Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1879.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5308, 15 February 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1879.

Recently Mr DeLautour addressed his constituents at Naseby, and among other points which he touohed upon was the . necessity for having two parties in politics. We have heard this before, and, strange to say, it has always proceeded from those, members of the House who are warm Greyites. Those who are not thick' &nd thin Ministerialists do not "] seem to see the necssity for two distinct parties, or, if they recognise the necessity, they do not see very well how it is to be brought about. It reminds us very much of a game boys used to play on their slates. It was termed English and French, and as tho English were always victorious, there Avas quite a difficulty in getting a boy to play the French side, and recourse was had to bullying a youngster into it. Just in the same way Mr DeLautour and two or three others of his way of thinking Want that those who are opposed tb the present Government shall take up the role of the illiberals, who are dead against progress, and who are in fact the peoples* foes, while Mr DeLautour and those who side with him take up the side of the friends of the people under the cognomen of i Liberals. Mr DeLautour is exceedingly ' anxious that the other side shall term themselves Tories, but they don't see it. They say that they are as much the friends of the people as Mr DeLautour, that they have as much right to term themselves "Liberals" as he, and, in short, they will not set themselves up tobe tilted at by Mr DeLautour and his friends. And, after all, perhaps Mr DeLautour is not quite so liberal as he deems himself to be. He lays down certain propositions, and he claim's that they constitute the creed of a Liberal ; but other persons may choose to say that they are nevertheless Liberal, though they do not believe in the creed. Take for instance, the Otago Daily Times. " "We have," it says, " the right, we think, to regard ourselves as a journal supporting a Liberal party properly so called; yet we find that in a greater or less degree we traverse nearly every one of the principles — or opinions rather —by which, according to Mr DeLautour, true Liberalism is to be distinguished; and we can hardly doubt that numbers of individual Liberals will find themselves in precisely the same position." We are afraii Mr DeLautour ■will find that he will not get antagonists to fight against him under a flag which has an ill-repute, while he insists upon bearing the one that has "braved the battle and the breeze," and leads to victory and glory.

The news from home that has been coming to hand of late seems to indicate a continuance of the commercial depression which followed on the failure of tho City of Glasgow Bank. No doubt a good many of the mercantile failures that have occurred since that event have been the result of loss of confidence, and of the pressure which, in self-defence, each creditor puts upon his debtors. This sort of thing once commenced spreads with astonishing rapidity, and though of course it is the weakest that are the first to succumb, yet men, who, in ordinary times, would be deemed not only solvent but even wealthy, are brought down in a time of panic to pretty nearly the same ' level as the insolvent trader whose capital has been a myth, and whose trading has solely depended on the credit accorded to him. One of the papers to hand by the Suez mail gives what it terms a glaring illustration of the power exercised by a panic in pulling down even the most solvent, The case is that of the Caledonian Bank, which had to go into liquidation, its shareholders probably losing their capital, because it held four £100 shares of the Glasgow Bank. The Caledonian Bank was perfectly sound, its capital was untouched, and its stability was not even suspected. Indeed, since it was compelled to stop business it has been clearly shown that it could have continued prosperous and nourishing, doing a safe banking business, and meeting all its liabilities, those resulting from the City of Glasgow Bank calls included. But unfortunately people would not believe it, and so the Caledonian, though perfectly solvent, had to close its doors. In an evil hour the bank had taken the four Glasgow Bank shares in security for an advance to a miller, to enable him to start a mill for manufacturing farina from potatoes. The Caledonian Bank could have sold those four shares at a profit, but unsuspectingly held them in the belief that they were a good security. Then came the smash, and the directors offered to assign £100,000 to the City of Glasgow Bank liquidators to meet calls upon the four shares, if the Caledonian might thereby be released ; but the liquidators could not give a discharge because they were unable to fix the maximum contribution, though of course it was not likely to reach £100,000 upon four shares. The " shareholders of the Caledonian Bank became alarmed at this, and rushed their shares into the market, and even-trans-ferred them to men of straw so as to free themselves from liabilities even at the loss of their shares. The liquidators of the Glasgow Bank thereupon interposed, and the dire necessity had to bo faced of winding up a sound business, not because the bank could not meet its liabilities, but because it was impossible to ascertain what those liabilities would bo or when they would have to be met. No doubt the ruin was primarily due to the City of Glasgow Bank, but the immediate cause was panic among the shareholders of the Caledonian Bank.

We would draw the attention of those who have children whom they intend I sending to the public school, to the fact that Mr Thomson will, on and after Monday next, attend daily at the school from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the purpose of enrolling and classifying scholars, and wo understand that parents will greatly assist the work of the school by complying with the Head-Master's request, centained in our advertising columns. A great deal of clerical work has to be done, ' and it is dosirable that as much of it as possible should be dono before the opening of the school.

. Captain Garner has 'received .thp, |6l- ; lowing telegram from F. Sieved, raetary New; Zealand Jjifle Association :— ." Nelson meet'iiVg' begins 3rd prox. Have |>c.en. t ill in feed throe weeks ; programme 'delayed in consequonco, and because many districts not reported receipts." In reply to a telegram sent to Dunedin Volunteers of particulars re Nelson meet-' j ing, Captain Gamer received tho ibl-j lowing telegram :— "Nbt tne sligntest • information ; eveiyb 6dy in the dark and | growling-." . . • -i "The funeral of the late Captain Smith, X>f the s.s. Mohaka, v Svas largely attended by Masonfe other friends of the 1 deceased* The brethren of the Scindo and lotlier lodges were in full mourning Regalia. The service of the Presbyterian Church, of which tho deceased was ft member, was read by the Rev. D. Sidey, ■ after which the Masonic funeral service j was said by the Rev> Be Berdt Hoyell. The brethren, in accordance with.aricient ! custom) then threw evergreens into the open grave, as a synibdl of immortality, and, haying j6uied. in rendering the grand Masdnic honors, re-formed procpssiorii "and returned to their starting jjlarie, the Scinde Lodge. „ : The Napier Swimming Club sports are J postponed till Saturday next, on account ' of the Volunteer inspection this afternoon. The cricket match at Hastings, between the Star &nd County Clubs, is also p6St)jl6nea ior the same reason. „, TM Rev. A. Shepherd will (D.V.) hold Divine Service on Sunday next, the 16th instant, at Havelock, at 11 a.m. ; and at Maraekakaho at 3 p.m. The Right Reverend the Bishop 1 of the Diocese has signified his indention to preach t6-mprrow evening at All Saints' Church, Taradalev Divine service at 7 o'clbck*. The legal gentlemen in Ashburtonhave memorialised the Minister of Justice (states the Echo) to institute a public enquiry into the manner in which business is conducted in the Resident Magistrate's Court there by Mr Alexander Le Grand Campbell. X It was at a temperance meeting, and the chairman called upon any person present, to relate his experience. Then outspoke a British workman. He said he had signed the pledge some eight months ago. (Applause.) At the end of the first week he had saved eighteenpence, which would otherwise have reached the publican's rapacious till. (Hear, hear.) At the end of one month his savings were over, fifteen shillings. (Applause.) At the expiration of the second month he had laid by two pounds. (Cheers-.) At the end of the third month he Was still a teetotaller, and he had saved three pounds two-and-sixpence. (Loud cheers.) At the close of the fourth he had become the possessor of a fivepound note. (Prolonged cheers.) At the end of six months the amount saved from the " maddening wine cup" had reached nine pounds. (Deafening cheers.) And if he • had been a total abstainer another month he should have saved a sufficient sum to have bought a coffin! an d he should have required one. (Sensation.") — Derbysldre Times. The Bristol Post reports that a lad, aged fifteen years, was charged at Pentre with having attempted to hang his little sister, aged twelve years, at Llantrisant. The evidence showed that the prisoner, who is an incorrigible ycuth, and quite beyond the control of his father, took the opportunity, when almost everybody was out of the house, of tying a rope to the ceiling, and attempting to hang his sister in the most methodical fashion. Happily the rope broke. The young culprit was sentenced to a month's hard labor. The two American engines (says the Dunedin Herald) which work the express between Dunedin and Christchurch, have run about 4^,000 miles during the last ten months. This appears to be favorable to their capacity for work, when it is considered that 17,600 is the average yearly mileage of locomotives in England. We understand that they have surpassed the expectations formed of them when imported, producing plenty of results for the amount of fuel consumed. Nearly all the coal they burn is obtained from the Malvern District of Canterbury. American workmanship has a name for being attentive to externals more than to solidity, but, it may be mentioned that, during the time these locomotives have been running, not a spring has started. An entirely new method of clearing off a debt is explained by the following advertisement in the Dunstan Times : — " A gift auction and bill will be held in the school-house, Ophir, on Monday, the 30th December, 1878, at 8 p.m., in liquidation of a remaining debt of some twenty odd pounds on the new school building, and which debt the Education Board ignores. The school committee for the last ten months have begged, prayed, threatened, bounced, and swore over this twenty odd pounds, but the E. B. say they have no money for it, and they stick to that. "Weel, ye canna tak the breeks of a Hielandman," so the committee have, driven by necessity, resolved to make one moro appeal to the public, and this time by a gift auction, — that they will thankfully receive from . anybody and everybody gifts of anything of any value, use, or ornament, and that they will sell the same by public auction to the highest bidder at the time and place above stated, and any surplus, after paying the debt, will be presented to the impecunious E. 8., or to the Dunstan Hospital as the committee may think fit." The Sydney correspondent of the Christcliurch Press writes, under date January 29 : — "Lord Harris's team of Englishmen are the most popular cricketers from the old country we have yet entertained. The first match resulted in a victory for the New South. Wales Eleven by five wickets. There was more law than luck in the game, for, the ground was in splendid order, and played remarkably fast. On the whole the match was one of the finest exhibitions of cricket ever witnessed in Australia, and is worthy of tho aggregate attendance of more than 30,000 spectators, counting up the four days through which it lasted. Of course we say the best men won ; but it is impossible to deny that tho Englishmen showed much first-class cricket, especially in the departments of batting and fielding. Lord Harris is himself every inch a cricketer, and won golden opinions from everybody. The cricket field levels people, and no stranger would readily guess that the rather slim young fellow, with his sleeves turned up above the elbow, and his arms burned brown, who covered an immense space of ground, returned the ball with unerring precision, was an English lord. The two professional bowlers, who have come out with Lord Harris's party — Emmett and Ulyett — were played freely by most of the Sydney batsmen. The hitting power of C. Bannerman and Massie in the second innings has never been surpassed in Sydney. The visitors were bewildered with leather hunting. Perhaps I ought to add that the public has emitted a thunderous growl at the selection committee of N.S.W. Cricket Association in respect to this match. The three gentlemen who were entrusted with tho thankless task of picking the representative eleven committed the sin of omitting Dave Gregory, the captain of the late Australian team, and forthwith newspaper correspondents rushed into print, and there was a miscellaneous roar iof disapproval. The other members of the old team who wore picked (Spofforth had been disabled by a cab accident) were advised to " strike " in the field ; but fortunately they had too much good sense to yield to such mischievous advice. And now the public, satisfied with the victory scored for the colony, is beginning to admit that the fact of a man having been a member of some crack team does not give him an absolute claim to be included in all fir.st-cla.ss matches.

>\, v s . . , . . ' Twenty-seven sximmonses were served in one day on a man in Wellington. He sought refuge in bankruptcy. A meeting will soon take place at Weir lington to confirm a resolution passed at the last meeting of the shareholders in favor of winding up the^ I^.Z.S.S) Company. Th6re is f e^sO n \6 oelieve the resolution will be confirmed. The debate at Dunedin upon " Christianity 1 ," feetween Mr M. W. Green, the Evangelist, and Mr C. Bright, the Freethinker, occupied four nights. The receipts at the doors were £157 9s 6d. The proceedings were characterised by great order. Hemi Matenga, of Ngatitoa, a brother" of the Hon. Wi Parata, has .adcLresse'd. a letter to the Waka. M&dri, in Whtdh he ; asks, among, othet things, why no Maori is made A Bishdp. He says : — " First, we instructed in Christianity, and, having acquired knowledge therein, some of us were made ministers, and have now officiated as ministers for more than twenty years. We were next instriioted in the law, and, before we were fully able to master, its intricacies', some of us were dragged forward to be made meni7 bers of Parliament, Ministers of the Government, and magistrates. Now, I ask, why are some of us raised to prominent positions in the Government and not in the Church ? In other words, why do the Church appointments with respect to us Maoris abruptly cease when we attain to the position pf ordinary minister? Why is there no Maori Bishop, since the natives, of these Islands have for a considerable time past embraced Christianity? Let it not be said because a man is a Maori he is unfit to be a Bishop." An order has been issued by the Prussian Government, in virtue of the Socialist Law, which enacts that persons from whom danger to the public safety is apprehended may be refused the right to reside iv Berlin and various other places. It also prohibits the carrying of arms or sale of explosive projectiles, with certain exceptions which are specified. The Westland correspondent of the Lyttelton Times> remarking on the action of the banks, and the chronic state of-in-debtedness which is driving coast residents to the wall, says: — "Ono good result of our poverty is that people leave the coast, sometimes at least, without having a testimonial presented to them. Certainly the testimonial nuisance is less rampant here than in any other part of the colony. We can produce a few people on this side, who have never committed murder, nor burglary, or any other felony, who do not habitually thrash their wives or starve their children, and who have lived an ordinary and decent life for some years, and yet have never received a testimonial. By-and-bye it will be a proud inscription to put On a deceased husband or father's tombstone, 'He lived for ten years in New Zealand and yet never received a testimonial.' "