Talk of the Week.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 227, 15 January 1876, Page 13

Talk of the Week.

By the San Francisco mail the report of the Agent-General for the month of October has arrived. We have been already advised by telegram of the vessels despatched with immigrants during that month ; the total number of immigrants sent during the month was 1784 souls. The vessels appointed to sail during November were to have taken about 1500 immigrants, of whom 800 had been accepted and had paid their outfit monies. The AgentGeneral was endeavoring to engage a vessel to take emigrants from the Clyde direct to the Bluff, to sail in December and January, but the shipowners stated that there was no cargo for that port from the Clyde, and that they therefore could not send a vessel direct unless a higher rate of passage-money were paid than that which is allowed under the new charter party, and to this the Agent-General did not feel at liberty to accede. The emigrants taken by the Corona to Port Chalmers completed the number ordered for that part of the province of Otago. The Agent-General had, however, rec jived a letter from Messrs. Auld and Andrew, acting as agents to the Provincial Government of Otago, stating that they had recer.-e' 1 instructions from the Superintendent of Ot&go to send emigrants from the Clyde to Port Chalmers at the rate of 100 per month. Messrs. Auld and Andrew had therefore engaged one of Messrs. Henderson's ships, the Wellington, for that purpose, and she was to have sailed about December 15. The AgentGeneral would take the opportunity to send by the Wellington any nominated emigrants that might be ready to go. Messrs. Burton and Holloway had continued during the month to hold meetings and deliver lectures in various country districts in the Midland Counties. Mr. Hollo way had organised a series of meetings in the districts in the neighborhood of Mere, in the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset, to take place during the month. The following shipments of railway material had been made during the month : —2002 tons of rails and fastenings, 10 carriages, 10 cranes, 832 packages stores, 90 pairs wheels and axles. Porty certificates under the provisions of the Immigrants Land Act were issued from the Agent-General's office during the month.

It is quite evident that both in Auckland and Otago the " Separation " cry is merely evanescent, is only used for election purposes, and will be forgotten by the Opposition leaders long before Parliament meets. The Otago Daily Times, which has become Mr. Macandrew's organ, shows this by the manner in which, its objects having been accomplished by the return of certain members on the Separation cry, it now quite discreetly drops all mention of Separation ; and the Herald at Auckland, Sir George Grey's organ, says plainly, as shadowing the real policy of its party, "it must be owned that the Opposition camp is not without its weak points. We have Separationists from Auckland and Separationists from Otago, who would find it exceedingly difficult to find a common basis of action in respect to that subject ; and men like Mr. Rolleston, Mr. Pitzherbert, Mr. Brandon, and Mr. Bunny, could not act with them at all in the matter. There is, however, a pressing necessity for a change in Government, especially in view of the difficulties which the colony has before it ; and questions will, we have no doubt, be brought forward on which the Opposition will be able to act unitedly. Given the men, and the occasion will soon be found ; and on the first question on which the Opposition can act unitedly, the Ministry will have a majority against them."

The result of the Wanganui election was of course a foregone conclusion, but is none the less satisfactory. Mr. Bryce, it is needless to say, as the old representative of the district, earned fully the slight majority which was sufficient to mark that the district recognised his services. The great majority for Sir Julius Vogel over the other candidates was, however, most significant. It showed that despite all the local influence at the command of some who were lower on the poll, the constituency was generously prepared to recognise that he was the man whose policy has so much advanced the status and prospects of the colony, and that by returning him the constituency did honor to itself and himself. We anticipated nothing less from the Wanganui electors than that which they have done, but we none the less recognise that they have done what was expected of them. The evidence given by the Thames election shows that Sir Julius Vogel might, as he said at Auckland, have had the option of more than one constituency to represent. The tangible result of the Wanganui polling is that the constituency is represented by the foremost man in the colony.

We observe that the New Zealand Times was by no means singular in the opinion it expressed as to the fitness of Dr. Buller to represent the Manawatu constituency. The Wanganui Herald, commenting on the result of the election for that constituency, deals out strong measure to Dr. Buller, and amongst other things says :—" Shortly after his return from his famous trip to England, Mr. Buller an nounced to his friends a desire to occupy a seat in the House. During his absence he had published a book (and we do not deny that it is a valuable work); he had eaten himself _ a barrister, and above all, he had got into a dispute with the Government about a of £133 6s. Bd., which had been overpaid to him, and which caused lengthy correspondence between the Agent-General and the Colonial Government ; the end being that the former received imperative instructions to recover the amount. In addition to this grievance, Mr. Buller prides himself upon the result of his action in connection with the purchase of the Manawatu block, and would be most happy to receive a sum of £SOO as a recognition for his services in connection with the matter. All

these considerations led Mr. Buller to believe that there was a very wide difference between the Resident Magistrate who went home on leave, and the author, newly-baked barrister and doctor, and C.M.G. armed with two grievances, who returned to the colony. All these things were too big to find him a comfortable seat elsewhere than in the House of Representatives. His first idea was Rangitikei, but each party had its candidate, and he then considered it a greater honor to sit for Wanganui, the field of his official labors previous to his leave of absence. But the district obtained a second seat, and Sir Julius Vogel was brought forward. He could not afford to run counter to him, for that would have endangered his chance of getting the grievances settled in a manner favorable to himself. He made a precipitate retreat, and soon discovered that it would be quite as honorable to sit for Manawatu, where he had worked, and did not a little to bring about the present unsatisfactory state of affairs. But the electors found him wanting, and he has been consigned to pursue his suit as best he can, without the assistance of his own voice in the House."

Now that the final returns for the Manawatu election are in, we may be permitted to exjiress gratification at the result, which again places Mr Walter Johnston as representative of the district. The candidates professed in many respects similar political principles, and the contest was largely a personal one. It was as regards such a contest that we showed how perfectly inelegible was Dr. Buller, and it is pleasant to know that the verdict of the electors has been" in accord with our views. Whatever we wrote concerning Dr. Buller was purely in reference to his candidature, and was produced by his offering himself as a candidate. He fully proved the truth of our estimate of him by his incapacity to recognise this, and by his excessively foolish and impertinent references to the New Zealand Times during the contest. We were content to leave these unanswered, and we do not contemplate taking any notice of them now. They furnish in themselves the very best proof of the truth of the strictures we felt compelled to make when Dr. Buller aspired to parliamentary honors. The elections in the immediate neighborhood of Wellington have now terminated, and it gives us some gratification to notice that in every instance the candidates impartially supported by the New Zealand Times have been returned.

We have before us the evidence recently given by Commodore Hoskins before the Victorian Defence Commission. Commodore Hoskins, as a telegram has already mentioned, is very definite in his opinion that for harbor defence torpedoes at the harbor entrance—that is, at the outermost passage, by which an attacking force could enter—are the most efficacious means that can be employed. That is to say, it is useless attempting in the colonies to defend a town from an enemy's ships when the town is already beneath their guns. Commodore Hoskins says (and the subject is not without interest in reference to Port Nicholson) that his object, in the case of a war against Great Britain, would of course be to intercept the enemy, at the earliest possible moment, in the event" of a raid being made by the enemy in Australia. As to the defence of the harbor, his idea is that the defence should be at the Heads, and that it should consist of torpedoes combined with guns. The cheapest system to adopt would be that of floating batteries, which would have the additional advantage that they could be moved from place to place. The only danger the colony has to fear is a rapid raid, but unless England loses the supremacy of the seas, it could be prevented, for no large systematic attack could take place without its being known in England. Any attack would simply consist of a flying squadron to levy a contribution. If the enemy once got inside any fortification at the Heads it could turn the position.

It was mentioned in our telegraphic columns some days ago that Mr. James Mackay had entered " a protest" against Sir George Grey's return for the Thames. The thing was so utterly ridiculous on the face of it, that we took no further notice of it, but it seems to have exercised some of our contemporaries. The protest was not the first piece of foolish egotism of which Mr. James Mackay has been guilty, and of course could have no possible effect. The Lyttelton Times writing of Mr. Mackay's idea that Sir George was disqualified for election at the Thames, says :-—" This opinion seems to be founded on a dictum of May. In his work on ' Parliamentary Practice,' May lays it down that ' by the law of Parliament a member sitting for one place may not be elected for another, but must vacate his seat by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, or some other office of profit under the Crown, in order to be eligible as a candidate.' lie quotes two instances in point. First, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, on taking office as Solicitor-General, was returned a* member for Harwich on the 15th April, 1852, and immediately afterwards announced himself as a candidate for East Suffolk, the election for which was fixed for the Ist May. A petition was lodged against him on the 29th April, in the hopes of preventing him from obtaining the Chiltern Hundreds; but as no one else claimed the Harwich seat he received the required appointment, and thereupon stood and was returned for East Suffolk. The second instance is that of The O'Donoghue, who, in February, 1865, while member for Tipperary, offered himself as a candidate for Tralee. Before the day of election he qualified himself to be elected by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, and so vacating the Tipperary seat. On the other hand, there is the case of Mr. Gathorne Hardy, who the day after he was elected for Leominster was nominated for the University of Oxford in'opposition to Mr. Gladstone, whom he defeated, and he still sits for the University. And in New Zealand there is the case of Mr. Moorhouse at the general election of 1866 —one exactly analogous to that of Sir George Grey at the Thames. Mr Moorhouse was returned unopposed for what was then the Mount Herbert

district. He afterwards went to the West Coast, and while there became a candidate for the district of Westland, for which he was returned in preference to a local candidate, Mr. Shaw. This was treated as a double return. When the House met, Mr. Moorhouse was called upon to say for which of the two districts he intended to serve as a member, and on his electing to sit for Westland a new writ was moved for Mount Herbert. In the face of so distinct a precedent, we doubt if the objection to Sir G. Grey's election at the Thames can be sustained. We are not aware on what grounds Mr. Moorhouse's case was decided. The English authorities are uncertain. That a member who has actually taken his seat, or has had the opportunity of taking it, for one electoral district, is ineligible for another, appears to be unquestionable. But it is not so clear that he is disqualified if the second election occurs before there is any possibility of his taking his seat, during the interval between two Parliaments, when no one can be called a 'sitting member,' and when in fact the House itself is not yet in existence. It should be noted that neither of the instances given by May occurred at a general election. Still there is room for difference of opinion on the point, and it ought to be definitely settled. Nor have we any doubt as to what the decision should be. We are entirely of opinion that the election of a representative for any district should be, so far as the successful candidate is concerned, a final act. We say this without any reference to the circumstances of the particular case before us, but as a matter of public policy—from the inconvenience winch the opposite course entails, and the abuses to which it is obviously liable. Double returns will occasionally occur, through a candidate being nominated in more places than one ; but no man who has deliberately offered himself to a constituency, and been accepted as its representative, should be allowed to contract any second engagement until he has cleared himself of his first ties by th» process of a formal resignation."

Concerning the Wairarapa race scandal w» have received a letter from Mr. R. Derritt, the trainer of Fishhook, in which he emphatically denies the truthfulness of the statements of the Wairarapa Standard. He says Fishhook was given into his charge to race at the Wairarapa on his merits, and it was considered that he had an excellent chance from the fact that he met Korariupon 71b. better terms than when he ran him within half a length for the Christchurch Plate (2min. 44Jsec.) He refers to the first day's racing to show that Korari on that day ran wide at the turn at which he next day bolted, and he asserts, on the authority of Mr. Redwood, that the rider of Fishhook was a gentleman rider, inasmuch as he had not received money for riding. In reference to the Jockey Club Plate, he says :—" It must be remembered Korari pulled up lame after the Wairarapa Cup race, and more than this, it must have been quite clear to anyone who saw him race at Christchurch or Wellington, that he was at Wairarapa at least 71b. below the form he was in either at Christchurch or Wellington. The frightfully bad state of the course generally, and the rough and stony places that appeared here and there leave no cause for wonder at a breakdown. I saw Korari led out of his box the morning of the Jockey Club Plate race. He was then lame, and I then thought Fishhook's chance looked brighter than ever. Had Korari's friends been aware of this fact I don't think they would have been quite so sweet upon him. The fact is, Mr. Redwood, who I am sure thought he could win, for once expected too much of his little horse under such trying circumstances. At noon on the day of the race, my orders to his jockey were then given, namely, not to let Korari more than a length to two lengths away from him if he could possibly help it, but if Korari did not make the pace fast he was to do so. The course being about a mile round, the start was from the front of the stand. I was at the start and drew second place for Korari. The starter stood on the inside and I on the outside of the course, close to the judge's box, and at the fall of the flag I ran to the end of the rails towards the distance post. I saw then to my surprise that Korari was quite ei<dit lengths ahead, and therefore I started oft for the quarter-of-a-mile post, waving my hat as I ran, in order to beckon my own boy on ; but, after great exertion, I could not get nearer than eighty yards to the course, and then I saw Korari bolt. Previously, I could not see that Korari intended to bolt, as I was running broadside on to him. Fishhook was still being held ; but I shouted out to the boy to let him o-o, which he did. Had I let the boy exercise his own judgment, I don't think Fishhook would have run off ; but his bolting is easily accounted for by the strong temptation in front of him. Fishhook was very soon pulled on to the course again, and then went off at a steady pace ; but Korari, who had quite overpowered his jockey, ran against the racecourse gate, and the sudden stop was the cause of the jockey falling off. He was immediately put on again by Martin, Korari'a trainer, who had been standing at the turn coming into the straight, and the horse was then cantered on to the course, and again put at top pace, but his chance of catching Fishhook was hopeless, as Fishhook was time half a mile ahead. On Korari coming round the second time he made another determined bolt direct for the stable, which is only about one hundred yards from the course. It is very tempting for a horse to bolt when runnin" - under difficulties and being close pinched. Of my own character I have very little to say. But I may say I have been riding for over seven years, and on nearly all the courses in New Zealand, and have never had a protest entered against me. The statements made in the Wairarapa Standard are quite false. I was not lying down in the grass, nor did I chuck my hat up, nor was I the cause of Korari's bolting. I had not a shilling with Mr. Redwood, direct or indirect, and I am prepared to prove that both

horses ran on their merits." These are the statements which Derritt makes, and still we think there should be an enquiry. A newspaper controversy will in no way tend to clear up the matter. Both statements are before the stewards now, and they should make it their business to require proof as to which party is right. If they decline to take the trouble, they will fail in their duty, and will not deserve to be entrusted with the management of another race meeting.