New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4871, 1 November 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1.

The first session of the sixth Parliament of New Zealand was brought to a termination yesterday, both Houses being prorogued by commission. The future may bring forth sessions more protracted and more remarkable for bitter party strife than that which has just closed, but the past cannot parallel it.- It has lasted nearly five months, and in more than one respect the legislation which it has accomplished has been of an inchoate and unsatisfactory character. However, no alarm for the future good government of the country need arise on this score. We have already on more than one occasion pointed out. that a kind of “bogey,” or “ bugbear,” was being made of the cry, “ What is to replace provincialism when that system is abolished 1” In. truth, had abolition come into effect without any of the measures of the past session having been made law, the country would not have suffered much in the interim between .abolition and the initiation of the local self-government which was to succeed it. For temporary utility the various municipalities and road boards throughout the colony would have quite sufficed. But for party purposes it was not a bad cry to exclaim, “ Oh,’ before you abolish provincialism let us know what is to take its place.” That was the cry of the session before last, and when abolition was carried the cry of last session was not that the system of government intended to replace it was unsatisfactory, but was simply, every possible slogan of political warfare that could be raised. It is this fact that we have to

thank for the somewhat lame -legislation that has ensued. Nearly four months of the session were occupied, by to upset abolition on aide Separation was defeated. Time after time decisive majorities showed the leader of the Opposition that the country supported the Ministry. Then the ridiculous threats of armed resistance, and. equally ridiculous professions of fear for armed authority, were raised, and it was not until the fag end of the session that the Counties Mill came under discussion. We are all familiar with the treatment which that measure and the Waste Lands Administration Bill received at the hands of the Legislative Councillors, and we also know that but for the late period at which the session had arrived much more satisfactory results might have been produced by the conferences which took place between the Upper and Lower Houses. But as things were, the conflict with the Upper House, which must come if the Lords persist in their present policy, has been postponed until next session, and as a consequence two of the most important measures contingent upon abolition have been subjected to a treatment altogether opposed to the desires and wishes of the people. Now, for all this—and that it is an evil no one can deny—the Opposition must be held clearly responsible ; yefc_ though through their mischievous tactics this evil has been wrought, we cannot see that any irredeemable disaster hasbeen brought on the country. Such legislation for local self-government as has been effected is imperfect, yet it might have been much worse, and in no country possessed of a people like those of New Zealand, and of liberal representative institutions such ns we possess, can obnoxious legislation be permitted to remain in existence if it is found to be exercising a positively active detrimental effect upon the country. We have no more belief in the permanence of detrimental legislation in New Zealand than we have in the ruin of the colony, though, heaven knows, that is often enough predicted by Sir George Grey, Mr. Waterhouse, and gentlemen similar to them. No doubt every apparent defect in the working of the institutions which now may be fairly said to have replaced provincialism, will during the recess be magnified a hundredfold by those who still cling fondly to the shade of a passed away form of government. But despite all this, and despite the drawbacks that we have pointed out in a previous portion of this article, we are convinced, and we feel certain the mass of opinion in the colony is with us, that we are provided with what is on the whole a very fair initiatory system of local government, and which simply wants, like all constitutions, to be permitted to grow, and to be modified from time to time, as national requirements may demand, to become all that is necessary. One of the earliest demands of next session will be without doubt the amending of those portions of our newest legislation, which we may even now anticipate, and which the experience of the recess will have shown, torequire amendment. And though our assertion will unquestionably be received with violent denial from some quarters, we yet venture to state unhesitatingly that much less amendment than some anticipate will be required. The stormy close of a stormy session has excited apprehensions which but a brief time will be needed to dissipate. In the main, we are confident that before long the country will appreciate the beneficial change which the legislation of last session has, on the whole, effected, and that, despite the prophecies of Mr. Macandrew, Sir George Grey, and their followers, the future demands of the colony in respect to the change in our Constitution which now comes into being will be not for retrogressive but for progressive legislation.

The Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives has had prepared a schedule of the business transacted in the Parliament during the session which closedyesterday. Thirteen special select committees and as many standing committees were appointed. The questions asked of Ministers numbered 250, and there were 763 entries in the journals of the House —of notices of motion, 238; of orders of the day 525. There were 54 orders for papers, and the papers laid upon the table of the House numbered 187 —by command, 111 ; in return to orders, 47; by Act, 7 ; by leave, 22. Prom the Public Petitions Committee 227 reports were received ; from the Native Affairs Committee, 70 ; from other select committees, 6 ; from standing committees, 42 ; in all 345. The record of the work done is in striking contrast to that done last year. There were 85 days of sitting, as against 59 last year ; hours of sitting before midnight, 698 h. 40m., as against 351 h. 45m. last year ; hours of sitting after midnight, 155 h. 30m., as against 66h. 30m. last year; daily average, lOh. 28m.; that of last year, 7h. sm. The contrast between the number of hours after midnight occupied in the respective sessions is very remarkable, when it is remembered that at the commencement of the session a great point was thought to have been made by the Standing Orders Committee against late sittings. The orders were so amended that no new business could be taken after half-past 12 ; but notwithstanding that regulation more than double the “ wee sma’ hours ” were sat out than in the previous session. The public , Rills before the House reached the total of 182, as against 144 last year. There was a striking difference In the number of divisions of this session and that of last session. During the session of 1875 there were 94 divisions ; in the 1876 session the divisions taken were 345.

The prorogation of Parliament yesterday was not an impressive ceremony by any means. It was performed by commission, and owing to the delay consequent on the conferences between managers of the two Houses, there was a very small attendance of the general public, arid the ladies gallery was not well patronised. It was, in fact, a tame affair. As will be seen by our report, the tactics of Sir George Grey in respect to the SartorisDownes claims have.been successful. The Government were yesterday dependent upon the Opposition to make a House, and this the Opposition refused to do unless their determination to practically reverse a previous vote of the House were permitted to bo carried into effect. Under the circumstances, they got their way, and took what cannot be called anything hut a despicable advantage of the previous departure of the majority of members on the understanding that no such action as theirs was contemplated. Active preparations are being made for building a public hall, with which is to be connected a skating rink. The building is to be erected in front of the Foresters Hall, Mr. Turnbull being the architect,. Mr. W. J. Roberts the builder. A public hall is really a necessity in this city, there being no accommodation of the kind here at present. On several occasions of late the want has been sadly felt, and it seems strange that Wellington should be the only town in the colony of considerable size which is without such an institution. The building we speak of is to be of large dimensions, the. upper storey being set apart as a ball-room, and from the plans, we should think that the building will not only be a great ornament to the city, but will supply a want which has been long felt The lower portion of the hall will be occupied as a skating rink as soon as finished. Wo wigh the promoters every success.

The privileges for, the sports on the Basin Reserve od the Prince of Wales Birthday will be sold by auction to-morrow.

The Zealandia, which brings the mail this month, will be due at Auckland on Sunday. ■ A general .meeting of the members of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce is called for Friday at 3 p.m. A number of Melanesians,.- brought to Auckland for the purpose by the Rev. R. ; H. Codrington, head of the Melanesian Mission, are to be confirmed in Auckland by the Bishop of Auckland this morning. The thirty-sixth general meeting of the Wellington Building Society, for the payment of subscriptions, &c., will be held at the office of the society, Grey-street, on Friday evening. The meeting will also be called upon to appoint two auditors. A foot race between J". Smith and A. Wilton took place yesterday afternoon on the Basin Reserve. The stakes were £5 aside, and the distance to bo covered one mile. Smith won easily by about 80 yards ; time, smin. 25sec. A deal of money changed hands on the event, “knights of the cleaver” being the principal investors. Barlow’s circus will perform this evening at the corner of Cuba and Ingestre streets. They have just arrived from a very successful northern tour, , Mr, Barlow visited Wellington some years ago. We understand that he his greatly increased his stud in every [capacity. Doubtless, therefore, he will meet with success. A resident of the Terrace has sent us a long complaint in reference to the loss of his dog by poison, and the threats of a neighbor (a minister of religion) to poison his cat. The public, gentle and indulgent as it always is, would scarcely be interested by perusing a recital of our correspondent’s woes, and we can only advise him to keep his animals out of the way of the unneighborly minister of religion. We publish in another column the entries for the most important events for the forthcoming sports to be held on the Basin Reserve on the Prince of Wales Birthday. The entries are very good considering the counterattractions elsewhere. We understand that there will be about twenty babies competing for the tea and coffee service, the prize offered for the finest child of the age of twelve months and under.

We have been requested to announce that the time for making entries for the handicaps in connection with the sports to be held at the Hutt on the Prince of Wales’ birthday, will close on the 2nd November (to-morrow.) It may be mentioned that a soiree will be held in connection with these sports, in the Odd Fellows’ Hall, Upper Hutt; and for the convenience of visitors from Wellington, a late train will leave at 1 a.m.

The adjourned meeting of the Caledonian Society washeldat the New Zealander Hotellast night, Mr. G. Crawford, in the chair: Various sub-committees were appointed for the purpose of arranging matters in connection with the next New Year’s gathering of the society, the reports to be laid before a meeting to be held on the 14th inst. It was also decided to cooperate with the Cricket Association _in materially improving the ground. The meeting regretted the loss of the late Hr. W. Graham, one of its oldest and most useful members. The “ Ticket-of-Leave Man ” was performed at the Theatre Royal last night, Bob Brierly being represented by Mr. W. G. Collier in a very forcible manner. On the whole, the piece was as well produced as we have ever seen it in Wellington. Miss Morgan as May Edwards, and Mrs. Stoneham as Mrs. Willoughby, together with Mr.’ Collier, gave sufficient strength to the cast to ensure that. But Mr. Metcalf’s Hawkshaw, Mr. Hesford’s Jim Dalton, Mr. Howard’s Melter Moss, and Mr. Deering’s Mr. Gibson made the piece even more attractive. To-night the Hegarty Troupe reappear, and Mr. Collier will play in the amusing farce, “ Widow’s Victim.”

A number of email criminal cases were disposed of at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday (before J. C. Crawford, Esq., R.M.) There were several inebriates punished, and two of them made very comical defence of their crimes. One (a lady not unknown to the police authorities as a “ troublesome party”; said she bad been washing for another lady who, in the kindness of her heart, had indiscreetly persuaded the defendant to take a glass of ale, and this of course flew to her head, she being one of the Sarah Gamp class, who could only take such refreshment with safety when “so dispoged.” She was fined in the usual amount. The next case was still more funny. A sailor belonging to the Waikato was charged with being drunk and incapable. His Worship, as usual, asked if he had anything to say in defence. Ho replied, “ Well, you see, we had a dinner on the Waikato, and I had a glass of champagne, which quite overcame me your Honor” (honest seaman !) His Worship: “ I see ; a little conviviality.” Fined ss. and costs ; in default, twenty-four hours’ imprisonment. One case of threatening language was dismissed, the defendant being cautioned. Several small debt cases appeared on the civil sheet, most of them being settled amicably. The Paroa (Ohinemuri) correspondent of the Southern Cross writes under date October 26: — “ On Monday news arrived that the surveyors had been stopped on the Waitini West block, which has been lately purchased by Mr. Mackay, as agent for the Government. The disturbance was caused by a tribe who have no claim to the land in question, but have a grudge against the vendors. They ordered the surveyor and his party off, telling them that if Mackay or Wikiriwhi had been present that they would have shot them. Mackay, on hearing this, started, accompanied by Gerald O’Halloran, they having armed themselves with a revolver each. They found on arrival two armed natives doing sentry-go on the line. A discussion took place, during which shots were fired over the heads of the Europeans, Mackay explained to the obstructionists that their proper course was not to interfere with the surveyors, but to settle the dispute between themselves and the sellers of the land. The result is that the survey is to proceed, and it is to be hoped in the interests of the district that we may not again hear of a similar attempt.”

A case of some importance was brought before Mr. Barstow at the Auckland Police Court recently. The Cross reports that Mr. E. Perkins was charged with a breach of the Licensing Act by permitting a raffle to take place in his house, and also selling some tickets for a sweepstake on the Melbourne Cup. Mr. Hesketh pleaded guilty on behalf of Mr. Perkins, and said that the defendant was ignorant that raffles could be denominated gambling. His Worship, in commenting on the case, said that some years ago Mr. W. 0. Wentworth endeavored to dispose of his large estate, of the value of £50,000 or £60,000, on the same principle in which Mr. Perkins had disposed of Mr. Simonsen’s grand piano. Great numbers of tickets were sold, but the scheme was interfered with by the authorities, and the result of a trial in the Supreme Court was that Mr. Wentworth was compelled to return the money which had been paid for the tickets. In Mr. Perkins’s case a nominal fine was inflicted, and a second charge was withdrawn by the police. The Lyltdton Times of a late date states, under the. heading of “Vandalism” “We understand that it has been discovered that one of the stations at Burnham, erected for the purpose of indicating the true meridian, as determined by the Transit of Venus party under Major Palmer, 8.E., has been recently destroyed.; The pillar, which was built of brick set in concrete, is said to have been demolished in order that the material might bo- used for the purpose of .repairing a chimney ! Fortunately, however, the line passing , through this pillar, and the site of the transit instrument used by Major Palmer, was for a considerable distance by Mr, Kitson, trigonometrical surveyor, and carefully marked, soon after the observing party completed their operations, and the determination of the mendia.r has consequently been preserved. The pillar was erected on private property, and no steps appear to have been taken for its protection by acquiring the land or otherwise. The offence of destroying or obliterating survey marks or trigonometrical stations is punishable under an Act of the Assembly passed in 1868,

and we understand the matter has been reported to the Government, aad will be dealt with if possible. It seems almost inconceivable that any person in his senses could have perpetrated such an act, by which one of the most valuable results —so far, at least, asthis colony is concerned—of Major Palmer’s operations, might have been entirely lost.” i.A new scheme of settlement is propounded by a correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. He suggests that the Government should throw open all the lands available for selection free of charge, and give to each selector single rations for a year, which would cost the country £l6 17s. 2d. per man. In this way, he thinks, population would be attracted, and expenditure on immigration avoided.

The Melbourne correspondent of the Maryborough Advertiser learns from a private source that there js just a possibility of the celebrated Pere Hyacinthe visiting Melbourne ; nothing positive can be said at present, of course, but there is reason to expect a visit from this distinguished seceder from the ranks of the Catholic Infallibiliats. In connection with this may be mentioned the fact that it is confidently stated in some circles that the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher intends to take a trip to the colonies shortly, and it is believed to be a certainty that he will come out. In a despatch to the Governor of Queensland Lord Carnarvon writes:—“l have received, and have under my consideration, the Bill passed by the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland, and reserved by you for the signification of her Majesty’s pleasure thereon, entitled a Bill to Legalise the Marriage of a Man with the Sister of his Deceased Wife. I regret that I have not felt myself at liberty to submit this Bill for her Majesty’s assent.' So far as it enacts that marriages duly solemnised within the colony between any person and his deceased wife’s sister shall be deemed valid, the Bill would be unquestionably within the competency of the Parliament of Queensland. But it goes on to enact, that a marriage solemnised (in any part of the world) between a man domiciled in the colony and his deceased wife’s sister shall be deemed valid. This enactment would, therefore, be equivalent to a declaration of the Queensland Parliament that a marriage between a domiciled Queensland man and a domiciled English woman, celebrated in England, should, although absolutely invalid in England, be a valid marriage for all Queensland purposes. I am advised that the Bill now before me is in this respect altogether unprecedented, being a violation of the fundamental principles that a contract is to be governed by the lex loci contractus. The English law with regard to marriages affixes in certain cases a personal incapacity to contract upon its own domiciled subjects ; that is to say, if an Englishman were to celebrate in Denmark a marriage with his wife’s sister, valid according to the low of Denmark, the English law would hold it invalid, because, by the English law, the man was personally incapable of contracting the marriage in Denmark, or in any other place. I am not, however, aware of any instance in which English law has said that a marriage, invalid in the place where it was celebrated, should be held valid in another, country. If a new Bill should be passed in Queensland on the subject, the form adopted in the Victorian statute appears to me to be a safer form than the Queensland one : that is to say, in place of enacting that ‘ all marriages duly solemnised, &0., shall be valid,’ it would be better to say, ‘no marriage between a man and a sister of his deceased wife shall within Queensland be voidable, or in any way impeachable, upon the ground only of such affinity between the parties thereto, any law to the contrary notwithstanding ’ —adding a proviso similar to that in the first section of the present Bill.” The Guardian of August 23 has the following particulars in reference to the great forgery case in Italy :*— “On Wednesday morning, August 16, a telegram from Bologna tells us, Giuseppe Mantegazza, sixth Marquis of Liscate, who traces his descent from Boshino Mantegagio, Lord of Satins Mandello, who in the year 962 was made Lord of Maccagno by the Emperor Otho 1., was placed in the dock to stand his trial before the assizes of Bologna for forgery, fraud, and falsification. He is accused of having forged the names of his Majesty King Victor Emmanuel, his Royal Highness Prince Humbert of Savoy, her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Florence, and others, to a number of bills of exchange and documents drawn up for the purpose of raising money, of having by means of these bills and documents defrauded various persons in a total sum of more than half a million francs, and of having counterfeited the official stamp of the British Consulate at Florence. These forgeries and frauds were discovered in February last. The King has stated that the signatures are not his. The bankers defrauded plead that Mantegazza was honorably known in the financial world, and recognised as one of his Majesty’s private agents. The prisoner on Wednesday acknowledged that all the bills and documents mentioned are forgeries, but he absolutely denied having been the author of them. He had, he said, been employed by the _ King and the Prince in bona fide transactions, and, while carrying those into effect, he was brought into connection with a person whose name be refused to reveal. Under that person’s authority, which he believed to be sufficient, he acted in good faith, and ‘ it was not until the thing had gone too far to permit of his retreating that he discovered the true state of the case.’ During the proceedings this supposed unknown and highly placed accomplice is spoken of as ‘ X.’ The Times correspondent, summarising the case so far as it has gone, Bft ys ;— ‘ Here, then, are two different acts of the drama of this trial. In the first it would seem that Mantegazza persisted in taking the guilt upon himself alone, in the hope that X, (if any such person there be) would use sufficient influence to prevent his appearance in the dock. In the second act, finding himself brought to trial on no fewer than 27 different charges of forgery, 10 of fraud, and one of falsifying an official seal, he has denounced X. in the strongest terms, while refusing to pronounce his name. It remains to be seen if, at the conclusion of the third act, when all hope has departed, he will lift the veil from X., and solve the mystery.”

“ A pamphlet by Earl Bussell entitled * The Foreign Policy of Great Britain in 1876,”’ the Pall Mall Gazette says, « has been privately printed. Having discussed the question, ‘ls the Turkish Empire worth preserving?’ and answered it in the negative, Earl Bussell comes to the conclusion that there is but one remedy, and that is to change the sovereign—to place the crown on the head of a Christian, and to deprive the Sultan of a sovereignty incompatible with truth and justice. _ His general conclusions point to a federation, consisting of first, Servia, capital Belgrade, reigning prince Prince Milan; second,Croatia and Herzegovina, capital Bagusa, reigning prince an Archduke of Austria; third, Eoumania, comprising Wallaohia and Moldavia, capital Bucharest, reigning prince Prince Charles; fourth, Bulgaria, capital Adrianople, reigning prince an Archduke appointed by the Emperor of Austria ; fifth, the Kingdom of Greece, comprising Thessaly and Epirus, capital Athens, reigning prince the King of Greece. The Queen of Great Britain to be the Protector of the Danuhian Con-, federation by sea, and the Emperor of Austria by land ; and the limitations on the entrance of ships into the Black Sea to be abolished. How a certain curate, named Thomas, lectured on “ How to Get Mlarned and Live Happily,” is thus narrated by the Melbourne correspondent of the JBaHarat Stui'\ “ r X'ho rev. curate's description of how the suitor should bide his time until some evening when his inamorata is suspiciously left alone with him, how she will thereupon take her seat upon a sofa, leaving to him the vacant space beside her; how he should then take her gentle hand in his; how she will then incline her head so softly and graciously towards his pomatumed curls; how he should place his arm round her waist, and press her gently towards him—is one of the most delicious homilies that have ever issued' from a custodian of the truths of the pulpit. If all sermons had the sweet suggestiveness, combined with the practical experience of the reverend curate s last lecture, we should not hear of infidels turning

from the church door on the plea tliat else* where! there was * mettle more attractive.’ With his scrip and bands alone the rev. gentlemen might well start on a country, tour, to the great edification of youths and. maidens, who would be* compelled to recognise . in 1 him a ybung man who ‘ knew a thing or two.’ ” . If Mr. William Rowe, M.H.R., who objects on principle to vaccination as a preventative of small-pox, were in England just now, he might find himself in difficulties. A telegram in the Melbourne Argus says :—The small-pox epidemic is creating much alarm at Blackburn. A temporary hospital has been provided, and laborers have been employed day and night scattering disinfectants. Part of the town is barricaded off, and placed in quarantine. Concurrently with this outbreak, opposition to compulsory vaccination at Keighley has reached such a crisis that seven members of the board of guardians have been arrested and imprisoned in York Castle for contempt of court by the Queen’s Bench. As they attempted to play the role of political agitators as well as martyrs t» an unjust law, the authorities have refused them any books, pamphlets, or papers on the subject of vaccination.

The Duke of Richmond and Gordon has found that his new title has certain inconveniences. According to the Glasgow Herald, his Grace had occasion to write to a lady from the United States who is at present in this country. Now, citizens of the United States, both male and female, pride themselves upon their ignorance of British titles and their indifference to etiquette. But this lady had some excuse for the mistake she made. Seeing the signature “Richmond and Gordon,” she fancied that the letter came from a firm, and she began her reply with “ Gentlemen,” and addressed the letter “Messrs. Richmond and Gordon.” This was an unpleasant surprise for the recipient, who did not relish a blunder so derogatory to his position ; and he is believed to be less proud of his new dignity than he was before finding that it could give rise to ' such a misunderstanding. The Good Templar organ published in Hobarton bears the title of The People’s Friend. In the last number is some correspondence between Captain Fisher and the Bishop of Tasmania on the subject of “ The wines in Scripture.” The Bishop thinks the ground “ often taken up by the advocates of the temperance cause untenable.” He holds that the wines used by our Saviour were properly fermented wines, and asks how men’s discriminating power is to be lessened after a second or. third glass unless the wine were fermented ? On referring to 1 Tim. v. 23 the Bishop says: “Then we have the sanction of the teetotal principle, if the wine were what I maintain it was. For the good of others, that he ‘ might not be partaker of their sins,’ Timothy became an abstainer. Nor did St. Paul blame him, even as our Lord did not blame the Baptist for taking the vow of the Nazarene, but, adds the Apostle, ‘ However praiseworthy be your practice, your health is under the mark, be no longer an abstainer, use what Divine providence has given you : a little wine for thine own infirmities.’ The passage teaches me two things ; 1. That it is a noble thing to give up indulgence of a liberty for the benefit of other men. 2. That what. Timothy gave up was, if taken in excess, intoxicating. The words used in these three passages are the same:—Greek (v), oinen or voinon ; Latin vinum (winum) ; English, wine. They are the same in the three languages. They alike represent a product, the use of or abstinence from which is permitted by the Giver ; the abuse of which is recommended by the devil.” The Mercury reports the death of one of the oldest cricket veterans in Australasia, Mr. John Marshall, of Hobarton, at the good old age of 81 years.