The SOuthland Times. MONDAY, JULY 20, 1868.

Southland Times, Issue 989, 20 July 1868, Page 2

The SOuthland Times. MONDAY, JULY 20, 1868.

The establishment of a Colonial Penal Settlement, and the consolidation of the New Zealand Police Force will not be the least important of the many subjects debated during the present session of the Assembly". "Whatever may be the result of the discussion upon the question of Colonialism as against Provincialism, it iB scarcely possible that any great difference of opinion can be entertained as to a reform being desirable in these organisations throughout the colony. It requires but little argument to demonstrate that the present system can be improved, and increased efficiency secured at a greatly reduced cost. It must be patent to even the most superficial observer that the nine isolated police corps, and the nine penal or prison establishments, each, having a long train of officers and men, must of necessity be costly, and in many cases inefficient. Any comments we make are intended to apply to the system generally, and not to the officials personally in either branch of the public service in this or other provinces. The police force of New Zealand forms a body of which any country might be proud, *bott as regards officers and men — efficient, enegetic, and trustworthy, but in many instances there is no scope for a display of energy or ability, and the most active are doomed to rust out an existence of idleness, while their ambition is to obtain active service, and consequently honorable promotion. Under the existing system, no such hope can be realised. The arguments in favor of a Colonial Constabulary are numerous. What are the advantages to be derived from the disbanding of the Provincial police, and the organisation of a Colonial force? Economy and efficiency. Union is strength, but under the present system no sufficient co-operative action canbe secured. The migratory character of a great portion of the population of New Zealand ren-

ders it highly desirable that the constabu- j lary force should be one compact body — ■ that the nine isolated companies should be fused into one. Experience has proved that this policy is sound in practice. "What has occured before may occur again. If we trace back the events of the last few years as bearing upon this subject, what do we find ? The discovery of gold in Otago in 1860 caused a rush to that province from all quarters. The vicious and crime-stained pests of society flocked from the adjacent convict tainted colonies and Victoria. | With, only one or two constables this influx of daring criminals threw the whole province into a state of fear and confusion. It was at once acknowledged that an extensive and well-trained police force was required, but it took considerable time before such a force could be brought into working order ; funds had to be provided, a commissioner selected, and a multitude of arrangements made, causing considerable time to be taken up in preliminaries, during which time the seeds of crime and disorder were being sown. Could such have been the case if there had been a well-organized Colonial Constabulary Porce ? Certainly not. As soon as it was known that a strong body of police were required they would have been selected from the forces of each province at once. What position w&a Canterbury placed in when the great rush to the West Coast took place ? She was inundated with the worst characters that Tasmania and Australia could produce, and was utterly powerless to suppress the crime which followed. Had a Colonial Constabulary of a compact character existed, the departure of " spotted " men from Otago and other places would have flashed along the telegraph wires, and those police officers who knew them been ordered to follow in their wake, and thus many a valuable life saved to the country ; there would have been many desperadoes brought to justice, and the deplorable records of crime that tarnish the history of Westland could never have existed. What has been said with reference to the police can, to a considerable extent, be applied to the gaol arrangements. The system that creates nine petty penal establishments for a colony containing little over two hundred thousand of a population, must of necessity be excessively costly to the country and de-. fective in operation. Is it possible that in these small establishments a proper classification of prisoners can be made ? It is not. The youthful offender is of necessity thrown into association with old and experienced criminals, and their period of punishment becomes one not of a reformatory character, but a training to deeds of greater depravity. We make no complaint as to the management of the various prisons in the colony, but maintain that the establishment of a Colonial Penal Station for hardened and long sentence prisoners, and the retaining of young offenders only in our local prisons, would tend to lessen the cost of penal management, and promote the reform of juvenile delinquents. In another column will be found a charge delivered to the Grand Jury, at the last Criminal Sitting, at Nelson, by Mr Justice Eichmond, which is most pertinent to this subject. Campbelltown is beginning to assume the appearance of a snug little sea-coast township. The mating and draining cf the main steeet has, to a very considerable extent, removed the objection raised, ■when the Bluff has been spoken of as the place to which invalides, requiring a change, should resort, viz., that sand clouds were raised when high winds prevailed, of an unendurable description. The new post-office and telegraphic buildings are completed, and are a decided improvement to the appearance of the town. We learn that Madam Carandini and company, after a successful tour through the Northern Provinces, are now performing" in Dunedin ; and it has been arranged that the company shall pay another visit to Invercargill, and give a few evenings entertainments at the Theatre Royal, the first of which is fixed for Tuesday, the 28th inst. His Honor the Superintendent left for Wellington, by the Otago, to attend the Council. Mr Henry Armstrong baa been gazetted Deputy Superintendent. Prom an article in the " Wellington Independent " of the 7th insfc., we learn that : — " Numerous natives forming a deputation of the Manawatu dissentients have been in town for some days past and have had several interviews with the Governor. They profess themselves anxious to have a farther reference to the Land Court, provided it can be held in Wellington, and they can secure the services of a lawyer to conduct their case. They also desire that the Judges should be changed, preferring Mr Fenton. No definite answer has yet been given them, but their representations will be taken into consideration, his Excellency, we are told pointing out to them that justice is always done by the Court, no matter who may be the sitting Judges, and that the nomination of the Judges must always rest with himself. The expense of a sitting in town would be very great, as the witnesses will be necessarily numerous under any circumstances, and more especially so, if everything was to begin de novo. The claimants are prepared to ship round their own potatoes ; but the witnesses for the Crown having now no further concei n in the matter, would be obliged to be kept at the cost of the Government. Without dealing harshly, the Government must deal firmly in this matter, and take care how they do not set a bad example to the natives by snnbbing their own Judges."

On the 4th instant the body of Peter Patfon — I lately drowned — was found floating in the Matuura, net tar from the place where he was drowned. Two men (David M'Robie and William Brown), had the body removed to Mr Jackson' 3 station, where the district magistrate from Switzer's, held an inquest on the sth inst., when a verdict was returned in accordance with the facts. The reports from the Auckland goldfields are numerous and conflicting. Some are highly favorable, others the reverse, but it is certain that Auckland has goldfields of considerable value — quartz-reefs which, when scientifically worked, will produce a large yield of gold. At the same time it would be premature to speculate upon the result. The following is an extract from a letter from one of Hunt's party to the " West Coast. Times." He says: — "The reefs are not continuous well-defined reefs, but merely clusters of small leaders, some of which are enormously rich — richer, in fact, than anything he ever saw. although he was an old reefer on Hustler's Reef, Victoria. The reefs are tralike any Victorian reefs. There are no alluvial diggings, and without a miner should be fortunate enough to strike a gold-bearing reef, there is nothing for him to do Provisions were cheap, but wages very low, and labor abundant. It would be almost useless for any miner to go there without he had sufficient means to keep him while he prospected the ground: The goldfield was decidedly overdone. Such is the account given by a miner, who having done very well on the Auckland goldfields, cannot be deemed a disappointed man. We (the " Daily Times ") hear that a writ has been issued in an aetior, Livingston v. Macandrcw, for the recovery of £100, as a penalty under the Provincial Audit Act, 1866 ; the action arising out of proceedings connected with Cameron v. The Otago Daily Times and Witnes 8 Company (Limited). The 11th section of the Audit Act provides that, before the signing of a warrant for the issue of money by a Provincial | Treasurer, the Superintendent shall lay the same before- the Provincial Auditor, who " shall not certify the same, unless the sums therein mentioned are then legally available for the services therein specified, br virtue of an Act or Ordinance of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the Province." But (12) if a warrant for a sum in excess of, or without appropriation, is submitted to rhe Auditor, together with a special order from the Superintendent, expressly directing the Auditor to certify, he is to do so, provided that the special amount included in special orders does not, within any year, exceed one twentieth of the ordinary Provincial Revenues of the prece ding year. When the Auditor (13) has signed a warrant or warrants under special order, he must, within a week after the commencement of the next session of the Council, transmit to the Speaker a statement of the moneys, and also the special order 3. Any Superintendent who signs and issues such a special order (14), " shall be liable to a penalty of £100, to be recovered in the Supreme Courts at the suit of the Proyincial Auditor ; but no such suit is to be commenced until a month after the end of the session ;" and "it shall be a sufficient bar, in any stage of the proceedings in such suit, that the Superintendent produces to the Court an Address from the Provincial Council, to the effect hereinafter mentioned, and signed by the Speaker- of the Council, and transmitted to the Superintendent by the Speaker, pursuant to a resolution passed by an absolute majority of the entire number of members thereof; such address shall be to the effect, that the Council requests the Superintendent to send to the Council a recommendation to grant a sum of money sufficient to meet the unauthorised expenditure." Mr Macandrew, as Superintendent, sent a special order to Mr A. Livingston, Auditor, as to a warrant for payment c' certain, expences connected with the earlier stage of Cameron v. The Daily Times ; Mr Livingston communicated with the Council ; the Council did not vote such an Address as is referred to in the Audit Act ; and so the present action has arisen. Two new Rules, under the Resident Magisl -ates Act, 1867, are proclaimed, as follow, in a recent " Gazette" : — " 1. In any case where the plaintiff, or where there are more plaintiffs than one, all the plaintiffs are absent from the Colony, and there be within the Colony an agent authorised to transact his or their affairs generally, and to prosecute and defend actions in his or the'r behalf, such agent shall be entitled to appear and act in any Court under the said Act for the plaintiff, or plaintiffs as fully as such plaintiff or plaintiffs themselves could. — 2. In any case where the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be absent from the Coiony at the time when it is desired that a summons should be issued under the thirty-fourth section of the said Act, such summons may be issued on proof by oath viva voce, or by affidavit by any person who can depose to the facts required by such section to be proved." Sir Alfred George Arney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, resumed his position (after leave of absence) as Judge of the Northern District, on the Ist inst. Proclamations to that effect, and declaring the appointment of Mr Joseph Schroder Moore, as acting Judge, to cease and determine on the 30th ult., were published in the '• Gazette" on the 29fch. Notwithstanding that during the eleven months ending on the 30th ult, the police of the Province have destroyed some two hundred dogs, and collected £466 10s Od dog-tax, yet complaints are made of the nuisance arising from some useless curs. It is generally understood that the registration of dogs stands good for twelvemonths from the date of registering, but tliis is a mistake, as the law says — " the owner of any dog or dogs three months old or upwards, shall on the first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and on the first day of August in every succeeding year register the same &c." "Provided that the owner of any dog or dogs shall be at liberty to register the same at any other peri-jd of the year." It is to be hoped that active measures may be adopted during the ensuing year to suppress the nuisance complained of. The Otago Government, following the example of Victoria, have determined to encourage manufacturing industries by giving premiums for the establishment of such works as are calculated to use up material of native growth, and give employment to a number of artisans. The offer of a bonus of £1,500 to the first company that shall manufacture 5,000 yards of woollen cloth in the province from colonial wool, has had a good effect in stimulating the capitalists to enterprise. A meeting for the-purpose of organising a Woollen Cloth Company, has been held at Tokomairiro, and resolutions passed recognising the desirability of a company being formed, and prelimerary steps taken to carry out the object contemplated ,

I The ' Daily Times,' 15th July, says : — " Scarcely anything can be imagined more disgraceful than the car/le?3 manner in which Press telegrams are complied at the Bluff. The telegraphic dispatches which we publish to-day contain information of deep interest to every Colonial reader, and they must have been equally accessible to the telegraphist as those from which his—message was derived. But even had he faithfully examined the ngwspaper from which he obtained his information, the ' Age,' he would have found that he had wasted his time by giving as news most of what wa3 already to hand via Panama, and had absolutely omitted every word of the latest intelligence. Were it not for the annoyance of having to pay for and to present the public with the offspring of such incompetence, it would be amusing, after discovering that all the really important matter had been ommitted, to rf ad the closing sentence, "There is no further news of importance." The head of the Telegraphic Department must 1 I insist upon greater attention being paid to so important a matter ; for by the present system the messages are nearly useless." The following are the particulars of Collections , detail and value of Imports and Exports, Shipping, and Immigration and Emigration at the port of Bluff Harbor for the quarter ended 30th June, 1868. Collections. — Customs duties, 10s j-pilotago on 19 ...jiresHels. (1.5.-89.5 registered tons), £154. 08 8d ; light dues on 54 vessels (12,868 registered tons), £160 6s Id ; fees under " Oyster Fisheries Act," £2 12s 6d ; under "Merchant Shipping Act," £3 9s; sundries, £8 10s. Imposts and Exports. — Imports from United Kingdom, £44 10s ; Victoria, £2238 2s ; New South Wales; £1562; total imports, £3844125. Exports to Uunited Kingdom, £6 ; Victoria, £1285 ; New South Wales, £205 ; total exports, £1496. Shipping. — Inwards foreign — From Victoria, with cargo, 18 vessels, 8363 tons ; New South Wales, 2 vessels, 373 tons ; Auckland Islands, 1 vessel, 87 tons ; in ballast, 1 vessel, 171 tons; total, 20 vessels, 8994 registered tons. Inwards Coastwise — 36 vessels, 4339 tons ; total inwards foreign and coastwise, 56 vessels 13,331 registered tons, Outwards foreign — To United Kingdom, with cargo, 2 vessels, 1255 tons ; Victoria, with cargo 5 ; in ballast, 1 ; total, 6 vessels, 3168 tons ; New South Wales, with cargo, 1 ; in ballast, 2 ; total, 3 vessels, 544 tons. Total, 11 vessels, 4967 registered tons. Outwards coastwise, 35 vessels, 9597 tons. Total outwards foreign and coastwise, 16 vessels, 14564 registered tons. Also, cleared for Invercargill 55 trains, conveying 8,324 packages of goods under bond ; for Riverton, 566 packages under bond. Immig-bation and Emigration. — Arrivals — From Auckland Islands : adults, 1. Victoria : adults, 61 ; children, 8. From other ports in New Zealand : adults, 99 ; children, 13. Total arrivals, adults, 161; children, 16. Departures— To United Kingdom : adults, 6. Australian Colonies : adults, 67 ; children 12. To other ports in New Zealand: adults, 140; children, 15. Total departures — adults, 213; children, 27. Showing an excess of departures as against arrivals of, adults, 52; children, 11; or, in all, 63 souls. The Imports include — Horned cattle, from Victoria, 5; New South Wales; 140. Total, 145 head. Horses from Victoria, 23. Exports to Victoria, 7,72S bushels oats, 1,560 lbs wool-;-Tcnd-in transit from, nnd duty paid, at Invercargill— to New South Wales, gold, 6560zs 2dwt 12grs ; to Victoria, 2,1540z9 2dwt figrs (produce of Southland). Total, 2,8100zs 4dwt 18grs. The eighth of the series of Penny Eeadings took place in the Theatre last Friday night, and notwithstanding the heavy rain, which unfortunately set in just before the hour of opening, the house was well filled, especially up-stairs. The performances, on the whole, were extremely good, and although the programme waa a long one, were got through by 10 o'clock. This waS principally attributable to the good sense of some the porformers, who persistently declined the encores almost forced upon them by the audience. Mr Irvine's third lecture on chemistry was wisely condensed into about a quarter of an hour ; the lecturer, a3 usual, made his subject most interesting, and introduced several striking experiments, the material and aparatus for which were kindly provided by Mr J. D. Hayes. The musical part of the entertainment commenced with the " Greek March," executed by seven or eight instrumentalists, the double-bass viol (played by Mr^Kingsland), being introduced for the first time, with fine effect. The quartette, "Bonnie Woods o' Craigielee," was well rendered, but we think would have been improved by a littfe more attentiou to expression. Next came a reading by Mr Ham, a clever American poem, entitled "Nothing to Wear," a very difficult piece to read. A flute solo, "Annie Laurie," with variations, followed; we should have preferred the simple air. The duet, "Of Fairy Wand," from Maritana, was sung by Mr C. E. Marten and a young lady, to the delight of the audience, who loudly clamoured for an encore ; the singers, however, simply bowed their acknowledgments. The second reading was from Pickwick, the famous " Total Abstinence Meeting," and was admirably delivered by Mr Edmund Bogers. The chorus, " Hark, the Lark,' (Cook) was fairly rendered. After the usual interval the instrumentalists performed the pretty waltz, "The Whisper of Love." Hatton's fine tenor song, " Free as the Mountain Air " was given by Mr Marten (who appeared in excellent voice) in capital style. An encore was vociferously demanded, but, as before, declined. Mr Macrorie's reading, — Ingoldsby's droll piece " Misadventure at Margate" better known as the " Vulgar little boy" followed, and was given with his well known ability. The violin and piano duet from Traviata was well performed, and was warmly applauded by the audience. The song " A Young Lady's No," was sung by a young lady with great taste, her singularly distinct articulation being especially commendable. In this instance she departed from her previous rule, and kindly granted the oucore which was called for with a presistency not to be resisted. The fourth reading— Sargeants pointed fable " The Critic " was by Mi- Wotton, who fuly sustained his reptuation. •' The Red Cross Knight" which concluded the programme was perhaps the besfceonccrted y-l.vs of the evening, and elicited hearty appla^o. The National Anthem closed the proceedings.

The- mariner' s compass has done some of the most important needlework in the world. There is no time spent with less thought than a great part of that which is spent in reading.