Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1878.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 3097, 8 April 1878, Page 2

Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1878.

The settlement of the constitutional crisis in Victoria without any of those evils which were predicted as certain consequences, affords a striking j>roof of the force of public opinion as a political power when onco fairly called into motion. That the Upper House would have yielded on the question of the payment of members had they seen a single chance of successful resistance, cannot for a moment be believed. The settlement axTivecl at is termed a compromise, but it is really more in the nature of unconditional surrender on the part of the non-popular branch of the Legislature. It is no doubt true that the Lower House has excised from the Appropriation Act the " tacked" vote for the payment of members ; but this is no real concession, because this item was only added to the Appropriation Act in consequence of the almost insolent refusal of the Upper House to consider the measure which the other Chamber had passed, providing for the payment of members in a direct and constitutional manner — an utterly unobjectionable one, in matter of form at least. Neither the Berry Government nor the Commons of Victoria had the slightest desire to make, the payment of members an annual question. Their desire was to have it settled, definitely by an Act in the ordinary form — to, in fact, practically renew the Act ■which had been experimentally passed on the subject, and which had expired by effluxion of time. It was when the Upper House contemptuously refused to concur in this course that the Berry Government, feeling they had the support of the popular House, and of the people of the colony, determined that on a point of so mush importance to the House and the people, they would test the strength and sincerity of the other branch of the Legislature, by making a vote for the payment of members a necessary part of the appropriation of money for the ordinary requirements of the State. It may be a question open^ to argument whether this was a justifiable or a wise step to take on such a question and under such circumstances ; but certainly the result has fully justified the prescience of the Government. No Government would have dared to provoke such a contest as the one lately being carried on, or have ventured to take such active, determined, and even extreme steps as were taken by Mr Berry in carrying it on, unless perfectly assured of popular sympathy and support. Had there been any doubt on this point the victory must h-ave remained with the Upper House, the Government must have fallen. The election of Sir Bryan O'Loughlen for a constituency which was regarded as almost certain to return the former Chief Secretary, Mr Francis— a moderate man of high character and proved ability, but not of the popular party — was significant ; and scarcely less so was the new member's acceptance of ministerial office, with the full knowledge that doing so endangered his seat by exposing him to the ordeal of a fresh election. With the imperfect knowledge of details^ 0/ the last days of the crisis which can be gathered from the teiegramp, it geemp $»$ $is lagif display of

confidence in the- support of the people m«xy have had some weight in forcing the Upper House to retire from an untenable position, and to concede an important victory to Liberal principles. It is indeed one of the strangest features of the conflict thus decided by the force of public opinion, that it should have arisen on such a subject as the payment of members. Under ordinary circumstances a more unpopular battle ground could scarcely have been selected. The general tendency of the mass is to regard with suspicion all tllose who receive public money in return for public service, or who aspire to do ao. Attacks on those whose means of livelihood are derived from the public treasury, or who dip their hands in any way into the chest which is filled by taxation, avo, as a rule, highly popular. The Government of Victoria and their supporters fought the late battle under all the disadvantage which could .arise, and it must have been great for they were fighting for their own personal interest, and lia'd a pecuniary interest in the result.. A more extraordinary question for Liberal and Conservative principles and parties to come into conflict on, could not have been devised. That conflict has, in Conservative organs here and elsewhere, been made the text whereon, to liang homilies about the dangers of manhood suffrage, larded of course with many references to mob rule. It affords, we think, ono of the strongest, the most convincing proofs which could have been evolved of the safety which is to be found in trusting the people fully and freely, that such a conflict should have been deliberately raised on such an issue, and that the result should have been what it has been. The people have been wise enough to see that it is more to their advantage to pay suitable persons to Represent them in Parliament than to accept the gratuitous services of the classes to whom direct remuneration would be a matter of indifference compared with the advantages accruing from a monopoly of political power. That the electors of Victoria, as a body, should have arrived at this conclusion, and should have supported their present liberal government so thoroughly even in the extreme steps it was forced to take evinces on amount of popular political education, and. a habit of reflection on che ultimate consequences of political action, which is a happy augury for the future success of democratic institutions. There are many lessons to be learned from the history of the recent crisis in Victoria. We hope that the people of New Zealand will prove apt pupils. Certainly what lias occurred in the neighboring colony will strengthen the hands of the Government in submitting and insisting on a truly advanced and liberal party. Sir George Grey's late tour through each island has shown how firmly his Government is established in, we might almost say, the affections of the people. They revere and trust him. t.W Intelligently appiove of the policy he promulgates. Assured of this, as he may well be, there can be no doubt of his ultimate complete triumph. The people are the ultimate tribunal, tho real source of power, and Victoria shows us how hopeless it is for any small selfisli combination of designing men, however rich they may be, to defeat the will of the majority, or permanently retard the triumph of the people. In Victoria the minority had a better vantage ground than the compeers occupy here, for the Upper House there is in a sense a representative chamber ; it is elective, and it cannot be swamped at the will of the Crown. Here the case is different. The Upper House has in it none of the. strength derived from a representative character. It is true that the members hold their seats on a life tenure, but then the number of members is unlimited, and if the emergency should arise,a Government strong in the support of the people of the Colony, need have no scruple in so increasing the number of members of the Council, as to prevent that Chamber impeding 1 the adoption of measures necessary to carry out Liberal principles. Such a necessity, however, is scarcely likely to arise. ' The stratocracy and capitalists of Victoria have been wise in their generation in not prolonging a hopeless battle. Probably when the time comes the land monopolists, money lenders, and political old fogies of this colony will yield also, with a bad enough grace no doubt, but without rendering a resort to extreme measures necessary to enforce their submission. If the people are in earnest no power can successfully resist their will. In the game of politics under a free constitution, it can most truly be said vox populi vox dci. Tlie case of Victoria is a fresh instance added to the thousands which have gone before.

The Rev. Mr Lee arrived in Wanganui by the St Kilda yesterday morning, and preached his first sermon in Wanganui, in Trinity Wesleyan Church last evening, A large congregation had assembled to welcome the reverend gentleman, who delivered an eloquent address on the subject of the teachings of Phillip in Samaria. The classes in connection with the Wesleyan Church will be continued as previously.

The annual general meeting of the Presbyterian Band of Hope will be held in the schoolroom of St. Paul's Church this evening. Admission for the public will be at 7.30 o'clock, but the members of the Society are requested to be in attendance some time previous. Addresses will be delivered by several ministers and gentlemen, and selections will be rendered by the choir, and by members of the Band of Hope.

! Mr H. Calders will lecture to-morrow evening in the Oddfellow's Hall on .Telegraphy and the Telephone. Mr Calders is in possession of Telephone instruments, and . has obtained permission from Dr Lemon to make use of the telegraph wires between Wanganui and Bulls, for the purpose of practically illustrating his discourse. It is proposed to make several experiments, all of a most interesting and instructive character. Telephonic messages will be sent from the Telegraph Office to the Odd Fellows' Hall ; from one part of the hall to another ; and from one room in the hall along the telegraph wires to Bulls, and back again without interuption to the stage of the Oddfellow's Hall. Mr Calders, with the aid of diagrams, will commence by giving an insight into the working of telegraphy, and so lead up to the discovery of the Telephone, illustrating practically the perfection to which it has already been brought. The lecture promises to be of a most interesting character, and will doubfclees be largely Attended.

The Wanganui and Rangitikei Brewery premises were sold to-day by Mr J. Chadwick to Mr John McLaren for the sum of £1,450. The rolling stock is valued at about £100 additional, and the stock in trade has yet to'be valued.

" The • question of the passage of the Straits" said, in a recent speech, Mr'Brassey, M.P., a gentleman who is believed to know more than most people of the naval considerations affecting it, " would be more important to ourselves if Russia were now or. ever likely to become a first class or even a second class naval power. Experience has, however, shown that with her own native resources Russia cannot produce the material of a modern fighting navy. . . . The opening of the Dardanelles will not give one seaman or one ironclad to the Russians ; and if the Russian navy dare not force the navy of Turkey, it is not probable that it would engage the fleet of England. If there were any, reason to apprehend such a contingency, what would be easier than to maintain an effective blockade at the Dardanelles 1 They are riot more than a mile wide, and they are some fifty miles in length.

The writer of Notes in the Timaru Herald, speaking of the report that Dr Pollen was expected shortly to. assume the editorship of the New Zealand Times, says :— " We arc getting rather tired of these silly reports about the New Zealand Times and its affairs. It has for several yearns enjoyed 'the bad preeminence of being the worst paper of its standing in 5 r the ■'- colony. Its wretched squabbles with its local contemporaries.; its degraded literary style; its lack of n6ws; and, above' all, Its "garbled and utterly untrustworthy Parliamentary reports, have rereduced it to the lowest -position in. journalism ; and we ,do not suppose that anybody cares much now who edits it or what becomes of it." The Whakatane. correspondent of the ,Bay of Plenty Times thus refers to the establishment of Messrs Pond and Tunny's sulphur factory:— "As the^ay of Plenty Times has no correspondent afe Whale! Island, I bay relate that for two months back an important industry has been going .on there. Messrs Pond and Tunny, the , lessees of the Island, have been excavating' sulphur in its rough state, .and have already sent one consignment per Leah, cutter, to Auckland to be purified and manufactured into sulphuric acid. The' wealth has been so long lying dormant in; the islets of the Bay. of, Plenty, is no<fif -being turned to account. The result of Messrs Pond and Tunny's t operations is looked forward to in this quarter with great interest;.' It is understood that sulphur, to >a very considerable extent indeed,, lies deposited > on Whale Island, being accumulated in -the vicinity of its still' active hot spring:" ,

Very good sport has been met_ with amongst the native game in the Waitotara district. We hear of -a party of seven) all crack shots by the way, who made a bag of 116. " .-,{ 1 • The perch liberated in the' Waikato lake, Waitotara district/ ! have multiplied very satisfactorily. Some very good sized fish can be seen there. , An attempt will be made to stock the other -lates in the district.

'The horse, Lofty, that died at Aramoho on Friday, won no less a number than 2G first prizes, and one- second, The second prize was gained when in competition against 1 all Scotland.

At the last meeting of the Taranaki Council the fol 1 owing resolution referring to the Mountain Road, was carried -.-—"That assistance be given to the Surveyor for the purpose of laying off the Mountain Road in sections, for forming, to the extent of £2500, inclusive of contracts already entered into, reserving £500 for gravelling ! the worst places." Some few days back our Christchurch telegi%ams stated that a Wanganui man. had been round drowned in the river Avon. The Press thus refers to the incident : — " Shortly after 1 o'clock on Sunday af te"rnoon,-the body of a man, lying face downwards, was seen at the bottom of the river, near the Cashel Street bridge, Ohristchurcb. The police were communicated with, and the body was taken out and removed to the Morgue. The water was about 4£ fc deep at the spot. No marks of violence were visible on the body, and the pockets contained among other articles a pocketbook, in which the name, " James Bell. Wallace, Kaituna, April 2nd, 1877," was written. On other leaves were " McGregor, Lake Tekapo, Hawkins, T. Johnston, Windwhistle Hotel, Rakaia Gorge." There were also entries of shearing having been commenced at Kaituua, and at Richmond on lGth February 1878, and a memo, of having received a tentfly, an axe, and a spade from a Mr Parkinson. The deceased put up at Allen's GoMen Age Hotel, at the corner of Hereford and Colombo streets, at about 1 o'clock on the evening of Saturday, March 6, stating that he had come from the Rakaia Gorge. He remained at the hotel till a short time before the hour of closing on Wednesday last, when he left, and was not nfterwards seen alive. Deceased had noc been drinking, but had complained of being unwell, and on the morning of March 20fch — that of ' the day on which he was last seen alive — ho said he was suffering from indigestion. He was a single man, was born at Wanganui, and his relatives are said to live in Nelson. His age was about 35 years, and he used to say that he was the first white man born in New Zealand. He worked nearly every winter- at the Kaituna station Lake Ell esmere, chiefly at fencing. He also travelled about the country shearing} and is said to be a man who was generally respected by his fellow-workmen."

At the late Taranaki races Resolution 'I started four times, winning three events, value, £130, -out of four.

Mr John Prior, barrister and solicitor; formerly of Wanganui, has removed to Sandon, and will practice at that rising township. We wish Mr Prior, a painstaking advocate, every success.

The Sydney Morning Herald of the 15 th included a special supplement for the Paris Exhibition, containing twenty-three and a half closely-printed columns on the geography, meteorology, climate, soil, and productions, political and social institutions, and resources of New South Wales. An equal space is devoted to the translation of the supplement into French.

Mrs De Costa, who figured in the Blueskin mystery and was afterwards arrested on a charge of child -murder, was discharged by the Supreme Court at Dunedin, the Grand Jury having thrown out the bill of indictment.

A Kumara telegram dated April sth says : — Some days ago Mr C. Brown, the editor of the Kumara Times, issued a writ against Father Hennebeny for slander, laying damages at £1000, but it was not served, in the hope that Father Henneberry would retract. To-day Mr Brown's solicitor received an extraordinary letter from Father Henneberry, covering ten sheets of paper, threatening that if the action was proceeded with the police would be at Brown's door. Brown has since instructed his solicitors to serve the writ at once, *•

In the Resident Magistrate's Court this (Monday) morning, before E. Harilcastle, Esq., William McDonnell was charged with drunkenness. There was no appearance of the accused, who had been admitted to bail in the sum of 20s, on Saturday nighfc. The 1 charge having been proved the R.M. ordered the amount of the bail to be forfeited. There was no other business before the Court. Participators in "sweeps" at Carlyle have been brought under the lash of the law. Mr Henry Chadwick was fined £2 and costs 7s for having publicly exercised, kept open, and exposed to be drawn a certain lottery, called the " Grand Sweep on the Patea Jockey Club Handicap.'' Dr Croft, and Mr D. M. Harris for assisting were fined 5s and costs 7s. Similar charges against Mr H. E. P.A dams, and Mr R. E. Meßae were adjourned. The action were taken under a Taranaki Provincial Ordinance. * Robert Ward, Esq., R.M., has .been ap pointed Judge of the Assessment Court for the Municipality of Palmereton North,

Crown grants are ready for delivery to Messrs W.~B. Rhodes, Joseph Soulby, Henry Churton, Robert W. Smith, for sections in Wanganni district ; David Peat, and James Moore, Waitotara district, and Donald Frascr, Rangitikei district.

A preliminary trial of the telephones in the possession of M; Oaldcrs was made today with perfect success.