THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1871.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2854, 31 March 1871, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1871.

Pursuing the comparison betwieeh the provincial expenditure of Canterbury and that of our own province, 'the.eye naturally turns to the Departments of Grown Lands and Survey: It has for a long time past been a standing subject of complaint in Otago that the expense of these departments is out of all proportion to the' revenue derived from the sale of land. Th^ last appropriation for these purposes was no less than £16,385. In Canterbury it is expected that £6790 will suffice for similar purposes for the current financial year, which ends on 30th September next. The land sales revenue of Canterbury has, on the average, been much larger than that of Otagb. In all-probability during the current year it will considerably exceed the sum which will flow into, our provincial chest from the same source. Let it be supposed, however, that the two provinces will be alike in this respect; what are we then to say of the fact that the departmental expenses in Otago are considerably more than double those of Canterbury 1 The Report of the Retrenchment Commission furnishes us with an answer to this question. It informs us that the evidence taken by the Commissioners 'clearly shows that the excessive expenses of the department, as compared with the same service in other Provinces, is almost wholly caused by difference of land laws, the scattered disposition of the population of the interior, and the fact that the operations of gold-mining are being carried on over a very wide area of the Province.' If the Commissioners are justified in coming to this conclusion, there would appear to be little hope of retrenchment in these departments. The causes they indicate as tending to make them costly cannot be removed or modified in any haste. Our land laws may indeed be changed—time will fill up the country with population. Both these things may be hoped for. Rather than part with the other cause, we can afford to pay a very heavy departmental expenditure. If it be true, and there appears to be no doubt of the fact, that the scattering of a considerable mining population over a wide area of the province, is one of the chief causes why the land and survey departments are more costly here than elsewhere, we need not look for any change, because no Government would be so foolhardy as to experimentalise iD reductions which must necessarily inconvenience and exasperate so large and so important a section of the population of the province. The Retrenchment Commissioners have added to their Report an extract from the evidence given by Mr J. T. Thomsow which is worthy of being

studied. When asked to account for the heavy annual expense of the departments of which he is the head, he replied :— 'It is not heavier under similar circumstances than in other provinces, but is solely owing- to the spotting and irregular mode of survey since the gold discoveries; in regard to the difference of cost between a systematic block survey and irregular spotting survey, the cost of the former was in this province about Is per acre; under that system we had about 250,000 acres in advance of the public demand; now the present system, by orders of the Provincial Council itself, is spotting and irregular, which costs on an average between 5s to 20s per acre, that is with the exception of such blocks of 2000 to 2500 acres that are taken out of runs and surveyed at a cost of from Is 3d to 2s per acre by contract. In this province the sections are generally small, which enhances the cost of survey. The contract survey costs about 20 per cent, more than official survey, as we have the cost of inspection to add to it.' ' The present system' then, is, according to the Chief Surveyor, the cause of that expenditure in connection with. the survey and management of our Crown lands which is—before all other items in the Appropriation Act—the red rag which arouses the highest access of furor in the breasts o€ our reforming politicians. Before the re-union with Southland—and we may as well remark that all our comparisons are made in respect of Otago as it stood before that ev*nt— we had already no less than five district land offices in the province, in addition to the land office in Dunedin. This of itself adds greatly to the current expenses of the department. It is extremely doubtful whether the advantages which this multiplication of offices may confer on a few individuals are at all commensurate with the cost to the country at which they are obtained. The irregular * spotting survey' which. Mr Thomson finds so costly may also bean institution highly prized by the few persons who take advantage of it. Itis, however, very far from leading to beneficial results to. the province. The one sole argument that can be urged against the system of free selection attaches equally to the mild form of it which exists in Otago. It serves to scatter population instead of concentrating it. This involves innumerable petty additions to the public expenditure which, "when summed up, make a gre&i total. The moral effect of the isolation of individuals which, it promotes, especially in the case of the rising generation, is worse in itself, and much more important than the increase of public expenditure. For our present purpose, however, it is only the latter of these that we need take into account. From such evidence as is attainable we are inevitably led to the same conclusion in regard to the departments of the public service now tinder review, as we have arrived at in regard to others, viz;, that-achange of system almost revolutionary in its character is the only road to anything like efficient retrenchment. If we cannot make ■up our minds to such changes, we must rest contented.with our departmental burdens, ,

Tenders are invited by the Colonial Government for the construction of the second and third sections of the Southern Trunk Railway, extending from Cavershain to the Chain Hills, including the Look-but Point tunnel. •-'•'■ :■•■••;' ° ■■ -::- '■ ■'• ■' "' .■'■ ' '•' In the Resident Magistrate's Coort yesterday Mr G. B. Barton was committed ifor trial at; the next sittings-of the Supreme Court, upon the two charges of libelling the Government of New Zealand Ist the Otago .Daily Times of the 3rd and 7tn October last. He : was admitted ■to bail upon his own recognizance. : - The first gari'g ( crew of the Port Chalmers Naval. Volunteers fired with their howitzer for the Government prizes, yesterday afternoon, from Observation Point. Sub-Lieuten-ant Taylor was in charge. The target was a small buoy, bearing a flagstaff/carrying a red flag, 1200 yards distant, and moored in the cross channel, from the banks' to Portobellp. The line of fire being even with the Heads, was therefore clear of all shipping. As the time allowed for firing for prizes with the howitzer ends on the I last of this month, and it being provided in the regulations that two squads from each company must compete, No. 2 gun's crew will fire to-day. The following is the reßult of the practice yesterday :—Shell: The first shot fell one foot to the right, arid 30 yards short; the second burst 4 feet in front, and broke the flagstaff in two, which necessitated the cross markers proceeding with their boat to pick up the upper part of the staff and attach the flag to the remaining portion. After getting clear of the range, a third shell was fired, and exploded four feet to the right, and 20 yards over. In the solid shot firing the first ball fell 10 feet to the right, and 3 feet over ; the second in a straight line 10 I feet over; the third was right in disj tance, but 15- feet wide to the right. | Two other shells were fired for practice. The first exploded five yards short jof the target, in a straight line, and the | second six feet to the left and ten feet over. jOn the whole, the firing was really good, and |if the second squad does as well to-day, the Naval Volunteers must be congratulated. Captain Robertson, of the Company, took particular notice of the firing. It is expected that a third squad will compete. The meat • preserving establishment at Green Island is now in full work, upwards of fifty men and boys being employed. Three hundred sheep are, on an average, slaughtered daily, and on special days four hundred are operated upon. One day this week forty bullocks were killed. The meat preserved has been tested, and found most palatable, and can hardly fail to become liked, not only in European markets, but also in the province. The factory is not yet all it is intended to be ; but it has created bo small stir, and a free circulation of money in the locality. The shooting season opess to-morrow. A boy named James Richard Ryan, 10 years of age, has been drowned near WaikouaitL It seems that the boy, with his father and another man, embarked in a boat from the month of Pleasant River. The sorf being high at the time the boat capsized acd the occupants wera ihsoum into £ha wateff.

The boy and his father clung to the boat, but the former becoming exhausted sank; the father, stronger and more enduring, managed to reach the shore. The other man appears to have looked after himself, and suci ceeded in swimming ashore. A correspondent writes .-—'' Travellers upon the northern road will, no doubt, be able to call to mind the picturesque ruins of a small wooden bridge, about a mile and a-half north of the township of Hampden, around which the temporary road makes a considerable d&tour; in bygone times its narrow footpath of a street, Where twa wheelbarrows trembied when they'd m-et led the wayfarer over the Ka-ka Creek. As, however, the bridge has long ceased to carry wheelbarrows or anything else safely over, it has deservedly forfeited its claim to be spoken well of. It is hoped that the Government will ere long see its way to rebuild or repair the structure, ten months having now passed since it was carried away, without any steps having been taken to rec tify the mischief. One hundredth part of the time and horse-power expended during that period in making the detour, would have temporarily repaired the bridge one hundred times over." An inquest waa held at the Royal Hotel Waikaia, Switzers, on the 13th inst., on tbe body of Samuel Walker, aged about 40, who had on the previous day committed suicide, whilst he was, according to the verdict re-turned,'-suffering from temporary insanity, brought on through excessive drinking. The deceased, a miner, was, it appears, from papers found on his person, a native of Stirlingshire, Scotland. The local paper advocates the estal lishnsent of a Circuit Court at Oamara. On this subject, it remarks:—" The inconvenience j and loss arising from the inhabitants of this district having to go to Dunedin whenever a criminal case is remitted from the lower to the Supreme Court, is almost beyond estimate ; from this cause many criminals escape punishment and in the matter of bankruptcy estates many are sequestrated by dishonest traders, with the full knowledge that the expeases attending a full investigation are so enormous that creditors are almost prohibited from opposing. Timaro is a smaller and less populous district than this, yet it has its Circuit Court and Resident Judge. Why should not Oamara be placed on a like footing with ii?" :; An inquest was held at the Bendigo Hotel, Blacks No.: 3, on the 27th instant, on the body of James Henderson, aged 25, by occupation a seaman, but who has lately worked as a miner. The deceased—a native of Shetland—who arrived in the colony rather more than a year and a half ago, and a sober industrious man, went to Blacks No. 3 some three months back. He had, until the ISfch instant,. been employed in the Deep Lead shaft, after which he commenced fossicking in old ground. He was seen on the morning of the 24th going in the direction of the spot where he met his death; and, not returning at his usual hoar, search was made, and his body was found covered by a fall of earth in an old tail-race. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidentally killed by a fall of earth." It is not known whether he has any friends in the colonies. A miner named Hyndman went; underground at.; Boss one Wednesday morninglately, at about 10 o'clock, to examine some drainage tunnels, and being an unusually long time without making his appearance, his mate? made a' search for him, and found him at eight in the evening, groping about in some old workings, vainly endeavouring to find his way oat, his candle having been consumed long before. Mr A. Swahn, of the Five Savers, has submitted for our (Southland Times) inspection a look ;of merino; wooL, which, measures nearly twenty inches in length. The fleece front which the sample was taken was estimated to weigh fully 30lbs. Mr A. Mollison of Waihola, has discovered, at th© Waikawa station a wild boar's tusk, measuring no less than 16 inches in length, and which describee a complete circle and a half, *ndr to wards the inverse end bears the mark of abrasion with the adjoining tooth. The twin tusk was also of more usual length, and had evidently been broken ofF. The Wakatip Mail recommends the whole of the mining communities m the colony to petition the General Assembly to abolish the gold duty. A correspondent of the Hawke's BayHerald states that the hot springs at Tokana, near Lake Taupo, have, "in scores and scores of instances, proved efficacious in removing rheumatism, goat, and cutaneous diseases of every description. It would be desirable," he asya, "that some qualified scientific man should report upoh their therapeutic (properties, pointing out what are the diseases to which each spring is calculated to prove remedial, for there are all varieties at Taupo." New Plymouth most be in a very had way indeed, for it seems that even the hotelkeepers obtain so little eastern that they can hardly keep their business going. The Wanganui Herald gives a humorous account of the adventures of Borne travel ers in search of a lodging in New Plymouth. It says ;— "On the sth March, tired and jaded, after riding sixty miles, under a pouring rain, with roads knee deep in water and mud, foar travellers reached New Plymouth about eight o'clock in the evening. They called at several 'hotels' (named so by courtesy), bat as the best only prepare three or four, beds, and some none at all, after half an hour's sport, wandering about, they at last got shelter at a hotel, which for obvious reasons shall be nameless. By this time the travellers had become the subject of observation and remark among the loafers, who wondered where the dripping, weary looking travellers had come from, and what under heaven they could possibly want in such a place as New Plymouth. The hotel in [question is a large spacious building, stands in a central position, is unfurnished in the modern sense of the term; but it has got a bar. Its stable afforded neither oats, hay, nor bedding. After some trouble, however, the landlord, who, to do him justice, was obliging, borrowed some oats, and the following morning a bundle of hay, which was is that state called musty—the fact was confirmed by the horses, who seemed loth to eat it. The staff of the establishment consisted of the landlord and one assistant (an acute individual, with a visage that would have been a fortune to an undertaker). The state of their apparel caused our travellers to strike for the kitchen, where a range constructed like a cltevaux defris kepttheraat a respectable distance. As it was impossible to get close enough to the heat to dry their clothes, they had no alternative but to wring them, and to comfort the inner man by sundry drinlis, ■ The precaution -was taken to order a substantial beefateakforbreakfast. Moraingoame, andtjielaadlsfdjwifcha sombre

look on his countenance, confessed that hehad tried all the butchers in town, but they could not supply his demand, as • they only killed once a week.' It was accidentally omitted Co state that the establishment could only supply beds for three, so one had to search out a friend's house for quarters. It must be said that the landlord was exceedingly kind, and did his best to provide for the comfort of his customers. The landlord of another hotel when applied to, waa gruff, and wculd neither supply oats nor hay. The butchers with him only killed; once a fortnight." The corruption prevailing in the conduct of public affairs in the United States has long been a theme of comment with, writers, and their criticisms are supported by a message recently sent to the Senate by Governor Hoffman, of New York. It runs thus :— " Intelligent and fair-minded men of all parties agree that one of the greatest evils of the times connected with elections- is the corrupt use of money to influence the votes of electors. All laws and measures which aim at establishing purity in elections will fail in their purpose if they fall short of reaching this one great evil. Registry laws, no matter how stringent, do not prove effective. No power can guard the ballot boxes to any purpose if the men whose constitutional privilege it is to vote are to be influenced in the exercise of that privilege by the corrupt use o£ money. In all countries the purchase and sale of offices, civil or military, is prolific of evil. In a .Republic like ours the purchase and sale of voters and of votes endanger the whole organisation and structure of the Government. It cannot be disputed that all through the State, nominations to office, Federal or State, are often bestowed upon ! men, for the reason, and the only reason, that they will indulge in lavish expenditure of money to secure success. Money, not [ merit, secures nomination and controls results llt is a fact too general and top apparent to be denied, that large amounts are expended by candidates for office at every ' election for other than honest and lawful election expenses j that they are directly ap plied to the purpose of corrapting and debauching the electors, and very often to the almost open purchase of votes. This pcr r ; nicious and dangerous practice is not peculiar to cities and villages ; it pervades the whole State; scarcely a neighbourhood is exempt from it. It is practised with entire impunity, because, under the existing constitution laws, the wrong-doers know very well they cannot be convicted or punished. We shall never have pure elections until we strike out the root of the evil Public opinion cannot be concentrated with sufficient force against the wrong to correct it. What is absolutely necessary is, that some men, who seek their own advancement by corrupting their fellows, should be convicted and punished as, criminals. It is far more important to punish those men who tempt and corrupt, than him who, being tempted, yields and falls. I respectfully recommend the adoption of these resolutions by the present Legislature, with such modifications, if any, as to them may seem proper, so that the next Legislature (a new Senate being chosen next November) may act upon1 them, and, as I trust they will do; concur in them and send them for approval to the people." 1 Mr Horace Bent's historic mirror "of the Franco-Prussian War was exhibited for the first time at the Masonic Hall last evening, to a good audience, by whom the well painted pictures, illustrative of many of the striking scenes of the. war, were warmly applauded.: ?fr Bent, in his descriptive lecture, told in graphic style, though here and there with a twangtooniuch transpacific to be pleasant, the dtory of the various scenes depicted, besides many amusing anecdotes. After the views of the war had been exhibited, there were shown the series of pictures illustrative of Dickens's works.; and though the pictures did not take quite so well with the audience as those of the war, r yet,Mr Bent by his descriptions given in style appropriate to each, contrived to make them interesting. This is an entertainment well deserving of a visit. j The drama of "The Octoroon," which was played here a considerable time ago, was presented at the Princess Theatre last night to a fair house; We cannot say that it passed off smoothly, inasmuch as it had not been sufficiently rehearsed, and the prompter had far too much work : thrown on his shoulders during the performance. Miss Carry George took the part of Zoe, but did not render it at all to our satisfactionThe character is the only one worthy of the name in the piece; and offers many excellent points to the actress ; but in Miss George's bands it was almost lifeless. We can speak more freely, because we' have generally the pleasing taak of commending that lady's impersonations. The part of Salem Scudder was very ski Ifully treated by Mx Lawrence.; who managed, without obtruding himself upon public notice, to make his part the most pleasing feature of the performance. Mr Collier, as Jacob M'Closky, gave a fair idea of the stage Yankee. The piece seemed to take very well, aad will probably bear & lew nights' performance. "Stranger" has neglected to send us his real name and address, A meeting of the directors of the Caledonian Society will be held in Wain's Hotel, this evening at 8 o'clock. A. monthly meeting of the Second New Zealand Building Society will be held this evening.