The Globe. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 846, 10 March 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1877.

Whex, the other day, the Press Telegraphic Agency—that apparently expensive sine qna non of the march of civilisation and intellect in this colony —wired broadcast from Dunedin to all parts of New Zealand, the startling intelligence of the emigration scheme conceived by Mr Eedmayne, many people naturally concluded that the thing was a joke. It seems however that the proposal is a serious one, and that what is now known as the Eedmayne correspondence was no hoax at all. How foolish Mr. Macandrew and his quondam Provincial supporters must have felt when—the heart-burn-ings of constitutional defeat having considerably cooled within their breasts j mil given place to more practical views of things in general—they found that their privately appointed Emigration Agent to America had steadfastly remained by his instructions. Those instructions, by the bye, were mysteriously given him several months

ago, at a time when Provincialism in Otago was roaming about in a halfdemented state, vowing that anything would be preferable to Abolition, in a kind of “Death before dishonour” way. Now that things have taken a turn in a direction quite opposed to that prophesied by Mr. Macandrew and his friends when seizing the Custom House and committing other impossible enormities, was the tall talk of the day, Mr. Thomas Eedmayne’s appeal from the wilds of Lower California sounds singularly absurd, and must surely excite the powers of risibility of even Mr Macandrew himself. With the unfortunate expatriated “ patriot,” of course nothing is changed. The revolutionary discontent with which the air was charged when be quitted the shores of Otago, and which it was predicted would culminate in some extraordinary social commotion, has vanished out of sight into thin air, and, to all intents and purposes, the old province appears quite as contented under the new regime as any other portion of the colony. What reply may be conveyed to Mr Redmayne by the head of the debris which remains of the once formidable provincial obstructionist party of Otago, we are curious to learn, Mr Thomas Eedmayne, it must be said, when assuming the responsibility of taking stock of the new Eldorado to which he was bound, for purposes of communicating the result of his researches to the Otago Provincial Association, had no intention to return. An old New Zealand settler of some twenty years standing, he had spent a portion of his youth in the Californian States, and was always yearning to return there. The discontent which followed the abolition of Provincialism in the South, offered him a fair opportunity of reverting to his dreams of expatriation, when the Macandrew committee got hold of him and, during the “ hundred days,” succeeded in enlisting both his sympathy and aid. Then at last, a week or two ago, came the unexpected report of the “ agent in advance ” of an association which, in the meantime, had practically “ given up the ghost.” He reminds the Otago people that “in anticipation of the present political tro übles, he was requested to look out for a suitable place to move to,” for which purpose he “ has been on the look out and visited various parts of California. At length he goes on to say, he has discovered the desired earthly paradise in Lower California, under the enlightened and liberal rule of the Mexican Government. Now that Mr. Macandrew’s strenuous exertions on behalf of the people of Otago have been unsuccessful, Mr. Eedmayne suggests a country which he says “ possesses more advantages than my most sanguine imagination could have expected,” as a land where flow the milk and the honey, wherein a new flourishing Dunedin may be started afresh, under the free flag of Provincialism. No less than 200,000 acres of fine virgin land, of the very best description, can be at once secured for the purpose, “free from taxes and import and export duties for ten years.” Of course nothing is said by the enthusiastic pioneer of the “ taxes” which may, from time to time, be levied by desperadoes and revolutionary ruffians, whose existence, singular to say, is quite ignored by Mr. Eedmayne. At the date of the latest advices, by way of San Francisco, some notorious bandit was exercising despotic sway over the terror-stricken settlers of Lower California. Perhaps, however, it is confidently hoped that the colonizing influences of Provincialism will act as a sort of peaceful Bumbledom, and that, under a Macandrew administration especially, it will effect a speedy and final regeneration of the outlawed native element so plentiful there. We very much fear, however, that the hard-headed and canny denizens of the oid province, have not yet forgotten that “ a bird in hand is worth twa in the bush,” and will act accordingly. The late political disturbances in Otago were of that harmless kind in which over-worked business people are wont to indulge, at certain moments, as a pastime which brings with it that pleasureable excitement so essential to the maintenance of a favourable state of sana mens in corpore sano. They have had their fling, and, without doubt, feel all the better for it. And, as to poor Mr. Eedmayne, their best wishes will follow him to an early grave among those “ gentle undulating grassy slopes,” where, among the din of pistol shots, the rule of the road still remains, that “let him take who may, and let him keep who can.”