CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 6, 29 May 1885, Page 13

CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own Correspondent.) May 26, 1885. Since I last wrote I have been able to see the result of the "Al Nations " Bazaar; because it haa oome into sight. On Sunday afternoon last the committee'mec and the manager presented a statement showing gross receipts, £1269 2* 9d; expanses, £171 10s 6d ; balance to the Convent Building Fund, £1091 12s 2d. This is a grand result truly. I may add that the informant who induced me to write in my last that the net result would be £1000, is a gentleman whose opinions I shall in future respect. ~ ■' In municipal circles here there is a flutter of tribulation, arising out of the great question of finance. As you are aware, the Colonial Tr< asurer has written a nice innocent letter to the borough councils in these islands. He is always' writing nice letters. In this particular one he has outdone himself by offering the deserving bodies, the objects of his unceasing solicitudean increase of revenne. What municipal heart can refuse au offer of added revenue, and withold its heartfelt gratitude from the giver of snch a good gift? Bat all municipal councillors are, unhappilly, not doves; and as for the ratepayers, what they are not in the matter of shrewdness aad suspicion it would not become one who has the honour to write for your polite and wellconducted columns to say. Some councillors have allowed themselves to be unfavourably influenced by the fact that the increasing of revenue offered is only an increase of the power of self -rating. The Treasurer offers to increase the municipal revenue limit, from f d in the £ capital value, to one penny, if the boroughs will agree to change the basis of valuation from the leasing to the capital value. The reason given (nothing is ever done without a reason) is that |d of one system is not equal to the shilling of the other which it replaces under the present Rating Act. As far as Ohristchurch is concerned this reason has been demolished by the mayor who has puttogether the following for the information of his council : — Leasing Value. Capital Value. 10s rates equal to £10,997 Jd rate equal to £12,135 Is „ „ „ £12,316 Id „ „ „ £15,168 From which it appears that one shilling and three farthings about balance each other. The Treasurer's reason goes for nothing with us here, it is needless to say. A suspicious councillor has given his reason which is. that the Treasurer wants to take away all our endowments in the shape of the license fees, which give the city the handsome annual sum of £2515. Hence, the generous design of the Treasurer to aid the municipal revenue says the councillor. This appeared in a newspaper in a letter from the councillor aforesaid. When the council met the mayor Baid he was afraid the suspicions of the councillor were well founded. He had been closeted with the Treasurer, who, apparently, had convinced Wm that the fees of the liquor traffic ought to be devoted to the alleviation of the suffering it causes. A newspaper has declared that the expenses of the traffic's control ou^ht to be met out of the fees, and that the gift of the fees to the Boroughs without the simultaneous imposition of the corresponding duties was unsound finance. All this is very well. Let us grant that the abolitionists diddled the Boroughs with a delusive finance. Let us persuade ourselves that the whole plan is founded on the basis of justice, which should be unalterable, and ought never to have been altered. Still the reason of the thing is plain. The cost of education is growing too enormous to be borne. There is a knot of politicians, blatant and determined, who threaten all kinds of hard usage to the Government, even to raising the uttermost bigots of the " uudenominationalist " Sects, if the Government touches a farthing of the necessary education vote. Last year the education vote was, in spite of every care, exceeded by several thousands, about £6000. The complaints of the want of school accommodation increase and multiply. What is an unfortunate government to do but bend before what it considers a storm ? There is no safety in getting this increased cost of education from tne consolidated fund. The only resource is to dip into the revenues of the local bodies. " Take the fees from the local bodies, and let them fill the void by rates from their own pockets. All taxation comes from the pocket. If you will insist on educating children gratis, for people who can afford to pay handsomely for education, there is your pocket, Dip away." This is the formula on which the Colonial Treasurer is acting, if this information of our wcrthy Mayor and his Councillor is correct. If the Treasurer would only state his formula in the above bold fashion, what a revulsion of feeling there would be againßt the Education Act. After the battle come the doctors and nurses. After the formation of Volunteer companies and the escape of the Militia to be called out, we have the St. John's Ambulance Association, of which a branch has just been formed here. Over forty ladies have joined, and a course of lectures has been begun. The lecturers ara the medical men of the place, who have for the most part undertaken to give the necessary instruction. If any of your readers will look into the manual of the parent association issued tor the use of the Volunteers —copies may be had I believe at all booksellers— they will see how very useful is the knowledge therein imparted, and how necessary in all departments of peaceful life, especially useful would it be to miners and agriculturists, aad people working amongst machinery, to understand the first principles of ' treatmeut of accident cases — bandaging wounds, disposing broken limbs for conveyance, stopping bleediug and the rest. A little knowledge easily acquired, and never forgotten may often save life, or prevent avoidable pain. Everybody ought to belong to the St. John's Ambulance Association. The Association has a rule against mixed classes, which our Educational institutions might bear in mind.

When the work of the Industrial School and the Reformatory are combined under .an irreligious system of education, what can you expect but a bad result ? The magistrates send every waif and stray to the Burnham School, whether they have oome from homes whose only reproach is poverty or whether they have been inmates of houses of vice. The young thief and the young prostitute are sent off to Burnham, and " thank goodness, they are out of the way." This is a crying evil. Attention has just been drawn to it by the escape from the School oE several young girls, headed by one who had been given to vioious courses before her admission. But though attention has been drawn, I am bound to say that the idea of the possibility of such wholesale corruption has not stirred many hearts. In this connection I may mention that our Missionary Rector, Father Ginaty, never loses an opportunity of getting the Catholio waifs and strays conveyed to St. Mary's Orphanage at Nelson. Temperance is still to the fore ; this time kept there by a woman, and a remarkable one, Mrs. Leavitt, from America, who talks well, and is telling us all about Ohio, Kansas, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire— the States which have prohibited the liquor traffic —and Wyoming, where the women enjoy the pleasure of voting at all the elections. This lady is not getting as many pledges signed as her predecessor, Mr. Booth, did ; but in getting up an association of women to assist the temperance cause she is doing a good work which commands the respect of all right-thinking people. Yesterday being the Queen's Birthday was a grand day for the Volunteers. How many men turned oat the morning papers will have told you before you get this. All I need add to their glowing description is that the number of trained men who turned out with such smartness, alacrity, and efficiency was a great credit to tha patriotism of the country. It is good that the war alarm is over. It is good also to be prepared as we are prepared.