PUBLIC PETITIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 237, 2 October 1873, Page 2

PUBLIC PETITIONS.

The Wellington correspondent of the Auokland Star writes as follows:— There is perhaps nothing in connection with Parliamentary proceedings regardiug which there are more illusory ideas among the general public than the value of public petitions. Tbe right of petition is one of the glorious birthrights of an Englishman, and any one observing the succession of "influential petitions" wilda which, in common parlance,, the table of the House is said to "groan" from time to time, must be painfully oppressed with the amount of vanity and vexation ot spirit to which the body politic is voluntarily subjected. A peep into the chamber in which the public petitions committee holds its seances is particularly instructive. I believe the great majority of those who append their signatures to a petition to the House, praying for the alleviation of some great public grievance, are strongly impressed with the importance of the work of thus attesting their concurrence, and the carefulness with which the i's are dotted, and the finishing twir,l is given to the name is evidence of the belief of the imposing effect which the signature, and the multitude of signatures, will have upon the Assembled Wisdom. And with the mind's eye they follow the course of that "influential petition," tho reading of its flowing sentences by tbe Clerk of the House, the eager attention of honorable members as each of the names is read out, with the designation of each signatory, aa a banker, or a merchant, or a costerraonger; and the moral conviction is enforced on the mind that it is impossible for the House to resist the force of such an " influential petition," and I can fancy how painfully tbe illusion would be dispelled by a glimpse into the reel history of such

an " influential petition^ Amid the confusion and hum in which the members are sir-earning in through the, doors, and taking their seats and putting their papers in order, a member comqp" out and mumbles out in inaudible. accents something about the " influential " document, and lays if; on the table. Instead of the careful scrutiny of eacb individual signature, and the awestricken attitude pf the House, barely half-a-dozen havo heard either the object, or ilin nature of tbe memorial, and in a few official phrases, equally inaudible, tbe "influential" paper is consigned" with n dozen others to tlje Committee on Public Petitions. This is the last tbat is ewer seen of tbe t: influential petition " in tbe House, In a few. days, with tbose few days' additional accumulations, the interesting document — one of several scores — is found on the table of the. Committee. To read even the words of the appeals container] in this embodiment of tbe sighings and the groanings of tbe people would occupy an amount of time that cannot be afforded by the members appointed to report on the various petitions to the House. But tbe chairmau has hurriedly run through the salient points in tbe prayer of ..ach, and furnished lo the members a synopsis of the various object:! prayed for. The argument with which eacb prayer is enforced is unknown, and human eye never scans the columns of signatures thftt are supposed lo give infinite and irresiatibio potency to the "influential, petition." Occasionally iu a pause in tbe proceedings a member may curiously peer into the names appended to some one casually selected : ar.d I am told tbat such a glance at times affords a most impressive lesson. The care with which some have protected tbe responsibility attaching to their 61'gnatures is 'beautiful to behold. In oue huge petition in favor of the extension of the Waikato railway one conscientious man was careful to add to his signature, " Conditional on the line being carried in a particular direction." Oue can readily im»gine how much a signer expected due weight to ba given by the House to this proviso, and what appreciation be bad of t'l'it. beautiful exactitude with wbich the House would eliminate this expression of his wishes, and balance it against the wishes of less discriminating signatories 'Twas but accident that rescued such a gem from tbe crowded table, and it is enough to make one groan in spirit when thinking of the multitude of similar gems that ure for ever lost, in the daik unfathomed caves of the committee room, After two or three hours spent in framing " reports " on the mass of petitions despatched during the sitting, the members" of committee disperse. Oo the. following day the final scone in ibe eventful history of tho " influential petition " is enacted. Arnid the same bum and confusion of assembling legislators the Chairman of the Public Petitions Committee approaches the table with a bundle of " reports " in bis hand, and handing in its turn that ooe bearing on tho " influential petition," he uses words, which, if heard, would be understood to mean, " I beg to/ present a report on the petition in favor of making: a railway to Timbuctoo," or " building a bridge over Devil's River," or "preventing people from drinking whiskey" as the caso may be. Whether the report is favorable or unfavorable nobody knows aud nobody care3. But if any oue is curious on tbe subject, and wishes to discover the result of the " influential petition," he goes over to the table and singles out the report from amid the mass, and finds that tbe committee "refer the matter to the Executive," or " submit that they cannot recommend the prayer of the prayer of tbe petition," or "as the matter is pending iu tbe Legislature they do not venture an opinion on the subject," aud this is the end of the " influential petition," the result of days and nights of incessant labour in rousing public feeling, in dunning citizens for their names, and generally bringing the " public opinion to bear upon the Legislature." This is literally a true, and faithful picture of the exercise of the glorious right of petition; and I do not hesitate to say that wheu by public petition ray fellow-citizens essay to move the Legislature they might as well whistle jigs to a milestone. For remainder of news see fourth page.

The Spanish Republic has formally expunged nobility and rank. Henceforward no titles will be granted, and their use ia only permissible in private life. The Paraguayan Minister, Senor G. Benites, has authorized Dr Leoni Lpvi, Consul General of that country in London, to organize a scientific commission — composed of a botanist, n geologist, and an economist — to proceed to Paraguay, to examine the resources and natural advantages of tha country, and to report upon the same. The foundry at Perin, in Russia, is reported to have executed the largest casting for an anvil block as yet made, the weight being 37,000 poods (equivalent to 595 tons) This large casting is intended to receive the blows of one of the largest steam hammers maie — 50 tons, and the machine is constructed for the forging of steel guns of large calibre. The prisoner J hn Rickle, who robbed the Masonic Hall at Timaru of the coins deposited on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone, and who has since made three very determined attempts to commit suicide, has been sentenced by Judge Ward to three years' imprisonment. He told the Judj>e be would rather be shifted and do ten years elsewhere than one year in Timaru. Rabbits have become such a nuisance in Southland that the farmers there have made common cause against them. The Western District Farmers' Club have reeeived to petition the Legislature to pass an empowering Act to enable the Municipal Councils in that part of the province to levy a rate of one per cent., and the Roadboßrds a rate of a penny per acre on all lands, by which means £8000 would he raised, which would provide the sinews of war to commence hostilities against the rabbits. They propose to import weasels, ferrets, and stoats, and to offer a premium for every animal killed. Mr E. L. La\ard writing to the Field from Para, Brazil, says: — Are you aware that boas do the work of domestic cats in this countrv ? They are sold uhout the streets, and purchased to be placed in the roofs or under the floors of houses (usually raised several feet) to keep down the rats. 1 lately s>jw about twenty in a box in a shop I entered, and was told ihey were for sale to ci plains of ships, to let loose in the hold. " I calculate. " says a Yankee skipper present, 'I have bouuht half a dozen to take lo Nhw Yoik ; but they are the quperpst cais I have ever heard of." They are exceedingly handsome, and, if not bullied, quite harmless. Their mouths are however, furnished with numbers of very sharp teeth, capable of inflicting a nasty lacerated wound. The manufacture of oilcloth has recently been established in Melbourne with favorable prospects of success. Considerable difilcuhipß were experienced at the outset, as all the necessary machinery and the blocks for printing had to be obtained from England. The manufacture (saya the Argus) was commenced by the Melbourne Floorcloth Company between three and four years ngo, but, owing to unavoidable delays, it is only within the last few da\s ihat any of their goods have bepn placed on the maiket. In order to allow the cloth to be th . roughly s*a a oned it is nere-sary to allow it to hang up for several months. The goods are considered hy persons in the irale to be equal to the beßt production of home manufacture, and a casual inspection of the cloth certainly appears to justify the assertion. Tbe wmks are situated near Northcote, and their producing powers are stated to be equal to the manufacture of 200 square ya'd-i per week, The cloth can be sold at a price eq'ial to that paid for the imported article in England. The most astonishing newspaper venture we ever heard of is shadowed forth by the Belfast Northern Whig, of June 24, wbich says :— In preparation for the coming political struggle, a new daily London newspaper is announced, at an altogether unprecedentedly low price. It is to be called the * Country Daily Newspaper,' and its especial object will be to supply the rural districts with a daily paper of Conservative principles, at such a price that everyone above the status of a pauper wili be able to tafce it in. The price will be a penny per week for a paper every day, or a farthing for a single copy. Tbe news will be given in very short pithy paragraphs; the leaders will be what journalists call ' paragraph ' leaders, and the sheet, which will consist of four pages of two columns each, will be as compact as ' nonpareil* type can make it. It is intended so set the paper hy means of Mr Mackie's patent steam type composer, which, as far as human labor ia required at all, will be worked by girls. The special correspondent at Rome of the Times writes : — lf mere wealth could prolong the days of nn ailing octogenarian, Pope Pius IX. would have little reason to be apprehensive of his approaching end. Huge strong boxes, laden with gold and precious stones, not unfrequently pass through the Italian Custom Houses, on their way to the "Apostolic captive." The Holy Fbther has, the story goes, little cups aDd saucers lying on bis writing table before him, filled with unset gems of great value, out of wbich he occasionally takes little pitches to give as presents to his most favored attendants and visitors, making as free with the glittering baubles aa if he were merely dispensing pinches

of snuff. Well may he dispense with the 3,200,000f allowed him by the Italian nation, and well may he afford to refuse the additional 400,000f. recently voted by the Italian Parliament to defray the expenses of the Heads of Religious Orders. The Pope is rich, enormously rich, richer than he ever was wheu he disposed of the revenue of his ill-governed State. The treasures which reach him from all the communities of Europe and America are unbounded, and whether the givers and the receivers of all this wealth like it or not, the "ungrateful populace" of Rome are none the worse for it. People find it natural that " if the Church ia to be universal it should be maintained at the expense of the whole Catholic world," and that, "if its seat is to be at Rome, this city shoud come iu for ao ample share of its good things."