MELBOURNE ECHOES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11389, 3 October 1891, Page 2

MELBOURNE ECHOES.

: « [Bt Telephonus.] Melbourne, September 22. An echo of shouting and cheering, o: prayers and hymns, and choruses and I marches, and brass bands, all mixed up in one wild enthusiastic and delirious hubbub, is the opening echo of the week It is the echo of the extraordinary reo.eption of General Booth, the head of the Salvation Army, who has come tojool after the Australian division of his^M^es, and to spread his influence in this part oi the world, as he undoubtedly will. He ia just the man to. do it. He travelled by special trains and boats from Hobart tc Launceston, from there to Low Head 3, and from Low Heads to Williamstown, where he was' met by as irany of hia followers who could crowd on the Wairarapa, and transhipped to that vessel, which brought him to Queen-street wharf by 830 on Saturday night. He was so beset by admirers in the streets that it was ten o'clock before he reached the Exhibition building where six thousand people awaited him. He spoke for twenty minutes in a firm clear voice, but in a conversational manner, and then, being very tired, suspended his exertions. On Sunday he held three services in the Exhibition building, at each of which seven thousand people were present, that is all that could be accommodated, and at least a thousand more who nere in great discomfort and some danger from crowding. The enthusiasm was tremendous, and the collections must hav«r been exceedingly gratifying. The money literally poured into the hands of the collectors. In person Mr Booth is tall, spare, and angular, with a big nose and a longish grey beard, and a quantity of grey hair. He can never have been good-looking at hid best, bnt in his eagle beak there is just a look of the great Sir Charles Napier, and a very good thing it is for an organiser of men. He wears- a froggie coat of an old-fashioned and military cut, with a red waistcoat under a cloak lined with red. He has a great deal of the angular Btyle of Abraham Lincoln about him, and just a touch of the method of Mr Montagu Higg, whose history ycu must rea-1 in Martin Chuzzlewit. Indeed, if what .Mr Pecksniff called those "towering masses' of raven, hair," had thrned grey and the frogged coaj of Mr Figg had been as-oleaa and smart as that of Mr Booth, Mr Dickens' description of the first hero might stand nofc inaptly for the second. . Mr' Booth speaks forcibly, but not with "any ". special . eloquence. His sermons are indeed diacon.nected and desultory.bufc they are earnest and impressive, and fall of popular and forcible phrases. Thus,, he told- fcfce people that " most mothers' theology was sound, it was the fathers who- corrupted them." Later he said, "Never argue with the devil. Leave your sins, or be damned in them, and leave them at once." The following extract oa the labor movement is from a letter, from Mr H.t£f Champion under date London 29th Juljv--1891 to Mr J.B. Sheridan Solioitor Adelaide, which ha 3 been sent me by the latter gentleman for publication and to which he adds " With this I heartily agree and believe Mi Champion to he a genuine and earnest man, re3olute for right and justice and asking for no more." "The only chance for this country and youro is for the -well-inten-tioned and fair-dealing man' to go into politics notwithstanding its many drawbacks and distractions. I will not believe of my own countrymen of any class that they are nofc capable of seeing and hailing the truth in the long run if it is put before them properly. I afraid at home here the decent men are inclined to leave the dusty arena of politics entirely to demagogues and puce hunters. Than this, no greater calamity can befall a nation. I hope you will use your influence to make your friends .take my Tiew and go into the thick of the scrimmage, win or lose it doesn't matter so long as ison the right side. In course of time the workman, not the schemer but the real rank and file will see whb are-their-real friends and will learn that 'it ts : no usj asking for impossible things-" and of no advantage to fall barton any ethics which • run- counter -to. thoternal verities ': "' It is ■ a long and difc, .heartening job I know- bnt it- is- .worth attempting it." Mr Munro is be3et witH petitions for the plao of Agent-General. Mr Gillies want i ( ifc bid y ; Colonel Smith - : would take it ; Sir Bryan O'Loghlan <would not refuse it; Mr Patterson would like it and ' half the Ministerial following expect ifc. The latest intrigue is to get Mr Shiels to take it and let Mr Patterson join the Cabinet as Minister of railways. But the truth is that Mr Shiels intends to fight tha Railway question to the end, and to do that he > must stay where he is. If any pressure should induce him to go and Mr Patterson should - become Minister of Railways the Commissioners would be a thousand times worse off than' they are, since he is one those masterly men who will have their own way let who will be displeased. ■ V