The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1603, 9 July 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

The Albion arrived at the Bluff on Friday, with the English mail of 17th May via Suez, only one day later than the due date in Melbourne, the P. and O. steamer having anticipated her contract time in Melbourne by four days. Like the Nubia last month, the Bangalore reached King George's Sound before the branch steamer from Adelaide had arrived there, and passing the telegraph station at Cape Otway at night in a thick fog, announced her own arrival to the Melbourne people by steaming into Hobson's Bay at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 28th June. The Albion, leaving Melbourne on the following afternoon, brought a complete report of the European news, as telegraphed to Galle, up to the date of the steamer's departure. The latest special telegram thus obtained was despatched from London on the 7th of June, and happens to be the most interesting of the whole. By it we learn that the American Government had definitively renounced the claim for indirect damages under the Treaty of "Washington, and, as a consequence, that there was every prospect of the difference between the two countries being finally and satisfactorily settled by the Geneva tribunal of arbitration after all. It will be fresh in the memory of our readers that when the American " case" for the arbitrators was made public, it became evident, to the surprise alike of the English Government and the nation, that the indirect claims had not been abandoned by America, as had been supposed. That they would never be admitted by England soon became equally clear. After correspondence between the two Governments, an addition to the treaty, proposed by the English Government with the view of excluding them, was accepted by the American Senate, but with some modifications. Doubts having arisen in England as to the precise effect of these modifications, Earl Russell brought forward a motion in the House of Lords on the 6th of June, demanding that the Government should suspend negotiations till the indirect claims were distioetly- withdrawn. A n exciting debate followed. On the 7th, a despatch was received by the American Minister in London, to the effect that the American Government, under the supplementary article, absolutely withdrew the indirect claims, and that the modifications objected to referred solely to the definition of indirect claims in any complication which may hereafter arise. This announcement was received with the utmost satisfaction, and Earl Rtjssell's motion was consequently withdrawn. It is to be remarked that the American " case," in its original form, is still before the Geneva Tribunal, and will have to be modified by an additional statement on the part of the American Government, but that this will be done in due course scarcely admits of a doubt, and from the stage which the negotiations have now reached we are justified in cherishing the confident hope that the difficulty will soon be finally and satisfactorily solved. In the House of Commons, on the 31st of May, a motion, by Mr Macfie, for a commission to inquire into the best means of establishing federation between England and the colonies, came to nothing, as the mover probably expected. The question, though an inevitable problem of the future, is one which practical statesmen are for the present anxious to avoid. The debate, however, produced one gratifying result. Mr Knatchbull - Hugesseit, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, disavowed in the most unmistakeable terms the policy of separation, and in so doing we doubt not he echoed the sentiments of the vast majority of his fellow-countrymen, at home and abroad. Among miscellaneous items of interest, we note that the Canadians propose to have a Pacific Eailway of their own, paying for it chiefly in land, with the help of a loan guaranteed by the British Government. The Dominion Parliament had passed the Canadian clauses of the Washington Treaty, which, as they are believed by many to bear somewhat hardly on Canada, on the plea of the necessities of the imperial policy, is a proof of loyalty worthy of admiration. The long-talked-of project of direct communication with Australia by a line of large steamers via the Cape of Good Hope seems at last likely to be realised, Mr Eeed, late chief constructor of the imperial navy, and other eminent men, being actively engaged in the formation of a company for that purpose. The May wool sales showed an average decline estimated at 2d per lb. New warehouses, at a reduced rate of charges, had been established at Millwall, and the whole amount in store on the opening day, 5000 bales, was sold the same evening in London. The American duty on wool has been reduced 10 per cent., or about three farthings per lb, a short step in the right direction, which the increasing influence of the free trade party in that country leads us to hope may be followed, at no distant date, by the total abolition of the duty, which, when it comes, will be good news for our Bheepfarmers. The Tichborne claimant, bailed out for £10,000, was being lionised, as might have been expected, and was improving the time in collecting subscriptions for his defence at the coming trial for perjury. The personal characteristics of " the claimant " are so remarkable, and so widely known by this time, as to reduce the responsibility of his bailors to a minimum, even if the amount at stake were much less than £10,000. Continental politics are quiet. Erance

I and Germany have resumed amicable relations, for the time being. Germany was engaged in repressing the pretensions of the .Roman Catholic ecclesiastics ; and the Pope, on the other hand, would have nothing to say to the new German ambassador at the Vatican. In America, the arrangements for the Presidential election were becoming more complicated, and it appears evident that President Grant will not walk over the course, as was anticipated by his friends not long ago.

The nomination of candidates for the office of Mayor and four members of the Town Council takes place on Thursdaynext. The Mayor and Town Councillors certainly deserve the thanks of their fellow-citizens for the persevering and industrious manner in which they have devoted themselves to their work during the past year. Their duties have hitherto been to a large extent of a preliminary kind, making arrangements for the future, and though laborious and full of detail, have not given rise to many questions of a kind likely to excite the interest of the general public. To this, however, there is one very decided exception, and we think the present a fitting time for calling public attention to it. We refer to the manner in which the Council appear determined to treat the money derived from the sale of the Tay-street reserve. As our readers are aware, the law provides that this money shall be expended on the utilisation and ornamentation of the remaining reserves belonging to the town. It is in fact a trust fund, held by the Council for the benefit of the citizens, to be applied in a particular manner. In view of this fact, which no one denies, though some members of the Council appear to regret it, it was proposed in the Council thac a separate bank account should be opened for this money, but a majority of the members decided that it should be paid into the general account of the Corporation. We called attention to the propriety of making a separate bank account of this money, shortly after, but without effect. A remonstrance of similar purport from His Honor the Superintendent was replied to, by the vote of a majority of the Council, in terms intended to be clever, but which, under the circumstances, were simply unmannerly and silly — " that the Council, having consulted the Act, failed to see the necessity of so- doing"- — that is, of keeping this trust fund in a separate account. Since then a member of the Council has publicly stated that the 1 aaoney zni°^ht be put to a. worse use than | by illegally expending it, and that there were various reasons why it should be i kept in the general account of the Cor- | poration, none of which, however, he particularises. Now why all this obstinacy about a thing so simple as opening a fresh banking account ? If the members of the Council who refuse to sanction this harmless proceeding really have no designs upon the reserve fund, why not set it apart at once, and place their intentions beyond a doubt ? It could do no harm, and would make the misappropriation impossible, unless by a deliberate resolution of the Council, that money should be withdrawn from that fund, for a specified purpose, not in accordance with the Act. As matters now stand, all that the Council has to do is to continue passing accounts, and directing that they shall be paid, without saying out of what funds, until the money is all exhausted, and the citizens deprived of the opportunity which this windfall has unexpectedly afforded, of permanently adding to the comfort and attractions of the town. That some such design is entertained there can now be no doubt. The unreasonable and obstinate persistence of a majority of the Council in refusing to take the simple and businesslike step of placing the money in a separate bank account will bear no other interpretation. There is no other conceivable purpose to be served by the course which these gentlemen have followed, with such determination and perseverance. It is probable that the exhibition they have afforded of their utter unfitness to administer a trust, will lead to its being removed from their control altogether during the ensuing session of Assembly. In the meantime it is to be hoped that the citizens will take the opportunity which the nomination on Thursday affords, of ascertaining the views of the candidates on this subject. The whole matter lies in the simple question — If these members of Council mean honestly by this fund, why do they not take this easy precaution, which will place it beyond the risk of being tampered with, even by accident ? If they do not mean honestly, we can understand their action, but then they are not the men who ought to be entrusted with the management of our civic affairs.