LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

'• njetlnehavo-auflienco-lDr a word or two." —Shakxpeie. ••fISST in Batter first in Beer." These ere tho new conquests made by Auckland OTerthe rest of tho world; those are tho latest legends which Ave aroentitled to place on our banners. The beer trophy was ' secured to us by the decision of the judges at the Melbourne Exhibition. In butter, also we there obtained first and second places; and now, to fill up tho oup of our triumph, Mr. Meadows, the groat English expert in this matter, eays that " tho finest batter that could bo produced in any part of the world ho had got in Auckland." Grand staples these of human sustenance 1 Boer was drunk by our Viking and Saxon forefathers, a strong, healthy, powerful race; it was drunk at every meal, and nourished and strengthened gallant men for hundreds of years. They were far better men in those days than now, when so many insist upon swilling toa, which is making us all nervous, dyspeptic, and miserable. As for butter, what a triumph it is to bo able to exult in having obtained tirs»t place there ! Its history as an article of human food is lost in the mists of antiquity. When the threo angels appeared to Abraham as ho sab in tho heat of tho day r.t his tent door, on the Plains of Mamre, we are told that ho took butter and milk, and set it before them. Strictly speaking, I suppose it would bo wrong to say that what was produced by the Patriarch to his guests was butter after tho pattern of our dairies. Probably the Plains of Mamro were too warm as a general thing for churning butter, and they had no refrigerating engines in those days. It was very likely something like clotted cream. But that is a detail. And see what a testimony this victory is to Auckland indirectly ! It is a guarantee of tho preeminent capacity of the land to produce in plentiful measure tho finest grasses. And that means a fertile soil, a temperate climate, abundant rains. Wo do well to boast of our grand posit ion in butter.

Mr. Justice Gillies, judging by the remarks he made when the question was before him as to the disposal of the funds for the Fallen Women's Home, does not believe in the Salvation Army. He has never known them, he says, to do any good. He is merely aware of their existence because he sees some noisy people passing through tho streets, with flags and a brass band, making, occasionally, some not very harmonious music. I must confess that when 1 have been coming along the street at night, when there was something extra going on with the Army, and heard tho band, and saw rows of people with flaring torches, and a man capering on a horse in front, I have thought it was a singular religious exhibition, But probably Mr. Justice Gillies does not make an effort to see any good there is. It is quite unlikely that any good the Army may do will come under Mr. Gillies' observation as he looks at life, and at the sins and sorrows of the city, only through the "loopholes of retreat" afforded by his garden at Mount Eden. There is another way in which it might dawn upon him that there is a need for such an organisation, but perhaps conviction cannot even dawn upon him in that way. If he goes round all the churches on a Sunday, Anglican, Presbyterian, and so on, he will be struck with one thing, I am sure, that in none of them are there any representatives of the labouring class. In no church will they be found. The worshippers in the churches are all well-to-do people. Our religion was rapidly separating us into two classes, and it was becoming f»s if taken for granted that Christianity was a luxury of those who were comfortably off, never descending below the artisan, and seldom perhaps reaching him. Tho Salvation Army has changed all that.

Then, again, from observation I have lost all hope of the fallen being rescued and the degraded being raised by those who belong to the "upper circles," but who stoop down on errands of mercy like beings of a higher order descending from a purer sphere than oursladiea and gentlemen ■who have known no struggle, who know nothing about want and the grim realities of sordid toil, persons who have never been afflicted, who have slept on beds of down ell their lives, who have been lapped in all that contributes to the enjoyment of life. Such folks as these will never do much good amongst the "lower classes." But tho {Salvation Army contains men and women who know sin and have associated with sinners, men and women who know poverty and want and trial in every form. These, and these alone, when inspired by a true spirit, can do rescue work.

I observed a paragraph in the Herald the other day, calling attention to the fact that M.S. for publication was frequently oosted in such a shape as brought it under letter charges, when a heavy fine had to be paid. A friend of mine was telling me that he had been subject to irritation and some little expense from the same cause, — that people will not conform to the post office regulations. He lives a few miles out of town, outside of the postal district, and people were in the habit of sending him notes, business intimations, circulars, &c., covered only with a penny stamp. Of course, he was fined every time. At length he put his foot down; he kept the envelopes, and when he came to town he went round to those who had communicated with him, and from each collected twopence ! These people learned something useful at a cheap rate.

Ministers must surely at the present time, according to their own showing, be in a singular state of mental agitation. They are rushing hither and thither over the colony like the most erratic comets, sometimes showing the most earnest desire to avoid one another, and sometimes shining in clusters. It seems that a few days ago some runs in Otago were .sold at Dunedin after the Government had come to a resolution to reserve them. That there had been a mistake leaked out, and the Hon. Mr. Hislop, Colonial Secretary, found ib necessary to write to an Oamaru paper stating the circumstances. His account was that tho Cabinet meeting was not held till four o'clock in the afternoon of the day precedi the sale, and it was not until half-past five ' that a, decision was arrived at. The mistake 4n communicating the decision, he considers, is "just of that kind which is made when men's minds are overwrought." What on earth can the mighty intellects of Sir Harry Atkinson, Messrs. Hislop, Fisher, Mitchelson, and the rest be overwrought about 1 There is no crisis in the history of the colony. They have nob even the railways now to manage. There is no nativo rebellion threatening. The Russians are nob going to invade Wellington. And if there is some difference of opinion about the Wellington beer duty cases, and Mr. Fisher is extremely rusty, surely that is not sufficient to account for seven statesmen being mentally overwrought, to the verge of lunacy!

At the meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, three members of the Board were appointed to wait upon the new Governor, Lord Onslow, to get him to lay the foundation of the Nurses' Home. One of the other members took alarm at once, and saw that he would be out of chatting with the Governor. He moved that the committee be composed of the whole Board. The motion was deferred, but it is understood we are all "in it." Truly, the colonials ** dearly love a lord."

Tho Rev. Mr. Taylor, of California, formerly on a visit to Auckland, preached a temperanoe sermon once in the streets of San Francisco. He commenced thus :— "My text this morning will be found retched on a sand lob near SacramentoBtreet." The Rev. J. D. Gilmore, of PonBonby Baptist Church, seems to choose his texts quite as uniquely as Mr. Taylor. Last Sunday morning he gave his usual monthly " Ten Minutes' Talk to Children," when he took for his text a copy of the New Zea-s-aivd Herald of Saturday last, and rivetted the attention of the young folk, as he showed how practically the daily paper taught lessons in morals. Editors, writers, reporters, correspondents, telegraph operators, compositors, publishers, and news »gents were all brought in to add their lessons. The idea was a quaint one, and was worked out with & great deal of iogomiW-

' I like that idea of inmates of the OH Men's Refuge going out " on the wallaby," and returning in due season tipsy in a cab, the cab hire being duly put down to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. Judging from the proceedings at the late meeting of the Board, tho Board intends to draw the lino at cab hiro, just as another Board has drawn tho lino at making good tho damaged overcoats of officials, for even ft worm will turn. Some time the Charitable Aid Board contemplated abolishing the maternity ward at tho Refuge, owing to the scandalous imposition practised on the ratepayers, but when the time came for action they were affrighted at, tho noise they had themselves made, and the Board backed down. I understand that the abuses in that department are getting as gross and lively as ever, and that if the ratepayers knew tho real facts of bow public charity is abused, they would take some steps to put a stop to the scandals. Mercutto.