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Observer, Volume 1, Issue 13, 11 December 1880, Page 109

Charlie McMurclo has been so successful "taking lives," that the Government are anxious to give him an enlarged sphere of usefulness, and have therefore appointed him medical officer in charge of the island of RarOtonga (wherever that may be). It is confidently anticipated that before Mac has been there very long, the island will be effectually cleared of its black population. Already he has thrown off the clegage blithesomeness of the popular insurance agent, and assumed the sobriety and politesse (I thank thee, Mr. Herbert Brook, a. A., for that word) suitable to a medical man in large practice. His conversation, which erstwhile teemed with witticisms about insurance, is now full of bones, bodies, Dr. Philson, and the hospital. Over all he throws a semi-tropical air eminently suitable to the island of Rarotonga. The black wideawake has been discarded, and in its stead we see a puggeried sun-toupee, and light airy unmentionables. Joking apart, lam very glad Mr. McMurdo has dropped into the billet, and hope it may turn out the good thing he anticipates. As he walked the London hospitals, and has gained considerable experience by practicing in. country districts, he is capable of taking charge of even a more responsible post.

I have received the following letter, which is headed, " '.Banking Extraordinary.' — To the Editor of the Observes, Sir : As you purpose enlarging your paper this week, could you kindly give your readers the benefit of your opinion on 'Banks and Banking business.' I have received some rather extraordinary treatment (at least I consider it extraordinary) at the hands of our local banks, and in mentioning my little affair to others, I have become possessed of a fund of bank 'antidotes,' which if they are only one quarter true, prove that colonial banking is a fearful and wonderful mystery. Whenever lam in doubt as to the definition of a word, I invariably look up the pages of my old and tried friend, 'Maunder.' The other day, therefore, I ttirned to him to see how he defined the words ' bank ' and 'banking.' Well, I find he says, a ' bank is a repository for money,' and, of course, he must be right,— ' Maunder ' always is right. I must, however, state that my money can never be said to 'repose' in a bank, for it is no sooner deposited than it becomes restless, and very soon jumps out again. There is no 'repose' about it. However let us see what he says of 'banking.' Ah ! now we have it! 'Banking,' he says, 'is the business of a banker.' There it is in a nutshell. A confiding public deposit its money in a bank, wherethrough a pleasing fiction, it 'reposes,' and the banker does with it just what he darn pleases. My grievance, if it can be called a grievance, is simply this, I drew a cheque for £4 4s. 2d., and on presentation it turned out I hah miscalculated the amount 'reposing' to my credit by some two or three shillings, so my cheque was dishonoured. This, in itself, you will say, s nothing very extraordinary, but at the same t shows a remarkably keen prophetic vision on the part of the manager, foreseeing, as he must have done, that two or three shillings would have been lost to the bank had he honoured my cheque. I may say I have done business with this bank some twenty years, during which time several thousand pounds of my money has passed through, and, of course, been \itilised by the bank. I have never once received accommodation of any sort or description from them, and now * the business of the banker ' is to dishonour my cheque for a paltry two or three shillings. This is no doubt 'banking' because it is 'the business of the banker,' vide Maunder ; "but conducted in this narrow-souled sort of way, it seems to be a very queer sort of business. — lam, &c, N.S.W."