The Southland Times. MONDAY, JUNE"4, 1566.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 273, 4 June 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. MONDAY, JUNE "4, 1566.

There is nothing in existence more, marked and regular in its ebb and flow, than political "eccentricity. That individuals should be, subject to all the round of ancient inconsistencies is perhaps scarcely vso wonderful as that the public mind should be so easily influenced by the revival of old follies and the charlatan out-bursts of the vainglorious few. The petition to the General Government, which is now being hawked about for signatures, is an illustration in point. The mismanagement in the Railway Department in this province became so transperant and yet so complicated that a Commission of Inquiry was deemed by- all parties desirable. The Provincial Government were anxious that such a Commission should be appointed, and to this end introduced » a Railway Inquiry Bill during the March sitting of th Provincial Council, which was passed. This Bill could not be acted upon until the General Government's assent to it had been obtained. The Bill was fprwarded to Wellington without delay, but with that chronic procrastination which has become the chief characteristic of the General

■ after the meeting of the lats Provincial Council, un - assented to and consequently no positive action could be taken. "With that mistrust which has for sometime since distinguished a small section of the community, the Government has been charged with a desire to shirk an inquiry into the past, and this has been made an excuse for an appeal to the G-eneral Assembly to carry out an inquiry which the Provincial Governments have been assiduously endeavoring to advance. The petition which is now being hawked about for signatures, we determinedly object to ; a Eailway Investigation we emphatically advocate. We object to the petition as being a party production, ( untruthful and useless. Again, we object to it on constitutional grounds. It is one of the fundamental principles of local self-government, that local grievances should be redressed by local legislators who are amenable to the public for their actions. To take the petition in detail. It is a party production and untruthful. It cannot be denied that it was drawn up by a few who in secret framed, it and that those few were chiefly composed of men who had previously everted them' selves to smother the Inquiry in the Council ; and therefore evidences a factious and insincere pretension on the part of the frainers to patriotic and honest public labors. It is untruthful, inasmuch as it asserts, " that the public affair's of the Province have for the past two years and still continue to be in a very unsatisfactory condition." This is not wholly true. The fearful mistakes which had been made previous to the last two years threw the Province into difficulties which placed " its affairs in a very unsatisfactory condition," but during the last two years these difficulties have been steadily combated, and in a measure overcome. Again, the statement that a "Eailway Commission Ordinance was passed (at the March sitting) under which the Grovernment pledged themselves to proceed with the greatest possible despatch in the investigation, and that no practical action has yet been taken under that Ordinance, and the result of continued procrastination in the matter/ is to render an investigation more and more difficult and ' unsatisfactory." This is a vicious mistatement. The last Provincial Government Gazette contains a notification that the " Eailway Commission Ordinance, 1866," " having been laid before the Governor, His Excellency has been pleased to assent to the same?' This notification is dated from Wellington 11th May. Here is evidence as strong as truth can be that the Provincial Government were not the procrastinators — they did all they could legally do, and even more ; during the time the bill was waiting the Governor's assent, arrangements were being made to put it in operation immediately that assent was received. It is patent therefore that the assertions in the petition are untruthful and worthless. The General Government will never act upon a statement charging the Provincial Government with a delay, which arose in the procrastinating instincts of the heads of their own establishment. The Eailway Investigation is required and should with all possible speed be carried out. The Eailway Commission Ordinance, having received the Governor's assent, it is competent for his Honor the Superintendent to put it into operation. True it is that the funds for its working have not been voted, but the investigation is called for, and considering that those who were the means of preventing the passing of the amount, are now the loudest to revive the cry for it, we think the Government would be justified in anticipating the vote of next session, and put the comlnissioi into immediate work. The In-' vestig;ition is called for ; the General Government will never institute it, and if the talented constructors of the model Petition are sincere they will aid in securing an expression of public opinion that will justify his Honor the Superintendent in "taking this course. Will the " Star Chamber " reformers do this ? We trow not. It is not their policy to obtain a fair and impartial investigation ; their leaders at least know that the present movement is a burking of the Inquiry altogether; they aim at ousting the present Superintendent and his advisers from office for no other reason than that in investigating past transactions they are making plain the difficulties and complications which were the only legacy they received when takin" office. It is however almost childish to treat seriously the actions of the antidiluvian few. The parties whose integrity they call in question are far above them in political knowledge and business ability. The present Government and its supporters have the normal feeling of Englishmen, and desire to have all doubtful subjects freely and openly investigated. But this is not the aim of the opposing party : they seek by sensational excitement to rise to the; surface, and gain for their chiefs lost place and pay. T»he reign of clap-clap and " stage thunder " is always in a British community short-lived. The party who now, by zig-zag means attempt to regain the power which by blundering they have lost must sooner or later realise the fact that their old vantage ground has slipped from under them. They have had their day as rough hewers of a rugged constitution, and have proved themselves but clumsy workmen; and they must now give way to more capable men. who know how to chisel the raw constitutional block into shape, without destroying the lineaments of the original design.

The following is the state of H. M. Gaol for the weok ending Friday, the 2nd current: — Sentenced to penal servitude, 6 males ; sentenced to hard labor, 8 males ; lunatics, 5 males and 1 female ; debtors, 1 male ; on remand, 4 males. Total, 24 males and 1 female j receired during the week, 8. males. Ditwhargod during the week,

We extract the following from the West Coast Times of the 19th :— "For some time past it has been well known to the police here that a number of the Sydney bffshranging fraternity have been resident in our midst, quietly taking notes of the general mode of conducting business in the town and outlying districts, more especially that connected .with the purchase of gold. Gtossip says somo of the strangers were seen oftener than once present in the dress-circle of the Prince of •• Wales Opera House. Of the intentions, however of these characters, nothing was exhibited until the evening of the 10th instant, wben the startling discovery wa3 made that between the hours of eight and ten, the officers' quarters at the camp had been entered by one or- ft gang of daring thieves, and the following articles carried off: — 1 cross belt and pouch, 1 large size Colt's revolver, 1 small revolver, 1 patent leather case for revolver, 2 large size Dean and Adams' revolvers, 2 plain leather cases for revolvers, 1 pair Bedford cord pants, 1 set sword slings. The revolvers and belts were taken out of the mounted constables' room, and the pants but of a framed tent, which is used as a wash-house. We give the following on the authority of the Grey River Argus : — " Not long ago it was mentioned in one of the Hokitika papers that there were reasons for believing that the Fenian movement had many active adherents on the West Coast. It has been communicated to us by persons of undoubted reliability that so much sympathy with the Fenians exists among the Irish miners as to lead to the opinion that should the movement by any chance gain the ascendancy in Ireland, there would be trouble even in this far distant colons Our informant states that subscriptions are being raised for the wives and families of the Irish political offenders, and that a good deal of money has been collected." The following is an abstract of the • articles of agreement between the Grovernment of New Zsaland and the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company, which, no doubt will be of interest to many of our readers. These articles have been sent to the New South Wales Government to be ratified by them, and may, therefore, bo slightly altered. One of the conditions imposed is placing on the line four steamers of 1,250 tons burden, and 250 horse-power, and the description of the vessels built to meet this requirement will show the spirit in which the Company enters upou the contract. As memtioned in our last Australian telegrams, the Kaikoura, which is to take the first mail by Panama, arrived in Melbourne on the 6th May, • having left Plymouth on the Uth March, thusinaking one of the fastest passages on record. Her time was fifty-etght days from port to port, but o»t of that she was detained four days at St. Vincent's, and three days at the Cap© of Good Hope, so that her absolute passage, exclusive of delays, was fift/-one days, or ten days less than the time taken by the overland route via Suez and Marseilles. To do tins she must have averaged something like twelve knots an hour throughout the whole passage, of some fifteen or sixtuen thousand miles. The contract rate between Wellington and Panama is virtually a ten knot rate, and our readess can j utlge of the amount of confidence that can be placed in the success of the scheme, so far, afe all events, as the Company is* concerned, when the steamers, to undertake it are able to keep up a twelve knot speed for sixteen thousand miles. The Kaikoura, too, labored uudcr an immense disadvantage in having to run a part of the distance with only one blade to her screw. This, of course will be remedied in Sydney, where she was to go for a refit before taking up her appointed service, and we hope that to-morrow fortnight we shah 1 soe her entering our port on her way with the first homeward mail by Panama. Lgltelton Times, 12th May. The Canterbury Press, 12th May, gives the following with reference to the Lyttelton and Christchurch tunnell , — " The Provincial Engineer reports the following progress made at the Lyttelton tunnel during the month of April : — At the Heatacote end, 63 feet ; and at the port end, 59 feet ; or, 1 chain 56 feet in all. The total length of the tunnel is 2,538 yards, of which up to the 30th of April, 2,39 H yards had been driven leaving a remainder of 443£ yards.