The Week in Review.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 18, 3 May 1911, Page 1

The Week in Review.

NOTICE.

TVie Editor trill be pleased to receive for consideration Short Stories end Descriptive Articles, illustrated trith photos, or suggestions from contributors. Bright, terse oontrmutiona are wanted dealing with Dominion life and questions. Unless stamps are sent, the Editor cannot guarantee the return of unsuitable MSS.

True Friead Bill. 5 / VERY extraordinary case of alf I leged false pretences came be--4 * > fore the Magistrate’s Court in Wellington when Wiliam J. Ge<My» Hughes was charged with obtaining £5l odd from a poultry fanner and his wife, of Karori. Accused was, it is asserted, a State assisted emigrant gome years ago, and according to the evidence of Mrs Blake, obtained the money from her by a series of representations and letters in which he adopted a most friendly and confidential style. Hughes, in a lengthy statement, admitted obtaining the money by telling lies, but denied that this was false pretences. He received from Mr and Mm (Blake £5l 10s in the following amounts: £2 10s (to enable him and his wife to (take a married couple’s position in the country), £5 (for living expenses and fare to Westport, where a- billet in a coal mine was offering), three amounts of £5 (for living expenses, etc.), £2B l( to purchase furniture for a boardinghouse), and £1 (for incidental expenfees). Accused wrote many letters, all referring to money which was coming to him front England. The money was expected by every mail, but accused always had a plausible excuse. After obtaining the money for the purchase of the furniture accused wrote stating that as his wife had taken to drink he had decided to abandon the boardinghouse project, and had used the money to pay doctors’ and hospital expenses. Accused made further requests for money, but their savings were then used up. In the end Mr and Mrs Blake made a few inquiries and as a result instituted proceedings. It might have been better had they made their inquires before they lent the money. Jt A Pleasant Contrast, In contrast to the experience of the Slakes it is pleasant to be able to rejeorj the following:—A few days ago a ■nan who was employed in Taranaki, and (had spent his holiday in Palmerston, found himself penniless, and without the means to return to his work on some Government job. Not only was he penniless, but he knew no one in Palfenerston, and to none could he appeal £or the necessary help. Casually he drifted Into the Men’s Social Club, •where Miss Glendinning, who is the chief promoter of the institution, hap toened to be at the time. To her the penniless and friendless one related his

troubles, and told her how anxious he was to get back to his work. Miss Glendinning, with characteristic sympathy, lent a willing ear, and eventually obtained a railway ticket for him by which he was enabled to reach his desired destination, and also procured some meals for him at a restaurant. A letter has since been received from him by Miss Glendinning, expressing his deep gratitude for her kindness in assisting him, and enclosing postal notes to the value of 12s 6d, to repay her for her outlay on his behalf, and asking that any surplus be placed to the credit of the club. This is a pleasing and somewhat rare instance of gratitude and honesty.

Jt » JI Prosperous Taranaki. Taranaki, by the way, seems at present to be in an exceptionally prosperous condition. To begin with, the rapid progress being made with the StratfordOngarue railway line is bringing into profitable utilisation hundreds and thousands of acres of good sheep and cattle country. The Mokau and Mohahatino blocks, so long tied up, will shortly be thrown open to settlement; the harbour at New Plymouth will shortly provide accommodation for the largest ocean-going liners; the oil industry is on the eve of important local developments. Taranaki has also another source of wealth in the ironsand •deposits. The Cadman syndicate has gut up a large sum of money with the [arbour Board, in guarantee that it will commence operations within a year, and if it does forfeit, a New York syndicate is ready to step in and take over the lease and erect works of considerable size, having a highly successful process for treating the ironsand. The pasturage is green, and in plenty, and the fanners are in great heart. Altogether Taranaki is well favoured, and its residents have every justification for feeling optimistic regarding its future. Jt J» The Coronation Hymn. East week we referred to a letter from a correspondent objecting to the word England as applied to men-of-war. Our English, or British, namesake, the London “Graphic” has received a letter from a Canadian correspondent objecting on the same grounds to the Coronation hymn, which opens with the lines: “With England’s crown to-day, We hail our King and Queen, and pray God save the King.” The writer voices his protest thus:—“With due respect to the reverend gentleman who wrote this stanza, I would say that it will not meet with the approval of the people of Scotland, Canada, and other parts of the Empire. The first line of it ignores the Imperial idea—that sentiment which makes so strongly for the unity, of the Empire. Canadians are not English, but British; and they think it just as improper to speak of' “England's King” or “England's Crown,” as to refer to Mr. Taft as the President of New York. If the OverSeas Dominions are to take part in the Coronation ceremonies, it is not an English but an Imperial crown that King George should wear on the day of his Coronation. I woultl respectfully substitute the following: “O Lord our God, we pray Come on this festal day, and crown our King!" This is distinctly good with its suggestion that England is to the colonies as New York is to the United States.

Roads in Olden Tinies. It is quite a common thing for people to complain of roads in New Zealand, but the roads in England, -even as late as the fifteenth century, wer» far worse in many cases than anything we can show. The records of the Manor of Aylesbury record a case of a man being drowned by falling into a hole in the road. A local miller, named RichardBoose, needed some ramming clay for the repair of his mill. Accordingly, his servants dug a great pit- in the middle of the road, ten feet wide and eight feet deep, and so left it to become filled with water from the winter rains. A glover from Leighton Buzzard, on his way home from market, fell in and was drowned. Charged with manslaughter, the miller pleaded that he had no place wherein to get the kind of clay he required except on the high road. He was acquitted. J* That Labour Law Bogey. Whenever any particular phenomenon of an adverse nature is noted in connection with commerce or society in New the reactionary folk in this country are invariably ready to shriek, “It’s the Labour laws.” The “New Zealand Herald” is notorious for its ancient partiality in this resp-ct. Only this week an amusing contradiction came to light in the reports sent by their Christchurch correspondent on Saturday and Monday last of this chronic wail which turned out to be the same familiar old bogey. Under the heading of “ A Rude Awakening,” the Christchurch correspondent of the “ Herald ” telegraphed that the small increase in the census had “given rise to a good deal of eonsterna: lion.” The voice of Mr. F. E. Jones, president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, was invoked, and, like the excellent man of business that he is, he said “the restrictive of the Labour party in limiting onr resources of labour were having their effect already.” On Monday the “Herald” published another telegram from its correspondent, which, without word of apology, declared unblushing: “Inquiries made Saturday confirm the supposition that the small census returns for the city of Christchurch published this week, are accounted for by a great movement of the population towards suburban districts. This movement,” he savs, “ has been encouraged, if not actually started, by the electric tramway system. It has been strongly supported by health considerations, a desire for change, and the increasing prices of land in the city. The experience of architects is that many people who have lived in the city, close to their business for years, have sold

their dwellings, and have gone put on tha Cashmere Hills or to New Brighton, -Sumner, and' other places, where land is fairly c-heap, where trees and flowers can be grown to perfection, and where the air is fresh and invigorating.” Perhaps the “Herald” will kindly explain. JI A Cruel Punishment. Lady Islington, in her speech at the Diocesan High School, touched on the subject of reading good books, but was afraid that many young people found the standard authors very dull. The! punitive potentialities of literature have only been imperfectly grasped by those in search of new and refined forms of torture. A shocking case of cruelty to a girl of 14 was heard recently at Kingston, and in the course of evidence, it was stated that the girl was made to stand in the corner of the room so that she could not go to sleep, and read aloud several chapters from standard authors. No particular authors were mentioned; but one can imagine several where the words “so that she could not go to sleep” would indicate an inquisitorial refinement of torture. One is tempted to admire the spirit that prompted the Society for the Protection of Children to take up such a case of flagrant cruelty. Dr. Findlay might find this form of punishment for criminals more deterrent and more full of terror than the indeterminate sentence, and a select committee might draw up a list of books. To be compelled to read aloud all Dr. South’s sermons would make the stoutest heart quail. The Bishop of Auckland. The consecration of the new Bishop of Auckland was the most impressive ceremony witnessed for many years in the Cathedral. Bishop Crossley comes with some colonial experience, and so knows what to expect from the diocese. This is a matter of more inqiortance than it might seem. There is very little real, sound churehmanship in New Zealand; people like something or somebody new. The charm of novelty appeals to them. Here, also, as in England, there is a very real decline of faith. For reasons into which we cannot enter at present, the simple, trusting faith of our fathers has given place to doubt and a belief in the material rather than the spiritual. Party spirit is evident in many and strange ways. In some quarters it takes the form of a strong resentment against importing mon fruni England; in other) the younger clergy seem disposed to dis. parage the werk done by those who haw

bad to bear the heat and’burden of the day. Added to this. congregations rapidly tire of their ministers, and have the most exaggerated ideas of what they ought to get for a few shillings a week. They perpetually clamour for young, unmarried men; they always think a new man is wanted in their midst; they expect a scholar, an orator, an athlete, a eeout master, a physical culture expert, a society entertainer, and a handy man in general for £2 1” 8 a week. A holiday Is seldom given, unless the parson actually breaks down in health. Then he is told it is his own fault that he is ill—he eats too much meat, or drinks too much coffee, or doesn’t wear a chest protector—and he is granted a holiday, often with a polite or impolite notification that he is getting past work. Bishops, vicars, and mere curates suffer alike. Bishop Cowie was continually worried by financial anxieties; Bishop Wallis and Bishop Neligan were worn out by overwork: and the Primate of New Zealand is left to struggle alone on a princely £2OO a year. .«• J* Diocesan Problems. In addition to this, most clergy are given more work than they ean possibly do. Parishes that would have six or seven men in England are left to one man in New Zealand. There is no time for reading or study, next to none for preparation of sermons. Professor Momeric said no man could prepare more than one sermon a week; a colonial parson often preaches thrice every Sunday. If his sermons fall below the mark he is promptly told about it. The average parishioner expects the oratory of a Liddon or a Farrar for his threepence. To his Bishop the clergyman looks as his father in God. He must be a man of wide sympathy and knowledge of colonial life. He must be one who understands the desire of the average colonial to be on the popular side, the surface friendship and the lack of real loyalty to a person or a cause, the value of an attitude that is independent of the breath of popular favour. The New Zealander criticises with all the splendid assurance of ignorance. This is delightful “to a man possessed of a keen sense of humour, and doubtless the new Bishop will appreciate it to the full. But there is a pathetic side to parish work in the colonies, for humour and pathos have ever gone hand in hand. J* The Romanoff Dynasty. The Tsar has announced his intention of celebrating the" three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Romanoff dynasty. But the first appearance of that family in the Imperial circle took place more than three hundred years ago—when, in fact, Ivan the Terrible took to wife Anastasia Romanovna in the year 1547. The choice was made in true Oriental style. The heads of noble families throughout the country were ordered, on pain of death, to send their daughters to the capital of the province. From those a selection was made; and the chosen ones were dispatched to the Kremlin, when the Tsar inspected them personally. The handkerchief and the ring which were the token of the Royal favour fell to Anastasia, whose beauty and charm, however, failed to make Ivan any leas “terrible” after his marriage than before.

Indignant Nottingham. Mr. Harry Furniss has appeared as a bold ehampion of the harem skirt. He regards it as a muzzle to what he calls the silly, changing, uncomfortable, ami microbe-gathering costumes the everdesigning dressmaker invents. But the English towns have decided against him. One is tempted to ask, in view of the attitude of the towns, why is the English crowd so set against a costume which Mr. Furniss (and he is accustomed to see the comic side of things) describes as "sensible" and “sanitary”? One ean understand the attitude of Nottingham, because Nottingham makes things which are understood to be incompatible with the principle of feminine bifurcation, and so has a sound commercial basis for its remonstrance. But why should Belfast hoot a garment which is not obviously Roman Catholic; and what concern is it of Leeds if a lady does walk down Commercial-street rainbowriad in "navy-blue harem skirt with' tooe-pink trousers"? If Mly each

member of each of these crowds eould bo leeked into a room and made to put down on paper his precise motive in abandoning hie legitimate occupation to hoot a lady about the streets! Was it curiosity? Was it eaddishness ? Was it indignation? Or was it simply the common detestation of the unfamiliar?

As for the epigram of the Nottingham spokesman, that "If they would stick to toe rule of ‘Trousers for men and skirts for women,’ they would be all right,” it must be pointed out that if his advice is supposed to be based on any historical warrant, it is all wrong. Trousers are a very late sartorial development; and to this day several classes of the masculine community—such as the Gordon Highlanders and the Greek peasantry—do not wear them. The original masculine, no less than feminine, garment was the skirt, and it is still indicated in such ceremonial survivals as are represented by the priesthood or the Bench. As for the woman’s costume—well, in the days when most of the agriculture as well as all the housekeeping fell to her share, she Certainly did not wear a skirt that reached to her ankles. * J» The Ocean Empire. In his book, “The Ocean Empire: Its Dangers and Defence,” Mr Gerard Fiennes has several interesting chapters on the situation in the Far East. .He believes that the alliance with Japan cannot be renewed. “It became impossible when the American fleet visited Australia tn 1908, and suggested to the people of the Commonwealth that Codlin is the friend, not Short.” He regards a conflict with the United States and Japan as practically inevitable.’- suggests’ that the former can have no success without the use" of bur naval bases’, and pictures the consequence for the- Empire of refusal to permit such use at a time when the white man is fighting against the yellow. But the remedy pointed, out is the steady development of a Pacific fleet, the Dominions sharing in the work, and the .suggest ion is that the fleet shall consist essentially of powerful, swift vessels ®F"-the new battle-cruiser ejass. Here is a great work for the Imperial Conference indeed. J* J* A Strange Monk. A cable reports that the monk Hiodore has triumphed over the efforts of the Holy Synod, Government, and police to remove him from Tsaritzin. He is regarded as a demi-god, and his 12 000 followers form the nucleus of a reform movement in the Orthodox Church', threatening to overturn the heirarehy. Hiodore is a young monk, still beardless, athletic, powerfully built, long-haired, ami handsome in a wild, Kalmuck sort of way. During the height of the Russian revolution of 1905-6 he began to distinguish himself by the extreme violence of his attacks on Jews, heretics and revolutionists of all descriptions, with the result that he was summoned to St.- Petersburg, and there became the protrge of Anthony, the venerable Metropolitan of that city. Iliodore’s eloquence was wild and stimulating as the gale that sweeps over the steppes, and he might have been a power in Russia to day and the successor of Holy John of Kronstadt in the affections of the people, were it not for a strain of the "free wandering CosBaek” in his blood. This strain made the violence of his language at times utterly unbearable: it made the holy and irate young man socially impossible, and it led to instances of tactlessness and gaucherie which could not be overlooked. Nobody knew when he would do something original, unexpected and awful. If invited to the christening of a little Grand Duke at which Count Witte was present. Hiodore was as likely as not to climb on to a chair and denounce Witte for his sins’ in a voice that nothing eould quell. M. Stoiypin, the present Premier of Russia, is generally regarded as somewhat reactionary, but Hiodore denounces him for his weakness in doling with schismatics and Jews. Even the Holy .Synod is not strong enough, according to Iliodore’s way of thinking. If this young monk had h s will, Russia would be ruled on strict monastic lines, and cauldrons of boiling oil would be • familiar feature of the ecclesiastical courts tthe only kind of coiarts which would be tolerated.)' (