South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1884.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3362, 12 January 1884, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1884.

In the midst of the troubles which people have to bear in the colonies, it is not unprofitable to bestow a thought upon some of the grievances which inhabitants of the rural districts of Great Britain have still to bear. If people here have to contend against a depression in trade, and fluctuations in the demand for labor, they are at least free from anything like oppression, feudal tyranny, and ancient abuses. The troubles they endure are made on the spot, and they have it in their own hands to control the Government itself. To say that the people of the colony have a voice in its government is no figure of speech. By degrees they are acquiring the same longwitheld right at Home, but there are venerable statutes that live on, ancient iniquities that are perpetuated, seemingly, for ever. Ecclesiastical tithes are a case in point. Of all the rags of medievalism that hangs round civilization, this is the most objectionable and apparently the most* durable. Here is a case abridged from a Home paper ;—At Swanley, in Kent, a few months ago, one John Wood, a fruitgrower, for refusing to pay tithes, he being a staunch opponent of these said dues, had three acres of potatoes distrained upon at the instance of the vicar, the Rev. W. J. Weeks. The amount, with costs, was £ll 19s 9d, and the potatoes, which were worth £7O, were bought in on Wood’s behalf for £l2. After the sale an indignation meeting was held on the village green, at which meeting some very plain speaking was indulged in. One of the speakers said that although this meeting was peaceable, he doubted whether any future meeting similarly occasioned would be so; and remarked chat the Irish who agitated got some satisfaction, while he and his neighbors, through being peaceable, were plundered. A resolution expressing the extreme indignation of the meeting at the unjust tax was carried unanimously. The blame in a case of this kind, does not lie with the clergyman or the ecclesiastical authorities. According to their traditions and lights, they were only acting consistently. It is idle to level at them the reproach that such things are unchristianlike, for they are not so in their eyes. It is the system, not the men, that is to blame. But while we do not reproach the men who have been trained in this abominable system, we cannot but gravely censure the representatives of a free people, who permit the iniquity to continue. We hear a great deal about the growth of Liberalism in England, yet there is a State church still, that lives upon the people. Liberal members ought to make it their first care, to sever the connection between Church and State. Indeed it is surprising

that the greater minds among the churchmen themselves are not heartily sick of the Church’s parasitic position. A few more executions for the recovery of tithes will, at any rate, precipitate matters.

The Victorians after a long and costly experience, have come to the conclusion that the direct control of railways, by succeeding Governments, is vicious in principle and disastrous in practice Acting on that conviction, they have placed them under the sole and direct management of a Board, and set them free from political influence ; in order that they may be managed, not in a perfunctory mannerfrom a bureau,(with all the evils of patronage and nepotism) but in an energetic, business-like manner, as any commercial concern is managed. We are a long time learning the lesson which our Victorian brethren have learned so thoroughly ; but the same step will have sooner or later to be taken by us. Our railway system has been botched and tinkered with time after time—yet to-day what is its condition ? Anything but satisfactory. The sooner we profit by the lesson which Victoria is teaching us, the better.

France does not seem to be making any very great progress in her foreign affairs. Parleying goes on, but that suits the Chinese and Malagasies, for it gives them time to prepare for action ; and the Marquis Tseng appears to be rather more than a match for the whole French diplomatic service. Not less curious are we to see the result of these foreign embroilments, within the borders of France herself, than the actual issue of the conflict as between the nations concerned in it. For the Government of the Republic went in as the apostle and guardian of peace ; under its benign sway war that had so long been the curse of France,was to be heard no more, while trade and friendly relations with friendly powers were to be largely developed. How these predictions have been fulfilled, the present position of France best informs us. Whether the factions will submit quietly to the falsification of the promises of the Republic iu its infancy, remains to be seen. For our own part, we doubt it.