The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY MAY 22, 1897.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 118, 22 May 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY MAY 22, 1897.

The General Government Gazette so rarely comes under the ken of any save official readers, that, but for the extracts from its contents which fiud their way occasionally into the public prints, it is probable that few persons in the community would be cognisant of the very existence of such a periodical. It will, therefore, be probably news to our readers when we inform them that the Premier, Mr. Stafford, has published a notice in the Gazette of the 7th instant, warning Government officers against giviug information on any matter affecting their particular departments, or upou any political subject connected Avith New Zealand, without the express permission or authority of a Kesponsible Minister of the Government, and threatening any transgressor with dismissal from the public service. Various, we are told, are the rumors afloat as to the provoking cause for the publication of this warning in the Gazette. Some assert that it dates from the information recently obtained by the Nelson Examiner and the Neiu Zealand Herald, of the nature of the correspondence going on between the Imperial Goverumeut and that of New Zealand, with reference to the charges made by Colonel We are against the Governor and Major-Gener«il Chute ; and in reference to this report, we raay state, on good authority, that it happens that, iu neither iustance, was the information obtained through any Government official. It is also suggested that the rumour that a Municipal Bill is in preparation, and that Ministers propose to ; dissolve the Assembly if the}' r.re defeated / on this measure, is the immediate cause of } this ukase. Be this as it may, there cam be no doubt that this dictatorial order is! calculated to be productive of very serious! inconvenience to the public, as, owing to! the vague wording of the Gazette notice,! the Government officials will very naturally feel considerable embarrassment in deciding how far it may be safe to impart information for the public benefit to the representatives of the Press. Wej find that this has actually been the case| in Auckland, where the Custom House! officials have refused to furnish to thepapers, as usual, the amount of Customs duties received during the past week^ pleading in excuse the peremptory, yet ill-defined, terms of Mr. Stafford's notice.^ We can hardly imagine for an instant tlmtj the Government manifesto was iu tended* to apply to such information as this, but | rather to prohibit the premature divulging \ of political intentions. As well might our 1 Acting Postmaster decline to furnish the daily Mail Notice to the local Press, or refuse to supply us with other equally necessary and important information for the guidance of the public, and it is almost needless to observe that such measures are by no means calculated to increase the popularity of the Ministry to which they owe their origin. /The past week had been signalised by /the occurrence of an unusual number of disasters to shipping at Hokitika, the Grey, and other ports on the West Coast. Amongst these we may mention the following steamers : — The Tasmanian Maid, which went ashore at Hokitika on the 15th inst. and is now beached for repairs; the Southland, which was ashore at Hokitika, but is now afloat; the Halcyon, which is ashore at the Grey, and the Huntress, which is ashore at Hokitika. Besides these casualties, the Kennedy was in \imminenfc danger on her last voyage to

this port, and only escaped destruction by the display on the part of Captain Car.ey, of the most able seamanship. The wrecks of the schooners, Isabella Jackson, aud Goldseeker, the former of which escaped . without any material damage, -whilst the/ latter was entirely lost, must be added tp this catalogue of disasters. / As we have already stated, the question as to the existence of a practicable track between the Baton and the Karamea, the solution of which has been so frequently urged in these column?, will sp<>edilj r lie set •at rest. The evidence givuu before his Honor the Superintendent on Saturday last by Mr. Woodhouse, was of so straightforward and convincing a nature, that the Government at once acquiesced in the propriety of despatching another exploring party, not only for the purpose of proving the existence of the pass, but the practicability of carrying a road over it. The party- — which will include Messrs. Snow and Woodhouse, as guide?, Mr. Groom, who will represent aud report to the Government, and Mr. Arthur Collins, who, though accompanying the party as an amateur, we may be permitted io regard as a representative of the public interests — will start, should the weather prove favorable, on Monday next, and we shall then soon be in possession of information which must be definitely satisfactory, as to whether any feasible means of approaching the rich auriferous ground which is known to exist on the Karamea is, or is not, at our command. Our readers will perceive from an advertisement in another column, that a lecture will be given this evening, at 6 o'clock, at the Temperance Hail, by the Eev. J. Crump, to the members of the Band of Hope, at which the public are invited to attend. p- The main sewer in Bridge-street is fast I approaching 'completion, and the work will probably be finished by Friday morning, if we except the branch drains to the grates, constructed for the purpose of carrying off the surface-water. The length of the sewer is SOO feet, and its form is egg-shaped, that is, 8 feet 4 inches in the clear, and 2 feet 4 inches at the spriuging point, a form which has been adopted in accordance with the last approved fashion of constructing sewers at home. The drainage of every house in Bridge-street is provided for by the insertion of pipes in the main sewer, and provision is also made for the drainage of Alma-street and the various right-of-ways leading into the street. We understand that it is the intention of the Board of Works eventually to extend this sewer entirely round the block, but the present contract only reaches to the centre of Col! iug wood-street. The work, which will cost £513, is highly creditable to the Board of Works aud their surveyor, Mr. Thomas Younger, and also to the contractor, Mr. Thomas Miles, who has performed his part most ably and conscientiously. It would seem that the scheme for the colonization of the Island of New Guinea, the extent of which, we are informed, is far larger than that which we attributed to it on Thursday last, is likely to be realised. A meeting was held in Sydney on the 29th ult., at which about 60 gentlemen were present. Mr. A. Keith Collins, the projector of the company, addressed the meeting. A prospectus of the proposed company was read, and Dr. Lang addressed the meeting in support of the prospectus. Several other gentlemen followed, aud, after explanations, the prospectus was adopted ; after which, a provisional comnvttee was formed. The nominal capital of the company is £50,000, in 5000 shares of £10 each, of which, however, it is only proposed to call up at present £5000, fo>the purpose of fitting out an. experimental expedition.