ECHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 2875, 18 July 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

mv weapon, hut fm too ritocieet To run amuck uml till at nil i mwL. PoPB,

Hearty congratulations to the Prnmior npoji bis first 'Dudgnt spfKfoh. What a many sided man io Mr Seddon and how wonderful is bin grip of what is to him a comparatively new subject. It is ono of tho dourest expositions of the state of our finances wo have ever had on such oc* casiona, and oven tho Premier's most bigoted political opponents should now frankly admit that ho is a man of surpassing ability.

f wonder whether Australian preserved meat enjoys any sale in Belgium. I have read somewhere that the price of the Australian article war. complained of as too high, and that tho worthy Belgians prefer the local article which is much cheaper. But unless lam much mistaken there will bo a big drop in cbe consumption of tho jiaid local article and It may be that tho Australian moat may now get a chance. A reason for this is to bo found in a speech made in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on the 27th May last, when one of the members, M. Carfcuyvoly, called tho attention of tho House to tho importation into Belgium of old horses from England, which ware afterwards killed and converted into tinned meat. No fewer than fiOOO horses had, ho said, thus entered Belgium in the course of last year. The speaker pointed out that this traflic was full of danger for the public health in Belgium. The Minister of Agriculture admitted the justice of M. Cartuyvels' representations and stated that ho would shortly take measures to stop the practice complained of. " Horses destined .to bo utilised as tinned meat should bo specially branded. Great precautions would in future bo taken with regard to tho import trade."

Hike that expression—"horses destined to bo utilised ua tinned meat should be specially branded.” Evidently the Minister of Agriculture considers it quite proper and reasonable that tinned horseflesh may bo sold, and presumably ho imagines that thoro will still be a market for it, wherein ho does not pay any great compliment to his fellow-countrymen. Well, well, there's no accounting for tastas, but I would make a modest wager that the tinned " goegoe*' has not been sold "as sich.”

Hut. talking about the disposal of Old England's aged and broken down horses, an oven more disgusting story recently appeared in a Xtome paper. An Englishman residing in the extreme south of Franco, in the marshy country where the leech industry is carried on, and whence hundreds of thousands of the useful but hideous bloodsuckers are annually exported, told the London paper in question that hundreds of broken-down horses were imported from England and turned loose into the marshes for the benefit of the leeches, which were fattened on the "living animals” before being exported. I have watched for some denial of this horrible story—it appeared in the London Daily Chronicle, if I remember rightly—but so far I have not come across any contradiction. And yet there is a wealthy and influential S.P.C.A. in England. Perhaps its charity begins at home and stops thoro.

Why is it that parsons so often talk the veriest balderdash ? Perhaps it ia because the special and saving sanctity about "the cloth,” the immunity from being promptly and publicly " tackled,” gives the tenant of a pulpit encouragement to say the most palpably stupid of things. AtPahiatua on a jeecent Sunday evening a -black-coated person called Griffin, who masquerades in the guise of a Methodist parson, calmly 'insulted the whole community, and yet so tar as I can gather from the local paper his congregation were such a miserable, craven-spirited lot that not a man of them dared stand up and tell the slanderer, as he should have bean told, that he was an l outrageous libeller of his fellow townsmen. The subject of the " discourse ” was “ Morality in Pahiatua.” No doubt it was duly advertised, for the latter day par aou of the sensation-mongering order, always advertises hisaubjecta, and often displays a catchpenny ingenuity in the Ttitlos thereof which would bo invaluable to the proprietors of certain soaps and pills. As to the sermon itself I quote the Napier Daily Teleyraph as follows:

The Rev Mr Griffin, speaking on Sunday night in the Methodist Church, Pahiatua, on the subject of " Morality in Pahiatua,” indulged in some very .-straight hitting. Amongst his hardest Slits were the followingPahiatua is •often spoken of as the house of gods. In fins opinion it was the home of all the evil gods it was possible to cram into so amall a space.” "In his opinion Pahiatua should be associated with Sodom and Gomorrah.” ”If fifty righteous men were required to save Pahiatua from destruction, in his opinion they could not be found. In fact ho would not bo ■prepared to say ton could bo found in rtho fc/mo.”

Mr Griffin ia evidently a true typo of the modem Pharisee, and as to the grossly bad taste, the absolute indecency of his remarks, I will say nothing. But what sort of creatures are the members of his congregation that there was not a man to promptly stand up and promptly denounce the “reverend"preacherextraordinary remarks. The " Reverend'’ Griffin talks about the difficulty of finding ten righteous men Tin Pahiatna. I don’t know about the vighteousncss of the place but that particular exaction who attend the “ Reverend ” Griffin’s church are about the meanestspirited lot ,<* creatures calling themselves men that can be found in Now Zealand. On the occasion I was in Pahiatua it seemed to mo tho chief feature of the place '., n3 mud. With “mud” Mr Griffin ■ls evidently well supplied hut I lihoaght bolter of the Pahiatua people than to think they would sit down calmly and let lany man, parson or any other person, throw their own mud at them.

Happy England, Merry England, Christian ” England, what a delightful country it is for the “ Have Nets”! For the "Haves" it is a pleasant country, a county where every luxury is procurable, whore .wrorything—save the fogs—is bright and enjoyable, but oh for the "Have; Nets "itis a terrible place. “ Bead, mark, learn and inwardly digest,” if you please, ■the following pregnantly significant little (paragraph from the London Weekly Despatch of the 10th May.-" A sad story of want was told yesterday to the coroner at •an inquest upon the body of Ellen McCarthy, wife of a clock-case leaker, living at 131, St. John’s road, Clerkenwell, 'The husband, in his evidence, deposed 1 that ‘ for some time his earnings had never exceeded 10s a week, and soßjotimos less. Of that amount he paid 5s a week for rent, many times they were without food of any kind, and for days lived on dry bread.; (Sensation.) He had applied to the parish,: but was refused outdoor relief, and told’ that ha had better go into the married people’s quarters. His wife said she would; die on the floor of starvation rather than go into the place.’ Dr William John Hunter deposed that the immediate cause of death wae syncope, but this was set up by slow starvation. The Jury returned a yordiot of ‘ Death from natural causes.’ ”

©a jtho text provided in the above cutring a oKpmah, “Anna Eoslyn ’’by name, contributes to the Weekly Dispatch some verses, not particularly brilliant perhaps, from a purely literary point of view, hut full of a simply-worded indignation and pathos which ought to go right home to the hearts of all deosnt-natoded English (folk-. Yes, she is dead, she filed last night, too late A give her new I. but a Vce of ground, whore not a stone will stand, , , Whi e they ihat murdered her go free ana lio..ouced in the land.

Is thi« your boasted justice? Look at this garret bare, Lood at that form dead on those rags, your justice placed her there ; Are these your lav/*? Look on that face and tell me how she died. Ay, starved to d< ath ; and yet your vaunted law is satisfied.

Then hury her, ‘tis all that you can do now she is dead, The law will give her burial, though it refused her bread. Strange, in a Christian country no hand is raised to stay Aasawina who with cruel weria and harshness crush and slay.

All night she raved and begged for food, 'twas more than I could hear ; And though I know they'd give no aid unless I took her there, I left my dying wife, I went and cried for help again ; Ay, on my knees I begged for bread; yua know 'twas all In vain.

Dazed through tho garish streets I reeled back to this wretched pi ice. I had no light, I could not fteo the dying woman's facH : But I heard her last weak whisper as I kissed her clammy brow—"l'm going, and I'm glad, dear Ned, they cannot part us now.”

Ay, never to be parted by our laws humane and just, The parish uow must give a grave though it

icfused a crust. There lies a murdered woman, and free her slayers go— And this is “Merry England," the envy of

the foe I And yefc people wonder sometimes that Socialism is making stich rapid progress in the Old Country. I don’t.

A Wellington school committeeman sends me a most amusing story from the English Lancet, dealing with ft case of wholesale malingering amongst certain Old Country school children. I have heard of malingering in New Zealand, but never on so large a scale as is shown by the Lancet story, which reads as follows :■ —"The typical schoolboy has long been known as a fairly skilful malingerer when occasion demands It, but his shamming is confined to tho more homely complaints of headaches and toothaches, which are capable of rapid dispersion when the crisis which necessitated their presence is past. The children of Nassingtou—a village in Northamptonshire—however, go more carefully and deeply to work to avoid the toils of school. On account of the number of children who wore kept from school because of a rash on their bodies. Dr Elliot, the Medical Officer of Health for that district, was asked to examine them with a view to finding out tlio nature of the strange disease, His report showed that tho whole affair was a case of malingering. Tho children, about twenty-five in number, were suffering from no real disease, but, in order to stay away from school, they rubbed their hands and arms with the juice of the plant locally called “ Patty Spurgo." Tho result of this was that a vesicular eruption appeared, which in most of the cases resembled a herpetic eruption, but in some there were blisters as large as hal£-a-crown. As the children appear to be studying the physiological effects of plants, a closer knowledge of tho birch tree and its branches might possibly divert their energies into another channel, or at auyrato dull their keenness for practical botany.

Mr Tyson, the Queensland millionaire squatter, the wealthiest man in Australia, is careless as to his attire and consequently is frequently taken for what he is not, a poor " rouseabout.” In this connection the Melbourne Punch circulates what it calls the "Latest Tyson Story”;—"One morning he was doing a bit of gardening in front of his homestead, when a swagger happened to pass along and promptly asked if there was 4 any show of a job/ The The squatter, shabbily habilitated, snarled a negative. ‘What sort of a bloke is the blanky boss?’ questioned the newcomer. ‘No good/ * Does he part up his beans?* The question struck Tyson with a sudden thump, and he bitterly remarked, ‘ Look at me. For fifty years I've grafted for him just for board and clothes, and see the clothes ho gives me/ *He can go to then/ said the wayfarer; 4 1 don’t work for the vermilUon thief/ In retiring Tyson is said to have remarked, with some emphasis, ‘ And I’m sorry I’ve worked for him ao long, either/ ”

The Burns Centenary celebration duly eventuates next Tuesday, and already the ,r clans ” are gathering for tho ceremony. One may poke a little harmless fun at these patriotic functions but the spirit that underlies them is most laudable. And, mark you, ho ■who chaffs a Scot and a Scots function often comes off second, boat, that wretched Southern slander are jokes made “ wi* deefiiculfcy** notwithstanding. In this connection a good yam told by “ Atticua ” in tho latest issue to hand of the Melbourne Leader is timely and not inappropriate. “ Why were you nob at our ball, Doctor ?” asked the stalwart Highland chieftain. The doctor was the thinnest of Melbourne medical practitioners, as thin as Master Slender or the " lean and slippered pantaloon ’* as described in the Seven Ages of Man. But he had a merry wit. “Well, Mac/ 1 he retorted, “I whs told I would have to wear kilts like your barbarous countrymen, and I was afraid I would be run ia by tho police/* Tho Highlander’s glance rested on the pants which covered the “ shrunk shanks ° and replied, “Yes! you might have been, for having no visible means of support/* Exit tho doctor.

Apropos to the Burns Centenary, I would direct the attention of my readers to an essay in appreciation of “ the Man and His Work/* which appears under the signature of "Scrutator** in another page of this week's issue of the Maix*.

The Post, so I notice, quotes a paragraph from the Bulletin anent the alleged evils of Party government. But there have been dozens of in tho Bulletin of late which tho Post has not quotedparagraphs ridiculing and as worthless, tawdry shams tho pretensions of the How Zealand Opposition and its sycophantic press followers to political omniscience and virtue. The Post editor toads hie Bulletin with great regularity, but be is couvwioj?£Jy blind to anything which doesn't suit.

And, apropos to ths Bulletin and to the Post, how vastly amused will bo Editor Archibald, of the former, when he sees the Post announcing with a characteristically pompous air of patronage that the Bulletin v is always refined in its methods." To harp upon >■'refinement ” comes well from a journal which ias been hounding down Mr Ward in the most scwijoua terms, and which is now always and most pasefully cn the aide of the top dog in a fight.

To Correspondents. H.B.K. (Pahiajtjja): Neither time nor space available for any detailed criticism but your versos strike mo as being creditable alike to your heart and to your literary faculties. H.P. (Peilding) : Incident cf 100 slight and too purely local interest to merit description is this column.—J.B.: Next week. Have been too busy oven to look at it. Don’t be so impatient.—Churchman (Hutt); You do me au injustice. I will defy you or any one else to find p, sipiple at religion" in this column pinoe it was started, over four years ago, up to the present time. But I detest Cant and hypocrisy and such small power of satire a* I possess shall always be directed to the exposure of those two most hateful things, and that without tho slightest respect of persons. —“ Scrutator " in the N.Z. Mail.