TINWALD CHURCH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1396, 4 December 1884, Page 2

TINWALD CHURCH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL.

The anniversary ' of St. Andrew’s Church, Tiatvald, was celebrated jesterday by a tea meeting, which was in every way a great success. The attendance was somewhat .fleeted by the heavy downpour of rain which occurred during the afternoon, but notwithstanding this drawback, a goodly number of people paid for admission. The large grain shed of Messrs FrieJlander Bros, was kindly placed at the disposal of the promoters of the festival, and it having been very nicely decorated with fl iwers. and evergreens, made the interior look remarkably wel). The tables were five in number, and were bourn ifully supplied with good things Tne following ladies presided, and tbeir energies wore somewhat taxed to keep pace with the demand, viz:—Mesdames Grigg, Dudley, Carter, Scott Martin, Tippetts, Jephson, Garbett and Ball, and Miss Jackson. At the fruit table considerable attention was paid to a large quantity of fine strawberries, but the supply was fortunately equal to the demand, The Rev R. F. Garbett wishes ns to convey his best thanks to the ladies and *o all concerned in the festival arrangements.

In the evening a concert, under the conductorahip of Mr Sidney Wolf, R.A.M., took place, and notwithstanding the bad weather there was a very large attendance. _ Those who braved the elements had their reward irv listening to an entertainment of a high class character, the singing throughout being very good. From Ashburton the following ladies gave their se. vices :—.Vlesdames Crisp, Hodge, Branson, Nixon and Misses Msxie, Kidd, G. Gates and Savage, while Mr Simpson and Mr G. Jameson rendered efficient assistance. Of the purely local talent, Mrs Biggs and Mrs Tinpeta were the representatives, and Miss Thornton, from Christchurch, sang tier two songs in a manner which ' elicited heirty applause. Mr Pusohell was in splendid voice,' and we have never heard him to greater advantage than in a now song by Pinsuti, entitled “ The last watch,” ana he also rendered that old favorite “My queen,” in excellent style. Mr Boyd, of the Christchurch Cathedral choir, gave “Anchored” in a ma nor which earned him an undeniable encore, and a similar compliment was deservedly paid to Mr Simnson for his two songs. The whole of the items, indeed, were well received, and the only drawoack to the concert was the rain, which at times formed an undesirable ao'c nnpainraent to the singing. The instrumental selections vere entrusted to Miss Maxie, who opened the c nicart with a pianoforte solo, Misa Ravage, whose vi -lin playing waa afo Aure of ih ; evening, and Mr Jameson, who not oniy cooti-muied a Arne solo, bucui-o furnished the obbligato fjr two songs of Mrs Hodge ana Mrs Crisp. Mr Wolf accompanied the singing, and after the concert wa> concluded he furnished the music for the dancing, which was kept up jjwitn spirit for some hours, 1

FEDERATION AND ANNfXATIOtf

The following memorandum on queS'

tions relating to federation and annexation of the South Sea Islands has been presented to the Cabinet by the Colonial' Treasurer, and has been forwarded to the Agent-General.

1. There are four subjects relating to die Islands calling more or less for a district decision on the part of the Colony through its Legislature. 2. These questions are :—(a) The an-

nexation or establishment of a protectorate over Now Guinea and other islands ; (h) a contribution by the Colony to the cost of a High Commissioner and his staff in special relation to New Guinea; (c) The question of any of the islands in the douth Seas being used for the reception of convicts ; (d) The proposal to establish a Federal Council, it is better to deal with

those subjects separately, 3. (a) few Zealand has less direct interest in New Guinea than in the more easterly islands. The annexation of New Guinea or a large portion of it is of commc.nding importance to Queensland because of its proximity to that colony, The establishment of a Foreign Power in the south-east of New Guinea would, in the course of time, be as disastrous to Queensland as would the foreign occupation of one of its islands be to New Zealand, or the foreign occupation of Tasmania be to Victoria. The southerly colonies of Aus-

tralia have somewhat more interest in the annexation of New Guinea than has New Zealand. The interests of the latter are mainly concerned in the annexation of the islands to the eastward of Australia, considering less their geographical position than the trade which has grown up with them. Victoria and New Soutn Wales have probably as much interest in the islands to the east as they have in New Guinea, so that ’in making New Guinea the most prominent subject of their representations, they have shown rare disinterestedness. Still, no colony has so much stake in any one island or group of islands as Queensland has in New Guinea, and the colonies were bound to look at the question from something more than a selfish point of view. It is well, however, that the situation should be distinctly understood, because there is no reason why New Zealand and the other colonies should carry their self-sacrificing disposition so far as to fail to press on the Imperial Government the immense importance to jthem—now that the question, as far as it relates to New Guinea, is settled- -of the annexation of the other islands. The Colonial Treasurer holds that the Parliament of New Zealand should be asked to express its approval of the annexation of tbe easterly islands, as well aamf New Guinea. The re-enact-ment, slightly altered, of the following resolution, passed by the House of Representatives last year would seem to meet the case, so far as an expression of opinion is concerned —“ That the British Government should under existing circumstances take steps for the establishment of its rule over such islands in the Pacific as are not already occupied by or under the protectorate of a foreign power, and the occupation of which by any foreign power would be detrimental to the interests of Australia.” It might, however, be better to follow more nearly the language of the resolutions passed by the Convention last year. It would embarrass rather than aid the Imperial Government to enter into the question of the conflicting interests to be considered in relation to the islands east of Australia and New Guinea. But it can do no harm to mike a special reference to the Tonga and Samoa Group of Islands, which are probably the most valuable of the islands yet unannexed. Though the Tonga Group is now ruled by an aged king, it is an open secret that whenever he dies there are likely to be such disturbances on the islands as will make ttye natives glad to welcome the intervention of a strong Power. Viewing the situation of these islands with regard to Fiji, and putting apart all other considerations, there would seem to be no doubt that Great Britain should be prepared to intervene at Tonga whenever the necessity arises. The Samoan islands possess advantages of which foreign Powers have shown themselves aware. Negotiations relating to them will probably be of a very delicate nature, and it is better to refrain from saying more than that they are fully as valuable to Great Britain as to other Powers. In relation to all these questions, it is clearly alike the duty and the interest of this colony to strengthen, and not to weaken the hands of the Impedal Government, a point of great importance to New Zealand which does not seem to have entered into the consideration of the Sydney Conference, and yet one which is well worthy of careful deliberation The Colonial Treasurer than alludes to the Act passed last year, and which was reserved for Her Majesty’s approval, providing a machinery for enabling one or more islands to be annexed to New Zealand, As far as the other Australasian colonies are concerned, he says it must be batter in all respects that the islands unannexed should without expense to them become, in general, portions of a constitutionally governed colony, in preference to a system of a Protectorate, or of Crown colonies. The Act makes it clear that the New Zealand Legislature is agreeable to an increase of the territory of the colony. It is greatly to be hoped that Her Majesty’s assent will be given to the Act. 4. (b) The contribution of L 15,000 asked for seems to be intended as an ex-

penditure on New Guinea, especially from what has already been said. It is clear, however, that this is an expenditure in which New Zealand has a minimum amount of interest, but the same in a less degree may bo said of Victoria, and it would be so impolitic of New Zealand to place itself outside the Australasian combination that the Colonial Treasurer is favorable to 'the colony sharing the liability on the basis of its limitation to the same proportion of the whole contribution as the population of New Zealand bears to the total population of the Australian colonies. In round figures this would amount to L2,5Q0 a year more or less.

5, (c) The restriction of convict settlements in the Pacific is a question of overwhelming interest to* the Australian

To soma extent they may keep the convicts from their shores by stringent legislation, but besides the inexpediency of stopping friendly relations by having to adopt such legislation, the injury does not stop with the actual Access to the colonies of the criminals themselves Their presence indeed in the colonies, where they could be to some extent held in restraint, is deplorable, as it would be

less injurious than that they should carry throughout the Pacific Islands their crime-stained instincts, and lay the foundation in future generations of a lawless people. No representation on the sub-

ject can be too strong, but it is to be doubted if it is not better calculated to aid the British Government in its negotiations that representations on the subject should be made to it direct, rathe* than fulminated in a manner calculated

to arouse the pride of a great nation. It should ue easy to show to France, from which country the danger is apprehended, that in the interests of her own possessions in the Pacific, and of the large trade tint must grow up between them and the co onios, it would be co her onu advantage to seek some other part of the world, as a home for her criminal population. ft. (dj Upon the question of a Federal Council there seems to be some misunderstanding, boih as to the exact nature of the proposal under consideration, and as to the extent of .he desire expressed f i federati ui by the Secretary for State for the Colonies, Practically the views of Lord 1

Derby as to saving the Imperial Government additional expenditure aresufficient'y met by the Colonial Legislatures singly giving their guarantees to provide funds. This, it is proved, can be done without recourse to federation. The Federal Council BUI is a measure calculated to arouse mistrust, because it is impossible to determine what consequences may arise from it. Sir Julius Vogel then proceeds to detail his reasons for opposing the Federal Council, considering that the Bill either does not aim at federation or aims at foisting it on the colonies by gradually and involuntarily committing them to it. "he co'onies are not yet sufficiently agresd on the vital points to be readly for federation, and to decoy them ' into it is to run the chance of creating feelings of a nature so bitter that their one effort will be to subsequently free themselves. The Treasurer after summarising the leading features of the Bill concludes as follows :—lt really all comes back to this point, that as long as the colonies are not federated, as long as each is self-governed and the Government of each is responsible to the local Legislature, so long will it be impossible for such Government to do ljustice to its responsibility, and yet alio* part of the powers it ought to exercise to be exercised by others. There would be a constant struggle between each colony and the Federal Council. The . Imperial Government would espouse the rights of ihe Council, and would decline to receive separate representations, and there would be coolness and want of friendly understanding between the colonies and the Colonial Office. The conditions of representation (d) in* the Council would rot be satisfactory, to colonies which, like New Zealand, make their ordinary system of representation to depend mainly on the basis of population. A single large colony, with the aid of two or three smaller ones, might override the rest of the colonies possessing double the aggregate population. If the Council were a mere Convention to frame measures for the consideration and approval of the colonies separately, and to make recommendations to the colonial Governments on subjects of joint importance, but not to the Imperial Government, the basis of population would be of less consequence. But these objections%re only directed against the measure as a Federal Council Bill. Were its object less ambitious, and did it merely aim at enabling the colonies to pass laws on subjects of common importance to them all, too much could not be said in its praise. The colonies have long felt the want of dealing with particular subjects by common laws, and should provide that no law should have force unless approved by the colonies separately.