Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 12 April 1892, Page 2

Notes and Events.

« Mr Courtney, the Sussex Colporteur of the Church Association reports in the February number of the Church Intelligencer as follows :— East Grinstead, Tuesday. In my visiting to-day, a young woman told me she had to leave her situation as nurse in a Ritualistic family, because she would not go to the confessional in the Church of England. I have met many similar cases. She lived -^ with a clergyman, and four servants were engaged in the house They had only one choice, that was to go to the confessional or leave. Three * submitted. Upon the authority of the Rev E. T. M. Walker, r U rafce of St Peter's, London Docks, " the present occupa.it of the See of London, in an address to the clergy at tho Rural Deanery at Stepney, recommended his clergy to hear Confessions at the 1 Chancel Gate, adding that this wag his own pnwtiai?."

The offering of human sacrifices at the burial of great men is a custom usually supposed to be confined to savage races, yet if, says j the British Medical Journal, we reflect on our own injurious habits at funerals it is doubtful if the line which divides us from the barbarians is quite so broad as me imagine. Thousands of men who would not for any consideration walk bareheaded a dozen yards from their own door, stands with heads exposed to the chilly atmosphere of a cemetery, whilst their friends or relatives aie consigned to the grave. It is to be hoped that warned by the lamentable circumstances which have recently emphasised this oft- acknowledged danger, some steps may be taken to shorten the services at the graveside, and to introduce the practice of wearing a silk or velvet skull cap for those attending funerals in any but the most genial weather. The proportion of illiterate people in the different countries of Europe may be seen from the following statistics, which have been taken by the very exact method in vogue there Among every 1,000 recruits there are in Sweden, 3 illiterate ; in Denmark, 4 ; in Germany, 6 (on account of the large number illiterate in the eastern provinces of Prussia) ; in Switzerland, 13 ; in Great Britain, 80, in Holland, 85 ; in France, 104 ; in Belgium, 160 ; in Austria, 250 ; in Greece and Spain, each 400 ; in Italy, 464 ; in Russia, 718 ; in Servia, 798. This will show the difference between the purely Germanic nations on the one hand and the Romaic and Slavonic on the other. The Economist condemns the growing tendency to treat the votes of the working men as if they were a commodity put up to auction, and says a very considerable body of working men are beginning to feel suspicious of the bidding at the political auction. They begin to realise that they are going to be paid for their votes out of their own pocket. That' the promising politicians are not so popular as might be supposed is well illustrated by the position of certain of our leading statesmen. Take the case of Mr Balfour. He is unquestionably one of the favourites of the democracy. Yet it cannot be said of him that he goes about promising everybody everything they want. When he speaks he wins as much applause as any of his colleagues or rivals in spite of the fact that he never produces any list of intended benefits. In truth the English democracy is neither so gresdy nor so foolish as certain politicians would have us believe; and those statesmen who realise this, and act upon it, will find not only that they gain easy consciences thereby, but an in crease of that form of popular support which is most worth having - the support of the picked labourers and artizans. . In the list of salaries paid to Governors at British Colonies, Canada and Victoria stand first with £10,000 a year each. Last in order are the Virgin Islands £340, and St. Helena, Montserrat, and Turk's Island, £500 a year each The descent from the highest to the lowest of these extremes is gradual. The Cape of Good Hope figures for £9. 000, New South Wales £7,000, Jamaica and British Guiana £6,000 each, and Queensland, South Aus tralia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Mauritius, Gibraitar, Malta, and Trinidad £5,000 a year each. The Governors of Sierra Leone and Lagos, which, on account of climate, j are not in all eyes very tempting appointments, get £2,500 a year eaoh. _________