THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9117, 27 July 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1888.

The friends of village settlement have every reason to be satisfied with the discussion which ensued on Mr. Peacock's question as to.the, working of the system, reported in the special correspondence of yesterday's Herald. With barely an exception it was sympathetic, and even strongly commendatory ; and though the foregone conclusion of what Major Steward was pleased to call perhaps in irony— the .statesmanlike capacity and large intellect" of the Minister of Lands remained unaltered, we take occasion to hope that the strong favour in which the system is held . by . so many • members will yet assert itself in provision being made for the maintenance and continuance of village settlement. Indeed, the contrast i . shown in the fs sentiments expressed now and those held, or at least expressed, a year ago on the subject, is very striking; and no more genuine tribute could be rendered to the system .than that it ~ has overcome so many doubts and suspicions, and what is stronger still, so pronounced party feeling. We had witnessed the . same i s in ( Auckland, where formerly there were many who doubted seriously the feasibility of the scheme, and others were repugnant to it on political party grounds, but where at present there is not to be found one whose opinion is worth consulting who does not see in the system of village settlement, conducted as it has been in this district, the solution of some of our most difficult social questions. From the first and throughout village settlement has been loyally supported by the whole of the Auckland . press, which, however : divided on other matters of principle or politics, has been united in maintaining the value of village settlement on humanitarian, social, and national grounds ; and it is pleasing to see that throughout , the colony, the press now generally 1 accepts the" same view, and gives such a pronounced verdict in favour of , the ; system > as cannot but augur its future # permanence and extension. : If in the House of Representatives there are many who take a contrary view, they at least kept their opinions in the background, for with the exception of a Mr. Cowan and Dr. Hodgkinson, neither of whom counts for much as a political factor, the testimony of members in the Assembly was strongly in support of the system. ' ~ The Minister of Lands, who had taken on himself to pronounce off-hand, on the day after our public meeting, to the effect that there was not the smallest likelihood of a grant for the purpose of village settlement being carried in the House, felt bound to make good his position, which he did with considerable misrepresentation and special pleading. He : cumulated the costs against the special , settlements by in? eluding the costs of survey whioh are incident to the disposal ■ of ■ all public lands, however leased or sold, and the costs of means of access, as roads and bridges, which are 'usually considered necessary in the selling and settling of rural lands. To his contention on this point as to the costs of means of access, it might well be answered, better far make roads to where there are fifty or a hundred settlers, than to where there are a few : and if all the roads made to an equal number of scattered and isolated settlers were taken into account it would be found that the aggregate of cost would far exceed the cost of roads entailed by these clusters of settlers. But in making up his totals, the Minister added on the special costs, which, of course, must be incidental to the planting of penniless settlers in localities generally remote, and -sometimes alto--1 gether outside the bounds - of regular settlement. Take the Herekino settlement for example. Treated as that settlement has been by the present Government, its location in such a place would seem an act of folly. Though the land is magnificent, and it has great possibilities in the future, the situation is such that without special outlay to connect it with civilisation, nobody would have given the Government a penny '*■ an acre for it if it had involved occupation. But, as is very well known, it was intended to be the starting point for a settlement of many thousands of families extending back and away across the island to the ports on the other coast, over land unsurpassed for richness in the world. Meantime there was necessitated special means of conveyance for the first settlers, and a monthly steamer was promised them and contracted for. This promise, distinctly made to the settlers, the present Government has treacherously broken, taking advantage of the failure of the owners of the r - steamer, to get out of the liability, never thinking of the unfortunate settlers and their families so abandoned, who have been left to purchase their flour and other supplies at famine prices. Had the placing of settlers been continued as was promised, in a short time there would have been enough of them back from the port and extending to the other coast, to have induced the continuance of steamboat communication on commercial principles ; but this Government stepping in to mar the work of their predecessors, we only see the first outlay, which is naturally out of proportion to the dwarfed settlement which the Government itself has compelled. Similar is the condition of things, though on a minor scale of expenditure, in connection with several others of the settlements in the North : and apart from the ordinary costs of survey and roads incident to sale and settlement of lands, there were special costs incurred in starting the settle-

' jnents, which, of course, seem large in proportion, now that settlement has teen stifled. It is said that " fools and children should not look at half-done work," and " the statesmanlike capacity and large intellect" of the Hon; G. F. Richardson have failed to grasp the noble scheme of village settlement, conceived and put in operation by a Minister of Lands who has left his name on New Zealand history, as ■ that of the only Minister who !aas yet shown the ability to deal with the land question and the ' settlement of the people on a practical basis. _ Mr. Ballance may, indeed, feel an inward sense of satisfaction, such as rarely comes to statesmen in these colonies, when he sees the scheme which he launched amid the doubts and sneers of friends or foes, now commanding the commendation of the whole people. It affords us very great pleasure to see that the representatives of this district have expressed themselves in unequivocal terms on the value of the scheme as we have seen it; even Mr. Hobbs himself, who perhaps would have been excused if it had been otherwise, showing a friendly sympathy ■with village settlement. Only one sinister feature has been imparted to the support of it, and we are sorry to see that Sir George Grey still persists in maintaining that the settlers should obtain the freehold of their lots. This specious advocacy has, of course, its attractions for the village settlers themselves, who naturally would generally desire to own their farms in fee simple. We need not rediscuss this oft-debated question. No one that knows our village settlements has any honest doubt that the leasehold element has saved it from annihilation ; and he is the worst enemy of the true interests of the class of men for whom the village settlement is specially designed, who would take away this safeguard. The serfdom of the poor is of course always present to the mind of Sir George, and probably he cannot help it. But neither he nor any other Minister in New Zealand has ever availed himself of his opportunities for so lifting poor men ana their children from the crueller serfdom of starvation and idleness in the slums of . our cities. When he or any other claimant for freeholds to the poor, can point to having done so much not by visionary pictures on the clouds, but by giving them sheltersheds and gardens and kumeras, and .peace and. rest from despair — then let them rightly claim to go one on Mr. Ballance. Meantime the people 'whom Mr. Ballance has made serfs call their babies by his name ; and, despite the protestations of their better friends, declare a lifelong heartfelt gratitude to him as their benefactor ; and it should be the generous wish of every true man and woman in New Zealand that the dose of tyranny may be repeated until • every poor,'hungry ! destitute, and anxious man and woman in the colony who does not know where to-morrow's • dinner is to come from, may be reduced to a similar condition of serfdom on the 'settlements, where, instead of wearily waiting on hope in city slums, they may sit down under their own vine and fig "' tree without anyone to make them afraid.- '- ■ - : v ;

. A good deal of indignation has lately been expressed at the attacks made, upon the credit of the colony in London! But people there will begin to think that it is quite time no further loans were granted, when a, prominent Otago colonist, for many years a member of the Legislative Council, comes * out and denounces the at tempt now made to raise a loan for the construction of -a dock at Port Chalmers as little better than a swindle. The Hon. 11. Campbell warns financiers that the loan is not guaranteed by the New Zealand Government, " that the amount now sought to be borrowed (£75,000) is insufficient to complete the work, that .the revenue that would be derived from the working of the dock would neither. pay interest on the amount ;borrowed, nor working expenses. We have no hesitation in saying that it must be the wish of every honest man in New Zealand that "heed may be 'given to Mr. Campbell's warning, and ' that the loan transaction will be stopped. It is' high time that . Parliament stepped in, and ..prevented local bodies from exercising their powers of running, into debt. ; Ministers have been wont, ,when local bodies applied • for power to borrow, to shake their heads, and to say that the colony was in no way responsible. But then the local bodies knew how to manage, and caused it to be understood in England, that no matter; '.how insufficient might be the securities offered, the colony, for. its -own credit, . could never permit a local body, which had authority under statute to raise money, to make default. •At present there is a dock at- Port Chalmers, a dock constructed many years ago, and as it could not pay interest on the cost of construction, it was adroitly rolled over on the Government. *; Still, a party of ' men 'at Port Chalmers were determined to have another dock, and resolved, against the remonstrances of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, and the large majority of the commercial community of - Otago, to raise a loan. - Most unusual temptations were held out -to the lenders of the money, and it is now on the market at 5 per cent, with a minimum of 94. There can be no doubt that many of these local loans have been raised on the supposition that at the last resort the colony would have to -come to the rescue. But this idea ought to be put an end to peremptorily, and we think the Government should instruct the Agent-General to warn investors of the risk they run by putting their money into such a venture as this. For Sir Dillon Bell to do this would inaugurate a new state of affairs, and possibly the immediate effect would be injurious to the credit of the colony, for people would think that a colony with a debt of forty millions need not stick at assuming a liability of another £75,000. But we must put our foot down some time, and we could not make a better commencement than with the loan which the Port Chalmers Dock Trust are endeavouring to obtain.

From private information received from | Wellington it is apparent that the continuance of the San Francisco service depends on the question of div." or " no" div." to the shareholders of the rival mail company. When an object is to be compassed it is easy to find reasons in support of it; and as the New Zealand Shipping Company is largely and influentially represented in the legislature of the country, and nobody in the Assembly has a personal interest in the rival service, the direction to which the minds of such honorable members will turn is not difficult to divine ; for "when self the wavering balance shake 'tis rarely rig adjusted." It is very deplorable that it should be so, but there have been a good many things in the conduct of our public affairs that are very deplorable. Where of two mail services working alternately, the one shows a profit, the other a very large loss to the country, in its operations, it would not be difficult for an unbiassed judgment to pronounce which has the greater claim to continuance if one is to be abandoned ; but when it is palpable that the suppression of the trans-American Service would result in the greater portion, if not virtually the whole, of the NewZealand correspondence naturally drifting via Suez, as giving them by far the speediest service, the selfishness of the

Southern coterie of shareholders appears far more unreasoning. We do not by any means suppose that such a glaringly selfish movement is likely to be successful ; but should the San Francisco Service by any combination of circumstances be brought to an end, we trust that the Legislature will see to it that the Direct Mail Service, if it is to be subsidised, will be paid in proportion to the quantity of mail matter conveyed, and that no hard and fast agreement to a fixed amount of subsidy will be pleaded subsequently as an excuse for imposing difficulty on mail matter coming and going by the Suez . route. If this precaution is taken and reasonable facilities are afforded for connecting sharply, by the Union steamers with Sydney and Melbourne on Suez mail days the question will solve itself, and the amount of subsidy earned by the Direct Service will be harmless; for letters will find the quickest transit as naturally as water finds its level. Nature has fixed; the trans-American route as the route by which mail communication must forever be conducted

between these islands and England ; and though temporary interests may blind the eyes of legislators, they cannot fight against geography. It is not competent of course to challenge the vote of members who are interested in the Direct Mail Service as shareholders, but for the gratification of a not unreasonable curiosity it would be well to discover their names, and see who they are that set the love of dividends above the public interest.

The Emperor of Germany has left Russia, and has now gone on a visit to King Oscar of Sweden. Previous to his departure the Czar and Czarina breakfasted with the Kaiser on board his yacht, and the leave-taking is stated to have been of ■ a cordial 1 character. British operations against Dinizulu's stronghold are being undertaken. Mr. Chamberlain, who had, avowed his belief in Mr. Parnell's innocence of complicity ' with the Land League criminals, now admits that his opinion has been greatly shaken by Mr. Parneli's reluctance to face an inquiry. A Russian plot to overthrow Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria has been discovered at Rustchuk. The Soudan is again in a very unsettled state. Fighting is of daily occurrence, and •it is feared that the Nile trade will be interrupted in consequence. The Mayor of Newton, Mr. S. J. Ambury, and Mr. J. Currie, Town Clerk of the borough, visited the city abattoirs yesterday morning. Their investigations proved to them , that the abattoirs are far from being in as clean a condition as should be the case, and representations are to be made to the City Council on the subject. During their • visit Messrs. Ambury and .Currie found a number of pigs devouring the carcase of a sheep. It is easy to suppose that the flesh of animals fed in this manner would hardly tickle the palates of consumers. a

To-night the ratepayers of Onehunga will meet to consider and discuss the advisability of negotiating a further loan of £2000 to pay off the waterworks contractor, as the works are nearly completed. The Council's proposal is to borrow for a period of 26 years the above-named sum, while the opponents to the scheme propose to drain the borough funds, and - hang up the works until better times come , round. At : present a sum of over £1900 is required, part of which is to purchase and lay service pipes, in order to set the works going and make them remunerative. It is stated that should the ratepayers sanction the proposed loan a rate of 9d will be ample to work the town ; while on the other hand, if they reject it, nothing less than a rate of Is 9d will be sufficient to meet their liabilities.

It will be seen by reference to our report of the Newmarket Borough Council, that a letter has been received from Mr. F. J. Moss, M.H.R., at Wellington, stating that the Minister of Public Works had promised to put up gates at the Newmarket railway crossing at an early date. -

- ? Complaints are . made from the suburbs that thefts of valuable plants from gardens are common. A number of plants were taken recently, from the Hon. Mr. Mitchelson's place at Remuera, and other - cases have occurred in that neighbourhood. One can hardly think; that this has been done for profit, for plants are now to be had at a very cheap rate. , 1 <

. At the ordinary meeting of the Auckland Athenaeum last night, there was, considering.the inclement weather, a fairly numerous audience to hear Mr. G. B. Lilly's paper upon " Ancient and Modern Sports, or Muscle and Intellect." The Rev. W. Tebbs presided. Mr. Lilly explained the connection i between bodily and mental faculties, then glanced at national sports, from ancient times down to the present day; and showed how they stood in regard to mental power, and what their relation was to the intellectual and physical energy of the people. Athletic sports were, he said, a ready, channel for surplus energy, the danger being excess, and examples of the early breakdown of athletes, as well as of students, were given. A discussion followed, during which ; Mr. Newcome agreed with Mr. Lilly that meat three times a day, unless the body were duly exercised, was detrimental physically, intellectually, and morally. He also urged the clergy to tell their ; congregations more about their responsibility to keep their bodies in health. The Rev. J. S. Hill suggested that ' the paper should bfc followed by one on the influence *of intellect over muscle, and expressed, his opinion that a good athlete must neces- ■ sarily be intellectual —a good bowler, for instance, bowled more with his head than; with his hands. Dr. Girdler spoke on the danger of over exciting the heart by taking more violent exercise than the body was able to bear, and the Rev. W. Tebbs said that on& of the beet exercises for giving play,, to all the muscles at once was swimming. The speakers alluded in complimentary terms to Mr. Lilly's paper, and that gentleman having replied, the meeting terminated' with' the announcement that The Queen newspaper had been obtained for the use of the lady members, and that next Thursday the Rev. C. M. Nelson would lecture on " Superstitions."

r As will be seen from notice in another column, Mr. John Lundon, having been agent for the late Government in planting the village settlements in the North, has taken umbrage at some of the statements made by the Minister for Lands in reference to them, and calls a public meeting, to be held to-morrow evening, at the Lomestreet Hall.

We are informed by Mr. Foley, of Hobson-street, that ho wrote home by the April mail to the Irish papers and friends of the deceased John Halloran, who was found dead last March on the Hukerenui gumfiolda under strange circumstances. The deceased left £1294 in the Post Office and three banks in Auckland. By the last mail Mr. Foley received several letters from Ireland and America, asking for information about the deceased. One of these letters was from Halloran's family solicitor, and contains a certificate of Halloran's baptism. Mr. Foley sent all information by the last mail, giving instructions to have Halloran's death well advertised in the Irish and American papers, inviting any person who has a claim to the estate to send proof of their claim to Halloran's family solicitors (Messrs. O'Keefe and Lynch, of Cork, Ireland), or Mr. Foley (Auckland), with all legal documents. At a meeting of the committee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, held on Wednesday, some comments were made upon the decision of the Resident Magistrate in the prosecution against W. G. Garrard for alleged cruelty to a dog which he was authorised to destroy. The magistrate stated that he believed the four witnesses for the prosecution, but admitted the excuse given by the defendant, that the drowning gear was out of order (which has since been denied by the sanitary inspector), and gave a- verdict for the defendant. At the lecture by Dr. Murray Moore on Wednesday evening at the Napier-street school it was announced that owing to the poor support accorded by the public to the technical lectures, they would have to be discontinued, as the attendance was not sufficiently large to defray the cost. This is much to be regretted, as it would seem to show that there is no great desire for technical education on the part of the youth of the city. The fees were almost nominal, as the University professors and other gentlemen had generously given their services for nothing.

An inquest was held yesterday afternoon, at the Asylum, upon the body of John Brown, a patient, before Dr. Philson and a jury, when a verdict of died from natural causes was returned. It may be as well to state that it was not the negro John Brown, who was recently committed to the Asylum from Mount Eden Gaol, after his attack upon Mr. Rutherford, foreman of works there.

In a recent lecture, Mr. Justice Williams, of Melbourne, denounced the present system of education, in which he said, general, useful knowledge was sacrificed to comparatively useless, toilsome, wearying details. Among other things he touched on our present method of teaching history as follows:—"Of what possible value to bankers, merchants, lawyers, manufacturers, agriculturists, engineers, architects, surveyors or artisans, can be the information acquired in their youth, at the sacrifice of so much time and labour, regarding the lives and biographies of defunct, and, for the most part, barbarous, worthless, and unprincipled Kings and Queens, dates of their accession, duration of their reigns, court intrigues, scandals and squabbles, Slots and counterplots, hereditary titles, attles,' with their dates and details of numbers of infantry, cavalry, and cannon, of killed, wounded, and prisoners, massacres and assassinations, , executions by beheading, hanging, burning, strangling, quartering, and disembowelling ? " His Honor is also particularly severe on that subject which is " dignified," he says, " by the name of English analysis." He wants to know how comes it that if analysis is necessary to enable one to write English correctly that it was a branch of study unknown to the greatest ornaments of English literature, past and present. He would undertake to say ' that there is not a judge, bishop, or bank manager in Australasia who would not be hopelessly plucked in the easiest paper that could be set in English analysis as now taught." The Christchurch Telegraph, in commenting on this, says :—" We feel that gentlemen like Professor ■ Thomas and Mr. Justice Williams do good service in pointing out what they believe to be flaws in the existing system."

At the last meeting of the Tabernacle Mutual Improvement Society, the question "Is the present educational system of New Zealand desirable V was debated. After an animated discussion, led by Mr. Cleveland in the affirmative, and Mr. Aldis in the negative, it was decided by a large majority that it was not. The main argument adduced by its admirers was that it had a levelling tendency, while its opponents contended that it was not the duty of the State to educate children, and that the system was too costly.

One of the most worthy and estimable of the Nova Scotian pioneers to this colony passed away at Wnangarei Heads, on the !oth July, in the person of Christina McGregor,' at the ripe age of 94 years. She has been invalided for the last couple of years, and lately had a severe attack of whooping-cough, which, acting upon an already emaciated frame, tended to accelerate the end. Yet, to the last, she maintained the full use of her mental faculties. - She left Loch Ailsha, Scotland, for America, with her husband, in the year of their marriage, 1820, and soon formed for themselves a comfortable home in St. Ann's, Cape Breton, province of Nova Scotia. _ In the year 1851 they came to Adelaide, South . Australia, with the first Is' ova Scotians who accompanied the late Rev. Norman McLeod, in the barque Margaret. Thence, in 1853, they came to New Zealand, and ultimately settled at Whangarei Heads, where they again established a comfortable home, and where her husband, Mr. Donald McGregor, died ten years ago. The deceased lady had passed a lone life of most irreproachable character, a lire of genuine, practical, and unobtrusive pietyin short, one of those sincere, humble, benevolent, and unostentatious lives so beautiful to contemplate in the true Christian, yet so rarely found among the . most noisy professors of exclusive sanctity. Her funeral was attended by a large concourse of relations, friends, and acquaintances from the Heads, Parua, and Waipu, and the funeral service was conducted" in a feeling and appreciative manner by the Rev. G. Jones, of Waipu. The deceased had seven children, five of whom still survive, and who are all in comfortable circumstances. There are also living twenty-two grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The forty-second concert of the series given by Mr. W. H. Webbe and his pupils took place at St. James' Hall yesterday evening, when there was a crowded attendance. In addition to a number of acceptable instrumental items contributed by Mr. Webbe and his pupils, Miss Knight sang "Forget and Forgive," and "Cupid Disguised, whilst Herr Tutachka played " Gavotte et Musette" in G minor, in his usual excellent style. Mr. : Worrall was heard to advantage in the bass song, To-morrow will be Friday," and bowed his acknowledgments to a demand for an encore. : Mr. 1 eriday also contributed two solos in a pleasing manner. At the Columbia Rink last night a benefit was given to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and there was a good attendance of rinkists and a moderate number of spectators. During the evening a Siamese race on skates was run, and the ludicrous efforts of the contestants to get up a good rate of speed highly amused the onlookers. This was followed by "Blindman's Buff," on wheels; but, after many fruitless endeavours, " blindman " had to confess his inability to catch -his nimble fellow-players. A polo match was contested with spirit, and resulted in a victory for Mr. Salmon's team by two goals to one.

The matron of the Upper Refuge wishes to acknowledge the gift of some illustrated papers from the Working Men s Club. The manager of the Lower Refuge desires to acknowledge the rift of an invalid s chair from Mr. P. A. Philips, for the use of the inmates. The Devonport Lawn Tennis Club social takes place in the Trinity Church Schoolroom to-night. _ Tickets may be obtained from the Committee. Dr. J. T. Rennie, M.D., D.D.S., notifies in another column that he intends to remain and practice in Auckland until the return of Dr. and Madame Duflot. • At the Masonic Hall, Onehunga, tomorrow, Mr. John Leydon will sell by auction £1000 worth of bankrupt stock, consisting of drapery, fancy goods, musical instruments, etc. Particulars will be found in another column. We understand that the prizes—consisting of cups, gold and silver medals, bowls, anil marble clock— be presented at the annual meeting of the Auckland Bowling Club, at Robsoirs Rooms, on Saturday evening, are now on view in Messrs. Upton ana Go. s window, Queen-street. . . The ordinary general meeting of shareholders in the Auckland Gas Company is to be held to-day, at three p.m., at the company's offices, Wyndham-street. Lovers of good music will have a great treat on Monday evening. The beautiful sacred cantata of " Queen Esther will be rendered in the Young Men s Christian Association Rooms, by upwards of 05 voices, under the leadership of air. Tanheld, who will also have the valuable aid of several members of the Orchestral Society, who have kindly consented to help. The Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association hope to see a large gathering of their friends on that occasion. The charge for admission is only Is, and the proceeds are for the reduction of the debt. The cantata will commence at 8 o'clock.