PASSING NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 1795, 17 April 1886, Page 18

PASSING NOTES

One would suppose that a passage from "Wellington to Lyttelton iv a well-found steamer should bo as little hazardous ,as a ride from Princes street to the Water of Leith in a tramcar. The course is a straight line; on one side is a bold coast, lighted at its only salient angleCape Campbell; on the other side is the open ocean. Here, if anywhere, for a steamship, the perils of the sea ought to be at a minimum. It is, of course, always open to a vessel to wreck herself by collision, by fire, or by exploding her hoilers, but why, on such a passage as that between Wellington and Lyttelton, a vessel should run ashore — and run ashore two hours after daylight— is what no mere landsman can hope to understand. The miserable catastrophe of the Taiaroa seems incapable of explanation. The only ray of light I have on the subject is furnished by the experience of a sea-going friend, who writes as follows :

" Steamers from Wellington southwards often leave light ; sometimes indeed with so little iv them that they have not enough hold upon the water te enable them to face a live gale. Light or loaded, however, they are timetabled for a certain day, and go they must. I remember once leaving Wellington for the South, in the Albion, Captain Underwood. We went - out with a roaring north-wester behind vs — the case also of the Taiaroa. Every stitch of canvas was set to it, and crossing the Strait she heeled over so much that we could hardly sit at the saloon table. 1 asked the captain what he meant by cracking oil at that rate. 'We must make hay while the sun shines,' he answered, ''this will ba round and muzzle us presently.' And so it turned out. About midnight we ran into a dead calm, and then, an hour later, up came a regular southerly buster. The steamer was too light to do anything against it, and if the wind had been more to the eastward we should have had some trouble to keep olf shore. We had left Wellington on Friday afternoon, and did not get into Lyttelfcon till Sunday morning. •If she hadn't been a good boat,' remarked Captain Underwood to me, '"we shouldn't have come through it at all.' This experience may help to explain the Taiaroa mishap. Supposing the Taiaroa to have been very light, with a gale at south-east she may have made leeway enough within two or three hours — unobserved after dark, and whilst always heading her course — to put her ashore."

Criticism must be postponed until we have the court of inquiry's judgment on the cxplana* tion given, or to be given, by the unhappy captain. Certainly a captain who leaves port with, say, fifty lives in his charge and next morning can only produce thirteen of them has a good deal to explain.

On this melancholy subject, which i.s naturally engrossing for the moment the public attention, I have received also the following : —

So we are to have another hastily improvised graveyard at another Waipapa Point, telling the same sad tale. and inculcating the same lesson — a lesson that it> never learned. The Taiaroa tragedy, enacted on Sunday last, was merely a repetition of the same old piece that has been played along our coast at intervals for years past. It has been well rehearsed by this time, and the details are reproduced with an accuracy that grows rather monotonous. As usual the weather was bad ; a fog or haze prevented land being sighted, however near it might be ; no soundings were taken, but the vessel was set her customary course, and that should be sufficient. Unhappily in this caspit was not sufficient, and the Taiaroa presently laid her bones upon a gravelly beach, ami left her unfortunate human freight to make the best that could be made out of a bad situation. As it happened the very worst was made out of it. Had the captain, crew, and passengers only been gifted with prescience the tragic sequel might have been avoided. In a few hours' time they might have walked or waded ashore. The vessel did not break up, as there was imminent danger of her doing, and they might have been, even at this time of writing, safe on board. Had all the boats gone adrift they might have lived just as did the captain's boat. In short there was safety in half a dozen different directions, but destiny declared against them all. One fact demonstrated unmistakably by these repeated disasters is thai ouis in bad weather) is a dangerous and treacherous coast. How would it do to insist upon a ten mile offing ? A twenty or a fifty mile offing, whatever the loss of time or money, would be better than a constant recurrence of these Waipapa Point catastrophes. We already know of two Waipapa Points, and it may before long bo distressingly borne in upon us that there are half a dozen more of the same name along the New Zealand coast. Our own Chamber of Commerce, I observe, actuated by the most kindly feeling, passed a resolution deeply sympathising with the survivors. They are the only actors in the melancholy affair that I feel disposed to cordially congratulate.

The decade of the eighties seems as fated for revolutions as Waipapa Points are for the destruction of New Zealand steamships. The English Revolution is dated 1688, the French Revolution. 1789, and now, in 1886, the British Parliament is invited to discuss a scheme of change which the London press describes as the most revolutionary ever proposed by an English statesman. If the question were merely one of

pc'itical change — a question whether the Irish sh mid I'C governed from London or from Dublin, whither by QiU'ou Victoria or President P. i ceil -there would be little in it. Since 1780 ll wo. id lias got pretty well inured to political ci> ';:;f«, and has di.-co-. i-rod the vanity of them It \->s Oi .covered that whether the Government i.i« King, Kai.-'cr, Pr«'.«id'-ni, or Parliament, niii'tcf= less than tho revolutionists of 17S'J su! People eat and diink, niarry and are gh • n in inarripge, grow rich or starve, with ri\< ,il facility under »<H governments alike, Tii.- revolutionist of 18S0 will probably be wiLing to --.ay with Pope : !-\>i iornis of ifoverii'nent let fools contest ; Wi.ate'er is best administered is best. Tho revolutions of tho future will be social rather than political ; — iv other words the ' gospel accoiding to Jean Jacques" has been &up needed by the gospel according to Henry George. What looms ominous in our decade of the eighties is not the deposition of the Queen and the Prince of Wales, but the deposition of the landlord and the capitalist. And this, if I mistake not, is what is behind Mr Gladstone's proposal*. With or without confiscation tho Irish landlord is to bo expropriated, and when the Irish landloid has been expropriated what about the English landlord ? Revolutions are as contagious as «mal!pox, and if ever the expropriation of landlords becomes epidemic on one side of St. George's Channel no power on earth will prevent its crossing "to the other.

Imperial Federation is a consummation gloiious in the abstract, and most devoutly to be wished for, but the practical difficulties in the way grow more apparent day by day. Large quantities of oil will evidently bo needed to keep the numberless wheels and cranks of th>vast machine, Oceana, in anything like working order. In the matter of New Guinea the friction was very serious, and no sooner dof\s another question arise to engage the joint attention of the Homo Country and the Colonies thau once more the sparks of discord begin to fly. Concerning the proposed annexation of the New Hebrides by France. Victoria, always singularly trenchant in her language, write; :

What would be the uso spuakiuj of Imperial federation in face of an act which would proclaim stronger than any language contemptuous indifference for our wishes and future prosped--' Should English Minislfrs give away, or allow to \'V taken, the New Hebrides to-day, AusiraVisia will assuredly take them hack when able. So shockingly bellicose and unfiiial an utterance as this occasioned the Victorian Agent-genera some qualms, and he wired to the Victoria) Premier — "Shall I convey your proteslliterally?" To this the Hon. Mr Gillies replied promptly " Yes" and left Mr Murray Smith, practically, no alternative but to grasp the heaviest knobbed walking slick he could lay hands upon, and knock boldly at Lord Granvilie's front door. The sequel of this episode we have not yet heard, but from the cablegrams sinci' received it is evident that Mr Murraj Smith still survives. In fact, he started hurriedly for Australia on April 13. It is noteworthy, however, and of painful significance, that nothing has lately been heard of Lord GranvilU:

Thwe is a great deal to be &aid on the side of the Colonies, no doubt, as regards this New Hebrides question, and most of it was said with great vigour and earnestness at the Chamber of Commerce the other evening. It is remarkable with wlial unaniu.ity British people persuade themhulves Mint they have a divine mission to enter in and po^e.ss any land that, it may seen) to them dtsiriihlc to posso*. Of course wchhou'd do hotter with these islands than another power would, and having portly civilised and Christianized them, avu have a better right to them ; but it is easy to understand that oui v'wws upon the subject way appear a trifli "large" in the eyes of foicigners. It is a most convenient and comfortable way of looking at tilings, to regard the \.hoh: <>f the South Pacific, in the words of Bishop Nevill, as " our God-given inheritance." India is our Godgiven inheritance too ; so used America to be until that gift of the Almighty developed an awkward spirit of independence, and wriggled forcibly out of our possession. Holy Russia, m doubt, regards the Balkan States as her Godgiven inheritance, and does her best, bit by bit, to further the designs of Providence; and Germany and France are beginning to gaze wistfully about, -with the idea that— not an inheritance — but soroo small legacy may have been left to them in the South Pacific. Bui the idea is not one which, fiom our point oi view, can possibly have entered into the divitn counsels. In the expressive language of Bishop Nevill :—

" God in His infinite wisdom has given to us this land ; given it to us not to boast of, not t< tyrannise over, nob to injure ; given it to us thai when the time comes that communication is so much easier it may in all probability be recognised as the winter holiday refuge of our oldei people; given it to us to bo the continually resorted to Elysian retreat of our brides and bridegrooms ; given it to us to be our garden ot fruits and spices, and flowers, and sweet things, and valuable fabrics, and luxuries if you like — of pearls and of turtles ; given it to us not to plunder or, by the vicious indulgence of all those passions which disgrace humanity, to ravage an J destroy ; — hut given it to us in the infinite counsels of His eternal wisdom, to cultivate, evangelise, and to bless." This is exceedingly fine, and convinces me ; no! at all against my -will. If it is not equalh satisfactory to the French it ought to be. Possibly they too may banker after the fruit.--, spices, flowers, sweet things, and valuabli fabrics, after the pearls and the turtles ; but ii the word 6of Bunthorne we must not allow ourselves to be unmanned. If all these goori thing 6 have been given to us lot us keep them conscientiously, especially the turtles. The presence of turtles— a distinctly aldermauio

repaht — affords a final and convincing proof that this inheritance has been sealed to Britain.

Tha London Telegraph concludes an article ho.idod— "Why do puojtlo swear?" with the following sago remarks :— " The popular desiro of emphasis in speech must, not blind us to the fact, that it is very ill-manners to swear. Tho habit, whatever be its origin, is a deplorable one and can nob bo legitimately defended by an ylwjdv." This is quite true, and we knew it. before hub what the Telegraph in its article does not explain, is, why p->cplo who desiro emphasis in speech think that they get it by using profanities. Why should •' he is a d— d scoundrel," be thought, and bo felt to be, more emphatic than "he i.s a very great scoundrel";' This will I explain, though the Telegraph has explained it not. Profanity, like poetry, is tho language of emotion. A man in a rage is tempted to swear for the same reason that Hamlet, soliloquising at the heart of a tragic situation, talks in blank ver.se, and that Tennyson when describing the Chirg' 1 . of the Light Brigade emits a rushing avalanche of dactylb. If it bo asked ichy profanity, which is immoral, is one of the dialects of omotinn, the answer is, because it is immoral. The enraged man who swoni.-. (-ays in ofTect, " See ! I am so much moved that 1 set moral restraints at defiance !" And that is how ho gets his emphasis. No doubt there is swearing that is not passionate, as there is poetry thai it* only cold-blooded rhyming. Those, both of them, are examples of gratuitous wickedness for which not, even a show of justification fan be invented. That swearing i.s a relicf — though an illicit relicf — to the overstrung feelings has been ivcognised from the time of Job's wife downwards. A seventeenthcentury rhymester, quoted by MacauUy, thur. versifies the advice of that greatly daring woman :— As iihhhiv -fob, !u bhh bless case, Wan colly/lowers all o'er his law. J)id on i.hf dunghill languish, lbs spouse thus wliNp°!a m nis e.tr, '• rfwttir, luiolKiud, as .\ mi love me swear. 'Twill fast) yon uf your anguish." I a:n .yivileged with the nc juaintauce of a moil estimable man— an el lor o' the Kirk, i n( l e( „l — who probably never levelled au audible execration at an ott^nding neiijh'oiur in hi.s life, yet who is acristomed (>o he Iris confided to me) whir, thinking of auv .-.in or folly of his own io nintlor rapilly to him -.elf, "the decvil ! the doovi! ! the decvil !" Probably the very aaughtiuess of the exclamation helps to express nis se'-t-condemnation, and -jo affords him relief. And yet we must never forget. a,s the Telegraph so pertinently remimls ii", that "swearing is wry ill ivannero." Perhapt. ■nilh some people that ooD'-idei'ation will be a more potent restraint than the consideration that swearing is immoral.

It Irss always been a temptation with preachers " lo prove their doctrine orthodox by apostolic blows and knocks "—blows and knocks, thai is, directed at their theological opponents. In tho time of Butk-r (from whom the above quotation), and earlier, the blows and knocks were not alwajs merely lhetoiical. Did notthe Pope imprison Galileo ? Did not Calvin burn Servetus ? And the " saints "of Butler's satire — the "errant saints" of whom ho sings that they

Qunripl with miue'.'-pies, <uid diduaragct liieti" best and iloarebt friend, plum porridge ; Fat \>v£ and goose ltte f opt ose, Aiv! blaspheme custard thro' t lie nosedid not these sour-visaged saints " decide all controversies hy infallible artillery," and "build their faith upon the holy text of pike and ?"' Bui we have changed all that. Much ink 1*! sheil in theological disputes nowadays, but ho blood— -except in America. There, still, i polemic divide sometime-, resorts to an arm of flesh. Thus, from Wheeling, Virginia, i-, reported a "Kjrrible Ciifowitor" between two coloured pic.tuhers— Myer.-,, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church ■, and Cooper, a revivalist from the West Indies, who is described as having been " raised a cauuib.il, 1 ' presumably in Africa. Myers being jealous of tho revivalist, lenouncjd him from his pulpit, whereupon Cooper went to Myoiv.' rooms and " a terrible struggle ensued," iv the cour.se of which the Methodist proved himself the more able cannibal of the two, for he bit off his rival's upper lip. The latter, poor fellow, though reported as " raised a cannibal," does not appear to have a bite. Both men are now in gaol, and the revivalist's eloquence is necessarily ended for ever. How did this strange and terrible calamity come about? Can it be that the old \dam got the better of the Methodist whilst he .vas sealing a reconciliation with the " kiss of peace " ?

Wednesday's cablegrams announce that the Right Hon. Mr Gladstone's proposal forjlhe better government of Ireland has passed its irbt reading without a division iv the House of Commons. The death is announced, by suicide in a cab, of the Earl of Shaftesbury, who has only quite recently succeeded to the title.

A telegram was on Wednesday received by tho Colonial Bank statiug that Mr E. A. Gciwring, ibout whose safety t>onie doubt has for the last few days been felt, is safe at Manapouri.

The arrangements for conveying Volunteers to the Easter Review at Oauiaru havenow been completed. The whole of the Garrison corps in Dunedin, except the Cavalry, B Battery, and Tuapeka, Waitahuua, and West Taiori Rifles, will be conveyed hy train leaving at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd inst., and the various corps to tho north of Dunedin will be picked up Hy this train. The Tuapeka, Waitahuua, and West Taieri Rifles rpach Dunedin by the ordiiary express on the evening of bho 22nd. The (>lutha, Kaitangata, Bruce, East Taieri, and South District Rifles will be brought on to Ounedin by a very early morning train, leaving Dunedin again at 7 a.m. on the 23rd. The Cavalry with horses, B Battery, and mounted jfficers, leave Dunedin by an evening train.

A memorial to the Minister for Lands is being circulated for signature at Invorcargill protesting against the Government proposals to lease the seal fisheries for a period of 21 years. The granting of such a monopoly is objected to on

tho ground of its* leading to serious abuses and inflicting great iniury ou the fur seal trade. It is pointed out that the monopoly protested against would curtail the means of employment of a number of residents of Stewart's Island, Riverton, aud Bluff who for years past have been accustomed to join in fur seal expeditions. The memorialists contend that tho seal should bo an opaii fishery under proper restrictions and bupervi'iion.

Mi sm I.*.1 .*. Grant and Cornish's dredge on the Clulha Iliver narrowly escaped a serious catastrophe on Thursday last. The dredge (says the Tuapeka Times) had been working between three and four miles up the river from Beaumont, and it was intended to remove it to one of the beaches about seven miles below the punt. The head lines having been loosened, the anchor suddenly gave way, and the dredge started rapidly down the river. The boat having broken loose was smashed to pieces on the rocks, and the men on the dredge were unable to do anything, aud those on shore, likewise, were unable to render any assistance. Fortunately nothing serious happened, though the dredge was carried three miles down the river, and ou reaching a large rock near the bridge the men were enabled to jump out and make fast a hea I line, thus securing their property from further danger. At the outset the dredge was nparly capsized, and the men were in imminent danger of being drowned.

Messrs Scott Bros., of Christchurch, have now 100 hands (only two of whom have been obtained from Home) employed in connection with their contract for the construction of locomotives for the Government.

Tho .Southland News reports that a btabbiug case occurred at the Makarewa on Monday evening. A man named Eugene i'riioy served a .summon.-, on a settlor named Robert Cook, for whom lie had done some carpentering work. Words wore exchanged, which led to blows, and Frilcy .states that Cook knocked him down and kicked him. The former took out a knife in self- lufi'iu'c, and o tabbed Cook in the arm and leg, inilii'tisig injuries that are not considered dangerous. Tho wounded man was taken to tho Hospital, where his injuries were attended to, aud Fiiley, who was arrested, will be charged with unlawfully wounding.

London cabmen as a class appear to be remarkably honest. At a recent meeting of the London CabdriveiV Benevolent Association it was stated in the report that within five years the London cahmeu have restored property left in their vehicles valued at £100,000— this by men who it is .-,aH often work lo" to 17 hours a day, and yet scarcely earn enough to pay for the hire of ther cabs.

A monument of Aberdeen granite will be unveiled at JVLuiaiii, a town in the Waitnate Plains, nine inile> north of Hawera, on Easter Monday, by Mr BalLinct 1 , and a large gathering of settle sv, ill doubtless be present. Tin; monument (says the New Zealand Times) is iucendod to perpetuate the memory of the men who fell in the war of 1869, when Titokowaru and his followers drove most of ths settlers into Wanganui. There was an old fund in the hands of Captain Hampton (formerly paymaster of th • Colonial Forces, and afterward of the Armed Constabulary, but now town clerk at New Plymouth), and, at the suggestion of Colonel Roberts and Major Gudgeon, it. was decided that a portion of the money should be devoted toward commemorating the memory of those who perished in the defence of their homes. Te Ngutu-o-te-Matia, where the gallant Yon Tempsky fell, and where Colonel Roberts and Mr James Livingston displayed such signal bravery, is only about two miles distant from Manaia.

Money is hardeniug in Melbourne (writes a correspondent of the Sydney Mail), and I understand the banks have stopped all advances to land syndicates. These have been having a rosy time of it for the last three years, and large fortunes have been made by some of those who were "in the swim." Hitherto wo have escaped the wave of depression which has swept over the neighbouring Colonies ; but as our financial institutions are taking in sail, it looks as if the barometer was falling. The fall in the price of wool and sugar has been severely felt in this city, where large interests are held in squatting property and in tho sugar plantations of Queensland ; aud now comes tho news of the had disaster that has overtaken the island of Fiji, in which also a goxl deal of Melbourne capital has been embarked. Then, again, (speculative building operatiens are much less active than they were ; and the compulsory closing of shops at an early hour, by the Factories and Shops Act, is toiling most injuriously \ipon the retail trade of some of the poorer suburbs ; bo that I shall not be at all surprised to hear the cry of " hard times " raised before we have got into the middle of winter.

The antecedents of Viscount Hinfcon, whose affairs formed the subject of investigation at Lambeth Police Court last week (writes the London correspondent of a contemporary), are said to be of the most extraordinary kind, such as "if they were put in a book nobody would believe them." That he will one day sit in the Hou'-e of Lords as an hereditary legislator is certain, if his fatherdiesbeforehimand the House of Lords doesn't ; and in that case it will have its first " Mr Merriman," for the noble viscount, through no fault of his own, but from the pressure of circumstances, has been a professional clown.

The Christchurch Prees learns that two cargoes of Californian wheat have left San Francisco for Sydney, and that other vessels have <heen chartered to load wheat at the same port for Australia. It also understands that wheat can be shipped at San Francisco and landed in Australia at less than 4s per bushel, after paying all charges.

In the Howard insurance conspiracy case, which was taken at tho Christchurch Supreme Court on che lOfch insfc., after the evidence had been taken, and the judge s summing up been given, the jury found all the prisoners not guilty on the first account — that of conspiracy — and Howard alone guilty on the second account — attempt to defraud. His Honour sentenced Howard to two years' imprisonment, without hard labour. Iv passing sentence he remarked that he quite agreed with the verdict with regard to the Godfreys. He regretted that the law did not allow him to give a more severe punishment or to sentence the prisoner to hard labour.

One million and a-half acres have been passed through the Native Lands Court at Taupo. The mountains Tongariro and Ruapehu are made a public reserve.

Mr Labouchere, in Truth, thus comments upon the unemployed question at Home: — "That there are a great many unemployed men in London who would willingly work for a day's pay is certain. Relief works aro proposed. There is, however, this difficulty in regard to them : they cannot go on for ever. What, then, is to occur when they are stopped V Would the men find employment elsewhere ? I doubt it.

Relief works are only legitimate when tho absence of work is merely temporary. Even in this ca,-e they ought not to be undertaken" m »" metropolis, but far away. Employ all 'now in London who are out of work, and in a fortnight they would bo replaced by others from the country. lam a Radical, but I never will assent to the doctrine that the State mast find work for all in Tvant of it. The State cannot do this. I would meet distress by outdoor relief. No man and no man's ' family ought to be allowed to starve, or to perish from cold or exposure. If a man has a roof- to cover him-* cloth b« to wear, blankets and a fir© to warm • him, and a sufficiency of oatmeal to prodnc* flesh and bones, he receives all that he is ehtitled to from the State, and he ought only to ' receive this if he can show that ha is unable t» earn it by his labour."

A Brisbane telegram in the Melbourne Age of the 27th ult. states : — " Disclosures of inhuman neglect of Kanakas' lives have been revealed at tho inquiry into the circumstances attending tb« death of an islander, who died on the Yeppoon plantation some weeks ago from eating poisoned oats. It appears that a tin containing oats mixed with arsenic was carelessly left within the reach of four Kanakas, who unwittingly ate the poisoned food. The manager, Melhuish, upon hearing of the mishap, drove immediately to Dr Thurston, the inspector of Pacific Islanders at Yeppoon, but ho refused to leave his homer on account of the dark night and bad roads. He, however, gave instructions as to the way in which the poisoned men should be treated. The mauager returned to the men, and after- attend* ing to them again, went and besought the doctor to come and see the Kanakas. He again declined, explaining that he had been up all tha previous night. One of the islanders died, but the others recovered. The Attorney-general^ upon receiving the depositions in 'the caseyma'de^ a minute that as Dr Thurston was inspector of' Pacific Islanders the depositions should be forwarded the Colonial Secretary for any action the latter may think fit to take regarding the 1 doctor's conduct. • '' Moral Turpitude. — Blame attaches to a jarv of iutolligeut men when they condnmn a man for crime whose moral nature has boen, perverted by indigestion, diseased liver and km cys.. A thoughtful judge may well consider whither society would not be better served by ordering a bottle of American Co.'6 Hop Bitters for the unfortunate in the dock msteiid of years of penal aervituile. < Itead. Mr Donald Stronach will sell the premises at Tapaiiiil lately occupied by Eremner and Waaher, on the aSth int.t. We are requested to supply an omission which occurred a week or two ago. in the notice of Mr Hawkins' round journey irom and to Cbristcburcb via Jackson's ISav and VVanaka. it appears that at Pembroke Professor Black, through indisposition, was unable to lecture and give the illustrations himself, so that, the dutj r devolved ou his assistant (Willie Goodlet), who discharged the duties most satist.iotorily.

A notification from the Commissioner of Crown lands regarding rural, deferred-payment, township, and suburban lands iv a number of districts 'to be sold by auction on the 10th May, and < also, of a number ot pastoral licenses to be dffered, appears in our advertising culuinns. '. ' i i - ' v

Mr S. A. Joseph, Mr John B. Donkin, aud Mr J. P. Abbott announce that they are candidates for tha vacancies on the directory of the Australian Mutual Provident Society. • • ,

! The Southland County Council notify that they intend to sue for outstanding rates. The Portobello Road Board invite applications for the positions of clerk and treasurer, ana for surfacemen and daywork. < , • '•

Mr R. R. Bradshaw is a cash purchaser- of rabWfcskins.

Tenders are invited for the leasing of Mr T. B> Blair's farm at OtakJa.

Messrs Wright, Stephenson , and Go. will sell horses - at the Provincial Yards on the 20th in«t. ' "" % Tho dates for commencing rabbit poisoning ia Green Valley, Dunback, Hyde, Moonlight,' walkouaiti, Evansdale. and Waitati will/be found, in our advertising columns.