Hawke's Bay Herald THURSDAY JULY 3, 1&79. A STRANGE ANOMALY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5424, 3 July 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald THURSDAY JULY 3, 1&79. A STRANGE ANOMALY.

As touching upon a subject which Mr Orniond referred to in his address to his constituents — the unfair distribution, of public money in the North and South Islands — it is worth while to look into,] the appropriations, of * last year, which throw some light upon the' subject. Mr Ormond's allegations, 1 were made more especially with rey ference to public works) and there are* no readily accessible means of satisfactorily testing his charges, although a glance at the progress of railways" in the two islands gives, to say the least, an air of probability to."them. Tlie estimates of last session, as brought down and passed, however, form. &,-,. guide tb the expenditure on the maintenance of our vaiious criminal,.charitable, and other institutions, -and a strange contrast is afforded- by -an examination of this official document. We do not propose to enter into a mass of details, showing the difference under each head, but will simply take th 6" expenditure on gaols as an illustration of the difference in the distribution of colonial revenue in the South and North Islands. The total appropriations for gaols amounted to £35,000.. Of this total no less than £19,105, or considerably more than half, is for the maintenance of penal institutions ■in Otago. The expenditure at Auckland is £4275 ; Wellington, £2550 ; and. Canterbury £4435. It is not .necessary to give the. cost; of maintaining the smaller prisons — in fact, a just comparison between, say, Otago and Hawke's Bay would be very difficult, as when the number of prisoners is small the expense per head may be expected to be proportionately heavier. The Auckland Herald, to which we are indebted for calling attention to the subject, estimates the average number of prisoners in our gaols at 400, which would give an average cost of maintenance of £42 per head. The num.- ' ber of prisoners in Dunedin gaol is less than those in Auckland gaol, yet the expenditure in the former is four times as great as in the latter. Each, prisoner in Otago costs the colony £-53 - 15s' per annum, excluding the item of food ; in Auckland the cost is £18 per ' head. Wellington and Canterbury t occupy intermediate positions, with £25 10s and £23 for each prison. This' 1 striking difference naturally leads to $\ more minute examination of the esti- ' mates, in order to find some means to/: account for such an extraordinary dis-:-crepancy. The item, of salaries will g0.... far to supply the explanation. The Duedin gaoler gets £500 a year ; in the other towns named the salary is £300. In Dunedin warders receive from £185 to £236 a year, with extraallowances ; the salaries in Auckland ; are from £120 to £130 a year, without extra allowances. In Dunedin twenty- • three warders are required to look after' 133 criminals; in Auckland twenty warders guard and keep in order 175 prisoners. Now, we are prepared to admit that salaries in Otago should- be. higher than in Auckland, owing to the • difference in the cost of living at the respective towns, but after every,,, allowance is made for this it is evident that Otago receives far more than its* share of public mone3 r . It is but fair j to say that the difference is most., marked when paison management is investigated, but an extreme illustration, when true, best serves to point an argument. The gaol at Wellington is so much smaller that the comparison between it and Dunedin gaol is not so easy, but in general terms it may be said that salaries are ten per cent, higher in Wellington than in Auck-. land. This is but right, having regard to the difference in the cost of living in the two towns. Dunedin, however, is not dearer than Wellington, and the salai'ies which are sufficient • in the latter town should be sufficient in the other. We know that the lavish Pro-' vincial Government of Otago paid its officials better than the poorer provinces could possibly afford to do, but now that the management of prisons is in the hands of the General Government this marked distinction should be abolished. Let the salaries be so arranged that the officials in gaols shall be equally well paid throughout the colony. Perhaps on the whole . £35,000 is not excessive for the maintenance of so many gaols, but that sum should be apportioned with a more equal hand, so that we should no longer see the anomalous spectacle of one provincial district, containing only onefourth of the population of the country, receiving more than half the sum set apart for the maintenance of penal institutions throughout the country. Our Auckland contemporary has done good service in, calling attention to what I

can only be described as a scandalous state of things, and we hope. that the North Island members will this jrear banoL together to prevent a repetition oSf'-this specimen d^;'LegislatiV;e i^nj fa&fless^ . .;. „ [■■ /?' -i Wi,

Last quarter's Customs revenue at the port shows a f alling-off of ( nearly 40 per cent, when compared . with the corres'pbnding. quarter of last- year. The am'dunt was against- £11,339 last year. . • "•.,..;, At the Eesident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr Kenny, ItrMvJohnWard .was fineti'-Ss .tod' doste for drunkenness. . Jane; Aplin. was charged with, using abusive language to Alfred Lewis. -It appeared that the defendant owed some money to the complainant, who keeps a store, arid a dispute Dffcitrfed relative to thia debt. / Tile wOtdari entered the shop and used most abusive language.' A fine of 5s and costs was inflicted; Jbhn Farrell was charged 6n remand with lunacy, but was acquitted, as Dr. Spencer, tb whom his case was referred, did ndjt consider him tp ', be insane," though ' of, weak intellect. Ealph Baileys carpenter, was charged,', with stealing , ioveral ; carpenters' tdtjlsi the. property of Mr G-,. Ilamilton, Wanganui^ for whom he . had been working. When the warrant was received from Wanganui^ Detective Grace went to prisoners-house,s -house, when the latter immediately" picked out a number df tools AyhJLch he said he had purdhased from the prosecutor, Several-of the tools oorres- . ponded with" those described in- the warrant) • Prisoner said Mr Hamilton had stopped 19s 6d from his wages to pay for the' things,- and he had used them whon working" in- Wangaiiui. He was remanded td ; Wanganui.; .- . . .. \

' We", hepf , front.. WaijitlWa tllat Mr Rftthb'diie "has /Been. dßlige'd td cldse His saw- mills' "there', , * (discharging .. all 'his hands, and tl?.at. if. trade does not improve Mr Eathbone will also have, to close his Hanipden mills, lit is unfortunate that means ; could not be found tokeep the iWajpawa mills, at -work) and we hope that times will brighten before Mr Eathbone is compelled to make, further reductions in his working staff;

We would draw attention to an advertisement in another column, which shows that our neighbours in Havelock do not intend to lot the winter pass Avithout providing some evening entertainments.. We wish the promoters every success.

' Mr F. Whitmore Isitt will give a series of headings and recitations in the Protestant' Hall to-morrow evening, at the clo'sG" of which the subject of life assurance, will bo briefly introduced. There will be no charge for admission.

The monthly inspection of the Napier Volunteers will take, place this evening, at i Mossr sKoutledgo, Kennedy, and Co.'s stores, Tennyson-street ; the cadets will muster at 7 p.m., the artillery at 7.15, ,and the Engineers at 7.30, all in full dress uniform. The band will attend, and there will be a march out, weather permitting.

A London telegram to the associated evening papers announces that it is arranged that the Khedive, shall receive a pension of £50,000 per annum for life. The "billet" of ex-Khedive seems to be better than that of Khedive.

Between 10 and 11 o'clock on Saturday night an alarm of firq was raised in .Government House, Wellington, says the Post. The passages of the house wore full of smoke, but where it came from no one was able to ascertain, though the ■gas-fitters were sent for, and other assistance was called for. The smoke 'remained in the building for some rn.iiru.tes, and then vanished as suddenly .as. it- had- appeared* -and even now nobody can tell where it came from. . Americans will soon be prepared, if they are not already (remarks the Journal of Commerce), to compete for the honor .of being the richest people in the world. They, are fast gaining in the race and will soon pass France and England. No country ' has become rich as rapidly as . this in the past 20 years. The last three United States censuses give the total (not assessed) valuations of real and personal estate, exclusive of Government property, in all the States and Territories as follows:— 1850, 7,135,780,228 dollars; 18G0, 16,159,616,068 dollars; 1870, 20,008,518,507 dollars. Between 1850 and 1860 the wealth of the United States more than doubled. Had the gain continued at the same pace since 1870 the coming census would . put us far ahead" of Prance. But the known shrinkage of values in the.. United States for the past few years forbids us to expect condently that this country will take 1 the : leadirilßßo. The following story is told by "JEgles" "in the Australasian'. — "A dear, good, charitable, and considerate creature made Her first call not long since at the leading shop in Sneakville, and ' asked to be shown their selection of embroidered watch-pockets. The obliging ; citizen behind the counter brought down from the shelves his entire stock of watch--pockets, which was large and of great .variety. Still the lady seemed dissatisfied. " Are these all you have ?" she inquired. " Yes, madam, our entire stock is on the counter before you." "Because," she continued, incidentally, k " you seel am making some for a bazaar, and wished ■to see all I could for patterns. Mine are much. prettier than yours.. Good day !" .That worthy citizen forthwith' broke the third commandment.

Upon the exciting day- for bankers, the ■ sth of June, whilst the short-lived run on the City ■ Bank was going on, narrates ? the Australasian, a man entered one of >the leading; banks hiirrie'dly and , asked if or' the accountant. r Breathlessly he said, •" Will you give me gold 5 for these ?" 'bjtoducing £500 of City of -Melbourne .Bank note^. The accountant at once.acouieseed, .and. as the man was counting his coin inquired, "Where did you get .those notes-.?" " Oh," was the reply, "I had that in the City, and I r dfew a cheque for it." ' ' And why," asked the.accountant,, "didn't you ask for gold there?" "To tell you the' truth," said that timid capitalist, "I was ashamed to !"

■ There, is an intensely earnest mysterious man in Wellington, who answers to the name of Corbett. His chief recreation is, writing to the newspapers'. . -His contributions are> generally consigned to the waste-paper, basket Avithoiit ceremony,' but at last the Evening Post, wearied by Cobbett's importunity, has given to the world one of these letters, which should be sent to the Sydney Exhibition, as the production of a man., not in a lunatic asylum. It is as follows :— " Sir, — For 'letters ' sake say that I said ' bold theft,' &c. In selfright, sense, and legality I scorned the question ' where.' If anything could so find owner I should be glad to tell. They lied, in social virtue to make me thief ; though they hid the dog so long at risk of implication, acting the revulsion of shame, such would make murderer of the ' Samaritan.' Pray don't lot Justices in spleen thus demoralise tho people. — Yours, &c, Henuy Corbett."

"Wilful waste makes woeful want." Mr G. T. C. Bartley, of Ealing. whoso interest in the social questions of the day is well known, thus writes to an English paper : — ■■" An ounce .of bread wasted daily in each household in England and Wales is equal 1 3 twenty-five millions of quarten loaves, the. produce of thirty thousand acres of wheat, and enough to feast aunually one hundred thousand people. An ounce of meat daily wasted is equal to three hundred ' thousand sbeep per annum,

There is some probability df .dount^ Sohbuvafoff. being »agaift placed fat the.Head o| the "Third ?Se^tion, ?i ,or^seore[t:, P^qjibe, jpf : the^ussian'|Empif e, in*pbnsej-| 4uence<pf jihepattemp^fon'tHo life^pf -the Czar. |it is Anticipated jthat^direbtly he return^ to 'StrPotorsfcurg I^Will resume,: the now f orinidable he hjel© previous to his appointment io the libiddon Embassy. '-'^J P An action was tried before the Lord Chief Justice of - Ireland, in whioh the Hon. Alice White sought to recover her .collie-dog from Mr Exham, Q.C. There vwere ' six Queen's Counsel arid- thtfeB 1 ' junioi's engag'eji, tjut theijjury were unable to. agree.. .„, . f . . - •-,.- , ! We clip fr'6n\ .the;lfbW^ We. two 'fol?, lowiiig ;lltti^ iiicidenta df pritYate^vijQW* day at Burlington House. Number one : <A man with a w.Srh \veary expression ' relieved, by the brillkncy df^the eyes» the expression of an irritated dissipated hawk, dressed in a short shabby coat and trousers all trodden into fringe At the e*treinitie^ eatnestiy regarding the wondrous pictured semblance of .himself by Millais, and wholly litimindful of • the^ little 6r'6\yd round which his ' nanie yrtis l .buzzing : An" elderly miii hiinting v ev'6i^I.Whel'e for finding it aflast in" ih'is own -jJortraii; painted, by Frank Grant 'more than ; 'thirty "years ago. JEheu s fuqaces! What memories of the days' when ■he was Marquis of G-ranby must that picture have recalled' to r the".!" Duke of Rutland! .

} .The Copenhagen . correspondents of IKS ' Pall Mall. „- Gazette '^ writes" r~* '-< The* Swedish; rais&i<itfafy, /!i Mir Witt,' ■acodinpanied by the Zulu Prince Umkoro "Cantaba, has passed through Copenhagen c« route for Sweden. The prince is reported to have expressed his surprise at the great number of white people he Baw every-* where, as he thought that the greater Sartof.the white^pbpulatibn htkd'left -to \ ghfc his ilndle, King Uete way o. The prince, was .naturally, much observed^e&pecially at Heisingb.org, where he took his place, rather unlike other princes, on the box of Mr Witt's carriage, by the. side of the coachman. PerHaps-this' is only a practical lesson in humility, administered to. the prlrioßih f view 6f later eyentualitiesi >when r ' he may become 'King of the Zulus. - One section of. the Eitualists . are, according to • the World, about ' -to take advantage of the elevation of Dr Newman to the purple to bring the project of a" TJniat" Church to the front again. It. appears that some hole-and-corner consecrations have taken place, by which some of the extreme party, have juggled themselves^ into the episcopal dignity into" a 1 way' that Rome must, accept. Those clergy-" men wish to bo received in the form of a kiud of. confraternity, headed, by their own Primate, saying ' Mass in English^ and^ remaining with their, wives,* .if already niaffied. Whether Dr,, Newman will become the Cardinal "Protector" of this, comfortable, soldering together of a broken fragment of his Church ; is more than one can guess.