Talk of the Week.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 220, 27 November 1875, Page 13

Talk of the Week.

Writing to the Under-Secretary for Immigration from Wootton, England, under date August IG, 1875, Mr. Holloway says :—“Of course you are aware that I am engaged by file Government to lecture upon emigration to New Zealand. I am visiting the various counties, and by lectures and other means doing all I can to promote emigration to the colony of New Zealand. We are not receiving so many applications just now, in consequence of the harvest and of the abundance of work there is just now ; but from all I can hear and learn, as soon as the harvest is secured we shall be receiving a great number of applications for New Zealand. I he numerous encouraging letters coming Home to England by every mail to persons having friends in the colony, and who speak in the highest terms with regard to the prosperity of the colony, are exerting a great influence upon the minds of those thev have eft behind r< Bn cl and and urHl undoubtedly influence many more to emim-ate to that good land. Of course there are some few disappointed individuals in New Zealand as well as other countries, and occasionally we receive a letter from some of these ne’er-to-do-well gentlemen, giving a very gloomy prospect °f. the colony to intending emigrants, and doing all they can to hinder emigration to the colony. _ We have had a Mr. McPherson, who styles himself president of the Working Men’s Association in Canterbury, over hero lecturin'* in different places against emigration to New Zealand. Of course his name is well known to you ; and I need not say that his meetings here have been of a very uproarious character, as you will see from a report of one of his meetings which was sent to a Mr. J. G. S. Giant, in Dunedin. This Mr. Grant has seen fit to publish a letter in the Banbury Guardian, in which he corroborates Mr. McPherson’s statements in a very great degree with regard to the prospects of the colony, giving a very woeful description of the maimer in which the emigrants are treated at the barracks ; he attempts to show that the emigrants get demoralised out there ; and he also denounces

tlie existing Government in no very measured terms, as you will see from two papers which I have forwarded to you by this mail, one of which contains his letter corroborating McPherson s statements ; also another letter which he wrote to the Scotch papers, entitled “ A Voice of Warning to New Zealand.” You will see in his letter that he speaks very ungentlemanly with regard to my own visit to New Zealand, to which I have replied in the other paper I have enclosed. Of course these men do a large amount of harm to the cause of emigration, simply because they get so many to believe them instead of paying attention to the many encouraging accounts which are constantly reaching England from sober, industrious, persevering individuals. I just mention these facts to show that we have something to battle with here in advocating the cause of emigration ; but we have no cause for fear in the long run. There are too many of the right class in the colony who are doing well, and whose testimony to the prosperity of the colony will counteract the injury and harm which the above gentlemen seeks to do to the colony.”

I he TT airurapa Standard in its last issue has a long leader, in which it says that the New Zealand Times is wretchedly conducted, and lias none but liashed-up paragraphs “ written by the Itinerant Showman, alias the Intelligent Vagrant, who has been brought from an up-country district in Otago to write subleaders for the Times.” The Standard considers his blissful ignorance a misfortune to the proprietary, and thinks the Times is conducted by men “who are not conversant with the views and requirements of the province.” It would be a pity if all this wrath should merely receive the trivial publicity that the circulation of the Standard would afford it. To prevent this it is republished here. Indeed we should have given the Standard's leader in full, only that its spelling differs from that of the accepted authorities (“ comparitively” for instance), and the trouble to put this right would be too much.

It is the opinion of practical men that the following comparatively inexpensive changes in managing the work of the wharf, would render the accommodation sufficient for some time to come Eirst, a hulk, for the purpose of storing and pressing wool is required—this hulk should be moored in a convenient place, so that coasting vessels could, on arrival, go alongside and discharge the wool brought by them iuto the hulk, and when a sufficient number of bales had been pressed the hulk could be taken alongside any ship, and the bales could be put <,n board as required, the ship, of course, loading in the stream. This plan would save a considerable sum, both to ships and shippers ; and as it is known that it cost the ship Howrah over £2IOO last year to discharge and load, the suggestion is worthy of consideration. This plan would also leave the two best berths for the use of the large ships discharging, and as there are rarely more than two such ships discharging at the same time, it would leave the outer T for the use of steamers. Secondly, five or six small jetties should be run out from Custom-house-quay, for the use of vessels discharging timber, and for the smaller class of steamers. The wharf being thus relieved of wool and timber (the two most bulky articles encumbering it), the other traffic would find plenty of room. But before the work can be done satisfactorily, experience lias shown that it will he necessary to abolish the special carter system, and to give the wharfinger complete control over the traffic, and allow him to deliver goods as soon as landed. These changes effected, there can hardly be a doubt that the wharf would he kept clear, as any other plan, or leaving goods, on the wharf, would dip into the wharfingers pockets. Of course, these changes are not be effected during the present lease, as it would be ail injustice to the present lessee, but it is high time something should lie done before the wharf is re-let.

A deputation receutly interviewed the Deputy-Superintendent of Otago, for the purpose of impressing upon the Government the propriety of permitting clergymen, when on duty, to travel by railway free of charge. To this request Mr. Turnbull turned a deaf ear. Free passes had been given to members of the Otago Provincial Council over all the Otago railways ; but the line of liberality must lie drawn somewhere, and the Deputy-Superinten-dent of Otago thought it should he drawn at ministers of religion when on duty. Politicians might travel at the public charge ; but an illpaid and overworked order of men, engaged on errands of mercy must pay. The distinction is a nice one, and it reflects credit upon the public spirit and judgment of the Otago Provincial Council and Government. May their shadows never grow less. 11 is a moot question, however, how far the General Government will he bound to recognise the free tickets held by the members of the Otago Provincial Council, in session and out of session, when the Otago railways revert to the colony. However, that is a question which does not presently concern us. We have no doubt that the privilege of using the State railways free of charge will he largely used by the gentlemen in question while the privilege lasts ; but we would suggest to _ the Minister for Public Works whether religion might not lie properly recognised to the extent of making all clergymen free of the railways which are immediately under his control. It is useless to put in the proviso, “when on duty,” because a minister of religion is always presumed to be on duty. If he Ls not, lie is not “a good soldier of the Cross.” A similar question has arisen neai’or home than Otago, to which we desire to direct the attention of the Superintendent nf Wellington and his Executive, as we believe they have the power to remove the grievance, lolls on the highways of the province may be necessary, but they really press heavily on clergymen in country districts. They are compelled to travel a great deal, and they cannot travel without paying tribute at the tollgates. In one case, we have been informed

that the. tax at a single toll-bar amounts to £4 a year on a very worthy minister of religion, whose stipend is too small to admit of such attenuation. Now, is it not possible to make clergymen free of tolls in Wellington province? We are satisfied that this remission would not lessen the sum for which the tolls would he let, and it would be a great boon to the clergy. If the Provincial Government can do anything in this matter we trust they will take prompt action, and thus ensure the prayers of the Church for them during the dark hours of approaching dissolution.

The editor of the Wairarapa Standard’s experience of appreciation by his constituents is not a hopeful one. He commences a leader in his Saturday s issue by saying “ probably not more than one-third of the constant readers of . any newspaper ever peruse its leading articles. Possibly not more than one-half of those who do peruse them care more about them than they do about the other contents of the paper. The editor of the Standard does not take into account the fact that a paucity of readers frequently arises from the lack of interest in the reading matter supplied, and yet he professes to write “ after a journalistic experience which few other writers can boastof.” Does this mean an experience in writing what nobody cares to read ? Out of his own mouth he would seem to say so.

J rom the discovery of certain wreckage along the coast quite recently, it is much to be feared that there has been a wreck—probably that of a large vessel—not long since. On Thursday last, at Ohariu Bay a settler discovered on the beach part of the side of a ship’s long boat, painted black, and part of another boat, painted white, a boathook with handle about eighteen feet long, and a largo hoop of a vessel’s mast. The discovery of this hoop, detached from the mast, would lead us to infer that the vessel supposed to be lost must have been burnt. Another fact in favor of this supposition is the finding of a number of pieces of ship’s timber, well charred, by Capt. Worsp of the Phcebe, on Saturday last, when he was bound to this port from Picton. It is, of course, to be hoped that the supposition will prove to be groundless ; but when the foregoing items of intelligence are put together there seems but too good reason to believe that some large vessel has been consumed by fire.

The Otago Daily Times of November 16 has some remarks on the condition of the Deborah Bay railway tunnel, which, if founded on fact (and they have not been contradicted), point to great waste of time and money in connection with our national railway works. Our Dunedin contemporary says :—“ It is not to be expected that the carrying out of so vast an undertaking as that of intersecting the colony with railways will he unattended by mistakes, and the loss incidental to them. Already some have been made, and will aid in materially swelling the estimate of supplementary expenditure. Notably, one of these mistakes is in connection with that costly job the drifting of the Deborah Bay tunnel of the Dunedin and Moeraki railway. Our attention was drawn to the condition of the tunnel some time ago, and upon the representations made to us we took action that has thoroughly instructed us in the matter, and enables us to pronounce authoritatively that a very grave error was committed in permitting the tunnel to degenerate to such a pitch of dilapidation as that complained of, and with good reason, by the contractors. The old axiom of “ a stitch in time,” &c., is very applicable indeed to the ease before us ; and, if practical effect had hut been given to it, not only would the work have been materially advanced, but the colony would have been saved unnecessary expense that in the aggregate will amount to thousands of pounds sterling. Batost advices from the tunnel state that, owing to the insecurity of the ground, operations in one section of it have been suspended. A pretty state of tilings truly, and most discreditable to the Government. Hundreds of miles of railway are in course of construction in the colony, and it is therefore most unlikely that the mismanagement in connection with the Deborah Bay tunnel is an exceptional case, and we would therefore advocate the exercise of the closest supervision on the part of the Government, and the avoidance of that rock upon which so many promising undertakings have come to grief—false economy.

The Morning Post criticises some of Sir George Grey’s speeches with sharpness. Referring to Sir George’s proposal that Governors should he elected, the Morning Post says :—“ It was scarcely to be expected that such a suggestion would come from one who had so often been appointed a governor himself, more particularly when even in our most advanced colonies such a proposal has scarcely ever been mooted by tlie most thorough democrat. Of course it is easy to show that a governor is not exactly in the same position as an hereditary sovereign, that lie is liable to removal, and that his tenure of office must necessarily be dependent upon the approval of the 1 lome Government, but it is only in very serious cases that such a step as his removal is ever resorted to, and we all know that in the instance of Sir Charles Darling, his conduct, however much it was applauded by a Democratic section in Victoria, met with the decided condemnation of the most thinking and intelligent class of the colonists. It is most unlikely that in the present day the Home Government would interfere with a governor who was popular in the colony except on the very gravestgrounds. As to Sir George’s insinuation that it is held at home that none but those “ born in the purple ” should he sent out to govern a colony', a moment’s thought as to who are the present governors of colonies, even in Sir George Grey’s own neighborhood, should have satisfied him that there is no foundation for the supposition. In New Zealand a peer happens certainly to be now the governor, but of the six governorships of Australia and Tasmania all are held by commoners, men who have either

had long experience in the same capacity, or who hud given proof of their qualifications for office when taking an active part in political life* in a colony itself.” of Sir George’s acerbity in noticing the creation of colonial knights our London contemporary has the following:—-“Another of Sir George Grey’s grievances is connected with the Order of St. Michael and St. George, about which he appears to set very little store. Indeed, he remarks that ‘it was formerly dispensed to Maltese and tin; like, and one to whom it was offered said, ‘ When did I ever become a brigand V ’ That all other colonists—for we may suppose we can regard Sir George Grey as one now—do not share his views is evident from the fact that the conferring of the Order is willingly accepted by them as a mark of the distinction it is intended to convey, and which, considering the long list of illustrious names that it includes in its roll, few will find reason to cavil at. The above grievances are only a tithe of what Sir George has to complain about, but the sample is sufficient to show that in future, should we require the services of some one to frame a hill of indictment against the Colonial Office, and to scatter mud broadcast and impartially around it, commend us to a retired Governor making his reappearance on the political arena as a candidate for the ultrademocratic suffrages of a colonial constituency.'’

The position of a member of a Waste Lands Board in Otago is not an enviable one. For the past few months the Otago and the Southland Boards have been continually in the law courts, and at one time there was a prospect of the members of the former getting into gaol. However, they managed to keep clear of the latter little difficulty, but the lawyers had no intention of allowing them to clear out of the courts so easily. Two or three eases have been brought to the Court of Appeal this session. In one, that of Mackenzie v. the Southland Board, the defendants were cast in costs, to pay which, according to Mr. Stout, there was no fund beyond what the Provincial Council in its generosity might choose to grant. But as the Provincial Council itself has lost its opportunity for being generous, it is quite on th*i cards that the gentlemen whose patriotism has led them to take upon themselves honorary offices will have to pay costs out of their private purses. Mr. Justice Johnston, when he heard Mr. Stout’s appeal for the persecuted parties, commended their cause to public sympathy, but Mr. Stout sighed in answer that he did not think this would turn much money in. Yesterday another case came before the Court, and in this the members of the Otago Board were the defendants. The facts will be found in our law report; lint it may be mentioned that unless some amicable arrangement lie come to by the parties, so that the matter may be disposed of at the present sittings, it is very likely the injunction from selling lands on deferred payments will remain in force for another six months, and the lands of the Otago Board will be completely tied up.

It is well sometimes to look at ourselves through the observant eyes of an intelligent stranger. The Otago Daily Times, in a recent issue, has a well-written article on the bearings of the Abolition Act on the practical work of local administration, in which it endeavors to prove that the work will not be so well done under the authority of the General Government, as under provincial administration. The case is stated with very great clearness and vigor ; but it is the objection to concentrating all political power in Wellington to which we specially desire to call attention. There is a plausibility about the argument that will not be without effect on the public mind of Otago. The Daily Times says : “ Granting, for the sake of argument, that the proposals as set out are the best in the world—that they display the highest kind of statesmanship—that they are eminently calculated to ensure the wellbeing of New Zealand as a whole first of all, and then of every part of New Zealand separately and distinctly—we should still have to remember that so long as the scheme had to be worked from Wellington only, it would lie liable to serious irremediable accidents. Now, we do not wish to underrate Wellington. It is a thriving place, and we are never more pleased than when we hear of its growth and success. It is,however, very largely dependent for its present growth upon the fact that it is the seat of the Central Government. Consequently there is no sufficient outside public opinion to criticise Government action. It is a city of clerks—a city of quill drivers—a city in which social customs and business relations are all more or less governed by officialism and its concomitants. This must necessarily be the ease where there is a small town and a large Government. It was, and to a great extent still is, the ease with Washington, and then Washington was only the seat of a Federal Government. All the daily duties of Government, so to speak, were performed by the States separately, only the more solemn annual sacrifices were offered up in Washington. We do not know of any precedent on record for choosing one small and insignificant town, not for the site of a federal but purely central administration. It is all very well to hit upon Ottawa or Washington for geographical reasons, and for federal purposes. It would not be endured anywhere in the States that every road and bridge should be petitioned for to Washington, be docketed, endorsed, pigeon-holed, red-taped, and have all other official inquiries perpetrated upon it, several hundred miles away. Wo do not think that the Waitaki and Mataura people will feel any great comfort in finding that in another year they will have to go to Wellington and employ an agent afterwards to push their matters forwards, instead of coming down to see Mr. Macnndrew as they would do now. This is the sort of thing which, we believe, lias never yet been taken into account by the few centralists among us. Irritated at the ill-deeds of Provincial Councils, aud recognising their many faults and

incompetencies, they have supposed that nothing would be worse, while very much would be better. In truth, all that the central party propose comes to this—they propose to get the administration beyond the reach of public opinion. Wo speak advisedly beyond the reach of public opinion, for such a thing can hardly lie said to exist in Wellington. We do not refer so much to the newspapers which, if no better, are at least no worse than those published elsewhere. The other forces which go to make up public opinion—the indefinable but most powerful pressure of social and semi-social meetings—the street colloquies, club dinners, informal chats—not to mention the more decided deputation, with or without reporters —these are, more or less, sure to he absent from, and impotent to check a General Government at Wellington. In that city of clerks and officials, which resembles some important settlement in Central India from the altogether official air of its society, no two moderate opinions, no perfectly independent public opinion, can flourish. Men are all of one mind up to a certain line, and then are all on the opposite side, with a vehemence of sentiment that is unfavorable to a judicial tone of mind. When matters of considerable importance to a locality come to be discussed in such an atmosphere, bridges and roads are apt to take a party coloring, and to be considered not with an eye to the needs of the settlers, the progress of the district, but the needs of Ministers and the progress of party. Large matters of policy are settled by the Assembly in session, but small matters of administration are sure to be jobbed, unless a vigilant check is found in public opinion. No Assembly can look after everything, and the interests of the country would suffer greatly during the intervals between sessions. Have the people in Otago looked at matters from this point of view ? We think not.”

We publish below a table showing the proportion which the mortality returns of Wellington bear to those of certain large English towns. From this it will be seen that the returns for Wellington are such as to give rise to very serious apprehension, and it may be fairly assumed that the excessive mortality iu Wellington is due to an utter neglect of sanitary laws. An attentive perusal of columns No. 2 and 5 in the table will show facts that cannot be ignored. Columns 3 and 4 point to the existence of an excessive infant death rate in Wellington. Ail excessive infant mortality is a good test of the existence of bad sanitary arrangements. It seems monstrous that a small town sparsely populated, as compared with English towns, should show an infantile death rate greater by far than that of a large city like London, and a greater mortality from zymotic diseases than even Liverpool. With regard to column 1, it must also be borne in mind that the New Zealand published rates are considerably under the true rates, owing to the great excess of births and immigration over deaths and emigration, which has the effect of increasing the proportion of persons living at those ages when mortality is least, and consequently reducing the apparent average rate below the true. We trust that the publication of this table will draw attention to the great waste of life silently going on in our midst, from causes which could to a great extent be controlled :

As an indication of how political feeling runs in the country districts of Otago the results of three recent meetings at which members addressed constituencies may be taken. We find, by the JJrurc Herald, that Mr. Murray met 200 electors in St. George’s Hall, Milton, and we are correct iu stating that this was about ten times the number that usually assembles to hear Mr. Murray give au account of himself after a parliamentary session has terminated. It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that this meeting was more than ordinarily representative of the Bruce district. Mr. Murray having delivered himself in his usual style of linked sweetness, long drawn out, and having proved to his own satisfaction the fearful evils of abolition, and the incompetency of the Ministry, a simple vote of thanks to him was proposed. An amendment expressing confidence in him was then proposed, but found no support, so that the proper courtesy of thanks was all that Mr. Murray received. Next we find Sir Dillon Bell meeting a constituency, which, at the present moment, is represented bya pronounced abolitionist, whom Sir Dillon proposes to displace. Accordingly the Honorable the Speaker practised his usual custom of talking on both sides, and showing that in a division he would, if possible, have voted in the middle. The result was not satisfactory to the Speaker, who had to retire with a \ote of thanks, one of confidence in him being distinctly negatived. Lastly wo have the result of Mr. Outhhertson’s address to the Invercargill electors, which appears iu our telegraphic columns this day, and which was a thorough support of that gentleman and his vote for aboli-

tion, as opposed to a proposition that he had forfeited the confidence of the constituency. These things are facts, and we prefer to judge by them, rather than by the assurances of some who are just now loud in tlieir assertions that, at the next elections, Otago will return an united hand, pledged to follow Sir George Grey and Mr. Maeandrew.

The judgment given on Tuesday by the Court of Appeal, in the case Brogden v. Miller, is a judgment which will open the eyes of the mercantile community to the dangerous nature of the terms upon which they may do business with insurance companies. The law of insurance, ever since there lias been a law upon the subject, has been a source of perplexity to the legal mind and bewilderment to the common people ; yet it is a law which should he of the most plain and simple nature, for insurance against disaster by sea or on land is sought by every man of business of ordinary prudence. However, the decision given on Tuesday shows that marine transactions with insurance companies must be conducted with a prudence which shall amount to cunning, sharp-practice, and similar courses of procedure generally supposed to lie absent from the code of commercial morality, fu tlic case Brogden v. Miller, the plaintiffs on the 7tli March, ] 574, negotiated with defendants to insure the steamer Paterson, the premium was paid, and a document commonly known as ail insurance slip was issued, purporting to accept the risk, with some few exceptions mentioned on the memorandum. At the bottom of the slip were the words, “A policy will be issued if required.” Plaintiffs, like all insurers are in tlie habit of doing, considered themselves safe by virtue of the aforementioned slip, and did not ask for a policy, but iu the course of a few months defendants, of their own motion, forwarded a policy, which, being looked at for the first time after the loss of the vessel, was found to contain exceptions to risks which had not been excepted in the slip, which plaintiffs had never been asked to consent to, but which were found iu the policy, and upon which defendants took their stand, in refusing to honor tlie engagement they had entered into. This is a course of procedure which the Court of Appeal, acting under the law of insurance and the stamp laws of the colony, has declared to be proper. Stripped of technicalities, if the decision means anything it means this, that a trader paying a large sum of xnouey for a policy of insurance, under cer-1 tain conditions, may have in a manner thrust upon him a policy of a totally different character, which he has never bargained for and is unwilling to receive, yet under the law of the land he has no redress. The only course open to insurers is to insure exclusively with local offices, dispense with the slip which, under these circumstances, is a delusion aud a snare, and get a policy drawn according to their wishes before they part with a penny in the shape of premium. During the hearing of the case Mr. Justice Johnston said that English insurance companies had for many years paid claims, which possibly they might have successfully combatted, hut they had a regard for commercial honor. He added that commercial honor perhaps was commercial interest ; for, unless the policies were met, business would be lost. This was a doubtful compliment to the companies ; but looking at tlie matter from even this rather low stand point, insurance companies will soon find that after all “ Honesty is the best policy.”

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