AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9117, 16 May 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND.

(From Our Own Cokuespondent.) May 11. His Excellency the Governor, Lady Onslow, and patty have returned to town from their trip to the north. Fortunately the weather proved all that could be desired, so that this north was seen at its best. All the places of interest were visited, and the settlers generally wore greatly pleased with the quiet and homely way in which the viceregal party passed through the respective districts. There is a good story current that at one bush public his Excellency got up in the morning and inquired about a batli, and was courteously shown to the pump in the back yard and told to help himself. Lord Onslow has a happy knack of adapting himself to circumstances, and accordingly took in the situation, and " used the pump handle judiciously." By and bye a member of the staff came along on the same errand, and in due course referred by Bonifaca or his aide to the pump, but somewhatdemurred. He was told for his benefit that what the Governor could do the Governor's subordinates should also be able to accomplish. Since his Excellency's return he and Lady Onslow have been visiting the Home for the Aged and the Kohimarama Industrial School, and said a few kindly words to the inmates, who were greatly pleised at the thoughcfulness and consideration which the action indicated. Another week will probably bring the stay of the vice-regal party in Auckland to a close. There has not been a jarring or discordant note throughout, but Lord Onslow and his amiable countess have both given pleasure and received it. The Aucklandera view their departure with regret, temporary though it be, and they will on their return be as heartily welcomed as ever. They have interested themselves in the various institutions of the city, and identified themselves with the social life of the people—a course of conduct which cannot fail to win the golden opinions of the public now and hereafter, for it lies at the base of a permanent and enduring popularity. It is not often that three Cabinet Ministers in succession favour Auckland with a visit. First came the Hon. P. Buckley, whose mysterious arrival and departure was understood to be in connection with the vacancy in the Te Aroha electorate. Next came the Hon. John M'Kenzie, who during his stay reorganised the Crown Lands department. Considerable surprise was evinced at Mr Humphries, the Crown Lands Commissioner, who is in delicate health, being sent to Southland, but his sentence has now been commuted to Napier. The surprise was intensified at his removal, as he is comparatively a new man in Auckland, and had just become acquainted with the province when he is shitted. It is conjectured that Mr John Loudon is again coming to the front in regard to special settlements in the north, and that as he did not get on very well with the old Crown lands officers during the carrying out of that scheme, it is intended to give him a chance with new men. An endeavour was made to get the Minister of Lands to go north and sac the special settlements for himself, but he stated he could not afford the time, and went away back to Wellington, via the Lake country, having sundry difficult questions to settle at Botorua, where applications are again coming in for leases of land, on the off chance of the Hotorua railway being pushed through from Ngatera to the terminus at the new township near the Rotorua Sanatorium. Last of all came the Hon. R. J. Seddon, who has been kept very busy, as he holds the portfolios of Defence, Mining, and Public Works. In his tour of the Thames goldflelds he has made himself familiar with the requirements of the mining communities on that peninsula. Throughout his progress he has met with a very cordial reception. He was banqueted at the Thames, and informed the Thamesites that on that occasion he felt in a dilemma. When he was plain Dick Seddon addressing a mining community he could make a rollicking speech without being very particular as to what he said, and he and those whom ho addressed were all jolly good fellows. At the present time all that must be a thing lof the past, since he was there speaking to 1 the people of the Thames as a Minister of the Crown." Mr Seddon seems desirous of assisting the mining industry as far as lies in his power, but he was very chary of making any specific promises as to grants or public works, in response to the numerous demands made by deputations upon the public treasury. While at the Thames goldiields Mr Seddon, it is understood, received telegrams from his Excellency, who had returned to Auckland from his vice-regal tour in the north, giving the Minister a cordial invitation to come to Government House as his guest during his stay in Auckland. Mr Seddon made a faint attempt to " bluff " his Excellency on the ground that his visit was " a ilying one." The truth is the member for Westland would rather be ' sitting at a mining camp fire, with the

0 "billy" on than cooling his heels in the >, chambers of the great. However, on his way '" down to Auckland by the Waikato train, be 8 received a fresh despatch at Mercer. Lord Onslow would take no denial, and the Governor's carriage would bo in waiting for ® him at the railway station. Itichard felt . that the invitation, like that of royalty, was . a command, and instinctively coming to the conclusion that he must now endure the penalty of greatness, he surrendered at discretion, and suffered himself at the railway station to be borne away to Government House, and fell into the guardianship of the \ John Thomases gorgeous in plush. | Mr Seddon goes north to-day to see Kawa- . kawa, Puhipuhi.andthe Hikorangigoldfields. 1 This will enable him to judge as to the desirability of constructing the Kamo-Kawakawa railway. He has received telegrams that there are too banquets ahead of him, but he intends to go through with them to the. bitter end. It is currently reported that Mr Soddon undertook to attend to the banqueting, having a better head for champagne than Mr John M'Kenzie, who was inclined to tolerate nothing but Hielan peat-reek. Mr Seddon, however, denies the soft impeachment, and states that champagne is not his particular tipple, even while dressed in a little brief authority. Beading Mr Seddon's Thames speech, between the lines it is evident that the Ministry intend to support the candidature of Colonel Fraser, if there is any reasonable prospect of success. The greater the number of candidates the better the chance of his wioning the seat and goldfields' men say that none of those now out will defeat him. It is felt that Colonel Fraser has strong claims upon' the party. His vote was never a matter of doubt upon any division where it was required, and this circumstance is not forgotten. Besides he would work harmoniously with Mr Cadman, the other goldfields' representative, which is a matter of considerable moment to those interested in the mining industry. The proposals of the Defence Minister for rehabilitating the volunteer force have not received much more acceptance than those propounded by Colonel Hume for the police. Various counter proposals were made at the conference of officers, but the Defence Minister did not think them workable. If volunteering is to be kept alive here, the force will have to be partially paid, and. the bonds of discipline tightened. The men are heartily sick of the loss of time and money sustained by them, and the poor acknowledgment made of those sacrifices by either the Government or the public. Some of the corps ought to be disbanded rather than present the miserable appearance they do on parade as to attendance, drill, &c. Some of the members of the civil service who have been retrenched, and who are within a year or 18 months of their pensions have no intention of sitting quietly down under their grievances, but intend to petition Parliament, and thus raise the whole question as to the power of the Government to so act towards them. They contend that having been discharged through no fault of their own, the colony is bound to fulfiL the ■conditions under which they entered the service. There is a great deal of force in

their contention that the Government should be just as well as economical, and guard the fair fame of the colony from even the suspicion of bad faith and meanness. A Government which expects loyalty from its servants must in its turn be loyal to its public engagements to the civil service. An endeavour has been made by Comissioner Hume during his stay here to induce the members of the police force in receipt of long-service pay to surrender it, and accept a scheme of life insurance and annuity which he has propounded in lieu thereof. The men, however, to a man rejected the proposals submitted, preferring tbe 6d per day extra for five years, and the Is per day for 10 years, to any proposed benefits which the Government can bestow in the future. The submission of the scheme has brought to light the inequalities as to pay and service existing in the force, and it can scarcely be wondered at that heartburnings and dissatisfaction are rife. It will be impossible to improve the morale and discipline of the force until it lias been purged of the political element. There has been great dissatisfaction felt here over the school committee elections, through the absurd provisions of the amended act and the manner in which they have been abused. Last year one gentleman, by the aid of the cumulative vote, placed himself at the head of the poll by a majority greater than the total votes poUed for his fellows, and ejected the chairman of the city school committees after 1G years' service. This year it has been proved that within the four corners of the act any active man who keeps his own J.P. on the premises can get plumpers sufficient to place himself at the head of the poll by a majority of several hundred over the heads of the other candidates. It is scarcely to be wondered at that the disgusted and indignant householders present at the election passed a resolution condemnatory of the act under which such anomalies could be perpetrated, and that thf> school committee should, in its turn, have practically endorsed that resolution. The scandals which took place at school committee elections through the use of the cumulative vote were bad enough in all conscience, but they were nothing equal to what is possible under the amended act regulating the elections. It only shows the folly of what is known as " tiakerirjg " legislation, and which, as a rule, generally creates more evils than it cures. A general hope is expressed that remedial legislation will be initiated next session. The licensing elections for the city and suburbs are now over, and the result is pretty much what had been anticipated, that the prohibitionists were badly beaten all along the line. They entered on the prohibition contest, on the strength of the southern victories, without any previous preparation or organisation, at about a fortnight's notice, and could scarcely have expected anything else. But, as they stated, the flag of prohibition must be hoisted some time or other, and the present time will do so tar as educating the public mind is concerned. Tbe brewers and publicans on their part spared neither men nor money to win a victory, and voters were brought in from all the country districts so as to ensure success and get three years' breathing space from the worry and assaults o£ the temperance party. In this they succeeded, for the practical result of the action of the prohibitionists has been to throw the regulation and control of the public houses for three years into the hands of the brewers' nominees. The publicans being in the power of the brewers, had no option but to vote their " ticket." This is a state of affairs never contemplated by the general public, who, although not for prohibition, desired to see independent men on the licensing committees, and the drink traffic under wholesome supervision. The course of the elections brought out the unpleasant fact very clearly, through the trade rivalries of the brewers and the publicans, that their candidates were cot even "moderates" in the usual acceptance of the term, but were simply nominees of different establishments engaged in the trade, and were to be returned presumably to look after the interests of the brewers who nominated them. This was not what the public desired, and the victories, over the temperance party, elicited no enthusiasm, but, on the contrary, a cynical contempt for all concerned. The brewers and publicans instead of abusing the prohibitionists, have been doing a good deal of ink - slinging at each other, and the oatcome has been that when certain people fall out we get news. Some disappointment was felt by the prohibitionists at their defeat in Pcnsonby, as the hona fide residents, there is reason to believe, are in favour of prohibition, but are swamped by "faggot" votes. An examination of the roll showed that the prohibitionists gained since last year 40 additional votes, but it also revealed the fact that of the voters now on the roll 10 per ceafc. are directly or indirectly interested in the liquor trade. The general opinion is that the temperance party made a grievous error in raising the issue of prohibition anywhere else than in Ponsonby, but should have gone on through the agency of the temperance licensing committees cutting out the hotels which are not needed, reforming the trade, and generally educating the public mind up j to the larger measure which they desired to carry into force. It is not pretended by the new committees that they will do anything either in the way of reform or regulation, AH they propose to do is to let matters drift J and renew the licenses, but the event of j their yielding up again to the trade the con- ( cessions wrung from it during the past eight i years, there is little doubt there will be a j great reaction at the next triennial licensing : : 1 elections. Mr ;J. M. Shera.^ M.H.R., who ■ ' stood on a " moderate" ticket, at the i I solicitation of some brewers and publicans, !' is rather pleased than otherwise at his defeat, ■ I when he came to know what was anticipated Ii of him, and the role he would be expected to L ! fulfil. Instead of reforming the trade he is I ; now going to reform its victims by introi, ; dueing an Inebriates' Home Bill in the ensuing 3 session of the General Assembly. .j Mr Witheford's proposal for disposing of ) the Calliope dock to the Imperial authorities b jat half its cost has not found acceptance 3 I with the members of the Harbour Boavd,-and 3 ' the chairman read that young member a 3 severe lecture as to his position. It was

3 generally held that the project was irn--1 practicable, and would require legislation to > carry it out. At the same time there was no I | serious attempt to refute Mr Witheford's . statement that the clock had cost £150,000. : and in interest and repairs during the past ; three years £40,000; while the revenue was i under £1000. These arc the hard figures, i but the indirect gain may amount to a few ; thousands. No odg seems to have any clear , idea as to how the " white elephant" is to be made self-supporting. To all appearances the operative bootmakers' strike will drift on till it ends like the Seamen's Union strike—in a fizzle. On the one hand the manufacturers are getting along as best they can—satisfied they will win in the end; and on the other the union is distributing strike pay with monotonous regularity. The proceedings have been varied by the president of the union returning to work, through his discovering that under the new statement foremen are exempted from joining the union. He has been carried through the town in effigy, in solemn funeral procession; but the police, though present in force, did not interfereconsidering it more judicious to allow the union to let steam off. At the previous strike, when the effigy business came into play, the police authorities seized the effigies and confiscated them. There seems to be a much more hopeful tone in business affairs. The taxation proposals of the Ministry, so far as they have been disclosed, have been generally approved. The commercial class are pleased at the prospect of the abolition of the property tax, while the farming class are satisfied with the exemptions under the land tax. A general impression prevails that there will be no " fireworks " legislation, as at first foreshadowed by the wild talk at the hustings. Nothing pleased the Minister for Public Works, while in Auckland, so much as the absence of " the unemployed," or of any appeal for public works to keep that section at Government stroke during the winter. The boua fide settlement of the land by the small settler class seems to have killed the professional labour agitator. Notwithstandingtherecentmaritimestrike, the Northern iSteamship Company has been able to declare a 5 per cent dividend, and set aside a substantial amount to insurance and depreciation accounts. This is solely due to good management, aided by the revival of trade. The company has extended its operations in the Thames trade by the purchase of three steamers, and is having a special steamer built on the Clyde for the Opotiki trade and ports on the East Coast, where a vessel of light draught is required. No less than L4OO has been expended in life-saving appliances for the fleet. But for the insane strike of some months back, which the company did its best to steer clear of, the shareholders would have had fair remuneration on their capital, and seamen now on the gomfields would have still been in receipt of excellent wages.