THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY IS, 1802.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9324, 15 January 1892, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY IS, 1802.

The prevailing epidemic has claimed an illustrious victim in the person of 11.R.H. Albert Victor, First Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Atlilone, tho eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the next heir in direct1 line to the Imperial Throne The occasion is doubly saddening from the circumstance that the young Prince was upon the eve of his marriage with Princess Mary of Teck, whose virtues, albeit not of the glittering order likely to fascinate the public eyo, have been (he theme tf sincere admiration. Of the youn^ Prince, whose premature death thus rudely disturbs the roytd succession, nothing but good has ever been Baiil. He became personally known to many colonists when on his voyage lound tho world with his younger brother, George, in 11.M.5. Bacchante in 1879-80, previous to his university curse, and the nation felt a sense of gratification in (he circurastauce that tho line of succession was secured to the third generation, and that the sceptre would _ fall into hands likely to wield it**\vuh becoming credit.' In the colonies especially, where the Duke of Clarence and Avondale had become personally known, the ! iews of his death will awaken into active existence the senso of personal loyalty to the Throne which the virtue?, beauty, and amiability of his mother have already done much to foster. It will now be I remembered with how much enthu-1 siasm the " Eo?e of Denmark " was § welcomed in 1863, and the love and | admiration with which tho consort 1 of the Prince of Wales has since been regarded will now be merged into sympathy with the mother iu ; this her first profound afflic- i tiou. The circumstances of the j career of tho young prince now no more are few but entirely creditable to himself. Born in 1864, lie was educated at Cambridge and at the University of Heidelberg, but previous to his undergraduate course he had passed two years as a naval cadet on board ihe Britannia, and had made the tour of the world with his younger brother Ge:rge in the Bacchante. He was then placed | at Aldershot to acquire the ! military knowledge indispensable I to the future ruler of tbe Empire, I andwasinvestedwiththeOrderofthe Garter in 1883. In company with his brother he visited Ireland in 1887, and was created honora>y LL.D. of Cambridge in 1888. In 1890 he visited India, and took his seat in the House of Lords in June of the same year. He met with a. serious illness towards the tnd of the same year, but recovered and resumed the public duties to which of recent years his exalted position called him. He inherited in marked \ degree the amiable qualities which I hare made his mother idolised | among every section of the English I speaking racti,. and. was of that. 1 temperament which an illustrious f, position could not tpril, nor was he | of a disposition, which could over =S •liecome .arrogant- The is a'ion i'cli u 5 I gfjlißO of kP'-'MJJ'y '"• '^) iiopi: 5J

that the succession to the Throne wks so, likely to fall into; such bauds, and we .believe the colonies will unite in expressions oi sympathy with his. parents in the grievous affliction which has befallen them, and will do their utmost to assuage by expressions of that sympathy the grief of his mother particularly, whoso very name is endeared to them by her manifold virtues. The Prince was only 28 yeara of age on January 8, and a life full of promise has been rudely terminated with a suddenness and under circumstances calculate! to arouse the warmest expressions of regret, Beroavem nt falls to the palace as to tho cot, and the English - speaking nation will this morning, we aro sure, sympathise with the mother who mourns her first-born. It is idle, as premature, to speak of the influence which the death of the Prince will have upon the succession. For the present moment every feeling must succumb (o one of deep and genuine sympathy.

Much interest has been aroused, both at Homo and abroad, by a proposal made by Mr J. Astley Cooper in the July number of " Greater Britaia"—a periodical, by the way, which is rapidly coming to the front among Anglocolonial publications—to bold in England periodical industrial, educational, and athletic festivals or' the Englishspeaking race. Fornc difficulty has been found, and it has not yet been surmounted, in finding a suitable name whereby the project is to be known. Contrary to the generally accepted dictum, there is something in a name, for a proposal of the kiod meets with an initial difficulty in being taken seriously when it is put forward avowedly in the interests of Imperial Federation. It might be supposed that responsible and serious statesmen gravely casting about for a means of strengthening the crimson thread of kinship which runs through the English speaking races would be only amused if it were alleged that a necessary step in the desired direction was the inaugura tion of a series of athletic contests. The Anti-Jacobin says, " The difficulties in the way of the reaMsition of Mr Astley Cooper's patriotic and most praiseworthy scheme are such as arise from the very magnitude of his ideas, and from a defective nomenclature.

. . .' ' Pan-Britannic' is awkward, and would certainly be objected to by Americans, if not by Irishmen. PanAnglican savours of ecelesiastieisai, and tnighb be equally offensive with ' PanEnglish'to Scotchmen and their descendants. Pan-Anglo-Saxon would be offensive to Mr Freeman and a little too comprehensive." Mr'Aslley Cooper has therefore abandoned the attempt to devise a name sufficiently comprehensive and explanatory, and has finally decided upon the "English Festival" as the name by which his scheme shall be known. The projector desires as a means of increasing the goodwill and the good understanding of the Empire to have a periodical g.itheritj?, say every four years, of representatives of the race ia a festival a-d contest of industry, athletics, aud culture., The first would be represented by a small, business-like exhibition, in connection with which might be held scientific, commercial, and industrial conferences, of which the resaUs should he summarised and distributed to all parts of the Empire. Culture would be represented by the foundation of, say, 16 national scholarships of the value of L2OO. each, open to competition by all enfranchised ~ subjects and their families and examinations would be held simultaneously in different parts of the Empire. The scholarships would be awarded and presented publicly at the quadrennial festival. Tbe necessary endowment is to be furnished proportionally by the various parts of the Empire. The Americans of the United States would, according to Mr Astley Cooper, necessarily be e eluded from the two sections already referred to. Why it should be so ob vious to the promoter that the people of tbe States should be excluded we cannot understand. They are not aliens ; they call their tongue English; and surely the swelling ' tide""of brotherly love is nob to be kept back by such a prosaic tiling as commercial competition. In the athletic section Mr Astley Cooper proposes tbat thereshould be contests in running, rowing, and cricket, in which the competitor.would be representatives of: the countries from which they are to be selected by sifting compcti:ions, and these contests would.be opcm to al! English-speaking people. Here, again, we cannot see the object of the limitation to the three sports mentioned. Football has become as uiuch a national game as cricket, and wrestling was a notable feature of tinIsthmian games, of which the festivals are intended to be the modern equivalent. A further resemblance to the Grecian rational game3 and of the spirit in which they were conducted is proposed, and it is without doubt one of the most commendable features in the scheme. It is that no money prizes shall be given, and that the trophies shall bo of the simples! description. It ia conjectured tha' the fame and honour attached to (he winning of the national symbolic prize, aud its presentation in the face of the whole world, would convey suffi cient reward, and that it would carrj with it adequate possibilitirs of fortune and a successful career. Included in the proposal is also a schema for repre senting the military and naval re sources of the Empire, by means of selected bodies of men with munitions, and these are relied upon to give the needful colour to the pageant accompanying (he festival.

There is something undoubtably attractive in Mr Astley Cooper's pro posal, even though there should not be anticipated any such extended results as are claimed to be consequential. Yet it must not be denied that results not always apparent, but none the less real, have followed such contests before. Kindlier feelings wore aroused bo-ween the mother country and her colonies by the first visit of an All England Eleven. When an international status has lielouged tu a boat race or to a football match ifc has invariably resulted in drawing the fraternal bonds more tightly. Each novelty in this direction has reawakened (lie recognition of the rel.itioria which the colonies occupy towards Britain, and if the late. Mr .White had only f-uocceded in winning a Drfrby. the: event would have beeu regarded by most people as of more importune.l, than \\w winning of a great l>fitlh\ If, Uso.refw, a scheme could be.devised, i\i very easy,

to make such contests periodical, each of them would create fresh interest and renewed kindliness of feeling, and this would tend to soften the asperities that often ariic in keen trade, and might make more easy, while it certainly would not make more difficult, the task of statesman in forging closer politic*] ties. '.' ■ "

I he correspondence which we publish to-day, antl the short report of the proceedings of the Southland Waßte Land Uoird which appeared in our Wednesday's issu°, amply justify the terras in which wo characterised the action of the Minister for Lands on December 15 witli regard to the case of Mr JLaldane, of Waikawo, from whom was demanded, under pain of threatened forfeiture of his run, a fine of 1,31 for nou-payruent at "its due date of rent amounting to LI 5. Moreover, it now seems very probaMe that had Mr Haldane's agents not protested he would have been rnado the victim of an act which cannot be characterised otherwise than as an attempted extortion. The penalty which was sought to be imposed was absolutely the greatest which the law allow?. If Mr Haldane had owed hundreds of pounds instead of fifteen, and had given the department endless trouble, they could not have exacted a greater penalty than they have attempted to exact But instead of Mr Haldane being a troublesome or undesirable tenant, he is quite the reverse.' He has held the run—a small area of 3000 acres of wooded and scrubby country—for a number of years, as his father did before him, has never previously been in arrears with his rent, and if he had been dispossessed of it by the caprice of the Minister no gain to settlement would have resulted. Attempts have, beeu made in various quarters to exculpate the Minister for Landa from any share in this discreditable attempt to ■ harass and dishearten an industrious settler. But the proof of Mr iVL'Kenzie's participation in the transaction is tco clear. We refer onr readers to the letter of Mr Barron, of the Lands department, Wellington, in which he says that the Minister for Lands directs that the fine imposed upon Mr Haldano shall be insisted upon. This letter bears dato the 30th November, and yet in a letter subsequently written — dated the 4th January, some time afier we had exposed tho transaction — and which nppeared in our report of the proceedings of the Southland Land ..Board, there is the following contradictory statement: —" The amount of the fine has not, so far as I know, been, under the review of tho Minister." We prefer to ac cpt as correct Mr Barren's original statement, no doubt despatched immediately after conference with the Hon. Mr M'Kenzie, and must express our utmost astonishment at such an iUiempt being made to got the Ministor for Lunds relieved from the consequences of an act which he has every reason to be ashamed of. A pretence is beiug tnado that the Lauds department has not been furnished with a statement of the grounds on which Mr Haldane .claims that the outrageous fine imposed upon him should be remitte.l, but this attempt of the officials of the department to exculpa'e their Ministerial head will not bear investigation, for we have ascertained that a statement of the feels was forwarded to the Minister by Mr Ualdane's agents some days before Mr Barren's letter was written. li. only remauis to be pointed out that no discretion was allowed the Southland Land Board in its consideration of the casp. If was imperatively ordered to inflict the full amount of'the finp, or forfeit Mr llaklane's lease. The action of the Minister is all the more incomprehensible ia view of Mr M'.Nab's statement that tho custom iiad been to remit penalties imposed under similar circumstances in the past. The agents of Mr Haldane very rightly described the penalty as a "savage" or;e in a further letter written by them to the Minister for Lands, and its imposition as "absurd."

It is expected that the result of the Wellington election will be declared about 9 o'clock to-morrow evening, and it will be known here probably by half-past 9.

At the meeting of the Harbour Board yesterday it was mentioned by the chairman of the Finance Committee that the position of the board at the close of the year was very satisfactory, the general revenue for the 12 months having shown an increase of L3500 over that of- the previous year.

The election of two.trustees of the Dunedin Hospital by the voluntary contributors to that institution took place yesterday afternoon, and the large attendance of subscribers—there were nearly 100 gentlemen present—indicated that a considerable amount of interest attached to the result. One of the retiring trustees (Dr Batchelor) did not offer himself for re-election, but the other (Mr William Wright) was nominated, and the names of three other gentlemen were submitted to the meeting, these being Messrs James N. Brown, A. Solomon, and A. Lee Smith. There had been a good deal of canvassing for votes, and the result of the ballot was to show that each of the candidates had considerable support. Mr Brown headed the poll, and for the second place Mr Wright secured a slender majority over Mr Solomon, while Mr Lee Smith was well up.

Messrs C. Haynes and W. Isaac were yesterday re-elected the representatives of the subscribers upon the Benevolent Institution Trust. Mr Colin Allan was also nominated.

A general election of members of the Harbour Board will take place shortly. It has been arranged by the returning officers for the various districts that the nominations of persons desirous of election to the board shall take place on the Ist prox., and the polling-(if required) a week later.

Mr Thomas Fergus, M.H.R., has formally retired from the candidacy for a scat on the Education Board.

The openiug services of the Church of the Sacred Heart, in the North-East Valley, will t ike place on February 7, and not, as erroneously stated in yesterday.'s issue, on Sunday next.

A very enthusiastic meeting in connection with the New Zealand Alliance was held in the Presbyterian Church, Kaikorai, last evening. The Rev. K. R. M. Sutherland presided. A strong choir was in attendance. Sir William Fox (Alliancepresident), Mr AV.T. Glover (Grand Lodge lecturer), and Rev. B. Walker (Alliance lecturer) addressed the meeting. Mr Glover congratulated the district upon having gained prohibition, and exhorted the people to see that they maintained it on future voting occasions, and not lose it as Ravensbournc had done by indifference to duty at the polling booth. Sir William Vox spoke of the enormous wreckage wrought by drink, giving striking specimen instances, and reminded his audience that all who fail to vote against the liquor traffic are responsible for its dreadful consequences. Mr Walker spoke of the marvellous progress recently made by the prohibition movement, and the prospect that those who do not recognise the fact are not likely to be successful candidates for parliamentary honours at the next general election. A hearty vote of thanks to the speakers and the doxology concluded the meeting.

The Very Rev. E. Vaughan, the Superior of the Rcdeuiptorist Fathers, who are now giving a scries of missions in the diocese of Dunedin, will be a passenger by the Mararoa. f,o this colony from Sydney, find may be expected here early in February.

The secretary of the Miller's Flat Gold Dredging Company (Limited) reports 6oz 12dwt of gold for 79 hours' dredging.

Mr L. A. Cuft', the hou. secretary of tho New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association (headquarters, Christchiu-ch), is at present in Dunedin as captain of the Canterbury team of cricketers, and while here he is making good use of his time on behalf of athletics. This evening ho, along with other gentlemen from Christchurch representing the N.Z.A.A.A.,

interviews the committee of the Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club with reference to the sending of a team of New Zealand amateur athletes Home this year to compete in tho English championships.

Reporting on a specimen of the grub which is causing damage to the crops of wheat in the Wairarapa district, and which has been forwarded to him for analysis, Sir James Hector says:—" The grub you now send with the wheat is larva, a condition of the Hessian fly

(Cicidomyia destructor). It is the same pest which appeared near Marton in 1888, and was successfully suppressed. It is much to be regretted that it has reappeared, as it is a frightful pest. I havo referred the matter to the Minister of Agriculture."

The second jjroduction of " The Lady of Lyons " was given at the Princess Theatre last night, there being a very good attendance upon the occasion. The play was performed, as on the previous night, in such a manner as to meet with the warmest approval of the audience. Mr Bentley acted with considerable discrimination in the character of Claude Melnotte, and he was ably supported by Miss Hansen as Pauline. The other members of the company also lent material assistance in the production of the piece, which will be repeated for the last time to-night, when the. members of the Otago and Canterbury interprovincial cricket teams will be present at the invitation of the management.

We ai-G requested to draw attention to Thos. Paterson and Oo.'s fruit and produce report, which will be found on rage 1. Madam Nordska has commenced practising palmistry in the Octagon, Dunedin. Madame claims that palmistry excels phrenology, as it does not merely point out the lack of certain qualities and the tendency to crime, but reveals time and place of past or future events.

Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co. sell draught, springcart, and light harness horses on Saturday, at their yards.

The Port Chalmers valuation lists are now open to inspection. A meeting of the Governor's Banquet Committee will be held at the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon at 4 o'clock.

Messrs Stronach Bros, and Morris sell horses and a bull at the Peninsula show to-morrow.

Mr Henry Larner sells furniture, &c, to-day at his rooms.

Messrs J. Campbell and Co. sell furniture, &c, to-day at their rooms.

Members of the Gaelic Society are requested to attend the funeral of the late Mr W. Sutherlnnd this afternoon.

We understand that Frank A. Coxhead, assisted by Mr John Beauchamp, is now taking enamelled cabinet portraits at the small price of 10s Gd per dozen, for one month only. A free invite to all to inspect his magnificent premises in Princes street, opposite Colonial Bank. Take the elevator.—[Advt.] John Hislop, Watchmaker and Jeweller, 74 Princes street. The oldest established house in town. Repairs of all kinds. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles to suit all sights.— Advt

Christmas and New Year presents. Latest novelties in gold brooches set with turquoise and pearls, splendid assortment of gold brooches, bangles, rings, pins, studs, alberts, &c, leather purses, fitted bags, and dressing cases at G. and T. Young's, 88 Princes street.—[Advt.] Established over a quarter of a century. Of other soda waters that have come under our notice and take a very high place in Australasia, we would be remiss if we did not mention that of Messrs Thomson and Co. Dunedin. —Brewers Journal, 1890.^-[Advt.] Eden George and Co. (Limited), the leading photographers of Dunodin, who produce by far the best work in New Zealand, take one dozen beautifully enamelled cabinuts in any position or style, for 15s. One:price ]jst adopted, and no extra charges are made to visitors from the country,— [Advt.]