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New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4126, 3 February 1875, Page 2

by the reformers. In our obituary columns will be found recorded the death of Mr. John Anderson GilIi lin 11, a colonist of long standing, and who for many years conducted an extensive business in Auckland. The deceased gentleman, who had been ailing for some time past, died on Monday last in the tifty-fourth year of his age. Mr. Gillillan formerly took an active part in political life, having been elected a member of the General Assembly, and subsequently called by His Kxcollency the Governor to a seat in the Legislative Council. He also sat in the Provincial Council, as a representative of Auckland city, and served as Provincial Secretary under Mr. Williamson during one of that gentleman's terms of ofliee as Superintendent. Of late years, however, Mr. (iillillan's state of health had caused him to withdraw from the activo duties of citizenship. In private life lie was highly esteemed and respected for his lnauy personal virtues and social qualities. The funeral will leave his late residence, Kyber Pass I'oad, this afternoon, at three o'clock. \Yo observe by a notification in another column that the Provincial Government offices will !>c closed at noon, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased. The Girard entertainment at the Prince of Wales Theatre last evening was nnmerously attended. A programme similar to the one of the previous evening was gone through very creditably. The Girard Brothers' Pantomime received repeated and loud applause. Miss Maggie Knight gave with good eflVct several songs and dances, and Mr. Jacobs, both as magician and Tentriloqnist, greatly amused the patrons of the theatre.

An Alexandra correspondent sends the ' following : —One of the "noble army" of the Native Office, expressing his views concerning the visit of Sir Donald McLean to the Waikato, said it was useless for the Native Minister to go there unless he was prepared to hand over the whole of Waikato. That done a basis would be laid for feasting and rejoicing, for which of course the Government must pay ; that this fellow says may, from his position and rei>rei;entation, be taken as the mind of the whole King party. I have reason to know the fellow, who has long been in the pay of the .Native Ollice, as one of the rankest Hauliaus and oue of our greatest enemies. Is it not sickeniug to think that any British-speaking people, with a British speaking-Government, can be hoodwinked through a Native Department as we are in New Zealaua ? This expedition of the Kingites must be casting the country twenty or t'.irtv pounds per day, exclusive of salaries. 'Contrast this waste with what is doing in vour Police Court with the education rat-; defaulters. Why, sir, more is Masted—for all beiielicial uses—on the Hauliaus than would p;;y the education rate twice over. The oue ruling idea o* every Native Olii.-ial appears to be that the white man exists in this country for the peculiar benefit of hims-lf and the Maori. A very large number of those in Government pay, if taken before Mr Lieck ham, could show no more " visible means of existence" than most of those he sends to Mount Eilen as rogues aud vagabonds. When the history of Kew Zealand is fairly written this part of it will show a very dirty picture.

In the Fortnightly fierieir, siys an Australian Reviewer, Professor Huxley has taken what appeal's to be a retrograde step byre viving the Cartesian theory, that animals are mere automata—mindless machines, in fact. He omits to toll us, however, what is the Clulud which supplies the movement. When a mechanist constructs ~n automaton, its so-called automatic action is derived from its fabricator, and the motive power has 10 be periodically renewed, while its motions are rigidly limited. 15ut in the dog, the elephant, and the horse, as well as mauv other animals, we liud, not only the utmost freedom of volition, but that nearly all the mental processes are performed by them which are conducted in our own minds. They perceive, reileet, compare, remember, calculate, deduce, and even imagine, as is shown by the well-known fact that dogs dream. One of the best authenticated incidents in natural history is the following — An elephant was following an ammunition waggon, and saw the man who was seated on it fall off just before the wheel. The man would have been crushed Lad not the animal strode forward, and without an order lifted the wheel with his trunk, and held it suspended in the air till the waggon had passed over the man without hurting him. To call this an automatic act would be a mere abuse of language. -Xor will most persons feel more favourably disposed towards the theory by the obvious corollary that "man is a conscious automaton or by the fact that, as Professor Huxley goes on to observe, " this view is held, in substance, by the whole school of predestinarian theologians, typified by St. Augustine, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards."

At last we have something about " Mr. Vogel's XewZealand handbook."The I/ondon correspondent of the An*trulu*ian says :— Mr. Vogel's handbook forXew Zealand is to make its appearance very shortly. It would have been published ere now had it not been for the delay occasioned in preparing the numerous engravings that are to adorn its pages and give it extra attractions. From the care with which it has been compiled, and the great interest at present felt in Xew Zealand, it is sure to have a large circulation in this country. Jottings about JS'ew Zealand constantly find their way into the papers, aud there is scarcely one that has not contained a paragraph lately announcing the presence in thio country of a representative of the Acclimatisation Society of Xe\v Zealand, for the purpose of collecting English partridges for exportation thither, to be turned loose ii,.- breeding. They are to be sent out early uext month. Mr. Gladstone, in his I-.'j-jiOistiJ.a/itjii, quotes the following statistics to show that, although the conversations to Roman Catholicism arc numerous amongst the highest class in England, there is 110 such ic 11 <! em.y amongst the mass of the people Usually, in this country, a movement in the highest class would raise a presumption of a similar movement in the mass. It is not so here. Rumours have gone about that the proportion of members of the Papal ('hurch to the population has increased, especially in England. But these rumours would seem to be confuted by authentic ligures. The Roman Catiiolic marriages, which supply a competent test, and which were 4"S'J per cent, of the whole in 1534, aud 4'i>2 percent, in ISoO, were 4'U'J per cent, in ami 4 02 per cent, in 1571." The Auckland Choral Society have come to the assistance of tile Young Men's Christian Association hi a praiseworthy manner. The funds of the Association are in a low state, aud the Choral Society, with a view to assist the committee, have decided to give a grand concert to-morrow evening in the Choral Hall, ip aid of the Association. They will 011 this occasion receive the assistance of Miss Christian aud Mrs. Smytlie. The programme will consist of selections from •' Judas Maccab.eus airs and duets by Miss Christian aud Mrs. Smythe, and choruses by the Choral Society. A milkman's horse rail away yesterday causing a little excitement and endangering the lives of several persons Starting by Cook-street the animal galloped furiously up Nelson-street over tlie broken and unmade road, knocking down Jennings fence, breaking the cart aud harness on the green by St. James Church, but continuing his course down Union-street into Freeman's Bay, hurling the contents of the cart right aud left along the road. As can after can fell from the cart, the horse bounded along more madly than ever, but at length becoming exhausted he was pulled up in Freeman's Bay. Galljiutni states that the French Stamp Office has just purchased the secret of the composition of an ink absolutely indelible, and which resists the strength of all known re-agents. Owing to that discovery, it will be able to put an end io the numerous frauds which are constantly committed, to the prejudice of the Treasury, and which consists in restoring to stamped paper already used its original purity. The annual loss to the revenue on that head is calculated at GiX),ooof. in the department of the Seine alone. The two cases of cremation recently reported from Dresden—referring in one instance to the bod}' of Lady Dilke and in the other to that of a South German lady—were, as is explained, accomplished by special permission of the Saxon Home Ministry "in the interest of science." The Home Minister has now, however, determined henceforth to withhold such permission, considering the requirements of science fully satisfied. The meeting convened bj- His Worship the Mayor, yesterday, for the purpose of considering what steps should be taken to give a suitable reception in Auckland to the Colonial Representatives at the prize tiring competition at the Thames, was adjourned to this evening, at S o'clock, in the Mechanics' Institute. Readers of Dickens's last and unfinished work, E'lwiu Druod, will be interested to learn that the female opium-smoker depicted by the great novelist, and who went under the euphonious cognomen of "Lascar Sal," died miserably a short time back inacourtin Blue-gate-tields, St. George s-in-the-East. A young man named Patterson was arrested yesterday morning by Detectives Jeffrey and Grace, upon a charge of indecent assault upon a girl of tender years, at Otahuhu, 011 Saturday lad. He will be brought up at the Police Court this morning. Wi Patena, a Kaipara Maori, was brought up at the Police Court yesterday, and, upi n the testimony of Drs. Bayntnn and Ellis, adjudged to b« of unsound mind, and committed to the Prorincial Lunatic Asylum. This was tlie only case before the Court,

The Guardian gives the following acconniof Lords Camoys and Acton the IV.m Catholic noblemen who have si'tled withv" Gladstone in the controversv now ra"in" ' % says "It may be worth "while atUie', r V siut conjuncture to note who Lord CamV is, and how he comes bv his ancient '-it?" Many people regretted the termination ori'n abeyance which in 18X9 changed Mr. Stniu of Stonor, into Lord Camoysr The < f ,'. ' f ' have been seated at their Oxfordshire V-? dence from time immemorial. Mr Shirji.'says the family may eertsinlv be trk.-. .l the twelfth century. Leland savis Fortescuu invanyd it by marriage of "an ht'"o general of the Sconors, but after dispoec'ss*.] ' This was Sir Adrian Fortescue, who married Anne, sister and sole heir of John Stom.r whr had married Fortescue's sister. J n p-jo 1 lioinas Stonor, of Stonor, married \larv daughterof John Biddulph, ~f liiddulph who' through the ainilies of Goringand KadmvMp represented Margaret Camoys, the daughter of Lord c'amovs, the hero eourt, a Knight of the "'Jart.-r, who <lfe<f ia I 1-L The barony was claimed in ls'is I, v the great grandson of theabovenained Thomas Stouor ; and the House of Lords havin" rported in August, 1539, that he was° the senior co-heir, lie was summoned to I'arlia meut by the title. There is some obseu-itv about the early descents of the baronv, anil it would puzzle a king of arms to say whether the preset! c Lord_Camoys is second, third or tiftli baron. We may mention in passing that the heir to the title, the Hon. F. Stonor" is married to a daughter of the late Sir Robert Peel, who is Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales. Lord Acton, who is stepson to Earl Granville—his mother, the only child of the Due d'Alberg, having 'been rirst Lady Acton, and afterwards" Ladv Granville—is also of an ancient family, one of the 300 allowed by Mr. Shirley to be" older, as territorial magnates, than the beri'nnina of the llith century. Lord Acton, "whose peerage was conferred in IS7O, is nephew of the late cardinal, Charles Jauuarius Edward, who died in 1847, and who is gratefullv remembered by manv English travellers i'u ! Italy.

Guizot's will contains a curious confession of faith, in which the old statesman declares that, born a Protestant, lie had used the liberty which the Protestant Church gives of inquiry and doubt, and that for some time he had held that the unassisted reason of man is competent to furnish him with a solution of the great problems of duty and destiny, and that his unassisted will is equal to the task of regulating his life according to the mural law. He had, however, abandoned this helief. He was convinced that we are children in God's limd, unable to penetrate to His motives or ultimate designs, and he declares himself quite resign ed to "so lar"e a share of ignorance and weakness." "I believe in God, and adore Him, without attempting to comprehend Him." He confesses a profound belief in the permanent government of the universe by God, as well as his imminent action in the soul of man; and he recognise; G->i especially in the his' tories of the Old an i New Testaments, which he calls the Divine revelation and action. :.-y -I-r radiation and sacrifice of the Lord J-sm Christ, for the salvation of the human r^>-_" He adds that he carefully holds aloof from the scientific discussion, and the solutions offered, of the mysteries of revelation:—"l trust God permits me to call myself a Christian, and I am convinced that in The light which I am about to enter, we shall fully discern the purely human origin ano vanity of most of our dissensions here below on divine things." That is a stately creed, after its kind,—the kiiuiof Dean Mausoll —an-l ends with a stately humility all its own. Put no ecclesiastical school can really " hold aloof" from discussions germane to its confession, without virtually admitting defeat. A Chinese interpreter of long experience in the colon}', has fnrnished the Ararat Adv>rtix>>r (Victoria) with the following about the swearing of Chinese in the court 3 of justice :—" There is no administering of the oath in the Chinese law courts. What they call religious people bind tkeir conscience in a peculiar way by going out in the open air and repeating what they have done. If they kuow it is wrong, they look up to heaven, and believe God will not allow them to live after, and that the earth will not receive them. Different ways of binding their eonsciences is al-o used ; for instance, if one has done wrong towards another, they bind their consciences by saying the evil spirit will take them, if they go into the bush wild animals will devour them. Another way of binding the conscience is cutting off a cock's head, which has been commenced "200 years ago by the convent people, one man having carried out information when he should not have done so, was killed with many others. Out of 11S persons only five were saved. Afterwards that oath was abandoned. The Chinese freemasons all bind their consciences by cutting off a cock's head, whiclxis against the law of China. Some Chinamen that eorno out to this country have never hcaril of an oath, because in their own country there are a great many ways which they hind their consciences with. If they were asked to cut off a bullock's head the}- would do so, as it would biud their consciences. In Singapore and Hong Kong English Courts they paste up a written statement of their character and the Chinese read it which binds their conscience. China has a good law but a very bad office." Public Opinion, a London weekly journal, in reviewing a novel by Mr. Frank Trollope, entitled "William Mellish," remarks: — "This is a very stupid story, with not a single redeeming feature to repay any one for the wearisomcness of being compelled to read it. The characters are singularly devoid of anything to commend them to us as lifelike, notwithstanding that some historical ones are introduced. They indulge in the most idiotic conversations, and behave alto gcther as unnaturally as such creatures might be expected to. The incidents in which they are mixed tip by Mr. Trollope are either trivial in the extreme, or else wildly improbable. They are besides clumsily connected, and tire the reader by the style, or rather the want of style, in which they are described. Dull, dreary, and dismal, 'William Mellish' is a novel as much to be dreaded as the fogay days of November; and should be shuned by persons of a melancholy temperament, for it would hasten their determination to leave a world in which so mi'ch nonsense is permitted to appear unchecked. The author tries to pun, and lets off some puny jokes, more calculated to unseal the fountain of tears than to cause laughter. It is sad, but it is true, that we have not lately met with a work of fiction equal to ' William Mellish, for lack of humour, senseless chatter, and mock-heroic nons-'nse. Mr. Trollope can do better, we are charitable enough to believe ; and we also believe that he is unable to do worse. It seems possible that after all some solution may be afforded of the Tiehl>or;:o mvstery. The -V' "■ JV.; World gives an account of a sailor named C'laridge, said to be a mail of excellent character, who has spent his life in the Pacific, and whose information dates from tliu Sandwich Islands. Claridge's statement is that, going 011 board a schooner from Rio in 1S!. there was a sick gentleman, a passenger. 011 board, upon whom it became his duty to attend, and who told him that his name was Roger Ticfchotirne ; that having to go ashore on a desert island in search for hitho <!•• mrr, the gentleman accompanied him ; that the schooner sailed away, but never returned : that after about ten days the gentlenfhu died: that some days before death he got C'laridge to make a pen from the quill of a bird. using for ink the bird's blood ; that 011 a small scrap of paper h? -wrote and signed it with his name : and that the writing is ny»n in Claridge's possession. .Steps are beiiu; taken to verify these alleged facts, to secure possession of the scrap of paper, and to make out the writing, which (except the signature) is now so faint as to be undecipherable. Mrs. Palmer, the American revivalist, died on the 2nd of November last.