The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1897.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2240, 4 February 1897, Page 29

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1897.) THE WEEK.

" Xunquam allud Datum, allud stpientla dlxit." — Juyinal. "Good nature and good sense rauai eror join."— Pom. There is barely room for two opinions ■with regard to the Bushy A Fatuity Park sale, but no good will Affair. be done by the promulgating of wild guesses unfavourable to t.he Ministerial purchaser, and still less by categorical statements involving definite figures which may be liable to conclusive refutation. The story printed in the Auckland Herald, to the effect that £20 per acre was recently refused for tbe estate, which a member of the Government (or bis sons, if he prefers to put it that way) found could be purchased from the head of tbe Government tor £8, is to hb incredible on the face of it. We do not of course doubt our contemporary's good faith, but there is evidently some mistake. No land of that value is known to exitt in tbe locality ; nor can we, in the present stage at any rate, even hold it as by any means proved that an unduly low value has been accepted for tbe estate. That will no doubt, under the peculiar circumstances, be matter for inquiry. There are grave objections to the transaction, however, which are independent of the reeults of such an inquiry. For instance, the plea that the land was publicly advertised for sale before this private arrangement wan made is merely trifling with the public. Such an allegation might be fastened upon as a workable legal point in a difficulty, on*, no one who remembers the vague general advertisement presumably alluded to would waste a thought upon it as an exculpatory fact. A more hopeful line of defence would' have been to suggest that a private sale is a perfectly legitimate transaction in itself (which is true;, and therefore that a private sale of State property by one Minister to another Minister is morally unchallengeable, even when the selling Minister baa, only a short timo before, got the buying Minister to join him in workiDg hi 3 (the aellinsc Minister's) appointment to the wellpaid office vrbioh enabled bim to conclude the gale. Some people might be got to believe that who won't believe the defence that it was cot a private sale. Bub in addition to all this there are circumstances connected with tbe appointment now held by tbe Minister for Lands' son an manager of the Bank of New Zealand's Bushy Park estate which have rever been adequately explained, and whioh come into suggestive prominence now that the purchase is revealed. The substitution ot Mr M'Keczie, jun. (who may for all we know be a capable manager) for the gentleman then in charge of the bank's property was one of tbe very first noticeable stepß taken after the bank became tbe Government's plaything,- and it was not made any the less noticeable from the fact of the close proximity of the Minister's own farm to tbe estate in question. It is perhapß a little more apparent now why the change was so desirable. It must not, at tbe same time, be forgotten that a Minister's sons are, if all else be right, as much entitled as anybody else to better themselves. The whole thing probably comes to no more than this : tbat Ministers with a strict sense of right refuse the opportunity of benefiting themselves or members of their families under such circumstances as those which surround the Bushy Park purchase ; these Ministers do not— that is all. As to the alleged belying of all the Ministers' lifelong professions by this big transaction in private land, that is a matter for those who believed in them, which we never did. We should b« the last to lecture him for abandoning on the first good opportunity a creed which, anyhow, was never sound, and whioh was obviously never intended to be applicable save to other people, or to stand in the road when the excellent preacher of all tbe virtues saw his way to a good stroke of business for himself.

Revaluation.

There is a quite irresistible air of solemnity about the resolution of the Wellington Land Board recommending that a Revaluation Act be passed next session, " to be in force for one year." The casual reader would think that such an act and such a Diaottao bad aerer bgeu beard o£ in New

] Zealand before, and tbat land boards were in the habit of meeting every application for j a reduction of rent with a stern rej fusal. Instead of that, such applications and their direct or indirect ! success are mere matters of routine in the i southern provinces at any rate, and have been so forseveral years. Refusals are rare, and the law is always found equal to tbe case, though in a somewhat roundabout fashion. So far as we know, the method of surrender, loading with valuation of improvements, and subsequent reletting at a reduction, has never brought out a competitor to dispute the re-entry of the original lessee. There have been good and bad transactions under tbe system, no doubt, bub on the whole its existence, -which has had the sanction of two or three Governments, seems to harmonise with public feeling, and the occasional grumbling arises rather from particular anomalies than from dissatisfaction with the oporation of the general principle. That is; as regards tbe past and present. Bub the belief apparently entertained by the Wellington Laud Board that rearrangements of rents can be made to finally stop 12 months after the passing of an act to tbat effect shows an ingenuous simplicity quite charming in so experienced a body. It may very well be that the appointment of a Revaluation Court would have advantages over the present baphazard practice, but if so, it may just as well be appointed as a permanency, for its functions are certain to be extended, first temporarily and then permanently. People who pretend tbe contrary fail to reokon.with the fact that the abolition of sales of Grown lands is so rapidly increasing the political strength of Crown lessees that candidates for Parliament in country districts will find that a formidable block vote threatens at every centre the bradamantbine aspirant who insists on tha extremest rights of State landlordism. Wo are moving towards a condition of affairs in which Crown tenants will be able with some show of reason to claim to be tbe landlords as well as tbe tenants of State lands, and they will demand the landlord's right to ease tbe tenant's conditions as they may think fit. The new Eevaluatlon Act which tho Crown Lands Commission at Wellington announces as a coming Government measure may be nominally limited to a year's- operation by one of its own olauses, but if so it will only be done because an act of Parliament, like a politician's opinions, "kia be altered" — when the proper time comes. <•

Developments.

I The reported retirement of Mr Henry Mackeczie from the position of general manager of the Bank | of New Zealand, immediately upon the publication of the facts recently disclosed in connection with the Colonial Bank, iB interesting in view of the faot that the president has the power of veto over any resolution of the directors. We find no fault with the desire apparently entertained at headquarters to keep secret as long as possible what has actually happened in Mr Mackenzie's case ; but of course one inevitable result of the policy of secrecy is that the public will at once proceed to weave its own theories as to the course of events. What will probably be found near the truth is that the directors, who have never been exactly comfortable about their choice of a chief manager, concluded on the publication of the interim report to either dispense with Mr Mackenzie's services or provide for his continued connection with the bask in a different and perhaps unacceptable capacity ; that thereupon Mr Watson (this suggestion, j we may warn our reader* beforehand, will be I strenuously denied in any case), recognising that he could not decently abandon his associate in the Ward and By ley affairs in such a fashion while holding the commanding position he does, came In with a hint that his power of veto was getting rusty from disuse and would be the better for an airing; and that it was then arranged through the agency of Mr MackoDzle himself that provided a suitable outlet for his energies could be found in a particular department of the bank's service the office of general manager should be quietly and peaceably vacated. There would bo nothing actually improper in I itnch a triangular play of foroes, though if it were definitely known to have taken place it would hardly tend to increase public confidence (what little is t Jeft of it) in the remits of the Government's disastrous bungliDg about the whole affair. Mr Mackenzie's retirement, however, whether complete or .partial, does not end the matter. There is a universal feeling of anxiety — almost of dread — as to what may yet be necessary in the way of further steps I affecting many parsons in whose perfect uprightness the community still earnestly desires to believe. Most gladly, it is to be feared, would rooßt of us stifle our consciences and compound with our instinctive sense of right if only we could thus be sure of avoiding the farther washing of dirty linen before the scornful eyes of the neighbouring colonies and of those limited circles in London (more limited fortunately than many good people believe) who concern themselves at all with our affairs. Since, however, we cannot, be sure that farther humiliation and scandal is not in store for the colony, let us at least be glad that notwithstanding all the revelations that have been made there has never been a suggestion, nor is there the slightest reason to imagine, that any of the directors or officers of the Colonial Bank were personally interested to the extent of a penny piece in the scandalous advances of their shareholders' money now publicly proclaimed to have been made. Far otherwise were many too notorious bank scandals in recent times in the neighbouring colonies.

Steadily in Yiow.

I The meeting of the Federal Council at Hobart has not opened außpiciously for the proposed convention of six months hence — which convention, by , the- way, seems to be likely to reveal itself as hardly more than a glorified edition of the Federal Council itself, which we have had with ns since 188(5 with no very startling results. The Queensland representatives arrived in a very bad temper, and made things rather warm all round, one of them satirising Mr Reid's " jsew-born Z9al " for federation — not altogether without a colourable excuse for the gibe— and another snubbing the

Premier of Victoria for raising a solemn fuss about those troublesome New Hebrides. This general nastiness is understood to be Queensland's way of retaliating for the attacks made in the other colonies on her fast-and-loose method of treating the commonwealth question. It does not sound exactly federal in the reports. By the time the Federal Council, or part of it, becomes a conference of premiers — really, these lightning changes among practically the same set of people are rather bewildering — its chances of ever becoming a federal convention seem likely to have somewhat faded. Mr Seddon (with his secretaries) may perhaps create a useful diversion, though when he is conferring with the premiers he will have to be very oareful to remember that Ihe is, so to speak, neither counselling nor conventioning, but strictly conferring. Regarding the question, as New Zealanders do, from the oatside, we must be pardoned for a certain amount of scepticism as to the genuineness of the federation impulse even vet. Many good men are really in earnest, some are politically in earnest, but most, it is to be feared, are not in earnest at all. If they were, tbe smouldering jealousies between the various colonial capitals — at any rate between two of them — would be a good deal more active than they- are. At present such feelings are in abeyance merely because they co-exist with an instinctive perception that,, ill spite of appearances, nothing is ! really^going on sufficiently serious to call ! them into play.

i ; The man Carroll, who has been arrested in \ Sydney and has confessed to throwing vitriol at Jewell, seems to have made a poor choice of a palliative plea. He says he threw the stuff because his victim drew a revolver. This involves the hypothesis that he provided himself with vitriol before the interview merely as an effective defence against the possible use of firearms, a thing i too absurd for consideration. We mention the case specially because such a crime is rare in the history of this colony, and an occasion of this kind should be used to render it if possible still rarer, by making the consequences to the user as obviously undesirable as they oan well be made. There oould be no more oowardly method of injuring an enemy, and few more devilishly oiuel. Vitriol, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master. Its removal from oommeroo to-morrow would shatter the whole fabric of trade in a degree that oan only be faintly realised, for industries by the hundred depend absolutely on its oheap and regular supply. Among other things, tbe i eoience and praotice of medicine would be paralysed by its disappearance. Sinoe, then, its presenoe in enormous quantities is a necessity of modern civilisation, it is dearly neoessary that vitriol-throwers, like dynamiters and prisoners, should be very thoroughly taught that the community will not tolerate such infamous miauie ot the gifts of nature and the arts.

Apparently the Palme«ton people find oertain aspects of the Busby Park transaction a little trying to their patience. It seems ~ that they recently petitioned the Minister for Lands (who is their representative in Parliament) to take this very estate under the Land for Settlements Aot and oat it np Cor small settlement. Hope seems only to have been stimulated by the evasive answers returned — these big private purchases require time to arrange, — and now that at last the answer comes in some such shape as " Not good euongb, friends ; I want that plum for myself," they feel unreasonably' sore and, which is still more unreasonable, surprised. Their soreness we can perhaps understand, but their surprise we confess we really cannot. Have they, then, watohed the proceedings of the last five or nix years and learned nothing 1 Do they not already know, on the Minister's own authority in another case, how impossible it is that he nhould ever treat any petition of this kind with " scorn, derision, and contempt," and must they not be wholly mistaken in imagining that their own has been served in anything like that way? People must learn that these things are trifles. They could occupy themselves more profitably with some such mathematical calculation as this : If Mr Seddon, an the Assets Company's Board, tells an estate to Mr M'Kenzle. who as Minister for Lands has just refused to other people the chance they asked for to acquire it, and if then Mr M'Kenzle, as head of the Advances to Settlers Office, authorises en advance by the State to the purchaser of part of the purchase money, and Mr Seddon. aB Colonial Treasurer pays it cot of the million and ahalf loan: then, by tbe time the circle is completed and Mr Seddon as the Assets Board receives his own cheque, what is the net benefit to this cleverly-governed colony 1

The announcement just made of tbe discovery of a method of atereoscopioally projecting X-ray pictures differs from many of the sensational statements which have followed upon Professor Bontgen's discovery in being perfectly genuine. It is tbe result of experiments made — not in tbe dark, as it were, bat strictly at the suggestion of deductive science ; and the demonstrator is fully entitled to the credit which will undoubtedly accrue to bim for bis clever following up of an excellent and novel idea. Tbe methods by which tho twin photo* graphs for tbe stereoscope are obtained in the case of tbe X-rays differ rather theoretically than practically from the methods followed in tbe ordinary portrait or landscape work, and will require no new apparatus whatever beyond tha ordinary toy stereoscope for after-examination. Tbe latitude and longitude of a foreign body embedded in tbe tissues could already be generally located by the Rontgen rays, and now the third necessary element in special mathematics can be supplied — namely, tbe depth of tbe embedding. To those familiar with the us 9of tbe common stereoscope it will be unnecessary to explain why.

Eabl Kilmobey, the cables tell ns, is coming out to Australia to arrange for the construction of a " Midland railway " there which will quite put our own notorious little affair in tbe shade. He wants a railway constructed to Port Darwin on the land-grant system, but where the land is wanted by bis principals does not at Dioasnt appear. They

can hardly covet a huge estate in the central wastes over whioh a great part of the transcontinental telegraph line runs. It mast ba confessed that the advantage of a railway to tbe Gulf, even if it can be arranged for, arc not clearly apparent to the ordinary mind, but perhaps the eail may have something practically attractive to say on the point. He might do worse than study during his passage out the history of land-grant railways in this colony, and educate himself In the intricate art of turning snob things into oash by the astute manipulation of local political rivalry, as illustrated by our Hansard and "Parliamentary Proceedings." Starting from tbe f aot that this country has built several railways on the land-grant system and has only one private line (the Wellington-Mana-watu) left, his lordship might be encouraged to the most comfortable anticipations with respect to bis queer- mission.

Thebk is a sense in which a kind of federation seems to be badly wanted in this colony. The geograpbioal conditions which have created here a string of oapttals dotted ovet several degrees of latitude bring with them special advantages, no doubt, but they tend to oreate a separation of interests whioh the' tourists npw crowding to our shores find it' difficult to understand. We fanoy that otf the whole a good deal more is known in Dunedin about what gees on in Sydney and Melbourne (whence our visitor^, mostly come) than about events passing in, 'Auckland or Napier. A few weekß aago(o — o( was it months ?— a telegraphic account was published here of the opening of an exhibition at Wellington. How many people know whether or not it is still open; and how many remember that it ever was? Sydney tourists streaming southwards think it the right thing to praiße " your " exhibition when they get here, and are at a loss to understand the frank puzzlement of the Southerners as to what they are talking about. But we are not the only sinners. It takes at least a bank scandal to get any interest expressed in Wellington in Dnnedia affairs.