North Otago Times. THURSDAY. JANUARY 16, 1879.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2092, 16 January 1879, Page 2

North Otago Times. THURSDAY. JANUARY 16, 1879.

As one of the j-eco^niriecl apologists for all the acts of the Government, of whatsoever nature, the Lyttel ton Times has endeavored to n'ud some excuse for the recent appointment of Mr LuCKIE. Strangely enough, in his article in the issue of the 14th, our contemporary seems to anticipate the arguments put forth by us on tli.it date. The arguments, as such, are unanswerable, and do not need the force of reiteration to make them apparent ; and yet, by a most uingenious piece ot casuistry, the Times strives to show that the appointment is not only well bestowed as a recognition of services performed in the interest of the country, but one which could not well be bestowed on any other. In the first portion of the article the fact tli.it the Department of Government Annuities should have so long remained without a head is bewailed, and joy is expressed that, at last, it should have secured a head to itself — which reassuring intelligence, no doubt, our contemporary adds, the Colony will be glad to be put in possession of. Of course, this is in the highest degree satisfactory, and we are willing to share in the general joy, although, as the Times admits, the Department somehow mauaged to get along very well before Mr Luckie came into the field. The Times goes further, and agrees entirely with our statement regarding the support accorded to the present Ministry by Mr Luckie :: — f< It has been already said, and it will be said again (remarks our contemporary) in every form of delicate j irony — that irony whose effect resembles the 6ne cut inflictei by a sledge hammer — that Mr Luckie has been rewarded for political services. If there is good reason for giving him the position, it is hard to see why the accident of political services should prevent him from getting it. That wculd be a pretty reward of service. ]

But as a matter of fact, Mr Luckie's support of the present Government has been a very independent kind of support. During liis editoiship of tlie New Zealand Herald and the Kvening Post m.my articles nppp.irpd in both those journals which would not be termed exactly slavish by the most radictl opponent In short, Mr Luckie was a far more active and useful friend to the Ministry of Mr Fox than he «>ve« has been to that of Sir George Grey. The fact that he is the chosen one is proof that, in the •roper quarter, his talents weighed more than his services." So far, then is uothing in the article, regarding it us the production of a party paper, to which exception could legitimately be taken ; but, in the very next paragraph, in bis eagerue&s to make good bis ca»e, the writer casts a most undeserved aspersion on a body of men wh i have shown the utmost capability to undertake the duties imposed upon them, and who, despite this, are notoriously underpaid. We said, in our previous article that promotion ought to be regulated by some fixed rule by which those in theservice might receive their fitting reward, and our contemporary, meeting this argument, says :—": — " It will probably also be said that the practice of appointing men to high positions in the Civil Service, who at the time of appointment, are not in the service at all, is vicious, and should be discontiuued. There is something in this objection, and it is a very natural one in the mouths of friends of the disappointed ones. It is generally a vicious practice to appoint men outside of the Civil Service to the highest positions in the service ; but the practice is not always vicious. For instance, in a young country, befoi-e cither the Colony c* Civil Service have existed long enough to train men to be qualified for al! the highest posts, it may be very desiiable to seek for a high officer amongst the material outside the service." This migLt, with some truth, have been said of the New Zealand of twenty-five years ago, but the utteiance of such sentiments to-day is an insult to the whole service. If twenty or thirty years is not sufficient time in which to train a man for any post under the Government, then either the learner must be cursed with an impenetrable skull, or the duties of the office are such as require a Hercules for their due performance. Even were the duties of sucii magnitude, we cannot see how an outsider can by any possibility know more of them than those who have had to discharge them for some years. And if, on the other hand, the duties are light, who are more deserving of the office than those who have boine the burden and heat of the day ? Why should an outsider, who can have no claim upon the public, and who has his profession to fall back upon, usurp the place of one who has .served the country for the greater portion of his life. In England it is well known that all offices of a nonpolitical character are filled by a regular system of promotiou, and shall it be said that in this country, with all our boasted improvements, and our vaunted purity of Government, such jobbery .is that under notice sfiall be resorted to 1 We sincerely hope that the matter will be rigidly enquired into when Parliai ent meets. If we have given gi eater prominence to this subject than it would seem to in* Mit, we can only plead that we have done so in the inteiests of the employes who have been so injustly ignored.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Municipal Council comes off at 7.15 p.m. today. We have been requested to draw attention to Mr Greenfields sale of horses to-day at iteidston, and more especially to the racing stock. The Waste Lands Board have decided to sell as rural land, 9000 acre* of the runs of Messrs Teschemaker- and Webster, in the Kauroo district. Members of the Oamaru Cricket Club selected to play in the match against the Excelsior Club are requested to meet for practice this evening at 5 o'clock, on the ground. At the Eesident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before S. E. Shrimski, Esq , J.P., two inebiiates, named respectively Henry } .u\on and James Bain, were cautioned and discharged. We are requested to intimate that a"? the Volunteer Hall is engaged for thc2Sth inst., the animal meeting of subscribers to the Oamaru Hospital will be held in the Mechanics' Institute on that date. A swimming match for LlO ft side, L 5 forfeit, is to com© off this afternoon at 5 o'clock, at the Baths, between a well-known sporting artist and an equally well-known Boniface. From all accounts it is likely to be an interesting event. By special desire the great illusion — Fatima — which has been largely patronised the last day or two, will remain in Oamaru during the remainder of the week, showing every day from 3to 5, and from 7 to 10 p.m., in the &hop next Toohey's. It will be seen by a telegram from lnvercargill that Mr Shanks (a moderate) has, so far as the returns to hand denote, beaten the Ministerialist candidate, Mr Kinross, in the contest for the Mataura seat. One return has yet to be sent in, but it is not expected that it will alter the result. A meeting ot the Oamaru Trades Cricket Club was held at the Queen's Hotel on Tuesday evening, when the following officers ■\\ ere elected: Captain — J. Knight; Vice-Cap-tain — W. Hook ; Secretary and Treasnrer — G. Hook ; Committee — D. Sinclair, J. Hartley, A. Slater, md W. Gray. We learn from a Christchnrch exchange that the General Manager of the Canterbury railways is now paying a visit of inspection to the various southern stations, with the special object of making the shed accommodation as complete as possible, in view of the forthcoming grain season. A match will be played on Saturday, between au eleven of >he Oamaru Cricket Club and fifteen of the Esee.lsior Cricket Club. The following are the names of those chosen to practice for the mateh :— O. C. C. : G. Borton, \V. Booth, Caitelli, Creagh, De Lautour, Lowe, J. Millington, Rice, Sumpter, Tempest, and Walla. E. U. C. : Atherton, Cooke, Howorth, A. 0. Hardy, T. Hewat, K. Hewat, Glasson, Finch, Snow, Marshall, Kett, Church, Tarawhiti, Hartley, Fen wick, Ferens, Davis, and Kobiusou. It will be seen by announcement that the Kelly and Leon Minstrels will appear in the Volunteer Hall, on Tuesday next The company, who are under the efficient management of Messrs Hiscocks and Hayman, have completed the tour of the colony, O.vmara and Timaru being the only places at which they will yet appear previous to their departure for Melbourne. In Christchnrch and Dunedin they have had most Successful seasons, and have given the utmost delight to crowded audiences every night. The Press in both places, as, indeed, in every

part of the Australasian colonies, has been loud in their praise. A grand programme is prepared for the opening night here, which cannot fail to attract a large audience. As will bs seen from our telegrams, the 8.9. City of Sydney, with the English mail via San Francisco, nrrived at Auckland at a quarter-past 12 this morning, but owing we | suppose to the lateness of the hour the usual j mail summary was not transmitted to v*. A writer in a Dunedin contemporary warns the public against backing at least two or three of the nortes put forward as favorite? for the Dunedin Cup, as the owners do'not intend to run them ; and draws attention to the fact that half-a-dozen swindles havd been perpetrated on the public within the last six months. The writer Ms evidently not taken into consideration that racing has resolved itself into a science, and that those who are i professors in the matter are supposed to have acquired sufficient knowledge of their calling to be able to run their horses in such a manner that there is a doubt left in the minds of the xpectators as to whether it is a swindle or not. Stewards look at these tlrngs philosophically, and as a necessary consequence of the existence of the "national sport," aud until they move in thte matter there is no reason why the public should not view tlieso little " traits" m a philosophical spirit too. It is more satisfactory and 'consoling in every way to do so. A meeting of the trustees of the Oamaru Racecourse Reserve was held at the Empire Hotel, on Tuesday. Present — Messrs W. J. Steward (chair), Shrimski, Maude, and T. A. Clowes (secretary). The minutes of the last meeting having been read and confirmed, a letter was read from the secretary of the N.O. Turf Club asking for a grant of money f'om the Trust, and a deputation from the Club consisting of Messrs Lintott ami Lumsden were introduced and ' the whole matter discussed. It was then resolved — ' ' That as the Turf Club has incurred a liability through the improvements effected in the saddling paddock, the Trust will contribute the sum of L3O in aid of the cost of such improvements, but that in intimating this decision to the Club the secretary informs that body that the Trust intends creating a reserve fund for tin purpose so soon as the sufficient amount is accumulated of carrying out permanent improvements, and consequently that they must not rely upon getting any further funds from the Trust until after that object has been attained." A recent number of the Grey River Argus says : — Some little distance up stream from Ryans punt, on the Lyell, there is fixed a wire and sliding chair, which is used by the residents in the locality to cross the river, and thus saves a long walk to the punt. A man named John Trena, well-known in the district, and a young girl some fourteen years old, step daughter of Mr Peter Grammatica, attempted to cross in the chair together. They had got partly over, when the ear-ring of the rope 3 in which the chair swung cave away, probably on account of the double weight it bore, and the two unfortunate people were precipitated into the river beneath. The current was running with great force, and the bodies were swept away and disappeared almost in a moment. There was no chance of succour, the banks of the river at the place where the accident occurred are precipitous and rocky, and the river being flooded, there was no chance even for a strong swimmer to battle with the surging eddies. The Ballan correspondent of the Bacchus Marsh Express writes: — "An experiment has been made at Ballance this season with a aheep-shearing machine invented by Mr Wolsley, and so far as the shearing has been concerned it has been a perfect success. It shaves the sheep, and it may be too close, as it completely exposes the skin to the broiling sun or the sudden change to cold which we are subject to. The time taken is about six minutes to each sheep, which may be reduced by practice, and with a little experience any ordinary person can use it. The great drawback has been that the workmanship in connection with it has been done in Melbourne, and has not been up to the mark, so that when the apparatus was in full swing something would break, thereby stopping the work. However, Mr Wolsley is so far satisfied with it that he intends leaving the whole apparatus at Ballance, and will send to America for the necessary shears, castings, &c, in order to give it a fair trial next year." With reference to the foregoing, it may be explained that by using a broader comb sheep can be shorn in three, minutes, and that the closeness of the cut is regulated by the thickness of the comb. Any required length of wool may be left on the sheep. "The success of the English colonies at the Paris Exhibition, coming so soon after their great triumph at Philadelphia, will serve," the Pall Mall Gazette remarks, "to keep bsfore foreigners the growing importance of these outlying portions of our Enqrire The j colonial and Indian exhibit 3 at Paris will csrtainly have done more to impress Frenchmen with the extent of our power and resources than anything which could have been done Uy means of books or despatches. Such success, however, tells in two ways. While it enables the colonies to find new markets for their wares, it also shows to foreign manufacturers that here is a new field in which they may perhaps hope to compete in time with our own people. Thw certainly was the deduction which the Americans at once drew from what they saw at Philadelphia, and from that time forward they have been making great efforts to press their goods on the Australian consumers. We may now expect that others will follow in their wake, and the day* have passed when English manufacturers could afford to despise these new competitors. In every direction we see that efforts are being made to capture our trade, and unless the present pinch of adversity teaches a good lesson to masters and men alike, the Paris Exhibition, like aome of its predecessors, will scarcely benefit us." The Ararat Advertiser thus disposes of the " ambassadors" : — Mr Berry lias gone to England with a demand which, coufcl it be cone eded— which is impossiblei ble —would be perverted from its avowed object, to conciliate disappointed partisans. We know what that contemplated concession is. It is not the business of the Imperial Government to use force, but Mr Berry by his last public utterances ha 3 declared that if rejected there may be "broken heads and houses in flames" There can be no question that the Ministry would stick at no trifles to hold their jiower over the majority, and so keep their seats, but there need be no fear of such an ending. The people of this colony, however enthusiastic for reform, are not disposed to demand a separation from the great empire in order that the Berry Ministry may find " an easy, accessible, aud peaceful way to put their hands in the public purse." Dividing L 14,000 between seven of them, with the L5OOO embassy vote thrown in, should be proof sufficient that the public pur3o is quite accessible enough as it is, and that whoever may be suffering from the strife and bitterness and loss of confidence the colony is passing through, Ministers are making hay while the sun shines. Some interesting particulars regarding the cricketer, Lord Harris, are supplied by the Melbourne correspondent of a Victorian country paper : — Sir George Robert Canning ; Harris, who is now nearly 28 years of age, succeeded to the title of Baron Harris of Seringapatam and Mysore just five years ago, and espoused in July, 1374, his present wife, the Hon. Lucy Ada Jervis, the second daughter of Viscount St. Vincent, with whose name and title is associated on* of the most brilliant of English naval victories. The family seat is at Beltnont, in the county of Kent, and the peerage is one of honor and of recent date, the first Baron George Harris, born 1746, having been originally the son of a clergyman who entered the army, and advanced per gradi pauttum until he became Colonel of the 73rd Foot. Subsequently the progress of time and the merit of honorable deeds found him, as General Harris, Com-mander-in-Chief at Seringapatam, and upon its capture he 'was, for his gallant couduct, elevated to the peerage. Since this time the Harrises have proved themselves a fighting rice, several of the tough old soldier's descendants having died in battle, while the daughters have married distinguished officer*. Long time of peace leaves tor the present

representative of the title the chance of 1 seeking distinction in a lesa dangerous arena, and it is probably to the combative instincts of his rao« we owe his appearance here." The "embassy," writes the Argus of the 30th ult , took its departure from Victoria on Saturday. Mr Berryand Professor Pearson went with comparatively little beat of dram. A special train took three or four hundred people down to Willianutown, including all Mr Berry* Ministerial colleagues, and a number of the members of the majority in the Assembly. The "people" were represented by two or three hundred railway .laborors and others on the Spencer streetplatform who r.iised a parting cheer. On the steamer the usual process of leave-taking was gone through, and the Victoria was taken a few miles down the bay. The Assam, however, soon left the little war sloop astern, and as she turned round Mr Berry w.ivcd his filial adieux from the gangway. A curious feature of the affair was the indifference manifested to Professor Pearson, whom the working members of the Liberal party appear to have agreed to treat as a nonentity. He was left to wander about helpless and forlorn, and the mail steamer probably never took away a more disconsolate and miser-able-looking object than the second member of the embassy. Decidedly one of the most remarkable facts that has been stated with regard to the City of Glasgow Bank is this (says a correspondent of the Scotsman), that Her Majesty had a narrow escape of being in as a shareholder, and that not in a private but in a quasi-public capacity. The facts seem well authenticated. A lady, whose name I may not mention, died recently, leaving no ascertainable heirs, and her property, consisting of shares in the unfortunate bank, passed to the Queen as ultima hares. Had this happened a few days earlier Her Majesty would have been proprietor of the shares at the time of the collapse. Who3e name would have been put upon the register to take them up on her behalf is a matter for the lawyers. Whether thfir having so passed to the Crown by inheritance would be a ground for subjecting either the Crown or its representative in liability is also a matter of law, which I believe would turn on the question how far and how long the new names might be allowed t(\remain on the register. It may bo assumed that the regulations of the departments are too strict to permit of this being ordinarily carried to a dangerous extent. But the fact that it was to near happening, and that the question might have been raised, brings out vividly the hardship if not the injustice of some actual cases. If the petitions brought into Court are to be believed, there are many coses where people find themselves shareholders of the bank by descent or tran-m'ssion without ever having had the least intention of becoming permanent traders in a Glasgow joint-stock concern. From the Daily Times we learn that the Union Company's steamer Ringarooma, which arrived at Port Chalmers on Tuesday, brings a selection of splendid shorthorn cattle, purchased by Mr Christopher Wilson, of Bainesse Farm, Foxton, Manawatu, at the annual sales of Messrs S. Gardiner and Robertson Bros , of Colac, Victoria The whole of the animals have arrived in firstrate condition, and such grand beasts must prove a great benefit to the district for which they have been purchased. They comprise Mr S. Gardiner's celebrated prize bull "Matilda's Double Brunswick," who took tho prize at the Victorian Society's Agricultural Show in 1878, and at which time the sum of 800 guineas was offered for him, but refused by Mr Gardiner, who placed the re» serve price of 1000 guineas on him. A white bull, purchased at Mr Robertsons sale, called the " Earl of Alvie," by sth Earl of Derrimut, by Earl of Geneva, is of the purest strain of " Bates " blood, and the Messrs Robertson paid 1650 guineas for him. Among the cow is a red one by Earl of Geneva, dam Red Duchess, by Duke of Brunswick. She has a fine calf at foot by 22nd Duke of Derrimut. and ia accompanied by a very handsome heifer, five months old, by Oxford Cherry Duke, which was purchased by Messrs Robertson for 2500 guineas. The dam of the heifer was Moss Rose, by 4th Duke of Derrimut. There are also five three-year-old heifers by Marquis of Lome, full brother to Duke of Alvie, the champion bull of the Australian colonies. All these handsome animals are in calf to the 25th Duke of Derrimut, and Mr Wilson informs us they do not comprise all his purchases, as several more will shortly arrive here from Victoria for hia stock farm. "Silver Pen," the Californian correspondent of the Auckland Herald, writes : — The San Francisco women are remarkably stylish in their appearance. I consider them among the best dressed women in the world. If pull-backs are the rage, they pull back till every vein and muscle is shown from the outside. If trains are the mode, trains it is — two yards long, with a real lace frill at the edge. If short dresses are in vogue, as now, you can see shoes, stockings and —well, no, not garters, for they were suspenders instead. But their dress is perfect, nevertheless, in spite of badinage. They are slim, very slim, and all have splendid ousts, when busts are the mode. Now, however, to be straight up and down is correct ; so they come out in natural condition as thin as eels, i Their complexions are bod ; but then " camiliiie" is beautiful and cheap, so are rouge j and black pencils, and color for the lips. The talent for "fixing" is immense. Take an ordinary -looking girl, and ask her to a ball. She'll just go up stairs, " fix" herself so divinely, from her lips to her hair-puffs, that it is like a Cinderella aud fairy wand operation ; right away you have a beauty, I don't care how homely she may bo, and that's more than any girls can do in any other country. True, at 9 o'clock in the morning, when they go out just like wax dolls, their faces "give them away" terribly; but for night, why it's marvellous ! The old ladies with wrinkled cheeks and browlesa eyes, look peculiar after 'fixing,' 1 and impress one with the idea of a resuscitated mummy, but then it's the Wtiy of the plice, and when in Rome, Ac. Writing of the state of tho crops, the Melbourne Leader says : — The reports of the wheat crop, as the harvest proceeds, improves somewhat towards the Wimmera and Other districts lying towards the north west, but from the Goulbourn and other localities to the eastward the statements of failure are of the most distressing kind. Over considerable areas an utter collapse appears to have taken place owing to the rust. The oat and barley crops, on the other hand, eVen when side by side with ru«ted wheat, appear to have done well in the new districts, and •as this has been made the first season in which an experiment has been made to any extent in the direction of trying whether these new lands are equally adapted to the production of other cereals besides Wheat, it may be expected that less dependence upon wheat as the only crop will be indulged in for the future. As a nil* it is found that while the plains are suited to wheat, the timbered lands in the new districts are peculiarly adapted for growing first-class oats and barley. The latter crop, which is so remunerative for malting purposes, is also found to be less subject to the caterpillar than the crops of the less inland districts, aud this should be an additional inducement for the fanner of the new lands to refrain from running the risk involved in putting the whole of the laud in under one kind of crop. The following letter, from the Hon. Mr Ballance, was read at th* anti-Chinese meeting recently held at Wellington :— As I shall not be able to attend the meeting, I take this opportunity of expressing my warm sympathy with its object. It has appeared to me that the care that is rightly exercised with regard to the selection of immigrants from Europe should not be relaxed when th# voluntary immigration of an inferior race threatens to derange all tho just relation* of capital and labor, and to produce social results likely to degrade the position of the European laborer. The advocacy of Chincie immigration is of the same kind as that of slavery, in this important respect, that it is founded upon the desire to increase the wealth of the capitalist class by the subjection of the laborer. To those, therefore, who view the diffusion of prosperity and happiness amongst all classes— if not equally at least with equal opportunity —as the highest game of Government, it must appear

that the unrestricted immigration of such a people aa the Chinese might become a national calamity of the greatest magnitude. In the attainment of the objeot you have in view a difficulty may he found in the treaty obligation! of the mother country ; but it would be nnfortuate if these should intervene to prevent a colony from regulating the introduction of Chinese in accordance with its own interests. If we may legislate for the introduction of such immigrants as we desire, it seems equally right that the Chinese, whom we do not desire, should be kept out by an embargo on vessels, in the form of a capitation tax, that would act prohibitively. I do not doubt that means will be found within our powers to give effect to the will of the people of this colony, and I trust the meeting in Wellington will be so unanimous in to give an impetus to the movement in other place*.