THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2493, 2 January 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1877.

Like its predecessors the year 1876 has passed away, leaving like them—

Footprints on the sands of time; footprints which it is good, for all to remember—for many to take to heart in that the memory of these things vow passed may serve to prevent a repetition of them in the future. The year has not been a more than an ordinarily remarkable one, but sufficiently so to make some of its events worthy of note in the history of the world. And in our endeavour to notice and set before our readers what will remind men, or rather serve to bring to mind what has occurred in many and divers places during the 366 days immediately preceding us, be it distinctly understood that we only attempt to give an incomplete idea of an incomplete record of what has actually occurred. Narrowing down somewhat like a telescope, each of whose individual joints are pulled out from one larger than itself, we have, in speaking of the events which have taken place in 1876, to deal first with those which concern the world, then those which concern Europe, then England, next New Zealand, and lastly those which concern ourselves, both socially and politically; thus dividing the year, like the river which watered the Garden of Eden, into four heads. The first has not much to be noticed. The whole human race is probably as well off this day this year as it was last, and has the world, not the race —revolved, probably, on its axis everyday "once in the course of twenty-four hours," in the way geography books tell us about. Science has no doubt increased, at least scientific men say so, but no one has as yet invented an instrument to show anyone what he" does not know. In a part of the world, Philadelphia, there has been held a large exhibition, and exhibits have been shown and meetings held, and rifle matches shot, and boat races rowed to an extent usually spoken of as ad libitum, whatever that may mean. Pass we on from considering the past affairs in general of the world to consider those of Europe, and here we shall find much more theme for writing. The principal event; has no doubt been the war, for so it must be termed, in Turkey. Beside this the war in Spain sinks into insignificance, as the latter did not endanger the peace of Europe, which the former certainly did, even if it does not now. On this fearful subject — for fearful it is to all lovers of humanity—so much has been written, so many tales of horror told, so much indignation excited by the recital of them, that our only wonder is that Europe did not rise to a man and sweep the Turks from within its confines. Even at the present time the attitude of the great powers in Europe is anything but re-: assuring. Despite the assurance of the Czar backed by the assertion of Prince Gortschakoff, England, according to the latest news, is prepared tooccupy Constantinople with 25,000 men, alarmed lost Russia should attempt its occupation, and thus command the passage of the Dardanelles, an.easy way to convey troops to India, on which country England seems to think that Hussia has designs despite the assurances to the contrary. Thus stand affairs at the present. Both Germany and France have during 1876 remained tolerably quiet, though Austria, from the attitude of Count Andrassy, seems recovering from the reverses she received in her war with Prussia. It is to be hoped that no war will take place ; but all hope now as far as 1876 is concerned is past, and cannot be revived. Pass we on' a little further and narrow our incomplete review of things past to what has been done in England. There it seems as if the state of things were now " much of a muchness " with that which existed last year. Popular feeling has been excited by the outrages committed in Bulgaria and Servia, and much genuine sympathy with the sufferers has been evinced. Public meetings have been held and the subject" freely discussed, and Mr Gladstone, and Mr Bright and other popular speakers have, at public meetings, denounced the outrages and the policy of those whose apathy allowed the continuance of them to bo possible. The Conservative Ministry, if such they can be termed, continue in power, and Sir Stafford Northcote has proved himself more clever than was at first expected. The first Lord of the Treasury has accepted the title of Peer he has so well earned and before refused, and signalised one of his last acts in the House of Commons by the purchase of shares in the Suez Canal to the amount of four millions of money, an act which though deprecated at the time as being " unconstitutional" —a word of use in the New Zealand House of Assembly—-by his opponents has been on the whole approved of. The Prince of Wales has visited India, and returned safe and sound, laden, it seems, with gifts from his Indian friends. One definition of a present is the " receiving of something one does not want, and the giving" away of something one can't afford." It is to be hoped the Prince's ' gifts do not partake of this nature. Most of the other events in England that have happened during the past year are matters of so local a nature that they do not cause much interest to 'many of us'who are sixteen thousand miles away. But though so far distant, yet the past year has connected

England more nearly with New Zealand than she was before, that is by the laying of the submarine cable between us (New Zealand) and Australia. New Zealand now is-on what,may be termed speaking terms with England. We can telegraph what we want to, and get an answer within a very few days, instead of having, as in times gone by, to wait for the Hero or some other vessel to convey the question •to Sydney, or elsewhere, aad bring the answer back. This is certainly one great step in our progress as a nation. And speaking of progress—whether New Zealand has progressed during the past year, progressed in such a manner as will in the end tend to her prosperity, is a matter of question. There are those who think she has; there are those who differ with these. At the beginning of the year men's minds were occupied with the question which was the better, Provincialism or Centralism. By the votes of the majority of three fourths of the constituencies, that question was decided in favor of the latter, and despite the despairing efforts of its supporters the provinces were doomed. The vain struggle that was made to continue them in substance either under the name i of Separation, or under the guise of obstruction, forms one of the chief features of the past political year. The

lengthy debates, the still more, comparatively, lengthy speeches which took place on this subject, though it might have been seen they would be fruitless in the end, were suffered to continue* and rendered the passing of many Acts a matter of speed and inconvenience. Many bitter things were said, many unpleasant because personal words spoken, and characterised the progress ©f the debate throughout. The political Session of 1876 may be termed an acrimonious one. In this acrimonious Session we were represented by two members for the first time, each, as a rule, nullifying the other's vote by opposing him, and thus rendering it to all intents and purposes null and void. These two were elected at the beginning of the year, which was ushered in by the display of party feeling often seen at elections. The .two representatives went to Wellington, and came back and told people what they had done, or what they had intended to do. Each spoke of the Counties Bill, which has been, or will be in future, one of the chief features to mark 1876. The passing of this Bill, and the formation of the Thames into a County necessitated County Councillors, and these have been elected. Their, doings are matters of the future, and the Counties Bill has been already dilated on by us. Let us here express hope that it will prove satisfactory in its workings. The endeavour to connect the Waikato with the Thames by railroad has been unsuccessful, but the time which is to come may yet see this accomplished. A bridge over the Kauaeranga has been one of the many projects of the year, and though still unaccomplished, -will, with the present County Councillors, -possibly* have 'to be recorded as W fait accompli ere another year has passed over us. The waterworks, that is the Government "supply," have been handed over to a Corporate body after much dispute and I wrangling. The matter having ultimately | to be referred to arbitration, as to how many of the various component parts of 1 the said body should be represented by the Borough or Highway Boards. Turning from water to fire, which are often intimately acquainted with each other, in that the former has to act as a stoppage of the latter, we have to record disastrous fires at the Thames during the past year, not, happily, attended with loss of life, but yet attended with much loss to property. The Fire Brigades and the public generally worked nobly in their endeavors to suppress these, and through them much greater loss than actually occurred was avoided. A good deal of valuable property was destroyed in Shortland and some in Grahamstown, but notwithstanding the period of depression which has existed many of the buildings destroyed have since been re-built, showing the faith the proprietors possess in the yet undeveloped resources of the Thames. j Speaking of these it may be here mentioned that an attempt was mude to further develop the same by forming a tunnel to intersect the country from the Xaraka to what is known as Tinker's Gully. The scheme did not meet with the approval either of those who were appointed to view the ground, or with the public meetings which were called to consider the question, and consequently fell through. The reason given why the scheme was brought forward was principally that there were many unemployed who were petitioning for labor for which there was no money to pay. To meet their requirements £4000 was granted to be expended in labor, and that labor was an attempt to make a road up country and to break stones to mend the : roads here. This latter saved the money of the Borough, or rather prevented its already large debt from being increased. This debt, now amounting to nearly £7000, is to be wiped off, and the result of the j efforts of those who have effected this is not the least striking feature in the events which marked 1876. There has been an alleged discovery of gold at Taranaki and not much has come of it, and the drainage of the Waio-Karaka district has afforded theme for more writing and as much thought as the threatened stoppage of the Big Pump. In the matter of education changes have been made, and ' one of the results of Centralism will be that the obnoxious poll tax will no longer be required. Local educational arrangements have not been as satisfactory as they might have been, but we are not opti- ; mists, and at this season of the

year especially are content to let bygones be bygones. Fifty pounds have been granted to those who teach junior teachers how better to instruct others, so that in this respect the incoming year witnesses an improvement. Though still at the head of those districts, as regards the death rate, that is at the head i of the list which shows that fewer deaths have occurred here than elsewhere, the Thames has suffered considerably during the past year. We were threatened with scarlet fever, and so likely did it become that provision would have to be made foe it that plans were asked for and proposals listened to for the erection of a fever hospital. The fever did come, but under the hand of a merciful Providence thia visitation was not of a very severe nature, or rather its spread was not, yet still in 1877 be missed many familiar faces which 1876 saw; faces moreover which we could ill afford to spare. Accidents—especially boating and mining accidents—Have unhappily been but too frequent, and these have added largely to the list of deaths. As far as space will allow us we hare, slightly of course, touched on most of those points which after a careful perusal of the records of the year, we think fit to remember; and with our best wishes to all for the future we publish our first issue in the year 1877.