ADDITIONAL MAIL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1174, 15 November 1883, Page 3

ADDITIONAL MAIL NEWS.

A magazine called Money, in a recent article, expresses gratification that the Australasian colonies continue to come to the English Market, and points out that though the annual debt charge on the Australasian loans is two millions more than it was ten years ago, this is met by an increase in revenue of eleven millions. The Rev. R. S. Green will shortly publish a book called ‘ High Alps of New Zealand.’ A consignment of frozen fish from New Zealand was sold, retail, in the Central Fish Market on September 29th. The sale was ptonounced to be a success, the mullet realising 8d and 9d each.

The s( stne of Germania on the Rhine, at McHerwald, near Ruddesheirn, was unveiled wjth great ceremony by the Emperor William and the Crown Prince on September 28th. The inscription on the monument says l ln memory of the unanimous and victorious rising of the German people and re-establishment of the German Empire, 1870,71-’ The total coat is over one million marks. The statue is thirty-six feet high. As a counter demonstration, crowds of Parisians assembled around the statue of Strashurg in the Place de la Concorde, and indulged in patriotic cries. The Emperor sent Von Schilling, the sculptor of ‘ Germania,’ a photograph conferring a decoration and including a gift of 20,000 marks. Nothing could have been mere injudicious (says the Mail) than the publication by the morning Press of a rumor to the effect that Mr Parnell had been shot dead by an Orangman at Dungannon, because such a report would very naturally cause considerable sensation among that gentleman’s supporters, and disturb the equanimity of the nation generally. The daily Press ought certainly to be superior to resorting to anything of the catch-penny type in dull times. It is, however, creditable to the common sense of the public that the report met with very little credence, and this fact shows that its publication was the more unjustifiable. The electric telegraph we.'J at the command of the publishers of these journals, and it showed a lamentable want of tact that it was not put in operation with the object of ascertaining the truth of falsity of tlie report befoae it was published. The truth is, that at the time the alleged shooting was said to have taken place Mr Parnell was in London, and the daily papers, who profess to be well informed of everything that is taking place, ought to have been aware of this fact. Of course the ‘ news’ was wired to the colonies, where it must have caused iramence consternation before it could be contradicted. Under all circumstances, therefore, it is regrettable that the report should have been published. Under some circumstances, as for instance, the holding of a Land League meeting at the time of the supposed occurrence, in some part of Ireland where Orange sympathies are strong, it might have caused reprisals of a dangerous character. That the report led to nothing but the excitement to which we have referred is more creditable to the judgment of the puplic than of those who gave currency to it. The trial of Miss Booth, Miss Charlesworth, and four other Salvationists, charged with violating the law by holding illegal services in Switerzland, was concluded on October Ist. Miss Booth and the other accused declared that they had obeyed their consciences in praying to God notwithstanding the decree forbidding them to hold meetings. They added that they had no wish to break the decree in question. The speech of the Public Prosecutor lasted for two hours, and concluded with a demand for the condemnation of the accused. After an eloquent address for the defence, Miss Booth and her companions were acquitted. The question of the right of a landlord to compensation for protecting farms during times of disturbance was established by the Laud Commissioners at Dublin the other day, in the case between the Marquis of Watertord, landlord, and James Dunne, tenant. An application was made by the landlord claiming £BO, the residue of the purchase money of the tenant’s holding, and a cross notice was served by the tenant claiming the money. The landlord claimed in respect of certain payments made by him to caretakers for 58 weeks before the sale. Mr Litten, in delivering judgement, said the Court were clearly of opinion that, having re gard to the state of the country and to the fact that it was absolutely essential for the protection of the landlord’s property that two persons should be employed who were strangers to the district, the expense ought not to be borne by the landlord. Deducting £lO to cover whatever injury to the property the caretakers might have caused, the landlord was entitled to £4B —the residue would be paid to the tenant.

The New Zealand Herald’s London correspondent, under date Gctober 4th, gives the following items : -

Some one is pulling the wires in the Daily News office with a view ot arousing a fictitious interest in the reported visit of Tawhaio, who we are constantly told is coming to England to present a petition to the Queen signed by many thousands of Maoris. It is also stated that five or six of the principal chiefs in New Zealand will accompany * the Maori King.’ A quaintly worded letter addressed by Natene Hapuku and Hone Te Arowha, two chiefs of Hawke’s Bay district, to Miss Meare, a lady who interested herself in Sidney Taiwhanga’s mission, has been published, and has caused some amusement.

Archibald Forbes has returned from a lengthy sojourn under the Southern Cross* and he is endeavouring to repay the hospitality he experienced by saying all manner of pleasant things about the colonies and colonists in the most public way that he can contrive in literary circles. He has excited some little jealousy, combined, however, with admiration, through Laving induced two leading magazines, the Nineteenth Century and the Contemporary Review, to print articles of his, summing up the result of his Australasian experiences. The latter of the two articles appears in the Nineteenth Century, and is entitled ‘The present and Future of the Australian Colonies.’ I am inclined to think that colonists who have sojourned more than one long year under the Southern Cross will not be altogether disposed to accept the opinions expressed by the great war correspondent. Mr Forbes evidently considers New Zealand more open to attack than her Northern neighbors. Respecting her he writes —‘ New Zealand seems to regard herself absolved from the duty of self-defence, and although Quakers do not abound among her people, to have adopted the imbecile dictum of a local statesman, that in her defencelessness lies her protection. True, several of her principal cities, Christchurch, Invercargill, Auckland, Blenheim, and perhaps her capital, Wellington, are safe either in virtue of position or so situated that a few guns would make them so, but many others are clean naked, such as Oarnaru, Tiraaru, Nelson, Napier, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Qreymoutb, while Dunedin is open to an inshore cannon fire across the neck of the ocem beach. Mr Forbes’ other article on some social characteristics of Australia ia light and more agreeable reading.