Colonial Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 37, 19 June 1891, Page 2

Colonial Notes.

No one can complain that the speech delivered by the Governor at the opening of Parliament on Thursday, the 11th inst, was an empty one. On the contrary, it contained a long and highly debateable programme: The opening up of Crown lands, the acquisition of Native lands for settlement, the repurchasing of private estates, development of the mining industries, reform of the direct taxation, reform of the Legislative Council, an important postal change, bills for consolidating and amending the law relating to electors and elections, and for completing the abolition of plural voting ; for classifying and improving the civil service ; for amending the law affecting gold mining, and the working of our coal fields ; for altering and consolidating the law of bankruptcy ; for defining the law of libel ; for amending the lawß relating to companies and to juries ; for fixing the liability of promoters and the directors of companies ; and for consolidating and codifying the criminal law, as well as other bills dealing with matters of public interest, and, though last, not least perhaps, indeed, most important of all, a bill providing for the establishment of boards of conciliation and courts of arbitration, to deal with industrial disputes. Verily the list is a full and goodly one. The speech also contained an enigma : " The elasticity of the Colony's resources has been again shown by a further increase in the already remarkable volume of our exports," said his Excellency, and yet, in the next breath, he had to deplore the unfortunate exodus of population. How does it happen, then, that money is flowing into the Colony while the people are flowing out, and that the increase of products seems inversely proportional to a reduction iv the force of producers ? The session, however, if we may judge from the Governor's speech, bids fair to be a busy one.

The Address-in-Beply was moved by Mr M'Guire, the new Member for Egmont, and to whom an additional interest attaches as Sir Harry Atkinson's successor. Hiß speech was appropriate and sensible, evidently giving promise of a creditable Parliamentary career. Mr Buick, a member of the labour party, was the seconder. The motion was carried without unnecessary debate.

What does Mr Fisher mean by that question of his, if the Government will introduce Mr Pyke's Private School Bill, or some cognate measure ? Are we to look upon Mr Fisher as a newly acquired ally ? If so he will be heartily welcome, and some of our opponents will be a good deal mortified. Or can it be that Mr Fisher's motive is that of embarrassing the Government. He has grievously taken to heart his rejection as Chairman of Committees. He has in fact, publicly threatened vengeance. " Tne party in quite a gratuitous way has put upon me an affront," he writes in a letter to a contemporary, 11 and that affront the parly will expiate- There is no nonsense about me in a matter of this kind." Can it be that Mr Fisher's intention is to putish the Government by forcing them to make a declaration which will place themia a dilemma, obliging them either to sacrifice the support of the secularists or to incur the necessary opposition of the denominational party ? We do not know what Mr Fisher's meaning is. We hope it may not be sinister, but, if this is the manner in which he understands bis parliamentary duties and is prepared to fulfil them, all we can say, speaking of course in a strictly metaphorical and political kind of way, is, that he deserves to be whipped at the tail of a cart, a good old punishment reserved for offenders of a p rticularly mean and despicable type.

The Secretary of State supports the Governor, a 9 we said he would, in the matter of the appointments to the Legislative Council. His reply is that His Excellency acted strictly in accordance with the constitution of thi colony. He however, adds a Baying clause to the effect that he offers no opinion as to the action of the defeated Ministry. We understand, nevertheless, that a Tory manaiuvre receives a necessary support from the head-quarters of Toryism.

Our contemporary, the Globe, makes a loud condemnation of • proposal put forward by the U.S.S. Company for the formation of a Mutual Benefit Society, of whick the men at present in their employment should roluntari.y become members, but whose membership would be obligatory on all future employees. The proposal undoubtedly does seem something like an attempt on the part of the Company to obtain an unfair hold on the men and to bind them by ties which it would be more difficult for them to break. Some of the rules are of a nature that seems calculated to place the members more in the power of their employers than they would otherwise be. It may, for example, seem reasonable to decree that a member should be expelled for disorderly, drunken, or immoral condnct, bnt the epithet " disorderly "at least is capable of various interpretations. That a member should forfeit bis subscriptions and rights again, oa leaving the service of the company without the consent of the authorities, seems a rather doubtful requirement. It might be bet er for men to join societies where no such restriction woul.i be placed upon their liberties, and whose benefits would uot be bound up with their continuance in any particular employment. The complaint of the Globe, moreover, to the effect tbat the interests of friendly cocieties are threatened by this proposal seems justified. The men who subscribe to the society in question, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, will necessarily be lost to them. No doubt the Company mean well by their projact. It is, however, open to question as to whether any more peaceful solution of the labour difficulty is to be found in shackling the working men even with gilded fetters, especially if it be done because they cannot help themselves. We may doubt, besides, as to whether the Union Company hare acted orer wisely in betraying the fear that this proposal certainly seems to bespeak.

New Zealand bids fair to leaven the colonies with fads. AMr J. M. Haslett, for instance, who has just been defeated in ao election for the Zeeban district of Tasmania came forward as an advocate of education, free, secular, and compulsory, and of the nationalisation of the land. Mr Haslett's more sane pretensions were those of a representative of the mining interests with which the district is especially associated. Tasmania, however, does not seem as yet ripe for the adoption of fads, and consequently the more legitimate object suffered. Mr Haslett appealed to his friends to testify if he had not always employed the best men, and paid the highest wages in New Zealand. Such being the case it is a pity we lost him— and a man or two, more or less, beset by fads could make no great difference to us here.

Lord Jersey, Governor of New South Wales, spoke a sensible word or two during a visit paid by him the other day to St. Ignatius' College, Riverview. In replying to an address presented to him his Excellency alluded pomtsdly to the nature of the education given in the institution—" an education," he said, •• grounded on religion, which is the foundation of all true culture.

A warning to burglars has occurred near Sydney where a man, supposed to have been a member of the brotherhood, was found the other morning smothered in a chimney. Some modification of suspicion is, however, possible, owing to the fact that the chimney was that of a refreshment room, into which au unfortunate fellow might have been attempting an entrance to ease his hunger. In any case burglars had better try Borne safer way.

In alluding to an action recently tried ia Melbourne the Advocate asks a pertinent question or two:— "ln the course oftho trial " says our contemporary, "it was suggested that the plaintiff bad violated a Masonic rule in bringing his complaint before a civil tribunal instead of before the Ma«onic lodge of which both parties were members. Bef erring to that feature of thai case, Mr Justice Hodges said, in his summing up, that no matter how grossly the rules of the Masonic body were violated they could not prevent any man coming with a grievance to a conrt of law. Of course not ; but can the Masonic Lodge inflict a penalty on the offending member, and is he amenable to its jurisdiction f Has the Lodge the power to punish him for exercising his civil rights, and is he bound by oath or fear of consequences to submit to its decision ? When it became known a few years past tbat the Chinese had a court of their own, to which disputes among themselves were carried for settlement, and that this court inflicted fines on wrongdoers, there was a great outcry against this imperium in imperio on a small scale. Is the same thing on a some what higher scale among Freemasons to be altogether overlooked f The Chinese Conrt was regarded as a sign of alienation from the common interests and an offance to our established institutions. The Masonic Court is ao analogous case, and have those who censured the Chinamen nothing to say agaioet the Masons ?"

In view of the resolution of the labour party to fight their cause in Parliament, a committed of employers, entitled the Electoral Registration Society, has been formed in Melbourne to secure that the names of voters of the right class aie placed upon the rolls. Tbf

timw, indeed, look perilous for tbe Capitalists and they cannot afford to leave any measure for defence neglected.

11 We (Sydney Freeman* Journal) record with deep regret tbe death of Father Jobn Stokes, of the Rederoptoriste, who breathed his last at the monastery, Ballarat, Vie, en tbe Ist inst. Father Stokes, who was 64 years of ape, and 25 years a Redemptorist, was well known in this colony. He canoe out to the Diocese of Maitland in 1883, and was a member of tbe Bedemptorist community at Mount St. Alpbonsus, Waratah, till sent to the Ballarat monastery io failing health last August." It will be remembered that some months ago Father Stokes was detained by illness in Dunedin, Father Plankett. who accompanied him, taking advantage of the opportunity to give a mission in St. Joseph's Cathedral. A good man is gone to his reward.

A bronze Btatue of O'Connell, which has been erected in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne* was unveiled by Sir Bryan O'Logblen on Saturday afternoon, May the 30th. In the evening. at a gathering in the Hibernian Hall, Hie Grace tbe Archbishop delivered an eloquent address on the life of the Liberator.

A paper on Irish-Australians which has appeared in the congenial columns of the Argus, has attracted some notice. Why it has done so it is hard to §ay, unless the prominence of the newspaper which has published it be taken into account. The writer styles himself "One of Them "—but an Orangeman can hardly lay just claim to Irish blood and the writer is an Orangemen— unless, indeed, he be something worse, if possible— a creature not even reckoned fit for such distinction. The paper is alike stupid and virulent—and its virnlence is its only merit. The line of argument is that because Catholics believe in the existence of eternal punLhment, thair moral sanction is a degrading one— as if English, and, for the matter >f that, Irish Protestants too had not firmly believed in the same without exception nntil within the last few years. An awful example is quoted in the condition of the Irish in America. As Irish-Americans, however, hold their own very well in every position in life— and particularly in the matter of education, to which the writer also alludes, take a leading place — their boys heading the returns of the competitive examinations, the illustration will hardly bear examination. The paper is one simply designed by unscrupulous and wicked assertion to stir up bigotry. The writer, in fact though be asserts that a belief in eternal punishment is degrading in its effects, has evidently a full belief in the salutary nature of punishment in the present life. He would add, if he could, to the Catholic belief — an uncomfortable belief, truly, for people who have, after all, a vague fear that it may prove true — the Catho.ic experience of a hel upon earth. The question is, while such writers can obtain a place for their wicked incitements in newspapers of good position, are Catholics fully Becure of their liberty— or even quite beyond the reach of persecution ? The raising of this questioa is the only matter of importance attaching to this paper— or rather to its publication by the Argus, which alone entitles it to notice.

At a preliminary meeting held in Sydney on the evening of the 4th inst., Mr J. R. Cox, M.P.. urged the necessity of taking immediate Btepß ior the relief of the evicted tenantß. "Mr Cox," says the Freeman's Journal, " explained tbe painful circumstances under which he had come to Australia to solicit help for tbe evicted tenants. He came out to make an effort to save the tenants. Their condition, bad as it was then, was much worse now, for the cables told them that the Plan of Campaign was on the eve of collapse, and that not only were the national funds in Paris still locked up, but that the source of supply in America bad been checked by an appeal to the Courts to prevent the money raised for the relief of the tenants being sent to Mr M'Carthy for distribution. The only hope was now in Australia* and he (Mr Cox") would beg and implore all who sympathised with the tenants to put aside all political differences and act on the instincts of compassion and humanity. Hundreds of tenants who have been fighting against 'rack-renting' would perish unless aid was promptly sent, He claimed that he made the appeal in no party spirit, and expre c sed tbe belief that aid would be forthcoming from all creedß and nationalities, as it was asked not for political purposes, but on behalf of men who were carrying on a prolonged and painful struggle for bare life and in defence of the common rights of humanity."

The Catholic Standard for the current month refers as follows to a mission of the Passionist Fathers. " The labours of the zealous Passionist Fathers in Hobart are already well-known, and are, we believe, equally well appreciated. No one could look on them as they itood on the platform in the Cathedral, in St. Joseph's, or in the New Town Church, without feeling impressed that they are true followeis of a crucified Master, nor could any one listen to their fervid ora'ory without thinking in bis heart these men are anxious to save souls. That their labours are appreciated by the Archbishop, clergy, and

faithful in this city, is evidenced by the crowds that attended an 1 continue to attend the Missions, and not a few of those who differ from us in religious belief have testified by their presence and religious demeanour that they regard them as animated by zeal for tbe great cause of their heavenly Master. We rejoice to hear th ,t several converts from heresy tell more forcibly thin words can possibly do of the excellent resultsof their iaal, eloquence.and charity, and the hundreds of lukewarm and indifferent Catholics who have been aroused to shake off their lethargy aod become practical members of the Church are further evidences of the success of the labours of these learned and indefatigable fathers. "

It is good to learn that there is at least one place in the world where the peculiar Anglo-Saxon civilisation has proved a failure, somewhat, as it would appear, to the chagrin of the civiliser. We take the following from the Oraaf Reinet Advertiser :—" The great increase of the nativea— kafir tribes-as revealed by the Census-has surprised, if nut alarmed, many. The Premier said of it at the Paarl : • Now, if you will allow me to take you into my confidence, I must say that I hesitate to annex still more native races. I am frightened, if I may so put it, at the returns the Census show, for we have the bald record that whilst ws have about 1,400,000 human beings in this colony, one million of them are black, and only 400,000 white.' ... Mr Bhodes had no remedy to suggest for this tremendous increase of tbe natives. He merely said »hat the increase was one of the problems of the future. He does not seem to have come to Mr Hofmeyr's solution of tbe problem : Give them every facility to poison themselves off with Cape Smoke. A gentleman who has been for many years in the Tran«keian country tells us that some 15 years ago he found in that country large tracts a wilderness without any people. A few years after that he found those tracts swarming with people. He asked Kreli what was to become of all tbis ? Kreli replied that he did not know ; they had no place to go to ; and tbe country would soon not be able to contain them all. Before the English became the possessors of the Colony these natives were often thinned out by internecine wars and famines. There are no such destructive agencies at work now."

The great trek to Mashonaland has been creating considerable stir in South Africa. President Kruger was understood to be strongly opposed to it, but his influence was not thonsjht likely to produce any preventive effect. Indeed the rumour was that the Boers joining the movemrnt were anxious to get out of the range of the President's Government with which they were dissatisfied. The opinion was that the Portuguese would support the trek, and that the natives would prove friendly to it under tbe belief that England had suffered a defeat— for such has been the effect on their minds of recent Portuguese action.

Our contemporary the Bombay Catholic Examiner answers in the negative certain questions relative to an assertion made to the effect t iat Indian factory hands were scandalously over-worked especially in the cotton-ginning factories. With respect to this the Examiner quotes the testimony of a witn ss examined before a commission in 1884. "We earn enough," ha sail, "in three or four months to keep us all the rest of the year. When the season is over we return to our villages and live well till the next season begins." In such a case as this rules limiting the hours of labour would be evidently out of place.