Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14.,1885 "measures, NOT MAN"

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1119, 14 February 1885, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14.,1885 "measures, NOT MAN"

"When Nelson was struck down on the deck of the Victory, mingled with the rapturous rejoicings over the great victory he had gained, were expressions of the" prof oundest regret that the man who came forward in England's hour of need should have laid down his life |as the cost of the great triumph. But t the service he had that day rendered to England in a measure atoned for his untimely death. Since that time no such hero has crossed the page of English history till the grand figure of General Gordon appeared upon the scene. GHancing down the long roll of British soldiers — and the list is an honorable one — Gordon stands unique among his fellow-soldiers. England went wild over the affair at Tel-el-Kebir, and no honor was too great to confer upon " our only general." Could Gordon have been rewarded commensurate with the part he has played, the half of the kingdom would scarce suffice, compared with the honors showered upon Wolseley. Had the latter been in any danger, English troops would have been massed from the eaat and from the west to succour him ; but the bravest general that has ever figured on the battle-fields of Britain is cruelly and cowardly abandoned while striving amid dangers and difficulties to carry out the work which an ungrateful Government sent him to perform. The whole humiliating story is now quite familiar to our readers, so that we need not enter into details. The story, in short, may thus be told : General Gordon, as one who possessed marvellous powers in dealing with savage men, was sent with a large sum of money to buy the friendship of certain influential Arab chiefs. Thence he proceeded to Khartoum, and became so hemmed in by the rebels that escape was impossible. When the position was first pointed out to the Government, they counselled Gordon to leave Khartoum, but that he found impossible; though at first he had been just a little wayward, and showed some inclination to disregard orders. The brave General was then allowed to shift for himself, till public opinion compelled the Government to send a relieving force under the command of Lord Wolseley, who has pushed on towards Khartoum with the utmost possible despatch ; and it is deeply to be deplored that General Gordon was betrayed and killed in cold blood when the relieving for^was about to open up communication with him, From the meagre accounts to hand, it would v appear that the commander of the Egyptian troops forming the garrison of Khartoum betrayed Gordon ; and, deeply as every Englishman will depi orethe base murder of the hero of Khartoum, the result is only what might have been expected. These Egyptians are Mahdites at heart, and it is little to be wondered at that they played into the hands of the Mabdi at last. The loss of Khartoum is a trifle; but the uncouth name will henceforth be associated with a name which Englishmen will for all time delight to honor. The murder of General Gordon will.be the dearest day's work for these accursed fanatics that ever they took part in. The vengeance of England will now fall upon them, and they will learn what a terrible thing it is to thoroughly arouse the British Lion. The rebellion in the Soudan must be crushed at. any cost ; for the prestige of England has suffered — the flag that floats in the van of victory has been trampled under foot by these rude barbarians, and now they must be taught to respect it with* a wholesome dread and fear. Had a firm hand been shown at the outset, this would not have been necessary now; but fathers will tell their children in the days to come how a trembling old man feebly grasped the helm of the Stat&sfiip, till, the billows of war rolled "upland swept" the crouching figure off the boards.

The friendly alliance which has been entered into between England and Italy is a most important diplomatic move, and one which will nicely checkmate Bismarck in his attempts to 'isolate England from the I 'friendship jot. the other Powers. France haej been influenced wit^i the view of embarrassing -England, 'bat the friendship of Italy niore' ttiari' compensates for the estrangement of France. Italy ranks high as a maritime power, and therefore England could have no better ally under any circumstances. The Italian Government has generously offered to wist

England with men to qu 11 the rebellion in the Soudan, and if it is foun*i advisable the offer will be accepted. Italy-has taken* possession of Massoweb, on the' Red Sea',., and there is some talk of her also .taking Souakim. If England means ta control the affairs of E-Jypt, with an .English garrison at Khartoum and the Italians irmly posted along; the adjacent seacoast, the position would be more secure. The French rather shabbily drew out of the affiir a!, the bombardment of Alexandria, thus forfeiting all claim to a share of the control in Egypt. They cannot, I*therefore,"-"well1 * therefore," -"well ISr>jeOT~to Italy sharing part of the spoil if she does a fair share of the work. The African continent is large enough to admit of sub- division among several of the'Power3 of Europe, and that without fear of the interests of each ' clashing with the other. France already has a nice scope of territory in the north, and surely she can advance no reasonable objection to Italy holding a piece on the east, while England holds the control of Egypt. It iB stated that the British me«n to evacuate Egypt ; but that would be a great misfortune to the Egyptians themselves, as the best thing that could befal them is to be permanently under British rule. In any casa, it will be a long time before the British can withdraw from Egypt. Before that time there will be a general election in England, and let us hope that the " Grand Old Man" will have given place to one more capable of holding the helm in times of storm. Much though all must admire Gladstone for the good work he has accomplished in his day, it is now only too. painfully apparent that he is suffering from the timidity characteristic of decliniu? years. It is meet, therefore, that he should retire with his honors upon him, beiore his name comes to be a subject of execration;

One of the things at which the public often marvel is why the members of a democratic Ministry generally display the most aristocratic tendencies. A Premier, who poses as a democrat, allows his Minister of Public Works to travel by special train, as if he, forsooth ! w^re, after all, somebody of consequence. When it became known that the Minister of Public Works, accompanied by Mr Pyke, was to arrive in Lawrence on Wednesday evening, a good many citizms turned ou* to witness the arrival of the train, as much to welcome Mr Pyke, hs an old and welltried friend, as the Minister of Public Works, who may hold his position by the favor of the gods, but certainly not for any brilliant qualißcations which tit him for the office ; consequently, the disgust of the people was apparent when it became known that Mr Pyke had arrived alone, and that Mr Richardson was comiig by a special t»-ain half-an-hour afterwards. Though Vincent Pyke is a man who has earned laurels in his country's servioe, yet he is not considered good enough to travel with a New Zealand Minister, many of whom are pitchforked into positions wbich neither education nor ability entitle them to. Wh it was to hinder Mr Richardson, even although he is permitted to tack " honorable " to his name, from travelling in a reserved oarriage on the ordinary train? and if he had been a gentleman he would have asked Mr Pyke to occupy a seat in the same carriage. Truly, the arrogance of our Colonial magnates is appalling. The present Government are preaching a holy crusade of retrenchment, and this, we suppose, is one of their methods , of leading the way. If Mr Richardson, inebriated with the magnificence of his position, chooses to ape royalty, let him send us word when he next proposes visiting Lawrence, and no doubt His Worship the Mayor will call together all the small boys of the town with kerosetifi-tins to form a procession in honor of " His High and Mightiness the Minister of Public Works." If any Minister chooses to make an ass of himself, that is his affair; but when the country has to pay his little bill, that is our affair, and we, the taxpayers of New Zealand, have a perfect right to object, and we do object, with ill-concealed disgust. Tb.3 Governor, as the Queen's representative, may be entitled to travel hv special train ; but a Minister of Public Works — bah ! the thing is too ridiculous.

Fob several years California's wheat crop has been more valuable than her yield of gold. Now it seems likely that her fiuit crop will soon surpass in value that of the wheat. The California fruit crop for 1884 aggregates 18,609 tons, or 1861 carloads. This would make one train per day of 20 cars each for 93 days.

HARVESTING "operations, we are informed, will be commenced at Tuapeka West on Monday, should the weather permit. Mr Fraser has a crop of wheat ready for the reaper, and in the course of another couple of weeks harvesting will be general in that district. Tbe crops nave never looked better, and an extra good yield is, therefore, anticipated. The grain is filling and hardening in a very satisfactory manner under the influence of the grateful sunshine that has b>eu about of late. Grass, too, i 6 iv great abundance throughout the distric ', and altogether the prospects of the tillers of the soil are looking brighter.

Tax Wellington correspondent of the "Daily Timen " says :— A second reform or experiment is about to he tried in connection with the working of railways. Mr Tole, in the absence of the Minister for Public Work.s, signed the warrant nf authority fur the issue and sale of railway tickets at post-offices. This is designed to obviate' the delay and inconvenience of a rush at the' railway ticket offices. This «yatein is found to, work well on the Continent and elsewhere, and a fair trial will be given to it here. Tbe experiment, in all probability, will be first tried on the Canterbury lines of the Hn« uoui-Bluff section.

Whilb the elections of Licensing Committees are warming up from year to year to a keen courest between the intemperate temperance party on tbe one h»od and the licensed victuallers on (ho other, the annual election is a very tiiine aff.tir in Lawrence and surrounding districts. Nominations for the Borough of Lawrence take place to-day ; and if more than the requisite uunriber ; of candidates is nominated, the poll will take place on the 21st instant. Iv the adjacent districts the elections are allowed to lapse, when a Committee will he appointed for each. It would be a far better arrangement to enlarge the licensing districts th*n to allow public interest to completely die out as at present. A couple of licensing districts would be quite enough for the .whole County instead of one in almost every Riding.

Oor Waitahuna Gully correspondent writes : — The Waitahuna Fife and Drum Band, in full uniform to the number of twenty, played up tbe main Gully on Saturday evening last. The evening being fine it had a good effect, and the residents were delighed to hear them. They played some lively airs going up the Gully as far as Mrs Dewea' store, where they gave a selection of airs in a style astonishing for the sborb time tlie.^ h*.\rd been at it. .A. lftrfge number of people gathered to hear them. After partaking of cake supplied by Mrs Dewea, they fell-in a<ain atad marched <.ff, _ making the hills resound with their inspiriting strains, leaving those behind regretting at their pleasant but short stay, but trusting that it wonld not be long before they woulii give them another treat. Without doubt Sir Miller deserves great credit for the style and progress they hive made; also praise is due Mr Webster for the interest he has takeu in the Band since it started.

THE scenes are^ being rapidly shifted at the theatre of war in Esyp£. The Madhi has promptly followed up his advantage, and thus set the hesitating British" Government a good example. As soon da he had completed his bloody work upon the followers of Gordon, he hastened to give battle to General Earle. A telegram s/ates that Earle'met the forces of the Madhi, 15,000 strong, and that a great battle was fought. A decisive victory was won by the British. The forces of the Madhi were cut to pieces, but poor Eirle paid the. penalty for his bravery with his life ; while a number of British officers were killed. Tbe British mmt have been outnumbered' by a force numbering nearly ten to one ; and when the magnificent courage, of tbe Soudanese is taken into account, some small idea of the deadly work the British soldiers, bad to do may be arrived at. This wholesome check will insure Wolseley's safety ; for had Earle's column been overpowered, the position of General Wolaeley would then have been one of-imminent peril.

The Chairman of theTuapekaCountyCouncil received a letter (which was placed before that body at its meeting yesterday) from the UnderSecretarjftfor Public Works re the extension of the TVpanui railway. The letter states that Parliament has not made any provision for extending,)^ Tapanui line'at all, and that, under these circumstances, it would be premature to determine the route which the Hue should take. This should be good news for the residents of Lawrence ; and' we would strongly advise the Committee appointed to push the claims of this district with alTpossible despatch. Not a day should be lost now, and the matter should be laid before Government at once. If not, the Heriot Progress Committee will forestall us; for if any promise is given to them we are immediately out of jt. - Let the Committee anpointed at— the— public meeting consider itself a Progress Committee, and work energetically for the extension of the Lawrence line ; for, as we have before pointed out, if the line from Duoedin to Roxburgh is extended via Swift Creek, L.awrence will suffer.

A CORRESPONDENT, writing on the rabbit pest, says ; In spite of the combined efforts of the farmers . of this district during tbe last season/ rabbits, instead of decreasing, have increaaeTTarnnzingly. When the crops are cut, it will be found that the rabbit* have increased cent, per cent. Last summer rabbiters were kept employee! upon the Government reserves, and an enormous quantity of young ones were destroyed ; but this season uo one has been rabbiting on the reserves, and the result is that the reserves have -become ' regular breedinggrounds for the rabbits. It certainly does seem hard on tbe farmers who live in tbe vicinity of these reserves to be compelled, at enormous cost, to keep the rabbits . in ch.eck, or else be heavily fined, The introduction of ferret?, stoats, and weasels is a great mistake, and it will ba foupd that^be harm they do will more than oouaterbatsnee the.good. They will soon tire of the rabbit*, and attack the sheep ; and where homesteads are near they will destroy fowls. If young children are about, their flewh will not come amiss. Those useful budß, thn Maori bens, will be all destroyed, and they kill more young rabbits, rats', and mice than the ferrets, stoats, and weasels will.

A MEETING of the Lawrence District High School Committee was held in the County Council Chambers on Wednesday evening. Present — Messrs Small (Chairman), Harrop. Mitchinson, J-ffery, M'Nicol, Copland and J. Thompson (Hon. Secretary )— The minu'es of the previous meeting were read and confirmed —The inward correspondence included circulars,ftom; Messrs leaser, Green, Ramsay, Fraer, and-Brown, offering their services to fill ithe three vacancies that had arisen la the Education Board.— After some discussion, the Committee decided to support the candidature of Messrs Fraer, Green and Bamsay.— The Hector, wrote as follows: "I would respectfully, .suggest. the desirability of fixing the nolidayVfor the year, aa it would be much better/for teachers and children. I would rfuggegt a weeV'aV'JJaater, five weeks at Christmas, and whatever town 'holidays may be proclauaedi>y r lhe Mayor. I may .mention that the Stinedini schools' work somewhat on tb'f plan." It «yw- resolved to adopt the sag* Keations contained iti 'the Rector's letter. — - ItiwM decided that the appointment of a PUpHsfiSotietl'lnCra v.n jofM'ss JaueKobertaon (whose .term of apprenticeship had expired) be left in the band* of the Chairman and Secretary. —The Rector reported that the highest attendance at the school for tbe week had been 270 — boya, 140; girls, 130.— Messrs Harrop and Copland were appointed a Visiting Committee for the ensuing three month?. — The Secretary mentioned that the sum realised by the sale of the Rector's old residence and sections was £510,'aiidbe suggested that application be made to the Education Board for a grant to effect pepesnary improvements to the echool grounds. The gutter was referred to the Visiting Committee to report at next meeting.- Mr Copland gave notice of motion .to the effect that a part of the school ground be apportioned as aspw»r-garden.— This concluded the business.