PASSING EVENTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4127, 2 June 1892, Page 2

PASSING EVENTS.

(By our ; Welunmon Cobbespon-

EIOETUBIQUE.

Wellington, Tuesday. The decision of the Privy Council in deolaring the Edwards appointt merit invalid and illegal did not cause muob surpriso here, although it has palled forth on all sides universal expressions of sympathy with Mr Edwards in the trying, humiliating, and unjust position into which he has been forced by the weak-backed behaviour of the Atkinson Government, who bad not the courage to stand up to defend their actions. That' a man should bo persuaded away from a lucrative practice, whioh of.course had to be, disposed, ,qf, .when the Judge's ermine was assumed, and.then ruthlessly deserted when it was found the appointment was of -doubtful legality, must teem to all right-think-ing people the quintessence of political meanness. ■ Mr Edwards'fiuda himself in this position owing, to 'the eoandalous manner in whioh he has been treated as the scapegoat of two political partiesl He,is a man now well advanced in years with a young family.' He re. linguißhed, at theearnest andfrequent solicitations of the Atkinson Government, his practice at the Bar, worth at least £2OOO per annum. He is appointed to one of the highest offices in the State, an 3 performed tho functions of a judge, during his brief term of office, with conspicuous ability. It has, indeed, been stated that his judgments for luminosity of argument and reasoning have not been equalled on the New Zealand Bench. Suddenly it is discovered that the appointment is illegal. Mr Kdwvds is deposed from his seat as judge, and, pending the testing of his appointment in the law courts, all pay or remuneration of any kind is withheld from' him for a space of nearly two years. . The unfortunate man is thus deprived of all oharibe of earning his livelihood - ;he oan neither praotioe his profession nor draw his pay as a judge. No man was ever forced into a more cruel or humiliating position. Now finality has oome, and the highest count in the Realm has decided that Mr Edwards is no judge, which necessitates, of course, a special validation Act for the-judgments delivered during the time he sat on the Bench ; but this is not all, for, legally, Mr Edwards is not entitled to any enumeration whatever during all this time in which lie has been kept' in suspense. Here is an opportunity for the present Government in the hour of their victory to chivalrously take flush measures as will compensate Mr Edwards for the great wrong he has had put upon him.

It is more than hinted that the Government, having now seoured their ends, will have an Act brought in early this session to create another Judge, and that Mr Edwards will be appointed to the position and compensated for the injury he has suffered, It would ben graceful act on the part of the Government and one that would raise them high in the estimation of all people, supporters and nonsupported alike,

, The energetio and popular member for the Hutfc has been making a thorough tour of his large and soattered district and has addressed meetings in nearly, every hole and corner of the constituency. This is no light task as anyone who knows the district can I vouch. Everywhere has the genial Doctor met with expressions of sympathy and Support, and no doubt the next general election will bring Dr Newmanhisdue reward. Aswasremarked on more than one occasion during the tour, no other representative his ever thought it worth while to go to all this trouble to lay before his constituents an account of his doings in Parliament, Dr Newman has bound the suburban districts of Wellington to the Opposition side with links of steel. If all the Doctor's confreres were so thorough, a considerable change in the state of politics would be noticeable ere long.

The new Commandant cannot have been very much impressed with, the numbers, the appearance, or the manrauvres of the volunteers who turned out to do honor to the Queoa' s natal day. AsFalstaffsays, "I be aroused gurnet if I be not ashamed of mine army "; and yet it is not the volunteers' fault altogether; it is the miserly manner in which they are treated by the .Government in the matter of capitation and arms, Good men do not care to join under the present regulations, when the scale of capitation is so meagre, the system for tho election of officers so uneatisfaotory, the rifles and ammunition so inferior, and ao little encouragement is given to profioienoy in marktnan., ship. lam informed that the question •of officers :is oi very grievous cause of complaint; Young -.fellows, in! many instances mere bOya, are elected.officers of the various corps solely on. account of their father's social position or money,- without possessing in any way the qualifications necessary for an officer; consequently they command neither respect nor obedience, and such being the. case, tbo volunteer service in New Zealand' must very soon !' go to the dogs,' ! ':■-"■'• " ' -

The Colonial Treasurer is in high glee /because a surplus has beqn achieved I What matter that theaforesaid surplus is the reault of another's financial polio;: it is there a|l the same, aqd as the 1 .war pry is nqw i' the 'spoils.tq the Victors," credit will be assuredly claimed for it by the astute Mr Ballanoe, Of course, it iB .quite a new sensation to that'babe in finance, tlje present'' Cqlqh'ial Trea-. surer," to aohieve anythmg at all hut o defioit-at {east that has been the bjstqry qf the past-and it is only natural he siiquld. hail with delight this bantljng. surplus, and. being childless io/ this respec| himself, he lavishes all the .paternal pride of wliioh he is possessed on the offspring of another...

The bungle made by tho: Labour ! Bureau over the shipment of men to Gishome and Wairoato obtain work, that only existed in the fertile imaginations of its directors, will go a long way towards destroying cqufi den'ce in'an instftutioti that, ina country like Ihjsy aUouldneyer have been any necesejty for, The Labour Bureau hap a distinct ten* denpy to Bap tb,e sturdy inijependehcq and'selfcreliance which should qb,ar> aqterise' ,the inhabitants qf a colony like New Zetland, The struggle for existence js not so. keen here that work oarinot '' be found for ; willing hands at all seasons, no matter how, hard times may he,

Tbero are, Hear me, far too many Of thosa who regard the State ae a wet.

nurse, ready at all times, to provide nourishment without any attempt at ' individual effort. The necessity of such an institution arises from tho fact that men will hang about the towns instead of making for the country where work oan always be found, but where the living, ofcourse, is not so pleasant. Another is the readiness with whioh a®n will throw up work if things are not. altogether to his way of secure, in the conviotion that his". Trade Union, or failing that, apaternal: Government will see.tliat he is duly provided- for. . After all, it comes'' down to the same thing, for in nine casca out of ten the' Bureau sends its proteges up country where a few pounds are put together and back they come to town again to spend the®. It has been told to me, on reliablijV authority, that at least SO per oentof the cases of destitution in Wellington are'the result of: deliberate improvi-' denes andintemperarioej' and, thoroV fore, I emphatipallyrepeat\we are not setting aiiout the cure of this evil in the right way bv establishing Labor Bureaux where next to no diaorimina-i tiou as to individual cases is made. ' y " ..EOSMOS,