THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1875.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4266, 20 October 1875, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1875.

Oh that dreadful honorarium. Every session honourable members flirt with, it, and coquette at it, and do anything and everything with it except refuse it altogether. No, even the man of many tigers—Sir C. Wilson—the truster in sepoys, who proposed to reduce the Maoris to submission, still the financial panic, and raise the price of wool by sepoys, even that hero, Pyke tells us, pockets his cheque. The attitude of the House is always a peculiar one upon this question. Indeed, the lingering modesty which dawns upon the senatorial cheek when they have positively to vote public money away "in the presence of the reporters" is a pleasing corroboration of the doctrine misnamed " the survival of the fittest." Recent revelations have led us to suppose that the homage vice still pays to virtue in Wellington will soon be discontinued, and that before very lon°the same self-regs.rding virtues that evidently distinguish the officers of the Native Lands Department will prove infectious, and extend to other members. We have heard indeed of the formation of amoral Board of Health, consisting of Messrs Russell, Mackay, and Brissenden, Sir Donald M'Lean, and Sir Julius Vogel, for the professed purpose of putting the remainder of the Assembly in Quarantine. Whether this will be done or not, we do not know, perhaps like our own Board of Health, they will run up the yellow flag over the Parliament House, while sending their Members about their ordinary business. It is much to be feared that unless/some active steps are taken to purify the moral atmosphere, and generally insist upon clean hands all round, the very affectation of modesty with which Members now roll up their cheques, will with difficulty be preserved. And yet it must be apparent to all that the question of the honorarium must become of still greater importance when the Provinces come to be abolished, aud the Assembly sits almost permanently in Wellington. It will eve long become plain to all that the gentlemen who compose the present Parliament will not be able to spare the time for a nine months' session unless they are remunerated sufficiently to enable them to devote their entire lives to governing an ungrateful country. Undeniably the relegating the important question how many road men are to be kept on between Waihemo and Palraerston, and equally serious questions to Wellington, will necessitate an almost continuous session. Our busy merchants, rising lawyers, enterprising commission agents, will never manage to go up. Our Cargills, Stouts, Bradshaws, will never care to enter Parliament to the utter neglect of their own affairs. No doubt we shall still be offered puch men as William Archibald Murray to represent us. The slight social advantage he gains by putting M.H.K after his name and owning a vote, more than recompenses him for the inevitable loss of time. So with Mr Reynolds, to whom, we suppose, politics have become a second nature, while the practical details of business matters have grown strange. We can never forget that matter about the rails he promised (in a hurry) for the Peninsula and Ocean Beach line. Or, again, we have little doubt that Mr Mervyn would entrust those few poor sheep of his to another shepherd, if he could get one whom he might trust indeed not to let them stray on to Messrs Caroill and Anderson's run. Such gentry as these would offer their services and expend all their valuable time in representing the country. The busy upright men who are pushing their way upward, whose interests are identical with those of the business portion of the community, we shall soon see in Parliament no more. Even payment of members, though it seems at first sight to be partly remedial, will not do much to tempt the men we want most. No sum that the country could give would remunerate the best class of representative, and the three or four hundred per annum that might probably be offered would only tempt a few semi-professional politicians to loaf. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that the question of payment of members must soon come up for discussion, and, judging by past experience, it will he very amusing to see the Members of Assembly coquetting with the tempting plum. We are upon the whole inclined to think that " payment by results," however Mr Park may disapprove of it in Schools, might be introduced with advantage into the Assembly as the best means of settling how members should be paid.

The number of times the member for Brnce has been on his legsj the number of committees he sat upon;' the number of times he bored the House, these would have to *be taken into consideration. Then again the question of ultimate j results, the number of Bills, resolutions, or amendments, the quantity of questions, interjections, or even adjectives,, hurled at the Ministry—indeed, the only difficulty would be to choose put of the mass of materials the proper quantities on which to frame a calculation. Those interesting calculations with which reporters relieve the monotony of the Abolition debate would then have a value, and we should be able to allot any member his guineas in proportion to the number of hours, minutes, and even seconds, the quantity of feet, inches, and even decimal parts of an |inch, of Hansard, he succeeded in filling. In fact, without anything like personal greed—with none of that grasping after personal advantage, which we all know is so abhorrent to members of the Assembly, we should be able to arrive at a just estimate of each. The problem is solved once and for ever. That pleasant sense of giving a just man his due would be the solace of thecountry at large. Somehundredtofive hundred guineas would be the poor solace of members. Perhaps a Htg ginbotham or two might be found to refuse the cash : perhaps not. At any rate, honourable members would be spared the annually recurring scramble, as unkind people call it, after the annual bawbees. Their flickering^ modesty would die out, swamped by a tide of cheques. There is not, perhaps, in all a session a more beautiful sight than the honorarium discussion. We should part with it with deep regret. But when we understand how painful it is to members to enter upon it, we cannot but think that the best thing we could possibly do is to vote so much per annum for an entire Parliament, and spare our representatives the torture they now undergo each year. We are pleased to find that the Committee of the Macandrew Banquet have stedfastly adhered to the original proposal, and are going to make it an especial compliment to the Superintendent, on the score of his action during the past session, and not a general compliment upon his past political career. We appreciate at its full worth, the manoeuvres of those who have endeavoured to separate the dinner from all seeming connection with the latest political struggle. That his constituents at j large are anxious to do honour to Mr , Macandkew was plain, and it was an ingenious move on the part of his most stedfast political opponents to eudeavour to rob the honour of all particular association with, recent politics, without too directly opposing the plain current of public opinion. For ourselves, while there are plenty of things in his long and varied political career for which we cannot altogether admire him, and while we could wish that his political programme now contained something more than a mere adherence to Provincialism, we regard his action during the last session as altogether so admirable that a mere banquet but faintly expresses the measure of our obligation. To surround the Superintendent with those who fought stedfastly and doggedly by his side during the late se.-sion, and thank him for expressing the almost unanimous opinion of the people of the Province, in the face of overwhelm ing odds, seems the least that can be done with propriety. We should be sorry to see his admirers, on other grounds, excluded ; at the same time, ifc is to be clearly understood that the first and principal purpose in paying honour to Mr Macandkew is to compliment him for voting and acting against the Ministerial iniquity of last session. The position which he holds, as an anti-abolitionist, is a very proud one, and it would be difficult to say how entirely the country is with him. The despotic conduct of the Ministry in attempting to force their measure through the Assembly at all coats—an attempt supported by a clique in and out of the House—has caused a strong reaction in favour of Provincialism. The elections will show this. With that reaction we do not sympathise. It is to be hoped that, ere the Abolition Bill and its brother the Local Government Bill come again to be discussed, Mr Macanokew and his party will adopt a policy less entirely Provincial—far more local in a true sense. Whatever plan the Provincial party may adopt in the future, their conduct in the past has been all that could be desired The Macandrew banquet is a seemly testimony to our Superintendent, and we hope that the unanimity of opinion which should mark ifc will not be marred by the intrusion of those who do not like to let go of Mr Macandrew's coat-tails, although they have done their best to trick him. The Ringarooma, with the English Mail, via Suez, may be expected at the Bluff dayThere is to be some business of a specially important nature at the Waste Lands Board to-day. A large vessel, bound in, was seen off the Ocean Beach late yesterday afternoon. We understand that the dispute between the Government and the contractor for the Port Chalmers reclamation ground has at length been settled. It is the intention of the Government immediately to proceed to the levelling of the ground at the back of the Grammar School, Port Chalmers, as they can now place the earth on the reclaimed ground. The business of the R.M. Court, Port Chalmers, yesterday, was commenced with the hearing of the adjourned case against J. Cretiford, F. Mailing, and Frank Logan, seamen belonging to the Wave Queen, who stood charged with wilful disobedience of lawful commands. They were found guilty, and sentenced to forfeit one day's pay and to return to their duty. G. Salmon, a seaman belonging to the British Empire, was found guilty of absenting himself without leave, and was mulcted in three days' pay, and ordered to return to his duty. A charge against James Scott, for riding on the footpath, was dismissed. H. Bench and Thos. Perry were each fined at the rate of Is per head and costs for allowing cows to wandtc within the municipality ; and D. Robinson, for permitting his one cow to go astray, was fined 2a 6d and costs. A similar charge against J. Maddigan was dismissed, the defendant proving that the animal at large was not his property. The civil case of A. Hughes v. J. Middleton, brought to obtain possession of a house,, was adjourned for one week. The regular meeting of the Port Chalmers Town Council was held, on Monday evening. Present—the Mayor, Alessrs Dodson, Asher, Reid, and M'Kinley. The business was exceptionally light, and soon transacted. A letter from Mr Willis, the Provincial Undersecretary, was received, enclosing tracings of the water works reserve bow Ciown granted to the Corporation. An offer from Mr J. Thomson, of Dalkeith, to lease the Recreation Ground for grazing purposes at a rental of £8 per annum, the lessee to fence in the ground, was accepted. An offer on the part of W. Galvin to renew the lease of sections 16 and 17 of the Town Belt on original terms was accepted, providing the arrears of rent were paid up. The application on the part of J. Southgate to lease secti on

20 on the Town Belt at a rental of 2ls was granted. Mr Grant, the Inspector of Works, reported upon the best means of draining the side of the street .next the Harbour Office, and his report was referred to the Works Committee with power to act. The Town Clerk reported that Mr B-unton, a surveyor, had come down on behalf of the Government ta ascertain how much fencing, and the cost thereof, would be required to render the Flagstaff Hill safe to the public. He was pleased to see that the Government was at last taking action in the matter. His Worship called the attention of the Council to the advisability of having the reclaimed sections of the Beach street road surveyed in order that the line of street might be preserved in proper Jine and width. Mr Sam Perry's tender for carting for the Corporation afc 143 6d per day or 2a per hour was accepted. With the passing of sundry accounts the business terminated. The long suspension of Jwork on the Port Chalmer3 section of the Dunedin and Moeraki Railway is drawing to a close. The contract has at last been relefc, the successful tenderer being Messrs Allen and Kingstreet of Wellington, and the price is £32,700 0d 6d. Al { the preliminary arrangements for the chess match with Lawrence have now been made—if we except only the number of games to be played. This is a matter, however, which will very much depend upon the length of time occupied in playing the first game : it is a question only as to whether the winning of two or three games shall decide the match. With the sole use of a wire connecting the two Clubs—Lawrence and Dnnedin—as if they were in adjoining rooms, we see no reason for prolonging one go<*d consultation game beyond the one sitting,. and possibly two games may be played in one night. To-morrow is the day fixed upon for commencing play, at 7.30 m the evening. Mr Lubeoki, the officer in charge of the Telegraph Department in Dunedin, has kindly offered a room adjacent to the Telegraph Office, in which the players can carry on their f rieudly encounter, and every facility will be afforded for quick despatch of the moves. The Lawrence Chess Club elects to play consultation games, with four players on each side. Their representatives will be Messrs Cross, Downes, Jones, and Beaumont ; with a referee or umpire. The players selected by Dunedin's Chess Club are Messrs Mouat, D. R. Hay, Janion, and Grimstead ; referee for Lawrence, Mr Carr. As two out of the four players at Lawrence are not known in chess circles in Dunedin, it is not in our power, even if it were our pro vince, to predict which side will gain the victory. The gutters on either side of Castle street, for the last few days, have afforded immense amusement to a number of youngsters, who delight in stirring up the thick mud and stagnant water lying along the sides of the footpath. Yesterday the effluvia from these drains was second only to the stench to be derived from a walk past the manure depot. It is surely time that some steps were taken to pub "Castle street into something like a passable state. The street is lined with good houses on both sides, more especially between Albany and Frederick streets, and the occupants pay their fair share of rates and taxes, and yet the authorities cannot see their way to make a paved drain down each side of the road. Some of the residents in this portion, of the street have already taken the precaution to throw sh'sinfectants into the gutter, to prevent an epidemic, and if the City Council does not attend to the ground of our complaint at once, there will be some serious cases of illness to report. We hear that Mr Richard A. Kempshell, of Maungatua, has sold a pure short-horn bull, six months old, to Mr Donald Bjrrie, of Balmoral, West Taieri, for the sum of £75. He was got by Premier, by Prince Frederick, by the Beau (12,182), dam Sally Athelstan, by Master of Athelstan, 51 (14,833). A few ordinary cases were disposed of at the Police Court yesterday, by Messrs J. Brown and F. Fulton. Henry Johnston was fined 5? for drunkenness, and JamesM'Ewen was fined 20s for making use of obscene language in Walker street. Patrick Cotter, preprietor of the Caledonia Hotel, Great King street, was charged, on information, with unlawfully selling a pint of beer on Sunday, the lOih inst. The case was remanded until to-day. The following are the members of the Dunedin Cricket Club who are expected to play in the match against the South Dunedin Club oa Saturday next:—Collinson, Fen wick, Glen, Macan, Morrison W., M'Donneil, Paramor, Park, Rhodes H., Thomson, J. P., Turton G. K. ; emergency men, Johnston and Meares. The names of the second eleven of the Dunedin Cricket Club selected to play the Citizens' Cricket Club on the same day are as follows ;—Austin, Browa A, Bjthamley, Cleverdon, Dickson, Fuller, Kettle N., Morrison R s Reid, Russell D., Sutcliffe; emergency men, Kennedy and Adams. Shortly after 8 o'clock yesterday morning the contractor for filling up the gully in Cargill street met with another accident. Instead of carefully backing his cart to the safety block, he allowed the horse and cartload of ear list to slide down the embankment, a distance of 20ft. The man's distressing cries of " Lift up the cart" startled the neighbours, who thought he was being nearly suffocated and suffering great pain. They rendered immediate assistance, and in order to extricate the horse it was found necessary to saw through one of the shafts. The horse did not appear to have sustained serious injuries, but the man was only excited, and had no fall. The adjourned quarterly licensing meeting was held at Port Chalmers yesterday, before Mr Mansford, R.M., and Mr Tayler and Captain Thomson, J. P's. The only business transacted was granting night licenses to Mr Dench, of the Jerusalem. Coffee House, and Mr Crickmore, of the Royal Hotel. We ha* c heard with a good deal of pleasure that Captain Stevens, late of the ship Auckland, has quite recovered from the effect of the serious misfortune which befel him in Scotland. By the last mail, some of his Dunedin friends received advice of the Captain and Mrs Stevens having taken passage oa board the ship Peter Denny, bound to the Bluff, and which was to sail early in September. We hear that it is Captain Stevens's intention to retire from the sea and settle in Melbourne, where he has relatives occupying good positions. The first fall in this district to Cassiralaunus, the imported thoroughbred horse belonging to Mr George Dodson, took place at that gentleman's farm, Port Chalmers, on Saturday last, when a handsome carriage mare dropped a remarkably five colt foal. The youngster discovered in his blazed face and general form uninistakeable evidence of his descent from the renowned Stockwell. In a week or two several racing mares of good breed, belongiug to Mr Dodson, are expected to have at feet foals claimiug paternity from the above line horse. The hydraulic lift apparatus is now beirg applied in a new way in Dunedin. Messrs Bing, Harris, and Co. have had a lift constructed for them which works in a grating below the level of the footpath, and the use of which is to take in goods from the street to the basement floor, or to lift them from the basement to the footpath. The lift travels up and down a distance of lift. This is the first time that a hydraulic lift r has been used in Dunedin for taking good 3 1

from the pathway into a basement floor, and it is a plan the adoption of which in various parts of the city where ttie street line is above the lowest floors might be attended with advantage. The plan is so successful that already an order has been given by a firm in town for a lift to work in a similar place. The blocking of the footpath— especially in wet weather—by the lifting of goods from, or the deposition of them into, cellars, compelling foot passengerß to take to the roadway, is annoying and inconvenient, and any plan which lessens the nuisaace is a public benefit;. The lift was made by Messrs Eraser and Co., of the Railway Foundry, and the same firm is also constructing for Messrs Bing, Harris, and Co. a lift which will communicate with every fl jor, and will be capable of raising more tliau a ton. Mr Haydon, determined to keep pace with the times, is having an addition made to the Imperial Hotel. The new portion will be divided off into sitting-rooms and bedrooms. A prisoner, named-Robert Wilson Dick was received into' the gaol yesterday in m Lawrence. He was sentenced, on the 21st ult., at Lawrence, by Mr Justice Chapman, to eighteen calender months' imprisonment, with hard labour, for stealing a horse at Tapanui, the property of Mr Mason, bootmaker. The completion of the shops on the newly erected side of Fleet street, or as it is now called "the Royal Arcade," is being rapidly pushed on under the personal supervision of Mr Farley. The total length of the Arcade is 330 feet, and -as it is now asphalted from one side to another, a width of 30 feet, and is roofed , over, it is in its improved condition a place where one may agreeably go a-shopping, or enjoy a promenade. Altogether, including the buildings at the corners, there are 31 shops in the Arcade. Midway from each end a threestorey erection rises extending over the pathway. This tall building is being fitted up as a photographic gallery for Messrs Clifford and Morris, and as it is roofed with glass and rises above the surrounding buildings its lighting cannot by any circumstance be injured. The shops on the newlybuilt side have each a basement floor for storing and unpacking goods, an accommodation which those occupying them will appreciate, and in the rear of them, there is a passage leading to the street. Adding to hotels has been for some time the order of the day in Dunedin, and the Arcade corner building, next to the Bull and Mouth, has now been mads part ef the latter hotel, and will be used as a bar. It is intended to have a grand opening of "the Royal Arcade" on Monday night next, on which occasion there is to be a promenade concert, the proceeds of which will be for the benefit of the Benevolent Institution. A ratepayer '' whose predestination it has been that he should pass from hi 3 home to his sphere of duties in the city " by way of St. Andrew street and Cumberland street, complains to us of " the vile concatenation (compound ?) of vile smells at the rear of the tannery." "Where," he asks, "are the sanitary corps of the City Corporation ? Echo answers, Where?" Our correspondent, if he feels particularly aggrieved, should lay an information. j A correspondent writing from Waipahi informs us that the work upon the Mataura section of the Clutha-Mataura Rail >vay has been suspended by the contractors, and that during the last six weeks the workmen have received no pay. At a meeting of the workmen, which was held at the Waipahi Hotel on the 15th inst., it was resolved that legal steps should be taken to recover the wages which are over due j also that the Minister of .Public Works should be requested to take steps with a view to the immediate completion of the contract. Our Lawrence correspondent writes:— During the past eight weeks Hales and Hinds, Blue Spur, have been sinking a trial shaft 6x4. The main bottom was struck at a depth of 80ft on Saturday. The depth of washdirt at the bottom of the shaft was 6in., and out of a dishful of dirt tried gave the encouraging result of 2dwt. This party have not beeu able to work any portion of the main bottom owing to being the lowest claim on the Spur, therefore they have acre 3 to work, and will last for years. The Otago Company are still doing well, and I hea r good reports from the Nelson Company, Mr Arthur H. Holland writes to the Field to say that " on July 19 a trout of 2glb. was taken (with the fly) in the River Colne, and seventy odd minnows, most of them two inches long, were found in his stomach, only showing how necessary it is to rid a river of its old trout." There can be no doubt that large trout readily feed upon the young of their own species, as well as upon n i nows, and the capture of the big fish in a trouting stream must, therefore, have a beneficial effect. The Bruce Herald reports that a rather startling accident happened on the road ! between Kapiti and Milton on Saturday night. Five men were on their way to Milton in a spring cart; drawn by one horse, and they were going along at a good pace, when the animal suddenly made a dash up a track leading from the near side of the road, ! and then completely overturned the cart by running up a bank.- Four of the men were thrown clear of the horse and vehicle, and were not at all hurt by the falL The driver, however, was lying with his legs under the horse's body. With assistance from some passers-by, the man was got from his dangerous position, and proved to be unhurt. The cart, which had not been damaged, was soon righted; but the harness had been broken in several places, and had to be patched up with flax. The journey to Milton was then resumed ; but when about three more miles had been got over safely, the weight at the back of the cart proved too much for the improvised bellyband, and the vehicle again came to grief, the shafts going up, and the passengers being deposited gracefully over the cart-tail into the road. The party eventually reached Milton in safety. A complimentary benefit was tendered Mr John Davis, in the Octagon Drill-shed, by a number of his friends last evening. Mr C. Sykes presided at the pianoforte, and the entertainment proved very agreeable. *' The Maa in the Iron Mask" and an afterpiece constituted the performance at the Queen's Theatre last evening. The programme for to-night is "Richelieu" and the afterpiece of " Two to One."