Evening Post. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1877.

Evening Post, Volume XV, Issue 213, 11 September 1877, Page 2

Evening Post. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1877.

The debate on the question of appointing a committee to enquire into all dealings with native lands by landed proprietors in Hawke's Bay, has at length come to an end, by the previous question being carried. It has been a debate unparalleled in New Zealand Parliamentary annals for its rancour, bitterness, and ferocity. During its progress, political opponents assailed each other with a malignity which has created breaches that will probably never be altogether closed up. The usual checks and limits of Parliamentary debate were, in some instances, utterly disregarded, and notably so by Mr. Okmond. That member of the Ministry in his recent speech aimed at two things. He attempted to clear himself from certain imputations which had been cast upon him, and then to rake up every possible charge, possessing even the color of probability, against Sir George Grey and Mr. Rebs. This plan of proceeding has brought Mr. Ormond to shame, discomfiture, and tribulation. In some small degree he explained away a portion of the charges made against him. But there were some things which could not be explained away, and, as the debate progressed, Air. Ormond's opponents brought out additional disagreeable facts which told heavily against him. On the whole, it may be said that Mr. Ormond has not come well out of the discussion. He has neither completely exonerated himself, nor has he been able to justify the serious charges he made against Sir Geokge Grey. In this matter Mr. Ormond committed a serious mistake, which he certainly would have avoided by remembering the adage " that those who'live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Now that this business is over, and Ministers and hon. members have said the very worst they can of each other, people are beginning to ask the question, how long is this kind of bickering and wrangling to last? For political opponents to tear to shreds the reputations of each other is, to some extent, an interesting and exciting spectacle to those onlookers who watch and listen to the wordy fray. Still the thing palls on repetition, and the people of this Colony arc getting tired at the endless flood of angry talk. The House has been in session for nearly two months, and little or no practical work has yet been done. A large number of important subjects have still to be dealt with, on which immediate legislation is imperatively necessary, and yet if the present state of affairs continues, it is much to be feared that most of the bills now before the House will not be passed at all during the present session. Nor does the consolation exist that the Assembly will now set earnestly to real and practical work. Apparently the Opposition desires to have another trial of strength with the Government. If they do entertain this wish, it would be well that the trial should take place as soon as possible on a direct motion of " No Confidence." Any change from the present state of things, which would at least partially put an end to continued wrangling aud admit of practical work being taken in hand, would be hailed with general satisfaction.

A case which was heard in the Police Court yesterday calls for some comment. A respectable workingman went out with his wife on Saturday night, was foolish enough to take overmuch drink, and so became intoxicated. It is alleged that he had been a teetotaller for nine months, and the temporary indulgence had a strong effect upon him. At nil events, he is alleged to have struck his wife, and also to have struck the constable who took him to the station. Probably, in his case, to bo locked up and afterwards fined, was a fitting Eunishment for his folly and violence. But is wife, poor woman, was hardly and unjustly dealt with. She went to the station and endeavored to get her husband bailed out, so that she could take him home to his family. Probably she knew the good points of the man who had struck her, and allowed for the fact that the blow was owing to the drink. Anyway, some wives are tenderhearted and forgiving, and even a policeman might have dealt considerately with the poor woman, who only wanted to get her husband , home. What the police did was to lock her up from Saturday night to Sunday morning, when she was released on bail, and afterwards, also, to place her in the dock on a charge of having been drunk and disorderly. This charge was shown by evidence to be entirely without foundation, consequently it was dismissed. The poor woman said she was excited about her husband — as well she might be — but two respectable witnesses who saw her immediately before the occurrence swore >that she was perfectly sober. Now, it is clear that in this matter the police acted harshly, illegally, and without proper discretion. They had no right whatever to lock the woman up, and we are by no means sure that she has not got good grounds to raise an action for false imprisonment. A little judicious remonstrance would probably have induced tho woman to go home, and leave her husband to sleep himself sober. But to lock a woman up because she showed the true instincts of a wife in seeking to shelter and protect her erring husband, was a monstrous I proceeding. We think the police should be supported in maintaining the peace and suppressing disorderly acts, but in a case like the present, they clearly overstepped the limits of j duty. It is the occurrence of cases like this which tends to increase that feeling of dislike towards the police force which already, to a" certain extent, exists on the part of the work- , ing classes. The latter think, and not altogether without some show of reason, that the police sometimes display a harshness and tyranny in dealing with the humbler classed of society which they would not dare to attempt in the case of those whose position afforded them ample means of obtaining redress. We should liko to see a police constable collar and " run in " a J.P. or an M.HIR. who happened to be perambulating the streets at night in a state of " tightness. * The police officer in such cases judiciously does not see the offender. But woe betide, that young carpenter John Smith, or his blacksmith friend Bui Styles, if they get overtaken by that last pot of colonial. They will be "run in" fast enough.

The proposed juvenile exhibition at Bp'larat is, we believe, the first of its kind. The idea is a good one, calculated, as it is, to stir up a generous feeling of rivalry and emulation in the youthful mind, which may in after years be productive of great results, not only to the man himself, but to the whole world. The exhibition is to embrace everything in the shape of juvenile work, from the dressed dolls of the little girl, to the model engines of the young mechanic. Prizes will also he given for poems and literary composition, drawings, penmanship, science, &c.; apd it is even proposed to add a singing competition (both between single vocalists and between Sundayschools) to the programme. In its way, the Ballarat exhibition ought to be a great success. But; in promoting anything of this nature, a more successful result would probably be

obtained if each colony had its own exhibitiou. Few exhibits from New Zealand would be sent to Ballarat, but if a like exhibition were got up in this colony, we feel sure that the results would be most" gratifying. In great undertakings such as the Paris, London, and Philadelphia exhibitions, it is absolutely essential that every nation should contribute its quota ; but when the exhibits are limited to a certain class, produced by a certain class, localization is one of the grand essentials of success.