EXTRACTS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1204, 21 August 1874, Page 4

EXTRACTS.

The Otago Guardian sayß :—When it is stated on the best authority that although there is a nominal strength on the Volunteer rolls, receiving capitation allowance, of 11,000 men, of these there are not 500 men who could go through their manual and firing exercise correctly, it is time the force was dismissed. The money and tiuio wasted "in the Volunteer service" could be much better employed. If, however, we are to fool away the public money in military display, let us at least have something for the outlay. There is a good deal of truth in the following remarks, which appear in the Western Star : -" We are sick of hearing remarks about the appearance of tho men shipped to Riverton by the immigration authorities, for it must be remembered that these people have not been fed the greater part of their lives on good New Zealand beef aud mutton, as most of us have been. Let those who talk so much about the matter cast a glance back to the time wheu they first arrived in the Colony, and contrast their present appearance and position with that they then bore, and we have no hesitation in saying many will hardly recognise themselves." The defendant, while giving evidence in the Magistrate's Court Dunedin, in the case of Outred v. Hyman, stated that the cost, up to tho present time, of recovering the cargo, to those . who purchased the Surat, was from £-1-500 to £SOOO. He also stated that their loss so far, was between £3OOO and £4OOO They had paid at the rate of £G per day to the submarine diver. The following figures referring to Provincialism may be of interest at the present time when the question of Unification is once more occupying a leading place in public attention. There are nine Provinces in New Zealand, the aggregate annual income of which, exclusive of contribution to the Con solidated Revenue, is a little over £1,300,000. Of this amount, nearly forty per cent., or £IOO,OOO is absorbed yearly in administration. There are abont two hundred and forty Provincial councillors in receipt of honoraria, and nearly 800 provincially paid officials. .New Zealand, with a population of about 330,000, and a total revenue of £2,755,500, has something like 350 legislators ; while Victoria, with a population of 700,000, and a revenue of £1,152,000 has but 130 legislators. These are rather startling figures, but they are mainly incontrovertible. It will therefore be seen that Provincialism annually costs the country nearly £1 5s per head of the entire population of the colony.