LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 551, 24 March 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

CHANTRY MANOR HOUSE. A Ghost Story. BY MRS HARTLEY, AUTHOR OP 4 HILDA AND I,’ ETC. ( Continued.) 4 Was this the most comfortable room Mary could find for your mistress?’ I inquired ; 4 it looks so very gloomy.’ 4 ’Tis only apiece with the rest of the house, as far as I can see, replied Trevor, snappishly. She was an old servant, and rather privileged to speak her mind in consequence. She had lived like a lady in India, 4 with vassals and serfs at her side,’ which had not improved her. 4 Mary says the other rooms haven’t got scarce no furniture,’ she continued, 4 and no dressing rooms.’

In a short time we were fairly settled. By the time we had unpacked and dispersed about the various rooms the pictures, tiger-skins, books, table-covers, and ornaments we had brought with us, we began to chuckle again over our bargain; for the place was undoubted worth double the price we were paying for it. Out of doors we made some very successimprovements. The bailiff in charge gave us leave to cut away many of the overgrown shrubberies and take down an unsightly outhouse. The moat had fortunately neen filled up years before in front of the windows ; and we did not object to the portion of it which still remained between us and the stables. The place seemed to agree with us, and we grew to like it. I was within comfortable reach of two packs of hounds, and could hunt six days a week if I chose to buy horses enough. Wo had several pleasant sociable neighbours, and altogether we promised ourselves many happy years in the old house. Peace is, however, doomed to be of short duration in this troublesome world; and ere we had been six weeks at Chantry our maid servants, one by one, to our very great annoyance, gave us notice to leave—Trevor, my wife’s attendant, being the only exception. Each had some excuse, the 4 ill convenience of the offices,’ the 4 dulness of the place,’ with many more equally unlikely to be the truth; but an air of mystery appeared in it all. and, when closely questioned, one and all became confused in their explanations. My wife inquired of her maid if she could in any way account for this desertion, and the reply was anything but satisfactory. 4 1 don’t know I’m sure, ma’am, without ’tis the ghostes.’ Her mistress reproved her sharply for condescending to listen to such nonsense, and for being so silly as to repeat it, which at once 4 put up the back’ of the irascible Trevor, who answered. 4 I haven’t heard nor seen nothing myself, ma’am ; but things is seen and things is heard; and I do feel for them as has to go about shutting up aftr dark with the very curtains pulled out of their hands,’ Then, highly affronted, she flounced out of the room.

We were no believers in ghostly apparitions, and we laughed heartily over the women’s fears—strong enough to make them give up a good situation —and over Trevor’s sympathy; but it was very inconvenient nevertheless, and no laughing matter. The girls departed, and the panic with them; and for some time all went quietly and well, till one night, when I had been sitting up much later than usual, having many letters to write, my attention was suddenly arrested by the sound as of carriage wheels coming up the avenue. I listened and felt a little alarmed, lest some of our belongings should be ill and had sent for us; for we had no reason to expect visitors in the dead of night. I went into the drawing-room, which faced the front, unbarred the shutters as noiselessly as I could, and looked out. It was as dark as pitch, so that I could see nothing. I heard the wheels still, seeming to be no longer on gravel, but muffled, as if on asphalte ; and the conveyance, whatever it might prove to be, had evidently passed the entrance door, and was going on towards the stable. Whilst I was listening, suddenly it ceased. In one second there was utter stillness, only broken by the stable clock tolling forth the hour of midnight. I was deternuned to satisfy my curiosity, so, putting on my hat, I opened the hall door and went out.

It was as much as I could do to grope my way along the carriage drive, and X was be-

ginning to think a little tremblingly of the moat, when, to my great joy, I saw a man coming with a lantern, who, on hearing my footsteps, called out—‘Hulloa, who are you?’ 1 recognised the voice of my coachman. ‘ What’s the matter, Robert ? Who has arrived ?' I asked.

‘Well, sir,’ he replied, ‘’tis the queerest start as I ever knew ; the bay mare ain’t very well, and I was up giving her a mash, when I hears a carriage and pair of ’osses coming up the drive, grating over the stones, and then more quiet like. I come out, and could hear ’em, but 1 couldn’t see’em, for there weren’t no lamps ; and how they could ever find the way in the dark I can’t ever think. They comes slowly towards me ; I calls out, “ Which way be ye coming then ? Stop a bit—l’ll fetch a lightand sure enough they did stop, that sudden, it took my breath away. There was a silence all of a minute, sir f you could hear a pin drop. I went back to the stable, got my lantern, and —now, sir, what ever is it!’ What could I say ? I could only entreat the man not to mention the circumstances, for fear it might reach the ears of his mistress and frighten her; that in time we might come at some explanation if we kept quiet; that it might be a trick to frighten us, and so on ; but in my heart I was not very comfortable, and entirely agreed with Robert that it was a ‘queer start.’ My wife, I am thankful to say, had not been disturbed ; and, more fortunately still, she was not present when, a week or two later, a neighbour, who was paying a morning visit, asked me if our gravel was worn down yet by the ‘ phantom carriage. I, asked him, in as off-hand a voice as Icould command, what he meant; but he only shook his head and laughed, saying—- ‘ My dear Montrose, “ ignorance is bliss;” ask no questions if you’ll take my advice. I can only say I wouldn’t live where you do if I was paid to do it.’ I smiled feebly, trying to think my friend had interested motives, and wished to frighten me out of the house, to take it himself, for I knew him to be on the look out for a larger dwelling than the one he at E resent occupied: but I did not feel quite appy. You, reader, would not have liked it. However, I was determined to keep my own counsel, and not lay myself open to ridicule by ever hinting at anything which had occurred on that memorable night.

The ghost’s visits, if ghost it was, were like those of angels, ‘ few and far between ;’ we heard no complaints from any of the household; and I was beginning to think all must have been imagination, for I had not been disturbed by any more nightly visitations, though I had sat up more than once until after midnight for the express purpose of watching.

Christmas was over ; we had entertained a goodly, number of friends, and all who had stayed in the house had left, congratulating us on our good fortune, and well pleased with Chantry.

New - Year’s Day came, but not cheerily for us. Mrs Montrose’s sister was taken ill, and a telegram summoned us to Loudon. After depositing my wife in safety, I returned home alone, to be in readiness for a near meet of the hounds. My journey had .wearied me, and, contrary to my usual custom, I fell asleep in my chair after dinner. When I awoke it was half-past eleven. I put out the lights and went up at once to bed, stopping in the hall on my way to caress a large black retriever, who, at my wife’s particular request, had for the last week been chained to the staircase, making his bed very contentedly on the mat at its foot. Some of our visitors had suggested that Chantry was lonely, and that we might fie visited fiy -burglars ; so, ; ,to quiet very reasonable fears, I had brought Bruin in to fie-a guard. I had not been long in bed, and had not fallen asleep, when I heard footste( s patter, patter, along the passage, accompanied by the even clank of a chain. ‘ So, so, Mr Bruin,’ said I to myself, ‘you have got loose, have you, and followed me up stairs?’

I was persuaded it .was tlie dog, yet I sat up to listen, and heard the same steps, chain and all, come up the stairs, and go into my dressing-room. There is something a little uncomfortable, even though we think we can account 'for it, in the sound of a chain being dragged along the floor in the stillness of the night; and a sort of feeling came over me that something living to speak to would be pleasant, and made me resolve to call the dog in and let him lie by the fire in my bedroom. I accordingly lit my candle, opened the door, and called, ‘Bruin, Bruin,’ expecting him to bound forward, as he always did at the sound of my voice. But there was no response, so I called again, in rather less confident tones, ‘Bru, Bru but not a sound could 1 hear. I knew then that it was not the dog. I went back to my room, took a loaded saloon pistol from its case, and went into the dressing-room. Probably, I thought, some burglar had entered the house, and hearing me get up, has secreted himself. The rattling of keys or some other implements had sounded like the clanking of a chain to my imperfect hearing, with my head on the pillow, and heavy curtains round me. As I entered the room, I was startled by the wardrobe creaking, and then seeming to give a shiver, and then a crack from top to bottom. I had done so often before, but to-night it made the cold perspiration stand on my forehead. 1 What folly/ I said half aloud ; ‘am 1 turning coward ?’ then, my candle in one hand, the pistol in the other, I commenced my search. Behind the window curtains, under the dressing table, in the cupboard—not in the wardrobe ; no, nothing could have induced me to touch that—l hunted, but all in vain. Could I have been dreaming ? I determined I would go down the corridor, call up the man servant, and look for the thief elsewhere ; for I had no doubt the man had escaped noiselessly whilst Iliad gone to get the pistol. But suddenly, when X was in the middle of the gloomy passage, ‘ clank’ went the chain again behind me ; then very faintly repeated, like an echo, then died away ; while at the same moment Bruin, from his own resting place in the ball, gave one long low howl, which resounded through the house. Will any one blame me that I went no farther, but returned to my bed—ay, drew the clothes over my ears, with anything but a pleasureable feeling about the home that sheltered .me 1 For, three, seven, or fourteen years,’ I muttered, with an inward groan, ‘ and three months have not elapsed yet; but I managed to get to sleep at last, ruminating upon the consoling clause, ‘ power to underlet/ [To Vi continued.)

THE PREMIER AT WANGANUI. The following is that portion of Sir J. Vogel’s speech dealing with the inscription of New Zealand securities and harbor management, which we omitted in the. report published by us yesterday : INSCRIPTION OP NEW ZEALAND SECURITIES There is one matter about which very great interest has been expressed, not only in this colony, but in the other colonies, as to which I should like to give some explanation. I mean the arrangement I was able to make with the Bank of England for the inscription of our securities. I had no direct authority to act in the matter ; and the arrangement is subject to approval by the Assembly. If the Assembly does not approve of it, the colony has no responsibility. The arrangement is of this nature ;—You are aware that our securities hitherto have been issued in the shape called debentures. That is to say, pieces of paper upon which is set forth the obligation of the colony for Jthe amount of the security, and around' or beside which are grouped coupons, which are small instruments representing the amounts of interest due at stated intervals during the currency of the debentures. Now, debentures are payable to bearer,,and for the purposes of of speculation they are very convenient, because they pass from hand to hand, no transfer being necessary, and whoever is the holder is the possessor for the time being. But a very large amount of money in Great Britain is used not for purposes of speculation but for investment. When a man makes an investment, it is obvious that the. possession of a large number of pieces of paper like debentures is calculated to be embarrassing ; especially as every six months it is necessary to remove from each debenture a coupon, and to present it at a specified place iu order to obtain payment of interest. This may be regarded as an inconvenience even to ordinary investors ; but the matter is worse when the investors are trustees. Those;who exercise a trust naturally desire to limit their responsibilities. They are not paid ; they act in the interest of others, not for themselves ; and they naturally feel it to be a hardship that they should have to run risks such as are inseparable from the bolding of debentures. When there are two or three trustees concerned together, or a body of them, clearly the risk becomes larger, since one person must in a greater or less degree be the actual custodian of the debentures. Whatever devices may be resorted to, such as having safes requiring the use of two or three keys, each trustee having one, still there is, and always must be, risk in holding such paper securities. It came to my knowledge that a very large amount of money would be available for investment in onr securities if, instead of investors being obliged to hold those pieces of paper, they could have the fact of their possession inscribed, and so run no risk of the kind I have described. “ Inscription” means that instead of a Government issuing an 1.0. U, or promissory note, in the form of a debenture, certain books are opened, in which the name of each person to whom the Government owes money is entered as that of a creditor of the Government. That is the way in which English Consols are managed ; and the same principle is applied to the management of stock'issued by the Metropolitan Board of Works. That Board embraces iu its operations the whole of the metropolis ; and its stock is inscribed by virtue of an Act of Parliament. The Bank of England keeps in each of those cases hooks containing the names of those to whom the Imperial Government or the Board are indebted, the amount for which each person is a creditor being set forth, But the Bank also—for the convenience of those who desire, instead of inscription, to possess bonds or debentures which they can sell, or transfer by band —cancels the inscriptions and issues bonds to bearer ; and at the pleasure of the holder, the Bank will at any time take back those bonds, and will re-inscribe the indebtedness in its books. You will see what a value this gives to securities, for at the pleasure of the holder they exist in a form which will pass from hand to hand, and so be useful for speculative purposes, or they cease to exist as separate paper instruments, and the amount of the indebtedness they represent is inscribed, that being a mode of dealing which is eminently convenient for purposes of investment. [Applause.J It was evident to me that no other body than the Bank of England could successfully and advantageously perform the twofold operation of inscription and the issue of bonds to bearer —that to entrust such functions to any but a most powerful and responsible corporation would be altogether out of the question ; and I felt that if I could induce the Bank of England to perform such duties for New Zealand, the character and value of its securities would be very much in proved. I am happy to say that I succeedi d in inducing the Bank so to do ; and that, too, at a remarkably low rate. The payment to be made to the Bank for inscribing new stock and issuing, when desired, bonds to bearer—for receiving deposits on new loans, the conversion of our existing loans into inscribed stock, and' for paying interest quarterly or half-yearly, including all ordinary office expenses—amounts to only £6OO per £1,000,000 per year, or about Is 2d per cent per annum. [Applause.] I undertake to say that that rate of payment is exceed, iugly low, and is one to which the Bank authorities would not have agreed, had they not been wise enough to see that other colonies would certainly desire to take ad vantage of such an arrangement. The anticipations of the Bank in that respect appear likely to be fully realised ; for when 1 arrived in Australia, and the details became known, the Governments of nearly all those colonies communicated with their Agents General in London, requesting them to us,-, their efforts to secure that the measures neces sary to be passed by the Imperial Parliament should be made applicable, not to New Zealand only, but to the whole of the colonies. [Applause.] Feeling that it would be advantageous for New Zealand stock not to hold an isolated position, and that a uniform character of colonial securities would be advantageous to all the colonics, I was quite willing to place at the command of the Governments of the other colonies the the information on this subject I was able to supply to them. | Applause ] HARBOR MANAGEMENT. I wish now to say a few words on the sub ject of harbors. The other evening, when speaking upon this subject in Wellington, I stated that I was of opinion that the harbor of Wellington—which is a harbor useful for a large portion of the colony—should not be under purely municipal management. I used the word “ municipal” in the sense of the management being under the town or oifcy of Wellington! The remarks I then

made have been very much misconstrued, and in some places it has even been said that I was against the local charge of harbor improvements. I wish therefore to take this opportunity of explaining that such is not my view, but that what I said was that the harbor of Wellington should not be entrusted solely to persons representing the city. I did not say that they would not be able properly to discharge the duty, but that it should not devolve upon them only, J am a great admirer of representative government ; but to be successful you must have in it representatives of the bodies interested, and it seemed to mo that those who had the management of the harbor of Wellington should represent more than the city of Wellington itself. But in speaking of the harbor of Wanganui I am free to say that the same objections do not apply to the same extent here, I hope you will not expect me to say that this harbor is in the same position as that of Wellington, which is used by a large portion of the colony, whereas the harbor at Wanganui is more likely to be useful to the town itself, and to certain districts surrounding it. There would therefore be less objection to putting the management of this harbor under the charge of the town government. At the same time I must say that in any course you may take for the improvement and management of your harbor you should thoroughly carry out the principle of representation, and if certain districts are called upon to share in the expense of improvement, they should also share in the management of it, [Cheers. ] I think, therefore, it is better to go beyond the ordinary town government. I am of opinion there should bo local management of harbor improvements, and that the managing body should be of an elective and not a nominee character—although, no doubt, there might be some nominees in it, such persons for instance as his Worship the Mayor and the Collector of Customs, who by virtue of their office might sit at the Board. My experience has shown me that nominee Boards always begin very energetically, but their exertions become less and less as they feel more and more that their tenure of office is sure. On the other hand, elected bodies are subject to a great deal of abuse, but still that keeps them straight, and makes them likely to fall into the wishes of thsse they represent. [Cheers.] I expect to have the pleasure to-morrow of meeting the representatives of the town, and also the committee of the proposed Harbor Board ; and I hope that some arrangement will be come to for placing the management of the harbor in the hands of an elective body. It would be no good to have a Harbor Board while a body like the Municipal Council continues to retain the foreshore and the endowments necessary to improve the harbor, I should think, judging from what has been the case in other parts of the colony, notably Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin, that land reclamation here would be very profitable ; and besides that, as no doubt you are aware, it has been agreed between the General and Provincial Governments that £9500 should be devoted to improving this river—that money coming out of funds authorised by Parliament to be advanced to the province of Wellington on the security of certain blocks of land. All that money is available for the purpose, and as the provincial authorities have only a few months to remain in office, it seems to me you will have a considerable sum coming to you for improving the river and the harbor, and if you act carefully and wisely no doubt you will be able to do much good with it, As you will have already seen in the course of my remarks, the policy of the present Government is one of decentralisation, and of allowing every place to manage its own affairs. Therefore I cannot hold out to you any great hopes of assistance from the Government, unless you will assist yourselves; but if you will do that, then the Government will be glad to advise and assist you. You have, it seems to me, every prospect of seeing in the course of a very short time a sensible improvement in your harbor and river.