THE Inanguhna Times PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FBIDAY, OOTOBER 19,1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 83, 19 October 1877, Page 2

THE Inanguhna Times PUBLISHED TRI-W EEKLY. FBIDAY, OOTOBER 19, 1877.

Sir George Gret, the new Premier, delivered his Ministerial address lo the House oa Wednesday last. He coin" meneed by stating that upon the pass" ing of fcl^ vote of Want of Confidence, he was appealed to by the gentleman (Mr Larnach) upon whom devolved tbe responsibility of formiag a new administration. Great difficulty was experienced in forming a Ministry owing to the existence of three parties in tbe House, a partial reconciliation had, however, been arrived afc. For the present only a limited number of gentleman had taken office, but by combining the portfolios he was enabled to meet the House, and the remaining ser/_3 would be tilled up as they progressed. Ifc was proposed to associate with the Ministry several members of the Native race. The consideration of the finance of the colony would be the first object of the new Ministry. In accordance with the already expressed wish of fche House tbe question of retrenchment in the Public Service would be looked into early and carefully considered, and great reductions would be made. Examination had shown tbat the liabilities of the colony were greatly in excess of what tbey had been taught to expect. He hinted at the necessity for a fresh loan which he thought could be raised upon favorable terms. As a first step in tbe direction of retrenchment it wr.s intended to at once sweep away all remnants of provincial administration and thus place the whole under one central control. The management of railways i would also be inquired into with a view to reduce the cost of working them, and fr was hoped that great saving would be effected from these tvvo sources. In making reductions in departmental expenses, they would as Ministers set Ibe example by reducing their own salaries. Il was not intended, however, to let the reductions fall upon that class of civil servants drawing small salaries, bufc it would be limited to the officials receiving high pay. By this it was not intended that public works ehould suft'er. The Public Works Policy of the previous Ministry would be continued vigorously. Tbe«e. and a few other generalities constitute tbe main feature., of the address, the conclusion of which will be found elsewhere in oar columns. As will be seen the programme is chiefly a continuation of the policy of the late Government, its points ol divergence being principally of a a routine character. The idea of carrying on tbe Government •« shorthanded," is certainly a novel one, and is evidence of the difficulty encountered in forming the Ministry, ani we fear a token of the inherent weakness of the party. If. however, we are to gather a meaning on the point from Sir George Gzet's speech tbe Ministry is to be essentially a people's one; and, should it survive will probably take something of the character of the Beeiiy Ministry of Victoria. One thing seems clear enough. The reius of Government have been for the time-being wrested from the hands of the landering party who lave so long ruled in Wellington, and aftev all that has been said as to the nature of land transactions with the Natives, the general verdict will, we think, be that ihe change has cot been brought about one day too soon. Instead of the main energies of (he Public Works Policy, being as in the past, directed towards the construction of railways in the North Island to add new value to lands privately held, we haye the promise that the goldfields shall receive their proper share of attention,

The County Council .vill meet at 2.30 tht afternoon, for .he purpose of considering the 3 question of towa drainage, Tha Hopeful Company cleaned up yesterday , after ruuniug about four hundred tons of 0 atone through. Tbe yield is believed to be aa high as two and a half ounces to the ton. ■»• The BMcV/ie will be idle for a about a week pending -•-•.•airs to fluming. After which the ? Hopeful will resume their crushing, Tho Welcome mine (reports our local correspou- . deat) continues to present a most promising . appearance, the stone coming forward being of a very rich character. • This evening Tom. Taylor's celebrated drama, " The Tick. .- f-Leave Man," will be produced in Gilmer's Hoil, for the benefit of • Miss Lyster, It is needless to sr.y that the nlag is one of the very highest order of dramatic merit, and for this reason ... representation was, we are informed, not decided upon until after a very careful test of the abilities of the d liferent amateurs to sustain the cast. The choice having l.owever been made, tie piece was placed in rehearsal, and has siuce being most diligently \'ork_d up, and if one may judge from the rehec.rsals the representation will prove to be g.. highly creditable one. It will be admitted thet the 1 production of such a play is a heavy under* ; taking, but it is fortu iate for the occasion that besides Mr Inglis aud Miss Lysfcer, the cast includes the names of one or two ladies 1 and gentlemen who have severed some ap' prenticeship to the stage of amateur theatric eals, and as upon them will rest the chief responsibility, it is reasonable to think that fche drama will be enacted with, fco say fche least, very fair success. Many attempts have beea made in Reefton to form an amateur company for the representation of the legitimate drama, bufc bo far have met with failure. It is to be hoped therefore, that a better fute is now in store for the movement. In a community like thia, with its frequent calls upon the bounty of the public, ifc is very necessary that such a club should be in existence. Where the number of vocalists is limited, as it is here, concerts soon loose there attractiveness, whereas a dramatic club would possess an unexbau.tible store from which to draw fresh entertainment, aud for this reason ought to be welcomed. All things must have a beginning, and a recollection of this should guard us from a too proncness for ridicule. Time alone can serve to bring to the froat fche most competent performers, and for this reason some forbearance should be exercised. Apart, however, from all these considerations, thore is another reason wby the community should endeavour to make the entertainment ol to-night a financial success. As has {".ready been stated both Mr Inglis and Miss Lyster have some kind of claim upon public patronage, and we much mistake if it does not meet with suitable recognition. In the early history of Hokitika, some of the local residents perpetrated a pratical joke on Thatcher, '* The Inimitable," by presenting him in public with a watch— such as little boys can buy for twopence in a toyshop. Something similar has been attempted at the Thimes, in the case of a certain Sergeant Mulvi'le, Irom a short description of the , incident in tho Advertiser it nppaars that it wus intended by a few to get the Sergeaut to attend a so-called presentation and having gone over the usual preliminary speechifying, to huve presented him with a box containing "Maw's Feeding Bottle for Infants of Tender years" and a puck of Joker cards, tied up in black crape, indicative of the death of the game at the Thames through the exertions of Sergeant Mulville. Fortunately, he was too old a bird to be caught with chalf, and when the " testimonial " was afterwards senfc round fco the Police-station the messenger was glad to beat a hasfcy retreat, without stopping to complete his errand. According to the New Zealand Herr.ld, '.he aggregate losses which insurance companies in this Colony have sustained b :• fche loss of the Avalanche are not less tban £25,000. while they may probably reach £45.000. Professor Sale is iv troubla wifch the Dunedin papers. Bofch the Times and Guardian huve been asserting thut the Professors have not done as much as they ought, and as much as they couid, to provide learn* ing in Dunedin, by oomrac; ling it to popular acceptation, Mr Sale has replied, stating that in his opinion '* popular lectures were useless and mischievous." Both papers have since b.en very severe oa the Professor. The Guardian concludes an article on the subjeot as follows :— " The statement simply reveals Professor Sales own ignorance. We admit the truth indeed in tho case of such " popular lectures " as he might give, but Ihe day is past for questioning the value of popular lectures, which are admitted to have been among the most powerful agencies in disseminating that taste for scientific purposes which is one of the glories of oufc age. We admifc that it is not evevyome that should engage in popular lecturing for the diffusion of knowledge, and professor Sale is not such a one. His place is as far away from the public as he can possibly bury himself. Let him keep inside his class room and shut the doors and the windows, and be as quiet as ever he can ; and if evor he does come oufc as a "popular lecturer," we recommend him to repress his playfulness iv lelr.'.oa to tie Press." An exciting race took place from Dove.* to London between the Continental mail es .ress train and a carrier pigeon conyeyiug a docu« ment of aa urgent nature for the Fronch police. Tho rails, carriages, and engine ofthe express train were, as might bo expected, of the best possible construction for power and speed. Tho pigeon, wiiich was bred by Mess -s Hartley and Sous, of Woolwich, and '' homed " when a few weeks old to a building in Cannon-street Cifcy, was also : . the best breed of homiug pigeons, kno..n as '• Belgian voyageurs " The bird was tossed through fche railway carriag3 window by a Fre eh official as t' e train moved from the Admiralty pic. tho wind being we_fc and tho atmosphere hazy, but wi.h tiie sun shining. For upwards of a minute ihe pigeon circled round to an "-Ylmle Ol .'.bout half a mil' 1 , and then

sailed away towards Loudon. By this timo the train, wbicb carried the European mails, aud waa timed nofc to stop uetween Dover aud Cannon-street had got up to full speed, aad WB9 tearing away at the rate of sixty miles an hour toward Loudon. tChe odds, aft starting, seemed against tho bird _ and „tho railway officials, justly proud aad confident in the strength of .he iron horse, pred icted the little aerial messenger would fail ; but the race was jot to „13 strong, j The carrier f-'geon, as soon as tt ascertained fits bearings, took the nearest route, in a direction midway between Maidstoue and Si-tirlgbourne, the distance, as fche crow flies, between Dover and London, being seventy miles, aad by rail seventy-six and a half miles. As tbe Continental mail express came puffiing into Can* non-street station, tbe pigeon had been home twenty minutes, having beaten her Majesty's Royal mail by a time allowance representing eighteen miles. • The Judge iv passing sentence on Karl Kehede in Christckurch, last week, for the murder of Thomas Powell, is reported to have said : — *' I certainly think the jury were warranted in returning tho verdict which tbey have returned under all the circum" stances of the case. I have no desire to say anything to you on the srbject ofthe crime, and no discretion but to pronounce upon you the doom which is fche punishmenjl for murder. Tour life is forfeited to tbe injured laws of your country. The jury havo ricoinmonded you to mercy upon grounds which I under* stand and appreciate, and I shall take care 1 that fchafc recommendation is forwarded fco the proper quarter, where the sovereign pre* rogative can bo exercised. I have no power to influence the result beyond saying tbat I quite agree with the recommendation of the jury, Ifc is now my duty to pass upon you the extreme penalty of fche law, wbich is that you be taken from here to fche prison whence you came, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may the Lord 1 have .nercy on your soul. A correspondent in the Tasmanian Mail says :— *' How curiously selfish a usually literr.l and right thinking man may become wh9n opportunity puts a gOod thing, in bis way. has been illustrated in the incidence of Mr Berry,snew protectionist tariff, When that tariff was first proposed, it was inten*. ded to place a ton per cent duty on cornsacks aud woolpacks made of jute. Two well-to-do manufacturer of Melbourne wore let into the secret, and they both went home (unknown to each other) to Aundee, where they met in a jute factory, and become aware of each other's intentions. Ifc was too late to withdraw from contracts made, ond eaoh went on his several way, one investing some £15,000 aud the othei* some £10,000 in machinery. They arrived back in Melbourne and then they found that the item had been struck out of the list by Mr Berry in bis amended tariff, as he had been convinced that jute wouid never be woven iv Tictoria. There wai nothing for it but to go 011 with the wor!-.s and "risk the loss. A strong effort was made privately to have a duty of ten per cent put on. Not obtaining tbat. they lowered their pretensions to fivo per cent. Tbat tbey did not obtain, and then found they could work at a profit without protection at all 1 Now that they dont ro • require it, ond have made a trade without it, Mr Berry generously presents th«m with a teu per cent duty— in other words he made them a present worih £LO,OOO or £20,000 per annum, at tbe co3fc of tbe squatters and farmers.