TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 209, 28 February 1873, Page 6

TOPICS OF TALK.

In the able address read by the Chairman at the late initiatory meeting of the Miners' Association, it was laid down that the question as to the existence of deep leads on this Goldfield should be settled for aye or nay. This is a matter that could only be practically taken in hand by the Association. The G-oldfields Secretary has placed the rods at the disposal of the place, and we believe they are now lying at Hyde till they are sent for. It cannot be expected that they will be left there forever till we choose to decide whether to use them or not. The Committee might very well take up this matter, and no doubt the Corporation will help to find some of the funds necessary for this very important undertaking. A humbler use might als.o be made of these tools when on the ground, and one which might very possibly discover results of considerable value to the district. "We should very much like to see the Main G-ully, and what is known as Coal Grully, bottomed for coal. We get very good coal as it is, but we "have to pay for the carriage pretty heavily; nor is this to be wondered at, considering the distance of the available pits. The winter is soon coming round, and the coal question will be a vital one to all.

Some remarks were made lately in this paper as to the desirability of planting. The best site of all for trees was omitted in the available localities pointed out—the Cemetery. "We are, to our shame, ignorant as to the working management of this public ground. No doubt, like many other places, it is in a state of impecuniosity. Let that be as it may, it is evident that a very considerable sum of money has, from time to time, been spent on it, and must have been obtained from some source—not altogether with very satisfactory results. Grass has been sown, and has very fairly taken hold, only, for want of attention (expense) and perhaps a not very good selection of seed, it is very tussocky. Good, paths—now, however, overgrown with weeds—havebeen made. Erom tbenumber of surrounding the ground, and the gravelly nature of the subsoil, trees of all hardy descriptions would show a fine summer foliage. Autumn is the time for planting, and it would be none too soon to begin to consider how funds could be raised. No large sum would be necessary, as the trees are freely given, for the planting of this well-fenced ground. Clumps of trees would render the Cemetery more befitting the sacred purposes for which it is used.

" A little silence; how good is it ?" Bishops are not exempt from the weaknesses common to the too free use of an unruly tongue. At least Bishop Moran is not, if he is correctly reported in the '"West Coast Times.' A more indiscreet utterance was probably never made by a churchman. We have it on the authority of infallibility—we presume Bishop Moran to be a believer in the infallibility of the Eoman See—that the secrets of Freemasonry stand disclosed. " These were the destruction of the Christian name, the destruction of Christian society—to destroy the Church of G-od from men's hearts, and to allow of no authority except their own. They blaspheme the name of Christ, and even go so far as to trample on the cross, &c." How can we believe such statements ? How is it possible for us, who know the ins and outs of families as they must be known in small places, to believe that 0 ones and Smith, Thomas, &c, on their monthly lodge nights, are guilty of a war dance on an effigy of _ the cross—these men that we know, with tender hearts ever ready to relieve distress and succor the needy. We never had a great respect for that combination for political and sectarian purposes sometimes reported to be in existence in branch lodges—with what truth we know not. The of course, will attach to any body founded on secrecy. For ourselves, we have always looked upon Masonry as an expensive luxury that, however desirable, we could not very well afford —a luxury not by any means des-

titute of good, and yet one that we can at the same time personally do very well without. To accuse gentlemen, who take refuge from home worries and business troubles in the mysteries of a Masonic supper or ball, of trampling on the cross and blaspheming the name of Christ, is introducing an element of ridicule that cannot fail to very seriously damage the cause the very reverend bishop has at heart..

Cliqtjeism! What is it? It is commonly supposed to be a small party or set whose views are adverse to the general opinion. Of course, when the clique assumes larger proportions, it then becomes the general opinion. Cliqueism, in small communities, never exists, unless it be created by the too susceptible minds of the leaders of general opinion. If a community engaged in a public movement would only apply the same rule that an honorable man would apply individually —viz., to suspect no man or party of any views antagonistic to himself or the general good until publicly and most decidedly expressed—cliqueism, as generally understood, would not exist. Where two men live together in a hut and differ in opinion, as they always do do, which is the clique?

The present dearth of news topics has led the 'Daily Times' into a round of inspection of nuisances, or what are assumed to be such. The last object of attack has been the High School, and the whole system of District School management. Most contradictory statements have been made as to the truth of falseness of these criticisms. It is not pretended that the classical standard of the Dunedin High School is as high a one as was maintained by Mr. Simmons There are always men to be found who look upon a classical education as the ultima thule of all mental training, and will tolerate no other. The International Exhibition held at Paris let the English into the secret that the reason other nations had gained such ground upon them in all manner of artistic designs, and even manufactures, was the very excellent system in vogue, especially in Germany, of a mixed technical and scientific course of instruction. This discovery led the principal English School Boards and Colleges to give a great prominence to natural science and mathematics. The same system appears to have been introduced by Mr. Hawthorne to the High School, with whatresults we cannot say ; but it is certain that a school that is mainly used by boys who will have to battle their own way through life, should provide all the willing ones with weapons that will enable them to make such fight with credit to themselves and good to their country. No amount of steeping in Latin verse or abstruse Greek roots will enable them to do this. It is very much to be desired that some system could be devised which, while giving boys a thorough English education, would, also provide a technical course of training sufficient to prevent them from developing into the loafing, corn-stalk specimens far too common already on all sides. To send a boy from the country to Dunedin is to go to a great expense. It has been pointed out how unfair it is that Dunedin alone should reap the advantage of education afforded' by public money. The District Schools/with one master to look after and teach thirty to fifty boys of all ages, do not provide—• however zealous and able the master may be—any education at all satisfactory, and nothing at all in comparison to the advantages the High School should offer.