North Otago Times.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 6536, 29 December 1887, Page 2

North Otago Times.

I ?XnLISBS» START MOKMZ2TO.

j THUBBDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1887.

To be a humorist a man mast be a oriticai observer, bmt one may be a critical obscrrer without being a humorist. Professor Browa, of Canterbury College, ie a humorist, aod therefore also a critical obacrrer. That gentleman wae lately called in to examine the work of the Wellington Girls' High School for 1387, and in concluding his report he made some remarks which are refreshing en aecoant of the humor they disclose, and noteworthy oa aeeouat ef the lesson they teaek. "Many people/ says Professor Brown, "regret tbe application of higher education to Kttl** supposing it to ba deifcructire of their womanly instinct*." Aa a sequel to thie remark the merely critical observer would almost certainly hurt delirered aimialf, if pressed for time, of a brief bit of dogmatism to the eejntruy vtfket, <*,K6b.iop*e^,*o*Jd.hjtodai<to

argument to argument to show that tho supposition coa'd not he sustained. Professor Brown being a humorist profcrrod sjuite another coarse. In carrying on the work of examination ho asked tho papils to stato wbat they admired in certain poems they had read, and they scam to havo made thoir atatesacntc with charming ingenuousn«as—en ingenuousness whiob Frofossoc Brown of oourss did not plot for, but which became felicitously bandy when h« afterwards took occasion to refer to the popular fallacy that higher education has a tendency to unnex girls and women. Well, "in the Ancient Mariner" observes Professor Brown, "tho majority especially admired tho reference to the wedding. To quote one—' Tho part in The Ancient MarvMr I like best is where it tells about a brido being in tho hall/ They all showed great appreciation of the lovemaking in As You Like It ; and in j Tennyson's Faseing of Arthur they ! ware almost vnaniosoMS in admiring Sir Bedivere, and strongly approved of his attempts to cheat tho dying Arthur and save the jawcl-hiltod sword Excalibmr. To quote one — 4 It was very hard for Sir Rcdivcre to throw the beautiful sword away, because it was net with such very prcoious stones, such as he thought it would bo very nice for the world to have.' "

,Borne might argue from this thai the young ladies in question had either feee» §o indifferently taaghfc, or that they win intellectually bo defoetire that they kad failed to apprehend or were incapable of apprekending the higher qualities of the irorki tbej had been reading ; bat that doei not neeefsarily follow. Their statements do cot prore that the girlg had no apprehen■i Tanas* for higher things ; though thmj show that the writers, being girls, fell naturally into dilations te certain things, and, farther, as Professor 'Brown himielf suarely obaerrat, that " howerer l*«rned girls may grow, they will retain their natural likes and dislikes to th« end." Tn a word, §d«catioo does not and serer can destroy nature ; it otily leads out and calls into «x«tcise what is inherent and what is best in the mind and the oharaoter, and helps and encourages those qualities do flupplant and take the place of ether qualities less calculated te lead to personal woith and the wellheing of the commonwealth. It is true there ii education which falls far short of that, and some so-called education which tends more to derelop what is undesirable than what ii desirable in the mind and obaraeter; but no higher education worthy ef the same need erer be expected to fail in making women more truly womanly or men more manful than they would hare been without it.

' The result ef the enqniry as to the oauae of tbe death of the late Jehu Prlagle, of Oiopopo, was In eoeordanoe wltk tke evidence of Dr Loving o, wke stated tkat de. ceased had died from the effects of aa apoplectic fit, acoelarated by sanstroko. The fire bell rang a false alarm laat eveaing, to the aunoyaaoe ef tke Fire Brigade, wko promptly turned out, Tke lad wko rang the bell aaU he th»«ght the Bank of New Soath Wales was en firs, for ha saw a few aparks oorae from one of its aklmaey tops. He, however, mast %aye beea under the ke'ief tkat thoro waa no serious danger, for he rang the bell as if Its tones were meant as aa aeoompanjaeat to a fanera prooesaloa. A meeting af the directors of the Caledonian Sosloty was held laat night, Mr Milne, president, In tke ohalr. The minntes cf last meeting were read and confirmed. Mr A. Dalgleiah was appaintad timekeeper in place of Mr Hamilton, who eoald not act. It was dsolded to osll for applloatlons from peraoas willing to aell cards of tbe apotta. The Carnival Committee reported that arrangements ba4 been completed for the Carnival, and for tke sale ef tlokett. Other routine bualoosa w«s transacted, and tks meeting terminated. The Dsoedla oerrevpondent of tke^t^ralatian Insurance and Bonking Record writea aa followa on a oubjoot that will be interest to the people of Oamarn ; "A good deal hai beea eaid from time to time as to tbe value of the various loaaa contraotsd Id a variety of faebiona by the town of Oamarn, is Northera Otago. It has been aald here and elaewhcre, that Oanaro la praotJoally Inaolvent. and unable to pay the !ntare«t on Its debts. Tbia la far from the opioiona of the London lenders, judging from the reports of the piio«» at whloh Ita seoarlties arc being aold. Oaaaarn Monlolosl lfl(>7 loan la aelllns from 1111 to L1I3; If 10 loan, from bill to L 110; Harbor Board mortgage debeo» turea, LlO4 to LIC6 ; 1919 loan, from LlO7 to LlO9. Obaga Harbor Boa-d b*nda, of a like nature, quoted at from LlO2 to LI OS and LlO4 to L 106."

Ail inquest vu held at tko Honpltal ye*< te-day, teaching the death of William Johnstone, who died at the Hospital on Tuesday from injuries received by * fall from a spring dray on Monday la»t, near Tesner^kl. Mr W, H. 8. ftoberts, J.P., preiided at aating.eoroner. Mr Anthony Rodgari was cho>ea foreman of tks jary, and Inspector Thompson conduoted the enquiry. James Stirling depased that ha a»w deceased Bear tha Manas, T««narakl, about 8 a.mt on Monday. Shortly after defeated had pawed him he heard a mutter. Ing noise, and ran orar to the dray, and aaw deoeaied lying oa the granad fa front of tko wheel. Deoeaied said <c I oan't get oat rf tha way of the wheat ; if tba horsa'mevea it will be over me. " Wltaeai toek deoeaied to Elderalie. Dr Garland deposed that ha had made a post mortem examination of decesaeri , and foond the sixth oervioal vertibre frao* tared throagh the body, and tho seventh fractured through the apinet Thara was a quantity of extraressed blood In the tissues under the akla abore tha seat of the injury Such aa Injury ie neaesaarily fatal. Tkls wae all the eridence, aod the jury, without retiring, brought in a rerdiot that tha deoeased waa killed by aeeidentally falliag •ut of a dray. Thara ia a oarioualy interacting •uadrnp«d in a shop next to St. Jataee's Ball, The lifcfcle animal 1< aometkloglike an Aaitnlian bear Id tha hind quartan, it asei Its fora paws after the w anacr of a monkey, and , hat a fojy-like head and baahy tail. It la called, rightly or wrongly, a Tatmanlaa Dbtll. How it lime to ba aught in Kaw Zealand la a mystery. If it ia not iadigenoue to thia colony it haa aertainly become aoolicnattsed, and ii la the pink of ooadition. About a fortnight ago, aa Mr Walter Tatea was hunting far aaturaliatio ourloa near tha bridge orer the Shag Kirer, aboat a atila from Danbaok, he obserrad the oreature aunaiag ita»lf on the rooka* Kerar having aeen an animal of the kind la the colony or elsewhere, he determined to eatqh it. Aa loon at the animal aetieed If r Yates ib made for a hole in the rook, but ha Intercepted it and jammed it against tha roak with ha foot. It bit his ankle, but soon it was hedged about by loose roak, and Mr Yataa went to Daabaek for a eaga. Carrying the aaimal to Palmersten, he exhibited It te the psople then* a»d they took a goqd deal ef iataraat In It, aeeiag it h»d bnea easf kt ia the neighborhood. Now tha animal ia oa ▼law Ia Oamaru, and by nataraliata who say they knew, II la aroaonooed aa cstelleat ■•aolman ot a rare apeoies ef euaeiraped, IbwiU be eiklbited for % few Vaya hew, and ahoald b«. TlelM by U»m wk» Ukt