MR. TROLLOPE A NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 63, 13 March 1872, Page 2

MR. TROLLOPE A NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT.

■ o Mr. Anthony Trollope, so well and favorably known as a novel writer, has made his debut in a new walk of literature. For the nonce he has dropped the novelist, and has commenced the career of a newspaper correspondent, having, under the signature of " Antipodean," contributed to the London Daily Telegraph the first of a series of letters upon the various Australian coloniea, beginning with Queensland. In commenting upon some of these papers the Melbourne Aye ol February 19 says : — There is some danger that Mr. Trollops' s hish literary reputation may induce the English public to attach more importance to his statements— many of which are, to For remainder of news see fourth page.

say the least, inaccurate — than they in reality deserve. He expresses a very favorable opinion of the employment of South Sea Islanders in cotton and sugar plantations. According to him the treatment of the colored" men is uniformly good — " Of the welfare of the men on the stations I can speak from personal observation j their bright appearance, happy demeanor, and almost invariable good conduct, are matters of remark throughout the colony. I cannot find that any serious complaint has been made as to their treatment. No punishment is ever used except by appeal to a magistrate, who can deal with a determined idler as he would "with a white laborer refusing to execute his contract. Such appeals are so rare as to be almost out of the question." We do not suppose that Mr. Trollope has wilfully mis-stated facts, but it is quite clear that upon the Polynesian labor question he has been but partially informed. He does not seem to be aware that in addition to the difficulty of providing interpreters no islander who is not a Christian can be a competent witness. The result is that in an attempt to obtain justice against bis employer the Polynesian labors under great disadvantages. But the police courts are constantly made use of to compel the men to work, and to forfeit a portion of their wages for disobedience. The records of the Brisbane bench would show numerous instances of summonses bringing the servants under the Master and Servants Act. Nineteen colored men left the plantations of a Mr. Raff at Cabulture, and complained to the Brisbane court that they had not sufficient food. The case against them could not be beard through the inability of the authorities to swear them or to procure an interpreter, but there was nothing to prevent the unfortunate men being fined and threatened with imprisonment unless they went back to the plantation. A gross miscarriage of justice occurred in the case of the girl Naguinauibo, who charged the notorious Ross Lewin with a criminal assault. Being a heathen, the prosecutrix could not be examined as a witness, and the case was dismissed. And these occurrences took place at the capital. If the islanders cannot get justice at Brisbane, they are not likely to obtain it in any other part of the colony. It is not very long ago since the gaol afc Rockhampton was so overcrowded by the number of South Sea Islanders confined there, that a number of prisoners had to camp out in the open air, there being no room in the cells. In March, 1869, twenty-four Polynesians sentenced to several months' imprisonment for disobedience of orders were brought by steamer to Brisbane from Townville. If it were necessary, we could quote numerous other similar cases. It is quite clear that Mr. Trollope knows but little about the treatment of Polynesian laborers in Queensland. Nor is he more accurate in his statements about kidnapping, which he cannot learn has ever taken place in the Polynesians intended for the Queensland market. "I doubt," he says, " Whether one man in the colony believes the charge to be true." Did he never hear of the King Oscar ? Is he ignorant of the case of the schooner Jason, whose captain was fined £50, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment ?

If Mr. Trollops desires to acquire in his new field the same high reputation which he has already obtained in another, he will have to exercise an immense amount of caution, to sift every item of information he receives, to examine and cross-examine, to distrust the motives of the persons with whom he is brought into contact, and to carefully weigh the value oi each statement. Unless he be willing to take all this trouble it would be better for his fame to bring his engagement with the newspaper press to as abrupt a conclusion as possible.

another now dead and buried city resident of Auckland. Before the buyer of the section died he made a will, and gave the section to his son, and at his death the son built on it. Then the son of the seller after a time discovered, or thought he discovered, that his father had no right to part with the land, and he brings an actiou against the son of the buyer for arrears of rent, interest thereon accruing, and also for the land to be restored to him as the rightfal heir. But now comes in a brother of the seller of the section, who says that the son now claiming the property has no right to it, inasmuch as he is unable to prove that he was born in wedlock. The son said not to have been born in wedlock goes to la*v against the son of the father who bought the section. The jury declares he is born in wedlock, and that the land belongs to him, and ail that is thereon it. One would think this would end the dispute. Not a bit of if, for it is hardly commenced. The beaten son applies for a rule nisi for afresh action. The case is argued for twelve days in banco, and a fresh action is allowed. Then the brother of the original vendor applies for an injunction that the reuts of the property shall not be paid to either of the claimants. Injunction on argument is granted (costs altogether up to this point £482 6s. Bd.). Now another claimant comes forward who says that 26 years ago he took a mortgage over the land which was sold by the one father aforesaid to the other father hereinbefore nienti ;ned, who willed it to his soa ; but he had not registered the mortgage because he held collateral security in the shape of an acceptance which he had endorsed over to a third party who had died intestate before the bill matured. A writ is now issued in prohibition, and lawyers are puzzled to know how the case stands, although their clerks are not iv entering the costs. There have been arguments in demurrer, making the costs amount in all to £672 3s. 4d. ; rules nisi, applications for specific relief, interpleaders, non pros and more arguments in banco, which have added £292 13s. 4d. more to the expenses previously incurred in the proceedings. There is a good deal more yet to be done and the dispute it is thought will be brought to a termination pome time towards the end of the year 1880. This is " banco." The property under the litigation is worth about £350. By the time it has been decided who shall have it, over £2,000 will have been paid in law expenses. Glorious thing •' banco " is, is it not ? Neaaly as expensive as horse racing, but not half so exciting.— Auckland Weekly News.