1 ight minds, they will see the fatuity of such a cry, and will yet advocate tho unity o fthe Colony, one and indivisible. Ministers come and Ministers go, but the country remains for ever, <md had there not been an unnatural alliance between North and South for the localisation of tho Land Fund, doubtless tho bold course would have beoa followed, Twenty years ago when the mistaken Compact of 185G was consented to by Auckland, which sold its birthright in the land for a mess of pottage—(for what was £50,000 then, compared with the 13 or 14 millions which the South has since got from the Colonial lands of tho South '), — twenty years ago it is narrated that Mr. Sewei.l, when the resolution was agreed to, nibbed his hands with glee, and said (< We've diddled them, we've diddled them "' And it was true. Tho original Jeremy never effected a greater piece of successful ti lckery than that which Mr. Sewell gleofully welcomed as the result of a combination which raado Auckland poor, and haa kept her so. Wo warn Auckland members that a second schomo of tho like kind ia on foot. Dazzled by the senseless glitter of a Separation cry, which will never be realised, they are pursuing the shadow and are losing tho substance. Unhappily, for some yeais past this has been too much the policy of Auckland. Meanwhile, Ministers appear to be falling into grave errors regarding tho proposed apportionment of the Land Fund, and the infliction of local burdens ; but the chances aro that these error* will be condoned in order to defeat the mistaken eflbrts after separation, to which such a large proportion of Auckland members are supposed to bind themselves.

It is with no little satisfaction that we note the continuance of good accounts from the Kapanga mine at (Jorom mdel. This mine is the property of an English compiny, which has been expending a large amount oi capital during a considerable time past without receiving any returns. In the fae« of results particularly diahtarteiUBg, the company,

■etni^ on tho ad\Kv or Captain Thomas, t e muii^'ei i)f the mine, who has maint i.>t.d .v f.nth in the wisdom of canning o > the woiks, and worked himself with energy and judgment, of which we hope the ull re .wild 1ms now co mo, — the English share! holders have not been ilow iu supplying means, and now the promise of rich reward, when tulfilled, will do good to thrm, and pioliice no small advantage to the goldmuung interests of Auckland. The prospects of the Ohinemuri and Tairaa districts are also steadily brightening, and it nny ba fairly hoped that the long looked for period of icvival in goldmining interests in this province is likely to be realised.

Wo p»blish in our Supplement the first half of a special telegram of fire thousand words containing an ample summary •( the new Counties Bill. The other half we d.iall publish to morrow, our space being largely occupied to day by European news. When the mad which arrived here on Saturday last closed in London on the 1st of Jund, the following were the litest advices ia London from the colonies, the mails being due on the 25th May were delivered on the 23rd, being two days before the dontract time : — Adelaide 3lst March, Melbourne 4th, Sydney 7th, New Zealand 12th, *nd Fiji 12th April. '1 he ratepayers of Poasonby are^nformM by advertisement that at the meeting ratepayers commencing at 7 o'clock sh^H to night, at the Ponsonby Hall, thjfltf^H asked to vote for or against the^ll^^^^H proxies, and vote by ballot trustees as contained in the^^ArPBs^^^H Bill now umote" 'Fftl'littmtfSE The binsf^B vidoa fr»p vr.to )»y ballot, and the GovernmcS have strongly rosistcd every attempt mad^ to introduce into it the proxy system. It is belived there is some under current at work to perpetuate the proxy system by indirect means, having failed to do this by direct etforts. Hence an amendment has been introduced and passed in the Lower House, making the adoption of the bill, and consequently of vote by ballot, dependent, not upon the ratepayers, but upon two thirds of the local board. In many cases these boards consist of five members, so that two-thirds of this small number of ratepayers can prevent in .my highway district the adoption of vote by ballot, and can perpetuate the obnoxious proxy system. The Ponsonby ratepayers will therefore have the opportunity of agreeing to place such power in twothird* of a board, or of saying that the power should be only in a majority of the ratepayers personally voting at a duly convened meeting. The Treasurer for the Home for Neglected and Destitute Children begs to acknowledge with thanks the following donations :— Air. G. Waller, £5 ; Mr. Robertshaw, 20s. ; Mr. Baber, 10s. ; Mr. W. Atkin, 15a. The Central Committee of Sir George Grey's party at a meeting on Satuiday afternoon resolved to support the candidature of Mr. David Goldie tor Auckland City West. Mr (roldie, with more modesty than hii committee possesses, was willing to withdraw in favour of Mr Tonka, but the committee desired only an obedient vote with the party, a vote in favour of Separation, which was made a sine qua nnn, and Mr. Goldie will very probably be the member for City West. The annual meeting of the Mount Roskill ratepayer! took pLue on Saturday. But little interest wu manifested in the meeting, and it was thought at flint that it would be necessary to adjourn the meeting for want of a quorum. After some trouble the neceasary number wai obtained, and the meeting proceeded with its business. A financial re« port was laid before the ratepayers, which showed a very handsome balance in favour of the district. Weekly statement of Auckland Provincial Lunatic Asylum for the week ending loth July, 187G : — Remained last statement, loo ; admitted since, 1 ; discharged since, 0 ; died since, 0 ; remaining at present, 1.j6 — 100 malw, 5b* females. We learn from our Tauranga contemporary that the Right Rev. the Bishop of Waiapu, D.D , has had another paralytic stroke in consequence of which he has resigned the Bishopric of the Diocese. A Synod will be held in the month of October, at Xapier, for th-j purpose of appointing his successor, and that it is likely the Ven. Leonard Williams, the son of the Bishop will be appointed to the See. The venerable prelate, whose illness and consequent retirement will be heard of with feelings of sympathy by all those, not only who knew him personally, and are thus able to judge for themselves of the strength and amiability of his character, but also by the members of the chinch of which ho has been so bright an ornament, has held the bishopric of the diocese since the year 18jO, until within the last few months, v, hen he suffered from the first paralytic seizure Bishop Williams, notwithstanding his advanced age 80 years, was to all appearance in the enjoyment of excellent health, and always ready to fulfil his numerous episcopal duties. The Commission of the Auckland Presbytery meet in Poiibonby Hall to morrow night it half-past 7 o'clock. A football match is to take place this afternoon at 3 o'clock between the Waikato team and a team selected from the Ponaonby and Grafton Clubs at the Choral Hall ground. The members of St. James's Discussion Class have issued a large number of invitations to their friends, to a social gathering in the Beresford School room. The gathering will take place to morrow (Tuesday) night, when a pleasant ereming's entertainment is anticipated. The only iumate3 of the police celfe last night were four inebriates. The ( lty West nomination takes place on Saturday next, at the V M C A. roouji aud the polling (if necessary) on the 2athV"Mr. 1). Goldie announces that he laa candidate. A pamphlet containing the correspondence which passed between the Premier and the Superintendent of Otago has been forwarded to this office. The capital which is iuvested in the production of alcohol in the British Isles ia not loss than £117,000,000 sterling. According to the valuation lists juslfcompleted, the valuation of the metropolis is now as follows : — Gross value, £27,009,062 l?s. lOd. ; and rateable value, £22,765,676 ios. The porU of Boulogne, Calais, and Dii^^^f were used last year almost exclusivcl^^^^H 1'nghsh vessels. Out of 1,564 vesselsti^^H tering Boulogne harbour only 45 were^^ French, while out of 1,267 leaving it there were but 33 French. Statisticians calculate that there are now m work some 200,000 steam engines, with a total power of 12,000,000 horses, corresponding to the muscular strength of 100,000,000 men. As many as 11,000,000 of Hindm now spoak and write English. Tho poets and men of letters gives a total of 189,548 perE01H. The want of an outlet for our timber (says the Wa'uarapa Newsletter) it beginning to show most serious consequences. Water carnage is cheaper than overland by wagon, and thus we tiud that Wellington is receiving such large nupplie* from other parts of the colouy as to seriously affect the price Thousands of good trees have been burnt even since the railway line wa« first surveyed. Hut this is not the most significant part, for we find that while the Woodville sawmill has ceased w orking some three or four months ago, theie is every prospect of two )thcr3 stopping, while but little work is lone at anothor. These are serious things to look at, and we trust their importance will not be overlooked in the proper quarter. The Sun's Washington special says : •• The :omiuittuc investigating the Bureau of cap.urnod andjabandoned property, kaa found .hat the Government haa been defrauded out if millions of dollars by sales of cotton made u Xew York ia 1865 and 186'b' by Simeon Draper. Tho situation ia daily bM*nung nor« and more critical."

".E^'led" writes as follows in the An* Irala^ktn — "'Twas ever thus. A landed proprietor, with a splendid estate, some time since received a visit from a Government surveyor, whose business it was to mark out a road through Sir. A. 's propei t\ The laud was duly suiveyed, and the official said that he thought the road should go in a certain indicated direction. Now this didn't suit Mr. A. at all. The new road, if cai 1 led out as projected, would cut up Ins best glazing paddock. He remonstrated with the surveyor, who was spending the evening ■with him, and begged him to take annthci look round and see -whether he couldn't make a deviation of a mile or so, and skut the paddock instead of cutting it in two. Now there were some flitches of bacon hanging from the kitchen rafters in Mr. A.'s dining-room (he was one of the good old English farmer stamp, and dined and smoke d in his kitchen). The surveyor cast hi -a e> cs upwards, as if endeavoming to mentally evolve a different route from his internal consciousness, and they lit upon the ilitehe=. 'Bless my soul,' said he, 'wh.it \eiy fine bacon, Mr. A. Do you know now — a side of that bacon would take a road anywhere '' By some curious coincidence a couple of the best Hitches found then- way that evening to the sitrveyoi'b camp, and marvellous to relate, the load did skirt the home paddock without cutting it up." A fever stricken post-office is one of the latest sensations in Victoria. Within a few days foui deaths occurred in the Richmond post office, the grave finally closing over the postmaster himself. All the while the disease was raging in the office, letteis and papeib weie being received from and dispatched thence to all parts of the colony, and it was only when piessed by a deputation that the postal authorities conserved to close the building and transfer the post and telegraph business to an adjacent store It must really be very pleasant to be a baritone, at least a baritone who is high up In hb prefession, like M. Fame, who has just got engaged to M. Meielli for a two months' singing tour on the Continent, lor the modest figure of £12,001) for one hundred representations — in other wouls for £120 a night. This, I believe, is Madame Patti's price. Iu the mean time, the Fiench papers are quite angry with M. Fauro foi not sticking to the Grand Opeia and a modest £4,000 a year. The Re rue rf»> I)> u> Monde* itself condescends to hold foith on the subject, and warns the great singer that he will not only disgust the French public, but ruin his voice in a few yeais it he makes money so fast. M. Faure might well reply that he has realized a veiy pietty fortune aheady -he sold his pictuies foi £40,000 a few jeais since — and that it is quite possible to be highly indifferent to the French "publ'c," which, as all artists know , ia the most critical, the coldest, and the worst paying of all "publics," when one has saved more than onough to live on. And the most curious — truly Fiench — pait of this stoiy is that I hear at the last moment M. Faure has been so frightened by the abuse lav ished upon him that he has backed out of Ins engagement. — World. The following is a telling fact for the use of Good Templars : — Amanied woman was chargrd at the Bow-street Police Court on May 9 with drunkenness and was fined £2 Her husband, it was stated, had paid £250 in Hues within the last few years to release her from imprisonment for drunkenness. Four persons have died of triclnutu fiom eating raw poak, at Savona, Steuben county, N Y , witliin a few days, and several otheis are sick. The four dead aie Dolly Freeman, and Mary Ferguson of S.ivona, and Mrs David Hood and her little daughter, of Painted Post. A speoial to the Times from Cadiz says : There has been a not at Gibraltar, but no details have been received. A Spanish telegram says : The trouble began by German sailors of the ironclad fleet insulting ladies on the wharf. All German sailors were confined to their ships until the fleet sailed. Good Farming: In a country wheie wet and dry seasons run to extremes, it behoves everyone connected withfarming opeiationsto do their best to establish a system of farming that will ameliorate the condition of those who suffer from droughts and con tinned wet, for it is the uncertainty of remuneration that is at the bottom of bad farming in these colonies. Farmers have so often sown and not reaped that they become careless and sow their crops more as a ■peculation on the season than depending on the thorough preparation of the soil foi whatevei weather they may have. This io the very ie\ui&e to what it ought to be ; the farmer's duty to himself and the public ia to cultivate and manure his land in the best manner possible, and trust to Providence for the lenvunder ; if this system were more acted upon farming would pay better.

A notice respecting the forfeiture of shares in the Harbour View G.M.Co., appears in another column. Mr. H. Fendelow is telling his large stotk of ironmougeiy, &c, at cost price.