The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 23.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 366, 23 January 1880, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 23.

The results of the deliberations of the collective wisdom of New Zealand during the late sessions of the General Assembly are now before us in the shape of a volume entitled " Statutes of New Zealand, passed in the fourth session of the sixth Parliament, and the first session of the seventh Parliament of New Zealand." We must say that the prevailing feeling existing from a careful study of the volume in question is one of disappointment. That so much time should have been occupied ; that such an expenditure of public money should have been incurred to produce such very mediocre results does seem to point to there being something wrong even in the much belauded system of constitutional Government under which wo live. We are fully aware that numerous additions to our already cumbrous body of laws are not to be desired. It may also be freely admitted that hasty and ill-con-sidered legislation is inadvisable. But, all allowances being made, the legislation of the past session must be considered as decidedly unsatisfactory.

Let us see of what it consists. Omitting Local and private Acts, we find that forty-nine Acts have been passed by the Legislature, of which one has been reserved for Her Majesty's approval, and the remainder have been assented to by the Governor. From this number must be deducted formal enactments and those necessary to give effect to the intentions of the Legislature expressed in other Acts. To this class belong the Appropriation Acts (3), Imprest Supply (6), Treasury Bills, Tobacco, and certain validation and repeal Acts. We then come to a host of measures, which may be necessary, but arc certainly productive of great inconvenience to the public in general, and all connected with the administration of the law in particular—we allude to the Amendment Acts. So numerous are these that it becomes exceedingly difficult to discover what is the exact state of the law on any particular subject at any given time. Enactments on almost every conceivable subject appear to have needed patching; and tinkering up, among which wo find the Acts for Regulating Building Societies, Debtors and Creditors, District Courts, District Law Societies, Electric Telegraphs, Forest Trees Planting, Fine Arts Copyright, Harbors, Imbecile Passengers, Land Tax, Settled Estates, Mines, Patents, Prisons, Public Revenues, Public Works, Rating, Resident Magistrates, and Slaughter-houses. It will be seen, therefore, that if these Amending Acts, many of which are of a mere formal nature, be left out of account, there has been but little accomplished in the way of legislation. The following are the new measures that have been carried :—Two Acts have been passed providing for the Qualification and Registration of Electors. The first of these confers the franchise (a) on every man possessing a freehold of the value of £25, and (.) on every one who has resided twelve months m the Colony and six months in one electoral district. By the second, provision is made for the compilation of electoral rolls. An elector can at any time claim to have his name inserted on the roll, and provision is made for objections, for an elector being struck off one roll and inserted on another, &c. Very onerous duties are thrown npon the Registrars, and this is the portion of the Act which we are inclined to think will not work in practice. By the sixth section the duty of every Registrar is laid down to be to " make the rolls as complete as possible," and with this object he is required not only to place thereon the name ot every person of whose qualification he is satisfied, but also to " assure himself of the right of every man to have his name retained upon the roll." This last is an Herculean task to impose upon a mere mortal, and the absence of any provision for a periodical purging of the rolls seems to us the weak point in this Act. It will be very easy to get on a roll at any time, but it will be simply impossible for any registrar to follow up the migrations and changes that must constantly be taking place among'any large body of men.

The Triennial Parliaments Act is of a cognate nature with the Electoral Act just referred to. Then come the Acts imposing additional taxation, viz., two measures providing fur the collection of the Property Tax, and the Customs Tariff Act. Two Acts have been passed to provide for an enquiry into the question of the Confiscated Lands, and the Maori Prisoners Trials, one authorizing the appointment of a Commission for the Revision of Statutes, one aii'ecting

the fldrniui«'tration of tho pffoet? of or— \ for the appj'u-rC/ •.. '■.;>- .:."■;:.> U.;v;;.;.•■ j ment, et voila tout. On the whole, considering the unanimity which our public men professed on most of the subjects which have since engaged their attention, we think the public will consider that what has been accomplished has taken an unconscionable amount of valuable time and useless palaver to bring it about.

The annual meeting of ratepayers in the Akaroa and Wainui road district is called for to-morrow at noon, to be held at the Board's offices, Duvauchelle's Bay. At 2 p.m., a meeting will be held at the same place to consider the question of stopping the road through Rhodes' Flat, Wainui; and the ordinary meeting of the Board takes place on the same day.

The prisoner Clarkson, who was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for robbery with violence, committed on the Christchurch and Akaroa road, attempted to make his escape on Wednesday. The Lyttelton Times thus describes the attempt, which, however, proved futile :—"The prisoner made a bolt from the Orphanage and down Brittain terrace to the junction of Voelas road, up which he turned—evidently with the idea of getting on to the hills.' He was pursued by one of the warders, while another, seeing the direction he took, made a cross for him, both warders firing as he was going round the first turning of the road. The shots went pretty close to the would-be escapee, and he very shortly abandoned his idea and gave in. Some of the residents in the neighborhood at once turned out to assist tbe warders in the pursuit and capture, and the prisoner was marched back to the gaol. One of the residents in the neighborhood was coming down the Voela road just as the prisoner was going round the turn, and the two almost met, one of the shots fired going too close to him to be pleasant.

We have received the first number of a new serial, called the New Zealand Freemason. As its name implies, the journal is devoted to watching over the interests of Masonry in this colony. # The number before us contains a list of all the Lodges in New Zealand, accounts of various Ma-

sonic meetings, correspondence, poetry, &c. In a leader, the establishment of a Benevolent Fund in a systematic manner is advocated. Altogether the journal will, we doubt not, be very acceptable to members of the Order. It is published, for the present monthly, at the printing office of Messrs Mackay, Bracken, and Co., Dunedin, and its typography and general get-up are very creditable.

The Tobacco Act is one of the pieces of legislation which came into force on the Ist January, and no doubt many it will affect aro not aware of its provisions. By this Act tobacconists and other dealers in tobacco having in their possession any duty paid manufactured tobacco should have sent a full descriptive account of such tobacco, showing the weight of each package, &c. to be stamped and marked by the Collector of Customs, as required by tho Act, on or before tho Ist January last. And anyone selling tobacco not marked or stamped, as required by the Act, on or after tho Ist January, or who may have packages of such unstamped tobacco in his possession, renders himself liable to a penalty of £100, or " treble the value of such tobacco, including the duty payable thereon," at the election of the Commissioner of Customs. The offender, if caught, can also be detained in custody until the case is settled by the process of the law. Tho Act also provides that any person other than one growing and manufacturing tobacco for his own use having tobacco raw or partially manufactured in his possession, shall be liable to a penalty of £50, besides rendering all such tobacco in his possession liable to be seized and forfeited. There is a provision against the adulteration of tobacco, and a penalty of £50 may be inflicted upon any tobacconist or tobacco manufacturer who shall have in his possession any leaves or material to imitate or to mix with tobacco. Every package, box, case, jar, canister, &c, of tobacco manufactured in the Colony has to be examined, and have the duty paid thereon, and be stamped and marked by a Customs officer before it is sent out for consumption. Anyone forging the marks, or found with counterfeit stamps in his possession, renders himself liable, on being convicted, to penal servitude for a term not less than seven years. A tea and entertainment was given in the Native School, Little River, on last Tuesday evening. Notwithstanding the threatening aspect of the weather a goodly number of both Europeans and Maoris put in an appearance. Great credit is due to Mrs Captain Curling for tho excellent tea provided on the occasion, and for tho kind attention and courtesy shown by that lady to everyone present. Hostilities having ceased at the festive board, a magic lantern exhibition was given under the able management of Mr Westropp, kindly assisted by Mr Jacobsen, both gentlemen sustaining their characters of showmen to the evident satisfaction of all the Maoris present. Mr A. Degg kindiy contributed sumo very good music on the flutina, which helped very much to enliven the evening's amusement. We understand that it is intended to re-open the Native School next week.

i i -choolhoii--s> on ,lt, 1 fi_ wi j t t, at at seven o'clock, for the purpose of electing school committees for the ensuing year. A Wellington paper says:—" An anecdote has been related to, us, which, although it comes somewhat late in the day, is worth repeating. It appears that a party was given at the. house of a wellknown citizen on Old Year's Eve, at which a large number of guests were present. Among them were one or two who were strangers to the manners and customs of the people of Wellington ; and from their subsequent proceedings it would appear that the manners and customs of tbe people of that part of the world from whence they came were equally strange to the people of Wellington. The conduct of these two gentlemen was inexplicable, if not unpleasant, not to say decidedlj improper. The clock had just struck the hour of midnight, thus announcing the advent of the new year, when the strangers arose from their seats, and deliberately kissed every girl and woman in the room. The was so sudden that with one or two exceptions, little opposition was offered, and one room having been disposeds/of, the gentlemen in question made their way into the next, and there completed their osculatory exercises. Here two of the ladies refused point-blank to receive the New year's endearments, both of them being married, and fearful that their husbands should be witnesses to this uncalled for breach of etiquette. We are informed, however, that in the case of the young unmarried ladies the attentions were received in the same liberal spirit in which they were offered. Some of the gentlemen gathered together with clenched fists, while others openly talked about ejecting the offenders from the house. These latter returned to the room where the first act of the kissing drama had taken place, all smiles, and with extended hands to the gentlemen. When they found how offended these latter were, they expressed their surprise, explaining that they had only done what was the general custom in Christchurch, from which place it seems they came. They had no wish to give offence —had thought that as strangers it was their duty to set a good example in ushering in the new year, and expressed their regret if they had given any offence. The ladies all smilingly accepted the apologies, as did likewise the gentlemen, with some demur." We should imagine that the statement about this custom being common in Christchurch will be agreeable news to many citizens. What a pity the New Year is just past!