THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1898.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11044, 23 February 1898, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1898.

Thi Premier delivered a speech at Wellington on Friday in support of Mr Kirk's candidature. We have read it as reported in the New Zealand Times, not with amazement, —the time for that has gone by, and the faculty of wonder no longer responds to Mr Seddon's incessant demands, —but with a keen feeling of -regret that a Premier of New Zealand should entertain 5 such a low opinion of the intelligence of the electors. The feeling would be still keener if we supposed the opinion to be justifiable, but we have no ground for thinking thus meanly of Welling-. toniau intelligence. We prefer to rej gard the Premier's electioneering" j methods as a tactical mistake, and to j anticipate that the free and indepenI dent electors will show their resentj ment on polling day. j Perhaps there are no " pocket- | boroughs " in New Zsaland, but there , are plenty of pocket candidates. Mr | Seddon's pockets are full of interesting ; specimens. Mr Kjek is the latest. At ; the meeting on Friday the candi- ! date was a secondary point oE interest. He "delivered a'short speech,"—. < which was wise, seeing that the | Premier was to follow and the audience I presumably -wished to get home before

daylight. He remarked, with due modesty, that he should be "glad to receive suggestions from those around mm as to the conduct of the campaign." Mr Sbddox promptly responded to°the appeal, and gave his docile pupil a practical lesson in. the art of '•Liberal" electioneering. His creed and counsel may be summarised in tamiliar words: "In short, I firmly do believe in humbug generally." His speech was one long" pa-an "of selfadulation, varied with misrepresentation of his political opponents and more or less subtle appeals to the lowest feelings of electioneering nature. The self-praise and the-rnis° representations were skilfully blended with the strain of ignoble cajolery. What have our opponents done ror you in Wellington? . Nothing. What have we done? - Everything, and depend upon-it,-if'you sencTMr lubk to Parliament in my pocket, we shall do more for you yet." That, in e&ect, was what the Premier said. Here are his own words (and, indeed, a faithful presentation of Mr Seddos's utterances is generally a sufficient exposure of their absurdity) : ■" What had the Conservatives ever done for Wellington in the way of public expenditure? Let them take 1887 to 1890. and ask for a return of the expenditure by the Conservatives on public buildings, and contrast it with that of the present Administration, and they would find % that the present Government had spent £5 for every £1 that the Conservatives^ had ever spent. Who gave Wellington the Te Aro' railway ? The • Liberal party. Who put up the insurance buildings? The Liberal party. Who put up the new printing office ? The Liberal party. ■ \Vho was building the finest library in the colony at a cost of ,£23,000 ? -The Liberal party."' Carlyle laconically .wrote "Cock-a----doodle-do!" at the" end of a copy of "-Rule Britannia": how can we find a suitable annotation for :Mr S-BDDOifV apotheosis of his noble self ? True, "the Liberal party" did it all,—but that, too, the -Premier carries in his capacious pocket. Might if not really be supposed that the "-Ministers had. paid for , the ,Te .Aro railway and the printing, . office "with their own money, and that a number of ; patriotic.-Liberals had been so liberal as to build. ":the:finest library, in the colony ". as ■ a Jubilee memorial? vAlas !it is not so;, it is the taxpayers, "Liberal" and "Conservative" alike, who find the. money for tiiese Wellingtonian boons. Th"c insurance buildings /were put up neither by Mr Seddon nor" the Liberal party"; ask the policyholders.JFancy some " Conservative ", coming along and . crying — "Who put 'up ' the biggest wooden bujldiug in,tho. world ? Who gave you the gaol?' Who built this,that, and the other?" How lustily would Mr Sedhon belk>w?iorth"-his' scorn ! Unfortunately,: there ie something'more reprehensible'- than ■'absurdity in this sort of thing* All this chatter about the expenditure -of public money.-.in -Wellington is meant to indicate a likelihood of further favours to.4eome.V It may not be bribery;and,cprruptipn, Jnit: Mr. Seddos' sails audaciously near the wind. 1^ is no new practice with him. The circumstances of a "certain at \ Waitemata haye .- not been forgotten. Were not the electors then told ; that the return 'of the Ministerial candidate would'probably be the most effective means.qf bringing public money to the district ?! , iW same telling "argument :> is. used a 'little less openly at Wellington^:;''And yet Mr SEDDOir-had the unspeakable -hardihood to; warn his hearers that "they would be flattered and intimidated and evenb'ribed " by the Opposition party. Which' is it ?—-a poor joke or impudence? . ; * '

It seems that this wonderful Government, or at. all. events,: the "Liberal " | party, has increased the population by | 75,000 in five years: Mr Sebdo^ will | not Hear a word about natural inj crease or any extra-partisan.cause..The j rateable.yalue of property has been iii- ! creased by the same benign and all i pervasive agency,—and yet the benefitted property holders are; (so'Mr SedJ don 'complains) ungratefully opposing ! the Ministerial ■ candidate. Puesun£ ably .they fail to see thes \Seddoniari ! connection between cause" and': effect.' ' " Then, _ again, the shipping and revenue of the Harbour Board was almost i so small in 1891 that one could scarcely 'contemplate what ifc would be. But take it in 1897, and he was prepared to stand the test, and he said their opponents must admit that government by the people had enriched them and given them progress and wealth."'■: We observe that the Wellington Post is disinclined to accept the Premier's claim to be regarded as the Providence of Wellington. " The shipping and revenue of the Harbour Board has increased enormously since 1891. Super-' •ficiaT observers might think the city and harbour authorities, not to mention the enterprise of individual merchants, have had something to dp with this advance. . . . We believed that Parliament, our City Council, our Harbour Board, our Education Board,., and other such bodies had really done something for the progress of the city. We also thought our citizens themselves, as British traders generally do, and the workers with their thews and sinews, had helped on the growth and commerce of Wellington." Conscious of all this tremendous providential beneficence,- Mr. Sedbon naturally shrinks, with pure altruistic, horror, from the idea of a "Conservative" return to.power. "It was not the downfall of 'the autocrat' that their opponents were aiming at, but the downfall of the -party. It made one's blood boil to think that if they had the opportunity they would impoverish, and in time degrade, their fellow men." Even so did Mrs Gamp's blood boil when she thought of the cruelties practised upon patients who did nob engage her services. And yet (adds Mr SedDoa-) those terrible opponents of his belong to" the creme de la creme of j society." How he does delight in trot- j ting out that precious phrase ! He ! thinks that he can safely count upon j the working classes if he,can only con- j vince them that his opponents are of j "the upper ten." With all his experi-J ence he has yet to learn that the I working man is not a born fool.

Tho passengers by the express from the north last evening included the Rev. J. C. Andrew (vice-chancellor), Sir Robert Sfconb, Bishop Cowie, the Rev. J. Paterson, Professors Cook and MacmilUn Brown, and Dr Fitchett, members of the New ZeMand University Senate, and the Revs. H, B. Bellhonse, 11. Taylor, and W. Dawson, members of the Wesleysn Conference,

A short Chamber sitting ef the Supreme Court w»s held before his Honor Mr Justice Williams yesterday, and to-day Banco business will be taken. The civil sittings will be resumed to-morrow, and in the event of the case set down for hearing not being proceeded with, a sitting in Banco will be held.

Mr Paulin telephoned at 10 o'clock last evening : " S.B. to N B. winds, and fine for about 16 hours ; indications unsettled."

The tender of Mr F. W. Lyders for the construction of the children's ward at the hospital at a cost of £4-564- Is has been accepted by the Hospital Trustees, while that of Messrs A. and T. Burt at £683 for the plumbiug work has also been accepted. Both tenders are Bubject to a schedule of deductions. ■ ■ ■

These who Jiave seen, advance sheets of the Daily Times" and "Witness Ofeago Settlement Jubilse number, 1898, to be issued at an early date ■in Marob, speak in terms of the highest praise, not only of ' the care and energy displayed in the preparation of this unique number, but also of the artistic manner in which the mechanical part of the work is being done. The portraits come out as clear as photographs, and the issue will form a complete panorama of the events which have occurred sinc9 the formation of the settlement up to the present time. -

J It will interest New Zealand readers (writes our Melbourne correspondent) to know that among the man completely ruined by ths bush fires is Mr William Logic, for many years chief inspector of'sheep i a "the colony. Mr Logic is ! near 80 years old, and a pathetic picture in the midst; of raomy. He hag had a stirring colonial history. He landed in Tasmania as long ago as 1838. Not long afterwards he came to Victoria, and as manager of a station lost an eye in defending the owner's property against the terrible buah fires of Black Thursday. He reached New Zealand some time in the sixties, and was chief, sheep inspector for aboub 20 years. Returning to Victoria with £4000, he' invested in a property at Kilmore, but pressure by the banks in the crisis drove him out penniless. He then went to Gippsland and for a coupla of yesrs actually earned his bread as a labouring man. A little time ago he took up a 'property with a partner on the "Franklin River, near Foster, and was doing fairly well, or at any rate had » prospect of ending his days in comfort, when the fires swept down and burnt out; every stick he and his partner possessed. The secretary of the local relief fund at Poster. (MrT. Alfred Stephenaon) considers Mr Logic's, one of the most pitiful c&ses he has encountered in the district, and has appealed throngh the press to receive a' little special assistance to avert the sad end that otherwise Stares the old gentleman in the face.

We learn that a meeting was held on Monday and a committee formed haying for its object the gathering together on the 23rd March of the remaining surviving passengers by. the ship John Wickhffe aud their native-bom descendants, the object being to obtain & memento 6f the Jubilee in the form of a photograph. The committee consists of New Zea-land-born sons of passengers by the ship mentioned. The necassary steps are being taken to secure the required gathering; and circulars will shortly bo issued to all whose addresses are known or can be discovered. The work in hand would be facilitated if those interested would send their full names -and addresses to Mr B. R. Smith, Bos 293,;P.0,v-"- . \ "..

On inquiry at the hospital last night wa learnt that there was no improvement in Captain Anderson's condition.

The Ravensbourno School Committee have ioted for Dr Brown,' Messrs Mitchell and Sim for the vacancies on the Education" Board ; the Sfc1. Bathans Committee for Dr Brown, Messrs Harraway and Mitchell; the Wedderburn Committee for Messrs Harrawaj;, Mitchell, and Sim; the Naseby, Committee "for Dr Brown, Messrs' Borrie and Clark.; the Tokomairiro Committee for Messrs Clark, : Borrie, and Green;/ the Kokouga Committee; for Dr Brown, Messrs Borrie .and Harraway; and the Kokoarnu Committee for Messrs Borrie, Mitchell* and Sim.

j The Canterbury papers report that a fatal | accident occurred at Staveley on Sunday at midday, when a party, of young men from Ashburton visited Sharplin's -sawmill, where I they borrowed a trolly to '. look, through the I buch. The trolly got beyond their control, j and all jumped off except Frahlp HenrV v a. clerk |, in the post office, who was thrown and injured i'soseverely that he died in a.few minutea.

There was a good attendance at AH Saints' Schoolroom !*st night, when' the Very Rev. Dean Fitchett gava a -lecture-oh " Rome." He described a number of the magnificent ruins that adorn the city, also some of the churches (including St. Peter* and St. Paul's), and many of. the buildipge, besides' various places of interest. He also gave some account of the modern Italian services'.• arici preaching in Rome. The lecture, which was illustrated by numerous.beautiful.limelight Views,- was' very intere&ting, and was muoh eDjoyed by the audience. ,

Speaking recently of the notable men he had " managed," Major Pond, the celebrated American lecture agent, said that among Englishmen"'Mr "H. M. Stanley has earned most money. "On the first occasion that I engaged Stanley," said Major Fond, "it was at £20 a night, with the proviso that if. the KiDg o£ the Belgians wanted him he. was' to leaye afc once. Henry Ward Beecher advised me to. get Stanley, and at his opening ■lecture in America he took the chair. We had a £75 house. - Every lecture after that drew better. I-lsid out a plan for 100' lectures, and was in a fair way to making a fortune. Staoley had delivered his eleventh" lecture, presided over by Mark Twain, when ]he got a nable from the King of Balgium'asking him to return a'o onoo to head tha expedition to Africa. in search of Emm Pasha. Ha left hurriedly. As he w.13 going he took me by the hand and said, 'I owe you 89 lectures, which I will deliver if ever I come back from Africa.' Three years later he came back—a hero. I saw him in London. Managers offared him. fabulous sums for leoture3; one man offered him £300 a lecture for 100 lectures. . Stanley, however, kept his word with inc. I made him an offer of £200 a lecture for 100 lectures. In every part of America he drew packed audiences. He g*ve 110 lectures. The average receipts were £574 each lecture. Stanley took . £200, and after paying expenses I had the balance, ,He went back to England .with £22,000 in his°pockefc. That is my' record tour."

In the western districts of the Cherson province of Russia {cays the Daily Mail) there recently occurred a strike of peasants, who resolutely declined to do any more work for the local landowner. The police investigated the matter, and, accordiug to our St. Petersburg correspondent, give the following extraordinary reasons for the outbreak :— ", A picture of the present Czar was recently sent to all communal councils in Russia, including, oE course, those in Oherson. As the picture only presented a aide view of the Cz&r, only one ear was visible. This led the peasants to believe that the Czar really possessed only one ear, and the loss of the other they thus account for: When Alexander 111 died (say these peasants), bis widow and eld advisers began to confer together, afterwards inviting Nicholas II to join them. As soon rs Czar Nicholas entered the room he declared that all land in Russia must be equally divided among the peasants. One of his councillors replied, 'As sure as you cannot see yonr own ear you won't divide the land.' The Czar thereupon cut off one ear, and remarked, 'As surely a? I now see my e»r I will divide the land.' The peasants in Cherson were so convinced of the truth of this legend that they believed a strike against the ■landowners would ba followed by the intervention of the Czar and the division of the land among themselves."

A special meeting of the Albany street Sohool

Committes, held iasb evening, was attended by Messrs W. Dioksoo (chairman), J. H. Wilkinson, D. H. Hastings, R. Thompson, tf.W. Eggers, A. T. Andecaoti, D. Matheson, and J. R. M'Connochie (secretary). The Education Board forwarded a list of c*ndid»teg for the position of fourth assistant, vice Mr A. Spence, promoted to the second assistantship, and the choice of the. committee fell unanimously upon Mr John M. Nicholson. All other business was adjourned until the monthly meeting.

( We regret to announce the deith, at Ayr on I the 30th December last, of Captain John Muir, j well known in New Zealand as the master of j the Invercargi'l. He was son-in-law of the ] late Captain John Robertßon, Port Chalmers, i and nephew of Mr Hardy, architect, of this city.

The North Otigo Times says that between 2000 and 3000 carcaies of frozen sheep were railed from Daneain to Oamam on Monday to be shipped in the Pakeha for London. It was foond tobs cheaper to rail the sheep to Oamara than to take the vesael alongside the Port Chalmers wharf and ship them there. This may seem peculiar, but it is so, and this, too, notwithstanding the fact that the Pakeha arrived at Port Chalmers yesterday. She will now only go alongside a coal hulk to take in coal, and thus save the usual charges for wharfage, &s., at that port.

" The Two Little Vagabonds " again attracted a good audience at the Princess Theatre hat night, and the play was as successfully produced as on former occasions, the audience showing their appreciation of the efforts of the performers in a very demonstrative manner-To-night the piece will be repeated for the last time, as the company leave for Oamaru' to. morrow, and those who have not already seen it can be heartily recommended to do so.

, —.- ■: -* T —.-- Mr- H. S. .Valentine will sell household furniture and sundries at his rooms this afternoon Messrs Piirk, Reynolds, and Co', will sell rice ex Monowai.to-morrow. - '.. -

Attention is directed to an advertisement in another column inviting tenders for the construction of a stone wall on. the Dunedin ana Kaikorai Tram Company's new line Dividend warrants for the past half-year are now payable to shareholders ia the Ofcago Daily Times and. Witness Newspapers Company (Limited). . ../■:-■■-

Messrs James Samson and Co. will sell furniture at Lower York place this afternoon, furniture, &c, at their rooms to-morrow afternoon, and household furniture and a butchering business on the 4th March. ' ; : :

Mr A Brown-Durie lias commenced the practice of his profession as a solicitor. The Dunedin Training College will open on the lat March. . '

Tenders are invited for the supply and delivery of telegraph poles at Warepa or Waitepeka aid at Wairio.

An alteration in the time-table of the early tram to Oamaru is ratified for the 3rd inst., on the occasion of the Oamfera races,- and holiday excursion tickets are anuounced. lilessra Maclean and Co. will holda sale of stock at Balcluthapo Friday.. A lecture on "War with the Afghan Tribes" will be delivered by Bishop Cowie on Thursday evening. ■ ■■.•■;, ■ i. '■■.-. The majority of the drapery establishments in town will be closed to-day, on the occasion of the drapers'picnic. ' v : ■ ■. Tenders are iiivited for the construction of a suspension hridge over the Bulle'r River. John Hislop. oldest established Watchmaker and Jeweller, 74 Princes street. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles suit all snuhts.—Advt.

„ Watch and Jeweilery Repairs.—G. &T. Young bb Princes street, have a large staff of skilled workmen, and special attention is given to all repairs entrusted t.o them. Jewellery made up to any design. Reduced charges.—A.dvt. Special for to-morrow at Mollison and Go's lip-Top Sale": 75 ladies'■•umbrellas, slightly damaged, worth from 4s fid to Us 6d, all to clear at one price—namely, 23 lid each.—Advt - For Punctual Time .'—Peter Dick most reliable Watchwatasr and Jeweller, opposite Ceffee Palace Moray place,' Dunediu. Charges strictly moderate.—Advt. . . •