North Otago Times WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1881.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, 4 May 1881, Page 2

North Otago Times WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1881.

!i " I kegret to say that I am unable to take ?s hopeful a view of the Customs receipts as I did List sersion. It must be admitted that there is no known basis on which to found a trustworthy calculation as to the probable leceipts fiom Customs duties in the colony. The influences afc work are so various and uncertain in t heir operation that it is impossible to iorm more than an ap1 proximate estimate as to the receipts for any peiiod of financial or coinmeicial depiession, such as we are still sufFeiing under. There aie, however, indications pointiug to a gradual improvement, which I hope has be^un, hut which, I think, I am not justified in relying upon to a larger extent than I have done in estimating the Customs at .£1,250,000 for the year." Thus spike the CYtlonial Treasurer on the BUi of June List when estimating the receipts of the Consolidated Fund for the year ending March 31, 1881. When Major Atkinson delivered his last financial statement he wisely did not conceal his consciousness that he was still wandering in the wood, and thouch he was not without teasonable hope for the future he preferred to make the immediate past the basis of his calculations. As he phrased it, he hu\ before him " the ominous fact that there had been a net decrease of duty of £107,684 paid at the Customs during the year 1879, as compared with the veav 1878, and that a more than proportionate decrease had continued foy the fivat quu-tev of 1880, notwithstanding the Luge increase of duties imposed in November, 1879." Ot course the Treasurer's sole business was to comment on this state of affairs as a m itter-of-fact man of figures, but if he had investigated the facts in a broad and philosophical spirit, he would i probably have been led to the conclusion that a consider ible proportion of the decrease in the Customs revenue immediately after the duties had been hugely mci eased was due entirely to the restrictive effect which that increase had had upon the impoit tiade of the colony. Another remark which Major ! Atkinson "ii ide in this connection is worthy of notice on account of its curiously siiggesthe character. Having stated tint "diaperv yielded, for the fust quarter of 1880," £30,862, and spiiits £82,482," the worthy gentleI man went on to siy with touching simplicity, " Honoiab'e members will obsetve that the peicentage of loss upon drapery is nearly double that upon spiiits, which I take as an indication j that smuggling and illicit distillation ! have not mci eased to any appreciable extent through the additional duty imposed upon spiiits last session." This ingenuous if not ingenious induction is, we fear, another instance of what will j happen when a man with no pariiculai talent foi the opeiation, sets himself to j discover anabstiuseciuse for a puzzling effect. We opine th.it few searching enquirers with much knowledge ot life lor capacity for reasoning would be disposed to trace the difference in the dgutes we ha\e quoted co the cause mentioned by Major Atkinson. Their inference would probably be that as drapery had been vastly laiseJ in price by mci eased Customs duties, the women of the colony, with the economy oharae- j teiistic of theii sex, had held back fiom pui chasing to such an extent th.it im- [ porteis minimised their impositions, I wh le the men did not bate one jot in I their customary consumption of spirituous liquor 1 -. However, to i evert to the Colonial Treasuiei's estimate of Customs le venue for the year that ended ou the 31st of Match, it is giatifying to find that it has been exceeded by close on £60,000. lie anticipated that the return would be £1,250,000, and the actual receipts which weie totted up the other day show the levenue at , =£1,309,818. The giObS Customs collections in the colony for the financial period which ended on the 31st of j March, 1880, amounted to £975,920 ; and the difference between these sets of figuies allows that the trade of the country has undergone an expansion which must be highly reassuring to the colonists, and to all interested in the progress and ptospeiity of New Zealand. Ie also shows that Major Atkinson sa v v aiight when, at the time of his List financial statement, he saw "indications of a gv.ulual improvement " in the tiade of the country. That improvement had begun then, it has continued siuce, and goes ou continuing ; and with prudence on the part of Government, and with energy and self-reliance on the part of the people, there is not likely for many a long day to be any interruption in its continuance.

A telegram from Wellington gives information, which will be of interest to business people, regarding the mail via San Francisco, which arrived in Auckland on Monday afternoon. For ways that are dark and tricks that are vain the heathen Chinee is peculiar, but he comes out in a new light as being a model of nonchalance. While answenng his Worship's questions in the witness box yebterday, howe\er, one of these confiding disciples of Coutuuius proceeded to smoke his pipe in the most unembarrassed manner until peremptorily ordered to put it out.

A sparrow club has boon formed in Ashburfcciu. The s.h. Graf ton will sail on FridAy. the 6fch insfc , at 6 p m., in&tead of Thursday, as previously advertised. It is state* 1 thai Parliament will be called together for the despatch of business on tno 16th of next month. The Te Anau sails for Porfc Chalmers on Thursday afternoon, instead of to-day (Wedneslay). Mails will accirdingly close at Oamaru at 6 o'clock on Thursday morning. The want of a good steam tug has long been felt at the Jjuller river. Howevor, the want will now be remedied, as Mr Moss, of Greymouth, has put the p.s. Despatch on tbo river to undertake all necessary towage. Mr A. Dalgleish, of Papakaio, whilst training a j'oung horse to harness yesterday, was thrown out of his trap, and dislocated his shoulder. He Avas attended by Dr. de Lautour. and is progressing favorably. Our coursing readers are reminded that entries for the Members' Piate close this evening, at 8 o'clock, at the Royal Hotel Nominations for the Derby Stake close on Friday, the Gth instant, with tne hon. secretary (Mr Uonayne). The thirty-second annual report of the Australian Mutual Provident Society his come to hand. It appears that, since the establishment of the society up to 31&b December, ISSO, 59,000 policies have been issued, assuring 1/2 1,834 000. The present annual revenue of the society is L 709,768. A robbery was committed at the Royal Hotel last night. A mm. who had been loifing about the bar in the evening, and finished up by pretending to be asleep on a bench, sto'e eight shillings out of the till during the momentary absence of tho barman, about half-past eleven o'clock. In formition was at once given to the police, who are, we believe, on Ins track. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, a Chinaman was called np-ra to give e\idence aa plaintiff in a case The customary extinguishing of the inevitable lucifer was, however, the onlj thing intelligible about his evidence, his knowledge of English being so infinitesimal that the ca-e had to be adjourned, in order that the services of an interpreter might be procured. The remains of Mr G. Martin, late of ftaio, who was drowned by the wreck of the Taiauia, wore yesterday conveyed, under the care of his brother, to Waimate by the midday express. In connection also with loss of the Taraiua, it has been ascertained tant a man nimed Cochran, who had lately been working at Moeraki, was a steerage passenger on board. The railway line connecting Duntroon with Ilak.iteramea is being pushed on vigorously. 1 here arc a*; picsonfc 35 men employed on the works, and the inspector has, we understand, been instructel to take on imre. The coniif-cti m is expected to be finished in about thtee weeks time In reference to the number of unoTploved camped along the Livingstone line, officiilinfoimation has been received that, although there miybe quite ninety men out of employment in the district, there a-e nit more tlnn twenty five actually encamped along the line waiting for work. Judge Ward. Mr M 'Cully, andMrGiierson, of the Union Bank, Ti.naru, on Monday were thrown out of a trolly, which was conveying them across a portio i of the Upper Waitaki Biidge. Tne rope by which tho vehicle wa-j being diawn caught in a sleepei, and the occupants of the trolly were thiown to tha ground Judge Ward wai tever ly shaken, but was able, though suffering acutely, to proceed home by yesterday's express. The other two gentlemen escaped with blight injuiies. Mra Macpherson's lectures are daily increasing in populirity, and even wet weather has no effect m reducing the number of enquirers after culinary lore. The lecturer not only enlivens her lessons with entertaining anecdotes, but gives a seasoning of useful little hints which are well worth noting. For instance, most amateur cooks of the fair sex, are constrained to weep during their minipulation of the tearful onion, ani Mrs Macphersoa tells them a simple wav to olniate this— merely by h >lding an oidinary t-m between the teeth duiing the operation. Again it may be usefu' to know, although our climate is never a very wintiy one, that a handful of clean snow will form a peifect substitute, in making cakes, &c M for the whipped white of eggo Mr F Bicknell, who has been seventeen years in the Government service, and for a great portion of that period he has been Chi*»f Postmaster at "amaru, yesterday completed the handing over of his duties to Mr J W. Hutton, who has lately arrived from Wellington to take charge of the amalgamated Post and Telegraph Offices in this town. As may be supposed, Mr Bicknell does not vo'untarily rethe fro-n the public service. He is one of those who are called upon to submit to the Government's scheme of amalgamation and retrenchment. We understand, though, that Mr Bicknell does not entertain irritated feelings at the change forced upon him ; after six; months' leave of absence, he will finally retire from the Post Office Department on a °mall pension, on q iod terms with the chiefs of that Department and with tho well-earned respect and wishes of tho public There is a probability, too. of Mr Bicknell's continuing to carry on the Government Insurance work of this district— a work for which he is well qualified by departmental experience and local knowledge.