The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3766, 19 March 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1875.

It is rather too bad of our morning contemporary to treat Mr Charles Fellows so scurvily as it has done in te-day’s leader. “ The once precise and tolerably accurate Mr Fellows has degenerated into a literary freebooter, who cares neither for truth nor honesty, so long as he can make his point. ” So says the ‘Daily Times.’ That Mr Fellows has written an article condemning New Zealand’s financial policy on false grounds is perfectly true ; that he ever was even “ tolerably accurate ” we deny. His condemnation comes with a bad grace from the ‘Daily Times,’ for, false as both his assumptions and conclusions are, they are not more unreliable than those which he penned whilo an Dunedin, and published under the nomde plume “ Master Humphrey,” in its columns. Although Mr Fellows has written both mischievously and foolishly in Dunedin, as well as in ‘Fraser’s Magazine,’ the mischief and folly would have been of no moment had there been no means of giving publicity to his notions j and therefore whatever injury may be the result, it is chargeable equally upon the publisher and the writer. It was the ‘ Daily Times ’ who acted as patron of this shallow thinker, who devoted column after column to the dissemination of his trash ; who took care always to have one of his most plausible sophisms in its summary for Europe; ancUwho thus paved the way for his entrance upon the still wider field for mischief of ‘ Fraser’s Magazine.’ Mr Fellows, like many other men, has been the victim of imperfect knowledge, and has suffered in circumstance through it. He knows some little of political economy, a little of finance, and a little of the theory of trade. Had he known nothing more than how to buy and sell, he might have been a prosperous man and well thought of in Dunedin. Had he been thoroughly versed in those branches of knowledge on which he wrote, he might have been equally successful. It is want of thoroughness that has made him unreliable. The ‘ Daily Times ’ must either stand convicted of equal folly or something far worse, when it encouraged him in his blindness by inserting his writings and paying him for them. They were frequently offered to this journal, and refused insertion because of their unsoundness. But Mr Fellows proved his belief in his theories by leaving a Colony at the very time when he might have calculated upon prospering, and this was pointed out to him long before he made his arrangements. As firmly as Dr Gumming believed in the « end of the world,” Mr Fellows believed that the ruin of New Zealand had begun, and he fled from the buoyant ship, lest he should share in its disasters. Partners in folly, their fates have been different. Mr Fellows bore testimony to his faith by leaving prosperity behind him; the ‘Daily Times’ remained to reap the benefit of the falsification of his and its own predictions. Although we axe glad to find that the understanding of our contemporary has become enlightened and its conduct changed, it is not very graceful to turn upon its late particeps criminis, and to try to visit the whole condemnation upon him. Whatever of blame rests upon Mr Fellows, attaches also to the ‘ Daily Times.’ « Utter, shameless falsehoods ” found their way into its columns when Mr Fellows was in Dunedin, as well as into ‘Fraser’s’ now he is in England; and in pronouncing condemnation upon those which now disgrace that magazine, the . Dail 7 Times ’ most severely condemns itself. It is fitting that that journal fully retract participation in them by refuting the sophisms of which it has been the mouth-piece \ but let it deal tenderly with one who,* whatever his errors of thought, may be said to have been trained in them by the * Times ’ itself, and who is himself the greatest sufferer. Mr Vogel raised his loan in spite of the article in F raser s,’ which proves unquestionably our credit is uninjured. The ‘ Daily Times ’ alludes to the “ suggested moral ” —of what we do not clearly gather from the article. There is one, however, that it is clearly entitled to draw, and that is, “The public do not easily forget men’s changes of opinions.” It used to be the fashion to burn publications supposed or admitted to be mischievous. For the evidence of the repentence of our contemporary to be complete, theretore we recommend the public burning ot all copies containing Master Humphrey s letters. Such an auto da fe would be a novelty, and tend t6 lX°bTlity ÜbliC falth b itS PoHtical

At the City Police Court the only criminal charge heard was one of drunkenness, in which the offender, Daniel M'Callum, a new arrival, was fined L 2, in default three days’ imprisonment. Messrs Mercer and Birch, J.P.’s, presided. . street tramways are favored by the muni* cipal authorities of Auckland. They have approved of a proposal by one of the largest mercantile firms in that city to construct a tramway to carry freight and passengers from Mechanics’ Bay to Freeman’s Bay, and afterwards to other streets or suburbs.

Ihe handsome silver key to be presented to the Mayor, Mr K. Ramsay, in commemoration of the transfer of the Waterworks to the Corporation, is on view at the shop of Mr J. Hislop, jeweller. It bears the following inscription :—“ Presented to Keith Kamsay, i- sq., Mayor of Dunedin, by the shareholders of the Dunedin Waterworks Company, on transferring their works to the Corporation—3lst December, 1874.” The business at the Resident Magistrate’s Coart, Port Chalmers, this morning, consisted of two charges of drunkenness preferred against Peter Shudine and Martin Quick, seamen belonging to the ship Maliowdale. Mr Mansford, R.M., sentenced shudiae to pay a fine of ss, or in default to be imprisoned for twenty-four hours; and Quick, who was the most disorderly, to pay 10 . or be imprisoned for forty-eight hours, with hard labor.

The principal opponent of the proposition to open the Oamara Mechanics’ Institute on Sunday afternoons was the Rev. A. B. Todd, who is reported to have delivered himself of the following liberal'sentiments : —“ If so opened the Institute would be an anti-Christian institution. If it were right for men to come there to read newspapers with accounts of the Municipal Council, he could not see why the Council should not meet ©n the Sabbath. It would prevent a Christian man from acting as a member of committee, and would further debar many who now took an active interest in its welfare and success from taking any share in the business of the Institute.” Forty-nine voted for, and twenty-two against opening the Institute on Sundays. A remarkablejwill case has just been tried in Edinburgh. The pursuers were Mr Robert Watson, merchant, Cardowen, and Mrs Agnes Martin (n6e Watson), widow of the late Mr J. H. Martin, surgeon, of Invercargill, New Zealand. The defenders were the trustees and executors of the late James Watson, banker, Airdrie, brother of the pursuers. The action was to reduce a codicil by which the deceased left nearly the whole of his property to a servant of his and her family, it being alleged that the said servant took advantage of the testator’s addiction to drink, and the undue influence she had over him, to get him to make this codicil in her favour, thereby upsetting a will in which most of his property had been left to the pursuers. A verdict for the pursuers was found by the jury by a majority of ten to two, and was taken by agreement. New Zealanders will be proud to hear of the success of their equine representative Lurline in the Australian Cup. and of the grand form exhibited by the same mare and Calumny in other races at the V.R.C. Autumn Meeting. Lurline won the Cup by two lengths easily, Wollomai and Benjiroo being second and third, and Melbourne and The Diver not placed. Perhaps even a greater performance by Lurline was when, with 10st 31b up she ran Light of I >ay to a head in the Keilor Stakes, on the first day of the samimeeting, the winner carrying only 7st 111b. In the Brunswick Stakes Calumny and Lurline came in first and second, out of eleven starters. On the third day of the meeting were to be run the Newmarket Handicap, in which Calumny carries Bst; and the Town Plate, a weight for age race, in which Lurline, The Diver, Melbourne, Stockbridge, Light of Day, Lapidist, and Barmaid are engaged. An individual rejoicing in the name of John Biddle has’got himself into trouble in Invercargill through his “larking” pronlivitits. From the ‘News’ we learn that Biddle, gathering in the course of a conversation with a Mrs Barker, that one William Hall was owing her L 5, presented himself at Hall’s house, and handed to Mrs Hall a docu ment purporting to be a warrant from the Court for immediate execution if a claim for L 5 was not satisfied. Ignorant of the claim, the young wife—they were but recently married—asked the pretended bailiff to wait her husband’s return, which was graciously acceded to, and Biddle made himself at home for a space of over three hours. The good man not arriving by t hat time, he left, threatening instant execution next day if the money was not- paid. News of these proceedings having reached the real bailiff of the Court, he had the pretender arrested, and Mr Biddle, who is well known in town as a hanger-on about hotels, and by his cognomen of the “doctor,” was committed to take his trial at the next sittings of the District Court.

The new boats coming out for the Harbor Company and the N. Z Company, and being built for their line by M'Meckan, Blackwood, should serve to remedy the existing state of things complained of with a great deal of truth by the Wellington correspondent of the ‘Press’:—“l have travelled scores of times between the various ports of New Zealand, and I oan *af%ly say that on no single occasion have I ever found an approach to comfort on board «ny of the coastng steamr-rs. A commercial traveller who ‘‘shouts” champagne to the skipper and tips the steward haudsome'y, may get a berth for himself, and as much attention as he cares for. But an ordinary passenger is sent on board by the agent without any inquiry as to whether there is any room for him, he is pitched down on the deck like a bail ofjgoods, almost worse treated] than a horse, and allowed to shift for himself in the best way he can. It is wonderful what an amount of ill-treatment an Englishman will put |up with. In any foreign country the? Government would take care that the shipowners did something for the money they receive. But here they do precisely as they like, and they laugh at the complaints they must hear from all sides, because they know that there is no combination, and that single remonstrances are too weak to hurt them.”

Artillery Band will meet at the Drillshed to morrow afternoon at 2 o’clock. Charles Dickens seems to be the Rev. Charles Clark s most popular subject. A large number of seats have been secured for to-night’s lecture, which, it will be observed, is an entirely different entertainment from that given on Monday and Tuesday. The illustrative scenes and recitals which Mr Clark has selected for this second lecture on Dickens are highly interesting.

The Ladder of Hopei Juvenile Lodge of Good lexnplara held their monthly meeting In Milton Hall last evening, when there was a very large attendance of members. The candidates were admitted to membership, and the lodge then went into harmony, the D.M. reciting “ The Drunkard’s Child,” in good style. The Inaugural Soiree Committee reported progress, and it was decided to print tickets, and engage the Oddfellows* Hall for Ihursday, Ist April. Two dozen members’ regalia were presented to the lodge. A hearty vote or thanks to the visitors was passed, and the lodge then closed. Two four-oared races will be rowed to-mor-row afternoon {weather permitting). The first race between the United Brothers and the Pioneer crews, for L 5 a-side, the former to pull in the Lily and the latter in the Tulip—will stare at three o clock. The othe? will be a

fnendly match between the-Excelsior and the Union crews, in boats lately built by Mr Patterson. The course for both races will be from the jetty round the beacon at the end of the training wall, round a boat moored off Grant’s Braes, then up to a stake off Anderson’s Bay, and in to the jetty. The crews have been in active training for some time past, so we expect to see twe good races.