THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3819, 25 March 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1881.

The speech^ of^ the^ ex^atiye> Mmister £cTliis constituents at Wanganm 'tie the other evening was a manly one, and one that might well be taken as a *m6¥eTT^ wmem^rs" of "^Parliament" in giving an account of their stewardship. In every word of it breathes the spirit of the man who has won the soubriquet of" honeat John.;" nothing is concealed, and |thoqgh w&in»y d3fer frqninhim politicallj, "we cannot but help 'adinir?ing (the consistency,^ which^, he ( has \ displayed throughout his' pdlitical career. The sole redeeming point of the piresent Goyernmerit has 1 been theirs nativje policy, and to the late Native Ministry is largely due the measure of 'Success'; which'" has alfcended the Ministry in dealingJ with the f West Coast difficulty. It is only to be regretted ; that > his; coadjutors; did not see fit to carjy put yhis designs iHftUeii 1 entirety, when we believe that by the present time the Te Whifci bugbear at Taranaki would have been entirely annihilated. }Mi 'Bryce^s? resignation is yet fresh on the minds of our readers, and though the* cause thereof—want of accord with his colleagues pn (the. Parihaka questipn-r----was cavilled at by a large section of the .Opposition Press, it appears that the reasonl was as statefl. Mr Bryce liad Te Whiti under his thumb, a large fprpe of efficient Jroops at;Hs command, and the sanctipn of .his colleagues only was;required.to order an advance on Parihaka. But the. Government, influericed no doubt by some log-rolling, vetoed Mr Bryce's proposition, and consequently to a man of' his high principles there was nothingf left but resignation. It is not our intention here to criticise ; the. action of the Government; time enough for that when .^fcKeyi are assailed about it in Parliament, as they undoubtedly will ba Mr Bryce's speeqh was mainly confined to , bis policy while Native Minister, concerning : t which , we : may express our opinion that it, '. 'was ■. the purest > and most clear,-heade4, we,, have . yet, experienced. Happy! would we be if we hadlafewmdre such men as 1 "Honest John Bryce."

The manager, Mr Dunlop, requires tenders for driving 100 feet in,the t NewQ-olden Crown. mine. Tenders are to be sent in by one o'clock to-morrow; ' Mr Hansek has a new advertisement in another" column, and gives the prices at what he is ;prepared to.sell a new anel well seleoted : stockl of general groceries.;. : ' Me McGowak has had made to his order a hew kind of soap, which he calls eacalypta soap. The well known properties of the essenoe, extracted from the leaves of the blue gain is imparted' by some means to the soap> and it is claimed for it that during the preBent very warm weather it is alrighly neces- ■ tary article for I the' toileU ■'< ' ii' ,: ''■■'•, Thb following tenders were received for the erection of the new Catholic Church at Paeroa .and Sinclair,. £272 ; 7s 6d ; Moore and Cock, £293; :T. Donovan, £298; A. Boyer, £299;, D. ,J. Bearden, £299 15s; J. Culien and Co,, £312. The one of Messrs .Thompson and Sinclair was accepted. ? f '.'/:. 1 ,'.,, ...,.,.'.,.../ . \ : , ■ -„ The diorama of the American War was well patronised at the Theatre Royal last night, •Mr 15..5. iLee won thefsuite of furniture, Mr .Gray, the gold watchj Mr Fisher, junior.* the ;Wa and coffee service, and Mrs ADgove a capital oil painting. ..Besides these nearly 100 others distributed. .Lieut. Herman is a good lecturer, -while he is unsurpassed as a ventriloquist, his entertainment is alone worth the charge of admission. A suite of furniture forms the leading prize to-night, and a gold watch will also be given away. Fob a long time past it has been ft standing complaint with our shopkeepers here that there wan not enough money circulating, that the cash taken over the counter was not nearly proportionate to the quantity of goods sent: out, that there was too much booking, ank too little ready money, and that it was ■well nigh impossible for a purely cash trade to be done here.: Mr W. Wood, junr., has, however, succeeded in proving that a good payable business can be done without booking a single penny. In a long advertisement in another column, Mr Wood publishes his price list, which is well worth the attention ol those who are in a position to avail themselves of the advantages to be derived from! becoming cash purchasers. He has also just received a shipment of garden and vegetable seeds from Australia, which will doubtless prove very acceptable to our frienda with gardens, as an entire change of seed, it is well known, is a necessity at times. . ' { to; response to the Harbour Board deputation,- the Hon. F. Whitaker promised to intereßt himself with the Minister for Public W^>rk» to obtain the services of Mr Blackett* Chief Engineer, to report on the dock site. We have received from Mr Whitehead a copy pf the fourth annual report of the Aucb labd Scripture GKft^Association. The report commences by saying, "Your Committee are thankful in being; able to record the increasing extension of the Association's work among the Public Schools of the Province, and the' unceasing interest evinced by the scholars in the numerous Bible exercises issued by the. Association. The number of schools visited; with Bible exercises and awards in city and country during the,year now ended,has been 102. Number of prize books awarded 3275. Following the distribution of prizes, a seriet of voluntary Scripture exercises have been circulated at every School, and the ready, response by the children to these from time to time, more especially in the country districts, has been exceedingly gratifying. Comju(jmffiitions Constantly received from nu« merquß localities testify to the practical benefit, derived* ,by in an increased fcaowjjedge of ,tiie Hqly through

undertaking the work placed before them by this Association. During the year a small effort v has been made to enlist the attention of .apprentice ladflltaifOTk of a simple kind in flelf-improTemeQfc»TJin|i the results—remembering the natural 'thoughtlessness belonging to this class—have on the whole been encouraging.^ About 25 prize books have been awarded for perseverance in various home- written exercises." The receipts for the year amounted to £244 I7e, and there remains ia hand a balance of £3 13s. It. W. Mcltob, the celebrated Melbourne chemist, was a passenger by the U-lenelg to Taurangft on his way to inspect White Island as a permanent source of sulphur supply, on behalf of a Melbourne Company. The native meeting at .Waitangi, Bay of Islands, openedon Wednesday. Three thousand natives Were present, and also a large ! number of Europeans, who were hospitably received; The speech of the Native Minister was well received, the natives giving three cheers when he finished. Mr Rollestdn apologised for His Excellency's absence, and said he,, would no doubt soon pay a visit to the Bay. i Katene, who was formerly the representative of tbe district and member of the Executive, said ;that-all confiscated lands should be given back, as confiscation was a violation of the Treaty* Mr Busby and a i number of the representatives of the old missionary families were present. The shouting ©f the natives when dancing the war dance was distinctly heard at Russell, six miles off. There was a stack of food three feet high'and half a mile long, as well as over 300 pigs, a large number of sheep and bullocks, 600 loaves and 300 cakes. The hills around and the steamers in the Bay were, decorated with flags. The Maoris provided a free dinner to all Europeans, who were waited on by the I Maori ladies. Archdeacon Clarke presided. AT a meeting of the New Zealand Prudential Assurance Societey, the balance-sheet was unsatisfactory. The Chairman said that' under the present rules it was impossible to carry on. ;It was proposed to form the society into a company with a large capital and an influential directory. The County Chairman, His Worship the Mayor, Crs Wilson, Porter, and others are at present in Auckland for the purpose of interviewing the Hon. Mr Rolleston. The Borough rate collector will have a number of summonses we understand issued int a -day er so for unpaid rates. It would show wisdom on the part of burgesses to call and arrange with Mr Fleming at once. The officers of the Scottish Battalion, desirous of working the men up in drill, anticipatory of the Easter movements at Waikato, held a parade last night. Adjutant Schofield put the men through a course of skirmishing drill. The instruction of the adjutant was clear and concise, and the members could not fail in obtaining an inkling of drill, even as practised within the circumscribed limits of their drill hall. Before dismissal, Major Murray informed the members of the battalion that a general meeting of the battalion would be held after drill next Thursday night; that all members intending to participate in the Easter expedition to Waikato Bhould give in their names to the secretary of their respective companies. It was absolutely necessary that some idea of the approximate muster should be ascertained previous to the time of departure, in order to carry out the arrangements for the route with order and regularity. Lieut. Denby, of the Engineers, and another officer would shortly leave for Waikato to make final arrangements as td billets and messing. The cost of rations ■would be Is per man per day, exclusive of cooking. The total charge he might safely state would not exceed Is 6d per day. Major Murray further said that be bad been assured by Captain Wildman that their comrades of the Naval Brigade would muster 100 men in their ranks, and he hoped their battalion would show the same bold front as of old.

The London correspondent of the Argus writing on January 14th, says ;:;—The Government, speaking through the'Boyal speeech, prognosticates a more than usually arduous session. In addition to their own proposals, a host of private notices of motion are already in the field. The Bribery Bill introduced by Sir Henry James, is by far the most important which haß yet been brought forward. It is accepted by both the Times and the Standard as likely to inaugurate ' a revolution' in our electoral system. It makes bribery a crime punishable by hard labour as well as imprisonment, and it fences the purity of election with numerous safeguards. Whether the Bill may not cut too sharply, considering the dim moral sense of the community on this subject, may be a question, but it will be seen to cut at the roots of one of our great upas trees. 'A candidate guilty of bribery will be disqualified for the rest of his life for representing the same constituency. If a publican allows bribery on his premises, or distributes drink during elections without being paid at the time, his license will be forfeited. Any voter scheduled by the election judges will be incapable of voting for 10 years. The public prosecutor it to send a representative to the trial of every election petition, to prosecute before the judges any person guilty of corrupt practices who has not received a certificate of indemnity, and such person may be summarily convicted and sentenced to six months' hard labour unles he elects to be tried by a jury at the Central Criminal Court. Paid canvassers are to be Abolished but one agent and a limited number of clerks may be employed in each polling district of a county, or for every 500 electors in a borough, and a personation agent in each polling booth. Only one committee room in each district may be employed, and that may not be in a licensed house. The conveyance of voters may no longer be conveyed by candidates. A time is to bo fixed within which payments by an agent must be made, and these must be declared in a statutory form to be complete, Neglect of any of these rules will forfeit the seat. Not the least important provision of the bill is a sheduled maximum of expenditure proportioned to the size of the constituency." *■