The Otago Daily Times WITH WHICH IS INCOROPORATHD THE OTAGO GUARDIAN. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1879.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5467, 27 August 1879, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times WITH WHICH IS INCOROPORATHD THE OTAGO GUARDIAN. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1879.

It is much to be regretted'that party feeling.should run so high as to produce scenes so disgraceful as those witnessed at Sir George Grey's meeting at Christchurch. Doubtless something on that occasion was due to the overcrowding of the hall, and two members of the Opposition—Mr Stevens and Mr Richardson—do seem to have done all they could to obtain for the Premier a respectful hearing. After miking every possible allowance, however, it is impossible not to feel that someone must be to blame. It is perfectly evident that the intense hatred -which Sir George has excited in certain quarters, aad especially in Canterbury, causes some of. his. opponents entirely to.outrun their discretiph. The result is, almost inevitably, a recoil of public sentiment in Sir George's favour.'.' If a man is illused, he always gets a. number of people on his side at once, although ..he may. not before have been free from blame. Englishmen admire in Sir George the, pluck that makes him say things that men in less independent positions do not dare to say; and when all is told, there is just this much truth in his utterances, that the George M'Leans of the Opposition are undoubtedly not free from selfishness, and not so sincerely friends.of the people as they would have it to be, believed. When vituperation comes from such quarters, therefore, the working men believe that all is not so bad as it is painted on Sir Geo roe's side, and the cunning old Premier does not forget to make capital, out of it. Besides, it is said, " Whit possible ' pecunmry' benefit has Sir George to gain by his course ofaction? If he is wrong, at least his motives are pure." Admitting the former proposition, the latter does not necessarily follow from it, as although Sir George may be undoubtedly acquitted of any mercenary motive, he may be, and we think is, the prey to an overweening conceit and ambition, which makes him desire power at any price. He would rather i Roign in hell than serve In heaven; * and this may, and we think does, distort his vision and arouse his passions when he is opposed, so that he goes io greater lengths than otherwise he would do. We know that a great poet attributes qualities which in themselves are not altogether ignoble to Satan himself. Indomitable will, immortal hats, And course never to submit or yield, And what is ehe not to bs overcomo. Sir George, however, is not Satan, thoughjlike many other men in this world, he has, doubtless, a mixture of the old enemy in him. All that we now wish to point out is, that it does not entirely follow because he has no pecuniary aim that there is no selfishness at bottom of his nature. But the very worst way to fight a man with such elements in-his character is to abuse and traduce him. If Sir William Pox, and Major Atkinson, and Mr George M'Lean, and Mr Wakefield had dealt more calmly, and in a more judicial spirit, with his acta and sayings, tliey would have had more weight in the country. He is a, man nqt to be

Ifotight with bludgeon^.bnt witH; tKo sharp rapier of calm atgument^ anitthe skilful fence of rhetoric.: * True,! hfe:has said very hard; and often very uitrue, things of the* Opposition, and their aims and objeefkv ,-Bttt after ill, ht gets his 5 position 6f,-advocate pf, the'working man by<saylng::hard things, and it.ia better to let hinvhave his full swing, and trust to time and argument to dispose of his fallacies. For ourselves, we write I .in the interest of no party or set of men, and are only anxious id oSS gesd govern--1 ment on Bound principles established and maintained in our midst. There "- must* be two opposite sides in true party government, and the regult in the end is the outcome of the interaction of the two forces, the one upon the other, and not of only one force No side ever gets all its own way under consti- , tutional government. Let Sir George Grey, therefore, have his say in peace. l Many calm judging men who cannot 3 be suspected of illiberal principle* have, like Mr Turnbull, of Timaru, r weighed him in the balance as J a party leader, and found him wanting. But even these men do not s like to hear him abused or to see him I treated with personal disrespect. There is a vague fear in some minds that Sh | George will turn the electors round his l fingers by his specious and agreeable j speechifying. Well, if he can do so, we, for our part, say, let him. Is ■i- there only one man in Now Zealand ': r Have the Opposition no one whom .they can put up to argue out the qpes tion and calmly Bet the other sidt before the electors? We must owi that the only man who has any thing like equal pretensions as ar orator — namely, Mr Wakefield—i; not to be trusted as a politician, anc as a man has neither the age nor th( personal'dignity tocopewith one liki Sir George Grey. But after all, tall is but one element in electioneering tactics, and we have sufficient respeel for the ".working men " of New Zea* I, land to believe that a large portion o: * them will think for themselves an^ will not blindly fall down and worshij any idol. Many feel that after all Sil George talks more and speaks bettel than he acts, and many more an anxious, not so much to see the man ii power as to see the leading principles o: his policy carried out. No one of an] pretensions to common sense can be, lieve that there is' any real and essentia element of antagonism between laboui and capital, or any need to arouse bittei class enmities. Let each set of prin ciples have their due play, and wi _ BbiiU find -that- eventually the just milieu will emerge. We have no; yet got to - barricades and brick bats, and' it would be just ai ," well if we avoided rowdy meetings 6 We believe that Dunedin, as an im pprtant commercial city, would wel ~ fill her proper role if Bhe returned mer 0 of liberal but moderate principles, anc 1 independent character. In Messn Oliver, Stewart, and Dick we havi: r such men — a leading merchant, i *, lawyer of 'standing; and an old an<3 tried politician. But violence of language, or bitter personal opposition tc ' Sir George Grey, will infallibly bring forward candidates of a different stamp, who will rise on the shoulders of anj man who will give them a lift. If Sii George gains the-ear of the "working J men "in Dunedin we shall have one oi »- -mora—-warking -mac'i. oatididateS who '", xjfiU^adopt his colpuvs^and he.is-all the more likely to do so if he is not allowed quietly to have his say. We therefore * counsel moderation, fairness, and calmjness, and at the same time a carefu) ' watchfulness that our interests as a commercial city of no mean important^ —the premier city of the Colony, in facf —are not trifled with under the pretence of a Liberal.policy. We agree witi r Mr Dick tbat there should be no log- - rolling, even in behalf of local interests: a but there should be care and attention . that we are not offered up a sacrifice on .; the altar of political expediency, aa j seems not * unlikely to: be the case . in regard to the : Commissioner of j Railways. As regards all else, what jwe have to look to in our can- > didates' iai honesty of purpose, and ■ that, we think, can fairly be claimed , for each of the three candidates whom iwe have named. .Wanting 'this quali- > fication, however-liberal a man's pro- ; feasions, he will infallibly rat' when it ;is his interest to do so. ,:; ~ .. . j '■ Our supplement .toaday contains a report of i yesterday's meeting of the City Council, |a .. review of a new work, "In Tents in the.Transi vaal," by Mrs Hutchinson; a circular issued .by the, Port Chalmers Improvement Comt mittee on the subject of the Harbour, a descriptignof ths Waimea Plains railway.ja * report of Sir W. ITox's speech at Wanganui, letters to the editor, letters from our corres. - pondents in Chrißtohurch and Quaenßland, a report of a discußsion at the City Council on Sunday work on the tramways, and Sir George Grey on the Constitution. ''■ • The City of Sydney, with the San ITranoißOo mail, arrived at Auckland last night. * In our supplement will be found an article in which we deal with Mr Stout on immigration. Mr A. T. Dunning received a telegram from the manager of the Keep-it-Dark Quartz, mining Company, Eeefton, on Saturday, stating that the last crashing of 200 tons of quariz had given a yield of 229 ozi of amalgjain. '■'*' i The following certificate ha 9 been given bylthe Engineer regarding the tramways, tocom- - ply. with the Order-in-Oouneil:— *' I; William Newsham Blair, of Dunedin, in the Provincial District of Otago and Colony of New Zealand, civil engineer, do hereby certify that, in pursuance of an ordsr of his Excellency the Governor in Council, made at Wellington on tne fifth day of July, 1879, I have inspected the Dunedin City Tramways, and declare the same to be safe and fit for public traffic—(Signed) W. N. Blaie, M. Inst. CB." The residents of South Dnnedin have peti-! tioned the Dunedin City Council to extend ttie gaa supply to a portion of that borongh, and in all probability the request will be granted if satisfactory terms can become to with the Borough Counoil relative to the erection of street lamps. - | The work of filing the plates with the names of streets en them, which are now being placed at the strent corners of the city, afforded another instanoe of the different ways in whioh tenderers estimate their prices. The offer ac. cepted by the City Council was that of Mr G. M'Kenzie, at the rate of 4s per dozen on wooden and 9s per dozen on briok houses. For the same work Messrs Smith and Smith tendered at 243 per dozen in the ene case, and 48s per dozen in the'other. j The annual ball given by the members of, the Dnnedin Naval Brigade will take place at the Garrison Hall to-morrow night. It promiifl( a * to be a great success, and, judging from the nnmbsr of tickets sold, thsre will probably bs about 160 couples present. Messrs Kempthorne, Prosier, and Co. are sending to the Sydney Exhibition a show-case containing samples of a number of their manu. factures. In order to supply a stand fcr the case, the firm will send a large number of boxes of the waihing-powder they turn out, and the goods principally rspreisnted in the cass are various cordials, quinine, champagne, curry powdsr, mirror blacking (liquid and paste), fluid magnesia, fuller's earth, flavouring essence's^ knife-powder, black and white pepper, -fee. All these goods are very neatly got up, the bottling

i tinning, and labelling being quite as complete , and showy as is ths case with the imported . goods. All the articles ,to be sent are manufactured at t&e firm's*-f^qtory in.Stafford" street. ' The case is a handsome; one) and the lettering '. upon it, which was done by Mr Leves, is very 1 elegant,* ;:--;! ' : *,•• * ', Now, when deep ssa fish'are out of season, 1 we can appreciate the-:aid which is afforded by I. the railway in supplying our Dunedin market, j One eTening last week, Mr Melville received j byexprsssfrom InvercargiU a lot of blue cod, which were despatched from Riverton in the morning. A portion of them were sold fresh,' , Sdia uortion were split, salted, and hung up to smoke the same"nigii, Eighty of what are known as White's patent anti dip valves are to be procured, at a cost of I L2OO, for the Corporation Gasworks. The use i of thsse valves will, it is expected, permit of , Grey River,coal being exclusively used, and ; the G»s' Engineer explains that this; means . spending some L 13,000 in New Zealand next , ysar, instead of sending the money out of the : Colony. [ * There was ho sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court yeattrday, .At the meeting of Oity Council yesterday, 'Mr K. A. Lawsen forwarded the following tenJ ders for fixing electric bell, and telephonic comI munioation in the n*w municipal buildings, t and was instructed to accept.the lowest:—A. II aud T.Burt, L 125 10a; S. M'Carthy, L 155; i\ Schlaadt Bros., LlB5 lis 6d; James Ross, f L 195. 'Tor the York place sewer, the follow--3 ing-were referred to the Works Committee , with power to accept tbe lowest:—J: Hindle, L 772; Matheson Bros., L 648 15s; J. Spiers, '*' L 672 6s2d. 3 - -, ' ' ■ : -i Our Glenkenich correspondent writes :-f- ---." Work bas again bean suspended on tbe railway, and with the exception of five aU the men ' have been paid off.. Thiß is attributed to the 3 fact that tbe Government will not advance 1 money on the completion of the. first section of - the line. There has been a great hubbub about 1 this lino ever since it was put on the estimates, s and it seems that we are not going to have the j line opened by contract time. In the interests , ;•£ the district it is to be hoped the Government will bring every pressure on the contractors, bo 8 as to hay* the line finished in tinie." ■ A very common error is made regarding the ■> honorarium. It is supposed by many that t when a member goes up for only a few days of - the session he can pocket th* whole amount. i f It is bad enongh as it is, but not quite so bad 2 as that. They oan do arithmetic in Welling- [ ton as far as rul* of three, and they make a * ruk-of-three sum of.it, ac thus:—As the , amount of the honorarium (200 guineas) is to ths number of days in th* session, so are the B number of days of actual attendance by mem--1 bers to, their respective shares. If the session, f for instance, was 30 days long, and a member jr only attended three days, he would only get i- one-tsnth of the amount, and so on. It is as 1* wrell w* should not punt hungry. members r blacker than they deserve, which is black ■ enough in all conscience. ~ The balloting but of one of the councillors g for Bell Ward fer retirement took place at the * City Council meeting yesterday, and Councillor , Carroll proved the unfortunate man. The decision was arrived at by a " shake-in-tbe-hat," -" carried out under tbe superintendence.of the 8 Mayor, in his Worship's " belltopper." ' ' .. Mr Georg* O'Brien has resigned the position " of assistant city surveyor under the Oorpora--1 tion, which he has held for abont seven* years.' ; The anniversary, soiree in connection with } the Mornington Wesleyan Church was held, 5 last evening. At the meeting after tea, the i Ber, J. J. Lewis occupied the ohair, and there I was a very good attendance. Humorous addresses 1 were delivered by the Key*. J; IT. Davis and J. Crump, and Mr J. E, Danniaton. } A speoial meeting of the Wakari Bifles , (Nos, 1 and 2 Companies) was held in the Town » Hall, Mornington, last evening. All the com. ' missioned officers and about 50 other mem. r bers were present.. Lieutenant Gardiner, took f the'ehairi and/briefly 'explained the object of J the meeting, -which9 was to take into consideraf tion the *fihancial affairs of the corps. It ap-: >, pear*dthat*Mooimti*ramountingtoL29olos 3d ; were awaiting settlement, and there were a few [ small items owing, for*which claims had not , yet been sent in. Msasrs Hallenstein Brothers and Sargood, Son, arid'Ewen wero the largestJ creditors—over,L2oo being due to the former, and LSO to the latter firm, The total l' liabilities~of the Company might be stated at 3 L3OO. The Tate captain,' Mr T. O. Keid, hacT b received and misappropriated the whole of the S' capitation-moneyfdr'the yoar ending in April ! last, amounting to 1,167, which would have .gone to reduce, ; the debt owing, and there . would be nothing further available fromcapi- ' tation till next April. After discussion, it wbb resolved to make a vigorous effort to clear off 1 as much as possible of the liabilities by organ--1 ising entertainments to be held at Mornington l .and Kaikorai. f ~ The Premier is reported to have spoken in ; Christchurch as follows regarding the location .of Mr Conyera in Dunedin. It will bessen [ that he-admits the matter is in tke hands of [Mr Macandrew, as Minister for Public Works, t and that gentleman will, we understand, be interviewedto-day on the subject. . Sir Georgo Grey said:—"l have seen a. statement in the " newspapers to-day that the central staff of the ' railway system has been moved from Canterbury to Dunedin, or that orders have been' given for that purpose. I havo made inquiries, .' and find that no such order hat been given. Ton must all know that this is a subj act which Is entirely out of my province as Premier; it isa j question 'which rests with the Minister for Publio Works. I only refer to it as your- re- '■■ : preventative—if lam your representative.— (A Voice:; 'No.': Another -Toice: .'But vvill ' be.') ' (Great applause.) (Other Voiceß: *You , will be, returned at the head of the poll,') (Great cheering.) I have no'reason to say it will be, but I firmly believe this: that the Minister for Publio Works, who, I am satisfied, is a just man, will moßt carefully consider the _ subject before he cornea:to any decision upon 1 it. But this I' am authorised,'to say : he lias come to no decision upon it, and that the Btory . told iv the newspapers this morning must have been spread for somo mischievous purpose." Owing to the somewhat uncertain movements 'of th* Maoris who were turned off the Omarama Run 'the.'other day (says the North Otago Times), Ihs^sotOr Thompson left yestsrday for Duntroon, to make inquiries aa to their whereabouts and intentions. It is reported that the Natives have not yet; reached that township, . although they have had ample time; to do so. -There is no doubt, however, that Mr Thompson will soon put the matter to rights.' ! One of th* railway inspectors (saya the Lyttelton Times) visited Port yesterday for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the foremen, &c, in chargo of the employees en the railway wero afflicted with colour blindness. The manner in which the subject was broached took.those questioned by surprise, and they were at a loss to understand for a moment or so the object of being asked by an official of the railway in uniform what was the colour of a certain vessel, the colour of another object, and so on. A card produced from the official's pocket, emblazoned with all the colours of the rainbow, completed the mystification, and it was , not until the official explained his business after the production of the card that those interrogated understood his object. *, The Lingard Company, 'under engagement to Messrs Hisoocks and Hayman, arrived'at the Bluff yesterday in the b.s. Albion. The company consists of Msssrs Lingard, Van Ghele, George Leopold, Craig, Warner, Leopold, Hayes, Holland, Lawranoe, Owen, Barderg, Cahill, Misses Lingard, Misses Wool- ' ridge, Melrose, Leopold, Potter, Hillise,Quinn, i Bell,' and L, Quinn. They will make their ] first appearance on Saturday next at th* Queen's Theatre. _ , ; I The performance at the Queen's Theatre on Friday night will be for the benefit of Miss Beatrice and Mr D'Orsay Ogden. The programme is a most attractive ono, including the three-act comedy "That Mother-iu-Law of ] Mine," the variety scene from the burlesque " Endymion," aud a new. farce by Mr O^den, entitled "Bailed up by Ned Kelly." The Queen's Theatre was well attended last evening, when a new comedy, entitled "Engaged," was produced, Mr Wybert Beevo, Mr Ogden, and Miss Beatrice sustaining the principal characters. We are unable .through pressure on our spaoe to give a long ] notice of the performance, but we may state I g

that th* comedy is a good one s.n'&w*M remark-1 1 ably well played.'|;:j3?he entertainment was ' brought to a clos* witit" Cool as a Cucumber,",; ■'■ in which Mr Reeve appeared as Plumper.—To-! , night" Diplomacy " will be played for tba last,; i time. -. ..*...■; ,•<*'* V t- ;] The Dunodin Amateur Operetta arid Comedy, '■] Company will commence a short season at tho : Princess Theatre this evening, when the comio : operetta of " Cox and Box," by Arthur Sullivan, the well-known composer of " H.M.S. Pinafore," and Offenbach's " The Two Mendi-cants-a blind man's bouffe," will be presented. " Cox and Box" is tho first of those comic operas which have made the name of Mr Sullivan so famous, and was written in oonjnnction with MrK a Barcacd,.... JtWMjwiginaliy produced at an amateur perfomiMice "given* some 12 years ago in London by tho staff of Punch, for the benefit of the widows and children of one of the artistß who had worked on that periodical, this late Charles Bennett. The success "of the opera was as great as it'deserved to be, for it iH full of really excellent music, and the librettist and composer have worked in perfect accord. '*Cox and Box" wss subsequently given by Mr and Mrs German Reed's company, and has always maintained the popularity it gained at -its first production. Although the greater part of the dialogue is taken from the well-known farce, the music of Mr Sullivan and" the words of Mr Burnand make it almost a new piece, and certainly much more droll than the original. If the perforaera at the Princess Theatre do justice to the music, the success of the opera should be great. The " Two Mendicants " is an adaptation of a wellknown musical duologue by Offenbach, entitled "Les Deux Avengles,'? aud the company have the honour of introducing it to a Dunedin audience for the first time. Although short, it is full of genuine fun and sdrollery. With such an excellent bill as this, the Operetta Company should certainly secure good attendances during the three nights they perform. ,-■ "*..'.. * .'■ .- Messrs A. and T. Burt have secured the agency for New Zealand for Horde's patent gas regulators. A ■■ A notice with reference to the running of trains on the Outram branch Hue will be found in our advertisIngcoinmns. •-*-•• The manager of the New Zsaland Express General Ajtenoy and Forwarding Comp my informs'us tbat (582 packages passed through the Company's'hands during' the month ending August 26th. Agencies have been opened at Waikouaiti, Pleaiant Point, Waipahi, end Tapanui, and arrangements have been made with the various coaches for interchange of traffic, «cOn Saturday next Messrs' Bastings, Leary, and Co. Will .offer for sale by auction a buUding stto at Ravensbourne, somo allotments at Ascot Vale, and part of section 0, block XXXIH, Dunedin. The attention of Volunteers Is called to a battalloii order published In our advertising columns.