THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1874.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4094, 28 December 1874, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1874.

Another New Zealand veteran has spoken. Mr. Sewell gives us in clear, unmistakable tones his account of the important affairs in which he took a leading part and his views on the present position and proposed alterations in the Constitution of the colony. Mr. Sewell has always been known as a Centralist and as the Colonial Treasurer who introduced irto the Assembly and carried the famous land resolutions which gave the land fund to the provinces. He is also known asthe negotiator of the loan raised, in England by virtue of those resolutions, and as having for many years past taken a prominent part in public affairs. Mr. Sewell is further, it must in all justice be added, one of a type of politicians of whom New Zealand could formerly boast not a few—men who sacrificed their professional or business prospects in devotion to iDolitical life and who, without personal extravagance, came out of that political life with clean hands, and with pockets more empty than when they entered upon it. Happily, despite the corrupting influences of a great and sudden expenditure, we believe there are stil many of the same type in the colony— men with convictions too strong to be idly cast aside, and with minds too honest to make the public service minister to their own aggrandisement at all costs or risks to the colony. Thus much we have to say in the merest justioa to those who, because they have neglected self, are sneered at by Government organs as disappointed cynics and vengeful men. The efforts thus made to destroy tlie influence which their honesty of purpose and experience fairly claim, will not succeed but recoil on those who use them.

11l Mr. Sewell's letter the first point that strikes us as of importance is the annihilation now u.nd for ever of the term "compact," so dishonestly and daringly applied to the Land Resolutions of 1856. "Maintain the compact of 1856!" Says Mr. Sewell, " What compact? I was mainly concerned as Colonial Treasurer in the resolutions of 1856, to which the term ' compact' is loosely but improperly applied. Those resolutions were moved by myself, and I tliink, therefore, that without presumption I may speak with authority as to their nature and character. They were adopted by the Colonial Parliament as the best inter-provincial arrangement which could be made, upon full consideration of all the then existing i circumstances, and which, like all such arrangements, ought to be maintained I till some overruling circumstances shall require it to be altered." This manly and I straightforward avowal, be it remembered, is from a Canterbury man, long one of the foremost of Canterbury politicians, and is made in the columns of a Canterbury journal, rabid with narrow conceit on the superiority of its land system, and eager to combine orthodoxy "to the "compact" with devotion to the Ministry, from whom it has received many good things and, in Mr. Bowen's promotion, hopes, no doubt, for more yet to come. All honour, then, to Mr. Sewell for the manliness of his avowal. Let us hope that we may consider the desecration of the sacred term "compact" as being for ever ended. We have for years fought against it ourselves, and have incurred the violent wrath of the Lyttelton Times and other Southern journals for our " Shameless want of principle " in seeking to evade a solemn and deliberate agreement because it proved less profittable than we had expbeted. Mr. Seircll. unasked, and to his own prejudice as a Southern politician, has nobly stepped forward and sided with the minority on this question. In so doing ho has settled it, and if again raised we need only lay to heart and quote the author of the resolutions himself. Ptelieved from the moral obligations with which it has been so artfully sought to surround it, the question has become, therefore, to all men, merely one of political expediency and in that light alone we need in future regard it. Mr. Sewell' shews forcibly the gross injustice in this matter of the unconstitutional resolutiQns brought forward last session. He shews that the abolition of the North Island provinces means tho resumption, among other things, of their land fund by the colony. In that case common equity, no less than souncl policy, demands that the land and land

fund of the Middle Island alio bid? also be resumed. Can. any reasonable man' con-., test the soundness of this view ? Yet the resolutions which, are to abolish our provincial control over any land fund, present or prospective in this island,' renew solemnly and in more binding form the possession of their land fund, by the Sonth. "Wellington is to be compensated by being made the permanent seat of Government; or, what is for her a better security, sho is to have, as Sir. Vogel told us at the Choral Hall, a sum of money expended on public buildings during the year which will effectually answer the same purpose and prevent her supremacy as the metropolis being ever questioned again. The South is to have its land revenue secured for local appropriation by the incorporation of that new principle into the Constitution and the safeguard that it cannot be altered without the direct sanction of the Crown. Auckland is to have for her share of the benefits to be obtained under tho new order of tilings "substantial revenues," whatever the term may mean and however these revenues are to come. In the meantime we see only that the Assembly had not one farthing of revenue to appropriate for any local purpose at any past time in the case of this province. Even in the provision for education, the deficiency of which in Auckland was alleged by Mr. "Vogel as one of his chief reasons for bringing the provincial work under the direct control of tlie General Government, this province has not-re-ceived the slightest aid from the general revenue to which, through the Customs, it

contributes a quarter of a million yearly. We know, when the General Government introduced an Education Act, that so far from endowing us with " substantial revenue " it only copied the taxing clauses of the Provincial Act and authorised their application to any province where it might be necessary to supplement the revenue from endowments or from land fund, by direct taxation for this purpose. Would it not be easy to endow the province with the "substantial revenue" first, and after we had tasted its fruits, after we had felt it and touched it, leave us to decide whether we preferred its expenditure by Provincial or General Government officials and under Provincial or General Government direction ? See the working of the present abominable system ! Wo have before us, as we write, a summary of'the amounts appropriated by the Provincial Council of Canterbury for.] the nhi'i' months ending 31st March, 1875. The total, for nine m o nth she it rem emb ered, is £1,316,922 14s. 7d. Of this vast sum £532,000 is appropriated to buildings and works, .£268,000 to railways, and £265,000 to harbour works. One hundred and one thousand is granted to Road Boards in aid of rates levied by them,, and £5,500 to Municipalities'. For education, besides the rates and the vast and valuable land endowments, £15,356 ss. is voted by the Council, £2,533 is voted for a college museum and public library. For their police, with a population only four-fifths of our own £13,474 is voted while we keep ours down below £6,000. Everything is in proportion. Yet the people who have this enormous private purse derived from the sale of colonial lands arrogate io themselves not only the right to burden the Customs revenue with what cbsrger they choose, but to govern arbitrarily their fellow-colonists in tlie North Inland, placing them under the control of a nemi-' nated Governor, a nominated Upper House, and a Lower House _n which Southern members and Northern traitors combine to form an overwhelming numerical majority. It will be the fault of the people of this province if they—nearly one-fourth the entire population of the colony—submit quietly to this gross insult and allow this great injustice to be perpetrated, stamping them and their children as an inferior pc aple in their own colony for ever.

A more disgraceful scene tli.au. that which occurred 011 Christmas night in the open thoroughfares, through th« conduct of some of the seamen £ror:\t :- - v' of ario, never, perhaps, occurred before in Auckland, and we trust it is the last of the kind the citizens ■will be called on to -witness. If some of the seamen received rough usage at the hands of the police, it was all the result or their own acts of violence. Drunken sailors, powerful of frame, each with a huge clasp-knife slung round the neck, banded together for mischief

or outrage, cannot be dealt with as ordinary drunkards, staggering along the street. These men resisted the police in the most determined manner ; and it is satisfactory to know their resistance was firmly encounter ;d and overcome by the police. Both side 3 met with severe treatment. But in despite of the resistance offered and the support and encouragement given to the seamen by the larrikins in the crowd, the police performed their duties admirably. They maintained their prestige as an efficient body, and they proved to these "liberty men" that when they come on shore they must conduct themselves as peaceable men. We can scarcely approve of these offenders against the peace and good order of the citizens being handed over to the captain of the Kosario. Taa civil law should not allow itself to becc.flie sub servient to quarter-deck authority. - Thesr men may be more severely punished thou the offence calls for, or they may be allowed to escape scot-free. Against the civil authorities had these men offended, and by the civil authorities should they have been dealt with.

The arrangements 011 the Onehunga line were on Boxing-day more perfect than they have heretofore been, so far as the working of the line itself is concerned. Mr. Stewart was in personal attendance the whole day, and was most energetic in supervising. The trains'ran most regularly to time, and there was not a hitch throughout the day. The carriage accommodation was . insufficient, and the crowding of the cars, especially on the return, not at all pleasant. This, however, was no fault of the management. The steam power was insufficient, from the fact that Messrs. Brogden and Sons have in use, under arrangement, two '>.* three Government engines, which they, though not using them themselves, refused to lend except upon outrageously exorbitant terms. In the early part of the day a mistake occurred in the issue of tickets through some arrangement with the Jockey Club, and none with Mr. Graham of the gardens, as was the occasion in November last, when the agricultural show was held on the racecourse. Tickets were issued for the gardens at 2s Cd, which were not available for the gardens, and another fee was then demanded by the proprietor. The consequence was that some dissatisfaction was expressed early in the day ; not, however, afterwards, the error being rectified. With the exception of this little mistake, the working of the line under the circumstances was admirable and reflected muoli credit upon Mr. Stewart, this, too, being his first heavy work since assuming the management.

The result of the annexation 0 E Fiji as a British Grown colony, has had the effect o£ restoring confidence in its commercial relations with our own and the sisters colonies. The commercial depression so I-rig experienced in Fiji, we arc told, is grauup-'ly disappearing, trade is slowly iniyKSving, confidence is being restored among business men, city improvements are progressing, and altogether commercial matters have assumed a healthier tone than has been observed for many months past. New business places are being started, and others are in course of erection, chiefly Auckland houses. But some difficulty has been, experienced in Levuka, and is still felt, from the circumstance that the bank, and some, at least,

tnere appears to be a ° f the place. Retail . amount in to 20 per cent, discount; SJthe^^ 0 ? 1 10 /at any event some of them i-«w otels > or However (says the Fiji Timeafllt P™"' the subject, it is to be hoffiw to nearly done with all substitntT?* W £ have sterling coin, and that the v^ ne nf° 11 } tiikh nioney will have to k market pnce in the lts ew Zealand. coloiu es and in Aa^ per s.s. Pkebe 3l ™ ed from the South 113 to hold . morrow. Oar Londm et ? er to " as well as other mail : t ° I ' reSf, °?, , ent '.' 3 le tter, . the supplement to this iMmd 111 Clinstuiastidft brines j ■ ■ ncli and poor alike, and theKn Wto • been altogether forgotten W It lave n , ot . during the year have faV» y - e who t their moral and social wellV - ltttercst Chancery-street meeWw, ; filled with guests, priScipauV T*® quite i ioeaUty on Friday* e?en£|,^& e £* mas chcer had been plentifully After tea, Mr. Brakwril ocounie ] and made some prclimtnaiy remariL addresses "were rial* 'j ■ Messrs. Edson, Morley, and tataons and readings were given by Mt& W Wlite, and Messrs. A. Thome and HoskW * L Ihe proceeding's were interspersed with . vocal and xnstvamental music, every L P res ent joining heartily in the sinrine - J t together an exceedingly pleasant aSd mfo .able evening ra spent. One of the most interesting features of the proceeding the presentation of an English Ipvm.'£,l i. tion or the zeal and assiduity with which™ E had always performed the duties of lh office Mr. Brakenrig ie E lied in a few t suitable remarks, and thanked his friends » for the unexpected present which had been r made to him.

Amongst those who "do good by stealth" may be mentioned Mr.. R. Grattan,' of the Thames Hotel, who, on Christmas tjv-;< Sispensed good cheer amongst some oi the chanties, after the following fashion -—To the children of St. Mary's Home, 6* coz. loaves, 14 lbs. lollies, 3 large plum puddirmr 1 doz. syrup, 1 box bon-bons. To the Old Men s Home • 12 lbs. tooacco, 4 gross pites a goose, and a plum pudding. To the Old Women's Home : half-a-dozen port wine; a goose, and a plum pudding. These dcnations are made in addition to the gifts of she Licensed Victuallers' Association. Speaking of tho Victorian marriage returns, the Daily Telegraph says:—" The narriage returns laid before Parliament yaterday present one curious feature. Fomerly the wives were mainly of English, 1-ish, Scotch, or other outside (birth, but the girls of the colony are now shewing "up in area numbers, and are now displacing the imported article. They have turned u sreet seventeen," and they are Kaking goot use of their opportunities. Of the wives married in Victoria last year, nc- less than 1539 were, of Australian birth, i 402 being Victorians. The English maidens whc received promotion numbered 1404; the Irish, 1089; and the Sect-ii, 436 s» that it will be seen Austttdia is raiidly securing a monopoly of it'-; i.-v.Ti manage' market. The return also rsLgn-s that nationality t tIL: grcfcUy. in courtship, the Irish Kiarrjiag'-i'ish, the English giving t.Uopre- | iet&i.-is to iw:£> : jh, whSc the ':- ake i '-cotcii -f lassies indifiVix -I"- v '>ut j draw tlie line the Emerald Isle, and Victorian bachelors display an overwhelning j predilection fcr Victorian maiden. Tviere j one Victorian take an English wife four select brides of Australian extraction. The second generation of pure Victorians wH be upon us before we have time to realise the fact." The agents of the Hero, Messrs. Cnickshank & Co., received last Saturday a telegram from Messrs. Bright Brotiers, dated Melbourne, December 19th, informin" them that the Hero was to leave Melboane for Auckland via Sydney on the 24th. Sie may therefore be expected here about tie 4th January, as advertised. We are infoimed that a proclamation -will shortly appear in the Gazette under tig Oysters Fisheries Act Amendment Act, IS/4, prohibiting taking or catching for sie any rock oysters within the Province of Auckland between the Ist January and 31st March. Tlie .London Gazette of September 29th notified the appointment of the Right Honorable Sir James Eergusson, Bart., to be a'Knight commander of the .Most Distinguished Older of St. Michael and St George. The Ballamt Star tells the following amusing story of how a young lady and her "ma" concocted that the young lady's intended should pay a biil incurred by her for" £60. This is how the Star states ths caso:— ; 'A (iertain young lady who considered herself in the cream of society, TO3 betrothed to a well-known merchant. Before the ceremony her ' ma' persuaded hot to pay a visit to the .fashionable Bourkestreet drapers, where an elaborate trosseau was purchased to tb.a extent of abeut £60. Injunctions were given that the bill should be sent in to the expectant spouse, but not until a certain date, a few days after the ceremony, the approach of which was not of course mentioned. By an accident the bill was sent out at the e..id of the monta in the usual course, and tbe bridegrocm expectant ot course at ones called to explain to the drapery firm that being still a bachelor •he could not possibly have incurred a heavy liability for fMu&le frippery. The state of the case was represoa-xa to him, the result being that, he declined to ? illJil his matrimonial engagement and to pay the biliThe lady is therefore left withc-it her sweetheart, and with a trosseau en hana for the next emergency of a similar character, for which 'pa' probably have to pay-" The appointment of Matthew Thomss Clayton, master-mariner, of Auckland, as surveyor under The Merchant Shipping Acts Adoption Acts, 1569 to 1874, has been gazetted. There appears in the Zealand Gazette of the 17th a notice making and confirming by-laws, rules, and regulations on the lines of railway in 2"?.w Zealand. Sections 21 to 45 of the Public Health Act are announced to be in force in Auckland province. The times and places at which Army and Navy out-pensioners in the Auckland district will receive their pensions for the current quarter will be found in our advertising coiumns. The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the Ivew Zealand Insurance Company will be held at the office, Q street, on Wednesday, loth proximo. The Court City oE Auckland, A.0.F., ™ celebrate their eleventh anniversary ?y social gathering, in the Lorne-street iiau, this evening, at 6.30. At her second concert this evening, f City Hall, Miss Christian wili sing, J_" Lime Trees by the_ River, and the old ballad, '' Poor Jack Brown. The whaling barque Martha, 235 ttfj* as she now lies at the E»y of Islands, WW . sold by Messrs. B. T'-nks and Co., to-day. no.". . Messrs. Samuel Cochrane and Sod , ] "sell the elegant household fuiniture, - > I Michael H; inaford, Esq., at his re . ~en«i Bemuera, ;.i 11 a.m. to-day. A grand vocal ana instruiiiental conwill be held in the Panmure HaU this ing, at S o'clock. Tenders are required by His Honor - ? Superintendent for cutting and iormmg to now wharf at Woodside, Jfoiih ShoreMr. J. Brown's singiag class * 3 this evening.

I QUEEN-STBEET AMONG 3 ! ' SE-AiIEN OF THE ROSARIO. I rw Fridayevening last, shortly before seven j ' X lock , a more disgraceful scene of dcunken°ZL and rowdyism was -witnessed: in Lower ? •' nTren-street than has probably been the,case '' ' „ anv previous occasion, in Auckland. >; nn,nnp-tire afternoon of that day a number I I if seamen belonging to the Rosario war were allowed on shore on > hberty. The larger number of thesecon- " Ancied themselves with propriety, walking in - fwos through the thoroughfares of the City, o nether molesting any one, nor being mooted in turn. But it so happened that same six or eight of the liberty men separated from the rest, 'entered various publichfidses, where they were served, with drink, and in time were rolling along the footpaths " in various states of intoxibation. In Vulcan kine three of the seamen quarrelled with a ' Vnshman, then fought with him, and finally' ' t--,used him, by the jorce of numbers, to run op the street. One ruffianly seaman, of forge stature, powerful frame, and immense i' strength, who 'sjent in pursuit, seeing Mr. Kobertsoh, the proprietor of the Queensferry Hotel,. standing in the roadway, seized him by the shoulders, flung him with violence on the flagged pavement, by wliioli j his knees were severely cut, the flesh of his . has us lacerated, and his body severely shaken. Mr. Robinscn is one of our oldest citizens, is nearly eighty years of age, and at • the time was simply standing close to his hotel, but not in any way interfering witn the fray. Information was then conveyed to the police ; but it being Christmas-clay, and the town up to the time of the disturb- ; ' ance having been marked for its order and quietness, the members of the force for the greater number were absent on temporary leave. However, Jiotice was sent out, and ' in less than an hour there was a large muster of the constabulary. It was well this was the case; for before eight o'clock some six or seven drunken seamen, after creating a series of disturbances in Wyndliam-street - and Shortland- Crescent, rushed in one body ' into a public-house at the corner of VTc it Queen-street, followed by De- • teefive Jeffrey and two of the Armed Constabulary. Here a desperate encounter ensued between the police and the sailors. The police, in attempting to arrest the two most desperate of the seamen, were violently assaulted, and in defence were compelled to • • resort to some very rough usage, by which one seaman was seriously wounded. At this ; time probably from eight hundred to a tliou- ■ sand persons had assembled at the lower end of Queen-street, between the Insurance Com- ... pany's buildings and Sliortland Crescent. The greater number of these were spectators, neither assisting the police nor offering any obstruction to them in their attempt to arrest the ringleaders. But there was the - element of ruffianism present, comprising men of the lowest caste, who not only incited • ' the drunken sailors to resist and assault.

the police, but aided in rescuing ' them from. their hands when in custody. The scene of disorder was, at halfpast eight, .as disgraceful a one as has probably ever been witnessed in Auckland. It is impossible, to enter into minute details where the crowd, in dense masses, surged - from one side of 'the roadway to the other, or, following the deviating course of the drunken seamen, crowded up side streets, and the police following were very desperately assaulted. By nine o'clock the police had succeeded in arresting eight seamen, when they were secured ill the guard-house. Then the town was once more quiet. Of the injuries. sustained by the police— was bitten severely on the thigh while securing a prisoner, another on the leg. One constable was seized by the foot by a ruffian, who twisted it round with such force that the unfortunate man has since had to be conveyed «to the h.o=pital, where he is likely to remain an inmate for some considerable; time. Under the difficulties the police had to contend with, Hot only from the drunken seamen,"but from 'the larrikins in the crowd, they acted with ' much forbearance. But they obeyed thenorders at all hazards to capture the ringleaders, and in effecting this they were compelled to employ force. It was altogether a very disgraceful affair. The prisoners weii; handed over to the captain of the Rosario on, the following morning, who has promised he will mete out punishment . . adequate to their offence, and "one we trust which will act as a warning to other man-of- . war seamen, who when they come among civilians will be taught, by something more •'/ than mere words, that if they are unable to ■ conduct themselves with decency they will be made to accept the consequences.