THE LATE TUAPEKA ELECTION AND ITS MORAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 23, 30 September 1887, Page 19

THE LATE TUAPEKA ELECTION AND ITS MORAL.

TO THB EDITOR N.Z. TABLET. Sib,— ln your issue before last 1 ventured to appeal to th« Catholic electors of this district, to give their votes against Mr. J. C. Brown. I took that course because I knew that a considerable number of them were favourably disposed towards Mr. Brown owing to pettr personal obligations under which he had placed some of them, and great expectations entertained by others of personal favours to come. I hoped that the knowledge that the eyes of Catholics throughout the Colony were upon them would stimulate them to cast aside selfish motives and act on principle for the public good. I gave a short and truthful sketch of Mr. Brown's career in relation to the question of aid to Catholic schools, and showed how he trifled with us for twenty years, until he finally threw us overboard, when he felt it safe to be outspoken. Moreover, I explained to the people from the altar the wiie policy laid down by the Tablet— via., that if Catholics desire to get aid for their schools, they must put aside all private sympathies and selfish motives, and sternly oppose every public man who refuses to advocate their claims for justice. I sincerely regret to state that a large number of oar people, probably between 40 and 50, disregarded this advice, and sacrificed the educational interests of their children to feelings of private sympathy and personal considerations. They may allege as an excuse that they had no confidence in the sincerity nf Mr. Bennet's promises of voting to obtain aid for our schools ; but it was pointed out that Mr. Bennet was the first candidate who had the courage and the honesty to pledge himself publicly to advocate our cause, anl that no man could give more than such a promise until he got a fair trial. lam glad to say that the majority of our people followed t ;e lines laid down by the Tablbt, and there is not the least doubt but that tbrir action would have been crowned with success if the minority had ntn >t gone " crooked." I take this opportunity to publicly thank all the Catholics in this district who did the right thing ; and I wish to assure those who failed in the day of trial that I have no personal resentment against them, and that I an writing this letter simply because I feel it is a duty I owe to the Church of which I am an obscure and humble minister. Finally, the moral to be drawn from these facts ia that contained in the wise old adage : •' Together, we stand : divided, we fall. -I am, etc., p. O'Lt aby.

The Provincial of the German Franciscans of Amarus* has bee summoned by the Father-tlenerU of his order to return to Falda to negotiate the return to Germany of the religious under his sway. A reward of 200dols. is offered for the arrest of " Rev. Dr. Arthur Waite," known as the con-verted clown. He is wanted for robbine a trunk of 125d015. at Paris, Ky. Some idea of the vast wheat crop of the west may be gained by what is required to harvest the crop, when one farm, the Dalrymple of Dakota, shipped by the Amarican Express company from Boston 100 tons, or nine car-loads of Waders' twine for the coming harvest, and shipped by express in Older to get it to Dakota in time. Within twency-four hours lately five Pennsylvaaia women kindled their fires with coal oil, and in consequence there were five funerals. Under the initiation of he Vatican all cod vents in Alsace-Lor-raine which are branches of French institutions will henceforth have relationship with German convents. General Ferron, the French Minister of War, has forwarded a circular to the different commanders of the army forbidding military bands to play Boulanger airs. The Government of Columbia, South America, has passed a bill in the National Legislative Council " authoiising the Government to offer its homage to His Holiness Leo XIII. on the occasion of hit Sacei clotal Jubilee. For this end it has destined the sum of 10 000 pesos in gold, taken from the public treasury." This is a testimony to the fact that the religion of which Leo XIILis the Supreme Head contutes a social bond and element. It alao emphasises the position acquired by Leo XIII. in the opinion of statesmen and of the public. The King of the Belgians has lately invested 5,500,000 dols. in the purchase of estatts in Hungary and Austria. They are nominally to become the property of hie sons-in-law, the Crown Prince of Austria and Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, but it is generally believed that this step has been taken in view of possible mishaps. Sister Marie Therese, the French nun who baa lately been decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour for forty years' service in the army amblaancea, seems (says a contemporary) to be not only a brave but a merry woman. Daring a time of hard fighting in Tonquin a bomb, feh into an ambulance full of wounded men. Sister Therese seized the bomb and carried it to a distance. When she set it down it exploded, but luckily not till she had ha«l time to throw herself flat on the ground. Her assistants rushed up in terror and found her unconscious and c;vered with blood. W^en she regained her senses she uttered her customary phrase :— lt's only a joke "an expression which has since become her nickname. At another time she was attending a wounded man, when she was struck by a passing splinter from a charge of mitraille, but her quiet observation was merely as usual :-" It's only a joke." At the ceremony of the decoration none of the customary formalities were omitted. The General who conferred the title of Chevahere on the brave nun touched her with bis sword on both her shoulders, and finally brushed her cheek with his white moustaches.