THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUII AGENDO. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1875.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4254, 2 July 1875, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUII AGENDO. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1875.

The sensation created by Dr. Kenealy 13 one of the marvels of modem times. It is also, perhaps, one of the most significant signs of the bittor feeling between classes, of which feeling Dr. Kenealy has contrived to mako himself the representative. Disbarred by his professional brethien, he is returned to Parliament by an overwhelming majority in a populous constituency. Unablo to find a solitary member to introduco him to the Speaker on taking his seat in Parliament, wo find him, a few weeks afterwards, occupying night after night in long debates, drawing forth the Prime Minister and leading men, addressing great and enthusiastic crowds in London, received in triumph in Bristol and other great cities, and finally drawing even tho Lord Chief Justice into defence of his conduct of tho Tichborne trial, both in privates and at public meetings. Xo one believes that this uproar is in Dr. Kcncaly's behalf. Still less can it be regarded as in behalf of the mingled ass and knave now paying thopenalty of his daring imposture. j Tho leading English nowspapers have stepped out of their way to givo to Dr. Kenealy and his debates tho fullest | and most prominent notice. Tho Times lias devoted to him moro than one leading article, and Parliament while leaving him in a minority of one, lias given him no small attention and no small share of itß time. After the failure of his "privilege" motion, tho Doctor gave notice that he intended to ask a question of tho Prime Minister .it an early day, respecting tho conduct of the Tichborno trial and to mako a motion thereon. Also to ask a question about the conduct of the Speaker in reference to him (Dr. Kenealy) and to make a motion thereon. By Parliamentary usage this vague way of stating tho case was permissible, due caro being taken that tho exact terms of tho question and of tho motion were put upon tho notice paper in time to let all concerned know what was really meant. Petitions of the most outrageous character were in tho moantimo being got up by tho various Tichborno Associations and Magna Charta Associations which Dr. Kenealy had founded throughout tho country. They all prayed for tho removal of tho Judges and the impeachment of Mr. Speaker. They wore signed by hundreds of thousands and sent to tho respective members of tho counties and boroughs for presentation. In these clays few members care to offend great masses of their constituents however ignorant or misled, and one after the other shirked, with the beat grace and as gently as possiblo, the presentation of petitions entrusted to them. A few were presented, but tho refusals gavo the Doctor the opportunity of denouncing in the JSnijUnliman tho craven members who dared thus to fly in tho face of their most respectable conatitnents. Great meetings, more petitions, and more denunciations in the Eng-

lUhman followed of course. Daring ' tlio debate Colonel Lloyd Lyndsay quoted ■ somo of these denunciations and read to tho House the following extract from a lender in the Englishman:—" The < Ministry, Parliament, and the Press are living in the most serene Fool's Paradise, and apparently are no more aware of what is going on m the actual world than if they were tho Seren Sleepers. Hardly a day passes that some dirty dog of a member, who would be a fitter tenant of a pig-stye than of a seat in the House of Commons, docs not get up, and in a drunken, afterdinaer speech, without any provocation, assail Dr. Kenealy in the most loathsome language of scurrilous abuse. Some have tho fatuity to write of him to their constituents in terms of reproach and insult, and in this they manifest their low and mongrel nature, which inclines them to bark though they dare not bite; for wo need hardly say not one of these ' curs of low degreo' would dare to face Dr. Kenealy from tho House of Commons' benches. But at their drunken dinner tables, surrounded by persons who are as drunk, or ignorant, or foolish as themselves, or in their counting-houses, where they concoct the frauds by which ships are lost, and sailors are drowned, and insurance officcß pillagi'd, and creditors are defrauded, they are as valiant as ancient Pistol; and when tho hour comes, as threatened by their papers, when Dr. Kenealy is to bo hissed and hunted down, we have no doubt they will play their part in that ignoble species of attack with tho most absolute perfection. Anion ! so bo it. If tho Speaker allows the House of Commons to be disgraced and degraded, as it will be before the world should this take place, it will bo no affair of curs."

It must be a new sensation to.members of Parliament to find themselves written about in this style by one of their own members. Some years ago the Saturday Revicio was particularly sarcastic on what ia called "high-flavoured journalism" as displayed in the columns of a paper issued in Dunedin by the notorious James Gordon Stuart Grant of that city. The Saturday regarded it as giving a fair index of colonial life and colonial tastes, and was thankful that England was not as other notions and her colonies. If it could only have seen Dr. Kenealy in the dim distance, with his cheering crowds, his Englishman, and hia gingham umbreila ! But returning to thp question of whkh Dr. Kenealy had given notice, iiiglit after night was allowed to pass with it upon the order paper. Urged to action, he roplled that ho was waiting to bo strengthened by petitions in lieu of those which members had refused to present. At last the Prime Minister threatened the extreme course of having tho notice expunged from tho order paper. Dr. Kenealy coolly rejoined that this would merely lead to his putting it on again. When it was proposed by the same high authority to reject ono of the petitions as insulting to tho Speaker and to the Judges. Dr. Kenealy as coolly urged him not to rush into a dilemma, for the petition too would como up again. Nor is ho without ready wit. When told by Mr. Disraeli that his proper courso, if aggrieved by slander, was to seek redress in tho courts ho knew so well, he replied that if tho Prime Minister only knew the courts as well ;:s ho did, thuy would bo tho last places in which ho would go for either honesty or justice. In the last debr.to ho inadvertently addressed the House as gontlemen, was culled to order and informed by Mr. Speaker that ho must address tho chair only. Ho immediately apologised for having called honorable members gentlemen and promised that it was a mistake ho should never commit again. There stands this solitary man in whoso honesty of purpose no ono really believes. In a crowd of members he lias none to sympathise with, none to support him. Yet he forces them into debates of great warmth and unusual length, has an immense following outside, and :\n immense circulation for his very scurrilous newspaper. Is it sympathy for Arthur Orton that impels the crowd, or is it tho outburst of bitter class feeling which many declare it to be ? Tho vory possibility of its being the latter should reconcile us in these colonies to many of tho disadvantages of our rougher condition. Wo have in compensation tho impossibility of such a man as Dr. Kenealy wielding such extraordinary political power i>r finding tho bitter, ignorant crowds to follow him.

Wjj of thoso colonies lovo so doarly and cherish so fondly the old time-honored traditions which have been handod down to us by our forefathers, as they were, and aro still in force at tho other side of tho world. A limn who owes a debt of a few shillings or pounds, which he willnot, or is unable to pay, is summoned before a Court where there is a stipendiary magistrate presiding, whero there are clerks and court officials, a body of police, and much else that is imposing. If ono man steals another man's watch, ho is brought before an inferior Court, to bo committed to a superior Court, and there to bo tried by a judge, and a jury of twelve of his countrymen, with a Crown Prosecutor, and a Sheriff and a Court crier ; and the jurymen aro sworn, in twos, that they shall, will, and truly try, and a true deliverance make ; and theso jurymen are balloted for, and very ofton are challenged. Thero is a great deal moro said and dono in our superior Courts, in which Her Majesty, her Crown, and dignity aro in some official manner connected with tho stealing of a Britanniametal watch, or tho carrying ofl"of a sheep, or the easing of a clothes lino at night of its contents. But if a man bo found dead in his bed and no ono knows how he died, or has been ridden over and killed by sonic drunken or reckless driver of a vehicle, or if ho lias been poisoned or has poisoned himself, of which thero is no certainty, but which nevertheless being involved in tho deepest mystery and requiring to bo enquired into with great subtlety and judgment, what in such a case is dono ? Tho body is perhaps removed into a stable or an outbuilding of a public-house. A policeman perambulates the thoroughfares and tho bars of hotels, and ho "impresses" any ono ho can got hold of—no matter who ho is—whether he can read or write, or is capable or not of drawing a distinction between what is palpably white and that which is palpably blaok. Then these men aro instructed to give their attendance in some publichouso parlour, redolont of tobacco smoke and tho smell of beer and strong drink. Tho coroner comes, with a policeman or two, and tho coroner writes down such evidence as such witnesses givo who are brought beforo him. Then tho case is summed up at longer or shorter length, and tho jury, invariably a very mixedlot, — a proportion of them have been taken from among tho unwashed, —return a verdict in accordance with tho small amount of light that is within them ; and strange verdicts theso aro oftentimes : "Died by tho visitation of God ;" " died by his own hands while in a state of temporary insanity," when indeed and in truth, thero was no evidence of even so much as any symptoms of insanity ; or, " died by his own hands," through

which finding Christian burial ifl refused, to the great mental distress of wife or mother, or children and friends. Now, wo think it is time that ail, or very much of this should bo altered. A list of jurymen should be compiled for inquisition upon the dead, and these should certainly be selected from intelligent men ; certainly not from bar loafers and loungera at street corners. There should, in all decency and for convenience sake, also be a coroner'a office, and a room adjoining it, where the bodies of the dead may be placed so that they could bo conveniently "viewed," and where facilities exist for medical men to make a post mortem examination. At present, bodies are cut up and painful investigations made in a email room, where the deceased may have ended his earthly career, and which some portion of the family occupy. "With all the drawbacks wo have mentioned, is it to be wondered that tho verdicts of coroners' juries are so often so very ' unsatisfactory ?

Complaints against the mismanagement of the Auckland and Waikato Railway continue to be as rife as ever; and making every allowance for exaggerations and captious fault-finding, we cannot persuade ourselves that something is not radically wrong in the management of the line. Tho Waikato Time*, of yesterday's date, has a very strong article upon the matter, being comments upon the letter of "A Waikato Settler," who details a few flagrant instances of mismanagement. Ourcontemprary saysth3t after making every allowance, and without any desire to make any wholesale condemnation of the officials employed, it is evident that "the management is palpably destitute of the merest rudiments of business method. There is an incompetence observable alike in the most trifling details and in the most essential self-evident principles, approaching to imbecility ; an amount of contempt for the efficiency of an important public service, suggestive of almost marvellous thick-headed stupidity, and a degree of callousness to public convenience and commercial interests indicative of a wilful, crass, and obstinate determination to ride rough-shod over the people, from whom all authority emanates. Were the control of the railway relegated to an incurable lunatic from the Whan asylum, it could not sink into a more hopelessly abandoned and chaotic condition. How any man gifted with ordinary common sense, or imbued with a particle of decent regard for the opinions and interests of his fellows, could wilfu'ly close his eye* and e»re to the universal r.-'.rshension, the almost unanimous appeals for reform, for compliance with even the clearest perceptible necessities, we utterly fail to understand. For any railway in the world to pay in such utter disorder and confusion is absolutely impossible. A continuance of the existing management can result in nothing short of a calamitous collapse, accompanied with heavy financial lose, disastrous interruption of public business, stagnation of trade, and the possible ruin of hundreds, if not thousands of already overburdened and struggling settlers." The complaints of the correspondent referred to aro both numerous and serious. He quotes the case of one gentleman who "has travelled frequently by the Auckland and Mercer railway without having his ticket demanded of him. In proof of this he shewed me six return ticket 3 which he had not been asked to surrender, either during tho journeys for which they were issued at various times or on arrival at his destination. Finding that this laxity existed, he on another occasion, by way of testing tho matter, got into a train without having furnished himself with « ticket, reaching his journey's end without having had either a ticket or money demanded of him, and departed without paying anything. Mentioming the matter to an acquaintance, he was informed that the practice of using tho train without paying was quite common. Indeed the person boasted that he had often travelled in that milliliter, anil meant lu Ju SO." A. SCCOnCt complaint is that the cars are not lit after dark, and he gives an instance of digraceful conduct on the part of a number of men in the presence of several lady passengers. "In the darkness they used tfie foulest and Clthiest expressions, and were guilty of the most disgusting acts in the hearing of thoee unfortunate females." Upon the train stopping at one station, " there was a rush to get out, and, in the darkness, a general jostling and confusion. In the midst of all this, one of the railway officials struck vestas, and attempted to collect tickets, calling out, ' have you all paid ?' Many eluded his vain attempts to check the tickets, and got away without paying, and some replied in a bantering tone, as they disappeared in the gloom." And so the list continues. The correspondent suggests an enquiry into this state of things ; he merely states them " in the hope that they may come under the observation of the authorities," and adds that if "a proper official enquiry be instituted, I am prepared to substantiate the statements contained in this letter." The provincial authorities are responsible for any loss in the working of these railways, but have no control over the conduct of the management, and should Sir George Grey presume to hold any enquiry in the interests of the province, the Minister of Public Works would probably telegraph to the railway officials prohibiting them from giving any information, following the example of Dr. Pollen in the native land purchase enquiry instituted by the Provincial Council. We trust, however, His Honor may see his way clear to make a vigorous protest against the continuance of these evils. There can be no question now but that he would bo immediately listened to.

The question of foreign anil colonial loans in connection -with the London Stock Exchange has not only created a deep interest in the colonies, but has been tho cause of much comment and discussion throughout the world of commerce. The jYeio Zealand Timet gives the subjoined explanation of the instructions given to the Committee of Enquiry upon foreign loans appointed by the House of Commons, to investigate the circumstances connected with the j< ew Zealand loans : " We can explain," says our Wellington contemporary, '' tho origin of this matter in a few words : Tho World, a new weekly paper which has let light into much of the villainous darkness that overshadowed English finance, notices that the committee on foreign loans has shewn that the system under which certain foreign loans have been negotiated in England, has been a mere mass of swindling by impecunious scamps, and that for much of this the Stock Exchange is responsible, the committee of that body not allowing a settlement to loans except under circumstances by which, in many cases, a direct and unfair profit accrues to members. Thus it was that a settlement was refused to the last New Zealand loan. But the )Vorld speaks out plaiuly in this respect, and says : ' And now a few words to the august committee of the Stock Exchange. If you really suppose that you will inspire confidence by refusing to Messrs. Rothschild a settlement for a new Zealand loan, you are mistaken ; considering the worthless dross for which you have given settlements and quotations, it is a piece of stupendous impudence on your parts to innict a stigma upon one of the most respectable of our colonies.' "

Oun American friends are wonderfully shrewd, enterprising, and intelligent. The last new thing out is from San Francisco, and may be made applicable to banks, companies' otlices, merchants, tradesmen, and private residents iu any city or town in this colony. It is a signal-box which can be placed in any office or warehouse, parlour or bed-room. This box is connected by a telegraph -wire connecting with a central office by those who supply the signal boxes. By simply turning a handle of the signal box to the word "fire" an alarm is at once given, and firemen with extinguishing apparatus are instantly summoned. Turning to the word "police," a constable is immediately despatched, and to the word "messenger," a trusty man is despatched from the office. The charge for the use of instruments, wires, and connection is, in English money, ten ihillings per month,

•which includes the placing of the -wires and apparatus on subscribers' premises, or for keeping the same in order. The charge for sending a messenger or despatching a policeman is extremely low. Thus, » subscriber can summon messengers, policemen, or firemen at any hour of the day or night, which is one more of the many useful and economical purposes a telegraph wire can be made to serve. To some extent the telegraphic rumour that Mr. Vogel had put a stop to the nominated, system of immigration to New Zealand is contradicted by a communication received from Sir Julius by the Chairman of the Southland Immigration Committee. In reply a complaint th&t Southland was being neglected in the matter of immigrants, and in answer to -i request for several shipments to InvercargiJl direct, Sir Julius has sent a reply stating that he intends to have despatched eight ships, each with 300 iinmigrants, next month. We should imagine that it is intended that the shipments shall commence next month. The report circulated by the Melbourne Ag?, that Mr. Yogel has resigned his position iu the Government of New Zealand, and joined Rothschild's establishment, is contradicted in Wellington, There can be little doubt but that the rumour in the Awas entirely founded upon the exaggerated ideas emanating from a section of the New Zealand Press, and furnished by "specials" by wire, in the absence of any legitimate intelligence.