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Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2287, 8 March 1887, Page 2

So much has been written and said about the New Hebrides Question that Colonists may well be excused if they profess themselves sick and tired of the whole ' business. Nevertheless the subject is one in which Australasia possesses a large interest. What has surfeited us is not so much the frequent mention of the matter, as the remarkable apputhy displayed the Homo Government in regard to it. Whatever may be said regarding the earth-huiigerof the Briton, it may safely beamrmed that the occupation of so many acres of ground by Franco is not grudged by us. If the area of the New Hebrides were as great as that of Australia, we should not object to its colonisation by Frenchmen, so long as they were of the right class, but, with the experience" of New Caledonia before our eyes, we do most emphatically protest against the establishment of another penal settlements iu our vicinity. An English contemporary, in writing upon this subject, points out how sharp is the contrast between the English policy of a hundred years ago and more, and that of to-day. "In the last century," remarks the journal referred to. " The British Government vigorously assisted the American colonist in the perpetual quarrels concerning fur-trading and similar matters which took place with the French settlers across the Canadian border. In the end Canada was conquered and annexed, but, as we insisted on taxing the Americans for their share of the war-bill, they revolted from us, and we have lost them for ever. Rendered wise by bitter experience, we have given the Australasians, who are twice as numerous as the Americans were in 1775, complete local independence, but we do not assist them against foreign aggressors with the zeal which the Ministers of George 11. and George 111. displayed. Owing to the feebleness and irresolution of the Home Government, the Germans were suffered to annex a large portion of New Guinea. New Guinea was, however, a sort of No Man's Land, and the action of the Government did not excite nearly so much bitterness in Australia as has the practical annexation (diplomatically styled a temporary occupation) of the New Hebrides by the French." After referring to the dangers incident to the proximity of convict settlements to the Australasian colonies, our contemporary goes on to say : " Our Home Ministers are too short-lived, and too much occupied with internal squabbles, and meddling with continental politics, to attend properly to such business as this. It is all very well to prate about Imperial Federation and to organise an Imperial Institute, but, unless we can satisfy the Australians that we are realy upholding their interests, they may elect to put an end to those grievances in some more summary fashion." This is very forcible and we fear very true. Australasia has, we venture to think, no desire to sever the political bonds which hold her to the Mother Country, but the latter must not forget that she has obligations. If England wantonly neglects to conserve our interests in the Pacific we must act for ourselves. There is really no help for it.

An American trout, weighing 31b., has been caught in Lake Takapuna by Mr E, Harrow. At the UM. Court, Te Awamutu, yesterday, only a few small debt cases were disposed of. Considerable property has been destroyed by incendiary raids in County Limerick, Ireland. Prince Alexander, late of Bulgaria, who has been suffering from smallpox, w now out of danger. The Ruapehu arrived in Auckland on bunday, and leaves that port direct for Plymouth on Thursday. The German elections have given the Chancellor a majority of 43, which will assure the safety of the Army Bill. The fire fiend is abroad. In addition to tho big tire at Gisborne, conflagrations of smallor dimensions are reported at Marton and Lawrence. Men out of work are warned not to go to tho West Coast in tho hope of getting employment on the Midland railway. The thing is already overdone. A fire occurred in Lower Symonds-stroet, Auckland, on Sunday afternoon, resulting in the destruction of an old building known as Panama Houso. The unimproved estate of the late General Galloway, Te Rapa, adjoining the property of Col. do Quincey, consisting of 800 acres, has been sold to Mr J. Hill, of Burnside, near Cambridge, at a satisfactory figure. At a special meeting of the Cambridge School Committee held on Saturday it was decided not to accede to the request of Archdeacon Willis that the school should be closed yesterday to allow the children to attend the garden fete. A concert in aid of the Tauwhare harmonium fund will beheld in theTauwhare schoolroom on Friday evening next, and judging by former efforts the entertainment should prove eminently successful. The Native Minister arrived at Auckland on Sunday. He left last night for the Bay of Islands to attend an important Native Meeting. It is not probable that he wll visit Waikato before the session. At the Native Lands Court, Alexandra, yesterday, on the application of Tamuhuia, the Aotea case, which was before the court there, was adjourned until the 10th inst. The court will proceed with the succession claims to-day. Sir M. Hicks-Beach, Chief Secretary for Ireland, has re-signed, owing to indisposition, as he is suffering -from a cataract. His place will be filled by Mr A. J. Bulfonr, Secretary for Scotland, and a nephew of the Prime Minister. It is stated on the authority of the Morning Post that Count F. de Lesseps is going to Berlin to offer :i guarantee of neutrality on the part of Frence in the event of a European war, on condition that Germany will support her in securing French supremacy in Esrypt. The report will probably turn out to be groundless. On and after to-morrow the train arriving at Te Awamutu at 7.50 on Monday and Wednesday will run on to Otorohanga, and on and after Thursday next a train will leave Otoranga on Tuesday and Thursday at 8.10 a.m. connecting with tho train leaving Te Awamutu for Auckland at 9.15 a.m.

An exchange says that New Zealand bacon, in cloth, is in good demand m Sydney at from Sd to 8;M. The duty, however, is 2d per ft, which leaves a very small profit margin for New Zealand exporters. The New South Wales markets .ire glutted at present with locally made cheese at from 5d up. The duty upon this is also 2d per R>, but first-class New Zealand butter is in demand at i)d. A few lines about the village settlement at Firewood Creek are headed in tha Herald "Kaplan Village Settlement." Why a settlement which lies within a mile of Ngaruawahia and at least twenty-five, if not more from Raglan, from which it is separated by a mountain range, should be called by the name of the latter is one of those things which point very strongly to the necessity for publishing a reliable geography of the colony.

Mr Jarrett, the proprietor of the cider mill at Cambridge West, has treated about eight tons of apples so far, and hoped to be able to turn a much larger quantity into cider beforo the season iR out. From a sack of apples weighing 130 pounds he surßneded in extracting eleven gallons of cider, thus bearing out the assertion made in a ivcant, leading article in tlicsa columns that oOlbs of apples would produce 4A- gallons.

The Auckland Amateur Athletic Club Sp-u'ts won! held on Saturday. 3000 people were present. There were excellent entries, and tho events were well contested. The Five-mile Championship Bicycle liaco, under the auspices of the New Zealand Cyclists Alliance, was won by Mr Anster, the English 'cyclist; Buchanan, 2 ; L'Jckie, 3. Time, IStriins 21sec.s Auster won as he likod. The Half-mile Championship Footrace was won by Wynyarti ; Davy, 2 ; Lusk, 3. Time, 3mins 55Jsecs.

Servia and Roumania are reported to be massing troops, on the Bui garian Frontier and generally fresh trouble seems to bs brewing in that quarter. The revolt of the garrisons in Silistria and Kuschuk has been put clown, and it is stated that M. Karaveloff, formerly one of tho regents, wit!) thirty officers, has been arrested, but for what cause is not known. Nine of the ringleaders in the military revolt have been sentenced to death.

The Marquis of Salisbury, speaking at a banquet at the National Conservative Club on .Saturday last, declared that the aspect of affairs in Europe had much improved, and in spite of the increased armaments which are being carried on by Continental Powers, the prospects of peace were greater than had been the case for some time. He regretted the retirement of Sir M. Hicks-Beach, which he hoped would be only temporary. Referring to Ireland he said the jury system would either have to be amended or abolished.

Mr Gladstone was paid £250 for his article on " Ipeksely Hall and the Jubilee " in the Nineteenth Century. This (says the P. M. Gazette) suggests two sorts of interesting reflections. First, say the article was about twenty pages, and there are about 500 words on a pa»e ; in £250 there are exactly 00,000 pence, which shows Mr Knowle's rate of pay to his most eminent contributors to be about (id a word. Speech, or rather writing, is certainly golden in this case, whatever silence may be elsewhere. We wonder at what rate the other three distinguished contributors were paid. We should appraise their contributions ourselves at something like this, keeping to the proportion of Mr Gladstone's Gd a word :— Mr John Morley, 2d a word, Mr Matthew Arnold, |d, Mr Swinburne, ten. words a penny.

That all men have equal rights is a cardinal doctrine in the theory of Democratic srovernment, but it is impossible to expand the claim to a point beyond the bound of right simply and apply it to the result of the exercise of such inalienable endowments. Human beings are not born with equal gifts and powers. Wherever there is an upper and middle there must be an under. The weak must sosk the wall and be the stile from which the ambitions strong will vault toward the top. Nor can those appointed by nature for the pyramid's base serve in nny other position. To press the wall as little as possible, get all the pay for service that it demands and make the "best of now and here," is the bound of thoir possibilities, Without a foundation there can bo no superstructure, and the position is as truly honorable as .any other, though universal mankind have held it to be loss desirable. All theories for the help of those who serve must proceed upon an admission of inequality.—'"The Carriage Monthly."

It is proposed in Victoria as a fitting tribute of the loyal feeling of the colonists, to send Home a regiment of cadets on the occasion of the Queen's jubilee. It is estimated that it will cost from £20,000 to £30,000 in passages alone. The parents of 535 cadets have promised to allow the lads to go. This is a new vyay of getting rid of the surplus population. Victoria has moi'o larrikins than she knows what to do with, and as the reformatories arc all full, and the industrial schools, orphan homes and ofchcr kindred institutions are taxed to the utmost, the people of that enterprising colony have struck the happy idea of shipping them Home, as a present to Her Majesty on the occasion of her jubilee. Perhaps Hot Majesty, duly apprised of the true nature of the compliment, will ti'flat the consignment as tha American Government treated a shipment of German paupers—send them back to where they cunie from. But as England has becotne a happy hunting ground for German paupers, it is really hard to tell what her Majesty will do with the Victorian light infantry.—Tuapeka Times,

The Auckland Free Library and Art Gallery will be formally opened on Saturday the 2(ith inst. on which occasion it is expected Sir George Grey will deliver an oration.

At theR.M. Court in Wellington the other day a man was accused of deserting his wife. It was alleged that he had systematically starved Ins wife, and persuaded her to sign a document of separation. The following is a corroct copy of the document, which was produced in Court:— "Wellington, June 21, 188(3, N.Z.—This agreement Being droun By the under Sinds and to the sadisfacen of Both Parties and in the Presents of one Witness is namd • We the under Sinds, William Albert and Eliza Bird, Hoar By Give up all Cummmiquachcu With Each other from this date for all the rest of Hour lives, both being I'espnnekol for there Hone Conetrackets this agreement Boing Sind By the three parties is now ligel to all transactshorns, i William taking two Boys and i Eliza taking one girl." The signatures aro here appended, written across nix twopenny stamps.

The Army and Navy Gazette furnishes a few interesting facts about tho gorgeous outfit —the fleet on the Australian station. There are ten vessels in all, and not one could overtake an artnour-p}ated bullock dray, thirteen knots an hour being their bustling ultimatum. Tho Diamond and Opal are obsolete corvettes, armed in some bow-and-arrow fashion of long ago. The Raven and Swinger are obsolete gunboats, and as thoy can neither sail nor steam they must rely on their oars if they go into action. The Harrier, Undine, and Dart, are three slow-going schooners without steam-power, and two of them were condemned in the East Indies as utterly useless, and the Dart figures in the navy list as a steam yacht. Australia has been relying with childlike confidence on this mass of wreckage, but for actual service we vote for a black tracker armed with nitroglycerine, and a good old-fashioned canoe. — Sydney Bulletin.

The Auckland Bell has no reverence for the August seigniors who run the education business in Auckland. ,<. Referring to the introduction of the Globe readers the Bell remarks :—A correspondent [whose letter appears in the same issue] says that "three learned school inspectors, two most learned professors, half a dozen head teachers, and the members of the board itself," after consultation, recommended the books; and all we can say to such an array of talent is, God help us. We suppose that Providence in His infinite wisdom, and in the carrying out of His moral government on earth, sees it necessary that folly should have the reins of power at times. We cannot account for it any more than the existence of black snakes, or for what purpose Noah took fleas, into the ark. Wβ suppose folly has its uses, and so have fleas, though seeing through a glass darkly now, we may not see them—we mean the uses, not the fleas.

At the farewell banquet given at Delmonico's by Mr Henry 8. Wellpome to Mr Henry M. Stanley, the African explorer, on his departure for Europe in the Eider, Mr Stanley said he had asked one of his friends to bid good-bye for him to the thousands of Americans for whose kindness he desired to make due acknowledgment, and had receivad a very flattering reply, for which ho felt daeply grateful. The frinnd to whose good offices Mr Stanley had appealed is Colonel Finley Anderson, of the New York United Press, and in writing to him on December 14, Mr Stanley makes reference to the old friendship existing between them. Their acquaintance began nearly 20 years ago, when Colonel Andei'.-iun was the London representative of the New York Herald, and Mr Stanley, according to himself, "a crude young man from the West without much experience." " I should have been delighted/' continues Mr Stanley, "to have reviewed with yo.u the expeditions upon which 1 went, with your instructions in iny pocket and your sago advice, to Abyssinia, to Egypt, to Crete, to Spain, and to search for Livingstone in a savage land. But every moment of iny time since my arrival here has been fully occiu pied, and now, just as I have begun to taste the sweets of civilised life in America once more, I am recalled to other fields of labour. Just what 1 shall be required to do I have not been informed, and it is useless to speculate upon the nature of the enterprise that this summons contemplates for rne, but I go away with willing obedience to the call, although with great regret that I must leave America so soon." The letter closes with the request that Colonel Anderson would convey the writer's hearty thanks and sentiments of gratitude and friendship to all thw.se thousands of friends who have written to him and have sought every opportunity to personally convey to him their kind regards.