LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13925, 5 December 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

f s»f*t pie have audience for a word or two." —fihakespere. To the pagan miiid there probably appeals something ominous in the fact that the" Tongariro had on board Bishop Neligan and "five i>'iier clergymen— say notains of so " ° ra ' l carne d ladies, specially selected to counteract the baneful effects of N« w Zealand's system of Godless education— when she met with her recent mishap in the English Channel. The crew, I have no doubt, shook their heads when they heard of the clerical contingent, and with the superstition of their dae- felt a presentiment that something untoward would happen. Ido not know, nobody knows, whether the accident, would* have occurred had the bishop and his band not been on board, but otio one with a jot of respect' for the traditions of the sea can fail to be impressed with the curious coincidence.

I believe that among some of the bishop's flock the news of this collision • was received with conflicting emotions. His lordship's policy of importing learned ladies and reverend gentlemen from the 0~ Country is'not regarded with wholesouled unanimity. Indeed, if there was a Ministers' Union, the probabilities are that an attempt would be made to get -a clause inserted in the next award, puttin'' a check on this form of competition. For what, it may be fairly asked, is to become of an Anglican clergyman's boys and girls if ibis sort of tiling is to go on, and nobody is to have a chance unless possessed of the imprimatur of Oxford, -or the repose of manners which stamps I the caste "of the cultured Vere de Veres of :an English ladies' college? Only pic- ; tore what- would happen it all the bishops in New Zealand began to bring out car- ■ 7 goes of clergymen of a special brand and ivpe! The submersion of the Saxons by the Normans would be a mere circumitance in comparison. However, I have ao fault to find with Bishop Neligan. Believing as he does that this is a pagan wintry he is only following the old orthodox lines of the Church in his efforts to -' bring about its conversion. 'We look to I England for our national safety; it is anly right, I suppose, that we should also look to her for our spiritual salvation.

£; Ido not intend to rush into tie geyserlike commotion that is taking place in St. Paul's over the vexed Question of ritual- ' ism. "That is purely a matter fox tie congregation of that place of worship. , If lighted candies and the burning of in- : cense and like things please them, well \'< : Hid good. A volley fired on the stage "" Joes no harm, although it fills the theatre '- •■;-. vrit-h the smell of gunpowder. And I believe a man may be a saint although he p bVes to have lighted candle about him in the day time. Let each one follow his : ' own caprice. But what does surprise me, and seems to me to call for a parsing V comment is a sentence in the Rev. Mr. Watson's sermon, in which he said he ■was responsible alone "tor" my bishop and to God. This order of precedence | fairly takes; my breath away, and - leaves me : speechless. ■ ' > , Whale Island is,'as old Poloriius would ) have said, very like a whale, but I am ' not so certain that it has been playing up |in the volcanic faiSuon that we have been led to suppose. There iS no doubt, however, that it has been indulging in some sort of queer pranks. Its cliffs have been "tumbling into the sea with a mighty com--1 motion and thundering sound, greatly to the alarm of the good folks of Whakaiane, none of whom, however, have had ; the courage to land on the island and find out exactly what is going on. I do not blame them for that, for it is one of the glorious uncertainties of,- the thermal district that no one knows what may happen in the twinkling of an eye. Lake Botomaihana is a vast sheet of water, but it was once emptied in an instant, and ceo* up into the blue empyrean in the shape of enormous scow-white clouds of steam. From its crater-like rim I have gazed down into its empty basin. The bottom was a mass of boiling pools and terrific blow-holes. I have no doubt that it remains to-day what it was then, now over 2D years ago. And what happened before may happen again. That's what makes rowing over its surface such a V delightfully thrilling sensation. It is like . pawing under an overhead electric wire. The thing may break and frizzle you up in a moment, but yon. cross the street all the same. Whale Island may disappear altogether. Shaken to pieces, it may :., sink into the sea. Even our own esteemed Bangitoto may take it into its head some day to awaken from its long slumber with a sudden , start. Indeed a thousamd, etrange and, may be, terrifying things may happen in New Zealand. That is what makes it the most interesting coiintry in the world. ;

■ ■ ■ ■ •' ■ : Whale Island has made everybody talk "earthquake and volcano. Some of the stories sworn to by faithful eye-witnesses , require a believing mind, among them being one told by a sea-captain. This 1 unprejudiced observer says that vears ago ■while sailing from .Samoa to the" Cook Islands the ship was suddenly thrown on her beam ends by what they thought at , first to be an earthquake wave, but which turned out to be the shore of a new island which rose underneath them " with a perfectly regular motion." They were lifted until they were about 30ft above the level of the sea and at least 150 yards from the water, when suddenly they "were struck by a true wave and brought back - to their ' element. The wave had been . caused, by the sudden appearance of a , ' submarine volcano, which lifted the waters lor miles, turned , all about it into steam • and boiled so many fish that the captain's crew dragged enough in at one haul of a net to last for a.week. I think everybody will agree that many strange things are seen by those who go down to the »a in ships. I notice that when an "old-fashioned" sentence is passed in the Supreme Court , the prisoner never seems to like it. The most worthless and villainous scoundrel ■ can endure a "humane" sentence without „• turning a hair, for he knows that in a ;' " little while he will regain the liberty he abuses, and that meanwhile he will have an easy time. But when "the punish- ., |? ent fits the crime" he suddenly realises '■-- that Society can play the game after his h: own fashion and is amazed and indignant. 1 should call this excellent proof that it is the only preventive, and that a little more emphasis on the part of judges in extreme cases would greatly lighten the calendar. -4? old story, retold in the London Daily Chronicle, is one concerning a |Y^&°° earl, a Secretary of State for the Wmn **' to whom the name of Sir ftMitJ? Grey, who had just retired from the Governorship of New Zealand, .after * violent quarrel witih Downing-street, *?* incidentally mentioned. "A very "range man," inured the Colonial Secrewy. " I hear he has t'aken up his abode . «ft a little island (Kawau) off the coast '• ?„v . snrroundcd himself with wallabies." Ye«." replied Sir Charles Duffv. "I daresay he will be pretty comfortable yftere for a time." "You surprise me. What must be the state of morality in a. ... . country where you can make light of 6Uch a Proceeding?" "Moralitv! What do Jo- suppose a wallaby to be?" "A half«st* female, of course. Is not that so?" - Certainly ,not. A • wallaby is a small •Mgaroo." Mercuxio.