TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7772, 28 January 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Bomb sensation has been caused in Melbourne by some revelations made by officers of the Criminal Investigation Department concerning the Prison Gate Brigade, established in that city by the Salvation Army. Detective-Sereeant Nixon reports that the Brigade has not Only been reckless in its dealings with the criminal classes, but also, most blameable. He states that notable criminals were kept and fed at the Salvation Barracks* while at night they, were allowed to prowl at large and engage in the commission of crime, In point of fact, he declares that when a notorious criminal was arrested with some 'Others for housebreaking, Colonel Barker, of the Salvation Army, was in possession of a large amount of cash that was beyond doubt a portion of the proceeds of a big Collins street robbery. Heedless to say no reflection is ' intended to be cast on Colonel Barker, except that the placing of so large a sum of money in his hands by one of his proUgts ought to have led him to make very careful enquiries as to how it waa come by. "The home of the Brigade," says Conunissioner Chomley, " was merely used as a resting place by utterly irre-ciai-table offenders, where they could carry out their operations under the mask of asasuoqd piety." Of coarse, whenever an organisation of this sort is established, either to Btretch out a hand to the criminal classes to help them once more into an

e_r distress, there are sure toITi ,*■*_. *•' case-hardened knposters &***£ i;' abuse its privileges, and % even the most lynx-eyed ■__?% * part of the conductors of m. . y '4_ %~ The aim and object «*£*£# Missionaredecidedly praUewort % <$ of the greatest blots in our tj_r«f **• ! ' that it merely puniehea an „? \ rather discourages than aid a formation.. When he eo_fc tJJ * however, excusable may be hiTfi **** ' and however earnest may be hi • lead a new life, he usually finds'sii* k r,. closed to him. It is at thb *' Prison Gate Mission takes him > and even in Melbourne I Chomley admits that there I in the Army a number of men st*** V criminals who have *•• character, and that to his 0 wnfc«, ,** several young women have been* 1 from immoral lives and restored J*?* & parents, but not knowing their §' history he cannot aver that th * I thusaccomplished fetWore, tha Mission has bee apr 3|i of some good, and, as w 0 have-St* inevitable that its sometimes bo impoaed on. It _TL_? R however, that . grave ros p rests on them to c «N utmost circumspectioa i a deal? *•&$ the criminals who come under Certainly they must ace to it Mission "is not converted mte a T3il thieves' lodging-hou 9 e. from inmates may sally out to crimes, nor should officers of the to,? v'l Army aUow themselves to becoj? tingly custodians of stolen cash $&#

lx appears that the Governor and__ l? l Onslow had the assistance- Sfr»2?f Buller in selecting a Maori nam 8 fct«_ infant son. Wo might have itfeJf '$ much from the ornithological o _*4l \% ! the prefix at length decidad ou. -:■$ " Huia" is a very pretty name, % only belongs to a very pretty bfeW \7 alas! almost extinct-bub ife as Z" >' % 7 that it once belonged to a very Jff o giushed chief. The _f«,'Jg >* Times gives ua an ■ J '"& tory of the word. In Maori poefe-a. %J name denotes a priceless twauM* -jj % used as a metaphor of Va% _n 1l ; never associated in Maori history xA -'{ anything coarse or barbarousWo tM f' respect, we may add, it £ from some other Maori expressions <m& /| euphonious. It has become a giMtjjJ i P in Maori ancestry. Many "\|j our Wellington contemporary infon,, /|1 it was adopted, under 4 f peculiar interest, as a name foroaeeff|} 2t descendants of Raukawa, who ia "J| became the f oudder of a tribe (tho %§, : | huia) and the ancestor, by separate m if; of descent, of the two chiefs sg nowned in modern Maori history, % v Eauparaha and Eangihaeata. Byaaot- j|

line of descent from Huia catae tb<4sß» * headed Mateue Te Whiwhi» the eagte of the Maori Kin_- movement; by ana&g '"! line the famous woman Hang& 3 ngana, who married the Ng»p_leSiij? ? Pomare, thereby cementing the relafets U

of two powerful tribes. A sou of t_j

union, Hare Pomare, who was meirMfe •If a Ngaphui woman, atterWtds 'vteri || England, where a sou was bora, to wtes If her Majesty the Queen stood ipossw !j it yet;_afiothe* -line'of dMMTfttf vK$ ,£ came the young ohlef; BMtftypw w w present member of the fj tatives for the Western Maori electors! f \ district. Indeed, there is a HaMlnyisg : '\ "Of the descehdanfe ot Hoik _1 „& elta : ' are warriors and all the sons axe chi—.* . \ £ It will be seen, therefore, that,—elate* !;.L addition to the house of Onalov ks k& > 7h selected tor him From this young couafay J|[ a name of good omen. We trust t3_st k *'"J% may live to east fresh lustre on i& - '■ f

.., ~. ~ J , 4 J " Oxonian •'* writes to us as follows j— , }i "In your ' Topics of the Day' on Ba- | || day, the 29th,' you published an extras* { ffi from an Euglish paper giving aa , f|j of very disgraceful behavior by was ' f.\ fifteen or sixteen -undergraduates. T<* <\ then make, some very proper renprfc4,«_ severely oriticise the action -kaif ~; certain undergraduates who escorts ttt «. t offenders to the station. To aa (Mm , y { man it is quite clear that' the fl# ';:; pathisers were men of the same £» 4 - "% lege, and did not necessarilyi re#f#p? , j{ the opinion of tho whole UaiwHjto w But from certain remarks I have Jw*»» haa, 1 fear, been understood that t» • 4|, general feeling of tbe University™**® , L|, of sympathy with the offenders. W—B» ; 5 is known that there are over 3500 W-«* t'f graduates, and that of these only wwstt* - five took any part in the prcoeaiisiM 1 think that it will be seen that the owgf<f , U ot such misplaced sympathy rests eat** j College to whioh the offenders beloas& j .'» and not on tbe University in general * h, > hope you'll- excuse this letter, bat Al _[ . j,' oldOronlan I could not; eit «tili ■»<* *■: my University blamed wholesale fay 48 • abominable behaviouf of ,; We feel quite surf that our | s ; is right in assuming, that there weals no general sympathy in tho .'?[ large with such aiscredifiable odnW* .'* that referred to. The discredit M* |'j; on the undergraduates con_eniS-U*a 'y affair, and the authorities Of the 0&& ? ./ whose powers of maintaining its diSJB|$ s * , | seem have been so conspicuously i&& quate to the occasion. The ho_*j?*F : j?i from which we took the original states® $ of the facta,' suppressed* the _*-* •* * i-s College, bub it is as. well that it -hoaM M ?' mentioned. From another source we **** | that it was Queen's. ){;.