ROUNDS THE CORNERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 866, 5 October 1888, Page 17

ROUNDS THE CORNERS.

There has been great controversy in the Mother Country about the relative value of Christianity and Mahomedanism as civilising influences among aboriginal people. One dignatary of the church, who was supposed to ba well informed, was all in favour of Islamism and tabled a lot of, at the time termed, stub, born facts. These, however, do not seem to have been quite borne out by subsequent evidence. They were scattered right and left by the speakers at a recent meeting of church men of all denominations, who met to denounce the slave trade of Africa. There has been a mountain of correspondence on the subject, and in a recent issue of The Spectator, a champion of Christianity deprecates the approval bestowed by that paper upon a work upon Eastern lore, in which ‘‘Ben’ Sira’s religion ” is lauded and Ecclesiasticus the preacher decried. The champion then proceeds to quote from The Preacher, and his quotations are so brimful of wisdom and the higher life, and so apposite to the ways of the present day, showing that human nature is much the same all the world over, and at all times, that I make no excuse for reproducing them in my column, and thereby, I hope, will convince Dr West that newspapers can say something directly in favour of true religion. And peradventure, these quotations may induce some people, who can see no good thing in the Bible, to give that work of superlatively grand English careful perusal. It contains many gems of great price. And now for that human old Ribbi, Ecclesiasticus :

‘ Woe bo to fearful hearts and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways ! Woe unto him that is faint-hearted, for he believeth not, therefore shall he not be defended.’—Ecclesiasticus, Chap 2, v 12-13. ‘ Search not the things that are above thy strength, for 1 it is not needful for thee to see the things that are in secret. Be not ourious in unnecessary matters, for more things are showed unto thee than men understand.’— Ecclesiasticus, Chap 3, v 22-23. ‘ There is a shame that briugeth sin ; and there is. a shame that is.glory and grace.’—Chap 4, v 21. ‘ Strive for the truth unto death, and the Lord shall fight for thee. Be not hasty In thy tongue, and in thy deeds slack and remiss. Be not as a lion in thine house, nor frantic amongst thy servants.’—Chap 4, v 23-30.

‘As tho judge is himself, so are his officers ; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such axe all they that dwell therein.’—Chap 10, v 2. * Because of unrighteous dealings, injuries, and riches gotten by deceit, the kingdom is translated from one people to another. Tnere is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man, for such anone setteth his own soul to sale.’—Chap 10, v S-9-. " . ‘ The bee is little among things that fly, but her .fruit, is the chief of sweet things.’—Chap 11, v 3. * A friend cannos be made in prosperity, and cm enemy cannot be hidden In adversity.’—Chap 12, v 8. ‘ When a rich man speaketh, every man holdeih his tongue; and, look, what he saith, they extol it unto the clouds; but if a poor man speak, they say ‘ What fellow is this ? ” and if he stumbletli, they will help to overthrow him.’—Chap 13, v 23. ‘Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not the part of a good desire overpass thee.’—Chap 14, v 14. * The inner part 3 of a foal are like a broken vessel, and he will hold no knowledge as long as he liveth.’— Chap 21, v 14. ‘ The heart of fools is in their mouth ; but themouth of the wise ts in their heart.’—Chap 21, v 26. ‘ Weep for the dead, for he hath lost the light; and weep for the fool, for ha wanteth understanding; make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest; but the life of the fool is worse than death.'—Chap 22, v 11. ‘As the climbing up of a sandy way is to the foot of the aged, so is a wife full of words to a quiet man." —Chap 25, v 20. ‘ As a nail sticketh fast between the joining of the stones, so doth sin stiok close between buying and selling.’—Chap 2 r , v2. * The birds will resort unto their like; so will' truth return unto them that practice her.'—Chap 27 v fl. ‘ Better is the life of a poor man in a mean cottage, than delicate fare in another man’s house.—Chap 29, v 2 i i - ‘He that loveth gold sliajt not be justifted, and he that fodoweth corruption shall have enough thereof.’ Chap 31, v 6. ‘Let the counsel of thine own her.il stand, for there is n i man more faithful to thee than it. For a man’s mind is sometimes wont to teli him more than seven watchmen that sit above in high tower. And above all this prav to the Most High, and He will direct thy way in truth.’—Chap. 3i), vl3-15. ‘ My son, lead noa a beggar’s life ; for better it is to die than to b<3£ '—Ch,ap. 40, v 28. * Children apd; building of a city continue a man’s name; bujt a blameless wife is counted above them b,th Chap 40, VS 3. •• t’ear not the sentence of death : remember them tha,t havi; been before thee, and that.come after. And why art thou against the pleasure of the Most High 1 There is no inquisition in the grave whether thou have lived ten, or an hundred, or a thousand years. A gcod life hath but few days, but a good name endureth forever.’—Ch.ftp.4Jj, v 3-4, IS, Ah ! why don’t tflo parsons read such thingsoften from the. pulpit and comment upon them afterwards ?■

Another gold rush ! ! Well, let us hope it will turn out a profitable one, by which I mean that the field will produce gold enough to pay its own way and not prove a disagreeable itjnis fatuus by diverting money out of legitimate commercial channels to feed it and keep it going. A goldfield is a blessing whan it yields enough of tho metal to pay all expenses of the getting, and is an out-and-out curse when it proves itself'a “ stringer.” A little gold now and a little then ; a little here and a little there ; just enough to tempt further speculation, thus diverting money that would be very much more productive if circulated in other directions. There is a peculiar fascination about virgin gold that induces men to place qui.'.e fictitious value upon it. How many leave all to follow it, and get precious little for their pains ! What excitement is caused by a new gold find and how in these degenerate days the discoverers know how to pile it on and make the most of it! And yet a good gold find is a good thing. Such a find that abundantly pays the labour bestowed upon the field and makes the hearts of those who minister to that labour leay for joy. The earth

yields and mankind benefits. That’s gold digging proper. But there is another kind of gold digging in which gold is merely transferred from the pockets of business men into the pookets of mine managers, and legal managers, and horny-handed sons of toil, who do the eight hours “ shift ” business with pious punc. tuality, and are as punctual in attendance when pay day comes round. There are progress reports in plenty and of a most promising character, and the blessed thing is always going to pay, but somehow never does. And such gold finds, save the mark 1 are curses in disguise. They are most improper gold finds.

I would have my readers beware of that goldfield, which, directly it is opened, cries out for capital to develop it. Good substantial earnest of value may be demanded of it first, and if that is not forthcoming, capital had better mind its eye. There are no exceptions to this rule. The most' difficult and expensive of alluvial mining is deep sinking through hard ground for main leads (as at Ballarat in Victoria) and river workings (as in Otago). But capital did not help either one or the other until good cause had been shown. The gold, and plenty of it, was proved to be there. And so with quartz mining. The existence of gold in paying quantities should, as a rule, be demanded to be shown before capital is tempted to interfere, and then capital may put up crushing machines and do other needful things. It is not a. very difficult matter for four or six men to sink a winze on a lode forty or fifty feet, or along the course of a lode to prove it. If one swallow does not make a summer, one really paying quartz lode makes a gold field, for there is sure to be more than one paying claim in it, and it is sound warranty of the existence of more auriferous lodes in the same district, and capital is then quite justified in going in search of them. Of course, it is the veriest truism to say that there is nothing so unprofitable as this kind of speculation, for it has been abundantly demonstrated, and also that there is nothing so hopeless as the attempt to convince people of this who are bent on trying their luck. They go in lions and come out mice, but do this much good—they circulate money and keep a certain kind of labour going.

Mrs Somebody said comparisons were « odorous,’ and, by jove ! those are particularly ‘ high ’ that compare the gold diggings of the present with those of the past. Some one, only the other day, hasted to draw a comparison between the Marlborough gold rush, over the water, with the Ballarat of old days. Bless bis or her innocence I—for1 —for it may have been a woman —what does he or she know of old Ballarat, of Prince Regents, and Canadian Gulleys, Golden Point, Bed Hill and Bed Streak, Three-Ton Gully, and the Gravel Pits. Fifty pounds weight of gold, worth £4 2s 6d per ounce, was washed out of four buckets of stuff taken from a claim on the Gravel Pits! Do any of my readers remember the Italian’s claim near the •old gum-tree ? And Three-Ton Gully, a mere fissure on the hill side, out of which the famous gravel pit’s lead ran. So much gold was said to have been taken out of it 1 And that marvellous claim at the junction of Prince Regents and Canadian Gullies, out of which gold, literally by the bucketful, was taken. The first big Ballarat nugget—a hundred and thirty pounder—was unearthed in it 1 And then the Eureka lead ! Seven miles long ; every yard of it more or less payable ! Ah, me J why draw comparisons, except to revert with tender melancholy to past glories never to return. The rich finds of the early Victorian gold days have never been approached even, much less equalled, and never will be, unless Africa comes to . the rescue. Mahakipawa, iudeed ! The Post’s correspondent said there was * plenty of work there.’ He is a man who evidently knows something.

■The efforts of those two poor creatures up Masterton way to get married and their misfortunes H really quite pitiful to contemplate. The man did wrong in bungling over the declaration. But why was he driven into such a hard corner ? Why did the law oppose him ? Marriage with a deceased wife’s sister is permitted in these parts, and why not marriage with a deceased husband’s brother? Where in the name of all that’s reasonable does the difference come in? Perhaps some one will explain, I can’t. There is not a particle of blood-relation-ship, and, I take it, that the law hoS no right to interfere save to prevent that close breeding which is detrimental to the race. Perhaps one of our numerous legislators may be induced to give a little attention to this subject.

I want to know what the condition of the Hew Zealand Court at the Melbourne Exhibition really is, for the air is full of contradictions. No sooner does somebody say something about it than somebody else is ready with a contradiction. Now, a friend of mine has just returned from Melbourne, and he declares that the mineral exhibits have been, shunted into an out-of-the-way corner quite difficult to find, while 'geological specimens and illustrations are in the premier position. And the result was curious in' one case, anyhow. This friend of mine noticed two or three Victorian countrymen closely examining the very .elaborate raised geological chart of New Zealand, which is Dr. Hector’s pride and joy. They regarded it intently and for some time, and then one of them observed, meditatively— ‘ D—n me, |£ there’s a yard of flat land in the blessed country.’ Now that was a decidedly bad impression to produce, but it js exactly the impression all raised, charts of New Zealand do produce. The Government ought to suppress every one of them. That geological thing at the Exhibition has done us a heap of harm Asmodecs.