Passing Notes.

Otago Witness, Issue 1583, 25 March 1882, Page 18

Passing Notes.

Those Russians are terrible fellows. They have, it seems, been sending round a small fleet to the various Australian ports, and while the officers have been freely entertained by the unwary colonists, and tripping it on tho light fantastic, they have been quietly taking observations in preparation for a neat little surprise, to come off some fine night in the not distant future. Tho Melbourne Age sprang a mine upon them by publishing a dispatch which the Russian admiral was said to have addressed to his Government describing the defenceless condition of Melbourne. Of course the dispatch was indignantly disclaimed, but we know what such disclaimers mean in the mouths of Russians. Then at Auckland the other day a fete waa given to or by the Russian officers, and an electric-light was played round the harbour from point to point, by one of tho ships, for tho amusement of the spectators. But little did the unsuspecting crowd guess the deep design under this simple and apparently innocent device. Captain Scott, R.N., could have told them what it meant. "Was it," he suggestively askß, "a skilful combination on the Russians' part of business with pleasure?"— and he tells us that "capital landmarks were doubtless obtained for a further night fete." How fearfully coldblooded ! No doubt the Russian 1 commander has the whole thing accurately mapped out, and the ranges for the guns recorded, so that when the fateful hour arrives, Auckland can be knocked to pieces in the shortest possible time. But the redoubtable Captain Scott knows their little games, and is prepared to circumvent them. Whether he will depend, as I suggested last week, on the fearful characteristics of the big dredge as an outside cruiser, or plant guns at a mile apart all round our coasts, with a double fringe of torpedoes outside for the defence of our " tight little islands,' I don't know. It seems to me, with all deference to a real British naval officer, that if wo fortify the chief ports the wily Russians can easily slip round and get in by the back door. While we are about it we had better do it thoroughly, and make our coasts bristle all round with big guns, even if it does cost an odd million or two. Otherwise our best course will be, when that Russian cruiser does make her appearance and lands a small force of marines, to say, as the coon said to the celebrated marksman, "Don't fire, captain j I'll come down." I have been trying to realise what my feelings as a gallant Volunteer would be under such trying circumstances, and find I am somewhat of the same mind as the Yankee lieutenant who, in difficult circumstances, rallied his men and thus addressed them— "My men, over that hill there's a body of the enemy just ten times your number ; march to the top, fire your pieces, and retire at ' quick, march '; and as Fm a little lame Pll go at once."

Veni, vidi, vici. So can Mr Green deliver himself to his admiring friends, on returning from his New, Zealand Alpine tour. He has' conquered the monarch of the Southern Alps, and 'left his handkerchief on, the, peak as a challenge to all comers. To read of that uncomfortable night passed on a ledge six feet by two feet, on which the intrepid three stood feeing the rock— an awful pause amid surrounding solitude— cold, wet, unable to recline, and obliged to keep each other awake to prevent instant destruction, sends a cold shiver through one's veins. I wonder what their sensations were, and whether they were -or were not terribly, afraid. " Civis "is perfectly sure that he would have been. I suppose such things are common to Alpine climbers, and " use is second nature." It isn't half so dangerous after all as rushing up to the cannon's mouth, or standing to be shot at on the slopes of a fortress ; but then there isn't half the excitement about it. It all has to be done in cold — very cold — blood. I can't help admiring the pluck and endurance thus manifested, though, being somewhat of a utilitarian, a little inclined to say, " Cvi bono ?" There's a certain amount of honour and glory to be obtained by such a feat, no doubt; but I don't for a moment suppose that was Mr Green's chief object. Alpine climbing, like other athletic pursuits, becomes fascinating in proportion as one danger after another is successfully overcome. A restless desire to go farther and do more than any one else gets possession of the climber. To slightly alter Dryden—

Hid wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Alpine led prefers to solid land. But after all there is something noble in this sort of ambition. A man who.'is accustomed to danger is a higher sort of being than one who is always thinking how to save his miserable neck. The Britisher would not be what he is if he did not sometimes attempt outrageous things, and aim at the apparently impossible. Tightrope walkers and balloonists both come in for a share of my admiration, though I am not in the least likely to imitate their feats. By-the-by, it was a Green who so distinguished himself by his balloon ascents ; and now we have another of that ilk covering himself with glory by scaling Mount Cook. A third member of the family was distinguished as a builder and owner of ships; and a fourth is our own M. W. G., M.H. It. ! Do they all of them hail as I believe does the Alpine Mr Green, from' the Emerald Isle ?

The unanimity with which the action of the police in ordering the Jason statuette into seclusion has been condemned is remarkable. Indeed it is suspicious. Amongst those who raised or have echoed theory of "Vandalism !" there must be a good many who would not have cared exactly to put the figure of a little naked man, in which everything is avowod, into their shop windows, still less upon their draw-ing-room mantelpieces. They would think twice before discussing its merits with their grown-up daughters ; they would hardly select it for a topic of conversation with their lady friends. Yet none of them ventures to say a word in defence of the police ukase under which po°* Jason was " run in." I infer that

there is a good deal of art cant among us, and a morbid terror of the epithets "Philistine" and " Pharisee." I did myself condemn the

zeal of the police. If they had refused to see

I the indecency of Jason's appearance, the public generally would not have seen it, Moreover I have a proper dislike of what Sydney Smith

called the nastiness of over-nice people. The

American prudes described by Mrs Trollope, who refused to speak of the "Song of the Shirt," and called it the " Song of the Gentleman's Undergarment," are not in the loast to my mind. Still it is a question with me whether representations of the naked human figure can be defended, except for exhibition in art galleries, and as al fresco statues. Ladies walk through art galleries full of nude figures and feel no impropriety. They are not obliged to see or to remark anything in particular. A statue in the open air is viewed by a general glance in which you see as much or as little as you like. But a drawing-room statuette may get into the conversation, which is awkward, or must be carefully kept out of the conversation, which is more awkward still. The truth is that nude figures in art are an anachronismThey are an inheritance from the Greeks, in whose public sports the " gymnasts" ran and wrestled stark naked, as the word implies. We can't feel about the nude in art as the Greeks felt. We should be Vandals indeed if we destroyed or mutilated the priceless relics of Greek art which have come down to us, but their place is the public gallery and the art school, and the modern artist is not under any particular obligation to imitate them, at any rate not for purposes of domestic decoration. Greek usages have, in fact, created a canon for modern art which could never have sprung indigenously. We should never have thought of representing a great man or a beautiful woman as Jason and Aphrodite are represented. Fancy Mr Gladstone or Mrs Langtry after the ancient Greek! But I forbear. I wouldn't have interned Jason myself. It wouldn't have occurred to me to order him a suit of clothes, nor even to present him with a figleaf. But some voice . out of all this moral community ought to have been raised on that side of the question, and the general silence is not creditable to our honesty.

The soul of our Mr Green would seem still to be among lions. A writer in the Star, who asserted that the learned diatribes on geology with which "M. W. G." favoured the public during the Denton controversy were plagiarised from Professor Dawson, this week returns to the charge. With illnatured persistency, he has taken the trouble to get a copy of the Professor's book from Melbourne, and prints "M. W. G." and Dawson once more in parallel columns. The Bubject is getting tiresome. No intelligent person was likely to accept Mr Green as an authority upon pterodactylß and ichthyosauruses. No one be" lieved that he knew any more about the " Calaveras skull " or the " old man of Cromagnon" than he had picked up from some author or other whose science was guaranteed by his orthodoxy. To laboriously prove him a plagiarist is to break a butterfly upon the wheel. Apropos of the subject matter in dis < pute, did Mr Green never meet with Bret Harte's "Address to the Pliocene Skull" ? He would have found it exceedingly handy in his controversy with Denton. I advise him to procure a copy, and get its rolling hexameters by heart. He will hardly be able for the .present to work off any more of Professor Dawson but Bret Harte will serve his turn even better. People will listen to Bret -Harte who find Dawson a bore, and there is perhaps as much " argument " in the one as in the otiher. I give a few stanzas': — Speak, thou awful vestige of the earth's creation,— Solitary fragment of remains organic 1 Tell the wondrous secret of thy past existence,— —Speak 1 thou oldest primate 1 When beßide thee walked the solemn Plesiosaurus, And around thee crept the festive Ichthyosaurus, While from time to time above thee flew and circled

Cheerful Pterodactyls. Thus exhorted, the Calaveras skull grinds its massy jaws to explain its geologic history :— And from that imperfect dental exhibition, Stained with express juices of the weed Nicotian, Game these hollow accents, blent with softer murmers Of expectoration : "Which my name is Bowers, and my crust was busted Falling down a shaft n Calaveras County, But I'd take it kindly if you'd send tho pieces Home to old Missouri ?'

It is not easy now-a-days to say what is plagiarism and what is not. Downright theft — i.e., the transfer of whole sentences or paragraphs without acknowledgement, is rare, the risk of detection being enormous. Only the more refined and artistic forms of literary larceny are now in use,— for the very excellent reason that no others have any chance of success. To steal, and thrive by stealing, you must pick the brains of your author. His ipBissima verba you will do well to let alone. There are many approved methods of picking an author's brains. "It is not unusual," says the Spectator, " for the critic to ' expound ' or

' introduce ' a good book, on the principle of so mixing up the text (which we will assume to be very good) with the comment (which may be anything you please) that nobody can tell, or at least, is intended to tell, where one ends and the other begins ; it is all like the mingling of sea and river at an estuary." A good deal of colonial newspaper work is of this description. A correspondent, writing from over sea, sent me lately an article which, as he said, he had "condensed" out of a paper by Lord de la Worr in the Nineteenth Contury. Would I tell him candidly and in confidence whether I thought the method honest ? My correspondent, you see, possessed tho commodity which as one of Shakesjyeare's murderers remarks, " fills a man with obstacles " — to wit, a conscience. Fow journalists can afford the luxury of a conscience. I keep a conscience myself, it is true, but then I watch it. What the doctors call " hyperiEstheaia "—" — morbid sensitiveness— l discourage religiously, and, thus treated, I don't find a literary conscience any practical disadvantage. As the Spectator remarks, it is not necessary to spend one's time in hunting up the seeds of ideas,

That would be paralysis. Push the doctrine of literary honesty too far and you get some amusing results : — Theroon you are surprised to learn That Byron has purloined from Sterne, And Sterne from Dryden, who in turn, Lord Bacon's wit did go on ; Whi'e he from Shakespeare took a hint, Who struck a spark from Skelton's flint, Who filched Borne gold from Chaucer's mint, Who Langland robbed ; and so on.

Whether these considerations may go in mitigation of Mr Green's offence, I don't know, but I can hardly be too earnest in counselling him to steal deftly when he docs steal. For an example of deftness in this difficult art, he may take an article in a recent Saturday Re» view, in which the reviewer picks the brains of Mr T. H. Raven, the author of an amusing paper in Macmillan entitled "Diversions of a Pedagogue." Everything in Mr Raven's paper that a reader would care about is transferred to the Saturday. Every toothsome morsel of story, every piquant remark of the author's goes into the article of tho reviewer, who adds merely a thin porridge of his own in which these plums float about. And even this connective porridge is the original author watered down. The article is a capital example of refined and artistic plagiarism. And we may be sure that the Saturday keeps on the windy side of literary law.

Some of Mr Raven's " Diversions of a Pedagogue" will be found diverting by the readers of Passing Notes. Here is a schoolboy's essay on the theme " assassination " :— Assination is an awful crime, and if not found out during the asain's life he will meot his reward Borne day. The last aasination which has been committed is of an awful description, committed by some Nihilists on the Czar of Russia.

Before judging this, fancy yourself set down to write, at the point of the bayonet, a leading article, Passing Note, theme, essay, or " cxci" cisc," by whatever name called, upon assassi" nation or any other abstract topic. Barring the original spelling, which has merits of its own, the above example represents, not unfairly, perhaps, what your sweat of brain would produce. The following definition of poetry may be commended to Mr A. O. Gillies :— English poetry consists of lines put together so that they come into rhyme, and have the same 1 number of syllables in each line ; but there is another kind of poetry called prose, which haa linos of different lengths, and different numbers of syllables in each line. The near relation between ecclesiastical history and fiction is neatly represented in the following account of the Venerable Bede :

The Venerable Bode was a historian known, in his own days, from his extreme antiquity, as Adam Bede. Here is a new view, and true in its way, of the difference between "weak verbs " and " strong verbs " :

You use a weak verb when you are not quite auro of the truth of what you Bay ; but you use a strong verb when you are perfeotly sure and wish to be emphatic. The boy who thought that a "satyr " waa "a Roman nymph," and another who represented " gymnasium " phonographically by the letters ffymmequpnnusey-room, rise distinctly above the common level of academical brilliancy ; as does also the Cambridge, under graduate who translated domestico vulnere ictus filiuin aniio ante natum amisit by— "having been bitten by a tame fox, he lost his son a year before he was born." But the palm for decided genius must undoubtedly be awarded to the following :—

G.— Who at Rome wore the Latua Clavus ? Ana.— Wiose who had the right of admission to the Oloacft Maxima. It is humiliating to have to explain ; a joke, particularly so good a joke as this, but, for the benefit of Civic Councillors and sucking M.P.'s, I may remark that the latus clavus was a stripe conferred on the sons of senators when they were admitted to listen to their fathers' debates, and that the Cloaca Maxima was the Great Sewer of Rome. By a not unnatural confusion of ideas the examinee had mixed up Parliamentary institutions with the city drainage. lam reluctant to close this list without some attempt to show that we can do almost as well in the colonios. I quote, therefore, a recent bonne louche from our own High School :— Master: What does Shylock mean when he says that he refuses "to eat of tho habitation which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into ?" Answer : He refers to the occasion on whioh Christ made the devil eat pork !" And yot they have the Bible in the High School. Cms.

A preliminary inquiry into the cause of the collision between the Waitaki and the Koputai was held on Thursday. A number of witnesses were examined, but very little light was thrown on the subject, as the evidence was of a directly contradictory character. Three witnesses who were in the engine-room declare positively that every order telegraphed was promptly obeyed, while the captain states that the orders he telegraphed were not regarded, but that the engines were kept going ahead after he had ordered them full speed astern. Several witnesses gave evidence in support of the captain's statement, founded upon the fact that they saw the telegraph indicator pressed down on the starboard side (which signals astern) when the ship was going ahead; and some were positive, from watching the propeller of the Waitaki, that the engines were not reversed. The depositions will be forwarded to Wellington, where it will be decided whether an official inquiry is necessary. The inquiry on Thursday occupied from 11 a.m. until about 5.30 p.m., and the proceedings were very monotonous. The pronunciation given to the name of the tug by several of the witnesses, who persisted in calling it the " Cup-o'-tea," was rather amusing, and, as 6 o'clock approached, became vexatiously suggestive. Messrs Smith, Stewart, and Holmes watched the proceedings for different parties; but as the investigation was merely preliminary, they did not examine the. witnesses.

At the meeting of Volunteer officers held in the Garrison Hall on Thursday night, it was decided to abandon the idea of camping out, the material available being quite inadequate. The visitors are to be billeted in town, and it is anticipated that a liberal response will be made to an eff irt to collect subscriptions in order to make the cost to visitors as Bmall as possible. Lieutenant-colonel Stavely appointed Lieutenant Jacobs quartermaster, and Lieutenants

M'Gregor and Fordyce assistant quartermas* ters, the first duty assigned to them being to make inquiry about billeting arrangements, in regard to which they are to report next Wednesday. A programme of the intended review is to be prepared immediately and placed in the hands of officers commanding companies.

The open-air services seem to be increasing in popularity. On Wednesday evening, when Mr Brunton presided, the crowd was much larger thanoneitherof the previous occasions, fully 1000 people having assembled in the Octagon by 8 o'clock. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. L. Mackie and J. Kirkland (West Taieri). The choir as usual rendered good service, and a special feature in the proceedings was the singing of a solo, "Where is my wandering boy to-night?" by Mr Brunton. At 8.30 an adjournment was made to the Trinity Wesleyan Church, where the addresses were continued.

At the conclusion of the Choral Society's rehearsal on Wednesday evening the members present, together with a number of the leading musicians— amateur and professional— of the city, adjourned to Wain's Hotel for the purpose of bidding farewell to the Society's late leader, Mr A. H. Norman, previous to that gentleman's departure for Lawrence, to which town, as an official of the Bank of New Zealand, he has just been transferred. About 50 persons werej>resent, and Mr G. C. Israel, secretary of the Choral Society, took the chair After some musical selections had been given the Chairman proposed the health of Mr Norman, making special reference to his long connection with the Society and his zeal m the promotion of musical matters generally. The toast, which was heartily responded to, was acknowledged in a suitable manner by Mr Norman, and all joined in wishing him & happy and prosperous future. i A meeting of theßurns' Statue Committee was ™^ n # le C ? ff eePalace on Wednesday evening, Mr R. Campbell m the chair. The Concert Com. mittoe reported that, accounts in connection with the late concert net being complete they were not m a position to state the exact surplus; but they were justified in stating that after paying expenses, a handsome balance would remain. Arrangements were made for giving another entertainment in aid of the statue fund towards the middle of next month A hearty vote of thanks was, on the motion of Mr T. Fergus, M.H.R., accorded to Messrs T. Stewart and A. D. Denovan for their able services, and also to the ladies and gentlemen who assisted at the concert. The Secretary read a letter from Mr W. Brown, Arrowtown stating that £30 had already been subscribed there. Several subscriptions were reported, and sub-committees were appointed to canvass the city, separate districts being allotted to each.

Mr R. B. Martin, Government auctioneer, held a land sale on Wednesday at the Oamaru Courthouse, when deferred-payment section 8, block 111, Kurow. formerly held by Hon. R. Campbell under tree-planting license and sur« rendered by him, was offered. There were 23 applicants—2o from Oamaru and' three from Dunedin. The area of the section was 191 acres, and the upset price 30s per acre. Bidding started at the upset, and shortly afterwards a bid of £5 was made, which was gradually improved upon until £8 was reached? The competition then remained between three bidders, and the .section was eventually knocked down to Donald Simpson at £12 11s 3d per acre. The Courthouse was well filled, and considerable interest was taken in the sale. members of the Vincent County Council met at the Chambers, Clyde, to-day, for the purpose of transacting ordinary business. The Npthern members proposed to the Southern members that Mr Colclough should ; take the chair, and thus enable them to get on with the business ; but Mr MacGinn'is formally protested against the proceeding. ' The Southern members refused this offer, but proposed that the meeting should be allowed to lapse, and that on the termination of the dispute before the Supreme Court, the legally acknowledged Chairman should call a special' meeting of Council. Finally this view was adopted, and the meeting lapsed.

At a special meeting of the Presbytery of Dunedin, held on Wednesday, the Rev. A C, Gillies accepted the call from the North Dun« edin congregation, and the ordination cere mony was fixed for April 4th. The call was signed by 116 members and 59 adherents.

Messrs Bailey and Kerr, who arrived in Dunedin during the late Exhibition time, and have sojourned here since, have removed to Christchurch, and open at the Exhibition building next month. Prior to their departure they entertained a number of their friends at a dinner, and the compliment was returned in the shape of a ball and supper on Tuesday evening last.

Mr G. 0. Cassels, of Riverton, has forwarded to the Christchurch Exhibition a bushel of ryegrass seed weighing 371b, and a bushel of sparrowbill oats, 491b in weight, grown by Mr W. K. Hazlett, Thornbury. A bushel of ryegrass grown by Mr J. R. Turnbull, of Flint's Bush, has also been forwarded.

Our Palmerston correspondent writes :— " I have just been informed that the Magistrate's Court at Macrae's Flat was opened yesterday at 3 p.m., and at 1 o'clock this morning the bailiff was heard to announce that the ' Resident Magistrate's Court is now closed, and the Warden's Court opened.' After this it must be allowed that at least some of the Civil servants do earn their wages."

A sad accident happened on Tuesday at the Bluff. Catherine Robertson, the ' youngest child of a recent arrival, was drowned in a small tub of water while playing outside. She was only one year old.

An election of a member of the Oamaru Harbour Board, in room of Mr Sumpter, took place on Tuesday. Mr Meek was returned by 109 votes to 27 polled by Dr Wait. The Invercargill papers were in error J ■ announcing the death of the jockey injured^ the Riverton races. He is all but quite rocovered, and will leave the Hospital in a day or two.

During the hearing of a case at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday afternoon, in which the plaintiff was suing for damages in consequence of having been bitten by a dog, a medical witness, during cross-examination, stated that he had heard of a case of hydro phobia in Wellington, and two in Tasmania. Tho medical gentleman would not, however, vouch for the accuracy of the statement.

At a recent meeting of the directors of the Southland l<W,en Meat and Produce Export Company (Limited) the certificate of incorporation of the Company undor " The Joint .Stock Companies Act, 18(30," was produced. Among the general business transacted, tho matter of a site for the Company's works was remitted to a committee to inquire into and further reEort upon. It also transpired that 86 shareolders are in arrears of payment of the allotment fee due upon their shares. The chairman was instructed to issue a second circular to those dilatory ones, pointing out

fche necessity of immediate payment, pending which the directors are being very much hindered in bringing the operations of the Company to a practical point. Speaking of the visit to the barque Mataur'a paid by Mr Coster, the Hon. G. M'Lean, and ' others to sco tho refrigerating machinery, the Christchurch Press says:— "To describe the visit to the meat-room would be simply to state that the visitor quickly found himself so unbearably cold that he was glad to be lot out of it. The Press representatives who were let into the-.sanctum sanctorum yesterday engaged for a short time— a very short time— in a snowball match beneath the frozen forms of English grouse, partridges, and Labrador almon. The engine forces 50,000 cubic feet of icy air per hour into the chamber. What the experiences of a living human|boing would be to be shut in there can only be imagined. Nobody has cared to try so far. In the meantime the shareholders of the enterprising Company that own the Mataura have the pleasure of knowing that 8000 or more carcases of mutton can be put on board and delivered in 'like good order and condition' to the London consumer, a satisfaction and a pleasure which will be shared, by the exporting sheep-farmers throughout the Colony." Messrs Douglas and Phillips, who left Riverton a month ago for the West Coast on a six months' prospecting tour, returned on baturday last. They were six days coming overland. According to the Western Star they could obtain nothing more than the colour. There was nothing but quartz-reefs full of mica and greenstone visible on the beach. After prospecting about for 20 days, during which tune they met with no encouraging prospects, they resolved to make tracks. Accord*^v on 13th inst., they commenced their re- , W journey, and on the following day they got as far as Big River. In crossing this river they had a very narrow escape from drowning, Phillips losing his clothes. After a wretched walk of 40 miles they reached Aitken s station on the Waiau, where they were kindly treated, and arrived at Riverton on Saturday last. The men intended being away a period of six months, having landed supplies sufficient for that time, but their poor luck discouraged them. ' A case something like that of tho "Rodanow Watch Company" has been before the Court in Sydney. Two men, named Rodway and Wilson, were charged with conspiring to defraud. Rodway took a house in Woolloomooloo (the property of Judge Windeyer), and on a naming advertising-board announced himself as Dr Rodway, M.A., and a dozen other things, and intimated that he prepared students for the university, &c. At tho same time, he advertised that anyone "cutting out this coupon" and forwarding it to him with a stated amount in stamps would receive a watch, or a picture, or something equally attractive. When inquired for, Rodway never could bo found, but Wilson was m attendance to allay suspicion. A short time Bince it was announced that the house had been .broken into, and about £300 worth of Property besides the doctor's diplomas stolen; 'he doctor shortly after effected a midnight flit taking his furniture with him. Finally the 1 whole' concern blew up, and the doctor and his Fidus Achates were arrested, bmce the examination at the Police Court commenced, the victims have been turning up in shoals. Both were committed for trial. A new English publication called the '• Mnancial Reformer, now on sale here (says the Wellington correspondent of a contemporary), contains some information which will doubtless be of great interest to New Zealand readers, especially as the work purports to be a complete and trustworthy compendium of information on political, financial, and commercial matters. It is stated in this book that the present Premier of New Zealand is the " Hon. T. Hall"; the Native Minister, "Hon. L. Bryce"; the Attorney-general, "Hon. H. Whitaker." These three re-christened Ministers are associated not only with the Hons. H. A. Atkinson, W. Rolleston, and R. Oliver, whose' names are correctly given, but also with the Hon. J. Sheehan as Minister for Justice, the Hon. W. Gisborne as Minister for Immigration, and the Hon. J. T. Fisher as Post-master-general. The funniest error made is in regard to the Agent-general, who is rej christened "Sir J. F. Ditton Ball." The " Reformer " evidently requires reforming. An Auckland paper says :— " Despite his defeat at the last Falmouth election, Sir Julius Vogel- does not despair of representing that favoured seaport in the next House of Commons. He nas a country residence in that place, besides his town house in London, cultivates the acquaintance of the most influential residents, and has secured the patronage of no less a personage than Lord Falmouth himself, who has the command of a large number of votes. Indeed, we are assured by a gentleman who lately returned from England that Sir Julius Vogel is regarded by the colonists in London, and by a few Conservatives, as the coming leader of the party, who think the mantle of Lord Beaconsfield has descended upon our late Agent-general. His faculties are still vigorous, and though he is troubled with' occasional deafness, it is remarked that he can hear very well when the subject of conversation is more than usually interesting. The prominent part which he has taken m advocating confederation of the Empire and other matters of national importance, and the intimate knowledge of Colonial affaiiy that he has displayed' in his ' writings, has greatly increased his prestige, and many leading politicians would be glad to sco him in the House of Commons, especially as the Conservatives are in want of leaders. The programme of the Queen's Birthday race, to be held at Forbury Park on the 24th May, will be found in our advertising columns. Messrs Maclean and Stewart will hold an important Bale of horses at Temuka on the 30th inst. Among the aniraalß to bo offered are tho Clydesdale entires Lord Castlereagh and Strathmorc, and the thoroughbred Harkaway. The Preliminary notlco of a sale of pastoral leases of Crowfrlandß in tho Nelson district will be found in our advertising columns.