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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 49, 11 September 1891, Page 17

We would a»ain iemind our readers that the Gipsy encampment to take place in Dunedin next mjnth, depends chiefly ou them for its success. It is not to be supposed that the nomads are coming hero with no useful obj-ct in view. Indeed their minds will be bent upon business, and to supply them with a sufficiency of occupation aid ia much required. All gifts of material and other things capable of being utilised for the purposes of a bizaar may be forwarded to the Dominican Convent, whero, on bjhalf of the Gipsies, they will ba thankfully received. We would also direct our readers' a'tention to the art-union undertaken in connection with the encampment, and which will be drawn without fail oa December 31. The prizes provided are numerous and valuable and well worth competing for. The discharge of the debt due on the Convent schools, we may again remark, is theooject fjr which all lias been undertaken, and, as the necessity of this must bo apparent, no doubt cheerful and active assistance will be given to thj Nuns aa i those who are working for them. Plenty to do and full returns alone can keep the Gipsies in good humour and enable visitors to their camp to see them ac their best. No one can refuse to lend a willing hand in bringing about so desirable a result. Winners in the Palmereton art-union are requested to send in instructions as to haviog their prizes forwarded to them as soon aa convenient. The following letter from Sir Thomas Esmonde to Mt J. B. Cox, M.P., under date House of Commons, July Btb, has been published by our Australian contemporaries :■— " How are you getting on ? From the short notices of your doings which have appeared hi the Home papers a couple of times it would seem that you have met so fur with fa*r success. If you would send me marked newspapers with accounts of your meetings I would have them published in the National Press. I would also be very glad if you would send me a list of the men you meet ns you go along, who are with us, and their addresses. I would keep them posttd upon the state of our movement. It is unfoitunate that Australia has so long stuck to the position of neutrality. America has finally given it up and cornea over to our side, as you will see by the two papers Is nd you by this mail, giving an account of the foundation of the Federation over thirt;. Wu have turred the corner in Ireland, Faction is dying although there are slill a number of oar people who h»ve not re-

covered from the panic into which the* country generally was plunged last year. Bouth Australia seemß to be the moat advanced of the Australian colonies. Victoria is, I think, disposed to follow in the same track. By degrees, I dare say, the other colonies will follow suit. You will no doubt meet many of my friends in the course of your travels. Remember me kindly to them all. When you have time let me hear from you." Mr W. Atkinson, writing from Katoomba to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, says :— " la your issue of itae 18th instant you publish a lecture delivered by Cardinal Moran at the Masonic hall, and as a working man. and on behalf of many others of my fellow- workmen, I sincerely thank the Cardinal for so boMly coming forward upon a public platform and delivering such a commendable lecture aa he did on that occasion. The thankaof evry worker are due to the Cardinal for such an able and impartial address. So pleased am I, after resdine the lecture, that I propose having 500 copies printed an-i delivered to every workingman whom I meet. Upon looking over Saturday's issue of the Daily Telegraph I find that a motion was tabled by Mr Brtnnan at the Trades and Labour Council-" That a vote of thanks be tendered to the Cardinal," but I find to my disgust that the motion was rejected ; and for what ? That is the question. Surely sectarianism or any other false issue has not entered within the walle of a trades hall ? If finch be the case it is time for a reconstruction, etc., and I wonld suggest to every true unionist to look into the matter." ON Wednesday (we, Sydney Freeman, August 29. learn by telegram from Perth)|the West Amtralian published a telegram from its Qeraldton correspondent respecting the news brought in from the croldfields at Murcbison by a solicitor named Duboulay, who v.sited the field in the interest of a syndicate owning a share in the protection areas on the Parnell, Home Rule, and Mystery reefs. Mr Dubonlay confirms Inspector Troy's recent report in every particular He farther states that most of the gold is now being got by two men named Macpherson and Peterkin, who have obtained a large quantity of rich specimen gold, filling three bushel sacks and several eaddle-bags, valued at not less than £2000. A mile and a-half is pegged oat on the Home Rale Reef, on which gold is everywhere found in greater or lesser quantities. The Parnell reef is apparently not so rich, but it is supposed by the prospectors to contain an averaee of 4oz Peterkin cracked a bit of stone weighiug 251 b., yielding 98oz of gold. In four days he dollied in a small mortar 160oz. of gold' One large stone, which Mr Daboulay compares in size to his safe, and which belongs to Macpherson, resembled a huge plum pudding, owing to the blots of gold all over it. Another rich reef has been discovered some short distance away. We are continually admonished by the example of her Most Gracious Majesty as to the capacity of women to act as successful politicians. Here, Lowever, is an example of the other kind :-" The Paris correspocdent of the Times states the Russian Government have received news that the mother of the Emperor of China is directing the anti-foreign movement with the object of expelling all Europeans from China." Are we not at liberty to maintain that her Most Gracious Majesty is an exception to the rule, but that the old lady in China exemplifies it ? DKDEB the circumstances of U c period, and when so much Btress has been laid on the gloomy prospects of the colonies, it is cheering to hear that the London Times takes quite a different view of affairs and argues for us, from the records of the past, an unexampled future. In other respects, however, Australia is not so favourably reported of :-" Mr Francii Adams, an Australian journalist in an article in the Fortnightly Review ou < Social Life in Australia ' says that native-born colonials are of a high-strung temperament,' alternately delaying languor and activity, somewhat tainted with cruelty He describes Melbourne as pagan, while convictism is not yet extinct in Sydney ." But material prosperity without religion or morality to control it is a dangerous possession. It is melancholy news if it be true, as we fear it is, that the long and gallanTstruggle'of the tenants of Lord Lansdowne at Luggacurran, has ended in failure, and that they are asking for a settlement with their landlord. They have probably little to hope from he Tender mercies of e.ther landlord orage.t. Still we are told that the Irish tenants' defence fund has reached the respectable sum oi £22,500 THE Minister for Public Works concludes, as follows, his Statement which was laid on the table in the House of Representatives on Monday eveniog :-" After having enumerated the various railway and other works on which we propose to expend the moneys available I feel cert in that I have not given satisfaction, but that the dissatisfaction w.ll have arisen not so much from the manner o distribution as from the fact that the money available is so small and the wants so great. However, the amounts now proposed to be appropriated must be regarded aa merely moments on account

i and as moneys are from time to time available from the conversion of our loans and other sourcea, so our public works can be extended and completed. It is the intention of Government to place the works to be gone on with in hand as expediiiously as possible, bo as to get tht greater part of the same done in the summer months: The work will thus be done much cheaper, and by being placed in the market at once will provide the much-needed employment for our working population. We learn with regret that news has been reseived in Dunedin of the death of Mr John Scanlan, which occurred in Sydney, after a protracted illness, on August 29. Mr Scanlan was formerly, for many years, a resident of this city, where he was deservedly held in high esteem.— R.l.P. Here is a cablegram under date London, September 7, which, te s*y the least of it, we are inclined to accept with caution :— " Just before an execution at St Joseph, Missouri, the priest handed the condemned man a revolver. He fired twice at himself without serious effect and was carried bleeding and struggling to the scaffold, where the sentence wis eventually carried into effect."— A man about to be executed, it is true, may have attempted to commit suicide. Where the inventive faculty seems to come in is in the point ascnbing to a priest the furnishing him with a weapon for the purpoße. We have no hesitation in pronouncing this a falsehood. Disquieting rumours still prevail as to negotiations between Turkey and Russia and the results likely to ensue. It is rather ominous, meantime, that a mutinous tendency continues to make itself evident in British quarters. In addition to the outbreaks and dissatisfaction which lately occurred in several regiments of soldierß, we are told that a mutiny among the crews of certain of her Majesty's ships was narrowly avoided the other day by the concession of the disputed point. "In connection with the visit of the French fleet the Admiralty etopped the leave of the crews of her Majesty'a ships at Spith'ad, and nearly provoked a mutiny. The position became very serious, but eventually the Admiralty yielded." All this seems to indicate a flaw in the defences of the empire that, under the circumstances of the time, it is anything rather than agreeable I to contemplate. We may hope that Mr John Burns makes a vaia boast when he declare, as we are told he does, that Socialism has made such headway, European Governments are afraid to take open measures for its suppression. Were this true, a grave motive for alarm would be added-to those already prevailing. Failing ill other methods, European Governments would be likely to have recourse to war, especially as taug-ht by the experience of tbat between France and Germany, which gave Socialism a severe and effectual check.