MAIL NOTICES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2832, 20 October 1883, Page 2

MAIL NOTICES.

For Northern Ports of New Zealand, per Rotorna, on Saturday, 20th inst., at 2.50 p.m. For Australian Colonies and United King- ' dom, via Molbourne, per Manapouri, on Satnrday, 20th inst., at 12.30 p.m. Tho schooner Omaha will loavo Auckland tor Chatham Islands on 29th inst. Signed) Ed. Cook, Chief Poßhnaator.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1883. p The Report of the fJomrnittee of the Cl House of Representatives appointed to a enquire into the allegations made by B Mr Dargavillc againat tho Premier and c< the Colonial Treasurer has now been a [ published ; and we lire bound to say it is very much more interesting than we expected. The first thing that strikes us on a reading it, is the monstrous waste of s time aud money incurred m an enquiry r which everybody knew from the outset t must be absolutely futile. The Com- p mittee do not 6eem to have had (i the slightest idea of what they ' had to enquire into or how they were to set about it. Three or four sittings of j. the Committee were held, and several 8 witnesses were examined before any a progress of any sort was made. At <• length the Committee solemnly resolved v that Mr Dargavillc's speech did impute I political corruption to the Premier and , Colonial Treasurer, and personal dishonor to the latter. This startling dis- j covery was then communicated to Mr 1 Dargavillc, who appeared on the follow- I ing day to give evidence. His evidence, 1 however, consisted of nothing more than r a denial of the fact that he had imputed : personal dishonor to anybody, and an , expression of astonishment that the c Committee should have arrived at such , a conclusion. After that the Com- c mittee were completely nonplussed, t They did not know what on earth to 1 do next. In their despair they actually ' appealed to Mr Dargavillo to say ' something or do something for them - to enquire into. They formulated a series of questions which they requested | Mr Dargavillc to answer, and if Mr « Dargaville had simply told the Committee to put thoir head iv a ' bag and mind their own busi- ' ness, the enquiry must then and there have come to an end. Instead of < that, however, ho condescended to ' answer one of the Committee's ques- ' tions, and to call witnesses m support of one of his " allegations." This gave , the Committee something to do, and ; thenceforward the enquiry went on < gaily. But fresh troubles soon arose. The Chairman was obliged m common ; fairness to give Mr Dargaville copies of , the evidence, and these copies Mr , Dargaville calmly distributed among his friends, who, of course, were : itching to know what was being '. done m the Committee. The Chairman thereupon wrote to Mr Dargaville and peremptorily demanded the immediate return of the copies of evidence. Mr Dargaville, who is evidently a particularly cool customer, replied with equal curtness that he had given them away, all but two, which he intended to keep. The Committee, of course, could do nothing, and eventually they had to apply civilly to Mr Dargaville to supply certain omissions m the evidence. Ultimately the famous Report, which led to such animated scenes m the House, was agreed to, — every Member of the Committee wellknowing, no doubt, that for any practical value it had, they might as well have sent m a sheet of blank paper. Though the Report of the Committee was distinctly adverse to Mr Dargaville, wo are inclined to think that he had the best of it m the evidence, as far as mere wordy warfare was concerned. It is most amusing to read the ridiculous dialogues that were carried on day after day between Mr Dargaville and the Committee, each trying to trip up or entrap the other, and each betraying at every 6tep, an awkward consciousness of the folly of the whole business. Perhaps the part of the evidence which is of the most practical importance is that where the Actuary of the Government Insurance Department was examined by Mr Dargaville m support of his allegation that £225,000 of insurance funds had been wrongfully lent to the Bank of New Zealand instead of being properly invested, as required by law. The Actuary frankly and freely acknowledged that the money had been wrongfully lent to the Bank, and stated without any reserve that no private insurance company would run the risks which the Government Insurance Department run by the careless disposal of their funds. He quite innocently made a most astounding admission. He said it might suit the Government to lend the ] insurance funds to the Bank of New Zealand "as a matter of general policy, . quite independently of the particular ' policy of the Department." In other ! words, the funds of tho Insurance J Department are liable to be used by j the Ministry of the day, to suit the ] emergencies of party politics ! There ' is not the remotest allusion to this ' evidence m the Committee's Report ; but it is, nevertheless, of considerable j importance ; and it unquestionably goes ( a long way to justify those allegations ] of Mr Dargaville which the Committee j declared to be wholly unfounded. A perusal of this Report and cvi- , dence is certainly calculated to open 1 the eyes of the public and to make » them feel how completely they are ' kept m the dark as to what goes on i behind the scenes m Parliament. „