NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 7610, 12 May 1888, Page 4

NOTES.

It is curious how raves— sodal, and shall we say religious—- .„ . ~ ~ succeed each other in Dunedin All is Unity. w . th thc regll i arity of the waves of tho sea. Just now wo have thc anti-Chinese rave, the rinkiug rave, and the excitement among the clerics consequent on the publication of the ' Reign of Grace.' These are all destined to havo their day, and will in due course be succeeded by other excitements. The first und third have a literature of their own in tho correspondence columns of the daily papers, and there are as many schemes propounded for exterminating John Chinaman and Doctor Salmond as for doing away with the by no means harmless or necessary rabbit. How is it that when a man has got nothing or little to say upon a subject which is worth saying he almost invariably takes up his pen and " trespasses "—to use the ordinary vernacular of correspondents—" on your valuable columns?" Some of the suggestions for getting rid of thc "ckinkies" are somewhat diverting. One idea is to keep them here when they do come, so that after a life spent in vending the fragrant cabbage, with tho occasional mining diversion of cleaning out other people's tail-races, they may spend perforce an honored old age amongst us ! As for thc ' Reign of Grace' and the presumed graceless author, no wonder the drum ecclesiastical beats to arms ! If thore be no Sheol —as Sheol is xm&eratoooL oy tlie ortUodox—" tuc eta£t" is clearly in danger, and sustcntation funds are likely to show deficits ! Professor Brown, by his really able paper, has much disturbed the equaling to nimity of some of our local track, political-economy pundits, who rack their brains to little purpose in the endeavor to dispose of or explain away the facts which he disclosed. The member for Dunedin Central, at his meeting tho other evening, essayed to tackle thc Professor's figures, but involved himself in a mesh of contradictions and complications that neither himself nor his audience could see their Way out of. Thc honorable gentleman was reduced to sneer at the Professor personally, and hold him up to the opprobrium of the audience as receiving the modest salary attached to his chair. This was hardly argument, but was, we may suppose, the best forthcoming. The fact is that the Professor has got the Protectionists by thc wool, and they can hardly wriggle out of his hold. If we are not mistaken in our surmise, his paper will be largely drawn upon in the forthcoming debate in the House on the Tariff proposals of the Government. It is somewhat pusding why three of our City members should allow the Why is This recess to pass, when times were Thus? j u {i an( j e ven political meetings would have been betterthan nothing, and then address their constituents all, as it were, in a lump when the session has opened and they ought to be attending to their duties in Parliament. It is really too much of a good thing all at once, and oppresacß the ordinary citizen with the dHficulty of keeping the hon. gentlemen distinct and not confusing their declarations of conduct and policy. It might, perhaps, however, be a good thing if some of the calm thoughtf illness of the representative of Dunedin East could be transferred to the chosen of Dunedin Central, and a little of the go which animates the learned doctor could be instilled into his colleague for Dunedin West. As it is, those who, for their sins, are doomed to wade through the reports of the speechesno mortal man could huve listened to all of them night after night and survived _ the ordeal—must almost necessarily be in a state of considerable obfuscation. The suburban members have been more merciful, and havo gone off without inflicting absolutely useless and purposeless orations j upon their constituents. Recess addresses should be delivered in good time or not at all. The Electoral Bill, from all accounts, promises to be a very radical A Trump measure indeed, and should Card. dispel, even from the mind of Dr Fitchctt, the idea that Ministers are Tories of the most malignant type, bent upon crushing our rising liberties and establishing a dominion of caste. Property is no longer to have any voice in tho representation ; there is to be perfect equality at tho polls, and the method of election is to be such that local or personal influence other than political will be nowhere. This is what they term in business a "large order," and the Bill may be expected to commend itself to the democratic spirit of the age. It is an awful sell, however, for the soi-dhant "great Liberal party" that such a measure should come from the constitutional side of the House, thus " knocking into a cocked hat" their puny efforts at tinkering the electoral laws in the direction of, but a long way off from, universal suffrage. This tine piece of generalship ha 3 completely out-manojuvred the enemy, and there will be curses, not loud but deep, in the camp of the Opposition. The Hon. W. Rolleston, one of the soundestheaded of onr public men, has A Word in taken the opportunity of the Season, address which he delivered at Geraldine in aid of the funds of the Presbyterian Church to read the people of all denominations a lesson as to where the duty lies of religious instruction to thc young. "It is to the churches," he said, " as religious organisations, that we have to look for the teaching which the State cannot adequately give in our national schools." This is just what we have consistently maintained ever since tho establishment of the present educational system raised a howl from those who desire that the proper function of the churches and the parents should be shunted on to the State schoolmaster. Mr Rolleston is neither an eclectic nor an " anythingarian," but a staunch member of the Anglican Communion, who recognises the absolute necessity of moral and religious instruction as a branch of education. Under this conviction he spoke out as he did, and his words should not be without effect upon those who still agitate for destroying the secular principle.