Evening post. THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1876.

Evening Post, Volume XIII, Issue 10, 13 January 1876, Page 2

Evening post. THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1876.

The fact that the meeting of the City Council yesterday was a special one for the settlement of the Wharf management question, precluded any other business being brought forward, but it is to be hoped that at its next sitting some further information will be afforded to the ratepayers as to the financial condition of the Corporation and the state of the accounts. As we have before pointed out, these accounts, according to the Act, should be printed, and a notice published fourteen days before the final meeting of the Council to pass them, to the effect ! that the said accounts are open for the inspection of the ratepayers at the Town Clerk's office. Moreover, every ratepayer is entitled to be supplied on application free of charge with a printed copy of the accounts. Why the members of the City Council have hitherto set this salutary provision of the law at defiance, it is difficult to understand. The object of its enactment was to enable the ratepayers to have the fullest opportunity of examining the accounts, and of satisfying themselves as to the manner in which the city revenue is dealt with. As the case stands this opportunity ia denied them, and an attempt is being made, in defiance of the Auditors, to get the accounts in their present inaccurate and confused state passed by the Council. In the complication which has arisen there is little prospect of the ratepayers being allowed to see any copies of the accounts at all. The Auditors will nob pass them because they are inaccurate and do not balance, while the City Council apparently will not publish them in their present shape. We object strongly to this position of affairs being allowed to continue. The accounts prepared by the Town Clerk were laid by him before the Council, as purporting to be an accurate statement of the financial position of the Corporation, and should therefore be printed and placed before the ratepayers forthwith. If, as the Auditors assert, it is an inaccurate statement, incorrectly drawn and incapable of being balanced, let it be printed all the same, so that the ratepayers may be able to realise to the fullest extent the state of muddle and confusion to which the city accounts have been brought, through carelessness and incapacity. There is no saying when the difference between the Auditors and the Town Clerk will bo investigated and the accounts placed in oi-der. Let the ratepayers be supplied with copies of the accounts in the meantime, and the adjustment of the questions in dispute as to inaccurate bookkeeping be effected later on. As a matter of fact, •vf* know perfectly well why the accounts are not published. -It is simply because j they are in some portions so incorrectly j drawn that the Council is ashamed to lay them before the ratepayers. We believe that when they are published, the ratepayers will find much cause for dissatisfaction in them. Some of the statements and figures are absolutely inexplicable. For example, in the accounts for the year ending 30th September, 1874, the estimated value of the Water Works, as an asset, is stated at £27, GO9. In the accounts for the present year, the "capital expenditure" made during the twelve months following the foregoing valuation, is given as being £3336, which would make the present value of the Water Works £30,945. Yet, in face of this, the accountant has actually set down the value in the statement of assets and liabilities at £35,967, or £5022 more than the proper amount. We shall afterwards go fully into the details of these accounts ; meantime, it may be said that they bear out everything that we have said from the first as to their inaccuracy, confusion, and general imperfectness. It is quite clear that "the permanent services of a skilful accountaut wiE be required to set them right, and keep them so. It is to be hoped that when the committee to which the whole matter has been referred brings up its report, it will contain some practical recommendations for the reform of a system, which is day by day getting the Corporation accounts into deeper confusion. It will be well also

that the committee should have its report ready to lay before the Council at its next meeting. j

' We commend the following remarks by the Timaru Herald to our Wanganui friends, who, under a lively expectation of favours to come, have recently elected Sir Julius Vogel as their representative in the Assembly. Our contemporary says :—: — "If there is one thing more than another which is characteristic of Sir Juliu3 as a politician, it is his freedom from local control, his utter contempt for the particular place which he nominally represents. What did he ever do for the Otago goldfields ? Asja rule the goldfields members are a distinct class in the house ; not only by their manifest personal inferiority, but more especially by the rigid lines of demarcation by which they confine their politics — such politics ?— to log-roll-ing for their constituencies. But Vogel never did anything of the sort. He took just as much interest in kauri gum as in gold — that is to say, he took no interest in either ; and with singular magnanimity, jwas just as ready to sacrifice his own electors as any other member's, in the furtherance of his own schemes. It snited his purpose to fondle Auckland ; so after ignoring all his old southern associations in the most heartless way, he cut the connection altogether, and was elected with great rejoicings for Auckland City West. How that connection prospered is too well known. After continuing for three years, with steadily decreasing warmth, it ended abruptly by the electors hissing and howling him out of the colony, while he flung back at them jeers and reproaches, telling them he would not ask them for their votes again, and that he hoped they would treat their next member better. "

In answer to a formal enquiry made to him on the subject, the Under Secretary for Public Works has replied officially, " that the line to the Upper Hutt will probably be opened for passenger traffic on 22nd January, and for general traffic on Ist February, but although these dates are now contemplated, they cannot be stated for certainty, so much depending on the state of the weather in the meanwhile." In connection with this subject, it is to be noted that when the line is opened, the first morning train will go through to the Upper Hutt, and the last train at night from the Upper Hutt will conic right through to Wellington. An arrangement like this will prove of the greatest advantage to the public, alike in Wellington and the Wairarapa, as by connecting with the coaches it will be possible for a city man to visit the district and return to Wellington on the same day ; while in the case of a Wairarapa settler visiting town the same convenience would be afforded.

The experiment of managing the wharf by a sub-committee of the Council placed over the Wharfinger and other officials to be appointed, is one about the success of which there is room for some doubt. The sub-committee is to consist of the Mayor and two Councillors, one of whom retires monthly, to be replaced by another, until each in turn has had a trial of the position. The plan is scarcely likely to work well in practice. In the first place, the present Mayor knows as much about wharf management as a Hindoo does about skating, and none of his associates in the sub-committee will be allowed to remain there long enough to become familiar with the business. Then to perform the task of supervision efficiently, the members of the committee would require to devote an amount of time to it which they might not be either able or willing to afford. Altogether, the plan is a strangely complicated one. First there is the wharfinger, under the supervision of the sub- committee, which itself is supervised by the Wharf Committee ; the latter again, being responsible to the Council as a body. The plan may work, but we are rather dubious about it. A rumour was current in town to-day that Major M'Barnett was dead, but we are happy to be able, on the authority of a telegram received from Bull's this afternoon, to state that there is no foundation for the report. "Larrikinism," on the part of would-be fast young men, possessed of more money 'than brains, received a pretty sharp lesson in the Police Court to-day, where the four individuals who had been misconducting themselves in the Theatre last night were smartly fined for their vulgar vagaries. When people of this class learn that to annoy respectable people in a place of public amusement may subject them to a night in the cells, a smart fine in the morning, and honorable mention in the newspapers, they will probably behave a little more decorously in future. t Mr. William Archer writes to us in an aggrieved strain, to complain that nothing has been done in the interests either of the creditors or the shareholders of "the Welj lington Co-operative Baking Society," of j which he is, or was, one of the committee. He states that there has only been one general meeting of the committee, of which he says he and other 3 did not receive notice, and for this neglect he in some way appears to blame Mr. Moody. Finally, he declares the business — we suppose the baking business — is still being carried on in an unsatisfactory manner, and "that there still remains a query," whatever that may mean. Our correspondent has evidently a grievance, only, somehow, his indignation makes him a trifle incoherent and chaotic in his way of stating it. Perhaps Mr. Moody, now that he has retired from the political arena, will clear up this little matter, and pacify Mr. Archer. | A meeting of the Star Cricket Club is convened for to-morrow evening at 7.30 at the Pier Hotel. We wish to direct attention to a sale of valuable business allotments in the township of Masterton, which is advertised in our present issue to take place on sth February. The sections are from a quarter to four acres each in size, and comprise some of the best building sites ever offered in that flourishing township. A lithographed map of the sections may ; bo seen at this office. A petty juror named John Robinson waa fined 40s by his Honor the Chief Justice, this morning, for not being in attendance when his name was called. Mr. Robinson afterwards attended and explained the cause of his absence, and the penalty was not enforced. A special notice has been displayed at the Post Office during the last? few days, cautioning the public that late letters sent on board steamers without the proper late fee will be surcharged on arrival, and that Suez late letters similarly put on board are liable to be detained in Melbourne or sent back again, as New Zealand stamps do not pass in Australia. At the Resident Magistrate's Court at Masterton last week James Hughes was charged by constable M 'Kenzie with having on the 31st December last assaulted Catherine Mutrie, a girl about twelve years old. As the evidence was not sufficient to prove the intention to commit a more serious offence than a common assault, the prisoner was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labor. The p.s. Mauawatu will make a moonlight excursion round the harbor on Saturday next, at 7.45 p.m. There will be an excellent band on board, and every preparation will be made to ensure a pleasant trip. It i 3 sure to be largely taken advantage of if the night prove fine.

The second contest between the Treasury and the Audit departments will take place on Saturday afternoon next. This time it will be with the rifle, and as there are a number of well-known shots, the contest is looked to with considerable interest. It will be remembered that on the former occasion in the boat race the Treasury was victorious, but, judging from the names given below, the Audit stand a very good chance this time of turning the tables on their opponents. The following are the teams selected to represent each department : — Treasury — Messrs. Batkin, McCredie, Eyton, Meacham, Smith Broughton, Taylor and Davies. Audit — Messrs. Anderson, Webb, Halse, O'Connor, Back, Roskruge, Palliser, and Churton. As showing how people sometimes come down in the world, it may be stated that Baron De Thierry was the other day summoned in the Auckland R.M. Court for payment of a small account of £4 4s, and judgment given against him. The unhappy Baron is evidently out at elbows, because he had to ask the Court to allow him to pay the amount by instalments, his plea being that he couldn't get in money due to him by natives. How are the mighty fallen ! Fancy a personage who once proclaimed himself King of New Zealand now only able to pay off a paltry debt at the rate of 10s a week. The prizes for Saturday's sports were duly paid at the meeting of the Athletic Club last night, at the Pier Hotel. The Club also resolved to give prizes for swimming races at the Thorndon Baths, on the 27th instant. The interesting and impressive religious ceremony of the reception of two young ladies as sisters into the Order of Our Lady of Mercy will be celebrated at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral this evening at 7 o'clock. No one will bejidmitted to be present except by tickets, obtainable at the door, in return for which a contribution will be required in aid of the funds of the Order, such contribution to be either 2s 6d or Is, according to the part of the Cathedral in which the spectators desire to take their places. At the Theatre Royal last night Mr. Darrell's clever historical drama, "The Struggle for Freedom," was repeated very successfully. It will be given to-night for the last time, and should draw another full house, its intrinsic attractions being great, irrespective of. the splendid scenery by which it is illustrated. To-morrow evening Shakespeare's celebrated play, " The Merchant of Venice," will be produced, with Mrs. Darrell as Portia, and Mr. Perrier as Shylock. Mr. Hastwell announces additional coaches to run as soon as the railway to the Upper Hutt is opened. The soiree given at the Odd Fellow's Hall last night by the Karori Cricket Club went off exceedingly well. There was a good attendance ; the music by Mr. Cemino's band was excellent, and the refreshments by Mr. Dowsett were of capital quality. Dancing was kept up until a late hour, and all appeared to enjoy themselves thoroughly. It is intended that the Karori Cricket Club fshall leave on their Wanganui tour early next month. Anotb er soiree will be given, if possible, towards the end of the month, to raise the further sum required to defray the expense of the trip. It is rather an unfortunate thing to have an uncommon name. A juryman, who rejoiced in the name of Stephen Sincock Jacker, happened to be rather late in putting in an appearance, which necessitated the yelling of his name both inside and outside the Court. Insicle the Court the name was called out correctly, but in the lobby it underwent a slight change, * and became Stephen Silcock Jack. Outside the Court altogether it suddenly was transformed into Stephen Incoclc' Jackass. The intense agony experienced on hearing his name mutilated in this way may be better imagined than described. According to the Wairarapa Standard, it appears that a somewhat serious contretemps marks the late election, and has up to the present time prevented the Returning Officer declaring Messrs. Bunny and Andrew duly elected. It will be remembered that Mr. A. Hathaway was appointed deputy returning officer for Alfredton, a district which is approached by a long and tortuous bush track. It is reported that Mr. Hathaway missed his way and did not reach Alfredton in time to open the polliug-booth at the proper hour. On Sunday last, we understand, he returned to Masterton. We believe the Governor has power to correct an accidental informality of this kind in an election, and probably it will not result in any considerable amount of inconvenience to the successful candidates. The Timaru Herald is very severe, and not unjustly so, on the condition in which telegrams often are received from the office. The following is given as a specimen of an unusually well- written one : — "The following ifceries |brought (blotch) the Laiaioa from Hobaiton cable news london 29th nov the Bundoir mails have been delivered — a colleson have occuued between the somerset borned fir sydnz and the Oatty saik the litter vissel was crmpled to atum dock." The Herald further says :—": — " We noticed "the other day a peculiar telegraphic mistake in the Otago Guardian, a very carefully printed paper as a rule. It was there stated that " Scufflicnia has declared war against Turkey." In our transcript of that message the bellegerent state was called Herzegovina, which is no doubt correct ; but, taken merely as a name, we own we like Scufflincia best. In a recent issue we made a Chinese copy of the name of a ship, though we doubted at the time whether the Sasallarou was on any British or Foreign register. The vessel turns out to be the Schiehallion. Asking for an egg and getting a scorpion is annoying enough ; but it is not so bad. as paying for Schiehallion and receving Sasallarou."