The Star. WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1895. To-Day.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5259, 15 May 1895, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1895. To-Day.

There vill be a feeling of genuine regret when the Pollard season at the Theatre Royal is ended; and, unfortunately for the loven of operatic music, it must end on Saturday night. It is not always that the promfees of caterers for the entertainment of tie public are fulfilled, but " The Pollards *' are in this regard entitled to a high placa in the general estimation. Opera has succeeded opera, and of each, one has been inclned to say, "It is better than those tb.it have preceded it." Nothing succeeds like success. The people who go to such admirably managed performances as these, delightedly go again ; and they induce others to go with them. One would be disposed to, say something, specially complimentary about the beauty of the scene-paintings if it \were not that all "the costumes are of just as high a standard, or about the orchestration, but that the vocalisation ia at least of equal merit; and even then the " genius " of these productions would haver been overlooked., For, after all, it is Pollard himself, who thinka out all the details and who organises and arranges everything, who is entitled to the highest praise and the warmest thanks. He will take away with him something more than any profits he may have secured — the heartiest good wishes for himself and the . members of his clover company.

Fibk Brigade matters, it seems highly probable, will soon be placed on a fairly satisfactory footing. The position we took up was that the best course would have been for the City Council first to consider and adopt a scheme of re-organisation, and then appoint a superintendent on the new basic. The Council, however, thought fie tomakechoice of the new superintendent first, and attend to matters of detail afterwards. It is understood that the Fire Brigade Committee is now engaged in the task of devising new rules and regulations, having obtained for its guidance pretty full information as to the working of brigades in other centres. It is quite . possible— and indeed it is highly probable— that there will be an outcry from some of the members of the existing brigade ; for it is obvious that if a reconstruction scheme is to be effectively carried out, every man mvs 1 ; receive formal notice of dis* missal, the field beiDg thus cleared for a selection of the best material. There is one point to which we hope due attention i will be given by the committee, and that is the supreme importance of ensuring the maintenance of rigid discipline; aqd we fail to see how this is likely to be secured unless the superintendent is armed with practically autocratic power. When a man ia appointed to such a position, involving such grave reaponßitility, he has a right to claim that he shall be trusted "all in all, or not at all."

One of the newspapers that moat bitterly opposes anything and everything done by the present Government, the Wellington Post, has fairly placed itself upon the rack In the endeavour to belittle the Bon J. G. Ward and to make its readers believe that no credit attaches tp the Colonial Treasurer for the phenomenal success of the loan authorised by the Advances to Settlers Act. In pursuance of this moat miserable line of oonduot, the Post proceeds to rake up all sorts of aide issues, and now girds at the Government tor "continuing to offer 4 per cent as an attraction to Savings Bank depositors/ when it can openly borrow in the London market at a lower rate. The inference, of course, is that all moneys which may be placed in the Post Office Savings Bank bear 4 per cent interest, but this is one of those half-troths whiofa have I been given an ugly appellation. Everybody is aware that the purpose of the Poßt Office Savings Bank is to encourage thrift, and that to accomplish this a reasonably good rate of interest on comparatively small deposits is necessary. But there is certainly no encouragement for the hoarding up of large sums, the rules providing for the payment of interest at 4 per cent only up to j£2oo. Prom .£2OO up to .£SOO the rate sinks to 3s, and for above £500 nothing is paid. On investments in New Zealand consols, again, the interest rate is only 3* per cent.

If it be good— as undoubtedly it Ib— for men to join some well-baaed Friendly Society in order make some little provision against sickness, it is aIBO good for women to do so ; and we are glad to observe that in this direction there is now a strong forward movement in New Zealand. Under the auspices of the American Order of Oddfellows, a meeting was held in Wellington, a few days ago, to consider tbe advisability of establishing a women's branch.. A. leading representative of the Order in Außtralaeia gave the information that this particular Friendly Society had brought the>e branches for women into

niatence in various parta of the vorld, the total memberahip therein norn 202,444 at the end of 1893, whilst luring that year the earn expended for relief among women was .£BO,OOO. The primary aims of the Order, he said, were to provide an insurance fund in caae of sicknees, and also medical attendance and medicine. It was necessary to secure thirty intending members before a charter could be granted, but the requisite number was immediately forthcoming, and in due course the " Eebekab degree " will be formally inaugurated in Wellington. Some of the Friendly Societies in thia district, it is understood, are moving in a similar direction ; and the Foresters hare already established two Courts for women. Not over-much sympathy is likely to be wasted over the prospector at Coolgardie whose murder by a blackfellow was recently reported by a cable message. From the details supplied by a Coolgardie correspondent to one of the leading Australian journals, it seems that the prospector, whose name was Anderson, and who wbb colloquially known as "New Zealand Jimmy," deliberately qourted the fate that befel him. Anderson had enticed away the blackfellow'a "lubra," reputably a handsome woman, and had been living with her for some time. Telegraphing on Aptil 29, the correspondent in question briefly narrateß the facts of the tragedy ae. ! follows:— "On Wednesday lost Anderson thrashed the native, and burnt bis nriamia to drive him from the locality, and at nine o'clock oh that evening Anderson approached the tent in which the gin waa sleeping, when Jimmy sprang upon him with appear. Anderson saw him coming, : and stooped for a stick, but the aboriginal drove the spear clean through his body, bet^en the neck flag the collarbone, the weapon coming onb through the ribs. Anderson died at once. Anderson's mate and lubra went to Siberia for assistance, and forty diggers returned to avenge the murder, but found that the aboriginal had looted the camp and cleared into the bnsh. The body was buried at Siberia, but the diggers evinced little sympathy for the murdered man, knowing the relations which had existed between the deceased and the murderer's lubra:" The faot tbat the miners of the district— who, under ordinary circumstances, would naturally be keen to avenge a crime — display such an attitude of indifference, constitutes a strong comment upon the equity of the case, whatever may be the dread requirements of the law.