NEWS OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 217, 22 June 1877, Page 11

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Thi Melbourne correspondent of the Daily Times, in a communication published on Tuesday last, furnishes us with an additional example of the connection that ofttn exists between a weak mind and a bitter tongue. He is responsible for the following choice emanation of literary Billingsgate : — " Mr. Francis is understood to hold that the honour of knighthood has been degraded in these colonies by the class of men on whom it has been conferred. An illustration in Punch this week shows him pointing at Sir Charles Duffy, and asking, "Do you think I would herd with the

likes of him ?" Probably our weekly jester in this pretty closely n gives the ground of Mr. Francis's objection. Any man who in It public and private matters had tried to keep his path straight, t and his character free from stain, migjht -well decline to be included C in the same category of titled politicians with a man who, begin- < ning life as a furious rebel and apostle of everlasting hatred against f the Government of the brutal Saxon, ends by enjoying a State t pension, and wearing the honours of knighthood dispensed by the t Saxon despot." A man, therefore, who has begun life by vigor- i ously opposing a great wrong, when all occasion for his doing so a has ceased, is to continue the warfare although he would be merely beating the air ; and because he opposed the English Government where that Government was a gross injustice, he should by natural consequence still struggle against it in a country where it is just and beneficent. Here is logic with a vengeance ! How grievous to the envious is success ! < On Thursday, 14th inst., the members of the H.A.C.8.5"., : Dunedin, attired in their regalia, attended the remains of their t late Secretary, Mr. John Cantwell, to the place of interment in the i Southern Cemetery. A large number of the friends of the deceased also joined in the procession, many of them wearing knots of green ' ribbon in his memory. His Lordship the Bishop of the diocese, < accompanied by the Rev. Father Sheehan, officiated at the grave. | The unusual length of the funeral train, together with the assem- i blage of ladies of the Catholic congregation who awaited it at the cemetery, bore ample testimony to the high esteem in which the deceased was held, and to the regret occasioned by his early death, i E.I.P. The news brought by the San Francisco mail, which arrived at Auckland on the 16th instant, centres in the war and the rumours thereof which at present pervade Europe. It is evident that the Turks are making a very determined stand, and this Power seems much more formidable than it was generally supposed would turn out to be the case. Nothing that has yet occurred, as reported by the nsail, indicates what the result will be. No great actions have taken place, nor have any places of extreme importance been captured on either side, a.nd the Danube still interposes between the hostile forces in Europe. Although still neutral, the other Powers appear more or less to harbour thoughts of becoming engaged in the milee. England continues busied in preparation; arrangements have been made for the embarkation of 50,000 men, if necessary, 25,000 at Bix days' notice and the remainder in a fortnight after. Sir John Simmons is named as Commander-in-chief, and there is some talk of an alliance with Austria and Germany. The Hungarian papers are warlike, and Kossuth recommends a coalition against Russia. Germany increases her threatening attitude towards France, Bismarck declaring that a clerical and monarchical cabinet there mi<jht prej v dice German interests and the maintenance of peace, and Von Moltke intimating that the Empire watches the military movements of the Republic, and will take measures corresponding to them in Alsace and Lorraine. Our own opinion is that a general war i 8 inevitable, and that, in all probability, it will prove to be true, as has been supposed, that Bismarck all along favoured the war, — foreseeing the resistance of Turkey, and that Russia would find a more formidable enemy than was expected, which would leave him free to prosecute his sinister designs relative to France. We regret to say that on Monday morning last, Mr. Join Moylan, of Dunedin, a gentleman well known to many of our readers, died suddenly of heart disease. He had been for some time under medical treatment, but was not prevented from following his usual avocations, and on the previous evening had attended Vespers and Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament sit St. Joseph's Church. Between the hours of one and two a.m. on the morning in question, he was found in George-street by Constable Bridgman and conveyed home, where he expired before the arrival of Drs. Niven and Reimer, who were immediately summoned. R I.P. We learn by means of a private telegram from Auckland, that the Roman correspondent of the London Tablet of April 28th gtates, that the Revd Dr. Chereyre, Wellington Diocese, has been appointed Bishop of Auckland. As there seems to be a misunderstanding on the subject in some places, we have been requested again to state that the Dominican Convent Building Fund Art Union has been deferred to September next. The Hospital Committee disapprove of the proposed change in the situation of the institution in question, so that the matter has fallen to the ground, A man named. William Hurren was brought to the Dunedin Hospital on Tuesday last, suffering from an injury to the right leg, which he received at Green Island while acting as guard on the railway. The limb was crushed between two trucks, and to such an extent that amputation was found necessary. White Island has been purchased by Mr. J. A. Wilson with » view to utilizing the deposits of sulphur to be found there. The ore is to be conveyed either to Auckland or Tauranga, where a refinery will be situated. A GENTLEMAN, in passing through the city on Saturday (says a recent number of the Auckland Evening Star) en route from San Francisco to S.\ dney, called at our office to warn colonists against leaving here for California. He says a good many persons have been attracted by glowing accounts of the prosperity of that State, and their friends can form no conception of the hardships which some of them have undergone. Within his own knowledge industrious respectable men, unable to find employment, have been arrested for stealing food from the swill-barrels at the rear of restaurants to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Shortly before leaving in the ' City of New York ' he had made a tour of the whole State, and found widespread distress. Thousands of men were on the tramp, and working in many instances for their food. This number was continually swelled from the overcrowded labour

markets of the Eastern States, and the invasion of Chinese. The last phip from China alone brought nine hundred more Mongolians to compete at peppercorn wages with European labour. The Chinaman is übiquitous. Employed at first in all sorts of domestic capacities, and in labouring work, he has now forced his way into factories, and every field of labour and trade. Living huddled together in a wretched part of San Francisco, undertaking none o£ 4 the duties or responsibilities of citizens, possessing naturally re- 1 markable powers of imitation, these people are able to under-sell any working man. of European race.