ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14168, 17 September 1906, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

PERSONAL AND GENERAL. [From Our Coehesfoxdenx.] LONDON, August 11. The late diaries Spurgeon’s 3000th sermon was published iu London this ire ok. Probably this is a record for one man’s output. Spurgeon’s ministry extended over a period of forty years, from 1851 to 1891, and he is almost unique among preachers in the popularity that has outlived his death. There is a large and continuous demand for back numbers of his sermons', the purchasers representing all denominations. In one instance an order for a .million sermons was executed, and the total sale since 1855 has been estimated at a hundred million. No. 3000 is to bo sent free to all applicants from all parts of the world. It is interesting to recall how the great preacher fairly took the religions world by storm. His .first sermon was given in a little Cambridgeshire cottage, ‘•'.with a ceiling so low that a hole had to be out in it to enable tall preachers to stand upright.” At the age of nineteen “the hoy preacher,” as ho was called, removed to London and in a feAv months was) drawing such crowded congregations’ that his church in Southwark had to bo enlarged. Still it was too, small, and he had to engage the Surrey Theatre. When the Metropolitan Tabernacle was opened in 1861 Spurgeon’s congregation numbered 6000, including 4500 communicants. His sermons elicited equally loud choruses of praise and abuse. In cultured Cambridge no bookseller would venture to sell them, and a local grocer stopped in to supply the popular demand. The vehemence of his opponents proved a great advertisement. The acme of popularity seemed to bo reached when each Sunday morning sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle was telegraphed across the Atlantic, to appear on the following day in several American newspapers. The sale iu America of 150,000 volumes in the space of about four years showed that his trains-Atlantic popularity was. phenomenal. The sermons were reprinted in Australia; Wales had an edition of its own ; and certain discourses were translated into the various languages of Europe and the East. Even provincial newspapers lent their aid to give the sermons still more world-wide publicity; for when, as a young,, man, Spurgeon gave several days of each week to preaching up and- down the country, lengthy, reports appeared in each town visited. One ardent friend actually bore the heavy cost of having entire sermons inserted . in Australian newspapers as advei’tisements. A London merchant paid for the advertising of the sermons in a large number ol .papers. The enterprise of a third found expression in the purchase of a quarter of a million copies, which were bound into volumes for presentation to each reigning sovereign in Europe, to each members of both Houses of Parliament, and to the students of every university in the three kingdoms. Touching briefly upon the death of the Hon George Marsden Waterhouse, who departed this life at Torquay last Monday, in the eighty-third year of his age, the “Times” says he was “distinguished as a zealous and most disinterested colonial politician. In 1861 he became Premier of South Australia, and his Administration was marked by rigid integrity and unswerving fidelity to the interests of the colony. , Failure in health obliged him to leave,. South Australia and active political life in 1863. After an interval of some years, spent in part in England, he was attracted to New Zealand, and there gave to the country the wise foresight, the varied and acute_ knowledge of which he was the undisputed possessor. In 1872 ho became Premier of New Zealand—-an . office which he held for a few months only—but his experience and his .work, as a legislator have been of permanent value to the colony.” • _ The death of Mr Oliver Roper Strickland, erstwhile manager ’of the New Zealand Shipping Company and for many years a director, of that institution, occurred last Wednesday at his residence, Hampsiield, Putney. Deceased, who was in the seventy-seventh year of his age, had been in failing health for a long time. ■ Mr Justice Williams arid Mrs Williams have returned to London after a visit to Mr and Mrs F. Cunliffe in Surrey. They intend to leave for New Zealand in November.. Recent callers at the High Commissioner’s office:—Mr C.' B. Tudehopo (Auckland), Mr Sydney W. Hardie (Auckland), Mr Jasper Calder (Auckland), Mr A. J. Cox (Gisborne), Mr J. A. Brown, Mrs D. H. Brown and Miss E. F. Brown, Mr S. S. Hutton (Dunedin), Mr R. Davidson (Dunedin), Mr James Forrest (Auckland), Mr J. Allwill (Auckland), Mr Charles Spray (Highbank), Miss M. S. Bartleman (Dunedin), Mr and Mrs Alex Palmer (Dunedin), Canon and Mrs Jordan (Taufanga), Mr and Mrs P. J. H. Munro (Tauranga), Mr R. E. Cunningham (Devonport), Mr and Mrs H. E. Smith (Christchurch),. Messrs P. J. and F. Cawley (Wellington), Mr F. C. Constable (Auckland). Tlio Council of the Leicester Sheepbreeders’ Association, has decided to offer a silver challenge cup, to he competed for, at the November show of the Canterbury (New Zealand) Agricultural and Pastoral Association, which this year will be held in conjunction with the Now Zealand International Exhibition at Christchurch. The cup is offered for the best Leicester shearling nam by an imported Leicester sheep, and has to be won three times before it becomes the absolute property of an exhibitor. -Dr A. B. O’Brien, of Christchurch, who was married iu London last week, intends to settle and practise in Christchurch, leaving England in the new vear. The New Zealand Shipping Company’s Tonga.riro, which left London yesterday, carried a fair complement of saloon passengers and 171 in the steerage. Among the former were Mr 0. CT Beale, the well-known Sydney pianoforte manufacturer, and his wife, Mr and Mrs T. Gibson. Mies Gibson, Mies I. Gibson, Mr and Mrs F. Hill and Miss Hill, Mr H. T. Milnes, Mr M. P. Pickles, Mr H. E. Salt, Mr and Mrs L. Sohatz, Mr P. F. Turner, Mr J. W. Walker, Mr H. W. Williams, Mr A. Adam, Mr W. T. Allen, Mr J. L. and Mrs Ashmore, and the Mieses Ashmore, Mrs and Mies Badham, Mr J. Beattie, Mr F. A. Boswell, Master J. Bushe, Miss C. A. Chapman, Mi- J. Dillar, Mr J. C. Douglas, Master W. D. Dunwoody, Mr J. S. Dykes, Mr J. Farmer, Mr H. C. Fraser, Mr R. N. Fulton. Mr and Mrs A. Grant, Mr J. W. Gray, Rev J. E. Jones, Mrs E. Lomas, Mies C. Lomas, Mr R. and Mrs M’Lean and Miss M’Lean, Mrs M’Math and daughter, Mr J. T. Martin, Mr P. Mepham, Miss E. C. Milne, Mrs E. L. Newton, Mr J- R. Newton, Miss H. M. Northcroft. Miss M. L. Pasley, Mr J. Rawson, Mr G. Rawson, Mr R. Richards, Mr H. Sliawyer, Mr and Mrs J. Shepherd, Mr and Mrs T. Stone and the Misses Stone, Mr R. Sunderland, Mr M. L. Sunderland, Miss M. Sutcliffe, Mr W. T. Symons, Mr W. Wardrbp, Mr T. C. Willis, Mr J. A. Yuill and Mr A. Yuill. Mr George Adams, described as a tuneful New Zealand baritone, _ is achieving success at the Blackpool Hippodrome. Mr Charles Carter, formerly with the Pollard Opera Company in New Zealand, is appearing in leading tenor roles at the Lyric Theatre,, where the MoodyManners Company is giving a season of “opera in English.” Mr Carter took the principal role in “ Pagliacci ” a few nights ago, . 1

Writing to the London “ Chronicle” a gentleman who signs himself W.O.P. says:—“My son, who is an engineer, and has worked on locomotive and railway construction in China and India, last January obtained an assisted passage from the Now Zealand High Commissioner's office hero on condition of his depositing £SO in a bank. Arriving at Auckland on March 15, lie call- ' cd at the Government Labour Bureau, showed his papers, and was informed by the agent ‘ that before ho could be allowed to take up employment he must first obtain, a certificate for proficiency under the colonial Government inspector of machinery, whoso next examination would be on May 1 ’ —nearly seven, weeks. After successfully passing the examination ho was still unable to get work. In his last letter to me, dated June 14, ho states that ho had done twenty days’ work in the bush, but, finding ho was not to be paid for overtime, left, and is now on his way to Sydney, there being not the remotest chance of employment in Now Zealand till the spring. Would it not bo more honest for those concerned to let intending emigrants know what obstacles will be placed in their way?” Accepting the facts as stated there does seem to have been a strange omission of a somewhat important item in the information given, to W.O.P. junior at the High Commissioner’s. One cannot, however, easily believe that if the young man when seeking an assisted passage disclosed tho fact that ho was an engineer and wanted to follow up his profession •in Now Zealand he . was left ignorant of the fact that ho would bo required to undergo an examination in the colony before being permitted to take up an appointment. The Union Steamship Company of New Zealand is having two new steamships built on this side for its intercolonial service, one by Messrs Denny, of Dumbarton—-a turbine—and the other by Messrs Caird and Co., of Greenock. Tho turbine steamer will bo larger and faster than the Loongana, with a. working speed of 18 knots. The other vessel is to be 420 ft long, 53ft beam and 34ft in depth, and is to be fitted with triple expansion engines, capable of a speed' of 16 knots. Both boats are to be ready about this time next year.