FREE AND EAST NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 217, 28 March 1872, Page 5

FREE AND EAST NOTES.

BY P. TENAX.

There seems to be more truth in the rumour that the Executive intend to dissolve the General Assembly before the next session than many people are inclined to believe. It is well known that last session a number of snug billets were kept dangling before hon. members, and had a potent effect in securing a ministerial majority. As a matter of course, there were more expectants than offices ; and equally as a matter of course, the Government distributed the rewards they had at their disposal amongst their most consistent supporters. The number of votes the Government can rely on, by the withdrawal of many of their partisans into the pleasant retirement of officialdom, has materially diminished. They also know that many who last session supported them, in the .hope of coming in for a ahare of the 'spoil, and were disappointed, will, with the zeal pf renegades, endeavour to destroy the Government they formerly enthusiastically supported. Consequently it is rather a blue look-out for the Ministry. But I think Julius is equal to the occasion. He will go to the country as the champion of the popular view of some question of absorbing interest ; the hoodwinked free and independent will return mtn pledged to support him, and he will be seated more firmly than, ever on the Ministerial Benches.

Th* " Bruce Herald " has at last shown itself in its true colours - the champion of the ultra-Sabbatarian bigots. The "Heruld " says that the members of St. Patrick's Band were guilty of Sabbath desecration because they passed through Milton, on their way to take part in the opening services of the new Roman. Catholic school at Lawrence, on a Sunday ! Might T venture to enquire if the Presbyterian minister who every seventh day informs the editor of the " Herald " — and with truth, too—thai; he (the editor) is a miserable Binner, Bleeps on Saturday night in the pulpit, or walks or rides to church from hia resident on Sunday morning ? _ Do not Presbyterian ministers travel in buggies and on ' horseback to preach in outlying districts eijery %jjjday of their Uveß 7 If sndr-is the ease; Wjjjr are they not •ocus^J of Sabbath desecration ? Music fe fltomAjfered * wry import*^E»,-

tion df the service of the Roman Catholic Church ; and because on the occasion*of the opening of a great educational institute Bishop Moran deemed it advisable to secure the services of a number of accomplished musicians from the capital of the province, the "Herald" must needs inßult the whole Roman Catholic body, through their ecclesiastical chief. Faugh ! a room requires fumigating after such filthy cant as the " Herald's " paragraph is brought into it.

Mr. W. H. Ctjtten has been grossly maligned by the press. In connection with his conduct of the negotiations in the ever-memorable Moa Flat sale, he has been accused of incapacity, pusillanimity, imbecility, disregard of public interest, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. These charges are utterly without foundation, and Mr. Cutten could have shown that they were so at the time they were made, had he chosen so to do. He had merely to publish the concluding portion of a telegram, the first portion of which had already been giVen to the public, to exculpate himself. But by adopting this course, Mr. Cutten would have transferred the odium resting on his own shoulders to those of his official associates. His manly spirit revolted against such perfidy, and he preferred to suffer public disgrace singly and alone to clearing himself at the expense of his friends. Brave, high-souled Cutten ! It will be recollected that among the documents laid before the Committee of the General Assembly appointed to enquire into the Moa Flat sale were several telegrams from Mr. Cutten to Mr. Bradshaw. In one of these telegrams Mr. Cutten implored Mr. Bradshaw to come back, and threatened that he would resign. People imagined that Mr. Cutten was too cowardly to take the responsibility of concluding the bargain with Mr. Larnach. This erroneous impression arose through only half the telegram being published. The telegram, as Mr. Cutten sent it, read, " I will resign if I do not get y^ur salary, or to that effect. Mr. Cutten was nob afraid of concluding the bargain, but he wanted to get paid for doing so. He was, and I daresay is now, willing that the Government should sacrifice every acre, and to conduct the negotiations, if he can draw a salary. I have great pleasure in recommending Mr. Cutten to the General Government as a desirable immigration agent.

I notice that the remarks I made concerning the injurious effect the unwise reduction in the pay of the police had upon the "force" have attracted the attention of the Prf»ss of the colony. Several newspapers have spoken on the subject, and the " New Zealand Herald " of the 7th inst.. in a leading article on the police of the colony, endorses my remarks, crediting me, however, with one assertion I did not make, viz., that the Otago police were in a thoroughly disorganised state. What I said was in effect that the reduction in the police pay caused many of the best men to leave the service, and their places were being filled up with an inferior class of men, and I have no hesitation in repeating my assertion. Mr. Weldon was moved by the article in the " New Zealand Herald " to court enquiry, stating that the Otago police is in a high state of organisation — which is correct— and that it is as efficient as ever it was — which T very much question. Mr. Weldon is uot to blame for the physical inferiority of the new recruits, as he is not responsible for the reduction in the pay. Mr. Donald Reid has taken it upon himself to say that the article in the " Herald " carries no weight, as it is founded upon a letter from a set-tler-published in a country newspaper. Mr. lleid might have volunteered the information in his letter what special qualification he possesses to judge of the efficiency of a police force. - The "letter" he so contemptuously alludes to was mine, and I consider my opinion quite as good, if not .better, than bis. 'If Mr. Reid's opinions are no more valuable than his promises, they are not worth much.