The Evening Herald. MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1869.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 496, 4 January 1869, Page 2

The Evening Herald. MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1869.

_____ „_, -g_- . The Defence Minister, *we think, over-rates the value of -'a, colonial commissions and mistakejl-the obligations it imposes. In J,th,e Armed Constabulary, it means-^nofc to get drunky 'not to write to the newspapers, and not to rise before nine o'clock in the morning. There are venial offences prohibited, but those are mortal. In the New Zealand Militia it is a mark of honor, giving the recipient leave to do as he likes, and, as drink is not in the list of proscribed offences, it is no harm to be intoxicated 365 times in the yeai\ The local militia commissions .are of a different class. These are given to respectable individuals whose only fault is r a penchant for^red Waistcoats and fancy swords. Their merit lies in an extreme abhorrence of the area of.a red iibt or " folly." The' local militia officers are not supposed to be for fighting purposes, although there is no doubt they would fight well if called upon. Next come the volunteer officers, who constitute a class altogether peculiar. They are chosen for fighting purposes by the men, which causes violent collisions with the Government, who require all the forces to be very quiet, except about once' in' the three months, when they are'led into a slaughtervarcL If one of the volunteer officers edit a newspaper, and write something unpleasant to official ears, his commission is cancelled, on the principle that a farmer would suffer the same penalty for threatening to shoot kupapas for stealing his turkeys. The Imperial officers, no doubt, often indulge in some merriment over colonial commissions. They are as plentiful as blackberries, and as cheapas tlie autogrpphs pf^i pawnbroker. Although the ' e|Jj| with which they are obtained de^ tracts from their value, they no less tickle and Relight the-vanity, and imagination of the majority of their possessors. Colonel llaultain has visited the editor of this paper with the highest mark of his esteem. He has taken a public way of showing that there is one whose independence* !Jias not been purchased by so cheap n thing as a commission. We thank him for the honor, conferred. It was -always ah honor to hold a command • in the«cavalry, and the bare recollection of, bow the honor was obtained '•'by its officers, and the many exploits 'perfqrmejd under, them, will live-in -the minds of the people, when 'Booth', an outcast from white society, - is-finding a congenial atmosphere in ■rl* ."Maori pa.

The Burglar, Williams, brought ■ back to Wanganui.—Williams, in whose possession the property stolen from the /shop of Mr Waller wa§ found, was brought from-.Westport in the s.a. Wanganui, rand safely,lodged in the gaol this morn-. ;ing. ■ He will be brought before Mr JBuHer to-morrow for examination. _/ Court - Martial. — Trooper James kßugheef will be tried on Wednesday morning by a general court-martial, in the rtbre of Mr Tboa. Allan, Taupoquay... Colonel Gorton, we hear, will be Judge Advocate General, and have his '*•- celebrated copy of the Mutiny%ct in attendance, with the particular parts carefully marked. Eations will not be \ provided. , * [•■■\ /• & ,-

,Qol. Lyon and Maori Proclivities. —The sop which was thrown to the kupapas on Saturdayby Col. Lyon, that the commission of the enemy of the Maori had been cancelled, will only make the Maori appetite the more insatiable. Further concessions must be made, or the kupapa will be sulky and obstinate. It was not English on the part of Col Lyon to attempt to secure loyalty by representing that the Government had committed a petty act of tyranny. We hope Col. Lyon will move against the enemy, and leave the kupapas to themselves. We assure him the more anxious he appears to secure their services, the more likely he is to fail in getting them to «lo anything.

Dog Cash.—A rather important case was heard before the R.M. this morning. It appeared that some person left a dog at Mr O'Hanlon's hotel at Kai Iwi. Mr O'Hanlon, supposing that when the owner missed his dog he would return and claim him, fed the dog, used him kindly, and sometimes tied him up. During the time that the animal was in the self-imposed care of Mr O'Hanlon, some sheep belonging to Messrs Moore and Currie, sheep-farmers at Kai Iwi, were worried, and one of them, a valuable long-wooled ewe, lately imported from England at considerable expense, was suspected of having , been attacked j by the dog in question, which was found ' in close proximity with its mouth"bloody. The present action was brought by Moore and Currie to recover £50, that bein<r the extent of the jurisdiction of the Court. One of the witnesses, Mr D. Peat, was of opinion that the ewe was of far more value to the plaintiffs than the amount sued for. The R.M. held the evidence to be conclusive as to the do-* having worried the sheep in question, and as to the defendant being in possession of the dog at that particular time. Judgment for plaintiffs for £50 and costs. Defendant, by bis solicitor, Mr Keon, gave notice of appeal. The Ngahina Article.—"he following is the extract, [which Mr Booth forwarded to the Government, and referred to in Col. Haultain's letter, published in our issue of Saturday:—" It appears that some are jealous of the cavalry, or disappointed that it has rendered services to the colony. We will tell Mr Booth how he can render a great service. There is a spy and traitor called Ngabina, who was instrumental in getting up the Pokaikai Commission, and who is now carrying the mails between Patea and Taranaki. He has a fishing village, with about seventeen people in it, on the otßfer side of the Manawapou. These

Ppfe are said to be friendly, but the anganui cavalry have peculiar notions about friendly natives. I fit is desirable that these natives should be perfectly secure, let Mr Booth have them removed beyond the Waingongoro river within a week. It is necessary that the cavalry should have a large area of country to operate in* and warriors are not apt to draw very nice distinctions. The rememberance of the Poverty Bay murders has not yet died out, *and Mr Booth knows that civilised nations permit the practice of reprisals. For every prisoner shot by the Federals there were two shot by the Confederates during the American war. A Maori in the t enemy's country is, prima facie,. one of the enemy and that is sufficient evidence until the mis-

sionaries prove the contrary."