LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8986, 17 September 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

"Give ma audience for a word or two." — Shalcewere. I was glad to seo His Worship the Mayor on the stage of the City Hall on Wednesday

evening, as the representative of the citizens in presenting an address to Signora . Cuttica. It is true that he did not look quite at ease or at home. He does better when presiding over the city councillors, who as yet, at all events, are all of the male persuasion. He is still a little bashful when amongst ladies, but will no doubt improve in time. It was reported in town that His Worship intended to make a speech to Signora Cuttica in Italian, as that lady's knowledge of English is very imperfect, and may naturally be supposed to

be totally at fault when Crowtherian

English is concerned. The Signora, I suppose, must take it for granted that Mr. Crowther said a great many sweet, nice things about her and about her voice, and at all' events she will be able to get translated into choice Italian, the long and

involved sentence which composes the address. His Worship was honest enough not to profess that he had been enchanted night after night with that " glorious voice," he had not been morally elevated by the privilege, he had not experienced

its "delightful influence," and so on. He

took all these things on trust, and appeared in his capacity of a representative man. He knows nothing of " Ah die la Morte," or " II Balen," but he takes it for granted that those things are very elevating to those whose ears are trained to appreciate them.

Parliament still sits, and the members still wrangle, although the Premier has been "knocked out," and is only slowly getting stronger. The latest sensation has been Mr. Buckland's Washers and Mangier?' Bill, which is a satire on the way in which the Government mean to watch and inspect everything. The idea might have been pursued a little further. If a man is to have the Government interfere between him and his washerwoman, why should he not be entitled to the assistance of aGo vernment inspector when his wife does his washing and mangling ? I confess that at times I have not been quite satisfied, and have thought that my shirt fronts might be a little better done up. But it was not till I came to consider all those wonderful Ho vernment Bills decreeing half-holidays for everybody (except me), and short hours, that 1 began to see a possibility of redress. But while on the subject of washing, 1 may remark that our legislators really do a wonderful amount of washing of dirty linen in public. They might advantageously turn their attention to reforming .this branch of the business.

A clergyman of the Anglican Church, having in mind, I suppose, some criticism of mine upon pulpit utterances, writes :—

To Mercutio, Sir,—When dealing with questions regarding the value of religious preachings and teachings, I would respectfully submit tint it is well to bear in mind the fact that a higher object than either is aimed at in public worship, namely, the adoration of the Creator. Were this more generally acknowledged there would doubtless be larger congregations, less diversity in the modes of worship, and less occasion for criticism.

True, no doubt, so far. Bub, then, those whose minds aie rilled with a feeling of reverential awe, and who are satisfied with placing their hands on their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, are few nowadays. Vulgarly speaking, people want to know, you know. Humanity has done much of late years in the acquisition of knowledge of science, and we have forgotten that we are always close to the boundary. Besides, in thorough investigation of the foundations of our faith, I hold that there is the profoundest religion. There are only some people whose religious sense is satisfied by the intoning of a litany, or by candles on the altar.

Another complaint of a somewhat mysterious character to me, comes from St. Stephen's, which is, I believe, a Presbyterian church at Ponsonby. The pastor, it seems, has been denouncing fancy dress balls. My correspondent says : —

It does at all times seem to me most cowardly to launch forth insinuations broadcast when in reality a few individuals only are aimed at. In a small congregation each member is pretty well known, and their lives are, in this city at least, almost more openly discussed than is the life of the pastor ; it is therefore easy to know to whom allusions apply. Is it well, I would ask, to offend and to rouse up a feeling of resentment by publicly branding members of the church? Would it not be more consistent with his teaching that the pastor of St. Stephen's should know and influence his people so well that they would wish to act in sympathy with his views and teaching? Individually I am not affected by the tirade indulged in by the pastor of St. Stephen's, but I have no doubt several worthy members of the church are so.

Now if I were a parson I should not trouble myself much about denouncing fancy dress balls. Ido not think there is anything intrinsically worse in a fancy dress ball than about a ball where evening costume is the rule. I do not know that there is anything worse about a ball than about a party, or anything worse about a party than a tea-meeting. It is always a bad state of affairs when a clergyman begins to draw lines, and say that such and such a thing is all right, and that such another thing is all wrong. If I were a pastor I would aim at planting in the mind great and lofty and ennobling ideas, trying to fix them there so that they should grow and strengthen, and so influence the whole character that everything would come right without me having to denounce this, or that, or the next thing, giving offence per haps, and involving me in endless disputes, unless I could claim to lean my back on infallibility, a claim which is not open for sither Anglican or Presbyterian.

Another correspondent believes ho has caught me on the horns of a dilemma. The other day 1 referred to the case of an old friend who had had a somewhat prolonged period of retirement at Mount Eden. I told how he had gone in a bowed and broken old man, and how he had come out a sprightly young fellow, all owing to the splendid regimen enforced under Government supervision. It was with him, early to bed and early to rise ; good food, free from all suspicion of conveying disease ; just sufficient exercise to' prevent the accumulation of bile; a little alcohol for the stomach's sake, when the doctor considered it necessary, and so on. No wonder my friend became rejuvenated. Well, then, says my correspondent, when you so highly approve of all these things, and dilate on their good effect, as if the elixir of life of Paracelsus and the alchemists had been discovered, ought you not to cheer on the present Ministry, whose great.effort is to make all men live after a pattern, guided by governmental rules ? They want to be in a position to say to every man, not merely to criminals in the gaols, " This is the way; walk ye in it." The first difficulty in the way of the Government looking after us all as the prisoners are looked after in Mount Eden is, that it would not pay. One half the community would have to turn warders over the other half. We should then all be good, upon compulsion, and most people decline being good on these terms.

In Tuesday's Herald, there is a letter by Mr. F. A. G. Cotterell, getting forth the reformation that would be achieved by adopting an exclusively fruit diet. If what he asserts is true, then the pastor of St. Stephen's and all other pastors have been going on the wrong tack for nearly 1900 years. A fruit diet, according to Mr. Cotterell, would infallibly make a man healthy, meat being the cause of all our diseases. Then the use of fruit only would make him virtuous, and we all know by the old copy-book motto, that if you are virtuous you will be happy. First and foremost, as an achievement of the fruit diet, Mr. Cotterell sets it forth, that " a man would no !««•; covet bis neighbour's wife." That

would be a questionable reform as resulting from an effect of diet on the system, and not from high principle, for the same reason would make him nob covet his own wife. Then wo are told that " the greed of gold would abate," that "crimes for the purpose of gain would cease," that " people would live to a greater age," and so on. One difficulty about believing all this is that there are people who live pretty much as Mr. Cotterell would have us live, and they are no patterns for us in moral conduct. They covet their neighbours' wives quite as much as we do, and show quite as much greed of gold.

We are not a gluttonous people. I do nob think there are many who harm themselves by overeating, or by consuming too much flesh meat. Gluttony is really an ancient vice. If anyone wants to read of awful excess in this respect, he must go back to Roman history, where he will read of men who gorged themselves with rich dainties, and then swallowed emetics to have the gratification of beginning to eat again. For years I meditated upon the problem of how it was that with all the luxury of modern times, and with all the command of wealth, there was so little of the gluttony we read of in ancient times. At length 1 solved the problem, or thought I solved it. Out-and-out gluttony, as a habit was killed by the introduction of smoking! When nowadays a man has taken a thoroughly good meal he is satisfied so far. He does not long to be hungry to begin again. He thinks his next best enjoyment is a cigar, cigarette, or pipe. And so he soothes his stomach and his nervous system. We shall never have a revival of gluttony as a vice till the Anti-Tobacco Society have abolished the weed. Now, I am not a smoker myself, and so I consider that I have laid all smokers under a debt of gratitude to me by showing that smoking has been the means of putting an end to all chance of revival of the most disgusting of vices.

In reference to Mr. Alexander Grant, and whether his residence is ab Parnell, 1 am informed that objection was taken to his name being on the Parnell roll for a residential qualification owing to his present dwelling being being believed to be at Te Arai. But Mr. Grant claimed to be still entitled to be enrolled for Parnell as a freeholder, although he was willing and anxious to admit that his residence was Te Arai. As a freeholder he stands for Parnell, but his residence at Te Arai stands unaffected.

There has been a good deal of talk about the action of the Union Steamship Company in recently accepting the tender of a Chinaman for tho supply of vegetables to their vessels at this port, the service having been hitherto performed by a European. It appears that the real facts are that, tenders were invited in the usual way. Only two tenders were receivedone from a European and one from a Chinaman. It is stated that on some occasions fresh supplies had been purchased at Russell by the Australian steamers, and at Honolulu by the mail steamers. The Chinaman's tender was higher than the European's on the following articles :—Cauliflowers, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, spinach, mint, and pars ley. He was lower than the European on the lines of dried herb?, watercress, spring onions, beetroot, and leeks, of which not a large quantity is used. Taking an average over all the articles in the specification, the Chinese purveyor will receive about £200 a year more than the previous European contractor. It seem strange that under such circumstances, only one European market gaidener could be induced to tender for so remunerative a contract.

A good story was told me the other day as to how business is carried on and the operation of the bankruptcy laws. A country storekeeper was doing fairly well in a district, when a new chum appeared, and by selling at "cutting prices," began to injure his business. The result of the new chum's style of carrying on trade was that he soon felt the necessity of filing his schedule. The merchant who supplied him, rather than have his dividend frittered away in law and bankruptcy expenses, accepted a composition of a few shillings in the £. Storekeeper No. 1 came to know that it was -bj&,,jpej:e.hant who had been supplying his rival with goods on such terms, and he said to himself if he can so easily take a few shillings in the £ from No. 2 he can take it from me. He intimated that he meant to file his schedule, and the result was he got off with a composition of the same amount as No. 2. No. 1 had some honour left, for he paid all his creditors save the merchant 20s in the £, and gave him the composition figure. He said he was simply fining the merchant for his unbusinesslike method of conducting business, and it would be a lesson to him in the time to come.

I notice that the ladies of the W.C.T.U. have been having a word to say to the hon. .secretary of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Medical Association with regard to '.lie high drink bill at the District Hospital. Possibly the step was suggested to them from the bier being prominently associated in their minds with the bi»r building on the hill. The reply of Dr. Ernest Roberton was not only ingenious but also somewhat disingenuous, when he states that he wis directed to acknowledge with thanks the letter to the president " re the consumption of alcohol in the hospitals of the colony." Now, the point was not the consumption of alcohol in the hospitals of the colony but in that of Auckland. If I did not know that the doctor was earnest I should suspect him of humbugging the vV.CT. U.

Of late the subject has come up in some of the Auckland churches, as to whether the literary societies attached to them, composed of young men, are a source of strength or weakness. The subject is one which may be fairly discussed in this column. At the meeting at which Dr. Clarke, of the Christian Endeavour, was welcomed, one clergyman is stated to have said if he had his life to live over again he would not have one in connection with a congregation he ministered over. Ho was somewhat illogical, because if the church literary society should be abolished, the process should not be contingent on his being born again, but begun "at once. The great difficulty, now -a - days, in all the churches is to prevent young men from drifting away—in tne church and the minister getting out of touch with them, and leaving them to their own devices, at the street corners, and in miscellaneous places of amusement. On the one hand, to Is contended that a church is simply a spiritual organisation for spiritual purposes, and has nothing, or should have nothing, to do with secular societies, or " the world." Some people talk of the world as if it were a sort of purgatory, instead of being a bright and beautiful abode which the Almighty has given to His creatures, in which they may be happy themselves, and be a source of happiness to others. Half a loaf is better than no bread, and it surely cannot bo a matter of indifference to any church whether the young men attending its ministrations are well-informed, thoughtful, studious, intelligent, interesting themselves in social and political questions, or the contrary? Wisely supervised and controlled, the minister exercising an influence which is justified by his prudent and judicious conductsuch an institution ought to be helpful so far as it goes, because tending to make young men better fitted to fulfil the duties of life and the duty they owe to the State as citizens in the time to come. The Americans have gone too far on the other hand, making their churches simply athenaeums and clubs, forgetful largely of their higher functions. There is such a thing as the happy medium.

Perhaps there is no better local instance of the usefulness of a literary society, associated with a Church, than that which occurred in the case of the old Wellingtonstreet Literary Association. The Kev. James Hill, then pastor of St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington - street, gathered around him in that association eighty young men, many of whom earned credit for themselves afterwards in every walk of lifein the banks, public companies, mercantile life, journalism, and in the Legislature of the colony. Being a man of broad and enlightened views, he drew into its ranks young men of

all denominations bent on self-culture, and many of the questions which are but now "burning questions" of the day, were thrashed out in that Association a quarter of a century ago. He sympathised with their aspirations, and shared their literary recreations, without bating one job or tittle of what was due to his dignity as a clergyman, or to his sacred calling. These young men are, many of them, now grown grey in the battle of "life, and scattered to the four quarters of the globe, but many of them bless the day they were brought into contact with James Hill, and the influence for good which he exercised over them. He and they formed friendships with each other, which have not only stood the strain of a quarter of a century, but will only terminate with life itself. Mkrcutio.