THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1895. THE COLONIAL TREASURER’S MISSION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2410, 16 January 1895, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1895. THE COLONIAL TREASURER’S MISSION.

With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, established ISIS, and the New Zealander.

Mr Ward, as we anticipated somo days ago, is to proceed to England on public business. What the business is wo aro not informed. But the Cabinet has, we objj. serve, decided unanimously that, whatever the business is, Mr Ward should go and it attend to it. Now it is perfectly obvious that in largo questions of public interest ro)s quiring delicate negotiations there| must be often a proper reticence. When a private 11 negotiator goes off ' on a trip to a distant market lie carries his heart with him, but he does not wear it on his sleeve for daws to pock at. The same rule applies to the conduct of public business. The duty of the public critic on such occasions is sufficiently discharged by a consideration of the capacity of the representative man selected by unanimous consent of his colleagues. In this case the duty is easy. The Postal Conference has shown very emphatically what it thinks of Mr Ward’s capacity as a man of business, and a roan of integrity. No greater com- •' pliment has ever been paid to any public . man in Australasia than the compliment l " implied directly by the change in the proT gramme of the Postal Conference, made avowedly to suit Mr Ward’s convenience. This Ims struck even Opposition critics in this, country. Indeed, one of them, who is not remarkable for saying kind things of the present Government, lias with great emphasis, and without any qualification whatever, remarked upon the significance of the action of the Postal Conforenco. Ho has in good get terras paid Mr Ward the compliment which is deservedly his in consequence of that very uncommon resolution; the only resolution of the kind on record in the annals of Australasian intercolonial business. The capacity of Mr Ward for important work thus stands admitted. It is a reputation he has earned by a striking career of work, public and private. Common sense, integrity, experience, original ideas, dfltepr ruination, clear pgas of vision, persuasive powers—those are the qualities which have been recognised as l.us hy the public men composing the Postal Goufer.enpo, with whom he has been brought .oyer agd over again into contact. They, at all events, will not be surprised to leani that Mr Ward’s colleagues have unanimously selected biro for important and delicate work in the public interest at the other end of the world. That Mr Ward’s mission will result in great advantage ,to the Colony we have no doubt. No man can command success, but if euccesa h) ■ obtainable, it will be obtained by M. r Ward. Tho prophets will probably tell us that he is certain to fail. Wo will take tho liberty of suggesting to those prophets that it will be better for them tp wait until he does fail before venturing upon a .crusade pf condemnation. In Mr Ward's absence the routine work of his departments will be carried on as described in another column. The tin) o I 3 • short, and tho work is sot onerous, entirely of a routine character as we haye said- The arrangements appear to be perfectly gdod. The prophets in this ease also will do themselves credit by waiting for results before they condemn. At the present stage, condemnation, being based oh prophetic conjecture, must necessarily be worthless. The Cabinet sees its way to public advantage by sending one of its members on a distant mission, arranging for his routine work in the meanwhile. It is a perfectly fate and feasible business arrangement, which must ho judged by its results. We have -every condden.ee that the results will be good, aud so has tho Liberal Party, wo feel sure, which has placed theJGovernroent at the bead of affairs in this country. Every fair-minded man in the Colony will sec, first, that in important ■ matters involving delicacy pf . negotiation reticence is commendable j and secondly, that a very capable- pian has bcnn sent to do tile work of negotiation. If during tho i(our months, any unforeseen press of work should arise, there is plenty of force at tho command of the Government to help in gettingXthat work done. We wish Mr Ward a pleasant voyage, a safereturn, and the complete success in his mission which Ws ability and integrity deserve. ' - . * . THE CRICKET MATCH- ‘ The third of the teat matches between Mr Stoddarfs English Eleven and All Ana- : tralia is oyer, aud the result is a brilliant victory for tho Australians a victory which should to a great extent make amends for their two previous defeats- ; The victory is one pf the most , decisive ever gained by Australian - cricketers over an English team, and j it is all tho more creditable because the luck was fairly even' 1 throughout the struggle. The weather and the wicket were ( the same all the way through. There may be i a great deal in the reasons advanced by 1 the Englishmen for their with the bat in the first innings, i.e., that , they were affected by tho .oppressively ( hot weather, but still 383 runs is a margin j wide enough for any allowances of this sort- c Candidly, we think the Australians have J won on tficir merits. The honour of e Australian cricket depended upon; tho t issue, and it can therefore be understood that the team captained by Q iff on entered ■ the field with a determination to win. They f had tho first uso of tho wicket, and but for - 1 tho plucky and brilliant play of Callaway s and the younger Trott tho innings would .J have been a failure. Even 288 cannot bo 1 said to be a good scorn for . such a team. I However, if they bod failed ffjth the bat. > they meant to make it up in.tbo field/ Their bowling and fielding is described as brilliant, ! and indeed it must have been when such I powerful and consistent batsmen as Stod- ® dart. Ward, Brown, Broekwoli and tho * others were dismissed for tt>o fosiff.Uj- f cant total of 121 on a wicket which if any- ti thing was in favour of tho batsmen—for J mark how rapidly the Australians scored - on it. Tim Australians ‘ showed im- " proved batting form fo their second 5 innings, eight of the eleven .reaching V double figures, and .thankslto the fodllianco ” of Iredalo and Trott junior, ft splendid J, total was the result. The Englishman had v to make the tremendous score , of 626 to I ■win, and had they succeeded they would have been famous for ftll time. That they ° fought hard and died game we know. r There was all tho bulldog pertinacity ? which carried the day in that memorable u match in Sydney, but the Trott family were too much for them. The Trott brothers 0 , had a hand In the dismissal of every man s | except one, and this is the second time t, this season they have performed this , r - t< markable feat. Evidently they are’ ft j, terrible pair. Even the champion Giffon has been overshadowed in this match by j the wonderful performs boss of Albert Trott with the bat and ball, . The career of this young cricketer, who in ft! his first International match scores w 88, not out, and 72, apt flpt, and takes eight wickets for 43, will bo .Watched hppbe- 2( forward with great interest. Small .wonder 4J (then that 1)0 has boon offered an J] engagement-fo England, He is really F. the hero pf the match/ aEhwjgh jtl/o pj3,rt bi taken by Iredale, Giffon, Bruce and ■!» Gollaway should not bo for#oitep, This oi

decisive win has given the honours to the Australians, for even if they did not win Hie first match it must be admitted that, considering the circumstances, the honours were theirs. Whether they can retain them is a question to be decided by tho next contest in Sydney. FOG SIGNALS. , The Shipmasters’ Association received yesterday a cable message strongly recommending them to advocate the use of cotton powder fog signals at all lighthouses : as used at the Eddystone and other important stations in Great Britain. We have to thank the Secretary for the information. ft is true that the transmission of sound in foggy and cloudy weather is very uncertain, so uncertain as to be regarded as amongst things capricious. A series of reports from the United States and other countries is, we learn, in tbo hands of the Marine Department, illustrating this curious fact, showing by carefully prepared diagrams the very erratic course of sound under circumstances which make steady, reliable results very desirable. And there is, we may add, local information to the same effect in tho department’s possession. Still, though fog - signalling is imperfect, it stands to reason that some signalling is better than none at all. The recommendation of the Association will, therefore, we have no doubt, obtain the attention and weight which the advice of a competent body of men in possession of good information deserves.