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Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2532, 2 October 1888, Page 2

A shout time ago we referred to the determination on the part of a number of members of the House of Representatives to prevent the coiling into force of the Representation Act Amendment Act of last year, which reduces their numbers to seventy-five lumbers. The attitude, towards the Act is at present a lurking one, although there was a feeble elf'U't, a sort of premonitory exposition of their intentions, made in the late session by the opponents of the measure to obtain its repeal. '/Ve cautioned the public to be prepared for a more organised attack which threatens to be directed next session on one of the most popular Acts that have been passed at any time by the New Zealand Legislature. That this is no fiction can be seen by the statement made by Sir John Hall in his address to the electors of Leeston, in which he is reported to have " warned his hearers against any attempt which would be made to repeal the Act reducing the number of members of the House of Representatives." The reduction provided for by the. Act, which comes into effect nt the termination of the present Parliament, or sooner in the event of a dissolution, is a reform upon which the people of New Zealand have set their minds to have carried out as a leading feature in the direction of lessening the extravagant cost of the system of government. Any attempt to retrace the work already achieved by tampering with the principle laid down in the Representation Amendment Act is sure to be resented by the country, upon whom the note of warning uttered by Sir J. Hall should not fall unheeded.

The Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Superior of tho Benedictine Order in this province, is on a visit to Hamilton. The Native Department, instead of being abolished, is reported to be showing increased vitality and enlargement. Kemp heat Han lan by several lengths. The latter complains of having been unfairly treated in the race, and wishes to arrange for another trial. In Mr Wm. Arch- Murray's letter on Property-tax valuations, which appeared in our issue of 20th ult., a printer's error made him say that property No. 1 was 12,000 acres in extent instead of 1,200, and had been valued at £S,ooo, instead of £1,500. We have received a number of copies of the report on the dairy factories of New Zealand by Mr McCallum, combined with other papers on the same subject. We have already referred in our leading columns and elsewhere to these reports, but if any of our readers wish to sco the pamphlet they can call at this ottice and obtain 0110. Referring to the Governor's approaching departure, the Wellington Times says :—" Sir William Jervois is by far the ablest and incomparably the most deservedly popular Governor New Zealand has ever had. No previous representative of Her Majesty has been so universally esteemed and beloved, and his departure will be deplored by all." Tho Post also praises him warmly, and regrets his departure. We give the following as an instance of the profits being realised at the present time on the sale of Melbourne city properties. The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society a few years ago became the proprietors of two Collins-street sections. The directors wisely taking advantage of existing values, have within the last year parted with these properties, the result being a clear profit, of over £110,000. This will be welcome news to the many policyholders of this popular and progressive oftice, who are really the gainers in the transactions, and who cannot fail to appreciate the keen judgment displayed by the management in charge of their affairs. , Star.

The way in which the gorse is over-spreading the land around Hamilton, and also within the borough, is veiy discreditable to the County Council, Highway Boards and Borough Council within whose jurisdiction the roads and open lands are. It is a poor testimony It* the status, importance, or progress of the central town of the Waikato that such an eyesore should greet the ga/.e of strangers visiting the district, perhaps in search of homes and investments. Neither does it speak well for the administrative capacitics of the local bodies concerned. Unless some active steps are taken to clear the nuisance, check its growth, and compel owners of properties to keep their lands clear of it, as well its their hedges trimmed, there will be endless trouble and expense in the near future to reclaim the land from its hold. By a little foresight and judicious expenditure in the past this dangerous evil could have been avoided. The local bodies should set aside a certain sum of money every year for the specific purpose of keeping their roads and lands free of gorse and briars, and also compel property-owners to do the sani". Within the last twelve months tho spread of both of these in Hamilton has been very great.

Our Sydney correspondent says : —The. controversy between Pree-trade and Protection has not been silenced by the verdict of the country. Even yet, in the Houso mid in the press, sturdy champions dealt one another doughty blows. 'J hose whose mental vision is keen enough to discern the general " »!rift "' of coniinerci »1 matters, look anxiously from one to another to see if any reasonable prospect of improvement would be afforded by a. change in the fiscal policy of the country. But they look in vain. No fiscal shullle, no legislative panacea, no nostrum of the political empirics who crowd the legislative arena can cure the evils from which the community suffers. The nut of our evils lies too deep to be touched by any such superficial effort. There is too little love of work, and too much love of folly ; there H too ' little honest enterprise, and too much gambling ; too much higgling and huckstering and jobbing, and too little steady, honest, productive work. All the, agencies which squander wealth are active, those which produce it are sunk m lethargy. Legislation might do much to stimulate and encourage a healthier spirit. But legislation does nothing towards it, will do nothing until the legislators get from their constituents a mandate that they dare not disregard. At present it pays a clever man better, supposing, of course, that his conscience is of the pachydermatous order, to look out for some method of swindling his fellow men, than for any method of serving them by following a useful avocation.

Persistent claimants for Government, favours in New Zealand have the reputation of being complete pests to Ministers and officials by their earwigging and frequent abuse, but they have not reached such a low level as people of the same class in Sydney. On the sth of September, at the Water Police Court, Sydney, a young man named Timothy Breen was committed for trial on a charge of attempting to bribe Sir Henry l'arkes. On the previous day Breen waited upon the Pemier at his ottico, and through the messenger handed him a letter, stating that he (Breen) had been employed as elerk by Moore and Co., of Sydney, but as that firm were giving tip business he was desirous of obtaining employment as a clerk in the Lmds Department. Enclosed with the letter were ten £1 notes, which he begged Sir H. Parkes to accept. The Premier at once despatched a messenger for the police, and on the arrival of the acting Inspector of Police and a detective the prisoner was at once given into custody, and the money handed over to the police. Sir Henry Parkes and others gave evidence to the above effect, Breen pleaded ignorance of doiticr any wrong, and said ho did not think he would be able to get an interview with the Premier without offering him money. His late employers gave him ail excellent character. Bail wasjillowed in £100 and two sureties of £50.—Exchange.