The Taranaki Herald.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7340, 6 April 1887, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald.

"UhIiXHSP pfttlY> J

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1887, Colonel Tbimble addressed- bis New Plymouth constituents on Monday night in the -Alexandra Hall, and, as might be" expected from that gentleman's, well-known antagonistic idling to everything favourable to the con str; action" "and 'completion "o< our harbour, -he a large audience. Colonel Trimble referred to a variety of^ubjefets dating his somewhat long speech, and^reviewed the chief features of lasV session from the Opposition aspect. . He . .strongly : advocated the continuance of the present education system, with its wasteful expenditure of money ; an*d this he did on the -grounds that the rich and poor should contribute " alike. Unfortunately, they do no^ Until the public have the cost of -these establishments made known to them directly through their pockets it id hot to be expected that any change for the . better is likely to take place. Under the present system the children are not being educated. They go to. school and ar« crammed' with a lot of stuff sufficient to pass an examination, butwhioh is- all forgotten as aooh^as tbieyleave, and.'they>go out into the world^ .jgselqss v^4e,m.bers- of fsociety. -Tb^fe oaase ofvrthe .frivolity' 'and extravagance , of the .present age! is due to the education craze that at present exists ; for children have instilled into 'their minds the notion that the great aim in life is to enter the public service, or take up some light occupation* where manual labour is not required. On native affairs Colonel Trimble" took • broader views, and his remarks on the Native Lands Act of last session were logical and to the point. The handing of the lands belonging to the natives over to Commissioners to deal with is, as he said, returning again to the old system of personal government of the natives, which in the past has been the cause of most of the troubles we have had with our dark neighbours. The questions of Entail, Civil Service reform, the Waimea Eailway, Loans to Local 'Bodies, and the million and a-half loan were severally dealt with, and the Colonel, whilst referring to those matters, censured the Government in very strong terms. This brought him to the subject of retrenchment, and the probability of further borrowing. The Colonel evidently does not believe the .government, are sincere in the matter. He said he could not see wheve tha £40,000 th.ere was so much talk about as having been saved had been taken off ; but there was one department — forestry— which might be done away : with and a large saving effected'^ It is true the present time is not one: for the -introduction of this expensive department, but if, when it was originally' dreated some ten years ago, it had been properly managed, it would have proved one of the most profitable -branches of the'servioe. Trees grow wh.etb.er we- are sleeping or are awake, and valuable timbers will always bring in a revenue. It requires time and some expenditure, of money at the first, but Forestry is as , profitable an industry as any that could ba ebtablished in the colony. State forests are the most cherished institutions of the countries that possess them. We need only refer as examples, amongst others, to Sweden, Germany, France, Eussia, Prussia, Austria, and,' close home, to. South Australia.* Of course, in a bush country like Taranaki the thing - may seem ridiculous, but in Canterbury, where vast areas of treeless land exist, the cultivation of trees would be; useful and profitable. The land may be covered with railways in less than the interval from youth to manhood in a single life, but it would take two generations to grace the present open land with forests. lip was a great pity the Act of 1874 Was repealed, for by this time the department would have become 1 a paying one. In referring to the Government- policy, the Colonel gaid he would oppose Protection. He, however, considered ' that the'tariff should be revised, but in direction of freedom of tradei There is i# doubt thftt he is right on this ' matter. A halfpenny more on sugar and twopence on tea would : not be felt by tho -people ; whilst with a penny." sstamp on photographs the Ministry, would be able. id meet the House next, year with a. large surplus. ■" The" Colonel considered native -lands should be rated; whilst the; land laws, through tieing too frequently changed, were detrimental to the best interestspfthe coldrly, Having . thus discussed colonial Colonel Trimble awakened - the. interest of hisaudience by- : referring -- "to", the Harbour question ; and of course the Herald . came, in for its share of use. Colonel . Trimble still maintained he never give any pledge or made auy assertion during the Election of 1884 to the efreot that he would ( offer no aotive' opposition to anything connected with our harbour in the future. Those who were present and who had heard, him make the statement could not do otherwise than contradiot him to his face; The Colonel replied it was false to sg-ytso ; but his audience told him he was acting falsely to deny it. The Colonel at last lost his temper, and when a' man gets angry he usually talks a lot of nonsense. The Colonel accordingly talked -a lot of nonsense, at which the audience appeared amazed. " He began to get personal, and referred to the " miserable editor," a remark winch called from his hearers a well-merited rebuke. It would have sounded less hareu on theears of thoise present had the Colonel said he felt the editor must have misunderstood him. as he bad no reoolleotion of making such a statement ; but to accuse anyone of wilfully writing that which was known to bo false, was an insulting remark, aucl worthy only of a bullying demagogue who had bounce only for hi& argument. There are large numbers ' of poreons who state they heard Urn

(Colonel Trimble) say, "he would in futnre offer no further. opposition to the harbour.'- They surely all cannot be liars, whilst he alone is the only " truthful Robert." But we have said euough. Whether Colonel Trimble ' , will be returned again or not we are not prophets enough like himself to foretell; but' this we know, that if he is returned it-will not be on bis merits, but owing to the difficulty of finding a suitable candidate to stand and contest the election with him. The electors at Inglewood, Urenui, and Bell Block, as well as at Mangorei, not to mention those in New Plymouth', are very much put out at Colonel Trimble's conduct last session ; and Ms speech in the Alexandra Hall on Monday night will in no way tend to lessen the antagonistic feeling they have against him. 1 1 ' i : . i ,

Captain Maoready, of ,the Welliugtoa Artillery, has decided upon having some shell practice with the six-pounders, which are the armament of this .corps, while at the Encampment. -Suitable tagets are to be erected, but the day on which the practice is to take place is not yet fixed. • On Tuesday there were two attractions in Devon-street, which gave the town an unusually animated appearance, and is probably a foretaste of what we shall have when all our - Volunteer visitors arrive. The main attraction was, .of course, the parade of the Alexandra Cavalry, and the lesser —no offence meant —was a duncing bear, which was followed by crowds of ohildren. The owners of the bear hava evidently concluded that there was "money in it.''* at the encampment, and have 'accordingly brought him up. , It needs, ho\yeve,r,-little of the prophetic vision to ,86© that at the- hands of the rollicking <spirit b of the forces poor Bruin will have a bad time,' unless his keepers take very great care of him. To revert to the Cavalry again, it seems thut after finishing their afternoon parado they found they, had time to proceed to town and back before evening, and' Captain' Somerville accordingly brought them in. . The generalremark was that they are one of-the finost' bodies of men-we have .yet seen here, and thejr are certainly a credit .to their district. It is understood that they are much pleased with their camp, and have also formed a good impression of the place. - At the Harbour Board to-day it was' decided not to construct a parapet on the breakwater, as was proposed should be done when operations were concluded, but that blocks should be laid down and secured as at present. The necessity of an entrance to the camp other than through the slaughterhouse yard has, it seems, been recognised, and a new line of roadway has been opened up across the flat between the slaughterhouse and the river. A light bridge has been thrown over the intervening stream. We arc requested to state that the bridge is only for ordinary vehicles, such as traps, expresses, and-buggies, and is not calculated to bear the weight o£ heavily laden drays. Ona of: the features of. tho Euster Encampment is to be Mr. Rumaey^s establishment, at which he will dispense all the , refreshments and supplies required by soldiers, such as scents, fruits, cards, candles, oysters, jams, meals, etc. The stall, which is now finished," will be 50It by 40ft, and will have a large flag flying at eaoh corner, with plenty of bright lettering to give notioe^oftwhat' he ia on the giourid for. Inthe evening he will clear one of his tables to accommodate people who may wish to Bpend their evenings at draughts or curds. Then outside there will be a number of forms to give sitting accommodation to 'visitors"and volunteers. Mr. RumnSy has been to encampments in the Old Country, and knows exactly what is wanted. Some djoubfc having been expressed as to whether fhe- Waiwakaibo camp would be open to visitors every day, -we have authority for stating that visitors will always be welcome, One case of towels, damaged by ivater, ex bs" Macgregor, to be sold at half-price to-morrow, at F. A. Ford's, Draper and Clothier, Cheapside House. —Adv. 535 Mr. J. Goodall, the Harbour Eugineer at Napier, had'an air bath last week (says the Telegraph), which did not guiLe agree with him. The new diving dresses for the Board have arrived, one -being a Fleuss dress which requires no pumping apparatus, a-supply of oxygen being taken down; bottled up in some way. Mr. Gowdall determined to try this newfangled thing himself, put it on at the cattle wiiar,', found it comfortable enough on shore during ten minutes' trial, and then descended into the Pot by a ladder, having a rope attached as usual. After a short immersion the pressure of air ia tho dress due to the depth of water began to produce its usual effects on thei unpractised diver. 'Mr/'Cioodall began to feeLsick and dizz}^ and made his "way up the ladder, seeing which the attendants on shore gave a friendly h,aul on th'eline, and helped him up into a more familiar atmosphere, when he soori-recoyered. .'lt is. a little-risky for 'stoutish people to subject themselves to such a squeezing, inside and dut, 1 as even a moderate depth of water will give. The effects, though but temporary', aro apt to be unpleasant. A writer ; of " Short Sayings "in the Laha County Press has this to say:—That v great-authoress, correspondent of a home paper, etc./eto., recently visited" ;Queenstowu; that she aiay be all she represented herself; to be, but that sh"ois«an adept at travelling on the cheap; that anyone during to charge her for board;- coach, or steamboat fare is soundly rated^for'his temerity; that she has a free pass on the railways and expeotd to be feasted and carted all over the country for' nothing 1 Another reaßoa why.our railways don't pay 1 Dr, Keywprth writes as follows to the Nelson Mail :—-« My uttention ;has been called to a puragraph to the effect that ' Margaret Houston is aoing to reside with one of the' Nelson doctors." As I am credibly assured that my name is currently associated with the statement, I beg to be allowed to give it an absolute and unqualified coatrudiotiou so far as relates to myself. No one who has any personal acquaintance with me would be likely to credit so preposterous and absurd an announcement; but there are many others to whom 1 am less known whom it may be desirable to.correct. Will you permit me then t0 say that my knowledge of MnrgurafHouaton's family, which is thoroughly respectable, is of many years' standing, and I h; vo known her I'roai her birth throughout her business life, and during her residence in Wellington up to the time of her unfortunate removal to Timaru. Her character and behaviour have been b'lamelees. Common, humanity, therefore, as well as my long friendship with her parents, impelled me to devote time and money and to enoounter disagreeable publicity to assist her when lying under the accusation of a horrible crime, of which I then and still believed her to be innocent; but my association with her terminated with the hour of her acquittal. Whilst, therefore, I havo done what I could on her behalf, Iby no means endorse her Biibseque it conduct. Sho is tho last person whom I should be likely to take into my houue, and 1 have, indeed, Btrongly advised her fyiunds to recall hor to England," j