The Evening Post. THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1872.

Evening Post, Volume VIII, Issue 112, 13 June 1872, Page 2

The Evening Post. THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1872.

It is neither customary nor politic for a newspaper to obtrude private matters of a business iutture upon the notice of the public, but the position in which we are placed, towards our readers, by the 'unscrupulous use Mr. Vogel has made of his official position as Treasurer of New Zealand to further' his own individual interests l in ,the matter- of Press > telegraphy, J not only warrants, but demands, ex- ! planation at r our hands. It must be ! borne in mind that the grievance we are ,about Ao • ventilate not only specially, affects ourselves, but is of moment to the large number of the'" public to whom we stand in the position of sole purveyors of news., ,, Mr. Vogel's action is neither more norsless than a deliberate attempt to burke a portion of the Press, which is principally in opposition to him, politically or commercially — a position we shall proceed to provei • Our readers are probably aware that, in the course of a few months at most, Australia will be in daily telegraphic communication with England. In vieAv of this* event, the 'proprietors of the Melbourne Argus and Sydney Morning Herald, the two most influential journals in the? Southern* hemisphere, entered into an agreement with Reuters Telegram Company, by which, in consideration , of the annual payment of a large sum of money, they were to enjoy an exclusive monopoly of Reuters European and Eastern telegrams to Australia. Mr. Hugh George, the business manager of the Argus, was entrusted with the management of the Association, and in order to reduce the heavy expenses inseparable from the undertaking, that gentleman invited the principal- newspapers in Australia to join in tho enterprise, demanding from them sums varying from £50 to £1000 per annum for

| the privilege. De-hirous, if possible. lof making the burden .still lighter upon the Australian papers, Mr. <7'eorge proposed to extend the system to j\'evv Zealand, and actually entered Into negotLitions for- th.-it pui'pnye with h member of the JN'ew Zealand Press, avJio happened to be in Melbourne nt the time. While the arCiiJigGiUL'iitM ;ind terms were in process of settlement, a JJens ex innchiiia sip-pesu-ed upon the .scene in the slmpo of Mr. Vopol. The ambassador plenipotentiary from New Zealand .-moeceded in eclipsing his competitor by representing that he \vt\a noting on behalf of the Government of this colony, and with hands wejl down, was successful in purchasing the 'exclusive right of lieu tor's telegrams for this Colony for .£SOO per annum. Mr. Vogel was exceedingly well known in Melbourne, and a sslipulution was therefore made, that if the contract was repudiated by the Government, he should himself carry out its provisions as proprietor of the Daily Southern Cross. As we long ago foretold would be the case, the contract was never for one moinent.entertained , iby'tlio Cabinet, and Mr. "Vogel was compelled to look else where for t lie necessary means to fulful his obligations. Two convenient tools were ready to hand — Mi*. Beeves, the proprietor of the Lytte.lt on Times, arid Mr. Harrison, the Editor of the Independent. A sort oi. quasi Press Conference was established, and after sitting in huggermugger for the last week or so. has at last issued its programme. Six of the more prominent morning journals of the Colony — the Christchurch Press and Times, Southern Cross, New Zealand Herald, Otago Times, and Wellington Independent, have given in their adhesion to the scheme. In effect, they are to share the expense, 'which is computed at about £1,200 per annum, the Central Agency being in Wellington, and the various papers supplying each other with inter-pro- J vincial news. The most important item in the agreement is, that all evening journals are to be rigorous!) excluded from any share in the benefits that may accrue from the arrangement. The morning newspapers have naturally been attracted by this enticing bait. It is no news to state that the morning dailies have for some time past been. 'almost? 'lrilltkl* by their evening contemporaries.' "To quote the more conspicuous examples, we may adduce the Auckland Star, the Nelson Mail, and the Diuiedin Star.' Each of these" jjapers has a larger— -^-a" far larger — circulation than auy .morning journal in the town in which it-is.coin-.peted with by naprning^'ne-wspapers. Mr. y p'gel . has'^'de verly, i&^n 1 %&$& tag'e of "this, and Ms own, p£,pe£,. being one of those the niost..,yiJTiHed, a fellow feeling has given increased j power to his suasive eloquence, and he has succeeded by worlciag upon their fears and upon their -cupidity in inducing and cajoling various newspa poj-s, of opposite "politics, to jq'in him in an attempt, wliieli we may safely predict will prove abortive, to smother the more influential evening newspapers in the Colony. Mr. 1 'Vogel and his coadjutors will find th'&fc they have bought a pig in a poke. The newspapers that they have left out of this scheme will prove more than a match for those he has included in it. No amount of ingenuity, no combination of half a dozen moribund morning newspapers will prevail against the thirty and odd journals that the sanguine projector of this precious Association has "left out in the cold." Not even the dernier ressort of a Tele gram Copyright Bill — which is confidently asserted, by Greville's Manager and others, will be endeavored to be foisted upon the General Assembly next session — will enable the Association to monopolise the English telegrams published in the Australian papers. In inducing those who have joined to subscribe, stress has been laid, ludicrously enough, upon the fact that even if — no Copyright Bill being passed — the evening- journals. :ai ; c enabled, through'their own agents, to forestall the Association telegrams, Mr. George, the Melbourne agent, i will be able to provide his New Zealand customers with unpublished news. This is purely ridiculous. , At the very utmost any unpublished news ', that can be forwarded to Queenscliffe in order to catch an out- going steamer, ' can be but' twelve or fourteen hours in advance, of the news actually published in Melbourne. And it is for this doubtful privilege that the subscribing newspapers are asked to pay some two hundred pounds per annum each. It is positively a compliment to the common sense" of the evening newspapers of the Colony that Mr. "Vogel has not asked them to join in j his Utopian Telegraphic Scheme. It is on a par with the famous company for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers ! Of the part that Mr. Vogel has borne in this transaction we can hardly speak in terms strong enough. Abortive as the attempt to injure evening newspapers is likely to prove, it is to be measured not by its chances of success, but by. its evidence of vindictiveness. .Mi". Vogel's organ, the Southern Cross, either from the parsimony of its proprietor or the incapacity of its conductors, has become one of the most ill-written and most contemptible journals in the Colony. Mr. Vogel hopes to re-create its ancient prestige and popularity, and to ruin at least one of its most powerful rivals by this egregionsly

unpractical attempt to resuscitate the exploded Press Association. Mr. Yogel ,may rest assured that no system which does not attempt to combine the whole of the New Zealand Press i)i 0110 eo-opi*mtivo association lias si ghost of a chance of success, and he niay, complacently as he can. reflect that his uuderhuud and disingenuous cour.st' in this affair will earn iiicn the deckled oppog^tjon of many member;; of the fourth estate, who have hitherto l»een but" lukewarm friends. Quern, JJetts null p<cf'bu'e pr'uis d erne 1 tint.

The election of Sir David Monro is mattei for warm congratulation, not onlj' to the electors of Wnikouaiti, but to the whole colony. Men of Sir David's high character, intelligence, and experience, me not so numerous in our Legislature that we can afford to dispense with any of them j and we have no doubt that the independent section of the House of .Representatives will cordially welcome him on his return, more especially when tbe dignified and impartial manner in winch he presided over its deliberations for so many years is c©ntrasted with the widely different demeanor of hie fctiecessor. The general public, too,-will feol peculiar pleasure in seeing a gentleman who was so unjustly treated by the Ministry — made a victim of, in fact, to serve the ends of a clique — restored once more by the voices of a large constitoency to that position of which Fox and Co. h*ad used their utmost efforts to deprive him. Sir David's return is also significant of the change in public opinion, which is now fast setting in, in reference to the administration of the Fox- Vogel Ministry. The shrewd citizens of Otago begin to see that notwithstanding the desire to secure their favor at almost any cost, which Mr. Vogel has always displayed, yet the candle is being burned at both ends, and their faith in the " colonization policy," as at present carried out, is utterly gone. They desire to see some check put upon the extravagance of the Government, by sending to the House men of probity, and also of sufficient ability to oppose successfully the reckless schemes daily projected for the purpose of propping up a Ministry of doubtful stability. It is not alone in Otago where this feeling is in existence — distrust is spreading wider and wider — and there is little chance of any future vacancies which may occur in the Representation being filled by Vogelites. A New Zealand Gazette, published yesterday, contains some very lengthy orders and forms of proceedings relative to private bills to be introduced in the General As"sembly. In this Gazette the singular course has been adopted of publishing a notice to a very small section of the Government employees as to a detail in the management of their accounts. As a circular^a. mode of communication "with wnicn tlie Treasury is familiar — sent to each officer would have answered the purpose better than the notice referred to, we are constrained to look upon ifc as a gentle puff for the PaymasterGeneral, in order that those of the public who do read the Gazette may be aware that he is looking after his duties. The fourth volume of the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute has been published. Ifc is very carefully got up, and contains no less than eighteen admirably finished lithographs by Mr. Buchanan, illustrating several of the papers read before the Institute. The work ioelndes 64 papers on Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, and miscellaneous subjects. Among the latter are ethnographical considerations, on the Whence of the Maori, by J. T. Thompson ; notes on the historical value of the " Traditions of the New Zealanders," as collected by Sir George Grey, by W. T. L. Travers j five papers on the moa, and one on the destruction of land by shingle bearing rivers, and suggestions for protection and prevention, by A. D. Dobson. These papers occupy 350 pages of closely printed matter, and are followed by reports of the proceedings of the local affiliated societies in Wellington, Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, and Nelson. Altogether the work is a most valuable one, a credit to the colony and to the editor, Dr. Hector. At a future time we will notice the book more fully, and review some of the papers which it contains. The subscriptions for the inter-provincial and inter-colonial regatta amount to £346. The public are reminded that fully £150 more is required, and as it must be had, it may as well- be given gratuitously and. at once. * How much will the steam companies give ? They will reap a harvest by the jregattai Some days ago we noticed the singular conduct of the Government in insisting, under the cover of a claim for his Excellency for a right-of-way to - Lowry Bay, in destroying the Hutt Racecourse, and forming a road through it. We now learn, that in'order to remove the only slight excuse which Ministers can advance for the course they are pursuing, the road already laid out, and which avoids the course, will be formed almost immediately. When completed', aB good a carriage drive as could be required will be made to Lowry Bay, and it will present the advantage of leading to a bridge over ; the Waiwetu instead of ~to only a ford, as does the track through the racecourse. The examination* for the New Zealand University scholarships for this year took place throughout the colony last month, but the decisions are not yet made. There are thirty-six candidates for the twenty scholarships, only two of whom belong to Wellington, the majority of them residing in Otago. A considerable amount of interest has been shown with regard to these examinations in other provinces, not only from the fact of their being the first held under the auspices of the New Zealand University, but also from the fact that

I they will give, what has never been accomplished jet, namely, a fair test of educational ability in the several cities. Hitherto all examinations have been independent, but these have been on the one Bj Stem, the same q-stions have been askeiL ati'l the stune strict rales have been fol1 lowed by the supervisors in every place. It | -will, therefore, be with great interest that , we shall note the provinces to which the ' successful candidates may belong. The i subjects for -ivhieh scholarships will be ; given' are : — Classics, "Mathematics, Physli eal Science, Modern Languages othsr th*m j English, History, and English Literature. One scholarship in each of these branches of study of the value of £70 will be given, the remainder being of the value of £43 each. A most impudent robbery occurred this afternoon at about three o'clock. A man, named Edward Elton, walked into Messrs. Bethune and Hunter's office and upstairs. Mr. Bethune, the only one in the office, hearing the footsteps, -went up after him, and caught the man poeketting a box of matches, some pens, an ink eraser, and some pounce. He was speedily given in charge of a constable, brought up before a Justice of the Peace, and remanded till Saturday. The change in the proprietorship of the Nelson Ale House is one ¦which will, it is to be hoped, conduce to the good conduct of the hoteL % Mr. Hansmann, while he has been in the European, has earned a high character as a landlord and as one who can keep a good house. Telegraphic communication with Anekland had not been resumed at three thTa afternoon. The calendar at the next session of the Snpreme CJonrt promises to be even- lighter than' that in April hist. As yet, only three criminal cases, viz., Fotheringham, for larceny ; Knox, for conspiracy to commit murder ; and Jones, for forgery and obtaining money under false pretences, are down for heaiing, and no criminal eases. It is currently* reported in Napier that the beach line of railway is the one that has been adopted. Information was received from Taupo on the 6th, in Napier, says the Herald, that a party of prospectors who had just returned to Tapuaeharuru from the western shore of the Lake, gave an exceedingly favorable report of that district as regarded the probabilities of gold in. pai'able quantities being found in it. The following letter .appears In the Wanganui Herald i — " Parawanni, 4th Jane, 1872. — I desire to ask the Government, or the Superintendent of the Province of Wellington, about Ormond's proclamation, that says the pakeha must not deal in any way with native land between Patea and Wellington. If thlsis a Government law, f:l_desire to. astt whose is my land. If I, the Maori man, desire to purchase or lease land -from the pakeha, I can obtain it I have not yet heard of any law prohibiting my so doing. I was of opinion there was only one law alike for the pakeha, and the Maori. From Eeupena Kewetone." " Windy Wellington" has become a proverb, but the meteorological observations published in yesterday's Gazette, prove that Wellington is not par excellence the windy city of the colony ; in fact Auckland and Napier surpass it. -while Wanganui, Southland, and Diinedin nearly come np to it for wind. According to the return before us, the average daily force in miles for the month of April in Wellington was 202, but in Auckland, for the same time, it was 264, and in Napier 210. What •will our Auckland friends say now about " windy Wellington. 71 The following extraordinary notice appears in the New York Times : — "Lawyers who are acquainted with facts tending to bring home charges of misconduct to any of the Judges, are requested to communicate at once with the Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association. It is to be hoped that no one will refuse to "assist this committee in their investigations." The question of the legality of passengers who travel by mail coaches paying the toll of twopence each, levied on them by I the Toll Gate Act Amendment Act, passed in the last session of the Provincial Council, was decided yesterday in the Resident Magistrate's Court, Lower Hutt. Thomas Walker, of Grey town, and Eoberfc Buckridge, lighthouse keeper, passengers by the Wairarapa coach, were charged by the collector of tolls on the Hutt bridge for _iefnsing -to pay the toll -(the driver ef-the coach having refused, to pay the toll on the vehicle, the passengers become liable to the toll' of twopence each). They -were fined one shilling and costs. We are requested to remind members of the Garriek Club that a rehearsal of " The Wife" will be held on Friday evening, at the nsnal time and place. A Nelson contemporary has been shown by Mr. Sheather, the gardener of N. Edwards, Esq., a Nelson grown orange of very fair size. The tree has borne more than a hundred of such and larger fruit this season. Dr. Giles, R.M. at Westport, recently fined a publican £10 and costs, for allowing a game of enchre to be played for drinks in his hoteL The English Independent reports a meeting which "has been held for the purpose of effecting a virtual amalgamation between the Congregationalists and the "Baptists, with the object more particularly of preventing divisions among Dissentars in the rural districts. On both sides willingness ¦was expressed to receive the members of the other denomination to communion, but the Baptist ministers declared they -would not baptise children, and the Congregationalists were equally unwilling to rebaptise persons who had already been baptised as ! children. A irish was felt says the Inde- i

pendent-, to keep the baptism question out . of sight, but it could not be done. Dr. Landels declared that the priuciple involved in the difference between the bodies which it was son«ht to unite w.^s suueu greater than the differences about Church government which separate the Pit lohaptistsf om ea'-h other. The meeting, therefore, came to nothing. The following conundrum was askel in Napier, at a recent amateur Christys* performance, and unanimously pronounced the hest of the evening :—": — " Why is a recent Government appointment like a cow's back?' 1 Answer: " Because thereby han^s a taii." The same might apply to every appointment made by the present Ministry. A Government life Assurance and Annuity Office has been opened at Bull's (Rangitikei). A writer in the Brisbane Courier has some pointed remarks on the curious deadlock in Queensland politics. According to him it all arises " froni the extraordinary clear-sightedness, high principle, and reverence for the Constitution which actuate our leading politicians. You see now the wonderful spectacle of 32 legislatures all ready to make solemn oath that they strongly desire to help to pass a Redistribution Bill ; all ready to admit in a moment that Supplies for the current year ought to be voted with as little delay as possible ; yet, because the Ministry want to take Supply first and Redistribution afterwards, and the Opposition want Redistribution first and Supply afterwards, neither one nor the other can be had at aIL The Ministry cannot give way a single hairVbreadtb. to the Opposition, without bringing upon themselves everlasting disgrace ; the Opposition cannot give way in the slightest degree to the Ministry without forfeiting all title to respect j so there they all stick, and have done for this month pafifc. Isn't it wonderful? The Constitution is so beautifully adjusted that the whole framework of Civil Government will have to be shaken to pieces and started afresh from the foundations before it can be decided whether Supply shall be taken first and Redistribution afterwards, or Redistribution first and Supply afterwards, unless some of the noble thirty-two basely surrender to their opponents. The more I think of it the more profound is my administration of Constitutional Government as conducted in this position of her Majesty's dominions." The Hon. Henry Parkes, the successor of Sir James Martin as Premier of the Government of 2few South Wales, has been returned as member for East Sydney t , by a majority of nearly twoto one over his opponent, a local wine and spirit merchant. The new Government has evidently the good wishes of the people, and will be able to command a respectable majority in Parliament. The first att of the new Ministry has been to re-open negotiations with this Government relative to the border question, and there is little doubt, therefore, but that the collection of duties on the Murray will cease within a short period. — Age. The Stamford Mercury lately reports a striking instance of the foolishness of going to law. The Vestry of Whitlessey quarrelled with the Isle of Ely authorities as to which should repair Briggote Bridge. The Whitlessey vestrymen resolved to go to law, and the result is that after bjv years' argument, the case has come to nothing. There is, however, £1500 to pay, for half of which it seems that the 27 parishioners who attend the Whitlessey vestry are personally responsible. Ifc seems that the outlay of a few shillings would have repaired the actual damage to the bridge, and a few pounds would have put it in good repair.