PASSING NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume XX, Issue 5923, 28 January 1888, Page 2

PASSING NOTES.

[Bt Samboes,?

On leaking over the report of the proceedings at the annual meeting of parishioners of St. George's Church, which was held on Thursday evening, I was struck by the amount that had been expended during the past year on the church and Sunday School, viz: £524 14s KM and £219 2s lOd respectively, segregating £743 17s Bd. Few persons, I am sure, have any idea of what ia spent annually on the churches Bad Sunday Schools at the Thames. It is of course impossible to arrive at the actual figures, but I have made as careful a computation as possible under the circumstanced, and estimate that in the 10 di^eyent denominations among us, tha total sum expended, say during the last twelve months, on churches and Sunday schools, was not Joss than £3000, equivalent to £60 every week- This does not icclude the capital invested in the various buildings, which in itself would be a considerable sum. *

It was stated at the St. George's Church meeting that there are no less then 35Q names of head*? of families on the membership toll of the churchy aad, it was suggested that if only 3C3 of these could be got to subscribe one shilling a week, to be p^id regularly, a sufficient sum of money would thereby be obt^ipeil io pay all the expenses of the and do away with gew sents, collections, <fee. Looking o^er the balance sheet for the "last year, as read the other e?aning, I find that the total expense* of the church were £527, from vrhicii should be deducted £2t fov general offertories, leaving £5.00 required for the ordinary current charges, Now, if only 200 out of the 35Q heads of families said to be on the members' roll would pay Is a week, {ho sum of £520 per annum could ha raised without any trouble, and &c church could be thrown open frae to all, with no collection requiring to be taken morning and evening. This scheme may be thought impracticable by some, but if i.t wt>K&

I energetically taken up and properly carried through, 1 think it could be accomplished.

A few days ago I read a brief notice in the Star about Messrs Hollii and t ribbons' invention for exterminating rabbits, and of the numerous schemes that hare been published for the purpose, it seemed to be about the simplest and most practical. There are, I believe, no less than 383 infallible specifics against rabbits in existence, the list including Mr Chamberlin's celebrated Rabbit Annihilator, and a learned professor's " Sareoptes Cunicula," the very name of which should be enough to make the rabbits emigrate. But it seems that the bunnies thrive on the very specifics that are intended to annihilate them. I read that in New South Wales, where the rabbit rages most fiercely, in 974 blocks alone 35C0 men were employed in the work of destruction, and that in one month they had destroyed 2,607,723. Out of 50 sheep rans taken haphazard in K. S. Wales, the rental paid to the State was £35,0£3, but the anti-rabbit subsidy paid to the tenants by the State was £51,000, £1600 more than the rent. Enormous sums have been expended in Victoria and New South Wales upon rabbit-proof fences, and now it is discovered that they are useless, as young rabbits, four weeks old, can get through wire netting with a 1£ inch mesh, with the greatest ease; and as youthful rabbits' begin independent existence even at that tender age, they slip through the fence, and set up burrows on their own account. There seems to me to be a grand opening for Messrs Hollis and Gibbons' invention, as by it the rabbits are to be caught alive, and can be utilised for food and commercial purposes.

How many more disillusions, I wonder, are we to undergo. It is just the other day that we were told that Shakespeare was a fraud, and that he only pretended to be the author of certain plays really written by another, to wit, Francis Bacon. And now it seems that Macaulay plagiarised bis New Zealander whom he plants in his History to do a " prospective weep" over the ruins of London Bridge. A Mr Sutton is the merciless critic this time, and in proof of his assertion he quotes from the preface to the English translation of a work written before 1800, entitled " Voyage in search of La Perouse" by Labillardiere. The passage refers to what might be the probable result of the zeal which existed at the author's time among European maritime nations for discovering and corresponding with distant regions, and goes on as follows:—" May not the advantages *of civilisation, in the progress of events, be transferred fron the Europeans, who have but too little prized them, to those remote countries which they have been so diligently ex> ploring ? If so, the period may arrive when New Zealand may produce her Lockes, her Newtons and her Montes* quieus, and when she may send her navi~ gators, philosophers and antiquaries to con* template tht ruins of ancient London and Peris and to trace the languid remains of the arts and sciences in this quarter of the globe."

XXX

A good storj has reached me of a conversation which took place cot many hundred years ago between a broker and a bauk manager, who resides within a thousand miles of the Thames, and is it contains a moral I think I nnnot do better than record it for the benefit of my readers. The worthy deduct?? of 2|, hearing that the manager ot the banking institution had been/ speculating rather heavily in shares in a e;rtain mine, and observing that he was on the moit iatimate terma with the manager, whom he distrusted, was seized with that tame laudable desire which has existed in the hearts of all brokers from time immemorial, and accordingly decided to warn him against reposing too much confidence in the said mine manager. He therefore requested a private interview wi'h the banker, and informed him that, his bosom friend was. not to be relied upon—in tact, that he excelled even M Tom Pepper" himself in the art of fabrication. The bank manager listened attentively, and when the broker had concluded his speech, remarked, " Well, Mr , do yoa know that it was only this morning a gentleman, waited upon me end warned me agaiost having anything to do with you. He said you were the biggest d——d scoundrel in the place, and if 1 had any dealings with you after h's warniug it would be my own fault if you ' had' me. Now, Mr ——, of course I didn't believe what he said about you, and so you must forgive me if under the circumstances I decline to believe your statements concerning him." The broker quietly reached for his bat, and departed, a ladder, but I trust a wiser man.