The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1888. CURRENT TOPICS.
, The capitalists at Home who rule i some of our financial companies are , very sanguine that ere long this colony J will be a brighter spot for speculation r than it is at^present. They seem hope- . ful that trade and commerce will soon revive and at every annual meeting they bring before their shareholders facts to prove that there is hope for New Zealand yet, and after all it is not bo bad as it might be. Mr Mundella, M.P. Chairman of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, at a meeting of the Company, on April 13th, m London, showed his colleagues that there were now more hopeful signs of returning prosperity than had been visible for ■ years m New Zealand, Though the • Company was called a New Zealand one yet fully 60 per cent ot the business was done m Australia where it was rapidly growing and extending. Mr Mundella said that the returns of their raercaptile 1 business now amounted to three millions a year, and were steadily increasing. Their wool sales were the largest m the ! world, and their direct sales m London, which now exceeded 90,000 baleß a year, . were being steadily encroached upon by their local sales to direct importers. The colonial sales of wool amounted i«st year to 70,000 bales, and they expected a considerable increase this year. It would appear that when a Company doing such an extensive business as this is satisfied with the prospect of the colony the people themselves should not find so much cause to complain.
From a batch of Government papers to band it would seem that the Hon John Bryce is determined to have a tilt at Kir Arthur Qordon for supplying Mr Rusden with the material for certain paragraphs for his History of New Zealand, and for tbe publication of which Mr Rusden bad to pay the IJon John Bryce the sum of £5000 damages, besides a very tidy bill for costs. Among the papers are despatches from the Governor to the Secretary of State on subject. The Governor forwards a letter from the Hon John Bryce to the Secretary of State, on certain points connected with the case of Bryce v. Rusden. Mr Bryce, after referring to the interpellation on his case m the Imperial Parliament, gives an historical resume of the proceedings he had taken against Mr Rusden, and their issue. He goes on to review the conduct of Sir Arthur Gordon, and Sir Arthur's action m regard to Bishop Hadfield's statements, and his communication of them to Mr Rusden. He concludes his letter to the Secretary of State with the following passage i—~ " I appeal to you to consider what your servant, Sir Arthur Gordon, has done, and to judge between us. I know that he is a great man belonging to one of Britian's ruling families, and I know also that I am but a humble colonist, but great as he is, and humble as I am, I appeal to you m the fullest confidence that m your office you will do justice, because you are the Minister of a great and just Sovereign." The Secretary of State replies to Mr Bryce's forcible appeal to the Governor, m which he says : — " I request that you will inform Mr Bryce that having given my best attention to the subject of his letter, I must refer him to the terms of the reply which I made to a question on the subject put to me m tho House of Commons, and that I am not of opinion that the circumstances of the case are such as to require any interference on my part," It will be remembered that isir Arthur Gordon was the most unpopular Governor New Zealand has had, and at the time he was furnishing Mr Rusden with information for his history, Mr Bryce was Native Minister, and consequently one of Sir A. Gordon's advisers. Sympathy has all along been with the Hon, Mr Uryce m bis attempts to have the imputations of cruelty to the Maoris elpared from his otherwise fair name, And it is to bo hoped that he will be as successful m the ca&s ag^jnst Gordon as he was against Rusden .
The Presbyjterian General Assembly ; of Victoria sent & protect to Mr Gillies, i Premier of the colony, against bis action < re the exclusion of the Chinese, and was j snubbed by that honourable gentleman < for their pains, or what ho was pleased < to pronouncp their interference m a < matter which did not not concern them. 1 Tho Assembly had as much right to. < express an opinion on the matter as any other oonstifcutjon or private individual, and seeing that the Assembly was com- x posed of able men, and represented the I religion and intelligence of a large body t at professing Christians, their protest i y»f envied to reepeefc TJje premier
of Victoria lias v. splayed considerable energy m dealing with the influx of Chinese, and while we are of opinion that his stand against the emigration of Mongolians was a firm one, it does not strengthen his position one whit to attempt to snub an organisation of such importance m the learned world as the Presbyterian Assembly of Victoria, The Assembly spoke m the name of humanity and pleaded tbe [ universal brotherhood of man. Their i sentiments were noble and m accord l with what nearly every preacher has felt I during the progress of the Chinese Influx , agitation. The Church has all round i bo far as we know upheld the course of the weak and denounced the action taken - by the Colonial Governments towards excluding Chinese from our shores and though we do not for a moment wish to see our colonies made a home for Chinamen, we can congratulate the Church generally for the stand it has taken m j speaking out its mind against tbe popular f«eling.
The art of Telegraphy has been described as " pumping thunder at bo much a clap " and m America the operators are euphoniously termed " lightning jerkers." On Tuesday night when the Financial Statement came through the operators had a nice little handful, and that they deserve a pat on the back for their clever performance will not be denied. The " messages " which some of the operators get to transmit are not of the best copperplate style, and we can overlook little errors. On the whole too, the "copy" which the receivers supply to the press is moderately clear, but the stationery on which they have to transcribe the messages is peculiarly unsuitable for the work. The pink receiving forms are not favorable to the eyesight of the printers, and for filling m with ink or pencil they furnish an excuse for the use of much strong language . How it is that Government . cannot hit upon a decent white paper instead of a bright pink and dirty looking , salmon colored article is rather difficult of comprehension. If telegram receivers would, however, write more widely apart , to give room for headlines and inter- ,, lineations sub-editors would bless their shadows and fewer expletives would be L hurled at their heads by printers. To show that the telegraph operators worked smartly over the transmission of the Financial Statement we may mention that it was only put m at Wellington at 10 p.m. The JSorth wires were working badly, but notwithstanding this and the fact that the Cook Strait three-wire cable is still unrepaired, the Statement was finished Worth at 12,45) and South at 2.13 a.m., and elsewhere at 2.39 am The tariff resolutions were also telegraphed to the various Collectors of Customs, and the ordinary Press-work was evceedingly heavy. The whole of the morning Press work was cleared off at 336 a.m. for the South, and much earlier North. Everything was cleared off at 7.15 a.m., the operating staff at all stations having done exceedingly good work throughout a very heavy night. -
The Salvation Army gave a " feed " to 1800 poor children m Auokland on the Qneen's Birthday, and m Christchurch also about a thousand youngsters were likewise entertained. Now it might well be asked what is to become of this number ot poor children when they grow up if they are m want of a " feed" now. Social reformers and others who are constantly preaching some new doctrine to set the world right seem to miss the real point. If there are 1300 children m Auckland and about a thousand m Christchurch to whom a good meal is a godsend, there is rather a poor look-out for them if they live to be able to work to earn their own bread. Mere eleemosynary work is not altogether what is wanted, and we feel inclined to say, with a late contemporary, that more patriotism should be mixed with the Lady Bountiful spirit, and lands should be opened up for settlement and looms set going to afford work for those who are growing up around us.
Bull fighting was at one time tho . great delight of the Roman elite, but this particular form of entertainment fell • into disuse with the spread of Christi- , anity, The revival of the sport has, . however, been received by the natives of ! Mexico, with every species of delight, and now the scenes at ancient bull fightß, m the Roman Colliseum, are re • t acted m arenas m Central America. This brutal form of sport is fairly ravishing the republic ot Mexico, and we are told that, all classes, from the very wealthiest down to the servant girls are absorbed m it to a degree never before known. So demoralising is it to the latter that they steal from their mistresses and run away m order to gratify their over mastering passion for the bull fight. In one city alone with a population of only 200,000, there are five bull rings. Three weekly illustrated newspapers are devoted exclusively to tbe interests of the sport, and generally every information relating to the success of the different bull fights, is published with great exactitude. It would seem that instead of advancing m enlightenment the Mexicans are goiug back to the Dark Ages.
The mania which periodically breaks out over mining ventures, generally brings with it a severe lesson to some unfortunate. No amount of caution or advice will prevent some people m riskIng their. al| m a Company to work some mine which is more or less a perfect El Dorado m the imagination of the promoters. Recently, at the Thames, a Company wa3 floated with a great flourish of trumpets to work a mine. Somo thousands of pounds goes into the promoters pockets, and a few hundreds \ are spent m opening up the property, I only to find it a veritable duffer. The same i thing has occurred m Australia, wherein different mining centres companies j are being almost daily floated to work , some reputedly rich ground. The m- i stinct for gambling is inherent m the ' breast of the British public, and where one slight evil may arise through the ] putting of a few pounds on the totalisa- < tor, very great and heavy calamities y overtake families and communities over i investments m mining stock, but no l . outcry is raised against tbe schemes [ of Company promoters though their c transactions may affect the ruin of I thousands, and represent a vast amount *■ of money. I
D A striking illustration of the absurd I results which sometimes follow from the * Local Option polls as they are now a talcen. was given at the meeting of the Ashbui'ton Licensing Committee held °] yesterday, Mr John Mper U4 lodged 0
a notice of his intention to apply for an accommodation license for the Waterton hotel, m place of the publicans license which has hitherto been granted to that house, but Mr Purnell, who appeared for Mr Muller, said he should be unable to make the application, inasmuch as since the notice had been lodged, a Local Option poll had been taken, which had pronounced against an increase of accommodation licenses m the district. But for this circumstance, he should have strongly pressed the Bench to grant an accommodation license for the hotel as a license of that kind was as a rule much better fitted for & country hotel than a publican's license. Probably the greater part of the ratepayers who voted at these Local Option polls never reflected upon what would be the practical result of their votes. Police Sergeant Felton said he should also have preferred to see an accommodation license granted, as he would then have been able to ask the j Bench to impose certain conditions upon the holders which he could not do m the case of an hotel license. The Bench said that as there had hitherto been no accommodation licenses granted m the district, and the ratepayers had decided that there should be "no increase," it was obvious that they had no power to grant such a license. The upshot was, that a publican's license was granted.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18880602.2.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1857, 2 June 1888, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,189The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1888. CURRENT TOPICS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1857, 2 June 1888, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.