The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1895.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2168, 12 September 1895, Page 27

The Otago Witness, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1895.) THE WEEK.

" Nuuijuam aliud niiturd, aliud iftpionU* dlxll."— Juvknau " Good nature and good sense roust ever join," — Pom.

The Minister for Lands was rather rough on the Hon. Major Steward tho Sufferers other day over the latter by gentleman's qnestion as to The Snow. s collection of sheep tax from owners who had suffered from the seveiity of the winter. Bat under the aggressive language of the Miciater there was undeniably a foundation of fatrong common sense. We do not suppose that in bringing up the matter of the hardships of the sheep tax M£jor Steward was what the Minister for Lands scornfully called " popularity hunting." When a member is being urged to a particular course by hia conetituentß, the simplest— and for the evidenco it leaves behind, the safest— way to show that he is attending to his business is to put aquestion on the Order Paper, though he may knew perfectly well what the answer must be. That was all Major Steward did. But as regards the subject matter o£ the queslioa, Me M Kisszia undoubtedly struck the light note. "He thought it juat as well [the Minister said] to speak uufc, for tke raising of questions of this sort by members had led to sheepowners entertaining the idea that the whole tax on sheep was to be suspended because a few people in the Mackenzie Country and in the heights of Otago had lost a large number of their Bheep. He had already told the House that no injustice would be done to the real sufferers, but that what had already happened was that 'people who had not lost one sheep by the snow were ref cuing to pay the tax because ifc was expected that relief wonld be afforded in all instanoo*. It was hia iotention to remit the tax to owners whose sheep had been decimated by tUe severe winter, but there would be no provision for a general remission of the sheep tax." This la the proper tone to take and the right course to puißue. It requires very Jittle e&cowgome&t to ma,ke people \srftWow j?ay*

mont of their taxes or payments of any other kind, and it is just as well the Minister for Lands should let it be known that while he was prepared to do what was right and just, he wasnocgoiDg to allow sheepowners generally to trade upon tbe misfortunes of the sufferers. Wo do not think the sheep tax is a very justifiable tax at any time, but while it exists it mast be paid. It would not be right that persons -even those who had generally suffered by the severity of the winter — should ba able to claim remission of the tax. Winters mild and severe must be taken as they chance to come ; but a winter that brings with it for some unfortunate men a catastrophe — a calamity of large proporportions — is a wholly different thing. Consideration should be reserved for tbe man to whom the winter is a calamity— not a severity. If during an earthquake a mountain range were to be swallowed up, no one oould be expected to pay in advance a tax upon tbe sbeep that had grazed upon it. The phenomenal snowfall of the winter just gone ! is a catastrophe of the fame class. It would not be honest to aBseBS any man at, say, 20,000 sheep, and compel him to pay tax in advance upon them, while all the while he might not have 5000. Indeed, the whole system of : collecting the tax ought to be altered, so that the demand made should be for tax upon the number actually shorn. j In connection with the payment of rent a difficulty of the same kind is raised. Men who have had their flocks " decimated," as the Minister put it, aw clearly entitled to a J remission of rent proportionate to the extent of the calamity under which they have suffered. A hard and fast rule is wholly out of place in such a casa. A State must be as considerate aa a private landlord would be in similar circumstances ; for it would profit neither the one nor the other to see their tenants sinking under calamities that no wisdom could forsee or power avert,

Mr Ward's speech at Invercargill in defence of the Government for the Obscuring position In which they have tho placed the colony over this Light. banking legislation is exactly what it might have been expected to be— very plausible and extremely misleading. None but those— and we fear they must be many — who have given little study to the matter could possibly be deceived. One sentence will be quite sufficient to show up the disingenuousnesa of the Treasurer. "They had not," he said, "guaranteed £2,734,000 of stock due by the Realisation Board to the Bank of N6W Zea- j land at all, but they had only gnatantoed the j deficit or difference between the value of £1,879.000 and the £2,734,000-eßtimated at £855,000. And wo have given a guarantee for the latter amount only." For the latter amount only assuming that, aa an estimate, it (urns out io b« the real differetice. The point ' to notice is that we have guaranteed the difference whatever it may be. If the assets realise only £1,500,000, then we have guaranteed £1,234,000. If the assets, after all expenses are paid, realise only one million, the colony's guarantee will then be £1,734,000. Remembering that even the reduced valuation of the assets dates from 1891, and keeping in view the unproductive character of a huge proportion of the properties, as well aa tho market for properties of every kind, good or bad, it would take an extremely bold man to risk much on the assertion that the colony is only guaranteeing "£855,000. But whatever the difference may prove to be, to it has to be added the two millions of last year, a gnaranteo which it was convenient to Mr Ward to pass over. To these again has to be added the half- million for shares. Here, then, we have the actual liability of the colony on behalf of the bank — two millions pins half a. million plus the net defloiency in the realisation of tbo assets, whatever it may be. But remembering that the Realisation Board is simply the Government, and that It has to give bonds for £2,734,000 to represent the assets, the true way to state the case Is that the colony has guaranteed the bank £5,200,000 on the security of the assets plus the proceeds of a call from shareholders and the hope that the bank may flourish. We since.re'y hope it may. Bnt it is quite useless for Mr Ward to endeavour to disguise the real nature of the liability which the fatefnl Incapacity of hie Government has j placed on the back of the colony. At tho present moment the two millions of last year is gone. That much is admitted. Let us hope it may in the years to come be recovered. But Mr Ward would do well to remember, when he is applauded for his commonplaces about "saving the colony," that he has " saved " it at a cost which, had it been computed at its true amount last year, wonld have been scornfully repudiated by the entire colony.

There was recently a very remarkable debate in the Canterbury Diocesan The Church Synod on the drink question, and It arose out of a resolution Prohibition, proposed by the Boverend T t H. rurchas that tho Bishop of Christchurch should appoint a commission to collect information upon the Gothenburg By stem of licensing and the bill proposed by the Bishop of Chester for introducing a modification of tho system into England. The motion was lost, mainly on the ground that the commission would be a sham and could tell us no more about the Gothenburg system than we know already. Which is true. The curious thing in connection with tba debate, however, is that out of some 20 apcakere, most of them clergymen, only one was in favour of prohibition, and tho amendment which he moved in that direction aotually lapsed for want of a seconder. The other speeches were flatly in opposition to prohibition; tho opinion being expressed, indeed, that it was the duty of the church aa a body to do what it could to educate the people against it. We need not go over the debate, for the arguments, though generally sound and eensible, are tolerably well worn. The opinion was generally expressed that prohibition would be at once wrong and impraefcioabl*; that the sense of intolerable wrong under which bo huge a proportion of tho community would aufEar would be quite fatal to the success of the polloy of forced abstention ; that the true remedy lay in educating the young to a leooanltjon of the-manifolo VIM foyolYScl in ttro abase of Uguorj and

that the process of education was reallj Kolng on every day. Now there was, as we have said, nothing at all new in the line of argument here set oat. But there was something decidedly significant In the attitude towards this ques- j tion here adopted by an important church body like the Canterbury Bjnod. It shows that tho moral forces of tho colony are by no moans all on the side of prohibition, as is i often claimed to be tha case. It shows, too, that opposition to prohibition, hitherto latent, is springing into active life. This is exactly what might be expected, and Is really due to the aggressive, uncompromising, and extremist manner in which the prohibitionist campaign is carried on. There is not a cause in thij world, good or bad, that mast not in some degree yield to reasonable human wants and weaknesses ; and unfortunately the prohibitionists are not disposed toreoognise any wants but such as appeal to themselvep. While the crusade was in its infantila stogd the general body of tbe public opinion, which leans strongly to real temperance, and was glad of any movement in that direction, was silent and passive. Now that it gees the movement going beyond temperance it is getting roused to active opposition. The tendency of prohibitionists to disregard every other question and support members of Parliament according as they submit to pledges is working evil to their own cause. They are precisely following the path pursued by the Catholic body on the school grant qae&tion. As the agitation grew, candidates began to buow fear of the question. The DdnominationaJists then set up their exclusive banner, and would have no candidate, however good and honest, who did not pledge himself to their views. Tho weak and the dishonest among candidates succumbed, and the movement seemed to grow apace. It wes when denominationaHsm seemed quite imminent — it was within a dozen votes or less of succeeding in the House of Representatives—that tho majority was roused from its apathy. Now the denominational vote is felt to b3 a positive disadvantage to a candidate. The same consequences of intemperance and unwisdom will overtake tbe prohibitionists if they are not careful. They are gathering in their ranks the political truokler and hypocrite who desire to profit by their votep, and they aro alienating strong and honest men who loathe the drink traffic but are not extremists. And these latter, it will be found, have behind them the mass of the community.

There has been a long-standing controversy as to whether modern plays Literature „ are literature or whether ' l« they are not — that is to say, The Drama, will the succwefal modern play stand the test of reading? Is a play, when bound and issued from the press, worth buying, reading, and keeping on the bookshelf, or can it be read with pleasure even if it be not worth keep- ! ing as a possession 1 We know that Shake- 1 speare and Goethe have in the shape of plays given the world literature in its highest form. Everyone likes to have Moliere and Schiller on his shelves. Sheridan, Goldsmith, and Bulwer Lytton are still a delight to the reader of books. Will anyone care now or hereafter to look into the most successful plays of these modern days — say of Mr Pinero or Henry Arthur Jonea 1 Mr Pinero is at the top of the tree. He has written many successful plays, the names of which will bo familiar to our readers— " The Cabinet Minister," " The Magistrate," " Sweet Lavender," and so forth. Two recent plays have been quite extraordinarily Bucceoful—namely, "Tne Second Mrs Tanqueray " and " The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith." The former of these— which, it will be remembered, was very fairly set upon the Dunedin stage by the Brough-Boucicault Company — 1b now published in book form and lies before us. The fact that it was considered worth publishing in that form and that the pxioe of it is 5« seems to indicate that the author or the publisher* thought some permanent value would attach to ifc. We will therefore endeavour to give a slight sketch of the play, for which purpose it is an advantage to have the book, since the directions enable us to see how the author intended to represent bis sharacters. The story of the play i» soon told. In the first act Aubrey Tanqueray, who is described in the stage directions as " forty-two, handsome, winning in manner, hia speech and bearing retaining some of the qualities of young manhood," la seen entertaining three of his friends at his chambers in the Albany. ] He had a special object in giving the dinner I —namely, to Inform hts friond3 (he bad long been a widower) of hia marriage the next day. He had also to bid them good-bye, explaining that his marriage was " not of the conventional sort likely to satisfy society." Two of the friends were married men, and left rather dUquieted, but the third, Caylay Drummle, more intimate, and a single man, remained behind, and to him, lo his infinite surprise and concern, Mr Tanqueray disclosed the lady's name. It was really Paula Rae (she Is described in the stage directions as " a young woman of 27, beautiful, fresh, innocent looking "), but she had been known to Drummle three seasons before as (temporarily) a Mrs Dartry, subsequently as a Mrs Ethurst, and iat the moment as Mrs Jarman. Mr Tanqueray makes it clear to hia friend he io entering the marriage with his eyes open, and, banished to his house in Surrey, expects some happiness :: — • "And you are quite prepared, my fricad, to forfeit the esteem of your little parish ? " '• I avoid mortification by shifting from one parish fco another. I give up Pall Mall for tho Surrey hills ; leave off varnishiDg my boots and double the thickness of the soles." "Aud your skin — do you double the thiokness of that also ? " M I know you think me a fool, Cay ley ; bub you needn't infer I'm a cownrd into the bargain. I know what I'm doing, and Ido it deliberately, defiantly." Before marriage Paula honestly tenders Aubrey (Mr Tanqueray) a letter giving the particulars of her life, but be Jeatroys It unread. The marriage is not a happ7 one. Mr Tanqueray is patient, gentle, and forbearing. Paula yearns fp live a worthy life and make her husband happy. But something in her speech or manner betrays her, or possibly her history Is known, and none of the neighbours oall, which makes her furious. Blloan, a daughter of Mr. Tanqueray by the first mwri&jw* described, m "a low-voiced, grave

— ■ rr-— riTiini. ifn -tnim *■ girl of 19, with a fact) resembling a Madonna," loaves a convent in Ireland and comes to livo with them. She is profoundly ignorant of Mrs Tanqneray's history, bat instinctively shrinks from her. P&nla is very anxioas to make the young girl love her, hot the unconscious puritanical shrinking of the little nun goads her to gibes and sneers, which do not mend matters.

The life at Highercoombe, Surrey, is extremely dull, and Mrs Taa- " T>>« queray lots it be known in a Second Mrs- Hfcyle that is at least voxy TiitKiikoniy." effective on the stage, as c*n be imagined : — •• Oh ! I've no patience with you. [Mr TarV queray had been making a feeble attempt to bo merry]. You'll kill mo with this life. What is my existence, Sunday to Saturday ? In the morning a drive down to the village with (he gooom to give my orders to the tradespeople ; at lunch, you ami EUean ; in the afternoon, a novel — the newspapers ; if fine, unother'drive— if floe ; tea, you and EUcan ; then a game of besiqoe, you and I, while Elleau reads a religious book in a dull corner ; then a yawn from me, another from you, a s'gh from Eileen ; three figures suddenly rile — 'Good-night, good- night, good-night ' [imitating a kiss] ; God bless you ! ' Ah!" Mrs Tanqneray is jealons of her husband's love for the saint-like daughter, and in an angry outburst acknowledges the fact, and acutely analyses the cause of it :— " I can't keep my promise ; I am jealous ; it won't be smothered. I see you looking at her, watching her ; jour voice diopa wbeu you speak to her. I know how foud you aro of that girl, Aubrey." " What would you have ? I've no other htfhio for her. She is my daughter." " She is your saint. S»int LUlcan 1 " " You hay« often told me how good and sweeti you think her." 11 Good ! — yes ! Do you imagine that make* mo le^B je\louß ? Aub«y, there are tyro torts of »ft*«sctiou — the love for a wonuu you respect, and the love for % woman you— lovo. Sho gets tho first from you : I never o&n." There ia another pathetic outburst when Aubrey trios to convince his wife that Ellean is naturally unresponsive, and WflT come to love her in time : " Shft's marble. It's a shame. There's not the slightest excuse : for all she koowa I'm *a much a saint as the— only married. Dearest, help me to win her over ! " •' Help you ? " 11 You can. Tcaon her that it is hor duty to love me ; ehe hangs on every word you speak, I'm sure, Aubrey, that the love of a nice woman who believed me to be like hcrielE wonld do me a world of good. * You'd gob the benefit of it as well as I. It would soothe me; it would make me less horribly res Mess; it; would take this — this — miichievoas feeling from me." Ultimately a near neighbour and a very old friend of Mr Tanque ray's — a Mrs Cor." telyon, described as a "handsome, goodhumoured, spirited woman of about 45"— did call. Mrs Tanqaeray received her excuses with biting irony, which became suppressed, fury when »he found that Mra Oonetyon's object was to ask if she might take Ellean with her on a visit to Paris and introduce her to the great world. The poor woman instinctively knew that Mrs Cortelyon's object wa3 to withdraw Kllean from hor influence. When the arrangement was made and Kllean had loft, Mrs Tanqueray at once wrote (ehe bad been forbidden by her huuband to do it before) to invite Sir George and Lady Orrayed to stay with them. Lady Orreyed — "a pretty, affected doll of a woman with mincing voice and fl<xen hair" — bad beon of Mrs Tanquerfty's own stamp, but without her better instincts, and of pronounced vulgarity. Sir George was an imbecile sot. Life at Highercoombe during their visit became intolerable. Mrs Tanqaeray drew apart from her husband, but loathed her visitors. Lady Orreved's style of conversation gives a vivid picture of herself and husband. She had quarrelled with him that morning over a demand for a diamond tiara she had* seen in a shop, and describes to Mrs Tanqueray the temper of her husband over it:— 1 " Poor Dodo [her name for him] can't loee his temper without smashing something ; if it isn't a cbair it's a mirror ; if ifc isn't that if s china — a bit of Dresden for choice. Dear old ptfc! he loves a bit of Dresden when he's furious. He doesa't; really throw things at one, dear ; he simply lifts them up and drops tham like a gentleman. I expect our room upstairs will look rather wrecky before I get that tiara." Paula: " Excuse the suggestion— perhaps your husband can't aff jrd it." ♦' Oh, howdreadfullychftnged you are, Paula t Dodo ran always mortgage something, or borrow cf hio ma. What is comiDg to you ? " The climax cornea rapidly after the departure of Eilean. The lifetle 6aint, as littl* saints will, finds a lover in Paris in the person of a young Captain Ardale, who had jußt greatly distinguished himself by an act of daring in India. He admits to the girl that he has not lived a blamelees life, but his heroism overcomes everything with her. Ail ! three return to Surrey. When Mr Tanqueray is visiting Mr« Carfcelyon- on her return, Ellean introduces Captain Ardalo to Paula. The two stare blankly at one another. They were old acquaintances, and the connection bad not been a reputable one. Captain Ardale, alone with Mro Tanqueray ploads for silenc9. Mrs Tanqueray sternly refuses and tells her husband everything. Captain Ardale disappears. Ellean mutely reads the true explanation in Paula's face, (an effective scene on the etage), and the .latter, driven to despair at the failure of her efforts to live her life anew, commits suicide. That is the story of the play. If it ia not; what is ordinarily called literature it mußt, we think, be admitted that it makes tolerable reading, and most of the plays of to-day will not read at all. It is a chapter— not a pleasant one— of life itself. The obaracters are very much alive' indeed. And in presenting a aeries of dramatic situations the skill of the author is unerring.

The regular monthly meeting of the Tomahawk Read Board, held on Saturday, was attended by Messrs W. Stuart (chairman), A. Small, J. Mftthieson, J. C. Miller, and B. JDooley. Ifc was resolved that the balance or metal now broken be carted oub at once. Mr Mathieaon was authorised to put 15yd* of metal on Mr Robertson's road. The retiring membera are A. gmail, J. Mathioson, and J. C. Utttor. Account* were passed for payment foe £51 ltff 2d.