The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2411, 14 June 1882, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882.

We hope there is nothing m this report that the Government intend bringing m a Bill for the payment of Memhers. Mr Seddon brings m that Bill every session, but it is stated that this year the Gojvernmeat mean to forestall .him by bringing it m themselves. We Bincerely trust they.will do nothing of the sort. It i&quite~ natural, and proper for Mj: Seddon to -bring' m -Bills of this character,, bat that function ought to be left exclusively to Mr Seddon and legislators of his class. The Government of the country, instead of trying to forestall such movements ought to resist them to the utmost, and to ' go ont'of office rather than give m to them. This demand for. the: payment of Members, though, disguised under a specious pretence of enabling poor men. to enter' Parliament, . is nothing more than a piece of selfishness. It means that a certain number of persons want' to have £300 a year from the public purse, for three months 1 very indifferent work. The honorarium which has always been paid, to, a greater or less amount, to Members of the New Zealand Legislature, is, of course, a species of payment of Members ; but the mere fact of its being a precarious payment, depending on an annual vote, and the subject of an annual, discussion, deprives it of its worst feature. It cannot be looked upon as a regular income, and for that reason, it Las not yet produced m any large number that lowest class of so-called politicians, who take to politics simply as a means of a lazy livelihood. One of the reasons, urged for fixing the payment of Members by law, is that it is desirable to avoid the "unseemly wrangle " that takes place erery year over the vote for the honorarium. But we look at the matter from just the opposite point of view. We hold that what is called an unseemly wrangle is really a very valuable discussion. On whose part is it unseemly ? Certainly not on the part of those who try year after year to get the honorarium reduced. These Members show no strong feeling, or self-interest. They merely move that the vote be decreased by so much, in"* order that the public money may bo saved, and the allowance to Members may bear a reasonable relation to their actual expenses. Then comes the " unseemly wrangling." : The Members 'to whom the honorarium is all m all, fly at the- throat of the' economists,' accuse them of all sorts of bad motives, call them, sundry ugly names, and exhibit their selfishness and general depravity m various ways. There ia nothing like an honorarium debate to ■ bring out human nature. The real character of almost every Member m the House can bo gathered from it; and the shades of character displayed; are infinite. The broad distinction, however, is perfectly clear. It lies between those who regard the 200 guineas or whatever the amount may be, as the chief end of politic*, and those who regard politics as something higher than a mero matter of £. . s. d. Let there be no mistake about that. The money is the real bone of contention,' and the principle is only, a shadow, a fiction. ■• ; .■..-■■ ■ •.: i. i i. I ■ If any proof of that were needed, jit is. 'to be found m this fact. There neveV was any " unseemly wtanglo"]

•over the honorarium until the amount Was increased to Buoh an extent that it w.as worth fighting for. '" It is only since the politics of the. country were degraded by the extravagant and corrupt regime of Sir Juliuß .Yogel, that the honorarium has been, as it were, an income to needy persons who took to politics for the sake of it. For many years before that time, the honorarium was nothing more. than.. ..what- it - pretends -to be, an allowance for. genuine expenses. Bach Membe/was_ allowed. £l a day for each day when he was present m Wellington m attendance on Parlia; ment ; and, though living was dearer then than it is now, and the social demands on Members much greater, that sum .was considered amply sufficient. " But," it may perhaps be said, " the- Members m those dayß were a very scrubby set of fellows, for whom £1 a day was quite enough." Were they P In those days the standard of the Members was five hundred per cent higher m every respect than it is now.' It is not ■ too much tc Bay that the great majority of the House m those days consisted of men who have no equals m the present House, outside of a narrow circle of half a dozen or so. We do not mean that they, were all gentlemen, or men of education even ; though most of them were ; but they were all men of public character, and definite political standing. We have before xiß an old photograph of the House of Representatives elected m 1861 i just 22 years ago, and we cannot look at it without a painful sense of the deplorable decline of political calibre that has taken place m that Chamber since theni. The House then consisted of only 53 Members instead of 95 as at present; but that small number included Sir David Monro, Sir Frederick Weld, Sir Edward Stafford, Sir Dillon Bell, Sir William Fox, Sir William Fitzherbert, Sir Maurice O'Rorke, Sir Cracroft Wilson, Judge Richmond, Judge Gillies', Colonel Nixon, Major Atkinson, Mr Domett, MrJ. C. Richmond, Mr Mantell, Mr Crosbie Ward, Dr Featherston, Mr John Williamson, Mr Carleton, Mr Ormond, Mr Saunders, Mr Thomas Russell and Mr Reader Wood. There were plenty of others quite as good as these, probably, whose names never came into equal prominence with theirs. But here are 23 out of 53, who might take their place m any representative assemblage m the world, and easily hold their own m point of political ability or strength of character, with any"tbey would bo likely to meet there. We wonder where twenty-three would be found to match them m the present House; or twelve; or six; — or three ! Many of these, and some of the very best of them too, were poor men. Few of them were rich. Yet they were perfectly satisfied with £1 a day for their expenses whilst attending Parliament. Nowadays, when the majority of the Members are persons of the most ordinary description, nothing short of 200 guineas for the session will satisfy them, and there is a likelihood, we are now told, of its being raised to £300, and made a permanent . salary. If this is done, it will be the last finishing stroke m the destruction of that political superiority which at one time gave New Zealand a proud name among the Australian colonies. It was payment of Members which dragged Victorian politics into the mire. It is the absence of payment of Members m any shape or form,, which still makes South Australia the best governed of all this group of young nations. We shall indeed be grieved it, the report as to the intentions of our Government on this important question should prove true. But we have our fears. Major Atkinson, we know, has always bad a hankering after payment of Members. He has not an atom of sentiment m politics. He looks at politics solely from the point of view of one who has made it the business of his life to be m office ; and his single idea is to make them as little an obstruction to that object as possible. Ab for independence, enthusiasm, originality, public spirit, lofty idealß, disinterestedness, and so forth, he regards these things as mere romantio fancies which only give trouble and are. best got rid of as soon as possible. He considers that payment of Members would make the House more manageable, as it certainly would m one sense, and for that reason it would suit him to have it. A numerous House entirely composed of salaried officials, elected by small localities, ia Major Atkinson's notion of a really pleasant sort of Parliament to work with ; and the more dependent the Members were on their salary, the more suitable they would be for his purposes. We have reason to think there are others m the Ministry who share this low view of politics with the Colonial Treasurer ; while the mediocre tone of the new Parliament is singularly favorable to it. . It is that surmise which makes us regard with apprehension a report, to which at any previous time we should have attached no weight whatever. Waimate Stkbplbciuses. — Train arrangemonts for this meeting aro advertised this morning. .• Thb Relibp Fund. — Tho Committee yesterday received a chequo for £20 towards the Relief Fund, from His Excellency tho Governor. Bisuof Redwood. — His Lordship Bishop Redwood is expected to arrive from Christchurch to-day. Ho will remain m Timaru about a wook. Resident Magistbatb'b Court, Waimate. — At this Court yesterday, before J. Manchester, Esq., J.P., two mon wcro finod 5s each for being drunk m a public placo on the lOtli inst. Admitted to the Bah.— During an interval m tho ordinary business of the Supremo Court yosterday, Mr Jameson applied to His Honor Justice- Williams, m accordance with notice. of motion previously made, for the adinissjon of Mr William Reid, of Timaru, as a barrister nnd solicitor. His Honor granted the application, ond Mr Reid was duly sworn by tho Registrar. Saie of thk' Grampian Hills Station. — Messrs R. Wilkin and Co. have sold to Mr J. A. Suttonj of Dunodin, Dr. Fisher's Grampian Hills Station (including 3000 acres of freehold) m tho Mackenzie Country, together with 22,000 sheep. Tho price, which we aro not nt liberty to mention, 19 a highly satisfactory one. • ■••'•" The City op Pbhth. — Another attempt will, bo mado this morning to tow off tho ship City; of Perth. Tho tug Lyttelton was telegrophed for last ivcoing, and is expected to anno, f rom Lyttelton about 9 a.m. If necessary, she will, remain till to-morrow.' ..Tho ! City was. again afloat yesterday,' anil thero is every prospect of her Being taken out to tho auchprage to?day^ cipwisUy o» tho tides aro near, then* spring height . Volunteers who are willing to assist, m tho; work will, bo gladly * WBlgoined- .by the owners of tho . vessel, who [ will provide refreshments for tuna.

Rockkt Bbigadb. — Tho Timaru Volun- t tear Rocket Brigade meet for drill on Thurs- « day evening at naif -past coven sharp. ' : Hhld Over. — A of correspondence and pther matter is; unavoidably 1 held over till next issue*- '■"•'■ | : Railway Gb aw Rbtobks.— Up to Juno I 10th tho total quantity 'of grain carried on < the Onmnru section of railways this season i tvob 146,950 sacks. i Tub OnißitßAK AT Alkxakdbia.— Latest i advices state that tho number of Europeans killed at Alexandria was fully sixty, instead ' of twenty, as at first reported. . . . ■ '' Dbunkknness. — A man charged with being : drunk, and disorderly m a public place, was ' yesterday^ fined 20s by J. Beswick, Esq., R.M. Tub Financial Statement. — Owing to i continued indisposition, Major Atkinson was unablo to deliver the Financial Statement last evening. Ho hopes to be able to do ao on Friday. Dbpabtube Of His Excellency the Govbbnob. — According to a statement made m the House yesterday by the Hon. Mr Rolleston, Sir Arthur Gordon hnß received six months' lcnvo of absenco to visit England, nnd he is expected to take his departure m a few days. Tnß Decbasbd Wife's Sibtbb's Bill at Home.: — According to our English cable news this morning the Marriage with tho Deceased Wife's Sister Bill has been rejected m tho Houso of Lords by a baro majority of four. Last year tho majority was much larger, nnd next session vc shall probably see it converted into a minority. Ploughiko Match at Wabiidykb. — A meeting of those- interested is to bo held at tho Doncaßtcr Hotel on Friday evening to make arrangements for holding a ploughing match at Wnshdykc. Ploughing matches hnvo been a good deal neglected of late years m South Canterbury, but there appears to be a desiro abroad this year to bring them to thp front again, and thero is n good deal to be said m their.favor. Dastardly Act. — On Monday night last somebody wilfully damaged a watennnn's boat belonging to Mr P. Bradley. Tho boat waa lying on the beach v to the north of the Landing Service, nnd. during the night one of the iron rowlocks was doliberatcly driven through her bottom m several places, splitting theplanka. Mr Bradley" complains, rightly enough of such meanness ; it is quite annoying enough to lose boats m rough Bens, and he offers a reward of £5 for information ■which will sheet tho cowardly act home to its perpetrator. Supbeme CorBT. — The half-yearly criminal session of the Suprome Court at Timaru was opened yeßterday morning before His Honor Mr Justice Williams, who remarked on tho lightness and simplicity of the calendar. The Grand Jury returned true bills m all tie cases submitted to them. Charles Hcatley, a lad of 16, pleaded guilty to stealing a horse, saddle, and bridle (separate counts) m February lust. Ho had been cook to a harvest party, and cleared out with theproporty, which belonged to ono of tho harvesters. Edward Ford pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a purao containing £3 10s from the porson of ono James Molloy. Tho offence was committed nt Stone's Hotel, Molloy being drunk, and the offender was caught m tho act by Mr Stone nnd detained till the arrival of the police. Thomas Christie, who has a long string of aliases, pleaded guilty to forging and uttering a cheque for £15 m February, 1881. The evidence taken at tho preliminary inquiry a Ehort time ago showed that the prisoner very deliberately drew out tho chequo and forged tho name of J< Barclay, a former employer, with whose signature he was familiar. Ho attempted to pass the cheque to Mr Edwards, landlord of tho Clnrendon Hotel, who suspocted that it was not all riglit and gave it to tho police. Christie cleared out, and ovaded tho jjolico till arrested for a similar offence committed nt Onmaru, for which ho is now undergoing a sentence. In the foregoing casea sentence was doferred. A lad of 13, named John Sullivan, pleaded guilty to a charge of placing eight stones on tho railway line with intent to upset a train. Tho information was laid under clause 35 of the Malicious Injuries to Property Act. He was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment. John Thomns Healey pleaded not guilty to a chargo of forging and uttering a cheque for £40. The particulars are given m our report elsewhere. The jury found him not guilty. On a Becond charge, of forging and uttering a promissory note for £12 10.', tho Borne prisoner was found guilty of uttering, but nofc guilty of forgery. On a third charge, of forging and uttering a promissory note for £27 10s, prisoner pleaded guilty to uttering the note, and the Crown Prosecutor accepted this plea and offered no evidence as to tho forgery. Sentence was deferred. Mark Bishop, charged with assault with intent on a child of tender years, was found guilty of a common assault, and sentenced to twelve months' hard labor. Three other charges against Healoy will bo taken to-day. PuorosßD Nbw Cnintcn at Temttka. — The Presbyterian congregation at Teinuka have for a long time past been of- opinion that tho church building which has done good servico for bo many years should bo roplaccd by a larger and more substantial structure, and have been taking measures to secure the erection of a now building. •• Mr W. J. N. Upton was commissioned to prepare plans for a now church, and these ho has now almost or quito completed. From an inspection of them courteously accorded to us, we can cay that Mr Upton has designed a handsome and commodious building, and ono which when erected will bo a. striking fcaturo m tho town of Temuka. The following aro some of tho particulars respecting the proposed structure. The building consists of an auditorium 48ft long, from the vestibule to the rostrum, and 40ft wide, internal measurement, with walls 36ft high. Tho rostrum is 16ft long, 9ft wide, and raised 4ft above tho floor. At the back of the rostrum is a gallery for the orchestra, with a Bpaee designed for a largo organ. The ceiling of tho orchestra is groined, having an arch m front supported on Corinthian fluted pillars, from tho capitals of which spring a handsome enriched architrave. Tho roof of tho auditorium is circular, and formed m panels, with enriched mouldings and claborato centreflowers. Two of tho panels aro filled with fretwork,' and connected with tubes and Archimedean ventilators, ns a means of exit for vitiated air. At tho springing of tho roof is a large enriched cornice, continued over tho circular window-heads, which run up somo feet above tho springing of tho roof. Fresh air is admitted by a number of Tobin's tubes, and by slide ventilators on each ' window sill. The ecatß will be arranged m concentric circles centering at tho minister's reading desk, and arc designed to Boat 350 persons comfortably. Provision is mado for adding a gallery to seat an additional 156 whenever it shall bo required. Thcro nro two principal entrances m front, with largo folding doors 6ft wido and 12ft high, approachod by concrete Bteps, and opening into vestibules or cloak-rooms. On each Bido of tho building arc two doors of similar description opening into- vestibules. Abovo theso nso two elaborately ornamented towers 110 ft high, iiith boll chambers m each. Tho facades aro m the Grecian style, with pilasters on each sido of all openings and at oaoh angle, supported by bold bases and bearing Corinthian capitals and bold pediments on each facade. Tenders aro to be called forshortly, and wliou tho building is completed it will bo ono of tho finest structures of its class m tho colony, and a monument ef Presbyterian energy. CilAJlßßtt OF Commebce.— A special meeting of tho Committee of tho Timaru Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday afternoon to consider a telegram from the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, also circular f « law reform. Present — Messrs B. Woollcimbe (m the chair), Rutherfurd, Hall, Moody, J. S. Gibson, Granger ond H. Green. A telegram was read from tho Chairman of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce re the appointing of delegates by tho various Chambers of Commcrco to wait upon Government to niako recommendations re amendment of bankruptcy laws and Bills of Sale. Ads i also, re law reform. Rosolred— "That tho Timaru Chamber of Commerce agreo with clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 6 of the law reform, and that they bo adopted, provided that tho Supremo Court bo held atlonst onco a montlHit place* -wheTe District Courts aro ; now held?" , Kewlved— " That tyus Chamber aro m favor of delegates meeting m Wellington, and thoy appoint Captain Butter, as the dolegate for their Chamber." Re> solved^" That copies be cent to tlio Canter'

bury Chamber of Commerce, Captain Slitter, &ud the member for Tiniaru." Ihe meeting then terminated. ; - The ' Late Railway Accident at Kabtiqi. — From tho evidence of witnesses given m tbo case at Onmaru arising out of tho Kartigi railway accident, it ■ appeared that though the lino was fenced on both Bides, tho siind wns wnsbed up by the sea to Bueh a height that a cow could easily walk over the fence. Houbs op a Railway Engineer. — At the hearing of the case agninet Richanl Smith at. Oamaru on Monday for a breach of the railway by-lawa, tho driver of the engine of the train which oamo to grief at Kartigi recently stated he went on duty on Monday at 1.20 p.m., and arrived m Pahnerston at 4.40, and left tbero at 5.25 for Oamaru, whero ho arrived at 7.50. Left Oamaru ngain at 9.30 for Dunodin ; arrived there at 3.45 a.m. on Tuesday. Left Dunedin again at 5 a.m., and arrived at Palmerston at 7.45 a.m. ; remained there till 11.35 p.m. During tho interval he was partly at rest and partly on duty. He could have rested the whole time at his own risk. A Kkw BADBiT-DESTEornfa Phocess. — According to tho Otago Daily Times, a mbbit-poieoning experiment was made ou Monday afternoon at tho back of the Farmers' Arms Hotel, Princess street South. An artificial warren of considerable extent was mude, nnd rabbits having been put m boxes at the end of the fluming, poisonous gas (caused by the. burning of a cartridgo prepared for tho purpose) was forced into tho warren by moans of an air pump. Tho trial proved effective, and tho inventor of this pro- , ecss (Mr Forsyth) is sanguine that he has discovered a method of effectually removing ; tho rabbit nuisance. The great advantage i claimed for the system is that tho wholo api paratus only weighs a few pounds, and that i anyone can use it. Mr Forsyth has applied i for a patent, and when that is taken out proi bably more specific information regarding the invention will bp given. : Waimath Libbaet.— Tho monthly meeti ing of the Committee was held on the 12th - inst. Members present — Messrs Goldsmith ? (Chairman), Hillary, Clement, Maxwell, Neil- - son, and Ward. The minutes of last meeting i were confirmed. Mr W. Allan's resignation , of his seat on the Committee was received. , The Secretary said tho declaration of the > Committee for tho incorporation of tho Insti- , tuto had been filed and the Registrar's certifii cato received. The Secretary was instructed i to write to Mr Marshman, of the Land Office, apprising him of the incorporation of the I Institute, and asking for information as to ! tho necessary steps to bo taken for the Trusr tees to get certificate of the title or Crown j grant of tho Library Reserve. Tho Com--5 mittce were informed that, as a quorum of ; members of tho Institute did not attend at , the annual meeting on tho Bth or the ad- , journed meeting on tho 15th, a new Coml mittee could not bo elected. It was resolved - that tho Committee of hist year retain office, , and manage the affairs of the Society uutil . the time for next anuual meeting. Mr F Graham was elected a member of the Com- ; mittee m place of tho Rot. G. Lindsay, who 5 had lntcly removed from the district. Acj counts amounting to £12 13s 2d were passed i for payment, and tho meeting adjourned. ' Fibes is South Russia. — A correspon- > dent at Odessa writes, March 291h : — " Ac--3 cording to details received hero from Bealetz, 1 a Jewish town m the neighboring government 3 of Bessarabia, m which a conflagration broke • out on the afternoon of the 19th inst., and, t continuing during the night and next day, I > reduced half tho town, the poorest part of it, ? to ashes, it appears that 500 houses were b destroyed ; 450 of these belonged to Jews, 0 and the remainder to Christians j 800 ' families, representing 2500 Boub, are m conB sequence without shelter, food, clothing, or 1 tho means of gaining a livelihood. The dia'i aster is said ta have originated through • somo charcoal cinders, among which were • red-hot ones, having been thrown out and J blown by tho very high wind which pro--3 vailed at tho time on to somo straw, an 0 article with which the house yards and the 1 roadways of tho smaller inland towns of s Russia are generally etrewn. Upon the 0 tocsin being sounded, tho peasants flocked s from tho surrounding districts to the scene of f the catastrophe and rendered all tho service ' m their power. Tho commander of the '• battery stationed at Bealetz and his kazaks 1 did bo as well. But although the town has V a population of 13,000 inhabitants, it pos--8 sesses neither firc-engino nor hose j henco \ the most primitive means had to bo . resorted 3 to m order to combat tho flames. Bealetz is 'i situated about 100 miles from, Kishineff, the '> capital of Besßarnbiaj and the governor of the B province- immediately hastened there, and • under his auspices a committee of succor was i formed, which immediately collected .8500 f roubles towards alloviating tho immediate 11 wants of tho victims. Subscriptions are 3 also being collected for them at Kishineff T and here, at Odessa. Almost on the same day a similar disaster occurred about 100 . miles from Odessa at Hoffnuugsburg, a % German colony, whoro 27 houses out of 44 t composing the village were burnt down m less 1 than an hour, and that number of families \ rendered homeless. It seems a woman was , t baking bread and burning straw for the pur--3 pose, when eomo of the sparks fell, or were blown from the chimney-pot on to the straw r roof of tho cottage, nnd ignited it. Tho t villago consisted of a broad street, running • due north and south, and, as an equinoctial f galo was blowing from the north at tho time, 1 sparks were quickly blown from roof to roof j until all tho roofs were m flames. A farm- ! house and gomo huts m the immediate vicinity 9 belonging to Russians were also destroyed,' and the monoy valuo of tho wholo loes is cstii mate at near 100,000 roubles." ? SYNOPSIS OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Maclean and SUwart- Hones, harneu, etc., en the l 17th inrt. h Rocket Brigade— Drill on Thursday evening, the ; 15th inst. 1 B. Hlbbard- Business notice. ' 3 W. Coltraan, Temuka— Business notice, f New Zealand Railways— Fares for Walinate Steeplechases. Union Bank of Australia— Buaineta notice. , Trustee m estate of 3. Honderton— Notice re claims. T. O. Cork— Notice of dividend m A. Reid's ertate. P. Bradley— Reward offered re damage to boat. Be Land Tranter Act— Several notices, i " Tinuru Uerald Company"— Business announct- • ment. , Hall and Meaion— Land for S»le In Southland. J Theatre Royal-Mace and Miller Company to-night. 1 Bankruptcy notices-Re R. W. Hallam ;J. H. Dickt inson.

maltreating" tbe Greek Consul. It is t also now known that the loss of life was * much greater than was at first supposed, and according to the most authentic ( accounts, 67 Europeans were killed daring tbe disturbance. : »