THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1896.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10476, 27 April 1896, Page 2

THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1896.

To say that the speech'deliyered by the Minister for Lands at Palmerston on Friday was less immoderate than usual is not to say that it was a model of amiability and reasonableness. The phrase " infernal, lying statements" (applied to the criticism of a Wellington newspaper) was quite equal to the orator's most notorious efforts in the past, and the idea of Mr M'&Bireni censuring Captain Etjssbll for discourtesy has a humour which is probably hidden from the unconscious humourist alone. Still it must be admitted that the general tone of the speech showed a measure of improvement, though hardly sufficient to justify a hope that sweetness and light may one day be characteristics of Mr M'Kettzjji's oratory. It would be futile to look forward to a day when the present Minister for Lands might deliver a speech quite free from reckless abiise and ungrounded charges. The time occupied in producing such a speech he would regard as time lost. On Friday the Press Association was the special object of his not too scrupulous invective. After lamenting the very natural fact that the press of the colony is for the most part opposed to what is called the Liberal party, Mr M'KEJjrziß went on to declare that " the . Press Agency was now made a political machine, and he took the opportunity of saying boldly that it would be the duty of Parliament to see that the Press Agency did what was right and just, and did not run the show for one side only." • A more unwarrantable attack was never made; even by the Minister for Lands. Fortunately our readers are ma position to judge the matter by their own observation,.and we shall be very much surprised to hear that anyone outside the Ministry has noted party bias" or unfairness in the telegrams of the Press Association; , The instructions given by the directors of the association to the various agents are of a most stringent kind, every possible care being taken that rib party colouring shall tinge the reports and telegrams. Of course, an 'isolated instance of departure from these instructions might possibly be cited, bat Mr M'Kenzib insinuates that the messages of the association are continually and deliberately coloured by party feeling in the interests of the present Opposition, and we declare the charge to be groundless and factious in the last degree. We cannot help suspecting that Ministers are chagrined at the fairness displayed by the associations they would like to see a little i unfairness —in their own interests. For instance, should Captain Kussbh< be enthusiastically received at;some meeting; they would wish the enthusiasm "to be ignored in the report; and if the Premier fails to engage the sympathy of an audience, why, let the reporter exercise a certain amount of friendly imagination. The author of the Libel

Limitation Bill promises to" prove" his charge in Parliament, and we shall await the issue with interest.

"When Ministers made mistakes they honestly admitted them ";—so declares Mr M'Kbkzis, and his statement is calculated to take one's breath away. At the present moment we cannot call to mind a single admission o£ error on the part of one of the present Ministers, —and yet how numerous, we had almost said countless, have been the mistakes! Equally idle is Mr M'Kenzie's assumption that " his colleagues and himself had fairly answered these charges [made by the Opposition] in various parts of the colony." Each fresh Ministerial speech leaves the charges just where they were -before. Let us take a couple of instances. First, in regard to the subserviency of the Ministerial majority, Mr M'Kbnzie observed : " The people of the colony had returned certain members to support the Government, and what the Opposition wanted was that those members should break their pledges and vote against the Government." We ask whether the people of the colony returned a majority at the last general election to support - a borrowing policy. Did not the membar for Waihemo himself, both before and after the election, express himself in the strongest terms in opposition to. the idea of borrowing ? This is only one point in the question of subserviency, bat it will probably be sufficient for the Minister for Lands; Secondly, we are told in regard to the "surplus ": " Oi' course they would be told it was a bogus surplus, but if the surpluses were not genuine, how was it that the money was expended on public works ? " A pretty sort of answer, this ! Take last year's " surplus." No one questions that the money was in hand; what sound financiers and clear-sighted critics do assert is that the money did not represent a legitimate surplus on the financial transactions of the year, but was obtained by artificial and improper means. If these are fair - examples of Ministerial "answers," we do not deny that the charges of the Opposition have been answered ad nauseam. Of such puerile travesties of argument there has truly been enough and to spare, but we venture to think that the country expects something more substantial and more conclusive.

He made no apology—this Minister •who is professedly so ready to " admit mistakes " —for his extraordinary conduct at the Advances to Settlers' Board. Nay, he gloried in the exhibition that he had made of himself. " When they [the members of the board] valued property, they had no knowledge o£ what they were doing. Then the speaker told them a bit of his mind. He could assure the meeting lie used no bad language, tmt he told thorn very plainly what he thought of them." Probably the Honourable Joira M'lCbnzie is the first Minister of the Crown who has thought it necessary to give such an assurance as that contained in the words which we have italicised. There was a good deal of unpleasant suggestiveness in the way in which the Minister took credit for . the Pastoral Tenants' Relief Bill. Mr M'KsNzm grew quite unctuous over his generosity to a class of people whom he regards as his enemies. Now, the Pastoral Tenants' JRelief Bill was an excellent measure, and Mr M'Kenzih deserves some of the credit which he too ostentatiously demands; .but, after all, he only did his plain duty. His words almost imply a latent feeling that, taking party affairs . into consideration, he would not have been greatly to blame if he had left the pastoral tenants to their fate. "But being a good sort of fellow, willing to return evil for 'good, I did them a good turn. Wasn't it magnanimous ? * That is what the Minister for Lands practically said to his constituents. Mr M'Kenzib, as we have said, did his duty by the pastoral tenants, out we are afraid that this one instance of unprejudiced policy cannot be regarded as an adequate answer to the charge which has so often been brought against the present Government —the charge of having (as the main motive of policy) regarded the interests of a class and not the interests of the colony as a whole.

The Alamoda, with the inward mails via San Francisco, reached Auckland on Saturday morning. The southern portion of the mail was taken on by the Mahinapus, which was expected to reach Wellington about 10 o'clock lest night. The Omapere, leaving about midnight, was to take the mail on to Lyttelton. It ia probable that Parliament will be summoned for the despatch of business in the second week in June. Mr P»ulin advised ua lust evening:—"The weather will most likely continue fioe daring the next 24 hoars, with light to moderate B.E. to N.E. winds and barometer fall; indications very unsteady." We have received from the Commissioner of Crown Lauds a pamphlet giving particulars) terms, and conditions of disposal of the Ardgowan estate, which is open for application on Tuesday, May 12. The estate, which comprised 4234 acres, has been cut up. into sections varying from 5 acres to 364 acres, and the rent per acre ranges from 5a 6d up to 16s. When the steamer Ov&lau,.which arrived at Sydney recently, leFfc Fiji, rumours, which appear to hare some foundation on facts, were current that an English company was being formed for the expressed object of buying ont the German plantation companies in Samoa and Tonga. It is said that Sir John Thurston has been instrumental in initiating the movement, j Mrs F. Livingston hag received intimation that the Board of Governors have agreed to her request for permission to place a portrait of Miss Dalrymple in the Kids' High School. Mr George M'Leod, a well-known farmer and ex-chairman of the Southland Education Board, contests the WalUceueat. Mr R. Wilson, J.P., presided at the City Police Court yesterday morning, when a women, charged with drunkenness, was fined ss, in default 24 hours' imprisonment. A letter" has been addressed to the Collector of Customs at Wellington by Sydney chaff importers in connection with Hie duty imposed on hessinh bags imported into New Zealand. It is pointed ont that in the customs tariff bessian bags are charged 20 per cent, duty, and in »,.other part of tie (schedule all jiite bags are entered as free of duty. Hessian bags are manufactured entirely from jute, and the chaff sold in New South Wales from local centres, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania is almost wholly packed in these bags. « New Zealand, however, insists on the payment of 20 per cent, duty, and will allow no rebnte if the bags are filled with New Zealand chaff and exported to' New South Wales. The result of this adverse decision it is alleged in that buyers of large quantities of New Zealand prodacffl are precluded from getting their goods put in the packages mast suitable for their trade, and a serious, embargo is put on what might develop into a large. business. Firms in Now Zealand who have been awaiting the result of a decision have now no option but to return these bags to New South Wales, as it will not pay to fill them with oh»ff and pay an extra 2s 6d per ton duty Jus an Rjaarh tut.

Messrs J. Malhieson, A. Smail, and J. C. Miller have been elected without opposition at members of the Tomahawk Road Board.

As shewing the high rates charged on the Ot»go Central railway, the Dunstan Times learns that Matakanui station save 13s 2d per ton for scoured wool and 6s 7d for greasy wool by sending direct by' waggon to Duneaio instead of by the railway.

In response to a requisition, Captain Russell has consented to address a public meeting at InvercugiU some time during next month.

A romantic little story has just reached the Masterton Stai. Some 36 years ago a young woman left her home in a township not many miles from Masterton, leaving her husband and a small family to lament her departure. Since then not a single tiding had been beard of her. Her husband and her mother gave her up as dead. The other day, however, she returned to her family a comparatively" aged woman to nod : her husband dead. She had been for, years a stewardess on a vessel, and hud afterwards gone to a foreign country. Her aged mother is still living in the district, and, enfeebled as she is, she is constantly expressing , wonder if her daughter is really dead. The rest of the family are imploring the prodigal not to see her mother, lest the shock should carry her off. And so the daughter, who ha« been 36 years removed from her mother, dare not acquaint the aged lady of her return. ■ •

At the County of London Sheriff's Court, before Me Under-SUeriff Burohell and a jury, the adjourned case of Renter's Telegram Company (Limited) v. the New York Sun Printing and Publishing Company came on for the assessment of damages. The libel was to the effect that much of the war news from tha f»r East, emulating from London, was bogus. A Rsufcer despatch, purporting to pome from Yokohama, was particularly mentioned. Mr Bradshaw, secretary of Reuters Company, produced the original copy of the telegram as handed in at Yokohama. The witness was unable to say that the plaintiff-! had lost a single subscriber by the publication of the libsl. It who, however, very difficult to estimate the damage that such a statement might; create. Tns jury assessed tha damageo at £500. Judgment for £500 with costs was entered.

A very successful trial of Messrs P. and D. Duncan's new patent spring-tooth cultivator and couch eradicator was held on Thursday in Mr Margrie's paddock, Palmeratou. The machine was tried on ground which varied a great deal, but no matter how matted tha grass and weeds there was no tendency towards choking up. The construction and independent action of ths tines caused the machine to free itself readily, all tha roots and weeds being brought to the surface. Thara was a good attendance of farmers, and that they were satisfied with the machine was evidenced by the fact that Mr J. R. Duncan, tho firm's representative, booked several orders on the ground, A trial will be held at Waikouaiti this week.

An obvious printer's error occurred in our leading article in Friday's isaue. The sentence in which the error occurred read as follows: — " That the purchase of estates has been largely a failure, and has benefited the settlers a good deal more than ths buyer, we have no do\ibt," &c. The word " settlers " should have been "sellers." Had the policy beuofited the settlers the colony could have pardoned other drawbacks incidental to it. ' • ■

Messrs Park, Reynolds, and Co. will sell Harbour Board leases of sections in DunerJin to-day.

A meeting of the Brunner Relief Fund Cornmittes for the Borough of Green Island is called for to-morrow evening.

The fourth concert of the 1895-6 season of the Dunedin Liedertafel takes place to-morrow evening. The opening concert of the First Church Toung Men's Literary Society will be held this evening. Messrs Donald Reid and Co. will sell grain and produce today. The Mutual Agency Company will sell wheat, oata, chaff, *c. to-day.

Mr D. M. Spediiing will sell household furniture, &c. on Thursday, on the premise?, Clyde street.