North Otago Times.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2084, 7 January 1879, Page 2

North Otago Times.

TUESDAY. JANUARY 7, 1879.

To the dissatisfied, no easier task can be allotted thin that of finding fault with the things that be in politics, society, or even iv the creation itsrlf. Remembering this, we were quite prepared, on a perusal of Mr Wakefield's speech, to fiud that nothing which occurred last session, from the Electoral Bill to the treatment accorded to him by the Waste Lands Committee, pleased him. There are many others who have similar feelings to Mr Wakefied's, but their minds are of a more humble cast, and they are the owners of more patience and self-restraint, and less selfconceit and imprudence. It would be well if Mr Wakefield could learn that the faults giving rise to the dissatisfaction which he entertains and expresses with regard to the actions of others, may be subjective as well as objective — that they may, and probably do oftener exist in himself than in those whom he criticises. Indeed, those who have the curiosity and time to pi'ompt them to an examination of his sayings for some years, would find that he has taken the most inconsistent views of matters, and that every side has experienced his declamation. At one time be complains that Maoris are not properly treated ; at another, calls them dirty savages ; and again uses every possible term of flattery towards them ; and last of all he now designates them an inferior and a savage race. However, with Mr Wakefield's inconsistencies we have not much to do at present. An examination of them would not repay the labor. He the other evening delivered, for him, a somewhat temperate address to his constituents, and we intend to devote a few lines to a criticism of parts of it. Aa was to be expected, he shews great antipathy to the Grey Ministry, aud expresses himself at times in the bitter tones of a recent convert, Mr Stout seems to his bete noiv, and in his remarks on him he seems to remember the tone of irony in which that gentleman at times dealt with his deliverances. Mr Wakefield claims to himself the credit of being an independent member, and at the same time complains of members of the Ministry and others having their hobbies. Now, our idea of an independent member has always been that he is prevented by his hobbies from recognising the line of demarcation between parties, and that he prefers them to the general average which other members take as that which is possible for them to get under a party Government. Independent members are those who think more of their own individuality than of the ultimate and Bteady progress of the main principles of their political creed. They, like Mr Wakefield, are too precious to be wholly of one party. This boasted independence has its basis in an overweening conceit and importance which are the chief obstacles to practicability in government. The triumph of any set of leading principles is impossible if each adherent to them insists upon his right to interpret them in their application in every particular True independence we can sympathise with and admire, buc this self-consti-tuted independence we can only deprecate and despise. The one is freedom from personal government and from the temptations of corruption, the other is a raising of one's self and his own notions above the judgment of his fellows, and his action is that of the spoiled boy, who, because he cannot get a whole cake, will not have a part. When, therefore, Mr Wakefield declared himself to be an independent member, we were quite prepared to find that he was on his own showing a strength to no party, and that although he could not support the Government (though why he has not yet shown any good reason), he would not and could not act with the Opposition. Some of the individual idiosyncracios, which seem to divide Mr Wakefield (and

that they may continue to do so is our prayer) from most others of each side, he ftwored his constituents with. One was that he intended to do his best to prevent Maoris from voting ab European elections. His reason was that some of the Northern constituencies are said to be ruled by Maori votes — that is, that a majority of the voters are Maoris, though it is well understood that they are as divided in politics as Europe-ms, and have never yet returned Maoris where Europeans are eligible. This autocratic spirit which has done so much to stir up hostilities with Englishmen all over the world is not, we believe, sympathised with in the colonies. Another of Mr Wakefield's idiosyncracies is that buildings in towns, not land, should be taxed. Another is that subsidies which have been promised to local bodies for a number of years, and upon which loans have been advanced and works entered upon, ought to be swept away without warning, and irrespective of engagements entered into Another is that all new taxation should be through the Custom-house. Another is, that, however much yon lighten taxation on the necessaries of life, -the man who buys small quantities saves nothing, although the ideas of all political economists are in an opposite direction. We could, if it were worth while, point out many other notions put forwarl by Mr Wakefield, but we think we have dove enough to show that to put one's self up as an independent member, that is, one who is dissatisfied with- all legislation which does not happen to go in every particular with his notions, is no evidence of political . wisdom and sagacity. We feel sure if Mr Wakefield's constituents had had time to digest his speech they would have hesitated to endorse it, and if they yet, while not overcome by his eloquence, would carefully peruse it, they would reverse their decision.

The meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, called for yesterday, lapsed for want of a quorum of members. The monthly meeting of the Mechanics' Institute will be held at the Athenaeum on Thursday next at 8 p.m. Tenders for certain works on the Kartigi Beach road must be lodged at the County Chambers not later than to-morrow. We observe, from a Post Office notice in another column, that the Postmaster has caused the time of closing the mails for Omarama and Upper Ferry to be altered from Tuesdays at 2.15 p.m. to Wednesdays at 6 a.m. We draw the attention of contractors and others to "an advertisement, signed by the Municipal Engineer, in another column, calling for tenders for certain works in connection with the completion of the waterworks contract. Tenders must be lodged at the office before Thursday next. We have received from Messrs Ronayne and Cottrell a handy little pocket railway time-table. It gives the time of the arrival and departure of all trains between Dunedin and Christchurch. It must prove a boon to the travelling public, from its handy form, and those desirous of obtaining it can do so at the shop of Messrs Ronayne and Cottrell. A correspondent, writing to us, says : — "The crops in North Canterbury have suffered very much from drought, having had no rain of any consequence for the last three months. This has caused them to be very short, oats in. particular. * The selfbinders have been at work for the last ten days, and are becoming pretty general now. I consider the yield of grain will be onethird less than the usual average." The usual monthly meeting of the Horticultural Society was held at Earle's rooms last evening. There were present — Messrs Connell (President, in the chair), Kidd, Montague, Simpson, and Glen. On the motion of Mr Kidd, seconded by Mr Simpson, it was resolved that the Autumn Show be held on Saturday, 15th March. The President was authorised to make the necessary arrangements for securing the Volunteer Hall on the date of the show. We understand that Messrs Liddle and M 'Master have been appointed valuers under the Land Tax Act, for the County of Wait taki. Though only holdings of the value of L5OO and upwards, after deducting value of buildings, fences, drains, breaking up, &c, will be assessed, a return of the value of every holding in town or country has to be made. Every ratepayer will receive, by post, two papers to fill up, retaining one, i and returning the other to the valuer in the envelope enclosed, which requires no stamp, and must be returned, at latest, in five days — sooner, if possible ,as all the returns have to be made within one month. Not long since (says an exchange) a woman was charged with burglary in Liverpool, and found with a full set of tools in her posses- • sion. She was brought to trial, and set up as a defence that she was subject to fits of neuralgia, and had taken chloral to deaden the pain until she did not know what she was about. The jury acquitted her, which led the Lord Chief Justice to exclaim that in the whole course of hi? experience he had never heard of a verdict that so shocked him. The London Standard contain? a description of a remarkable series of services which were held at a Protestant monastery in the New Kent Road, London, which has been established by a clergyman of tho Church of England. The reportsays that in the evening a service took place not recognised by the Anglican Church, consisting of the second vespers of St. Augustine and the benediction of the blessed sacrameut, the chief officiating priest wearing a gorgeous cope of white silk. The Auckland Evening Star has it that' Mr J. Smith's speculation in the wreck of the Taranaki, which he purchased by auction some days ago, has turned out an unfortunate one. Mr D. Gouk, who proceeded to the spat, with a number of men and appliances necessary for saving portions of the wreck, has returned, and states- that there is nothing of it to be seen above water. He waited an hour and a half for low tide, and then came to the conclusiou that it would cost L 5 for each LI of wreckage recovered. The wreck will therefore be abandoned. In the graphic language of the Manawatu Times, we learn that " Constable Gillespie has given up the sponge. Ever since his introduction into this district he has been paying a heavy rent out of hia small stipend, iii the vain and delusive hope that the Minister of Justice would be shamed into fulfilling the promise of building police quarters. Having at last awakened to the fact that it is a useless expenditure, he on Saturday took up his quarters in the lock-up, lately vacated by the two lunatics. However, he paid deeply the penalty of his temerity, for, besides spending a night in torture, he found upon interviewing a mirror next morning that the millions of mosquites which had sampled the quality of his blood, had by no means improved his personal appearance by the process. Under the circumstances he was compelled to make a change, and now sleeps peacefully in the sanctum of the R.M., with the Goddess of Justice watching over his slumbers." An English correspondent writes by the present mail .'--"In thi9 over-crowded old country, trade prospects appear to be going from bad to worse ; and bankruptcy, almost wide-spread enough to be called national, is looming in the distance. Long before this reaches you, the telegraph will have in- i formed you of the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, the arrests of the fraudulent t

directors, the suspension of the great East Indian houses in connection therewith, and here in Manchester, of the collapse of Hugh Balfour and other large houses, with liabilities in many cases, running into aeven figures. Not for very many years, if ever has this country been in such a tottering condition commercially. Business has been carried on in the teeth of such heavy losses for so many years past, that houses of the hightest standing, and once possessed of almost boundless resources, are now so weak that the least strain may bring them down. Indeed, it is most difficult to say who is most sound and who is rotten. It is proverbial (says a writer in a Dunedin paper) that the tastes of people vary upon every conceivable topic, and that unanimity of opinion is a misnomer. What is repcllaut and distasteful to some is pleasing and full of delight to others. The truism was forcibly impressed upon my mind on Thursday last, at the Caledonian Society's Grounds. I was watching the wrestling contests, when the remarks of a couple of ancient Gaels in regard to music, attracted my attention. A piper was playing at the time, and they were lavishing praise upon his performance, though I could discern nothing in the droning of the instrument <• produce pleasure. "Aye. mon," said one of them to me, "isn't it jeest gr«m' — in fac', subleeme." I was about to express dissent with the opinion, ■when the brass hand of. the City Guards struck up an inspiriting march, and drowned the noise of the bagpipes. The man of Caledonia was disgusted, and turning to his friend, he said, "Guid faith, mon, it's really awfu' tae hear sonsie music drooned,by the ootlandish skreeks o' brazen trumpets. What's the use o' the polece, when they dinna put a stop tae it." I journeyed thence. A contemporary writing on the subject of the political "working m-m'a friend," and of the unsatisfactory results of choosing these so-called friends to represent constituencies in Parliament, says :—": — " Yet even in England we find that the truest and most "powerful triends that the working classes have, are not what are called ' working men's candidates,' but men of property, and often of high birth and refined culture, who have made a stu ly of social subjects, and are thoroughly disinterested in their motives . Wo read an admirable letter of the great John Bright recently, addressed to a laboring constituency who had asked his advice as to the choice of a candidate. He warned them earnestly against wasting their franchise by electing a professional 'working man's friend.' He told them in plain English, that nearly every man of that character who had got into Parliament had turned his back on those who sent him there, and had become the most subservient tool of the aristocracy. He assured them that no such man ever really acquired influence because nobody trusted his sincerity ; and he strongly recommended them to elect as their representative a man who could hold his Qwn among the highest in the land." The Auckland Herald, of the 24th tilt., tells the following rather good story :— The Hon. Mr Sheehan was a passenger yesterday from the south, per steamer Wellington. An incident in connection with him affofded considerable amusement to some of the passenger* who were within earshot of the conversation. Amongst those on board was a garrulous little man, who appeared fond of hearing himself speak, and who evidently took a lively, interest in other people's affairs. Having heard that Mr Sheehan was (a) Native Minister, he availed himself of an opportunity of giving him a little of his mind. "Good morning, sir; fine day." "Yes, a very fine day," in Mr Sheehan's usual courteous manner. A number of questions wore then asked, as to how long he had been in Wellington, how he liked "the work," the religious condition of the natives, and added, "I suppose you have done a great deal of good, aud have been the means of winning many souls during your mission ? " This, for a moment, was a staggerer, even for Mr Sheehan, but he replied with his usual caution, " He hoped he had, but time only could tell." He was then asked why he allowed meals on board without first asking a blessing. He replied " that he had been late at the table, but would see that the omission did not occur again." The question of the desecration of the Sabbath by allowing goods and luggage to be landed on Sunday was then urged by the interrogator, Mr Sheehan quite sympathising with him, at the same time quietly remonstrating with the old gentleman for travelling and loading his own goods on that day. Mr Sheehan having consented to hold religious services some time during the Sunday at his friend's request, he was left for some ono else, who happened to catch the eye of the inquisitive passenger. The perfect control which Mr Sheehan maintained over his features was admirable, but a close observer could notice a merry twinkle in his eye. ____________^^_.