THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 1936, 2 April 1891, Page 21

THE WEEK.

"Nuniu&m allud natnra, allud uplentla dbdt."— Jdvsiuk. " Good nature and good uni « mnit ever join." -Popj.

The position of the Ofcago Central railway, now that the completion of The the line to Middlemarch is an Contrni accomplished fact, presents Batiwny. an anomaly which requires

urgent attention. It is perfectly well known to all those of our readers who have had occasion to look into the matter that with its terminus at Middlemarch this tardiest of all known railways simply does not open any country at all except such as has long ago passed into private hands, and very little even of that. The StrathTaieri, which it taps, is a narrow strip of valley land containing only a ;few thousand acres of good land altogether, all of which is already alienated from the Crown, and much of it aggregated into a couple of considerable estates. Desirable as it may have been to give this limited agricultural area a railway connection with the coast, no one with any sense of proportion could pretend for a moment that such an object could possibly have justified the expenditure of over half a million of money — the sum already spent upon the Otago Central. By common consent the object of the railway was to tap the Crown lands farther up country — the Maniototo Plains, Ida Valley, Manuherikia Valley, and ultimately the Cromwell and Pembroke flats. We admit at once that by an equally general consent, forced upoa this pare of the colony by the supreme necessity of retrenchment, this scheme has since suffered a stern limitation, and that there is now a very general feeling that a terminus in the centre of the Maniototo Plain would entitle us to rest on our oars for a time without feeling that we have spoilt the ship for the sake of a penn'orth of tar. The termination of the railway at Middlemarch, however, does not in any way fill the bill. We dare say there are many town readers, and perhaps country ones as well, who do not even yet realise the fact that, after the expenditure of over £500,000 in taking the line there, Central Otago is no nearer a railway than it has been ever since the Dunback line wafi finished several years ago. The prosecution of the railway, at least as far as some point on the Maniototo Plain, is the logical and

inevitable corollary of its completion t6 Middlemarch. The latter object would hardly have justified an expenditure of £50,000, far less a cost 10 times that amount. We are glad to notice that in spite of Mr Ballance's recent tergiversation on this matter, he has been wise enough to see that he must give way if the " windfall " from the sinking fund is to be used for public works at all, and provide, however grudgingly, for a moderate extension of this enterprise.

The principles which were advocated at the Town Hall meeting lately in " Fair Hont." the matter of " fair rent "

were certainly not greatly advanced by the arguments which the various speakers brought to bear upon them. Mr Hutchison, for instance, talked the most portentous nonsense when he sought to apply to the demand of certain city leaseholders for a reduction of rent the wellknown maxim of British law which provides that an agreement made contrary to the welfare of the State is ipao facto null and void. If Mr Hutchison desired to mislead his audience in this matter his action was reprehensible; and if his excuse should be blank ignorance — which is about the best excuse he could make for such an absurdity — it cannot but be remembered that he ought to have known better. Mr Dawson did not succeed in improving upon Mr Hutchison's standard of argumentative oratory when he sought to demonstrate an organic difference between the case of a freeholder whose purchase money represented an over-valuation of his purchase and that of a leaseholder who had made a similar blunder in offering a rent. Possibly by dexterous rhetoric this difference might be plausibly established — we do not know ; the operation is beyond us, but then we do not pretend that it is otherwise. Mr Dawson does pretend that it is not beyond him, and such being the case he ought to have given less feeble and impotent reasons for his pretence. Mr Pinkerton took refuge in socialistic generalities, his characteristic common sense inducing him to shrink from the task of a logical defence, though of course he had to say he would vote for the relief of the city leaseholders and for "frirrent" generally, We are inclined to think that the case of these " oppressed " people might have been made much more respectable than its advocates made it, though we are far from asserting that any advocacy could have made it otherwise than exceedingly feeble. The speakers, among other weaknesses, were badly posted ud in recent legislation on the subject of aggrieved rural leaseholders, which they altogether misrepresented. The value of recent legislation is indeed questionable, but it is not so bad as these superficial critics unwittingly made it out. Such as it is, we have very good reason for knowing that the principle of rent revision is by no means universally approved even among the small-farming class. Farmers have had plenty of opportunities of observing how it has been abused by smart individuals apt at writing appealing letters to land boards and other authorities, and how often the existence of the principle has already reacted in favour of the clever and unscrupulous bidder and against the honest competitor at the various land auctions. We hardly apprehend that the community will suffer the city " plungers " who have made bad bargains to unload upon it at large. If, howeverj the community ever does it will be in response to arguments of T a much more convincing kind than any that were used at the Dunedin Town Hall.

From one point of view it is perhaps just as well that the unionist The shearers who are creating Qnoeniiand such a disturbance in QueensRiot, land should have proceeded

to criminal extremities. It will result, at any rate, in teaching them that the first object of every oommunity is the preservation of order, and the securing of the immunity of individuals from intimidation and outrage ; and that, in the present stage of the new unionism at least, no Government, even if the labour vote is considered essential to its existence, can dare to refuse police protection to free citizens whose lives or limbs are threatened by armed mobs, or whose property is exposed to risk of annihilation at the hands of savage rioters. The Queensland unionists now allege, as every discontented union has of late alleged, that the Governments of the colonies are in league with the enemies of unionism to " crush out " that institution. The allegation, be it noted, is made as glibly against the new Victorian Ministry as against that of Queensland itself ; yet it is only a few months since Australian unionists were jubilantly claiming to have effected the overthrow of the Gillies Ministry by the exertion of their powers, and the establishment under Mr Munro ofjj a Government virtually owing its existence to them. The quarrel with the Victorian Government is precisely on the same ground as the grudge the unionists maintain against the Queensland authorities — namely, that police protection has been accorded to free labourers who were proceeding to take up work at their own trade, and were threatened with death by the bullet for doing so. We have not the slightest doubt that the New Zealand Ministry, which likewise owes its existence to the labour vote, would be compelled by the overwhelming demand of the community to perform a similar duty if similar circumstances should arise here. The claim that protection to the threatened is partisanship is too absurd to be worth a moment's discussion. Such protection is, of course, of the essence of equal justice between citizen and citizen ; and to withhold it from either party to the dispute, after reasonable indication of its necessity, would be the grossest and most infamou3 partisanship, even if the two parties to the dispute were the only persons interested in the maintenance or non-maintenance of order, But they are not the only persons so interested. The general community requires peace and order, and must maintain it independently of the' merits of any dispute whatever. Thus the Queensland rioters will have made the position clearer for the unthinking serfs of unionist " leaders " generally, if by their criminal proceedings, and the measures taken in consequence by the authorities, they have made it appear that a civilised government most use

its powers against outrage, in whatever name I committed, and that it is hopeless to ex- 1 pect the password " unionist " to afford any I murderouß|ruffianjla clear title to slay or maim • an unoffending human victim.

Unionism and temperance, both of them

excellent institutions in them- ! a Temperance selves, seem to have pre- j Koj«ott. eminently the knack of disheartening their best friends • by the methods they persist in adopting. ' Thus in the case of unionism we have recently seen the whole power of the leaders in all the Australasian colonies put forth in one tremendous effort at general coercion, ' with the result that the first trades unionist in the world, Mr H. Champion, is found writing in the leading review of the time an article with such a title as " The Crushing Defeat of Trade Unionism in Australia." In the later developments to which we have referred in the preceding note, a more peculiar and almost amusing instance has transpired of how mistakenly guided unionism makes itself specially obnoxious to its friends. It appears that when the strike of shearers took place and the call-out was issued, some of the sheds were shearing with union rules, and others with non-union men under the pastoralists' agreement. One would naturally suppose that the owners of the latter, or non-union, sheds wr>uld be the first object of hostile tactics by the union leaders. Not at all. By issuing their general call-out they punished . only the union sheds, since of course unionists only obeyed the call. Thus the squatters who had, either Voluntarily or under fear of "extreme measures," adopted the union ticket and shorn under union rules suddenly found themselves deprived of their men, and all their work stopped by the direct orders of the union leaders themselves ; while they had the additional vexation of seeing their nonunion neighbours quietly pegging ahead with their work after the call, as if nothing had happened. This, one would think, was hardly the ideal way of rendering union ideas popular amongst employers. The boycott, now fast becoming discredited as a trade-union weapon — many .honest and earnest unionists having become heartily ashamed of the despicable procedure to which it was often applied — has been, however, taken up with every appearance of selfcongratulation by certain intemperate temperance advocates in Dunedin, who propose to employ it against such grocers as possess bottle licenses issued in accordance with the law. We should be sorry to think that this determination was the result of anything but a hasty catch vote, which a little reflection, and the exercise of a little common sense, will impel the temperance people to quietly cancel at the first opportunity, and silently ignore in the meantime. Perhaps after all, though more reprehensible it is less misohievous to their cause than their unwise resolve to fight for absolute prohibition only and refuse all compromise in the way of limitation. • They doubtleßS feel themselves strong in the desire to do right, and their motives nobody questions; but even if their rectitude of purpose be admitted in an extravagant degree, they should still bear in mind on what authority we have it that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. They only alienate their friends and secure the triumph of their enemies when they insist on the sudden and complete destruction of an important department of trade and refuse all aid to those who desire their cordial assistance in limiting it. Instead of fixing their hopes on an extravagant ideal, they should accept worldly help towards the attainment of a practical improvement. By the excesses they prefer they are injuring the cause of temperance as much as certain other excesses have already injured the equally respectable cause of trade unionism.

The Minister of Education, though one of

very high importance, does Tho not afford its oscupant the siap same opportunities for dis-

Direct. play as are supplied by the other departments of the Government. It is a more or less prosaic business, in the administration of which statistics of wondrous complexity and reports of portentous dimensions form a leading feature, while funds are perpetually short and results constantly below expectations. This is a state of affairs which does not lend itself readily to the manufacture of political fireworks ; and in the case of Mr W. P. Reeves, who is given that way, a further dead weight is imposed upon his shoulders by the addition of the Ministry of Justice. This is rather hard upon Mr Reeves, who has a considerable fund of sarcastic humour, can turn off a leading article or a speech with a neat appearance of polish, and is possessed with a perpetual and intense desire to continually display these qualities to the world. * Perhaps it was bpcause he was jealous about the chances his colleagues were so eagerly pursuing of wearing their Ministerial honours in the greatest number of places in the least number of hours, after the manner of champion pedestrians, that he in an evil hour resorted to those silly letters to the various education boards at which sensible men have been laughing so consumedly. He may have become irritated at the deputationising and banqueting with which those great Liberal statesmen Messrs M'Kenzie and Seddon were beguiling their leisure hours, and thought it was time the public heard something spry and spicy about their great Liberal colleague Mr Reeves as well. If this were his motive for those unfortunate letters, it would at leasb be a more respectable one than mere docile subservience to the authors of a trade boycott, which is the motive more generally assigned. We are glad to see, however, that Mr Reeves, though he was tempted into a bad beginning, is by no] means past praying for. He has evidently noted with strong disapproval the behaviour of his colleague, Mr John M'Kenzie, at the Education Board the other day, and has administered a most unmerciful and deliberate snub, which willido|the Minister of Lands some much-needed good. Mr M'Kenzie, it will be remembered, pompously announced that he was about to advise his colleague to treat the Education Board of Otago with contempt. Mr Reeves has promptly taken occasion to deal with this in his address to the North Canterbury Educational Institute — not of course,

avowedly, but with an obvious pointedness that admits of no misunderstanding. " True," he said, " that in some cases the members of boards allowed themselves to be carried away by political rancour ; but the Minister who allowed himself in coasequence to take up a position of hostility to boards was not fit to hold office for a week. He supported the administration by boards most cordially." We ourselves somewhat sharply rebuked the Minister of Lands at the time for his foolish display, but we admit that in the administration of a direct slap in the face Mr W. P, Reeves has proved himself a long way ahead of our humble selves. In future it is likely to be understood in Ministerial circles that Mr W. P. Reeves looks after himself, and Mr John M'Kenzie minds his own buisness.

The condition of the world at the present moment is probably as unrroßre.l settled, and the temper of of nations as irritable, as ever citMmUo". was known in history since

civilisation dawned upon Europe. The long columns of cablegrams in the newspapers are becoming really quite amusing in their monotony of quarrelsome episodes from pole to pole. Mark Twain relates how, when travelling in Italy, he became so exasperated at the continual reference of every visible thing to the hand of Michelangelo that he at length exclaimed to his astonished guide, "Look here — why not lump the whole thing and say the Creator turned out Italy from designs by Michelangelo 1 " The newspaper reader feels sometimes inclined nowadays to invite purveyors of cablegrams in like manner to "lump the whole thing" and announce daily that every nation in the world continues to be at loggerheads either with some other nation, or with a section of its own population. In Europe we havealways with us, to begin with, the restless and mischievous activity of Russia; an activity that varies only in degree, never in purpose. Austria is now said to be fidgetting uneasily in the bonds of the Triple Alliance, while her neighbour is massing troops on her Eastern frontier, and Italy is itching for Trieste. The last-named power, besides her notions of Austrian spoil, has now on her hands the extraordinary Sicilian complication with America, an affair which is likely to cause great difficulty in adjustment by reason of the unique character of the occurrence itself. Germany and France have renewed their chronic game of shaking their fists in each other's faces, the excuse this time being something or other, nobody quite knows .what, in connection with the Dowager Empress Frederick. England and Portugal are still committing " outrages " upon each other somewhere in Africa, and apologising for the same with exemplary diligence in r ondon and Lisbon. England, France, and Newfoundland are engaged in a triangular squabble in connection with the important international subject of lobsters, beasts which seem only second to oodfish (and rather above seals) in their influence upon civilisation and the policy of great nations. Seals, however, are making a creditable show against their ciustaoean rivals in the North Atlantic so far as weight of warships goes, these comfortable but slippery creatures having up to latest dates engaged the attention of about seven ironclads belonging to England and America respectively. Oodfish are at present lying low, but we shall doubtless hear of them as usual very shortly. Canada has been fighting her elections on the question of a national revolt against the " British yoke," but does not seem to be on very happy terms with the States either. Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, &c, as per usual — nothing more need be said. Brazil has finished her revolution, and is said now to want her Emperor back again. The Argentine is " bust," after spending her small remaining revenue on gunpowder for the purpose of thinning down her surplus population. Chili is hard at it, with the betting even. In fact, our own volunteers, harmlessly encamped at Oamaru, seem to be £he only soldiers in the world who are not either actually fighting 'or about to be ordered off to do so. Perhaps if their turn were to come too we should hear less of these ugly mutterings about the effects of the camp canteen.

The death of Lord Granville, which we announce this morning, re"Eori moves a familiar and engag6ran>iiiß, ing figure from the arena

of English politics, and closest a public career of considerable distinction and notable consistency. The loss will be no mean one |to the prestige of the Gladotonian party, but it is in the House lof Lords that the deceased statesman will be most keenly missed— the House where he has acted for so many years as Liberal leader, and where he has proved a foeman well worthy of the steel of a Beaoonsfield, and a Salisbury. Without pretending to oratory of a high order he was master of an exceedingly effective style of speaking — quiet, witty, and playful, though when occasion demanded he could be genuinely serious. He was conspicuous as a hereditary Whig who did not fail to assimilate many of the ideas of a time for which Whiggism has no message, and Mr Gladstone had nostauncher friend and supporter. As a Minister, however, he was not a success. For the post of Foreign Secretary he had the qualifications of taot, amiability, and knowledge of men and manners, but in his negotiations with other countries he displayed a sad lack of decision, steadfastness, and vigour ; while it is not too much to say that in these colonies a keen sense of relief followed his retirement from the Colonial Office. He had no capacity for sternness, and his merits and bis shortcomings may both be gathered from the saying that he was the best-mannered man in Europe. He had reached a ripe age, though he was five years younger than the illustrious friend who still stands erect and strong when almost all the comrades of his own standing have passed away.

The Tapanui Courier reportß : — " The past week has been a busy one with harvesters, and a lob of crop has been safely gathered in ■Wheat-cutting has been general on Crookston Plat, and the crop is a heavy one."

The Victorian railway valuator states that, owing to the nature of the tribunals, the Victorian Government paid 25 per cent, above its value for all land taken.