PAST AND PRESENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3180, 22 April 1871, Page 3

PAST AND PRESENT.

[From the Runanga Gbindstone.] Our attentfon has been called to an article in the Wellington "Evening Post," headed " Past and Present," commenting on an account of a trip up the Taupo line, and description of the Kunanga Literary Institute, which appeared some time ago in our Napier contemporary, the H. B. "Herald." Most, if not all, of our readers have seen the article in question, bo it is hardly necessary to repeat it in our columns ; in fact we are glud of any excuse to avoid sullying the pages of the " Grindstone" with any extract from the " Post." Why, in the name of common Bense, the desire evinced by men to improve their minds by reading, and the practice and study of the fine arts, ehould be a sign of deterioration, we cannot possibly imagine ; or why men should bo exposed to hardships ard privations, when comfort is attainable by a little exertion on their ovn part. The remark about " their chief being an inmate of a lunatic asylum," is eminently worthy of the " Post." What rnaeterly satire and nice taste are there displayed ! That remark shows the feeling in which the whole article is written — a feeling of downright, unfeeling, tmECrupulouß opposition, disregarding alike the feelings of public men and the griefs of innocent and afflicted women. Why the " Post" should look upon institutions of the kind, and efforts on the pnrt of the officers to promote the comfort of their men, as belonging to demilitarization especinlly is a mystery to us. Such things are highly advisable and commendable in any army, and the very men who can best appreciate the advantages of such things are the men most likely, when the time arrives, to leave those advantages cheerfully behind to follow out their course of duty in the field, thankful to have enjoyed them so long. The present German army is perhaps about M&'he best educated army which the world has .^ver seer., and it hardly appears to bo utterly worthless on that account. Wo venture to predict, notwithstanding the insinuation of the " Post" that the Eunanga men will do their duty manfully when called upon, although they do possess an Inetitute ■with ornamental shingles.