INCREASING EXPENDITURE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 75, 8 May 1903, Page 4

INCREASING EXPENDITURE.

Ouk departmental expenditure still goes on increasing by leaps and bounds under the reign of the most extravagant Government that ever mismanaged the affairs of a country. By the Premier's own statement the departmental expenditure has increased by £315,105, a very large sum indeed. Just imagine a man in business -with the money market absolutely shut against him owing to his reckless vraste of funds, enGrrnously increasing his yearly expenses. Where such a proceeding would lead him to is not very difficult to guess; Perhaps Mr Seddon is a great man, but nevertheless lie is painfully ignorant of the way the finances of the colony should bo nursed in order to make this country sound and prosperous. Apparently the financial motto or the Government is " Drink and be merry fcj-day for to-ino:row we fiie." "We maintain that it would be more honest for the Government not to follow that course but to face the matter bravely by telling the people the truth instead of throwing dust in their eyes with columns of self-praise. Mr Seddcai's favourite clap-trap cry "' about trusting the people " is all moonshine for he never takes them into his confidence on matters in which they are far more interested than he is.

A petition has been sent -to the Premier asking him to introduce a Bill to give compensation to thehotelkeepersin the Ashburton district who have lost their licenses through the carrying cr the local option poll.

'.Ihe Ivairanga County Council has adopted the recently revised byelaws and a special order in connection with the same will be confirmed on June IGtii, the date of the usual meeting of the Council.

Milking ninety cows night and morning, for three weeks, is the record put n\) recently by two Waimate ladies ami iheir broihci'. .Ancltiio milk from this farm ura::ilv arrived first at the factory. too!

It is staittl that a well-known settler in the Lower Aor mgi district lin,s written threatening the Sluggish lliver Drainage Board with legal proceedings on account of alleged dam;ige by the overflow of t!ie Main drain. At the last meeting of the Board it was decided to cease further expenditure on the dram which has during tne past few months exhibited a wonderful facility for disposing of the available funds of the Board.

The Melbourne A^e of. April 23 states :—"Mr W. TTrigg, city .surveyor of Auckland, New Zealand, was a passenger by the steamer Moeraki, which loft for ]M"cw Zealand yesterday afteraoou. In taking leave oi: Mr A. C. Mountain, city surveyor of .Melbourne, Mr WrigE! expressed adniiration of the oxcelleut condition in which the roads of Melbourne ai #c maintained, comnieniing culogislic-xlly also upon their general eieanbjjess.*'

The Palmerston Guards Company Urders for the month are published to-

nf Ti? de^ th H s occul<red at Gisoorne ot Mr Alex. McLean, who had lived there for many years.

Jt, *7 ancdlation of registration of the Palmerston North Brick, Tile Drainpipe and.Pottervnakers' Industarial Union o£ Workers appeared in the (razette last evening. Mr Guy Eeed, son of Mr R. TLJReed, of Palmerston, sustained a nasty gash on the forearm this week through accidentally falling against 3 glass doojiis injuries were attended to at the Hospital.

Mr S. 0". Jago, who is retiring from the position of Chief Postmaster at the General Post Office, Wellington, is fo leave for South Africa by the strainer Essex about the end of the month. Mr Jago lias relatives in that country, und it is possible that he may settle in South Africa.

A firewood carter named T. Eogers received several severe bruises and contusions yesterday as the result of the capsize of the dray he was in charge of. The accident was due to the horse shying fiodgers was taken to Dr Graham's hospital where he received the necessary attention and is now progressing favourably.

A native named Wiremu Eorowhiti died suddenly near Pungarehu on Moaday afternoon. He was sitting in the back seat of a double buggr on his way irom Eahotu to Parihaka, vrhen he was apparently seized with some kind of fir, and fell over between the wheels of rhe buggy and died. Deceased was a wellknown Wanganui chief, but had resided at Panbaka for many years.—Opunake Times.

Harvest Thanksgiving Services will be conducted at Cuba street Methodist Church on Sunday. Three services will be held, in thegjmorning, afternoon and evening. The afternoon service will lie floral, special decorations having been arranged for. A large choir and orchestra has been practising for some time past, so that as usual the choral portions of the services will be a pleasing feature of the day's proceedings. The choir which includes the whole of the Sunday School children, will hold the final ■practise to-night.

Barraud and Abraham, Ltd. report that the number of people taking a trip to the Old Country and America this season far surpasses all other years \s agents for the JS Tevr Zealand" Shipping Company, and the Oceanic Steamship Company, (both of which steamers carry the mailsto and from Europe) the firm do a considerable business. The "Turakina," a fine vessel of over SOOO tons, sails toi-ITntjland to-morrow and amongst the passengers are Mr and Mrs Bull, of Eongotea, and Mr and Miss Coker of Peilding. The " Tonganro " sailed last week and this district was represented by Mr "Waterman, of Dannevirke, and Mi- Dyne, of Peilding, on her passenger list. By the " Sierra " sailing for Honolulu this month, Mr Jansen, of Bunuythorpe, has secured his pas:^"e. __ The ladies' ambuknee class met at the Orient Hall last evening. It v?as decided to hold first aid classes every alternate Monday, and nursing classes every alternate Thursday. D r Campbell will give tne first lecture ou first aid on Monday, June Ist, and Dr Stowe will give the Srst lecture on nursing on June 4th. All ladies desiring to loin tho first a;a class are requested to forvard their names to Mrs Whiteford, the secretary, or Mrs Eitchmgs. the treasurer, as soon as possible. Mesdames McGregor Hitchmgs, and W-hiteford, and Misses Gascoigne. and Milverton were appointed a general committee for the ensuing year. Hearty votes of thanks were passed to Mesdames Young and Whalley for their services as secretary and treasurer during the past year.

The annual notification made by tho "Welliugton Meat Export Company, Ltd., Wellington, in connection with fertilisers appears in another column of this issua. It i 3 widely known that the Company offers only the very best grade fertilisers to our farmers. These manures have the confidence of the farming community; they are so thoroughly reiiab.e and all that they are claimed to be. Bone dust, guaranteed to consist of 43 per cent of triealeic phosphate and 4 p?r cent of ammonia, at £5 5s per ton, on trucks, is value farmers cannot improve upon. The same remark equally applies to tho various other fertilisers advertised by the Wellington Meat Export Co., Ltd.. in another column of this issue. Th? advertisement also gives detailed conditions under which the Company are prepared to purchase sheep and lambs for freezing. Every facility is offered for owners to freeze on their own

account

In the cour.se of the past ten years the military expenditure of England has risen by leaps iind bounds. It was £•15,000,000 in 1SS0; in 1533 it stood at £17,800,000; and from that point it has. again advanced in the past decade to no less than £29,310,000 in 1902. Ten years ago the cost of the army represented a contribution of 9? 3d per head of the population in. the British Isles; the cost to-day is 14s per head, j^or is this all. The English Estimates represent but a part of the military expenditure of the Empire. A considerable army is maintained by India at Indian expense; the colonies have other forces for which they pay; and the Foreign Oißce possesses tvnops which makes no appearance in ths War Office Estimates. Sir Charles Dilke, a perfectly competent authority, has calculated the total' military expenditure of tho Empire at no less than £50,500,000.

Messrs T. Bastin, G. lic^-iJi r.ncl J. Colliugrrocd comprised tly> members of an energetic search party that left town ac a Jiito hour last night to search for the three missing boys, who.se disap- [ pearauee was reported yesterday. Reports had been received of three boys hnn« seen walking in the direction of the Tirii.ea and Pabiatua district, and (hither thy party proceeded. All the likely roads m the locality were carefully explored, shares and likely resting places were vi-itcd and carefully searched, and residents on the Inil wakened in the small hours in the endeavour to glean further tidings, but without avail. This morning. hoVcyer. a telephone^ message was received at this ofliee from the 'St^-dakd correspondent at Awahuri statins; t!i:U three boys had called at his place' of business on Tuesday night and asked for food. They told a plausible trie, saying their parents were coming to live at the township. Tiiey were provided with refreshnier.ts, and they started walking again •ia the direction of Palmerston. The details published in the Staxdaed wero quite sufficient to establish their identity and a further search tins morning resulted in the finding of the sorry travellers. They were brought safely home this afternoon.

i«l> J. Rrelly. of Komni, has served a writ upojthe Pahiatua County Council claimmt£7so for damages alleged to nave been^aused to his property at Komm owi't to the Council having interfered wit the course of the Mancajainoka Eiv. 3 Mr Morfql Cottle received news this morning of te death of his mother in Auckland, ip Cottle proceeded by the mid-day trail to the northern city to attend the jperal. "We have been requested to Ute that in ccnsenuencc Mr Cattle's stgery wiij be closed till Slonday. i During Apl there were 27 convictions recored for drunkenness in Palmerston an three prohibition orders were granted.1; For the first time records of Ceurcitting.s held at Eorgotea appear in the Official books, a sitting be.ore Justices.f the Peace being held oa^ree occ-asins, Messrs C. Anderson, •X xenney :ind|nii<;ome presiding, and Cor stable Breei lately appointtd~to the district, acting prosecutor. A death imdr chloroform has taken plarc atfhe hospital at Sale (Victoria). 2$ G. F. Lewis, aged 4=l, was about to he operated upon, but bocunl excited; and nervous ■as the chlo-oftrni was being administered ng repeatedly that she would n»v|- wake kgain. She struggled agtin-t t i ie el \ ect of the drug, and }^i collaised. The cause of deafi \vas heai\ failure

At a pig kUhg eontoit in England recently, two men \aged '58 and 20 years iespectivdy killed and dressed 1» \n gs , t he\ average weights of whi:h^vero ll<lbs each in 1 hour 12 aiiiutes. 'X-ie best record is of a nan 5S yean of a^e who dressed a big weighinl liofbs in Sniin 20sec. '; 1

A silent club has now bin discovered. The mimbors are. \l\ deaf and dumb, and \communicai witk each other by sipis. They neet in rooms in the 31&ntparnasse| district, and there dunk, smoke,! play cards, and read the newspaper, the magazines,, and the newest livels.

The servants attached to the club are also deaf and dumb, and 'noYe about noiselessly and mystcricisly. They are ordered to put down.plates and glasses without a send, so that a silence nearly as 'pmplete as that prevailing in a CMercian or a Carthusian cloister is maintained. \ The fortnightly meeting of Lyal Manawatu Lodjje, 1.0.0. F., M.U.,Was held last evening. P.G. Bro. Shfirian occuphd the chair. Two candidles were proposed for membership. It las decided to lead the Lodge's piano forlhe United Friendly Societies' social to'be held m the Ljeeuai Theatre, on Jine 3rd. A letter of reromir.enc'ation \as granted to Bro. E. "Weeds. A degse lecture was held, and a number of mkibers were advanced to their respectre degrees. Another lecture will be hsd at an early date to confer deg-ees in past officers dominations of offices will be received for the next two iodg nights for the election taking pi ace {, June. During ihe evening an adjaura ment was made for refreshments. j Alluding to the Premier's surpHil Christchurch Truth remarks :—Mi Seddon takes great credit for tht prosperity o: the colony, but lie hai been careful not to mention thi fact that he has increased our expenditure by more than two mil-! lion pounds per annum, and that a small country, which is borrowing at the rate of a million and three 4 quarters a year, and spending two' millions more revenue that it did! ten years ago, cannot help assum-! ing an appearance of prosperity.! Xew Zealand would, we believe, be'| prosperous in any ease, but a good\ deal of our wealth is more appar- j ent than real. AY e are spending mo- 1 ney fast, but a large proportion oi \ it i.s borrowed money. We would \ prefer to see the Premier practise ! in hi.s finance the self-reliance he is ;. always preaching. At bottom, our \ surpluses mean very little. Thcv ; do not indicate the' real financial ' position of the colony. ;

it has, says the Eketahuna Express, just come to our notice, on a perusal of the Government railway time-table, that natives, when travelling to "tangis," or Maori funerals, arc granted concessions on the railways. That similar concessions are not granted to Europeans is neither here nor there. We emphatically protest against special facilities being offered the natives for wasting their time and substance in perpetuating a wretchea superstition. The Government of the colony pretends that it is anxious for the welfare of the native, and yet it encourages an old-time practice which is at once demoralising and impoverishing. In the interests of the race of whom we are all so proud we demand a withdrawal of the railway concession.

A couple of years ago Mdlle. Maria Teresa Sarraziii, the daughter of a rich French family, living near Le Yigan, in thy department of Gard, was the victim of a serious accident. She v.-as driving in company with two young ladies, sisters and their governess, when the horse, frightened by an automobile, took the carriage over the embankment some ISft high. The two sisters, the governess, the coachman, and horse were killed ; lldlle. Sarrazin was alive but in a serious condition, chiefly due to shock produced by the occurrence. She was conveyed to her home, and for the last 21 months she has remained asleep. During the long period mentioned, she has been insensible to remarks addressed to her, but she has frequently spoken, apparently in her sleep, reciting fragments of peotry and prose, and singing snatches of song. Her voice is extremely weak, but perfectly clear. It is said to be an impressive spectacle to see this pretty girl, pale and immobile, and to hoar the voice coming, as it were, from great distance.

The gift of music seems to have fallen to both male - and female members of the Uastles family. Miss Amy Castles and her sister, ?i[iss Dolly Castles, are now' to bo followed to Pin-is by their brother, lUr George Castles, who will leave Melbourne by the F.TvLS. Ville tie. la Ciotat, with the intention of devotmjr himself to the su:dy of imisic. 3lr Gtistios. who is said to possess a line tenor voice, was entertained at the Vienna Cafe by a

number of his iViotuis. Father Robinson, who presided, spoke oi iir Castles's sterling- worth, his courage and his energy, and declared that these line qualities would surely secure for him some recognition in the groat centres of :Europe. Mr Castles suitably replied and all present sang- Auld .Lansr Syne. * &