POLITICAL NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11191, 13 August 1898, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

. . » . i We are not inclined to quarrel with Mr Seddon because his financial expositions have nothing of that. Gladstonian charm which could hold a crowded House spellbound to figures for five hours at a stretch. The Premier-Treasurer does sometimes try I to be eloquent, with the result that he becomes amazingly elephantine, and we are | glad upon this occasion to be spared those i fearful and wonderful descriptions of scenic I and national glory at which ho once tried his too heavy hand. The Statement only took an hour in delivery, and (according to our parliamentary correspondent) "it had quite a soporific effect on members on both ! sides of the House, bnt more particularly on Mr Seddon's own followers, for two members of the Ministry and several prominentfollowers fell fast asleep," Against this absence, however, of any kind of literary, oratorical, or generally human interest, we make no protest. , Not to every statesman is it given to write a great State paper. Nevertheless, it is just here that a legitimate protest may be made. A New Zealand Financial Statement is a State Paper: it is a definitely formulated exposition, coldly and calmly written down,—differing in this from the Budget speeches of English Chancellors of the Exchequer, which are practically es tempore orations, Probably the New Zealand practice Is the more suitable, if the less interesting, of the two; but obviously it entails a special obligation upon the Financial Minister. There cannot be the faintest excuse for the appearance cf a shadow of party feeling in a written Statement. Yet, Mr Seddon, in his care-fully-written Budgets, does not scruple to indulge in partisan reflections and comparisons with which an English Chancellor of the Exchequer (though speaking extempore and open to the temptations of the oratorical moment, so to say) woulcl never dream of interlarding his Budget speech. In a previous Statement, if we remember rightly, Mr Seddon talked largely about j " the Liberal Party," and now we have him uttering irrelevant rubbish about " Conser- . vative Governments " and " tho Liberal Ad* i ministration." The offence is twofold :it is I

c- an offence in statesmanship, because thes IC I comparisons are quite out of place in , State Paper; it is an offence in manners because Mr Seddon knows perfectly wel s" that the party opposed to him disowns th ts appellation of "Conservative." It is i rt w.onder that he did not write " Tory " whili , n he was about it. The Leader of the Opposition very pro ?> perly resisted the Premier's proposal t< io bring on the financial debate before mem i- bers had had an opportunity of studying j_ the contents of the Statement. Ib woulc be difficult to instance a more characterise l ~ piece of Seddonian unreasonableness. Foi > weeks the Opposition have been complain is ing of the improper delay in bringing dowr ~ the Budget, and now, when it makes its , | belated appearance, Mr. Seddon cooll}' ye, ; marks that the contents are as easy as d 'A B C, and that what has taken him so lone n ,to prepare need only take Parliament a few t . ; hours to appreciate. Macaulay's eteraai i schoolboy is brought in: " any Sixth Standard -dard schoolboy could have compiled the IS ' figures from the parliamentary records.'' 5- I Sir Julius Vogel was fond of talking abouf f "babies in finance," and Mr Seddon will, ' | not improbably, go down to posterity as '■ j the Sixth Standard Treasurer. Mr George ° 'Hutchison suggests that if this is Mr Sed- _- don's own estimate of his financial powers lit is not altogether erroneous, tartly adding .'■ i that " any sixth, or other, form schoolboy : who would attempt the inferences he has 11 been guilty of in connection with these fig- .- ures would deserve a thrashing, and would •. certainly be put to the bottom of his class." j The author of the Financial Statement will i have himself to thank if the debate should c j prove acutely critical,' for he was not obliged 0 Jto make those interesting comparisons i | which are likely to cost him so dear in the i - hour of sober argument. Members of the : Opposition may well feel, as regards those c ! astonishing tables and inferences, that the '- Lord has delivered him into their hands. Z ! The friends of decent parliamentary procedure must have been glad to read of Mr c Morrison's discomfiture on Wednesday. If t it be true that the Premier was practically .1 in league with his trusty henchman, the inj cident furnishes a pretty instance oi the uni speakable blessings of the party system. I A Ministerial partisan asks a question, pro- - ; fosses to be dissatisfied witb the answer a j given, and moves the adjournment of the s | House in order that tlie afternoon may be I occupied by a desultory discussion, —and nil ' | for what? To enable Ministers to shirk the " j next business on the Order Paper. Could a j the unreality and topsy-turvydoin of existj I ing parliamentary conditions be more strikj ingly exemplified V In this case, however, '■ jwe have the rare pleasure'of'giving a meed 2i of praise to the Ministerial majority. The - Standing Orders provide that a motion for j, j adjournment, under the. circumstances of _ i Wednesday, cannot be proposed unless the " | mover is supported by_ sever, members, and " this necessary modicum of countenance Mr b Morrison happily failed to enlist. It may _. be _ 'hat- his fellow-Ministerialists (recoga nising the disgraceful manner in which the Government has for years treated the Oppo- • sition in the'matter of returns) shrank from f the idea of intensifying the scandal. Any i bow, Mr Morrison's 'loyal strategy came to grief, and the Premier (doubtless grieved by his followers' supineness) was obliged to face the music of opposed returns. It is notep worthy that Mr Taylor's motion for a return . in connection with loan records was supported by the ex-Treasurer (the Hon. J. G. Ward), though deprecated bythe Premier- . Treasurer, the Minister for Lands, and the [ . Minister for Public Works. We take it that ,Mr Ward's attitude is to be regarded as a challenge respecting his.own management of | loan money rather than1 as a disapproval of ! Ministerial opposition to Mr Taylor's de- ; ma.nd. It is right that the truth should be ' made known concerning the matters covered 'by Mr, Taylorls motion, whomsoever the 1 truth may implicate; and we are not ' greatly nioved by Mr';Johu M'Kenzie's pathetic reminder that " the cost of the return . would, be sufficient to make several miles of public roads." Road construction is not the I colony's' sole necessity; for instance, some I people think that thef construction of dor- | mitories at the asylums is quite as necessary. _ But that illustration yvould never occur' to the Minister for Lands'; • ,— ■■ While quite agreeing /(iri the z interests both of Freetrade and of the Imperial con- ' ' nection) with Mr Seddon's proposal to grant a- remission of 5 per-c'snt. of the duties: charged-on the- manufactured goods of'the mother country, we cannot congratulate '. him upon, his course ofj procedure. . Ifc is obvious that a resolution to., give'effect-''to ■' the proposed change' should have been - f brought down at once, as Captain Russell pointed out on Thursday. Nothing can be more inconvenient than uncertainty in regard to tariff changes ; and conditions, and the vaane expression of opinion or inten- , tion contained in the (Financial Statement is calculated, in the absence of definite action, to causo considerable commercial disturbance. The Premier, instanced the urgency of this matter ais a reason for hurryjma on the financial debate, but the, argument was more astute .than ingenuous. Does he propose to keep this tariff scheme dangling until the conclusion of the necessarily long debate? What h^ ought to have done is clear enough. He sliould have brought down a resolution (with, not after," the Financial Statement) to the effect that the proposed change would, il carried, come into operation on such or such a date, the existing tariff to be payable in the, meantime, and all accounts (as from the date ! mentioned) to be properly adjusted when the i proposal had been carried or rejected. The Preniier declares that he has no intention of bringing down a resolution, and he appears to have been vacantly oracular in his explanation on Thursday. "How will you do it, then?", asked a member. "I will show you how to do it," was the replyquite worthless for the time being. while commercial people must put up ivith the inconvenience and uncertainty, and \ bless' Mr Seddon. Why. by the way, is j ' there no indication of i desire on .the part j of the Government to'follow.'the. example. I of New South Wales and take advantage of the preferential reciprocity proffered by | the Government of Canada? ". ' j In the House of Representatives yesterday | the afternoon sitting was taken up with a dis- ; cussion on a report by the Petitions Com- | mittee, and replies to questions. The Rating ; on Unimproved Value-iAct Amendment Bill was read a first time. In the evening a com- , mittee was appointed to consider the question of State farms. Tho financial debate having been adjourned, the remainder of the sitting was devoted to the Noxious' Weeds Bill, ' which was under consideration when the tele- j graph office closed, j The Ocean Beach Domain Board has held another meeting, and has not got any " forrader." Supplementary reports were received from Messrs Reynolds, Petre, and Hutcheson as to the step 3 necessary to protect the St. Clair end of the Beach, and a | proposal was made to recommend Mr ReyI nolds's scheme to the ratepayers. This was I supported by three members, who were a majority of, those present, Messrs A. ,0, Begg ! and P, M'Gregor being absent. The Mayor, who occupied the chair, submitted an amendment in favour of the acceptance of Mr Petre's proposal, but gave notice of this, moving instead the adjournment of'the discussion until a future meeting at whicli the attendance of all tho members might be secured. This was lost on the voices, and the mayor, declining to proceed further with the business, left the chair and the meeting. As Mr Gourloy declined either to take the chair or to remain if any of the other members took it, in which latter event no quorum would be left, the business could not be further proceeded with, and an' adjournment until j Monday waa agreed 10. | The Dunedin ancl Kaikorai Tram Company j intend to push on their new lino of tramway | to Kaikorai Valley with all speed. In this i issue tenders are invited for the cartage of ' over 500 tons of rails from the wharf. The j steel track rails and slot rails of new pattern were manufactured at the Johnson Steel Com- i pany's Works, Pennsylvania, and have been I shipped per Doris, whioh is expected here in ! a few weeks, and per Norwood, following a few weeks later. The formation works, which have beon delayed somewhat by the broken weather, aro now rapidly nearing completion. The stone wall at the rectory is quite finished, and is a very substantial work. Contracts havo been let for the tube frames and tierods. A considerable quantity of cement has been landed, and is in stock, and a large quan , tity is expected to arrive shortly. The line 1 will be a great boon to the hill and Kaikorai | | Valloy residents, and will no doubt tend to I I increase the tmmilation in those suburbs. I

;e ] Negotiations which were -entered into be a 1 tween the parties in the civil case of Goldi *, v. the City Corporation, recently-before th ' J Supreme Court, have not come to anything c and one point in connection with the actio! remains to be argued. This argument wil be taken on Monday- next after the case o Pratt v. Marie shall have been disposed of The case of Hallenstein v. Hawkins wil) b 0 taken after Chambers on the 23rd inst., anc . i that of Ross v. Howell will be argued on th a day following. J A system of musical notation and pitel c has been advanced by Mr Walter H. Thei r wall, and has been accepted for publicatioi by Messrs Chappell and Co. There is on!) s one stave, instead of five, no ledger lines an . required, all accidentals are swept away, anc s the arrangements of tones and semi-tones an y quite distinct. The stave is of seven lines i the middle line thick to simplify reading The stave exactly contains on its eeven -lines " and six spaces the notes included in an oc- , tave of the pianoforte; which octave is mdi j. cated by the number placed at the beginning _ of the stave. The key, major or minor, anc s the tonio are shown by certain marks. These a are the main features of the new notation, • which, it will be seen, adapt themselves tc 3 the principle of our modern " equal tempera- ' ment." 3 A wine bath does no^ sound a very tempt . ing kind of ablution, but the Paris corros 1 pondent of the Daily Telegraph assures hi: ' readers that in France a sojourn of 20 minute; 1. in a tub into whioh a hundred'litres of Mai 1 voisie have beon poured is described as ths • most invigorating process that can b< 3 imagined, it being added that the operation can be repeated with the same wine one hun • dred times." You empty the whole hectolitre , on.each occasion into the bath,' and when yoi; have had your dip you put the wine back iutc j the cask." So the same Malvoisie does duty - ; over and over again. But this i 3 not all. Tht : I wine is not lost even now. It can be drunk! f 1 " After the one hundred baths the Malvoisie ' is distilled, and the result is a delicious " branelyl" .. I A large and, enhusiastic meeting of the . : ladies who have undertaken the management ■ of the sale of work, whioh is to be held tc ! i raise funds for the George street School gymi i nasium. was held on Wednesday evening. The I | reports presented showed that a great deal oi '■' interest is being taken in the movement. A ' large stock of useful and saleable articles have already been received, and. the amount of support promised is very encouraging. It ivas | decided to commence, the sale in , the Ho\v« , street Hall on September 14-, and to, request ~'aJl those who intend, to assist to hand in theii f'i donations to Mrs R. C. Moore not later than . i September 10. Credit is due to the ladies, [ j who have been indefatigable in their efforts ' to make this affair a success. . . . _ ,: We call attention to the advertisement ap- \ j pearing in our columns to-day in connection ' | with the obtaining of money for a bishop's . ! residence for the Anglican Church. Bishop • j Nevill's long residence and self ■ denying i i labours amongst us would in any case entitle • him to special consideration in this matter : | It is not for himself, however, that lie is parj ticularly anxious, but for the diocese itself | and for his successor. Putting it on a com : mercial basis, the movers in this matter con- ! sider it would not be good business to allow the £1500 from England, to. slip away from the community through failure to raise another £1500, with which to meet it. A feature of the concert to be given in the Garrison Hall on the evening of Friday, 19th inst., in aid of the Nautical Fair fund, will be the singing of the " Kyrie and Gloria," from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass," by St. Joseph's Cathedra] choir.', Every effort is being madetq make the programme an attractive one, and the names of the artists (given in,our adverj tising columns) who are assisting should be a 1 sufficient guarantee as to the merit of the enj tertainment. Tickets are selling rapidly, and a bumper house is assured. Mr John Fuller's' Myriorama Company wil! make their farewell appearance in the Garrison Hall on Wednesday; next. A very popular programme composed of., the favourite items during tlieir late successful season ha 3 been arranged. - — sl. _______.' * TO-MORROW'S CHURCH-iSEfeVICES. j- St. Paul's, Cathedral—Holy communion, 8 j a.m.; matins and litany, ill a.m.; evensong, i 6.30. Preacher, morning and evening, Veni • Archdeacon Robinson.' .'.'.'". ■ j"--Trinity Wesleyan Churchill a:m.,'Rev.J. J..uewis; 6.30 p.m., Rev. W. p. Oliver. St Andrew's . Church—Hoy.. Dr. Waddell, . morr.ihg and evening. ■ ■ . .' :; "■ - : .Methodist Central Mission—Rev. W. Ready, ' morning and evening. i St. Matthew's Church—Holy jomniuiiion, 8 ' a.m.; Naval Artillery parade 'service,- 11 a.m. , (preacher, Rev. W. Ourzon-Siggers, M.A.); J evensong, 6.30 (preacher, Roy, H. S. Leach). | All Saints' Church—Holy communion, 8 a.m. j (preachers, the Dea-o and Rev. W. Curzon-Sig- ■ gers, M.A.). i Wesley Church, Cargill road—ll a.m., Rev. j W. C. Oliver; G. 30 p.m., Rev; T. G. Brooke. 'Mosgiel Church: Morning, MrS, A. Scott; I evening, Mr C. D. Ross. ! North Dunedin. Presbyterian Church—Ser- : vices in the Drillhall Evening .'subject, "Sunday Concerts." | Disciples of Christ, Stuart stroet Oddfellows' I Hall—Mr Mazengarb, morning and evening. -Mr W. C. MacGregor will'deliver an address at the monthly meeting, of the Burns Club at ; the' Choral Hall on Wednesday evening. , A special meeting of the Taieri Agricultural Society will be held at Mosgiel on Friday, 2otli inst. _ Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co. will sell on Saturday, 20th inst., freehold property in the Green Island -District. The City Tramway Company advertise a modified time table on the Ocean Beach route in this issue. Male members of the Dunedin Choral Society are requested to attend an extra practice at the Victoria Hall oh Monday evening, and ladie3 j on Tuesday evening. j The Otago High School Old Boys' dinner will I be held at the Grand Hotel this evening. j Messrs Dalgety and Coi will sell' at Balclutha on' Tuesday, 6th-September, a farm containing j.206 acres,.with buildings.- - - I The Otago Rugby Union's trial match will | be. played on the Carisbrook ground this after- i noon. '. . ■-i'•'.-'• ' The Roy. W. Ready will give an address to I young men to-morrow on "A Ride on a Motor i Car, and its Lessons." ' Mrs Wakefield-Holmes ; will aing a solo. | Copies of a prospectus of the Hogburn Gold ; Dredging Company can be obtained from Messrs Quick and Smith, brokers. Messrs James • Samson and Co. will sell ' household furniture, etc., to-day. Messrs Park, Reynolds,'and Co. will hold a ] clearing sale of dairy cows, farming implc- j ments, and household furniture at Mr .Sutherland's farm, Flag Swamp, on Wednesday, 17th ' inst. . ■'••-'. | Mr D. M. Spedding will sell on Monday bedsteads, fenders, overmantels, etc. The installation and investiture of officers of Lodge Dunediu, 931, E.C, will take place on Tuesday evening. Members of sister lodges are invited. The August number of ,the." Phonographic Magazine and Typewriting News" is to hand. This is one of the,most creditable publications in Australasia, and that the efforts of Measrs Harvey and Cope, the editors and proprietors, aro meeting with recognition is evidenced by the fact that it is the largest magazine in shorthand iv tho world, and the only illustrated publication of its kind. The August number would do credit in evory respect to any . country, and there is little doubt thai, the | effort now being made to introduce the , magazine in England will meet with success. ' Fr_vnk Hyamb, Jeweller, Princes street, notifies having landed, ex s.s. Otarama, a largo shipment of English and Continental Novelties in " Art China," including many specimen pieces from the hands of leading artists in the Ceramic Art. The whole have been selected personally by Frank Kyains, and such variety of design and colour in Art China has never bofore been shown in the colony; moreover, the pieces aro such as will ensure a ijeady sale, being ouly a slight advance on. landed cost, Many of tho pieces, while of exquisite beauty, cost'only a few shillings. Inspection is invited irrespective of purchase.—Advt.' John Hjslop, oldest established Watchmaker and Jeweller, 14 Princes street. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles suit all sights.—Advt, Massage akd Electbicitx.—Mr. and Mrs iD. Edwin Booth, Massage Institute, Stuart street, Dunedin,—Under the patronage of the medical gentlemen of Dunedin- ' ' Visitors to Dunedin during, the Jubilee holidays are cordially invited to inspect G. and T. Young's magnificent stock of watches, clocks, jewellery, silver and silver-plated goods. G. and T. Young supply the best at reason- . able prices.—Advt. Alex. Thompson, Oil Clothing, Tent, Tarpaulin Factory (established 1871), 163, 165 Princes street. Good assortment of Oil Clothing, Tents, Canvas, _ Rope, Twines, Tarpaulins, • Horse Covers.—Advt. Bargains! Bargains 1 Bargains I Bargains i During Sale. Men's Waterproof and Fashionable Overcoats at Clothing Factory, Octagon.Advt. Fob Punctuu, Time! —Peter Dick most reliable Watchmaker and Jeweller, opposite Coffee Palace, Moray place, Dunedin. Charges strictly moderate.—Advt. j The Ballarat Loan Office, 176 Princes | street, advances money on any description of '>■ portable property. Low interest,—Advt. |