FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1875.

Evening Post, Volume XII, Issue 8, 9 July 1875, Page 2

FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1875.

In the present circumstances of the Colony, and with a general election in the immediate future, the members of the General Assembly will, -we imagine, pause before ratifying Mr. Kussell's San Francisco mail service contract. The House of Representatives having already determined that its limit of contribution to the subsidy be £40,000 per annum, and Mr. Russell having — we cannot say on his own responsibility, for none attaches to his peculiar position, but without authority — entered into a provisional contract for the payment of an extra £5,000 a year, the Assembly can, ■without any breach of faith, refuse its ratification. We hope it will do so, and that Mr. Russell's negotiations will be carefully scrutinised. There are many things which he has done which apparently demand explanation.- Of these, perhaps, the disclosure of the fact that he and his colleague, Sir D. Cooper, were prepared to exceed their authority as to subsidy, to the extent of .£IO,OOO was the most remarkable. The publication of this information, of course, swept away all probability of a tender within the authorised amount being • obtained. We do not blame Mr. Russell so much for accepting the alternative route by which, at an extra expense of £15,000 a year, the steamers are to be brought up and down the New Zealand coast between Auckland and Port Chalmers. The Assembly has on more than one occasion expressed its approval of that very foolish arrangement, and Mr. Russell may have thought that he was giving effect to its wishes in the matter. We doubt, however, whether this coastal service is now quite so popular as it was when it was first agreed on as a kind of sop to Mr. Macandrew and the Otago party. The brilliant expectations which were entertained as to the stimulus which, the occasional presence of the ocean steamers in Port Chalmers would give to the trade of that port have not been- realised. As long- as Sydney is an alternative terminus, ordinary repairs will be performed there, and the vessels will be docked there in preference to Port Chalmers. Another matter also may be noted. Otago now has a steam company of its own engaged in the ihterprovincial trade, and will, therefore, probably view with less favor the proposal to subsidise heavily (not only by £15,000 ayear, but by exemption from all port, light, and pilotage dues) a foreign "company to compete, on our own | coast with our own locally-owned steamers. This coastal service by the ocean boats is an utterly useless one, which has always been alike unprofitable to the Colony and to the contractors. As it has been in the past so will it be in the future if resuscitated. At present the mails are conveyed from Auckland to Dunedin and vice versa at a cost of £77 10s per trip, or £2015 per annum, and the service being performed along the West Coast of the North Island, the mails can, except when there is any difficulty at the Manakau bar, be performed more expeditiously than the large steamers can possibly perform it by way of the East Coast. The only defence of this coastal service and contract which we have yet heard is that of the Lyttelton Times, which piously expresses gratitude at the prospect of being delivered j from the tender mercies of the New ! Zealand Navigation Company for the 1 conveyance of the mail coastwise. The Lyttelton Times says the company "managed to dawdle away three days on the arrival of the last mail at Auckland." This accusation and statement is unjust aud untrue. The facts are as follows : — The mail arrived late on the 18th June. The Ladybird was ready to sail with next day's tide, but the mails did not reach Onehunga, or wei'e not put on board, till too late for. her to get out. She left early on Sunday morning, but was bar bound at the Manakau Heads ,until the following' day and she was consequently one day late in delivering the mails at Lyttelton. The Lyttelton Times, however, forgets that on more than one occasion when the mails* have been late in arriving at Auckland the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company have made up a day by unusual expedition in the downward passage. The Lyttelton Times wishes to see the New Zealand Company extinguished because the Post-office authorities iG Auckland were dilatory and the bar at the Manakau was impassable. The one unintentional fault extinguishes renienibrance of many previous benefits. Such is the way of the world. "Men's evil manners live in brass : their virtues we write in water."

It is quite possible the Government, iv j its extreme anxiety to keep ki office, ' utterly overlooks the fact that there are a multitude of things which require the serious attention of Ministers; and we venture to affirn that, in 1 this province, at all events, there is nothing which requires re-organising more than the Foxton tramway and its management. The line is simply a botch from beginning to end; the wooden rails are utterly inadequate to the requirements of the traffic, and the conversion of the line from a tram into a

railway is as slow as that of the heathen. The line is but 24 miles in length from Palmerston to Foxton, and under anything like a proper system of management should be converted into a railway in three months, yet it is nearly six months since the work of substituting iron for wood and steam for horses was begun, and the total result is that not quite five miles of iron rails have been laid down. At this rate it will be two years before a locomotive can be run over the line, notwithstanding the fact that the' extension Beyond Palmerston to Fielding should now be ready for locomotive traffic. So much for the engineering portion of the work. Now as to the traffic management. Instead of. the line being a boon to persons sending and receiving goods by it, quite *t;he reverse is the case, as the tariff and regulations are framed in a spirit entirely opposed to the encouragement of trade. Surely these things can be rectified ; they are such palpable blunders that the merest tyro in railway matters could devise an efficient and speedy remedy. Is it too. much to ask the Minister of Railways to give the subject a little timely attention ? We understand the holders of property in Palmerston are about petitioning the Hon. the Minister for Public Works as to the necessity for erecting the goods and passenger depot ior Palmerston in the centre of the large public square there. At present, the depot buildings are right in the middle of the street — we are not jokingIf the Government persists in adhering to the present site, the street will be wholly taken up by the rails, as the number of sidings at a depot are necessarily large, and continually occupied by unused trucks and carriages. The petitioners should have no difficulty in demonstrating the necessity there exists for a change of site, and the absurdity of placing a depot in the middle of a public street^ No doubt when the Assembly meets some hon. member of an enquiring turn of mind will " want to know you know*' why all these things should be as above described. Let us hope the Government will be prepared with a better reply than could be given now.

The City Council last night went into Committee to consider the request of its officers for an increase of salaries. The Committee's proceedings were of conrse private, but we believe that no definite decision was come to, the Councillors generally expressing a wish for time to carefully consider the matter. At the same time, however, opinions were expressed that the total amount expended in clerical salaries was amply sufficient for the work done, but that a re-arrangement of offices might be desirable, and that extra assistance was required in the Engineer's department. The matter was left over until the next ordinary sitting of the Council, when, after the conclusion of the ordinary business, its consideration will be resumed in Committee.

Light winds and fine weather, with high and rising barometer and rather low temperature, prevail over these islands to-day, excepting in the extreme South, where it is still blowing strongly from the westward, with rain. On Wednesday night here it came on to blow hard from the southward, as predicted, for a few hours, the wind" soon dying away. Yesterday and to-day have been remarkably fine, bright, and calm, with sharp frost this morning. The Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Dr. Croke, may be congratulated on the high preferment which has fallen to his share in being translated to the Irish Archepiscal see of Cashel and Enily — the third Archbishop of Ireland — in succession to the late Archbishop Patrick Leahy. Dr. Croke was only consecrated Bishop of Auckland in 1870. His rapid preferment is no doubt owing to the favorable impression conceived of his abilities by the heads of his Church in Borne. Prior to his being appointed Bishop of Auckland, Dr. Croke was, we believe, a parish priest in the diocese of which he is now Archbishop. Mr. A. R. Nicholls, postmaster, Palmerston North, has been gazetted a depositary of duty stamp 3. Notice is given in the Gazette that section 326, Okotuku district, is reserved for a Town Hall site ; and that a piece of land containing 35 perches, in the township of I Foxton, is also reserved as a site for the Foxton terminus of the Monawatu railway. At last evening's meeting of the City Council, the whole ten members, comprising the Mayor and nine Councillors were present, the first instance of such an occurrence since the Mayor has been chosen outside the Council. The Batepayers' Protection Society is to meet in the Odd Fellows' Hall this evening. The Fakir of Oolu again had a crowded honse last night, and, as usual, the entertainment provided seemed to give general satisfaction, the applause being frequent and hearty. The admirable orchestra is a special feature in the programme, and the very brief intervals between the different parts are far from tedious owing to the excellent music discoursed by Signor Gagliardi and his assistants. When the nightsoil contract was laid before the City Council last night for signatnre, attention was drawn to several clerical errors in the specification. These, it appears, were not made in the CitySolicitor's office, but were contained in the original specification, of which that attached to the contract was a faithful and literal transcript. A rumor was current at the Hutt yesterday affecting the solvency of a certain wellknown knight of the hammer, who was said to be in difficulties. We believe that the report was quite unfounded. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Lower Hutt, on Wednesday before Messrs. W. and G. Beetham, J.P.s, Edward Baker, alias Addesley Piper, charged with drunkenness, was ordered to forfeit bis bail 20s. J. Carroll, brought up on a similar charge, was. remanded until next Court day. F. potter, for committing a breach of the Highways Act by allowing a horse to stray on the road, was fined ss. and 9s. costs. The civil cases were all settled out of Court. The annual meeting of the parishioners of both St. Paul's and St. Peter's parishes will be held at the respective schoolrodjis next Monday evening, to receive reports and to elect officers for the year. The St. Peter's parishioners also will have to consider the question of rebuilding that hideous church, so long an eyesore to every person of taste. " I We learn with much pleasure that the net proceeds of the soiree recently given in aid .of the invalid member of the Typographical Society reached the very handsome snm of £41 12s 6d, a very satisfactory result both to the kind promoters and to the recipient. The Presbyterian Ladies' Industrial Society held their second sale yesterday afternoon, when a large variety of useful and ornamental goods, the work of .the ladies' busy needles, were displayed. Amongst other things offered for sale, was one which we think is deserving of special

notice. It is an excellent likeness of the Rev! J. Paterson; from the pencil of a local amateur — Mr. Andrew Lang — who presented it to the Society. We must congn&ulate Mr. Lang on the faithful manner in. which the work has been performed, every feature of the reverend gentleman j being pourtrayed with almost lifelike ] exactness. The proceeds of the sale, of goods yesterday goes towards defraying the expenses attached to the erection of a new church. The ladies have now about £100 in hand, and intend holding further sales on the second Thursday in every month. The attendance in the dress circle of the Theatre Royal last night was very good, but the lower parts of the house were sparsely occupied. "As You Like It" was repeated in a manner fully confirming the favorable opinion we expressed on its first representation. To-night Mr. and Mrs. Darrell take their benefit, when Romeo and Juliet will be played with the strongest cast ever seen on a New Zealand stage — Mrs. Darrell, Romeo ; Miss Colville, Juliet ; Mr. Darrell, Mercutio ; and Mr. Hoskins, Apothecary. A full house is a certainty. Major Bathgate's resignation of his commission in the Otago Volunteers has been accepted by the Governor. Messrs.' Jacob Joseph and Co.'s brick store in Willis-street is appointed by the Commissioner of Customs as a public bond. A scratch football match will be played on the Albion ground to-morrow afternoon, sides will be picked on the ground from all-comers at half-past two o'clock. A football match between Wellington and Wanganui will be played here on the 24th inst. The Roman Catholics at Patea are taking steps to petition the Bishop of Wellington to station a priest there. A bill now before the Victorian Parliament for dealing with the legal profession, proposes to make a serious innovation on the principle of Torrens' Act, by giving solicitors that exclusive right to draw all deeds connected with the sale of land, which was taken from them by the Trans-' fer of Land Statute. This provision is likely to be strongly opposed. The Wairarapa News has been shown a, rare specimen of our native pigeon, which was shot near Masterton on Monday last by Mr. T. Bentley, and is perfectly white — not a single colored feather being visible. It is considered a great curiosity by everyone who has seen it, and Mr. John Kelleher has secured the bird for the purpose of having it stuffed so as to be enabled to present it to the Wellington- Museum. Some ten years ago one was shot by a Maori on the West Coast, but its plumage was so much destroyed that it was useless for stuffing. If Tamihana Te Rauperaha (says a Wanganui paper) carries out his last notion, Otaki will be still more improved in appearance. ' The above mentioned chief owns a square block, containing several acres, opposite the church, and on this he proposes erecting a handsome monument to the memory of his father, at the same time improving the ground in a befitting manner. It is difficult to say whether Tamihana will carry out his idea. Nearly all Maoris are fond of building castles in the air j but if he does do it we may depend upon it that no expense will be spared to make it as good as money can make it.