TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 207, 14 February 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

.It is a difficult thing to collect reliable information as to the amount of money paid away out of Naseby annually in the shape of insurance premiums. A man would "be offended at "being asked what he was insured for. At any rate, we have not cared to run the risks rash inquirers. into other people's business are apt to become exposed to. -A t the same time, it is a question that it would be very interesting to have answered. The holder of onetown section alone has paid away £l3O in annual payments, latterly of £3O each—another is paying £9 per year ; another, £27 10s. per year. .The sum paid away would not fall far short of £I,OOO per year—and this has been going on for the last four or five years, making a sum in all of from £i,090 to £5,000. Let us turn round and ask, What loss has been incurred from fire in this town to justify the expenditure? A few more years, and the premiums paid away would rebuild the town. It naturally occurs : Would it not pay to become our own insurers ? Suppose every owner of property was to pay a certain sum—say, £5 to £lo—per year to a.common fund, which fund should make good, as far as it was able, loss by fire to contributors. Let the, same fund assist to improve (it it needs it) and keep up the Eire Brigade. A Board of-Directors would be' required to arrange about making investments,' valuing property brought under their directory, &c The risk of the. whole town being destroyed be dismissed as chimerical, : now that fire-r.educing ap pa.rafc us is on the ground, and<a break in the line of fire could so ®^ s iljhe made in these lighfly-construc-ted.houses. If the water supply is iasuf- : ficient, a small sum could be easily and wisely set apart to increase ifc. We do not assert that such a co-operative scheme is practicable in Naseby—we do think that it is so, and that,'if extended throughout the district gene- i rally, it would be a source of consider-1 able profit; and would, at any rate,' prevent a large sum of money goiiVii" l yearly out of the place to feed the exorbibaht companies, who appear to have banded together to extract the largest amount possible from our pockets. The Insurance Companies wisely; as far as their own interests are concerned, consider that a town i consisting of a limited number of buildings could, at whatever rate they put on, only be divided into certain calculable proportions among them all, i-nd therefore a reduction by one that all would adopt would only tend to reduce the total amount of premium received.* 1 Hence the wisdom of a mutual agreement by all to the present iniquitous rates they offer to insurers.

SpxaiT and matter have been, for eighteen hundred and seventy-two years at least, considered as the joint constituents-of the human body. 'All Christian :-teachers have taught that corporeal existence is only a time of preparation for the existence for all time of the separated spirit. If Spiritualists go no further than this they do -goodi -for all are apt >to attach an undue importance to the mat erial existence, owing to the arduous struggle the mass, have to make for oidsteSce, and the Jiabit of excessive business established in those whose necessities for such pressure are not so apparent. It' the Spiritualists stopped there, they would.be benefactors, for all Catholics, Presbyterians, and Bible-dependingsec-tarians are to that extent Spiritualists. Bat when .tliesef holders of advanced views take the Bible for their guide—their standard ; take the Witch (they object to the term, translating the good old English word clairvoyant) of Endor for their model woman; and quote, the Gospels and Epistles as infallible when such quotations straining, be brought to suit their peculiar assertions, .we are inclined to put the, test old-fashioned Christians -—mere ■plodding induction ists—invi te :■ investigation and proof. We ask- for a "reason for the faith that is in them," and we get assertion. A form of belief variable according to the spiritual communications tendered to individuals, is illusive. It, while propagated by so-called reason, evades all reasonable enquiry. Because Chris-

I tendorn believes in. the miracles. of the ' Bible, by which alone Christians and Spiritualists could get any proof of the man-GhristVG-odhead, therefore,* argue . the Spiritualists, they should' believe U3—we only ask you to believe that spirits communicate with us : and instruct us:and our children'.'.without any earthy assistance whatever; We are told that "Dr. Dunn is'a healin>: medium," and that ■ " Jesus Christ was a healing medium," This system, carried out in its integrity; would si'niost

induce a comparison between Jesus Christ and Dr. Dunn—between God and man. " Plodding induction'sts " —t hie k-crani umed individuals —there still are, who believe in the sober verities of revelation—who have based the present and the future alike of themselves and those dearest to them oil a modest, humble enquiry of the Bible, not daunted because a few intellectual difficulties do occur that they cannot master, but are gladly "content, having tried submission to the Higher Will there shadowed forth, to abide thereby, in spite of spiritualistic phantasies or atheistical denunciations. -

' It was at one time thought: by advocates for the Municipality now established in Naseby, that the extendi ture necessary for roads. wifch in the boundaries of the borough would be trifling' in the extreme. Probably this is true as far as maintenance but not with regard to road making. Loven-straet requires extending, to enable a large amount of ground to be taken in that is worked out, and that would offer line blocks of sections, which ought to be secured for municipal reserves. A few unsold sections exist in other parts of the town that should also be secured; and, to put a real value on these properties, it is essential: that the branch streets be laid off and made as soon as possible. Clause 4s of the Otago Local Revenues Bill seems to imply that the onus qf making roads/would still rest with the Government, and that maintenance only the Corporation would be held responsible for. The clause runs thus ,£ From and after the passing of this Ordinance, after., the .formation", of any main road within the boundaries of any incorporated borough or county has been completed', the management and maintenance thereof shall be undertaken by such Corporation, and the costs and expenses connected therewith shall be a charge against' the ordinary revenue of the Corporation;" This would probably enable the Corporation to get the means for the making and extension of Leven-street at the low end, and also above the brewery, and might apply to some of the other roads within the boundaries. We do not profess to lav down the'law, but only desire to draw attention to points on which it is very desirable that councillors and ratepayers should obtain accurate information upon.

That no man can choose - a wife, a picture, a horse, or a book for another is a very well known fact—i.e.,, at .least,' to give satisfaction. Nevertheless, it does happen that Athena) a in Committees have to select books to supply the different fancier and tastes of the subscribers. Educating the popular, taste is a very doubtful experiment, f.nd one not always attended by satisfactory financial results.i It i?,,of course, very much to be desired that readers should prefer books of some merit and standing. Still, taste is a fickle creation of civilisation, conferring benefits and penalties also. It had better be recognised, that a large number of readers will, mentally, swallow yellowbacks only, and will"think that'"Ouida; Wilkio Collins, and the contributors to ■ Reynold's /Miscel!any,' • are the greatest among/the intellectual giants of the day. There is one. corrective to this, and that is, that an ill regulated taste allowed full sway at last nauseates the.food it preys on, and, in a few cases, if the opportunity is aiTurded, corrects itse)f. ' This principle is well understood by pastrycooks, who, to preserve their tempting tray-loads of dainties from the sweet instincts of their employees, are popularly reputed to supply a surfeit of sweeties', (stale, may be) to an unlimited amount to their new hands. . On the same prin-ciple,-it would bo a pity to bar'all

books of the sensational novel class. Experience shows that the demand for this class of books amounts to from sixty to.eightylfoar- per cent, in different public libraries • and a popular iir- : stitution, to be successful, must supply the popular demand.' The first duty of the' Athenseain Committee' will be to j attract, and this must' be done by afi fording a proportion of matter attrac- ! tive to the classes not so easily drawn" Ito institutes Of the kind. ' -