The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News. FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1874.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1378, 10 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News.

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1874.

tat the' cause, that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance,

And the good that we can do

The anticipated alterations in the staff of the civic officials were yesterday quietly effected while the reporters were excluded. We hardly see the necessity that existed for such exclusion, although it is a singular fact that the temptation to talk to the public being withdrawn, business invariably proceeds with greater despatch. Mr Philips hag assumed the. position of Town Clerk at a salary of £400 a-year, and we do not hesitate to say that, looked on as a matter of city interests," this is the best appoihtmeat that has been made for many a day. Mr Brodie, the late Town Clerk, steps one rung down the ladder, where he will perhaps be a more efficient officer than he was in his previous position, for which he was not very well qualified. He becomes City Treasurer and Assistant Clerk, Mr Harrop becoming Receiver. Altogether the .changes will greatly conduce to efficiency in the discharge of city business; The next move will bo the election 'of Mayor. Of course there will be but one'opinion on this subject, and it is a pity that the salary has been docked a hundred pounds. Why we ask should Mr; Hurst's services, to say no-i thing of the honour and adornment, be valued at a lessbr rate than the merits of his pre-j decessor. It is.simply taking advantage of retiring modesty, .and ,: is , „ mean, ;in the extreme on the part of the . Coun-' cil. In order to receive distinguished visitors in a bjecormng manner, the salary of the new incumbent should be at least £1000, and now that the bridge across the swamp at the North Shore has teen completed and the road metalled, to the Lake, no impediment should have been placed in the way of civic festivities and hospitalities. It is always the way. A man of mild and unassuming disposition and with no regard for self-interest is always imposed on. The idea of a paltry hundred and fifty pounds a year being offered!^ Why it would not afford to keep decent flowers sufficient to daily adorn the manly buzzum of the Mayor during the term fof office. We have no doubt this matter will j be re-con&idered and that unassuming yirtue not go imiowwrd^cli

The fearful calamities which have happened to large ocean-going steamers during the past year, and the great loss of human life involved, demand our earnest attention.1"; The mention of such names as. the Atlantic, Ismalia, Ville dv Havre, Ainerique, Europe, City of Washington, Missouri, Anna, Nederland, A returns, Woosung, Queen Elizabeth, Flintshire, calls up a more extensive array of total wrecks and a larger loss, for the period, of life and property at sea than can be pointed to since the era of marine architecture commenced. Nearly all of these were what are called first-class vessels, beiag over 2000 tons register, and possessing high rates of «peed. Most of them w^re supplied "With the various marine-improvements of modern day 3, and some of them in the luxurious and completeness of their fittings more nearly resembled floating palaces than anything else. Kotwithstanding aU this week after week we have heard of some new and startling Catastrophe. The question to what cause is this increasing ' fatality attaching to ocean steamers traceable is becoming p n e which should be asked and answered before other harrowing examples of it are afforded. The subject has already, we have good reason to know, been much agitated in England. Evfen when pity for their slaughtered Mlow-creatnres fails to move ttien the loss of money touches them nearly. The different Marine Insurance offices have been comparing notes, and they find that they are working at a very heavy loss, and that unless they alter their rates they had better shut up shop. They accordingly announce their intention to raise the premiums on marine risks and_ the intelligence has- caused a stir in maTitime circles which will probably result in eliciting from competent authorities some explanation of the frequency of these disasters and so affording a . prospect of their being prevented in the future. Tvo causes are already spoken of as conducing to these unhappy occurrences—viz., lengthening old ships and racing. It is now satisfactorily proved that the foundering of the Amerique and the Europe, two French vessels of the Trans-Atlantic line, is to be ascribed to the former of these two causes. In both cases the leak did not result from striking anywhere, but simply from strainins, and it was clearly shown at the enquiries instituted that the locality of the interstices through which the water penetrated were at the junction of the old plates with the new. The wreck of the Arcturus on the coast of Ceylon, of the Woosung in the Ked Sea, and J of tho Elizabeth near Gibraltar, all of which ,-have occurred this year, are generally believed to be due to the practice of racing, which, especially in the China and India trade, has been dangerously prevalent^ of late. The dangers arising from lengthening ought without difficulty to be reduced to a minimum by rigid inspection. No steamer should be allowed to carry passengers which has not been thoroughly examined by competent surveyors, and received such a certificate of seaworthiness aa should-render aIL fears on that score impossible." The perils from the other source are less easy to dispose »of. In these days of rivalry the tendencyMs to sacrifice everything to rapidity. In projected new boats we hear of 16, 17, and 18 knots spoken of as the mii tended rates-of spteed. It is a question whether even'in the ships afloat wi% their 13 and 14 knots Bpeed sufficient allowance htfff been made foE'the teat and; wear of the stroke of the engines ; it is certain that in the future this necessary and .corresponding strengthening of thj&frameworkcwill demand serious calculation. But it is not so.much from faults "in thfl ofinofcruofcion !lof tko voseol that iujoidents happen, *as from the indiscretion of the captains in charge.; This officer is often placed in a very difficult position. He^ knows he cannot "canyon" with safetj, and he knows equally well that the fact; of his bringing his ship safely into port will weigh little in his owner's estimation against the damning fact of his being two days behind arrival boat. Here then is a position requiring %h.e utmost nicety of judgment, and how many -captains are-; they we, should like to know who even though they; may possess skill in seamanship and courage and patience in the ordinary emergencies of a sailor's life, yet are not proof against the fascinating influence of a rSfce ! It is a, fascination with" many akin to that of gambling. When the fit is on prudence goes to the devil. Here then will ever be a fertile source of danger, and he will be a benefactor of the human race who can devise a remedy,

One of the coolest tricks we have seen for many months has just been attempted on the settlers in Waitakerei East. One of the ratepayers, with the intention of catching the good folks of the district sleeping, adroitly got up a memorial to the Superintendent asking him to call the annual meeting of ratepayers at the Oddfellows' Hall in Auckland, and appoint Mr So-and-so the first chairman. It appears that he has spent a goodly portion of the rates in cab-hire in visiting those remote parts, and. hoped by having the meeting fixed at Auckland city instead of at Henderson's mill to have the pleasure of things being made quite snug for another year. Unfortunately the Super didn't seem to see it, and could not be made to see it, nor was it in his power to assist the wily dodger even if he did see it and felt inclined to. Accordingly the memorial which bore first on its face the signature of one "Francis White" has come to grief, and the Waitak* erei people have been rudely awakened from their dream of security to find how narrow their escape had been. We would respectfully suggest to them that they should make Mr Francis White their chairman. So much vigilance in their interest should not go unrewarded.

An official enquiry into the cause of the late fire at Mr G. W. Owen's store will be held to-morrow afternoon before Dr. Philsori and a jury in the large room of the Insurance' Buildings.

Mr James Coal requests ua to correct an error in a paragraph which appeared in the Star of "Wednesday last with reference to the Juvenile Drum and Fife Band in connection with St. Patrick's. It was Mr James Coal, and not Mr Marlin, that trained this band of young musicians, and to Mr Coal, therefore, the credit for their proficiency is due. Constable Moodey has returned from his search for Kenworthy. He penetrated much further into the bush than before, but failed to discover any trace of the missing man. There is little doubt noWregarding his sad fate. '

The only business at the Police Court this morning was the punishment of four drunk-1 ards, three of whom to wit Thos. King, Win, Lestrange, Martin Fagarty, were severally sentenced to fines of ss, 20s, 10s and costs, the fourth, Mary Brown, pleaded guilty to the offence being her fifth within the twelve months, and was sent to prison for seven days with hard labour. A charge for nonpayment of city rates was withdrawn.

Mr. E. B. Dickson, secretary of the Acclimatization Society, informs us that Mr. J. B. Thorp reports that the trout liberated on his property some time back as thrivifig admirably and growing into fine fish. This news will be welcome to all lovers of piscatorial purBttits.

A correspondent who calls himself an "Enquirer after Truth" talks tons thusly : "Sir.-What object can you have in^continually attacking Mr Edger. I see thatm - your paper of kst night you cannot heip assailing a well-deserved commendatory notice of that gentleman which appeared in yesterday's Cross. Can you, sir, say that the notice is not correct, or that he is not tne most faithful Christian minister in the city. It is true he may tread on the corns of your drunken publican supporters, and the beer defending ministers who are helping on their own flocks to damnation ; but you ought not to let the dictates of your own bad heart prompt you to attack a worthy man because be stands . out in contrast "to the drunken ministers of ( thecity.— lam.&c, Enquirer after Iruth. An "Enquirer after Truth" appears to have . a very savage disposition. If th?j!lue^ I of truth so far has generated tm,s acridly or , sentiment W6 hope"the truth when he nnds ; it will produce a little more sweetness. In the first place we did not "atfaQK <*« i gentleman in question, and we certainly did not "assail" the commendatory no*ic® "J the Cross. On the contrary, we said that "in the way of gospel puffing it was the best thing of the season.". We admjre ths Christian Joye with which this disciple ot he "truth" speaks of Sur " publican supporters," but we are especially struck witn the meekness of spirit manifested m alluding to the worthy ministers of religion m this city as "beer-defending ministers who are helping on their own flocks to damnation. Tf such a spirii be the result of LoVne-street teachings we plead guilty to an inclination to eye them askance. No one will charge us with being what is called mealy-mouthed, but we confess w&- shrink from such plain speaking as this Among " religious people.. Religion seems to Us a thing that is not fittingly associated with blackguarding professors or ministers of Christianity. We may be wrong in this, but we have always thought that it appears most becoming when it is bearing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things; and though we indulge in great plainness of speech Ourselves, we don't like to hear the follower of one pastor speaking of other pastors as "helping on their flocks to damnation." It docs not sound nice in our ear ; but that of course is amatter of opinion. We are reluctantly compelled to admit that we fancy there is a little too much of this in the result of the teachings of Lome-street. We do nofc say that Mr Edger himself uses so strong expressions about his brother ministers, but there must be sureJy something there that, perhaps unconsciously, throws them into unpleasant contrast. With reference to Mr. Friger himself we have not questioned his ability.' but the very terms ot praise in which he is described in yesterday s Cross appear to us to give the key to a good deal of that which we consider objectionable in his style of teaching. Says the writer, " This style is eminently suggestive, and this exuberance of ideas often causes him to start off into a digression or to throw out striking germs of. thought na'J thouqU out, which appear to have arisen spontaneously to him at the moment of utterance, and»to'have been clothed with language before he himself had considered their full purport." This, is exactly it.' r0.*??" sing to spurn nil creeds and settled belief Mr Edger's-mind drifts about like a ship without a rudder. Crude and undigested ideas adopted only for their striking character are thrown out without anyregard to the basison whjclr they reßt, or the consequences to which they lead. " Half thought out " thoughts are " clothed in language before he himself .bad considered their full purport," and the effects of aftthis on the undisciplined minds of ' yontb,,fafcinated by a garish theology, selfconfident, and proonrnptuum, as IS the nature of youth, inclined to kick over the traces of the old-fashioned religious belief of their parents, flattered by the idea of being freethinkers or, in the jargon of the school, "enquirers after truth — such effects may easily be anticipated. To our mind such raw " enquiry after truth" is associated with cheap cigars, brandy and water, sfiuck-up collars, and the other fascinations of the hobble-de-"hoy or man in the tad-pole state. That it does not conduce to Christian meekness is evidenced in the letter of our correspondent. We may be all wrong in this, but we do think that the indoctrinating in scepticism of the minds of those who have had neither the time nor the opportunity nor the inclination for weighing the great truths of theology which have occupied the noblest minds of earth has a tendency to develop simply a flippant infidelity that is mere puppjism. The science of theology, like all other sciences, is not benefited by " half-thought-out" ideas and '' language of unconsidered purport," and when alad, oraman who in mental discipline and theological lore is still but a boy, gets hold ©f this the lingo of scepticism, we feel inclined to not waste good argument with him, but on, the contrary we have a, strong impulse to make forcible application of the toe of our boot to that portion of him which is least honorable but most fleshy. We hope our correspondent will pardon us for the warmth with which we have handled his little letter. With Pharisaic pride he writes contemptuously of the city' ministers. He will excuse us for acting as censor on their censor, and with all respect, and judging from our correspondent's own letter, we think he haß in him a devil as big a? a cat. • His animating spirit is diabolical, and his advocacy of any cause throws over it a glare as of strange fire—lurid, weird, sulphureous. Since the foregoing was in type we have received another letter signed "A. Bettany, " who, we understand, is a butterman in the Market. As it farther illustrates the meek and charitable form of religion which seems to prevail among the frequenters of the Cave of AduJlam in LomeBtreet, we make the follpwiisg extract. ! Referring to the paragraph in our yesterday's issue, the butterman says " He has written what he knows to be a wilful and most deliberate lie, of a nature as, foul and in a spirit as malignant as could have well proceeded from the Father of lies Himself. The writer is one of those mean, contemptible cowards whose chief delight seems to be to stab men in the dark, and since he has no character of his own left he seems now anxious to malign or destroy the character of others/ .And all this about our most innocent and inoffensive paragraph. Really we feel deeply aggrieved to think that our kindly reference to a critique as the "best specimen of gospel puffing" out should have so ruffled the meek and gentle spirits of the Lome-street Congregation. . £>i -.;'■• h The much' *'admired? Vivian Troupe will give two of their interesting entertainments at Onehunga on the evenings of Saturday and Monday next. .We notice that in addition to the numerical strength of this company the talent of Mr Harry Shapter, ethiopian comedian and dancer, and Miss Minnie Sautley, the fine ballad singer, hare, been secured.: .. ' \ ■ We notice that the inhabitants of Newton .-wiU be; treated to a panorama of the Arctic 'Regions, with a descriptive lecture by a gentleman connected, with the Sundayschool, Union. • The panorama will be exhibited in the Newton Congregational Sundayschool at half-past seven. ■ ■'*-■ We are requested to state that the lecture by Djr Nicholson'at the Young-Men's Rooms will not take place till next Friday, the 17th instant,. ' , . '■,'.,/. ' .;-. . ■'~. ..•-,

We beg to acknowledge the receipt of os from S. in aid of Mrß kenworthy. R C writes to the effect that the Queen of Nations emigrant? charged with drunkenness and assault is not a strapping young " Irishman," but hails from the Highlands of Scotland. We have received the following letter referring to the scene of the late murder :— Sir,—« The rider attached to the verdict of the common jury at the Supreme Court yesterday, on the youthful prisoners Pascoe and Dobbin, touching the notorious neighbourhood where the crime was committed, will be received with satisfaction by the respectable portion of the community. It is a singular fact that the piou3 owners of those pestilential demoralising dens takes pleasure in letting his tenements to persons of indifferent character in preference to persons of moial character for the base reason that the former class a<*ree to pay himlarger amount of weekly rent; so that with him filthy lucre is of more importance than human souls. In the light of Biioh melancholy faots we may exclaim, with Shakespeare— Can Bach things be. And overcome us like a summer cloud Without our special wonder ?

Mr Henry W. Backall, the chief officer of the barque Pet, met with a most severe accident last night which, we are torry to say, is likely|to end in a fatal manner. H(s was engaged in hauling in a large boom which had been used as a fender between the ship and the wharf when the boom swunc round suddenly, jamming the mate s bead against the longboat. He was rendered insensible^ arid this morning he had to be removed to the Hospital. We are informed to-day that Mr Backall is still alive, but not expected to survive ldng.

A grand football match will be played tomorrow between the Paruell and North Shore Clubs, in which the following will compose the Bides :. — Parneli : Orore (captain), Evans, Philson, Philson, Cotton, Beale, Yon Tempsky, Woodhouse, King, Parris, Haultain, Jackson, Tonks, W. Tonks, MitforcL C. Mahon. North Shore i Rees (captain), J. Nolan, R. H. Nolan, H. Niccol, R Niccol, E. Burgess, H. Burgess, R. Duder, A. Whitaker, W. Hales, G. Hales, Caverhill, F. Wells, Dacre, Cochrane, and C. Burgess

A remarkable diEeovery illustrating the extraordinaey vitality of some creatures was made to-day in searching for the. foundation of the building about to be erected adjoining Messrs. S. and J". R. Vaile'a premises. After digging through solid earth to a considerable depth the workmen came upon a seam of soft stuff in which was found a living eel three feetf bix inches long. There were no means either of ingress or outlet, and this serpent-like fish must have remained in its prison for at least twenty years, its incarceration dating probably from the time when Queen-street was a gully. How it has been sustained in life during those years is an interesting subject for inquiry.

For the information of " Subscriber" we may state that Demarara is a district of British Guiana and is not an ißland; and Mauritius has been a British possession since 1810, when it was taken from the French by General Abwcrombie. V

Through the dangerous practice of allowing dogs to wet the steps of the waterman's and other stairs at the wharf, a severe accident happened last night. A youth belonging to the Antipodes was going down to get into a boat when he slipped and fell down the steps, sustaining such injuries tb»t ho was compelled to be pent to the hospital. He is bb*to»- «j!o morning, Mid has rejoined his ship. The dog nuisance should be stopped.