The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1833.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1152, 25 September 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1833.

THE REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. A eew. days, ago telegrams informed us thati Spaip was .pp the eye*of another revolution, but evidently the revolt: has, been suppressed, as we have 'heard inothing, from that quarter 1 ately. , Still it 'may 1 Hot' he uninteresting fo know the •au.se of tile people’s discontent, more •specially as it contains a lesson from ; tirKich' we may learn something in this, colony,', , As in. almost .-all other countries, the land, question is the. principal cause; of discontent in Spain; and no doubt thejyeaspn the revolution Wau so-readily 'suppressed is that r none ijpt those .engagefl in "Agriculture ‘ took pairt in it, Forty.orhfty years ago there attached to the towns'and villages in Spain large tracts of lami called terrenos de proprios which the people held in common. After the revolution the Government wanted money, and it was decided that,this land should be sold,, The laud, for, the most part got into the hands bf Ihtvyers and Speculators,' be-wire-pulling and other artifices it was cut up into blocks too large for the poo r man to take. In -some instances a few peasants combined together and took up pieces of land, but they generally had not money and were, compelled to. borrow from the speculators at 15 to 20 per cent. The result of course was ruin, and the land fell into the hands of the mortgagees. Thus the communal lands of the poor passed out of their hands. The new owners who, generally, were unscrupulous ‘scoundrels, alter having secured the land combined together to obtain cheap labor to work it, and the peasantry were reduced to abject poverty. It must not be understood that these are the only landlords in Spain. The .old race of: landlords—those who have owned the land for* general ion s-~4reat their workmen well, and in seme places jraen get 2s 3il but in the dis-tricts'where-'the newly-fledged landlords

prevail, the day’s wage is as small as fivepence. Another great cause of discontent is that a great many of the speculators had not sufficient means to work the farms, and so they had to let the land remain idle, or devote it to pastoral purposes. In consequence of this the means of employment decreased, and abject poverty ensued, and things have been going from bad to worse ever since. The population has decreased considerably, and such of the peasantry as can scrape together sufficient to take them away emigrate to South America or the north of Africa, But the distress is principally confined to the agricultural districts. While the population of the country as a whole is decreasing that of certain districts is increasing. For instance the town of Huelva has doubled its population during the last seven years, because several important industries bnv been developed there, The Rio Tintu mine alone employs 14,000 men and 2000 tons of goods leave the port every day in the year. Here the revolutionary party have no sympathisers, the people are jeontented ; and it is only in the Agricultural districts, where the people have been robbed, of their birthright, that the society of the black hand (viano negro) as it is called, exists. We seldom trouble ourselves with discussing the public questions of countries so distant as Spain, because we feel that they cannot have any great interest for our readers. Our reason for departfrom this rule now is that, we think that there is a lesson iii all this which we might well study in this colony. When the corrupt ! Government which was formed in Spain after' the revolution, wanted money they seized the ; people’s birthright and sold it. The result is poverty, discontent, and revolution : The New Zealand Government wants money, and they are selling the' land. This is the point which we would like to impress-upon our readers. Not another inch of land ought to be sold. Too much of it has. < been sold already. All the land that remains unsold at present ought to be leased land in that way the rents from it would go long way to relieve taxation. Unless this is done future. generations will not bless the memory of the present system of administering land, Another thing to be learned from the facts given above is that the establishment of industries is the best ■ way to,advance the; country.:< The town of Huelva has doubled its population in seven years owing to the development of its industries. If we want this'colony to prosper we must produce more than vo export. The way to do that, is by getting rid of the free trade superstition. We must protect, our industries Trim Outside competition, we must not tax them, but rather tax the products of'other countries. We shall be : met with the ; i ;cry that it would increase the < fcost of litihg. It would, but it would also doubly increase^ Rip means of procuring the cost of jiving. America is one of the costliest countries. !in the world to live Inland there is no other country via which there is so much general pi'obp'efityj 1 The costliness i; ,of living, apd, the ease which a living can be obtained,is theresult of protection, There is' a sort of protective duty pji } .articles. (CQming,ip to this colony, but it fis'not enobgby and itis not placed on tlie ; .proper commodities. Every" article that we cannot produce in this, .colony ought to be allowed to come free; everything we can make ourselves ought to be protected. If. this, plan > were.;adopted; it would lead to prosperity."' ' i

RESIGNATION OF THE PREMIER. The Honorable Frederick Whitaker has resigned his position as Premier of, the Colony—and a very good thing for the Colony that he has done so.' He has been several times Premier—we believe this was the fourth time—and on all occasions his term of office tv as short. He has never been , a success as a Premier, and as he is about 74 years of age' now, he is not likely to try again. The cause of his resignation is given as pressure of private business. Of course that may be right enough, but we would not be surprised to learn that the Russell Exchange of Land Bill had something to do with it. In a recent issue we explained the circumstances connected with that measure, and pointed -out that Mr Whitaker was in partnership with Mr Russell, so it is not necessary to go over the same ground again. ' We also pointed out that Mr Rolleston appeared very half-hearted in his advocacy of the Bill, and moved that it be referred to the Waste Lands Committee, where it was smothered in a heap of other measures. We conclude from these facts that Mr Whitaker, knowing that the Government was strong enough to carry anything they liked, felt indignant at his partner’s claims having been thus shelved, and that this had something to do With his resignation. It is i a remarkable fact, too, in connection with this that the- Government exhibited ia-

decent haste in bringing the last session to a close, and that they gave no intimation of the impending change to Parliament. It looks very much as if things were not in a very settled state in the Cabinet, and they wanted breathing time to put matters straight. At any rate, Mr Whitaker has resigned, and Major Atkinson is to, be his successor. If the gallafit Major were to follow in the footsteps of his late chief, we feel certain that a good Ministry could be formed, but that is not to be. The man who recently recently stamped the country trying to push his own ‘ fads ’ \nd wild visionary notions about national insurance, etc., down the people’s throats is now Premier of the colony. What a prospect !

ADULTERATION PREVENTION ACT. The ‘.own correspondent’ of the Press from Wellington :It is essential that tradesmen should be acquainted with the provisions of the Adul-: teration Prevention Act passed last session which comes into operation on the first December next, and I have, therefore, made special effort to procure an earl y copy,which I-summarise. Tne provisions are very stringent. Every baker must have his full initials stamped in Roman letters not less than an inch long upon every loaf baked by him or sold from hie bakery under a penalcy of £5 for every loaf sold without being stamped, He is also required under the same penalty to have the true weight of the loaf similarly stamped upon it in figures of a like size. An equal penalty will be imposed on every person offering for sale in any store, shop, or building, or in any street or open place of public resort any loaf not so stamped, and any person selling bread deficient in weight. In selling ‘ stale bread,’ which is defined as bread which has been manufactured for twenty-four hours or more, the stale loaf may be short weight, but the loss is to be made up by adding other, bread, so that the customers shall receive the weight paid for. A penalty of £5 is prescribed for the Infringement of this rule. Bakers are to sell bread only, in ‘ French loaves’ or ‘batch loaves’ of two, four, six,or eight pounds in weight respectively, £5 fine being again imposed for the infringei meat. These provisions do not apply to ‘fancy bread.’ Inspectors are to examine from time to time the bread offered for sale within their districts, and test the weight of loaves. Resistance of the inspection is forbidden under fine of £5. Inspectors are to be appointed by local authorities. Any purchaser of drags or articles of food may have them analysed by a Government * analyst on payment ; of a fee, and prosecute if adulteration be detected. The Inspectors may procure for analysis samples of food or drugs, paying the ordinary price. There, is a £lO penalty for refusal to sell to, purchaser for analysis. The purchaser is to divide the article into three parts, and eachis to be sealed up,: and one delivered to the vendor, one to the analyst, and 'one retained by the purchaser for comparison. Samples of imported wines, or spirits may be demanded without payment by the Inspector for analysis, and if adulteration hr discovered the importer must enter into a bond to destroy the adulterated'liquor or export it from the ‘colony, failing which It is to be destroyed hy thd Customs. - All milk' and other articles of food and all drugs must reach :the standards specified in the; schedule to the Act.'Spirits may the reduced i in strength by dilution with water to 25deg under proof in the case of brandy, whisky, or rum, or 25deg for gin. It is to be no defence to a [prosecution, for adulteration to prove that the analyst’s fee was not paid, or the purchaser having bought for analysis was not prejudiced by the sale, , or that ’ the" article, though defective in nature and substance dr quality was not defective in all these respects. 1 The fees recovered under this Act are to go to the local body.