The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, JANUARY .19, 1899.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2342, 19 January 1899, Page 33

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, JANUARY .19, 189 9.) THE WEEK.

" Nuaquam aliud natara, a'liud lapfeatla dlxit."— JuvßKxt,. " Good uatur* aud coed cenae muat e\er jam.** Fora.

There is something quite unusually ghastly and distressing in the liistory The of the Gatton outrages in Gatton Queensland, even to persons Tragedy. so f ar removed from the

scene of them ag we are in New Zealand. A prominent Australian newspaper suggests that the murders were of a character so brutal as to suggest that tho perpetrators were half-caste blacks, many of whom, it seems, are in the habit of attending race meetings — tho murders were committed on Boxing night — in the 'town of Ipswich, which is near the scene of the tragedy. There would be a • certain comfort in supposing, so, but" unhappily everyday- experience in some quarter of the world goes to atow that -Europeans are occasionally quite capable of crimes every whit as horrible. It may be concluded that at least two men were concerned in the teirible business, for the two Murphy girls were accompanied by a brother whose photograph, as it is given in the Australasian, is suggestive of an unusual degree of stalwart activity, and who had had some years of military training. The fact that outrage upon the two women was the impelling motive lends support to the theory. Although the three victims were done to death with a bludgeon of some sort, a revolver at least was in the hands of the perpetrators, for the horse that was taking the unhappy trio home was shot with a revolver bullet. The probability is that the perpetrators were masked, that the victims were led to believe it was a case of " sticking-up " -for money, and that after the three were bound, or perhaps after young Murphy was bound, the identity of tho villains was revealed in the struggle that ensued, when murder became a necessity of self-preservation. The deed is perfectly horrible to contemplate. Someone suggested in a letter which appeared in our columns that the time has arrived when the lash should be freely applied in ca^es of outrages upon women, and the writer probably gave expression of the deliberate .sentiments of most thinking people. There are natures so brutal that nothing' short of the dread of brutal forms of punishment will enable them to control their lawless appetites. Everyone knows that all lunatic asylums contain specimens of the chss who exhibit depraved and exaggerated manifestations of tho sexual instinct. But in every community there are poisons whose emotions are equally depraved without the

loss of reason. These have never learnt to control their appetites, and have allowed them in their morbid intensity to outgrow the will, which has become weakened through sheer lack of exercise. Self-grati-fication is the law of their nature and at length becomes an imperious necessity, and the outcome is crime. For such crimes when they fall short of murder the punishment of death which some countries have adopted is unsuitable, since it is apt to arouse the sympathy of the community. The lash does not, however, and it has a sovereign deterring power for the brutal. But the last penalty of the law is the only punishment for the Gatton murders, and in the interest of all Australasia it is to bo hoped they may not escape their doom.

The people of Wellington are fairly to be congratulated upon the final Tlctoria act which breathes the College. breath of life into their tar-

dily established University College — the appointment of the various professors. The Victoria College Council had a wide range from which to choose — there were 177 applicants for four chairs — and there is no reason to doubt that they have made the selection with a -single eye to the benefit of the University. It is satisfactory to find that one chair has been filled by a New Zealander who stands out from the others even by the success which has attended his scholastic career alike in Cambridge as in Auckland. It does not in the least follow that because a man is New Zealand born preference should be given to him in an appointment of the kind ; the young New Zealander cry would be every whit as ridiculous in University matters as in politics, and probably more mischievous. But; the claims of Mr M'Laurin were too striking to be overlooked, and the Council could do no other than secure his services. There is some idle criticism about the rejection of Dr Dan for the chair of Physics and Chemistry, but the very narrowness of the vote against him shows that the Council acted with perfect honesty in the matter.

At the same time^ tho professors selected have yet to prove their capacity — and here it is that duo weight should always be given to a local candidate whose capacity to teach is known. The acquiring power is one thing and the teaching quite another, and the two are by, no means so often combined as people are apt to think. One has only to hear a learned Doctor of Divinity preach or a profound lawyer address a jury to find that out. Still, scholastic acquirement is about the only test we have, and the danger of a leap in the dark is reduced by the certainty of securing at least knowledge and industry. The Legislature was wise in providing that the professorial chairs should be tenable for five years only, sub ject -of ■ course to the re-appointmevt of the occupants. Security of tenure is quite an essential in some departments of human affairs, — in the higher Courts, for instance, or in leases of land ; but it is apt to have a torpid influence — though Aye cannot say such is detectable in our own University — in the domain of the teacher who is subject to no influences outside of himself. It is satisfactory to find all the chief cities of our own small colony endowed with University Colleges, and we heartily wish the youngest of them every success.

We suppose that persons living at a distance from us, and who give but Charity the most superficial atten•n tion to our affairs, will acIH&guise. C ord Mr Scddon a good deal of credit for having " solved the difficulty," as the phrase goes, of the old ago question. To them he will seem the bold reformer who cut the Gordian knot and acted while others were hesitating in dismay before the difficulties that stood in the rord. And yet it is the simplest thing in the world to be a reformer after the same pattern, all that is necessary being to ignore difficulties and enact something, whatever the consequences may be. It is to be feared that much solid evil to New Zealand is likely to be worked by the foolish notion that New Zealand " leads tho van of progress." The effect upon men of the Premier's stamp is to swell their vanity and encourage them to set aside every sense of responsibility. While older countries are struggling with the real difficulties that surround the old age pension question, the problem how to grant pensions that shou'd be honourable alike to -the giver and the receiver, that shall demoralise neither the pensioner nor the community, Mr Seddoii adopts a much simpler and easier method. '' Let's pass a Bill of some sort and chance It," is what he says. This is no fancy picture of our own ; the words " chance it ' slipped from the Premier unawares, but by no means passed unnoticed even among his own followers, who could hardly fail to sen tin mischievousness of their leader's attitude on a question of such prime importance. The Premier knows well how much there is in a name ; he got several loan Bills through at a time when a simple public believed there was no borrowing, by calling them "Aid to Public Works and Land Settlement Bills." The device may seem, and is, childish, but it answers the purpose among people who, child.ike, are in the habit of tailing things for granted in public affairs. The Premier introduces a Bill which varies a little the charitable theme of past years and calls it an Old Age Pension Scheme, and he is taken at his word. To the outsider New Zealand seems to have solved the difficulty ; Mr iScddon accepts the credit, and complacently counts the votes he will get from old age pensioners and their friends at the next general election.

Meanwhile no one single difficulty surrounding the question has been solved. Thero is no pension, but simply a charitable dole, made permanent instead of temporary, aud granted by a magistrate instead of a board of trustees. The individual claims nothing as of right. There is no moral check of any kind ; the claimant, after satisfying the magistrate as to age and residence, pleads poverty and gets outdoor relief under another name. To him or her indeed there is probably less humiliation in going before a board- of trustees for outdoor relief than of pleading poverty before a magistrate in open court. The theory of honourable pensions accorded to honourable

old age is a good and a sound theory ; we should dearly like to see it carried out. But the problem is yet an' unsolved- one in New Zealand.

There is a sorb of parliamentary deadlock on in South Australia which A Neighbour's may or may not be resolved Crisis. when the Houses meet, which they are about to do as we write. The Upper House there is an elective body, the qualification of the voter being a £25 rental from leasehold, a £20 income from freehold, or the possession of freehold of the value of £50. During the last session of Parliament the Upper House ventured to throw out various measures of the Premier (Mr C. C. Kingston), who waxed wrath in consequence and introduced a bill to lower the franchise of the offending Chamber to simple household suffrage. This would have given a vote to every tenant or lodger of a house, and would reduce the difference between the franchise qualification of the two Chambers to the slightest. The amending bill went to the Upper House and was there promptly thrown out. Thereupon Mr Kingston announced his intention of submitting the question, in the form of Referendum to the people, and when it was pointed out to him that there was no law.- in South Australia by which such a process could be carried through he declared he would do it by- tho authority of the Government alone. In other words he proposed to substitute the will of the Cabinet for the law of the land, — a proposition which shows how very slender a partition there is between autocracy and the so-called advanced Liberalism of the present hour. A leading member of the Opposition then moved that the Referendum proposal should first receive the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of Parliament. This itself was a compromise sufficiently dangerous to the rights of the minority, and ?s a. precedent it would be. most jnischjevous, for of course it is. very .much easier, to get resolutions carried in Parliament- - then to get bills passed- into law. -It is one of the constitutional -rights of a minority to obstruct the passing of a bill "until "an opportunity has been given* at a general election for the people, to pass an . opinion upon it. Even this 2>roposa-l was defeated in favour of an amendment -to sanction- the Referendum by resolution of the Lower Chamber alone. Seeing" the high-handed stylo in which the Lower Chamber was about to cany things the Council refused to pass the Appiopriation Bill, and both Houses adjourned until 17th January, when the battle will have to be fought out. Fortunately the public servico is provided for up to the 31.st January, after which, if some amicable arrangement is not come to we may have a repetition of the troubles that convulsed Victoxia some 30 years ago when nil the public servants remained unpaid and much misery and confusion resulted.

The cause of the trouble in South' Australia might easily be misAnrt taken. At first* sight it

How it might appear that in a want Came About. o f flexibility in tho constitution of an elective Uppor House lay the origin of the evil. An elective Upper House is a fixed body of men whoso numbers cannot be increased ; whereas in a nominated Chamber obstruction can readily be met by the power which lies in the hands of a Government of at any time making new appointments to redress the balance of power above. Tho remedy, however, is only valuable when it has not to be put in execution— when tho mero threat of making new appointments is sufficient to produce the desired effect, as was the case during the crisis between the House of Commons and the Lords on the querstion of the corn laws. When actually applied the remedy is an extremely clumsy one, and is carried out at serious cost to the State. It is liable to grave abuse too, as we have had abundant evidence in New Zealand, where we havo seen our own Premier unscrupulously exercising the power of appointment whenever it suits a momentary purpose, whether it be the pas-sing of a commonplace bill or the reward of a faithful follower. The colony has had to bear tho loss, and if a succeeding Government is compelled on talcing office to secure a majority in the Upper House for itself the evil becomes a perpetually growing onq. Wo have yet to meet the difficulty in New Zealand. If .the advantages and disadvantages of an., elective as against a nominative system be weighed the balance- will be found strongly in favour"' of the elective. It provides a stronger and better body of men, closely in touch with the public and with sufficient independence to enaWe it properly to perform the functions of an Upper Chamber. And that such a body can work in perfect harmony with the more popular Chamber is proved by the experience of Victoria, where for more than 30 years that harmony has been unbroken — ever, in fact, since the trouble over the Darling grant, in which historical episode the Upper Chamber is now acknowledged to have been in the right. What really i§ wanted to produce harmony between two Chambers with -independent powers is simply thcit readiness to reasonably give and take which is essential in all .human affairs. The finest political Constitution that ever was doviwsd by man can no more afford to do without reason and moderation in the men who put it in force than the finest piece of machinery can do without skill and knowledge in the men avlio work it. The came of the Victorian deadlock of '67 was the attempt of the then Premier to do violence to the Constitution for the furtherance of his own ends. The trouble in South Australia now is due to the action of its Premier in attempting to substitute his own will for the law of the land. The general elections there take place in a couple of months' time. He would then have had x a sufficient Referendum legally constituted to his hand. The question . of lowering the franchise of the Upper House could have been submitted to the people, and if they were pronounced in favour of the proposal the Upper House would have been bound sooner or later to give way. For after all, no Upper Chamber, however etrootfli constituted, can lone "^t in defi-

ance or the deliberate opinion of the mw jority of a community. . -, We learn from Mr A. Black, of the firm o£ Cossens and Black, one of the owners of the No. 1 Earnscleugh claim, in which the moa egg was recently found, that he has taken, eteps to secure the egg, and that it is now ou its way to Dunadin. When it arrives hertf it is his intention to hand it over to the Otaga Museum, to be retained permanently in that institution. A lad, 16 years of age, named Thomas KesSoven, left Buckland's station, Waikouaiti, qii horseback on Sunday afternoon, and as he did not return on the following clay, fears wera entertained for his safety. A search party went out to look for him, but no trace of him was found up till 3 p.m. on Tuesday inorni ing. At daylight the party again resumed their cearch, and eventually succeeded, in finding tho lad, who was all right. No particulars are, however, to hand as to the cause of his prolonged absence, or as to where he waa found. In consequence of the reduced rates ruling in Australia, all tho direct lines from New Zealand havo decided to lower their rates ol f i eight on wool to the following: — Steamers, jsd per lb greasy, |d per lb washed; sailors/ id por lb greasy, id per lb washed, with the usual primages. The New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company make an announcement to that effect in our shipping- columns. The digest of the provisions of the Old-ago Pensions Act which Mr R. S. Hawkins, S.M., has prepared for the u?e of applicants in the extensive district in which ho administers tha law has evidently proved of great Forvico. Wo give elsewhere in this i^suc a brief outline of the digest, which each applicant in Mr Hawkins's district can obtain fiom Iho clerk of the court. When filled up with tho fmi_ of declaration giving corroborative evidence on which such is required the claimant ha 3 evidently surmounted most of the difficulties, for at Milton on Monday Mr Hawkins. S.M., was able to dispose of 30 c.ises within two hours. If~tho" Government adopted llie digest prepared by Mr Hawkins and supplied copies to, clerks of courts throughout the colony tho time of magiptrntos would bo paved and applicants! for pensions could at once sco what'particulars they had to furnish to enable it prompt decision being arrived at. At tho first meeting of the Berwick Drainage Board, hold on Monday, the 16th, Mr Robert Robinson, jun., was uiihij»iaou?ly elected chairman.

A. Wellington telegram say? : " The weathc is extremely disappointing for agriculturists. Heavy rain fell on Sunday night, and on Monday morning it cleared up, with a hct sun, but steady rain set 'in again on Tuesday. If this weather is general over the provincial district it must have a depressing effect on the harvest yields."