THE INTELLIGENT VAGRANT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4797, 7 August 1876, Page 2

THE INTELLIGENT VAGRANT.

(From the New Zealand Times.) Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernal crastina summsfi Tempora Dl Snperi.—Horace. I understand that the following letter has been prepared by Sir George Grey and Messrs. Rees and Stout, and will be forwarded direct to Earl Carnarvon by the earliest opportunity, —" We have the honor to draw your lordship's attention to acts of the General Government of New Zealand which we believe are likely to be attended by the most evil results to the colony and the most disastrous consequences to the human race. The Parliament of New Zealand meets annually in "Wellington —a place inhabited principally by earthquakes and tyrants. It is the custom of the Premier and many of the people of Wellington to consider that as, during the sitting of Parliament, a great many strangers are present in Wellington, such is a fitting time during which hospitality should be exercised. They allege that they do this merely in accordance with those customs of mankind which make such hospitality a duty which it is pleasing and proper to perform. We are unable to appreciate such motives, existing, as we do ourselves, for the promulgation of the sacred rites of bosh, ■ insolence, and hydropathic metaphysics. But there are a great many men who do not, we regret to say, consider it beneath them to eat a good dinner in pleasant company, or to attend a party where there are pretty women and good partners for dancing. By doing these things they neglect the sacred duty of attending to the wants of posterity* of exposing the villainy of the Government, and of expounding the docrines of Spiritualism and Herbert Spencer combined to a stiffnecked and perverse generation. Your lordship will at once see how fraught with danger all this is, and when we mention that her Most Gracious Majesty's representative here, instead of spending his time in endeavoring to continually propound the true meaning of that glorious British Constitution about which nobody'knows anything and we know nothing, though we continually talk of it—when, we say, her Majesty's representative himself is not averse to social enjoyment, and on this account has become very popular, your lordship will perceive the evil that impends, for, in consequence of our inability to make ourselves, as it is called, " pleasant," we are absolutely most unpopular here, and the people laugh at the heroic struggles we are making for their welfare, and, indeed, do not hesitate to say that they do not care a (word ■which will bs found in the Church Service as by law established, but which would be offensive to your lordship if used in its secular application) about' us. We have therefore to request that your lordship will send out instructions under the great seal, or written on theback of. the " Petition of Rights," or in some other, potent manner, which shall cause the people of Wellington generally during the session of Parliament to adopt the manners of mutes at funerals, whereby the general rights and privileges of the colony may be preserved. In the " Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1649-50," edited by M. A. E. Green, and published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, is the narration of an incident the reading of which might be advantageous in this far-off colony. I presume it will be granted that Cromwell did some good for his country, yet it will not be admitted that his visit to Ireland was of unmixed benefit to that land. But before he would go there I find by the state papers aforementioned, that " He required, in addition to the ordinary salary of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, £3OOO for outfit, £lO a day_as long as he remained in England, and £BOOO a year on his landing in Ireland. Unfortunately Cromwell's patent does not state his salary as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, only that he Bhonld have the usual fees, stipends, and allowances, but judging from analogy, it seems to have been at least £SOOO. Cromwell's total salary would therefore be £13,000 a year, which, multiplied by 8 J, to represent the comparative v£.lue of money at that period, amounts to £45,000, the salary of the present Lord-Lieutenant being only £20,000. The demand was high, but it was granted, notwitstanding the deplorable state of the exchequer, though the very officers who were to go over with Cromwell were barely paid one-fourth of the arrears due to them for former service." Sir George Grey and Mr. Rees profess a fervid admiration for Cromwell and the lessons of history. Might not this little lesson be read with advantage by them when next they discuss the allowances of a statesman on a pacific and necessary public mission ? Sir George Grey has solemnly and sincerely declared that he is not responsible for having been born a Briton. Under all the circumstances I must agree in divesting him of the responsibility, at the same time I admit how serious a responsibility this casts on someone else. The Hon. Mr. Waterhouse holds peculiar views on all questions. Some times his ideas are centuries in advance of those of the present period, not unfrequently they are centuries behind. If any one doubt the truth of this latter statement, let him look at Hansard for this session, No. 11, page 573, and read from the fourth lino from the bottom of the first column to the end of Mr. Waterhouse's reported remarks. When one paper takes a paragraph from another without acknowledgment of some kind, it acts unfairly. I was glad to see the Wanganui Chronicle hauled over the coals by one of your spirited evening contemporaries for having done this, Mr. Editor. But the hauling over the coals would have been more effectual but for a little circumstance. Just above the paragraph complaining of the Wanganui Chronicle was another, which had appeared months ago in the Evening Post, had gone the rounds of New Zealand and Australia, and had then been written out with a scissors, and inserted as original by the very gentleman who complained of such practices. That little decision by a committee of the House on a question of a disputed betbetween two honorable members, has not terminated so happily as one could wish. The chairman and members of the committee naturally expected some Blight reward for their trouble. But what happened? Why the losing party paid the winner the amount of the bot (£1) in forty sixpenny tickets for Bellamy's ; and when the chairman and members of the committee interrupted them in, the harmony that ensued, there were only fourteen tickets left for their use. There is a pleasing simplicity about the conduct of public worship in up-country churches, A friend of mine travelling in the Rangitikei and Manawatu districts, writes me that he attended service at a shurch in one of the town-

ships last Sunday. When the time for collection came the gentleman who acted as collector took from his pocket a capacious tobaccopouch, and going around with it received therein the offerings of the faithful. With the Roman Emperor, he might subsequently sing of the money non olet. Those who collect the debts due to newspapers occasionally receive curious answers to theirapplications for payment. One gentleman on being.called on to pay lately said, "I can't do it. I intend to be ill and under the doctor's hands for the next three months,, bo that you see it would be unjust to him to pay anyone, and so deprive him of part of that which is his by anticipation. But I assure you that at the end of the three months, unless I can find another good excuse, I shall begin seriously to think about paying it.