The Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4222, 7 September 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1876.

Although there has been an immense quantity of talk over the Counties Bill, probably few persons in Otago have read it, or possess more than a very general notion of its provisions. Copies of the Bill are scarce in this part of the country, and, even where it is available, the Bill is a brochure which does not invite perusal, since it covers fortysix large pages of solid printing; while, in order to comprehend it thoroughly, it is necessary to read in addition The Rating Bill, 1876; T'he Regulation of Local Elections Bill, 1876 ; and the Public Works Bill, 1876, all of which are incorporated with this measure. An examination of these three Bills is indispensable, but the political student who desires to master the County proposals of the Government will not stop here, but will carry his investigations into the Financial Arrangements Bill, and crown his labors by diligently exploring. the mysteries of the Colonial Trewmrer’B budget speech, and the

elaborate tables by which that speech was illustrated. .Should the Counties Bill ever come into operation throughout the country m auy thing like its present shape, theintemal affairs of -New Zealand will then be under the management of four different, bodies, working independently of the other, except tnat the General Government, as being tue supreme power, will exercise a controlling influence over the rest. These bodies are—tost, the General Government; second, the municipalities ; third, the County Councils ; and fourth, the Road Boards. The entire independence of the municipalities from the - ounttes is a peculiar feature in the BUi. The residents in the incorporated towns (which practically include every cob lection of houses above the size a hamlet), who do not also possess S a r n al di ? trict * be affairs nf , P artlcl P»tion in the affairs of the Counties, even where as will generally be the case, the town is’sur rounded on all sides by the County. There thiue U as er » *o* a ™ n S*™nt, hi no such SL - • town ' The County Council is indeed empowered to hold its =558" ■* P lace » either within or without the County, which may seem to it that G°fh COn , Ve , nieilt for the purpose; but tbA* r by which the town and ° nn - t, y oould be in any way bound << B so as to give the- County a cap.ial.” The Bill contempts the formation of thirty-mne Counties—nineteen in the south, and twenty in the North Island, and their boundaries are defined in the Bill; but it has since been resolved to leave it to the House to determine upon the proper number of Counties to be constituted. It must not be supposed that the local governing bodies of these Counties will bear any resemblance to tne form of Local Government which prevails in the English Counties, nor is it desirable that they should do so. Tbe onl y sumlMity we can perceive between the two is that the New 2eaCouut y. Councils will possess the power of giving out-door relief to poor persons, just as certain local bodies do at Home ,* but it is to be hoped that this likeness will long remain unneeded. The Counties Bill must, therefore, be judged strictly upon its own merits, and without J° *H ther “ the system ” (if there be such a thing) has Worked well JJ 1 . m , ? ther opwjtow. Looking at it from this light, w« shall avoid a good deal of the mental mist by which the vital question enclosed m this measure has been obscured through the indiscreet search after analogies. The County Councils delineated in the Bill are, in reality, Road boards, with, somewhat enlarged powers and machinery is provided by which, with the consent of its inhabitants, any Road Board district may become merged in a County. Each County will, in any event, be divided into ridings, not exceeding seven in number; and each riding will form a separate electoral district, so far as the return. of members to the council is concerned, 'he total number of members of the County Council is at first not to exceed Seven, and afterwards not to bo mote than nine, exelusive of the chairman, who will be elected separately; and unlike the councillors, who will represent their respective ridings, the chairman will be elected by the votes of the whole County. In order to prevent the elections being contested by persons who have no real chance of being returned, a striking instance of which occurred at the last general election, the Victonan plan is adopted of compelling each candidate to make a money deposit in this case of LlO-which will be forfeited in the event of the depositor failing to poll one-eighth part of the number of votes recorded for the successful candidate. Both Chairman and Councillors will hold office for three years, the latter retiring in a bodv and not by rotation. Then comes the important question of the qualification of voters. While the clauses relating to this subject are important in themselves, they cannot lairly be treated as one of the fundamental principles of the measure; and they might be altered so as to make the Voting qualification accord with the principle which has prevailed Under the Provincial system, by giving each elector one vote only in any single district, without destroying the measure as a whole. The system of cumulative voting is adopted: the ratepayer Who paVs on a valuation of less than £oo, exercising one vote, while If his property is valued at notless than £6O but less than £IOO, he gets two ZiinJ £ !°° t0 £ls0 > thre * votes; from £l5O to £350, four votes ; and, if he be fortunate enough to possess property valued at £350 or upwards, he will get five votes. Ibis applies to each riding, bo that it would be quite possible for a man who owned property scattered about a county to be able to exercise twenty or thirty votes in the elections. It would, however, be different in tho election for Chairman, since for that purpose, the ratepayer is reatnetea to one vote only, whatever be the nature of his qualification. The Bill draws no distinction between mining and ether districts; all parts of the country are brought under the same form of Government, but since the qualification for voters in farming districts is obviously inapplicable to localities where the bulk of tho inhabitants are gold miners, tho special circumstances of these places are met by the provision that the Wardens shall keep a record of all the miners’ rights and business licenses issued by them, either as originals or renewals, and form a voters’ roll therefrom, but no person deriving his franchise irom this source will be able to exercise more than one vote. There are a number of clauses relating to the compilation and correction of the voters’ rolls, but they are merely technical in their character.

Deferred hope, in reference to theTuapeka railway, has taade the editorial heart of our Lawrence contemporary very sick indeed. He now despairs of seeing the line opened before JS7B, lor the following reasons t The Glenore tuunel was pierced over four months ago, and yec the plates are only jnstlaid through It! and men are still employed blasting profections f lTj ke »«>f “d, sides that 'would stop the passage of carriages, altheugh a small ballast engine and trucks can pass through* At the Bound Hill tunnel, thousands of have been spent in excess of the Sml contract price, aud even now doubts are frequentU expressed as to the stabiUty ©f the work. il also a probabi ity of the tunnel succumbing to the rcnotiea nutate by i'l advised e.\oava; ions ToudAru 'T ,aiJ f tl ‘°P la t'’laying aud'the ewewon or t aH terminal station at Lawrence won- +a have b<j«n called some weeks ago. but we B upm-se «.e red tape of the Works Department is s?i lin state, and the officials cannot'find time to unravel it.

rte think the people of the district may accept with confidence the assurance given yesterday by the Minister for Public Works that the line will be opened in about four months from this date. There is no occasicii tor us to act as apologists for the Department, which, we have little doubt, can mve very satisfactory reasons for the apparent an d Mr Carkuthees has stated officially why the Minister’s promise to open the hue as far as Manuka Creek was not given effect to. The Round Hill Tunnel is practically completed, but it has been deemed advisable to continue the brickwork an additional chain. In a fort nigat tenders will be called for the pintolaying from Manuka • Creek to Lawrence, and this work, if carried on with ordinary I expedition, can be executed at tha rate of a T i i U t (l a ( i UiU ‘ ter a week. Therefore, it sh -nld 09 completed as • far as the mouth of ' the Round Hill tunnel about the time that 1

work is off the contractors’hands. It mi i L . be known to everyone acquainted with railway construction that a second contract in a x, y ? ovk , cannot he proceeded with while that work is in the hands 3 ."Tf 1 contractor, We are assured that satisfactory progress is now; being made l ) o . urid ? Ilil tunnel, and that the Department here is confident that the line IS l Jf e+ ready f °r opening to Lawrence about the first week of the new year

Mr Be Grixhaa been "'appointed to the 3* ° l newly-established school a " Wild Bush, near Riverton. Messrs Dalgety, Nichols, and Co. to-day received a cablegram informing them that Monday \a3t!” Wata arrived at Melbourne on It is said that, the abolition of Provinces Sli ‘ (3feor ?o Grey has intiS vi intention to remain Superintendent the term which he was +v d will exercise, or attempt to exercise, tho functions of that office, * Bydia-Howard troupe bv C W' ko h ' is on the increase, “Trial nerin 7 !, P a regular hit. Mr Simple*! has made arrangements for the W*™* along with his company of Mr Hall, who mo Sooted in Last evening, at the Foresters’ Hall, Port Chalmers, Mr and Mrs Lingard gave one of their popular entertainments to a numerous audience. The performance, which consisted of the drawingroom comedy “My Wife’s Loveri” and Mr Lingard’s character sketches, was well received. A cake of gold from the Cromwell Company & feet was brought into Cromwell on Saturday, but its weight is not made known. A correspondent at Bendigo informs the ‘Argus’ that the company’s property is looking splendid, and promises rich returns during the opening season. A public tea meeting to celebrate the opening of the Christian Chapel at RaVenfebouroe, recently erected in that district, was held in that place last evening. The chapel was filled, and the company sat doWn to an excellent repast spread by Mr J. C, Kroon, after Which Mr T. H. Bates took the chair. Speeches were then delivered by Messrs Bates, Batson, M‘Lean, and Elborn, and these were interspersed with> some anthems rendered in a very creditable manner by the choir of the Christian Church. The proceedings Were brought to a close by the singing of a hymn and the Benediction. A very distressing case was heard at the Resident Magistrates Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, when a woman, who has four children, varying from one to nine years old; was charged with lunacy. She has been in a desponding state for some time past, and latterly has imagined that persons were endeavoring to till her and bum her house down. In consequence of this herneighbors at Purakanui gave information to the police, who conveyed her to Port Chalmers, where she was examined by Drs. Drysdale and O’Donoghue, The Bench ordered her to be taken to the Lunatic Asylum t and her children’s removal to the Industrial School for twelve months. The husband is a labormg man, employed at the Upper Hutt, Wellington, and has regularly remitted money for the support of his wife and family.

The following extract from a Glasgow paper may interest many of our readers:— “Three of the hraflcheS of the Scottish Presbyterian Church in England—English, Reformed, and United—have been formed into one denomination, consisting of 2613 fully-equipped congregations, with a membership of 60,000, and an annual income of L 160.000. The new bedy has assumed the title of ‘ The Presbyterian Church of England,’ and hopes are entertained that very soon it will actually and unequivocally be what by its name it claims to be. For, although that section of English Presbyterianism, Which has hitheftd maintained specially close relations with the Scottish Establishment, has not been included in the present union, it is said the majority of the congregations in its communion desire amalgamation, The Rev. Ur Anderson, of Morpeth, the first Disruption minister to cross the TWfeed, has beSn elected the first Moderat*? of the United OhufCh. if

. The show of the Dunedin Poultry Association is to be opened by the Mayor on Friday, at 2 p.m. There have been received 292 entries, besides fifty for exhibition only. The entries for competition are :—BramahA? 9; dofkings, 12 J spahiSh, 8; cochins, KP; game, 22; hamburgs, 6; polands, 7 i bantams, 20; guinea fowls, 4; turkeys. 5 ; geese, 6 ; ducks, 10; heavy fowls, 2; single cocks, 14; pigeons, 29 ; canaries, 62 ; cage birds, 22 ; cages, 5 ; rabbits, 3 ; butter, 13 ; cheese, 3; trussed poultry, 4; eggs, 11; hams and bacon, In; peacock, 1; French fowl, 1. The entries are much more ftume* rous than on any previous occasion and com-' prise fowl and birds of every descriptionincluding a live kiwi, in itself a great curiosity—cases of stuffed birds,. Ac.. &c. It is expected that the competition iii many of the exhibits will be very keen. Exhibits have been received from Oamaru, Kakanui, and several other country districts. A new feature has been introduced iff the Catalogue by which purchasers will he able to See who are the successful exhibitors.

Between thirty and forty butchers and others interested in the trade attended the meeting at Wain*q hotel yesterday afternoon, Whan thO advisability of greeting public abbatoirs was discussed, it being started by Mr E. B. Cargill moving a resolution affirming the desirability of their being coriStWCtnd by & public company, Ihifi was met by an amendment by Mr Stohr that it was inadvisable to allow any company to have a monopoly of public abattoirs, and that thd Corporation should be requested not z i sauction the same. The amendment was lost by thirteeen against eight, the feeling of the majority being that the advantages claimed for Corporation management of abattoirs were more than dohnterbalanced by the prospect of a large profit from their being undertaken by a public company—from which the trade was likely to receive more attention. There was a pretty strong feeling glidvm that the Green Island establishment was not suitable for an abattoir. A {'revision al committee to carry out the resoution of the meeting having been formed, the proceedings terminated.

There was a large gathering of Primitive Methodists in the Temperance Hall last evening. _■ fter tea, a meeting was held, presided over by the ReV. W. Ward, and addressed by several members of the Gongretion. This was the first social gathering of the kind convened since the arrival of the pastor, aud it was successful in the extreme. It was stated by one of the speakers that during the past four months the number of Church members aud Sunday scholars had doubled, and the congregation had more than trebled. Ten services were held in various parts of the City every week, and manifest tokens of the divine approval had been apparent. There were in the roll-book cightytwn church members, and the treasurer had in hand over L2O. 'ihe addresses, which were numerous and earnest, were enlivened by several pieces of music by the choir, Mr \\ ard stated that one object of the meeting was to get the members of the congregation acquainted with each other, aud, from the fc eartineas evinced, this object was evidently veined. About balf-pssi ten the Dieting was brought to a close in the usual way. '' ,

A prisoner named John Thomas Hall was ! received into the gaol from Lawrence yesterday, committed for trial for forgery. There are other charges ag- inst the prisoner, which will be heard in Dunedin, The ‘Jurist’says the appointment of ah Attorney-General, with a s at in the Cabinet, will be welcomed by the profession ; aud that with such a political officer there is reason to suppose the interesttfbf the profession will not be altogether ighored in the future. We are glad to notice that the police authorities Lave acted on a bint thrown out in our columns some few weeks ago, and haVe procured a police van for the conveyance of prisoners fronrthe police station--to the gaol. The present van is an open Y a ?g one tte, and not a close concern, as is i»6BirdrblGi The University Council appear to have had a meeting on Monday, when some decision in reference to the site of their new building was come to, and a resolution appreciatory of Sir John Richardson’s services as Chancellor adopted. We have to complain that , not only did we. get ho notice of the meeting—and it is not the first time we have had so to complain—but that it was not thought necessary to furnish us with its result. ________ The skating rink at the Drill-shed will be closed on Friday and Saturday owing to the hall being required for the Poultry Show. The first socnl ball of the Foundry Apprentice* will be held in the Temperance Hall to-morrow evening, commencing at 9 o clock. The third of the. series of lectures in connecton with the aversham Presbyterian ( hurch will be delivered by the Rev. Air Davis, on “ Hammer and Tongs,” to-morrow (Friday) evening, at 7.3d. There were two omissions from the Poultiy Association’s prize 'list published’ yesterday. Mr >hee-1y took prizes rer c denial bams and bacons ami Miss Williams (Little Nell) was certificated for her exhibits of correllas and tuis. A special train will leave Dunedi'- for Port Chaimete to-morrow (Friday) at 11pm., returning from the Port at H. 30 p.m. It has been decided to run a special late train regularly from Dunedin to Port halmes on Satur day evening, leaving Dunedin at 11.30 and returning at 12 ‘ Messrs Wise and Co, send, us a photographic copy of Gainsborough's famouspicrure of, “ The .Duchess of JJevonshire.” ' It will be recollect d that at an auction sale in London lately, AgaeV, the well-known picture dealer, secured the. painting for L 10.605, after a spirited competition with Baron Rothschild, and that shortly afterwards it was stolen when on exhi bition, being cut out of its frame. The copy s colored after the original.