The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3883, 9 June 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1881.

Of all the ingenious defences of the Ministry; made by* the personnel of the Cabinetor the ardent friends of the Government, coin mead us to the address of Mr F. A. Whitaker to his Waips constituents Uie other ""evening. When Mr Wbiitaker affects to discuss a subject, he sticks tcs it with ((rent pertinacity till every iota of hi* meaning is buzzed into, the ears of tha most uninterested person in his audience. He pays so much attention to detail that he is something of a novelty compared with young members of Parliament, who as a rule, at the outset of their political carVer, consider minutiw utterly:' beneath their notice* We hare been frequently told that at the accession of the Hill Ministry* the country was on the rerge of bankruptcy. Mr Hall and his friends hare told us this, but Mr Whitaker is, perhaps, the first who has endearoured to show how the colony was on the Terge of bankruptcy;. Mr, White' -ker sud : ",lf the money necessary a| this period bad not Wen paid in London, their credit would hare been stopped, the monetary institutions would hare drawn in every penny and the country- would hare been involved *ia inextricable ruin* %% ! . . There was even a probability] of the Bank of, England refusing to assist in floating the loauJa consequence of our excessive borrowing. The directors of the Bank were naVuraUy somewhat chary about entering irfto- a transaction the exact consequences of which they could iott <lr»ie.^anel K »a;«tait«d';i*y the Agent* General's telegranx of the 2nd December, the. Bank hesitated to act. Pour (Jays later he telegraphed, • If Bank of Hngland rrfujed, aott disastrous.' And most disastrous it would undoubtedly have been, for we were within a few weeks; if ■ok i few days, of nuprnsion of payment." All this sounds irery plausible, but does it follow that none but Messrs Hall Atkinson andl party eoold have induced the Bank of England to help at the time of need, or is it to be inferred that it was personally to oblige die present Ministry the efforts were made, not for the Colony itself? Mr Whitaker then pro. eeeded to refer to the Betreachment. The great apostle of eetmo&j wai Mr Beader Wood who prea^ed&omthe epigrammatic text, " There are ooly two ways of making | income and expenditure meet, namely, by increasing the' one or reducing the other." Mr > Whicaker expressed himself clearly enough, in favor ot a beer tax of 6d per gallon in preference to-the sugar duty, and defended the Property Tax. endcavoriug to show its superiority over au impost ou land by giving the follow*

iog example, which does not at all prore ] the case. H« *aid :—" It must be borne in mind that j#**jpap is not able to.realise £600 ofß^linoV Jbove '"s just <lebts and HabUitie* heroes, not pay, and iherefore Jthe tax onlvjriia upon'those wko are able •o pay. A^fairer tax could not possibly be. When he saw people who only paid a few pounds under the land tax pay £100 or £150 under this, he was still more strongfy'convinced of the correctness of his views. Let them take the case of Mr Tollemache, for instance; who certainly was not"obliged to pay anything." Under i the laud tax tie would only have had to pay £160, but as it was lie contributed undarfthe Properly ,T*x £1600." The I remainder of Mr Wbitaker's speech was I confined to the Education question, the j general policy of the present Government !as propounded by Mr Hall the other evening at Leeston, and jttattera which, though of public interest, hare already been fully discussed by men of the Government parly. The wonder is that in making the last of the pre-sessional addresses, the member of Waipa tshould have fouud so much firgin matter to dish up for the delectation of his constituents.

Is another column will be. found the ip'oech delivered by Hu Excellency the Governor at th«t" opening of (he third session of the seventh parliament of New Zetland.

Oub Presbyterian friendg intend holding a social gathering at the Masonic Hall, Queen street ihis evening. Refreshments will be provided and. n number of ladies and gentlemen hare consented to give songs, recitations, etc.

Wi noticed this morning Mr IJalcke at his old employ orient ■■'' again, delirering letters throughout Grrahamstown, and upon mating enquiries were pleased to learn that the Government bad altered their late decision! and bad re-appointed Mr Balcke. We are sure the residents of Graliainstown will be pleased with the return to the old arrangement. ■ ■:-:,} ; . -•- . . „-j

Thk Catholic Church at Paeroa, is completed, and is, so the Faeroans say, the prettiest little place of worship in the

Province.

Oub Paeroa correspondent . says :—We have hud a very heavy freth in the river, arid a considerable amount of damage has beimi done. A quantity of ; r urclpge from the Karangahaki flame was swept down the river, «nd caught at the Ohinemuri bridge in' Paeroa. A great number of trees have fa'len across tbe Waifekauri road near Owharon, and men are now ea.ploy(dclepring the road. The County bridge across the,Waitekauri stream, recently erected, and ceting £300, is a total wreck. Large trees came down and broke away the centre timbers.

We would remind our readers that to-night will be marked by the appearance before a Thames audience of one of the most talented exponents of the art of legerdemain, Professor Hssrlmajer, accompanied by his clever wife. Many of their performances are so marvellous as to astonish those acqainted with the simpler branches of staiie conjury. We predict for the Piofesiqr and his wife a highly successful season on tbe Thames.

i MONO the items of news by the lait S»n Francisco mail, was one referring to Arch bishop Croke. having had to apologise to Dr McCabe for a certuin letter he (Dr CroUe) had written to Mr Sullivan. We find now there was no truth in the statement, and the Fredman's Journal of Auckland^ publishes extract's to show how unfounded were the btatemonts. It appears the Morninc Post, of London, was the first paper to publish the statement thut Dr Croke had to apologise, and of course it was immediately wired to other papers. The Cork Examiner on:ihe following day made this »Ut«mebt:—" Wf a^e authorised to «tat« that the paragraph {Niblisiied in the Morning Post of jesterday,'and telegraphed b> the Preas Association 1o tue Irish press, with, referrace t» the Archbishop, is utterly and absolutely -fsiipe.".---;. •; ;:; ■• ; '->. . : :." ;; ., ;.. .

■ The number of etnigr.iri's who left Irish ■ports for'foreign countries last year, and ill of "wlrom; bat 34O,were twttvrw ofnnd residents in Iwland.'was no lew than 95,857, 0r48,473 more than immigrated::in 1879. la other words, 17.6 per 1000 of the pjpulation of the country a* ascertained bj the census of 1871.

Da Hzcio* kindly furnishes the following to the^ryas A»BOfi»/.ion:---"A, strong gale was reported on Wednesdaj from Au«trnlm, advancingfrom a westward circle-over Mel* bourne last, erening, -, and passed; G-abo at 2 p.m. to-day, .when it was a. strong S.W., while at the same time it was a strong N. W. •tHobirt. The storm centre is report das at Adelaide on the 2nd and Grabo on the 3rd, apd paused N.W. of New Zealand, and probably, caused the heary easterly swell that ha* been reported as making southwards along the East Coast for some days past."

In the House of Commons, speaking on one of the amendments of the Irii«h members, Mr Forster, Chief Seeretaiy for Ireland, said the Government was read; to give a favourable ooßsideration to any clauses for the amelioration of the copditiim of labourers T c Land Bill had three objeois—reform of land tenure, increase of the number of yeoman proprietorii, and tiie relief of OTer-ctowded districts. The latter would be effected bjr the State, and in the direction of emigration or public work*. The increase of peasant proprietors would be effected by ftdraucing money to enable tenants to purchase holdings. The reform of land tenure : was composed of three principles—a tribunal to fix a fair rent, eecuritj of tenure at a fair rent, and a power to a tenant to sell his interest in bis farm. The bill would do the landlords no barm, but would confer benefi s upon (hem. .' :

A Bin was introduced into the Senat ■ of Indiana, United States, which, ia designed to prevent the marri ge of persons where either is a habitual drunkard or criminal, ,r is weakminded, or bus'the taint of hereditary in-

sanity