THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, FIRDAY, SEPT. 20.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1168, 29 September 1865, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, FIRDAY, SEPT. 20.

Fob many weeks past the Melbourne papers have been almost exclusively occupied with one topicr—the political crisis. Under the pressure of local matter making large demands on our space, it has been impracticable to give anything like a full or detailed history of events that promise very materially to affect, the fature develop-. ment of the political system of the Colonies. What is the ultimate destiny towards which the inevitable law of circumstances is precipitating the southern settlements of Great Britain? Lord Palmerston, in hig address to his Tiverton constituents-, made no specific reference to Australia in his general comments upon the prosperity and continued loyalty of the Colonial empire. We may ejeuss him, on the ground that the American war and the possible designs of the United States Government upon Canada, attached special and predominating importance in his mind to the North American settlements, as containing the seeds of war. Canada is a great ,deal nearer to England than Australia is, and—what is much more to the purpose—ia only divided by an arbitrary boundary line from a power that has never cloaked its readiness to seize upon any plausible pretext for "annexation 1 as a general principle, and for the expulsion of British sovereignty from the American Continent as a particular application of it. The problems that are being worked out in Australia are naturally less likely to interest an English Cabinet, because they stand connected much more directly with, the development of the future political life of the colonies themselves than with the foreign policy of Great Britain. The annexation of Canada to the States, or, on the other hand, the- erection of "the-North American Provinces into an independent Confederacy under the protecting shelter of tie Crown, are alternatives upon which England has every inducement to exerciEe a controlling influence for distinct and intelligible reasons of Imperial policy* It is different with the Australias. No foreign power threatens them. ■No probable contingency is involved of their dropping into a scale that might turn the beam against the authority of England as a ruling power in the world. The problem the Southern Colonies have to solve is the '■ development and consolidation of tions of Government for themselves—and they are left to solve it, seeing that whati ever, solution they arrive :at will not materially affect the domestic comfdrt or the "foreign relations" of the mother country. Australia has no frontier line I dividing it from a powerful. State,; always ready.to give art to accept, wage of battle. And whilst thus relieVing the Home Go"-'' vernment' from the responsibility; o| feeling any. special interest in- its affairs; it stands freeto workout foritselfitsowfiPfefttiitewithout any embarrassing influences ab extra. It has to go through something like the sam» probationary experience that England has gone through, to grow out of the muscl*

into the , splicj, bone, to correct its theories by bard contact ,'yiith facts, and thus, by a process always laborious, and frequently unsatisfactory, to arrive at results, securing to it the "advantages of a strong arid a'free Government. '

, -It ia, perhaps, all the better-—haying an eye to future resultsr-^-tbat the present crisis in Victoria is a protracted one ; that it is effectually sifting great constitutional queatiqn", and founding a new basis for the constitutional law. It might Have bean an easy thing to patch up the quarrei between the two houses by some temporary compromise; and so have put an end to the dead-lock; J That might have been i done by the acceptance of the mixed bills by the Legislative Council, as an act of. concession; or it might have been done by the withdrawal by the Ministry of their obnoxious proposal. But; by such a compromise, no guarantee would have been afforded of future freedom from political complications. Next year, or five years hence, a corresponding set of circumstances "might have led to a similar deadlock. And then the same difficulty of getting out of it, would have been experienced. It is not unsatisfactory to know that the political system in Victoria is being moved to its depths; that the acutest intelligence, and the most prudent and thoughtful reflection, are being combined with the most earnest display of political passion on the part of the people, in working out a great problem to a practical, solution. .The more deter-: minedly the task is taken in hand, and the moreiactive and powerful the forces brought to bear :upon it, the more valuable will be the ultimate result. Whatever may be the present issue of the crisis, there will;at least be the consolation of knowing that it will not be a patched up compromise.

In a previous article we referred to the several questions raised, as affecting at once the policy of Free Trade or Protection, the Constitutional relations existing between the two Houses of Legislature, the duty of the Governor, as holding a twofold position—a ruler under responsible advice on the one. hand, and the depositary of the Queen's prerogative on the other—and the legality of the measures taken with Sir Charles Darling's sanction, by his Executive, for the relief of the public service, under the circumstances that had prevented any proper " appropriation " for it being made by Parliament.

The last of these question—the legality of_ the acts of the Governor and his advisers—is the one now prominently engaging public attention in Victoria. As is the usual practice, resolutions were proposed in the Assembly, or Lower House, affirming the expediency of levying certain duties other than those comprised in the tariff' then in force as the law of the land. These resolutions were carried, and the duties sanctioned by them have since been collected by the Customs officials. Many months, however,' having elapsed without the fiscal resolutions receiving the"' more* foruial sanction of lawj and a temporary measure thus being converted into a permanent one,' several of the importing firms which bad paid the new duties under compulsion, brought actions against the Colonial Government for. restitution. In pleading to the action-*, the Government set forth tine practice of the Imperial Parliament, in the following terms:—"lt hath " been the usage and practice in the said. " United Kingdom, and ever hath been, " and is one of the privileges'and powers " of the said Commons : House of Purlia- " ment, that the proper officers in that be^ " half shall collect duties of Customs under " and in pursuance and. by virtue of such " resolutions, on the articles, mentioned in "such resolutions, until the end of the " session of Parliament in which such resolutions have been passed, unless an " Act oi Parliament shall have been sooner " passed embodyiog such resolutions." To this plea the plaintiffs demurred, and the Judges sustained the demurrer, on; the ground that the privilege or power assorted to exist in the Hou32 of Commons, had never been even claimed by that body. The Chief Justice, Sir Willian Stawell, in delivering the judgment of. the-Court, said:—"• "Without precedent — opposed to the ••" opinion-of all writers on constitutional " law—and in direct violation of the es- " tablished principle that no tax can be " imposed; save with the full assent of the " three estates of the realm, such a privi- " lege cannot, according to the laws of- " England, be supported. We see no "reason to doubt the opinion we have " already. expressed that a resolution or " order of any one of the estates is insuffi- " cient to justify the imposition and col- " lection of Customs duties." The _practical result of this decision,is» .that the " facts" of thj c^ae, as lyuig between -the plaintiffs and the Government, are to go to trial before.a jury in the ordinary course. As to the facts-, constituting the basis of the actions there is no question raised. That the plaintiff were compelled to pay certain import duties: before their goods were allowed to pass' the 3!Customs; and' that these duties were collected on ,the authority solely of a resolution of-the" Assembly, instead of a law of Parliament,, are :' 1* facts" beyond dispute. The | only defence urged By the Government -lras"" that of "privilege" on tfre part of thje A»t sembly, and that;ground seems to'have been 'cvi from: under them, by the allo^T , *ncs,,,of theiiwtitionera' d?,W««er. -. To the* juryji!however,"will^stitl Ye remitted another category 1 fof v**'fi!c&" involving the whole constitutional question at issue. The Judges have decided that the pleading of " privilege" is not a sufficient answer to the plaintiffs to bar their right oi action}

but Have left it for the jury to determine the question of the existence of ■ such privilege, as a matter of fact. Such is the best understanding, we can come to of the present bearings of one of the most!complicated and intricate questions of law that have "yet come ""Before a Colonial Court. The actions will be tried during the! next - sittings of the Supreme Court otVictoria.; The course taken by the Government in connection with the arrangements for Banking accommodation, and, the proposed indictment of members of the Ministry for conspiring to deal illegally with the public money, involve" questions that call for separate comment. ~ .

The Subscription Ball—the last but one of the series—takes place to-night at St. George's Hall. Tickets can be obtained this afternoon at the Hall, between the hours of four and five o'clock. The following is the letter which—in consequence of the deputation from the Chamber of Commerce to the Government, on the Chinese question—has 'been addressed to the Chairman of; the Chamber, by Mr F. Walker, the Provincial Secretary : —•' Province of Otago, New Zealand. Provincial Secretary's Office, Dunedin, 28th September, 1865.—Slit —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from the Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce, dated the 27th instant, and, as I have been requested to address the reply to you, to state that this Government recognise no difference between Chinese and any other class of immigrants, and will of course extend to them the same protection, both in respect to property and person, as is already afforded to all other inhabitants of the Province.—l have," &c. The twentieth general meeting of the Second New Zealand Building and Mutual Invest-* ment Society, for the payment of subscriptions and the sale of shares, will be held at the Oriental Hotel, this.■ evening, at ; half-past 7 o'clock. The fracas which took place in Maclaggati I street on Saturday last, with regard to the forcible removal of furniture from a warehouse, gave rise to three charges of assault in the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday morning. In the first, Mr John Daniels, auctioneer, was charged with having assaulted Mr John Hughes bailiff, but after hearing evidence at considerable length, the Bench held that the complainant was the wrongdoer and the primary cause of the assault, nnd dismissed the case. The second case was a cross-action 'fcr assault by'Mr Daniels against Mr Hughes and Detective Birt, but it was .withdrawn; as was also the third,which was a charge of assault against Mr Hughes by Mr Henry Cohen^ The attendance at the Princess Theatre last evening was as good as it was reasonable to anticipate after the bumper house the previous night, on the occasion of Miss Julia Mathews's benc fit. . ■•' The Octoroon" was reproduced with very successful effect, and the farce of "Box and.Cox" .followed. Mr John Dunn, Mr Bob Dale, and Miss Dollj Green being the nctors. For to-night the pieces announced are " The Irish Heiress," and the farce of " A. Regular Fix." We learn from the " Waikouaiti Herald," tliat Mr Thomas Whinam has received a notification from the Hon Sec to the Exhibition Commissioners to the affect that an award of an Honorary Certificate has been made to the Waikouaiti District Committee for a " Collection of Geological Specimens ;" and that Mr Whinam invites suggestions at, to its disposal. '• Herald" says :—" For our own part we consider it rather an anomaly that such honorary notice should be awarded for comparatively useless, though doubtless interesting articles, when no notice whatever has-been taken of the splendid samples of our locally manufactured Alum and Plaster of Paris. We were under the impression that the late Exhibition was inaugurated to further th'e'best interests of New^e'aland7in!tiuing to develop local manufactures in connection "with the arts and sciences, and hot to fritter away its awards on mere curiosities."

A fatal accident took place at Kawariau on Thursday/the 2lst instant, by which a miner .of-the name of John Eades was" killed. He was working in a sluicing claim, when i suddenly an immense niasa of earth fell upon him and buried him. The labor of eighty men for tw.enty four "hours,1 aided by several jets of water, was required to recover the body. It is supposed that water percolating through the soil from a large dam on the bank had loosened the earth and caused it to falL An inquest was held upon the bo3y by the. Coroner, Mr H. W. Robinson, and a verdict returned in accordance, with the circumstances. Some nine months ago a son of jbhe deceased was drowned in Lake Wanaka by the breaking up of a^raffc which he .was engaged in-bringing' down from the Makarbra liiver. !

A special meeting of the Chamber of .Commerce was held yesterday, and resolutions respecting the proposed alterations in the Tariff were adopted, and will be forwarded to the members for the Province. The resolutions declare that the proposed changes ought to" be made known to the country, for consideration, before they are embodied in am. Act; that the duties shoiild be rc-adjns!"edv without their aggregate amount being increasei y and generally, that they should be levied on as few articles as possible—all being strictly defined—care being taken to relieve, as far as possible, all imports affecting local industries. : , -.'.''., ','-'■„■■ . ; The half-yearly meeting of the Otago Bifie Association-will '• bt held : this evening"," at M'Cubbin's Hotel, at BtaVock.8 t aVock. :.. ; j ''

" A meeting- of the promoters fand shareholders of the neV Southern:, StUfeCoifapany, was held yesterday, at thejGonimercial Hotd. Mr Bathgate was}' in, the chair, and amongst ths genjtlemen present Messrs John Reid,, Griffen, Captain MwnQ^ J£ priver, Russell, J. B. Mjudie, Mr Kerras Graham, 'Turnbullj Scoulari Walker; .Edward^ £ oun?Ji ;Royse, dUYgfi A^dreßi.Rnd^laggit*. i A list ■w»b read-of ginUemen «illM]g(4oaff6m themselves into a company under the limited Liability Act, for the establishment of steam communication between Dunedin and the ports North and South of it. Kesolutiom [ were then p»Med to the following effect,—

That the capital of the company shou'd be L 15,000 in three hundred shares of LSO each; that the holding of five shares should be a necessary qualification for a seat at the Board of Directors; that the registered office of. the ; company should be in Dunedin; and that the 5 Provincial Directors should have power to I form rules (o get the company registered I under the Joint Stock Companies Act, and to

take all necessary steps for the establishment of the association. The following gentlemen were appointed Provisional Directors: —Messrs John Dancan, Alex. Murray, Henry Driver, R: B. Martin,. G. G. Russell, John Douglas, and James Scoular. . A. meeting of miners, called for the purpose of protesting against the present high ratt s of passage to the West Coast of New "Zealand, and the in convenience caused by the delay in the despatch of . vessels advertised fo sail thither, was held at the Queen's Wharf, Melbourne, on'the'l4th instant. Mr Bedell, who was called on to preside, having stated the object of the meeting, Mr W. Bemish moved the following resolution :r-r-" That the existing state of passenger to the New Zealand gola-flelds is highly unsatisfactory ; the amount of passage money out of all proportion to the shortness of the voyage or the accommodation afforded ; the delay after notice of sailing ■ ruinous to individuals and subversive of good faith, contrary to the sound principles of commercial economy, and demands immediate ratification." The motion was seconded by Mr Thomas Greeves, and- on being put to the meeting, was . unanimously agreed to. Mr John Cockburn then moved, and Mr John Love seconded the following resolution, which wa3 also adopted, namely:—"That a committee of "five be" chosen and empowered to offer, on behalf of the associated miners, the sum of L 5 per head as passage money, and report to an adjourned meeting, the result of their - interview... with the . various shipowners." Tho meeting then adjourned to three o'clock, for the purpose of hearing a report from the delegates appointed. At ,theexpiration of the adjournment, it was announced that ia the interview with,the vai ious i owners of steam vessels the latter had shown .unwillingness to submit to. any reduction in the rates ot passage <money, giving as the grounds of their refusal the high rate of insurance and the difficulties attending thelanding "of passengers at the Hokitika river. The meeting then separated. An unusual number of out-going mails will be made up' at the Post-office to-day, viz., by the Lady Bird for the Northern Provinces; for Hokitika by the Star of the Sou>h and the Hero, for Southland by the Wellington, and for Melbourne and the Australian Colo- ! nies by the Otago. Mr Walter Douglas of London, will preach in the Baptist Chapel, Hanover street, this I evening, and to-morrow and Sunday evenings. The services on the two former occasions will commence at seven o'clock, and on Sunday evening at half-past six o'clock. The Superintendent, on his tour; through the gold fields, arrived at Croiriwel,on Thu.sday, the 21sfc inst,, and received quite an ovation. He was met by a cavalcade at some distance from the township. The shops were closed and gaily decorated with flags and banners, and deputations -waited upin Siim to congratulate him on his election, and to confer with him on the interests of the district. In the eveniug he was entertained at a public dinner, and on the following morning took his departure for the Lake District. The usual monthly meeting of the City Guards Rifle Company, was held last eveniDg, at the Octagon Hotel, Lieut. Matheson in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Several new members were balloted for and elected. Corporal J. F. Tully was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, vice Thomson resisned. The chairman, in a. few complimentary words, congratulated the company on their having the opportunity o£ promoting thU deserving and universally esteemed officer. A committee was appointed to see that the necesiary repair to the Company's targets, be effected. It was resolved that, the previous match with tne Artillery Regiment having resulted iv a tie, a second challenge be sent—the match to come off on Saturday, the 7ch October. Several other, matters of detail in connection with the Company having been disposed of, the meeting'aajourned. We extract the following from the Mel. bourne "Argua" of the 15th inst:—"A rather novel contest took place in Brunswick yesterday, between two brickmakers, who were matched against each, other to mould the greatest number of: bricks in eight hours. A large number of men engaged in such pursuits assembled, and bets were freely made as •the men dashed away at the soft clay, turning out ten bricka to th^ minute,, or 600 an hour. The men'only worked for,'five hours when oneof them gave in> complaining of unfairness, the clay supplied having been made, too soft, an idea that foundfavor with the majority ot the skilled .'-persons present. It should; be mentioned, however, that his antagonist was ' three barrows ahead of bim~ : Considering the price paid for making bricks—Bs 6d per 10D0 it would appear to be rather a profitable •occupation, when these two men made nearly ahoo. each "in five hours."