PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1805, 25 June 1886, Page 18

PASSING NOTES.

Two things now engage the public attention in the matter of the Tarawera eruption ; one is to explain it, and the other to turn an honest penny by it. At present, only the photographers have discovered how to do the latter, and probably it will turn out in the end that the eruption occurred chiefly in the interest of the photographers. Our enterprising townsman — as the newspapers call him — Mr A. H. Burton, advertises that he " would be more or less than human" if insensible of tho public appreciation of his merit in first taking phorographs of tho Tarawera country and then having ifc burst up. There is a good deal of the " human " about Mr Burton. Volcanoes wouldn't blow it out of him — at any rate not w\ien, as in this case, the volcauoes are 500 miles away. At that safo distance, Mr Burton, like the intelligent photographer that he is, can contemplate volcanoes with perfect calmness, and purely from a bu*iness point of view. The rest c f us can only envy him — and go to his lime-light lectures. What is the classical btory about tho philosopher who flung himself into the crater of JGtiia, iv order that his sudden disappearance might beget the belief that he was a god ? Empedocles — wasn't it ? — and Matthew Arnold has written a poem about him. ißtna, if I don't mistake, would be no party to the fraud, and revealed the manner of the philosopher's death by pitching out one of his sandals. Mr Burton with his photographs has somehow or other reminded me of this old story — how, I don't quite see at the moment ; perhaps because ho, too, is securing immortality by the help of a burning mountain. Burton and Tarawera — the names will be associated as long as tho language and photographic albums endure. It should be a satisfaction to us that in the process of becoming immortal our enterprising townsman has not, like poor Empedocles, been made either more or less than human.

As to the cav»es of the eruption there are many suggestions, sane aud insane. Iv which category I ought to place the following letter seems hard to decide :

Djsah Civis : John Wesley, 1 am told, preached and published a sermon on the " Cause and Cure of Earthquakes," apropos of the great earthquake of Lisbon. Probably volcanoes would bo included. Ido not know the sermon, but, from the reputation of the preacher, I s-hould judge that it might be wise to reprint it iv the Otago Daily Times. Professor Hutton, I see, is going to Tarawera. But what can he do ? No more than Dr Hector, who was on the spot almost at the time. If public confidence is to be restored, tho Government should .••end up a committee of really .spiritual men to investigate the causes of this painful calamity. I would suggest tho pastor of the North Duue'din Church, Mr Alfred Brunton, and Mr A. C Begg. It v freely stated in religious circles that the ciuse of the eruption was the immorality of the Wairoa natives, the exorbitant charges they levied upon tourist*, and the badness of the liquor sold to them at M'Rae's. Let these things be faithfully searched out. Have you not noticed in the telegrams of the last week that two of the places visited by the relief parlies wero called respectively Sodom and Gomorrah, and that another was called Tophet ? It is well known that a cauldron of boiling mud at, Ilotomahana was called the " Devil's Porridge Pot," and that a knocking noise heard beneath a hillside was called the " Devil's Steam Hammer." These names, thoughtlessly given, bear a terrible, meaning now. Many a true word is spoken in jest ! Some say the cause of the Tarawe.ra eruption was sulphur ; some say it was steam ; I say it was Sin, and remain, yours truly, — S.S. P.S. — Of course " Civis " will sit in the seat of the scorner, as usual ! I suppose S.S. stauds for " Sinner Saved," though it might just as well represent " Simple Simon," " Singular Softie," " Sine Sapientia," " Spiritual Somnambulist,'' or half-a-doswn other designations equally appropriate. Perhaps the best explanation of the signature, and the key to the letter that precedes it, is that the writer has inadvertently omitted an initial vowel. lam reminded of the remark of Sydney Smith on some idiotic letter-water who signed himself "A.S. ";-" Coufonnd tho fellow, why w iil he tell only two-thirds of the truth ! "

On Sunday last it was just half a century since two worthy aud distinguished gentlemen forewent their sleep and spent the night in travelling from Windsor to Kousington Palace, where they arrived at 5 a m. The distinguished gentlemen were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Marquis of Conyngham, Lord Chamberlain ; and it is needless to say that their perambulations at that unhallowed hour were the rosult of no nocturnal roystering. Ou the contrary, they had perfectly legitimate business with a young lady, — the Princess Alexandria Victoria'; and we can imagine the trepidation with which his Grace alighted from his hansom and gazed hastily north and south to see whether any casual lounger was about to place an evil construction upon his night rambles. Having satisfied themselves upon this point, and paid the cabman, we can also imagine these two high officials blinking uneasily at the early June sunshine and tossing a nimble sixpence in the air to decide who should knock. What followed was fittingly chronicled in the society literature of the time by Miss Wynn, and her account has been embalmed in turn by Mr Joseph Irving, Mr Justin M'Carthy, and that irrepressible jotter Mr Greville. I may as well follow suit and embalm it (far more lastingly) in Passing Notes : —

" They (the distinguished couple mentioned above) knocked, they rang, they thumped for a considerable time before they could arouse the porter at the gate; they were again kept waiting in the courtyard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where they seemed forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell and desired that the attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent to inform her Royal Highness that they requested an audience on business of importance. After another delay and another ringing to inquire into the cause, the attendant was summoned, who stated that the Princess was in such a sweet sleep she could not venture to distujb her. Then they.said, 'We are come to the Queen on business of State, and even her

sleep must give way to that !' It did ; and to prove- that bhe did liot keep them waiting, in a few minutes she came into the room in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off, and her hair falling upon her shoulders, her fei-.i. in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected aud dignified."

That was fifty years ago, and the maiden thus abruptly startled out of her early slumber still occupies the throne she ascended that morning' en deshabille. For twenty years sho bore her* self bravely, and if under the pressure of a heavy sorrow a good many of the later years have not been years of active usefulness, at the first indication of an intention to repair this crrov the English people have eagerly moved to meet her Majesty halt way. May it be long before two respectable elderly g'-ntleiaeu have, to shiver at dawn outside the. g:\tcs of Sandring-h-un or Marlborough House upon the same errand that took O.uihur and Conyngham to Kunsington ou June 20, 1837.

" Where," asks an ingenious qutjrUt, " w.vs Mows when the candle went out?" This is precisely the kind of conundrum, in allured language, that Mr Barnes seems to delight in putting to his councillors. " Where will you be if your mayor evaporates?" That is to say if he abruptly leaves the chair, refuses to put this or that motion, or to allow any councillor whatever to speak to th<j present or any other subject of discussion. Mr Bavues attempted an autocratic cloture of this kind ou Monday evening, and with perfect success, but merely because the sublime lawlessness of the mayor was equalled by the fatuity and disorganisation of the councillors. From the reports of the few explosive council maetiags th.it have bjen heM of late, if would appear that Mr Barnes has been engaged ever since the Dowling street accident, in fleeing from the wrath which he imagine;', is to como I.i dread of being personally saddled with n share of the blame for thu calamity, he has adopted the course of promptly throttling any dangerous references in the council, either by calling the speaker a liar, or by such other drastic expedient as seemed from time to time advisable. The process is entertaining to watch, but it is questionable how long it can be kep^ up. There must be a way out of such a dilemma, if atiy of tho councillors had the in. genuity to hit upon, and tho self-repression to adopt, some scheme to circumvent their mayor. It may need what Mr Buuthorno terms a " wile of guile" to accomplish it, but in such a situation anything is fair. Here is a council anxious to adjudicate upon the conduct of itd mayor, and a mayor who absolutely refuses to be adjudicated upou. Any motion at all bearing upon the point he will plumply refuse to put, and as an ultimate resource will emit a bellow to the effect that the meeting is adjourned, and take refuge in flight. The attitude is scarcely Cromwell ian ; — Mr Barnes has the Cromwelliau front without the Crumiwellian backbone, and for this reason a reverse is more than probable ere long

After taking time to make up my mind, I have come to the conclusion that the team of Australian cricketers now campaigning in England are very much to be approved of. Their bad luck at the start raised aprc sumption against them. Habitual bad luck is as serious a fault in a cricketer as want of norve or eye, or a tendency to get leg before. When the Australians never went to the wickets except to an accompaniment of wind ami rain and hail, it seemed as though they had an Jus-ate and peculi? r fV.culty for attracting bad luck. Their last two or three matches have cleared them of this suspicion, aud given them their much desired clwiuco of showing their mettle.) 'J'lie shining hour lias come, and splendidly have they improved it ! All Australia is simply gloating iv an ecstasy over the story of this week's match with the Gentlemen at the Oval. i hjnk of going in second against a one-innings t'ltal of 471 aud beating this tremendous score by 17 runs. Not only that, but Jones, tho Au-Jamli.iu "coit," topped Grace's 143 by 3, With a humiliating sense of human weakness I confess that in attempting to read out these f.icts at tbel'reiil'fii't tfble I lost command of my voico and had to make hurried resort to my rc-ffee cup and subsequent pockethandkerchief. It enrages me to think that I am such an excitable fool. I know neither Jones nor Grace, nor any of the Australians, nor any of the Gentlemen ; why should the story of how these playful idiots knocked a ball .about during a summer's day at some place on the other side of the world make all my neivcs tingle, and put me into this contemptible state of emotion ? I don't know, nor can aivybody tell me ; what, however, is certain is that a great many other people are affected in precisely the same way. That fact, I suppose is the justification of the newspapers in giving us as much telegraphic information about the Australian Cricketers as about Mr Gladstone's election campaign, or the dispute with France over the Now Hebrides.

Just as one touch of nature makes the whole world kin, so does one brief Ministerial squabble serve to show that a Minister is but human, and that, by Jove ! sir, you must not tread upon the tail of his coat, even though you bo his colleague—aye, and his Premier. This is the lesson to be gleaned from the passage-at-arms between the Premier and the Minister of Mines on Monday last. Both had their little bills ready for presentation, but Mr Larnach had the "call" of his chiof, insomuch as his stood first upon the order paper. Sir Robert (it is necessary to read between the lines in these cases) was sleepy, and in the flush of his new-born title thought that the way to bed should be made easy for him, even at the expense of other small Ministerial fry — and it must bo confessed that one or two Ministers are Tery small fry indeed. But the Minister for Mineshasnotascended innumerable peaks, dived into innumerable gullies, and forded rivers,with his life qarefully balanced upon his fore finger, for nothing, "MvLaraaoh objected (I

here quote the special) with the remark : • Oh, bu*- my bill is dowu first.' The Premier still persisted, when Mr Larnach actually appealed to Mr Speaker against his chief. Sir Robert Stout then took his seat at the table to go on with the Counties Bill ; but as the chairman commenced the business with ' The Mining Companies Bill in Committee,' Sir Robert simply took up his bill and went back to his seat. Mr Larnaeh then smilingly went on with his little bill. The affair can ied some amusement to a rather thin House." No doubt ifc did. It would have caused amusement to a rather •' thick "' House — the term which the special probably wished to apply, but didn't liko to. The dwelling together of brethren in unity is good in theory, but difficult of practico.

A correspondent sends me the following : —

1 have jusfc heard of a, ludicrous calamity that, has befallen Mr Alfred Bruntou. It seems that osi Sunday morning he fjot hold of the New HubrideMi native-* at Port Chalmers and brought them up to town. They were in due tini'! taken to tho Garrison Hall, where, to the delight of Mr B. and bin congregation, they sang wli it were, believed to be the Songs of Zion in an unknown tongue. Having run through their musical repertoire, they subsided in tho- most appioved Ntr.v Hebridean fashion, and tho beaming Bruntou rose and dilated on the progress of mission work among the heathen, expressing his gratification at hearing Christian hymns sung in a South Sea Island native dialect by me.ii who, had it. not been for the noble self- .sacrifice of a devoted band of misMotuuie.s wovdd still be steeped in the depths of utter ignorance even of h future existence, &c , &(•-. Unfortunately for \ir Brunton's equanimity, the shining lights (or rather bloek--) appear to have discovered their false position only too soon, and in the evening, instead oi* serving to point a moral for til'. 1 Plymo.uh Brethren shcpiu-rd they hud transfer 1 ed their services to tho "only true clnr.ch,'' iunl thu echoes of Si; Joseph's Cathedral rang a;^ain with the reverberations of the hymns in the unkno'.vu tongue, which, strange to relate, in this instance- bore so great a re.acmblance to Latin that those cognisant of the intricacies of that ancient language were enabled to follow the whilom savages from beginning to end. Poor Mr Brunton! Whatever must his feelings have been on reading the local in Monday's Daily Times 'f

This is a s.v\ business, truly, and Iho Garrison Hall pastor Ins my profoundebt sympathy. Remembering his eminent services to Protestantism iti championing the Escaped Nun, one cannot help asking why he, of ail men, should have been permitted to fall into this peculiarly dreadful snare of the devil. It seems that he assisted unwittinglyatthe singing, before his own congregation, of extracts from a Popish Mass, and rejoiced in them on the supposition that they were the New Hebrides version of Moody and Sankey ! What amazing lack of spiritual discernment ! It may be said, and it is true, no doubt, that Mr Brunt on was not bound to know Latin, but surely he ought to have known a benighted heathen Papist from a genuine Clnihtian by the mere cut of his jib, so to sneak One is constrained to believe that the incident of Sunday morning is a mysterious visitation meant for the rebuke of spiritual pride, dating from the Escaped Nun business, hence one can hope that it may, after all, be overruled for a good end. Civis.