Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1000. More Laws.

Manawatu Herald, 17 July 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1000. More Laws.

» For that at the end of a Session there comes a "slaughter of the innocents " the general public have much to be thankful for. Every year an immense number of Bills get into parliament which their sponsors ardently wish to see upon the Statute Book, but which for the freedom of the individual and the chances of his being able to exist are far better in the waste-paper basket. As in the past so it is at the present and copies of Bills are daily being received by us, the growth of which into Acts would occasion the necessity of either instituting a Chinese examination board, or else the offer of a coupon to the public who had properly mastered their contents. Amongst the Bills we notice the Premier purposes making any contraot exceeding the value of £20 a " public oontract," which will compel the contractor to observe the length of the working-day, and wages, as those fixed under any award or order of the Court of Arbitration. The Premier has already had his " Imprisonment for debt limitation Bill " under discussion, in which the proviso that no imprisonment on a judgment debt which does not exceed £10, has met with anything but unanimous approval, some desiring that there shall actually be no imprisonment, and others that those who incur debts under £10, which might be many in number, do as much harm to the honest community as those owing more. Everything points to the day not being far j distant when credit will not be given or only as a debt of honour. Until that time comes it appears that the debtor of small sums is as much to

blame as he who owes large sums» both no doubt mean to be honest, but circumstances have been against them. Mr Collins has a Bill of three clauses to aboligh capital punishment and to enforce imprisonment with hard labour for the full term of life. Mr Pirani has been busy during the recess in framing Bills, and his name is on many relating to a variety of subjects, none of which are likely to become law. The Hon. Major Steward introduces the " Statutes Compilation Bill," which if carried would render the law clearer and easier for the layman, and thorefore his good intentions are likely to come to naught. Mr Lawry wants to get the companion Act to the Deceased Wife's Sister Bi 1 upon the Statutes, in the shape of the Deceased Husband's Brother Marriage Bill, otherwise jocularly known in the Houae as "Brother Bill." Mr Gilfedder, M.H.R., a schoolmaster out of Session time, has an Inspectors of Schools Bill wlreh purposes places the Inspectors under the Government and out of the control of the Education Boards. The Premier is determined to abolish Trading Stamps and Coupons and has a Bill to give effect to it. Shorthand reporting in the Supreme Court is proposed by the Hon. W. C. Walker, and as it will lighten the labour of the judges and reduce expenses to litigants it is probable that it will become law. The same Minister ia desirous of securing Young Persons protection from themselves by the summary process of forbidding their being out in the streets between nine o'clock at night and five o'clock in the morning, under pain of being detained and brought before a magistrate. It is a latter day Curfew bell proposal and is a happy illustration of the liberty of the subject. It is extremely doubtful if the Bill becomes law this session. It is proposed by the Hon. Mr Ward under the " Animals Protection Acts Amend-' ment " to stop game or native game being exported from the colony without the written consent of the Colonial Secretary; and no game shall be held in possession for a greater period than seven days after the close of the game season whether it be frozen, chilled, or not. The new Minister for Agriculture has the " Orchard and Garden Pests Bill and the Slaughtering and Inspection Bill " to pilot through the House.

Mr Harry Vogely son of the late Sir Julius marries Miss Elsa Levin this mouth in London. Mr Edward Coley is having a residence built on Johnston street. The deputy Official Assignee in bankruptcy announces that Thomas *Nye was adjudged a bankrupt on Friday and the first meeting will be held at Palmerston on Monday next. Who would not be a Minister if they could! especially now when their salaries are to be raised to £1250 a year withhouse allowance of £206. Of course the Premier gets more, some £17500 but then he is worth all the rest put together. Five hundred Sepoys, forming part 1 of the military force in British Central Africa, have been ordered to leave ' Berbera for Ashanti. The Free Lance suggests that at least two members of Parliament had strong personal reasons for supporting the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Bill. The steamer Chingtu sailed from Foochow on the 15th inst. with 1,4000,---000 pounds of tea for the Australian colonies, the shipment being of common and medium kinds. There is a strong demand from Europe and other places, and prices have advanced 10 per cent. Holders are supporting the market. As Mr Parata thinks there are no noxious weeks indigenous to New Zealand, and the Europeans having brought them here, and being solely responsible for the crime, the Maori people ought not to be called upon to pay for remedying its effects. It is curious reading to find that all our enemies outclass us in artillery — such as the Boers and Chinese. As regard to the latter their weapons are superior to all the allies. At last the government are awakening to the fact that protected industries are a traud. The public have had to pay more for matches owing to the fad of having some locally made in Wellington which have been no better or cheaper than the imported ones and the Premier says the Colony has lost £10.000 a year ! It is easy to know who has benefitted to that extent. The government propose to deal with the matter this session. Real prohibitionists. The British Resident last year took a poll on the island of Aitutaki (Cook Islands) as to whether that place did require the introduction and sale of wine and beer. The result was conclusive, inasmuch that 337 voted for total prohibition as against 115 for wine and beer. Last week's Canterbury Times has its usual quota of views, some of much interest, such as the Little Orphan rock in the Yang-tse-kiang river. There are two gruesome photographs of the battlefield at bpion-Kop showing how thick our men laid dead, and the battlefield burial ground. Such are some of the horrors of war. A full page portrait of the Hon. John McLenzie is also presented with the paper. The Cook Islanders have just passed a law that it shall not be lawful to prosecute any person "for placing one's arm round a woman, even ' though the offender have no torch in the other hand, and for crying over a dead woman, even though not related to ben

The new clergyman, tor Otaki, the Rev. C. T. Pargiter objects to dancing at church socials. The fifth Special War Number of the Review of Reviews reminds us of the efforts made by the Australasian editor to cover up the pro- Boer declarations of the Editor-in-chief. His action is to be applauded for no one wants to lose the. Review of Reviews though they may have but a poor opinion of the loyalty of the good man Stead. "The "fighting for the month " by the Rev W. H. Fitchett is well put together and he rightly says "for fire and movement, unity and dramatic completeness, resembls nothing so much as a great warlike epic." A doctor connected with the Adelaide Hospital, who has had large experience of the plague in the East, has made an important discovery. He states that the swallowing of the plague prophylactic is as efficacious as its injection in cases of plague, while the fever that usually follows upon injection is absent. He experimented on a number of animals before he and another doctor swallowed the preparation. The Minister of Lands has said the Government would endeavour to frame a scheme for subsidising medical practitioners for medical attendance on poor and struggling settlers in the back blocks. Last night's Post says, " the Official Assignee's representative Mr E. Gerard, has again gone to Foxton in connection with the estate of Joe Tos, his object being the sale of the two flaxmills. He will also liquidate all claims which have arisen through carrying on the business after bankruptcy. An offer has been made for both the ••' Crown " and "Bridge " mills, but Mr Gerard will not recommend acceptance until he has made another attempt to sell at the reduced prices the Assignee is now prepared to accept." We can add that he is here and has an advertisement which should be read. The following formal motion was passed by the Wellington City Council to give effect to its decision respecting the taking over £f the tramway service: — "That the, Council hereby resolves to* borrow the sum of £30,000 # by way of special loan for the purchase of the lands, buildings, permanent way, horses, rolling stock, and plant and tenements of the Wellington City Tramways, and hereby directs the necessary steps to be taken to obtain the sanction of the burgesses to the proposal to borrow such sum." In the House on Friday the Hon. J. G. Ward said the Government had come to the decision that it would mot purchase the railway under the terms of the existing agreement. That was a definite statement, made after the matter had been fully and impartially considered by the Government, and he made that statement for these reasons. If the Manawatu Company had been desirous of the Government's acquiring the line, it ought to have set out what it proposed to offer, what it was the company was anxious for the Government to--secure. There was the line itself and the land, and the Government was not, on behalf ot the people of the colony, going to negotiate . for the worst part of the estate, and to allow the better part to be set aside for the use of the shareholders. Commenting upon the foreign outlook the London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times remarks :— The action of France as regards Morocco is fraught with the gravest peril. That a disposition did exist even a week ago to try conclusions with England about Morocco is quite certain. But a week has made a good deal of difference. In the first place Germany has said very distinctly that she will have to be consulted before Morocco shall be dis- ; posed of. Then Italy hinted that she had a navy, and meant to see that Italian interests in the Mediterranean were not infringed. And now, above all, England, after being represented time after time as a mere " quantite negligeable" on land, after being declared over and over again to be hopelessly beaten by such a little insignificant nation as the Boers, after sending out all her soldiers and denuding the Mother Country of its defenders, has suddenly to be tecognised as having demolished her foes, virtually annexed the whole of the hostile territory — an area in comparison with which AlsaceLorraine shrinks to a mere backyard — and now, after performing feats of transport such as the world has previously never seen or dreamt of, has nearly a quarter of a million veterans who have undergone their baptism of fire, and woo atone? of affi Eaeopeafr soldiers have been tinned and drilled by practical' experience under the actual conditions of modern warfare* while the vastnes* of the British re* sources bw been merely hinted* at by what ha» yet taken place. These facts "give pause " even to the rankest and blindest of Chauvinists. The annual meeting of the Foxton Racing Club will be held on Friday evening next, at 8 o'clock. Mr S. R. Couch has started in business in town on his own account as watchmaker and manufacturing jeweller. He is well known as having been in the employ of Mr Joe Tos, and should receive the support of the pub* lie. He has a good stock to select from.