The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 642, 24 May 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1878.

•! '.Mi:. Fox strongly denounced the payment , j cf liii'iii'u r.H of f'arliameiifc in his recent _ I address to the debtors. He i.s wio of ■ j those men v.ho would like (o sec thu : admini-strath n i>f our aj'airs entirely in tl'.Ki hands i.f th:> wealthy ; but it would I i.e .1 .scry day or Is.'v.' Zealand should ! the benches ::i our House of lie!>rc:se:ita- ' j fives ever lie occupied by over. ,1 majority .! "f such a class. Should such a calamity i -jver befall lis, wo mhrht bid adieu to I !i\-[ii.-fc:i :•>!' tiic L>noi\y, aiul prepar» . | ourselves for a st:t'v oi' affairs in which : j tii<> inter..-h; «>f the people v.'.oi.ld be i tr..«l(i'.'it under f"'-t. It is a;i attempt to j wrest from the people a say in the govuru- | Hit-Tit .f rho Colony, under the cloak of '! .':!ckiri- i:> j>r<'!:",oti.: tTieir benefit: hut. j d.'Vi'i- as t!iv lu;:s. advocaro of such a ! •.• may !>•?. wish rho majority < f the j public journals iiaiYo-.y-y vi's.:.;lii!i-;- hi.movements and those of Ids hicnU.-;, it is I no: at all probable that an attempt to .r. •.'"liiiionise ivpr. sentative i-overnmenf ; :>y virtually uisfrartc-Tiis::ijj the people of , the Colony *.«: II hj allowed to pass i»i- ---' noticed. What e"i*e the people for the .' expenditure of a tew thousand:! pi rsunum j in or.ler that they may have friends in j council / By one stroke of policy those | who wouhl deprive the members of their ! honorarium would make as much, as, by i :nVk>ry ? they have done in the past. It i may suit Mr. Fox and men of hie stamp | to force., the recoupment of the sum | which siv.tvely d frays the expenses of 1 m of t;u> House in the exercise of their dislL'S as representatives during the sesst >;;. an i, us a matter of fact, such could. a:.d no doubt v.uuld, pay a premium in order to exclude from the- House men who have so often been to them thorns if their i'jsh. Xotwiihstandinvc the honorarium of which the}* have heretofore baon the recipients, there are few

men in the New Zealand Parliament who do not experience serious disadvantages | in consequence of having to leave their businesses to devote a third of their time to the service of the country, and they too often fjel compelled, in order to avoid ruin, to leave Parliament and bestow their undivided .■•.ttontion on their own affaire. Personally the true people's representatives have nothing to gain and a great deal to lose in fighting the battles of the people against what might be truthfully—although, perhaps, the term may :ipp-ar somewhat harsh—designated robbery. Take, for instance, la3t session. For six months did the friends of the Colony combat against selfishness and corruption, as a matter of duty, and for this they received the paltry sum of L2OO. although some of them, in doing so, not only neglected their businesses, but had to maintain two establishments. "Wealth is not redundant amongst our members of Parliament. .Many of them are men who are necessitated to use every exertion to ! make both ends meet ; and although they j may perhaps be abio to remain in Parliament whilst receiving the honorarium. I without it they would be compelled to I I'v.'iign. Is wealth to be the gauge that is I to prove the fitness or unfitness of men to ' occupy seats in our Parliament ? If so. one ot i.1:2 most essential questions to be answered by a candidate for Pariiamen- | tary honours would be, *' What is your pecuniary position V Most assuredly it ; would be necessary for a candidate to bo able c.y bis financial competence, if the hou'.it'ai'iuni woi-e vithheldj to remain in Wellington, bo tiic session short or long, in order to faithfollyservo his country and cany out the pk-dgos made to his constituents to the best of Jiis ability. The ! tempta'hea to most men is great to i,- , . . j occupy liiu .'■ .iioruL-ej position of rej preservative of -:l;e people ; but it would be equally great, if ho were harassed by business consideration:!, to do his best to I cut the business of the session as short as possible, even though in doing so dire j injury befei the country. It may be | u:ged by some that tin; honorarium is an i induceiiiei.i lo s,-.;.■.;.- i!:.prim;ipi,;-cl men of { .stray,- to (.-mai: ! J arli:im-.-;it ; but aspirnnis i to the honor euii'iof do .-■<> without being placed ihero by thj c-k-etoi-s, who are J usually fair jti'lg-J "f a man's fitness. j Admitting that tin's is an evil, it is 'an unimportant one compared to that j which would r..,i,-i \yoro Mr. Fox's idea i carried out. Jn one instance the matter I 1 - - - - ■ I i is ielt oiitiri.-ly ;;: li-c. bauds of ri;e people, j j wh.-, now th. l -.i.e );!•»,■.mrium is allowed, [are in a p.iKiri-.n to k -a.l fairly repivseii- ! tative nu-n to i'.-i'-liameiit, whilst in t'so : other the majority of colonists could ; scartejy do Ji.ora tb-m look on whilst | woa.Uhy men. tor sejr.sh resbons. and j without rh.-.-ir conseiit, assumed rhehonorj able ]»ositiou wlueii it should I'.ave been ; the privilege- of electors ami taxpayers to assist in bestowing upon honorable- men. I Then would political apathy, with its i attendant e..-i'.= ; increase, and the desti- ! ntes of the Col.my in a corresponding j ratio be ruled by men ckv..id of pati-io-j tisin excepting when tiieir own interests j ; -vere involved. |

Councillor Mainland, at the meeting of the Municipal Council test jiiid't drewatteni tion to the dangerous nahirs of tl!£> btid'.'e i over the railway line r.ear the Gasworks t [through children upo:; it, and said | that the ;wunr it v. a : removed the butter. ' : Several ihildren had fallen from the rails at i the t'<i> <-i it. ami been !:..>:v or less injured. | Only thai: day a .:<;;> or Mr. Oledhili had j fallen down, r.nd hurt himself fjomewhat 1 | severely. He had raised a large lump on ! his head, and was very sic!: ; and it was ! difficult t<< ascertain the full extent of hi.s . j injuries.-. Mr. Mainland deelared that the | T-~>o expend! il <-n the construction of the . j bridge had I .-....;.. i simply waited, more espcj orally as a railway siding had been made to | pass one e::.'t of it. Although nothing defiKite was done in the matter, .several conn- | cillcrs appeared to agree with Mr. Mainland i that the best thing to he dene y.-ouhl be to ! remove i!:c- bridge pltiH'eilier. arid several loudly complained about tiie Council being led into the expe.r.ilit'sro of so much money to such little purpose ; but others pointed out that oounci-lors thrmis-elves werceouaily as much at fault as the Engineer. Queen Death, the winner of the Xorth j Ofago Coursing Club's opening match, appears io hi.hing to a very aristocratic family in tii'i canine species She is by Ucd Kail, her dam b ing Countess. Tho Kod Kail herd is. vve believe, the lest in the Colonies. fled Kr.il is the sire of Vandyke, tho fastest •log in Victoria, as well as of many other j noted ]ierl,.r:i! ::s. iricludhrg Mr. Koi'ayn? s i Camilla, the winner of the All-Aged .Stakes a few days ago ;.t IV.lmerstoii. Jt will tlras j be seen th:;t Q-iocil De.V.h and Camilla are half-sisters, ami it is fair to assums that tiieir victories are owing to good breeding | and not merely to chance, as some might j.-nppese. Queui Death was entered for the Puppy .Stakes at I-'almerston, but owing to tho pc<soj; in charge of her having mistaken the road to the ground on which the event ?ook ? : place, she was irut up t" time when called upon to meet her opponent .Sualriings. ' A full brother to Queen Death, and consequently half-brother to Camiila, was enter d for the opening meeting of the Canterbury Coursing Club, which commenced to-day, ami it will be interesting to learn how ha maintained the reputation already gained by hrs relatives. A; Que< n Death and Camilla will probably try e inclusions in the v.ntesc fur the President's Cup, to be run at the nezt meeting of the iNortb. Otago Conrs- ' ing Cl'.:' i: :i month, the result :'<= b'kely to be looked forward to wii.li some amount of interest.

At the meeting of the Municipal Council last evening, the Corporation Engineer reported that the Waterworks contract is progressing favorably, and stated that the contractor has over 150 men employed on the works.

Candidates to fill the vacancy left in the County Council in consequence of the retirement of Mr. Craig will be nominated tomorrow, at the Schoolhouse, Otepopo. It has been rumored that there will be three candidates for the position, but their names have not reached us. Mr. Henderson will probably have a walk-over. On a report from the Municipal Engineer being read at last night's Municipal Council meeting, stating that the erection of the new gasholder will shortly be finished, a short, sharp, but not decisive, discussion took place. Several members spoke of the very large loss being inflicted upon the Council by being compelled, in order to obtain a sufficient supply of gas for the town, to burn a larger quantity of coal than would be necessary if the full amount of gas was taken from, it that could be obtained, It w,i? stated that the new gasl>ol<lor would not be completed in time to bo of service during the coming winter, notwithstanding that the contract time had already been exceeded by several weeks. Throats of inflicting fines and penalties were made, but the matter was allowed to drop without any resolution being arrived at. The Star of Hope Lodge, Ivo. 22, T.0.0.T.. met on Wednesday evening last and spent a very pleasant time in company with members of the sister lodge. After the opening of the Lodge, several sisters and brothers of both Lodges delighted the li"-toners by singing sonje capital eongs. and were delivered. Jt is probable that the Lodge will shortly give a concert. On reference to the mail notice in this issue it will be s-cn that the time for closing mails has been altered. Tim rim-th'-vr: Agricultural and Pastoral Association will meet on Thursday next. We learn from the T'almerston Times that Sir P T). Bell refrained from bidding against the farmers who were anxious to acquire land at the late Oovcrnment land sale held at Palmers-ton. and that that gentleman outbid for tha' which " fairly appertains to a pastoral property -neh as hr. pns'jescas," It affords uii much pleasure to chronicle this act of consideration, and we think it will be a long while before it will Lo forgotten. J The compensation received, bv Sir F. I). j Bell for improvements on the block sold is j about L2 •" •! j We learn from our exchanges that the; j following accidents have occurred during I the past few days :—lames Campbell, of the j Cave St".Hon. Canterbury, vhile employed in genin-r a 'load of wafer for a threshingmacliii ■■, f.-i! from the t:tc:t, \rhich ran over him. Pie died shortly at ■virds. James M'Xulty, while riding a fligh+v horse on Shf.nd's farm, Taieri. v.-.-s throw;;. -.-.-is stunned by the fa!!, and conveyc I :.. ;.<■ Hospital, Duucdiu, but recovered, and .e----tiirncd home in the evening. A short whila ago there w-as a rage for cutting up blocks of land in the vicinity of Dum.dii), for ihe pnroose of forming them into townships, to wh ; ch were usually given euphonious titles. There is a fever now | tor s-.dliig; Largo est;;,Uv! in lofs to suit agriI cultnrists. Long m-iy it continue. Dilook- ! iog through the auction advertisements of the Otago Daily Times, we observe that I 2000 acres of the Henley L'state, so famous | for the excjHent quality of its soil, is about i to l,e sold l,y public aucti -n by Messrs. M'Landresi, Hepburn, and Co., in" farms of from ")0 to 200 acres, on '' : unusually liberal'' terms. Of emme it will sell readily, and itis to be regretted that the amount is not 20,00:) instead of 20'.'iQ, for we are sure that the larger area would hud purchasers of the j right stamp to replace sheep and i-rass by waving corn. The Lev. T)r. Somerville stated at the last of his services in Dunodin that he was induced to cuter the ministry by Captain Cargiil, one of the pioneers of Otagn. Mr. J. Tyerman, who was twelve or thirteen years sgo a minister connected with th.c Free Methodist body in Christclmreh, is lecturing oil religious subjects in Auckland. ! ' The Lev. Dr. Somerviilo and his son left Dune-din for Mil! on on Wednesday morning ' They v/crc met at the Duiiedin station by a ' large number of n-iotui.-j, and the choir thathad been singing at the special services sang, a, the train moved off, the hymn'-'Sweet By-and-bye." The rev. gentleman held two : services at Miknn, and leaves for luverca'.'- ' gill i-->-day. Tie proceeds from thence to j Tasmania and Melbourne on the 30th. The - *"■>""!"■ -us"s of the mission in Thincdin were; i LS( 10, towards which amount LISO had been ( subscribed up to Weonesdav Inst. "