Passing Notes.

Otago Witness, Issue 1456, 11 October 1879, Page 16

Passing Notes .

I observe that the flev. Mr Byng has been lecturing somewhere or other on Matrimony, and that he might " point his moral and adorn his tale, " he told his audience that if they would all come up to Dunedin and see him in his 'appy 'ome, they would behold an edifying picture of wedded felicity. I do not know how many of the audience availed themselves of the invitation, or how they were received by Mrs 8., but there is a charming freshness about the idea. Knowing how difficult it is to induce young men of the day to enter the bonds of the " holy estate," there is a refinement of delicacy in thus seeking to overcome their scruples. A shying horse needs to be brought carefully up to the object which frightens him, and to learn that it is not so terrible after all. The reverend lecturer offers a similar demonstration to quondam worshippers at the shrine of Hymen, and here gives an admirable example to married folks in general. Why should there not be matrimony classes, as there are classes for cooking and what not 'i Let the young shy colts be gradually broken in, and familiarised with the spectacle of domestic bliss. Of course for this purpose the tableaujviews must be carefully toned down, and curtain lectures and shrieks must be avoided. The "skeleton in the cupboard" must be carefully locked up, and all must go " merry as a marriage bell." And then, while the gentle tinkle, tinkle of the cottage piano soothes the fevered brain With met ing airs or martial, brisk or grave, Some chord ia unison with what we hear Is touched within us, and the hearl replies — Yes, Belinda shall be mine !

A good story comes from Wellington. It helps to illustrate the characters of our representatives. A gallant colonel, one of the lake Ministry, met a representative for one of our southernmost towns in the smoking-room of the House a few days agoj and upbraided him with having broken his pledges to his constituents in voting against the Government. Words waxed hot, a twitching sensation seized the gallant officer's fingers, and he involuntarily grasped the poker. The late Native Minister, seeing trouble impending, rushed between the excited legislators. " Let him alone," cried the member from the South. " If the little (adjective) darea to raise it I'll smash his (adjective) skull with my fist," and the big diamond ring which glittered on the little finger of the hon. member's right, hand looked as if it would have left an ugly mark on the military skull. This is very sad, and leads us to the conviction that hou. members need to be put through a new course of nursery rhymes: as, for instance, Members you phould never let Your angry passions rise; Your little hands were never made To tear each other's eyes.

I think it is Erskine May who points in his work on the progress of our constitution during the last few generations to the retonation of the severe laws against debtors as'an advance in liberty. Had this distinguished writer been in our part of the world, and under the regime of "The Debtors and Creditors Act," which I see daily paraded in the news papers, he would have qualified his views without, perhaps, abandoning them. It is useless to disguise the fact that the present state of our laws is a direct temptation to crime. It is undeniable — if the merchants, the lawyers, and the tradesmen, speak the truth — that in small bankruptcies the law is daily defied in order that small debtors may wipe out their debts without in any way accounting for their assets. A trustee is now understood to be a creature put in by the debtor for his own purposes. He may himself go bankrupt or employ an insolvent person to collect the estate. If he makes use of the whole of the property of the debtor for private purposes, there seems to be no remedy but to prove against his estate. The whole thing is a farce ; it would be better to have no law on the subject, and allow each to look out for himself, than to induce people to give credit in the belief that they may compel payment of debts. A good word may be said for almost every abuse. I should not wonder if a few of our citizens could now and then say a good word for the old system of imprisonment for debt.

Pat M'Caughan does not haul down the green flag to the bluster of J. C. Brown ! The idea of trying to crush a free man by quoting passages from newspapers against him ! Why should he be turned from a

righteous purpose by having a fistful of words flung in his face t Were they not

his own words, and cannot a man do what he likes with his own 1 I am not very familiar w,ith Mr M'Caughan's views, but I am glad to see him make a determined and successful stand against the prevalent system of trying by cajolery, bullying, and sweetening to win over votes for the personal ends of ministers ' and ministerial supporters. That a man should not be allowed to represent hif. fellow men and endeavour to give ever.) subject his best consideration, and act according to his own views without the permission of Mr J. 0. Brown, is anew feature in the parliamentary history of the ' country. 1 1 may be well enough to ascerI tain a man's expressed views, and if he ' departs from them to challenge him in the House to show his consistency ; but members should make a stand against being ordered how to vote either by a i whipper-in or a mob-meeting. "Them'

my sentiments, but they kin be altered," may be a suitable pledge for a carpetbagger to give to his own constituents ; but in this country we expect a man, when his constituents have taken the risk of electing him, to express his own views, whether they happen to be sound or unsound. Pat M'Caughan does so ; and if his views are none of the clearest, we don't blame him for that.

Like the Gauls in Caesar's time, cupidi vovarum rerum, the good people of this city are a deal too prone to go mad over the last new notion. Be it real or unreal, religious or secular, material or spiritual, American or European, everything has a short fury, and nothing seems constant. During the last few years we have had endless new excitements — volunteering and Yarley ; telephones and Tom Reid j boating, pigeon-shooting, Spiritualism, Brightism, electioneering ; now a bishop causes a little excitement, now a deacon breaks out ; hard times and good times have their special excitements — but all equally evanescent. The last craze of all is the silliest. Times must indeed be bad and employment scarce when men — grownup men, too — will sit for hours and wrangle with their pens about a pyramid — a parcel of gravestones which they never saw — to find out a meaning for it which its builders never dreamed of. The biggest monument that human folly ever raised — the fruit of the slavery of a nation — is extolled in a country where every man's industry is his own property as a monument of wisdom ; and men who might be doing something useful, are found spending their time disputing about it. The worship of blocks and stones may not be the most hurtful of vain things, but its priests and its proselytes are common enough.

The judges of assize — don't let me be suspected of stealing Tom Hood's pun, and writing "a size" — differ slightly in their views of the state of crime in the Colony, each looking at his own criminal calendar, and forgetting to look beyond it. Judge Williams points out that the calendar shows very few of the usual forgeries and thefts of a small kind, and that the working classes play no part in the present criminal sessions. He then compares this with his experience during the good times in April, 1878, showing the comparison to be greatly in favour of the present times. It is worthy of note, however, that his experience then was at Ohristchurch, where Judge Johnston now finds no diminution. The fact ia, the difference lies not so much in the times as in the localities. It is undeniable that our working classes are better selected than those of Christchurch, and this they show at every turn. The conduct of the late election, the style of the meetings of unemployed, and many other instances, testify this. Judge Williams bore wellmerited testimony to the character of our working men. Ido not quite agree with their views of political economy, but nobody can fail to appreciate the manly dignity with which they bear their present sufferings.