The Globe. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1568, 27 February 1879, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1879.

It will bo a pity if the split in the Cabinet, mentioned as probable in today’s telegrams, comes off. Mr, Ballance, for ono, was getting on so very nicely. During tho recent visit of the Ministers to Invercargill ho made himself specially popular, and, taking his cue from the Premier, was immensely delighted with everything he came across. The Dunedin Star says the climax was reached when the public was informed by wire that he went down to the jetty and expressed himself “ much pleased with tho river!” We wonder, says the same journal, whether he said a few words of encouragement about the moon or tho Southern Cross S <©. They have a jaunty way of reporting their City-Council meetings in Hokitika that is quite refreshing. First, take the description of the public who attended ono of the meetings. It is thus happily hit off in one tolling sentence; — “ There was only one man present on the benches allotted to the public, and that was the Inspector of Nuisances in a white waistcoat.” Notice the masterly manner in which the local colouring of the public is thrown in. Tho Council then proceeded to consider a letter from tho Colonial Secretary, requesting them to act in conjunction with tho New Zealand Royal Commission for obtaining exhibits for the Sydney Exhibition. The Council at onco acceded to the request, particularly, as the Mayor remarked, that it would not cost anything. Here is despatch combined with true economy. Then the Inspector of Nuisances —presumably the public in the white waistcoat—applies for an office, and offers to pay hal£-a-crown a week for it, and the Council proceed to chaff him, but reflect on the advantage that would accrue to the Council funds were the weekly half-crown secured. And so on, merrily to the end. How different all this from the drearily litigious details that reach us from our own City Council. Farmers wives in Canterbury are rapidly becoming celebrated. Some time since a paragraph appeared in the Wairampa Daily drawing a comparison between the farmers wives of Wairarapa and those of Canterbury, much to the disadvantage of the former. About one farmers spouse out of six in Wairarapa, said tho paper, cures good ham and bacon, and about one in twelve turns out good cheese. In Canterbury it might be said that not ono in three makes bad butter, not one in six inferior bacon, and but one in twelve indifferent cheese. The various papers in the colony have caught up the paragraph, and the fame of our fair cheese and butter makers is spread throughout the land. Young men about to set up in life in the agricultural lino may therefore be expected to visit this part of tho world in largo numbers with matrimonial intentions. An extraordinary cricket match was played in Wellington tho other day. Both sides and a good portion of the spectators belonged to the family of Dixon, of whom there were eighty members in tho field. It was estimated that there were fifty more in tho Wairarapa district, and twenty in Wanganui. The match was very exciting, being won by one run only. We very well remember that the late Lord Lyttelton was ablo to get together a Lyttelton eleven, and a very formidable eleven it was too. But for the Dixon clan to supply both sides and nearly sixty of tho spectators, and then to have about seventy more Dixons cruising about in the neighborhood is somewhat of a phenomenon. * The Jackson’s Bay settlement might just as well have been allowed to die a natural death quietly, There was no necessity of holding an inquest in the shape of a Commission, which will be a dreary farce. There are now only about thirty people living in the Bay. The Commissioners carry many of their own witnesses down with them. One young lady was so anxious to seo tho beautiful scenery to tho South, that she actually wrote to Dr. Giles offering her services as witness. Few people in Hokitika, indeed, are not anxious to leave that flourishing town for a few weeks, and try the sailing qualities of tho people’s yacht. The Chinese gentlemen who published tho able pamphlet called tho “ Chinese Question in Australia ” have proved themselves right at all events in ono particular. They said, if wo remember right, that tho Chinaman, as lie advanced in his ideas, would not always bo content to work at the low wages, his acceptance of which was, in the eyes of many people, one of bis greatest sins. The Chinese labourers on tho Tapanui Railway works, who have boon in receipt of 7s. dd. a day, have now struck for an additional shilling. Advancing civilisation is already beginning to toll on tho plastic Mongolian,

The following resolution was moved in the Vincent County Council by Cr. Greenbank, but was not carried ;—“ That as the gohl duty is acknowledged to be an obnoxious tax, and presses hardly and unjustly on the principal revenue producers of the county, the Council to show its sense of the injustice of the same, and in part to remedy it, do hereby resolve to give a bonus of one shilling per ounce on ad gold the produce of Vincent County. This resolution to be null and void in the event of the General Assembly abolishing or reducing the present duty.” This is quite a now idea, and Mr. Groenbank deserves infinite credit for the suggestion. Driving round an Act of Parliament is almost better than driving through it. «. The Bay of Plenty Times is responsible for the following:—“ It may not bo generally known that Captain Cromarty, of the Taupe, cannot bo deprived of his certificate in consequence of any decision which may be arrived at by a Court of Inquiry relative to the wreck. Ho was within pilotage, and therefore had no status as a ship’s captain.” Exactly so. But suppose he held a pilotage exemption certificate ?