THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1890.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8863, 22 July 1890, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1890.

Tjib Waitaki branch of the Otago Educational Institute recently prepared a petition to both Houses of Parliament asking them to pass into law Major Steward's School Committees Election Bill, which has been again introduced this session. The petition is based upon the argument that the State practical^ makes a monopoly

o£ the teaobing profession, and is thereby bound to take special care that the Education Act is not used for the purpose of injuring individual teachers. It further ntates that "the present system of cumu- " latiro voting at the election of school " committees, so far as teachers are " concerned, may be used, and sometimes is " used, to gratify improper motives and to '' injure them in the work of their pro- " fession and in their status as teachers;" and the petitioners therefore pray that the School Committees Election Bill—which provides for the abolition of cumulative voting, for the prior nomination of candidates, and for other necessary changes— should become law, as before stated. A copy of the petition, as wo observe by one which was sent to us, was transmitted to every branch of the Institute in Otago and to every Institute in New Zealand. Simultaneously with this was also sent out a circular to all the school committees in Otago—numbering nearly 200 —covering a copy of the Bill, setting forth its provisions, and asking them on public grounds to pass a resolution in its favour and to transmit the same to Major Steward' thus making that gentleman for the occasion a kind of New Zealand Henniker Heaton. The circular to the committees was much more explicit than that to the institutes, which were merely asked to support the Bill because its chief feature was a proposal to do away with what they consider a professional grievance and source of danger, But we are not sure whether many would not consider some of the other proposals which the committees were asked to affirm equally important with that for abolishing the obnoxious vote, and can easily understand the hesitation which many of them evinced to adopt the Bill in gloho. It aims at a good deal more than the abolition of the cumulative vote. It defines the constituent householder to be "any adult, male or "female, person who (being the owner, " lessee, or tenant) resides in any dwelling " house within tho school district, and the "parent or guardian or other.person who " has the actual custody of any child at- " tending any State school situated within " such district," and in goldfields " every " resident holder of a miner's right, not " being an alien." A pendent clause defines a " dwelling house" to be a permanent structure, and shall not include a tent or other temporary shelter. As an amendment defining the term householder for election pnrposes the proposed clause is proper enough, but the Dunedin School Committees' Conference found itself unable to give it more than qualified support, by suggesting an important interpolation confining householders' vote to the actual school district resided in. The committee which had been appointed by the Conference to report upon the proposals could make no recommendation because, as it appears, there was a division of opinion as to whether the definition of the constituents went far enough. In effect the present position is that a comparatively small section of the community administer a system supported by all, and actually created and maintained by a Parliament elected practically upon manhood suffrage. If manhood suffrage can cieate and support a system, it follows logically that it ought to administer it. Besides the cumulative proposal this is the only question of principle raised by the Bill, the others being simply amendments in the details of election, which most would consider decidedly advantageous, if only on the ground that any defined system must be better than the existing haphazard one which easily lends itself to coups d'etat, and thence inevitably to friction and heart burning. The great blot is the cumulative vote, and if the Bill had been one simply to abolish that, without raising a discussion about the constituent body at all, it would possibly have become law ere now.

Unless we are very much mistaken, the decision of Mr Justice Williams some days ago in the case Clement v. the Kenthom Consolidated Quartz Mining Company will have a wider influence than that gained by merely settling the dispute between the parties. Mr Clement sought to have his name removed from the company's register because he found that a material representation in the advertised prospectus turned out to be untrue, but he lost his case because of his delay in demurring, and in consequence o£ his continued adherence to the company by paying calls after he had discovered the misrepresentation. The misrepresentation consisted of the omission of certain very important words— so important indeed as to have a material influence in inducing the public to purchase shares. The published prospectus stated that the whole of the money, £2000, to be called up on certain shares would be devoted to the exploitation of the company's claims, while the prospectus issued afterwards disclosed an agreement between the company and the promoter to the effect that promotion money to the extent of £375 was to be deducted from the working capital. This is the part of the transaction which is calculated to throw the most light upon the methods by which companies are floated, i and which accounts for much of tlje fervour with which promoters descant upon the merits of proposed investments. In cases of this kind the ordinary process between buyer and seller is reversed. Usually, when a person has anything to sell, if he employs an agent he pays the agent his commission out at the proceeds; in the case of a mining venture, the buyer purchasesat the nominal value, and afterwards pays the agent his commission or fee besides. In this case, the expense connected with floating the company with a aominal called-np capital of £2000, was as nearly as possible a fifth of the amount, which indicates either that the venture was very difficult to work off, or that the promoter was a very talented man. The omission cf the very important qualification about promoter's fees in the advertised prospectus may have been accidental, but it certainly requires a large amount of charity to believe so, and if Mr Clement had only taken steps in time it is is not difficult to suppose from the decision that the court would have promptly relieved him from the obligation into which he had been ensnared. The time-honoured adage that the buyer must beware, does not apply in the case- of actual misrepresentation. Judging by the tendency of the proposed " Directors' Liability Act"; it is rather the seller—of mining shares at all events—who mast take care that he makes no representation which he cannot afterwards substantiate, for fear of personal .consequences. The effect of the decision in this case v/jU be rather to make the general public more shy of purchasing shares in mining ventures at all, than careful in examining statements. If the goose which lays the golden eggs has not been already killed, the efforts of her " exploiters " have made her discontinue her profitable occupation, and we need not say with what advantage. We certainly think that all those who bought shares on the faith of the original representation are entitled to have their money back.

A budget £f cablegrams delayed in transmismission will be found on our fourth page. As our telegrams do not; notify the arrival of ' the Wanaka at Wellington, that steamer could i not have connected with the Kotomabana, and the San Francisco mail cannot therefore reach Dunedin to-night as was anticipated. j The Public Works Statement will not be ' delivered this evening, the Government having decided to give precedence to their bills dealing ■pith various phases of the labour question. The four .convalescent lunatics who werb discharged from the Sea.cli.iff Lunatic Asylum last week and refused admittance into the Benevolent Institution are, we learn, being boarded b.gfc at present at the personal expenso of Mrj/A. Torrance. It is likely that the matter of providing for the unfortunate beings will be brought up again at the meeting of the trustees of the Benevolent Institution to-morrow,

With reference to the recent oases of suioide at the Seaoliff Asylum, iS should, in justice to the superintendent and attendants, be stated that the patient Watson made his escape while working with eight others under a warder, and made his way to the reservoir, whioh is a quarter of a mile from, the buildings, and was then fenced with a five-foot paling fence with a gate always kept locked. Watson jumped the fence and drowned himself. The woman Hagar committed suicide in April last.

Two cases of much publio importance came before Mr Carew, R.M., yesterday. The plaintiffs were Messrs Bowerman Brothers, of Wellington, and the defendants in each case were farmers on the Peninsula. The claims were on promissory notes, given by defendants as they alleged, on account of copie3 of the " Picturesque Atlas of New Zealand," which they agreed to buy from the plaintiffs, but finding that the works supplied to them were not those they bargained for they refused to honour the promissory notes, with the result that they were summoned. Some very strong remarks were made by Mr Fraser, counsel for defendaDtf, against book hawkers in general, and the plaintiffs and their agents in particular, for the manner in which he alleges they conduoted their business. The allegations made by Mr Fraser were denied in toto by Sir Robert Stout, counsel for plaintiffsl His Worship reserved judgment in both cases. On Friday several other cases of a similar nature will be heard.

In reply to the letter sent to the Governmentasking that the Harbours Act should be amended with a view to restricting the liability of harbonr boards for the acts of harbourmasters, the Wellington Harbour Board have received a communication from the Minister of Marine sta'Sinj; that the Government does not think there is any probability of the act being amended during this session, but that a bill making provision in the direction desired will be prepared for introduction next session.

A meeting of the Council of the Protection League was held in the Coffee Palace last night, Mr Swan in the chair. Mr Bellhouso, president of the Protaotion League of New Zealand, and Mr Bell, delegate from Auckland, were introduced to the meeting, after which arrangements were mado for the conference meeting to-day and continuing its sittings from day to day until its business is finished. A public meeting, to be addressed by tha two gentlemen abovenamed and others, will be held on Thursday evening.

As the outcome of negotiations with the promoters of a farmers' co-operative society, Mr J. G. Ward, M.H.E., has agreed to convert his extensive business at Invercargill into a limited liability company on the co-operative principle with a nominal capital of £250,000.

Mr David Bellhouse, of Christchurcb, who is at present in Dunedin as a delegate to the conference of Protection Leagues, had an exciting aud unpleasant experience on Sunday morning. A number of bullocks were being landed from the Kotorua, by which steamer Mr Bellhouse was a passenger, when one of them attacked him from the rear. He was caught under the armpits by the beast's borne, which, fortunately for him, were sufficiently wide apart to accommodate him between them, and was carried in this way for a considerable distance. How far he might have been conveyed it is impossible to say, had not a blow from one of the drover's fists caused the bullock to toss his head, with tho result that his burden was deposited in the sea of mud that covers the streets in the vicinity of the wharves. Mr Bellhouse's clothes were considerably damaged, but ho escaped himself with a somewhat severe bruising.

Among the applicants for relief to the Auckland Charitable Aid Board recently was a gardener at Onehungs. The committee proposed to give him rations, but suggested that ha should go over to the new Costley Home, Epsom, and give them a day's work a weak on the grounds in requital. The gardener did not take kindly to the proposal. He said " they gave rations to other people without working for them, and why should he work ? It was not good enongh. There was no use in trying to humbug him ; if they meant to give him the rations let them say so, or do the other thiug." The upshot was that the committee conceded the rations, but tLoy are going to wrestle with him again over doing some gardening at the Costley Home.

A Kome correspondent of the Graphic writes:—"All the musical critics of Italy who have been present at the first four representations of the new opera, ' Cavalleria Rusticana,' agree that a new musical genius ha 3 been discovered. The author—a young man of 26, of Leghorn, teaching music at a school in Sicily, with a salary of lOOfr (£4) per month—composed the whole opera in 50 days. The structure is masterly, and the melody rich, flowing, purely Italian. The press salutes in the young man the continnator of Rissiui's and Verdi's genius."

Mr Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the commissioners representing the United States at the Pan-American Congress, writes: —" The. conference of American republics did more for arbitration, I believe, than any body of men that was ever convened, No subject interested the delegates so deeply, and upon none was there bo much enthusiasm. I send you documents showing that they unanimously resolved to settle all questions by arbitration and to avoid future conquests of territory, the chairman alone abstaining from voting. I think the action of this conference has thrown around this continent an impregnable shield of peace. It will be a rash foreign nation that lights the torch of war upon this continent. Seventeen republica have resolved that peace shall reign over this entire continent, Let us see the nation that will disregard their wishes. For my own part I do not believo this will be dono more than once."

,TUe London School of Medicine'for women ia very proud of its pupil, Miss Elenora L. Fleury, who has just achieved the great distinction of passing tho medical degrees.; examination of the Royal University of Ireland in the Upper Pass Division. The examiners recommended her for the further examination for honours, in company with only one other student—a gentleman. This latter she came through with in the first class, and was first in the order of merit, winning thus the University exhibition of £40. Hiss Fleury studied at tho Royal Free Hospital for some time, and her whole career has been a long record of the highest honours that a lady medical student can attain.

The London correspondent of the Liverpool Post tells an anecdote which Sir Wilfrid Lawson retains for private consumption. A short time ago Sir Wilfrid Lawson, visiting at the house of a friend, made the acquaintance of a bright little boy, some 10 years of age, with whom the genial baronet talked and romped. After a while he said," Well, my boy, we hnye been great friends, but it's odd we were never introduced. I don't know what your namo is, and J am sure you have cot the slightest idea who I am." "Oh yes," 6aid the small boy, "I know very well. You are the celebrated drunkard."

The Auckland Herald, in enlarging upon the recent successful manufacture of iron by the Qnehunga Ironworks Company, says:—"lt is really the first thing of the kind achieved in these colonies. This company haß now complete machinery for making galvanised end corrugated iron, rod and bar iron, tee and angle iron, and sheet iron, and bids fair to ba prosperous, Up to the present time about 5000 tons of manufactured iron have been turned out, madie from scrap iron and ironstone. There are some 95 men and 25 boys engaged at the works, and a considerable number are employed in different: parts of the district getting i?ons.tone and limeBtoao."

The following review of Sir Julius Vogel's work, "A.D. 2000," appears in the London Times:—" This is one.of thoae fanciful sketches of tho future, now so common, in which attempts are made by theories of tho time to their ultimate consequenses to impede by goodhumoured ridicule tho too rapid progress of a doubtful movement. The fact that the author is a distinguished authority on colonial affairs suggests that a serious object ie in view, as is proved by the political conditions in which the British co.Joniea ar.s pictured at tho end. Whatever object the author may have had, he has at least produced a very amusing .book, which, even in its extravagances, suggests some points' worthy of serious consideration."

There was a capital house at the Princess Theatre last night, when Mr Christie Murray's play, " Chums," was repeated for the third time in this city. The performance was a highly meritorious one throughout, and not only were the leading roles admirably sustained, but the miner parts, without exception, were most creditably filled. The scenery is the theme of general admiration nightly, and anyone who has seen it cannot but affirm that it is worthy of the highest encomiums that are passed, upon it.

The steamer Adelaide, whioh took cablegrams from Port Darn id, arrived at Banjoowangie at 3 p.m. on Sunday.