TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 246, 21 November 1873, Page 3

TOPICS OF TALK.

Mb. Dillox is the, successful ten-, derer for /contracts .- Nos.' 1 and 2.. Mr. Robert proceeding with'great vigor to 'complete his portion of the race, near Hill's Creek, and Mr. Dillon will very shortly complete his present contract of ten miles! The contracts let to Mr. Abbot, as most of; our readers are aware, are at opposite ends of the line of race already opened—the one for twenty miles being from the termination of Pearce's contract to the source of supply, the lower one being seventeen and a half miles this side of Dillon's sectiou. If this lower contract was cut soon, and the survey of the section at the Naseby end pushed on, very_shortly the line'of race would be continuously cut, not to the source certainly, but to a first-rate water supply —which, if for. no other use than to thoroughly stanch the race, would.do great arid considerable service. We hear, however, that the. far .contract is to be. proceeded with first. ' If this be so, no one can help thinking that a mistake will be committed ; unless, indeed, itis feared that the farther contract will be unable, to be worked at all, if not done at once, till the next summer, on account of the. elevation. We are not aware on what terms these contracts have been let to Mr. Abbott. Probably a-.-limit has been fixed as to time in which to complete them both—buf; that limit being observed is a-very improbable matter, considering the state of the labor market. Representations might very well' be made to urge-the contractor to complete the seventeen miles and a half contract' first. i

Veby extraordinary and barren news is often transmitted by cablegram from Europe. It is very seldom we have so much pleasure from that, source of communication as id a late message to the effect that the owners of the MuSpanish steamer which sunk the North fleer, and abandoned the passengers to their fate, have been, adjudged to pay £24,000, or, in default, the steamer is ordered to be sold. A more heartless act was never committed than the desertion of the helpless ship crowded with human beings. Probably those concerned in it' could not be punished in a more effective way than by touching their pockets.

••1! ' The Northern papers, when tired of political strife, seek refuge and slight relaxation by indulging in imaginary flesh and blood battles—the foes being Russians or Americans, and the defendants armed forces of trained Colonial Militia. We. are treated; to costly and ridiculous schemes of Colonial defence; schemes of Colonial federation for defence purposes, &e., If any think it worth- while to 'come all this way to atta6k ;; us;'depend upon it' they can extort our money whether we will or no. ' But this stretch of imagination is absurd in the extreme. .War, in mpdem times, is a matter- of weeks, or months at the most, and a massing'together of troop's. The old skirmishing warfare of a hundred years ago is npw a thing of the past. Belligerent nations generally agree to leave alone neutral and unprotected people -r-even extending this con-cession and protection to mercantile marine. It- would be far more rational to depend upon and foster these civilising tendencies, • than' to offer a foolish provocative, in. the shape of training ships and Whitworth guns—: utterly useless, unless, indeed, in the indirect advantages possibly gained of fostering manliness and independence in our Colonial youth.

The Dunedin papers and' the ' Hawke's Bay Herald ' almost simultaneously announce cases of death while patients were being put into a state of anaesthesia by the administration of chloroform. In botli cases the operation ; was removal of cancer,.and in both cases drinking habits were suspected. Iff is to be regretted that such accidents should occur, because they shake the'confidence of the public in /availing, themselves of a great boon—a saving of pain under operation, and often of life. It is not remembered that ; for one case that occurs where i there is a fatal result—and it is by no

means proved that deaths have occurred from the effects-of the chlomform itself—thousands •of operations are performed under anaesthetics with beneficial and perfectly safe results. To hazard a' guess as to the reason why these cases are mere frequently reported iii the Colonies, we should say that the' impurity of the drug supplied has a great deal,- to answer for. An institution like .the, Dunedin Hospital should be provided with a pure druo\ It would have been more satisfactory if, at the inquest held there, the verdict at which" acquitted everybody concerned of 'carelessness, an analysis of the, chloroform used had been supplied;

A cobhespOjStdent in another column informs us that Captain Hamilton and R. Oliver, Esq., M.P.C., waited upon the Provincial Executive with regard to the long-expressed want of abridge over the : Taieri at Hamilton. We have so long advocated this very desirable object that it was a pleasure to us to hear that the project was very favorably received. The bridge is not a matter of any engineering difficulty—itis a mere question of expense. Our correspondent puts yerj forcibly the claim of Hamilton to some local expenditure, it having'."been out in the cold for a period. It will be a pleasant task to have to relate the laying of the foundation stone. Much constant,agitation,is, however, needed, amid the general clamor from every district in the Province, to secure the most palpably necessary works —and our advice to Hamilton is still to agitate in the matter.

Theue is.and has been for some time excessive vagueness as to the position of political parties in France. This has been the case more or less since Frenchmen gave up fighting (Germans —preferring internecine war and confusion. There is, however, a greater prospect of domestic and social relations being placed on a more permanent footing now than there has been of late, though, in France, that appearance may be of. false things most false. After the resignation of Thiers Marshal M'Mahon held the supreme power, but he found it impossible to control the.monarchical intrigues going on among the Orleanist Princes to establish a monarchy. Wisely, he threw the responsibility of decision upon the Assembly,- stating that without more authority the Executive could not maintain order.. A resolution was subsequently carried, by a large majority, extending • M'Mahon's Presidency for ten years. This action has positively committed France to attempt to establish and maintain Government. So far, the balance has been on the move—one way now, the other the next day, as the leading men asserted in turn thair views or strength of will. How long will it last ? Who can say ? Fortune's wheel, the move-* ments of which have been reduced to a 'scientific certainty in games of still, or in races with fire or death, seems'but an untrustworthy jade when dealing with .the fates of great nations.

A prophet is verily not a prophet in his own country. Mr. Fitzherbert, after all his hard fighting during the late session of the Assembly to obtain Colonial loaves a,nd fishes for Wellington, has not proved able to manage the Council of which, he is Superintendent. Mr. Bunny's Executive got thrown out immediately on the Council meeting together, on a direct question of finance. By a series of little dodges, Mr. Fitzherbert and his astute Treasurer concocted a scheme to enable the Province of Wellington' to borrow in a similar manner to what they would have been able to do if the Provincial Loans Bill had passed into law. "Au Ordinance called the Public, Works Appropriation,, Bill was introduced, enabling an overdraft to be borrowed of £175,006 at six per cent—nd't fyr\ expenditure, that was already provided for by mortgage, but for public works. The Council would have nothing to do j with it, so a prorogation, with a view i to a dissolution, is the position of affairs—instead of a session at the outset announced to last only some" Wo

or three weeks. The Provinces should have more power or less—the present system seems, to lead only to. crisis after crisis.