NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1158, 7 February 1874, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(From the Daily Times, Jan. 27 to Feb. %.)

The London Correspondent of the New York Tribune has been enlightening the readers of that journal regarding the negotiations which have resulted in the establishment of the present Californian Mail Service. Some extracts from his letter are published by the San Francisco Bulletin, and these we give in another column. According to the Tribune's correspondent, Mr Thomas Russell, being desirous that the service should be in American hands, arranged with General Burnside and his friends for a 12 -knot service. The arrangement, however, required to be confirmed by Mr Samuel, and this confirmation Mr Samuel refused to give, "as Mr Parkes was in league with an English Company, and would hear of none other." Mr Parkes's friend, Mr Hezekiah Hall, without whom it would appear no San Francisco Mail Service can be properly arranged, turns up about this time as the London Agent of the English Company. With him, or with Mr Samuel, Mr Russell carries on a correspondence about the service, and in one of his letters Mr Russell "ventured to intimate plainly the existence of a corrupt bargain on the part of Mr Parkes." If what the Tribune's correspondent says be true, the first batch of "Papers relating to the San Francisco Service," to belaid before Parliament, will be looked forward to with interest, as he predicts that the correspondence will contain "accusations of corruption not unlike those which have excited so much attention in Canada." What is there, we should like to _ ask,_ in the nature of a contract for a Californian Mail Service, more than in any other kind of agreement, which renders it necessary that there should be something " shady" about some of the parties mixed up in it 1 Yet, when -we remember how the Colony was treated by the last contractor, when we think of the above charges against Mr Parkes, when we bear in mind the position and reputation of Mr Hall, and when we look to the fact that if the service had not been arranged with Mr Hall it would have fallen into the hands of ihe " notorious " General Burnside, we think we are fairly justified in asking the question. Our only comfort is that throughout the negotiations for the various services, although blunders have undoubtedly been made by those representing this Colony, the breath of suspicion has never rested upon their action. In stating what he understands to be the final arrangements for the establishment of a service, the Tribune's correspondent furnishes us with a novel piece of information. He says that if Congress takes any action during its next session that will lead to the establishment of an Australasian Service, the company with which the temporary service has been arranged is to exercise its option of withdrawing from the service. The memoranda handed to the Press by the Government during the past few weeks do not confirm this assertion, and, if it be not correct, we trust that the PostmasterGeneral will not consider it beneath his dignity to give it a denial.

Now that the complete case as against the late Captain of the Surat has been disposed of, we feel no longer restrained from commenting upon the proceedings of the shipmasters in their efforts to get up sympathy on his behalf. We confess that when we first became aware of the action taken by the masters at their meeting on board the Warrior Queen on the 22nd inst. , it was accompanied with so great a feeling of surprise and regret, that nothing but a sense of fairness to the ex-Captain himself prevented us from at once giving expression to otxr disapproval of the course taken by the masters in very strong terms indeed. What struck us at the outset as one of the most objectionable phases of the whole affair was this : The assembled masters had no word of commiseration for the hundreds of their fellow - creatures whose lives had been jeopardised, and whose earthly all had been sacrificed ; they had no expression of regret that an irreparable injury had been done to the Province and the Colony by reason of the very seriou* blow that had been dealt out to our costly system of immigration. The lives endangered, the property sacrificed, the injury done, and the disgrace cast upon the profession to which they themselves belonged, were altogether ignored, and the meeting began and ended Bimply with sympathy with Captain Johnson. Now, we would very seriously aak these misguided shipmasters to plaoe themselves for a moment in another post of observation than that they occupied on board the Warrior Queen. Let them for a moment, and in imagination, take up the position of the many friends and relatives of the Surat's passengers in the homos from whioh thoßO passengers came. Let them hold in their hands their friends' detailed aqoounts of the horrors they h&d endured,

the injury they had suffered, and the loss they had sustained. Let them also have before them the report of the evidence taken before the Court of Enquiry. The wild scene of indescribable horror, confusion, and imminent danger, that ensued after the ill-fated vessel first struck, and which was caused mainly by the proved state of utter, helpless, and disgraceful drunkenness to which almost all in authority from the captain to the cook had most shamefully disgraced themselves. We say let them realise all this if they can, and then, while still occupying the same assumed position, lot them read side by side with the evidence and the letters, the account of their own doings in their own proper persons on board the Warrior Queen. If they will take the trouble to do this they "will not fail to see that ono result of the course they have taken will be to instill into the minds of thousands of would-be-passengers the uncomfortable thought that the life and property of people who go to sea are regarded of but little value indeed, in comparison with the reputation and immunity from punishment of those who are justly held responsible for their safe keeping. " In respect to the charge contained in the first resolution passed at the meeting, viz. , that the punishment awarded by the Court of Enquiry " was extremely in excess of his (the late Captain's) deserts," we think now, as we thought and expressed our thoughts on the 21st inst., that the Court were amply justified by the evidence in coming to the decision they did. One of the arguments urged by the masters in support of this charge of " extreme excess " of punishment, was avowedly based upon the proceedings taken with regard to the Captain and officers of the Atlantic, and other vessels that were assumed to afiord parallel illustrations. But a moment's reflection will show that the cases compared were wholly different — in one, at least, of the most important; points of comparison — namely, after the vessels had actually struck. On the one side, we have men acting like men ; like brave, courageous, feeling men ; men who strained every nerve to save the lives and property of all on board, and who had sufficient control over themselves to enable them to do all that men could do so long as it was possible to do anything at all. On the other side, we haye — well what have we 1 Let the evidence shew. We sum it up in just two words — " the reverse." Instead of doing all that men could do to repair the injury already done, or to mitigate its evil as much as possible, Captain Johnson and his officers seemed to have done what the very lowest grade of common seamen, left unrestrained by any authority whatever, could hardly be excused for doing. They got drunk and left the vessel and its freight to sink or swim, to life or death, as chance might direct. Another thing that struck us as most peculiar about this manifestation of sympathy is this : that it -was wholly confined to Captain Johnson. If the cancelling of the Captain's certificate " was extremely in excess of his deserts," what about the cancelling of the certificate of the Mate 1 We all know that aa a matter of necessity "the line must be drawn somewhere," but the attempt to draw it in this particular instance between the Captain and the Mate 13 a specially unhappy one. It should surely have been "borne in mind that Foreshaw, though acting as mate for this special trip, was really, by virtue of his certificate, as much a captain aa was Captain Johnson. We suppose it will not for a moment be argued that he was more to blame than the Captain j how, then, comes it about that the assembly of shipmasters have no sympathy for him t It seems to us that if any plea at all for remission of penalty were really admissible, it was far stronger in favour of the Mate than the Captain. The very generous sympathy lavished upon Captain Johnson, while the Mate is left out in the cold, wholly without a single crumb of comfort, or a drop of consolation of any kind, looks as if the movement were one got up by tl\o shipmasters moroly because the offender Johnson was one of their c^oth,, and casts an air of ridicule on tbto whole affair.

THEBerlin correspondent of the Argushaa supplied that j our nal with a very interesting account of the state of the labour market in Germany, and he shows that there exists in that country, among certain classes, quite as strong a feeling against emigration as there ia in England amongst the Pross and the employers of labour. In Germany the rise of wages has, owing toa variety of causes, been very rapid. A few years ago, 'artisans received from 2a to 3s per day ; now, we are told, ordinary artisans have no difficulty in earning 6b, and skilled hands make frequently 15s, or more. Thero has been no corresponding rise in the rate of agricultural labourers*' wages,, and therosulthas been thai; thefield hands have been pouring into the towns> tempted by the prospeot of higher wages, Thoae who do not receive employment m

artisans, are" still in a position to earn two or three times as much as they could in the country by labouring on the various public works which are being extensively constructed out of the French indemnity money. It is amongst the field labourers only that there is any desire to emigrate. A knowledge of farm work, and an ardent desire to become possessed of a piece ef land of his own, no doubt make the German labourer as well as the British ploughman sigh for a home in America or Australasia. The necessity for devoting some of his best years to military life without receiving adequate remuneration, forms an additional inducement to the German to leave his native country. The German Government view the continued emigration with something like alarm, and at one time they seem to have tried to stem the tide by cancelling the licenses of certain emigration agents, by prosecuting unlicensed emigration agents, and by punishing persons endeavouring to emigrate while still liable to serve in the reserve. A wiser policy, however, appears to have been pursued of late by the Government, as we find Count Eulenburg, the Prussian Minister of the Interior, at the conclusion of a speech in which he dwelt at some length upon the question of German emigration, telling the Lower House of Parliament that "instead of compelling people by force to remain where they are, we should exert ourselves to render it profitable for them to do so of their own accord." This is a wise and statesmanlike view of the question to take, and unless a similar policy is adopted by Great Britain, the British Government will find that the bone and sinew of the country will ascertain in time that there are other lands where they can fare better, notwithstanding the misrepresentations which English newspapers may make in the interests of the employers of labour.

The arguments that were used at the meeting of the members of the Athenaeum against tho opening of the Reading Boom on Sundays were varied, and, as a consequence of their variety, contradictory. One class of objectors were not opposed to the reading of books or newspapers on Sunday. On the contrary, they desired no " pharisaic " observance of the Sabbath. But they urged — let the books be read at home. Let the members of the Athenaeum enjoy the beauties of nature in wandering through the fields, or in admiring the flowers, shrubs, and trees in the Botanic Gardens, but the beauties of literature are only to be enjoyed in the small bedroom of a lodger or in the drawingroom of the householder. Reading is not wrong on the Sunday, but reading in a we?l-ventilated, well-lighted, and comfortable public room is against our principles and shocks our feelings, and m"sfc not therefore be allowed. How feelings can be shocked at the reading of books and serials in a public room, and yet not shocked at the same action in a private house, we cannot conceive. We can, however, imagine feelings shocked at actions done in public. Perhaps, to a strict Sabbatarian, seeing people riding in cabs shocks his feelings ; but reading in the Athenaeum is not openly done. None can see people reading except they go to the .Athenaeum. The riding in cabs is an open act. Nevertheless some of those who were opposed to the opening of the Athenaeum on the Sunday have been seen riding in cabs, on horseback, and in private vehicles on the first day of the week ; and if their feelings are therefore so peculiar as not to be shocked at the reading of a newspaper or review in a bedroom, nor at the riding in cabs, &c. , nor at the walking in the fields and gardens admiring the beauties of nature, we think that the members of the Athenaeum cannot be asked to pay much deference to such "feelings." Another class urged that the law recognised Sunday as no ordinary day, and therefore the members of the Athenaeum should not open the reading-room. The law also recognises Good Friday and Christmas Day as no ordinary days, yet how many persons work on those days, and shock the eelings of their Catholic and Episcopalian fellow-colo-nists ? We have yet to learn, however, that the law prohibits reading on Sunday, or the opening of reading-rooms on Sunday. Heading-rooms are open on Sunday in many places in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and no attempts by the Sunday Observance Society have ever been made to close these readingrooms. These were the two main arguments urged against the opening of the reading-room on Sundays, and the subscribers present at the meeting properly overlooked them, and voted in favour of the resolution proposed. After all, the question remains to be answered, What harm can the opening do 1 In answer to this no one has urged aught but shocking of some people's feelings. This was what was said against the opening of the Princes streot Gardens in Edinburgh ; and, Btrange to say, the moat vehement oppo-

nent of the opening of these Gardens was seen the Sunday after enjoying in his own garden the pleasure of a walk on the Sunday afternoon. And so we are certain that many of those who voted against the opening would be seen, were their dwellings visited on a Sunday, reading secular literature. Why then refuse to those who have not the comforts that some enjoy, the privilege of a few hours' reading in the Athenaeum ? At present a citizen may walk in the Botanic; Gardens or through the Town Belt. Is it a greater violation of the Sabbath to do this than to read a review or a newspaper? Of the advantages of opening the readingroom we need not write. Granted that the Athenaeum is an educational Institute not even second to the University, why should those who may not have time to devote to reading during the rest of the week be denied the privilege of reading on Sunday ? On a wet day a person cannot walk about, and after Church is over he must either remain in his bedroom or, if a lodger, sit in the public room and listen to secular conversation. Would it not be more elevating were he permitted to sit in the Athenaeum reading-room in quietness, and peruse an essay in the Contemporary, or an article in the British Quarterly, or the Dublin 1 We believe the Sabbatarians are standing in their own light in opposing the opening of the read-ing-room, for nothing we can name can so hallow the day as quiet reading and contemplation, such as the reading - room of the Athenaeum affords. It remains to be seen whether the newly-elected Committee will carry out the resolution which met the approval of a majority of the Athenaeum members on Fx-iday last. If, on the ground that the division was a close one, they decide upon leaving things as they are for a short time longer, we should not feel inclined to blame them. The opening of the Athenaeum on Sundays is a mere question of time, and the supporters of the innovation may rest assured that the more the subject is ventilated, the greater will be their victory in the long run.

The proposal that the City Corporation should buy the University Hall is one which, we think, will meet with general approval. Certainly a better site for a Town Hall could not be got, and the building is substantial, and possesses all the accommodation which the Corporation could desire to have. If acquired, by the City, probably some alterations would, in time, have to be made with the view of enlarging the central hall, but these would not require the expenditure of any considerable sum of money. Were the back rooms, and those on the north side, thrown into the hall, it is estimated that there would be accommodation for about eighteen hundred persons— a very large assemblage for Dunedin, even on great political occasions. There is the other i side of the question : How would the disposal of the building to the City suit the University authorities? From all we can hear, we are inclined to think that the University Council will entertain favourably any reasonable proposal which the Corporation may make, and there | can be no doubt they will be right in j doing so. It is no advantage to have the | Universityinthebusinesscentreof thecity, i and the area of the present site, although moro than ample for the requirements of the University for several years to ome, would be found in time probably to be altogether insufficient for those requirements. A piece of land containing some two or three acres, in a healthy situation, and about ten minutes' walk ,from the Post Office, would, looking to I the future, be much more suitable for University purposes than the present one. Our advice to the University Council is, however, " Do not part with your present site until you can see your way clearly to become possessed of another which will suit you." Indeed, looking at the difficulty there would be in procuring a piece of land such as we have described, the University Council might fairly make it part of their bargain with the Corporation that the latter should find them a suitable site. This got, the Council would be in a position, with the money obtained for their building, to erect substantial and commodious premises, and after having done so, they might be left in hand with a few thousand pounds, which could be devoted to the general purposes of the University. Should the negotiations which have already been set on foot result in the purchase of the University Building by the Corporation, the question of finding a home for the Museum would require to be considered. We apprehend that the city authorities in such case would have no objection to the collections remaining where they are for some time to come. The question of finding permanent quarters for the Museum would, however, have to be settled during thq coming session of the Provincial Council, and if the Government are unable to provide accommodation elsewhere for the collections, they will only be doing their duty if they aak the Council

to vote a sum of money for the erection of a building to be devoted especially to the purposes of a Museum.

Of late years, we have not unfrequently had occasion to point out that injury is being done to this part of the Colony owing to the method in which the agricultural statistics of New Zealand are compiled by the officers of the General Government. The absurd system of placing "land under grass" under the head of " land under crop," must have misled very many at home as to the real capabilities of the two islands. Leading newspapers in Great Britain have pointed to the North Island as an important grainproducing district, and many persons, we believe, have been induced to emigrate to the Northern Provinces who would have selected Otago or Canterbury as their future home had they known what little progress there had been made in agriculture in the former, and what excellent prospects there were for the industrious agricultural labourer in the latter. For the first time, however, we find a home paper reccgniaing " the fact that Otago and Canterbury take the lead _as grain -producing regions." The Australian and New Zealand Gazette of November Ist has a short article upon "Agriculture in New Zealand," and we certainly did expect that from a journal which professes to deal solely with matters relating to these Colonies, something like accurate information would have been given on this subject. What do we find, however ? The Gazette proceeds to state that the fact of Otago and Canterbury taking the lead as grain producing districts, " arises from the circumstance that in these two Provinces railway enterprise has been very active, and the dearth of labour less perhaps than in other portions of the Colony. " What would the readers of the Gazette say were they told that the Provincial Government of Otago, owing to the dearth of labour in the Province, have been actually endeavouring to obtain hands from one of the North Island Provinces ? By enquiring at some proper quarter as to the reason why agriculture is progressing here and not in the North, the Gazette would soon find out that the ordinary cereals are successfully grown in this Province and in Canterbury, but for some cause or other they will not thrive so well in the North Island, where the price of labour is much lower than it is here. The Gazette stupidly contends that in the vast grass lands of the North there is evidence "of the urgent want of population, in order _ that agriculture may have^in other Provinces, besides those of Otago and Canterbury, an equal chance with those pastoral occupations which result in New Zealand more from lack of immigrants than from the natural character of the soil." Were the Gazette's advice taken, therefore, the result would be that the stream of British emigration would be diverted from the Middle Island to the Northern Provinces. It is clear that the writer of the article we have referred to must either have been ignorant of the real agricultural capabilities of the two Islands, or that he has been seeking by means of coloured statements to induce persons at home to emigrate to the Northern Provinces, in preference to the Middle Island. An article of this kind is not creditable to the Australian and New Zealand Gazette, which many people at home will naturally regard as a reliable authority upon all matters appertaining to these Colonies.