The Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1870.

Evening Post, Volume VI, Issue 90, 31 May 1870, Page 2

The Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1870.

fhe deputation appointed by the San FrancUwjSteam Committee waited upon the Government "yesterday, and those who knew that the Postmaster- General was to receive it were not surprised to learn that the result was nil. Its object was to ascertain whether the movement made here and in the Southern Provinces — to establish a line of steamers to California more efficient than the one to which a subsidy has already been granted, and so arranged as to benefit the whole of the Colony, and not one portion of it — had produced any effect on the Ministry ; and to request that our Government would communicate with that of Victoria, urging the establishment of a thoroughly efficient line, having Melbourne for the Australian terminus and Wellington for the port of call. The deputation stated its objects, and Mr. Vogel replied at length, the substance of his speech being a vindication of the conrse he had pursued in reference to the Hall contract ; a few sneers at the resolutions passed at the public meeting ; a little advice as to the future behaviour of the committee, whom he recommended not to proceed any further in the matter, but to rely entirely on the paternal Government, who were doing the utmost for their interests ; and a flat refusal to write to the Government of Victoria as requested, as such a course would prejudice the line already established. With this reply the deputation professed itself satisfied (although the spokesman mildly reproved for a glaring inaccuracy in one of Mr. Vogel' s statements) j but it is scarcely likely that the public will be as easily satisfied us the deputation. Mr. Vogel's speech was an excellent piece of special pleading ; he stated his own case well, and to a stranger it niight have appeared that he was a most disinterested individual, who had

conferred signal favours on an ungrateful community ; that he had toiled and fought for New Zealand, and but for his boldness and decision, in the very nick of time, the California- Australian line of sceamers, from which such great things are expected, would never have touched at this Colony at all, but have gone by way of Fiji to Sydney, offering as an inducement to passengers the fact that their vessels avoided " the stormy coasts of New Zealand." But, able as the PostmasterGeneral's statement was (and we will do him the justice to say that he handles with ability every subject with which he deals), it yet abounds with fallacies, and, though to expose them all would require more space than we can devote to the subject, we will mention one or two. In reference to the port of call, he stated that fixing it at one end instead of the centre of the Colony was not his doing. He wished to have the steamers come to Auckland, then go on to Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, returning the same way, and having a branch boat from Manukau to Australia. This idea is too absurd for any one to believe that Mr. Vogel ever seriously entertained it. Why did he not include in his list the Bluff, and send the boats through Foveaux Straits to Hokitika, Grey mouth, Westport, and Nelson, giving them all the coasting trade ? What sorfc of a subsidy would be required for this service ? He said Government would never support a lino of steamers requiring a subsidy of £150,000. What matter is it to him or to us what subsidy the steamers receive so long as we are only asked for a moderate share of it, not disproportioned to the benefits conferred ? Alluding to the complaints about insufficient accommodation on board Hall's steamers, lie said it was no part of the Postmaster's duty to f.ee that the vessels were not overcrowded, but we beg to differ with him. The Government are extremely particular in general about seeing that no vessel goes to sea with too many passengers, and why should this rule be relaxed in favor of a pet scheme. Mr. Yogel boasted that there was nothing in the contract tosjiccify the time to be kept between Honolulu and Auckland — the time was only specified between Auckland and San Franeidoo : he ought to have been ashamed to say so, as the part of the line over which he has control is left unfettered, and the onus of making up any deficisney cast on the foreign boats. He also reproved the committee for fomenting, to serve their O"\vn purposes, local jealousies existing between Sydney and Melbourne. This is a most unjust charge, having no foundation whatever in truth — Mr. Vogel himself is the only man who has stirred up local jealousies, by an unjust preference of Auckland. Again, he endeavoured to show that Melbourne was unsuitable for the terminus, as the dock, now ill course of construction, would not be finished for some time, until reminded that Mr. Webb's boats were built of wood, and coppered, consequently not requiring to be regularly docked like iron steamers ; so that point failed. There were numerous other arguments adduced by Mr. Vogel, the fallacy of which we niight expose, but our space precludes it. One thing is certain :in establishing such a line of steamers as we propose, we must evidently nob look for the slightest help from the present Government. We must trust to the Legislature and the Independent press, and people of the Colony, and go on with our work in defiance of Ministerial hostility. We have not placed this question — one of the very utmost importance to our well-being — on local, but on broad and general grounds ; what we advocate is for the general good, and if the party now in power obstinately cling to their narrow, and we are forced to say, interested views on the subject, we will be compelled to support that in opposition to them, on other matters.

The following extract from a private letter from Dr. Featherston has been placed at our disposal :—": — " It is unfortunate if any linal arrangement has been made in Sydney either for a steam service to San Francisco, or for a sub -marine cable between New Zealand and Australia, for the arrangements could have been made here for both. It is, I think, finally arranged that JBrogden & Co. (great railway contractors) will send a staff to survey and report upon the Nelson and Cobden Railway. If so, Brogden is quite willing to entertain a schemo for establishing a system of railways throughout the North Island ; capital is no great object with him. lam going down with hiui to North Wales to inspect a railway there with only a two-foot gauge : this (though at present laughed at by engineers) seems likely to be extensively adopted ; it is perfectly safe with a speed of 30 miles an hour ; the cost is diminished £1000 a mile for every foot the guage is reduced. I believe Sir G. Grey will stand, and probably £jet in, for Newark." In another column will be found a letter to the London Times from Colonel Hadtielcl. accompanying a petition to the Queen from the Ngatiraukawa claimants to the Mana-watu-Rangitikei Block, whose claims have been disallowed. The petition sets forth in a sort of mock pathetic tone the wrongs and grievances the petitioners have undergone at - the hands of their white oppressors, and prays for a direct interposition of her Majesty's authority to restore to them the land of which they have been robbed. The statements made in this petition are false from beginning to end ; but as their fallacy lias been so clearly exposed by the Independent in its issue of this morning, we will not deal with them in detail, but say a few words as to the source from whence tlie petition

emanates. It is no mystery. Although the name of Parakaia is appended to it, it bears internal evidence of European origin, and the writer in all probability is not very distantly connected with the gentleman under whose auspices it reached the Times. The course this gentleman has seen tit to pursue with reference to the purchase from the first has been one of obstructiveness to the Provincial authorities, from no high and philanthropic desire to see justice awarded to the natives, but simply from the very commonplace one of greed to acquire land himself. He and those who have worked with him, have used every effort in their power to up.set Dr. Featherston's just and equitable arrangements : they have fought with bitter obstinacy from point to point, and been finally driven from them all. We imagined that the leader at least had retired from the strife ; but such is not the case ; he has changed the venue, and, foiled in New Zealand, has commenced to raise an agitation in England, and again enlist the sympathies of the Exeter-Hall saints against their countrymen. Whether the Province of Wellington, as well as the Colony of New Zealand, will longer tolerate this systematic aspersion and injury, remains to be seen. The Independent suggests that Mr. M 'Donald should be subjected to severe punishment ; we would advise going to the root of the matter ; there are others far more to be blamed than Mr. M 'Donald, who has, all along, been merely a subordinate. One thing is fortunate, Dr. Featherstou is in London, and is able to reply to the slanders against the Colony and himself, propagated there by parties who, if justice had been dealt to them, would long ago have been removed by force from the district where they have done so much mischief. In our issue of yesterday there appeared an announcement of a birth, which we have since learned was a hoax. We are sorry that our columns should have been made the medium of perpetrating such a senseless joke on a gentleman for whom we entertain a high respect, but the fault was not ours ; the announcement of the birth came in regular form through the post, substantiated by the enclosure of the gentleman's card, and we imagined naturally enough that everything was selon regie. However, we have been taken in, as .ill newspapers are at times liable to be, but the manuscript which reached us is not altogether unrecognizable, cunningly disguised as it is; and should we be fortunate enough to trace the writer, he may depend upon receiving a warning which may deter him from following such unprincipled practices in future. The arrival at Auckland of a vessel from the South Sea Islands, bringing a party of Kanakas — nominally coming of their own free will — to work at a tiax mill under engagement for a term of years, awakens some grave reflections. The introduction of labour of this description into Queensland has led to very untoward results, and has, in fact, been the means of inaugurating a species of slave trade, which has proved a disgrace alike to the Colonies and to the age we live in. The Daphne affair is yet fresh in men's minds, and though the captain and owners of that craft escaped through the meshes of the law, there is no doubt they were guilty of trading in human flesh and blood. As yet, we have been happily free of all participation in this iniquitious traffic ; but the importation of the islanders by the Lulu is introducing the thin end of the wedge, and it behoves U3 to take prompt measures to prevent its being driven home. Asking us to believe that these^en came to ±sew Zealand of their own- free vfefill, with a perfect knowledge of the conse^u^ces of their action, is drawing too larg~elyj®n our credulity. We know how the inmieftce of the chiefs can. be secured by a few judicious presents, and how the unfortunate Kanakas, under their control, can be placed on board ship, not knowing where they are going or for what, in the same manner as hogs would be. In fact, to call it by its true name, this practice is kidnapping — neither more nor less — and if allowed in a British Colony, we deserve harder names than the saints of Exeter Hall apply to us. But even granting that these islanders come voluntarily, we do not want such immigrants, and their introduction on a large scale would be one of the most mistaken systems we could adopt. We have seen the bad effects in Australia, and more so in America, which have followed the introduction of Chinese to a large extent. In both those countries efforts are continually being made to counteract the evil already inflicted, and to check its further spread, both on social and political grounds. Bad as the Chinese are, the South Sea savages are worse, and any extensive importation of them would have had a most pernicious effect, even were the country solely occupied by Europeans ; but, when we consider what a large native population of our own we have, the evil is intensified. We have barbarism enough already — we require to import no more ; and cheap labor of the most inferior description will be a sorry acquisition when purchased at the price of retarding the civilization of the I far nobler race we are compelled to take in hand. We trust the Government -will take this matter up, and frame an enactment prohibiting the importation under any pretence whatever of natives from any of the South Sea Islands. The 27 men already landed should at once be sent back, and an inquiry instituted into the circumstances under which they were "engaged,"' and although the Daphne case broke down, we trust that there is still justice enough left among the mass of

laws which fill our statute book, to enable condign punishment to be awarded to those who may be found guilty of the nefarious practice of knidnappmg. The Provincial Government of Taranaki sets an example of economy which it "would be well if the General Government would eojjy, as the following extract from the Taranaki Herald will show :—"ln: — "In a paragraph we published in our last issue, we mentioned that the cause of the Patea mail not arriving on Tuesday evening was because the native was dilatory on the road. We are given to understand that this is not the case, but that the mailman is ordered not to come into town until Wednesday morning, because the Government object to pay the extra cost of his bed and supper. This is a false economy, and should be immediately remedied, to render the mail service between Wellington and New Plymouth efficient.'' The Wairarapa Mercury tells us that the Queen's Birthday was celebrated at Carterton by a rifle match ; at Whareania, by the annual meeting of Justices ; at Grey town, by no notice being taken of it ; and at Masterton, by a game at football. Last week, a son of Mr. Challis, of Carterton, in getting through a fence, fell down, and one leg sticking within the rails, it was fractured. One of Mr. Roydhouse's sons, on the 20 th instant, when riding in a cart, fell off, and fractured his arm. We are glad to say that through the careful attendance of Dr. Spratt, M.E.C.S. and L.S.A. both are getting on well. — Mercury. We would remind our readers that the course of lectures advertised to be delivered at the Scots School commences this evening, Avith a lecture by Mr. Gisborne, the subject, " Human Advancement." The second will be delivered by the Ptev. Mr. Paterson, on Monday evening next, the subject, " Selfculture." During the course the following gentlemen will deliver lectures on interesting subjects : — The Hon. Mr. Fox, the lievs. A. Stock, Moir, and Gumming, Dr. Hector, and Mr. FitzGerald. The Melbourne Age says : — Constantly there are j)roofs turning up of the faithfulness and intelligence of shepherds' dogs. The following, from the Northern Argus, is a most extraordinary one : — "A short time ago a shepherd on Bungaree run lost his dog, and having bad eyes at the time, could not leave his hut for a few days. He also had not seen his. goats for some time. However, not fearnjg'about the latter, as they were most likely in the hills, he thought but of the dog, which was a good and faithful one, and became anxious to know what had become of him. After making inquiries, lie at last learnt the J dog's whereabouts, and to his amazement found him herding the goats, which he had been doing for nine days, and what was more, he had been seen to round them up at sundown and try to get them home, but could not do so on account of the fences, so he camped with them every night. The dog was seen to do this by the neighbours, 1^ a-ud had it not been for one who had watched his manoeuvres and attachment to duty, and taken him some meat, he would, in all probability, have perished with his charge." The following revolting story is extracted from the Melbourne Leader of the 14th : — James M 'Donald, a -wool-presser, has been living in a wretched tenement in North Williamstown with a woman named Maria Cox, this woman's mother, and several illegitimate children. The general morale of such a household can be easily conceived. The two women went to market on Saturday night — returning, according to their wont, in a state of drunkenness. Arrived at home, they had more beer. Then it was agreed that they should have supper, and, for that purpose, a fire was lighted in the centre of the apartment — the tire-place having long since become useless. Then, of course, more beer, until all were pretty well stupified. At length M 'Donald retired to bed in another room, leaving the women snoring about the fire, Maria Coxhaviugin her arms a baby seven weeks old. Some time afterwards, M 'Donald — awakened by the screams of the chud — returned to where he had left the woman, and there beheld a spectacle which ought to change the tenor of the worst villain's life. The poor little infant had rolled out of its mother's arms into the lire, its face having been burnt away, and the skull burnt though not the brain. Both women weie fast asleep, and when he wanted them to go for a doctor, they said it was too late at night, and contented themselves with putting oil on the child's head. An inquest was afterwards held, and the mother committed for trial for manslaughter.