TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 242, 24 October 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

Air Act that wo have very little respect for- has quietly passed both Houses. It is styled " L'he Pjjotection ef Animals Act," and is to come into operation on the Ist January, 1874. It-defines as game: pheasants, partridges, grouse, black same, ptarmigan, quaila, snipe, p over, swans, hares, antelopes, deei% and any specks of imported duck ; as " nal.ive.gamc :" wild duck of any species, bittern, pied stilt plover, wild geese, dotteroll, tui, native pigeon, teal, black stilt plover,-curlew, aud quail. A curious feature in this Act is that Acclimatisation Societies, t&rigji-gh. their Chairmen, are given an jjabS6lute property in every bird or aniih;al,.sbf a like species to any tbey uiay turn out, for three years in any district, provided that they notify suc!r turning out at the. time twice'in the local newspaper—so that, anyone kill-' ing the progeny of such turned-out birds two years after the notification, would be mak'ng away with vested property. The close seasons are most severely guarded, and their length prescribed. The exact dates are to be fixed by the - Superintendent?, but in no case are game to be shot during more thau three -consecutive months, ifor native game during more than four. Clause 26 is rather ominous. It runs thus : —'• Jf any person whatever shall, at any time, commit any trespass by entering or being upon any land in the search of or in pursuit of game or native game, such person shall, on conviction thereof before two Justices of the Peace, forfeit and pay such sum Qf money not exceeding twenty pounds as to such Justices shall seem meet," Ac. If anyone shoots game without holding a license, not to exceed -fifty' shillings, he is to be mulct of £2O. £2O is the penalty for exposing for sale a hen pheasant; and so on throughout/ Tho Act is one specially for our landed eeia-uors, who are becoming,so firmly rdoted throughout the Colony. It is a burden bearable, perhaps, now, because utterly unenforeiblej but that will be "intolerable when the Colony matures and our young boys begin to grow up in larger quantities. What the Act really amounts to is this.: that the young settlers will be absolutely prohibited from taking gun in hand, •and so one of the few sports likely to induce that manliness we like, as Englishmen, to boast of, is taken from them, or, as an alternative, they will break tho law, and be at the mercy of two Justices of the Peace—themselves probably game 'proprietors —and be branded as criminals, thus receiving the first impetus in a downward bourse leading, too often, to the gallows.,' Vti.r from having-any. sympathy with the Act, ip is. to us utterly "offensive and unnecessary.

Twenty thousand immigrants to arrive in six months is somewhat tall talk. Nevertheless,- that is what our telegrams announced last week as the Government programme. It is very pleasant to believe that the decision just arrived at is to grow into such satisfactory results as are pictured—that some 15,000 Britons, at present firmly settled in their native country rather well-to-do, by the bye,' some earning 10s. per diem —"coal miiicrs- and .others —s':iall be busily engaged in a few months' time reaping the harvest in New Zealand already brairding above the ground.. 'A very pleasant belief, if "such' belipfivere possible ! To us, An effort, however, is to hojpa.de : -rnot before needed—to bringout-lahor in a! slight'degree pi:oportiqn-al ■ to- the pub-.' lie works' now' in progrosa,- -..: Dj\ tea- j thorst.o.u may ho able, to 'at once, char-1 ter.two large steamers, as instructed; and .1111 them ■ with immigrants of--'a kind; wo do not expect much more. In-truth; the drainage from ttnjjlaud, and: Scotland of unihizrnnt* fjr all P ( art^'of; world'has been so exces eivo of late, that it. has tenctad to very considerably relieve ; , the anxieties and underpayments of these'who are left. Consequently, this desirable remnant are by no means anxious to exchange ft country to which they;are attache'd, end of whose histdry arid iraditious they are proud, for even; the inducements and temptations held out by the New Zealand agejtts!.; SfcUl,. there i» a

field open to them for the display of a well-organised system, which will have to be conducted in something o£ the old recruiting stylo-—instead- of taking the King's shilling, it wi!i be■•accepting the emigration ticket. There are always a large class of persons temporarily unsettled in the most prosperous countries, to whom a payment of pasRage to the port of embarkation, and a. free transit across the ocean, will be a .decisive mlricoment. ~We must not be too particular as" to antecedents, that is all. The discipline of having to work, and the fresh attrition with energetic men on all sides, will no doubt beneficially leaven eveii very unpromising material. It is a noteworthy feature; of the Order in Council "referred' to' above that any Colonist can bring out any person who is willi to come —-we presume a healthy adult —free of cost, by simply nominating him or her at the Government'offices in New Zealand. This is a eapital feature in the programme, for nothing can so conduce to the contentment of Colonists a3 having near them friends with whom they have been earlier in lite assOeiate'd. There is too a neutralising effect in sympathetic growling---perhaps, to. put ; it stronger still, a .'transforming process, sufficient, from the joint grumbles of congenial minds, to spread abroad an idea of general prosperity and much comfort. We speak of ordinary British souls, who have made ;the art of growling a perfected science. ;Wherever a real grievance has sprung up into prominence, has it "riot always been the case that it has arisen from the cry of an individual? A solo always—possibly a duet—but never at the beginning a fuli chorus.

There are few things more .vexatious to the man iu business - than the extreme delays- that always follow'before debts due to him from intestate estates ai'e paid up by the Curator.- Fortunate, indeed, he u? if he gets fifty per cent, of his money from a solvent estate wound up, after a delay of nine or even twelve months. An Act called the Public Trusts Act Amendment Bill has been passed, which, it 'is. thought, may facilitate matters somewhat. It dues away entirely with''the Curators,, oppointing one official Trustee, who, is-to-be solely responsible for the adminis-' tration of estates . not otherwise'provided for, such as arise from intestacy or lunacy;- Three mouths' dehvphas to be given in all cases where the estates in question are presumedly worth more than £ji) ; then he (the Trustee) may obtain an order from a Judge of the Supreme Court, which, after proper notifi ati m. enables him to proceed to wind up. Properties under £SO in value can 'be dealt 'with summarily ; and in all cases where goods .arc, in question, likely to. lose value by a lengthened withdrawal from the market, they may be. realised upon,, and the cash value deposited till- the prescribed del >ys have taken place. The details of ihe Act are purely technical. Whether it will be an improvement or not on the present system will probably depend on the clerical staff the Trustee is provided with. With a large influx of population', the majority probably, not of the- most methodic kind, this office is likely, for sorno years' to come, to be a busy one.