THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1861.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4, 19 November 1861, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. " Inveniam viam aut faciam." TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1861.

Desirable as a termination of the War is. Peace ma)^ be purchased too clear]y. With' whom, we would ask, rests the decision of this important point—Peace or War ? Were the question asked in' the ■ Mother county, we should unhesitatingly reply that it' rests' with the Crown, acting under the advice of responsible advisers, and' that the providing the sinews of war, the real moving poiver, rests with the people; but, in this colony it is hard to say in whom the right is vested. It would appear that the representative of the Crown claims it, but by an ingenious device- would shift the responsibility by inveigling the Ministry into a seeming compliance with his views—an acquiescence totally inconsistent with their profession on taking office. We will assume for granted, for, we fear denial would be impossible, that while our alliance with the tribes in the Bay of-Islands will be strengthened, and the Upper Waikatos "treacled," the banner raired throughout the country in defiance of Imperial. authority, will'be allowed to float in the breeze, the "borderers" at Fapier to levy black mail at pleasure, and the Lower Waikatos, adherents of Kingi and the Southern marauding rascals, to go unscathed. The blood of our murdered countrymen will be allowed to cry in vain for vengeance, and Britain to be degraded, as will inevitably be the case, if the laud of every rebel is not confiscated, and the property of our brother-colonists of Taranaki, handed over to the enemy by the express orders of the General commanding, be not restored. These are points the settlement of which must be left with the powers that be. If peace on such terms be the policy of the hour, let us acknowledge our humiliation, and confess that the, Maori, pitted against the trained soldiery, and military science of England, have gained the day. Let us, however,'"have no half measures^ no attitude of power while in a position of abject submission ; let us recognise at once our subservience to Maori prowess, and live hereafter a life of sufferance. Our foiled soldiery are no longer of use. and j as we cannot at present afford to payforornament, it is better that they should retire from the country and be no longer a burthen upon its resources. Perhaps under such circumstances, it would be as well to adopt the conduct of a big, burly, broad-shouldered bully of a militia colonel, that we heard of some years since, who having unceremomourly thrust himself

intorthe quarters of,a brother officer and in . suited him, was impelled outward by a kick on that portion of the human frame, near which, according to Lord Montboddo's theory, the tail of man appeared, before he wore it oil by the habit of sitting in chairs ; the bellicose colonel preferring the statu quo to what might be if. he resented, quietly converted the chastisement into a gentle hint, and retired, rubbing the affected parts and declaring that he did not approve of practical jokes; It may be that it is the design of the governing powers, to command by disuniting the enemy; to strengthen our allies; to secure the allegiance of the wavering tribes b} r. every reasonable concession, and to fall heavily upon" the .disaffected and rebellious, the marauder and the murderer. If such be the policy, let it be early known, and the necessary measures taken for effective action, before the expense of a vast peace establishment is concurred in. If we dally with the danger the war may break upon us at an hour when our finances are weakened, and the troops now ready, required for work nearer home.' We reject the asserticm that,1 as Southerners, we have nothing to say in the matter; is an increasing debt, and additional strain on the general revenue, nothing to us"? What benefit do We reap from the existence of a-peace garrison in the Northern Island ? ' We protest against an armed attitude of such a character; but, if we are required to share in the expenses demanded, by the presence of troops to vindicate the supremacy, of the Crown,—to punish the. guilty, and obtain restitution of the pillaged property of. our brother-colonists,—we grudge not the burthen, though we may ask why our loyalty is taxed, when that of bur countrymen at the Cape of Good Hope has gone scot free in many a costly war ? ■ " "' ■■"• ' '.' '"'■■ ' * ■•' ; If we are ; to pay, let our voice be heard on the question of war or peace,—if unheard, then we say— " Let those who make the quarrel, be The only men to pay."

The ■■Witness, in its impression of Saturday, draws attention to the reward of £4000 offered by the General Government for the successful preparation of the ". Phormium tenax." or .New Zealand flax, which is found in such considerable quantity throughout the Islands. It is impossible to doubt but that at no very distant period this fibre will form a considerable source of wealth to the colony. This is not the age1 to allow any product that presents any possibility of economical and profitable conversion to remain undeveloped, and there is every reason to believe that at the forthcoming Exhibition the attention of those most interested in the successful treatment of this valuable fibre will be drawn to the specimens forwarded by several of our, colonists. We allude more particularly to the specimens treated by the recent patent machinery.of Messrs. Purchas and Ninnis, which are unquestionably the most successful hitherto attained. We believe the fibre is treated in its green state, and the extraneous and resinous substance dischaged by means of abrasion, and pressing or rolling each leaf. It is to be hoped however that in the manufacture of this fibre too much be not attempted, for although it may be, and no doubt is, possible to produce fibre of excessive fineness and beauty of appearance, still that is not what is required—-for however fine the fibre of the " Phorrouim tenax" may be formed, its natural tenacity and want of elasticity is such, as tojprevent its profitabie and successful use for any purpose for which the fine silky flax of Belgium and Ireland is so well adapted. There are on the other hand numerous purpoSes for which the New Zealand flax, if properly treated, is eminently fitted, and it would supply a desideratum much felt in the flax trade of late years, viz.—a plentiful supply of a strong fibre fitted for heavy goods, such as canvas, sacking, wo;>l-sh?eting, twine, &c. If the resinous matter and the principal portion of husk or shieve were simply extracted from the fibre, the spinners in England would, having the machinery and all die requisite appliances at hand, speedily convert it to useful and economical purposes, and would be able to lake all that the colony could produce. Wi3 perceive froni a late number of the " Nelson Examiner" that the Commissioners of the Inter-National Exhibition of 1862 in that Province have offered a premium for the best series of Photographic Views of the town of Nelson and the chief Public Buildings in it, for the purpose of being forwarded to" the Exhibition. We do not know what the Otago Commissioner propose doing to uphold the honor of the Province, but we think that a. good View of Dunedin (which can certainly compete with Nelson in point of beauty), would be a very appropriate contribution, especially if it were supplemented hj Views of the Diggings, or, as there are several Photographic Artists in the Province, why not form a. cabinet of views of various parts of our beautiful province. This would serve not only to display the scenic beauties of Otago,' but also to show she state of art in the Province. ;.<... Scarcely a day passes tliat accidents do not occur in the streets with runaway horses and drays. Yesterday there were two cases. The first a horse and cart laden with timber and without a driver, which started from Rattray Street—-was within an ace of knocking down a young lady at the corner of Princes Street—tore through the cutting, and got as far as George Street before its head.long course could be arrested. The other

was a four-hQi se, coach, one of the horses of which became unmanageable opposite the Post Office, and rushed through the cutting and up Stnart Street, where it fortunately upset without hurting anybody. Almost every morning there are one or more cases at the Police Court of men leaving their carts on the street without any person to look after them, but the trifling lines of a few shillings seem to do but little towards checking the evil. We should like to know whether a more severe punishment could not be inflicted. Win. Baily appeared at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday rnorningrtoanswer^ the charge of having wilfully and feloniously abstracted from the Commercial Hotel one bottle of greengages* value•.,.?s,, 6d.... Tlie.. prisoner said he . had -taken a g£ass too much, and on going into one of the rooms of the hotel he saw the bottle on the table, and in consequence of having already taken to much grog, he was tempted to take fl\also. The Magistrate, by way of counteracting this an : due partiality for sweets, sentenced■■■him to the bitter draught of three months' imprisonment with hard labour. When that august body, the Town Board erected its chef d oeuvre the Town Pump, no precautions were adopted to prevent the water from flooding the street, and converting a considerable space around it into a perfect swamp. . Surely this trifling improvement could be accomplished without distressing the" Board very much. The practice of discharging vessels laden with timber, &c, on the beach instead of at tlie jetty, had become very common of late, and we would desire to warn the carters employed in this work of the danger of taking their carts beyond low water mark, as we understand that beyond this point the harbour is full of deep and dangerous holes. Indeed on 'Saturday we observed that a horse and cart narrowly escaped total loss. ■ On Saturday morning we observed no less than sixteen carts waiting their turn to load at the end of the jetty/ If proof were wanting of the absolute necessity which exists for the immediate erection of a new jetty, this fact would afford it.