WOMAN'S MISSION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1091, 24 May 1871, Page 2

WOMAN'S MISSION.

To the Editor of tlie Taranaki Herald.

Mr. Editor, — In your edition of Saturday last, we were favoured with another letter from your fair correspondent " Maria." We were led to infer by the heading that she was about to make an , eloquent appeal to the hearts of man, and then wax warm and perhaps bully him ; but " man is prone to err." She simply criticised the actions of the Governments — General and Provincial — and makes some remarks about her own fair sex as being the means of salvation from our present inefficient government. What she says is true — that this community should have been consulted before money which belonged to it was spent in the manner it has, and is being spent in subsidising the mail coach, which, in itself, is a luxury, however much benefit mny afterwards accrue from it. I allow that our Councilmen are such ignoramuses that they (most of them) did not know where the money was, in reality, coming from ; of course when a lot of oratorical, Solomon-looking sages cannot fathom such a problem as this, it is not to be expected that the common elector knows, and thus it is that the money of this Province is wasted. The same Council wasted the public money in persisting to carry on the boating service simply to gratify a purpose, intending that their names should go down to posterity as firm statesmen when it was nothing but sheer obstinacy. Your fair correspondent thinks a sprinkling of her own sex would help to remedy this bad state of affairs. But Miss " Maria" I beg to differ with you on this point. Woman was placed on this earth as a helpmate for man — not as a ruler of him. Nature uas placed you in a sphere, a sphere in which you may be eminently useful (I mean in politics). When you become a wife, make your husband a man fit for a ruler — instil into him the virtues of economy, teach him to judge the future by the past. You will thus be the Moses, he the Aaron ; this is one way you can take a part in the Government of the people of the creatiou. When you are blessed with a son, train him to be a patriot, teach him to look at some high standard of excellence in the political world, such as Pitt or Gladstone. If you exert your talents in this manner you will benefit the political world, that if you persist in striving fur representation by your own sex, your talents will be given for nought. As precedpnts, I quote Dan O'Connell the Irish reformer, and Sir W. Scott, who both attributed their success to the advice and encouragement received from woman. Alfred the Great was taught by his mother, and afterwards became the founder of the British navy. In conclusion, a letter like your last will have a tendency for good ; ns honest, unprejudiced, criticism has a wholesome effect. — I urn, &c, Maximus.

Yankee Impudence never fails. The Alia California states that a lady has written, inviting the Empress Eugenic to lecture in the United States. Direct Representation of Labour. — The London Labour Representative League on tho above subject, which concludes as follows, was unanimously agreed to :—": — " We may call on you, as a paramount and pressing duty, to return qualified niea of your order to Parliament. Give us your hearty co-operation, and we pledge ourselves that this shall be done. Establish branches of tho League throughout the country, knic your members firtiily together, and let us try if, by uuited, friendly, and vigorous action, we cannot break down a system of class exclusion from Parliament." Sims Reeves brings an action against the Edinburgh Choral Union for the recovery of 90 guineas, thta amount of his fee for singing at the Choral Union concert, in Edinburgh in November last. The Choral Union refuses to pay the full fee, on the ground that the pursuer failed to complete his engagement, having lefD the concert before he had sung all the parts for which he stipulated. The defenders previously offered 60 guineas, but this sam the pursuer declined to accept. A Mathematical Tutor has been committed (or trial on a charge of inciting a printer in tho employ of Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington to steal a copy of one of the examination papers of the '< Apothecaries' Company, that he might better " coach" his pnpils for the approaching examination. Thefts of examination papers are very rare, the offence being in bad repute, the risk great, and the profit not very sur- 1 . Perhaps, however, if a man will perpetrate this highly objectionable crime, he cannot do better than follow the example of that undergraduate who, tradition says, made his way into the compositor's room in a pair of spotless white trousers, marked where the block of type lay well inked and ready, and, gently lifting up his coat tails, sat down with an innocent air, taking thus a neat impression of what he wanted to know. He committed no felony, though he did much harm to his clothes. Judy says, a Belgravian mamma, who has succeeded in getting hpr own seven daughters " well off her hands," has determined to extend to others the beuefit of her " system." She is going to open a " class" for the instruction of yonng ladies in the art of husband-catching. It is to be called the " School of design. What is the difference between half a glass -of water and a broken engagement ? — One is not filled fall) aud the other is not fulfilled. ■ .