The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-30 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 30, ISU.

case they were to come in succession before the throne
and ratify their allegiance by the oath. Land-Mar-
shal von Bulow then came forward, read over all the
titles of the King, and administered the oath to
each member separately. The ceremony closed with
another verse of a psalm, a prayer, and the blessing,
after which the King returned to his residence on
foot, and in the course of the afternoon was present
at a dinner given at the Rathskeller. A display of
fireworks and a ball will take place this evening.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

__,:,_

OTTOMAN (SMYRNA TO AIDIN).

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the London Tavern ; Sir
Macdonald Stephenson in the chair.
Mr. Cooke, the secretary, having read the notice
convening the meeting, the report, an abstract of
which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said that few lines of railway had been con-
structed under so many and great difficulties as,
from the outset, had beset the works which were at
length drawing to a conclusion, between Smyrna
and Aidin. Few undertakings had been so reso-
lutely persevered in, in the face of apparently in-
surmountable obstacles, and few, perhaps, had been
undertaken on a foreign soil which were likely to
be attended with more impOrtant results in their
beneficial influence upon a large population, or in
their pecuniary return for the outlay incurred, of
time, labour, and money. They had all been mis-
taken in one respect, when assuming, as might
reasonably be supposed, that 50 miles of railway
would divert all the camel traffic. Experience had
shown that not more than half the produce had been
conveyed by rail, notwithstanding the costly agencies
at the towns in the interior. But the working of
the 50 miles to Ephesus had also shown conclusively
that the completion of the through line to Aidin
was alone required to bring all the produce and
goods upon the railway, and to provide the camel
owners more profitable occupation in collecting
and distributing at and near the termini what was
transported by the rail. The unsatisfactory fea-
tures in the half-year's working were the heavy ,
charges for traffic agency in the interior, for re-
pairs of engines, for consumption of fuel, and for
maintenance of way and works. In explanation it
might be said that the traffic agency charges must
not be impugned until the system had had a
fair trial, that the heavy repairs to the locomotives
were due to the use of the engines for the contrac-
tor's work under his contract, that the state of the
engines regulated the consumption of fuel, and that
although the maintenance of the way was high, the
engineer was gradually renewing with Shperior
sleepers the whole of the open line. The more en-
couraging subjects for consideration were the assur-
ance of the near completion of the through line to
Aidin, first by the temporary works over the moun-
tain, and eventually through the tunnel under it; of
the certainty that this alone was required to secure
the whole trade of the country, and that, with the
advantage of past experience, the increased traffic
would be worked with scarcely any increase in the
working expenses, and without any augmentation
to those fixed charges which were independent of
the amount of traffic. At the tunnel works the
deaths had amounted to 12 Englishmen, two Eng-
lish women, and three children, one Italian, and
nearly 40 natives ; but the worst had passed, the
cholera had ceased, and active operations were to be
renewed about the 15th of this month. The latest
accounts received yesterday from the manager men-
tioned the returns of the fig trade alone to the 17th
September as exceeding 9,000 loads, or 2,000 tons,
against about 3,000 loads, or 70() tons at the same
period of 1864. (Hear.) Mr. Charlton, their mana-
ger, also fully explained the increased traffic agency
charges, by reference to the additional quantity of
goods brought by that means upon the railway, and
amounting to 4,775 tons for the past half-year, as
compared with 1,654 tons in 1864. He also reported
by a telegram that the receipts had exceeded £l,OOO
a week for two or three weeks together. He (the
chairman) could only repeat his conviction that with
the excellent staff the company had on the spot, and
from the known perseverance of the contractor, and
of his efficient agents, the time was fast approach-
ing when the shareholders would see an end of
their annoyance and discouragement, and recognize
in their half year's accounts the dawn of a prosper-
ous future.

Mr. W. DENT seconded the motion for the adop-
tion of the report and statement of accounts.
Mr. G. SMITH said he thought the report was
encouraging. The undertaking had been carried out
by indefatigable perseverance under great difficulties,
but he thought their prospects would soon improve.
The exertions of the directors had been well backed
by the pluck of the contractor, who had not only to
encounter many difficulties, but to surmount them
with success. He thought it easy to understand that
when the camels were once loaded at Aidin that the
owners would be unwilling to unload them till they
got to Smyrna. It was satisfactory to the sharehol-
ders that the directors had acted with so much pru-
dence in carrying on the undertaking, which would
prove of great value to the country through which
the line passed; there was every probability that the
traffic would yield a profit, and that therefore the
Turkish Government would not be called upon for
the whole amount of the guarantee.

Mr. BILLINGS concurred in the observations of his
friend Mr. Smith, and congratulated the shareholders
on the fact that the railway would soon be completed.
Mr. T. CRAMPTON, the contractor, in reply to some
remarks, said that the staff of the company, and also
the staff of the contractor, were entitled to the thanks
of the shareholders for the great energy, talent, and
determination with which they had carried on the
business for the company. During the visitation of
cholera at the tunnel works Mr. Drew and other
officers had kept the men together till the disease
left them. If they had gone away it would have
been very difficult to have collected such good men
together again, and considerable time would have
been lest. They had got the temporary line over the
hill, and everything possible was being done to com-
plete the railway throughout at the earliest possible
period. The temporary line would enable the railway
to be opened throughout in March to Aidin, and in
May the lagt tunnel would be ready and the main
line would be completed. (Hear.)
The thanks of the meeting were then voted to
Mr. Purser and Mr. Drew, and the other officers of
the contractor, for their indefatigable exertions,
who, despite cholera and difficulties, had kept the
men together.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman and directors.

wharf at Kotree ; 3,000 bales of cotton has just
arrived from Ferozepore and Mooltan. There were
on that day 82 waggons laden with produce which
had to be sent by special train to Kurrachee. The
manager felt confident that commercial matters had
improved, that produce would continue to be sent
forward to Kurrachee. With regard to the flotilla,
the present boats of the company were inadequate
to carry the traffic from Mooltan. They had now,
in accordance with his original suggestion, confided
the building of three steamers, one steamer to each
of the three most eminent firms in this country, and
by so doing he fully expected the most difficult of
problems would be solved, that of constructing ves-
sels to successfully navigate the Indus. Should this
be successful the number of the vessels in the flo-
tilla would be greatly increased, but, if otherwise,
it would be an additional argument in favour of
progressing with the Indus Valley railway as soon
as possible. The Punjab railway opened in April
throughout from Umriseur to Mooltan. The goods
traffic in May and June, the hottest months of the
year, had been very satisfactory, that of June being
double the amount of that in May. The traffic on
the Punjab railway was for the week ending the 2d
of July £2,100, and considering the hot season, the
newness of the line, and other matters, it was per-
fectly satisfactory, and that was the opinion of the
local authorities. By telegram dated 14th Aug. a
large amount of merchandise was reported as waiting
at Mooltan for shipment at Sher Sha, the shippng
place of Mooltan. The present estimates for the com-
pletion of the Punjab Railway would little exceed
£2,000,000, but he (the chairman) felt certain that
when the stations, sidings, and other works were
completed, together with an adequate supply of roll-
ing stock that must be provided, the cost would be,
as he had stated on former occasions, £2,500,000,
and even then it would be one of the cheapest rail-
ways in India. As to the Delhi Railway, Mr. Bras-
sey was making great exertions to forward materials.
The company had now four important undertakings
on their hands, to which he had just adverted, and
that brought him to the missing link which was pro-
posed to be made from the Scinde Railway to Mool-
tan. The map at the end of the room showed the
trace of the line, which formed a junction with the
Scinde Railway near Kotree, then proceeded along
the valley to Sukkur, where it crossed to the left
bank of the Indus to Mooltan, the total length being
480 miles. This route was of great importance for
military and commercial purposes in every respect.
When weekly communication was established be-
tween Suez and Kurrachee he thought it must force
on the Government the necessity of the Indus Val-
ley Railway, as opening up direct railway commu-
nication with the Punjab and interior of India. He
hoped, at all events, by that time next year the in-
auguration of the Indus Valley line would be com-
mitted to their hands. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the motion for the adop-
tion of the report.
In reply to questions, it was stated that the Delhi
Company had £BOO,OOO in hand, and although large
checks were being drawn for Mr. Brassey nearly
every week he did not think the directors would be
able to take any more money in anticipation of calls
before five or six months, or until the balance in
hand was reduced to £300,000.
The report was then adopted.

The CHAIRMAN next moved a formal resolution
authorising the directors to create additional capital
of £500,000 by the issue of 25,000 shares of £2O
each for the Punjab Railway, and upon which the
Secretary of State for India in Council had guaran-
teed 5 per cent. per annum.
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the motion, and it was
carried unanimously.
It was then agreed that all of the Punjab shares,
as and when paid up in full, be converted or consoli-
dated into Punjab capital stock.
On the motion of Mr. Sergeant TOZER a vote of
thanks to the chairman and directors concluded the
proceedings.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-+--

TIMES.—Mr. F. Chesson, we must remind the
public, is Secretary to the Aborigines' Protection
Society, and Mr. William Fox was formerly Secre-
tary to the Government of New Zealand. To these
two secretaries we have recently opened our columns,
with results which have appeared during the last
fortnight, and will be visible once more this morning.
Unfortunately, the grain bears but a moderate pro-
portion to the chaff in this correspondence, and the
public question is in danger of being swamped in
personal charges and recriminations. We must
take the liberty, therefore, of premising that there
is but one subject before us, and that is the conduct
of the Aborigines' Protection Society in despatching
to the Maories of New Zealand, then in arms against
her Majesty, a certain missive, or address. This
address has been denounced as seditious, wicked,
and nonsensical ; and Mr. Fox advanced this further
charge against it, that it had been introduced into
the colony surreptitiously, and secretly circulated
among the rebellious natives, without the knowledge
of the Colonial Government. Mr. Chesson's last
words on these imputations will be found in another
column. There is but too little necessity for re-
marking that we are, and have for some time been,
at war with the natives of New Zealand. At the
close of last year we were maintaining an army of
at least 10,000 Imperial troops in the colony, and
the costs of these wars, which have been incessantly
renewed and uniformly protracted, are felt by all
the taxpayers in the kingdom. Most people, too,
understand that the cause of these wars, however
modified by pretexts, is always the same. The native
tribes are jealous of the growth and expansion of
the colony, and, in order to restrict its development
'and confine its power, they have refused to allow
the colonists to acquire the land necessary for an
increasing population. Well, then, in the very heat
of a war thus originating, the Aborigines' Protection
Society concoct an address, which tey transmit, not
to any of the colonial authorities, but directly to the
native tribes. In this address they intimate pretty
clearly that the colonicts are in the wrong, and they
distinctly advise the natives not to part with their
land on any account, or even to let it out on lease,
except under the most rigorous restrictions. They
even go so far as to recommend that a law should
be enacted among the natives, absolutely forbidding
any man to alienate laud, even if he should be de-
sirous of doing so. As we published this document
at full length in our columns of the 23d inst., the
public has had an opportunity of observing and
estimating its character, but Mr. Chesson now offers
an argument or two in arrest of judgment. He
admits that the address was not communicated
either to the colonial government or the English
journals. Explaining the first omission by the can-
did observation that the government was hostile to
the views of the society, and the second by the ex-
traordinary assertion that the document " raised no
question upon which public opinion here would be
likely to pronounce a judgment," he urges that the
communication was addressed, not to the rebels,
but to the Maories generally," and finally unfolds
what he calls " the case" of the society with respect
to its opinions on the land question. On these
points we need only say that the first must go
against Mr. Chesson and his friends absolutely.
When they admit that the colonial government was
" hostile" to them, they confess that they were
abetting savages then in arms against the Crown in
a policy which they knew to be condemned by the
Crown's representatives. Nor is it of any avail to
say that the rebels were not addressed exclusively.
Anybody who will be at the trouble to consult the
text of the document will see that it speaks gene-
rally as to a people engaged in war. Whether an
address framed on such principles, and circulated
in such a manner and at such a period, did not de-
serve the censure it has provoked, the public will
decide. We turn, however, from the consideration of
these gentlemen and their doings to the broader
question at issue in the whole controversy ; and,
for the information of those who may never have
looked into the subject., we will state two or three
facts first. New Zealand comprises two great
islands, one as nearly as possible of the size of Ire-
land, the other not much smaller than England.
Together, they contain about 90,000,000 acres, of
which it is said that two-thirds, at least, are fitted
for the purposes of agriculture. On this immense
and apparently inexhaustible territory there are
settled upwards of 100,000 of our countrymen, who
have transferred their energies to the Antipodes in
search of profit and competence. But these settlers
find on, the soil a certain population of natives num-
bering, according to a census taken seven years ago,
just 31,667 males and 24,303 females; in other
words, about half the population of Brighton. These
are the " Aborigines," under the protection of Mr.
Chesson and his coleagues, the " natives" who are
at war with Great Britain—the "Maories," who
pretend that our colonists shall have no land, and
that New Zealand, with its ninety millions of acres,
belongs to themselves alone. Mr. Chesson now says
the society was misrepresented when it was described
as " discouraging the natives from the sale of their
lands." Here are the very words of the Address :
—" Instead of the tribes having their lands in com-
mon, every man must have his own piece for him-
self and his family to use, which nobody should
have the right to interfere with. Its boundaries
should be clearly marked, that no one should meddle
with it, but to prevent his being robbed by selfish
and dishonest persons, he should be unable to dispose
of it, and this rule should be made quite strong and
safe. Even the letting or leasing of land should be
discouraged, and never sanctioned without caution
and registration. Colonists out of New Zealand
have had lands let to them by natives, and then the
colonists have kept possession and driven the natives
out. It will be quite right to keep some of the land as
common property in every native district which
may be turned to great advantage for public
and private purposes." If this does not mean
that all the land now claimed by the Maories
in tribes should be divided among the mem-
bers of the tribes personally, and rendered
inalienable, words have no signification. What are
the " lands" of the Maories, and where ? A member
of the Protection Society has actually stated that, in
the opinion of himself and his fellow members, the
title of these savages to their lands is exactly equi-
valent to that of the Duke of Bedford, for instance,
to his estates. Instead of this, it is exactly equiva-
lent to the title of the Australian Aborigines to the
gold diggings, that of Bushmen to the Cape of Good
Hope, or that of the Choctaw Indians to the State
of Arkansas. If it is good for anything, it covers
the whole soil of. New Zealand, though it is founded
only on the fact that this handful of cannibals
landed on the shore of the country about 98 years
before we did. " But," says Mr. Chesson, " they
are subjects of the Queen, and are as much entitled
to her protection as the inhabitants of Auckland or
Wellington." Exactly so ; just " as much," but no
more ; and we must now once again ask the Society's
secretary what would become of the inhabitants of
Auckland or Wellington if they rose in arms against
the Government, defied the Queen's troops, and
levied open war against the Crown ? Mr. Chesson
is careful to impress upon us, little thinking how it
damages his case, that these Maories are neither
ignorant nor even uncivilized. He makes out quite
a character of respectability for them ; for though a
Maori has not yet " kept a gig," some of them, it
seems, have " owned flour mills." If they have made
these advances in knowledge, they must be respon-
sible subjects, and may be expected to understand
that they are not the lords of the soil, and not jus-
tified in making war upon the Government. There
are two theories of the case, and Mr. Chesson may
take his choice of them. The Maories may be
savages like the Indians of California. or Florida,
possessed with the belief that white men are, in-
truders upon their inheritance, and resorting, in the
rudeness of their nature, to rifles and tomahawks in
defence of their rights, without the least conception
that they are doing any wrong ; or they may be
intelligent and responsible subjects of the Crown,
entitled to the same consideration in all respects as
any other subjects. In the former of these cases it
is preposterous to talk about settled estates ; in the
latter, the estates have been forfeited a dozen times
over by treason and rebellion. The Protection So-
ciety would like to take half of one theory and half
of the other, and give their clients the benefits of
both. Their ideal Maories are " aborigines" in so
far as they may claim the whole soil of the country,
and savages in so far as they are not to be held ac-
countable for rising in arms against the Queen, but
when their title to land is in question they are at
once promoted to the rank of civilised men and re-
sponsible subjects. That is a very ingenious view
of the case, but it will never be accepted by the
people of this kingdom.
HERALD.—In this time of autumn holiday, in
which the British statesman, wearied with the toils
of the senate-house or the labours of government,
retires for a brief season, like Cincinnatus to his
plough, it is pleasant to note the zeal with which our
public men are wont to engage in the discussion of
agricultural topics, to observe the ease and the
grace with which they harangue the practical
farmers, who, however well versed in the subject,
and " to the manner born," seem best pleased when
sitting at the feet of the man who can arrange their
ideas for them, and tell them of things which they
all seemed to know before, but never fully to under-
stand till now. We do not, of course, imagine that
any educated Englishman can be altogether a
stranger to agricultural lore. It is said that of all
people the Englishman is the only one who is
thoroughly at home on the sea. He is also pretty
generally at home inthe farmyard and the cornfield.
The veriest cockney has frequently his model farm,
and opinions of his own on the question of the value
of manures or the rotation of crops. If genius for in-
vention and taste forenterpriso have made our coun -

trymen producers, manufacturers and merchants,
those who call us a nation of shopkeepers have not
proved our character to its core nor rightly appreciated
the source of our great prosperity. Every English-
man
is at heart an agriculturist. The desk and the
counting-house never usurp for very long that place
in his affections which naturally belongs to the soil
which gave him birth. When the merchant has made
money he turns to farming, aspires to be an owner
of land, and to found a county family which may
some day forget that its ancestors soiled their hands
with trade. Whether of gentle descent, or belonging
to the commoner class of newly-risen men, the great
majority of our statesmen are men of landed property
and rural experience, who seem quite at home when
surrounded by farmers and discussing improved
methods of tillage and the rearing of stock. If the
fact that the greater portion of their time and atten-
tion is engrossed by other and more pressing cares
may seem to place them at a disadvantage in com-
parison with simpler men of a larger experience, this
is more than counterbalanced by the readiness with
which a trained mind can be brought to bear on
questions which are surrounded with difficulty, and
the right treatment of which demands a large habit
of thought. It may be the fashion of some to sneer
at agricultural meetings, as though they busied
themselves with topics unworthy the attention of
statesmen. Men of science tell us that these topics
are among the most interesting which present them-
selves in the domain of knowledge, that no amount
of logic and learning is thrown away upon them.
The problems which suggest themselves to the
thoughtful mind in connection with the tillage of the
soil and the breeding of stock are such as really re-
quire a most extensive reading, a large acquaintance
with chemistry, physiology, and others of the ab-
struse sciences, to enable a man to grapple with them
with any prospect of success. We are not surprised,
then, to find that men whose minds are characterised
by the quality which the Germans expressively
term " manysidedness," are often singularly happy
in dealing with matters of this kind. In the course
of a week we have put on record two most in-
teresting speeches at agricultural meetings, each
delivered by a leading Conservative states-
man. Mr. Disraeli is a statesman, a poet, a novelist.
Sir E. Bulwer Lytton is a statesman, a poet, a
novelist. Each of them makes his appearance, not
for the first time, but still with a becoming diffi-
dence, as if the subject were novel to him, and some-
what foreign to his studies, as a teacher or adviser
on matters of agriculture to a crowded meeting of
his agricultural constituents. The farmers in the
Vale of Aylesbury and in the rich lands which
surrounded the quiet town of Hertford have been
anxious to hear what Mr. Disraeli and Sir E. B.
Lytton could have to say to them on the subject of
the cattle plague. The fact that these so-called
agricultural shows are devoted as much to the
exhibition of live stock as of the more immediate
products of the tillage of the soil reminds us, on
the one hand, of the revolution in farming that has
been taking place of late years ; and, on the other,
of the sudden check which has been put to it by the
late calamity. Many farmers, having found it more
profitable to raise stock than to pin their chances of
profit to a yield of cereals, which is liable to such
strange fluctuation in our variable climate, have of
late years been converting their arable into pasture
land, and raised root crops on fields that once waved
with golden grain. But " this lowing of oxen and
this bleating of sheep in our ears " will cease to be
so common if it should seem that our cattle are in
danger of being perennially decimated by an incur-
able disease. When beef and mutton shall come to
be sold at eighteenpence the pound the most meat-
loving of mortals must be content to revert to bread
as the staff of life. That which formed the most.
prominent feature in former shows was " conspicu-
ous by its absence" in the shows of Aylesbury and
Hertford, where the play of " Hamlet " was acted
with the part of Hamlet left out. There were no
horned cattle. The prevalence of the infectious
disease, so mysterious in its origin and so uncon-
trollable in its spread, has made it dangerous to
assemble large numbers of oxen or cows in
close proximity with each other. Mr. Disraeli
and Sir E. Lytton cannot tell us, any more than
any one else, of any likely method of putting a
check to this alarming plague. Each gives a
faint support to the " kill or cure " policy of the
Government. It may be a wise system, though a
desperate one, to blow up the houses around a con-
flagration to prevent it from extending to other
buildings at a distance. After all, the flame, if fierce
enough, may leap over the gap. We are inclined to
think that the cattle plague has done its worst by
this time, and that the remainder of our herds may
tide over the danger for the present. But, for the
same reason that the dread of cholera puts all our
sanitary boards on the qui vine, this cattle plague
should incite us to greater vigilance in all that con-
cerns the health of our horned quadrupeds. This is
equally necessary whether we regard this disease as
spontaneous in its origin, or as due to an epidemic
poison which has reached us from abroad. Thus,
in the case of men, we do not imagine that the
essence of cholera is generated in the filthy lodging-
house or the stagnant cesspool ; that the miasma of
typhus is literally bred in the crowded and ill-venti-
lated emigrant ship. We only know that in such
abodes these poisons find their readiest habitat; that
by accumulating in them they gain strength with
which to invade airier and healthier places. The
weed could not spring up without a seed, but it
grows with most richness in the rank soil and on the
dung-heap. In speaking of the cattle pest, Sir E.
Lytton pointed out most forcibly to his audience at
Hertford the importance of guarding against the
" predisposing causes" by which the progress of the
disease is rendered more rapid and more fatal. Among
these he specified, firstly, the cruelty and suffering
which cattle are subjected on board ship and on arri-
val in our seaports; secondly, the unhealthy manner
in which cattle are too frequently transported by rail-
way, and, we may add, driven along the roads; and
thirdly, which he regarded as the chief cause, "the
pestilential mode in which milch cows have been
huddled together in places reeking with filth by the
London cowkeepers." The earliest specimens of the
cattle disease in England were found in the cowsheds
of the metropolis. There can be no doubt that this
last is a crying evil, and that the human as well as
the bovine race should benefit by the attention of
the Legislature being so strongly directed to the
question of the health of our cattle.