NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 7403, 24 December 1887, Page 2

NOTES

Tilt Government have taken the right course in regard to the Bill The Olngo under which it was proposed to Central, authorise large concessions of land to-a'synqkate "for the completion to the projected distance .of the Otago Central. It was a manifest, defect in the Bill that there was no provision lor the constructing oy/jr the porjs tion of the line completed, and a variety of detail connected with what would bo the relative positions of the Government and the Company was not attempted to be grappled with, the Attorney-General has promised to sketch out what he considers to bo a suitable Bill and support it next ißcssion.. Intheflieantime the work will be progressing under the vote taken this session. Mr Pyke must console himself that his hour of assured success is onljr deferred.

Tub Supplementary Estimates are always a caution to. the economical rcTho Way. the former. There is indeed a sort Hone} GboS. of analogy between the Estimates oh the whole and an expurgated edition of some in parts equiyocal book with all. the improper passages in ah appendix ! The Estimates are fottght over each session, and criticised perhaps item by item ; and when the Houso is fairly sick of the, whole business, down come the Supplementary Estimates at the very •eleventh hoar, chock full of items more or less suspicious, or which certainly, when business was in full swing, would have challenged very hot criticism. On the present occasion we find votes proposed in aid of the Imperial Institute and the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition : the former a gigantic piece of humbug, got up for the glorification of "eminent; colonists" who permanently reside—mostly on their pensions—in the Home Country; the latter intended as a big advertisement of the advantages of Protection to Victoria< What* we should like to know, Can be the use of New Zealand exhibiting .in Melbourne products the import .of .which is practically prohibited? There is the considerable sum of 1*4,000 for carrying on the Mines department until Match 31. Does thia mean that the farceof perigrinatory lectures on metallurgy, mineralogy,'and amateur chemistry is to be continued ? The money can be saved, we suggest, by circulating on the' goldfields copies of the Dunedln newspapers containing the letters of a certain learned professor, Who therein exposes the whole secrets, of the craft, including, If we nndertand him aright, the finding of the "philosopher's stone." ; Supplementary Estimates, we suppose, are a necessity. They certainly resemble necessity in knowing no law, nor in many instances either rhyme or reason.

Sik W. FitzriEßiEß* is likely, it appears, to have a grievance somewhat " pu >' akin to that of the distinguished «?£"' Patriot and placeman, Dr Pollen. " , Whilst enjoyiDg the liberal salary attached to the office of Speaker of the Legislative Codncil, the New Zealand ttlysees has for years at the same time drawn the handsome pension which he is entitled to as a retired Civil servant. He reslgried, however, the Speakership when absent from bis duties in England, and on his reappointment finds that be comes nnder the Pension Act, 1884, which provides that any person in the receipt of a pension, who shall be appointed to any salaried office, shall cease to draw his pension except to an amount (if any) necessary to bring his salary up to the full amount thereof. Wo do not pity Sir William in the least. It is most unreasonable that any man should draw from the Treasury a pension and a salary at the same time; and if there are any other individuals thus sweating the taxpayers, the sooner the little game is stopped by statute the better. As to Sir William going to London at his own expense to attend the Colonial Conference, it may be presumed he had his reasons; and those who, know the honorable gentleman will not believe but that these were weighty ones. Besides, did he not, in company with the courtly Agent-General, bask in the actual smiles of Royalty, besides being a favored guest at the tables of aristocratic Toryism. It was a little shabby, however, of the Stout-Vogel Ministry not to pay Sir William's travelling expenses, considering that he was an accredited delegate to the Conference.

Sm George Grey, if really in earnest, is

the most unreasonable of men. Sir Ueorge On Thursday evening he pitched Mare's Rest. into tho Premier because he did not produce, or allow to be produced, the pairs on the Naval Defence Bill, and maintained, oddly enough, that the position taken by those members who had paired would decide those who remained in the House as to the course they should take on tho Bill. Sir George must knowjrery well that the Premier has no more power than he has himself to produce the list of pairs, even were it possible for such a list to be made up before a division is taken. Pairing is merely a system of negative proxies. By mutual agreement a vote is neutralised on each side of a question, and the relative numbers on the division are precisely the same as if both members were present. In the. House* of Commons the division into distinct political parties facilitates this arrangement, and members pair with each other not only on particular questions or for one sitting, but for several weeks or even months at a time. There is, however, no Parliamentary recognition of the practice, and it is therefore condncted by individual members or arranged by the whips. This is the case also in our own Parliament, but there is so much recognition that the pairs on important questions are appended to the division list.

It is somewhat Julius

n- .Vogel, in .recently—quite Sir Julius in a recently—adopted role of an . Ken Bole, economic reformer. Whatever , .may have, been his virtues and qualities as a statesman, economy has certainly never been one of, them, and it must have surprised friends aiid foes alike to find him active in Committee of Supply, proposing reductions on various items, and keeping up a running criticism on the proposed expenditure. It is somewhat, we fear, a case of

Once when the Devil was Kick, The Devil a saint would bo;

And the lattor lines, of the verse would, there is little doubt, be equally applicable if Sir Julius recovered politicallyt-

But when the, Devil got well, ~.-,. The devil a saint wag be. There is, however, one thing to. be said about the ex-Treasurer: he never troubled himself much about the Estimates. TheHouße might take them- or leave them, but the money waß spent all the same ! There will be no real check upon unauthorised expenditure iiritir some Minister is impeached.

The speech of Lord" Salisbury a few days ago,: at Derby, read with the Is it address of Prince Wilhelm, the Teace? eldest son of the Crown Prince

of Germany, to the Hussar regiments at Berlin, is fraught' with dire portent as to the maintenance of peace in Europe. 1 Lord J9aUM>aty stated in effect that the, diplomatic information in possession of the Government did not point to an immediate European war, but hie believed hostilities "would commence without any warning. The immediate danger appear to be an attack by Russia on the Austrian and German frontiers, where shjß has been massing* large 'battftlionß, Prince Wilhelm; alluding to the present state of European affairs, declaredHhat the times were grave and the future uncertain. iThes£ utterances of the English Prime Minister, and -the'heir'toJthe Imperial throne of Germany, have not been- "made I due' sense of responsibility, aftd todicate'j wp fear, f v,ery., imminent danger;so the disr turbance of peace. The' mere allusion from suttfi Bourcea i o tjje possibilities of' war; ia very significant, ''."'" . : j

In a recent, issue-of ' Ija Reforma Medica,' : . -iiianviltalianmonthlyj there is a Take Heed ;r*markabie paper by Dr Peracr Troiu-Weps **** on the'fitferencei between criminals and 1 law-abiding ;Bfc» sons; as' exhibited/by their Walk.' 'Thf> author a number of to deterrojjufi'the cpjiditibns rprogressiph, ,that in#ofl,peoplesty right) pace isjlonger- than jhe Jeffc,; ,thfe lateral separation of the right foot, from thfe median line is greater <t>n the right side than on the left.. rßntthW all. •' s l)p Peraooma not pity shows how to distinguish criminals in general: but,'has laid the begin'r nines of the differential diagnosis various sprts, of (fi thieves 1 Ii) those who to appropriate a pronouncedrwidening, of the;baßeof fftpt port, together with a very long step. " (2) Assaßainßri In those iwho have murjier in their hearts, the base of support is not as wide as it is in thieves, since the Wangle lormed-by the axis of the foot with the median tin* ! is less obtuse; but sinistrality (tendency

interesting character-and if fine criminal could be always indncedfcp walk before the honest inan.jinstead of fottawing him, as he usually does, they tint also to a practical use. for then gs*jd -citizens could diagnose a rocue by hb*ie%B.; We hope the police will take ithegtet aid have an eye to the i street pavefoente now that the members aretwcE from Wellington i