The Evening post

Evening Post, Volume VI, Issue 150, 9 August 1870, Page 2

The Evening post

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1870. The report of the Flax Commisioners on the means employed in the preparation of New Zealand flax has been laid before Parliament. The interim report issued by the thirteen "trusty and loving subjects" in whom, in official language, his Excellency reposes " great trust and confidence regarding their knowledge and ability," we noticed some time ago, and we hailed it as a proof that the Commissioner* were attending to the matter, and as an earnest of better things to come ; but we look in vain for those better things in the report now before us j we come to it " seeking fruit and finding none." Aristocracy, science, commerce, and the "fourth estate," ench gave from its ranks, men supposed to be capable of inquiring, judging, and deciding for themselves; but, after ten months' labor, these gentlemen, in whose knowledge and ability hia Excellency was so confiding, have decided that the way to obtain the required information was, for some reason of their own, the way they did not adopt. The Commissioners, from the report, appear to have satisfied themselves with issuing to all " those engaged or interested in the manufacture of New Zealand flax" a circular and relative queries. Every person so addressed who has found out how not to do it, seems to have replied, fully stating his experiences j one or two philanthropists have honestly endeavoured to aid the Commissioners j one gentleman seizes upon the opportunity to puff big discovery, and says that with hit) decoction, and some one clses' machinery, the question is solved j but the majority appear to have put their circulars into the Jire, for which' action the Commissioners endeavour to find charitable reasons. A more stupidly weak attempt to solve a , great question, of Colonial importance we have never seen, and the result is worthy of the attempt. The report, after a preamble in which the Commissioners have made themselves ridiculous, proceeds to deal — first, with growth and culture,; second, with manufacture j and third, wit&mackinery. Respecting the first, after givinga few replies to the issued queries, we are told tliat Hit is clearly established that flax seed will germinate aud

grow' 1 ; also, that great cave should be taken, but in what that care is to consist we are left in ignorance ; that cultivated ground should be fenced, and that reckless burning of flax land should be stopped. Respecting the manufacture, the Commissioners admit that their discoveries ore limited and unimportant, while they absolutely refrain from making an original remark or offering an opinion ; and they conclude their report on this subject with suggesting that somebody's hint about planting alluvial flats near water might be worth taking. As to machinery, we are given a series of descriptions that are wonderfully like manufacturer's x>uffing advertisements, and we are told that the machines described are the very ones that would do the work. All this information, the incalculable value of which will be readily apparent to every one, was gathered by the thirteen gentlemen in ten months, and they deserve the praise of the Colony : Seed will germinate and grow, land should be fnnced, and our machines are "no go." Well, we know so much now - and for that matter we knew it before — but then thirteen trusty and loving servants, conspicuous in his Excellency's eyes for knowledge and ability, had not told us so. A few words respecting the "recommendations" of the Commissioners will suffice for that part of the report. They say that men employed in mills should be allowed ten or twelve minutes each forenoon and afternoon for a smoke, and that juveniles should be given a like time for a romp outside the mill. They think evening schools should be established, but they do not say what this has to do with the subject. They would like to see the inventor of a certain machine which they have already condemned rewarded by the Government for his invention, and lastly, they would like to be sent to England to make certain enquiries there. The value of the report is, as in a lady's letter, in the postscript. A series of letters between gentlemen not selected by his Excellency for their knowledge and ability, of articles which appeared in a Canterbury journal, and of papers by scientific men, are well worth reading, and for their sakes we would advise all who are interested in the subject to obtain and lead the Parliamentary paper we have referred to, which contains them ; bufc the report piuper will nob repay the loss of time consumed in its perusal. After the House met to-day, a considerable number of petitions on various subjects were presented, and reports on others wore brought up. The Wellington Gas Company's Bill was read a first time, and then, in Committee of Ways and Means, Government asked for a second imprest supply of £100,000, and the request was granted, the resolution being ordered to be reported to the House tomorrow. The Aliens Bill was read a second time without debate. The debate on the second reading of the New Zealand University Bill was £oiug on when we went to press. If legislation can save a race of cannibals from extinction, the Maoris will undoubtedly be perpetuated. Never in the history of British colonization, which some people would rather call Anglo-Saxon aggression, has an aboriginal race received so much nursing, coddling, and maudlin sympathy, as our pet savages j and why ? Because they are warlike : one of their proverbs being that "fighting and slajiug are the pastimes of men." They delight in blood ; and because white men generally abhor its spilling or shedding unnecessarily, other white men conceive it to be their duty to coax the naturally sanguinary native 3to abstain from their primitive pastime of slaying. But this is not all ; the long-suffering colonists are compelled under the present reyime to do certain contradictory and very unpleasant things. Ist. To see their friends aud relations killed, and their houses destroyed by the Maoris. 2nd. To go out as volunteers and militia to fight these cannibal murderers. 3rd. To pay taxes, a large portion of which is expended on what aie called "friendly natives." 4th. To vote in Parliament this session £28,G04 sa, for the benefit of the natives in general. We pause here ; and find, on referring to the Estimates, that this large sum is made up of the following items : — General charges — General contingencies, £3000 j salaries of European and native officers, £13,322 5s ; trustee of native reserves, £950. Provincial charges — Native Lauds Court, £5705 ; survey department, £3(527. It will be observed that contingencies figure very largely in this estimate ; and what we would ask does all this expenditure on the natives tend to ? Certainly not to pacification ; but directly, though stealthily, in precisely the opposite direction. What a host of judges, assessors, magistrates, interpreters, &c., there are attached to the Native Office ! and at the head, towering above the common herd like a mighty colossus, stands the Hon. Donald M'Lean — certainly the most conliding of Scotchmen it ever wa3 our lot to meet. Apparently, he not only believes in the perfectability of human nature in general, but of savage ' nature in particular. He therefore justifies all this lavish outlay upon his dusky friends and special p) vlcyccs. We confess we cannot understand it, tn the words of Thomas Carlyle, '* we dare not strive to compass the ineffable." We can only protest. Mr. Vogel's scheme is beginning to work. The gudgeons are biting at it in famous style, and Timaru and Christchurch are ou the eve of a quarrel about whether the promised railways are to be made North or South. Had not our neighbours better keep their

temper until they find out whether or not they are to have any railways at all ': When the money is procured, and the millions safe in the Treasury, then they can settle the direction of the lines. Mr. Justice Ward is fast becoming one of the most " remarkable men in the country." He seems to be in universal request, and, according to rumour, has been appointed to half a dozen places in each of which his appointment afforded "the utmost satisfaction." Wellington was loath to part with him ; Dunedin grudged him to Hokitika ; Wanganui was jubilant over the hopes of securing him ; far-off Taranaki opened her arms and beckoned to him ; but at last he was settled at Hokitika, and having held a court there and settled down to business, it was imagined that his peregrinations were over ; but no ! Timaru has got him appointed by report to her district, and expresses the usual "satisfaction," while, strangest portion of this eventful story, the Ministry deny that he is appointed at all ! How is all this to end ? the worthy Judge cannot be divided among the rival claimants for the honor of possessing him ; and the only feasible method of settling the difficulty seems to be by giving him a sort of " roving commission" with a liberal allowance for travelling expenses (after the manner of Ministers), and make him divide his time between Taranaki, Wanganui, Hokitika, and Timaru. If the Government take this hint, we sincerely trust they will have better fortune than a certain old man, whose pathetic story is told in school books. Immediately after the parade of the Volunteer Artillery this evening, the committee will meet to arrange business matters. The particulars we have learned in reference to the death of Mr. Watson, which we mentioned yesterday, are these : — He had constructed a new cunoe of green wood, which floated very deep in the water, and was not considered safe. In this he ferried Captain Cleland over the Tauhoru ou Saturday afternoon, and was returning when the accident occurred. No one saw it or knew anything of the matter until the canoe was discovered bottom up. It is supposed that as he had a habit of standing up in the canoe, he must have overbalanced himself and so capsized the canoe. As we are informed, he was unable to swim. He leaves a wife, who, sad to say, has been widowed twice within three years. Mr. Watson was an old settler in the district, and well known as an active pushing man. Miss Hose Evans — a young lady of considerable celebrity on the Melbourne boards — gave a dramatic entertainment last evening at the Odd Fellow's Hall, assisted by Mr. Clareinont. The entertainment consisted of selections from various plays, comprising comedy, tragedy, and burlesque, and Miss Evans in her pourtrayal of the different character showed considerable versatility of talent. She is perhaps a tritle ambitious in attempting parts somewhat beyond her powers, but her style is chaste and pleasing, and some of her impersonations are worthy of all praise. We were sorry to observe that ehe had so poor a house last night, and us she plays again to-night, we hope she will be more extensively patronised. We can assure those who attend the Hall that they will not regret their visit. We are requested to state that the next soriee dansan*c will take place ou Monday evening next, the 15th iust. According to promise, Mr. Gray gave last evening a most iuteresting account of his recent trip to New York, via Honolulu and San Francisco. At half-past seven o'clock the school- room attached to the Scotch Church in Willis-street was crowded with an audience, drawn together by Mr. Gray's promise, and, so numerous were the applications for admission, that Mr. Paterson's suggestion of an adjournment to the Church was immediately acted upon. We cannot pretend to give in a few lines an account of a trip across the ocean — along the most celebrated railway in tha world, throtigh the States — • and up to New York and back — a trip which even at express speed occupied five weeks j and which Mr. Gray caused us to spend a pleasant two hours over last evening. He took us to Honolulu— shewed us the town, the people, the produce — and told us how he was "sold" by a fiuit- seller. With him we passed on, entered the Golden Gate, were in San Francisco, admired its buildings and institutions, and above all, its magnificent public schools, where 20,000 children are annually taught French, German, drawing, and the general routine of an. English education, free, at a cost of £«.">, OOO per annum to the State. We were given hints as to purchasing our first-class sleeping and dining, ear tickets for the great railway : we were advised to provide ourselves with calico overcoats, and slippers that would not require polishing. We were fairly started on that great line of railroad across the Rocky Mountains, and while we were quicklytravelling along we were told of the history of that Railway Company — its rise out of the rebellion, the astounding quantity of material used in the construction of the line, the engineering difficulties overcome, the precautions taken for safety, and the interesting way in which the completion of the line was made known in every city in the States. As we journeyed, sketches of cities, accompanied with statistics as to their progress, were put before us. Vivid scenes of trains running along the edge of precipices 2000 feet deep, with rxishing rivers below,

made us involuntarily clutch our seats ; and <mr imagination was roused, and our interest brightened, by a few well-told words of the cave at Nevada, which the Indians hold in awe, and of which they relate an interesting legend. So far had Mr. Gray carried us with him that we forgot all around us, and fancied ourselves sitting in the Sioux camp, smoking cainly, and by the night tire preparing to listen to our grave warrior friends relating I the Legend of the Cave,'' wheu suddenly we were recallel back to Wellingtonby the brief remark, "But its getting late, so I must pass that by.'' Altogether, a more interesting account of a voyage and trip we have seldom heard; and, while thanking Mr. Gray, can only expi'ess a hope th\t he will, by getting his manuscript printed, enable us to have the pleasure of going once more with him " a trip to New York, via San Francisco and Honolulu. '' The Mercury says that on Thursday, as Mr. Walker's wagons were on their way to Wau'arapa, opposite the Fern Ground, one of the largest of the horses fell down dead. The Kyneton Guardian says :— " Apprehensions are entertained that a woman who has resided about Malmesbury for a considerable time, named Mrs. Harper, has committed suicide. She was formerly a respectable aud well-conducted woman, but during one of the rushes to New Zealand, her husband left Malmesbury for that Colony, aud since his 1 ' departure she has taken to drinking and other bad courses. She was drinking heavily the greater part of last week, and on Saturday last she remarked to one neighbor that she was going to throw herself into the river, and to another that was the last time she would be seen alive. These remarks were not thought much at the time, it being known that the woman was in a state of despondency after her drinking bout, but as she did leave her home on the (Saturday, and, so far as can be ascertained, has never been heard of since, there is too much reason to fear that she has carried her tin eat into effoet. The police have made diligent search in every direction, but have not succeeded in finding the faintest trace of the missing woman. She has left two or three young children." The second annual report of the Inspector in Bankruptcy has been published in a Government Gazette. Wo quote the following : — "Taking the Provinces in alphabetical order, it will be seen that in Auckland bankruptcies have not been common among the producing classes, but have been chiefly confined to distributors and consumers. Canterbury presents a contrast in this particular, by including in her list of bankrupts a hrge number of farmers and settlors ; while Otago has also a considerable number of miners who have sought relief from your honorable Court. In Westland, North and South, more than one half of the bankruptcies are of persons who belong almost exclusively to the distributing class. The bankruptcies in the othe? Provinces do not present any very niaiked features. * * The last annual return I have received from the Accountant in Bankruptcy, Scotland, shows that 452 estates were sequestrated ; while in this Colony there were, during the year ending oOth November, ISO 9, 520 persons adjudicattd bankrupts. This is the more to be regretted when it is considered that of S2l, the total number of bankruptcies for the two years ending 29th November, 15139, there were 3GO cases in which the liabilities did not exceed £300, while the assets recovered are merely nominal. A great pig case was decided at the Magistrate's Court, to-day, of an aboriginal as well as original character. Prosecutor, witnesses, and prisoner were all Maori, and the Magistrate was supported ou the Bench by Mete Ivingi and Hemi Parai. With the exception of Mr. Crawford, the only Europeans connected with the affair were Mr. Baker and Mr. Borlase, who appeared for the delinquent, for the police were entirely at sea in the midst of proceedings carried on in an unknown tongue. As far as could be gleaned from the evidence, the facts appear to be as follow : Harawira Tutawhia, residing generally at Chaiiu, removed to the Hutt, leaving a friend, named Wi Ari, in charge of some pigs which he had rmnriug about at large, and which, by the way, seem to have been a nuisance in the neighborhood. Prosecutor, when he was leaving Ohariu, authorised prisoner to take a large pig which was specified, and give it to Cottell, a blacksmith in Wellington, in part payment for a horse. Instead of doing this, Wi Aiitook three of the best pigs, and sold them to different parties in town. There was some discrepancy in the evidence describing the pigs, the owner saying that they had no tails, aud the purchasers affirmiug that they had long tails. The Bench eventually dismissed the case, saying that the charge of felony had not been sustained ; the offence was more iv the nature of embezzlement or breach of trust. The | case might still be brought in a different form. Ten summonses for Town Board- rates, and j two unimportant civil cases, were disposed of. Our readers will recollect that some weeks ngo Mr. Selfe, engineer of the Storm Bird, jumped off the wharf and rescued a boy, who was in danger of drowning. Several people who witnessed the rescue thought some small testimonial ought to be given Mr. Selfe in recognition of his gallantry, and accordingly commenced a half-crown subscription, which gradually assumed unexpected dimensions, and the result was that last night a number of gentlemen met at the Empire Hotel, and presented Mr. Selfe with a handsome gold

■watch of the value of thirty guineas*, and an p illuminated address. Mr. <Selfc made a suitable acknowledgment,, and a' social reunion supervened, a very pleasant evening being spent. The schooner Ruby, lately stranded arid: abandoned at Kaikoura, has been got off and patched up sufficiently to bring her to Wellington, and she is nowhanled up on Mr. Thirkell's slip to undergo repairs. She is much damaged in her planking and outside, but her frame~iss6nfuV and she will bo turned" out by Mr. Thirkcil almost as good as" ever. Capt. Davidson had great difficulties to contend with in getting her off the, beach j in fact, considering his very defective appliances, it is very evident that a large amount both of skill and industry must have been displayed. It appears that the Sail Francisco correspondent of the Otago Daily "Times had stated that Louis Kapoleon had invested money in Otago, on -which the Southland News says : — There, now, who -would have thought that the august mlcr of La Eelle Fiance had gone so far a-field with his modest savings ? Who shall tay henceforth that New, Zealand is an obscure Colony ? Have we not Prince Alfred of England speculating in mining shares in the North, and piudcnt Bonaparte laying out his spare cash in the £outh ? It is rather provoking on the part of that correfcpoudent to tell so much and yet so little. Why could he not have stated the prcekc locality and description, of propcity— whether station, mining, or agricultmal ? "YYe should/ "so like to know, you know." There is an old and sound maxim, " Princes should not engage in commerce," which these people appear to have forgotten. Veihaps not, however j it may be that they read the signs of the times more closely than others, and have come to the conclusion that a " rainy day" is at hand. The Mount Gambler Standard wiites :—: — " Mount tfchanck, which, has an interior like a monster bowl, is generally supposed by geologist to have been in a state of 1 uposis for the hist twelve hundred years or thereabouts. We have received some startling intelligence from a correspondent at Allandale, which would seem to indicate that, like Vesuvius, after a lapse of many centuries, it "was about to break out into new life. The letter we have had says — ' It seems the volcanic fires at or near Mount Sehanek are not altogether extinct. Mr. Howard, of Kingsley, informs me that he has seen smoke issuing from the fissures in the ground in the Cave Paddock. I shall visit the place as soon as I can with a view of rcpoitiug moie fully.' ". TO THE IiLHTOII OF TilK UVEXIXO 1 POST. tint— The letter of Mr. Ollivier_ in your paper of Saturday tends to withdraw attention from the giavest objection to the mode in which the Wellington Gas Company's Bill was presented to the Geneial Assembly. Anyone who knows what gas works are, will recognise that their existence within 300 yards of a dwelling house may render it unfit for many kinds of occupation, and very much lessen its value. By gas woiks I mean, in* the language of the oGth Standing Order of the General Assembly relating to private bills, " works for the manufacture of gas," to be •' erected."—not ''pipes" for its distribution to be "laid." The manufacture of gas for lighting purposes as ordinarily conducted, and without carefully guarded provisions, is a nuisance to the neighbourhood, which, unless warranted by act of the Legislative, courts of law will restrain upon the application of the owner or occupier of any house injuriously affected by it. The General Assembly requires that certain notices should be served upon persons so liable to be injuriously affected by auy gas biU, to euable such persons to be heard in opposition to the bill. These notices, it appears from Mr. Ollivier's letter, were not served in the present case. The committee, it seems, mistook gas .pipes for gas works. On the same principle water pipes inusb be understood to be water works. if the Legislature shall deem the convenience of the people ef Wellington a sufficient ground for depriving those owners and occupieis of dwelling-houses of their right to be heard in opposition to the bill, the procedure may be deprived of auy mischievous tendency by the insertion of a clause in the n.cfr enabling any proprietor or occupier of a dwel-ling-hous^ within 3015 J&ftv oif4h% Sbnits 55fC the premises whereon the proposed works for the manufacture of gas are to be erected, to lecover damages from the company for the injury to his property or occupation, by pro*, ueedings before two Justices of the Peace when the.amount claimed does not exceed £100, or by verdict of a jury when the amount claimed shall exceed £i 00. I am, &c, A CoMMOX IiSTKRPKKTEK. Wellington, Sth August.

TO THIS EDITOR OF TUtS EVBKIKU fOSsT. iSik —Mr. Borlase has, I observe, found a champion in the Advertiser, but the tlefence put forth by that journal for the hon. member, though exceedingly ingenious, scarcely adheres to the facts of the case. Indeed, 1 should call it a piece of special pleading. The Advertiser tells Us tMtPtKe tendeiipy of* Mr. Borlase's remarks in the House "was to clear Wellington, aud the Wellington people, of the' suspicion pretty freely fentertained in the Colony, that they were bent upon sacrificing the interests of the public to their own individual profit j" and that Mr. Borlase "jumped np and defended the conduct of his constituents, "explaining that the movement referred «to did? not originate 1 i& any feeling of jealousy of the other Provinces, and that if any such feeling did exist, it was confined to a small clique who might be especi--' ally interested." Of course I cannot possibly tell what meaning Mr. Borlase intended to

coavey, or.- what the Advertiser considered -^ that lie meant ; I can only pretend to understand the meaning of the plain English words which I heard Mr. Borlase make usegtof, and they were to the following effect: "He wished to positively deny the statement that the. public of Wellington had anything to do TvitiTthe late agitation [in reference to the San Francisco JSteaui Service]. He had never attended any of the meetings, or been asked by his -constitueut-s^to .attend-any -of -them, which would have been the^case had the movement beenj a public qne.f It* wajT nothing of the kind, but merely an affair got up by a" small clique— niwchants-awd-iotkers — ' who were, no doubt, very respectable people in their way, but who were not the public of Wellington? 1 Now,, jsir, I r assert most emphatically, 5 that the-lQijegpingl isUtt substance Mr. Borlase's speech, although he may alter the proof of it so much before it appeal's in Hansard, that it will be unrecognizable ; and I ask any candid man to say whether it can bear, by any amount of stretchiug, the meaning put on it by --the Advertiser. The position Mr.' Borlase arrogated to himself is supremely ridiculous, and reminds me of a story I once heard of a Highland chief, named M'Lea'j, who was a .guest at the house of a lowland gentleman. Unacquainted with some of the usages of polite society, he placed himself near the bottom of the board, and his host, wishing to do him lionor, sent a. ? servant.,to desire him to come' to the- head ©ft the~table. " Tell the carle," replied the mountain dignitary, " that wherever the M 'Lean sits, there is, the head of the table/ "It could not have been a > public movement," says Mr. Bor!a&e, "or / should have been invited to take part in it." It was said the other day that much wisdom was not to be expected from Mr. Borlase, and he has proved the truth . of „ the _ remark. He made a r r gieat mistake itf giving |way to £rij Ebullition fof spite' in "the House, and he has Made*a v gVeater one in getting the Advertiser to make such lame excuses for him. He had much better have allowed the matter to rest. I am, &c, t f i Citizen. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST. Sir — In your issue of yesterday, you quote Mr. Mahoney as saying that I had contributed to tbe^Advertiseiy aiid yjou proceed *tb,pbserve tbat^'J Jsonfiiaeiingf the v |ubjecf of the Adveitiser's leading article this morning this admission is rather significant." ;. I have not written a line for the? Advertiser since Mr. E. J . Waketield left it. Once or twice while he was on the staff, and indisposed, I did write, iii Consideration of our old friendship and the battles we had fought side by side, for the public 1 do not complain of, the inference, that '"must be drawn frc'm your- wolds j*T- ; think it quite fair, while unexplained. But lam v bound in justice to tlie writer in the Ad« >r verti&er and to myself, to state the above facts. , I am, &c, . ' * .:/. ! -Ct B.^BOBI.ABK. Wellington, Oth August.