Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 519, 24 October 1857, Page 3

Extracts.

, TflSf SMa'dStdne MtJßiSEiti '

£From the correspondent of the, Sydney, i'wptre,]' There tagoqd.{reason, to.hone.that themurderei- of Mr. 'Liiile, the casjiieij; of the Urqadstoriff1 terminusi'bf the' Mi'dlatttll Great Western Bailwayy-'lr^la'ti'dirhasbeeti" at last 'discovered; thinks tothei infdrmatidri' given by hisf wife.' As a considerable:periodi has elapsed* since the crime was perpetrated; it is possible your : readers may have, forgotteji it; I will therefore recapitulate -the circurnstance^ as, briefly as possible. On the evening of the ,13tli November last, Mr. Ijifctlfe Was- seen, for the last time ,alive, by his clerW who left'him' in his office engaged in makingiip his' accounts, for the inspection of the board the following day. The: next mornin<* the clerk,' on going to the office, found the door ws,s locked; ta waited until halt-past 12 o'clock, when orders were given: to the carpen^ ter to try and get in by the window, which he did, and on hearing an exclamation from him the door of the room' was', broken open, and the body of Mr. Li:tle was seen lying upon the floor in a pool of coagulated blood, his head • being almost severed from this body. On his desk, and .on a table beside At, was found a lar^e quantity of gold and silver, apparently where he had himself placed it, together with some bank notes, ampuntiiig' in all to about £1500,- so1 that:it was very soon'ascertained that £500 was the largest sum it was possible for: thes murderer to have 'taken. How the murder had been perpetrated was a mystery j inasmuch las the, deceased had evidently been knocked off his s chair by a -blow on the head with a hammer, which /was followed by other blows until his skull was beaten in in several places, so that it appeared as if; the murderer was a person well known to him, or he would not have been :- able to approach sufficiently close to accomplishithe deed without causing Mr.jLittle to giver air alarm—especially as the latter appears, to have been• a somewhat timid man. About ten days before he had been alarmed byja man-coming into his room and asking for theengiheer,afterthe usual business hours, in consequence'of which he had a lock put on the door, which he invarially locked as soon as his clerk left, he having on one occasion refused to open it to receive a message from a little girl until she had first mentioned her name—r-which seemed to prove that whoever committed the murder must have been a person with whom he was well acquainted. Several of the officials connected with the railway were examined, but without result; and it was anticipated that this would add another to the long list of murders, the perpetrators of which had never been discovered.

A few days since the wife of a man named Spollen went to the police station and made a statement to Superintendent Guy, which induced him to have her husband apprehended immediately. The prisoner, who is about 43 years of age, and has lo.st his right eye>, merely said on being arrested, " Very good j but you are mistaken in me." Between 10 and 11 o'clock the same night he was confronted with his wife at the police station, and appeared greatly astonished at finding that it was she who had caused his arrest. The wife was greatly excited, and the moment she saw her husband she began tearing her hair and cried out," Oh, you wicked man, you have destroyed your family; what I have done I did lor' the good of your soul;" to ■which the prisoner replied, "Oh, you foolish woman,'- and was moving towards her, but she called to the police to keep him back, and requested them to search him well." Give him," said she, " a fair trial for his life, for I know his words when he was on his sick-bed. He is determined not to confess it." " Confess what, woman ?" asked the prisoner. "You know you murdered him ; you told me all about it on the Friday morning after you said to me that he would tell no tales," was the reply. The prisoner, Spollen, was employed at the railway-station to do odd jobs, such as painting, window cleaning, &c., so that his being seen in any part of the -office would excite no surprise. He lived in a cottage which was so close to the station, and in such a position that he could not look out of it without seeing the window of the room where Mr., Little was murdered; and perhaps it was partly from this cause, and partly from the fear that her husband would put her out of the way alsoi that his wife made a confession, which in substance was as follows:— That her husband had returned home later than usual on the night of the 13th, and had with him a-pail containing a large quantity of gold and, silver; he told her this had belonged, to. Mr. Little, whom lie had murdered, and afterwards escaped by the roof. He then burnt his cravat, and also a pocket-book ;.'•• and, with her assistance^ hacU hidden < the money in two places^ which she «ould point out; ■ The blood •on--.? his:diotheskhei daubed -over * with paint.'. This statement was sufficient to justify the. pp-. lice in, apprshending, hiraf but,, had.there been no sorrpboratiyW e f yidence,;he "must have been again set^at liberty ; ; fortunately .the; Case is otherwise. ' The woman toot the policeman Ho tne&ttle!platf6rm7whieh o^erlodfcsthe ground^ in: thevrear of-theiNouth nDublim Union hWork-; bonsej-from >,which ife iff. separated;by a^flouble w^lliihayingiaTspace; ofrjabpukfiverfeet^betTOeen. them? with,cross.walls,to.strengthen therplatr form, thus fleaving • spaces" between the walls \of aborit 5,-feet in^breadth^ndrarigirrg ffonr 12 to 25 feet in 1 depths and f ai-tly ftlled!with< 'dirt ;and' stones; into one of these, indieated'foy-th> wo--man, a: policeman- descended; and-after. removing: some stones from the s top, he found a sum of money, amounting to about;£l32, wrapped in a piece of calico, which, was. made. ..up of several different parcels, one of which was enveloped in paper bearing Mr;' Little's endorsement, another

ma piece.of paper bearing.upon it the initials ot .Mi-.-Little's clerk, while the calico itself was identified-by a daughter of Spollen, as having been giving to her by an aunt to' make her a new bonnet, but; which, had been: used as a duster. A further: sum of £67 ss. in silver, belonging to the {Railway. Company, buried under a quantity of red lead, was fcund in a privy, where the women stated she had seen her husband place it. The key of Mr. Little's office was found where she said he threw it. In addition to her statement,' there is that of Spollen'B boy and girl- both of whom stated that;they, saw him on the roof of the forge, and saw him put somethingin the chimney, which the wife states was where he concealed the pail containing the.money in.the first'instance. The boy also identified a razor as having belonged to his father which was got of the canal. Spollen is still under remand.

A POLICY FOR THE FUTURE. (From the ' Southern Gross,' Octobers.)

It may be assumed, we suppose, that our chaotic New Zealand Constitution will presently assume some sort of ibrm-^that by cutting and carving, the Assembly will succeed at last in making a shaft or bolt of.it; but we should as soon think to vaticinate the winner of next year's Derby, as to predict the fashion of government that will have prevailed before the year sixty-five.

Yet there are prophets enough for both events: of the one, for the moderate sum of two shillings and sixpence, duly paid to Vates in postagestamps; of the other, with still greater disin-, terestedness, for nothing at all.

There are also those of a higher order, who may be called quasi-prophets—who combine constructiveness with second-sight, and devise schemes which they doubt not being able to realise through personal influence and exertion.

Of these, the cleverest and most imaginative, also the most versatile, is Mr. Ktz Gerald of Canterbury. There are, at least, three schemes for the future which boast the honour of his paternity—so many Minervas armed in complete panoply, issuing from the head of Olympian Jove; while there may not improbably be as many more in petto held by this most fertile of devisers in reserve.

The first of the three was laid before the Assembly in 1854, when he was at the head of the first Responsible Ministry—an original " vestige of creation." The second, which he will probably call a "development," but which to us appears a reconstruction, was embodied in a pamphlet, some while since transferred to our columns.

The leading idea in that scheme, and the basis of the reasoning, was the great expense of the General Government in proportion to the amount of revenue which has to be administered over the whole colony. From this he argued that the General Government in its present form could not endure, the burden being intolerable. Without, for the present, following up his calculations, which we believe to be incorrect, we may show the lurking fallacy in a fe\r words. In each successive year, the burden if it must so be termed, of the General Govern-' ment must be come less onorous. A certain establishment has to be maintained; life has to be kept in a variety of departments which could not be combined without confusion; but the same staff which is absolutely requisite to administer the present expenditure would suffice, with perhaps the trifling addition of a couple of clerks, to administer double or treble the amount, and for double or treble the population. In a skeleton regiment the officers are disproportionate in number to the men, but are necessary for its future effective strength. No one, we presume, will affect to doubt that the revemie of so young a colony must continue on the increase. But the expenditure of the General Government, remaining in statu quo, will bear a less proportion to the whole in each successive year. And whereas the Government are with difficulty able, for the present, to set apart the threeeighths of the gross revenue for the provinces, before long they will be able to afford one-half, or even two-thirds, with ease. Macaulay observes, with reason, in regard to that English bugbear—the national debt, that the time will arrive, thanks to the growing resources of the country, when we shall think less of sixteen hundred millions, than we do of eight hundred millions now.

Mr. Fitz Gerald's third scheme, or, as must be supposed, an outline of it, is embodied in an extract from a private letter, which we have liberty to make public. And we gladly avail ourselves of the permission, although unable to agree on all points with the writer, because he is always suggestive. Whatever ideas he broaches. have, to be treated with respect. For he is indisputably a man of note; able to seize the leadership in the House from his power of language alone. For although we have several graceful speakers, and even more hard-headed debaters,- we have but a single orator; but one whom we have ever 6een turn a vote by force of words—that most difficult feat of all, the crucial test of eloquence. The following are the observations to which ■we allude:—

" 1. I do not believe in any scheme for separating .the. Northern: and .Middle Islands. This was Sewell's | Bcheroe^ from the first it was one I always' opposed. I see ho reason why any division inthe Provinces should be made which does not extend to;the whole siki lam seriously eontemplatwg.the separation of all the six Provinces, under sixseparate LieuteiiaiitTGoyernors, acting under si. (jovernbr-in-chifef, himself Lieut.-Go'vernbf-of one sPrqyince,-: as the -Windward Islands i.are, governed j; the; Governor-in-chief being chosen, indifferently Umongst, all the Provinces, pi-obably the'oldest in the .commission. !"The' settlemdhis/of New." Zealand are six cdlonws.\ -THe! attempt to: make them one has failed;.: -Even the••• attempt-;to unite them; by steara\has failed:. iWhy?v Because they have; no interests of.anyrsort, not, even commercial, in common.. To'one of these two you must come, sooner or iater^-the* desti*uction;of the Provinces and the one General Government, or the; actual separation-of the Provinces. .-.I go strongly for ihe latter..: v ....

" 2. You must fund the whole of the general debt. Any scheme which does not do this is rotten. ■> And you must make each Province pay its per centage or quota towards the whole burthen. If ever I saw my way through a problem in my life, and L did sometimes at Cambridge, I see my way through the New Zealand finances, and I always opposed Sewell's ideas, because I saw that he never did see his way out to the other side.

"Square up your-accounts to a given day under the Constitution Act. After that day, make all revenues of all sorts Provincial. Let it all, customs and all, be paid to the Provincial Treasurers. Then give the Governor's warrant an over-riding force to the Provincial Treasurers; to the amount which each .Province is to pay to the General Government, and make the Provincial Treasurer a criminal defaulter if he fails to honour - those warrants. Thus alone can you put an end to all cross accounts—to all' adjustments,' to all' Land Fund payments,' or general payments, and all the other conflicting financial puzzles of the day. You will have one ' General Revenue' of each Province, comprising every thing, and you will have one great battle as to the quota which each Province is to pay— one, and one only. It will then' be settled for ever, and I can conceive no other way in which it will be settled.

"3. Native questions. You in the North think that we know nothing here on the subject of Native questions. I have thought much about them. The present state of the Native mind is one I have quite expected. It is inevitable that a race of which individuals are so rapidly growing in wealth should bring their wealth and education to bear on political matters at last. One thing is clear, that the Natives are • about to take a part in politics. If they enrol as voters there will be civil war. The English population, especially at the South, will not submit to be ruled by Maories. They will draw the sword, and to my mind it will be a sacred cause. Yet on the other hand it is equally clear that the Natives do want, truly and conscientiously want, some Government amongst themselves, —some power which shall not let'them shoot each other one day, and shake hands together the next. In 1854,1 saw clearly enough that the first thing to be done was to get a real native department organised. I see the necessity of it now every day more and more. But I think I would go further now than I saw then, and I submit to you the following plan:—

"Make a Board for the conduct of native affairs, presided over by the-Governor in person; the Ministers having seats ■t&ereat, and the Native Secretary being a member and Secretary to the Board; and above all join to that Board three Native chiefs appointed by the Governor nominally, but really elected by the Native tribes I believe they could agree on three (or four) to represent all parties. This would satisfy the Native mind as to Government. To this Board the whole Government of the country, within which English law should not run, should be committed, and those districts ought to be at once clearly defined. You have the great example of the Indian courts, for a* law,partly Hindoo, partly Mahomedan, and.;partly English, being administered by Englisirmagistrates. Appoint Resident Magistrates to travel and adminster Native law in those districts gradually introducing the use of English law; and induce the Natives themselves to enforce the judgments. This I believe would satisfy the Native mind, because they would virtually share in the Government of their own country, and you might then abolish the franchise in the Native territory, and so avert a great evil. And I think I would make the Native Board a Court of Appeal, in certain cases, from the Native Magistrates. Again, by this plan the. Ministers would be a party to the Native voting, which they must he, whilst there would be stable elements in the Board sufficient to secure, what is equally indispensible, a uniformity of policy in respect of Native affairs.

" 4. The only other point to which I shall allude is the question of the disputed jurisdiction of the General and Provincial Governments On this point I say no Government ought to be allowed to stand an hour which does not come forward with a clear policy. You must state in a law what departments are in future to be held under the General and what under the Provincial Governments. Put an end to all this miserable jangling and strife by such a law. Settle it one way or the other, but make pay and appointments go hand in hand. Nay this question is at the root of all finance; because, how can you talk about dear or cheap Government, until you have settled what Government is to pay for? I am always impressing this on the Wellington party. They talk vaguely of reducing the Government expenditure, but I want to know first what departments are to be charged in tha account before I can say whether the General estimates shall be large or small.

" And once more, are you going to do anything to place your Supreme Court in a respectable condition? Its present state is a deep disgrace to any community: one judge for these six colonies. I don't like to speak of myself, but I cannot help saying my going to Auckland was actually providential in 1856. Eor, from my independent position, I was enabled to get the two Houses to assent to a law on a subject on which they differed widely in views, and when Ward's Bill was thrown out my Extension of Jurisdiction Act was passed. That Act has saved thousands of pounds worth of property already.. Debts are now paid-without litigation, merely because it is known that there is a court to sue for them in. And it is very gratifying to me to think that, unable as I was to speak a word, Ifwas the instrument of getting a law. passed, which is so useful But it is.'-, a bad law. It is only a make-shift. Your .task should: be to locate the Supreme Court in every ; province, by a resident judge when it can be afforded: by putting the ML powers of the Court into some sort of commission where it cannot. Any-law is better than none.. Here I cannot help saying you have a irian, a Court wanted, and a community whom it would well pay, to,bear the. expense. Why shouldwenot have a judge to-morrow.

With some of the foregoing, suggestions we heartily agree; for instance, the setting apartof Native Districts,-which we have never, lost .an opportunity of urging upon the Government.

Nothing else can save us from being presently overwhelmed with native votes at the polling booths. But in regard to Provincialism, we cannot bring ourselves to think that he has yet arrived at the solution of the problem. The reduction of a stiff quadratic, in the Senate House at Cambridge, was an easier task.

The plain fact is* that 'the Constitution Act was intended for one purpose, and has been unfairly perverted to another. Its first misfortune, like that of Tristam Shandy, happened to it before it was born—while it was still a Constitutional homunculus in embryo. When the unlucky words, fertile in so much subsequent dispute— " all laws for the peace, order, and good Government of the Province" appeared in the Bill, before it became an Act, the promoters of the six colony scheme, who were watching its progress, in London, were thrown into ecstacies. They thought that they had. stolen a march'upon Parliament. "Hush do not breathe a syllable," they said; "we are all right now." For they understood those words in the literal, and not, as we^do in the legal or technical sense. Their main anxiety was, lest Parliament should find out to what these words would lead. The story was afterwards repeated to ourselves by one of them who did hot in the least perceive that it reflected little credit on the amateur committee, —that the course pursued was more consonant with colonial, than with English practice. The next misfortune was of an Antipodean nature. Governor Grey, supported by Wellington, turned the constitution " bottom upwards " as soon,as it arrived. Being unwilling to face the General Assembly, he caused the Provincial Councils to be summoned first; so that they took what powers they wanted, instead of having their powers defined for them by the Assembly. To borrow an expression from Mr. Sewell, the Councils had " tasted blood," and thenceforward „ became uncontrollable.

Mr. Sewell, when at the head of a responsible ministry, attempted to reserve the position— to reduce the Provinces tomunicipalities. (for which, indeed, they wera intended) by the application of sudden force; not perceiving that the Constitution could no longer be righted but by degrees —by steadily continued pressure. The attempt was midsummer madness, and was the immediate, though not the original cause, of the overthrow of his administration.

For our own part, -we are able to see but one cure for the evils with which we are threatened by the growth of ultra Provincialism. It may be a panacea—it may be a nostrum ; but we have implicit faith in it. The remedy is, gradual subdivision of the provinces. Should a better be suggested we shall readily abandon our own; but. if ever we are to rise in New Zealand above.the position of a set of noisy wranglers:—

Haberdashers of small wares In Politics, and State affairs;

if ever we are to have a cheap Government, in place of one of the most expensive in the world; if ever we are to have a simple and uniform code of laws, instead of being overwhelmed by a mass of incongruous legislation, we must reduce the power of the provinces, and learn to place a little more confidence in the General Assembly.