South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2823, 12 April 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1882.

The oracle at Delphi, about whom an our days of pupilage we used to read ad nauseam, never, so far as we are aware, made an ass of itself. In the ambiguous.vagueness of its utterances lay all their charm and power. However firings might turn out the words of the oracle could never be turned a gainst it. “ Out • of thine own mouth ” ,1 .convict thee, could never >j'e : justly addressed, to that emirieiit authority. “ You. see it mi/ght, and then again it mig'ht’nt,”— this was the usual*style of thing, in excellent Greek. Our morning- contemporary, who loves “to a ssume the god, affect to-nod,” and do tl le oracular generally, is not so wise and. wary as his prototype. ■ } The, : ; ..gonse iquence . is that he is given to. the utterance of a good deal of confident, prediicti on that is not often realised. 'Whcsh the impending resignation of the Hall Government was first rumored, our -contemporary, seized . hold of the matter, and on Monday morning last shook its head threateningly, and informed its readers that, oh! -dear no, nothing of the sort, the fhing- was absurd ; we declare the Hall Government intends to remain in office just as long as we and they choose. As for the Governor, pooh ! down with the-fellow, he had better mind his , behaviour, or we shall not .spare him. In fact, if the Secretary of State for 1 the Colonies himself, the Eight Hon. Earl Kimberley, do es not mind his p’s and. q’s, it is quite likely we shall also give him a dressing down. This was the style of the Herald ” On Monday morning Ilast. *■ * * “ This report isr not altogether void of truth. We h.ave reason to believe that Sir Arthur Gordon did write Home very strongly about the. West Coast, policy, and that he has in various despatches placed the action, and even-the motiv«es of his Ministers ; in connection with that policy, in an extremely unfavorable light. But after' that, we are convinced, the report is at fault., We do not believe the Secretary: of State who no doubt had the Ministers’ version as well as the. Governor’s before him, anrd who thoroughly understands, moreover, the constitutional, position of the Native question in New Zealand, can possibly have made such a blunder as to support the view taken, by his Excellency. The Imperial Government have no more to do with the internal concerns of this country 1 than the Czar of Eussia has. That' is one point. The other is this. Assuming for the moment that the Secretary of State has supported the Governor and that -th'' 'atter thus encouraged, has called on his Ministers to obey his behests with respect to native affairs, is it to be believed that the Ministers contemplate resigning ? Not a bit of it. If anything of the sort has taken place, we venture to say they will stick to their post, refuse to obey Sir Arthur Gordon, Lord Kimberley, of anybody I elec, lay the whole matter before

Parliament on fhe first day 0 f the session, and never rest until they have thoroughly vindicated the right of the colonists to govern themselves. But we are convinced that nothing of the sort has taken place.” Whether our description is a highly colored one or not, we leave our readers to judge after a perusal of the above extract. Now, when everything turns out just as people,of this sort desire, it is offensive enough to have even facts; communicated to one in an arrogant know-everything style. But - when the thing upon which, with senile peevishness, somebody has been insisting, does not come off, how ridiculous that somebody appears ! The ink was hardly dry on the M.S. of our contemporary when the Ministry actually resigned in a body, and not twenty-four hours afterwards His Excellency, not having the fear of the “Timaru Herald” before his eyes, actually sent for Sir George Grey I We have no doubt the “Herald ” would have preferred bis Excellency’s sending for a certain personage who is, popularly supposed to have his residence in the “ nether shades,” and who, though not, given to personal visits among men, has a good deal to do with human affairs. We trust, however, that the “ Herald ” will learn, from this incident to exercise some care and conscience in the future, and to refrain from misleading public opinion in this shameless style. If the “ Herald ” was au courant with the offic : al affairs of Messrs Hall, Atkinson, and Co., it must have known that a united resignation -on their part was quite likely to occur. At any rate it ought to have considered well before it took upon itself to make confident assertions that might (as this has done) afterwards make it a laughing-stock.

The Harbor Board will to-morrow, we believe, consider, with other important matters, the case of Captain Mills, the Harbormaster. At the last meeting of the Board it will be remembered that Mr E. Turnbull took everybody somewhat by surprise by jumping to his feet immediately Captain Mills’ application for increased salary was submitted to the Board, and urging the immediate dismissal of Captain Mills. But to surprise was added entire disapproval when Mr Turnbull brought,-; forward the circumstances attending the loss of-the City of Cashmere as a pretext for the dismissal of the Harbormaster, ■ It was plain from the remarks that, fell from members of the Board that they were decidedly of opinion that although the question ,of re-organising the Harbormaster’s department might very properly be considered by them, they were not going ,to open the ball by dismissing an old, efficient, and experienced servant with a stigma of their infliction resting upon him. Tomorrow the Board will proceed to the consideration of the matter, and we have every confidence that they will treat it fairly’and wisely, having regard both to the interests of the port and the past services of Captain Mills. We are certainly, of opinion that the time has arrived when the Harbormaster’s department should be made more efficient. At present the administrative functions which properly belong to the chief executive officer of’the Board, cannot be efficiently performed because the officer is burdened with the double responsibility of giving orders and carrying them out. To the Harbormaster should be given a subordinate officer to act as pilot, and generally to attend to ' the arrival, departure, and berthing of the shipping. , The chief himself will find quite enough to do in looking after the shipping and wharfage business which is now left to everybody, and for which of course nobody is responsible. We trust and expect the Board will, to-morrow, recognise this need and promptly meet it . They may appoint Capt. Mills or anyone else,but when it is proposed to tevise the staff, no member of the Board is justified in making injurious statements (which,’ moreover, are contrary to-fact) about the present Harbormaster. If his department is censurable for having caused the loss ;of the City of Cashmere, it was the’ system and not the man that should have been assailed. Before anything Is done we maintain, in justice to ;Oaptain Mills,’ that the statement’ ■made at last meeting, which we all ■regret, ’ought to be withdrawn, and the case then considered on its merits. The Court of Inquiry into the wreck of the City of Cashmere did not censure Captain Mills, and consequently the Harbor Board have no right to censure him.