CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10760, 26 March 1897, Page 2

CURRENT TOPICS.

The decision of Mr Justice Williams in the

appeal c*se Cotton and others

an v. Hawkins and others shows in electoral his Honor's usual luminous dispute. manner that Mr Hawkins

erred when he tailed upon the returning officer to give ' his casting vote after a recounting and inquiry had made the voting equal. The law is quite clear that when a returning offi :er m&k<)s his return he is functus ojftcio—he hus discharged his duty. When therefore Mr Hawking found that the voting was equal the election • was -void, there being no provision for such an emergency as that which bad arisen, Mr Cotton therefore obtains his mandamus, and there miisfc now be a fresh election. That all this litigation and its attendant heat should be incurred over such a small thing as a seat in the County Council is matter for turprise, but in the Waipori Riding there is a deidly feud soout aome commocage ri«hta. It has erupted into the local courts, disturbed the serenity oi school committee elections,' and caused much spilling of ink. Which party is in the right it i« difficult to say, but now that a ramification of the dispute has engaged the attention of the Supreon Court there is no knowing where it may end. The partieß might be recommended to read " Guy Mnunering," and study that chapter iv which Mr Pleydell advises D.mdie Dinmoct. Though Esrl Ranfurly ia connected with the Governorship of the colony only earl by the vaguest rumour, it may Ranforly. happen that the choice will fall upon him. In that event, eomo particulars regarding him may be of interest. " Debrett" supplies the necessary biographic** and personal details. The Esrl is 4-1 years oid. and succeeded to the earldom when he was 19. He was educated at Harrow and at Cambridge, and was married in 1884 to a daughter of Viscount Charlemoufc. The children comprise one son 15 years of age, and two daughters of 12 and six respectively. The family name is Kqos, and the present Earl ii the fifth in succession. The founder of the family was Thomas Knox, who was MP. for Dungannou. He was created Baron Welles of Dunganuon, County Tyrone, in 1781. His titla of Viscount Northland dates from 1791. His son w»s created Baron Ranf ariv in 18Z6, and Barl of Rvat'ur'y in 1831. The present Earl succeeded to the title on the death of his brother in 1875. The family sent is Northland House, in Dangannon. We migb.6 go on still further and describe the family arms, but perhaps tho foregoing will suffice for such as take an interest in these things. Mr J. Kennedy Brown, in his pamphlet "Should New ZaalandFederals pedera- with the Australian Colonieo," tion. answers his own question with an emphatic "Yee," and gives a few reasonc for the faith that is in him. He argues that reciprocity in any real sense is impossible without federation. It can only apply to tho natural productions of tho s«ver*l colonies, and it is improbable thet a federated Australia would erer become a party to such a reciprocal treaty. We should have to «how them that the j balance of profit and loss would fall some- ; what equally upon both the contracting parties, j and New Zealand could not do this. Fp/ler.\l j defence would follow federation, and the | position of an isolated Now Zealand wouid be I one of extreme danger. But the writer regards i tbe commercial aspect of the question as Uio ! most pruasing. He regards the present wsrI fare of tariffs between people of tho tame blood, ! subj-jciso! the ?aros Queen, opeakereof the Mm? | language, &s inexplicable. A.uniform tnriff will }.. e ; one splsndid result of federal untou. A brighter era will dawn upou Australia, Svnd New Zc*,l»nd should not be coinpf-lied to g»ae enviously : across the seas at (he !:<:::< fk'enf-, interchange of commodities throughout a Greater Australia.

New Zealand with her great natural resources would gain vastly more than any other colony by federation in its commercial asp»cts>. He combats the argumsi.t that customa duties fall on consumers by contrasting the receipts of a South Australian and a. New Zealander sending wheat to Sydney or Brisbane under federation without New Ze*land. The New Zetland farmer would receire lass for his produce by the amount of the dnty. Mr Kennedy Bro-.vn a!so regards the fmaucial aspects of federation as of great importance, aad it must ba admitted that ho renlly raises the question why New Z-alani should stand out.

In the House of Commons on February 3 Mr Faithfull Begg suaceeded in woman carrying his measure for giving suppniOE the franchiss to women. The in London Times is very 6evere Britain. upon the hou. gentleman,

alleging that & schoolboy might blush for the drafting of. the bill, and it condemns the levity with which it was discussed. Members talked ou the measure the whole afteraoou, aud some time after 5 o'clock the closure was applied by 2 14 votes to 157, immediately after which the second reading of the bill was carrie'l by 228 to 157 " amid loud cheers." The writer of The Times' leadiug article had evidently not rsad the veport of the debate, and was ap. parently unaware that New Zealand, South Australia, and Wyoming had already adopted women's suffrage. Ha sajs: "Amid the irresponsible frivolity of a Wednesday afternoon a vote was taken aporoviug in principle the doubliug of the * electorate, the shitting of the whole basis of the CoDStitutiou, and the initiation of aa txperiraeiit/or which there is no vrect&ent in. the history of mankind." There is not so much as a single refereaca ia the arfciclo to colonial experience. of women's suffrage, and no doubt our Women's Franchise League thought the eyes of the world were upon them. Thore is no question that tha House treated the bill with unbecoming leWty. Mr L&boucherj said he wag surprised that any Scotchman should have put hi« n&ma on ths back of the bill, seeing that John Kaox had written a work entitled " The Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous liegimen of Women." And other members spoke with similar jocularity. Probably they wera quite certain the bill would receive its quietus ia "another place." This subsequently happened.

The London Charity Organisaton Society is

making a hovel experimeat with collecting respect to savings b»uk3. With savings the view of bringiug to the banks. homes of the poor the means

°f saving, it is' proposed to eaaploy a paid collector to go from house to house collecting deposits, which will ba received in the shape of stamps. The collector will have a supply of stamp?, and the depositor will purchase to the necessary amount, when the stamp is affixed to the dopoeitor'u card, as is done in taa Post Offiss Saviugs Bink almost everywhere. The society claims that experience has already proved tlut as facilities for ssviag are brought to thi doors of the people tha amount tlut they save increases very largely, and that evidence of this is given by the success of well-managed penny banks, general aud iadmsrial assucauce societies, and the provident or collecting savings banks instituted by clergy aad ministers. No doubt there is truth ia the contention. Many a person will put by a.small sum if the opportunity is presented, and it is probable that msny would by such a system be ioduead to practise systematic saving, and thu3 cultivate the habit of restraint as well as s*ve money.

The Alameda, with the inward mails via San Fraocieco, reached Auckland yesterday. The Mahinapua, with the southern portion of the mail, is expected to reach Wellington this evening. The bags will ba transferred to the Penguin, which leaves for Lyttelton at 11 o'clock to-night. '■

A contested will case came before his Honor Mr Justice William? jesberddy in the form of a suit for probate o; will in solemn form. Only a small amount; of property-is involved, but no less than five wills have to^b'e referred to, and the circumstances are very cooiplicatad. The hearing of the matter is to be resumed on Monday, and as the case for the defendant) has been entered upon, it is not likely to last more than another day.

The late Mr Samuel Henry Andrews, whoss, bequest of £150 per annum to the City Council and £150 to the volunteers was reported yesterday, was, we learn, orginally one of the early settlers in Taranaki. Owing to the Maori aggression, which resulted.iv all the settlers being forced to eeek refuge in New Plymou-.h, many losing nearly all their worldly possessions, Mr Andrews told big property and removed to Dunedin in 1861, purchasing a city section and property at Morniogton and Waihola. In 1863 Mr Andrews left tbe colony for England, but paid a brief visit some 15 years ago. The city property, on the eastern Bide of Princes street, comprises the section on which is erected the two-storey brick building occupied by the Otago Finance Co., Mr M'C&rthy (gunsmith), the Young Men's Mission Booms, the offices of Mr Hodgkins (solicitor), aud otbirs.

Mr Paulin's fortcsst last uighfc wag as follows :—" Squally to Jight S. W. to N.W. wind?; heavy rain showers ; barometer rise.

At the invitation of the Rosiyn Volunteer Fire Brigade a cumber of delegates to the Fire Brigade**' Conference vioited Roalyu yesterday afternoon, and, through the courtesy oE the proprietor!!, were shown through tbe Roslya mills. Great admiration was expressed at the extent of the wooliea industry, and at the large number of operatives employed ia the mills. The.vißitorß were onieitained afterwards at the Roslyn station, where light refreshments were provided, but owing to au engagement at Port Chalmers an enjoyable stay was cut short.. A hearty vote of thanks to tbe Roslyn Brigioe was proposed by Vice-president Martin, and was suitably responded to. On the return of the delegates to Port Chalmers, they attended a ball given in their honour by the Port Chalmers Brigude at the Town Hall.

Oar Wellington corresponded; telegraphs that the date for Che opening of the shsoting season for native game has nob yst been fixed, bub it is now stilted on good authority that ie will be the 17oh April for Otago and Canterbury es well as the North Island. It appears that the Colonial Secretary h*s wired to the secretary of the Southland Acclimatisation Society that April 17 will be the day of opening for Otago and Southland, and that local sportsmen are endeavouring to get the opening fixed on April 1.

At the meeting of the OCsgo Prohibition Council held ou Wednesday night progress was reported in connection with tlie Easter convention. The arrangements are well in hand, and already * large number o? delegates h&ve sent in their names. The gathering is to be a South Igland convention this year, and in conjunction with it other conventions will bs held in the North Inland, at which' the name business paper will be discussed. The convention is expected to attract the largest gathering of representative prohibitionists ever held in Dunediu, and will discuss the policy and lines of campaign for the next three yeara. Our Attontown correspondent sends us samples of copper and silver brought up by tho Sandhills dredge at work on the Sbolovcr River. The samples may be t^en at this offica.

Advice 3 ftctn Mauapouri (says the Southland News) statfi that the surveyors employed on the Seaforth Valley route to the Sounds have returned to the lake. They report having traced the river ta'Dunky Sound, at the head of which the river falls im Nothiug is said as to the distance, beyond the fact, that it would tnke from three to four days to reach the lake from Dusky. The country throughout is described as being oxoee'liuglj rough. Information has »I<io b*ou received that the track from the lake to Smith Sound has been fnrsher exploited, The distance, orginally stated! to be 13 rniU-s, turns out to be not more than 12, the country throughout being comparatively easy to travel. Mr Ciil e<Ul. r, M.H.R., and party.it appears, found it. iniuo>ifible to ruska their way from the Waiiiu to Preservation lolet by the m;ii coast, and r'l.urued after an fcbstti.ua of four d-.yn, but, (,ho.y M:,r;sd again, striking inland by way of the Hurojis.

w*.,.■ -.__„..._. ._ » .. ._..,„,,._„..,_ . ..-—jr.—fcll»»(f.-wfr'XTr.csHcM»tt»neii«Kiwi j. a Mr J. B. Mcnson, J.P., p^sided at the Port Chalmers Police Court yesterday. William Ernest Jones, with a number of aliases, pleaded guilty to a charge of having no lawful visible meins of suppoifc. Constabla Ei-endsn stated that he arrested the accused at Portobsllo, where he had been represeoling himself as a deserter from H.M.S. Royalist. Accused had bsen a great annoyance to the residents. Coastible Tracay also gave evidence that tha man fcad represented himsv'f ss a privitti detective for sly grog-selling, and had tried to obtain money on tho3o rap-res misvtioisis; while Ssrgeanf; Geariu said there was a very bad record agaicst the accused, who had been in cearlv all the gaoh in the colony. There were 19 previous convictions again*!; him for indecency, obscane language, vagrancy, and drunkeauess. Accused made a rambling statement, in which he aesM-tsd that he ,weu>; to Portobello to try and obtain work. His Worship sentenced him to three months' imprisonment.

The St. James.i Gizitie ij responsible for the following strar.g« story:—" An elderly woroau, of evident rtfiosment and exceptions! accomplishments, was discovered by «i lady visitor ia a London workhouse. She was reticent about her past, but before her death ir. the softer surroundings of a home foe th-3 dyiog-, to which she had been removed, she told her story. Siw was a Norwegian, and at 17 was married by her pwefts to a handsome, cultured, and devoted hubiud, andt*ken to reside in a charmiug country bouse, pre^ura&b'y in Norway. The ody drawback to her perfect happiness was the freqaeufc absence of her hu-> basii, which he attributed to business. One d&y, however, came a lawyer, who explained that the husband would co'tne back no more owing to preying reasons, and that, in fact, he was the King of -. The wife, who w.»s no wife, came to Londou, married an Englishman, the king died aud left her a lump sum, with which the husband bolted, and theD, from step to step, i.he ex-royal favourite came down to the workhouse " Now, perhaps, some msker of court histories will tell us who the kiDg was.

The annual report of the Southland Educition Board says :—" The Technical School has buen a marked success. The Saturday carpentry classes have been attended by Si s udente, 16 being teachers employed by the bjsrd and the others pupils of the public schools of the district. Should the attendance continue, tbe question of appointing an assistant instructor will have to be considered. The advance made has been satisfactory, and, in some c.sic, excellent." ,

Tables which have just been published in a handy form give at a giacce the increase in expenditure of the German. Empire, also the increase in taxation.» Figures of this description are usually ho dry and preeeDted in ao uaintereatiiig a manner that they are ujudly paised over by the ordinary reader, but hers the faebs are so startling that they deserve notica. In 1886 and 1887 Germany paid for the support of her aimy £18,500 000 sterling. Her Budget for next y«*r reaches the enormous figure of nearly £27,000.003. Compared w.th the expenditure on our marine that of G^rraauy is slight; but even here the increase i-i from £2 500,000 to £4,500,000. Pensions have riseu from £1,300,000, to £2,900,000, and the interest; on the national debt from £930,000 to £3,800,000. If taxation is looked at tbe increase is equally startling. The tax .ou sugar has risen from £750,000 to £4,000.000, that on bra-idy and spirits from £1,800,000 to nearly £6.000,000, and tha stamp duties from £1,300,000 to over £3,000,000. Small wonder if earnest; men in the Fatherland are turning their attention to these things, and to tbe enormous burdens imposed on a comparatively pcor people for the keeping up of their hugo fighting imchine.

'The pupils of Broad Bay School, in charge of their teacher (Mr Botting), and Messrs Scott, Gtuinger, and C'.earwater (members of committee), spent a very pleasant holiday on the 21st inst. A goodly number of frieuds also joined in the excursion, which was to Dane:)in by the little steimer Onslow, thencs by train to Brlosgisl, where the local authorities generously granted the me of the locisl recreation ground. Tha weither was beautifully flue, neighbours kindly, and everyone happy. Upon returning to Dunedin two hours were speofc in'seein" different parts of the tawa before makiug the home trip down tho harbour on the Onslow.

The exhibition of the Eoati-en rays and the fluoreecope continues to attract large numbers. The exhibition will be continued this afternoon and evening.

Mr D'Orsay Ogden's Dramatic Company will open for a. short season at the City Hall on S&tuvday, April 10, prcdueiog three pieces each week at popular prices. The company include Laurence Duubar, E. B. Ruafell, Arthur Glynn, Keith Ahvyn, Fred. Norria, J. Nunn, J. Haher[ C. Taylor, W. H. Cowa.a, Misses Helen Dunbar, Miilie Richardson, Gertrude Eadaile, Effie Morelld, and Kata Douglas.

Messrs Wright, Siephenson, and Co. will sell a superior horse and buggy loruorrovr. The Albany street School Gymnasium will opsn for the season on Monday evening. There will be evening classes for males and a female class on Saturday afternoons. Particulars ars advertised. The annual meeting of the Otago section of the Isational Association will be held at the Stuart street Hall this evening. The auuual meeting of the OUgo District, M.U.1.0.0.F., will be held at Outran* tomorrow Mr J. G. Cox. surgeon dentist, has commenced the practice of his profession in D.inedin. 11l the report of the- annual meeting of the' Port Chalmers Football Club the name of Mr J. Stevenson wa3 inadvertently omitted from the list of vice-presidents.

A meeting of shareholders in the City ilissioa Brass Bind will be held this evening to dispose of the properties.

The town clerk, North-East Valley, notifies that proceedings will l>e taken to recover unpaid rates and dog registration fees.

The annual meeting of tha United Ota"v> Dig. trict of the Aucieat Order of Foresters will be lield Ibis afternoon ia the District Chambers, Jf. 1/. Hall, Stuart street. A large number of delegates from all over the province are expacterl to attend, the business for their discussiou beinl* of considerable irapurtance, while the order pap-r W a very full one. In honour of the visitors it U intruded to hold both a banquet and a social in the eve Ding. John Hislop, Watchmaker and Jeweller, 47 Prince* street. The nlJest established bouse in town. Repairs of all kind*. Good assortment watches. Clucks, and Jewellery. Spectacles to suit all sights. —Advt.

Carter, and Co. have now op»nerl up a splendid lot of new inillicary, maatlos, &c. ; also, babies' jackets and .dresses, and millinery. Choice n.iveltie-s in new furs and jet trimmings. Novelties in all departments. All at strictly moderate prices. Try Carter and Co.—A<ivt.

Messrs A. and J. SI/JTaiilahb lieg to call att^ntiou !-i: ■ eiradvfftiH.:;iciit over the leaitr. Any 0r.!,-is entrusted to them v/ill receive the b--.t at<»):ti>in.—Ad-'t.

G. axd T. Young's reduced price list for repairsi: Watches thoroughly examined and cleaned Kb ; best mainsprings fitted, 5s ; all other repairs at equally low rates. Only competent workmen employed, aud all work under the immediate supervision of Mr T. G. Young, a practical watchmaker.—Advt. '