THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881. ANOTHER NURSERY STORY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2160, 27 January 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881. ANOTHER NURSERY STORY.

If the “ Lyttelton Times” is not manufacturing nursery stories for itself it is greedily swallowing such productions when they emanate from another source. The latest idea on which it has dilated is the rumor that the cause of Sir Arthur Gordon’s visit to Kawau was a wish on the part of the Imperial Government that Sir George Grey should become High Commissioner of the Cape in the present crisis. The extraordinary faculty of our contemporary for manufacturing enormous superstructures on the smallest possible bases has found in this story, mentioned by the Auckland “ Star” as only an on dit, a valuable aid in its favorite work. That the Home Government should resort to such a manoeuvre does not apparently strike it as absurd. That the Governor should wish to visit an old friend in his island home without some hidden motive, does not appear to it at all probable. There must evidently be something behind a mere desire to renew the memory of an old acquaintanceship. What can it bo ? Affairs at the Cape are in a parlous condition. Clearly the two matters are connected. And so a web is constructed, the warp of which is the dire necessity of the Home Government, and the woof, the transcendent abilities of the Knight of Kawau. Sir George Grey is described in most extravagant language by our contemporary. It is due to his exertions solely that a large portion of the British Empire still exists. The Cape would have returned to its original owners, the Caffres, and other interesting aborigines, and India would have been completely lost if it had not been for Sir George Grey. On reading yesterday’s article we feel that the history of England has yet to be written, to the manifest disadvantage of certain heroes, who, up to the present, have basely monopolised public attention. The Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Wellington, Clive, and other worthies, will sing very small indeed when the truth is unveiled by the veracious narrative to be issued from Gloucester street. There is only one great drawback to the genius of our contemporary, and that is the stern necessities of chronology. If Sir George Grey could be shown to have been the real person who led the Saxons into England, or to have commanded at the battle of Hastings, instead of that imposter, William the Conqueror, the interest of the narrative would have been greatly heightened. But. alas! the best intentioned historian must occasionally bound his ambition. Sir George is merely the practical founder of the Cape and the saviour of the Indian Empire. The nonrecognition of these extraordinary services is one of the basest traits yet shown by the British nation. Seriously, we have no wish to depreciate the valuable services rendered by Sir George to the Empire in days gone by. But the language used by our contemporary en the subject is

ludicrous. So is its conclusion that the Home Government think of recalling into its service its old servant. Sir George is completely out of the running at tho present time. He is not en rapport with the present Government, or, for tho matter of that, with any other Government. Ho may have been a good hand at managing Native races, but there are hundreds of others who are just as skilful. Besides, the difficulty of tho Homo Government lies as much in the Cape politicians as in anything else. Could the former have it their own way, the present crisis would not be so formidable. Mr. Sprigg and Co. are among tho most knotty portions of the problem. To fancy that the Home Government would, at this critical moment, when tho most delicate tact is indispensable, elect to give enormous powers to such a complete Irreconcilable as Sir George has, for a long time, proved himself, is not paying a great compliment to tho Gladstone administration.

THE ADVANTAGES OF ORGANIZATION. The advantages of organization were never more clearly demonstrated than when the Bible-in-Schools faction of the Dunedin people succeeded on Monday night in passing four out of their five candidates into tho Dunedin School Committee, thus obtaining for their views a majority on the said Committee. On the previous Tuesday the Bible-in-School Association had themselves convened a meeting in the Temperance Hall, when the following resolution was proposed by Mr. Bathgate ; —“ That in the opinion of this meeting a portion of the Bible should be read daily in the public schools of the colony, subject to a time table 'and a I conscience clause.” On this Mr. George Bell proposed, and tho Rev. J. U. Davis seconded: pressed by the advantages offered by onr present system of national education, deprecates any interference with its provisions which would tend in the direction of denominationalism.” This amendment was finally carried by nearly three to one. Overwhelmingly defeated at this meeting, called by themselves, we must certainly give the Association credit for their pluck Having at all events the courage of their convictions, they determined to deserve success if they could not gain it, and they set about to thoroughly organise their forces for the battlefield. And owing to the defective machinery of the Act and to the comparative apathy of tho general public, they managed to succeed beyond their most sanguine expectations. That they should have done so is a decided misfortune, for more reasons than one. It gives them a majority on a committee which will have to work an Act, the spirit of which will he antagonistic to their views. Such being the case it can hardly be expected that their interpretation of the intention of the Act will bo a liberal one, or that the measure will be given fair play during the ensuing year. And beyond this, a false impression may get abroad among a large section of the public who are not acquainted with the real facts of the case, that tho feeling in Dunedin is really adverse to the provisions of the Education Act, and that tho people there are dissatisfied with past legislation in the matter. The way in which the motion adverse to the present system was treated at the meeting of the 18 th inst., is proof sufficient that there is no feeling of this sort extant among the large majority of Dunedin residents. The outcome of the matter is highly unsatisfactory, and we trust that our neighbors will not lose sight of the lesson on a future occasion. They will have seen that a small body, compact and well drilled, is a formidable adversary, and that numbers are not everything., At the same time, the defective provisions in the Act, at all events as regards large centres of population, come clearly to the front. When the population in any one educational district is large, they evidently cannot pack themselves under one roof, and the first that appear gain, not only a decided, hut an overwhelming advantage. In such centres it is evident that to secure fair play a poll is what should he taken. In this manner every individual in the district would have an opportunity of voting, and such a fiasco as we have referred to could not possibly have occurred.

COUNCILLOR LAMBERT.

We re-pnhlish in another column a letter which appeared in the “ Press ” of this morning on tho subject of Councillor Lambert’s attempt to close on Sundays the popular and largely-patronised restaurant now carried on in the building known as the Old Post Office in the Market Place. We are loth to invite the expression of public indignation against any gentleman who has attained the honor of membership of our City Council, but we should he acting recreant to the best interests of the community if we allowed so disgraceful an attack on the comforts and necessities of our fellow-citizens to he passed over without a strong protest on their behalf.

Councillor Lambert appears to ns to belong to a class who take delight in depriving the working man of all recreation and enjoyment, and not content with preventing the indulgence in rational drinking on tho Sabbath, would stop that of eating also. If Councillor Lambert had any fair grounds for proposing the closing of this eating house and had stated them, we are sure that full consideration would have been given by his fellow councillors. Mr. Lambert is, we believe, a staunch abstainer from strong drinks, and it would seem that he aspires to gain notoriety for himself as an upholder of the doctrine that a man should abstain from eating as well as drinking on the Sabbath day. If this gentleman is trying to excite the disgust of .all tolerant and reasonable people, he has only to persevere in the lino of conduct which he appears to have adopted, and we think it highly probable that he will eventually achieve marked success.