THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1896.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10617, 12 March 1896, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1896.

Ie the Otago branch of the National Association of New Zealand is to do really effective ■work, the movement must be made a popular one. This sufficiently obvious truth should be clearly recognised by the council elected on Tuesday night. Without ■wishing to dictate to the council, we feel it necessary to indicate a danger to which a movement of this kind is specially liable. To use the phf ase of the man in the street, there is a danger lest the association should resolve itself into " a black-coat affair." Now, in order to be a real success —in order to accomplish a genuine work of political education and guidance—the membership must be numbered by thousands, and not merely by hundreds; and this end will not be achieved unless an earnest endeavour is made to reach all sections of the community. The very idea of exclusiveness must be scouted from the start. To speak plainly, the artisan , and the working man with national views must be cordially invited and eagerly welcomed. They .must be made to feel at home, —made to see that the terms of their membership will not bind them to association with any particular political party—in short', that a full measure of freedom will remain to them. It _ must be clearly understood that Nationalism is not Conservatism in the party sense of the word; it is not necessarily even the policy of the present Opposition qua Opposition. ,We frankly admit that the position is not without difficulty. Nationalism seeks to do away with class policies and indifferent representation; it desires to further a policy which shall consult the interests of the community as a whole, and to send first-rate, instead of second-rate and third-rate, men to Parliament; and hence it is inevitable just now that it should find itself, at all events to a'very considerable extent, at cross purposes with the Government and party in power at the "present time. But it is imperative that Nationalism should sit loosely to political parties. It is conceivable that a day might come when the National Association would be called upon by its principles to use its influence against a Government composed of members of the present Opposition. In fact, " the National party " must not be regarded as a synonym for " the Opposition." At the same time, we. think, it would i>e. idle to dissmse the antagonism

which necessarily exists between 'the principles of Seddonism and the principles of .Nationalism. " Faithful" supporters of the present Ministry are not likely to join the National Association, but a welcome should be ready J for everyone who is willing to endorse i the general principles of the association, unless there is obvious reason to question the sincerity of the profession. i It is difficult adequately to characterise i the conduct of persons who seek to thrust themselves into the gatherings of an association with which they are utterly out of sympathy, but the want of sympathy should not be too readily taken for granted, and difficult situations should be managed with tact and good temper. The Hon. T. Fbesus hardly displayed these qualities on Tuesday night. The provocation of the circumstances may have been considerable, but he was not in the chair and he should not have tried to suppress the explanation which one of the intruding party desired to make.. Moreover, there was little wisdom, in his hot. assertion — " they come here as a parcel *of spies, and are unworthy of such company as this." The words which we have italicised could not have been leas 'happily chosen. They are ominously suggestive of that exclusiveness which, as we have said, must be avoided at all costs. We are not for a moment implying that Mr Colclough and his friends had any right on their side, but we do say that it is eminently desirable that the' promoters of the Otago branch of the National Association should display (especially in these initial stages) tacb, good temper, a popular manner, so to speak, and a thorough desire to secure the public confidence. The taunt about a " secret society is, of course, absurd in itself,' but the council and members of the association may nevertheless manage to extract a valuable warning from it.

Our criticism and counsel -will not be misunderstood by the . true friends of Nationalism. We should hardly trouble about the matter were it not for our earnest desire that the National Association should do a good wort between the present time and the general election. Thab such a work may be done we have not the slightest doubt. Thousands o£ electors are ready to embrace the National principles, including large numbers of men and women who have found out the hollowness of that new Liberalism to which they once gave a pathetically hopeful allegiance. They recognise that the class policy has grievously failed. To repeat the words which we used when the first steps were taken to form a branch of the National Association in Otago : " The labour organisations, -we believe, feel that the result of the last two years' legislation lias been of no aid to them. Work is scarcer than ever, and wages are lower; the unemployed have had to depend on the assistance of private charity and o£ Charitable Aid Boards; there have been no new enterprises; .capital has, been shy of investing, and progress has been crab-like. Not only has the community as a whole not benefited by the present House, but the workers, whose interests it was thought would at all events be helped, have suffered. This should not have been unexpected. The world, after all, cannot get on without brains. Land, labour, capital, and brains are all required-to make a prosperous State." Since those words were written the electors of Christchurch—the only constituency which has had an opportunity of speaking— have given their voice against the class policy and returned a candidate of National views; and though, perhaps, the Labour organisations are not likely to give formal and logical expression to their dissatisfaction by joining the new movement, we have no doubt that large numbers of individual workmen are ready to do so. At all events large numbers are utterly dissatisfied with the present condition of affairs, and it should not be difficult for the National Association to show them in what direction their true interests lie. But they must not be treated as outsiders: their active co-operation must be sought; a share of the work and the responsibility must be given to them. We close, then, as we began, by urging the necessity of making this patriotic movement a popular one. Properly guided, we believe that the movement may result in a splendidly effective manifestation of patriotic enthusiasm.

A Gazette extraordinary, issued* yesterday afternoon, further prorogues the meeting of Parliament till April 16.

The question of corporation finances, and also that of erecting public abattoirs, came before the City Council at its meeting last evening, but in respect to neither of them was any definite action taken. The Finance Committee asked for farther time, and recommended that a special meeting should be held on the 18th inst. to consider their recommendations. This was agreed to. As to the abattoirs, a resolution was moved by Cr Chisholm, recommending that n. bill should be prepared and presented to Parliament to amend the present act, so as to render the consent of the Taieri County Counoil to the erection of the abattoirs unnecessary. An amendment upon this was moved, to the effect that the matter be remitted to the General Committee for consideration and report. After a brief discussion the motion was withdrawn in favour of the amendment, which was unanimously adopted.

Judgment was given in the accident insurance case, Tapper v. the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, yesterday morning. The plaintiff sought to recover £96, and obtained judgment for £18, with costs £3 9s. It transpired during the hearing of the case that the company had offered to pay £24- compenssSion.

The Minister for Railways has made alterations in the railway ratas for the benefit of email country settlers. Oue of the principal of these enables them to get a truckload of goods or mixed articles, such as grass seed, potatoes, lime, manure, &c, by one truck. Instead of being charged separately for each line, they may get them weighed together and charged as one lot at the minimum rate for the whole. Under the present regulations, for instance, a settler receiving a ton of firewood and two tons of coal is charged for 50 milaa £2 3a Bd. Under the revised tariff (says the correspondent of the Lyttelton Times) he will pay only £114 sod. Lime and, manure may, however, be cent under mark to one consignee for distribution to several. The minimum quantity at present carried is 30cwrt. In caoa of long season tickets, passes will be issued on payment of 10 per cent, on the value for the uuexpired period. Similar facilities will be offered for the transfer of season tickets. In future two classes of annual season tickets will be issued— viz., non-transferable (£SO) and transferable once a month (£65), with an additional charge of 10s for each transfer. . A small charge is to be made for the carriage of bicycles—3d for 12 miles, 6d for 25, lfl for 50 miles, and 3d extra for every additional 50 miles or fraction thereof.

John Walter Hanley, aged three and a-half years, eon' of Mr Malachi Hanley, of Mandeville, met hia death on Monday afternoon through choking, caused, it is presumed, through his attemptine to.swallow a copper

Mr Paulin laat evening predicted strong S.W. to N.W. winds and rain showers during 12 hours after midnight, and fine after that; barometer farther rise.

A Bluff resident, while about to enter hia house one night laat week, heariDg voices ia the next yard reported the matter to the police. When the constable entered the yard the men had disappeared, but, according to the Southland Times, they left behind them in a bug a cask containing lljgal of whisky. The police watched the place all night, but the owners of the whisky did not return.

At a meeting of the Ko3giel School Committee, oa Monday, it was resolved to make application to the Education Board to have a district high school established at Mosgiel.

Messrs Nelson Bros', report is just out (writes our London correspondent on the 31st January), and has proved a severe shock to the shareholders. The directors express regret that they are nnable to declare any dividend on the ordinary shares, as after paying a 6 per cent. dividend on the preference shares only £203 remains to be carried forward. The profit and loss account, including £759 brought forward from last yer.r, shows a balance of £1921, of which £1720 i 3 absorbed by payment oE the preference dividend. "This unfortunate result," the directors state, "was caused by tho excessive Shipments of frozen meat to the English markets, which were also over supplied with me»t from various other sources." Hence prices fell lower than on any previous occasion, and heavy looses were sustained on the company's shipments. How heavy these losses were is startlingly shown by one ghastly line in the balance sheet, viz.: "To loss on meat purchases £102,010 7§ Id." "In other reßpects," say the directors, "the year's operations were satisfactory, the season in New Zealand having been a favourable one. Buildings, plant, and machinery have been maintained in excellent condition, £10,780 having been spent out of revenue in renewals and repairs, and £5172 written off for depreciation."

Messrs R. Wilson and J. Angus, J.P.s, occupied the bench at the Police Court yesterday, when a prohibition order for 12 months was issued by consent sgainst John Conrad Bruno on the application of his wife, for whom Mr C. M. Mouat appeared.

A specimen of Profeßsor E.ontgen's new process of photography is at present being exhibited in the shop window of Mr Frank Hysms, jeweller, Princes 'stceet. The picture is that of the living hand, but the outline of the flesh is scarcely visible, while every bone and joint may be seen with remarkable clearness. The photograph io the same as that shown by Professor Bonfcgen at the Hamburg University, and is attracting a great deal of attention.

The children attending the Albany street School with their parents and friends held their Annual picnic yesterday at the Mosgiel recreation ground. The picnickers to the total number of 1600 were conveyed ta their destination by a train of 24- carriages drawn by two engines. The weather was fine in the morning, and although a shower fell in the afternoon it did not interfere with the enjoyment to any extent. The usual sports were indulged in by the children, and a married women's race created a good deal of interest. It was won by Mrs Whitelaw, with Mrs Belcher second and Mrs Burns third. The management of the Mosgiel Woollen Mills kindly allowed the children,' accompanied by their teachers, to go through the mills, and the youngsters thoroughly enjoyed tha visit. Prizes were given by Mrs Downes, Mrs M'Lean, Mrs M'Pherson,iand the committee, while Mrs Gollar gave cake. The committee desire to thank the Mosgiel Borough Council for the use of the ground and Mr Dryden aad the management of tha Woollen Mills for thair kindness. The members of the committee present were Messrs B.irnetfc, Wait, Bggers, Thompson, and M'Connoehie, and they and the teachers under Mr Ferguson and Miss Haig worked hard to ensure the success of the outing.

The Dunedin Liedertafel have generously tendered their services to Mdlle. Antoinette Trebelli, for her first concert in the Garrison Hall on Wednesday evening next, the 18bh inst. Amongst the other artists who will appaar ou that occasion is Mr Arthur Salvini, the popular tenor. This will be his first appearance in public for some time. The celebrated soprano's second concert will take plaoe in the same hall on the following Friday (the 20th).

All accounts against, the late George Thomson, of Maungatua, are to be sent to Messrs Webb and Allan, solicitors. Blr Arthur Morrison will address the Mornington electors to-night.

Messrs Park, Reynolds,,and Co. will sell furniture, &c. at Royal terrace to-morrow.

The rate books of the Borough of North-Valley are open for inspection.

The annual meeting of the Kaikorai Football Club will ba held next Tuesday evening.'

Messrs Donald Reid and-Co. will hold their next Taieri horse and stock fair on Tuesday, 17th March. Their second Central Otago stock sale will be held on Thursday, 2nd April. The North-East Valley Borough Council invite tenders for the supply of metal and spalls.

Passengers per Riiuutaka, for London, leave for Wellington by the Corinna on Monday next.

Messrs J. Samson and Co. will sell furniture, piano, itc. to-morrow.

The Electric Gold Dredging Company invite tenders for the cartage of 40,000 ft of-timber. Mr 11. Staiintoii, of 157 High street, Christchurch, suffered for 14 years from indigestion in all its forms. Oue bottle " Wahoo " made a new man of him. 2s (id, all chemists and grocers.— Advt.

John Hislop, Watchmaker and Jeweller, 74 Princes street. The oldest established house in town. Rspairs of all kinds,. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles to suit all sights.—[Anvr.]. 1 Carter and Co are now making their first autumn show. Large shipment just arrived ex Aorangi. Novelties in all departments. Prices strictly moderate. See Carter's windows.—Advt.

In MOLWSON AND Co.'s advertisement it will be noticed that their first display of this season's autumn and winter goods will bo ou Tuesday, 10th March, and following days. Lady customeis are specially iuvited.—Advt.

Messrs Kidd and Co., surgical and mechanical dentists, notify that theyhnvenommenced business opposite Cargill's Monumetit, Princes st.—[Advt. Me-r-rs A. andJ. M'Fah., :\,-k beg to call attontion to tbeir advertisement over the leader. Any orders entrusted to them will receive the best attention.—' advt.l

Xmas and New Year Presents.—Three shipments opeued this month. Stock full in all departments with latest novelties.—6. and T. V oung, direct importers, 88 Princes street.—Advt.

Who is Peter DUk!—The most reliable Watchmaker, Morayplace, Dunedin (opp. Coffee Palaco). Watches cleaned, &; mainsprings, 4s 6d.—Advt.