LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9178, 6 October 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

"Let me have audience for a word or two." —ShaK-^pere. There is no doubt about what is the sensation of this week—B.N.Z. The report is really a very " stunning" affair, and so the shareholders evidently thought it, for when the portentous sentence was spoken that £800,000 had gone, the shareholders gave a kind of a gasp ! The secret as to the precise condition of affairs, and the nature of the report, had been well kept, for all that seemed to be known outside was mere conjecture. The report is the work of keen and penetrating minds, but it occurs to one whether there is not in it something of personal feeling, as well as of the perfectly natural and allowable exacerbation of men who have lost money. lam afraid that the perfectly innocent and those gravely to blame are confounded together. But my deepest sympathies are with those who invested in the Bank of New Zealand for an income, as something absolutely secure, and now find that what they looked forward to as the means of comfort and support in old age has become so small.

It is a sudden change from the Bank of New Zealand to the question of "Church Union," the rivalry of religious bodies, and how clergymen are to maintain themselves upon the small stipends they have. But that subject, thanks to the interesting letters of "Janus," has occupied a considerable amount of space in the Herald during the week, and has attracted much attention outside. The trouble does not affect New Zealand alone. I see in an English paper received by the last mail that it is proposed that there should be a celibate order of clergy in the Anglican Church, not because it is thought that celibacy is the correct thing for a clergyman, but simply because it is found that it is difficult to raise their salaries to the point which shall enable them to indulge in the luxuries of wife and children. And it is proverbial that clergymen's wives are in the habit of filling up the quiver very rapidly. But can't the thing be managed in some other way ! Can't we do with fewer clergymen, and pay them better ? That would be my solution rather than to introduce a Popish practice fraught with many dangers. Don't send a clergyman into a district where there are not enough of people to maintain him decently, and" don't let us have competition between religious bodies.

Some people connected with the Government evidently think they are going to put down the Thames, and make the gentlemen who run that locality look small. The Government auditor has fired a tremendous shot at the governors of the Thames High School. He says that the fees were allowed to get into arrears for four, five, or six quarters, the governors apparently trusting to the rents from endowments. The auditor's remarks on this subject were treated as impertinent. The school had a magnificent endowment and " liberal grants." The auditor proceeds : —" So long as there was money in hand no consideration of something like keeping expenditure in due proportion to income appears to have been entertained. The statement herewith shows that, after absorbing the last sum on fixed deposit—the remains of earlier receipts from endowments—the governors have only £31 Us 3d of cash, and some arrears of fees and rents, with which to carry on the school during 18SS. I am informed that they have since obtained from the Government a gift of £300—this at a time when all other educational matters have been subjected to curtailment." This last sentence contains a very serious charge against the Government. We will back the governors of the Thames High School in this contest. The auditor may fret and fume ; but they can deal with his official and political superiors, and obtain another grant of £300 when they require it.

Just observe the bold and decisive action of the Thames Harbour Board in their little difficulty. The Minister of Marino thought ho had gravelled them by issuing a proclamation curtailing the limits of the port in spite of their teeth. Their reply was: "If you do that, then you need not look for the interest on the money we have obtained from the Post Office Savings' Bank." And the Government had to knuckle down, and to enact again the proclamation which it had cancelled to remedy what it declared to bo a gross injustice. But the Board go further, and take another step. They consult Mr. Hesketh, who finds that all the borrowing which the Board have accomplished from the Government was ultra vires, and that the Board is not liable to pay the money at all ! The next point is of less importance —namely, that the members are not in any way personally liable, It was entirely and solely the fault of the lenders, who ought to have known the powers of the Board, and ought not to have lent them the money. The lenders are the culprits, and are, indeed, very much to blame. They ought to be made to compensate the Board. Next, those who have paid dues to the Board cannot recover them. The Board are all right on that side therefore. Mr. Hesketh says that the maxim caveat emptor applies, in other words, the payers of dues ought to have taken care of themselves; they ought to have known (what the Board and tho Government did not know) that the Board had no legal power to levy rates The Board, indeed, are all right any way we like to take it. They need not repay the dues they have illegally levied, and they need not pay the money they have borrowed. Happy men !

Erratic and unmeaning, indeed, were the freaks of the young gentleman who essayed to explore the interior of the l'arnell Convent the other evening. It is a curious coincidence that) immediately following the

paragraph describing his adventure in the ! Hkkald, was one referring to Dr. Richard- i son's work on the nature and effect of J alcohol. Now, as a matter of fact, tho | writer knows that the actor in this affair declares positively that, from the time he 1 left a certain hotel, lie knows nothing what- i ever of what he did ; it, is all a blank so far I as memory is concerned. He is not what is ! known as a fast or a drinking man ; quite , the contrary. So that his conduct seems j quite inexplicable, except on the hypothesis j tnat some trick was played upon him, : and a practical joke carried out in the way of ( drugging liquor. In any case, as he had made the amende honorable, it surely was ! no 1 ; necessary to publish his name. No | good result could follow, but only unneces- J sary pain to himself and his friends. I

A dark and dismal rumour comes floating over the sea (by mail) that the temperance party in the old country are going to spring a mine on certain unsuspecting persons. It is whispered that the Blue Ribbon folks are about to publish a list of the shareholders in "Guinness' Ale and Stout Company (Limited)." That list, when printed, will, they say, contain the names of clergymen and other clerical dignitaries by the score. This will be really too painful, and suggests the query, " Cannot a stop be put to this reprehensible system of giving publicity to the affairs of public companies

Booksellers, so far, have not been inconvenienced by any rush of purchasers of " Our Last Year in New Zealand;" no panting, jostling crowd thronging in to secure copies. Many of the worthy persons who are so liberally basted with the episcopal oleomargarine are, of course, in quite a flutter of excitement and pleasurable tremor. On the other hand, I know of some who are not at all delighted, but feel very much annoyed at being stroked down the back in a patronising way by His Lordship. The good Bishop was very impartial, though, and showed no favouritism in ladling out the treacle, which recalls tho character in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit," who, when showing visitors round, introduced each celebrity as "One of the most remarkable men in our country, sir." But., without meaning it, and quite innocent of intentional affront, our srood Bishop has inflicted poignant anguish upon several worthy individuals. In one case, I am told of a churchwarden in a village far north feeling deeply aggrieved at being " out of it." It seems he once held a gingham over His Lordship when he was laying the foundation-stone of a little church. Another bucolic "pillar" had the honour of brushing the dirt from off the episcopal gaiters. Now, it, is strange that the author of that fascinating work should have omitted to mention these good people. However, let us hope that in the next edition the omission will be repaired. By the way, a rumour is afloat that our good Bishop Cowie is to be Primate of New Zealand ; let us hope so, as he will then be able to afford the long-desired carriage and pair, which His Lordship so delicately hints at in his book.

Some Point Chevalier residents write to the Herald stating their conviction that this agitation about night-soil is a mere matter of ■•sentiment. Possibly so ; although there does not appear, at first blush, to be anything tenderly sentimental about cloacal perfumes ; nor would one expect the honest, though grimy nocturnal labourers in this branch of industry, to go about their odoriferous task humming snatches from Swinburne, or one of Moore's melting melodies from " Lalla Kookh. Sentiment may be associated with attar of roses, but that was not the scent- I meant when referring to that Archhill nuisance a short time since.

At the open meeting of the Progressive League the other evening, the member for Parnell gave utterance to one of those noble and elevating sentiments of which Auckland politicians have generally a good stock on hand. With one honorarium-gilded hand impressively outstretched, and the other pressed to his heaving breast, Mr. Moss said, "Country first, and self afterwards." Nothing could be more touching or soul-inspiring than this now, could there? Mercutio.