SELF-GOVERNMENT BY AUSTRALIAN COLONISTS. (Times, May 16)

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 198, 16 August 1873, Page 3

SELF-GOVERNMENT BY AUSTRALIAN COLONISTS. (Times, May 16 )

Tiki time has come, in fact, when the Australian colonists know their own mind in malteis which more immediately •concern themselves, and are sensible that it oinjht to be deferred to. Tlieyttlnnk they ought to be free from leading strings in such mutters, und (h«y are no longer a loose collection ofeinigrarit atoms Tliev have polities of their own, and they have public men euQlfieiitly able and well-instructed to have furnished the mother country with two not unsuccessful statesmen Lord Grey could not concur in concluding " that the colonists know best whnt ought to be done in respect of colonial matters," and there u good reason for lna doubt. But all Lord Kunberley had argued was that wo should assume they knew their own business best. It docs net follow because a young man lias .reached the years of discretion that he is the best judge of his own interests ; but it is necMsan to tre.i*. him as if lie were. The Australian Colonies are just in the condition of a prosperous young man n ho is determined to earn his own experience. They are beyond tutelage, and they must be allowed to take their own course, .except in matters of Imperial concern. They will in all probability make many mistalos, as the mother country has done before them ; but mistakes are the lesions of life. The. tendency of events in Australia is probably, as Lord Kunberley said, towards the formation of a federal union among the colonies Perhaps a customs' union may be the first etep towards it, and Lord Canterbury pointed out the importance, with a view to this result, of leaving the colonies perfectly free to regulate their own taxation. Tlxiy can only form a satisfactory union upon terms which aro the result of a perfee^'y voluntary agreement. Lord Canterbury also did well to point out that the Bill in no way touches the forei/ii trade of the colonies. It neither gives nor holds out any bxpoof hereafter giving them power to impose differential duties on articles imported "from abroad, and, of course, it contains an express proviso that no duties «hall be levied or remitted inconsistent with commercial treaties to which England is a paity. It is simply the internal trade of the oolonies which is affected by it, and this is a matter on whidh it is no'loDger possible, even if it were desirable, to i entrain them. A jrefusal would -only have involved a concession at a later time with a bad giace. Still the power which the colonists -\v ill acquire by this extension of selfgovernment is one which it » difficult to ute with discre>ti«n, and we must hope, with Lord Kimberley, that they will be cautious in their first exercise of their new liberty.

Cask making hy Machinebt. — Patents have boon taken out by Mom Thuillier, of Desvres, near Boulogne, and Mods Etr.ile G-erard, engineer, ot Boulogne, for ft seriea of machines, jointly invented by them, for the nwnufact uro of e\ery description of east and barrel by machinery. On the 12th instant the small "factory they lia>o installed at Desvres >was visited by the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Boulogne, and tlio prr.icipal reporters of salt fish connected with the heirinic trade of Boulogne, ■who employ nearly 200,000 barrels every year in packing salt herrings. After these gentlemen had carefully inspected the machinery adapted to each several process, tlio various machines were •et m motion, and a quantit} of casks made from beginning to end in their presence in n comparatively short space of time. The inventors au»r that their machinery permits a very large saving m time and expense, can be adopted for casks of any mzo or form, and that it turns out much more perfect arhslea than can be made by hand labor. It is understood that Messrs Thuillier and Gerard intend orgauging a factory at Boulogne on a much (larger scale than their present small experiment nl one at Desvres. Thk Judges on Jukies — We (Law Journal) understand that the Common Law judges held a meeting on Saturd.iy afternoon at Westminster to consider the Bill for the amendment of the law relating to juries now before Parliament. Their lordships specially directed their attention to the two questions of the number of the panel and of unanimity m verdicts. The whole bench watiof opinion that the present number of twelve jurors on the panel ought to be retained. Their lordships also came to the conclusion that the verdict ought to be the verdict of all the jurors. We believe that tome ifevr ef their lordsliips were inclined to gi\e validity to the terdict of a majority, where there wero not more than two dissentients, but tlvese .judges were not so com inced of the soundness of their .cwn opinion as to adhere to it in opposition to the general feeling of the Bench. The following is ,i het of times at which messages from India and the East gecarally have been received in London, 'by the wires working diwct to India via Teheran in conjunction with the Indian «GKm eminent Telegraphs. Whilst it will be teen from the list that me«sages are brought to London within the difference of time between fefliat city and India, it appear* that according to statistical returns of the director of the Persia* Gull Department of the Indian Government Telegraphs, the average time occupied in the transmission from the original stations to India of all messages passing over the company's line was for the weok ending April 11, -2hrs 36mm.; April 18, 2hrs 17nun ; April 25, 2hrs4imin; May 2, 4hre 12mbi ; May 9, 2lns49min. In addition to ihe rapidity of transmission the greatest possible accuracy is secured by the use of ink-writ urig recording instruments morked b} skilled English telegraphists, and 'he oxce^sionally few tiansmiseions, which materials tend to secure oceuraty in all messages worked by the company's lmes. Advices state thai the Spwnish vineyards arc very unsatisfactory. The oulium lu^s already manifested itself at this early period, but the damage done up to the present time is not very s-enous. The growers have an immense deal to contend with at present, both owing to the civjl war and the strikes In tho vine} arils at Puerto Santa Maria the workmen have struck actually (for " half-an-hour Alter armal on the ground, and before beginning to work, to smoke cigarettes, the same grsee after the breakfast hour, Uvo hoars for a sirtta in the middle of the da\ , anotlwr intenal for a bout of smoking m the afternoon, and, finalh , an ' arroba ' (more than three and a half gallons English) of wmc per acre at the cud at tlvo season, with a proportionate inrrease of <ir lges." The career of a " fast " tarty is thus described by a police report: — "Mrs Luha Murray, of Fitzroy-road, Itegcnt's Park, was summoned at the Marylebone ])olico court for driving a horse furiously. A policeman said that he saw tho defendant driving a hansom cab in the Edg \are-road at a iurious pace. She was sitting on the scat behind, and seemed to have no idea how to drive. There were two men and a boy inside the cab They had nil been drinking. The dufend ant said it was a pmate cab, and she had asked the coachman to let her drive. Mr Mansfield lined Mm Murray 20s and costs. We are informed that Mr Simpson, special nrtist of the Illustrated London Nt-ws, has made his way, on a sketching tour round the world, to General Gillem's head-quarters, Lake Tide, California, the scene of the lato conflicts with the Modoc Indians, and has sent home a general view of the locality, winch will speedily be followed by other illustrations.