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New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 457, 13 January 1882, Page 15

Wb hardly care to blow our own horn very loudly, but we believe our readers will admit it to to be due to us to acknowledge that we have done something towards advocating and defending the Irish cause all through the present agitation, and for our own part we promise that we shall continue to do so to the end without faltering or hesitation. But in order that we should be in a position to do this with good effect, as well ai to fulfil the other ends for which the Tablet was called into existence, it is very necessary that the moral •upport accorded us in our readers' approval, and which we so highly value, should be backed up by the aid that the prompt settlement of accounts is capable of affording us. It is one of the conditions of human life that however much engaged the mind may be about exalted topics, the body needs to be maintained in a vigorous condition; iv newspaper life also we find that while our columns are devoted to patriotic, religious, political and other topics, all our machinery must be kept in good working order and for this it is absolutely necessary that, in plain terms, we should have sufficient money always in hand. We, therefore, appeal to our subscribers to remember our claims upon them, and be diligent and generous in acquitting themselves of them. In any particular case the amount doe to us ma; seem inconsiderable and such as we can afford to wait for, but when taken altogether a large sum remains in'the hands of our subscribers, which it is, never* theless, most desirable that we should receive without delay. We, therefore earnestly request of each subscriber to forward us the amount owing by him as soon as possible.

A Napieb newspaper reports that the minahs acclimatised there make continual war upon the pigeons, which are quite unable to hold their own against them.

Ds. Bulleb speaking the other day at Karori, gave it as an instance of Maori selfishness that, on one occasion when he was dispensing flour and sngar at Foxton a Native who represented him. self as starving, made application for aid, but when he had been given a bag of each of the commodities in question inquired. " Well, but who's to pay me for taking them home 1 "

The Inangahua Time* reports the Reefton mining prospects for the new year to have opened well. He says the samples of stone obtained upon several recently granted leases by prospectors promise important finds.

In. the case of the Hon. Charles Johnston Pharazyn tried the other day at the Wellington supreme court for personation, there appears to have been from the beginning to the end a series of bewilder* ment and blunderin g that it is infectious to read of. The defendant was bewildered and blundered when he went into the wrong booth and recorded his vote as he did not intend to record it. The judge was bewildered and blundered either when he first told the jury that the very fact of the d«£ endant'9 having voted twice constituted the offence, oi

when he afterwards informed them that the offence was not voting & second time, but applying for a voting paper a second time. And the jury were so bewildered and blundered so in their verdict, that bis Honour had to write it ont again for them in another form -which they were at liberty to adopt, amend or reject as they thought fit. It is not surprising then to find that there is some doubt as to what the verdict really meant and that its sense remains to be determined in the Court of Appeal.

The Evening Post reports that during the late holidays some drunken fellows smashed the windows and front door of a hotel at Pahautanui, and that also a batch of rowdies travelling in a train on the "Wellington railway carried with them large stones, with which they broke everything they could hit in the wayside stations.

Had the visitor to New Caledonia to whose discovery there of a strange plant we refer in another column, visited New York also of late years, he would have found there likewise abnormally grown truit akin to that discovered by him in the French island, and here is proof of what we assert : — " At the last meeting of the New York Health Board the preamble and resolution offered by Professor Chandler were adopted : * Whereas, a corps of the Sisters of Charity has resided at the Riverside Hospital during the past six years, having charge of the hospital, and nursing those ill with smallpox and other diseases, in a manner that has elicited the unqualified approval of the Commissioners and officers of the Health Department, and at a time when it was impossible to secure the services of other reliable nurses for this work, tbe magnitude of which will be realised when it is remembered that in 1875 and 1876 there were at times between two and three hundred patients suffering from that loathsome disease, smallpox ; and, whereas, it has been found necessary by the director to transfer them to other fields of usefulness ; therefore, resolved, that this Board express to the Vicar-General, and through him to the Superior and officers of the Order to which the Sisters belong, its appreciation and gratitude for such services, and its profound regret that it has been found necessary to terminate them.' "

We may now daily expect to hear of the suppression of the Nation, the Dublin Freeman, and many other Irish papers. It is announced that all newspapers considered to encourage seditious conduct in Ireland are to be suppressed forthwith, and with Mr. Forster for a judge sedition will be discovered without much difficulty. It is fortunate that the American papers are out of reach of the executioner, and that they are so fully informed and trustworthy on all questions relating to Ireland.

We do not know much about the Guicowar of Baroda, nor what the result of his installation may be, but we have sufficient recollection of the doings of sepoys to believe that riots in which they were concerned, and which are reported to have taken place at the installation in question, may have had some significance. Do the sepoys dislike the dignitary alluded to, or is there again a question of their chewing grease ? There has been lately some agitation as to the slaughter of horned cattle in India.

Aprepot of the arrival of a band of Mormon missionaries in Auckland, a local paper gives some account of the reported doings of the " Saints "in Utah. He quotes an authority, who says their laws are designed for the encouragement of licentiousness, and furnishes details that are extremely revolting.

Lady Febgtjson, wife of Sir James Ferguson, Governor of the colony, died at Bombay of cholera on the 9th inst.

There are now six cases of smallpox among the passengers by the Garonne, which lately arrived at Melbourne with the disease on board.

Humane and peaceful England, that shudders so at any report of outrage made concerning disturbed Ireland, still herself does ac" tually display a case or two that may reasonably be called in question. There, for example, were the boys at the St. Paul's Industrial School, starved, beaten mercilessly, and shut up continually in a dark cell. One of them, too ill to do the work allotted to him, was whipped the very day before he died ; another took poison in an attempt to escape from his misery, and others, well instructed in morality by the training given thsm, tried to set fire to the building in the extreme of their despair. There, again, was a little girl at Sheffield who, having fallen into consumption, as a consequence of fever, was caned by her father in order to rouse her to re•newed energy, and that she might " get up " as he told her instead of lying too ill to move, but who, instead of being reinvigorated, died. We further are informed as follows by a recent number of the Spectator .— " No one who reads the police reports can fail to have been struck during the last few months with an enormous increase in the class of what may be called ' riotous offences.' Isolated cases of wife-beating and street-robbery are of tolerably regular occurrence, and so long as men besot themselves with drink, and are subject to the passions of cupidity and jealousy, these forms of crime are likely to remain beyond the reach of the deterrent influence of even the most savage penal code. But the epidemic of brutality from which we are at present suffering has a different origin, and requires different treatment In Islington the inhabitants have been compelled to follow Calif ornian precedents, and to band themselves

into Vigilance Committees, who execute immediate and summary vengeance upon the disturbers of their streets. Tbe military organisation of the Salvation Army has enabled it, in more than one instance, to render a good account of its enemies. But in some of the lower parts of London there is literally no security against personal violence, and scenes are enacted every night which, if they were reported from Ireland, would immensely strengthen the cry which ia perpetually being raised for more coercion. There is nothing more contagious than this kind of ruffianism, which is all the more formidable because it is not confined to, nor indeed mainly practised by, those who belong to what is ordinarily regarded as the criminal class."

The Counties' Railway Commissioners have sent in a report concerning the Otago Central Railway that is favourable to the line laid out by the Government Engineer. The district to be traversed contains a number of industrial centres, including the boroughs of Alexandra, Cromwell and Naseby, and the townships of Pembroke, Albertown, Bendigo, Bannockburn, Clyde, Ophir, Drybread, Tinkers, Cambrian, St. Bathans, Hill's Creek, Kyeburn, Hamilton, Hyde, Middlemarch, and Hindon, with a population of about 10,000 engaged in agricultural, pastoral, and mining pursuits. The district contains 39 pastoral runs, producing a yearly return of 2,500 tons of wool. There are besides 550,000 acres of agricultural land, of which 450,000 acres are as yet unsold ; the soil is excellent, and the climate adapted especially to the growth of cereals. With facility for communication the value of the yearly produce could not amount to less than a million sterling.

We regret to record the occurrence at Invercargill on the night of the 4th inst. of a most disastrous and destructive fire. Several buildings were completely destroyed, and a large amount of property lost by it. Among the heaviest losers have been Messrs. Roche and Mclnerney ; and the former gentleman's losses have been the more heavy owing to the inferior quality of one of his safes, which permitted the destruction of several of his business books.

The Maniototo County Council have passed a resolution asking for the following mining reserves within the county : — Mount Ida, 20,000 acres ; St. Bathans and Cambrian, 10,000 ; Kyeburn, 6000 ; Sowburn, 2000 ; Hamilton, 4000 ; Hyde, 4000 ; Serpentine, 2000 ; Hill's Creek, 2000 ; Garibaldi, 500.

Mb. W. E. Rows, geologist, has made a most favourable report as to the Golden Fleece mine at Beef ton. He says the auriferous deposit, extending for miles not yet explored, is rich in gold and contains also lead, silver, iron, and antimony.

The first tunnal on the Otago Central line is reported to be closely approaching completion.

Mb. Fohstkb has gone to Osborne, where the Queen is now staying, for the purpose of obtaining a Cabinet Council's approval of certain exceptional measures to be adopted for the punishment of persons who supply the Irish disturbed districts with arms. This inclines us to look for some measures of extraordinary severity, for certainly the Coercion Act has given full power to the Irish executive to do anything within the extreme bounds of pretended humanity towards repression of all kinds. It will be interesting to learn, then, what the measures in question may turn out to be. Is it, indeed, proposed to resort to torture with the special sanction of Her Most Gracious Majesty ? or what are we to expect in addition to the provisions already made ?

The Waikaia correspondent of the Ivapeka Times reports the miners of his district as busy at work. A crane has been erected for one gentleman in the neighbourhood which is described as admirably adapted for sinking or stripping ground where no tail-races have been constructed.

A cargo of fresh butter sent from Melbourne in the s.s. Europa has arrived in London in good condition.

The Waimangaroa and Mokihinui reefs, Buller river, are favourably reported of.

A gentleman, signing himself «' One of the People called Quakers," writes to the Argus, taking Sir Henry Parkes to task for his intolerant utterances respecting the late Mr. Pitzpatrick's burial. He says Sir Henry is mistaken in implying that nothing of the kind could take place except among Catholics. As a constant reader of English newspapers, ho sees frequent refusals on the part of Protestant clergymen to perform the burial service over the body of some one who had failed to reverence their authority. Until the " Diasenters' Burial Bill " passed three years ago, graves in the common graveyard of the parish were frequently refused to the people in question, and the father of the writer had been obliged to carry hit dead 22 miles from the parish in which he and his children had been born, and bury them among strangere. He adds :: — >! No, friend Parkes, intolerance is not the exclusive possession of Catholic priests. Nay, the sensation created by the instance of Mr. Fit*Patrick's funeral Bhows that guch acts are rare among them. Certainly, for one such Catholic instance in the British Empire, I will find a dozen Protestant cases of even a worse kind." Meantime, we observe that correspondence on the subject continues in our i Dunedin daily contemporaries, in which it dm sunk to a very low

level. In particular our contemporary the Daily Times has published scurrilous abase emanating from some paltry pope or other of the kennel, that we should have thought even his stupidity would hardly have been dense enough to look upon as fit for the columns of a newspaper pretending to common decency. But when extreme bigotry and extreme stupidity combine what may we not expect from them? In the present instance, however, our expectations have been surpassed.

The European Mail, speaking of the Irish Land Court, cays : — " Some very curious cases crop up now and again, and an opinion has been expressed to the effect that, even if some of the tenants paid no rent at all, they could not support themselves in their holdings, a view which must be taken to suggest one of two things — either that the lands are valueless, or that the tenants are unprogressive." But it would seem that now-a-days even the most progressive tenants fail to improve their land, and more, that even progression itself has injured the position of the farmer. We have the authority of the London Times, at least, for stating that in England pasturage has gfown sour, and the inferior native grasses have taken the place of those requiring superior cultivation, owing to excess of moisture and low temperature ; that, moreover, chemistry has not fulfilled its pretensions by supplying manure to renew the wast«d soil — but in some instances perhaps worked barm ; and that the forcing forward of sheep for the market has injured the breed generally. It is another case in which it is found, or at least seems hinted, that after all man with his utmost art must fall short of the powers of Nature.

Apropos of an admission made by Judge Johnston at Timaru that the costs in a case in which a sum of £200 was disputed might exceed £81, a contemporary remarks that under such circumstances it is to be wondered at that any one can be found stupid enough to take even a just case into Court, Sir George Grey's proposals for admission to the bar are extreme, but lawyers will have themselves to blame if they pave the way for their popularity by Buch law charges as those referred to.

Upwards of 70,000 ca«es have been submitted to the Irish Land Court, of which 600 have been decided — 60 per cent, of the decisions being appealed against. It is reported that Prince Bismark has called on the great powers to define the position of the Pope, and that the Papal Nuncio at Vienna has proposed the cession to his Holiness of a strip of territory from Rome to the sea. Such reports, however, are hardly to be looked upon as reliable without fnrther confirmation.

The Panama Canal difficulty seems be by no means approaching settlement. The English Cabinet refuses the claim of the American Government as at variance with international law and the Clayton Bulwer Treaty ; and the English Press condemn the despatch to Minister Lowell as breathing a hostile spirit to England. It will be interesting to find that the cordial understanding arrived at in relation to Egypt by France and England extends also to America. England will need a strong alliance here. But if it be true that Bismark is uneasy as to this Egyptian affair, and has actually gone as far as to make preparations for the conversion of certain steamers into cruisers to serve at need. America might, perchance, obtain an ally that would occupy the attention of France. In any case, whatever may come of the dispute between England and America, it is ominous to find that cannon are being cast both in France and Germany, and warlike preparations generally proceeding. France and England have sent an identical note to the Khedive of Egypt guaranteeing the maintenance of order in his Kingdom, with the special aim it is understood of preventing all further interference of Turkey in Egyptian affairs. Meantime Germany and Austria have influenced the Sultan in opposition to the agreement made with England for the liquidation of the Turkish deb£ and envoys have gone from the Porte to Berlin about the matter. On the whole if things be as they are reported, affairs in general throughout the world seem rather " mixed," and it is hard to say what may not come to pass before they arc set straight again.

The disaffected portions of Ireland are to be divided into five military districts, where the military authorities alone will administer what they call justice. Things are evidently assuming the form they wore before '98, and the pitch-cap, and all the agreeable features of those days may once more b« employed to excite the outbreak necessary to excuse in the eyes of the world a wholesale slaughter. It is, moreover, desirable this should take place at once so that England may not be forced to Beet out pretty speeches, and gentle diplomacy with which to withdraw her opposition to America's claim to the political control of the Panama fanal. She cannot raise her voice very high as matters stand at present.

£18,000,000 worth of English and colonial property was lost in shipwrecks during the past year. The San Francisco mail steamer Zealandia arrived at Auckland on Tuesday with two cases of small-pox, which broke out after leaving Honolulu, on board. The passengers are gone into quarantine, and the mails have been fumigated.

The Wellington Evening Post reports the discovery at Kapiti of beds of sponge.

A northern paper says that a man at Havelock voted against Captain Russell because he wore an eye-glass. Coming events, however, cast their shadows before. When the ladies obtain the franchise personal appearance and tricks of fashion should go a good way in determining the fortunes of candidates. Professor M'lvor is said to report most favourably on the Gisborne petroleum springs, and paraffin. The decision of the Otago Land Board to exclude the representatives of the press and the public generally from their sitting on the question of the runs has caused a good deal of surprise and comment. The step is asserted to be illegal and beyond the power of the Board. The resolutions passed by the Board as to the division, re-leasing, and reservation of the runs appear to be fair and satisfactory, and such as should meet with the approval of the public, Messrs Richard Turnbull, William J. Stewart and J. H. Sutter, Canterbury members, addressed a letter to the Otago Land Board this week requesting them to limit the currency of the leases to be sold next month to one year, so that the matter might be reserved for the consideration of the New Parliament.

A fire broke out on the 11th inst. in an unoccupied bonse at Beefton, by which Kater's Exchange Hotel was burned to the ground.

The luapeka Times reports that, owing to want of work, many miners are leaving the district for Sydney and Tasmania. He looks for the only check to a decided effort to develop mineral resources.

The Imperial ministry have decided on introducing the ctfturc when demanded by a simple majority of the House, into Parliament. Discoveries of arms and dynamite as well as of conspirators are reported from Ireland. All Irish reports, however, emanating from British sources we receive not only with a grain of salt, but with a whole fist-full.

Books of tickets for the Intercolonial Art Union in aid of the Irish National Land League, and which will be drawn for in Melbourne as a centenary observance of the Declaration of Indepeadance on April, 17, have been received by several gentlemen in Dunedin who will be happy to dispose of them. Orders left at our office will be promptly attended to.

The Dominican Sisters beg to acknowledge the receipt of remittances towards their Invercargill art-union from Miss Ryan, Kanieri ; Mrs. Toal, Dunedin ; Mr. Neylon, \N aikari ; Mrs. White, Kaikorai ; Mr. Nestor, Clyde. H. Feldwick, Esq., M.H.R., has kindly made a donation towards the purchase of the new convent of £5 ss.

The collection to reimburse his Lordship the Bishop of Dunedin for the money expended by him in providing at Home for the needs of his diocese is making good progress. We regret, however, that owing to pressure on our space we are unable this week to publish the continuation of the list.

A party of the Dominican Sisters left Port Chalmers yesterday by the s.s. Albion en route to Invercargill for the purpose of establishing their branch convent there. It has been found necessary to erect, in addition to the present building, an extensive school-room on the grounds, and, as this will necessitate a considerable further outlay, it is hoped the friends of the undertaking will exert themselves to enable the Sisters to fulfil all their engagements easily, and enter upon their new field of labour with free hand?, and without the wearing anxiety that a burden of debt entails.

The Inangahua Herald gives the prices of diamond drills now being manufactured in Australia by contract as, for underground drills. £232 each ; surface drills, £350 each. Boilers to work the surface drills, £306 14s 4d each ; air compressors for underground drills, £507 each — these prices are exclusive of fittings. " The cost per foot," adds our contemporary, " for boring with the diamond drill at Stawell through metamorphic rock with quartz veins averages about 12s per foot ; at Kingston, 8s 6d per foot, and at Kilcunda through mesozoic rock (sandstone and shales) the cost does not exceed 7s 6d per foot. From 8s 6d to 9s <3d per foot may be takea as an average cost. The figures, however, do not include the cost of fuel and water. The bores sunk by hand in the Kyneton district have cost from £1 to £5 according to depth and hardness of the rock. The total number of feet bored in Victoria up to 24th September last was 22,029 ft. Sin."

"We clip the following from our Wellington contemporary the N.Z. Mail. An unsightly gap at the northern end of Lambtonquay, nearly opposite to the Government Buildiners, has recently been filled by a most substantially-built two-storey brick shop and dwel-ling-house, erected by Dr. Grace, and which has been built to meet the increasing business requirements of Messrs. Whittaker Bros., stationers and fancy goods dealers, who have secured a lease of the premises for an extended term. The site is excellently adapted for carrying on the business for which the edifice has been designed t while the latter reflects the highest amount of credit upon Mr. W Corbett, who has in the dual and difficult positions of architect and builder apparently given unqualified satisfaction. The building is substantially built, and regard has been had not only to the business requirement! for which it has been erected, but likewise to the com-

fort of the tenants. Throughout the architect has sedulously determined, so far as possible, to employ in. the internal fittings New Zealand woods alone, and the effect, as might be anticipated, is both pleasing to the eye and satisfactory to the tenants. Throughout the establishment paperhangings have been eschewed, and in their place the eye is relieved by encountering pretty, fresh, and bright natural pictures, obtained from the polished red and white pine and other woods in the district. The ceilings are lofty, and are also formed of native forest timber, highly polished. Messrs. Whittaker Brothers have recently imported, direct from London, Paris and Belgium, a large stock of stationary, books, school requisites, and fancy goods, of the latest pattern and devices, and these are really well deserving of more than a passing glance.

Oub contemporaiy the LytteUon Time* betrays an imperfect knowledge of the nature of the anti-Jewish movement in Germany when he speaks as follows : — " Two of Prince Bismark's most characteristic strokes of policy have been his encouragement of the Jews to harass the Catholics, and his more recent apathy while the Catholics have had their revenge upon the Jews." It is quite true that the Jews took an energetic part in the institution of the Kulturkampf, but the Catholics of Germany have sought for no revenge. On ths contrary, the anti- Jewish agitation has been condemned by several dignitaries of the Catholic Church, and the ecclesiastic who takes a leading place in it is Herr Stockner, a minister of the Evangelical communion. So far from being Catholics, those people who are now engaged in attacking the Jews were their allies in their undertaking against the Church. Our contemporary, then, seems* strangely mis-informed as to the matter in question.

Hunting in Ireland appears to be now more than ever a " mimicry of noble war." While the sportsmen are pursuing their vermin they are in some instances themselves pursued by the peasantry who are bent on preventing the chase. The scene must be extremely lively. But in those cases where " fish-hounds" lead the run something was evidently needed to add to the excitement.

The Nelson Colonist describes the school at Rikawa as infected with a contagious scorbutic disease of a serious nature, and which, when it attacks a child cannot be eradicated, at least for many years. Our contemporary thinks that, if the report be true, of which he has little reason to doubt, the utmost precautions should at once be taken in the matter. In this we fully agree with him, and the more since the whole colony may be greatly concerned in preventing the spread of the infection.

An individual who had twice before attempted to drown himself, jumped off the bridge at Wanganui with a similar intention yesterday week. If his friends can at last prevail upon this gentleman to die in his bed, it will be a proof that it is not only those who are born to be hanged, that, as the old proverb affirms, fail to obtain a watery grave. The Motmt Ida Chronicle very reasonably complains, that while there is no moaey available for immigration, and the nominations of their friends by settlers are in consequence refused, an immigration staff of seven men continues to be maintained in London, at the cost of £3500 yearly.

Sib Henry Parkes made a speech the other day at a banquet given him at Sydney, prior to his leaving for England, in which he played upon the first personal pronoun aa fully as did even Mr. Downie Stewart in his late election speech. Sir Henry said he dealt thus fully with himself to show how any man with the use of his hands and a brain would get on in the world. He made reference likewise to the almighty " cheek " without which both hands and brain would frequently profit nothing, and which we so often find to do service for both, Sir Henry, however, being in genteel society and desiring to avoid slang, spoke of the quality in question under the euphemism of " sufficient.bravery." — It has stood him in good stead, and he owes it a high-sounding title.

The latest craze that appears in the emigration line is a proposed exodus for the cultivation of the cinchona tree iv Jamaica. It has been discovered that the climate is delightfully talubrious, aud the yellow fever a mere bugaboo that no one ever in truth encountered there. What do they not find out when they have the will !

Serious bush fires, resulting in the loss of property to a considerable amount, took place last week near Oxford, and Akaroa in Canterbury.

Mb. James Redpath reports the eviction of a woman with a child one day old at her breast, and who died in consequence of the treatment given her. Yet the Land Act is perfect, and all Ireland should be on their knees imploring the blessing of Heaven on their deliverers Gladstone and Forster !

The debt of Victoria amounts to over £20,000,000, of which £15,000,000 have been invested in railways, receipts from which show a progressive increase. Sir Bryan O'Loghlen desires to float another loan of £4,000,000 on the English market.

The Rev. Father Sheridan has written to the Argus relative to the reported disturbance in the cemetery at Ballarat. It 6eems the woman who was buried had received the Sacraments of the Church on her deathbed, and died in the Catholic faith, notwithstanding

which her body was conveyed to the Presbyterian burial ground, and a minister was in attendance to conduct the service of his communion over it. At this sight the dead woman's father and brothers were filled with indignation, and resented with a warmth of language that could not be approved of, although everything considered it could hardly be looked upon as totally unpardonable, the outrage offered to the wishes of the deceased, and their own religions beliefs. As usual, the bigoted Press of the colony exaggerated everything unbecoming that tojk place, and concealed all the extenuating circumstances.