The Evening Star THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4097, 13 April 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1876.

We should have been very glad to have been spared the unpleasantness of having to comment upon so ill judged a reply as his Honor the Superintendent has penned to the polite request of the General Government. A more absurd manifesto was never issued. It has not been written for the Government hut for the people, and has given them credit for being easily gulled by the merest clap-trap. Had it been issued by Sir GeorgTS Grey it might have been excusable, for eveiT man capable of judging would have felt no surprise, no matter how inane his conduct; bus from better things were exacted. It is much to be regretted, therefore, by its loyalty, its courtesy, its pertinence to the subject, its political economy ami its bearing upon the interests of the •efficient Provincial Civil Service, bis reply to Sir Julius Vogel must be pronounced a miserable failure. The whole of the argument is based upon a fallacy. It is assumed that to the new Parliament was “relegated the ratification or otherwise of ‘the Abolition of Provinces Bill.’ ” Now, nothing can be plainer, nor more positively enacted, than that the ‘Abolition of Provinces Bill’ shall come into operation the day after the close of next session of Parliament, The words of the Act, after enumerating certain sections which are to be immediately operative, are, “and the remaining sections of this Act shall come into operation on the day next after the last day of the first. session of the next or sixth Parliament of New Zealand.” Clear and explicit as these words 1 are, the Ministry have no alternative than to treat them as forming part of that law which it is ftieir function to carry into effective operation. They have no business to imagine the next Parliament will undo what the last did. All that they have to do is to be prepared with means of giving effect to the law as it stands; and we say unhesitatingly that bis Honor is bound by the duties of his position to accept the law, and to give bis assistance in carrying it into operation. It is not the Ministry of the day who have taken “ premature ” action ; it is the Superintendent of Otago, who has presumed to imagine a change of law will be made that will render their inquiries unnecessary. In this respset they have much the advantage over him. The Ministry have the positive enactment of Parliament for their grounds of action: he has only a heated imagination for his ground of opposition. But the state of the case is very simple. All that the Government asks is information. They have a right to expect a change in the form of Provincial administration must take place, and it is their duty to prepare for it. To give the Commissioners the information asked for would not alter the position of affairs in the slightest degree. It would not affect the Provincial question. Should the next Parliament commit the unheard of folly of reversing the action of the last, the fact of the Commissioners being informed of the duties of the Provincial officers and the organisation of the Provincial service, might be surplusage ; but it would in no way alter the relative position of the Provincial to the Colonial Government. It is to be presumed that there is not one officer too many, and that therefore the idea of economising administration by the amalgamation of offices is impracticable. If so, where is the harm of demonstrating it to the Commissioners ? Nothing is so likely to strengthen the cause of Provincialism as to prove that its organisation cannot be improved. It would arm our representatives with a far more powerful weapon than any of the logic of Mr Stout, or the doubting sophistry of Mr Hagan drew. We regard the Superintendent’s uncourteous and illjudged answer as very unfair to the officers of the Provincial service as well as to the Province itself. The General Government must of necessity be prepared with machinery to carry on the work of the Province whether it is required or not; and if they are not to be allowed the aid of the experience of those who now efficiently fulfil their duties, the consequence must be that to some extent they must be superseded, if the new arrangements take effect. We know the Premier too well to entertain the idea for one moment that he would willingly take such a course. No one is more anxious to continue meritorious officers in their positions than he ; and we have no doubt in that respect he has the concurrence of his colleagues. It is to the interest also of the Province that as little change shall be made as possible; for much is inevitably lost and seldom is anything gained by administrative changes. It is evidently with a view to avoiding these that the Ministry has appointed a Commission of Inquiry. It did not need an Act of Parliament to do this; and it would have been a wise and courteous course to have given information freely, for we presume there is nothing to hide, and certainly nothing to be known that cannot be ascertained by means of a Parliamentary Committee. Yet herein is the difference; the appointment of a commission of two salaried officers, each so well acquainted with departmental duties as to enable them to go the shortest and best way to work, merely costs the country their travelling expenses and that of Mr Gisborne’s aid. A Parliamentary Committee of some eight or nine members, meeting day after day, summoning witnesses at great expense, employing committee clerks, messengers, and shorthand writers, will cost- —no one knows what. The clerical work of taking evidence alone will cost double the Commissioners’ expenses. What further expense the country may be put to through the bumptious vanity of the Provincial Executive, it is impossible to conjecture; and because it will be indirect will never be known. Provincialism must have received a shock through the boasting of the Superintendent of Otago that will do more to uproot it than anything that has yet occurred.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, before Mr Mansford, R.M., John Warner, for being drunk on the railway platform, was fined ss, with the usual alternative.

A party o| gentlemen were conveyed from Kaitangata to Balclutfia by rail on Saturday, and inspected the coal-pits. The ‘ Clutha Leader,’ which informs us that the company hope to send supplies into Dunedin on the Ist prox., says the railway is in good working order. The All Saints’ Young Men’s Association held their weekly meeting in the Schoolroom adjoining the church last evening, the Vice-President in the chair. A debate took dace on the question “Is tobacco smoking injurious,” which, after a long and animated discussion, was decided in the negative by a majority of one.

On Monday night an elderly man named James Darcy Fox was found dead in his tent, situate nearly opposite tflfe post-office, Cromwell. He had been ailing for a few days back, but nothing serious was thought to be the matter. When found, deceased was cold and stiff, and must have been dead some hours. It is said Fox belonged to a good family at Home, and had no relations in the Colony. At Invercargill, on the 11th inst., before Mr M‘Culloch, R.M., one Patrick Desmond, who was charged with vagrancy, set up a peculiar defence. He said that he had travelled all over Otago, but people would not give him work because, he believed, of his political convictions. He could write well enough, but the newspapers did not apSear to care for his compositions. His conuct while in Invercargill supports the belief that he is insane, and he was remanded for medical examination.

At the regular meeting of the Green Island Municipality on Tuesday evening, which was attended by the Mayor and ail the Councillors, the clerk reported the acceptance by Mr Stout of the post of solicitor to the Council, and that Mr D. Grant, the Corporation’s surveyor, would be in attendance as early as possible. The clerk was instructed to wait on Mr Under-Secretary Willis concerning certain matters that were brought up and discussed, but no definite conclusion arrived at.

The 1 Clutha Leader’ reports the severe illness of Mr George Coombe, of Milton. It appears that when sitting in his own house reading a newspaper, between ten and eleven o’clock on Monday night, he then being apparently in good health, he was suddendly seized with an apoplectic or other fit, and fell to the floor. The noise brought Mrs Coombe, and medical assistance was at once procured. It-was found that, in addition to the fit or stroke referred to, he had at the same time burst a blood-vessel, which, it is said, in all probability saved his life. He continued in a most critical state for some time, but yesterday he was progressing favorably.

The following items are from the ‘ Southland News ’The health of Mr B. Willoughby has been declining, and on Wednesday it was considered advisable by his friends that he should be received into the hospital, although there is no cause for serious apprehension.—Yesterday one of the men working on Bennett’s contract, near the Elbow, was drowned in the river. It is stated that he had been to Fletcher’s Hotel, and was returning to the camp with some grog. The river is unusually high and the current strong, and notwithstanding Ins exertions to cross he was carried away. Some men saw the occurrence, but were not sufficiently near to render any assistance, and the man was drowned.—Captain Gilroy, of the whaling barque Chance, met with a slight accident whilst killing a whale off the Solanders. It appears he was seizing a line, when it surged, jamming his thumb between it and the post, and taking the ball of the left thumb clean off.

But little progresa was made with Bird v. the National Bank, at the Supreme Court this morning, Mr Larnach, teller of the Colonial Bank, being in the witness-box the whole morning. Most of the time was, however, occupied with legal arguments, his Honor refusing to admit evidence as to usage of the Banks. This practically excluded nearly all the evidence for the plaintiff. At 1.15 p.m., when Mr Barton was about to proceed with Mr Larnach's cross-examination, his Honor suggested that if it was likely to extend to any length it should be left over till after the adjournment. Mr Smith objected, saying in answer to Mr Barton, who asked whether counsel intended to insinuate that he would prompt the witness, that he did not know what might take place. Mr Barton refused to re-exanune the witness after such a disgraceful imputation; but his Honor said Mr Smith had not intended the remark in the light in which it had been taken, and gave Mr Barton leave to re-examine the witness on the Court resuming.

Before the case of Bird v. the National Bank was resumed at the Supreme Court this morning, Mr R. K. Murray, foreman of the jury, directed his Honor’s attention to a paragraph in this morning’s ‘Guardian,’ which, he alleged, reflected alike on the Court and on himself, inasmuch as it contained offensive and untrue statements. The paragraph was read, the objected-to portion of it being to this effect : —“ A certain pastry-cook and confectioner, who is foreman of the jury in the trial of Bird v. the National Bank was strongly opposed to the Court sitting late last evening, and after he left the box, on being asked whether he would be willing to sit to-morrow night, exclaimed, “Do they think I forget that Friday will be Good Friday, and I have all my hot X-buns to make." For the sake of persona having to attend in the bleak and dreary court-house, it is to be hoped that to-morrow afternoon others of the jurymen will discover equally cogent reasons for desiring an early adjournment.” Mr Murray went on to say that those remarks were not at all in accord with the facts as they occurred. He spoke as foreman of the jury, and not as to the feelings ofanyindividual juror. Whenitwas proposed to sit at night several of the jury looked round and asked that on no accouut they should be brought back that evening, while one juryman said he felt unwell and was desirous of getting home. He had served his country for thirty-six years—eighteen years in the Colony and eighteen at Home—and had never been subjected to such unmerited abuse. No doubt it was a very awkward position to contend with a reporter, and he only asked that a plain statement of facts should be repeated. There was nothing undignified in his profession, which was quite as honorable as that of an itinerant reporter. His Honor told Mr Murray that he should not return railing for railing. Mr Murray only wished to direct his Honor’s attention to the facts, and be asked that the * Guardian ’ reporter shoCld be reprimanded. His Honor said that the foreman had evidently spoken the mind of the jury, and not bis pwn ; but of course he (the learned Judge) was not aware of what took place outside the box afterwards. The manner in the paragraph mentioned the foreman’s name was unfair to the jury, and more particularly was unjust to the foreman, who was quite right in calling the attention of the Court to it, The paragraph in question was an unfair comma (it on the foreman’s action; but at the same time he (his Honor) did not see that he could say any more. The foreman thanked , his Honor for the expression of Ida opinion, and the matter dropped.

It is notified in yesterday’s * Gazette’ that Messrs E. Jones, A. Pullar, and F. R. Chapman have been appointed rangers under the Protection of Animals Act for the several districts of Lower Waitaki, Upper Waitaki, and Dunedin; and Mr John Atkinson has been appointed by the-Mayor, to be one of the fire inspectors for Dunedin.

A meeting of chess players last night decided to adopt the conditions imposed by N. Aitken in playing for the cup he offers for competition interprovincially, and Messrs Mouat, Janion, and D, R. Hay were appointed a committee to make the neces sary arrangements and to select the players. It was decided to play on May 24, commencing at 11 a.m.

The ‘ Southland Times ’ has been informed on authority which it has generally found to be very accurate that the rumor as to the intention of the Government to propose Mr Reynolds for the Speakership of the new Parliament is incorrect. It has been stated to us that in all probability Mr Seymour, late Chairman of Committees, and Superintendent of Marlborough, will be proposed, and that it is not likely there will be any opposition to his being unanimously elected.

The p.s, Pottobello will iuu between Port Chalmers, Portobello, and the Knflf, in connection with the railway. Members of the British Hearts of Oak Lodge, 1.0. G.T., are requested to attend tomorrow evening. Business important.

A speci‘l train will run between Dunedin and Kensington at frequent intervals o . Monday to convey visitors to the Caledoni n sports. Return tickets will be available for all stations till Tuesday next.

The A bion team to play against the Citizens to merrow will be chosen from the following ;—B. Goudie, J. Goudie, Millar, Grater, T. Hutchinson, W. Hutchinson, Sheppard, Simpkins, Shappere, Rowe, Buchanan, Cohen, and Wells. *

A typographical error crept into “Lex’s” letter re gambling advertisements in yesterday’s issue. The line of limitation should have been stated at 1840, instead of 1846 as printed, the object oi the writer being to show that the limitations are not in force in this Colony.

We have received from the South Australian Government a work on the “ History, Resources, and Productions of South Australia,” edited by Mr Harcus, J.P., and published under authority of the South Australian Government. Accompanying it is also a statistical sketch of South Australia, edited by J. Roothby, J.P., Government statist In the latter we are told that the Colony was founded forty years ago, «nd its progress during that period is thus summed up by Mr Roothby “ t-ifty thousand men support thrice their number of women and children, occupy 200,000 square miles of pastoral country, and possess 6,000,000 sheep; own 6,000,000 acres of land, and grow 12,000,000 bushels of wheat; conduct an external commerce of L 0,000,000 sterling, and raise a L 1,000,000 of revenue.”