West Coast Times. FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, 1867.

West Coast Times, Issue 609, 6 September 1867, Page 2

West Coast Times. FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, 1867.

The conclusion cannot be resisted that if the system of voting by ballot is not un-English in any other sense, it is entirely opposed to the genius and disposition of the British people. If it were not so, the long continued agitation iv its favor would years ago have residted in its practical adoption by Parliament, in common with other great radical reforms which have become law. The parliamentary system has undergone enormous changes within the last few years, and the Bill just passed by the House of Commons is a much clearer approximation to the Charter than tmy section of moderate reformers five years ago expected ever to see carried. The suffrage has now been made almost universal, and in the redistribution of seats the principle has been adopted of apportioning representatives to population. But amidst all the changes and reforms that have carried, .there remains still the same inveterate aversion to any abolition of the sysiem of open voting. Yet in England the arguments urged in favor of the Ballot gather strength with every extension of the franchise that is made. In proportion as the qualification is reduced, more and more of the class who may be supposed to be under the influence of employers, and too dependent in position to resist dictation, are brought with the pale. The colonial artizan is a man possessed of infinitely more independence than the English workman. Labor, especially of the skilled kind, is too valuable in the colonies to be cast aside by an employer merely from a motive of political resentment. For other reasons the storekeeper in the colonies is in a different position from a member of his own class at home. We have no village shopkeepers who depend for their ability to keep their shutters open upon the patronage of the Squire or the family from the Hall; none of the small struggling professional men whose bread is threatened by the establishment of a rival practitioner the moment the great man is offended; none of the small tenants whose holdings are likely to be taken away from them unless they obediently follow their landlord to the poll ; none of the fashionable tradesmen of the West-end, who keep up their establishments by enormous profits and long credits, and to whom withdrawal of official patronage means sudden stoppage. These are the classes for whose protection the Ballot may be necessary at home- ; more especially the class of small artizans living ou such scant wages as have been fixed by fierce modern competition, and to whom a discharge from a factory would be the equivalent of starvation for themselves and their families. In the colonies, as a rule, the workman is more independent than his master ; aud the shopkeeper depends on the custom of the many, who care more about the good quality of the article and the cheapness of the price — than the politics of the tradesman — than he is upon tho patronage of the few.

On reading the debate in the Assembly on Mr Reynolds' motion in favor of the ballot, one is struck, first, by the inapplicability to the circumstauces of the colony of the old stock arguments in support of it, borrowed from popular debates in England ; and, secondly, by the utter dissimilarity of the arguments by which it is advocated by those who best make out a case for its adoption here.

Mr Stafford, the Premier, was the ablest supporter of Mr Reynolds' resolution. He said that he had considered the subject for a very great number of years, and that he had omitted to read nothing of importance that had been written or spoken upon it for the last twenty years. Eighteen years ago he had heard a debate in the Imperial Parliament on the subject, and had listened to a most exhaustive speech by Sir Richard Bethell whose position was irrefragable. The then AttorneyGeneral, Mr Stafford, said 'demolished" the position that was affected to be taken by the opponents of the measure, on the theory that the franchise was was a'• trust." We are not favored with any extracts from this speech of the late Chancellor, but we presume that Mr Stafford derived from it the only argument he himself used in connection with the "trust" doctrine. He said— we quote from Hansard—" What does the elector hold his trust for ? For the non-electors ? Then virtually the nonelectors were the persons who were entitled to the franchise." That is precisely the position, and Mr Stafford could not have better put the argument on the side he was speaking against. It is precisely because there is a very large number of persons in New Zealand " entitled" to the possession of the franchise in every sense but a legal one, who are nevertheless "non-electors," owing to a restrictive law, that the actual elector has a trust in his keeping. And it is because, owing to recent reforms in England the number of persons enfranchised has been so enlarged, that there will be very few non-electors amongst the men of full age and industrious habits, that the suffrage has to a very great extent ceased to be a " trust for others." The individual elector may now claim protection in the exercise of his right, and hold himself responsible for its exercise to none but his own conscience.

Mr Yogel was a very fair type of those who advocated the adoption of the Ballot here on grounds altogether apart irom those urged by its supporters ut home. He repudiated altogether the idea that it was necessary, as a protection to the voter against intimidation. He " believed the working classes here to be independent of their employers." He "did not agree with the established arguments in favor of the Ballot." Why then did he support it? Because he thought it would " prove the most con-

venient mode of recording votes.'' The present system was " not convenient, because it opened the door to fraud." He held that it provided facilities for fraud, because there was nothing to prevent a polling clerk, if the voter put his name on the paper for one candidate from adding the names of others opposite. The best protection against frauds of this nature is, the publication of the veting lists, so that any elector may be able to see at a glance, whether his vote has been duly recorded as it was intended by him to be given.

Iv the mode of taking votes at elections, there should clearly be, either the most absolute secrecy, or the most open publicity. One or other being essential for the protection of the purity of election, under the general conditions of the franchise in New Zealand, we certainly think the latter the most to be commended on all grounds of political principle.

The following is a return of cattle and sheep driven past the Rangiriri Police-station on their road to Hokitika, during the week ended 28th August, 1867 :— Cnttle, 202; sheep, 398. Mr G. W. Binney held a sale by auction of general merohanJizo on tho wharf yesterday, the goods being ex Queen, from Lyttelton. The attendance was numerous, and as the bidding was spirited, good prices were realised.

A telegram fixing the tolls to be levied on the Arahura Bridge, in reply to a memorial from the packers, was 1 received yesterday by Mr Bavff. The scale of charges is reasonable, and from all wo can hear, is likely to give satisfaction to the packers.

The official declaration of the poll will be made this day at noon, at the Warden's Court.

Tho first of a series of lectures, to be given in connection with tho Hokitika Literary Society, was delivered last evening iv the Court House, to a crowded audience, by the Venerable Archdeacon Harper. The subject was " Memory, its Nature aud its Uses," and it was treated in a most masterly manner. To attempt to give anything like a sketch of this interesting lectoirc would be only to spoil it, especially as we intend to publish it in exlenso, suffice it to say that it was listened to throughout with deop attention, and at its conclusion, a vote of thanks to the lecturer was, on the motion of the President (Mr Button), passed unanimously. Tho next lee-, ture will be given on Thursday evening, by Mr South on Geology.

It will be in the recollection of our readers that a short time since a concert was given in the Court House, in aid of the funds of St. Mary's School, at wliich the children attending the school assisted. As a reward for their conduct at the concert, they yesterdny afternoon assembled at the residence of tho Rev. Father M'Donogh, Weld street, and partook of a feast which had been prepared for them.' On the leaving they ranged themselves in front of the doorway and sang a parting hymn with great taste and effect. They then returned to the school, and as a half holiday had been given to them, they indulged in a variety of sports and their games being ended they were dismissed to their homes.

Tho weather continues to be gloriously fine, yesterday being a most delightful day, the air feeling quite balmy and springlike. The fineness of tho day attracted many visitors to that agreeable promenade — the beach.

We regret to state that a serious accident occurred resterday to Mr Charles Straßsen. As that gentleman was opening a bottle of soda water the bottle burst, and a piece of glass struck him' in the right eye. Drs. Young and Ryley were called in, and administered aid to the sufferer, but it is feared that the sight is seriously injured.

There was a good house at the City Theatre last evening, when Mr Frank Towers took his benefit. The principal attraction of the evening was the burlesque of Cinderella, which was capitally put upon tho stage ; it was full of local liits,and elicited not only the laughter but the loud applause of the audience. This evening two attractive pieces will be presented ; and, on Saturday " Robert Macaire" will be produced.

Tho following items of mining intelligence appear in the " Wakatip Mail," of the 24th instant. — " With fine weatlier, mining operations are being renewed with vigor. The Boatswain's claim, Twelve-mile (Lake), contiaues to yeild splendidly, and the gold is increasing in coarseness. At Tucker Beach, favorable prospects are also being obtained,and the news generally is cheering. Indeed, we have not seen, for a long period, so much general confidence felt in mining matters, and especially amongst the sluicers, The returns are steady; and it is now safely demonstrated, that steady wages are obtainable in nearly any portion of the district, and we trust to witness a steady increase to the population during the next six months. Large claims are the order of the day, and a plentiful supply of water will probably be obtainable during the whole of the summer. In fact, mining operations generally aro being more steadily and systematically pursued as a settled industry than we ever before remember to have seen in the district. Residence areas and substantial houses are dotting the various outdistricts, and giving an air of permanency that should be reassui'ing to alarmists. The Scandinavian Company are crushing with fifteen heads of stamps, and Southberg'B have just completed some alterations to their machinery, and we believe their stampers are again going. It is stated that some of the quartz claims will be prospected by working parties of miners shortly."

The unemployed epidemic appears to have extended to Dunedin, but fortunately for our neighbors it has there assumed a very mild form : at least we infer as much from the tone of the appeuded paragraph extracted from the " Times" of the 27 tU ult. -.—The " meeting of the unemployed," wliich did not assemble at tho call of the bellman, at noon on Tuesday, was re-called for five o'clock yesterday evening. Five o'clock is the hour at which there aro usually more people proceeding towards North Dunedin than any other time of the day, and yesterday a few of tho many passersby occasionally lingered at the Princes street corner of the Octagon, apparently with no object in connection with the expected meeting, except tho desire of seeing what might prove to be its extent and character. About the same time, a still smaller number — not more than twenty or thirty — assembled leBS promiscuously, close to the Cargill Monu,-

ment. It was not apparent in what proportion the " unemployed" were present, if thore were any ; and it seemed probable that the meeting would torminate as that of the previous day' until Mr J. G. S. Grant appeared upon the ground. His appearance suggested tho usual calls for " Grant," and for a speech ; some one proposed that "Mr Graut should tako the chair ;" a chair was procured ; and from that chair, as president and only speaker at the meeting, Mr Graut, for a quartor of an hour, harangued the increased numbers who had by thut time assembled. He concluded by a lengthy motion, or manifesto, attributing tho assumed want of employment in Otago to the late Superintendental election, aud to the action of tho Provincial and General Governmonts in regard to the matter of the Delegated Powers. With a continuanco of present circumstances, he anticipated only tho financial ruin aud depopulation of the Province, and, " so far as he was concerned, he was off to the Fijis ;" but, if his motion were carried out, he foresaw that "peaco and justice, happiness and prosperity, would pi'evail." Of course, tho motion was agreed to. No one else essayed to address the meeting j and practically, there was no demonstration of the existence of any number of unemployed, or auy resolution passed as to how, if there is a want of employment, the necessities of the case might be met.

We ('• Otago Timo9") have been favored with the particulars of another case of severe suffering through men being " lost in a 9now 9tonn." On the 21st inst. Constable Campion was sent from Cromwell, to look after a man who had been conveyed to Mr M'Pherson's hut, which is within a few miles of Mr M'Lean's station. The man proved to be Hugh Healey. Ou the 28th ult. while crossing the ranges from Mr M'Lean's home-sta-tion to the Hawea Lake, in company with two others, a snowstorm came on. The two men left Healey in the ranges ; but our informant says, " Healey does not blame them for that ; for they had plenty to do to mind themselves." Fcr five nights and six days, Healey was " lost in the snow." Then, he came to a deserted hut on the Lindis river ; and ho inanugod to crawl into the hut for shelter. There he was shortly afterwards found by a man who was passing (whose name we have not), and who at once took measures to have the sufferer removed to Mr M'Phorson's hut. According to the latest account, Healey was still at the last-named hut, with his feet so much frost-bitten that the loss of some of his toes "was feared. All that could be done for Jiim was being done; but he had the additional great misfortune to be suffering from dyscutry, so that it was considered not advisable to attempt to move him to the Clyde Hospital.

Wo extract from the Otago "Times" the following interesting account of, and deposits in the corner of the Middle Island : — The Preservation Inlet coal, a sample of which has been brought to Dunedin by the steamer William Miskin, was examined by Dr Hector, during his trip to Ihe West Coast, in the Matilda Hayes. Captain Falconer, now of the schooner Caledonia, and who was in command of the Mitilda Hayes during her voyage of exploration, states that the only seam of coal which was then visible at Coal Island, as it is called, was a seam a few inches in thickness, but that on the beach, in the neighborhood, thei?e were blocks of coal several foet thick — a circumstance suggostive of a thicker and workable seam near the same locality. Dr Hector, in the report of his examination of the Inlet, gives the same description, and he speaks favorably of the quality of the sample of coal then obtained. In that report, Dr Hector says : — "The only seam of coal I found is from 4 to 9 inches in thickness, and dips at an angle of lodeg. to the east. It, however, again crops out, with an opposite dip, a few hundred yards nearer the junction of the series with the underlying slates. It is only exposed at very low tides ; but, once seen, it was easily traced back to the brow of the hill, which rises steeply from the shores at this place ; but is so obscured by fallen debris and dense 9crub that a further search in that direction would be an expensive and tedious operation. Immediately to the west of where the coal was found, the strata was suddenly thrown up at an angle of 35 deg., and the lower flaggy sandstones attain a much greater development than that given above and from the whole thickness of the cliffs exposed along the sea coast, so that the above seam of coal, if it occurs at all, must be at an elevation of 200 to 300 feet above tho level of the sea, and on the tops of thickly wooded table land. It is, however, extremely improbable that such a seam will prove persistent over a la.ige area ; but, while it may suddenly thin out altogether, it is just as liable to expand into a thick and valuable seam of fuel ; such is the irregularity of doposits like this, which have been formed in a very limited basin, subject to sudden changes in the nature of the sediment with which it was gradually filled up. We mined about a ton of the coal, and though taken out from the outcrop where exposed alternately to the sea and the atmosphere, we found it of excellent quality — quite equal to the Sydney coal which we had on board, to which it bears a great resemblance both in appearance and its manner of burning. I also found the samo strata upon the mainland to - the north, forming the hills between Southport and Gulches Head, encircling the little Bay called in the chart Price's Beach, in which vessels can find temporary anchorage during the N.W. winds, the strata here are much the same as in Coal Island, excepting that the sandstones pass more frequently into coarse conglomerates. The position of the coal is relatively the same, as it occurs in the upper part of the series associated with grits and indurated clay shales. There, also, only one seam is discovered six to fourteen inches in thiokness, but of inferior quality to that on Coal Island, as it contains a larger proportion of earthy matter and sulphur."

To meet a difficulty in orossiug the Shotover at the Big Beach, Mr George Bond, says the "Wakatip Mail," has undertaken to place a ferry-boat at that spot, and has applied for protection under the 13th clause of the Goldfiolds Act. A petition approving of the enterprise has been well signed. The establishment of a ferry at the place will be of great public convenience.

The circumstances which led to the arrest of a man named Ryan, at Harrisville, for the suspected murder of his wife, are thus reported by the " Southland Times" of the 26th instant : — " On Friday morning last a rumor was current in town to the effect that a woman named Ryau, residing in Harrigville,

had died in such a sudden and mysterioua manner as to cause suspicion to be attached to her husband. It appears that on a neighbor entering the house in the course of Thursday afternoon the man Ryan was found sitting on the side of the bed' supporting his wife in his arms ; he requested the neighbor to assist him to lift her into bed, but, to his horror, he discovered the woman to be dead. The authorities were of course communicated with, and Ryan was taken into custody. He was brought before the Resident. Magistrate on Friday > but was remanded until the results of a post mortem examination aud Coroner's inquest should be known. The inquest was held at the Plough* Hotel, Harrisville, on Saturday, •before Dr. Deck, Coroner, but was adjourned, after the examination of one witness, in order to allow of the completion of the post mortem oxamination." The Sydney "Empire" expressed some doubts as to the accuracy of the statements recently made by the " Pastoral Times " concerning the self-styled "Sir Roger Tichborne," and even insinuated that the statements wore made for the express purpose of prejucing that individual's pretensions. Our Riverine contemporary thus resents the impeachment : — " We wiote facts, many of which came within our knowledge. Can it be supposed for a moment that young Tichborne could have grown several inches after leaving England at the age of twenty* three :' Or can it be supposed that a young gentleman brought up at college, and who was an officer in the Carbineers, would begin his [paragraphs with small 'is ? or that Sir Roger alias De Castro would not show up to his sane relations and acquaintances on his arrival in England ? We invite attention to an advertisement in this issue relating to De Castro, who had established his fame here asja pig butcher. We extract the following from, the "Empire" of the 12th August: — ' Sir, — In an extract from the ' Pastoral Times' of the 3rd August, in Thursday's ' Empire,' entitled " The latest version of the Tichborne mystery,' it is stated that we advanced the present claimant to the Tichborno Baronetcy L6OO on his bond for LIOOO. If the allegations contained in the extract referred to are founded on information as authentic, as that which regards ourselves, we can endorse your statement as to the incredible nature of the account, for we | did not either jointly or individually advance j any moaey to or on account of Sir Roger j Tichborne, or take any bond or other security I from him. — Levy and De Lissa. Bell's Chambers, Bth August.' We would ask Messrs. 1 Levy and De Lissa whether they did not | ' negotiate' for the sum named on behalf of IDe Castro. Young Tichborne had with him a circular letter of credit throughout 'the civilised world for any money that he required on lub travels, and De Castro, if he were the lost heir, need not have followed menial occupations any circumstances. As a coup de grace to his pretensions, we hear that De Castro is in the hands of the Philistines and in gaol for debt in England — a fitting termination to the greatest piece of humbug of modern times,"