NEW ZEALAND MISSIONARIES IN PERSIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10269, 10 February 1894, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND MISSIONARIES IN PERSIA.

A GERMAN MONARCH IN ENGLISH FAT,

A few days ago. Bishop . Stuart, of the diocese Waiapu, in the’ North Island, left this colony c» route for Persia, having re-

signed hie high office her* in order to proceed as a missionary to that conn try. The worthy Bishop is not th* first New Zealander who has devoted him* Self to the task of converting the fire* worshippers of the ancient kingdom of Persia. One of the first graduates of the New Zealand University, the £ev St Clair Teesdale, some years ago gave up hie parish at Nelson to go as a missionary to Persia, and he is now stationed at Ispahan doing good work. A mission field that wad so promisingly opened by the heroic labours of Henry Martyn may well attract men zealous for the spread of the Gospel, for the work has not been hitherto pursued on an adequate scale, though the people are said to be fairly receptive of the new doctrine. The late Bishop of Waiapu, in the Course of his recent farewell deliver-* ance in Napier Cathedral, commented upon the contrast presented in mission matters between New Zealand and Persia. He said that" almost two years before the Gospel was first preached on the shores of New Zealand, Henry Martyn died in Persia on Oct. 12,1812, and on Christmas Day. 1814, the apostle of New Zealand, Samuel Marsden, preached his first sermon on the shores of this then barbarous land. And while much good had been wrought here dnring these eighty years, Persia had remained almost an untrodden field. Although in many parts the fields were rip* for harvest, they only wanted reapers.’* There may, therefore, be a fitness in New Zealand sending missionaries to that dis* . tant country, however incongruous thi thing may look at the first blush,

Alfred, late Bake of Edinburgh, and now Grand Bute r of Baxe-Cobarg-Gotha,. hat a large share of those.parsimonious instincts which

certain gramblers declare that his royal mother possesses. The activity of his organ of acquisitiveness was indeed noted everywhere daring his Australasian tour. As an English prince, the Duke of Edinburgh had two grants from the public ■ purse—one of £15,000 a year voted in 1866, and one of £IO,OOO a year added when he took Princess Alexandrova*, ' of Russia, to wife. By his recent sucoes* sion to the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he becomes an independent German sovereign, in no way amenable to English laws j he in fact .ceases to be an English subject, owes no allegiance to the Queen, and in the event of a war between England ■ and Germany, would be expected to command the German navy and fight against his mother. Tet he seeks to retain the allowance of .£IO,OOO from the English nation, though, he has relinquished his claim to the original grant of £15,000a year. The plea upon which Mr Gladstone defended , v the situation is that the Duke proposes to spend part of the year in England, so that the money would be expended in the country. This is a very weak argument. There seems to be mote cogency in that advanced by the Ooburger Ziiiung, to the effect that the English nation is bound to continue the marriage allowance, because the Duchess has a claim, in the event of his death, to £6OOO a year. Her allowance might, however, be secured to her without a continuance of the £IO.OOO during the Duke's lifetime. The independent German and English newspapers unite in condemn* ing the proposal that a German v should . receive English pay. Count von jOaprivi^ias

Raioh»t*g that Duka Alfred is no longer * British subject. The Gorman* are not a particularly proud people, hut they do not •like the prospect of one of their reigning prince* being a foreign pensioner. The Duke of Baxe-Coburg-Gotha is far from being a poor man, Hia uncle left him a large fortune, he has a civil list of 100,000 .marks a year, and the surplus revenue of ,'hia little duchy goes to his private purse. The Duchess has in her own right a grant of .£40,000 a year from the Hessian Government. It is not, therefore, necessity so much as a grasping disposition that leads the Duke to oling to his annuity. The most surprising thing about the whole business is that a Liberal Government should have agreed to continue the allowance of £IO,OOO a year without referring the matter to Parliament, though the Acts under which the giants were made contain an explicit proviso that if at any time Prince Alfred became a sovereign. Parliament should have a right to discontinue t^jpaymenfe ti-r-While there are reports gOMKUNiMIQ of the breakdown of the . - yipwMMENTa.V New Australia ” aettlejnent scheme in South America, it-is interesting to note that a piiwiinr attempt at communistic colonisa-tion-is being projected in Africa. The patriot chosen for the experiment is on the eastern portion of the Dark Continent, kbont 250 mile* inland from the seaport of witn. The colonists are to be chiefly {Germans, and the colony is to be worked pa the basis laid down by Dr Theodor ifertzka, the well-known Austrian economist, in hia book “Preiland,” from which (the new district will take its name. In accordance with the principles laid down ®y the Austrian professor, the land will 'Strom the outset be the property neither of individuals nor of the community, but will %e (tee to tbo use of all, without payment If font. Every kind of industry, agricultural or otherwise, will be conducted by {voluntary groups or associations of selfI Warning men, who will be the owners of (»U -they can produce, but will have no ’xoluaive right to the land. The first batch of colonists was to leave Hamburg in the beginning of the present year. This would consist of some twenty pioneers, who were to be followed later on /by a second party of forty. The pioneers were to take with them all the necessary equipments, and several medical men and a number of practical engineers were to accompany them. The experiment of a i thoroughly communistic settlement will be. watched with interest; and as the practical Germans (despite the musical proclivities of the nation) have not started •to subdue the wilderness with a piano and bras* band, afterthefashionof the NewAuatralians, it maybe, hoped that they will avoid other mistakes and give the world an pbjeob lesson on the blessedness of the ; poontry whose land is absolutely free. ' i; The title of “ Cincinnatus jjoderS of the West,” which Lord Cjihoinnatus. Byron bestowed on George Washington, might be for a recently-deceased citizen hf .California, Mr William Coleman. On iao less than three occasions Mr Coleman Stepped in when the affairs of the State bad city had become involved in anarchy, the powers of a dictator, put (down mob-rule and mob-violence, established law and order, and then quietly went back to hia country house. The first bocadon was in 1851, when Sau Francisco {was Invaded by the scum of the diggings, |md practically passed into the hands of a of desperadoes. Mr 'Coleman, whose st public act, by the way, wae_to- ntciu o lynching of a suppoaear murderer, ereupon formed a Vigilance Committee, id soon cleared the city. Five years ter, however, the rowdies again got the >pec baud, and Mr Coleman was called tak to restore order—which he did. His >xt dictatorship was in 1877, when the itorious labour agitator, Dennis Kearsy. "went for” the capitalists and the hinese, " openly boasting that he would (murder the latter and burn the homes and {warehouses of the former.” Once more the respectable classes appealed to Mr Coleman; and in twenty-four hours he had \pve thousand citizens under arms, and after a single conflict in the streets the jcioten were put down. Mr Coleman was fcever in the course of bis career elected to fold any public office, and the masterful • iharacter of the man is brought into folder relief by this fact. That he was a man of high principle is demonstrated by an incident in his business career. The house with which he was connected failed •and paid a composition of 40 per cent; but Mr Coleman was not satisfied with obtaining his discharge, and worked incessantly until he had paid every creditor in full. Hia death took place soon after he had thus annulled hia bankruptcy.