THE Otago Daily Times " Invenium viam nut faciam," DUNEDIN. SATURDAY. AUGUST 23,1862

Otago Daily Times, Issue 211, 23 August 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times " Invenium viam nut faciam," DUNEDIN. SATURDAY. AUGUST 23,1862

Thk Aldinga might have arrived with the English Mails two days' earlier,* but her owners detained her that time to 'finish her loading. They have a contract with tiic Provincial Government to bring down the English Mails for £I SOO per year, but without nny penalties being stipulated for, or, in other words, with the power to throw it up whenever it suits them. For taking back the mails they have received from the General Government at the rate of .£7OOO .1 year. Hitherto, they have conducted the down as well as the up service with scrupulous fuk-lity, and, in many ensep, at a loss to themselves. For instance, to enable h .r to meet the mail requirements, the Aldinga lately did four voyages within the month —two up and two down. This left her scarcely two days in port each voyage, which is a time quite- 'inadequate to properly load her. The consequence was that she was more or less short loaded each of the four trips, and was earning less money that she otherwise would hive done. The owners made the sactifice from the impression they conceived that a contract was about being entered into with them Tor the joint services. A gre-it deal of .correspondence and negotiation went on, and at last the Provincial Government decided to make a two months' engagement with another br»;it —the City of ilobart—and to hold Messrs. M'.Mcckanand Black wood to the down contract at the rate of .€ 1500 per annum These gentlemen naturally feel aggrieved at the position in which they are placed. They receive about a fifth for the down service that is paid for the, up. When they entered into the contract, it was understood to be a not very binding one. They were to bring down the English mails for Otago as soon as they could conveniently manage after the arrival of the steamer. Since then, the service has assumed a different aspect, —it is required to be carried oh with scrupulous regularity and the utmost expedition, as the Mails for the other Provinces come down by the same opportunity, and a steamer is detained in Otago waiting to carry them on.

We say nothing about the preference accorded to the City of llobart. The terms are not yet made public, so that it is fair to suppose they are favorable. But manifestly the present contractors have been subjected to great hardship, in the lengthened manner the negotiations have been protracted, and in the unfavorable position in which they are pliced now that the better contract is taken from them. They did not conceive that they were hound to subject themselves to further loss, and as a consequence the Aldinga was detained until she had completed her loading. To show that a mail service is not all profit, we may adduce the late instance of the Gothenburg. In order to carry out their contract with the General Government (although the same expired with the trip) the Gothenburg was punctually despatched from Melbourne with only a few passengers, and 70 tons of cargo, and she returned after only six hours staying with none of the latter, and still fewer of the former. She, in fact, lost by the trip, although the contractors byj delaying her a few days, would only have subjected themselves to trifling penalties—thirty-shil-lings an hour.

Several months have now elapsed since the Provincial Council authorised the local go-

vernment to conclude a contract for the Mail Serviceon behalf of the Province, but as yet nothing of a permanent nature has been done. It would seem as if the Provincial Government is unable to cope with the matter, and we suppose nothing remains for it but to leave it to the General Government. The objections against this course are less than they formerly were, inasmuch as a ministry more friendly to. Otago is an office, and the house has affirmed the necessity of the service. We believe a sum of £15000 is being put on the estimates for the purpose. No doubt it would be bettor for the Provincial Government to enter into the contract, and thus retain control over it. The General Government conld not refuse a contribution towards it. In regard to expense, it will probably cost Otago more if the General Government take it in hand, than ii the Province concluded the bargain. As ofteu before stated, the contributions to the General Government expenditure were made by the Provinces i:i propoition to their Custom's receipts. According to present appearances, the Customs receipts of Otago will be at least two thirds of the entire Customs Revenue of the Colony. Otago will therefore have to pay two thirds of the cost not only of the mail service, but of every item of general Government expenditure, including even those for Native expenditure. Now the spring season is coming on will be the best time for concluding a mail c mtract, and we hope that the General or Provincial Government will lose no time in doing so. It should be made for at least a year, and under conditions that would preclude the possibility of irregularities. There will shortly be plenty of steamers in the trade. Messrs. M:Meckan and liiackwood have a new one on - the road out—the Alhatnbra. She comes direct from Kngland to Otngo, with 700 tons of coal. They have another vessel building, to be called the Oamaru. We do not care whether a contra ct be made with them or with the owners of the City of Hobart, but let there be an end to the present unsuitable system, beg which those who are inclined to do the service well are cajoled into making heavy losses.

The nature of the Bill which was b.ing introduced ut home to amend the New Zealand Constitution Act, appears to be ill undt rstood, — at least we notice some nonsense iv the shape of comments that have been written about it. Its purpose is simply to correct a mistake made by the home Government when the Constitution Act wai originally passed by the Imperial Legislature.

The mistake counts in this—the Home Government in the desire to give the colonists larger power, withdrew what they considered to be a restrictive clause, but which besides imposing restrictions, ulao conveyed a power not to be found in other parts of the Act. The supplying of this jK>wer is what the Amended Act proposes to do.

The Constitution Act as sent home by the Colonial Legislature for the approval oi the Imperial Houses of Parliament contained the following clause :■ —

LXIX. It fhall be lawful for the said General Assembly, by any Act or Acts from time to time, to constitute new Provinces in New Zealan-i, to direct mid appoint the number of uicrabent of which the Provincial Councils then/of shall consist, and to alter the boundaries of any Provinces for thft time bi.-inc cxhti'utfz) and u> alter the provisions of this Act, an ) any I swh for the time* tciiiß iv force reflecting tht friction of member* of the Pro" incial Council*, tinpowtrii of hiwU Councils, am! the distribution of the *tiil hurjihis revenue between the i-cveral Provinces of New Ze:il:uul : Pi-.»viil*>l always, that any bill for am of thy' sai<l purpo.*."* shall be restrvtd for the *>i>;uifj cation of Her MnjiMfyV pleasure thereon.

With the de.-.ire of removing the restriction with which the clause concludes, the Imperial Legislature, in an act to amend the Constitution Act repealed the clause just quoted. The intention was simply to dispense with the necessity of reserving for the Queen's assent the measures to which it refers. But tinonly power to initiate such measures \va* bestowed by the first part of thi clause, and consequently the power m well as the restriction was withdrawn. The subsequent feu of the Colonial Legislature, having for their purpose the constitution of frch Province^ arc thus unauthorised, and all tin the Provincial ivachinery thus brought into operation, abortive or illegal. The meAsim just introduced by the Duke of Xewcastle. was simply for the purpose of supplying tin deficiency, merely to give power to the Colonial Legislature to constitute fresh Provinces, and to indemnify it for ihe acts which in mistake it had before passed. But for thiCDurse,neither Southland or Hawke'sßay would have any legal existence. We will not for the present further allude to the debate or New Zealand affairs, of which this inerelv formal technical act was made the excuse.

Wk have to draw the attention of our readers to the notice over our leader, to the effect that the proprietors have found it necessary to raise the price of the paper. Although this step hjn been immediately induced l>y the enormous increase in wages which they have found it necessary to pve the compositors, namely, fifty per cent., it was one which had been some time in contemplation. Before the present rise, wages, not only for compositors, but in every department of the office, were fully fifty per cent, in advance of those in Melbourne. The price of material also is subject to the extra charges (by no means light) between Melbourne and Dunedin. When the original price was fixed, the paper was only a quarter its present size. It has become a very heavy paper, and the expense of producing it is far larger than that of the Melbourne papers. It is now only proposed to charge the same rate of* subscription as the Argus, namely, 20s. per quarter, posted, or delivered. The Argus charges 265. 6d. per quarter for papers posted, but in Victoria there is a charge for the posts, which here there is not. Subscribers will thus have their papers at 3d. a copy. The price for single copies will be in excess of that charged in Melbourne, but, for the present, the extra price is a necessity.

We should mention also, as many subscribers have recently complained of the late delivery of their papers, that our circulation has increased so largely, that irregularities have been unavoidable. To facilitate the publishing

of the paper, a powerful steam engine, imported from England, is now being put up to drive two cylinder printing machines, already erected. In a few days it will be. completed^ when we shall be able to increase the circulation to a large extent. Meanwhile we will be glad if subscribers having complaints to make, will furnish the same to the office, where they will be immediately attended to.

Our Shipping Reporter at Port Chalmers mentions that the steamers Samson, Lady Barkly, and Lyttelton went down to Waikouaiti yesterday, with an aggregate of about one hundred passengers for the new diggings. The excitemeut on the subject of the new gold-field seems to hare communicated itself to the crews of the shipping in the port. The captain of the mail steamer Quecu had to make a considerable advance iv the wages of his crew, in order to induce them to remain in the steamer.

The performance of the Garrick Club, for the benefit of the Benevolent Asylnrn cainc off last night, at the Princess Theatre, with great success. Owing to the lateness of the hour at, which the performance terminated, we must defer a detailed notice until our next.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, his Worth ip gave judgment in the case of Tickle v. Pole. In this case the plaintiff sued the defendant, the muster of the steamer Queen, for £20, as compensation for a certain number of grates short delivered from Melbourne. The action was founded on a bill of lading, couched in the usual terras, whereby defendant acknowledged the goods to have been shipped on board of his ship in good order and well conditioned in Hobson's Bay, and undertook to deliver them in like good order and condition to the plaintiff or bis j assign*, the act of God, Queen's enemies, fire, and all and every other dangers and accidents of the seas excepted. The bill of lading was endorsed, " to be taken from ship's tackles when to hand at Tort Chalmers ; weight and contents unknown ; not accountable for leakage, breakage, rust, decay, or vermin." The defendant pleaded not indebted, and relied in the present case on the bill of lading as not accountable fur breakage. From the evidence fur the plaintiff, it would appear that in terms of the bill of lading, ten dozen Kent gratts were shipped on board the steamer Queen, consigned t<s him, but on examination of the packages when delivered, he discovered a number of those grates broken in such a way as to render them valuek-f-.«, and he now sought to recover the value of those gratts sj broken. The evidence of the defendant, mure especially that of the purser of the ship, went to prove that at the time the gmtes were received on Ijoard, th«; lashings which fastened the packages were observed by hin£to be unsound, but that he took no notice of the circumstance, b-sieving that, in the event of a ly damage occurrii.g, the ship would ba protected by the endoraiMient on the bill of lading. Tiie question then reu'.iineil, whether the master oi a ship e<irryin_: goods on freight, or, iv other words, a common carrier, after signing a bill of lading, acknowledging the receipt of certain goods in a .-omul condition, anJ promisi^to deliver them hi a like g ;j.l eon luion could, in the event of those goois bi-ing broken and destroyeJ, absolve himself from all responsibility in that behalf by the endorsement of the words, " not accountable for Kakage, breakage, or rust/ &c. His Worship then ijuutcd several authorities on the subject, nml expressed his opinion that, upon considcruttouoftue whole circumstances of the case, theendorsement on the bill of lading did not relieve the defendant from his liability as a common carrier. If the defeudaut n.13 dissatisfied with the manner in which the grates were packed, his Worship considered it was hu duty to call attention to it by refusing to take them in their then condition ; or, he could have pursue.! another cour?e, that «>:" making a special contract, and charging such a rate of freight as would tndemuify him ag.uns>t all losses. At the hearing of the caseapwint, was raised by the counsel for the defendant as to whom the mister of a j>hip should bo responsible for loss and injury—the consignor or consignee. Hi 3 Worship considered that a point of iome dlfliculfy, and he apprehended that it woul.l depend on the particular circumstances of each case, but he- thought in the present instance-, the action was properly brought by the plain? HI as the consignee of the goods. His Worship then give judgment for plaintiff in the sum of £20, together with costs.

The inhabitants of CoHingwood, in the Pro-

vinee of Nelson, have adopted a petition, to be presented to the Commissioner of Customs, against the contemplated closing of Collingwood

las a port of entiy. It appears that.tbe Superintendent of Nelson has recommended the clo--v\Z ot the port, on account of the insignificant amount of duties collected there. This step is warrmy resented by the Collingwood people, who stigmatise tha action of the Superintendent as an attempt to keep down the rising importance of the por:. The second clause of the petition says : —** That it is the policy of tho Provincial Government of Nelson to retard the progress of this district as much as possible, fearing the town of Collingwood may rival that ot Nelson in importance, and become the capital of a new province ; and no step which would be taken, would more effectually injure our interests than that about to be proposed by his Honor the Superintendent of Nelson."

The Ar(/tut of the 12th instant, has an article on the nomenclature of Australian Tosvns. The Arpiis makes some very sensible remarks upon the subject, and which may I>e applied to some of the names of townships in New Zealand. In this colony however, it is a matter of congratulation, that the Native names of places have been extensively retained. The Maori nnraes of localities, are generally exceedingly appropriate, being either a poetical description of the natural features of the locality, or liaving reference to some lejrend connected with the spot. Relative to the names of Australian Towns, the Argus says : " Hitherto the naming of places in Australia has been managed in the rudest and roost ignorant manner. The caprice of the district surveyor or the vanity of the local proprietor lias been allowed to dictate the nomenclature, in utter disivgard of natural character and to the confusion of etymology. The peograpby of Australia has thus found expression in a cluster of the most barbarous, absurd, and meaningless names, only relieved here and there by the simple music of the blaekfellow'a natural designation. Associations the most incongruous assail the imagination in every gazetteer. Villages on a dead flat are made into hills, and mountains become rivers or glens. Desolate places are made habitable and inhabited, while the centres of population are turned into wood or waste. Uosedale has neither dale nor roses, Belvoir has no news, OaWcigh is innocent of oaks. Castlemaine never had a castle, Kilmore has only a little church and Sandhurst is bare of trees. A rising and Teutons suburb takes the name of a solitary islet in the Scottish Sea; and the densest part of the city is made into ColUngwood. The proper naming of places has apparently become a Jost art • and in nothing is the modern-poverty of imagination or the modern spirit of commonplace more curiously shown thaa in any list of the to wns.and villages in a new country.

The mail for Melbourne per s.s. Aldinga wlil close this day for ordinary letters afc 1.30 p.m., and for registered letters and newspapers one hour earlier. A mail will also be made up by the Airedale, for the Northern Provinces^ at 2.30 p.m.

The rage for billiard matches seems to be rife in Sydney as well as Otago. A match was played on the 15th, in Sydney, between Captain Ward and Croft for JEIOD aside, the former player being the winner.

We liave been able to glean a few reliable particulars respecting the movements of the Government prospecting party under Mr. Stebbings, of winch, a brief notice appeared lately in our own correspondence from Tuapeka. It appears that since the 7th July the party has prospected from the boundary between Musgrave's run and that of Baldwin, up to the runs of Low and Shennan. They found ironstone and black sand along the banks of the Molyneux (or Clutha). for the whole distance examined, except on Baldwin's frontage, which is rock bound. The sand seems to extend i back about forty feet from the river, and is all I auriferous in a greater or less degree. They tried up to within a few miles of the spot wheie Hartley and Riley began, and, as was stated by our gold field correspondent they had a shrew d suspicion that two men who were working about six miles further up the river than themselves, on Sheenan's frontage, were the identical two wh» obtained the 87 lbs weight of gold. Stebbings has, we believe, forwarded samples of the black sand to the authorities in Dunedin, but we are not aware tliat any of the samples have yst been tested. The discoveries made by Mr. Stebbings party do not appear to have been of themselves of any immediate practical value, and would certainly not have been sufficient to warrant a rush at present, Indeed, if we are not misinformed, Mr. Stebbings only desired, in the first instance, to secure a prospecting claim, and intended to test the ground more completely before making public anything that might tend to cause a rush of diggers to the locality. Considered, however in connection with the discoveries of Hartley and Riley, the prospects ebtained by Stebbings are unimportant as pladng beyond a doubt that a similar character mai ks the river at a lower part of its course, and that althought possibly not so rich, the diggings will be found to extend for a considerable distance tiara the stream.

There was a better house at the Theatre Royal last night than might have beea anticipated. The " Octoroon" was again produced, and seems to lose none of its attractiveness. Mr. Le Roy, as Uacle Pete, leaves nothing to ba desired, the thorough knowledge and complete mastery he displays orer the character are in themselves saiGcient to render the piece a great favourite with the public. The " Octoroon" will ba repeated to-night

Our prognostications as what would await those who have ru»h:-d off heedlessly and indiiFerently provided to the Dunstan Diggings have been verifi-d. We learn that a considerable number of people who had gone off by the West Taieri route have returned, being fearful of venturing across the Maungatua ranges, which are reportel to bs deeply covered with snow, the miners in many case 3 having to walk waist deep in it. T'.h rcsuit might reasonably have been expected to follow the incxisilerate manner in which great numbers of miners have hurried off to the new diggings. Excitement will accomplish great things, and assist people sometimes in overcoming serious difficulties, but it will neither melt snow nor carry swags. We could wish to inculcate a little more prudence in those intending to proceed to the Hartley Diggings. There is no need for harry, and there will be plenty of room for all-

We understand that the Government vith commendable promptitude, have despatched a gentleman to trace out the road to the newdiggings, and have authorised him to employ the necessary labor for pUc ing it in a usable condition. It is thought from the number of persons on the road some will be found glad to obtain profitable employment.

Mr. Fitzgerald the member for Eilesaere, in the ccarse of his eloquent speech on Native affairs, thus <lescrii>is the pre-^.nt condition of the North Island '• The present stale of things cannot last. The con•Htioa of the Colony is nat one of peace; it is a state of armed ami susp-ebus neutrality. If you do not quickly absorb this King MoTcment into your own Government, you will assuredly come into collision with it; and once light up the torch of war as^in in there island*,and the feeble and artificial institution j|}-oa are now building up, will be swept away like houses of paper in the iaiues. Tribe after tribe will be drawn into the atruesle, and you will make it a war of races. Of course you will conquer; but it will be ihe conquest of the tomb. Two 01 three years of war will eradicate every particle of civilization from the native mind, and elicit all the fiercest instiactToif his savage nature. The tribes broken up without social or military organisation, will be scattered throughout the country in br.uds of merciiess banditti; the conflagrations of Taranaki will be lighted up agai'.i ia every Iwder of the colony; and in self preservation you will be compelled, as other nations have been, compelled before, to hunt the miserable native from haunt to hauut, till he is destroyed like a beast of the forest. lam here to-night, to appeal asraiustso miserable, so inhuman a consummation. We are here thi* evening: standing on the threshold of the future holding the issues of peace and war—of life and of death in our hands. I s*e some boa. friends around me whose counsels I must ever respect, and whose tried courage we all admire, who will tell me that yon cannot govern this race until you have conquered them. I reply in the words which the poet has placed in the mouth of the great Cardinal statesman,—"ln the hand of men entirely groat, the pen is mightier than the sword. Take away the sword, states may be save! without it,'"

Tiie following is the report of the Dunedin Hospita for the week ending Friday, August 22nd. Total number of patients iv hospital, 116. Received during the week, 0; and discharge! during the same period 14. The general state of the hospital is reports satisfactory, there being few severe cases of any kind. The man, Andretr Thomson, who was described as having his leg broken, has only received a bruise of the ankle, and is doing well. No severe case of accident has been admitted during the week. The cold mania is greatly conducing to the recovery of many of the patients.

The following was the state of H. M. Gaol, Dunediu, on Friday the 22nd instant. Awaiting tnal before Supreme Court, 8 males and 1 female ; and before the Resideut Magistrate** Court, 1 inlae. 43 males and 7 females were imprisoned, with hard labor ; and 2 males and 3 females, undergoing a short term of imprisonment; 1 male was imprisoned for default of, bail; 11 males were imprisoned for debt; and 6 males confined as lunatics. Total number in gaol on Friday evening, 93, being 72 males and 11 females. Five male, and 1 female prisoners were received ; and 8 male, .and 2 female prisoners were discharged during the week.

The rush to the new diggings has had the effect of raising the rate of workmens wage's in almost every department of industry. At a meeting of upwards

seventy carpenters, held last night at the Otago Hotel, it was resolved that the rate of wages after the 23ud instant, should be 20s. per day. , An advertisement to that efl'ect appears in oar issue of to-day.

The Dr. M'Gaaran, who, with a desire to imitate the immortal Barnum, engaged a party of Maorics of questionable nobility to proceed with him to Australia for the purpose of exhibiting in a series of performances, has got into difficulties wiih the .cute New Zealand aborigines. Our Sydney correspondent -".informs us that a dispute has arisen en tht subject of payment, and the medical exhibitor cautions people by advertisement agaiust hiring the tattooed Maories. They, in return, adveitise him, and in the meantime the performances me at a stand still. We wonder that, with the profound knowledge of the Maori character, professed by Mr, M'Gauran, he should have allowed any question of «/« to arise, for in' such cases Maorics arc obdurate creatures.

It will be seen by a notice which appears in another part ot our present issue, that the following post offices will on ami after the Ist September, be open to the pubuc a> money order offices:—Dunedin, Tuapeka, WaiUuujia j; and Wetiieratono's.