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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 30, 3 February 1879, Page 2

A Dunedin telegram of Tuesday last says: The meeting for the election of the Dunedin School Committee was extremely well attended, and much interest was taken in the proceedings. Most of the city clergymen were present, and a number from the surrounding country, districts The "Bible-in-schools Association" presented a ticket con taining the names of Messrs R. Ramsay, T. Deck, A. P. Livingstoe. W. F. Stewart, W M. Hodgkinson, and G. P. Farquhar. Of these all but Mr Hodgkinson were elected, so that five out of the seven in the new committee may be counted upon as a certainty in favor of Bible reading in schools, and, besides the five, it is on the cards that Messrs Nathan and Robins, members of last year's committee, may be re-elected. The Attorney-General, who was present, gave ifc as his opinion that women, being as much parents as their husbands, were entitled to vote. Thereupon a great many ladies who were present exercised their privilege. Dr Stewart carried by a large majority a resolution instructing the new committee to give the use of the schools for religious teaching. Dr Koseby strongly opposed it. Several suburban districts have elected committees favorable to Bible reading. A Melbourne telegram of Jan. 22, says :— A heavy thunderstorm occurred yesterday and flooded the lower parts of the city. Some damage was done by water to the stores. The lighting struck the tower of Dr Fitzgerald's residence in West Melbourne, cracked the wall of the tower, and tore a hole in the bedroom ceiling below. No one was injured The flagstaff of the Protestant Hall also was struck and splintered. Two trucks were blown off the railway. A man who was wheeling a truck down Elizabeth-street was washed off hia feet and half drowned in the water flowing along the etreet channels. The rain was splendid, and most welcome in the country districts The following is from the Post-.— Our apprehensions as to the Berious consequences likely to result from the impurities of the water supply already are being fatally verified. A number of persons have been seized \ with severe illness, chiefly diarrhoea, dyseu- I tery, and fever, directly caused by the bad water. One died this morning, and several others lie in a most precarious cendicion. There is a waggish farmer in the Hutt district who objects to pay the land tax. When a form was sent to him to fill up with various particulars he put down the value of his land at £0 Os Od, adding, under the head of " Remarks," the explanatory observation, " In the present state of the labor market." A rope-walker at Wanganui, known as ! Professor Scott, had a somewhat narrow escape on Saturday evening. We learn from the Herald that just at the commencement of the performance the fastenings of one end gave way, and the rope slackened, causing the Professor to fall. He clutched at the rope as he fell, but missed it, and came down heavily on the floor. He immediately arose and said he was not hurt. The wire being stretched again and securely fastened, Mr Scott mounted again, and walked from stage to gallery and back, performing several tricks on the way. Having bruised .his arm in the fall, he excused himself from completing the performance. He was loudly cheered for his plucky behaviour. The Liverpool Met cm y says that a noteworthy instance of commercial morality is announced by Peter Bancroft, of that town, who recently received an unsigned letter, in which was enclosed a bank note for £1000. The only information vouchsafed by the sender was that the bank-note was the amount of an old debt and accumulated interest, which he was sorry not to have been in a position to forward to Mr Bancoft hefere. Mr Bancoft has not the Blightett idea from I whom he has received this conscience money. Of Bret Harte's " Heathen Chinee," it is said he wrote it in aa hour of idleness and threw it carelessly iuto his desk. One day, a month after, says a writer in the San Francisco Call, the printer of the Overland Monthly wanted copy enough to fill out a page or two, and Mr Harte, searching among his papers, happened to find the neglected verses. They were printed with some misgiving on his part—a very unnecessary misgiving he found aa soon as the magazine appeared.

like good citizens and law-fearing colonists. But what followed ? They were set upon by the other diggers, chased from their claims, cruelly beaten and maltreated, their tents plundered and then^ burnt down. We do not think this was doing as you wonld be done by." If such a thing as this had happened in China, it is argued, if a number of English miners bad been subjected to such a cfnel outrage, every newspaper in Great Britain would have been aflame with indig' ation, representations would have been made to the Emperor, and he and his Mandarins would have been reminded of the solemn obligation they were under to be faithful to their treaty engagements, no atonement was offered to the poor Chinese who were violently expelled and plundered. "We cannot help saying that proceedings Of this kind are very disagreeable evidences of that brotherly love which is inculcated by your teachers of religion and your moralists, and which is also taught iy Confucius." Reference is then made to the measures recently resorted to in New South Wales for the purpose of excluding Chinese sailors and stokers from Australian steamers, and it is urged that the coasting trade of China is transacted by English vessels and no proposal is there made that these vessels should be manned by Chinese sailors. " Surely," say our writers, "justice is justice, right is right, and fair play is fair play, all the world over. The laws of morality do not vary with the variation in the degrees of latitude ; and if it be lawful f ot the Englishman, with his skill, his experience, and his scientific inventions, to compete with our countrymen in China, it must be equally lawful for the Chinaman, with his inferior knowledge of western arts and inventions, to compete with Englishmen in Australia." The Chinese are then lauded for their industry, and it is shown how as market gardeners they supply the vegetables so essential to health in a hot climate like that of Melbourne, and which, but fdr them would not be procurable, and how they transform, by their system of husbandry, seemingly worthless patches of land into most prolific gardens, how as fisherman and itinerant fishmongers they have been equally serviceable to the community, and as hawkers of all kinds of wares they are indefatigable, cheerful, obliging, and patient. Then comes the argument that in Australia there is plentyof room for both Europeans and Chinese. China is estimated to contain not much less than two million square miles of territory and 400 millions of people. Australia comprises three million square miles, and has no more than 2,10.0,000 white people and a few thousand blacks. Then follows this pathetic appeal: — " In our own land, millions of men, women, aDd children— yes, millions — think of the horror and pity of it !— have died of starvation during the last year ; and, in the face of these facts, would you seek to debar us from participating in the abundance with which a bountiful Providence— or, as our Master Confucius says, the most great and sovereign God— rewards the industrious and the prudent in this country ? Did ; man create it, or did God ? And if it be His work, then can it be disputed that it is open to all who cannot obtain the means of subsistence in their own country, and who will faithfully conform to the laws of this ? You do not endeavour to exclude Germans, or Frenchmen, or Italians, or Danes, or Swedes. There are men ef all these nationalities here. Then why are Chinese colonists to be placed under a ban ? Are we an inferior race ? No one can say so who knows anything of our history, our language, our literature, our government, or our public and private life. China had reached a very high stage of civilization when Britain was peopled by naked savages. The art of printing, the use'of gunpowder, and the mariner's compass were known to us centuries before they were re-invented by Europeans. We bad instituted 60 excellent a system of government that it continued for 2,000 years without a revolution, and without occasioning the discontent which begets rebellion. Our administrative machinery is admitted to be the most complete and efficient ever organized, and all appointments to the public service are made after competitive examinations ; bo that merit and ability are the indispensable qualifications for office." At the present time, when the educational question is agitating the minds of the people of Nelsou, it may be interesting to them to learn what the Chinese have been doing in the matter, and the following extract will be found, we believe, to contain information that will be new to many of our readers: — " Ours i3 a well educated people. Indeed, it is but seldom lhat you can discover a Chinaman incapable of reading, writing, and ciphering. Can you assert the same of all English and Irish men? Let it be remembered, .also, that our people are not educated at the expense of the State, or of the municipality. Parents pay for the instruction of their own children; and the poorest person in the land would be ashamed to bricg up his offspring in ignorance. All education is based on religion and morality. Pupils have to commit to tuemorv the sublime precepts of Coifucius and Mcncius; aud the duty of carryiog them into practice is earnestly impressed upon their minds. Some of these precepts are subjoined :— " What you do not like, when done to yourself, do not do to others." " Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity, and the great exercise of it is in loving relatives. Righteousness is the accordance of actions with what is right, and the great exercise of it is in honouring the worthy." " Respect the old and be kind to the young. Be not forgetful of Grangers and travellers." "Honour the worthy, maintain the talented, and give distinction to the virtuous." "If men of virtue and ability be not confided in, a State will become empty and void." " Benevolence is the tranquil habitation of man, and right eousness is her straight path." " The root of the empire is in the State, the root of the State is in the family ; the root of the family is in the person of its head. There are many sources, but the source of parents i3 the root of all others." These are only a few out of the thousands of wise maxims and pious precepts which are daily taught in every school throughout the length and breadth of China. Not only so, but the loftiest and wisest principles of Government, of social polity, of political economy, of metaphysics and morals, of domestic regulation and personal conduct, are also inculcated at that period of life when the heart and the intellect are the most susceptible of such beneficial lessons. The young are instructed that " all things are according to heaven ;" that God " confers happiuess on the good, and misery on the I evil ;" that " the doctrines of heaven are opposed to selfishness ;" that "of ten thousand evils, lewdness is the chief ;" and that "of one hundred virtues, filial piety is the first." We must reserve further notice of this little work for a future occasion.