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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 102, 2 May 1877, Page 2

Major Gordon has been speaking; out his mind on the way iu which Volunteer matters arc managed at head-quarters. On receiving .. a .'testimonial from the Volunteers upon .retiring from the command of the Auckland • district, 'he said:— "You have alluded to a reduction in tjie' Volunteer vote as the cause of my removal, Thjg'was stated tome to be the reason by the Gove-umont, but { hq,ve - good grounds for believing that no reduction affecting me or my appointment was made by the Legislature. It was a convenient excuse to put forward for disposing, of one who was by no means so obsequious to one of the present Ministers (the Immigration Commissioner a»d present Premier) as he was expected to be. r As lam ptj this subject, I consider it .my duty to withhold nothing from those wlio have ever been frank aud confidential with inc.' I deem it to be now no offence to place in your hands the correspondence which has been proceeding for a very ■long time ptisp between myself, the Governor, and the Government, which will afford you all every insight into the wayin which military affairs are conducted in this colony. One of my objects in the correspondence was to attempt tn secure to the colonial forces their true position, as jn special colonial forces free from all political rule and influences. Another was to ascertain if the Governor of the colony (whoever he may be) is absolutely your Commander-ip-Chief. The results of the eorrespondenca leave no doubt on my mind (and there is no need that anyone should adopt my opinion), that you aU wear, instead of an Imperial uniform, the garb of a Minister, aud that the Governor is an obstruction, existing for the convenience of whatever persons may be in office as Ministers. You have only to read the proceedings of an inquisitorial court, held during last session of Parliament, presided over by the member for Taranaki, before which I was absent and unrepresented, and one of my Judges being, during the session before last, my chief accuser, the member for one of our suburban constituencies, which you will find with the correspondence I hand to you, when you will be able to form your own inferences as to who is aud who i3 not Commander-in-Chief of the New Zealand Colonial forces. My appeal to the Governor against this inquisitorial court has not been accorded an acknowledgment."

There is very much in -the remarks made by the Rev. L. Stamford in the- course of a sermon delivered by, him in Dunedin last Sunday week that will be/endorsed by the general public, or at least by those who are not shareholders in the Banks now making money in 'New Zealand.- -The rev. gentleman said:—" I want to speak more especially about a wrong-doing in our midst, which does, I fancy, escape attention, but which is producing evils of which we shall sooner or later have to hear the consequences. I refer to the wretched habit of keeping banks especially, but also some commercial houses, open half the night. Open, that is, so far as the clerks are concerned. In the first place, the forcing youug men to stay till nine or ten o'clock at least at work night after night, is a defrauding of a neighbor, for there is au unwritten-law here declaring that a certain wage is given for a certain time of labor. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that it is becoming the settled habits of , the banks to keep the men in their employment at work till ten or eleven night after night, by a sort of irresistible moral pressure, which it is utterly impossible for them to resist. This miserable policy arises from two causes. One great cause of it is simply bad management. The other, mere greediness. I understand that these younglmen are often by. no means too busily employed all day. In some of those institutions "which aire the worst offenders, and where this is the case, the evil is one solely of bad management. In those cases where work goes on all day "and half the night, it is simply a question of•'greediness. Thej place is shorthanded, iu the desire tb gjve larger dividends, and ,eve_y shareholder 1 is concerned in the sin. I aui well aware 6f the difficulty of 'dealing , with 'a subject like this.- It seems when, we enquire into ij; tb be just nobody's fau^t. ; - It is one of thos. matters that ought tolie banudd by public dpiniori, and it ;"can, I think, tje cured in no* other way." .'- j It appears that in the Robinson-Redwood case an* information had been laid against Mr Redwood for an indictable a'ssaj.-.. When the case was called on, Mr.Garrick addressed the Bench, stating that* he- desired t...withdraw the iuforma'tion for au.iud-ctab'le offence which .had been' laid, , as Mr Robinson ; was satisfied that AIr t Redwood was not actuated 'by malice in making the assault, .which dc- ; prived the offenCe of _ts ( serious aspect, and reduced it toajcommon assault; "and as an ample apology had been "made he did not wish to prosecute. The information was withdrawn accordingly. Mr Thomas then addressed the Bench, stating that he admitted the charge of assault, .and was willing to sjibmit to a nominal fine. His Worship said that he could not allow this, as he really did'-not know what the case was. It must come on in the ordinary way. Mr Redwood was then charged with having committed a 'breach of the peace by assaulting Mr Robinson in view of a policeman. Oh this ' charge a fine of 20 . was i_d.ic.ed. *• ' -"<''■': ■-..-•■• ... We have heard, through the columns of the press, how an M.H.1.., travelling -for- -a' Christchurch produce merchant, has b.en. using his member's free pass -in tra veiling' upon the railway lines of the colony. Whether this- system is likely to , develop into anything more serious we know not. The London Times, however, does not admire the free pass system, and th.s refers to its effects:— "All the M.P.'s in South Carolina," says the special correspondent of The Times, " have free passes on the State railways, and some of .these sable lawmakers who; cannot, or will not, provide themselves with'loggingswhen discharging their parliamentary' duties during the session, take advantage of the free passes to turn the trains iuto bedrooms, and habitually spend their nights in them." The correspondent asks us to imagine ourselves governed and taxed by legislators of this stamp, and then we shall have, he says, some notion of what the white men of South Carolina have had to suffer iu the matter of taxation during the whole period of reconstruction. Our readers will perhaps be sur r prised to know that this singular practice of turning the railways of the State into lodging-houses is not confined to the Hues which converge on Charlestou. Precisely the same custom prevails in the British Colony of Victoria. Members of -Parliament there travel free on the Government railways, aud we are not to wonder that it is owing to this description of legislator that a British colony is cursed with a protectorate policy, by which English-made boots and shoes, and many such like useful things, are taxed in order that a few Victorians, who are makers of boots, trousers, and other personal necessaries, may command theirown profits." A Melbourne letter in the Otaqo Guardian says:— The .return of -Mr J. AL Peebles has given a fillip to Spiritualism in Alclbourne. He is going to Calcutta, on the invitation of the advanced Europeans there, and no doubt they have even inveigled natives of high stauding into the circles, for surely the English Spiritualists can hardly. he numerous enough to- pay the expenses of Brother Peebles. A rosy time he has. Although the Press here has termed, him a "longheaded impostor," he can afford to laugh at it. For many years past he has done nothing but travel from place to place, always entertained at the best houses, for Spiritualism i highly fashionable. Last Sunday night he lectured to an immense audience at the Melbourne Opera House, and narrated how he had seen and handled materialised spirits. A Frenchman in London has just perfected a remarkable process for converting; vegetable fibres into silk. . Specimens of the silk for it has ceased to be a vegetable substance are on view at the Museum, and it would be really a difficult matter to - distinguish the' sample from the best Indian silk; the lustre, softness, and all other necessary qualities being present. Sir Julius Vogel, who, forwflxdecj the specimens to<Dr -Jeotojvsays--^ "A most wonderful discovery has been made for turning vegetable fibres into silk. Cotton yarn, for example, can be converted into silk not ia appearance only, but in reality, and in the operation it gains weight and immensely increases in strength. , The samples I 'enclose herewith are cotton converted. The iuyeptor, a Frenchman, claims to be' a,bio to perform the operation so as to be able to produce the silk at one-fifth of fche price of silk woven silk." £_A Timaru telegram to the Post dated 23rd instant says*.— On Alonday night the Timaru Jockey Club refused to indorse the action of the Oamaru Jockey Club in disciualifyin--Fishhook and Derritt, his rider, tlie meeting being packed by the sympathisers with the alleged tricksters. The public generally on Tuesday evinced great disgust at the docision, aud the trustees of the racecourse hinted, that if the decision were not reversed they, would refuse to allow the meeting on Thursday and Friday to proceed. Anothor. meeting of the Club was accordingly held last night, when a resolution was carried rescinding the previous decision, aud endorsing the disqualification of both Fishhook and his rider Derritt by the Oamaru Jockey Club. The public generally wore greatly pleased with the result of the secoud meeting.