SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11922, 21 December 1900, Page 2

SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

POLITICAL AND GENERAL.

The calm of the political waters in the colony since the prorogation of Parliament has been disturbed by a ripple that has travelled across the Pacific Ocean from Fiji. The Governor of that colony, Sir George O'Brien, has considered it not incompatible with the constitutional discharge of the duties of his office ,to attack the proposals that have been made for the federation of Fiji with New Zealand. It is difficult to reconcile, his Excellency's attitude in this matter with the generally-accepted belief that a colonial Governor who interferes in political matters has an imperfect and erroneous conception of his duties. Sir George O'Brien's indiscretion did not end, however, with his warm opposition "of the federation scheme. He sought to prejudice the minds of the Fijian natives against the proposal by presenting to them an absolutely distorted view of the position of the Native land question in New Zealand. He invited them to believe that the design of the. party in Fiji that favours federation with New Zealand is to secure possession of the natives' land, and he supported his representations to them on this subject with the following extraordinary a.nd ridiculously unwarranted statement: —

"It has always been the same in every country under the kind of government that there is in Sow Zealand—the white men have always taken the tend from the coloured owners. It has been so in New Zealand, where the land once all belonged to the coloured people. Who owns that, land now? The white people have got nearly the whole of it. The coloured people are cooped tip in the' fragment of land that has heen left to them, and many of them have no land at all." There is reason to believe that the attention of the Secretary of State for the Colonies has been directed to this utterance of Sir G. O'Brien's. Mr Seddon, referring to the mutter in a speech on the West Coast, so id he would "insist that this Governor should prove his statement or retract, and apologise." But, as Mr Seddon himself showed, proof is impossible. The speech by the Premier to which we have just alluded was his first purely political deliverance during the recess. It was made to his constituents at Hokitika. The greater portion of it was devoted to a. recapitulation of the principal legislative enactments of last session, and he made a statement, not by any means justified by the official returns, as to the financial results of the year so far as it has gone. Mr Seddon intimated that there would be " nothing sensational" in the Government legislative proposals for next session. A Local Government Bill, which will provide for the abolition of some of the superfluous local bodies that have been called into existence in the colony, is promised as one of the first measures of the session; and a Referendum Bill, a consolidation of the factory laws, and" an amendment of the Shops and Shop Assistants Act so as to bring banks and mercantile offices within its scope and thus prevent the alleged overworking of clerks, are also to be brought down. Sir Seddon further expressed the opinion that the time was fast approaching when the State should have a coal mine or coal mines within its control. The Government should not interfere, he said, if the present facilities were sufficient, but, if not, the State should step in. The Jubilee of the province of Canterbury has been fittingly celebrated in Christchurch. The celebrations commenced with religious services on Sunday last, the 16th inst—the actuil fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the first two vessels despatched from "England by the Canterbury Association with their precious freight, of pioneer settlers, —md the popular demonstrations were held on the following day, taking the form of a procession, a volunteer parade, and a mass assemblage in the evening of old colonists, who were addressed by his Excellency the Governor, the. Premier, the Mayor of Christchurch, and three of the most distinguished of the early settlers of Canterbury—Sir John Hall, the Hon. W. Rolleston, and the Hon. C. C. Bnwen. The celebrations were favoured with ideal weather," and were in every respect most .'successful. A singular amount of confusion marked the official arrangements for the homecoming of the first draft of New Zealand volunteers who have been released from service in South Africa. \Tn a number nearly reaching 100, they arrived in Australia by the steamer Harlech Castle, along vitli a few hundreds of Australians, and it was arranged that, after landing the latter, the Harlech Castle should come from Sydney direct to Dunedin. On the strength of this, extensive preparations for a public demonstration on the occasion of the arrival of the New Zealanders were commenced in Dunedin. The troopers from this colony, on arriving at Sydney, however, requested leave to transfer from the Harlech Castle, to which they had —not, it would seem, altogether unreasonably— taken a strong dislike, to one of the Union Company's steamers: The Government refused their request, but, notwithstanding this, some 20 odd of the men declined to wait for the Harlech Castle, and came over to New Zealand in the steamer Moana at their own expense. Included in this number were the majority of the Otago men among the returning soldiers. Subsequently it transpired that the Harleeh Castle would not be able to reach Dunedin before the commencement of" the Christmas holidays, and thereupon the plans for the demonstration upon her arrival were abandoned. The Otago troopers who came by the Moana were, however, accorded an enthusiastic welcome by, large crowds of people at Dunedin. The latest development is that the men who remained behind in Sydney for the Harlech Castle are not coming by that vessel at all. They ■ participated last week in the ceremonies at Sydney on the arrival of Lord Hopetoun, Governor-General designate of the Australian Commonwealth, and they are to be permitted to remain in Australia to take part in the celebrations connected with the inauguration of the Commonwealth on the Ist prox. The trial in the Supreme Court of Sarah Fogo for the murder of her husband, Thomas Fogo, a well-known resident of Dunedin, occupied two days, and resulted in the conviction of the accused. Mr Justice Williams passed sentence of death in the usual form, but expressed his concurrence in a recommendation to mercy which the jury attached to their verdict; and the Executive Council, taking all the circumstances into consideration, has commuted the death sentence to one of imprisonment for life. Tn Wellington a married woman named Mary Henderson, indicted on a charge of murdering a single girl, upon whom she had performed an illegal operation, was found guilty of manslaughter, and the Chief Justice sentenced her to imprisonment for a term of seven years. What are known as the Stoke Orphanage cases have resulted in the entire, exoneration of the accused, Brother? Wybertus and Ivilian. In all the cases that were tried

■he juries returned verdicts of "Not guilty." [ IVo of the cases against Brother. Wybertus jroke down absolutely, and were not persevered with, and in view of the failure 3f the prosecution in these cases and in the cases that were tried the Crown de- ; sided not to proceed with five other cases— three of common and two of indecent as- | sault—against the accused. The acquittal ' ot Brothers Wybertus and Kilian of the jharges brought against them does not, of 3ourse, imply any vindication of the general management of the Stoke Orphanage. Dhat was not in question in the trials.. The intention of the Government to establish a direct steam service between New Zealand and South Africa was reported in our last summary issue. It is proposed at the same time to institute a. direct connection, for the first time, between this colony and Western Australia, Fremantlc being made a port of call by the steamers engaged in the South African service, for which tenders are now being called. Tenderers are required to state the subsidy required ; and the steamers are to be capable of carrying at last 4000 tons and to be fitted with freezing chambers, and be of a sufficiently light draught to enter all the most important South African kirbours. The service will be a six-weekly one. The Union Steam Ship Company proposes almost immediately to test the possibilities of the South African trade, and Mill, if sufficient inducement offers, place a steamer on the berth next month. The master of the Central Electric dredge on the Molyneux River —James Ledingham, by name—lias been committed for trial on a charge of mans'.aughter. The circumstances are peculiar. On the 16th October a man named William Morgan was, with three other men, directed by the accused to run a line from the dredge to the shore. They proceeded to do so in a boat. One end of the line was made fast to the winch on the dredge, and Morgan was instructed to stand in the bow of the boat and pay out the other end with his hands. He was fouled by a turn of the rope ronnd his leg, was dragged out of the boat, and wa<s drowned. The boat contained none of the life-saving appliances which the mining regulations prescribe to be necessary. Ledingham has, upon these facts, been proceeded against on a charge of manslaughter. The magistrate held that there had been negligence and that it was for a jury to decide whether the negligence had been culpable on Lcdingham's part. At Inverenrgill a man named Charles Arnett has been committed for trial on a charge of the attempted murder of three men—Charles Milne, William Gordon, and John White—by poisoning. The allegation is that Arnett mixed strychnine with the sugar the men used for sweetening their tea. He has also been committed for trial on charges of the forgery of Milne's name and of the theft of a considerable sum of money, belonging to Milne. A deplorable tragedy occurred at Ponsonby, Auckland, on the 9th inst. A man named Miller had been deserted by his paramour, who bad taken away their three children with her. He vainly, tried to induce her to return to him. He took back with him, however, one of the children, a little boy, four years old, and. according to his own admission, he killed the child when he had got him home by cutting his throat from ear to ear. Miller thereafter attempted to commit suicide by cutting his own throat, but his injuries are not serious, and he is recovering. He had been confined more than once in a. lunatic asylum, and he is described as a, man of ungovernable temper. The Dunedin City Council has resolved upon electricity as the system of mechanical traction by which horse haulage on the city and suburban trams shall be replaced. It is proposed to generate the electricity by water power transmitted from sites on the Taieri River and Lee Stream. The total cost of this scheme is estimated at £198.000, to which must be added £48,000, the price to be paid to the Dunedin City and Suburban Tramways Company for the purchase of its plant, concessions, etc.