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"The old order changeth; yielding place to new."
Having been absent for two years from New Zealand, during which period I have travelled through a considerable part of Europe and the United States, I am concerned to find, oh my return, that none of my reading friends have hitherto had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the opinions of Professor Huxley in support of the doctrine of Evolution, uttered in New York after his discovery of some of the missing links in the chain of the Evolution of the modern horse, of which the Professor thus speaks in his Buffalo address:—"It is commonly said there are no antiquities in America, and you have to come to the Old World to see the past That may be, so far as regards the trumpery 3000 or 4000 years of human history. But in the larger sense, referring to the times before man made his momentary appearance on the Globe, America is the country to study antiquity. I confess that the reality has somewhat exceeded my expectations. It was my great good fortune to study in New Haven the excellent collection of my good friend Professor Marsh. There does not exist in Europe anything approaching it as regards extent, and the geological time it covers, and the wonderful light it throws on the problem of Evolution, which has been so ably discussed before you by Professor Morse, and which has occupied so much attention since Darwin's great work on species. Before the gathering of such materials as those to which I have referred, Evolution was more a matter of speculation and argument, though we who adhered to the doctrine had good grounds for our belief. Now things are changed, and it has become a matter of fact and history as much as the monuments of Egypt. In that collection are the facts of the succession of forms and the history of their evolution. All that now remains to be asked is, how the development was effected? and that is a subordinate question."
Nearly all the great naturalists, comparative anatomists, and men of science in England, Europe, and America, have yielded to the overwhelming weight of evidence in favour of the doctrine of Evolution, and it is therefore painful for me on my return to the Colony to find a worthy Clergyman in Dunedin in process of being ostracized by a number of well-meaning, but very imperfectly informed people, because he held, or was the exponent of, the truth of a doctrine which is now held to be proved to demonstration by such men as Helmholtz and Büchner, in Europe; Darwin, Wallace, Huxley, Tyndall, and a host of others, in England; and such men as Professors Morse, Marsh, Grote, and Wyman, in America.
The opposition to the doctrine of Evolution proceeds principally from uninformed people of strong prejudice, or from the Clergy of different sects who fear (in some instances no doubt) that their craft is in danger. At one time it was rank heresy to talk of the antiquity of man in any other than the old theological sense; "but now
"But the question of the mere 'antiquity of man' almost sank into insignificance at a very early period of the inquiry, in comparison with the far more momentous and more exciting problem of the development of man from some lower animal form, which the theories of Mr. Darwin and of Mr. Herbert Spencer soon showed to be inseparably bound up with it. This has been, and to some extent still is, the subject of fierce conflict; but the controversy as to the fact of such development is now almost at an end, since one of the most talented representatives of Catholic theology, and an anatomist of high standing—Professor St. George Mivart—fully adopts it as regards physical structure, reserving his opposition for those parts of the theory which would deduce man's whole intellectual and moral nature from the same source, and by a similar mode of development." (See Mr. Alfred R. Wallace's opening address as President of the Biological Section of the British Association for the advancement of science, delivered in Glasgow last year.)
Notwithstanding the general acceptance of the theory of the antiquity of man, and of other theories differing from old theological dogmas once considered vital to the faith, we find as much need for clergymen as ever. The necessity for teachers of religion and morals will be practically eternal. The world cannot get on without them, so long as there are weak souls requiring enlightenment and consolation. The teacher of Christ's morality will have a mission co-extensive with the duration of truth and time, so that whatever may happen to supernatural theories and beliefs, in their contact with scientific discovery, the teacher of moral truth is likely to have a long tenure of his office.
I heard a minister of the true blue persuasion the other day denouncing Darwinism in unmeasured and preposterous terms. I could see he was ignorant of the first principles enunciated by the Great Master, so I asked him if he had read any of Darwin's works. He had to confess that he had not; but he added, in a forcible manner, "I have seen his photograph, and that was enough for me! The moment I saw his photograph I could read the man through and through. He is as like a monkey as possible. I don't require to read the works of a man like that." It makes one miserable to meet with teachers of this description, and in the hope that their number may be speedily lessened, I commend the following utterances of Professor Huxley to their earnest attention.
The stay of Professor Thomas H. Huxley in this country has been necessarily brief. His engagement for a course of lectures before the Royal School of Mines requires his return to England by Oct. 1. But short as has been his stay with us, it has afforded several opportunities for hearing him—more, in fact, than were hoped for when the visit was first projected. It has also been of marked service to science in this country, by calling public attention to the value of our geological treasures. Soon after his arrival, Professor Huxley went to New Haven, and there spent several days in a careful examination and study of the fossils from the West, which have been obtained by Professor Marsh in expeditions already familiar to Tribune readers. These fossils have a peculiar value. They show that in past periods animals existed whose forms were intermediate between those already known. Not only are the gaps between species thus filled, but the new forms are found in the rocks in a regular order of progression. To Professor Huxley, a firm believer in and advocate of the theory of Evolution, these discoveries of Professor Marsh were of the highest interest. Nothing short of his own personal examination of the specimens would probably have satisfied so careful an observer as Professor Huxley. Having made that examination, he declares that "the reality very far exceeded his anticipation." He regards this new series of facts as establishing the theory of Evolution upon an impregnable basis. To make these facts public, and to display their importance as affording data for earth's history, were among the chief objects of his lectures in New York.
In person Professor Huxley is rather above the medium height; of large frame, but spare. He stoops slightly, as if habitually engaged in thought. His features are prominent, and bear an expression of energy in repose. His hair and whiskers are iron gray. He speaks without manuscript or notes of any kind, and never prepares the phraseology of his addresses in advance of their delivery. His manner of speaking is quite simple and straightforward, with none of the gestures or arts of oratory. His delivery is slow and distinct, being the result of a hard and successful effort in the early part of his career to break off a previous habit of rapid speaking.
The Problem of the World's Origin—Three Hypotheses to Account for it—the Hypothesis of its Eternal Existence, the Miltonic Hypothesis, and the Hypothesis of Evolution—testimonial Evidence Impossible; Circumstantial Evidence of the Highest Value—geological Proof that the First and Second Hypotheses are Untenable.
To say that a crowded audience greeted Professor Thomas H. Huxley at Checkering Hall on the night of September 18, is to do injustice to the fact. The entrance was thronged at an early hour, and the only consolation of the people who were jammed together in front of the ticket office was that it was a highly respectable crush. Large numbers had evidently deferred the purchase of tickets until the last moment. The trouble was not ended when, after undergoing the last extremity of squeezing, the ticket office was reached and the purchase made. It was quite as difficult to get out from the crowd below as it was to get into it. Not a few agile gentlemen took the alternative of climbing up the sides of the stairs to join the happier throng that they had been long envying—the people that had bought their tickets in advance and had nothing to do but to ascend to the hall.
Within, every seat scorned to be taken before the lecture began, the few vacancies were filled during the first ten minutes afterward, and "wall-flowers" were packed standing behind the seats. The hall was full of familiar faces; of men eminent in the learned professions; of New York's best society. Punctual to the very minute Professor Huxley came forward upon the platform, and was of course treated with abundant applause. He laid a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost upon the reading desk; nothing else, neither manuscript nor notes. He leaned forward slightly over the desk and began speaking in measured words and with a low tone of voice. Except sometimes to grasp the desk with both hands and lean over it more intently, he did not vary his position or make use of gestures during the lecture.
At first, Professor Huxley was not distinctly heard by the entire audience, but after the noise made by people entering had subsided, there was less difficulty in this respect. He was listened to with the closest attention throughout, and the perfect silence of the audience, except at rare intervals when applause was called forth, gave striking evidence of the interest that was taken, notwithstanding the closeness of the argument and the absence of popular features in the discourse.
Ladies and Gentlemen—We live in and form a part of a system of things of immense diversity and perplexity which we call Nature, and it is a matter of the deepest interest to all of us that we should form just conceptions of the constitution of that system and of its past history. With relation to this Universe, man is in extent little more than a mathematical point, in duration but a fleeting shadow. He is a reed shaken in the winds of force; but, as Pascal long ago remarked, although a reed, he is a thinking reed, and, in virtue of that wonderful capacity of thought, he has a power of framing to himself a symbolic conception of the Universe, which, although doubtless highly imperfect, and although wholly inadequate as a picture of that great Whole, yet is sufficient to serve him as a guide-book in his practical affairs. It has taken long, indeed, and accumulations of often fruitless lab our, to enable man to look steadily at the glaring phantasmagoria of Nature, to notice her fluctuations, and what is regular among her apparent irregularities; and it is only comparatively lately, within the last few centuries, that there has emerged the conception of a pervading order and a definite force of things, which we term the course of Nature.
But out of this contemplation of Nature, and out of man's thoughts concerning her, there has in these later times arisen that conception of the constancy of Nature to which I have referred, and that at length has become the guiding conception of modern thought. It has ceased to be almost conceivable to any person who has paid attention to modern thought, that chance should have any place in the Universe, or that events should follow anything but the natural order of cause and effect. We have come to look upon the present as the child of the past and as the parent of the future; and as we have excluded chance from any share or part in the order of things, so in the present order of Nature men have come to neglect, even as a possibility, the notion of any interference with that order; and whatever may be men's speculative notions upon these points, it is quite certain that every intelligent person guides his life and risks his fortune upon the belief that the order of Nature is constant, and the relation of cause to effect unchanged.
In fact, there is no belief which we entertain which has so complete a logical basis as that to which I have just referred. It underlies tacitly every process of reasoning; it is the foundation of every act of the will. It is based upon the broadest induction, and it is verified by the most constant, regular, and universal of inductive processes. We must recollect that any human belief, however broad its basis, however defensible it may seem, is, after all, only a probable belief, and that our broadest generalizations are simply the highest degrees of probability. Though we
I will, if you please, in the first place, state to you what are the views which have been entertained respecting the order of Nature in the past, and then I will consider what evidence is in our possession bearing upon the question, and by what light of criticism that evidence is to be interpreted. So far as I know, there are only three views—three hypotheses—which ever have been entertained, or which well can be entertained, respecting the past history of Nature.
Upon the first of these the assumption is that the order of Nature which now obtains has always obtained; in other words, that the present course of Nature, the present, order of things, has existed from all eternity. The second hypothesis is that the present state of things, the present order of Nature, has had only a limited duration, and that at some period in the past the state of things which we now know—substantially, though not of course in all its details the state of things which we now know—arose and came into existence without any precedent similar condition from which it could have proceeded. The third hypothesis also assumes that the present order of Nature has had but a limited duration, but it supposes that the present order of things proceeded by a natural process from an antecedent order, and that from another antecedent order, and so on; and that on this hypothesis the attempt to fix any limit at which we could assign the commencement of this series of changes is given up. I am very anxious that you shall realize what these three hypotheses actually mean; that is to say, what they involve, if you can imagine a spectator to have been present during the period to which they refer. On the first hypothesis, however far back in time you place that spectator, he would have sees a world, essentially similar, though not perhaps in all its details, to that which now exists. The animals which existed would be the ancestors of those which now exist, and like them; the plants in like manner would be such as we have now, and like them; and the supposition is that at however distant a period of time you place your observer, he would still find mountains, lands, and waters, with animal and vegetable products flourishing upon them and sporting in them just as he finds now. That view has been held. It was a favourite fancy of antiquity, and has survived along down towards the present day, and it is worthy of remark that it is a hypothesis which is not inconsistent with what geologists are familiar with as the doctrine of Uniformitarianism. That doctrine was held by Hutton, and in his earlier days by Lyell. For Hutton was struck by the demonstration of astronomers that the perturbations of the planetary bodies, however great they may be, yet sooner or later righted themselves, and that the solar system contained within itself a self-adjusting power by which these aberrations were cured and it brought back to an equilibrium.
Hutton imagined that something of the same kind may go on in the earth, although no one recognised more clearly than he the fact that the dry land is being constantly washed down by rain and rivers and deposited in the sea, and that thus in a certain length of time, greater or shorter, the inequalities of the earth's surface must be levelled and its high lands brought down to the sea. Then, taking in account the internal forces of Nature, by which upheavals become seated and give
The second hypothesis is that to which I have referred as the hypothesis which supposes that this order of things had at some no very remote time a sudden origin making it such as it now is. 'I hat is the doctrine which you will find stated most fully and clearly in the immortal poem of John Milton, the English Divina Commedia, "Paradise Lost." I believe it is alone through the influence of that remarkable work, combined with daily teachings to which we have all listened in our childhood, that this hypothesis owes its general wide diffusion as one of the current beliefs of English-speaking people. If you turn to the Vllth book of "Paradise Lost," you will find there stated the theory, the hypothesis to which I refer, which is this: That this visible Universe of ours made its appearance at no great distance of time from the present day, and that the parts of which it is composed made their appearance in a certain definite order in the space of six natural days, in such a manner that in the first of these days light appeared; in the second, the firmament or sky separated the water above from the water beneath it; on the third day the waters drew away from the dry land, and from it the vast vegetable life which now exists made its appearance; that the fourth day was devoted to the apparition of the sun, the stars, the moon, and the planets; that on the fifth day aquatic animals originated within the waters; and then on the sixth day the earth gave rise to our four-footed terrestrial creatures and to all varieties of terrestrial animals except birds, which had appeared on the preceding day; and finally, man appeared upon the earth, and the work of fashioning the Universe was finished. John Milton, as I have said, leaves no doubt whatever as to how, in his judgment, these marvellous processes occurred. I doubt not that his immortal poem is familiar to all of you, but I should like to recall one passage to your minds, in order that I may be justified in what I shall have to say. Regarding the perfectly concrete, definite conception which Milton had of what he thought had been the mode of origin of the animal world, he says:—
There is no doubt as to the meaning of that hypothesis, or as to what a man of Milton's genius expected would have been actually visible to one who could know and witness the process, the origination of living things as he describes it.
And then comes the third hypothesis, which is the hypothesis of Evolution, and that supposes that at any given period in the past we should meet with a state of things more or less similar to the present, but less similar in proportion as we go back in time; that the physical form of the earth could be traced back in this way to a condition in which its parts were separated, as little more than a nebulous cloud making part of a whole in which we find the sun and the other planetary bodies also resolved; and that if we traced back the animal world and the vegetable world, we should find preceding what now exist animals and plants not identical with them, but like them, only increasing their differences as we go back in time, and at the same time becoming simpler and simpler, until finally we should arrive at that gelatinous mass which, so far as our present knowledge goes, is the common foundation of all life. The tendency of science is to justify the speculation that that also could be traced further back, perhaps to the general nebulous origin of matter.
The hypothesis of Evolution supposes that in all this vast progression there would be no breach of continuity, no point at which we could say "this is a natural process," and "this is not a natural process," but that the whole might be strictly compared to that wonderful series of changes which may be seen going on every day under our eye, in virtue of which there arises out of that semi-fluid, homogeneous substance which we call an egg, the complicated organisation of one of the higher animals. 1 hat, in a few words, is what is meant by the hypothesis of Evolution.
I have already suggested that m dealing with these three hypotheses, endeavouring to form a judgment as to which of them is the more worthy of belief, or whether none is worthy of belief, our condition of mind should be that suspension of judgment which is so difficult to all but trained minds—I have suggested that in dealing with these questions we should be indifferent to all à priori considerations. The question is a question of fact, historical fact. The Universe has come into existence somehow or other, and the question is whether it came into existence in one fashion, or whether it came into existence in another; and as the essential preliminary to this consideration, permit me to say two or three words as to the nature of historical evidence, and the kinds of historical evidence. The evidence as to the occurrence of any fact in past time is of one or two kinds, which for convenience sake, I will speak of on the one hand as testimonial evidence, and on the other as circumstantial evidence. By testimonial evidence, I mean human testimony; and by circumstantial evidence, I mean evidence which is not human testimony. Let me illustrate by a familiar figure what I mean by these two kinds of evidence, and what is to be said respecting their value.
Suppose that a man tells you that he saw a person strike another and kill him; that is testimonial evidence of the fact of murder. But it is possible to have circumstantial evidence of the fact of murder. That is to say, you may find a man dying with a wound upon his head having exactly the form and character of the wound which is made by an axe, and with due precaution you may conclude with the utmost certainty that the man has been murdered—is dying in consequence of the violence inflicted by that implement. We are very much in the habit of considering circumstantial evidence as of less value than testimonial evidence, and it may be in many cases where the circumstances are not perfectly clear and perfectly intelligible that it is a dangerous and uncertain kind of evidence; but it must not be forgotten that in many cases it is quite as good as testimonial evidence, and that in many cases it is a great deal better than testimonial evidence. For example, take the case to which I referred just now. The circumstantial evidence is better and more convincing than the testimonial evidence, for it is impossible under the circumstances that I have mentioned to suppose that
Now we must turn to our three hypotheses. Let me first direct your attention to what is to be said about the hypothesis of the eternity of this state of things in which we now are. What will first strike you is that that is a hypothesis which, whether true or false, is not capable of verification by evidence; for in order to secure testimony to an eternity of duration you must have an eternity of witnesses or an infinity of circumstances, and neither of these are attainable. It is utterly impossible that such evidence should be carried beyond a certain point of time, and all that could be said at most would be that there was nothing to contradict the hypothesis. But when you look, not to the testimonial evidence—which might not be good for much in this case—but to the circumstantial evidence, then you find that this hypothesis is absolutely incompatible with that circumstantial evidence, and the latter is of so plain and so simple a character that it is impossible in any way to escape from the conclusions which it forces upon us.
You are, in fact, all aware that the crust of the earth, the superficial part of the earth, is not of a he nogeneous character, but that it is made up of a number of beds of strata, the titles of the principal groups of which are placed upon that diagram—beds of sand, beds of stone, beds of clay, of slate, of granite, and various other materials.
On further examination it is found that these beds of solid material are of exactly the same nature as those which are at present being formed under known conditions of the surface of the earth: that that chalk, for example, which forms a great part of the cretaceous formation in some parts of the world, that that chalk is identical in its physical and chemical characters, or practically so, with a substance which is now being formed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and covers an enormous area; that other bodies of rock are comparable with the sands which are being formed upon sea-shores, packed together, and so on. Thus it comes to be certain that each of these bodies of rock, of which a total of not less than 70,000 feet is known, that all these have been deposited and formed by natural agencies, either out of the waste and washing of the dry land, or else as the product of plants and animals. Now, these rocks or strata are full of the remains of animals and plants. Countless thousands of species of animals and plants as perfectly recognizable as those which you meet with in herbaria of the present day, as the shells and remains which you pick' up upon the beach—countless thousands of species of these creatures have been imbedded in the sand or mud or limestone, just as they are being imbedded now. They furnish us with a record which cannot be subject, to any misinterpretation, looking at it broadly, as to the kinds of things that have lived upon the surface of the earth during the time that is registered by this great thickness of stratified rock. The most superficial study of these remains shows us that the animals and plants which live at the present time have had only a temporary duration; that you will find them and such as they are for the most part only in that uppermost strata here called post-tertiary. As you go back in time they become scantier, their places are taken by other forms more diversified, and in the Jurassic and triassic you find yet others, different from the cretaceous or tertiary, and from those of the present day, and so on as you go further and further back. Why, then, the circumstantial evidence absolutely negatives the conception of the eternity of the present condition of things. We can say with certainty that such has not been the course of Nature. We can say with certainty that the present condition of things has been for a comparatively short period, and that so far as animal and vegetable nature are concerned, that that has been preceded by a different condition of things. We can pursue this fact until we come to the lowest of stratified rocks, in which we lose the indications of life totally. The hypothesis of the eternity of the present condition of things may therefore be put out of court altogether.
We now come to what I would call Milton's Hypothesis—the hypothesis that the present condition of things has endured for a comparatively moderate time, and at the commencement of that, time came into existence within the course of six days. I doubt not that it may have excited some surprise in your mind that I should have spoken of this as Milton's hypothesis, rather than that I should choose the terms which are much more familiar to you, such as "the doctrine of creation," or "the Biblical doctrine," or "the doctrine of Moses," all of which terms as applied to the hypothesis to which I have just referred, are certainly much more familiar to you than the title of the Miltonic hypothesis. But I have had, what I cannot but think are very weighty reasons for taking the course which I have pursued. For example, I have discarded the title of the hypothesis of creation, because my present business is not with the question as to how Nature has originated, as to the causes which have lead to her origination, but as to the manner and order of her origination. Our present inquiry is not why the objects which constitute Nature came into existence, but when they came into existence, and in what order. This is a strictly historical
In the second place, I have not spoken of it as the Biblical hypothesis. It is quite true that persons as diverse in their general views as Milton the Protestant, and the Jesuit Father Suarez, agree in giving the 1st chapter of Genesis the interpretation as adopted by Milton. It is quite true that that interpretation, unless I mistake, is that which has been instilled into every one of us in our childhood; but I do not for one moment venture to say that it could properly be called the Biblical doctrine. In the first place, it is not my business to say what the Hebrew text contains, and what it does not; and in the second place, were I to say that this was the Biblical hypothesis, I should be met by the authority of many eminent scholars, to say nothing of men of science, who in recent times have absolutely denied that, this doctrine is to be found in Genesis at all. If we are to listen to them, we must believe that what seem so clearly defined as days of creation—as if very great pains had been taken that there should be no mistake—that these are not days at all, but periods that we may make just as long as convenience requires. We are also to understand that it is consistent with that phraseology to believe that plants and animals may have been evolved by natural processes, lasting for millions of years, out of similar rudiments. A person who is not a Hebrew scholar can only stand by and admire the marvellous flexibility of a language which admits of such diverse interpretations. (Applause and laughter.)
Assuredly in the face of such contradictory authority upon matters upon which one is competent to form no judgment, he will abstain from giving any opinion, as I do; and in the third place, I have carefully abstained from speaking of this as a Mosaic doctrine, because we are now assured upon the authority of the highest critics, and even of dignitaries in the church, that there is no evidence whatever that Moses ever wrote this chapter, or knew anything about it. I don't say—I give no opinion—it would be an impertinence on my part to volunteer an opinion upon such subject. But that being the state of opinion among the scholars and clergy, it is well for us the laity, who stand outside, to avoid entangling ourselves in such a vexed question. So, as there is a doubt, and as happily Milton leaves us no conceivable ambiguity as to what he means, I will continue to speak of it as the Miltonian hypothesis. (Applause.)
Now then we have to test that hypothesis. For my part I have no prejudice one way or the other. If there is evidence in favour of this view, I have no sort of theoretical difficulties in the way of accepting it, but there must be evidence. We men of science get an awkward habit—no I won't call it that, for it is a valuable habit—of reasoning, so that we believe nothing unless there is evidence for it, and we have a way of looking upon belief which is not based upon evidence not only as illogical, but as immoral. We will, if you please, test this view in the light of facts, for by what I have said you will understand that I don't propose to discuss the question of what testimonial evidence is to be adduced in favour of this view. If those, whose business it is to judge, are not united as to the authenticity of the document or the fact as to who it is bears witness, the discussion of testimonial evidence is superfluous. But one regards this less because the circumstantial evidence, if carefully considered, brings him to the conclusion that the theory is inadequate altogether, and cannot be adduced. And the considerations upon which I base that conclusion are of the simplest possible character. Whatever the flexbility of interpretation of Milton's views, it is quite impossible to deny that the kernel of the whole matter is a
If there were any parallel between the Miltonic account and the circumstantial evidence, we ought to have abundant evidence in the devonian, the silurian, and the carboniferous rocks. I need not tell you that this is not the ease, and that not a trace of birds makes its appearance until the far later period which I have mentioned.
And again, if it be true that all varieties of fishes and the great whales and the like, made their appearance on the fifth day, then we ought to find the remains of these things in the older rocks—in those which preceded the carboniferous epoch. Fishes, it is true, we find, and numerous ones; but the great whales are absent, and the fishes are not such as now live. Not one solitary species of fish now in existence is to be found there, and hence you are introduced again to the difficulty, to the dilemma, that either the creatures which were created then, which came into existence the sixth day, were not those which are found at present, or are not the direct and immediate predecessors of those which now exist; but in that case you must either have had a fresh species of which nothing has been said, or else the whole story must be given up as absolutely devoid of any circumstantial evidence.
I have grouped before you in a few words, some little time ago, a statement of the sum and substance of Milton's hypothesis. Let me try now to put before you, in a few words, the sum and substance of the circumstantial evidence as to the past history of the earth, which is written without the possibility of mistake, with no chance of error in the stratified rocks. What we find is, that that great series of formations represents a period of time of which our human chronologies hardly afford us a unit of measure. I will not pretend to say how we ought to measure this time, in millions or in billions of years. Happily for my purpose and my argument that is wholly unessential. But that the time was enormous, was vast, there is no sort of question.
We find written upon this record, and as resulting from the simplest methods of interpretation, the conviction that all that is now dry land has once been at the bottom of the waters. If I leave out of view certain patches of metamorphosed rocks, certain volcanic products, it is perfectly certain that at a comparatively recent period of the world's history, that epoch which is written on the chart as the cretaceous epoch—it is perfectly certain that at that time, none of the great physical features which at present mark the surface of the Globe existed. It is certain that the Rocky Mountains were not. It is certain that the Himalaya Mountains were not. It is certain that the Alps and the Pyrenees had no existence. The evidence of simplest possible character is simply this:—We find raised up on the crags of these mountains, elevated by the forces of upheaval which have given rise to them, masses of cretaceous rock which formed the bottom of the sea before those mountains existed. It is, therefore, perfectly clear, that the elementary fores which gave rise to those mountains are subsequent to the cretaceous epoch; that the mountains themselves are largely made up of the materials deposited in the sea, which once occupied their place. We meet as we go back in time with constant alternations of sea and land, of estuary and open ocean, and in correspondence with these alterations, we meet with changes in the fauna and flora of the kind I have stated.
But none of these gives us any right to believe, no inspection of these changes gives us the slightest right to believe, that there has been any discontinuity in natural processes. There is no trace of cataclysm, of great sweeping deluge, of sudden destruction of organic life. The appearances which were formerly interpreted in that way have all been shown to be delusive as our knowledge has increased and as the blanks between the different formations have been filled up. It can now be shown that there is no absolute break between formation and formation, that there has been no sudden disappearance of all the forms of life at one time and replacement by another, but that everything has gone on slowly and gradually, that one form has died out and another has taken its place, and that thus by slow degrees one fauna has been replaced by another. So that within the whole of the immense period indicated by these stratified rocks, there is assuredly—leaving Evolution out of the question altogether—not the slightest trace of any break in the uniformity of Nature's operations, not a shadow of indication that events have followed in other than their natural and orderly sequence.
That, I say, is the most natural teaching of the circumstantial evidence contained in the stratified rock. I leave you to consider how far by any ingenuity of interpretation, by any stretching of the meaning of language, this evidence can be brought into the smallest similarity with that view which I have put before you as the Miltonic doctrine.
There remains the third hypothesis—what I have spoken of as the hypothesis of Evolution; and I propose that in lectures to come we shall consider that as carefully as we have considered the other two hypothesis. I need not say that it is quite hopeless to look for testimonial evidence of Evolution. The very nature of the case precludes the possibility of such evidence. Our important inquiry is, what foundation circumstantial evidence lends to that hypothesis, or whether it lends any, or whether it controverts it; and I shall deal with the matter entirely as a question of history. I shall not indulge in the discussion of any speculative probabilities. I shall not attempt to show that Nature is unintelligible unless we adopt some such hypothesis—for anything I know about it, it is the nature of Nature. She has often been puzzling, and I have no reason to suppose she is bound to fit herself to our notions: but I shall deal with the matter entirely from the point of view of history, and I shall place before you three kinds of evidence entirely based upon what we know of the forms of animal life which are contained in the scries of stratified rock. I shall endeavour to show you that there is one kind of evidence which is neutral, which neither helps Evolution nor is inconsistent with it, I shall then endeavour to show you that there is a second kind of evidence which indicates a strong probability in favour of Evolution but does not prove it; and, lastly, I shall endeavour to show that there is a third kind of evidence which, being as complete as any evidence which we can hope to obtain upon such a subject, and being wholly and entirely in favor of Evolution, may be fairly called demonstrative evidence of its having occurred.
But these matters, ladies and gentlemen, I propose to deal with in the next two lectures.
Three Classes of Evidence Bearing on the Point—Meaning of the Fact that Certain Vert Ancient Species have not Changed—Probability of Gaps in the History as Shown by Fossils—Certain Gaps Filled by the Discoveries of Prof. Marsh—Birds that have Teeth—Animals Half Way Between Birds and Reptiles.
Prof. Huxley's experience in his first lecture at Checkering Hall of the difficulty of making himself heard while the people were entering and finding their seats, was doubtless the occasion of his delay of ten minutes on the evening of Sept. 20 in coming on the stage. When he entered, nearly every seat was occupied.
Behind the speaker a large frame had been provided, on which were hung diagrams illustrative of the subjects to be treated in the lecture. These diagrams had been prepared with great care and accuracy under the supervision of Prof. Marsh, and they were so plainly lettered that there could be no possibility of mistaking their titles. Several of these diagrams illustrate Prof. Marsh's most recent discoveries, and will be quite new to the general public. The engravings will give a fair notion of the drawings.
Ladies and Gentlemen—In my lecture on Monday night I pointed out to you that there are three hypotheses which may be entertained, and which here been ertertained, respecting the past history of life upon the Globe. According to the fist of these hypothesis, life, such as we now know it, has existed from all eternity upon this earth. We tested that hypothesis by the circumstantial evidence, as I ailed it, which is furnished by the fossil remains contained in the earth's crust, and re found that it was obviously untenable. I then proceeded to consider the second hypothesis, which I termed the Miltonic hypothesis, not because it is of any particular consequence to mo whether John Milton seriously entertained it or not, but because it is stated in a clear and unmistakable manner in his great poem. I pointed out to you that the evidence at our command as completely and fully negatives that hypothesis as it did the preceding one. And I confess that I had too much respect for your intelligence to think it necessary to add that that negation was equally strong and equally valid whatever the source from which that hypothesis might be derived, or whatever the authority it might be supported by.
I further stated, that according to the hypothesis of Evolution the existing state of things was at the last term of a long series of antecedent states, which, when traced back, would be found to show no interruption and no breach of continuity. I propose in this and a following lecture to show that, no less rigorously, by the evidence at command, and to inquire how far that evidence could be said to be indifferent to it, how far it could be said to be favourable to it, and finally, how far it could be said to be demonstrative. From almost the origin of these discussions upon the existing condition—and the causes which have led to it—of the animal and vegetable world, an argument has been put forward as an objection to Evolution, which we shall have to consider very seriously. I think that that argument was first clearly stated by Cuvier in his opposition to the doctrines propounded by his great contemporary, Lamarck. At that time the French expedition to Egypt had called the attention of learned men to the wonderful stores of antiquities in that country, and there had been brought back to France numerous mummified corpses of animals which the ancient Egyptians revered and preserved, the date of which at a reasonable computation—a computation, I may say, which has been verified by all subsequent researches—cannot be placed at less than 3,000 or 4,000 years before the time at which they were thus brought to light. Cuvier endeavoured to ascertain by a very just and proper method what foundation there was for the belief in a gradual and progressive change of animals, by comparing the skeletons and all accessible parts of these animals, such as crocodiles, birds, dogs, cats, and the like, with those which are now found living in Egypt, and he came to the conclusion—a conclusion which has been verified by all subsequent research—that no appreciable change had taken place in the animals which inhabited Egypt. And he drew thence the conclusion, and a hasty one, that the evidence of such fact was altogether against the doctrine of Evolution.
The progress of research since Cuvier's time has furnished far stronger cases than those which he drew from the mummified bodies of Egyptian animals. A remarkable case is to be found in your own country, in the neighbourhood of the magnificent Falls of Niagara. In the immediate vicinity of the whirlpool, and again upon Goat Island, in the superficial deposits which cover the surface of the soil of the rock in those regions, there are found remains of animals in perfect preservation—shells belonging to exactly the same forms as at present inhabit the still waters of Lake Erie.
More than that. At the very bottom of the Silurian series, in what is by some authorities termed the Cambrian formation, where all signs appear to be dying out—even there, among the few and scanty animal remains which exist, we find species of molluscous animals which are so closely allied to existing forms that at one time they were grouped under the same generic name. I refer to the well-known Lingula of the Lingula flags. It was subsequently, in consequence of some slight differences, placed in the new genus Lingulella. Practically it belongs to the same great generic group as the Lingula which you will find at the present day upon the shores of Australia. And the same thing is exemplified if we turn to certain great periods of the earth's
I chthyosauria and the Plesiosauria, and they abound in vast numbers. They disappear with the chalk, and throughout the whole of that great series of rock they present no important modification. Facts of this kind are undoubtedly fatal to any form of the doctrine of Evolution which necessitates the supposition that there is an intrinsic necessity on the part of animal forms which once come into existence to undergo modification; and they are still more distinctly opposed to any view which should lead to the belief that the modification in different types of animal or vegetable life goes on equally and evenly. The facts, as I have placed them before you, would obviously contradict directly any such form of the hypothesis of Evolution as laid down in these two postulates.
Now the service that has been rendered by Mr. Darwin to the doctrine of Evolution in general is this: that he has shewn that there are two great factors in the process of Evolution, and one of them is the tendency to vary, the Existence of which may be proved by observation in all living forms; the other is the influence of surrounding conditions upon what I may call the parent form, and the variations which are thus evolved from it. The cause of that production of variations is a matter not at all properly understood at present. Whether it depends upon some intricate machinery—if I may use the phrase—of the animal form itself, or whether it arises through the influence of conditions upon that form, is not certain, and the question may for the present be left open. But the important point is the tendency to the production of variations; then whether those variations shall survive and supplant the parent, or whether the parent form shall survive and supplant the variations, is a matter which depends entirely on surrounding conditions. If the surrounding conditions are such that the parent form is more competent to deal with them and flourish in them than the derived forms, then in the struggle for existence the parent form will maintain itself and the derived forms will be exterminated. But if, on the contrary, the conditions are such as to be better for the derived than for the parent form, the parent form will be extirpated and the derived form will take its place.
In the first case there will be no progression, no advance of type, through any imaginable series of ages; in the second place, there will be modification and change of form, and thus we see that the immense amount of evidence brought to show that things do in this way take place in Nature, puts us in such a place that the existence of these persistent types of life is no obstacle in the way of the theory of Evolution at all. Take the case of these scorpions to which I have just referred. No doubt since the carboniferous epoch conditions have existed such as existed then when scorpions flourished, in which they find themselves better off, more competent to deal with the difficulties in their way than any kind of variation from the scorpion type; and for that reason the scorpion has persisted and has not been supplanted by any other form. And there is no reason in the nature of things why, as long as this world exists, if there be conditions more favourable to scorpions than any variation which may arise from them, these forms of life should not persist.
Therefore, this objection is no objection at all. The facts of this character—and they are numerous—belong to that class of evidence which I have called indifferent. That is to say, they may be no direct support to the doctrine of Evolution, but they are perfectly capable of being interpreted in consistency with it. There is another order of facts of the same kind, and susceptible of the same interpretation. The great group of Lizards, which abound so much at the present day, extends through the whole series of formations as far back as what is called the Permian epoch, which is represented by the strata lying just above the coal. These Permian lizards differ astonishingly little—in some respects—from the lizards which exist at the present day. Comparing the amount of difference between these Permian lizards and the lizards of the present day, with the prodigious lapse of time between the Per-
But the moment you carry the researches further back in time you find no trace whatever of lizards nor of any true reptile whatever in the whole mass of formations beneath the Permian. Now it is perfectly clear that if our existing palæontological collections, our existing specimens from stratified rock, exhaust the whole series of events which have ever taken place upon the surface of the Globe, such a fact as this directly contravenes the whole theory of Evolution, because that postulates that the existence of every form must have been preceded by that of some form comparatively little different from it. Here, however, we have taken in consideration that important fact so well insisted upon by Lyell and Darwin—the imperfection of the geological record. It can be demonstrated as a matter of fact that the geological record must be incomplete, that it can only preserve remains found in certain favorable localities and under particular conditions; that it must be destroyed by processes of denudation, and obliterated by processes of metamorphosis—by which I mean that beds of rock of any thickness crammed full of organic remains may yet, either by the percolation of water through them or the influence of subterranean heat (if they descend far enough toward the centre of the earth), lose all trace of these remains and present the appearance of beds of rock formed under conditions in which there was no trace of living forms. Such metamorphic rocks occur in formations of all ages, and we know with perfect certainty when they do appear that they have contained organic remains, and that those remains have been absolutely obliterated.
One of the most striking proofs with which I am acquainted of the defects of the geological record—and I insist upon it the more because those who have not attended to these matters are apt to say to themselves, "It is all very well, but when you get into difficulty with your theory of Evolution you appeal to the incompleteness and the imperfection of the geological record," and I want to make it perfectly clear to you that that imperfection is a vast fact, which must be taken into account with all our speculations or we shall constantly be going wrong.
You will all see that singular series of tracks which is copied to its natural size in the large diagram hanging up here, which I owe to the kindness of my friend Professor Marsh, with whom I had the opportunity recently of visiting the precise locality in Massachusetts in which these tracks occur. I am, therefore, able to give you my own testimony, if needed, that they accurately represent the state of things which we saw. The valley of the Connecticut is classical ground for the geologist. It contains great beds of sandstone, covering many square miles, and which present this peculiarity, that they have evidently formed a part of an ancient sea shore, or, it may be, lake shore, and that they have been sufficiently soft for a certain period of time to receive the impressions of whatever animals walked over them, and to preserve them afterward in exactly the same way as such impressions are at this very moment preserved on the shores of the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere. We have there the tracks of some gigantic animal (pointing to the diagram) which walked on its hind legs. You see the series of marks made alternately by the right foot and by the left foot; so that from one impression to the other of the three-toed feet on the same side is one stride, and that stride, as we measured it, is six feet nine inches. I leave you, therefore, to
Now, of such impressions there are untold thousands upon these shores. Fifty or sixty different kinds have been discovered, and they cover vast areas. But up to this present time not a bone, not a fragment, of any one of the great creatures which certainly made these impressions has been found; and the only skeleton which has been met with in all these deposits to the present day, though they have been carefully hunted over, is one fragmentary skeleton of one of the smaller forms. What has become of all these bones? You see we are not dealing with little creatures, but animals that make a step of six feet nine inches; and their remains must have been left somewhere. The probability is that they have been dissolved away, and absolutely lost.
I have had occasion to work at series of fossil remains of which there was nothing whatever except the casts of the bones, the solid material of the bone having been dissolved out by percolating water. It was a chance in this case that the sandstone happened to be of such a constitution as to set, and to allow the bones to be afterward dissolved out.
Had that constitution been other than what it was, the bones would have been dissolved, the beds of sandstone would have fallen together, become one mass, and not the slightest indication that the animal had existed would have been discovered.
I know of no more striking evidence than this fact affords from which it may be concluded, in the absence of organic remains, that such animals did exist. I believe that having the right understanding of the doctrine of Evolution on the one hand, and having a just estimation of the importance of the imperfection of the geological record on the other, would remove all difficulty from the kind of evidence to which I have thus adverted, and this appreciation allows us to believe that all such cases are examples of what I may here call, and have hitherto designated, negative or indifferent evidence—that is to say, they in no way directly advance the theory of Evolution, but they are no obstacle in the way of our belief in the doctrine.
I now pass on to the consideration of those cases which are not—for the reason which I will point out to you by-and-by—demonstrative of the truth of Evolution, but which are such as must exist if Evolution be true, and which therefore are upon the whole strongly in favor of the doctrine. If the doctrine of Evolution be true, it follows that animals and plants, however diverse they may be—however diverse the different groups of animals, however diverse the different groups of plants—must have all been connected together by gradational forms; so that, from the highest animals, whatever they may be, down to the lowest speck of gelatinous matter in which life can be manifested, there must be a sure and progressive body of evidence—a series of gradations by which you could pass from one end of the series to the other. Undoubtedly that is a necessary postulate of the doctrine of Evolution. But when we look upon animated nature as it at present exists, we find something totally different from this. We find that animals and plants fall into groups, the different members of which are pretty closely allied together, but which are separated by great breaks at intervals from other groups. And I cannot at present find any intermediate forms which bridge over these gaps or intervals. To illustrate what I mean; Let me call your attention to those vertebrate animals which are more familiar to you—such as mammals, and birds, and reptiles. At the present day these groups of animals are perfectly well defined from one another. We know of no animal now living which in any sense is intermediate between the mammal and the bird, or between the bird and reptile. But, on the contrary, there are actually some very distinct and anotomical peculiarities, well defined marks, by which the mammal is separated from the bird, and the bird from the reptile. The distinctions are apparent and striking if you compare together the different divisions of these great groups. At the present day there are numerous forms of what we may call broadly the pig tribe, and many varieties of ruminants. These latter have their definite characteristics, and the former have their distinguishing peculiarities. But there is nothing that comes between these ruminants and the other tribe, the pig tribe. The two are distinct. So also is this
It is a very remarkable fact that, from the first commencement of the serious study of palæontology, from the time in fact when Cuvier made his brilliant researches in respect to animals found in the quarries of Montmartre—from that time palæontology has shown what she was going to do in this matter, and what kind of evidence it lay in her power to produce. I said just now that at the present day the group of piglike animals and the group of ruminants are entirely distinct; but one of the first of Cuvier's discoveries was an animal which he called the Anoplotherium, and which he showed to be, in a great many important respects, intermediate in its character between the pigs on the one hand and the ruminants on the other; that in fact research into the history of the past did so far—and to the extent which Cuvier indicated—tend to fill up the breach between the group of ruminants and the group of pigs.
All subsequent research has also tended in this direction; and at the present day the investigations of such men as Rüteraeyer and Gaudry have tended to fill up and connect, more and more, the gaps in our existing series of mammals. But I think it may have an especial interest if—instead of dealing with these cases, which would require a great deal of tedious osteological detail to explain—if I take the ease of birds and reptiles—which groups, at the present day, are so clearly distinguished from one another that there are perhaps no classes of animals which in popular apprehension are more completely separated. Birds, as you are aware, are covered with feathers; they are provided with wings; they are specially and peculiarly modified as to their anterior extremities; and they walk perpendicularly upon two legs; and those limbs, when they are considered anotomically, present a great number of exceedingly remarkable peculiarities, to which I may have occasion to advert incidentally as I go on, but which are not met with even approximately in the existing form of reptiles. On the other hand, reptiles, if they have a covering at all, have a covering of scales of bony plates. They possess no wings; they are not volatile, and they have no such modification of the limbs as we find in birds. It is impossible to imagine any two groups apparently more definitely and distinctly separated. As we trace the history of birds back in time, we find their remains abundant in the tertiary rocks throughout their whole extent; but, so far as anything is known, birds of the tertiary rocks, though retaining the same essential character as the birds of the present day—that is to say, the tertiary bird coming within the definition of our existing birds—are as much separated from reptiles as our existing birds are. A few years ago no remains of birds had been found below the tertiary rocks, and I an not sure but that some persons were prepared to demonstrate that they could not have existed at an earlier period. But in the last few years such remains have been discovered in England, though unfortunately in a very imperfect condition. In your country the development of cretaceous rocks is enormous, and the conditions under which the later cretaceous strata have been deposited are favorable for the preservation of organic remains in a perfect condition, and the researches full of labour and toil which have been carried on by Professor Marsh in these Western cretaceous rocks have rewarded him with the discovery of forms of birds of which we have hitherto no conception. By his kindness, I am enabled to place before you a restoration of one of
A bird about six feet high, a large bird, existed during the late cretaceous epoch, and which in a great many respects is astonishingly like an existing diver or grebe, so like it indeed, that had this skeleton been found in a museum, I suppose—if the head had not been known—it would have been placed in the same general group as the divers and grebes of the present day. But this bird differs from all existing birds, and so far resembles reptiles in the one important particular "that it is provided with teeth. These long jaws (referring to the picture behind him) are beset with teeth, as in this diagram. Here is one of the teeth, and in this particular it differs entirely from any existing bird, and it is in view of the characteristics of this Hesperornis that we are obliged to modify the definition of the classes of birds and reptiles. Before the production of a creature such as this, it might have been said that a bird had such and such characteristics, among which were an absence of teeth, but the discovery of a bird that had teeth shows at once that there were ancient birds that in that particular respect approached reptiles more nearly than any existing bird does.
The same rocks have yielded another bird (Ichthyornis) which also has teeth in its jaws, the teeth in this case being situated in distinct sockets, while those of the swimming bird (Hesperornis) differ essentially, being in grooves. The latter also had
Like a bird, this creature has a largish breast-bone, with a crest upon it and a shoulder-girdle much like a bird; but from that point onward, so far as I can see, special, particular resemblances end, and a careful examination of the fore-limbs shows you that they are not bird's wings; they are something totally different from a bird's wings. And then, again (pointing to chart), those are not a bird's posterior extremities, but are rather what is termed reptilian. You will observe that the fore-arm presents nothing that I need dwell upon, but the bones of the hand are very wonderful. There are four fingers represented. These four fingers are large, and three of them, these, which answer to these three in my hands, are terminated by claws, while the fourth is enormously prolonged into a great jointed style. Nothing could be more unlike a bird's claw than this is. You see at once from what I have stated about a bird's wing that there could be nothing more unlike a bird's wing than this is. It was concluded by general reasoning that this finger was made to support a great web like a bat's wing. Specimens now exist showing that this was really the case, that this creature was devoid of feathers, but the fingers supported a vast web like a bat's wing. We see this ancient reptile floated by a similar method, so that the Pterodactyl, although it is a flying reptile, although it presents some points of similarity to birds, yet is so different from them that I do not think that we have any right to regard it as one of the forms intermediate between the reptile and the bird.
Such intermediate forms are to be found, however, by looking in a different direction. Through the whole series of mesozoic rocks there occur reptiles, some of which are of gigantic dimensions; in fact, they are reckoned among the largest of terrestrial animals. Some of them are forty and fifty, possibly more, feet long. Such are the iguanodon, the megalosaurus, and a number of others, with the names of which I will not trouble you. There are great diversities of structure among these great reptiles. Some of them resemble lizards in the proportions of their limbs, and have evidently walked on all fours, in such respect resembling the existing crocodile; but in others you can trace a series of modifications. The haunch-bone and what we call the appendages, the hind limbs, underwent a series of modifications, until at length they completely assumed the character of a bird's hind-limbs.
I here indicate (pointing to diagram) the hind-limb of a crocodile, showing the bones of the hind-limbs and of the pelvis. These are the haunch-bones; these are the other pelvic bones. Then comes the division of the foot which we call the tarsus, the bones of which are separate and distinct. Then come the four toes, which exist only in the hind-feet of the crocodile, and all of which are separate and distinct. The foot is flat on the ground, so that the legs spread out and the weight of the body hangs clumsily between them.
Contrast this with what we find in the bird. The haunch-bone here is immensely elongated and the joints of the back-bone between the two haunch-bones are united
The diagram is a faithful and accurate representation of an existing fossil; except for this, that whereas in the existing fossil the bones are twisted about and out of place, I have put them here in the position that they must have had in Nature, and now you see a creature with a long neck and bird-like head, with very small anterior extremities, with a slender termination, which is in almost all respects like that of a bird, and that animal must assuredly have walked about upon its hind legs, bird fashion. Add to this creature feathers, and the transition would be complete for the other characters. The possession of teeth would, as we see, not separate the creature from the class of birds we have had. We have had to stretch the class of birds to birds having teeth, and so far as the character of the skeleton goes we may fairly say that there needs here little more than the addition of feathers—and whether this creature had them we don't know—to convert it into a bird.
I have said that there can be no question, from their anatomical structure, that these animals walked upon their hind legs, and in fact there are to be found in the
Brontozovn, and which there can be no doubt were made by the Dinosaur, the remains of which were found in the same rock. And knowing that these reptiles that walked upon their hind legs and had the character generally of birds, did exist, it becomes a very important question whether those tracks in the Connecticut Valley, to which I referred just now, and which formerly used to be unhesitatingly referred to a class of birds, may not all have been made either by true reptiles of the Dinosaurian type, or whether, if we could get hold of the skeleton which made these tracks, some of which are marvellously like bird's tracks, we should not come upon exactly that series of transtitional forms by which in former days the reptile was connected with the bird.
I don't think, ladies and gentlemen, that I need insist upon the value of evidence of this kind. You will observe, that although it does not prove that birds have originated from reptiles by the gradual modification of the ordinary reptile into a Dinosaurian form, and so into a bird, yet it does show that that process may possibly have taken place, and it does show that there existed in former times creatures which filled up one of the largest gaps in existing animate Nature; and that was exactly the kind of evidence which I stated to you in starting we are bound to meet with in the rocks if the hypothesis of Evolution be correct.
In my next lecture, I will take up what I venture to call the demonstrative evidence of Evolution.
[By way of comparison, a figure of the cassowary, a bird of the present era, was exhibited.]
What is Required for a Demonstration—the Horse Considered from an Anatomical Point of View—Gradual Development of Hoofs and Teeth Traced Back in Past Ages—Chain of Proof of Derivation—Three-Toed and Four-Toed Horses—Evolution as Thoroughly Proved as the Copernican Theory.
Notwithstanding a threatening sky, Checkering Hall was crowded on the evening of September 22nd, to hear the final lecture of Professor Huxley's brief series. Although strictly argumentative in form, the lecturer kept the close attention of the audience throughout. Only two new diagrams were used, but Professor Huxley made a few drawings on a black board. More frequent applause was elicited than at the previous lectures. The final sentences, in which he referred to his pleasant experiences during his visit, and his preparation for departure at an early hour this morning, were delivered with much feeling, and were received with sympathy by the audience.
Ladies and Gentlemen—In my last lecture I had occasion to place before you evidence derived from fossil remains, which, as I stated, was perfectly consistent with the doctrine of Evolution, was favourable to it, but could not be regarded as the highest kind of evidence before that sort of evidence that we call demonstrative.
I pointed out, in fact, that as we go back in time, the great intervals which at present separate the larger divisions of animals become more or less completely obliterated by the appearance of intermediate forms, so that, if we take the particular case of reptiles and birds, upon which I dwelt at length, we find in the mesozoic rocks animals which, if ranged in scries, would so completely bridge over the interval between the reptile and the bird that it would be very hard to say where the reptile ends and where the bird begins. Evidence so distinctly favourable as this of Evolution, is far weightier than that upon which men undertake to say that they believe many important propositions; but it is not the highest kind of evidence attained, for this reason, that, as it happens the intermediate forms to which I have referred do not occur in the exact order in which they ought to occur, if they really had formed steps in the progression from the reptile to the bird: that is to say, we find these forms in contemporaneous deposits, whereas, the requirements of the demonstrative evidence of Evolution demand, that we should find the series of gradations between one group of animals and another in such order as they must have followed if they had constituted a succession of stages in time, of the development of the form at which they ultimately arrive. That is to say, the complete evidence of the
The proof of Evolution cannot be complete until we have obtained evidence of this character, and that evidence has of late years been forthcoming in considerable and continually increasing quantity. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising how large is the quantity of that evidence, and how satisfactory is its nature, if we consider that our obtaining such evidence depends upon the occurrence in that particular locality of an undisturbed scries deposited through a long period of time, which requires the further condition that each of these deposits should be such that the animal remains imbedded in them are not much disturbed, and are imbedded in a state of great and perfect preservation. Evidence of this kind, as I have said, has of late years been accumulating largely, and in respect to all divisions of the animal kingdom. But I will select for my present purpose only one particular case, which is more adapted to the object I have in view, as it relates to the origin, to what we may call the pedigree, of one of our most familiar domestic animals—the horse. But I may say that in speaking of the origin of the horse, I shall use that term in a general sense as equivalent to the technical term Equus, and meaning not what you ordinarily understand as such, but also asses, and their modifications, zebras, &c. The horse is in many ways a most remarkable animal, inasmuch as it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of machinery in the animal kingdom. In fact, among mammals it cannot be said that there is any locomotive so perfectly adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so small a quantity of fuel as this animal—the horse. And as a necessary consequence of any sort of perfection, of mechanical perfection as of others, you find that the horse is a beautiful creature, one of the most beautiful of all land animals. Look at the perfect balance of its form, and the rhythm and perfection of its action. The locomotive apparatus is, as you are aware, resident in its slender fore and hind-limbs; they are flexible and elastic levers, capable of being moved by very powerful muscles; and in order to supply the engines which work these levers with the force which they expend, the horse is provided with a very perfect feeding apparatus, a very perfect digestive apparatus.
Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological detail, I must nevertheless—for this question depends upon the comparison of such details—trouble you with some points respecting the anatomical structure of the horse, and more especially with those which refer to the structure of its fore and hind limbs. But I shall only touch upon those points which are absolutely essential to the inquiry that we have at present put. Here (taking a leg-bone of a horse in his hand) is the fore-leg of a horse. The bone which is cut across at this point is that which answers to the upper-arm bone in my arm, what you would call the humerus. This (referring to the bone) corresponds with my fore-arm. What we commonly term the knee of the horse, is the wrist; it answers to the wrist in man. This part of the horse's leg answers to one of the human fingers, and the hoof which covers this extended joint answers to one of my nails.
Now there are certain pecularities about this structure, bearing relation to further details of the different portions of the human any to which I have referred. You observe that to all appearance (referring to the horse's leg) there is only one bone in the fore-arm. Nevertheless, at this end I can trace two separate portions; this part of the limb and the one I am now touching. But as I go further down, it runs at the back part into the general bone, and I cease to be able to trace it beyond a certain point. This large bone is what is termed the radius, and answers to the bone I am touching ill my arm, and this other portion of bone corresponds to what is called the
It looks thus, as if the ulna, running off below, came to an end, and it very often happens in works on the anatomy of the horse that you find these facts are referred to, and a horse is said to have an imperfect ulna. But a careful examination shows you that the lower extremity of the ulna is not wanting in the horse. If you examine a very young horse's limb, you will find that this portion of the bone I am now showing you is separated from the rest, and only unites as the animal becomes older, and this is, in point of fact, the lower extremity of the ulna; so that we may say, that in the horse the ulna in the middle part becomes rudimentary, and becomes united with the radius, and so early united with the lower extremity that every trace of separation has vanished.
I need not trouble you with the structure of this portion that answers to the wrist, nor with a more full description of the singular peculiarities of the part, because we can do without them for the present, but I will go on to a consideration of the remarkable series of bones which terminates the fore-limb. We have one continuous series in the middle line which terminates in the coffin bone of the horse upon which the weight of the fore-part of the body is supported. The series answers to a finger of my hand, and there are good reasons—perfectly valid and convincing reasons, which I need not stay to trouble you with—which are demonstrative that this answers to the third finger of my hand enormously enlarged.
And it looks at first as if there was only this one finger in the horse's foot. But if I turn the skeleton round, I find on each side a bone shaped like a splint, broad at the upper and narrow at the lower end, one on each side. And those bones are obviously and plainly and can be readily shown to be the rudiments of the bone which I an now touching in my own hand—the metacarpal bones of the second and of the fourth finger—so that we may say that in the horse's fore-limb the radius and ulna are fused together, that the middle part of the ulna is excessively narrow, and that the foot is reduced to the single middle finger, with rudiments of the two other fingers, one on each side of it. Those facts are represented in the diagram I now show you of the recent horse. Here is the fore-limb (pointing to the diagram) with the metacarpal bones and the little splint bones, one on each side. It sometimes happens that by way of a monstrosity you may have an existing horse with one or other of these toes—that is, provided with its terminal joints.
Let me now point out to you what are the characteristics of the hind-limb. This (pointing to the diagram) is the shin-bone of the horse, and it appears at first to constitute the whole of the leg. But there is a little splint at this point (illustrating) which is the rudiment of the small bone of the leg—what is called the fibula—and then there is connected with this great bone a little nodule which represents the lower end of the fibula, in just the same way as that little nodule in the fore-limb represents the lower end of the ulna. So that in the leg we have a modification of the same character as that which exists in the fore-limb—the suppression of the greater part of the small part of the leg and the union of its lower end with the tibra. So, again, we find the same thing if we turn to the remainder of the leg. This (showing) is the heel of the horse, and here is the great median toe, answering to the third toe in our own foot, and here we have upon each side two little splint bones, just as in the fore-limb, which represent the rudiments of the second and fourth toes—rudiments, that is to say, of the metatarsal bones, the remaining bones having altogether vanished. Let me beg your attention to these peculiarities, because I shall have to refer to them by-and-by. The result of this modification is that the fore and hind-limbs are converted into long, solid, springy, elastic levers, which are the great instruments of locomotion of the horse.
As might be expected, and as 1 have already said, the apparatus for providing this
I think that will suffice as a brief indication of some of the most important peculiarities and characteristics of the horse. If the hypothesis of Evolution is true, what ought to happen when we investigate the history of this animal? We know that the mammalian type, as a whole—that mammalian animals—are characterized by the posses ion of a perfectly distinct radius and ulna, two seperate and distinct moveable bones. We know further that mammals in general possess five toes, often unequal, but still as completely developed as the five digits of my hand. We know further that the general type of mammal possesses in the leg not only a complete tibia, but a complete fibula. The small bone of the leg is almost always smaller than the tibia. The small bone of the leg is as a general rule a perfectly complete, distinct, moveable bone. Moreover, in the hind-foot we find in animals in general five distinct toes, just as we do in the fore-foot. Hence it follows that we have a differentiated animal like the horse, which has proceeded by way of evolution or gradual modification from a similar form possessing all the characteristics we find in mammals in general. If that be true, it follows that if there be anywhere preserved in the series of rocks a complete history of the horse, that is to say of the various stages through which he has passed, those stages ought gradually to lead us back to some sort of animal which possessed a radius and an ulna, and distinct complete tibia and fibula, and in
In what is called here the the pliocene formation, that which constitutes almost the uppermost division of the tertiary series, we find the remains of horses. We also find in Europe abundant remains of horses in the most superficial of all these formations—that is, the post-tertiary, which immediately lies above the pliocene. But these horses, which are abundant in the cave deposits and in the gravels of England and Europe—these horses, of which we know the anatomical structure to perfection, are in all essential respects like existing horses. And that is true of all the horses of the latter part of the pliocene epoch. But in the middle and earlier parts of the pliocene epoch, in deposits which belong to that age, and which occur in Germany and in Greece, to some extent in Britain and in France, there we find animals which are like horses in all the essential particulars which I have just described, and the general character of which is so entirely like that of the horse that you may follow descriptions given in works upon the anatomy of the horse upon the skeletons of these animals. But they differ in some important particulars. There is a difference in the structure of the fore and hind-limb, and that difference consists in
But nevertheless we have here a horse in which the lateral toes, almost abortive in the existing horse, are fully developed. On careful investigation you find in these animals that also in the fore-limb the ulna is very thin, yet is traceable down to the extremity. In the hind-limb you find that the fibula is pretty much as in the horse itself. That is the kind of equine animal which you meet with in these older Pliocene formations, in which the modern horse is already or becomes entirely absent. So you see that the Hipparion is the form that immediately preceded the horse. Now let us go a step further back (illustrating) to these which are called the Miocene formations, and which constitute the middle part of the deposits of the tertiary epoch. There you find in some parts of Europe—in Germany, Central Germany, in France, and in Greece—there you find equine animals which differ essentially from the modern horse: all that they resemble the horse is in the broad features of their organization. They differ still further in the characters of their fore and hind-limbs, and present important features of difference in the teeth. The forms to which I now refer are what are known to constitute the genus Anchitherium (illustrating). We have these three toes, and the middle toe is smaller in proportion, the lower toes are larger, and in fact large enough to rest upon the ground, and to have functional importance—not an animal with two dew claws, but an animal with three functional toes. And in the fore-arm you find the ulna a very distinct bone, quite readily distinguishable in its whole length from the pradius, but still pretty closely united with it. In the hind-limb you also meet with three functional toes There is the same structure in the Hipparion's hind limb that there was in the case of the Anchitherium, and in the hind-leg the fibula is longer. In some cases I have reason to think that it is complete; at any rate this lower end of it (illustrating) is quite distinctly recognizable as a separable though not exactly separated piece of bone. But the most curious change is that which is to be found in the character of the teeth. The teeth of the Anchitherium have in the first place, so far as the incisors are concerned, a more rudimentary pit—the pit is vastly smaller than in the horse. The canine teeth are present in both sexes. The molars are short; there is no cement, and the pattern is somewhat like this (drawing on the blackboard). There are two crescents and two oblique ridges; while in the lower jaw you have the double crescent and a very slight complication at the extremity. It is quite obvious that this (illustrating from drawing) is a simpler form than that. By increasing the complexity of those teeth there we have the horse's teeth. These are all the forms with which we are acquainted respecting the past history of the horse in Europe. When I happened to occupy myself with this subject there was some difficulty in tracing them, but they left no doubt whatever in my mind that we had here a genuine record of the history of the evolution of the horse. You must understand that every one of these forms in time has undoubtedly become modified into various species and the like, and we cannot be absolutely certain that we have the exact line of modification, but it was perfectly obvious that we had here in succession, in time, three forms, fundamentally modified, in the horse type, of which the oldest came nearer to the general mammal—was far less modified than the Hipparion and what has taken place afterward. We saw that the animals which had existed afterward had undergone a reduction of their limbs and toes, a reduction of the lower bones of the hind-leg, a more complete coalescence of the fibula with the tibia. The pattern of the molar teeth has become more complicated, and the entire space has become filled with cement.
Consider what other alternative hypothesis lies open to you unless you admit this. In this succession of forms you have exactly that which the hypothesis of evolution demands. The history corresponds exactly with that you would construct à priori from the principles of Evolution an alternative hypothesis is hardly conceivable,
That knowledge has recently come to us, and assuredly from a most unexpected quarter. You are all aware that when this country was first discovered by Europeans there were found no traces of the existence of the horse in any part of the American Continent. And, as is well known, the accounts of the earlier discoverers dwell upon the astonishment of the natives when they first became acquainted with the astounding phenomenon—a man seated upon a horse. Nevertheless, as soon as geology began to be pursued in this country, it was found that remains of horses—horses like our European horses—like the horses which exist at the present day—are to be found in abundance in the most superficial deposits in this country, just as they are in Europe. For some reason or other—no feasible suggestion on that subject, so far as I know, has been made—but for some reason or other the horse must have died out on this Continent at some period preceding—how long we cannot say—the discovery of America by the Europeans. Of late years there have been discovered on this Continent—in your Western territories—that marvelous thickness of tertiary deposits to which I referred the other evening, which gives us a thickness and a consecutive order of tertiary rocks admirably calculated for the preservation of organic remains, such as we had hitherto no conception of in Europe. They have yielded fossils in a state of preservation and in number perfectly unexampled. And with respect to the horse, the researches of Leidy and others have shown that numerous forms of the fossil horse have existed among these remains. But it is only recently that the very admirably contrived and most thoroughly and patiently worked-out investigations of Professor Marsh have given us a just idea of the enormous wealth and scientific importance of these deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over his collections at New Haven, and I can truly and emphatically say that, so far as my knowledge extends, there is nothing in any way comparable to them for extent, or for the care with which the remains have been got together, or for their scientific importance, to the series of fossils which he has brought together. (Applause). That enormous collection has yielded evidence of the most striking character in regard to this question of the pedigree of the horse. And, indeed, the evidence which Professor Marsh has collected tends to show that you have in America the true original seat of the equine type—the country in which the evidence of the primitive life and modification of the horse is far better preserved than in Europe; and Professor. Marsh's kindness has enabled me to put before you this diagram, every figure in which is an actual representation of a specimen which is preserved in New Haven at this present time. The succession of forms which he has brought together shows, in the first place, the great care and patience to which I have referred. Secondly, there is this pliocene form of the horse (Pliohippus), the conformation of its limbs presents some very slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and with shorter crown of the grinding teeth. Then comes the form which represents the European Hipparion, which is the Protohippus, having three toes and the fore-arm and leg and teeth to which I have referred, and which is more valuable than the European Hipparion for this reason; it is devoid of some of the peculiarities of that form, peculiarities which tend to show that the European Hipparion is rather a side branch than one in the direct line of design. But next comes the form of Miohippus, which corresponds pretty nearly with what I mentioned as the Anchitherium of Europe, but which has some interesting peculiarities. It presents three toes—one large one and two lateral ones—and the fourth toe, which answers to the little finger of the human hand, but there is only a rudi-
Mesohippus has three toes in front and a large splint for the rudiment representing the little finger, and three toes behind. The radius and ulna are entire and the tibia and fibula distinct, and there are simply anchitheroid short-crowned teeth.
But this is probably the most important discovery of all—the Orohippua—which comes from the oldest part of the eocene formation, and is the oldest one known. Here we have the four toes on the front-limb complete, three toes on the hind limb complete, a well-developed ulna, a well-developed fibula, and the teeth of simple pattern. So you are able, thanks to these great researches, to show that, so far as present knowledge extends, the history of the horse type is exactly and precisely that which could have been predicted from a knowledge of the principles of Evolution. And the knowledge we now possess justifies us completely in the anticipation that when the still lower eocene deposits and those which belong to the cretaceous epoch have yielded up their remains of equine animals, we shall find first an equine creature with four toes in front and a rudiment of the thumb. Then probably a rudiment of the fifth toe will be gradually supplied, until we come to the five-toed animals, in which most assuredly the whole scries took its origin.
That is what I mean, ladies and gentlemen, by demonstrative evidence of Evolution an inductive hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts are shown to be in entire accordance with it. If that is not scientific proof, there are no inductive conclusions which can be said to be scientific. And the doctrine of Evolution at the present time rests upon exactly as secure a foundation as the Copernican theory of the motions of the heavenly bodies. Its basis is precisely of the same character—the coincidence of the observed facts with theoretical requirements. As I mentioned just now, the only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions which I have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different forms have been created separately at separate epochs of time, and I repeat, as I said before, that of such a hypothesis as this there neither is nor can be any scientific evidence, and assuredly, so far as I know, there is none which is supported or pretends to be supported by evidence or authority of any other kind. I can but think that the time will come when such suggestions a these, such obvious attempts to escape the force of demonstration, will be put upon the same footing as the supposition by some writers, who are, I believe, not completely extinct at present, that fossils are not real existences, are no indications of the existence of the animals to which they seem to belong; but that they are either sports of nature or special creations, intended—as I heard suggested the other day—to test our faith. In fact, the whole evidence is in favour of Evolution, and there is none against it. And I say that, although perfectly well aware of the seeming difficulties which have been adduced from what appears to the uninformed to be a scientitic foundation. I meet constantly with the argument that this doctrine of Evolution cannot be correct, because it requires the lapse of a period of time in which duration of life upon the earth is inconsistent with the conclusions arrived at by the astronomer and the physicist. I may venture to say that I am familiar with those conclusions, inasmuch as some years ago, when President of the Geological Society of London, I took the liberty of criticising them, and of showing in what respects, as it appeared to me, they lacked complete and thorough demonstration. But putting that point aside altogether, suppose that, as the astronomers, or some of them, and some physical philosophers tell us, it is impossible that, life could have endured upon the earth for as long a period as is required by the doctrine of Evolution—supposing that to be proved. What I want to know is, what is the foundation for the statement that evolution does require so great a time? The biologist knows nothing whatever of the amount of time which may be required for the process of Evolution. It is a matter of fact that those forms which I have described to you occur in the order which I have described to you in the tertiary formation. But I have not the slightest means of guessing whether it took a million of years, or ten millions, or a hundred million of years, or a
I think, ladies and gentlemen, that I have now arrived at the conclusion of the task which I set before myself when I undertook to deliver these lectures before you. My purpose and object has been, not to enable those of you who have not paid attention to these subjects before to leave this room in a condition qualified to decide upon the validity or the invalidity of the hypothesis of Evolution, but to put before you the principles by which all such hypotheses must be judged; and furthermore, to make apparent to you the nature of the evidence and the sort of cogency which is to be expected and may be obtained from it. To this end I have not hesitated in regarding you as genuine students and persons desirous of knowing the truth. I have not hesitated to take you through arguments, and long chains of arguments, that I fear may have sometimes tried your patience, or to have inflicted upon you details which could not possibly be escaped, but which may well have been wearisome. But I shall rejoice—I shall consider I have done you the greatest service which it was in my power in such a way to do—if I have thus convinced you that this great question which we are discussing is not one to be discussed, dealt with—by rhetorical flourishes or by loose and superficial talk, but that it requires the keenest attention of the trained intellect and the patience of the most accurate observer. (Applause).
I did not, when I commenced this series of lectures, think it necessary to preface them with a prologue, such as might be expected from a stranger and a foreigner; for during my brief stay in your country I have found it very hard to believe that a stranger could be possessed of so many friends, and almost harder to imagine that the foreigner could express himself in your language in such a way as to be so readily intelligible to all appearance; for, so far as I can judge, that most intelligent and per-haps I may add most singularly active and enterprising body of the press, your press reporters, do not seem to have been deterred by my accent from giving the fullest account of everything that I happen to have said. (Great applause.) But the vessel in which I take my departure to-morrow morning is even now ready to slip her moorings; I awake from my delusion that I another than a stranger and a foreigner. I am ready to go back to my place and country, but before doing so, let me, by way of epilogue, tender to you my most hearty thanks for your most kind and cordial reception which you have accorded to me; and let me thank you still more for that which is the greatest compliment which can be afforded to any person in my position—the continuous and undisturbed attention which you have continued to bestow upon the long argument which I have had the honor to lay before you. (Cheers and applause.)
TO many it will be unnecessary to preface the two articles of Mr.
The following are the more important works which have been used in the preparation of this article:—Judge Edmond's "Spiritual Tracts," New York, The Spiritual Magazine, The Spiritual Newspaper, The Medium and Daybreak,
It is with great diffidence, but under an imperative sense of duty, that the present writer accepts the opportunity afforded him of submitting to the readers of the 'Fortnightly Review' some general account of a widespread movement, which, though for the most part treated with riducule and contempt, he believes to embody truths of the most vital importance to human progress. The subject to be treated is of such vast extent, the evidence concerning it is so varied and extraordinary, the prejudices that surround it are so inveterate, that it is not possible to do it justice without entering into considerable detail. The reader who ventures on the perusal of the succeeding pages may, therefore, have his patience tried; but if he is able to throw aside his preconceived ideas of what is possible and what is impossible, and in the acceptance or rejection of the evidence submitted to him will carefully weigh and be solely guided by the nature of the concurrent testimony, the writer ventures to believe that he will not find his time and patience ill-bestowed.
Few men, in this busy age, have leisure to read massive volumes devoted to special subjects. They gain much of their general knowledge, outside the limits of their profession or of any peculiar study, by means of periodical literature; and, as a rule, they are supplied with copious and accurate, though general, information. Some of our best thinkers and workers make known the results of their researches to the readers of magazines and reviews; and it is seldom that a writer whose information is meagre, or obtained at second-hand, is permitted to come before the public in their pages as an authoritative teacher. But as regards the subject we are now about to consider, this rule has not hitherto been followed. Those who have devoted many years to an examination of its phenomena have been, in most cases, refused a hearing; while men who have bestowed on it no adequate attention, and are almost wholly ignorant of the researches of others, have alone supplied the information to which a large proportion of the public had access. In support of this statement it is necessary to refer, with brief comments, to some of the more prominent articles in which the phenomena and pretensions of Spiritualism have been recently discussed.
At the beginning of the present year the readers of this Review were treated to "Experiences of Spiritualism," by a writer of no mean ability, and of thoroughly advanced views. He assures his readers that he "conscientiously endeavoured to qualify himself for speaking on the subject" by attending live séances, the details of several of which he narrates; and he conies to the conclusion that mediums are by no means ingenious deceivers, but jugglers of the most vulgar order;" that the "spiritualistic mind falls a victim to the most patent frauds," and greedily "accepts jugglery as manifestations of the spirits;" and, lastly, that the mediums are as credulous as their dupes, and fall straightway into any trap that is laid for them. Now, on the evidence before him, and on the assumption that no more or better evidence would have been forthecming, had he devoted fifty instead of five evenings to the inquiry, the couclusions of Lord Amberley are perfectly
"It was difficult for me to give in to the idea that solid objects could be conveyed, invisibly, through closed doors, or that heavy furniture could be moved without the interposition of hands. Philosophers will say these things are absolutely impossible; nevertheless it is absolutely certain that they do occur. I have met in the houses of private friends, as witnesses of these phenomena, persons whose testimony would go for a good deal in a court of justice. They have included peers, members of parliament, diplomatists of the highest rank, judges, barristers, physicians, clergymen, members of learned societies, chemists, engineers, journalists, and thinkers of all sorts and degrees. They have suggested and carried into effect tests of the most rigid and satisfactory character. The media (all nonprofessional) have been searched before and after séances. The precaution has even been taken of providing them unexpectedly with other apparel. They have been tied; they have been sealed; they have been secured in every cunning and dexterous manner that ingenuity could devise, but no imposture has been discovered and no imposture brought to light. Neither was there any motive for imposture. No fee or reward of any kind depended upon the success or non-success of the manifestations."London Society for February—the author, a barrister and well-known literary man, says:—
Now here we have a nice question of probabilities. "We must either believe that Lord Amberley is almost infinitely more acute than Mr. Dunphy and his host of eminent friends—so that after five séances (most of them failures) he has got to the bottom of a mystery in which they, notwithstanding their utmost endeavours, still hopelessly flounder—or, that the noble lord's acuteness does not surpass the combined acutencss of all these persons; in which case their much larger experience, and their having witnessed many things Lord Amberley has not witnessed, must be held to have the greater weight and to show, at all events, that all mediums are not "jugglers of the most vulgar order."
In October last the New Quarterly Magazine, in its opening number, had an article entitled "A Spiritualistic Séance," but which proved to be an account of certain ingenious contrivances by which some of the phenomena usual at stances were imitated, and both spiritualists and sceptics deceived and confounded. This appears at first sight to be an exposure of Spiritualism, but it is really very favourable to its pretensions; for it goes on the assumption that the marvellous phenomena witnessed do really occur, but are produced by various mechanical contrivances. In this case the rooms above, below, and at the side of that in which the séance was held had to be prepared with specially constructed machinery, with assistants to work it. The apparatus, as described, would cost at least £100, and would then only serve to produce a few fixed phenomena, such as happen frequently in private houses and at the lodgings of mediums who have not exclusive possession of any of the adjoining rooms, or the means of obtaining expensive machinery and hired assistants. The article bears internal evidence of being altogether a fictitious narrative; but it helps to demonstrate, if any demonstration is required, that the phenomena which occur under such protean forms and varied conditions, and in private houses quite as often as at the apartments of the mediums, are in no way produced by machinery.
Perhaps the most prominent recent attack on Spiritualism was that in the "Our position, then, is that the so-called spiritual communications come from Quarterly Review for within, not frem without, the individuals who suppose themselves to be the recipients of them; that they belong to the class termed 'subjective' by physiolo-logists and psychologists, and that the movements by which they are expressed, whether the tilting of tables or the writing of planchettes, are really produced by their own muscular action exerted independently of their own wills and quite unconsciously to themselves."
Several pages are then devoted to accounts of séances which, like Lord Amberley's, were mostly failures; and to the experiences of a Bath clergyman who believed that the communications came from devils; and, generally such weak and inconclusive phenomena only are adduced as can be easily explained by the well-worn formulæ of unconscious cerebration," "expectant attention," and unconscious muscular action." A few of the more startling physical phenomena are mentioned merely to be discredited and the judgment of the witnesses impugned; but no attempt is made to place before the reader any information as to the amount or the weight of the testimony to such phenomena, or to the long series of diverse phenomena which lead up to and confirm them. Some of the experiments of Professor here and Mr Crookes are quoted, and criticised in the spirit of assuming that these experienced physicists were ignorant of the simplest principles of mechanics, and failed to use the most ordinary precautions. Of the numerous and varied cases on record of heavy bodies being moved without direct or indirect contact by any human being, no notice is taken, except so far as quoting Mr. C. F. Varley's statement that he had seen, in broad daylight, a small table moved ten feet, with no one near it but himself, and not touched by him—"as an example of the manner in which minds of this limited order are apt to become the dupes of their own imaginings."
This article, like the others here referred to, shows in the writer an utter forgetfulness of the maxim, that an argument is not answered till it is answered at its best. Amid the vast mass of recorded facts now accumulated by spiritualists there is, of course, much that is weak and inconclusive, much that is of no value as evidence, except to those who have independent reasons for faith in them. From this undigested mass it is the easiest thing in the world to pick out arguments that can be refuted, and facts that can be explained away; but what is that to the purpose? It is not these that have convinced any one; but those weightier, oft-repeated and oft-tested facts which the writers referred to invariably ignore.
Professor Tyndall has also given the world (in his "Fragments of Science," published in by Professor Tyndall.
The discussion in the Pall Mall Gazette in
From the sketch which has now been given of the recent treatment of the subject by popular and scientific writers, we can summarise pretty accurately their mental attitude in regard to it. They have seen very little of the phenomena themselves, and they cannot believe that others have seen much more. They have encountered people who are easily deceived by a little unexpected trickery, and they conclude that the convictions of spiritualists generally are founded on phenomena produced, either consciously or unconsciously, in a similar way. They are so firmly convinced on a priori grounds that the more remarkable phenomena said to happen do not really happen, that they will back their conviction against the direct testimony of any body of men; preferring to believe that they are all the victims of some mysterious delusion whenever imposture is out of the question. To influence persons in this frame of mind, it is evident that more personal testimony to isolated facts is utterly useless. They have, to use the admirable expression of Dr. Carpenter, "noplace in the existing fabric of their thought into which such facts can be fitted." It is necessary therefore to modify the "fabric of thought" itself; and it appears to the present writer that this can best be done by a general historic sketch of the subject; and by showing, by separate lines of inquiry, how wide and varied is the evidence, and how remarkably these lines converge towards one uniform conclusion. The endeavour will be made to indicate, by typical examples of each class of evidence and without unnecessary detail, the cumulative force of the argument.
Modern Spiritualism dates from It may be as well here to explain that the word "sprit," which is often considered to be so objectionable by scientific men, is used throughout this article (or at all events in the earlier portion of it) merely to avoid circumlocution, in the sense of the "intelligent cause of the phenomena," and not as implying "the spirits of the dead," unless so expressly stated.was the spirit
The Misses Fox now became involuntary mediums, and the family (which had removed to the city of Rochester) were accused of imposture, and offered to submit the children to examination by a committee of townsmen appointed in public meeting. Three committees were successively appointed; the last, composed of violent sceptics, who had accused the previous committees of stupidity or connivance. But all three, after unlimited investigation, were forced to declare that the cause of the phenomena was undiscoverable. The sounds occurred on the wall and floor, while the medium, after being thoroughly searched by ladies, stood on pillows, barefooted, and with their clothes tied round their ankles." The last and most sceptical committee reported that "They had heard sounds, and failed utterly to discover their origin. They had proved that neither machinery nor imposture had been used; and their questions, many of them being mental, were answered correctly." "When we consider that the mediums were two children under twelve years of age, and the examiners utterly sceptical American citizens, thorougly resolved to detect imposture, and urged on by excited public meetings, it may perhaps be considered that even at this early stage the question of imposture or delusion was pretty well settled in the negative.
In a short time persons who sat with the Misses Fox found themselves to have similar powers, in a greater or less degree; and in two or three years the movement had spread over a large part of the United States, developing into a variety of strange forms, encountering the most violent scepticism and the most rancorous hostility, yet always progressing, and making converts even among the most enlightened and best educated classes. In for four years, and all became spiritualists.
By this time the movement had spread into every part of the Union, and, notwithstanding that its adherents were abused as impostors or dupes, than they were in several cases expelled from colleges and churches, and were confined as lunatics, and that the whole thing was "explained" over and over again, it has continued to spread up to the present hour. The secret of this appears to have been, that the explanations given never applied to the phenomena continually occurring, and of which there were numerous witnesses. A medium was raised in the air in a crowded room in full daylight. ("Modern American Spiritualism," p. 279.) A scientific sceptic prepared a small portable apparatus by which he could produce an instantaneous illumination; and taking it to a dark sérnce at which numerous musical instruments were played, suddenly lighted up the room while a large drum was being violently beaten, in the certain expectation of revealing the impostor to the whole company. But what they all saw was the drumstick itself beating the drum, with no human being near it. It struck a few more blows, then rose into the air and descended gently on the shoulder of a lady. (Same work, p. 337). At Toronto, Canada, in a well-lighted room, an accompaniment to a song was played on a closed and locked piano. (Same work, p. 463). Communications were given in raised letters on the arm of an ignorant servant girl who often could not read them. They sometimes appeared while she was at her household work, and after being read by her master or mistress would disappear. (Same work, p. 196). Letters closed in any number of envelopes, scaled up or even pasted together over the whole of the written surface, were read and answered by certain mediums in whom this power was developed. It mattered not what language the letters were written in; and it is upon record that letters in German, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, French, Welsh, and Mexican, have been correctly answered in the corresponding languages by a medium who knew none of them. (Judge Edmunds's "Letters on Spiritualism," pp. 59–103, Appendix). Other mediums drew portraits of deceased persons whom they had never known or heard of. Others healed diseases. But those who helped most to spread the belief were, perhaps, the trance speakers, who, in eloquent and powerful language, developed the principles and the uses of Spiritualism, answered objections, spread abroad a knowledge of the phenomena, and thus induced sceptics to inquire into the facts; and inquiry was almost invariably followed by conversion. Having repeatedly listened to three of these speakers who have visited this country, I can bear witness that they are fully equal, and not unfrequently surpass, our best orators and preachers; whether in finished eloquence, in close and logical argument, or in the readiness with which appropriate and convincing replies are made to all objectors. They are also remarkable for the perfect courtesy and suavity of manner, and for the extreme patience and gentleness with which they meet the most violent opposition and the most unjust accusations.
Men of the highest rank and greatest ability became convinced by these varied phenomena. No amount of education, of legal, medical or scientific training, was proof against the overwhelming force of the facts, whenever these facts were systematically and perseveringly inquired into. The number of Spiritualists in the Union is, according to those who have the best means of judging, from eight to eleven millions. This the estimate of Judge Edmunds, who has had extensive correspondence on the subject with every part of the United States. The Hon. R. D. Owen, who has also had great opportunities of knowing the facts, considers it to be approximately correct; and it is affirmed by the editors of the "Year Book
In other parts of the world the movement has progressed more or less rapidly. Several of the more celebrated American mediums have visited this country, and not only made converts in all classes of society, but led to the formation of private circles and the discovery of mediumistic power in hundreds of families. There is scarcely a city or a considerable town in continental Europe at the present moment where Spiritualists are not reckoned by hundreds, if not by thousands. There are said, on good authority, to be fifty thousand avowed Spiritualists in Paris and ten thousand in Lyons; and the numbers in this country may be roughly estimated by the fact that there are four exclusively Spiritual periodicals, one of which has a circulation of five thousand weekly.
Before proceeding to a statement of the evidence which has convinced the more educated and more sceptical converts, let us briefly consider the bearing of the undoubted fact, that (to keep within bounds) many thousands of well-informed men, belonging to all classes of society and all professions, have, in each of the great civilised nations of the world, acknowledged the objective reality of these phenomena; although, almost without exception, they at first viewed them with dislike or contempt, as impostures or delusions. There is nothing parallel to it in the history of human thought; because there never before existed so strong and apparently so well-founded a conviction that phenomena of this kind never have happened and never can happen. It is often said, that the number of adherents to a belief is no proof of its truth. This remark justly applies to most religions whose arguments appeal to the emotions and the intellect, but not to the evidence of, the senses. It is equally just as applied to a great part of modern science. The almost universal belief in gravitation, and in the undulatory theory of light, does not render them in any degree more probable; because very few indeed of the believers have tested the facts which most convincingly demonstrate those theories, or are able to follow out the reasoning by which they are demonstrated. It is for the most part a blind belief accepted upon authority. But with these spiritual phenomena the case is very different. They are to most men so new, so strange, so incredible, so opposed to their whole habit of thought, so apparently opposed to the pervading scientific spirit of the age, that they cannot and do not accept them on second-hand evidence, as they do almost every other kind of knowledge. The thousands or millions of spiritualists, therefore, represent to a very large extent men who have witnessed, examined, and tested the evidence for themselves, over and over and over again, till that which they had at first been unable to admit could be true, they have at last been compelled to acknowledge is true. This accounts for the utter failure of all the attempted "exposures" and "explanations" to convince one solitary believer of his error. The exposers and explainers have never got beyond those first difficulties which constitute the pons asinorum of Spiritualism, which every believer has to get over, but at which early stage of investigation no converts are ever made. By explaining table-turning, or table-
And is this world of strife to end in dust at last?" Thus it is that there are so few recantations or perverts in Spiritualism; so few that it may be truly said there are none. After much inquiry and reading I can find no example of a man who, having acquired a good personal knowledge of all the chief phases of the phenomena, has subsequently come to disbelieve in their reality. If the "explanations" and "exposures "were good for anything, or if it were an imposture to expose or a delusion to explain, this could not be the case, because there are numbers of men who have become convinced of the facts, but who have not accepted the spiritual theory. These are, for the most part, in an uncomfortable and unsettled frame of mind, and would gladly welcome an explanation which really explained anything—but they find it not. As an eminent example of this class, I may mention Dr. J, Lockhart Robertson, long one of the editors of the Journal of Mental Science—a physician who, having made mental disease his special study, would not be easily taken in by any psychological delusions. The phenomena he witnessed fourteen years ago were of a violent character; a very stong table being, at his own request and in his own house, broken to pieces while he held the medium's hands. He afterwards himself tried to break a remaining leg of the table, but failed to do so after exerting all his strength. Another table was tilted over while all the party sat on it. He subsequently had a sitting with Mr. Home, and witnessed the usual phenomena occurring with that extraordinary medium—such as the accordion playing "most wonderful music without any human agency," "a shadow hand, not that of any one present, which lifts a pencil and writes with it," &c., &c.; and he says that he can "no more doubt the physical manifestations of (so called) Spiritualism than he would any other fact—as, for example, the fall of an apple to the ground of which his senses informed him." His record of these phenomena with the confirmation by a friend who was present, is published in the "Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," p. 247; and, at a meeting of of Spiritualists in
The subject of the evidences of the objective phenomena of Spiritualism is such a large one that it will be only possible here to give a few typical examples, calculated to show how wide is their range, and how conclusively they reach every objection that the most sceptical have brought against them. This may perhaps be best done by giving, in the first place, an outline of the career of two or three well-known mediums; and, in the second, a sketch of the experiences and investigations of a few of the more remarkable converts to spiritualism.
Career of Remarkable Mediums.—Miss Kate Fox, the little girl of nine years old, who, as already stated, was the first "medium" in the modern sense of the term, has continued to possess the same power for twenty-six years. At the very earliest stages of the movement, sceptic after sceptic, ommittee after committee, endeavoured to discover "the trick; "but if it was a trick this little girl baffled them all, and the proverbial acuteness of the Yankee was of no avail. In
But Miss Fox's powers were most remarkably shown in the séances with Mr. Livermore, a well-known New York banker, and an entire sceptic before commencing these experiments. These sittings were more than three hundred in number, extending over five years. They took place in four different houses (Mr. Livermore's and the medium's being both changed during this period), under tests of the most rigid description. The chief phenomenon was the appearance of a tangible, visible, and audible figure of Mr. Livermore's deceased wife, sometimes accompanied by a male figure, purporting to be Dr. Franklin. The former figure was often most distinct and absolutely life-like. It moved various objects in the room. It wrote messages on cards. It was sometimes formed out of a luminous cloud, and again vanished before the eyes of the witnesses. It allowed a portion of its dress to be cut off, which though at first of strong and apparently material gauzy texture, yet in a short time melted away and became invisible. Flowers which melted away were also given. These phenomena occurred best when Mr. L. and the medium were alone; but two witnesses were occasionally admitted, who tested everything and confirmed Mr. L.'s testimony. One of these was Mr. Livermore's physician, the other his brother-in-law; the latter previously a sceptic. The details of these wonderful séances were published in the Spiritual Magazine in
Miss Fox recently came to England, and here also her powers have been tested by a competent man of science, and found to be all that has been stated. She is now married to an English barrister, and some of the strange phenomena which have so long accompanied her, attach themselves to her infant child, even when its mother is away, to the great alarm of its nurse. We have here, therefore, a career of twenty-six years of medium ship of the
Mr. Daniel D. Home is perhaps the best known medium in the world; and his powers have been open to examination for at least twenty years. Nineteen years ago Sir David Brewster and Lord Brougham had a sitting with him—sufficiently acute and eminent observers, and both, of course, thorough sceptics. In the "Home Life of Sir David Brewster," we have, fortunately, his own record of this sitting made at the time, although six months later, in a letter to the Morning Advertiser, he made the contradictory statement, "I saw enough to satisfy myself they could all be produced by human hands and feet." He says: "The table actually rose from the ground when no hand was upon it;" and "a small hand-bell was laid down with its mouth on the carpet, and it actually rang when nothing could have touched it. The bell was then placed on the other side, still upon the carpet, and it came over to me and placed itself in my hand. It did the same to Lord Brougham." And he adds, speaking for both, "We could give no explanation of them, and could not conjecture how they could be produced by any kind of mechanism." Coming from the author of "Letters on Natural Magic," this is pretty good testimony.
These and far more marvellous phenomena have been repeated from that day to this, many thousands of times, and almost always in private houses at which Mr. Home visits. Everybody testifies to the fact that he offers the most ample facilities for investigation; and to this I can myself bear witness, having been invited by him to examine as closely as I pleased an accordion, held by his one hand, keys downwards, and in that position playing very sweetly. But, perhaps, the best attested and most extraordinary phenomenon connected with Mr. Home's medium ship is what is called the fire test. In a state of trance he takes a glowing coal from the hottest part of a bright fire, and carries it round the room, so that everyone may see and feel that it is a real one. This is testified by Mr. H.D. Jencken, Lord Lindsay, Lord Adare, Miss Douglas, Mr. S. C. Hall, and many others. But, more strange still, when in this state he can detect the same power in other persons, or convey it to them. A lumn of red-hot coal was once placed on Mr. S. C. Hall's head in the presence of Lord Lindsay and four other persons. Mrs. Hall, in a communication to the Earl of Dunraven (given in the Mr. Hall was seated nearly opposite to whore I sat; and I saw Mr. Home, after standing about half a minute at the back of Mr. Hall's chair, deliberately place the lump of burning coal on his head! I have often wondered that I was not frightened, but I was not; I had perfect faith that lie would not be injured. Someone said, "Is it not hot?" Mr. Hall answered, "Warm, but not hot." Mr. Home had moved a little way, but returned, still in a trance; he smiled, and seemed quite pleased; and then proceeded to draw up Mr. Hall's white hair over the red coal. The white hair had the appearance of silver thread over the red coal. Mr. Home drew the hair into a sort of pyramid, the coal, still red, showing beneath the hair."Spiritual Magazine,
When taken off the head, which it had not in the slightest degree injured or singed the hair, others attempted to touch it and were burnt. Lord Lindsay and Miss Dcuglas have also had hot coals placed in their hands, and they describe them as feeling rather cold than not, though at the same time they burn anyone else, and even scorch the face of the holder if approached too closely. The same witnesses also testify that Mr. Home has placed red-hot coals inside his waist-coat without scorching his clothes, and has put his face into the middle of the fire, his hair falling into the flames, yet not being
Human Nature, Spiritualist,
As to the possibility of these things being produced by trick, if further evidence than their mere statement be required, we have the following by Mr. T. Adolphus Trollope, who says, ' I may also mention that Bosco, one of the greatest professors of legerdemain ever known, in a conversation with me upon the subject, utterly scouted the idea of the possibility of such phenomena as I saw produced by Mr. Home being performed by any of the resources of his art."
The powers of Mr. Home have lately been independently tested by Serjeant Cox and Mr. Crookes, and both these gentlemen emphatically proclaim that he invites tests and courts examination. Serjeant Cox, in his own house, has had a new accordion (purchased by himself that very day) play by itself, in his own hand, while Mr. Home was playing the piano. Mr. Home then took the accordion in his left hand, holding it with the keys downward while playing the piano with his right baud, "and it played beautifully in accompaniment to the piano for at least a quarter of an hour. ("What am I?" vol. ii., p. 388.)
Mr. Home's life has been to a great extent a public one. He has spent much of his time as a guest in the houses of people of rank and talent. He numbers among his friends many who are eminent in science, art, and literature—men certainly not inferior in perceptive or reasoning powers to those who, not having witnessed the phenomena, disbelieve in their occurrence. For twenty years he has been exposed to the keen scrutiny and never-ceasing suspicion of innumerable inquirers; yet no proof has ever been given of trickery, no particle of machinery or apparatus has ever been detected. But the phenomena are so stupendous that, if impostures, they could only be performed by machinery of the most elaborate, varied, and cumbrous nature, requiring the aid of several assistants and confederates. The theory that they are delusions are equally untenable, unless it is admitted that there is no possible means of distinguishing delusion from reality.
The last medium to whose career I shall call attention is Mrs. Guppy (formerly Miss Nichol), and in this case I can give some personal .testimony. I know Miss Nicliol before she had ever heard of Spiritualism, table-rapping, or anything of the kind, and we first discovered her powers on asking her to sit for experiment in my house. This was in
Another very curious and beautiful phenomenon was the production of delicate musical sounds, without any object calculated to produce them being in the room. On one occasion a German lady, who was a perfect stranger to Miss Nichol, and had never been at a séance before, was present. She sang several German songs, and most delicate music, like a fairy musical-box, accompanied her throughout. She sang four or five different songs of her own choice, and all were so accompanied. This was in the dark, but hands were joined all the time.
The most remarkable feature of this lady's mediumship is the production of flowers and fruits in closed rooms. The first time this occurred was at my own house, at a very early stage of her development. All present were my own friends. Miss Nichol had come early to tea, it being mid-winter, and she had been with us in a very warm gas-lighted room four hours before the flowers appeared. The essential fact is, that upon a bare table in a small room closed and dark (the adjoining room and passage being well lighted), a quantity of flowers appeared, which were not there when we put on the gas a few minutes before. They consisted of anemones, tulips, chrysanthemums, Chinese primroses, and several ferns. All were absolutely fresh as if just gathered from a conservatory. They were covered with a fine cold dew. Not a petal was crumpled or broken, not the most delicate point or pinnule of the ferns was out of place. I dried and preserved the whole, and have, attached to them, the attestation of all present that they had no share, as far as they knew, in bringing the flowers into the room. I believed at the time, and still believe, that it was absolutely impossible for Miss N. to have concealed them so long, to have kept them so perfect, and, above all, to produce them covered throughout with a most beautiful coat-
Similar phenomena have occurred hundreds of times since, in many houses and under various conditions. Sometimes the flowers have been in vast quantities, heaped upon the table. Often flowers or fruits asked for are brought. A friend of mine asked for a sunflower, and one six feet high fell upon the table, having a large mass of earth about its roots. One of the most striking tests was at Florence, with Mr. T. Adolphus Trollope, Mrs. Trollope, Miss Blagden, and Colonel Harvey. The room was searched by the gentlemen; Mrs. Guppy was undressed and redressed by Mrs. Trollope, every article of her clothing being examined. Mr. and Mrs. Guppy were both firmly held while at the table. In about ten minutes all the party exclaimed that they smelt flowers, and, on lighting a candle, both Mrs. Guppy's and Mrs. Trollope's arms were found covered with jonquils, which filled the room with their odour. Mr. Guppy and Mr. Trollope both relate this in substantially the same terms. ("Dialectical Society's Report on Spiritualism," pp. 277 and 372).
Surely these are phenomena about which there can be no mistake. What theories have ever been proposed by our scientific teachers which even attempt to account for them? Delusion it cannot be, for the flowers are real, and can be preserved, and imposture under the conditions described is even less credible. If the gentlemen who come forward to enlighten the public on the subject of "so-called spiritual manifestations" do not know of the various classes of phenomena that have now been indicated, and the weight of the testimony in support of them, they are palpably un-qualified for the task they have undertaken. That they do know of them, but keep back their knowledge, while putting forth trivialities easy to laugh at or expose, is a supposition I cannot for a moment entertain. Before leaving this part of the subject, it is well to note the fact of the marked individuality of each medium. They are no copies of each other, but each one developes a characteristic set of phenomena—a fact highly suggestive of some unconscious occult power in the individual, and wholly opposed to the idea of either imposture or delusion, both of which almost invariably copy pre-existing models.
Investigations by some Notable Sceptics.—In giving some account of how a few of the most important converts to Spiritualism became convinced, we are of course limited to those who have given their experiences to the public. I will first take the case of the eminent American lawyer, the Hon. J. W. Edmunds, commonly called Judge Edmunds; and it may be as well to let English sceptics know what he is thought of by his countrymen. When he first became a Spiritualist he was greatly abused; and it was even declared that he consulted the spirits on his judicial decisions. To defend himself he published an "Appeal to the Public," giving a full account of the inquiries which resulted in his conversion. In noticing this, the New York livening Mirror said: "John W. Edmunds, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this District, is an able lawyer, an industrious judge, and a good citizen. For the last eight years occupying without interruption the highest judicial stations, whatever may be his faults, no one can justly accuse him of a lack of ability, industry, honesty, or fearlessness. No one can doubt his general saneness, or can believe for a moment that the ordinary operations of his mind are not as rapid, accurate, and reliable as ever. Both by the practitioners and suitors at his bar, he is recognised as the head, in fact and in merit, of the Supreme Court for this District." A few years later he published a series of letters on Spiritualism in the New York Tribune; and in the first of these he gives a compact summary of his mode of investigation, from which the following passages
It was in
January, 1851 , that I first began my investigations;, and it was not untilApril, 1853 , that I became a firm believer in the reality of spiritual intercourse. During twenty-three months of those twenty-seven, I witnessed several hundred manifestations in various forms. I kept very minute and careful records of many of them. My practice was, whenever I attended a circle, to keep in pencil a memorandum of all that took place, so far as I could, and, as soon as I returned home, to write out a full account of what I had witnessed. I did all this with as much minuteness and particularity as I had ever kept any record of a trial before me in court. In this way, during that period, I preserved the records of nearly two hundred interviews, running through some one thousand six hundred pages of manuscript. I had these interviews with many different mediums, and under an infinite variety of circumstances. No two interviews were alike. There was always something new, or something different from what had previously occurred; and it very seldom happened that only the same persons were present. The manifestations were of almost every known form, physical or mental; somtimes only one and sometimes both combined.I resorted to every expedient I could devise to detect imposture and to guard against delusion. I felt in myself, and saw in others, how exciting was the idea that we were actually communing with the dead; and I labored to prevent any undue bias of my judgment. I was at times critical and captious to an unreasonable extreme; and when my belief was challenged, as it was over and over again, I refused to yield, except to evidence that would leave no possible room for cavil.
I was severely exacting in my demands, and this would frequently happen. I would go to a circle with some doubt on my mind as to the manifestations at the previous circle, and something would happen aimed directly at that doubt, and completely overthrowing it as it then seemed, so that I no longer had any reason to doubt. But I would go home and write out carefully my minutes of the evening, cogitate over them for several days, compare them with previous records, and finally find some loophole—some possibility that it might have been something else than spiritual influence, and I would go to the next circle with a new doubt, and a new set of queries.
I look back sometimes now, with a smile, at the ingenuity I wasted in devising ways and means to avoid the possibility of deception.
It was a remarkable feature of my investigations, that every conceivable objection I could raise, first and last, was met and answered.
The following extracts are from the "Appeal:"—
I have seen a mahogany table, having a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though its glass pendants rang again. I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where there were at least a dozen people sitting, yet no one was touched; and it was repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs.
Having satisfied himself of the reality of the physical phenomena, he came to the question of whence comes the intelligence that was so remarkable connected with them. He says:—
Preparatory to meeting a circle, I have sat down alone in my room, and carefully prepared a series of questions to be propounded, and I have been surprised to find my questions answered, and in the precise order in which I wrote them, without my even taking my memorandum out of my pocket, and when not a person present knew that I had prepared questions, much less what they were. My most secret thoughts, those which I have never uttered to mortal man or woman, have been freely spoken to as if I had uttered them; and I have been admonished that
Still the question occurred, "May not all this have been, by some mysterious operation, the mere reflex of the mind of someone present?" The answer was, that facts were communicated which were unknown then, but afterwards found to be true; like this for instance: when I was absent last winter in Central America, my friends in town heard of my whereabouts and of the state of my health several times; and on my return, by comparing their information with the entries in my journal, it was found to be invariably correct. So thoughts have been uttered on subjects not then in my mind, and utterly at variance with my own notions. This often has happened to me and to others, so as fully to establish the fact that it was not our minds that gave forth or affected the communication.
These few extracts sufficiently show that the writer was aware of the possible sources of error in such an inquiry, and the details given in the letters prove that he was constantly on his guard against them. He himself and his daughters became mediums; so that he afterwards obtained personal confirmation of many of the phenomena by himself alone. But all the phenomena referred to in the letters and "Appeal" occurred to him in the presence of others, who testified to them as well, and thus removed the possibility that the phenomena were subjective.
We have yet to add a notice of what will be perhaps, to many persons, the most startling and convincing of all the Judge s experiences. His own daughter became a medium for speaking foreign languages of which she was totally ignorant. He says: She knows no language but her own, and a little smattering of boarding-school French; yet she has spoken in nine or ten different tongues', often for an hour at a time, with the case and fluency of a native. It is not unfrequent that foreigners converse with their spirit-friends through her, in their own language." One of these cases must be given:
One evening, when some twelve or fifteen persons were in my parlor, Mr. E. D. Green, an artist of this city, was shown in, accompanied by a gentleman whom he introduced as Mr. Evangelides, of Greece. Ere long a spirit spoke to him through Laura, in English, and said so many things to him that he identified him as a friend who had died at his house a few years before, but of whom none of us had ever heard. Occasionally, through Laura, the spirit would speak a word or a sentence in Greek, until Mr. E. inquired if he could be understood if he spoke Greek ? The residue of the conversation for more than an hour was, on his part, entirely in Greek, and on hers sometimes in Greek and sometimes in English. At times Laura would not understand what was the idea conveyed cither by her or him; at other times she would understand him, though he spoke in Greek, and herself, while uttering Greek words.
Several other cases are mentioned, and it is stated that this lady has spoken Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Hungarian, and Indian, and other languages which were Unknown to any person present.
This is by no means an isolated ease, but it is given as being on most unexceptionable authority. A man must know whether his own daughter has learned, so as to speak fluently eight languages besides her own, or not. Those who carry on the conversation must know whether the language is spoken or not; and in several cases—as the Latin, Spanish, and Indian—the judge himself understood the language. And the phenomenon is connected with Spiritualism by the speaking being in the name of, and purporting to come from, some deceased person, and the subject matter being characteristic of that person. Such a case as this, which has been published sixteen years, ought to have been noticed and explained by those who profess to enlighten the public on the subject of Spiritualism.
Our next example is one of the most recent, but at the same time one of the most useful, converts to the truths of Spiritualism. Dr. George Sexton, M.D., M.A., L.L.D., was for many years the coadjutor of Mr. Brad laugh, and one of the most earnest and energetic of the secularist teachers. The celebrated Robert Owen first called his attention to the subject of Spiritualism, about twenty years ago. He read books, he saw a good deal of the ordinary physical manifestations, but he always "suspected that the mediums played tricks, and that the whole affair was nothing but clever conjuring by means of concealed machinery." He gave several lectures against Spiritualism in the usual style of non-believers, dwelling much on the absurdity and triviality of the phenomena, and ridiculing the idea that they were the work of spirits. Then came another old friend and fellow-secularist, Mr. Turley, who, after investigating the subject for the purpose of exposing it, became a firm believer. Dr. Sexton laughed at this conversion, yet it made a deep impression on his mind. Ten years passed away, and his next important investigation was with the Davenport Brothers; and it will be well for those who sneer at these much-abused young men to take note of the following account of Dr. Sexton's proceedings with them, and especially of the fact that they cheerfully submitted to every test the doctor suggested. He tells us (in his lecture, "How I became a "Spiritualist") that he visited them again and again, trying in vain to find out the trick. Then, he says—
My partner—Dr. Barker—and I invited the Brothers to our houses, and, in order to guard against anything like trickery, we requested them not to bring any ropes, instruments, or other apparatus; all these we ourselves had determined to supply. Moreover, as there were four of them—viz., the two Brothers Davenport, Mr. Fay, and Dr. Fergusson—we suspected that the two who were not tied might really do all that was done. We therefore requested only two to conic. They unhesitatingly complied with all these requests. We forming a circle, consisting entirely of members of our own families and a few private friends, with the one bare exception of Mrs. Fay. In the circle we all joined hands, and as Mrs Fay sat at one end she had one of her hands free, while I had hold of the other. Thinking that she might be able to assist with the hand that was thus free, I asked as a favour that I might be allowed to hold both her hands—a proposition which she at once agreed to. Now, without entering here at all into what took place, suffice it to say that we bound the mediums with our own ropes, placed their feet upon sheets of writing paper and drew lines around their boots, so that if they moved their feet it should be impossible for them to place them again in the same position; we laid pence on their toes, sealed the ropes, and in every way took precautions against their moving. On the occasion to which I now refer, Mr. Bradlaugh and Mr. Charles Watts were present; and when Mr Fay's coat had been taken off, the ropes still remaining on his hands, Mr. Bradlaugh requested that his coat might be placed on Mr. Fay, which was immediately done, the ropes still remaining fastened. We got on this occasion all the phenomena that usually occurred in the presence of these extraordinary men, particulars of which I shall probably give on another occasion. Dr. Barker became a believer in Spiritualism from the time that the Brothers visited at his house. I did not sec that any proof had been given that disembodied spirits had any hand in producing the phenomena; but I was convinced that on tricks had been played, and that therefore these extraordinary physical manifestations were the result of some occult force in nature which I had no means of explaining in the present state of my knowledge. All the physical phenomena that I had seen now became clear to me; they were not accomplished by trickery, as I had formerly supposed, but were the result of some undiscovered law of nature which it was the business of the man of science to use his utmost endeavours to discover."
While he was maintaining this ground, spiritualists often asked him how he explained the intelligence that was manifested; and he invariably replied that he had not yet seen proofs of any intelligence other than what
"The proofs that I did ultimately receive are, many of them, of a character that I cannot describe minutely to a public audience, nor indeed have I time to do so. Suffice it to say, that I got in my own house, in the absence of all mediums other than the members of my own family and intimate private friends in whom mediumistic powers became developed, evidence of an irresistible character that the communications came from deceased friends and relatives. Intelligence was again and again displayed which could not possibly have had any other origin than that which it professed to have. Facts were named known to no one in the circle, and left to be verified afterwards. The identity of the spirits communicating was proved in a hundred different ways. Our dear departed ones made themselves palpable both to feeling and to sight; and the doctrine of spirit-communion was proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. I soon found myself in the position of Dr. Fen wick in Lord Lytton's 'Strange story.' 'Do you believe,' asked the female attendant of Margrave, 'in that which you seek?' 'I have no belief,' was the answer. 'True science has none; true science questions all things, and takes nothing on credit. It knows but three states of mind—denial, conviction, and the vast interval between the two, which is not belief, but the suspension of judgment.' This describes exactly the phases through which my mind has passed."
Since Dr. Sexton has become a spiritualist he has been as energetic an advocate for its truths as he had been before for the negations of secularism. His experience and ability as a lecturer, with his long schooling in every form of manifestation, render him one of the most valuable promulgators of its teachings. He has also done excellent service in exposing the pretensions of those conjurors who profess to expose Spiritualism. This he does in the most practical way not only by explaining how the professed imitations of spiritual manifestations are performed, but by actually performing them before his audience;? rid at the same time pointing out the important differences between what these people do and what occurs at good séances. Anyone who wishes to comprehend how Dr. Lynn, Messrs. Maskelyne and Cook, and Herr Dobler perform some of their most curious feats have only to read his lecture, entitled "Spirit Mediums and Conjurors," before going to witness their entertainments. We can hardly believe that the man who docs this, and who during fifteen years of observation and experiment held out against the spiritual theory, is one of those who, as Lord Araberley tells us, "fall a victim to the most patent frauds, and are imposed upon by jugglery of the most vulgar order;" or who, as viewed from Professor Tyndall's high scientific standpoint, are in a frame of mind before which science is utterly powerless—"dupes beyond the reach of proof, who like to believe and do not like to be undeceived." These be brave words; but we leave our renders to judge whether they come with a very good grace from men who have the most slender and inadequate knowledge of the subject they are criticising, and no knowledge at all of the long-continued and conscientious investigations of many who are included in their wholesale animadversions.
Yet one more witness to these marvellous phenomena we must bring
In Mr. Crookes's latest paper, published in the Quarterly Journal of Science.for January last, we are informed that he has pursued the inquiry for four years; and besides attending séances elsewhere, has had the opportunity of making numerous experiments in his own house with the two remarkable mediums already referred to, Mr. D D. Home and Miss Kate Fox. These experiments were almost exclusively made in the light, under conditions of his own arranging, and with his own friends as witnesses. Such phenomena as percussive sounds; alteration of the weight of bodies; the rising of heavy bodies in the air without contact by any one; the levitation of human beings; luminous appearances of various kinds; the appearance of hands which lift small objects, yet are not the hands of any one present; direct writing by a luminous detatched hand or by the pencil alone; phantom forms and faces; and various mental phenomena—have all been tested so variously and so repeatedly that Mr. Crookes is thoroughly satisfied of their objective reality. These phenomena are given in outline in the paper above referred to, and they will be detailed in full in a volume now preparing. I will not, therefore, weary my readers by repeating them here, but will remark, that these experiments have a weight as evidence vastly greater than would be duo to them as resting on the testimony of any man of science, however distinguished, because they are in almost every case, confirmations of what previous witnesses in immense numbers have testified to, in various places, and under various conditions, during the last twenty years. In every other experimental inquiry, without exception, confirmation of the facts of an earlier observer is held to add so greatly to their value, that no one treats them with the same incredulity with which he might have received them the first time they were announced. And when the confirmation has been repeated by three or four independent observers under favourable conditions, and there is nothing but theory or negative evidence against them, the facts are admitted—at least provisionally, and until disproved by a greater weight of evidence or by discovering the exact source of the fallacy of preceding observers.
But here, a totally different—a most unreasonable and a most unphilosophical—course is pursued. Each fresh observation, confirming previous evidence, is treated as though it were now put forth for the first time; and
per contra? .Neither science nor philosophy, neither scepticism nor religion, has ever yet in this quarter of a century made one single convert from the ranks of Spiritualism !
This being the case, and fully appreciating the amount of candour and fairness, and knowledge of the subject, that has been exhibited by their opponents, is it to be wondered at that a large proportion of spiritualists are now profoundly indifferent to the opinion of men of science, and would not go one step cut of their way to convince them? They say, that the movement is going on quite fast enough. That it is spreading by its own inherent force of truth, and slowly permeating all classes of society. It has thriven in spite of abuse and persecution, ridicule and argument, and continues to thrive whether endorsed by great names or not. Men of science, like an others, are welcome to enter its ranks: but they must satisfy themselves by their own persevering researches not expect to have its proofs laid before them. Their rejection of its truths is their own loss, but cannot in the slightest degree affect the progress of Spiritualism. The attacks and criticisms of the press are borne good-humouredly, and seldom excite other feelings than pity for the willful ignorance and contempt for the overwhelming presumption of their writers. Such are the sentiments that are continually expressed by spiritualists; and it is as well, perhaps, that the outer world, to whom the literature of the movement is as much unknown as the Vedas, should be made acquainted with them.
Investigation by the Dialectical Committee.—There are many other investigators who ought to be noticed in any complete sketch of the subject, but we have now only space to allude briefly to the "Report of the Committee of the Dialectical Society." Of this committee, consisting of thirty-three acting members, only eight were, at the commencement, believers in the reality of the phenomena, while not more than four accepted the spiritual theory. During the course of the inquiry at least twelve of the complete sceptics became convinced of the reality of many of the physical phenomena through attending the experimental sub-committees, and almost wholly by means of the mediumship of members of the committee. At least three members who were previously sceptics pursued their investigations outside the committee meetings, and in consequence have become thorough Spiritualists. My own observation as a member of the committee, and of the largest and most active sub-committee, enables me to state that the degree of conviction produced in the minds of the various members was, allowing for marked differences of character, approximately proportionate to the amount of time and care bestowed on the investigation. This fact, which is what occurs in all investigation into these phenomena, is a characteristic result of the examination into any natural phenomena. The examination into an imposture or delusion has invariably exactly opposite results—those who have slender experience being deceived, while those who perseveringly continue the inquiry inevitably find out the source of the deception or the delusion.
Before leaving this report, I must call attention to the evidence it furnishes of the state of opinion among men of education in France. M. Camille Flammarion, the well-known astronomer, sent a communication to the committee which deserves special consideration. Besides declaring his own acceptance of the objective reality of the phenomena after ten years of investigation, he makes the following statement:—
My learned teacher and friend, M. Babinet, of the Institute, who has endeavored, with M. E. Liais (now Director of the Observatory of Brazil), and several others of my colleagues of the Observatory of Paris, to ascertain their nature and cause, is not fully convinced of the intervention of spirits in their production, though this hypothesis, by which alone certain categories of these phenomena would seem to be explicable, has been adopted by many of our most esteemed savant?, among others by Dr. Ha'ffle, the learned author of the 'History of Chemistry' and the 'General Encyclopedia,' and by the diligent laborer in the field of astronomic discovery whose death we have had recently to deplore, M. Hermann Goldschmidt, the discoverer of fourteen planets.
It thus appears that in France, as well as in America and in this country, men of science of no mean rank have investigated these phenomena, and have found them to be realities; while some of the most eminent hold the spiritual theory to be the only one that will explain them.
This seems the proper place to notice the astounding assertion of certain writers, that there is not "a particle of evidence" to support the spiritual theory; that those who accept it betray "hopeless inability to discriminate between adequate and inadequate proof of facts; "that the theory is "formed apart from facts;" and that those who accept it are so unable to reason, as to "jump at the conclusion" that it must be spirits that move tables, merely because they do not know how else they can be moved. The preceding account of how converts to Spiritualism have been made is a sufficient answer to all this ignorant assertion. The spiritual theory, as a rule, has only been adopted as a last resource, when all other theories have hopelessly broken down; and when fact after fact, phenomenon after phenomenon, has presented itself, giving direct proof that the so-called dead are still alive. The spiritual theory is the logical outcome of the whole of the facts. Those who deny it, in every instance with which I am acquainted, either from ignorance or disbelief, leave half the facts out of view. Take the one case (out of many almost equally conclusive) of Mr. Livermore, who during five years, on hundreds of occasions, saw, felt, and heard the movements of the figure of his dead wife in absolute, unmistakable, living form. A form which could move objects, and which repeatedly wrote to him in her own handwriting and her own language, on cards which remained after the figure had disappeared. A form which was equally visible and tangible to two friends; which appeared in his own house, in a room absolutely secured, with the presence only of a young girl, the medium. Had these three men "not a particle of evidence" for the spiritual theory? Is it, in fact, possible to conceive or suggest any more complete proof? The facts must be got rid of before you abolish the theory; and simple denial or disbelief docs not get rid of facts testified during a space of five years by three witnesses, all men in responsible positions, and carrying on their affairs during the whole
The objection will here be inevitably made: "These wonderful things always happen in America. When they occur in England it will be time enough to enquire into them." Singularly enough, after this article was in the press, the final test was obtained, which demonstrated the occurrence of similar phenomena in London. A short statement may, therefore, be interesting to those who cannot digest American evidence. For tome years a young lady, Miss Florence Cook, has exhibited remarkable mediumship, which latterly culminated in the production of an entire female form purporting to be spiritual, and which appeared barefooted and in white flowing robes while she lay entranced, in dark clothing and securely bound, in a cabinet or adjacent room. Notwithstanding that tests of an apparently conclusive character were employed, many visitors, spiritualists as well as sceptics, got the impression that all was not as it should be; owing in part to the resemblance of the supposed spirit to Miss Cook, and also to the fact that the two could not be seen at the same time. Some supposed that Miss C. was an impostor who managed to conceal a white robe about her (although she was often searched), and who, although she was securely tied with tapes and sealed, was able to get out of her bonds, dress and undress herself, and get into them again, all in the dark, and in so complete and skilful a manner as to defy detection. Others thought that the spirit released her, provided her with a white dress, and sent her forth to personate a ghost. The belief that there was something wrong led one gentleman—an ardent spiritualist—to seize the supposed spirit and hold it, in the hope that some other person would open the cabinet-door and see if Miss Cook was really there. This was, unfortuately, not done; but the great resemblance of the being he seized to Miss Cook, its perfect solidity, and the vigorous struggle it made to escape from him, convinced this gentleman that it was Miss Cook herself, although the rest of the company, a few minutes before, found her bound and sealed just as she had been left an hour before. To determine the question conclusively, experiments here been made within the last few weeks by two scientific men. Mr. C. S. Varley, F.R.S., the eminent electrician, made use of a galvanic battery and cable-testing apparatus, and passed a current through Miss Cook's body (by fastening sovereigns soldered to wires to her arms). The apparatus was so delicate that any movement whatever was instantly indicated, while it was impossible for the young lady to dress and act as a ghost without breaking the circuit. Yet under these conditions, the spirit-form did appear, exhibited its arms, spoke, wrote, and touched several persons; and this happened, be it remembered, not in the medium's own house, but in that of a private gentleman in the West End of London. For nearly an hour the circuit was never broken, and at the conclusion Miss Cook was found in a deep trance. Since this remarkable experiment Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S. has obtained, if possible, still more satisfactory evidence. He contrived a phosphorus lamp, and armed with this was allowed to go into the dark room accompanied by the spirit, and there saw and felt Miss Cook, dressed in black velvet, lying in a trance on the floor, while the spirit-form in white robes, stood close beside her. During the evening this spirit-form had been, for nearly an hour, walking and talking with the company; and Mr. Crooks, by permission, clasped the figure in his arms, and found it to be, apparently, a real living woman, just as the sceptical gentleman had done. Yet this figure is not that of Miss Cook, nor of any other human being, since it appeared and disappeared in Mr Crookes't own house as completely .is in that of the medium herself. The full statements of Messrs. "Varley and Crookes, with a mass of interesting detail on the subject, appeared in the Spiritualist newspaper, in March and April last; and they serve to show that whatever marvels occur in America can be reproduced here, and that men of science are not precluded from investigating these phenomena with scientific instruments and by scientific methods. In the concluding part of this paper we shall be able to show that another class of manifestation which originated in America—that of the so-called spirit-photographs—has been first critically examined and completely demonstrated in our own country.
"We now approach a subject which cannot be omitted in any impartial sketch of the evidences of Spiritualism, since it is that which furnishes perhaps the most unassailable demonstration it is possible to obtain, of the objective reality of spiritual foams, and also of the truthful nature of the evidence furnished by seers when they describe figures visible to themselves alone. It has been already indicated—and it is a fact, of which the records of Spiritualism furnish ample proof—that different individuals possess the power of seeing such forms and figures in very variable degrees. Thus it often happens at a séance, that some will see distinct lights of which they will describe the form, appearance, and position, while others will see nothing at all. If only two persons sec the lights, the rest will naturally impute it to their imagination: but there are cases in which only one or two of those present are unable to see them. There are also cases in which they; all see them, but in very different degrees of distinctness; yet that they see the same objects is proved by their all agreeing as to the position and the movement of the lights. Again, what some see as merely luminous clouds, others will see as distinct human forms, either partial or entire. In other cases all present see the form—whether hand, face, or entire figure—with equal distinctness. Again, the objective reality of these appearances is sometimes proved by their being touched, or by their being seen to remove objects,—in some cases heard to speak, in others seen to write, by several persons at one and the same time; the figure seen or the writing produced 'being sometimes unmistakably recognisable as that of a deceased friend. A volume could easily be filled with records of this class of appearances, authenticated by place, date, and names of witnesses; and a considerable selection is to be found in the works of Mr. Robert Dale Owen.
Now, at this point, an inquirer, who had not prejudged the question, .and who did not believe his own knowledge of the universe to be so complete as to justify him in rejecting all evidence for facts which he had hitherto considered in the highest degree to be improbable, might fairly say, "Your evidence for the appearance of visible, tangible, spiritual forms, is very strong: but I should like to have them submitted to a crucial test, which would quite settle the question of the possibility of their being due to a coincident delusion of several senses of several persons at the same time; and, .if satisfactory, would demonstrate their objective reality in a way nothing else can do. If they really reflect or emit light which makes them visible to human eyes, they can, be photographed. Photograph them, and you will have an unanswerable proof that your human witnesses are trustworthy." Two years ago we could only have replied to this very proper suggestion, that we believed it had been done, and could be again done, but that we had no satisfactory evidence to offer. Now, however, we are in a position to state, not only that it has been frequently done, but that the evidence is of such a nature as to satisfy any one who will take the trouble carefully to examine .it. This evidence we will now lay before our readers, and we venture to think they will acknowledge it to be most remarkable.
Before doing so it may be as well to clear away a popular misconception. Mr. Lewes advised the Dialectical Committee to distinguish carefully between "fasts and inferences from facts." This is especially necessary in the .case of what are called spirit-photographs. The figures which occur in these when not produced by any human agency, may be of "spiritual" origin, without being figures "of spirits." There is much evidence to show that they are, in some cases, forms produced by invisible intelligences, but distinct from them. In other cases the intelligence appears to clothe itself
for purposes of recognition.
Most persons have heard of these 'ghost-pictures," and how easily they can be made to order by any photographer, and are therefore disposed to think they can be of no use as evidence. But a little consideration will show them that the means by which sham ghosts can be manufactured being so well known to all photographers, it becomes easy to apply tests or arrange conditions so as to prevent imposition. The following are some of the more obvious:—
1. If a person with a knowledge of photography takes his own glass plates, examines the camera used and all the accessories, and watches the whole process of taking a picture, then, if any definite form appears on the negative beside the sitter, it is a proof that some object was present capable of reflecting or emitting the actinic rays, although invisible to those present. 2. If an unmistakable likeness appears of a deceased person totally unknown to the photographer. 3. If the figures appear on the negative having a definite relation to the figure of the sitter, who chooses his own position, attitude, and accompaniments, it is a proof that invisible figures were really there. 4. If a figure appears draped in white, and partly behind the dark body of the sitter without in the least showing through, it is a proof that the white figure was there at the same time, because the dark parts of the negative are transparent, and any white picture in any way superposed would show through. 5. Even should none of these tests be applied, yet if a medium, quite independent of the photographer, sees and describes a figure during the sitting, and an exactly corresponding figure appears on the plate, it is a proof that such a figure was there.
Every one of these tests have been now successfully applied in our own country, as the following outline of the facts will show.
The accounts of spirit-photography in several parts of the United States caused several Spiritualists in this country to make experiments, but for a long time without success. Mr. and Mrs. Guppy, who are both amateur photographers, tried at their house, and failed. In cartes de visite of Mrs. Guppy. After the sitting, an idea suddenly struck Mr. Guppy that he would try for a spirit-photograph. He sat down, told Mrs. G. to go behind the background, and had a picture taken. There came out behind him a large, indefinite, oval, white patch, somewhat resembling the outline of a draped figure. Mrs. Guppy, behind the background, was dressed in black. This is the first spirit-photograph taken in England, and it is perhaps more satisfactory on account of the suddenness of the impulse under which it was taken, and the great white patch which no impostor would have attempted to produce, and which, taken by itself, utterly spoils the picture. A few days afterwards, Mr. and Mrs. Guppy and their little boy went without any notice. Mrs. Guppy sat on the ground, holding the boy on a stool. Her husband stood behind looking on. The picture thus produced is most remarkable. A fall female figure, finely draped in white, gauzy robes, stands directly behind and above the sitters, looking down on them, and holding its open hands over their heads, as if giving a benediction. The face is somewhat Eastern, and, with the hands, is beautifully defined. The white robes pass behind the sitters' dark figures without in the least showing through. A second picture was then taken as soon as a plate could be prepared; and it was fortunate it was so, as it resulted in a most remarkable test. Mrs. Guppy again knelt with the boy, but she did not stoop so much, and her head was higher. The same white figure
it has changed, its position in a manner exactly corresponding to the slight change of Mrs. Guppy's position. The hands were before on a level; new one is raised considerably higher than the other, so as to keep it about the same distance from Mrs. Guppy's head as it was before. The folds of the drapery all correspondingly differ, and the head is slightly turned. Here, then, one of two things is absolutely certain. Either there was a living, intelligent, but invisible being present, or Mr. and Mrs. Guppy, the photographer, and some fourth person, planned a wicked imposture, and have maintained it ever since. Knowing Mr. and Mrs. Guppy as well as I do, I feel an absolute conviction that they are as incapable of an imposture of this kind as any earnest inquirer after truth in the department of natural science.
The report of these pictures soon spread. Spiritualists in great numbers came to try for similar results, with varying degrees of success, till after a time rumor of imposture arose, and it is now firmly believed by many, from suspicious appearances on the pictures and from other circumstances, that a large number of shams have been produced. It is certainly not to be wondered at if it be so. The photographer, remember, was not a Spiritualist, and was utterly puzzled at the pictures above described. Scores of persons came to him, and he saw that they were satisfied if they got a scond figure with themselves, and dissatisfied if they did not. He may have made arrangements by which to satisfy everybody. One thing is clear, that if there has been imposture, it was at once detected by Spiritualists themselves; if not, then Spiritualists have been quick in noticing what appeared to indicate it. Those, however, who most strongly assert imposture allow that a large number of genuine pictures have been taken. But, true or not, the cry of imposture did good, since it showed the necessity for tests and for independent confirmation of the facts.
The test of clearly recognisable likenesses of deceased friends has often been obtained. Mr. William Howitt, who went without previous notice, obtained likenesses of two sons, many years dead, and of the very existence of one of whom even the friend who accompanied Mr. Howitt was ignorant. The likenesses were instantly recognised by Mrs. Howitt; and Mr. Howitt declares them to be "perfect and unmistakable." (Spiritual Magazine, Spiritual Magazine,
Mr. Thomas Slater, an old-established optician in the Euston road, and an amateur photographer, took with him to Mr. Hudson's, a new camera of his own manufacture and his own glasses, saw everything done, and obtained a portrait with a second figure on it. He then began experimenting in his own private house, and during last summer obtained some remarkable results. The first of his successes contains two heads by the side of a portrait of his sister. One of these heads is unmistakably the late Lord .Brougham's; the other, much less distinct, is recognised by Mr. Slater as that of Robert Owen, whom he knew intimately up to the time of his death. He has since obtained several excellent pictures of the same class. One in
any figures, so clear and unmistakably human in appearance as these, should appear on plates taken in his own private studio by an experienced optician and amateur photographer, who makes all his apparatus himself, and with no one present but the members of his own family,—is the real marvel. In one case a second figure appeared on a plate with himself, taken by Mr. Slater when he was absolutely alone—by the simple process of occupying the sitter's chair after uncapping the camera. He and his family being themselves mediums, they require no extraneous assistance; and this may, perhaps, be the reason why he has succeeded so well. One of the most extraordinary pictures obtained by Mr. Slater is a full-length portrait of his sister, in which there is no second figure, but the sitter appears covered all over with a kind of transparent lace drapery, which on examination is seen to be wholly made up of shaded circles of different sizes, quite unlike any material fabric I have seen or heard of.
Mr. Slater has himself shown me all these pictures and explained the conditions under which they were produced. That they are not impostures is certain; and as the first independent confirmations of what had been previously obtained only through professional photographers, their value is inestimable.
A less successful, but not perhaps on that account less satisfactory confirmation has been obtained by another amateur, who, after eighteen months of experiment, obtained a partial success. Mr. R. Williams, M.A. Ph. D., of Hayward's Heath, succeeded last summer in obtaining three photographs, each with part of a human form besides the sitter, one having the features distinctly marked. Subsequently another was obtained, with a well-formed figure of a man standing at the side of the sitter, but while being developed, this figure faded away entirely. Mr. Williams assures me (in a letter) that in these experiments there was "no room for trick or for the production of these figures by any known means."
The editor of the British Journal of Photography has made experiments at Mr. Hudson's studio, taking his own collodion and new plates, and doing everything himself, yet there were "abnormal appearances ' on the pictures although no distinct figures.
We now come to the valuable and conclusive experiments of Mr. John Beattie of Clifton, a retired photographer of twenty years experience, and of whom the above-mentioned editor says:—"Everyone who knows Mr. Beattie will give him credit for being a thoughtful, skilful, and intelligent photographer, one of the last men in the world to be easily deceived, at least in matters relating to photography, and one quite incapable of deceiving others."
Mr. Beattie has been assisted in his researches by Dr. Thomson of Edinburgh, M.D., who has practised photography as an amateur, for twenty-five years. They experimented at the studio of a friend, who was not a spiritualist (but who became a medium during the experiments,) and had the services of a tradesman with whom they were well acquainted, as a medium. The whole of the photographic work was done by Messrs. Beattie and Thomson, the other two sitting at a small table. The pictures were taken in series of three, within a few seconds of each other, and several of these series were taken at each sitting. The figures produced are for the most
in every ease, minutely and correctly described the appearances which afterwards came out on the plate. In one there is a luminous rayed star of large size, with a human face faintly visible in the centre. This is the last of three in which the star developed, and the whole were accurately described by the medium. In another set of three, the medium first described,—" a light rising over another person's arms, coming from his own boot." The third,—"there is the same light, but now a column comes up through the table, and it is so hot to my hands." Then he suddenly exclaimed,—"What a bright light up there! Can you not see it?" pointing to it with his hand. All this most accurately describes the three pictures, and in the last, the medium's hand is seen pointing to a white paten which appears overhead. There are other curious developments, the nature of which is already sufficiently indicated; but one very startling single picture must be mentioned. During the exposure one medium said he saw on the background a black figure, the other medium saw a light figure by the side of the black one. In the picture both these figures appear, the light one very faintly, the black one much more distinctly, of a gigantic size, with a massive, coarse-featured face and long hair. (Spiritual Magazine, Photogruphic News,
Mr. Beattie has been so good as to send me for examination a complete set of these most extraordinary photographs, thirty-two in number, and has furnished me with any particulars I desired. I have described them as correctly as I am able; and Dr. Thomson has authorised me to use his name as confirming Mr. Beattie's account of the conditions under which they appeared. These experiments were not made without labor and perseverance. Sometimes twenty consecutive pictures produced absolutely nothing unusual. Hundreds have been taken, and more than half have been complete failures. But the successes have been well worth the labor. They demonstrate the fact that what a medium or sensitive sees (even where no one else sees anything) may often have an objective existence. They teach us that perhaps the bookseller, Nicolai of Berlin,—whose case has been quoted ad nauseam as the type of a "spectral illusion"—saw real beings after all; and that,
We find, then, that three amateur photographers working independently in different parts of England, separately confirm the fact of spirit photography,—already demonstrated to the satisfaction of many who had tested it through professional photographers. The experiments of Mr. Beattie and Dr. Thomson are alone absolutely conclusive; and, taken in connection with those of Mr. Slater and Dr. Williams, and the test photographs, like those of Mrs. Guppy, establish as a scientific fact the objective existence of invisible human forms, and definite invisible actinic images. Before leaving the photographic phenomena we have to notice two curious points in connection with them. The actinic action of the spirit-forms is peculiar, and much more rapid than that of the light reflected from ordinary material forms; for the first figures start out the moment the developing fluid touches them, while the figures of the sitters appear much later. Mr. Beattie noticed this throughout his experiments, and I was myself much struck with it when watching the development of three pictures recently taken at Mr. Hudson's. The second figure, though by no means bright, always came out long before any other part of [the picture. The other singular thing is, the copious drapery in which these forms are almost always enveloped, so as to show only just what is necessary for recognition, of the face and figure. The explanation given of this is, that the human form is more difficult to materialise than drapery. The conventional "white-sheeted ghost" was not then all fancy, but had a foundation in fact,—a fact, too, of great significance, dependent on the laws of a yet unknown chemistry.
As we have not been able to give an account of many facts which occur with the various classes of mediums, the following catalogue of the most important and well-characterised phenomena may be useful. They may be grouped provisionally, as, Physical, or those in which material objects are acted on, or apparently material bodies produced; and Mental, or those which consist in the exhibition by the medium of powers or faculties not possessed in the normal state.
The principal physical phenomena are the following :—
Simple Physical Phenomena.—Producing sounds of all kinds, from a delicate tick to blows like those of a sledge-hammer. Altering the weight of bodies. Moving bodies without human agency. Raising bodies into the air. Conveying bodies to a distance out of and into closed rooms. Releasing mediums from every description of bonds, even from welded iron rings, as has happened in America.Chemical.—Preserving from the effects of fire, as already detailed.Direct Writing and Drawing.—Producing writing or drawing on marked papers, placed in such positions that no human hand (or foot) can touch. Sometimes, visibly to the spectators, a pencil rising up and writing or drawing apparently by itself. Some of the drawings in many colors have been produced on marked paper in from ten to twenty seconds, and the colors found wet. (Sec Mr. Coleman's evidence, in "Dialectical Report," p. 143, confirmed by Lord Borthwick, p. 150). Mr. Thomas Slater of 136 Euston Road, is now obtaining communications in the following manner :—A
Musical Phenomena.—Musical instruments, of various kinds, played without human agency, from a hand-bell to a closed piano. With some mediums, and where the conditions are favorable, original musical compositions of a very high character are produced. This occurs with Mr. Home.Spiritual Forms.—These are either luminous appearances, sparks, stars, globes of light, luminous clouds, &c.; or, hands, faces, or entire human figures, generally covered with flowing drapery, except a portion of the face and hands. The human forms are often capable of moving solid objects, and are both visible and tangible to all present. In other cases they are only visible to seers, but when this is the case it sometimes happens that the seer describes the figure as lifting a flower or a pen, and others present see the flower or the pen apparently move by itself. In some cases they speak distinctly; in others the voice is heard by all, the form only seen by the medium. The flowing robes of these forms have in some cases been examined, and pieces cut off, which have in a short time melted away. Flowers are also brought, some of which fade away and vanish; others are real, and can be kept indefinitely. It must not be concluded that any of these forms are actual spirits; they are probably only temporary froms produced by spirits for purposes of test, or of recognition by their friends. This is the account invariably given of them by communications obtained in various ways; so that the objection once thought to be so crushing—that there can be no "ghosts" of clothes, armour, or walking-sticks—ceases to have any weight.Spiritual Photographs.—These, as just detailed, demonstrate by "a purely physical experiment the trustworthiness of the preceding class of observations.
"We now come to the mental phenomena, of which the following are the chief.
The purely mental phenomena are generally of no use as evidence to non-spiritualists, except in those few cases where rigid tests can be applied; but they are so intimately connected with the physical series, and often so interwoven with them, that no one who has sufficient experience to satisfy him of the reality of the former, fails to see that the latter form part of the general system, and are dependent on the same agencies.
With the physical series the case is very different. They form a connected body of evidence, from the simplest to the most complex and astounding, every single component fact of which can be, and has been, repeatedly demonstrated by itself; while each gives weight and confirmation to all the rest. They have all, or nearly all, been before the world for twenty years; the theories and explanations of reviewers and critics do not touch them, or in any way satisfy any sane man who has repeatedly witnessed them; they have been tested and examined by sceptics of every grade of incredulity, men in every way qualified to detect imposture or to discover natural causes—trained physicists, medical men, lawyers and men of business—but in every case the investigators have either retired baffled, or become converts.
There have, it is true, been some impostors who have attempted to imitate the phenomena; but such cases are few in number, and have been discovered by tests far less severe than those to which the genuine phenomena have been submitted over and over again; and a large proportion of these phenomena have never been imitated, because they are beyond successful imitation.
Now what do our leaders of public opinion say, when a scientific man of proved ability again observes a large portion of the more extraordinary phenomena, in his own house, under test conditions, and affirms their objective reality; and this not after a hasty examination, but after four years of research? Men, "with heavy scientific appendages to their names" refuse to examine them when invited; the eminent society of which he is a fellow refuses to record them; and the press cries out that it wants better witnesses than Mr. Crookes, and that such facts want "confirmation" before they can be believed. But why more confirmation? And when again "confirmed," who is to confirm the con firmer? After the whole range of the phenomena had been before the world for ten years, and had convinced sceptics by tens of thousands—sceptics, be it remembered, of common sense and more than
confirmed by the first chemist in America, Professor Robert Hare. Two years later they were again confirmed by the elaborate and persevering inquiries of one of the first American lawyers, Judge Edmonds. Then by another good chemist, Professor Mapes. In France the truth of the simpler physical phenomena was confirmed by Count A. do Gasparin in confirmed them. Professor Thury of Geneva again confirmed them, in confirmed large portions of them; and lastly comes Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., with four years of research and unrestricted experiment with the two oldest and most remarkable mediums in the world, and again confirms the whole series! But even this is not all. Through an independent set of most competent observers we have the crucial test of photography; a witness which cannot be deceived, which has no preconceived opinions, which cannot register "subjective impressions;" a thoroughly scientific witness, who is admitted into our law courts, and whose testimony is good as against any number of recollections of what did happen or opinions as to what ought to and must have happened. And what has the' other side brought against this overwhelming array of consistent and unimpeachable evidence? They have merely made absurd and inadequate suppositions, but have not disproved or explained away one weighty fact!
My position, therefore, is, that the phenomena of Spiritualism in their entirety do not require further confirmation. They are proved quite as well as any facts are proved in other sciences; and it is not denial or quibbling that can disprove any of them, but only fresh facts and accurate deductions from those facts. When the opponents of Spiritualism can give a record of their researches approaching in duration and completeness to those of its advocates; and when they can discover and show in detail, cither how the phenomena are produced or how the many sane and able men here referred to have been deluded into a coincident belief that they have witnessed them; and when they can prove the correctness of their theory by producing a like belief in a body of equally sane and able unbelievers,—then, and not till then, will it be necessary for spiritualists to produce fresh confirmation of facts which are, and always have been, sufficiently real and indisputable to satisfy any honest and persevering inquirer.
This being the state of the case as regards evidence and proof, we are fully justified in taking the facts of modern Spiritualism (and with them the spiritual theory as the only tenable one) as being fully established. It only remains to give a brief account of the more important uses and teachings of Spiritualism.
The lessons which modern Spiritualism teaches may be classed under two heads. In the first place, we find that it gives a rational account of various phenomena in human history which physical science has been unable to explain, and has therefore rejected or ignored; and, in the second, we derive from it some definite information as to man's nature and destiny, and, founded on this, an ethical system of great practical efficacy. The following are some of the more important phenomena of history and of human nature which science cannot deal with, but which Spiritualism explains :—
1. It is no small thing that the spiritualist finds himself able to rehabilitate Socrates as a sane man, and his "demon" as an intelligent spiritual being who accompanied him through life,—in other words, a guardian spirit.
2. Spiritualism allows us to believe that the oracles of antiquity were not all impostors; that a whole people, perhaps the most intellectually acute who ever existed, were not all dupes. In discussing the question, "Why the Prophetess Pythia giveth no Answers now from the Oracle in Verse," Plutarch tells us that when kings and states consulted the oracle on weighty matters that might do harm if made public, the replies were couched ill enigmatical language; but when private persons are asked about their own affairs they get direct answers in the plainest terms, so that some people even complained of their simplicity and directness, as being unworthy of a divine origin. And he adds this positive testimony: "Her answers, though submitted to the severest scrutiny, have never proved false or incorrect. On the contrary, the verification of them has filled the temple with gifts from all parts of Greece and foreign countries." And again, "The answer of Pythoness proceeds to the very truth, without any diversion, circuit, fraud, or ambiguity. It has never yet, in a single instance, been convicted of falsehood." Would such statements be made by such a writer, if these oracles were all the mere guesses of impostors? The fact that they declined and ultimately failed, is wholly in their favour; for why should imposture cease as the world became less enlightened and more superstitious? Neither does the fact that the priests could sometimes be bribed to give out false oracles prove anything, against such statements as that of Plutarch and the belief during many generations, supported by ever-recurring experiences, of the greatest men of antiquity. That belief could only have been formed by demonstrative facts; and modern Spiritualism enables us to understand the nature of those facts.
3. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of Spiritualism, and spiritualists alone can read the record with an enlightened belief. The hand that wrote upon the wall at Belshassar's feast, and the three men unhurt in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, are for them actual facts which they need not explain away. St. Paul's language about "spiritual gifts," and "trying the spirits," is to them intelligible language, and the "gift of tongues" a simple fact. When Christ cast out "devils" or evil spirits, he really did so—not merely startle a madman into momentary quiescence; and the water changed into wine, as well as the bread and fishes continually renewed till five thousand men were fed, are credible as extreme manifestations of a power which is still daily at work among us.
4. The miracles of the saints, when well attested, come into the same category. Those of St. Bernard, for instance, were often performed in broad day before thousands of spectators, and were recorded by eye-witnesses. He was himself greatly troubled by them, wondering why this power was bestowed upon him, and fearing lest it should make him less humble. This was not the frame of mind, nor was St. Bernard's the character, of a deluded enthusiast. The spiritualist need not believe that all this never happened; or that St. Francis d' Assisi and St. Theresa were not raised into the air, as eye-witnesses declared they were.
5. "Witchcraft and withcrafttrials have a new interest for the spiritualist. He is able to detect hundreds of curious and minute coincidences with phenomena be has himself witnessed; he is able to separate the facts from the absurd inferences, which people imbued with the frightful superstition of diabolism drew from them, and from which false inferences all the horrors of the witchcraft mania arose. Spiritualism, and Spiritualism alone, gives a rational explanation of witchcraft, and determines how much of it was objective fact, how much subjective illusion.
6. Modern Roman Catholic miracles become intelligible facts. Spirits whose affections and passions are strongly excited in favour of Catholicism, produce those appearances of the Virgin and of saints which they know will tend to increase religous fervour. The appearance itself maybe an objective reality; while to is only an inference that; it is the Virgin Mary,—an inference which every intelligent spiritualist would repudiate as in the highest degree improbable.
7. Sceond-sight, and many of the so-called superstitions of savages may be realities. It; is well known, that mediumistic power is more frequent and more energetic in mountainous countries; and as these are generally inhabited by the less civilised races, the beliefs that are more prevalent there may be due to the facts which are more prevalent, and be wrongly imputed to the coincident ignorance. It known to spiritualists that the pure dry air of California led to more powerful and more startling manifestations than in any other part of the United States.
8. The recently discussed question of the efficacy of prayer receives a perfect solution by Spiritualism. Prayer maybe often answered, though not directly by the Deity. Nor does the answer depend wholly on the morality or the religion of the petitioner; but as men who are both moral and religious, and are firm believers in a divine response to prayer, will pray more frequently, more earnestly, and more disinterestedly, they will attract towards them a number of spiritual beings who sympathise with them, and who, when the necessary medium site power is present, will be able, as they are often willing, to answer the prayer. A striking case is that of George Müller, of Bristol, who has now for forty-four years depended wholly for his own support, and that of his wonderful charities, on answer to prayer. His "Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller" (6th Ed. for which no provision in advance was ever made (for that Midler considered would show want of trust in God), no such explanation can cover the facts.
9. Spiritualism enables us to comprehend and find a place for, that long series of disturbances and occult phenomena of various kinds, which occurred previous to what are termed the modern Spiritual manifestations, Robert. Dale Owen's works give a rather full account of this class of phenomena, which are most accurately recorded and philosophically treated by him. This is not the place to refer to them in detail; but one of them may be mentioned as showing how large an amount of unexplained mystery there was, even in our own country, before the world heard anything of modem Spiritualism. In nine years, and he was able to trace back their existence in the same house for sixty years. Another case had lasted twenty years, and could be traced back for a century. Some of the details of these cases are most instructive. Trick is absolutely the most incredible of all explanations. Spiritualism furnishes the explanation by means of analogous facts occurring every day, and forming part of the great system of phenomena which demonstrates the spiritual theory. Major Moor's book is very rare; but a good abstract of it is given in Owen's "Debatable Land," pp. 239-258.
We have now to explain the Theory of Human Nature, which is the outcome of the phenomena taken in their entirety, and is also more or less explicitly taught by the communications which purport to come from spirits. It may be briefly outlined as follows :—
The foregoing outline propositions will suggest a number of questions and difficulties, for the answers to which readers are referred to the works of R. D. Owen, Hudson Tattle, Professor Hare, and the records of Spiritualism passim. Here I must pass on to explain, with some amount of detail, how the theory leads to a pure system of morality with sanctions far more powerful and effective than any which either religious systems or philosophy have put forth.
This part of the subject cannot, perhaps, be better introduced than by referring to some remarks by Professor Huxley in a letter to the Committee of the Dialectical Society. He says:—"But supposing the phenomena to be genuine—they do not interest me. If anybody would endow me with the faculty of listening to the chatter of old women and curates at the nearest cathedral town, I should decline the privilege, having better things to do. And if the folk in the spiritual world do not talk more wisely and sensibly than their friends report them to do, I put them in the same category." This passage, written with the caustic satire in which the kind-hearted Professor occasionally indulges, can hardly mean, that if it were proved that men really continued to live after the death of the body, that fact would not interest him, merely because some of them talked twaddle? Many scientific men deny the spiritual source of the manifestations, on the ground that real, genuine spirits might reasonably be expected not to indulge in the commonplace trivialities which do undoubtedly form the staple of ordinary spiritual communications. But surely Professor Huxley, as a naturalist and philosopher, would not admit this to be a reasonable expectation. Does he not hold the doctrine that there can be he effect, metal or physical, without an adequate cause; and that mental states, faculties, and idiosyncrasies, that are the result of gradual development and life-long—and oven ancestral—habit, cannot be suddenly changed by any known or imaginable cause? And if (as the Professor would probably admit) a very large majority of those who daily depart this life are persons addicted to twaddle, persons who spend much of their time in low or trivial pursuits, persons whose pleasures are sensual rather than intellectual—whence is to come the transforming power which is suddenly, at the mere throwing off the physical body, to change these into beings able to appreciate and delight in high and intellectual pursuits? The thing would be a miracle, the greatest of miracles, and surely Professor Huxley is the last man to contemplate innumerable miracles as part of the order of nature; and all for what? Merely to save these people from the necessary consequences of their misspent lives. For the essential teaching of Spiritualism is, that we are, all of us, in every act and thought, helping to build up a "mental fabric" which will be and constitute ourselves more completely after the death of the body than it does now. Just as this fabric is well or ill built, so will our progress and happiness be aided or retarded. Just in proportion as we have developed our higher intellectual and moral nature, or starved it by disuse and by giving undue prominence to those faculties which secure us mere physical or selfish enjoyment, shall we be well or ill fitted for the new life we enter on. The noble teaching of Herbert Spencer, that men are best educated by being left to suffer the natural consequences of their actions, is the teaching of Spiritual sum as regards the transition to another phase of life. There will be no imposed rewards or punishments; but everyone will suffer the natural and inevitable
Although, therefore, the twaddle and triviality of so many of the communications is not one whit more interesting to sensible spiritualists than it is to Professor Huxley, and is never voluntarily listened to, yet the fact that such poor stuff is talked (supposing it to come from spirits) is both a fact that might have been anticipated and a lesson of deep import. We must remember, too, the character of the séances at which these commonplace communications are received. A miscellaneous as semblance of believers of various grades and tastes, but mostly in search of an evening's amusement, and of skeptics who look upon all the others as either fools or knaves, is not likely to attract to itself the more elevated and refined denizens of the higher spheres, who may well be supposed to feel too much interest in their own new and grand intellectual existence to waste their energies on either class. If the fact is proved, that people continue to talk after they are dead with just as little sense as when alive, but that, being in a state in which sense, both common and uncommon, is of far greater importance to happiness than it is here (where fools pass very comfortable lives), they suffer the penalty of having neglected to cultivate their minds; and being so much out of their clement in a world where all pleasures are mental, they endeavour to recall old times by gossiping with, their former associates whenever they can find the means—Professor Huxley will not fail to see its vast importance as an incentive to that higher education which he is never weary of advocating. He would assuredly be interested in anything having a really practical bearing on the present and on the future condition of men; and it is evident that even these low and despised phenomena of Spiritualism, "if true," nave this bearing, and, combined with its higher teachings, constitute a great moral agency which may yet regenerate the world.
For the spiritualist who, by daily experience, gets absolute knowledge of these facts regarding the future state—who knows that, just in proportion as he indulges in passion, or selfishness, or the exclusive pursuit of wealth, and neglects to cultivate the affections and the varied powers of his mind, so does he inevitably prepare for himself misery in a world in which, there are no physical wants to be provided for, no sensual enjoyments except those directly associated with the affections and sympathies, no occupations but those having for their object social and intellectual progress—is impelled towards a pure, a sympathetic, and an intellectual life by motives far stronger than any which cither religion or philosophy can supply. He dreads to give way to passion or to falsehood, to selfishness or to a life of luxurious physical enjoyment, because he knows that the natural and inevitable consequences of such habits are future misery, necessitating a long and arduous struggle in order to develop anew the faculties, whose exercise long disuse has rendered painful to him. He will be deterred from crime by the knowledge that its unforeseen consequences may cause him ages of remorse; while the bad passions which it encourages will be a perpetual torment to himself in a state of being in which mental emotions cannot be laid aside or forgotten amid the fierce struggles and sensual pleasures of a physical existence. It must be remembered that these beliefs (unlike those of theology) will have a living efficacy, because they depend on facts occurring again and
Contrast this system of natural and inevitable reward and retribution, dependent wholly on the proportionate development of our higher mental and more), nature, with the arbitrary system of rewards and punishments dependent on stated facts and beliefs only, as set forth by all dogmatic religions; and who can fail to see that the former is in harmony with the whole order of nature—the latter opposed to it. Yet it is actually said that Spiritualism is altogether either imposture or delusion, and all its teachings but the product of "expectant attention" and "unconscious cerebration!" If none of the long series of demonstrative facts which have been here sketched out, existed, and its only product were this theory of a future state, that alone would negative such, a supposition. And when it is considered that mediums of all grades, whether intelligent or ignorant, and having communications given through them in various direct and indirect ways, are absolutely in accord as to the main features of this theory, what becomes of the gross misstatement that nothing is given through mediums but what they know and believe themselves? The mediums have, almost all, been brought up in some of the usual orthodox beliefs. How is it, then, that the usual orthodox notions of heaven are never confirmed through them? In the scores of volumes and pamphlets of spiritual literature I have read, I have found no statement of a spirit describing "winged angels," or "golden harps," or the "throne of God"—to which the humblest orthodox Christian thinks he will be introduced if he goes to heaven at all. There is no more startling and radical opposition to be found between the most diverse religious creeds, than that between the beliefs in which the majority of mediums have been brought up and the doctrines as to a future life that are delivered through them; there is nothing more marvellous in the history of the human mind than the fact that, whether in the back-woods of America or in country towns in England, ignorant men and women having almost all been brought up in the usual sectarian notions of heaven and hell, should, the moment they become seized by the strange power of medium ship, give forth teachings on this subject which are philosophical rather than religious, and which differ wholly from what had been so deeply ingrained into their minds. And this statement is not affected by the fact that communications purport to come from Catholic or Protestant, Mahomedan or Hindu spirits. Because, while such communications maintain special dogmas and doctrines, yet they confirm the very facts which really constitute the spiritual theory, and which in themselves contradict the theory of the sectarian spirits. The Roman Catholic spirit, for instance, does not describe himself as being in either the orthodox purgatory, heaven, or hell; the Evangelicnl Dissenter who died in the firm conviction that, he should certainly "go to Jesus," never describes himself as being with Christ, or as ever having seen Him, and so on throughout. Nothing is more common than for religious people at séances to ask questions about God and Christ. In reply they never get more than opinions, or more frequently the statement that they, the spirits, have no more actual knowledge of those subjects than they had while on earth. So that the facts are all harmonious; and the very circumstance of there being sectarian spirits bears witness in two ways to the truth of the spiritual theory—it shows that the mind, with its ingrained beliefs, is not suddenly changed at death; and it shows that the communications are not the reflection of the mind of the medium, who is often of the same religion as the communicating spirit, and, because
The doctrine of a future state and of the proper preparation for it as here developed, is to be found in the works of all spiritualists, in the utterances of all trance-speakers, in the communications through all mediums; and this could be proved, did space permit, by copious quotations. But it varies in form and detail in each; and just as the historian arrives at the opinions or beliefs of any age or nation, by collating the individual opinions of its best and most popular writers, so do spiritualists collate the various statements on this subject. They know well that absolute dependence is to be placed on no individual communications. They know that these are received by a complex physical and mental process, both communicator and recipient influencing the result; and they accept the teachings as to the future state of man only so far as they are repeatedly confirmed in substance (though they may differ in detail) by communications obtained under the most varied circumstances, through mediums of the most different characters and acquirements, at different times, and in different places. Fresh converts are apt to think, that, once satisfied the communications come from their deceased friends, they may implicitly trust to them, and apply them universally; as if the vast spiritual world was all moulded to one pattern, instead of being, as it almost certainly is, a thousand times more varied than human society on the earth is, or ever has been. The fact that the communications do not agree as to the condition, occupations, pleasures, and capacities of individual spirits, so far from being a difficulty, as has been absurdly supposed, is what ought to have been expected; while the agreement on the essential features of what we have stated to be the spiritual theory of a future state of existence, is all the more striking, and tends to establish that theory as a fundamental truth.
The assertion, so often made, that Spiritualism is the survival or revival of old superstitions, is so utterly unfounded as to be hardly worth notice. A science of human nature which is founded on observed facts; which appeals only to facts and experiment; which takes no beliefs on trust; which inculcates investigation and self-reliance as the first duties of intelligent beings; which teaches that happiness in a future life can be secured by cultivating and developing to the utmost the higher faculties of our intellectual and moral nature, and by no other method,—is and must be the natural enemy of all superstition. Spiritualism is an experimental science, and affords the only sure foundation for a true philosophy and pure religion. It abolishes the terms "supernatural" and "miracle" by an extension of the sphere of law and the realm of nature; and in doing so it takes up and explains whatever is true in the superstitions and so-called miracles of all ages. It, and it alone, is able to harmonise conflicting creeds; and it must ultimately lead to concord among mankind in the matter of religion, which has for so many ages been the source of unceasing discord and incalculable evil;—and it will be able to do this because it appeals to evidence instead of faith, and substitutes facts for opinions; and is thus able to demonstrate the source of much of the teaching that men have so often held to be divine.
It will thus be seen, that those who can form no higher conception of the uses of Spiritualism, "even if true," than to detect rime or to name in advance the winner of the Derby, not only prove their own ignorance of the whole subject, but exhibit in a marked degree that partial mental paralysis, the result of a century of materialistic thought, which renders so many unable seriously to conceive the possibility of a natural continuation of human life after the death of the body. It will be seen also that Spiritualism is no mere "physiological" curiosity, no mere indication of some hitherto unknown "law or nature;" but that it is a science of vast extent, having the widest,
In concluding this necessarily imperfect though somewhat lengthy account of a subject about which so little is probably known to most of the readers of the Fortnightly Review, I would earnestly beg them not to satisfy themselves with a minute criticism of single facts, the evidence for which, in my brief survey, may be imperfect; but to weigh carefully the mass of evidence I have adduced, considering its wide range and various bearings. I would ask them to look rather at the results produced by the evidence than at the evidence itself as imperfectly stated by me; to consider the long roll of men of ability who, commencing the inquiry as sceptics left it as believers, and to give these men credit for not having overlooked, during years of patient inquiry, difficulties which at once occur to themselves. I would ask them to ponder well on the fact, that no earnest inquirer has ever come to a conclusion adverse to the reality of the phenomena; and that no spiritualist has ever given them up as false. I would ask them, finally, to dwell upon the long series of facts in human history that Spiritualism explains, and on the noble and satisfying theory of a future life that it unfolds. If they will do this, I feel confident that the result I have alone aimed at will be attained; which is, to remove the prejudices and misconceptions with which the whole subject has been surrounded and to incite to unbiassed and persevering examination of the facts. For the cardinal maxim of Spiritualism is, that everyone must find out the truth for himself. It makes no claim to be received on hearsay evidence; but on the other hand, it demands that it be not rejected without patient, honest, and fearless inquiry.
In the number of this periodical for February last, I ventured to give some experiences in reference to a subject which, for more than a decade, has puzzled the researches of the curious, evoked the ridicule of the ignorant, and opened a new field of inquiry for the thoughtful.
When I undertook to introduce the subject of apparitions, in a hard matter-of-fact age like the present, I was not wholly unmindful of the consequences. I was prepared for incredulity (as a matter of course), and I was equally ready for flat contradiction and the shafts of ridicule. I own, however, that I have been agreeably disappointed. Professional conjurors and showmen have certainly continued to palm off their mechanical contrivances and sleight-of-hand for the genuine phenomena; but the tide of public opinion is at length beginning to turn, and many now condescend to listen and even examine, who a year or two ago were too prejudiced or too apathetic to discuss.
The able and logical articles of Mr. Alfred Wallace, in the May and June numbers of the 'Fortnightly Review,' are admirable contributions to the literature of the most astounding scries of researches of which we have any record in modern times. In these papers the writer brings down his experiences to the period when Mr. Crookes, the well-known chemist, and editor of the 'Quarterly Journal of Science,' was enabled, in common with Mr. Varley, the equally famous electrician, to prove, beyond all possibility of doubt, that the apparitions now seen are distinct entities, or real beings; and are not phantoms of the imagination, or the creations of an abnormal condition of the brain.
I have already described, at some length, the apparition and some of' the attendant phenomena produced through the medium ship of Miss Florence Cook.
Before again referring to more recent experiences acquired at stances when this young lady was present, I propose to narrate equally wonderful but, in some respects, different phenomena, brought about when another medium was the passive agent.
In an isolated house in a western county, the attention of the inmates has for the last twelve months or more been attracted to noises for which they could not account. Articles of furniture were moved without any one approaching them; objects were carried from one room to another without hands; bells were violently rung when nobody was near them, and many other incidents were noted, of a character to warrant the belief that the house was what is conventionally tailed ' haunted.' The occupants of the house are Mrs. and Miss Showers, the wife and daughter of Col. Showers, late of the Indian service. Col. Showers is now in India, on business, and the family are known, both in India and in England, to be persons unlikely to be the victims of delusion, and wholly incapable of lending themselves to anything savouring of imposition.
The unaccountable circumstances to which I refer became, in course of time, more surprising and mysterious. Messages were written on pieces of paper and flung clown in the rooms in which the ladies were sitting, and in the garden where they were walking; and at length voices wore heard, and notably one of a man who gave his name as ' Peter,' and told them that he had endeavoured to communicate with them in the first instance by writing. He gave them to understand that he and others would use the throat of the medium occasionally, and this it seems they do, although Miss Showers is unconscious that her voice organs are thus utilised. I ought to state that this young lady is about the same age as Miss Cook (between seventeen and eighteen), that her appearance and manner are pleasing, that she sings and plays as most young girls of her age do, and that she is perfectly candid, truthful, and unsophisticated. She knows no more about the wonderful faculty she possesses than do her family and friends, and she can have no possible motive or object in attempting to practise anything so foreign to her nature as willful deception. Her state of health in childhood caused, at one time, some anxiety to her family; but she is now perfectly well.
With regard to Mrs. Showers, I ought, I think, to state that she possesses, in a marked degree, many of those qualities which the parents of eminent men and women have so frequently been endowed with. To a highly cultivated mind she adds unusual powers of discernment, individuality of character, and more than the average of that indispensable commodity—common sense. Such a woman naturally endeavoured, to solve, by all the means in her power, the phenomena which took place in her presence. One of the servants of the family is also, I understand, what is termed a 'medium,' a circumstance which may account for the physical character of the manifestations to which I have referred.
Failing, however, to arrive at any intelligible clue to the mystery, Mrs. Showers and her daughter came to town early in the present year, and became acquainted with several persons who, like themselves, were interested in the elucidation of the phenomena. They took apartments in a northern suburb, in order to be near some friends, and hero I had the pleasure of being introduced to (hem. They had heard, of course, of Mr. Home and Miss Kate Fox (now Mrs Jenekin), and they had read with amazement the accounts that had been published of séances with Miss Florence Cook. It is right, however, I should state that they had hever met that young lady, and in point of fact, did not meet her until they had been some weeks in
Before describing what occurred on the first occasion when I met Miss Showers, it may be desirable that I should state that the apartment in which the séance was held was a small front drawing room, with a bow window just large enough to admit a table and a couple of chairs: that there were no shutters or anything to exclude light or observation, save ordinary Venetian blinds. The curtains were of the usual damask, attached to a brass pole; but as the latter was fixed about a foot or more below the cornice of the ceiling, there was a considerable aperture through which light could be admitted into the space formed by the bow window when the curtains were drawn. I am particular in thus describing the situation of the window and of the blinds, for reasons which will be obvious hereafter. The back room was used as a bedroom, a heavy curtain being drawn across the opening usually closed by folding doors. This back room was locked before, the séance commenced. The only persons present on this occasion were Mrs and Miss Showers, the friend who introduced me, and myself. The fire was burning very low, and the lamp was extinguished. We sat quiescently for perhaps ten minutes, when slight knockings were heard on the pillar of the table, and subsequently on the top. The table shortly afterwards gave a sort of lurch, and then rose in the air and came down with a somewhat heavy thud. Then came a loud, clear voice, with a cheerful tone, saying 'Good evening.'
'Oh, you are come, Peter, are you!' said Mrs. Showers.
'Yes, replied Peter,' 'I am hero;' and he added, 'how are you?' mentioning the name of the gentleman who accompanied me.
Presently, 'Peter' said he would sing, if Miss Showers would play the pianoforte; and he was as good as his word, for he not only sang himself, but brought three or four other voices, who also contributed to the concert thus marvellously improvised.
'Clever ventriloquism, of course,' is the natural reply; but Miss Showers has no ventriloquial gift of any kind, and I have never heard of a well-authenticated case of a young girl singing in a baritone voice, such as we heard on this occasion.
As, however, the argument of ventriloquism is one which it is useless to discuss in an article like this, I shall dismiss it, merely adding that no one who has heard the eight or nine voices speaking in the presence of Miss Showers believes that they are those of the young lady herself, more especially as they sometimes speak in a language utterly unknown to her. But of all the voices, that which attracted me most emanated from an entity professing to be 'Florence Maple.' The accents were clear and distinct, but, to my mind, ineffably sad. I do not think that anyone who has heard that voice can readily forget it. I asked her where she lived, and she replied, in a town in Scotland, the name of which she gave. She said she had passed out of this life about six years ago, after a lingering illness, and that she would be glad to communicate with her family, but was unable to do so. She answered every question put to her readily; but on pressing her to tell me why her voice was so triste in tone, she begged me not to press her on the subject. She promised, however, to show us, if possible, the face and form from which the voice was emanating.
Miss Showers subsequently went behind the curtain; and the table being removed, she seated herself in a chair, while a lighted candle, a roll of
'Peter' talked away, and told us that he was sending 'Rosie' to sleep; but that she was tied so tight that he had some difficulty in doing so. He then sang; and after an interval of some minutes we heard the clear, sad voice of Florence joining in his song.
'Oh, you are there, Florence!' we said, and she answered 'Yes, I am here; would you not like to see me?' Of course we replied in the affirmative. Mrs. Showers then made an opening in the curtains where they met, by pinning back the folds, and a face appeared. It was that of a female, older, I think, than the medium, and equally good-looking. The complexion was pallid, but not unpleasantly so, and the eyes were large, and seemed to look straight out, without turning to the right or left. The head was enveloped in white, and no hair was visible. We could, however, see her hands. She was unquestionably very like the medium, save in one important feature—the nose was straighter. The eyes, too, were larger. She spoke to us; and occasionally the head disappeared, as if in the direction of the medium. She said she had not materialised her body, but would endeavour to do so on a future occasion.
On subsequently drawing aside the curtains, we found Miss. Showers in a trance. The tapes were tied precisely as we left them, and the seals were unbroken.
A few nights afterwards, I again had an opportunity of witnessing the phenomena. In this case I was accompanied by a friend, who certainly did not at that time (whatever he may do now) believe in the possibility of apparitions. Miss Showers was told to go into the bedroom; and, having seated herself on the bed, she was subsequently found tied to the metal-work at the foot of it, and sealed with tape and wax provided by myself for the purpose. We then withdrew to the front room; and shortly afterwards the curtain was pushed aside, and out stepped Florence Maple, literally and figuratively 'as large as life.' She had a head-dress similar to that worn 'the preceding night, as also a long white robe, fastened up to the throat and sweeping the carpet. I advanced to meet her; and she took my hand, and sat beside me on the sofa. The lamp was on the mantel-shelf, and she said the light was too strong for her. I offered to reduce it, but she got up and did it herself. She went to the piano and played and sang. My friend asked whether he might approach her, and she at once acquiesced, without making any condition whatever. He came up and scrutinised her features,
'I am not, I assure you, the medium,' said Florence, in her softest accents; and she added, 'I know I am very like her.'
I pointed out to my friend that the figure was taller than Miss Showers, and she said,' Yes, I am taller.'
On this occasion the apparition returned only twice or thrice, and then for a moment or two only to the medium. She was, I should think, about three-quarters of an hour in the room with us. On eventually entering the back room to release the medium, we found her tied and sealed precisely as we had left her. How she got back again into her ligatures was a puzzle to my friend, who no doubt found a solution (as nearly everybody else would have done under similar circumstances) for the rest of the manifestations in ventriloquism, and in the dexterity with which the young lady had slipped out of the tapes and dressed herself up to play the part of a ghost!
On another occasion, when Miss Showers was securely fastened behind the curtain, and when 'Peter' was singing, and when the apparition was out in the room talking to us, the servants of a friend who accompanied me were standing outside with the carriage, so that no person could (as has been hinted) have got access to the room from the street, to help in an imposture.
But, happily for Miss Showers, as also for Miss Cook, who may have been unjustly suspected, the period was approaching for their vindication. The attempt had been made to seize and detain the figure of 'Katie King' at Mr. Cook's and had caused much concern to Miss Cook and her family. The former felt all the pain with which a generous and sensitive mind is penetrated at being the object of unworthy suspicion, and the latter were equally anxious to vindicate their honesty and fair fame; for it is idle to deny that, if Miss Cook had been guilty of deception, every member of her family must have been equally compromised with her. It was under these circumstances that 'Florence Maple' was asked, if possible, to allow the medium to be seen with her at one and the same moment. This, it was hoped, would be sufficient to disarm the most sceptical, and to silence the ridicule of the ignorant. I need scarcely say that this test was not considered by any means necessary by those who had traced the phenomena through all their stages, who had adopted, without the detection of imposture, every test and contrivance that ingenuity could devise, and who knew the character of the media. They felt, however, that as the bona-fides of Miss Cook had been doubted (chiefly on account of the similarity of the apparition to the medium), and as a gross outrage had been committed upon her, and might be perpetrated on other mediums in similar positions, it was all-important that the apparition and the medium should not only be seen simultaneously, but should actually be touched and felt. Those who are acquainted with the phenomena have reason to believe that any seizure of the apparition may have an injurious effect upon the medium, so subtle and sympathetic is the chain of communication between them. Seeing both and touching both was the crucial test, so to speak, because the phenomena are so astounding that even well-intentioned and candid persons, anxious to ascertain; he truth, but still prejudiced in favour of ignorance, and the accepted traditions of science, could never be brought to believe in their genuine character unless the senses of vision as well as of touch were both satisfied. Representations on this subject were, I believe, made both to 'Katie King' and 'Florence Maple,' and both promised that, if possible, the test should be given.
It was, consequently, with no ordinary sense of satisfaction that I
We subsequently returned to the front drawing-room; and Miss Showers having taken a seat in an easy-chair immediately behind the sliding door in the back room, the curtain was drawn over the opening, the lamp was turned down, and we waited the result. 'Peter' spoke, as usual, and sang; and in a short time we recognised the voice of 'Florence,' and 'Florence' herself came out and advanced to the farther end of the room, where we were seated. She spoke to us in a less sedate manner than usual, moved about the room from place to place, and seemed immensely pleased with a fan that I had brought her, and which was eventually found in the lap of the medium when the séance was over. As Mrs. and Miss Showers were to leave town the following day, and knowing the importance of getting the crucial test on that occasion, I said to 'Florence.' 'I want you particularly to give me a test that must satisfy everybody.' She replied, ' I will if I can.' I then said, 'I want to see you and the medium together, as you know it is said that you are so like the medium that you must be one and the same person.' Her answer was, 'I will try.' No condition of any kind was imposed. 'Florence' then went behind the curtain, and a minute or two afterwards reappeared, and, beckoning me forward, said, 'Come and see her.' I responded immediately, and crossing the room, stood beside the figure. She was then, I should add, taller than the medium, and, to my view, had a certain angularity of form which I had never observed in Miss Showers. She then drew aside the curtain with her left hand, and, pointing with her right, said, 'Look!" There, seated in the chair as we had left her, but with her head thrown over her left shoulder, and the right side of her face visible, was unquestionably the immobile and unconscious form of Miss Showers! There could be no mistake about it. It was no delusion. She was there beyond all possibility of doubt. Having satisfied myself on this point, I returned to my seat; but on the reappearance of 'Florence' immediately afterwards, I said, 'will you give me one more test to satisfy me?' The answer was, as before, 'I will if I can; but what is it?' I replied, 'I want this crowning test: I want to follow you instantly behind the curtain; and I wish to place the light so that I can sec well into the room.'
I" returned to my scat perfectly satisfied—firstly, that the apparition was a thoroughly materialised form, instinct with intelligence; and secondly, that it could disappear at will, by making itself instantaneously invisible. This latter phase of the phenomena I look upon as even more marvellous than the materialisation.
In connection with materialisation and immaterialisation, this may be a convenient place to refer to an objection taken by many persons but partially acquainted with the phenomena, and which, I admit, is not capable of satisfactory explanation off-Land. I have, for instance, heard people say, 'Why should a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes elapse between the hearing of the second voice and the appearance of the form from which it proceeds? and why should the interval be occupied with music, singing, conversation, &c.?' The question is reasonable enough, it must be owned, although it may not be answered in such a manner as to banish suspicion from a prejudiced mind. The question has been put to the form when visible and invisible, and the answer invariably is that music promotes harmony (an essential element of success), and that when the sitters are singing and in conversation it becomes easier to draw power from them. Whatever be the measure of belief that such answers are calculated to inspire, (he necessity no longer exists for either raising the objection or supplying the rejoinder. As a matter of indisputable fact, the apparition now appears without that suspicious interval to which I have referred, and which many persons thought was devoted to the undressing of the medium preparatory to playing the part of a 'ghost.' On several recent occasions, and in the presence of persons of undoubted credit and veracity, the apparition known as 'Katie King' or 'Annie Morgan' has appeared within two or three minutes after the medium has become entranced. She has come arrayed in white, with a veil, and head-dress, and naked feet, while the medium has at the sometime been seen costumed in her ordinary attire, and with her usual shoes and stockings. Moreover, the medium, when entering the room, bad been observed to wear car-rings, while the ears of 'Katie King' were undecorated, and had never even been pierced! This is certainly hard to get over; but harder still remains behind.
The apparition in question having repeatedly informed Miss Cook and
littérateur, and editor of the 'Art Journal,' having asked a variety of questions, was favored with a special test. Just before the conclusion of the sitting, 'Katie' threw back the curtain, and said to Mr. Crookes, 'Turn up the gas as high as you can, and let Mr. Hall come in.' Mr. Hall rushed behind the curtain, but declared that he could see nothing but the impassive form on the carpet. 'Katie' had instantaneously disappeared.
On Saturday, the 10th of May, a séance very similar in character was held in the same house; and 'Katie' again assured us that, as the three years within which alone she should show herself would expire on the following Thursday, (the 21st of May), she wished certain persons who had witnessed the development of the phenomena to be present. It was also arranged that some further photographic experiments should be made by Mr. Crookes under a magnesium light. These were made on the following Wednesday (20th May). On this occasion I was the only stranger present, the rest of the sitters consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Cook and the members of Mr. Crookes' own family. The cabinet was improvised in this manner. The swab of a sofa and a pillow were laid on the floor of the library. One of the folding doors was then shut, and a curtain was loosely hung over the aperture thus caused. Miss Cook lay down on the cushion, and we sat in' the adjoining room, used by our host as his laboratory. In a very few minutes, without any prelude for music or singing, we heard the voice of 'Katie,' and immediately afterwards she drew aside the curtain and stood before us. She was, beyond all question, taller, stouter, and more developed than the medium; while her hair was much longer, and seemed to be of a light chestnut colour. She spoke to me, and expressed her regret that I could not be present at her final séance the following evening. She allowed me to feel her arm and hand, and touch her ringlets, so that I might be assured that they were real for all present purposes. She subsequently bore a stronger light, and then we distinctly saw the form of Miss Cook, but with a shawl thrown over her head. She requested Mrs. Crookes to bring her chair behind the curtain, that she might chat with her unreservedly, as she added that she would never see her again. Mrs. Crookes went accordingly. 'Katie' afterwards broke up a bouquet of flowers, provided for her by Mrs. Crookes; and made up smaller bouquets, presenting one to each person present. Mr. Crookes and others then asked her for some of her hair. Calling for a pair of scissors, she cut a ringlet for Mrs. Crookes, and gave me one about five inches long. It was then discovered to be of that colour which used to be popular with the great Italian painters, and which we see so often in the works of Francia, Raffael, Domipichino, and others. Mr. Crookes subsequently asked for a ringlet, but stipulated that he should be allowed to cut it himself from the roots; and this was permitted, without the slightest remonstrance or condition of any kind. I ought to add here that the hair of the medium is short for a female, and nearly black.
The camera was then prepared for photographing the figure, and the process was substantially similar to that adopted at the house of Miss Cook's father, a twelve-month ago. 'Katie' bore the intense glare without shrinking, and I can only compare her figure to an illuminated statue in Parian
The figure was as I myself saw it photographed at Hackney, with the agency of magnesium light. The operator in this case was Mr. W. H. Harrison, a gentleman well known in connection with scientific and daily newspaper literature in the metropolis. Mr. Harrison is a very matter-of-fact person, and is not at all disposed to take anything for granted when scientific truth is the object of investigation.
As absolute exactitude is necessary in describing the process by which so astounding a result as the photographing of a materialised apparition was accomplished, I have asked Mr. Harrison to relate in his own words the modus operandi:—
'Many conditions had to be complied with to secure successful results. A harmonious circle was necessary, that the medium might be at case, free from all care and anxiety, in order that the manifestations should be given with the greater power. It was necessary that the medium should not sit too frequently, and have little to do at other times, so as to reserve power and vital energy for the séances. In short all the conditions which Spiritualists know to favour good manifestations were supplied as nearly as possible on this occasion.
'The cabinet being in one of the corners of a room in the basement of the house, the light was too weak, and not in the best direction for photographic purposes, .For the same reason that spirits can always handle old musical instruments better than new ones, and that the manifestations are usually stronger after a medium has lived for some time in the house, it was not desirable to make a new cabinet, the old one being well charged with imponderable emanations from the medium, of which science at present knows nothing, It was, therefore, thought desirable to use the old cabinet, and to do the photographing by the magnesium light.
'Magnesium ribbon will not ignite readily at a desired moment, and sometimes goes out unexpectedly, so would be liable to cause many failures. As both materialised spirit forms and photographic plates deteriorate rapidly after they are prepared in perfection, it was necessary to have a light which should not fail at a critical moment.
'Accordingly, magnesium powder mixed with sand was used, on the principle devised by Mr. Henry Larkins. A narrow deal board, three feet long, was nailed to a base-board, and firmly held in a vertical position. A Bunsen's burner, to consume gas mixed with common air, was fixed horizontally through the vertical board, and an indiarubber tube supplied the burner with common gas. The end of a funnel was then brought close to the gas-flame. When some magnesium powder and sand were poured into the latter the stream caught fire, and produced a flame of dazzling brilliancy. The larger the proportion of magnesium in the powder, the larger was the flame; and the best results were obtained with a flame averaging two feet in length, and lasting for five or six seconds.
'As might be expected, there was more success in obtaining positives than negatives, as a shorter exposure would do to the former. The ordinary processes were used—namely, a thirty-five grain nitrate of silver bath, and proto-sulphate of iron development. Mawson's collodion. A half-plate camera and lens were used, with a stop rather less than an inch in diameter, between the front and back combinations of the lens.'
As already stated, I was prevented by another engagement from witnessing the final departure of 'Katie King,' on the 21st of May; but I am
'On the 21st inst., the occasion of 'Katie's' last appearance amongst us, she was good enough to give me what I consider a still more infallible proof (if one could be needed) of the distinction of her ideality from that of her medium. When she summoned me in my turn to say a few words to her behind the curtain, I again saw and touched the warm breathing body of Florence Cook lying on the floor, and then stood upright by the side of 'Katie,' who desired me to place my hand inside the loose single garment which she wore, and feel her body. I did so thoroughly. I felt her heart beating rapidly beneath my hand; and passed my fingers through her long hair, to satisfy myself that it grew from her head, and can testify that, if she be of 'psychic force,' psychic force is very like a woman.
"Katie' was very busy that evening. To each of her friends assembled to say good-bye she gave a bouquet of flowers tied up with ribbon, a piece of her dress veil, a lock of her hair, and a note which she wrote with her pencil before us. Mine was as follows: 'From Annie Owen de Morgan (alias Katie King) to her friend———, with love. Pensez à moi souvenirs for her friends, there was not a hole to be seen in it, examine it which way you would. It was the same with her veil, and I have seen her do the same thing several times.'
I may add that I have seen the pieces of cloth cut from the tunic. Another eye-witness tells me that fifteen or sixteen pieces were cut in his presence, and that the front of the skirt 'looked like a cullender,' but all that 'Katie' did to restore it to its original shape was to bring the folds together with her hands, and then shako them out, when the skirt was found to be whole and entire as before! I do not presume to supply a solution for this or any other phase of the phenomena.
In drawing attention to the subject, it is not my desire to speculate, much less to dogmatise. All I care to do is to invite candid inquiry. But to secure this I find to be a matter of enormous difficulty. Here is an illustration. Wishing to attract a friend—a man of great ability in the scientific world, and an admitted authority on those subjects, which may be regarded as his specialities—I addressed him thus: 'You are an F.S.B., a deep thinker, and widely known for your scientific attainments; therefore, what you say will carry weight. Will you accompany me to a private house, and sec a non-professional medium? Satisfy yourself by every possible expedient that your ingenuity can devise that imposture is impossible, and tell me what you think of it.' The answer was, 'I don't believe in it, and I don't care to take up any new things; but I will meet any man you like on my own ground!'
This response might be reasonable enough when all that was known of the phenomena was limited to table-turning, rappings, bell-ringing, and the other elementary, and possibly frivolous, indications of a physical power exterior to the body. But the phenomena have passed out of the realm of conjecture, and have entered the region of fact. Science may still fold its arms and stand aloof. It did the same in all the earlier developments of those great discoveries which will make the Victorian age the grandest epoch of
I admit, with the utmost frankness, that what I have related as perfectly true is, at the same time, as diametrically opposed to all the researches of science as to all the traditions of probability. When I assert that two ladies and three gentlemen sit down in a room, and that room in their own house, and lock the door, and that they are shortly after joined by another individual (making the party six, instead of five), and that the sixth, in the form of a woman, talks with them for an hour, sings, plays, walks about, and does many things that they do, and that she then throws back the curtain by which she entered and shows you the living form of the fifth, and permits you at one and the same time to feel her, and also feel the insensible figure to which she points, and which you recognise as the fifth—then I say that an astounding and inexplicable fact has been established, which challenges the attention of the thoughtful, and demands all the scrutiny that science can bring to bear upon it.
I advance no theories of my own to explain or account for what I have seen. All I lay claim to is critical accuracy for my description of experiences, acquired in many cases under circumstances which would have given me especial facilities for the detection and exposure of fraud. I found none. My story, and those of others far more competent to deal with the subject, may be discredited. We care not. We can afford to wait. Time is on our side. Facts which to-day are contemptuously denied will to-morrow be admitted and vindicated. Out of the mists of ignorance and prejudice a light will be evolved. Through the rifts in the clouds that obscure the future I think I can discern a form that, in the fulness of time, will assume the majestic image of Truth.
Dunedin: Mills, Dick & Co., General Printers, Stafford Street
Several friends having asked me to republish my letters referring to the finances of New Zealand, I have much pleasure in acceding to the request. The following pages will be found to contain the substance of my observations in a condensed form.
For years past our ordinary expenditure has exceeded income, and of late the annual deficit has increased so rapidly that it now amounts to hundreds of thousands of pounds. The causes of this are so apparent, that hardly anyone who is not wilfully blind can fail to recognise them. With a total population not exceeding that of some of the principal towns in England, we have been cursed with the most complicated and costly series of Governments in the whole world. To gain an approximate idea of the extravagance we have been supporting let any unprejudiced man pay a visit to our Provincial Council of Otago; let him run over in his mind the list of officers and salaries that institution implies, with its Superintendent, Executive, Speaker, Clerks, Messengers, Sergeant-at-arms, and the whole paraphernalia. Let him reflect that the same deplorable exhibition of incapacity, and the same outrageous waste, go on in half-a-dozen similar assemblies; let him pass in review the limitless series of jobs that have been perpetrated here; let him look at the Post Office, costing from £35,000 to .£40,000, when a building as well suited for that or any other purpose could have been erected for a tenth part of the money; let him look at the Exhibition Buildings costing £20,000 or more, and presenting the ridiculous spectacle of a permanent building put up for a temporary purpose; let him then cast his eye to the South and observe a railway constructed at a cost of £367,168, for the ordinary requirements of which a few donkey-carts might suffice; let him remark the jetty costing £40,000 at which the only ship that ever discharged was the one conveying the timber to make the approaches to it. When he has thus, perhaps, in some measure realised the folly displayed by our own Provincial Governments, let him imagine the same sort of thing' going in the other Provincial Councils, whilst over all there has been a General Government outstripping every one of its subordinates in the dignified magnitude of its extravagance. When he has done this, it will cease to be a matter of surprise that our debt, as compared with population, exceeds that of every nation under heaven, and that our current expenditure should exceed income by nearly 50 per cent.
Why the people of this Colony should have allowed so pernicious a system to grow up, why they should acquiesce in a state of things so fraught with destruction, may prove hereafter an interesting question to the student of political philosophy. And it will probably be found that the true cause of this strange apathy is, that instead of additional taxes being imposed to supply the amounts wasted by Government, the annual deficits have been made good out of borrowed money. When bad or wasteful Government is brought home to the people, as it eventually
It is related of Hudson, the great railway king, that when elected chairman of directors of the Eastern Counties Railway, he issued instructions to the head of the financial department to "make things pleasant." This making things pleasant consisted simply in paying dividends out of capital, and for a time, no doubt, answered its purpose. Indeed the only objection to such a system was that it would not last forever—otherwise it would have been perfect. But a time inexorably came, when the process, pleasant as it was, could no longer be continued, when the unlucky shareholders deprived of the customary dividend, were forced to recognise the existence of an enormous deficit.
The system adopted by the great railway king, is much the same as our Colonial politicians seem bent on following. Year after year things are made pleasant to the supporters of the Government, to our huge army of officials, to constituencies returning pliant members of Assembly, and the deficit is replaced by borrowing, Public works are started involving the expenditure of thousands, or tens of thousands, not on the ground of their being legitimately wanted, or likely to remunerate, but simply for the advantage to local traders of the expenditure of money in their immediate neighbourhood. The entire community with one voice cries out to the Government "Give, give, give. Spend money amongst us, no matter how, or for what purpose. Distribute billets, silence remonstrance, and buy off opposition as you will. All we ask is—spend, but do not tax us."
The results of adopting this system may be readily conceived. It gives possession of power to those who will use it with the least scruple. Instead of the Government being held accountable for enforcing economy or proper administration, it's very tenure of office is made to depend upon the extent of its extravagance. Our practice of supplying deficits in revenue out of borrowed capital, and of incurring further debt for the reckless construction of public works, reverses the proper condition of things, and makes a government that is dragging the country to ruin, seem to the ignorant to be conducting it along the very path to prosperity.
When persons engaged in commercial avocations find themselves in a position of unexpected difficulty, when trade falls off and there is a simultaneous decline in the rate of profit, there are generally two alternatives, and the style of man may be fairly estimated by that which he selects. The
The most alarming feature of the case is that the evil tends so rapidly to intensify itself. The bubble can only be kept from bursting by blowing it larger. Accustomed as our population has become to revel in false prosperity, any Government that awakened them to a sense of their true position might be reproached as the cause of misfortunes to which it only drew attention. And so we find that to grasp the nettle boldly, to inquire into, and avow, our real financial situation, requires more courage than any Colonial politician apparently possesses.
As illustrative of this we may refer to the action taken by the Stafford party during their recent but brief tenure of power. In making his ministerial statement Mr Stafford said—"The Government would strenuously endeavor to bring the ordinary expenditure within the ordinary revenue of the Colony, and thus avoid increasing the floating debt"—thereby admitting that expenditure exceeded income, and that great efforts would be requisite to establish an equilibrium. The Stafford party, however, were soon driven from office, and assuming that there was any real intention to carry out the program me laid down by their chief, few can be surprised at their speedy expulsion. But whilst giving them credit for a wish to do something towards reducing our preposterous expenditure, it is deeply to be regretted that a more determined stand was not made two years ago when the Financial Scheme was laid before the Assembly. By that means a fatal impulse was given alike to the reckless expenditure on public works and to the policy of supplementing deficits out of borrowed capital. Looking at the constitution of Assembly, at the pressure put on members by their constituencies, and on the ministry by members, it was a foregone conclusion that the money borrowed would be misapplied, and that no one could long retain the post of power without yielding to demands for which there was no justification. One or two individual members of the Opposition, it is true, spoke out boldly and nobly, and their conduct in doing so, when unsupported by the strength of their party, entitles them to the gratitude of every true friend of New Zealand.
It was at this meeting of the Assembly that the practice of defraying military and other expenses out of borrowed money was adopted as portion of our avowed policy. In the Financial Statement of that year the Colonial Treasurer remarked,—
"It is useless for us to attempt to disguise from ourselves that when in "You will not be surprised, therefore, after what I have already stated upon the subject of Defence expenditure, to hear that the Government consider that the Colony is not justified, even if it were able to do so, in regarding the item of Defence Expenditure as one to be defrayed out of the ordinary revenue." "We therefore propose to do that which we believe a large section of the public men of the Colony regret was not done four years ago—we intend to ask for a Permanent Appropriation for Defence Purposes of .£180,000 for the first year, £160,000 for the second year, and £150,000 for the three succeeding years, the money to be borrowed from time to time, if required, and as required."
This recommendation was adopted, and one of the largest items of our permanent expenditure is thus transferred from the accounts of the Consolidated Fund and charged against one maintained out of borrowed money.
In the accounts for the year ending
The accounts of the next year disclosed a state of things still worse. The revenue had fallen off whilst expenditure increased; and these alterations for the worse were observable in almost every item. The subjoined table shows the respective amounts of revenue for the two years:—
With the apparent exception of the Telegraph, therefore, we see that every individual item showed a diminution, and the entire discrepancy between the two years amounted to no less than £111,986 14s 9d. As regards the telegraph to which it will be necessary to refer more particularly by and bye, it may be here mentioned that like the Post Office it is a losing department, and that the enhanced receipts of this particular year are more than counterbalanced by increased expenses.
After the £936,188 which is the real amount of revenue for the period we are considering, come a variety of entries by means of which the public income is apparently raised from that sum to £1,201,832, full particulars of which will be found in the detailed statement annexed hereto. I do not expect my readers to understand all these items, but some of them, I think, they will understand vary clearly. For instance, they will see that £50,000 worth of Treasury Bills are put down in the same way as if that amount was derived from actual revenue. And then they may remark £53,098 18s 4d entered as transferred from Special Fund. Now this Special Fund is the proceeds of loans, so here are two instances of borrowed money being treated like permanent income.
In regard to the other entries by means of which the receipts are swollen from £936,188 to £1,201,832, it is obvious that being mixed up with the Treasury Bills and transfers from the Special Fund we find them in very suspicious company, but if it is possible for the Government to manufacture so large an amount of money without having recourse either to borrowing or taxation, it is a pity they do not enlarge their machinery and supply the whole revenue by the same means.
The study of figures and statistics is proverbially so dry that it is hardly to be wondered the general reader should regard them with aversion; but, in dealing with these subjects, one occosionally meets with an amusing incident, or a mouthful of humbug of such exceptionally good quality as to afford an agreeable relief after the dreary monotony of statistical facts. Such a one is to be found in the preamble of the
"Most Gracious Sovereign— "We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects in the House of Representatives in New Zealand in Parliament assembled, towards making good the supply which we have cheerfully granted to your Majesty in this Session of Parliament, have resolved to grant unto your Majesty the sums hereinafter mentioned, and do therefore most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be enacted, by the General Assembly of New Zealand in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows."
Bearing in mind the real object of the Bill, I think we cannot but admire the versatility and grasp of mind that could conceive the idea of so happily blending loyalty and disinterested liberality towards our beloved sovereign with the more practical notion of making things pleasant to ourselves. And I have no doubt that when Hudson adopted a similar course in like circumstances, he coupled his instructions with a few moral remarks of a highly edifying character.
Further down in the list of receipts we have an entry of £66,295 6s 6d for an "Advance from Special Fund, London," and partially balanced by a similar entry on the other side of £46,000 repaid. This still leaves a balance of £20,295 6s 6d to be added to the other amounts of borrowed money tacked on to the actual revenue, and applied to purposes of general expenditure.
Then we come to Deficiency Bill £60,000, balanced by an entry on the other side of the same amount for overdraft repaid Bank of New Zealand. This apparently represents a temporary accommodation converted into a deficit. Next comes Treasury Bills renewed, £200,000, with a corresponding entry on the other side of Treasury Bills redeemed. This would appear to represent an old debt staved off for a time, indicating that when the time came to pay we found it more convenient to take an extension of credit. It seems our creditors did not object, but as these transactions, such as renewing bills and the like are rarely effected without some expense in the way of discount, commission, &c., it would be interesting to see what these amounted to in the present instance.
Passing now the accounts of disbursements we find (with the most trivial exception) that every item shows an increase, some to the extent of fifty or sixty per cent. This is a more serious affair even than the diminished revenue, for whilst that might possibly be attributed to misfortune, the increased expenditure indicates something worse. Passing by one or two accounts in which the increase has not been so great, we come to that of Public Domains and Buildings, for which we paid £2797 in all works he superintends, besides the £700, is not stated, but might perhaps be inferred from the entry above quoted; and here I wonder whether the Colonial Architect enjoys the same privilege as private architects—that of taking commissions from contractors? Should such be the case, what with his fixed salary of £700 a-year, commissions from the Government and commissions from the contractors, we must admit that the Colonial architect has a really good time of it. Further on, when we come to Miscellaneous Expenditure, we shall find £125 4s, or about £2 10s a week, set down as "paid to labourer engaged by Colonial Architect," though what work may be performed in return does not appear. And under Miscellaneous we also find £1568 expended in the purchase of furniture for the Government House.
Lower down we come to Public Departments costing £45,282 in
Then there is Law and Justice, for which we paid £54,926 in
Next on the list stand the Post Office and Telegraph Departments, costing £145,712 in
Next we find the Customs' Department, which figures for £37,835 in
Then comes the Miscellaneous Expenditure, which here figures for £83,270 as compared with £63,823 for the previous year, showing an increase of £29,447, or nearly 50 per cent. The entries appearing under the heading of "Miscellaneous" certainly justify the selection of that name. I cannot attempt to give them in full detail, but have picked out a few, which are as follow:—
When I first made out a comparative table of expenditure for the years
These figures speak for themselves. It will be observed that in the former year there were four quarterly payments for interest of about £52,000 each; but in the latter we find only three quarterly payments—the one due on the 15th July being excluded, so that the total amount set down for interest was £52,000 less than really had to be paid. In excuse for this omission, it may perhaps be pleaded that the money was not absolutely due till
In estimating, therefore, the amount of interest really chargeable to the year under consideration, we must add £52,000 to the sum put down in the published account. When this is done, the seeming saving is converted into a loss, and the interest account for
To complete our review of disbursements we Have still to consider the items of Native and Military Expenditure.
The former shows an increase of £13,282, being only £21,496 in
On referring to the account of disbursements from the Consolidated Fund, I found that, in
It can hardly be necessary to dilate upon the favourable comparison ostensibly shown by these figures. Notwithstanding every other department showing an increased expenditure, the saving here indicated would more than counterbalance them all, and although the deficit for
When these entries have been rectified, we find, with one insignificant exception, that the table of disbursements is very brother to that of receipts—that as every source of revenue diminished, so every individual item of expenditure increased during the year under consideration.
I subjoin a comparative statement of the expenditure for the two years, indicating by a * the insertions necessary to correct the account.
Having thus reviewed the accounts of the Consolidated Fund, we have now to consider those of the Special Fund. The entries we find on the receipt sideare those of sums raised by sale of Debentures, Hypothecation of debentures, Proceeds of Treasury Bills, Loans, &c. The amount of money so raised for the year under consideration was £602,587. There is £20,000 put down for Treasury Bills renewed. £15,000 as raised by Sale of Debentures, and then again another sum of £14,600 raised by Sale of Debentures. There is £214,900 put down for "Debentures issued in Conversion and Consolidation of Loans" and £273,500 as raised by "Hypothecation of Debentures."
The entries in this account are somewhat confusing for we find the same amount figuring on both sides. Thus, in addition to the above, we have £204,000 set down as "raised to defray amount advanced under Temporary Loan Act" and we have it again appearing on the credit side as applied in "part" repayment. Such items, however, we will pass over, merely remarking that they appear to indicate that the accumulating floating debt when it had assumed sufficient dimensions had to be consolidated or converted into a portion of the permanent indebtedness of the colony.
There is however one item of peculiar interest appearing on both sides of the account. Among the receipts we have £1,709 as Proceeds of Confiscated Lands, and on the other side, to set against this, we have £6,122 put down as paid for "Management and Survey of Confiscated Lauds," or rather more than three times what the lands realised. Going to make up this sum we have £2,839 for salaries, £688 for extra clerical assistance, £1074 for surveys, £566 for purchase and compensatien, £238 for office rent, and £131 for the inevitable travelling expenses.
Then we have a solid lump of £118,572 applied to purposes of a miscellaneous character as particularised below:—
As regards the £19,898 paid to Mr Busby, why was it paid? What did the Colony get in exchange for it? It is possible that this is in settlement of some antiquated land claim, but even if good value were got for the money in the shape of broad acres, it does not follow that they should be paid for with borrowed money. When a Province sells its land it deals with the proceeds as permanent income like that arising from rents or pastoral assessments, and if such receipts are credited to the current revenue it would be natural to expect payments for the purchase of land to be similarly debited against ordinary expenditure.
Then in regard to the £27,873 put down among the disbursements as "Balance due by the Province of Auckland," we can only suppose that it represents a bad debt owing by Auckland to the General Government, and instead of being defrayed out of income was met out of capital. A
Here then is £118,572 devoted to miscelloneous purposes out of borrowed money, besides the £171,134 applied to military expenditure. If, therefore, we wish to obtain an approximate idea of the real deficit for the year under consideration, it will be requisite to commence with £122,000, which is the deficiency admitted by the Colonial Treasurer, and add on to it the £52,000 for interest omitted, the £171,134 of military expenditure, and the £118,572 applied to miscellaneous purposes, thus:—
The next items claiming attention are £255,392 for Provincial Loans taken over by the General Governments, £810 for interest accrued on them, and £2,760 for charges and expenses attending their conversion. Then there is £6,000 handed over to Wellington to extinguish a loan raised under the "Harbour Reserves Amendment Act" and £250 to redeem debentures of the everlasting Wanganui Bridge.
Then we came to the expenses of negotiating the Loan of
£500 of the above is charged to the Consolidated Fund, £2895 to Immigration and Public Works; but with the exception of £500 every penny is defrayed out of the loan itself.
The reader will observe that a good many of the items appearing in the disbursements of the Special Fund, we have not included in the £463,706, representing the probable deficit for the year. The omission, however, is of little consequence, for when the annual deficiency gets well into six figures a few thousand pounds more or less are not of much consequence. I mean that whatever course of action might be proper with a deficit of £500,000, would be equally advisable with a deficit of only £450,000. If it behooves us to bestir ourselves in the one case it does in the other, and if we make up our minds to look on with lazy acquiesence whatever may be our plight, we might as well spare ourselves the trouble of inquiring into the exact circumstances of our position.
The complete accounts for the succeeding year—that ending
But this sum, large as it is, will not adequately represent the real deficit. We may not be able at present to estimate it with perfect accuracy, but we can get a very good general idea. Attached to the Financial Statements of each year are a series of tables, and the first of these is devoted to showing the amount of our indebtedness as it grows progressively larger. On the
It follows, therefore, that only £618,493 was really applied to Public Works and Immigration, and if we deduct that sum from the £1,102,472 which was added to the debt, we get £483,979 to represent the increase of debt for other purposes, and that amount may very probably stand for the actual deficiency for the year just terminated. The detail are shown below.
There are two circumstances by which the public is liable to be deceived in regard to the financial operations of the Colony. One is the term Consolidated Fund, and the other is the occasional reference to the operations of the Sinking Fund. The name of the first seems to suggest all revenue converge to it, and that it is the source from which that all expenditure is defrayed, excepting that upon reproductive works. Consequently, when the Colonial Treasurer for the time being proclaims a surplus on the transactions of the Consolidated Fund a number of people accept the assurance with thankful surprise, and comfort themselves with the belief that it is all right—that we have at last established a balance between income and expenditure—and that the Sinking Fund will gradually cat away into the principal of our loans, and in process of time, rid us of them entirely. But the seeming surplus on the Consolidated Fund as we have seen is only created by charging large items of miscellaneous expenditure against borrowed money, and, until quite recently, it has been part of our avowed policy to defray the bulk of interest and other expenses on the Public Works Loan out of the capital of the loan itself.
As regards the Sinking Fund, under the system we are pursuing, its very existence amounts to no more than a pleasant fiction. A Sinking Fund is the apparatus by which a debt is gradually paid off; and, in cases where the debt is not being paid off, but, on the contrary, goes on increasing at a enormous rate, the institution of a Sinking Fund becomes a patent absurdity. To illustrate its operation I subjoin a table, showing the relative growths of Debt and Sinking Fund for the last two years.
In this instance the increase of Debt was about seven times that of the Sinking Fund. In the next year we shall find the discrepancy still greater:—
Here the increase of Debt is more than ten times that of the Sinking Fund. What more solemn farce can therefore be imagined than keeping up a pretence of paying off our debt, when that debt is advancing with such gigantic strides? But it is not a mere question of silliness, nor even of uselessly complicating the public accounts. These operations cost money. There are "Commissioners" of the Sinking Fund, who, we may presume, draw salaries. At all events they make voluminous reports, and occasionally suggest the advisability of special legislation for the better performance of their duties. When, therefore, our debt is not being paid off, but on the contrary is rapidly accumulating, the operations of the Sinking Fund have and can have no other effect than to deceive the public, whilst putting the country to very considerable expense.
Whenever an attempt is made to draw attention to the enormous amount of our debt and the rapidity with which it accumulates, two arguments are used with the view of reassuring. One is, that debt incurred for reproductive purposes is not a burden but a benefit—that if borrowed money be only judiciously applied to Public Works it will yield a return equal to the annual charge for interest, thus imposing no burden on the community whilst affording increased facilities to trade and general production.
As an abstract proposition this is of course undeniable, but upon the case in hand it has not the remotest bearing. The additions to our debt are not contracted for reproductive purposes only. About half of it, or £5,000,000, has been incurred for the wretched Northern War, and so far from that expenditure having settled the question it still costs us about a quarter of a million annually to maintain what I suppose we must call "peace." As shown above, the annual deficit amounts to nearly half a million a year, which regularly goes to augment the debt. Then, as regards the sums borrowed for public works can anyone in his senses imagine that we get value for them, or anything like it? What is the
debt tends to reproduce itself? Instead of making a profit for the Government—instead of paying interest of the capital invested in them or doing anything towards it—they involve a direct loss of about £80,000 a year. And it must be remembered there is nothing in the nature of a Post Office or Telegraph that makes it unreasonable to expect them to yield a profit, or at least pay their way. In America a vast number of letters are conveyed by private parties as a commercial undertaking. Most efficiently is the service conducted, and it shows every appearance of well remunerating the enterprising proprietors. When, therefore, we find the Government enterprises distinguished by such tremenduous loss in cases where it is possible to keep track, what must we suppose it to be in cases where we have not the means of checking it ?
Sometimes we hear people admit that the money intrusted to the Government for investment in public works is certain to result in direct loss, and yet it is urged that the indirect advantages resulting therefrom will more than counterbalance it. The very term "indirect advantages" is one of that vague illusive character that do so much to confuse and mislead the unthinking. Strictly speaking there can be no such thing as an indirect advantage, for whenever a real benefit exists, it must be to the profit of some individual or individuals of whom the public is composed. And in such cases, seeing that private parties have generally a pretty keen eye to their own interests, the community at large might safely trust them to adopt measures most conducive to it.
If, however, it should be imagined that an increase to the revenue is to be included among the indirect advantages that are expected to result from our lavish expenditure, the idea may be banished at once, for it will not stand the test of experience. In
The receipts for the financial year ending
If the above should not be deemed conclusive, we have the experience of other countries to guide us. In August last, a petition was presented to the House of Commons bearing the signatures of 4878 landed proprietors of Bengal and the Central Provinces of India, which represented that the proceedings of the Government had tended to worsen the condition of the country; that a loss of £2,000,000 a year on railways had to be made up by taxation; that the traffic in many places was reverting to the rivers, yet the Government designed to spend £28,000,000 on new lines of railway, and £39,000,000 on canals; that a large deficit was found almost every year in the Indian Exchequer, to meet which local taxes and cesses had been imposed in vain; and finally praying for the appointment of a commission to inquire into these grievances.
The other argument put forward in reply to the suggestions of prudence is the population theory. We are told to reassure ourselves, for immigration, by affording a wider base on which to levy taxes, will enable us to provide for the increased interest and other expenses of government.
If there were any probability of population increasing in the same ratio as our indebtedness, there might be some show of plausibility in the argument, though other countries will not tolerate the idea of allowing debt to increase at all. As compared with population, the national debt of Great Britain has largely diminished within the List fifty years. That of the United States, since the close of the war, has been enormously reduced, not merely in proportion to the population, but in actual amount. Whilst Northern Germany has practically no debt .at all.
If, then, we made up our minds to look on contentedly, whilst debt and population advanced with equal strides, we should still be adopting a course which the foremost nations of the world repudiate. But even these conditions do not apply to us. Our population does not grow at the same rate as debt, for the latter increases in a ratio three or four times as fast—indeed, of late it has increased five times as rapidly, as may be seen from the following table :—
From
But whilst up to
But the advocates of our wasteful policy endeavour to impose upon the public by another assumption equally at variance with facts. They talk as if an increase of population necessarily implied increased revenue; and if one accepted their representations, it would only be requisite to double the population in order to get double the amount of taxes; bur this assumption is no less opposed to common sense than to ascertained facts, as shown below:—
Thus we see that for four consecutive years the population increased, whilst the revenue with equal regularity tell off. If there existed such an exact correspondence between population and revenue as is assumed, the revenue for tendency to raise the revenue, hut that tendency may be neutralised by many causes—as, for instance, bad government, or the perversion of the public funds from their legitimate objects; and if we admit that, other things being equal, the revenue for the last four years would have advanced in proportion to the population, it stands to reason that adverse influences of a very prejudicial character must have been at work to counteract this tendency to such a fatal degree.
Besides, is it likely that population will be attracted to a country so deeply steeped in debt, and that tolerates its reckless increase with such indifference as we manifest? Our very reason for desiring population is enough of itself to drive it away. Whenever, it becomes known, as eventually it must, that we are sunk in a debt of such magnitude as to be unable to defray its interest, what use will it be to go to the labour market of Europe and ask people to come out and help us to pay it? A man notoriously insolvent might as well advertise for a partner with £10,000 capital.
There are people who affirm that the resources of New Zealand are such as will enable us to defray the interest of our debt even when increased to the dimensions shadowed forth in the programme of the Colonial Treasurer; but it is remarkable that those very people shrink from the idea of imposing taxes even to defray the interest on the present debt. But if we cannot pay interest on £10,000.000, how can we be expected to pay interest on £14,000,000 or £15,000,000?
The system we have been and are pursuing, cannot, in its nature, go on forever. Some time or other our real position will become known, and then the bubble will burst. By the operation of some extraordinary delusion, English capitalists have been induced to advance millions to the New Zealand Government. Perhaps they may be under the impression that this money is only applied to reproductive works, and that we are honestly defraying current expenses out of revenue. Such infatuation can hardly be accounted for on any other hypothesis. They probably have not the means of knowing how enormously our expenditure exceeds income, and what large amounts of borrowed capital are annually applied to conceal the deficiency. The fact of such a Government as ours having carried on so long, can only be attributed to its creditors being in ignorance of our position, and the question of how long it may succeed in keeping up the game, is dependent on the success it may achieve in concealing the truth. Our financial position is like a barrel full of holes, into which people are pouring water, expecting to find it there when wanted. So long as they keep pouring in at a rate equal to the leakage, the water will maintain its level, and they may perhaps delude themselves into the belief that it is all there and available when wanted; but the moment the supply slackens the waste betrays itself. So it is with us. For years past our Government has been spending money at a rate absolutely furious, and the only reason that the increasing deficits have not forced themselves on public attention is, that capitalists in England have enabled it to proceed unchecked in its career of extravagance. At present even, it is doubtful if the country could support the weight of its burdens; but if any further additions to them are made, there will be but the alternative of repudiation, or such ruinous taxation as will dissipate for ever our dream of prosperity.
The evil is of such long standing, and seems to have worked itself so deeply into our whole system, that nothing but a united and energetic effort can suffice to throw it off. Our disease is so bad that only the most violent remedy will have any effect, and the very first step in the direction of retrenchment will necessarily be attended with disagreeable consequences. It is idle to think of accomplishing any real reform without first recognising our true position. To do that implies facing a long and severe period of adversity. The seeming prosperity that at present surrounds us is but the temporary effect of our infatuated policy of wasteful, reckless expenditure. Some time it must come to an end, and the practical question for the people of New Zealand is this—Will they put an immediate stop to the vicious system of bolstering up a rotten fabric, and resolutely face the worst that can befall them, or, for the sake of a short period of fictitious prosperity, will they consent to the ruin of their adopted country and the tenfold aggravation of the evil day when it comes?
Dunedin: Mills, Dick & Co., General Printers, Stafford Street.
What Taxes do you pay?—What Taxes are collected?—The Revenue. 1. The Land Fund: its value, its liabilities. 2. Ordinary Revenue.—Indirect Taxation.—Property and Income.—Private Land Ownership.—Working-men's Income.—Taxes on Food.—Rice for example.—Protective Duty on Grain and Flour.—Ought to be Abolished.—Loss and Gain of so doing.—Other Food Taxes.—Table of Taxes on Food.—Taxes on other necessaries.—Clothing.—Furniture and Household Utensils.—Cleanliness.—Medicine and Medical Comforts.—Light.—Stationery.—Conveyance.—Building Materials.—Table of Taxes on all Necessaries.—Comparative Burden.—Large Untaxed Incomes.—An Instance.—Banks and other Money-lenders.—Other Surplus Incomes.—Wrong and Right.—Taxes on Superfluities.—Table of Taxes on Stimulants.—Poor Man Pays Highest Duty per cent, of value.—Taxes on Carriage.—High Railway Haulage Rates Make Food and Fuel Dear.—Use New Zealand Coal.—Reduce Railway Rates.—Objections of Protectionists.—Replied to.—Local Industry, how affected.—Protection not needed.—Unjust and Obstructive to Bettering of Working-man's Condition.
Present Unfairness.—Proposed Reforms.—Tax on Property and Income.—Mode of Assessment.—Objection to "Inquisitorial" Action.—Replied to.—Other Objections.—By Members of Parliament.—Replies to them.—Alleged Unproductiveness of Tax.—Absurdity of Low Estimate.—British Landed Income.—Approximate Estimate of Proceeds of Tax in New Zealand.—Income from Other Sources than Land.—Limit of Exemption.—Probable Produce of New Taxes, deducting exempted incomes.—Share of Land Fund.—Table of Receipts and Acreage Tax thereon.—Taxes on Purchases and Leases of Land from Natives.—History of "Native Land-sharking."—New Zealand,
Summary of Proposed Reforms.—Loss and Gain.—Railway Reform.—How to obtain Reforms.—Defects and Injustices of Electoral Machinery.—Representation should be by Numbers.—Form of Ballot no Protection to Real Independence.—Class Polling hours.—Agitation.—Working-men's Clubs.—Working-men's Newspapers.—Radical. Refokm.
Can you answer that question? Have you any knowledge on the subject? And if not, are you content to remain in ignorance of it, or do you wish to learn?
About thirty years ago, it was related as a good joke in London, that a Member of Parliament, being constantly tormented by a poor relation to get him "a billet," was at last provoked into saying, "Oh, do go to New Zealand! Four harvests a year, and no taxes!"
However the facts may have been then, I believe there is many a man in New Zealand now who does not know, although he would like to know, what taxes he pays, and what are paid by his neighbour. I propose to impart that knowledge to every, one who chooses to read this little Handbook. I do so because I observe that there has been little exact talk in public—even at election meetings—on the subject; that the newspapers abstain from a thorough discussion of it; and that even in our Parliament, sitting at Wellington, the question was Very superficially gossiped about last year rather than thoroughly investigated, and a resolution arrived at which amounts to postponing any action for change until public opinion shall have made itself heard thereon. I humbly hope that the publication of my own inquiries into it may help in the formation and expression of public opinion before next session.
There are local rates in cities, towns, drainage, and road districts; but these are spent on local improvements, that add value to the property, or tend to prevent disease in the district rated. There was a poll-tax on children, and a tax at so much a house, big or small, for public education purposes; but these have been done away with. There is a poll-tax on dogs, but that is only to prevent the nuisance of too many useless ones, and to provide for registration, so that the owner may be known in case of damage to or by the useful animal.
It is of taxes for colonial revenue purposes that I ask the question: taxes out of which is defrayed the cost of "peace, order, and good government," the protection of life, property, and income from danger or outrage, and the enjoyment of them in security and comfort; the cost of public works and immigration adding value to property and income; and the cost of interest and sinking fund on the heavy debt which the Colony has incurred for all the above purposes, but chiefly the last mentioned.
The public revenue—the money received yearly by Government, to be spent according to law for the public welfare—is divided into two classes:—1. Territorial, or Land Revenue; 2. Ordinary, or Consolidated Revenue.
The Land Revenue, or Land Fund, consists of the proceeds of public land sold by the Government to private persons, together with the rent of public land occupied by private persons under lease or license. The late Colonial Treasurer estimated the receipts under these two heads for the current year at £972,577. There are various opinions as to how this revenue should be expended. Practically, it has hitherto been spent, as I think it chiefly ought to be, in immigration and public works beneficial to the district in which the revenue is collected.
In many districts, this expenditure has been anticipated: railways have been made in and to them, and immigrants brought in, so as to make even the inferior land worth buying at the public price, which was not so before. This is notably the case in the "land districts" of Canterbury and Otago, which were formerly two of nine separate "Provinces," each of which, as a district, still maintains its own distinctive land regulations, price of land, and land fund.
A large amount of debt has been incurred by the Colony, in order to make, in those two districts alone, 632 miles of railways now open for traffic—a property which cost upwards of three millions to create—besides 100 miles more to be opened by the end of next June; and also a large expenditure on roads, bridges, public buildings, and harbour and other works, and on the importation of labourers and their families—85,000 souls into the colony, 21,314 into Canterbury alone. The Land Fund of those districts, especially that of Canterbury, from sales of public land, is very large. In Canterbury alone, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce stated on the
New Zealand does not, like the United States, possess a boundless extent of public land. The Surveyor-General has furnished Parliament with an estimate of the acreage and value of the unsold land belonging to the Colony on the
Moreover, the more land becomes private property, the less becomes the annual rent paid to the State by runholders. The Canterbury pasturage rents alone amounted at one time to £50,000 a year. The late Colonial Treasurer estimated them at only £38,000 for the current year.
The Land Fund in each district ought to be held liable for at least the interest and sinking fund of the borrowed money spent in making the land in that district valuable; the balance, if any, (after an exceptional deduction, to be named further on) to be spent on public works within the district, or in immigration to it. Not only for the whole cost of "peace, order, and good government," but also for the repayment of a large portion of our indebtedness, it is clear that we must chiefly rely on the
The Ordinary (or Consolidated) Revenue now consists chiefly of Customs Duties. The total receipts from this source during the year
The principal items are:—Duties on imported goods, £1,197,796; on exported gold, £30,969; on spirits made in New Zealand, £8,995; total, £1,237,760. The balance, amounting to £46,765, is made up of lighthouse and pilotage dues, £30,066; bonded warehouse duty, £5,538; and some smaller items of no consequence to this inquiry.
The duties are directly paid by merchants and others who import goods from Great Britain, Australia, Tasmania, America, Mauritius, and other countries; by
The direct collectors are thus very few; the direct payers are not many. This is, therefore, called indirect taxation. It is a favourite method with all Governments, because the revenue is thus so easily and quietly collected. It is supported by the wealthy generally, because its action can be made such as to collect the greater portion from the poorer people, without bringing the fact very closely or irritatingly under their notice. It is also supported by some producers, because its action can be so managed as to secure a higher price for local produce—whether it be food, clothing, or any other article—than it would fetch if the same thing could be imported from other countries, at a lower price, free of duty. But it is a method really very oppressive to the man of small means. The merchant or importer charges the cost price and duty to the retailer, with his own profit on both added; and the retailer charges to his customers, cost price, duty, the merchant's profit on both, and his own profit on all three.
Thus, if flour has been, during the year all the blame is laid on the baker. The tax on food is really the chief cause of its dearness.
In order to take a comprehensive view of the subject, we must form some idea of the manner in which property, especially in land, and the income from it, and from labour, is divided among the people. The labourer is a receiver of income from labour, which makes land or other property productive, and so his financial condition must be also considered.
Everybody should contribute to the expenses of "peace, order, and good government," in proportion to the benefit which it confers upon him in the receipt and enjoyment of his income.
Everybody pays some taxes. The poor man pays much more, in proportion to his income, than the rich, or even than the well-to-do man. The workman for wages from which he can barely save a little, in providing well for himself and his family, pays a much larger share of his receipts than the master who makes an income by means of the workman's labour, or the owner of land, or other property from which, profit, interest, or income is derived. The Government gives no more protection to the income from labour, than to that from other pursuits.
New Zealand is about as large as England and Wales, Scotland, and half of Ireland. It contains, altogether, about 68 millions of acres. Mr. Trayers, who is a very old and experienced colonist, and was one of the two Members for the capital City, Wellington, in the House of Representatives, stated, in his place in Parliament, "a monstrous fact in connection with the colonization of the country, that 112 people are owners of an extent of land which is something like a tenth or twelfth of the whole area of the islands of New Zealand." I have not the means of ascertaining the total quantity of land which is already in private hands. Those 112 landowners alone thus hold, on the average, upwards of 50,000 acres each. A few hold 100,000 acres
There are about 456,000 The calculations "per head" further on are based on a population of 450,000, which is a little more than the number at the end of the year Maori, or aboriginal natives, still owning probably about one-fourth of the whole area of the colony. Thus 212 out of the 416,000 white colonists hold about one-eighth of the remaining three-fourths. Of course there are other freeholders, each owning a tract of from a fraction of an acre to anything less than any of the favoured 112.
But there are negotiations yet in progress, by which a few more private monopolists may possibly acquire further large tracts of land in the North Island from the Natives. A striking instance is that of "The Murimotu block," comprising nearly a quarter of a million acres of excellent land, well situated. Mr. W. Sefton Moorhouse, one of the three Members for the City of Christchurch in the House of Representatives, is Agent for both the Natives and the would-be proprietors. There were originally five in number; one, the Agent's brother-in-law; another, the brother of the well-known "Tom Russell," who is the soul of the Bank of New Zealand. If the strenuous and influential efforts of this company succeed, this block will become, first their sheep-run, and then their private property, with very small gain to the public revenue, and with but a trifling addition to the public landed estate. In that case, there will be 117 persons owning more than six and a half million acres out of the fifty millions and three-quarters not in the hands of the Natives.
The 112 do not pay one penny to the ordinary revenue in consequence of their land ownership. The five Murimotu monopolists will pay but a trifle to the revenue under the Wellington pasturage regulations, and will acquire the freehold dirt cheap.
There is also a small number of graziers, each of whom holds, under lease or license from the Government or the Natives, a tract varying in extent from 1000 to 100,000 acres. The tenants of the public pay a small rent, which goes into the Land Fund. The Colonial Treasurer estimates this rent for the current year at £147,525. The tenants of the Natives pay no rent or other contribution to the public revenue, as such tenants. There are, of course, lessees of portions of private land less than 1000 acres, especially in towns and suburban districts. Some labourers for wages own, or hold on lease, small portions of land. No holder of land, either his own or by lease or license—whether the land be large or small in extent—contributes anything to the ordinary public revenue of the colony on account of that land.
A large number of the working class hold no land, either as their own or in any other way.
Six Shillings a day may be reckoned more than average wages, if paid for the whole 310 days, "wet or dry." The man who secures such an engagement, certainly, has a yearly income of £93.
Before he can save anything out of this, he has to pay for food, fuel, clothing, lodging, medicine, and medical attendance, for himself and his family if he have one. It is probable that he will soon be able to get free education for his children; but even then he must pay something for stationery, books, slates, &c., and if he live beyond walking distance from a school, it will cost him £2 a year railway fare, irrespective of distance, for each child.
The cheapest full board and lodging costs 18s. a week, or £47 a year, to a single man in town. A decent cottage for a married couple and two or three children—say three rooms—cannot be hired for less than 7s. per week, or £18 4s. a year, in towns or suburbs. In the country, lodging is generally provided by the employer,
Food is, with the exception of ordinary meat and potatoes, dearer than in England. All food that can be imported is taxed, except green vegetables and fruit, live animals, and fresh meat.
Grain and Pulse of every kind not otherwise enumerated, pays 9d. the 100 lbs; if ground, prepared, or manufactured, Is. the 100 lbs; arrowroot and rice in bulky ½d. a lb; plain and unsweetened biscuits, 3s. a cwt; fancy biscuits, 2d. a lb; arrowroot, sago, and tapioca (in tins, jars, or bottles), groats, ground rice, and pea-flour, baking powder, tartaric acid and soda, maccaroni, vermicelli, maizena, and cornflour, all pay 10 per cent, on the declared value at the port where landed.
A curious state of things occurs, which may be fairly attributed to this shameful tax on all farinaceous food.
Sir Julius Vogel, the author of this tax, has, in a recent lettter to Fraser's Magazine in England, stated that during the years except rice, and exported £707,400 worth of the same articles. But this exclusion of rice is very disingenuous and delusive. Official returns before me show that in rice for each of the former three years, £146,075 must be added to the imports as given by the shrewd financier. Thus the corrected statement of all grain, flour, &c., will be:—
Rice was taxed at a specially high rate, with the nominal object of collecting special revenue from a large influx of Chinese gold-diggers, which was expected, but has not occurred. Practically, the consumption of rice, chiefly by British colonists, during four years, valued at £184,119, has enabled an equal amount of other farinaceous food to be exported. The tax paid by its importers, at the very high rate of one halfpenny per pound, about 25 per cent, on the value of Bengal rice landed in New Zealand, must thus have amounted in four years to about £46,000! The tax on flour, at an average price of £13 10s. free of duty, has been 7.4 per cent. Allowing for the higher rate of duty on biscuits and other farinaceous things besides rice and flour, the importers of all such food besides rice have paid, during four years, about £41,700. Total duty collected on all imported farinaceous food for four years, £90,700, equal to 12£ per cent, on the whole importation.
It is a very moderate computation, then, to reckon that New Zealand's farinaceous food has cost the eaters of it nearly 15 per cent, more than it otherwise would, in
Some farmers may grumble if these taxes are abolished; but in spite of that, every eater, who is unable to afford dear food instead of cheap food, will agree with me that All Taxes on Grain and Flour of all Kinds Ought to be Abolished!
The loss to the revenue (amount in
A reduction in the yearly price of "the staff of life," at the rate of 9s. 1d. per head, or £2 5s. 5d. for every family of five mouths, is surely most desirable.
On the following other articles of food and condiment the duties are as follows:—
Curry paste and powder, fish, fruit, and vegetables (dried, paste, or preserved in syrup), preserved ginger, gelatine, jams, jellies, and marmalades; meats and soups, potted and preserved; mustard, sauces, pickles, bottled olive oil, syrups, and all nuts except cocoanuts, 10 per cent, on declared value.
Of the whole of these articles, £910,865 worth were imported in
The value of sugar, molasses, and treacle, imported, was £441,448; duty collected, £128,431, or more than 29 per cent, ad valorem.
The value of tea, coffee, cocoa, etc., imported, was £229,324; duty collected, £84,276, or nearly 37 per cent.
Of vinegar, £11,816 worth was imported; duty collected, £2,777, or 23£ per cent.
On the balance, £228,277, the duty paid may be reckoned at 10 per cent., or £2,283.
But the consumers are charged at least 35, 44, 28, and 12 per cent, respectively, through the intermediate profits on duty, more than they would pay if the articles were free of duty.
On the articles which are not produced in the Colony, I add nothing for protective action on price: but on grain, flour, &c., as above explained, the "cost to public" includes the addition to the price of the whole consumption, both imported and local, because the foreign article cannot be imported at cost price. Thus we have:—
The Government would, in round numbers, by the abolition of all duties on food, lose £235,000; being more than 22 per cent, on the value of imported food. But the whole people would gain £467,000, or £1 0s. 9d. a head in the reduced price of food alone: a yearly gain of £5 3s. 9d. to the family of five.
It may be argued, that all the above articles are not "necessaries." I reply that all except the 10 p.c. articles, and even some of them, are necessaries; and that for a consideration of less than £2300 in revenue, it is not worthwhile to make any exception to the total abolition of duties on food and condiments.
It has been argued especially in favour of the duty on sugar and molasses, that they are largely used for distillation and brewing purposes. Allowing this to be the case, I would tax it only when so used, at public breweries and distilleries, where the duty could be collected by the inspectors who ought to be our guardians against adulterated beer and spirits.
Clothing.—The total value imported in
Silks, linens, and many articles of drapery, haberdashery, hosiery, and millinery, arc, no doubt, luxuries but not necessaries. As above in the case of food, I submit that the proportion of luxuries is so small, that it is hardly worthwhile to except any article from the abolition of all duties on clothing. Silks and linens alone produce only £4,200 of revenue. I have no means of ascertaining how much more of the £160,000 might be saved to the revenue by maintaining the duties on articles of silken or linen material in the above four classes: even if it amounts to another £4,200 I would give it up, for the sake of simplification and reduction of Customhouse labour and annoyance to importers.
Furniture and Household Utensils.—Furniture and cabinet-ware, carpets and druggets, floorcloth, mats, matting, and rugs of all materials, baskets and wicker-ware, bellows (except blacksmith's), brass, copper and zinc manufacture and ironmongery, small chains (not of gold or silver), clocks and watches, cruet bottles, cutlery, electro-plated, tin, glass, china, and earthenware, hair cushions, halters, wooden handles hardware, turnery and wooden ware, all pay 10 per cent. One notable exception favours the upper class, by exempting "cabin furniture and effects, which have not been in use, and not imported for sale," from duty altogether. Of this exemption the steerage passenger cannot avail himself. Even if he had the things, or the means to buy them when he starts, he can only bring them as freight, and I suppose pay duty. If he has to wait till he has earned enough to buy them in the colony, he must buy them at the extra cost caused by duty; while the cabin passenger is allowed a certain quantity free of duty.
Of these articles, the value imported is £539,160; the duty collected, £53,916; the extra cost to the people, £64,700;—2s. 10½d. a head,—14s. 4½d. to the family of five souls.
Even Cleanliness is taxed. Of alkali and soda crystals, blacking and blacklead,. brush ware and brooms, brushes and combs, buckets and tubs (wood and iron), clothes pegs, pearlash, starch and blue, patent mangles, sponge, soap and washing powder, and soap, about £45,000 worth is imported, pays £4500 to Government, and costs £5400 more than it need to the public, in actual duty and profit on it, besides keeping up the price of soap made in the colony. The duty on common soap is 3s. 6d. per cwt.,—3/8d. per lb. Cleanliness alone costs everybody nearly 3d. per head on the average more than it ought.
Medicines and Medical Comforts are taxed under "Cod liver oil, cream of tartar, drugs and druggists' sundries, apothecaries' wares, painkiller, gum arabic, sarsaparilla," and some oils at 10 percent.; sulphur, Is. per cwt.; and linseed meal, Is. the 100 lbs.
Of these articles £101,500 worth was imported;—£10,150 revenue; cost to public £12,180. Nearly 6½d. a head.
Artificial Light is taxed under "composition gas piping, lamps, lanterns and lamp-wick, matches and wax vestas, at 10 per cent.; tallow candles ½d., and other candles Id. per lb., and also under oils. Value imported, £182,000; £18,200 revenue; cost to public £21,210. 11½d. a head.
Two absurd anomalies exist in the present manner of taxation. Stationery, for printing purposes, is free; for writing purposes, it pays 10 per cent. Besides the latter, Paper, for wrapping or in bags, pays 10 per cent. Of the two together, £99,380 worth is imported, and pays 10 per cent., or £9,938 in taxes, involving an extra cost to the people of £11,925. Everything relating to the construction of railways and their rolling stock is imported free: most of the material for Cheap Conveyance on common roads is taxed; carriages and carts, carriage materials, saddlery and harness, are imported to the value of £85,056, paying £8,500 to the revenue, and causing an extra cost to the people of £10,200. On the two items, nearly 1s. a head.
Building Materials.—Perhaps there are two things which the best kind of immigrant, or of colonist born in New Zealand, most desires of any: namely, a house of his own, whether on his own land or not, but on his own land if possible. But whether he can own or must hire his dwelling, he is equally affected by the cost of building materials. Some of these are imported free; but still, taxed ones imported in
Summing up all these items comprising necessaries, we have
That is to say, Government collects duty at the rate of more than 13 per cent, on imported goods, almost wholly necessaries, valued at upwards of four millions: and the proceeding imposes a burden on the consumers at the rate of more than 20 percent, on those four millions and odd thousands.
But even this table only shows a portion of the burden really imposed on the people in the enhanced cost to them of food. It is only as to farinaceous food that it includes the extra price caused by the protective action of the duty; that is to say, the amount needlessly paid by the consumer because the duty on the imported article keeps the price of the local produce higher than it would otherwise be. This argument applies to other articles of food besides that which is farinaceous, such as salted and preserved meat, soups, fish, jams, jellies, fruit, &c., and also to many articles in the other eight classes,—such as woollen goods, boots and shoes, leather, furniture, baskets and wickerware, cooper's ware, soap, candles, paper, carriages and carts, saddlery and harness, doors and window sashes, and timber generally.
Allowing an addition of £22,557 for this consideration, we have the following result, in round numbers: that the duties on articles comprising necessaries amount to £531,000 yearly; but that those duties impose a yearly burden on the people which amounts to £843,750, or £1 17s. 6d. per head, or £9 7s. 6d. for every family of five.
All the articles in the Table are, no doubt, consumed by wealthy as well as by poor folks; and some of them by rich and well-to-do people, although others who are struggling to save, cannot afford to buy them, and therefore they must be considered luxuries. But it is very difficult to draw the line, and the proportion of duty levied on things not necessaries is a very small one. For instance, you may pick out silks and linens from clothing, but, as before stated, the whole annual importation of these is only valued at under £42,000. There are also high-priced articles among the other items of food, clothing, furniture and household things, cleanliness, light, stationery, conveyance, and building materials. There are table luxuries, costly clothes, furniture, upholstery, perfumed soap and oils, superior candles, lamps, pens, writing paper, carriages, harness and saddlery; and there are more imported and costly articles used in building a large house for a rich man than there are in building a necessary one for the workman and his family. But these exceptions form a very small portion of the four millions' worth of articles taxed under the heads enumerated, which cost the 450,000 people who consumed them nearly £844,000 more than they would if there had been no duty on them.
It is argued in favour of an ad valorem duty that it distributes the burden of taxation fairly between persons of all degrees in wealth. This, however, is by no means the case. The worker at wages, especially if he have young children to house, feed, clothe, keep warm and healthy, and send to school till they have learned enough to give up some of their schooling time to work instead, feels the extra percentage on his expenditure far more severely than the wealthy man, who, with himself amd his family in every way provided for, can with less difficulty afford luxuries for himself and them at a higher price. One-eighth more on the coarse cotton or woollen clothing is a heavier burden to the wearer, than one-eighth more on the fine linen, silk, or broadcloth attire. It is much harder on cottagers to pay one-eighth more for their simple building materials, and simply comfortable furniture and utensils, than on banking and mercantile firms or individuals, or other tradesmen, to pay one-eighth more in order to render their places of business attractive and convenient to customers—or on the rich grazier or land owner—the successful lawyer, doctor, engineer, surveyor, architect, commission agent, auctioneer, or contractor for public works, to pay one-eighth more on the costly wood, metal, marble, furniture, upholstery, glass, porcelain, plate, gold, silver, and jewelry, with which he and his family render their dwellings and persons luxurious and ornamental. Take a single example. A thirty shilling clock by which the workman's wife can serve the meals punctually, costs 3s. 9d. more—the £5 watch by which he will go to and come from work costs 12s. 6d. more—than if
Moreover, it is by no means compulsory on the wealthy to contribute to the public revenue by paying taxes on high priced articles. All must buy necessaries. But the wealthiest man can, if he chooses, live so as to contribute little more than a working man to the cost of "peace, order, and good government." Of this, I can easily quote
A member of an English noble family had, between Sir George Grey, as Governor, deprived the first Representative Parliament of New Zealand of its most precious privilege, by arbitrarily proclaiming, before it could meet, his celebrated "cheap land regulations," lowering the price of land to 10s. and in some cases 5s. an acre throughout New Zealand, excepting a block of two and a half million acres at Canterbury, and a smaller one at Otago, with which he was forbidden to meddle. Scrip became available for the purchase of public land at this rate, acre for acre. Among others, this large owner of land and scrip lent his scrip, as well as money, to runholders, who used it to "spot" the cream of their runs, and thus "lock up" large districts against public colonization, until they could afford to become themselves the purchasers of the whole. The scrip was lent at 10 per cent., or 1s. per acre yearly. The original owner paid two or three visits to England; but has resided in New Zealand for most of the 27 years that have elapsed since his first arrival. He and his wife are supposed to be worth two or three hundred thousand pounds, and their yearly income £20,000 or £30,000. When a bachelor, his expenditure could hardly have exceeded two pounds a week: as a married man, without children, perhaps £300 a year. He was perfectly entitled so to live, and I only quote the case as an extreme example of the inefficiency of any tax, whether ad valorem or not, on mere personal expenditure, to compel contribution to the cost of good government by each subject in proportion to the benefit which he derives from it. As my mention of his affairs is entirely in relation to the interest which the people of this Colony have a right to take in the share contributed by him to the public revenue, in proportion to the property and income which he enjoys under the laws and government of New Zealand, there can be no objection to my naming the Honorable Algernon Gray Tollemache. This giant among the New Zealand landowners and money lenders, might have spent his enormous revenue .out of New Zealand. He may have invested his savings elsewhere. If he fears the personal consequences of a fairer adjustment of taxation, he can sell his property and invest the proceeds elsewhere. But then the land will remain, and the income from it will be tangible, although received by someone else.
So in the case of Banks and other money-lending firms and individuals. In proportion to their enormous revenues—paying dividends at rales recently declared, including bonus, as high as 17½ per cent, per annum to their shareholders—what do they spend? They build handsome shops, as paying speculations. They pay local rates for the improvement of the neighbourhoods in which those shops stand, and for the consequent enhancement of the value of those shops and their sites. They pay a few managers, clerks, and servants, as a paying speculation; and even the personal expenditure of those few persons, and the colonial taxes thereon, fall upon the servants and customers, while the shareholders go literally "scot free."
So with all firms and individuals,—greater or less Tollemaches,—whether resident in the Colony or not, who receive, from whatever source within the Colony, an income over and above what they can spend on the necessaries of a frugal life within it.
Under indirect taxation, every person contributes to the cost of government in proportion to his personal outgoings, and not to his personal income. This is wrong; because a certain amount of expenditure is necessary to life, as well as a certain amount of income wherewith to maintain the necessary cost of life.
So far as maintaining the cost of a frugal life, neither income nor outgoings should be taxed. Every dweller in a country ought to be free from taxation, until he reaches the point of either income or spending which is superfluous, or unnecessary to a frugal life.
The right principle of taxation, then, is to collect the cost of Government only from income and expenditure, which is in excess of moderate wants.
The man of the poorest class, therefore, has no fairly taxable income: but there is some point at which this right of exemption ceases.
Direct taxation is the only way in which the whole of a man's superfluous income can be made to contribute to the cost of Government: because, if taxation be levied on expenditure only, he can save all the surplus, and leave poorer people to pay the cost of protecting him in gaining it.
Superfluities of expenditure are fair objects of taxation. Therefore the indirect taxation of articles which are largely consumed, but not absolutely necessary to healthy life, is both convenient in practice and fair in principle. Such are stimulants, whether innocent or hurtful : as, for instance, spirituous and fermented liquors of an intoxicating character, tobacco, and opium. The following are the duties levied on these:—
There is no direct tax on Beer brewed in New Zealand. The following ingredients, however, pay as follows:—
I therefore include them in the following Table:—
These taxes, on the whole, are unobjectionable. It is worth notice, however, that the imported and locally made stimulants, and imported ingredients, are valued at £631,114, or less than one-sixth of the value of necessaries imported. And that although the duty on stimulants exceeds that on necessaries by £61,183, the extra cost to consumers caused by duty on stimulants is less by £110,272 than the extra cost caused by duty on necessaries: the total extra cost of stimulants being in round numbers £711,000, or £1 11s. 7d. per head; while that of necessaries is about £831,000, or £1 17s. 6d. per head of the whole population. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the greater protective action of the duties on the chief articles of imported food and other necessaries, in raising the price thereof, whether foreign or local, than is the case with regard to the stimulant superfluities in Table S. The taxes on imported farinaceous food, very heavy in the case of rice, are still heavy enough on other grain, flour, &c., to keep bread at a higher price than it would otherwise be, although by far the largest proportion of the people's farinaceous food is grown in New Zealand. So with hams, bacon, potted and preserved meats, &c., the protective duty of 1d. a lb. on the two former, and 10 per cent, on the others, keeps up the price of the New Zealand made article. And so with other necessaries. The high duty on imported spirits no doubt keeps up the price of that article, even though a small portion is distilled in the Colony; but the very small amount of duty paid on the imported ingredients of colonial beer enables that article to be produced at a low price, and thus to keep down the aggregate amount of extra cost imposed upon the consumers of all stimulants, by causing less spirits to be consumed, and by providing a supply which only undergoes one intermediate profit on prime cost alone between producer and consumer.
There is one class of taxes, not collected by the Custom house officers, which imposes a particularly oppressive burden on poor people: that is, the heavy rates of railway carriage on food, fuel, building materials, and other necessaries. There are extensive districts in New Zealand suitable for the growth of grain, such as a large portion of the Canterbury plain, which are at various distances from supplies of fuel and timber. The grain or flour has to be carried long distances to mill or market. The fuel and building materials have to be carried long distances to the people who produce the grain or flour.
The charges for haulage in New Zealand are :—
New Zealand abounds with coalfields, from which fuel of various qualities can be worked. Notwithstanding this fact, a total of 157,558 tons, valued by the Custom house officers at £241,168, was imported into New Zealand in
A recent trial has been made at Christchurch of the steam-producing powers of Newcastle coal and of New Zealand coal, from the Springfield Colliery in the Malvern Hills district, respectively. The result was, that a quantity of New Zealand coal, which cost 13s., produced the same amount of steam power, as a smaller quantity of Australian coal, that cost 18s. 2d.—shewing a saving of 5s. 2d. on 18s. 2d., or upwards of 28 per cent.
The railway haulage at 2d. per ton, 7 miles from Lyttelton to Christchurch, on the Australian coal, amounted to Is. 2d. per ton. That on the Springfield coal, which came 39 miles by rail from Sheffield to Christchurch, amounted to 6s. 6d. per ton. If the railway rate were reduced to one penny per ton per mile (in England it is only one farthing), the price of the Australian coal would still be 46s. 11d.; but that of Springfield coal would be reduced to 21s. 9d.,—both in Christchurcli. The day's steam generated by Australian coal would in that case still cost 17s. 11d.; while that generated in one day by the native article would cost only 11s. 4d., and the saving would be 6s. 7d., or 36 5 per cent.
It is evident that, if the railways are to be made as useful as possible in opening up the country, and in rendering it more habitable, the railway locomotives on the Canterbury section at any rate (of which Christchurch, or Rolleston, is the centre) ought to be worked with native fuel in preference to Australian; and that, the cost of haulage being thus rendered so very much cheaper, the rate ought to be reduced to one penny per ton per mile instead of twopence.
The generation of, or "getting-up," of steam, means heat, or cooking power. Even now, 1,167 lbs. of Springfield coal costing 13s. at Christchurch, will give as much heat, or cook as much food, as 857 lbs. of New South Wales, or Newcastle coal, costing 18s. 2d. at Christchurch. Every owner of a hearth ought to buy Springfield coal instead of New South Wales coal!
If the line were extended to Springfield, and that coal were used in the locomotives instead of New South Wales coal, the cost of haulage on the 632 miles of railway now open for traffic between Amberley and Kingston might be at once reduced by much of the cost of fuel. In that case, the rate of haulage for coal and all other heavy goods might surely be reduced to one penny per ton per mile, without any loss, for the traffic of all kinds would be largely increased. Every inhabitant of the country, which the southeastern section of railways is intended to render more habitable for mankind, ought to petition for the use of New Zealand coal on the New Zealand railways, and for the reduction of the haulage rate on coal to the lowest possible rate. Not only would fuel, if these things were done, cost less than two thirds of its present cost, in proportion to heat
very dear coal from New South Wales, on the artificial profits derived from the sale of which a very few monopolists fatten, while many thousands of men, women, and children pay half as much again for artificial heat as they ought, if the Government, really having their interests at heart, knew how to serve them.
It is difficult to believe that 450,000 people, constantly taught that they have the most popular institutions, have submitted so long to so bitter a tax, for the benefit of a few dealers.
The fact is, that as the importers of New South Wales coal form a very powerful "ring," which often includes members of both houses of the Legislature, Government officers of great influence in the control of public works, and personal majorities in most of the Chambers of Commerce, Harbour Boards, &c., so New Zealand coal has been long kept out of markets by oppressive haulage rates on the many miles of railway which it has to travel over, in order to compete with Australian coal in important centres of population at or close to the seaports.
The quantity of coal imported in
I have now enabled each single adult—each head of a family—to reckon how much, whether rich or poor, he pays towards keeping up the government institutions under the heads of:—
1. Taxes on Food. 2. Taxes on other Necessaries. 3. Taxes on Carriage, in the shape of high railway rates, making Fuel and all other necessaries needlessly dear.
The last ought to be greatly reduced. The two first ought to be totally abolished.
Here I must notice the objections which are sure to be raised by some persons to the abolition of any duties on articles of foreign produce or manufacture, which are grown or produced in New Zealand.
Politicians of this opinion will say,—the removal of the duties will lower the prices of New Zealand produce and manufactures, and thus discourage local industry, and hurt the interests of the working man.
I cannot, of course, go into the whole question between Protection and Free Trade, which I saw fought out in Great Britain thirty years ago, and decided in favour of Cheap Food at any rate, through the pressure of the Potato Disease, and under the table and unselfish leadership of the late Sir Robert Peel, himself a convert to the arguments of Cobden, Bright, and other advocates of Free Trade long before them.
I will confine myself to the question as it bears in New Zealand upon the proposed Reform of Taxation.
The articles on which any duties, having protective action on local industry, are collected, may be classed as follows:—
A tax on imported articles of food that may be grown in New Zealand, raises the price of those articles to the consumer, and brings more income, as expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence, to the producer. But it is unjust that one class should continue to suffer so grievous a burden as dearer food than might be had if the tax were abolished, even though the producer should really be deprived of some of his gains by abolishing the duty.
These articles of food have been already enumerated. Tea, sugar, coffee, chocolate and cocoa, arrowroot, sago, tapioca, curry, pepper and spices, preserved ginger, olive oil, and nuts, are not produced in New Zealand, and therefore the retention of the duty on them cannot be defended as protective.
Rice, and some other articles coming under the general description of farinaceous food, are not grown in New Zealand: but their consumption tends to reduce the demand for food made from grain grown in New Zealand. They must therefore, be considered as articles for whose taxation the protective defence may be raised.
All taxes on other grain, pulse &c., whether manufactured or not, are duties directly protective of the New Zealand food-grower.
So are the duties on preserved meat, fish, butter, cheese, hams and bacon, chicory, vinegar, gelatine, jams, jellies, and marmalades, mustard, some sauces, pickles, and syrups: because these articles can be made in New Zealand.
It is worth notice, though, that the high price of sugar, caused by the very high duty on it—aided, no doubt, by the cruel dearness of fuel, in consequence of railway mismanagement—protects the produce of neighbouring colonies against our own.
New Zealand abounds with fruit of the kinds from which homely jams and jellies are made. The soil and climate are excellently adapted for its growth, and the latter for its preparation and keeping. Yet, strange to say, there was imported into New Zealand in infantry of public works, anxious for abundance of cheap confectionery and preserves.
Returning to the protective duty on other local industry than that of food growing, the following articles are all of any consequence:—
Apparel and stops, bags and sacks (except cornsacks), baskets and wickerware, boots and shoes, brushware and brooms, buckets and tubs, candles, carriages and carts; confectionery, boiled sugars (2d. a lb.), cordage, doors and sashes, drapery, ear then ware, furniture, grindery, leather, millinery, saddlery and harness, soap timber, twine, watches and clocks, woodware, blankets and other woollens.
The chief local industries affected by the duties on the above things are:—
Clothing factories of all kinds, including those of boots and shoes, and woollen goods; rope-making shops; candle and soap works: coach factories; working confectioners' shops; door and window-sash, and woodware factories; saddlers' workshops; and those of watch and clock-makers.
Most of these are really independent of any protective duty. The few woollen manufactures of New Zealand being "all wool," are protected by their better quality against the mass of those adulterated with "shoddy" which are imported. The greater portion of the imported candles are of other kinds than tallow, and cannot yet be made in the colony; colonial soap is inferior and cheaper, and would pro-
In fact the only industries protected to any large extent by the present duties, because they are really large industries, are those employed in the growth of food and the production of beer and spirits; but whatever protection the State thus affords them is more than balanced by the railway mismanagement, which makes fuel for all producing purposes, and the carriage of food and all other produce of industry dearer than it should be; while the enhancement of the price of all necessaries, including food, fuel, and building materials, keeps up wages at a high money rate. If taxes on all necessaries were abolished, and fuel and all other necessaries were rendered cheaper by railway reform, the producer would earn larger profits, without having to reduce wages below the standard at which all industrious workmen might earn ample necessaries without difficulty, and also a surplus which they could either save or spend in taxed superfluities at their own option.
As the law stands now, everybody alike pays far too much for the necessaries of life, owing to customs duties and dear railway traffic. The ordinary workman, whose gross income is £93 a year—6s. a day for 310 working days in the year, and the man who, merely as a receiver of the price of produce or rents from land, dividends from shares, salary or fees from his own professional skill and industry, or in any other pursuit, has a gross income of £1000 or £20,000 a year—£2 14s. 9d. or £54 16s. a day for 365 days in the year: each of these equally pays, on the average, at least about 20 percent, more through duty on the imported value of food, clothing, furniture and household utensils, cleanliness, medicine and medical comforts, light, stationery, conveyance (other than by rail), and building materials—whether or not of a more costly nature than he is obliged to buy. In the matter of stimulants, the poor man contributes in a larger proportion than the man of superfluous income: the duty on spirits and common tobacco bears a much higher proportion to the value, than does the duty on wine, imported beer, cigars and snuff.
Everybody alike pays fully 36 per cent, too much for his fuel, and proportionately too much for everything else lie wants carried by rail, including himself, in consequence of the wasteful and partial management of our railways.
This grievance is aggravated, in the case of the man of smallest income, by the fact that he is taxed in a very much larger proportion to his income than is the man of larger income. If the burden arising from the taxes on necessaries, together with that arising from excess of railway charges on the conveyance of necessaries and on personal locomotion amount to an average of £5 per head of the population, a burden of say £3 14s. per head, is inflicted on the very large majority of the taxpayers. This amounts to one twenty-fifth part, or 4 per cent, of the workman's income of £93 yearly, or 6s. per day for 310 working days in the year. If his family
No adjustment of taxation can be fair between all classes, which is not mainly founded on the principle that every receiver of revenue created in the Colony, whether dwelling in it or not, should pay yearly towards the cost of its government, in proportion to the amount of yearly revenue which the maintenance of that government enables him to receive in peace and security.
Not only is the present state of things, in which Customs duties are chiefly relied on for defraying the cost of government, opposed to this principle, by taxing only dwellers in proportion to their expenditure alone, instead of dwellers and absentees alike in proportion chiefly to their revenue; but in the taxation of expenditure, a much larger proportion of the taxes is collected from the necessaries of life than from superfluous luxuries; and the man whose income is so snail that he can afford to buy but a very small share of luxuries, pays a much larger proportion of that limited income to the State when he does indulge in luxuries, than the man possessed of large income pays out of his abundance.
There is a vast amount of income, received by comparatively a few private individuals, in consequence of their holding property or engaging in lucrative pursuits where good government affords excellent protection for the enjoyment of life, property, and income in peace and security, but from which income no tax is collected. The digger of gold pays an export tax on it. The grower of wool or wheat pays none on the export of his produce. But in both cases, it is the expenditure of the labourer that forms the chief source of public revenue.
If it be right that the cost of Government should be chiefly defrayed by taxes on income instead of taxes on expenditure, how is the income to be ascertained, assessed, and the tax on it collected?
There are two ways of ascertaining the amount of private property and income in any country:—One is to employ Government assessors; the other is to let the owner of property or receiver of income assess it himself. Both plans have been tried in various ways, and in different places.
The objections to Government assessors are, that a large number of such people are needlessly made acquainted with their neighbours' private circumstances and affairs; and that, unless highly paid, they may be accessible to bribery in order to procure a low assessment.
If the first of these two objections could be got rid of, the second would disappear. A thoroughly public assessment of every person's property and income, open to appeal, either for reduction or for enhancement, before a competent and reliable public tribunal, would remove all danger of bribery.
There is a vulgar, but still very prevailing objection to an official assessment of property, and especially of income, as "inquisitorial." Nobody has any business to know—so say the promulgators of this objection—how much private revenue any individual enjoys. Personally, I wholly disagree with the holders of this opinion. I am
I can sympathise, to a certain degree, with those who shrink from the annoyance of having their private incomes exposed to the prurient and needless curiosity of the general public. But an official assessment for State purposes can and ought to be made, without necessarily exposing anybody's private affairs to so useless an indignity. The means of doing so is to have the assessment sent in by the owners of property and receivers of income themselves, to tribunals consisting of a very few commissioners in each district, being persons of as unimpeachable ability and integrity as the Judges, with every proper security for the confidential discharge of their duties, except in cases where public exigency should require publicity according to law.
These commissioners should revise the lists of assessments sent in, and summon any person who should send in an assessment, in their opinion too low, before them, in order that he may prove its sufficiency. They should hear the case, not necessarily in public; and then give a decision, which should be liable to revision on appeal to a public court at the option of the assessed person. In the case of landed or other fixed property, live stock, &c., it might be made legal for the State at once to buy it at the owner's valuation, if so evidently below the real value as to make it a good transaction for the State. This might also apply to false returns of income derived from such tangible property. The State might take the property, and pay the self-assessor the income as returned by himself. No such crucial test could be applied to incomes from professional pursuits; but the books of any person engaged in business might be subject to production before the commissioners as evidence, strictly confidential, unless the owner chose to appeal to a public court from their decision.
When this "inquisitorial" objection is raised, I submit that the value of private property and of private income from it, is continually brought before public bodies, in assessments for rating purposes in boroughs, road, drainage, river conservation districts, &c., without any such objection being raised. As to incomes not derived from tangible property, I would remind objectors that every person is liable to a most rigorous inquiry by the police as to his means of subsistence; and that it is the poor man, out of employment, whether through misfortune or through misconduct, who is liable to be punished with imprisonment as a vagrant if he cannot show what are his means of living. Why should the man who is rich, or well off, object to let the State know how much a year he honestly earns, in order that he may honestly, and in proportion to his earnings, contribute to the cost of that state of things under which his earnings and the comfortable enjoyment of them are secured to him, and protected from dishonest vagrants, whether rich or poor?
We make the Banks, as a condition of their monopoly of certain kinds of traffic in money, valuable securities, and credit, publish quarterly returns of their property and income. But we do not take advantage of the knowledge in order to tax the overflowing revenues of the shareholders. Why should we hesitate to treat every private dealer in money, valuable securities, and credit, in a similar manner, to the extent of requiring him to let the State know how much the State protects him in receiving year by year? Why should we hesitate in like manner to let Government know, for the same purpose, the earnings of every person whose income is derived from rent of land or houses, produce of land, professional knowledge and ability, the profits of trade, commerce, mining and manufacturing enterprise, prudence, and industry, or any other source ?
We have before us the remarkable example of the United States—that gigantic, progressive, and free Republic. The rich men there—the Astors, Vanderbilts,
In the United States, a large portion of the revenue disposed of by Congress is derived from direct taxes on property and income. There, as here, there are local rates for local purposes, in Townships, Counties, and States. But every receiver of income above 1000 dollars, or £200 a year, or owner of property equivalent to such income, pays a contribution in proportion to their value towards the expenses of the President, Congress, and Federal Government of the United States. There are, indeed, some Customs duties, a portion being imposed for revenue purposes, and in diminution of property and income tax, on articles not being necessaries of life; and another portion for the purpose of protecting national industries: a class of taxation to which, however, I am wholly opposed—not only because I think it artificial, and in the end inefficient even for its avowed purposes, but because it is unjust, especially towards the poorer classes, inasmuch as it makes many necessaries dearer, and derives public revenue from private expenditure instead of from private revenue.
But objections of other kinds have been raised to a property and income tax, especially to a land tax. I will quote some of these, as publicly reported to have been brought forward by certain members of the House of Representatives, during the last session of Parliament.
Let us briefly examine them. I have not a copy of Hansard within my reach where I am now writing; but I take from the Christchurch papers reports of speeches made during this session, when the expediency of "a change in the incidence of taxation" was superficially talked about.
The resolution, rather hurriedly passed by the House of Representatives during the present session, is as follows:—" That in the opinion of the House the general incidence of taxation should be so adjusted as to impose on property and income a fair share of the burden entailed on the colony, and thereby afford means for a reduction of taxes on necessaries, and that the financial proposals of the Government next session should embody this principle."
Mr. "He had always approved of the imposition of direct taxation when necessary, either to raise more revenue or to re-arrange the Customs. He had expressed this view in E. C. J. Stevens was the one of the three Members for the City and Suburbs of Christchurch, who stood at the head of the poll in
He has lately resigned his seat.Mr. Leonard Harper, then member for Cheviot,
Mr. George Hunter, one of the two members for the City of Wellington, is a merchant, who deals largely in imported goods, but still more largely in advancing funds to runholders on the security of their wool, and of the cheap land with which they have spotted so as to monopolise large tracts of country at a nominal cost for rent or interest of purchase-money. He said that, if a property tax were imposed, it would be fair for those who would pay it to say: "We must either employ less labour, or you must submit to a reduction of wages." Mr. Hunter is himself a large proprietor of land, bought at 10s. or 5s. an acre, during the last twenty-four years. Almost all his family and business connections are similarly situated with regard to property. He has hardly ever been out of the immediate neighbourhood of Wellington during nearly thirty-eight years, at the beginning of which he arrived at Wellington as an inexperienced youth. From
Major Atkinson, Colonial Treasurer and nominal Premier at the time, is reported to have said that a tax of Is. In the £ would only yield £130,000. It is not clear from the report whether he meant only a tax on land, or a tax on land and other property, and on all incomes above a certain amount derived from those or any other sources.
I believe the above are all the arguments publicly brought forward against taxes on property and income. I will endeavour to reply so far as I have not yet done so, to those comprised in the declarations of the four members above quoted.
1. The Taxes on Necessaries really only amount to 15s. or 16s. a head.—(Mr. Harper).
The detailed calculations given in the former portion of this essay lead me to the opinion that the taxes on food alone, including very little except necessaries in that list, reach an amount which causes a burden to the consumers of at least £1 0s. 9d. a head. The bare duty collected on the one article of sugar alone amounts to £128,431, or 5s. 8£d-Per head of the 450,000 people. My calculations shew a total of duty collected on almost entirely necessaries, amounting to £531,254, or more than £1 3s. 7d. per head, really inflicting a burden of £1 17s. 6d. per head. Mr. Harper is not reported as having adduced any calculations in support of his estimate, which is far less than one half of mine.
2. A property tax would prevent the introduction of capital and reduce the demand for labour, so that the labouring class would feel it most severely.—(Mr. Harper).
If a property tax were imposed, it would be fair for those who would have to pay it to say—"we must either employ less labour or you must submit to a reduotion in wages."—(Mr. Hunter).
My own belief is that a property tax, by causing a greater sub-division of properties, especially landed ones, would lead to the introduction of more capital and largely increase the demand for labour. I believe that if all owners and occupiers of land above a certain amount were taxed as such, a great deal more land would be made as productive as possible by the use of labour upon it, instead of being left in an almost unimproved state as wild pasture land. The present holders would either make that improved use of the land which would enable them to pay the tax cheerfully, or they would part with a portion of their vast estates at a reasonable rate to many smaller proprietors, who would employ more labour and derive a larger aggregate income from the land. Unless land monopolists are protected, by absolute exemption from taxes, in the "dog-in-the-manger" practice of keeping the land in a state of pasturage, calling for little employment of labour, plenty of people will be found ready to make the land as productive as possible if by doing so they can, after paying labour, interest of capital, and a fair tax, realize a competence or a handsome income, according to the degree in which their sagacity and practical ability shall have enabled them to choose, and buy at a reasonable price, land of good quality, well situated for easy and cheap communication with markets for their produce. I think the tendency of a tax on property, especially en landed property, will be to increase the production from land and thus create a greater demand for labour. I only hope that that demand may bo sufficiently met to prevent such a rise in wages as would prevent production. But if the taxes on necessaries be abolished, and the cost of them yet further lowered by a wise use of cheap native fuel, and the reduction by that and other means of the cost of railway carriage, the labourer will be able to buy his necessaries so much cheaper than at present, that even a lower rate of wages, as expressed in money, will enable him to keep himself and his family comfortably, and put by savings more easily than he can under present circumstances. The grower of grain, or of meat and wool on cultivated pastures, would pay less lor all necessaries consumed in his pursuit, and could therefore afford to pay a reasonable tax, sell food at a cheaper rate, and yet be quite as sure to realize a good income as at present. I have no hesitation in declaring my belief that the warning of suffering to the working classes as a consequence of a tax on land and other property, is a mere false alarm; a scarecrow stuck up by a few selfish owners of property, to frighten the mass of electors from choosing advocates of a fair tax upon it; a most contemptible scarecrow, or man of straw, not worth the wretched rags and tatters in which a near examination of it shews the old stick to bo dressed up! There is and has been for many years, a tax on property and income in the United States of America. It has not prevented the introduction of capital, reduced the demand for labour, or lowered the rate of wages, in that country.
3. A land tax would be most oppressive and unfair.—(Mr. Hunter).
This is another bare assertion, by the typical representative of a body of large landowners—a great portion of whom have realized large incomes from the monopoly of land which they have secured by paying heavy interest to such people as Mr. Tollemache and Mr. Hunter, and going scot free of any contribution to the cost of Government in virtue of their landed tenure. Mr. Hunter adduced no calculations in support of this bare assertion; and until he does so, as I have done to prove that the existing taxes on necessaries are "most oppressive and unfair," I can only give his argument a most emphatic denial. In the United States of America there is a land-tax: it is not considered oppressive or unfair. It prevents an undue monopoly of land, and is cheerfully paid by those who so use their landed property as to employ the most labour, and produce the largest income, in proportion to the intrinsic value of the land in its wild slate.
Mr. Stevens objects to,—(1) "Inquisitorial investigations of professional earnings, trade profits, and industrial returns." I have already submitted a full reply to that
Mr. Stevens ought to know well that a money lender to private persons prefers security on landed property, and on the income from it, to security on the reputation which the borrower has for a large expenditure, whether on food and necessaries, or luxuries and stimulants. This merely personal security may disappear from the scene, along with the spender; the land, and property on it, will always be there to afford income to somebody, and a solid taxable resource as the best of all securities to the public creditor, for the solvency of the Colony. As soon as ever the monied people shall hear that the public revenue of New Zealand is secured on the income of its land, they will be readier than ever to lend money for promoting "the means of communication," and thus benefiting farmers and other producers, large and small, while at the same time rendering the lender's security more valuable. (4) "He was opposed to a tax on mortgages, as it would fall not on the lenders but on the borrowers." The rate of interest and costs charged to mortgagors will depend on the proportion between the demand for, and the supply of money, for investment in loans on landed security. I propose a tax on the "income," which lenders of money on the security of landed property derive from that lucrative pursuit: the amount of which income only the dishonest or the exorbitant money-lender can have any reason for withholding from the knowledge of the Government.
A tax of 1.s. in the £ would only yield £130,000.—(Hon. Major Atkinson).—This is quite a different argument. It came from the last nominal head of a New Zealand Ministry, occupying the special post which answers to that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in England, and supposed to be the chief adviser of Her Majesty's representative in New Zealand as to all subjects relating to its Government, but chiefly as to the resources which it possesses for raising supplies wherewith to defray the cost of that Government.
Even if the late Colonial Treasurer meant a tax only on private landed property owned by such of the 450,000 British people as were likely to be freeholders, when such a tax should come into force, it is a grave assertion to make, that the annual value of that property can only be assessed at £2,600,000. Supposing the 117 people formerly described as alone holding 6,500,000 acres to own one-half of the private landed property, the whole amounts to 13,000,000 acres; and, if Major Atkinson's estimate be correct, the total income derived from that enormous property is only at the average rate of four shillings per acre! New Zealand only contains 68,000,000 acres altogether, so that the whole country, at the same rate, would only yield a landed income of £13,600,000, from which, at 1s, in the £, only £680,000 could be raised towards the cost of Government, and the payment of interest and sinking fund on a debt which already amounts to nearly twenty millions. This would be a bright prospect for the money lenders, who have been persuaded, by the flowery representations of Sir Julius Vogel and his followers as to the value of the country, into advancing the millions.
I chanced to light upon an extract in the London Journal of
But I believe the late Colonial Treasurer to have laid before the Legislature a perfectly worthless estimate of this excellent resource. During the elections in the end of the year
The existing County, Borough, and Road Board organizations would afford an excellent means of valuing the income of all such landed property as comes within their respective jurisdictions; it would not be difficult for Government Commissioners, armed with the power of "calling for persons and papers," to value the income of landed and other property within Counties or parts of Counties, in which no valuing or organization has been established.
As a private individual, armed with no such powers, my estimate must necessarily be a very rough one; but I will try to keep it within the mark.
Let us try and estimate the income to be derived from good arable land. Putting the average wheat crop at 30 bushels, and the price at 4s. a bushel on the farm, the gross produce will be worth £6 per acre. Allowing 10s. per acre as interest at 10 per cent, on a farming capital of £5 per acre, and £2 per acre for annual working expenses, there will be a balance of £3 10s. per acre as net yearly income.
If land of this quality be laid down in artificial grass, it will carry eight long-woolled sheep to the acre. The income from these cannot be reckoned at less than 10s. per sheep yearly, clear of working expenses; so that, deducting only the 10s. per acre for interest on farming capital, we shall still have £3 10s. per acre as the net yearly income of the land.
There is, of course, much arable land of a less productive quality than this: and there is some which has produced a great deal more. But I think the following may
This supposes an average net annual income of 13s. per acre. A tax of is. In the £ would produce £425,000, or three and a quarter times the amount estimated by Major Atkinson.
But this is exclusive of all land with position value, for either business or pleasure purposes; land used for building, planting, gardening, brick-making, rope-making, mining, quarrying, &c., in towns, suburban, and raining districts. A very low estimate of the additional income or rent produced by such advantages of site, or subterraneous composition, would swell the total net annual income from private landed property to fully ten millions, and the amount of a tax at is. In the £ to £500,000 a year; at 6d. in the £ to at least £250,000 a year, but possibly much more.
Only a Census, specially taken by authority of Government for the purpose, could afford an accurate knowledge of the income derived from other sources than property in land. There are, of course, cases where the landowner derives one income, and the occupier another. Of course either or both, and the income of the mortgagee or other party, if any, holding a beneficial interest, must all pay taxes in each case, where the income exceeds the limit of exemption, whatever that may be. For instance, a landowner may reside out of the Colony, and yet receive an income from it, exceeding the limit. He must pay the tax on the amount of income above the limit. If the estate be large enough, his agent or manager may receive an income exceeding the limit; he also must pay taxes on the amount so in excess. And there may be one or more tenants, who pay rent to the manager or agent, and derive an income over and above that rent in excess of the limit; and they, too, each in his own case, must pay taxes on the amount in excess.
"With this explanation, I proceed to a brief summary of the principal pursuits, besides those of folks beneficially interested in landed property, from whose income, in excess of the reasonable limit of exemption, public income should fairly be derived.
1. Bankers, commission agents, members of "loan and investment companies," mortgagees, biil discounters, pawnbrokers, and money lenders under whatever designation, whether as individuals or firms, whether on a large or small scale, and whether at low, moderate, or high rates of interest; the only exception being where the income can be proved not to exceed the limit of exemption.
2. Merchants, auctioneers, valuers, land agents, cattle dealers, and other traders in buying and selling, not included under No. 1.
3. Lawyers, doctors, ministers of religion, schoolmasters (private and public), managers of estates, directors, secretaries, and shareholders of companies, proprietors and managers of all manufactories, including those of newspaper and other printing establishments, editors, reporters, and journalists, architects, civil engineers, surveyors, and public officials of all kinds, including secretaries and curators of public institutions.
4. Tradesmen of all kinds, whether manufacturers or not of their own wares. I need not detail them. It has been related that the great American benefactor of the English poor, Peabody, laid the foundation of his vast fortunes as a lion tamer exhibiting in public,—keeping an eye to business so thoroughly as to ensure his life all the time. There should be devised some means of collecting contributions to the cost of "good order," even from the surplus receipts of successful exhibitors, actors,
5. Workmen at yearly, weekly, or daily wages, in whatever trade or description of labour, who receive an income in excess of the limit of exemption.
Under these classes, together with the receivers of income directly arising from their ownership or occupation of land, the proceeds of all property and industry would be taxed in proportion to the benefit derived, excepting always that which does not exceed the
I do not wish to lay down any arbitrary amount at which that limit should be fixed. I am inclined to believe that, if the necessaries of life were cheapened by the abolition of all duties on them, the limit adopted in the United States—£200 a year—might prove to be a fair one here.
I do not mean that the receiver of £200 a year should go scot free, and the receiver of £201 a year pay so much in the £ on his whole income. I think the receiver of £200 or less might be allowed to live exempt, from all taxes, except a registration fee of £1 a year as an elector, if an adult, entitled to a vote for Members of the House of Representatives in the electoral district where he has been registered for six months. The receiver of £201 should be called on to pay the £1 in respect of the £200, and on the excess at whatever rate the income tax might be fixed. If it were a shilling in the £, he would pay £1 Is.; if it were sixpence in the £, he would pay £1 0s. 6d. The receiver of £300 would pay £1 on the first £200, and also Is. or 6d. in the £—amounting to £5 or £2 10s. as the case might be, on the excess of £100 above the limit. If the tax were 6d. in the £, the man whose income is £300 would pay £3 10s.; the man whose income is £1,000 would pay £1 on the first £200, and £20 on the £800 in excess of it—£21 in ail.
Thus no adult, even though an abstainer from all stimulants, would bo an elector, and yet totally exempt from contribution to the cost of Government; the necessaries of life, literally interpreted, would be procurable at prime cost by every dweller in the land; and every receiver of income above what would by that, means become a competence for a frugal man and his family, would be made to contribute to the pecuniary cost of Government, in proportion to the pecuniary benefit which he might derive from sound public institutions.
By turning back to p. 10, it will be seen that the abolition of all duties on articles consisting chiefly of the necessaries of life, would involve a direct loss to the revenue of £531,254 yearly.
According to my calculations, a tax of 6d. in the £ on all incomes arising directly from private landed property, may fairly he expected to produce £250,000. It is certainly not extravagant to estimate that the revenue from a tax of equal amount on all other incomes would produce another quarter of a million. The tax on the incomes of banks and other money dealers would alone amount to a large share of this. On every million of capital invested in those pursuits, if the dividend was only 10 per cent, yearly, the income would be £100,000, and the tax £2,500. The five banks, of whose transactions an official summary is published in the Gazette and reprinted in the other newspapers, paid dividends and bonuses during the year
In all the other pursuits, private income is received by persons, who contribute to the cost of Government only by their personal expenditure. For instance, legal and medical advice, whether necessaries of life or not, furnish large private incomes to the experts in those two professions; out of which a similarly trifling proportion is contributed by their private expenditure to the public revenue.
From the whole of these incomes available for taxation, there must be deducted the whole amount of such income received at the rate of not exceeding £200 a year by any one individual, whether single or the head of a family; but there must be added the total of electoral registration fees at £1 each, to be paid by any such exempted receiver, as a pledge of his citizenship. The miner and the labourer in other ways, who receives less than £200 a year, will thus be placed on an equality, so far as exercising influence over the Government by a vote in virtue of a certain contribution to its cost. But so long as an export duty is imposed on gold, the receiver of income from gold-mining labour alone must be exempted from any other income tax.
The daily labourer, who receives no more than 12s. 6d. a day for the whole 310 working days, will be free of all tax except £1 a year, and whatever contribution he may voluntarily make through the consumption of strong drink and tobacco, or the purchase of other superfluities. The daily labourer at 13s. for every one of the 310 days, will just exceed the exemption limit, and will have to pay £1 0s. 6d.
If the tax on all landed and other incomes above £200, together with the voting-right fees, should not amount to the £531,254 lost to the revenue by the total abolition of taxes on necessaries, I have further means to propose, which I consider neither oppressive nor unfair, of making the purchasers of waste land from both public and Natives contribute to the general cost of Government.
The Land Fund may fairly be called on for an acreage contribution to the ordinary revenue, at the time when the land, although in its wild state, ceases to be public property. As, through the vestiges of varying Provincial institutions, various prices are paid for public land, an uniform percentage on the revenue would not be a fair arrangement. Where the advocates and practitioners of a "sufficient price" have proved that the largest revenue, with the least diminution to the public estate, accrues to the State where their system has in a great measure preserved the land from monopoly hurtful to the public interests, the purchasers should not be called upon to contribute the same proportion of that locally valuable revenue to the general fund, as those who, by insisting on a "cheap land" system, have squandered the public estate away, so as to destroy their land revenue and lock up the land at the same time. Mr. Macandrew's proposal in the House of an equal acreage contribution from the public land sales throughout the Colony, appears to me to meet the justice of the case much better. I do not pretend to fix the rate per acre of the contribution. I think he suggested 2s. 6d. an acre. The Colonial Treasurer has estimated the probable receipts from land sales throughout New Zealand at £743,000 for the financial year
Even supposing the Treasurer's estimate not to be exceeded, the quantity sold in Canterbury would be 150,000 acres—the total sold in the whole Colony 099,000 acres; Canterbury's contribution, £18,750, and the total contribution, £37,375. This resource would certainly furnish £100,000 this year, if not a great deal more.
But there is another excellent and perfectly equitable resource, incase those already proposed should not be sufficient: one which may, indeed, be very fairly had recourse to for public revenue, even in the absence of any exigency.
Persons who rent or buy land from the Government, do contribute in doing so, to the Land Revenue, and thus enable immigration and public works to be carried on in the District where the land is situated, or provide a fund for some public purpose. Persons who rent or buy land from the Natives d not contribute in doing so, either to the Land Fund, or to the Ordinary Revenue of the Colony, or of any District whatsoever, and provide no fund for any public purpose of any kind. They are protected by the Government in their legal bargains, and pay nothing whatever in return for that protection. Without the Government, to which their transaction contributes nothing, the transaction would be invalid, and their titles worthless.
I, therefore, propose to raise Taxes on Purchases or Leases of Land from the Natives.
In order to make known the justice of this proposal, I must give a chapter in the
Volumes have been written on this fertile subject. I became personally acquainted with it in the neighbourhood of Cook Strait, and at Kaipara and Hokianga, north of Auckland, soon after Dr. Lang, founder and senior minister of the Scotch church in Australia, had observed it at the Bay of Islands. I published my observations in London, in Adventure in New Zealand, from to New Zealand in
"Early in the year consideration had been for this princely estate. Messrs. C. and D., who had been originally sent out as missionary agriculturists, also on the civilizing system, had selected their domains on a somewhat similar scale with those of the S. and F. estates, on the Hokianga river, on the west coast, while those of Messrs. K. and K. were situated towards the North Cape. * * * * The Wesleyan mission of the period had been conducted on a different principle, the missionaries of that communion being expressly forbidden by the fundamental rules of their Society from acquiring property in land, or from trading in any way. But one of their number having been dismissed for immorality, had become a general merchant or trader, and was one of the largest proprietors of land, acquired of course in the way I have indicated, at the period of my visit, in the island.
"When such things were done in quarters from which something better was to have been expected, what could be looked for in others? Indeed, short as my stay was in the island, I had a whole list of cases given me on perfectly reliable authority, of the most heartless villainy on the part of the Europeans in their dealing? with the natives, and of the degradation, misery, and ruin entailed upon the New Zealanders by their means."—The Coining Event, by John Dunmore Lang, D.D., A.M., Sydney,
From the pamphlet, already mentioned as republished, I further quote:—
"Tracts of eligible land, of sufficient extent to constitute whole earldoms in England, have already been acquired in New Zealand by the merest adventurers—by men who had arrived in the island with-out a shilling in their pockets, but who had had influence enough to obtain credit for a few English muskets, a few barrels of gunpowder, a few bundles of slops, or a few kegs of rum or tobacco in Sydney or Hobart Town. * * * It is absoluteiy distressing, my Lord, to observe the effects which this system of unprincipled rapacity is already producing upon the truly unfortunate natives of New Zealand, in conjunction with the other sources of demoralization to which I have already alluded. The more intelligent of the natives perceive and acknowledge their unfortunate condition in these respects themselves; but they are spell-bound, as it were, and cannot resist the temptation to which the offer of European produce and manufacture infallibly exposes them. Like mere children, they will give all they are worth to-day for the trinket or gew-gaw, which they will sell for the veriest trifle to-morrow. Pomare, an intelligent native chief, who speaks tolerably good English, but who has already alienated the greater part of his valuable land in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, observed to one of my fellow voyagers Englishmen give us blankets, powder, and iron pots, for our land; but we soon blow away the powder, the iron pots get broken, and the blankets wear out; but the land never blows away, or wears out.' * * * Pomare offered, in the month of February last (The Coming Event, pp., 322-90.
The New Zealand Land Company, out of which sprang the New Zealand Company, was formed by persons who desired to colonize or help in colonizing New Zealand systematically, without injury or injustice to the natives, and on the plan of disposing of lands to individuals at a "sufficient price" to prevent undue monopoly, and to provide funds for immigration. The British Government, by refusing to sanction such a plan by Act of Parliament, and leaving things as they were, left no alternative to this Company and its colonists, but to buy large tracts of land from the natives in the same manner as the missionaries and others; but with this difference, that they reserved one-tenth of what they thus bought as inalienable reserves for the benefit of the natives who sold, and sent out a body of colonists, of a superior class, whose settlement conferred more value on the reserves than the whole land was worth without civilized inhabi-
In consequence of the Company's action, Captain Hobson, R.N., was sent out to negotiate with the natives for the sovereignty of New Zealand. The acquisition was nominally begun on the "As soon as it was noised abroad in the Colony that there was a movement in England for the colonization of New Zealand, the rage for speculation, which was then rampant in New South Wales, and could not be restrained even by the surges of the Pacific, extended itself to that group of islands; and numerous long-headed Australian colonists, either in their own person or by approved agents, entered into treaties with the native chiefs for the purchase of immense tracts of land in the islands, in order to steal a march upon Her Majesty's Government. * * * * The claims of the numerous purchasers of land from the natives of New Zealand came before the late Nominee Legislature of New South Wales, which had been authorized to make the requisite arrangements for the disposal of land in the islands, in the year that the natives should for the future sell land to nobody but Her Majesty or her Representatives. Some natives of that neighbourhood signed then; and agents, chiefly Church missionaries, were despatched to procure additional signatures throughout the Islands. The arrival of a French Government expedition, consisting of a man-of-war and another ship containing colonists, caused Captain Hobson to take more prompt measures for proclaiming British Sovereignty; and New Zealand became a Colony subject to it, as a dependency of New South Wales, of which Sir George Gipps was then Governor, in W. C. Wentworth, Esq., afterwards one of the Representatives of the City of Sydney in the late Legislative Council, and subsequently President of the Legislative Council under Responsible Government in generosity or charity, but demanding everything from the. justice, of England."
A Bill was brought into the Legislative Council of New South Wales for appointing Commissioners to inquire into "The injustice would be in confirming any such bargain; there would indeed be no excuse for Her Majesty's advisers, if by the exercise of her prerogative, she were to confirm lands to persons who pretend to have purchased them at the rate of A great deal was said by this gentleman, in the course of his address to the Council, of corruption and jobbery, as well as of the love which men in office have of patronage. But, gentlemen, talk of corruption! talk of jobbery! why, if all the corruption which has defiled England since the expulsion of the Stuarts, were gathered into one heap, it would not make such a sum as this; if all the jobs which have been done since the days of Sir Robert Walpole were collected into one job, they would not make so big a job as the one which Mr. Wentworth asks me to lend a hand in perpetrating; the job, that is to say, of making to him a grant of twenty millions of acres, at the rate of one hundred acres for a farthing! The Land Company of New South Wales has been said to be a job. One million of acres at eighteen pence an acre has been thought to be a pretty good job; but it absolutely
all claims to grants of land in New Zealand; including those of the missionaries and other similar ones, those of the New Zealand Company, and that of Mr. W. Wentworth, and many others. The following is an extract from the Governor's speech at the second reading of the Bill, on four hundred acres for a penny; for that is, as near as I can calculate it, the price paid, by Mr. Wentworth and his associates, for their twenty millions of acres in the Middle Island.It would, indeed, be the very height of hypocrisy in Her Majesty's Government to abstain, or pretend to abstain, for religion's sake, from despoiling these poor savages of their lands, and yet allow them to be despoiled by individuals being subjects of Her Majesty."
Of the Governor's speech, as a whole, Dr. Lang thus writes:—
"Sir George Gipps deserves the highest credit for the ability with which .he exposed and set aside this peculiarly barefaced and impudentelaim—setting forth at great length the practice of all European nations since the discovery of America, as well as of the United States of that country, in regard to the purchase and sale of the lands of the aborigines; shewing that the right of pre-emption was uniformly asserted by the civilizing power; exhibiting the injury and ruin that would inevitably result from a different practice; pleading also the principle which his own immediate predecessors had established, and the Imperial Government had recognised, in the case of Port Phillip; and concluding by literally overwhelming Mr. Wentworth and his notorious attempt to appropriate, for his own private benefit, the country which might otherwise become the happy home of myriads of his fellow countrymen, with a torrent of sarcasm."
Dr. Lang, earlier in the same chapter, describes how narrowly a few greedy land-sharks had been prevented from appropriating, "Towards the close of the year for their own benefit, by a proceeding similar to Mr. Wentworth's, the most valuable portion of the now flourishing Colony of Victoria:—
terra incognita, belonging to nobody and open alike to all comers—being, as it was, five or six hundred miles from Sydney, and quite unknown to the people of New South Wales—the colonists of Tasmania were all at once seized with a regular mania for acquiring landed property on the largest scale in Port Phillip. Companies were accordingly formed, among whom the land was divided into portions like German Principalities; certain black natives, who were easily found for the emergency, were recognised for the time being as lords of the manor, and instructed to append their marks to documents drawn up with the strictest regard to English constitutional law—I need, not say also with the sharpest practice—thereby ratifying their own voluntary and entire alienation of their splendid domain torso many blankets, tomahawks, knives, &c.; and the same being signed, sealed, and delivered, before competent witnesses, certain lawyers of the highest standing in the insular Colony, who, it was well known, were themselves deeply concerned in the speculation, pronounced the deeds valid documents, and the whole transaction one in perfect accordance with the laws of the land. But the late Sir Richard Bourke, who was then Governor of New South Wales, and who, I believe, had reported the whole case to the Imperial Government and been duly authorized to pursue the course which he actually took in the matter, publicly declared the whole transaction unwarrantable and illegal, and the pretended deeds from the natives null and void."
Again Dr. Lang points out a similar state of things, as recently going on in the Fiji Islands; which, when he wrote ( "Against the continuance of the system which is now in pretty extensive operation in the Fiji Islands, on the part of certain long-headed individuals and Companies, having their head quarters principally in Melbourne, and professing to purchase from the natives, at remarkably convenient prices, large tracts of the finest lands, which they expect to hold in future absolutely as their own. These parties may not, indeed, be practising on so magnificent a scale as Mr. Wentworth and his associates in but they are doing precisely the same thing, only on a smaller scale. Now no Government, emanating either directly or indirectly from Great Britain can ever tolerate such proceedings—can ever either relinquish or surrender the right of pre-emption on the part of the Government, in the case of all purchases of land from uncivilised tribes. This, I maintain, is absolutely necessary for the interests of humanity and justice, and for the protection of the natives themselves. But there is another party who are also deeply interested in the case, and on whose behalf I would urge my protest. I mean the humbler classes of the redundant population of Great Britain and Ireland; for if Mr. B and his associates from Melbourne are allowed to purchase at their own convenient price, even moderate principalities from the natives, and to hold them absolutely as their own, how would it be possible to create an Emigration Fund for the transference of thousands and tern of thousands of these classes from their present cheerless habitations to the happy homes that might otherwise await them in the beautiful isles of the Western Pacific?"
Dr. Lang is of course not aware that the system against which he protests so strongly, has been for the last ten or twelve years in full and very "extensive operation" in the North Island of New Zealand, under the sanction of laws made by the Parliament of a British Colony, and assented to by several British Governors.
The Commission to inquire into alleged land sales by natives, established by Sir George Gipps, was confirmed and continued in its functions by Governor Hobson when New Zealand became, in
The "land-sharking" interest in the northern part of the North Island, however, proved too strong for Governor Fitzroy, in one penny per acre to the Government. He also abolished Customs' duties, and proposed to supply the deficiency by a tax on property and income, neither of which then existed to any appreciable amount. For these and other vagaries he was recalled, and Sir George Grey succeeded him in
The Queen's right of pre-emption was resumed before any great amount of mischief had resulted from its brief abandonment.
It was, of course, contrary to law for Europeans to hold land by lease direct from the Natives: but the actual practice was first connived at in the Wairarapa plain, near Wellington, where "squatters"—properly so called in this instance—began to settle with live stock on those terms in about
In about Mr. Donald McLean, who was then Inspector of Native Police, was placed at the head of it as Chief Commissioner. It soon became the most powerful branch of the Government, and the officer at the head of it was only second in power and influence to the Governor, who was uncontrolled by any representative institutions until he left the Colony at the end of
During the five years of the Land Purchase Department's infancy, it effected very little in buying land for the Government; and the interest of the Tenants of the Natives grew more powerful under its fostering wing, instead of diminishing, as it would if more land had been bought for Government. The officials who ought to have so bought, were really in covert alliance with the Tenants, so that scarcely any land was bought for the Crown until the Tenants were ready to buy it for themselves under the delusive "cheap land" regulations which were adopted by the Provincial Legislatures of the North Island, in the only two important ones of which—Auckland and Wellington—the land-monopolists secured majorities and formed the Governments.
The same interest has secured a majority in the General Assembly, ever since its first meeting in
So soon as
Under this law, which selfish politicians gravely deluded the people into believing was urgently necessary, in order to prevent the Natives from rebelling against the restriction to one official customer, a state of things rapidly grew up, quite as mischievous as those protested against by Dr. Lang and Sir George Gipps in Mr. Donald McLean. These facts were as long as possible kept from public knowledge; gentlemen high in office uttering and echoing the convenient doctrine, that these were private transactions between the Natives and the buyers; and that even the Parliament of the Colony had no right to order their publication! It actually did order it in Mr. Donald McLean got the House to sanction his official neglect of the order in
But he was no longer interested in it. He was about to withdraw from public affairs for a time, it was understood on a visit to England, when death removed him. He had been for about 28 years a paid servant of the public, in some high capacity connected with the relations between the Government and the Natives. His personal estate alone was sworn to ask about £105,000; the value of his landed estate is not publicly known, but commonly reported as worth £15,000 a year besides.
It is no wonder that other persons in high political station, or well connected in high financial quarters, have availed themselves of the lawful opportunity to buy Principalities for their own benefit; regardless of the obstruction which the creation of so many large estates, left for a long while in no more productive condition than that of wild pasturage, throws in the way of active progress in colonization, and of the establishment of thousands of happy homes. What is it to them that these vast sheep-runs are "locked up" against improvement and greater production by the settlement of mankind? All they care for is that, at a small cost, they can each say, "I am monarch of all I survey;" free of both rent and taxes, and protected in their tenure by Government without contributing more than the merest trifle to its cost, until "political" mil ways shall pass through or near their vast estates, and enable them to sell at a fabulous profit on the meagre consideration which the Native owners have often half spent before the transaction is complete.
Sir Donald McLean, with his faithful praisers, and imitators, effectually "pacificated" the Natives.
For the cruel process of "skinning" the Native eels alive is something like this: A would-be buyer, or partnership of buyers, with plenty of money, or creditor both, at their command, begins by luring an influential chief, who claims a large share in
with gold watches to them), lives sumptuously at an hotel, smokes good cigars and plays at billiards with the idle English bigwigs, drinks champagne, and goes to parties; has an account at the Bank, and money in both pockets. Some in Hawke's Bay have been known to engage daucing-masters to go up country and teach the ladies of the family European airs and graces. Some, on the other hand, take to strong drink, horse-racing, betting, and cards, after the example of the less reputable of their young British tenants.
At the convenient time, the bland "merchant" intimates that he should like some sort of settlement from the dark butterfly: the balance is getting heavy and some of it must be cleared off. The "intelligent Chief "must be "skinned alive!"
"I got no money," says Mr. Pomare.
"But you have plenty of land," says Mr. Softly, of the highly respectable firm of "Softly and Skinflint." One of the partners is Chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce. The other, a Member of Parliament.
"No, I got none lett," replies the unabashed debtor; or, "Ah, I no got him through the Court; no karanati (grant) yet. Taihua! (presently!)"
In the former case, Softly says:—"Why, what have you done with it all? You were in grants for many thousand acres."
"I sold my mana (right or power) to Maka Hinu (Anglice—McFat; a high official of the Native Land Purchase Department).
"Well! you haven't spent the money he paid you? What have you done with it?"
"I got no money!"
"What did you get then?"
"I got Maka Hinu puka puka poromihi e nota" (McFat's writing-promissory notes).
"Oh, ah!" smiles Softly, who had begun to manufacture a serious face for the occasion. "Then you bring them to me, and Skinflint and I will see what we can do with them."
The promissory notes are discounted. I have heard of cases in which the paper has been done at 50 per cent. The former lord of the soil gets a civilized account, duly receipted, and marked "E. & O. O." Perhaps a small balance in ready cash, or a little extension of credit, neither of which last long. Pomare is lucky if he has kept, a hut and a potato-field for himself, to which he can retire, and reflect 011 the benefits of civilization, free trade, and the paternal tendencies of the revered Sir Donald McLean's Native policy.
McFat enjoys a "nice little dinner" with Softly and Skinflint. Over their wine, or toddy, the promissory notes are eancelled, and the other leg of the triangular account made, with an elastic pair of compasses, equal to the first. Then they have a preliminary chat over the next civilizable Maori who is to "go through the Court," and how many sheep to the acre his "block" will carry. Their ways may be roundabout, but they know how to "square the circle." They neither hurry nor starve over the process. If the land has not passed through the Court when the merchant calls attention to his account, who so ready as Softly to recommend a capital "agent," who will manage all the Court business to perfection, find him a good purchaser, and look
Under this most pernicious system, there is not the slightest chance of a man of small means buying direct from the Natives. The Government will not get the block, because the Government's agents, even if eager to compete, are not justified in binding a possible vendor by mortgage or bill of sale before he has got his title. The owner of savings from labouring industry has no spare funds, wherefrom to advance money or goods on good faith or written security to a Native with "expectations" of a share in a grant. Ten or more Natives are included in the grant of a large tract; the would-be buyer must keep them all in good humour by promises or advances, and must be on the watch for outside claimants who lie back for a higher consideration after the consent of a portion of the likely grantees has been positively given, or reliably promised. Agents who are "experts" in the particular art of dealing with Native land-sellers must be retained by fees as against any competing buyers. Surveyors have often to be prevented beforehand in the same way from engaging to do the work for anyone else, whenever the Natives shall have so far consented that the survey may be begun. In some cases, live stock has to be bought and placed on the land as a warning to competitors that that claim is "pegged out," or as a security to the Natives that the would-be purchaser will not abandon his undertaking if some obstinate joint-grantee should stick out for too high a price, or absolutely refuse to sell at all. Thus it is only men "with plenty of money at command" that eon engage in this Native Land Purchase speculation, and the land can only pass into the hands of such buyers as possess the means of making large advances, and of providing for large final payments in the lump, although at a small acreage rate.
Even if Natives could receive individual grants, and under them each Native could sell one acre or twenty acres at a time, as the Government can if it buys a block from the Natives, the latter would not readily adopt that method of parting with their ownership. A Native is intensely proud of being connected with a large transaction, attended with much fuss and display of influence and wealth. He would feel it an indignity to sell "that little bit of land" to a "poor beggar" in a working dress with but a few pounds in his pocket. He likes to boast of his dealings with the pakeha rangatira, or white "gentleman:" and his notion of that definition is strictly financial; it means with him the white man whose heavy cheques are honoured by every Bank and cashed by every tradesman,—whose promissory notes are cheerfully discounted by the largest merchant in the district, who has a constant habit of carrying sovereigns in his purse and notes in his pocket-book, and who can send to the South for countless herds and flocks to put on the promised land, if called upon, or allowed to do so.
Thus the system for the disposal of Native lands to British colonists not only produces no public fund for the promotion of immigration, the construction of public works, or the payment of interest on the borrowed money, by which works that will soon greatly raise the value of the land in question have already been constructed; but it locks up large tracts of land from populous settlement more tightly than even "cheap land" regulations for the disposal of the public estate to private persons; because the Native land is absolutely not to be purchased in small lots by men of small means. Where Government alone sells the land, if the price is too low a great deal of it will fall into the hands of monopolists, but small buyers will be able to get some, and a revenue of some kind, to be laid out for the benefit of all the purchasers and the public, will be created. Where Natives alone sell to private persons, wealthy
no public revenue, even of the smallest amount, for any public purpose whatever, is created by any one of the transactions.
Of course, it is no longer lay or clerical missionaries, of more or less apostolical character, or "the merest adventurers," or "men arrived in New Zealand without a shilling in their pockets, but who had had influence enough to obtain credit for small quantities of slops, muskets, powder, rum, and tobacco in Sydney or Hobart Town," who engage in the profitable speculation of renting or buying Principalities from the Natives.
Runholders in Canterbury, or Otago, successful enough before the onward march of colonization in those parts of the Colony threatened them with an invasion of freeholders, and unwilling to pay 80s. or £2 per acre for the freehold themselves, were naturally tempted by the example, and in many cases persuaded by the advice, of experienced Northern colonists, to acquire large landed estates, first by lease, but with a view to establish—by putting stock on them—personal pre-emptive rights so soon as the Native title should be extinguished. Recent discussions in the House of Representatives have shown that even a Governor was personally instrumental, during a visit South, in forming a Company to engage in this speculation on a large scale, though he withdrew from the adventure before its practical development. High officials, Members of both Houses of the Legislature and their relatives, connections, and intimate friends, and especially relatives and friends of leading Directors of the New Zealand Bank, which monopolizes all the Government banking business and exercises a powerful influence over the elections throughout the Colony: such are the leaders of the Native land purchasers, duly licensed by law, and heavily primed with credit at the Temples of Mammon.
Mr. Moorhouse's great "Murimotu" conception, which, whether immaculate or not, is still in the agonies of labour, is only notable by the largeness of its scale among the numerous "good things" of the kind now in progress. The block coveted by Mr. Moorhouse's employers is situated in the Northern part, of the Rangitikei and Wanganui Districts; and is one-ninth larger than Middlesex, or more than twice as big as Rutlandshire. One of the would-be proprietors has described it, in conversation, as fully fit to carry one sheep per acre all the year round in its present wild state. If only used for that purpose, it would thus carry 200,000 sheep, and furnish a net yearly income, at 4s. 9d. per sheep, of £ 47,500 to its proprietors.
"Will anyone tell me that a person with small means coming out from England can go into the market and compete for land—that he will fathom all the trickery and chicanery which we know is necessary in order to acquire Native land? Will anyone tell me that small settlers can acquire land under this B II? I say that the whole history of the Colony shows this, and no one can deny it, that as against the settler of large means, who can employ different means of bribery, the small settler has no chance in the world. This is the universal opinion. Mr. Ballance, now Commissioner of Customs and Minister of Education, is Member of the House of Representatives for the Rangitikei District; which is drained by the rivers whose head-waters flow through the fertile Murimotu plain, where grass, timber, and water are plentiful all the year round. He thus, during last Session, spoke of the transaction, and of its probable consequences:—
Now we find North island and South Island capitalists at the present moment engaged as far as they possibly can in preventing the settlement of the West Coast of the North Island. They are acquiring thousands of acres in the Murimotu plains. Will anyone tell me that this is in the interest of setttement, or that under a proper Act this could have been allowed to take place? I have been over the land, and I know that it is at the present moment nearly the only available land in that part of the island Jit for settlement. This is the kind of work which has been carried on under the Native Land Act of The enormous speculators and capitalists employ a great number of Native Agents, and thus debar the men of lesser means from a fair chance of acquiring any land whatever."
I can also speak personally as to the excellent quality and situation of the land in and about the Murimotu plains, having travelled across two different parts of them in the year
I will here quote the opinions of two or three other Members with regard to the Bill alluded to, which was one designed to smooth away difficulties in .the way of dealers in Native lands, and to render the process easier and more certain than ever.
"It appears to me that in the framing of the Hill no regard whatever has been had either to the best interests of the Native population or to the best interests of the European population, but the regard that seems to me to be a regard for the interests of capital and capital only. It appears to me that this is a capitalists' Bill. It is a Bill to enable the Native lands of New Zealand to pass into the hands of a lauded aristocracy, and I can conceive no worse policy that could be introduced into a country situated as this is than a policy of that kind."Mr. Lusk, Member for Franklin (Auckland), said:—
"This Bill is called a Native Land Courts Bill. I propose to call it a Bill to plunder Natives out of their lands."Mr. Taiaroa, of Otago, Member for the Southern district:—
"I believe it to be a Bill to rob the Europeans and Natives."Sir George Grey:—
"This Act would have a tendency to create a pauper race of Natives, and to compel them to congregate round the head, as it were, of disaffection in the King country, in consequence of their pauperism. They would look at the land for which they had received Is. 6d. or 2s. an acre, and they would threaten the country unless justice were done to them. I do feel with reference to legislation of this kind that it is fraught with danger, and I cannot say how anxious I feel as a settler in regard to this matter. It has a teudeney of a dangerous character, and it appears to me to favour speculators."Mr. Travers, part of whose speech I have already quoted at p. 5, said:—
"In a little time, or to paraphrase the words of Shakspere, 'ere the shoes were old with which they followed his poor body to the grave,' we find all his policy abandoned, all his efforts to bring the legislation of the Colony into a condition in which harmony would reign between the races, scattered to the winds for the sake of bringing in a measure, the effects of which will be to flood the North Island with land-sharks and sharpers, and bring about a wholesale confiscation of the lands of the Natives, not for any wrong they have done, but a confiscation to be promoted by the coffers of banks and men of large means who will employ unscrupulous agents, ready to trade upon the weakness of the Natives and reduce them to poverty. If carried out to its ultimate result, such a policy must bring about a condition of things disastrous to the best interests of the country."Mr. Travers holds a different opinion from mine as to the actual process and effect of Sir Donald McLean'S. Native "policy." After highly praising that gentleman's official action, he added:—
Whether the particular Bill pass into law or not, I have very little hope that the system above described will be overturned, or the proceedings under it arrested, until all the very cream of the North Island shall have passed into private hands, in large blocks. If no alteration of the law is effected, this "heavy blow and great discouragement" to the healthy colonization of the North Island will be aggravated by the fact, that the plundered Natives will be discontented, and the whole country may become involved once more in costly operations to quell riot and punish outrage : while the land swallowed up by the few fortunate speculators will furnish no revenue till after the transactions are complete.
It is true that whenever the land has become private property, it will become liable to income and property tax just as though it were bought from Government; but no part of the payment, whether saved or squandered by the Natives, can be directly called upon for a contribution to the Land Fund, as in public land-sales. And even during the period before the purchaser from the Natives parts with portions of his estate at a vastly enhanced price to more useful proprietors, or himself puts it to any more productive use than wild pasturage, the tax on income derived from it will be but small.
I propose, therefore, that a tax of 2s. 6d. per acre should be payable by every purchaser of land directly from a native, and a proportional tax by every lessee, such tax to become a portion of the Consolidated, or Ordinary Revenue: helping to make up any deficiency that may still remain after the general income and property tax, and the contribution from the Land Funds of the several Provincial Land Districts: and, if those resources alone should avail to make up the deficiency, then the tax on private
I cannot pretend to estimate correctly the amount of new revenue which may be raised in this way. It would depend on the greater or less facilities afforded by any changes in further legislation on the subject. The Murimotu Company would claim their transaction as a purchase by Government, assisted by them as volunteer agents, on the condition of the pastoral occupation of 75 per cent, of the whole block being secured preferentially for 14 years to the speculators, at the nominal rent fixed by the old Wellington land regulations, while they would be in a position to compete at great advantage with any other intending purchasers for the 25 per cent, to be reserved as public land by the Government. Instead of being a purchase or leasing from the Natives by Government, aided by a few monied speculators, it will virtually be a purchase or leasing by those favoured individuals, specially assisted by Government to exclude men of less monied and Parliamentary influence from the advantages of the transaction. If so treated, this purchase alone would furnish, at 2s. 6d. an acre, £25,000 to the public revenue instead of furnishing nothing but 50,000 acres of land which would lie waste as pasturage free of rent for the holders of the 150,000; because everybody would know that those holders could afford to run him up to a price above his highest bid, whenever that land, according to the Wellington "land regulations," should be offered at 5s. per acre upset price by public auction. But the imposition of the tax of 2s. 6d. an acre on the purchase of the whole, or a proportionate sum on the lease, would probably result in making the favoured holders exert themselves to produce more taxable income from their private property or occupation than they otherwise would: while even the sum of £25,000 would be only a fragment of the inexhaustible "loaves and fishes" which those "honourable gentlemen and gentlemen" would other-wise secure for themselves alone, and only a very meagre salve to the wound which, even while paying it, they would inflict by their giant monopoly on the public good, or Commonwealth.
The late Sir Donald McLean left as a legacy to his only son the vast fortune described in former pages—about £25,000 a year, untaxed except in proportion to the expenditure of one individual and his possible family on dutiable articles. The Murimotu transaction is only one of many legacies of a very different character which he left to New Zealand, winning "golden opinions"—from those who benefited by them, or who hoped to benefit by the like.
7. Use New Zealand coal for all Railway locomotives, and in all other Government establishments, wherever consistent with economy in consequence of the nearness of a good coalfield, by railway or by sea, to centres of population. Extend rails ways to such coalfields where the distance is short, engineering difficulties few, quality of coal sufficiently good, and price low at the pit's mouth.
8. Reduce the rates of railway haulage on necessaries,—especially food, fuel, and building materials,—to the lowest rate covering working expenses, repairs, and renewal: leaving the interest on the cost of construction to be paid out of the taxes on the augmented value of the property benefited by each particular section of railway. Where the fuel is cheaper, and the gradient less, let the rate be less in proportion. Lower passenger fares also as much as possible, so as to fill trains all the week round.
Under Customs' Duties, or indirect taxation, the tax-payer does not know how much of the unjust burden he bears: the Government does not receive the whole sum composing that burden: importers, retailers, and protected producers become instruments for collecting the whole sum—paying a portion only to the Government, and keeping the rest as their recompense; so that they are virtually farmers of the
Under income and property tax, whether paid directly into a Government office, or collected directly by official tax-payers, the person who pays knows exactly how much he pays to the State; and the whole of his payment goes into the public Treasury, excepting the cost of collection; which is under Government control, and therefore, through their representatives, under that of the tax-payers themselves. Every person can thus more accurately calculate how much improvements to his property will cost him, in proportion to the benefits derived from his increased contribution to the ways and means of the Government, and its consequently greater ability to distribute those benefits amongst all in proportion to their payments. Every person, consequently, will be more interested in watching Government expenditure, and more on the alert to secure representatives willing and able to direct the expenditure on the principle of "the greatest good of the greatest number," and contribution to cost of Government in proportion to benefit derived.
All those who arefavourable to the above programme, or to the chief part of the eight proposals contained in it, must earnestly combine, to agitate for the attainment of these objects: because the opponents of such reforms, although not very many in number, are very powerful in wealth, and in the present possession of the majority of political and literary power. Rich people, with a very few honourable exceptions, will use every effort to oppose the Reform in its main features. Not only large landowners, but those who derive large incomes from the collection of rent, interest, and cost of land, and other mercantile transactions large in individual quantity or in number, will array themselves against it. Bankers and money-lenders in the Colony, will thus generally oppose it. The newspapers now published in the Colony, which are chiefly maintained by advertisements of the wealthy folks' dealings, and therefore carried on so as to favour the wealthy, will, with very few if any exceptions, defend the present system of indirect taxation against the direct taxation of property and income.
The majority of the members of both Houses of our Parliament, and of the influential and high-salaried officers of our Civil Service, will also, I fear, oppose the desired change. I shall indeed rejoice, if those fears should prove ill-founded. But my own impression is, that most of the elections are still won by the influence of the monied interest. The last ones, in nominally possess almost universal suffrage and the ballot, the wishes of the majority of the people are really represented as against the minority of large land monopolists, dealers in money, and persons largely benefited by political public works and ample supply of labour.
The complicated and limited method of making up the electoral roll year by year shuts out a large number of the really qualified electors from the suffrage. There are only three months of the year during which claims to be enrolled can be made. The process of revising is too favourable to objectors, whether official or private; and does not afford sufficient facilities to electors or claimants for becoming aware of, or defending their rights against objections. And yet too long a period elapses between the claim for enrolment, and the qualification to vote. Claims must be made in January, February, or March. The successful applicant is not entitled to vote until September or October.
Several years ago I proposed a system, under which every roll should be always open to fresh applicants (excepting during the vacancy of any seat in the particular
personal notice of the objection. I am ready to renew that proposal in detail.
The distribution of representation is not, as the Constitution of "It shall bo lawful for the Governor, by proclamation, to constitute within New Zealand convenient electoral districts for the election of Members of the said House of Representatives, and to appoint and declare the number of such members to be elected for each such district. * * * * * And in determining the number and extent of such electoral districts, and the number of members to be elected within each district, regard shall be had to the number of electors within the same, so that the number of members to be assigned to any one district may bear to the whole number of the Members of the House of Representatives, as nearly as may be, the same proportion as the number of electors within such district shall bear to the whole number of electors in New Zealand."
Neither by Sir George Grey as Governor, when in
There are 69 electoral districts, and 84 Members allotted to them, besides the four Members allotted to the Natives,—for the election of which four the North Island is divided into three districts, and the South Island forms the fourth. 61,755 electors, divided by 84 seats, gives 735 electors as the just proportion for each Member. The following 27 districts, on each of whose rolls are less than 735 electors, nevertheless return one Member each :—
12,639 electors return 27 Members, whereas they are only entitled to 17!
The following 5 districts, on each of whose rolls are less than 1470 electors, never-theless return two Members each:—
4,935 electors return 10 Members, although only entitled to 7.
The above 32 districts, with an agregate of 17,574 electors, return 37 Members, although only entitled to 24!
On the other hand, these 23 districts each have more than 735 electors to 1 Member:
33,156 electors return only 32 Members, although entitled to 45.
These 14 districts have Members allotted to them in correct proportion:—
11,025 electors, exactly 15 times 735, return 15 Members. To sum up:—
If the proportion of electors in each district respectively should remain the same on the Rolls for
But it does not act so as to prevent bribery or intimidation. The proceeding of inscribing the voter's electoral roll number on his voting paper (however necessary it may be for identification in case of a disputed election, and the alleged illegality of the vote on account of personation or other fault), leads the majority of electors to believe that the manner in which they shall vote will not be an absolute secret. They are therefore still accessible to that "inquisitorial" process, by which the wealthy man can attach a condition of extended credit or money pressure to the manner in which the elector, who has anything to hope or fear, shall exercise his vote, and exert himself to influence others. An interview in the bank parlour, or in the wealthy private individual's office or business room, with a timely reference to books, balances, overdrafts, outstanding accounts, and possible credits, still has the power to assure the voter, who is dependent on any personal money question, that his credit will be extended, his draft honoured, or "the screw put on" him, according as the interviewed "free and independent." shall vote. Everyone who carefully observed the features of the last general election, must have been made fully aware how active apart the managers of certain Banks, especially the Bank of New Zealand which has almost a monopoly of Government business, took in promoting the return of candidates favourable to the late Government, and how effectual was their interested interference. "While such things can go on as they do, it is impossible to believe that the form of voting by ballot, existing under the present law, affords a reliable protection against the bribery and intimidation of the poorer or more dishonest, by their superior in wealth or dishonesty. Moreover, while the voting is supposed to be secret, public nominations, canvassing, committees, and shows of hands are still kept up, although the honest use of devices by any candidate or voter takes away the protection of secrecy, which the ballot ought to afford thoroughly, if it is to serve its alleged purpose at all.
My own belief is, that under open voting the elector was really more independent than he is under the so-called ballot as now administered. Many an elector believes that it is the officials and people in power only, who have a possible knowledge of the way in which his vote has been given. Therefore he is subject to the influence of the wealthy and powerful: but he is no longer liable to the dread of disgrace among the men of his own class, or to the recrimination of a defeated candidate, in case he should vote in a manner diametrically opposed to his public and private declarations of opinion, and to the best interests of his fellow-men. Under the ballot, too, that personal confidence, which used to exist between honest member and honest constituents, is virtually at an end. If the ballot be really secret, the professed supporter of a candidate or member may be a person whom it is desirable for him to consult and confide in, or he may be an opponent in disguise, seeking to suck his brains and to beguile him into some unpopular public proceeding or private interference with the independence of other electors. For the honest, conscientious, and unwary candidate or member, it is like entering under your own signature into a newspaper controversy with anonymous antagonists. If the candidate or member wear his political heart on his sleeve, he is at a disadvantage with political antagonists and electioneering agents who use language for concealing their thoughts. Ballot, at its best, frees the elector from all public responsibility to his fellow-citizens for any bad use which he may make of his secret influence over the choice of legislators; while it does away with the benefit of good example and respect for integrity in politics. It gives an undue advantage to the dissembler, over the upright man who is not ashamed of his political actions; and under the pretence of independence for the elector, creates members who, being callous to any personal blame by anonymous voters, may act with unscrupulous and irresponsible servility and corruption. But if, in compliance with the wishes of the majority, we must keep to the Ballot, let us at any rate have it in its integrity! Let every candidate propose himself. Let Election Committees and canvassing be forbidden by law. Let there be no show of hands. Take every precaution against false
The hours during which a vote can be given, are confined to those during which the working-man is exclusively occupied. The poll opens when he begins to work; the poll closes before he leaves off. He cannot poll before or after the usual working hours. He has only the dinner-hour: and, besides losing his meal he may be too far from a polling-booth to get there and back to his work within the hour. This gives an undeniable advantage to the voters who are not dependent on wages, or to employers who can oiler the bribe of not stopping them for a short day's work. The Parliamentary Elections (Metropolis) Bill, extending the hours of polling in the City and Metropolitan Boroughs of London to 8 o'clock in the evening, was read a third time in the House of Lords on the 21st February, and is no doubt by this time law: the Committee of the House of Commons which recommended it, reporting that they made no recommendation as to rural districts, only because they were not instructed to inquire into the application to them of the proposed alteration. Why should not a reform, adopted without opposition as so desirable at home, be adopted here, where there is a larger proportion of electors employed at daily working-hours than in the old country?
It is necessary to consider attentively these electoral defects, giving political pre-ponderance to wealth and power over the humble daily workers; because without equality in these e'ectoral powers, all conflicts for political reforms of a more equitable character to the humbler classes must be fought at a disadvantage.
Advocates of reform in taxation, should therefore also advocate extension of the franchise, allotment of representation according to numbers, and reform in the manner of obtaining and using the electoral franchise.
Agitation for political reform of any kind is to be carried on by discussion in private as well as in public. By giving or supporting lectures in public, or taking part in private conversation on the subject; by forming Working Men's Clubs, and Reform Societies; by sufforting the diffusion of popular knowledge on the subject through the purchase and distribution of pamphlets and tracts, and especially by supporting newspapers that contain information and arguments favourable to the reforms: by all these means, the way can be prepared.
At meetings preparatory to elections, those who wish for the reforms should unite to support candidates favourable to them, irrespective of their opinions on questions of less public importance, of local or distant residence, or of personal gratitude or attachment to the member or candidate, or his busy friends.
Attention should not be diverted from the main subject by listening to any attempt at raising up other questions, as grounds for party differences. Whether the Land Fund be spent where it is raised or not; whether the price of public land shall continue to be different in different parts of the Colony, or established at an uniform rate throughout it; whether local self-government should be administered by Counties or Road Boards, or by a mixture of both; whether education shall be free, secular, compulsory, high or low class. All such and many other questions, however important in themselves, are of little importance comparatively, and can afford to wait, until Justice shall have been obtained in the practical establishment of a System of Taxation under which every inhabitant of New Zealand shall contribute to the cost of its Government, not in proportion to his personal expenditure, but in proportion to the personal revenue which good Government enables him to receive.
Let us by all means have free trade in land tenure as well as in commerce; also in taxation. Let no class be protected against paying its just share. If our Democratic Constitution was granted to us in order that a Monied and Landed Aristocracy should be founded, and endowed with all political power, and if that un-natural appendage prove persistently unwilling to yield any of its exclusive advantages, let it be compelled at least to contribute to the public revenue fairly in proportion to those advantages, and not continue to make the mass of the people, under the delusive pretence of a liberal suffrage and equal laws, pay the largest proportion of the cost of Government wielded by the few, and of the yearly interest of borrowed money so lavishly spent for the improvement and increased value of all landed and other property, and for the multiplication of incomes far above the necessary wants of those who so cheerfully receive them, but who so churlishly grudge their fair contribution in return to the common purse.
I conclude by asking every reader of this pamphlet, who may approve of its object, to recommend others not only to read it, but to buy other copies for themseives and their friends. Thus I shall be aided as well as encouraged in further active efforts to help Sir George Grey and others in achieving a most necessary, just, and therefore popular measure of
Radical Reform!
Printed at the "Times" Office, Gloucester Street, Christchurch.
Gentlemen,—Be good enough to advise as to the bearing of the Sections 184 to 194 "Municipal Corporation Act
Several questions occur upon which your opinion is desired.
1st. As to Section 186:—Can we alter the level of any Street in the City which may have been already formed and metalled, or, indeed, only formed, otherwise than by "Special Order;" and if so altered, will the Council be liable or not to pay compensation for the actual damage caused by such alterations?
2nd. Section 190:—We have not yet made this map. Are we bound to make it within any specified time, or docs the Council incur any responsibility in deferring its completion?
3rd. Section 190:—Can we exclude from the map such streets (being already formed and metalled, or being formed only) as Council may consider ought to have further alterations effected in the levels thereof prior to being placed on the map?
4th. Section 191:—All buildings are to be erected having regard to the map alluded to in Section 190. No map having been prepared, can anyone build to such level as he finds to any formed street, and hold the Council liable for any departure subsequently made by the Corporation from such level?
5th. Section 192:—London street has been in the past formed and metalled. If it is desired to alter the level can Council in this case proceed to do so under this Section and Sub-sections, without being liable to pay compensation for any actual damage sustained by such alteration? or, if an alteration in level cannot be effected under this Section, how can it be effected, without liability for compensation?
6th. Section 192:—Does this Section when taken with other Sections, preclude our altering the level of any street, already partially or wholly formed, except upon paying such compensation as is mentioned in Section 194?
7th. Section 193:—As I have already stated, we have not yet made the map herein referred to.
As respects Dunedin, until the map is made can the whole of the streets of the City be regarded as new streets, and be dealt with accordingly, in terms of this Section?
In the case of Dunedin, what streets do you regard as new ones?
8th. Section 194:—In view of this Section and seeing that the map as per Section 190 has not been made, will Council be liable to pay compensation, as per Section 194, for damage sustained through the alteration in levels of any streets in the City, whether such streets may have been previously formed or left unformed?
Memo.—It was ultimately decided to obtain the opinions of different Barristers as to the several questions, &c. The opinions of Counsel are hereto appended in a classified shape.
The following is my opinion upon the several questions submitted to me:—
1. That the Council cannot alter the level of any Street in the City which has been already formed and metalled or formed [or constructed] beyond removing any inequalities without paying compensation to owners of property who may sustain actual damage, and I feel fortified in this view by the language of Section 194.
See Cary v. Kingston upon Hull Local Board, 5 B. & S., 815; S.C., 34 L.J., M.C., 7.
No Special Order would be necessary for such levelling.
1. The language of Section 186 is so general as, in our opinion, to apply to any alteration of a street, whether in respect of its level or otherwise, and therefore, in our opinion, a "Special Order" is necessary in the cases supposed. With regard to liability to pay compensation, if the level of the street has been fixed, within the meaning of Section 194, we are of opinion that the Corporation will be liable to pay compensation for any damage caused by subsequent alteration of level, but not for any damage arising from alteration of the level of other streets. What the precise meaning of the words in Section 194 "after fixing the level of any street as herein provided" may be, it is difficult to determine. We will express our view of the matter when dealing with question 8.
1. Part XI. of the "Municipal Corporations Act
There is no doubt authority for saying that an affirmative statute which gives a new right of itself does not destroy a previously existing right; unless the intention of the Legislature be apparent that the two rights should not exist together. See the cases collected in Broom's Maxims (5th ed., 29), where it is said that in order to repeal an existing enactment a Statute must have either express words of repeal, or must be contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of the law said to have been repealed. Giving however all due weight to the fact that the provisions in the Ordinance of
1. The Council cannot alter the level of any street in the City under Section 186. The word "alter" in that Section is used in the same sense as it is used in Section 185, that is in reference to the course of the street or the width of it, and not at all in reference to the level. The question of the levels of streets is dealt with in Sections 190, 192, 193, and 191, and all the powers of the Council to alter street levels are contained in those Sections.
I think (but it is by no means clear) that the Council may, when preparing the map of the Borough under the 190th Section, show other levels than those at present existing as being the permanent levels of streets which have been already formed and metalled and may generally be supposed to be constructed to their permanent level, and may subsequently vary the levels of such streets from time to time, whilst exercising their powers of constructing and repairing under Section 185, and may ultimately raise or lower, as the case may be, such streets to the levels shown in the map as the permanent levels, without thereby rendering the Corporation liable for compensation under Section 194. But I am of opinion that, until such a map is made, the Council has no power to interfere with the levels of any street already constructed further than may necessarily result from the exercise of the power of constructing and repairing conferred by Section 185. And I am further of opinion that the intention was to give the Council power to alter the levels of street's constructed to what was intended to be the permanent level at the time when the Act came or was brought into operation in the Borough, only upon payment of compensation for the actual damage caused by the alteration, and if (as I have already stated
With regard to streets which are formed and metalled, and as to which there is no fair ground for asserting that the present levels were intended to be permanent, I think the intended permanent levels should be shown on the map, and, in such cases, no compensation will be payable when such streets are altered to the levels so shown.
1. Any alteration in the level of an existing street can be made only by special order under Section 82 of "The Municipal Corporation Act Duncan v. Findlater, 6 CI. & Fin., 908). The works being done under Legislative authority are held to be lawful so long as they are carried out properly; that is to say, not carelessly or recklessly. (Caledonian Railway Co. v. Ogilvy, 2 Macq., Sc. App., 246). Consequential damage is not recoverable. (Per Willes in Herring v. Metropolitan Board of Works, 34 L.J., M.C., 224); (Sutton v. Clarke, 6 Taunt., 42). So long as a public body in the performance of works keeps within the powers conferred on it by Statute, it is not liable to pay damage or compensation unless the Statute gives a right thereto.
2. The words "after the passing of this Act" used in this Section would, as applied to the Corporation of the City of Dunedin, probably be construed to mean "after the adoption of this Act." I think the Council are not bound to make the map within any specified time; the language of the Section is "as soon as conveniently may be." It would be for the Court to say what was a reasonable time (see authorities
Fisher's Digest, 8329-30), upon an application by any ratepayer for a Mandamus against the Corporation for not making the Map. The words last quoted would, doubtless, receive a liberal construction, and the Court might think a year reasonable. Should the map not be made within such time as the Court might think reasonable, a Rule for a Mandamus would be made absolute; and if the Writ were disobeyed, the Members of the Council would be liable to be attached and committed to prison until they complied with the command contained in the Writ.
2. There is no time specified within which the map referred to in Section 190 is required to be made; but the tenor of that and the following section shows, in our opinion, that the words "as soon as conveniently may be" should be taken to mean "as soon as practicable." The language of Section 191 makes the necessity of fixing the levels by the completion of the map most obvious and urgent, for the tendency of that section is to prevent the erection of buildings in any streets except such as were "permanently constructed" at the time the City came under the operation of the Act. The Council could, in our opinion, be compelled by Mandamus to proceed with the preparation of the map; but, apart from that, they are, in our opinion, under no responsibility.
2. Section 190 of the "Municipal Corporations Act Mandamus; and it would lie upon the Council to exonerate itself by assigning valid reasons for the non-preparation or completion of the requisite map. In addition to the general remedy by Mandamus, there may be also a separate and distinct liability on the part of the Corporation to any individual able to prove a loss resulting from the omission to prepare and complete the map. The map ought to be prepared within a reasonable time after the passing of the Act of
2. There is no specified time for making this map; it must be done within a reasonable time. There is no penalty for deferring the making
Mandamus would lie to compel the making of the map as a public duty.
2. The expression in Section 190 "as soon as conveniently may be" confers a discretion on the Council which, however, must be exercised reasonably. The Council cannot defer indefinitely the preparation of the plan, and if any citizen was desirous of building he could call upon the Council to prepare the plan, and in the event of it (the Council) refusing after reasonable notice, and without good grounds to do so, the Supreme Court would by Mandamus compel the Council to comply with the Statute. The length and reasonableness of the notice would, I think, depend on the time the Council had had to prepare the plan, and the extent and nature of the Borough. For example: The Council of a Corporation which had just been created under the Act would be entitled to longer notice than a Council which had been working under the Act for, say, a year.
The meaning of the Section is, that the Council having regard to all the surrounding circumstances in which it is placed, must not unreasonably delay the preparation of the plan. Until the plan has been prepared I do not think the Council incurs any responsibility beyond what I have stated in my answer to the preceding question.
3. No.
3. In our opinion the Council cannot lawfully exclude any streets from the map—which is expressly required to show "all the streets and private streets with the levels thereof as the same area or are intended to be or will require to be constructed."
3. I think the map should show (as Section 190 requires in express terms) "all the streets and private streets" in the Borough; and if the Council contemplates any alterations in any of the street levels, the map should make this plain.
3. I have practically answered this under No. 1. The Council cannot exclude any street from the map, but they may show them—
3. The map must show all the streets in the Borough. The map should shew the levels of the streets as the same area or are intended to be, and the Council has no power to exclude any streets.
4. I think so; because the Council are not at liberty to alter the level of streets already formed, without paying for damages; and this seems clear from the language of Section 192, which says "until such map is made the Council may at any time fix the level of any street * * "not theretofore constructed," subject, &c.
4. In our opinion, the fact of the map not having been prepared does not affect legal rights or obligations so far as those streets are concerned which are "permanently constructed," which we take to mean not only formed, but metalled and finished for traffic, in the ordinary way. The Legislature having in effect commanded a map to be made forthwith shewing the levels of such streets, a Court of Law would, in our opinion, consider what was so commanded to be done, as done for the purpose of ascertaining legal rights and responsibilities in connection therewith. Assuming that a street merely formed but not metalled does not come under the denomination of streets "permanently constructed" (a point not entirely free from doubt) we are of opinion that the Council would not be liable for any alteration of the level of any merely formed street before its level has been fixed by being shown in the required map.
4. This question is not free from difficulty, but I am inclined to think that, until the Council fixes the street level, there is no liability
4. I think not. It will be the duty of any person desiring to build before the map is made, to apply to the Council. If the street is not constructed to fix the levels under the powers of Section 192, or if the street is apparently constructed to furnish him with the permanent levels, or if he desires to be quite safe, he must compel the Council by Mandamus to cause the map to be made.
4. Any person building before a map had been prepared would do so at his own risk. I have stated in answer 2 the remedy of such a person; indeed, Section 191 pre-supposes the existence of a map. The words "all buildings erected" mean all buildings to be erected, and such buildings must be constructed with reference to the levels shewn on the map.
5. I think not, for the reason given in my answer to the preceding question. I do not see how any alteration can be made, beyond such as is indicated in my answer to the first question, without paying compensation.
5. In our opinion the Council cannot alter the level of Loudon street under Section 192, because that section applies only to streets "not theretofore constructed." We do not see any way of effecting an alteration of level in such .streets as London street, without liability to composition Section 191 expressly entitles owners of lands or buildings fronting streets the level of which the Council shall alter after the same has been fixed as by the Act provided—and, as before stated, we consider that the level of all streets "permanently constructed" at the time the Act came into operation has virtually been fixed by the requirements of the 190th Section.
5. Section 192 seems to me scarcely applicable to such a case as that put. The clause applies only where the Council is about to fix the level of a street "not theretofore constructed." Of course it is not easy to say what the meaning of this phrase is, or what the power of the Council would be in the case of a partially constructed street. I am rather inclined to think that the safer method of proceeding would be to define a level on the map, as that which it is intended to adopt for permanent construction, and then proceed by Special Order. The Act does not, so far as I can see, absolutely bind the Council to existing street levels. The compilation of the map enables the Council to adopt a future as well as an existing level, and it is only when the choice of a level has been once made that there can be a liability to the house-owner for an injury to his property by an interference with the street level.
5. I think not. My reasons are fully stated in answer No. 1. I do not consider London street as a street "not constructed," and Section 192 is not, in my opinion, applicable.
5. Section 192 applies to streets not constructed. It appears to me that one portion of a street may be held to be constructed and the rest may be in a natural or unformed state. Whether a street, or only a portion thereof, has been constructed within the meaning of the Act, is a question of fact. I think, however, that London street would not come within the provisions of Section 192. The Council may alter the level of a street without giving compensation at any time before the level is permanently fixed and shown on the plan. Section 194 assumes the right of the Council to do so, and it is only in case the level is altered after having been fixed and shewn on the map "as herein provided" (Section 190) that compensation for the actual damage is claimable. The Supreme Court would, I think, on the application of any person affected by an alteration in the level before the map had been prepared, compel the Council to have the plan prepared with all reasonable despatch, and would probably grant an injunction restraining the Council from proceeding further with the works making an alteration in the level until the map had been prepared. Reading Sections 190, 191, and 194 together, I think that until a map has been prepared the levels cannot be held as fixed so as to entitle third persons to compensation for damage arising from alteration in the present levels.
6. I have already said that the Council cannot, without paying compensation, alter the level of any street wholly formed, except as mentioned in answer No. 1.
As to any street only partially formed, that is, in the language of Section 192, "not theretofore constructed," they can fix the level but not alter it when once fixed, without paying compensation.
6. Section 192 does not, in our opinion, touch the question of alteration of levels. It only deals with fixing (for the first time as we understand it) the levels of unconstructed or unformed streets.
6. For the reasons given in the last answer, I think not.
6. Already answered in answer to No. 1.
6. It could not have been intended by Section 193 to give the Council an arbitrary power to omit streets from the map, otherwise the provisions of Section 190, which are explicit, might be neutralised. The terms of Section 193, relating to a street not shown on the map, refer to a street which could not be shown thereon. For example: to a street made after the preparation of the plan. I am not aware of any English case bearing directly on the question submitted for my opinion, but there are several American cases applicable. In the case of Simmons v. The City of Camden, VII. Am., 620, it was held that an action would not lie against the Corporation for damage to the plaintiffs premises resulting from the exercise of a right to grade the streets, there being no want of skill or care alleged. This, however, was a case of consequential damage. In the City of Dixon v. Baker, 16 Am., 591, it was decided that a Corporation was liable for damages caused by the elevation of the grade of a street, by which surface water flowed into the basement of the plaintiffs buildings and cracked the walls: and further, that a Corporation is bound to use reasonable care in the construction of its sewers. This was a case of actual damage, but it also decides that the plaintiff could not recover for inconvenience caused
Lavezzola v. Daylesford, 1 H H. & A'B., Equity, 113, that a City Council is not bound to fix the level of a street not already levelled and paved. In this case an interlocutory injunction had been granted but was dissolved. This case was decided under the Victorian Statute.
7. Clearly not. "A new street," in the language of Section 193, means any street not set forth in the map; but the map, when made, is to contain all the existing streets within the Borough, so that any street, which ought to be set forth in the map cannot be regarded as a new street.
7. In our opinion, Section 193 assumes the map required by Section 190 to have come into existence, and must be construed accordingly. Therefore, no streets, which ought to be set forth in that map, and which have buildings fronting them can, in our opinion, be deemed "new" within the meaning of Section 193; and those only are to be regarded as "new" which either are not now in existence, or which, having been in existence at the time the Act came into operation, have as yet, no buildings fronting thereon.
7. Section 193 seems quite inapplicable. The map when compiled is to show all the then existing streets. A new street will bo one not appearing on the map. Places like the reclaimed land suggest a scope for the operation of Section 193.
7. No. It would be an absurdity to hold that a street which has been formed and metalled and kerbed and channelled, and fronting upon which extensive and valuable buildings have been erected—as Princes street, for instance—is a new street, simply because the Council have failed to get a map prepared, or to show the street upon such a map if prepared.
I regard as new streets at present, only such public streets as have not buildings fronting upon them.
8. Wherever the level has been fixed, whether before or after the making of the map, and such level is afterwards altered, the Council will be liable to pay compensation, whether the street be formed or unformed, because people building are guided by the level that has been fixed, whether the street is formed or not.
Generally.—The Act appears only to give compensation for damage caused by the alteration of levels after they have been fixed, and not for any damage arising from the exercise of the powers conferred by Section 185 of the Act. It appears to me that if any damage is caused by the exercise of these powers, the Corporation would be liable to an action. If the powers can be exercised without destroying or greatly injuring people's property, of course no difficulty will arise; but, according to my view of the law, they confer no authority to destroy or injure property. Baker v. St. Marylebone Vestry, 35 L.T., N.S., 129; Exch. Div., S.C., 24 W.R., 843.
Any compensation provided for by the Act, that is, for anything lawfully done under it, must be actionable damage, such as could be obtained in an action at law, if it were not for the compulsory powers given by the Act. New River Co. v. Johnson, 29 L.J. Mag., cap. 93; and Hall v. The Mayor &c. of Bristol, 36 L.J., C.P.., 110; and such compensation can only be recovered in the manner pointed out by the Act. Anything in excess of the powers of the Act must be enforced by an action.
8. As before stated, the non-preparation of the map required by Section 190, does not, in our opinion, affect legal rights as to the levels of streets "permanently constructed" at the time of the Act coming into operation as to Dunedin, the level of such streets being, in our opinion, virtually fixed by Section 190. There is, in our opinion, some doubt, however, as to whether streets which had been formed, but not metalled and completed at the time of the Act coming into operation, ought not to be included in the category of streets, the levels of which are also virtually fixed by Section 190. It depends on the meaning assigned to the expression "permanently constructed," If mere formation amounts to that, then, in our opinion, the levels of streets merely formed, at the time of the Act coming into operation must be deemed to have been fixed, and the Council would be liable to make compensation for any damage done by alteration of level. But if the expression means (as we are inclined to think it does) not only formed, but metalled and completed for traffic, the Council would not be liable.
8. This has been practically answered in reply to query No. 6. I am inclined to think that there will be no liability in respect of an alteration in a street until the level has been once "fixed," and it is contemplated that the map still indicates the ultimate level. I do not however, see anything to prevent the City Council altering a street level by a special order before the completion of the map; and for such an act the Corporation would not, I think, be liable in damages, unless the act was oppressive, and a plain abuse of the Council's authority.
8. I have already answered this question under answer No. 1. The Council will not be liable to pay compensation under Section 194, because, until the levels have been once fixed under the Act, that Section does not apply; but having, as I conceive, no power to alter the existing levels, the Corporation will be liable to an action at the suit of any owner of property fronting on a street, for the damage sustained by him by reason of any alteration illegally made in the levels.
Matthews, Baxter & Co., Printers, Princes Street, Dunedin.
The following suggestions are submitted for consideration by an old Settlement Officer, to whom the subject, therefore, is not a new one.
Being about to retire on a pension from the Indian Govern-ment, and not to commence life as a farmer or runholder, he trusts his views may be received and weighed as those of one who has no selfish interests at stake.
There is still an Imperium in Imperio in the Northern Island of New Zealand.
There are large tracts, where for 100 miles, the Queen's warrants are disregarded, no roads can be made, no telegraph laid down, no trade, and no settlements can exist.
Ten thousand square miles in the centre of the State remain waste.
The inhabitants of this comparatively unpenetrated tract remain to a great extent a separate people—like the Scotch till they gave England a king—an independent race. They stand at bay and bid us standoff wherever they choose in this tract.
There is no such improbability as amounts to an impossibility in there again being warfare between the two races.
True, that the Europeans now greatly outnumber the Maories; that there need be no doubt, and that the Maories themselves have no doubt, that in a determined contest they would be worsted; and that time is fast accomplishing the spread of British sovereignty.
But, granting all these probabilities, it is in the first place by no means certain, nevertheless, that the amalgamation of the races will be completed entirely without further bloodshed; secondly, time is not accomplishing all things perfectly.
In the first place there is delay—and waste of time is at least as bad as waste, i.e., loss of other things.
Next, during the suspense of this waiting policy is not a noble race passing away—a race whose chivalry and courage has tested the prowess of the Pakeha as no other race on earth has done, and one whose uncultivated intellectual faculties also give fair promise of being fully equal to their own—a savage race the preservation of which from extinction after contact with ourselves it would be only proper ambition for us to seek to accomplish?
In this present waiting transition period the Maori is learning our vices and suffering from their consequences, without benefiting by the blessings which also accompany civilisation.
The energies of a large population are comparatively without an object—without occupation.
Those who might by their labour enrich themselves and benefit us, live in comfort and be one with ourselves, still live as savages of the woods in the wretched bush hovels of their ancestors.
Large tracts of rich land, valuable minerals, and other natural products lie locked up—unheeded by the Maori, untouchable by the European.
The praiseworthy efforts of Government to procure land peaceably from the Maories for European settlement have in reality put Government in competition with private bids for the same, and the natural course of bargaining inevitably requires time.
When the purchase is completed the whole thing is partly a misfortune and partly a mistake.
The money so paid out of the Government Treasury is a large sum sunk.
For the money that has been paid by the Government, not in public works of communication, but in the purchase of land, is so much capital lost to the community for ever.
Again looking at it from the Maories' side, a large sum down is paid to those who are unaccustomed to the possession of such wealth. Is it all carefully used? Is it invested for the future need of those who receive it? or does it go the way, as usual, of money easily made and easily lost?
It is feared that the latter is very much the case, and that those who thus permanently part with their greatest possession, their land, find themselves in a year or two after poorer than before.
Thus the Maori race, whom to draw on in health, wealth, material and mental prosperity, in common with ourselves, would be worthy of our ambition, will in reality lose their only vantage ground, the soil, and sink away inevitably through poverty.
Further, even the sum paid by the English purchaser is so much abstracted from his working capital—a very considerable sum perhaps swells the public income of New Zealand for that particular year—but the purchaser's powers are lessened for many a year—where he might have made the land carry five head of cattle it only supports one, &c., &c.
Thus the purchase of land diminishes the working capital—the productive wealth of the community; and, if avoidable, must be deprecated as the loss of so much capital removed from fertilizing channels.
Finally, this outright sale of land is forestalling in one year the income of future generations—a selfish, narrow, unwise course in Nations as in families.
It is as much for the benefit of the Maories as of the English that the tract of country they occupy should be opened up, and its wealth developed like other parts of the Islands, by roads, by settlements, and by the expenditure among them of that which will enable them in turn to become purchasers of such British manufactures as the climate and their growing new desires
It is the land question mainly that keeps the two races apart.
To remove this difficulty and hasten this consumation is surely an object worth an effort.
Englishmen at one time bought large tracts of land of the Maories for ridiculously small sums, and the Maori afterwards, repenting of his bargain, raised endless obstructions.
Occasionally the land was bought from several claimants—one after the other.
Bloodshed and war have been the consequence of land transactions.
The Government stepped in at one time to protect the settlers, at another the Maories, and after a time, not unreasonably, decided that land could thus be parted with, by one race to the other, only through the Government.
The Maori complained of this restriction on his right to sell his own, and the Englishman loudly echoed the same demand.
The Government withdrew the restriction—again it seemed necessary to enforce it—and again it has fallen partially into abeyance.
At present, purchases made through the Legislature, i.e., with a certificate from the Land Courts, sometimes cost so much in preliminary expenses, that there is little left to reach the hand of the Maori proprietor.
The question of how the Maori may obtain a return from his land at present locked up and waste, and how the Englishman may utilize it, has so many difficulties about it, that it may be said to have come to a deadlock.
I venture to suggest a course by which throughout the whole Maori territory, the two races may at once mingle on equal and mutually advantageous terms; the whole of New Zealand be subject, not merely in name as now, but in reality, to the political and magisterial action of the State; the last remaining difficulty in the way of the Government be removed; the prosperity of the Colony be rapidly pushed on; and a permanent source of national income created. These results might, I trust, be accomplished without the expenditure of a shilling.
The solution I would suggest is one that respects the rights of the Maori, and meets the wish of the English; it gives to the Maori the value of the land, and to the Englishman the use of it.
I propose that there be first set aside as unalienable for ever, except to pure Maories, a sufficient quantity of land for the king, the chiefs, and every Maori individually.
The quantity that should be deemed sufficient, and the proportions as well as locality, to be assigned to each chief and individual to be determined entirely by a native council.
The smaller the area left for treatment under the next head the smaller will be the rental that will be collected and paid over to the Maori proprietor.
Next, let the Maori entrust the remainder of his land to the management of a Commissioner appointed by the Government, and approved by the Maori.
Let that Commissioner manage the estate as the agent of a large land owner.
Let the estate be roughly mapped according to its varying soils.
Let townships, agricultural farms, and sheep runs, be then marked out in dimensions varying from five acres to 500—of which any person may lease one or more lots as suits him.
Let the Commissioner undertake the introduction throughout it of the usual magisterial and other machinery of State, and
i.e., Public works of communication, Police, Education, &e., and the remainder, never less than one half, he would pay over to the Maories in the proportions determined by them in council.
The advantages that would be derived by the Maori are broadly—the permanent preservation of their race from poverty, the establishment for all time of their position as proprietors and landlords.
It may further be particularized as follows :—
far larger capital than any sum they can now get paid down to them as the price outright of the land.
The advantages to Government of such an immediate and final solution of the Maori land question have already been touched on.
The special advantages of this being effected by means of the creation of large Crown Lands property, may be imperfectly indicated as follows:—
Capital that would have been sunk in purchase remains with the tenants, and is employed in the development of the resources of the country—the material growth in value of the public property.
The rental forms a permanent steady income, and not the incomes of many years forestalled in one.
This annual State income reduces the amount to be otherwise raised by taxation. The land and its rental remains in fact forever the property of the whole people.
The success of this proposal depends on its thorough acceptance, both by the Maori and the Englishman.
If the Maori accepts it, if he recognizes that by it his title, his rights, his property will be respected, perpetuated, and rendered to him, for all future time; we have next to consider the reception the Englishman will give to it.
To be the owner of his homestead is the desire of every Englishman.
Leases, and above all things, ordinary yearly tenancies, will not attract capital.
The application to this property of the Ryotwarree tenancy of South India would, I believe, remove every difficulty.
Ryotwarry is that system of tenure which, under nominal yearly tenancy, gives to the tenant fixity of tenure—a title as good as a freehold without (1) its original cost; (2) with the option of throwing up unprofitable fields in hard times, instead of throwing good money after bad, and starving a whole farm to make five or ten hungry acres profitable; (3) with an unchanging light demand and great ease of transfer. (4)
It is a system entirely in favour of the tenant; it does all that can be done to ensure his prosperity—and thus it also secures the prosperity of the landlord.
It may not be adapted to estates of moderate dimensions, but for a large estate—such as Crown Lands—it is admirable because it is firmly and simply based. It recognizes that the interests of landlord and tenant are really only one; viz., that of the latter, and seeking mainly to attain this, it, at the same time, secures to the landlord a body of tenantry who never fail of payment.
It has been the tenure for centuries in the Madras Presidency in the South of India.
It is applicable to large or small farms.
In Madras there is no limit in practise, but in theory it is considered well to prevent labourers becoming pauper tenants, by limiting the minimum to the area that can be cultivated by the owner of a plough and a pair of bullocks.
The usual rate levied is supposed to be about one-fifth of the gross crop.
But in average seasons the demand really amounts to much less.
The form of the simple title deed runs much as follows:—
"In the village of Taupo, as long as you, John Smith, pay annually, or by such and such instalments, the tax of twenty-five shillings on five acres of dry (or irrigated) land within_________such and such boundaries, or numbered so and so, it shall remain yours and your heirs.
Although not expressed, there is a plain implication in this of indefinite continuity.
The absence of a distinct expression is characteristically Oriental.
The omission left a door open for the caprices of Oriental despotism, and was occasionally, though very rarely, used by our Mahommedan predecessors to increase the rent.
Under British rule the implied unchanged continuity has been treated with the most deferential respect.
In the South of India, the real home of Ryotwarry, the perpetuity of the rate is accepted as the rule, and any alterations that have been made, have been in almost all instances in favour of the tenants, and that alteration declared to be final.
In Northern India, where it has been more our own introduction than the legacy of former rulers, the practise has been to introduce a thirty years' settlement; after which the Government will re-consider the rate it may choose to impose.
For New Zealand a combination of these two ideas might be adopted, viz., the perpetuity of tenure, and the right of the State to alter the rate.
The settlement might be for thirty years, but the Government engage that on the re-settlement, if any such take place, the rise in rates shall not be more than a certain moderate figure—say such as will suppose the value of land to double in 100 years, viz., 30 per cent, on present rates.
If it is right that the national income should prosper in proportion with individual prosperity, in this way the rise in the value of land would also show itself in the public income.
That income will, however, be always growing in another way, viz., from the continual taking into cultivation of the poorer lands rejected by first comers, and the growth of the area held by the Crown tenancy.
There is much to be said on this question of a fixed or increasable rent.
My own opinion is, that it is best for the rent to be fixed at a liberal, i.e., a low figure, once and for ever; and that the future increasing demands of a more populous State be met by increased taxes, not in the form of rent from the cultivators of the soil, but as direct taxes on the luxuries of the rich, and especially in that most simple, most perfect form, an income tax.
But to return.
If this land system is adopted as the principle, it will be apparent that a Ryotwarry lease becomes, by attention to its terms, a lease only in name. It is a binding contract for all time between the Maori landlord and the tenant.
The carrying out of this system is simple and inexpensive in the extreme.
The land has, with the aid of the Maori proprietors, to be classified and valued according to its soil.
These varying soils should be mapped, and properties marked out.
These properties have then, with the same Maori aid, to be assessed.
After this, in every village or parish is a Government official, Maori or English, to whom has to be reported every change
These matters are recorded and reported by him. The Registry Office of the district has a record of every transfer.
The Government is the paramount authority, and conflicting claims can only arise after and within the Ryotwarry lease (or "puttah" as it is called in Madras.)
An hour spent at the Registration Office will show every claim on any land, and permit of a transfer by sale or otherwise without doubt, and with the least possible expense or delay.
Hence, within the Ryotwarry Settlement, legal proceedings will be almost unknown. The paradise of the tenant, starvation for a lawyer.
If it be desired that the sum spent on public works be larger at first than is needed afterwards, it will be easy, by a mortgage on the rents, to raise a loan.
Thus raise and spend half a million a year for five years.
The rental from the land will pay much more than the interest and the returns from a small charge levied on the works will form a sinking fund, which will speedily pay off the principal, and after that no charges need be levied.
No occupation of land should be permitted without the payment of the year's or half-year's rent in advance. Because—
money in hand for the requisite expenditure on public work.
Many questions of detail will best be dealt with separately, such as—the mode of recovering arrears from absentees, the
In unsurveyed land with dubious boundaries and varying soils, it is impossible to arrive at accurate figures as to the result of the carrying out of the proposed scheme.
But the following rough approximation will make the proposal clearer:—
The area is about 10,000 square miles or 6,000,000 acres, and if we suppose that half of this is available, and that of this half 500,000 acres will have to be appropriated to the immediate use of the Maori race, we have 2,500,000 acres remaining to be dealt with under this system, and this area will assuredly yield a very large permanent income—and one that will increase as the soils at first discarded are afterwards taken up.
Large figures will not of course be reached at first—not perhaps for five years—but supposing the rental to commence at £300,000. This sum produced at once by that which is now lying idle, waste and useless, and without expenditure, is surely an amount not to be discarded without consideration.
Under this system the Maori will retain the proprietary title of landlord, and obtain the value of his lands.
The Englishman will obtain the use of it.
W. Atkin, Book and General Printer, High Street, Auckland, N.Z.
Ko nga korero o roto o te pukapuka e tukua atu nei, he kupu na tetahi tumuaki whakatakoto tikanga mo nga whenua o Inia na konei e hara ia i te mohoao ki tenei tu mahi.
E whakamutu ana ia i tuna mahi ki to Kawanatanga o Inia, otiia kaore ia i te kimi whenua orunga ranei moua i konei, ko tona Petihana hoki tona oranga, na konei ia ka whakaaro tena pea te katoa e ata whakarongo e ata hurihuri hoki i ana kupu me ka panuitia.
E rua nga iwi e noho nei i runga i te raotu o Niu Tirani, ko te Maori ko te Pakeha. Otiia rau iho nga eka o te whenua e takoto kau ana kaore he rori kaore he terekarawhi, kaore e nohia ana e te tangata. Ko nga Maori no ratou nei enei takiwa kei te tu mai i tawhiti, ara kei te lioho wehe atu i te pakeha he noho kino tenei, he noho pakanga lioki, tena ano e hoki tuarua mai te riri ki nga raotu nei—a ki te riri uauaanaa muri nei, e mohio ana rapea te maori ko ia ano e hinga i te ruarua ona i te tokomaha o te pakeha—Na kowai ka hua e taea te pakanga te pehi a ugara e takoto ake nei; e kore e ki noake te tangata kua rautu atu te whakaheke toto i nga tau kua pahemo ake nei; e kore e tuturu te ki ko te rongomau me te noho tahi o te pakeha raua ko te Maori kei raua i a tatou, kao, e kore e ahei tenei te ki. Engari me kimi ano he ara, me kimi i naia tonu nei. Ina hoki I runga i te tatari roa me te awangawanga, he mate nui to nga iwi e noho nei. Tuatahi, ko te Maori te iwi toa nei, te iwi marohirohi nei kei to kore haere—kei te ako i nga tini kino whakamate a te pakeha me te noho kuare tonu ki nga mea papai ki nga mahi tika e tohungia ai te tangata. Kahore he huarahi e tuwhera ana i naia nei hei ara atu mo te ngakau nui o te maori, na konei, i a ia e noho nei kei roto tonu i nga kauta i nga hereumu o ona tup una e kuhu ana. Tuarua ko te pakeha kei te ram i te maumau o te taima me te takoto kino tonu o nga tikanga mo nga whenua.
Na, ko te mahi a te Kawauatauga e ata hoko nei i nga whenua o nga Maori kaore ano i to tino pai, inahoki—
Tuatahi, ko te Kawanatanga raua ko te hatimana kei te ahua tautohe mo te whenua mehe ka hoko.
Tuarua, ko nga moni Kawanatanga c pau ana i runga i te hokohoko whenua e ngaro tonu atu ana, kaore e hoki mai ana ki te iwi, penei me nga moni e pau nei ki runga ki nga mahi rori re re we ranei.
Tuatoru, ko te Maori hoki e mate ana i runga i tana hoko i tona whenua. Kei te pehea koia tana kai i ana moni nunui nei me ka riro atu hei utu mo ona whenua ? Kei te hapukuria tonutia rapea e ia, ka pau heoi ano noho rawakore noailio; te tangata whai rawa nei i te pumautanga o tona whenua ki a ia ano kua kiia he pohara.
Tuawha, mehemea he hatimana te kai hoko o te whenua o te Maori ko ia hoki tetahi e raru ana, i te mea kua pau pea te nuinga o ana moni i te hokonga i te whenua, i iti nga mea i toe hei whakapai i tona kainga.
Tuarima, he tikanga he te mahi hoko tonu atu i te whenua, he tango hoki tenei i te oranga mo nga whakatupuranga ki muri.
He mea pai kia whakatuwheratia e te Maori o ratou takiwa ki te pakeha kia taea ai nga rawa e takoto maumau noa nei i runsra i te whenua—kia hanga ai he rori—kia nohia ai e te tangata—kia whakaarahia ai hoki te ture ki waenganui o te Maori. Engari kaua tenei e na runga mai i te hoko. Me whakamutu tera, na tera hoki i wehe te pakeha me te Maori e noho nei raua.
Na, e hara ianei i te pai kia ngana tonu tatou kia wawe ai te hakiri atu o tenei raruraru—te raru raru i timatamai nei i runga i te hokolioko whenua—Ina hoki tona korero.
I mea tan ka u mai te pakeha ki Niu Tirani. Kaore ano i ata tan noa te waewae ki nta kua minamina ki nga whenua o te tangata Maori. Ina ano na kua tae ki ona poa, ki te toki, ki te naihi, ki te kohua, ki te pu, ki teaha, ki teaha—Ehara kua heke te wai o te waha o te Maori, kua totoro mai te ringa, kua karanga, "pakeha, taku whenua hei utu mo te hanga nei, kei mea te
Na enei raruraru ka kaiponu te Maori i tona whenua, ka kati te huarahi atu mo te pakeha ki waenga o te Maori. Otira tena ano pea e tuwhera, tenei pea he tikanga e hoki mai ai te katoa o te Maori ki te taha o te pakeha noho ai, e urn atu ai hoki te pakeha ki waenga o te Maori—e waiho ai kia kotahi he ture mo nga iwi e rua—e tere ai hoki te nui haere o te Koroni. Tetehi ano, ma tenei e mau tonu ai te mana o te Maori ki runga ki ona takiwa, ko ta te pakeha he mahi kau i te whenua.
Na koia tenei.
Tuatahi, me rahui tetahi wahi o nga whenua Maori ka wiira ai tera mo nga Maori ake ake—te meiha o te takiwa me ka wehea, ma te runanga Maori ano e whakarite. Ma taua runanga ano hoki e tuha nga piihi e tika ana, ma te kingi, ma nga rangitira, ma nga tangata katoa ano e whai putake ana ki te whenua.
Tuarna, ko nga wahi o te whenua i toe me tuku ki tetahi Komihana kua oti te whakarite e nga Maori me te Kawana-
Na, nga lina e puta mai ana ki te Maori i runga i fenei tikanga kote kore pohara o te iwi a nga tau e takoto ake nei, ka talli—ko te whakatnturutanga ona hei rangatira ino te whenna ake ake, ka rua.
Inahoki ki te ata tirohia iho.
Tuatahi, ko nga moni reti me ka kohia ka hoatu e te Kawana-tanga ki nga Maori ia tau ia tau, e neke noake rapea i te utu kotahi e puta mai ana i te whenua me ka hokona tomi ti a atu.
Tuarua, he hoatu pai tenei i te moni, i te mea ka hoatu topu ana pau tonu atu, ngaro tomi atu ranei to raton clanga i te tau kotahi ano.
Tuatoru, ko te paunga o letali i moni nui tonu ia tau ia tau ki nga rori me era atu malli Kawanatanga i nga wahi katoa o te whenua.
Tuawha, ka tapoko atu te pakelia ki waenga o te Maori, ka whakaaroaro ki a ia, ka whakaatnatu i a ia ki nga mahi e nui liaere ai te tan gata me te iwi.
Tuarima kote ekenga atu o te mana o te ture, me te urunga atu hoki o nga rata rougoa ki nga takiwa Maori katoa, hei pelli hei patu i nga kino o roto o waho o te tungata, ara, hei tami i nga kanga e haere tahi nei i roto o nga manaakitanga a te pakeha.
Tuaono, ka timata te mahi hokolioko taonga a te Maori.
Ki te taha Maori enei pai kua kiia ake nei. Na waihoki ki te taha Kawanatanga, te pai ko te mutunga rawatanga o nga raruraru e pihi ake ana ia marama ia marama i runga i nga whenua Maori.
Tetehi ano, ko nga moui e ngaro tonu atu ra mehernea e hokona ana te whenua, ka toe hei whakapai, hei whakamomona i te whenua. Tetehi ano, i runga i te reti e puta tonu mai ana te moni ki te tangata nona te whenua ia tail ia tau; kaore i penei te puta topu mai.
Tetehi ano, ma tenei e whakaneke iho nga moni e kohikohia nei i nga tangata mo nga mahi Kawanatanga, i te mea hoki ko te whenua kei te iwi tonu e pupuri ana, me nga utu o te whenua kei nga tangata ano.
Heoi ano,—Engari ma nga iwi e rua, ma te Maori, ma te Pakeha, e whakaae mai enei kupu e tu ai hei tikanga mo nga motu nei. Ki te paingia e te Maori, ina hoki ka u ki a ia te mana o tona whenua ake tonu atu, e kore pea e paingia e te pakeha i te mea e whai ana hoki ia ki a ia ano te mana o tona wahi.
He mea kino te riihi ki te tangata whai moni—e kore e makere tona moni ki tera. Otira tena pea raua tokorua e whakapai ki te tikanga o Inia, ara ki te Riotewari. Ma teuei pea e whakakore nga raruraru katoa o nga whenua.
Ko te tauira tenei o taua tu tuku whenua e mau ake nei.
"I te takiwa o Taupo, ki te utu koe, e Hone Mete, i te rua tekau ma rima hereni ia tau ia tau, ki a koe me au uri tenei rima eka kua rohea nei.
Ki te ara ana te Riotewari hei tikanga mo konei, heoi ano kua kore te mahi riihi whenua.
Ko te whakahaere hoki o to Riotewari i mama. Ina hoki ko nga whenua me ata tirotiro ka roherohe ai. Hei runga i te ahua o nga oneone o ia wahi o ia walii te whakatako-toranga o nga rohe. Ka mutu tenei ka raapi uga whenua kl runga i te pukapuka. Me whakatu ano he Apiha maori pakeha ranei a te Kawanatanga ki ia takiwa, ki ia takiwa, hei whakahaere i nga tikanga o te Riotewari. Ko nga mea katoa e mahia ana e ia me tuhituhi me panui e ia. Na ki te puta mai tetahi raruraru ki te rangatira o te whenua he haere kau taua ki te tari ki te titiro i nga mapi i nga ingoa o nga tangata i reti i tona whenua. Na konei ki nga wahi katoa e uru ki roto ki te Riotewari, kaore he mahi ma te roia, kaore e pau ana te moni i tera tu tangata.
Kia takoto ra ano te utu mo te tau mo te hawhe tau ranei, a te Kai reti ka tuku atu ai te whenua ki a ia—Ma tenei ka kore e tata mai nga tino rawakore ki te tono whenua; tetehi ano ma tenei e kore ai e ruihi nga utu o nga reti. Tetahi painga lioki o tenei tikanga, ka whai moni te Riotewari mo nga mahi Kawanatanga i te timatanga mai ano.
Ko nga whenua kaore nei ano i ruritia e kore e ata taea te whakatakoto nga rohe me te mapi. Engari e kiia ana i tata ki te ono mirione (6,000,000) nga eka o te Maori e toe nei. Na mehemea e torn tonu nga mirione (3,000,000) o enei eka e ahei ana kia nohia i naia nei, he nui tenei. Ina hoki, ki te wehea atu i enei kia rima rau mano (500,000) eka hei kainga, hei mahi nga kai, aha atu hoki ma nga Maori, ka toe e rua mirione e rima rau mano (2,500,000) eka mo te Riotewari. Na ki te tuku a enei rua mirione rima rau mano eka, e kore ano e tino nui nga utu e puta mai i nga tau tuatahi, otiia tera e tae ki te toru rau mano pauna (£300,000). Inahoki mehemea ka timata atu i te rua hereni i te tau mo te eka kotahi, e taea te ono tekau ma wha pauna (£64) mo te maero, e ono rau e wha tekau hoki nga eka kei roto i te maero—Na ki te huihuia nga moni katoa e tata ki te toru rau mano pauna (£300,000).
He whika nui rawa tenei mo nga wlienua e sakoto kau nei i naianei. Otira te tino pai o te Riotewari ko te tuturntanga o te mana o te tangata maori ki runga ki te whenua—ki a ia hoki nga utu, ko te mahinga kau i nga whenua ma te pakeha.
R. Lucas & Son, Printers, Bridge-street, Nelson.
Fellow Colonists—
As the elected head of this Province, specially charged to watch over and protect its interests, I deem it due, both to you and to myself, to give expression to a few thoughts as regards the present political situation.
I desire to do so as briefly as possible, and as an earnest man speaking to earnest men.
I am deeply impressed with the conviction that we have reached a crisis in the political history of New Zealand, upon our right action with regard to which now, depends the future of the Colony for good or for evil.
I assume that you are all aware of the fact that a majority of your representatives in the Colonial Parliament have decided that your Provincial Legislature is to be abolished, and that but for the strenuous efforts of a minority this abolition would have been an accomplished fact, without any reference whatever to your wishes or opinions on the subject. As it is, the operation of the Act has been postponed until after the prorogation of the next Session of the new Parliament. So that the people of New Zealand may, at the approaching elections, have a voice in the matter.
"What I now earnestly desire is, that the people of Otago would calmly and deliberately consider for themselves the effect which the abolition of the Province is likely to have upon their own-interests. To my mind that effect cannot fail to be very
It cannot, I presume, be denied that, considering the extent of its territory, the short period of its existence, and the comparatively small handful of its population, the progress of Otago hitherto has been perfectly marvellous, all the more so looking at the fact that it has contributed upwards of two millions of money to the Colonial chest, in respect of which there has not been one single sixpence of value received. Just fancy to yourselves what this sum might have accomplished had it been expended in developing the resources of the Province.
Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the progress of Otago, which a quarter of a century ago was an unpeopled wilderness, than the fact that of the thirty-two colonies of Great Britain no less than twenty-eight are inferior to this Province in respect of the amount of its public revenue and the extent of its commerce.
In my opinion the only thing which has prevented the still further progress of Otago has been the abstraction of its revenue by the Colony, and the action of the Colonial Legislature, by which the Province has been deprived of the power of carrying on immigration and public works on its own account, both of which I maintain in the nature of things could have been more satisfactorily conducted by the Provincial than by the General Executive. As a striking example of the contrast between the two systems, we need anly revert to the fact that under General administration, the cost to the Colony on immigration has been upwards of £21 10s. a head for each statute adult, while under the system so successfully carried on for years by the Provincial Government, the total cost did not exceed £15 10s. per adult, the quality of the immigration comparing favorably with that of the former. There was nothing to have prevented the whole of the recent immigration into this Province from having been conducted on the same terms, had the Province been allowed tomorrow for the purpose as the Colony did.
How far our past progress is to be attributed to the action, of the local legislature is a question upon which opinions may differ; there can, I apprehend, be no difference of opinion, however, as to the fact that this progress has been in no degree attributable to the action of the Colonial Parliament; and yet it is now proposed to part with the one, and to place the administration of affairs entirely in the hand of the other.
One great argument—indeed, I may say the only argument—which has been adduced in favor of abolishing the Provincial legislature, is the alleged saving of public expenditure which would be effected thereby. This is an argument, however, which might be much more forcibly applied towards the abolition of the Colonial Legislature, as at present constituted. The Provincial Legislature and Executive of Otago (which could fulfil all the functions of the Colonial Legislature and Executive without any additional charge) costs one shilling and sixpence per head on the population of the Province, while the Colonial Parliament and Executive cost two shillings and ninepence per head.
As regards the whole Colony, the total cost of the nice Provincial Councils and Executives is under £32,000 a year, while the annual expense of the General Assembly and Colonial Executive is over £50,000. If you add to this £250,000 of annual departmental and other charges—which would disappear along with the General Assembly—you will be able to judge as to where the greatest saving might be effected. I may say that the foregoing figures represent expenditure in respect of services which might be dispensed with without detriment to the public interest; they do not include anything connected with the Immigration and Public Works Departments, in both of which there would be a material reduction were these matters left to the Provinces.
I repeat that the Abolition Bill, if carried into operation, must be disastrous to the interests of this Province in various ways. I shall only allude to one or two facts, which will serve amply to bear out this opinion. We will take first and foremost the tentorial revenue, which, although de jure Colonial revenue,
de facto the revenue of the Province, and appropriated by the Provincial Council towards roads and bridges, the erection of schools, subsidising local Road Boards, &c.
Under the Abolition Pill the annual interest upon the Provincial debt becomes the first charge on the land revenue to the extent of £90,000. The residue, if any, goes into the Colonial Treasury, to be appropriated by the General Assembly. I say the residue if any, because it is quite possible that there may be no residue, inasmuch as in the event of our railways not paying more than working expenses, the interest on their cost is legally chargeable on the Land Fund. Assuming, however, that there will be a residue, you may be quite certain that very little, if any thereof, will find its way back to you—the Colonial horse-leech must first be satisfied. Although it is likely that the railways in this Province will yield sufficient to cover both interest and working expenses, yet there are political lines in New Zealand with regard to which it is to be feared that such will not be the case; and so surely as any portion of our Land-Fund goes into the common purse, just as surely will it be applied towards deficiencies in every part of the Colony. The probability is that railways in Otago will be a source of revenue, which, under Provincial administration, would be expended wholly within the Province, but which, under the proposed new order of things, will not be so expended.
In fact, it was broadly stated from the Ministerial bench during the late Session, that whatever surplus may be derived from remunerative railways should be devoted towards making up the deficiency of those which may not pay, in whatever part of the Colony they may be situated, and this will undoubtedly be one of the practical results if the Abolition Pill comes into operation. I regard this declaration as a gross breach of that fundamental principle which was laid down when the Public Works policy was agreed to, namely, that each Province should be charged with the cost of its railways; on no other condition would I and others have assented to the policy. As it is, it only shows the folly of relying upon the stability and good faith of Colonial Legislature
Reverting to the abstraction from the Province of its Land Revenue, I look upon it, that unjust and injurious as this will be, the blotting out of the Provincial Council, as exercising a watchful eye upon the administration of the Waste Lands will be more detrimental still, and will probably result in the public estate falling into the hands of the few instead of the many, and in the indiscriminate renewal of the pastoral leases without reference to the requirements of settlement, or to their real value.
There is nothing that I deprecate more than setting class against class. I have always regarded the pastoral interest as one of the greatest and most important in the Province, and can see no necessary antagonism between it and any other. I regret, therefore, to think that the abolition of the Provincial Legislature is in a great measure supported by this interest, in the hope that it is likely to get a renewal of leases on better terms under Colonial than under Provincial administration.
In the course of the next few years, nearly the whole of the pastoral leases throughout the Province expire. Should the administration continue in the hands of the Province, the pastoral tenants will be greatly multiplied in number, and, instead of run-holders, will become thriving and wealthy sheep farmers, living on their estates and employing a large amount of labor; a consummation which will add greatly to the public revenue, and will tend to elevate the position of the Province both politically and socially:
Now, let us glance at the other reasons which are adduced in favor of the proposed constitutional change. It is said that several of the Provinces are bankrupt; that they are unable to carry on any longer; that is to say, they are unable for want of means to perform those primary functions of government which have hitherto devolved on them, viz., the protection of life and property, the education of the people, &c., &c.
If, however, the Provinces are unable to carry on these functions without funds, how is the Colonial Government to carry
I deny that there is any necessity for the Provinces being unable to perform their functions, but I will tell you why some of them are unable to do so. It is simply because the public revenue, a large proportion of which used to be devoted towards the necessary purposes of government, has been gradually more and more withheld from the Provinces, and absorbed by the Colonial Parliament, until at length all that is left is 15s. a head capitation allowance; that is to say, the people of Otago, out of the £5 contributed annually to the Colonial chest by each man, woman, and child, receives in return the magnificent sum of 15s., wherewith to pay the interest on the Provincial debt, to maintain the absolutely necessary public departments, and to carry on the greater portion of the real government of the country. It will readily be seen that but for its land fund, of which it is now to be deprived, Otago would have been in no better position than the poorest of its neighbours.
I repeat that if any of the Provinces have been left high and dry, it is in consequence of the lion's share of the revenue having been absorbed by the Colonial Parliament, and applied to what? Not towards the paramount purposes of Government—not to the settlement and occupation of the Colony—but to the maintenance of a Legislature at Wellington, and of a Colonial establishment upon a scale of extravagance, unparalleled, I believe, in any other country in the world similarly situated.
The Colonial expenditure has from the outset been assuming
Talk of Provincial extravagance—the thing pales into insignificance compared with that of the Colony. Depend upon it, unless we retrace our steps, the day of reckoning will come sooner or later, and it is not by hugging the chain which binds us, and rushing still further into the arms of Centralism that this day is to be evaded. It can only be met in one of two ways—either the taxation of the Colony must be increased, or the unnecessary and unwarrantable expenditure must be reduced. Of this latter, I feel convinced that there is not the slightest hope, so long as the two islands are mixed up, and unequally yoked together in one Legislature as at present—a Legislature which assumes to itself the conduct and control of the whole of the parish business throughout the Colony, instead of confining its attention to those few subjects which concern New Zealand as a whole.
It may be said, why not apply the pruning-knife and cut down the unproductive expenditure? And no doubt this would seem to be the natural solution of the difficulty. Long experience, however, has convinced me that this cannot or will not be done, and that the only practical remedy is to cut down the tree and plant afresh—and this leads to the real point to which in my humble opinion, the attention of every elector should be directed at the forthcoming election. I should vote for no candidate, however personally acceptable, unless I could thoroughly rely upon his strenuously advocating and supporting such measures as shall substantially secure—
It seems to me that the foregoing proposals embody a general principle of action, which if determined upon by a majority of the representatives of the people will produce such a reform as must lead to the existing taxation being beneficially expended or greatly reduced, and be conducive to the happiness and prosperity of the people of both Islands. It will be observed that I have not touched the question as to the number of Provinces in each Island; as this does not materially affect the chief object to be attained—namely, financial reform and retrenchment; at the same time there are grave and important considerations which would have to be taken into account in discussing the point as to the number of Provinces. My own opinion leans strongly towards at least two Provinces in each Island; I do not think that for years to come anything less will be satisfactory, either on the ground of economy or efficiency.
Provincial Councils, even in the false position in which they have been placed hitherto, have been important schools for the nurture of political life, and for political training, and as such (apart from all other benefits) they have been worth infinitely more to New Zealand than they have cost. How much more valuable would they be in these respects if placed on a proper footing and in a position of supremacy, each in Its own sphere.
It would be easy to show as regards your own Provincial Council, that with all [its faults, it is just as capable—aye and more so—of making laws and of dealing with the affairs of Otago as is the General Assembly at Wellington. In the case of the latter it may well be said
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.
It surely stands to reason that forty-six men, all of whom are elected by yourselves, assembled within the Province, can deal far more satisfactorily with your interests than can eighty-four
Another great argument which is urged in favor of the proposed change is, that it will secure a greater amount of justice to outlying districts, that is to say, it will confer upon Otago what it already to a great extent possesses, and which every district which so desires it may possess to-morrow—viz., Road Boards with power to rate themselves. Hitherto these Road Boards have been subsidised by the Province out of its land fund. Under the proposed new regime they are to be subsidised out of taxes to be extracted from the pockets of the ratepayers, in other words they are to be subsidised out of moneys contributed by the people themselves. And this is the great boon for which we are invited to part with those institutions under which the Province has flourished so remarkably, just as if this boon could not be obtained if necessary under the existing system.
I know of few things which have been more beneficial to this Province than the liberal subsidies which during the past ten years have been received by the District Road Boards and Municipalities at the hands of the Provincial Government. It is true that since
Depend upon it, inadequate as it may have been towards their requirements, the outlying districts of Otago have had vastly more money expended within them by the Provincial Council than they are ever likely to have at the hands of the General Assembly. I would say more, that but for the enormous drain upon the resources of the Province which has gone to uphold the lavish expenditure of the Colonial Parliament, the outlying
One of the crimes with which your Provincial Council was most loudly charged in the Assembly was that its sole aim had been to aggrandize Dunedin at the expense of the Province. Never was there a more reckless and unfounded charge. It would be no difficult matter to show that considering the extent of its population, Dunedin has had no more than very scant justice at the hands of the Provincial Council. It is much to be regretted that there are those among us who, while they exhibit an unfounded jealousy towards Dunedin, have no objection to aggrandize Wellington, to any extent, at the expense of Otago.
I have long been convinced that if there is to be any genuine diffusion of local administrative power throughout the Colony, such diffusion will have to emanate from Provincial Legislatures. I do not anticipate that any practical measure in this direction is likely to proceed from Centralism as it exists in this Colony.
The Provincial Council of Otago has done much in the way of extending power of local administration. It has already placed upon the Statute Book an Ordinance whereby, if the people desire it, County Boards may be constituted at any time, with full power to administer all local matters; an Ordinance which confers far greater powers, and makes much more liberal provision
By virtue of a Colonial statute, a fixed proportion of the land revenue has to be set aside as an endowment for these County Boards, whenever they are brought into existence. As it is, however, none have taken advantage of this Ordinance, from which it may be presumed that the people deem themselves better off as they are; an opinion in which I do not think that they are very far wrong. The Provincial Council has created and endowed all over the Province, Municipalities, Road Boards, School Boards, Harbor Boards, Athenæums; in short, its maxim has been to decentralise administrative power in every direction, and in this it has afforded a striking contrast to the Colonial Parliament, whose principle of action has been, centralise—centralise—centralise—so much so, that if not checked now, it will shortly become impossible to move in any part of New Zealand without the authority of the Governor in Council, which means practically, an irresponsible bureaucracy at Wellington.
That your Provincial Council is faultless and may not be improved, it is not for me to allege. Let it be what it may, it is an embodiment of the popular will; a transcript of yourselves; and if it acts indiscreetly, the remedy is in your own hands. All I would say further is, that if you sweep it away, you will commit an act which you yourselves will yet bitterly regret; an act which posterity will mourn over and deplore. What would England, Ireland, and Scotland give now to have what we are asked to throw away—their local parliaments to deal with local affairs?
You may rest assured that political privileges are not so easily acquired that they should be lightly disposed of, and that nothing but the most culpable indifference as to the responsibilities which devolve upon them, will account for the people of this Colony parting with one iota of the powers and privileges which they now possess, or permitting themselves to be led by those who are influenced by a morbid love of change for its own sake.
One word more in conclusion. I have endeavored very imperfectly to point out that Otago, which has been the milch cow of the Colony, has nothing to gain, but everything to lose should the Abolition Bill be carried into operation—that the Colonial Parliament has from first to last been the wet blanket upon progress—that the resources of the Province are every day disappearing more and more in the maelstrom of Colonial finance—that the bane of the Colony has been the gradual growth of a grasping and improvident Centralism, repugnant to the genius of free institutions, and totally unsuited to the peculiar circumstances of New Zealand. You might as well attempt to build a pyramid, commencing at the apex, as to build up a great nation in New Zealand by means of one Central Government at Wellington.
I cannot disguise from myself the fact that, could we divest ourselves of the idea of the unity of New Zealand, the true remedy for the existing evils, in as far as Otago is concerned, would be that the Province should be erected into an independent Colony. Even were the people unanimous on this point, however, there are difficulties in the way which would take much time to surmount. As it is, therefore, the practical remedy at this moment is to send to the new Parliament men who will spare the country from that plethora of Government with which it has for years been scourged—men who will see to it, that the General Assembly shall take the shape of a simple and inexpensive federal Council, dealing only with a very few subjects; and that the two islands, and the various Provinces in each, shall be separate, distinct, and independent as regards the disposal and control of their respective revenues and the management of their local affairs. Of course there must needs be an equitable adjustment, as between the Provinces, as to the payment of existing Colonial liabilities, which adjustment would have to be regulated by the federal Legislature.
Finally, I trust it may not be deemed out of place to point out, in reference to the approaching election, that if there should be more than one anti-Centralist candidate for the same seat, the
Mills, Dick and Co., Steam Printers, Stafford Street, Dunedin.
Sir,—I am induced to lay before you a summary of the reasons why the completion of the main trunk line via the West Coast to Nelson and Picton should be included in the Public Works Proposals of power of development existing at this northern end, and from comprehending the extent and authority of the pledges given to the people of Nelson, Marlborough, and the West Coast by the Government of this Colony in order to obtain their support to the Public Works Policy, and to secure that unanimity throughout the Colony, without which, the money to construct the very railways that have doubled and trebled the value of our Southern Provinces could never have been borrowed. Otago owes much of her present greatness to your patriotic and able government; and now that you have been raised to the higher position of Minister of Public Works for the Colony, I, and many other colonists look to yon, to investigate the resources of the districts hitherto strange to you, and to read and realise the promises on the faith of which we have bought, built upon, and improved our lands, and to extend to us the same successful and energetic aid and assistance, that you have hitherto bestowed on your own province. We trust that you will act so, that the Colony as a whole may see, that you are prepared to grapple with the colonial nature of your present duties, and we hope that you will prove your capacity to abandon the role of a provincial politician for that of a colonial statesman.
In support of the reasons for the completion of the main trunk line, I will try and lay before you a largo array of facts establishing them, and I invite your critical investigation. I feel confident of your cooperation, when you have really mastered the true state of affairs.
First I say That by the public Governmental promises of former Ministries, the present Government are bound, as a matter of public good faith, to complete the main trunk line of railway northwards via the West Coast to Nelson.
The main principle of the Public Works scheme of
I have lived in Nelson and Marlborough twenty-eight years, have been a member of the Provincial Council for the City of Nelson, and know the minds of the people tolerably well, and I am certain that they would never have agreed to pledge their revenues on any other basis. Read Sir Julius Vogel's Financial Statement in introducing the scheme, and try and deduce from it any other principle than this one. Before that speech these railways had been provincial matters, thenceforth they were to be colonial undertakings. He said, "Why should the inhabitants of one province submit to a lengthened period of depression, whilst the means they partly contribute are devoted to consolidating the prosperity of another province ? It is all very well to talk about narrow views, but one body of settlers is entitled to just as much consideration as another. If the settlers in any province understood that they were occupying an outlying district, which would only be entitled to attention after more favored districts, had been served, we might then deal with this colony as we would deal with another; but it is quite otherwise. Each provincial community has been taught to believe itself on a par with its neighbors, and a colonising scheme, to aid which the whole colony was pledged would be looked upon as a gross injustice if it did not provide for due consideration to each province. This is why we must pledge ourselves to a large scheme if we wish to do justice to all."
Previous to this the Nelson Provincial Council (composed of practical business men well acquainted with the localities to be affected by the railway and therefore able to form a tolerably correct estimate of its success) had repeatedly by large majorities, passed resolutions favorable to the construction of a railway from Nelson to the West Coast, and had agreed that more than 2,000,000 acres, including the Brunner and Mount Richfort coal fields, should be given as a bonus to any company constructing such a line. And by the Nelson and Cobden Railways Acts of
Sir Julius Vogel proposed to extend the construction of the railways over several years, as the colony had neither the men nor the money to construct them all at once. Pending this delay in
The Committee sat publicly for months and the "The Government recognise that, apart from the question of whether there are mineral resources in the district, it will sooner or later become necessary, in order to complete a trunk line through the Middle Island, that Nelson and the West Coast should be connected by railway." And again, "the proposal we intend to make is, that the Government shall in future confine their attention to works connected with main trunk lines of railway, and railways having especially for their object the opening up of coal fields. We shall ask for authority to fill up the three gaps not yet provided for in the main line between North Canterbury and the Bluff, and to make a survey with the view of deciding upon a main line which will bring Nelson and the West Coast into communication with Canterbury; and also if it should be found expedient into communication with Marlborough."data furnished to it was thoroughly sifted and criticised. Yet so earnest and confident were the people of Nelson in their belief in the success of the line, that all the shares would have been subscribed for. My firm offered to take £1000. Many business firms might have taken more. But the Government, seeing that We really meant business, and in order to prevent, our injuring their colonial loans, by placing our scheme on the London market, and in order to preserve the integrity of their trunk system, then came forward, and through our Superintendent, Mr Curtis, proposed that we should abandon the formation of the Company, on the distinct understanding that our line should be recognised, as part of the trunk system, and constructed out of colonial funds. Our Committee agreed to this. I recollect asking the Superintendent, whether we ought not to have a written agreement with the Government, and he assured us that an honorable understanding was perfectly binding, and that we might rely on the Government fulfilling their promise. And in pursuance of this understanding Sir Julius Vogel a few months afterwards in his financial statement of Hansard, p. 141) :—
Then by the Railways Act, 14. "Whereas it is expedient that a trunk line of railway through the Middle Island should be completed, and it is necessary to that end, that a line of railway connecting the authorised railways in the province of Nelson with some principal town or authorised railway in Westland with the lines of railway in Canterbury, with, if found practicable, a branch of railway to Picton or Blenheim in the province of Marlborough, should be constructed.
"Be it enacted that such connecting lines shall be constructed by the Governor under 'The Immigration and Public Works Act,
"The Minister of Public Works is hereby authorised to cause the necessary surveys to be made preliminary to the construction of such connecting lines; and all necessary expenses in causing such survey to be made shall be defrayed out of any moneys for the time being standing to the credit of the Public Works Account on account of railways, and the cost thereof shall be charged as part of the cost of the construction of the railway.
16. "Whereas it is expedient that a line of railway from the termination at Foxhill in the Province of Nelson of the authorized line of railway, should be constructed to Brunner in the said Province.
"Be it therefore enacted that such line of railway shall be constructed by the Governor under the said Act and the Acts amending the same, out of such moneys as may from time to time be appropriated by the General Assembly for the purpose. The Minister for Public Works is hereby authorised to cause such enquiries, reports, and surveys to be made and such Acts and proceedings to be done and taken, as he may think necessary for enabling him to recommend to the Governor, for submission to the General Assembly during the next session, plans for the construction of the said Railway from Foxhill to Brunner; and all necessary expenses in causing such surveys, inquiries, and reports to be made shall be defrayed out of any moneys for the time being standing to the credit of the Public Works Account on account of railways, and the cost of such survey shall be charged as part of the cost of the construction of the line of railway which shall be charged against the Land Fund of the Province of Kelson.
17. "The railways hereby authorized to be constructed shall be deemed to be railways, authorized and determined to be constructed under 'The Immigration and Public Works Act,
Is not this sufficient evidence to satisfy you and the Members of the House as to the existence of the promise which the present public works proposals ignore and break ? Besides this, the testimony of the Members of the Inland Communication Committee to the truth of my statements can readily be obtained, if you desire to test their accuracy.
If further evidence is required, see Sir Julius Vogel's Financial Statement of Hansard p. 16) where he said "that last year he had indicated the railways yet (then) to be authorized in order to complete the main trunk lines through each Island." And "if it were necessary, the Government would be prepared to come down at once with proposals to relieve the provinces of all risks and responsibilities in connection with the payment of interest on the amounts expended
Hansard p. 162). "But the limit of Railways needs precise definition. I allude to the railways already authorised and those necessary to complete the gaps in the North Island system which stand in the way of through railways between the Kaipara, Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier and Wellington as well as those necessary to complete the "gaps" (your own present expression and what you pretend to do) of through communication between Picton, Nelson and Hokitika, North Canterbury and the West Coast." And he further said (Hansard p. 163) "My colleague the Minister for Public Works will describe to you the works proposed to be taken to complete the great work the country is pledged to, the trunk system of railways." And accordingly the Hon. E. Richardson, Minister for Public Works, said (Hansard p. 235) "It has been stated by my honorable colleague, the Colonial Treasurer, in his financial statement, that the Government, consider the railway scheme, as adopted by Parliament, embraces the main trunk line from Kaipara in the North, &c., then from Nelson to Hokitika, the main line running through the valleys of the Duller and the Grey, and into the Amuri by the best routes procurable, and passing through Canterbury to the Bluff."
Surely this is sufficient confirmation of the understanding upon the faith of which many of us have based our business arrangements and have bought land and built houses, and adopted Nelson as our home. At all events, we trustfully embarked our families and fortunes on this fleet of Government promises, thinking that the word of an honorable man (and were not your predecessors honorable men ?) was as good as his bond, and these promises are as binding on you as if made by yourselves; for I cannot believe that your sense of honor is no higher than that of a Yankee repudiator. Can you and your colleagues with honor to yourselves and the Colony, whose honor you represent, break these pledges ?
It is no answer to say that you doubt whether the line will pay. I will endeavor to show that it will do so further on, but that cannot legitimately affect the question of fulfilling a public promise. Sir Julius Vogel said, as quoted above "that the Goverment recognized the necessity of our line apart from the question of whether there are mineral resources or not," and I have endeavored to show, not so much by any arguments of my own, but by the speeches and conduct of former Ministers, that they always fully recognized the compact so made with the Nelson people; and as the Government for purposes of contract is deemed continuous, though individual members may be changed, I claim that these speeches and this Act of Parliament are the strongest evidence I can adduce against you. They are admissions on your part—on the part of the Government—of our right and not merely affirmative evidence adduced by our side.
There are some other matters which are worthy of attention and which may fairly influence your ultimate decision. The Buller and Grey
Now, sir, your proposal to tap the West Coast from Canterbury, and not from Nelson, and to run a line up and down the Coast at right angles to your Canterbury branch line, simply means diverting the whole of the trade from Nelson to Canterbury. No Government ever attempted such a high-handed interference with private vested interests before. The settlers in Canterbury have had hitherto but little to do with the Coast,—their steamers do not trade there,—their merchants and solicitors have no agencies there, like the Nelson merchants and solicitors have. Hitherto the Coast banks have made all their exchanges at Nelson. By your action all these business connections are to be upset; these ties, domestic and financial, rudely broken; and the people of the Coast left to seek fresh connections and support on the eastern side of the dividing range. We do not object to the construction of the railway referred to, on the contrary, we desire it, but begin it at both ends, and let Nelson, Picton, the Coast, and Canterbury, be all connected with the main trunk railway, and let trade find its own level, and favor the place that presents the greatest advantages. Although at present in possession of the Coast trade, no narrow selfish feeling influences us, and such possession has no weight with us against our desire to remain an integral part of the life of the colony; nor against our determination to resist and never to forgive the infliction of isolation and ruin.
Sir Julius Vogel, in his Financial Statement of Hansard, page 134) said, "What I desire to establish is this : That every part of New Zealand is in our charge, that we want every district to be improved. We don't seek for a few splendid and isolated though prominent examples of prosperity, with depression and stagnation elsewhere,—silk on the surface, rags beneath." Without a main trunk line you may have a splendid example of prosperity in Otago, but you will certainly have depression and stagnation in Nelson, and as a colonial and not a provincial politician, you will be answerable for such a result, and the future historians of the rise of this Colony will not forget it.
I cannot help noticing, sir, that, our Premier declines being made a party to this breach of faith, and it behoves you therefore to consider, if you are prepared to act without his concurrence. Sir George Grey said on the 12th September last (Hansard, page 130) referring to what
I am not the person to blame for that." I demand, the people of Nelson will demand, to know who is to blame? By these straws one can judge the direction of the current.
Besides this, the non-construction of our promised connection with the Coast, and the severance and diversion of our trade, will compel the more enterprising of us to leave our fair Nelson homes and to emigrate to the more favored parts of the colony. Your proposals will expatriate the Nelson settlers, as surely as the Maori war did those of Taranaki in
Let me beg of you and your colleagues to pause and gravely consider the position in all its bearings. Let me appeal, through you, to the members of the General Assembly, not to permit this faithless wrong to be done to the people of Nelson. The names of those who ably advocate our rights will be graven in the hearts of thirty thousand of their fellow-colonists.
Secondly, I say That there is every reason to believe that the Nelson and West Coast part of the Trunk Railway, will be a fairly payable one.
In the first instance, the line will not be so expensive as you may imagine, because it will chiefly run through land belonging to the Crown and thickly timbered, and, therefore, neither the land nor the timber for the bridges and sleepers will cost so much as on other lines, and there is plenty of metal the whole way. Mr. Wrigg's estimate of the line did not show it to be so very costly, and it is notorious that the calculations of Mr. Rochfort, who made the only working survey, were loaded after their arrival in Wellington, and increased, some say, to afford an excuse for postponing the construction of the line. The estimate of the Inland Communication Committee is, however, far too low, as they propose a
Land is, of course, the main item in considering the probable profits arising from the construction of the line.
In
In
In
Mr. Calcutt, the man specially sent by the Government to report upon the land, estimated the comparatively level land at 200,000 acres, and valued it at £288,000.
By the Nelson and Cobden Railway Acts, the Nelson people agreed to devote 2,000,000 acres of land towards the railway, and probably the careful estimate of 900,000 acres by the Inland Communication Committee is an approximately correct estimate of the land that will ultimately be made available by the railway.
As to price, the flat unimproved bush land in the Buller, Inangahua, and Grey Valleys at present without a railway readily brings in private hands £1 10s. per acre, and the cleared laud £6, whilst I know of 100 acres in Inangahua, without buildings and miles from any township, that sold for £12 per acre.
In my professional capacity I am cognizant of most of the transactions in those valleys, and a search in the Land Register offices will prove the correctness of my valuations. After the main line is made you may fairly estimate, as part of the colonial estate, the 900,000 adjacent acres to be worth, say—
Gold is the main product of the district. The whole country intersected by the railway is auriferous, and is now more or less worked—
permanent gold bearing quartz reefs proved to exist over a belt of country twenty-five miles long from Reefton to the Lyell. I rode up the Inangahua before a single road was made, traversing the river as the only available passage through the bush, most of the way, and I saw the commencement of the quartz-crushing industry, and can speak as to the difficulties to be contended with. I saw the boiler of the Golden Fleece battery parbuckled up a wooded hill 500ft. high by the sturdy arms of fifty miners. In
This proves during the last three years the enormous increase of about 100 per cent., and as yet not one-fourth of the mines have got machinery on the ground. I know of my own knowledge that the average cost of erecting machinery and putting a mine in working order has been £10,000. You will, therefore, understand that until more capital has access to the field, the power of development by the local settlers, is necessarily limited by the extent of their means. In the report for
The export of gold for the year ending
Most of this gold was derived, not from alluvial workings, which are more or less fluctuating, but from permanent reefs. It is impossible to give an opinion on the future of these reefs (which the underground workings have proved to be more permanent than any others in the Colony) without stating figures that would probably seem to you to be extravagant. But as each mine gradually gets its machinery up, we may fairly expect to see a similar rate of progress to that of the last three years maintained, and with a railway lo bring machinery and supplies on to the ground, and to tempt capitalists to visit the mines, I think that this hitherto isolated inland district will excel the richest fields of Australia in its output of gold. The fact of timber, coal, and water existing on the ground in abundance, which enables the mines to be timbered and steam power to be supplied at a nominal cost, compared with Victoria, is an important factor, in estimating the value of these as yet infant mines.
The valuable coal seams of this Province offer the third inducement for the construction of this line. Already the output of the Brunner mine is considerable, whilst the coal is admitted to be of excellent quality. The want of any outlet, otherwise than by small steamers over the Greymouth bar, alone prevents this mine from supplanting the New South Wales coal in the market altogether. The inducements relied upon by you for making the Amberly-Brunnerton line are land and coal, and you yourself estimate the coal traffic at 1000 tons weekly. If the Brunner coal can be profitably carried by rail to Lyttelton over the dividing range of the Island, then it can be more profitably carried to Nelson along a line with much easier gradients. Mr. Wrigg's report estimated the annual profit of the Brunuer mine at £30,000. Mr. Dartnall's report of a fortiori it can be taken to Nelson a distance from Reefton of about one hundred and twenty miles. Nelson possesses a small but secure harbor, and a splendid wharf, and a large quantity of coal would be exported by small craft, as well as supplied direct to steamers. Coal has also been found at the Hope, a distance of sixty miles from Nelson, and outcrops can be seen at many places along the line, but the present impossibility of carrying it away from its site, has hitherto prevented persons from attempting to work it. I therefore only rely upon the seams at Reefton and Brunnerton, which have been successfully worked for years. But I apprehend I have written enough to show that a very considerable profit can be made by conveying coal, besides the immense indirect advantages of working the mines on a more extensive scale, and affording employment to both capital and labor to an, at present, incalculable extent.
Many minerals, including copper, silver, iron, and lead have been found in this province, and are worthy of development, but we know too little of them to urge their existence as a reason for the railway paying. The day may be distant, but it is certain to arrive, when the mineral wealth of this province will more than compensate for its small extent of pastoral land, and by attracting mining and manufactory capital and labor, on a large scale, may raise it in wealth and population to a leading position in this prosperous colony.
The report of the Inland Communication Committee and that of Mr Calcutt show, what is common knowledge to many of us, that the Bullet', Grey, and Inangahua Valleys, along whose course the railway would run, are all covered with timber, that on the flats comprising totara, rimu, and white pine, whilst the hills are covered with good birch forest. There are some very valuable belts of totara in the Inangahua and Grey (overlooked by Mr Calcutt in his hurried journey) that of themselves are worth some thousands of pounds. The timber near the Nelson Saw Mills is mostly cut out, and there is no doubt that the mills would move down the railway, and continue to employ in new sites, the large number of men hitherto supported by them in Nelson. From the central position of Nelson a large trade in timber is done to Wanganui, Patea, and Wellington, and this trade might be indefinitely increased with the influx of population now settling and requiring houses on the West Coast of the Northern Island. The birch forest round the gold mines is perfectly invaluable for timbering the mines, and tend to lessen the cost of working below that of Australia, where timber is costly and difficult to get.
I have now briefly pointed out the quantity of land, gold, coal, and timber existing along the proposed line, and I think you must admit that
combination of four sources of wealth.
Other districts may have more land without the gold, &c., and some may have more timber without the coal, but none have all four combined as Nelson has.
In former years the line was deemed a payable one, as a branch line; as part of the Trunk Line the prospects of its being remunerative are immensely increased, because many people would travel through the island by rail instead of round it by steamer, and would make Nelson the point of arrival and departure from Australia, and en route from America via Auckland. And, as the Bishop of Nelson in his eloquent letter to the Premier points out, many persons having capital invested in the South would, for the sake of its climate, reside in Nelson, which would then be within easy reach of their business and property, and these receipts would be in addition to the receipts from sources along the line itself.
No doubt the head of the Buller Valley seems narrow and unprofitable to take a railway through, but the line must not be condemned because of one unprofitable portion. There are instances in the Colony viz., near Mercer, in the Waikato, where, for sixteen miles the railway intersects bare clay hills not worth as many pence, yet, as part of the line to Waikato and the South, the whole railway may be fairly payable. And this railway must be now considered as part of the trunk line, and not as merely a branch line to Greymouth.
In conclusion you may urge, that had Nelson to pay for the railway she seeks herself, she would not so eagerly demand it, and that she only asks it, as her share of the Public Works expenditure, without reference to it being payable. On that point I may remind you that by the Immigration and Public Works Act of deficiency was to be met and recouped to the Colony by direct taxation levied within the province. And yet, as evidenced by the work of the Committee of bona fide action of Nelson. Nelson wants nothing but its own. But as shown by the Colonist of the Nous Verrons !
The extensive quotations I have been compelled to make in order to avoid founding my arguments on my own assertions, and in order to give you the opportunity of examining the data for yourself, must be my excuse for the length of this letter. I think it right also to say that, after your receipt of this letter, I intend to publish it in the form of a pamphlet and to forward a copy to every member of the House.
R. Lucas & Son, Printers, &c., Bridge-street, Nelson.
The lecture given by Mr Charles Bright at the Princess Theatre on Sunday, July 28, was the first of two under the above title in reply to the lectures in course of delivery by Professor Salmond. The prefatory reading was taken from a sermon by Theodore Parker, entitled, "The Relation of Jesus to his Age and the Ages."
Mr. Bright said that he desired at the outset to point out to his audience that the rev. gentleman whose lectures suggested the subject of the evening occupied the position of an advocate. In the great case of "Catholicism: or, Universal Religion v. Presbyterian Christianity," he held a brief for the defence. As soon as he saw that any line of argument was carrying him outside of that brief, he drew back. Of course he would consider that Presbyterian Christianity and truth were identical, but he was not in a position to judge that question, because he was careful not to be led away from his prescribed limits. One line of argument, he foresaw, would lead to Pantheism, therefore, he forsook it. Another he was conscious would take him to Deism. A third might involve him in Mariolatry; or a fourth in Rationalism: and he must have nothing to do with them. If a person set off to walk from Dunedin to Caversham he would naturally take the road which led to Caversham. He would not turn one way, for St. Kilda lay in that direction, nor the other, lest he should find himself in Mornington. He would reach Caversham, but he would not know which eminence in the neighbourhood of Dunedin gave the broadest view of the ocean. So with Professor Salmond. He set off with the avowed intention of reaching Calvinism, and so, of course he arrived at Calvinism, but he did not therefore necessarily obtain the most extensive view of the great ocean of truth. If they bore that fact in mind they would be able to form a fair estimate of the voluminous lectures the Professor of Presbyterian Theology was delivering. After having devoted several evenings to proving that Jesus of Nazareth was a man—a fact which (to adopt the French idiom) might be supposed to go without saying—Professor Salmond opened the sixth lecture of his course with these observations as given in that lecturer's revised report in the 'Christian Record' :—"We now affirm that Christ was very God—of equal power and glory with the Father. It is a stupendous assertion, one which takes our breath away, whenever we awake from the passive traditional way of assenting to it and realise the vast and overwhelming meaning of the assertion. We believe and affirm that God walked on this earth in fashion as a man—that he who lay in the manger, who was a babe in the arms of Mary, who wrought at a carpenter's bench, and wore a peasant's dress, who had not where to lay his head, and was crucified on Calvary—was very God, by whom the heavens and the earth were made. We can scarcely wonder that men say in their hearts or say openly, it is absurd, impossible, and incredible. Wilberforce tells us that a great statesman once said to him, 'How can I believe that the Almighty Creator of all things should have become a wailing infant, and submitted to the weakness of our nature ? Surely it is utterly impossible.' Similarly, J. S. Mill speaks with wonder of the fact that there should have once lived on earth a man who made so great
Talk of essence and substance, and I know not what;
God either made Christ, or else He did not.
If He did, Christ's a creature—that's plain to our view;
If not, Christ's a God—and then we have two.
It was irrationalism in religion which repelled great minds—Milton, Newton, Locke, Hume, Humboldt, Goethe, in the past—and almost all the eminent thinkers of the present day. It reduced God from the Father of Humanity to the Father of a procession of Y.M.C. Associations. Why, the other day, at the meeting held to form a Young Women's Christian Association in Dunedin, the one living woman hold up as a pattern—Florence Nightingale—would not be eligible for membership. In the last
After a preliminary reading, taken from Greg's "Creed of Christendom," and a brief re-statement of the principal points of his preceding lecture, Mr Bright said they wore informed in Professor Salmond's last lecture that the Church never affirmed that the Infinite became finite. It was true that this was nowhere affirmed in so many words, as the absurdity would thereby be made too conspicuous; but it was declared in effect when it was asserted that God became a man, that Jesus of Nazareth was God. The only ideal they could form of God was, that He was infinite. He was described in the Westminster Confession of Faith thus :—" There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection." Man, they knew, was finite in being and perfection. Hence to say that God became man, or that a man was God, was to assert that the Infinite became finite. It would not be worth while to dwell upon such a self-evident proposition wore it not that people were dogmatically told that they must think as the Church thought, or stand in peril of eternal torment. Women and children were still frightened by the Church's thunder, so that it became important to show that the Church's thought was, with our enlarged ideas of an infinite Deity, simply impossible. A single finite man, as a manifestation of the whole of an Infinite God, was an impossibility of human thought. Even the whole of humanity, Jesus included, was too limited; and that was felt by rational minds to be the weakness of Comte's system of religious philosophy. In order to facilitate their conception of the union of God and Man in one person, their attention was directed by Professor Salmond to the union of soul and body in ordinary men. There was an immense difference, they were told, between the body "which suffered pain" and the mind "which worked a problem," and yet both were united in one person. Without doing more than pointing out that there were no dogmas on this question,—that they were loft free to work out the problem as facts might direct,—he would beg of them to remember that they knew nothing concerning mind or soul except through the manifestations of matter. To speak of "the body which suffered pain and the mind which worked a problem" was most unphilosophical, excepting in go far as they might speak of the body of a dog which suffered, and the mind of a dog which went for a buried bone. They discerned mind developing in matter as matter might shape itself, from the protozoan to the man. They knew little yet of the potency of matter which might include all they were in the habit of speaking of as mind or spirit. So far as the science of spiritualism had been investigated they were led to believe that in all future lives they would only know of what they termed "mind" by its manifestations in matter, though matter not of a kind to become cognizant through their existing avenues of sensation. And as we knew of mind only by its manifestations in matter, of every atom of which it probably formed an essential part, so we only knew of God by His manifestation in the Universe, and from those saw that He must be different to a man. Mind acting in matter, operated according to a given conjunction of atoms. An oyster acted like an oyster; never like a lion. There was a uniformity apparent in nature from an observance of which they were enabled to systematise their thoughts, and to speak of a God-man was, to scientific thought, just as absurd as to speak of a lion-oyster. But, it was impressed upon them that the
How shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the hand of Omnipotence, not to their reason, but to their senses ? During the age of Christ, of his apostles, and of their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, demons were expelled, and the laws of nature were frequently suspended for the benefit of the Church. But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral or physical government of the world. Under the reign of Tiberius the whole earth, or at least a celebrated province of the Roman Empire, was involved in a preternatural darkness of three hours. Even this miraculous event, which ought to have excited the wonder, the curiosity, and the devotion of mankind, passed without notice in an age of science and history. It happened during the lifetime of Seneca and the elder Pliny, who must have experienced the immediate effects, or received the earliest intelligence of the prodigy. Each of these philosophers, in a laborious work, has recorded all the great phenomena of nature—earthquakes, meteors, comets, and eclipses—which his indefatigable curiosity could collect. Both the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest
eye has been witness since the creation of the globe. A distinct chapter of Pliny is designed for eclipses of an extraordinary nature and unusual duration, but he contents himself with describing the singular defect of light which followed the murder of Cæsar, when during the greatest part of the year the orb of the sun appeared pale and without splendour. This season of obscurity, which cannot surely be compared with the preternatural darkness of the Passion, had been already celebrated by most of the poets and historians of that memorable age.
But not merely did the Roman historians and philosophers pass unnoticed the alleged miracles in Judea. Josephus, who wrote an elaborate history of that very province and time, was silent concerning them, though loquacious enough about incidents which were by comparison of the most common-place character. Added to this silence of historians, there was the undoubted fact that the early Christians were apt at invention and forgery—a fact which tended to throw additional disrepute over the existing narratives. The forged interpolation in Josephus was yet more eloquent than his own silence—an interpolation in which Josephus was made to suggest that Jesus was possibly Cod in person, and then to devote an obviously sandwiched paragraph of a dozen lines to such an astounding marvel. It was not merely a forgery, but an extremely clumsy one, to boot. Then there were no less than 132 scripture books, including 34 gospel accounts, referred to by different early christian writers, and none of them included in the established canon. All of them—and many of them were still extant—must now therefore be set down as spurious. "What else could be expected of an age when, to adopt the saying of one of the Fathers of the Church, men "believed because it was impossible?" To test the question for themselves, they should consider what evidence would be required at the present day before a man could prove that he was God. Suppose a mechanic in some outlying village of the British Empire—Nazareth was a place so insignificant that it was not mentioned in the Old Testament, or by Josephus—were to go to the metropolis of his country and desire to convince people that he was God, what evidence would be sufficient? Would any! If the still came and made obeisance to him, would it not be regarded as an optical illusion or a trick ! But if no testimony at this day would convince people of the truth of such an impossibility, how was it to be expected that thoughtful men should be convinced by the testimony of ancient traditions ! Look what an injurious effect the supposition that Jesus was God had, too, on any rational theory of God's moral government of the world. So long as he was believed to be man, however highly gifted and inspired, it was conceivable that God should have commissioned other gifted men to proclaim His Word to other branches of the great human family. Then, the myriads of mankind who never heard of Jesus of Nazareth were not left without the comforting assurance of their Infinite Father's love, but were all spiritually tended according to the needs of their various natures. Thus the Buddhists, who alone numbered at this day far more than the Christians, had their Buddha to tell them not to lie, or steal or kill,—not to partake of intoxicating liquors oven. Recent travellers through the great nation of Japan told how truth-loving, kindly-disposed, and sober the common people were, beyond anything known elsewhere, and that such a thing as a beggar was not to be seen in the towns. If Jesus were God, and the only God, the only way, too, to true goodness, how were they to account for these anomalies ? The fact was that some Christians, by declining to look at anything but Jesus and the Bible, "shut the universe and God from sight." The symbol of Christianity held in front of their eyes concealed creation. In Jesus' lifetime he was not accepted even as a prophet in his own country, and could there do no great works because of their unbelief, but now he was God Omnipotent! Christendom, itself, had been ever at war over this theological dogma; and at this moment, if the sect which still outnumbered all the rest possessed the power it once wielded, the lectures under review would not be allowed to be delivered, and Professor Salmond, himself, would be cast into prison and probably burned—not because of any immorality he had committed, but because he did not think correctly about this problem, and failed to concede due respect and rever-
Note.—Those desirous of studying the subject touched upon in the lectures; an abstract of which is contained in this pamphlet, should peruse Theodore Parker's "Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion," Newman's "Phases of Faith," and Greg's "Creed of Christendom." For profounder and more recent biblical criticism, the reader might have recourse to the splendid series of translations from the German, now publishing by Williams and Norgate, under the auspices of Dean Stanley and other liberal-minded clergymen. As dealing with the origin of the religious sentiment, from the materialistic point of view, Herbert Spencer's last volume, "The Data of Sociology," and Lord Amberley's "Analysis of Religious Belief," would be found profitable; while as indicating the direction of latter-day inspiration, R. D. Owen's "Debateable Land," Hudson Tuttle's "Arcana of Spiritualism," and A. J. Davis's "Divine Revelations" and "Great Harmonia" would prove useful to those dissatisfied with the necessarily limited outlook of dogmatic materialism.
A well-attended meeting of Drapers' Assistants was held in the Temperance Hall on Monday evening to receive the Committee's Report, and to transact other business connected with the Association. The Secretary reported that—
"At a meeting of Drapers' Assistants, held in the Temperance Hall on the 28th November last, it was unanimously resolved to form an Early Closing Association, having for its object the shortening of the hours of business on Saturdays."
Having been proposed and seconded, the Secretary, Treasurer, and Committee were duly elected for six months, and they signified their willingness to accept office for that term.
The Committee reported that, after careful consideration, it was resolved to hold a public meeting in the Temperance Hall, on Wednesday, the 20th February, with a view of obtaining public opinion. This meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Hon. H. S. Chapman, supported by several clergymen and influential citizens. Of the result of this meeting the Committee feel that it is unnecessary to dwell; suffice it to say that on all hands it was admitted to be a most successful one, and furnished, if wanted, a still further undeniable proof that the Association would receive the support of all classes of the community.
The Committee have very great pleasure in reporting that in less than four months from the formation of the Association the first fruits of their labours appeared in an advertisement issued by Messrs. Brown, Ewing and Co., stating their intention of closing at 6 p.m. instead of 9 every Saturday after the 23rd March. A fortnight or so afterwards—viz., on the 29th March—advertisements simultaneously appeared from Messrs. Herbert, Haynes and Co. and Kirkpatrick, Glendining and Co. notifying the same change of hours;
The Commitee doubt not that the members will with them think it is a matter for congratulation that the appeals to the public to support this social reform were so speedily, and they confidently believe so permanently, responded to by the two interested parties—to wit, the buyer and seller; for the former it meant the performance of a duty to society by discouraging the pernicious habit of late shopping, for the latter it may have meant risking public support.
The Committee would have indeed been pleased could they have coupled the names of Messrs. A. and T. Inglis, Messrs. Thomson, Strang and Co., and Messrs. Hallenstein Brothers with the early closing houses, but as such a reform could hardly be expected in so short a space oftime, the Committee look forward to the consummation of their wishes ere long; their reason for so doing is, that the public freely and fully approve of the measure, and the few strangling Saturday night customers are those whom the Committee would with all respect call thoughtless rather than necessitous. It is difficult to trace any plausible reason for the houses who still hold out The public will not support an opponent of its direct wishes, and a steady inspection proves that Saturday night trade is virtually nil.
The Committee reported that sundry advertisements had, appeared in morning, evening, and weekly papers; that some 32,000 handbills had been distributed; that 500 posters had appeared on the different hoardings; and what is commonly known as sandwich-board men had paraded the streets; and they trusted the tone of all these appeals had been in accordance with the views of the members of the Association.
The Committee had much pleasure in placing the balance sheet (duly audited) of receipts and expenditure for the first six months of the Association on the table. The subscriptions collected from 118 of the employes in the various houses for the six months amounted to £102 18s, and the expenditure to £95 8s, leaving a balance in hand of £7 10s.
The Report then gave a list of attendances at committee meetings, notice of re-election of office-bearers, and other formal matters; and concluded as follows :—
"The Committee, whilst assuring you that to the best of their ability nothing has been left undone to promote the success, of the Early Closing Association, trust that what has been done has met with your approval."
Upon the applause following the reading of the Report sub-siding, the proposition that the Report as read be passed was made, accompanied with congratulatory remarks on the early closing houses, and a re-echo of the Committee's desires regarding the non-closers. It was ably seconded, the speaker making, some allusion to the finances of the Association, which he thought would; be conclusive proof that, although not called upon as suggested by antagonists to the movement at the onset, to forego their pay as with the working classes, they were ready to pay for their whistle without flinching. The motion having been put to the meeting, it was carried nem. con.
The proposition that the Association should continue its efforts wits warmly received, and the continuation of the same rate of ' subscription as hitherto collected to enable the Committee to push on its work was adopted by general acclamation.
In a very hearty and appropriate manner it was proposed that a special vote of thanks, as from the general meeting of subscribers, be accorded to "those gentlemen who had assisted at the public meeting, in the pulpit, in the Press, and otherwise in establishing this social reform, suggesting that the Hon. Secretary should forward a copy of this resolution to the following gentlemen :—Rev. C. Byng, Yen. Archdeacon Edwards, Rev. A. R Fitchett, Rev. J. Gow, Rev. Lindsay Mackie, Rev. Dr. Roseby Rev. Dr. Stuart, John Bathgate, Esq., Hon. H. S. Chapman, J. Aitken Connell, Esq., Robert Gillies, Esq., R. H. Leary, Esq., J. P. Maitland, Esq., Richard Oliver, Esq., C. S. Reeves. Esq., Hon. Robert Stout, M.H. R., A. C. Strode, Esq., and Henry Tewsley, Esq.
In seconding the proposition, reference was made to the great lever the clergy had in their hands. The movement being a social
versus employed, it was clearly within the bounds of pulpit oratory as much as editorial remark or newspaper controversy.
A Member suggested that the proceedings and a report in a condensed form should be printed or advertised. It was due to the public who had supported the Association by their early shopping, and also to the employers who had started the movement. It should also, he thought, emanate from the Association as a body, for it must be remembered that close on 150 persons benefited by the already closing houses; of course indirectly, many of the assistants being family men, it was a boon extending to hundreds.
Having been put in form of a resolution, it was carried unanimously.
Some discussion here arose as to the small total receipts after 6 o'clock of the non-closing houses, easily obtainable by the salesmen comparing books, but the Chairman remarked that the Association was not started in an antagonistic feeling to the employers, and he could not sec that any good could come of these remarks. It was a difficult question to decide whether the seller or buyer was in the wrong. He did not think (apart from the natural desire of the individual members to sustain the credit of their respective houses), that it was in the province of the Association to coerce the public to buy where perhaps they might not feel disposed, or to endeavour to dissuade from buying at their own particular establishment, because it happened to be kept open to unreasonable hours. All the Early Closing Association had to do was to keep on agitating the public to shop before 6 o'clock at all houses, and eventually it would be found more desirable to close at 6 p.m. Although the Early Closing Association was gone about by a body of drapers' assistants, he had good authority for saying that from the Southern Market Reserve to the Leith, all classes of shopkeepers were admitting that the business formerly done on Saturday night was now done early in the day, or on some other day in the week.
A cordial vote of thanks was passed to the "Press," for the liberal manner in which it reported the public meeting, for its leaders and locals, and its disposal of correspondents columns.
A hearty vote of thanks was also passed to the Committee, with wish as for its future success.
erhaps there is no information which our readers ought to ponder over, and make a more careful analysis of, than that contained in the statistical return of the yield of the agricultural crops in the various countries throughout the world. This information we considered right to publish, in the interests of our readers, but far beyond the bare facts as therein stated, the intelligent farmer, while proud of the position that New Zealand holds, should take into his serious consideration, whether it is possible to retain that position, or even to surpass it, and to do that, what course ought to be followed in the future when the virgin soil from which the great bulk of our agricultural produce is at present drawn, comes into the category of ordinary farm land. We possess no doubt great advantages over many other countries, in our splendid climate, which is enhanced by our insular position, whereby we escape on the one hand excessive droughts, and on the other a too heavy rainfall; but with even these advantages the time will come when our averages must decrease, unless we adopt what has been found an absolute necessity in other countries, i.e., a definite system of rotation of crops suited to the various classes of soils to be operated upon. We do not mean at this time to go into details of the systems that may with advantage be followed out, in such a rotation of cropping, as would suit the different soils, but rather to point out as tersely as possible, that Nature has laid down for herself fixed principles of rotation, which experience has fully demonstrated. Take for instance the clearing a piece of bush land; such land under ordinary circumstances is considered to
There are spots of land we know, of extraordinary fertility, from which grain crops have been taken for years; but these are exceptions to the general rule, and it will often be found that such places receive renewal of organic matter from freshets, irrigation, or the washings of adjacent hillsides; but on soils receiving no such extraneous aids, it will be found that cropping will exhaust and reduce the soil to a state similar to the sub-soil, and that within the course of a very few years. To obviate such a state of things, and to minimise the expense atten-
TheNew Zealand Times publishes the following recent statistics of the yield per statute acre of the chief agricultural products in various parts of the world. It will be seen that New Zealand stands very nearly at the top of the tree as regards foreign countries, and quite so as regards other British Colonies:—
Thus we see that in point of productiveness the land of New Zealand is far ahead of that of the sister Colonies, and that Tasmania stands next upon the list.
Let us now compare these figures with the published statistics of the Colonies of Southern Africa, Cape of Good Hope, and Natal, the
Returns for Oats are not given.
We now come to the statistical returns for Europe and America, placing the returns for New Zealand underneath for easy reference.
In the Dominion of Canada the average yield of four principal States for
he following paper was read before the members of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association by Mr. Murphy, on the evening of the 28th June:—
My aim in writing the following articles is to put, as shortly as possible, before the readers of the New Zealand Country Journal a picture of Agriculture, past and present, feeling as I do that with all the advantages which the farmers of to-day have over those of history, many useful hints on farming can be obtained from men who had many disadvantages to cope with, and who had lived long anterior to the birth of science. The broadness of the subject compels me to arrange my work under three divisions. In the first, I shall glance at the people antecedent to the Romans, and finish the first paper at the fall of the Empire. My second paper will comprise the struggles and revival of Agriculture until the beginning of the present century; and my closing paper, the formation of Agricultural Societies, and the present aspect of Agriculture, and suggestions thereon.
Agricultural and pastoral pursuits must have engaged the thoughts of mankind from the earliest times, as they would have for their object the supply of his first physical wants, and yet very little is known of the modes and theories in practice during those remote ages. History is comparatively silent on the subject, preferring to dwell on the more exciting narratives of the quarrels of the human family, than on those peaceful avocations which do not require spasmodic attempts for their advancement. When the nations of the earth were at peace, there was little which the historian cared to record; it is, therefore, little wonder that we are in darkness on the simplest topics of the useful and domestic arts of the Greeks and Romans, while we are made familiar with the manœuvring of the Greek phalanx and the Roman legion. The shield and the sword, emblems of attack and defence, have descended to us in full detail; but the form of the plough and the harrow may almost be looked for in vain. It is a singular fact, and one worthy of remark, that, whilst we have some of the brightest writers in the language spending all their efforts on the telling events of the past history of mankind, hardly one writer of note has made it his object to trace the growth of industrial pursuits, especially those referring to agriculture. Agriculture has been pursued from the earliest age, and yet there is not, probably, in the whole list of human occupations, one which has remained so long untouched by the finger of science. In endeavouring to trace its history previous to the Roman period, we must be content to gather our information from a wide and varied field, and then only from incidental remarks which had fallen from writers who had little thought of affording information to after ages on a pursuit too common to be worthy of any particular comment. It has, therefore, been the
i.e., the land of Egypt. Egypt, one of the earliest of the civilised nations, was the early home of the patriarchs, and the Israelites no doubt gathered much practical knowledge which prepared them for the agricultural life which awaited them on their return to Canaan—the land described as a land of corn, where every Israelite sat under the shade of his own vine and fig tree. Thus, we learn from the sacred records that agriculture, in most of its branches, was practised from time immemorial. Many traditions were believed in as to its origin. The Egyptians ascribed it to "Osiris," a great deity, who delighted in teaching his people agriculture; the Greeks, to "Ceres," the Goddess of corn; the Latins, to "Janus;" and the Chinese, to "Chin-hong." The Chaldeans, Heredotus informs us, were expert farmers—they brought the waters of Euphrates, by means of sluices and flood-gates, over their low-lying lands—the silt deposited from the waters retained the soil in a high state of fertility, yielding sometimes two and even three hundred-fold. It is an historical fact, that these people, long after their annexation to the Persian Empire, furnished a large portion of the corn required to feed the vast armies of that nation.
Passing on, we come to the Assyrians, who seem to have understood the value of irrigation to the arable soils of their hot country; they raised water from the rivers for this purpose by machinery of the simplest kind—their early prosperity in agriculture laid the foundation of their future greatness.
Next in order we find the Persians, who paid all honour to agriculture, even after they became such proficients in weaving and fancy work. Their kings are said to have laid aside their dignity once a month and dined in the company of husbandmen. The Magi, or priests, taught its principles as part of their religion.
The Phœnicians, better known to some as the Philistines, possessed the famous plain of Sharon; and, we are told, tilled it with great care, receiving in return bountiful harvests; they sold their surplus to surrounding nations, and in time became the earliest great commercial community in the world. When they became impoverished by the Hebrew conquests, they sent out explorers along the shores of the
That portion of the earth which afforded the earliest indication of a regular system of cultivation was the result of, or was brought about by, natural causes still at work, and which are to be found in the annual overflow of the Nile, the Euphrates, and other rivers in the East. The river Nile is especially noted in history as the river which supplied the moisture which made Egypt so renowned in the earlier days. So much had the fame of Egyptian agriculture spread, that we find Pliny making the following simple, and yet descriptive, remarks on Egyptian husbandry :—"How easy is the husbandry of Egypt; for there is the river Nile serving the turn of a good ploughman; he begins to swell, and overflow at the first new moon after the summer solstice; he begins fair and gently, and so increases gradually; as long as the sun is in the sign Leo he rises on to his full height, and entering into the sign Virgo his fury slackens, and then slowly decreases until he regains his wonted channel. It is always observed, that if he rise not above twelve cubits high, the people that year are sure to have a scarcity, and they make their accounts for the same if he exceed the gauge of sixteen cubits, for the higher he rises the longer he is before he falls again to his level. By which the seed time is past, and men cannot sow the ground in due season. It is generally understood to be the practice that, upon the subsidence of the deluge, they cast the seed upon the floated lands, and immediately after turn in their swine to trample it into the soil while moist. The seed is sometimes covered in with a light furrow."
Here we find the natural phenomenon of the overflow of a river was the first parent not only of a regular system of irrigation, but of husbandry as well, and that in the remotest age of man's history. The Chinese may also be cited as a people who have from time immemorial displayed a disposition for cultivation as distinctive as do the tribes of Arabs and Tartars who wander over the hot and desert plains of Africa and Tartary, that of a purely nomadic, or at best, of a pastoral life. History informs us Egypt colonised Greece and Carthage, and other places along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and we may suppose the Greeks received their knowledge of agriculture from the Egyptians. It is the opinion of some writers that the Greeks paid little attention to the art, at least that it held with them a secondary place—the conquered people were compelled to till the soil, hence agriculture was treated with contempt by the higher classes. But when we read of whole waste tracts being covered with transported soil; of lakes and swamps being drained and brought under cultivation; of an ancient king being found manuring his farm with his own hands; and of excellent herds of domestic cattle forming the chief possessions of the people, we cannot but think that agriculture was better understood, and held a higher
Amongst the Grecian writers we find such men as Hesiod devoting much of his time to the development of agriculture; his little agricultural poem, entitled "Works and Days," is supposed to have been the model which Virgil had in view when he composed the Georgics. But it is to the Romans that the honour belongs of elevating agriculture to the first and highest place in the State; and all other pursuits, such as trade and commerce, occupied an inferior position, except, perhaps, that of war. They always introduced it with their conquests—many of their greatest men spent much time in tilling their own farms, and writing works on the subject; amongst the most remarkable we may mention Columella, Virgil, Pliny, Varo, and Cato; but unfortunately few of their works have reached us; yet those that have are full of interest to the agricultural student of the present day.
The most remarkable feature of the Roman agriculture was—the great perfection they attained in the management of their lands, comparing most favourably with that in practice in the present day in many parts of Europe, and also in the British Isles till within the last half century. And, as showing the high estimation in which the art was held, it may be mentioned that many of the great patrician families were experts at tilling the soil, and even took their names from their efficiency in some particular branch of husbandry, such, for instance, as "Serranus," who was a great sower. The Fabian family derived their name from beans; and even the great "Cicero," if we give a literal interpretation in English, signifies a vetch; and here we may mention the significant fact that the Greeks borrowed their names from their gods and heroes. Does not history record, that when Rome sent her heralds to summon Cincinnatus to the Dictatorship they found him toiling on his small farm, which was worked by his own hands. Pliny tells us "that when a man was meant to be highly spoken of, he was called an agriculturist or a good husbandman; and whoever was thus praised was thought highly favoured." Large farms were
The invention of agricultural implements is attributed to the Egyptians; and antiquaries suppose the first primeval tool of husbandry to represent a hoe with a prolonged point, with which the soil was turned over; and from this implement we can trace, step by step, first the rudimentary plough, its gradual improvement, until we find it what it now is, an implement of mathematical precision. These remarks apply also to the reaping and other machines now in use. It is a
Pliny mentions the use of a wheel plough, and attributes its invention to Cisalpine Gaul. Virgil also refers to them in his Georgics. But the exact shape of this implement, as well as that of many others, is matter of mere conjecture. Curiously enough, he describes a reaping machine which was in use in Gaul. It was a box, mounted on wheels, having shafts; the end opposite was furnished with teeth, projecting outwards, and so arranged as to gather the heads, which fell into the box as it was pushed along by an ox; resembling, it is supposed, such a machine as is in use at the present time in parts of England for gathering the heads of clover wanted for seed. Great care was bestowed by the Romans on the management of their lands. Fallowing was in general practice, the object being, as one of their writers observes, "to let the earth feel the cold of winter and the sun of summer, to invert the soil, and render it free, light, and clean of weeds, so that it can most easily afford nourishment." The glorious science of chemistry, as applied to agriculture, was unknown; but they were close observers of Nature; and, if they did not know the why, they at least were familiar with the effect of this mode of treating the soil. Where manure could be obtained, it was freely used. So highly, indeed, did they prize manure, that they granted immortality to the inventor of its use—"Stereutius." Like the Chinese, they allowed nothing to go to waste; all refuse substances, vegetable, animal, and mineral, were collected carefully in heaps, and allowed to remain twelve months to decompose. Pigeon dung ranked first in value, and was used as a top-dressing for sickly crops, much in the same way as guano has been used by the Peruvians for many centuries, down to the present day, in small but frequent applications. It was considered bad management to spread more manure than could be ploughed in the same day; it was also deemed more profitable to manure their fields often, rather than overmuch at one time, a theory quite in accordance with the most approved principles of modern husbandry. Directions were given for the formation of dunghills, which were to be hollowed out, so that no liquid might be lost. Here, again, we might with advantage take a lesson. Green crops, particularly lupins, were frequently sown; and, before they reached maturity, were ploughed in and allowed to rot, thereby drawing nourishment from the atmosphere and the subsoil, and depositing on the surface fit food for the ensuing crop. Wood ashes were in great favour, one good dressing being considered sufficient for five years. The manurial value of marl and lime was also known. Pliny, speaking of marl, describes it as a "certain richness of earth, like the kernels in animal bodies that are increased by fatness." Much attention was paid to the growing crops, all weeds being carefully pulled, Boeing the corn was practised by the best farmers; Cato
We have before stated that the Romans loved agriculture. How vivid and beautiful a picture of that trait is placed before our minds by the words which Cicero puts into Cato's mouth—"I come now to the pleasures of husbandry, in which I vastly delight. They are not interrupted by old age, and they seem to me to be pursuits in which a wise man's life should be spent. The earth does not rebel against authority; it never gives back, but with usury, what it receives. The gains of husbandry are not what exclusively commend it. I am charmed with the nature and productive virtues of the soil. Can those old men be called unhappy who delight in the cultivation of the soil ? In my opinion there can be no happier life; not only because the tillage of the earth is salutary to all, but from the pleasure it yields. The whole establishment of a good and assiduous husbandman is stored with wealth; it abounds in pigs, in kids, in lambs, in poultry, in milk, in cheese, and honey. Nothing can be more profitable, more beautiful, than a well cultivated farm." This quotation speaks volumes, and goes far to establish all we have been claiming for a people who were once masters of the known world. Agriculture had attained its highest glory about the time when Rome was in the zenith of her greatness. It enjoyed, as we have before stated, the profound respect of the proud and polished Romans, and embodied many of the principles, and some of the practices, of boasted modern improvements, the study of which
correspondent who has a dairy of 27 cows, and who is making cheese on the farm, writes us that he is having some trouble in getting his cheese down firm and solid. "It is disposed to be loose and spongy, and what is the remedy ?" &c.
If a detailed account of the method pursued in manufacture were given, we should be better able to point out faults and make suggestions for their correction; but in the absence of anything more definite than the above, we should say that "the milk is made up too sweet." During fall and spring, when the weather is cool, milk is slow to take on an acid condition, and where the manufacture of cheese is carried on from day to day the curds will require to lie a longer time in the vat than during summer. Not unfrequently the required acidity is not obtained for several hours under the usual manipulation, and if the curds be removed to the hoop before the acid is sufficiently developed, the cheese will be loose and spongy, and the whey will not readily separate and pass off in pressing. These spongy curds are of frequent occurrence during the change from hay to grass, or from grass to hay, and the cheese, of course, does not sell well in market. The remedy is to hasten acidity by the use of sour whey. It may be added to the milk at the time of putting in the rennet, or later, while the curds are scalding. Old cheese-makers, who can judge very correctly as to the condition of the milk when ready to start heat in the morning, prefer to add sour whey at the same time with the rennet; but in case the cheese-maker is rather inexperienced, perhaps it may be as well to use the sour whey while the curds are scalding. No particular rule can be given as to the quantity to be used, as this depends upon the condition of the milk. If the milk is quite sweet, from one to two gallons is not unfrequently used for thirty gallons of milk. If used in the whey while the curds are scalding, it can be added in small quantities, from time to time, until the required acidity is produced. This condition of curds is best, known by applying the hot-iron test. Take a handful of curd from the vat, press out the whey, and bring it in contact with a piece of iron heated so that it will "siss." Then, on withdrawing the curd from the iron, if small threads are formed, or in other words, if the curd "spins" out into threads, the acid is properly developed. The threads should spin out from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length.
The tour whey to be employed should have been previously prepared as follows :—Take any quantity of sweet whey and raise it to near the boiling heat. The oil and albuminous matter will then rise to the and may be skimmed off. The whey thus freed from impurities act aside in a cask or other convenient vessel until it becomes distinctly acid, when it is ready to use.
In factories there is generally not so much necessity for using sour whey in cheese-making as there is at farm dairies, because the milk, coming from different herds, and carted to the factory in cans, which are not always perfectly sweet, will have a tendency to start well on toward acidity. When the acidity is once begun, the subsequent heating and manipulation of the milk and curds hasten its development, and hence in many factories sour whey is not employed. In small factories, however, when the milk is kept very sweet, it is used with advantage.
Acidity in cheese-making is one of the leading features of the Cheddar process. It assists the curds to readily part with the whey; it imparts a solid texture to the cheese, prevents porocity, and helps the cheese to develop that sweet, nutty flavour, so much sought after by our English customers. A soft, spongy cheese, does not readily part with its moisture. The surplus whey which remains in the cheese soon decomposes during the curious process which the cheese undergoes, and gives the cheese a bad flavour. So well is this understood, that a porous, spongy cheese is avoided, even though it may be of good flavour at the time, because it is known that such a cheese cannot retain a sweet flavour long, but must soon turn bad and rot down.
The art of making good cheese depends largely upon management in the development of acidity. If not carried far enough, the cheese will be porous and fall into decay; if carried too far, it will be hard and crumbly; but when tempered with the golden mean, we have perfection of flavour and long-keeping qualities. The process can only be learned by experience.
Enough perhaps has been said to guide our correspondent in his operations, so as to correct the fault complained of in his cheese, and we trust our suggestions may help others who may be labouring under difficulties similar to those named.
—In observing the influence upon vegetation of the long duration of light during the summer months in high latitudes, Dr. Muller found that at 70 deg. N. lat. peas grew at the rate of three and a half inches in 24 hours for many days during the season, and that certain cereals grew at the rate of two and a-half inches in the same specified time. He also noted that the constant presence of light increased t hose secretions in plants which are due to the influence of actinic force on the leaves. The colouring matter and pigment-cells were in much greater amount, and the tints of the coloured parts were consequently deeper. The same effect was produced upon the secretions which give flavour and odour; so that the fruits of Northern Norway, though less sweet, are more savoury than those grown in the South.
—The New York Express says:—There is a prospect that British India will soon become a great wheat-producing and a wheat-exporting country. Until within a few years ago, all that was produced was consumed by the natives, and even then there was sometimes a scarcity. The change began in
ave you ever, kind reader, during a time of work from which there was no rest or escape—a summer of almost tropical heat, 'panting like a hart for the water-brooks' when your feet, morning and evening, beat pavement fiery as the desert—pictured to yourself the pleasures of those who were at that moment far away in deep wooded glens, scaling heather-topped hills where the air is ever cool and fragrant, or pursuing the course of some silver stream, rod in hand, as it wound from its sources amidst green uplands to join a mightier river in the fat alluvial vale ? "We will say nothing of alpenstocks and glaciers; neither will we touch on deer forests or grouse moors, because each and all of them are beyond the time and means that can be expended on a holiday such as we shall now attempt to describe—a holiday which comes within the reach of the humble reader; and we trust that, like the present writer, there are many such who revel in the pages of Baily's green-covered volume, and take as true a pleasure in its records as the men who can shoot over deer forests, drive grouse, and catch salmon, though their sporting exploits are confined to a short autumnal holiday every year. In them, however, the sporting instinct is as keen as in more fortunate individuals; and who shall say that the enjoyment is not heightened by the difficulty in obtaining the little sport that falls to their share ? But to return. Any one of the thousands of individuals pent within the modern Babylon, during the summer and early autumn, will appreciate the enjoyment with which a September holiday is looked forward to by one of their brotherhood—a week or so in which Mammon and all that appertains to it may be forgotten, and, freed from the trammels and toil of buisness, the Arcadian state may be once more imitated, if not rivalled, and the loosed son of toil be free to wander from sunset to dark by the river side and try his hand at catching fish. By-the-way, we quite forget whether they did fish in Arcadia, but, as it was a region of universal happiness, will take it for granted.
Some such holiday as this it was ours to enjoy during the past season; for an invitation to try our luck in the waters belonging to a friend gave the required excuse, of which we were only too happy to avail ourselves. It is true September is not just the best month in the year for trout-fishing, and in many rivers rods are by that time, for the most part, taken to pieces and landing-nets put away; but we were bound for a backward stream, where fish were yet in condition, and good enough, if you could catch them. That was the enigma to be solved. We all know as well as Thomson, that—
But it is a very different matter when spring and summer have run their course, and fish have feasted to the full on all the luxurious dainties therein provided for them, to lure them from the stream into the landing-net. However, there is an old saying, "Needs must when a certain person drives; and he who cannot fish when he would, must perforce fish when he can; and should sport fail him, if he only bears the mind, it is astonishing how much enjoyment he can glean in an autumn day's ramble." Let him follow that inimitable writer and true sportsman Charles Kingsley—become a minute philosopher, and see in how good stead the experiment will stand him.
By-the-way, being in doubt as to what sort of flies to rig ourselves out with, we were forced to take counsel with him, and, turning to ' Chalk Stream Studies,' see what he recommended for such a late excursion; for our path lay towards one of those streams where he had bought his experience of trout and how to catch them, and we fancied there was no better mentor to be found for our particular case. His list was a simple one. The caperer—which he says : "is certainly the one which will kill earliest and latest in the year; and though I would hardly go so far as a friend of mine, who boasts of never fishing with anything else, I believe it will from March to October take more trout, and possibly more grayling, than any other fly "—was at once selected for this especial journey. The governor—which he says is : "a deadly fly all the year round, and if worked within six inches of the shore, will sometimes fill a basket when there is not a fly on the water or a fish rising. There are those who never put up a cast of flies without one"—was also added to the book; but chiefest of all, the black alder, of which he has written so lovingly, "surpassed only by the green drake for one fortnight, but surpassing him in this, that she will kill on till September, from that happy day on which
But enough; these and a few of our favourites, which we would not altogether discard, but are not vain enough to enumerate, were selected; and then, with a heart and pocket equally light, we set forth on our journey.
How beautiful everything looked as we sped away to cornfields about half cleared, and green hedges; and how eagerly we jumped from the train at the little station, and hastened by lane and footpath to our destination! But there are sacrifices to be made to the Lares and Penates of our friend ere a line can be wet; and with hospitable
sanctum, and pouring out a brimming glass of real home-brewed ale, warranted only malt and hops, hands it to us, saying, "You must be thirsty after your walk; try that, my boy." Bright as sherry it is as it beads up in the glass, cool as the Sea of Ancient Ice itself, and verily a draught to offer the gods, were those immortals in the habit of taking a brisk walk on a hot day, which probably they are not. Unconsciously, as it were, we hold forth the empty glass, and again it foams and sparkles with the amber fluid, when an idea comes across us that discretion is the better part of valour, and that a head accustomed to the wish-wash drinks dispensed over London counters may not be able to try conclusions too rashly with such mighty beer as this. "Now, you are hungry," continues our kind-hearted host. And truly the viands set forth would create an appetite were it necessary, which it certainly is not. A ham, huge as that from the boar of Calydon; roast partridge, cold, but plump and inviting in its cover of parsley; hare pie, cunningly devised and seasoned; all claim their share of notice; and last of all, the fragrant weed from its cedar-wood bos, of the choicest brand, and thoroughly matured, lends its soothing influence to complete what the viands have begun, and induce a patient frame of mind until it is time to commence fishing.
At length the shadows began to fall from the westward, clouds come up and overclouded the hitherto brilliant sun; a few drops of rain fell, and our host said, "I think, if you are to do anything to-day, now is the time, though I cannot promise you much sport at this time of the year. I should advise you to go down to yonder bridge and fish upwards, and you cannot get out of bounds if you do not go beyond the mill." The rod was quickly put together, and starting for the far-distant bridge, at which our sport was to commence, we passed along a country lane instead of following the windings of the river, and soon met huge teams bringing home loads of golden-coloured barley, plodding along as if not only time, but the whole of eternity was at their disposal. A fat, rosy-cheeked urchin whistling by their side, now stopping to peer into the hedge for something or the other, then cracking his whip out of very wantonness, which had about as much effect on his team as a bull from the Pope had on Martin Luther, showing at any rate how seldom it was used to accelerate their motions. Anon came a cowboy, equally fat, equally happy looking, and equally slow; while in the next field was a shepherd leaning on his crook, whose only exertion appeared to consist of pelting his dog with stones
So meditating we reach the bridge, and at once commence operations, wading to our knees, and flatter ourselves, fishing the stream as it should be fished; but not a fin is, so far, on the move. Patiently, steadily we toil onward, with care and perturbation at times—for, be it said, it is months since we handled a rod, and the trees at this part overhang the river in a way to make a hand at all out of practice fear for the result. Ha! there, we said so! that confounded branch of withy has caught our stretcher with a hold that refuses to yield, and we cannot but think how much easier it would have been to lose a trout than to get the hook out of that confounded branch. By Jove ! the water gets deeper, too, as we wade towards it: but there is no option; it is cither sacrifice our footlength or get there. Done at last! and everything safe, though the water did come to within half-an-inch of the tops of our wading boots. Now if we can only get into that sort of path in the rushes, so as to be well out of sight, and then fish close up under the weeds, it is ten to one on us. Well done! the flies begin to fall with some of the old thistle-down lightness as our arm gets into play. Whirr! and away goes a partridge from so close beneath our feet that we must have almost stepped on it, sending our heart into our mouth, and making us jerk away the fly just as there was a magnificent rise at it, the fish being right out of water. What business have partridges here in the reeds and rushes we had always considered sacred to wildfowl ? The discharge of half-a-dozen barrels in quick succession, in the turnips on the hill above us, answers the question. There is a noble lord and his party shooting, and this must be a bird which has got separated from the covey, and in its terror was glad, like a ship in a storm, to put in anywhere for shelter—unluckily causing us to lose that fish, though, all the same.
But let us try again. Yonder a fish has raised his lips above the water, and sucked down a fly so quietly that he scarcely stirred the current; if we can throw just above, and let our flies glide down over him, peradventure—Yes ! there it is, and right well he is hooked too ! a good fish by the way, he makes our rod—a stiffish one—bend, so we must bring him down stream, and across to yonder shelving bank as quickly as we can, for let him once get into the old piles about the hatchway, and we are done. He knows it as well as we do, and strains every nerve to gain his hold; but he literally has a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips, and the days wherein he could go like the wind where he listed, are over, for he is fast coming to now; and having
Lights are now shining in the distant cottages; wild-duck are sailing in long flights overhead; we have already stumbled into one drain in the meadows, and gone near to smash our rod; so it is time to pack up, and get back to the snug parlour of our friend, where a dinner awaits us such as might serve an Emperor—if he had been fishing. So for a week, with varied success, we whip the pleasant little stream, sometimes returning with a few fish, sometimes with none, but always with that intense feeling of enjoyment which sport, snatched as it were from the toils of a busy life, and a keen appreciation of Nature and her beauties can alone give; and when time is up, work all the harder and better for our September holiday.
—On the motion for going into committee on Mr. Chaplin's Bill on this subject in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Biggar, the Home-rule member for Cavin, opposed the motion, suggesting that it would be better to bring in a general Act, applicable to all kinds of machinery. The hon. member, adopting a course which he laid down for himself at the beginning of the session of opposing all Bills that had not another opponent, rose at a quarter past fire and continued until a quarter to six, when, according to the regulations of the House, opposed business cannot be proceeded with. The Bill was in this manner "talked out, and becomes a lapsed order for the time being, but will, of course, resume a place on the Paper for future consideration.
he present article is a sequel to the one that appeared on "Scab in Sheep" in the April number of the New Zealand Country Journal, and treats of the Cure of Scab; and as in the former article, the information has been obtained from the same source (with the exception of that portion which treats of the Lime and Sulphur Cure), the pamphlet written by Mr. Alexander Bruce, Chief Inspector of Sheep for New South "Wales.
1. Its Principles.—It will be gathered from the article on Scab in Sheep, that it is necessary, in order to effect a permanent cure of Scab in Sheep, in the first place that the sheep be dipped and re-dipped in some "curative," i.e., a medicament which will completely destroy both the acari and their eggs; and, in the second place, that the sheep which have been thus thoroughly dressed should either be immediately removed to a clean run, or that such a thorough and lasting "disinfectant," i.e., a preservative against re-infection, should be used with the "curative" as would insure the protection of the sheep from the acari existing on the infected run, for a period beyond that during which the insect could possibly live in any other situation than on the sheep.
In early days the former course was adopted in Australia, as there was then plenty of spare clean ground to which the sheep could be removed on being dressed, and a permanent cure was generally effected.
2. Tobacco and Sulphur Cure.—History.—As, however, this country became so thickly stocked as to render it impracticable to find fresh pasturage for such sheep on their being dressed, the other alternative, the employment of a lasting disinfectant with the curative became necessary. Among other specifics for this purpose, sulphur was tried, but with such fluctuating success that its qualities as a disinfectant of sufficient duration to outlive the insect were for some time very much doubted. It was not until
Result in Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales.—On the Hopkins Hill Station, Mr. Rutherford, with two dressings of these ingredients, then cured over 52,000 sheep, which had been infected for eighteen months; and he also subsequently cured with two dippings the sheep on Mount Fyan's Station, where they were in a most wretched state, and had been scabby for more than three years; and that, too, in both cases, without destroying a single hurdle or yard, or removing any of the sheep from their old runs.
Since then, millions of scabby sheep have been permanently cured in Victoria in the same way; and in South Australia and New South Wales, hundreds of thousands of scabby sheep have also been cleaned with tobacco and sulphur. In fact, this dressing has the credit of having eradicated scab from the flocks of both these latter colonies; and there are good grounds for asserting that had this remedy not been known and used, neither colony would be, as they both are now, almost entirely from the scourge.
3. Tobacco and Sulphur and other Dressings Contrasted.—The particulars of the dressings used in South Australia are not here adducible, but those of New South Wales are, as returned by the different Inspectors, and they speak for themselves.
They are as follows :—Tobacco and Sulphur cured 184,270, failing at first in some few instances through the carelessness or ignorance of the operators, but in the end proving always successful. Of this number about 116,000 had only two dressings—the regular course—about 17,000 had three, about 33,000 had four, and some 18,000 had five or more, owing to mismanagement in their application.
Allen's Specific cured none, but failed in the case of 80,021. Hayes' Specific cured 6,255, and failed with 80,931. Arsenic, and Arsenic and Tobacco (with fresh runs) cured 9,284, and failed with 9,271.
In England, too, and on the Continent of Europe, the faith in tobacco as the best curative for scab is still unchanged, as may be gathered from the following extract from the Scottish Farmer :—Preparations of tobacco have as yet been recognised as the best for the destruction of the scab insect. Professor Gerlach, Director of the Veterinary College, Hanover, accords them the best position for this purpose, and farmers in this country seem to agree on this point. Experiments on a small scale on the efficacy of specifics for the cure of scab have proved thoroughly unreliable, for all these specifics which cured sheep at the trials which took place in Melbourne some years ago, failed completely when used on stations of even a moderate size; and it would seem that they did so principally from the want of a lasting disinfectant in their composition, such as sulphur has proved to be.
Almost everything tried as cures for scab will be effectual on a small scale. Even soft-soap and warm water frequently applied, have cleaned
As success in dipping will in a measure depend on having everything connected with the apparatus in perfect working order, no false economy should allow of make-shift expedients being resorted to.
It is very important that the yards should be so planned that they are easily worked, and of such a height and strength as will render it impossible for any of the sheep to break away before dipping.
Duration and Heat of Bath.—When the fleece is short, the bath should be administered at a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, and at 110 degrees in the summer, at which it should be the endeavour to keep it throughout the dipping (the thermometer being tried every other dip full); and the sheep should be allowed to remain in the dip from 60 to 80 seconds, and as much longer as they can stand it; for with short fleeces they dry almost immediately after being put into the draining yards, and if the bath was not severe both as to temperature and duration, they would stand less chance of being cured than if they were in full fleece or nearly so, whereby they take out and retain" more of the mixture. As the mixture cools, it will be necessary to keep the sheep longer in it, say from one-and-a-half to
which ought to be carefully attended to, but it will be for the person in charge to see that while the sheep are thoroughly saturated and kept as long in the dip as they can stand it, none of them are detained till they are in danger of being drowned.
While it only takes 30 seconds to kill the scab insect with the mixture at 90 degrees, it will live for 10 or 12 minutes in the same mixture at 45 to 50 degrees. It will thus be seen how very essential a high temperature is to the success of the dipping, and as a case in point, it may be stated that an owner at a long distance from Sydney, ran short of materials, and effected a thorough cure with half the ordinary strength of ingredients, by keeping the temperature of the bath at fully 130 degrees. There is little doubt, too, if we are to judge by the experience of the process of incubation of eggs by artificial heat, but that the high temperature here given destroys many of the eggs of the insect, which, at the time of the dipping, are still in the skin, and not near maturity. Indeed, if the destruction of the acari and their eggs on the sheep were all that was necessary to a permanent cure, there are good grounds for supposing that this might be effected by the high temperatures sometimes attained in the Turkish bath, without the use of any medicaments.
Second Dipping.—One dipping if carefully and thoroughly performed as directed, is said, in some hands, to have made a cure; but the practice ought always to be to dip twice at an interval of from ten to twenty days to make the matter a certainty; for not only will any sheep, which may have been imperfectly dressed at the first dipping be thus certain of being thoroughly so at the second, but all the acari which were in an embryo state in the skin at the first dipping and thus escaped destruction, would, by the time the second was carried out have reached maturity, and would be destroyed.
Third Dipping.—This may be necessary at times, when any doubt whatever is cast upon the efficacy of the dressing administered. Thus it is most essential, when sheep are exposed to a fall of rain, or allowed to go into water shortly after dressing, and especially so when their fleeces are short.
Lambs Dipped.—Where lambs are dropped about, or shortly after the second dressing given to their infected mothers, they should be properly dipped as soon as they are able to stand the operation, for by running on the infected ground, they would otherwise stand a good chance of becoming diseased.
Rams Dipped.—As rams are bad swimmers, care should be taken that they are not allowed to leave the dip until they are thoroughly dressed, which their heavy fleeces and twisted horns render somewhat difficult. They should, of course, be put through by themselves, and no more than seven or eight of them should be put into the dip at once, while every part of their heads and necks should be thoroughly saturated.
Dipping Stragglers.—Although it should happen, as it is to be hoped it will, that the two dippings effect a cure, the use of the dip will not then cease, for in or near a district where scab has existed, it ought to be an established rule with the sheep owner, for at least twelve months after the last cure of infection in or near his neighbourhood, that every sheep which has strayed off his run, or has mixed with those belonging to other runs, should on recovery be carefully dipped either once or twice, according to the character of the ground on which it was found, or of the sheep with which it had mixed.
1. Precautions after Dressing.—Shepherding and Inspection.—While under treatment for scab, sheep should be in the charge of a particularly careful and trustworthy shepherd, but especially so after their course of dressing is completed, and he should receive strict injunctions to watch for and report the least sign of activity in the disease. The owner or superintendent should make a point of seeing the sheep every other day, and he should not only examine every sheep shewing any symptoms of the disease, but he should spend an hour now and then with the shepherd, watching the movements of the sheep as they feed, and he should be increasingly watchful when the weather is favourable to the development of the disease. If ordinary care and watchfulness be displayed by the owner and shepherd, the very first symptom of a re-outbreak will be detected, and another dressing would then make the euro a certainty.
Mode of Examination.—In examining a flock of sheep which have undergone a course of dressing for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not they are cured, every sheep shewing any symptom of the disease should be handled; and after the bare portion of any suspected spot (such as the mark of an old patch of scab) has been carefully examined, the scurf and loose wool should be well cleared away from its outer edges, and the portions of the skin thus exposed should be subjected to the strictest scrutiny, for it is at the edges of the patch that any acari which have escaped destruction by the dressing, are most likely to be found. After that, the fleece should be opened for four or five inches, at right angles to and all round the patch—in the manner already directed—and the skin and roots of the wool along the lines thus exposed should be carefully examined both with the naked eye and the scab glass.
Keeping Infected Flocks Apart.—The duty next in importance to careful shepherding and regular inspection of sheep which have been dressed, is to see that the infected flocks are neither allowed to come in contact directly or indirectly with clean sheep, nor even with one another. It might sometimes do no harm for two infected flocks to come in contact, but at other times it would, for the one might be perfectly cured and the other not; and thus through the want of a little care, both flocks would again be infected. The infected flocks should be kept strictly apart until thoroughly clean, and the better to enforce this the owner should put a distinguishing brand on each flock when branding them as infected, or rather, he might put the scab brand (S) on the rumps of the sheep of one flock, on the back of another, and on the hips of a third.
Burning Yards.—Although not absolutely essential it is a very wise precaution to burn all brush yards, and the dung which may have accumulated in old yards and camps used by infected sheep; and if practicable, the run where infected sheep have been depastured should also be purged by fire. If these suggestions are not or cannot be followed, the sheep should at any rate be kept away from such places for six or eight months.
2. Successful Dressing.—Symptoms of a Cure of Wet Scab.—If the dressings have been thoroughly effective, the following symptoms will be observable on patches where the attack has been moderately severe. By the time the sheep are to be dipped a second time, and even earlier, there will be little or no rubbing, biting, or scratching, observable in the flock, and the scab will have become dry, while those portions of the skin of the scabby patch which were green when the sheep were dipped will have lost their moistness and appear of a pale dead colour. At a distance of a week from the second dipping the scab will become finer and drier, and the skin although still of an unhealthy colour, will be less harsh and boardy, and thinner and more pliable. At fifteen or twenty days the young wool will begin to shoot up, and, as it does, it perceptibly raises the scab (which has now assumed more the appearance of scurf) from the skin, and the skin will become much healthier in its colour and texture, although still deficient in both respects. At thirty days the young wool will begin to cover the patch, and the scurf will be almost completely cleared off, leaving the skin somewhat white and thick, but perfectly healthy; a slight scratch will at once bring up the proper hue. From that time it is purely a question of growth of wool.
When the attack is a slight one, and the patches small, if the first dressing has been effective, the scab will be quite dead and dry in the course of 12 or 14 days, and the patch will, in many instances, be clear of scab. In the course of a week from the second dressing the patches will be entirely free from scab and scurf, and the skin will have become soft, thin, and of a healthy pink colour, while the young wool will begin to sprout.
Symptoms of a Cure in Dry Scab.—In the case again of a cure of a spot or patch of dry scab from which the wool had not been denuded when the sheep were dressed, changes, similar to those already described, would take place in the scab and skin, but the old wool would not come off until the young fleece, springing up after the second dressing, forced it, as it were, off the affected spots. In the course of a week or fourteen days after the second dressing, these spots would be noticeable by a rising and slightly ragged or broken appearance of the wool on them, and, by the latter period, a slight new crop of wool would be found on pulling away the raised portion of the old fleece.
Mode of Tracing, Cause of Failure.—If it should unfortunately happen that a course of dressing has been unsuccessful, the owner should not rest satisfied until he discovers the cause of failure. To do this, he will, of course, make the necessary inquiries of the shepherds and hands on the station, and if he cannot in this way arrive at the reason for the outbreak, he should handle and examine every sheep in the flock, when he will be able to see whether any strange sheep have joined with and re-infected it, or whether the disease has re-appeared from the cure being imperfect. If the dressing is at fault, he will, of course, also be able to discover, from the appearance of the spots, whether the failure has occured in the curative or the disinfectant, and to remedy his mistake in the next dressing. Thus, where the dressing has failed through being badly applied, he will meet with the insect, or with green or active scab on some portion of an old patch, most likely at its edge, where the wool though loose has not yet fallen off. In the case of re-infection from insects on the run again, the symptoms will be pencilly, and the scab or insect found, may be at a distance from any old patch or spot, while the symptoms of the attack will of course resemble those of an original outbreak of the disease.
Although nothing is more certain than that the process now detailed is with care, punctuality, and attention, not only a positive cure, but also a lasting disinfectant, it must be continually borne in mind, that if one sheep be omitted or is insufficiently dressed, the greater part of the labour will be lost.
It is imperative, therefore, that the person superintending the operation should be keenly alive to the responsibility devolving upon him. He will have to look after everything, and everybody, and he must see that the dressings are correctly and carefully made up and applied to every doubtful and infected sheep on the run. It is utterly needless for careless sheepowners or superintendents to attempt to cure sheep of scab.
To those, however, who will take the necessary pains, but who are as yet little acquainted with the process of dipping, it may be useful to mention briefly the chief causes of the numerous failures which have occurred in the attempts made to cure sheep with tobacco and sulphur. They may be enumerated as follows:—
must be made to tally exactly, while a thorough search should be made for dead sheep, which should be burned where found.diseased" flock of those sheep which are very badly scabbed.
Of late years the ingredients in general use in New Zealand for the cure of scab have been lime and sulphur; and this cure commends itself to the notice of sheep owners, not only on account of its cheapness, but also from the success which has attended its use where due attention has been paid to the strength and quality of the mixture.
It is as well to crush the lime and sulphur with a heavy roller, and mix them well together; then put the whole through a fine sieve, which takes out all the small lumps, making the incorporation perfect, which latter is important.
Thoroughly mix five cwt. of flour of sulphur and three cwt. of slacked lime; empty it into 1,400 gallons of boiling water, which, keep on the boil, stirring well from the bottom for twenty minutes, when it is ready for use. Keep the dip up to a temperature of 115, or 120 if the sheep are very scabby, and let them remain for two minutes in it, during which time put their heads under twice. Repeat the operation a second time within fourteen days.
t the last meeting of the Ixworth Farmers' Club, the subject for discussion was "Breeding and Management of Horses," introduced by the President, E. Greene, Esq., M.P., who occupied the chair.
The President, before proceeding to read his paper, remarked that it had been arranged that Mr. Fowler should, at this meeting, give them a lecture on the all-important subject of steam ploughing, but that gentleman was unable to attend, and rather than there should be no discussion meeting at this time of the year, he (Mr. Greene) had hastily put down a few thoughts on the subject of "The Breeding and Management of Horses." He then proceeded to read his paper:—Amongst all the animals that a kind and beneficent Creator has given us for our use, there is none more intelligent than the horse. An old author says, "There is none which yieldeth more profit and pleasure to man than the horse, for he is stately in triumphs, adroit and bold in the most dangerous engagements, strong and hardy to endure any kind of fatigue or labour." Almost every country in the world has its own peculiar breed, and I may here remark that the Turkish horse is supposed to live longer than any other breed. The head of a horse should be small, narrow, and lean; it is a most essential part for beauty, without the good shape of which a horse can never look well. The ears should be little, narrow, straight, and hardy. An old Latin writer has said, "That by the motion of the ears a man may judge of the intention and design, or courage of a horse, just as one doth a dog's inclination by the motion of his tail." The eyes should be bright, lively, and full of fire, large and full. In the fore-quarter the most
breed or stock. These are still in the Eastern counties, chiefly roans and chestnuts; but they want cultivating—that is, they are rather coarse and undersized, but they have the fine action and courage so essential in a valuable horse. They have been bred for their action for many years. Perhaps you would suggest the use of a thoroughbred, good-actioned sire to improve their beauty. This would not be desirable to obtain the animal you require, because thoroughbreds are a distinct breed, and have been bred for many hundreds of years for a distinct purpose—viz., fitness for the turf. Very high action is fatal for that purpose, consequently the action of that horse could not be hereditary. The only way to improve this class of horses is to choose the best of that breed, and continue to draft out, year after year, the imperfect animals, until a pure stock is found. We will now consider the other profitable animals for farmers to breed—viz., weight-carrying hunters. Now if you are fortunate enough to be able to breed this kind of animal, it will ever prove a mine of wealth to you; but the difficulty is how to set about it. The demand for this class of horse is very great, and they always command high prices, but I fear the profits that should go into the pocket of the breeder too often find their way into that of the dealer. Now the general plan to produce this animal is to put a thoroughbred sire to a half-bred mare; but the great difficulty is to obtain a sire that can carry fourteen or fifteen stone himself. Rather than use a horse unable to carry weight himself, I should have no
i.e., for each day in the week they are advertised to hunt—I will leave you to judge of the immense sum that is circulated through England by this national sport, and of which much must necessarily find its way into the pockets of the agriculturists, by the great demand it occasions for hay, oats, and straw—to say nothing of the number of men who are employed through-out the United Kingdom to look after the horses of those engaged in this sport. Of all classes of men that enjoy this noble sport there are none more fond of it than the tenant-farmers. They are generally, to a man, good preservers of foxes, straight goers over country, kind, genial, to all they meet in the hunting field; and should the sport lead them to their own homes, none are so truly hospitable. I have hunted in many counties, and, with few exceptions, have invariably found the tenant-farmers keenly alive to the desirability of fox-hunting being kept up throughout England. At the conclusion of the reading of his paper, the President made some extempore observations on the subject. He remarked that since his early days the feeling with regard to cart-horses was very much altered. He apprehended that it was almost next to impossible to find a better horse for agricultural purposes than the Suffolk cart-horse, but from the fact of its being essential to retain the colour in that horse it has been necessary to breed rather closely. There had been a great demand for entire Suffolks to go abroad, and many of the best horses had been taken away, and we suffered a little
—A beautiful high-spirited horse (says the New York Commercial Advertiser) would never allow a shoe to be put on' his feet, or any person to handle his feet. In an attempt to shoe such a horse recently, he resisted every effort, kicked aside everything but an anvil, and nearly killed himself on that, and finally was brought back to the stable unshod. This defect was just on the eve of consigning him to the plough, where he might work barefoot, when an officer in our service lately returned from Mexico, took a cord about the size of a common bed cord, but it in the mouth of the horse like a bit, tied it tightly on the animal's head, passing his left ear under the string, not painfully tight, but enough to keep the ear down and the cord in its place. This done, he patted the horse gently on the side of the head, and commanded him to follow, and instantly the horse obeyed, perfectly subdued, and as gentle and obedient as a well-trained dog, suffered his feet to be handled with impunity, and acted in all respects like an old stager.
[A number of original articles have been omitted, owing to the fact of their having come in too late.]
"The total trade of the Australian and New Zealand Colonies amounted to 90 million sterling, and the exports to 45 millions—dug from the bowels of the earth, or gathered from its surface. That 45 millions consisted of natural products.—in the metals, gold, copper, tin, and iron, used in all the Colonies, and silver in New Zealand. In miscellaneous products, they had wool, coal, tallow, hides, preserved meats, sugar, wheat and wine. In all the Colonies there were 65,000,000 sheep, and 7,000,000 cattle. The population of Australia and Tasmania numbered 2,000,000, and New Zealand 400,000. The revenue of the whole group was £13,000,000. Comparing these Colonies with Canada, they would find that the population of the New Dominion was 4,300,000; and her total trade amounted to £45,000,000 as against the £90,000,000 of the Australias. The exports of the Dominion were £19,000,000 against those of the Australian group, amounting to £45,000,000; and the Dominion revenue £5,000,000, as against their £13,000,000. Going farther a-field, the Indian Empire had a population of 240 millions, and a total trade exclusive of treasure of £87,000,000, and her exports were £55,000,000 against Australia's £45,000,000. But they would be asked what was the indebtedness of the Australian colonies ? It amounted to £55,000,000. Take New South Wales, the oldest of them all, her debt was £11,500,000, but her railways and public works were worth fully that amount, and her unsold Crown Lands were certainly worth ten times that amount of debt. Victoria owed £14,000,000, excluding the last loan of £3,000,000 which was still in hand; her railways returned 4 per cent, upon their cost, and the unsold Crown Lands were worth double the debt. South Australia had a debt of £3,500,000, and her railways and public works were worth about that amount, whilst her unsold Crown Lands were worth ten times the debt. Queensland, perhaps the richest of all the Colonies, had a debt of £7,000,000; but her public
o those of us who commenced our career as Colonists on this side of the Globe many years ago, and who have been working away ever since without thinking much about the position of the Australian Colonies relative to British Possessions in other parts of the world, the statistics of trade when looked on for the first time cannot fail to cause astonishment. In this feeling we fully shared when reading certain statistical information given by the Chairman of the Union Bank of Australia, at a meeting of shareholders, held in London in January last. The following is an extract from the speech, which shows the importance of the Commercial position to which the Australian Colonies have attained in a very clear light:—
t appears that in Hawkes Bay only 3,161 acres were cropped last year, but that a very considerable additional area, namely, 11,115 acres, had been broken up ready for cropping next year. Surface sowing, without cultivation, is most practised there, and during the past year the additional land treated in this way, was 58,268 acres. Last lambing was very good, the increase being 390,900 lambs from 508,390 ewes, or fully over 77 per cent., which after deducting all decrease by sales, boiling down, consumption, and mortality, leaves a net addition to the sheep in the Province of 212,220.
n our last issue we noticed the introduction of the Prickley Comfrey,"Symphytum Asperrimum," as a new forage plant. Since then we have received a pamphlet issued by Thos. Christy, junr., F.L.S., who seems to have taken great pains in gathering all the information that was available as the best mode of cultivation, as well as the best variety to cultivate. The pamphlet also contains an analysis of the plant by Professor Voelcker, and who adds the following remarks—"In its fresh state Comfrey contains more water than white mustard; but, notwithstanding this large proportion of water the amount of flesh-forming substances is considerable. The juice of this plant contains much gum and mucilage, and but little sugar."
It would appear that there are several varieties, some of which have little merit, whilst others are well worthy of extensive cultivation, more especially one having a solid stem; and we cannot do better than give in its entirety a letter sent to the editor of the "I have just read with interest in your paper a letter from Mr. H. Doubleday about Comfrey. Now that Prickley Comfrey is admitted by all farmers and stockowners who have tried it to be the most valuable of all forage plants grown in this country, and while the cultivation of it is becoming so general, it would be well for all who propose growing it to remember the importance of planting only the true Caucasian Comfrey, and not wasting time, trouble, and money on any of the worthless varieties. I had a good opportunity of comparing the right sort with the wrong last August, in Kent, when I found the two growing within a mile of each other, on precisely similar soil and under equally favourable circumstances. One had been planted in the spring, had been cut twice, and looked ready for cutting again. The owner, a
I have just planted about 2,500 sets obtained from Christy and Co., and shall be well pleased if the result proves as good as what I have seen growing from sets supplied by this firm. I have also planted some of the solid stem variety, which, from Mr. Doubleday's account in his letter to you, seems to be even a still more valuable variety. The importance to farmers of planting only the right sort I feel sure cannot be too strongly urged. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,Essex Herald, by Mr. R. G. D. Tosswill, The Lodge, Chingford, and whom some of our readers may recollect as a Canterbury settler. Mr. Tosswill writes as follows :—
Other letters from persons in Wales, Ireland, and the United States of America, are given in the pamphlet, all of which indicate the high value of this plant, more particularly as food for horses and cows, and its capability to stand the severe droughts. Another prominent feature, is the ease with which it can be stored in a green state in trenches dug in the soil and covered over with straw, over which are placed planks for the exclusion of air. This plan is adopted in France, not only for preserving Comfrey, but for such crops as maize, sorghum, red clover, lucerne, sainfoin &c.
It will thus be seen that the cultivation of this plant experimentally should be tried in New Zealand, and we shall be happy to afford space to those who may wish to give the result of their experience.
Sir,—In the month of October last, I observed in the Canterbury Times a copy of a paper read at a meeting of the Kaiapoi Fanners' Club, by Mr. P. Duncan, on the œstrus Ovis of New Zealand. Soon after that, while taking my sheep home to be shorn, I found one of the hoggets unable to get up on its hind-quarters; thinking it had been hurt by some of the other sheep, I brought it in to the homestead on a dray, and as it appeared in good health and eat grass, I left it about the place for several days. One morning I found it had lost the use of one fore-foot at the pastern joint, and next day it had lost the use of the leg altogether. I then killed it, and examined the head very minutely, having divided it in two with a saw. At the top of the left nostril, and rather behind and above the eye close to the brain, I found six very small larvæ—all alive. Further up, and in the small folds or leaves in the nostril, only a thin membrane dividing them from the brain, I found two
I send you some specimens of the fly which deposits the worms. You will observe there are two different kinds—one brown, and the other a small blue fly, both of which blow the worms above.
[The specimens sent by Mr. Morrison have been handed to Dr. Powell.—Ed.]
Dear Sir,—For certain reasons I am very anxious to have a reading of a book called "Lasteyrie on the Merino Sheep," but unfortunately I cannot find a copy in the bookshelves of any of my friends. Should any of your readers possess the book, I shall feel greatly obliged by the loan of it for a week, after which I will undertake to return it safe to the owner.
Sir,—There is no subject of more importance connected with the agricultural progress of this country than the question—What are the best means that can be adopted for the speedy and safe transit of our largely increasing productions by railway ? It must be palpable to every one that our present system is very far from being successful, and that we are thereby placed at very great disadvantage as producers in comparison with the growers of many other countries. Year after year the railways are blocked in the grain season, and we hear different reasons assigned, such as an insufficient number of trucks, want of storage accommodation, bad harbour arrangements, merchants' delays, and so forth, but little or no improvement takes place; in fact, this year, matters were worse, I believe, than on any former occasion, and an immense loss has been caused to the producer, the exporter, the ship-owner, to say nothing of the public carrier—the Government.
Now, it may be, that each and all of the above-mentioned reasons have helped to create the intolerable state of things we have witnessed this season; but I think the chief cause of all the difficulty is simply this—that the producer is making use of
I do not think that I can be charged with over-estimating the importance of this subject. The grain production of New Zealand is still in its infancy. I feel certain it will be double what it is now in a few years. Our railways, as at present worked, have proved incapable of meeting the demand upon them; what will be the state of affairs when all the large quantity of agricultural land lately purchased and still to be purchased comes into cultivation ? It does not require much foresight to predict that, unless some such steps as I have mentioned are taken forthwith, enormous loss will be incurred by farmers at a distance from any port, who depending on quick and easy transit by railway, are cultivating large tracts of land for grain growing, which they would not attempt to do but for the delusive hope of having the advantage of efficient railway accommodation.
I would suggest that the matter be taken in hand by the Committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and that if they agree with me as to the necessity of the case, strong representations should be made by them through our members in the Assembly, to induce the Government to take energetic measures for the adoption in New Zealand of the American system of forwarding grain, as well as coals, timber, &c., by railway. I have no doubt that a unanimous opinion coming from such an influential body would have the desired effect.
Sir,—The new rule of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, requiring, after July 1st., that all members shall be ballotted for, suggests the consideration of the relations that ought to exist between the Association and its members, and what might be advisable towards an increase of benefit to all concerned.
Certainly the time is come when these should be more definite. The Association has fought its way through difficulties and early troubles not so much by the help of an organization fitted for its purposes, but simply by reason of its strong claim on the Agricultural and Pastoral interests, and these interests now considerably advanced have carried the Association along them. The objects which the Association has in view are now so evident, and the benefit accruing from its action so much more plainly seen, that it appears a wise step on the Association's part to regulate more closely the connection between it and its members, that is if its managers have framed the above bye-law with the intention of laying down more clearly the position the members ought to hold toward it; a position which demands support, and a corresponding privilege and duty on the part of members who are now to be admitted only after the ordeal of a ballot. Time was when the Association had been content with annual support from whoever could be prevailed on to subscribe. On one great occasion it even sold for a comparatively small sum life-memberships to wipe off liabilities. Now, it is to be hoped, it feels its position so secure that it can face the farming and pastoral public, whose interests it does its best to conserve, by a bolder front, and ask to be supported as other and older societies are supported elsewhere.
The writer's experience is mainly confined to the position of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, of which he has been a member many years. It is the oldest Agricultural Society in Great Britain; and if outstripped by the wealth and greater advantages of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, it can at least boast to have shown the Royal Agricultural Society the way, and to have in no degree lost the claim to be considered the elder sister through any sacrifice of the real objects of the Society, or from having been found wanting in any respect, except that it has had to do with a poorer country and a more scattered population. In this respect therefore the writer's experience as to older societies may be more useful as gathered in a country where support could only be the result of practical benefits.
First then, to explain the position which the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland bears to the farming public in that country in order to justify the position taken up by our Association by its new Bye-law :—In Scotland, as a broad rule, every landed proprietor and his eldest son, every tenant farmer of any position, every merchant and business man connected with land, every manure or chemical merchant and manufacturer, all as a matter of course, almost as a matter of honour, are subscribing members of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. And the practice of the Society being to shift its yearly place of show, so that in a cycle of years every part of Scotland shall be visited, keeps up a lively interest in its proceedings, as well as periodically renews by a practical exemplication the benefits of belonging to it. The counties are grouped for show purposes,—Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Dumfries being the different show centres, each of which town has a circle of counties attached, who find a certain proportion of necessary funds, and do a certain amount of necessary local work; and the result is always a large addition to the Society's list of members from the counties whose turn it is to have the Annual Show among them.
It would be premature to advocate a peripatetic show here, as no out district could give the facilities for such an experiment at present, neither could the Association do without the gate-money certain at Christchurch, nor could the public be put off with the difficulties of attending shows elsewhere. But perhaps another part of the Highland and Agricultural Society's plan, equally a proof of universal care for the interests of the farming community of the whole nation, might be adopted here. Its practice is to give medals or prizes for competition at all local shows affiliated to it, in
Another point deserving of ventilation, is the necessity of the Association's having a library for reference, and the current agricultural literature of the day for their members' benefit. We ought at all events to have the quarterly journals of both the Scotch and English Societies. These might be obtained by having if it were possible our Association affiliated to the older societies at home, or our President might be a subscribing member of each on behalf of the Association. Probably an application in the right direction might get us a complete set of all their back numbers. In any case the want of such are frequently felt; and although our climate and soil are different to those of England and Scotland, and our capital and labour on a different footing, still these publications as the results of experience, are of very great value to those who are thinking out similar and perhaps more difficult problems on their land in New Zealand.
Sir,—In your issue of January appeared an excellent article, by Mr. Ford, upon the different breeds of sheep. In common with many others, I perused it with much interest, and was very much struck with his account of the "Improved Dartmoor" sheep. Would you kindly inform me in your columns whether any of these sheep are procurable in these colonies; if so, where? If they have been imported, whether they have proved a success; and whether they have been bred sufficiently long enough to reproduce themselves; are they, in fact, pure-bred sheep ? Such a sheep as Mr. Ford describes is just the sheep we want on hilly country; and, with a view to eliciting more information on the subject, I trouble you with these enquiries.
Sir,—In answer to "Enquirer," re Dartmoor Sheep, five rams and six ewes of that breed were imported to this province in
As the Lincoln and Leicester sheep became more fashionable here, and Mr. Reed's estate became improved, he crossed the half and three-quarter-bred Dartmoor ewes with those sheep, keeping no Dartmoor rams, even from his pure-bred sheep. In a
Owing to the very large amount of wheat which, suffered injury during the late very wet harvest season in Canterbury, and the difficulty in consequence of procuring sound grain for seed, the minds of our farmers have been much troubled as regards the propriety of using the damaged article for that purpose.
It is believed that only a comparatively small portion of the crop was secured in a perfectly sound condition, and this was eagerly bought up by the millers, who, keenly alive to the necessity of providing flour of a marketable quality, were thus induced to offer prices which were highly remunerative to the growers.
The question of seed for the ensuing crop naturally forced itself on people's minds, and in view of the enormous amount of damaged grain in the country, was the cause of much anxiety to all those who themselves possessed, no wheat which could be pronounced perfectly sound. Much discussion took place, and many hasty speculations were ventured as to the safety of using the sprouted grain for seed. In order to test its fitness, some trifling experiments were undertaken, and in every case that has come to our knowledge where a few of the damaged grains were sown a large per centage succeeded. So far, this was satisfactory, and was calculated to dispel the fears of our farmers. There arose, however, a rumour that a more carefully conducted trial where the damaged grain had been pickled in the usual way, was sown, and had utterly failed. The pickling process appeared to have quite destroyed its vitality.
As might have been expected, this intelligence caused great dismay, and in consequence we have heard of several persons who have sown their wheat without subjecting it to the precautionary process of pickling.
We have reason, however, to fear that those persons have exposed themselves to greater risk from smut than would have been the case had they treated their seed wheat in the usual way.
We are able to state one or two facts which certainly have set our own minds at rest as regards the question of sowing sprouted wheat. In one instance a large paddock—over one hundred acres—was sown with wheat, none of which could be pronounced sound grain. The seed was dressed with the usual solution of bluestone, the field was finished on the 23rd May, and now it appears looking as well as any person could desire. The next case was that of grain very much grown which was also dressed with the bluestone solution and sown, nearly every grain succeeded.
These are no doubt hasty experiments, and perhaps do not justify us in pronouncing an authoritative opinion on the question. Another season may add to our information on this important subject. We content ourselves with stating the facts as they have come to our knowledge, trusting that they may be the means of disabusing the minds of some of our farmers of the impression that sprouted wheat is totally unfit for seed.
he racing season of
This may, in a great measure, be attributed to the scarcity of both owners and horses, and it is to be hoped that next season the large amount of added money throughout New Zealand, may induce some of our wealthy colonists to take part in the sport. Following on to Oxford and Greymouth, which meetings I noticed in your last issue, came a pleasant fixture at. Oamaru. The racing itself was not of the very highest class, but was noticeable for two or three reasons. The first, being the success of Mr. Delamain's stable, which up to this time had had but an unfortunate year. At Oamaru, however, five events fell to him, of which Titania was credited with three, Templeton and Pungawere were landing the other two. The second was the meeting of Templeton, Guy Faux, and Fishhook, in the Publicans' Handicap, when the latter, after a good race, disposed of his two old antagonists by half a length from Templeton, who finished the same distance from Guy Faux. The third was the very different figure cut by O'Brien's horse in the Flying Handicap, a performance which led to his immediate disqualification; and after some consideration to that of Derrett, his jockey, also. The North Otago Turf Club evidently mean business, as they are taking steps to improve their running ground, and next season this fixture promises to be a most successful one; and in saying so, I see an opportunity of complimenting the Club upon the beauty of their course, which is certainly the most picturesque in New Zealand. Apropos of Oamaru, a fairly successful Steeplechase Meeting came off there in May, in which Tommy Dodd scored a couple
The Timaru gathering, which was the next on the racegoers list, showed us Mr. Logan's hitherto unlucky colours in front for the two principal events. On each occasion they were carried by the uncertain Cloth of Gold, who won both the S.C. J.C. Handicap and Timaru Cup. In the first event he polished off Mr. Delamain's two—Templeton and Punga, while in the second he disposed of Eclipse, Templeton, Danebury, and Titania; the ex-hurdle-racer, with a light impost running into second place. In the Flying Handicap on the first day, Danebury was made a strong favourite, but after a good race the judge's verdict was Elfin King first, with Danebury second, and Titania third; the Chief, a cast off from Mr. Redwood's stable was fourth, and the unprofitable Dead Heat occupied the rearmost position. On the second day, after the Timaru Cup had been decided, we were treated to a good Hurdle Race, between Eclipse and Mousetrap, the former winning by a length; the grey, however, was the best favourite at starting, but a stumble at the last hurdle lost him what little chance he might have had even had he landed on equal terms with his opponent. Danebury easily beat Punga and the Chief for the Tradesmen's, and Mr. Delamain's filly won the Consolation in equally easy fashion.
At Ashburton on May 3 and 4, Eclipse distinguished himself by winning the Ashburton Cup, for which he was so leniently treated by the handicapper as to render the event a "moral" for him. The company he met was but indifferent, and he consequently won any-how. In the Hurdle Race Grey Momus upset a pot upon Mousetrap, and shaped well in this his first appearance over sticks. The other events on the first day were fairly contested. On the second, Eclipse again did good service to his party by romping in for the Publicans' Purse, and then defeating Maritana, Grey Momus and Co., for the Free Handicap. This latter was a fairly good performance.
Birthday meetings were numerous, those at Dunedin and Auckland being the best. At the former place, Camelia, a complete outsider defeated Eclipse, and the very old Kildare over hurdles; while the Maiden Plate went to Lady Ellen, a daughter of Knottingly. In the Birthday Handicap which came next, Eclipse was again saddled, and this time he added another winning bracket to his list after a desperate struggle with Cloth of Gold. Tadmor, who had been supported being third, and Haphazard last. The weights carried by the winner and second were 7st. 7½lb. (including 5½lbs. over weight) and 8st. 3lb. respectively. Fourteen trotters then occupied a considerable time in getting over 3 miles, more or less, but the issue was never in doubt after the first mile, as Mr. Swanson's Tommy won very easily by 200 yards. These illegitimate events should not be introduced into the programme issued by a leading Jockey Club. Haphazard beat a numerically good field in the Selling Race, and the Tradesmen's brought out six, Elfin King—who had been specially reserved for it—being backed ta
On the Queen's Birthday also came off some good cross-country events at Wanganui. The principal race of the day was the Wanganui Grand National Steeplechase, for which Te Whetumarama and Gazelle were the most fancied. The winner turned up in the useful Victor after a chapter of accidents to almost every horse engaged. Don Juan and Jonathan Wild ran second and third, the former carrying top weight. Jonathan Wild improved his position in the Maiden for which he was placed second, being beaten however in a walk by an animal named Greyhound. Four tried conclusions for the Consolation, and Te Whetumarama ran home first in front of St. Albans, Don Juan, and Gazelle.
The Canterbury Jockey Club have issued their programme for their Spring Meeting, and there is a noticeable difference in the amount of added money. £500 is now added both to the Cup and C.J.C. Handicap, and a second Steeplechase has been substituted for the Publicans' Handicap. The remainder of the programme stands as before. It is probable that the increase in the stakes of the two big races may induce Australian owners to put in an appearance, the more so as £500 Cups are to be offered this season at several of the principal meetings.
Of course the breaking up of the Spreydon Stud created great interest amongst sporting men, and the attendance of buyers on the day fixed was large, although foreigners were conspicuous by their absence. The results will have been long ere this familiar to your readers through the medium of nearly all the New Zealand papers; but I may say the cheapest lots in my estimation were Blue Boy, Idalia's foal, and considering the grand stud of English marcs possessed by the purchasers, Traducer himself. The Middle Park Company purchased the majority of the imported mares, and it is a matter of congratulation that the whole lot remain in New Zealand. At Mr. Nosworthy's sale held some days before satisfactory, and in one instance sensa-
The Canterbury Hunt Club have, so far as they have got, had a fairly successful season. The meets in the various parts of the Province have been well attended, and the runs seem to have given satisfaction. The drag in several cases has been run over country which has proved too much for the majority of horses and riders, and I would suggest that for the present an easier line should be as often as possible selected. This would induce more novices in the hunting field to put in an appearance.
The Pheasant Shooting, which will be over by the time this paper goes to press, has scarcely been so good as last year. There cannot be the slightest doubt that, in Canterbury at any rate, the birds were extensively slaughtered before the season commenced. In addition to this, the cocks were far wilder than last year, and probably more scattered over the country. Few large bags have been made, and I know of many instances where men who can hold straight, and shooting over good dogs, have come home after a long day, on what was last season capital ground, with next thing to an empty bag. The duck shooting about the Lake and elsewhere has been as good as usual.
reviewing the Cricket of the past season—at the commencement of which cricketers thought a good time was in store for them—a new club, the Midland Canterbury, was formed by some of the leading members of the old Christchurch C.C., and many gentlemen soon threw in their lot with the new club, which had a very successful season, and played—with their second eleven—a large number of local and suburban matches; and, thanks to the untiring energy and example of their captain, did not lose one single match.
The first Eleven were not so successful in arranging matches; the great wished-for-match—by the cricketers and their supporters—with the old club (the U.C.C.C.) could never be amicably arranged, some of the officers of the old club contending it was useless trying, as they had no bowlers. But I believe the majority were in favour of playing, but allowed themselves to be over-ruled by a few.
The two great events of the season of course were the Otago and A.E.E. matches; and, as detailed accounts of these games have already been recorded, it is almost useless to comment upon them, although a few words may not be out of place in this short review of the past season.
Through the visit of the A.E.E., it was proposed at first by Otago to postpone the match, as several of their best men, it was alleged, could not possibly spare time to play in both matches; and, as they wished to play their best strength against the A.E.E., it was thought better not to play Canterbury, as it would be the conquering match, each Province having won five each; and there is no doubt Canterbury secured an easier victory through this cause than probably they otherwise would have done. But, at the same time, Canterbury played rather an up-hill game, in consequence of the serious loss of their two best bowlers, Messrs. Frith and Fuller. However, the ensuing season may see a tough fight when Otago meet Canterbury on the former's ground. I wish it may be so.
I think most of my readers will concur with me, when I say I should like to have seen a return match with the A.E.E. At one or two periods of the game it looked very well for Canterbury; but the magnificent bowling of Allan Hill, in the Canterbury second innings, changed the course of events; and it was remarked by numbers of those who knew him, that he had never bowled so well before; and the Melbourne Clubs seem to have been fully alive to his remarkable powers, as he has been engaged by them at the handsome salary of £200 for the season, in conjunction with Ullyett, the latter a very fine fast bowler and magnificent field, but not, I think, to be compared with Hill in regard to bowling. But I am wandering from my subject. The main result of the match showed pretty clearly where we were most deficient, viz. in our batting defence. Most of the players were far too anxious to make runs at once, no matter what the bowling was like, and it would be well for some of our leading men to take a few lessons from Leach—who certainly is one of the most patient bats it has been my good fortune to witness—who came recently amongst us with a good reputation as one of the gentlemen of Lancashire's finest bats, and certainly he has not disappointed us.
The management of the grounds and foreign matches are to be arranged under different auspices than hitherto next year, a Cricket Association having been formed; and I think, if properly managed, should certainly tend to improve the standard of Canterbury cricket, both socially and practically, as we have more than once had our seasons marred through the different clubs holding various opinions as to the manner in which things were managed. I hope it may be so, and wish the newly-formed Association every success; and, at the same time, that they may be instrumental in arranging the proposed match with Melbourne, when I think Canterbury would give a good account of themselves.
Football is now in full swing. With the except ion of the Temuka match, where for the second time the Christchurch men were defeated, the matches have not possessed any great interest. It has been proposed to hold a series of Interprovincial Matches on the Wellington ground. I hope the promoters will be able to carry out their idea, as each Province can send forth a formidable team, and the proposed series of matches would increase the interest in this favourite winter's amusement.
Paper read to the Courtenay Farmers' Club, by Mr. T. H. Anson on
Gentlemen,
It will be admitted on all sides that one of the chief objects of a Farmers' Association is the promotion of any discussion by which any practical knowledge may be diffused to its members; the elements of which may be more or less contained individually by those of its members who may have given more particular attention to any one subject as regards either agriculture generally, the breeding of stock, the appropriate times and seasons for sowing grain and root crops, the sorts best adapted for various soils, the best breed of sheep for this district, and other subjects which may be ventilated by a Society of this nature, and calculated to promote a higher general standard of knowledge on these points, which will assuredly bring its own reward.
The subject I have chosen to give you a paper on this evening is "The Sheep best adapted for this District;" and I will endeavour, as shortly as possible, to give you a few ideas that I have arrived at in my own individual experience on sheep. Farmers generally, of late years especially, have found a combined system of grain and root growing with sheep keeping, the most profitable, as well as most beneficial to the land. The question then comes, which is the sheep that being adapted to our ground, will return us a fair quantity and quality of wool, with an inclination to fatten, and come to maturity at an early age ?
In the first place, I will enumerate the different breeds of sheep from which many of the crosses have been obtained in this Province; each breed having no doubt peculiar merit in itself, distinguishable in its adaptation to various localities, and different soils. There are at present in Canterbury—the Southdowns, Lincolns, Romneys, Cotswolds, Cheviots, and Leicesters. I will shortly describe the merits or demerits of each:—The Southdown is a remarkably hardy constitutioned sheep, a great favourite with the butcher, but on account of their short and light fleece are not a sufficiently remunerative sheep for farmers, who require both wool and mutton producing qualities combined; they might be advantageously kept by small farmers near town specially breeding for the market. This cross I could not advocate for ourselves, although well adapted to our own soil in many respects. Then we come to the Lincolns and Romneys; the crosses from these sheep thrive best on our heavy lands in the vicinity of Christehurch, Leeston, Southbridge, Ellesmere; but our district, with its large area of fair quality land, is in my opinion not able to do justice to such sheep as these, which require most luxuriant pasturage to bring them to perfection.
We also have the Cotswold and Cheviots; the former I have had no experience in, but I am led to understand that they might be crossed with the Merino with a certain amount of advantage, and if so would not make a bad cross for our character of land.
The Cheviots have been used by some of our sheep farmers for crossing with the Merinos on our hill runs, but whether successfully or not, I am not in a position to state. As many of you are aware, they are a favourite sheep in parts of Scotland, and are gradually exterminating the old original black-faced breed. I could not recommend them as a cross for our district.
I now come to the improved Leicester, a sheep which surpasses all other breeds for symmetry of carcass, its propensity to fatten easily, therefore coming to maturity early, has a fair length of staple finer than the majority of other long-wools, and likely to return the most profit for the amount of food consumed.
The pure Leicester ram put to a good Merino ewe will throw as good a cross as may be desired, combining the qualities mentioned by me in the first part of this paper; on the one hand, giving to the Merino these essential qualities, and gaining on the other hand a greater fineness of
Some of our farmers have an inclination to purchase old cull Merino ewes, because it requires a small outlay to purchase a good number. This may answer a person wishing to breed up a flock of his own, by keeping his lambs and so breeding on until he gets a cross-bred flock. But those who purchase for the sake of culling again, I am doubtful whether it would not pay them better to purchase half the number of good young cross-breds, which will breed a better class of lamb for the butcher, and realise probably more than double what the old Merino ewes will of wool of a higher money value in the market. There is a noticeable fact, which some of you may have observed in both pure and cross-bred sheep, that these sheep are apt to lose the use of their teeth long before even they have arrived at their prime. I know not whether this fact can be maintained when the same sheep are kept on soft and luxurious pasturage, but this I do know, that cross-breds (the more crossed the worse they are in this respect) lose, or rather their teeth become ground down to their gums as early as four-tooth in some instances, which must militate considerably against a sheep thriving in many of our paddocks with nothing but the hard stems of the rye-grass for food; and still worse for a sheep thus deprived to labour in vain to bite at, and gain a living out of a hard and unrelenting turnip; time and experience will teach us that we shall have to grow more succulent food than tussocks. The Merino does not seem to be affected in this way, though often subjected to live on the coarsest of herbage on our native pastures, on the very tops of our shingly mountains, with only an oasis of tussocks here and there in the midst of the shingle, or on our river-beds, where their chief food consists of the tough native broom.
There is another subject, before concluding this paper, to which I should like to draw the attention of this Farmers' Club, a paper which I am sure some of yourselves must have perused, and which is well worth of our consideration while on the subject of the sheep. I refer to a paper read to the Kaiapoi Farmers' Club, by a Mr. P. Duncan, describing an insect called the "Œstris Ovis," which had caused the death in one flock of fifty per cent., and explaining the influence it had on any sheep on which this insect had inserted its eggs; also, producing a bottle with ten living specimens, which had been taken from the head of a hogget. It seems to be a matter for public investigation how the eggs of this pest are inserted into the brain of the sheep, but most probably through the nostrils, causing symptoms analogous to an ergotised sheep. A resolution was passed asking for the co-operation of the Ashley and Courtenay Districts in endeavouring to ascertain in the Autumn months, when the sheep are both affected with the "Œstris Ovis" as well as the Ergot, any information regarding how this insect deposits its eggs, and what may be the best remedy to prevent such attacks. As this seems a matter of importance to those interested in sheep, I hope that any of you who
Gentlemen—In conclusion I would hope, that now the Courtenay Farmers' Club has been fairly resuscitated, we may be able to get a Paper once a quarter on the many subjects which interest a community like ourselves, throwing different lights and shades on various questions, as well as causing social intercourse and interchange of ideas amongst its members; and surely by helping each other we shall be fulfilling a duty in this our day and generation.
he following paper on "The Breed of Sheep best adapted for the Courtenay District," was read by Mr. W. B. Tosswill, at a meeting of the Courtenay Farmers' Club, held at Courtenay on the
The paper which I purpose reading this evening has for its subject the relative value of the different breeds of sheep, always bearing in mind that the real question is, what is the best and most suitable sheep for this district. There can, I think, be no doubt but that for heavy land the long-woolled sheep are the most profitable, wherever the land is moist during the summer and clover grows freely; the Lincoln sheep will give not only the heaviest carcass but also the greatest weight of wool; but it is not a suitable sheep for our district. During the hot weather Lincolns rapidly loose condition, unless their feed is abundant, and in a very few years they would become leggy, and their wool lose its length and lustre.
The Leicester will certainly thrive on shorter commons than the Lincoln, and has the double advantage of early maturity and a fairly heavy fleece of valuable wool. Mr. Ellman, himself the breeder of another class of sheep, writes of the Leicester in the following high terms:—"Fattens kindly and early, being admirably calculated for the market, thriving on pastures that will scarcely keep other sheep, and requiring less food than others, tolerably hardy and vigorous." Another authority, Mr. Spooner, in his book on sheep, writing on the other side of the question, says:—"The disadvantages of the Leicester as compared with many other breeds—a certain weakness of constitution, an inability to bear exposure to the weather, and a greater predisposition to inflammatory disease; to which may be added, a want of prolificacy in the ewes, and an inferiority as nurses." Of course both writers allude to the Leicester sheep in England. But I think their remarks hold good here also. There is no doubt, in my opinion, that the Leicester class fatten earlier, and do better on such land as ours than any other long-woolled sheep. At the same time, the young sheep especially, are delicate, and the percentage of deaths amongst them is much heavier
I will now pass on to another breed—the Southdown. This is admitted to be the oldest and one of the best breeds of sheep. Spooner writes of it as follows:—"It is unquestionably the purest and most unmixed breed in the kingdom; it holds a place in the esteem of breeders inferior to no other, and though its different qualities preclude any competition with the Leicester, year after year we find the elite of this breed carrying off prizes of equal amount and importance." Later in his book, he writes:—"The chief principle in improving them has been to amend the evils of a thin chine, low fore-end, and rising backbone; and in so doing, the improved breed have become smaller in bone, with greater disposition to fatten, with an earlier maturity, and a heavier carcass, whilst still retaining their former hardihood and capability of doing well on scanty pasture—this constitutes the perfection of the breed. They can endure the rigour of the weather, and preserve their flesh when a Leicester sheep would die. And thus they are so admirably adapted to the downs, often travelling a considerable distance each day, and bearing with impunity close folding to a degree that no other sheep can endure, and thus are so well adapted for the system of agriculture practised on light lands." My own experience of the Southdown has quite borne out Mr. Spooner's opinion. I feel sure that a larger number of those sheep can be kept in good condition on a given average than any other breed; and also, that a much larger percentage of lambs will be obtained from them than from the Leicester. The lambs will command a higher price in the market, and the losses amongst the hogget's will be much less. On the other hand, the wool is not so valuable, and there is less weight of it, especially as the sheep grows old, than there is with the Leicester. Still, if the Downs had the same pasture as the Leicester, I very much doubt if the difference would be as large as most people imagine. Col. Packe informs me that some of his ewe hogget's have this year shorn eleven pounds of wool; and I recollect some years ago the flock of Archdeacon Wilson shearing between seven and eight pounds all round, of course they were in good condition, and had been well kept through the winter. The question as to what breed of sheep is most suited to this district is, to my mind, narrowed down to—weather is the Leicester or the Southdown the best; and the answer I should give would be both. On the large holdings, where the quantity and quality of the wool becomes of considerable importance, the Leicester is no doubt the best sheep, especially where the land is better than the average of the district; but where the farm consists of from fifty to four or five hundred acres, I am convinced a larger annual return would be made by crossing with the Down, than with either the
Before concluding, I will only add, that year by year I am more strengthened in the conviction that the breed of sheep we use is of less importance than the doing justice to them. Overstocking has done more mischief, and put us to greater loss than we are yet aware of. With one of the finest districts in New Zealand for the growth of turnips, our sheep should be, and I trust and believe will be, far better in the future than they have been in the past.
few days ago we inspected in Liverpool a cargo of beef and mutton on board the White Star ship Celtic, which had just arrived from New York. We were present when the refrigerating rooms were opened, and the beef and mutton exposed to view. These rooms run along either side of the ship, and the quarters of beef are suspended in them from hooks in the ceiling, and hung as close together as possible. Some of the carcases of mutton lie underneath, on the floors of the compartments. Each quarter of beef, and each carcass of mutton is sewn up nicely in coarse but clean canvas. While on board, whatever it may be afterwards, the meat is not at all "messed," and what we saw was to all appearance as fresh as if killed only the day before. We were present while a great deal of the meat was discharged, and we examined many specimens of it—finding nothing whatever about it which could be regarded as objectionable, either in appearance or in odour. On the contrary, all of it was scrupulously clean, fresh, sweet, and in good order in all respects. The very blood on the "sticking" parts was quite fresh-looking. None of the meat was flabby or faded in any respect, nor had the juices gravitated towards the bottom of the quarters as they hung, or discoloured the cloths. It was indeed evident to the most unpractised person that the process of decay in this meat had been, during the whole voyage, most thoroughly and completely suspended. Nor does the temperature in the rooms even approach nigh to freezing; it is maintained at 37 deg. to 40 deg.; this would not freeze even water or anything else, and flesh-meat freezes only at a lower temperature than water does.
The refrigerating-rooms—if they really merit the name when they do not freeze what they contain—are as perfectly air-tight as possible. They are constructed of
At the head of the two rooms running down the sides of the ship, and which contain the meat, is a room whose walls are of zinc; this is filled with blocks of ice. In this room is a fan driven by steam, which causes a current of cold air to continually circulate through the whole space of the rooms which contain the meat. This current of air enters the meat-rooms at the floor, close to the ice-room, and is again withdrawn from them by means of pipes which conduct it back to the ice-room. This withdrawal occurs at the far end of the meat-rooms, near to the ceiling, to which the air, whether vitiated or not by damp or odour, is compelled to rise. The fan does the double duty of driving the air through the rooms and of bringing it back to the ice-room. Thus the air circulates continually, first through the ice, then amongst the meat. By passing through the ice-room the air loses each time any moisture it may have contracted in its journey amongst the carcases, and it is consequently sent on again in its mission dried and purified. The whole arrangement is very simple, though it can scarcely be regarded as inexpensive. But in any ease it is thoroughly effective, and the successful importation of dead meat from the other side of the Atlantic in now tin fait accompli.
Two processes of preserving the meat en route were tried before the one whose results we examined, but these have been, to a great extent, discarded, because of certain imperfections. The cold, dry air process, however, has now been at work for about eighteen months, bringing fresh meat from America to England, and during that time not a single carcass of meat has been lost through imperfect preservation. It is known as "Bates' refrigerating process," and is patented in America, Canada, and England.
Though the cost of the ocean transit of this meat may be large, it is certainly much less than it would be if the meat were brought over alive instead of dead. Many fat animals from abroad, on arriving at our ports, are in such a state of fever and excitement, that, if killed at once, their flesh is found, we believe, to keep badly. It is, in fact, in an already advanced stage of decay before it is killed; and if killed immediately on landing, before the animal has had time to get cool, composed, and healthy again, the meat will quickly go bad. An animal fresh from the pasture or feeding-stall is not in this state.
The question obviously thrusts itself upon us here—Why cannot our Continental flesh-meat come to us as the American does—already killed and preserved by the cold-air process? About the feasibility of the matter there is no longer any room for doubt. It is a strong piece of infatuation that induces us to permit it to come in any other way, when we see it, time after time, bringing us one form or another of disease, which lurks in the systems of the animals which are sent over to us alive from Germany, and elsewhere—Germany more particularly. It is to the interest of every stock-fanner in the United Kingdom, nay it is his duty, to demand that this foreign fat cattle trade shall cease, and the meat shall come to us already killed. The Americans have clearly demonstrated that the meat can be sent to us—slaughtered at the port of embarkation—perfectly fresh and sweet all the year round; and now we have only our own fatuity to blame if we allow foreign diseases to be any longer imported to our country by the means of foreign live stock which is sent to us. We must not rest until we have obtained an edict suppressing in the future the importation of fat cattle from any country whatever which has sent us in the past diseases we did not bargain for. The arguments in favour of this are, in our opinion, irrefutable. The English farmer has no need to fear fair competition, but the competition which brings diseases as well as meat, is anything but a fair one to him.
(From The Field.)
The blue book for
We have always held that no very radical alterations in present arrangements are practicable, inasmuch as a certain proportion of ploughing land is requisite in order to make the most of grass. It is very little grass land that is sufficiently rich to maintain itself, and the grazier who is driven to market at a particular season is likely sometimes to have to pay such a price for his stock as leaves no margin for profit. Then, again, poor clay land, which would be less costly as grass, takes a lifetime to develop as sward, and a very little of such outlay goes a long way. There have been cases when at some former period land has been broken, under the impulse of high prices, which both for climate and soil was more suitable for pasture; such should be laid down again, and in grass countries the work need not be a long one. It is the fashion just now to decry arable land, and people will tell one that corn cannot be grown to pay expenses; but the produce of grain
This increase in the area under oats is probably because some of the land originally intended for wheat was sown with oats, and also because the high rates which had prevailed induced production. Another sign of a bad season is found in the fact that green crops are considerably reduced, and bare fallow increased. In Great Britain the deficiency of green crops amount to 90,000 acres, or 2½ per cent. Potatoes occupy less area than at any time in the last decade; probably the prevalence of disease has to do with this.
If the returns do not show that the British farmer is returning to the grazing life, they are eloquent on another innovation. The area under artificial grasses has increased more than 4 per cent., proving that the practice of leaving the seeds down for two or three years is increasing, and thus more food for stock is provided. The results are obtained without great cost, and for any description of land this is a sensible alteration, reducing cost in every way. A word or two as to live stock, and we have done. Horses, it is satisfactory to learn, have increased 17,000 more than in
The above figures are not particularly encouraging. We have had but little serious disease. Foot-and-mouth was very partial, yet our stock of cattle and sheep is lower than at any period since
meeting of English wool buyers, called by Mr H. Joachim, took place in the City Sale Rooms recently, for the purpose of calling the attention of the importers and brokers to the present mode of showing the wools and the extreme length of the catalogues, and of considering whether some better means cannot be devised to save the time of the buyers and shorten the hours of labour. Mr. Butter-worth, of Bradford, took the chair. Mr. H. Joachim opened the proceedings by reading a letter which he had addressed to the committee of the importers in November last, and also their reply, sent in January. They had promised that the matter should have their attention, but he did not think that anything would be done unless the trade exerted themselves and showed the brokers that some alteration must be made. The mode of conducting the sales was the same now as twenty years since, when the importations were not one-fourth of what they are at the present time. One night during the last sales there were 1300 lots, and the buyers were in the sale room until 10 p.m. This was too bad. He did not think that any sale should exceed 700 lots in one night. A great deal of time was also wasted in showing wools. Several speakers expressed their concurrence in the views expressed by Mr. Joachim. It was then proposed by Mr. R. Lowenthal—"That no wools shall be exposed for sale in an uptown warehouse in London Docks on the same day that wools are shown in South Docks and Millwall Docks." It was also proposed by Mr. C. Hirst—"That when two brokers sell on one day, the one having say, 2000 bales and the other 5000 bales, the broker with the smallest quantity shall sell first, thus enabling the broker with the largest quantity to sell his other lots in the regular manner." Both these resolutions were carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings. The following is Mr. Joachim's letter upon this subject:—"F. G. Dalgety, Esq., Chairman Committee of Wool Importers. Sir,—Representing some of the largest wool buyers from the Continent, I hope you will not think mo indiscreet in taking the liberty of addressing to the honorable committee, through your good self, a few remarks which seem to me of the greatest importance, and I express the hope that you will give them your kind and serious consideration. I will not allude to the mistake made in commencing the sales so early in the year and with so small a quantity of wool, and to any error of judgment which has thrown the whole trade out of gear and caused such large and, in my humble opinion, unnecessary losses, but with your permission, would devise means that, such a mode of fixing the sales should not recur again:—I. I think the presence of one or two brokers representing the buying interest among your honorable committee would be very useful (I beg to disclaim at once any wish on my part to be one of them). 2. One clear week's notice of the beginning of the sales would be ample time. 3. The sales should be fixed when there is enough in the market to constitute a sale, so as not to have to rely on the wind and waves as to the number of bales that might arrive. 4. That all wools
H. Joachim."
The following interesting particulars are furnished by a correspondent to the
According to promise, I now proceed to state what Kansas is as a new field for English farmers. I beg, however, to be clearly understood that I do not enter into the enticing field of emigration discussion. 1 am no "emigration agent," or "land shark;" I am just one of those who struggled under the same burdens that I. find hundreds battling to overcome. I have myself been through the mill, in every sense of that term, and if I can aid and guide those who are honestly striving to find the best place for them to prosecute, and succeed in their life's mission, my duty is performed. The perusal of the newspaper discussions, which must bewilder and perplex the anxious inquirer, and the increasing private correspondence on this subject, has filled me with a deep sense of the magnitude and serious importance of it. To cover the whole ground in a manner suitable to each case is impossible in a letter. I shall endeavour, however, to simplify much that may be obscure; and, knowing whereof I speak, I do so without the fear of successful contradiction.
It is not every one who possesses the essentials of the successful emigrant. It is utter folly for an almost penniless clerk to expect in any new country to make a sudden fortune at farming. If such must leave home, let him hire out, if only for his board, till he learns the business; then, when he has earned enough to make a start, for himself, he will be likely to have brains enough to make the best use of his own earnings. Gentlemen's sons with plenty of money, and more to fall back on, are likely to need it all, if inexperienced and disinclined to work. I cannot advise a professional man, unless thoroughly clever, to try his fortune solely at his profession in a strange land. Our, no doubt, well meaning friends who say they cannot work, who wish to take their servants with them, and would not like to rough it too much, are sure to find themselves out of place and out of heart when their home luxuries are curtailed; or, it may be, entirely inexpedient in their new homes. Of course, ample means, decided talents, and a fixed determination to succeed, will overcome almost any obstacles; but I am certain that the round man will get sooner into the square hole in emigration matters than in anything else I know of. Let each be satisfied in
The best place for this purpose now engrosses the mind, and much unsatisfactory perplexing study is given to it. It is not my business to say which is the best. I am supposed to be talking to fanners, or those who intend to become farmers; and, knowing as much as I do of the world's fanning grounds, I may aid your decision by saying, that, all things considered, there are none better than the Western States of America, Oregon, and Northern California, and New Zealand. If you can hold on for ten years, my firm conviction is that in the continent, of Africa the farmer will find the best farms the sun shines on. I have myself selected the first-named, and of that I have now to speak.
The climate of Kansas is very similar to that of England; the main features of difference are a drier, purer atmosphere, and the cold in winter and heat of summer more intense; the former, however, acting as a regulator of the latter. Neither is felt to be more oppressive than the cold and heat of England, except during a few intensely cold days of an occasional cold winter, or a few days in a hot summer, with a cold north or a hot south wind blowing, as the case may be. I have myself suffered more from the raw, wet, chilling cold of this mild winter here than I ever remember doing in Kansas, with the thermometer at zero, or below it.
Like England, Kansas is liable to sudden changes; but these are always during the transition from winter to summer, or summer to winter, when they may be looked for. The winds, too are troublesome, having such a sweep over an unbroken territory; but these, with the exception of an occasional storm, which never lasts long, are not a whit more severe than what I have faced in my travels during the past two months. And then, when the storm is over, a number of fine days follow, making it safe for me to say that the twelvemonth through, there are five fine days for one bad day; while here I have hardly been out of storms, perpetual rain, or snow, and positively not seen the sun for weeks.
To those afflicted with consumption, I would say that the air and climate of Kansas are very favourable, particularly in the earlier stages: if advanced, injudicious exposure I have known to be trying; but by care the consumptive will find a true friend in Kansas. "For rheumatism?"—Yes, the climate is even more favourable than for consumption. A neighbour of my own left London, despairing of his life from this disease. He has been there seven years, and only once has the old enemy visited him, and then it was his own fault; being an ardent, extraordinary worker, he exposed himself during a wet spell unnecessarily, and was brought to his senses. For children it is remarkably favourable. The much-talked-of ague is not indigenous to Kansas, where there are no swamps but plenty of breezy uplands. If men would be more careful of exposure, overwork (especially at night and morning, and during the breaking season and fall), and indulge in richer living, sure am I that ague would be all but banished from that land. I had ague myself very severely; but I laboured so hard when I first went there, and did not know how to govern myself, the wonder to me was how I escaped so long. With this exception of ague, in our family of six, during nearly seven years, we never knew what real sickness was.
Compared with Canada, my objection to that praiseworthy country is its intensely cold and long winters, and its intensely hot and short summers. Several Canadians have settled in Clay County; and if their new home had attained the advanced position of the section (Toronto) they left, they told me they would not return. The climate of Oregon is more mild and equable still, and is a highly commendable country; but, being generally well settled up, the stock raiser has no chance against the prairies of Kansas. Texas is best suited for large stock runs. Some places afford a good prospect for the settler; but, as a whole, that territory is not best suited for Englishmen; the climate, soil, markets, and society are far behind Kansas.
By Kansas, I mean also Nebraska and portions of the surrounding States; and, to my mind, the best and fairest portion of that is the region traversed by the Republican, Solomon, Kaw, and Arkansas rivers.
That much-abused term "roughing it" demands a word here. That the early settlers and pioneers of that and every new country have to rough it more or less, is perfectly true; but it is equally true that any one going from here with sufficient means has no more necessity for roughing it than the Englishman of to-day has, as compared with his great-grandfather of a hundred years ago or more. The majority of these pioneers are poor, and have to make their farms and positions out of nothing, often amidst great losses and at long distances from markets. The "dug-outs" still exist, and I suppose will exist, as some people seem to consider that the height of their ambition; but everywhere these are fast giving place to neat, well-built cottages and houses—indeed, I have seen in England many homes which the above houses and farms put to shame. The opening up of the country by railways has brought supplies of all kinds, at reasonable and still improving prices, to the door almost of the settler, and, despite the high freight tariff, also improving, enables the fanner to get a nearer and better market for his produce. The fact is, the true interpretation of "roughing it" is poverty; and when a man starts with nothing, gets overhead and ears in debt, fights the up-hill road, these—and the inevitable troubles and losses attendant upon the development of his country—make for him, he must rough it. But I repeat, let a man start with means equal to his ambition; let him make good selection of a location, keep out of debt, and manage his affairs with judgment, economy, and perseverance, and such a man need never know what the true meaning of "roughing it" is. I must further remind our friends that, although the average society in Kansas is as good as that of England—indeed, in our section, the society is English—they will find one man as good as another, as men, and that the character is gauged, not by the length of the purse or aristocratic blood, but by the ability to work and extent of intelligence. I have known several come to us plainly staling they expected the streets paved, gas and water laid on, and that they had only to walk out of the back door to gather all the fruit their fancy desired; and certainly because this was not the state of things, but that all had to be worked for, it was considered "rough" indeed. To such the Kansan will give a wide berth.
The religious and educational systems are good—nearly every district of a few square miles has its school, also used as a church; in the towns all denominations are represented, and have pretentious church edifices. The Agricultural College and University are as good institutions as the most fastidious can desire.
Having, I think, answered most of the questions pertaining to general things, I will now give my opinion on the prospect there for the farmer and stock raiser. Some talk of stock raising, some of farming, others of speculating in a general way. Farming, in my opinion, includes stock and grain raising. A man may make a speciality of either, but I always maintain that the most successful farming is by a judicious combination of all.
The speculator is a man I do not believe in—rather I should say speculating. Of all the trades the world over, the successful speculator must be the shrewdest of men. If any are gifted in this line, Kansas offers as fine a field as I know of. With £800 to £1000 one may speedily make a fortune in buying cattle a penny a pound; put them up a few weeks, ship them, and pocket a net profit of not less than a penny per pound. In grain and corn he can sit by his fireside and do the same thing. At present these are the pet trades for speculators, and truly they are successful; but by a novice as much may be lost as made, unless he gets the aid of someone who "knows the ropes." Spare capital can always find a ready and safe investment at ten per cent. A man can soon make himself "land poor;" still—in land and property, and in the development of the vast resources of the country—the shrewd man of business can have fine scope for his talents.
The farmer who means to follow his own business cannot be too careful of every step in his start. Leaving every prejudice behind, and ready to fall in with the ways of his new home, with ample means he sets himself diligently to work. His capital may be anything from £500 to £10,000 when arrived at his destination. On no consideration let him make a settlement before taking a good look round the section of the country he prefers. He may return to his first, choice, but the time and money thus spent is not lost to the intelligent observer. Let me also say that it is a decided mistake to believe the lands, however cheap, far removed from railroads, markets, and society, are really the cheapest; and to many Englishmen such an outlandish settlement would be intolerable, for obvious reasons, especially to ladies used to refined society. Again, a good improved farm can easily be got much cheaper than a stranger can open up for himself; indeed, I know of many to be had in fee-simple for less than the cost of the improvements. I cannot here refrain from a word about the chief reason for this, namely, the number of farms under mortgage, the majority of which I believe can only be paid by the loss of the farm. I am fully aware of all the drawbacks experienced by these farmers, but I am positive these would never outweigh that one monster—debt; and, like those who fly to drink as a panacea for all their ills, these men have eagerly pledged their very bread in the vain hope that they will get free from debt. There is no earthly reason why they should be in debt. A firm determination to have nothing until it could have been paid for would prove their salvation. I speak advisedly; I have been there, through as much trouble, labours, swindlings, and debt as any of them, and so far as I know, "I owe no man anything but love." Whether it be an improved or unimproved farm, let no man spend more than half his capital at starting; the other half will do well enough in the bank; and if his first, or even the second year, fail to realise his expectations, he is still independent. Unless far out, good homesteads—the 80 acres inside railroad limits, twenty miles on either side, or 160 acres beyond this—are all taken up, so the land must be bought. The prices vary from $3 to $12 per acre, on five or ten years' time, at 6 per cent. Splendid land can be had in favourable locations at $5 or £1 per acre. A good frame house can be built, with every comfort and convenience, for £100 to £200; and in this consists one of the principal elements of success and happiness. Generally houses are run up too cheaply and quickly, and when a convenient season comes it is to be finished and made comfortable; but, alas! other ever-pressing demands on time and means keep that time always coming, and the whole family freeze in winter and roast in summer, and the country gets the blame. Build a good comfortable house, whatever you do—of stone, if you can, which is good and plentiful, or of lumber, which is comparatively cheap.
A good team can be bought for £40, harness £6, waggon £15. All other necessary farm implements, a complete outfit—which will enable one good man, with the help of a boy, to work 100 acres—will cost £80; household furniture for an ordinary family and house, from £50 to £100, or less or more as may be desired. Living will cost less than in this country, groceries about the same as here. As I believe in cash I quote cash prices, and, I may add, it is astonishing what wonders the "almighty dollar" can work"; only see to it that you know what you are about, or get the help of someone who does. A good servant girl gets 10s. per week; help on the farm, £3 to £4 per month and board. Use as little of the latter as you possibly can.
The soil is a rich dark sandy loam, from one to three feet deep, generally underlaid by limestone and covered by rich, natural grass. The appearance of the country is undulating or rolling, and the farmer can in most places at once start his plough in a furrow four miles long if need be without any obstruction.
Breaking the prairie costs 12s. per acre; the best and only proper time for this is from May 1 to July 1. Those who have means "speculate" in buying large tracts of land under railroad contract, making the first payment of one-fifth or one-tenth, and "contract" with any responsible farmer who is in need of money under bond to break up the tract. This is then prepared in August and sown to wheat in Septem-
i.e., to break, sow, reap, and thresh, and deliver the crop, for $9 per acre, the grain when sold yielding to the contractor about $18. This is the "contractor's" and "wheat raising does pay." But, stop! This is not farming, and is subject to the variations of markets and seasons. To say the least, it is a risky game, hundreds engaging, and successfully too, in the mania, notwithstanding.
The steady-going farmer will divide his farm into a judicious variation of crops; wheat and Indian corn always leading off, as these are the staple crops, and I have never known wheat seasonably put in on well-prepared land to absolutely fail. The same may be said of corn, though dry seasons affect this more than wheat, but by careful working, even then a quarter or half a crop can be secured. Rye, oats, barley, sorgum, beets, mangolds, potatoes, flax, castor, beans, and a good garden, each and all paying well in average seasons, will have due attention.
The only serious drawback of Kansas has been drought, but I believe these times are gone forever. The area of land under cultivation, the planting of trees, building of houses, and retention of all moisture, has effected a most marked change. Bad seasons are to be found everywhere, and they will come in Kansas; but by the use of past experience in greater variation of crops, more careful husbanding of resources, in a word, better fanning, the troubles of the past will only belong to the past.
Stock farming may, however, be said to be the enchanting ground for the Kansas farmer. In this, I think, a man of ordinary gumption and fair capital can hardly fail to succeed. Cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses, can now be had as good as here—stay! I must yield the palm to England for horses. I have often found myself standing in a brown study, lost in wonder and admiration of several very fine specimens of this noble animal; all honour to England's incomparable horses! The same breeds can be had in Kansas, and in horses and cattle the enterprising breeder will find unlimited pleasure and profit in improving the stock. Of cattle, I have not seen any in England better than Major Crane's (Durham Park), herd of shorthorns, nor several of the Jersey herds. In sheep, my friend Jones would have stood a good chance of his usual success in prizes at the Smith field show; while in pigs, thanks to the able and enterprising editor of the Kansas Farmer, a careful search has failed to produce better Berk shires than my own. Like wheat, cattle is the present mania, but sheep are even more profitable and deserve more attention.
The prevailing system of stock raising and feeding is, through farmers and dealers breeding more or less themselves and purchasing from the "farther west," or Texas, as necessary or desired. The Texan longhorn is not the most profitable beef animal, all things considered; but a cross on the pure shorthorn produces a prime beef. The "natives," or a mixture of many breeds, chiefly shorthorns, which are improving in quality with wondrous rapidity, form the principal trade, and can be extended ad infinitum. In summer large herds, tended by young men on horseback, are driven and fed on the rich grass of the unoccupied lands, often costing nothing at all. Hay, from similar land, is put up for winter, and those intended to be fattened are put up in corrals, and fed on that and com. As they are ready, and the market-right, they are shipped off. In addition to this, hogs are turned to run in with them, generally one for every ox, and these are well fattened on pickings from the droppings, the whole of the pork being clear profit over and above the cattle, which seldom fail to pay well. It may be, some will say, the quality of such pork must be inferior. Not necessarily so; the pork is usually of superior quality, but I think lacking in richness of flavour of the high-fed pork. Calves cost 15s.; year-olds, 50s.; two-year-olds, 70s.; three-year-olds, £5 to £8. The cost-of summer herding is about 10s.; wintering costs 20s. Three men, with a horse each, can herd 500 head. The principal markets are Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago; but the day cannot be far distant when the Mississippi to New Orleans, and the railway road to Galvaston, will take the grain and stock from those vast, plains to England instead of by the costly route to the Eastern Coast.
I am also a disbeliever in the present happy-go-lucky, slipshod style of fanning generally in the West. With an era of better farming would inevitably come one of greater prosperity, happiness, and contentment. The same thing may be said of the system of stock-feeding; the unjustifiable exposures of winter eat up the fat laid on in summer. I long to see the man with capital and brains walk in and win in these particulars. It appears to me there is a danger of the present "American meat" trade being overdone; but there is no danger of overdoing the stock-raising of the "West for some generations yet to come.
he following admirable letter is contributed to the South Australian Chronicle of a recent date from a Paris correspondent:—
The Department of the Nièvre is celebrated for the rearing and fattening of cattle and agriculture there, once so backward, is now the most flourishing in the realm. The farmers have become wealthy by abandoning expensive systems of culture, and confining their attention to live stock. The enlightened agriculturists of France recognise two truths—that they cannot compete with America and other countries in the profitable raising of wheat, nor with Australia in the growth of wool. It is on the production of meat, then, that attention is fixed, and for which the demand is unlimited and the competition nil. Wool is regarded but as an accessory. The question of improved breeds of cattle and the precocious production of meat are two subjects that occupy very seriously the attention of Continental agriculturists. Belgium seems to have taken a strange step to advance these ends. The Provincial Council of Hainaut has decided that henceforth no pure Durham blood shall be imported for ameliorating local races; the latter must be amended by a careful selection of the best local types. Thus reliable purity of descent, and aptitude for the butcher, are secondary considerations. The discussion continues to be interesting between Professor Sanson and his opponents on the question of precocity. According to the Professor, it is the maturity of the bones that limits and stops the development of the flesh, &c.; while the contrary view is, that it is the complete development of the soft parts that arrests the growth of the skeleton. Food acts in two manners—nitrogen tends to the production of flesh; phosphoric acid to that of the bones. M. Sanson lays down that the acid pushes maturity by hardening the extremities of the bones, and thus checking the growth of tissue; not a few maintain that the solidification of the bone is the natural consequence of the animal's fleshy structure having been completed, and, requiring no more phosphoric acid to form new tissue, the acid concentrates itself in the tissue of the bones; the latter contain 30 per cent, of organic matter. The phosphoric acid accumulates in the extremities of the bones, as it collects in the seeds of plants, and the laws in both cases would appear to be similar—to grow at first, and when growth is over to ripen. Maturity is thus the consequence and crowning of growth.
Roquefort is the Stilton cheese of France, and is prepared from sheep's milk. The race of milk sheep is very hardy, and is known by the name of Larzac. Originally limited to wooded heights, the breed has been improved by crossings and richer pasturages. The animal measures about four feet in length; its live weight is from 88 to 1121bs., and yields 44lbs. net of meat and two of fat; its fleece weighs from 4 to 61bs., and the wool, very much in request by the cloth markets of the south of France, sells for 12 sous per lb. However, the chief object of the sheep is for the production of milk, to be converted into cheese. About 601bs. of the latter is the
Much attention continues to be devoted to the subject of forage. Wheaten straw is largely consumed, but then it must be of a golden yellow, possessing a mild odour and a saccharine taste. The stems should be thin, flexible, and shining, and the ear garnished with its chaff. Straw that has been a long time threshed is only fit for litter. The best hay in this country—and perhaps the observation holds good elsewhere—is that which is produced on light, moist, but not wet, mountain soils; next, such as is yielded by land more sandy than clayey. To be nutritive, hay ought to preserve its green colour, to possess an odour agreeable and aromatic; the stems should be thin, supple, and difficult to break, possessing as much as possible their flowers and leaves, and, in addition to a fragrant odour, to have a slightly sweet taste. Respecting bran, it is essential that it be fresh, floury, and agreeable to taste. It undergoes serious alterations in the course of three months; becomes bitter and heating; the fermentation is soon succeeded by putridity, and the bran quickly becomes a home for insects.
Lucerne is a plant much calumniated of late on the Continent; it is reproached with being short-lived and unremunerative. Much of the culpability rests at the doors of those who do not bestow upon its culture much attention; it is liable to be attacked by dodder, but this weed is the offspring of slovenly farming; to grow your own seed is the remedy. M. Beaucamp recommends that lucerne ought only to be cut twice in a season, the second aftermath to be grazed; this latter plan does not lay bare the crown of the plant so much as the scythe does, and thus prevents the cold rains and snow from killing the root by festering it. He reaps 2½ tons per acre the first cutting, and half that quantity the second, and which sells for a total sum of 350 francs per acre. The success that has followed the employment of preserved green maize in trenches for winter and spring feeding has naturally concentrated attention on the propriety of conserving red clover, rye, and other precocious forage plants, to be placed in trenches during the close of May and early days of June, and thus become armed against the effects of a dry summer. The plan has been tried on several farms with success. Where rye is sown as an intercalary crop for spring green feed, the custom in the north of France is to chop it and mix it with beet pulp; the cattle eat the mixture greedily.
France has at last her Agricultural Institute, where the most advanced form of agricultural instruction will be imparted to those students already educated in various branches of human knowledge. The new institute is on the eve of opening, and foreigners will experience no difficulty in obtaining permission to join the classes, under stated conditions. It is not so much a new as an old institution revived, having been founded in
The sugar beet industry, like the plant's physiology, is in a confused state. Owing to the strange summer, and our stranger autumn, this year's beet harvest is compromised; the culture of the plant has diminished, in its special districts, by 30 and 50 per cent., so that one-half the factories are closed, or only working half-time; not more than one-fourth of the total quantity of sugar will be produced this year, as compared with the preceding ones. Fiscal difficulties have not a little to do with the result, but a short yield—10 tons per acre of roots—has also its influence. While sonic are advocating the cultivation of small roots for sugar purposes as being most suitable, the Eure Farming Society encourages the contrary by prizes. Again, high manuring has hitherto been accepted as lessening the percentage of sugar and affecting the chrystalisation of the juice. Messrs. Chapman and Pellet, from their careful experiments, conclude the opposite. Finally, two celebrities, Claude Bernard and Coreninnder, are of contrary opinions as to how the sugar and the salts localise themselves in the cells of the roots. Another but too open question is the best means to destroy the vine bug; the phylloxera are extending their ravages; there is no cure, but a multitude of proposed remedies. The point now is, to ascertain where the bug cannot be found; winged, it has been discovered lately on the cobwebs that are so plentiful in vineyards, and even on the fruit itself—a hint for the exportation of grapes. Having failed to poison and to starve the insect, efforts are made to induce it to feed on red maize, planted between the vines, and new legislative measure are threatened against the plague. The vintage has been completed in excellent condition—dry warm weather. The wine will be of excellent quality, but the quantity, owing to spring frosts, will be sensibly reduced. Some proprietors have thus lost four-fifths of their annual yield. In France the law prohibits the establishment of a pigsty in a village of 150 inhabitants, and of a cowhouse where there is a population of 5,000; perhaps in point of salubrity there is no difference.
In Belgium, flax is often visited by a disease which destroys the plant within 48 hours after being attacked; growth is suddenly checked, the flax etiolates and dies; and the crop has to be ploughed down. M. Ladureau attributes the cause to a deficiency of potash in the soil, and finds vegetable ashes an excellent preventive. M. Lapérière cures the lung disease, or stops the contagion, by fumigating the cattle, burning 30 grains of sulphur per cubic yard of air in the sheds.
he New York Times says:—A recent letter thus speaks:—"In Texas I notice much more attention of late is given to private pastures. In four years past at least half of many counties west of San Antonio River have been enclosed in immense pastures by post and plank fences. All pastures and no corn. Then the small stock men are growing smaller and fewer, while large stocks are growing much larger. Few of your readers have any idea of the extent to which a single man or firm will carry this business. For their wonderment I will give a few stocks and pastures which I have seen, with names and figures. Allen and Son, east of the Brazos, have 40,000 acres inclosed, 50,000 head of cattle, and ship annually, including purchases, about 20,000 beeves. Foster Dyer, west of the Brazos, has 12,000 acres inclosed, and 40,000 head of cattle. He bought of one party last spring 3,000 three-year-old heifers at 9dols. in gold each. Caruthers and Brother, north of Austin, have 60,000 cattle on the plains. O'Brien, on the Guadaloupe, has 35,000 cattle. Mr. Lowe, west of San Antonio River, has 40,000 acres in pasturage, and 120,000
he taste for ostrich feathers, like the taste for gold and diamonds, would appear to be instinctive and universal, is displayed by the savage in Africa and Australia, as well as by the fine lady in Paris, and is gratified at an expense which we recommend to the attention of the next economist who discourses on the costliness of philanthropic work or scientific inquiry. We thought we knew something of the statistics of luxury, but we confess to a sensation of surprise at finding that besides certain quantities exported from the Argentine Republic and some other places, the export of ostrich feathers from Egypt, the Cape, Barbary, Mogador, and Senegal, reaches the astounding sum of £633,000.
At present the ostrich has been partially domesticated, and in
Mr. Hellier, of Graham's Town, thus describes a scene he witnessed in an ostrich enclosure belonging to Dr. Douglas, of Hilton, a farm about twelve miles from Graham's Town:—"Out of the enclosure given up to the exclusive use of this polygamous family of three, we entered through a locked gate into a large enclosure or paddock, in which there were 58 one and two-year old birds. They all looked exceedingly well, and though they did not dance they seemed full of life. They do sometimes favour the spectators with a dance, and it is one of the funniest of all the freaks or habits of animals that evidence a sense of the jokeful we ever be held. We once saw some twenty nearly full-grown birds waltzing together. They began with a sort of sidling slow revolution on their toes, moving their wings gently up and down, and presently they seemed to get into the spirit of the thing without the aid of any fiddler that we saw, and spun round at a rate that would have astonished anyone but a dancing dervish. In dancing they swept round and round without ever coming into contact with each other." It is pretty clear that the ostrich could not be bred to a profit in Europe, as the grazing-ground that the bird requires would cost too much.
mega thus writes to an Australian contemporary:—"And I, too, would be a painter." So said the uneducated boor when contemplating a beautiful painting, the masterpiece of one of the greatest painters the world ever produced, and he thought he had nothing more to do in order to become a painter than to purchase colours,
This is a great mistake, and one which, in a very few years, will lead to most disastrous consequences in this Colony, where, owing to the nature of the climate, science is more especially required to enable the cultivator to keep the soil in good heart.
To be able to carry on farming for a series of years on the same land, as is done in old countries, and must eventually be done here, the farmer must acquaint himself with the principles of his art. Its foundation is laid in knowledge, and its successful practice depends on individual skill and industry. It is no longer sufficient for a man to quote his father as the best authority. The sciences of botany, geology, and chemistry, have made extraordinary strides, and have laid open stores of knowledge, which have revolutionised to a great extent the practice of agriculture in the old countries of the world, and the farmer must go higher now, and study and follow the laws of nature. I do not mean to say that every farmer must become a chemist in the strict sense of the word, although to a certain extent he must be one; but he should be able to see the cause when a certain effect is produced, and understand why the various processes he follows are necessary, and why some are wrong and some are right. This does not involve necessarily an acquaintance with all the technical terms of chemical science, so much the dread of all uneducated men, but he should know the name, nature, and action of the things he uses, and ought to be able to understand the relative value of different manures, and the reason of their adaptedness to particular soils and crops, the preparation, management, and improvement of manures, in order to secure their highest effect; the composition of soils, and plants, and the effect produced by the latter growing in the former, to exhaust them, and render them unproductive. In fact, to farm with any degree of certainty, and not be entirely dependent on the seasons, he must know the whole relation between the vegetable, mineral, and animal kingdom. The farm should be regarded as an out-door laboratory, where every process is regulated by rule, as strictly carried out as by the chemist in his. I am well aware of the prejudices that are entertained against book knowledge, which are the children of ignorance. It cannot be possible, however, that our agriculturist should fuse to be benefitted by science, when they look around them and see how much all other industrial occupations have been advanced by it. There is no sufficient reason why any farmer in this Colony should be ignorant of all the improvements made in the science of agriculture; and equally true it is, that, knowing them, there is no reason why he should not put them in practice, so far as they are adapted to the conditions of our soil and climate.
We are a reading people, and if our agriculturists would devote more time to acquiring scientific information, and the circulation of useful
No country can—and this Colony especially cannot—foster too fondly its agricultural interest. It is now, and must continue to be, our national source of wealth, and I have no doubt if they will only listen to her teachings, science will ere long show our farmers that they can produce with her aid many articles not yet thought of. It is not, however, the farmer alone who must carefully study what is passing in the world of science; the shepherd, wine-grower, and in fact all classes of the community, if they would hold their own in the markets of the world.
The most useful knowledge for a farmer to possess is the ability to make a rough analysis of the soil he has to work, so that he may know positively what are its constituent parts, what is deficient, and what in excess of the requirements of the plants he wishes to grow. "Without this knowledge all is haphazard, as the eye cannot be depended upon in judging of the nature of a soil any more than it can in judging ore or minerals. Before commencing operations the smelter carefully ascertains by scientific analysis the constituent parts of the ore he is about to work upon. If this care be necessary for the smelter, who can detect and correct an error in a few hours, how much more necessary is it for the farmer, whose operation once began cannot, if wrong, be rectified for months?
I will conclude this paper by the following description of the simple apparatus necessary to enable a man of ordinary intelligence to obtain an approximate knowledge of the component parts of any soil he may require to work:—A pair of scales, capable of weighing 4 ozs., that will turn when loaded with one grain; a set of troy weights from 4 ozs. to 1 gr.; a small sieve about 225 holes to the square inch; some glass stoppered bottles, half-dozen crucibles, half-dozen small saucers, a porcelain funnel, some blotting paper to make filters, a bone knife, and a wedgewood pestle and mortar. The chemicals required for separating the constituent parts of the soil are, muriatic acid, sulphuric acid, ammonia, solution of prussiate of potash and iron, succiuate of ammonia, solution of potassa, carbonate of ammonia, muriate of ammonia, carbonate of potash, and nitrate of ammonia.
The three months which have elapsed since our last report have been very eventful as regards the Grain and Produce Market.
Wheat.—The rapid rise in the European markets—from various combinations, principally through the Eastern war and the partial failure of the Californian crop-lias had a very telling effect on this as well as all other wheat-producing markets, and it is to be regretted that our Canterbury farmers have been precluded from reaping the full benefit of the rise on the whole of their production of this cereal, in consequence of a large portion of it being of inferior quality. However, the result of the harvest will, on the whole, be far more satisfactory than was anticipated in the early part of the year. The moderate freights to London fixed by our various shipping companies have induced exceedingly large exports to that quarter; and it is now becoming very apparent that we are fast approaching the end of our available surplus; and, if care be not taken, we shall run ourselves short, as was the case at the latter end of last year. Our last quotations stood at 4s. 9d. to 5s., and 2s. 6d. to 3s., for milling and sprouted parcels respectively. We now quote the former at 6s. to 6s. 6d., and the latter at 3s. 6d. to 4s., with a firm market and brisk demand, especially for the former kind. We have reason to think that present rates will be sustained; indeed, we should not be at all surprised to see 7s. to 7s. 3d. touched in the spring. Stocks in farmers' hands are not heavy, and it is quite possible that millers will have to fall back on second-hand parcels. From all we can learn our wheat area for next season will show a very large advance on any previous year; and, in view of this, it is earnestly hoped that the Government will be prepared to meet the extra strain by providing a sufficiency of trucks and shed accommodation—which, this season, proved lamentably deficient. The weather of late, although seasonable, has been too wet to admit of sowing being carried on so vigorously as could be wished; but, with a few days of fine weather, we hope to see good progress made in this respect. Our neighbours in South Australia have enjoyed a splendid seed time, and, should they be fortunate with their harvest, it is expected that their available surplus for export will reach 300,000 tons, or nearly one-third more than any previous year.
Oats.—This crop has threshed out badly as regards yield, and our production falls far short of Government statistical returns. Our last quotations stood at 2s. 3d., but for some time past it has been quite obvious that this cereal was getting into low stock, and this was more noticeable in the Southern districts, particularly Oamaru, where prices have gradually advanced to 3s. 6d. for feed, and 3s. 9d. for milling. We quote the market very stiff at these quotations, and a great scarcity of milling parcels.
Barley is the only grain that has hung heavily, with little or no export enquiry. Our quotations for this cereal are nominally 3s. to 4s. 6d.; but, now oats have taken such an upward turn, it is quite possible that a good deal of feeding kinds will come into competition at an advance on our quotations.
Potatoes.—A very large business has been done in this article at 40s. to 45s. per ton, but the market is now quiet at the former figure.
Flour.—Millers are very busy, and all the mills, both here and in the south, are working full time, endeavouring to overtake orders. We quote first-quality at £17 in sacks, £17 7s. 6d. in 1001b bags, and £17 15s. in 501b bags. Bran, £4; Sharps, £5.
Dairy Produce.—Butter is in good supply, but enquiry from outside markets is very quiet. Cheese is likewise dull, stocks being unusually heavy. Our quotations are 9d. and 5d. respectively.
The past three months, April, May, and June, are the most active in the year so far as the Live Stock Market is concerned; and this season has been unusually so, owing to the abundance of grass on our pastures, and the large quantity of stubble feed brought on by late rains during the autumn, augmented by a largo breadth of turnips through the country, both on farms where grain crops are intended to follow, and on large freeholds preparatory to sowing down with grass without crop.
On account of heavy rains, followed by cold storms with but few intervals of bright clear days, the season has not been favourable to stock; but owing to the excess of feed, the sheep and cattle brought forward have been in unusually good condition; it is also noticeable that, our flocks and herds are yearly improving in quality, owing to careful culling and the attention paid to breeding generally.
Through the month of April large lines of Store Ewes changed hands, bought principally by farmers. Good sound-mouthed Merino Ewes bringing from 3s. 6d. to 5s. each; while two, four, or six toothed sheep of the same class were quitted readily at from 6s. to 8s. each, with but limited supply, the demand being principally for shipment to the North Island.
Merino Wethers, in good store condition suitable for turnip feeding, have ranged from 4s. to 7s. each, the difference in price being governed by quality and growth of wool.
Cross-bred Ewes have also been in fair demand, bringing from 8s. to 10s. each; Wethers of the same class may be quoted at same rates, with the exception of two-toothed sheep, and these, not being considered quite suitable for turnip feeding, have not been so much enquired for.
Three-fourths and seven-eighths-bred sheep have brought slightly higher prices, in proportion to weight and value of fleece.
Sound, healthy Lambs have been much in request, ranging from 5s. to 9s. each, the value being ruled by condition and the different grades of breeding.
Fully three-fourths of the store sheep sold have been placed privately and at country sales; while, during the quarter, about 81,000 of all sorts have been passed through the sale-yards at Addington,
Best quality fat sheep, for butchers' purposes, have brought from l¾d. to 2¼d. per pound; while those of slightly inferior quality have, for the most part, been sold to farmers, to be finished off on turnips or grass, and will be again brought forward at the end of the winter, when, as the skins will have increased in value, we may expect higher rates.
The meat-preserving establishments are still in operation, and have done good service in relieving the market whenever a full supply caused a slight reduction from the prices quoted.
On the whole, the prices that have ruled both for fat and store sheep show an increased value over the corresponding season of
Over 5000 head of cattle have been passed through the yards during the three months; fat cattle selling, on an average, at from 26s. to 30s. per 100 lbs.—prices that are scarcely remunerative to the grazier at this season, especially when compared with the value of stores during the preceding twelve months.
In the latter there is scarcely any difference from last quotations; perhaps a careful review of the different stock reports published during the quarter will show a slight reduction on former rates, and a greater difficulty to quit, a circumstance not unusual at this season; but, towards the close of the winter and the commencement of spring, we may look forward to higher rates for beef, and a more active demand for store cattle.
In pigs, the market has not been very regularly supplied, and prices have ruled low compared with former rates.
A few days before the date of our last review, the first series of the London Sales had closed rather unsatisfactorily, as more fully shown by news received by mail than by telegraphic cable. The principal support to the sale was received from foreign, chiefly French buyers, who took above one-half the quantity sold, showing that the Home Trade was in an inert condition; greatly, no doubt, owing to the state of suspense in which political affairs in Eastern Europe remained.
By cable news, we learn that the second series opened on 8th May with a decline in prices, although there was a good attendance of both Home and Foreign buyers. Soon afterwards, there was a recovery of prices, but this was again lost; and although latest news tends to show the prevalence of a better tone, the market for our staple can only be characterised as weak and uncertain. When the mail news has been received, we will be better able to judge of the course of the market than we can do from the disjointed telegraphic news received from time to time.
In the Colony there has been nothing doing in wool since our last review. The only lots changing hands are small parcels of stragglers' fleeces, which have been taken by scourers at prices which afford no criterion of value.
The season of
The Oat yield in this district has been very satisfactory, both as regards quantity and quality, the grain being well filled, and in most cases a good bright colour; prices opened at 2s. to 2s. Id. per bushel f.o.b., and have slowly but steadily improved, and at the present time 2s. 5d. to 2s. 6d. may be quoted for good samples of feed f.o.b. More local transactions have taken place in this cereal during this season than has been the case for some years past; a considerable export business has also been done. Southland oats have met with ready sale in Melbourne at from 3s. 6d. to 3s. 9d. in bond; several shipments have also been made to northern ports with equally satisfactory results.
Barley is not grown in Southland in any quantity, as great difficulty is experienced in getting a good coloured grain; and, with a few exceptions, only feed qualities are produced, which sell at about 2s. 6d., fair malting being worth about 3s. 9d. to 4s.
Wool.—The mild winter of Border Chief, James Nichol Fleming, and Waitara, their combined cargoes numbering about 15,000 bales; in addition to which a considerable quantity was shipped to London via Dunedin. Several local wool sales were held during the season with most satisfactory results, the prices realised being as follows:—
At the above quotations a considerable quantity of wool changed hands, and in the face of the present unsettled state of the Home market, local sellers may congratulate themselves upon having adopted the course they did.
Fat Stock.—The production of which is one of the leading features of Southland, and every year increasing in importance. The magnificent Edendale Estate, the property of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, furnishes a regular fortnightly supply to the Dunedin market of both sheep and cattle; and, in addition to this, fully 800 head of fat cattle will find their way into the same market from our settlers between the months of May and September, besides supplying our local market in Invercargill, the consumption of which is about 50 head of fat cattle, and 1000 sheep weekly.
Store Stock.—During the last ten months there has been an excellent demand for store cattle, particularly for well-grown bullocks for fattening purposes, and since the 1st of October, over 3,000 head of various kinds must have gone through our local agents' hands. One firm alone have in their various reports accounted for nearly 2,000 head, the principal purchases having been made for the Taieri and Oamaru markets.
Store Sheep have been in very great demand, and any lots of young ewes or wethers have met with ready sale at full rates. The supply of young Crossbreds or Merinos has been quite inadequate to the demand, and a large number of buyers have had to be satisfied with full-mouthed sheep. Prices during the season have ranged as follows:—Crossbred ewes, 7s. 6d. to 8s.; 8-tooths, for turnip feeding, 8s. 6d. to 9s.; young Merino ewes and wethers, 6s. 6d. to 7s., but 8s. is now offered without finding sellers; full-mouthed Merino wethers are now worth 4s. to 4s. 6d.; ewes, 5s.
During the past year a number of agricultural properties have changed hands in this district, and notwithstanding the gloomy predictions of many of a serious financial crisis and other calamities, the sales have shown a steady increase in values for good agricultural land; and it is satisfactory to feel that we can confidently point to the progress of agriculturists and graziers since the commencement of the present year, to prove that these evil forebodings were wrong, and that those who had the good sense to know that with productive soil, railway communication, and a good port, they were bound to succeed, were undoubtedly right so long as they went heartily into their work. A great number of fanners have found their way down to Southland from the north of Otago, as they are rapidly becoming aware that the land in Southland is of first-class quality, and has the advantage of over 130 miles of railway, opening it up in various directions, and connecting with a good harbour the nearest port of call with Melbourne; and in addition to this they can buy land at about half the price asked for property of inferior quality in the more thickly populated districts.
We do not find much edification in these seven poetical cantos.
(These are the salient thoughts of this vol.)
The moral of this piece is—A beggar on horseback who can bear, even for a day?
"What is all the writing, reading, discoursing, consulting, disputing, meditating, confounding, and dividing from the first 'quickening breath of the Almighty into reasonable nature, to this very moment? What is all this, I say, but the lighting of one candle at another? One thought kindles another from generation to another."
Sir Roger L'estrange's edition of Seneca is an excellent book. The Roman sage is the Pagan Paul. A perusal of this work might, perhaps, benefit our needy, seedy, greedy politicians.
Worship is now, as in Seneca's time, rather a matter of custom than of conscience. Philosophers now, as then, do what Augustine taxed Seneca with—worship what they reprove, act what they dislike, and adore what they condemn.
The following lines are the chief beauties; they embody the only thoughts worthy of preservation and retention in the storehouse of memory:—
This is truly a great and good book, redolent of piety and learning:—
The proud in spirit is like a troubled sea, perpetually tossed and driven by the fierce commotions of anger, emulation, envy and disdain, which never suffers him to be easy and composed.
Adversity does not make virtue or vice, but exert and draw them into practice; it does not change the man from what he is, but only discover what he really is.
Our sensual affections invite and entice us, but when the moment of gratifying that inclination is once over, what have you got by the bargain, but serious remorse, and an unsettled temper of mind? He that goes out full of satisfaction, often returns as full of melancholy and disgust; and many a merry evening occasions a sad morning. Thus all the pleasures of sense caress and court us at the first meeting, but at their parting leave a sting behind, and gall our hearts with sharp and killing pains.
When a man's mind is inflamed with a truly religious zeal, this world appears not only flat and insipid, but very bitter and loathsome to him.
The more a man desires and labours to be like God, the less agreeable relish he hath of life; because he is so much more sensible, more thoroughly convinced of the frailty and corruption of human nature.
He who is proof against the fear
where to lay his head?
Hell dwells in that man's breast, who hath a guilty and polluted conscience.
Censoriousness and Christian piety can never dwell together.
The mind, which does not converse with itself, is an idle wanderer, and all the learning in the world is fruitless and misemployed, whilst in the midst of his boasted knowledge, a man continues in profound ignorance of that, which in point both of duty and advantage, he is most concerned to know.
The greatness of men's deserts is most eminently discovered, by a modest and mean opinion of themselves, courtesy and condescension to others, gratitude and devotion towards God.
After all the complaints of outward accidents, the true original ground of all disquiet is within; for inordinate affections, and vain fears, are the polluted fountain whence those bitter streams of discontent, and perplexed thoughts, and every confusion and disorder of a troubled mind, flow.
Despise the insinuations of flatterers, and meekly receive the contradiction and reproaches of gainsayers and slanderers.
Too many instances there are of daring men, who, by presuming to sound the deep things of religion, have cavilled and argued themselves out of all religion.
Faith and charity are the two pillars upon which Christianity stands; the two governing principles of a good man's opinions and actions. If the works of God were such, as human reason could penetrate with ease, they would lose great part of their glory. We should abate of our awe and veneration for their author, if his dealings were not above the power of our tongues to express, and the utmost extent of our imaginations to conceive.
Thomas A'Kempis' Imitation of Christ will shine forth, while sun and moon endure! It is too grand for the colonial mind to relish.
The heathens expressed and worshipped everything under the name of a God, as the God of Sleep, of Music, of Eloquence, &c. They had about 30,000 gods.
The Alcoran is a Rhapsody of stuff without head or tail; one would think written by a madman, &c. A system of the old Arianism ill-digested and worse put together, with amixture of some Heathenism and Judaism. Mahometanism—one of the heresies of Christianity. The Deists are against all Revelation. They go only upon bare nature, and what our reason dictates to us.
The world is a strong man, and till a stronger than he come (that is, the full persuasion of the future State) he will keep possession.
Plato's divine man must be poor and void of all recommendation but that of virtue alone. That a
Leslie's short method contains some good points of argument amid much superstition. Much unconscious sophistry, and little of rational argumentation.
Virulent denunciations of Popery—"that imposture that paralyzes while it degrades—that night hag—incubus—vampire combined in one abominable compound of monstrous deformity—the soul-destroying and mind-debasing and infidel-creating system—a loathsome aggregate of abominable imposture."
This is a great and glorious book—a living commentary on the grand old Hebrew Lyrics of the soul. The following utterances are samples of Luther's style:—
I feel my deficiency in moderation. I have not command over my own mind: I am carried away from myself, as it were, by a certain vehement zeal of spirit. Human reason cannot imagine that sin is accompanied with such great and infinite guilt before God, and with a guilt that no human powers nor works can wash away. What are all the sermons and exhortations of the apostles, but the most terrible battles and conflicts against sin, death, the devil, hell, and all the unrighteousness and wisdom of the world? By the gospel is given to us the knowledge of the counsel and will of God; in what manner God is pacified; how we are delivered from sin, from the power of the devil, and from eternal death; which things neither the law, nor any human philosophy, could teach. Our bishops and priests are move profane than all heathen nations put together.
That Athens—or any city could be ransomed from guilt and des-
The ruling principle of philosophy is to make the best of every situation. Not a sullen and inflexible sincerity; but a fair and reasonable accommodation of one-self to the various exigencies of the times, is the golden virtue that ought to predominate in a man of life and business.
Your eyes sparkled defiance and contradiction to my argument.
Even in my earliest years at school, you will hardly imagine how uneasy constraint of every kind was to me, and with what delight I broke away from the customary sports and pastimes of that age, to saunter the time away by myself, or with a companion, if I could meet with any such, of my own humour.
I found this gilded life, at court, empty, fallacious, and even disgusting—where the only object, that all men are in quest of, is gain, and the only deity they acknowledge, fortune.
Cultivate every flower of humanity, every elegance of art and genius. The rays of sacred opinion are the real strength as well as gilding of a crown.
These dialogues are truly excellent food and wine for strong men.
This last work of Browning's is, like all his other books, a tissue of obscure, quasi-metaphysical rhapsody. Browning is verily, no poet.
Shakespeare translates nature instead of following sacred legends. Christianity is the philosophy of grief. A true epic is not to be constructed from poetical machinery, but from natural sentiments. Providence provided, in the case of Milton, in the tenderness of woman a sweet and holy compensation for the neglect and ingratitude of the world. Imagination and piety, the two eternal springs of youth in man. As ages roll on, Milton will decline, and Shakespeare advance, because the former imitated, while the latter created. A single scene of Romeo and Juliet reveals more soul, and draws more tears, than the whole of Paradise Lost. If any future poet is seized with the ambition of writing an Epic poem, he must look for his subject in the recesses of the human heart. True poetry runs through the streets, but poets seek it in the clouds. Severe economy is the virtue and vice of those who enrich themselves by labour. Love and fame—the dream of youth.
The future only progresses by trampling underfoot the past. It is by treason that heroism, virtue, and genius are overcome. Cromwell was a fanatic—not a hypocrite. In the same voice we recognise Tiberius, Mahomet, a soldier, a tyrant, a patriot, a priest and a madman. A word uttered or repeated in any spot on the globe may enlighten or blast the universe.
It is the privilege of great minds to elevate others to their own standards, and to inspire as well as perform noble actions.
These two celebrated volumes are the sublime emanations of a truly celebrated man in heroical laudation of really celebrated personages. They warm the heart, energise the limbs, elevate the imagination, and breathe the flames of patriotism, ambition, devotion, truth and love.
This is another excellent and suggestive book from the pen of
God is the stream of tendency by which all things fulfil the law of their being.
God is the enduring Power which makes for righteousness. God is a sympathetic power. These three elements constitute the scientific—moral and religious aspects of Deity. If there is a physical law in the world from which I argue that God must have points of contact with matter in His character of a stream of tendency—if there is a moral law pointing to a divine order or arrangement of moral qualities according to a Power which makes for righteousness, may I not go a step further, and point to the affectional regions of life as indicating an affectional and sympathetic element in God 1 Christianity is a type of life—an influence, an enthusiasm of love, of humanity.
Definitions of right and wrong differ in different countries and different ages; but it is not true that there is any substantial difference about the broad principles of right and wrong. The Stoics taught men to be indifferent to pleasure and pain—a grand theory, but it left out the heart. Epicurus taught men to live only for pleasure and flee pain (which was wise in practice) but he left out God. The Academics were neither wise nor grand, their best philosophy was to prove that previous philosophers meant nothing—if not scepticism. Christianity has a settled ideal of excellence. It has also heat as well as light—which Judaism had not.
Christ taught not only the precept, but he showed the practice of an universal love. Inward as well as outward purity lie taught, unlike Socrates, Aristotle, or Plato. The Trinity in unity—we think of the Father as a creative manifestation—of the Son as an incarnate manifestation—of the Holy Ghost as an inspirational manifestation.
Original Sin—As tendencies are inherited from the past—so tendencies are transmitted to the future. Turn the light of truth—the lamp of truth upon the bible. God, divine communion, ideal life of a divine Saviour—there is a basis of doctrine and of action for us all. Meet on these certain broad grounds.
Christianity has survived many shocks. It has survived the meta-physical speculations of the Alexandrian school and the subtleties of a mongrel Greek and Asian philosophy, &c.
These fourteen volumes present us with a magnificent theological armoury in defence of the Christian religion. The ten sermons on the Evidences—if read intelligently to an audience—might do more service to Faith than all the incoherent ravings of professional mountebanks in these singularly illiterate colonies. The scholars of the 17th century, and even those of the 18th, were philosophical divines. Their utterances were oracular. The following are some of the eloquent Archbishop's thoughts on religion:—
The scholars of the 17th century were philosophical divines. Their utterances are oracular—e.g., in former ages of the world, God revealed his will to particular persons in an extraordinary manner,
The gospel hath set men free from the obligation of the Moral Law—this is the fundamental and avowed principle of the Antinomian doctrine—that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will, and that upon these terms, and no others, they are secure of the favour of God in this world and eternal salvation in the other. This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian doctrine, the most pernicious heresy, and most directly destructive of the great end and design of Christianity, that ever yet was preached in the world. Clear revelation of a future judgment was that which made the gospel .so proper and powerful an instrument for the salvation of men. The great blessing of the forgiveness of sins was never sufficiently declared and assured to mankind, but through Jesus Christ in the Gospel.
Pelagianism says that of ourselves we can repent and turn to God, without the necessity of God's grace and the necessity of our co-operating with the grace of God. According to the terms of the Gospel and the Christian religion, the real renovation of our hearts and lives is the great condition of our justification and acceptance with God.
The philosophers were fooled with their own reasonings, in those great arguments of the Being and Providence of God, the immortality of the soul and the rewards of another world, had lost the truth by too much subtlety about it and had disputed themselves into doubt and uncertainty about those things which were naturally known. The philosophy of the heathen gave men no steady assurance of a future state. They had only some fair probabilities of reason and the authority of the poets, who talked they knew not what about the Elysian fields, and the Infernal regions, and the three judges of hell. They, in short, did not dogmatise on what at best they only surmised as fond dreams of heated imagination. Ixion's wheel, Sysiphus' stone, Tantalus' thirst, Posmetheus' chain and vulture, liver and rock, they looked upon these as fantastical representations of something that was real, viz., the grievous and endless punishment of sinners, the not to be endured, and yet perpetually renewed torments of another world.
Honour and greatness, power and authority over others, especially when men are suddenly lifted up, and from a low condition, are apt to transport men to pride and insolency towards others. Power is a strong liquor which does easily intoxicate weak minds, and make them apt to say and do indecent things. It is certain, if there were no devil, many would be wicked, and perhaps not much less wicked than they are.
Did actually fire come out or the foundations and destroy the workmen, when it was attempted, three several times, to rebuild the temple? Christian writers say so: as well as Ammianus Marcellinus, the heathen historian.
That God was not to be appeased towards sinners, merely upon their repentance, without the death and suffering of some other one in their stead, and that God would accept of this vicarious punishment and suffering, instead of the death of the sinner himself: that God was not to be immediately approached by sinful man—these ancient notions are the basis of Judaism and Christianism. Hence sacrifices and mediators, under the Old, and a sacrifice and mediator under the New Testament. This is the method of our redemption, as it was by the wisdom of God admirably suited to the common apprehensions of mankind, concerning the necessity of a sacrifice to make expiation of sin, and of a mediator to intercede with God for sinners. It cannot be made to appear, that there were any prayers to Saints, in the public offices of the Church, till towards the end of the eighth century.
The better the man is, so much the more conspicuous are his faults. Every man that hath any spark of generosity in him, is desirous of fame. Death removes and takes away the chief obstacle of a good man's reputation. Death hath put him out of the reach of malice and envy, his worth and example do now no longer stand in other men's light. He that hath no regard to his fame, is lost to all purposes of virtue and goodness. When a man is once come to this, not to care what others say of him, the next step is, to have no care what himself does. Quod conscientia est apud deum, id fama est apud homines, what conscience is in respect of God, that is fame in respect of men.
The very best of the saints, so disguised by their legends, that instead of the substantial virtues of a good life, their story is made up of false and fantastical miracles, and ridiculous freaks of superstition. Caraculla hated all good men, whilst they were alive, yet he would pretend to honour them when they were dead. How great a sin they are guilty of, who persecute the righteous, and how terrible a vengeance from God waits on them.
The Epicureans attribute nothing but eternity and happiness to God. Happiness without goodness is impossible. Their notion of a Deity was that of an idle Being, that neither does good nor evil. He had no regard to anything without himself; neither gave being to other things, nor concerned himself in the happiness or misery of any of them.
The Stoic philosophers do blasphemously advance their wise and virtuous man above God himself, for a wise man is good out of choice, but God out of necessity.
Epictetus says that the brute beasts being made for the service of man, they ought to be furnished with those things, that they may be always in readiness to serve their Lord and master; a plain evidence that they were made to serve man, and not man to serve them. Epictetus doth very ingeniously argue that the creatures below man, have all things in a readiness, nature having provided for them meals, drink, and lodging, so that they have no absolute need that any should build houses, or make clothes, or store up provisions, or prepare or dress meat for them.
General use of Narcotics, par. I.—Their peculiar charm, 2.—Enslaving effect, 3.—Smoking as it affects the Young, 4.—Special cause for alarm, 5.—Waste of glorious capacity, 6.—Scope of this Essay, 7.
Value of Health, par. 8.—Direct action of powerful dose of Tobacco, 9.—Death from excessive smoking, 10.—Injury from moderate smoking, 11.—Smoking aggravates tendencies to Disease: (a.) Injures Digestion; (b.) Injures Brain and Nervous System; (c.) General Paralysis; (d.) Respiratory Organs; (e.) Cancer; (f.) Teeth and Gums; (g.) Paralysis of Nerves of Sensation, 12.—Degeneracy of Race, 13.—Factory Population, 14.—Dr. Morgan's opinion, 15.—Dangers to be apprehended, 16.
Dr. Richardson's Researches, par. 17.—His Summary of Effects of Tobacco, 18.—No real redeeming features, 19.—Effect on Digestion, 20.—An alleged Aperient, 21.—Effect on the Heart, 22.—"A Single Pipe a Day," 23.—Chest diseases aggravated, 24.—Prevention better than cure, 25.—Chronic Bronchitis, 26.—Examination of the defence of Smoking, 27.—Dr. Richardson criticised, 28, 30.
Lessens power of Memory, par. 31.—Delusion that Smoking aids Thought, 32.—M. Bertillon on Polytechnic Scholars at Paris, 33, 34.
Smoking leads to Drinking, par. 35.—Testimony of a Physician, 36.—Relation to the Temperance Cause, 37.—Leads Boys into Bad Company, 38.—Tends to Crime, 39.—Smoking an introduction to Unchastity, 40.—Dangers of Modern Society, 41.
Good Taste and Politeness defied, par. 42.—Domestic influence, 43.—Laws of Hospitality violated, 44.—Smokers a burden to their Friends, 45.—And a nuisance to Railway Travellers, 46.—The Habit hostile to a Life of Exalted Usefulness, 47.—Fatal effect on Persons employed in the manufacture, 48.—Slavery to Sense obliterates feeling for others, 49.—Politeness to be cultivated by Youth, 50.
Right estimate of the value of Money and Time—important for Young Men, par. 51.—Waste occasioned by Smoking, 52.—Early Teaching needed, 53.—Money might be better employed, 54.—Time wasted in Snuffing and Smoking, 55. A warning to the Young, 56.
Habit strengthened by Use, par. 57.—Monstrous wrong of tempting Youth into the vile practice, 58.—Responsibility of Christian Smokers on the ground of example, 59.—No Sophistry can shake it off, 60.—Great responsibility of Schoolmasters, 61.—Christian Morals the highest, 62.—Effect on the World outside, and on Youths connected with Sabbath Schools and Churches, 63. Happy day when the Church of Christ becomes a unit on the question, 64.
1.—One of the most extraordinary phenomena in this world of wonders, and one of the most significant to the philanthropist, is the fascination exercised over the human race by a certain class of substances termed "narcotics." In almost all ages of the world, in all climates, and in all social conditions, this fascination prevails. Whether it be ardent liquors, tortured by man's ingenuity from fruit and grain; or the juice of the poppy, or of hemp; or the intoxicating fungus found in some regions of the globe; some form of narcotic seems to be in use everywhere, and with the same remarkable results. Alcohol, opium, and tobacco, however, are the most generally known and most widely spread.
2.—The charm of this class of substances depends on certain nervous sensations of a pleasurable character; and although these are followed by depression and suffering, often amounting to agony, the action of the narcotic is such that, by a fatal delusion, the victim is led to seek relief in another dose. Thus, by repeated use, a habit is formed and a craving established, whose power and intensity increase by indulgence.
3.—This craving, in a large number of cases, becomes extremely powerful, gradually breaking down all prudential and moral considerations. So alluring indeed is the weakness for narcotic indulgence, that it constitutes one of the most powerful means of exciting and stimulating the lower nature. While lessening the power of resistance, it multiplies temptations, increases their force, and closes the heart to purifying and ennobling influences.
4.—Our present inquiries are directed to the nature and effects of tobacco; especially upon the young. Though less obvious than alcohol in the social mischief produced, tobacco, startling as the
certain in its injurious influence. It is capable of producing many of the worst evils usually ascribe to alcohol and opium, the main features of its action being essentially the same.
5.—With the general extension of the use of tobacco there has been a rapid increase of the practice of smoking among the young. Not only growing youths and young men, but even boys of tender age, have acquired the habit. Thoughtful persons look with alarm at children of six or seven years of age puffing the poisonous smoke, or chewing the noxious leaf, with the air of veterans. Smokers of riper years are peculiarly disgusted with the spectacle. Physicians assert that on the young and undeveloped frame the action of narcotics is mischievous in the extreme; resulting in a stunted and blighted manhood, and constant liability to disease of the most serious nature. With the body enfeebled, the powers of the mind impaired, and the morale destroyed, a proneness to evil associations is engendered, and thus in many cases the way is prepared for a vicious career.
6.—In every properly constituted human being there is a capacity for the development of a pure and noble and beneficent manhood, capable of enjoying intensest and most exalted pleasure, and of ministering to such pleasure in others; as well as a capacity, through perverted faculty, of extreme misery. A right estimate of the value of a single heart for joy or misery, for usefulness or mischief, would lead to earnest desire for the best possible influence on the rising generation of Englishmen, that they may grow up to be not a curse but a blessing, to themselves and others.
7.—Time and money are now being employed more freely than ever on the education of the young. But school influence will be of little avail, unless our youths are trained in habits of virtue and manly self-denial. In the following pages we have to trace the effects of tobacco in combating the labours of the educator, and in neutralizing the refining and elevating influences he brings to bear.
8.—One of the most important requisites of a noble, happy, and useful life is good health. "A sound mind in a sound body" is a precious talent to be cherished with all solicitude, not only as a condition essential to enjoyment, but as a means of extended usefulness to others. Bodily health has also an important bearing on the higher nature. We cannot, therefore, too anxiously guard the young from any influence or habit tending to blight the physical system. Let us examine then whether the facts justify juvenile indulgence in tobacco.
9.— "Diseases of Modern Life."(I) The direct action of a powerful dose of tobacco proves it to be a poison. The oil of tobacco, scraped from a foul pipe and applied to an external sore, has been known to cause death. A boy seven years old. Who had tobacco juice applied to his head for ring-worm, died in three hours and a half. Nausea; disturbance of the brain and nervous system; giddiness, followed by convulsive action of the muscles, extending in extreme cases to the heart and chest, and succeeded by a deathly faintness and terror, are the effects of a powerful dose. Dr. Richardson, F.R.S., mentions the case of a boy who, while "learning to smoke," induced in himself, from the first few pipes, these signs in a degree that was painful to witness. "His heart having nearly ceased to beat, his sensation of impending death was terrible, while through the chest, which was spasmodically fixed, there darted, whenever he attempted to breathe, a pain short and sharp as an electric shock. These spasmodic seizures lasted for many hours. Pushed to an extremity, the symptoms terminate in death from arrest in the beating of the heart."
10.—(2) Immediate Death sometimes results from smoking. Dr. Richardson narrates the case of a young man. An inveterate smoker, who died after smoking, in one day, forty cigarettes and fourteen cigars. "I found him with his pupils widely dilated, his skin cold, clammy and perspiring, his speech faltering, and his mind uncertain. His pulse was soft, and full and feeble, his utterance difficult, and his lower limbs paralysed. He died from organic nervous paralysis, with accumulation of fluid in the bronchial passages." The writer was recently made acquainted with the case of a young
11.—(3) Injury is caused by "moderate smoking." Those who indulge in a more guarded manner must not dream that they escape. They may enjoy apparent immunity for a time, but the day of reckoning will surely arrive. Even those who admit that excessive smoking is injurious, sometimes plead that moderate indulgence is not so. As well might it be urged that a moderate breathing of foul and poisonous gas is not hurtful. It is a great truth that "in the physical world there is no forgiveness of sins." Injury, sooner or later, follows all habitual indulgence in narcotics. A man, known to the writer, was a steady smoker for more than forty years. One day he was seized with a violent pain in the region of the heart, extreme difficulty of breathing, and all the symptoms of Angina Pectoris. He went to bed, took medicine, and gradually recovered. He suspected that tobacco was the cause. For two weeks he abstained, and had no return of the alarming symptoms. He then recommenced smoking, and had another attack as violent as before He now felt sure that the pipe was the cause, and at once resolved to abandon it. Two years have passed, and he has never had another attack, while his health and strength are marvellously improved. Before, he was very thin; had a pinched and anxious look, and a sallow complexion, and was nervous and feeble. He is now plump and fresh-coloured; has gained two stones in weight; his muscles are remarkably firm, and he has a fresh, joyous expression. This case, and multitudes of a similar kind, prove that in long-continued indulgence a morbid state of the vital organs is rendered permanent, so that a return to the habit, for ever so short a time, produces symptoms equal in their violence to those produced in constitutions un-used to the poison. In such cases, only entire abstinence can prevent a fatal issue. It is probable that many, lacking the knowledge or the moral power that was brought to bear in the case just given, persist in the practice till premature death closes the scene.
12.—(4) Smokers are liable to a great number of diseases. There are hereditary tendencies to disease which may lie latent through life, but which a noxious agent like tobacco may develope into fatal activity. Hence the infinite variety of diseases that can be traced to tobacco as their exciting cause. For example:—
The Digestive Functions.—Smokers, snuff-takers, and chewers of tobacco are very commonly dyspeptic; and fatal diseases of the stomach and bowels are known to result from those practices. Imperfect digestion necessarily enfeebles the general health, and lessens the power of the system to throw off special disease.The Brain and Nervous System.—On this point Dr. Conquest says, "As a medical man, I have no hesitation in affirming my conviction, based on large and extensive observation, that the use of snuff and tobacco must be classed with the worst evils existing in society. I doubt if, under any circumstances, the human constitution is benefitted by their employment; and language would fail me were I to attempt to detail the bodily and mental diseases they produce. In my now lengthened medical life I have often seen the worst and most intractable forms of indigestion, and the most distressing and fatal cases of stomach and liver disease, traceable to snuff and tobacco, and I am confident this poisonous weed produces every variety and degree of nervous derangement, from depression of spirits, to palsy, apoplexy, and insanity." Dr. Jolly, a distinguished French physician, has shown that an intimate relation subsists between the increase in the consumption of tobacco, and that of insanity. It is also certain that snuff keeps up an irritability of the brain and nervous system, and in some cases produces violent forms of maniacal phrenzy.General Paralysis is one of the most common and marked effects of tobacco. Professor Lefebre, of Loviano, has arrived at the following conclusions, as reported in the "Bulletin Gener de Therap.":—(1) That nicotine determines in the animal the progressive abolition of movement, resembling paralysis; perturbation of the senses; and, finally, sanguineous congestion; sometimes accompanied by hemorrhages of the nervous centres of the members, and at other times giving rise to inflammation of the brain substance, and disorganization of the nervous cells. (2) That analogous phenomena are observed, that is to say, impairment of intellectual energy in persons submitted for the first time to the action of tobacco, and in certain numbers of those abusing the pipe and cigar. (3) That there has been found a constant relation between the augmentation of the consumption of tobacco and the increased number of cases of general paralysis. M. Bouisson, in words that ought to
The Respiratory Organs are also influenced most injuriously by tobacco. Some writers maintain that tobacco is a direct cause of tubercular consumption. This is doubted by others, but all agree that where the disease exists, smoking greatly aggravates and confirms the evil, and so long as the practice is continued, renders cure impossible. This effect is produced indirectly by the impaired nutrition resulting from derangement in the process of digestion, and partly from the irritating effect of tobacco on the respiratory organs themselves. When it is considered that pulmonary consumption is one of the most fatal forms of disease, carrying off about one-fourth of all the victims of disease in this climate, its aggravation by an unworthy indulgence like smoking cannot be too deeply regretted.Cancer. Where a tendency to cancer exists, tobacco, no doubt, aggravates the evil; but, further, it is certain that the form of cancer known as "epithelioma," which attacks the mucous membrane lining the mouth, and the internal organs, is directly and frequently caused by smoking, and also by chewing, and in the nose itself by snuff-taking. M. Bouisson gives particulars of seventy-two cases of smoker's cancer which he had seen in fourteen years. The lower lip, the upper lip, the junction between the two, the gums, and cheeks, and tongue, are parts chiefly affected by this painful disease, when occasioned by indulgence in tobacco. The details of the sufferings of patients who have died from this disease are horrible in the extreme.The Teeth, Gums, and Throat are injuriously affected by tobacco. Enlargement of the tonsils, and "smoker's sore throat," are almost invariably present. Dr. Richardson says, "I have known it affect a public singer very seriously, producing a
Tobacco causes partial Paralysis of the Nerves of Sensation. No one whose system is perpetually dosed with it can smell or taste, or hear or see, as delicately as he ought to do. In many instances, indeed, one or other of the faculties of sense is totally destroyed. On this subject Dr. Drysdale remarks as follows:—"The influence of tobacco on the eyesight is now well known. .One of the symptoms produced in acute poisoning by tobacco is blindness; and chronic poisoning gives rise to similar symptoms. Mackenzie, of Glasgow, first noticed that male patients affected with one species of amaurosis were mostly great lovers of tobacco in some form. Sichel, of Paris, found some cases of blindness easily cured by cessation from tobacco. Hutchinson narrated, before the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, thirty-seven cases of a species of amaurosis, where twenty-three of the patients were great smokers; and Wordsworth has confirmed these views of Mackenzie and Hutchinson. "In one week, I saw (in
13.—But if the habitual use of tobacco be absurd when viewed philosophically, it also involves the most serious consequences to the nation, physically, morally, and politically. Dr. Richardson tells us that the effects of this indulgence are hereditary—that the offspring of smokers are both physically and mentally degenerate—that tobacco is "stunting the national growth, deforming the national life, degrading the national intellect, and establishing a race which must necessarily possess a limited force, and transmit its own degradation to the next and the next generation."
14.—The following is from a recent Manchester paper:—"Some remarkable evidence relating to the physical condition of the factory population was laid before the Factories and Workshops Commissioners by Dr. Ferguson, a certifying surgeon in the Bolton district. He affirmed, as the result of fourteen years' observation as a certifying surgeon, that the factory population is degenerating. Since the end of last year he had passed children who, in his judgment, were unfit to work full time, although not incapacitated by disease or infirmity. He had taken note of their condition, and on meeting with the same children some three or six months afterwards he found that in many instances they had not increased in weight a single ounce. In others there had been a decrease of weight, showing conclusively that their physical powers were being over-taxed. The result was, that their growth was stunted, their strength impaired, and their life probably shortened. During the five years ending
15.—Indoor employments, bad food, and crowded dwellings, are given as causes of degeneracy of race. Dr. Rumsey, who read a paper on the subject at the Social Science Congress at Leeds, in
16.—It would be impossible to give a more graphic picture than the above of the victim of tobacco, even making due allowance for other deteriorating influences. The money worse than wasted in narcotics, if spent upon better food, better clothing, and better dwellings, would soon counteract those noxious agencies to which it is fashionable to attribute the evils in question. But so long as this morbid craving continues, so long will it be impossible to raise the people out of that squalid and unwholesome poverty in which so many are plunged. The nation may well tremble for its safety, when the muscles and sinews, and brain power, on which its wealth and its efficiency depend, are systematically trifled with in the pursuit of depraving indulgences.
17.—The extremely careful, and, on the whole, impartial researches of Dr. Richardson have thrown much light on the effects of tobacco. In his work on "The Diseases of Modern Life" he devotes three chapters to tobacco, and the picture he draws of its evil effects is a dark one. It is true that he doubts if tobacco produces organic disease; thus differing from many other distinguished writers. His only ground for maintaining this position is that he has not recognised such diseases in his practice. There is, however, no encouragement for smokers in this, even if it be the true position, for, as Dr. Richardson abundantly shows, tobacco aggravates every existing form of disease, and effectually prevents its cure, keeping up in the system, so long as its use is continued, complicated functional disturbance, which, in multitudes of cases, after embittering the later years of life, terminates fatally.
18.—Dr. Richardson thus summarizes the effects of tobacco. Smoking produces disturbances—
19.—It will be observed that in this summary there is not a redeeming feature in the action of tobacco, except where it is stated to soothe the brain when exhausted. But this is only the semblance of a redeeming quality. It is the soothing effect of a poison, and can only be enjoyed by those who are lowering their vitality and keeping up an unhealthy state of every function by its habitual use. It could have no soothing effect on the healthy subject unused to its influence. It is a temporary relief of the same delusive character as all habitual narcotism, and is especially mischievous in diverting the attention from the true remedy, viz., careful regulation of the balance between the powers of the individual and the efforts he puts forth, and a studious regard of all the known conditions of health.
20.—The effect of smoking on digestion is thus described by Dr. Richardson:—"The bitter extract of which I have already spoken, and which so readily excites vomiting in the young smoker, appears to act at all times, with more or less violence, on the mucous lining. At first it produces great irritation, redness and injection; after a time the changes are subdued, but not entirely removed. The membrane secretes irregularly, and as a general rule does not produce the due amount of gastric fluid; hence digestion is impeded. After digestion an acrid fluid is left in the stomach, which irritates and gives rise to heartburn, eructations, frequent nausea; with an almost constant sense of debility in the stomach, and sometimes to cravings for particular foods, especially for those which have an acid reaction, such as pickles and fresh fruits. The muscular portion of the stomach is first acted on by the nicotine. In small quantities the nicotine excites a slight movement in the muscular fibres, not only in the stomach, but of the other parts of the alimentary canal, and in the moderate smoker's it acts as an aperient. Carried to excess it produces a palsied condition of the muscular fibres, leading to a great increase of debility in the digestive organs, to a serious impairment of their functions, and to constipation." "Diseases of Modem Life," p. 289.
21.—Let not the smoker take any consolation from the reference to the aperient effect here mentioned by Dr. Richardson. Our bodies do not require daily doses of poison to secure the discharge of the natural functions. Whoever depends on such aid will surely suffer in the long run. The peristaltic action produced by tobacco is the effect of a poison! Partial paralysis of the nerves accompanies it and the consequence is disease. Hence, either constipation or uncontrollable diarrhoea is a common affection of habitual smokers.
22—Of its action on the functions of the heart, Dr. Richardson says:—"There cannot be a doubt that inveterate smoking interferes very seriously with the contractile force of the central organ of circulation. No one can observe the influence of nicotine after its direct administration without feeling assured that it cannot be imbibed without inducing a paralysing effect on the heart, with irregularity of action and faintness. The conditions brought on by tobacco in this way are often developed suddenly, and last for many minutes, or even for hours at a time. The symptoms induced are characterised by palpitation, a sensation as though the heart were rising into the throat, a feeling of breathlessness and an insupportable pain in the region of the heart. Pains of a spasmodic kind extend also to the muscles of the chest, and occasionally to those of the arms, especially the left arm."
23.—Of course the doctor takes care to tell us that this extreme affection is the result of immoderate smoking, and he thinks it possible that a single pipe a day may, in the case of a man who is over-working himself, "curb extra excitement, prevent over-action, and arrest the development of the heart." This is dangerous advice for a man like Dr. Richardson to give. The benefit is to be obtained at a certain cost of evil. And how few will stop at the single pipe. Assuredly the multitudes who are suffering from heart-disease, induced by this very cause, need no encouragement in the dangerous practice. Besides, is it probable that an agent which produces the violent disturbance Dr. Richardson describes, can be beneficial as an antidote to an "unatural degree of muscular exercise," making "extreme demands on the pulsating organ that knows no rest?" The advice is as unphilosophical as it is dangerous and delusive. The proper remedy would be to abstain from "unnatural muscular exercise." But if that be impossible, let no one be deluded by the idea, by whomsoever propounded, that even small doses of a poison like tobacco can counteract the mischief, and secure exemption from the operation of the inflexible laws of nature. Probably in such cases abstinence from tobacco would soon lead to such an increase of muscular and nerve power as would prevent the given amount of labour from being felt as extreme.
24.—Dr. Richardson doubts whether smoking is a primary cause of disease of the lungs, but his testimony is none the less decisive as to the injury done by it in aggravating and developing chest diseases, and arresting the process of cure. He says:—"When it is said that smoking is not a cause of the diseases to which attention is now being called, it is not also conveyed that when these diseases are once set up smoking does not aggravate them; nor that when certain efficient causes are at work to induce these affections, the use of tobacco does not lend weight to the result. I am convinced it does both these things, and I could quote example upon example where persistence in smoking has tended to sustain and confirm the malady. This is most true in regard to consumption; for consumption is a disease which, with hereditary taint often lying at the bottom of it, is capable of being excited by the long-continued inhalation of impure airs. It is a disease that is intensified when the sufferer from it inhales, in the smoke of tobacco, carbonic acid, and the various other products of tobacco smoke, the action of which is so injurious to the blood. There is also another way in which tobacco does harm to consumptive persons. There is never any affection of the lungs, never any arrest in the process of breathing, without some derangement in the digestion. Indirectly the stomach requires oxygen; and without oxygenated blood it fails to produce its digestive fluid. Fresh air gives appetite. Smoking, as every one knows, destroys appetite and enfeebles digestion. Consumption does the same, and one of the most common presages of consumption is
25.—But how infinitely better is prevention than cure! Considering the wide-spread tendency to consumption in this country, it is fearful to think of the immense amount of mischief that must be done by smoking, and of the multitudes in whom it is confirming and developing the fatal tendency. Dr. Brewer, who has written upon the effects of tobacco, mentions the case of a young man, apparently a confirmed consumptive. All the usual remedies were applied, but to no purpose. He became worse and worse. At length it was found that he was continuing to smoke the whole time. He was induced to abandon the cigar, and from that time recovery commenced, and proceeded rapidly.
26.—Dr. Richardson adds:—"In chronic bronchitis, in the ordinary run of cases, the use of tobacco is also injurious. The smoke acts as an irritant to the already irritable surface of the bronchial tubes; it keeps up cough; it increases indigestion, which in this disease as in phthisis, and for the same reasons, is a troublesome attendant; and it stands constantly in the way of successful treatment. I have seen many times a cough, following upon a cold, remain persistently in persons who smoke, and then immediately disappear when the smoking has been suspended."
27.—There is a humiliating sense of weakness in the apology that Dr. Richardson puts forward in defence of smoking that "single pipe" per day to which we have referred. Having asserted that it enables habitues to study, and soothes some of its restless votaries to sleep, he proceeds:—"It is not, however, necessary in accepting this argument, to accept tobacco as a requirement of the natural life. The excessive labours to which I have referred are altogether contrary to natural laws; for in this day we have run into the extreme of industry, and have carried our competition to the extent of folly. While, therefore, it would be implied that even to the natural man such adventitious aids as tobacco are unneccessary, it may be admitted that our social exigencies override our philosophies; and that as the individual man cannot by himself create a social revolution, he may be pardoned if he is too often led to bend lowly to custom, and seek in the unnatural conditions in which he is placed, unnatural, or perhaps, under the circumstances, I might almost say, natural remedies. For the most natural remedies are, in truth, unnatural measures, since they imply, in the necessity that calls for them, a primitive departure from nature."
28.—Never was a more specious though unconscious gilding of indulgence and folly put forward. Instead of counselling, as a wise physician, a return to nature as the only true remedy for the "folly" denounced, Dr. Richardson becomes the apologist for weakness, knowing as he does, too well, the suffering and ruin entailed on individuals, on families, and on the community, by the insane resort to tobacco and other narcotics as a relief from the self-induced evils that abound. The description of the inveterate smoker who cannot go to sleep at night without his pipe, is painful in the extreme, the more so from the veil of poetic diction in which it is sought to shroud the tremendous fact of his bondage to the narcotic. The attempt made to throw upon extra-exertion the blame that attaches to the slavery of bad habit is in equally bad logic.
29.—"They are excited," says the worthy doctor, "and too tired for rest; the mind is chaotic, and revolving rapidly over passing events, revolving nothing long, and dissatisfied with all." A truly humiliating picture, but graphically describing the state of the inveterate smoker. His will has become so childish that he cannot direct his thoughts, except to the one object of his desire, his darling pipe. He must have another or he cannot sleep. He gets out of bed, he indulges once more, and with the result—as described by the worthy doctor in the language of poetico-philosophical sensationalism—that "The pipe sometimes produces a soothing effect, causing natural rest, partial oblivion of the fast, and a tendency to that mental sleep that 'knits up the ravelled sense of care.'"
30.—Very "natural" indeed must be the sleep produced by a fresh dose of narcotic poison, and very refreshing doubtless the "mental rest" and "partial oblivion" resulting from the temporary stupefaction of the nerves produced by this seductive agent! Let men abandon all such unnatural habits, and square their lives by the rules of virtue and health, and cease to be the slaves of vicious customs, and they will have no need of tobacco to send them to "sleep o' nights."
31.—From the influence of tobacco on the brain and nervous system, we may be prepared to find that it is injurious to mental power. It weakens the memory in a very marked manner. Instances are on record of persons whose memory had almost entirely failed, and who had it restored simply by abstinence from tobacco.
32.—The idea that smoking is helpful to wholesome and vigorous thought is one of the emptiest of delusions. It only proves the humiliating bondage to which the smoker has reduced himself. It is a libel on the Creator and of the intellectual powers of man, to suppose that habitual doses of narcotic poison can be required for the performance of the legitimate functions of the brain. Everyone who knows what real study and honest application are, knows that the plea is nothing better than a pitiful self-deception.
33.—The effect of smoking on mental capacity was strikingly illustrated by the observations of M. Bertillon on the pupils of the Polytechnic School in Paris. Of 160 pupils in
34.—The lowest forms were thus seen to be composed mainly of smokers. As the grade rose, however, the non-smokers steadily ousted them until in the highest form only thirty per cent, of the successful students were found to be smokers. M. Bertillon also discovered that the mean rank of smokers, as compared with the non-smokers, deteriorated from their entering to their leaving school. The impression made on the French Government by these and kindred results of their investigation is seen in the fact that in
35.—There are many smokers who do not drink intoxicating liquors, but they are, nevertheless, exceptions to the general rule. The all but universal testimony of medical men and of the public is, that smoking leads to drinking. There is even a proverb, that "smoking is sauce to drinking." The drinking customs are so associated with the practice of smoking, that one continually tends to promote the other. The connexion between "the pipe and the pot" is notorious.
36.—The fact is recognised and explained by "A Physician" in an able article recently contributed to the "People's Friend." He says, speaking of tobacco:—"Its action on the salivary glands is instant. In the experiment I alluded to, I secreted 1¼oz. avoirdupois (of saliva) in an hour's time. As a result of this effect, tobacco dries the throat and tongue—nay, in some cases it produces inflammation and ulceration. This phenomenon's import has not been sufficiently noted. Simple though it may appear, upon it depends one of the deadliest of the dangers of tobacco. We are not aware that this has been observed previously, This observation has been made by many other writers.
37.—This view of the connexion between drinking and smoking is confirmed from various independent sources. The statistics of a whole County of Good Templars showed that the smokers were fully seven times more liable to break their obligation than the non-smokers. A Temperance reformer of many years' standing, who had never heard the above statement, recently informed the writer that he had himself taken note of the cases in one of our largest towns, and he had found that more than forty out of fifty of those who broke the pledge were smokers.
38.—There is another evil that specially attaches to juvenile smoking. It often introduces to bad company, boys whose education, but for this practice, would have preserved them from contamination. Many boys learn to smoke and chew tobacco, long before they venture to frequent the public house. They are compelled to keep their smoking secret, because they know that their parents strongly object to it. The very fact of their thus acting contrary to parental authority keeps up a state of habitual disregard of that authority, and a fear of detection, which render home less attractive, and form a barrier to frank and loving intercourse between the boy and his parents and sisters. A distaste for elevating pursuits is engendered, and thus he is drawn more and more towards depraving society. A furtive pipe by the roadside, or under a hedge or haystack, very naturally leads to a furtive visit to the public-house, and there the ruin is accomplished. At length the secret is revealed to the sorrowing parents—the turning point in the boy's destiny has arrived. He may be induced to listen to loving remonstrances, and abandon evil habits before their mastery is supreme; but the probability is, that he will now resent parental control altogether, and abandon himself without reserve to evil courses. On the contrary, if the youth had manfully resisted the fascination of the pipe, his company would no longer have been sought by evil companions. His capacity for elevating pursuits would have remained unimpaired, and by ordinarily judicious training he might have become an ornament to his family and a blessing to the world.
39.—Smoking not only leads boys into habits of deception; it often prepares the way for a career of crime. Boys who smoke, often help themselves without permission to their smoking father's tobacco, or to that of men with whom they are employed. They very often pilfer from their employers the means to buy it. The testimony of governors of reformatories and prisons abundantly confirms this statement. The governor of a reformatory at Blackley near Manchester, stated that out of fifteen boys who were admitted after the opening of the institution, twelve had been smokers, and eight chewers. Ten confessed to having either stolen tobacco, or money wherewith to buy it. Mr. Joseph Tucker, a retired London warehouseman, whose firm made an annual return of more than £500,000, declared, "We never had an act of fraud in our establishment which was not traced to a smoker." It was aptly remarked by an American statesman, "He would not say that all smokers are blackguards, but he never knew a blackguard who was not a smoker."
40.—The connexion between tobacco and strong drink is not more intimate than its connexion with other and still more depraving forms of licentiousness. Tobacco lessens physical health and destroys manly power it is true, and in some cases occasions complete impotence; but at an earlier stage of the indulgence it increases the morbid desire for sensual pleasure. It produces an irritable state of the nerves, and an incapacity for higher enjoyments, that naturally drive their victim for relief to depraving indulgences. Hence the intimate connexion known to subsist between smoking, drinking, and unchastity. The tobacco shop, the drink shop, and the house of ill-fame form a triple unholy alliance. The once innocent youth is not usually introduced by his hardened comrades to the last of these resorts, until he has been prepared for the complete overthrow of his virtue by the influence of drink and tobacco. The temptations and the facilities to this career of vice are to be found on every hand. The places of resort where all this ruin is accomplished, are adapted alike to the capacity of the most wealthy, and to that of the poorest.
41.—The enormous increase of wealth which modern enterprise has produced, brings with it perils peculiarly its own. The lowest forms of vice are gilded and disguised by all the refinements of art and luxury. Vast multitudes of our educated young men are spending their time and money in a way that unfits them for all manly effort either for their own or their country's good. The baneful influence spreads in every direction and leavens society even up to the halls of parliament. Assuredly the smoke-room is not the place, and the dreamy stupefaction of tobacco is not the agent, for cultivating that honest, straight-forward, manly intelligence and conscientiousness that we should
42.—Not only do the devotees of tobacco violate the laws of health in their own persons, and inflict grievous bodily and mental evils on themselves, but they are not more careful of the comfort and happiness of others than of their own. Hence we find them continually setting at defiance the laws of good taste and politeness, and rendering themselves a nuisance to others. The exhalations from the body of a habitual smoker are most disgusting to a person whose senses are pure and healthy. Smokers can have little idea of the tax they impose on the forbearance of others, by carrying about with them an odour and an atmosphere so offensive. The unfeeling selfishness of an otherwise good husband and father who will persist in thus presuming on the forbearance of a pure and virtuous wife and lovely children, is a marvel which only the intense slavery of the pipe can explain. According to Dr. Edmunds, delicate women are often kept in a state of ill health by the poisoned air they are compelled to breathe, and infants in the cradle have actually been put into convulsions by the nicotine with which the father's unnatural and selfish indulgence has charged the air of the apartment.
43.—The smoker is unconscious of this. So absorbing is the propensity, that, though discouraged at home, the craving for the indulgence triumphs over the domestic affections, and hence the wife endures a practice which fills her house with vile odours lest the man of her choice should, if not thus tolerated, desert his home, and fall into evil associations that might prove his ruin. How hard is it for smoking husbands and fathers to awake to a sense of their responsibilites, and rise to a height of virtuous self-denial adequate in this matter!
44.—The laws of hospitality are seriously infringed by the practice. Many a man who in other respects would be welcome to homes of purity and loveliness and intellectual culture, is voted a nuisance and kept at arm's length, because it is understood that "whoever invites him invites his pipe." In arranging for ministerial and other conferences, the purest and happiest homes are often closed against the smoker; many families consenting to receive a stranger only on the condition that he shall not be a votary of the pipe. A smoking minister travelling in America once asked for accommodation for the night at a strange house. The mistress of the house refused his request. He remonstrated, reminding her that she might be refusing an angel. The conclusive reply was, that "angels do not smell of tobacco."
45.—Smokers often become a burden to their families by the disease and consequent helplessness that they bring upon themselves. Would that our boys and young men could be induced to think of the consequences, before the depraving practice is begun. A truly manly spirit would lead them not only to avoid annoying others while in health, but to use all possible means to preserve that health; so that instead of becoming needlessly a charge upon others, they may be strong to minister to their welfare and happiness. What must be the reflection of a young man when rendered helpless by self-induced disease, if he has a vestige of true manliness left ?
46.—The votaries of tobacco are usually conspicuously selfish in other ways. In railway travelling they render themselves a perpetual nuisance. Not content with the compartments devoted to their use, they in many cases frequent others, not liking the odour of stale fumes. If remonstrated with, they too often reply with abuse; giving thus an additional proof of the depraving selfishness the practice engenders. Some smokers may think this rather hard upon them, and may disclaim all intention to thrust the offensive practice upon others. But it is impossible to avoid it in a greater or less degree. A man tells you he never smokes but at night, in the seclusion of his own home. But you meet him in the morning and you find him redolent of his idol. All are not equally inconsiderate of others, but
47.—Let any young man resolve that by God's help he will be as good, as pure, as virtuous, as useful, and as polite as it is possible for him to be, and by this standard let him test all the customs to which he is invited to conform; and he must, if he is honest, come to the conclusion that any indulgence in tobacco would be hostile to his grand purpose in life. Let those advanced Christians who wish their influence to be wholly on the Lord's side, make the same comparison, and they must come to the same conclusion. It is only because men live below their privileges and tolerate that which their better nature condemns, that smoking is possible among Christians.
48.—Another of the collateral evils is the injurious effect of the poison on the persons employed in its manufacture. The following statement made in a recent lecture by Dr. Drysdale, Senior Physician to the Metropolitan Free Hospital, ought to make every smoker resolve that rather than encourage a trade that involves so much suffering and waste of life to producers as well as consumers, he will abandon the practice for ever. No person of right feeling could be content to enjoy any luxury at such a cost of suffering to his fellows:—"Dr. Kostral, physician to the Royal factory of tobacco at Iglau, (Ann, d'Hygiène, pub.
49.—The man must be strangely deficient in human sympathy, who can continue to enjoy tobacco in any of its forms, after reading such a recital of suffering and waste of life, entailed upon youths and maidens, mothers and infants born and unborn, in order to provide him with his unnatural luxury. It reminds one of the burning words of Cowper:—
50.—True politeness and kind consideration for the comfort and happiness of others, are among the most beautiful features in a young man's character. Like a beam of sunlight, the youth distinguished by these qualities, radiant and joyous himself, spreads comfort and happiness wherever he goes. His very presence is a blessing. Smokers little dream how much of pure joy they sacrifice themselves, and how many opportunities they throw away for making others happy by placing their affections on the enslaving weed.
51.—An essential element in the formation of a noble and well-balanced character in our young men, is a due estimate of their responsibilities with regard to the use of money. Like health, money is a talent for the use of which a strict account will one day have to be given. Money is a power for good or evil; and on its right use much of our well-being and happiness depend. Not only is the money absolutely wasted that is spent on tobacco; worse than this, it is spent in the encouragement of vice and depravity. Sixteen millions of pounds sterling are spent annually in this kingdom alone, on this indulgence. The land occupied in the production of tobacco, and the labour spent upon its culture, transport, manufacture and sale, are so much withdrawn from the production of necessaries and comforts, rendering every other commodity more costly, and thus entailing needless privation and suffering upon the poor.
52.—Think of the same money spent upon better clothing, upon more abundant and better food, upon furniture, books, and pictures, presents for wife and children, and contributions to the cause of God and humanity. The money consumed in tobacco would, if rightly spent, give an untold impulse to commerce, education and religion. How many young men have thus wasted the money that would have bought them a library of the best and most entertaining authors! The time spent in smoking and dissipating associations, if devoted to useful reading, would have stored their minds with knowledge, and given an expansion to their higher nature that would have made them ornaments to society and ministers of blessing. How many a man might have bought the house he lives in if he had invested in a building society the money he has squandered in tobacco and drink!
53.—The existence of so many debauched and ruined young men from every grade of society is one of the most painful and humiliating features of our times. Young men abound whose instincts have been perverted by vicious teaching, before they could have any proper idea of the great purposes of life, and to whom this vice of smoking was the first step in the career of dissipation and folly which has caused society to cast them out as useless and beyond the possibility of reform. Others whose instincts were naturally depraved, and who required to be specially guarded from contamination, have found in smoking and its concomitant evil associations, exactly the soil and the atmosphere suited to the development of their chief weakness and their worst habits.
54.—Smoking tends to destroy the very inclination to do good. A young man, a member of a Christian Church, when asked to contribute to foreign missions, pleaded the smallness of his means as an excuse. On being questioned, however, he was compelled to admit that he spent two shillings a week in cigars. Well may the cause of Christ languish, and the prayers and labours of His people bear little fruit, when many of those who work and pray are cherishing an idol which stupefies the senses, depraves the affections, and lessens the capacity for exertion, and at the same time drains those very resources which, if higher claims were duly regarded, would be put to far different uses. There is direct guilt involved here. The money spent by some Christians in this one pitiful indulgence would help to flood the world with Bibles and send missionaries to thousands still unblessed by the sound of the Saviour's name. The power of the truth, both at home and abroad, if proclaimed and lived out by a Church free from the slavery and the curse of narcotic sensualism, would be increased a thousandfold. It is a notorious fact that in all heathen countries the greatest hindrance to the spread of the gospel is the besotted state of the people, brought about by their addiction to narcotic and vicious indulgences.
55—The precious time wasted in smoking is also a very serious consideration. Smokers say that they lose no time by the practice: another melancholy proof of the completeness of their delusion. It has been calculated that a snuff-taker, in forty years, will have spent four years in the practice,—two years in cramming the powder up his nostrils, and two years in blowing it out again! This is nothing, however, in comparison with the time that is thrown away in smoking. One of the arguments of smokers is that it "helps to pass time," or as some of them ominously express it, "to kill time." It is quite certain that the practice induces a dreamy state of morbid contentment, which takes away the inclination for useful pursuits, and renders its votary indifferent to his highest good. Time is a talent far beyond our power to estimate. Whatever tempts us to waste it, or renders us indifferent to its flight, or lessens our inclination and power to use it for the noblest of purposes, must be an evil of no common magnitude. Such, in a most emphatic manner, is the practice of smoking tobacco
56.—Young men should take warning, and resolve by God's help never to begin a practice so unnatural, mischievous, and expensive; and which, as life advances, as habit grows stronger and the bodily powers more feeble, and less able to resist the influence, increases the urgency of its demands, in proportion as the power of resistance diminishes; until the most pitiable slavery is established, and an otherwise noble life goes out in clouds and gloom. One minister is mentioned who assured his friend that he had "wept like a child when putting a quid of tobacco in
57.—It is the peculiar feature of habitual narcotism that, by a species of infatuation, it leads its victim to seek, in repeated doses, relief from the ennui and depression caused by previous indulgence, The uneasy, restless craving, in fact, that leads the smoker to long for his pipe, and the snuff-taker or chewer for his customary pinch or quid, is neither more nor less than the irritation induced in the system by previous doses of the poison. This irritation, like a repeating echo, becomes gradually fainter and fainter as the length of the interval is increased; and would the victim only hold out determinedly till it died away his emancipation would be complete.
58.—It is a terrible wrong done to an unsophisticated youth when he is tempted by others to learn to smoke. The man or the boy who can thus trifle with the health, the comfort, the character, the welfare for time and eternity, of one of these young candidates for the honours of a noble manhood, and the joys of a virtuous life and a happy eternity, is little better than a friend in human form. Words fail to express the sense of wrong that a truly tender and virtuous father feels instinctively, at the thought of his promising, bright-eyed, intelligent boy being tampered with, made the willing instrument of his own degradation, and the destroyer of his glorious capacity for the future.
59.—It would be well for the Church and for the world, if veteran Christian smokers could be roused to an adequate sense of their responsibility and their guilt. Their example is all-powerful.
60.—The same reasoning applies to teachers, to guardians, to ministers, and, indeed, to all Christians. We are answerable for the influence of our example on the young. No sophistry can shake off this responsibility. Smoking is, at best, a "lust of the flesh;" an artificial mode of prolonging mere sensation at the expense of vital force that was given us for other uses. It is an indulgence, the very opposite of that manly self-denial which Christ sets forth as the entrance-gate to the narrow way that leads to his kingdom, and which he enjoins as an essential condition of discipleship. It lessens the disposition for active exertion, and encourages a languid, listless, dreamy state, fatal to that watchfulness which is the Christian's highest privilege and duty. "It cries Peace, Peace, where there is no peace. It preaches contentment where the divinest duty is discontent and laissez faire where everything requires undoing."
61.—Great responsibility rests upon all whose business in life is that of the education of youth. In school and college the depraving indulgence prevails to an alarming extent. It is true that many schoolmasters not only abstain themselves, but strictly prohibit the practice in their establishments; but it is also true that some school proprietors and teachers are inveterate smokers, encouraging, by their example, the boys under their care and even winking at their indulgence. How will they answer for the injured health, the lowered moral standard, and the evil tendencies thus occasioned in those to whom, for the time, they stand in the place of parents?
62.—Christianity presents the highest and purest standard of conduct that the world has ever seen. It involves the culture of whatsoever things are "pure, lovely, and of good report." Such is not the practice of smoking tobacco; and Christians know that it is not. The more of the spirit of Christ man has, the more clearly must he feel the incompatibility of that indulgence with his high calling. And yet, alas, how many Christians lower the tone of their spirituality, lessen their peace and joy in believing, and bring haziness on their spiritual vision, and a diminished sense of union with their God and Saviour, through this ignoble indulgence. We know this to be so, because hundreds of Christians have made the confession; especially those who having been enslaved for a number of years, have at last been enabled, through Divine grace, to conquer their besetment—to shake off the coils of depraved habit, and to become men once more.
63.—What must be the effect of the smoking Christian's example on the world outside, and on young people connected with our churches and Sabbath schools? If the minister smokes, the Christian parent, the church officer, the Sunday school teacher, surely the practice cannot be so very wrong. So boys reason, and so the world outside reasons. The writer once remonstrated with a boy who was smoking, and was immediately met by the enquiry, "don't some ministers smoke?" Another boy, when an anti-tobacco tract was presented to him, promptly replied—"You should take them to the church-goers." The sophistry by which veteran smokers delude themselves into believing that they have a liberty, to which younger people are not entitled, of depraving self-indulgence, is too hazy for the keen sense of consistency that distinguishes unsophisticated youth. Terrible is the woe pronounced by our Great Master against those who cast stumbling blocks in the way of his "little ones"; terrible the responsibility of those parents and Christians who, by their example in this demoralizing practice, encourage the young people that surround them. Powerful must be the charm of this pernicious weed, and stupefying its effects on the conscience and the affections, when it thus renders the professors of the self-denying and benign religion of Jesus indifferent to the effect of their own example on our precious youth. Feeble, indeed, must be that love to Christ that is not strong enough to obtain the mastery over this vile species of slavery! Glorious is the sense of freedom enjoyed by those who, awakened to a fresh sense of their responsibility, summon, for a decisive effort, the latent powers of their manhood, shake off the stupor of past years of indifference, break the bonds that bind them, and stand erect once more, free men in Christ Jesus, to rejoice, as no votary of narcotic indulgence can do, in that glorious moral and spiritual freedom with which the truth makes free.
64.—Happy will be the day for our country when Christian patriots take up this question with the fixed determination that they will never allow it to rest until the united voice of all Christian communities is lifted up in stern protest against the habitual use of narcotics, and measures are inaugurated that shall deter both old and young from the snare; thus adding incalculably to the forces now in operation for good, and removing one of the greatest hindrances out of the way of the coming of that time when all evils shall be abolished, when "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea"—a day that cannot possibly come so long as brain, and body, and conscience, are narcotised by tobacco, even though all other impediments were removed.
Aikman & Woodhead, Steam Printers, 3 Mason Street, Swan Street, Manchester.
The objects of the Association are—
Extract Rule VIII.—'Every Ordinary Member shall on admission, pay the sum of Five Shillings for the year in which he is admitted, and thereafter an Annual Subscription of Five Shillings during the Membership. Every Honorary Member shall contribute Ten Shillings Annually to the Funds of the Association, or in lieu thereof a single payment of Three Guineas. A single Pay me fit of One Guinea shall constitute a Lady an Honorary Contributor. The Annual Subscriptions shall be payable on 1st January in each year. Donations will be received from all who are interested in promoting the objects of the Association.'
The Annual Meeting of the
Mr Sievwright, the Secretary, read the Report of the Council, as follows:—
The Council beg to submit the Eighth Annual Report.
The number of members on the Roll at the beginning of the year was 101. During the year one death has occurred, and four members have resigned, while ten new members have been admitted, the number on the roll being now 106, showing an increase of five on the number at the close of last year.
The Council join in the regret so generally expressed at the death of the Hon. Lord Neaves, who was a Patron of the Association. In the late Rev. Peter Peterson, formerly of Walls, Shetland, the Association has lost a member who took a warm interest in its objects.
The ordinary income for the year is shown by the Treasurer's statement to have been £36, 8s. 2d., and the expenditure £22, 16s. 7d., leaving £13, 11s. 7d. to be added to the funds. Including donations during the year, amounting to £29, 13s., the funds on hand now amount to £210, 13s. 5d.
The District Examinations for book prizes were held in Orkney and at Lerwick in April, as in former years, and the Council observe with satisfaction the increasing interest shown in these examinations. The number of competitors in £13, 1s. 1d. were awarded to pupils attending 19 schools. Dr Bedford observes, that 'no previous examination has at all approached this in general excellence.' His Report is appended, with particulars of the prizes awarded. The Council feel themselves deeply indebted to Dr Bedford for the care bestowed in the preparation of the various questions, and for the great labour entailed on him in the examination of the replies. They are sorry to say that for some years back they have not had any response to their offer of prizes from the country schools of Shetland, but they mean to make another effort to interest the teachers in these examinations, and they hope to report some success next year. Dr Bedford does not expect any high degree of proficiency, and the Council, in awarding Prizes, take the whole circumstances into consideration.
In their last Report the Council stated their intention of founding a University bursary, and with that view, the funds of the Association were handsomely supplemented on the occasion of their meeting last year. Further inquiry, however, as to the success of similar bursaries in connection with other county Associations, has led them to doubt whether a small University bursary, such as they contemplated, would induce competition sufficient to justify them in so applying the money of the Association. They are, besides, of opinion that the recent munificent bequest of the Earl of Zetland of University Bursaries Lord Zetland has set aside certain sums of money, awarded to him as compensation for the Abolition of his Church Patronage Rights, for the advancement of the Educational interests of the islands, by the foundation of Bursaries in the University of Edinburgh, to be called 'The Earl of Zetland's Bursaries, £500, the free proceeds of each sum is to form a bursary. The bursaries will be of the annual value of £20 each, and they are tenable for three years. The Trustees may admit successful candidates to hold at the same time two bursaries. The holder for the time being of the 'Orkney and Zetland Bursary,' is excluded from the competition. (See Deed of Foundation in Edinburgh University Calendar, £10 each, and be tenable for two years. The bursars will be expected to compete for 'The Earl of Zetland's Bursaries.'
In connection with this subject the Council have been led to inquire into the terms of the Foundation of 'The Earl of Zetland's Bursaries.' It appears to them that one of the conditions in which these bursaries are to be held, viz., that candidates must be 'natives of the islands, or children of parents, one or both of whom shall have been born in or connected with the county for a long period of years,' practically puts them beyond the reach of young men educated in the county, by opening competition to others more favourably circumstanced. The result of the competition for the bursary founded by the late Earl of Zetland—'The Orkney and Zetland Bursary,'—which has the same condition, further inclines them to take that view. On the several occasions on which that bursary has been competed for, it has been carried off by young men who were not educated in the islands, and some of whom were not in any way themselves connected with the county. The Council believe that Lord Zetland would more effectually advance the educational interests of the islands were that condition modified, at any rate as regards some of the bursaries, so as to limit competition to natives or others whose education had been obtained in the county. They accordingly submitted their views, in a Memorial, to the Trustees of these bursaries, and they are authorised to state that the matter is at present under consideration, with every desire to co-operate with the Association.
The Council have funds sufficient to enable them to offer one school bursary, but they think it most desirable that they should start with two, one for each division of the county, and they ask
It is recommended that the Patrons and Office-Bearers be as follow:—(See list prefixed.)
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the Report, said, every' one must feel that a membership of 106 was not a fair proportion of the inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland. He should take care to express his opinion very strongly on the subject the next opportunity he had of meeting Orcadians at Glasgow. . . . He thought the bursary idea to be an admirable one, and since the Earl of Zetland has set aside the proceeds of the various patronages which were at his disposal, that he had devoted these to the purposes of University endowment, the very best thing they could do was to establish school bursaries in order to help on promising young fellows who had distinguished themselves in the ordinary School prize examinations. He said the Orkney and Shetland people, with proper influences brought to bear upon them, were able to hold a very creditable position. He then went on to refer to cases of successful Orkney and Shetland men. These facts showed that all over the world men of character and integrity could be found, who had received a very plain and simple elementary education in the grammar or subscription schools. He should like the Association to stimulate education in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. They knew Orkney and Shetland could not afford to retain all its promising young men. The great bulk of them must come south, and hope for preferment here, if they have any feeling of men about them When they come here, he said, if they enter the University, they must—if they wished to have bursaries, which many of them needed—engage in the competitive examinations. These examinations were very serious things for those who had not been preparing for them. Now there were many schools in Orkney and Shetland that turn out good scholars. Their education stood them in good stead in the business of active life. Any of these men, sent up to pass an examination for any bursaries given in connection with the Universities, would find themselves a long way behind, If it were for nothing else than this—the very habit of meeting those questions and knowing how to answer them—the county and the teachers should be thankful. He hoped they would lose no opportunity of pressing upon the: attention of every one interested in the education of Orkney and Shetland the importance of giving the Association all the support
Dr Bedford, in replying to the toast of the 'Educational Interests of the County,' said it had been a matter of peculiar interest to him during the last few years to watch the steady improvement of the candidates for the Association's honours. The first batch of papers that came into his hands at the first examination gave undoubted evidence that the Orkney and Shetland Islands schools, with scarcely any exceptions, had no system of written examination in operation. In preparing the examination papers, he kept in view that the young men who took the honours might afterwards come to Edinburgh and compete with other young men for the larger bursaries of the Universities. He prepared the papers with reference to future examinations of a higher kind. He had observed last year, most particularly, the papers were remarkably good. He thought the arrangement of giving book prizes at the district examinations, and some bursaries for secondary education at the better schools in the islands, would be an excellent preparation for the higher examinations in the University. It had been said to him a day or two ago by a master at the head of a school of 1100 lads, that he was much struck with the excellent work he got from Orkney boys. He found that they stuck to work, and were very painstaking.
Among the other speakers were The Hon. Lord Gifford, Sheriff Thorns, Colonel Burroughs, C.B., and Mr Robert Brotchie of Swannay.
My Dear Sir—I beg to submit to you for the Council the results of the late District Prize Examination of the Orkney and Zetland Association.
The total number of candidates was 133, of whom 28 were from Lerwick, 24 from Stromness, 12 from Sandwick, 4 from Stennis, 8 from Firth, 2 from Westray, 8 from Harray and Birsay, 12 from Holm and Tankerness, 6 from Eday, 6 from Stronsay, 11 from Rousay, 2 from Evie, and 10 from South Ronaldshay. The total number of marks attainable by any candidate in the common subjects was 151, and in the special subjects, if two were taken, 100.
I send you herewith the marks of each candidate. You will see, on examining the list, that some of the schools have made a highly creditable appearance. No previous examination has at all approached this in general excellence. I must call the Council's special attention to the distinguished marks of Barbara Robertson of the Lerwick Institute, who obtained the very high total of 226; and of another pupil of the same school, Thomas Matthewson, who obtained 213; of William Sinclair of Holm, who obtained 211; of William B. Tomison of South Ronaldshay, who obtained 210; of Mary A. Taylor of Stromness Public School, who obtained 203; also of Isabella Houston, of the same school, who obtained 187; of William B. Heddle of Harray, whose total was 201; and of another boy in the same school, Samuel Isbister, who obtained 192. Several of the youngest candidates made a most hopeful appearance. John Mouat of Wasbister School, only eleven years old, having obtained the very respectable total of 176, and two others of the same age, Margaret M. Morrison of Lerwick Public School, 156, and Malcolm Clouston of Harray Public School, 153.
Ample evidence is afforded from these papers of much painstaking, skilful, and intelligent instruction on the part of most of the teachers.—I am, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
Edinburgh, th January 1873£145, 9s. 7d., and that on the Ordinary Fund, £65, 3s. 10d., of which sums £100 is lodged on Deposit Receipt with the National Bank of India (Limited), £100 on Deposit Receipt with the National Bank of Scotland, and the balance, £10, 3s. 5d., at the credit of the Association's Account current with the last named Bank.
The following Lodges were unrepresented—Prince oj Wales, Oamaru, Prince Alfred, Alexandra, Palmerston, Cromwell, Mount Wendon, Arroiv, Heart of Friendship.
Before proceeding to business it was unanimously agreed that the representatives of the Press should be admitted.
Worthy Deputy and Brethren—
For the first time in the history of this District, which has now been about twenty years in existence, we meet in annual session away from our head-quarters in Dunedin.
The circumstance that nearly all our Lodges are widely separated from each other, over a territory some 10,000 square miles in extent, added to the fact that till very lately the usual mode of conveyance into the interior of the Province was both slow and expensive, has afforded a ready and sufficient excuse in the past why the principal meetings of our Society should be held in the District Chambers. That this excuse will not be considered sufficient any longer, now that a considerable extent of country is made easily accessible by means of the railways, was made evident by the arguments used and the large number of delegates who carried the motion in favor of our meeting here, at the last District Meeting.
I am aware there is some difference of opinion amongst the Brethren of the Order with regard to these meetings being movable—mainly because of the expense they will cost—but despite this, I trust and believe that a large amount of good will flow from the fact that members of the District will be afforded an opportunity year by year of meeting in the principal centres of population, and thereby profit by personal intercourse with each other, cement the bond of unity which exists and disseminate the noble principles of our institution. For my own part I trust that this step we have, taken will be followed up by others till District Meetings shall have been held in every locality where there is a Lodge from the Waitaki to the Mataura, and from the Nuggets to the Lakes.
The very great services which the Loyal Tuapeka Lodge has rendered to the Order as the mother lodge of a now numerous family, fully explains and justifies the selection of Lawrence as the first country town to be visited for the purpose of holding a District Meeting. 1 therefore congratulate the Delegates on our meeting in this pleasant town, and in the centre of a district ever memorable in connection with the most eventful epoch in the history of this Province, viz., the discovery of gold.
Having made these preliminary remarks, let me advert briefly to the proceedings at the late Annual Movable Committee of the Order in England. For I think it is our duty to regard with interest all that transpires at the Annual Parliament of our Order, and seek to derive such lessons from the proceedings thereat as may assist us in carrying on this District to the same degree of perfection and financial stability as has been reached by many of the Districts in Great Britain.
This year the A.M.C. was held in the City of Exeter, the capital of fair Devon, and was attended by no less than 432 deputies, being 30 more than on any previous occasion. Our worthy deputy P.P.G.M. Palmer reached Home in time for the meeting, and though far from being well, attended and took an active part in some of the debates, It is worthy of mention that the Auckland, Hobart Town and South Africa District were also represented by deputies. All this testifies to the reality of the Unity which exists between the central Society in Britain and its branches in the Colonies. This connection our Revising Barrister was very slow to realise and sanction, but I am extremely pleased to find that on Thursday last a clause was inserted in the "Friendly Societies' Amendment Act," before it was passed, recognising and legalising, not only our connection with the parent Society, but also allowing of reference in our Lodge and District Rules to the General Rules of the Order.
From the Directors' Report we find that on the
In regard to the second quinquennial valuation of the Unity in Great Britain and Ireland, began by the late C. S. Bro. H. Ratcliffe, and only lately completed, the Directors were able to lay before the meeting an abstract of the result, from this we find that the present value of the benefits or liabilities amounts to £11,936,279 17s. 2d., whilst the present value of the contributions gives £7,956,984 18s. 9d., and this amount, added to the capital in hand, viz., £3,607,126 2s. 2d., makes up a total of £11,564,111 0s 11d. of assets, leaving a deficiency of £372,168 16s. 3d. In
The progress towards solvency which this valuation shows to have taken place during the preceding five years is matter for great congratulation, and gives us confidence that the great Manchester Unity will be able, at no distant date, to assert that every lodge belonging to it at Home and abroad, has been placed on a firm financial foundation, and is in the proud position of being able to meet all its engagements.
At the instance of Bro. Godfree, of Brighton, (a gentleman who has on several occasions clone the Otago District good service), a motion was passed by the meeting affirming the desirability—"That an endeavor should be made by the G. M. and Board of Directors to obtain the registration of the General Rules in the Colonies."
What the result of this will be it would be difficult to say, but the example set by the Revising Barrister and Registrar of this Colony will, I trust, be followed by the gentlemen holding similar offices in the other Colonies. At the same time, I am sure you will agree with me in thanking our friend for his interest in Colonial Districts, and join in the hope that the efforts of the Directors may soon be successful.
One of the most important events of the meeting was the election of a Corresponding Secretary in room of the late Henry Ratcliffe. For this important office there were four candidates, which number was reduced to two after the first voting. These candidates, Messrs. Collins and Watson, then went again to the poll for final vote, with this result, that Mr. Collins got 164 votes and Mr. Watson 161, giving a majority of three for Mr. Collins, in a meeting of 325. It was evident throughout the course of the previous proceedings that party spirit ran pretty high in regard to who should be Mr. Ratcliffe's successor, and the final voting shows how evenly the parties were balanced. For all this, it is to be hoped that the best man has been chosen, and that he will prove himself well qualified for the high office he is now called to; though from remarks made, it seems he does not profess to have any share of that acturial knowledge held by his opponent, and the possession of which, in such large measure, brought so much renown to Henry Ratcliffe and credit to the Manchester Unity.
A great deal of discussion seems to have taken place on a large number of questions of little or no interest to us, such as the Poor Law Act, the Northampton case, and many of the proposed alterations in the Rules.
On the other hand, there were several questions brought under consideration of the meeting worthy of our attention had time allowed, but I can only mention a few of them and no more, such as the establishment of Superannuation Funds; a question which it will be our duty to take up before long. The subject of Valuations; a question which cannot long be delayed by us. The
Let me now direct your attention to the consideration of our own more immediate affairs. All the Lodge returns have been received, but some of them so lately that several errors which we fear exists in them, have not been fully rectified.
These Returns have been tabulated by our worthy Secretary with his usual care and clearness, which enables me to place before you the following facts regarding our position on the 30th June last. On that date the membership of the District was given as 1596, of which number 1426 are returned as "good on the books." During the previous half-year 76 new members joined by initiation and 8 joined by clearance. On the other hand we have lost six members and one member's wife by death, and about the average number have withdrawn or seceded.
The total income of our 23 Lodges for the six months amounted to £3618 9s. 3d., made up as follows:—
The total expenditure during the same time amounted to £2581 4s. 4d., classified under the following heads:—
From this brief statement it will be seen that the addition to the capital of the Lodges in the District amounts to £1037 5s. 1d. for the six months. On the last day of the term the balance at credit of Sick and Funeral Fund in cash, land, and buildings was £19,021 16s. Id. Lodges hold goods said to be of the value of £475 15s., and the Incidental Fund credit balance and other assets amounted to £3686 4s. 5d., so that the gross total value of our Lodges appeal's to be £23,183 15s. 6d.
It would take up too much time for me to fully analyze these returns, but there are several features disclosed by the compilation which I deem to be of great importance to this district, and I crave your indulgence while I dwell on them for a little. The small increase in our numbers is not, in my opinion, at all in keeping with the claims of the Society or the growth of population, and as all our trades have been fairly prosperous during the term, I fear it can only be accounted for by want of energy on the part of the members. It should ever be borne in mind by all of us that the operations of our Society are twofold—on the one hand it is a business, on the other it is a beneficence "a function of finance and a mission of humanity." We recognise the fact that our condition is one of interdependence, and we combine together in order that in times of sickness, or when calamity Comes, we may have a claim to assistance, based on the monies we have contributed to the Society, without loss of self-respect or compromise of individual independence. At the same time the aims of our Society embrace the moral as well as the material welfare of its members, and, as you are all aware, we are constantly instructed to practice the practical virtues, and to strive to make those who enter amongst us "better husbands, better fathers, and better members of society." Such being the case, I do most earnestly hope that in the future our members will bestir themselves, and seek to make known the objects and advantages of our Society; if they do, I have no fear but that the result will be a large increase to our members.
The important question of the indebtedness of the Incidental Fund to the sick and Funeral Fund has again engaged the attention of the District Officers. During the term under review, I regret to say the debt has increased to the extent of £24 17s. 7d., so that it now stands at £1012 12s. I had hoped that after the many warnings which have been given anent this matter it would have been my pleasing duty to announce on the present occasion that a marked improvement had taken place. It is certainly matter for congratulation that ten of our Lodges have balances in hand to the credit of the Incidental Fund, while six others have, in the six months, reduced their debt by £73 10s. 3d. The remaining seven Lodges are the defaulters, they having increased their indebtedness to the extent of £98 16s. 10d. It must be
The current expenses for doctor and medicines, rents, salaries, and other management expenses, ought to be paid for on the completion of the term of service, and if the regular contributions of the members to the Incidental Fund prove inadequate, the wisest course is to make a levy at once for the amount short in the past, and for the future to watch well that there be no needless expenditure, and if the contributions are still short, then raise the subscriptions.
But the payment of the existing debt should be borne by the persons in whose behalf the services were provided, as it is manifestly unfair to ask new members who may be paying an adequate amount for the services provided for themselves, to assist in paying off a debt contracted by old members of the Lodge. All the services connected with the Incidental Fund or Management Fund of a Lodge are of the nature of time bargains, and should be paid for at the time promptly.
The amount of interest on capital received during the past term proves very conclusively that much more attention is now being paid to this most important matter than was the case a short time ago, yet for all this a few Lodges are still seemingly as careless as ever. The value of goods held by the various Lodges present some peculiar features worthy of your attention, for example—one Lodge with only 11 members returns the value of its goods at £40 17s. 6d., while another with 161 members, has goods to the value of £20 only—or again, 7 Lodges, with a membership of 359, hold goods which they value at £333 14s., while the remaining 16 Lodges with 1237 members value their goods at £142 1s. only. I have no reason to doubt the correctness of the values given by the Lodges, yet it must be apparent to you all, that the seven Lodges referred to have been very extravagant, or culpably careless.
It will not surprise you to be told that in nearly every case this wastefulness has been at the expense of the Sick and Funeral Fund capital. I would urge upon the members of these Lodges to reduce their stock of goods as speedily as possible, and invest the money to better account.
There only remains one other feature, drawn from the rarurns, for me to dwell upon, but it is a most important one. It is to
During the last six months (as will be seen by the report of the Bye-laws Revision Committee), the financial condition of our Society has frequently occupied the attention of the Committee, and though their labors were not finished in time to enable us to lay the results before you at this meeting, still I may be permitted to say that it has been agreed to recommend for adoption by this District a scale of fees and contributions which we believe will, if adopted, place our Society on a sound basis. Having said this, I hope that you will all think earnestly over the matter so that when the special meeting takes place tor the consideration of the Revision Committee's recommendations, we may be able to discuss the subject fully, fairly, and temperately.
Worthy Delegates—At the close of this meeting the District Officers resign the charge which you committed to their keeping twelve months ago. I have to thank the Brethren of the Order for the support they have given me and the kindness I have received from all. The past year has, in many respects, been a busy one, but your District Officers have one and all wrought most heartily together and to the best of our ability for the interests of the Districts.
To my worthy deputy, Bro. Fish, I tender my most sincere thanks for his able assistance and support in carrying out the duties of my office.
To our Corresponding Secretary Bro. Sligo, I offer my warmest thanks for the kind and courteous manner in which he has always mot me, for his readiness at all time to attend to the requirements
I now ask your kind assistance in conducting the business of this meeting, and I trust the result of our deliberations may tend to the advancement of this Society, and the benefit of our fellow men. I have now pleasure in declaring this meeting duly opened.
Resolved—That the Grand Master's Address be received, and that it be printed with the Reports of the Meeting.
The Balance Sheet and Auditors' Report, being in the hands of Delegates, were taken as read.
Your Auditors have made a careful examination of the accounts of the District for the half-year, including March to August last, and have found them correctly kept, and agreeing with the statements contained in the Balance Sheets. As the accounts are very fully stated in the Sheets submitted to us by the Secretary, and these have of late been published in full, it does not require that we should enter into any explanation respecting them, excepting to state that we are assured by the C.S. that the stock is certainly not over-valued, and that anything believed to be unsaleable (of which however there is very little) has been noted in stock list, but no value attached thereto.
The labour which devolves upon the Secretary continues to be discharged in a creditable and satisfactory manner.
Auditors.
T. Burton,
W. Stronach,
Resolved—That the Balance Shot and Auditors' Report be adopted.
Note.—The numbers on the margin refer to the Propositions, &c., as they were numbered on the Business Paper.
3. Appointment of an Auditor, Permanent Sec. Burton retiring. Eligible for re-election.
Permanent Secretary Bro. Burton was re elected for the ensuing twelve months.
4. Appointment of place and time for next District and Purple Lectures.
Moved—That the next District and Purple Lectures be held at Outram.
Moved as an amendment—That the Lectures be held at Pal merston. The amendment was lost.
Moved as a further amendment—That the lectures be held at Dunedin. Amendment lost.
All amendment—That the Lectures be held at Waikouaiti, was also lost, and the original motion was then put and carried. The lectures to be held at Outram, at such time as may be agreed on by the District Officers and the Officers of the Outram Lodge.
5. Appointment of a District Arbitration Committee, under the provisions of General Rule 75.
Resolved—That the Arbitration-Committee appointed in
6. From Dunedin Lodge—That, in the opinion of this Meeting, it is desirable that the representatives of the Public Press be admitted to our District Meetings for the purpose of reporting the proceedings, if they should think lit. Carried.
7. From Dunedin Lodge—That Prov. Grand Master Leslie's name be placed on the District Merit Board, and that he receive a certificate to enable him to take the degree of a P.P.G.M. Carried.
8. From Dunedin Lodge—That the sum of ten guineas, or such other sum as the District Meeting may deem lit, be voted from the funds of the District as a donation to the Lawrence Hospital.
After an amendment, which the Prov. G.M ruled to be out of order, and a further amendment which was afterwards withdrawn, the motion was put and carried—That the sum of ten guineas be voted as a donation to the Lawrence Hospital.
9. From Dunedin Lodge—That each deputy attending the District Meeting at Lawrence be paid the sum of one guinea from the District Incidental Fund.
The Prov. G.M. ruled that the motion, being illegal, could not be put.
10. From Dal ton Lodge—Application to open a new Lodge at Stirling, County of Bruce, to be called at "Loyal Matau Lodge," to be held at the Stirling Hotel.
It was resolved—That the application be granted, subject to arrangements to be made between the applicants and the District Officers, it being pointed out that the floods would probaby interfere with the immediate opening.
11. From Hand and Heart Lodge—That the retiring Grand Master be a member of the District Executive.
Moved—That the name of Bro. Leslie be added after the words Grand Master.
It was pointed out that to carry such a resolution would be scarcely in conformity with the strict letter of the General Rules, and after some discussion, the motion was withdrawn.
12. From Hand and Heart Lodge—That the District Officers be empowered to pay all expenses attending revision of the Rules.
Moved—That the sum of £5 be voted to defray expenses incurred in revision of District Rules. Carried.
13. Report of Bye-laws Revision Committee, and consideration of proposed new Rules.
The C.S. read the following report:—
Report of Committee appointed to Revise the Rules of the Otago District of the Manchester Unity of Odd-Fellows, with a view to the Registration of the Society under the "Friendly Societies Act, 1877." Presented to the Annual Meeting of District Committees held at Lawrence, on Saturday, the
Gentlemen—When your Committee was appointed at the District Meeting in April last, it was understood that it would not be in a satisfactory position to proceed with its labours until the Regulations and Forms of Procedure, then in preparation, were received from the Registrar of Friendly Societies.
The first meeting was held on the 3rd July last, soon after receipt of the said Regulations, &c. The first question that occupied the attention of the Committee was one which it was perceived would greatly affect the work immediately in hand, and also the future convenience, and, in some degree, the future welfare of the District, and of Friendly Societies generally. Your Committee were, and are, desirous of having our connection with the Order in Great Britain recognised by the Government of the Colony; feeling that we have just cause for gratification in being
Since being appointed, your Committee have held ten meetings, and the whole of the General and District Rules have been gone through. The general outline of the Rules and the alterations to be proposed have been agreed upon, but it has not been possible to have the Rules written out in time for submission to this meeting. Even had the Rules been more forward than they are, your Committee doubt whether it would have been possible for this meeting to give the time necessary for their consideration, and believe that the more desirable course is to remit the matter to a special meeting. It may be stated that in reference to future contributions, it has been agreed to recommend the adoption of one of the scales submitted to the Special Meeting held at Dunedin on the
Your Committee beg to express their regret that the Rules are not in a more forward state, but would remind you that the preparation of rules is necessarily, and at all times, a matter involving considerable sacrifice of time, and a large amount of labour and consideration, while circumstances have, in the present instance, demanded and required greater sacrifices than usual.
In conclusion, we beg to recommend that your Committee be allowed to continue their labours to completion, and that the District Officers be empowered to call a special meeting for consideration of the Rules, at such time as your Committee may see fit.
Resolved—That the Report of Revision Committee be received and adopted, and that it he printed with the Proceedings of the Meeting.
14. To fix the rate of District Levies for half-year.
It was resolved—That the Levies for the half-year be fixed at 1s. 6d. for Sick and Funeral Fund, and is for Incidental, in accordance with recommendation of District Officers.
15. Election of District Officers.
For Prov. G.M. the candidates were—D.P.G.M. Fish, and P.D.P.G.M. Coverlid. Bro. Fish was declared duly elected.
The candidates for Deputy P.G.M. were—P.D.P.G.M. Coverlid, P.G. Sherwin, P.G. Forsyth, P.G. Cox, and P.G. Ibbotson. P.G. Bro. Cox was declared duly elected.
For Prov. C.S. the candidates were—Permt. Sec. Fulton, and P.G. Black. P.G. Bro. Black was declared duly elected.
Resolved—That the salary of the Prov. C.S. be at the rate of £75 per annum.
For District Treasurer—P.P.G.M. Robin being the only candidate, was re-elected.
It was moved—That a sum of £10 be voted as a subscription to the funds being raised for the relief of sufferers by the floods, but it was objected that as the motion was not upon the business paper, it would be of the nature of a surprise motion, of which the Lodges had had no previous notice. Motion was, therefore, withdrawn.
Resolved—That the power to nominate a Life Governor for the Lawrence Hospital be in the Tuapeka Pioneer Lodge, and that the Lodge be requested to nominate accordingly.
The newly elected District Officers were installed with the usual ceremony, and returned thanks for their election.
Resolved—That the Auditors an I Tylers fees be paid.
Resolved—That the usual number of Reports be printed for circulation in the Lodges.
Moved and seconded—That a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to the retiring District Officers. Carried.
P.P.G.M. Leslie and P.P.C.S. Sligo duly returned thanks.
The minutes of the meeting were read and confirmed.
A meeting of Past Grands was afterwards held for the purpose of giving the Purple and Past Officers degrees, when a number of Brothers availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them of taking the various degrees to which they were entitled.
The Government having been empowered by the "Friendly Societies Act,
It is requested that particular attention be directed to the following points:—
To keep separate and distinct accounts of the Sick and Funeral, and of the Incidental Funds, and see that the Receipts and Expenditure of these funds are properly debited and credited to each, and that no portion of the Sick and Funeral Fund capital be applied for the use of the Incidental Fund. To keep a ledger account of these funds, which shall be balanced, ruled off, and the balances brought down at the en 1 of every June and December.
To keep a proper register of Members and their ages, being careful to add the years elapsed since initiation, to the age at initiation, when filling up the Returns. The register should also contain a record of when, and for what reason, any membership may lapse.
To obtain at once, and keep up, a list of (he married Members, and, as far as possible, of the wives ages.
To keep a proper record of sickness, and be able to make the sickness returns tally with the amount paid for sickness during the year.
The following are the portions of the Act above referred to:—
"Section 13. (1) Every registered Society shall—
By the "Friendly Societies Amendment Act," which was passed on the 10th October, it is enacted that the Annual Return shall in addition to the matters above mentioned, contain—
"A list of the Members of the Society, together with the age of each, and the periods of sickness, deaths, and other contingencies in respect of which benefits are given by the Society, experienced by the Society during the year as aforesaid, specifying the members in respect of whom such sickness, deaths, or contingencies have been experienced, and such other information as the Registrar may from time to time prescribe.
"The Registrar may dispense with the Quinquennial Return from any Society furnishing the required information annually."
Section 7 of the Amendment Act is as follows:—
"The following subsections shall be read and construed as part of the Section 13 of the said Act, and as if they were subsections thereto occurring immediately before subsection two of that section—
"If any valuer in any report made in accordance with section five of this Act, shall report that such transfer can be safely made, it shall be lawful to make such transfer accordingly."
Any Society failing to comply with the foregoing will commit an offence under the Act, and these offences are punishable by heavy penalties.
The Sixteenth Annual Session of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, I.O.O.F., will be held in Timaru, commencing Monday,
Sec. 79 of Rules and Regulations imposes a fine of One Guinea on Secretaries not sending in their Returns in proper time. This Law will be rigidly enforced.
The Grand Lodge recommends Subordinate Lodges to adopt a Bye-law requiring their members to make payment of their subscriptions in advance.
Sec. 39.—It shall be the duty of each Subordinate Lodge Secretary to make quarterly returns to the general Funeral Fund and the Grand Lodge Management Fund, and to have the Return Sheets made up to the end of each quarter,—viz., the last Lodge night in March, June, September, and December, and the money passed for payment on the first Lodge night in each new quarter thereafter, and to have the amount and the Return Sheet, together with the half-yearly Balance-sheet, Cash Statement, &c., in the hands of the Grand Secretary on or before the 10th of each May, August, November, and February; in default thereof, any Lodge shall forfeit all claim on the general Funeral Fund in respect of the death of any member or member's wife. And if a funeral claim arise during the days of grace, as above indicated, such claim will not be recognised by the G.L. unless it be accompanied by a remittance of the Return Sheets and all dues then owing; and no claim having been forfeited, as above provided, will be revived by the subsequent payment of the G.L. dues.
The R. W. Grand Lodge assembled this day, at 8 o'clock p.m.
Officers absent:—W.G. Chaplain C. J. Aldridge; W.G. Conductor Joseph Crosbie.
A quorum of Representatives was also present.
Advices were received and read of election of Representatives as follows:—
On the Roll being called, those whose names are marked with an asterisk (*) were present.
The G. L. was informed that the Standing Committee had, on the 7th instant, issued a circular to each Lodge outside Dunedin, on the subject of Lodge Representatives, of which the following is a copy :—
It is the experience of the G .L. Executive that many of our Lodges are practically disfranchised, owing to the inconvenience and cost of sending any of their own members as representatives to the Grand Lodge.
We believe it would tend to mitigate this disadvantage if it were more generally known that Lodges may elect P.Gs. of other Lodges (provided that such P.Gs. are not already elected representatives).
We recommend that greater use be made of this privilege. There are always a number of P.Gs. who attend the G.L. Session in Dunedin who would be glad to take charge of any business entrusted to them, if they might thereby have the position of representatives conferred upon them. By this means any Lodge may secure a voice in the G.L. without inconvenience and expense. At this late period of the year you may not have the means of acting upon the suggestion now made in time for the forthcoming session of the G.L.; but if you so desire, the G.L. Executive will do their best to see that you are represented by at least one P.G. The session begins Monday, 17th inst.
Resolved—"That the action of the S. C. be approved."
Naseby Lodge.—Application to have a Representative appointed.
Alfred Lodge.—Ditto.
Resolved—"That Bro. Kirk be a Representative for Naseby Lodge."
Resolved—"That Bro. M'Gaw be a Representative for Alfred Lodge."
The following Lodges were not represented :—Wanganui, Marton, Rangitikei, Alexandrovna, Winchester, Point, Geraldine.
The M.W.G.M. having called the Lodge to order, Bro. Wheeler asked the blessing of God on the deliberations of the Grand Lodge.
Proclamation was then made of the opening of the 15th Annual Session of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of New Zealand.
The G. L. Degree was conferred upon Bros. Meffin, White, M'Kenzie, Haigh, Lindsay, Tracey.
The G.M. then delivered the following annual report:—
Officers and Representatives,—
The lapse of time brings us together to ascertain what progress our Order has made since last session, and to legislate with an object of promoting the welfare of the members and Lodges under our jurisdiction. Permit me to congratulate all present upon being spared to meet together on this occasion. Nearly all are old familiar faces of brothers who have pioneered the Order during many trials. Herewith is a summary of the main items for the past twelve months, transcribed from the Grand Secretary's statements. An idea of our correct position cannot be given, through neglect of several Sub-Lodge Secretaries. Whom it will be my duty to bring under your notice.
Represented as follows :—
From these figures £241 14s. 7d. has been added during the year to the worth of the Grand Lodge, £239 18s. 10d. of which goes to the credit of the funeral Fund, and £1 15s. 9d. to the credit of Stock. The sum of £57 6s. 3d. has been transferred from the Incidental Fund of the previous year to the credit of the Funeral Fund, making in all £297 5s. 1d. credited to the .Funeral Fund during the year just closed. Perhaps it would be advisable to consider the propriety of reducing the assessment of Lodges to the G. L. Management Fund from 1s. to 9d. per member. This amount would be amply sufficient for general purposes, and would reduce the management expenses of the Lodges.
The number of members in the Marton and Winchester Lodges are not included in the foregoing figures; we have therefore made material progress, which is alike satisfactory and creditable, especially in the face of several Lodges who have sent no returns. Winchester Lodge has sent none since it was instituted, and none received from the Marton since
Two new Lodges have been instituted during the year—viz., Green Island Lodge, on
The desirability of Lodges having their own halls has always been a pet theme of mine. Meeting in hotels is inconsistent with the spirit of the principles of our Order, and even when Lodges cannot get halls of their own, they should meet in places away from hotel influences. Each year lately we are making a step in advance in this direction. A new hall for the Pioneer Lodge will be erected in Rattray-street, Dunedin, to cost about £2,100. A tender is accepted, and work commenced. The bottom storey will be conveniently arranged for public purposes, to accommodate 500 persons; and the upper storey will comprise a Lodge-room, with three ante-rooms. This is a commendable step on the part of the Brothers of our parent Lodge, who inaugurated this movement, and their enterprise deserves every success. The financial success attending the Leith Lodge, as also the Star of Canterbury's Hall, have exceeded my anticipations of last year. Not only have they paid all expenses and interest of cost, but realised a good round sum to pay towards the cost. The Temuka Lodge has purchased a plot of ground to build a hall on.
This vital matter was left in the hands of the Standing Committee to report upon. From repeated investigations we found that to promulgate rates which would be equitable to all members, the matter wanted going into on actuarial principles. This basis involves calculations of considerable magnitude, which very few can do except trained actuaries, therefore as it would take up more time than was at our disposal, and wanting to bring something tangible before this session, we engaged the services of Messrs. Leslie and Black (two gentlemen well qualified) to prepare four tables, copies of which have been distributed.
Table A represents what subscription should be paid, with present initiation, fees, for present benefits, and enables us at a glance to perceive that our present contributions are sufficient only up to age 25. Table B shows the initiation fees necessary for the usual benefits, with a uniform weekly contribution of 7d. per week to the Sick and Funeral Fund. Both these tables prove the fallacy of our present rates in vogue. Table C shows contributions necessary for the usual benefits without initiation fees. Table D represents subscriptions necessary during life for the usual benefits and an annuity of 10s. per week after age 65. The rates in these tables are only calculated for the Sick and Funeral Fund, and no provision is made for management; but for purposes of comparison 7½d. per week per member can be taken, as it is the general average of cost for general expenses in Lodges. After mature deliberation, Table C is suggested by the Standing Committee for adoption, and a uniform rate of 7½d. per week per member is to be added for working expenses, and an initiation fee of £1 at all ages. If at any time the expenses of a Lodge exceed the rate of 7½d. per week, the difference must be met by a levy, so as to keep the Sick and Funeral Funds intact. Present members of the order to be charged according to the age they were admitted. So as to give an idea of how Table C, including contribution of 7½d. per week in addition for Management Fund, would generally affect us, I have prepared the annexed Table (see p. 9).
The facts in these tables prove that not alone our own Society, but every other Friendly Society here are working upon insufficient rates of subscriptions and unsound financial systems. Our Order, however, has been working on better financial principles in these respects than any of the other Orders in Dunedin. There is not the slightest vestige of doubt in my mind but that the adoption of Table C is the only sure means of our being able to realise the benefits we promise to ourselves in the future, and it will be much easier to valuate the Lodges under this table, which the Government requires now every five years from registered Lodges. Let us anticipate our future permanency, and show that as soon as we knew our position was not secure we adjusted the difficulty at once, like men and Oddfellows, without being compelled, by any outside pressure, which the operations of the new
will certainly accomplish. This Bill will prove a protection to the true interests of all Friendly Societies, and give them a locus standi in a court of law. One important fact which the Bill accomplishes is that our Grand Lodge can register all her branch sub-lodges and have control over them, which was denied in the old Act; and further, no Lodge can dissolve without the consent of the Grand Lodge : if so, the members thereof make themselves liable for heavy penalties. Another boon to Friendly Societies would be the establishment of a
for the whole of the Friendly Societies in Dunedin, with a view of getting the purest drugs at the cheapest cost. As it will be necessary to reduce expenses of management in Lodges, it would be advisable for each of our Lodges to send four delegates to the General Conference now in existence, and see if any saving can be effected in this direction. If drugs can be got by entering into this scheme at the same price as is paid to the chemist, it would be the duty of Lodges, for various reasons, to support it.
Letters were received from N.G. Bro. C. Lezard and Sec. Bro. J. J. Fryer, of the Avon Lodge, Christchurch, asking if it was in the power of their Lodge to "raise the fees of older members so as to reduce the scale for younger brethren." My reply was that the Grand Lodge, when in annual session, was the only power who could alter it. D.D.G.M. Bro. "Watt, Marton, states that the Marton Lodge had not met for six months, and the late members desired to appropriate the whole of the property, £55 cash and a section of land worth £80. Our reply was, that as they had no status in the Lodge or Order (being over six months' in arrears), just in the same manner that members of existing Lodges forfeited all claim to the property and funds of his Lodge if they owed more
D.D.G.M. Bro. M. White states that the Winchester Lodge intends to amalgamate with the Temuka Lodge, through there not being a surgeon in their place. My instructions were that nothing definitely should be arranged until a financial statement was first rendered to the Grand Lodge of the position of the Winchester Lodge, which has not been received to date.
G.S. Bro. Ridgley, G.L.U.S., has sent a large number of American reports, and stated that it was intended from the first there should have been a Supreme Grand Lodge of Australasia, to whom the other Grand Lodges of the colonies were to be subordinate. We contended, in reply, that such a principle would be expensive and unworkable, without any advantages; besides, we desired to retain the position we had hitherto had, viz., that of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, coequal to the Grand Lodge of Australia, and subordinate only to the G.L.U.S. Copy of this letter was also sent to Bro. J. H. B. Curtis, Grand Secretary, Melbourne. Correspondence, being important, is herewith submitted and numbered in their order.
issued by the Standing Committee would do a great deal of good, and would tend to check mistakes in time, and prevent the present neglect of Lodges to forward returns, &c. This is carried out by the Australian Grand Lodge, a copy of which is here for inspection.
By the last annual report of this body at Home there is a recommendation adopted to cultivate intimate relationship with our Order in America, with a view of enabling members to visit each other's Lodges. My wish has always been that these Orders should amalgamate at head-quarters on equitable principles. They would then form a body of one million financial members, with Lodges all over the world. Their usefulness would be very much increased thereby.
It is my unpleasant duty to mention the death of P.G.S. Bro. John Lenton. He was one of the first brothers who entered the Order here, and held to it under many adverse circumstances; also Bro. Ferris, both of the Pioneer Lodge. We have to record the death also of Bro. Humphries, Wanganui Lodge; Bro. W. J. Fulton, Star of Canterbury Lodge; the wife of Bro. Fox, Geraldine; and wife of Bro. Parry, Leith Lodge.
Allow me to state that the subjects coming before you this session demand the exercise of calm, deliberate, and temperate discussion and judgment on your part. Let us hope the results will confer a material benefit on our Order. If anything has been omitted in this report your indulgence is craved. In retiring from the position held by me for two years, my grateful thanks are given to all those who have kindly assisted me in the prosecution of my duties, also to all those Lodges which have been visited by me, and who have always accorded me a hearty reception. To my colleagues, words are insufficient to acknowledge the many obligations they have placed me under. My connection with the Order has been of several years' duration, still time has not blunted the motto previously expressed by me—viz., the "Continued Prosperity of the Order."
Initiation Fee . . . £1 per Member, at all Ages.
During the last two years the following are the numbers initiated, also ages when admitted, as far as Return Sheets show:—10 members from 18 to 20 years, go from 21 to 25 years, 56 from 26 to 30 years, 36 from 31 to 35 years, 9 from 36 to 10 years, 5 from 41 to 15 years of age. These figures will be useful for observing how the great majority who enter the Order will be affected by the above table.
The Balance-sheet was then read and laid on the table.
Resolved—"That the Address of the G.M. and the Secretary's Balance-sheet be printed, and distributed to the members at next sitting."
Minutes of the following meetings held during the past year were read and confirmed :—
General Meeting of Lodges of Dunedin and Suburbs, held in the Odd-fellows' Hall, Albany-street, Dunedin, rd November, 1876
G.M. Bro. Braithwaite in the chair.
The G. Sec. acted as Secretary.
Present: Members of several Lodges.
The meeting was called in response to a letter from Mr. William Woodlands, A.O.F., asking whether our Order would consider the question of establishing a Friendly Societies' Medical Dispensary in conjunction with the other Friendly Societies of Dunedin.—After discussion,
Bro. M'Kenzie proposed and Bro. Cook seconded—"That this Convention approves of the principle of establishing a Dispensary for the Friendly Societies of Dunedin and suburbs, and will be prepared to meet the other Societies in conference to discuss the subject."—Carried.
Resolved—"That Bros. E. Harrison, E. M'Kenzie, T. P. Wilson, J. Michie, and D. Matheson be the representatives of this Order at any general meetings of the Friendly Societies which may be called in connection with this matter."
Meeting of Standing Committee, 26th November, 1876, held in Dowling-street.
Present: G.M. Braithwaite (in the chair), and G.W. Wheeler, G. Sec. Boyd, and G. Treas. Alexander.
The G.M. reported that a petition had been received from 28 persons residing in Christchurch, asking for a charter for a new Lodge to be established there, to be called the "Avon Lodge."
Resolved—" That a charter be granted."
Eesolved—" That Bro. White, the D.D.G.M., Timaru, be commissioned to inaugurate the new Lodge, and that Bros. T. E. Price and W. M. Sims be requested to accompany him."
The G.M. read extracts from a letter dated
Resolved—"That Bro. M'Gaw be our Representative to the Supreme Grand Lodge, U.S."
Meeting of Standing Committee, Oddfellows' Hall, Albany-street, st February, 1877
Present: G.M. Braithwaite (in the chair), D.G.M. Michie, G. Sec. Boyd.
Consideration of application from Pioneer Lodge for a donation on behalf of Bro. John Lenton, P.G.S., &c. Received a deputation from Pioneer Lodge, consisting of Bros. Teague, Collins, Alexander, and Moore. Bro. Teague explained the object of the deputation, viz., to support the request sent us by letter asking for a subscription on account of Bro. Lenton.
When the deputation had withdrawn, it was proposed by Bro. Michie, seconded by Bro. Wheeler—"That the sum of £5 be voted to P.G. Sec. John Lenton as a testimonial for past services."—Carried.
Standing Committee Meeting, th April, 1877
Present: G.M. Bro. Braithwaitc (in the chair), G. Sec. Boyd, G. Treas.—Alexander.
Consideration of offer by George Leslie and Peter Black to supply scales for specified benefits.
Resolved—" That we accept the offer of Messrs. Leslie and Black to supply us for the sum of £10 with the Scales" (which will be found at the end of G.L. business).
Meeting of Standing Committee, th April, 1877
Present: G.M. Bro. Braithwaite (in the chair), G.W. Wheeler, G. Sec. Boyd.
Consideration of application from Avon Lodge, Christchurch,
Resolved—"That the sum of £5 be placed to the credit of the Avon Lodge towards defraying the preliminary expenses as above."
Resolved—"That proper Return Sheets not having been furnished by the Wanganui Lodge since
Meeting of Standing Committee, th May, 1877
Present : G.M. Bro. Braithwaite, D.G.M. Michie, G.T. Alexander, G.W. Wheeler.
Consideration of letter to G.M. from D.D.G.M. Bro. Watt, Wanganui District, stating that the Marton Lodge had not held a meeting for upwards of six months; that in consequence the Lodge was defunct; that some of the late members wanted to divide the funds and property between them; that he (Bro. Watt) had prevented this being done, and had in the meantime taken possession of the whole effects of the Lodge, and asking instructions.
Proposed by Bro. Michie, seconded by Bro. Alexander—"That the best thanks of the G.L. be conveyed to Bro. Watt for the position he has taken in the interest of the G.L. and Order, and that his action
Letter from G.S. Bro. Ridgely, U.S.A., asking particulars re Charter, and stating that we should be under the jurisdiction of a body named the G.L. of Australasia, such body to have power to create branch Grand Lodges.
Resolved—"That the G.M. be entrusted with the duty of replying to Bro. Bidgely's letter."
Meeting of Standing Committee, th August, 1877
Present: G.M. Bro. Braithwaite (in the chair), G.T. Alexander, G.W. Wheeler.
Letter from Bro. Watt re Marton Lodge, stating that the late members objected to his transferring the assets of the Lodge to the Grand Lodge, and asking instructions; and stating that a new Lodge was proposed for Palmerston North, and asking permission to hand over the Marton furniture and regalia free of cost to it.
Resolved—"That Bro. Braithwaite have power to arrange difficulty with Marton Lodge consistently with the laws of the Order, and that we sanction Bro. Watt presenting the furniture and regalia to the proposed Lodge at Palmerston North as suggested."
Meeting of Standing Committee, th September, 1877
Present: G.M. Bro. Braithwaite (in the chair), D.G.M. Michie, G.W. Wheeler, and G. See. Boyd.
Business: Proposed New Scale of Contributions.
Moved by Bro. Wheeler, seconded by Bro. Michie—" That Table C of the Tables, as prepared by Messrs. Leslie and Black, be recommended by this Standing Committee to the Grand Lodge for adoption by the Order, on account of the Sick and Funeral Funds."—Carried.
Moved by Bro. Wheeler, seconded by Bro. Michie—"That the initiation fee be one pound sterling, without respect to age."—Carried.
Resolved—" That there be added to the contribution to the Sick and Funeral Funds,—as provided in the Table referred to,—the sum of sevenpence halfpenny per week per member, to secure medical benefits, and meet the working expenses of the Lodge and Order.
All the above minutes were read and confirmed, after which several notices of motion were given, and the Grand Lodge adjourned till 18th September.
The G.L. assembled this day, at 8 p.m.
All the Elective Grand officers were present, the majority of the appointed officers, and a quorum of representatives.
The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed.
Notices of motion having been given,
The G.M. read a petition from Bro. Lezard, Avon Lodge, Christchurch, praying us to adopt a graduated scale of contributions.
Resolved—"That the petition from Bro. Lezard be received."
Moved by Bro. McKenzie, seconded by Bro. Boelke—"That three auditors be elected by the Dunedin and suburban Lodges to audit the books and accounts of the Lodges of Dunedin district."
Amendment proposed by Bro. Haigh, seconded by Bro. Lindsay—"That two auditors be appointed by this G.L., whose services shall be available for the Lodges in the Dunedin district."
The amendment was carried.
Moved by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. McNair—"That any P.G.M. who may be financial on the books of a Sub. Lodge have the right of voting in the Grand Lodge."—Carried.
Moved by Bro. M.White, seconded by Bro. McKenzie—" That the next session of the G.L. be held in Timaru."—Carried.
Lodge adjourned till 19th September.
The G.L. assembled this day at 8 p.m.
Present: All the Elective Grand officers, (except the R.W.D.G.M.,) the G. Mar., G. Guard., and G. Herald. A quorum of representatives was also present.
The Lecture Master for Dunedin district made his report for the year, as follows:—
Most Worthy Grand Master, Officers, and Representatives of the Grand Lodge,—
The revolution of time again calls upon me to give an account of my stewardship in connection with the work of the Degree Lodge of this district. At the last session of this Grand Lodge I was again re-appointed Lecture Master. In briefly reporting the work for the term now closing, I may state that it has again been very successful. Although a General or Central Degree Lodge has not been established this term, yet a greater amount of work has been accomplished by my acceding to the request of the officers of the various Lodges, to confer degrees upon members when requested. I may state that the number of members who have received the various degrees to which they were entitled has far exceeded that of any of the previous terms, yet the expenses are correspondingly large, which will be seen from the short statement herewith annexed. I may inform this Grand Lodge that I have attended sixteen degree meetings during the term, two of which lapsed, fourteen of which have been fairly successful, which are all shown in statement before referred to. I have again to remind (very much against my will) the scarlet members of the Order that they have not given me that support and assistance which it was their duty to render, yet the worthy should not be mixed with the unworthy. I may state that I received very able assistance from a few members in the town Lodge-rooms; but I cannot help expressing my grateful thanks to Brother Alexander for the assistance he has given me in the out-lying and suburban Lodges, and I am happy to say that any time I have asked him he has always been willing to render. Financially, the Lodge is still progressing. Notwithstanding the extra expenses of travelling, advertising, &c., there remains a credit balance to the Lodge of £5 17s., which, with the balance of last term, makes a total of £12 8s. to the
Resolved—"That Bro. Russell's Report be received."
Bro. M'Gaw, proposed by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. Gourlay.
Bro. Wheeler, proposed by Bro. Reid, seconded by Bro. T. P. Wilson.
Bro. Wheeler, proposed by Bro. Bracken, seconded by Bro. Gourlay,
Bro. Wilson, proposed by Bro M'Nair, seconded by Bro. Minifie.
Bro. Bovd, proposed by Bro. Gourlay, seconded by Bro. Walls.
Resolved—"That the salary of Grand Secretary be £30 per annum."
Bro. Wilson, proposed by Bro. Bracken, seconded by Bro. Moore.
Bro. Alexander, proposed by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. M'Nair.
Grand Trustees.—Bros. Michie, Wheeler, and Bracken were declared duly elected.
Resolved—"That the consideration of the G.M.'s Address and Balance-sheet take place on Friday night."
Proposed by Bro. Reid, seconded by Bro. Wheeler—"That lodges which are in arrear in sending in their returns for a period of six months be excluded from representation in this Grand Lodge."—Lost.
Resolved—" That the Grand Lodge accord a special welcome to Bro. M. White, of Timaru."
Bro. White acknowledged the compliment.
The G.L. adjourned till Friday, 21st inst., at 7.30 p.m.
The G.L. assembled this day at 8 p.m., G.M. Bro. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
Letter read from Alexandrovna Lodge, dated 17th instant, requesting tho G.M. to appoint a representative for the Alexandrovna Lodge.
Resolved—"That the letter be received, and that Bro. Gourlay be the representative of Alexandrovna Lodge."
Notices of motion having been given, the G.L. resolved itself into a committee of the whole.
Bro. Wheeler in the chair. Bro. Wilson Secretary.
Bro. Boyd proposed, and Bro. Braithwaite seconded—"That this committee recommend for adoption by the G.L., Table C, as prepared by Leslie and Black, with the addition of seven pence halfpenny per member per week, to provide for medical benefits and management expenses, and a uniform initiation fee of £1 per member; and that the said rates come into operation on
Amendment by Bro. Wilson, seconded by Bro. Reid—"That all persons joining the Order on and after
Amendment declared carried.
The sitting of the committee closed, and the
Proposed by Bro. Gourlay, seconded by Bro. Hill—"That the report of the committee be adopted."—Carried.
Proposed by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. Gourlay—"That this question be postponed till the Friendly Societies Act now before Parliament has passed."—Carried.
Adjourned till Monday,
G.M. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
Moved by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. Traeey—"That some mark of distinction be provided by the G.L. for P.Gs., to be worn in Sub. Lodges, such as a ribbon and five pointed stars of white metal; also, that a P.G.'s collar, at a reasonable price, be provided, and remain on sale at the office of the G.L. for the time being."—Lost.
Moved by Bro. M'Gaw, seconded by Bro. Gourlay—"That one copy of "White's Digest and one copy of new Initiation Book be ordered from G.L.U.S. for each Lodge in this jurisdiction."—Carried.
Moved by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. Alexander—"That the matter of the proposed New Scale (C) of Contributions be re-considered."—Carried.
Moved by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. Alexander—"That Table C, as prepared in the Grand Master's address, be adopted, with the following Initiation Fees for ages at next birthday,—viz., 18 to 25, £1; 26 to 30, 25s.; 31 to 40, 30s.; 41 to 45, £2; and that Table C, with these Initiation Fees, as amended, come into operation on
Resolved—"That Bro. Stout be informed of the action of the G.L. in adopting a graduated scale of contributions."
Resolved to adjourn till Wednesday, 20th inst., at 7.30 p.m.
G.M. Bro. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
Moved by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. M'Kenzie—"That at least one mouth's notice of the sitting of the G.L. be given to all Subordinate Lodges."—Carried.
Moved by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. M'Nair—"That honorary members be eligible for any office, and have the right of
Amendment proposed by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. Russell—"That this question remain in abeyance until next session."—Lost.
Moved by Bro. Teague, seconded by Bro. Russell—"That the election of G.L. officers take place as near the end of the session as possible"—Withdrawn by consent of the G L.
Resolved—"That the standing orders be suspended, to permit the G.L. proceeding with the notices of motion given to-night."
Proposed by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. Alexander—"That Law 142, which permits members to join a lodge on the night of its inauguration at half the usual rates of initiation fees, be repealed."—Carried."
Resolved—" That this G.L. adjourn till Tuesday next."
G.M. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
Moved by Bro Teague, seconded by Bro. Moore—"That from and after the close of this session no law affecting the constitution of this G.L. shall be altered except it be proposed at one session and carried at the next."—Carried.
Resolved—"That the standing orders be suspended."
Moved by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. Moore—"That sub. lodge quarter nights shall be, as heretofore, the last lodge night in the months of March, June, September, and December. That if the return-sheets and G.L. dues be not remitted by each sub. lodge to the G. Sec. on or before the 10th day of May, 10th August, 10th November, and 10th February, for each preceding quarter respectively, any sub. lodge so in default shall forfeit all claim on the General Funeral Fund in respect of the death of any member or member's wife which may take place prior to the transmission to the G. Sec. of such return-sheets and G.L. dues: and if any funeral claim arise during the days of grace as above indicated, the account of such claim will not be recognised by the G.L. unless it be accompanied by a remittance of the return-sheets and all dues then owing; and no claim forfeited as hereby provided will be revived by the subsequent payment of the G.L. dues."—Carried.
Resolved—"That the Avon Lodge be informed that the subject-matter of their petition has been dealt with in connection with a new Scale of Contributions and Initiation Fees which has been adopted."
Proposed by Bro. Wheeler, seconded by Bro. Teague—"That this G.L. expresses its appreciation of the services rendered by the Lecture Master of the Dunedin District, Bro. Russell; and that the G.M. be requested to call a meeting of the degree members of Dunedin and suburbs for the purpose of considering the question of a testimonial to Bro. Russell."—Carried.
Proposed by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. Haigh—"That the travelling expenses of G.L. Executive to Timaru to the next session be paid by the G.L."
Resolved to adjourn till Thursday,
G.M. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
Resolved—"That Bro. Boyd's motion, seconded by Bro. Haigh, re travelling expenses of G.L. Executive, be amended to read as follows:—' That the travelling fare (if any) incurred by the members of the G.L. Executive in attending moveable sessions of the G.L. be paid by the G.L."—Carried.
Proposed by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. M'Gaw—"That the assessment on sub. lodges to the G.L. Management Fund for current year be one shilling per financial member per quarter."—Carried.
Amendment by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. Reid—" That the assessment be ninepence per member per quarter."—Lost.
Resolved—"That a circular be sent to each sub. lodge to embody the new laws and amendments adopted at this session, and calling special attention to those lodges which are in default in the matter of return-sheets and dues, and giving notice of the meeting to be held on Wednesday, 31st October."
Proposed by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. Wheeler—"That the Standing Committee at their earliest convenience prepare a list of hints and instructions to secretaries of sub. lodges and have their printed and distributed, and that such hints and instructions be bound up with the new law-books."—Carried.
Resolved—"That the G.M.'s report, excepting the advertisements therein, be adopted."
Resolved—"That it be one of the duties of the Standing Committee to issue a Quarterly Report."
Resolved—"That the Balance-sheet be adopted."
Resolved—"That the G.M.'s and G. Sec.'s Reports and Balance-sheets, &c., be printed prior to the meeting of each annual session."
Resolved—"That we comply with the Friendly Societies Act respecting the registration of the G.L. and its branches."
Resolved—"That the Standing Committee and Bro. Braithwaite be the Printing Committee for new law-books."
Resolved—"That the G. Sec. and G. Treasurer find security to the Trustees in the sum of one hundred pounds each, such security to be given by a Guarantee Society of good repute, the premium of which is to be paid by the G.L."
The G.W. elect (Bro. Boyd) tendered his resignation of the office.
Resolved to adjourn till Wednesday,
G.M. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
The G.M. informed the G.L. that he had received a telegram from Bro. John Ballance, dated 30th October, announcing the inauguration of the Southern Cross Lodge.
Resolved—"That Bros. Boyd, "Wheeler, Braithwaite, M'Kenzie, and Reid be a committee whose duty shall be to promote the spread of the Order in New Zealand. Three to form a quorum; Bro. Braithwaite to be convener."
Resolved—"That the standing orders be suspended."
Moved by Bro. Wheeler, seconded by Bro. Tracey—"That all laws now on the Law-book which may be incompatible with the terms of the new Scale of Contributions and Initiation Fees, as adopted by this G.L. on
Moved by Bro. Boyd, seconded by Bro. M'Kenzie—"That it shall be unlawful for any lodge to receive a person into membership, whether by initiation or affiliation or otherwise, unless the lodge receive a certificate under the hand of a duty-qualified medical practitioner stating that the candidate for membership and his wife, if any, have passed a satisfactory medical examination in conformity with the requirements of the lodge."
Letter from Alfred Lodge,
Resolved—"That this G.L. expresses its appreciation of the promptitude with which G. Corresponding and Recording Secretary Bro. Ridgely, U.S., replied to the letters of the G.M."
Resolved—"That all notices of motion affecting the Constitution bear the signatures of at least three Brothers."
Notice of amendment to Constitution, proposed for next session by Bro. R. M'Kenzie, and signed by Bros. Boyd and Reid—"That the following law, as passed this session, be repealed:—'That no Constitutional law shall be adopted, repealed, or amended, unless such adoption, repeal, or amendment be proposed at one session and carried at the following.'"
Notice of amendment to Constitution, proposed by Bro. Braithwaite and signed by Bros. Boyd and Wheeler:—"That all members of subordinate lodges shall pay their subscriptions in advance; and any member indebted to his lodge in any sum whatever for weekly dues shall, while so indebted, be disqualified from all benefit and privileges of the lodge and Order. Further: Any law heretofore existing (that is, in confliction with the proposal embodied herein) shall be deemed to have become of no effect immediately on the passing of this resolution."
Account received from Bro. G. W. Jansen for 20s. for attendance at last and present sessions of G.L."
Resolved—" That the account be not received."
Resolved—"That this G.L. donate 21s. to Bro. Jansen for attendance at last and present session."
Resolved—" That the resignation of the G.W. elect be accepted."
Bro. Teague, proposed by Bro. Tracey and seconded by Bro. Hill.
Bro. William Reid, proposed by Bro. Russell and seconded by Bro. Alexander.
Bro. Reid was declared duly elected.
Proposed by Bro. M'Kenzie, seconded by Bro. Reid—"That the sum of £10 be voted as the nucleus of a testimonial to be presented to the retiring G. M. Bro. Braithwaite; and that Bros. Tracey, M'Kenzie, Hill, Alexander, Haigh, and Wilson be a committee to take charge of the matter, and that Bro. Alexander be convener of the same."—Carried.
Resolved—"That the G.L. adjourn till Friday, 2nd November, at 8 p.m."
G.M. Bro. Braithwaite in the chair.
A quorum of officers and representatives was present.
The G.M. made the following appointments :—
Trustees.—Resolved—" That Bros. Michie, Wheeler, and Bracken be re-elected"
"Whereas, in view of the recent correspondence between this G.L. and G. !Sec. Bro. Ridgely, G.L. U.S., respecting the charter and constitution of the former Grand body; and whereas, among other privileges, this G.L. of N.Z. having by virtue of its constitution full power to adjust its system of government on the same principles as the Grand Lodges of the United States and the German
Proposed Amendment of the Constitution.—Proposed by Bro. Braithwaite (signed by Bros. Boyd and M'Kenzie) for consideration next session) :—
Identity of written and unwritten work, and the same Annual Travelling Password: in conformity with the spirit of this preamble, Be it resolved—
Proposed Addition to the Constitution by Pro. Boyd, for consideration next session :—
"That at any General or Special Sessions of the G.L. any lodge have the right of being represented by proxy, provided that no proxy exercise more than one vote nor represent any other lodge than the one from which he holds a proxy.
Auditors.—Bros. Boyd, Braithwaite, and Michie were declared duly elected.
Committee on Laws of Subordinate Lodges.—The Standing Committee were duly elected
Committee on Petitions and Appeals.—Do. do. do.
Resolved, "That Bros. William Reid and James Michie be General Auditors for the district of Dunedin, whose services may be availed of on such terms as may be agreed on between them or either of them, and any lodge requiring their services."
Resolved, "That Bro. Peter Russell be Lecture Master for the district of Dunedin on same terms as heretofore."
Resolved, "That a G.L. Collar and G. Sec. Jewel be presented to retiring G. Sec. Bro. Boyd."
Resolved, to adjourn sine die.
The G.L. was then closed in ample form.
Mr. Joseph Braithwaite, G.M., I.O.O.F.,
Sir,—Having completed the necessary calculations for the various tables as specified in your letter of April 13th, we have now the honor to submit the results, which, we feel assured, will afford you every facility for framing an equitable scale of contributions suitable to the requirements of your Society.
The rate of interest upon which these Tables have been calculated is 4 per cent., a rate that has been almost invariably adopted by Actuaries for the valuation of Life Assurance Societies in these colonies. In calculations of this character, the future as well as the present must be looked to; therefore we think it would be scarcely prudent to reckon upon more than 4 per cent., for though higher rates may at present prevail, it is by no means certain that such will always continue to be the case. Moreover, it must be borne in mind, that in order that these results may be applicable to the Society, it is imperative that the rate of interest reckoned upon shall be received per annum upon the total capital of the Sick and Funeral Funds, whatever the same may consist of—houses, land, or goods, or anything in fact that represents money belonging to these Funds. In the event, therefore, of any of these Tables being adopted, it would be incumbent upon the officers of the Society to see that these conditions are complied with, for although as a rule societies here receive more than 4 per cent, for investments, it will be found upon investigation that considerably less than that rate is realised upon their total capital. All circumstances considered, then, we think that we are fully justified in not selecting a higher rate of interest than 4 per cent.
The Tables of Sickness and Mortality used are those of the Manchester Unity Oddfellows, compiled from the experience of that Society in Great Britain, by Mr. Henry Ratcliffe, the C.S. of the Order. The reputation which these Tables have acquired renders comment on our part almost unnecessary. Such is the estimation in which they are held that the Actuarial Commission lately appointed by the Imperial Government have affirmed them to be the only reliable Tables extant, relative to Friendly Societies.
Now, there is an opinion pretty generally entertained that the rates of Sickness and Mortality experienced among Friendly Societies in this colony are
Table A. shows the monthly premiums necessary for the benefits at present given by your Society, taking into account that part of the Initiation Fees which, is apportioned to the Sick and Funeral Funds. The table has been assimilated as nearly as it is possible to calculate with the present financial regulations of the Society, and for all purposes of comparison will therefore be found amply reliable. The considerations, however, which were appended—viz., members admitted at the opening of a new Lodge, and members out of compliance readmitted at half the usual rates for initiation—we have found it impossible to take into account, the proportion of members who join or re join under these conditions not being specified. Moreover, with all due deference, we may remark that it seems to us both inconsistent and unjust that A. should be admitted into the Society on Monday for one pound, whilst B. who joins a fortnight later, although possessing the same qualifications as A., must pay two. It may be urged that it is an inducement for a greater number to join on the opening of a new Lodge, but the best answer to such an argument is the fact that the fewer who join upon these terms the better for the financial condition of the Society, and the same will also apply in the case of members out of compliance re-joining. A great proportion of those who allow their memberships to lapse are men whose material prospects in life have so improved as to render
Table B. has been calculated for the same benefits as Table A., except that new members are not entitled to benefits until the expiration of twelve months, and shows the Initiation Fees which would be required at each age, with a fixed contribution of 7½d. per week. At some of the younger ages it will be seen that the 7½d is more than sufficient, whilst at the older, the fees requisite are so large that we believe the table will be found of little practical use to the Society.
Table C. shows the monthly premiums necessary for the same benefits as Table B. without Initiation Fees, and is without doubt the one best adapted to the requirements of the Society as at present constituted. By adopting it, the loss at present incurred by accepting Clearance members would be avoided, for in this Colony, where the number of those who join by Clearance is much greater than those who leave, the loss entailed upon Societies is no doubt considerable. With a graduated scale of payments, without Initiation Fees, the hardships would of course fall on the member who, by drawing his clearance, must forego all the advantage he derives from joining the Society at a younger age. But. until a general system is adopted by Societies that shall be equitable between them and the member, the question of Clearances will always continue to be one of difficulty.
Table D. gives the monthly premiums necessary without Initiation Fees, for the same benefits as Tables B. and C., except that Sick Benefit, ceases at age 65, after which an annuity of 10s. per week is to be received. The officers of the Society must be complimented on their sagacity in asking for a Table of this kind; it evinces on their part a keen perception of what are the true functions of a Friendly Society, which should offer facilities for its members to make provision for old age, as well as the ordinary contingencies of sickness and accident to be met with in life, and we venture to affirm that the time is not far distant when the system of deferred annuities will be more generally adopted by Friendly Societies than is the case at present. If in this instance the contributions are found to be too high, the difficulty might be overcome by reducing the amount of the annuity.
In life assurance calculations, it is customary to assume that when the premiums are paid they are at once invested, but as this is scarcely practicable in the case of Friendly Societies, it is generally thought that to allow six months for the payment and investment of contributions would be a fair average. In accordance with this principle these Tables have been calculated, and if any of them be adopted, it is imperative that this condition be borne in mind.
Before concluding, we wish to soy that the only infallible method of testing the sufficiency of the Society's scale of payments is by periodical valuations, but if the Tables of Sickness and Mortality upon which our calculations are based be applicable to Societies here, (and we have already given strong reasons for the supposition that they are so,) then most certainly these contributions will be required to produce the benefits. It behoves the members then to assure themselves that they are not at present paying their contributions into the Society in the hope of receiving benefits that can never be realized.
In conclusion, we beg to compliment the officers of the Society upon the spirit shewn by them in raising the question of financial reform. It evinces on their part an interest in the welfare of the Society that cannot be too highly commended; and we sincerely hope that their efforts will meet with that co-operation on the part of the members which its importance deserves.
Contributions per Month to Sick and Funeral Funds, with present Initiation Fees, (apportioned as at present, 1/3 to Sick Fund, ? to Funeral Fund)—for present Sick and Funeral Benefits, viz.:—
Sick Benefits—
After 6 months' membership, 10s. per week, in sickness
After 12 months' membership, 20s. per week, in sickness for the first 6 months; 10s. for the next 6 months, and 5s. for any sickness after a continued sickness of 12 months.
Funeral Benefits—
Thirteen monthly payments per annum.
No provision is made in above calculations for expenses or benefits of any other description.
Initiation Fees necessary with an Annual Contribution of £1 12s. 6d. at each age to the Sick and Funeral Funds, to secure the following Benefits after 12 months' membership, viz.:—
Sick Benefits—
Funeral Benefits—
£20 on the death of a member
£10 on the death of a member's wife (for one wife only).
Annual Contribution to be divided as follows :—
To Sick Fund—£l 4s. 11d. P annum, or 1s. 11d. P month of 4 weeks
To Funeral Fund—7s. 7d. P annum, or 1s. 7d. P month of 4 weeks
No provision is made in above calculations for expenses or benefits of any other description.
£20 on the death of a member
£10 on the death of a member's wife (for one wife only).
Thirteen monthly payments per annum. No Initiation Fee.
No provision is made in above calculations for expenses or benefits of any other description.
Annuity of 10s. per week, payable quarterly during life, after age 65.
£20 on the death of a member
£10 on the death of a member's wife (for one wife only).
Contributions payable during the whole term of life.
Thirteen monthly payments per annum.
No provision is made in above calculations for expenses or benefits of any other description.
Very recently application was made to this office by the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, through one of its standing committees (Committee of Correspondence), for instruction as to the form of government of the Order connected, with this Grand Lodge in Australia. Upon making the proper examination into the subject, and consulting our records, I was surprised at the lamentable paucity of our historical material, and of our consequent inability to respond satisfactorily to the inquiry. I now beg to invite your attention to this subject with a view to correction of errors, if any exist, in the record, and to the securement of a proper historical narrative of the transactions. The object of the inquiry was to learn the character of the charter of the Grand Lodge of Australasia. This charter was easily found (a copy) at page 4295, printed journal G.L. of U.S. But it does not appear that the same has been put in practice in as comprehensive a form and power as was designed. By reference to the charter, and to the instructions of Grand Sire Sanders to D.D.G. Sire Meacham, it will appear that it was designed to institute the Order in Australia as an "independent jurisdiction," subject only to certain limitations and conditions, heretofore required in the establishment of the Grand Lodge of British North America, as follows
1st. That the Grand Lodge of Australia shall not alter or repudiate any of the signs, tokens, pass-words, lectures, or charges, or any part or portion of either of the written or unwritten work of the Order as known or practised within the jurisdiction of the G.L. of the United States I.O.O.F.
2nd. That the Grand Lodge of the U. States reserves to itself the right to give to the said Grand Lodge of Australia the annual travelling pass-word, to be used within the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Australia, and both jurisdictions shall use the same travelling pass-word.
3rd. The qualifications for membership in the subordinate lodges within the jurisdiction of the said Grand Lodge of Australia shall be identical with those established for membership in subordinate lodges within the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the United States.
It thus appears that the charter of the Grand Lodge of Australia established that grand body as a quasi Independent Grand Lodge of Australasia, subject only to the specific limitations named therein, and of course with grand jurisdiction co-extensive with the continent. Nevertheless, your Grand Lodge of New Zealand, and possibly other colonial Grand Lodges, have been since established; and if by Bro. Meacham, as Sp. D.G. Sire, we have no account of their formation and under what charter. Properly speaking, the G.L. of Australasia, should incorporate all her colonial Grand Lodges, and these Sub Grand Lodges would, embodied by a system of representation, constitute the Supreme Grand Lodge of Australia. I desire to call your attention to the subject for the purpose of inducing you to begin your system right, and conforming your government of the Order to the original intendment. This is especially desirable in view of the fact, that as I learn from Melbourne, that a Lodge has been formed at Sydney, N. S. Wales, with a design of erecting the colony into a Grand Lodge Jurisdiction, and that efforts are also to be used to form a Grand Lodge in Tasmania, and thus to enlarge and amplify the extent of the Grand Lodge of
South Canterbury Times of
Brother Ridgely desires me to request you to send to him, soon as possible, an exact copy of the charter or dispensation under which you work. Give the names signed to it, date, and if a seal attached, state if it is that of the G.L.U.S., as above, or what body it is. It is important that we have all the particulars relating to it.
The papers you so kindly sent (of
We shall be glad to have you forward us the back numbers, so far as obtainable, of proceedings of G.L. of New Zealand, that we may have them bound, and placed in the G. Lodge Library, the three copies of session of
Yours of
It is important at this time that the brethren in Australasia should be set aright upon important subjects connected with the origin and history of American Odd fellowship in Australasia, and that serious departures which have inadvertently been made from its intended original form of government and true relation to the Grand Lodge of the United States should be intelligently communicated. This has involved on my part a detailed inquiry into the records of the Grand Lodge from
First let me introduce to your notice, without giving you offence, I hope, as a presumption upon your intelligence and proper education in Oddfellowship, the fact that the Revised (bound) Journal of the Grand Lodge of the United States, in eight octavo volumes, from
After several years of fruitless effort to introduce our Order to Australia, beginning with "Know ye that the Grand Lodge of the United States, I O.O.F., as the source of all true and legitimate Oddfellowship in the United States of America, and by virtue of its constitutional authority to organize lodges and encampments, grand and subordinate, in foreign countries, doth hereby create and erect into distinct sovereignty the various lodges of Oddfellows heretofore existing in Australia (meaning Australasia) Victoria, one of its colonies, but one supreme grand body, out of which subordinate grand bodies might be formed in every colony or political division of the continent. Instead of founding the Order after this model, Bro. Meacham has doubtless founded the Grand Lodge of Victoria and the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, the only two of which we have any knowledge as subordinate grand bodies to the G.L. of U.S., which entirely dwarfs the character of the Order he was instructed to organize, and departed from his instructions. In proof of this position, see pages 4238, 4286, Journal, letters of G. Sire Sanders to A. D. Meacham, Sp. D. G. Sire; also, the general correspondence of that year accompanying G. Sire and G. Secretary's reports, and especially the words of the charter sent out, at page 4295, from which I abstract the following:—
by the name and title of the Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F., of Australia, with power in all matters relating to Oddfellowship within said province (meaning continent), except in the following respects." Here follow the exceptions, viz.:—(1.) Identity of work. (2.) The reservation of the A.T.P.W. And (3.) Qualification of membership.
After this charter was received a letter was received from Bro. Meacham, who had previously chartered the G. Lodge of Victoria at Melbourne and the G.L. of New Zealand under warrants supposed to be from G.L. of U.S., suggested that the grand charter sent out to the G.L. of Australasia was in error in the name, and asking authority to alter it. To this Grand Sire Farnsworth replied, in his annual report, that there was no error (page 4462, Journal), and stated at
I have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 23rd January and 3rd April, enquiring what status our G. Lodge holds respecting its charter; also, I beg to apprise you of the arrival here yesterday of the U.S. G. Lodge reports, for which receive my best thanks. I have not had time to look through them; but their appearance reflects the greatest credit upon the G.L.U.S., and especially upon yourself, who no doubt compiles them in such a systematic manner. Lost night I brought the above letters before our Standing Committee (the elective officers), and they entrusted me with the duty of communicating their opinions generally upon the subject matter contained therein, which opinions were unanimously arrived at. Before we affiliated with your Order we were under the G.L. of Victoria, A.I O.O.F., and contributed thereto quarterly dues to the General Management and Funeral Fund of the Order. When Bro. Meachem, S.D.G. Sire, from America, came, an alteration took place, the G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., releasing us entirely from all subordination of whatsoever kind, including monetary dues to the above funds, and further allowed us by charter to be erected into an independent G. Lodge, having powers and representation co-equal to themselves. This act was effected by the G. L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., and not by the R.W.G.L. of Australia, I.O.O.F.
To confirm this, I forward you by post a copy of our old laws (pink cover), in which you will find a preamble containing a facsimile of the powers granted in our charter; also, the date on which the event took place. It was some time after this charter was granted that the G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., changed their name to the R.W.G.L., I.O.O.F, of Australia, and for the sake of uniformity we in our turn altered our name from the G.L. of New Zealand, A.I.O.O.F., to the R.W.G.L. of N.Z., I.O.O.F. Since the period that the G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., released us by charter into an independent body, we have never sent dues of any description to our former parent, nor have they ever asked us for any. This fact proves that our relative position to each other was mutually understood,
Lodges in Australia under title of the R.W.G.L. of Australia, I.O.O.F., with power in all matters relating to Oddfellowship within said province. Now, as there were Lodges existing here, and therefore outside of said province, when the instructions were given, and as the Lodges in Australia are only designated for operation open; also, seeing that New Zealand is separated from Australia by about 1,200 to 1,600 miles of sea, and further, that New Zealand is an entirely separate island and colony, we therefore think that Bro. Meacham could hardly have acted otherwise than he did, especially with the additional fact that the G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., had granted us a thorough and complete release from their jurisdiction, leaving us subordinate only to the G.L.U.S., being equivalent to the status held by your State Grand Lodges, which position we thought the G.L. of Australia held also. There are only two G. Lodges in Australia and New Zealand, viz., the R.W.G. Lodges of Australia and New Zealand. For the sake of perpetuating uniformity in all matters relating to the general welfare, we believe that there should only be one supreme body, consisting of grand representatives from all state, territorial, and colonial Grand Lodges, on the same principle that the "Annual Moveable Committee" is the supreme body of the Manchester Unity all over the world, and the High Court of the Foresters ever the Foresters. We could multiply illustrations of the same character to bear out our meaning. We think that the creation of more than one supreme body in our Order will in the future lead to a confliction over some of the multifarious matters that will yet crop up. We take note of the rights that this G.L.U.S. have reserved, but there are many other subjects of great importance, affecting the Order generally, that will demand the legislation, and therefore final decision, of only one supreme body, so as to carry out thorough uniformity wherever the Order exists. We have not time at present to advance instances of matters of general moment that may turn up from time to time, requiring the legislation of only one supreme body, and which does not appear in the G.L.U.S. reservations. No doubt they will present themselves to you. There is, however, one subject which has just occurred to us, viz., that of withdrawal cards (or clearance). It is essential that this card should be uniform, because, suppose that the G.L. of Australasia (a body not in existence yet) were to agree upon a card different in construction to your own, your Lodges would no doubt not recognise our colonial members. This would raise a confliction of authority between each supreme body, viz., Grand Lodges of Australasia and United States. And may not the same confliction arise in other matters ? Some of our members, having a different card to yours, with the greatest difficulty effected an entrance when visiting your Lodges in America, and in some instances were refused admittance. This has caused considerable dissatisfaction, and we would respectfully suggest that in the meantime our cards be recognised, if the brothers presenting them are, after careful examination, proved to be members of the Order, as, after all, the knowledge of the secret work, &c., is one of the best tests of membership when visiting.
It is, perhaps, to be regretted that we have no direct representation in the G.L.U.S. at its annual sessions, caused through the distance, loss of time, and expense that would be entailed; but exactly the same results would be experienced if we sent a representative to a supreme G.L. of Australasia, on account of the distance by sea. We fail to perceive that any material advantage is to be gained by constituting a supreme G.L. for the continent of Australia and New Zealand, to have such powers as stated in your letters now under discussion. We believe that if a representative from our G. Lodge is to go out of N.Z. it should be to the fountain head, viz., G.L.U.S.; and if, through the cause already stated, this object cannot be attained, then we are placed in no worse position than our contemporary societies. Say there was a supreme G.L. of Australasia, similarly constituted in its representation and functions to the G.L.U.S., it would naturally hold its meetings in Victoria (which is only a small fractional part of Australasia), because nearly all the Lodges exist therein, excepting the number in New-Zealand. We could not, therefore, be represented in that body from the very same causes that prevents our G. Lodge being represented in G.L.U.S.; besides,
Sick Fund and the Funeral Fund, which should be contributed to separately on the graduated system, according to age, (certified to by an actuary on actual experience of sickness and mortality) for specified benefits. These funds should be kept entirely distinct, and neither of them appropriated for the use of the other, or for any other purpose except payments on account of legitimate sick and death claims. All other expenses should bo contributed to independently, and met by a fund called the Management Fund. The dues to this fund necessarily vary in every lodge. The contributions and expenditure to the Sick Fund and the Funeral Fund can be raised and applied as follows for the same specified benefits all round, viz., Lodges in a district or city could send the Sick and Funeral Fund dues received from members to a centrally constituted authority, to be held in trust, out of which sick and funeral benefits could be paid to members in the Lodges directly contributing thereto. This is mutual co-operation on a larger scale than exists at present with single Lodges only, and it would prevent many Lodges from dissolving, and assure the payment of benefits promised to members when they joined the Order. To formulate a correct table of contributions to the Sick and Funeral Funds universally applicable, the rates of sickness and deaths must be deduced from the aggregate and not from isolated districts. Charitable relief funds are very necessary, and could bo contributed to separately, out of which all cases of pure charity could be met; but such funds are subsidiary to the ones already mentioned. As the members increase in age, our liabilities proportionately increase. Let us therefore be just before we are generous, and reserve by every possible means sufficient funds to meet all our sick and funeral engagements in the future, and so hand our Order down to posterity in such a shape that its success will be for ever perpetuated. Let us know what material difference there is between the new Charge Book and the old; because, from opinions expressed by our brothers who have visited America, they say we have the secret work perfect. What expense is connected with the change? We have no reports of re charter, but only
We observe in your report for Most Worthy Grand Sire of the R.W.G.L of the German Empire. Is this a misprint, and should there not only be one M.W.G.S. over the whole Order ? If the above is not a mistake, then what special reason was there for creating a M.W.G.S. for that portion of the Order and not doing it elsewhere ? To prevent confusion of titles, authority, &c., (which often occurs,) we respectfully suggest that the G.L.U.S. should change its name to something more cosmopolitan, so as to imply what it really is, viz., the Supreme Grand Lodge of the I.O.O.F. throughout the world, with officers titled as at present in the G.L.U.S.; also that every other R.W.G. Lodge should be entirely subordinate, and only have the same power, functions, and titles of officers that your State Grand Lodges are possessed of at present; and further, that the Supreme G.L. as aforesaid should in its constitution permit representatives of all Sub G. Lodges from all parts of the world to have the right of taking part in the proceedings thereof.
We feel proud of belonging to our Order when, by its influences, noble sentiments could be expressed such as pervaded the orations of those eminent brothers on the Centennial day at Philadelphia.
Your "Avant Courier" despatch of April 30th was gladly received. I was highly gratified to learn that my letter (of January 23rd previous) reached you in due season. I also wrote to you April 3rd, which I hope has reached you. Our information touching our order in your important and rapidly-growing country is generally meagre and unsatisfactory, and especially concerning Oddfellowship, which, in consequence of the difficulties attending its introduction, has become much mixed up and confused in its system of government, and consequently greatly misunderstood. The object of my correspondence with you, and with the Grand Lodge in Victoria, was to bring about a reconstruction of your system of government, to which result I hope the movement will tend. I shall write to you after your next is received, and will hereafter forward anything for New Zealand directly viâ San Francisco.
Wishing the order continued success in New Zealand, and advising you of its general prosperity, I remain, in F., L.,T., your brother,
P.S.—We were not aware that the steamers touched at New Zealand before going to Melbourne, or we should, had we known the arrangement, sent your packages direct instead of to care of Bro. Curtis.
The G. Secy, wrote 7th May to Bro. J. H. R. Curtis, G. Secy. Grand Lodge Australia, and quoted from the Constitution of Grand Lodge of New Zealand, on file in this office (printed copy), printed at Dunedin Evening Star Machine Print-
Yours of the 10th June, to hand, which would have been answered sooner, only we have been busy with the G.L. session, reports of which will be sent when printed. The G.L. is now having the most successful session ever held here since its institution, and many matters of vital importance to our permanent welfare has been inaugurated. Our G.L. has upheld the views re its constitution and charter, as expressed to you in mine of the 30th May. In yours of the above date you say in effect "that the preamble in our law book settles the question that the G.L. of New Zealand is subordinate to the G.L. of Australia." We fail to observe this, inasmuch as there is no subordination or reservation of any kind whatsoever mentioned therein. On the contrary, it appears that the G.L. of Victoria A.I.O.O.F. (afterwards the G.L. of Australia, I.O.O.F.) has given us an unconditional charter, without the least reservation on their part; and further, has created us an independent body for the Colony of New Zealand. This position is borne out by facts, as stated in mine of the 30th May—viz., "that since this charter was granted the G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F., (or G.L. of Australia, I.O.O.F.,) has never asked us for dues or reports of any kind whatsoever; whereas, previous to the charter being granted, we had and did send our returns and dues regularly."
Taking all your previous letters as a guide, the lodges in America who refused to receive our brothers on account of their withdrawal cards not being the same as yours, must have acted incorrectly, because it is not mentioned in the G.L.U.S. reservations that we have to use your withdrawal (or clearance) cards only.
With kind regards to yourself, and to our beloved order in America, of which I feel proud I have the pleasure to remain,
P.S.—During my time as G.M., which has been two years, we have never had the A.T.P.W. I hear it has been the same experience during the terms of other G.Ms.
I received with great pleasure your letter of January 29, directed the R.W. Grand C. and R. Secretary, Brother Ridgely, and felt highly gratified with the flattering account it furnished of the Order in New Zealand, and was glad to find you so sanguine and hopeful of the future.
Brother Ridgely, at my request, has explained very fully the rather anomalous position of your Grand Lodge, which is enclosed herewith. He will also correspond with the Grand Master of Australia upon the same subject, with a view of having your co-operation in perfecting the organisation of your continent, as it was originally intended, and as we supposed it was until we received your letter; and it is only necessary for me to express my great desire that you lose no time in presenting your case to the G.L. of the U.S., whom you will find ever ready to promote your best interest, and a God-speed to your permanent success and prosperity.
Yours of the 4th ult., together with enclosure from Bro. Ridgely, was received by last mail viâ San Francisco. A reply has been sent to the Grand Cor. and Rec. Secretary's communications re the status and charter of our G. Lodge, which, no doubt, will be submitted for your perusal, copy of which has also been forwarded to G. Secy, of Australian G.L.
On behalf of the Order in New Zealand, I have to thank you for your kind expressions respecting our future welfare, and trust that existing misunderstandings will be speedily removed, to our mutual satisfaction. With fraternal regards.
Yours of 30th May, with the enclosed copy of a letter written by you on the same date to R.W. Grand Secretary Ridgely, reached me to-day. I will have very great pleasure in complying with your request to place them before our Standing Committee. Meanwhile, I may allow myself the pleasure of thanking you for the courtesy you have shown by forwarding us a copy of your well-considered and lucidly-expressed letter.
I have received a letter, dated April 6th, from G.S. Ridgely, in reference to the very important subject which is the principal topic of your letter, viz., the formation of a Grand Lodge of Australasia. In my opinion, it is useless to think of the organisation of such a lodge before we have the material for its formation. I consider that the necessary material would be at least four or five Grand Lodges in the various provinces of Australasia. But then comes the question, "Would it be advisable, even then, to have a Grand Lodge of Australasia ? A great deal may be said in support of either an affirmative or negative answer to this question. If a conference of the various Australasian Grand Lodges (supposing that we had the requisite number) were to be called, I am inclined to think that the majority of delegates would be in favour of having a Supreme Grand Lodge of Australasia. For my own part, I lean to your opinion, that it is desirable to have only One Supreme Grand Lodge of the Order.
With regard to the question of the relative position of your Grand Lodge and ours, I am thoroughly in unison with the opinion expressed by you in your letter. But some of our brethren here are of a different opinion. They think that the fact of your having received the charter for your Grand Lodge from us, implies a kind of subordination to us. But I ask, wherein are you subordinate ? I quite agree with you that, as a Grand Lodge, you must be co-ordinate with our Grand Lodge, both of us being subordinate to the R.W.G.L. of the United States. But then Bro. Ridgely asserts that, in constituting the Grand Lodge of Australia, the intention was to include the whole of the British Possessions in Australasia. I can quite understand that their ideas of Australasian topography must be somewhat hazy, and that they are not well aware of the fact that a thousand miles of sea intervene between us and you. (You will doubtless think of their having forwarded the "Journals" to us from San Francisco to transmit them to you.) I must confess to you that it is my deliberate (but individual) opinion that we had no power to grant a charter to your Grand Lodge. However, the thing was done, and no doubt our Grand Lodge will be disposed to say, "Quod scripsi, scripsi."
With reference to the matter of "clearances" I am tempted to consider it altogether contrary to the terms of our charter that the R.W.G.L. of the United States should refuse to accept our "clearances" because they are not written on the "forms" supplied by the G.L. of U.S. But doubtless their judgment in reference to this matter is superior to mine. I fancy you are slightly in error when you say that they have refused our members admittance into American lodges on account of the informality of their "clearance cards." I scarcely think they could do this if the brother were in possession of the travelling pass-word, and could "work" correctly into the lodge-room. No doubt they might refuse to accept him as a member of their lodge, although I think it would be unfair to do so. We have received brothers from your jurisdiction with your clearance cards, and have received them with pleasure. However, I would not wish to be in any way disloyal to the R.W. Grand Lodge of the U.S. But it seems to me that, if they force us to use their clearance forms, they may as well require us to get our diplomas from them, and charter forms for subordinate lodges. I think that the difficulty could be easily overcome by having our clearance cards viséed by G.S. Bro. Ridgely whenever a brother wishes to deposit one into an American lodge. Bro. Ridgely would be able to certify to the signature of the Grand Secretary of our Grand Lodge.
With regard to the subject of representation by proxy at the G.L. of U.S., we could hardly claim a right to any representation unless we paid "dues." But I have little doubt that the privilege might be conceded to us, with the understanding that our delegates should not vote on financial matters.
One part of your letter gave me special pleasure. It is the following :—"We believe the judicious and proper direction and management of our finances is the paramount question in all friendly societies, and the one by which their success or failure will be tested in the fature." That is my sincere conviction. No one can more highly value the divine virtues of Friendship, Love, and Truth than I do. Let us inculcate them to our brethren both theoretically and practically, especially in the latter way. But let us not forget the grand virtues of Justice and Prudence. Let us beware of promising what we are not able to fulfil. If we contract to pay a brother a certain sum during illness, and a certain sum to his widow at his death, let us be sure that we have calculated the cost with so much prudence that there shall be no danger of us failing to fulfil our contract.
As for all our passwords, regalia, "et hoc genus omne," although they may be very good in their way, as adjuncts and helps for the preservation of the more necessary and vital objects of our Order, still without the latter they are but as "sounding brass or tinkling cymbal."
I have written this letter very hastily and immediately after the receipt of your letter. You will please consider it simply as the expression of my own opinion as a Brother of the Order.
You will be pleased, I know, to hear that we have opened a very fine Lodge in Adelaide (S.A.) through the energy and zeal of Brother Jones. There were over a hundred members initiated on the opening night (June 2nd), and 30 more had paid their initiation fee, but were not able to attend. Bro. Jones says that he will open two or three other lodges within the course of a few months.
The lodges in N. S. Wales are progressing admirably. All our lodges in Victoria are doing pretty well, although there has been rather a heavy drain lately on our sick fund. The funeral fund of the Grand Lodge is steadily increasing.
I thank you for the kind compliment you have paid us in reference to the circulation of a quarterly report from the Standing Committee. It does a great deal of good, and stops the tendency to murmur that might otherwise exist.
Allow me to assure you that I shall always be very much pleased to hear of your progress. I received the reports of your Grand Lodge, and thank you for them.
Being busy lately has prevented me replying to yours of the 11th June. We are pleased to hear that in the main you agree with us re "a Supreme Australasian G. Lodge" having control over all other G. Lodges, as also the present relations between our G. Lodge and yours.
We know for a fact that some of our members have been refused admittance into American Lodges through our withdrawal card (or clearance) not being the same as the one used in America. Now, according to the G.L.U.S. reservations when granting the charter by which the G.L. of Australia was instituted, no mention or indirect reference is made as to it being compulsory to adopt or use their card; consequently, the Lodges who refused to receive our brothers must have acted under a misconception; and we believe that we were perfectly justified in printing our own withdrawal (or clearance) card under the circumstances. With sentiments of profound regard towards yourself and the Order in Australia, I have to remain,
Yours of "That all that should comprise the G.L. of Australia, I.O.O.F., took this name, and was formed out of the "G.L. of Victoria, A.I.O.O.F." That, this being only subordinate to G.L. of U.S., you occupied the position, by consent of the G.L. of Victoria, equivalent to the status held by our State G. Lodges, and that Bro. Meacham could hardly have done anything else under the circumstances than what he did. That he, therefore, constituted the Grand Lodge of Victoria and the Grand Lodge of New Zealand co-equal Grand Lodges for their respective jurisdictions, especially as the G.L. of Victoria had given her complete release to your Grand Lodge, and assent to your formation into a separate jurisdiction. These facts are all new to us, and we have been acting upon the conviction that you and the G.L. of Victoria were federated, and constituted the present G.L. of Australia at Melbourne. Hence we have had no direct intercourse or correspondence. On this subject my letter of this same date is full, and I will not enlarge. You inform me that, under this form and history of organization, there are now only two coequal G. Lodges in Australia, and you proceed to express your dissent from my idea of the formation of a supreme G.L. for Australasia, and to the federation of the Colonial Grand Lodges of that country. I have only to repeat what I have already said : that the G.L. of Australia, as now styled by its charter by the G. Lodge of U.S., was intended to be a supreme Grand Lodge for the entire realm, or political division, known as Australasia, and that S.D.G.S. Meacham entirely mistook and misrepresented his powers and special instructions in the course pursued, as recited by you, the consequence of which is the present confusion and conflict of views. The example of the status of the M. Unity to its
direct charters from her. Not so with the American order. It recognises and creates independent jurisdictions, with limited powers defined in their charters, which, with the exception of the powers limited, are absolute and independent. Such being the vital difference in the case, neither your argument nor the example put apply. Hence, none of the difficulties which you name can arise, nor do we aspire to supremacy of jurisdiction over the world. Your elaborate letter and its arguments on this subject will be submitted, however, to the G.L. of U.S., and will, no doubt, have respectful consideration. I think, however, I may venture the opinion that its present position of establishing independent jurisdictions out of foreign nations and peoples will be adhered to, reserving always to herself exclusive right to the name, ritual, and working machinery known as "cards" so as to facilitate universality of visitation and intercourse. In your case an exception might be made, in consequence of your distance from Australia and its inaccessibility, and your formation into a separate jurisdiction. I forbear further to discuss this question, leaving the G.L. of U.S. to form and express its own opinion thereon, to which I shall submit the correspondence. Touching the financial question to which you refer, we agree with you that it is now the paramount question with all beneficial societies, and we thank you for inviting our attention to it. We appreciate your views on the subject as well taken and instructive, and shall endeavour to profit by them. In answer to your enquiry, "What is the material difference between the new charge book and the old ?" I enclose an extract from the Secret Journal of the G.L. of U S. as an appropriate reply, as follows :—
Unwritten Work shall be the signs and answers to the same, the pass-words and grips, with the manner of working, and the necessary explanations of the same. That all the rest of the secret work shall be placed in the respective charge books (or Digest when they will admit of such publication), thus placing before the entire brotherhood what may be considered the essential instructions in all that appertains to the work of Oddfellowship."
Touching the expense of introducing the new charge books, I answer the additional expense is set forth in my letter of this day to be 50 cts. per copy. I have to acknowledge the receipt of copy of your new laws, also your last annual proceedings, and accept the opinions upon the subjects discussed, given by your Standing Committee, as well as your individual opinions, with high respect. A copy of your letter of 29th January I send herewith. Before 1 close I cannot forbear adding a word in reply to yours of the M.W.G. Sire of the R.W.G.L. of the German Empire," and ask, "is this a misprint, and should there not only be one M.W.G. Sire over the whole Order ?" I reply, that I have already described the vital difference between the extent of direct jurisdiction of the M.U. and that of the G.L. of the U.S. One is a federated representative body, the other an absolute and consolidated one. Hence you are misled. The style is not a misprint, but is strictly correct. Each foreign jurisdiction is quasi independent and sovereign.
I have now the pleasure of transmitting to you the Officers' Reports to the G.L. of United States for its 53rd Annual Communication held in this city in September just passed; to which I also add the Daily Journal of Proceedings had by that R.W. Grand Body : all, I trust, may reach you in safety. I cut from that Daily Journal the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, touching the complications in the order in Australia as presented to its attention by the
So soon as the M.W.G. Sire decides whether he or his Deputy shall visit you I will write.
The following reports were adopted by the G.L.U.S. at its session
"To the R.W. Grand Lodge of the United States :
"Your Committee on Foreign Relations, in view of the fact that complications at present existing in the jurisdiction of Australia, as reported by the M.W. Grand Sire and R.W. Corresponding and Recording Secretary, seem to demand and can reasonably be expected to be satisfactorily adjusted only by the personal presence and interference of some responsible agent of this body; and believing that no one can be, by virtue of his office and distinguished ability, so capable of arranging matters for the general honor and good of the Order, and especially for the prosperity of the acknowledged Grand Lodge of Australia and the jurisdiction thereto belonging, as our M. W. Grand Sire, we think it important and expedient that he should visit that portion of the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the United States, with full power and authority to act in the premises, and we offer the annexed resolution:—
" "And that one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be appropriated to defray his expenses. "Provided, That in the event of the inability or refusal of the Grand Sire to perform said duty, the Deputy Grand Sire, Resolved, That the M.W. Grand Sire, John W. Stokes, be empowered and requested to proceed to Australia and New Zealand, and in the exercise of authority in him vested as the head of the Order, to effect an adjustment of the present complications there existing, and perform such other offices for the welfare of the Order as in his judgment he may deem expedient,John B. Harmon, be authorised and empowered to act in his stead.
"To the J.R. W. Grand Lodge of the United States :
The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom was referred a form of visiting cards issued by the R. W. Grand Lodge of Australia, report:
"That one of the specifications in the charter of the Grand Lodge of Australia provides that all cards issued by that jurisdiction shall emanate from the Grand Lodge of the United States.
"The card in question is clearly illegal, and is issued in contravention of the
"Your committee, therefore, recommend the adoption of the annexed resolution :
"Resolved, That the form of card issued and in use by the Grand Lodge of Australia is illegal, and is hereby interdicted, and the Order at large is warned not to recognise or receive it, and the Grand Sire and Grand Secretary are directed to use all means in their power to cause its disuse.
'Yours dated Aug. 23, Sept. 29, and Oct. 1, including officer's advance reports and Daily Journals of the G.L.U.S. for uniformity, and will support any legitimate steps to effect this end. You can quite understand now that we printed our own Card in ignorance of any obligations to the contrary. We feel grateful to the G.L.U.S. for taking such a lively interest last session in our welfare, and we shall certainly do our best to give the G. Sire or D. G. Sire a fraternal welcome Although we will at all times be glad to see any of our American brothers, (especially the two mentioned,) yet personally I think the complications could be easily adjusted by active correspondence, and so save a large amount of money to the G.L.U.S. Our own brothers who have visited America and returned, state that we are well up in the work. I observe that a letter appears from Bro. Meacham in your Daily Journal; but he does not detail what powers he conferred respectively on the G. Lodges of Australia and New Zealand. Remarks from him on these points would be interesting at the present time. I lately came across a volume giving a history of the Order in the United States, from its commencement, unprecedented exertions and efforts put forth by the early fathers! It must be gratifying to you to know that you were closely identified with its infancy, growth, and progress, and been spared to see it assume its present dimensions (about 500,000 financial members). Although there are many worthy brothers, yet if we were all of the same composition as Wildey and Ridgely, our Order would soon traverse the whole civilized globe. You say that Nature's infirmities may compel you to vacate the position you have held for thirty-seven years. We hope you will live long to enjoy good health, and be spared to your family and retention of the office you have filled so well. The voluminous correspondence in your yearly reports that has your honored name attached to it, abundantly testifies that not alone is your head, but your heart, in the cause of Oddfellowship.
The subject matter connected with the separation of our Order and the Manchester Unity, and the important part you played therein, reflect the greatest credit upon you. On this question, let the past bo buried, and rather let us deal with the future. Many brothers of both Orders are grieved at the continued division, and believe that judicious concessions on both sides, with a view to the amalgamation of the two great branches of the I.O.O.F., should bo entered into, consistent with the material and moral improvement of each. Have you a Government Friendly Societies Act, and are your Lodges registered under it ? Have they got one in Germany, and what is the difficulty that the Lodges there are experiencing in this matter ? There is a F. S. Act in England, and it is an easy matter for our Lodges there to be registered under it, providing their dues and benefit scales are soundly constructed. We are registered in
I have to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 23rd ult., and will instruct the Wanganui and Rangitikei lodges to forward their returns as requested.
With reference to the Marton lodge, I regret to have to announce the fact that I have taken possession of the charter, books, and property of this lodge.
For some time past there has been a considerable amount of jealousy in this lodge, and I much regret the stand the members of it have taken. The particulars are as follows:—
The monthly meetings had been regularly notified, but no meeting had taken place since October 3rd till 10th April. The latter meeting I called myself to see what the members intended doing—viz., whether the lodge should be Carried on or not. I was much pained at the position taken up by the members with reference to the Grand Lodge, it being the desire of those present to entirely ignore our stand; they argued that the Marton lodge was not registered, and consequently was not a legal lodge, and therefore not under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge. They decided to break up the lodge and divide the funds and property amongst themselves, without reference to the Grand Lodge. Upon this I at once took possession of the charter and degree books, and told them that the lodge was extinct, as they had had no meeting for six months.
They then formed themselves into a meeting, and decided to divide the funds, &c., but the manner of division was adjourned till 24th April. I attended, and (I may add that I am one of the trustees) I was asked whether 1 was prepared to hand over the funds and property of the lodge for distribution. I need hardly tell you my reply. I would not do so. My co-trustee leaves the matter entirely in my hands, and I await instructions from you. It is a source of regret that so prosperous a lodge as this should cease to exist. The real difficulty lay in getting "competent" brothers to occupy the chairs with proper dignity, and thus keep up the character of the order. Then again, the greater portion of the members are country settlers, and they find it irksome to ride so far to lodge, and consequently lose interest in the order.
I shall be glad if you will let me know what position I am to take up with reference to the funds and property of the late lodge. There is £50 invested, and some £5 in the bank; also, a valuable section of land in the township, worth at least £880; besides regalia, pedestals, &c.
According to rules, the lodge is extinct, and charter and books are to be returned to the G.L.; but there is nothing said about the funds or other property of the lodge.
Then again, what position will the Marton lodge stand in with the G.L., it not being registered ?
There have been no contributions received since June last, so that all the members are out of compliance, and as such I declined to allow them to discuss any subject or hold any proceedings on the 10th in the lodge-room, until they paid their dues. This they declined, as they said they intended to break up the lodge, and I was ignored entirely, as they said they did not acknowledge the G.L. Upon this I informed them that, according to rules, the lodge was extinct (Rule 52), and took possession of charter, &c.
They seem desirous of dividing the spoil, but do not wish the G.L. to have any part or share. I consequently hold them in check, being one of the trustees, and in the event of the G.L. not being entitled to whole or part, who am I to transfer the property, funds, &c., to ? This would be a knotty point. I trust the Grand Lodge will study the case thoroughly, and also take the advice of Bro. Stout in the matter, and inform me what position I am to take up. In meantime I hold all property in trust for the Grand Lodge. Awaiting your reply,
I have to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 8th instant re Marton Lodge, contents of which were laid before my colleagues for consideration. We have to compliment you for the stand you have taken in this unpleasant affair,—a position which is perfectly in accordance with the laws and principles of the Order, and by which all members, on entrance, obligate themselves as men and Oddfellows to abide by. We regret that there should have been cause for you to take the steps you did, in view of the fact that this Lodge started under such favourable auspices.
The Lodge forfeits everything, according to Laws 52 and 56, excepting one-half of moneys and land; but even this exception is annulled, because the members held no meeting for six months, and consequently are all unfinancial, through owing more than three months' contributions,—therefore, by their own act and consent, they can have no status respecting the funds and property of the Lodge. The case would have assumed a different aspect had the members dissolved the Lodge when they were financial, the remaining ones owing not more than three months' contributions would then have been entitled to one-half of the cash and land, as per Law 56. The position of matters now is, that all property of whatsoever kind is absolutely forfeited to the G. Lodge, the late members of the Marton Lodge having entirely disqualified themselves from any participation therein, just in the same way that any member now of any Lodge forfeits all benefits and interest in the property of his Lodge when he owes more than three months' subscriptions.
The late members of the Marton Lodge must bear this important fact in mind, viz.: if any members or their wives had died during the time that they owed up to one quarter's dues, the G. Lodge would have had to pay their funeral claims. With yourself, we grieve to hear that the members endeavour to ignore the Grand Lodge and their obligations when they joined the Order, by affirming that because their Lodge was not registered, therefore they were not under the jurisdiction of the G. Lodge. This is an unmanly position to take up, and is as unwarrantable as it is unjust. The fact that the G. Lodge instituted the Lodge by charter, and through its proper officers, ought to be sufficient in the eyes of men of principle to completely refute that assertion. We desire you to act so that all the property will be handed over to the G. Lodge; and if within six months the Marton Lodge wishes to be resuscitated, the G. Lodge will with pleasure consider the propriety of returning the main part of the property, so as to give it a good start. We are extremely anxious that the Lodge should carry on its operations, and express the hope that this may be the ultimatum. Perhaps some amicable arrangement can be come to between the members by which harmony could be restored;—however, it must be distinctly understood that the Lodge cannot be re-instituted until the permission to do so is first otbained from the G. Lodge. The laws of the Order are registered under the present F. .societies Act. Our Order is attaining great proportions, being now in Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, and other parts on the Continent of
We have to cordially thank you for the trouble taken re Marton Lodge, and hope yet that all may turn out mutually satisfactory.
I have to acknowledge receipt of yours of 30 May, and delayed answering the same till I had convened a meeting of the members of the late Lodge to hear the decision of the G.L.
The first meeting was favourable to the G.L., but on the members considering the matter, I was requested to delay writing you on the subject until they had fully discussed the question, when the following resolution was carried, and I was asked to forward a copy to you. It is as follows:—Proposed by Mr. Deighton, seconded by Mr. T. R. Cash, "That the late members and trustees hold that the Grand Lodge is not entitled to any portion of the real and personal property of the late Lodge Loyal Marton, No. 11, excepting to such as mentioned in Rule 52 in General Rules of the Order, and will resist any claim until legal proof of the same shall be given by the Grand Lodge." Carried nem. con. Proposed by Mr. Cash, seconded by Mr. Beaven, "That a copy of the above resolution be handed to Mr. Watt, and that he be requested to communicate the same to the Grand Lodge."
If you observe, Rule 52 says nothing about the Lodge forfeiting anything to the G.L. except Charter, &c.
Had the G.L. offered half of everything, I feel certain that the members would have agreed, but they naturally cannot see the justice of the G.L. taking all; and I am myself placed in a very awkward and unpleasant position, being one of three trustees. I may say that I have come in for no small amount of abuse through holding out for the rights of the G.L. The members say that I have no power to dispose of their property to you, and legally they are right. I am trustee and hold in trust (with others) for the members of the Marton Lodge, and cannot surrender my trust to you. On the other hand I refuse to surrender to them, and I must know my position as trustee before I can act. Of course I look to the G.L. as the head to put me in no false position; and I do trust that I shall not be placed in the unenviable position of being placed between two fires—the G.L. on one side and the members of the late Lodge on the other.
You will of course understand that I personally wish the matter to be carried out strictly in accordance with the laws of Oddfellowship; and you will also see the peculiar position in which I am placed through being trustee.
The members will take legal proceedings against me if I transfer (which I cannot without my co-trustee) to you. On the other hand the G.L. may come on me if I do not do so. What am I to do ? Then again there arises the difficulty of non-registration. Can you legally recover? If not, then to whom am I to surrender my trust, for they cannot recover from me if I refuse to transfer to them, (as I hold your views on the subject,) they not being a joint-stock company or a registered body of any kind.
Rule 52 seems to contradict 56.
Pray consult over this unpleasant affair, and let me know what I am to do, as, if they take proceedings against me, I must expect you (the G.L.) to bear me out in your behalf. Would it not be advisable to state the case to a competent lawyer ? Mr. Cash (whose name appears in the resolution) is a barrister here, and wishes me to agree to hand over to them, and they give me a deed of indemnification, thus leaving you to assert your rights at law, but to this I have declined.
On Saturday evening, 21st, I installed the officers of the Rangitikei Lodge, and everything passed off well. A banquet afterwards wound up the pro-
I have to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 30th ult., in reply to which we desire to state that the G. Lodge wishes to settle the dispute between them and the late members of the Marton Lodge in a friendly manner, and do not care to introduce the matter into a court of law, which would put all concerned in an unenviable position before the public—totally inconsistent with the principles of the Order—besides everything would bo eaten up with law expenses and no one benefited. Sooner than this intemperate course should be pursued, we propose to divide the one-half of the real and personal property amongst the late members, and the other half to be taken over by the G.L; but, rather than all this, we are anxious that the lodge should be resuscitated. It is no pleasure to the Grand Lodge to receive moneys consequent on the dissolution of one of its branches—quite the reverse. Surely enough Oddfellows of the late Marton Lodge can be found patriotic enough to give it a fresh start. Five members who would pay their back subscriptions up, and become financial so as to qualify themselves, could keep it afloat. You could act as receiver, and endeavour by this means to give a fresh impetus. We hope to hear of your urging this step, as we believe it is to the true interests of the members. Taking leave of the foregoing views of the matter, we will now discuss the points raised in our last letter and your replies thereto, as representing the opinions of the late members of the Marion Lodge. We shall simply base our arguments on the laws of the Order, by which every Oddfellow of our institution is morally bound to faithfully uphold. We assume that the brothers of the Marton Lodge are willing to concede this, and on no other ground does the Grand Lodge desire to stand. The latter part of Rule 56 is as follows :—"And shall also forfeit absolutely to the Grand Lodge, its charter, initiation and degree books, and its working regalia, and one moiety (meaning one-half) of all its real and personal property whatsoever; and thereupon, all matters and things so forfeited as aforesaid shall become absolutely vested in the Grand Lodge, and shall form part of its funds and property thereby demonstrating clearly that this rule not only supports (or repeats), but it is actually a continuation of, and addition to, Rule 52. Financial members only, that is, members who owe not more than three months' contributions, would therefore be entitled to claim the one-half of the real and personal property, but as we understand from your letter of the 8th May that all the members of the late Marton Lodge were unfinancial through not holding a meeting for six months, we naturally raised the point that they placed themselves in the same position as present members of an existing lodge, viz.: that whenever a member owed more than three months' dues, he forfeited all interest in the property and funds of his lodge of whatsoever kind. Assuming this to bo the case, we held that as the late members of the Marton Lodge had no status in this respect, they therefore disqualified themselves from any participation even in the one-half real and personal property which they would have been entitled to had they remained financial members up to the time of dissolving the lodge. You will observe from this explanation that the facts of the case justified us in the position we took up in our previous letter on this special matter.
We do not propose to introduce the provisions of the Friendly Societies Act hearing also on this question, because the Lodge is not registered, but may be allowed to explain that the terms of the Act disqualify all persons from participation in the property or funds of the lodge, if, at the time of the dissolution, they were not entitled to any benefits (viz.: unfinancial). This would only be fair and just to the members that are financial when the dissolution of the lodge takes place, because any old member might claim his share of the spoil. A line must be drawn somewhere to protect those justly entitled. If a lodge is not registered, a trustee can hold the property of such lodge against all comers, and not be touched: this is unquestionable. We have endeavoured to set the case now before you in all its relations, and trust that the late members will be guided by general moral principles, in consonance with the laws and usages of the order, and so show that they were not unworthy of their obligations as Oddfellows. We invite calm and carefully-reasoned deliberation on all the points, and if the late members still find that their opinions have undergone no change, and that they do not wish to continue the Lodge, then the Grand Lodge asks you to adopt our first suggestion in this letter, viz.: to take over for the Grand Lodge one-half of the real and personal property, and distribute the other half to the brothers. Permission is granted, in the event that the Marton Lodge is not re-instituted, to hand over the regalia, furniture, and charge books to the proposed new lodge at Palmerston North, free of cost; taking an inventory of the same, which, together with the account books of the late Marlon Lodge, will have to be sent to us.
Worshipful Sir and Brother,—
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your esteemed favour of the 2nd instant, and for the kind information therein contained please accept my sincere thanks. With reference to your suggestion to having recourse to some public entertainments, the probable profits of which would enable us to clear off the Grand Lodge account re furnishings, I can assure you that we have that kind of entertainment ad nauseam in this city, by both religious and other bodies, and I am positive that surplus funds could not be obtained from such sources.
Last Monday evening being our usual Lodge night, one of the brethren tabled a notice of motion "To consider the advisability of reducing the weekly contribution for members from 18 years to 23 years to one shilling per week." This matter has caused me to again trouble you for information. You must bear in mind, Sir, that in this city there are the M.U.O.O.F., the A.O.F., and the Druids, all of which are popular, and we shall always lag behind as long as the weekly contributions of ours for the ages above stated are more than those Lodges I have already named, because the corresponding benefits in all these cases are identical; besides the Sons of Temperance, Good Templars, and various other bodies, who all and every one hold out better joining inducements, because their scale of weekly contribution is lower than ours. To my own knowledge we have lost some twenty-five would-be members for that reason only; and further, I am positive that we shall never be numerous as long as we persevere with the rates as they now stand. This conviction has gained us all. I therefore appeal to your wisdom in this matter, that you may grant us the permission to make that alteration above stated in the scale of weekly contributions; otherwise the elements of success will fail us, and, if persisted in too long, we should never regain the time so lost, and should die out in consequence. As I was one of the
Your esteemed favor of the 14th inst. is to hand, inviting a personal opinion respecting the desirability of reducing weekly dues to 1s. per week from 18 to 23 years of age. This affects a constitutional law, and cannot be altered except by the Grand Lodge when in annual session, which will take place shortly, and before whom your letter on this subject will be brought. In the meantime it may be stated that the Standing Committee (Executive Officers) of the G. Lodge have been giving this question, viz.," Rates of Entrance Fees and Weekly Dues," close enquiry and attention during the recess, and have had actuarial tables prepared at 4 per cent., on the basis of Henry Ratcliffe's tabulated experience of Sickness and Mortality in F. Societies, showing what every member should pay when he joins. The method will be according to age on the graduated system. From the knowledge possessed through these tables we feel persuaded that the Government, when they take action respecting F. Societies (which will be soon), will not allow the institutions mentioned by you to work upon insufficient scales. If the contributions of any Society are not enough to meet the liabilities on account of members as they grow older, then that Society will surely go to the wall in the future, the same as has been experienced by old Lodges in England. When a Lodge is, say 50 years old, it is then that the shoe pinches, unless during its infancy it has been putting by an equivalent reserve fund. No Friendly Society in N.Z. is working upon an absolutely correct financial basis, because they have not had sufficient experience yet of their own in Sickness and Death rate to enable them to calculate to a certainty what contributions are necessary. At present we have only English experience to guide us. The M.U.I.O.O.F. in Dunedin have larger Initiation Fees, and after a certain age have higher weekly dues than us. Some societies, again, are lower; but all these rates have been arrived at in a haphazard manner, and not on a proper basis. Our desire should be to keep as we are until our whole financial status can be modified permanently and soundly on the most approved actuarial principles; and further, we are extremely solicitous that none of our Lodges in the future shall dissolve through inability to meet just claims as they fall due. Some old Lodges and Societies are in the habit of boasting how much money they have to their credit; but they very often never think of the debit side respecting every year their members increase in age—the Sickness and Death rate increasing proportionately. We are grieved to hear that our present rates have militated somewhat against your success regarding a large membership; but we earnestly hope, after the explanation herewith afforded, that the matter will assume its proper aspect in your minds, and trust that renewed exertions for the future welfare of your Lodge will be exercised by every individual member. Personally thanking you and all those who have taken a special interest in the promotion of our beloved Order in Christchurch, I have the pleasure to remain, dear Sir and Brother,
Every true member of the I.O.O.F., must regret that any lodge should dissolve through inability to meet its sick engagements. We are compelled to notice this fact from time to time, whether we will or not, viz.: that our oldest lodges in these colonies (as elsewhere) have to meet heavy sick claims, and with past experience to guide us, these claims will increase every year. The question is, are we to let these lodges die by effluxion of time from the same cause, and so retard our progress, and deprive many worthy brothers of the benefits and privileges of our institution when they most require them; or are we to take "time by the forelock," and promulgate a system that will tend to check these evils, and so enhance substantial progress ? My remarks are the outcome of perusing your 24th annual report, '66 and '67, wherein the attention is at once arrested on this all-important subject. Our Order can never obtain the confidence of the public, or even its own members, so long as lodges are permitted to break up through causes that certainly can be obviated. My desire is to assist our Order in becoming an unprecedented power for real good on our Mother Earth, which it is eminently adapted for. Therefore, after mature thought, I propose to submit the following views for general consideration :—
Our Society possesses immense machinery for circulating living vital principles necessary for the eternal welfare of mankind, but in addition we must combine the several links attendant thereon, in such a manner as will perpetuate our glorious institution in the future. It must be apparent to every brother of the Order that a uniform rate of weekly contributions, and the same sum set aside to the credit of the Sick and Funeral Funds for a member that joins at 40 years of age as for one that joins at 20, is inequitable, because it is indisputable that the sickness and death rates are much larger at the former age. This argues practically that to be financially sound it becomes a necessity to inaugurate a graduated scale of contributions, according to age, to the Sick and Funeral Funds only, and apply it to all lodges. Our colonial Friendly Societies are unable to furnish their own experience of sickness and death rates, not having yet been long enough in existence, nor will we for some time to come; but this does not exonerate us from taking as a guide the only experience on this subject that has yet been published by the late Henry Ratcliffe's tables, and there is everything in favour so far of our experience being somewhat similar. It is therefore safer for us in the meantime to enact a scale of contributions, computed from these tables in lieu of the present "rule of thumb" rates. The Management Fund (or Incidental) for payment of all general expenses, including surgeon and chemist (excepting sickness and deaths, which the Sick and Funeral Funds would pay), could be contributed to pro ratâ, according to these disbursements. Every lodge necessarily varies in the expenses it incurs. Let me put an example to illustrate my meaning generally:—Say A joins No. 1 Lodge at 20 years of age and has to pay 8d. per week to the Sick and Funeral Funds, and B joins at 40 years of age and pays 1s. per week to the same funds—further, that Management Expenses average 6d. per week per member—it follows that they would have to pay, in all, Is. 2d. and 1s. 6d. per week respectively. Again, suppose that the expenses of No. 2 Lodge average 7d. per week per member, then the subscription in this lodge would respectively be Is. 3d. and Is. 7d. per week. The pursuance of this system would preserve the two most important funds,—viz, the Sick and Funeral, intact in every Lodge, and each, including the Management Fund, to be kept separate, so that no one fund shall be used for the benefit of the other. The G L. of N.Z. has adopted these financial principles, excepting that they have made a rule by which members of all Lodges shall contribute 7d. per week to their Management Funds, and if the expenses exceed this rate, the Lodge doing so shall levy pro ratâ to meet the deficiency. Some members say, "Oh ! our initiation fees are graduated, and answer the purpose," Now,
General Sick Fund, held by the Grand Lodge on the same principle as the General Funeral Fund, will prevent many of our Lodges breaking up. Unity is strength applies to this question as well as to any other. It is a notable fact that many of our Lodges do not put out their funds at interest at all, most of which belongs to the Sick Fund. Under the plan proposed, the G. Lodge, having better opportunities, would look after this, and besides, would always know the exact amount added and expended on account of the Sick Funds of the whole Order every year, the same as in the case of the Funeral Fund. The G.L. would also know what ages the members were when claiming sick allowance, and how many weeks each were sick, which it is impossible to get at at present, but which is absolutely essential, together with the ages at which members die. This information is necessary to enable any Society to intelligently legislate with a view of compiling correct rates of contribution from their own experience, so as to produce solvency. Whenever any Brother required his sick allowance urgently, the Lodge could advance it out of their Management Fund, (always taking care to have a little in hand for emergencies,) to be reimbursed a little later by the G. L. The only difficulty in the way of a Common or General Sick Fund for the whole of the Lodges under each Subordinate G. Lodge jurisdiction is in the event of a Lodge wanting to erect a hall; but several plans can be suggested to overcome this. If the G.L. perceives that it would be a good investment for the Lodge, the G.L. could hand over for this purpose a sum not more, or as much less as would be deemed advisable, than would be standing to the credit of that Lodge in the General Sick and Funeral Fund, fair interest to be charged against the sum so handed over, and the whole to be repaid as may be arranged. If the Lodge desired to go on with the hall on their own responsibility, then the G.L. could hand over the amount standing to their credit in the S. and F. Fund, the G.L. relieving itself of all claims on account of sickness and deaths respecting such Lodge, the Lodge to undertake these payments until it returned to the G.L. the amount handed over, including amounts since accumulated. Have you ever been struck with the fact that although several of our Lodges are continually making new members, yet they never seem to progress in numbers. This is mainly owing to N.P.D. A good cure is to inaugurate the principle of paying subscriptions in advance. One of our Lodges here ever since it adopted this has gradually increased. The general rule is to let them run on for thirteen weeks; but when it goes a few weeks over members grudge (do not care, or perhaps get indifferent,) to pay £1 or more, and so they drop off, whereas if they paid one month, two months, or three months in advance, the amount would not be so heavy, and invariably it would be paid. Besides, we have no right to expect the Lodge to give us trust for thirteen weeks for benefits and other expenses that the Lodge is liable for during that time. The system is unsound. We have known Lodges pay to members sick claims and other expenses on their account, and they never paid another penny into the Lodge.
Let me congratulate the Order in Australia upon the unprecedented progress it has made during the last year, specially in South Australia and New South Wales. It is certainly pleasing to hear of our great success over the whole of America, also its successful institution and progress in Germany, Switzerland, and England. I perceive that it is about being introduced in Holland and Austria. My earnest desire is, that our beloved Order may make progress everywhere—numerically, morally, socially, and financially.
I have the pleasure of informing you that on the 25th inst., acting on your instructions, I instituted here the Southern Cross Lodge, and installed Bro.
Fourteen new members were initiated, and I have much gratification in stating that they all appear likely to maintain the character of members of the Order.
The Lodge has been fortunate in obtaining the services of Dr. Bradford, a gentleman of large practice here. To show his interest in the Order he joined as a financial member.
I delivered a short address on the occasion, and have arranged to impart the degrees to those members who have been installed in office. I suppose it is necessary to have a dispensation to impart the five degrees in one evening.
Trusting the Southern Cross Lodge will obtain a high position in the Order, and be the means of great usefulness.
Several times I have asked for an answer to mine of August 23rd re Marton Lodge, but none has arrived yet. This is unsatisfactory, and I beg to call your attention again to effect a speedy settlement. It is unpleasant to leave the subject in its present shape any longer. If you have any delicacy in proceeding further, let me know at once, and another commissioner will be appointed.
I have the pleasure to inform you that I have arranged with the late members of the Marton Lodge to divide property equally between themselves and the Grand Lodge. I shall now advertise the section of land for sale by public auction, and as soon as I have disposed of the other properties of the Lodge will remit proceeds to you. Books and charter I will send to you at once.
∵ "That any P.G.M. who may be financial on the books of a Sub. Lodge have the right of voting in the Grand Lodge." "That Table C, as prepared in the Grand Master's address, be adopted, with the following Initiation Fees for ages at next birthday,—viz., 18 to 25, £1; 26 to 30, 25s.; 31 to 40, 30s.; 41 to 45, £2; and that Table C, with these Initiation Fees, as amended, come into operation on "That at least one month's notice of the sitting of the G.L. be given to all Subordinate Lodges." "That honorary members be eligible for any office, and have the right of voting and speaking on any question except finance : Provided they have taken the five degrees, and are financial on the books of their respective Lodges." "That Law 142, which permits members to join a Lodge on the night of its inauguration at half the usual rates of initiation fees, be repealed." "That from and after the close of this session no law affecting the constitution of this G.L. shall be altered except it be proposed at one session and carried at the next." "That Sub. Lodge quarter nights shall be, as heretofore, the last lodge night in the months of March, June, September, and December. That if the return-sheets and Q.L. dues be not remitted by each Sub. Lodge to the G. Sec. on or before the 10th day of May, 10th August, 10th November, and 10th February, for each preceding quarter respectively, any Sub. Lodge so in default shall forfeit all claim on the General Funeral Fund in respect of the death of any member or member's wife which may take place prior to the transmission to the G. Sec. of such return-sheets and G.L. dues; and if any funeral claim arise during the days of grace as above indicated, the account of such claim will not be recognised by the G.L. unless it be accompanied by a remittance of the return-sheets and all dues then owing; and no claim forfeited as hereby provided will be revived by the subsequent payment of the G.L. dues." "That the travelling fare (if any) incurred by the members of the G.L. Executive in attending moveable sessions of the G.L. be paid by the G.L." "That all laws now on the Law-book which may be incompatible with the terms of the new Scale of Contributions and Initiation Fees, as adopted by this G.L. on "That it shall be unlawful for any Lodge to receive a person into membership, whether by initiation or affiliation, or otherwise, unless the Lodge receive a certificate under the hand of a duly-qualified medical practitioner stating that the candidate for membership and his wife, if any, have passed a satisfactory medical examination in conformity with the requirements of the Lodge."For sake of easy reference, we print together all the New Laws adopted by Grand Lodge during past session, viz :—
Note.—Special attention is directed to the proposed Amendments to the Constitution (pp. 19, 20, and 21), for consideration at next Session of the Grand Lodge, to be held at Timaru, and Lodges are invited to discuss the matters therein referred to during the recess.
A few weeks since, at the conclusion of a discussion on Animal Magnetism, during which frequent mention had been made of Spiritualism, several members requested me to give an essay on it. To shrink from explaining a system, or from avowing my adhesion to a party because the system or party is unpopular, is not my way. I would rather have the Truth, and stand alone, than aid the world in supporting falsehood. Spiritualism is not only true, but inspiring as it does every feeling and thought we have with a sense of what is to be our future, it is the most important of truths. Relieving this, you can understand that it is with pleasure I comply with your request.
Spiritualism—What is Spiritualism ? A new science, a new faith, or a new superstition ? If a science, it is to us true and useful; if a faith, it may be true, but is not proven; if a superstition, it is a misinterpretation of nature which time will correct. Whichever of these three it is, or in what proportion they mingle in producing it, its existence, its prevalence is a fact of our day. It began? Yes—for every form of human thought call it science, faith, or superstition—has a beginning; so Spiritualism in its modern signification, began about 30 years ago. In a small village in America a few raps on a wall conveyed the marvellous tidings that they were caused by the spirit of a pedlar who had been murdered some years previously. A spirit exists and communicates ! death is not annihilation ! The thought commanded instant attention. Tens, hundreds, thousands, and latterly millions of attempts are daily made to obtain a word or a sign from the departed. The usual mode is—a few individuals meet and form a circle, hold what is called a "seance," sitting for, and inviting communications from spirits. The published results of these sittings are that many of them are failures—have produced nothing; many of them have had results of an inconclusive kind, and many more have had most convincing phenomena. The progress Spiritualism is making is somewhat in keeping with these varied experiences. In one way it has flowed over and moistened the civilised world. Churches grow milder and more cosmopolitan in their teachings, and from day to day ferocious threats of eternal torment from the pulpit become fewer and fewer. Many have taken part in a few sittings—have found nothing, and have decided there is nothing to find. Very many
The way—and as it appears to me the only way—by which any system can go beyond a mere section of humanity, and command the assent of mankind, is bygoing in the way wherein science walks. Science walks by knowledge. Spiritualists say there is life after death; they know it for they have communicated with the dead. Is this assertion true ? This is indeed the whole question. On it Spiritualism rests. All systems which include the notion of a future life, except Spiritualism, depend on hearsay evidence. Thus they may be either above or below science, but having no facts to lay before it, it knows them not. I agree with the scientist here, and say if there is a future state we must come to know it as a matter of fact, not as a tradition.
That which we feel individually is true to us as individuals without proof. But our convictions as individuals are to others subjects for proof, and may be either the dreams of a fanatic or a clear sight which may come to be verified by knowledge. An individual feels, or is conscious that he is immortal, and looks upon seances and all spiritualistic experiments as useless trifling, proving what he is already sure of, telling him what he already knows. Yet his conscious certainty is a solitary, isolated thing, which goes not beyond himself. When one says to another, I feel so and so, and the other has, under similar conditions, experienced a similar feeling, the saying is accepted; but when the one, as is often the case, puts his hand on his heart and says, "I feel here that this principle, doctrine, or plan of salvation is true," and the other has no such feeling; of what value is the saying? Very little; for the listener may doubt if the speaker be not misinterpreting his own consciousness in saying he feels, when he only wishes to feel; or the assertion of feeling may be given in place of proof, where proof is called for and found wanting. Then, if the testimony of individuals that they feel the truth of the faiths they profess were to be depended on, the grossest contradictions would have to be received. Hence, the assertion, "I feel the truth" of something, is no proof to those who don't feel, and those who do feel don't need it.
To thinking beings Thought is the thing they are most certain of. Every external, material fact may be doubted, as sense is liable to error, and requires to be tested and verified; but no thinking being can doubt that he does think. Thus, thought, mind, spirit, is the first great fact of the universe. Carlyle says matter is the time-vesture of God. I think he is right.
Spiritualism is a science or it is nothing. Let us see how science comes before us—how it walks. The Scientist says certain bodies exist in space, and have certain motions; mountains, valleys, rivers are on the surface of the earth, and a map is given showing their relative positions; rocks and minerals are below our feet, and have many fragments of long ago wrapped within them; animals and vegetables abound on the earth and in the water, are so formed, and exist under such conditions; the air we breathe, the water we drink, are compounds, and can be reduced to more simple elements. Now what have we in all this? Mere assertion. Now, as all truth and all falsehood can be equally well asserted, we have nothing here that we can rely on, and must ask the Scientist to take another step, and give us something more; or, we must reserve our belief, and leave him to gather round him a little sect who are overawed by his powerful statement, caught by his flowing eloquence, or believe what he asserts because they know him to be a good man. But the Scientist takes another step, and in it is his strength; through it he conquers the world, as nought but ignorance can resist him. The step is, he asks all to leave him personally out of the question, and to take his assertions one by one and test them. He requests you to open your eyes and look in a given direction at a given time and you will see what he asserted was to be seen. Often you may require artificial aid, and have to use the telescope, the microscope, or the spectroscope. You may have to sail over the sea, walk thousands of miles, and watch days and nights, months, even years. You may require to try again and again, hundreds of times, before you succeed in some nice experiment. Indeed, life is too short to verify a tithe of the scientist's assertions. But the invitation to test each one, to know each fact, remains. Every man finds opportunity to test a number of them, and knowing these to be correct, he reasonably accepts, provisionally, the others, or all of them which do not conflict with his knowledge. Now Spiritualists walk in the path of the scientist exactly. They assert that the dead live, for they have heard them, seen them, touched them, and otherwise tested their individuality in many ways. They tell the world the conditions so far as they know them, which facilitate communication, and invite all men to look as they would for a science—to watch and wait, and as an opportunity offers, to investigate, and each will find the assertions made verified. I have done so, and am entitled—for myself—to pronounce Spiritualism a science. My investigations have not extended over the time that those of millions have, and the results have not been at all as wonderful as those daily recorded. Of the sciences such as Astronomy, Geology, and Chemistry I know a little and believe a great deal. Of Spiritualistic facts I know more—am certain of more than I am of the facts of any science. It seems probable to me that much that is testified to by others, when corroborated by my knowledge, is true. This is simply treating Spiritualism as I treat other branches of human knowledge. But I will give you a glimpse of my experience. Until about six years since I knew nothing, or next to nothing, of the subject. Ghosts, wraiths, and warnings were heard of in childhood, but were spoken of as if it were an illegal act to mention them—they came as smuggled goods, and I was an excise officer, and condemned them. I noticed short paragraphs in the newspapers about spirit-rappers,
I have given you these few lines from my own experience as facts asserted—not to be received by you, but to be tested, as you would test any scientific fact. To give you what I believe, including much that I read and hear, would occupy too much paper and time. Besides, I think my argument is complete as it stands.
It is often asked of what use is the Spiritualist theory. To me the question was answered when I found the theory true—as I hold the true and the useful are one. But all have not faith in Truth. Let such examine this thing, and they will find that it connects the past, present, and future—joins all things into one harmonious whole. If that is not being useful, I do not see how anything can be. To give us a plan or chart by which we can go in circumstances where we do not know, and never can know the particulars, instead of being guideless amongst unknown disorder, is what every thoughtful traveller will appreciate. Besides furnishing us with a master-key, which opens all things, what a number of little things in and around us does the Spiritualist theory of an after life make intelligible. Think, why does the individual here gather knowledge and buy wisdom if the soul is to be snuffed out at death ? All is lost. If we dream of its being committed to endless misery, knowledge, wisdom, or exertion is nought. Or even if we expect to be sent to the bright side of the great gulf, our earthly education is purposeless, for what is needed there to increase perfect happiness? The idea, that as we saw we shall reap,—as we fall we will arise, and begin the after life where we leave off this, meets our conception of justice, and naturally founds the future on the past. This idea is that of the Spiritualist. Then how can we conceive of one mind pervading all things, uniting all the forces of the universe without an after life ? Without that, this is but a wild raving democracy of atoms, where every accumulation of the greatest and the grandest is dashed to pieces, and nought but rottenness remains. A mad world—a madhouse without a keeper. But, see all these isolated and discordant acts connected with an unlimited future. A new factor is introduced, which turns disorder into order in many things, and asks us to pause before condemning even what appears to us the worst. All may be good, and for good, if we could sec the end. Thus Spiritualism renders the conception of order under one Infinite Mind possible. Then all legends, where witches, ghosts, fairies, angels, &c., exhibit, receive from Spiritualism the recognition that they are romances, founded on realities—not experiences without causes—inventions without material. Miracles, so called, which take place, and have taken place now, and in all ages, among all nations, are very difficult to account for. The scientist rejects them without attempting to explain them, which is even to himself very unsatisfactory, or he explains them by natural magic, which is only to a very few of them a relevant explanation. Spiritualism, introducing the action of the spirits of the departed, we can receive many as simple fact, and see a groundwork, an atom of truth in the others. God has spoken to man on many occasions, and what He said is recorded. We have the record, and we declaim and argue to reconcile the apparent contradictions in the utterances. We are special pleaders, and become less faithful day by day in our devotion to the truth, until we become so lost as to lie—in the service of God. Spiritualism looks upon all these so-called God speeches, when they are authentic, as communications from spirits—fallible and imperfect—to be received and reflected upon just as we would receive and reflect upon a speech of a living man. In this light, revelation does not dominate over out individuality and its discrepancies
Spiritualism is a science. It is also a faith. Much we hope for; but we subordinate faith—keep it in check by reason. But by faith we can look into the future and trust it. God is our Father, and has no favourites. "There is no great and no small to the soul that governs all." We trust, believing that good and evil, light and darkness, are but modes of growth, methods of tuition, to be enjoyed or endured. All men are children of the Infinite, and in all times have had that amount of light which will grow to the good of all. There are no sheep and no goats with Him. With us there are, and we are active but not anxious now and ever. I view it as weakness to push aside others, and wickedness to rise above them and trample them down. Now and through all eternity let us seek to serve, not to reign; not serve the great, but serve the little; to moisten the parched tongue; to raise up the prostrate, and to heal the wounded spirit. Every act of self-denial is not lost in a cloud of purposeless confusion, but is an electric spark sending forth a ray which brightens for ever the stream of never-ending advancement. Spiritualists spread what they know; faith in truth makes them do so; but faith in God prevents them from nervously, anxiously, pressing it upon others. All is in His hands, and all things will make for good.
The University of Otago was founded in
In
In addition to the endowments which have been referred to, the University receives the benefit of certain educational funds held in trust by the Presbyterian Church of Otago, and which by law are required to be applied to the endowment of Professorships in the Faculty of Arts. One of the Professorships originally instituted—that of Mental Science—was endowed from this source, and it has lately been intimated to the University Council that the funds are now in a position to support another Chair. The University, however, is entirely unconnected with any religious denomination; it contains no faculty of theology, its instruction is purely secular, and it is restrained by its constitution from imposing any religious tests upon its professors, lecturers, or students.
The supreme governing body of the University is the Council, the members of which hold office for life. In terms of the ordinance, the right of filling up vacancies in the Council was vested in the Superintendent of the Province, but by reason of recent political changes it has now devolved upon the Governor. The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor are elected by the members of the Council out of their own body, and hold their offices for three years. The Council appoints the Professors and Lecturers, manages the finances of the institution, and attends to all its external relations. The conduct of the educational arrangements of the University is committed to the Professorial Board, which consists of all the Professors and those Lecturers who have been appointed members of it by the Council.
The University contains a Faculty of Arts, a School of Medicine, and a School of Law. The courses of lectures in the Faculty of Arts prepare for the preliminary examinations in Medicine and in Law, for the professional examinations
The establishment of a School of Mines in the University has on several occasions been under the consideration of the Council. It is believed that such a school would be of great public utility, and that it could be conducted with economy and advantage in connection with the Museum, the Chemical Laboratory, and the Science classes in the Arts curriculum. The want of funds for the endowment of a professorship of the technical branches has hitherto prevented the carrying of this scheme into effect; but at one
The University building, though handsome and spacious as well as centrally situated, is not in all respects perfectly suitable for the accommodation of the classes, and it would not admit of their rapid extension. The erection of a new building has therefore been determined upon, and with this view, a site, containing about eight acres has been secured adjacent to the Hospital and to the new Museum. The building will contain the most ample class-room and general accommodation; and a noticeable feature in the plan will be the establishment in connection with all the Science classes of Laboratories, which will be conveniently furnished and fully equipped with scientific instruments. The building will also include chambers for the use of those students who may wish to obtain such accommodation.
The University Library, founded mainly by public subscriptions, already contains more than four thousand volumes, which for the most part have been specially selected by the Professors for the use of the students. All students attending the University, whether matriculated or not, are entitled to the free use of the Library, and it is also open as a Library of Reference to the general public, who must, however, provide themselves with cards of admission by application to the Registrar. The Library is under the
The Chemical Laboratory in the University, which has been conveniently fitted up, is under the charge of the Professor of Chemistry. Its main aim is the training of students in chemical manipulation and in inorganic and organic analysis; but on grounds of public convenience it has been opened as a Public Analytical Laboratory. In this capacity it is largely made use of for the analysis of ores, minerals, soils, fabrics, and foods; and these analyses are frequently taken part in, or performed under supervision, by the more advanced students. The Laboratory is open for instruction from May to November, and for analysis during the whole year.
The Professor of Natural Science in the University is also Curator of the Museum. The handsome new building erected for the Museum is now approaching completion, and is expected to be ready for the reception of the collections before the commencement of the ensuing session. Besides the large hall, with its two tiers of galleries intended for the public exhibition of the objects, and the work-rooms for the Curator, the Curator's Assistant, and the Taxidermist, it contains a lecture-room, a library and reading-room, a biological laboratory, and two other rooms where researches may be carried on by candidates for honours and by other students in special departments of Natural Science. The Museum Library contains nearly a thousand volumes of valuable works on Natural History, and it is supplied by mail with all the principal scientific periodicals. The purpose of making the Museum an educational institution, rather than a collection for display, has also been carefully kept in view in the selection, the classification, and the arrangement of the objects. The collection of New Zealand plants and animals in the
The clinical lectures in connection with the Medical School will be given in the Dunedin Hospital, which is the largest in New Zealand. The Hospital building is not only commodious but of ample extent, and, with the out-buildings and grounds, occupies a self-contained block of live acres in a central, but open and airy, situation. It contains 198 beds, and the average number of in-door patients is 170. Of these, about 100 are under medical, and about 70 under surgical treatment, and both in medicine and in surgery the variety of cases occurring is amply sufficient for the purposes of efficient instruction.
The Scholarships of the New Zealand University are tenable by students attending the University of Otago, and, in addition to these, two other scholarships specially connected with the latter institution have been established. These are the Richardson Scholarship of the value of £40 a year, and the Scott Scholarship of the value of £20 a year. Both are awarded by competition, and may be held for a period of three years. Public notice is given of any vacancy in these scholarships occurring, and intending candidates may be informed of the conditions of competition by application to the Registrar of the University.
The session will commence on the first day of May, and will last for six months continuously, during the entire course of which instruction will be given to each class by the Professor by means of text-books, lectures, and oral and written examinations.
The classes are open to all persons over fifteen years of age; but no student will be recognised as an undergraduate of the University of New Zealand who shall not have passed, before entering on his course, the Matriculation Examination prescribed by that University.
The Matriculation Examination will be held during the first three days of May. Candidates will be examined in six or more of the following subjects:—
Greek.—Grammar, and very easy passages for translation at sight.Latin.—Grammar, and very easy passages for translation at sight.English.—Grammar and Composition.Arithmetic.—Fundamental rules, Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, Proportion and Square Root.Algebra.—To simple Equations, inclusive, with easy problems.Euclid.—First two books.Elementary Chemistry.—The non-metallic elements and the atomic theory.Elementary Physics.—Any one of the following branches:—(a) Electricity, (b) Sound and Light, (c) Heat.Elementary Natural Science.;—Any one of the following branches:—(a) Botany, (b) Zoology, (c) Geology.Modern Languages.—Grammar of one Modern Language—French, German, or Italian—and easy translations at sight.Geography.—The chief physical features and principal towns of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America; together with the more minute details of the Geography of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.History.—Outlines of English History to the end of the eighteenth century.
Each candidate will be required to pass in at least six subjects, of which Latin, English Grammar and Composition, and Arithmetic must be three.
The fee for matriculation is one guinea, payable to the Registrar of the University of New Zealand.
Candidates for matriculation who fail to pass the examination may, nevertheless, attend the ordinary classes on subjects in which they shall have satisfied the examiners; and they will be allowed to count any courses of lectures which they may so attend, as part of the attendance required of candidates for the B.A. degree, provided that they pass the next ensuing matriculation examination.
Students who shall have passed the matriculation examination, and who shall subsequently have kept three years' terms in the University of Otago, will be entitled to receive the degree of B.A. of the New Zealand University, on passing the prescribed examination in five of the following subjects, two of which must be Latin and Mathematics:—
The examination may be passed in two sections. The compulsory subjects constitute one section, and the optional subjects the other section. Either section may be taken at the end of the second year, or, at the option of the candidate, the whole five subjects may be taken at the end of the third year.
Every student intending to present himself for examination must, at least six months previously, signify to the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand the subjects in which he shall elect to be examined.
Senior scholarships of the value of £60, tenable for one year, and in the case of candidates for honours for two years, are awarded by the University of New Zealand to students who, at the end of their second year, pass with great credit either the voluntary or the compulsory section of the subjects of examination for the B.A. degree.
Students will be considered to have kept a year's terms in the University of Otago who shall have attended three full courses of lectures on subjects prescribed for the B.A. degree, and shall also have passed the annual examination in each course.
Undergraduates of the University of New Zealand, who have been specially exempted by the Chancellor from
It shall be competent for the Professorial Board, upon the recommendation of any Professor, and with the approval of the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor, to grant exemption from attendance at the lectures of such Professor during the whole or any part of a session, to such students as may be sufficiently advanced to render their attendance unnecessary: provided, notwithstanding, that such students shall be required to pass the annual examination.
To constitute a full course the lectures must occupy not less than five hours a week during the whole session on the following subjects:—
Not less than three hours a week in the following subjects:—
And not less than two hours a week in Law.
Any less complete course of Lectures is reckoned a partial course, and two or more such partial courses may, at the discretion of the Professorial Board, be deemed equivalent to one full course.
The following rank as half-courses:—English, for two
The fee for each full course is three guineas. For any course ranking as a half-course, half the usual fees will be charged. In addition to the class fees, all students are required to pay a College fee of one guinea per Session. All fees must be paid, in advance, to the Registrar.
Students of the University of Otago who matriculated before the month of
For the convenience of Students attending the University, the following alternative plans have been prepared, and in accordance with them the hours of study have been arranged. Students who wish to complete their terms within three years are recommended to adhere to one or other of these plans.
The Winter Session will be the same as in the Arts course. The Summer Session will be of three months' duration, commencing on 1st December.
The classes are open to all persons over sixteen years of age; but no student will be recognised as a registered Medical Student of the Otago University who shall not have passed, before entering on his course, the Preliminary Examination in General Education required of all students desirous of obtaining Medical Degrees.
The Preliminary Examination will be held during the first three days of May. Candidates who intend to appear at these examinations are requested to communicate with the Registrar of the University, on or before the 14th of April, intimating the optional subjects in which they desire to be examined.
The following six subjects are compulsory:—
I.—English Language.
II.—Arithmetic.
III.—Algebra.
IV.—Geometry.
V.—Latin.
VI.—Elements of Mechanics and Hydrostatics. (Elementary questions.)
Mechanics. Forces acting at one point, and parallel forces, treated simply. The Mechanical Powers Ratio of the Power to the Weight in each; the Centre of Gravity; General Laws of Motion, with simple illustrations; Law of the Motion of Falling Bodies. Text-books—Goodwin's Statics and Dynamics, or Todhunter's Mechanics for Beginners.Hydrostatics. Pressure of Liquids; Equilibrium of Liquids; Specific Gravity, and modes of determining it; the Siphon; the Common Pump and Forcing Pump; the Hydrostatic Press; Artesian Wells. Text-books—Galbraith and Haughton's Hydrostatics, or Besant's Hydrostatics.
The candidate will also be required to pass two out of the following nine optional subjects—
I.—Greek.
II.—French.
III.—German.
IV.—Logic. Text-book—Elementary Lessons in Logic. Stanley Jevons.
V.—Moral Philosophy. Text-book—Dugald Stewart's Outlines by Dr. McCosh.
VI.—Higher Mathematics.
VII.—Higher Natural Philosophy.
VIII.—Elementary Inorganic Chemistry.
IX.—The Rudiments of Botany and Zoology.
Note.—Students desirous of obtaining Scottish Degrees and Diplomas in Medicine are limited to the first seven of the above optional subjects.
The Session is the same as in the Arts Course; and the classes are open to all persons over fifteen years of age.
Examination in General Education required by Law Students.
Students, by passing the Matriculation Examination or the Preliminary Examination in Medicine, without No. VI. of the compulsory subjects, will be admitted as Solicitors without further examination in General Knowledge, excepting a paper in Constitutional History.
Note.—By section 5 of "The Law Practitioners Act
In the Junior Latin Class the work will comprise (1) The systematic study of some definite portions of the works of the more easily understood prose and verse authors, together with the Grammar of the Latin language, and such points in the history and antiquities of Rome as present themselves in the course of the work. (2) Occasional practice in the translation of easy unprepared passages. (3) The translation of easy passages of English into Latin prose.
Every student will find it necessary to provide himself with some good Lexicon and Grammar. White and Riddle's, or Andrews's, or Smith's Lexicon, and Madvig's Grammar are recommended. Teubner's cheap editions of Latin authors will be used in class, and it is recommended that every student obtain for reference and general use Teubner's complete editions of the works of Cicero, Cæsar, Virgil, and Ovid.
In the Senior Latin Class the general course of study will be similar to that followed in the Junior Latin Class; but the work will be of a more advanced character, and the portions of authors selected for study will usually be such as present greater difficulties to the student. The choice of authors, however, will be to some extent guided by the announcements of subjects for the B.A. Degree Examination, made from year to year by the New Zealand University.
In the Greek Classes the course of study will be, mutatis mutandis, similar to that followed in the Latin Classes. In
Teubner's cheap editions will in all cases be used in class.
In the English Literature Class the work will consist principally in the systematic study of some definite portions of the works of standard English authors, from Chaucer to Dryden. Especial importance will be attached to the history, meaning and various uses of English words and phrases. The general history of English literature will be entered into, only so far as is necessary to show clearly the position occupied by the author whose works are selected for study. But every student will be expected to make himself acquainted with the principal periods of English literature; and for this purpose Arnold's Manual of English Literature is recommended, and, as books of reference, Morley's First Sketch of English Literature and Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. Subjects for English Essays will be given occasionally during the session.
Euclid: Six books, with deductions.
Algebra, as far as prescribed for the B.A. Degree.
Trigonometry, including the use of logarithms and the solution of triangles, as far as prescribed for the B.A. Degree.
Text-books: Todhunter's Euclid, Colenso's Algebra, Colenso's Trigonometry.
Euclid: Revisal of six books, with deductions; Book XI., props. 1-21. Todhunter's Algebra. Todhunter's Trigo-nometry.
Algebra and Trigonometry, as prescribed for Honours.
Elementary Mechanics and Hydrostatics, as prescribed for the B.A. degree.
Text-books: Todhunter's Algebra, Todhunter's Trigo-nometry, Goodwin's Statics, Goodwin's Dynamics, Besant's Hydrostatics.
Revisal of Geometry, Algebra, and Trigonometry.
Elementary Mechanics and Hydrostatics, as for Honours. Todhunter's Conic Sections, Chaps. I, II, III, and V.
No student will be admitted to the Third Class who does not pass an examination on the above to the satisfaction of the Professor.
Analytical Geometry. Elements of Differential and Integral Calculus.
Text-books: Todhunter's Conic Sections, Todhunter's Calculus, Todhunter's Integral Calculus.
General revisal. Differential and Integral Calculus, as for Honours. Aldis's Solid Geometry, Chaps. I-IV, VII, and VIII. Todhunter's Analytical Statics, Chaps. I-VII.
No student will be admitted to the Fourth Class who does not pass an examination in the above to the satisfaction of the Professor.
Differential Equations. Analytical Statics. Dynamics of a Particle. A subject in Mathematical Physics, as for Honours.
Text-books: Boole's Differential Equations, Todhunter's Analytical Statics, Tait and Steele's Dynamics.
1. Psychology: The structure and functions of the Nervous System in man and animals; Sensation and Movement; the Special Senses; Instinct; the laws of Association of Ideas; the nature and limits of Knowledge; Abstraction (including the Nominalistic Controversy); the Theory of Vision; the Problem of the External World; the Theories of Perception.
2. Definition and First Principles of Logic: (a) Deductive Logic: Terms; Concepts; Propositions; the Syllogism; Demonstration; Axioms; Necessary Truth; (b) Inductive Logic: Uniformity of Nature; Causation, Observation, and Experiment; the Inductive Canons; the Combination of Induction and Deduction; Verification; Hypotheses; Chance; Probable Evidence; Analogy; Definition; Classification; Fallacies.
Analysis and Classification of the Emotions; the Will (including the Freewill Controversy); Pleasure and Pain; outlines of Morbid Psychology; the Methods of Ethics; the Hedonist, Intuitionalist, and Utilitarian systems; the History of Philosophy.
I.—Lectures.
The Lectures are delivered daily during the Session at 6.30 p.m. They will include:—
II.—The Laboratory.
The Practical Classes conducted in the Laboratory extend over a period of six months.
In these Classes the instruction is devoted to the analysis of simple Salts, Soils, Coal, Limestones, and the ores of the more important metals, e.g., Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Iron, Mercury, Zinc, Antimony, Tin.
Text-book: Fownes' Manual.
The formation, chemical composition, physical characters, and mode of occurrence of the principal minerals.
The composition and formation of the principal rocks; the structure of rock masses: the principles of geological dynamics and physiography; the principles of palaeontology; historical geology; the history of geological science; geo-logical surveying.
Note.—Geology and mineralogy form one course at a single fee.
The general morphology of plants and animals; the nature of life; morphology and physiology of the cell; physiology of plants and animals; reproduction and development of plants and animals; principles of classification; distribution of plants and animals in time and space; inheritance and variation; the origin of species.
This course may be taken with Botany or Zoology without an additional fee, and is necessary to complete the courses in these subjects. Taken alone, the fee is one guinea.
The structure, functions, and distribution of the orders of cryptogams, and the principal orders of phanerogams. The use of the microscope.
The structure, functions, and distribution of the different orders of vertebrata and invertebrata. The use of the microscope.
Construction and management of the microscope; measurement and drawing of objects; errors of interpretation; preparation and mounting of vegetable and animal substances; application of the microscope to geology.
The fee for this course is one guinea.
The Laboratory is open for two hours to students attending the Botanical and Zoological Classes. Practical instruction will be given in dissection, experimental physiology, systematic biology, and taxidermy.
Fee for the use of the Laboratory one guinea.
Colloquial and Idiomatic Language. Text-book: Ollendorff's Method.—Elements of Grammar. Text-book: Noel and Chapsal's Grammar.—Beading. Text-book: Hachette's First Reader.
Syntax of Language. Text-book: Noel and Chapsal's Grammar.—Origin and Structure of Language. Text-book: Bracket's Historical French Grammar.—Literature: Period of the Renaissance.—Reading: Montaigne's Essays.
Colloquial and Idiomatic Language. Text-book: Ollendorff's Method. — Elements of Grammar. Text-book: Veneroni's Grammar.—Reading. Text-book: Manzoni's Promessi Sposi.
Syntax of Language. Text-book: Veneroni's Grammar.—Literature: Period of the Trecentisti.—Reading. Text-book: Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata.
Work to be done by the German Classes during the Session of
Rudiments of Grammar; written translations of sentences from German into English, and vice versa; reading and translation of Meissener's Selections of German Com-position, also Schiller's Dreissigjöhriger Krieg, 1st book.
Text-books: Meier's Grammar, Meissener's Reader, Schiller's Dreissigjahriger Krieg.
Lectures and Essays in German; translation of Schiller's Don Carlos, Goethe's Faust, and Göz von Berlichingen.
Text-books: Arnold's Grammar, and the above-mentioned works.
I.—Lectures in General and Descriptive Anatomy.
II.—Anatomical Demonstrations.
The lectures in these subjects will be the same as in the Arts Course; but in the Laboratory students of medicine will be required to pay special attention to the origin of ferments and other subjects of interest to medical students.
Lectures on each subject will be given twice a week during the session. Instruction by the bed-side daily, during the ordinary visiting hours.
The Lecturer will give two courses in the course of the Session as follows:—
In addition to these courses there will be several short courses on miscellaneous subjects.
Dunedin.
Mills, Dick & Co., General Hunters, Stafford Street.
Some months back I ventured to have a Homœopathic preparation analyzed. Though not mentioned by me, this fact became known; and, thereupon, vituperative Homœopathic letters appeared against me. The columns of a newspaper did not afford space for the consideration of the value of a supposed science. In accordance with the desire of the persons in question, I have now carefully studied the subject up to present date, and herein convey my answer in a paper, each word of which is the result of a fair, impartial, and careful reading of the chief Homœopathic books. I regret that one's labours find the following conclusions.
The publication of this paper has been unavoidably postponed.
Nothing particular happened in
It is probable that he was always a bold, bad boy; for in This account is taken from the Popular Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Lancet and other reliable sources. Pope on Criticism.
To few men is genius given. Some shine in their youth, and vanish like a snuffed-out candle; others, dull at first, burst forth in light when past their youth. But true genius shines ever as in Hahnemann; quacking the Baron before he knew aught of
"But, Doctor, I suppose dear Mr. Hahnemann discovered Borax? He was such a clever man!"
Madame, I am sorry to say he did not; Borax was introduced into medical practice by the Arabians, used by the Hindoo physicians, and mentioned by Paulus Ægineta, an ignorant fellow of the 'old school, 'who lived in the 6th century.
Genius, however, is not thus abashed. Borax, though cheap, still cost something; what if the substance sold could be bought yet cheaper? 'He determined to treat his patients in future without any medicaments whatever, except perhaps a little powdered sugar; even the sugar was given merely for the purpose of keeping up in the patient's mind the firm belief that each powder contained a particular dose of some medicine.' See "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
But selling powdered sugar fraudulently as medicine, even at a high price, appears to have been soon discountenanced; and, moreover, sugar cost money: how then shall we estimate the height of a genius, which enabled him to sell water and foul air at famine prices, and in such a manner that the sale was not permanently stopped, as was that of the "Breath of Life;" but enriched him, raised him to the proud position of sole inventor and manufacturer of that" well-known and recognized science" Letter in Daily Paper.
In fact, after various vicissitudes of fortune in the above- mentioned frauds, in He first published on Homœopathy in Popular Encyclopædia.
A German Duke, however, took compassion on him, and kept him for 13 years, when he proceeded to Paris, where
"It seems likely that he was in hope of being busy and conspicuous." Johnson's Life of Otway.
There his pretensions received support; and in
Such was the education, such the course of study, such the quacking tendencies, the high morality, and the life of this "Prodigy of Philosophy and Learning."
Now this is true Homœopathy, for it is that of Hahnemann." The Heaven-inspired Apostle of Homœopathy," having spent much of his life in the libraries of his patrons, and in translating books for a living, was well read. Thus, he was acquainted with the works of Hippocrates, who wrote 2,300 years ago, for he quotes the following passage, incorrectly, This may be a printer's error, but a convenient one. One of the Solanaceæ—a 'Nightshade 'closely akin to Belladonna. See also Genesis, chap, xxx., v. 14. "Hippocrates," by F. Adams, LL.D.
Neither does Hahnemann deign to take notice of Aretaeus, A.D. 150.
It was, however, unkind of so learned, honourable, and well- read a man, not to give credit to Dioscorides, who lived in the first century, and, on a truly Homœopathic principle, recommends bugs as an antidote to the bite of the asp; while others write that, when drunk with vinegar, they eject leeches. It is common in the East for people to swallow, in water from the streams, small leeches, which cling to the throat, and suck blood largely. That interesting creature "Cimex Lectularius, the common bed-bug," is a Homœopathic medicine,"rich in promise": you take him rubbed up.—See British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia,
However, these omissions are nothing, except as symptoms of the character of the man. He then borrows the paragraphic style of the aphorisms of Hippocrates, and thus proceeds to make unsupported and unproved assertions:—
"It was high time for the Wise and Benevolent Creator and Preserver of mankind to put a stop to this abomination (the practice of the 'old school'), to command a cessation of these tortures, and to reveal a healing art the very opposite of this It was high time that He should permit the discovery of Homœopathy." "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "For the physician . . . . the disease consists only of the totality of its symptoms.""Everything of a really morbid character that the physician can discover in diseases consists solely in the sufferings of the patient, and the sensible alterations in his health; in a word, solely in the sum total of the symptoms." "The symptoms of disease cannot be cured by the medicines, otherwise than in so far as the latter have the power of also producing alterations in man's health." "This power of medicines to alter the health can only be ascertained in their operations on healthy persons." "The morbid symptoms that medicines produce in healthy individuals are the only thing wherefrom we can learn their power to cure disease." "The curative power of medicines therefore depends on the symptoms they have similar to the disease." "In order that they (Homœopathic medicines) may effect a cure, it is before all things requisite that they should be capable of producing in the human body All words thus printed are so in the original. "A Homœopathically-selected remedy usually causes a kind of slight aggravation, which has so much resemblance to the original disease, that it seems to the patient to be an aggravation of his disease. Oh! crafty Hahnemann!! chief of tricksters!!! "As this therapeutic law of nature is verified by every pure experiment and every true observation in the world, and the fact is consequently established, 5 it matters little respecting the scientific explanation of the "The dose of a Homœopathic remedy can scarcely ever be made so small that it shall not be able to relieve, overpower, indeed completely cure and annihilate the pure natural disease." When Like meets Like, then comes the tug of war. "The best is a single dose of the very smallest one, in one of the highest strengthenings by shaking, 'till its effects are exhausted." "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "Homœopathic Dynamizations. Crude. Trituration. Succussion. "Homœopathic medicine becomes strengthened Potentized. Attenuation.an artificial disease as similar as possiblemedicinal disease, somewhat exceeding in strength the original affection."manner in which it takes place."strengthenings by shakingdilutions applied to them."i.e., at every reduction of their strength by the addition of a diluent.
I much fear that no old toper, who has faith in "Dynamization," will fail to give his drop of gin its utmost strength by-giving it only two shakes instead of ten, fearing intoxication. But then, as "The Great Master" says, spirits don't count in this game, though the effect is "spiritual."
"As long as I gave the medicine undivided, each all at once in a little water, I found that strengthening the dilution bottles with ten shakes caused too strong action, and hence I advised but two shakes to be given. But since a few years, as I can now distribute each dose of medicine in an indestructible solution over 15, 20, 30 days, and even a longer period, no strengthening by shaking the dilution phials is too strong for me, and I again prepare each with ten jerks of the arm." "The effect of a Homœopathic dose of medicine increases, the greater the quantity of liquid in which it is dissolved when administered to the patient, although the actual amount of medicine remains the same."
This is contrary to the experience of the habitual toper, who does not elect to strengthen his drop by adding a bucket of water. The mode of preparing the Homœopathic medicines is this:—
"Two drops of fresh vegetable juice, mingled with equal parts of spirits of wine, Alcohol.
Now these are the strengths of the Homœopathic medicines:— I am well aware that the Homœopathic accounts of the strength of their preparations differ. For Hahnemann gives one strength, the Homœopathic Chemists another, and their "Physicians" a third. I elect to follow that of the "Founder of the Feast."
"For the information of your correspondent signing himself 'Caution, 'I am pleased to be in the position to state that there has been no change in 'Homœopathic Pharmacy.'" Letter in Argus, alibi in medicine, ´ la Mr. Weller, Senior, is "the best dose, and one most generally used" now in
Now, if every human being on the face of the earth took a "best dose" of Homœopathic medicine every second for 100 years; and if there were a million creatures of the animal world to each human being, each of which similarly wasted a similar term in a similar occupation, it would require 210,000 centuries of years for these people and animals collectively to consume one single half-grain of the medicine, say charcoal, common sulphur, or table salt, All Homœopathic drugs. Letter in the Argus,
The late Sir James Simpson, The One decillionth. The One hundred thousand sextillions. Ninety-three millions.Lancet.Encyclopœdia Britannica.one single grain of the drug.
"The dose of a Homœopathic remedy can scarcely be made so small that it shall not be able to relieve, overpower, indeed completely cure and annihilate the pure natural disease."
"The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
"The smallest dose of tincture of sulphur of the decillionth dilution can seldom be repeated with advantage even in robust patients oftener than every 7 days.""Sulphur of the decillionth dilution can rarely be taken or smelt at shorter intervals than every fourteen or fifteen days."
"The diminution of the dose
essential for Homœopathic usewill also be promoted by diminishing its volume, so that if instead of a drop of a medicinal dilution we take but quite a small part of such a drop for a dose . . . . For this purpose it is most convenient to employ fine sugar globules of the size of poppy seeds, one of which, imbibed with the medicine and put into water,constitutes a medicinal dose, which contains about the three hundredth part of a drop, for 300 such small globules will be adequately moistened by one drop of spirits of wine. The dispensing vehicle.
The dose is vastly diminished by laying one such globule alone upon the tongue, and giving nothing to drink." Alcohol.
"It is especially in the form of vapour, by smelling and inhaling the air
that is always emanating from a globule impregnated with a medicinal fluid in a high development of power, and placed dry in a small phial, that the Homœopathic remedies are most surely and most powerfully exerted. The Homœopathic physician allows the patient to hold the open mouth of the phial first in one nostril, and, in the act of inspiration, inhale the air out of it; and then, if it is wished to give a stronger dose, smell in the same manner with the other nostril more or less strongly, according to the strength it is intended the dose should be; he then corks up the phial and places it in his pocket-case to prevent any misuse of it, Aura.
and unless he wish it he has no occasion for an Apothecarys assistance in his practice.A globule, of which 10, 20, or 100 weigh a grain, impregnated with the thirtieth shaken up See previous account of his life, on page
dilution and then dried, retains for this purpose all its powers Potentized.
undiminishedfor at least 18 or 20 years (my experience extends this length of time), even though the phial be opened a thousand times during that period, if it be protected from heat and the sun's light This is much preferable to every other mode of administering the medicaments in substance by the mouth. All that Homœopathy is at all capable of curing (and what can it not cure beyond the domain of mere manual surgical affections?), among excessively chronic diseases that have not been quite ruined by Allopathy, as also among acute diseases, will be most safely and certainly cured by this mode of sniffing.I can scarcely name one in a hundred out of the many patients that have sought the advice of myself and my assistant during the past year, whose chronic or acute diseases we have not treated with the most happy results solely by means of this sniffing. Olfaction.
During the latter half of this year, moreover, I have been convinced (of what I never could previously have believed), that, by this mode of sniffing, the power of the medicine is exercised upon the patient in at leastthe same degree of strength, and that more quietly and yet just as long, as when the dose of medicine is taken by the mouth.""A patient even destitute of the sense of smell may expect an equally perfect action and cure from the medicine by sniffing. "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
" Olfaction.
"The alteration of the degree of strength, by a little, may be effected by shaking the phial in which is the solution of the single globule with five or six smart jerks of the arm before each time of taking it." Dynamization.
"There are, however, Homœopaths, who carry about with them on their visits to patients the Homœopathic medicine in the fluid state, and who yet assert that they do not become more highly strengthened by shaking in the course of time; but they merely show their want of ability to observe correctly. I dissolved a grain of soda in an ounce of water mixed with alcohol in a phial, which was thereby filled two-thirds full, and shook this solution continuously for half an hour, and this was in strength and energy equal to the thirtieth development of power." Potentized.
This is a magnificent assertion, as usual, without a particle of proof, and the analytical chemist would differ.
"I have very often seen a drop of the decillionth dilution of nux vomica produce pretty nearly just half as much effect as a drop of the quintillionth dilution, under the same circumstances and in the same individual."
Another Araratic assertion, i.e., the
part of a grain produces half as much effect as the
part of a grain! What wonderful eyes the man had!
That there may be no mistake about the question of dose, the Inspired One says:—
"Every patient is, especially in his diseased point, capable of being changed in an incredible degree by medicinal agents corresponding by similarity of action; and there is no person, be he ever so robust, and even though he be affected only with a chronic and so-called local disease, who will not soon experience the desired change in the affected part, if he take the salutary Homœopathically suited medicine in the smallest conceivable dose; who, in a word, will not thereby be much more altered in his health than a healthy infant of but a day old would be. How unmeaning and ridiculous is mere theoretical scepticism in opposition to this unerring infallible experimental proof!"
This fellow was not infinitesimal in his assertions.
"By careful observation and experimentation," Hahnemann "had discovered a truth not to be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly-selected remedy is always the smallest one in one of the high strengthenings by shaking
( or the thirtieth dilution) as well for chronic as for acute Dynamizations.
Thus, of common salt and charcoal, the dose is the 1 or 2 decillionths of a grain; of camomile, 2 quadrillionths of a grain; of nutmeg, 2 millionths of a grain, &c., &c.; and he goes on to say,"Who can fail to perceive in this instance the infinite superiority of the (Homœopathic) treatment by means of remedies of similar action over the wretched treatment by opposites ( "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.contraria contrariis) of the antiquated ordinary school of medicine."
The Homœopathic imposition was, no doubt, greatly assisted by the use of unintelligible, and, to the lay mind, astounding words to express simple things. Thus, 'To be shaken 10 times before taken, 'is, in Homœopathic Tuttenham 'Dynamize by 10 succussions 'Rub 20 times in a mortar, 'becomes 'Potentize by 20 triturations; "Let him smell the well-shaken, weakest medicine, 'reads 'Administer a single olfaction of the potentized decillionth dilution ., '&c., until we do not wonder that the public is overwhelmed, dazed, and thinks there must be something in it.
Hahnemann was compelled to reduce the dose of his medicines so that they could produce no effect, for, when he gave them in active doses, they increased the disease; as, should opium be given in an effect-producing quantity in a case of apoplexy, the patient would probably never wake again. To continue his theory it was therefore necessary that the dose should be powerless.
In a letter from Dr. Croserio, of Paris, to Dr. V. Bonning-hausen, of Münster (N. Archiv, 1, 2, p. 31), there are a few particulars respecting the practice of Hahnemann up to the period of his decease, of which the writer assures us he was often a witness. After enumerating the infinitesimal doses given, he says,"If he gave a powder to be taken at once in a spoonful of water, that was always only milk-sugar. Even in acute diseases it was rare for him to give more than one spoonful once in the 24 hours. But on the other hand, in order to quiet the patient or his friends, he gave frequent doses of plain milk-sugar. Hahnemann appeared, in the latter years of his practice, to employ his whole dexterity in diminishing the dose more and more. Hence he latterly employed sniffing Olfaction.
It is sad to know that so bold an asserter was only second in the degree of his extravagancies. Hahnemann is nothing to Swift as an imaginative author; for the latter describes a man, who" had been 8 years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials, hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summers." "Gulliver's Travels:" Jonathan Swift.
Rhases wrote on Professional Impostors. Ad. Mansor vii., 27, Paul. Æg.
Thus Hahnemann was not even the first impostor.
"But, doctor, they sometimes perform wonderful cures."
"Not so, madam; but being, by the agency of their touts, often called in to patients who are at the crisis and turn of their complaints, with the false and usual Homœopathic cry of 'given up, 'they receive credit which is not their due. The fever is at its turn; the croupy fit is past; an internal abscess bursts; the natural tendency of all disease towards health, and a little essence of Homœopathic talk—not infinitesimal in quantity or assertion,—suffice to constitute miraculous cures, which an honest man
With regard to medicines, this scientific Prince shows himself again a genius, in the form of a master plagiarist: he enumerates "The Materia Metlica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy." Hahnemann was born in
"But," says some charming Homœopathica,"perhaps Hahnemann never heard of your Mr. Von Storck." Oh! yes, my dear madam; for the simple old thief quotes "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
Neither does Arnica belong to the Homœopaths: it was mentioned by Marcus Herg, introduced into and grown in England by Mr. Miller in Deadly Nightshade. Acetic Acid. Dr. Adams in P. Æg.
The poacher then proceeds to remove from his prey the domestic names, as far as possible, and masks them from ordinary recognition under Latin, Greek, or contracted titles. Thus, common table salt becomes "Natrum Muriaticum;" Sulphur,"Hepar Sulph.;" Rhubarb,"Rheum;" Rue,"Ruta;" Cinchona bark,"China;" Elder,"Sambucus Nigra," &c., &c., ad nauseam, till their own mother would not know them.
Prior.
Having thus stolen other people's children, and given them new dresses, he gives them a new character, so that each one has many pages of symptoms; and this is the way he went about it."We now find it best to investigate the medicinal powers even of such substances as are considered weak; and the plan we adopt is, to give to the experimenter on an empty stomach, daily, from 4 to 6 small globules of the thirtieth Decillionth. "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."a considerable time previously the spontaneous occurrence of similar phenomena in himself." Thus, if the experimenter take common table salt, or charcoal in a dose of such a fraction of a grain as contains 60 "O's," more or less, and presently break his neck or blow his nose, this" accident is solely derived from this medicine." These medicines must therefore be more dangerous than one might think, judging by the amount of "nothing" in them.
The result of this kind of scientific observation is very instructive, not to say amusing, if it were not that the lives of men and
"Materia Medica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. Argentum. China.
Nor does Homœopathy scatter her lively discourse or good advice with niggard hand. She is the handmaid of lovers, and of domestic felicity. Were it not for heaven-inspired Homœopathy, how should we know that we should give them both aconite, when She makes reproaches;" when "he exclaims, that his beloved has this moment sung the difficult passage which he had just executed himself;" when" she has fears and apprehensions, accompanied with entire absence of courage;" (happy thought! go together through a churchyard at 12 p.m. sniffing a globule of the decillionth of aconite); or,"if he have confidence and energy of character, or despair," you still give him Aconite; it's all the same. So, also, if she make" loud moans and lamentations, bitter complaints and reproaches;" have "great anxiety, accompanied with trembling or languor;" if "he has doubts about recovering;" if "she makes moans and lamentations arising from the apprehension of her death being near;" if she should "mention when she is to die;" should she have "fear of men," or "hatred of men," "dread of ghosts;" or should she have "vehemence, headstrongness,Sic.
But should the mood change, and he have "thirst for beer; nevertheless it has a disagreeable taste; violent thirst after the
The common meadow anemone, or windflower, introduced into the "Edinburgh Pharmacopœia" through Baron von Störck in Sic. I am not acquainted with this brand.shall we do with him? The benevolent Homœopathic tout administers five-and-twenty noughts of Pulsatilla,
Or he is away; and she has "ennui, she feels lonesome;" or "it took her an hour and a half to fall asleep;" she is "not disposed to do anything;" or she is "exhausted, and becomes very nervous from playing on the piano for a short while, with painful, oppressive anguish of the chest;" or "is cheerful and sociable;"while he "inclines to hum a song to himself," and "is resolute and courageous:" what about this couple? Why, says some ignorant Rationalist, a husband will cure the girl, and he is the man."Sir," says the Homœopathic saviour of our lives,"none of this frivolity; they each require a sniff of an invisible quantity of carbonate of soda; that will take the 'lonesomeness or cheerfulness 'out of her, and 'the courage and humming 'out of him."
'But "should she frequently look in the looking-glass, and imagine she looks wretched," "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."
Or should Amanda have "an itching of the left arm, inducing a desire to scratch," some vulgar gallant might hint at a flea, and praise his knowledge of the chase. Avaunt! thou heathen and ignorant one!"A drop, containing the one one-hundred-thousandth part of a grain of rue is, in many cases, more than sufficient for curative purposes." "The Materia Medica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
And after he who did not catch the flea, and she whom the flea bit, have been some years wedded, see what an advantage Homœopathy is in the education of their children. Should Charley have" speedy loss of appetite by eating," or Maudy
"The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
But—horrible thought—should Ethel "push away from her" . . . . But we must quit these noble pastimes, else the paper may be clogged with the potentized decillionth dilution of classical quotations of this" well-known and recognized science." 'Letter in Daily Telegraph
The Homœopaths may say,"This is not our Homœopathy." That may be so with "Bastard Homœopaths;" but I never knew a shuffler at school who could not invent some new excuse. This is Homœopathy, real Homœopathy, by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann, their prophet and their guide, whose bust figures so freely in their shops; and these results, called 'Provings, 'are constantly referred to as guides to treatment and the action of medicines in the "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of
Having thus described a lot of nonsensical symptoms, Hahnemann proceeds to give, by assertion, a Homœopathic character to the medicines. Thus (to keep to our former example), let us assume that, when a patient is feverish, he advises aconite. Now, when the body is feverish the temperature, as shown by the thermometer, is increased; thus, that aconite should be the Homœopathic remedy, it should have the power of raising the temperature of the body of a healthy man. Yet this is not its property; for when so taken,"the pulse sinks, the skin is cold and livid;" Taylor's" Medical Jurisprudence."
The Great Prophet says:—"In no case is it requisite to administer more than "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. Mulder. Milton. Strengthened by shaking up.one single simple medicinal substance at one time."
Again, coffee and tea are Homœopathic medicines; and under no circumstances are to be drunk when Homœopathic medicine is being taken, Hahnemann. Payen.
Or should a man take a glass of pure wine, whether in health or as a medicine in disease, is he swallowing a single drug? No; he imbibes a whole shelf of the chemist's shop." Water, vinous alcohol, butyric alcohol, amylic alcohol, several aldehydes, acetic ether, capric ether, caprylic ether, &c.; perfumes, essential oils, sugars, mannite, glycerine, mucilage, gums, colouring matters, (ferments), tannin, carbonic acid, tartrate of potash, acid of potash, tartrates, racemates, acetates, propionates, buty-rates, lactates, citrates, malates, sulphates, azotates, phosphates,
Yet I have before me a Homœopathic prescription, of course by only a "Bastard Homœopath," Hahnemann.
And now about our genius's theory of disease. Here also, he seems to have been very mixed, as was his custom on all points. The Prophet first says:—"In a word, the totality of the symptoms must be the principle, the sole thing the physician has to take note of in every case of disease." "The collection of symptoms is the only indication, the only guide to the selection of a remedy." "Everything of a really morbid character that the physician can discover in diseases, consists solely in the sufferings of the patient and the sensible alterations in his health; in a word, solely in the sum total of the symptoms." "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
Now, we poor ignorants of the 'old Rational school 'think it necessary to know more of a disease than such a set of symptoms as those previously quoted from Hahnemann's works. We think it necessary, for example, to examine the lungs, the heart, &c., by listening to their sounds to be aware if the former have holes in them, or otherwise; and in the latter, whether the valves work naturally, &c., all of which is as certain to the rationally and thoroughly educated medical ear as if one saw the organ laid open before one. Not so Hahnemann. He did not want to know whether she had typhus fever, or what was the matter: he only wanted to know if" the pimple on her nose itched," or "on which side she lay," for he says:—"The Homœopathic physician does not entertain the foregone conclusions devised by the ordinary school, (who have fixed upon a few names of such fevers, beyond which mighty nature dare not produce any others, so as to admit of their treating these diseases according to some fixed methods,) and does not acknowledge the names 'gaol fever, bilious fever, typhus fever, putrid fever, nervous fever, or mucous fever.'"
Yet, while he thus distinctly enjoins that the external" symptoms are the sole thing the physician has to take note of;" and also, that "the Homœopathic physician does not acknowledge the names of typhus fever, &c.," he presently directs him, "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "Soap of the Toilet Table of the Woman of the World." "Wax Candles."Smegma mundi muliebris tabellœ,Lucernce Candidœ,post-mortem examinations on them, and thus proved the truth of his opinion. Moreover, the practical groundwork of his medical education in anatomy, physiology, and pathology was not attainable by translating books for sale, on the money produced by which he was mainly dependent.
Hahnemann's early education in the natural history of disease being thus deficient, he, as far as he could, prevented diseases from having a natural history, the clever scheme of an unprincipled and ignorant quack. It was another illustration of Mahomet and the mountain. Similarly it was his tenet that no crisis, no turning-point, ever occurs in disease; all that happens is due to a sniff of one of his 20-year-old globules, and improvement results solely therefrom. He taught that the natural tendency of all disease is straightway to death.
This doctrine, if credited, as it seems to be, by some persons of high perceptive faculty, and, shall we say, of exalted olfactory powers, was calculated to lead to the easy attainment of an unmerited fame, and the rapid filling of money bags; for though, of course, many patients died unassisted against their disease, still some would certainly recover; for we of the 'old school 'hold that the natural tendency of all disease is towards health; and, since Hahnemann arranged to call some mild disease "a kind of something dreadful," it was not difficult to assert the frequent performance of Homœopathic miracles. See the account of Hahnemann's cure of a violent pleurisy in 5 hours by a sniff of a decillionth globule. Query, was it pleurisy?
And now, arriving near the conclusion of the details of Homœopathy, as given by Hahnemann, it becomes one's painful duty to remark on the violence, the false assertion, the extent, and the malice of "the Master's" slanders on the men from whom he filched all such of his views as were sound; but who had, by their scientific knowledge, detected an unprincipled person in highly remunerative swindles:
Dryden.
The first charge of slander to be brought against "the Divinity" is that of opprobriously calling the ordinary practitioners-in-medicine by false names; among which, that of "Allopath" was and is the most common. Now, this title infers that, while Hahnemann chose to bind down his school to the practice of the treatment of disease by "Like" remedies only, the ordinary practitioner had bound himself down to treat disease only by "Contraries;" an assertion as false as Hahnemann and his system. The ordinary practitioner gives himself no name, reserving the right of treating disease in any way that may be shown to be serviceable; and until he gives himself some such contracted title, it is a slander for a Homœopath to assert that such is his mode of practice.
Now, what are we, and how should we be styled? We are disciples of 'the medicine of experience; 'as is the British lawyer of the law of precedents and experiences. We are 'Rationalists, 'open to the conviction of the treatment of disease by any mode shown to be efficacious. To quote Dr. Adams, LL.D., when defining ancient medical schools,"The sect, called the Rational maintained that it is the duty of the physician not to neglect any collateral science or subject. They therefore inquired sedulously into the remote and proximate causes of diseases; and into the effects of airs, waters, places, pursuits, food, diet, and seasons in altering the state of the human body, and in rendering it more or less susceptible of morbid changes. Looking upon general rules as not being of universal application, they held that the treatment ought to be modified according to the many incidental circumstances under which their patients might be placed. They freely and fully availed themselves of whatever aid they could derive from experience, analogy, and reasoning. Hippocrates, Galen, Aëtius, Oribasius, Paulus Ægineta, Actuarius, and all the Arabian authorities, may be looked upon as belonging to this, sect."
Thus, what there is good in Homœopathy, &c., as taught by Hippocrates and other authors during the last two or three thousand years, we gladly accept; but I am not aware that any good thing has emanated from Hahnemannism; which, on the other hand, has done more to injure the fair science which it defaced than aught else I know of. Homœopathy has been a common thief, plagiarist, and slanderer of those who begot the science of medicine—who nurtured her tenderly, and raised her to her present perfection of maturity.
But before all, if you please, we are of the 'old school, 'just as we may be of the Ancient University of Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or Dublin; not that that infers that the 'old school 'does not advance; and it would be just as false to say so, as that these universities do not advance with the age; for in the van they march, as do we. We are of that 'old school, 'from which Hahnemann and his followers filched everything in their system and practice that is true, or worth knowing. We are of that 'old school 'of which Homœopathy was a diseased and baneful excrescence; now, however, happily excised from all connection with its honest parent by the sharp stroke of the knife, wielded by the British Medical Association at Brighton in Dr. Wyld, Vice-President of the London Homœopathic Society.
We are of the 'old school 'in the sense in which the British Constitution is old, in which almost all that is good is old; and, while having the advantage of all that is old, we now lead the van in the discovery of means of relieving the sick, and in modes in which the Homœopaths, by their tenets and self-imposed rules, have never had, and never can have, any part.
And what is this 'old school, 'which these Homœopaths deride and slander; and who are its founders and supporters? This ground we tread with humility! Take off your shoes, we enter a holy shrine! Bare your head, for more than 2,000 years the temple is sacred to the relief of pain, the saving of life! Around its inner walls behold the offerings to the god of means, by which the interior of the body is known almost as if seen, the lofty fruits of the study of the 'old school! 'Here are enshrined the stethoscope, the ophthalmoscope, the laryngoscope, the otoscope, the microscope, the sphygmograph, the medical thermometer; in the discovery of any part of which the Homœopath has had no share, for Hahnemann declares that
"The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
Of this 'old school 'are Machaon and Podalirius, B.C. 1190, mentioned in the Iliad as "good physicians and skilled in the cure of wounds;" Hippocrates, B.C. 460, said to be the author of the first attempt at a scientific treatment of medicine. He was "the father of medicine;" he wrote on the treatment of disease by Hydropathy, &c.; he was the most famous of the Greek physicians, and said to be seventeenth in descent from Æsculapius; Erasistratus, a celebrated Greek physician of the 3rd century B.C., said to have been grandson of Aristotle, the court physician of Seleucus Nicator, King of Syria; and rendered himself famous by the sagacity with which he discovered the malady of Antiochus, the king's son. The king in his old age had married Stratonice, a beautiful woman, with whom the young prince fell madly in love: but, after the manner of men, preferred to
Twelfth Night.
His physician resolved to save him; and, at the risk of his life, told the king that his son was dying of a broken heart, because an insuperable obstacle intervened 'twixt him and the object of his passion Said the king," Who is the object of his passion?" "My wife," replied the physician; and when Seleucus implored Erasistratus to give up his wife to the prince, Erasistratus asked the king if he would do so if he were so situated?" Would to heaven this were the case!" answered the king;"I would not only give him Stratonice, but my whole kingdom, if that would save his life." Then Erasistratus told the king the whole truth, and the prince, the fair Stratonice, and several provinces of the empire 'lived happily ever afterwards. 'Presently he devoted himself to anatomy. He first systematically dissected the human body, and described the brain and nerves more exactly than any of his predecessors. He classified the nerves of sensation and locomotion; and, it is said, almost stumbled on the discovery of the circulation of the blood. He was remarkably averse to blood-letting and purgatives, relying chiefly upon diet and regimen, bathing, exercise, friction, and the most simple articles of the vegetable kingdom for the restoration and preservation of health. He wrote several works on anatomy,
"The Popular Encyclopaedia."from which, as well as from other sources, the account of many of these, our ancestors of the 'old school, 'is derived.materia medica, particularly valuable botanically; Celsus, a Latin physician of the 1st century, whose work on medicine is an inexhaustible source, both medical and surgical; Galen, A.D. 130, a highly educated, travelled, and most successful Greek physician, who laid the foundation of a just theory of sensation, and of the peculiar animal functions of the body; Serapeon, an eminent physician of Alexandria in the 3rd century, who occupied himself chiefly with inquiries into the nature of drugs; Avicenna, or Ebn-Sina, A.D. 980, the first among the Arabian physicians, a man of high education, who attained to great Eastern success and reputation; Theophrastus Paracelsus, A.D. A.D. A.D.
On the other hand, on the maligning and Homœopathic side is Hahnemann, of "Pnœum" memory, the great plagiarist and slanderer, followed by a disorganized crowd of "Bastard Homœopaths." Nor do I know of one Homœopath, whose name as a philanthropist, philosopher, or scientist of any kind, can be mentioned. Some there have been, no doubt, who, as "Bastard Homœopaths," have been prominent in the shoal of their 'similar 'small fry; the most pushing of whom will be presently named. But no Homœopath, so far as I know, has, by his original work, benefited mankind one iota; though some have profited themselves much, as has also Mr. Holloway by his "Indisputable Pills and Ointment." Where are their classic schools of medicine? Where their professors of world-wide fame? Echo answers, where? To complete the Homœopathic list, therefore, as it was commenced, so it must conclude with the name of Hahnemann.
"There is no likelihood between pure light and black darkness; or between righteousness and reprobation." Ralegh.
Nor does this "Prince" cease his "evil-speaking, lying, and slandering," at calling his teachers and masters by false names; he continues his false-witness, and makes it subservient to personal puff and self-interest. Thus, he asserts,"by opposite medicinal symptoms (antipathic treatment) persisting symptoms of disease are not cured." The "Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.with similar symptoms, is the only one that experience shows to be always serviceable."
"It is just in this way that violent treatment with Allopathic drugs, &c." "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. See page 10. See page 10. Olfaction.This is one of the lamentable circumstances, that render the best medical treatment of chronic diseases almost impossible; among the many that the ordinary bungling of chronic diseases by the 'old school 'would leave us nothing to do, were there not some mode of getting over the difficulty." And what is Hahnemann's remedy for this awful disease produced by the poisoning ordinary practitioner?"In such cases we have only to let the patient smell a single time strongly at a globule the size of a mustard seed, moistened with metallic mercury of the decillionth dilution,
And so his false-witness and puff, asserted in the usual quack fashion without a particle of proof or argument, runs on Nelson.ad nauseam to the extent of being contained in about a quarter of the paragraphs of his book. But "we are not to be dejected by the slanders and calumnies of bad men, because our integrity shall then be cleared by Him who cannot err in judgement."
Thus ends our criticism on Hahnemann, the mighty quack and author of the Homœopathic school: not that food for criticism is expended, but that the decillionth quantity of sense being contained in the largest possible dose of slander, quackery, and absurdity, the subject disgusts; and, having waded through his maze of words, one can only murmur in paraphrase—
But what of Homœopathy now? In a word, there is no such
1. "Disease consists solely in the sufferings of the patient and the sensible alterations in his health." "Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. "Ruddock's Homœopathic Vade Mecum." I have selected Dr. Ruddock as the exponent of present Homœopathic practice, as I see his books chiefly for sale in Homœopathic windows.
2. "The morbid symptoms that medicines produce in healthy individuals are the only thing wherefrom we can learn their power to cure disease." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he now prescribes "prepared chalk" for poisoning by oxalic acid. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school. 'No doubt these Homœopaths have cause to fear the coroner, should they persevere in their infinitesimal and absurd theory in such cases. For what is the Homœopathic antidote for oxalic acid? This —? "The British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of
3. "The curative power of medicines, therefore, depends on the symptoms they have similar to the disease." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he now prescribes iodide of potassium for lead colic. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'
4. "In order that they (Homœopathic medicines) may effect a cure, it is before all things requisite that they should be capable of producing in the human body an artificial disease as similar as possible to the disease to be cured." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he prescribes aconite for fever. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'
5. "Pure and careful Homœopathy can cure all important and serious diseases." This Dr. Herring Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."i.e., of consultation with a rational practitioner, for which he is contending),"one practically admits that his system has failed."The Lancet.
6. "The dose of a Homœopathic remedy can scarcely ever be made so small, that it shall not be able to relieve, overpower, indeed completely cure and annihilate the pure, natural disease." "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
7. "The smallest dose of tincture of sulphur of the decillionth dilution can seldom be repeated with advantage in robust patients oftener than every seven days, even in a case of itch. Every external treatment of such local symptoms, the object of which is to remove them from the surface of the body, as, for instance, driving off the skin the eruption of itch by all sorts of ointments, &c . . . . has been the most prolific source of all the innumerable named or unnamed chronic maladies under which mankind groans; it is one of the most criminal procedures the medical world can be guilty of, and yet it has hitherto been the one generally adopted and taught from the professorial chair as the only one." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he prescribes sulphur ointment externally. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'
8. "Sniffing Olfaction.
9. "The alteration of the degree of strength (potentization), by a little, may be effected by shaking the phial in which is the solution of the single globule with 5 or 6 smart jerks of the arm before each time of taking it." This is negatived by the "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia," which says," These diluted preparations have been called indiscriminately dilutions, attenuations, and potencies; but since the latter term involves a theory, it will not be employed in the following pages." Thus, they revert, without acknowledgment, to the practice of us of the 'old school!'
10. "By careful observation and experimentation, Hahnemann had discovered a truth, not to be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly-selected remedy is always the smallest one in one of the high dynamizationsi.e., The most diluted of all.
Drs. Pulte and Epps (to change the authority) negative this, for they say,"In regard to the choice of higher or lower attenuations, we consider Homœopathic, legitimate and useful, all strengths Potencies. Usually much stronger than ours of the 'old school.'
Of 51 remedies recommended by Dr. Ruddock to be purchased in a "handsome mahogany or fancy-wood chest, adapted to his Homœopathic Vade Mecum," 22 are taken from Hippocrates 'list of 2,300 years ago. Thus he reverts more than his supposititious master to the practice of us of the 'old school. 'Not that Dr. Ruddock removes their aliases: Chalk is "Calc. Carb.;" Sulphur is "Hepar S.;" Tincture of the common Marygold is "Calendula;" Cuttlefish Composed chiefly of Lime—see Dioscorides, Galen, Celsus, Aetius.
11. "In no case is it requisite to administer more than "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann."one single simple medicinal substance at one time."
12. Hahnemann says:— "Homœopathy administers no emetics, no purgatives; drives off no external affection by external means; prescribes no warm baths; applies no Spanish flies; but gives with its own hand its own preparation of simple uncompounded medicines, which it is accurately acquainted with; never subdues pain with opium, &c." This is negatived by Dr. Ruddock, who (perhaps under the influence of the Coroner) recommends, in poisoning by arsenic, an emetic, a dose of castor oil, poultices, and fomentations. In his list of drugs to be supplied is "cantharis," "Homœopathic Domestic Medicine." Recommended by Haly Abbas, an Arabian physician; as also stimulant applications, as onions, &c. Recommended by Dioscorides in the 1st century. The "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia" gives 5 different modes of making ointments, taken from the "old school." "Organon of Rational Medicine," by S. C. F. Hahnemann.i.e. Spanish flies, both as an internal and external remedy. He orders sulphur ointment for the itch; while Drs. Pulte and Epps
"That some erring physicians, who would wish to be considered Homœopathic, engraft some, to them more convenient, Allopathic bad practices upon their nominally Homœopathic treatment, is owing to ignorance of the doctrine, laziness, contempt for suffering humanity, and ridiculous conceit; and, in addition to unpardonable negligence in searching for Translator's preface to "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. Alas! poor Yorick. "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann. Psoric. Dr. Ruddock orders galvanism for paralysis. The italics are Hahnemann's.the best Homœopathic specific for each case of disease, has often a base love of gain, and other dishonest motives for its spring; and, for its result?—that they cannot cure all important and serious diseases (which pure and careful Homœopathy can), and that they send many of their patients to that place whence no one returns: whilst the friends console themselves with the reflection, that everything (including every hurtful Allopathic process!) has been done for the departed."" Every physician who treats disease according to such general characters, however he may affect to claim the name of Homœopathist, is, and ever will remain in fact a generalizing Allopath; for, without the most minute individualization, Homœopathy is not conceivable."" It is impossible that there can be another true best method of curing dynamic diseases (i.e., all diseases not strictly surgical) besides Homœopathy, just as it is impossible to draw more than one straight line between two given points. He who imagines that there are other modes of curing diseases besides it, could not have appreciated the fundamental character of Homœopathy, nor practiced
and in that way only serviceable), that, as the doctrine is pure, so must the practice be also; and all backward straying to the pernicious routine of the old school (whose opposite it is as day is to night) is totally impossible; otherwise it ceases to deserve the honourable name of Homœopathy." "I am, therefore, sorry that I once gave the advice, savouring of Allopathy, to apply to the back in itchinghereby solemnly retract them:now no longer required." "And yet the new sect, that mixes the two systems, appeals (though in vain) to this observation, (i.e., the anti-Homœopathic stimulation of almost-drowned or frozen people,) in order that they may have an excuse for encountering everywhere such exceptions to the general rule in diseases, and to justify their convenient employment of Allopathic palliatives, and of other Allopathic trash besides, solely for the sake of sparing themselves the trouble of seeking for the suitable Homœopathic remedy for each case of disease: I might almost say for the sake of sparing themselves the trouble of being Homœopathic physicians, and yet wishing to appear as such.
Thus we find Hahnemann's theory preyed upon and destroyed by other parasites:—
Jonathan Swift.infinitum."
Poor old Hahnemann! What a shocking old ignoramus or swindler you were! or else, Drs. Ruddock, Pulte, Epps, and others, what Bastard Homœopaths are you—false to your prophet, false to your theory! Alas! how, 'twixt two stools, has Homœopathy melted like snow in the sun. For if Hahnemann be right, Homœopathy, as written of and practiced at the present time, is the greatest fraud of the day; for it slaughters its thousands. If Drs. Ruddock, Pulte, Epps, and Co. be right, Hahnemann was a fool, a charlatan, or a rogue; and slaughtered his thousands. But if Hahnemann be the exponent of Homœopathy, and these present 'Homœopathic physicians 'do not practise Homœopathy, while, with faces brazen as their door- plates, calling themselves 'Homœopathic physicians, 'then, in the words of their leader, these "Bastard Homœopaths are not much to boast of." And yet, O Hahnemann! they put your bust in their chemists 'windows. However, it is not in the least like you, according to the portrait of your feeble head, published in your "Organon:" a fancy bust to advertise a fancy science: yet may they still treat your bust, as they have your theories, and cry,"Off with his head, so much for Hahnemann."
"After these expressions by Hahnemann with reference to Bastard Homœopaths, &c., need I say that his books are not to be purchased in Melbourne; though their chemists keep great store of Bastard Homœopathic works?
Thus, with theory scuttled, sails carried away, pirates on board, all lost save slander, Homœopathy appears the emblem of
Milton. "Homœopathic Domestic Medicine." Rheumatic pains in the muscles of the back." Since Von Störck's experiments were published in 1762, aconite has been generally and often successfully employed, particularly as a remedy for obstinate rheumatism."—Woodville, published in
For in the matter of slander and false-witness, there is little falling off. Hear Drs. Pulte and Epps:
Again, under the treatment of inflammation of the lungs, say they:—"In the beginning of this state give china; Bark.
These persons also have an article on salivation, with the suggestion of the False, that this is often met with. In the whole course of my life I have never yet seen a patient medicinally salivated, nor even affected by mercury, beyond a slight tenderness of the gums: the giving of mercury to this end is not now in vogue; yet the suggestion no doubt pays 'Homœopathic physicians. 'For myself, I scarcely ever order mercury, having no faith in it, except in one disease. Errors I can understand, ignorance excuse, where brains or opportunity are deficient; but slander is indefensible, and robbery a crime which no honest man would commit.
"But, doctor, the 'old school 'slanders the Homœopaths too!"
No, madam; we take no more notice of them than of aught else that is false as Homœopathy; in no scientific book of ours that I know of, is Homœopathy mentioned, still less slandered. Slander is an element of Homœopathy, not of the 'old school. 'We work for the advance of science. For myself, I shall speak no more of them. Dynamization, decillionths, filchings, and slander! Faugh!
The present race of 'Homœopathic physicians 'appears to be capable of two things; the first, slandering the 'old school, 'as described above; the second, copying the 'old school. 'Their knowledge of the human body in health and disease, (such as it is,) is copied from the 'old school; 'all of their medicines of value; their doses; their external applications.
"But, doctor, onion poultices are excellent things, ar'n't they?"
Madam, they are an obsolete and nauseous way of applying warmth and moisture: better done by spongio-piline, linseed meal, &c. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from Dioscorides of the first century. They no doubt are an advertisement of the Homœopathic presence, for they affect a neighbourhood to tears.
"But their chopped raw beef is good?"
Another remedy, madam, filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school, 'and described at length by that great French physician, Trousseau.
"But their Hydropathy, doctor?"
Introduced, madam, 2,300 years ago, by Hippocrates; employed by Celsus, Galen, and many famous physicians during the middle ages. The 'water-cure 'of the present day was organized and carried out by Priessnitz, a Silesian peasant, in
To continue: not only does the "Bastard Homœopath" of the present day copy us in all these matters, but he seems to be afflicted with a kleptomania of the most omnivorous kind. Take their "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia," published in "The British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia, of Hahnemann.weights and measures are those that have been adopted by the 'British Pharmacopœia;' and the system of volumetric analysis, which is often referred to, is that for which full details are published at the close of the same work."
Now, this is a short sample of how the British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of
"Aconite Leaves. Characters: British Pharmacopœia:—
Leaves smooth, palmate, divided into five deeply-cut wedge-shaped segments; exciting slowly, when chewed, a sensation of tingling. Flowers numerous, irregular, deep blue, in dense racemes."
"Aconitum. Characters: British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia:—
Leaves smooth, palmate, divided into five or seven deeply-cut, wedge-shaped segments; exciting slowly, when chewed, a sensation of tingling. Flowers numerous., irregular, deep blue, in dense racemes.
This is, indeed, a "well-known and recognized science."
"But, doctor, their medicines can do no harm?"
This, madam, is not so. We find that the 'Homœopathic physicians 'differ from their chemists as to the strength of their medicines: the one says the strength of a preparation is the one fifty-thousandth part of a grain to the pint of water, the other nine and three-fifths of a grain to the pint. Daily papers, April 5th, and subsequently, Page 11, published in i.e., the strongest tinctures.Medical Times and Gazette,
While, however, these are historical facts and strong evidence of the dangers of Homœopathy, the following analyses of Homœopathic medicines show conclusively that Homœopathic patients live on sufferance; that medicines, containing powerful drugs, differing from the proper strength in every sample examined, are unreliable; and that the Homœopathic chemists who prepared them are incompetent.
I submitted to Mr. William Johnson, Government Analytical Chemist, a solution of Arsenicum Album (white arsenic) 3, 3 is the preparation commonly sold to the public, and was so purchased. "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia,"
This is Mr. Newbery's report, in which he was assisted by Mr. Frederick Dunn:—
"The following analyses are of Homœopathic medicines bought by me or my assistant from leading Melbourne Homœopathic chemists, and bear their names. Those marked (*) were specially supplied to me by one of them for the purpose of analysis. The results are these:— Arsenicum album (white arsenic) 3. The standard tincture contains 9.60 ( "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia." Bottle No. 1 contains 10.1 grains of arsenious acid per pint, or 1 grain in 960 drops, and is therefore 4 16/100 per cent, above the standard. Bottle No. 2* contains 3.052 grains of arsenious acid per pint, or 1 grain in 3,145 drops, and is therefore 68 21/100 per cent, below the standard. Bottle No. 3 contains 4.334 grains of arsenious acid per pint, or 1 grain in 2,214 drops, and is therefore 54 86/100 Per cent below the standard. Bottle No. 4 contains 8.379 grains of arsenious acid per pint, or 1 grain in 1,145 drops, and is therefore 12 72/100 per cent, below the standard. Antimonium tart (tartar emetic) 3. The standard tincture contains 9.60 grains of tartar emetic in the imperial pint, or 1 grain in 1,000 drops. Bottle No. 5 contains 5.145 grains of tartar emetic per pint, or 1 grain in 1,865 drops, and is therefore 46 41/100 per cent, below the standard. Bottle No. 6* contains 8.700 grains of tartar emetic per pint, or 1 grain in 1,103 drops, and is therefore 9 38/100 per cent, below the standard. Mercurius corr. (corrosive sublimate) 3. The standard tincture contains 9.60 grains of corrosive sublimate (per- chloride of mercury) in the imperial pint, or 1 grain in 1,000 drops. Bottle No. 7 contains 11.273 grains of perchloride of mercury per pint, or 1 grain in 851 drops, and is therefore 17 42/100 per cent, above the standard. Bottle No. 8 contains 3.469 grains of perchloride of mercury per pint, or 1 grain in 2,767 drops, and is therefore 63 87/100 per cent, below the standard. Bottle No. 9* contains 5.420 grains of perchloride of mercury per pint, or 1 grain in 1,771 drops, and is therefore 43 55/100 per cent, below the standard. Ferrum muriaticum (perchloride of iron) 3. The standard tincture contains 961.23 grains of the anhydrous perchloride of iron in the imperial pint, or 1 grain in 9.987 drops. Bottle No. 10 contains 161.78 grains of perchloride of iron per pint, or 1 grain in 59.33 drops, and is therefore 83 17/100 per cent, below the standard. Bottle No. 11 contains 723.70 grains of perchloride of iron per pint, or 1 grain in 13.26 drops, and is therefore 24 72/100 per cent, below the standard. Strychninum nitr. (nitrate of strychnia) 3. Bottle No. 12 contains no nitrate of strychnia, but a very large quantity of free nitric acid with some strychnine in solution. Belladonna (deadly nightshade) 3. Bottle No. 13 produced no dilatation of the pupil, and there was no evidence of the presence of any belladonna.i.e., a little more than 9 ½ grains of arsenious acid in the imperial pint, or 1 grain in 1,000 drops.
Analytical Chemist and Superintendent of the Industrial and Technological Museum.
Thus, of fourteen Homœopathic preparations examined, bought from the most prominent Melbourne Homœopathic chemists, and bearing their names, not one was prepared according to the receipt; some being greatly too strong, others containing almost none, or none of the drug. The conclusions to be derived therefrom, I leave to the public.
In what, then, does Homœopathy consist? Certainly not in small doses, for they are not essential; certainly not in "dynamization," for it is discarded; certainly not in the administration of one 'single substance, 'for it is not attempted; certainly not in "likes cure likes," for Hahnemann's so-called 'provings 'were ridiculous, if not fraudulent; certainly not in the discovery of new drugs, for Hahnemann and his successors have but filched, without acknowledgment, from the 'old school; 'certainly not in the accuracy of the compounding of their drugs, for all analysed are incorrect; certainly not in the practice of Hahnemann, for the present sect has forsworn everything that Hahnemann pretended to be most essential to his system.
This chaotic state of Homœopathy may account for the strange fact that you can keep no Homœopath to any one Homœopathic point, for it is untenable; while the mass of them know almost nothing of the pretensions and changes of a system as "fixed in its principles" The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.
But, to sum up, we find that Homœopathy was commenced in fraud, continued in slander, and sustained by filching, false-witness, and ignorance; and that all of Homœopathic 'science 'that remains, is its bastard representatives clinging to slander, the last rag of the Homœopathic skirt. Them, lovers of the false and fair, like Circe's swine, I now leave to frolic in their native mire.
Finis.
Walker, May, and Co., Printers, 9 Mackillop st. (off 66 Bourke-st. West), Melbourne.
The numbers attached to the various propositions will be found to correspond with the numbers prefixed to the Councilmen's names, and indicate the votes given by each Councilman.
In conformity with rule, the members of the General Council assembled at the General Offices at 10 a.m. on Tuesday,
The Chairman, Mr. John Thompson, having formally opened the proceedings, called on the Councilmen present to hand in their credentials, when it was found that Mr. M. D. Flinn, of Dublin, was the only absentee.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
"That the minutes of all meetings of the E.C. which have been held since Adopted.Carried unanimously.
At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Flinn arrived, presented his credentials, and took his seat at the board.
Mr. Eales proposed—
Mr. Cowen seconded—
Carried unanimously.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Robertson seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Smith seconded—
"That the second clause of Rule 6 be so altered as to read as follows :—'Candidates shall possess the following qualifications:—They must be in good health, have worked at the trade five years, be good workmen, of steady Adapted.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Withdrawn.
This proposition not being seconded, was not put to the vote.
Mr. Robertson proposed—
Mr. Beasley seconded—
"That, without altering our rules at present, branches be invested with a discretionary power of admitting candidates under 21 years of age, if they are in every other particular duly qualified for admission in conformity with Rejected.
The votes being equal, the Chairman recorded his casting vote in favour of Mr. Harrison's proposition, which was again read from the chair as the substantive motion, when
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Robertson seconded—
"That Rule 6, clause 2, shall be so altered as to read thus: Candidates shall possess the following qualifications : They must be in good health, be Rejected.
Mr. Harrison's proposal was then formally put a third time, with the following result:—
Mr. Swaffer proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr, Kirton seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Apperley seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Bobertson seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Eales proposed—
Withdrawn.
This proposal not being seconded, it was withdrawn.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
"That members of branches employing a branch surgeon shall be Rejected.
Mr. Beasley proposed—
Mr. Harrison seconded—
Adopted.
This association consists of nine branches, situate in Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Sheffield, King's Norton, and Cardiff, having, according to their last published quarterly report, 640 members, and an accumulated capital of £1,374. 8s. 3d. They have five superannuated members, whose average age exceeds 74. The average age of the remaining 635 members is 34 years.
Messrs. Loughton and Bateson, of Birmingham, a deputation from the Board of Management of the National Association of Carpenters and Joiners, waited on the G.C. to inquire if any terms could be arranged on which the members of their Association could be admitted into the Amalgamated Society. The same deputation had previously waited on the E.C., who had considered their case, and presented the following recommendation to the G.C.:—
The E.C. recommend the G.C. to propose to the members the temporary suspension of Rule 3 for the purpose of admitting the members of this association into our society, subject to the following conditions:—
Recommendation of the E.C. to the G.C.
The deputation, in the course of a lengthy interview, fully explained the numerical and financial position of their Association, and replied to numerous questions asked by various members of the G.C. After they had withdrawn, the following terms for their admission were agreed to as a suggestion to our members :—
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Tindall seconded—
"That they each pay an entrance fee of £2. 10s., excepting non-free members who have been in the National Association less than 6 months, Rejected.
Mr. Apperley proposed—
Withdrawn.
This proposal not being seconded, was not put to the vote.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Cowen seconded—
"That from the date of their admission they pay the usual contribution of our members; those who have already been members of the National Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Apperley seconded—
"That for the purpose of superannuation benefit they shall date their entrance from the time when they last joined the National Association Rejected.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
"That for the purpose of superannuation benefit they shall date their entrance from the time when they last joined the National Association Adopted.
The chairman gave his casting vote in favour of Mr. Chandler's proposal.
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Winsor seconded—
"That we recommend to the members the temporary suspension of the operation of Rule 3, during the months of October, November, and December next, for the purpose of admitting the members of the National Association of Carpenters and Joiners into our society, subject to the following conditions:
Adopted.
The deputation having returned to the council chamber, the chairman announced to them the decision of the G.C. They thanked the G.C. for the attention which had been given to the question, and expressed their hope that the arrangements just made would prove satisfactory to the members of both Associations, and would tend to a union advantageous to every person interested therein.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Robertson seconded—
"That the G.C. are of opinion that the mode of election of the E.C. has Adopted.
Mr. Swaffer proposed—
Mr. Tindall seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Apperley seconded—
Withdrawn.
Mr. Apperley proposed—
Withdrawn.
This proposition not being seconded was withdrawn.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Tindall seconded—
"The society be divided into 16 districts. We propose to take a sum equal to the minimum amount of capital which the society can possess (rule 9, clause 3), equal at present to £16,000, which should be equally divided between the districts, each having £1,000. This would provide against the possibility of having to realise the securities of this fund. A ballot should be held to determine the branch to which the appropriation should fall, and a similar proceeding among the members of such branch to decide upon the particular individual. It might here be useful to hint that only these members who are under 6 weeks in arrears should participate in such ballot, as an inducement to keep their contributions paid up. The appropriation shall be the sum of £300, which would give three chances at once to each district, the money to be lent to members for 12 years at an interest of 5 per cent. The management should be carried out by committees elected from the district, if possible; but where the branches are widely separated, the branch to which the appropriation is allotted shall find its own Withdrawn.
The interest might be averaged to make the repayments equal each year, which would be £33. 193. 2d. per annum."
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Winsor seconded—
Withdrawn.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
"That this Council, although most anxious that we should have the best Adopted.
The chairman having recorded his casting vote in favour of this proposal, all the propositions suggesting special modes of investing capital became unnecessary, and were consequently withdrawn.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
"That we are of opinion that Rule 46, clause 1, deals with the case stated Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Beaumont proposed—
Mr. Harrison seconded—
"That the proposal of the Middlesbrough and Stockton Branches, if Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Eales proposed—
Mr. Flinn seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Beaumont seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Smith proposed—
Mr. Jones seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
"That we are of opinion that the decision of the E.C. was not in Rejected.
Mr. Swaffer proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
"That for the future guidance of the E.C. we decide that in the event of any member dying when travelling, by land or water, having loft an inventory of the tools taken with him on the journey with the B.S., or forwarded to the B.S. by post previous to commencing the journey, his branch shall be Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Beasley seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Beaumont seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Flinn seconded—
Rejected.
To the Secretary of the_______Branch.
The________day of________18
Insert here cause of the inability to work.
(Signed),
The claimant must here sign his name and address.
Address,______
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
Adjourned.
Mr. Smith proposed—
Mr. Jones seconded—
"That Rule 31, clause 3, be amended as follows:—'He shall issue a Monthly Report, which shall be charged one penny each to members; it shall be the medium of communication between the E.C. and the Branches, Adjourned.
After a lengthy discussion, the consideration of this question was adjourned until the following morning.
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
The consideration of two proposals adjourned from the previous evening was now resumed.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
Withdrawn.
Mr. Smith proposed—
Mr. Jones seconded—
"That Rule 31, clause 3, be amended as follows:—'He shall issue a monthly report, which shall be charged one penny each to members; it shall be the medium of communication between the E.C. and the branches, Withdrawn.
During the discussion both of the foregoing propositions were withdrawn.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
"That the E.C. be instructed to print returns of votes on separate sheets Adopted.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Robertson seconded—
"That the E.C. shall have the discretionary power of enlarging the Rejected.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Apperley seconded—
"That the E.C. be requested to send the monthlies direct to each branch Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Smith proposed—
Mr. Beasley seconded—
"That the G.S. be instructed to append to each quarterly financial report Rejected.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
"That in order to allow our Australasian members to take part in the election of the G.C., it take place twelve months previous to the next Adopted.
Mr. Beaumont proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
"That no member be allowed to hold office in this society before he Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Beasley seconded—
"That as long as eight members in the entire society hold together, conforming to the rules, this society shall not be dissolved: but whenever the number of members in this society is reduced to seven by deaths, and by Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Swaffer proposod—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Tindall seconded—
"That Rule 50, clause 1, be amended as follows:—Any branch in which a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present at a special summoned meeting differ from the decision of the E.C., may Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
"That in the opinion of this Council the time has arrived when we ought to take urgent measures for the total abolition of piecework in the London District, as we consider it detrimental to the interest of the trade, likewise Adjourned.
A lengthy discussion ensued, in which the action taken by the London Branches and the policy pursued by the E.C. were fully reviewed. The debate was eventually adjourned until Saturday morning.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Winsor seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
The discussion of this question was resumed.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
"That we consider the steps taken by the E.C. to annul the decision of the London members (given by their representatives at a special delegate Adopted.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Cowen seconded—
"That, whilst this Council wishes to prohibit piecework wherever Rejected.
Mr. Sweeney proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
This appeal was not forwarded for the consideration of the G.C.
Mr. Beaumont proposed—
Mr. Apperley seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
This appeal was not forwarded for the consideration of the G.C.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Smith seconded—
"That the General Council hereby rescind the following resolution of the E.C. of the Adjourned.
Mr. Beasley proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
Adopted.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Cowen seconded—
Rejected.
Mr. Beaumont proposed—
Mr. Kirton seconded—
Adopted.
The discussion of this question was resumed.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Smith seconded—
"That the General Council hereby rescind the following resolution of the E.C. of the Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Eales seconded—
"That in order to lessen the expenses of special delegations, where two are required to visit any branch or locality, one shall be the G.C. of the Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
"That the G.C. condemn the policy of the E.C. in employing as office assistant one of their own body, at a salary of £2. per week, believing Adopted.
Mr. Tindall proposed—
Mr. Jones seconded—
"That it be an instruction to the E.C. that all questions requiring the Adopted.
Mr. Chandler proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
"That the following be inserted in clanse 4, Rule 26.—'Whenever our members may join a United Trade Committee, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the senior branch in that district to forward to the E.C. without Adopted.
The G.C. then proceeded to the election of a Compiling Committee, when Messrs. Beaumont and Smith were unanimously elected.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Beasley seconded—
"That the Compiling Committee be instructed to submit to the votes of Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Cowen seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Beaumont proposed—
Mr. Winsor seconded—
"That the votes of the members be taken on the matter to be submitted Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Swaffer seconded—
"That a copy of the amendments of rule which may be agreed to, be Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Jones proposed—
Mr. Chandler seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Kirton proposed—
Mr. Winsor seconded—
"That a vote of thanks be accorded to the Gen. Sec. for the very able Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Harrison proposed—
Mr. Sweeney seconded—
"That the Gen. Sec. be allowed delegate's expenses for the time during Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Mr. Cowen proposed—
Mr. Flinn seconded—
Adopted.Carried unanimously.
Co-operative Printing Society, 17, Balloon Street, Manchester.
During the month of December the National Association of Carpenters and Joiners has joined this society in conformity with the conditions recently adopted by a vote of the members. Their admission has necessitated the opening of three new branches in Birmingham, and one in each of the following towns:—King's Norton, Nottingham, Sheffield, and West Bromwich. The members of the National Association in Derby have joined our Derby Branch, and the members of the South Shields local society have united with our South Shields Branch. The Llanelly Branch has been removed to Swansea, and will in the future be known as the Swansea Branch. The Pontypridd Branch has been temporarily removed to Cardiff in consequence of the very depressed state of trade in South Wales, but as it is not intended that the removal shall be a permanent one, the name of the Branch will remain unaltered. A second branch has been opened in Glasgow. The Canterbury Branch has been closed. Secretaries will oblige by noting the change in the numbers of their respective branches, and by attaching the correct number of the branch to all documents forwarded to the G.O. during the present year.
The following nominations have been duly received, and the election of three members of the Executive Council will take place at the quarterly summoned meeting in March:—
Bury Branch.—Proposed by Br. W. Sinkler, seconded by Br. A. Wood—
"That the members of the Bury Branch fully endorse the opinion of the Leicester and Plymouth Branches in reference to the Manchester strike levy."
Hammersmith Branch.—Proposed by Br. R. Kellond, seconded by Br. G. T. Sharpe—
"That we, the members of the Hammersmith Branch, consider that the E.C. should at once take the necessary steps to get the votes of the members of the society taken for a general levy of sixpence per week, in aid of the Manchester and Salford joiners still on strike."
Paddington Branch.—Proposed by Br. E. Hingston, seconded by Br. T. H. L. Stephens—
"That it be a recommendation of the Paddington Branch to the E.C., that in consideration of bringing the present strike in Manchester to a successful issue, a vote of the members be at once taken for £2,000, or more, as the Council may determine be taken from our general funds for the above object."—(Carried unanimously.)
Woolwich Branch.—Proposed by Br. S. Cocup, seconded by Br. R. Gurry—
"That we, the members of the Woolwich Branch, considering the position of the carpenters and joiners of Manchester and district, think it expedient for our E.C. to take the votes of the members upon a general levy, to assist them in their unequal struggle."
Woolwich Branch—Proposed by Br. Cocup, seconded by Br. Fisk—
"That we, the members of the Woolwich Branch, are of opinion that the vote of the members would be the only satisfactory course for the E.C. to adopt, with respect to a general levy throughout the United Kingdom, on behalf of the Manchester strike."
Name of branch not stated—Proposed by Br. W. Wright, seconded by Br. A. M. Jobson—
"That this branch recommend the E.C. to make a grant of £1,000 from the funds to increase the strike benefit to society men on strike at Manchester."
Reply.—We beg most heartily to thank the authors of the foregoing resolutions for the kindly interest they have manifested on behalf of the Manchester Joiners on strike; but our suggestion in the December Monthly Report has met with such a hearty and liberal response from the branches, that we do not at present feel at liberty to adopt any of the recommendations they have made. In addition to voluntary subscriptions, up to the end of the year
Caledonian Road Branch.—Proposed by Br. E. C. Watts, seconded by Br. J. Lee—
"Having our attention called to clause 8, rule 51, we wish to know whether any of the branches under 40 members have been paying the C.S. according to the old rule, and if so, whether the E.C. intend to call on the branches to refund the money illegally paid; or is the society to be at the loss of it, as we find in this monthly report 186 branches numbering less than 10 members?"
Reply.—Wherever the old rule has been duly observed there will be nothing to refund. It is true that the G.C. of
At the Trades' Union Congress, held at Leicester in September last, the following address was delivered by Mr. Thomas Brassey, M.P. He said—Before I enter on more important topics, I desire to express my high appreciation of the honour of being invited to address the delegates from the trade unions at then- annual Congress. Connected as I am with employers of labour, you cannot expect me to come here to encourage an aggressive movement against men of my own order. All that you can ask from me is that I shall hold in my hands the equal scales of justice as between capital and labour.
In America, as in England, it will be observed that the building trades are disproportionately paid. The reason is the same in both cases. The demand is essentially local, and wages are given which could not be sustained if the price could be determined upon a balance of demand and supply distributed over a wider area. In all trades, which are subject in any degree to the influence of foreign competition, the American workmen are conscious of the necessity of working hard
The members of the Plymouth Branch regret to announce the sad death of Br. William Hiram Baker, who was murdered at the Cape of Good Hope,
The members of the Northampton Branch regret to announce another death in their branch, by accident. Br. John Hine Beasley fell from a roof about 43ft. high on Monday,
Died on
Co-operative Printing Society Limited, Balloon Street, Manchester.
The members of the Executive Council are—
Chairman of the Council, John Thompson, Manchester 1st.
Treasurer of the Council, Alexander Cunningham, 19, Cambridge Street, Lower Broughton, Manchester, to whom all Money Orders for the use of the E.C. must be sent.
Permission having been obtained from the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners to establish a branch of their society at Adelaide, a public meeting of carpenters and joiners was held at the Bristol Tavern, Franklin Street, on Saturday night, February 2nd, to cany out that object. Upwards of thirty were present, and Mr. Daniel Jones was unanimously elected to the chair. The secretary pro tem. (Mr. R. H. Eddy) explained that the society was what might be termed a trade union; and amongst the advantages which had been obtained by its influence were—a reduction of the hours of labour, increased wages, the adoption of codes of working roles, the establishment of boards of arbitration, and the formation of classes for promoting technical education. In order to become a member, it was necessary to produce a medical certificate of good health, and pay an entrance fee equal to the average worth per member of the society. After being a member for twelve months, dating from the time of joining, he should be entitled as a "free member" to "all benefits" during sickness, enforced idleness, or disability through accident (temporary or permanent), by paying a certain sum per week to the general fund, and another payment per quarter to the contingent and benevolent fund; or "to all benefits except sick benefit" by paying on another scale. At the end of the first year of the society's existence, in From the Adelaide Evening Journal, February 4th, 1878
Bury Branch.—Resolved—
"That this branch wishes to draw the attention of the E.C. to their reply to the Birmingham 2nd Branch in the Monthly Report for
Reply.—Previous to
Vauxhall Branch—Proposed by Br. Stone, seconded by Br. Burton—
"That we, the members of the Vauxhall Branch, call the attention of the E.C. to their answer to the Paddington Branch in the March Monthly Report. If the votes of the members in the London District were taken in accordance with Rule 11, clause 1, upon the advance of wages movement, the delegates representing those Branches were not allowed to record their votes at the delegate meeting, according to their instructions, although it had been earned by a majority of the delegates present to do so. Therefore, the votes of the members were set aside. We would ask what is the use of taking the votes of the members and then not acting on them? We also consider the answer given to the Southampton and Plymouth Branches is not in accordance with the duties of the E.C., which in our opinion should be to carry out the wishes and interests of the members, not to withhold resolutions which are not in accordance with their views; and we are of opinion the sarcastic language used in their reply exceeds the duties of the E.C., and is not in keeping with the principles of unionism or the spirit which should actuate members in carrying out those principles."
Reply—If the Vauxhall Branch has a complaint to make, why is it not stated in specific terms which can be comprehended? We fail to understand whether the E.C. are blamed, or some unknown persons are censured. It is stated that the delegates were not allowed to record their votes at the delegate meeting according to their instructions. Who prevented them from voting in accordance with their instructions? This statement may not be intended to be sarcastic, but it will hardly be regarded by the delegates as complimentary. Our experience of London men has not induced us to regard them as being likely to be easily prevented by anyone from doing that which they consider to be just and right. The fact is that at both of the meetings referred to the delegates were put in possession of information relating to occurrences which transpired subsequent to the dates of the summoned meetings at which they were appointed. They acted as sensible men should act. They said, "We now know what our constituents could not possibly know when they elected us. We will modify our policy in accordance with the facts laid before us, and act as we believe our members would have wished us to act were they in possession of the information we have received, and which we shall lay before them at the earliest possible opportunity." This action is strictly in accordance with the spirit and intention of our rules. If argument and reason are to pass unheeded at London District delegate meetings, at the next revision of our rules we can with advantage curtail our expenses by eliciting the opinions of our branches by voting papers, instead of paying members for their attendance at district delegate meetings.
Toronto Branch.—Proposed by Br. R. Heath, seconded by Br. G. Langridge—
"That whereas, in the Monthly for
Reply.—The E.C. gave no orders in this case. They advised that a member should be expelled, in conformity with Rule 4, clause 7; not for resigning his membership, but for bringing discredit on the society. At a special summoned meeting of the Toronto Branch, held on
Birkenhead Branch.—Proposed by Br. J. S. Roberts, seconded by Br. W. Shannon—
"That, having both replies of the E.C. in reference to the cases of Brs. Williams and Turney before us, and seeing that they are in our opinion diametrically the opposite of one another, we, the members of the Birkenhead Branch, desire to record our utter inability to understand the ambiguity and apparent inconsistency of our E.C., as exemplified in the two documents referred to—in the one epistle stating that "the society never takes action for the recovery of wages due, unless there has been an attempt to reduce wages or infringe on the recognised customs of the trade," &C.; in the next, qualifying the first by stating that "where it is considered to be in the interest of the members, the E.C. sanctions the employment of a solicitor," and further stating that "in the case of one of our Walsall members, the solicitor engaged was paid from the funds of the society." We are of opinion that such vacillation on the part of our E.C. is calculated to do infinite harm, and to cause members to lose confidence in their decisions. For we, the members of the Birkenhead Branch, desire to state, in reply to the first communication, that there had been a deliberate and flagrant infringement of the recognised rules of the trade in the case herein referred to. Rule 7 of our working rules, agreed to so recently as last May, distinctly states that all employers must commence to pay not later than ten minutes after leaving-off time, and we are of opinion that where employers take ten days instead of ten minutes to commence payment of a week's wages, that it is, to all intents and purposes, a deliberate infringement of the recognised custom of the trade. Whilst, in reference to the second communication, we can conceive nothing of more vital importance and interest, not only to ourselves, but to the members generally, than the prompt payment of wages due to every man; and we are strongly of opinion that employers should be taught that they cannot with impunity act in this off-hand manner, at least with members of this powerful society. We would therefore respectfully request our E.C. to reconsider, not their decisions in the cases herein referred to (as they have been settled to the satisfaction of the members concerned), but the whole subject, with a view of enabling members—especially those who may be in poor circumstances—with the aid of the society, to take prompt action for the recovery of wages in all such cases, some of which are cases of peculiar hardship. A man with a large family might be out of employment through slackness of trade or sickness for a number of weeks, and at length obtain employment from some unprincipled scoundrel, who, when pay time came round, would coolly tell him "he had no money." What, we ask, under these circumstances, is a man to do? Go to a lawyer. Yes, but that means 6s. 8d. down on the nail—where is he to look for it? Go to his friends and tell his troubles, and thus raise the necessary funds. In our opinion this should not be; on the contrary, we are of opinion that a member of an association like ours ought to have a claim of this sort upon a society whose fundamental principle is that it is organised for the protection of our interests. We trust that our E.C. will give the subject their best attention."
Number of votes recorded in favour of the resolution, 54; against, none.
Reply.—There is not a single line in our rules which authorises the expenditure of the society's funds in legal proceedings instituted for the protection of our members in cases of dispute with their employers. But in the early history of the society an unwritten law gradually came into operation, which made it the duty of the society to bear the legal expenses of members who in a court of law might defend and maintain the privileges of the trade. The E.C., some years ago, saw that this custom, if not strictly regulated, might lead us into great expense, and might sometimes entail mischievous results. They therefore announced their intention to reserve to themselves the power of sanctioning or refusing to sanction the institution in any law court of legal proceedings at the society's expense. For their own guidance, they decided that whenever any branch could show that one of their members had a fair case, likely to be substantiated in court, of an attempt on the part of an employer to reduce wages, or to encroach on any of the recognised customs of the trade, the case should be taken into a court of justice at the society's expense, and that legal assistance should be secured whenever the case proved to be sufficiently important to warrant the adoption of such a course. But they have always regarded unpaid wages, whether for daywork or piecework, as a debt, which it was no part of the society's duty to recover. If this decision had not been steadfastly adhered to, we should frequently have been involved
Liverpool 1st Branch.—Proposed by Br. T. Elltoft, seconded by Br. A. Rees—
"That the following question be submitted to the E.C.:—If a member of our society lose a tool, the property of a member belonging to the G. U. Society, can our member make a claim on his branch to replace such tool?"
Reply.—He can claim what he chooses, but his branch cannot legally grant him what he claims. Surely Rule 36, clause 3, is sufficiently explicit, when it says," Should tools be borrowed from a non-member, or should they be borrowed by a non-member from a member, and the same be lost, either by fire, water, or theft, the society shall not make good such loss." If the word "non-member" has been construed to mean non-society man, it is a mistake. It includes every person who is not a member of this society.
Silver Cup Branch.—Proposed by Br. J. Benney, seconded by Br. T. Mitchell—
"That we, the members of the Silver Cup Branch, consider the E.C. have broken our laws, in authorising any branch to transmit money to any committee; and we wish the E.C. to give some explanation why the Silver Cup Branch was ordered to transmit the sum of £50 to the Strike Committee in Manchester, also the rule to show that they were right in doing so. The branch have refused to pass the audit until they have received some explanation."
Reply.—The money was duly ordered by the E.C., and the Silver Cup Branch has documents to show that it was applied for in proper form, sent, and its receipt acknowledged. Such being the case, they have no justification for withholding their March quarterly report from the G.O., and thus compelling the G.S. to publish an incomplete statement of the financial position of the society, in consequence of not knowing the exact balance held by the Silver Cup Branch. As soon as the quarterly report is sent to this office, the Silver Cup Branch will be supplied, through the Monthly Report, with the explanation asked for; but we shall certainly refuse to furnish any information when the demand for it is accompanied with a threat of withholding financial reports.
Bolton Branch—Proposed by Br. J. Irving, seconded by Br. W. G. Robinson, that the following resolution be sent to the E.C.—
"If a member enter this society on the
Reply—It was the duty of the member to have reduced his arrears below eight weeks on branch meeting night,
Chelsea Branch.—Proposed by Br. Austin, seconded by Br. J. Whines—
"That with reference to the reply of the E.C. to the question of the Pimlico Branch respecting suspension from benefit if a member be eight weeks contribution and eight weeks levy in arrears, is he disentitled to benefit. The members of this branch are of opinion the decision of the E.C. is erroneous, as the rules quoted by the E.C. distinctly state if a member is ten weeks and not ten shillings in arrears he shall be suspended two weeks from benefit."—Carried unanimously.
Reply.—Rule 17, clause 8, states that it is the duty of the B.S. to "bring forward every quarter all fines and levies which have not been paid, and enter them as arrears of contributions." In giving instructions for the guidance of officers and members on a silent point in the rales, the E.C. have decided that in bringing forward unpaid fines and levies, every shilling shall be treated as one week's contributions. The members of the Chelsea Branch have a perfect right to express the opinion that this is an erroneous decision, but they must remember that it is legally given in strict conformity with Rule 28, clause 1, and as such must be respected and adhered to until it is overruled by a superior authority.
Sheffield 1st Branch.—Proposed by Br. W. Dickinson, seconded by Br. G. Rodger—
"That we the members of the Sheffield 1st Branch protest with the Camden Town Branch against the answer sent in reply to the questions asked by the Sheffield 1st Branch in the October Monthly, it being no reply at all to the questions then asked, with the exception of the last one; therefore, we ask again, as the rule is silent on the point, what is meant by 'special fund for local purposes,' and likewise what is meant by the word 'district,' as worded in the rules? If it has no meaning, what use is it? as we are quite satisfied the rule is calculated to lead astray, which it has done already, and caused a great deal of dissatisfaction, by some of our best men leaving the society, and we consider the reply sent to the members of the Altrincham Branch will only have a tendency to aggravate the evil already existing, and if our E.C. thinks that the members are to be cajoled by such like answers, the sooner we have a change the better."
Reply.—The E.C. have decided that the words "local purposes" and "district" in Rule 9, clause 2, are elastic terms which can best be defined by the members who assemble in summoned meeting to determine whether they will by a voluntary act on the part of the branch contribute for the assistance of others in need of relief. Undoubtedly local levies produce dissatisfaction; so, also, do voluntary subscriptions; in fact, some men are always dissatisfied whenever they are called on to put their hands in their pockets. We have to the best of our ability endeavoured to give a straightforward answer to the question proposed; and if the members in their wisdom think fit to relieve us of our duties and entrust them to the care "of our best men leaving the society" to avoid the payment of a local levy imposed by a vote of their own branch, we shall cheerfully bow to the decision.
Our members are requested, before commencing work in Wigan, to communicate with the branch secretary.
Messrs. Murchie, Beaumont, and Wilson beg to thank the branches by which they are nominated, but they desire to withdraw from the election.
The American nominations had not reached the General Office up to the hour of going to press with this Report.
Barnet Petty Sessions.—Monday,
The Chairman said the penalty the Bench might inflict was £20. They had been considering the case, and they felt their first object should be to get back the money for the society. As the prosecution had dealt mercifully with the defendant, and had not proceeded against him for embezzlement, the Bench thought they would be doing best if they made him pay the law costs, 20s. and 50s. a month. In default the defendant would have to go to prison for three months.—From the Barnet Press, April 13th, 1878
∵ If the facts contained in the above report do not convey a lesson of warning to the minds of our members, it will be very difficult for us to say anything which will give additional weight or force to the report of the trial. It is the old, old story repeated once more. A small branch, in which the members are all personally well known to each other. The treasurer, an old member of the society, his character beyond
We fear that in too many of our small branches a similar laxity exists. It does no one any good, and often produces evil results. If a treasurer is not prepared to properly account for the cash he holds in the book provided for that purpose, to bank it without delay whenever he is required to do so, and to produce all his cash at every audit of the accounts, there should be no false delicacy shown; he should plainly be told that he must resign his office and make way for those who will faithfully discharge the duties. Where dishonesty or carelessness exists, the checks which the society's rules provide must be enforced for our own protection; and the zealous and upright officer will gladly welcome any scrutiny which will demonstrate his integrity. Had the members of the Barnet Branch strictly enforced rule 20, clause 2, at every quarterly audit, we believe that the treasurer would have managed to have raised the original amount of his deficiency; but by repeated neglect, and by accepting trivial excuses, instead of insisting on a strict compliance with the rule, they allowed the small amount to grow into a large one, which he was unable to make good, and thus proceedings in a court of justice became a necessary result.
We advisedly use the term necessary result, for we have determined that in all such cases the law shall decide between the society and the offender. If any member thinks that he can borrow the society's funds, and by the influence of his friends get the matter hushed up and repay the deficient amount at his convenience, he will find that he has made a great mistake. Having now the full protection of the law, we shall feel it our duty on every occasion to prove that no member can with impunity tamper with the society's funds.
The members of the Basingstoke Branch deeply regret to announce the death of Br. Henry Hazell, who died on
With mingled feelings of pain and pleasure, the Huddersfield Branch records the death of Br. Daniel Davyes, who died on the 14th day of
The members of the Croydon Branch regret to announce the death of Br. Wilson Howse Doughty, who died, after a short illness, of heart disease and dropsy, on the 15th day of
The members of the Gateshead Branch deeply regret to announce the death of Br. William Lynn, who died on the 15th day of
The members of the Portland Road Branch deeply regret to announce the death of Br. James Storey, who died on the 8th day of
The members of the Earlestown Branch deeply regret to announce the death of Br. William Williams, who died on the 10th of March, at the early age of 28 years; cause of death, fracture of the skull. He was borne to his last resting place by the members of the above branch. He leaves one child to mourn his untimely end. May he rest in peace.
The members of the Ashbourne Branch deeply regret to announce the death of Br. John Bell, which took place on the 15th of March, in his 53rd year. He was formerly a member of the National Association. May he rest in peace.
The members of the Belfast Branch regret to announce the death of Br. John Honey, who died on
The members of the Portsmouth Branch deeply regret to record the death of Br. James Wavell, who died
The members of the Portland Road Branch deeply regret to announce the sudden death of Br. George Shephard, on
The members of the Pimlico Branch regret to announce the death of Br. William Stephenson, who died, after a long and painful illness, of apoplexy, on the 4th day of
The members of the Weston-super-Mare Branch regret to record the death of our late Br. Robert Jennings, at the age of 32 years and 4 months, of brain disease. He held the office of secretary of this branch for nearly six years, and his upright and straightforward manner gained for him the esteem of all who knew him. He was followed to the grave by nearly all the members of his branch. May our loss be his eternal gain.
The members of the Willington Quay Branch regret to announce the death of Br. George Twaddle, at the age of 28 years, of acute phthisis. He was borne to the grave by the members of the branch, and was followed by a large number of sorrowing friends.
It is with feelings of sincere regret that the members of the Ballymena Branch have to record the death of Mr. Adam Lowry, of consumption, after an illness of more than eighteen months' duration. He was aged 36 years; and leaves a widow and four young children to mourn his loss.
Co-operative Printing Society Limited, Balloon Street, Manchester.
I Propose first to ask you to allow me to give you a few facts about New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, and, subsequently, to consider these facts in relation to the great subject of a Federated Empire. As practical men, I am sure you will agree with me that the question of Federation must be considered on more than general grounds. Whenever it is discussed with the idea of deciding some immediate proposition for putting it in force, it will have to bear the brunt of the most searching investigation in relation to its effects on every part of the vast dominions which it concerns. As an ardent advocate of Federation, I think I shall humbly perform some small service to the cause if I discuss the condition of that part of the Empire with which I am best acquainted, and point out how the various facts to which I allude have, more or less, a bearing on the great question itself. If those connected with the central seat of the Empire would perform a like task, a step would be made towards focussing the various interests to be served, which would greatly aid the final determination of the exact details of the plan to be advocated. When the day arrives for propounding the scheme with a view to its immediate adoption, the realms of generalisation and of sentiment, in which at present the question too much dwells, will have to be deserted for a matter-of-fact material and precise footing on the dominions themselves which are the subject of the proposal.
How to reach New Zealand naturally is the first inquiry. New Zealand, in common with some of the Australian Colonies, enjoys this advantage: a visit to it may be made the excuse for sauntering over almost every portion of the habitable world. The emigrant whose one idea is to reach the land he intends to adopt may find his best route in a direct sailing vessel. Excellent ships, excellently found, constantly leave Great Britain for various ports in New Zealand, and passages may be obtained at from £15 to £50, according to the class the emigrant desires to travel. If pleasure is
his object, or if with even business objects in view, he can afford time and money, a wide range of selection lies open to him. He may proceed to either Canada or the United States, and after roaming over the Eastern States at his ease, find his way to Chicago by one of the innumerable lines of railway that converge on that marvellous commercial centre. From Chicago he can proceed by way of Omaha, by railway, to the far West. From New York to San Francisco it takes seven days, and from London San Francisco may be reached in nineteen days. The traveller by this route, however, generally prefers to loiter some time on the road. From San Francisco splendidly-appointed and powerful steamers run to New Zealand in twenty-three days. On their way they call at the interesting kingdom of Hawaia, or as it is often called, the Sandwich Islands. Hawaia is interesting from many points of view; one of great moment as affecting the future of the numerous islands of the Southern Ocean is the capacity for governing, and for being governed under a constitutional system, exhibited by the native race. Recently Hawaia entered into a treaty with the United States, in virtue of which, in exchange for the admission of American goods to Hawaia free of duty, the sugar produced in Hawaia is admitted to the United States free of duty. This is equivalent to something like a bonus of £15 a ton. Its effect may be recognised. From a dull, lethargic condition, Hawaia has sprung into an animated existence, comparable only with the vitality one notices when gold in quantity is newly-discovered in a country in which it was unsuspected. What does it matter—gold, diamonds, sugar, oil? Let any country suddenly discover an undreamt-of source of wealth, and its inhabitants are not slow to make use of it. £15 a ton added to the value of sugar has, in little more than one year, nearly doubled its production, and Hawaia, under the impulse the United States has kindly lent it, will probably become the seat of manufacture of colossal fortunes. But we must proceed on our voyage. The route from Hawaia passes close to the Navigator or Samoan group of islands. It would, I think, have been better for the English Government to have taken possession of these instead of Fiji, if the annexation of only one group was to be permitted. It is sadly a pity to allow these islands, the best in many respects of all Polynesia, to remain as they are—the theatre of innumerable lawless scenes. The San Francisco steamer touches Auckland, and then proceeds to Sydney. Coastal steamers carry the passengers from Auckland to any part of New Zealand they desire to reach.
Another and very favourite route is by a fast steamer to Melbourne, round the Cape of Good Hope. The passage to Melbourne this way has been made in forty-two days. From Melbourne there are plenty of excellent steamers constantly leaving for various ports in New Zealand. Those who wish to see as much as possible, and, like Childe Harold,
"—traverse Paynim shores and cross earth's central line,"
may visit almost every part of Southern Europe, Egypt, India, Java, Sumatra, and Singapore en route to New Zealand by one of the many plans which can be adopted in connection with the route by Suez or the Canal. The passenger can embark at Southampton, and proceeding through the Mediterranean, stopping at Gibraltar at Malta and after passing through the Suez Canal, at Suez and Aden, he can reach Galle in the Island of Ceylon without change of steamer. Thence he can embark in a steamer which, after calling at Albany in West Australia, and Glenelg in South Australia, will land him in Melbourne. Instead of proceeding by sea and land to Suez, he may roam through Europe, and from Marseilles, Trieste, or Brindisi reach Alexandria. After making himself acquainted with Egypt he may reach Suez. He can then travel over India if he like, and when he arrives at Galle he is not bound to the route before mentioned to Melbourne. He can take steamer to Singapore, and thence, by way of Torres Straits, touching at various points, including Batavia, Somerset, and Bowen, reach Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, and Sydney, the capital of New South Wales. From Sydney there are frequent steamers to New Zealand.
The following approximately represents the time from England to New Zealand by the various routes: By sailing vessel, 90 days; by San Francisco route, 41 days; by route by sea through the Canal to Suez by Galle and Melbourne, 61 days; by overland to Brindisi, and by railway across Isthmus of Suez, 53 days; by overland to Brindisi by Singapore, Brisbane, and Sydney, 61 days.
Not without an object have I thus referred to the various ways of reaching New Zealand. Some of my audience, thoroughly familiar with what I have described, will, I fear, accuse me of a commonplace introduction. But there are many who take an interest in the Colony less well informed than those of my hearers to whom I have alluded. At any rate, most people will agree with me that the circumstances of a country cannot be well understood unless amongst those circumstances is taken into account its connection and means of communication with other countries.
This brings me to two remarkable facts; facts which will, I think, materially shape the future destiny of New Zealand, viz there is no country of any moment which possesses in proportion to its area such an extensive sea-board, nor is there any civilised country of importance so completely isolated from other countries. It is customary to term New Zealand the Great Britain of the South, but Great Britain is twenty miles from Europe, New Zealand a thousand miles at the least from Australia. Its immense sea-board must inevitably tend to make New Zealand an essentially maritime country. Its isolated position, not I admit without some disadvantages as regards commerce, has compensating qualifications—in the self-helpfulness, self-reliance, and love of country it is calculated to produce. Without any artificial fiscal provision, it gives great advantage to local productions and manufactures. They start in the race favourably weighted in competing with foreign producers. When it is considered that its mineral wealth is abundant, and that it can produce all the staples that thrive in climates varying from the temperate to the sub-tropical, it will be seen that within itself New Zealand is almost the epitome of a whole hemisphere. Within its narrow limits thousands of different interests will, in course of time, materially aid each other.
Pray do not do me the injustice to suppose that I wish to see New Zealand independent of other countries, or think that her being so would be a source of profit to herself. The great industries of the country will grow only by competition with other countries. Time will gradually show what the Colony can do best itself, what it can best procure from abroad, and what it can best supply in exchange.
A long line upon the waters, the three islands of New Zealand extend over a length of nearly 1,200 miles. Their general direction is north-north-east to south-south-west. North and south the islands extend about 900 miles, so that they possess a great variety of climate. Southland is of nearly the same temperature as England, the north of Auckland is semi-tropical. The average breadth of the islands is about 120 miles. No part of the Colony is distant from the sea-coast more than seventy-five miles. At Auckland the island narrows so that from coast to coast can be reached in six miles. The north island is about 500 miles long; its greatest breadth about 250 miles. The south island is about the same length—its greatest breadth 200 miles. The area of the north island is about 44,000 square miles, or rather less than than of England. The area of the south is 55,000 square miles, or about the size of England and Wales. The two islands are separated by Cook's Straits,
Let us run rapidly over them. But first it must be remarked that though as separate governments the provinces cease to exist, still as provincial districts they constitute convenient geographical divisions. Let us suppose ourselves at Auckland, on the east coast of the province of the same name in the North Island. Auckland possesses in the waters of the Waitemata and the surrounding scenery one of the loveliest harbours in the world. For beauty it is often joined with the celebrated harbours of Bio Janiero, of Naples, and of Sydney. To the north of Auckland the province extends some 200 miles. The water facilities of tins portion of the Colony are very considerable. Here dwells the Ngapuhi tribe of Maories, as the native race are termed, whose lasting adherence to the English rule have gained for them the title of the "loyal Ngapuhi." At the Bay of Islands, 120 miles north of the city of Auckland, the treaty of Waitangi, by which the Maories acknowledged themselves British subjects, was signed in
Let us return again to Auckland city. Some few hours by steamer, without leaving the waters of the harbour, the gold-fields of the Thames and of Coromandel can be reached, situated on either side of the Frith of Thames. Splendid gold mines have been found and are being worked on both these fields. Fifty miles further up the Thames River there is the Ohinemuri district, supposed to be rich in gold, but which has hitherto not been much worked, containing also rich agricultural land. Coming back again to Auckland, six miles across a narrow isthmus, the west coast of the island is reached, and here is situated the Manukau harbour. The entrance to the Manukau is not good in all weathers. The harbour itself is serviceable, and is much used by steamers. From the Manukau the route to the south is shorter than by the east coast. Some forty miles from Auckland the
Let us now proceed south from the Waitemata harbour. In a few hours the steamer passes Tauranga and Opotiki, both fine settlements, and both also subjected to the use of the colonists by the results of the
We leave Napier, and, in from twenty-six to thirty hours, reach Wellington, the seat of government of the Colony. Wellington
The Maori is a noble specimen of man; there is little doubt that he comes from the fine race that people the island of Sumatra. No one ever understood more thoroughly than Sir Donald McLean what was needed to bring the Maori to civilisation. Useful
The Maori was not an utter savage when we first knew him, and it is far from improbable that he would have worked out to a great extent his own civilisation. He wanted the knowledge that has been handed down to civilised man from past ages. He was, however, not without an appreciation of the value of labour. The missionaries found him of a reverent nature, and eager to imbibe their teachings. The wars which from time to time desolated the Colony threw the Maori back, for in time of war, alas! the sword is the sole medium of education. It was on the eve of the greatest of New Zealand wars, that James Edward Fitzgerald, in deploring its necessity, predicted that war would never gain the end we wanted. With powerful effect he quoted the well-known lines Bulwer has placed in the mouth of the Cardinal Prince:
In after years we learnt to realise this, and yet that we did so we owe to the chivalry of the Maori race. In
It is due to the present native minister, Mr. Sheehan, to say, that notwithstanding past political differences he has generously recognised the value of Sir Donald McLean's policy and labour. In an elaborate and able statement of the native position and future native policy, Mr. Sheehan used some words which I quote, as their assuring effects may be valuable: "Now I come to a question which has been raised on several occasions by the public press—namely, the possibility of another native outbreak. In the first place, I will mention to the House what is at the present time the precise number of the native population. The last census, taken in
The greatest efforts are now made to educate Maori children, and especially they are taught the English language. In two generations, such of them as remain will, in my opinion, be an educated and civilised people, and from them the race will increase and be renewed.
But we must rejoin our steamer at New Plymouth. We pass the enormous Mount Egmont, rising almost sheer from the sea-coast. Frequently on a bright day a cloud will envelop the middle of the mountain, but above it clear in the sunshine will be seen an immense snow-covered pyramid suspended apparently in midair. We come to Cook's Straits, and pass not far from the entrance to Wanganui, a town situated in the river of the same name. Wanganui is supported by a splendidly productive district, and has a great future before it. Between Wanganui and Wellington is the Feilding Settlement. It is, I venture to think, of peculiar interest to us, for it has, so to speak, something of the character of this Institute. We all know how much the Colonial Institute is indebted to the constant support it has received from its President, the Duke of Manchester. The Feilding Settlement is similarly indebted to the same support. It is conducted by the Emigrant Aid Association, of which his Grace is chairman. I have pleasure in adding that the Settlement promises, like this Institution, to be a great success.
We now come to Wellington. The distance to it by water from Manukau is much less than by the east coast, so that the usual water route from Auckland to Wellington is by the Manukau and west coast.
A few words now about the railways in the North Island. Their general design is a complete trunk from Wellington to Auckland, with a branch to the east or west coast, according as it may be decided whether the main line shall run along the east or west coast. The railway is being constructed from Wellington to the Manawatu Gorge, which lies about 100 miles to the north-east of Wellington.
We will now pass to the middle, or south Island. Suppose that we take steamer from Wellington, we can reach Nelson, the capital town of the provincial district of the same name, in a very few hours. Nelson possesses one of the most enjoyable climates in the world; the town itself is like a large garden. There is a great deal of business carried on between it and the gold-fields of the west coast of the middle island. There is a railway for a few miles out of Nelson, but it is not yet decided how Nelson will be brought into communication with the rest of the middle island railway system. For many years gold was known to exist on the upper part of the west coast, but the results were small until about auri sacra fames a
It is this province, which is the new territory opened since
We have reached Dunedin from Wellington by travelling all round the west and south of the middle island. But direct from Wellington, Dunedin is scarcely more than thirty hours' steaming.
Before I leave Otago I must say that this province was originally a Scotch settlement. Sixteen years have passed since all idea has been dispelled of maintaining in it an exclusively Scotch element. The gold discoveries in
But we will not enter Canterbury by a back door. We must land at its chief port, Lyttelton, which may be reached from Wellington in about fifteen hours, and from Dunedin in about twenty hours.
Canterbury was settled under the auspices of the Church of England. It curiously retains its English character. I have frequently heard people say it is more English than any part, not only of New Zealand, but of any other Colony they have visited. The pioneers of Canterbury were a hardy, determined, and singularly able body of men. Amongst them were some of conspicuous ability. Need I go further than to name John Robert Godley. How frequently is it the case that the obstacles of nature educate men's minds. The first settlers of Canterbury had to contend with a most discouraging obstacle. Everything combined to recommend Christchurch as the capital, but Christchurch was separated from the port by a high range of rugged hills, well-nigh impassable. An indifferent road was made by a large circuit, but the whole province suffered materially from its isolation from the sea coast. Then stepped forward William Sefton Moorhouse. What did it matter that the inhabitants were few?—he had infinite faith in Canterbury's future, and he boldly persuaded these few people to cut a tunnel under the hills at a cost of something like a quarter of a million of money. It is this faith in the country's capabilities that has made New Zealand what it is. Mr. Macan-
Christchurch is a busy, prosperous place, with some of the characteristics of an English cathedral city. In
Before I take leave of Canterbury I must mention that between Timaru and Lyttleton there is Akaroa, possessing a harbour second to none in the Colony. I venture to predict that Akaroa will become of great importance whenever, as sooner or later must be done, communication is opened between it and the interior.
I have now only to refer to the Marlborough Province. In four hours from Wellington, Picton is reached. It is charmingly situated, and possesses a splendid harbour. A railway of 20 miles takes one to the capital town of the Province-Blenheim. Marlborough has great pastoral and agricultural resources, besides extensive forests of useful timber. It has in addition mineral wealth. A considerable quantity of alluvial gold has been found, and lately I believe some rich auriferous quartz reefs.
I have travelled over Now Zealand with you—in, I admit, a most cursory manner—still I have endeavoured to give you a
A few words now about the railways of the South Island. Their general design is a through trunk line north and south. The connection between Canterbury and Marlborough and Nelson has yet to be made, as also the connection betwen the east coast and the west. There are several branches, some of them indeed of such importance as to partake of the character of main lines. Especially I may mention the line from Invercargill to the interior lakes, with which Otago is richly gifted, as also the branch from the important inland town of Tokomairiro to Lawrence, the centre of a large gold-field. An equally important line through the centre of Otago is projected, and in Canterbury there are several branch lines.
I will not detain you with a long description of the political institutions of the country; but the subject cannot be left altogether untouched. Until quite lately the Colony was divided into ten provinces. Each province was largely endowed with independent powers of government, especially in relation to all subjects pertaining to settlement. I attribute much of the past progress of the Colony to the minute local care and emulation arising out of these divisions. The time came when a variety of considerations led to its being thought desirable to abolish the separate forms of provincial government, and this change was finally carried into operation little more than twelve months since. It was not effected without a great deal of opposition. When the memory of the bitterness and fierceness of the struggle is somewhat toned down, it will, I think, be recognised that there was something peculiarly creditable to the people of New Zealand in the manner in which the contest was carried on. A larger and more complete revolution of the kind could not be conceived; yet it was effected without anything in the nature of a disturbance from beginning to end. It was in fact argued out, and the will of the majority was accepted. It would have been unfortunate if such a change had been made without that consideration which alone could spring from active
There is now but one Government in the country. The Governor, appointed by the Crown, acts only with the advice of his ministers, and when that advice is not approved by the majority in Parliament, he seeks fresh advisers, or commands a general election. Parliament, or the Assembly as it is called, consists of two Houses, the one nominated by the Queen, i.e. the Governor, the other elected by the people. If you ask me if a system of party government prevails, I should be puzzled to reply in a very definite manner. There is no doubt an approach to a party system, but parties have little adhesion. Occasionally for a time, whilst a great question or a decided policy is under consideration, parties hold well together; but rarely is there an instance of continued and prolonged party organisation. No constituency ever requires more of a representative than the assurance that he will continue to support this or that Government as long as he is able to approve its measures. I have often asked myself, Are we in respect to party government in advance or behind this country? At the first blush it would appear that want of age and of organisation explains the deficiency in party cohesion, and that time will bring about a different state of things. It may be so, but my observation of late years rather leads me to conclude that party allegiance in this country is undergoing a weakening, not a strengthening process, and I am not sure that the progress of education wall not encourage a tendency to relieve representatives from party organisation. I do not say such a result is desirable; indeed, I think it will make good government very difficult. Be this as it may, it is of great interest to consider whether the Colonial institutions, devised by modern thought, and to a certain extent untrammelled by the tyranny of custom, are in advance of the institutions from which they spring whether, in fact, they will grow to be more like the original, or the original approach to their shape.
I wish to give you as few statistics as possible, for I know how dull it is to listen to a long array of figures, which it is difficult to follow. I shall, in printing this paper, include a synopsis of the
I may, however, briefly read a few figures showing the results of last year,
A mere comparison of figures is apt to mislead. Especially is this the case with regard to the figures relating to exports and imports. It by no means follows that the largest aggregate of these represents the largest prosperity. Let us take an example. We will suppose that a given extent of land produces £100,000 worth of wool, which is exported, and in return for it £100,000 worth of wheat imported. We have here an aggregate of exports and imports of £200,000. Now let us suppose that the land being partly put under crop yields £100,000 worth of wheat, and £50,000 worth of wool; that the wheat is consumed in the country, that the wool is exported, and that in return for it agricultural implements and machinery are imported. We have here only an aggregate of £100,000 of exports and imports. There can be no question as to which of the two examples is most favourable to the Colony, but that one shows an aggregate exterior trade of only half that of the less favourable condition. It would be well if this example, one of many, were borne in mind, to lessen the tendency to draw deductions from the mere quantities of exports and imports.
Save a few products of the sea, the land gives to man all that he requires for his use, all that ministers to his comforts, all that constitutes his luxuries. The land of New Zealand yields largely and variously. First let me touch on its mineral wealth.
Before
The timber of New Zealand is of great variety, and some descriptions are very valuable. The results obtained from pastoral pursuits are truly astounding. During the fifteen years ending
It would be hard to exaggerate the agricultural value of a considerable quantity of the land of New Zealand. The history of New Zealand is one continued record of an increase in the value of and demand for land. Of course the quality of the land varies much. Some, such as the land on the plains, has a great depth of soil; some is so rugged and at such an altitude as to be suitable only for sheep, and some is too high even for that purpose. Probably experience has not yet proved what is the greatest use that can be made of the land, especially of much of the land in the North Island. But the results as they stand are sufficient to satisfy the most exacting. I cannot profess to give you of my own knowledge an analysis of the value of the land. Yet, as this is the most important question in relation to the future of the Colony, I feel that my task will be ill-completed if I fail to bring the matter fully before you, but I must do it by the aid of others. I have obtained permission to read to you portions of a letter, addressed by Mr. Morton, the chairman of two companies owning 850,000 acres of land in New Zealand, to one of the officers of the companies in the Colony, in which he particularly dwells on the value of New Zealand land:—
"Mr. Ford's estimate of the value of Acton at £7, as corroborative of our own, is satisfactory. My own conviction is that a much greater rise in the value of good freehold land in New Zealand is certain to take place, and this at a much earlier period than you in the Colony or the public generally have any conception of. In looking into the agricultural returns of Great Britain, with abstract returns for the United Kingdom, British possessions, and foreign countries, for
"From the tabulated statement (page 27) you will easily see that when it comes to be generally known and understood in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as in Australia and America, that the returns to an agriculturist are so superior in New Zealand to those in other countries, and this with a climate relatively superior, their attention will naturally, and as a matter of course, be concentrated upon New Zealand. If you only put down the cost of ploughing, seed harrowing, reaping, thrashing, and carting to port, all of which may be said to be nearly the same in the several countries (reaping and thrashing alone excepted in Austraha and California, where, I understand, it is done by a special method, with the straw left standing on the field), and deduct these charges from the returns the grain would yield, say, at 5s. per bushel all round at shipping port, you will find the immense advantage in the shape of returns to the agriculturist in New Zealand from any of the Australian Colonies, the Cape, or America. In this I do not deal with Europe, as in the countries where the yield is great the land is not only highly cultivated but heavily manured. Then, when you take into consideration the fact that in all Australia the land may be said, after being cropped, to be left in an unproductive form, and allowed to revert to its natural state, no permanent pasture of an artificial character (viz. English grass) is given for Adelaide in
"You will thus easily see how much better it will be for a man to pay £10 per acre—ay, even £20 per acre—for good land in New Zealand, than £1 to £2 per acre for fair land in Australia. The cultivation of 20 acres of good land in Australia (I mean the labour, and ploughing, sowing, harrowing, and reaping, thrashing, carting to port, &c., cannot be put down with safety at under close upon £3 per acre, basing my estimate upon the current rate of manual and horse labour in the several Colonies. The returns from the wheat crop in these Colonies will not yield 5s. per acre over this sum one year with another, whereas the returns from New Zealand will yield £4 in excess of this. As before stated, I am taking the wheat all round at 5s. per bushel at the shipping port in the several Colonies in this statement. From the foregoing it will be seen that the net returns from wheat to the landowner, after paying £3 per acre for the manual and horse labour, is fifteen times more in New Zealand than Australia and for the United States; and for years after the land has been cropped in Australia, it will yield next to nothing, until the natural grass again springs up and gets a sale, when two or three acres must go for each sheep: whereas in New Zealand one acre of good English grass will keep four to five merino sheep, and for three cross breeds, over the year. I daresay, when you have all the foregoing weighed over and thought out, you will conclude with me that at no distant date good agricultural land will be selling at £10 to £15 per acre in
"In the returns on profit of one acre in New Zealand of wheat against 15 or 20 acres, as the case may be, in Australia or America—viz. the net returns after payment or allowance for labour, seed, &c.—I omitted one very important item of outlay, viz. the fencing of one acre, say in New Zealand, as against from 15 to 20 acres, and the maintaining of said fences. I doubt not you will concur with me in the rapid and permanent increase in value that must necessarily take place on agricultural land in New Zealand, when once the facts as already stated are known and generally recognised."
Another gentleman, a large landowner in the Colony, and enjoying exceptional opportunities of acquiring information, has furnished me with the following memorandum:—
"A great deal of land will yield two grain crops in succession, and after a green crop eaten on the land yield two more grain crops, and so on, continuing to give two grain crops in succession for one green crop, without any signs of failure. This can be done upon the best agricultural land in the Middle Island, of which there is a large area."
I leave you to form your own opinion of these statements. This I can say, I have been in other Colonies, but I never saw anywhere such earth hunger as prevails in New Zealand amongst all classes of its people.
I give you a statement prepared by Mr. Hayter, the Government statist of the Colony of Victoria, of the average yield per acre of the principal crops during the six years ending
A more complete Colonial return, but only for two years, I borrow from Mr. Giffen's valuable Report to the Board of Trade:—
Statement of the Estimated Average Yield Per Statute Acre of the Principal Corn Crops, and of Potatoes, in Various British Colonies.
From the same source I give you the average returns from foreign countries. Mr. Giffen does not state the average for the United Kingdom:—
You will not be surprised to learn that to make such land accessible, has first and last been the primary public object of the colonists. The construction of ordinary roads was naturally the first means adopted for opening up communication. It early dawned upon the people that metalled roads, costing a great deal for annual repair, and affording only slow transit, were deficient in economy as compared with light and cheaply constructed railways. It was not, however, until
But if there were opponents there were also friends. The opposition of the one was more than counterpoised by the enthusiasm of the other. There were men whose lifelong dream it had been to see such a policy worked out, and they aided it with might and main. The bitterest opponents have lived to recognise the value of the work. There is no one now, I think, who questions that the Colony was wise, and is wise, in constructing railways and acquiring population. There may be differences of opinion as to the routes, and as to the ports which should claim the first attention, but not as to the value of the railways themselves, and to the capability of the Colony to support
The Colonial Treasurer stated last session "that up to the end of
The Colonial Treasurer who subsequently succeeded to office did not impugn these figures, though he differed somewhat with his predecessor as to the mode of dealing with the finance. He considered that the floating debt should be added to the permanent debt, and that the revenue should be augmented by further taxation if necessary. In the meantime, he added to it by colonialising the land fund. That is to say, he added the land fund, which was hitherto specially set apart for different purposes, to the consolidated revenue, less 20 per cent, to be paid over to local bodies. The consolidated revenue will be increased by this operation, not of course to the full extent of the amount added, as some of the charges on the land fund will devolve on the consolidated revenue, but nevertheless the last-named revenue will be considerably increased. To compare the public debt of New Zealand with the public debt of a country from which the cost of railways,
This subject is one to which I have given a great deal of attention, and I will ask your permission to read some remarks upon it which I made in
"So much has been said of the amount of our debt and the manner in which it presses upon population, that I shall ask the House to allow mo to make some observations upon the subject.
"There are four ways of estimating a nation's indebtedness, namely: —(1) Estimating the gross amount of indebtedness. (2) The gross annual interest. (3) The amount of interest payable per head of population. (4) The percentage or proportion which the annual interest bears to the gross income of the population. The first is the system commonly adopted in England; but it leaves out the important elements of the annual charge upon the population and of the means of the population to meet that charge. It also leaves out the rate of interest. It may be better to have a nominal debt of larger amount, if the annual burden is smaller on account of the lower rate of interest. The second is the mode commonly adopted on the Continent. It gives a more accurate idea of the nature of a country's burdens; but still it leaves out of the question the amount of the population, and the means of the population, upon which the taxation falls. The third mode gives a nearer insight into the incidence of the burden which a debt devolves upon a people; but still it is wanting in the great clement of the means of a people to bear such burden. The fourth mode remedies this, for it strikes at the very root of the matter. It shows not only the annual indebtedness, but the proportion which that annual indebtedness bears to the means of the people to meet it. In the observations I am making I am very much indebted to the 'Manual on National Debts,' published by Mr. Dudley Baxter. I quote his words upon the subject:—
"' The only correct method of comparing the burdens on different nations is by a comparison of the percentages of their incomes. Although the estimates of income may be approximations rather than accurate calculations, they afford on the whole a truer estimate of the burden of debts and taxation, than calculations founded on
Mr. Baxter estimated that the annual income of the people in the United Kingdom in
As to the ability of the people of New Zealand to meet their loan liabilities, it is utterly absurd to question it. It may be desirable or necessary to increase the taxation; for obvious reasons this is a political question on which I express no opinion. But I may say, that beyond all doubt the people can bear whatever extra burdens it may be necessary to impose on them. If any tax in this country were abolished and the revenue showed a deficiency to the extent of the tax, and the expenditure required the tax to be made good, all that could be said would be that the taxpayers had saved paying the tax, but owed the money. If the taxation in New Zealand is not sufficient, it will have to be made so. There has been no material increase of taxation since
It is noticeable, that though there has always been free selection in Canterbury, and the best land of course taken, the revenue last
In the province of Otago the leases of the sheep farms fall in during the next four or five years, and immense quantities of land will be open for sale and lease. In the North Island vast tracts acquired from the natives will be open to purchase, and I cannot consider but that there will be a great increase in the land revenue. The large demands made by New Zealand have naturally somewhat advanced the rate at which it is able to borrow. It pays the extra price because it gains more by doing so than by suspending the works which bring wealth to the country and its people. The lenders may congratulate themselves on getting this extra rate. The security afforded by the value of the public estate and public works and railways, and by the ability of the people to contribute whatever is required of them, make, in my opinion, New Zealand debentures as safe as Consols, and immeasurably more safe than the investments made in countries where British laws and institutions do not prevail. I read the other day of an occurrence which I hope is true, for it is too good to be otherwise. A person presented himself at a fancy dress ball in an attire so scanty, or perhaps I should say a want of attire so conspicuous, that the servants denied him admission. "But this is a fancy dress ball," he said. "Yes, sir; it is a fancy dress ball," with a marked emphasis on the word dress. "But the guests are to appear in character," he persisted. "Yes, sir; and what character can you represent as you are?" "The character," he replied, "of a foreign bondholder stripped of everything." You may realise the difference when I say that the New Zealand bondholder who dressed for the character should appear in fine wool, with the emblems of every useful metal, of coal, and of manufactures abundantly worked in gold embroidery, and with a cornucopia as a head-dress.
On the subject of education I will briefly say that it has been the pride of the several provinces to provide the most abundant means for the education of children. The Colony has not overlooked the necessity of continuing this good work, and in the session just over the educational provisions of the several provinces have been consolidated into one comprehensive system of education, the leading features of which may be summed up in the well-known terms, free, secular, and compulsory. There are small fees charged, but the general burden is defrayed from the revenue and from the proceeds of valuable endowments. It may be said in general terms that the State provides a secular education, and
From
"Unemployed. Wherever meetings held, Government offered work, thirty shillings week. Very few accepted.—Grey."
It may safely be said that the bulk of the immigrants have been greatly successful. But it would be a mistake to suppose that New Zealand is a fairy land. As in other countries, some people are unfortunate without having themselves to blame, whilst there are some who, not being able or willing to work, are prone to attribute to the country the fault which belongs to themselves. Comprising as the Colony does a great many settlements, there is constantly a liability to an undue congregation in some parts and a reverse in others. With respect to artisan labour, there is also a special risk of temporary excessive supply in some districts and want of supply in others. No one should go to the Colony who does not take with him a determination to endure, if need be, some hardship. The primary business of the Colony is to obtain the products of the land, whether agricultural, pastoral, or mineral. All other occupations are subsidiary, and their success depends on the plentifulness which the land yields. Professional men, men who can only give clerical labour, and artisans, must
Those who are well acquainted with agriculture, and who aspire to positions beyond those of ordinary labourers, but are unable to take with them capital, must remember, that though they take to the Colony most useful knowledge, they cannot look for immediate employment equal to their merits. A farmer or capitalist may continually want labour, but may not at a moment's notice be prepared to make such alterations in his arrangements as would be involved in the employment of overseers or persons of an analogous rank. Hence the agriculturist without capital or means must not consider that he is at all assured of at once realising his aspirations for a superior position. Men with large families should understand that their risks are increased: not only have they more mouths to feed, but they are more liable to the effects: of illness or accidental misfortune. With such a disposition to meet with patience any difficulties that might arise as would have to be exercised in this country, there cannot, I think, be a doubt that the general prospects of the working classes, and of men with capital, are infinitely brighter in Now Zealand than in this country. Here there is an excess of population, the possession of capital from £250 to £5,000 is a source of embarrassment, and men of means and position are unable to decide what to do with then sons growing to manhood. There, there is a land of infinite capacity, greatly deficient in population, and offering large rewards to suitable colonists who have the courage not to be deterred by slight obstacles, and who do not expect too much. Immigrants, it should be observed, require some amount of self-reliance. The landing amongst strangers, in a strange place, is depressing, and those who expect too much may be disappointed. There are some people,
In confirmation of what I have said, I may quote the following passage from a despatch which I received only yesterday from the Minister for Immigration: "As regards future operations, I had hoped by this mail to have supplied you with full particulars as to the probable number and quality of immigrants required during the current year. So soon as I am furnished with returns ordered to be sent in by the Immigration Officers throughout the Colony, I shall be able to do so. In the meantime I would state that we can scarcely have too many people, provided they are of the right stamp —agricultural able-bodied labourers, dairy-women, and domestic servants. The power of the Colony to absorb such with advantage may be said to be unlimited. Another class to whom the Colony presents great advantages are practical farmers, with small or large means. The construction of railways now in progress and in contemplation, opens up for agricultural settlement an extensive territory which has hitherto been unavailable, and upon which thousands of industrious families may acquire independence, and surround themselves with comfort. I venture to say that New Zealand never presented greater attractions to genuine colonists than at the present time."
The land system of the Colony is a subject upon which there is a great deal of inquiry. It is the more necessary to touch upon this, because of important alterations which have been made by an Act passed during the late session. Chief amongst the changes, though it pertains rather to the financial than the land system, is the provision which has been made by Act by which henceforth the Land Revenue, less twenty per cent, for local purposes, becomes part of the general, or, as it is called, the consolidated revenue of the Colony. Previously the land fund was virtually provincial revenue, and on the abolition of the provinces it was contemplated to still put it apart for special purposes. But it has now been made Colonial revenue. It is not for me to express an opinion as to the policy or fairness of the measure. But I may say that one of its obvious effects will be to somewhat
Of great importance both to the land system and the finances of the Colony is another measure passed last session, by which the upset price of land has been raised to not less than £2 per acre if open to free selection, and to not less than £1 per acre if submitted to auction. In Canterbury the upset price at which anyone might select land has always been £2 per acre, but in other provinces the upset price of rural land, whether for free selection or by auction, has varied from 2s. 6d. to £1, unless in cases of special value. The increase now made is very material. It is as it were the crown of the public works and immigration policy. I have already referred to its money value. The change, too, probably means an approach to a uniform land system throughout the Colony. At present each provincial district has a distinct land system; indeed in Otago there are two systems, one belonging to the old province of Southland. The working of the Act will not have much interest for you, but very many persons here will be interested to know that provision has been made for putting up to auction licenses to use pastoral country after the present leases or licenses expire. A great many runs (as large sheep-farms are called) will be put up to auction in this way during the next five or six years in the province of Otago.
An important new provision is that pastoral lands may be sold on deferred payments in blocks of not less than 500 acres, nor more than 5,000 acres. Such blocks must be put apart for the purpose by the Governor. They must be offered at auction at an upset price of not less than £1 per acre, and the payment has to be made by thirty equal half-yearly payments. No person is allowed to purchase on deferred payment more than one allotment, and one of the conditions is that within twelve months he shall reside on the land, and continue to reside on it for five years, except during intervals of leave, not exceeding three months in the year, permitted by the Crown Lands' Board.
There are also provisions for selling rural or agricultural land on deferred payments. No one is allowed to purchase more than 320 acres, and the price is divided into twenty half-yearly payments. If the land purchased is open to selection, to the ordinary cash price, 50 per cent, is added to cover the interest on the deferred payments. If the land is sold by auction, the price is the amount bid. In cither case the payment is divided into twenty equal half-yearly payments.
The purchase of rural land by deferred payments is subject to
bonâ fide farmer. In the Auckland provincial district, land may be put apart by the Governor, under what is known as the homestead system. Under this system the settlers may obtain a limited quantity of land without any payment whatever. The conditions of ultimate acquirement of the property are, residence for five years and cultivation. Each person is allowed under this system not more than 50 acres of first-class land, nor more than 75 acres of second-class land, provided that no family may in the aggregate have more than 200 acres of first- class, nor more than 300 acres of second-class land.
I cannot pretend to give you even a precis of the different systems in the various provinces of disposing of land for cash payments. Suffice it that in some parts there is free selection, in others a mixture of free selection and auction, and in others again an approach to an auction system only.
I have given you, as much as my limits will permit and my ability allow, an idea of New Zealand. I feel that I have done inadequate justice to its great capabilities, that I have insufficiently described all that convinces me there is "no land on earth" that has before it a fairer promise. With a superb climate and every other natural advantage in its favour, it has been carefully peopled by those who can best serve it, and who must become the founders of a hardy, enterprising, and able branch of the British race. No marvel is it to me that they who have lived in New Zealand learn to love it, for I share that feeling. To describe it is to me a labour of love. It seems to me a land that, in the words of Byron—
And now I will say a few words of the South Sea Islands, New Zealand must be in the future to these Islands the central guiding figure. No adequate idea of New Zealand's future can by formed that excludes from view the teeming Islands of the Pacific that must look to her as their trading centre. The winds and the
There can be no doubt of the capabilities of the Islands. They yield many valuable indigenous products, and they are suitable for the production of coffee, sugar, cotton, tobacco, arrowroot, india rubber, maize, and various kinds of drugs.
Her Majesty's present Government have cast loving eyes towards them, and have proceeded probably in the path of annexation as far as the state of public opinion has permitted. By an ingenious Act of Parliament passed three years ago, they have obtained the right to exercise considerable power in the Islands not annexed. Sir Arthur Gordon, Governor of Fiji, exercises under the Act the functions of High Commissioner. Too little time has elapsed to fairly test the Act, but it must at least be conceded that during the last few years Her Majesty's Government have done a great deal to improve the condition of the Islands. Not too soon was action taken. The Islands were becoming the Alsatia of the two hemispheres, and a disgusting traffic in human labour was being set up. Sir Arthur Gordon seems to be doing his work well, with not much means placed at his disposal. He has shown great vigour in repressing revolt, and industry in developing the capabilities of the natives to submit themselves to organised government. In the measure he has taken for raising taxes in produce, he recognises the value to which I have already alluded of civilising the natives by encouraging them to work. He has, I fancy, not been unmindful of the Java system. I know it is the fashion to condemn that system as one of slavery. But there is a wide difference between the State insisting on work as a necessary
I proposed when I commenced to connect my subject, New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, with that larger subject, the Consolidation of the Empire. The lengthened demand I have made on your attention leads me to fear to ask your larger indulgence; at any rate, I will be brief Almost every salient matter to which I have referred seems to me to instigate considerations of vast interest to other parts of the Empire than that small portion with which we have had to deal. The various routes to New Zealand remind us how much one country is dependent on other countries, and, from a national point of view, suggests how important it is to keep open a chain of communication from one end of the world to the other, at every stopping-place of which the interests of Great Britain should be paramount. The facts which I have told you about the lands of New Zealand, and about what has been done by the Colony in the way of promoting immigration, together with your own knowledge of the land, and immigration policies of other Colonies, must suggest to you how unmindful of the interests of the parent country itself were those who left to the hazard of the decision of a few thousand colonists the dealing with questions of vast moment to the whole people. There is no want in Great Britain more felt than that of a career for youths growing to manhood. The openings for those who are inclined to
King Lear, might, perhaps, have had in mind a possible parable of a Mother-country and her Colonies.
The active vigour which constitutional government has undoubtedly imported to the British dependencies enjoying it, must arouse the consideration of the question, Can nothing be done to constitutionalise the government of India?. The share which a native race may be induced to take in the government also suggests that the native races of India might with advantage be more drawn within the general scheme of government of the country. Every question relating to native races is of interest. When we see what labour and the acquisition of wealth will do for a native race, we may ask ourselves, Is the system healthy which practically requires that tropical productions should be rendered to the use of the denizens of temperate climes at rates which entail the necessity of labour being supplied at the bare cost of food sufficient to keep body and soul together? Civilised man has abolished slavery, but he continues to exact labour for less than the comforts which even the slavery system supplied.
The colonists in South Africa are living over again that which has passed in New Zealand, and, it may be, sufficient heed is not paid to the teaching of experience. There is, again, the same difficulty between Imperial representative and Colonial government, arising out of the relative positions of Imperial and Colonial forces. Whilst in the House of Commons, the Minister insists on Colonial responsibility, the Governor in the Colony refuses to call together the local parliament, and dismisses the Ministry possessing the confidence of the majority in that parliament. Has, I would ask, advantage been taken of the experience which shows that to use with benefit the successes gained by force of arms, railways and roads must be constructed, the natives induced to labour, and
Above all, the lesson may be learnt that a country may be stimulated artificially, if you like to call it so, by the introduction simultaneously of labour and capital, and that this may be done to an almost indefinite extent. The popular refrain of the day runs to the effect that we can fight because—
Would that it were generally recognised that we can colonise because we have these great resources. New Zealand, in believing that it could do in ten years what in ordinary course might take more than a quarter of a century, only utilised the results of observation. Experience shows that all the ramifications of a useful community will grow out of population hastily summoned to a locality if labour and capital be present at the same time. Immense populations rushed to California and to Victoria in search of gold; they remained to develop into useful communities. Diamonds did the same office in South Africa; oil in parts of America. Given people, work to employ them, and capital to aid labour, and you have the elements of a successful community. If, instead of a precarious search for gold or diamonds, you have the certain rewards yielded by fertile land, so much the easier is the working of the problem. It is of the greatest importance to recognise the fields for enterprise the Colonies offer, for they may be the substitute for those countries, the excessive desire to serve which has not, in my opinion, been beneficial to this country. The loss of the money wasted abroad would, in some cases, probably be a lesser evil from a British point of view than that of the results of the expenditure. I do not wish to enter on political ground, but I presume no one will deny that this country, if it is not involved in war with Russia, has been very near that contingency. I presume, also, it cannot be questioned that the result of the late war will in any case devolve on this country the necessity in future of a larger annual naval expenditure—a very much larger one, probably. Now, is there anyone who would deny that but for the money lent to Russia by British capitalists, and the military railways constructed by British capital, that war would not have taken place, at any rate, for a long time? It is British gold that has armed the Continent, that has made railways, that has facilitated wars, that has done a great deal which is now reducing the prosperity and power of
There is, of course, a wide distinction between mere trading investments and those which have for their results, if not for their object, the giving facility to a country to organise its forces and move its armies. This is assistance from an absurd point of view, for it benefits the few whilst it throws a serious liability on the taxpayers in general. Had she not obtained so much English capital, Russia would now be like a horse with too little instead of too much oats.
The lesson New Zealand teaches us is, that there is practically unlimited occupation for capital in British territory. In eight years a thousand miles of railway will have been constructed there. More attention to our own country and less to others is what the nation demands, and yet so much docs the evil feed on itself that those who have gained their wealth by investments abroad are the very persons who exclaim against the Colonies as sources of weakness. Since investments abroad have become somewhat unpopular, there is a large flow of money to British possessions. Commerce is really now engaged in federating the Empire, but so
If I may venture to offer advice I would urge on this Institute that the question of Federation should be taken from the region of speculative politics and introduced to the House of Commons. However few its friends in the House at first, they will increase when it is perceived that its advocates are in earnest. By and by the conviction will come that the territories of Great Britain are sufficiently large to make nationalism a noble aspiration, and that other nations may be left to look after their own interests. The possessions of the Queen of England and Empress of India are extensive enough for the exercise of unbounded humanitarianism, for the development of the largest fiscal views, for the operation of the most benevolent theories. We are apt, when we incline to interfere so much with foreign countries, to forget how calculations may be upset by circumstances born of foreign laws or want of laws. A common bond of union is best found in similar laws possessing the common basis of recognition of individual rights and of reverence for liberty and freedom. A law-abiding, free, and educated people, speaking the same language and owning loyalty to the same sovereign, has lasting interests in common, and if the Empire break up, the fault will be due to those who neglect to weld it together.
Unwin Brothers, Printers, London and Chilworth.
This title is given by the Interpretation Acts
3 and 4 Vict, c. 62. 9 and 10 Vict c. 103. 11 and 12 Vict, c. 5.Whereas by an Act of the Session holden in the third
Be It Therefore Exacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1. The said Acts, and all Charters, Letters Patent, Repeal of recited Acts, &c Provisoes.
2. The following Provinces are hereby established in Certain Provinces established in New Zealand. See section 60, post. The name of New Plymouth was changed to Taranaki by "The Province of Taranaki Act, Auckland shall be bounded on the North by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the East by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the West by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the River Mokau to its source, thence by a right line running from the source of the Mokau to the point where the Ngahuinga or Tuhua, the principal tributary of the Whanganui River, is intersected by the thirty-ninth parallel of South latitude, thence eastward by the thirty-ninth parallel of South latitude to the point where that parallel of latitude cuts the east coast of the Northern Island of New Zealand. The Province of New Plymouth shall be bounded on the North by the River Mokau to its source; the East by a right line running from the source of the River Mokau to the point where the Ngahuinga or Tuhua, the principal tributary of the Whanganui River, is intersected by the thirty-ninth parallel of South latitude, thence by the River Whanganui to the point where it is met by the Taumatamahoe path leading from the River Waitera, thence by a right Hue running from the above- described point on the Whanganui River to the mouth of the River Patea; the West by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto. The Province of Wellington shall be bounded on the North by the southern boundary of the Province of Auckland, as already described in this Proclamation; the East by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the North-west by the southern portion of the eastern boundary of the Province of New Plymouth, as already described in this Proclamation; the South-west by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto. The Province of Nelson shall be bounded on the North by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the East by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the West by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the River Hurunui to its source, thence by a right line drawn to the point where the River Kotuurakaoka issues out of Lake Brunner, thence by the River Kotuurakaoka to its junction with the River Grey, thence by the River Grey to its mouth. The Province of Canterbury shall be bounded on the North by the southern boundary of the Province of Nelson, as already described in this Proclamation; the East by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the West by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the River Waitangi to its source, thence by a right line running to the source of the River Awarua, thence by the River Awarua to its mouth. The Province of Otago shall be bounded on the North by the southern boundary of the Province of Canterbury, as already described in this Proclamation; the East by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the West by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto; the South by the coast line, including the islands adjacent thereto, with the exception of Stewart's Island, its adjacent islands, and Sclanders Island, and the Island of Ruapuke." "The Sic in Gazette, probably a misprint for "Solander."
Each Province to have a Superintendent and Provincial Council.
Before elections of Members of Provincial Councils, Superintendents of Provinces to be chosen. So much of this section as relates to the signification of the disallowance by the Governor of any election of a Superintendent is repealed by "The Superintendents Election Disallowance Signification Act, As to the causes by which the office of Superintendent may become vacant, see "The Disqualification Act, New Zealand Gazette is substituted.
Governor may appoint electoral districts, &c.
Qualification of Members.
Qualification of voters.
8. Provided always, that no person shall be entitled Aliens and persons, convicted of certain offences disqualified.
9. It shall be lawful for any Member of any Provincial Members may resign their scats.
10. If any Member of any Provincial Council shall, In certain cases seats to become void. See note (2) to sec. 4.
Determination of questions as to vacancies. Other questions of vacancy may be determined on information in the nature of a quo warranto. See "Provincial Elections Act,
Issue of writs for supplying vacancies. See "The Provincial Elections Act,
Duration of Provincial Council. Dissolution.
When writs are to issue.
Convening of Council.Gazette, to fix such place or places within the limits of the Province, and such times for holding the first and every other session of the Provincial Council, as he may think fit, and from time to time, in manner aforesaid, to alter and vary such times and places as he may judge advisable, and most consistent with general convenience.
Prorogation.
17. Provided always, that there shall he a session of A session to be held every year.
18. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent of each Superintendent and Provincial Council may make laws. Doubts as to the powers of Provincial Councils to authorize the compulsory taking of private land, and to create corporations, are set at rest by the Provincial Compulsory Land Taking Acts
19. It shall not be lawful for the Superintendent and Restrictions on powers of legislation. See sec. 53, post, which makes Provincial Acts, so far as repugnant to any Act of the General Assembly, void.
See "The Provincial Councils' Powers Act,
See "The Highways and Watercourses Diversion Act,
By "The Provincial Councils' Powers Act,
As to election of Speaker.
Speaker to preside.
22. No Provincial Council shall be competent to the Quorum.
23. All questions which shall arise in any such Questions to be determined by majority of votes.
24. Every Provincial Council, at their first meeting, Standing orders to be adopted.
25. It shall not be lawful for any Provincial Council Appropriation and issue of money.
26. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to Superintendent may transmit drafts of laws for consideration of Council.
27. Every Bill passed by the Provincial Council shall Giving or withholding assent to Bills.
Superintendent to send copies of Bills assented to to Governor.
Disallowance of Bills assented to.
No Bill to have any force until assented to by Governor. This section is repealed by "The Provincial Reserved Bills Act, Gazette of the Province.Gazette, that such Bill has been laid before the Governor, and that the Governor has assented to the same; and an entry shall be made in the journals of the Provincial Council of every such speech, message, or Proclamation; and a duplicate thereof, duly attested,
31. It shall be lawful for the Governor, from time to time, to Governor may transmit instructions to Superintendent as to reserving Bills.
32. There shall be within the Colony of New Zealand Establishment of a General Assembly.
33. For constituting the Legislative Council of New Appointment of Members of the Legislative Council. Doubts having arisen as to the necessity for Members of the Legislative Council being approved of by Her Majesty before being summoned, the Imperial Act 31 and 32 Vict. cap. 57, (proclaimed in New Zealand on post, was passed, giving the future selection of Members to the Governor, and confirming all previous appointments.
Her Majesty, or a subject of Her Majesty naturalized by Act of Parliament, or by an Act of the Legislature of New Zealand.
Legislative Councillors may hold scats for life.
Resignation of seat in Council.
Causes by which seat may be vacated. See "The Public Offenders' Disqualification Act,
Trial of question whether seats are vacated.
38. The Governor shall have power and authority Appointment of Speaker of Legislative Council.
39. The presence of at least five Members of the said Quorum, &c. So much of this section as fixes the number necessary to constitute a quorum, is repealed by "The Legislative Council Quorum Act,
40. For the purpose of constituting the House of Power to summon a House of Representatives by Proclamation in Her Majesty's name. By Proclamation of
41. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by Proclamation, Power to Governor by Proclamation to constitute electoral districts, &c., for election of Members of House of Representatives. See the Acts mentioned in note to sec. 40.
Qualification of voters for Members of House of Representatives. As to qualification, sec the Miners' Representation Acts.
First writs to be issued within six mouths.
44. The General Assembly of New Zealand shall be Time and place of holding the General Assembly. Prorogation and dissolution.
45. The said House of Representatives shall, until Disputed elections.
46. No Member of the said Legislative Council or No Member to sit or vote until he has taken the oath of allegiance.
"I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will Oath of allegiance.
47. Every person authorized by law to make his Affirmation or declaration in lieu of oath.
48. The said House of Representatives shall, immediately Speaker to be elected on first meeting of House of Representatives.
49. It shall be lawful for any Member of the said Resignation of seats.
Vacating of seats in certain cases. See "The Disqualification Act,
Election to take place on vacancies. See "The Elections Writs Act.
Standing rules and orders to be made. Repealed by "The Parliamentary Privileges Act, Gazette, or otherwise, for general information, for some convenient space or time before the meeting of such Council and House respectively, and for the proper framing, entitling, and numbering of the Bills to be introduced into and passed by the said Council and House of Representatives, all of which rules and orders shall by such Council and House respectively be laid before the Governor, and being by him approved, shall become binding and of force; but subject, nevertheless, to the confirmation or disallowance of Her Majesty in manner hereinafter provided respecting the acts to be made by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the said Legislative Council and House of Representatives: Provided, that no such rule or order shall be of force to subject any person, not being a Member or Officer of the Council or House to which it relates, to any pain, penalty, or forfeiture.
53. It shall be competent to the said General Assembly Power of General Assembly to make laws.
54. It shall not be lawful for the House of Representatives As to the appropriation and issue of money.
Governor may transmit drafts of laws to either House.
Governor may assent to, refuse assent, or reserve Bills.
Governor to conform to instructions t ransmitted by Her Majesty. By the instructions of
58. Whenever any Bill which shall have been presented As to dis-allowance by Her Majesty of Bills assented to by the Governor.Gazette, shall make void and annul the same, from and after the day of such signification.
59. No Bill which shall be reserved for the signification No reserved Bill to have any force until assented to by Her Majesty.
Acts to be printed.Gazette for general information, and such publication by such Governor of any such Act shall be deemed to be in law the promulgation of the same.
Duties not to be levied on supplies lor troops, nor any dues, &c., inconsistent with treaties.
Expenses of collection of revenue. Partly repealed by "The Ordinary Revenue Act, post.
63. Repealed by "The Ordinary Revenue Act, Audit of accounts.
64. There shall be payable to Her Majesty, every Grants for civil and judicial services. The Civil List has been altered successively by "The Governors Salary Act,
65. It shall be lawful for the General Assembly How the appropriation of sums granted may be varied.
Appropriation of revenue. Repeated changes have been made in the mode of appropriating revenue by the following Acts:—(1.) As to Surplus Revenue: by "The Surplus Revenues Act,
67. These sections are repealed by the Imperial Act 20 and 21 Vict, c. 53, Power to General Assembly to alter electoral districts and number of Members of House of Re-presentatives.post.
68. These sections are repealed by the Imperial Act 20 and 21 Vict, c. 53, Power to General Assembly to make other alterations in the constitution of the House of Representatives.post.
69. Power to General Assembly to constitute Provinces, and alter the provisions concerning election of Members, &c.Vide sections 67 and 68.
See the New Provinces Acts referred to ante, p. 3, note (1). Also, "The County of Westland Act,
Her Majesty may establish Municipal Corporations.
Her Majesty may cause laws of Aboriginal Native inhabitants to be maintained.
It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by any Letters Patent to be issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, from time to time to make provision for the purposes aforesaid, any repugnancy of any such Native laws, customs, or usages to the law of England, or to any
Power to General Assembly to regulate sales of waste lands.
72. Subject to the provisions herein contained, it shall be lawful for the said General Assembly to make laws for regulating the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the waste lands of the Crown in New Zealand; and all lands wherein the title of Natives shall be extinguished as hereinafter mentioned, and all such other lands as are described in an Act of the Session holden in the tenth and eleventh years of Her Majesty, chapter one hundred and twelve, to promote Colonization in New Zealand, and to authorize a loan to the New Zealand Company, as demesne lands of the Crown, shall be deemed and taken to be waste 'lands of the Crown within the meaning of this Act: Provided always, that, subject to the said provisions, and until the said General Assembly shall otherwise enact, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to regulate such sale, letting, disposal, and occupation, by instructions to be issued under the Signet and Royal Sign Manual.
73. It shall not be lawful for any person other than Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, to purchase, or in anywise acquire or accept, from the Aboriginal Natives, land of or belonging to or used or occupied by them in common as tribes or communities, or to accept any release or extinguishment of the rights of such Aboriginal Natives in any such land as aforesaid; and no conveyance or transfer, or agreement for the conveyance or transfer, of any such land, either in perpetuity or for any term or period, either absolutely or conditionally, and either in property or by way of lease or occupancy, and no such release or extinguishment, as aforesaid, shall be of any validity or effect, unless the same be made to, or entered into with, and accepted by, Her Majesty, her heirs or successors: But, by "The Native Lamia Act,
10 & 11 Vict, c. 112. This section is repealed by the Imperial Act 20 and 21 Vict. c. 63, post. That Act, however, contains a proviso, that the repeal shall only take effect if, on or before the 5th day of
Upon all sales of waste lands one-fourth part of the sum to be paid to New Zealand Company till their debt is discharged. Power to New Zealand Company to release lands from payments, &c.
75. It shall not be lawful for the said General Saving as to Canterbury Settlement lands. 13 & 14 Vict. c. 70. 14 & 15 Vict, c. 84.
76. It shall be lawful for the Canterbury Association, Power to Canterbury Association to transfer their powers to the Provincial Council. This transfer was effected in the year
Saving as to Nelson Trust Fund. 14 & 15 Vict, c. 86.
Power to Her Majesty to regulate the disposal of waste lands in Otago.
It shall be lawful for Her Majesty for that purpose to make provision, by way of regulations to be contained in any charter to be granted to the said Association, for the disposal of the lands to which the said terms of purchase and pasturage relate, so far as the same are still in force as aforesaid, and for varying from time to time such regulations, with such consent by or on behalf of the said Association as in any such charter
No Act of the General Assembly to interfere with such regulations save with consent, &c.
79. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by any such Her Majesty may delegate certain powers to Governor.
80. Amended by 26 and 27 Vict. c. 23 (Imperial), Interpretation of "Governor" and "New Zealand."post.
Commencement of this Act. It was proclaimed
Proclamations to be published in New Zealand, Gazette.Gazette.
The Short Title by which this Act is cited in New Zealand is "The Constitution Amendment Act." See the Interpretation Acts
15 & 16 Vict, c. 72.Whereas it is expedient that an Act passed in the Session holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of Her Majesty, chapter seventy-two, to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand, should be amended by repealing certain clauses thereof, whereby certain charges were imposed on the Territorial Revenue of the said Colony, for which charges other provision has been or is intended to be made, and
Be It Enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1. Sections sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, and Sections 67, 63, 69, and 74, and part of sec. 62 of recited Act repealed.
2. It shall be lawful for the said General Assembly Power to General Assembly of New Zealand to vary the provisions of the recited Act, with the exception herein named. As to the power of Colonial Legislatures generally to alter their constitution, see the Imperial Act 28 and 29 Vict. c. 63, s. 5, post. Power to alter the third section of the Constitution Act was given by the Imperial Act 24 and 25 Vict. c. 30, s. 2, post; but that Act was repealed before the power was exercised. (See, post, the Imperial Act 25 and 26 Vict. c. 48.) Sect. 73 of the Constitution Act may be altered or repealed by the General Assembly (25 and 26 Vict. e. 48, s. 8).
So much of the said Act as repeals former Acts, Letters Patent, Instructions, and Orders in Council:
The provisions contained in sections three, eighteen (save the exception therein contained), twenty- five, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty-two, forty-four, forty-six, forty-seven, fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty-one, sixty-four (save so much as charges the Civil List on the revenues arising from the disposal of waste lands of the Crown), sixty-five, seventy-one, seventy-three, and eighty of the said Act:
But no such Act of the General Assembly as aforesaid, which shall alter, suspend, or repeal any of the pro-
Commencement of Act. This Act was proclaimed on This is "The New Zealand Company's Claims Act, Gazette
This Act is repealed by 25 and 26 Vict. c. 48.
15 & 16 Vict, c. 72. 20 & 21 vict. c. 53.Whereas by an Act .of the Session holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of Her Majesty, intituled "An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand," it was provided that certain Provinces therein mentioned should be established in the said Colony, and that in every such Province there should be a Provincial Council, and that there should be in the said Colony a General Assembly competent to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the same; and by the sixty-ninth section of the said Act it was further provided that it should be
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1. It shall be lawful for the said General Assembly, Power to General Assembly to constitute new Provinces.
Zealand, and to direct and appoint the number of Members of which the Provincial Councils of such Provinces shall consist, and to alter the boundaries of any Provinces for the time being existing in New Zealand.
General Assembly may repeal part of sec. 3 of 15 & 16 Vict. c. 72.
Recited Act of General Assembly, 21 & 22 Vict., to be valid.
Recited Act to apply to new Provinces.
(15 & 16 20 & 21 Vict. C. 53. 24 & 25 Vict, c. 30.Vict. c. 72.)Whereas by an Act of the Session holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of Her Majesty, intituled "An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand," it was provided that certain Provinces therein mentioned should be established in the said Colony, and that in every such Province there
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Queen's Most
24 & 25 Vict, c. 30, repealed.
"New Provinces Act,
General Assembly to provide for the establishment of new Provinces in New Zealand.
General Assembly not to make laws inconsistent with provisions herein mentioned.
5. It shall not be competent to the Governor of New Limitation of Governor's power to assent to Bills.
Parts of two first-recited Acts repealed.
Application of Acts to future Provinces.
Power to General Assembly to repeal or alter sec. 73 of 15 and 16 Vict, c. 72.
"Governor."
15 & 16 Vict, c. 72.Whereas by the eightieth section of an Act of the
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part of sec. 80 of 15 & 16 Vict, c. 72 repealed.
What shall be deemed the limits of the Colony.
Whereas doubts have been entertained respecting the validity of divers laws enacted or purporting to have been enacted by the Legislatures of certain of Her Majesty's Colonies, and respecting the powers of such Legislatures, and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed:
Be it hereby enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1. The term "Colony" shall in this Act include all Definitions— "Colony."
The terms "Legislature" and "Colonial Legislature" "Legislature." "Colonial Legislature."
The term "Representative Legislature" shall signify "Representative Legislature."
The term "Colonial Law" shall include laws made "Colonial Law."
Act of Parliament, &e., when to extend to Colony.
"Governor."
"Letters Patent."
Colonial Law, when void for repugnancy.
Colonial Law, when not void for repugnancy.
Colonial Law not void for inconsistency with instructions.
Colonial Legislature may establish, &c., Courts of Law.
6. The certificate of the Clerk or other proper officer Representative Legislature may alter constitution.primâ facie evidence that the document so certified is a true copy of such Law or Bill, and, as the case may be, that such law has been duly and properly passed and assented to, or that such Bill has been duly and properly passed and presented to the Governor; and any Proclamation purporting to be published by authority of the Governor in any newspaper in the Colony to which such Law or Bill shall relate, and signifying Her Majesty's disallowance of any such Colonial Law, or Her Majesty's assent to any such reserved Bill as aforesaid, shall be primâ facie evidence of such disallowance or assent.
7. [Certain Acts of Legislature of South Australia to be valid.]
15 & 16 Vict. c. 72.Whereas by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament
And whereas Her Majesty has, by divers instruments under her Royal Sign Manual, authorized successive Governors of the said Colony to summon to the said Legislative Council, from time to time, such person or persons, being qualified as aforesaid, as the said Governors respectively should deem to be prudent and discreet men:
And whereas, in pursuance of the said instructions, persons have, from time to time, been summoned to the said Legislative Council by the Governors of the said Colony:
And whereas doubts have arisen whether such persons, not having been, previously to their being so summoned, expressly named or appointed by Her Majesty in any instrument under the Royal Sign Manual, or otherwise, have been legally summoned to the said Legislative Council, and become Members thereof; and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed, and that fresh provision should be made for the future appointment of Legislative Councillors in the said Colony:
Be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part of recited Act repealed.
Governor empowered to summon such persons as he may think fit to the Legislative Council. This Act was proclaimed on New Zealand Gazette,
3. All persons who, before the proclamation of this All summonses to Legislative Council declared valid.
4. In the construction of this Act the term "Governor" "Governor."
This Act was rendered necessary by doubts as to the validity of "The County of Westland Act,
25 & 26 Vict, c. 48, s. 3.Whereas by the third section of an Act of the Session holden in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth years of
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
General Assembly to have and to be deemed to have had power to abolish any Province, to withdraw therefrom any territory, and to make laws for such territory.
In the month of Unfortunately, however, as we deemed it at the time, although providentially, as I was afterwards disposed to regard it, for obvious reasons, just as we were approaching the western entrance of the Straits, our vessel having sprung a dangerous leak, we were obliged to bear up for repairs to the Bay of Islands—the only part of the group then inhabited by Europeans.
During our stay in that port, I endeavoured to make myself acquainted with the state and prospects of the country, which
My first object, therefore, in publishing my pamphlet, was to disabuse the public mind in England of the unfounded and erroneous impressions that had been made upon it in regard to the colonization of that island, or group of islands; and to demonstrate the urgent necessity for such a measure, for the interests of humanity on the one hand, as well as for those of Great Britain and her Colonies on the other; and pointing out, at the same time, the peculiar adaptation and eligibility of the New Zealand group of islands for British colonization.
A further object I had in view, in the publication of my pamphlet, was to shew that as the rejection of the Company's Bill for that object by the House of Commons, in the year
A third object I had in view, in the publication of my pamphlet, was to strengthen the hands of whatever Government might be established in New Zealand by ensuring to the Crown the right of pre-emption, both past and future, over all lands belonging to the natives, and thereby to prevent and render impossible those enormous frauds that were even then in progress, and that would otherwise be perpetrated on the natives to an incredible extent in the alleged purchase of their lands.
Believing as I do, therefore, that my pamphlet, coming out as it did at the very nick of time, when the great question of the Colonization of New Zealand was under consideration and was agitating the minds of thousands of the British people, and that it had, consequently, not a little to do with the accomplishment of that great national object, as will appear from the subjoined Appendix, I have deemed it expedient and necessary to republish it for the information of those who may either be desirous of ascertaining the particulars of the original settlement of their adopted country, or of those who may merely take an interest in what the great Lord Bacon justly calls the heroic work of colonization.
I have taken the liberty to address the following Letters to your Lordship, without having previously solicited your Lordship's permission, under the assurance that, in consenting to become the Governor of the New Zealand Land Company, it was by no means your Lordship's intention merely to lend the countenance of your name to a small coterie of Metropolitan Speculators, associated for the sole purpose of making money by the transference or sale of shares in a joint-stock speculation. From the high rank which your Lordship holds in the aristocracy of England; from the higher character as an enlightened statesman and distinguished patriot which your Lordship unquestionably bears among the middle classes of this great nation; but especially from the profound, comprehensive, and truly British views of national policy, exhibited in your Lordship's admirable Report on the state of Canada, I felt assured that the only motive that could possibly have induced your Lordship to patronise an Association for the Colonization of New Zealand was a sincere desire to promote
To extend to the farthest regions of the habitable globe, and to perpetuate to the close of time, the noble language, the equitable laws, and the Protestant religion of this favoured land, is indeed an enterprise well worthy of the first of England's nobility; and I am confident, my Lord, there is no case in which the British patriot, the genuine philanthropist, the Christian man, has reason to feel more deeply interested in the progress of such an enterprise than the one with which your Lordship is at present associated—the Colonization of New Zealand.
Having been residing, as a minister of religion, in the colony of New South Wales for the last sixteen years, with the exception of the time I have occupied during that period in several voyages to England, my attention has been much directed for a series of years past to the condition and prospects of the native inhabitants of the numerous islands of the Southern Pacific, and especially of the large island, or rather group of islands, known under the name of New Zealand. The commercial intercourse between that island and the Australian Colonies has, during the last few years, as your Lordship is doubtless well aware, been both frequent and intimate; and the Australian colonists have thus acquired much practical knowledge of its general resources and capabilities. I have only myself, I confess, been once at New Zealand, having touched at that island for a few days in the months of January and February last, on my fifth voyage from New South Wales to England by way of Cape Horn; but I have thus been enabled to ascertain, by personal observation, the accuracy of much of the information I had previously received respecting the island generally through the testimony of others; to correct the erroneous impressions relative to its soil and climate, and the character and condition of its aboriginal inhabitants,
There has always been more or less communication between New Zealand and the colonies of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land since the first establishment of these Colonies; potatoes and pork, obtained in barter from the natives for articles of European produce, being for a long time the only articles imported from that island into Sydney and Hobart Town. Of late, however, the splendid harbours of the island, and especially the Bay of Islands, situated on the east coast, near its northern extremity, have been the favourite resort of the numerous British, Colonial, American, and French whalers of the Southern Pacific; while European establishments have, during the last few years, been forming from time to time by the merchants of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, along the numerous bays and roadsteads to the southward, for the Right or Black Whale Fishery; as well as for the purchase of dressed flax and the other articles above-mentioned from the natives. The valuable timber of the island, and the facility of procuring it with the assistance of native labour, have also led to the recent formation of various establishments for the cutting of timber along the banks of its navigable streams; and the demand for European labour, which has thus been created in various departments of industry, has already attracted a considerable number of European labourers, sawyers, and mechanics to the island, and induced them to make it the place of their permanent abode. The resort of the South Sea whalers to the Bay of Islands, the existence of a considerable European population in the neighbourhood of that Bay, and the artificial wants of the natives, have naturally led to the establishment of
Of the character of this European population, now permanently settled in New Zealand, it is scarcely necessary to inform your Lordship. With a few honourable exceptions, it consists of the veriest refuse of civilized society—of runaway sailors, of runaway convicts, of convicts who have served out their term of bondage in one or other of the two penal colonies, of fraudulent debtors who have escaped from their creditors in Sydney or Hobart Town, or of needy adventurers from the two colonies, almost equally unprincipled. In conjunction with the whalers that occasionally visit the coast, the influence of these individuals on the natives is demoralizing in the extreme. Their usual articles of barter are either muskets and gunpowder, or tobacco and rum. Most of them live in open concubinage or adultery with native women, and the scenes of outrageous licentiousness and debauchery that are ever and anon occurring on their premises are often sufficiently revolting to excite the reprobation and disgust of the natives themselves.
I happened to be crossing the Bay of Islands in a boat, on the evening of Saturday the 2nd February last, with a fellow-countryman of my own, who has long been settled in that vicinity, and I am happy to add, as the husband of a virtuous wife, and the father of a most interesting family, when the sound of music and dancing attracted my attention; the sound of a drum, of a French horn, and a fiddle being distinctly audible in the distance. "It is on board one of the two American whalers that arrived to-day," observed my intelligent friend; "they are both
temperance ships, but I know well from past experience, they are both by this time full of native women for the worst of purposes." In the village of Kororadika, adjoining the outer anchorage ground in the Bay of Islands, I observed three or four public-houses of the vilest character, close to the native village in that part of the Bay; the unfortunate inhabitants of which are thus exposed, without hope of escape, to the worst possible influence and example; while at the mouth of the Kauakaua River, near the inner anchorage ground, I also observed a whole group of English public-houses of the most infamous description, close to another native Pa, or fortified village, which, during a late war in the island, contained upwards of fifteen hundred fighting men, besides women and children.
That scenes of outrageous violence, injustice and oppression should be perpetually recurring in a community composed of such materials, is naturally to be expected. The master of a French whaler lately shipped two or three English sailors at the Bay of Islands; but during his stay in that port the latter had run up a considerable account for ardent spirits in the house of one of the publicans at Kororadika, who, I was credibly informed, make it their business to entice sailors away from their ships for this very purpose. This account the French shipmaster refusing to pay, the publican forcibly seized and detained one of his whaleboats for payment; and when the English agent of the whaler went to demand the restitution of the boat in the name of the owners of the vessel, he was threatened with a personal assault in the most brutal and revolting terms, and had consequently to desist from his attempt. The Frenchman had, of course, to put to sea without his boat—a very serious loss indeed to a whaler. There happened, however, to be a French ship of war at the Bay some time afterwards, the captain of which, on being informed of the circumstance by the English agent, immediately obtained the requisite redress, by letting the publican know, through one of his officers, that if he did not send the full price of the whaleboat by a certain hour, he would drag him, house and all, into the sea.
Mr. P., the author of a recent publication on New Zealand, and the brother of a wealthy emancipist auctioneer in the town of Sydney, endeavoured some time ago to set up an additional grog-shop in the village of Kororadika; but the publicans who had already obtained a monopoly of the business, conceiving he would injure their trade, actually threatened to hang him up upon the spot, and had even made preparations for the erection of the gibbet, when Mr. P. deemed it prudent to abandon his project.
In short, Lynch law is at present the only law among the numerous Europeans in New Zealand; there being no authority to appeal to in the island, and no redress procurable for the most atrocious injuries but by an appeal to physical force. A few weeks before the period of my visit to the island, a European had been tarred and feathered by some of his countrymen, for some misdemeanour, either real or imaginary; and another had been tied up to a tree and flogged, and was afterwards compelled to sign a note acknowledging that he had not only received the flogging, but that he richly deserved it. The note was demanded under the idea that it would secure the flagellators against all legal consequences.
It may doubtless be urged, in reference to these observations, that there is a British Resident in New Zealand, with a salary of £500 per annum from the Colonial Revenue of New South Wales, with liberty to draw for £200 more for presents to the native chiefs. That salary, my Lord, or rather the principle on which it is allowed—viz., for services performed out of the colony, and not for the colonists,—is universally regarded as a prodigious grievance in New South Wales; and I am sure your Lordship will allow it is a most unnecessary cause of offence to a really loyal and important colony. But from whatever source the salary of the office of British Resident in New Zealand should be derived in future, I cannot help remarking that the office itself has hitherto been totally useless; the Resident having no authority to enforce the observance of any law, no power to support his office by the punishment of offences,
It may also be urged, as it has repeatedly been already in this country, that the government of New Zealand is in the hands of the native chiefs, and that it rests entirely with these chiefs to establish a system of equal laws both for natives and Europeans. But it is worse than idle,—it is actually dishonest,—to use such language to Her Majesty's Government and the British public; and it can only be used (I mean by individuals at all acquainted with the real circumstances of the case) for the express purpose of deceiving either the Government or the public, if not both. If New Zealand had, like many of the islands of the Pacific to the northward, been under the government of five or even ten powerful chiefs, having each supreme authority in his own territory, I should have been the last to recommend any interference with that authority on the part of any civilized nation. But the whole inhabited territory of the New Zealand group of islands, as is well known in New South Wales, is parcelled out among innumerable chiefs, each of whom is independent of every other. The authority of these chiefs, moreover, like that of the chiefs among the ancient Germans, according to the historian Tacitus, is recognised only in time of war; and they have no personal property in the soil distinct from that of every Rangatira or freeman of their respective tribes, insomuch that when any particular tract of land is sold by any particular native, the probability is that there will be a number of other natives claiming an equal right to it with the one who has sold it. Nay, so far from being able to establish and to support a regular government on European principles, the New Zealanders are actually unable to protect their own patrimonial territories from the grasp of European
In short, the New Zealanders can only be regarded as mere children, incapable of managing their own property, except through the agency of some liberal, enlightened, and Christian Government, acting as their trustee; and I beg to assure your Lordship, that unless some such Government interfere speedily on their behalf, by the establishment of a system of general guardianship for the protection of the natives on the one hand, and the enactment of equal laws, both for natives and Europeans on the other, there is no prospect for the New Zealand nation but that of gradual demoralization and speedy extinction. From the causes that are now in operation, chiefly through their intercourse with Europeans, the number of the natives, for a large extent of country around the Bay of Islands, as well as for a considerable distance to the northward and southward of that Bay, has been diminished at least one-half, during the last fifteen years; and it is the opinion of the most respectable Europeans on the spot, that if the present system is allowed to continue much longer, the period of their final extinction, in the northern division of the northern island, cannot be far distant.
This consummation, so strongly to be deprecated by every genuine philanthropist, is likely, my Lord, to be indefinitely accelerated by the prevalence of a system which has recently come into operation in New Zealand, and which is at present acted upon in that island to an extent of which your Lordship
The unexpected and truly splendid results of the land-selling and immigration system in New South Wales, very speedily called into existence a class of persons in that Colony who were known by the name of Land Sharks, and who made it their business to attend all Government sales of land, for the purpose of jobbing in the article, and especially of extorting money from newly-arrived immigrants, or other bona fide intending purchasers of land, by pretending that they were desirous of purchasing the very lands which the latter had selected, and threatening to bid them up to an exorbitant price for their selections, unless they were paid a certain amount of hush-money. Now as persons of this class have not only been enabled to ascertain the real value of waste land in the colonies of New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, and South Australia, through the working of the admirable system now in operation for the disposal of such land in these Colonies, but have been somewhat cramped and counteracted of late in their nefarious operations by the judicious regulations of the Local Governments in these settlements; they have turned their eyes all at once to New Zealand, where there is no minimum price of land established under the sanction of any Government, and where extensive tracts of the first quality can at present be purchased from the ignorant and deluded natives for the merest trifle. In this way, tracts of eligible land, of sufficient extent to constitute whole earldoms in England, have already been acquired in New Zealand, by the merest adventurers,—by men who had arrived in that island without a shilling in their pockets, but who had bad influence enough to obtain credit for a few English muskets, a few barrels of gunpowder, a few bundles of slops, or a few kegs of rum or
It is absolutely distressing, my Lord, to observe the effects which this system of unprincipled rapacity is already producing upon the truly unfortunate natives of New Zealand, in conjunction with the other sources of demoralization to which I have already alluded. The more intelligent of the natives perceive and acknowledge their unfortunate condition in these respects themselves; but they are spell-bound, as it were, and cannot resist the temptation to which the offer of articles of European produce and manufacture infallibly exposes them. Like mere children, they will give all they are worth to-day for the trinket or gew-gaw, which they will sell for the veriest trifle to-morrow. Pomare, Pomare, is a Tahitian, and not a New Zealand name. It was adopted by the father of the present chief, in compliment to the late King of Tahiti, with whom he had had some intercourse, though in what way I am not acquainted, and has descended to his son. Names, indeed, are given somewhat arbitrarily by the South Sea Islanders generally. The New Zealanders, for example, observing that the sailors on board the whaling vessels that touched at their ports, uniformly carried an iron pot with them, to cook their provisions when they went on shore, conceived the words, Go ashore, which they were accustomed to hear when preparations were making for landing, was the proper name for an iron pot, and they have accordingly been generally adopted as such in the New Zealand language. A small party of the passengers of the Roslyn Castle, consisting of John Smith, Esq., Surgeon, R.N.; M. Lacoste, a French gentleman from Bourdeaux, who had previously been residing for some time in Sydney, in a mercantile capacity, and myself, were one day carried by my countryman, Mr. Mair, of the Bay of Islands, up the Kauakaua River in his boat, to see an interesting semi-civilized, semi-christianized, native village. One of the natives immediately perceived that M. Lacoste was not an Englishman, and asked Mr. Mair "if he was not a Marion," to which Mr. Mair replied in the affirmative. Marion was the captain of a French frigate, who was killed in a scuffle with the natives, in a small bay, at the entrance of the Bay of Islands, more than thirty years ago; and his name has ever since been the synonyme for "Frenchman" in New Zealand. The bay in which Captain Marion was killed, is called by the English, Man-of-war Bay, which some French hydrographer, mistaking for a New Zealand word, has transformed into Port de Manawa. Captain M.'s death was the result of accident, arising from misapprehension on the part of his own people, not of evil intention on that of the New Zealanders. He had sent a boat's crew ashore to haul the seine for fish in the Bay; but as the spot where they began to fish unfortunately happened to be a burial-place of the natives, and was, consequently, tabu or sacred, the latter endeavoured to make the French sailors desist, and go somewhere else. The Frenchmen, however, not comprehending their meaning, persisted in throwing the seine. A scuffle consequently ensued, in which the Captain, who had in the meantime gone ashore to support his boat's crew, was unfortunately killed.
But one of the most fruitful sources of extensive misery and depopulation in the islands of New Zealand is, the wars to which the demoralizing intercourse of the natives with worthless Europeans has incidentally given rise. About eighteen months ago the ship Roslyn Castle, in which I have just returned to England from New South Wales, belonged to an emancipist mercantile house, which has since become bankrupt in that Colony, of the name of L. and W., and was employed as a whaler, out of the port of Sydney, on the coast of New Zealand. Touching for supplies at the Bay of Islands, either
But injuries of this kind, on the part of worthless Europeans, are of perpetual occurrence on the coast of New Zealand, and will certainly continue to be perpetrated upon the helpless natives till a Christian and energetic Government is established in the island, under the auspices of Great Britain. During my stay at the Bay of Islands, I saw a native woman, who had been brought down to the Bay, by a French whaler, from the South Cape, about eight hundred miles distant, and who had, in all likelihood, been got on board the whaler in some clandestine manner. But if there were a regular and energetic Government established in the island, such outrages, with all the disastrous consequences to which they lead, would either be altogether prevented, or would easily be effectually punished, by whomsoever committed. If such a Government, for instance, had seized and detained the French whaler, till he had found security for defraying the full expense of re-conveying the native woman to her own tribe and vicinage, the probability is that no whaler of any nation would have dared thereafter to perpetrate such an outrage upon the defenceless natives, on any part of the coast.
A person of the name of Harwood, the master of a colonial schooner, called the Lord Rodney, belonging to the mercantile house of Cooper and Holt, in Sydney, was lying with his vessel
themselves as a standby, in the event of a scarcity of food. Shortly thereafter, a Scotchman of the name of Roberton who had been in the patriot service under Lord Cochrane, on the coast of South America, and who was then the master of a colonial trader, from Van Dieman's Land, touched at Chatham Island, and induced several of the New Zealanders from Port Nicholson to go on board his vessel, to assist in working her back to Van Dieman's Land, as he was short handed, promising to restore them to their countrymen on that island within a certain time. The New Zealanders were urgent on this point, and told Captain Roberton that if their countrymen were not brought back to them by the time appointed, they would massacre the whole crew of the first vessel that should touch at the island. On his arrival in Van Dieman's Land, the New Zealanders went on shore, and Captain Roberton states, that when he was again ready for sea, he applied to the police of that colony, and even to the Governor himself, informing them of the conditions on which he had taken the New Zealanders on board his vessel at Chatham Island, and of the threat which their countrymen had held out in the event of their not been taken back to the island at the time appointed,
In the meantime, the day appointed for the return of the New Zealanders to Chatham Island arrived; but as they were not forthcoming, their countrymen prepared to carry into effect their murderous threat on the first vessel that should touch at the island. The first European vessel that happened to touch at Chatham Island, in these circumstances, was the Jean Bart, a French whaler, the master of which, a respectable young man from Havre de Grace, had shortly before committed suicide, in a fit of temporary insanity, at the Bay of Islands. Watching their opportunity, therefore, the New Zealanders rose upon the crew of this unfortunate vessel, when off their guard, murdered every one of them, amounting to forty persons in all, and afterwards set fire to the vessel.
The tidings of this massacre were brought to the Bay of Islands by an American whaler, which had touched at Chatham Island shortly after it took place; and as the French corvette, L'Heroine, Captain Cecille, was then at anchor in the bay, Captain C. immediately set sail for Chatham Island, to punish the murderers. This, it seems, he did effectually, by exterminating the whole of the New Zealanders on the island, leaving the miserable remnant of the Aborigines in quiet possession of their native isle. The whole of this frightful tragedy was enacted towards the close of the past year.
But although all the wars of the New Zealanders are by no means the result of the intervention of Europeans, it is remarkable with what tact and ingenuity the Europeans, resident on the island, uniformly improve them to their own personal advantage, whatever be their issue. Towards the close of the year
In these circumstances, it became a matter of question, as well as of considerable interest, among the land-jobbers at the Bay of Islands, to whom Barrier Island belonged. One of them informed me himself, that he was intending to proceed to the River Thames by the first opportunity, to purchase it from the natives; that is, to purchase a beautiful island, forty miles in length, and containing one or more good harbours for large ships, from the miserable remnant of its native inhabitants, immediately after a bloody war, in which the latter had been all but exterminated. But Pomare, the chief I have already mentioned, had, in the mean time, laid claim to the island, and had offered to sell it to another European at the Bay, as being his by right of conquest; the natives from the Bay of Islands,
It will thus, I trust, be evident to your Lordship, that the influence exerted on the unfortunate natives of New Zealand by the Europeans at present residing on that island, as well as by the numerous whalers and colonial traders that occasionally visit its coasts, is demoralizing in the extreme, and must infallibly issue in their speedy extinction. European vice and European disease are thinning their ranks with lamentable and incredible rapidity, insomuch that the natives themselves perceive and acknowledge it. "Give me a double-barrelled gun, to keep me in mind of you when you are gone," said the chief Pomare to the captain of the vessel in which I have just returned to England, while taking his leave of him, on the eve of our sailing : "but of what use would it be to us ?" added Pomare, "for we are all dying, and we shall all be dead by-and-bye." This process, my Lord, will be accelerated tenfold, if the nefarious arts that are now so extensively in operation among the European inhabitants of the island, for the purpose of robbing the natives of their valuable land, are allowed to be continued. For when a native disposes of a portion of his land to a European, the probability is, that the portion he retains becomes of no use to him in his own estimation, and he is, therefore, virtually compelled to sell it also; for in all probability, and perhaps for the express purpose of realizing such a result, the European puts cattle on his purchase; these, of course, trespass on the native's land, as there are no fences in the country, and destroy his corn and potatoes; and the unfortunate New Zealander either disposes of his remaining land in disgust, for the merest trifle, and migrates to the interior, or sets himself down, with his family, close to some European anchorage ground, to live on roots and shell-fish, and to obtain a miserable livelihood by maintaining a precarious and disgraceful intercourse with worthless Europeans.
It is thus, my Lord, that one of the finest Aboriginal races
must interfere, as well for the vindication of its own high character in the civilized world, as for the sake of injured and outraged humanity, by placing itself, as it were, "between the living and the dead, that the plague may be stayed."
If I am not greatly in error, the opposition exhibited to the New Zealand Colonization Bill, during the last session of Parliament, originated chiefly among the friends and supporters of Christian Missions, and especially among the friends and supporters of the Church of England's Society's Mission to the Aborigines of that Island. I confess, my Lord, there was something generous, philanthropic, and Christian in the very aspect of this opposition; and no wonder, therefore, that it should have been completely successful in preventing the passing of the Bill. It professed to treat with profound respect the rights and interests of one of the noblest races of Aborigines on the face of the globe. It professed to sympathise with the feeble efforts of that race to rise to a higher level in the scale of humanity, and to occupy a prominent place in the catalogue of civilized nations. And more than all this, it professed to deprecate the serious obstacles which a community of European colonists might, in all likelihood, throw in the way of the general reception of the Christian religion by the natives of New Zealand. I am sorry, however, to be called on, from a sacred regard to the interests of truth, as well as to the cause of humanity and the Christian religion; I am sorry, my Lord, to be obliged to state, that the anticipations of
Your Lordship is doubtless aware that, for upwards of half a century past, the missionary or apostolic spirit has been at an exceedingly low ebb in both of the Protestant established churches of this great empire; and that whatever may be asserted to the contrary, the maxim that is almost universally acted on by the clergy of both establishments is, that after a young man has spent a certain number of years in preparing for the Christian ministry, at an English or Scotch University, his time and talents are too precious to be thrown away in promoting the great object of that ministry, either in the colonies or among the heathen. Men, who are utterly unable to offer a single reason why they should not have gone forth themselves to these high places of the field of Christian warfare, in obedience to the divine command, contrive to satisfy their own consciences in staying at home, by subscribing a guinea a-year for missions to the heathen, and by telling the Christian public at their annual meetings, that their "hearts bleed," forsooth, "for the heathen." My Lord, in the course of five voyages round the globe, and a residence of many years in the uttermost parts of the earth, where it has been my lot to come in contact with many missionaries, who ought never to have been honoured with so sacred a character, I have learned to estimate, at its proper value, this fashionable species of clerical hypocrisy.
From the cause I have assigned, it has come to pass that, instead of sending forth to those interesting and important stations beyond seas, that demanded the Pauls and Silases of our national establishments, men of superior talents, and education, and piety, and zeal,—we have been sending forth, with only a few solitary exceptions, the lame, the halt, and the blind of these establishments; or in other words, we have been
The Church of England's Mission to New Zealand was formed at the instance of the late Rev. Samuel Marsden, Principal Episcopal Chaplain of New South Wales, in the year first civilizing and then christianizing, the natives; and for this purpose, a large number of artizans, of various handicrafts, were engaged, some in England, and some in New South Wales, as lay-missionaries, to teach the natives the various processes of civilized life. Reversing the apostolic plan, the missionary carpenter, the missionary boat-builder, the missionary blacksmith, the missionary ploughman, the missionary rope-spinner, &C., were all set to work at their various occupations, and the natives were expected forthwith to imitate their example. In fact, the mission settlement in New Zealand was for a long time a complete lumber yard, or factory, in which all sorts of labour were going on but the proper labour of a missionary: the very clergyman, for there was only one on the island, being in no respect different from a common agricultural labourer, except that he mounted a pulpit and read prayers in a surplice every Sunday. That clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Butler, told me himself, in the year for foreign parts, and his appointment to the offices of Superintendent of the Church of England's mission in New Zealand, and Justice of Peace in that island, under the Government of New South Wales, he had merely been the out-of-door clerk or foreman of a large London establishment, for forwarding goods by common carriers and canal boats.
If such occupations had been indispensably necessary for the support of the mission, it would not only have been allowable but praiseworthy to have pursued them. But they were alike unnecessary and unwarranted; and the result, as might have been expected, was that they had just as little influence in civilizing, as it may be supposed they had in christianizing the natives. The native ware or house, and the native canoe, both of which occasionally display considerable taste and ingenuity, were quite sufficient for all the purposes of the New Zealander in his unchristianized state; he was sufficiently acquainted with agriculture to enable him to procure, in abundance, all the necessaries of life; and of all the missionary artisans who were sent out by the Church Missionary Society to effect his civilization, the missionary blacksmith, who could mend his broken musket, and thereby enable him to commit murder upon his fellow-man, was in reality the only one whose talents commanded his unfeigned respect. Indeed, as a general maxim, I would say that it is by no means particularly desirable that the New Zealanders should acquire a knowledge of European arts till they have embraced the religion of Europeans, when they will acquire them as a matter of course. Pomare, the chief I have already mentioned, offered, in the month of February last, to dispose of all his right and title to Barrier Island, at the
Whether most of the individuals who were employed to work the preposterous system I have described, were originally bad men, or whether the system itself (which utterly failed of accomplishing its primary object, the civilization of the New Zealanders,) was calculated to make them so, I cannot determine : Bad as some of the earlier missionaries were, I consider the system under which they were acting to have been much worse. Some of them maintained that they were hired as mechanics, and had nothing to do with missionary labour properly so-called. Others maintained that they were engaged as missionaries, and had nothing to do with mechanical or agricultural employment; and some, as for instance, the missionary rope-spinner, whose ineffectual attempts to adapt English machinery to the manufacture of the native flax only excited the ridicule of the natives, found that their particular qualifications were of no use whatever in the island. For some time the missionary settlement, with its workshops, its bell to ring the people in and out, &C., was an exact copy of the Lumber Yard in Sydney, and some of the natives who had been in New South Wales, were quick-sighted enough to perceive the resemblance, and to act accordingly. For when the stout missionary ploughman, who was the only ordained missionary on the island at the time I allude to, arrayed himself in his canonicals, and read prayers on Sunday, the natives shrewdly observed that he was the only Rangatira, or gentleman, among them, and that the rest were only cookes or slaves. The Society's missionary rope-spinner was originally a reputable mechanic in one of the dockyards in England, where he had probably attracted notice by keeping a Sabbath-school for other workmen's children. His wife, a superior woman, having died shortly after his arrival in New South Wales, he married a native of that colony, who unfortunately died also, in New Zealand, a few years thereafter. He is now settled on his own account at the Kaiparra River, on the West Coast, where, I was credibly informed at the Bay of Islands, both himself and his son are actually living in a state of concubinage with two native women, under the same roof!
The Church Missionary Society's establishment in New Zealand comprises about thirty missionaries; the principal stations being Waimaté at the Kídi-kídi River; Paihia and Tippunah, at the Bay of Islands; the Bay of Plenty, on the east coast to the southward; and the vicinity of the North Cape. There is also a station forming at the River Thames, or rather on the Manukau River, right across the river, on the west coast. The population of the portion of the northern island comprehended within these limits probably comprises from forty to fifty thousand souls, of whom from ten to twelve thousand are thus brought within the reach of Christian influence; having the ordinances of religion dispensed among them either regularly or occasionally, and many of their number being taught to read and write their native tongue. Indeed, the eagerness which the natives
Why is it then that the Christian religion, as exhibited in the teaching of the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, has hitherto taken so slight a hold—for such is unquestionably the fact—on the hearts and affections of the New Zealander; for while the baptized natives do not exceed two hundred and fifty altogether, there are frequent instances of apostacy even among them? Why, my Lord, although the ministers of the Gospel are in no respect responsible for the success of their ministry, provided they discharge the duties of their office honestly and conscientiously, it is nevertheless undeniable, that if they do not engage in their work with a single eye to the glory of God, and the extension of the Kingdom of Christ, but endeavour to "serve God and Mammon," their efforts will undoubtedly issue in disappointment, and their failure be chargeable entirely upon themselves. Now, I apprehend, my Lord, that this is exactly the case of the New Zealand mission, and the true source of that want of success which has hitherto been experienced by the missionaries, and is so generally complained of in the island. For instead of
Of the extent of land belonging to the Society as a corporate body, at the principal stations of Waimaté, Paihia, and Tippunah, I had no means of obtaining a correct account. I have reason to believe, however, it is by no means extensive. But the missionaries themselves, like the ancient Gehazi, have made ample amends for the moderation of—their Master Elisha—the Society in England, in the extent of land of which they have become the purchasers, forsooth, from the natives on their own private account. For I was credibly informed on the island that there is scarcely one of them who has not managed in this way to secure for himself or his children in perpetuity a large extent of valuable territory.
Mr. S., for example, a lay missionary from New South Wales, and the son of a respectable emancipist, residing at Kissing Point on the Parramatta River, in that colony, bought a large tract of eligible land from the natives, having a frontage of from four to five miles on one of the navigable rivers in the Bay of Islands, for two check shirts and an iron pot, or go-ashore, as it is called by the natives! I was credibly informed, moreover, in New Zealand, that Captain Blenkinsop, the master of a South Sea whaler, who was afterwards unfortunately drowned by the upsetting of a whale-boat in Encounter Bay, in the province of South Australia, along with Sir John Jeffcott, the first judge of that colony, had, in entire ignorance of Mr. S.'s previous purchase, purchased the very same tract from some other person, who, it seems, pretended to be its proprietor. During his absence on the south coast of New Holland, Capt.
Blenkinsop's agent at the Bay of Islands, erected a house on the land, agreeable to the instructions of his principal, who intended to settle in New Zealand on his return; but no sooner was the house finished than Mr. S. gave Captain B.s agent notice to quit, and produced his own deeds. On the agent's remonstrating with Mr. S. for allowing him, in such circumstances, to go on with the building of the house, Mr. S. coolly replied, that the erection of the house rendered the land the more valuable to himself. I refrain from making any remarks on this transaction; but Mr. S., your Lordship will observe, is a native of Botany Bay, who has exported, in his own person, a portion of the surplus Christianity, forsooth, of his native land, for the moral advancement of the aborigines of New Zealand. I have reason to believe also that Mr. S. has another estate, procured in a similar way, towards the .North Cape, where he is at present stationed as a missionary.
Mr. F., who was merely a journeyman coach-maker, and by no means of apostolic character either, in the village of Parramatta, in New South Wales, when he was engaged as a lay-missionary for New Zealand by the late Rev. Samuel Marsden, has purchased, forsooth, from the natives, a tract of land, to the northward of the River Thames, having a frontage from thirty-five to forty miles on the east cost of the island towards the Pacific Ocean. I could not learn how far back from the sea Mr. F. goes, or what the valuable consideration had been for this princely estate.
The Rev. Mr. W., formerly a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, but now the ordained head of the New Zealand Mission, has a large tract of land, in conjunction with Mr. F., adjoining the Society's settlement at Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, and stretching along the left bank of the Kauakaua River.
Messrs. C. and D., who were originally sent out as missionary agriculturists on the civilizing system, have selected their domains on a somewhat similar scale with those of the S. and F. estates, towards the Hokianga River, on the west coast; while those of Messrs. K. and K. are situated towards the North Cape.
I was unfortunately unable, my Lord, to ascertain exactly the real extent of the land possessed or claimed, on the ground of alleged purchases from the natives, by the Church Missionaries and their sons in New Zealand, either in English acres or square miles It is extremely difficult to get at the real extent of European estates in New Zealand. There is a laudable obscurity on the subject in particular cases, which might almost be supposed designed to hold out a premium for the future gentlemen of the long robe in that island. Mr. John Wright, for example, a respectable settler and merchant at the Bay of Islands, has a property in that neighbourhood, of which three of the boundary lines are well defined : viz. "by the salt water in front and by the lands of neighbouring proprietors on the right and left but the fourth boundary line being "as far back as the said John Wright shall think proper," it will doubtless be a matter of some difficulty for the future doctors of the civil law in New Zealand to decide where that boundary shall be. It is perhaps best in such cases to go back to the salt water on the other side, as the earlier American colonists wished to do, when King James the First forgot to define their boundary to the westward. They were quite willing—honest men !—to take the Pacific or Great Ocean for their western boundary, wherever it might be.
In short, the largest seigniories in New Zealand are the property of the Church Missionaries and their sons; and the poor ignorant and deluded natives have thus, my Lord, been "scattered and peeled" by the very men who ought to have been their natural protectors, and to have remonstrated and protested to the British Government again, and again, against any attempt, on the part of British subjects, to obtain possession of any part of their land, without the express consent and authority of the British Government. It is peculiarly aggra-
Yes, my Lord, it is mortifying in the extreme, to any man of the least pretensions to Christian philanthropy, to reflect, that instead of endeavouring to protect the New Zealanders—the interesting and confiding people of their charge—from the aggressions of unprincipled European adventurers, the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society have themselves been the foremost and the most successful in despoiling them of their land. In short, the case of these missionaries is, in this respect, the most monstrous that has occurred in the whole history of missions since the Reformation—the most disgraceful to Protestant Christianity. There has, doubtless, been no express agreement between the Church Missionary Society and its missionaries in New Zealand, that the latter should not be permitted to purchase land for themselves from the natives. But the thing is universally understood, my Lord, and daily acted on in every other instance with which I am acquainted, that the missionary shall not be permitted to acquire property for himself individually; and that although the Society he belongs to may procure, either by gift or purchase, a site for its missionary buildings and operations, the missionaries themselves shall not be permitted to abuse their influence and opportunities by becoming landholders or cattleholders among the heathen. This abuse, however, has prevailed, my Lord, among the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society to an incredible extent—to such an extent as even to bring scandal on the cause of Christian Missions altogether, and to constitute one of the grossest breaches of trust, on the part of its own office-bearers, that the evangelical portion of the Christian Church has witnessed for a century past.
I should be sorry, my Lord, to insinuate that the Committee of the Church Missionary Society is at all acquainted with
whole truth to the Society respecting their private affairs. Having sacrificed their worldly prospects in England or New South Wales, to dwell in the midst of cannibals in a heathen land, they may doubtless conceive, and perhaps delude one another, as well as themselves individually in conceiving, that they had an undoubted right to drive a good bargain for themselves individually, as they have certainly done in right earnest, with the ignorant natives. For whatever may have been the case in the days of the Divine Author of the Christian religion, it is certainly not always the case now that "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light."
Besides, it is extremely hazardous for any man who has the least regard for his own reputation in this country to say a single word, to the discredit of missionaries to the heathen, either individually or collectively; for the man who does so, whatever be his standing or profession, is instantly set down as an enemy of missions altogether, and his testimony is forthwith got rid of accordingly. In fact, the task of telling the plain truth respecting missionaries to the heathen, if that truth is in any way disparaging, is as invidious in regard to its bearings on the truth-teller in the eye of the religious public, as that of the parliamentary impeachment of a Minister of State. It is thus, however, that the grossest abuses are perpetuated, and that Christianity is wounded, as it always is the most deeply, in the house of its friends.
The subject of the landed property of the Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, has of late been brought frequently before the Colonial public of New South Wales; and I have been told myself, by the relatives of some
For every acre of land belonging to the Church Missionary Society, as a corporate body, in New Zealand, I am confident, my Lord, that the full price has been paid. And as that price was, at the suggestion of the late Rev. Samuel Marsden, the Society's agent in New South Wales, principally paid in cattle, sheep, and horses from that colony; and as Mr. Marsden himself was long famous for having one of the best breeds of horned cattle in New South Wales—the Marsden breed—there can be no doubt whatever that the whole transaction, as far as the Society and Mr. Marsden were concerned, was characterized by honesty and fair dealing. There are few large proprietors in New South Wales who have dealtso extensively in sheep and cattle as the late Rev. Mr. Marsden, long and generally known as the apostle of New Zealend. Mr. Marsden always prided himself, to use the mercantile phrase, on keeping a good article. He was one of the firstimporters of Spanish sheep and English cattle into the colony; his breeds uniformlly bore a high character among colonial graziers, and his prices, as I have been informed, were correspondingly high. But he was never unwilling to allow a liberal credit to respectable free immigrants arriving in the colony with limited means; and many families, who are now wealthy in New South Wales, have in this way been indebted to Mr. Marsden for the groundwork of their colonial fortunes. As a magistrate of the territory, which he was for about thirty years, Mr. M. was a strict disciplinarian, and was nothing loth to prescribe the requisite number of lashes to the delinquents of his congregation at Parramatta, whenever they required it.
In such circumstances as those I have thus detailed, your Lordship will not be astonished that the New Zealand Mission should hitherto have made so slight an impression for good, as it has confessedly done, on the interesting natives of that island, notwithstanding the enormous expense at which it has
Its present cost, I believe, is £15,000 per annum. It has been as high as £17,000.sine qua non in a Christian Missionary, that the idea of a Missionary of an opposite character implies a contradiction in terms. The exhibition of that God-like attribute on the part of the individual who professes to be seeking his welfare, is intelligible even to the most untutored savage; and it never fails, eventually, to produce its effect. It is humiliating, however, to reflect, that instead of exhibiting that Christian virtue to the natives of New Zealand, so many of the Missionaries of the Church Mission in that island should have actually been making common cause with the veriest spoilers of the natives in the land; and that the natives should have had such good reason to say of them, as they have done again and again, that "their only reason for coming to New Zealand was that it was a better country than their own."
At all events, your Lordship will perceive from the preceding pages, how peculiarly out of place were the reasonings and declamations of the friends and supporters of the Church Mission in New Zealand in opposition to the Bill for the colonization of that island on the principles of the South Australian Colony, during the last Session of Parliament. So far from protecting the natives from the aggressions of unprincipled European adventurers, under the system at present in operation in that island, the Missionaries have actually set the example of such aggression in their own persons. So far from
The Wesleyan Methodists have also had a mission towards the northern extremity of the Northern Island of New Zealand, which they are now extending along the coast to the southward, for a number of years past; and I am happy to add that, from all I could learn on the subject, from the most respectable European inhabitants of the island, it is in a highly prosperous state: their principal settlement being at the Hokianga River, on the West Coast. Your Lordship may perhaps imagine that the greater success of that mission may arise from the fact that Wesleyans, as a religious denomination, are much more likely to obtain suitable persons for carrying on such a mission, from among their own members, than the Church of England. This is doubtless the case to a certain extent; but the greater success of the Wesleyan Mission, as compared with the Church Mission in New Zealand, must, I conceive, be ascribed in no small degree to the fact that the Wesleyan Missionaries are strictly prohibited, by the fundamental laws and constitution of their society, from acquiring property of any kind, whether in land or in agricultural stock, at their missionary stations. The advantages of such a regulation, even as regards the Missionaries themselves, are incalculable, as it removes them at once from all temptation, so long as they remain in connection with their society. Its advantages, as regards the success of their mission and the reception of the Gospel by the heathen, are self-evident.
There has also been a French Roman Catholic mission recently formed on the Hokianga River, of which the native population is still very considerable. It is conducted by M.
Pompallier, Bishop of Maronée in partibus, a French ecclesiastic of superior education, polished manners, and acknowledged zeal; and as five Roman Catholic Priests have recently been ordained at Lyons to act under his orders in different parts of the island, and are now probably on their way for that purpose to New South Wales, it is evident not only that the Church of England's mission in New Zealand will have a formidable rival in the Romish New Zealand Mission, but that the friends of Protestant Christianity, in the Southern Hemisphere generally, have good reason to strengthen their posts, and to stand upon their guard. The New Zealanders, as I have already observed, are by no means predisposed to idolatry; and their universal idea of a Great, Pervading, Invisible Spirit, who cannot be represented by any image, nor confined within any temple made with hands, refers us at once for their origin and mythology, in common with those of their evident congeners, the Indians of America, to those times of remotest antiquity, when the primitive and heaven-taught theology of mankind had not yet been degraded into what Mr. Gibbon calls "the elegant mythology of the Greeks." At the same time there is something in the Romish religion so universally congenial to the feelings and affections of unregenerate humanity, that I would not attempt to conceal my own serious apprehensions of M. Pompallier's success; for, considering the paralyzing influence which that religion uniformly exerts on its votaries, I have no hesitation in acknowledging that I should regard the success of a Romish Mission in Now Zealand in no other light than as a serious calamity to the Southern Hemisphere. Yes, my Lord, it is not merely the prevalence of the French race, but the paralysing influence of the Romish religion that has left Lower Canada in all the darkness and inertness of the middle ages, in the midst of a whole continent of enlightened and energetic freemen. Your Lordship will doubtless recollect that in the reign of Louis XIII., the single Protestant town of Rochelle possessed a commercial navy nearly equal to that of all France besides; and if Protestantism had not then and shortly there-
One of the means of conversion to the Roman Catholic faith which M. Pompallier employs, in his intercourse with the New Zealanders at Hokianga, is the distribution of little brass trinkets in the form of crucifixes, and "brazen images" of the Virgin Mary, bearing the Latin inscription Mater Dolorosa. These the New Zealanders suspend to their ears, as they are in the habit of doing with anything else, and especially anything foreign, which they conceive ornamental. I have seen the buckle of an English saddle-girth suspended in the same way, the tooth of a shark, the wing of a bird enclosing a native herb, which affords an agreeable perfume, and an ornament of greenstone. Occasionally, however, the New Zealanders suspend the crucifixes and the brazen images of the Romish goddess to the necks of their dogs!
Of the European population on the Hokianga River, a considerable proportion consists of Irish Roman Catholics, who have originally been convicts in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and who are now employed as labourers, sawyers, &C., on the different establishments for cutting timber for exportation on that river. And as most of these depraved individuals are living in concubinage with native women, some of them even with the daughters of native chiefs, they doubtless afford a ready access to the natives to the Romish missionary, and a powerful means of influence on the native mind.
In short the accommodating spirit of the Romish system, which allows the veriest reprobates, on the one hand, to consider themselves religious characters, on their merely complying with the prescribed observances of their church, and which easily engrafts itself on the other, upon any system of heathenism whatever, must afford it a prodigious advantage in such circumstances as these.
From the preceding statement it will doubtless be evident to your Lordship, that whether the New Zealanders remain in their unconverted and heathen state, or adopt such a mere nominal profession of Chritianity as they are likely to arrive at under the influence of land-jobbing missionaries, the prospect for that unfortunate people is gloomy in the extreme. In either case they will infallibly disappear from the land of their forefathers, like the snow from their native mountains on the return of spring. The idea of the New Zealanders being able to form a government for themselves, or even to protect themselves from the aggressions of unprincipled and rapacious Europeans, is pre-eminently absurd. Every succeeding year will witness the formation of additional trading establishments from New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, and of additional points of intercourse between the unfortunate natives and the numerous whalers of the Southern Pacific, along a coast line of upwards of two thousand miles; and the process of demoralization and extermination will be rapid beyond conception. In short, as the present unfortunate and critical condition of that most interesting people is unquestionably the result of the extension of British Commerce and British Colonization in the Southern Hemisphere, I cannot conceive how Her Majesty's Government can possibly refrain from interfering on their behalf any longer. And as to the sort of interference which is necessary on the part of the British Government, I am decidedly of opinion that the establishment of a British Colony, founded
It is one of the beautiful arrangements of that beneficent Providence which governs the world, that the interest and the duty, both of individuals and of nations, are generally conjoined; insomuch that in discharging the one, the other is materially advanced. It is the bounden duty of the British Government, for example, to interfere at the present moment for the protection and preservation of the natives of New Zealand by the establishment of a British colony, founded and conducted on equitable and Christian principles, on their coasts. In what way such an undertaking would promote British interests in the tenderest point, and prove highly conducive to the national welfare, I shall now demonstrate.
The group of islands known under the general name of New Zealand is situated a little to the westward of the 180th degree of E. or W. longitude, and between the 34th and 48th parallels of S. latitude; extending from north to south upwards of eight hundred geographical miles, with an average breadth of upwards of one hundred miles, and containing an extent of surface equal to that of the British Islands. The coast line, following the various indentations of the land, extends considerably upwards of three thousand miles, and probably comprises a greater number of eligible harbours, bays, and roadsteads, than is to be found along an equal extent of coast in any other
It cannot be denied, however, that this branch of trade, so peculiarly important to a maritime nation, as a grand nursery for seamen, is fast passing out of the hands of Great Britain and her colonies. Of the whalers at present on the coast of New Zealand, about one hundred are American, thirty British, and thirty French. The French vessels, most of which belong to a company of naturalized Swiss merchants at Havre de Grace, are beyond all comparison the finest and the best equipped in the trade; their crews are also the most orderly and the best conducted. They are consequently the most persevering and the most successful: the Swiss Company having actually realized not less than thirty-five per cent on their capital invested, according to the information I received from a gentleman at the Bay of Islands, who had abundant means of ascertaining the fact.
Everything that enlightened policy could dictate has, in the meantime, been done by the French Government to extend and to render popular this important branch of the national industry. A bounty, amounting to about £4 per ton, is allowed in France on all whale oil procured by French whalers; and every encouragement is judiciously held out to those citizens of the United States, who are at all acquainted with the whale fishery to settle in the kingdom. A considerable number of the French whaling vessels have hitherto been commanded by naturalized Americans; one of whom, so early as the year
Whether the French have any ulterior views—I mean in regard to the formation of a permanent settlement either in New Zealand or in some of the other islands of the Pacific,—I cannot tell: the general impression, however, both in New South Wales and in New Zealand, is, that they have; and that 'impression seems by no means unwarranted from various circumstances which it is unnecessary' to particularize. Wishing, from my heart, the peace and prosperity of the French nation, and the extension of its commerce tenfold, I should nevertheless, for the reason I have already stated, consider the formation of a French colony in the South Seas a real calamity to the Southern Hemisphere, as presenting a serious obstacle to the progress and improvement of the human race.
Whalers of all nations will unquestionably exert a demoralizing influence on the uncivilized and heathen tribes with which they come in contact; but I am sorry to be obliged to add, on the authority of an intelligent countryman of my own in New Zealand, whose means, of information are very extensive, that of the three nations engaged most extensively in the Southern Fisheries—the British, the French, and the Americans—the influence of our own sailors on the New Zealanders is the most demoralizing: they are the most intemperate, the most disorderly, and the most abandoned. And as the trade is gradually becoming less and less profitable than it has hitherto been to the British and Colonial merchant, from this very circum-
The French whalers are employed chiefly, though not exclusively, in the pursuit of the black whale; the British and American whalers being partly engaged in the black and partly in the sperm whale fishery. Of the extent to which both branches of the trade are pursued by the Americans, some idea may be formed from the following account of the number of barrels of sperm and black whale oil which had arrived in the United States, during the following years, copied from the New York Express of
In short, there is reason to fear that unless the requisite preventive measures are speedily taken, this most important branch of maritime industry will ere long be wrested entirely cut of the hands of Great Britain and her colonies by the Americans and the French.
It appears to me, however, that if a British Colony were established on right principles in New Zealand, it might not only be made conducive in the highest degree to the protection of the natives from the demoralizing influence of whalers of all nations, but would lead to the restoration to Great Britain and her colonies of their proper share in this branch of industry. For if a few hundred families of the herring and whale fishing population of the northern parts of England, of the north and west of Scotland, and of the Orkney and Shetland Isles, were to be settled as colonists in New Zealand, and British capital employed, even to a very moderate amount, through a whaling company in London, to afford them employment in the Southern Fisheries, they would very soon get the whole of the
As an illustration of the extent to which the black whale fishery on the coasts of New Zealand is at present carried on from the colony of New South Wales, I am enabled to state, from information obtained incidentally on my voyage home, that during the past year a single mercantile house in Sydney imported into that colony, from New Zealand, not less than seventy-one tons of whalebone, an article which generally sells for £145 per ton in the London market. Whalebone is procured exclusively from the black whale, of which it constitutes a sort of fringe along the jaws, the animal having no teeth, like the spermaceti whale. Now, as each whale affords about five hundredweight of bone, there must have been not fewer than 284 whales killed by the parties belonging to the mercantile house I refer to, to yield the quantity of bone procured by that one house. Still, however, the black whale fishery on the coasts of New Zealand has been by no means a gainful speculation generally for the New South Wales merchants : the field of operation being not only very distant, and the outfit proportionately expensive, but the merchant being obliged to depend for the issue of his stores and the general success of his speculation on whatever runaway sailors he can pick up in the port of Sydney, as the European natives of New South Wales have generally no disposition to go to sea. In short, New Zealand and not New South Wales is the proper place for the establishment of a colonial population to engage vigorously in the whale fishery of the Southern Pacific; and if a British colonial population of virtuous habits, and predisposed and accustomed to that particular branch of
Besides, a virtuous European community of the kind I have mentioned, settled on the coasts of New Zealand, with their ministers and schoolmasters and missionaries to the heathen, would infallibly exert a powerful moral influence on the surrounding natives; of whom many would speedily join them in their perilous employment—manning their boats and sharing their spoils. The Now Zealanders are decidedly a maritime people. They are fond of the sea, and make excellent sailors; and they only require virtuous and industrious Europeans to reside among them to render their services in this way most advantageous to themselves and to the British empire, I was much gratified at hearing the New Zealand coxswain of an English boat, in which two of my fellow-passengers, per the Roslyn Castle, and myself, were rowed across the Bay of Islands, on a beautiful moonlight night, by four of his countrymen, calling out to them in good English, and scarcely with a foreign accent, "Pull away, my lads," "Stand to it my boys." The New Zealanders, in reply, struck up their native boat-song in a sort of recitative, of which the chorus, like that of the Canadian boat song, is "Tohi, Tohi," or row, brothers, row.
If a few hundred families of the class I have mentioned were settled in suitable localities along the coasts of New Zealand—as for instance, at the Bay of Islands, the River Thames, Port Nicholson, and Queen Charlotte's Sound, in Cook's Straits, Dusky Bay, &C., having small patches of ground for cultivation attached to their houses, they would soon realize a degree of comfort and independence which they could never hope to attain in the mother country. All the bays and roadsteads of the island abound with excellent fish of various kinds, and I have been informed by an intelligent person, who knows the country well, that there is a bank somewhere to the northward of the East Cape, on which the natives procure the largest and finest cod in the world. Even
I trust, therefore, it will appear evident to your Lordship that if New Zealand is to be colonized at all, its peculiar adaptation for the establishment of a whale fishery, or rather for being the head quarters of the South Sea fisheries, ought to be regarded as a subject of primary consideration; as the prosecution of that branch of industry by a maritime population emigrating from the mother country, would not only prove an immediate and inexhaustible source of wealth to the colony, but would afford the best means of counteracting the demoralizing influence of the whalers of all nations that now visit the coast, and of promoting in the highest degree the civilization and Christianization of the natives.
The climate of New Zealand is decidedly one of the finest in the world—like that of Italy and the South of France towards the north, and like that of England and the south of Scotland towards the south; the winter, however, being milder than that of Great Britain. I was particularly struck with the glow of health exhibited on the cheeks of the children of Europeans at the Bay of Islands, compared with the pale faces of children of the same age at Sydney, in much the same latitude. It was quite remarkable. At all events, the climate of New Zealand is undeniably superior to that of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land in one most important particular—viz., in being free from droughts and hot winds; its insular character, its chain of lofty mountains running from north to south along the whole extent of the islands, and its distance from any large continent, ensuring it a constant and copious supply of rain. Indeed this most favourable circumstance renders New Zealand decidedly more eligible for the settlement of industrious families of the humbler classes, intending to earn their subsistence by the cultivation of the
Whether New Zealand will ever come into extensive competition with the Australian Colonies, as a pastoral country, may admit of question. I have already mentioned that ten bales of wool, of superior quality, had recently been forwarded to Sydney, where it sold at a high price, from a missionary estate in the northern division of the northern island. There has also been a quantity of equally superior quality sent up to Sydney lately from the island of Manna, in Cook's Straits; and it cannot be denied that the abundance of water in New Zealand, which is often rather scarce in New South Wales, affords superior facilities for getting up the wool for the foreign market. On the other hand, the dryness of the Australian climate is unquestionably favourable both for the constitution of the sheep and the growth and texture of the wool.
At all events, it is to the rearing of sheep and cattle, and the growth of fine wool, that persons of moderate capital emigrating to New Zealand must principally direct their attention. It would be absurd to act otherwise. To combine with these pursuits the cultivation of the soil, or the production of grain to a much greater extent than it is pursued in New South Wales, would, doubtless, be advisable; but to neglect those peculiar means of advancement which have raised the Australian colonies to their present condition of unexampled prosperity and importance, especially in a country in which a vast extent of unoccupied pasture-land proclaims its peculiar adaptation for the rearing of sheep and cattle, would be irrational in the extreme. Besides, agricultural stock of all kinds could be imported into New Zealand, both from New South Wales and from Van Dieman's Land, at a lesser expense than even into South Australia; the westerly winds that prevail in these regions, for so large a portion of the year, rendering a voyage to the eastward of much easier accomplishment than one to the westward.
The northern parts of the northern island are certainly less: adapted for sheep and cattle than the open pastoral country in the vicinity of Cook's Straits. Towards the north the country is more covered with timber and more moist; and the improvable land, instead of being coated over with good pasture, in its natural state, as is the case generally in New South Wales, is for the most part overgrown with fern. The fern, however, never grows on bad land in New Zealand, and the quality of the soil is generally indicated by the size and strength of the fern; inferior land producing only a stunted and puny vegetation. When sown with English grasses, the New Zealand fern-land produces excellent pasture. The English clover in particular grows luxuriantly.
The localities in which an agricultural population could be settled in the first instance with greatest facility, and with the best prospect of success, are the banks of the River Thames on the east coast, and those of the Hokianga, Kaiparra, and Manukau rivers on the west. On these rivers, which are all navigable for vessels of considerable burden, and especially for steam-boats, there is a vast extent of alluvial land of the first quality, which would produce in the greatest, abundance all the roots, fruits, vegetables, and grains of Europe, including wheat, maize, and potatoes, tobacco, the olive, and the vine. The potatoes of New Zealand are proverbially excellent, I mean in New South Wales: they are cultivated most successfully by the natives, without manure of any kind; they come to maturity in fourteen weeks, and two crops are obtained in the year. Wheat yields at the rate of forty bushels per acre, and I have seen maize grown by the natives with very indifferent culture near the Bay of Islands, equal to any in New South Wales. In short, all the necessaries of life, and many of its luxuries, could be raised with very moderate industry by an agricultural population in all the localities I have enumerated.
Of these localities the River Thames would certainly be the fittest for the capital of a British colony, both for the extent of eligible land in that part of the island, and for the superior
On the banks of all the New Zealand Rivers I have enumerated, there are splendid forests of native timber, and there is already a considerable trade carried on in the island, in the cutting of that timber for exportation. At the time I was in the Bay of Islands, in January and February last, there were not fewer than four large vessels loading timber at Hokianga—one for London, one for Launceston, in Van Dieman's Land, one for Adelaide, in South Australia, and for Port Phillip in New South Wales. It is singular indeed, that all these three colonies should thus have to send for timber to New Zealand. Such, however, is the fact.
Besides the pine, there are several species of hardwood in New Zealand that are capable of being turned into account. Of the pine there are five or six varieties that are used for various purposes; but the most valuable is the Koudi pine—a species of wood resembling the timber of the Baltic, to which it is preferred by competent judges, and admirably adapted, from its strength and straightness, for spars for ships. From the koudi pine, when growing, there exudes a gum, which may be gathered in considerable quantities on the ground around the tree. This gum has recently been sold in some quantity, and at the rate of £18 per ton to the Americans, who manufacture it into varnish, which I believe is sold in the United States under the name of copal varnish.
Of the natural productions of New Zealand, the most remarkable is the I examined the work-basket of a native woman, a slave from the southern regions of the island, whom I saw at work on a mat for her master near the Wai Tangi or Cataract River. It contained a considerable variety of various coloured yarns, and was not unlike the repertory of an English lady, when engaged in working a vase-stand or other article of party-coloured worsted manufacture. The Wai Tangi, or "noisy water," empties itself into the Bay of Islands. It has obtained its most appropriate native name from a large waterfall at the head of the navigation—the finest for a water-mill I have ever seen in the Southern Hemisphere. I have no doubt it will be used for that purpose ere long, and as the Bay of Islands is the common reservoir of a number of navigable streams, a grist-mill in that locality might grind corn for a very considerable extent of agricultural country, easily accessible by water.phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax. This valuable
The New Zealand flax is manufactured in Sydney into whaling gear, for which I believe it is peculiarly well adapted. It makes excellent standing rigging for vessels, and has recently been manufactured into canvas for ships' sails. It could be produced in New Zealand to any extent.
It is evident, therefore, that that island will eventually be the Baltic of the Southern Hemisphere, supplying two of the great desiderata of commerce—timber and flax—and affording support and employment to a numerous and industrious European population. Iron ore of superior quality abounds in the island, and coal is said to have been found at the surface in Cook's Straits. There are indications of copper in the mountains of the interior; and on White's Island, on the east coast, which is still under volcanic agency, sulphur can be procured in great quantity. Limestone abounds in the interior, and excellent marble.
In one word, whether we regard the situation, the soil, the climate, or the natural productions and inhabitants of the country, I am confident, my Lord, there never has been a more favourable locality for the settlement of a British colony than the New Zealand group of islands at this moment affords.
It may be supposed, indeed, that in a country of which the natives have so long been represented in Europe as ferocious cannibals, Europeans would run considerable risk in attempting to form a permanent settlement. But the circumstance of there being at present a very considerable European population living in perfect security in various parts of the island, is a sufficient answer to such an objection. Cannibalism has
In recommending the establishment of a British Colony in New Zealand, I beg to assure your Lordship that I have bad no intercourse or connection of any kind with the parties concerned in introducing a bill into the Imperial Parliament for the accomplishment of that object during the past year. Whatever may have been the motives or the character of certain of these parties (and I understand both were sufficiently decried at the time), I am in no way responsible for either; my first and principal object in these letters being the protection of the interesting but unfortunate natives of New Zealand, their rescue from that system of wholesale plunder and progressive extermination, to which they are at present exposed, and their ultimate elevation to the rank and character of Christian and civilized men.
If the system of non-interference, on the part of European Governments, with the natives of New Zealand, were likely to secure the attainments of these important objects, and to promote the general advancement of that most interesting race of aborigines, I should be the first to decry all such interference, and to advocate the propriety of leaving them entirely alone. But I trust, my Lord, it will be abundantly evident to your Lordship and the public, from the preceding details, that the continuance of that system will only render the New
It will also be evident to your Lordship and the public, from the preceding details, that the case of the New Zealanders cannot be entrusted, with any degree of safety to that interesting people, even to missionaries; and more especially to the agents of the Church Missionary Society. Even if these missionaries were inclined, they have no longer the power to protect the natives from the aggressions of unprincipled Europeans; but their own flagrant example, as purchasers of land from the natives, has deprived them of all moral power for the protection of the New Zealanders, and shewn but too plainly that they had but little inclination to exert such a power, if they ever possessed it.
The grounds on which the Bill for the Colonization of New Zealand was successfully opposed in the last session of Parliament were: That the establishment of a British colony in that island would necessarily be effected on infidel and not on Christian principles; that the rights of the natives would consequently be sacrificed and themselves speedily exterminated; and that these natives, being a sovereign and independent people, advancing rapidly in civilization and Christianization, the British Government had no right to interfere with them in the manner proposed. In direct opposition, however, to such ideas, I am confident, my Lord, that a British colony could, with the
point d'appui and centre of action for missionary labour among the Aborigines.
In regard to the alleged independence of the New Zealanders, and their paramount sovereignty in their own island, the fact undoubtedly is, that these islands are at present divided into innumerable independent and sovereign chieftainships, in each of which the whole of the land belongs in common to the whole freemen of the tribe—as is uniformly the case also among the Indians of North America; but it is also the melancholy fact that, through the rapid extension of British commerce and colonization in the Southern Hemisphere, during the last twenty years, these independent and sovereign chieftainships are now almost universally undergoing a rapid process of annihilation, while their territories are virtually seized and appropriated on the most impudent pretences by lawless adventurers from the British Penal Colonies, and from every whaler or trading vessel that touches on their coasts. It is, therefore, for Her Majesty's Government to determine whether so preposterous a system of downright plunder and oppression is to be allowed to subsist under the sanction of Great Britain, and in the immediate neighbourhood of a series of British colonies, or to be put an end to at once by the assumption of the sovereignty of the islands, on the part of Her Majesty, and the establishment of a British Colony on their shores.
It is quite unnecessary, I apprehend, my Lord, to consult Puffendorff or Grotius as to the right of Her Majesty's Government to colonize New Zealand, and to assume the sovereignty of the island. The necessity of the case demands such a measure on the part of the British Government; humanity calls loudly for it; every independent chief in New Zealand will most assuredly hail it as a blessing to himself and his country; and however insignificant it may appear, among the
It may not be improper, however, to discuss the question of right in the first instance, as far at least as that question is capable of discussion. It is acknowledged, therefore, as a maxim or first principle of the law of nations, that the discovery of any waste or uninhabited country by a civilized nation confers on the nation making such discovery a right to colonize that country in preference to all other civilized nations—a right, in short, to take possession of its territory, and to exercise sovereignty over it. Thus the small, but beautiful island, called Norfolk Island, to the northward of New Zealand, having been discovered by Captain Cook, and having been found waste and uninhabited, Great Britain not only acquired by that discovery a right to colonize the said island, in preference to all other civilized nations, but the island itself became thenceforth British property, a part and parcel of the British Empire.
It is acknowledged also as a maxim or first principle of the law of nations, that if the new country so discovered is inhabited, and under a Government of any kind, the mere discovery of it by a civilized nation (while it still gives such a nation a right to colonize it, if it is susceptible of colonization, in preference to all other civilized nations) confers on that nation no right of sovereignty over it—no right of property to a single inch of its territory. In the celebrated case of the Cherokee nation against the State of Georgia, tried before the Supreme Court of the United States in the year
In fact this equitable principle appears to have regulated the transactions of the more respectable civilized nations with semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest times. Whether we believe the story, handed down to us from antiquity, of the bullock's hide cut into a thong of great length for the purpose of measuring off the piece of land which had been previously purchased by Queen Dido, from the natives of Northern Africa, for the erection of the city of Carthage, or not, the very fact that such a story was told and credited by the ancients, sufficiently apprises us of the principles on which the merchant-princes of Tyre and Sidon were known to regulate their intercourse with uncivilized men; for instead of seizing it by force of arms, and thereby exciting a war, that would in all probability have laid waste the country and ruined their own commerce, the Phoenicians evidently purchased from the native chief of the district, at a certain fixed price, the piece of land they had selected in his territory as the site of their trading factory of Carthage.
To apply these principles to the case of the proposed colonization of New Zealand by the British Government, it cannot be denied that that island was originally discovered—not by the British, but by the Dutch. In the year
By this discovery the Dutch unquestionably acquired a right
a fortiori it must have been held to have merged also or been extinguished in reference to New Zealand, an island which that navigator had merely seen, and on which Captain Cook, who surveyed and described it minutely a hundred and thirty years thereafter, was the first European who had ever landed. The Royal Commission of comprehending all the islands adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, within the latitudes of the above-mentioned Capes."
If it should be urged, however, that this description could not be supposed to include islands so far to the eastward of New Holland as New Zealand, I beg to reply, my Lord, that
At all events, it must be obvious to your Lordship and the public, that the British Government have not allowed their right to colonize New Zealand, in preference to all other civilized nations, acquired by the discoveries of Cook in the years
But the right to colonize, my Lord, most certainly gives Her Majesty no right whatever to occupy a single inch of the territory of New Zealand, except on such terms as its native inhabitants shall accede to: in other words, it merely gives Her Majesty the right of pre-emption from the natives. That important right, however, neither Her Majesty nor any of her royal predecessors has yet renounced in any way; and as it is a right clearly available, not merely against all European foreigners, but against all Her Majesty's own subjects, it follows unquestionably that whoever has purchased land from the natives in New Zealand, has done so at his own risk—has done so in defiance of Her Majesty's right of pre-emption; nay, has done so in the face of his late Majesty King George III.'s virtual protest against all such purchases in his commission to his first Captain-General of New South Wales.
A few years ago, when a few adventurers from Van Dieman's Land crossed over to the south coast of New Holland, and discovered a splendid country, which is now rapidly settling, in the neighbourhood of Port Phillip, they negociated for the purchase of vast tracts of land for a mere trifle from the black natives. The deeds were drawn up in due form, the natives having appended their respective marks with all the customary formalities of English law; and certain lawyers in Van Dieman's Land, who, it was alleged, were concerned in the speculation, pronounced them valid. But the Imperial Government, insisting on his late Majesty's right of preemption, or, in other words, of treating exclusively with the natives for their land, very properly disallowed the whole transaction, and the native deeds were consequently held null and void.
Now I conceive, my Lord, that the case of all purchases of land from the natives of New Zealand is a case precisely similar; and the interests of humanity, as well as of Her Majesty's Government generally, demand that Her Majesty shall not suffer the Royal prerogative to be invaded by individual and unwarranted speculation in that island, any more than it was allowed to be invaded in a similar manner on the south coast of New Holland. By maintaining the Royal prerogative in the case of New Zealand, as it was maintained at Port Phillip, Her Majesty will reserve to herself the salutary and important right of revising every alleged purchase of land in that island—will retain the power of confirming honest men in their possessions, and of obliging persons of a different description to restore to the natives, or to the Government on their behalf, the land they have acquired dishonestly—and will thus establish a precedent of most beneficial operation for the aborigines of every uncivilized country in the South Seas having relations with British subjects in all time coming.
In regard to the assumption of the sovereignty of New Zealand, on the part of Her Majesty, considered as distinct from the right to colonize the island on the terms I have mentioned, I am aware of no other principle on which such a measure could be justified than that of sheer necessity; a principle which, your Lordship is aware, however, is superior to law, or rather which creates a law for itself. It is absolutely necessary, on the one hand, that a regular and energetic Government should be established forthwith in that island; but the native chiefs are utterly incapable, on the other, of forming such a government of themselves—being altogether destitute of the intelligence, virtue, and energy of character that would be indispensably requisite to sustain a republic, and too jealous of each other to allow any one of their number to exercise authority as lord paramount over the rest. But if the sovereignty of the island were at once assumed by Her Majesty, and exercised, as it would undoubtedly be, for the
I beg, therefore, most respectfully to suggest that Her Majesty should be advised forthwith to assume the sovereignty of New Zealand, for the general purposes of colonization from the mother country, as well as for the protection and preservation of its aboriginal inhabitants; such colonization to be effected on the principles on which the colony of South Australia has recently been established, but with a special reference to the superior intellectual condition and general prospects of the Aboriginal race. If an Act of the Imperial Parliament could be obtained for such a purpose, it would doubtless be highly desirable; but it appears to me that under the original Act of Parliament authorising the King in Council to form a Colony on the east coast of New Holland, including within its jurisdiction the adjacent islands of the Pacific Ocean, Her Majesty is fully authorized to take immediate steps, if she shall think fit, for the colonization of New Zealand, without the sanction of a new Act of Parliament at all.
Supposing, therefore, that it should be determined on the part of Her Majesty's Government to colonize New Zealand, or to speak more properly, to throw open that island for colonization, I would earnestly recommend that the following general
That a vast extent of eligible land of the first quality could in this manner be purchased from the natives of New Zealand,
It is in reference chiefly to these probable results of the sale of their land, in the event of its being sold exclusively to the Government, and not to the mere difference of the price they would receive for it, that it becomes a matter of the highest importance, not only to the New Zealanders, but to the British nation generally, that Her Majesty's right of pre-emption from the natives should be maintained inviolate. If the New Zealanders, for example, are willing to sell a hundred thousand acres of their land at a penny an acre, let them do so by all means; the land may in all probability be worth no more to them, and the fair price of a thing, surely, is what it is worth to the seller. But it is a very different question altogether, whether they shall be allowed to sell their land at that price to the Queen of England exclusively, or be at liberty to sell it, if they please, to Mr. Fairbairn, the Christian, from Parramatta, or Mr. Polack, the Jew, from Sydney. Mr. Polack has four or five estates in New Zealand. I walked over one of them, near the Wai Tangi, or Cataract River; but I am sorry I do not at present recollect how few muskets and how little gunpowder he had given for it. There was a New Zealand encampment on the land at the time, at which an amusing incident occurred during my stay. My fellow-voyager, M. Lacoste, introducing himself, with the usual frankness of his nation, to a tidy New Zealand woman, who was sitting in front of her hut, with a little naked savage of from two to three years of age in her arms, for the purpose of shewing some mark of kindness to the child, the latter became exceedingly alarmed at the approach of the white man : first screaming violently, and then seizing a large withered branch from the side of the hut, and striking with all its might at the Frenchman, to the great amusement of all the New Zealand women of the encampment, and especially of its own mother.
It is extremely gratifying to observe that the generous and philanthropic policy I have thus advocated, in regard to the Aborigines of New Zealand, has found supporters, in the highest and most influential quarters, in regard to another most interesting race of Aborigines, in the United States of America. The General Government of the United States, as your Lordship is well aware, allows no private individual, nor even a Sovereign State, to acquire land from the Indians in any way; the right of acquiring such land being vested by the Constitution in the Supreme Government exclusively. The land so acquired, whether by purchase, or exchange, or by the extinction of native titles in any other way, is sold thereafter by the General Government at a certain fixed price—about five shillings per acre—and the proceeds of such sales are thrown into the Public Treasury of the United States. In his Report to the President, however, of
"It cannot be doubted," observes the philanthropic Secretary, in the Report referred to, "that a course, so consistent with the dictates of justice, and so honourable to the national character, would be approved by public sentiment. Should we hereafter discard all pecuniary advantage in our purchases from
take care that the proceeds of the cessions are applied to their benefit, and in the most salutary manner, we should go far towards discharging the great moral debt which has come down to us as an inheritance from the earliest periods of our history, and which has been unfortunately increased during successive generations by circumstances beyond our control. This policy would not be less wise than just. The time has passed away, if it ever existed, when a revenue derived from such a source was necessary to the Government. The remnant of our aboriginal race may well look for the full value, and that usefully applied, of the remnant of those immense possessions which have passed from them to us, and left no susbtantial evidences of permanent advantage to them."
The circumstances of our own Government, however, in regard to the colonization of New Zealand, are altogether different from those of the General Government of the United States, in regard to the settlement of the waste lands of the American Union. In both cases the claims of the Aborigines are doubtless the same; but in the case of New Zealand, a revenue to be derived from the sale of land, over and above what may be indispensably requisite to meet the claims of the natives, is absolutely necessary for the promotion of an extensive emigration from Great Britain and Ireland; but such a revenue may be raised, my Lord, and the great national object of effecting an extensive emigration to New Zealand accomplished, with the utmost facility, simply by raising the minimum price of land in that island to four times the American rate, or a pound an acre.
The land purchased from the natives by the Government could easily be sold either to European capitalists or to emigrant colonists, at a pound per acre. It would be well worth that amount to those who could turn it to a proper account; and provided a considerable extent of land were sold annually, as would infallibly be the case, in the event of the islands
Supposing, therefore, that such a plan should be carried into effect, and that considerable bodies of European colonists should be settled at the Bay of Islands, the River Thames, the Hokianga, Kaiparra, and Munakau Rivers, and at Port Nicholson in Cook's Straits; and supposing that the same duties on all imports and exports should be levied in these settlements as in New South Wales, I am confident that the revenue derived from such a source during the first three years of the existence of the colony, would be fully adequate to all the expenses of its civil government; for although there might be a deficiency during the first year, there would in all likelihood be a surplus revenue during the third. A large portion of that revenue, I am sorry to say, would in all probability be derived from duties on the importation and sale of ardent spirits. If indeed the importation and manufacture of ardent spirits could be altogether prohibited in New Zealand, it would doubtless prove an unspeakable blessing, both to the natives and to the colonists; but as this would obviously be utterly impracticable in a maritime country frequented by vessels of all nations, and having a coast line of upwards of two thousand miles, with innumerable harbours, it would be the policy of the Government to subject the importation of ardent spirits to a comparatively high duty, and to place the sale of them under proper regulations. For this purpose an efficient police would be requisite in the princi-
In the event of the colonization of New Zealand, I conceive my Lord, there would be no necessity for a body of military to protect the colonists. If many hundred Europeans can live at present in perfect safety among the New Zealanders in all parts of the island, even when pursuing a species of traffic that reduces the unfortunate natives to absolute beggary in their own land, it must be evident that as many thousand Europeans would stand in still less need of military protection, especially when living together in concentrated communities, and all their intercourse with the natives conducted on the principles of impartial justice and enlightened Christianity. The protection of one or two ships of war, to be employed surveying the coast, and in establishing a friendly intercourse with the native tribes at a distance from the principal settlement, would be all the protection which the colonists would require from the mother country. A colonial police, with a corps of native constables, attired in a gay uniform and receiving rations and moderate pay from the Government, would be quite sufficient for the maintenance of the civil power in the island.
As New Zealand will always be the head quarters of the South Sea Fisheries, and as the supply of provisions to the whalers frequenting the Bay of Islands will, in the first instance at least, form a considerable item in the general trade of the island, it would obviously be good policy, on the part of the Government, to encourage the resort of these vessels to the principal seaports of the island, by establishing a low rate of port charges; and thereby prevent their resorting for supplies to places or islands where there is no European Government established, and where their influence on the natives is in general exceedingly demoralizing. The exorbitantly high port charges of Sydney repel the South Sea Whalers from New South Wales, and induce them to look for their supplies in places where there is either little or nothing to pay under that head.
Of the commercial intercourse already subsisting between New Zealand and New South Wales, some idea may be formed from the fact, that during the year
From the preceding list, which exhibits only the arrivals in a single port, although at present the principal one in New Zealand, for the past year, it must be evident to the commercial reader that in a country enjoying such advantages of situation, and possessing such extensive intercourse with the civilized world as that list implies, there could be no difficulty apprehended as to funds, in establishing and supporting a Government in the island on European principles. At all events there would obviously be no necessity for applying for a grant from the British Treasury for the establishment of a colony in so favourable a locality; for if this was found unnecessary in South Australia, it would certainly a fortiori be equally so in
Supposing, therefore, that the principles of colonization above mentioned were established in the case of New Zealand, either by Act of Parliament or by Royal Ordinance, and Commissioners appointed, as in the case of South Australia, to carry these principles into effect, a Joint Stock Company could immediately be formed in London, with the most favourable prospects of success, for the prosecution of the Black "Whale Fishery along the coasts of New Zealand; for the fishermen to be employed in the Fishery, the carpenters to build their boats and small coasting-vessels, and the rope-spinners to manufacture their whaling-gear from the native flax, could all be carried out to the Colony, with their wives and children, their ministers and schoolmasters, free of cost to the Company, and at the expense of the Land Revenue. Such a community would obviously be strong enough to protect its individual members from all attacks from without, on whatever part of the coast it might be settled : it would constitute, moreover, a valuable market for the agricultural and dairy produce of the other Colonists; and, by preserving the moral restraints of the mother country, it would exert a salutary influence on the surrounding natives, many of whom would gladly join the Europeans in their different occupations, and be at length amalgamated with them in the same Christian community. It is evident, at all events, that such persons would prove formidable competitors with the Americans and the French in the Fisheries of New Zealand.
Independently altogether of agricultural emigrants, or
Much of the beneficial influence to be hoped for from European colonization in New Zealand, as far as the natives are concerned, would depend on the number and concentration of the colonists, and on the moral and educational machinery with which they should be attended from their first landing on the island. The settlement of a few straggling European adventurers among the uncivilized aborigines of any country is always unfavourable to the moral welfare of both parties. It would, therefore, be of importance to the New Zealanders to prevent such dispersion, and to induce the Europeans settling in the island to concentrate themselves in suitable localities. In a pastoral country like New South Wales, this would doubtless be both absurd and impracticable; but in a maritime and agricultural country, like the northern parts of New Zealand, it would be comparatively easy. Besides, the Government Commissioners, and Board of Protectors, would have it fully in their power to prevent any European colonist from acquiring property in land wherever his settlement might be deemed likely to prove unfavourable to the natives.
As the climate and soil of the northern parts of New Zealand are similar to those of the South of Europe, it would be extremely desirable, in the first instance at least, to encourage the emigration and settlement in the island of agricultural emigrants from Germany, Switzerland, and
In short, while the state of things which subsists at present in New Zealand,—where every European adventurer is at perfect liberty to treat the natives as he pleases, and to do whatever he deems right or profitable for himself, and where the natives are consequently oppressed, and trodden down, and exterminated in every direction—affords a complete exemplification of the uniform character and results of British colonization in all times past; I am confident that the colonization of New Zealand, on the principles and in the manner I have stated, would prove an incalculable blessing to the natives, and would not only afford a sufficient guarantee for their protection and preservation, but would greatly hasten their adoption of the manners and religion of Christian Europeans, and their final amalgamation with the other subjects of the British crown,—a consummation, my Lord, which even in remote anticipation, I am sure your Lordship will regard as incomparably more gratifying to a philanthropic mind than all the dreams of poetry or the visions of romance.
Colonization in New Zealand, to be of any real benefit to the natives, must be engaged in vigorously, and pursued to a great extent; and it is gratifying to reflect that there is no conceivable amount of British capital which might not be expended in effecting that object, so as to afford a handsome return to the capitalist, and to be productive of much real benefit to all others concerned. At all events, I am confident there is no country in which all the necessaries of life can be procured with greater facility by industrious free emigrants on their arrival, or in which moderate labour would meet with a more certain or plentiful return. There are thousands and tens of thousands of the half-starved semi-maritime population of the north and west of Scotland in particular, who, if suffered to remain in their native country, will only be a dead weight to the community, neither adding to its strength nor increasing its resources; but who, if transplanted into the more genial soil and climate of New Zealand, would not only arrive in due time at comfort and independence themselves, but would secure for Great Britain and her colonies, what they are otherwise so likely to be deprived of, the riches and the empire of the Southern Seas.
In regard to the politico-ecclesiastical system which it would be proper to establish in New Zealand, in the event of the colonization of that island, your Lordship is sufficiently aware that the time has gone by in which the British Government could even attempt to set up an exclusive ecclesiastical establishment in any new colony of the Empire. If the Government are henceforth to support religion at all in new Colonies, by grants of money from the Public Treasury, these grants must be given indiscriminately to all religious denominations. No other principle will any longer be tolerated by the people. This principle, my Lord, has recently been publicly recognized, and acted on extensively by the Government, in the Australian Penal Colonies, in which your Lordship is doubtless aware, there is now either no established church at all, or all churches are established and supported alike.
That such a system must at once put an end to all those heart-burnings and jealousies which the existence of an exclusive establishment in the Colonies is sure to give rise to, is evident and undeniable; but that it will promote in a high degree the moral welfare and religious advancement of the Colonies, is a very different question, in regard to which I would merely put your Lordship and the public in possession of the following facts, from which the right inferences may be deduced with comparative facility.
In the first place, therefore, the system in question has already established in the Australian Colonies a powerful Popish Hierarchy; such, indeed, as could never have existed in these Colonies, at least during the present generation, but for the support of Government. Viewing the Romish religion merely in a political light, as being an acknowledged and monstrous incubus upon the intellectual and moral energies of man, such a result of a political regulation, sincerely intended, as I firmly believe, by the British Government, for the public welfare, cannot surely be regarded without painful feelings by any rightly-constituted mind.
In the second place, the system in question has also established in the Australian Colonies that species of Protestant Episcopacy of which the peculiar principles are delineated in the Oxford Tracts; which holds, as the first and most important tenets of Christianity, those doctrines of the dark ages, baptismal regeneration, apostolical succession, and the indefeasible right of the Church to lord it over the understandings and consciences of men; that species of Protestant Episcopacy, in short, which Messrs. Sheill and O'Connell regard with so much reason and so much complacency as the symptoms of an eventful and speedy return to Romanism. Whether the Colonial Episcopalian laity would have either tolerated or supported such a species of Episcopacy, if the State had only left them to find religious instructors for themselves, I leave your Lordship and the public to determine.
In the third place, the system in question has in a great
Finally, the system in question has not only afforded the Colonial Government a pretext for interfering in ecclesiastical matters, in the way of petty and vexatious regulation and legislation—a species of interference which is uniformly disastrous to the Christian Church—but has given rise to an unseemly canvassing for mere names, to swell their Government Lists of adherents, among the ministers of different religious denominations; it being too frequently the case that after the name is given the individual is forgotten.
Nay, it is already the avowed opinion of some of the ablest financiers of New South Wales, that the system of supporting the clergy of all denominations from the Public Treasury of that Colony cannot possibly subsist long; and that the salaries allowed, under the General Church Act of
With such examples so close at hand, I conceive, my Lord, it would not only be impolitic in the highest degree, but even hazardous in the extreme, to establish the politico-ecclesiastical system of the Australian Penal Colonies in New Zealand, in the event of the colonization of that island. Let the Government only leave the truth in matters of religion—whatever it
suffering from merely being denied support from the public treasury. I certainly do not mean to assert that, in the event of that island being colonized and no Government provision made for the support of the ordinances of religion, the people would support of their own accord so many ministers of religion, in proportion to the population, as are soon likely to be found in New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, under the new politico-ecclesiastical system of these colonies; but I do mean to assert, that if these ministers were chosen and supported exclusively by the people, one-half the number would do at least double the duty.
The Bay of Islands, to which I have so repeatedly alluded as the present head-quarters or principal rendezvous of the South Sea whalers in the Southern Pacific, is a splendid harbour, although by no means to be compared with Port Jackson. At its entrance the cliffs and detached rocks, to the right and left, exhibit the black columnar appearance that characterizes a basaltic formation; and the land immediately around it rises abruptly into irregular hills of considerable height, exhibiting a reddish clayey soil, and a scanty vegetation. Either for grazing or for agriculture, the land adjoining the Bay of Islands is decidedly of inferior quality; but the various navigable streams or inlets, of which it constitutes the common reservoir, conduct to large tracts of valuable land at no great distance, and will eventually afford a considerable extent of inland navigation. I was particularly struck, on ascending the Kaua-
About twenty years ago the shores of the Bay of Islands were inhabited by a numerous and comparatively powerful native population. That population, I am sorry to say, has already almost entirely disappeared; leaving only the names of the places where their Pahs or fortified villages were formerly constructed on the head-lands of the Bay. The land for a considerable distance around the Bay has thus become the property of Englishmen residing in the neighbourhood; and the purchases they have effected have doubtless tended, in no small degree, as I have already observed in the case of the chieftain Riva, to hasten the extermination of the natives. The largest proprietors are the Church Missionary Society, who occupy the greater portion of the southern and western sides of the Bay, and who have large establishments at Paihia, Tippunah, and Waimaté, on the Kidikidi River. Of these the station at Tippunah, on the west side of the Bay, was some time since the most considerable; but the Society have latterly had serious thoughts of abandoning it altogether in consequence of the depopulation of the neighbourhood. The second class of proprietors in the vicinity of the Bay of Islands are the Missionaries, considered as private individuals; the 'remaining proprietors being a few reputable Englishmen, who have built comfortable houses and established themselves permanently in the island, together with a company of "publicans and other "workers of iniquity," in the rising village of Kororadika.
In the prospect, therefore, of the colonization of New Zealand,
For my own part, knowing that there are reputable men in New Zealand, who have acquired the lands they occupy by fair and honourable means, and who have greatly improved these lands by the erection of valuable buildings, while there are others whose regularly drawn deeds in the English and New Zealand languages, give them no title in equity to the lands they lay claim to, I would respectfully recommend that, in the event of the colonization of New Zealand, and the assertion of Her Majesty's right of pre-emption in all cases whether past or future, a Board should be appointed, like the Court of Claims in New South Wales, with full powers to decide definitively, in all cases of land claimed on the ground of purchase from the natives; and that that Board should be instructed to lay it down as a general principle that no such deeds as I have mentioned should be regarded as a valid title to land, but that each case should be decided upon on its own individual merits, and according as it should appear that the natives had or had not been fairly treated, and that an adequate consideration had or had not been given, the holder of the native deed should either receive a deed of grant from the Crown for such part of the land he claimed as he should be found fairly entitled to, or should merely have the right of pre-emption within a certain period at the Government minimum price. By this means the rights of honest men would be secured, while the Government would have ample means of doing justice to those natives who have been wrongfully despoiled of their lands by unprincipled Europeans.
If a British subject has a right to purchase the whole territory of a semi-barbarous chief, residing beyond the limits of the British Empire, for a paltry consideration, he has a right to purchase his sovereignty also, and to establish an independent government of his own. And, incredible as it may seem, my Lord, this has actually been attempted within the last two years in New Zealand. When the Rev. Mr. Kendall, the first superintendent of the New Zealand Mission, was residing at the Bay of Islands, the native chiefs in the district of Hokianga made him a present of a large tract of land in that district, on condition that he would take up his residence among them. Mr. Kendall, having gone to England sometime thereafter, transferred his title to the said property to the Baron de Thierry, an English adventurer with a Continental title; the payment having been made in certain articles of British merchandise. Mr. Kendall afterwards left New Zealand and was settled for some time as an English chaplain at Valparaiso; from whence he subsequently returned to New South Wales, where he settled as a farmer at Kiama, on the east-coast to the southward, and was at last drowned in a small coasting vessel when bound with a load of cedar from his farm to Sydney. It was not till the year
Such, my Lord, was the general impression produced upon my own mind by my short visit to New Zealand in the months of January and February last. While that impression was strong and vivid, I committed my ideas on the subject to writing, a few days after we had lost sight of the island, while our vessel was pursuing her homeward course across the Pacific; and with only a few unimportant alterations, the preceding pages
If I understand the subject aright, therefore, the New Zealand Association of
In regard, therefore, to the tenure on which the Company hold their land, they stand precisely in the same situation as any European adventurer—such as Mr. Fairbairn, the Christian, or Mr. Polack, the Jew—who buys land from the natives for the merest trifle, and perhaps over-reaches them in the payment. The Company do not even know whether the lands they have bought have been honestly come by—whether the natives have been fairly dealt with in the purchase of them or not. They do not even profess to guarantee the titles they promise to give to the purchasers of their land. These titles will doubtless be as good as the Company's own title; but the less, I apprehend, that is said about the validity of the Company's title, the better. Now I conceive, my Lord, it is impossible that the public can have the requisite degree of confidence in an undertaking which rests on so uncertain a foundation; nay, it is anything but desirable that they should.
But even supposing that the Company could guarantee the titles they propose to give to the purchasers of their land, what possible inducement, I ask, my Lord, can any capitalist have to purchase the Company's land at all ? Instead of purchasing that land at a pound an acre, the capitalist or intending emigrant can go to New Zealand himself and purchase a tract from the natives, quite as good as the Company's, and perhaps adjoining their boundary line, at probably not more than five farthings an acre, payable in British goods moreover, on which the capitalist will realize a profit of at least fifty per cent. But if the Company should inform the capitalist, or intending
But whether the Company should succeed in disposing of a large portion of their land or not, the mere existence of such a Company will produce an immediate and powerful effect in New Zealand and the Australian colonies, whenever the fact comes to be generally known, and will exert a reflex and superlatively evil influence on the unfortunate New Zealanders. The fact, which the existence and operations of the Company will sufficiently proclaim, of its being practicable to purchase land in that island, perhaps even at a penny an acre today, and to sell it at a pound tomorrow, will immediately excite the cupidity of a whole host of speculators and adventurers in these regions; and the scramble for land in New Zealand, which is at present active and unprincipled enough, will consequently be increased tenfold, and be generally characterized by a total disregard of all moral principle, and of the rights of humanity. So far from discountenancing such procedure, the existence and acts of the Company will only give it character and respectability; as the titles to all the land which the Company have purchased in the island are merely the titles of individuals who, in all probability, have been despoiling the natives in precisely the same nanner. The march of injustice and oppression, of demoralization and extinction, on the part of the Europeans towards the unfortunate natives, will thus be prodigiously accelerated, and the consummation which has been already realized in Van Dieman's Land, will perhaps ere long be realized also in New Zealand—I mean the complete extermination of the Aboriginal race. We are accustomed to talk, my Lord, with virtuous indignation and abhorrence, of the brutal atrocities of Cortez and Pizarro,
Now, my Lord, the very individuals who have been perpetrating these atrocities upon the aborigines of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land for the last twenty years, are now swarming in New Zealand; and the formation of the New Zealand Land Company, conjoined with the sanction which the British Government is at present indirectly giving to all sorts of aggression upon the unfortunate natives of that island, will only increase their number, and their nefarious operations, tenfold. It is vain to talk either of the Company or of the Missionaries being able, from their influence of any kind, to prevent such proceedings. The private adventurers will point to the Company's and the Missionaries' estates in New Zealand; and when they ask, Why they should not have as good a right to plunder the natives as others? I confess, my Lord, I am utterly unable to divine what answer either the Company or the Missionaries can give them.
Your Lordship will not suppose that these observations could possibly have been dictated by any desire to prevent the colonization of New Zealand; on the contrary, I regard the extensive colonization of that island—on right principles, such as Her Majesty's Government could at once establish and carry out, without expense to the country, and with the happiest effect—as affording the only hope for the preservation
I had written thus far when I observed from the public journals of the 26th June, that Her Majesty's Government had it actually in contemplation to colonize New Zealand, or rather, to throw open that island for colonization under the sanction and protection of the British Government. In such circumstances, my Lord, the interest and duty of the New Zealand Land Company are plain and obvious; and I would, therefore, beg most respectfully, through your Lordship, to point out to the friends and supporters of that Company the course which, as honest and honourable men, they ought, in these circumstances, decidedly to pursue.
Let the Company, therefore, lend their influence and support towards the maintenance of Her Majesty's undoubted right of pre-emption, in all cases, both past and future. The establishment of this principle will be of incalculable advantage to the New Zealanders; and not only to the New Zealanders, but to all persons whatsoever, in this country, who are about to embark in any way in the New Zealand colonization scheme.
For this purpose, let the Company make a voluntary and entire surrender of their native titles to Her Majesty's Government;—to be adjudicated upon individually by a temporary Board, like the Court of Claims in New South Wales, to be appointed for the purpose by the Government, on the understanding and condition that the Company shall have the right
Downright honesty of this kind, my Lord, will decidedly be the best policy also, which the New Zealand Land Company can pursue, in reference to the really important objects they profess to have in view in the colonization of that island. Let the important principle I have laid down be only recognized—and let a Government, simple in its machinery, just in its dealings, and energetic in its character, be established in New Zealand—and I am confident, my Lord, that the field for enterprize, in every department in that country, will be found as extensive and as inviting as the most ardent supporters of colonization could desire; while the career of the future Colony will, in all probability, be unexampled in the history of the world. Unquestionable as are the facilities for colonization in South Australia, as well as in New South Wales, they are not to be compared with those which New Zealand at this moment affords. In one word, whatever may be the destinies of the Australian Colonies, I am confident that, if colonized on right principles, New Zealand will one day be the Great Britain of the Southern Hemisphere.
The Imperial Government had been most unwillingly badgered into the idea of interfering in any way in the case of New Zealand, after the rejection by the House of Commons of the New Zealand Land Company's Bill for the Colonization of that country, in the year
My pamphlet was published on the
Captain Hobson, who was then waiting for his instructions in Downing Street, obtained a copy of my pamphlet as soon as it had issued from the press; and I ascertained immediately thereafter, from naval gentlemen connected with Somerset House, that he highly approved of it, and that he considered the course it recommended, by annexing New Zealand at once to the British Crown, as the only one that ought to have been adopted in the case.
The Government Letter of Instructions to Captain Hobson is dated
Immediately after receiving his instructions, Captain Hob-
"Captain Hobson had now," observes an intelligent historian of New Zealand, "a duty which has fallen to the lot of few British Governors—the declaration of Her Majesty's sovereignty over the country he was recommended first to acquire and then to rule. This task weighed on his broken spirit during the dreary solitude of the voyage to the Antipodes; and when he contrasted the multitudes of armed warriors in the neighbourhood of Kororarika with his own defenceless position, he saw the declaration could not be made without the almost unanimous permission of the people. But how to obtain this without exciting their suspicions was a delicate and dangerous task." "The Story of New Zealand—Past and Present, Savage and Civilized." By Arthur S. Thomson, M.D., Surgeon-Major, 58 Regt. London,
In short, the task imposed by H. M. Government upon Captain Hobson, besides being altogether unnecessary, was a downright farce—a notable absurdity: for how could even one in ten, either of the natives or of their chiefs in both islands, thirty years ago, be supposed to understand even the terms of any treaty pretended to be made for the cession of the sovereignty of their islands to Her Majesty? Even if the natives and chiefs around the Bay of Islands might be supposed intellectually equal to such a transaction, how could those of the Middle Island be supposed to be competent to cede the sovereignty of that island to Her Majesty ? If they "New Zealand and its Colonization." By William Swainson, Attorney-General for New Zealand. London, Captain Hobson's proclamation was not issued a moment too soon; for in the month of were, surely,a fortiori, they were competent to have sold twenty millions of acres of their land, as they were alleged to have done, for a few pounds, to the late Mr. Wentworth, and a few of the other genuine patriots of New South Wales. Captain Hobson was well aware of the difficulties of his position, and of the urgent necessity for immediate and decisive action. And, there-
Proclaimed the Queen'S Sovereignty Over Both Islands."Le Comte de Paris, escorted by the French frigateL'Aube, arrived at Akaroa, on the Middle Island, with the view of forming a French Colony in that island; landing fifty-seven emigrants for the purpose, who thus found themselves French settlers in a British Colony.
The only ground for this proceeding, on the part of Captain Hobson, was his own strong view of the extreme urgency of the case; and the only moral support he had from any quarter on the occasion was that which he derived from my pamphlet, urging the propriety and the necessity of the course he had now adopted.
"For a few months," adds Mr. Swainson, immediately after this announcement, "they"—that is, the islands of New Zea-
They were so already, and from the first.
In the meantime, the Governor and Legislature of New South Wales, having at once taken up New Zealand as a Dependency of that Colony, were rendering noble service, and such as could scarcely have at that time been rendered on the spot, to the future Colony. On the
As soon as it was noised abroad in New South Wales that there was a movement in England for the colonization of New Zealand, the rage for speculation, which was then rampant in that Colony, and could not be restrained even by the surges of the Pacific, extended itself to that group of islands; and numerous long-headed Australian colonists, either in their own persons or by approved agents, entered into treaties with the native chiefs for the purchase of immense tracts of land in their islands, in order to steal a march upon Her Majesty's Government. It was in anticipation of something of this kind, which indeed had already commenced at the period of my visit in
The contemplated legislation by the Sydney Government had raised a prodigious ferment among the alleged purchasers of princely estates in New Zealand. Mr. Busby, of the Bay of Islands, whose salary of £500 a year, payable from the Treasury of New South Wales, as British Resident in New Zealand, under the mere order of the Secretary of State, had, for seven years previous, been always a great grievance to the inhabitants of that Colony, was one of the first claimants for redress under the new law, on the ground of his having made large purchases of land from the natives as an alleged sovereign and independent people. But the Government stood firm on the occasion, leaving Mr. Busby for his remedy to the future Executive of New Zealand.
The famous case, however—thecause celébre of the early history of New Zealand—was a claim of the late W. C. Wentworth, Esq., whom the colonists of New South Wales have recently been canonizing or deifying as a patriot of the first water, on the arrival of his remains from England; and who had, for many years after this period, been one of the Representatives of the City of Sydney, and subsequently President of the Legislative Council or Upper House of the Local Parliament. Not satisfied, it seems, with being one of the largest speculators in land and stock in New South Wales, that gentleman had fixed his eye on a principality in New Zealand; and had duly purchased, as he alleged, from the mere handful of natives who then inhabited the Middle Island, the whole, or nearly the
generosity or charity, but demanding everything from the justice, of England.
Sir George Gipps deserves the greatest credit for the ability with which he exposed and set aside this peculiarly barefaced and impudent claim—setting forth at great length the practice of all European nations since the discovery of America, as well as of the United States of that country, in regard to the purchase and sale of the lands of the Aborigines; showing that the right of preemption was uniformly asserted by the colonising power; pointing out the injury and ruin that would inevitably result from a different practice; pleading the principle which his own immediate predecessor—Sir Richard Bourke—had established, and the Imperial Government had recognised, in the case of Port Phillip; and concluding by literally overwhelming Mr. Wentworth and his notorious attempt to appro-
The following is an Extract from the speech of Sir George Gipps in the Legislative Council of New South Wales, on Thursday,
"I have not heard one reasonable and disinterested person object to the main purpose of this Bill. Of all the witnesses examined before the Committee of the House of Lords in
1838 , no one was so wild as to say that all purchases from the natives of New Zealand were to be acknowledged; no one pretended, because the Narraganset Indians sold Connecticut, as we have been told they did, for a certain number of old coats and pairs of breeches, or because they sold Rhode Island (as I find they did) for a pair of spectacles, that therefore Her Majesty is bound to acknowledge as valid, purchases of a similar nature in New Zealand. The witnesses whom I have alluded to all considered the New Zealanders as minors or as wards of Chancery, incapable of managing their own affairs, and therefore entitled to the same protection as the law of England affords to persons under similar or analogous circumstances. To set aside a bargain on the ground of fraud, or of the incapacity of one of the parties to understand the nature of it, or his legal inability to execute it, is a proceeding certainly not unknown to the law of England; nor is it in any way contrary to the spirit of equity; the injustice would be in confirming any such bargain; there would indeed be no excuse for Her Majesty's advisers, if, by the exercise of her prerogative, she were to confirm lands to persons who pretend to have purchased them at the rate of four hundred acres for a penny; for that is, as near as I can calculate it, the price paid, by Mr. Wentworth and his associates, for their twenty millions of acres in the Middle Island."A great deal was said by this gentleman, in the course of his address to the Council, of corruption and jobbery, as well as of the love which
men in office have for patronage. But, gentlemen, talk of corruption I talk of jobbery! why if all the corruption which has defiled England since the expulsion of the Stuarts were gathered into one heap, it would not make such a sum as this; if all the jobs which have been done since the days of Sir Robert Walpole, were collected into one job, they would not make so big a job as the one which Mr. Wentworth asks me to lend a hand in perpetrating;—the job, that is to say, of making to him a grant of twenty millions of acres, at the rate of one hundred acres for a farthing ! The Land Company of New South Wales has been said to be a job: one million of acres at eighteen pence an acre has been thought to be a pretty good job; but it absolutely vanishes into nothing by the side of Mr. Wentworth's job. "In the course of this gentleman's argument, he quoted largely from Vattel and the Law of Nations, to prove the right of independent people to sell their lands; and he piteously complained of the grievous injustice which we should do to the New Zealanders, if we were to deny them the same right; and the Council may recollect that when I reminded him that he was here to maintain his own rights, and not those of the New Zealanders, he replied, not inaptly, that, as his was a derivative right, it was necessary for him to show that it had previously existed in the persons from whom he derived it; it was, in fact, necessary for him to show that the right existed in the nine savages, who were lately in Sydney, to sell the Middle Island, in order to show his own right to purchase it from them at the rate of four hundred acres for a penny !!
"Lastly, gentlemen, it has been said, that the principles on which this Bill is founded are derived from the times of Cortez and Pizarro; times, when not only the right of uncivilized nations, but the rights also of humanity, were disregarded. To this I answer, that whatever may be the changes (and thank Heaven they are many) which the progress of religion and enlightenment have produced amongst us, they are all in favour of the savage, and not against him. It would be indeed the very height of hypocrisy in Her Majesty's Government to abstain, for religion's sake, from despoiling these poor savages of their lands, and yet to allow them to be despoiled by individuals being subjects of Her Majesty. It is in the spirit of that enlightenment which characterises the present age, that the British Government is now about to interfere in the affairs of New Zealand. That it interferes against its will, and only under the force of circumstances, is evident from Lord Normanby's despatch; the objects for which we go to New Zealand are clearly set forth in it, and amongst the foremost is the noble one of rescuing a most interesting race of men from that fate which contact with the nations of Christendom has hitherto invariably and unhappily brought upon the uncivilized tribes of the earth.
"One of the gentlemen who appeared before you did not scruple to avow at this table, and before this Council, that he can imagine no motive Her Majesty's Ministers can have in desiring the acquisition of
New Zealand, but the increase of their own patronage. The same gentleman is very probably also unable to imagine any other reason for the exercise of Her Majesty's prerogative than the oppression of her subjects. These, gentlemen, may be Mr. Wentworth's opinions: I will not insult you by supposing that they are yours. You, I hope, still believe that there is such a thing as public virtue; and that integrity is not utterly banished from the bosoms of men in office. To your hands, therefore, I commit this Bill. You will, I am sure, deal with it according to your consciences, and with that independence which you ought to exercise; having a due regard for the honour of the Crown and interests of the subject; whilst for myself, in respect to this occupation of New Zealand by Her Majesty, I may, I trust, be permitted to exclaim, as did the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, when Caesar first took possession of Great Britain—' Et ego certe ojficium meum, Reipublicœ, atque Imperatori prcestitero;' fearless alike of what people may say or think of me, I will perform my duty to the Queen and the public."
Such, then, are the services I have been enabled to render in connection with the colonization of New Zealand. It would, doubtless, have been well for that Colony had my recommendations been more fully carried out. I am happy, however, to have had the honour of contributing at least one foundation stone towards the noble superstructure.
J. G. O'Connor, Printer, &C.,
An Ordinancefor granting to the Municipal and Counties Corporations within the Province of Otago Provincial License and Registration Fees as part of their Ordinary Revenue.
[
Reserved for the Signification of the Governor'S Pleasure Thereon,.]31St May, 1872
Whereas it is expedient that the moneys received for licenses and registration fees under the provisions of the several Ordinances specified in the annexed Schedule should form part of the ordinary revenue of the body corporate of the several boroughs and counties in which the persons paying the same reside or carry on business:
Be it Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:—
1. This Ordinance may be cited and referred to as the "Otago Local Revenues Ordinance
2. From and after the date of the coming into operation of this Ordinance the fees and dues payable for licenses or registration under the provisions of the several Ordinances specified in the annexed Schedule by any person or persons residing or carrying on business within the limits of any municipality or county by law established and incorporated within the Province of Otago shall be payable to the Collector of the Corporation in which such person or persons reside or carry on business and the same shall form part of the ordinary revenue of such Corporation.
3. The Collector of every Corporation within the said Province is hereby empowered to sign and issue on payment of the stated fees all such licenses and certificates of registration under the provisions of the several
4. From and after the passing of this Ordinance after the formation of any main road within the boundaries of any incorporated borough or county has been completed the management and maintenance thereof shall be undertaken by such Corporation and the costs and expenses connected therewith shall be a charge against the ordinary revenue of the Corporation.
5. The word "Corporation" in this Ordinance shall be taken to mean and include every municipality or borough and county within the Province of Otago established under the "Otago Municipal Corporations Ordinance
6. The words "Provincial Treasurer" in any of the Ordinances specified in the annexed Schedule shall be held to mean and include the Collector of any Corporation within which any license or registration certificate required under the provisions contained in the said Ordinances or any of them shall be signed and issued.
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick &Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinancefor the better regulation of Sales by Auction and Auctioneers.
Whereas it is expedient to make better regulations in regard to Sales by Auction and Auctioneers and for that purpose to amend the law relating thereto within the Province of Otago:—
Be it Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the said Province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:
1. In the construction of the provisions of this Ordinance the following terms shall have the meaning hereby assigned to them that is to say:
The terms "sales by auction" or "to sell by auction" when used in this Ordinance shall mean and imply the selling of any goods chattels articles or things or of any lands or other real estate or any interest in any goods chattels articles or things or any lands or other real estate by outcry knocking down of hammer candle lot parcel instrument machine or any other mode whereby the highest or lowest bidder is the purchaser and whereby the first person who claims the goods or article submitted for sale at a certain price named by the person acting as auctioneer as the purchaser or where there shall be a competition for the purchase of any article goods chattel matter or thing or any real estate or any interest therein in any way commonly known and understood to be by way of auction:
The term "auctioneer" shall mean and apply to any person who shall sell or attempt to sell or offer for sale or resell any goods chattel article matter or thing or any lands or other real estate or any interest in any goods chattel article matter or thing
2. Any person acting as an auctioneer after the passing of this Ordinance without having obtained a license under the same or under the Ordinance hereinafter recited shall upon conviction for each offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds and be incapacitated from holding an auctioneer's license for the space of three years.
3. Any person desirous of obtaining an auctioneer's license for the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three shall on or before the second Tuesday in the month of January next ensuing and any person desirous of obtaining such license for any subsequent year shall on or before the first Tuesday in the month of December preceding such year lodge in the office of the Superintendent a notice in writing of his intention to apply for such license in the form in the Schedule A to this Ordinance annexed and shall therewith lodge a certificate of character in the form attached to the said Schedule signed by six respectable householders within the Province.
4. A notice of all applications for licenses under this Ordinance stating the names and places of abode of the applicants and the names and residences of the householders signing the certificate required as aforesaid and the time and place when and where the applications shall he disposed of shall be published in the Provincial Government Gazette fourteen days at least before the day appointed for disposing of such applications.
5. Every such application shall be disposed of by the Superintendent with the advice of his Executive Council at a meeting to be held with open doors and it shall be lawful for any person to object to such application arid for the Superintendent and his Executive Council to enquire into the objections and the evidence thereof and after such enquiry the Superintendent with the advice of his Executive Council shall cither refuse or grant such application.
6. When any such application has been granted the Superintendent shall issue a certificate directing the Provincial Treasurer or any other person duly authorised in that behalf on payment of the fee aftermentioned to issue a license to the applicant to carry on and exercise the occupation of an auctioneer and every such license shall be dated the day of its issue and shall continue in force unless previously forfeited as hereinafter provided until the second Tuesday in the month of January in each year.
7. Every such certificate as aforesaid shall be null and void unless the
Provincial Government Gazettespecifying in such notice the name and place of abode of the person licensed.
8. The Superintendent in the case of any emergency which shall be made to appear to him by memorial may with advice of his Executive Council appoint a special meeting to consider any application for an auctioneer's license but in every such case the same length of notice must be given the same certificate obtained the names of applicants and householders certifying published for the same period and all other matters must take the same course as if the application had been heard and considered at the annual meeting for licensing Auctioneers: Provided that the fee for any license granted at any such special meeting shall be the same in amount as if such license had been granted for the whole year except in the case of any auctioneer having a license at the passing of this Ordinance who upon obtaining a new license for the year
9. Any auctioneer licensed under this Ordinance who shall sell by auction any article goods chattels or real estate after sunset or before sunrise shall forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than five pounds nor more than fifty pounds.
10. Any auctioneer licensed under this Ordinance who shall permit any music to be played in any premises used as a sale room and during the time any sale may be going on or at intervals thereof excepting such as may be necessary for the trial of any instrument about to be sold or offered for sale or shall hold a sale in any unsuitable room or building of which the adjudicating Justices shall be the judges or shall permit any riotous or disorderly conduct in any such sale room shall be liable to any penalty not exceeding ten pounds.
11. Any person not being a licensed auctioneer who shall have any words written painted or inscribed or which may have been written painted or inscribed and not thoroughly obliterated over on or about his house window or premises which shall lead to the belief or supposition that such person is an auctioneer or who shall place or cause to be placed any placard board writing matter or thing in the public view to the intent that it may be believed or supposed that such person is an auctioneer or
12. No person holding a publican's license or a wine and beer license nor any person in partnership with any such person shall be competent to hold an auctioneer's license under this Ordinance.
13. Every auctioneer licensed under this Ordinance shall keep a register or book in the form in the Schedule to this Ordinance annexed marked C of all the cattle sold by such auctioneer and a copy of every registry or entry made in such book for the week ending each Saturday shall be transmitted every Monday to the Resident Magistrate's Court nearest to the place of sale of any such auctioneer and if there shall be no Resident Magistrate's Court within two miles of such place then such time for the forwarding of such return shall be allowed as the distance may reasonably require and if any auctioneer shall fail to insert in such registry or book any cattle he may have sold during such week or shall not correctly and truly insert all the particulars required by the form set forth in the said Schedule marked C or shall not transmit a correct copy of such registry or book as hereinbefore directed every such person shall forfeit a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds.
14. Every such registry or book and copies thereof shall be open to the inspection of any officer or constable of police and to every Justice of the Peace at any reasonable time free of cost and to every other person within the usual hours of business upon payment of the fee of two shillings arid sixpence for every such search provided however that for every such fee such person shall be at liberty to take an extract from any such book of any cattle that may be entered therein.
14. Every auctioneer licensed under this Ordinance who has not taken due and proper means to ascertain and record the particulars required to be ascertained and recorded or who has been guilty of such neglect or carelessness as to facilitate the disposal of airy stolen cattle or the escape of any person unlawfully or feloniously obtaining any cattle or has improperly obtained a license contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Ordinance shall in the discretion of any two Justices of the Peace forfeit his license as an auctioneer and such auctioneer shall from thence be deemed and taken to be unlicensed accordingly.
16. This Ordinance shall not apply to any person selling by auction any Crown property under competent authority nor to any other sale of property specially ordered under the hand of the Superintendent of th Province or of the Collector or principal officer of Customs nor to any sales ordered by virtue of any writ or process issued by or out of any Court of Law or Justice nor to any sale of any animals impounded according to
17. All offences against this Ordinance shall be heard and determined and all penalties in respect thereof shall be recovered in a summary way before any two Justices of the Peace.
18. Every auctioneer's license in force at the time this Ordinance shall come into operation shall remain in full force and effect until its expiration by effluxion of time or its forfeiture but shall be deemed to be a license granted under this Ordinance and all the enactments herein contained shall apply as fully to every auctioneer so holding any existing license and to such license as if such license had been granted under this Ordinance.
19. The "Auctioneers' License Ordinance
20. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensed Auctioneers' Ordinance
To His Honor the Superintendent of the Province of Otago.
I, A. B., now residing at ____________ in the said Province, do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply to the next Annual Meeting for the Licensing of Auctioneers for an Auctioneer's License.
Given under my hand this __________ day of _______ 183
To be attached to the above, to be signed by six respectable householders, resident in the District.
We hereby certify that we are well acquainted with A. B., the above applicant, and know him to be a respectable person, and fit to be entrusted with an Auctioneer's License.
Whereas the Superintendent of the Province of Otago hath authorised the issue of an Auctioneer's License to A. B., of_____________under the "Licensed Auctioneers' Ordinance or the sum proportionate to the period such license
shall have to run). Now I, the Provincial Treasurer (or such other officer as may hare been appointed in that behalf, as the case may be) do hereby license the said A. B. to act as an Auctioneer within the Province of Otago, and this license shall continue in force until the____________day of__________next, provided it be not forfeited in the meantime according to the provisions of the said Ordinance.
Given under my hand________day of_______186
Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government of the Province of Otago, by Mills, Dick and Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto make provision for the Sale of Fermented and Spirituous Liquors and the granting of Licenses to Sell the same within the Province of Otago. [5 .]th January, 1866
Whereas an Ordinance was passed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the Province of Otago Session XIX. No. 162 shortly intituled the "Licensing Ordinance
Be it Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:—
1. From and after the passing of this Ordinance the above recited Ordinance shall be and the same is hereby repealed except in so far as the same repeals any previous Ordinance or Ordinances.
2. Nothing herein contained shall be construed or held to affect any part of the Province of Otago which is within any proclaimed Gold Field or subject to the "Gold Fields Act
3. Every License lawfully issued previously to and subsisting at the time of the coming into operation of this Ordinance shall for the purposes of this Ordinance be deemed to be a License under this Ordinance and shall until the time of the expiration thereof but no longer be deemed a License of the same description under this Ordinance and every certificate granted under the provisions of "The Licensing Ordinance
4. All fines and forfeitures incurred under the said "Licensing Ordinance
5. No person unless he be duly licensed under this Ordinance shall within the said Province sell any fermented or spirituous liquors or permit or suffer the same to be sold by any other person on his behalf: Provided that no license shall be needed for the sale of airy fermented or spirituous liquors as perfumery and not for drinking or for the sale by any chemist druggist or apothecary of spirits as medicine or for the sale of fermented or spirituous liquors at any Military Canteen duly established or hereafter to be established under the regulations of Her Majesty's service nor for any bona fide sale at auction by a duly licensed auctioneer.
6. Licenses of the following kind and designated as follows and no other may be granted namely:—"General License" "Bottle License" "Brewer's License" "Wholesale License" "Temporary License" "General Night License" and "Packet License" and the forms of such Licenses shall be as follows:—
7. The annual fees which shall be paid for such Licenses respectively shall be as follows:—
8. All Licenses except "Temporary Licenses" which shall be issued under the
9. No License shall be granted hereunder or transferred as hereinafter mentioned to any Constable Officer of Police or Bailiff nor shall any License be granted or transferred in respect of any house or premises of which any Constable Officer of Police or Bailiff shall be owner or wherein any Constable Police Officer or Bailiff shall be directly or indirectly interested.
10. Every person who shall desire to obtain a "General License" a "Bottle License" or a "General Night License" under this Ordinance shall fourteen days at least before any Quarterly Licensing Meeting appointed as hereinafter mentioned deliver in duplicate to the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate's Court or to the Clerk of the Court of Petty Sessions holden nearest the house or premises at which such applicant is desirous of selling Liquors by such License a notice in writing in such one of the forms in Schedule H as shall be applicable (together with a certificate signed by at least five substantial householders residing within the. Licensing District in which such applicant resides in the form in ScheduleI hereunto annexed) of his intention to apply for a certificate for such License and the Clerk of the Court to whom any such notice shall have been given shall cause to be affixed on or before the twelfth day before Licensing Meeting a list of the names of the applicants with their places of abode together with the names of those persons signing their certificates and a description of the license applied for on some conspicuous place both on the inside and the outside of the Court-house there to remain until the day whereupon the Licensing Meeting hereinafter mentioned shall be held: Provided always that the Court to the Clerk of which the said notice is to be given shall be a Court held within the Licensing District in which such house or premises are situate notwithstanding that [there may be a Resident Magistrate's Court or Court of Petty Sessions held nearer to such house or premises in a different Licensing District.
11. The Superintendent of Otago as soon after the coming into operation of this Ordinance as conveniently as may be shall for the purposes of this Ordinance divide the settled portions of the said Pro-
Government Gazette of the said Province declare such Districts and by such Proclamation define the boundaries thereof and it shall be lawful for him from time to time as he shall think fit by Proclamation published as aforesaid to vary or alter such Districts and the boundaries thereof: Provided always that any portion of the said Province beyond the settled Districts of the Province or not comprehended within the limits of any District proclaimed as aforesaid shall nevertheless be deemed to be comprehended within the limits of the Licensing District nearest thereto until it shall be otherwise regulated by Proclamation as aforesaid: Provided also that until any such Proclamation shall have been made the divisions already made and the Districts already declared under the provisions of the Licensing Ordinance
If more than one Court in Licensing District Superintendent to appoint at which Court Licensing Meeting to be held.
12. If at any time there shall be more than one Resident Magistrate's Court or more than one Court of Petty Sessions usually holden within any Licensing District or if there shall be a Resident Magistrate's Court and also a Court of Petty Sessions usually holden in the same Licensing District the Superintendent shall by Proclamation publish in the said Gazette fix and appoint at which of the Courts within the Licensing District the Quarterly Licensing Meetings hereafter mentioned shall be held and when the Superintendent shall have once fixed the Court at which the Meetings shall be held the Quarterly Meetings shall be continued to be held there until the Superintendent shall otherwise by like Proclamation direct and it shall be the duty of the Clerks of Resident Magistrates' Courts and Courts of Petty Sessions to transmit not later than seven days before the Licensing Meeting for their District next ensuing the receipt thereof to the Clerk of the Court at which the Licensing Meeting for their Licensing District is to be held all notices of applications for licenses or transfers thereof they may have received since the previous Licensing Meeting.
13. On the first Tuesday at noon in the months of December March June and September in each year there shall be holden in each Licensing District a Meeting of all the Resident Magistrates appointed to hold Courts in the Licensing District and all Justices who act and usually reside in such Licensing District to be called the Quarterly Licensing Meeting for the purpose of taking into consideration all applications for such licenses as aforesaid and the transfer or renewal or removal of such licenses of which due notice shall have been given to the Clerk of any Resident Magistrate's Court or to the Clerk of any Court of Petty Sessions within the Licensing District two of such Justices of whom one shall be a Resident Magistrate appointed to hold a Court within the
14. The Clerk of the Court in every Licensing District at which any Licensing Meeting is to be held shall one calendar month at least before the holding of each Quarterly Licensing Meeting cause a notice of such Meeting to be fixed to the outer door of every Court House within the Licensing District and shall also give notice to the Superintendent who shall cause an advertisement of the holding of such Licensing Meeting to be inserted in the Provincial Government Gazette fourteen days at the least before the day fixed for the holding of such meeting.
15. No Justice who is a common brewer wine merchant maltster distiller or dealer in liquor or who is in partnership with any such person or is owner either in fee or for any lesser estate of any licensed house or of any legal or equitable mortgage thereof shall take part in any discussion of or adjudication upon any application for any such certificate or for the transfer or forfeiture of any license.
16. It shall be lawful for the Resident Magistrates and Justices assembled at such Meeting to grant to such persons as shall be approved of by the majority of them certificates authorising such licenses to be issued which certificates shall be in the form in Schedule K hereto annexed.
17. Any Justice of the. Peace Chairman of a City or Municipal Council Chief Officer of Police or owner or occupier of property in the neighborhood of the house for which such license is applied for may object to the issue of such certificate by giving notice of his objection in writing to the Clerk to the Bench and to the applicant at least three clear days before the licensing meeting at which the applicant is to be heard and such notice, shall set forth the grounds of objection and it shall be the duty of such Justices to hear and determine any such objections and it shall be lawful for such Justices in the event of such objections being deemed frivolous or vexatious to direct that the applicant shall be paid such costs by the person or persons so objecting as they may consider reasonable and fair not exceeding three pounds which costs may be recovered in a summary way.
18. The Clerk of the Court at which any such meeting shall have been held shall within fourteen days after such meeting transmit to the Provincial Treasurer a list signed by two at least of the Justices who at-
19. Every such certificate shall be void unless the sum to be paid for such license as hereinafter provided be paid to the Provincial Treasurer within twenty-one days after the granting of such certificate: And the Provincial Treasurer shall after the receipt of such list issue a license in one or other of the forms herein prescribed according to the terms of each such certificate upon payment being made to him within the said period of twenty-one days of the proper fee for such license.
20. If there shall not be a quorum in attendance at any such Quarterly Licensing Meeting any Resident Magistrate appointed to and usually holding a Court within the Licensing District for which the Licensing Meeting should have been held or any Justice of the Peace who attended at the place of Meeting shall forthwith signify to the Superintendent of the Province that no meeting was held from want of the necessary number of Justices and it shall then be lawful for the said Superintendent with the advice and consent of the Executive Council to perform all acts in granting and transferring licenses and otherwise which the Justices in any such quarterly meeting assembled are empowered to perform under the authority of this Ordinance.
21. Any person who shall desire to obtain a "Wholesale License" or a "Brewer's License" may apply at any time to any Resident Magistrate acting in and for the Licensing District in which the house or premises at or in which the applicant is desirous of carrying on business under such license is situate for a certificate authorising the issue to such persons of a license in one of the forms in the Schedule hereto annexed marked respectively C and D which certificate such Resident Magistrate may if he thinks fit grant to such applicant in the form specified in the said Schedule hereto annexed marked N: And upon the production of such certificate and payment of a fee of ten pounds for a Wholesale License and five pounds for a Brewer's License the Provincial Treasurer shall grant to such applicant a license in one or other of the said forms marked C and D according to the terms of such certificate.
Holder of a "General License" may obtain a "Temporary License under certain circumstances.
22. Any person being the holder of a "General License" who may be desirous of obtaining a "Temporary License" may make application for the same at any time either personally or by attorney or counsel to any Resident Magistrate or two or more Justices of the Peace resident in the Licensing District within which the house or premises are situate in respect of which such person holds such "General License" and if such Resident Magistrate or such Justices think fit they may grant such "Temporary License" to the applicant which shall be in the form in the Schedule marked R hereunto annexed and the Clerk of the Court at which such License is granted shall forthwith forward such License to the
23. The application for a "Packet License" shall as to vessels plying into or from the Harbor of Otago be made to the Resident Magistrate or to any Court of Petty Sessions in the City of Dunedin and in other cases the application shall be made to any Resident Magistrate or to two or more Justices holding a Court at the town or place of arrival or departure of such packet or vessel: Provided that such application may be made at any time after giving seven days' notice of application and need not be made at any Quarterly Licensing Meeting and shall be made in the form contained in the Schedule hereunto annexed marked L and if such application be granted the Resident Magistrate or Justices shall then give to the applicant a certificate in the form specified in the Schedule hereunto annexed marked M authorising the Provincial Treasurer to issue to him such "Packet License" and the Clerk of the Court shall forthwith after any such certificate has been granted notify the same to the Provincial Treasurer.
Method of Transferring Licenses.
24. If any holder of a license except a "Wholesale. License" a "Temporary License" a "Brewer's License" or a "Packet License" shall desire to transfer his license to any other person he shall deliver in duplicate a notice in writing in the form in the Schedule hereto annexed marked O to the Clerk of the nearest Resident Magistrate's Court or the nearest Court of Petty Sessions held within the Licensing District within which the house or premises in respect of which the license is held is or are situate and such Clerk shall cause one of such notices to be posted up in the same manner as is hereinbefore directed in respect to the application for granting a license and such application for transfer of licenses shall be heard at the usual Quarterly Licensing Meeting.
25. It shall be lawful for any such person as mentioned in Section 17 who shall have given notice in the form and manner required by that section to object to the grant of a certificate of transfer to any applicant and the Justices present shall have the same powers of hearing and determining such objections and ordering payment of costs by the objector to the applicant and to a like amount in case they shall deem the objections frivolous or vexatious as are given to the Justices at the hearing of applications for licenses in Section 17.
26. The majority of the Justices assembled at such Quarterly Licensing Meeting may transfer any license (except as aforesaid) to the appointee of the holder of such license (if such appointee be approved of by them) by an endorsement upon the license in the form in the Schedule marked P hereunto annexed and thereupon the transferree shall instead of such original holder possess all the rights and shall be subject and liable
27. No Wholesale Brewer's or Temporary License shall be transferable.
28. Any person being the holder of a license under this Ordinance (except as last aforesaid) who shallduring the currency thereof sell or assign his house or store in respect of which such license was granted may make written application to any Resident Magistrate or any two Justices of the Peace resident in the Licensing District within which the house or store is situate in respect of which such person holds such license in the form in the Schedule hereunto annexed marked Q for a temporary transfer of such license to the person named in such notice at any time after he shall have delivered the notice mentioned in Section 24 of this Ordinance in manner therein directed and if such Resident Magistrate or such Justices think fit he or they may at once upon production of a receipt for the payment by the applicant of a fee of one pound to the Provincial Treasurer by a memorandum under his or their hand or hands endorsed upon the original license in the form in the Schedule marked R hereunto annexed grant such temporary transfer of such license accordingly: And the effect thereof shall be to authorise the person named in such memorandum to carry on the business specified in such license at the house or store in respect of which the same is held until the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting after such temporary transfer shall have been granted and no longer.
29. In case any person holding a license under this Ordinance shall be desirous of removing his business from the house named in such license to any other house in the same district he shall deliver in duplicate a notice in writing in the form of Schedule S hereunto annexed to the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate's Court or of the Court of Petty Sessions of such district as the case may be and such Clerk will cause one of such notices to be posted up in manner hereinbefore directed in respect to the applications mentioned in Section 10 of this Ordinance and it shall be lawful for a Resident Magistrate or any two Justices of the Peace resident in the district at the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting to be held after the delivery of such notice to authorise such removal forthwith by an endorsement upon the original license in the form of Schedule T hereunto annexed: Provided nevertheless that objections may be made in manner provided in Section 17 of this Ordinance and dealt with as therein mentioned: Provided also that before such endorsement shall be made the applicant shall pay to the Provincial Treasurer a fee of two pounds for such transfer.
30. In case of the decease or insolvency of a holder of a license his executor or administrator or assignee trustee or other legal representative may by an agent specially authorised in writing by any one Justice for
House having "General License" to contain certain accommodation.
31. Every house for which a "General License" shall be granted shall from the time of granting the same contain over and above the apartments used and occupied by the holder of the license or his family at least two moderate-sized sitting-rooms and two sleeping-rooms constantly ready and fit for public accommodation and shall be provided with a decent privy or water-closet and an urinal on or near the premises for the use of the customers thereof so as to prevent nuisances and offences against decency and shall also during the continuance of such license be provided with stabling sufficient for four horses at least and with a sufficient supply of wholesome and usual provender for the same: Provided that the Justices granting a certificate for any such license within Dunedin and its suburbs may by an endorsement thereon in writing dispense with the said accommodation for horses either wholly or in part as they may think fit.
32. No person holding a license under this Ordinance shall sell or supply any fermented or spirituous liquor or suffer the same to be drunk in or upon his house or premises except between the hours of six in the morning and ten at night on any working day except in cases where a "General Night License" is also held and at all other hours such house and premises shall be closed unless the time for closing the same shall he extended by a Resident Magistrate as herein provided.
33. It shall not be lawful for any person holding a license under this Ordinance to sell or supply any fermented or spirituous liquors or to suffer the same to be drunk in or upon his house or premises upon any Sunday: Provided always that in any licensed house which shall be an hotel or house of accommodation for travellers it shall be lawful at any time to supply such liquors to any persons who shall be bona fide lodgers in such house having a bed provided for them therein or who shall be bona fidetravellers.
34. Every holder of a "General License" shall have his name in full in legible letters at least two inches long with the words "licensed to re
35. Every holder of a "General License" shall keep a lamp affixed over the principal entrance door of his house or within twenty feet thereof which lamp shall be kept burning the whole of each and every night from sunset to sunrise.
36. No person holding a General a Bottle a Temporary or a Packet License shall take anything whatsoever in pledge for any liquor sold or supplied nor shall any such person take in payment for the same anything whatever except metallic or paper money or a cheque or order for payment of money.
37. No person holding a General or a Bottle License shall permit any wages to be paid in or upon his house or premises save only the wages of persons employed as servants therein.
38. No person holding a General License or a Bottle License shall permit or suffer gambling or playing at any game of chance in or upon his house or premises.
39. No holder of a General License or a Bottle License shall permit or suffer the game of billiards or bagatelle to be played in his house in respect of which such General License or Bottle License is held nor shall any bagatelle or billiard table be or be kept therein unless a special permission in writing has been obtained from a Resident Magistrate or two or more Justices having jurisdiction within the licensing district within which the house is situate and for which permission the annual fee of ten shillings for each bagatelle table and five pounds for each billiard table shall be paid to the Provincial Treasury: Provided that no such game shall be played in such licensed house on Sunday or on any day on which by this Ordinance the licensed house is forbidden to be kept open and no such games shall be played therein except during such hours as the house is permitted to be kept open for the sale of liquors: Provided also that no registration under the "Town and Country Police Ordinance
40. Every person holding any license under this Ordinance shall on demand at his licensed house or on his packet or vessel produce his license to any Justice of the Peace or any Constable duly authorised by writing under the hand of any Justice of the Peace to demand the same.
41. Any Justice of the Peace Commissioner Inspector or Sub-Inspector of Police or Police Constable may demand entrance from time to time into any licensed house by day or night and any unnecessary delay in giving admission to any such person as aforesaid may upon hearing of the case by any Magistrate or Justices subject the party to the penalties herein contained.
42. If any person not being duly licensed under this Ordinance shall sell or permit to be sold in or upon his house or premises or elsewhere any bread meat or other thing whatsoever and shall supply or permit any other person to supply to the person buying such bread meat or other things whatsoever any fermented or spirituous liquor the person so supplying or wilfully or knowingly or negligently permitting any unlicensed person to supply such fermented or spirituous liquors in his said house or premises shall be deemed and adjudged to have sold such fermented or spirituous liquor within the meaning and contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance.
43. It shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace Police Officer or Constable to seize and take away or cause to be seized and taken away and to convey or cause to be conveyed to the nearest police station all such fermented or spirituous lipuor as he or they shall have reasonable cause to suspect to be carried about or exposed for sale in any street road or footpath or in any booth tent store or shed or in any other place whatever by any person not licensed or authorised to sell the same in such place and the vessels containing the same and it shall be lawful for any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace in a summary way on his or their own view or on confession of the party or on proof of such offence by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses to convict any person so offending of carrying about for or exposing for sale such liquors without a license and on conviction such person shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding fifty pounds and it shall be lawful for the convicting Justice or Justices to adjudge such liquors and the vessels and utensils containing the same to be forfeited and to order and direct the same to be sold and the proceeds thereof after deducting the expenses of sale shall be applied as penalties for offences recovered on summary conviction are now by law applied or it shall be lawful for such convicting Justice or Justices in bis or their discretion to direct that such liquor vessels and utensils so adjudged to be forfeited shall be destroyed: Provided always that in all cases when fermented or spirituous liquors shall be carried from one place to another the burden of proving that such fermented or spirituous liquors were not so carried for sale or exposed to sale shall be cast upon the party or parties so carrying or exposing them.
44. No person shall hold more than one license of any kind except as hereinbefore provided.
45. If any person licensed under this Ordinance shall be convicted of
46. If any Justice of the Peace hereinbefore forbidden to act at any Quarterly Licensing Meeting shall act at any such meeting or at any meeting for the granting or transfer or removal of licenses he shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds.
47. If any person or persons not being duly licensed under this Ordinance shall sell any fermented or spirituous liquor or shall knowingly or negligently permit or suffer the same to be sold or delivered by any unlicensed person in or upon his house or premises he shall forfeit and pay for every such offence a sum not exceeding fifty pounds: And it is expressly declared that any person not being duly licensed under this Ordinance who shall sell any ale beer or other fermented liquor brewed or manufactured by himself or shall permit or suffer the same to be sold on the house or premises occupied by him whether it be delivered there or at any other place whatsoever shall be deemed to have incurred the penalty herein provided and shall forfeit and pay a like penalty not exceeding fifty pounds for every such offence.
48. If any person holding a license under this Ordinance shall offend against any of the provisions of this Ordinance except those provisions in or as to which a particular penalty is specified he shall on conviction of every such offence forfeit and pay any sum not less than one shilling nor more than twenty pounds.
49. No person holding a license under this Ordinance shall in his house or on the premises appertaining thereto or in the booth packet vessel or other place in respect of which the license is granted permit any person to become drunk or shall supply or permit any fermented or spirituous liquors to be supplied or given to any person in a state of intoxication or shall permit such person (not being a lodger guest or inmate thereof) to remain in or upon his house or premises or other places as aforesaid and any such licensed person so doing shall on conviction of any such offence forfeit and pay for each offence any sum not exceeding five pound
50. It shall not be lawful for the holder of any license to permit music or dancing in any part of his licensed house which is open to public resort unless by the permission in writing of the Resident Magistrate of the district or two or more Justices of the Peace residing within the Licensing District in which the house is situate which permission may be revoked at any time by such Resident Magistrate or any two or more Justices of the Peace residing as aforesaid whether the same Justices or not: And every such holder of a license offending against this enactment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.
51. No holder of a General License upon any line of road or public way in the Province shall if there be accommodation in his licensed house refuse to receive any traveller as a guest into his house or to supply him with food or lodging or to receive his horse or horses or to provide any such horse with sufficient provender whether the owner lodge in his house or not unless the traveller be intoxicated or a known disreputable person: And every such holder offending against this enactment shall for each such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds
52. Every holder of any license under this Ordinance who shall employ any unlicensed person to sell any fermented or spirituous liquors in any house or premises cart carriage vessel boat or other place whatsoever out of the house or place in which such licensed person is authorised to sell the same by his license or in such last-mentioned house or place otherwise than as the servant or agent and for the use and benefit of and answerable and accountable to such holder shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.
53. If any person licensed under this Ordinance shall sell or offer for sale any adulterated liquor he shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not less than ten pounds nor more than fifty pounds and in order to analyse such liquor any Justice of the Peace may on complaint on oath made to him that any liquor so sold or offered for sale is or is believed by such complainant to be adulterated and on the deposit by such complainant of the sum of two pounds to defray the expenses of such analysis authorise the seizure of such suspected liquor and of the cask bottle vessel or utensil in which the same is contained and shall cause such liquor to be analysed by some competent person and the expenses of such analysis shall be a portion of the costs which the person convicted of any such offence shall be ordered to pay.
54. Provided always and it is hereby expressly declared that nothing in this Ordinance contained shall extend to render any person liable to the penalties herein-mentioned who shall under the written authority of the Speaker of the Legislative Council or of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the General Assembly sell fermented or spirituous liquors within any building in the Province of Otago used for the pur-
55. Notwithstanding anything in tin's Ordinance contained it shall be lawful for the Superintendent, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council to license for the sale of spirituous and fermented liquors the owners or occupiers of any house situate in remote or thinly-populated districts at such times and in such manner upon such terms and conditions and either with or without any annual payment as to the Superintendent in Council may seem meet: Provided that no person shall be licensed by the Superintendent as aforesaid if his house be within fifteen miles of any house licensed under the other provisions of this Ordinance nor unless it shall appear to the Superintendent in Council that there is need of a house for the accommodation of travellers at the spot where such house is situate.
56. If the land on which any house or premises are or hereafter may be erected and in respect of which house or premises any license has been or hereafter shall be granted under the "Gold Fields Act
57. All proceedings for offences against the provisions of this Ordinance shall be had and taken in a summary way and all fines and penalties hereby imposed shall be recovered in the manner directed by the Act of the Imperial Legislature intituled the "Summary Convictions Act
58. Any person who shall feel himself aggrieved by the judgment of any Resident Magistrate or any Justice or Justices adjudicating or before whom he was convicted, may appeal from any such judgment or conviction in manner prescribed by an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of her present Majesty intituled "An Act to improve the administration of the Law as far as respects summary proceedings before Justices of the Peace."
59. In the construction of this Ordinance wherever in describing or referring to any person or thing any word importing the singular number or masculine gender is used the same shall be understood to include and shall be applied to several persons and things as well as one person and thing and females as well as males and wherever the following words are used in this Ordinance (unless when the contrary appears from the context) the meaning hereby assigned to them respectively shall be deemed and taken to be the meaning thereof: "Brewer" shall mean any maker of fermented malt liquor or airy fermented liquor made from sugar or other saccharine matter and termed beer ale or porter for sale and shall include every vendor of fermented liquors made in the Province of Otago in quantities of not less than five gallons: "Liquor" shall mean any wine spirits ale cider perry or other fermented liquor of an intoxicating nature: "Spirituous liquors" shall mean any liquors exceeding in strength 26 per cent, of proof spirit: "Adulterated Liquor" shall mean any liquor mixed with or containing any deleterious liquid compound substance matter or thing whatsoever.
60. Every licensed person shall sell or otherwise dispose of all liquors (except such as may be sold in bottle) in vessels sized to full imperial measure according to the standard which is by law established in this Colony and in default thereof shall for every such offence on conviction forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding five pounds.
61. Any Resident Magistrate may by writing under his hand grant to any holder of a General License leave to absent himself from his licensed house for such period as such Resident Magistrate may think proper and may also on special occasions upon application of any holder of a license grant him permission to extend the hour of closing his licensed premises: In each and every such case the Clerk of the Court shall give notice to the Commissioner of Police of the leave of absence or permission so granted.
62. In all proceedings against any person for selling or allowing to be sold any liquor without a license such person shall be deemed to be unlicensed unless he shall at the hearing of the case produce his license.
63. The unlawful sale of liquor may be proved by any person although he may himself have purchased the same and such proof shall be sufficient to support a conviction for such offence and shall be held as sufficient proof by any Court upon any appeal upon such conviction.
64. The delivery of any liquor either by the owner or occupier or by his or her servant or other person in the house or place shall be deemed to be sufficient prima facie evidence of money or other consideration given for such liquor so as to support a conviction unless proof to the contrary be given to the satisfaction of the Court.
65. If any purchaser of any liquor from any person holding a Bottle License should drink such liquor in the house or premises described in such license he shall forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than ten nor more than forty shillings and any person so offending may be apprehended by any Police Officer without warrant.
66. This Ordinance may be cited and referred to as the "Licensing Ordinance
Whereas A.B. ________ of _________ hath deposited in this office a certificate dated the __________ day of ________ 18 _________ authorising the issue to the said A. B. of a License for the house known (or to be known) by the sign of situate at in the Province of Otago, in the Colony of New Zealand:
And whereas the said A. B. hath paid into my office the sum of twenty pounds sterling as the Fee on such License pursuant to the provisions of the "Licensing Ordinance
Given under my hand at _______ this__________ day of _________ one thousand eight hundred and ________________
Whereas A. B. of____________hath deposited in tins office a certificate dated the day of____________18_________ authorising the issue to the said A. B. of a "Bottle License": And whereas the said A. B. hath paid into my office the sum of ten pounds sterling, as the Fee on this License, pursuant to the provisions of the "Licensing Ordinance or store and premises licensed) in his house (or store) situate ___________ in the Province of Otago aforesaid, and on the premises thereunto appertaining, but not elsewhere. And this License shall commence on the ________ day of _________ and shall continue in force until the thirty-first day of December next, both days inclusive.
Given under my hand at this day of one
thousand eight hundred and ______________________
Whereas A. B. of ________ hath deposited in this office a certificate dated the__________day of_________authorising the issue to the said A. B. of a Brewer's License to sell Fermented Liquors: And whereas the said A. B. hath paid into my office the sum of five pounds sterling as the Fee on such License, pursuant to the provisions of the "Licensing Ordinance
Given under my hand at_________this________day of____________one thousand eight hundred and_________________
Whereas A. B. of ________________ hath deposited in this office a certificate dated the ___________ day of ____________ authorising the issue to the said A. B. of a "Wholesale License" to sell fermented and Spirituous Liquors: And whereas the said A. B. hath paid into my office the sum of ten pounds sterling, as the fee on such License, pursuant to the provision of the "Licensing Ordinance
And this License shall commence on the__________day of__________and shall continue in force until the thirty first day of December next, both days inclusive.
Given under my hand at______________this__________day of_______one thousand eight hundred and _____________
Be it remembered that A.B., holding a General License for (describe the house, place or district for which the same is granted) having applied to me (or us) on the___________day of __________ for authority to exercise the privileges of the said License (describe the place of amusement where) to be holden at ________________ on ___________ the ___________ day of ________ and having paid the sum of one pound sterling as the fee on such license: Now I (or we) do hereby grant authority to and do license the said A. B. to exercise the said License at the said (place of amusement) on the said _____________ day of ________________ and for and during ____________ days thereafter between the hours of ______________ in the morning, and ____________ in the evening: Provided that (here set out any special conditions the Justices have attached in the particular case).
Given under my (or our) hand the day and the year first aforesaid.
Whereas A.B. of___________________ hath deposited in this office a certificate dated the ___________ day of_____________ authorising the issue to the said A. B. of a "General Night License."
And whereas the said A.B. hath paid into this office the sum of five pounds sterling as the Fee on such License, pursuant to the provisions of the "Licensing Ordinance
Given under my hand at _______________ this ___________ day of _______ one thousand eight hundred and ___________
Whereas A. B., being the master (or commander) of the Steam Packet named (or if any other kind of vessel describe it) conveying passengers between (name the place)and (name the place) being places within the Province of Otago, hath deposited in this office a certificate dated the ____________________ day of _____________ authorising the issue to the said A.B. of a "Packet License And whereas the said A.B. hath paid into my office the sum of ten pounds sterling as a fee on such License, pursuant to the provisions of the "Licensing Ordinarce
Given under my hand at_______________ this________________ day of ______ one thousand eight hundred and _______
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace, acting in and for the Licensing District of________________ in the Province of Otago.
I, (state the name and the trade or occupation) now residing at________________ (city, town or district of)________________ do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply at the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting to be holden for this district, on the________________ day of________________ next ensuing, for a General License, under the "Licensing Ordinance (here describe the house proposed to be licensed, specifying the situation of it, the number of sitting-rooms and bed rooms contained in it, exclusive of those required for the family, the person from whom rented, the present occupier, whether now licensed, and if so, under whut sign) and which I intend to keep as an Hotel, Inn, or Public House.
Signed this day________________ day of________________ one thousand eight hundred and________________
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace acting in and for the Licensing District of________________ in the Province of Otago, I, (state the name and the trade or occupation)________________ now residing at________________ (city, town, or district of________________ do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply under the "Licensing Ordinance
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace acting in and for the________________ Licensing District of________________ in the Province of Otago.
I, (slate the name) being the holder of a General License for the house and premises known as the "________________ Hotel," situate in the (city, town or District of)do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply at the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting to be holden for this district, on the________________ day of________________ next ensuing, for a "General Night License," under the "Licensing Ordinance
Signed this day of one thousand eight hundred and________________
We, the undersigned Householders, residing within the town (or district) of do hereby certify that the above A. B. of is a person of good fame and reputation, and fit and proper to be licensed for the sale of Fermented and Spirituous Liquors.
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At the Quarterly Licensing Meeting held at____________on the____________day of____________18, for the Licensing District of____________pursuant to the "Licensing Ordinance
Given under our hands at the____________, on the ____________
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace (or Resident Magistrate as the case may be) acting in and for____________in the Province of Otago.
I, A. B., being master (or commander) of the Steam Packet (or other vessel as the case may be) conveying passengers between (name the place) and (name the place)being places within the said Province of Otago, do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply to the Justices of the Peace (or R.M. as the case may be) at upon the____________day of____________for a license for the sale of Fermented and Spirituous Liquors to the passengers on board such vessel, pursuant to the Licensing Ordinance
Given under my hand this____________day of____________one thousand eight hundred and ____________
I, A. B, Resident Magistrate for we, C. D. and E. F., two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, as the case may be) pursuant to the "Licensing Ordinance (here state the name of the vessel and other particulars).
Dated this____________day of____________186____________.
I, A. B., Resident Magistrate (or we, C. D. and E. F., two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, as the case may be) pursuant to the "Licensing Ordinance ____________(state name and occupation) the License in the said Ordinance called a "Wholesale License" or "Brewer's License," for the house and premises situate and being (here describe the premises).
Dated this____________day of____________186 A.B., R.M.____________
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace acting in and for the Licensing District ____________ of ____________ in the Province of Otago.
I, A. B., of (here state the place of residence and house licensed, the sign if any)being the holder of a (state nature of License) License under "Licensing Ordinance
Signed this____________day of____________
Be it remembered that we, the undersigned, being the majority of the Justices present at a Quarterly Licensing Meeting for the district of ____________ held at ____________ for the purpose of transferring Licenses do hereby upon the application of the within named ____________ transfer the rights and privileges of the within License to ____________ for the residue of the term for which the same has now to run.
Given under our hand at this ____________ day of ____________ one thousand eight hundred and ____________
I, A. B., the holder of a (state the nature of the license) license for the house and premises known as____________situate at____________ do hereby apply to have the said license transferred temporarily to C. D. (who has purchased, or to whom I have assigned the lease of ____________ as the case may be) the said house and premises.
Dated this ____________ day of ____________ one thousand eight hundred and____________
I, (or we as the case may be) Resident Magistrate at____________(or two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace having jurisdiction in the Licensing District of____________)do hereby upon the application of the within-named A. B., it having been proved to (____________) that the necessary notice has been given by the said A. B., and the said A. B., having paid to the Provincial Treasurer the Fee of £1, transfer the License granted to the said A. B. (state the nature of the Licence) for the house and premises known as____________situate at____________to E. F, the purchaser (or assignee of the lease of) the said house and premises, until the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting to be holden for this district.
Given under my (or our) hand (or hands) at____________this____________day of____________one thousand eight hundred and____________
To the Worshipful the Justices of the Peace acting in and for the Licensing District of in the Province of Otago.
I, A. B. (here state place of residence, the house licensed the sign if any) being the holder of a (here state nature of license) license under the "Licensing Ordinance (here state the house to which license is to be removed, describing its situation, sign or any other particulars)
Given under my hand____________at____________this____________day of____________
Memorandum:____________ do hereby declare that A. B. having paid the fee of one pound to the Provincial Treasurer the within license shall henceforth cease to apply to the house and premises therein described and shall apply instead thereof to the house and premises situate (describe new premises).
(Signature of two Justices of the Peace or Resident Magistrate)____________
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick and Co., Stafford street, Dunedin, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto amend an Ordinance intituled the "Licensing Ordinance1865 ."
Whereas it is expedient to amend the "Licensing Ordinance
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :
1. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensing Ordinance
2. The second eighth and fifty-sixth sections of the "Licensing Ordinance
3. The said Ordinance shall apply and the provisions thereof except as affected by this Ordinance are hereby extended to the whole of the Province of Otago.
4. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent with the advice and consent of the Executive Council to authorise the Provincial Treasurer to issue Licenses of the several kinds and designations specified in the said recited Ordinance to persons resident within the limits of any Gold Field in the Province of Otago and such Licenses shall be as nearly as may be in the several forms in the Schedule to the said recited Ordinance and shall authorise the holder thereof to do the several acts and things which
5. No License shall be issued under the authority of this Ordinance after the thirty-first day of March one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven and every such License shall if no earlier term be therein specified for the termination thereof expire on the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
6. All certificates authorising the issue of any License which shall or may be granted at any Quarterly Licensing Meeting held under the authority of the said recited Ordinance in the month of December in any year shall entitle the holder thereof to the License mentioned in such certificate and such License shall be dated on the first day of January next ensuing to the granting of such certificate or if the first day of January fall upon a Sunday then on the second day of January and all Licenses issued at any other time of the year shall be dated on the first day of the month next following that in which the certificate authorizing the issue of such License shall have been granted or if the first day of such month be a Sunday then on the second day of the same month and all such Licenses whensoever issued shall have effect on and after the date thereof respectively and shall remain in force until the first day of January then next following unless forfeited in the meantime under the provisions of the said recited Ordinance and the fees payable for such Licenses shall be as follows (that is to say)—
7. Notwithstanding anything in the nineteenth section of the said recited Ordinance to the contrary it shall be lawful for the Superintendent at any time within thirty days after the expiration of the period of twenty-one days in the said nineteenth section mentioned to authorise the Provincial Treasurer to issue a License in the terms of such certificate upon payment being made by the hoider of such certificate to the Provin-
8. A fee of one pound shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer for each and every transfer of any License issued under the authority of the said recited Ordinance.
9. The word "Liquor" wherever used in the said recited Ordinance shall mean spirituous liquor as well as the meaning applied to the word liquor by the fifty-ninth section of the said recited Ordinance.
10. This Ordinance shall be taken read and interpreted as part of and incorporated with the "Licensing Ordinance
Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick and Co., Stafford street. Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto amend the "Licensing Ordinance1865 "and the Licensing Ordinance1865 Amendment Ordinance1866 ."
Whereas it is expedient to amend the "Licensing Ordinance
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :
1. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensing Ordinance Amendment Ordinance
2. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the said "Licensing Ordinance
3. Notwithstanding the fee for the renewal of any license shall by reason of any inadvertence or accident not have been paid before the thirty-first day of December in any year the Superintendent may if he shall see fit upon a statement of the circumstances of the case verified if the Superintendent shall so require by statutory declaration direct the renewal of any license in respect to the renewal of which no objection shall have been lodged as in the last preceding section is mentioned on payment of any sum not exceeding fifteen pounds in addition to the sum payable for the particular license.
4. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the thirty-fifth section of the "Licensing Ordinance
5. Notwithstanding anything in the "Licensing Ordinance
6. It shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace Commissioner Inspector or Sub-Inspector of police or police constable and for any officer of inland revenue or other officer or person appointed for that purpose by the Superintendent to enter any part of any house store and premises in or upon which the holder of any bottle license shall be authorized to sell and dispose of fermented or spirituous liquors in bottles whether such part of such house store or premises shall be ordinarily used for carrying on the business of the holder of such bottle license or not at any hour of the day or night and to search such premises for the purpose of discovering whether any breach of the said Licensing Ordieance
7. If the holder of such bottle license or any person acting by or under his instructions or authority shall resist or obstruct any such Justice of the Peace Commissioner Inspector or Sub-Inspector of police police constable officer of inland revenue or other officer or person aforesaid in entering any such house store or premises or searching therein as aforesaid any such person so offending shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding £20.
8. Notwithstanding anything in the forty-fifth section of the said Licensing Ordinance
9. If any holder of a General License under the said Licensing Ordinance
10. In addition to the powers conferred upon the Superintendent by the fifty-sixth section of the said Licensing Ordinance
11. If during the currency of any license granted under the said Ordinance (except a temporary license) the tenancy of the holder of such license in respect of the house or premises for which the same is held shall he determined by effluxion of time or by notice to quit or by any other means whatsoever other than the bankruptcy of the licensee it shall be lawful for the landlord or other the person entitled to the immediate reversion of and in such premises or his authorised agent to apply in writing to any Resident Magistrate or any two or more Justices of the Peace resident in the licensing district within which such house or premises are situate to issue a license for such house and premises to such landlord or other person entitled to the reversion as aforesaid or his agent or to any person to be named by such landlord or person entitled to the reversion as aforesaid or his agent in such written application And if such Resident Magistrate or Justices think fit he or they may on being satisfied of the good character of the person to be licensed and upon production of a receipt for the payment by the applicant of a fee of Five Pounds to the Provincial Treasurer at once grant to the applicant or to the persons named by him as aforesaid in respect of the said premises a license of the same kind and description as that then current for the same premises and the effect of such license shall be to authorise the person named therein to carry on the business specified in such license at the house or premises in respect of which the same is issued until the next Quarterly Licensing Meeting after such license shall have been granted and no longer, and at such meeting a new license may be issued for the said premises.
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick A Co., Stafford Street, Dunedin, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto repeal the Licensing Ordinances of the late Province of Southland and to extend the provisions of the Licensing Ordinances of the Province of Otago to that part of the Province of Otago which before the coming into operation of the "Otago and Southland Union Act1870 "was included in the Province of Southland.
Whereas it is expedient to repeal the Ordinances of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the late Province of Southland specified in the First Schedule hereto and to extend to that part of the Province of Otago which before the coining into operation of the "Otago and Southland Union Act
Be it Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago by and with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :—
1. The short title of this Ordinance shall be the "Licensing Ordinances (Southland) Repeal Ordinance
2. The several Ordinances of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the late Province of Southland specified in the First Schedule hereto shall be and the same are hereby repealed.
3. The several Ordinances of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the Province of Otago specified in the Second Schedule hereto shall bo and the same are hereby extended to that part of the Province of Otago which before the coming into operation of the "Otago and Southland Union Act
4. This Ordinance shall come into operation upon the first day of
Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto amend the "Licensing Ordinances Amendment Ordinance1870 "
Whereas it is expedient to amend the "Licensing Ordinances Amendment Ordinance
Be it therefore enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :—
1. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensing Ordinances Amendment Ordinance
2. Instead of the notice of an objection under the second section of the "Licensing Ordinances Amendment Ordinance
3. In addition to the persons specified in the "Licensing Ordinances Amendment Ordinance
Printed under the authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick And Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.?
An Ordinanceto amend the law relating to the Dog Nuisance.
Whereas it is expedient to repeal the Ordinance passed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council of Otago in the eighteenth year of Her Majesty intituled "An Ordinance to Abate the Dog Nuisance" and to make other provisions instead thereof.
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :—
1. The before recited Ordinance shall be and is hereby repealed except in so far as the Ordinance therein recited passed by the Lieut.-Governor of New Munster and the Legislative Council thereof is thereby repealed.
2. Any person who shall keep any dog without causing a description of every such dog so kept by him to be registered and such registration to be renewed from year to year in manner hereinafter mentioned shall forfeit and pay for every such dog a penalty or sum of not less than forty shillings nor more than five pounds: Provided always that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to require the registration of any dog under the age of six months the proof of which shall lie on the owner or keeper of such dog.
3. Every such registration of any dog shall be made by its owner or keeper or some person on his or her behalf paying the fees after-mentioned and delivering at the Police Office of the District or at such other place as the Superintendent may appoint in the District in which such Dog is intended to be ordinarily kept a description of such dog embracing the several particulars contained in the Schedule to this Ordinance annexed.
4. Every such registration shall be deemed to be in force from the day on which the same shall be made until the thirty-first day of March then next ensuing and no longer and shall be in like manner renewed from year to year so long as any such dog shall continue to be kept: Provided, however, that every such registration which shall be made in the month of March in any year shall be deemed to be in force until the thirty-first day of March in the year next ensuing.
5. For the registration of every such dog the sum of ten shillings shall he paid to the officer in charge of the Police Office or station for the district or to such other officer at such other place as the Superintendent may appoint in the district in which the registration is made and the said officer shall in return for the registration fee supply to the person making such registration a registration ticket containing the number in the registry book to be kept for the district as hereinafter mentioned the name of the owner and the name and description of the dog and the date of registration.
6. In the registry book to be kept as aforesaid shall be entered the several particulars contained in the notice delivered by the person registering at the time of registration and the said registry book shall be open to inspection at the said Police Office or Station or the said other place on payment of a fee of sixpence by non-official persons and for more convenient reference thereto there shall be an index to the said book in which shall be inserted in alphabetical order the names of all persons contained in the Registrations entered in the said Book.
7. Every dog without a collar having engraven thereon the registered number of such dog and all dogs found molesting sheep within any enclosure or upon any sheep run may be destroyed.
8. In all cases where damages for injury done by a dog are sought to be recovered from the owner it shall not be necessary for the plaintiff to prove that the owner knew of the dog's propensity to commit the injury complained of.
9. All registration fees paid in virtue of this Ordinance shall be accounted for and paid over to the Provincial Treasurer for the public uses of the Province agreeably to any rules or regulations that may be made by the Superintendent in that behalf.
10. All penalties imposed under this Ordinance shall be recovered before any two justices of the peace in a summary way.
11. This ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Dog Nuisance Ordinance
A description of____Dogs intended to be kept by A. B. of____in the [District or Town] fo____during the year ending on the 31st March, 18
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinancefor regulating Common or Public Carriages within the Province of Otago.
Whereas in order to prevent inconvenience and danger to persons travelling by common or public carriages conveying passengers for hire in the Province of Otago and the loss of or injury to parcels packages or property so conveyed it is expedient that such carriages should be regulated in manner hereinafter mentioned :
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the said Province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :
1. From and after the first day of January next it shall not be lawful for any person to keep any carriage used or employed as a common or public carriage unless such person shall have a license in force so to do granted to him under the authority of this Ordinance nor unless the several particulars directed to be painted on every such carriage shall be painted thereon.
2. Every coach waggon van cart or other carriage or vehicle used employed or let out for the purpose of conveying passengers parcels and packages and every coach waggon van cart or other carriage or vehicle used employed or let out for the purpose of conveying only parcels packages and goods for hire to or from different parts in the Province of Otago shall be deemed and taken to be a common or public carriage within the meaning of this Ordinance.
3. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to direct every such license to be issued by the Provincial Treasurer of the said Province or any other person duly authorised in that behalf to any person applying for the same in manner hereinafter mentioned and every such license (to be called a Public Carriage License) shall be in either of the forms in the Schedule hereunto annexed according as the carriage to be licensed is to be used or employed for the conveyance of passengers and luggage parcels and packages or for the conveyance of parcels packages and goods only.
4. Before any such license shall be granted for or in respect of any carriage to be used or employed for conveying passengers the carriage in respect of which such license is applied for shall be exhibited to the Superintendent or such officer as the Superintendent may appoint in that behalf at the time and place appointed by him or by such officer for determining on the application for such license and it shall be lawful for the Superintendent upon such examination of such carriage to determine the number of passengers which may be safely and conveniently carried by such carriage both in the inside and outside thereof and in or on what part thereof luggage parcels and packages may be carried and to what extent.
5. Before any license shall be granted or renewed for or in respect of any common or public carriage a requisition for such license shall be made and signed by the proprietor or one of the proprietors of such carriage and in every such requisition there shall be truly specified and set forth the name and surname and place of abode of the person applying for such license and of every person who shall be a proprietor or part proprietor of such carriage or who shall be concerned either solely or in partnership with any other person in the keeping using or employing of such carriage and in case any person shall neglect or omit to specify truly in such requisition as aforesaid the name of any person who shall be concerned as
6. There shall be specified in every license to be granted or renewed under this Ordinance the following particulars that is to say the name and surname and place of abode of the person and of every person who shall be a proprietor or part proprietor of the carriage in respect of which such license shall be granted or who shall be concerned either solely or in partnership with any other person in the keeping using or employing of such carriage and in the case of a license of a carriage for conveying passengers the greatest number of passengers to be conveyed by such carriage as shall have been determined as aforesaid distinguishing (when the same is intended to convey both inside and outside passengers) the number to be carried on or about the outside from the number to be carried in the inside of such carriage and in or on what part thereof luggage parcels and packages may be carried and to what extent and a copy of every such license shall be registered in a book to be kept at the office or place from which such license shall be issued in order that any person may have a copy thereof on paying one shilling for the same.
7. Every license granted under the authority of this Ordinance shall be and continue in force from the day of the date thereof until the thirtieth day of September then next ensuing and no longer and every such license shall be renewed from year to year and whenever any change in the owners or proprietors of any common or public carriage shall take place subject to all such and the like rules and regulations as are hereinbefore provided with respect to the granting of original licenses : Provided however that all licenses which shall be granted or renewed in the month of September in any year shall be and continue in force until the thirtieth day of September in the year then next ensuing and no longer.
8. There shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer or any other person duly authorised in that behalf at issuing any such license a fee of ten shillings which sum together with any sum or sums which may be received for a copy of the same as hereinbefore directed shall be applied and appropriated to the public uses of the said Province as the Provincial Legislature thereof shall direct.
9. If any person shall keep or use or shall be concerned as proprietor or part proprietor in the keeping or using of any carriage used and employed as a common or public carriage as aforesaid without having a license in force so to do granted under the authority of this Ordinance every person so offending shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds.
10. No common or public carriage shall be used or employed unless or until there shall be truly painted in words at length and in legible and conspicuous letters one inch at the least in height and of a proper and proportionate breadth and in color different from and opposite to the color
11. No person shall be allowed to sit or be carried upon any luggage placed on the roof of any carriage licensed to carry passengers as aforesaid: And if any person shall sit or be carried upon any luggage placed as aforesaid the driver thereof at the time when any such offence shall be committed shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds.
12. If the number of passengers at any one time conveyed in upon or about any carriage licensed to carry passengers shall be greater in the whole than the number of passengers which the license granted in respect of such carriage shall authorise or allow to be conveyed thereby or if the number of passengers at any one conveyed in the inside of such carriage or upon or about the outside thereof shall be greater respectively than the greatest number of inside or outside passengers respectively specified in or upon such license and allowed thereby the person or persons to whom such license shall have been granted shall forfeit any sum not exceeding five pounds for every passenger so conveyed above the number allowed by such license to be conveyed in the whole or in the inside or on or about the outside of such carriage respectively and the driver of such carriage at the time when such offence shall be committed shall also forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds.
13. If the driver or other person having the care of any common or public carriage or employed in or upon or about such carriage shall through intoxication or negligence or by wanton or furious driving or by or through any other misconduct endanger the safety of any passenger or other person or shall injure and endanger the property of the owner or
14. Whenever it shall happen that the driver or other person having the care of any common or public carriage or employed in or about the same shall have committed any offence against this Ordinance for the commission whereof any penalty is by this Ordinance imposed upon such person so offending and not upon the proprietor of such carriage and such person so offending shall not be known or being known cannot be found then the proprietor of such carriage shall be liable to every such penalty as if he had been the person actually offending : Provided always that if any such proprietor shall make out to the satisfaction of the Justices of the Peace by whom any complaint or information shall be heard by sufficient evidence not resting on his own testimony that the offence was committed without the privity or knowledge of such person and that no profit advantage or benefit either directly or indirectly has accrued or can accrue to such proprietor therefrom and that he has used his endeavour to find out such driver or other person so offending and giving all reasonable information in answer to enquires respecting him such Justice shall discharge such proprietor from such penalty and shall levy the same upon such driver or other person actually offending.
15. All offences against this Ordinance shall be heard and determined and all fines and penalties shall be recovered in a summary way.
16. Nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to prevent any passenger by any such carriage who shall have suffered injury through the intoxication or negligence or the wanton and furious driving or other misconduct of the driver or other person having the care of such carriage or to prevent any person who shall have suffered damage by the loss or injury of any parcel package or property in the conveyance thereof by any such carriage or while under the care of any such carrier from claiming in any competent Court full satisfaction for any damage sustained by any such passenger or other person.
17. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensed Carriages Ordinance
Whereas A. A. [for A. B. and C. D. naming the proprietor or proprietors] have a certain carriage being [here insert in general terms the description of carriage whether a coach waggon van or cart and the number of wheels] having applied to the Superintendent of the Province of Otago to grant to him [or them as the case may be] a License to authorise him [or them] to keep use and employ the said carriage, *and the said carriage having been exhibited and examined and the Superintendent being satisfied that the said carriage is calculated safely and conveniently
packages in (here specify the part or parts of the carriage where such may be carried and if on the top to what height or other extent)* subject to the several regulations and provisions of the said recited Ordinances. This License to cease and determine on the thirtieth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and
Given under my hand this____day of____186
The foregoing Form omitting the part thereof within asterisks and inserting instead :—I do hereby in pursuance of the authority in me vested by the "Licensed Carriage Ordinance
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co., Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinanceto amend the Law relaxing to the Licensing and Regulating Hawkers and Pedlars.
Whereas it is expedient to amend the "Licensed Hawkers Ordinance
Be It Therefore Enated by the Superintendent of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows :—
1. This Ordinance may be cited and referred to as "The Licensed Hawkers Ordinance
2. On the commencement and coming into operation of this Ordinance "The Licensed Hawkers Ordinance
3. From and after the commencement and coming into operation of this Ordinance it shall not be lawful for any person to carry on the business of a hawker or pedlar in any place whatsoever within the Province of Otago without having previously obtained a license as hereinafter directed and if any person shall without having first obtained such license carry on such business within any part of the said Province he shall forfeit and pay on conviction by any Resident Magistrate or any two or more Justices of the Peace a sum not exceeding twenty pounds : Provided always that Licenses granted under "The Licensed Hawkers Ordinance
4. Every person carrying on business as aforesaid shall be deemed and taken to be unlicensed unless he shall prove to the contrary by the production of his license or otherwise.
5. There shall be two descriptions of Hawkers and Pedlars licenses the one being in the form in the Schedule annexed to this Ordinance marked A authorising the holder thereof to carry on his own person his wares and merchandise for the purpose of sale and the other in the form in the Schedule annexed to this Ordinance marked B authorising the holder thereof to carry his wares and merchandise for the purpose of sale by pack horse or other animal or by cart or other vehicle or by a boat vessel or craft.
6. Any two or more Justices of the Peace of the Colony of New Zealand when sitting in Petty Sessions or any Resident Magistrate may take into consideration the applications for licenses under this Ordinance and every person desirous of obtaining a license under this Ordinance shall deliver to the Clerk of that Resident Magistrate's Court or of that Court of Petty Sessions which is holden nearest to the usual place of residence of such person a notice in writing of his intention to apply for the same which notice if the application be for a license authorising the holder to carry on his own person his wares and merchandise for the purpose of sale shall be in the form to the Schedule annexed to this Ordinance and marked A2 or similar thereto or if the application be for a license authorising the holder to carry his wares and merchandise for the purpose of
7. The Clerks of Resident Magistrates' Courts or Courts of Petty Sessions shall on receiving such notice as aforesaid inform the applicant or person delivering such notice of the day on which the application will be considered which day shall not be until after the expiration of ten clear days from the receipt of the notice.
8. The Clerks of Resident Magistrates' Courts or Courts of Petty Sessions shall forthwith after the receipt of any such notice transmit a copy thereof to the police station nearest their court.
9. With the notice of application there shall be delivered to the Clerks of the Resident Magistrates' Courts or Courts of Petty Sessions a certificate of the good character of the applicant signed by at least three householders resident within three miles of the usual place of residence of the applicant or within five miles of the court-house.
10. Any two or more Justices of the Peace in Petty Sessions assembled or any Resident Magistrate sitting at the court to the Clerk of which the notice has been given upon proof that the notice of application has been lodged with the Clerk of the Court at least ten clear days previously may in his or their discretion if he or they shall be satisfied with the character of the applicant grant a certificate in the form C annexed to this Ordinance requiring the Provincial Treasurer or other person authorized in that behalf by the Superintendent to issue on the payment of the fee by this Ordinance required to be paid the license which the applicant has applied for : And it shall be lawful for such Resident Magistrate or Justices of the Peace to reject such application or to adjourn the consideration thereof provided that such adjournment do not exceed in the whole fourteen days from the day fixed for the hearing of the application.
11. Before any Resident Magistrate or Justices shall grant to any applicant for the same a certificate for a license in the said form Schedule B such applicant shall enter into a recognizance before a Resident Magistrate or one or more Justices with two sureties (to be approved of by such Resident Magistrate or Justice or Justices) each in the sum of twenty pounds such recognizance to be in the form and with the conditions set forth in the Schedule hereunder annexed marked D or similar thereto.
12. The Clerk of the Bench shall within seven days after the granting of such certificates as aforesaid transmit to the Provincial Treasurer or per
13. Every person applying for a license under this Ordinance shall before the same is granted pay to the Provincial Treasurer or such other person as may be appointed by the said Superintendent to issue such licenses the fees following that is to say—A fee of twenty shillings in the case of a license in the said form A authorising a holder to carry on his own person his wares or merchandise for sale and a fee of two pounds in case of a license in the said form B authorising the holder to carry his wares and merchandise for sale by pack-horse or other animal or by cart or other vehicle or by boat vessel or craft.
14. Every such certificate shall be .null and void unless the sum required to be paid for such license be lodged in the office of the Provincial Treasurer or of such other person as may be appointed in that behalf by the Superintendent within thirty days from the date of such certificate : And the said Provincial Treasurer or other person as aforesaid shall forthwith after the receipt of every such certificate and payment being made of the authorised fee issue and register in his office a license according to the tenor of each such certificate respectively and upon the issue of any such license the Provincial Treasurer or other person acting in that behalf shall cause a notice of the same to be immediately sent for insertion in the Provincial Government Gazette specifying in such notice the name of the person and the nature of the license issued but such period of thirty days herein appointed for the payment of the license fee and lodgment of the certificate as aforesaid may be extended for any period the Superintendent with the advice of the Executive Council may think fit on special written application made to him for that purpose.
15. All sums so received by the Provincial Treasurer or other person acting in that behalf shall form part of the ordinary revenue of the Province and shall be applied to the public uses of the said Province and in support of the Government thereof in such manuer as may be directed by any Ordinance of the Provincial Legislature.
16. Every license granted under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be and continue in force from and after the date of the granting thereof until the thirty-first day of December then next ensuing and no longer and when any License shall be granted under the provisions of this Ordinance after the first day of July in any year one half only of the said license fee shall be payable for the said licenses respectively and such license shall have full force and effect throughout the Province of Otago and all licenses granted under the said hereinbefore repealed Ordinance
17. It shall be lawful for any constable to seize and detain any person found by him carrying on the business of a Hawker or Pedlar within the said Province without having previously obtained such License as aforesaid and to keep him so detained until the day next after the day on which he shall be so seized for the purpose of being proceeded against for such offence unless the same can lie sooner disposed of.
18. Every person to whom any such License as aforesaid shall be granted or who shall carry on the business of a Hawker or Pedlar under the authority of such License shall cause to be written painted or printed in large legible Roman letters upon some conspicuous part of every pack hag box trunk case cart dray waggon boat or other vehicle or conveyance in or with which he shall so carry on such business the words "Licensed Hawker" together with his name at full length and the number of his License and every such person making default therein shall forfeit and pay on conviction for every such offence such sum not exceeding ten pounds as to the convicting Justices shall seem meet.
19. If any person who shall not have previously obtained any such License as aforesaid shall write paint or print or cause to be written painted or printed or keep or continue or cause to be kept or continued written painted or printed upon any pack bag box trunk case cart dray waggon boat or other vehicle or conveyance in or with which he shall sell or expose to sale any goods or in or with which he shall convey any goods the words "Licensed Hawker" or any other word or words to that effect he shall forfeit or pay on conviction such sum not exceeding ten pounds as to the convicting Justices shall seem meet.
20. If any such Hawker or Pedlar having obtained such License or Licenses as aforesaid shall at any time on demand thereof being made of him by any Justice of the Peace or Constable or by any person to whom he shall within twenty-four hours previously have sold or offered to sell any goods neglect or refuse to produce and show to such Justice of the Peace Constable or other person his said License he shall forfeit and pay on conviction for every such offence such sum not exceeding ten pounds as to the convicting Justices shall seem meet.
21. If any person shall forge or counterfeit any such License as aforesaid or travel with produce or show with intent to use the same as a genuine instrument any such forged or counterfeited License to any person entitled under this Ordinance to demand the production of such License such person shall on conviction thereof be punished by commitment to any gaol in the Province with hard labor for any period not exceeding three calendar months.
22. If any person having obtained any such License as aforesaid shall have in his possession or on his cart dray waggon boat or other conveyance any fermented or spirituous liquors he shall forfeit and pay on conviction for every such offence such sum not exceeding twenty pounds as to the convicting Justice shall seem meet.
23. In case any person shall have reasonable ground for suspecting that any Hawker or Pedlar is carrying fermented or spirituous liquors contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance or otherwise offending against the same it shall be lawful for such person to make oath before any Justice of the Peace at his private residence or elsewhere of the circumstances and if it shall appear to such Justice that reasonable ground for suspicion exists it shall be lawful for such Justice to grant a warrant authorising such person to examine and search the person packs baggage boxes trunks cases carts drays waggons boats or other vehicle of such Hawker or Pedlar therein named or described such warrant to remain in force for such time as shall be therein mentioned and it shall also be lawful for any Justice of the Peace Constable or other Peace Officer having reasonable ground for suspicion as aforesaid without warrant to examine and search the person packs baggage boxes trunks cases carts drays waggons boats or other vehicles or conveyance of any such Licensed Hawker or Pedlar without a warrant for such purpose and upon any such person authorised by warrant as aforesaid or of any such Justice of the Peace Constable or other Peace Officer finding any such fermented or spirituous liquors carried contrary, to law to seize the same and such Hawker or Pedlar, upon conviction of such offence in a summary way before any two or more Justices of the Peace shall forfeit find pay a sum not exceeding thirty pounds or be confined to hard labor in the common gaol for any period not exceeding six calendar months at the discretion of such Justices and it shall be lawful for the Justices before whom any such conviction takes place to adjudge such fermented and spirituous liquors so seized to be condemned and forfeited and to order the same to be sold by auction by any Chiet Constable or Licensed Auctioneer at any place the said Justices may appoint the proceeds to be paid and applied in manner as appointed by law.
24. It shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace Constable or other Peace Officer without warrant to seize all such fermented and spirituous liquors as shall be hawked and conveyed about or exposed to sale in any street road footpath or in any booth tent stall or shed or in any boat or vessel or any other place whatever by any person not licensed according to law to sell the same in such place and the vessels containing the same and all the vessels and utensils used for drinking or measuring the same and any cart dray or other carriage and any horse or horses or other animal or animals employed in drawing or carrying the same as well as any boat or vessel used in the conveyance of such liquors as aforesaid and it shall be lawful for any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace on his or their own view or if after due enquiry and examination it shall
25. If any Licensed Hawker or Pedlar shall be convicted of knowingly dealing in or selling any kind of smuggled or contraband goods wares or merchandise or any goods wares or merchandise fraudulently or dishonestly procured either by himself or through the medium of others with his privity and knowledge every such Hawker and Pedlar shall from and after such conviction forfeit his License and forever thereafter be incapable of obtaining or holding any new License or dealing trafficking or trading under the same over and above all such other forfeitures and incapacities fines and penalties to which he is or shall be by law subject and liable for such illicit and illegal trafficking and dealing.
26. If any person shall let out or hire or lend any License to him granted as aforesaid or shall trade with or under color of any License granted unto any person whatsoever or of any License in which his own real name shall not be inserted as the name of the person to whom the same is granted the person letting out hiring or lending any such License and the person so trading with or under color of any License granted to any other person or any License in which his own real name shall not be inserted as the name of the person to whom the same is granted shall each of them forfeit the sum of forty pounds and in case any person shall be convicted or have judgment against him for lending his License to any other person contrary to this Ordinance such his License shall be from thenceforth forfeited and void and he shall be utterly incapable of having any License again granted to him or to trade as aforesaid.
27. The selling or offering for sale goods carried about on the person or on any animal or in any movable conveyance whether by land or water in any city town street road or place within the said Province shall be deemed to be tarrying on the business of a Hawker or Pedlar within the meaning of this Ordinance : Provided that nothing contained in this Ordinance, shall be construed to prevent any person from selling or offering for sale any printed newspaper fish fruit water fuel milk vegetables or victuals of any description or any agricultural produce without having previously
28. All proceedings under this Ordinance shall be had and taken and all fines penalties and forfeitures incurred under the provisions hereof shall be recovered in a summary way and in the manner directed by the "Justices of the Peace Act
29. In the construction of this Ordinance unless there be something in the context repugnant thereto any word denoting the singular number or the male sex shall be taken to extend to any other number of persons and things and to both sexes.
Whereas there hath been deposited in my office a certificate dated the____day of____18____under the hand of (here insert the name or names of the Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace and state whether Resident Magistrates or Justices) holding a Court of Petty Sessions at____in the said Province requiring me to issue to A B a license authorising and empowering him to carry on his own person goods wares and merchandise for the purpose of safe travelling on foot only without any horse or other animal bearing or drawing burden : And whereas the said A B hath paid into my office the sum of twenty shillings as the duty of such License :
Now I (here insert the name of the person granting the License and whether as Provincial Treasurer or other person authorised in that behalf by the Superintendent of Otago) in virtue of the powers vested in me do hereby license the said A B to trade as such Hawker and Pedlar as aforesaid within the Province of Otago and this License shall continue in force until the____day of____18____and no longer.
Given under my hand this____day of____18
To the Clerk of the Bench at
I, A B (here insert name, residence, and addition) hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply to the Resident Magistrate or Justices holding a Court of Petty Sessions at____on the____day of____18____, for a Hawker's and Pedlar's License, authorising me to carry on my person goods, wares,
Dated at____this____day of____18 .
We, the undersigned, hereby certify that the above-named applicant is a fit and proper person to obtain a Hawker's and Pedlar's License.
Whereas there hath been deposited in my office a certificate dated the____day of____18____under the hand of (here insert the name or names, and slate whether the Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace of the said Colony) holding a Court of Petty Sessions at____requiring me to issue to A B a license authorising and empowering him to carry goods, wares, and merchandise, for the purpose of sale by pack-horse (or by other animal, or by cart or other vehicle, or by boat or other craft, as the case may be) : And whereas the said A B hath paid into my office the sum of____as the duty of such license : Now I, (here insert the name of person issuing license, and whether as the Provincial Treasurer or other person authorised on that behalf by the Superintendent of Otago) in virtue of the powers vested in me do hereby license the said A B to trade as such Hawker or Pedlar as aforesaid and within the said Province of Otago and this license shall continue in force until the____day of____18 and no longer.
Given under my hand this____day of 18 .
To the Clerk of the Bench at
I, A B (here insert name, residence, and addition) hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply to the Resident Magistrate or Justices holding a Court of Petty Sessions at____on the____day of____18____, for a Hawker's and Pedlar's License, authorising me to carry goods, wares and merchandise, for the purpose of sale by pack-horse (or other animal, or by cart or other vehicle, or by boat or other craft as the case may be) within the Province of Otago.
Dated at____this____day of____18 .
We, the undersigned, hereby certify that the above-named applicant is a fit and proper person to obtain a Hawker's and Pedlar's License, and state our willingness to join him, the said A B in the recognisance required to be entered into by him.
Whereas A B of____has applied to the Justices of the Peace sitting in Petty Sessions on the____day of____18____at____for a License to (here insert whether the License is for trading on foot or with pack, or with draft animals, as the case way be, as in the Schedules A and B :) Now (we two of the Justices sitting as aforesaid) or (I, Resident Magistrate) have enquired into the character of the said A B, and being satisfied that he is a fit person to have such License granted to him, do hereby in virtue of the powers vested in us (or me) authorise the Provincial Treasurer to issue to the said A B a License authorising and empowering him to trade as such Hawker or Pedlar aforesaid within the said Province unto the____day of____18____and no longer.
Be It Remembered that on the____day of___one thousand eight hundred and____A.B., of____J.K., of____and L.M.. of came personally before us D.E. and F.G., Esquires, Justices of the Peace
The conditions of this Recognizanee are such that whereas A.B. is to be licensed pursuant to the "Licensed Hawkers Ordinance (or other animal, or cart or other vehicle, or by boat or other craft as the case may be) within the Province of Otago for a period which will expire on the____day of____next, if the said A.B. shall conform in all respects to the provisions of the aforesaid Ordinance during that period then the said Recognizance to be void. But if the said A.B. shall be lawfully convicted of any offence during the said period against the provisions of the said Ordinance or against the provisions of any other Ordinance in force for the time being relating to Hawkers and Pedlars, then this Recognizance shall remain in full force and effect.
Taken and acknowledged by the above bounden AB., J.K., and L.M., the day____and year first above written.____Before me,
An Ordinanceto abate the Nuisance arising from stray Goats within the limits of the various Towns and Municipalities of the Province of Otago.
Whereas great annoyance inconvenience and loss have accrued from Goats being allowed to stray within the limits of the various Towns and Municipalities of the Province :
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows : —
1. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Goat Nuisance Ordinance
2. Any person who shall keep any Goat without causing a description of every such Goat so kept by him or her to be Registered and such Registration to be renewed from year to year in manner hereinafter mentioned shall forfeit and pay for every such Goat a penalty or sum of not less than five shillings nor more than five pounds Provided always that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to require the Registration of any Goat under the age of three months the proof of which shall lie on the owner or keeper of such Goat.
3. Every such Registration of any Goat shall be made by its owner or keeper or some person on his or her behalf paying the fee aforementioned and delivered at the Police Office of the District or at such other place as the Superintendent may appoint in the district in which such Goat is intended to be ordinarily kept a description of such Goat embracing the several particulars contained in the Schedule to this Ordinance annexed.
4. Such owner keeper or person shall at the time of delivering such
5. Every such Registration shall be deemed to be in force from the day upon which the same shall be so made until the thirty-first day of March then next ensuing and no longer and shall be in like manner renewed from year to year so long as any such Goat shall continue to be kept: Provided however that every such Registration which shall be made in the month of March in any year shall be deemed to be in force until the thirty-first day of March in the year then next ensuing.
6. For the Registration of every such Goat the sum of two shillings and sixpence shall be paid to the officer in charge of the Police Office or Station for the district or to such other officer at such other place as the Superintendent may appoint in the district in which the Registration is made and the said officer shall in return for the Registration Fee supply to the person making such registration a Registration Ticket containing the number in the Registry Book to be kept ior the District the name of the owner and the name and description of the Goat and the date of Registration.
7. All Registration Fees paid in virtue of this Ordinance shall be accounted for and paid over to the Provincial Treasurer for the public uses of the Province agreeably to any Rules or Regulations that may be made by the Superintendent in that behalf.
A description of Goats intended to be kept by A.B. of in the [Municipality or town] of during the year ending on the 31st March, 18
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago," by Mills, Dick and Co., Stafford street, Dunedin, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.
An Ordinancefor Regulating Places of Public Exhibition and Entertainment.
Whereas it is expedient to make provisions for the regulating of places of public exhibition and entertainment within the Province of Otago:
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the said Province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:
1. From and after the passing of this Ordinance if any person or persons shall within the City of Dunedin or within any other place to which the provisions of this Ordinance shall be made applicable by Proclamation of the Superintendent in the Provincial Government Gazette act represent or perform or cause to be acted represented or performed for hire gain or reward any interlude tragedy opera comedy stage play farce burletta melodrama pantomime or any stage dancing tumbling or horsemanship or any other entertainment of the stage whatsover to which admission shall or may be procured by payment of money or by tickets or by the purchase of any article as a condition of admission or by any other means token or consideration as the price hire or rent of admission or if any person or persons shall take or receive or cause to be taken or received any money goods or valuable thing whatsoever by way of rent fee or reward for the use or hire of any house room building garden or place wherein such entertainments of the stage as aforesaid shall be acted represented performed or exhibited or being the owner or occupier thereof shall knowingly permit or suffer the same to be used and applied every such person shall in case the place wherein such entertainments shall be acted represented performed or exhibited be without the written authority or license of the said Superintendent upon being lawfully convicted forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding fifty pounds.
2. In every case in which any stage play or other entertainment of the stage as hereinbefore mentioned shall be acted or presented in any house room building garden or place wherein any spirituous or fermented liquors shall be sold every actor therein shall be deemed to be acting for hire.
3. For every such license a fee net exceeding Five Pounds for each calendar month during which the theatre is licensed to be kept open shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer for the public use of the Province an d every such license shall be issued yearly by the Provincial Treasurer on the authority of the Superintendent.
4. In any proceedings to be instituted against any person for having or keeping an unlicensed theatre house room building garden or place if it shall be proved that the same is used for the public performance of entertainments of the stage as hereinbefore described the burden of proof that such theatre house room building garden or place is duly licensed or authorised shall be on the party accused and until the contrary shall be proved such theatre house room building garden or place shall be taken to be unlicensed.
5. If any person shall act represent perform or exhibit or cause to be acted represented performed or exhibited in any theatre or other place as aforesaid any stage play or any act scene or entertainment of the stage as hereinbefore mentioned or any part thereof or any prologue or epilogue or part thereof of a lewd indecent or immoral description every such person so offending if the theatre or other place wherein the same has been acted represented performed or exhibited be without the written authority or license of the said Superintendent shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding Fifty pounds over and above any separate penalty such person may have incurred under any other provision of this Ordinance and if the theatre or other place wherein the same has been acted represented performed or exhibited be duly licensed shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding fifty pounds and the authority or license by or under which the said theatre or other place was opened shall become absolutely void.
6. It shall be lawful for the said Superiniendent whenever he shall be of opinion that it is fitting for the preservation of good manners decorum or public peace so to do to forbid by writing under his hand the acting representing performing or exhibiting of any stage play or any act scene or entertainment of the stage as hereinbefore mentioned or part thereof or any prologue or epilogue or any part thereof in such theatres or other places for which an authority or license may have been granted in pursuance of this Ordinance and every person who shall act represent perform or exhibit or cause to be acted represented performed or exhibited any stage play or other entertainment as aforesaid or any act scene or part thereof or any prologue or epilogue or part thereof contrary to such prohibition as aforesaid shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum
7. If any person having or keeping any house room building garden or place licensed as a theatre in virtue of this Ordinance shall knowingly permit or suffer any lewd or disorderly conduct in any part thereof or any common prostitutes or persons of notoriously bad character to assemble therein or in any appurtenance thereof such person so offending shall forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding twenty pounds and in the discretion of the convicting Justices the license by or under which the said theatre or other place was opened may be suspended for such time as they shall think fit or declared to be forfeited.
8. It shall be lawful for every officer sergeant or constable of police when on duty to demand and have free access to any house room building garden or place licensed as a theatre in virtue of this Ordinance and if any person having or keeping such theatre or the servant of any such person shall knowingly refuse free access to such officer sergeant or constable of police such person shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding twenty pounds.
9. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent to order that any theatre shall be closed on such public occasions as to him shall seem fit and while any license shall be suspended or any such order shall be in force the theatre to which the same applies shall not be entitled to the privilege of any license but shall be deemed an unlicensed house.
10. In order to provide as far as possible against accident to the public from the insecurity of any house room building or place sought to be licensed as a theatre or from any alarm while people are assembled therein before granting such license it shall be lawful for the Superintendent at the expense of the applicant to order a survey of such building or place by a person of skill and a report to be made to him with regard to the strength and safety of such building or place and the facilities it affords or otherwise for egress from the same in the event of any alarm from fire or other cause while any large number of persons is assembled therein and it shall be lawful for the Superintendent to withhold any such license in any case in which it shall appear that any alterations or other measures are requisite as precautions against accident until the same shall be performed.
11. No person shall be liable to be prosecuted for any offence under this Ordinance unless such prosecution shall be commenced within three calendar months next after the offence shall have been committed.
12. All offences against this Ordinance may be heard and determined and every forfeiture and penalty in respect thereof be awarded and imposed by or before any two Justices of the Peace in a summary way.
13. Throughout this Ordinance every word and term used in the singular number or masculine gender only shall be construed equally to imply and include the plural number and females as well as males unless there be something in the context repugnant; to such construction.
14. All the powers by this Ordinance vested in the Superintendent of the Province shall be exercised by and with the advice and consent of his Executive Council.
15. This Ordinance shall be termed and may be cited and referred to as the "Licensed Theatres' Ordinance
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co, Stafford street, Printers to the said Provincial Government tor the time being.
An Ordinance.to amend the "Licensed Theatres Ordinance1862 ."
Whereas it is expedient to extend the provisions of the "Licensed Theatres Ordinance
Be It Therefore Enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Otago with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows:—
1. This Ordinance may be cited and referred to as the "Licensed Theatres Ordinance
2. Sections one and three of the "Licensed Threatres Ordinance
3. If after the passing of this Ordinance any person or persons shall within the City of Dunedin or within any other place or places to which the provisions of the "Licensed Theatres Ordinance Gazette (which Proclamation the Superintendent is hereby authorized from time to time to make) act represent or perform or cause to be acted represented or performed for hire gain or reward any stage play or other entertainment of the stage to which admission shall or may be procured by payment of money or by tickets or by the purchase of any article as a condition ol admission or by any other means token or consideration as the price hire or rent of admission or if any person or persons shall take or receive or cause to be taken or received any money goods or valuable tiling whatsoever by way of rent fee or reward for the use or hire of any house room building land tenement or place wherein any such stage play or other entertainment of the stage as aforesaid shall be acted represented performed made done or exhibited or being the owner thereof shall knowingly permit or suffer the same to be so used or applied every such person shall in case the place wherein such stage play or other entertainment shall be acted represented performed made done or exhibited without the written authority or license of the said Superintendent upon conviction forfeit and pay for every such offence any sum not exceeding £50 to be recovered in a summary way.
4. Licenses under this Ordinance may be issued by the Provincial Treasurer on the authority of the Superintendent, either for one year or one month or for a single night only : The fee payable for a yearly license shall be the sum of thirty pounds and for a monthly license shall be the sum of five pounds and for a license for a single night the sum of five shillings and all such license fees shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer for the public service of the Province : Provided always that it shall be lawful for the Superintendent to authorise the issue of single night licenses without payment of any fee whatsoever in cases where it shall be shown to his satisfaction that the proceeds or a proportion of the proceeds of the stage play or other entertainment of the stage proposed to be acted represented or performed are to be applied for the benefit of any public institution or to any benevolent or charitable purpose.
5. The words "stage play or other entertainment of the stage" where-ever used in this Ordinance or in the said "Licensed Theatres Ordinance 1S62 "shall extend to and include any interlude tragedy comedy play farce burlesque burletta melodrama pantomime opera musical entertainment singing ballet stage dancing jugglery tumbling horsemanship exhibition of animals or other similar exhibition and also that kind of entertainment known as the drawing-room entertainment and every sort or kind of entertainment exhibition or amusement to which admission shall or may be procured by payment of money or by tickets or by the purchase of any article as a condition of admission or by any other means token or consideration as the price hire or rent of admission and this Ordinance shall be taken read and interpreted as part of and incorporated with the said "Licensed Theatres Ordinance
Printed under the Authority of the Provincial Government of Otago, by Mills, Dick & Co., Stafford Street, Dunedin, Printers to the said Provincial Government for the time being.