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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5735, 16 August 1879, Page 2

Information has reached tis from a reliable source that within ft few days tenders will be issued for another nine miles of the illegal Grahamstown railway. We can hardly believe the report to be true. In the first place, it will be remembered that Mr. Blackett, in the evidence which he gave before the Railway Map Inquiry Committee, distinctly stated that only about nine miles of the survey had been completed, and that he had only reported to the eflect that the best route had been adopted in respect to a distance of one mile and thirteen chains. It also appeared that at the end of this section of nine miles the Maoris had stopped the survey, and.at that time (about a fortnight ago) there' was no chance of the survey being continued. - Thkttkino and the other Maori obstructives effectually interposed. and prevented the prosecution of the works. Consequently, if the line is now proceeded with, not only will the country be committed to a very considerable increase of the unauthorised: expenditure, but the railway will actually be led up to a piece of Maori land into which the natives defy the Europeans to penetrate except at the risk of causing bloodshed. Even supposing that the Government: decided upon taking by force enough land for the railway under the Jfublic Works Act, they would be utterly unable ! to: seize a single acre of the territory joining the line. The only effect of the railway would be to enhance the value of a quantity of Maori land, by the expenditure of public money which was voted for other purposes on a line which is practically useless, because it runs alongside of a navigable river, and ends nowhere. It is sometimes forgotten that Grahamstown is not on the Thames, but is separted from it by a small creek. We venture to protest most earnestly, before it is too late, against any further illegal expenditure of public money on this unauthorised railway. The Premier has already given a more than sufficient bribe to his constituents,fandjany further waste of public money on the mud. of Grahamstown is quite superfluous and unnecessary for political purposes. In fact it seems more than likely that the Mayor of Grahamstown will be elected. He (Mr. Eiirenfried) was the man who telegraphed about the line just in time to allow Mr. Macandeew to falsify the map asked for: by Mr. Richardson, and he is likely to be fitly rewarded. We cannot too often remind our readers that the motion introduced into the Upper House by the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse, to the effect that “the action of the Govern- “ ment in commencing the line of rail- “ way from Waikato to the Thames, at “Grahamstown, was a violation of both “ the letter and the spirit of the law,” was passed unanimously without a division by the Lords. There can be no doubt., whatever that if it had been brought forward in the House of Representatives it would have met with quite as cordial a reception. Probably Sir G. Grey would have risked a division, and Mr. Rees, Mr. J. C. Brown, and Mr. Moss would have calmly joined him and Mr. Macandeew in solemnly declaring that this bare-faced robbery

was strictly legal and constitutional. Any other member would have been ashamed to vote or speak in favor of the swindle. We sincerely hope that our information respecting this new Thames contract may prove incorrect. No one in the House ever dreamt that any power had been given to tho Ministry to let these fresh contracts, and the idea seems on the face of it quite preposterous. It was not until the rumor had reached us from two separate and distinct sources that wo gave any credence to it.

In a recent issue we referred to the possible disqualification of two gentlemen whose names had been mentioned as candidates for Parliamentary honors. On looking up the authorities we find the following clauses in the Disqualification Act of last year, which appear to us applicable iu each case : All contractors and Civil servants are and shall he incapable of being summoned to or of holding a seat iu the Legislative Council, or of being elected as or of sitting or voting as a member of the House of Representatives. “Contractor” means a person who, either by himseif, or directly or indirectly by or with others, but not as a member of a joint-stock company or any incorporated body, is interested in the execution or enjoyment of any contract or agreement entered into with her Majesty, or with any officer or department of tho General Government, or with any person or persons for and on account of the public service of New Zealand, under which any public money above the sum of fifty pounds is payable directly or indirectly to such person in any one financial year. “Civil servant” means any person in the Civil Service of the colony, or any person holding any office, permanent or temporary, under or from or at the appointment or nomination of the Crown or Governor of New Zealand by virtue of his office, or at or by the nomination or appointment of any officer of the Government of the colony of New Zealand by virtue of his office, to which any salary is attached and paid out of money appropriated by Parliament.

It is with the greatest deference to the superior legal knowledge of Dr. B tiller that we again assert our belief that his contract with the Government, as represented by Mr. Ballance, on January 20th last, invalidates his candidature. Wo make no pretension to any legal or technical knowledge to guide us in our interpretation of the Act, but the plain English seems to us sufficiently simple and explicit. The clauses wo have quoted preclude any man from' being elected who has a contract with the Government involving the payment of more than £SO of public money in any one year. According to “ Hansard ”of July 17 Mr. Sheehan stated that Dr. Buller had made an agreement with Mr. Ballance, and “8 per cent, per annum on “the purchase money was therefore “being paid as rent at present to Dr. Btjlleb.” The purchase money given by him was stated to be £1(5,371, and 8 per cent, on that sum would amount to about £1350 per annum. We are anxious to know whether Dr. Buller is able to drive the proverbial coach and four through the Act ; and if so, how he thinks he can do it. Mr. Eisher’s case seems to us equally clear. Ho holds an office by the appointment of an officer of the Government, to which a salary is attached, and which salary is paid out of money appropriated by Parliament. Possibly he also may be able to find some legal gentleman who can drive his coach and four through the Act. In his case also we shall continue to believe that he is disqualified, until the method of evading the Act is explained to us. In any case his candidature seems to us likely to interfere with his future eligibility for his present office; inasmuch as it is certain to lay his political impartiality as a reporter very much open to question. We assume that if he failed to secure his seat he would desire to resume his position as a “Hansard ” reporter.

A Gazette Extraordinary, issued yesterday afternoon, contained the following proclamation :—“ Whereas I have thought fit to dissolve the General Assembly of New Zealand, which stands prorogued to the first day of September next : Now know ye that I do for that end publish this proclamation, and do hereby dissolve the said General Assembly accordingly ; and the Legislative Councillors and the members elected to serve in the House of Representatives are discharged from their meeting and attendance on the said Ist day of September next.

The following is the net total of the receipts of stamp revenue during the financial year 1878-79 Auckland, £30,815 ; New Plymouth, £2783 ; Wellington, £53,686 ; Napier, £8922 ; Nelson, £4525 ; Blenheim, £1094 ; Christchurch, £53,863 ; Dunedin, £36,457 ; Invercargill, £6721 ; Hokitika, £2956, Total, £201,826'. Mr. Levin last evening addressed a very large meeting of the electors of Wellington at the Adelaide-road Theatre. The meeting was in every respect a highly successful one. After the candidate had delivered his address and answered a number of questions in a satisfactory manner, a vote of confidence was unanimously carried. A report of the proceedings appears elsewhere.

The contractor for the new school at the Small Farm Settlement at Fahautauui _ has completed his contract, and although the time was short and the weather bad, it has been finished some five or six days before the contract time. The new school is quite an ornament to the Small Farm Settlemeht, and the work has been carried out to the entire satisfaction of the architect, Mr. Toxward. It is not often that anything of so substantial a nature is to be seen in the country districts. The ventilation is all on the very best and most improved principle. All the interior woodwork has been varnished, and the exterior finished with three coats of paint of the most tasteful colors. Mr. Greer, the contractor, has, we learn, been rather a loser on the contract, but he has, in spite of his losses, performed his work faithfully.

A lecture will be delivered on Tuesday next in St. John’s schoolroom, Willis-street, by Mr. John Young, of the Terrace-school, under the auspices of the Wellington Literary Association. The subject will be, “ The progress of life in geological periods”; and there will doubtless be a large attendance, as the meeting will be open to the public.

A football match between a team from the Wairarapa and Wellington will be played on the Basin Reserve this afternoon. Play will commence at 3 o’clock sharp. An admission of Is. to the ground, and Is. extra to the grandstand will be charged. Seven tenders were sent in to the City Council for the formation of Broughamstreet and five for the formation of Parkstreet. The lowest tenders were accepted in each case —that of Mr. C. McKirdy, for the former, at £9B ; and ICelleher and Mahoney’s for the latter, at £265. For the laying of water pipes on the Queen’s Wharf, the tenders of Messrs. J. E- Hayes and S. Danks were declined, and that of Mr. B. W. Mills was rejected as being informal.

We have been favored with a copy of the Union Steamship Company’s time-table for the month of September. It is a much more useful one than those which have been hitherto published, as, in addition to the steamer services all the railway time-tables in the colony are published under the authority of the Government. The time of the arrivals and departures of the San Francisco and Suez routes are given, and a map of New Zealand is also comprised in the handy little pocket volume, which will be found exceedingly useful to every class of travellers. We observe that the company intend publishing the “New Zealand Tourist” at the moderate price of Is., which will be illustrated by a lady artist of some note in Otago. Some time back there was a small volume issued entitled “ A Guide to the Hot Lakes,” and what that was to that interesting part of New Zealand the pubficatiou which is now in the Press is intended to be to the whole colony.

A special regulation empowering Ministers to direct a travelling allowance in particular cases to be paid to Civil servants, appears in Thursday’s Gazette, which was published yesterday. New and amended regulations for the purchase and receipt of property and stores for the Railway Department are also published.

A meeting will be held iu the Arcade this evening in connection with the newly-formed Liberal Association, and it is expected that the Premier and the Native Minister will deliver addresses. The “stumping tour” will thus probably have its commencement in this city.

Mr. Greenfield will address the electors at f he Adelaido-road Theatre on Wednesday evening.

A dividend at the rate of S per cent, per annum, which has been declared by the Colonial Bank, will be payable on and after Tuesday next. Mr. Thomas Mason has again, in compliance with a requisition presented ta him, consented, to become a candidate for the representation of the Hutt, and Mr. W. H. Quick has withdrawn in his favor. Addresses from both gentlemen will bo found iu our advertising columns. About 25 tons of exhibits were forwarded yesterday, in the s.s. Tararua, for the Sydney Exhibition, Messrs. S. S. Griffiths, A. Curtis. W. Nicholson, and Captain Edwin being amongst the shippers. The Colonial Museum also forwarded some more packages. The nominal value of the goods shipped is estimated at £9OO.

By the B.R. Tararua, which left yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. George Darrell, and a number of their late company, were passengers for Sydney. The “ Wellington Monthly Price Current and Trade Report” has been published, and is, as usual, a creditable commercial production. Some of the principals of the late English Opera Company intend paying a visit to the Wairarapa, and we have been informed that the first concert will be given at Featherston, on Saturday next, the 23rd instaut.

.It is stated that a concert is about to be given at an early date by Mr. Angelo Forrest (who is a pupil of Chaa. HalltSi, organist of St. Peter’s Church. Mr. Forrest had adopted this course aa a means of placing himself before the general public, and will doubtless justify the very high encomiums that have been bestowed on Ids performances by the English Press. We have been informed that he will be assisted on this occasion by several of our best instrumentalists and amateur vocalists, including the members of St. Peter’s choir. Mr. Forrest will also perform some solos on the pianoforte, which will probably comprehend several morceaux quite fresh to a New Zealand audience. Mr. Henry Mason has been appointed returning officer to conduct the first election of trustees for the Wainuloru Rabbit District, to be held on the Bth September, at the schoolhouse, Gladstone ; and Mr. William Sheet has been appointed returning officer for the Ofcaraia Rabbit District, the election of trustees for which will take place at the homestead of the Hon. John Martin, Otaria, on the Bth September. Both districts have been proclaimed under the Rabbit Nuisance Act, 1876, by the Governor-in-Councii.

The mystery of the robbery at Barrett’s Hotel on the night of the Ist inst. has been elucidated in an unexpected manner, that is, of course, presuming that the police are on the right scent. It will be remembered that on the evening named a Mr. McGregor had retired to bed at Barrett’s Hotel, leaving his pocketbook in either his valise or coat-pocket. This pocket-book contained £1 notes to the value of £2O, and next morning Mr. McGregor was surprised to find that though his pocket-book remained its contents had been cleverly abstracted during the night by some one who had gained access to his room while he slept. Nothing more was heard of the affair, and as money is exceedingly difficult property to trace, it seemed to be almost a hopeless case. A detective at Napier had occasion to arrest a jockey named Mathison on Monday on a charge of stealing a watch and chain from the Melbourne Hotel, and on searching his prisoner he found upon him seven £1 Bank of New Zealand notes, there also being in Mathison’s possession a quantity of jewellery which had been bought in Napier, and paid for with £1 notes. Mathison was therefore charged with this offence yesterday at the B.M. Court, and was remanded to Friday next, after the evidence of Detective Grace had been taken. The prisoner assumed an air of stolid indifference while the evidence in both the case named and in the watch robbery charge was being given, and declined to cross-examine the witnesses.

Mr. T. C. Williams, of Wellington, has resigned his appointment as a Justice of the Peace. Messrs. J. E. Macdonald and W. Mackay have been gazetted J.P.’s, the former being also appointed B.M. for Auckland district, with limited jurisdiction to £SO. The following appointments of Volunteer officers in the Wellington Guards are gazetted : —The Hon. George Randall Johnson (Captain New Zealand Militia) to be captain ; George Grahame Orbell to be lieutenant; Robert Harding to be honorary assistant surgeon ; the Ven. Archdeacon Richard Joshua Thorpe to be honorary chaplain. Date of commissions, 29th July, 1879.

A nuisance in rainy weather exists just in front of the entrance to the Academy of Music, this being an extensive pool of water on the footpath, into which the unsuspecting upon leaving the hall are sure to step. A load of gravel would remedy the evil complained of, and we trust that this hint will suffice.

Despite the bad weather and counter attractions, there was a good attendance - at the Academy of Music last night, the occasion being the inaugural performance of the Wellington Garrick Club, an amateur society recently formed. The performance was on behalf of Mrs. F. M. Bates, and it certainly speaks well for the generosity of the management that their first appearance should have been for a charitable purpose. The play selected was “The Writing on the Wall,” one of those ordinary enough melodramas in which the orthodox villain aspires to the hand of the lady whose brother is in the said villain’s power, and who for the sake of saving her brother from the debtor’s pris6n consents to become the wife of the man she hates, the drama of course ending, as all such plays do, in the utter discomfiture of the scoundrel, and the happiness of all who have been in any way afflicted or distressed by his machinations. The play went very smoothly throughout, great credit being due for the excellent way in which it was mounted.

At the Theatre Royallast night the ChaplinOsborue Company produced Shakespere’s wellknown play “ Hamlet,” Mr. Chaplin sustaining the title foie, and Miss Osborne the character of Ophelia. The part of Hamlet, as played'by Mr. Chaplin, has been highly spoken of by the Press of both America and the Australian colonies, and we can but join in this united testimony. Mr. Chaplin’s rendering of the part is a most capable and true one ; he makes himself entirely the master of the situation in every respect, and plays with a quiet dignity that is simply charming. His elocution is faultless, and altogether the representation was one of the best, is not the best, it has been our lot to witness. In Miss Osborne the character of Ophelia found a fitting exponent, for she also infused such an amount of dignity into her acting as to stamp the representation as being of a special character, and infinitely superior to what it is made to appear when allotted to more lymphatic ladies. Her enunciation also is so distinct as to be in itself a powerful recommendation, no matter what character may be essayed: and last, though not least, from a lady’s point of view, her costume is superb. The other characters were well played, the cast being such as to make the entire play “ one harmonious whole.” One small circumstance afforded a little amusement, and this was the appearance of the ghost (Mr. Burford) in creaky boots, which we presume is the first instance on record of a ghostly visitant so far forgetting himself. This evening a great double bill is promised, “ Othello ” and “ Fra Diavolo ” being announced, which will bring out the full strength of the company. Mr. Bland Holt, who is highly spoken of as a comedian, will appear in the character of Beppo., The Academy of Music will be opened this evening by what has been known during the past few days, through extensive placards and advertising, as the “Hudson’s Surprise Party.” We have been shown several J encomiums from the Australian and New Zealand Press,' in which the performers have been spoken of in very high terms of praise. The company is said to comprise several ladies and gentlemen of high dramatic and musical ability, amongst them being Miss Vena de Gay, a clever violinist; Miss Flori de Gay, pianist ; Miss Milly Morton, Mbs Ada Maven, and Miss Burton. Mr. Charles Wallace, who is well known throughout New Zealand, is one of the company, and also Mr. T. Hudson, late of the U.S. Minstrels. We shall not be much surprised to see a large audience at the pretty Academy of Music this evening, because the entertainment is of a class that number of people thoroughly enjoy.

A special meeting of the Reform Football Clubs, for the transaction of important business, will be held this evening at the Criterion Hotel, Lambton-quay.

Mr. George Beetham’s address to the electors of the Wairarc.pa will be found amongst the other election notifications. The candidate is very explicit upon most of the political questions which nre at present agitating the minds of the electors.

The plans of a breakwater, submitted by the New Plymouth Harbor Board, have been approved by the Governorin Council, The following is the introduction of “ Red Cap’s Thames Letter" iu the Auckland Free Lance : —“Dear Jokers, —I hear you are going to elect Sir George G ey to represent you for another term. That's right—you dear, silly, old jackasses. You could not do less after all ha has done for you. Look at the number of 'happy'homes he has created for you ; behold you every man under his own vine and fig tree, drawing big dividends out of the big pump ; every man sporting a bloated untaxed sharebroker to his own cheek—negotiating his stock and share “ biz ”on ’Change. Tunnels intersecting the field in all directions ; your Mayor oud County Chairman rolling in wealth, aud travelling in state from one end of the island to the other on the large revenues raised out of the gold duty. Then there is your railway bringing waggon loads of cabbages from Waikato at a lower rate than the Chinamen can grow ’em. What does it matter to you about it being a job, a fraud, a deception, a misappropriation of money, or an unconstitutional act ? Swindle or no swindle —havn’t you got it 1 Didn’t Grey get it for you ? Elect Grey, by all means. Certainly, he might have obtained it honestly,—but it suited his purpose much better to steal it. It gives a higher tone to the Thames. You have been looked upon as a community of paltry specimen stealers ; but now, since you have managed to prig a railway, you will be looked upon as ‘Me Bould Highwaymen,’ aud duly respected.”

A large sale of fruit, jams, produce, Ac., will be sold by Messrs, Leary and Campbell this day, at 11a.m.; and at 2 p,m. they will bold tbeir usual Saturday’s sale of horses, drays, harness, Ac., at the Horse Bazaar, Manners-street.

A sale of furniture, groceries, clothing, crockery, and unclaimed watches and jewellery, wil be held today by Mr. Francis Sidey, at the Arcade, at 1 p.m. That valuable and commodious tw-o-storyed shop, situated on Lambton-qnay. next to the new brick warehouse of Messrs. Jacob Joseph and Co., will be offered for sale by Messrs. T, Kennedy Macdonald and Co., iu their mart, on Monday next, the IS tlx instant, when they will also sell the right, title, and interest of the -trustees in the contract made by Mr. McCredio with the Government of New Zealand for furniture, fittings, &o.