CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 34, 18 December 1885, Page 11

CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Dec. 15, 1885. Last week, the festival of the Bth was honored in the Catholic way large congregations and many communicants at the Masses, and a good attendance at vespers. The turn out of the school children at their special Mass was as usual remarkably good. I say "as usual," because thib is one of the sights of the place on highdays, holydays, and Sundays. A great many people like to look upon it, and they like to hear the remarks which our parish priest, who has a way of his own of talking to the little ones, addresses to the assembled children. A section of our public opinion, how large I cannot say, but I hope it may be large, is exercised about some unhappy old men who have found a decent refuge in the Domain for some years. Are you aware that Christchurch possesses the handsomest, the most picturesque, and the most extensive park and public garden in New Zealand ? Beautifully planted originally, it has grown up with a tract of sylvan beauty most refreshing to the eye, and the eye is not alone pleased : the song of birds is everywhere, and the perfume of flowere, of clover, of the resinous pine, and the aromatic eucalyptus. With flower beds to cultivate, vast plantations of seedling trees to attend to, miles of shady walks to keep in order, great stretches of trees of most sorts to be found in temperate climates to trim, prune, give air by thinning their branches, hedges upon hedges to" keep from almost Irrepressible exuberance ;— between all these things there is much work. It is not hard work, just the work that one man can do. In the old Provincial days that work was allotted to old men seeking employment and past their best days. When the Provinces went the way of flesh, we all thought thit a frost, a nipping frost had fallen upon our Domain, which was left with a Board— that wonderful panacea for all political evils— and without any funds. The funds were a detail that somebody had forgotten. But we we're agreeably suprised, like that good-hearted ecclesiastic will be when he°meets a certain questioner who asked him if he expected to meet her in heaven. The Charitable Aid Department continued to provide the money to pay the old men, and the Domain nourished fairly. But we have now the nipping frost in real earnest. We have a Charitable Aid Board of our own, which, being a really chaiitable body, has cut oil the wages of the poor old lellows at one fell swoop. Charity, you see. sir, when it forms part of a political table, means a dole for which nothing must be given in return. Somebody has lately said amongst us that we scorn to relieve without pauperising. This is a little above me, sir. but I do pity these poor old chaps who have to leave the pleasant place of their ending old age, and go forth to starve. The probability is that they will be refused rations on the ground that they have been earning wages as able-bodied men, and can do so again. Ttm is not one of the good tbings of this new Board's start. Of the Ministerial policy shaiowed forth by Sir Julius Vogel in that cheery spirit for which you have not been slow to give him credit, I cannot report anything definite ; as to its reception here, I mean. Opinions are divided everywhere I go. After the public has had a little time to turn it over, it will be more easy to tell on which side the majority of opinion lies. The newspapers wage war pro and con, but their readers have as yet made little Bign. Protection and Free Trade monopolise the correspondence columns of the journals at enormous length, and with the usual statistical merits and demerit s— especially the latter. But while thrashing out this subject which will not be of vital importance just yet in our political world,the correspondents neglect the progressive policy which is sure shortly to divide parties very sharply. Ihis is a sign that as yet there is not much that is definite in the public mind about the latter. One suggestion has been made which appears to commend itself generally. It is that if we are to complete the trunk lines there must be no monopoly of land as in the past. This, lamin a position to say, is the opinion of some of our most prominent representatives. Ih the matter of Ministers, we are in tbat state which nature abhors— we have a Ministerial vacuum. Nearly all the week we enjoyed the presence of four Ministers— Sir Julius, recovering from his accident, the Premier, with Mines and Justice, being in attendance — and we made the most of our opportunities. By the aid of never failing rumour, we arranged Cabinet meetings by tne dozen, in which we disposed of policies by the score. We did a great deal of most interesting work, and we wound up by issuing a new loan. Now, I don't say that we were at all wrong in all this. I only say that all that has transpired is that Ministers have completed arrangements to take over the Rakaia Railway, and arranged to support the prospecting party at Big Bay. What i hat speculation is you will see from the following, which I clip from the Lyttelton Times:— "A. Prospecting Farty.-A number of enterprising people in Christchurch and Duneain have, we understand, made airangements for prospecting some country lying inland from one of ihe bays of the West Coast— Big Bay, near Cr.«=cade Point— which is close to Jackson's Bay, of not too happy memory, and lies to the southward of it. A portion of the party is, we hear, already at the bay in question, and the rest are to start forthwith. The enterprise has grown out of a ratber romantic

story. Some thirty years ago, the story goes, a French vessel put into Nelson, and presently going to sea was never heard of more. During her stay no communication was allowed with the shore. But before she sailed, one of her people managed to evade the watch, and swam to land. There he told a wonderful tale, the gist of which was that the crew had been piloted to a certain place inland from Big B<*y by some Maoris ; that there they had f >und gold ; that they hid gathered a hundred thousand pounds worth of the precious metal, massacred their Maori guides, and set forth on their voyage home. After a time, the runaway dying, his papers were examined and found to contain descriptions of the Bcene of the murder and plunder. Several attempts have since been made, with the guidance of this information, to find the spot, but owing to heavy snowdrifts all have proved fruitless. The present search is, we understand, to be prosecuted ia a determined manner."

This morning we learn that all the Ministers have flown— Sir Julius having returned, recovered (I am glad to say), to Wellington, and the others having taken the express to your city. The Minister of Justice and Mrs. Tole, who had not 6een Cbriatchurch before, were I understand, very much pleased with the city and picturesque suburbs. We do not get the credit for it, but they are picturesque, and what ia more, they are clean and well laid out.

The sudden death of Mrs. Johnston, the judge's wife, cast a gloom over the community last week. The deceased lady was universally respected and beloved for her high character and many chanties. A great number of people of different denominations attended her funeral at the pretty little churchyard cemetery of Riccarton.