WEEKLY EPITOME.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 20, 13 September 1873, Page 7

WEEKLY EPITOME.

in .? I8 w?r d 8l l ip Dr - M °™. delivered a discourse in the Wellington Cathedral, on Sunday last, on Education He otrongly condemned the Education Bill, and showed its injustice to the Catholic body. J Otic Auckland correspondent, telegraphing to us on Wednesday evening, says :— Business done—National Bank 355, Thames 85s Caledonian £13 ss, City of London 275, Black Angel 19s 6d, 20s and 20s 6a, Inverness £1 4s, £1 6s. .

A membeb of the Executive Directory of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society, writing to a gentleman in Dunedin from Gippßlaud, Victoria, says :— We are opening three branches down in this part of the Colony, and they will be very important ones." From another letter we learn that active steps are being taken to introdnco the Society into Hobart Town and Tasmania generally, and that the Catholics of South Australia and Queensland are bestirring themselves in regard to it. A fresh stimulus has been given in New South Wales by the co-operation of his Grace the Archbishop of Sydney acknowledging it, and having appointed chaplains to the Sydney members.— A branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society was opened at Christchurch on Monday evening. Forty members joined. IHB Bruce Herald has received information to the effect that all the good land in the block at Toi Tois, set apart for settlement under the deferred payment system, has Been applied for. We learn from the ' Evening Star,' that a serious accident occurred at the bridge works, Arthurs point, Shotover, on Thursday week. One -of the large wooden girders, 152 ft long, and weighing some forty tons dead weight, was suspended from a strong wire rope stretched across the river, which was considered to be amply strong enough for the purpose. The great strain, however, proved too much for it too bear and the rope broke, precipitating the girder into the river below. The *°!*' whM r h . wl . n fall on Mr Xurn er, the contractor, is said to be about £400, as it is impossible to recover the materials. No one was hurt A BPicui telegram from Wellington to the • Daily Times ' states it is rumoured that Mr Tolmie has been offered a seat in the Cabinet with the portfolio of Colonial Treasurer during Mr Vogel's absence in England, but that he has refused to accept it. Thb Wellington correspondent of the 'New Zealand Herald ' writesT7"£L i 8 f umo " red t0 be o» the cards that, nfter the session is over ' Mr O Rorke will give place to the newly-elected member for Waikato " Mr Pyke. ' Ik our last issue we referred to the irrepressible John visiting the Waimate public school, and spouting trash to the children therein a«sembled. From a late number of the * South Canterbury Times ' we learn that at a meeting of the Waimate Board, a cemmunication was received from the Canterbury Board of Education enclosing a letter from Father Chataigme-r, Catholic Priest, in reference to Mr Graham's visiting the school and asking for an explanation. The Chairman was directed to reply, and stated that permission was inadvertently given without a thought of an infraction of the Education Ordinal, but tliat he would take care that the same did not occur again. 14 Good men are scarce" is a proverb which applies forcibly to the colonies generally. Victoria, it would seem, is not forgetful, or at least, is not always so, of the services of such men, of which fact a commendable movement set on foot the other day affords an exempli fication. According to a late number of the • Australasian,' a preliminary meeting of a lew of Mr Wilson Gray's friends was held on Monday evening, at 15 Temple Court, for the purpose of considering the steps to be taken to have a portrait of Mr Gray painted for presentation to some one of our public institutions as a fittin* and lasting memorial of a man whoae name occupies a conspicuous place in the history of this country A sub-committee, consisting of Messrs John Everard, J. F. Sullivan, Allan Leitch, George Craib and J. J. Walsh, was appointed to find out if a good portrait of Mr Gray could be painted m the colony, and what would be its probable cost The meeting was then adjourned for a fortnight. V JJ 1 * Ba thgate'b attempt to work law reformation has proved a signal failure, for which," says an Auckland exchange, " we have much to be thankful. The 'Bay of Plenty Times' comments as follows, on the canteen eystem :— " We think there are one or two instances where the action of the Government actually favors, not only adulteration, but the sale of poisonous drinks. We allude to the present system of rationing and supplying the colonial forcea in various districts. Rations are tendered for, the successful— that is the lowest- tenderer having the sole privilege of keeping a canteen and seUing alcoholic drink in a particular district, to the exclusion of all-comers. It is almost impossible to sell good liquor at a sufficiently remunerative price to cover all cost* The Government must be perfectly well aware of this, and yet they have in more instances than one accepted tenders for the supply of rations at so low a price that it was tantamount to an admission on the part of the contractor that he was prepared to lose largely in order to have the privilege of selling drmk. We say again, the Government, by adopting such a pjan, encourage adulteration ; and before the campaign upon unwholesome-ink is commenced, we would recommend them to wash their hands bf this wretched canteen system— a system which ' is most degrading, and in every sense of the word, pernicious to all concerne 1.

According to the Press by the outward English mail taken by the Alhambra, there were forwarded from Canterbury applications for 540 nominated immigrants, equal to 450'statute'adults. The cash de posited amounted to £1396,

The Parliamentary correspondent of the Auckland 'Evening Star,' describing the debate upon the Provincial Loans Bill, states that while it was proceeding, " Mr Bathgate looked motherly and kind." Then when he spoke, " his speech was maternally expostulate ing and full of Scripture texts, and, although not intended, kept the House in a succession of peals of laughter." Judge Gbay, who has been seriously ill, is said to be recovering slowly. To a rumor current in Auckland that Mr Gillies was likely again to contest the Superintendency, the ' Star' gives authoritative denial. A cobbbspondknt of the *Wairarapa Standard' informs that journal of an intellectual Maori " going to a store with some other Natives. While there he saw his friends make some purchases, and also saw some fine clothes that he took a fancy to. Hew to get them without money he was at a loss to know for a short time, but at last ho hit upon a plan. He went home to his hut, got his son, took him to the store, showed him the things he wanted, and instructed him bow to go to work aud remain quiet. After giving all the necessary cautions, he placed him in a sack, took him on his back, carried him to the store, and asked permission to leave his sack until next morning, when he would call early and take it away. The shopman of course said ' all right—put it down there.' So the sack w*s left. When th© shop was shut up and the shopman was snoring like a porker, the boy came out of the sack, took the articles pointed out by his father, put them into the sack, got in again himself; sewed the Back up again on the inside, and remained quiet. Early the next morning his father came for his sack. The shopman said • there it is,' so he shouldered his sack and cleared out with all the articles he was anxious to possess a short time before." Mb Packer, R.M., acting as chairman of the Oamaru Quarterly Licensing Bench, expressed his emphatic condemnation of the multiplication of public houses. According to the • North Otago Times ' report, his Worship, in substance, stated that such multiplication did not conduce to the production of a superior article in drink, and that the most successful publican was not necessarily the man who sold the best drink, but he who was the most successful adulterator. He alluded to the immoral effects of the trade, and especially to the evils of the low shanties which he said should be swept away. He also alluded to the water closets attached to public houses, and directed the attention of the police to them. He said that such was the condition of these closets, that their condition alone would be sufficient to disqualify a majority of publicans from being license-holders. A harmless accident, both extraordinary and amusing, occurred in Princes street on Saturday. Aceordi&g to a local organ, a youth, who had been quenching his thirst at the fountain, made a dart across the street, coming in contact with that interesting quadruped the Dunedin donkey, which, with the cart, he capsized, making its owner and assistant measure their lengths in the dust. The Provincial Government of Marlborough is stated to hare transferred its account to the National Bank, consequent upon the offer of terms which will be more to the advantage of the Province. Ihe Temperance movement, according to the ' Westport Times,' is about to be started in the Ahaura, and the promoters are said to be on the rack for a " Frightful Example." Dklaney, the pedestrian, ran ten miles at New Plymouth, lately, in two seconds under the hour. The ground was very rough, and it rained part of the time. At an enquiry held at Port Chalmers, before Dr O'Donoghue, coroner, concerning the death of Mr Crisp, who was killed the night previous between the railway pier and the ship Allahabad, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, with the following rider : — " That the Government be requested to erect gates across the railway, so as to p. event persons from p-issing up or down to the ship without permission from the watchman. Ships lying at the pier to have sufficient gangway accommodation, with lights and manropes to the same ; also a rope netting underneath to prevent similar accidents. The « New Zealand Herald ' says that it is told, on good authority , that in Auckland "already theie are nearly two hundred doubtful characters, vagrants as they are c illed, known to, and under the eye of the police. The Wellington correspondent of the c Ly ttelton Times,' m regard to t.he denial by Mr Vogel of the truth of the rumor to which lie (the correspondent) gave currency, regarding the probability of Messrs Bathgate and O'Rorke retiring on permanent appointments, says : — " I have goad reason, however, for believing that the course in question was at one time conterr plated, although it has since been abandoned. The • Timaru Herald,' of Sept. 1, saya :— On Saturday afternoon two boys, Joseph Rowley and William Nelson, each ot the mature age of from seven to nine years, were seen together with a horse going iv the direction of the windmill. Botween half-past two and three o'clock a lad driving a cart saw Rowley lying on the waste bit of ground near to the disused well just north of the windmill. The poor boy was quUe unconscious, the back of the skull being frightfully battered in, the wounds showing as if done by some blunt instrument. A large stone lying near was found to bo covered with blood, and it is said that there is an odd siiniliaiity between the shape of the stone and thd wound en the head. Whilst being carried home the poor lad moaned oat, " Oh, Willie Nelson, don't strike me again." Nelson, who denies having any hand in the sad affair, but says that Rowley was kicked by the horse, was brought up before the Resident Magistrate on Saturday and remanded for a week on bail. The boy Rowley has since died ; and at the inquest, held on Tuesday last, a verdict of manslaughter was returned against Nelson. Law is not a bad pursuit— for a lawyer. One of the parties in the recent Blue Spur case had the pleasure of receiving from his legal advisers a little Bill of £2000. B Mb Macandbew's motion in favour of granting a subsidy of *2000 to a steamer to maka monthly trips round the Middle 'Island, starting from and returning to Otago* and calling at all the Weafc. Coaafe ports from Martin's Bay to Nelson, being carried, will no douht make the West Coast as much a suburb of Ducedin, as it is now regarded as being one of Melbourne.

Me St. John Bbawi&an, formerly Commissioner of the Otago Police, died on Wednesday. The Sydney Morning ' Herald ' says': " New Zealand has a fine resource in its pastures. From what is generally known about the runa in the two colonies, it is quite safe to say, that on the average, it takes more land to produce a pound of wool in New South Wales than it doe's in New Zsaland."

The * Hawkes Bay Herald,' a strong supporter of the present Ministry, says, in a recent leading article, that " disaffection is rife on the East Const, and m*y, as it did at Poverty Bay a few days ago, burst forth at any moment."

One of the Auckland papers boasts of a runner who earns from 15s to 20s a week by collecting coppers, threepenny bits, and small change, and exchanging thorn' with the hotelkeepers at a slight remunerative discount. This young boy can always oblige . any publican or shopkeeper with ten shillings worth of coppers, for which he expects to receive ten shillings and sixpence. * I Mr Yogel, says the Wellington correspondent of the ' Thames Advertiser,' referring to tlio debate on the question of reduction of duty on gold, made a remark which contained a good deal of truth namely, that no doubt all those members who spoke in favor of the reduction would feel themselves bound to vote for it, ,but that they would feel much obliged to other members to vote on clie other side, and so defeat them. The gold-mining interest, the correspondeat says, is victimised in Yew Zealand. Money is borrowed' for railways and public works and for immigration, while the gold produce is specially taxed, an -I public works for the development of the industry are sparingly granted, and only on terms of sure repayment to the Government. The reduction of sixpence, carried in a former Session, on the gold duty, was obtained in the- House by a " fluke," which is not likely to be repented. The ' Bruce Herald,' referring to the larrikin element at Milton, says :— ' It may not be be thought that, .in a small village such as .this, there is but little fear of evil consequences resulbin* from boys being allowed to amusfl themselves on the streets for an hour or two of an. evening. We have no doubt parents think so, otherwise so many boys would not be found prowling about when they ou»ht either to be in their bed* or improving thir minds at home " It then hints. of very gross doiugs of which it has been informed, on the part of boys prowling about under cover of night, and strongly warns parents to keep then- boys at home. It closes with an extract — "Where is your Jioy at night ?— The practice of allowiu^ boys to spend their evenings in the streets b one of the most ruinous dangerous, and mischievous things possible. Nothing so speedily aud surely marks their course downward. They acquire, under the cover of eight, au unhealthy state of tlio mitid, vulgar and profane language obscene practices, criminal sentiments, and a lawless, riotous bearing Indeed it is in the streets, after nightfall, that boys gonerally acquire ihe education and the capacity of becoming rowdy, dissolute meu Parents, do you believe it? Will you keep your children koine at mghts, and see that their home is made pleasant and profitable ? " The Wellington, correspondent of the ' Lyttelton Times' thinks that 'the Education Bill will stand a very poor chance of gettiu<r through tho Upper House. " The s ibjoct, also," he says, "is one on which many of the honorables would like to express Ihemselvcs at considerable length, aud altogether, the Education Bill, 1873 is jevideutly already doomed to be one of the innoceuta slaughtered this year." Accobding- to tho North Otago ' Times,' Newcastle coal is selling at Oamaru, at £6 a ton. A- Maori named Tui Tv was burned to death in his hut on Mv James Crane's farm, Taiori Beach, on the 4th iiist. Deceased, who ■was about seyeniy years of age, and was distantly related to Mrs .Crane, slept, in accordance with Maori usage, on the --are ground in a hut, wrappei in a blanket near a fire. He was seen alive, previous to thus retiring, ox\ the evening of the 4th hist., and on the following morning the hut was found burned down, and all that remained ol deceased was the charred trunk of his body.