THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8209, 14 June 1888, Page 2

THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES

; ■ •; THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 18S8. : ■; If it was »n accident, it was a happy accident' • .which brought the debate on. the second ; reading of the Customs Duties Bill to a ■ sudden close on Tuesday afternoon. _It is only to be regretted that it has been practil* cally prolonged on the motion to go into j. Committee; and now threatens to lose itself is in the wordy waste of a silly no-confidence n motion which only serves to give an oppor- '* tunity for widening the breach between the Freetraders and" the Government, arid .exchanging personal compliments without 4 any possibility of leading to a practical result. It must be confessed that the Freetrade contingent . are not coming . very well out of the debate. With the ex- £ ception of Messrs Withy and Bruce, both of : whom distinguished themselves by careful reasoning and sound sense, they have made i little or no impression by dint of argument, and one or two of them have shown unmie-' : takable signs of temper. Now they appear . to be drifting off into discontent with the retrenchment effected by the Government and the rest of their policy upon grounds : which not one of them would have considered sufficient if their judgment had not been thrown off its balance by disr ,i gust with the treatment they received over ~ the tariff It is to be hoped that the wiser heads amongst them will stop the apparent • tendency to desire revenge upon the Government, after they have passed the tariff. The ■ country will not lightly forgive any party ■which disturbs the Government of the Oolony without solid grounds to go upon. But if the Freetade opposition have not won much credit out of the debate, no more has any other section of the House; least of y all the Government. The tardy explanation ■• which the Premier vouchsafed on Tuesday of the surprise he sprung upon his party was really no explanation at all, and the speeches of Messrs Fergus and Fisher in the previous debate were little calculated to soothe the feelings of their Freetrade friends, or to bring them back to the Ministerial fold. The Opposition proper were in the doubly pleasant position of seeing their principlescarried out by the Government, and of the Government only being able to carry them by their assistance. With the exception of Mr W. P. Reeves, who " took the bull by the j " horns" in a pleasant, practical little speech, ' the Opposition have said little that might i not as well have been left unsaid, but they I have shown a praiseworthy absence of office- . greed, and conducted themselves with the good-huniour which is natural to men who are pleased with themselves.' That any--7 thing new can be brought out of the present

prolongation of the debate is scarcely possible, unless it be an, increase of bad feeling and hard words. It is to be hoped, therefore, that little time vpill be lost before the Committee gets to work on the details of the tariff, where, as we have before pointed out, theFreetrade members have an excellent opening for doing good service. We have endeavoured to contribute our mite towards the exposure of the more palpable blunders in the tariff, and with the information which has offered itself from a variety of quarters, the Freetrade members of the House should be able to effect considerable alterations, if they will keep under their feelings and trust to practical arguments. We noticed a tendency in the recent debate to push Freetrade conclusions with too much logic and too little sense, which if carried into committee will do poor service to- a cause which, in face of-a large Protectionist majority, requires very careful and conciliatory handling. Above all, we hope that honourable members on all Bides of the House will bear in mind the inconvenience to trade which is being caused by the delay in the determination of the tariff, and avoid all purposeless and factious obstruction. Whatever is to be done, let it be done with as much speed as is compatible with a careful discussion of the bearings of the various duties. -» The upshot of the action recently taken by the police to ascertain how far Wie law prohibiting the sale of liquor after certain hours was being kept was to show that it is almost universally disregarded. Sunday trading gefes on in the most respectable hotels, with or without a perfunctory question as to the person served being a traveller, and not a few of the smaller houses remain open for some time after the closing hour. That such a state of things is thoroughly mischievous, both as tending to bring the law into contempt and as acting unfairly to licensees who endeavour to keep the law strictly must be clear to the least thoughtful, and it is evidently important either to enforce the law strictly or to relax it so considerably as to reduce the temptation to breaking it to a minimum. The latter proposalisnot likely to findfavoar. All experience goes to Bhow the undesirability of extending the hours for the sale of liquor, nor is it probable that any extension would sensibly reduce the disposition to exceed the limits set down. But how is the law to be enforced 7 There are only two courses open. Either a revenue police must be appointed or the existing police must be constantly acting as detectives in. the way in which they went to work a few weeks ago. That the establishment of a, revenue police is the more desirable course most people will agree, but since any increase of expenditure is out ,of the question at the present time, the ordinary police must see to the enforcement of the law, and the only way in which this can be done is by the hotelkeepers having kept constantly before them the fear of detection in the sale of liquor at unlicensed hours, through policemen in plain clothes making from time to time the round of the hotels asking for liquor after licensed hours with a view to prosecution. The hotalkeepers have recently attempted to raise an outcry against such attempts at detection as un-English and a misuse of the police, but we should doubt their having obtained much sympathy outside the classes that frequent hotels. The public have'to face the alternative of the law being almost universally disregarded or of its being maintained by this means, and we think there will be a general consensus of opinion of disinterested persons that the means are in this case not so objectionable as not to be justified by the end. Our reports of last night's meeting of the City Council, and of yesterday's Laud Board with other matter, will be found on. our fourth page. In the Legislative Council yesterday the com' mittee on the Criminal Code Bill brought up a report, which was ordered to be printed. A motion was carried which shows that a majoritj of councillors will refuse to pass .a Specia' Powers and Contracts Bill in which a variety o! subjects »re mixed up in one measure. In the House of Representatives yesterday tht renewed debate on the tariff, on the motion tc go into committee on the Customs Bili, was kepi going all' the afternoon and evening, and wai not concluded. Sir George Grey had his Lane for Settlement Bill made an order of the daj for the 20th inst. Our cablegrams this morning notify the deatl of General Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron G.C.B, who will be remembersd by old colon' ists as the officer in charge of the Iraperia troops in the Maori wars of 1864. Genera Cameron was born about 1808. He entered thf army in 1825, became captain in 1833,' major it 1839, colonel in 1854, ami major-general in 1859 He served with distinction in the Crimean cam paign of 1854-55, having commanded the 42nc Regiment at the battle of the Alma, and thi Highland Brigade at the battle of Balaclava and was gent out to command the troops ii New Zealand, with the local rank of lieutenant general, in 1863. In that capacity ho higul; distinguished himself, and in 1864 he wai nominated a Knight Commander of the Orde of the Bath, Military Division, in recognition o his able services against the Maoris. Sir D Cameron was made colonel of the 42nd Foo September 9,1863; and he was governor of thi Royal Military College at Sandhurst from 1861 to June 1875.. He was created a Knight Gram Cross of the Order of the Bath, 1873. He wa promoted to the rauk of general in the army ii January 1875. A boy about five years of age named Willian George Douall was received into the hospita yesterday evening, suffering with an injury ti one of his feet. -It appears that he was a pas sen'ger by the Mauapouri.and when the steame was coming up the harbour he managed by som< meaus or other to get his foot jambed in 6om< chains, and injured it to such an extent that i had to be amputated. The alleged growing prevalence of the gnm bling evil, fostered by the legislation of the totali isator, having been mentioned at a meeting o the Dunedin Ministers' Conference, it wa resolved—" That a meeting of representative citizons be summoned to take the matter inti consideration and to decide upon what stepi shall be taken in order to lessen the evil." Th. meeting is to ba held on Monday next, A somewhat peculiar point was debated ii committee at tho City Council meeting- las night. Among the certificates of renewa granted at the, annual meeting of the Dunedii Licensing Committee were three to*licensee; known or believed to be married women —viz. Mrs Nicholson (Universal Hotel), Mrs Rochi (Gridiron Hotel), and Mrs Mcc (Peacock Hotel) The renewals wore not opposed at the licensinj meeting, but Messrs Adams Bros, have sinci written to tho corporation pointing out that i recent judgment by Mr Justice Williams lay dowu that married womeu are not qualified ti hold a license under tho act, and warning thi Council against receiving tho fees for thesi three licenses. The city solicitors, who wen applied to, advised the council that the towi clerk should refuse the fees; but after i lengthy discussion in committee it was resolvei to authorise the town clerk to accept thorn—Cr Cohen and Sinclair dissenting. A shepherd and rabbiter named Willian Macintosh, well known throughout Southland lost his life on Monday night in Lake Wakatipi at the railway wharf, Kingston. He citbc: slipped from a stage or fell overboard. Thi night was intensely dark, and there were m lights on tho wharf. The borly was found yes terday. The Rotorua correspondent of the Aucklam Herald reports that the body of a man wa found in a boiling pool of water, the feeder o what used to bo called " C. 0. Davis' Bath," not far from the kuirau opposite tho Palace Hotol It appears tliat a young gardener from T( Koutu, wishing assistance, calluil at old Johr Law's house to ask him to como. The dooi appeared padlocked. On looMng into an uglj boiling pool alongside ho noticed tho head of i man floating on tho surface, face downwards Giving tho alarm, Constable Cahill was soon or the spoi', whe:i, with sorno difficulty and danger he succeeded in recovering the body, which wai fully dressed. On ripping the cloth off the lies! appeared firm, scarcely evan par-boiled, but the skin peeled off easily. On opening the deceased* hcuso his lonely little dog came out looking the very picture of despair as it gazed oil the horrible-looking remains of its old master. The previous night having been verj dark end stormy, there h not tho slightest doubt that poor Jack misxed bis footing just at hit own door and tumbled into the hot pool.

A four-roomed house at Wingatui, owned and jcupied by Mr James WAnergny, was burned own early on Tuesday morning, hardly any of 16 contents being saved. The Taieri Advocate iates that the insurances were £160 in the Iquitable. Mr C. A. Wrayhas been sworn in as sheriff of he Timaru district, vice Mr Beswick, deceased. The contingent of the Salvation Army about a commence work in the Upper Wanganui istrict and gradually make their way through he King Country was presented with colours at Vellington on Sunday by Colonel Taylor, 'aptain and Mrs Holdaway are the pioneers, nd they will be accompanied by three Maori onverts. A whale about 25ft long and about 16ft in ;irth was stranded on the beach at'Geraldineon Sunday, near a the residence of the Hon. Mr Holies ton. A report of an awful tragedy comes from Paris, in which the actors were a father, mother, md son. The mother was in the last stage of consumption, but the eon's devotion to her seems, on the neighbours' testimony, to have been something almost approaching to worship. The other evening his father permitted himself to be overcome by his friends, and to take much more intoxicating drink on the excuse of " drowning his sorrow " than he ought to have done, and he returned dead drunk. The son greeted him with the angry words, " You are unworthy to be a husband or a father, and I would like to throw you out of doors " The father pushed forward to goto his wife's bedside, and tho son picked up a knife from the table, Baying, "Let mother alone to die in peace, or I shall conniait some crime." Then seized by a sudden mad determination, he added, "As I could never love you again after thia, I will die with my mother." He Went to "her, imprinted a long kiss on her lips, and then plunged the knife into his own heart. The shock so affected the dying. woman that she expired almost simultaneously with her son. : : The second of tho winter socials in connection -with the Loyal Hand-and-Heait Lodge, M.U.1.0.0.F., was held on Tuesday evening,, when there was a large attendance. Songs were contributed by Miss Outred, and Messrs J. Smith, Coughlan, P. Miller, and Corbett, and a duet for violin and piano-by Messrs Douges and Duke. The music for the dance was supplied by Messrs E. Towsey, piano; and H. A. Ross, clarionet, N.G. Hopcraf t acted as M.O. A concert in aid of the funds of the Walton School prize fund took place on Tuesday evening. Mr Thomas Howorth, chairman of the committee, occupied the chair, and the buildin was crowded. The programme, which consisted of songs, choruses, and original sketches, was carried out entirely |by the scholars and teachers, and every item was well received. Mr Loudon, on behalf of the audience, proposed a vote of-thanks to the performers, which was carried by acclamation. There was again a large attendance at the Princess Theatre last night, when the last performance of the season was given. " The Forty Thieves " was repeated, and| as on previous occasions, was received with continuous applause and Beveral encores. Mr Brough for his topical song was encored several times. The company have had a very successful season here,' and the excellence of their performance will no doubt be long remembered. Mr J. D. Foley intends giving two performances at Fbrt Chalmers, the first taking place this evening. His clever character sketches, rapid changes, and his veutriloquial powers should draw good houses. • — We have to acknowledge receipt from Mr Charles Bills o? a copy of the " Californian Cackler, a very interesting paper treating of poultry matters. Messrs J. A. Duthie and Co. (in conjunction with Messrs U. Beid and Co.), will hold a clewing sale of stock, farming implements, &c. at MeadowpanK, Tokomairiro, oil the 22nd inst. Messrs Wright,v Stephenson, and Co. will sell draught horses on Saturday. : Messrs James Samson and Co. will tell trees, ahrubs. &c on Saturday. Mr WilliamTodd will sell at Invercargill on the 30tn inßt. 1317 acres of valuable freehold property with improvements, allotments in South Biverton; al«o horses, cattle, sheep, and implements. _ The Grand Hotel, Dunedin.—Seduction of tarlfl or winter and spring months, from April_l, foi families and permanent guests. Terms according te rooms required. Thernoat luxurious winter quarten in New Zealand. Hot spray and hot shower baths, Absolute freedom from draughts. Special termß foi a party of ladies or gentlemen requiring private sitting room. Special weekly terms for lunch and outside boarders:—[Advt.]