Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY DECEMBER 31, 1897.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10999, 31 December 1897, Page 2

Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY DECEMBER 31, 1897.

listhe Harbour Board had yielded to the recommendation of the _ committee "which has been Conferring with the City Council on the sewage question, _ the result would have ;ieen to precipitate a crisis and probably to enter upon what could not fail to prove a costly, and possibly acrimonious, course of litigation. Anything of a litigious nature between the two bodies is not to be dreamed of. Their interests are practically identical, and going to law would entail loss upon both. The difficulty which faces the City Council, and the one -which- has largely contributed to the prolongation of the neo-ctiations between the two bodies as described in the report submitted to the board at its special meeting on Tuesday, is that it is involved with several of:the suburban borough councils, and lias neither authority to speak on their behalf nor power to enforce payment of their share of the damage done by the silting up of the harbour. Further-

' more, a certain amount of silting up ! would occur i£ there were no sewers in ~ the city at all, and the City Council • ought not in equit}' to be compelled to j pay for what is an accident of nature, and an incident inseparable from the formation and maintenance o£ streets, j The proportion which the suburban boroughs concerned should pay could be settled on a population or valua- ; tion basis, while the exact propor- j tion of silting up caused by sewage, as distinguished trom detritus from tlie cifcyslopes, is a matter for engineers to | decide. If the figures which have been

i arrived at by the joint committee of the ! board and the council are a fair meaI sure of the cost of. restoring and mainjtaining the depth of water about the j wharves and the upper channel that i would exist without sewage, it is evident that even remedial measures will be very costly. We do not see how the City Council is going to pay £3000 ilown and JJSOO a year for the removal of the sewage unless it makes fresh financial arrangements. It was evidently the impression of the board's committee that the City Council had not'been serious in the matter, and would not move unless compelled, but it should be pointed out that the board itself has tacitly agreed to the continuation of the existing system for years, and could hardly with any show of propriety deal with the council in the summary manner proposed in the report. The emptying of the city sewage upon the foreshore is an unmitigated nuisance—dangerous to the common health and offensive to the senses. Even the proposed remedial measures will not mitigate the evil, but rather intensify' it. The rising tide at present dilutes the sewage, and washes, it is alleged, large quantities away into the channel. If a catchment area is formed and this

is periodically cleaned out, tlie nuisance and danger will be greatly increased. The present system is barbarous enough in all conscience, but the periodical cleaning o£ a huge public cesspool at the door of the city would-be infinitely i worse. Engineering skill may find some other means of dealing with the nuisance in s, temporary manner and at moderate cost. If this be found impracticable, until a comprehensive scheme of drainage is adopted it Teould surely be better to utilise the ."harbour water as much as possible for deodorising purposes, and let the City Council and-Harbour .Bcrard arrive at a fair compromise as to the cost entailed by the deposit of sewage in the channel and near the wharves. Mr Mackerbas asserted at the meeting of the board that the latter would never assent to : that method, but we presume the board will recognise its duty.to do what is '. practicable, and also recognise its obligation to work hand in hand with the City Council. Of course the proper solution o£ the difficulty is the institution of a drainage area, with power to I rate' and to' 'construct comprehensive > drainage works. The difficulties in the way of doing this are at present, we fear, insuperable ; therefore some present means must be devised of tiding over the difficulty: If the City Council shilly-shallies and so compels the board to take hostile steps,, or the board acts with undue precipitation, the difficulty of devising a satisfactory 1 temporary arrangement will" be immensely increased.

The pressure of political and other matter has till the present prevented us from commenting upon the annual report on the working of .the local school of mines. We note with satisfaction from the report of the, director, Professor Uleich. that the school .is rapidly attaining an importance com T mensurate with that of the industry of which it is the exponent. • The attendance last - year was the largest on record, and the professor at some length gives his reasons for- anticipating a similar attendance this year. The following remarks in the report are illustrative'of the.difficulties with which the school has had to contend :— "Without any increase' in the attendance, however, the resources of the school regarding space, apparatus, collections, &c, will during next session not only be taxed to the utmost in the assaying, surveying, mineralogy and petrography classes, but some additions, as well as assistance, will be necessary." Another difficulty of an unexpected kind seems to have arisen. It is necessary for the attainment of a mine " manager's certificate that the student should have spent a considerable amount of. time in practical mining. There are now 45 students who have to engage in such work during the vacations, and they have difficulty in finding employment. This arises from a variety of causes. First, there is an unusually large number of applicants for such employment, and-the field is narrow owing to the depression on the Hauraki goldfield.Professor Ulbich therefore counsels those who cannot find work here to seek some other colony, Tasmania for instance, where mining in various shapes is being vigorously prosecuted. The position is significant. The advent of 26 new students during the year proves how the public attention is being directed to mining as a| profession, and to the efficiency of the ' Otago School in particular. The school already -has a praiseworthy record. Past students are now in lucrative positions in other parts of the" world. Reference is made in the report to 15 of these associates of the school, and this list leaves 14 unaccounted for. Some of these were mentioned in last year s report, but others have dropped out of sight, and Professor Unticii anticipates that in future-the record will be kept by means of the newly-formed Otago School of Mines Association. It is to be noted with regret that during the year only one small sample of tailings was submitted for report from outside sources. This 1b attributed to the prevalence oi dredging, which has overshadowed quartz-reeling and prospecting. But another reason is alleged, and if It is found to be the correct one itshould be met by the council without delay. It is alleged that there _is a general: opinion among Otago .mining men to the effect that the charges for testing are too high, and that in consequence several parcels have been gent to the Government testing plant at .Sydney. It is alleged that the cost there, including transport charges, was less than would have been incurred at the Otago School. Such an experience is hurtful to the efficiency of the school because it narrows the scope of experiment, and it is also hurtful to its prestige, for the Otago School oufht to be recognised as the highest local authority on all subjects pertaining to mining. We think the University Council can be safely trusted to remove this reproach, and also to make such

provision for the development of the school as befits the growing importance of the mining industry.

Although the Mahinapua, with the southern portion of the Sin Francisco mails, did not get away from Mnnukau until yesterday morning, she reached New Plymoutn at 7.40 last night. The mails were sent overland to Wellington by

special train,

Samuel John Mercer was brought up at the Police Court yasterday morning on the charge of shooting at Eiward Brown, with intent to kill, and was remanded until the.6th January. Large numbers of persons gathered in the vicinity of tbe courthouse in Bor.d street about the hour at which the ourt sits in the expectation o5 getting a sight of Mercer, but they were disappointed, inasmuch as, owing to the court holiday?, the sitting was held at the police station. Edward Browu, the injured man, left the hospital on Wednesday night, and is now in the boarding house he keeps in Stuart street. He was attended during the day by Dr Roberts, who fcuod that there were three wound}-ou-the man's head, one having apparently been overlooked in the examination that was made afc the hospital. Brown was rather weak from loss of blood, but he is in no danger. ;.,'.

Mr Piulin telephoned Us1} night: " Squally to light S.W. to N.W. winds and rain showers ; barometer unsteady."

Viscount Hampdeo, G aver nor of New South Wales, who is at present on a visit to Djnodin, has noised the representatives of : Messrs Williamson "and Musgroye'that he intends to be present, with his suite this evening at the performance of " The Sign of the Cross" at the Princess Theatre.

Mr James Aitchison has patented a self-, raising portiere-rod, which attracted a good desl of attention yesterday at Messrs Park, Reynolds, and Co.'s rooms, where it was on exhibition. The rod, as it is called, really consists of three brass rods joined together in the form of a right-angled triangle. The upright fits info a couple of eye bolts attached to tbe architrave at the side of the door, and the" curtain is hung on the horizontal rod in the usual way. The diagonal rod rests on a re' volving wheel which is affixed to the door, the openiugof which causfS the whole rod to rise and lift the'curtain off the.floor. It will afc ones be feen from this description that the rod is a decided improvement on , the ordinary portiere-rod, and all those who saw it ye»fcerday very readily recognised its advantages. The rod will be on exhibition afc the same place again to-day. .

'About 8.30 yesterday morning a well-known character named Bernard, or "Barney," Stewart was seen secreting.cigarette 3 about the work* where the prisoners are/employed round the new gaol, and about 11 o'clock he was arrested by the gaoler in the same locality. Tho young man was later on brought before the Police Court and sentenced;to three months' hard labour.

Some purchasers of the new post cards bow obtainable at the various post offices ss3erfc I hit as works of art they are not equal to those in circulation throughout the Continent of Europe. The views of Mount Cook, Mount Egruont,.the Otira Gorge, &c, are not printed on the address side of the cards as might be expected, and the result is that the space left for writing is unduly limited for business purposes. As yet a slight premium is demanded from those who desire to purchase the cards;

In his London letter of November 12 to the Sydney Morning Herald Mr ,H. W. Lucy says that public despatches from the NorthWest frontier of India have said'nothing about the prevalent sickness from an honourable detire to save public alarm; but from a private letter written by an ; -officer, of rark at the front he has learnt that an abnormally large proportion of-the fighting men were in the hospital. The resources of the doctors were strained to the point: of exhaustion, The csmp&ixn was wearing far beyond the average. Not only hud hard marching constant fighting, and the severity of the clim-xta to be faced, but the camp had no peace night or day. The enemy swarmed around, and the night watch was constantly disturbed by feints or actual attacks, and, to crown all, a sickness supervened of almost epidemic proportions.

On Christmas Eve (says the Christchurch Press) M. Lyons, mine manager of the Record Reign Opal Mining Company, was brought up af the Ashburlon Police Court and charged with the larceny of a piece of opal and opalbearing sandstone rock, value £10, the property of the Record Reign Company. It will be remembered that when the chief inspector of mines and a party from Ashbnjton recently paid a visit to the Mount Peel opal fields, valuable stone wss unearthed, aud one piece given into Lyons's charge to bring down tbe hill, to be sent to the.Miaistßrfot Mines at Wellington. It was discovered on reaching the Upper KangiUta bridge that the opal was missing and ft b:g boulder had been.substituted. The missing opal is the one Lyons is now charged with stealing. Mr C. W. Cornell, who appeared for the prosecution, asked for a remand, which was granted. The accused was admitted to bail, himself in £100 and" one surety in £100.

An uniHual case was heard afr,W>tnganui last week, arising out of the fact of a local butcher having declined to slaughter at the public abattoirs, and- appointed an inspector of his own. In consequence, the authorities refused him a license, aud he was summoned for unlawfully, carrying on the business of a meat purveyor within the borough without a license. In giving judgment, fining the defendant 20j and costs, Mr Kettle, S.M.,_ held that the Borough Council was.within its rights in making the by-law prohibiting the sale of meat which had not been killed aud inspected in accordance with the Abattoirs and SNughterhousesAct. He sympathised with the defendant (Mr T. Mitchell), and thonght ib would have been reasonable for the Borough Council So have provided for inspection uuder subsection 10 of the act. , Defendant's solicitor accepted the decision, and said his client would not appeal, but would renew his application for a license. ,

An article on agriculture in The Times states a very carious fact as to the London meat market, which is well worth tha- attention of s\\ advocates of Protection. We aye there told (says tbe Spectator iv corameuttog cv the article) that last week witnessed the inauguration of the export of fresh meat (frozen) from Lcndou to the Cape, the steamship Nineveh basing taken on bearu1 1609 quartets of Bo wen (Queensland) beeE and 2000 encases o? Hirer Plate mutfcdb ior conveyance to Capetown. The most noteworthy feature of this transasiion is tll&t, as reported by the Colonial Consignment Company, the meat'could bs purchased iv England at a much lower rate than iv.the oouatries of production. JBeef at 2{-cl per ib ami mutton at 2-^1 per Ib f.o.b. could tjot b'e.Mipplied in the colonies, but was jjrocursble at Home. This, of course, means that in fruzaii meat, ss in many other commodities, I'reetrade v making us the bonded warehouse of the world. Bub that is a positiou far better worth haying thau any to be" secured by bounties aud protective tariffs. Xhe proiii; of the complicated Iraniaction described a»jove goes to PJngUnd, siuoply becsuse her ports arc free to ail who want to sell frozen meat.

Brisbane, both commercially and socially, is j juet bow greatly exercised in mine!. Ficafci of course, about the glmtly disclosures of the inward rottenness of the Queensland National B»iik, and after about other affairs that ate not of a business kind, but which are getting to be so much of an open secret »s to be alluded to by a leading daily paper in these remarkable terms:—" There are things which csanot be spoken about in the public press, and such are the sinister rnmcurs which are . eoatiuusliy coming to hand of late from the south touching certain proceedings in,high life. We should rejoice to fas assured that these rumours are baseleas, for they tend to sap the very foundations of loyalty among the humbler classes of the community, whatever effete they may have upon polite society. One thing is quite certaiu, Which ii thp.t there is no peraoa in Au.tralia so distinguished, or so highly placed, as to be able to defy the moral law with impunity. The materials for a ' Nonconformist conscience may yet be found among the undeveloped re- ! sources of Queensland."

Nine years ago Prince Bismarck secured the passage through the Prussian Chamber of a law providing for the establishment of a fund of 103,000,000 marks for the purchase of Polish estates. The great Chancellor b;lieved that he had by this measure Bolved the Polish question, thinking that the nobles, the owners of the largest estates, would part with their lands and emfgrate. A report, however, has now been published showing how that large fund has been applied, and everyone is astonished at the results. They are practically nil. It had not occurred to tbe naive supparters of the fund ''that there was nothing to prtvjnt Prussian Poles from purchasing esfc»te3 from Germans. Tiii?, at any rate, U ivkat they have done. The Prussian Government bought from a Polish noble his heavily-morfgigecl estate and disposed of it to a Gsrman colonist, but the Polish nobleman, with the money obtained from the German Government, proceeded to acquire a Garm»a estate and again gather round him a nurabsr of Polish labourers. The only effect of the fund, therefore, has been to improve the fioancial position of heavilyembarrassed Polish landed proprietors in the

province of Pdsen,

According to a contemporary the big ocaan 'greyhounds will sooD.it is thought, be equipped with life-boats harnessed to billoons, ao as to ba practically uminkable. Cylinders filled with compressed gas will be placed in compartments of the lifeboats, and from these the balloon, which will be harnessed with cords to a hollow mast connected with the cylinde s, will be inflited. The- nnsr, which is of iron tubing, is adjustable, and when turned forward the big balloon act 3 as a sail, oars proving quite unnecessary. The combination boat will, doubtless, prove of the greatest .service in siving people far out afc sea. In,a recent test made it was shown that even with the boat filled with water to the gunwales ths lifting power of the balloon prevented the cra't from either sinking or upsetting.

There appears to be no diminution in the interest taken in "The Sign of the Cross," which is afc present-being performed nightly afc the Princess Theatre. Last night the play w*s again wituessed by a very large audience, who were most favourably impressed with the drama. The soul-stirring incidents of the play, the pathos of it, the • splendour of the scenery, and the highly capable manner in which th 3 piece was performed all had their effect on those who witnessed it, stimulating their purer emotions and exciting their enthusiastic demonstrations of approval. A slight change was, it should be stated, made in the cast last night, the part of Stephanus being played by Miss Annie C'ubitb in place of Misi Marie Neileoo, ■who was uuabie to appear owing to indisposition. To-night; there will be another performance of the piece, which is one that shook! certainly be seeu by everyone who values dramatic art in its higher forms and appreciates spectacular effsc's. Patrons of tbo theatre ate reminded that the performance will commence this evening punctually at 7.45.

The Albert Lucas Company will perform " The Sixth Commar.dment; or, a Mystery of tbe River Thames" on New Year's Night. The success achieved by the company on the previous production of the play should ensure a goad atteudance.

Mrs Bxrrie Marschel, whos3 illness compelled the postponement of the first production of the drama " Hurnarire. Taniwha-' s.t the Agricultural Hall, is now restored to health, and will enact the title role in the ficst production of the play to-morrow evening.

Strangers visiting DuncMn are often at a loss : . . linens clothing, *c. Herbert, Havniss, and Co. « S^onf^e Win- mLufacturers of the world, and being bought entirely upon rash terms, they are enabled to give such sterlisg value as cannot be equalled byanv other house in the trade. Kvery article in stock is marked at a fixed price, from which no abatement is made, so that the most inexperienced buy their goods at the same price as the best juil«ss. A further description of the stock will be found on another page of this oapeiv Advertisers should not* lint thme will be no publication of the Daily Times on Monday morning, and notifications for that day should be sent in7or Saturday's issue. -■■.■■'• Bookmakers and their agents will not be allowed on the Waikouaiti racecourse on iNew Year's Day. ... The monthly meetin? of the Gaelic Society will b* held on Monday evening. . The ss. Staffs will run excursion trips from Titri to Taieri Mouth on New Yeai's D*y arid The Palmevston Racins; Club have appointed Mr Guyrnie, Uik secretary, a S ent for receiving investments on the iotalisator. J3 jokmakers and tote bef-ors will not ba admitted to the course. The holiday time table of the Portobello ferryboat appears in another column. Messrs Wrishfc, Stephenson, and Co. and Messrs Dalgety and Co.'s P.ilmevston stock sale will ba held ou Tuesday, llth January. Vt Te have received from Mr A. BartJeman, local aseht, the Northern Assurance Company's calendar, and from Messrs Murray, Bobsrts, and Go. the North British Insuvanca Company s calendar. Received : Stones' Otagj and Southland ABo Guide and Diary. . ■JOHN Hisr.ol1, oWeat established Watchmaker and Jeweller, 74 Prince's street.. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles suit all sishtß.-Advt. - A. very pretty lot of tray cloths, in hemstitch, Mouutiiiellick, and Roman embroidery, -vc., can be seen at Moluson and Oo.'S, lib, 1!)( (xeorge street. Th« niosl suitable thing for p. Christmas pveient.—Advt. Christmas and New Year Presents — tr. AND I. Young, Jewellers, 88 Princes street, have opened out this month 30 cases of the newest foods obtainable in the Home markets. Inspection invited. G. axo T. Young's is the placo to get choice and value for your money.—Advt. For Punctual Time .'—Pjstkii Dick must reliable Watchwaker and Jeweller, opposite Cnffee Palace, Moray place, Duuedin. Charges strictly modeiate.—Advt