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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4139, 26 June 1874, Page 2

Captain Rough has been appointed DeputySuperintendent of the Province of Nelson—that is, of course, to act during Mr. Curtis’s attendance in Wellington as a member of the House of Representatives. The fashion in the Province has hitherto been to appoint to this office, on such occasions, a member of the Executive; but times and circumstances have changed. It is not stated who is to practically fulfil the duties of the Provincial Treasurer, who is also a member of the House. Formerly, arrangements were made for the discharge of his duties, which in Nelson meant both the work of book-keeping and the maintenance of the seats, position, and dignity of the Executive in the Provincial Council. An offer was made in the Council to provide the necessary clerical assistance, but the policy of retrenchment which was enunciated did not permit of this offer being accepted. The understanding, though it may not lie the case, is that the duties of the office will be divided between the so-called Goldfields’ Secretary and the one non-official member who is attached to the Executive contrary, it is alleged, to the spirit and letter of the Executive Act. The fact that Mr. John White would not resign his seat in tlie Assembly, and that Mr. Guinness would not promise to permanently reside in Hokitika, were the avowed, if not the real, reasons for another Executive being selected in the Province of Westland. The motion upon which Mr. Woolcock achieved success by securing a majority and a scat in a Provincial Executive was as follows :—“ That in consideration of the unsatisfactory answer given; last night by the Provincial Solicitor and .Treasurer to the questions put to the Government, this Council begs to state it has no confidence in the present Executive Council of this Province.” The motion was carried by a majority of 2, the division being : —Ayes, 8 —Messrs. Robinson, Seddon, Wickcs, Woolcock, Todd, Mitchell, McGaffin, Tabart. Noes, o—Messrs. White, Guinness, Dungan, Houlahan, Cauavan, Cuming. Speaking of the state of the population in the western district of New South Wales—the people from whom the Halls and the Gardiners of that Colony have sprung—the Sydney Morning Herald remarks ;—ln the remote and thinly peopled districts of the colony there are sundry families in which the children are brought up to utter lawlessness. These families, to the credit of our population lie it said, are less numerous than might have been expected, considering the temptations offered by our Laud Acts to the needy free selector on a solitary run. Still the number is considerable —quite large enough to bo fraught with serious danger to society. The parents are mostly illiterate, and their luckless offspring are brought up out of roach of church or school. To the latter, indeed, they could in many cases only be seut at the risk of forfeiting the selections made in their names ! They can ride, drive stock, and keep a sharp look out for a boundary rider or intrusive policeman ; but hero their education ends. Convict one of these young hopefuls as accessory to a theft of cattle, and ten to one he comes out of prison worse than ho went in. Bo it remembered that it is from this class, if any, that the bushrangers of the future are to be looked for. In our towns, again, there is mostly a certain element of juvenile dishonesty, bred of sordid homes and bad examples, with which it is at present impossible to cope. We believe the Government could hardly confer a greater blessing on the community than by talcing up this question in earnest, and providing a reformatory really worthy of the name. Wo want a place to which a Judge can legally send a juvenile delinquent for wholesome systematic discipline—a place whore the young victim of neglect and bad example may “ cease to do evil,” and “learn to do well.”