TOWN EDITION. Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1888.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 86, 13 April 1888, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1888.

The Parliament, which in summoned for the 10th Majr, will meefc under »ery nnueual, not to eay embarrassing, circums'ianceß, for the Opposition will be absolately without a leader, the constquenoe being that each individual member will feel himself at liberty to criticise the policy of the Government from hie own par.icular point of vi<»w without »ny hop*of concerted action being t»keD. The two heads of the late Government, Sir R. Stout and Sir J. Vogel, will >oth be absent, Mr Ballance is a man of too many fa3s to inspire confidence; and Mr Larnacb, though he mada an excellent Minis'er of Mines, in scarcely adapted for the leadership of tho Opposition, or, in. the event of a defeat of the Ministry, for the Premiership of the Gavernmsnt whioh will succeed to them. Mr Richard Seddon, the champion talker of the House, has hern mentioned in this oonneotion, but we were not, disposed to think that those who did so wer« in earnest until reading the following' in a recent ifsue ef t*<» N. Z. Tim*s: —" Mr Seddon has long assumed a very prominent position in his party; indeed, he was in many ways the virtual leader last Bession. His undeniable ability and deserved popularity render him, in spite of certain deficiencies, a striking figure among so maiy mediocrities, and his claims cannot readily be "ignored. On the other hand, it is practically certain that his leadership could not be successful so far as concerns the prospect ef his party attaining; offio«." Beyond those mentioned above, and we may, we think, safely set Mr Seddon on one side, no other name occurs to us as that of a probable or even possible leader, so that althoughthe session islikely to he a prolonged and a very unsatisfactory one, there does not at present appear to be much ohance of a change of Government. But the unexpected very often happens in New Zealand politics and it is possible it may ocour on this occasion.

An advertisement with reference to the classes to be opened at the All Saints' Institute this evening will be found in' another oolumn. An extraordinary meeting of t*ie Owen Crushing ' Company will be held at Mr Reeves' office this evning for the purpose of considering the offer of a Canterbury Syndicate to purohas* tho plant. It is hoped that .hero will be a full meeting. The Wellington Post states that Mr W, R. Holmes has been appointed as Govern ment Auditor for the Nelson and West Coast • district". In dispensing with the services of MrH. E. Cnr'i*- the other day, tbe Government Btatrd that the office was to be abolished altogether. The two etatements do not tally. By the barque Presto, whioh is now loading barley for Adelaide, 4000 sacks have been shipped by Mr W. Patterson, and a further lot by Mr J. H. Newman. We would remind our readers of the 1.0.G.T. open meeting which is to be held at the Y.M.C.A. Rooms this evening. On the occasion of her resigning the position of organist at the Wesleyan Ohuroh, Miss Betkwaite was last week presented by the Trustees with a«handsome tea and ooffee service in recognition of the invaluable services she has rendered in that capaoity during a period of'three years. A full attendance of the members of the Hardy Street Wesleyan Choir is particularly requested this evening at 7*30 sharp, aa the business to be deal', with is of importance. In the letter of " Freetradur," which appeared in our columns yesterday, there wes a printer's error, the word " rateable " being substituted for " saloaMe." Mr Justice Riohmond in sentencing the incendiary Hind at the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday said : — You have been convicted of a hateful crime; nothing less than a deliberate attempt to fire this town. It appears that y»u and your confederate selected three points in this town to set fire to that night, choosing apparently in every case the most combustible material, and the most combustible places you could fi»d, and all within a very narrow compass, near the centre of the city. I cannot doubt that the intent was rtally to fire the town, and a more hateful offence can scarcely be imagined. It is my duty to protect sooiety against the chance of your repeating such an offence, or the attempt at suoh an offence, for a very long time. It is my duty to make you an example to others, and to protect society from you for a long period. You must be treated— and you cannot wonder at it— you must bo treated as an enemy to the community. You have set ysurself against them, you have endangered their lives, and there is no security that you would not repeat that attempt if you had the opportunity to do it. The sentence of the Court upon you is that you he kept to penal servitude within this _ colony for a term of 21 years. Remove the prisoner. — Hind was led out of the dock weeping bitterly. A Christchurch telegram to the Press of yesterday says : — The Premier yesterday administered a severe rebuke to a deputation from the Knights of Labour. It seems some of the deputation had urged as a reateon why the Government should provide works for mirried men near Christchurch that the wives of working men misconducted themselves in their husbands' absence. In reply to this, Sir Harry Atkinson expressed his sorrow that such a statement had been made — that the leaving of home by the men degraded the women. Were such the case, it spoke little for the moral advancement of the country, and for his part he could not believe it. He could not see why men having to go away to work should be any degradation. Likewise it might not be well to enquire too closely into the actions of the men. Were the men half as pure as th» majority of the women, the world would be a far better world than it was. The statement that a man could not leave his home and his wife was simply shocking. He again would say that he could not believe it. In commenting ou the action taken by the Premier to obtain an Eogli«h expert's opinion as to the best means of preparing Naw X .aland bu:tsr for the Home market, tho Hawer*. Star says : — lf tho expert can also give information whioh will lend to a better knowledge of the cKeapes. method of getting tho produce to consum-rs when manufacture^, eo. much the more valuable will his s'rvices' be. There is a great mystery hanging over the English markot. Good prices seem to be realised tbire, and yet the net raturns to the producer are email. In time knowledge will be gaiuel as to how the diff-rei.ee between high price to coneuaaars and low prices to producers is to bo bridged, but any. action whioh could hasten that time would be vtry welcome. It is stated that there are over 1600 houses to let and for sale in Auckland at the present time, and that shops, which some months ago brought in a rental of £6 per week, are now let for £1, and tenants are difficult to get at that price.