NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 7356, 31 October 1887, Page 3

NOTES.

Should Sir Julius Vogel again attain to office, he might take a hint as to An Idea for the enforcement of taxation Sir Julius, from the Newton East School, Auckland, where a little girl was severely caned for not paying up charges levied for stationery ! The legality of such charges is questionable; but the method of attempted enforcement is altogether unique. It is to be hoped that the Minister of Education will investigate the matter, which, if it be as reported, is a public scandal. The Auckland Education Board have always had arbitrary ways of their own; but that they should take upon themselves to levy taxes, "beats Banagher," as our Hibernian friends would say. As reported by telegraph, it would appear that the Board issued a regulation to the effect that teachers must arrange to provide stationery for the use of the pupils, who are required to pay a small charge to cover the cost. The teachers are, however, held responsible, and have to screw the money out of the parents as best they can. The infliction of corporal punishment on the children is certainly an odd way of effecting the object; a style of education rather more free than equitable.

The Municipal Conference in Wellington have their work cut out, and, if Municipal their deliberations are guided CoiiferHire. by common sense and ordinary sagacity, much practical good may be effected. The Municipal Corporations Act is, on the whole, well conceived, and works satisfactorily, although some small amendments may with advantage be made as to detail. The most important point which requires consideration is, we think, the effect and tendency of recent legislation—especially that for which the late Government are responsible—to place an undue weight of taxation on ratepayers; whilst citizens who do not happen to be on the ratepayers' roll escape actually scot free from any contribution to local public purposes. This is an anomaly, the absurdity of which is at last being realised in the Home Country. What raison d'itn, for instance, is there that the cost of hospitals, charitable institutions, and charitable aid should fall entirely on the ratepayers ? In Hokitika it is said that for these purposes alone a rate of Is 3d in the £ will be required next year ! A thorough revision of the Rating Act is, indeed, urgently required, with a view to the more equitable adjustment of local taxatbn. Then, again, there should decidedly be an extension of the municipal franchise, from which under the existing law the flower of our population are excluded. There surely can be no practical difficulty in giving all householders, whether they actually pay the rates or not on their premises, a vote; and we would be inclined to go further and give every occupier of offices or rooms a voice in municipal affairs. We hope the Conference will consider this among other matters, and" that the question of the amalgamation of boroughs, where these are contiguous and can easily be managed from one centre, will not escape attention.

The Rev. Mr Fitchett, in his speech the other evening in the Anglican The Cat Out Synod, completely, to use a of the Bag. nautical expression, " blew the gaff" on the Bible-iu-sohools movement. He was too outspoken by half to please the active promoters of this attempt to seotarianise the State system of education. It might be a good thine;, he said in effect, to get the Bible in sohools, because " it would assuredly break down the J ireßent system. The Catholio claims must n that case be considered, and they could not then refuse other claims, and the result would be that the national Bystem would disappear, This, he thought, was nevertheless the goal to which we must be travelling." We oommend the words of Mr Fitohett to those who are inclined to be deluded by the sophistries of the advocates of the Bible In schools, who know well that once the wedge is introduced it can only be a matter of time when it is driven home.

The benign urbanity of Sir Julius Vogel towards the Government evi«A man may dently augurs mischief jto our S "mne> etc. mind, indeed, it implies that ■> that crafty tactician thinks he sees his way to upset the coach; Whatever may be the merits of the proposals which are to be submitted to-morrow in the Financial Statement, there is no doubt that much diversion is jn store for the House when Sir Julius, in'characteristic fashion,, in the course of cutting up the financial policy, whatever this may be, proceeds to poke fun at Ministers individully. He is particularly happy at this kind of badinage, and even those who the least approve can hardly help being amused. It may be recollected how years ago he landed like a bombshell in the Otago Provincial Council, and altogether upset the decorum of that hitherto staid body by selecting aa the butt of his jooose eloquence the most revered seniors who had ever been accustomed to have their words received with grave appro? bation. It was immense fun at the time, highly relished by the unwashed in the gallery, and generally by the newly-imported cosmopolitan element of the population.

The goody-goody people who cannot endure the idea that France should

The Xew ocoupy any of the Pacific islands Hebrides on which Protestant missions are established; have got their own way in respect to the New Hebrides. The Frenoh military posts established in June last year are to be abandoned, the troops removed, and the islands left under the engagements entered into between England and France in 1878, i.e., neither Power is to annex or interfere politically, but eaoh Government, may take any measure necessary to protect their own subjects. So far so good ; but it has to.be recollected that a heavy price, so far as Australasia is concerned, has to be paid for this concession. If England waived her right to objeptto France annexing the' New Hebrides, the French Government expressed their willingness to at once and for ever give up the transportation of recidivistes to the Western Pacific The colonial Governments were, we believe, unanimous In disapproving of this arrangement, and so it has oome about that France, not with a very good graoe, evacuates the New Hebrides, but will oocupy other islands, and continue to send the scum of her oriminal population to! be our near neighbors; and no doubt, as oocasion offers, they will make the colonies the field for further exploits [in murder, outrage, and robbery. The craze against any foreign Power establishing settlements in the Pacific is altogether unreasonable. The " more the merrier " we are inclined to think as regardß trade and commerce, not to speak of social intercourse .and, the. general advancement of civilisation. What on earth 'dq we in. the Australasian colonies, or what does England want with such islands as the New Hebrides—a climate in which Europeans cannot work, and in which settlement From a variety of causes must ever be precarious ?

Thk man Wagner—whose genius is not, like his namesake's, musical—who An liiffcnioiiß wassentencedtotwelve months' Unseal, imprisonment with hard labor last week, certainly hit upon an odd way of raising the wind when he cozened a fellow-patient at the Hospital out of L 6 6s under pretence of procuring the means of accomplishing a comfortable quietus of his physical troubles. Had he really obtained that which he promised, and supplied the poor man who was the victim of his fraud with poison, he would most certainly have been indicted for murder, and possibly been disposed of, to the great benefit of the Colony which he has favored with his abode. Wagner, however, was too judicious to run his neck into a halter, so he merely gave his friend, who was anxious to shuffle off this mortal coil, a little harmless powder and a bottle filled from his own cough mixture, and then, having secured the swag, levanted! Nemesis, however, tripped him, and he has now full leisure to contemplate the truth of the old adage that a man may be " too clever by half!" ■ ■•■•''■■'

Some weeks ago we hazarded the conjecture that independent investigation Wliatmlght wou i d lead t0 t he disclosure of a Expected. verv n we state of affairs in connection with the Native Office expenditure under the administration of Mr Ballance. The honorable gentleman, in his position as a Minister, seems to have displayed a lofty indifference to appropriations by Parliament, and to have indulged in unauthorised expenditure.to an unprecedented extent. Witness the L 65,000 wasted in special settlements, in addition to the sum voted by the House. Rumor now has it—and we verily believe that in this instance rumor is not far out—that in cockering up and cozening the Natives, not to speak of feeding the regular pack of worthless incapables who chronically hang about the Native Department, somewhere about LIOO.OOO has been expended without statutory, authority. There are, we anticipate, a good many little surprises of this kind which. may be sprung on the country in the Financial Statement; and there is little doubt there will be a considerable opening of the public eyes.

Legislators appear to be greatly exercised about the Law of Divorce, and The Divorce are apparently anxious to loosen law. the chains of matrimony. No doubt there are cases where the tension is hard to bear; but better so than a mistake in the opposite direction. Last session two Divorce Bills were introduced—one in the Council by Mr Reynolds, and another in the House by Mr Samuel, There was considerable similarity between these Bills; only that of Mr Samuel was more carefully elaborated. Both w ere sacrificed in the sessional massacre of the in-, nocents. Mr Samuel has, however, reintroduced his Bill, and its provisions are of a serious nature, demanding public attention. It proposes that the Supreme Court should be empowered to dissolve a marriage on the petition of either husband or wife for any of the following causes : Continuous desertion during three years or upwards, or continued habits of drunkenness during two years, coupled with habitual cruelty on the part of the husband or neglect to supply the wife with the means of support; or habitual neglect of domestic duties on the part of the wife, and having rendered herself unfit to discharge them by reason of similar habits. Criminal conduct is to be another reason for granting a divorce—a sentence of seven or more years imprisonment passed on either husband or wife enabling the other party to the matrimonial contract to obtain divorcement; as also may the wife if her husband has by frequent convictions for crime left her without the means of support. Convictions of an assault, inflicting bodily harm, or of having attempted to murder the petitioner, or of assaults with intent to do grievous bodily harm—one or either is constituted a justification for seeking and granting dissolution of marriage. Then arises a point which has been a subject of discussion. As the law stands, adultery by the man, if unaccompanied with cruelty, has not been held sufficient cause for granting a divorce, though it has been if committed by the woman. Mr Samuel's Bill proposes to place both sexes on an equal footing in this respect. It is a very vexed question and cannot well be debated in the columns of a newspaper. Finally, if the respondent is hopelessly insane and has been confined in a lunatic asylum in the Colony of New Zealand for the space of three years " continuously," it is to be made a plea for divorce. A savingclause provides that if, in the opinion of the Court, the petitioner's habits or conduct have conduced to the wrong complained of, the petition may be dismissed. This is in accordance with the time-honored maxim of common law that no man shall take advantage because of his own wrong. It will be seen that this is a very important question ; and it is much to be hoped that it will not be carelessly or negligently allowed to become law without grave consideration.

The recent elections pointed very distinctly the moral that reform is needed

Electoral »n the matter of the registration Registration, of eleotors. The principle of

the present law—a very proper principle—is that every facility Bhould be afforded to qualified persons who desire fo place their names on the roll. Unfortunately, however, there is no .effective provision against stuffing the rolls on the eve of an eleotion. Personß are allowed to send in claims up to the very issue of the writs, and a conspicuous abuse nas thus crept in, The registration offioers are flooded with applications'at the very last moment, and have neither time nor opportunity to inquire into the validity ol the claims, whloh are, as a fact, obliged to be admitted in default of legal objections on the part of these offioers or of electors. In Dunedln it was notorious that the residential f ranohise was made the medium of a large number of dummy votes, and there is a general impression that much the same thing went on in all large centres of population where identification is not always possible. What seems to be required is that in the case, at all events, of a general election, a day antecedent' to the issue of the writs should be fixed by proclamation or otherwise on which the electoral rolls should be closed to new applicants. Time would then be given to examine into the validity of claims, and electors would have the chance of objecting. . ,

The Dunedin Protectionists must be very

sanguine men if they think to A Patent force the hand of Ministers by More, the petition which they propose to present to the House through Dr Fitchett. It is, of oourse, interesting to know that the looal manufacturers, sweaters, and employers of female and child labor are of opinion that " the. non-revision of the Tariff this session will cripple legitimate trade (!), encourage illegitimate' speculation (?), and intensify the existing depression"; but whether this opinion, so judiciously expressed, without any support of argument or fact, will influence Parliament one whit is more than questionable. Of course it is a nuisance, and moreover a dead losa, to those who worked the oracle at the Dunedin Central election that the constitution of their respective businesses as monopolies should be indefinitely postponed, but we apprehend they must content themselves with still looking forward to the happy future, when largely-enhanced prioes will pile up their profits, and they will be able to command the labor market on their own terms. It is known how liberal these are likely to be,

The * Philadelphia Press' thus portrays the evils of adulteration in the

~ „_„«,„„ United States :—" The most AdiUteration. dangcroua adulteration of the day is not in those instances where the purchaser is cheated in strength or in, quantity. A child Bleeps nowadays in a room the wall-paper of which with arsenic battern renders the air deadly, and whose window-curtains of lead and arsenic dye load the air with death; the flushed and fevered sufferer wakes to draw on brown and yellow stockings. dangerous with picric dyes ; puts on a hat whose inner lining has been bfeanbed by.a cheap but noxious p»o-' cess) hugs a wax doll whose complexion has been colored by another soluble and noxious •■ dye ; drinks a glass of milk which impure water has deprived of a fifth of jits strength, and has charged with the, germs of disease; slips a bun into the lunch-basket, in which chromate of lead has been stirred bythe economical baker; starts for school -sucking a stick of candy which owes its tint to Soheele's green ; and when the unfortunate victim of these daily dangers, sowiv thick in thj} path of a civilised child,' srtccumbs to. the manifold poisons, the parents mourn over the obscure providence of God, which removes from among us the young, in all the opening vigor of childhood." How do westand in New Zealand as regards public poisoning ? For how much sickness is not our water supply, delivered in an unfil'tered state ''and often teeming 1 'with orgftnio :

matter, resposible ? Is there any real cheek whatever on the adulteration of common articles of food and drink ?

A concert in aid fof the school funds was held at the Saudymouut School on Frid ly evening. There was a large attendance, a number being unable to gain admission. The programme was a long and varied one. Mr M'Kay, chairman of the School Committee, presided, and those who kindly assisted were—Misses Larnach, Greig, Dick, Landreth, Ferguson, Riddell, Matheson, Weir, Messrs Dick, Farquhar, Drew, Riddell, Rutherford, M'Gregor, and Fletcher.