NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 7641, 18 June 1888, Page 4

NOTES.

"I should be most proud and happy if I could think that the DevonA Temporary shire Club, which was instituItounion. t e d and created at a moment

of depression in the fortunes of the Liberal party, and which contributed as much rs it might to the accession of that party to power—l should be rejoiced if I could think that the club might add to What it was able to do some ten years ago the still greater honor of contributing to a reconciliation of those difficulties which unfortunately divide the Liberal party." These words were spoken by Lord Hartington at a banquet given on April 9 to Mr Chamborlain, at the Devonshire Club, by Gladstonian and Unionist Liberals alike. Lord Granville was in the chair, and, by a skilful avoidance of controversial subjects, " all went merry as a marriage bell." The words which we have quoted from Lord Hartington's speech were received with prolong«d cheering ; and, guarded _as they undoubtedly are, those words are important, in that they express (what the speaker had not expressed for some time back) the belief in the continued fundamental unity of the Liberal party. It is this which distinguishes Lord Hartington's position from that of Mr Goschen, and which haa kept him, despite much pressure, from formally joining the Tory Government. No doubt this attitude is actuated rather by a devoted affection to the old tradition of the Whig party than by any strong conviction of the differences which separate that party from the more advanced Conservatives ; but it is an attitude in the very tentativeness of which there is a certain patriotic independence which may be of considerable service to tho country. Lord Hartington docs not want to replace Mr Gladstone in power, but he is equally averse to making the Conservative Government too strong. It is impossible to withhold from him a certain admiration, and it is worthy of note that his utterances invariably evince a laudable tone of personal loyalty to his old comrades, for the admittance of which Mr Bright's heart does not seem sufficiently large. As regards Ireland, however, it would be useless to expect any really effective result from the temporary reunion at the Devonshire Club. It is too late for a policy of give and take as regards Home Rule.

It was hardly in the " eternal fitness of things " that the Hon. Mr Oliver should have been selected Economy! to re p resent New Zealand at the Australasian Conference re Chinese imirigration; but, as he did not arrive until all the business was done, it does not very much matter, and we will not discuss his comparative qualifications with those of other ex-Ministers whose services were available. There is, however, one point in connection with his mission which decidedly calls for notice in this era of retrenchment and close economy. The hon. gentleman, entrusted with the views of the Cabinet on the subject of Chinkies, and then invested vicariously with Ministerial dignity, could not condescend to travel from Dunedin to Invercargill by the ordinary express—thus allowing the common herd of passengers to come " between the wind and his nobility—" but must needs have a special train,' starting about half-an-hour in advance. There was no pretence of saving time, since the steamer did not leave the Bluff until the next morning. It was just a piece of arrogant extravagance, utterly indefensible and inexcusable. The particular cost may not have been very material; but it is the aggregate of such entirely unnecessary expenditure which renders the working railways unprofitable, and the principle is altogether bad. It would be well that the question should be asked in the House: Who was responsible for this special train, and consequent waste of public money ?

The Municipal Corporations Ant Amendment Bill purports, inter alia,

Those *o make the attempt to regu(las Meters, late the eccentricities of gas meters. It will be a wonderful measure indeed if it succeeds in this, since gas meters, like comets, are subject to no fixed laws, except perhaps that they are invariably progressive. No one ever heard of a meter which registered less gas than waß consumed. These machines are clearly an immoral agency, in that they tend to promote extravagance and destroy faith in frugality. The householder who practises the strictest economy in the illumination of his establishment invariably finds himself bowled out by his meter, which records a regular blaze, and finds that his neighbor, who burns gas without stint, has comparatively a smaller account! This is among the things which nobody can understand. The office of gas inspector is contemplated by the Bill ; and a nice life, we should say, such an officer is likely to lead, since it would be his duty to examine and test the correctness of any meters when requested to do so by the consumer-who is to pay, by the way, a fee ot five shillings for the examination. A nice littlo income would be likely to accrue, we fancy, if all who complain of their meters called in tho inspector.

There are three members of the House of Commons at present who had seats in it when the Qucisn ascended the throne. The oldest is the Right lion. Charles Pelham Villiers, M. P. for the Southern Division of Wolverhampton. Tho "father" of the House, Mr Christopher Talbot, however, took his seat in 1830, five years before Mr Villiers ; while Mr Gladstone, the third of the trio, entered Parliament in 1832, as member for Newark. Too .much a man of cuffs and collars, from the street vagrant's point of view—the poUocman.