The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3966, 10 November 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1875.

Among the arguments used by MiStout in favor of Provincialism whs one that was wont to be a favorite with Abolitionists, but which that gentleman has had the ingenuity to make use of on his side of the question. It is an appeal te figures, and, therefore, one that can be very easily verified, as those figures are accessible to all who will take the trouble to seek them. As their correctness is not of much moment in the present case, we will accept Mr Stout's statement its true, for the gist of the matter is in the conclusion, which is equally true, .excepting as to amount, whether his nuyierala

are right or wiong. Mr Stout's argument is that Provincialism is the cheapest system of Government, and on Friday evening, to prove it, he is reported to have said : Ho would tell them that the cost of the General Assembly and its clerks was greater limn all the Provincial Councils, Superintendents, nml what was called their tails. Ho never saw an Abolitionist who placed before them the cost of the General Assembly. What did they think was ihe cost of the Legislative department of that body. It was £31,000. The entire cost of I'rorincialism was only £32,000. So it was that the General Assembly cost more than the nine petty Parliaments and their Executives. Then thorc was an additional charge, which made the total of the General Government departments £45,239. If they added to that law and justice they would have £73,421 17s more. Thou there was the charge for postal and telegraph service, £222,509. The actual coat of the Aj?entGeneral's department in London exceeded that of Provincialism in the North Island. There were eighteen clerks in the Agent-General's department, and the vote for it this year was £14,743. He put these figures before them in order that they see what the extravagauce of the General Government was. If they wore to abolish Provincial Councils because thoy were not economical, what were they to do with the General Government. An examination of this tale of horrors will show that only the first two amounts really bear upon the point in question. Law and Justice, Telegraph and Postal Departments, Agent-Gene-ral's expenses, Lighthouses, and so i forth, must be paid, whatever the form ,of government; so also must Police I -which -we are inclined to think with many other similar charges borne by ! Provincial Governments, might be placed in array in the style adopted ; by Mr Stout in summing up General j Govprnment expenses, but which he • has characteristically overlooked and | dropped out of his calculations. With ; regard then to the first two items, • taking into consideration the much • wider functions discharged by the General Assembly than by the Provincial Councils, the comparative cheapness is in favor of the former. But Mr Stout seems to have overlooked the very obvious fact that whereas the cost of general legislation was .£34,000, or say (to give him every latitude) £45,000, Provincial government has added £32,000 to that amount, and, as it is not shown the abolition of Provincialism will render additional cost of legislation necessary, our inference is that the country will gain by saving a useless expenditure of £32,000. Now, as this is as obvious from Mr Stout's figures as an axiom, and as all ideas of additional legislative and administrative expenditure are visionary, or at any rate theoretical, and as Mr Stout proposes to continue Provincialism in a form that may be considered to rival the General Government, his friends and opponents will alike be glad to know what the Colony will lose by saving 1,32,000. A man named R. 0. Coulstou has been sentenced to two months' imprisonment with hard labor in Auckand, for falsely terming himself a doctor of medicine. The Commissioner of Customs on his visit to the v 'outh will go to Kiverton in reference to itr harbor improvement wo-ks It is not the intention of Mr F. D. Kick to contest Wa kouai.i at the forthcoming general election, as ho is about to visit the old country. At Oamaru, on Monday, James Spencer was committed for trial at the next sitting i of the District Court, on a ch rge of frauduj lent insolvency. He was admitted to bail in two sureties of L2O each.

On dit (says the ' Herald) that it is the intention of a number of the friend-- and admirers of Mr George M'Lean, M.H. K. for Waikouaifci, to invite that gentleman to a complimentary din- er, in recognition of the services rendered by him during the late session of the General Assembly.

In the last 'Gazette' is notified the acceptance of the services of the undermentioned corps :—The Oamaru Artillery Volunteers, the Arrowtown Rifle Volunteer:', the Dunedin High School ttifle Volunteer Cadets, th-i Duuedin District Schools Rifle Volunteer Cadets.

At the Resident Magistrate's Cou t, Port Cbalmtrs, this morning, the following civil ca-es were heard before Mr T. *. Man.sf.-rd, .K.M.:—Boulton v. Anderson, claim of t 5 3s 3d for gooda supplied. Judgment for plaintiff, with costs. Dale v. Smart, claim of 1.2 3s 3d. Judgment for the amount, with costs.

Captain Kitchener, in accepting the commaud of the newly-fo med Palmorston rifles, gave its members some wholesome advice, the principal points of which were that unless they wore perfee ly determined to abide by ttvo great essentials absolutely necessary to tbo well-being of the Corps—vz : strict obedience to the orders of superiors, and perf-et silence in the ranks when at drill—citizen soldiers could not arrive at that perfection which would command the respect of the community. Thanks to the good offices of Mr W. A. Young, the Waikouaiti river ha 3 been stocked with trout, between five and bix hun red yovn;: fish having been liberated last week in that part of the river which runs through the property of Mr H. Oibell. By the City of Melbourne Mr Young received a consignment of ova of the American salmon, which he intends to out at shag River, whither they have been conveyed by the s.s. shag.

We am sorry to observe that the grass on the crickeu ground has been allo.ved to grow very long during tho past fortnight. There has been iittle or no practice on the ground for a time, and Hcndley has had plenty of opportunity for mowing. We truao to sev.it looking better next Sutu: day, when we understand, the match between the t)uuedin and Dunedin Ciubs is to be continued.

> v Orue idea of »he traffic on the railways yesterday may bo gathered from the fact that the cash iakings at the main Dunedin station amounted to IASO. Tin; receipts of the <'ama.*u and lnveroargill section* are expected to brim.' the day's takings up to 1-300. Kxi/ursi'Hiists may not be aware that facilities a u 'vw offered by the rai way department toe ihe through j >urney to luvercdi-gili (on Saturdays) in one day. Pas-seug-ra by the seven morniug train reach Mat.aura bridge at about spm, and are conveyed into Inveroargill by special train. From the official meteorological report for October it appears that the mean height of the barometer at the Dunedin Observatory was 29.543 in.; the highest reading being 20.829 on the 14th, and the lowest 29.127 on the 2nd. The mean temperature of the air was 5(1.8, the greatest heat in the shade h.-ing 06 on the Bth, the greatest cold 32 on the 3rd. The total r mgo of temperature m the shade was. therefore, 34, the mean daily range being 15. The maximum solar radiation was 136 on the 28th, the minimum term trial radiation 29 on the 3rd. The extreme range between the reading of the

exposed thermometers was, thn ef re, 80. The total rainfali was 3 088. It fll on four een daya, the maximum rainfall in any twentyfour hours being 0 800 on the 25th Thr mean diurn:d horizontal movement of the air »'ai 170 miles ; tie greato-t v<!ority for one day hj ir>g 470 ipi'es row fed on two >nd bail on three days during the month. A committee meeting of the Hoy.il Horticultural Si-oiety of Otago will be hell in the < ccidental Motel this evening, at eight o'clock. Mr James Ruiciman will meet the electors of Given Island in the Drill-shed on Friday, at 7 p.m. Mr M. W. Green. Evane-dint, of Melbourne, will preach in the Christian < hapel, great King street, to-morrow (Thursday) evening at half past seven. A lecture in aid of the Widow and Orphans' Fund of theLind.-n Lodge, 1.0.0. F., will be givt-n in the lodge room. Kaikorai Drill-shed, by Bro. Bracken, on "Samuel Lover," next Friday evening, at 8 o'clock.