GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1162, 7 March 1874, Page 22

GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

If there is one thing more than another that might be expected to arouse the per/ervidinn ingenhim Scotorum, it is the memory of John Knox. Nevertheless the attempt to collect funds for erecting a national memorial of the Reformer has proved an almost entire failure. The Acting Committee of the movement held a meeting in Edinburgh the other day at which they resolved to relinquish the attempt to erect a memorial of the description desired ; but "in order to obviate the reproach of all national feeling on the subject oeing dead, and in view that a considerable sum has been already subscribed," the Committee also resolved to I erect a marble statue of John Knox in some public building in Edinburgh. In vivid contrast to these facts stands the announcement that the total amount received for the Keble Memorial Fund is £50,025 10s TOd, with which sum a College is being established at Oxford. Now, excellent man as Keble was, he cannot for a moment compare with Knox as a benefactor of his country. Why, then, is his memory more powerful in evoking a solid tribute of respect ? The answer seems to be— Because he lived in our day, while Knox is to most but a name — one revered, it is true, but with the reverence of ignorance, not that of appreciation. Keble lives in the memories and affections of thousands ; Knox is a tradition only to the vast majority even of those who profess the greatest admiration of him. The fact is not creditable, but it is the fact, nevertheless.

Even the greatest lover of sherry will feel inclined to give up his favourite tipple if he reads the disclosures regarding its composition which have been recently made in the Times. It seems, from the statement of the largest wine-importing firm in England, that no pure sherry ever finds its way into that country, the reason alleged for this being that it would not "keep" in the British climate unless fortified, though this assertion is in opposition to that of a high scientific authority. Even to enumerate the various ways in which sherry is doctored would far exceed the limits of a paragraph like this. Suffice it to say that the doctoring is of all kinds and every degree until even the climax attained by the dairyman lately convicted of selling "milk" containing 100 per cent, of adulteration is reached. Sherry of this description is entirely devoid of the juice of the grape, and is composed of vitriol, beetroot or potato brandy, sugar, and water, this delectable compound being sold at a price that is as cheap as the stuff is nasty. While all the wines imported into England seem to be subjected to poisoning processes to a greater or less_ extent, sherry seems to hold a bad pre-eminence — indeed the ne pins ultra of adulteration has been reached in such a case as that just mentioned. It seems not unlikely, unless some reform is effected, that it will soon be necessary to label bottles of sherry as "Poison," equally with laudanum. " How much then is a man better than a sheep '!" This question, it appears, ought to be reversed in Scotland. In a case lately tried in the Dundee Small Debt Court tho Sheriff laid it down as the law that the master ol a dog of previously good character could not be made to pay damages if the animal bit a man, though he was liable for damages if tho dog — however unblemished his character up to that moment might be — bit a sheep. People who do not own dogs will incline to agree with tho Sheriff that a law such as this is "somewhat singular."

The legality of forbidding Sunday funerals has been occupying the attontion of the London City Commissioners of Sewers. The inhabitants of the suburban localities where the metropolitan cemeteries exist have been endeavouring to get a stop put to Sunday funerals, on the ground that these are frequently occasions of unseemly debauch, very annoying to the people who have the misfortune to live near London burial grounds. The City Commissioners have accordingly taken a legal opinion on the subject, having consulted a leading Q.C. This gentleman states, as the result of his researches into the musty laws of tho past, that he oannot say anything positive on the point, as it has never been

raised in Court, but he thinks that under a canon made in 1604 Sunday funerals are legal, and that a Church of England clergyman can even be compelled to conduct them if the conditions prescribed in the canon have been complied with. The people of Ilford and Kensal Green will therefore have to submit to the continuance of drunken orgies in their neighbourhoods on Sundays, or else exert themselves to obtain the prohibition by law of the Sunday funeral, which seems by all accounts to be more accurately described by its well-known anagram, " real fun."

Not content with the great amount of good they have done and are still doing by means of their Middle-Class Examinations, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have taken another and a very important step towards the improvement of education in the countrv > by jointly establishing a Board for the examination of schools. This Board, at the head of which are the two Vice- Chancellors, undertakes to examine schools, either whole or in part,, and to report the result of its labours. It will also, if required, decide to whom prizes should be given in any school, and in exceptional cases it will even examine individual scholars. The Board will also grant certificates to those boys who satisfy the Examiners, and these certificates will exempt their possessors from requiring to pass both the preliminary and the first public examination at either of the Universities. The Board will commence its operations during the present year. It will be interesting to watch how this experiment works, and if it should be found to be successful, of which there seems every likelihood, it will be worth the while of the authorities of the Otago University to see whether they cannot in a similar way further the cause of education in Otago.

An interesting discussion on the great Coal question took place at a recent meeting of th« Statistical Society, by the reading of a paper on the subject written by Sir Rowland Hill. The main feature of Sir Rowland's paper was a proposition to impose a coal tax of an amount varying according to the prica of the article. This proposition seemed to be regarded with disfavour by the members of the ISociety present. In the discussion that ensued Mr Hunt, the Keeper of the Mining Records, expressed his strong dissent from the opinion that England's coal supply was likely to be soon exhausted. He stated as an instance of the way in which hitherto unworked coalfields in the country were about to be turned to account, that steps were being taken to work a coal deposit between Newcastle and Morpeth, extending under the sea for a distance of threemiles. These workings are therefore likely to eclipse the famous submarine coal mines at Whitehaven. Mr Hunt also adduced facts to show that it was a fallacy to believe that workings more than 4000 feet deep could not be worked on account of the heat. From calculations he laid before the Society, it seemed that mines could bo worked to a depth of 8000 feet without the heat becoming a bar to the continuance of operations. One of the other speakers declared it to be his belief that in two or three years the coal interest would be one of the most depressed in the country. If this should prove to be the case, few will regret it, except the colliery proprietors — who have been fleecing the public so long — and the colliers, who will be compelled to give up their champagne, aud a good deal of their "play" time.

Living collections of natural history appear to be paying speculations in England. The last dividend declared by the Brighton Aquarium Company was at the rate of twelve and a half per cent., while the Zoological Gardens, in Regent's Park, London, earned a net profit of almost £30,000 in 1873. This being the case it is not surprising that competition is threatened. As yet this competition is only in the aquarium line, as crabs and cuttle fish are cheaper to procure and maintain than lions and hippopatami. Hastings is to have an aquarium like that of Brighton, at a cost of some £60,000, and Edinburgh talks of following suit. As those establishments furnish much innocent amusement and useful instruction to thousands who but for them might remain ignorant and spend their Saturday afternoons in objectionable places of resort, they deserve every good wish for their sucoess.

As the exploration of Now Guinea possesses considerable interest to many in the Colonies at the present time, it may be worth while to draw attention to a letter on the subject, written by Mr A. R. Wallace (author of " The Malay Archipelago "), and published in a recent number of Nature. Mr Wallace, who spent some months in tho islands ten or twelve years ago, states it as his belief that two Europeans in a steam launch, with a Malay crew, could penetrate up the rivers far into the interior of tho island, which he says is the richest field for naturalists as yet unexplored. Whon to this is added the probability of interesting ethnological discoveries being made — to say nothing of gold and othor sources of wealth — it will be soen that New Guinea is a tempting field for the explorer. It is certain that the already awakened interest in this magnificent island will increase with the lapse of time, and every scrap of information that is obtained by traders, missionaries, and men-of« war. The Australasian Colonies may yet furnish a man who will do for New Guinea what Livingstone and Baker did for Central Africa, or Sturt and Eyre for the interior of Australia.