Australian Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 786, 12 May 1870, Page 3

Australian Items.

There have been some fearful floods and loss of life in New South Wales lately. From Goulburn, Yas?, Windsor, Muswell* brook, Morpeth, Newcastle, West Maitland, and Q-unnedah, the accounts are fear* ful. Rivers hare risen as much as fifty feet above their usual level, and at a placa called Denman seven lives were lost. At Q-unnedah every house in the main street was inundated, and the inhabitants had to take refuge on the hills. In eight hours the Hunter at Maitland rose 15 feet, and it is said that such a rise is unknown to have ; over occurred in the district before. The 'details are of course very voluminous, so that it is impossible to admit them into our columns. We can only summarise them by saying that very great damage has been done over a large extent of country, and that in a great portion of it this misfortune was aggravated by the fact that a similar occurrence, although not quite so damage ing, had taken place the month before. In the High-street of West Maitland, boats were moored in front of the premises of the Mayor and other leading inhabitants. It is ridiculous, althongh sad, to read of the various kinds of property which were car* ried away by the water. At Belmore Bridge, scores of youngsters fished with hooks for some of the hundreds of thousands of pumpkins which floated by. But there are also reckoned to have been 300 sheep, 50 pigs, and a live horse with saddle and bridle on, among the property carried down by the torrent. There were rumors, which we trust will turn out to be illfounded, of still more extensive losgegjßf life and property.

-piE jPpLJCY OF THE GQyE£tf|piJST, JOtagp Dajlly TiiOE^ # Our policy, it has been asserted, Jbas been an aggressive one. It has, von the contrary., been as far as possible simply defensive, an d w.e have #nly taken up arms when attacked, #r in defence of allies whom we were jbpund to protect." This quotation ■from Mi' Fox's speech contains the jmain charge preferred against him—£hat his policy has been just as aggressive as that of his predecessors. 'As the object of his speech was to reply to the various charges urged against hiru, it is singular that he .should have omitted to deal with the real question at issue. Contenting fyimself with the simple assertion we have quoted, he passed on to describe the general course of events 'yince his accession to office. The narrative is certainly not without jlnteiest, biH it wholly avoids the .question alluded to. Called upon to show that the actual operations jn the field were not aggressive, J\£r Fox says as little as possible with Respect'to them, merely conveying £he idea that they were invariably successful, Argument of this kind may possibly satisfy a miscellaneous audience in a theatre; but if it is seriously put forward as the Ministerial reply, it must go for nothing. A bare statement of facts is sufficient to demonstrate the charge we have preferred. When Mr Fox took .office, he denounced on more than one occasion the aggressive expeditions on the East Coast in which (Colonel Whitmore had been engaged. It was these expeditions which alarmed the country on the subject pf Defence expenditure. They had faeen organised for the purpose of papturing Te Kooti, whp bad taken refuge in the Uriwera mountains, where he was largely reinforced by Jocal tribes. Mr Fox on taking pffice, assured the Rouse that expe (ditions of this kind would never be organised under his administration. They were objectionable on two grounds, aggressiveness and expenditure. His colleague, Mr M'Lean, was even more explicit on this point Qn. moving his amended resolutions in the House, he said :—" It is not the intention to advance expeditions into different parts of the country, where the men will be unavailable for purposes of defence, or indeed for any other purpose, when suddenly required. The object is to defend our frontiers; not to recede in the slightest degree, but certainly not to Jeave the lives ancj property of settlers in danger while expensive expeditions are employed at places and at seasons which render it impossible to turn their services to any good account." Nothing could be clearer. We were to defend our frontiers—defend our settlements —defend lift? and property; but under no circumstances were expensive expeditions to be set on foot for mere purposes of attack. The impression spread abroad by these statements was identically the same in all parts of the polony. Neither doubt nor uncertainty existed in the public mind with reference to the meaning of a non-aggressi\ e policy. It was only through such a policy, moreover, that the defence of settlements could be provided for on the moderate estimates pi the Ministry. Mr Fox described tins policy in much the game terms as Mr M'Lean. In the course of his Ministerial Statement, Jie said ; —" The intention of the present Government is to retire as •far as possible from aggressive opera {ions, to throw ourselves more into a defensive position, and to reduce by a >ery large amount the, colonial forces, and the tremendous expenditure which is being carried on in Connection with them We believe that a large force, carrying on a variety of operations in the manner in which the present force is doing, becomes greatly demoralised, and really does not serve the purposes of defence in the way which ought, or so well as a much smaller force better organised would clo." Such wa« the policy which Ministers pledged themselves to carry

put. The. history of the campaign during the last nine months not only exhibits a complete rev e.rsal of this policy, but it fails to, show a single V% any consistent

efforts have been made io establish it. It is a history of •*-* expensive expeditions " from first to last. What are the facts at the present moment? The Uriwera country is again the scene of operations precisely similar to those which called forth the in yeetive* of M inisters during last session. The difference between the two is not a difference of principle by any means—it consists merely in the adoption of a peculiar, rate of pay. Instead of organising an expedition of their own, Ministers have let out the work on con tract—obviously one of those expedients which are never resorted to by Governments except on the failure of every other means at their disposal. Ministers have in fact confessed that the annihilation of the rebels is beyond their power. The machinery provided by the lawhas been set aside, and a totally different one has been devised to meet the emergency. Clearly it formed no part of the original policy of Ministers. We have a right to ask on what principle these expeditions under native chiefs have been set on foot, if the expe itions under Colonel Whitmore were not to be tolerated. It is no answer to say that they are less expensive, because the original views of Ministers on the subject were not based on financial considerations alone. What again is to be said of the Taupo expeditions ? Mr Fox tells us that aggressive operations became necessary because Te Kooti had attacked our allies. It is not at all clear that a strictly defensive policy comprehends any obligation to march large bodies of men into the centre of the island for the purpose of supporting allies who—on Mr Fox's own showing—were perfectly competent to defend themselves. The real reason of the Taupo expeditions, we believe had nothing to do with the defence of our allies at Tokano and elsewhere. Te Kooti was in open country, and Ministers believed that an expedition might result in his capture. With that view, large bodies of Constabulary and natives were ordered to converge upon the rebel. Success no doubt seemed certain, but there was no success. The result was practically a victory for the rebels. It is true that they were repulsed in two or three attacks on friendly pas, and that they met with some loss at the hands of Kemp. But To Kooti remained on the plains of Taupo from July to "December, ravaging the 'country round him. The Taupo expeditions were succeeded by others resulting still more unfortunately for us. Te Kooti was at Tapapa some short time afterwards, and Ministers judged that his escape was impossible. The forces were again ordered to converge; and accordingly M 'Donnell, Eraser, and Mair advanced upon the rebel posi tion. The rebels, however, made I heir way through our lines with ease, and retreated to the Uriwera. The disgrace was too much for M'Donnell, who immediately placed Fraser under arrest, and was shortly afterwards suspended by Ministers. Such was the most promising expedition organised by the present ailministration. The conviction that further movements of the hame kind would result in the same way, led to the adoption of a new system. Blood-money was offered, and the pursuit of Te Kooti depended on the acceptance, pf the offer by the friendlies. Had they declined it, Ministers must either have organised another expedition into the Uriwera, pr abandoned the chase. The conduct of the war. during the la«t nine months reflects no credit on those, who are responsible for it. Judged by its results, it has yielded nothing beyend ones or two. successful but not decisive engagements, for which we are indebted tp the friendlier. Judged by its principles it presents no difference from the system which it superseded. It is simply a series of abortive expeditions, which will be found to have cost the country a larger a.mount of expenditure than is supposed. How these movements can be reconciled with Mr Fox's statement, that we have only taken up arms when attacked," is a question which must be left for Mr Fox to answer. If he can satisfy the Assembly that they have been neither aggressive in cha-

racter nor extravagant in point of cost, he will deserve a larger share of .support than he jLs likely to obtain.

!£R. jaOBERT THARAZYN'S REGENT A?- - [Wanganui Evening Herald."] Plow ready even virtuous wills are sometimes to waive their strongest purposes when the Government charmer whispers in their ear, "power, place and emolument ! " Political principle in this Colony has utterly and hopelessly broken down, and we have received in its place political expediency, which is generally un derstood to mean that a man may change his opinions as,often as by so doing he may improve h\s position. Mr Robert Pharazyn has accepted office under the Fox Government, for which a return is required of his influence and services. When Mr Stafford ruled the Colony, Mr Pharazyn was a zealous supporter of his government, and was a principal in improvising a kind of valedictory dinner to Mr Fitzherbert on the eve of his departure for England, at which very loyal sentiments were spoken of the then government. Mr Pharazyn knows, how to be all things to all men; he has found out that the present is preferable to the future, and that a Commissionership of Crown lands at the Waitotara is a sweet thing in many respects. The Qovernment organ in Wellington intimated that some one to exercise powers equivalent to those of a Superintendent was very much wanted on the West Coast, and immediately after the appointment of Mr Pharazyn was made known. Pie had probably been appointed before the Independent made the sugges tion, and only waited for the herald to announce his coming. The Go vernment either did not think that Major Noake had the capacity to carry out confiscated land regulations, or have made an office for the purpose of getting another supporter, or both. They have not gi\ en Mr Pharazyn the appointment for services rendered —Mr Fox never is guilty of such abstract folly —but have carefully considered, like sound philosophers, the probability of a firm supporter added to their party in the Hor.se. When the Independent told us that this confiscated land Superintendent would be a good thing, it threw out another admirable suggest ion —that if th e Assembly took into consideration the readjustment of the representation, a representative should be given to the West Coast, which had a special claim to one from the peculiar circumstances in which it was placed. This will be ea-ily arranged in the ensuing session, and the new commissioner will, as a natural sequence, walk into the seat. How beautifully a Government arranges berths for its friends, and how easily it makes friends by showing the facility with which it can provide for them ! ISTow what is this newly created commissionership that is to specially honoi the gentleman who has the distinguished privilege to be Provincial Councillor for the Waitotara district? What we know of it yet is very little, and whether it will be ot much service will greatly depend on the confiscated land regulations now being prepared. The office will probably be worth £6OO or £7OO ayear, and the heavy and onerous duties of Major Noake, another highly paid officer, ought to be lightened in proportion to. the expenditure on Mr Pharazyn. Jt will not be difficult for Mr Pharazyn to make things mutually agreeable and accommodating; but if he does his duty he may cause some unpleasantness. If he is to. supersede Major Noake in certain things, well and good; but in that case the colony should know that jio money is spent unnecessarily; that if one half of Major Noake's duties are taken away one half o,f his salary goes to pay him who succeeds to them. We do not say that Mr Pharazyn may not make himself useful, but we do thinly that if the present commander of the district had ordinary administrative capacity, there is neither occasion nor necessity for the new appointment. There are some abuses which Mr Pharazyn may correct— he may see that there is nothing but fair dealing on the part of

the officials with the settlers; that there has been no aelfish. and sordid I attempt to acquire wealth by highly paid officers at the expense of the people; that there shall be no kaipo affairs, no Waitotara ferry arrangements, no extraordinary valuations of certain sections in new townships, no attempt at military dictation to civilians; in a word, no dishonesty and abuse of power, Jf the commissioner ot confiscated lands will faithfully put his veto on such things, we shall say that he has imparted dignity and honor to his office and made us half forget the nature of his appointment. There is another importaut duty Mr Pharazyn may perform, which we had almost overlooked, that is, to draw the line distinctly between loyal and rebel natives. We shall give him credit for a profound knowledge of human nature, if he shall acquit himself of this duty to the satisfaction of the settlets, Mr Fox's policy when he came to the district, was, that not a native fire should be lit in the "Waitotara and Pa tea districts; and the new ''Superintendent" will have to say how far that policy has been de parted from, and that if native fires are to be lit, how many will truly and mathematically represent the number of "loyal" natives. But whatever he may do, the settlers will still adhere to the excellent policy announced by the Hon. Mr Fox when he visited the district.

Science and Art.—A striking instance of the immense value a small piece of steel may acquire by the great power of skilled mechanical labor i 9 the balance-spring of a watch. From its extreme fineness and delicacy 4,00 ) weigh not more than an ounce, and exceed in value £I,OOO. A most interesting little work, describing the rise and progress of watchmaking, has been published by J. W. Benaon, 25 Old Bond-st., and the City Steam Factory, 58 ana 60 LuJgate-hill. The book, which is profusely illustrated, gives a full description of the various kiuds of watches and clocks, with their price 3. Mr Benson (who holds the appointment to the Prince of Wales) has also published a pamphlet on ArMstic Gold Jewellery, illustrated with the most beau tiful designs of Bracelets, Brooches, Earrings, Lockets, &c, &c, suitable for Wedding, Birthday, and other presents. Cfhese pamphlets are sent post free for two stamps each, and they cannot be too strongly recommended to those contemplating a purchase, especially to residents in the country or abroad, who are thus enabled to select any article they may require, and have it forwarded witli perfect safety. . 24/6