TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 250, 19 December 1873, Page 3

TOPICS OF TALK.

A. dOOD deal of attention ha* been drawn of late -to the oath as taken and administered in tho Courts of Justice. From the very great difficulty in establishing cases of perjury, owing to the latitude necessary for mistakes and misunderstandings, it is lamentably common for the oath to be so degraded as to be merely a sieve through which the hardened offender filters the lie most likely to be suitable to the peculiar case in hand. Granting that the administration of the oath may in some cases prove of service in obtaining truth from an unpractised witness who, under other circumstances would be untrustworthy—who may be, by a sort of strangeness and superstitious awe, constrained into truth, yet this makes matters worse, for the more hardened and experienced the rogue be, the more falsely he will swear—*o that consequently the more advantage he has- over his less hardened brother rascal, and much more over the honest man. At present, what is sworn as true, unless proved false, must be taken into account as valid testimony by judge and jury. If the oath were abolished, more scope might remain with the Court to value evidence. The prosperous perjurer would no longer be able to gain credit by the strength of his oaths. Rascality would be on an equality, for its mere assertion would not be accepted as evidence, but would be in the letter, as it is now in the spirit, liable to the searching test of legal investigation.

Oct of the extreme desire in men's minds to recognise the law of inalienable right to what has been acquired by bona fide payment, all the complications with regard to land and land tenure seem to have arisen. Were the same harassmenta to occur in the exchange of commodities of constant requirement, some lubricating oil would long since have been applied to smooth down the absurdities complained of. Probably, too, the petty sovereignty of a landowner on his freehold has developed the earth- hunger bo peculiarly characteristic of residents in all countries where these old feudal rights with regard to land have continued to exist for any length of time. It is well known with what relish a new immigrant looks at a prospective fifty acres —although his desire cools very rapidly if the opportunity of satiety is offered to him, when he finds out that very rarely labor alone, especially where general knowledge is deficient, can altogether supplement and take the place of capital. This earthhunger often, however, leads settlers to struggle on year by year in spite of difficulties, never quite overcome ; and, after all, the reflection remains that the land might have been worked far better, and the owner without it would have lived well; and saved money while working for others, j instead of half famishing himself and his pauper family—besides which, the country would have benefitted by his labor. Many j minds have for some time been directed to the false ideas and encumbrances that surround everything connected with land. Some assert broadly that Governments have no right to sell an acre—that all belongs to the people. This is met by the fact that Governments are the people—at least, would bo so entirely if manhood suffrage pure and simple existed. Others, again, flay that all Crown Lands should be vested inthe Stato, particularly in young countries where the greater portion "of land is yet unalienated, and that a land tax should be charged on all sold lands, to make the owners re-sell to the State or force them to make their acres of such value that the tax would be of no practical significance. The Land being the State's, no rights could divert to even perpetual lessees that would be paramount to the rights of the people—the real as well as nominal landlord. Whether any complete system will be workod out by the astute thinkers erfgaged in this and kindred problems, in time to be of any service towards reconciling class antagonisms in Australia and New Zealand, is a matter of doubt. Nevertheless, opinion must certainly be turning very rapidly towards some such consummation, when a Minister of the Crown could venture to speak as boldly as Mr. Forster did on a late occasion at Bradford. Using much caution, as it was necessary he should, he plainly intimated that it was a necessity that the encumbrances and difficulties with regard to tenure and exchange of land should be placed on the same footing as other commodities.

The Miners' Associations throughout the Province seem pretty well determined to try their strength on the question of the combined reduction in the price of gold made by the Banks. In this they are very wise. No one can blame the Banks for combining to get the utmost they can out of gold buying, as combination is merely a modern style of self-defence, as well as of aggressive action. But if the one side combines they can only gain the advantage they geek if the other does not If they do, the game is much the same as before. A circular has been sent, originating from Cromwell, to all the mining centres, urging combined action. Miners will be very short-sighted if they do not back up the Associations in any plan of notion that may be adopted. A concession of 6d. an ounce on the charge for gold duty is appreciated as a great boon, and yet an extra charge of Is. per ounce to swell the profits of shareholders is quietly accepted by a great many. The same machinery exactly should be used in self-defence as has been putin motion for attack—namely, scientific combination.

AtT times Dunedin developes seasons of 0 mild epidemic of cerebral excitement. If we had space or ability it would be interesting to ascertain the causes of this peculiar characteristic shown by her inhabitants. The other day it was harbor improvement—which appears to crpp up once a-year, with more violence in its fifth anniversaries. Next, it is drainage ; then gas works; and now, the latest development has taken the form pf a Medical

School. So long as the University takes upon itself the expense and burden of a Professor of Medicine, providing out of its own _ revenues, it is no business of the public's; but if a vote is to be got from the Provincial Council to establish a Medical College for the purpose of issuing Otago degrees, it is quite time that attention was drawn to the fact. It might be far more advisable, if it is so necessary that our doctors shall be reared here, to select, by a severe competitive examination, the most promising lads, and send them to the chief centres of learning in Europe—not only more advisable, but infinitely cheaper. For the next twenty years to come Dunedin might turn out a second-class hospital dresser, or a proficient chemist's assistant, but we do not believe that medical men of real ability can be locally trained, for the very practical reason that the professors capable of thoroughly instructing in any one branch of medicine will not be obtainable. It is well known that the eminent Professors at the Medical Colleges in Great Britain and Ireland confine themselves to special branches of the profession, the whole staff employed at each College being very considerable. The too early forcing of Otago degrees would infallibly deteriorate the value of the article produced. It would be sadly galling, too, to find out that an Otago degree had currency nowhere else 1 . A. little more patience. Talent will find its level without hothouse work.