The Globe. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1570, 1 March 1879, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1879.

Who will now say that there is nothing in worrying a Minister. In Nelson they have been in despair because the financial year was passing rapidly on and nothing was being done for their district in the way of extending its railways. They organised a vigilance committee—there is something practical about that —to look after their interests, and sent a deputation to Wellington to interview tho Minister for Public Works. They further proposed that, if nothing should come of that, the deputation should have a roving commission and bo authorised to pursue the Minister wherever he went. They were of opinion that, if these tactics were carried out, the Minister would be impressed with their earnestness in the matter, and be finally completely worn out. Their reward has come. The following telegram has lately been received at Nelson: —" Messrs Curtis and Shepherd were informed this morning by the Minister for Public Works that the ten miles extension of the Foxhill railway will be pushed on as speedily as the department's circumstance will allow, and that tenders will be called for shortly, otherwise the vote would be allowed to lapse. Mr. Baird, C.E., goes to Nelson in the middle of March to report on the best practicable route to the West Coast, and a permanent engineer to be appointed to superintend the line. The port lino will be completed immediately Mr. Baird reports on it."

The Bay of Islands and Mongonui electoral roll affair, which created such interest during the last session of Parliamont, will form the subject of inquiry at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Russel, on the 9th of March. Mr. J. Bryce, M.H.R., has been appointed by the Government to examine the matter. The Commission was promised in October last, in reply to a question by Mr. Williams, M.F.R., the brother of the Returning Officer, whose conduct was impugned. Thero has been a standing raw on the subject for many years. Mr. Williams's opponents declared that the Williams and Carleton faction looked upon the place as a pocket borough, while the opposite side affirmed that the action of the Returning Officer was perfectly justifiable. Mr. Bryce was Chairman of the Committee of the House that sat upon the subject, and is well acquainted with all the facts of the case.

To an ordinary mind there does not seem to be much connection between a policeman and a doctor. But still many policemen are fond of turning their attention to medical pursuits. In 1872 a case in point occurred in Akaroa. A policeman imposed himself upon the residents there as a duly qualified medical man, and carried on practice for some time with much success. His mode of treatment certainly was occasionally peculiar, but then it was harmless. Having to carry on vaccination operations under the Vaccination Act, and not knowing how to obtain the virus, he vaccinated numbers, including the principal families of the aristocracy of that charming place, with buttermilk. He was finally detected and left under rather a cloud, but went south and started again in the same line. A policeman in South Australia has evidently the same medical cravings. A native was killed, and, although there was a doctor within a short distance, the policeman on the spot performed the post-mortem himself. After this one would not be surprised to hear that he was about to found a medical school.

A great controversy is going on in the Auckland papers respecting the renaming of New Zealand. The present name is said to be inappropriate, and savours too much of the old world, and particularly of an island in no way connected with this country. The native names for the islands are by some proposed to be retained, and the name "Aoteora" is mentioned as having the best claim to represent New Zealand as a whole. Among non-Maori names Oceania, Southland, and Freeland, and a host of other equally idiotic, are proposed, while one paper says that evidently "Maoriana" is the one that should be fixed upon. The changing of the name Van Diomen's Land into Tasmania is brought forward as a precedent. But surely there was a very good reason in that instance for the alteration. If a change of name would assist us in any way in raising a new loan there would be something in the proposal, but we are afraid financiers in general have less hazy ideas on this part of the world than the British public at large.

Much has been written and said respecting the Order in Council re the qualifications of schoolmasters. For a long time, at all events, the whole thing will be a sham, and, indeed, a schoolmaster holding the highest certificate will require to be somewhere on a par with an Oxford firstclass man. The high tone in which the Order is pitched has evidently had some effect on the minds of the pupils. A " School Girl" writes to an Otago paper, wishing to gain information about Newton's *' Principia." She is apparently desirous of introducing it into the ordinary school course. It is a pity the suggestion has come so late, for if it had been brought to the notice of the In-spector-General in time, he would probably have jumped at the idea.

A charming little comedy is being played at Wanganui. Messrs. Bain and Pharazyn were returned unopposed to seats on the Harbor Board. The Returning Officer, in the innocence of his heart, posted the names of the newlyelected members on the ontside of his office on Taupo Quay. Now his office fo on the borough end of the bridge, and what ho ought to have done was to have walked over the bridge and posted the namee oe t£f otier eide, which would

have been withi* the county, Six electors, moved with indignation, have consequently filed a declaration in the Resident Magistrate's Court that the election of Messrs. Bain and Pharazyn is void, and have prayed for an enquiry into the allegation. The monstrous conduct of the Returning Officer should not, in their opinion, be overlooked.

A new method of carrying out tho " bursting up" policy has been discovered. The deus ex is the rabbit. The Wairarapa Daily hints that these leporine pests may be the means of forcing the proprietors of large estates to cut them up into small holdings. Reforring to the Huangaroa estate, it says that the proprietor cannot keop tho rabbits down, so he is cutting the estate up. The Hon. J. Martin is not the man to sacrifice a fine property to sentiment and rabbits.