PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10595, 12 September 1896, Page 2

PASSING NOTES.

£sQMr. Finlayson did not warn the Pope, after:»Ui:Tl am sorry.' Ona "plum there did seem to,be in that very stodgy discussion, but we now know that this was a reporter's illusion. /Tho pudding was plumless. Stillf it was considerate on Mr Finlayson's part to refrain from correcting the report' of- his speech/until I had> had my little-say about what miU.t now be regarded as the apocryphal plant. It is to be feared that I-shonld hare apostrophised him as a nuisance if the correction :had arrived last Friday night, whereas-inow ("without any feeling in the matte! "5 I regard him "merely as an interesting anachronism. Sufficient to the Saturday aie the Passing -Noi.es thereof; and Mr Finlaysqn's tardy correction, so far from spoiling the point, of last 'week's note fwhich. had already 'been enjoyed while the illusion lasted);" gives 'me matter for another. Nevertheless, I wish to do all-possible justice tojDur awi-Papal crusader. Accordingly, I beg my readers to consider that last week's remarks had a mythical banish They would have; been, applicable if Mr Knlayson had .warneidi'tfee "Pope.1 "If you had, a brother would "he like cheese?-"—you. remember i famons hypothesis. But slet? us away with; these hypothetical profundities and busy ourselves with fact. It seems that Mr Finlayoon warned "the people," not the Pope.- He wanted the people to, know that the presbytery didn't believe in the Papal system. I repent me, and -pronounce this, too, a plum of its' kind. Barely matters have come to a curious pass if in this, southern stronghold of Presbyterianigm.' it is necessary to assure ''the people" that the ministers and elders of the kirk, in presbytery assembled^ do not believe in the Papal-claims. What may we not Expect', at this rate?-The, Tablet will: be gravely informing us that Boman Catholics do not owe allegiance to the Presbyterian Sy^o(j ; ;; or. Mr Seddon will' be anxiously assuring; "the" people" that Captain Russell is not the leader of the "Liberal party";, or the prohibitionißts will be solemnly .declaring that'they regard alcohol as thel very deuce. No doubt the pro-hibitioriists-do. tell us this pretty of ten; but why should, their shocking poverty of invention be emulated by the Dunedin Presbytery!

It is not a prohibitionist that I have to thank for an English newp&per catting that has just reached me. So much maybe safely assumed, though ths' missive is quite' anonymoas. We huve been so persistently requested to regard '^ the trade "as essentially vicious -and demoralising that" it was with Bomethihg.of a.srlbck that I perused this account p£i'the\ "ninetieth' anniversary festival of fheXicensed. Victuallers' School," recently celebrated at. the Crystal Palace. Tt appears that 250 children are maintained At thia-institution, and though thei chroniclingiOf /publican piety is do part ot my normal business, If eul impelled to make an extract from the report of the proceedings in order that' my prohibition-ridden readers may shwe/the aforesaid shock." The ohieE speaker Was Mr Spencer Charrington, M.P., who'is (dare I gay it?; a brewer; and the reporter observes:';., '-■■ : ,;,. .;

His appeal of yesterday touched the hearts of all good men and women who, realising the full import •of" the poet's words, that "ohildhood Bhowe the man as morning shows the day," do their1 utWrmost to aesibt in bringing np the young inlhe pathn of reotitude and righteous-Dess.-SB that they may beobme honourable and aseful r4emberg;of society in the .future. This,; indeed, formed the key-note of the honourable gentlemin's speech, the diapason that souuded, Bo to speak, with redoubled force in the presence of the 250 children themselves gathered on the Drchestr*, cbildreo not clothed in the traditional garb of'charity, bnt appearing in the dress common to boys and girls of: everyday life. And, without doubt, many were present at this ninetieth school anniversary whose recollections were: taken back to happy ohildhood's days,.when hymn and soDg broke forth in grateful harmony and eohoed through the vast expanse,beneath the crystal roof. : '

Are thirigs^whafc.they seem i Or are visions about J r Mind, this was not a Siiu-iay School or a Baad of Hope; it was a publicans' concern—merely that and nothing more. Let jq»tica bs-done, though prohibition should fail; ~::\: : ■3:~'-w :'.- ••■ . ''■■.■■ ;:■■.■> ■ ■

Th« cablegrams'tell us thatHerrKrapp bw"6n s-biiOwn- account an' Aliens Exoiuaion 'by ,whiob;-all "foreigners " employed in bis arms manufactory will be turned/out;: It-is cot likely that there are unyNew Zealanders in Ernpp's big'gun faotoiy,,butf }f" there" are they: will be. able to Appreciate the feelings of the Japanese and Obinese. towards the Eestriction Acts in force in the colonies. We think we are bestowing; a favour on " foreigners ".. by permitting, them, to reside among ns. There is hardly a John Bull atnoDg us who does not S«cretly regard. ■ foreigners as .intruders, though in public we are always ready to boa3t about tbe flag that waves only over the. free. Just imEgice what a stir would be made fn princes street by. the appearance of a Chinese lady, hobbling along dressed in the costume becoming to her rank.' Perhaps she would not be actually mobbed, bat she would; certainly be jeered at and made the subject of remarks in innumerable shades of- bad taste;, Hdwhard our missionary girls find it to endure the same thing in China only they themselves can say. The Chinese look downon n* with". infinitely greater contempt than wo on;them. Even'nation sets up its own standard o£ excellence, and' the world has BO qriitsf .moram. Naturally, we regard foreign criticism of as as an impertinence, and, as the foreigners in Krupp'g employ who we.'likely.to be cognisant of the secrets of his; workshop are probably Englishmen, it • is r evidently high time -Herr Krupp, was brought; to a proper frame of mind. .The Chinese are a nuisance, we say. They fester'among garbage and breed contagion. They; are dirty, and immoral, "and they commit the crowning offence of raising from the soil Certain .vegetables, which they convert into gold and take it away, thereby lessening the wealth; o£ the .colony. All this is, sound morality and good reasoning,, and we being tha antithesis of all these things decline to allow, them to come between the wind and bur nobility. It is a poor rule that will not/work both ways; it Is a good rule which works only in the direction desired by the maker.; ; . ,

Dear Cms,—The enclosed clipping, from the Age,. contains portion of the evidencegiven by one witness (the inspector of telephones) in the inquiry instituted' into' the affairs of the Victorian &>Bt and Telegraph department, I iho'nld like to have your opinion on it. '■'"'.',: -'» - tJIVIL SERVANT, M#batab6nfc this, high kicking?— Well, that t»as: a l»dy thiti perhaps eoroe of the gentlemen present here have seen.i—(Groat laughter.) She iras once at the Princess's. '■ . "^Vfr Maxwell: Did you. measure the height a <jbe ikicking ?—Yes, B[t.r^(Great laughter.) I don't want; to hide anything.; She is not in Melbourne;! now. .'.There were four of us went to see her on W Saturday afternoon. / "How did .you. know that woman kicked. Bft?—l.sawber.dpifc,—(GreatlHughter.)■ ?'..Wh*t■ did -she kick ?—My, hat out. of my hand as far as I could reach straight out, I bad heard, of Aer, and did not believe.she. could do it till i saw her do it; but I'm not going to bide anything.—(Laughter.) ... "Mr Alcock': Did .you never do any of this in businefs. hours.?— No.. The girl has'lefttbe colony now, I believe. Her father is in a very responiible'Governinent position." . Mr opinion on it 1 vWeWhTmy opinion the witnaja was cancionr itself, and would have «h«a a fay-ofisneshine on Our banking inquiry if he had been concerned in the matter stall. Ho bus no teruple;iw_bate:»er!abont divulgingcircumstances " liatiDg' reference to private affairs." Contrast his refreshing absence of reserye.^Tth" the delicacy of Mr Watson: Mr Hutchison asked witness if he conld find sat the proportion of remittances received by (he Colonial Bank in September 1895. Witness.Baid he conld not undertake to obtain this iiiforniation, aa it bad-reference to the private business of th« Government. If the positions had been reversed what ■picy reading the report of the House Banklog Gommittee would have been, and how dull the report of the Board of Inquiry, sitting In Melbourne. But that's just our lnck^ Our heads of departments are bo vigilanii bo strait-laced, and, in a word, so canny, that any irregularity is nipped in the bud, and noandal prevented even before it is incipient.' ;: The Athenians got so .eick of hearing Aristides called v the Jußt." that one fine morning, icsheer disgust at bo .ranch grattiitouß rintegrity; they turned and ostracised Win.;., "Tb'ey iaid (in choice Greek), "Qity In- somewhat similar fashion the Saturday Review .is of tho Crockett- cumMaojaren'vogue, and •' Cleg-Kelly " chancing to come along, the editorial rapier was ruthlessly sharpened. "Beyond Criticism "—the title of the review—reads like the Saturday of th« nalrny dajs, Ani amnnnt of. unfair-;

ness and exaggeration, of coarse, bat it good deal of salutary correction, and the whole thing most brilliantly done. For the sake of the salutary correction I should like to quote the whole article,'but thiß is a world of "Thou shalt nots." It seems that the secret of tha vogne is Sunday afternoon—Sunday afternoon in the serious household, which long ago liberalised itself beyond sermons and Mrs Hannah More. " Just as quite godly little boys are nowadays allowed- tp build churches on Sunday with their toy bricks, so for the adolescent and the adult"—the novel about ministers. The reviewer traces the evolution of the type from'the sectarianism of less liberal days to the "vague full-bodied piety" of the present, and after noting the literary limitations of the school in question, proceeds: ■ The highest honours of it ate to the ministers, Archdeacon Farrar, and Messrs Maclaren and ! Crockett; and to Mr Hall Came. And for the j best of reasons: their pages ara peppered with the name of the. Drity, and they display an olmont arch'angelic familiarity with the working !of His mind. It is by no moans a remarkable coincidence, that e»ch of theae four writers has either written a " Life of Christ," or is stated to have o"ne"in hand. I shonld hardly have expected to .find Mr Hall Came dans ciiit gaUre, but a Saturday Reviewer in his warpaint must not be bothered about trifles.-:-'-Attar free quotations from " Cleg; Kelly," the final stroke is sent horns: ' • ' But this, is as much of " Cleg Kelly " as'any intelligent human will-desire. This kind of thing chiefly, occasional jokes about and familiarities with the Deity, of which the one quotation already made must snffice, scraps [stolen from here and there—Poe's dead holy in the-box,- for example—make up this buok. Criticism ? One could as well criticise a marine store. ■■' ■'~-.' ' ' | Capital, in its,., way, isn't it? . And don't | forget that it embodies a salutary b,alf-trath, which ardent Orockettites and Maclarenitss would do well to appreciate. It ia high tim« someone started a society for the conservation of street amenities.' Occasionally some simple-minded peraon writes to the papers complaining, of, the fnrious pace at which vehicles fly round street .corners. . The spprtive youth who guides the destinies of the leg of mutton which is to grace your table takes a pride in just missing the kerbstone by an inch in his headlong career round the corner. The pensive individual who brings you bread looks from his- eyrie with supreme contempt on pedestrians below.1 As for the florid' youth, whose complexion is reminiscent of opangled meadows and sweat-breathed kine, who bears tbelactealfluidby whioha future generation is made strong, he hardly gives himself time to gain the step of bis cart ere his fiery steed bounds- away. The parasitical child life of the streets sputters in all directions; nervous pedestrians hesitate to cross the street. Doubtless some.are run over and killed and secretly, silently, and- surreptitiously " disposed:^." •: Those who succumb are such aa have'failed to acquire the' sixth sense said to be developed by residents of Chicago,' where the , lifting 'of a canal bridge is. instinctively known to be imminent. Everyone is familiar with the sensation of being looked at by someone who is unobserved, bat this premonition does not come when the butcher's cart is skimming round the corner. The new amenities society should therefore either set about teaching how to acquire this sense or else do something to save pedestrians from' being either knocked down or frightened to death. I should,-have recommended the idea to the existing Amenities Sooiety but that it seems my previous note on the atrocities of advertising has paralysed thorn; ■ Is not' a "civil servant a. man and a, brother? I mean, of course, a civil servant who is not a cadette or a female inspector, or an official matron.•■-.■ Hath not a civil servant eyes? Hath not a civil servant bands, organs,., dimensions, senses, affections, passions ? :Is he not fed with the same food; hrurt with the same weapons; snbject to the same diseases; healed by the same means; \ waimed and cooled by the. same winter and snmmer as one who is not trammelled' by official bonds ?, It will be observed that ! the witness contended that the high-kick-ing episode took place onfc of business hours. , Surely a civil servant is master of his own actions after the office is closed; and my opinion of the matter is that the questions put to ; this witness, were a groas impertinence. Nen temper teridit arcum Apdllo. A civil servant must have recreation, and.one who seeks. relaxation in witnessing an agile yoong lady, a dangbter of a gentleman in a very responsible Government position,' too,. j elevating her arched instep to a'height of i eight'feet, is not less likely to be efficient j than if he were a Sunday School teacher, i Besides, if this prying into private actions is continued it may extend, and perhaps the j public will become afflicted with a morbid j desire to place everybody in the service of j the country, from Premiers down to messen- j gers, in.glass houses. Such an avsnt would ] be nothing short of a calamity. ' Civis. POLITICS FEOM THE PULPIT. , ''■:.': -.."■.-..■ .'«■.' '. ■'.", ' ' -.- 'j ■Taking for his text, "What is a man profited | if he gain the whole world and lose, or forfeit, ) his own self?" the Rev. Canon Potter, at1 St.! Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on a recent' Su- ! day morning, referred to the fables 6xt»nt of j persons who sold their souls to the devil. Those j fableo, of course, bad a meaning, and he applied | it to the clerical, political, social, and commer- | cial walks of life. Judas, he oaid, had sold him- j self f«r3o pieces of silver, and many souls had ) the 30 piecesof silver bought since the days of j Judas. Many a man wan living a life of luxury | now on the wages he got for that soul of bis. j His victims'were lying in the cemeteries apd ; asylums, and he and his were the guests of the { great people, and wore jewels and diamonds, ■: but he had the rope of Judas around his neck, , and he knew in his own hsart that he was be- j ginning to pay the forfeit already, and he j would have to pay it to the. uttermost farthing. ■ The devil had a great variety of cu*tomerß. Sometimes he got up into the pulpit and skulked behind the preacher, saying, "Mind t you don't say anything that will make them ■: feel uncomfortable. If you do they will go , elsewhere, and they will, take, their pieces of ; silver with them." He was sprry to think the j. poor preacher sometimes listened to him and j spoke, as it was written, "Smooth things and ; prophesied, deqeits," and so put the rope of i Judas around his own neck and proceeded to his j awn .-place: Or let them look at that j member of Parliament. who went into the House pledged to a certain policy— ■-~ a policy he believed in. But the policy j he believed in was not, perhaps, in favour I with the Ministry, and parties were evenly j balanced, and every vote was worth its price, i so he took up with a policy he did not believe I in. The sweets of office were too much for ! him, and. he sold hir. soul and got his £300 a j year, or; what else is misht be, changed into |. £1000, or something more. The devil was more ' liberal with the member of Parliament, perhaps, than with-Judas, but the, forfeit had to be paid all ths Bame. He did not think that the devil cared very much about political questions , in theiuselveß, but he cared very much how i politics were worked. Freetrade and Pro- j tection. iwero pretty, well all. one to him, i but what he liked dearly was to have a Freetrader by conviction writing Protectionist articles for the manufacturers' money, or a Protectionist by conviction working the Freetrade ticket for the importers' money. Men j might have what opinions they liked for all the i devil cared if they would only sell them for the pieces of silver. Young people whom he had presented for confirmation had told him that they-;cuuld not go to the Holy Communion I because they said they had to tell lies in buii- ■ ness, and if they did not tell lies, they said, they would lose their place if they were working for t others, or lose their trade if they were working | for themselves. He did not believe it. He was sure there were many men and women in business that wonld rather keep a good conscience than multiply their profits a thousandfold, men and women that would rather starve than lie. And be believed that such men and women did well enough in business,- eyeu though they never grew so rich j as those who sold their souls to earn the devil's wage. The devil bought the soul sometimes for other wages than money. He bought it' for what he called and taught his victims to call "love" snd "good-fellowship" and "a quiet-life"; but the love and fellowshipl and peace that men got in exchange for their souls were the devil's'counterfeits, like the apple*.of Sodom. So the victim would find when he came to pay the forfeit, that what he had been taught to call "love" and "good fellowship" and "peace." had all the elements in them of hatred and enmity and strife. Those who would keep their souls out of the devil's way must have » true conscience and a strong will. The m'»n who was always pleading his conscience was a daDgerous man, and he would tall ' them why. Such a man pleaded his conscience j because he knew that its results needed to be j justified, because his conscience had been oor- j rupted iutb self-will or the fear of men or what was called '.' policy," whereas the man who followed a tiue conscience left its results to justify themiclvei.