CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 210, 1 September 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

*»* We are desirous of affording- every reasonable facility for the discussion, of public subjects; but it must be understood that we are in no way responsible lor the opinions expressed by correspondents. To the Editob op the Nelson Evening Mail. Sir— My attention has been called to a letter in the Colonist referring to my lecture on Infidelity delivered at Stoke. As the editor has closed his columns against any further communications, will you favor me with a short space in the Mail, just to say for the information of my friends that ntither in the former communication to the Colonist, nor in his letter of the 29th inst., has Mr Harley given a true report. He has entirely misrepresented facts, perhaps not designedly, but from lapse of memory. Mr Harley 's rambling, disconnected, and often unintelligible style rendered bis statements hard to be understood, Madame Cora, whose wonderworking power he refers to, I am sure would have been puzzled by his rigmarole. Objections to the arguments I had advanced in favor of Christianity he adduced none; the questions he did ask that could be understood were answered. He asked about a tree that God had planted to tempt Adam and Eve, and was told that it was not planted to tempt the first pair, but as a test of obedience for moral agents. My reply to his question about Bishop Colenso he has totally misreported . I said, "Dr Adler, Chief Jewish Rabbi in London, stated that any Hebrew girl able to read the Hebrew Scriptures would be able to confute Bishop Colenso's criticisms. Mr Harley says that I asked him "what he thought about miracles ? " I did no such thing, nor should I think of proposing such a question to anyone so utterly ignorant of Bible subjects as he shewed himself to be, so much so that I had, after one of his rambling statements, to appeal to the audience and. ask "if anyone uttering such nonsense could possibly have read the Bible." " Many more questions were asked," Mr Harley states ; certainly one more was asked and answered. Referring to the efficacy of prayer, Mr Harley said, "I don't believe in the efficacy of prayer. I have been praying hard for 20 years, and have never received any answer." The reply was "God does not promise to hear one who prays and sins. On the contrary, the Bible doctrine is contained in the confession of the Psalmist, 'If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer.' The reason why you have failed is obvious. You havo not complied with the prescribed condition. You have pot forsaken sin, you have prayed and sinned, and sinned and prayed, and in suchja case had no warrant to expect an answer. If you repent of sin and forsake it, and approach God with a penitent heart, pleading the merits of his Son, you will soon prove the efficacy of prayer.'? Mr Harley's great concern appeared to be that there shpuld be a state of future punishment for sin, a subject to which he referred in language that Ido not now choose to quote. I simply told him that no man need come into that place of punishment, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever: believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life; and exhorted him to flee from the wrath to .come, by forsaking sin and embracing 1 the Gospel of Christ, Excuse me thus troubling you; I should not have noticed the former communication, but for a second indicating Mr Harley's determination to mislead the public on the subject, lam, &c, Thos. Buddle.

To the Editor op the Nelson Evening Mail Sib— ln answer to a letter contained iii your issue of Saturday last, I beg to state that being a man of quick thought and prompt action. I prepared a requisition,' calling on Mr D. M. Luckie to resign his seat in the House of Representatives, but several of his supporters suggested it would be better to wait till the session was over, as the question of the West Coast Railway was in a state of uncertainty. Thus we might lose a vote, otherwise the requisition would have been drawn and numerously signed, as it will be in due time. I beg to differ with '• A Nelson Man/ I don't think it would avail . us anything to invite Mr . D. M. Luckie here in order for him to explain his vote. • • ■ ;•' • >.?} ■''■■" ' : i.J ; He waa here. Why did he not like a man say I voted against the interest of my constituents, to suit my own views. This don't require explanation? A steward who resides' away from the estate cannot be expected to take much interest. AH local knowledge ceases, an estrangement necessarily creeps in. " I give thee all I can no more, : Though poor the offering he, My un-Lucky friendship." I am, &c, H. J. L. Augabdb. Nelson, September 1; 1873. ■

M—MUrr .'I I'l n 1 1 ir 11 11 ■ ■'"■ 11■» ■ A woman named Racbael Williamß has been burned to death in Melbourne by a fire originating from a hot brick, which had, been placed by her request at her feet in bed the previous night, whilst she was in a state of in toxical ion. A horrible murder was committed on the Bth inst., near Forbes, N.S.W. A son of Mr Howell, a squatter, and a young lad who was with him were discovered murdered under a dray. They bad evidently been killed with an axe. Mr Howell's head had been nearly cut off. Inspector j Stephenson, 26 hours after receiving information of the double murder arrested a blackfellow 100 miles from the scene of the tragedy riding the horse of Howell, one of the murdered men. The fellow showed great resistance, and wounded the officer with a tomahawk. He was tracked all the way from the dray under which Howell and the boy were found. *' Snyder," in the Auckland Weekly Herald, writes: — I am gathering together all sorts of funny facts in connection with people being made a convenience of. Some time back, in this go-ahead city of Auckland, a man ran into debt with a storekeeper, and, having done this much, he ran away. The tradesman, after a time, wrote "bolted" on the credit side of the ledger against the man's name, went home to supper, and didn't think anything more of so common an event. About two years after he hears by chance that the man was living in Australia, that he had had a large property left him, and was keeping a lad and a buggy. Now, as a summons from Queen-street, Auckland, won't operate in Bourke-street, Melbourne, the storekeeper hit upon an invention so ingenious that many a man has received a pension for life for one not haif so good. He sent an advertisement to a Melbourne paper that if J.T.S.M., late of Auckland, would come over, he would hear of something greatly to his advantage by applying to A. andß., solicitors, prothonotaries, &c. And J.T.S.M., under the impression that he was coming in for a second landed estate, did come over by the next steamer, and he was served with a summons for the storekeeper's debt. I think this was making a convenience of a man, and I don't think that man liked it a little bit." The trial of Mr Joshua Lebailly, Judge of the Jersey Royal Court, and managing director of the Mercantile Union Bank, terminated on May 13, after having lasted eight days — the longest trial that has ever taken place in Jersey. The indictment Hgainst the prisoner contained six counts, charging him with fraud and embezzlement The first related to his pledging with the Metropolitan Bank as collateral security £5,000 worth of Sardinian stock, for which he was trustee with two other persons. The other counts charged him with disposing, or sanctioning the disposal, of securities, valued at £8,000, which were deposited with the Mercantile Bank for security. He was also charged with borrowing £6,000 from the Bank without debiting himself therewith in the books j with giving the guarantee of the bank for a private loan of £4,000 ; with presenting a false report of the state of the bank to the shareholders ; and with issuing 15,000 £l notes, contrary to the orders of the directors. The Attorney-General for Jersey prosecuted, and the Advocate Durrell defended the prisoner. He was found guilty on four of the six counts, and the Court sentenced him to five years penal servitude. We should like to know Sir George Bowen's opinion of the conversation — we can scarcely call it debate — which took place in the Assembly on Tuesday evening. A few short months ago, he was being torn from this happy land to which he had become so devotedly attached. Waving hauderchiefs, tearful eyes and sonorous huzzas, accompanied him on his procession from Government House to the grand arch and decorated jetty which the Harbor Board gladly gave as its contribution to the genera] manifestation. Scarcely have the shouts died away, before the scene changes, and we hear a keenacrimonious discussion over his Excellency's perquisites, involving considerable sums said to have been taken from the public Treasury but which should have come from the Governor's own pocket. It is hard upon Sir George, for we have his word for it— and what loyal subject could presume to ask more — that be was bled pretty freely during his New Zealand career. We can scarcely recall a subscription which was not accompanied by some, reference to the penalty which greatness pays, and some expression of regret that His Excellency could not make his subscription larger owing to the numerous calls made upon him from every part of the colony. And now when the curtain again rises we have our leading legislators busying themselves to point out the sham and the hollowness of the farce in which they all assisted, and in round terms declaring that the late Governor had his house surreptitiontly furnished, his servants surreptitiously liveried, and even his archery grounds surreptitiously supplied with bows and arrows at the public expense. So long as these rumors were merely floating intangibly in the air, we declined in any way to notice them, but now that grave senators have openly asserted and maintained their truth, we are bound to draw public attention to , the questions they involve. Mr Fox came

out with a bold general denial of these " canards." The subsequent debate proved either that Mr Fox is decidedly defective in his French, or that an exclusive devotion to the cause of temperance, however laudable in itself is not conducive to precision of ideas. The " canards," in the hands of successive members, took an ugly and material shape. Mr Bunny knew that liveries bad been paid for. Mr Stafford was aware that furniture had been supplied and articles paid for not contemplated by the House, that blankets, linen and clothes had been found at the public cost, and that he had himself, during his short tenure of office last year, refused to pass a requisition for saddlery. Other members joined in the melee, but Mr Yogel rather put his foot into it — to use a vulgar expression — by denouncing some imaginary newspaper correspondents for having insinuated that these concessions had been made with a view to bias his Excellency, and induce him to accede to the wishes of the Ministry. Mr Fitzherbert did not neglect the chance of reminding the Premier of the French saying gui s' excuse s 1 accuse. No one had brought forward this nasty insinuation, j and was it an uneasy conscience which prompted the Premier to revive it from a forgotten past ?~N.Z. Herald, Aug. 22. *' ' I' I '" UN ■ '» "*".

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