THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." [Established November 15, 1861.] DUNEDIN, SATURDAY. JUNE 23, 1866.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23224, 23 June 1937, Page 6

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." [Established November 15, 1861.] DUNEDIN, SATURDAY. JUNE 23, 1866.

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS AGO

We mentioned a short while back that instructions had been sent by the General Government to the SubTreasurers to stop the payment to the Provinces of the three-eighths of the Customs after the end of this month. ...

Our readers are now in possession of an outline of the conditions upon which the complicated financial relations between the Provinces and the Colony depend. They will not find it difficult to come to the deduction, that either the Provinces must cease to have an independent finance or their revenues must be more safely secured. The arrangement by which the three-eighths were paid answered well enough as long as it was held to be sacred. But the moment a Government has shown itself mindful that that arrangement depended upon custom, instead of upon statute, and that that therefore it could be broken through, it lost every atom of reliability, and nothing but a definite act can restore it to its value. It is well the subject should be understood, because, if we mistake not, it will be one of those which will engage leading interest during the forthcoming session.

It appears that, notwithstanding the issue of warrants for the apprehension of Burgess, Kelly, and Sullivan, on suspicion of being the murderers of Mr George Dobson, at the Grey, the body of the missing gentleman had not been found up to the date of the last news from Grcymouth. A telegram which was shown to us last evening stated—" Burgess and party have been arrested in Nelson Province. Dobson's body has not yet been found. He had to pass where Burgess and his party were lying in ambush, armed and masked, on the 28th ult. There is little doubt that they stuck him up,, murdered him, and then buried his body in the bush." From what we have heard, we expect to find, as one result of the aporehension of Burgess and his mates, that some of them will be identified as having been concerned in the recent stealing of revolvers. &c., from the Police Camp at Hokitika. We mentioned last week that the news of the issue of the warrant against Burgess, Kelly, and Sullivan for murder, was the first intelligence to the police that Sullivan had returned from New South Wales, whither he went when he escaped conviction for the stickine-up and shooting at the police at Wetherstones, in 1861 or 1862. which led to the imprisonment of Burgess and Kelly here. Sullivan, it will probably be found, was the man who, pretending to be a stranger to those charged with the robbery from the Hokitika camp, stated that he had found on the beach some of the missing revolvers. The next papers received from Grevmouth and Nelson should contain information of interest to the whole eolonv, as concerning the fate of Mr Dobson, and the probable chances of the daring criminal Burgess and his associates.

When on a full war footing the Austrian army consists of 579.000 men. The Prussian army, including the Landwehr, or militia, is composed of 566,150 men. In case of extreme need Bavaria can have an army of 90,000 men, but at present her whole available force is 59,984 men. The Hanoverian army is about 25.500 strong, and the Saxon is of the same strength, Wurtemburg can bring 28,800 men into the field, and Baden about 18./00. Hese-Darmstadt and Heses-Cassel have together about 24,000 men under their command.