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Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1680, 7 July 1875, Page 2

The " Necessities of Audit" constitute the subject of a leaderette to-day in the columns of our contemporary tbe Cross, bearing the veil of "Outsider." Our contemporary sup-

poses that from tbe "supreme nonsense" talked about "capitation" the "Pumping Association" &c, "some people imagine that an acting Premirr can do as seemeth Mm good with the public moneys." Whether supreme nonsense characterises or otherwise their reason, the conclusion at which " some people" arrive is unquestionably to a large extent correct, and as things now go the acting Premier just like the Premier .that was, acts as if he could just do as seemeth him right in the matter in question. Seme people, in fact we think all people in New Zealand' who knew anything, know that there nr G Comptrollers' and Audit Departments, which are presumed to check very effectually every kind of expenditure. But when some people see proceedings in matters monetary for many months unchecked, and the identical same, or rather a continuation of the identical same proceedings suddenly pulled up with a round turn when one minister stands aside and another, with bitterly personal animus, takes his place, some people then conclude that the action of Audit and Control is simply a sham ; that in fact the Audit Commissioners are simply put forward as a blind It is very well known that, with regard to the arbitrary and tyrannical conduct of the recently Acting, and now de facto Premier, the Audit Commissioners have been at variance. That while Mr. Fitzgerald has entered con amove into the manner of procedure, Dr. Knight has very strongly dissented ; and it is possible that to this dissent is somewhat owing the fact that the Government did not rush with headlong and headstrong madness on the thick legal bosses of the.Superintendental shield. There has been no forgetfulne3s on the part of some people of the fact that " there is a financial year at the end of which the Audit and Comptrollers' offices have an overflow of business which oannot be hurriedly transacted." , But some people resent as an impertinence that that this sham pressure of business should be impudently and falsely put forward, as it has been by the Treasury, as the excuse for beating a precipitate retreat from a false and untenable position. Bub while the utmost respect should be given to the Audit office, just as to the Supreme Court,—both being supposed to be the bulwark of safety for the public, immoveable to the passions and the pressure of the hour, —some people, and we think a good many people, deplore it as a public calamity when they see the Audit office dragged in the dirt, in order to divert public attention from the laches of a corrupt and unprincipled Ministry. This is how " some people " think.

To-night the people of Parnell are to have their annual excitement, the meeting of ratepayers foi the election of trustees taking place at the public hall. We believe not many Highway Boards have a more satisfactory account to render, whether in the matter of useful works done, smallness of non-collected rates, or economy of administration, yet the atmosphere is pregnant with rumours of a determination to get up an excitement and oust the Board. There is nothing remarkable in this. Such we believe is usually the reward of public services. Trouble begins at seven o'clock.

The want of sufficient wharf accommodation at Onehunga has prevented the ' Ladybird ' from discharging, as the wharf is now fully occupied by three other steamers at present in the Manukau. The company and consignees have been put to great inconvenience through the delay.

The following Waikato items are from the Wailcato Times of yesterday :—" A sergeant and eight men of the Armed Constabulary proceeded to Mercer by Quick's coach on Saturday en route to Wellington, for the purpose of forming a guard of honor to his Excellency the Governor on the occasion of opening Parliament on the 20th of July. The recent rains have caused a slight rise in the Waikato river. Up to last night it had risen to a height of about three feet, which will improve the navigation —The old flax-mill at Mercer, having been extensively altered by Messrs. J. Robinson and Co., is now opened as a saw-mill. Though not fairly commenced, the mill is turning out 20,000 feet of timber weekly, which, in the coming spring, will be increased to 40,000 feet." _■

About the lamest excuse for the action of the General Government in stopping provincial capitation is that put forward by their recognised organ in Wellington, the Tribune, which says :— " But the General Goyernment would not hand over the management of the line to the Provincial Government. This is another fault. The Minister of Public Works was wiser than to do anything of the kind ; and we should not wonder if he had been quite specific in giving his reasons for non-compliance. A large part of the traffic now and for some time to come must liececsarly be the conveyance of material to the different contracts further on the line, and Mr Kichardson felt it would be impossible to make any staisfactory arrangement with the Provincial Government for doing so." If this is the case the impudence of the General Government in deducting from the money available for necessary services the interest Jon lines being worked for the special benefit of theroielvQS is something to marvel at.

The familiar face of Mr. McGarry is lost to the Newmarket people, and that reputed " bar " to the prosperity of the village—the Toll-bar— i» gone too. The present position of this roadside appendage is in front of Mrs. Eagerly's property near the Junction Hotel. The old. toll-house was bought by Mr. Clayton, who has carted it on to his property near the Royal George Hotel to be used a* an office. '

Mr Peter Brennan, of Panmure, expired suddenly on Friday morning after returning from Auckland. At an inquest held on the body, a verdict of death from apoplexy was returned.

Some fine provincial-grown oranges hare been brought up from Whangarei.

Mr W. L.ptees announces Ms intention of addressing the electors of City East tomorrow (Thursday) evening, in the Mechanics' Institute, on the paßfc session of the Provincial Council and its relation to the position of the General Government.

of Parliament for the abolition of Provincial ism is sketched, apparently on authontive information, by the Wanganui Herald, which says that the bill has been prepared by Mr Travers, barrister, on the basis of the Local Government Bill defeated by Mr Fox's party in 1867. The Herald remarks :—" It is not a little remarkable that the Government of which Mr Vogel is Premier should return to an old rejected measure in 1875, which ,the same party had defeated seven years before. The Timaru and Gladstone Act provides for a County Board which has the distributing of a certain proportion of the land revenue to the Eoad Boards. The new measure appears to be founded on the same principle. Elaborate provisions are to be made for the Koad Boards, as we are to understand from the reference to the bill introduced by Mr John Hall. The measure looks uncomfortably like provincialism reproduced in another form, and with fresh names. We are to look for two distinct bodies : one—mainly, distributive, and the other—administrative. The Timaru Act virtually established a new province without legislative functions."

The 'Disraeli Ministry is very severely criticised by the Saturday Review, which says:—"lb wants backbone. It wants to be less like a better sorfc of jelly-fish. It wants mind and purpose. It decides nothing, faces nothing, means nothing. Its bills benefit no one, and hurts no one. They are like stuffed figures with rusty muskets shamming to be a regiment of soldiers. If any one pushes them, these bills topple over and lie in placid impotence on the ground. There is an Adulteration Bill, which forbids adulteration, but, unless a vendor knowingly puts poison into what he sells, he is outside the scope of the Act. There is a Friendly Societies Bill, which enforces certificates of solvency, but the societies may pet any one out of the streets at a shilling a day to give these certificates. 1 here is a bill to prevent ships being sent to sea which are not seaworthy ; but the owner may send a ship to sea, whether it is seaworthy or not, if he does not See his way to doing better " The Heviow enumerates other Acts equally abortive.

The members of the Park Road Mutual Improvement Society will give a musical and literary entertainment to-morrow (Thursday) evening in the dibtrict schoolroom. The programme is of the usual complexion, and promises musical selections, songs, readings, and recitations. This society, it will be remembered, started last year under auspicious circumstances, and a course of scientific lectures was delivered to the satisfaction of visitors.

Mr. Edward Gregory, late of Williamstreet, Auckland, but now a farmer at Pukekohe, had an unexpected increase to his stock of cattle on the sth inst., one of bis cows, a fine animal, having given birth to three calves on that day, two of which are still living.

The adjourned address on Tcmplary and Temperance, by W. B. Turner, Esq., of California, was delivered to a very large audience in the Choral HaH, Onehunga, last night. The Rev. Mr Brown took the chair, and stated that although he was not a member of the Good Templar order, that be had warm sympathy for the cause of temperance, and was willing to aid it as far as he was able. After a short but appropriate speech he called on Mr Turner. In < pening, Mr Turner spoke a few words of advice to boys, and then proceeded to his subject proper. His speech was so varied in its character—arguments and anecdote, personal experiences, glimpses of Yankee life and character, statistics and facts, so interwoven—that a condensed report could give but a very faint idea of the original. The speaker wound up by advising all who'were eligible to join the Templar lodge, and strengthen the hands of those who were fighting on the side of temperance, morality, and religion. A vote of thanks to Mr Turner was carried by acclamation, and in acknowledging the hearty thanks of the meeting, the speaker intimated that it was probable he would return from California at na? very distant date and deliver another address. We are sure the community are indebted to the Hope of Manukau Lodge for their invitation to Mr Turner, and trust that the cause he so earnestly pleaded may be benefited. More than one of the local clergy were present, and a good many of the local templar dignitaries wero on the platform.

We are obliged to ahut out tili to-morrow correspondence of "Collector of the Rate," and others.

With reference to a row in Chapel-street a correspondent writes :—"Sir—The most disgraceful and brutal scene ever witnessed in Auckland could be seen in Chapel-square last night. The heart-rending cries of the poor victim calling "police! police," awakened every one in the neighbourhood, myself among the number, and we saw those brutal ruffians kicking this 'man even when down. We at once sent for the police. n,oc caring toget implicated with those lowruffians However, without police help, we made them cut short around the corner; but, thieves and villians in their hearts, they waited for him in the darkness, ' opposite Father Walter Mc'Donald's and again they kicked this poor man, and the result is now, broken bones and lyiDg. in the hospital. This must be the^j painful accident .in Wyndham-street as reported .in your paper of this date July 6th. I ask your able pen to aid in order to have this case fully brought home, that is if we are living in a civilised country and amongst law abiding subjects. How and why a lamp should not be erected in Chapel-square fronting the Catholic Church, is to all neighbours there a mystery. Perhaps they pay no rates and since Mr Macready is gone there is none no care for us. [The police have, we learn, already instituted a searching investigation, and the evidence collected tends to shew that the row was not created in the manner assumed by our correspondent, but was originated by the unfortunate man who paid so dearly for his folly. The testimony given isto'tho effect that he was the pursuer, and another man the purrsued, when he fell down and broke his leg.—Ed. E.S.J