The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1834. THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS TRADE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1252, 14 October 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1834. THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS TRADE.

The South Sea Islands Trade Scheme of Sir Julius Vogel's is one of those stupendous proposals that is calculated to dazzle the ordinary mind. It pretends to be founded as much on a philanthropic as on a commercial basis, if the glimpses we have received by telegraph of it give the correct idea. It is to "promote the civilisation, education, and industrial employment of the islanl rs, and thereby discourage the labor traffic amongst the said islands." This is a very high-toned start. Nothing like basing it on high moral principles. A little of this goes a long way, although to our mind that very paragraph appears rank humbug. A company is to be formed with a capital of £1,000,000 in 100.000 of £lO each. The said 100,000 shares shall be disposed ot in such manner as the Directors shall appoint, provided that 20,000 of the said shares shall be for application in New Zealand, 20,000 of the said shares j shall be open for application in England, 20,000 of the said shares shall he open for application in France, 20,000 ! of the said shares shall be open for application in Germany, and 20,000 of the said shares shall be open for application in the United States of America. If all the shares allocated to any of these places be not applied for within a time, or times, to be limited by the Directors, they may allot all such shares as shall not be applied for as aforesaid to places applying for shares of the Company in any place or places. The Provisional Directors of the Company are to consists of two persons appointed by the Governor of New Zealand, and six persons elected bv an electoral body of twenty-five appointed by the Governor. The Permanent Directors are to consist of two persons appointed by the Governor, and six elected by the shareholders. The Governor is always to appoint the President. The Company are to have power to issue notes for any sum from one pound upwards to the amount of their unpaid capital, and a dividend of 5 per cent, on the paid-up capital is to be guaranteed to the Comoany by the coiony for twenty years, but the subsidy for this purpose is not to exceed £IO,OOO in any year. Besides the civilising part of the scheme the Company will develops the trade and producing recources of the islands in the Pacific Ocean, facilitate th« interchange of products and merchandise between the said islands and other countries, and establish factories for the utilisation of the products of the said islands, and generally do and perform all such acta, matters, and things as the company may deem, incidental or otherwise, conducive to the attainment of any of the above objects. We should feel inclined to look upon the scheme as the last effort of a Montague Twigg to float a " bubble company," only for that paragraph which points out that civilisation, education, etc., are amongst the objects. The civilising part gives a tone to the whole affair. The information to hand so far is only that which is contained in telegrams, and it may be that they do not give sufficient particulars. It is therefore too soon to condemn the scheme yet. Shakespeare says : " With caution judge of possibility ; _ 1 lungs thought unlikely, even impossible, Experience shows ua to be true." At the same time, although we are not prepared to condemn it, we must say that it appears a most incongruous proposal. The outlines of the scheme as given must be correct, and they show that it is be worked by a company of shareholders and that some of the dii'c'ct.rs are to be nominated by this Governor. Tha Company are to be allowed to issue tt tes, but at the same time the tax

payers of New Zealand must become security fur them, and if tho Company docs not make 5 per cent, profit the taxpayers of New Zealand are to make up the difference. There is nothing sain about what will be done if the Company make a profit of 50 per cent. The scheme apparently is a cross between a State undertaking and a private enterpirse ; but ihe private enterprise part, appears to have all the advantage on its side. There is another view of it. Sort* of these shareholders will be in England, America,and all over the world, and this unfortunate colony is to pay them 5 per cent., win or lose, white at the sarao time we give them the use of paper money by becoming security for "its payment. We do not like to b« too hard on the scheme as v»e are uot. sun 1 that we thoroughly understand it. yet, but we certainly object to it on th? ground that if the State is to be responsible it should have the profits ; or if it is to be a private enterprise it should uot be hampered by the Governor having power to appoint directors and presidents, and the State should have no responsibility. We have suggested to Sir Julius Vogol the advisability of starting a bank to relieve the farmers of this colony, but that was no use. He, however, lias no hesitation in guaranteeing to foreign capitalists payment of 5 per cent., and add to it the loau of £l,ooo,ooo—tor it is nothing else when the Government becomes security for it.

NEW POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS. The new postal arrangements will prove a great boon to the people of Geraldino. Hitherto the people of Geralciine had been placed at a disadvantage. The mails by the afternoon trains were not delivered until 9 o'clock on the following morning, is the office closed before the; reached the township. All this disability lias been removed now by the new regulations, under which the office is re-opened between 7 and 8 o'clock every evenimr. I'his will no doubt be regarded as a boon by the people of the town, as it will enable them to reply to urgent letters by return of po^t. THE WAYS OF THE WORLD. The depression has roachei Inv?rcargill. I infer this from the number of fires which have taken place there lately. In the beginning of the depression the fire brigade of Christcluirch was kfipt jjiuity busy, but fires have not occurred so frequently in that city lately. The reason is thai most of the well-insured places got burnt down, and fires would not pay the owners of thoss left untouched. The number of fiV.s were altogether out of proportion to the population, in the same ratio that the amount of insurances were out of proportion to the value of the properties destroyed. The fire epidemic appears to have reached Invercargill, and, unless I am much mistaken, it has not finished its work yet.

The Rev. Dr Stuart, of Dunedin, recently offered up a special prayer for the of the colony. In his humble petition to the Eternal Throne he prayed that the power of the Press m-iv t>" • ■ -1 <n th-3 interests of humanii;, ■ i .. I

have some faith in the efficacy of the devotional appeals of so liberal-minded, so large-hearted, and so good-natured a divine as Dr Stuart, I am afraid the Press is past praying for. Human nature is allpowerful on the Press, and the tendency oi human nature is to stick to the side on which its bread is buttered. It keeps the eleventh commandment best.

I am not surprised that Press men are just as human as other people, because when they do good they never get any credit for it. Persons who buy their ideas for a guinea a year, appropriate them as their own, and trot them out as the brand-new creations of their own wonderful intellect. N"o one will ever give the newspaper man credit for them —except very <-arely. One of these rate events in which the services of an editor have been recognised has come under my notice. Some men employed on a contract in the Wairarapa district were badly used by the Government recently. The Wairarapa Star took their case in hand, with the result that it obtained for thera redress of thengrievances, and the men acknowledged the services thus render-ad to them bv p-esentiDg the Star's editor, Mr A. W. Hogg, with a most flattering address and a purse of sovereigns. This is the first instance of an editor receiving such a tribute that has come under my notice, but if the custom were more frequently observed it would have more effect on newspapers than such prayers us Dr Stuart's.

Talking about prayers, I notice the Salvation Army very frequently cunes to kneel and pray opposite the Temuka Leader office. Do they hope to make converts there, 1 wonder ? I am afraid they will find it a tough joh if they tackle it. But nothing is impossible. I have some faith in the Army ever since I heard they had converted one leporter, and if they succeed in con\erting two more I shall henceforth regard them as a sect possessing the power of working miracles.

Witlings often make the Salvation Army the subject of their jokes and Cidumnies. E cannot see much wrong about them, excepting that when on the march they are dangerous to the extent of frightening horses. Let us place tliKin siuoby side with the great mission society of Great Britain. This society collects about three and a-half millions sterlingannually, and spends it on the conversion of Maoris l , Red Indians, Hottentots, and so forth, uselessly, while thousands of the sons and daughters of Great Britain die of starvation annually, and millions of them never hear the Word of God or see tlv> inside of a church. On the other hand, Genera! Booth has turned his attention first of all to his own people. He has aimed at dragging them out of the back nlums ntxl haunts of vice, crimw, and ij/nnnnff, into t: o I're-di atmosphere of the gosptl and lie has succeeded to some extent. If I die wealthy, which is not at

till likely, and I decide upon distributing my earned increment amongst charitable institutions, I shall, give £1 to the Salvation Army to every penny I shall leave to the Miss;on Society.

Toe sovereign lord and king of the Maoris made strong efforts to acclimatise himself to English society when in London recently. An English correspondent of a contemporary says that in the course of his occasional perambulations at night in the neighborhood of the Strand and Haymarket, Tawhaio managed to pick up two or three common English phrases. Of od« of them, "Goodnight, Ducky," he is especially proud, and, despite remonstrance, insists on using it to all sorts and conditions of females. Lady Brassey, I can well imagine, looked rather grave when addressed in this familiar strain, but a single glance at the smiling face of the guileless old humbug disarmed suspicion.

Wonderful are tlm stories put in circulation concerning Tawhiao in London. The New York Herald says that he was present atone of the mind-reading semc-s given by Irvine Bishop, and was requested to conceal some object and concentrate his thoughts upon it, and fee if Bishop would be able to liud it while blindfolded. King Tawhiao choose a huge button and craftily put it in his mouth. Bishop almost instantly said the- object which the king had thought of aid concealed was a hard, round article, which would be found in the king's mouth. His Majesty was astonished, and began spluttering expressions of surprise, in the course of which the button slipped down his throat. Ho made strenuous efforts to dislodge the obstruction, but no amount of coughing was sufficient to bring it up to his mouth, i'inally someone suggested that some food be brought, and the monarch, after eating a pound of bread, was relieved by the troublesome button being forced down to his stomach.

There are volunteers in Christchurch, and while on parade the larrikins amuse themselves by flinging stones at them. Oue of them "-rota in a whining tone to the Lyttelion Times, calling- on the police to protect them, and a la'iy friend, who calls herself "Martha," suggests that the volunteers i-liould hand over their arms* to their sister*.-, and their cousins and their aunts, and that they will protect them This is as much as to say that they are a lot of old women. It is the first time in my life I have heard of a company of soldiers asking for the protection of the police.

Cori O'Lanus,