THISTLEDOWN.

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1717, 23 February 1895, Page 2

THISTLEDOWN.

“ A man may jest and tell the truth.” —Horace. Given time, Mr.Cadman promises to he a success as Railway Minister- .if we may judge by his initial steps .at capacity. Hitherto local bodies have been refused reduced rates for the carriage of road metal and similar repairing materials, and farmers have had to pay through the nose for the haulage of lime, an essential to successful agriculture injthe South Auckland district. The new Minister’s first departure is to grant reductions in each case, and Me very sensibly suggests that, as regai\dsjgr lime, it ought to her 'tied in the raw state as far the more ec<s *Aical and burned in local kilns in each- „entre; he promises reduced rates on the carriage of Huntly slack, thus utilising at one stroke two waste products, and at the same time bringing into use a necessary which has hitherto been an unattainable luxury to farmers. He also promises a simplification of the tariff, now a puzzle ■ for a Philadelphian lawyer. By the way, can any of my friends supply an explanation of this phrase ? This last is worth a host of other reforms; as it is, the owners and users of the railways are at the mercy of their servants, who often are puzzled themselves, two station-masters within a couple of miles often differing widely in their Quotations. o o o o The tariff ought to be such as a standard boy could understand, and then we should all know how we stood. Our railways were made for the benefit, and their successful working depends on the prosperity, of the farmer, and nothing can be more absurd and suicidal than charging farmers prohibitive rates on either materials, or products unless it be that climax of absurdity imposing extortionate charges on local bodies for the materials necessary to construct feeders to the railways. By this double policy in the past the farmer has been taxed fourfold, first, on his manures; secondly, on his products} thirdly, by increased rates } and fourthly, by additional taxation, necessary to pay for the haulage of empty or half-empty trucks. Reduction of freights may mean a slight deficit on the railways at first, but this will be more than recouped in the long run, and fpr this reason I commenced with. ‘ Given time.’ It may require a good backbone in Mr Cadman to face the chatter of irresponsibly critics at the start, but I fancy his vertebrate system will be equal to the strain and he is too level headed not to understand the uselessness in any reform of the mollusca.

.. Reduced passenger fares and more frequent excursions are also a part of his policy, and while far inferior in utility to reduced freights. (I always thought Mr Yaile began at the wrong end) their benefit to health resorts and people in need of them is undeniable. Return trips, however, to and from Te Aroha and Auckland within a day are, to my mind, a survival of barbarism in these days of eight hours’ labour. An eighteen hours’ shift, two-thirds in the train, is a tax on the physical system of the strongest.. For my part I would sooner put in three shifts, running; at any w-ork I know of.

The Anglican Synod has been busy over ! the question of female suffrage and the illiberal party has triumphed. As usual in all churches, the lay element were in favour of arid clergy by a majority against .Canon Beatty is again the mosc uncompromising opponent of women’s. rights, he has not yet found a just woislan. The Primate and the Bishop of Cjs*istchurcb, all honour to them, are ')sn the other side. Women find the bulk of the funds for the payment of Canon Beatty and. hia fellows, and do the bulk of the large amount of voluntary work so essential to the successful working of a parish. One of the best curates. I have known was a maiden lady, the sister-in-law of the incumbent of a parish not a. hundred, miles from here. Is it just then that they who have borne the burden and the heat of the day should be refused their penny by those whose work commences at the eleventh hour if ever ? Just indeed! If the women were not just enough to recognize that the continuation of churchwork is superior in importance to their claims however wellfounded, they would strike, and where would the. Canon be then ? In the rush for work on Thompson’s track unless he we# content with John the Baptist’s clothing and diet, a thorough-going Lent, not for forty days, but year in and year out. I, like. Mr Beatty, have been hunting up my history and find that women were present at the election of Iscariot’s successor in the Apostolate, and, if present, who is to say they did not vote or were they there only to barrack for the rival candidates ? St Peter’s.‘Men and Brethren’ can’t he held to exclude them, unless the orthodox * Dearly beloved brethren ’ of the- modem pulpit must mean the ignoring by the preacher of three-fourths and those the. most attentive of hia hearers.

Canon Beatty was. again to the front as. champion in a more creditable and legitimate crusade, that forreligious instruction in our public schools; I may be permitted, however, to doubt the sincerity of the efforts of any Protestant church in this direction* for if they were in earnest, the change must come at the first general election. Koman Catholics are sincere, for they put their hands in their pockets to back their views. They agree with the Quaker, who tested the loud-voiced sympathiser with a certain case of distress, with the quiet question * I feeT five pounds for the poor woman,, how much dost thou feel, friend ?”

After all we have not gone-.in Hew Zealand to the extreme they ayafedn Victoria, where they Bowdlerised their schoolbooks by cutting out ‘God’’ and ‘Christ’ and banishing them to an appendix. Yet, I doubt, if ignorance of the simple facts of Bible history be not greater i;\ New Zealand than anywhere else, has the States. You have all, probably, heard the Yankee who barbarously assaulted in the streets of New York, and whose answer to the poor Jew’s remonstrance was ' You are^*** those- -who crucified our Saviour.’ ‘ Why, that was eighteen hundred and odd years ago,’ gasped the wretched Israelite. *No matter, I have only just heard of it.’ Mr Gibson, the American sculptor, was nearly as bad On hearing the story of a Yankee who won a bet by repeating ‘ Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,’ as the Lord’s prayer, he naively said * Oh, you see he did know the Lord’s prayer after all.’ The same tonejs--seen in Miss Perkins. She was ana ughty girl of eight or so, who was told by her mother to go to her room and pray for forgiveness. On being asked had she done so, ‘ Yes,’ she replied, ‘ and God said, ‘Pray don’t mention it, Miss Perkins.’ ’ But those brought up m so-called religious schools are often just as ignorant. I once knew a man of 18, whose sole attempt at an examination was the hesitating suggestion in reply to the question, ‘ How did Judas Iscariot die ?* ‘Was it of scarlatina, sir?’ and this so tickled the lecturer that he actually gave hun his term. lapyx,