THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25, 1871.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2798, 25 January 1871, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25, 1871.

Every mail from Australia brings us; some detail of the progress which is, being made to* provide for the defence oi its chief ports in the event of Great Britain being involved in war. In the meantime, so far as we are aware, not a thought has been bestowed upon this important subject by the Government of this colony. No doubt, in the case of New Zealand, the measures which would-place the principal towns of the colony in a position t6.resist a hostile attack with any hope of success would be very much more costly than those required in any of the adjacent colo^ ! nies. • This, however, can be no reason why we should sit, with folded bands, ancllook on helplessly whilst England is apparently, drifting into a great war. The greater the difficulties in the way, the.more the need of exertion. Because to complete a task before.us appears to be beyond our strength, there is nothing in the nature of it which should discourage us from making a beginning. It may be quite true that New Zealand has neither the strength in men nor the money to defend effectually all the harbours which are of most importance to her. But that is no reason why all should be left without means of defence. Even one place of refuge might prove the salvation of the colony against any attack of such a character as we have most reason to dread. It is not at all probable that any nation at war with England would look upon the conquest of New Zealand as an achievement worthy of its attention. But more injury might be inflicted upon us by attacks made with quite different motives than by a systematic conquest. Gold ;is by far the most important of all , 'munitions of war,' and a gold producing i country will always be an object of attraction to any wandering fleet which ; may have the strength to make a raid upon it. Some of the smartest operations of British naval commanders have been performed with the object of cap.

fcuring the treasure-ships of an enemy. British instead of Spanish galleons now carry most of the treasure which crosses I the seas. It is impossible but; that i these will be objects to which;-,-great-attention will be devoted by ah enemy'sj ships, should Britain have themisfor--tune to go to war with any power capable of keeping a fleet at sea against her.-.-.But a . far simpler method of seizing the enemy's treasure than the chase... and capture of. vessels at sea is now available. The improvements made during the" last half century in the construction' of arms places, a poet town entirely at the mercy of a single ship of war of moderate calibre, unless, suitable means of defence have been provided. There is always sufficient treasure lying in Dunedin or Auckland to make it worth the while of an enemy to attempt by threat of bombardment to levy a contribution upon either place. Whatever the of our might cost, one successful raid of this sort would ,c,ost. us far more.. It may be urged that Great Britain would never permit any such; unpleasant visitor to reach us-r-that for any enemy who may come against her she has three ships to one. This is, indeed, at present our sole hope in case of war;,and the motherTCOuntry would probably strain every nerve to protect her colonies so long as she was able to do so. But who can tell what plight England herself might be founcl in, after a .few months of a greatiwari? Or; who—let England do her best for us —can .ensure us against surprise 1 A few days, perhaps eyenafewhours might suffice; to : .bringiiunimaginable disaster upon our grading towns. The British! fleet, I large as it may be, cannot afford a ship for eveiy pointthat would need to be looked to in time of war over, the vast circle of British dominion.' There might be the best intention to protect us, but the enemy might be here, and all :the tnisd'hief done, before our. de» fenders heard of our need. And it must remembered that all the snips of the British njtvy are not first-class armour-plated; 'frigates, and that an old fashioned sloop of,war or half a dozen of them, even .if .carrying amongst then! a few long guns,-would be of "little avail against a vessel of j that class, unless bad&ed;?, by the; v assfetanoe 'ajadT sheltier of respectable forts and guns on Shore. ;

, - AV!e have, said- enough to v show- the -Hanger we ran—more probably than is/ necessary jto X prove jits existence to most people. 1;f 1^ other argument,, be needed to 'urge to' an immediate conf sideratibn 'of means of self-defence, - Ihe example of other colonies-is before; us] It is; impossible ,to; account for; ..the fatuous treatments the subject has. received at the hands of the Government except on thß-sdoretha'l we have really! hardly^ '»ssYr c^^W^W^i j. so-called, in. tffew Zealand 'at all We have. Ministers of the Crownj •^-some who wander' aboW all ;over| the world-r:Some -who i*it in their; offices and feel thei? duty dkchargedl when, they have a good day?si ynder-Sebretary^s ;wbrk. But a Qd-i vernment-^-a r head to think' and act for! the* country—^we have not; and' until1 we-areifbrixniate enough to obtain one,! we are not likely to see the question of defences handled to the satisfaction of the'people.' ' - j The Interprovincial Cricket Match iaover, and has resulted in an ignominious beating for Otago. The result is not unexpected, although it was hoped our men' 'would have i made a better .fight for it titan they have done. It is unpleasant <to have to "aay it, bat it is nevertheless the truth, that our players are themselves chiefly to blame forj the-^ the season we have pointed out what! would be the , result- : of the small; amount of practice—and even that smalli amount obfc properly Entered 4nto--whichi ;they haveJiafl.:4^ liave'no ,hesitktion mi sayingthat during the present Season a larger: amount of carelessness in batting, slovenliness j in fielding, and half-heartedness in bowling,! has been.manifested than we have seen mi any previous seaßon. The fielding especially has all along been disgraceful, and* even the! few particulars of'the match as yet to hand! ahow that it was very bad at Christolrarch.i Theprdportion of extraß, indtj^uig wides.i given by'ojurmen, was 1 out of every 5^ runs \ made, and nothing could be more, telling, regarding the badnesa alike of the bowling and fielding than this statement. Towards the | end of the match a change of bowling seems! to have been tried, but we should like to: know why it was not tried earlier. Also, j why' we're' there* not two loagstops if one waa • not, sufficient? ,Iv their second innings our .men. appear to have looked upon the match as hopelessly lost, and accordingly, with the exception of ReadeandHolmes, seem to have gone out with as little loss of time as possible;: That common foible of our players — inability to judge a run—also proved fatal, to three of them in their second ianings ; but we have long ceased to look for any improvement in this respect. We hope that the lessons of thia year will not be lost on our cricketers in the future ; and that they will recognise -'the' fact that constant genuine practice is neseasary to ensure victory. If they do bo, the defeat of this year will prove the best thing that: could have happened to them.

A special. Provincial Government Gazette has been'issued ia which His Honour the Superintendent statea that the Provincial Government offices will be closed to-morrow on the occasion of the funeral of the late Rev. Dr Burnß. His Honour "also suggests the propriety of a general cessatioa from business on the day named, in token of respect for the memory of the first Minister of the First Church of Otago." Another notice states that "the presence of the public functionaries of the province, and the attendance of all other persons who may be desirous of testifying their respect, ia requested" at the funeral. His Worship the Mayor, as will be seen from our advertising columns, reiterates His Honour's request regarding the closing of places of business, and invites the representatives of public bodies desirous of joining in the funeral procession, to meet the City Council at noon today. '

The nomination of candidates for the representation of Bruce in the Assembly took place at the Court-house, Milton, on Monday, the 23rd inst. Mr J. Dewe, Returning Officer s presided. Afterteading the writs and advertisement, he called upon electors to nominate candidates. Mr W. H. Cotton

was proppaed byMrGiliieff, and seconded by MrCJamea Swtfc; Mr V^STiiliam Black ;Was proposed by (Mr; Benjamin: Dawson, and ißeco^deiiiy Mr Jfj&abß Bluest- Mr%m. Ay : Murray was propped' by Mr D. M 'and seconded by Mr Peter Cunningham. Mr W. J. Dyer was proposed by Mr G. Martin, seconded by Mr James Dickson. The candidates addressed (the electors present at great length, and were all pretty severely questioned. On a show of hands being taken, there were — For Mr Dyer, 9; Mr Cutten, 8; Mr Murray, 3; Mr Black, 2. The Courthouse was crowded, and keener interest was shewn than on any previous occasion. The contest is expected to be a close one between at least three of the candidates.

A numerously signed requisition has been forwarded to Mr J. R. Cuthbertson by the electors of the Wallace district, requesting him to become a candidate for the representation of the distriot in the General Assembly, and he has acceded to their request. Mr Cuthbertson (says our correspondent) is a gentleman of considerable ability and decided views, and is in favour of financial separation. If e'ected, he will become a useful member in that House.

The New Zealand Gazatte of the 16th insfc, contains the following notifications :—Mr G. K. Turtonhas beenappoincedßevisingßarrister for the district of Otago, as it was before the union with Southland, vice Mr G. Cook, resigned.—The Schoolhouse, Moa Flat,, has been appointed an additional polling place 'for the electoral district of Waikaia, for the election of: members of the House of Representatives.: . :

The Rev. Mr Honor &, and family, left Riverton on Thursday last for Wanganui, as Missionary to the Maoris. He has occupied a' similar position during the past twenty years in Southland. " \

A moat destructive fire took place on Monday at the'farm near Mount Misery, Tokojmairirb, belonging to Mr Thomas Lynch:. It appears that Mrs Lynch; after having put on a good fire in the kitchen, had gone out, and in a few minutes the whole' place was in flames. No farther particulars have reached us. : ■ •'•■■■'■■ •■';■■-; ••• ■■ ■:"' -■ :-- ■■' •

James Thame and John Sullivan, con. victed of vagrancy at Switzera, and sentenced to imprisonment; for one and twelve months respectively, were brought to town yesterday to serve their terms of imprison-

ment in Dunedin Gaol.

In our notice of the picnic given a few days ago fo the children of the Benevolent Institution; we omitted to mention that in addition to the several hampers of provisional fruit, &c, kindly supplied by a few ladies who were chiefly instrumental in getting up the picnic, Messrs Hudson, Mercer, and Murray,' contributed-' cakes, tuns, sweetmeats, &o:, and Messrs Reeves and Co., ten dozen of lemonade and gingerbeer. Other contributions; consisting of confectionery i bate and stumps, and ; " a number of books for the library, were also made by various friends of the Institution. A number of books have also been forwarded to the Industrial School] in connection with the picnic given on Friday lasV for distribution amongst the children, and for the library. ;. .... ~;.. ;

' Mr M'Gillivray addressed a numerously attended .meeting'of- theelectors' at Winton a few days ago, when he gave an account of his doings in the last session of the Assembly. He said that he could not give an unqualified approval to any scheme which did not contain alterations o^ the. present Jaws, more particularly those applicable to the united province, as "Canterbury could not alter its land regulations for some years. He was in favour of i deferred payments for land, and the political and financial separation of the two islands. He would not be averse, moreover, to^afederation of the Australasian colonies.. A motion t<> the effect that Mr M'Gillivray Is a fit and proper candidate to represent the Biveiton district was carried By a large major'tyv Another meeting was called to hear an addrees from Mr Wilson,' but Ms views were identical wfth those of Mr M'Gillivray, with the exception that he insisted on .a more liberal land lav as the basis of any financial scheme. The meeting! was of opinion that both candidates heldi much the same views, but that Mr M'Gilli-: vray was the better man of the two. A; meeting • wsb also held, and a; Committee formed, for the purpose of securing the election of Mr Macandrew to the Superintendency. ■

With regard to iKelianreat in Canterbury,, the Lyttelton! Times Bays :—Reaping has commenced in a few isolated caseß, but it1 will be eonae weeks before the machines are in full work. The .returns will be very'j irregular, and in some instances the lands are not worth reaping, while in other fields as much as 25 to 30 bushels of wheat are expected, and up to 35 to 40 bushels of oats. Of course this Ja far above the! average, and it is impossible at present even to conjecture what surplus will remain for export.

Mr Carleton, writing to an Auckland paper on the proposed Government scheme of immigration says " the talk of employing newly arrived immigrants, the half of them perhaps white-handed men, on railway work, is mere silliness. It may pass with those who do not know what a day's work is."

I A Kihikihi (Waikato) correspondent of the Southern Cross aays :—"I have not for the last five years known so much mental depression as exists at the present here amongst our independent farmers, on account of native matters. It may be said that we, as military settlers, look upon panics as a matter of course ; but not so the large resident landholders, who would sell out this moment if they could get a purchaser." Strawberries, gooseberries, and other fruit . are co plentiful in the neighbourhood of Invercargill this year that they are quite unsaleable, and are in many cases allowed to rot ungathered. "After Dark" was produced for the eighth time at the Princess Theatre last evening to a large house, and, as usual, passed off satisfactorily.

The poll for the Caversham election will take place to-day.

A public meeting of persons favourable to the temperance movement will be held at the Athenaeum, this evening at 8 o'clock. A typographical error occurred in the last paragraph of the report of the Hundreds Commissioners, as published in our issue of yesterday. Instead of " the Commissioners beg to direct attention to the fact that some demand for land exists within the limits of the goldfields as.elsewhere in the province," it should have been " tfit same demand," &c. Mr Ross will address the electors of Roslyn^at the Presbyterian School, Maori Hill, this evening at 8 o'clock—Mr John .6raham\ will also address them at Northeast Valley, at 7 o'clock. The District and Purple Lecture of the Ofcago District, M.U.L0,Q.F.., will fea held this eveaiag at 7.30.