TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 221, 23 May 1873, Page 3

TOPICS OF TALK.

A snoirr period during which pheasants may be shot iu the Waikouaiti District has been notified in the 'Provincial Government Gazette.' So far as the acclimatisation result is concerned this is a subject for granulation, and no doubt the birds, having taken so well, will soon spread up S.iag Valley as far as Waihemo. It appears, however that a license, costing. 5J*., must be first of all procured, shooting without which the sportsman will incur a fine of not more than £2O. This relic ot English feudal law would'-have been better done without, if we cannot have pheasants and liberty toother perhaps we • should miss the birds the least. Nearly all the feu Is, ■strikes, and class distinctions in England between the agricultural lower classes and the landowners have arisen more or les~ out of the Game Laws, and yet our Government introduces the thin end of the same oppressive wedge in chis peaceful younir country True, such a provision is harmless at present —the cockatoos and their bo?s scattcredabout the Shag Valley will notbother their- heads about licenses, and it is .not very clear who is to interfere with them. Nevertheless, a system that has been tried and found wanting—except in drunkenness, 'poverty and murder—is directly attempted to be fostered—a system, that, under a Government composed mainly •frcm landowners, will gather body day by day, gradually approximating to the jtiame Laws of Great Britain. The 'country is young, wide, and thinly populated. If pheasants are so fairly rooted as to make it desirable to reduce their number, no disturbance they would be likely to suhvr from licensed or- uidieensed guns would prevent their rapidly spreading oyer a wide extent of country.

Messrs. Thomson, and Armstrong in labor over the Cinsiilutional quest ion, as. they choftse t:> call a superfluity of.suppressed bile, afford one of the moat grotesque sights of the Provincial session ! On the Order Paper we now find Mr. Armstrong fathering a motion- to assert the independence of the Provincial Council, and to enable members, of the Executive Council to serve as -members of the Proviiu-uil Council sh >uld they be reelected. " "Wo. need not far to see the aut.hor of his motion,'br.Might before the Council by means ofour.jienial hearted limmbeiv The Council. ;as sat nearly a fortnight, at an expense.of about £IOOO, and has only talked about and attempted to assert a high-handed Constitutional independence for a moribund body that, we venture, to say, one-half of t'»e member's are pledged to assist to die easily (impossible) but, at all hazards, to die shortly. Right through the late debate, amidst all those flowers of rhetoric and personal spleen so freely showered; we have no single trace, nor even hint, of the mortality of the Council itself. Who shall be Secretary, Treasurer, Solicitor, &c? that is all. .Not as' ;it should'be —Is this wrangling body any good? Shall it be buried away—the senile carcass, querulous with age and decrepitude, with no resemblance to the strength of the.days of its youth.

St. Diinstan had lost the favor of the Kinj he retired to a little cell built against the church wall at Glastonbury. One evening as he w.is working very busily at his forge his old

I enemy the Devil—they'ha J had niany a set-to before—putting on the apj pea ran en of a m.n.j, put his' head in "at the window of his cell, asking hitn to "make something or other for him. St. Dnnstan was so intent upon his work that he made no answer, upon^which the Devil to s*.vear. . This, however betrayed him, But the holy blacksni.t 1 was prepared for all carnalities; so, .putting up a secret ejaculation, he pulled his-tongs, which were red hot, out of the fire, and seizing the Devil by the nose, squeezed the Satanic' of smell with a decree of energy which caused his Infernal "Ma.-.' jesty to bellow and scold at such a rate that he awakened and terrified all the people for many miles round. We would not have reproduced this old legend, but it was brought very forcibly?" into cur recollection by observing a notice on the Provincial Council Order Paper, by Mr asking for leave to introduce an amended Licensing Ordinance. Is. Saul also among tho . .prophets ?

Mn. Batitox's, motion—" That the Provincial Council should»record itsapprobation of the efforts of Mr Piiu'isnll, M P. for Derby, to obtain a Parliamentary, inquiry into- his against English shipowners for send-' inu: to sea and merchant shins overloaded, uu ler-manncd, "insufficiently found, unseawo.rthy, ..and uninsurable" —was for the time allowed to drop, owin-jj to the neeops'ty of considering the Ministerial crisis and his Honor's message. We hope,, however, that this question will bobrought, up ajjain in. the Assembly. The 'Star,' in an able article, has; pointed out that the rapid improvement i.i all mercantile marine makes it a direct temptation for owners to do away with ships that have to be superseded by a superior class. To us this question is a vital one, for if, as has b.'-en proposed,.-a line of steamers are. to run direct,, obviously these fine clipper ships that now are the pride of' Port Chalmers will not be able to competo with them as to length of voyage or punctuality, so that-very possibly they may be insured for a sum that they would not realise in the market, and tempt unscrupulous owners to destroy them—without loss of life, if possible, but at all risks to destroy them. Mr Plimsoll deserves every support the Colonies can j?:ve him in "carrying out his philanthropic enquiries.

Mi?. Batiton* also tabled a motion, or patlior set of motions, to the effect- that . in future no GoMfields Warden op Kesidont Magistrate should be appointed who is not legally trained—at least, that seems the meaning of the motion! This is virtually, an opinion of cen?ure on our Wardens which is thoroughly uncalled for. But \\o are inclined to think-that it is better that these officer.? should not be. lawyers.. If they were,"a few of the ap'peal cases might probably not occur ; but, on the other hand, miich law would be encouraged by the knowledge of all the legal possibilil ies,, depths, and ~eaver-. nous places pertaining to the law, that it would be presu'ned the Bench would be acquainted with. . Any case of importance, where the law is doubtful, is . surf* to bo argued hv skilled counsel. We think justice will be quite "as wellmet by such arguments being heard and decided before men of ability, such as the Warden in our own district, as before an" a eraged-brained passed lawver. Certainly no lawyer of any ability would submit to the insufficient salary the Wardens receive for arduous responsible work, most efficiently performed.

Br the Superintendent's Address vra learn that 2U3,138 acres of rural" land have been sold during the past year ; this is-distributed among 401 buyers, giving each an average acreage of-over • 507 acres. -. This land should have., settled a populnt on of 2000, giving. each .100 acres. It would have been wiser to have'given the land away to 2000 able ir.cn wro had capital enough to go to work at their 100 acres than to.sell it to the smaller number, of 4.01 at a price, in many eases," not netting above . 16s. ] f the big block system is still to continue the sooner the price, of land is raised to.£2 per acre the bitter. \;r