PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

The school vacations are<npon us, and I am going to put" in a word, a charitable word, £or the breaking-up functions by which, that somewhat ambiguous blessing announces itself. As a phenomenon that about Christmastide makes our daily newspaper unreadable, the school break-up^ is one thing, and mere anathema ; as a. form of public entertainment it is another thing, and its merits have not been fully recognised. Granted that nobody would go to a school break-up twice, or would pay to get in ; — that is nothing to the point. The people entertained go once and are admitted gratis ; and these people find themselves ushered into a little world of universal happiness. The children and teachers aTe happy because" of prizes and holidays; the mothers are happy at sight of their bibbed and tuckered offspring made the heroes of the hour ; — the fathers no less, albeit the average father takes his felicity in absentia. He is saved as Artemus Ward was saved at the Battle of Inkermann — by his not being there. Then, continuing the catalogue of happiness, there is reason to believe that even the speechmakers are happy. Certainly that is how they tiy to look. And when one remembers that each speaker at a school break-up is there as sf monument and testimony to the juvenile mind of the value of education, and in that capacity is permitted to lecture on the moral duties, on Shakespeare and the musical glasses, on statistics and calisthenics, or on any other topic that occurs to him, — when one remembers all this it seems clear that, if Hot happy, be must be an ungrateful man. .

In secondary schools it would tend to elevate the breaking-up function and promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number if the pupils did something more than stalk up seriatim to receive prizes — if, for example, they presented a play. The thing is done elsewhere in public schools of name and fa-me, as well as in ancient universities ; there can be no sound reason why we should not do it here. Happy in both thought and deed was the "mock parliament" of the Christian Brothers.' School at St. Joseph's. The Irish have a genius for oratory and mock parliaments. Moreover, "is there any nation but the Irish ■who possess a Blarney Stone? Descending from the High Schools to the primary schools one notes a significant change ; self-consciousness is less, art is more. If the oldsters still lecture the children, the children iix turn exhilarate the oldsters ; there are speechings, singings, marchings, posturings, with other delights, and 'tis merry in hall, nobody being either too learned or too lespectable to enjoy it. But some of the consolations of my own childhood I mi&s. What has become of Dr Watts's Divine and Moral Songs? For example : Whene'er I take mv v.-a!ks abroad .How many poor I see! Is there anything in modern "Readers"' that gives the same complacent sense of privilege ? Or again : "Why slicnild I deprive my neighbour Of hts goods against his -will? Hands wer#roade for honest labour, Kot to plunder or to steal. Ethics based upon reason, you observe. And yet again : Let dogs delight to bark and bite For 'tis their nature to; let bears and lions tear and fighi For GcjL hath made them go.

But children you should never Jet | Such angry passions rise; 1 Your little hands were never made ! To tear each other's eyes. It is impossible to deny that this came borne to the conscience, the priggish conscience, of the young Evangelical with a SAveet ccnclusiveness that nowadays is rare. And with what conviction we went on to recite that '' birds in their little nests agree" (xrhich they don't!), "and 'tis a shameful sight, when children of one | familee, fall out and tear and fight." I ■ am not very clear about Dr Watts's date ; he must have been contemporary more or less with the Claphain set, or sect, "or school. The early Macaulays and Wilber- j forces were Claphamites'; allusions, to the sect and its oddities are ~not uncommon in Thackeray's novels". ' " Its , ' outward : symbol," says a modern authority, "-was black kid gloves, and its passwords -were ' many, perhaps the most odiousCbeing' the word ' engage.' When a clergyman, called it was quite customary for him to say ' Shall we engage? ' and then "and there you were expected to let him hale you into the presence of your Maker." ,Clapham still survives, I fancy, in/ more sects than- one ', but_Dr Wjitts we have dropped. Have we found any sufficient teacher ' of ' infant-room morality to put in 'liis. place? ' j Dear " Civis,"— There are .friends of mine^ a .dozen or more, who voted ' no-license, i "KoV because they desire rio-license, for -they don't; nor because they are teetotallers, for they .tfre not; nor yet because .they' would be" saved the expense of putting wine or whisky bef6rea gueßt at their table, if or that is the form -of hospitality they haven't the slightest intention, of relinquishing; — not for any of tliese becauses did they strike out the "top- iine, but' 1 because: l they hoped to frighten th.c publicans into obey- J ing the law, or — if tha law is so hopelessly bad that it cannot be obeyed — that they might frighten the -Government into amending' it." "la" short they intended merely, a protest against abuses. Their method was wrong. Yo^Y 0^ no license because of the irregularities of licenses! — one might as reasonably vote no Christianity because of the irreverences of TorreyAlexander. But they did this idiotic thing; and what they did others did, hundreds of them here in Dunedin, possibly thousands. - Which. is to say that the prohibition vote is not solid. Given licensing reform, reasonable reform, and ihe prohibition vote would melt like snowwreafhs in thaw. For every man of level head and sober mind, resolute for public morality but impatient of cranks, the motto and programme is — Licensing Reform. — I am, etc., The Sniper. Rather unnecessarily my friend poses this week as a Daniel come to judgment. Already we knew— all of us who are' not given over to prohibitionist i^ok^that, there must- be licensing! reform; avid thatrlicensV ing reform is the one, thing t^at can, save the situation. The Government" know it ; and the Government would be much- easier*' ih their minds if anybody coiild -tell them what shape precisely licensing reform ought', to take. I' note" that certain Presbyteriapsi, are impeaching their .prohibition ministers" in letters to the press, and are threatening ' indignation meetings. That a great -body of Presbyterian opinion doesn't get expression just now from the Presbyterian pulpit,is likely enough. But the true line for" 1 these aggrieved parishioners is to let the minister gang his am gait and euchre him by getting the licensing law reformed, first reformed and then enforced. . The Monroe doctrine, which to American politicians is more~ than the hvw and the prophets, needs to enforce it fleets and armies which, so far, American politicians have shown no disposition to " provide. Applied to South America- it is essentially an unreasonable doctrine. The Government of the United States might with as i much logic assume to dictate the destiny of South Africa. There is in the one case a land connexion by the Isthmus of Panama, in the ether a water connexion, j by the Atlantic Ocean ; and for all practical purposes the water connexion is the shorter, the easier, the more vital of the two. " But South America is in the Western Hemisphere," did you say? The " Western Hemisphere " is merely a geographical expression. No such distinction exists in nature ; it exists only in mays, and maps might be drawn to show the world as Northern Hemisphere and Southern,' instead of as Eastern and Western. In. that case what becomes of the Monroe doctrine as based on the distinction -of hemispheres'/ These considerations, and 'a good many more of the same sort, will have occurred to Germany. Why should Germany allow herself to be permanently warned off from a settlement on the South American Continent? Only because Germany, like America, has no fleet worth speakincr o f. That is the one sole reason, and it may not always endure. The Kaiser is privately determined that it shall not. Here is Venezuela, a region twice as big as France, naturally rich, wretchedly misgoverned, periodically bankrupt. If there were no Monroe doctrine, or no possibility of a British-American alliance to back the Monroe doctrine up,- Germany would make of Venezuela a German India. I -love not' the Germany but I find it hard to say why they should be- forbidden to' do "this tiling. The Germans themselves must find it harder. .What the Germans think, and "what the rest of Europe thinks, aboutAmerican . bumptiousness .. in forbidding them, that is a thing beyond words.. Thei Momoe doctrine, it seems to me,- is des- ' lined to a stormy and precarious future. ', In Saturday's Daily Times the writer oi » contributed article entitled "Dr. •Par'ker and his Church" contrived to convey the * opinion tbat Dr P,arker ,was not aljsplutely a great man, f,but only a- greatC man of sorts, — which', .is a -^different, thing ; . also that Dr Parker's' Church', that is Congregationalism, as seen from the inside, which seemed to be- the^-writer's i point--, of view, was not altogether admirably :-■ Naturally, thi,s manifesto provoked jcepljes," .and, .both, sides may - be read with -.interest, 1 I might even s=ay with amusement. The question, Was Dr Parker a great man? remains, so far as I can discern, still undecided. Amongst other evidence- adduced on- the i affirmative side is the list of persons who j sent wreaths to his wife's funeral. I see | Httje in that. On the other hand I should I

I say that a preacher who before entering [ the pulpit would demand £25 for his ser- < mon and see that vhe got it, had run . doubtedly some of the elements of greatness. ' There is a curious conflict of testimony respecting the quality and valus of Dr Parker's prayers. "Dv Parker never kneels when he prays ; he simply strikes a dramatic attitude and calls upon all . heaven, and especially earth, to listen.* That .is the one" side ; now hear the other: [ ' Has the writer ever heard any of the iolI lowing .clergymen pray,: -John Pulsford, William I>ulsford, Linclsajr * Alexander, Raleigh, Dale/Allon, Samual Martin, John Hunter? I have heard them "all and," on this point, I can. ; speak from personal experience. If the writer of Jhe article has n'otf heard .any of them he ia I scarcely a competent „ judge -of what is best ; in, the jextempore prayers of the Congregational ' pulpit. . -.-_.', o- C '•■ , This "recalls the' Country -Parson and Iris st&ry "'about. "she,. niosV eloquent prayer ever addressed to a Boston, audience." " Ifc comes -to one with a 'kind of shock to be asked, Have- you Asard' So-and-so pray? — capsizes one's ideas as .to who is to be considered the -hearer, of sprayer. You hear a man preach, j^bivb.dojfyou hear him pray.?- x HWdver,;'one lives" aacKlfiJirfls, ' and' L.Kave . foimd""tliis ) little "Parker'' controversy" highly instructive. <* ' - r *^\ -■*' •" - ' ■ '" • \ W The > Tablet laments the dulness of. last - week's .Passing' Notes.:.* "^Tliey may : haye >beeiy -dull, ;I v Tvbti'i'^eriy" it j— they" "-were occupied;' 'a" good ' deal -with the Tablet . 'itself, and the', .subject naturally founts i'fpr -^ something." 'I 'should' like tti say,^ however, " „plagiarising, plagiarising a Passing Notist} .of. .the eighteenth century', thafc^t^Wheneyef I am dull, A I-have^par,ticular -meaning infit. y ''Evi- . ;<lently; <lently that held of "lasfcVeek's Notes, for the Tablet has '"to discover i^n them matter for two columns of comment, : criti- " cism, condemnation. So that hoxve'vel dull in themselves, they certainly were not . dull for the Tablet. But am I.^-now to plod after my pragmatical friend through his two columns of contention and rebuke? ■ Not at all ! — nob if I know it. That were to hazard rebuke of another kind. Parody* - [•ing Falstaff, people .would say of me that^l am not only dull in myself but the caus/ that dulness is in other men. So I take ' only one point: — we are not after all to be allowed to say "Roman Catholics." We are -to say " Catholics." Bishop ' Grime's, as we saw last week, did say of himself, "I am a Roman Catholic,!' but cannot be! supposed to have quite meant what he seemed to say ; somehow he wore his rue with' a difference. Well, I am really anxious rto oblige, honestly jto^ -offend ;-b*ut the Wee'is^dsnticni'^tn'i't&aV of Scofcfclimen _ t wh6'"insist on heing^r called '' Scptsmen," . and /make, It , imp'cjßsi)}le 'fp quote -Burns ■and"' "Waiter .^cott^ -witKout- -* -.giving offence. English; books and . aiey?spapers, if tliey -have -occasion to men•tipn,Ahe subjects of. the. Pope...^use\th"e - term .v" Roman Catholics'." "Here, Jot example, is a sentence from a Londo'ir daily 'justfc.to.'hand: • Thus -the_ Noncoaformist' objection to ike .scHool rate will not bear examination when -.compared with the conduct of the Roman Catholics, who, though they feel, equally strongly on the 'subject of the board school rate being applied to' the payment of religious teaching 'in "board school's, have nevertheless always loyally paid the rate. Complimentary in- tone-j but still— "Roman Catholics." In this- matter I shall, perforce, still go with the multitude ; and must ~ entreat the Tablet, in the interests of its own peace and comfort, to ba less thin-skinned. -Civis.

.From ,the Imperial BTrfe Book relatival to the Colonial Conference, that was held, in the months of June, July," atad August last,- it seems that- it is on the following lines that Mr Seddon is prepared to recommend Parliament to grant preferential treatment by New Zealaad-to British goods ; "A. general preference by 10 per cent, allround' reduction of the present duty on British manufactured goods,' or an equivalent in respect of lists of selected articles on the lines proposed by Canada. — namely (a) by further reducing flie^duties -in favour of the United Kingdom ; (b) by raising the duties against foreign - imports ; (c) by im» poeing duties on certain foreign imports . now on the free list." The Hon. T. Y. Duncan, yiho is at present . visiting Damani, informed an Oamaru Mail representative that there is no land available in Otago" suitable "for the purpose? of settlement by returned troopers. There are, •the Minister says, some Crown lands unoccupied, but such as there are- coiild nofc be applied to the purpose indicated with any hope of success. In reply to the representatives of a deputation from the Oamaru branch of the Farmers' Union, who desired that co-operative ivorks should be discontinued until the end of April _to provide labour for farmers, the" Ministers -suggested that nfeetirigs of all /the-brahbhes should be* called 'and membe^f ynyited to hand in lists of 'the) men they^wguldneed and. when they wouldyije required./- 'K- that information were provioUid ho would-*?m'ake full inquiry ac fo the available labour, 'and take steps to nave the requirements of farmers met. Major Robbley, who has a famous collection of mummified tattooed Maori, heads — probably the finest collection in existence; — lias offered to sell them tojthe New Zealand ►Institute 'for '£1850. There are some 30 heads, some of which . .are describe^ anddevficted in his book/- >]Ec liaa sent a series of very fine photographs!,, jshowing^ "what the heads jire like. The' New Zealand .Insti- • tute .cannot, of cqurs&,. ( afford euch ,&n ex-\pensive-"collection,- anj^tij© -matter 'will be jref/ejrred. by them^to,''£he'-J^qvexnment. The Major says there is 'keen.. d<%majicL,<f or the heads on the part of the Old " World museums, but that he would rather dispose of them in New Zealand. — See illustrated sheet in this issue, p rtf±. lf j> . £&t. tS. ■ t**4 News from Samoa states that the volcano, at Savaii is gradually dying ouW