THE LAND BILL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5541, 19 November 1879, Page 2

THE LAND BILL.

Mr ItoLtEsTON has taken to himself credit for greatly improving the Land Bill introduced by Mr Thomson, in the direction of making it more Liberal. We do not say that Mr Itolleston laid active claim to this credit, but he has passively submitted to be belauded in the House and out of it, while if he had been honest he would have repudiated the parentage of the provisions which really do Liberalise Mr Thomson's imperfect measure. It is true that Mr JRollestou added to the bill of Mr Thomson, but how ? By tacking to it a bill providing for village settlements which he found in tho pigeon-holes of his oflice, Jeft there by Mr Thomson. This docs not matter much, however, for the additions did not materially improve the bill. With or without the village settlements clause, and whether introduced by Mr Thomson or Mr Eolleston, it was but a half-and-half measure which made little more than a pretence of amending the present law. At the time of its issue we indicated some of. the points in which it failed, and we are glad to see that the Waste Lands Committee took a very similar view of it. The first alteration the committee made was to strike-out tho name of Mr Holieston, and insert that of Mr Thomson, thus giving a strong but well-merited lebuke ! to the false pretensions of the Minister of Lands. Then the committee struck out all the bill, or nearly all, for out of the 26 clauses it originally contained 22 were erased, and new ones substituted. The chief alteration was the lowering of the price of deferred-payment land from 30s to 20s per acre for rural sections, the committee evidently thinking with us that it is impolitic and unjust to make the deferred-payment settlor pay 50 per cent, more for his land while handicapping him with stringent conditions as to cultivation. The Governor may fix a higher price on land declared to be of special value, and he has also the power to make personal residence optional, this latter proviso extending to lands taken up under the old law. When certain improvements have been effected, the settler will be entitled to a Crowngrant on the payment of the portion of the purchase money then due. If there be more than one applicant for any section, the one who is to have it shall be decided by ballot, instead of by submitting the land to auction as at present. Two or more selectors may hold a deferred-jmy-ment allotment in common, having the same rights of transfer as ordinary selectors, and ©n the fulfilment of the conditions of improvement, &c, Crown-grants may bo issued for each sub-division or not as may be desired by the holders in common. .The bill contains other provisions relating to village and special settlements, ordinary sales, &c., but the foregoing may be taken as a sample of tho effect of the amendments of the Committee. We sincerely hope that it will be passed by the House in its vastly-improved form.

In our summary of the Financial Statement there occurred one misprent which spoiled the sense of a paragraph. Major Atkinson was made to say that the Government proposed to abolish the high duties for vessels employed on the coasting trade. The words in italics should have been light dues. Wo must congratulate Messrs Ashton and Peacock, the operators at the Napier telegraph station, on the expedition and exceptional correctness with which the lengthy message, comprising over ten thousand words, was furnished to us. The first sheet arrived at nine o'clock, and the last about a quarter to one. In this time about seven columns of solid matter were transmitted, with very few omissions or mistakes. The operators at the Wellington end are generally put down as "terrors" for speed, and they "put the pot on" with a vengeance, but our local men were fully equal to the occasion, and during a short pause were enabled to send an ironical message asking if the senders could not manage to put it through a little qiiicker. There being no other nomination for the Mayoralty Mr Vautier was yesterday declared re-elected. It has not always been our lot to agree with Mr Vautier, but we can acknowledge his great public

spirit and his worth as a citizen. His reelection without opposition is a vrelldeserved compliment —but vre hope that no more permanent levels questions will have to be decided during his term of office. The children attenflwig \St. John's Sun-day-sohool enjoyed theii 4 . annual festival yesterday^ in Sturm's Gully, kindly placed at their disposal by Mr M. S. Bell. Mustering in the morning at 9.30 in the schoolroom, they marched in procession to the scene of the day's festivities. On arriving at the gate of the paddock leading to the gully buns were^ distributed, and the 3'oung people engageclin rounders, cricket, skipping, swinging, &c , until 12.30, wlien the bell was rung for dinner. Meat pies, buns, and tea were handed round until all were satisfied, and then the sports commenced. These, consisting of races, &c., continued till 4 o'clock, when the prizes having been- distributed, the bell once more summoned the children to refreshment. Cake, buns, lollies,, and raspberry vinegar rendered them a happy, though sticky, crowd, and so they went cheering homewards towards the school, leaving groups of children at each street corner by the way, having thoroughly enjoyed their day's outing. Two hundred and eighty youngsters sat down to dinner, and over threo hundred to tea. In the meteorological observations for the month of June, published in the Gazette of November 13, the following note is made respecting Napier : — " Generally wet, unpleasant weather ; greatest rain recorded on 28th, l'6lin. ; prevailing S. and S. W. winds, and stormy on 7th, Bth, and 9th ; few fine days in middle of month." The mean temperature was 52*2, or about one degree less than Auckland, two higher than Taranaki, three higher than Wanganui, and four higher than Wellington. The highest temperature registered here during the month was 65, which was the greatest heat in the colony with the exception of the Bay of Islands and Nelson, at whioh two or three higher were respectively registered. The lowest temperature was 38 0, which was the highest I minimum in the colony, with the excepI tion of Mongonui and Cape Campbell. ! In the sun the instrument registered 107*0 at Napier, but Taranaki passed this with 118 0. The s.s. Taiaroa left Onehunga at one o'clock yesterday for Wellington •with, the mails brought by the Zealandia from San Francisco to Auckland. The Taiaroa ia oxpected to arrive at Wellington on Friday morning, and as the . Southern Cross" is advertised to leave Wellington for Napier on Saturday we may expect to receive the Hawke's Bay portion of our mail on Sunday next. A treat was given to the children attending the Te Aute school on. Friday last. Although the weather was not propitious, upwards of 40 children attended. Mrs Leach and Mrs Ingpen provided an excellent tea. In the evening there was a lime-light exhibition, which, afforded much amusement to the young people. Last week Mr Bendall, of Mahia, succeeded in capturing a fine seal, measuring about 18 feet, in front of his residence. Members of the the Napier Eowing Club who intend to take part in the "Trial Fours,'' are reminded that to-night, at 7 p.m., is the latest time at which entries can be received. The committee meet this evening to arrange the crews so that no time will be lost in at once going into training. A recent number of the Scientific American describes at length the method adopted to remove snags in the Waikato river, by the Waikato Steam Navigation Company. The Countess de Montijo, the mother of the ex-Empress Eugenic, is now eightythree years old, and is bed-ridden and almost blind. The late Prince Imperial was her favorite grandson. The Wairarapa Standard of Saturday contains the following : — "lt is reported on the best authority that two ounces sixteen pennyweights of gold have been found near Carterton. We thought the news of such importance as to issue an Extra on Thursday evening. Pieces of quartz containing gold is getting quite common in the Wairarapa." Mr Gladstone's last and remarkable postal-card deliverance: — "I am opposed to coffee palaces as I believe they are more deteriorating than beer shops. The stimulating properties of tea or coffee are greater and more injurious than those of malt liquors." Sir John Lubbock, the naturalist, has been testing the affection of ants for one another. His conclusion, after repeated tests, is that "in these curious insects hatred is a utronger passion than affection." There is at all events one thing in which the Americans cannot boast that they " lick creation," and that is the speed of their railway trains. The daily express mail train from London to Holyhead makes the distance, 268 miles, in 4& hours, being at the speed of a little over 59 miles an hour, stoppages included. The distance between New York had Washington is 228 miles, and the fatest train makes it in 6 honrs and 20 minutes, or 36 miles an hour, stops included. But most of the trains occupy from 8 to 9 hours. Dr. James Guthill, an Edinburgh physician, says that when solid nitrate of silver is freely applied to an ulcer, a tough film is immediately formed, and the ulcerated surface is for the time being apXiarently dried up, or sealed up. Apropos of local industries and prorec- | tion, a very good story is told of Victorian i experiences, by the writer of "Passing Notes " in the Otago Witness. It seems that the pickle-makers, having got a large I share of protection, developed a considerable trade. By-and-by, somebody started vinegar-making, and visited Mr Berry to point out that, as the pickle-makers were protected the vinegar-makers ought to be so also. Well and good ; the argument was unanswerable, and the vinegar-makers "got their wull," But, by-aud-by, a howl was raised by the pickle-nmkers that the imported vinegar had become too dear for them, and the local make was so horribly bad that it spoiled their pickles. I never heard the result, and don't see any way out of the dilemma. It is this that puzzles me when I come to consider the subject of protecting local industries. Where is it to end ? Is tlio bootmaker to be 2)rotected and not the leather-maker; the brewer and not the hop and barley grower ; the paper-maker and not the newspaper proprietor or printer ? Surely what is " sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander ;" but if everybody is protected against everybody else, isn't it as broad as it's long to the protected interests, while the general public only suffers ? The fact that tho New Zealand Government would entirely disapprove of Sir Julius Vogel's action in joiuing the board of the New Zealand Agricultural and Pastoral Company was (says the European Mail) a foregone conclusion. His friends on this side repeatedly told him that a seat on a public land company was incompatible with his oflice of AgentGeneral, and no surprise is felt that the Government, without ordering his instant withdrawal, has given him to understand that he must either sever all connection with the company or send in his resignation as Agent-General. We need hardly say that Sir Julius will not leave the Government service in which he has dbno yeoman's work. The Home Post Offices will soon have for sale a new double postal card, to be used by those who desire an answer in a hurry. At each end of the card there will be a stamp. One stamp will be used when the card is sent, and the other when it is returned with an answer. i

In England two woman have recently been appointed overseers of the poor? anS one, a purveyor of roads, ,>sf^ time /go» so relates the Dunedm Star, cm of the City Teetotal Lodges fell into, drears of rent, and a distrtss Sil l^ A LefUl ?f Ure ' The officers of the £6dge were not long in determining upon a course of action to recover the furniture by stratagem. One of the members, it is alleged, voluuteered to engage the attention of the hall-keeper while the officers fought the battle of the Lodge. The hall-keeper had expressed himself as a goodjudg^pfi. the quality of English beer, but he* was somewhat surprised when one of his temperance friends [nvitedhim to test a sample at a, wellknown hostelry hard by.. However, the teetotaller managed the business with such excellent tact that the hall-keeper and he were discussing the " social glass " — neither glass being filled with waterwhile the officers of the Lodge entered the Lodge-room and expeditiously removed the furniture. Having concluded- the debate on the merits of English beer, the hall-keeper and his quondam friend returned to the hall, when the former discovered that he had been cleverly " had." He laughingly related the joke to a gentlemen ot the medical fraternity, Tvho ~Jwith difficulty was induced to believe that 7 under exceptional circumstances even/ & '; Temperance man can. practically discuss Tand test the qualities of English beerC'V The hall-keeper has been wide awake ever , since, on the principle of locking the stable-door after the steed has been : ; stolen. . . . ;