The Globe. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1629, 10 May 1879, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1879.

It is probable that the recent visit to Canterbury of his Excellency will bo remembered for some considerable period for more reasons than one. Rumor has it that on the occasion of his reception in Christchurch, a suburban municipality was debarred for expressing its loyalty, &c., through the time honored address. The story goes that the Mayor and Councillors, like Barkis, “ wero willin’,” but that not being favored with the entree to the sacred precints of the arrival platform, they missed the opportunity of adding yet another to the many addresses which wore poured in upon the Queen’s representative. If this be so, some one is undoubtedly to blame. As a public body, the Mayor and Councillors of the rising and important borough referred to had an equal right with the Solwyn County Council and the City Council to bo present on the interesting occasion. Indeed, more so as the place of roeeptioU happens to b'6 within the borough boundaries, and the municipal dignitaries were thus shut out from their own domains. Whoever is responsible for this la die could hardly have considered the importance of the omission. The borough alluded to has been scarcely on the most friendly of terms with its more powerful municipal rival, the city, for some time past and this last slight, added to so many fancied ones which have preceded it, may induce them to declare war a Voutrance. What the consequences would be under such a combination of circumstances is almost too apalling to consider. The indignant borough might oven go the length of seizing on some of the most prominent City Councillors as hostages until an ample apology was offered. Imagine the consternation which would fall upon the citizens should it be announced some morning that Councillors Cass and Wilson had been conveyed to the fastnesses of Sydenham as hostages. It may be —and we trust it is so —that there is nothing in the rumour, but the fact remains that an address was to bo presented from Sydonham and was not, which seems to lend colour to the report which is now current in the city. If it is true that the municipal dignitaries alluded to wero so excluded, it is to bo hoped that the responsible party will be discovered, and some amends in the shape of an apology will be offered, and that the dire consequences at which wo have briefly hinted may be averted.

Now that winter is rapidly approaching it might be as well for the lighting committee of the City Council to take into their consideration the feasibility of the city lamps—or a portion of them—remaining alight a longer period than at present. We are quite aware of the fact that the committee will reply that they have no funds at their disposal to do this with, out of the sum allotted for lighting the city. But this is a question affecting the interests of the city as a whole, and therefore stands upon a different footing to the consideration of the erection of now lamps in some particular locality. As wo have pointed out on former occasions, for several hours of the night the city is loft in total darkness. This takes place, too, just at the time when the public lamps, if allowed to remain alight, would be of great service, not only to pedestrians, but as an adjunct to the detection of crime. As matters now stand, Christchurch, after 1 a.m., is practically handed over to the mercy of of any skilful baud of depredators that may bo formed. To extinguish our lights, and practically rehearse the curfew might have done very well in the pro-historic days of the Arcadian innocence of the settlement, but it certainly is now far behind the ago. In no other city in the colony, except Christchurch, is such an absurd practice followed, and wo trust that wo have seen the last of it even hero. If it is found to be too costly to keep all the city lamps alight say to 4 a.m. —an extension of throe hours —then the experiment may bo tried with some of them. This at least will bo a step in the right direction, and far bettor than leaving the property of the citizens more or loss unprotected during the very hours of the night, or morning, which dishonest gentlemen usually select for their operations. Our force of constables at present is totally inadequate to keep a vigilant watch over the widely scattered city, and by extinguishing the lamps' at the hour they now are, we are still further weakening the hands of the police authorities in their work of repressing crime. With those facts before them wo hope the Council will very seriously consider whether the time has not arrived for a change to bo made in the direction wo have indicated.

Some little time back wo drew attention to the preliminary prospectus issued by the promoters of the Juvenile Industrial Exhibition, to bo hold in Melbourne during the present year. Since thou the prize lists have boon issued, and the dale fixed for the reception of exhibits. Last year a similar exhibition was hold very successfully, and some of the prizes fell to New Zealand competitors. Of the good results of such a competition as the one proposed, there can be no doubt. It will servo to stimulate our youthful

mechanics in all branches of industry to rise beyond, the more level of their daily labor, and to seek to. attain to oscollence in tlib coVhral lines they may have taken up. Every day experience shews us that the time now is when not only deftness and mechanical skill are requisite for manufactures, but that it is also necessary that the intellect should be enlisted if our artificers are to compote successfully with those of other countries. This fact has long been recognised in the old country, and the establishment of schools of design and similar institutions for the refinement and elevation of the tastes of the mechanic hate followed thereupon. Wo in the colonies have not yet gone as far as this, but, competitions such as the one proposed to bo hold in Melbourne supply .in part the. want felt, and wo hope to see New Zealand oven more fully represented in Melbourne than on the former occasion. It might bo worth while for some of our leading citizens to take the matter in hand and form a kind of local committee, whose efforts would stimulate the bringing out of the latent talent which exists hero. Such a committee would also bo useful as affording information upon the scope and intention of the Exhibition, and generally to awaken in the minds of our artisans an interest in what is really a laudable undertaking.