PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1630, 26 August 1871, Page 8

PASSING NOTES.

There is a manly, straightforward ring about Captain Wales's reply to the rifle challenge of Mr Walker of the Thames that is refreshing to see. He makes no pretence to knowledge he does not possess, find at the same time boldly refuses to shoot for money, This is a highly laudable step. Doubtless, as Lord George Bentinck said, horse-racing could not exist without betting, and hence the odium into which that sport is falling. But cricket and volunteering have existed, and can exist, without any such false stimulus, and to this they owe the high favour which they enjoy. Once let tlie.se pursuits become tainted with the smell of the bettingbook, and they lose half their prestige. Our Volunteers shoot many "friendly matches'' with other corps, and there is no reason why they should not do individually what the3 r do collectively. Tt i.s a poor game or pursuit that is not worth playing or following for its ov.u sake, exclusive of money gain. I see that Corporal Christie, of East Taieri, lias consented to compete with Mr Walker, at the request of Mr Kennedy, who ha& taken up Mr Walker's challenge, money portion and all. Of course Mr Kennedy has a perfect right to do as he pleases, but 1, for one, think Captain Wale&'s course the one more worthy of praise.

Most of us have enjoyed a laugh at the expense of the Americans on account of their love of calling things by big names. A couple of huts is a "city,"' and very often has a high sounding Did World name. We are not altogether free from blame ourselves, however, in this respect. Is not the word "village " banished from our vocabulary, and " township" substituted for it. 1 open a bhay number of the Pro uncial Government Gazette, and I rind that v ' Town Lands "' are for bale in the following among many other places :—: — Dunkelo, Georgetown. Peebles, Hull, j Berwick, Fortrose. How many among us, out of surveyors' otlices, could tell where these "towns" are I Nor is this all. Quite a .string of "townships"' is springing up around Dunedin. The Waikari district bristles with them. Every one who has a few acres of land for sale, has it surveyed into allotments of a convenient size, gives it a name from the last book he has been reading, and behold the "township. 1 ' The Government ought to regulate this, or we shall get hopelessly muddled up in our geography. I am afraid, however, that in the matter of nomenclature the Government are equally blameable, as witness the copies of British names I have given. Even the Scriptures are ransacked for names by these copyists, and Blacks is rechristened Ophir. I suppose that when the proposed special settlement in Stewart Island is made, it will receive some such name. 1 would respectfully suggest Tarshish ; or, if that is considered unlucky, as being too much bound up with memories of Jonah — Billingsgate. For a fishing settlement the latter name would be very appropriate.

The Lord Ashley last Wednesday bore ■with her a man whose departure is a real loss to Dunedin. I need hardly say that 1 refer to tho Rev. Father Moreau. It is not necessary for me to recount the rev. gentleman's virtues ; they are well known to us all. Suffice it to say, that he was, in the full sense of the word, a good man. I was glad to see that the Rev. Messrs Edwards and Granger were present when

the Protestant testimonial was presented to him, and that the former gentleman expressed the regret felt by the clergy and members of the Church of England at Father Moreau's departure. But why was no Presbyterian or Wesleyan minister present I Did they think that they would be in any way truckling to the " Scarlet Woman," as Mr Sutherland would say, in being present to express their regret at the departure of a gentleman whose life they might imitate with advantage I Or were they afraid that they would be taken to task by their people or Presbytery for countenancing "Popery" in any way? Such bigotry or cowardice, whichever it is, is contemptible. As a citizen, at least, and more especially as a universally respected citizen, the Rev. Father Moreau might have received a word of farewell from even the most rigid Protestant, and as such I say it.

A word or two on the subject of courage may not be out of place in passing. In his speech at the Scott Centenary dinner Mr Bathgate referred to Scott's courage as evinced by his being amused by a thunder storm. I am inclined to think that this is not true courage at all, any more than that of Nelson, who, when a boy, asked what to he afraid meant. According to my view of the matter, the mere absence of fear does not constitute courage ; it is the mastery of it that does so. Otherwise, an infant is the impersonation of courage. Frederick the Great fairly bolted from his first engagement, and Henri IV. of France showed signs of fear in his, yet who "would impugn the courage of either I

Readers of Mr Henry Mayhew's entertaining book, "The Upper Rhine," will no doubt remember a specimen given by that gentleman of the slavishness of the poorer classes to the nobility, in the case of a man who writes to a nobleman asking for permission to iish on his property, and who concludes with the words, "In the deepest awe I expire." This seems to have been the frame of mind in which the Editor of the Wellington Independent paid a recent vi^it to the Governor's new residence at Wellington. On entering the drawing-room, he tells us, "one is almost overawed by a feeling of surrounding grandeur." Then follows a minute description, such as no one unacquainted with the trade could have written, penned in the mobt siekeningly fulsome strain, of the furniture, hangings, <kc. A candid American Editor, in puffing a newlyopened boot and shoe shop, added at the end : " We get a prime pair of boots for putting this in." What, I wonder, does the Editor of the Wellington Independent get for putting in the aforesaid description I Perhaps a p .tronising nod from the Governor if he should happen to pass him in an unfrequented street. Perhaps, on very rare occasions, a seat at his table, a long way below the salt. One thing, I know he gets and will get, and that is. the contempt of all journalists, who view m itli disgust toadyism of this or any sort.

Sewage is coming into very general use in England as manure, and many of the large towns are turning a good penny or two by farming out what a little ago they were glad to get rid of for nothing. The practice, however, has received a check, for a high medical authority has declared that unless certain chemical changes are effected in this fertiliser before it is used, those who eat vegetables whose growth has Leen stimulated by it are certain to suffer from entozoa, i.e. in the plain language of the dictionary, " worm-like animals adapted to live within parts of another animal. " Now for the application to ourselves. Our Town Councils do not, it is true, farm out sewage, but nevertheless Chinese gardeners, as is well-known, largely use it. Many persons complain of an insipid, or faintly disagreeable taste in vegetables grown by Chinamen ; a " wersh" taste, in fact. Whether this is or is not caused by the peculiar system of agriculture pursued by the Chinese, I cannot say. I only direct enquiry into the matter.

Connected with this subject of Chinese edibles is a statement made by a recent writer on the authority of a Chinese mandarin, viz., that to the free use of cattlesh is mainly owing the tender creamy complexion of which Chinese ladies of ton are so proud. Famine taught the Parisians that cats are by no means bad eating, and those of us who have been bold enough to eat "rabbits" at city restaurants are probably (if we only knew it) in a position to confirm their experience. At all events, if any young lady is in despair about her complexion, it may be worth her while as a last resource to try the mandarin's recipe. I daresay Madame Rachel prescribed some tilings at least as disagreeable, as the penalty of endeavouring to be made " beautiful for ever."

The contest now going on in Italy

between the King and the Pope possesses icreat interest for Protestants as well as Roman Catholics. We see in progress in that country events very similar to those that took place in England three centuries ago, during the reign of Henry VIII. The similarity of the characters of Henry and Victor Einanuel, also, is worthy of passing notice. Both brave personally, and impatient of control ; both men whose private character is of the worst kind ; yet both with unflinching j resolution sweeping away the evil excrescences of ages. A milder monarch than either might have flinched ; a better one, morally, might have had scruples. But, as it has been, the evil qualities of both monarchs have been turned to account in a manner that, to say the least, is remarkble. Henry VIII. was personally one of the worst sovereigns England ever had, but we forgive him much for having broken* the Papal power in England. Victor Einanuel may be a roue and a spendthrift, and may have brought his country into temporary difficulties through his extravagance ; but if he goes through with his work of crushing out the frightful abuses arising out of priestly power under which Italy has groaned for centuries, Italians in the time to come will overlook many of his shortcomings, in view of the liberty which he won for them. Sigma.