TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7778, 4 February 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

St. Paui/b Cathedral. Me]b j was consecrated the othor day » be a noble building, TrortinreJ J>*' city in which it has cost of the Cathedral, 80 fe/T* \ '■- about 4115,800 and a contract h *■ let for the erection of the H at 446,000. The corn eP eleven years ago by the Maroou ,Ml manby, then Governor. The ** J * chosen was Mr Williae Bet JJS:| London. Among hia previous J*!* < % parts of Keble College, and BduJS £ Oxford, the chapel and at Wincheeter College, All SainJ3 ? Margaret street, London, St. Holborn, and St. 1 Canterbury. About two however, Mr ButterEeid had * t agreement with the local Com*.** I and resigned his position; Mr Smart, a member of a Melbourne! 1 I has been superintending the wort P etyle of architecture selected j, f Butterfield ia described aa tha VF English Gothic form, A l- :- ---style of Southern Europe. The bit \ is constructed in the form of aa it»& cros 9 , and is 277 ft long by CcSI ''■ the internal height being ; from floor to roof. There hare be«a ' liberal gifts to the,cathedral. It "I a very handsome reredoe, 4Qft highu^ l ' co3t and was presented*?? ' George Porter, of St. Kild,, J* •* i very handsome windows - '.'■ i which coat MoO — were J: < other members of the CW The Cathedral pulpit, a very ,' structure of blackwood, richly IZ ' '* cost The Bishop'a throse? canopied blackwood carved chair - insr desk—was made at a cost of 2 and all the other appointments ej similarly handsome kind. The <$».' •" magnificent instrumenc by • and Co., of Brixton, which cost the gift of Mr T. Dyer Edwardes. ftl - it may be added that, although sum of money has been lavished upel building of tbo Cathedral, its ! is to be conducted at a much ■: - annual cost than is incurred ia m Cathedrals. It will not have to pnA ' any salary for its Dean, as the clergy ! ' who has been appointed to that oice tjj ' simply be paid his stipend of J&im &*& \ aa heretofore, from his parish of j James , . All the Canona derive 1 - incomes from their respective mp 1 " gationa, and givo their 8«ri$8» fj [ ''- the Cathedral in an honorary \:k The only salaried clergymett direc%jss 1' by the Chapter will be two I oce of whom also acts as preconfe !| B this way it is estimated that % foy ; annual cost of maintenance will Boi© !|/ ceed JB2OQO. But little doubt is «sk> £ tamed of conducting the Catted fei I of debt, for by means of a cossi<feisM} f' income from the lease of W| 1 an annual grant from the 'I,; the interest upon legacies and. ttteSa- (' tory, it is calculafced thafi 'v may be raised easily. There h a cfcesrel thirty-six adolfc male metabere, cms <l whom are paid JBIOO a year eseh> aej I / sixty-two boys, who receive a higk | education at the expenfie o! the Dlocei&, |

An animated disoaaeioa tot. tad agaM the sparrow has been carried on In K^ of the English papers by tho Ec?, I. ft Morris, M.A. (author of "A Hiatosjef British Birds "), on the one side, and Uk Ormerod, consulting Entomologist to tisi Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, et the other. Miss Ormerod is for the pro» tion ; Mr Morris forthe defence, The life* of course, dwells on the enpposeA vsdas i the sparrow in keeping down deatmcth? ineecta. He quotes a case in which, ns&t one sparrow's nest, 1400 rejeoted wisg>c£s of cockchafers were picked up, Tk%l£ ■ays one pair of sparrows bad datajrf more than 700 insects to feed a.,'elsgSi brood. In the vicinity of Badss/I* adds, a price was set ontheisad clfe sparrow and soon not a ep&rrow trsstfffcs found in the neighbourhood. It was «&• sequently discovered that this bird stel could successfully contend against, & cockchafers and other wingod inmtet *si the very men who had offered a priest his destruction, offered a still higtepfk* to introduce him again into the conbp For the most part, however & Bey. F. O. Morris has veijf fo^ facts to offer, and deals largel? & spread-eagle insertions. Mica o;a^4 on the other hand, brings a per&«6 6* lanche of clear convincing evident support of her crushing indictment 0^ the sparrows as a pest. Insects, she sts&& form a very email proportion of tb.sk m> Insect pests increase and molfcipJ/is^ gardens where sparrows abound, hti fruit and peae suffer. The mischief ** to corn crops, &c., by the homo $g®B® ie "bo obvionely great; " thfttnooa*^ doubt that there are few farm insect injunous as this bird. Speaking own personal observations (a few W^ many) Miss Ormerod tells us c«5 a field of cora leiib mureapfld fl&ss account of the damage fs«m and she also quotes instances "of driving .away martins, which are ti«af insectivorous birda. The house' gets a good deal of credit for d&teoM ineeote, &c., which does not beloaf t» ** simply because many people eon&|esi id* with the hedge sparrow, a & r ■"* exemplary bird. Agriculturists « giete, and entomologisto of the 'Utf standing in Canada and the flnftJ? States, are practicaliy uaaniiraoßS ■* their condemnation of the houaa Bps^ , Miss Ormerod finally pufc the a*tts«te a nutshell .w.heua she *aye:— ..'' "If there were only an aversg® * sparrows with the other birds I &*K reason for disturbing them, Bat ffS f! they exist in such flocks that the greatly lessened by ; their'depredations *" the truly insectivorous birds driven asr»3* then I quite think that the fennorai** should be that of the Duke of at Waterloo—Up lade! and at 'ent. This ie the clear, practical, way of looking at the matter. As the farme.fl of New Zealand are W a<sei they have long since made,up heir && on the subject. The sparrows b«e *£ j exceed their proper average and we » a good many more than we want.

! Thb " Rbvbbbb m Cash.—The MgfHg . lon appeal from the jadgmeafc <* » ißeetham, E.M., ia the «we wjjg, ! taken to-day before hie Hoaor Mr '; Denniafcon in banco.