THE GOVERNMENT AND THE "PRESS."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 207, 30 August 1872, Page 2

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE "PRESS."

To the Editor op the Nelson- Evjsning Mailj Sir, — The secret of the prodigious interest taken in the doings and misdoings of the present Ministry, the secret of the warm support vouchsafed to a Government, the most wasteful and extravagant New Zealand has ever seen, js at last out. A local newspaper, it appears, sings its loud pseans of fulsome praise of Messrs. Yogel & Co. to the tune of £480 and some odd „shil!>^g S and pence, while that portion of the Press which would not 6toop to do their work is left by the Government to perish miserably in the cold. Verily, hath it come to this ? No wonder that the Colonist, when Mr. Vogel's gigantic scheme of borrowing was first inaugurated, rushed so eagerly to the front to sound the silver trumpet of Julius, and to praise to the seventh heaven the master raind that conceived the idea, citing, as a notablejexample, England's national debt, and quoting extracts to prove that Great Britain would never have attained.her present greatness were it hoi for that debt. Oh! Nelson electors, who were so zealous in returning your Cjty member, can you not see through all this political legerdemain S Can you not awake and see your actual position ere it is too late ? Js it that you can see nothing wrong in a Government as corrupt as the Duffy Ministry, who tried, like their brethren in New Zealand, to buy up a portion of the Press to hide its faults and gloss over its offences ? The former Government of this Colony was charged with extravagance, but surely the present occu-; pants pf the Treasury benches beat their predecessors hollow in this respect. .To keep the pot boiling, the Press is engaged to magnify the glories of the Fox-Vogel administration with its economical San Francisco mail service; vwith its magnificent lines of railway—Nelson and Foxhill to wit—on paper; with its steady flow of immigrants ' from all parts of the wprjd, men with. sparcejv a penny in their popkets; with its AgentGeneral at home, enjoying a salary of £20QQ a-year, and its 129 sub?agents bringing up the rear, and the sum total paid annually. With all these, and a great deal more in the background the present Government showers its favors broadcast, and then proclaims, to ftU the world—vid? the Financial Statement—that money and trade are plentiful, that prosperity is on all sides of us if we only kne^r it, that there is' work, for everybody; and none are idle, while it is as, plain* as the noonday sun oyer biir heads that the ex Act reverse is the case, and that New Zealandis" af thievery hour in asbad-a commercial, arifl fjrianpiar state as it is po^siblp to bpi'and tkafo if thjs state of things lasts much > longer, we shall have to—well, we shalji have, to repudiate our debts.. Sir, this is my opinion of the present; state oi affairs, and of the! goal \ at? iwhiph':, are; likely, to arrive if; th« ;pref!tjt;M^ in office,,. „; •' la't,.r^:;':.:V^?>{.!:; v v;:,;-;:n,'J.aa^&^;.;...-/r;'_ '""','•;•'" '■'''. "''.'■ "'':'".'-■.•".;.:' v... -.'' !',;: T» 3B» :

The following letter addressed by Manuhiri to Mr; C. 0. Davis, and published in the.. Thames Advertiser, shows that the KingiteH have no idea of war, but still intend to keep up their separation from the Europeans:— "Te Kuiti, July 21, 1872 To Mr. Davis : Salutations. My 'word to you is, that I have ceased to apprehend death by tho sword. The only thing that gives me concern is the discussion about the union of the Europeans and the Maoris. But there is one thins: that I keep constantly in mind, namely, Sir Wm. Martin's word — You shall have tho full management of your own affairs, and the Europeans shall in nowise exercise authority amongst you. This is what I cling to. 0 son, there is no righteous man — no, not one." For remainder of news see fourth page.

A Tennessee house, containing a dozen negroes, ; wasjturned oyer several timea by . a hurricane, i The negroes were absolutely uninjured ; but the house iB in a critical condition, arid fears afeexpressed fur the hurricane. A most extraordinary cricket match was played recently by the Surrey against the Marylebone Club, in which the latter, including the renowned Grace, himself, went out for a total of 16 runs. Eight of that, side signalised themselves by ducks' eggs;, probably such an innings was never before chronicled in the records of a Marylebone eleven. > According to the Australian Israelite, the enrolling of the first Victorian Jew in the colony of Victoria as a barrister took place a few weeks ago in the Supreme Court, when Mr. Louis Goldsmith, on the motion of Dr. Dobson, was admitted a member of the Victorian bar. He received his primary education at the common (Jewish) school No. 180. The Marriage Ceremony in Japan consists of the man and woman drinking wine from the same cup. Divorce is not much more elaborate than marriage. Tho husband gives the wife a piece of paper with a few lines of characters upon it, and the knot is untied. A translation of the line is given by a correspondent, as follows : — "I no likee you. I thinkee you likee other man more better. I give you a piece of paper. You can go. Goodee bye." Action for Libel. — In the Supreme Court, Melbourne, on the 2nd instant, an action was brought by a man named Dunstone against the proprietors of the Herald for libel in publishing in a Police Court report a statement that Dunstone had been expatriated in the Lysander, a convict ship that arrived in Sydney in 1849. Dunstone did come out in the Lysauder, but as a free emigrant. The only defence was that the paragraph was caused by mistaken information, and was inserted without malice. The jury gave plaintiff a verdict for 405., and as there had been no apology tendered, the Chief Justice certified for costs. A Facetious Individual not many miles from Danbury sought to "draw his wife out" by pretending to be found dead with an empty laudanum vial by his side. And that lady was a good deal shocked at first, but having read that a needle introduced in the human flesh would indicate on its surface whether the flesh was dead, and being a woman of eminent practicability, she at once armed herself with a polished cambric of nearly two inches growth and with throbbing heart and bated breath introduced a good share of its length into an appropriate portion of the deceased. What the surface of the needle really indicated was not learnt as he took it with him as he passed through the sash. The Spirit of a Man. — Mr Smith (of New York) was out hunting for a house for a friend, and called to see a family who were preparing to vacate a cosy dwelling. As the door stood open, he walked in without knocking, and his eyes straightway lighted on the dame of the household, who was making frantic lunges with a broomstick at some object under the bed. *' Good morning, madam," he said. "Ah ! you have a troublesome cat under the bed?" "Troublesome cat ? No, sir; it's that pesky husband of mine ; and I'll have him out, or break every bone in his body!" "You will, eh?" said a faint voice under the bed. " Now, Susy, you may pound and rave; but I'll be dogged if I'll come out from under this bed while I have got the spirit of a man about me." The recent erruption of Mount Vesuvius has reminded the Observer of the following story, to the accuracy of which, however, it does not care to pledge itself; — " It seems that an English vessel was coasting past Catania towards Messina, when its crew observed two men running along the shore with amazing swiftness. The first was >.an ordinary English gentleman of well-to-do appearance. The second was. of^a terrible aspect, and pursued the first, with an obviously carnivorous intent. The fugitive rushing up the steep sides of Etna, paused for a moment on the brink of the crater, and then, with shrieks, plunged into the abyss. His pursuer followed him, first dancing a cancan diaboligue, and indulging in wild yells of triumph. A certain passenger on board the vessel was much depressed at , the .sight, -and after some solicitation^ declared that the sight had caused him much , uneasiness, as the - first of, the ; ;twOj ;; Buhners ; : had been ,nd other than his friend Mr A. 8., of CD. If was subsequently found that Mr. A. B. had died m!^ few minutes; before his -,; appearance j :.;,on , the beach of Catania^' : Hp had L left :a good prpperty,} with large; ch^ .^exectitors^aniapyjed. jat: lhe.'-stqty, 'i : of ••. hjg- ' ; ; Vppariiiim^tbok' proceedibgß for libel- bh 4 the ground that tfie reflected in-; '; ■vfrrjwukly &n^s^ -, a , ' wise] v i wan 'dbS* : nbt Always recognise his friends."! i "'•rt^'r^'C^^^ ,'?"; :'':"'.. : ;; ■'"">'■ ■'■'

Under the heading ' Satan's Death trap ' the Son Franpisco Chronicle speaks iii this plain style respecting the-corinecting boat on the Trans-Pacific line between Honolulu and San Francisco:-—" By an especial dispensation of Divine Providence the crazy old Mohongo was again permitted to wallow into port. She came in at the rate of a knot an hour, and her yards and her other spars creaked and groaned most dismally. About a dozen passengers landed from her and wended their way gleefully to the hotels. Last night, if they had a particle of religious sentiment, an atom of gratitude in their souls, they sank on their knees and fervently thanked God for having preserved their lives in the crazy old tub. By His grace alone were their lives preserved. The passage occupied nearly thirteen days, and was a disagreeable and uncomfortable one." Murders in New York.— During the week which ended 26th May, eight dead bodies were found floating near our city in the street, and a prominent German citizen disappeared. In nearly every instance these people were foully murdered, else their bodies would not have borne the marks of the bludgeon, the knife, or the pistol. If we add to this list the cases of murder in which the ante-mortem testimony of the victims has already proved the guilt of murderers, and the numerous murderous assaults which have occurred during the week, some of which may yet end fatally we have a record of crime and -violence which hardly any other city of Christendom can parallel. It is only necessary to walk along the river front of this city after dark to understand how it is that so many corpses are taken from the waters. The neighborhood of the rivers is shunned by the police at night, while the gangs of ruffians who congregate around the low grog-shops, or prowl along the wharves in search of plunder can perpetrate robbery and murder with little fear of detection. Their victims are mostly seafaring men, and the motive of theee crimes is nearly always a mercenary one. The disappearance of the friendless sailor, or the captain of a small coaster, who may be absent from home for weeks without exciting uneasiness on the part of his family, attracts little or no notice. Days after the crime has been committed the river gives up its dead, but the corpse F is seldom identified, and no clue to the crime is given. No one can doubt that were the river districts sufficiently patrolled at night, this possibility of secret and successful murder would be greatly diminish* 1. — . New York Times, Sea of Ice. — It is supposed that not less than three fourths of the, globe are covered with the waters of the ocean. The depth of the ocean is not yet satisfactorily determined, but we know it varies greatly, presenting heights and depths similar to those occurring on the surface of tho dry land. The depth of the sea round the coasts of England has been supposed not to exceed 120 feet, and on those of Scotland to be about 360 feet; while on thp. western coasts of Ireland it is considered to be about 2,000. In the South Atlantic, Capt. Denharo^ of her Majesty's ship Herald, reported bottom at the depth of 46,000 feet. Mr F. Maury states, that "from the top of Chimborazo to the deepest bottom of the Atlantic yet reached by the plummet, the distance is nine miles." Icebergs or ice mountains are very numerous in Baffin's Bay^ where they are | sometimes met with two miles in length and nearly half that width. They are also frequently found in Hudson*s Bay. An .ice-field,, when in motion, coming in contact with another moving in a contrary direction, produces a dreadful shock. Le.t the reader picture to himself a body of more than ten thousand millions of tons in weight meeting with a similar body in motion ! " No ; description," says Sir John Ross, " can convey an idea of a scene of this nature; and as to the pencil, it cannot represent motion or noise. And to those who have not seen a northern ocean in a winter's storm, the ice which we see in an inland lake or canal conveys no idea of what it is the fate of an Arctic navigator to witness and to feel. But; let them remember that the icebergs are.like floating rocks; and then imagine if they can, these mountains of crystal hurled through a narrow strait by, a rapid; tidej meeting, as mountains in motion would meet, with the noise of thunder j r breaking from; each other's precipices huge fragments, or rending each other asunder till they fall oyerheadlong, lifting the sea, around in breakers,, and .whirling it; in; eddies ; ? whilst the flatter -fields , of . ise; ; forced; .against these or against the rocks by the wind and the stream, i*ise out^f^heseaHiirthey'fall back on themselves, adding 0 $o; the cribable commotion and noise; which attend these occurrences.?.' ,' So violent in-! deed are these concussions; that,is Captain ; o fes 2 by sayj, ,^Jh>^ngest^hip^aiMio ! more f 4^ ':. fields than-} a ; *beej of *aper^<»n ;stop a^ mußket^bajU?^^ ■ \ ':';'^::^' I ;'si:^v,'v. f *',c- . ; j \