Correspondence

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 365, 23 April 1861, Page 2

Correspondence

To the Editor of the Golonist.

Sir—The social conditions of our world are drawn closer and closer every year; and this token of civilisation is not without its peculiar moral risk. Even now the weaker class of men are as it were more like Leyden jars charged with a sort of social electricity, than personal and independent beings. Look to our late elections for an illustration, and for further proof to the paucity of distinctive opinions as an individual possession. We know that the trees in our forests are so accustomed to grow in large masses that it is almost impossible to preserve their life, or to tempt them into any sort of growth, when once they are parted from the surrounding masses, although European trees in the same situation grow quite freely. The reverse process takes place in the, history of men. Formerly, in uncivilised life, men's characters were accustomed to take full room for growth and spread. Now, they are moulded on all sides by such close and iunumei able influences, that they owe the direction of their growth as much to neighboring pressure, as to inward spring. Of course this tendency of civilisation —which is its most characteristic tendency—gives immense leverage to all iniente personal influences, whether good or evil. To Christianity it lends the power, of weaving together a universal Christian Church, where, otherwise, there could be only scattered disciples. To false idolatries it lends a terrible infectiousness, which turns the sin of every powerful mind into a devastating epidemic. Without civilisation we could not have had Christendom, but only Christ. Without civilisation, Powerworship, Mammon-worship, Fame-worship, and all the licenses, might spring up and die out without spreading far beyond the spot of their birth. It is therefore the tendency of civilisation, not itself to decide, but to hasten the great moral issue; to make the scene of contest more universal; to bring good and evil face to face in every variety of situation and circumstance. Only, there is this '■ great danger hi the vast variety of social influences to which it exposes us, that feebler minds, if otherwise unassisted, have scarce time to try the nature of these influences, and hold steadily the balance of their own judgments. And, accordingly, men .who do not see the true remedy for this danger, indulge in longings for those quieter days when all influences, literary, social, and political, were fewer F.nd simpler, and fewer conflicts presented themselves for personal verdicts. They are inclined to ask, " What shelter to grow ripe is «....„ - m ko* laisiire to crow Wise ?'*

" Like children bathing on the shoreBuiied a wave beneath--Another wave succeeds before We have had time to breathe.*' The hurry of the social vibrations which pas 3 involuntarily through every link in the closelyknitted chain of nations, is almost too much, they think, for wise and manly independence. And it is astonishing how any man can look on this otherwise enervating tendency of civilisation, and not see that religious piety is the only power which can prevent men from thus becoming victims to the society in which they live. There is but one personal relation in which the mind is in no danger of being overpowered by the mere contagion of influence—in which personal strength gives in proportion to the impulse received. Only in religious life is the hardiness of solitude combined wHi the sensitiveness of sympathy; the more entirely men are their real selves, the nearer they are to Divine Power. It is to be wished those secularists who talk of social good as something distinct from religion could only feel how dangerously idolatrous mere social sympathies may become, when not balanced by the bracing power of religious faith. Mere civilisation may certainly extend at first the influence of Christianity; but it will tend first to single out in it the purely social virtues, next to degrade them into mere habits, and finally into social temptations, unless—to balance the war of human influences thus poured in from without—-that free, independent, and yet utterly dependent, life of faith, which is the essence of pure Christianity, fortify the mind against the otherwise debilitating influence a highly cultivated society. Yours, &c, DELTA.

lo the Editor of the Colonist. Sir—ln the beginning of this month I forwarded to you a few suggestions on the draining of the city of Nelson. I now send a few supplementary remarks on the most economical plan of carrying out those ideas. If the contemplated draining improvements should be decided on, an engineer must be employed to manage the works: he will not be occupied a fourth part of his time, but still he will have to be paid pretty good wages. To meet this difficulty effectually other work should be found for the steam-engine when it is not employed about the waterworks. If. could be used for numberless purposes; 1 will mention a few. A bone-crushing machine might be attached to the works, which could be easily propelled by the steam-engine. In this province a vast quantity of bones is thrown away every year as useless, which would be. of great value as manure if they were ground into bone dust. Carts which bring firewood, flour, corn, fruit, hay, &c, mostly return nearly empty, and the owners would be very glad to load back with bone dust at a moderate charge, and as a natural consequence they would be able to charge less for the loads they bring into town A sawmill might be erected, which could be worked by the same force; logs might be collected in different parts of the outer harbor, and fastened together; then, when coasting vessels are coming to Nelson, they could tow them in with the tide a little before high water straight up to the saw-mill; then the steam-power would haul them up into the mill without any one lifting an ounce and saw them down into boards, &c, and afterwards place them into carts with the same force: of course intellectual men must superintend the whole. This is literally mind triumphing over matter; the powerful, willing, unmurmuring slave would do all the laborious work without complaining: it would make timber much cheaper; consequently, many more buildings would be put up. The hard boards might be planed, ploughed, and tongued, &c, &c. No doubt then we should export a large quantity of timber from here. Some5 five or six weeks since, some builders came from Taranaki to Nelson, to purchase a large quantity of timber; they did not buy any because they could buy it much cheaper in Auckland, where they saw large quantities with machinery, household furniture might be manufactured by the same power. A large amount of capital goes to England and America for that article; but if the saw-mill were erected timber would be cheap enough to make furniture on a large scale, which could be sold at a reduced price—consequently the demand would be much greater, and no doubt some would be exported to new settlements ; where there is one employed in the trade now, no doubt then there would be at least three or four. Surely such a gigantic force ought to be able to turn so many thousands of tons of flax we have in and round the town to profitable account, either by making it into cord, rope, bags, or paper, &c.; or by preparing the raw material for ex- ! porting it to England for manufactural purposes, and also for making paper. As regards our flax, it has nearly every requisite that is required for making paper: if chemistry were scientifically brought to bear upon the subject, no doubt it would make the finest paper and the best of papier mache. The fibre of the flax is much stronger than most of the rags which paper is made with. If the flax were dried and ground into dust, the same as the bones, and mixed in proper proportions with the bone-dust, it might not make a bad substitute for guano ;—-guano is a kind of animal and vegetable matter mixed-—bone-dust and the fibrous glutinous dust of flax mixed, would be the same. Yours, &c, N. U. M. BROWN. Nelson, April 17.