The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1884.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 3049, 2 July 1884, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1884.

The continued absence of any news as to General Gordon's whereabouts or condition gives cause for the gravest anxiety on his account. It is a long time now eince his name even was mentioned m any of the telegrams from the Soudan, and it seems to be an accepted fact that he has either fallen into the hands of his enemies or attempted to make his escape by some one of the two or three available routes. The last official communication received from him, as far as we can learn, was a telegram addressed to Sir Evelyn Baring, the representative of Great Britain m Egypt. It was as follows : — ' Khartoum, April 16, 1884, 5.15 p.m. As far as I can understand, the Bituation is this : you stato yonr intention of not sending any relief np bore or to Berber, and you refuse me Zobohr. I consider myself free to act according to circumstances. I shall hold on hero as long as I can, and if I can suppress the rebellion I shall do so. If I cannot, I shall retire to tho Equator, and leavo you indeliblo disgraco of abandoning tho garrisons of Senaar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the certainty that you will eventually be forced to smash np tho Mahdi under great difficulties if you would retain peace m Egypt. On the 19th of April, Sir Samuel Baker received the following private message, which he immediately published : — We are m thia position : wo havo provisions for five months, and aro hemmed m. Our position will bo much strengthened when Kilo rises. Do you think that an appeal to the millionaires of America and England for the raising of .£200,000 would bo of any avail!? With this earn you might get permission of Sultan for tho loan of 2,000 or 3,000 men, and send them up to Berber. With these man we could not only settle our affairs hore, but also do for the Mahdi, m whose collapse Sultan would be necessarily interested. I would not send many Europeans with them, aa they cost too mnch, and I will put Zobehr m command. Four days later, namely, on the 23rd of April, Lord Granville, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, telegraphed thus to Sir Evelyn Baring : — Gordon should bo at once informed, m cypher, that wo do not propose to supply him with Turkish or other forco. Add expressions both of respect and gratitude for hia gallant and self-sacrificing conduct, and for the good ho has achieved. This, we believe, is the last that is publicly known regarding General Gordon. After that he seems to have taken a line of hia own, and to have ceased altogether to communicate with a Government who had treated him, m such an extraordinary fashion. It is supposed m some quarters that he haß remained quietly at Khartoum, awaiting the turn of events, and watching for an opportunity to make a movement of some sort against the Mahdi; but if so, it is very remarkable that the latest intelligence from Khartoum, dated only about a month ago, contains no reference to him whatever. Another theory is that he has attempted to make his way through equatorial Africa, with a view of reaching Zanzibar on the East Coast, or the Congo on the West. If that be so, it may be a long time before he will be heard of; and it may easily happen that he will never be heard of again. The whole history of General Gordon's mission to the Soudan, forms one of tho most" mysterious, melancholy aad disgraceful pages m the annals of the British empire. ♦. . „ Mb Rolleston's speech at Temuka this evening may fairly be expected to be the most interesting and important of the present short recess. To begin with, it is the first Ministerial speech, outside the limits of a mere parliamentary debate, since the defeat of the Government. It must be regarded, then, m the light of a justification and also of a manifesto. During the recent Ministerial crisis there was practically no exposition or defence of the Ministerial policy. The public are still very much m the dark as to what that policy is. The chief points of it, as far as can be gathered from tbo utterances of Ministers both m Parliament and on the platform, are Federation, National Insurance, the abolition of the freehold tenure, and taxation by railway ratea. Major Atkinson has advocated these four measures with abundance of courage; but he has failed entirely, wo believe, to convince the people of New Zealand that euch a policy is calculated m any way to advance their interests. Tho House of Representatives were so little convinced, that they rejected that policy by an overwhelming majority ; and compelled the Ministry to test the feeling of the country by a dissolution. It devolves on Mr Rolleston to-night to justify that policy to the country ; or to show, what never was

shown during the late session, that his Ministry have claims upon the confidence of the country sufficient to counterbalance their demerits m respect of that policy. It devolves upon him to satisfy tho electors of Geraldino and the public of New Zealand that his colleague, the AttorneyGeneral, was warranted m designating the people of Canterbury, — more than one-fifth of the population of the colony — a cowardly and selfish community, because they resented the raising of the grain rates without notice m the middle, of a bad harvest ; and that he himself was warranted m sitting silently by when such an insult was inflicted on a seotion of the colony to which he owed an unlimited debt of gratitude. Mr Rolleston'B speech may next be expected to convey a manifesto to the country, setting forth the grounds of policy upon which the Atkinson-Conolly Ministry claim the confidence of the people for the future. During the late session, the Ministry, having been defeated, and having determined to appeal to the constituencies, quite rightly and fairly deolined to make any exposition of future policy. The only indication of that sort that t\jey gave, consists of an assurance by the Colonial Treasurer that large as the deficit was, — more than £150,000 — they were prepared to cover it without l-esort-ing to additional taxation. That, of course, was a mere gratuitous assertion on Major Atkinson's part ; which might be taken for what it was worth. It is for Mr Rolleston now to go more fully into that matter ; and to demonstrate clearly that if he should succeed m his election at Geraldine, and if his Ministry should succeed m retaining office, they will be able to cover the deficit without imposing any new tiixation. He may be expected, further, to supply the blank which was left m the Governor's speech and m all the Ministers' speeches during the session, with regard to due provision being made for hospitals and charitable aid. No one was more emphatic than Mr Rolleston, before he got into office, m urging the necessity for ample provision being made for the charitable institutions of the colony. He has now been m office five years, and during that time has had no opposition to contend against with regard to thatquestion. Yet no soi-t of adequate, systematic or permanent provision has been made for charitable institutions. It has been intimated that the Atkinson Ministry had proposals of a comprehensive character to bring forward during the late session, on that subject ; though for reasons best known to themselves, they made no allusion to it m the Governor's speech. The public will naturally look with eager expectation to Mr Rolleston's speech tonigbt.in order to learn thenatureof those proposals. There is no denying that Mr Rolleston has a grand opportunity, the grandest, perhaps, that ever occurred to him during the whole of his political career, except on that memorable occasion when he was Native Minister, and when he might with the greatest ease, have acquired all the distinction and earned all the public gratitude which fell, m the course of events, to the lot of his stronger minded, if not abler, colleague, Mr Bryce. A special interest attaches to Mr Rolleston's meeting to-night on another and a more personal ground. He has hitherto been par excellence, the spoilt child of political fortune m New Zealand. He had it all his own way as Superintendent of Canterbury, for nine years, and he has been returned regularly to Parliament without opposition ever since 1867. He himself has been a ruthless and uncompromising opponent of all who ventured to differ from him ill the smallest degree. He has always held that m politics no quarter is to be given or expected, and he has absolutely stuck at nothing m hit) hostility to anyone who dared even to criticise his political conduct, or to oppose his political views. He now for the first time has to feel the effect of his own principles as applied to himself. He has undertaken a bold enterprise. Having been subjected to a very severe censure at the Avon, where he had reigned supreme for years, he haß come forward at Geraldine to contest an election with a man who has been closely identified with tho district from its earliest settlement, who represented it for years with high honor to himself and it; who is endeared to its inhabitants by a thousand ties of public respect and confidence and of personal friendship and eßteem ; and whose genuine sympathy with all ranks of the community has been amply proved by a long career of unselfish benevolence and unweary^n^ well doing. It may well be asked what conceivable claim Mr Rolleston has on the support of the Geraldine electors as against the claims of Mr Cox. Mr Rolleston has answered thatquestion himself. In his parting address to the electors of Avon, he declared tbat he thought it his duty to offer hiß services to the district m which he lives. This, wo understand, is an allusion to the fact that he made an investment m land m the Geraldine district some years ago, and that he regards his property there as his home. That iB always a strong appeal to tho neighborly feeling of a constituency ; and we doubt not that it will have its due effect m tho present instance. Mr Rolleston is a Geraldine farmer, and the farmers, we know, always have a worm corner m their heart for one of their own culling. But Mr Cox may fairly claim to have had at least as much to do with farming m the Geraldine district as Mr Rollcston has had, though he happens to have resided recently at Christchurch. Mr Rolleston, therefore, can hardly hope to gain much advantage on that score. He must look mainly, we think, to other influences to promote his candidature; and it will be exceedingly interesting to learn what those influences are, and how lie will turn them to account. In a word, Mr Rolleston, the spoilt child of political fortnne, as we have called him, is now for the first time called upon to show tho stuff ho is made of, to stand the test of a closely contested election. Wo sincerely hope for hie own sake, for the sake of the high reputation ho haß borne m the past, for the sake of tho confidence the public have bo freely reposed m him, that ho will come weil through the fiery ordeal. Now or never is his clianco to substantiate his pi 3tenaions to colonial statesmanship ; and

the Geraldine electors are to be the judges chosen by himself. PouiiTttT Association. — Entries for the Tiraaru Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Association's Show on July 1 lth and 12th, close on Saturday evening next, at Mr W. Collins 1 Auction Rooms. Wharfage Rates. — Formal notice isgivon tilts morning, as required by law, of tho intention of the Harbor Board to increaso the wharfage on the landing of coal from 1b 6d to 2s 6d per ton weight. Tns Contest fob Gkbaldine. — The electors of the Geraldine Riding who are willing to assist m securing the return of Mr Alfred Cox as the representative of Geraldine, are invited to attend a meeting at tho Mechanics' Institute, Geraldine, at 7. 30 o'clock to-morrow evening. A Weatiibr Record. — The Yen. Archdeacon Harper informs us that bis rain-gauge registered 1.80 inches during the month of June, und that of the severe frosts which occurred during the month, the severest m Timaru wus that on tho night of the 16th, when the thermometer registered 16 degrees of frost. Enomsh Mail. — Tho San Francisco mail did not arrive at Timaru till about 2 o'clock this morning. The ss. Rotoinnhana, which left Wellington at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon did not arrive at Lyttelton until 7.30 lust ovening, head winds and heavy seas causing her to be twenty-seven hours late. Tnß Timabtj Electouatk. — A numerously signed requisition having been presented to Mr E. G. Kcrr to contest the Timaru seat, that gentleman m our advertising columns this morning oxprosses his willingness to do so, and states he will take an early opportunityjof addressing the electors. Mr A. St. G. Hiimersley has decided not to offer himself aa a candidate for Timaru at this election, which he had been pressed to do. C Batteby, N.Z.A. — At the parade last evening thero was ft good mustev, 40 members of all ranks answering to their names. Captain Hamersloy was m command. The Battery was inspected by Captain and Adjutant Newall m manual, firing, bayonet exercise and company drill. The arms and accoutrements were fouud to bo m excellent order, and Captain Newnll expressed himself well pleased with tho result of his inspection. Sporting. — We havo to acknowledge the receipt of the programino of tho Christchurch Hunt Club Steeplechases, which has been thoughtfully forwarded to us by Mr Chas. J. Penfold, the Hon. Secretary. The steeplechases are to be held on the Christchurch racecourse on August Bth. There are five events m all, tho Open Handicap Stecplechaso being of tho most value. Nominations clo3e on July 19th, and weights will appear on July 28th. A Ctmious Blunder. — A merry laugh was occasioned m the R.M. Court yesterday by a curious confusion of thought on the part of one of the lawyers engaged. A man was charged with depositing rubbish on the beach below high water mark. After the evidence m support of the charge had been givon, hi» counsel triumphantly claimed a dismissal of the case, because all the witnesses had sworn that the high water mark was above where the rubbish was pvit. Faiehe Creek School Committee. — At a meeting of this Committee, held on Monday, present : — Messrs Milne (Chairman), Morris, Close, Allan, Caskey, and Pye, the schoolmaster's report was read, shewing tho attendance for Juno to be as follows : — Strict average — Boys, 15.3 ; girls, 17.6 ; total, 32.9. Working average — Boys, 16.9 ; girls, 19.1 ; total, 35.1. Average last week — Boys, 19.2 j girls, 22.2; total 41.4. A letter from Captain Slitter was received, with a cheque enclosed for £5, as a donation to the school. It was resolved that tho Secretary write thanking Captain Suttor for his kindness. Accounts were passed for payment to the amount of £2 18s 3d. Mr Milne was appointed Visitor for tho ensuing month, and the meeting then terminated. Political Addresses. — We need scarcely remind our readers m Temuka and the neighborhood, that the Hon. Air Rolleston Minister of Lands, upeaks m the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, or those m the Timaru district that Mr Turnbull speaks m the Assembly Room, this evening. Mr Rolleston's meeting commences at seven o'clock; Mr Turnbull'B at half-past seven. Tt is announced that Mr Alfred Cox will address the electors of Geraldini 1 , m the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, on Friday evening, and at Goraldine on Monday next. Tlio dates of other meetings to be held by Mr Cox are also given. An addition to Mr J. H. Slitter's advertisement iixes the dates on which he will address the electors of Gladstone at various places. Accident at Waimate. —Mr Joseph Cairncross, of Waimate, was admitted into the Wnimnto Hospital on Monday evening last, suffering from a eevero wound, the temporal artery being cut and great loss of blood Btistained beforo admission. Ho was at once attended by Dr Hasßell. Tbo wound appeared as if caiißed by a blow or stab with a sharp instrument. As it was feared that the injury was caused by other than accidental moans, enquiries were mado by tho police, when it wins found that Mr Cairncross had had a severe fall, coming down on tho sharp edge of a lamp post or stone. Although m a very exhausted state from loss of blood when admitted, Mr Cairneross is much bettor, and it is hoped thero is no danger of fatul consequences. An Important Decision. — A rather important decision was given on Monday at the Kaiapoi Resident Magistrate's Court, by Mr Baddeley, R.M. Tho case was one m which tbo plaintiff sought to recover damages from tho defendant for injuries sustained by an assault, for which tho defendant had been previously criminally punished. Mr Marshall Naldor, counsel for tho defence, submitted that under section 187 of the Justice of Poace Act 1882, tho plaintiff mint be nonsuited. Mr Stringer, for tho plaintiff, contended that as the plaintiff did not lay the information, and tho polico had taken action m tho interests of public justice, tho section would not apply. The Bench, howover, decided to nonsuit plaintiff, and Mr Stringer gavo notico of uppcal. Tho section m question provides that where m tho summary jurisdiction of justices an information for assault has been laid by or on bohalf of tho party aggrieved, no further proceedings, either civil or criminal, will lie. Plbabant Point School Committee.— The usual monthly meeting of this Committee was hold m tho schoolroom on Monday ovening. All tho members wore prosont. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmod, and one or two unimportant circulars and letters wore read. Miss M. A. Sutherland's resignation as pupil teacher was recoived and road, and on tho motion of Mr Cartwright tho resignation was accepted. It was also resolved to take tho neoessary ateps to fill tho vacancy. A report was received from tho Head Master upon the attendance of tho past quarter, and calling attention to tho fact of soveral families having recently left tho district affecting tho attendance. Tho report showed tho avorago to htivo boen 128.8 for tho quarter. A letter was read from Captain Sutter, M.H.R., covering a cheque for £8 towards tho scholars' prizo fund. Mr Acton proposed — "That tho Chairman acknowledge tho receipt of Captain Butter's cheque of the 2lßfc instant, and that the thanks of the Committee bo conveyed to him for his consideration towards tho school," socondod by Mr Greig, and carried. Mr Acton applied for tho uso of tho sohool for Captain Suttor to hold a political meeting m on Saturday evening, July 6th. — Granted. A letter was road from tho Rev. Mr Wills, Wcsleyan minister, Tomukn, asking for the use of tho school to hold divino service m evory alternato Thursday ovoning, and also tho use of tho harmonium at tho Baid Borvioos. Mr Jnckson moved that tho Rev. Mr Wills' application bo granted j aecondod by Mr Morrison, and carried. Mr Acton proposod, " That tho school be closed on July 4th, and re-oponod on tho 16th." Socondod by Mr Jackson, and carriod. Tho Visitor's roport rocommendod Blight repairs. Mr Cartwright wits appointed Visitor for tho ensuing month. The meeting then terminated^ Football : Tnß Killed and Wotodbd. — Very recently, under this title, wo (Medical Gfazetfe) commented on two dofttliß m tho football Hold j but, m this nhorfc interval, two moro deaths havo occurred, both from injury to tho spinal cord. In ono case death was rapid, almost Biidden j m tho othor, tho unfortunate young man, a Btudont at tho Royal Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, lingered

for four months m a hopeless Btato (5 of paraplegia produced by bcemorrhage I into the cord. Ono useful piece of li evidence was given by another student at i a Cooper's Hill, who swore that the game was I o not more dangerous when played according I i( to the Rugby rules than according to the r Association rules. The brutality of the game under tho Bugby rules is admitted by J so many lovers of football, that tho ABSocia- I tion may now, we hope, be stirred up to clear itself from this imputation. If no remedy 1 be found by that body, then it will clearly become the duty of the authorities of all 1 colleges to follow the lead of the Principal t of Harvard, and forbid their students to play c tho game. 3 SYNOt'SIS OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS, t G. J. Palmer— Will sell produce, So., on Saturday. ( Mr Sutter — Bequests Gladstone electors to meet ; him at Schoolhouse, Pleasant Point, on Saturday, &o. 1 Mr Hamersley— Has docidod notjto offer himself for 1 Timaru 1 W. G. Aspinall— Has been appointed agent at Temuka for Royal Insurance Company. ' Secretary Harbor Board— Notifies that Board will I alter By-taw No. 5. ] District Land Registrar— Two] notices undor Land Transfer Act. E N.Z.G.A. and M. Company— Notice ro s.s. Ma- 1 whera. ] Manager Orari Station— lnvites tenders for cleaning drains. Secretary Timaru Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Shaw —Notifies "that entries will close next Saturday. 1 Electors of Geraldine— Are requested to attend a , meeting on Thursday. Mr Alfred Cox— Requests electors of Geraldiue to | meet him at Volunteer Hall, Temuka, on Friday, &c. i Mr E. G. Korr— Notice to the doctors of Timaru. < In Bankruptcy— Re P. J. Noble, A. W. Blftckwell, ' W. Sliephard. ' Impounded— One notice. i Wanted— Jno notice. ,