CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 8, 12 June 1885, Page 13

CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own Correspondent.) . , June 9, 1885. ttn U t S oX JS" T en i5 bo !f n6n 6 8cb ° larshi P s » *» the Board of EducaST'i i? i*v North Canterbury these were till 1882 open scholarships. In that year the North Canterbury Board restricted theirs "to all children who have attended regularly any public school under the Board from the commencement of 'the Scembe? quarter, previous to the date of the examination, provided that the SiS ce ' D a t te , ndl , DSD S secondary school., who have held any of the Boards scholarships, may compete in classes O, D, and E " The head master of Christ's College Grammar School, the 'best of its kind by the way in New Zealand, wrote to the Board of Education at its last meeung, suggesting a return to the old rule. In his letter he SSS X P0"P 0 "" 8 - 00 ? was » statement of his conviction that the SfSJ^L Brt8 rt °1 com P et [ tion through d!ead of superior teaching elsewhere ; the other was that as the scholarshi P9P 9 are not confined to the children of poor people, all children have a just claim to ST^f JJ he fdemand/*f demand /* the headmaster, backed by his insinuation of the dread of competition, flustered the Board a little. The matter was postponed, the secretary being instructed to furnish each member with a copy of the headmaster's letter, and a copy of the Board's «SEJ of 188 ?. wUoh the chairman said had not been arrived a? "without grave debate." One of our morning journals strongly advocates a return to the open scholarships, on the double ground 3 the increased competition and of justice to all alike. To refuse Catholics, who contribute to the revenue, the opportunity of competft! 1 PT, 111 TBT B a l- b t d as ifc would be *° kee P them oat of the public schools, to which they also contribute. This is very remarkable. The essence of the Catholic educational position 7s that Catholics ore shut out of the Government schools. There are as Ifl w Q ?i W f ° 8 !? Ot^ e °? le ? ho insißfc that the 7 are n °t. The owner SJ a well '; enced Paddock, might as well say that he does not keep w£ tS ce 5 8nd °- attl ? off bis grass - ° dear no I The^ is only the fence. Ths discussion m the Board of Education will have its uses If the minor matter of the scholarships is decided according to E.« e i'i K6K 6 .f^^ question of aid to denominational scbooL wil° logically be decided too. The practical outcome is of course very different, still it will be something to have bad the question of justice enquired into Hitherto nobodf has allowed the question to S f ;». Th ,? tmth i 8 that tbe more i 8 stirred^he worse the position of the advocates of injustice appears to be. lather Gmaty is back from Wellington (where he was present SLSu °^ ning -?J- t^ Qolle^> lookml all the fresher fo7MstrTp Stttt C aTprSslon^ ««lS SS^TOffi^**- «»* p-^ - to,- >, We v, are - all ? 0W m the commercial vein. The starting of the Janet Gateways of and many auotber island *•* *S gateways of the day." Most of us are represented by the Industrial Association who have taken advantage of the free pass offered by the 2?nf3Sh? hT d a clega 1 te ' Mr ' T - Pavitt ' an old ChristchurchwS! nh . n h i f had cons J dera b^ experience of commercial matters is the chosen label, as one of our writers has put it. What trade is to be opened up no one seems to know. That is why Mr. Pavitt is at this moment ploughing the seas. The islands have a magnificent post on! and we want to share it. The difficulties in the way are obvious ; it is also obvious that by sitting still nobody will overcome them. SfZlf •c ? F eat - dea L in this e *P lo 'ation of a trade route Ihe enterprise is at least m the spirit of Josh Billings' advice to

2^?/n«,T hO fi! rant - to , m i lk , COWB>llofcfco SefcllßfcoolS efcllBfcool and ait upon it, waiting for the animals to lay up alongside. •' Great is the truth, etc.," as I need not remind your readers. What I will say to them is that a gentleman who is here after some extensive cruising m the island trade has borne a striking testimony tofil superiority of the Catholic teaching in the Paciftl « Never gtye a Wesleyan credit in Fiji," says Mr. Tichborne, as reported in the LytteltonTinuss. » A Catholic is quite another pair <5 shoes. The priest will see that he pays n P ; .and in a Catholic district you can leave your cashbox wide open on a tree stump all day and never miss a cent— unless a white man comes along." Mr, Tichborae is not a Catholic himself. He has explained that trade in these regions is a matter nowadays of cash, not as of old of barter. The trader pays for his produce m cassh ont of a bag of dollars, shillings, francs, sovereigns, as the case may be) the money varies with the locality), which he carries with him. Having received their cash, the Natives buy the ? l^ g * ? a - W - th i*' So tbafc leavin^ au °P en c*Bhbc * Bhbo * anywhere unguarded is distinctly a temptation even in Fiji. The testimony this shrewdly observant wanderer has borne to the high influence of the grand old Church ought to be widely made known. Of political speeches we have had a most luxuriant crop. As 2£m « " «* S^-? old "traw, which obstinately refuses to yield grain to the diligent thresher. There is one thing about the collection that will interest the political world outside of Canterbury viz., that they show how closely the bulk of the Canterbury members intend to stick together during the coming session. Another remarkable thing there is, too. The member who has nailed his educational colours to the mast more formally than any, the member who has most loudly ciied" No Surrender," of cost or anything else, is Mr. Montgomery. And Mr. Montgomery has no following. Your remarks last week on the monopoly of the Canterbury lands were most true, as well as severe. That is the true cause of the depression, as several public men have pointed out lately. Labour cannot find employment, and the agriculturist who comes with enough money to make him with decent prices a prosperous yeoman passes Canterbury by. J Colonel Whitmore has been here. As beseems a soldier, he did not let the grass grow under his feet. Rapidity, as those who know him always say, was ever the Colonel's strong point. It was his rapidity which drove Tito Kowaru out of the Taranaki and Patea country in 1868-69. Tito never got leave to rest the sole of his foot. Whenever the scouts reported bis whereabouts, no matter what hour of the day or night it might be, no matter what work had been cone through, the Colonel turned his men out then and there, and went off in pursuit ; moreover, be never sent his men when he did not go himselt. How he met his officers in this district, the papers will u a ut, <old . you .-» Wbat tbe y did not tell y° u is that he pricked the bubble dissatisfaction with great effect. It has been persistently represented to the Government by certain malcontents that the whole force is not in accord with the officer commanding the district. The Colonel, when the officers were all assembled, asked that anyone who had a grievance should out with it. It was found that there was no grievance, except againat some of the regulations. The determination of its London directors to wind up the Grain Agency Company has not caused any surprise here. It has v been an open secret all along that the Company never was a success. One thing in the Company's history has, however, occasioned surprise, and ought to be remembered. When Messrs. Stead and Cunnipgham sold their businesses to the Company, they guaranteed interest to the amount altogether of some £15,000. When things were getting bad in the wheat trade, these gentlemen took over a large' number of gram cargoes that properly ought to have been consigned on the Company s account. The result was as they knew it might be ; over and above the £16,000 they had guaranteed, they paid the Company (t.e., saved it from loss to that extent) no less than £70 000 This did not save the Company— perhaps nothing can make grain-buying profitable to a company— but their handsome conduct, so rare in this grasping age, should be remembered to their credit. i.v 4n4 n * coident at Rangiora has its moral. In the dead darkness of the night an old man is plodding along a country road ; a buggy is going along at a good pace ; the old man does not hear, the driver of the buggy does not see. There is a thud and a cry, and the old man's days are numbered. At the inquest, it came out that the youne men in the buggy left the stricken victim on the roadside, drove into Kangiora, delayed there before reporting the accident, one of them actually going to a hairdresser's and getting hie hair cut! The Coroner s remarks on this " inhuman brutality " will be endorsed far and wide. The moral for all who drive in buggies at night is that they must keep their lamps in order. One lamp was broken iv this case ; hence the accident. Word has reached us that the statue of the late Mr. Moorbouse is complete. Mr. Moorhouse was the father of railways in Canterbury \, The L y ttelt on tunnel is his great work. You will see that we still honour our great men in the old way.