New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4400, 27 April 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1875.

Our. Auckland correspondent sends us an important piece of intelligence regarding the projected Irish special settlement at Katikati, near Tauranga. It will be in the recollection of our readers that Mr. Yesey Stewart, a gentleman of family in Tyrone, opened negotiations with Mr. Farit all, then one of the emigration agents for the colony, with the view of founding a special settlement somewhere in Auckland. The Agent-General “threw “cold water” on the project, it was asserted, and in a very short time afterwards dispensed with Mr. Faun all’s services. Ho thereupon communicated direct with the Superintendent of Auckland, and Mr. Gillies authorised him to continue the negotiations on behalf of the Provincial Government. Mr. Stewart came to the colony, interviewed the General Government at Wellington, inspected various districts for the purpose of selecting . a ton-thousand-acre block for his special settlement, and ultimately succeeded, after, considerable trouble, in making very advantageous terms through the Auckland Provincial Council for ■ the Katikati block. • Mr. Stewart returned to Ireland, and it now transpires that his .fellow-countrymen of substance are willing to join him in large numbers. Allowing for exaggeration, it

does seem likely that the ■ Katikati special settlement will prove successful.; ,We’ trust/ therefore, that the Governmentwill dp everything in its powor.toassisfc the: immigrants on arrival in. locating, themselves on the selected block. These immigrants will bo of a differeiffc* class from those the Agent-General has been, in the habit “of sending, ’ arid their early difficulties ’should""be'" nfa'd’e’‘"as light as possible. The country wants an industrial population' free from the taint of erime—men and women of an independent and self-reliant spirit ; and the members of the special settlement formed by Mr. Vesey Stewart appear to be of that class. We are certain we have only to bring this matter prominently before the Commissioner for Immigration and his colleagues to ensure their active co-operation. Mr. Stewart appears to complain that the Government representatives at Home have given little assistance. This is to be regretted, if true ; but perhaps tho explanation may bo found in the; fact that from first to last Mr. Stewart appears to have rubbed Dr. Fbatherston against the grain. Otherwise, we do riot see why the AgentGeneral should ship the sweepings ( of the large towns of England, arid the output of Irish workhouses, in preference to respectable tenant-farmers and their families, who were sufficiently independent'to insist upon special terms of settlement. But there is abundance of time to rectify any errors that iriay have been committed ; and whatever is calculated to check the emigration of a desirable class of settlers from any part of the United Kingdom should be avoided.

The question of the readjustment ot the representation of the colony has engaged the attention of Parliament on many occasions, and is likely to do so in future. It has invariably been the practice, in considering,the redistribution of. seats, to take into consideration the increase of population, the increase of settle-; ment,'and the increase ot material prosperity, which goes on in the'colony, and to so distribute the representation that having regard to the questions of. population, of area, of the amount of revenue raised, each district should have a proportionately powerful'voice in the matter of legislation. For the purpose of showing how unjust and unequal the representation of the colony in the House is at present, we will quote very shortly from some statistics on the subject: Province of Auckland —l6 members, or one to each 4177 of population- province of Wellington—B members, or one to each 3750 of population ; province of Taranaki —3 members, or 1 to each 1828 of population; province of Hawke's Bay—2 members, or 1 to each 4609 of population. - Then, to show how unequal is the distribution in North Island constituencies, compare the following electorates :—Thames, 3100 'voters—l member; Rodney, 1565 voters—l member ; Huttj 459 voters -1 member ; Rangitikei, 394 voters —1 member ; Manawatu, 294 voters —1 .member. The disproportion is equally great within each province. In the province of Auckland; constituencies with over 1500 voters return 1 member, and constituencies with under' 500 voters also return 1 member. No one could for a moment, maintain the justice of, such a distribution of voting power. There are three constituencies in this colony—the Thames, the Buller, and Rodney—containing respectively 3100, 1751, and 1565 voters, or a total of 6416, and they return three members to the House. Then there are Lyttelton; Wallace, and Cheviot, possessing 262, 259, and 229 each, or in all 740 voters, and they also return three members to the House. In the face of such facts it is not possible to justify the present distribution of the representation. ' Now, let us take the case of -the Thames, with a population of nearly 12,000, with a very large trade, con-" tributing'immensely to the revenue of the colony, with an area 'of country almost as large as some of the minor North Island provinces, we find that it returns only one-mem-ber to the House. The province of Taranaki, with 1326 electors, sends three representatives. We quote a passage from a speech made by the honorable member for the Buller, in 1873, which shows that-similar results had arisen out of unequal representation in this House:—“Total number of electors, 50,302; average per electorate, 681. The twenty-two first electorates on the list contain 22,553, being over half, and the fifty-two remaining electorates contain 24,769. Thus the minority in the House outvotes the majority by eight votes—over 2to l. The twenty-two first districts contain the principal goldfields, and represent wealthy parts of the colony. Twentytwo districts contain 7120 voters; four districts contain 7982. The majority of electors were thus outvoted by s|, to 1 in that instance. The average population of each electorate was 3440 ; twenty-seven being over and forty-seven being. under that number. Five districts contain one-sixth of the population (43,371)Thames, 11,950 ; Dunedin, 14,804; Grey, 7342 ; Hokitika, 8275. The population of the Thames is greater than the. last six upon the list of electorates.” As will readily be admitted, the Government acted rightly in refusing individual demands by constituencies for a readjustment ot the representation. To have acted otherwise must have led to a great deal of angry discussion, and could not possibly have led to any settlement of the question. The representation as it now stands was fixed five years ago. Since that time the population has increased some 80,000 souls. The colony has made immense strides in population, in wealth, in trade, and in every one of those matters.'which are supposed to affect and guide the principle of representation. When the adjustment of the representation was made in 1870, the allowance of members given to each province was based upon the population they respectively contained. In 1870 the population of Auckland was estimated at 62,000, now it is about 70,000, or an increase of 8,000. In Taranaki the population was 4,800, now 6,000. In Wellington 25,000, now over 32,500. Hawke’s Bay 6000, now nearly 10,500. In Nelson 24,000, now only 22,000. Marlborough 4700, now 7000. Canterbury 40,000, now 63,000. From the above it will be seen that the order of' proportionate advance of the various provinces above mentioned may be roughly stated as follows : Canterbury, Marlborough, Wellington, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Auckland ; whilst'Nelson has lost one-twelfth its population. Again, in the province of Auckland, the native population are inadequately represented. They number some 25,000 inhabitants, who contribute very largely to the revenue, yet no one can say that they are by any means properly represented. Altogether, it is a most difficult question to settle satisfactorily, and one which is worthy the attention of the Government.

We take from the Medical Journal of England the following :—“ At the Wolverhampton Police Court this week, Mr. W. Pellowes, a chemist and druggist, of North-street, in that town, was charged, on the complaint of Mr. Freeman, with using the title of doctor, his name not being on the Medical Kogister. It appeared that the defendant had an American diploma, and that he had a brass plate on his shop door bearing the inscription, ‘Dr. W. Fellowes. Member of the Medical College of Philadelphia.’ The defence was that he never claimed to possess an English degree. The Stipendiary Magistrate held that the defendant had falsely and wilfully attempted to obtain credit from the public by his American diploma, and pronouncing the fraud to # be a gross one, dismissed the case on the defendant undertaldng not to practice as a physician and paying the costs, the case being adjourned for this to be done.” There is in Wellington a gentleman who recently returned from a visit to England, who possesses, one of. those .Philadelphian diplomas, and who, with this as his sole qualification, applied to bo registered as d duly - qualified medical practitioner. We desire cordially to support the views of an evening contemporary, set forth on March 25th, and also to assist the four medical gentlemen, Doctors Johnston, France; Harding, and Diver, who attached their signa-

fanes td, a protest,') and by so doing probably prevented the Registrar-General from-.issuing a),certificate i of, competency for a branch of ! study of, which he manifestly .unquafified.to \jndge; ‘'•'The manufacture of these bogus diplomas is carried on to an immense extent, whole bales of them being constantly shipped from America to all parts of the world, to be sold to all and any who are fools enough to pay for them ; indeed, so ready was their sale in America, that the State Legislature of Pennsylvania wisely took away frora'the medical school of Philadelphia, : guilty of this gross abuse, the charter which had been granted. They are, therefore, at present perfectly valueless. This is so momentous a question, and of such great import to the general public—in fact, may be, in many instances, death 1 instead of life—that we must lay aside those personal considerations which would otherwise hinder us from taking exception to the action of a gentleman wishing to better- his position in society. There are properly-qualified doctors in _ number who are only awaiting an opportunity to exercise their professional abilities ; and this being the case, why inflict society with that scourge, “quack doctors," and render the colony a refuge for incapables ? There may be some in this colony, and doubtless there aire, who have registered thennames on the strength of degrees purchased from a foreign University without examination, and at which the acme of perfection consists in cutting hair and applying leeches ; but it is to be hoped that the legally-qualified doctors of Wellington, who have protested against this impudent attempt at a gross imposition, will still adhere to their determination, and by so doing prevent in future the medical profession from falling into disrepute. There was some years ago a much similar case in Wanganui. Counsel was engaged to obtain a registration at any cost, and had it not been that a protest was lodged, as in the present case, a great injustice might have been perpetrated on the public. The Registrar-General has taken the precaution of having the diploma photographed, and intends forwarding copies to the different registrars of the colony, to prevent any: miscarriage cf justice in this latest case. ’ The necessity of this step plainly shows the fallacy of having different registrars, having equal powers of registration in the same colony, i '.i-.: • ' ‘'

The Court of Inquiry into the causes of the burning of the ship Cospatrick, we learn, has arrived at the conclusion that the ship was accidentally .set on fire, either by some of the sailors or some of the immigrants while broaching cargo. 'A A telegram received in’ Sydney states that .the Mikado, with the outward New Zealand and Australian mail, arrived in San Francisco four days before contract time. It is evident that the difficulties originally found in keeping time have been overcome, and that regularity may now be expected, though the vessels employed were not built for the service, and, no doubt, could be improved upon. By the ' Hero, which arrived early yesterday at Auckland, we have English intelligence to the 18th, and Australian intelligence to the 20th instant, which will be found in another column. The next incoming mail steamer with the Suez mails is not likely to arrive in New Zealand much before contract time.. No time was gained, between Brindisi and Galle, and the Golconda only sailed from Galle oh the 11th instant the postal date for her departure thence.' : The Hon. the Commissioner of Customs, who is now at 'Auckland, detained the Taranaki at Onehunga until half-past twelve o’clock yesterday, that she might bring on the Sydney mails for the South, per the Hero, as well as the English and Californian mails per the Mac•gregor. The Taranaki, therefore, cannot reach Wellington before Wednesday, afternoon or might. , , The death of the salmon ova brought out by, the Timaru seems to have been predicted before the_ship.left England. A private letter received from liomo two months ago by a wellknown Wellington resident, who is also an enthusiastic acclimatiser, pointed out the mistake Mr. Frank Buckland had made, and expressed a regretful opinion that the result must be, what it is—failure. There seems to have been some little jealousy between Mr. Frank Buckland and Mr. Youl, the famous salmon breeder and acclimatiser, who was studiously set aside by Mr. Buckland, and thus the valuable experience which Mr. Youl could have given was not availed of. The opinion of Mr. Youl upon the matter will probably find their way into print before long. We. trust it will not be forgotten by the patrons of the drama in Wellington that Mr. Charles Burford takes a benefit at the Theatre Royal this evening, when the first act of “ Hamlet,” and “ The Ticket-of-Leave Man,” will be performed. Mr: Burford deserves well at the hands of the public, having always been most painstaking and careful in whatever part —and he, has played many in his time—he undertook. It is long since the public were asked for a benefit on his behalf, and we trust we shall see anything but empty benches to-night. He will be assisted by Mr. Sam Howard, Mr. Hydes, Miss Raymond, and all the other members of the late Bates-Howard Company who remain in Wellington. The second annual meeting of the Greymouth Coal-mining Company has been held at Greymouth. Mr. James Kerr presided. In the course of conversation it was mentioned that 318 more shares were held in Dunedin than in Greymouth. Mr. Moss, the secretary, read the annual report and balance-sheet. The former stated that during the year £12,802 had been expended in opening up the Wallsend Colliery, and on works connected therewith. The plant consisted of a forty horse-power engine, with all the necessary pumping and winding and other" gear. The main shaft was 10ft. in diameter, and 93ft, deep, and on a seam of coal 14ft. thick. Up to the Slat March, 1762 tons of coal had been raised, and sent by river barges to Greymouth, and sold. It was proposed to sink a new main shaft, to work the coal on the rise in place of on the dip. The firebrick works were complete, and there were 13,000 firebricks on hand. River shoots and coal barges, costing £1039, had to be bruit in consequence of the non-completion of the railway in contract time. Fifty seres of the company’s lease had been acquired for building purposes, and a township named Wallsend had been laid out in quarter-acre sections, which were expected to bring an annual rental of £5 . each. The • purchase or charter of steam or other vessels adapted for the conveyance of coal from Greymouth to other ports, was recommended to the consideration of the shareholders, The directors concluded, by saying : —“ When coal can be sent to market by rail at a fair cost, and the underground workings are’ sufficiently opened up to increase the output of coal, and with coke ovens to utilise the screenings, and firebrick and pottery works to assist in producing a revenue, the shareholders may look forward to a considerable profit being realised by the company.” The capital and liabilities of the company are stated at £45,516 15s. 9d., and £26,000 of the capital has not been called up. It was mentioned in the course of the discussion on the reading of the report, that the Grey coal was used successfully on board the local steamers, and at Hokitika gasworks had been found to give 12,000 feet of gas to the ton. The meeting was adjourned till the 4th of May, to give the Dunedin shareholders an opportunity of expressing their opinion on the report and balance-sheet, and for a skilled report and estimate of the cost of the now works proposed by the directors. Mr. St. John Akers attended this morning on the Registrar-General, to meet the members of the medical profession who protested against his being registered without producing the necessary qualifications. Dr. Diver was present on behalf of the medical profession. It was' ultimately decided by the RegistrarGeneral that it was impossible to allow Mr. Akers to register his name without the qualifications specified in the Medical Practitioners Act. Mr. Akers then withdrew, expressing at the same time his intention of leaving the matter as it stood.

Ergot has made its appearance in the grass in the province of Taranaki. The new church at Carterton is to be consecrated by his Lordship the Bishop of Wellington, on Monday next, the 3rd of May. Two large water-spouts passed along to the south of the harbor of New Plymouth on the morning of the 22nd instant. It will be observed that the annual general meeting of the Wellington Horticultural Society will be held in Mr. George Hunter’s rooms, on Friday next, the 30th instant.' The fifth annual meeting of the Wellington Patent Slip Company -will be held on Thursday first, at noon, at the offices of the company, Custom-house-quay. In the passenger list of the Rangatira, from Napier, the name of Mr. A. Skillicorn—a passenger from Poverty Bay, eu route to Canterbury and Dunedin—was erroneously reported as A. Skellinson. Mr. Richard Morphy, who has so long driven one of Mr. Hastwell’s coaches carrying the Wellington and Masterton mails, has resigned that position to accept the management of the business of the new carrying company between Wellington and the Wairarapa. Masterton, says the Wairarapa Standard, has been thronged with natives this week, the attraction there being the presence of Mr. Young, the native interpreter, who is arranging with them for a reserve of 1000 acres for their benefit in the Forty-mile Bush. The JSfeio Plymouth Budget hopes that Captain Fairchild, with the Luna, will soon visit the Waitara River, to try the effects of a few shots or explosions on the wreck of the Paterson, which continues obstinately to obstruct the river. A new hotel—the fourth—is about to be erected in Masterton, for Mr. Nicol. The Rising Sun Hotel at Greytown—once the largest, but now the smallest in that township —has passed into the occupation of Mr, Mountain. Another attempt is to be made to form a Jockey Club in New Plymouth. The list has been headed with a subscription of .£2O by mine host of the White Hart (Mr. J. Day), and it is regarded as likely that the club will be re-organised, and proceed vigorously to work. A sailor named Thomas Woolley McKenzie, who lately was a sawyer at Inangahua, and who had in his time been an hotel-keeper and a miner, drowned himself in a most determined manner in a waterhole, at Beefton, a few days ago. He had tied his hands in front before throwing himself in. He was about forty-two years of age, and married. The adjourned meeting of the vestry of St. Peter’s took place yesterday evening. It was decided to raise £IOOO by subscription, and borrow the remaining £BOO, making £IBOO, which will be required to build the proposed church on the Adelaide-road., It was resolved when the subscription list is closed, to commence one on behalf of the funds required to build a new church in place of St. Peter’s. The atmosphere in Wellington yesterday was very much disturbed, as no less than two fights occurred in this peaceful city. One of the contests raged in the vicinity of the wharf. The combatants, two sons of Neptune, had evidently been worshipping at the shrine of Bacchus. We are glad to relate, however, that the melle was a bloodless one, for, after one round, the pugilists evidently thought discretion the better of valor, especially as the bystanders informed them that a myrmidon of the law was approaching, who would, no doubt, have given them an introduction to the worthy Resident Magistrate in the morning. The Tribune of last night has the following, which, no doubt, the Hon. Mr. Fox will read with interest when he sees it;—“As indicating the predilections of the Reohabites and Permissive Bill electors of. Bangitikei, it may be mentioned that the vote and influence of Croftori, Mr. Fox’s model temperance township, were given to the candidate whose qualification in the district was the ownership of a brewery (now discontinued for want of water), and whose family own nearly half the public-houses in Bangitikei. Comment is unnecessary.” An old colonist is about to resume business in Wellington as an auctioneer, and will be welcomed back to the rostrum by many old friends. We allude to Mr. James Smith, who, after reposing on his oars for a couple of years, has again taken out a license—the cost of which, by the way, is £4O per annum. Mr. Smith took out his first license in this province in 1841 or 1842, and he may be regarded not only as the Noah of the Ark (that famous auction mart in “theold times,’’) but as one of the “ pilgrim fathers ” of the auctioneers of New Zealand at the present day. It is not probable that the old hospitalities of “the Ark ” will be renewed; but Mr. Smith re : sumes business at a time when trade is improving, and the hands of the auctioneers are full, and we must hope that his many friends will put a fair share of the auction business of the town under his hammer. On Sunday last, says the Patea Mail, a fire broke out at the Waihi camp, in one of the huts. The bugler having sounded the alarm, the men turned out with commendable promptitude and formed a chain to the Waihi reservoir, a distance of about forty yards, keeping up a continuous supply of water, which soon extinguished the flames. This structure was one of a row of five, facetiously called Belmont Terrace, and. but for the strenuous exertions of the men, there is no doubt the whole of the whares would have been burnt. The origin of the fire, we believe, was through the door of the. whare having been left open, and the sparks of the fire burning inside being blown about. A constable named Love was in the whare at the time, evidently sleeping, and was saved from the burning mass by Sergeant Biddle. We understand the constable has been discharged for carelessness, although, it was through hospitality to a one-time comrade that the fire was lit in the whare. A letter from Metz in the Madgeburg Qazctte states that the forest officials in Lorraine have been busily engaged since the beginning of the winter in clearing the woods of wilii animals. Although in 1872 no less than 44 wolves, 38 polecats, 404 wild boars, and in 1873, 76 wolves, 27 polecats, and 791 wild boars were killed, it is estimated that there are still 250 wolves, 200 polecats, and 2000 wild boars, and it cannot be hoped that they will be speedily exterminated. The Grey Star, of the 21st instant, states that “ The news from the now rush does not promise much for its becoming an extensive goldfield. The prospectors continue to obtain payable prospects in the creek, but beyond their claim nothing worth mentioning has been found. Messrs. Kilgour and Chestorman state that they can obtain an average of a pennyweight to the tub of four buckets, with very indifferent appliances for saving the gold, and they think seriously of erecting a puddling machine as soon as they have satisfied themselves as to the quantity of the washdirt to be operated on. The stiff clay in which the gold is found renders this method of extracting the metal from the dirt the only one likely to prove efficacious.” Mr. S. Parkes’ advertisement of lauds for sale in Ingestre-street deserves more than special notice, in so much that acre No. 149 is the first acre submitted for sale under the recent Act, which renders it necessary that a proper metalled road sheuld be made before the allotments are disposed of. The road has been marked off, and the work of filling in the rivulet now running across the land will be commenced immediately. This sale will take away one of the few remaining green fields in the suburbs. .Another instance of advancement in local manufactures is to be seen in the Victorian coach-building establishment of Mr. H. B. Cookbum, in Molesworth-street. Among the various descriptions of vehicles is an American buggy, built expressly for country travelling. It is exceedingly strong and at the same time light. It is expressly built to order from the Wairarapa, and will be despatched to its destination on. Wednesday. All the workmen for the different branches have been selected from the Melbourne factories, and the results of their efforts are worthy of inspection.