Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1884. THE OLD YEAR.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 42, 30 December 1884, Page 2

Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1884. THE OLD YEAR.

Tub year 1884 will not be a 1 !and-j | mark in the history of mankind, though! it hixn been by no means uneventful. The head' of the Empire on which tho sun never sets has been called upon to ; lose her favorite son, and has also the pain <.f a family scandal. The widower of her second daughter a secret unit half-und-half; sort of marriage with a lady of longer; | head than pedigre. . The Queen of Britain and the Emperor of Germany took the matter very much to heart,' and treated the erring duke* like a naughty boy. The matter appears to be still unsettled, the duk« desiring tlie lidy, the lady refusing to agree to a divorce, aud*all..ihe high fashionable society cutting , the^ runn. on whom kings and queens frown.

In British politics the chief interest has gathered round the Franchise JBili — a measure worthy to rauk side by side with Magaa Cuarta and the Reform Bill, of 1834, just fifty y«arß ago. The rejection of this great measure by the House of Lords' raised such a storm against the hereditary chamber that, had that body been cursed with a little more obstinacy, it Would certainly have received its tU-ath blow. A compromise has, however, been arrived at, and by redistributing the seats the Bill, ha\ing really been made a nioi'e radical one that it was before, has passed into law.

The cities of Britain have been held in considerable tenor by the attempts of the extreme Irish party in t Americi to blow up* public buildings. Hitherto* these wretches have been as unlucky as they deserve. Their numerous failures, and the little accidents that have led to them, look very like a just Provi-, dence opposing itself steadily to the insane wickedness of these men. While Britain has been thus troubled, the a ontinent' has suffered from a much more real calamity— cholera. It fir§£ appeared at Toulon, a great French' seaport on the Mediterranean. Thence it Bpread Marseilles, Cannes, and other cities, completely driving away from the south of France, not only vast" herds of American and other tourists, but also all the inhabitants who wero| rich enough to remove. Even the poor went in thousands to the country, there to suffer exposure and hunger. The mortality was very great, reaching hundreds per diem. isut the greatest cost of life was in Italy, where, in Naples alone, the death rate reached 800 a day. Spain also had a slight, i visitation. But Germany and . the United Kingdom have thus far been j exempted from the plague. I British interests abroad have provided some interesting chapters of history. The valor and resource of one man — Gordon — have stirred the nations heart to its very depth. Nothing since the days of the chivalrous knights of old can compare with Gordon's romantic career. An army, under Britain's pet general, is undertaking one of the most hazardous and difficult marches in the world for the rescue of that one man. Trouble of a more or less serious character has also arisen in South Africa with the Boers. The matter is, however, still undeveloped, but may form an important chapter in the story of 1885. Of foreign troubles the chief has been the Chinese war. In this the French have done aud are doing a vast injury to British trade. Hitherto they have been allowed to have their fling, to bluster up and down the Chinese coast, to make many pretences of desiring peace, and to render peace impossible by their dtmands.

The annexation agitation has been vigorously followed up, and] haa culminated in a protectorate taing proclaimed over the southern part of New Guinea, [and also in the seizure byGermany of the northern part and several large islands. Perhaps one of the chief features of the present epoch is the waking up of Erance and Germany to the importance of foreign possession and the necessity of having some other home for subjects than the limits of their old historical countries.

A.anexatioa brings us to the colonies. In them the cry has been " depression." Depression has caused fires, poverty, idleness, bankruptcy, retrenchment, aud the full of Ministries. No department of business seems to have escaped. l% To Let " has been a constant sigu of the times. Some localities have been unlucky enough to get the reputation for being better off than their neighbors, and to them have flocked from all quarters the unemployed of every sort uJI the places that are reputed the most brisk have become the nost over-populated and the most oppressed by ihosn who live upon charity. Still, ihe population is known to be growing constantly, md the colony is no doubt as a whole doing well aud perhaps preparing i'or a fresh outburst of <ictivicy and growth when the present rt'iurer of discontent h ia done its work in teaching thrift aud caution. The frozen meat tra,d^ has no doubt proved, it' not a f »ihlr'H, yet a disappointment ; lot- it is fu- less profitable than was anticipated- Tii • direct steam service has during the year developed beyond all expectations, but has proved a heavy blow to our ports, though the colony as a whole, ag >iv, must be greatly profited.

Politically the year has been the most eventful for at leaat a decide past. The AT&ijiHOjr Government had renu?fed iisejf. utipupular hj jwfomg th&

grain tariff. They were defeated in Parliament and appealed to the

country. At, that moment Sir JbiAVs YoGEL appeared on the scene, and entered iuto the contest. He swured more than twenty personal followers, and about half the rest of the liew House was prepared" to back the winner. On the day on \\h\ci the House met the Continuous Mm3try resigned. Sir Julius jwas called' He formed a Ministry, with* <Mr Stol? as its fk'ure-head. He led off with a most singularly patchy and inderViite Speech from the Throne. The resultwas a dereat by a majority of iun«teen. Sir Julius remarked to uhe person who brought him the n&wj, ; •• That's a pretty brpad hint," qnd j resigned. Mr Thomson was -called and fiiled ; Sir:? George Übbt \r&si' called and failed. Major Atkinso^ was called and formed a Ministry, only, to be defeated by ,a majority of thirteen. Mr Stout was called, and is now the popular bead of a very, strong CJovernni«n ! . The chief items; of the policy of the new Ministry arp to> abolish (he Sinking Fund; to in.; scri'ie all loans; to liuild the Wfn ; Co-mt Railway, and make the West Coi.Ht hur'ors ; to build the North' Island m:.in trunk line; to appoint Kailwvp Eo.irds ; encounge the growth of sugar *td place the life a^surarce department under a n board of directors elected l»y the insured ; to subs itute a laud tax for the prop erty tax, and in general to restore con-tidi-;nce. In tbis^last we heartily wish them success, as it would go a long way towards giving us all a happy new year.