THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1881, 17 August 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1874.

The great debate of the present session is to be commenced to-day in the Assembly on the resolntbns introduced by Mr Yogel for the abolition of Provincialism in the North Island, the making of it one Province, and the sweeping away of all the cumbrous and expensive systems of f^incial Government. The continuance of the I>ree*,<vt^snbsidised system of Government in the Noio, Island would cvi dently not have been disturbed, at least this session, had not the Snpo-i«i.» dent of- Wellington "waxed fat and kicked. " He certainly drove the Premier to make the statements he did as to the income and expenditure in the Provinces of the North. Island— that, for instance, the whole revenue of the Provinces during the last three years only amounted, including their land revenue, to £448,000, while the Colony contributed in one way or other to their support, within the same period L 2,387,000., 387,000. There is not a doubt that this immense amount of money has been squandered to uphold the Provincial form of Government, and it is scarcely possible to realise that the knowledge of this fact, big with importance to the whole of the Provinces in the Middle Island, was just made known to Mr Yogel when the Superintendent of Wellington opposed his Forests Bill. He must have been acquainted with it all along, in his capacity of Colonial Treasurer, but he has simply "bided his time" to effect a very large and highly necessary change in the form of government of the North Island, a change which he advocated many years ago— adding to it that of financial separation of the two Islands— before' he occupied his present position. The whole responsibility of the present strife rests with the Superintendent of Wellington. His speech was illogical in argument, inaccurate as to facts, and misleading in its conclusions. In reality it was very much worse than this. Throughout, he endeavored to impress an idea upon the minds of honl members that the Bill was but a subtle attempt to fileh — not only frnm the public at large, but from individuals in ' particular. The thieving was not to be an indiscriminate one, but of a description in which malice prepense should have a leading influence. He is reported to have said that he objected to the measure because it did not come before them "in its true colors." It had bnt "a shadow to do with forestry." It was an adroit proposal to Bubject the people to heavy taxation which would not be endured if imposed "in a vulgar and direct manner." This was the general feature of his opposition, and the specific one was even more objectionable. "I think," said he, "there must be something behind this measure having regard to individuals — something with regard to transactions that have recently taken place." He thought that the aim of a statesman " should not be to spite any particular portion of a country" —meaning, of course, that the intent of the Premier was to wreak his spite at the Superintendent on the Province of Wellington The real intent, scope, and meaning of the Bill was, said he, "not the conservation of . the forests of New Zealand, but to take their lands from the Provinces." The proposal for forestry he described as "an absolute farce, an absolute waste of money, and absurdly ridiculous." The proposal to make the forests pay the debt on the railways he compared to the case of a person offering " a few bundleß of cigars or a little wine " in liquidation of a debt for advanced money. Of course the Premier was compelled to reply to such language as this, and, perhaps on the spur of the moment^to take up a position worthy of the dignity of the Government <il ; 'the' Colony, although the dbdnrrentie may' have been un forseen, and consequently the opinion of

Mr O'Rorke, of Auckland, might not have been fully ascertained or duly appreciated on the subject. The answer of the Premier was, according to the "New Zealand Times," "that if the Superintendent and his chief adviser continued to misrepresent and scandalise the Government there must be Avar. The conduct of the Provincial authorities had imposed very painful duties on the General Government, of which they were beginning to tire. They would be forced to consider some means of ridding themselves of a liability which was becoming too offensive, and this might take the shape of '; creating the North lslandinto one Province instead of four, in which case the incubus the Superintendent's form might be removed. Different persons will, of course, attach what weight they think proper to ; this suggestion thrown out. The Premier has before intimated that he thought to alleviate difficulties constantly arising, Wellington should be declared a Federal City. To us it appears evident that the matter in question has already had the serious attention of the Government. The opinion arrived at is, evidently, that unless the policy oi the demands of the Provincial Executive be changed, it will be the duty of the General Government, either to provide a remedy, or make way for Ministers who can. Then the question becomes of Colonial importance. There is no doubt in the minds of most persons that the head which devised a policy for New Zealand that has lifted it from a career of obscurity, danger, and inertia, to the position of the most prosperous and progressive Colony in the Australasian group, is best fitted to administer that policy. Should the question te reduced to one of Mr Yogel or Mr Pitzherbert the answer of the electors would almost be as that of one man." The immediate action taken by the Premier by introducing the resolutions he did, and upon which he is determined that his Government will stand or fall, means, we think, an appeal to the country. He has taken his stand, and it must be admitted a very sudden and unexpected one, and it will be remitted to the voice of the people to decide. We are not sanguine enough to think that the present Government is strong enough to carry the question against the large body of Provincialists now in the House, and the appeal to the country is inevitable. If not, so much the better. But we do not consider, as some of our contemporaries appear to do, that local agitation on the question is necessary. It will not affect the result by a single vote, as we believe that the mind of every member is already made up on the question, and attempted outside pressure would not have the slightest effect.

With regard to a paragraph in our issue of Friday lasb as to the present bad condition of the road between Greymouth and Oinotuinotu, we are asked to explain that the contractor, Mr Edward Elborn, cannot begin his work until the contractor for widening the road, Mr Hunuerford, completes his contract ; so that at present the road is not in the hands of the maintenance contractor. The scraping up •£ the tables of the Wealth of Nations claim for the week took plaf-e on Saturday, and gave a result of 2340z. The reason for this falling off in the crushing is t.v.» =— - .- K-j-^-c-tUo wooxbor, and une rrequent stoppages which have to be made in the machinery to break off the ice. There need not be any further mystery in reference to the alleged discoverer of a pass to ike Eastern Coast of this island, whereoy a railway can be conducted without tunnelling, as the " West Cotst Times " gives the following explanations : — " The person who claims to have made it is Mr James Evans, of the Red Lion Hotel, Gibson's Ujuay, and he, yesterday, in company with Mr M'Leod, nearly, or quite as good a bushman as himself, Jeft Hokitika to test it. He was to have left on Thursday, and we were in error in stating that he had done so. The route is up the Waitahi, distant from this town about 25 miles. Between 40 and 50 miles inland, as the cror? flies, the river or some other that joins it, divides into three streams. One of these flows down to the West Coast, another goes off diagonally, but a third flows to the eastward through an as yet unexplored canon or gorge. As it must be very evident water cannot run up-hill, there seems every reasonable ground for believing that either the stream in question finds some lake into which to empty itself, or that it affords a clue to a route through the rift into the M 'Kenzie country, or some other part of the low lands of Canterbury. The country en route is described as magnificent. Timber fiats with splendid trees of the most valuable kind of wood, long reaches of beautiful pasture, and everything in short to tempt settlement of the most substantial kind. It was whilst cattle hunting, or cattle recovery rather, that Mr Evans struck this spot, and had he been duly provisioned he would have followed the apparent pass up to its extremity. On the present occasion he makes his trip with better and more complete appliances, and should he succeed on his mission he will deservedly earn the gratitude of not only Westland and Canterbury, but the Colony, ard ought, and no doubt will, receive something far more substantial in the bargain. If the dreaded tunnel can be avoided, a railway to connect the East and West Coasts of this island can be built for about a third of the present estimated cost, and will have a chance of being constructed without any further delay every ground we are sure that the public will wish* Mr James Evans all success in his undertaking. The " Lyell Argus " of the 12th inst. says: — " During Saturday last rumors were current to the eftect that parties had taken the s eps they deemed necessary to 'jump' the Ophir lease, and also another better known one which is situated nearer to Zalatown. It turns out that the rumor was only partially founded on fact, as the attempt was confined to the Ophir." An old sporting friend at present in Hokitika writes as follows in the " West Coast Times":— "The safe arrival of the New Zealand Melbourne Cup horses in Australia has given the sporting public of this Colony th- most complete satisfaction, and there are many who think that both the Metropolitan Stakes to be run in New South Wales, and thß Melbourne Gup in Victoria will fall to the lot of Lurline or Papapa. The consequence is that very great interest is now felt in the above races, the monster sweeps that are being got up here, and in the sister town of Greymouth, are filling rapidly. Mr Oshorne's tickets in the sweep on the Cup are selling fast, whilst Mr Keller's venture | is bo" far advanced that ie is likely to be drawn in a few weeks. Equal interest is , felt in the sweep being got up by Mr Tonka, of the Albion Hotel, Greymouth, on the Metropolitan Stakes, and these tickets too . are moving off briskly. In all these sweeps the character of the persons getting them up is beyond suspicion, and perfect fairplay, whether to wiuuers or losers, may be depended on as a certainty. In order to make assurance doubly sure, committees, consist* ing of the leading citizens in each place, have consented to super viße the arrangements, and

all are certain therefore to go off most succesfully. The Registrar-General has notified to the Registrars that all children still-born in their district must in future be registered. Mr Macassey, in a, recent letter to the " Otago Daily Times," on the subject of Judges' orders for the production of telegrams, Baid he " trusted that nothing which he had penned could be construed as an unfair comment upon, or interference with, any proceeding now pending before the Supreme Court." Mr Macassey's hope in this particular has apparently not been realised, for his letter was made the grounds of an application in the Supreme Court, Dunedin. Mr William Forbes of Leithfield. Canterbury, has secured the thoroughbred entire Slanderer, to replace Sorcerer, who has been sold to go south. Slanderer will prove a valuable acquisition to the northern district, as he has the bone and substance bo much required, and so seldom found in combination with symmetry of form and good action. Slanderer is by Traducer, out of Gitana, and is own brother to Backbiter and Calumny. With regard to the progress of the Lyttelton breakwater; the " Times" says :— " A very successful blast was fired on Saturday afternoon at the works on Officer Point, resulting in about 80.000 ton* of stone being dislodged. The work is being pushed forward very rapidly. A great deal of the stone tipped in has subsided during the past week. The stone "now to hand will enable the contractors to make a very considerable advance with the work in the coarse of a few days. A locomotive engine ran for the first time in Timaru on Thursday week. Steam was got up, and shortly after the locomotive with one first and second class carriage attached, filled with passengers, started alone the line northwards through the cutting. The train says the " Herald," made several other trips, taking passengers each time. Although the distance was very short, a speed of eighteen or nineteen miles, was attained, with scarcely the slightest oscillation. Writing of the comet lately seen in all parts of the Colony, Mr A. Beverley, of Dunedin, says : — " The form of this comet is an oval, about three times longer than broad, brightest near the margin, and having a beautiful nucleus at the smaller end. It probably belongs to the class of wanderers through space which visit the solar system once, but never again return. It appears to have passed its perihelion, and to be receding from the sun. If to, its perihelion passage will have been observed by European astronomers during last week," The "New Zealand FTerald" say 3 :— "lts an instruction to Dr Featherston that the • Hand-book of New Zealand is not to be "given away, Mr Yogel being of opinion that publications which do not cost anything are rarely value Iby the recepients. All public institutes and the Press are, however, to be supplied with copies ; six copies are to be placed on board each immigrant ship for the use of emigrants. The price to be charged is to be left to Dr Feather3ton and it is suggested to him that travellers should be engaged to sell them throughout the United Kingdom " In one of its series of articles on State forestry, the " Otago Daily Times" remarks : — "It is in the direction of forest creation that we see the probability of this huge success. Although everyone who has studied the subject is impressed with the certain profitableness of forest planting, few are able, and still fewer willing, to sink large sums of money in an investment which is likely to reserve its profits for his children, rather than ret"*' 1 tnem to himself. Thus unis class of enterprise stands out from among the ordinary methods of investment as one which may, like our railways and telegraphs, be taken up by the State without injury to individuals." " When the last mail left home," says the ■' Bruce Herald," "Mr James Adam waa about to set out for Aberdeen and the north of Sc tland, where he exppefced to be successful in securing a goodly number of the right Btamp of emigrants for Otago. A passe, ger per Main Bhan informs us that he had conversed with Mr Adam on board that vessel on the day of sailing. He then mentioned that he had instructions to procure 200 young women for a clothing factory in Dunedin. He very much regretted the nature of recent shipments of emigrants, and hassince his arrival thrown back no less than 300 applications as unsuitable, and it is much to be regrettod that the agents of the Colony generally have not been equally careful and conscientious to their trust." The Rev. Michael Cuffe, one of the Roman Catholic chaplains to her Majesty's forces at Chatham, lately refused to say the prayers of the church at the funeral of a non-com-missioned officer who was a Freemason. He thu • justifies the refusal in a letter published in the "Times" :—" The Catholic Church does not allow her clergy to read the burial service over the bodies of those who die out of her communion. On this account I was obliged to decline attending the funeral of the late Armourer Sergeant Johnston, who died on the 29th ult. He died a Freemason. No Freemason is a Cath lie. No Catholic can be a Freemason ; the moment he becomes one he secedes from his church. I have already given thin explanation to the military authorities of the Chatham garrison on my declining to attend the funeral of the late Sergeant Johnston, and I believe it has been accepted as satisfactory." One of the most attractive therapeutical novelties for some time past in London — recently introduced from the Continent — consisted in the erection of establishments for administering hot sand-baths as a remedy for rheumatism, recent cases of nervous disorders, affections of the kidneys, and all cases where heat is needed as the chief remedial agent. The advantages claimed on behalf of this meathod of treatment are, that it does not suppress respiration like the hotwater bath, but rather increases it, and does not interfere with the respiration after the manner of the steam-bath or the Turkishbath. It is found that the body can endure th • influe-ce of this kind of bath for a much longer time, and a much higher temperature can be appiied. The Y/est Coast papers would appear to be almost unanimous in their advocacy of antiprovincialism. The Hokitiki papers speak in favor of abolishing the Provinces in the Middle Island, and instance those of Westland and Nelson as shocking examples. The " Westport Times," in referring to the Province of Nelson, says :— " Can imagination conceive a greater sham, a more palpable absurdity! than the present form of Provincial Government here. A dummy Superintendent, effete 'and helpless, a Provincial Secretary so puffed up with self-importance, and so little cognisant of the dignities of office, that he presumes to attempt to tamper wiVn a Colonial Minister to grant concessi ns, not as a question of expediency or right, but as a ' personal favor ' to himself. Whereat Mr Provincial Secretary is quietly snubbed, and the Province brought into contempt. With those worthies, a host of underlings, to whom regular payment of salaries is of primal importance, a parade of ' leather and prunella,' is kept up at the cost. of a handful of people, a drag upon all progress, a reproach to common sense. Tne debate upon the resolutions to be brought forward by the Premier should arouse the liveliest interest throughout the Colony, and in no place more than along the West Coast of the Middle Island, where misrule has so long prevailed," |