THE COLONIST. Published Daily.—Mornings. Nelson, Tuesday, September 20, 1892. THE LAND BILL

Colonist, Volume XXXV, Issue 7432, 20 September 1892, Page 3

THE COLONIST. Published Daily. —Mornings. Nelson, Tuesday, September 20, 1892. THE LAND BILL

On Friday last this important measure passed its second reading in the Upper House, and was referred to tha Waste Lands Committee. According to a Press Association telegram the only members of the Council who spoke in favor of the measure were the Attorney General (Sir P. Buckley) and the Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, but we gather from the ♦ New Zealand Times ' that the Press Association over-stated the opposition. It is to be regretted, however, that the further opposition to the Bill will not be offered in the open Chamber where speeches would be reported, but already sufficient has been said to show the kind of antagonism which the Government proposals have called forth. The ' New Zealand Tablet, 1 in a late issue, expressed regret that questions of great social importance should be treated as party and merely political problems, instead of with an eye only to social reform, but were parties abolished an equitable solution of such questions would be no nearer of accomplishment unless self interest could be wholly put aside. The journal quoted states that a measure such as the Land Bill should be regarded solely from the point of view of the settement of the country, and the promotion of the agricultural interest. No just person will be disposed to find fault with the doctrine thus laid down, but unfortunately the difficulty that has to be faced is one much greater than mere party opposition would present, for in fact we are at once opposed by the stubborn resistence of self interest. If it be asked whether the granting of a 999 years lease at a moderate rental would prove more conducive to settlement and the promotion of the agricultural interest than the sale of freehold and instant demand of the capital value of the land there can be but one answer. In the same way it is beyond all question that the true interests of the country will be best served by limiting the areas which any one individual may take up. Who is the better colonist, the man who from a comparatively few acres derives a satisfactory profit while giving employment to many, as numbers of our fruit growers are doing, or the holder of thousands of acres which are practically unimproved, and which, while failing to afford steady employment, block the way to improvements? It is, of course, apparent that great harm would be done if it were made impossible to take up areas sufficiently large to provide a good living, but no reasonable objection can be raised on this score to the limitation of pastoral areas to a present carrying capacity of five thousand sheep — a capacity capable of considerable increase by the effecting of improvements. There are individuals, however, who desire to have the way kept open for their! acquirement of unlimited areas, and by these every possible objection is raised to the Land Bill now before Parliament. Dr. Grace answered some of the opponents to the measure when speaking in the Council on Friday last. After congratulating the Government on the patriotic spirit with which they had endeavored to deal with the question, he expressed the opinion that when people came to realise the value of the 999 years' lease they would cease to have the sentimental regard for the freehold tenure, and he went on to say that the loss of land revenue, which has been made much of, would, he believed, be fully justified by the increase of settlement. Calculated, as it is, to increase settlement and to lead to the improvement of holdings that they may be made as profitable as possible, the Land Bill deserves the support of those anxious for true social reforms, and it may be taken for granted that those who stand in the way of such reforms will have to make way for better men.

The Stokb Orphanage. — The reverend Brothers of the Marist Order, who are in charge of the Catholio Orphanage at Stoke, inform us that on Saturday evening last Professor De Loree and Son gave the boya of that institution a great Irea*. The gentlemen named presented their grand panoramic entertainment, and the Rev. Superior a ates, 11 1 have seen many performances of the kind, but none oarried out in a more creditable or delightfully graphic manner. Professor De Loree is certainly second to none in his descriptive power." He adds tLat their kind visitors received the hearty thankful cheers of the orphans, who keenly appreciated the kindness shown them.

Bishopdale Sketching Club. — An exhibition of sketches and pictures, the work of members of this Club, will beheld in Sigley's Hall on Monday and Tuesday next, the hours of opening, and prices for admission, will be found in an advertisement in this issue. An additional attraction is to be provided in the form of some 40 pictures, the work of, and kindly lent by, the members of the Canterbury Palette Club. These include work by Mr Gibb3, Mr Sprott, Mis 3 Stoddart, and oiher artists. Each evening music will be provided, and the exhibition should be favored with liberal patronage. Grand Panoramic Entertainment. • Messrs De Loree and Son will appear at the Theatre Royal this evening, and present their grand panoramio entertainment, which is so highly spoken of that a bumper hou s e may be looked for. The prioe of admission is one shilling for adults and sixpenoe for children.

Nelson Made Machinery.- -The « Christchurch Press,' referring to the floating of the Shamrock G.M C, capital £12,000, state 3 that the sluicing plant to be U3ed, and now acquired from the Fairmaid Co , " was designed by T. J Waters, C.E., and turned out by the Anchor Foundry at Nelson, and according to the testimony of Mr Jordon, the Government Mining Engineer, i 3 one of the finest in the Colony." It is highly satisfactory to find local made machinery so well spoken of.

Old settlers under the New Zealand Company, and many others (says the ' Post ') will regret to laarn that private letters received by the last mail record the death in London, on 2nd August, of Mr John Lewthwait9, one of the original settlers in Taranaki. During the war, Mr Lswthwaite removed with his family to Nelson, where he continued to reside for many years, fiir Lewthwaite waß a man of grea* meohaniosl Bkill aud inventive ability. Before emigrating to N6W Zealand he invented and patented a machine for printing railway tioketg. He thought no more about it nntil, visi'iog the_ Melbourne Exhibition, be found his own invention at work there. He then discovered that Messrs Waterlow & Son, of London, had for yeara bean using hia patent, and going to Engiand he snooep.sfuiiy established his olaim and recovered from the firm a vjry large sum of money as a oorapositfon for royalties. It is Mr L3wthwaite's invention which is still in use f'.r railway ticket printing a 1 the world over, and it is a marvel of ingenuity and simplioitv. Some years ago Mr Lewthwaite invented a novel method of harbour construction by means of floating piers, and thia baa been taken up by several companies, who ara executing works according to its design in England, South America, and other plaoas. A few years ago we fully described Mr Lawthwaith's harbour system. Personally Mr Lewthwaite was most popular, being a man of genial dis* position, Bt-iot integrity, and ligbt-haarted-nesa. In Taranaki, Nelson, and Wellington he was well known, and highly esteemed as a colonist of the good old s jrt. He was about 85 yeara of age at the time of his death [We believe Mr Lewthwaite firat learnt of the usb of this invention by Waterlow & Son, from one of the btaff in this office, and soon after he saw the machine in Melbourne.] Mr Bruce considers that the agitators of Unions are like Mother Carey's chickens - - they gain their sustenance best in a storm, and therefore they enoourage storms.

Pawnbrokers in France are oompeKed to charge low rates of interest in order to oompete with the pawnbroking establishments controlled by j the Government. These are oalled " montd de piete," after the firat institution of the kind, which was looated in Perugia, Ita'y, on an eminence called the " Mountain of Piety." There are over 70 " moms de piete " in France, in five of which the loans are gratuitous. In the othtra the rate of interest averagaa 5 per cent per annum.

The trruble in Morocco served to briug out in bold relief the pluokof Englishwomen. At biz o'clock on the afternoon of July 5, when the hoatila demonstration wa3 at its height, and when Bashta El Bagdadi and his divan fondly flattered themselves that the British Minister was trembling in his shoes, and his followers were only too anxious to leave the Holy City, Lady Euan^Smith could have been seen plaoidly photographing the " angry knots of rioters" outside and inside the mission garden, and Misa Karrison, her niece, was sturdily writing out a formal application to Sir Gharies that in case t^s mission was attacked she should be allotted a repeating rifle. Fraclein Martha Ehmelicke was a premiere danseuse. She was very pretty, and a great favorite at the Circus Renz in Breslau. It was while Martha was fulfilling an engagement in Russia that she accepted an offer of marriage from a member of the hou'ehold of a well known nobleman at St. Petersburg. With such a marriage in'view, she determined to close her contract with the circus people. The fraulein came to Berlin. The day after her arrival, a friend a\ St. Petersburg wrote to say that her betrothed had proved false to her. In her great perplexity of mind Martha sought advice from her foster- mother, with whom she lived, and finally decided that if the news were true she could not long survive the cruel slight. It was then that the girl's mother advised her to write to her beloved at St. Petersburg. The f rauiein wrote. The answer Bhould have arrived the week after, bat no letter WB3 forthcoming. So the girl retired to her room and hung herself. Within a few hours of the discovery of her lifeless body, a letter in the handwriting of her beloved arrived at the house. The missive contained a declaration that her lover's affeotion for her, had under*gone no ohange, and furthermore he was now anxiously waiting ilia bride in St. Petersburg. Thia tardy epistle was with loving handß placed on the breast of the poor fraulein, and both were consigned to the grave.