CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 10112, 19 September 1894, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

*. [Wo are not responsible for the opinions 01 prosßed by correspondent^. Tho writer's nnmd firs a guarantees of good faith, must be oucloseo in the letter.] STATE BANKING IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. TO THE KWITOR Sir, — Jersey succeeded in building its wharves on paper money issued by tho local Government, and had no debt to pay when it was ended. Venice, the greatest trading community of tho Middle Ages, for GOO yeara made State banking a success and a security, and only ceaßed to do so when Napoleon conquered and dostroyed the Government. The United States carried their great war to a successful issue on paper money. Theso Colonies would bo compelled to reßort to paper currency to defend thomselvcs in case of a war. Why not issuo it in times of peace ? — I am, &c, E. Barstow. PICTORIAL MONOLOGUE.—" PROGRESS OF ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE." TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — Will you please allow mo to state, in roference to your kind notice about my pictorial monologues, that tne Association I represent is an English one, its head-quartors being at tho Memorial Hall, Farringdon street, London. When Mr Courtney invited mo to visit New Zealand, and guaranteed mo against loss, he generously offered to give mo personally any profits that might bo made. But as I prefer to continue working with the Society with which I have been so long associated, I have arranged that any profits shall be handed to the Lecture,. Fund, which will enable similar meetings to bo held in England, Scotland, Ireland, the other colonies, and America, with the object of directing attention to the advantages which would bo secured by united action against tho forces of ovil by all workers*for tho publio good. I venture to hope that New Zoalund, which has led tho way in progressive legislation, will support these efforts, and help to form a great union of the English speaking people, which would prove one of the most effectual means of promoting tho welfare and happiness of mankind and tho peaco and prospoiity of the world. — I am, &c., May Yates. Now Plymouth, 19th Sept., 1894.

MRS ANNIE BESANT IN AUSTRALIA. Mrs Besant arrived at Adelaide from England by the mail steamer Ballarat. A representative of the Adelaide Observer, who called on her, describes her as follows : — Mrs Besant was on deck, and as one catches a first glimpse of her grey hair, which is dressed back from the forehead, one would put her down as being about 45 years of age — tha j is really close to the mark— but coming closer and conversing with her one would think she was very much younger. She is a lady with a charming personality, and her intellectual vigor and freshness aro two of the remarkable things about her. She is just above the average height, and her figure is a trifle fuller than it was a few yeara ago. She has no mannerisms, no eccentricities, but is a gentle, cultivated, charming English lady. About her face there is something that attracts; sho has a smiling, winning, yet perfectly unaffected manner, and whether the ladies of Australia meet her in the drawing-room or in the lecture hall they will vote her a bright ornament of their sex, and one with whom it iB a pleasure to converse. It was an agreeable task, that of interviewing Mrs Besact, who, by the way, pronounces her name with the accent on the first syllable. The reporter first asked her to poiut out wherein the value of Theosophy lies. " My view," was the reply, " is that the special value of Theosophy in a country like Australia, where all the old ideals have more or less broken away, or have not been brought to the land, and which has not old traditions, will bo to provide some basis for conduct which will be at once religious and scientific. In a new country like Australia you meet all the aspirations of man which aro never satisfied without religion, and at the same time meet with that demand for accurate knowledge which is characteristic of the present time. In the old country religion has lost ground by the attacks of science, and we allege that you may have scientific observations aud facts which are not physical, and which will justify the claims of religion and enable it to more than hold its own, however far knowledge may advance."