ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2413, 19 January 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

Satire’s ray weapon, bat I'm too dlacreet To ran amuck aocl tilt at all 1 meet. Pops.

PITY poor Franco! Hero is a country which possesses a fertile soil, a beautiful climate, and an industrious and economical people, thrown into the danger of another revolution through the wretched folly of its politicians. M. Blewits, the Times correspondent, evidently know what ho was talking about the other day when lie prophesied coining trouble. Socialism— Toild I'ennemi! But whoso fault is it that .the "Bed” element is again coming to the front f Whose but that of the wretched Opportunists, who, greedily grabbing after power and pay, have been responsible for tho fall of ono Ministry after another, plunging tho country into perpetuallyrecurring political toil and trouble, harassing trade and preventing all wholesome legislation and reform. Meanwhile the 'working classes have been suffering more and more every year from lower wages, and scarcity of employment, and meanwhile also, tho taxation has been steadily increasing, until Franco, once ono of the cheapest countries to live in, is now one of tho dearest. Tho working classes have cried “A plague on all your parties!” and havo sought refuge in Socialism, not Socialism of the innocuous and in some ways actual!* boneiloial Fabian character, but tho ■ ,iis Socialism which is first cousin t tv« munisrn and Revolution. Tho ev", j , * ' aggravated by tho corruption to pervade the by tho wild of scc ' tion o>f 0 > f th Tansuin press Whether'the V d P uWic °ljinionm . Prognostications of M. jjiowitz a socialistic upheaval are or y’\-d Republic stands in grave peril. Tho jtnpiro tell os much through corruption and ill government ns it did through tho unsuccess of tho war, and should the Republic come to a temporary end and give place to chaos and anarchy it will be largely tho fault of her leading politicians. I#et us hope the storm may bo averted. Bad as is the later political record of tho Republic, it is a thousand times better than ’that of tho Second Empire, But the position will have to bo faced with firmness and ability, and these are qualities ap- . patently not easily found in the French of tho day.

BRAVO for the Kangaroo 1 The Britfah Lion haa ha 1 to go down before the lively antipodean, and all good colonials ■ ought to bo heartily pleased at the result of ' the third test match. Mr Stoddart’s remarks, “ beaten by good all round cricket,” show ■ an excellent spirit, and yet it is this gentleman and bis companions who some idiots would have trad ns believe woro deliberately ’ losing the match in order to draw bigger igate Mcwey at the two last contests to como, ImagiUß, if you can, a meeting of tho Engtlieh team with Mr Stoddartin the chair. He rgaaccly moves that ” wo lose this match so ■*» to have a bigger gate draw at Sydney.” occoiuiad by Mr Peel and carried. What uttor rot! And yet this was practically what was being said by dozens of fellows when the Australians had put up their big score. Ho, tho match, as tho English skipper said, was won by ” good all round cricket,” by the line batting of Iredalc and others, hrd the magnificent trundling of the Trotls. All lovers of thegrand old English game will, I hope, wish, as does “ Scrutator,” that the next test match may also result in a victory for tho Kangaroos, and then—well, at tho .concluding contest let the best men win. !But for tho sake of common sense, courtesy, •and common decency, do not let ns hear any •more of this ridiculous theory ,that the {Englishmen deliberately lost the fast or any match. From what I know and have read (road of the composition of the team they are ".not built thot way.”

A CORRESPONDENT, signing himself “ Presbyterian,” writes as follows " I read your remarks upon Mr McNeill's foolish talk about the ■Wellington ohurohes with very great pleasure. Tho misaioner struck me, and I have no doubt many others, ns an extremely egotistical and conceited gentlemen. Kis so-oalled humour seemed to bo r,s forced and far* fetched as that of thq equally disappoint* ing Talmage, and in just about the same doubtful taste. , Mr McNeill has thought fit to sneer at churches, but if he knew as I do, the excellent church, work done hero in Wellington by tho Presbyterians, especially at St. John's and at Mr Shirer'fi thurcii at Newtown, he would not have dealt out such unmeasured faultfinding. As to the cesultsof these "missions”! would ,asfc you to reprint the following extract from a recent article in tho Ghrittian Outlook, a religious paper published at Dunedin. Thanking. you in advance, I am, yours very truly, “ Presbyterian.” " We have taken the trouble to inquire from the leaders of tho representative ohurohes in Dunedin what gains they have won out of their mission. These replies have been seriously disquieting. One minister, who has largo experience in such things, and whose sympathies are entirely in the direction of evangelism, writes, in favour to our query:—* I know of no case of decision for Christ brought about through tho M'Neill mission, and X am profoundly disappointed at tho non-effectiveness of the same.’ As a rule, this represents the gist of the answers that we have received. It is possible that it is too soon to utter decided judgments about results. It is not unlikely that such a standard of judgment is uncortain ; we dislike it as much as anybody. " Statistics are unknown in the gospels. As the church coarsens, she estimates salvation by quantity. Jesus was concerned with •quality.’ But there are other elements that enter into the conclusion; and it is useless to disguise the fact that, taking it as a whole, the correspondent referred to •voices the general opinion of ministers liere when he says the mission has been ' profoundly disappointing.’ We sincerely; trust the experience in other cities has been very different.”

rj HE popular old " Van” is again to be Jl the chairman of the Benevolent Institution. Well, it couldn’t have a better ihead. The reverend gentleman is a perfect ■Joey Bagatock as to “outonesa,” and the enterprising loafer who seeks to jockey Mr' Van Staveron out of free rations, etc, when he doesn’t deserve them, will have to get up remarkably early in the morning, and will oven then, I fancy, bo just ten minutes too late for the sharp-eyed gentleman whom he would fain deceive. But to outeness Mr Van Stavern adds a genuine sympathy with real distress and poverty, and a charity which is not the less true and beneficial in' that it is wisely discriminating. He is essentially the right man in the right place ns chairman, and long life and more power to him.

THE Sydney Morning Herald has, I V, notice, very strongly and very properly resented the contemptuous references made to Mr'Eddy’s Australian railway experience at the meeting of the South Eastern railway shareholders. lam not aware whether Sir George Russell, the' gentleman who was responsible for the sneering remarks objected to, has ever been in the colonies, but 1 pose not, for judging by my recollections of the South Eastern*lino I'should have very great difficulty in calling to mind any railway service in the color ica which can rival the S.E.,for. nnpuncluality of running, dingy, dirty carriages, and a total lack of anything like decent regard lor-the convenience and comfort of the public/ With the exception of two or tfiren special fast-trains to the Channel pods the S.E. is probably the worst managed line in England, always excepting its neighbour and rival, the London, Chatham, and Dover, popularly known, in my time, - at-least) as the London “ Smash-em and Bun-over,’’ Thoiines running northwards out of London, the Great Northern, the Midland, and the London and North iVestorn, all provide excellent services, but the two southern lines 1 have mentioned are by : words for inefficiency of; management. Sic George Bussell should pick tba 8.8. beam out of his own eye, ere he ventures to sneer at the New South Wales railways.

maiiS has been a week of accidents and I fatalities most numerous and most serious. I do not remember seeing the papers so full of what the American editor calls “ scare head linos ” for a long time. The suicide list is filling rip very quickly for the new year.and'as sad a'case as one could meet with is-that of the poor young girl at Martinborongb. 1 Poor lass, she was evidently tho victim of some dirty local slanders, totally unjustified, as the medical evidence; fully proved -r “ temporary insanity brought on "by groundless slanders," .was the- verdict. And in connection with this case I would signal an instance of journalistic indecency Which is, happily, rarely to be met with in the New Zealand press. The poor girl left behind her a fetter in- which a ; brief but pathetic reference was made; to • the vilo rumour which she evidently knew had been in local circulation." The whole of the letter contained pucely pCraoual and private matters nndyet—itis difficult to believe it but it is so—one of the Wairarapa" papers actually published the full text of the letter, pandering to the morbid and prurient curiosity which it assumed was dominating the minds of its readers.. A dirtier- dodge to obtain a few miserable pence in increased, -gale of copies was surely never devised by an unclean mind. I understand'the local people are very much disgusted. No wonder!

nyroT a few of the fatalities which have i.t| recently been chronicled undoubtedly owe. their-origin to, our old friend—enemy

perliaps would bo the better word—the drink bond. Dcsjite all the efforts of the Blue Bibbouitea, tho Good Templars, tho followers of Bechab, the Allianoe-ites, and the Prohibitionists, the drink fiend continues to do his ovil work as gaily as ever. I cannot believe that prohibition would be a success, but the drink question remains tho greater social problem of tho day. " Tho vilest fiend of all,” sung Tom Bracken. Faith, and the tuneful Tom was right.

MENTIONING tho liquor question reminds mo of the fact that there has been considerable indignation in Christchurch over tho disgraceful way in which a local merchant, a much-respected man, has beon lampooned by that ■crapulous thing, tho Prohibitionist, Mt Cfarystal is a merchant who deals iii many wares, amongst which aro wines and This is quite enough fo* tho rabid, rantin.g little rag for whicft'tho Isitts are editorially reapCpFittV,*. The paper hol<’. d U p Mf Ohrfkt at fei acorn and contempt, gives ! view* of tho church ho attend* and of his private house, and un^ oraea th these pic- ! tures_ are others, the body of tho victim of a ttre, of his house, and of certain bats-. There is also attaohed to Ohtystal’s name a list of his agcmjjos and a list of the church “-P'-ointmtals he holds. Mr Chrystal, -amongst other thihgs, is a wine merchant, a»(i for thi«> and perhaps also for tho fact that lib doesn’t choose to attend tho particular local Salem or Bethel run by the editors of the Prohibilionislihn is apparently to havo his private affairs dragged before tho public and, infOrcntially, held up to public Contempt. If this is the sort of tiling by which tho Isitts hopO to drive people into the Prohibitionist camp, I should imagine they aro considerably off the track. Tho evils of over-indulgence in drink are bad, horribly bad, but they will never bo either mended or ended in a British community by personal abuse, either in print or picture. Bob it be noted that the men who descend to this sort of thing are thoso who ate sO constantly attacking tho (3 or eminent for “unfairness "! Groat Scott! what do they contlder to be fairplay and decency P

THE editor of a Napier paper haa been puzzling his brains over the War cablegrams from the Bast, and evidently finds them tougher even than the traditional "15 gem” mystery which was so popular a few years back. He has sought knowledge from maps and gazetteers, but is still sorely perplexed, concluding: his article as follows-.—lt is very surprising and mortifying to bo unable to get any information on the subject, and it is to be hoped some enterprising paper proprietor will have made a move ere this. Where is Jas. Gordon Bennett’s enterprise? W<S believe that had the illustrious Barnum been alive he would have started a Corean Courier in London, and organised a means of communication from both parties; but the ago produced but one Barnum, as it produced but one Newton.”

THE "illustrious Barnum ” was in his time notorious for his " frauds in freaks,” his bogus ” hairy matt,” his sham “spotted horse,” and so on. The Corean Courieri of which the Napier editor laments the nonexistence, would, no douht, have been a highly amusing production, but as a triumph of mendacity it could hardly, I suppose, have hoped to rival the conflicting official cablegrams of the Chinese and Japs. As personified exemplars of eplendide mendax John Jap and Jphn Chinaman outrival even Baron Munchausen himself. Some of the New Zealand Opposition journals come a good second to that renowned concoctor of Tarra-diddles.

LORD BEASSBY 5s to be the next Victorian Governor. I’m afraid he won’t find the erstwhile* Marvellous Melbourne” a Very cheerful place in these times Of political crises and a financial state of affairs which is next door to wholesale bankruptcy. He is a very wealthy man, however, and Will probably spend twice the amount of his screw. The only trouble 1 anticipate will be that he may set to Work to "egg on” the various colonial Ministers to some big scheme of naval defence, on Which subject he poses as an expjrt. He was Secretary to the Admiralty in 1884-5, and a Civil Lord thereof from 1880 to 1884, besides which he has written reams of stnff on naval questions. His father was the great railway contractor, and made a huge fortune. The present Lord—the'.’* dear Tom” of that very pleasantly written book, “ The Voyage of the Sunbeam” —has a magnificent house near Battle Abbey,: in’Sussex, and is an enthusiastic yachtsman. The Lady Brassey who wrote the first “Sunbeam” book is dead, and the present Lady Brassey is, I; believe, comparatively youthful. The Brasseya ought to, and no doubt will make 1 themselves very popular in Victoria.

I WONDER whether all these Australian bigwigs who ore at present “ doing” New Zealand are drawing travelling: expenses and allowances on the plea of ■‘inspecting the institutions and'investigating the legislation” of-this Colony. If; 80, I am afraid the Australian taxpayers - won’t get much real value for their money. Taka the Hon Mr Garrard for instance. This worthy man, who is Minister of Public Instruction in New South Wales, arrived at Auckland in the Mararoa. He came down to Napier in the same vessel, and left her there to proceed to Wellington overland. At Napier, 1 hear he exhibited a free pass to the stationmaster, and had tho check to ask for a special railway carriage all to himself, a cool request which was, I am glad to say, refused. Thou he gets down to Wellington, whore he spent one day rushing about the Buildings and interviewing officials. Tho same afternoon he went on to Christchurch and was to reach the Bluff on, Tuesday en route for Melbourne, “after a trip through New Zealand, covering only eight days.” What on earth can be the practical good to bo obtained fiom such a hurryscurry trip as this P And yet ITI wager that the honourable gentleman will pour out an ocean of alleged " personal knowledge oi the experimental legislation of our New Zealand cousins’" when the Sydney Talking Shop opens again. What a farce !

THE following paragraph has recently been going the rounds of the papers: —“The New York Weekly says: ‘Many of the people in New Zealand are seriously mediating the pensioning of all the residents after they have attained their* seventieth year." A South Island journal,; I notice, now reprints the paragraph, but says poisoning' instead of pensioning. The demon compositor again! '

IT Is an open secret that the verses! signed which appeared in a contemporary the other day, and in which a hearty welcome was given to BishopDesignate,' were the work of a leading local official, who. like.Mr Silas Wegg. is given to occasional “ droppings into verse." The versos called * forth the following witty protest from a local gentleman of the long robe: —

Now heaven omen dire That greets our Bishop to his See, When ho who welcome sings with lyre •Is tho Official Assignee,

From bankruptcy and assignees : Lord keep our Bishop, Church and Fold, And I will pray upon my knees That they by Ashcroft no’er bo sold. W.K.H.

To which the terror of the " crooked " schedule filers responded with the following :

Official duties for all else need not disable, A man is not a horse tho’ born in stable, Though the rash pootis the man yon name Ho claims to bo good churchman all tho same. . • J. A. ;

MRS MALAPROP, "upto date"! Thorndon lady in midst of select circle of afternoon tea bibbers and babblers :—' f Yes, ray dear, I wouldn’t miss the new Bishop s desecration service at St. Pauls for. anything." And an awful silence fell over the room, and it’ was marvellous how everyone's particular piece of cake would persist in sticking in the throat. * Scrutator ’ in the N.Z. Mail.