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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5483, 23 October 1878, Page 2

We have been 'requested to state that the Marchioness of Normanby will not hold her usual weekly reception this afternoon. It'has long been suspected that the present Government wore using their best endeavors to get control of wh it we may call the intelligence department of the colony, known as the Press Agency. The advantages, politically and for party use, which the unscrupulous exercise of such a power could he made to yield, need not be specified. The scheme has apparently been carefully thought out, and the first stops to carry it into operation were taken in Melbourne and in Sydney some months ago. They have not as yet. had any measure of success, except in embarrassing and imposing additional expense upon the existing Press Agency. ‘ That much may probably afford satisfaction to Sir George Grey. From the report of the debate which took place yesterday afternoon in the House of Representatives, and to which we direct attention, it will be seen that the Government have not abandoned their project, and that a job of the grossest character has been arranged, by which the use of a special telegraph wire throughout the colony wa«, at the beginning of next year, to he placed at the disposal of certain newspaper proprietors who are supporters of the Government. By creating a monopoly iii this way at the public expense, the object which, as we have said, is for party purposes to get control of the public intelligence department—the Press Agency may in time be accomplished. The letter which the Honorable the PostmasterGeneral omitted to include in the correspondence on this question just “dragged” out of him in the House, has been kindly sent to us by Messrs. Holt and McCarthy, and will be found in another column. After the Tapauui job, and the Bay of Islands scandal, and the attempt to swamp the European electoral rolls in the North Island by Maori votes, this effort ministerially to establish a tyrannical authority over the public Press of the colony is very alarming. We hope that the representatives of the people in Parliament will he able to prevent the use of this new and dangerous instrument of Personal Government. Tho “ slaughter of the innocents,” which is regarded as a sure indication of the speedy termination of the session, commenced in real earnest yesterday afternoon, when the first twelve Bills on the Order Paper were discharged on the motion of tiro Hon. the Native Minister. It is expected that tho business of the session will he finished on Saturday night, and that the prorogation will take place on Monday or Tuesday next. During a discussion on tho Disqualification Bill last evening, in tho House of Representatives, Mr. Reeves mentioned that before he had tho honor of a seat in the House he was ■agent for the Public Trustee, but when he was elected it was intimated that he must resign his position as agent for the Trustee. Ho debated whether ho should consider paramount his private business or the business of the country, and patriotism gained the battle—he preferred the good of the country to his private interest. There are not a few who might be rude enough to think that tho country would have not been greatly the loser if Mr. Reeves had chosen the other alternative.

The Railway Construction Bill came up for discussion last evening. • The Minister for Public Works moved the second.-reading in a kind of apologetic speech, vaguely promising amendments to meet the wishes of the House, < and giving some equally vague information as to the intentions of the Government in regard to the precedence to be observed in order of construction. It was a clever speech in that the hon. gentleman said little to which ho could bo pinned, and he left no doubt on the minds of hon. members that he was in earnest when he hoped there would not be a party discussion. The Hon. Mr. Richardson seized the opportunity of criticising the Public Works policy and administration of the Ministry, He made one or two strong points in his criticism of the administration of the department in reference to the changes in the engineering staff. He pointed cut that thq system of an engineer for each island had been unsuccessfully tried in the past, and asserted, that by the dismissal of Mr,. Carruthers and other officers the Government had completely played into the hands of Messrs. Brogdeu, By the way, this may account for the peculiar affection shown by Brogden’s agents for the present Government, Mr. Curtis, in an able speech; then put before the House the claims of the Nelson and Marlborough provinces, and was followed on the same side by Messrs. Seymour, Richmond,, Baigeut, Sharp, and other members, The debate will be resumed to-night. m -

It is understood that the Gaols Committee have brought their labors To a close, and that their report will bo presented to the House either this afternoon or to-iuprrow. Tho Savings Bank Bill was discharged from the Order Paper of tho Council last night, on the motion of Colonel Whitmore, and not made an order of the day; for any .future period. Is this measure one of-the “innocents!” In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, Mr. McLean inquired when the papers would be printed with reference to the granting of a special wire to the Otayo Daily Times, tho Lyttelton Times, and' Auckland Herald ; and the Attorney-General replied that he could not give the desired information,, as there was a block at the Government Printing Office. Mr. McLean urged that as it was important the House should see the papers in print as soon as possible they, should be printed at some other printing office, as he believed the granting of this monopoly was nothing more nor less than an attempt to crush the independent newspapers in the colony which were in the habit of criticising the actions of the Government. A debate followed on a motion made by the hon. member for Waikouaiti, that the House do now adjourn,, which ho proposed in order that he might have an opportunity of speaking on the subject. The three papers in question have offered the Government £2OOO per annum for two pears for the use of a special wire from the Ist January next, reserving to themselves tho right of saying what papers shall, and shall not, be admitted as sharers in the monopoly. Yesterday, Messrs. Holt and McCarthy presented a petition praying that they might be placed on an equal footing with those who have obtained the aforesaid monopoly. In the course of the debate yesterday afternoon the new telegraph agency was declared to have been started solely in the interests of the Government, and with the view of damaging those journals that have been opposed to them since their accession to office. More will be said about the matter before the session ends. More than one person to-day has remarked upon the severity of the earthquake on Monday night. Stories are afloat of bells ringing, and of different people -being nearly thrown down by the force of the shook. In the com-posing-room attached to this establishment there were some sixteen people present at the time, not one of whom perceived the shake. As usual, when the fact, was mentioned to them, the information was received with a certain amount of incredulity, and any notion of the shock being worth calling^either severe or heavy was scouted. We hear of no chimneys having succumbed, aud as they form a good aud reliable sort of “ earthquakeometer, ” we maintain our original estimate of tho force of the shook.

Yesterday, Mr. G. McLean presented a petition to tho House of Representatives from Messrs Holt and McCarthy, proprietors of the Press Agency, re tho proposal to grant a monopoly of certain telegraph wires to persons who propose starting a new agency. The matter was discussed in the House yesterday, when the Government denied that they were doing anything wrong; bat it seems pretty clear that a gross political job has keen attempted, whatever may be the outcome. The effects of Monday night’s earthquake are very noticeable in that portion of the Parliamentary Buildings known as the new wing. In several places, a brick wall erected during tho recess has been cracked, and in Some of the rooms the plastered ceilings have been more or less -damaged. The small party of ladies who were partaking of supper in the Premier's room at the time were considerably alarmed by the earthquake, hut their tears were somewhat allayed by the sangfroid of Sir George Grey, who assured them that Providence was only indicating His displeasure at the speech which had been delivered by the Hon. Mr. Fox against the native policy of tho Government. After this reassuring piece of information, the feast proceeded without any further unpleasant interruption. A public tea meeting, under tire auspices of the Kakaia Band of Hope Lodge, was held at the Athemeum Hall last night. The place was literally crowded. The tea was provided by Mr. Tafner, of the Temperance Hotel. After the tables had been cleared away, the passengers of the ship Kakaia presented Captain Metcalf and the ship’s surgeon (Dr. Russell) with two handsomely illuminated addresses. Mr. Morgan, the ship’s cook, was presented with a gold watch and chain. The recipients acknowledged the gifts in suitable terms. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. R.-T. Harrington, H. Redstone, and Patters m. The evening’s entertainment coiiclud.-d with a concert, in which tho Western Ocean Minstrels took part. Owing to the strong wind of yesterday evening, there was no performance at the Circus on the reclaimed land. To night there will be a change of programme. Burton’s Circus will open at the Theatre Royal to-night. The necessary work required to change the dramatic stage into a circus amphitheatre was commenced yesterday. The attention of tile 'county electors of tho Karori Riding is called to the alteration of polling day for County Councillors from the 9th November to tho 2nd November, in consequence of the 9th being tho Prince of Wales’ birthday. For the information of intending purchasers at Messrs. Harris Bros.’ laud sale at Marton on Saturday next, we may mention that parties leaving Wellington in the morning can roach Marton on the evening of the same day, A considerable attendance at the sale is confidently looked forward to. Mr. Francis Sidey, at his usual weekly sale of properties in tie Arcade, reports sales of several sections in Fitzherberton, at from £5 to £B, for quarter-acre sections; andC freehold cottages in Waiter-street, off Ingestre-street (sold in tho estate of Mr. P. Barron), one at £250, and the balance at £2OO each.

A general meeting of the Wanderers’ Cricket Club will be held at Mr. Ollivier’s office this .evening at eight o’clock. ' Mr. G. D. Chaplin last night at the Imperial Opera House gave a very tine rendering of Othello, and his acting met with the same success as on previous occasions. The subtle lago was capitally rendered by Mr. Steele, who shared with Mr. Chaplin the honors of the evening. Mrs. Walter Hill played her prtrt well, but the same cannot be said of the lady who took the character of Desdemona. To-night will be produced, for. the first time iu Wellington, a dramatised version of Tennyson’s beautiful poem, “ Enoch Arden or, “Under the Palm,” which has been highly spoken of in tho English and Australian papers. . 1 . •

A carter named McCarthy, who was standing near the edge of the wharf yesterday, was blown off into tho water during a heavy squall. He was soon assisted out, and beyond getting a good ducking was none the worse. The case of Barlow v. Nicholson was tried at the Supreme Court yesterday, before his Honor the Chief Justice and a special jury. Mr. Ollivipr, with Mr. Fitz Gerald, appeared for tiie plaintiff ; and Mr. Travers, with Mr. Quick, for tho defendant. The action was brought to recover tho sum of £IBO, with interest added. Tho case for’ the plaintiff, as set down in the declaration, was that in October, 1877, lie paid £IGO to Nicholson as “ fidelity money” for A. H. Maclean, to be returned when Maclean’s engagement terminated, tho defendant in the meantime using the money in his business, and paying 8 per cent, for the use of it. Xu July, 1878, the engagement was concluded ; but Nicholson refused to give up the money he held as guarantee for Maclcau’s fidelity. All the material allegations were denied by tho defendant. The case lasted all day, and the jury nonsuited tho plaintiff'. There was an unusual amount of police business transacted at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Our report of the proceedings has been hold over. Tho Manmxalu Times, in speaking of a meeting of tho Taonui School Committee, says : " Some routine business was transacted, when, after considerable discussion, tho following resolution was proposed by Mr. McDowell, seconded by Mr. Richardson, and carried unanimously:—That the Education Board of the district of Wanganui'deserves censure for its want of courtesy to this committee by removing their late master, Mr. Hill, without having first consulted it, which is in direct contravention of the 45th clause of tho Education Act, and consequently illegal.”