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Evening Post, Volume IX, Issue 83, 20 May 1873, Page 2

The session of the Provincial Council which has just closed, although of. lets than three weeks' duration, has. proctaced^ihdch^^^^k/' 'dild n&3! the Province for a long time tfacome; Unfortunately, the most important part of its work roust needs be sub" mitted to the. lnspectinnjof^* j higher legislative body, where*; ife ,will *bei tried not on its alone/'botfn. the light of political intrigues, and, br^critics s anxious to find^ UrL' excuse' for conf ? demning it, VjTere ; th^objectB of the ' Bill impartially, examined/ there^ can be no question thtt.vtbe-5 General Assembly wottlrf Satrcti^th^^raisiiTg" o£ the money required ; but inasmuchas the scrutiny which it will undergo will be of an^^entirelyi' different* character, * the J rfipf / esedt«tives f ' of .the Province^wiirilotthtles^ ; s2e !lh£ rieces T of their givinjg tne' Superintendent a. corditdjsupport and itdt &'mere nominal assistance in" laying the measure before the Assemblyii^trfeßft Wanner as will ensure it the most myourable consideration 0 {^obtained;; (While the financial state of the Province is on th« whole satisfactory, it is not in a positidn, without the,aid 4 pf, this loan, to open op ma cb^o^ the waste landwhich it already .possesses, still less any that may shoklf be acquired ; In* fact, while the £200$00 would enable, the present flush of prosperity to be maintained, its refusal by the Assemblj would drive the Province back into something very like-that stagnation from whtch it has been e5-* tricated with so much labor. / Of course, if the effect ojf borrowing would merely be & temporary pros^'

parity, and tben n proportionate re- | action, it would be *he height of folly to adopt stich a reckless coursß ; but the BlScle in %vhich it is proposed to expend the money seems not only likely to, ensure repayment, bat also ,to open new channels of permanent income. Undoubtedly, the income of the Province wants fresh aid*; and this, we apprehend, is the. true motive of the suggestion made by VI r Eitzherbert yesterday relative to increasing the price of the waste lands. Whether, however, ie would b& prudent to augment the revenue Hy this means, is a question only to be decided after the most carefnl tieliberation of tbe complicated effects which Wdttld flow from such a change ; and it is one upon which the public ought to' express an unmtelakeable opinion for the guidance of the Executive,' .The Education Act remains pracDically unchanged. The agreement made between the Board and the Komaii Catholics rendered the ob- , ffCtionable denominational clauses in the amending Bill laid before the Council unnecessary, arid the Bill passed only" made a few slight altera1 tibns in the existing Act, This is, perhaps, the wisest course thafc could fmv« been followed;. It -would .nave been absurd to' have repealed or al/e^ed' the principle of the A.ct before h had undergone 4 fair triaK Such fegtsiati<»n j wo»Tld be child's play. If the Act, after being in* full operation fowc year or two, proves really unsuitable, it can . then be amended in accordance with the teachings of ex'ptfriefrtcd';' and we would suggest to ihe .Boarfl'/tb'at.it is their duty to make the Act as popular as possible, ami to let as 'much light in rtpon their owtt'/p'roceedings as their weak eye- ' ¦?igh'ts can, possibly, bear. When, too, they have funds at command for the "fection ofschoolhouses, thrre will be no excuse for inactivity. The Highways stands in much the same position hS thVEdttcation. Act, It has r been j roundly abused in various • quarters, and a Select Committee of ..the Council has sat upon it, the' result being chat a, few slight alterations have been made, and material amendments left for a future session, Ihe Local Boards' Act [is an .experimental measnre, and,, although, carefully drawn,, may have weak points, Iwhfcn»'have been overlooked in the discussion, but will manifest themselves in tne practical wot king. One »>f them, we appteheud, will be a deb'ciency of funds tc enable the Boards to perform their multifarious duties. Ordinances of thi» kind run very close up to the boundary dividing the jurisdiction of the General and Provincial Governments, and ,the - latter have barely scope to carry out their intentions. However, this Act is [ framed in a- good spirit, and there has I been so earnest a demand for it that it will no doubt meet with fair treatment,,.; Altogether, the gentlemen who have taken part in tbe proceedings of; the Council may point to their 'labors with satisfaction.

, Ad trices have been ,¦ received by the AgeflG-Genefal that' the 'Edwin Fox, having repaired damages, sailed from Brest on the sth of March, bat minus 20 of her pasaeayitrft who^refaaeti to proceed any farther in her, and returned to Euglanrf , Dr Feather_ftpn jjfcatea that upon receiving intelligence chat tbe ship had put into Brest disabled, he "afrouce' despatched Mr Edward Smith, of the Agettt-Geiieral r 8 office, to that pore, id order to look after the passengers and the ioterests of 'the Government, Mr Smith found all the passengers comfortably lodged ''in different parts of ( the town, ( soni9 'in! ho* , tels, and,aome in private houses. While the i.Edtrin Fox was lying in Brest, several of her passengers laid formal complaints against Capt Johnson of irrimoralifcy and nnseaman* Htce conrluct, and likewise acensed the ', matron of the ship of conniving at Capt - tfohnson's^ improprieties. An enquiry Was ' 'belk^J We Brftish Consul at tbe port, , irbich tbe charges to be utterly groundless, although it appeared that the discipline bept^up by the matron had not 'b/en strict. .enough. Mr Smith| 'Who re-, ujafned at Brest the whole time the -.ves«dU\tra#iJyibg there, reported that Dr .MoatßguejWelby'Wasiratifr to be; left in i '''(ShSPgiyt' 'thi emigrattts, on account of! hi» drunkenness^and/he. was accordingly.] ( removed, and Dr Walshe 1 appointed as sur^ i jy>n (T( T , n f Jubilee sailed for 1 Wellington* 1 do' the 12fch' March with 43 ! statute adults, amongst- whom; were the j following nominatedemigrants t—, Cbrietitia H,* Fox, William Ammon, and Michael Donovan, Tbe Woodlark sailed for Auckland on the 25th February with.lo94 statute ! actttlti^'and 'the Michael Angelo from! tOraveseod for Otago on the 2nd March, with 64 statute adults for Otago,' 'and 724 'for Canterbury. The latter were originally to have gone in the Langstone, and will 1 be forwarded from Fort Chalmers to Lyt* t^fton at the expense of Messrs Shaw, S»rill and Co. ' :

V- His Excellency the, Governor .will hold a levee at Government House on Saturday, the'&ttb'instf, at two o'clock in the afternoon. Gentlemen attending the levee wil , wear official dress, uniform, or evening costame, and am requested td provide themselves with two .cards with their names legibly written thereon. ;, one card to be left on, the table at the entrance door, and the other to be gives to the Private Secretary* At; the meeting of the Education Board to-day, it was resolved :—l.: — 1. That the probable aurplasf revenue of the present year be appropriated to tbe building of 'ie^is^an^tlfirt^his amount, together

with the sum of £2,000 promised for th> j same purpose by the Provincial Government, be divided, as near as may be, proportionately to the rates raiseoTiu the various school districts, the amount not actually required in one district, being appropriated to the relief or the pressing requirements of adjoining districts ; and for that purpose the Wellington, city and country districts be regarded as one district, and the Wangaehu, Kangitikei, and Manawata districts as another, and that the requirements of each locality be considered according to its merits. 2. That, the Board having been informed that the .Resident Magistrate at Wanganui has dismissed a suit in his Court for recovery of the education rates on the ground that he has no jurisdiction, it is resolved that Mr Solomon Levy be appointed agent to take proceedings in the Resident Magistrate's Court at Wellington, for recovery of the rates and capitation fees, due from ratepayers at Wanganui, refusing to pay them. The Board then adjourned till tomorrow at 11. There was a fair attendance' at the Theatre last night. In consequence of the indisposition of Miss Colvilie and Mr Steele, an apology had to be given for the promised "Richard III," "The Game of Speculation" being substituted, Mr Hoskins' Affable Hawk, Mr Howard's Earthworm, and Mr Douglas's Sir Harry Letter, were as excellent as before — better tiitsy could not be. All the others played • well. Tne burlesque, *• Little Don Giovanni," Wus given as an afterpiece. The new sunlight was lighted fur the lirsc time ; it is an exceedingly pretty object, but a failure as a means of illumination, the ligh'; Leiog so subduud as to give the Tiieatre a gloomy aspect. It is notified in our advertising columns that, in Consequence of the inclement Weather, there will be no performance atr.lhe Theatre to-night. We have to remind the members of the. Choral Society that the final f nil rehearsal of " -Naatnaa" takes place at half-past j seven this evening as the Athentemn. It j is muse important that every membershould attend this rehearsal, in order that the few slight imperfections noticeable at the last performance, may on this occasion be entirely removed. We would remind our readers that the I musical and literary entertainment will be I held in the Presbyterian Schoolroom this I evening, when a very pleasant treat maybe ! expected. ! The Court of Appeal only met to-day to further adjourn until to-morrow " at 11 a.m. [ The Melbourne correspondent of the I Otago Daily Times write : — As to your late, i onr' present, Governor, did it ever strike you that he haa rather a tendency to gush? To me it; seems that there is a disposition to cheap emotion about Sir' George Bo wen that is not a very manly quality. Then the little scraps of poetry with which he bejewels his speeches. The first speech he made here he quoted a writer who observes, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to for- ! tune," and in the second be poetically ejaculated — Oh, woman ! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please. I Not very recondite quotations these, but as we get on further we shall perhaps strike deeper sources of poetry than any we have yet reached. j On the evening of the 14th instant, the pedestrian feat of walking 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive hours was commenced in Chrintchurch by aMr Wiltchire. Although he has not walked for a lengthened period and pursued his occupation up to Saturday, Mr Wiltchire has on one occasion distin* : guished himself for endurance and pluck, having in 1869, walked 800 miles in 300 hours, at vVednesbury. Staffordshire. He is a., man of the middle size, powerfully builC, and has a free', springy style of getting over the ground ; and is very sanguine of being able to accomplish the 1000 miles within the stipulated time; The distance \ round the course is a trifle over 200 yardp, and the mile is accomplished in eight laps, and 135| yards. The method adopted by the pedestrian is, to commence walking at the commencement of the last quarter of the hour, and the first quarter of the succeeding one, and he has then one hour and a half Co rest, little enough considering tbe arduous nature of hiatask. Should tbe feat be successfully performed it will be for the third time in the colonies ; having bees twice done in Victoria, first by a man named M'Kean, and then by a female pedestrian, tbe latter, a Mrs Douglas, repeating it in England. , The Southland News states that the first locomotive constructed on the narrow gauge principle for use in this colony, made a trial trip on the line of the Mataura railway ott Thursday, the Ist iast. This wae , done under the superintendence of the railway manager, Mr Confers, and it was in 'all respects successful. The engine was originally intended for the Clutha line, but as the construction of the Mataura line was far in. advance, of that of the Clutha, the engine was subsequently transferred from the one to the other. The engine will be employed in the first instance conveying ballast along the line, and in that way it will render material aid in pushing forward ¦Jbhe work rapidly. The salmon ova at Christchurch are not turning out as well as was expected. The Lyttelton Times, of the 14th, says : — "A large proportion of those which should have hatched ont during the present week have gone bad, and been removed from tbe boxes. Many of the ova not so far advanced towards batching out have also had to be removed, and altogether tbe quantity in the boxes is now more than half less than it originally was. Although it is very problematical whether any fish will be

brought to life, tbe curator has uot, however, lost all hope, and bo far as care or ability is concerned, the public may rest assured the ova coull not be in better hat-ds. It wonld appear that a number of | rat 3 smelt out the ova on Monday night, and got on to the batching boxes in search. of them, but these being securely covered in they only obtained a number of dead ova for their trouble." At the last meeting of the Ofcago Institute, the following extract from a letter from Dr Lauder Lindsay were read : — 1 am now in a position to give you further information about the movements of the Swedish botanist who proceeds this year to New Zealand, to explore tbe Alpine Flora. . . . I have advised him to devote attention mainly to the classes of plants not hitherto studied iv New Zealand ; so that his collections will be sure to abound in novelties. .... His name is Dr Ivan Berggren, of the University of Lund, Sweden, where he holds the office of Docent of Botany and Assistant Curator of the University Herbarium. He is known to European botanists chiefly for his publications on Bryology ; and his attention in New Zealand will no doubt be directed greatly to the cryptogamia, though he will also collect phceaogams. His hobby is mountaineering and the study of alpine cryptogams. He has already done good service and gained much valuable experience in the Alps of Tjrol and Norway, as well as in Greenland and Spitzbergen, and he will bo prepared' in New Zealand for ail the trials and troubles ot glacier and alpine exploration. .... Naturally the cost is to Dr B. a serious matter. He pro I poses to devote a year to alpine exploration in New Zealand, and I should hope the colonists will do what they c;an to make his ; sojourn as little expensive as possible. His coats are to be borne by the University of Lund and the Academy of , Science of Stockholm, but iv Scandinavia a little money goes, a long way, and our friends there have no idea of the cost of colonial travel and living. The Charleston Herald says :— " A good yarn comes from Westport. A schoolmaster and mistress were advertised for there, and amongst the numerous applications for the post came one from Charleston, wjhicb appears to have tickled muchly the Westpottonians' fancy, since it seems there to have become town chaff. The unfortunate applicantis a bachelor, but be assurred the committee that 'if he obtained the appoint* rnenb he would guarantee to get married. 1 Here is, virgin simplicity. What a chance the committee will miss of conferring a ' blessing' and of assisting the population scheme of the colony if they do not listen to this heartfelt appeal." Unfortunately for the wonld-be Benedict, the Committee were pitiless, A special correspondent at Vienna, in his account of the progress of the Exbibi* tion there, says that untiring efforts are being made to have the building ready by the opening day, the Ist of May. Some of the galleries are quite finished, and on'y need to be fitted up by the exhibitors. Tbe immense dome — the largest ever attempted — is described by the correspondent as being to other domes what the Great Eastern was to other ocean steamers. In addition to the main building there is a grdat detached gallery for machinery, and a separate department of considerable size for works of art ; while many smaller structures are scattered through the grounds. Already, in anticipation of the influx of visitors this summer, rents have risen considerably ; in one instance in the proportion of from 600 to 1,800 florins, and in another from 400 to 1,(100 florins. Living, too, is twice as high as it was a few yeara ago. There is, however, great business prosperity to compensate for the general rise fn prices.