The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER .5, 1866.

Southland Times, Issue 574, 5 October 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER .5, 1866.

An excursion train, containing about thirty ladies and gentlemen, left the Railway Station on Wednesday last for the Bluff. This was the first train that has run the entire length of the line since its construction, and consequently some interest was manifested. At half-past twelve o'clock the train, consisting of one carriage and engine, left the station for the Bluff, atwhichplaceitarrived about ten minutes pasr two o'clock. The train left the Bluff at four o'clock, arriving in town at twenty minutes past five. The trip was most successful, and the running of the train perfectly smooth and easy. A special reporter was despatched from this office, whose narrative will be fonnd in another column. We may mention, as n proof of tbe convenience of speedy transit, that Mr Aylmer, the Clerk to the Superintendent, was enabled to proceed by the train to the Bluff superintend tbe shipping of some telegraphic material, per Ai-edale, for the North, consigned to the General Government, and rpturn to town the same evening ; whereas, otherwise, he woul 1 have been compelled to remain at the Bluff until the next day.

In previous issues we have given place to extract shipping paragraphs referring to the'tte'ul', that recently arrived at Port Chalmers from the Clyde, and stated the vessel to have be- n n placed in quarantine, but no deflnite statement was madras to the cause. *We learn from our late Dunedin papers that it is. a more serious affair than from pre-**ious reports could have been anticipated. Small-pox is the disease that has broken but on board, and the Otago government, are making strenerous efforts to present its reaching the town. The Daily Times, 28th September, upon this subject says — *' A meeting of the Board of Health, with reference to passengers iy the Resolute, was held yesterday. It was resolved, that tho one sick man, who, it is now admitted on all hands, is suffering from small-pox, shall be put on board the schooner Caroline, aud there attended to by the surgeon of the ship ; that the married couples and young women shaU go to the buildings on Quarantine Island ; that the single men shall be accommodated on board the hulk, which shah be moored off the small island ; and that these removals shall be effected to-day. It was, we believe, further resolved that the bedding of aU those who haie suffered from any disease during the voyage shall be at once destroyed ; that all other bedding shaU be destroyed before the immigrants are reUeved from quar uitine ; that fresh provisions shaU be supplied by the Government ; and that new bedding shall be given where necessary. By strictly keeping the healthy passengers from the sick, it it hoped that the former may be released from quarantine in fourteen days. Mr O'Donoghue is on board the Resolute, and wiU remain with the immigrants."

The Otago municipalities Act has at length been passed, the General Government having withdrawn Mr Hall's resolution to impound the municipal fees, but have not yielded their right to have them. The only concesion that has been made is that the muni cipUities are to have feest quarterly, but they are first to pass through the Treasury of the General Government, and be divided against the Provinces balance of the threeeighths customs account. This has created much excitement in Otago. Meetings have been held at Dunedin, Port Chalmers, and in other municipal districts, at all of which meetinga strong and defiant resolutions were passed, censuring the Government, and in some instances refusing to accept the terms offered. This question is also being agitated in Christchurch and Westland. Should this session be much longer prolonged, it is more than possible that another Ministerial crisis wiU result.

We clip the foUowing from the Daily Times, 28th September : — " A singular accident happened on the jetty yesterday. An empty dray belonging to Mr Findlay, coal dealer, was there ; the horse in the shafts being blind. - The man in charge puUed the reins in the wrong direction, and the horse stumbled off the jetty, and went head-foremost into the hold of the schooner Danzig. The hold was nearly empty; and, but that the dray caught in the combings of the hatchway, the horse's neck would probably have been broken. As it was, both horse and dray went into the hold, and were only got out after some difficulty ; bnt the horse was not injured, beyond its fright and the shaking it got in the fall."

Tn thi shipping columns we have, under the head Wellino-ton departures —•• Ruahine, for Sydney," with the quwy "supposed to be for England." There must he some mistake here. Perhaps one of the mo9t unexpected announcement-" that ha« been received by telegram is the one that appears in our present issue, viz, — that the next session of the General Assembly is to be held at nhriotchnmh. Without further information, it is impossible even to conjecture the events that, have brought about this result. Whatever ihov may he, Wellington wul puffer considerably. The inhabitants of that city, in the warmth of sanguine expectations, arising from its being made the chief place for the Panama steamers, and the spot at which our lawgivers were bound periodically to conf-regate. have gone to immense expense in building edifices worthy of an Empire City. What a delusion it has proved. The Panama prestige has flown to New South Wales, and they now no longer monopolise the expenditure arisin? from a rush of distant politicians. Such is the uncertainty of events in New Zealand. The " New Z-_la_d Advertiser" in a capital eadsr commenting on the great length of the Session, and the amount of business still to be got through, says: — --More than twelve weeks have elapsed since the representative of the Crown assembled the faithful Commons, and here we have an order paper containing twentyeight ' Orders of the Day,' and thirteen c Notices of Motion.' Truly time does not dim the vigor of our Lower Chamber, nor age duU its comprehensive powers. The forty-four subjects presented for discussion in one day abound in every form of intellectual gratification. Auckland, Otago, and Marlborough solicit attention to the waste lands of the Crown within their respective boundaries, and the General Government presses on our acceptance a -Lands Clauses Consolidation Act Amendment BUI,'. whatever that may mean, and deludes us with an entreaty to pass a ■Land Clauses Final Settlement Bill.' Auckland holds out her hand for a loan of a quarter of a million ; Wellington soUcits the renewal of a loan for fifty thousand ; and the general Treasury could find it handy' to have the power to forestal revenue to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand, and asks, moreover, for the polishing stroke of that curious specimen of financial organisation termed ' Treasury Bills Bill,' and induced a very pleasant looking article which is pressed with peculiar urgency on acceptance, in the shape of a • Stamp Duty BUI.' * * * Some outsiders have" ventured to suggest the formation of a ' Gastronomic Committee' to fix the amount of the honorarium, and recommend that the - douceur ' should be in inverse ratio to the duration of the session ; starting, for instance, at a pound a day and coming down to a shilling ; but we scout such a suggestion, as savouring too much of a susp'cion that the honorarium is acceptable. Some, again, think that the honorarium might bo appointed in inverse ratio to the talk, and much doubt whether it would not be expedient to appoint two clerks to note the time and sense, as some drawback might be allowed for the latter. We do no^ venture an opinion ourselves, the subject beingtoo ahtuse for us ; but all we know is, that j "-•porters ar* suffering very severely from an ( "ttafk of * kerosene,' which develops itself in mild and incoherent attempts to talk sftnso. and as their wives declare, in a most insane fondness for whisky and tobacco. We trust the epidemic will soon pass away, an^ that Wellington may ere long assume the reflective habits and un••'iffled composure which hag so brng made it the envy of all the other Provinces of New Zealand. We learn from the New Zealand Advertiser hat the Civil Service Commissioners have sent in their final report, and resigned their commission into his Excellency's hands. This report is devoted to the manner in which an Tncome Tax might be raised, and the most effective and economical mode of raising it. The Commissioners estimate that it would cost approximately about eight per cent, to levy the tax, but say that the absence of necessary information and other difficulties have prevented their ascertaining with accuracy and precision the proportion which the cost of collecting the tax would bear to the gross amount of tax collected. In their concluding remarks, the Commissioners again refer to the Civil Service Bill, and we commend their observations to the perusal of those members of the Assembly who have Bhirkod tbe discussion of this important question. They are : — " We ' sincerely trust that no defects on our part wi"! prejudice or delay the consideration of the CivU Service, the reform of which was the chief object of our enquiry. Setting aside, as a minor consideration, the wisdom of the principles, or of the departmental improvements which we recommend, we think that the importance of some practical action in the matter cannot be overestimated. It is not a question which merely involves the personal interests of Government officers, but one which involves the practical administration, day by day, of pubUc business, and tha best mode of utilizing a large public expenditure. It is a question of vitality or decay in the constitution of the Civil Service. Systematic reorganization wUI produce efficiency and economy as certainly as the want of it produces incompetency and waste. Procrastination only prolongs and increases these evUs, and renders their cure more difficult." Let hon. members who want to put off this bUI to another session lay these observations to heart, and during the recess they can reflect that through their procrastination they have caused the colony the loss of some £70,000, and left the Civil Service in the same disorganised state that they themselves were the first to cr_ out against.