RANDOM SHOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 196, 17 August 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS.

Borne write, • aelff übonr s name to 'a«h Bonio write—vain thought! for needful casll, 13omo write to please the ooantry olash. And raise a dia. ITonne, an aim I never fash— 1 write for fuoj

We ere co accustomed, as Europeans, end especially those of us who are of British extraction, to plume ourselves on our superlative courage in time of danger, in addi. tioa to our other noble qualities, that I eomefcimos think we, as a race, have grown altogether too ' cockey,' insufferably co, in fact. The courage of the ' true Briton' has grown to be tho standard by which we measure other people's bravery; and we never lose a chance of having a crow over the alleged inferior pluck and kindred moral qualities of foreigners. 'As brave as a lion ' is an otd simile, and we (or those of us who are English) complacently adopt tho lion as an equivalent tor 'an Englishman,' becauseof the brute's supposititiouscourago. (Aβ a matter of facb the lion's fabled • Courage' seems to be three parts bluster and the other p&rb ' blue funk.') Ib often eeems as if we were very slow to admit any claims for superiority of character but those of our own country-people. Yeb, astonishing as ib may seen), there are some other people in this world, even the despised 'Daygo,' and thab pet aversion of the British sailor embodied under the generic term of 'Dutchman, , who display courage and intrepidity on occasion's of peril which we, in our national arrogance, are graciously pleased to say ' would not have disgraced an Englishman.' Next to our detestable self righteousness as a nation in tho mabber of religion and morals, and in regard to bhe delicate question of filching territory from weaker bribes, this is aboub our most undesirable traib of character.

The wreck of the Catterthun on the Australian coast, furnished instances of wbab .was possibly ' unlooked-for ' pluck on the part of even the much-contemned Chinaman. The crew of the steamer wero nearly all Chinees, and the way in which the * Heathen Chinee ' stuck to his poEt in the jaws of death, has been the theme of praise from all quarters, especially on the part of Survivors of the wreck. John Chinamen, it Boems, worked with the bravery born of desperation, to get the boats out; after the vossel struck, and risked their lives launohthe boats and passing the passengers into them. ' Great praise,' the cablegram said, \ie given bo the Chinese crew for the way • ,in which they stood to thoir poets and worked in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties, to get the boats into the water. Most of the Celestials were drowned in reward for their bravery and discipline. We persistently attack John Chinaman for hie undoubtedly numerous failings aa a man and a brother; bub when occasions of this sort show the stuff he is really made of in the event of emergencies, wa ought at least to give him credit for tha good that is in him. If the Japs had a]waye had to fight enemies of equal courage to those unlucky Chinese deckhands and stokers, who can cay bub that) the late war might have resulted ditferenbly? And ooto alone the Chinese, bub a representative of the Cannibal Islands, * where every prospect pleases and only man is vile,' according to the little hymn, displayed devoted courage ab that wreck, What higher example of devobed oourage, even unto death, could be narrated than the scene described when the Catterthun sank, when in the bald language of the cablegram • tho quartermaster, a native of the South Sea Islands, who was steering, was seen ab the wheel to the very laeb, and went down with the vessel, still holding on to the wheel V No more herojo action ie recorded I in biatory th&n tbie brief story of that poor unknown. Kanaka who atuck | ab his post to the death. The soldiers and. grow standing shoulder by shoulder an the deck of the Jijrkenbead waiting fpr the last, or the Roman soldier etandjnK ab hie post when the fires of Vesuvine overwhelmed the ancient city at) ita, baee, displayed do higher form of intrepidity end devotion than did the brownskinned South Sqa Islander who would nob leave his whoel and save hie life by dieobeying teia orders,.

The go{d.mJ.ntog boom, ib seems, has come here fco gtay, ajid. we. have very nearly reached the ptage. pf ejeqitemenb that prevailed in the days of the Caledonian, the nflere. mention, pf which, with its golcjen dividends fa enough t,p make one's. iftOHth wat.e.r< English capitalists are fyt'.ly QORvinqed that! vaab mineral wealth He.B POnce,ale,d jn the auriferous country suQh jx large portion pf the provirtne of Auckland, and are actually throwing tSeir millions at us. So far thoir epocularions have apparently been most Batibfactory, and. the probabilby is that within the next twelve months there will bo a general revival, not only in mm JRg, fjui in every branch of trade. Several fortunes have already been made here by mining investors, and c few rash epeculabore have probably beeii botfly hi£. It 13 useless preaching to paople in times of goldmining excitement), n,n,d. speculation ia likely bo continue at foyer heai just so long as confidence continues. A largo proportion of our mines, thoroughly workod. will, I believe, prove dividend payers. There wiU no doubb be many duflersi; there, never was a goldfield yet without. The problem is to make a selection.

Some ol our baya who went to an outaido town recently tq take part in a football insich, were immensely apmsod by a eampie of origins! spellina: that was on exhibition in that? town* One of the visitors kin.'M? copied, down, the original ai3 ib wae wrjfctoo and epe.Uedi and thab enables me to reprocfiKje i£ (Qr- of Auckland readers The headline was 'Ships, Yacht* and Boat} % -^ttt^. . Then followed something that niighb have been lota, dead ¥?ba.le, «nd qnderneabh wsß ' A rough sketch of a smart sailing madle. cantor board.' Tho bay? gathered round in wondering delight to. inapeob tho drawing and criticise tbe speUiEg.

The ' politico,! woman ' of New Zealand WQu.tr} ciiaivo. it a model place to live in if alio had her own sweet will. Firac eho wanted, the franchise, a,nd by making a groat poise got it, bub stated repeatflilly that she had no wish to yofurbherin bhedirection dt t;ti<i rigjibto be, a can,dida,te. ab general elections, No*v in some parts of the colony this right is being demanded by ambitious members of the sex. Others of the sisterhood sry n)eufl for legislation in the direction of prohibition. Then we have the female pgUticianßt vjfeq are to pass lon,gwinde<t calling upon the gtate to "do anything that tbe,y decide is neces6firy, however impracticable it may be. Wβ have also a Women and Children's

Probecbion Society, which, by the way, is doing good work, and last, but nob least, a Rescue Society. The title of the latter body would give one the impression that the members intended to do something in the direction of rescuing young girls from a life of depraviby before they have become so steeped in evil practices that their reformation becomes almost a matter of impossibility. But such does not appear to be the case. InBtead of doing practical work, the Jine adopted so far seems to be a furbher cry for legislation. Amongst other things, they would fain make immorality a crime, as well aa a sin. The contract/ they have offered bo the Government! Is a large one. The mere passing of a law making immorality a crime migbb be accomplished, bub the application would be quite another bhing. Our policemen have a good deal to do already, bub if to them is relegated the duty of arresting every immoral person, then Robert's cup of bitterness would be full indeed. He would require to pry into the private life of every individual, and even bbon ib would be a matter of the utmost difficulty to prove the case. # •» * * * * * * * It ntusb be borne in mind thab feho unfortunate creatures who nightly parade the sbreebs, and their patrons, have nob a monopoly of the immorality. They are, perhaps, the leasb evil of the offenders, and, if bhe law is to be just, it ehould reach all sinners, no mabter what may be their station in life. The annuls of bhe Divorce Courb show thab there are even instances of men who have been compelled to divorce their wives. Is ib intended that the State shall inquire into the married life of every couple to ascertain if there be sinners about ? If thab be bhe caeo, then the Inspector of Morals would require to go further and find ■ oub bbc reasons why persons had married, for surely those who simply enter the married Bbate to geb a wife with money or a husband with a good establishment, are equal sinners with the more prominent offenders who are nightly seen wandering the pavements ? Our Legislature is ready to tako up numerous fads, bub I nm afraid this contracb is boo large even for a Liberal Government. * * * *. * * * * * The most amusing part about the women who do most of the talking ab theee societies is that they appear to run away with the idea thab with a few exceptions the ladies have a monopoly of the morality of the world, and thab gentlemen, with Btill fewer exceptions, belong to the other side. We hear nobhing of a ' Mea'a Protection Society,' although on one evening this week I saw two respectably men helping homo their inebriated wives. Neither do we find them calling for laws fixing the age ab which males may or may nob do certain acts. No, it is all for women. Either they think thab men are able to take care of themselves, or elso that they are as a whole paab praying for. Some of the subjects these ladies discuss, moreover, and thab, too, in remarkably plain language, are of a character that no man could say a dozen words upon when ladies were present. Probably ib may be argued that is because the men have evil thoughts in their minds, and theee ladios havo not. That may bo co, bub I must confeee thab such institutions as Mrs Cowio's Homo, or the practical rescue work done by a Salvation Army losh as she appears at the Police Courb to beg for another chance bo reform some young girl, is to my mind calculated to do more good than the mere gathering together of a number of ladies to pass unworkable resolutions and discuss matters of a nature that One would think should scarcely be known by modest women. The poculiariby of bhe whole affair is thab nearly all these organisations combined would not tako in 300 out of thousands of women in this city, and yet, forsooth, tbeso ladies speak as if they were voicing the wishes of the whole of bhe women of Auckland on all these varied j subjects, j

There is a good doal of the barbarian about some of the crowned heads of to-day, notwithstanding all the counteracting influences of civilisation. The cabled account of the way in which tho German Emperor goes grouse-ehoofcing in England reminds one of the descriptions which we were wont to reed of hunting expeditions on a colossal scale in the demesnes of some semi-savage Indian prince* The modus opernndi of the Imperial 'sportsman ' savours of indie, criminate butchery of unfortunate birds rather than of whab we would oall true sporb. '4A hub/ aaye the cable, 'was specially builb at the end of the ravine and eighty beaters drove tho birds paeb. Throe attendants were kept busy loading guns, and the Epperor was enabled to keep up a continuous fusilade and secure onormoua bags. , Whab would bo said of the man who carried on his ' sport' in such a manner oub here, I wonder ? However, bhis is tho Kaiser, and if he wanted to shoob all the grouse iik the United Kingdom, no ono would say him nay. Ib aeems to ma nothing short of butchery to slaughter the luckless birde in guch a wholesale fashion j thore is jusb about as much sporb in ib as there would be in a man with an armory of weapons going into a cheep paddock and shooting down the unfortunate animals.

' There's a good time coming, boys, waifa a little longer,' is the ditty chanted by Bishop Julius in his address to tho Chriobchurch Dioceean Synod this week. The Bishop launched out on the question of the union of tho cjiurqhes, and referred bo recent ecclesiastical conferences aa signe that Christian men were beginning to realise the 'sinful folly of division, . The Pope's letter to the Engljflh people, he considered, showed 'a distinct end definite advance,' and be thought that there was ground for hope that the estrangement which had existed for centuries amongst the different churches might come toan end. As an Anglican prelate, Bishop Julius »8 noted, for his enlightened views, bub I doubb if even he would exchange pulpits with a or a Presbyterian minister to-morrow if he were aaked. Thero ia a great deal of s,ofb sawder and platitude talked in connection with the ' union of tho churches,' but none of the sects seem inclined to take the first step. Tho trouble is that b.he Churoh, as an institution, is ultraconservative, and ib is the hardest job in tho world to knock a new idea, into the heads of church dignitaries, or to induce them to relinquish some peb tradition. It was sheer ignorance, abetted by aavago hatred (some call ib * religious zeal') which brought about the splits in the Christian church, but these, are days of scientific enlightenment and liberal education, when men should be able to clearly perceive the errors of superstition and bigotry which their ancestors (no blame to them either) were nob able to avoid centuries back. So far the agitation for church union has been nothing but carefully-guarded expressions to the effect that the 'Christian cause would be advanced by., « union of the churches.' Nothing definite has been mooted by any sect. Who, will be first to lead the reconciliation, movement ?

Vyastorn civilieatjon, with the aid of a powerful persuader in bho shape of a Maxim gun, ia making wonderful strides in Dinlsesb Africa A little while agQifcwas tl)6, Matabeles who were induced (with the Maxim pun, of course) to shake hands with Enofranrl, and. that they would not be bad little boys any more. Now we hear, through the cables} that a Brjti&h forpa of 4CQ bluejackotg and Soudanese ha,§ be,§n gent from Zanzibar t-o Mombasea to pun.Uh tebelliqua nativea. Naturally, • the expedition is l, supplied with Maxim guns.* No civilised band of Christiana would be

complete withoubthem. We shall shortly hear of a ' glorious" victjory,M suppose, upbornbassa way, the wicked natives who dared to get up a shindy in their own country being wiped oub with ' terrific slaughter,' all through those very useful Maxim guns. Next to rum, the Maxim is about the best civilising agency the British nation is in the habic of using. Writing of ' Darkest Africa,' I see also that: bhe British forces in TJnyoro, Central Africa, had a pitched battle with the Kabaregase army, the latter being practically annihilated. The cable naively adds tbab ' matters in Unyoro may be considered finally settled.' I ehould think they would. It's aboub the most effectual way of 'settling affairs' in/a counbry to wipe oub any broublesome inhabitants who may consider thab they have a prior claim bo the locality. I suppose bhe British warriors in Unyoro had a Maxim along with them ! It's an indispensable adjuncb bo African exploiting jueb now. No explorer ehould be without ib.