THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1894.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9978, 21 February 1894, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1894.

The effectiveness of Monday's meeting between the executive of the Otago Central Railway League and the local members of Parliament appears to have been vitiated by an unfortunate weakness. Mr 15aurox said that " the meeting had been called so that they might be able to see what progress was being made with the Otago Central railway, and if there was any reason for interfering or urging that more progress should be made before the end of the present financial year." An excellent idea, but unfortunately the assembled gentlemen, actuated by the best of motives, were not in a position to carry it out. "That they might be able to see what progress was being made, and if there was any reason for interference," —that is just -what the speakers at the meeting failed to discover. Rumours, inferences, suspicions —of these there was an abundance, but of hard fact there was very little. Truth to tell, a tactical blunder was made. The meeting should have been postponed until after the receipt of the desired information. " Information,'"' said the chairman, " was available to members of Parliament which the league could not obtain, and they therefore asked members to make inquiries as to the progress of the work. They did not want to find fault if there was no reason for fault-finding." Quite so; and this uncertainty as to the actual state of matters gave the meeting to some extent a tone of unreality and vagueness. Surely it would have been much better for the league to privately approach the local members with the view of obtaining the requisite information, and then, if the prevalent suspicion were confirmed by the result, to call a meeting as a demonstration against the Ministerial »remissness. As matters stood, on the other hand, the meeting, asademonstration,wasnecessarily something of a failure. Representations, it seems, have been made to the league that Government is not pushing the line;' a number of men have been discharged from the works (though a plausible explanation is given for this action); and reports from the district are unsatisfactory. On the other hand, Mr Putkektox, who hardly appeared to his best advantage at the meeting, stated that "as far as he was able to judge, the works had not been kept back in any way by the Government." In short, at present one can only speak or write in the dark; for, as Mr Eaiun'SHAVt said at the meeting, "if the Government had this year spent £45,000 on this work, there was nothing to complain of." There ought to be no difficulty in obtaining the necessary information from Wellington, and discovering whether there is really need for a united protest and remonstrance on the part of the people of Otago.

To the words which we have just quoted Mr Eaexshaw added the expression of his suspicion that "it would be found that the same applied to this vote that applied to everything else that concerned Otago." We do not wish to base criticism upon mere suspicion, but it must be confessed that there is only too much justification for Mr EakcsiiaVs attitude. The history of the Otago Central is simply scandalous. There is no party question involved: we do not know that one Ministry has been much worse than another; but certainly Mr Seddon's record in the matter does not inspire blind confidence in his present and future actions. Mr Eabnshaw himself told the tale of the befoolment of Otago, if we may so term it, in our columns yesterday, lie gives chapter and verse for his statements, and we have checked his references without discovering an error. Promises, .£111,000; performance, .£80,398 18s 9d ; difference, £30,601 Is 3d;—that is the eloquent summary of the whole matter for the last three years; and it is to be remembered that these figures presuppose the entire expenditure before March 'SI of the .£45,000 allotted last year: "if we get it (?)," as Mr Eabnsiiaw significantly remarks. Then, again, there is that periodical undertaking—or, rather, expression of hope—of Mr Seddon's about the opening of the line for traffic to Hyde. In last year's Public Works Statement the Minister said, " The Government hope to be able to open the line for traffic to Hyde in the early part of the Neiu Year." What limitation does Mr Seddon attach to the "early part of the New Year"? The New Year may signify any time: the poet, for instance, makes the first of May the merriest day of all the glad New Year; but we venture to suggest that, according to the ordinary acceptation of terms, " the early part of the New Year " has already gone. Yet we have observed no announcement of that belated ceremony, though we doubt not that Mr Pyke is quite ready to preside over the function. With these facts in view, can Ministers wonder that, in the absence of satisfactory evidence, there is some measure of suspicion regarding the due appropriation of that ,£45,000 ? "We were too subservient to a Liberal Government," says Mr Eaknsiiaw, with a pathetic candour which must have shocked his colleagues; and who are we that we should question the justice of his confession V We repeat, however, that we are far from wishing to make party capital out of this question, which is an Otago, not a party question; and this elimination of controversial feeling is the more advisable -when it is remembered that what is chiefly necessary is absolute and even enthusiastic unanimity on the part of all the Otago members of Parliament. Governments may come and

Governments may go, byt the Otago Central must go on : not,. however, -. go on for ever, as in the past seemed too likely. Mr Pixkeetox declares that the Minister for Lands is very anxious to further the interests -of the lino, and we are quite filling: to believe it; but might not Mr M'Kexzib display that anxiety a little more openly and a little more practically? We will not say, "Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love, but why did you kick me I downstairs ? " but we would certainly emphasise the remark made by Mr C. S. Reeves': " This work was neglected, while the Government purchased land in other portions of the colony and drew population from Otago." It may be, of course, that Mr Eabxsiiaw's suspicions • —natural suspicions, we repeat—are unfounded, and that the £45,000 will be spent before March 31. We shall be very glad to hear that such is the case; but, be the facts as they may, xMr Seddon Avill only have his past remissness to blame for the sagacious doubts of the- friends of the Otago Central railway.

The applications for the 29 small farms, into which the Government havo divided the Pomahaka Downs estate, recently purchased from Mr John Douglas, closed yesterday afternoon at the Crown Lands Office, at Dunedin, and also at Clinton. The total area available for selection ou lease in perpetuity was 7266 acres of agricultural land, in sectioDS ranging in size from 88 to 303 acres. The number of applications received at the Danedin office was 43, made by 42 persons, and the number of sections applied for by them was nine, comprising a total area of 2167 acres, and representing an annual return to the Crown of £384 15s lOd. There were one application each for sections 2 and 59, nine applications for section 51, and seven for section 58 in block X, five applications for section 50 in block XI, four for section 20 in block XIII, and seven for section 6, one for section 7, and eight for section Bin block XIV. An officer of the department was present at Clinton yesterday to assist applicants in filling in forms and to afford information to those desirous of obtaining it, but a telegram received from him in the afternoon stated that only five applications had been received there, -The message did not, however, state which the sections were, or what the area was for which applications had been made. A meeting of the executive of the Social Reform Association was held last eveniDg, and was well attended. Many important questions were brought under consideration, and prompt and decisive action was taken in connection with the objects of the society. The membership of the association is being actively worked up by the committee, who will gladly enrol as members those interested in the objects of the association. A bootmaker named James Qaiuo, who carries on business in Leith street, was arrested by the detectives yesterday afternoon on a charge of obtaining goods and money from Messrs Herbert, Haynes, and Co. by meanß of a valueless cheque. It is alleged that the accused presented a cheque for £5 in piyment of goods to the value of 275, and that on presentation of the cheque at the bank on which j it was drawn it was ascertained that the man had no account. In order to prevent any we are requested to state that although the disease of *' lumpy jaw" or actinomycosis in cattle is, as mentioned by us yesterday, not infectious in the strictly scientific sense of the term, it is highly contagious. It is understood that the intention to appeal against the decision of Mr Carew, U.M., in the ease of trespassing on the Forbury racecourse has been abandoned. The Gore police eeized a quantity of beer and spirits on the premises of John Johnston, of Otaria (late the Otaria Hotel), and a charge of sly grog-Belling is to be preferred. A meeting of the Diocesan Board of Missions was held on Monday in St. Matthew's Vestry, the bishop in the chair. The Secretary reported that since October 1 £33 9s lid had been subscribed for the Melanesian. mission and £6 7s 3d for the Maori mission. The Bishop gave an interesting account of the discussions at the Hobart Church Congress on the subject of the missions of the Australasian Church. Various schemes were proposed by which the Melanesian should be united to other mission fields under one bishop. The Primate of Australia, was about to issue an appeal to raise funds to pay off debts to a considerable amount necessarily incurred by that mission. A letter was read from the English consul at Samoa stating that under present circumstances a resident clergyman could not bo maintained in that island. The board asked tho bishop to ascertain if arrangements could be made for the occasional visits of a clergyman to Samoa and other islands. The board discussed tho question of making grants for services at various Maori centres, but before deciding on tho amounts to be voted requested the bishop to make inquiries as to tho work which would be likely to be done in each place. Sißter May, from the Kilburn Orphanage, has consented to give one of her interesting addresses this afternoon in the Choral Hall. The meeting is intended more especially for the young, though all ara invited, in order that they may hear something of what their young fellow creatures suffer in less favoured lands. The Very Rev. Father Hilary, of tho Passionist Order, who has been conducting missions in Dunedin, left for the north yesterday afternoon. At St. Joseph's Cathedral last Sunday evening he closed the retreat for men. In doing bo he referred to ths large attendances at the services held at 6 a.m. during the week, and said rarely had he seen such evidence of faith as he had witnessed in Dunodin both among the men and women. He referred in complimentary terms to the pastors of the churches making -special reference to their bishop, who was passing away from them. Another of the old identities of Otago has been removed by the death of Mr William Christie, of Keithmore, Warep*, which took place yesterday forenoon at his son-in-law's residence at Roslyn. Mr Christie arrived in the colony in tho Nourmahal in 1858, and for some time made Danedin his home. After a successful visit to Gabriel's Gully with the first rußh of goldseekers to that now famed locality, he started business in Dunedin, but soon after sold out and took up land in the Clutha district, where he had lived permanently since 1869. He subsequently added to his original land purchase in the Warepa district, and at the time of his decease was farming something like 850 acres of land. Mr Christie was a keen politician, and had been for years a member of tho Clutha County Council and of most of the other local boards in the district. He also took a prominent interest in co-operative associations and farmers' nnions. Ho was of a cheery, genial nature, and his efforts on behalf of local I institutions were greatly appreciated. He leaves a widow and a family of six (all grown up) to mourn their loss. Mr Christie was born in Aberdeen, and was in his fifty-ninth year at the time of his decease. There is at present on view in the window of Messrs Howden and Moncrieff, in Princes street, an exhibit of fruit which formed part of the fruit shown at the Vincent County Horticultural Society's show, held at Cromwell on Friday last. The exhibit consists of a splendid j collection of apples, peaches of the clingstone and freestone varieties, nectarines, pears, green i and yellow gages, and piums of different kinds. Six of the apples on view weigh on the average 1-11 b each, and all the other kinds of fruit aro also of such a size and quality as is rarely to be seen in Dunedin. No better evidence could be given of the fruit-growing capabilities of the j county than such an exhibit, and not the least of the benefits to be looked forward to by the completion of the Otago Central railway is a regular and ample supply of such fruit to the city. The Waipori, Tuapeka Mouth, and Evaus Flat School Committees have voted for Messrs Cohen, Fraser, and MacGregor for the Education Board vacancies ; the Tuapeka West aud Papakaio Committees for Messrs Borrio, Cohen, and Fraer; the Eweburn Committee for Blessrß MacGregor, Fraser, and Cohen; the Greeu Valley Committee for Messrs Borrie, Cohen, and MacGregor; and the Pine Hill for Messrs Praer, Fraser f and MacGregor.

The electoral rolls for the forthcoming licensing elections are to be put into the hands of the printers at once.

"Harbour Lights" was produced for the third time at the Princess Theatre last night by the Howe-Spong Dramatic Company, and, as on previous occasions, the piece went off very successfully. Miss Hilda Spong and Mr Walter Howe received, as was their due, the greater share of the applause; but the efforts of the other members of the company were also much appreciated. The audience were not only delighted with the piece, but also signified their admiration of the scenery by loud applause two or three times during the evening.

Another performance was given at the Circus last evening, when there was a moderately good attendance. The programme was gone through in a satisfactory manner, and the various clever tricks and feats of strength met with due recognition. Altogether the troupe is really an excellent one, and well worthy of the patronage of those who wish to spend a pleasant eveniDg. To-night the programme will be entirely changed, and the performance will include an equestrian drama entitled "Dick Turpin's Ride to York."

The concert to be given at ,the Garrison Hall this evening, by Madame Bahnson, who will be assisted by local artistes, is likely to b8 largely attended. We are requested to draw attention to the fact that at the request of a number of patrons the concert will commence at 7.45 p.m.

Mr John Grindley (for the Fanners' Agency Company) will sell stock at Clinton on the Ist of March; and at Middlemarch, on the 29th of March, the Barewopd flock of sheep. ,■, ■'■ The remaining sections of the Teaneraki small farm settlement are now open for application. The steamer lona will run an excursion trip to the Maori Kaik to-day, calling at Broad Bay and Portobello. Dr J. G Findlay will lecture at Palmerston on Friday evening in aid of the Agricultural and Pastoral Society, giviDg his experiences during his trip round the world.

Messrs James Samson and Co. will sell to-day, on the premises, Kilmog Hotel, furniture, stock, <£c.

Messrs Wright, Stephensonv and Co. will sell hacks and harness horses on Friday. A meeting of horseownersfand delegates from racing clubs will be held on Thursday evening to consider the railway tariff on racehorses. Messrs William JS. Reynolds and Co. will hold their fourth wool sale to-morrow" in the Rattray street Oddfellows' Hall.

Messrs Brown, Ewing, and Co.'s wholesale and retail promises will be closed at 12 o'clock to-day (Wednesday), Cup Day.—[Anvi.] Messrs Lorie and Co. ask us to mention that they have bought to-day (Monday, February 19) a local manufacturer's complete stock of ladies' and gentlemen's waterproofs at 11s in the pound on wholesale price. AH are of the newest Bhape. The ladies' cloaks usually sold at 255, in black and colours; aro now 10s 6d ; those 35s are now 21s ; those 45s aro now 25s ; and a dozen very stylish light checks, which were Efts, are now 30a. The gentlemen's waterproofs are similarly reduced, and range from 21s upwards, it is easy to understand why Messrs Lorie and Co.'s premises are crowded with customers when tho drapers aro doing nothing.—f Anvr.] Howden and Walton will sell by auction on Friday, March 2, at 2.30 p.m., for the executors of the late A. C. Strode, a valuable freehold section iv George street, Dunedin, held under lease, returning £233 5s per annum ; also a valuable freehold section in Cumberland street, Dunedin, nearly opposite M'Leod's soatt factory, on behalf of the same vendors.—[Advt.] Consult Peter Dick, the most reliable Watchmaker, Moray placa, Dunedin (opposite Coffee Palace). Watches cleaned, ss; mainsprings, 4s 6d.-[ADVT.] G. and T. Young, 8S Princes street, are now selling Taylor's first quality Bowline Green Bowls at 19a; extra quality, 22s 6d a pair. G. and T. Young have an efficient staff of watchmakers and jewellers. Repairs a specialty; moderate prices. Advt.] Messrs A. and J. M'Farlaxe beg to call attention to their advertisement over the leader. Any orders entrusted to them will receive the beat attention.—£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.] " In chest affections your sodawatcr, when combined with milk, contains more nutriment than beef tea." — Dunedin Practitioner to Messrs Thomson and Co.—[Advt.]