The Evening herald. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1878.

Wanganui Herald, Volume V, Issue 16712, 7 February 1873, Page 2

The Evening herald. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1878.

"We thought it would be curious if Dr Featherston had nothing to say in replyto the charges of incompetence made against him in his mode of conducting emigration. ■. ] The London journals have taken up the question between the Government of the Colony and the AgentGeneral, and have thrown the responsibility of failure in sending out the requisite supply of emigrants on the subordinates of the Agent-General's department.. ; We could, .not say that Dr Featherstonhasnot supplied the London papers with the data which have enabled them to write fully and convincingly on the-question. ■ Dr Featherston, as we hinted; when the : Government bloodhoimds were set to hunt him down, would have a good answer to the averments of the Government. If he is able to make out a perfectly clear case to the Times and other journals, he will have little difficulty in showing caiise in despatches .why he has satisfactorily performed/his dutiesaiidacted up to his instructions. There may be two opinions'as to whether his answeris complete, butthere.wilibetwo, and lie will not be condemned without a parliamentary struggle. The Agent-Gen-eral 'and: his manneroofff conducting emigration will probably :form one of the principal issues between parties in the ensuing session. . : , ...... .'•

It lias been generally admitted by....a 11... paities .that .immigration, has not answered expectation, or been equivalent to , the great \ expenditure which: has been provided to make it successful, or,, iii the words ,of Mr Vogel, to niak 3 it concurrent Avith the progress 0f.... public works. Not a fourth.!of the. anticipated number of immigrants have arrived in the Colony, -'there';, has been'a! consequent' scarcity of lab6ur,and the public works' scheme'has-siiffered a delay- which will be injurious to its projectors if not to the 'Colony. ]-iWe want ; labour.-and' must have, it^ll cost.: The rage of progress has beenente'red on, and'if it is not kept, up ,very serious consequences .will ensile.' Nearly every British"colony is in. ; :the. English .market...buying up, labour, attractions' are held out to entice the brawny sons of England to' Canada, to Victoria, New South Wales,.Queensland and other Colonies, and our representatives must show "greater activity and hold out greater inducements or people will bite the "more bait. We'have. : amved'at,tnat stage /when we must keep lip a steady' import trade of imiscle, or suffer both absolute and relative depreciation. All this is admitted by politicians:.;of; -every- shadey and the only question that Remains. is ; how to do it". ¥c /appointed.,a.man thought by Ministry -' and Oppbsitioii to be eminently capable. , His experience as an administrator had been great for many y.eaijs, and ; he occupied.; the, position of one of the leading politicians of the Colony. He had been tried t as a plenipotentiary on twtr special occasions, and he succeeded on both."". In Melbourne he;was; ■ successful id ''.iiiducing:'G eneral Chute,1 -^-though:;the latter had positive' instructions to' contrary,-^-to; delay the departure of the 'troopsi;' while in England, ! though he; did'not /alter the fixed determination* of the' British Government to withdraw., her soldiers from the C6lohies;- lie ■prevailed "upoii "it to foi'ego a large ;jmpneyi_;cl.aim.n which had been preferred against the ..Colony, and vindicated'the Goldilists^fronV the slan-;

ders and libels which at that time Avere fully circulated, by officers Avho had been out in New Zealand and were desirous of earning a cheap popularity at ouv expense. This is the man who was entrusted with the honor of representing this Colony in London, and whom the Colonial Government has indirectly charged with the miscarriage of a part of his mission.

It was necessary the other side should be heard, and the first part of it has come by telegraph—not the prin- j cipal but the subordinates are to blame for any' failure in not sending- out emigrants. As a rule the head of a department is responsible for the manner in which it is conducted. This is a principle of constitutional and parliamentary government whicli has grown into a generally recognised custom. But who are Dr. Featherston'.s subordinates 1 His emigration agents, upon whom he has to rely for feeding the demand for labour, are the creatures, favourites, and parasites of Ministers and their supporters. The appointment of these agents was made in the Colony without Dr. Featherston's knowledge or assent. They went home, placed themselves under his orders and were sent to different parts of the country. Now we know that an emigration agent requires a special gift which is possessed by very few ; he must have that power of; persuasion which Avill induce people to cut the ties of home and kindred 1, cross 16,000 miles of ocean to a country partly inhabited by cannibals, and settle down to till the wilderness. If the agents are not the men for this work, what can the Agent-General possibly do 1 Of course it will be attempted to be shoAvn that the agents are not to blame, and it will remain for Dr Featherston to remove the responsibility on to them and the Government. '"We have indicated the line of argument he may pursue. In the meantime what becomes of immigration ?■■■'■■

Representation must have gone mad. Mr Morgan1 had asked for a man that he might fight with him, and lo and behold, they give: Mm Mr Findlater. Now, Mr Findlater is a gentleman for whom we. have a very great respect'and sympathy ; and it is because we entertain this feeling that we protest against the wanton cruelty which is being practised'upon him by his assumed friends, who have persuaded the feeble gentleman to allow himself to be nominated for the Wangaehu district. If Mr Morgan is not a representative to their mind, why was not some vigorous and eligible candidate brought forward, around whom the prime of electoral manhood could have rallied. The sending down to Wellington a valetudinarian, racked almost to death with an incurable malady, laid up six months out of the twelve, is gross political immorality, a sin and a shame. Why should Wanganui be made a laughing stock ; why should our representative institutions be brought into contempt ; why should an honest citizen be held up to the ridicule of the Province ? It is too bad ; yet we see the names of Justices of the Peace, whose position should have made them pause before they did such a thing. We hear it said that it's all a joke. But it's not. They have done the thing in sober earnestness ; they, mean, to keep Mr Morgan out, ! if they put up a bogus stuffed with straw. i'Why should political antipathies run so I deep 1 Get a better representative than Mr Morgan, who has his faults, and we shall be glad to see him returned. We understand that Mr Morgan would be j-willing to give way to a younger man who would come forward with an honourable ambition to serve the people.- But with :all Mr Morgan's faults, the circumstances ; demand that we shall render him simple j'justice. Well, he has devoted a large iportion of his, time to.serve the electors ; I: he is one of'our most industrious and progressive settlers ; and during all the time he has represented some electoral unit in the district, he has never sought or received anything for himself, and is as clean-handed^ to-day when asked for the suffrages of the electors. ' He is manly, independent and straightforward in all his actions. This is the testimony of impartial:^ witnesses;; but he has made enemies; perhaps the fault was more in the enemies than himself. His.greatest fault in the eyes of some is his friendship for Mr Hutchison. Mr Watt has often said he would have no objection to Mr Morgan being returned to the Council if-! Mr-Hutchison were kept out. Who then has made Mr Watt King arid ruler over us, that he should proclaim such a policy 1 Let us ask the electors, what they think of their own independence if a candidate is to dictate who his colleagues- are to be ? Why should the best men iiot be elected 1 By all means oppose Mr Morgan, but let it be with a candidate fit to represent the district when he is elected. 'The electors, in a word, ought to show the gentlemen of strong antipathies, that they have a feeling of self-res-pect which will not be cajoled or abused to suit the inclination of strong passions with intelligence and morality suppressed.

• Several 'London newspapers of respectability at one time admitted a class of advertisements which had an- immoral tendency and were altogether repulsive. The Saturday Review undertook the Herculean task of clearing out the Augean Stable by exposing and gibbeting the journals which published thqse immoral and iilthy advertisements. 'But the 'nuisance has not'abated

m the Colony, Melbourne quacks aiffll announce Iheir disgusting hand books at the small charge of ] s Gel. These hand books invariably recommend the enclosing of a guinea for special advice and medicine. Respectable phy S i Cl ans have often to deal with cases of ruined health which had been under the charge of the advertising charlatans not to mention the protracted nature of the'-cure and the f requeue and continual levy of another guinea. Wk have received several of these advertisements and have always felt bound to return them to the agent. I hern are many newspapers in the Colony which admit this class of advertisements, but we think the time ha* arrived when they should pum-e their columns of such stuff, and live a little more cleanly. The loss of money will not be great in consequence, and what will bo lost m ihis direction will be gained in respectability. '

Mr Stafford, in returning thanks at the animal dinner of the Caledonian Society in Nelson, to the toast of the House of Representatives, said lie deprecated the mum apology made for the Legislative Council by Dr. Renwick, which on more than one occasion had done the colony good services by delaying precipitate legislation. Speaking of the Lower House, llr Stafford said that although, it sometimes committed mistakes, it compared favourably on the whole with the elective branches of the Legislatures of the neighbouring colonies. lie "deprecated the localism which too commonly prevailed amongst members, who looked to the telegraph and improved means of communication, to weld the provinces into a nation. He spoke in complimentary terms of Mr Curtis, and the inlluential position he had acquired in the House, chiefly from the fact of his looking at all questions from a broad and colonial point of view Notwithstanding its. defects, he thought the House of Representatives misrht be° safely trusted to act fairly by the whole colony— as much as any Legislature could do in the absence of public opinion, which was so wanting in New Zealand.

Miss Neilson's benefit at the Oddfellows Hall last night was very well attended lhe programme was very lengthy, and was gone through very creditably. *

Ihe nomination of candidates for the electoral district of Waugaehu will take place at noon to-morrow, (Saturday) at the luutoke School House, and the poll if necessary on Saturday the loth inst The polling places for the district are, the School House, Kaitoke (principal); the School House, Putiki; and the residence of Mr John McGregor, Cherry Bank.

Mr G. Henderson, Mayor of Blenheim has been gazetted Justice of the Peace under the 133 rd section of the Municipal Corporation Act.

UieWairarapa Standard states that the wheat in the Valley yields much better this season than last. Unfortunately, the oats are very short in the straw, and iHit.

llie next Court of Appeal will have to decide whether the evidence of a man who considers there is no evidence upon which he can form an opinion as to whether there will be future rewards and punishments is admissible m a court of law. The argument on both side will be interesting. °

The entries for the Wannyanui Races will close at noon to morrow (Saturday) Sealed entries must be posted before that time.

The "Wangauui Races promise to be a great success. A good number of hor«es are m training for the various events, and the excitement is commencing to " pile up" already. The horses in training- for the produce are going very well, and the result is very doubtful. Messrs J o h n Cameron H. S Harrison, J. Walker, W. Liiuyard and Dr. Mussen, have each a " youn^'mi" in Wvi\r T, l"srace beinß: an especial favorite with Mr Walker, it would not be surprising if we had to score a tenth win to his credit? r,y ?-ll l lias Sl»»nrock, True Blue, and inn Whinler, in his stable, all of which are intended to ran. Mr John Cameron nas his Produce filly, and Mr H. S. Harrison another Produce filly. Mr D Lind" is training Mr Lingard's colt, and Supplejack. JJr. Mussen s attentions are confined to his Iroduce colt. Mr Atkinson has brought down Black Eagle, Maori Weed, and Minnie to run the trip together, and with Lochinvar will make it warm for the Wanganui cracks Last but not least we have Mr Walker's string, consisting of Fides, (from Nelson) Escape, and Mystery Girl. In addition to these we have some suspicion that he has got a " dark 'un " for the Stock Horse Race. After the entrances have been made our sporting prophet will endeavour to " spot the winners.

The tale that a woman recently told in the Auckland Police Court about beim* the mother of. 24 children that had come as twins/ triplets, and so. on progressively up to seven a birth, is still uncontradicted in the local papers.

We direct attention to the programme of races advertised by Mr John Walker for Aramoho, on the Friday following the Wanganui meeting. The races are under the auspices of the ' Wanganui Jockey Club, some of the members of which will attend to the. management. A number of entries are promised for each event so that a good days sport may be anticipated.

A bilhard match will be played this evening, at Atkinson' hotel, between Mr G-. Bromley and young Foster, popularly, known as "Willie." The stakes are £10 a-side, 500 up, thelatterreceiving 50 points start. '

We understand that Mr Drury has intimated to the R.M., that he intends appealing against his decision in the case of assault Drury v. Williams, decided at the Court this morning. By the Justice of Peace Appeals Act of 1867, the privilege of appeals is allowed on a point of ■ law the R.-M. fixing the security he will require for the prosecution of the case.

. We learri that the Hon. Mr Waterhouse has resigned his seat at the Education Board.