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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4525, 21 September 1875, Page 2

Some time since we drew attention to complaints in the Dunedin papers regarding the very unsatisfactory manner in which certain Southland railways were being constructed under provincial administration. Mr. T. Hardy Johnßton, of this city, was brought down to Otago to report upon this matter, and some notion of a state of affairs, which in its present aspect may be said to bo disgraceful, may be formed by reading the following remarks of the Otago Daily Times on the subject. That journal Bays :—- "Every session, as well of the Provincial Council as of the Assembly, instances occur of shelving awkward questions by means of a select committee. If their report can only be kept back until interest has evaporated, still better until the session is over, a great point is gained, when awkward disclosures are likely to be made. It was by adopting this method that a very nasty-looking matter indeed, in connection with certain Southland railways, was slurred over during the last session of the Provincial Council. According to the report of the district engineer, the work which is being put into the railways is of a most inferior character. It is right to say, however, that whoever drew out the specifications seems very unaccountably to have neglected to make them sufficiently exact to ensure good enduring work. The contractor, like other contractors working under such directions, has not put in better, i.e., more expensive materials than he was obliged, with a result extremely unsatisfactory to those who have to inspect the work. It might have been supposed that the Provincial Government would have been thankful to have been informed of what was likely to be the result, and that, on hearing from their local officer that, in his opinion as an engineer, the work was extremely unsatisfactory, thoy would promptly have interfered, examined into the point in dispute between the engineer and contractor, andhaveproceeded to take such stops as they might have deemed necessary to remedy the evil before it was too lato. But now comes the most extraordinary part of the affair, instead of promptly and boldly dealing with a question which vitally concerned the country and their own character, the Provincial Executive, with the consent of the Superintendent, delayed and dawdled to the best of their ability, and threw every obstacle in the way of having the business inquired into. Within the last week or two we believe that two impartial engineers of repute have been sent down to report upon the construction of these railways. Even at the last moment we believe that a strenuous effort was made to quash the report, or rather to prevent one of the two engineers being sent down, on the score of some cock-and-bull story of his having an animus against the contractor. In our issue of June 24th, we pointed out the fact that the Executive seemed inclined to snub their local engineer. It is useless to deny that there is some curious work going on about these lines, and in the interest of the public, wo call upon those in office to hold a full and impartial inquiry into the matter, so that the blame should fall upon the right shoulders. We would ask them with the smallest possible delay to publish the reports of Messrs. Hardy Johnston and Barr, the two engineers who were sent down to inspect. Farther than this, we would ask them to act upon that report. If tho specifications woro carelessly

drawn up, let us know the worst, remedy the evil, and start on a more definite agreement. If the contractor has fallen short, then let him clearly understand that he will be expected to do better, and alter what he has done ill. If the district engineer has been too exacting, let us understand that it is his fault. If there has been a job anywhere, it should be ferreted out while the Bcent is warm, or else, when too late, wo shall find the Government cast in excessive damages, and be only able to lament our wasted funds."

The treatment of assault cases is very often the subject of learned comment; in fact, there has always been a wide difference of opinion as to the class of punishment which it is desirable to inflict upon men who have committed assaults upon their fellow men and women, and consequently it may be frequently remarked that justice, administered under one law, takes a variety of shapes, and depends largely on the taste and fancy of the presiding magistrate. These remarks have been suggested by the circumstances of an assault case which came before Mr. Crawford yesterday morning. Two men were convicted of having violently assaulted a third on board the ship Halcione, and were each fined 605., and costs, or fourteen days' imprisonment. The alternative was accepted, and these men will work out their term, and feel it no hardship. Having brutally beaten a man about the head with belaying pins, without receiving the smallest provocation, they are incarcerated for two weeks, and must necessarily measure the gravity of their offence by the punishment they receive ; that is to say, they may all but kill a man, and so long as they are fortunate enough to stop there, they may rest assured that they have committed a wrong no greater in the eye of the law than that of some miserable little urchin who steals from a counter or purloins a handkerchief, because he has not been taught to do better.