THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 1875.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2192, 6 November 1875, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 1875.

An important notice . appears in the General Government' Gazette.' The Colonial Treasurer intimated; ,that the load boards and municipalities are to ; send in returns showing the amount of money received by them in the'shape of rates duriug .the past twelve months, -The Government ■ intend, w'e presume, to pay over the promised subsidies to the, local bodies upon the basis of last year's rates, Indeed, they cannot do otherwise, because there is no other data to go upon. - They would, not care to accept estimates", of the probable rates for the coming year, because such a policy would open the door to a good deal of .manipulation,' and- the local bodies having the best accountants woulif receive ; the' most Th' 6 local: bodies,,. we: believe, will lose;iio time in : , forwarding the necessary returns, and; we trust that. the Government will show the same alacrity in paying over the subsidies.; •The quarrel or dispute between Oapt. Logac, of the steamer ' Hero,' and the Marquis of Normanby, has assumed a new phase.- "Ai who was on board the .' Hero' during the journey

•:from Sydney. when the • quarrel oc : curred;iias come' forward in defence of the.'Marquis of Normanby, and in a letter'to the Melbourne-' -Ras' given.the "other side' 1 of.tho storjv He certainly does not spare Captain . Logau or lie' owners of the steamer. The letter, \otiicb was telegraphed to us from the Bluff last night, is about as severe ns could be well conceived, find the whole blame for the unpleasantness that occurred is thrown upon. the . shoulders of the captain of the ' Hero.'. He is blamed for lumbering up his ship with a large deck cargo, some of which consisted of feed for the horses on board, and had to be thrown overboard on the third day out-, on account of getting saturated with salt water. Captain Logan is further charged with inattention, with incivility, with totally disregarding the comfort of his passengers, and with being quite unequal to the difficulties in which he found himself. We are also told that he absented- himself from the saloon for some days, and when he did return was guilty of a gross piece of impertinence towards the Governor of the colony. These are very grave charges, and it is a pity that they ,have been made anonymously, but they are riot likely to be passed.over in silence by the public or the owners of the steamer, and will either be disproved, or confirmed. ■: ' ?; ' V . .;7i

Before condemning Captain Logan in his absence we must remember that the passage across was one of the longest' and roughest that the' Hero' has made between Sydney arid- Auckland, I 'and we can quite understand why the captain would be absent- from ; the saloon for two or three days. ' He ;Would be anxious for the safety of his ship, and would probably; .not leave the deck more than was actually necessary. :Bufc nothing can excuse him for taking a heavy deck cargo-when his-vessel was crowded with passengers. This is the ;most important point in. the letter of i" A Passenger,"'arid the passengers had good cause to complain if the state of the ship was as he represents it. " ' "