HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1190, 21 December 1894, Page 11

HERE AND THERE.

CLIPPINGS, CONDENSATIONS, AND

COMMENTS.

The Rev William Beatty, of Auckland, -was recently taken very severely to task for his opposition (at a meeting of the Auckland Diocesan Synod) to women being granted the power to take part in church management by holding office. The rev gentleman has replied in the press in rather •* warm ” terms. He says

It may be interesting, and possible not altogether unprofitable, to- give a short summary of -the arguments which,.so far, have heen adduced by the ladies who have done me the honour of criticising my position—l am a liar; I am. a coward; my former relations aiid connections have been of an exceptionally bad type; lam not a gentleman ; I am a person of no intelligence; lam not i Christian. The truth or falsehood of these Statements, many of which have been made by persons who are entire stranger's to me, and. made simply and solely on the strength <sf a flqeessarily condensed report of a single speech, concerns me a good deal, but, 1 should/ imagine, concerns the people of New Zealand very little. Furthermore, I should like to he allowed to point out that these statements scarcely, ix at all, affect the question at issue. . . . l am still obstinate enough to believe that the whole controversy has had the effect of enormously strengthening, I do hot say my position, for it is not peculiar to me, hut the position taken by the wisest and the noblest churches and nations that have been since the world began.

The Bank of New Zealand call is causing serious trouble in more directions than one. The Nelson Star says; - . -ySeveral churches and charitable institutions in Nelson, which would in course of a short time have become the recipients by legacy of a number of shares in the Bank of New Zealand, are in considerable, tribulation over the news of the call, as the benevolent intentions i>f, the devisors will be entirely frustrated, and instead of a gift of considerable value, their ' legacy may be the cause of serious financial loss.-

Cecil Rhodes’ supposed Earthly Paradise, Matabeleland, is at present none too attractive a place for immigrants. A private letter “from an intending settler there 'gives a gloomy picture 'of *• the present position of pffairs at Bulawayo. The writer,' according to a despatch from Port Elizabeth, dated September 14th, says:—

We are all very disappointed. We are jhere too early. Carpehters by scores are - to the Cape .or are walking about ‘JBoing nothing. Masons are the same. There 111 no machinery in the country, so, of course, Vthere is no work for engineers, of whom there are very many here., There is little legitimate business, and Tittle money, is being earned.. There are hundreds now on the road coining here. they- will ' do one cannot say, for nmnjf have just suffi- „ • cient money to bring them here,and expect • to find employment directly they arrive: It is cerjtain that Buluwayo will have;-the unemployed prohloin, with soup-kitchen attached, before next year,'for, apart, from a little prospecting; .there! is nothing 4 dorie. /' The - country, has /been; altogether; qver'painted,' and up to; the present nothing ' reliable has been discovered. Untih there is adequate machinery here to test theAeefs which have been found, it would, be ,folly to’expect too much. Vegetables fetch a big price because there are so few. Recently oiie pound of fresh- butter sold by auction for 13s. Onions are fetching 2s 9d each, and 2s 3d is the price for two small cabbages.

The latest dog story comes fropi Christchurch. It is told by Truth, and therefore should be true. , Whether it is, however, we cannot say They were down for the Christchurch races, and in a hotel bar telling dog yarns, -“S./when one friend—most truthful man —said, •••< 'Gentlemen, dogs know a lot } I .once had-a. $ . 'ldog,- 'when, shepherding •up 'country, sent but with' a flock of sheep . ten' miles from the homestead. That dog minded the sheep by himself for three weeks, and only killed two for hiß own eating ; and when their mouths -were examined it was proyed'hohad p icked out the only two old broTcen-mouthed meriho ewes in the flock! ' At a meeting held at the Colonial Insti-, tute the other day the Hon Thomas Playford; Agent-General for South Australia, delivered hiihself of the : extraordinary statement' that “ England ' could easily admit Australian wines at a lower duty than foreign wines, as the colonies were always seeking to conserve the interests of England, who could only keep the loyalty of the-colonies if she made it worth their while.” Upon this the Napier Telegraph makes the following pungent and sensible remarks:—

The sneer of the first Napoleon at the British as “a nation of shopkeepers” is necessarily recalled by the cable message which refers to the utterances of the AgentGeneral of South Australia at the meeting of the Colonial Institute. If he is correctly reported, the Hon Thomas Playford is not entitled to be ranked so high as to be placed among cads. He is a political cretin, with not even sense enough to know that his goitre is an offence when unnecessarily exposed. Moreover, he is impudent. By what right does this pedlar of South Australian grape juice say that the colonies will only remain loyal to the Mother Country while she makes it “worth their while?” He should speak for himself and his tribe only—those who see in twaddle of the “ silken bonds ” order a way to a pinchbeck knighthood. They may be working all the time with “one eye in the saucepan,” but the colonists generally do not sell their approbation of the land that gave them birth, and that now protects them in their new homes. The colonies and the Old Land will be linked together in friendship ages after the Playford person and his like are dust. Even America, lost to us by a fatuous German on the one and hide-bowd

politicians with a weakness for paper money and taxes on the other, still loves and respects the country whose language embalms her laws, her literature, and her aspirations.

Not a bad one! Prom Hawke's Bay Herald:

A very good story was told at the Licdertafel social last evening. When Santley came to Napier a well-known professor asked one of his pupils whether' he was going to hear the great baritone. “ Well,” was the reply, “I may go; but isn’t he very old?” ‘‘Oh, no, in his prime; what makes you think him so old P” was the response. “ Well, you know, it’s an awful time since he came out with that Moody was the unexpected answer. And such is fame! Santley confounded with Sankey! ...

Si non e vero e ben trovato !

The Wanganui Chronicle gives" the following interesting particulars of the career of the late Major Tuke, whose death was reported last; Week':— - ■ -

1 The late Major Tuke joined the Volunteer Cavalry Corps (under Captain Gordon), in 1864, and was elected officer without oppo- ] sition. When the war broke out/ on the,. Bast Coast, Majbr Tuke volunteered lor j active service, and on arrival at the then scene of operations was attached to Major Biggs’ Company, and was engaged in some very severe fighting against the rebels, being mentioned in the despatches for his heroic conduct in some perilous "undertakings, -especially at Kawakawa and the capture of the Hunga-Hunga-Toroa. pah. After being engaged in scouting he went to Poverty Bay to take part in the attack on the Waerenga-a-hika pah, arid after-’; wards received a commission in the Hawke’s

Bay militia. Being then sent to the Chathams with prisoners, he was recalled to the ' Wairoa, where he again entered on active service, and on completing his term of office accepted a command in No.' 1 Company, A.C., being sent to Opotiki io avenge the murder of the Rev Mr Volkner. He took part in the pursuit of Te Kooti, and at Ruakitura was severely wounded .and invalided for some time. On recovery hri took command of "the coloriial forces during a very troublous time with" the ‘ Natives j and when the Poverty Bay massacre occurred was ordered to the scene of the disaster, after which he wont to the West Coast on., the murder of the Rev Mr Whiteley. He was in command of No. 7 Company, despatched to guard the northern frontier of Taranaki, and was promoted to the charge of the Taranaki district. - Tkqn, on the retirement of Major Turner, he was promoted to the'further command of the combined districts of Taranaki and Patoa,

where he remained until 1879, when the Parihaka Natives began to get troublesome: He arrested the prophets Te Whiti, Tohu and Hiroki, and dispersed their followers, something like 1600 in number. It was at sthe request of the Natives he was appointed ; Resident Magistrate; and latterly he acted • as Stipendiary Magistrate. . ■ x

“ Wommera ” tells the following story in some recent “ Talk on ’Change ”: — There is an “orathor” in Sydney upon whom a cruel joke was played some time /ago. Knowing that he was to propose the : health of a church dignitary at a certain celebration, they took occasion to remark in his presence that they considered the prelate to be the equal of some of the early fathers of the church, of whom, and for his special benefit, they named a few. ' The bait was swallowed, for when the ‘ ‘ orathor” rose to speak he said —“ I make no apology, gintlemin, for venturing the opinion that our imminent guest to-night is, as a prilate, the aiquil of many of the ancient fathers uv the church, such as Cyprian, Binidict, Confucius and others.” ; . ; ■

The same writer relates how a temperance lecturer was recently very badly “ taken in ” at an up-country town :

A temperance apostle named Smith recently paid a visit to Koroit, but the crusade ended : iit ah 5 amusing fiasco. The - crusader’s ; last night was devoted. to the trial of,-the notorious criminal Alcohol. To J representX the prisoner a bottle labelled , Sandy Cook was placed, on a table in full : view of the audience; and a judge and jury haying been obtained the trial commenced. Smith, of course, was prosecutor, and Mr Chambers, a local solicitor, consented to appear for the defence. The teetotaller, of course, opened with a wild harangue lasting for nearly an hour, in which the local hotelkeepers were declared jointly liable with the prisoner. During that time it occured to the counsel for the defence that a temperance lecturer would be unlikely to carry about a quart bottle of. whisky in his luggage, so before starting his defence he . suggested, as a, matter of common fairness, that the prisoner should not bo gagged. The cork was accordingly drawn, when counsel, having first smelled and then tasted the contents, said —“ Your Honour and gentlemen of the jury, I find that the subject of all this abuse is simply-..pure water.” The jury discharged' the prisoner ; and burst up the mission.

In an interesting article entitled “Genius and Athletics,” appearing in the Young Man for October, we find the following:— It is a remarkable fact that nearly all the greatest men have been athletes. Sir Walter Scott was usually robust and physically active; until overtaken by fatal disease. Burns in bis youth was an athlete of no mean powers. Byron, in spite of his deformity, excelled in feats of strength, and prided himself as much upon having swam the Hellespont as upon having written “ Childe Harold.” Dickens considered himself at a great disadvantage if compelled to forego his daily ten-mile walk, at four miles an hour, regardless of weather. George Sand preferred to work far into the night, so that she might have more hours of daylight for the walks in the country. Goethe swam, skated, rode, and was passionately fond of all forms of exercise. Humboldt prepared himself for his explorations by systematic exercises to the point of fatigue. Leonardo da Vinci was a devoted equestrian, Gladstone lpses no ooportunity for out-of-door exercise; and Bismarck has all his life been fond of sport and exercise.

After all, there’s nothing to be wondered at in the alliance of genius and athletics. Mm ww in wm,

Mr and Mrs Theodore Bent found their trip to the Hadramut, in Arabia, very trying to the patience. Its valleys were the ancient home of frankincense and myrrh—vegetation that has almost totally disappeared. The journey is described in the Nineteenth Century for September. Hadramut lies at the back of the plateau (5000 ft high) fronting the Gulf of Aden and facing the “Horn of Africa.” The inhabitants are Maliommedans, of various tribes, friendly and hostile, hating the infidel, and desiring his company only to rob him. Mr Bent found one friendly Sultan, Salah Bin Mohammad, of Shibahm, who, having been in Italy (where he made money), cherishes great regard for the English, and is suspected by the Moslems to be unorthodox. He put the travellers up in royal style in his palace at.Al Katan. He would freely discourse on his own domestic, affairs, giving us anything but a pleasing picture of Arab barem life, which lie described as “ a veritable hell.” Whenever he saw my wife working or developing photographs', he would smile sadly, and contrast her capacities with those of his own wives, who, as he expressed it, “ are capable of riothing hut painting themselves and quarrelling.”' Boor Sultan Salah has had twelve wives in his day, and he assured f us that their dissensions and backbitings had made him grow old before his time; he . looked 60, but only confessed to 46, so the . balance must be put down to the cares of polygamy. At A 1 Katan the Sul tan has at present only two properly-acknowledged wives, whom he wisely keeps apart; his chief wife, or Sultana, is sister to the Sultan of Mokalla, and the Sultan of Mokalla is married to a daughter of Sultan Salah by another wife.' In this way do Arabic relations get hopelessly mixed. This lady’s influence is .considerable, and he is obviously in awe of her—-so much so that when he wants to visit his other wife he has to invent a story of pressing business at Shibahm. “Our wives,” said he one day, “ are all like servants, and try to get all out of us they can have no interest in their husband’s* property, as they know they may be sent away at any time.” And in this remark he seems to have properly hit off the chief evil of polygamy.

In the last issue of the Review of Reviews the editor remarks :

> New Zealanders represent the shrewdest and sanest section of. the .English-speaking race, and yet the Colony is curiously prolific in cranks and impostors of all sorts.”

We have never had such a cranky “crank” as 'Review of Reviews Stead here yet.

The “Life and Berniniscences of Sir George Elvey,” organist to the Queen, is a mine of anecdotes. One shows that belfrymen are no respecters of kings. When William IV. was dying it was necessary to have the bell in the Curfew Tower, Windsor, in readiness for tolling.

Roach, the belfrykeeper, waited about ““until he received the news that all was over, when with haste lie repaired to the deanery, arousing the inmates by ringing the bell at the cloister entrance with all his might and main. It was useless for the butler to ask him, “ What do you want here at this time of night P” His business was with the Dean, and no one else. This distinguished person, aroused from his slumbers, and clad, not in his . surplice, but in another garment which should be ‘ ‘ always white,’ ’ called from the top of the stairs “Billy is dead. Bo I ‘to ring the. bell?” “ What Billy ?” >- “ The King, to -be- sure.” “ Oh ! yes, Roach, you may toll the. bell.” . Thus was . the news spread that the King was dead, arid that the: young Princess Victoria was Queen. >, ; ‘ .

Answers, one of the most popular of the London “snippet” papers, recently contained the following paragraph Mr Erancis Abigail is;;ln many respects, a remarkable . man. . Born in Bishopsgate half a century ago, he lest Jus father at 16 years of age, arid the boyj laine and scarcely able to read'and write, had to make his own way in the world. This he has most successfully accomplished. He got apprenticed to the boot-lasting trade,, but before his time expired he resolved to go to Australia. Thirty-three years ago he landed in Sydney with a sick brother and the proverbial Sixpence. In 1890 he visited the old "country for the first tiine. since he left these shores; but he returned as an influential member of the New South./Wales Parliament, an ex-Mmister of, the Grown, the principal of a large commercial house, and the chairman of many important companies. Truly a noble example of what industry, combined with brains, can achieve over all

obstacles: • ■. j\ ; Thri joke of the ribove “ gush ” lies in the fact that Mr Abigail is, and has been for some months, in jail for participation in the banking frauds in Melbourne. What is more, fie was found to have been guilty of the most flagrant hypocrisy as well as heartless fraud. ‘

Zakharine, one of the doctors who were summoned to attend the late Czar is a particularly blunt spoken medico. An English paper says : •

When Zakharine, one of the Czar’s doctors, was summoned recently to attend his Majesty he made quickly for the Palace. A servant said, “ His Majesty is waiting for you. Please take that. staircase to the left, and you will find a room where you can arrange your toilet and prepare yourself to be conducted to the Emperor.” “ Toilet!” he exclaimed, “ do you take me for a fop ? His Majesty demands my advice, and cares little about my dress. Lead me to -him at once.” He found the Czar in bed in the middle of a room, the windows and shutters of which were closed. By the side of the bed were the Empress and three doctors. Zakharine, after bowing to the Empress and her sick husband, took no notice of the doctors, and cried out —“ What an atmosphere! what a plague ! And is it in such a stifling hole as this that you leave the Emperor?” and calling a servant, he ordered the win-

dows to be immediately opened, and another room to be prepared for him. The three doctors stood aghast, but said nothing. But the fresh air did not save the Czar.