THE GOLDEN BAY ARGUS. (UPHOLD THE RIGHT.) FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 1885.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume I, Issue 118, 25 September 1885, Page 2

THE GOLDEN BAY ARGUS. (UPHOLD THE RIGHT.) FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 1885.

Referring to the Local Bodies Bill, in a recent issue the. “Wellington Evening Press” says:—“By the grace of the Opposition, the Ministry have been allowed to carry off the mangled remains of the Local Bodies Finance and Powers Bill. This is the measure upon which they elected to take their stand as a Government when they- were so signally- defeated on the Tariff. The Premier in announcing the withdrawal ot the Tariff, intimated to tho House that tho Local Bodies Finance and Powers Bill would he regarded as “a Ministerial Measure in the strictest sense of the word.” Let us see how that proud boast of his has been fulfilled. The Bill at that time consisted of fifty-seven clauses and three schedules; and it embodied a very large policy- o: locai borrowing and expenditure, on a system ot sub idies assured for twenty-five years. The Bill as it passed its third reading last night, consists ot seven clauses and half a schedule, and it no longer contains a shred of policy. It provides for six months’ subsidies to local bodies-—a provi ion for which no new legislation was needed—and it repeals the Roads and Bridges Construction. That is all. The Ministry tried hard at the last moment to retain and extend that peculiar feature of the Bill which sought to give special advantages to the goldfields: but the House bundled out the goldfields clauses without the slighest ceremony, and when the Colonial Treasurer moved a proviso for making the gold duty count ns rates for the pur-

pose of computing subsidy, his proposal was contemptuously rejected by a majority- of thirteen. All that is left therefore ot the great Ministerial policy of local bodies finance and powers, is the repeal ol the Roads and Bridges Construction Act. that is to say, the Ministry- have abolished the only system of local finance that existed, but have not succeeded in putting anything in its place.”

Several complaints have recently been made to us by passengers per the Lady Barkly of the inconvenience arising irom their not- being able to obtain sleeping accomodation on board the steamer for the night previous to her departure, when the time of leaving is very early in the morning. We have been requested to mention this circumstance with the hope that tne owners ol the vessel will increase their reputation for catering for the public convenience, by allowing this. We cannot see any- reasonable objection to it, provided the intending passenger be a sober, well-conducted person and is willing to pay- for the accomodation, and in the case of invalids the convenience would be npecially beneficial.

\\ e must again compliment Ada Mantua upon her business-like conduct in iurnishing us with a list of names of the committee who officiated at the drawing held on the Ilawkesbury Grand Handicap, and we notice it comprised gentlemen of first-class business standing, and members of the Press. The lucky- individuals who were fortunate enough to get the principal prizes were as follow.: First, John Williams, a miner on the Thames: second, a servant girl in Auckland; third Mr M. Moss, George St, Dunediu. A non starter was drawn by a miner residing in Collingwood. Tickets on ihe Melbourne and New Zealand cups are now obtainable at all local agents.

The earthquake shocks which Were felt recently over a wide area in Yorkshire, in England, remind us (“Home News”) that an authority- on the subject of these phenomena, M. Delaunay, of Paris, is of opinion that next year will see the recurrence of upheavals of the earth’s crust in an intensified form. M. Delaunay'is a prophet of evil, but unfortunately, all his prophecies have hitherto come true. His speciality is earthquakes, and he predicts them only too surely-. In 1877 he announced that that year would not conclude without violent disturbances of the earth, and as a matter of fact the frightful catastrophes on the coasts of South America followed. In 1888, M. Delaunay- again pointed to approaching earthquakes, and soon after the volcanic eruptions in the Indian Archipelago occurred, by which thousands of human being- lost their lives, and hundreds of square miles of terra firma were ougulphed by the sea. Towards the end of last year M. Delaunay once more raised his warning voice, and the earthquakes in Spain'proved how well founded were his warnings. Quite recently lie has pro phesied very sevex-e volcanic for 18 26. Having acquired a well-merited notoriety in foretelling earthquakes, some weight ought to be attached to M. Da

launay s utterances. He affirms that next year these natural phenomena-will be of a very intense character, and that they will show themselves either when-, the. earth, is under the influence of a planet of the first rank, such as Jupiter, or under

that of a group of asteroids, or at a time

when sun and moon are nearest to our planet at the same time.—“lron."

Tho “Otago Witness” of the 12th says: "At Criffel things are still as they were a

week ago. No prospectin ' has been done, and conse piently no now discoveries are

reported. Snow, rain, and storms have had the Held prettv much to themselves and it is questioned by parties who have returned from it lately whether it will 'he lit to inhabit before the end of October.

There are about 200 mm cam tod at var

ious points of tho nei

;hbonrhood of the

field, and a few make occasional at

tempts to do a litide work. The opinions of

those returning from tho held are very

contradictory, so thv is is impos i!>!o to

give anything like r-diabie information

about its extent or value

There may lurk in Lord Randolph Churchill, though he is no longer in his first manhood, some unsuspected sobering force: but he has seemed to the world

as yet a political Puck, with a strain in him which admirers might misinterpret

into genius, but also a strain of wayward

ness, deepening occasionally until bis foes have lialf-doubted his perfect sanity. Close observers who wish him to win doubt

his ever winning, and declare in sporting language that although he has courage, form, and a turn of spaed, he is incurably a jibbing horse. Be that as it may. he has as yet, given no impres-inn of being what the French call a "serious” politician or of belonging to the class in which a nation like the English, which is essentially grave, will put its tr ist. Spectator. The following regulahon under the Sale of Poisons Act is to come into force on November 1: Every seller of poison or of any poisonous admixture shall, before delivering the same to the purchaser, firmly affix to the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover containing the same a label with the wotd "Poison” in white letters on a red ground appearing thereon. Such letters to be in block type of not less than a quarter of an inch in length and «ne-eiglit of an inch in breadth.

The Legislature of New York State did a good public act when it authorised the formation of a public park at Niagara Falls, by which all the grounds and waters necessary for the preservation and public access to those great wonders of nature are secured to the people in perpetuity. The sum of one and a half million dollars has been appropriated by

the State to secure the purchase of private property. Lands equal to a little more than one hundred acres have al-

ready been bought. The grounds and buildings on both sides wen and south of the hydraulic canal have also been taken by the Park Commissioners. Tho linos ex-

tend to the main channel of the river and

middle ot Horse Snoe Falls, being the boundary line between Canada and tho United States, and the purchase takes in Goat Island and all the little islets, with

their various mills, street':, and passage ways. By the terms of the Act the whole tract is to be restored a; tar as possible to

its original stage of nature, and when this

is ar.eourdished, a id tree \ grown, and all

the improvements perfected, the attrar

tions of the Niagara will be increased a thousandfold. li will probably be nows

to a good many people in this country

•to learn tl

.1 the original inception ot this

admirable project U due to L u\l Duff. Mil when he was Governor-General of Panada in 1878. His plan was that the Canadians on their side, and tho Americans on their:, should undertake to beautify and preserve the approaches to tho Fall. His proposal was most cordially appreciated by the Governor of New York, Lucius Robinson, and the grand project is now in process of being realised. But it has involved much hard work on the part of private individuals to overcome the hostile influences that were arrayed against

the work, especially horn the owners of property.—"lron.”