REVIEWS. "OUR LAST YEAR IN NEW ZEALAND."

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 351, 16 March 1889, Page 4

REVIEWS. "OUR LAST YEAR IN NEW ZEALAND."

[From tho "Auckland Star."] Bishop Cowie has written a very good book, and one that will serve the colony a good turn in England and other places. It contains what we all, or most of us, know to be true ; and it seems doubtful whether the Bishop could have hit on a happier plan than he has adopted of setting before people tho actual condition of the colony. It is a lecord of his doings for the year 1887, and as such may be considered a Jaibhful transcript of w bathe paw, thought, and did. In his preface, His Lord.*hip s ivs :— "In anticipation of a visit to England in 1888, wl en the Anglican Bishops will be invited to attend the Lambeth Conference, we have )esolved to keep a journal during the year 1887, in order that wo may be able, asf iras; ossible, to supply to inquiring friend 1 -, if our expected visit is realised, tho intimation they ask for concerning the Chuich and (ho state of New Zealand.' Of the journal ltt-elf wo are told " I stands for the Bishop, E for Mrs Cowie, and we and us for both." The journal stands before tho woi-ld »s a joint pioduotion, and, as such, must be tegarded a3 approved by both the Bishop and hiss wile. It is not only faithful in its enliies, but good -temp- red, void of ma ice and small talk, touching lightly on politics and contiovertcd questions — and is, abo\e nil, discreet. Having so many subjects to deal with as a \ ear's annals would cover, one cannot help remembering the couplet of Cumbeiland — '• Abundance is a blessing to the w iso ; The use o£ riches in discretion lies." The journal commences at Bishopsconrt on Ist January, 1887, and ends on March 13th, 18S8, when the vessel reached the docks at Plymouth, in veiy cold, wintiy weather, ami the iast ontrv i* — '* Our feelings aro tho.-e of the voyager^ of whom the Ts ilmi&t said 'Then they were glad becau-e they wero at reft, and so he bi might them unto the haven where they wou'd be.' "' Mi Vaiie certainly has gob on the soft side of the Bishop, ns> His Lorde-hip has. given his railway system a g< od lift, on two or mine occasions when he eonsitleis it a misfottune to travel alone in tiist-c ass cairi'iec, \\ Ken .so many people would lide could they aflord the railway fare. This, I take it,is the gist of Mr Vaile's contention. Let the lailway refoimer take hoaitof grace, as at one time Athina'ius had the whole woild against him, and ye.-ted intete&ts aie hard things to abolish or oveicome ; but the buttle is half won win n the Church pats the innovator on the back. It is no {rreat distance to tia\el irom Mr Vaile to the Minister of Public Works, and what Bishop Cowie has to say about Mr Mitcheison most of the people in Auckland will endorse. He writes : " The newly-elected House of Repiesentatives havn met at Wellington. . . . . Mr E. Mitchelson, one ot our Auckland merchants, is appointed Mu.ister ot Public Works, and with that depart monl is to be combined for the first time tlw Native Depai ttrient. Il> is many \eais since a former Governor told me that in his opinion there would be no native difficulty but tor the separate Native Depai tment of the Government. Mr Miteheison is one of those public iren in whom tho people oi Auckland have fieneial confidence, not only as a man thoroughly competent to superintend "he very important department of Public Works but as a shaightforwaid honourable man. T have known him now for many years, and whether as foteman in a country store, as he w'»s when I first met him, a citizen of Auckland, or as an impoitant member of the Government, he haf- always been a man to inspire- truat, and to deserve and retain it." On the 16th June 'he Bishop heard on "good authority that one of our principal Auckland firms had lo«tmore than £200 000 in their trade among the islands (the Samoan and Tongan groups) during 1 the last few ye;ir«." One can gather from this ot the profits yielded by the trade, which fctill w.is piosecuted. We hove said already that the Bishop was disoieet, and no disci etion could have been more peilect than the manner in which the d-ath of the Maoii clergymen, which occurred in Apnl, 1887, is nat rated. It is «s tollows : — "The diocese sustained a great h.ss «n consequi nee of a guevous mi take that was made on this day at a hou<e in Pain 11 than has evt,r before happened to it, by the death of two of our Maori eloigy, tho Revs. Renata Tangata and Rupene Pae ata, and a principal Maori layman, lhaka te Tai. lhaka's wife, Lucy, died a foi tniyht alter her husband, her end being hastened b}' grief for him. All this trouble came upon our people a* fo lows : — On t heir retutn from the Church Board meeting at the Thames, many of tho Maori members had to st-iy in Auckland a few daye, waiting for the steamer to take them northwards. S voial of them w< re invite! to dinner on this day by a fiiend in Auckland, on who<-o table 'here was, among other di:-hes, a pie containing meat that had been taken ftom a tin pome days before, containing also potatoes that had been cooked two days befoio, the whole being covered with pastry, in which, ib wa« suid, no vent was made. Besides the three Maoiis who died, other Maoris, clergy, and laity were ab the eniei taimuenb, and the llevs. W. Beatty and G. H. S. Walpo'e. Mi Beatty was the only truest who partook ot the pie with impunity. Mr Walpole and several others, mc udiug the hi step?-, were very iHi some of them being for a long time incapacitated foi woik. Thi-> gieat tiouble came upon ug like a thunderbolt on our return to Auckland." Most of the people in Auckland remember the Battle of tho Cross when Bishop Luck came to Auckland. We have in the •'Journal" Bishop Covvie's vei&ion of the affair, and we can only b«y in sectarian aflaiis with St, James, " Behold how epeat a mattera little fire kindleth." He writes : " It i* a mistake to suppose that in this colony, where there is no established chuich, a more fraternal spirit is exhibitid by the Koman section o Christendom towards other Christians than in countries wheie the Pope's subjects are in a majority. Whilst our personal lelatinns with Komanis>ts — whether bishops, priestb or laymen — aro friendly, theie is no rrore co-operation between New Zeahmd Roman Catholics as a body and other Christian bodies in this country than theie is in France or Spain. I have, however, on several occasions experienced quite as much lack of sympathy from mem bets of other denominations as from Konian Catholics. For this state of things the cleigy and other ministers of religion are, I believe, mail ly resj oneible ; then* zeal for the distinguishing fratuies ot their several tectionc of Christendom bei> g, it would seem, accentual ed by the fa< t that lav Christians generally throughout Ihe colony have a tendency to fiatetnisc. The fotegoing opinion may, bo illustrated by the following f<ictn : — W he we we,re sojourning in a count) y dibtrict nob long a<id, the Roman priebt of those regions, called and It ft his card, ' with kind wishes and welcome

to •.' The same priest, some time before, when preaching in the Auckland gaol, to his contregntion, as the Governor of the gaol, who was present, al»erwards told me, ' You have been found truilty of attempts to murder, to fteal, and all kinds of wickedness ; # you might as well be Protestanls nc once.' " "The following incident illustrates the" brotherliness of a minister of the denonrnnation which the late Bishop CotTon, of Calcutta, u&ed to speak of as ' the most unCatholic of sec s.' A few years ago a new (wr) Roman Catholic bishop came to Auckland, and it was arranged by his people that he should be met by deputations of them on the wharf on the at rival of the steamer from Australia. Accordingly, two of E's eer ants, the cook and the housemaid, liishßemnn Catholic girls, went with others to meet the steHtner, taking with them a email bouquet of geianiump and toses which we ga\ethem. By iho mistake of some person of lively imagination, the Auckland papers, indescribingtlie reception of tho new bishop, spoke of the bouquet as an offeiiug from Bishop Cowie, looking upon tho two Roman Catholic girls as messcngeis from me. Seveial letters from indignant Protestants appeared in the papers, finding ffiultwith me, especially as the humble bouquet came at hist to be described as "aflorvil cross." The expected climax at last arrived. The minister of " the most uncatholic of sects" impro\ed the occasion, I > as told, by holding up to the scorn of his hearers " the unholy a liance " as he called it of the two bishops. On beine informed of the trroundle&i-ne&a of his charge, he did nob think it neceseary, we are told, to retract what he said. Some of those \vho had said the bitterest thin»s in connection with " the floral cioss," on disco\ eiing their mistake and wishing to justify thomseb'ec?, and leiire pra< efully from their uncomfortable chainuionship. demanded an explanation fr^m Bit-hop Cowie, who, a« they knew, had nothing to explain. Of course, I tock no notice of the bigotiy and bitterness of my denouncers ; and ray silence on 1 }ii^ as on other occasions of a like nature, irritated thi wrong.doers into di\e>*s exemplifications of the old adatje : "Forgiveness to thoinjuml f'oth belonpf, They nuVr foigive who've done tho wrong." In this free country, however, we claim the right of complying with the request ol any fel ow citi/.eil.to whateverdenomination he may belong, who may nppty to us for Iruit or iiowei> trom our garden, and theie are, we would fain hope, lew of our follow ctizens who would wish to deny us this right. The Bishop is very happy in his description of the character of the peisons he be comes acquainteii with, while the "journal" i=! almost complete as a kind of "who's who " for the diocese. One other quotation desc'iipti\ c of the personnel ot the Dioce°an General Trust Board, and with the advice to i ead the journal we must lefiain fiom picking out plums from the pudding, which is church property that should bo read and appreciated by all, as th- re is no pien ■ f ••deptesfion " in it from lirst to last, nor if it mentioned in tho index at the end of the volume.