THE Otago Daily Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1875.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4303, 2 December 1875, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1875.

Our correspondent's summary of Sir George Grey's speech gives us a much clearer notion of its substance than the wretched hash sent by the agency. We gather from it that Sir George Grey's adherence to the policy of Insular Provinces was rather more direct, and somewhat less hypothetical, than we had previously thought. Mr Macandrew was not merely telling us his own mind the other day, but speaking for his party. Naturally, and of course, Sir George looked at the future policy of the Colony from a very Auckland point of view. He, too, suggested to his fellow citizens how nice it would be to be a separate colony. He based this statement upon the argument that if the Central Government did nob take anj^thing from Auckland, if they were just left alone now, they would be very well off there. Now, when the Superintendents of Otago and Auckland join in lamenting the extravagance of the central monster, when they describe the expenditure as wasteful, and the administration more or less corrupt, we sjo with them heartily and entirely re-echo their sentiments. We cannot quite endorse Sir George Grey's ai'ithmetical comparisons between Provincial and Central expenses ; it is not quite fair to put the first at £32,000 and the second at £300,000—the latter sum obviously includes a great deal more than the former. We all believe, at any rate, that the expenditure of the Ministry at Wellington has been outrageous and disgraceful —that is enough. We must confess that when they go farther, and express an earnest desire that their respective Provinces should be independent Colonies, at liberty, as some one put it, to ally themselves respectively with any other Colonies in the Pacific, we fancy that there is a flaw in their logic, a gap in their argument which should be filled up. No doubt at all that it would be very nice if we could all—Town Councils, Provinces, Water Works, and individuals—get rid of our debts andkeep our improvements. Is there anybody who has speculated and borrowed money who has not said to himself—" How pleasant if I owned all this property without one farthing of debt upon it?" It has always seemed to us that these dreams of possible freedom and wealth are based upon a confusion of ideas, if not on the part of those who tell them out, at least upoc the part of many who repeat and appeal to them. We should dearly like if some supernatural power would hand us over the Province of Otago with her roads, railways, and public works, and not a shilling of debt on them all. Honesty and good policy both warn us not to repudiate, however, and unless some benevolent uncle adopts us we do not see any probability of getting rid of our liabilities except by such free and easy method. What Otago and Auckland might do if free of debt and independent now is hardly worth considering. A great deal of Provincial declamation falls to the ground when this is thoroughly understood. A mere statement of the sums taken and returned by the General Government goes for nothing, be it much or little. The gist of the complaint lies not against the total sum retained, but in the use made of that sum. That the General Government take £4 5s out of £5 is not the grovind of complaint, but that we have not got the full value for the balance of our money in profitable expenditure. Sir George Grey lays his finger upon the true point of complaint when he says he can reduce departmental expenditure by £150,000; this, or some lesser sum, is the amount out of which we really are defrauded. No doubt this is evident to him, but we think the usual statement is calculated to deceive those who do not think very deeply on the matter. We in the South are accustomed, and with much justice, to say that we lose not only in the extravagance of the Wellington administration, but also in the sums wasted upon the North Island. Is it, then, this latter expenditure Sir George Grey proposes to stop ? It will no doubt be effectually hindered by Insular Provinces. The Superintendent of Auckland was happier in the exposure he made of the bribery clause in the Abolition Bill. The £2 promised

Road Boards, and the douceur promised to municipalities, were put by him in an entirely new light. We have again and again pointed out', that'thesepromises cannot possibly be fulfilled, unless some retrenchment is effected. T. iking the figures of the Centralists, this saving .cannot be made merely by abolishing the Provinces; the sum thus saved .is inconsiderable.- We have always supposed that the.promises will then and there be broken. . There is, of course, the alternative of raising increased revenue by fresh taxation.' Is this what the people desire ] We think not. Independently of the absurd double taxation which such a system, entails, we have no confidence that the Central Government will not do as Sir George Grey suggests, tax us £S 10s, and return £2 for every £1 raised by local taxation, the remainder being spent upon the machinery for collecting and distributing the amounts. Which, of course, brings us back to the point, is the machinery of rule in Wellington wasteful or not—is it even reasonably economical? Nobody is bold enough to say that it is anything but reckless and extravagant to the last degree. It is, indeed, this matter that the Federal party must hammer into the public; all sound argument against pure Centralism must be grounded upon this charge. The money collected from the various Provinces is spent somewhere: with the exception of Sir Julius Vogel's travelling expenses, it is for the ■ most part spent somewhere in the Colony. Each Province in turn says it does not get the benefit of it. Where does it go 1 No doubt whatever that a large part —a very large part —has gone in the machinery of administration, This is the sure outcome of Government interference with matters that should be managed by individuals. The whole question resolves itself again and again into this, can Sir George Grey really manage to save £150,000 per annum? It is worth looking at ; the sum is a respectable one, the men who promise to do it are trustworthy, the field is one as yet untried, for no one will accuse the present Ministry of being too economical. Before giving up all power to one body we should surely, as reasonable men, look and see if that body is likely to manage well. Have the) done so in the past ? Let Sir George Grey and Mr Macandrew answer.

No OLe can deny that there is much sound sense in Sir Dillon Bell's letter in yesterday's issue. He has putforward the objections to the four Provinces scheme with great truth. He wrongly assumes that we are in favour of it. Ou the contrary, while Insular Provinces have our warmest support, we see many difficulties, both those Sir Dillon Bell puts forward and others, against two Provinces in each island. The boundaries would be most difficult to adjust, either Otago remains unenlarged while Canterbury swallows .Nelson, Mai'lborough, and Westland, or Otago swal lows the Timaru country, ,vhich, we believe, Canterbury would be most unwilling to give up. If the first alternative is taken Otago will be left ju<»t as it always was —without any simplification whatever in the machinery of government. The Superintendent may desire that—we do not think that the people do. On the other hand we have no idea that it is feasible to extend Otago ao as to comprise a fair portion of South Canterbury; nor do we believe that the restoration of her erring son, Westland, and the digestion of Marlborough and Kelson, would reconcile her to the loss. Sir Dillon Bell says : " Why not preserve in that case our own autonomy in Otago ? our land, our public works, our local administration, as much of our revenue as we can 1" If Sir Dillon Bell will really show us how this cau be done, not merely in theory but in fact, he will deserve well of this country. He will have no need to lead a party ; their aims being the same in every sense, Mr Macandhkw and he will surely be able to agree to stable their horses together. He says he will try and show the best plan for doing this upon Tuesday. We certainly do not desire to c >ndenin his proposal before we have heard it. Creative politicians are by no means so plentiful as that we can afford to despise one of far meaner ability than Sir Dillon Bell. We trust, however, that, in considering the problem before him, he will make due allowance for the practical difficulties of carrying out his own design. We can imagine no shape in which he can put it which will not be beset by the same difficulties which he has pointed out as lying in the way of Mr Macandrew. He says that " practical politicians under Parliamentary Government must be content to do what the voting p >wer at their command leta them do." When we bear in mind the reception which was given last session to Mr Macandrew's proposition for a Board of Works for Otago, we must say that we have great fears that the practical realisation of Sir Dillon Bell's desires is likely to be as long deferred as Mr Macandrew's idea of Four Provinces for the Colony, or the hope of nine-tenths of the electors that we can get two. It cannot well be doubted that the Otago members will agree to join the best scheme that is proposed to secure the real goods of Provincialism without its absurdities. All are agreed about the end to be desired ; the only question is about the best way of obtaining it.

The Honourable W. H. Reynolds addressed his constituents at the Drill Shed last evening. There were about 500 persons preseut, and the Mayor occupied the chair. Mr Reynolds received a very attentive hearing. During his speech, as soon as he mentioned Sir George Grey's name, an enthusiastic individual at the back of the Hall, ori-d— •'Three cheers for Sir George," and three loud and hearty cheers were givon. There were some ironical expressions when Mr Reynolds referred to remarks regarding the extension of Abolition to the South Island, fchat he made at the Temperance Hall, and there were some "oh's" when he stated the reasons why the Government introduced the Abolition Bill without first consulting the constituencies. The statement that there were many unprincipled Executives in the Colony was received with a tremendous roar, which gave ifc a rather personal application. The statement that Provincialism could never again be resuscitated met with a noisy and adverse reception from the vast majority, and was applauied by others. "Will any honest poli tician," said Mr Reynolds, "tell me " whereupon promptly interjected a voice: "Where is he?" —the honest politician—a sally that was intensely amusing. Mr Reynolds urged the electors "to secure honest representatives capable " and the sentence was completed by someone interjecting

—"of turning their coats." Mr Reynolds intimated his intention of offering himself at the ensuing election. After the speech a rapid fire of cross-questioning was kept up without intermission, and there were at times half a dozen interlocutors on their feet at once. At one time, Messrs Lloyd, Grant, and Slesinger were endeavouring to speak when the simple word "Balsana" had an almost miraculous effect on the last mentioned

gentleman. At the conclusion of the ques- ] turning, Mr Grant proposed "that the Hon. i IW. H. Reynolds, having represented the ; ,city for twenty-two years, has a prescriptive 1 and a presumptive right to the confidence of ] the intelligent electors of Dunedin." Mr < Carrick moved as .an amendment, " That s while we thank Mr Reynolds for his address, ■ we regret that he, as a member of the Govern- ', meut, hurriedly passed the Abolition Bill ; before first taking the opinion of the public j upon it." Mr Barnes seconded the amend- ■ ment. The Mayor read Mr Grant's motion as, "That this meeting has entire confidence : in Mr Reynolds, and pledges itself to support him," a version to which Mr Grant vigorously objected, and the reading of which caused an uproar. There was much dis- , pute as to who seconded Mr Grant's motion, and finally, his Worship would not .allow it to be put, and took Mr Carrick's amendment as the motion. There was an amendment by Mr Ure, seconded by Mr Anderson, simply thanking Mr Reynolds for his address. Mr Grant's proposal was not put ;' the amendment, thanking Mr Reynolds, was pat and lost (only about 20 hands held up for it) ; and Mr Carrick's amendment, regretting Mr Reynolds's action in having, as a member of the Government, passed the Abolition Bill without having taken the opinion of the public, was carried by an overwhelming majority. It being then a few minutes to eleven, Mr Wales, amidst some chaff, had to postpone his speech to a futare night. He offered to have it taken as read, but since those who evidently wanted to "tackle" him strongly objected to that, he agreed to hold a meeting soon. Telegraph communication has now been extended to the Otago Heads, and the office will be opened for public business on Monday next. The Hon. W. H. Reynolds, Telegraph Commissioner, visited the Heads yesterday, with the view of seeing that *11 necessary arrangements had been completed. We have no doubt that masters of vessels, and others upon the eve of departure from the Heads, will largely avail themselves of the wire, and tho advantages of the Telegraph over the present mode of flag signalling the arrival of vessels must be evident to all. There was a short sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, when a few adjourned cases were disposed of. In another column will be found a report by Warden Simpson, which was read at y<.-s----teruay's meeting of the Waste Lands Board in regard to the land in dispute at Teviot between Mr Mervyn and Messrs Cargill and Anderson, and which formed the subject of correspondence in our columns some months ago. The report is above the ordinary run of official productions, and will well repay perusal. An alteration has been made in the route of the steamers of the Australasian Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The next boat, the Cyphrenes, will arrive at Port Chalmers from Sydney in time to leave here with the outward San Francisco mail on the loth inst., calling at the various northern ports, Kandava, aiid Honolulu. The Dunedin Presbytery sat yesterday for three hours, aud considered a number of minor matters. The sitting will be resumed at 9.30 this morning. A labourer named David Pullar was received in the Hospital yesterday, having cut his left ankle with an adze while engaged on some fencing at Blueskin Bay. Upon enquiry, at 11 o'clock last evening, we were sorry to learn that the jockey VVil liams, upon whom Maid of the Mill fell in the Handicap Hurdle Race yesterday, was still unconscious, and in a very critical state. We understand that it is impossible to ascertain the extent of his injuries. He was taken to Mr Paterson's present residence at the For bury. Dr Bachelor is attending Williams, who, being a comparatively young man, may pull through his dangerous illness. We are informed that. Mr Stevenson, of tho Dunedia Post Office, who had charge of the last mail from San Francisco, brought a box of salmon ova on his own account, which he presented to the Provincial Government. This box was forwarded to Mr W. A. Young, of Palmerston, but, upon being opened, it was found that for want of a sufficient quantity of ice, the eggs were all dead. This shipment, we understand, had nothing to do with that which came by the Vasco de Gama. The new Grammar School at Port Chalmers is completed at all points, and will probably be occupied by the scholars next week, when the examinations commence. At the Port Chalmers Police Court, yesterday, Chas. Johnston was fined 10s, with the usual alternative, for having been drunk and disorderly. A well-attended meeting of Glasgow natives was held in Donaldson's Glasgow Pie House last evening, Mr A. Watson presiding. It was agreed that a soiree, concert, and ball should be held on the night o£ the 30th inst (Hogmauay Night), and tbe following gentlemen were appointed a committee to make necessary arrangements : —Messrs Brooks, Watson, Fowler, Armstrong, Elgin, Sproul, and H. Riddell. Mr D. Elgin was elected President, and Mr M'Callum Secretary. A committee meeting was fixed for Friday evening. A gentleman residing near the Town Belt procured a few pairs of Indian minahs from Melbourne lately. Until a few days ago h has had them in confinement, but they are now at liberty, and he requests us to draw attention to the fact, so that the birds may not be molested. The minah belongs to the starling tribe, and our informant says that since the miiiahs were turned out the starlings have come about his place in great numbers. The minah, we understand, is like the starling, a capital grub-eater. At a meeting of the Cattle Board held yesterday it was resolved to request His Excellency the Governor to exe.-cise his powers under the Diseased Cattle Act, 1871, and prohibit the importation of all stock from Europe, pending the disappearance of the foot and mouth disease now prevailing there. A good muster of Dunedin anglers visited the Lee Stream on Monday ; but with ths exception of one gentleman, who obtained five fish varying from 2£lb to 31b, but little sport was obtained that day. On Tuesday, although the stream was well tried all day, not a rise could be got, owing to the bright sun ; but towards the evening the fish commenced to feed, and some capital takes were the result. As a sign of the times it may be mentioned that at the meeting of the Waste Lands Bjard yesterday an application was made by a settler at the Liuburn, Upper Taieri, for a piece of land, as he wished to provide accommodation for anglers. After devoting two years and nine months of well-applied and most beneficial labour to Port Cnalmers and its environs, the hard labour gang bid adieu to the place and removed to a new seat of work provided on the Peniusnla, in the vicinity of Grant's Braes. The prisoners brought their labours at the Port to a conclusion yesterday by giving the finishing touches to the playground of the new Grammar School. This, their latest work, is in keeping with all they had hitherto done. They have constructed an extensive and admirable play-ground, or rather one that will be admirable when the rough metalling with which the greater part of it is covered is coated with fine gravel or some other material of that kind. A wide strip of ground formed by tipping debris taken from other parts of the section in nofc coated, and will in all likelihoed be

laid down in grass, and perhaps planted with trees or shrubs. The prisoners left the Port late in the afternoon, and proceeded in the prison boat up the harbour to where the hulk had been removed and remoored off Grant's Braes. Their labours on the Peninsula side will, for the present, be confined to widening, repairing, and where needful, forming the Portobello road. Since prison labour was first applied at the Port, it has accomplished the construction of a road nearly eight miles long round the harbour, formed a site for the graviug dock workshops, and did other work about the dock > besides other odds and ends that from time to time called for attention.

The meeting which we announced yesterday as having been called by Mr Paterson to t-ke place last evening was duly held in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association, and very considerable warmth and interest expressed in its objects. Mr J. A. Connell occupied the chair, and among those present we observed Sir John Richardson, Mr James Fulton, R.M., Mr Wm. Isaac, and Mr James M'Fie. A letter warmly approving of the proposal, expressing a confident conviction that means would not be found wanting to carry it on, and promising it every support, 'was read from the Rev. JR. L. Stanford, who regretted his inability to be present. Mr Paterson made a statement of his views and intentions, a little more in detail than that contained in his letter— published in the Christian Record, and referred to at large by us in our issue of yesterday. He stated that sums received in aid will be duly acknowledged, and an audit at specified intervals afforded. After hearing his explanations, it was moved by ivlr James Fulton, seconded by Mr William Isaac—"That this meeting entirely sympathises with Mr Paterson in the work he proposes undertaking, and considers it worthy of public support." A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the meeting.

A miner residing at Tea-Tree, near Morrisons (says the Geelong Advertiser), was apprised by a Chinaman that a Celestial countryman was diligently engaged washing his paddock. The miner, aiming himself with a trusty fowling-piece, visited his claim, only to find that the information supplied to him was but too correct, and that "John" was diligently extracting the gold from his washdirt. On finding himself discovered " Chinkey" tried to seek safety in flight. The miner, intent upon making his acquaintance, begged and beseeched him to grant him an interview, and as the fugitive only ran the harder, he fired at him twice with the view of declining him. The thief escaped in the darkness, but the affair being reported to Mounted-Constable Wilson, that experienced and efficient member of the force paid a domiciliary visit to a China man's hut at Dolly's Creek, where be found a wounded Celestial named Ah Coy, who had his arms, legs, trousers, and jumper riddled with shot. The injuries not being serious Ah Coy was arrested and brought to Geelong, where he was brought up before the Bench, and remanded yesterday on the charge of being in a mining claim with intent to commit a felony.

Alluding to the Oamaru Breakwater, the North Otago Times says:—"The strength and solidity of the structure has been thoroughly tested by the receut gale and consequent htavy seas, and with the mosfc satisfactory results. No damage whatever has been done to the completed portion, although the assault of the seas has been heavier than at any time for twelve months past, and was continuous for more than forty-eight hours. A centre block, weighing about 150 tons, made only on Wednesday last, however, not having quite set, has been disturbed and cracked round the edges, but the damage done can easily be made good as soon as the weather becomes calm. The contractors' rails at the extreme (seaward) end of the wall have been torn up and twisted, but nothing, fortunately, was carried away. The value of the structure as a shelter to shipping has been mosfc satisfactorily proven, the Mary Ogilvie being able to finish her loading, and the steamer Samson to load and take her passengers aboard, during the continuance of the storm, while the schoouer Zior and ketch Palmerston went on with the discharging of their cargo without interruption from the sea, and lay under the lee of the wall in perfect safety, and in almost still water."

The Lynch family of Beliringers re-opened at the Temperance Hall last evening to a numerous audience: A number of popular Operatic selections and ballads were rendered with pleai-ing effect. Mr Keeley sang some of his favourite songs, for which he was greeted with applause, and the entertainment concluded with the mirth-provok-ing farce of " Mr Johnstjne in want of a Coachman."

" Arrah-na-Pouge," and Mr and Mrs St. Vincent's speciality, were repeated at the Queen's Theatre last evening to the evident satisfaction of the audience. To-night, '' The Idiot Witness," a musical interlude, and " Advice Gratis" will be presented.

We direct attention to advertisement in another column, asking that the articles remaining unclaimed from St. Matthew's Bazaar, and at present lying at Mr G. F. Reid's store, may be sent for during this week, otherwise they will be considered as property of the Committee.