The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3969, 13 November 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1875.

We were brought to task yesterday by an ardent Provincialist—by the way, a salaried officer and once a deadly opponent of his Honor the Superintendent, but now one of the number on whom he set his foot in triumph at the late banquet. " Did you see that poke," said our worthy Mentor, "that the Superintendent gave you abolitionists yesterday 1" He referred to the following sentence, which formed part of the reply to the deputation from Tapanui:— Hi'b Honor : I will brim,' the matter before the Executive with the view of getting them to auree to the survey. It is ono of those railways which I have no doubt that the Province will make if it continues in existence. I have no doubt that the Provincial Council will, at its next session, provide for the const ruction of that railway. If you want to get it, you had better pray for the continuance of Provincialism. lam sure you will never get it any other way, unless you make it yourselves. We do not sen much of a " poke " in the utterance: it was only repeating in other words the sound principle we have always advocated, that owners of property in the district benefited bv a railway are the proper parties to bear the chief expense of its construction. They have now what they bargained for when they bought their land—a road to it—and seeking to obtain a class of roads at the public expense, which will add tenfold to the value of their property, is an instance of that grasping spirit that is characteristic of large landed proprietors throughout tht; world. They would have to tax themselves for the formation of a district road—why not for a district railroad 1 The prefix rail only indicates that they would have the best instead" of an inferior kind of road.

While on this topic, a word or two showing the blessings of Provincialism, for the continuance of which we are to pray, may not be amiss. Two iustances havfe just now occurred, one of which showing how much those blessings &ve valued by their recipients, may be j gathered from a few extracts, from a report pf proceedings at a mepting at Riverton, published by the ' Western Star ? of the 6th inst. We give them without comment. A preliminary meeting for the purpose of making arrangements for holding a monthly moeting in connection with Public Works in the \Y rstern District, waß held at the Courthouse on Thursday last—his Worship the Mayor in the chair. <«ml r J^ 28 MCINTOSH, M.P.C., moved—lhat a meeting be called by advertisement and oirpular to be Mi on Saturday, 13th November, for the purpose of taking into consideration the unsatisfactory manner in which the public works in the Western Dist-ioi are being proceeded with," , , , Although they (thp residents) had taken it quietly, there was not an individual in the district who was £?t thoroughly disgusted with the way in which I the public works were being carried on. It I was about eighteen months since the first sod of the Western Railways bad, bsos turned, and there wa« scarcely one-third of the work done. Many complications might have arisen in the Contracts, but the Government couid not be excused for the deplorable state of the works at present, Mr T. Daniel, M.P C. had been a Bt iunoh Provincialist, and a thick-and thin suppoitor otha < public works policy, but the manner in which affairs in the Western District had recently been conducted was enough to disgust anyone. (The speaker here referred in very strong termß to the manner in which the con. tractor had been carrying out h.U .eentpaots, and to complaints made by workmen on the railways regarding payment for work done ) \s Immigration (iffioer, he hj .d recommended the immigrants who had arrived recently not to take work on the railways if they could find employment at anything else. Mr M.H.R, said it appeared to him the, had e one on with the public works without auy definite plan of operation. Before any further progress would v m n e lR they must at once bring the Government to a definite conclusion en the subjeot of publio work*, So much for what may be called the domestic _ blessings of Provincialism. One of its relative blessings may be gathered from the following announcement, which, for the sake of impartiality, we extract from yesterday's ' Guardian ':— With commendable promptitude the members of the local Cattle Board have taken steps to guard against the introduction of infected stock into the Province. At a meeting of the Board, htld yesterday, it was decided to quarantine the sheep imported per Calypso, just arrived from Lon lon, for a period of three inonthß, as a precautionary measure, that vessel having sailed from Homo du>ing the period of a prevalence amongst stock of the dis'ases mentioned. We have no fault to find with these arrangements of "The Cattle Hoard," as we have no doubt its members are actuated by a sincere desire to do their duty j but in what position would Otago, notwithstanding their "commendable promptitude," have been placed had those sheep been landed in Lyttelton, and not been subjected to quarantine by the authorities of Canterbury 1 There would then have been no hindrance whatever to their being dipped in Canterbury and driven across the Waitaki as clean sheep, and taking their places, with all their infection, if any, lurking in them among the flocks of Otago. It is not enough to reply that it is equally the interest of Canterbury with Otago to see to it that infected animals are not imported. We admit it; but the whole bearing of the question is not involved in that consideration. At present those sheep evince no signs of disease, and may not, according to our contemporary, foi nearly three months. If, therefore, on arrival at Lyttelton, their known destination was Otago, their being in present good health would afford no valid reason for placing them in quarantine—the flocks of Canterbury would not be endangered, and vice versa. Supposing it had been known by our Cattle Board that the sheep now in apparent good health •were for Canterbury, we do not think they would have been justified in detaining them. It is not the first time we have thought it necessary to direct attention to the clashings of Provincial rule. Notably, on one occasion, cattle from Otago were prohibited crossing the Waitaki on pretended sanitary grounds, but really to secure monopoly prices to a large holder in the neighbouring Province. So long as there are district governments legislating differently for one Colonial interest, similar difficulties must be constantly occurring. Had both Provinces been under one legislature these anomalies could not have takeD place. The Try Again <:ompany, Carrick Range, last week crushed 136 ounces from sixty seven tons of stone. The '' Shaughran " was again played to a fult house at the Queen's Theatre last ni.ht. The piece was wed received. It appears that 9,(!00 single girls Lave arrived since tho inauguration of the immigration soli emu, and yet the class of servants to which they are supposed to belong is as badly repr. sented as ever. A bolt dees not often benefit people as one didtharesidentsin Walker street this morning when a drawing a c al-laden cart Btart'd from the head of the «treet and : ot into Princes street before tt was By this time the cart was pretty wull empty, and when the driver returned to Walker street none of his co 1 was to he. seen, 'ome people had evidently discovered a seam. There was only a short charge sheet to be disposed of at the City Police Court this morning, before K ff. Ward, Esq., and T. Bireh, Ks(-.| M J. iVs. Ju ius M Quaid, for conducting himself in High street in a manner edeuiated to provoke a breach of the peace, was fined 10i and a-sts ; and Ed war i Williams, charged with assaulting his wife, Caroline Willi.-iins, was discharged on payment of law e^sts, At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, befoie Mr T. A. Mansford, KM , Peter Welling, for being drunk ai>d disorderly, was lined os or twentyfo .r hours'. John Mitchell, for a similar charge, was ordered to pay a lino of 10s or f rty-eight hours. Theresa Maria Goldshury, for a similar offeuco. and for making use of. obscene language, was remandid until donday, hail being allowed in two sureties of L 5 each. <

A lecture on "Samuel Jr ~~ ■<fr T Biacki-u ;c »*- - ;^«* r! " was given by last evening, Br-- - li ? K ■""■'' V • --.v ;>nii..-),(-'; the proceed" .''• f»raithwaite in the chair Widow „ ,* °f are to be given to the uWished Linden Lodge, 1.0.0 P The wfth B SS vl •! V -* eV °i ied co "«'ie™ble laughter by his je»dering of selections from " Handy Andv>' ind l lDg F *l her Phil ' s SubwriptL S) and other works, and r P .citecl feelingly some of Lover's poems, closing with his own lines on the occasion of Lover's death. There was a very appreciative but poor attendance. A miscellaneous entertainment followed the

Between two and three p.m. yesterday nje was discovered in one of the bedrooms g the pnvate residence of Mr A. Mercer, High street. Attention was first attracted by smoke issuing from beneath a clothespress, nxed between a fireplace and the wall oitheapartmeat. A good supply of water, ana the vigorous application of it by the people of the house and some neighbors, prevented what in a few minutes more might have been a serious fire. We bel eve rif ty pounds covers the damage done, and with commendable promptitude the outh British Company, m which the house and furniture are insured, settled the claim in less than an hour after it was made. The third entertainment of the Port Chalmers Choral Union, h*dd in the xJason'o Hall last evening, was an imm, use Access Ihe Mayor presided. Since tu<» first mib'ic appearance of the Choral IT- on Ambers ; have evidently ful study, tb* regulfc beinK that TQP pit3C63 are excH jjeutly reudered The utQ | •j6 complimented on its progress, which *•„ most marked in the opening chorus. " r i. &8 ful Home/' which wa follow ':„ „,'„,£ B and Ce ;l° U tir W f n - 6deC K serfes of songs ana quartettes, 'he mr of „„,.: , . ° «' >uld Robin Orav". :?L I ' % *"? tached to the c!k' ' f IIn W V f «' nrpar PW » T ° f l " ,olv Tnnit V Church ; W» •- , and "-ood-bye at the '°" r ' -iss Maefarlane <fliciared as accompar.yiat. « Ye Ba.ks and Braes," by iao company, brought, the first part ot toe entertainment to a close. After an Interval twenty-three persons, four of whom were ladie,, presented themselves on the platform as comp titors for the bee. M r T. A. Mansford pronounced the words, and the judges were Dr Drysdale and Mr W. B. Mackay, M.A. Captain Rankin and Mr Aeher acted as check clerks, it having been arranged that each competitor should have ten words. After a t-me the hive was reduced to four be«B, without a queen, viz, Me-.sra Brown, Wier, Sutherland, and Krebner, who then competed for the prizes. The first-named gentlemen spelt achomatic as acromatic, the second agistment as agisment; but his fate was not worse than that of the schoolmaster, who Hpelt a paraitor as aparator, leaving Mr T. W. Brebner in pos BtSiiou of the platform—he taKing the first prize, of six haudsomely bound books ; Mr Sutherland the second, and Mr Weir the third prize. This week Captain Hutton and Mr W. N. Blair, C. E. accompanied some of the proprietors ■ of the Ballachulish Slate quarry near Otepopo, on a visk of inspection for the purpose of ascertaining the prospect of the quarry and advising as v» the best mode of developing it. A party of seven men have been employed for about six months en the quarry and ha- e opened ficcs along the line of the reef tor about a hundr d chains. Good slate has been obtained at nearly alt the poinds opened out The men are now working a face of aboub thirty feet square of solid rock, every onion ef which y>eUls slate of the purest quality. About 100,000 slate* are on the ground. The only difficulty in the way of thoiough development of the mine is" the cost of carriage to the port of shipment, which is proposed to be overcome by making a branch tramway of two or three miles long to the dray roads, on the ranges. This tramway it is proposed ultimately ro extend to the main line of ra 1way in the Otepopo Valley. The gradients present no difficulty, and the wo.king wiUbe facilitated by its being a descending gradient throughout, the quarry being about 700 ft. above the level of the Waitaki and Moeraki railway, Messrs Hutton and Blair purpose reporting as to the capabilities of the quarry and quality of the slate. The Artillery Band meet for usual practice on Monday evening. Parade in uniform for route marching on Wednesday evening at 7.30. Officer* and members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of New Zealand, S C, are requested to attend meeting at Masonic Hall, ou Monday n*xt, at 7.30. The Loyal Unity Lodge, 1.0.0. F., will meet on Wednesday next, the L7th inst., 8 o'clock, at Maloney's Ocean View Hotel, Forbury, when a full attendance is requ> sted. The inhabitants of St Kilda and Musselburgh only are requested to attend a meeting at the Forbury schoolroom on Monday next, at 8 j?.m , concerning matters re municipality. The Rev. J. Ward, Primitive Methodist minister from Timaru, is announced to preaoh in the Temperance Hall to-morrow, a': eleven in the forenoon and half-past six in the evening. Mr R. T. Wheeler, on behalf of the Leith Lodge, 1.0.0. F., yesterday handed over to the Benevolent Institution the sum of Ll3 14s 6d, being the net proceeds of Mr John Bathgate's lecture, on " The olden days of Scotland." j