Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell: Tuesday, January 28, 1873.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 168, 28 January 1873, Page 4

Cromwell Argus, AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell: Tuesday, January 28, 1873.

Napoleon the Third, after an eventful and troubled history of three-score-and-five years, is now become a mighty man only of the past. Like his uncle, Napoleon I. ( he lived in splendour and died in exile, It may be remarked, also, that Napoleon IT. ended his days out of France. When his father left Paris for Elba, soon to return, his mother, the Archduchess of Austria, and her son, three years old, left for Vienna, never to return. The deceased Emperor had a kind of dual relationship to his great ancestor, Napoleon I., —one by blood, the other by marriage. His father, Charles Louis Bonaparte, the Kino of Holland, was brother to the great Emperor. His mother, Queen Hortense, was the daughter of the Empress Josephine, and therefore the step-daughter of the great uncle. And during the three first years of his life, Napoleon 111. was the only heir-presumptive to all the honours of his uncle, and the Emperorship of France, His birth in 1808 was welcomed with raptures of joy by a people who knew how to do honour to them to whom honour is due. In the "Reign of Terror," his grandfather's blood had baptized the guillotine. His parents held kingly and queenly rule over one of the most prosperous peoples in the world. The empire to which he was the legitimate heir was widening its borders, adding millions a year to its subjects, and gaining victories and lustre to its amis, with a celerity which astonished and appalled the world. For three years after Napoleon 111. was born, his great uncle was childless ; but all France saw in the infant nephew one who should bear the name and inherit the greatness of the national idol. And when the history of the nineteenth century shall be written at some distant date by an Alison or a Maeaulay, the name of the late Kmperor ; his doings and savings ; his achievements and disasters ; how by subtlety ho rose to the pinnacle of human ambition, and how suddenly lie fell ami became proscribed; how he died a banished Frenchman and a broken Emperor,—will fill a large space in the pages of such history. When he first came before the world as a public man, and advanced his claim to rule over his countrymen, half Europe believed the claim was grounded chiefly upon a great name. His early successes were not set down as the measure of his strength, of his statesmanship, or of his capacity to govern, but to the magic of that marvellous name. But while he struggled on with all the advantages a great name could give, ha was not long in forcing from | the world an unwilling homage to his political experfness; and Time has now pronounced its verdict upon the wisdom, the courage, and the wonderful success that attended his administration for nearly the fourth part of a century. The revolution which sent King Philip into exile placed the deceased Emperor at the head of a French Republic, and the state of Europe was then favourable to any higher—even the highest —claim that he might set up to dominion over France. England had just initiated her non-interference policy. Germany was disjointed. Italy was divided, and had hardly a nationality or even a name in Europe. With these surroundings, Napoleon soon raised himself from the Presidential chair to the proud position of Emperor over one of the greatest nations in the world. Once there, he was not slow to apprehend his true relation to his country, and to the world beyond it, with its kings and emperors, its peoples and governments. From the date of his elevation in 1852, France set out on a career of national prosperity such as its previous history never recorded. The charge of incapacity against him soon subsided : sneers, censures, and contempt gave place to admiration. .He ruled with a sagacity that never failed him in the time of need, and for the possession of which the world had never given him credit. The instincts of freedom which leavened French society were not allowed to interfere with the objects of his ambition. He grasped the French neople with the iron hand of a despot, gloved over with a splendour that mane them forget the fetter. He cajoled the peasantry of France so successfully that they were contented in their poverty, anil almost mistook the yoke of bondage fa the badge of freedom. He widened the channels of commerce, opened the markets of Europe to French industries and pro* ductions, enriched the trading millious of

Frenchmen, raised the revenue to a figure never known before, and so increased the wealth of the nation that, though they smart under the recollection of a war in which they were worsted, they (ind means to pay the indemnity with a punctuality that surprises the world. And what was more difficult still, he managed the army with amazing dexterity,—at one time by caresses, at another by an increase of pay, and then by royal visits, brilliant speeches, and last of all by writing the life of Caesar for the troops to read. By such means, he managed for near twenty years to dazzle and please the French army. And when these means failed to keep it loyal to himself and the second Empire, he found a safety-valve on the fields of Solferino and Magenta. He did more even than this. He kept the Pope sometimes in awe, but oftener in good humour, by making Rome bristle with French bayonets, and putting a halter round the neck of Italian freedom. And though the French priesthood were j often scandalised by his languid, easy-going I infidelity, the thorough devotion of the ) Empress more than atoned for the shortI comings of the Emperor in this respect. And the priesthood to the last were loyal I to Mm, for her sake. iNfo French ruler ever governed Paris and the great cities of France with more ; success. Paris was perfectly transfigured I by his munificence. Before it was marred \ by the war, the eye was fatigued by its = splendour, and a modest taste was sheerly { disgusted with excess. And the royal | bounty was not confined to the City of I Palaces, but others shared it in their inea- \ sure. His foreign policy, so far as it was I believed, was satisfactory and even sooth- | ing. " The Empire is peace :" this he adIvanced on every fitting and on many unfits ting occasions. The Etna on which he was \ seated, heaving with the hidden fires of | French freedom, was thus from time to I time slimed over, and took on the appearhtnee of rock. The Mexican blunder rel vealed a rent in the magnificent wrappage, I and an explosion seemed imminent. The • mufibd thunder of European indignation was heard. The blood of poor Maximilian "cried to earth for vengeance. The evil that offered up the noble victim on ['the altar of heathen vengeance threatened §n crisis. But it soon passed off, leaving a [■wound and a dishonour ; but the wound ■was soon healed, and the memory of the hear only is left to bis posterity. The ad|ministration of Napoleon HI. was like bis ■uncle's before! him : One Great Sin against ;t!ie liberal ideas of his time and of France. k was n splendid and successful deception from first to last. He was at heart a : despot, a magnificent deceiver. From the ever memorable 2nd of December, 1&51, when he strangled the voice of opposition W making his enemies prisoners in their ■beds, and initiated the famous coup d'etat, jtothe time when he surrendered himself a prisoner of war, his government was a protracted and a prosperous despotism in everything but name. And France and Tngbind owe more to the subtle and des.pitic dominion of the departed Emperor fjthan they owe to all the earnest and upright rulers of Europe, The unexampled prosperity that crowned the huge deception which he skilfully managed jjwhile he kept the peace of the world, deserted him in the last disastrous war, and ended in an ignominious downfall. And nil that remains of him to this world is in captivity at Chisel hurst. His memories will be a rich inheritance to future history. His son, who bears his magic name, now holds a commission in the British army. : hat part he will play, or whether any at all, in the future of France, no one can f*y or surmise. He has been coddled in the sensational religion of his mother. He toay outgrow its enervating effects in time, 1 and take on the manhood of a British officer; and if so, his forgiving and gene- ■ d'ous countrymen may turn to him in the time of need, and find in the orphan what i m found in the father, without those I drawbacks which now embitter his recol'"rtiou. The son of the First Napoleon i*w only ten years old when his father • H, and unfortunately for himself and • m country received a training more befit- '• pig a monk or a friar than a youth born t¥> greatness. And the result was us might jave been expected : he died, in 1832, pie better than a child at a time of life J pnen others begin to live as men. He • s said to have had " an iron will in a i *Aj of gl., ss ». ni . u j e bl . ifctle by early arfci • ''-wl treatment. 3 - e fMiXßjig' Association has been successit »ily formed for the Bannockbnrn district: (1 w 'that district simply, having no comiec>r 10n or conjunction with the Association » ° m e time since formed in Cromwell. ts >nch may not have been the first intenj lr ; . but no (loubt [t is tho best plan. Jt |w district is quite huge and important

enough to have an Association of its own. And there is no reason why the example set l>y the Bannockbnrn should not be followed by every sub-division of the Kawarau district; at the Nevis, Cardrona, Bendigo, Quartz Reef Point, Euggate, Kawarau Gorge, and so on. Of course, associations in these places could not be expected to be strong in numbers. But the promise given by Mr Bastings to the Mining Conference, that local bodies would be allowed to oversee, in fact to conduct, local works \mder certain conditions, renders it almost a necessity, in the interests of the general well-being and progress, that every mining district, or centre of mining activity, should have its Association. If need be, for the discussion of any subject of general importance, a meeting of members, or of delegates even, of these associations could be held in one of the more important localities; and uniform plans of action would thus be established. It would give us much pleasure to see such bodies formed in the places we have mentioned ; and we urge it upon the miners to take action to that end. The good that might be done in that way is too apparent to require that it should be pointed out. We know that many of the miners in the localities above mentioned were surprised and dissatisfied that, at the time of the election of a delegate for the district, they had no say in the matter. Then, it could not be helped ; there was so little time for any general action. But next year the entire mining community ought to have an opportunity of taking part in the election, and will, if something be done in the direction we have suggested. Self-help will secure this; and self-help, we earnestly hope, will be resorted to. The District Court is to hold its next sitting at Clyde on Monday, 17th March. The Heart of Oak Company had a clean-ing-up on the 18th inst. The result was 120 ozs. of gold from 160 tons of stone. A parcel of 100 tons of quartz is now being crashed for the Colleen B.awn Company at Mr Logan's battery, Pipeclay Gully. It will be noticed by an advertisement in our present issue that Mr \V. J. Barry has taken the well-known Prince of Wales Hotel, Que°.nstown. We wish kirn all success in his new venture.

" The Finances of New Zealand" is the title of a neat octavo pamphlet written by Master Humphrey, {a well-known contributor to the Daily Times), and published by Mills, Dick, and Co. The pamphlet is a condensation of its author's previously published letters on the same subject, and will doubtless bo read with interest liy many residents on the gold-fields.

Thirty-eight tons of quartz from the All Nations Company's claim, Carrick Range, crushed at Logan's battery last week, yielded 53 ozs. 14 uwts. The claim is situate on the summit of the range, just above the termination of the Carrick Water Face. The return is regarded as satis factory ; but it is only right to add that about twelve tons of the stone crushed was known to be of very poor quality.

A work that the Town Council might fitly see done is the cleaning-out and deepening of the well just beyond the bridge. A spring the spot referred to, and as far back as seven or eight years ago, a shallow well was scooped out, of excellent clear water comes out of the rock at which we believe has never been cleaned out since. Ten shillings would do all that is required. Pure water is not so plentiful in Cromwell that even so insignificant a thing as this little well should be allowed to go to ruin.

The Council held its fortnightly meet, ing last Thursday evening. The Mayor and all the Councillors were in attendance. The assess-ment-roll for 1872-3 was laid on the table and allowed by the Council. Mr G. W. Goodger's request to be allowed to erect a clothes-line < n the spare ground adjoining the Council Chamber was refused. The Mayor brought forward the question of altering the boundaries of the wards ; and after some discussion, the Town Clerk wa< instructed to write to the Government for infor» mation as to the best mode of procedure. The Council then adjourned.

The inconvenience arising from the want of a bailiff in connection with the Resident Magistrate's Court here has at length been par* tially obviated. Mr Hall, the bailiff attached to the Court at Clyde, now visits Cromwell every Monday, for the purpose of executing distresswarrants and performing the various other duties devolving upon him in his o'licial capacity. This is certainly a cone ssion on the part of the judicial authorities j but, in tho interosts of the litigious public, it must be Biid that a weekly attendance by the Clyde bailiff is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the place. Were he to come twice a week, his services would tie of much greater utility than is possible under the present arrangement. Under the direction of Mr MacKellar. Inspector of Works, the improvements recently resolved upon by the Corporation in connection with the town water-supply are being rapidl.' pushed forward. The tank on the terrace ie all

but finished, and the iron pipes have teen laid as far as Achil-street (opposite Mr Grant's). It is proposed to continue the line of pipes eastward to Erria»street, following the course of the old race. This is, in our opinion, a mistake, which we hope will be rectified in time. The belter plan would be to lay the pipes in a diagonal direction across the Mnnicipal sections situate in Block IV", and then cut a new race to convey the water along Enniscortstreet. By the adop tion of this plan no one would suiFer, whilst the advantages to be derived must be manifest to the most casual observer.

A sample of copper ore fount! by Mr W. J. Barry, in the course of a prospecting tour, somewhere " between Mount Pisa and the Arrow," was brought to our office yesterday morning. Those competent to form an opinion have assured Mr Barry that the atone contains at least fifty per cent, of copper ; but its appearance does not seem to justify the belief that the proportion of metal is so large. The specimens —of which Mr Barry has about 60 lbs. weightare to be sent to Sydney for chemical analysis. We trust the discovery will culminate in ihe development of a rich copper-field in the locality indicated.—Mr Barry also informs us that while prospecting in the neighbourhood of Lake Wakatip, a few days ago, he discovered a splendid seam of coal within three mile 3of Quecnstown. The residents around Lake Wakatip have hithert > obtained their supply of native coal from Kawarau Flat, twenty miles from Queens own ; and should Mr Barry's discovery prove equal to hi; expectations, the find is indeed a valuable one.

A bad habit has sprang up and come to be allowed in connection with the Public Library,—or rather, the Reading Room. Both magazines and newspapers are taken from the reading-room table by those who wish to read them at leisure in their homes, within a very short time of arrival, frequently even upon th: day of it. Removing them is sin enough ; but when the sinners forget to return them, extra heinousness is added. Much dissatisfaction is expressed hereat by thoso of the subscribers who are left to whistle for the reading they piy f' r and expect. The Committee have given notice, by a placard posted in the room, that the habit must be renounced ; but this has been of no effect. Strong measures should be taken to provent the continuance of a practice so selish,— by depriving those discovcie.l in it of the rights and privileges of membership, if nothing les; will answer.

A public meeting w *s beld in t! e Schoolroom, Banuookburn, on Monday, 13 hj inst., for the purpose of electing a School Committee for the ensuing year. Mr James Stunr was in the chair. The Secretary read the financial report for the previous year, and also the names of the retiring committee ; after which the following gentlemen wore elected as a Committee :-Messrs W. Gol Ismith, W. Bennett, J. Stewart, H. Ferguson, J. Crombie, J. Lawrence, John Halliday, John Barr, and 11,I 1 , Perry.— The newly-elected Committee met immediately afterwards, when Mr Goldsmith was elected chairman, Mi- Stuart treasurer, anl Mr Simpson secretary. The following res diuious were carried :

—" That the Secretary be instructed again to write to the Education Board for the usual Government subsidy towards a side school, and refer them to Mr Histap for his report " —■' Tliat the Sic eary wait upon Mr Cowan, and get his consent in writing to the grant of five aces instead of the two aces previously applied for ; r — "That the Committee shall meet in the Schoolroom on the first Monday of every month for the dispatch of business." To day is .New Year's Day with the Chinese. Ryan, accused of the attempted murder of Detective barrel], is to be brought up in Dune lin to-day. A man named Nolan, who was of eccen tr'c habits, has disappeared from the Fraser river, between Clyde and Nevis. A partv of ruineis turned out, and seal died hills and gullies, but without success. On Sunday afternoon, the 19th itist., a dead horse, with a riding sad.i'e on, was observed by a number of people, Moating down the river past Clyde. No news has come to hand in any way to clear up the mystery. The following is reported in connection with the last sitting of the Waste Land Hoard, in Dunedin : —" Mr Samuel Symonds, Secretary to the Arrow Miners' Association, applied that the Association might be allowed to choose a section in Arrowtown as n site for a Vi-i.->rs" Institute. The matter \v s leferred totb Government." On the subject of Sabbatarianism, the Ne.'soi) Examiner has the following :—" A Presbyterian e'ergyman in >he. .North of iSco land hj s somewhat scandalised his brethren by sunaestini*, d i)i ig the late rainy harvest, that line i-'undavs might be lawfully employed to git her in the harves'. His brethren were o( opi:;ion tint the weather was a punishment for Sabbath breaking but the laity have, it is said, largely a loptel the suggestion. Extreme Sabbatarianism is a somewhat late importation even in'o Calvinism. Ca'vin pl-iyed bowls, and John Knox wrote his business letters on iMinday." The East IVi.'ii correspond-nt of the Bruce [fcralil says:—"The < iermnn immigrants, especially those of the feminine sex, arc not being very well taken care of by our ''ovonimen l , if tl c following is n sample. On Thursday last, a young woman who c uld not speak a word of English, a Dane, I think, was sent out to the Taieri with a couple of slips of paper about one inch wi e, bearing the mines of two farmers, one in the East "and the other iu the West Taieri,

seeking a situation from one of them. But not being able to speak English, no one could direc""' bor. and so she wandered up and down the road until midday, when some person saw her who managed to make out what was wanted, and put her into the cart of one of theparties whose name wns on one of the slips. The slips did not bear any signature, so that no one is to blame in part uultir ; but there is reason to believe she came from the Depot. Surely if they are worth bringing out here they deserve better treatment than that accorded to this one, and this is not, 1 1 elieve, a solitary instance of the paternal c;iro shown to the new importation of Germans."

Strawberries appear to have been pl o n« tiful in Auckland this season. The Auckland Herald says : —" Strawberries yesterday were threepence per quart, and milk twopence. A quart of strawberries and milk for fivcpetice is a cheap luxury. Few people know how to cat strawberries correctly. The manner of eating them should be regulated by the age of the consumer. To a voting man, strawberries are never so nice as when he is lying on the breadth of his bick on the green sward, under the shadow and foliage of a tree, while his ' intended' isdiopping them into his mouth—not too slowly--one after another, in succession. An hour of this sort of thing dwells pleasantly in the memory. Middleaged persons are fond of strawberries with cream, but cream turns to butter in the stomach, and strawberries and butter ;.rc not wholesome. With aged persons strawberries do not agree, unless taken with sherry wine. The proportion of tv o glasses of sherry to half a strawberry is about the thing. By this method flatulency is avoided. Strawberries picked from their native beds in gardens are delicious. But slugs make strawberries their habitat, and strawberries and s l ugs are not pleasant eating, Unless persons have long accustomed themselves to them." The Southland News of the 15th inst. contained a paragraph, stating that in the f.s. Stormbird, which sailed from Invercargill on a Sunday afternoon, three reverend gentlemen, all opposed to Sunday travelling in the al strict as I a direct violation of the Divine command, s'arted ' for Dunedin in order to be present at the Presby- | tjiian Synod. During the sitting of the Synod, [the I!ev. Mr Stobo, one of the ministers referred t>, entered into an explanation of the, matter, i tie showed that owing to repeated adjournment-! j of the dale of sailing of the steamer, no other | course was open to himself and the o'hers, —tl e j Rev. Mr Boss, of Queenstown, and the Rev. Mr i Alexander ; and explained that they began their journey on the Saturday, having slept on board ; the steamer on that bight, and that they had ,c nducted sendees on the boat on the Snnclny. I He concluded thus :—"The three members of I this Synod who have thus been publicly held up j to censure, so far from shrinking back, or hiding ! their heads in their advocacy of this great cause, ! feel solemnly bound all the more to pi each a j crasade against an abounding and flagrant iniI oi lity, and never to delist from their efforts until, b the help of God, an end be put to the starting : o: s'eamers, and all running of public coivryj a-ices, on the Lord's Daw throughout the iengih i and breadth of the land."

A number of the Chinese who were employed mi the Olutha railway are now living 0:1 the chat ity of the inhabit nuts'of Milton. They cannot get their wages owing to a dispute he'* tween Messrs Brogden mil Mr .John Ah Ton<', the ( 'lnnesii " boss." According to one account, Ah Tong was a sub-contractor of ihe iirm, and thus be employed his cofiitrymen on his own account ; hut finding that his speculation in the "• Chinee cheap labour 1 ' line did not pay. he now hj Ids that he was a salaried servant of Messrs Biogden. Therefore he claims that the money paid him by the tirlu was liis salary, and refuses o pay his deluded eniplojes on the ground that they are Brogden's strvnnfs and lot his. One of the suffering heathen, to test the matter, h»a sued Mr Tong for his "screw," i in judgn enr, his been reserved. Meanwhile the nun —some 20 of thrm—are being looked after by the Milton people, being given odd jobs by the Corporation. and so forth. Evidently, if this account of the matter be correct, Mr John Ah Torig has leaine ! s nnething during Irs sojourn in the Colonies : to quote Bret liarte's ifi-quoted poem, he Ins ' playel it" upon liis countrymen "in away they did not understand." And if he had not li.hui escorted to his hotel, f..r protection's sake, by the polio.; after the sit ing of ihe Court, it is probable he would have suffered violence at their ■ nnds.—ln connection with this subject, the Bine? Herald says :—Tn the very Irving cirenms ances in which the Chinese in tbi- neighbour hood haw been placed during tl c last week, wo ire bound to testify to their \ery orderly conduct, and although very hard pushed for fo«d, •«ve have not heard a single com pis hit of evr-n the smallest peity theft having been committal.