THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR o'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2537, 22 February 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR o'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1877.

" Savi? me from my friends " might well have been the heart-felt wish of Mr Buchanan when contesting the vacant seat at Napier with Mr Sutton. His friends seemed to. hare been of that kind who assume the name of friendship so as to gain their own ends, and are friendly for such so long a time as suits their interests to be so. But an over-zealous friend is often found to be more detrimental to the side he takes than a lukewarm ally or a passive on-looker, sometimes even more so than an avowed enemy. See it in the case of Mr Buchanan and his candidature at Napier. Left to himself he might hare had a chance ; he had a tolerably strong local party; he was well known and liked, and had had experience; and with these and other things in his favour he was certainly anything but out of the race. But that amiable body the Auckland Central Committee took him under their wing and proceeded to send down, or if they did not actually send down at least there went one of their members —unmatched in invective and assertion —to dictate to the people of Napier whom they should choose as their member. The result of this piece of impertinence might have been foreseen, but there are thbsa who have so high an opinion of their powers of persuasion, who are so strongly convinced-that they are right and their opponents wrong, that they seem never to be satisfied unless when haranguing a crowd of people, imagining, perhaps—so blind is conceit—that they are actually furthering the cause they support. Deeming that the electors of Napier were not competent by their pwn unaided reason to elect a fit and proper person to represent them in Parliament, there was Mr Sheehan to bring his experience to bear, and down came Mr Rees with all the ardour of a young senator of a session's standing. So a public meeting was called, and the candidate and the two members from foreign parts spoke to the assemblage. Mr Buchanan said he was not a puppet, and that Mr Sheehan would in future be the man " who would rule this (Napier) electorate*" "MrSh.eehan's address is characterised as "long an.d frothy," the latter epithet being, we suppose, borrowed from the diary of Mr Pepys, who used to apply it to other kinds of discourses. He (Mr Sheehan) agreed with Mr Buchanan that the day was notfar distant when he (Mr Sheehan) would "hold the electorate of Napier in his hands!" This must have been nice for the electors of Napier to hear, and it is not impossible that such an arrogant remark may have determined some electors present to show him that the time alluded to had not yefc come, if come it ever would. Then came Mr Eees, and his speech like others before it may be summed up in two words as " unhesitating assertion." The Daily Telegraph, however, is equal to the occasion, and in commenting on his speech points out how it is characterised by that reckless disregard of facts which he allows himself so frequently to indulge in, on the off-chance as it would seem of there being no one present who either would or could correct him. He claimed that Sir George Grey through Mr Buchanan should receive their support, because he had purchased out of his own pocket for them a large public estate. He apparently forgot or did not choose to remember that Mr Buchanan had previously denied being baund to Sir George Grey's party, but Mr Eees was there to say certain things, and, as we read of jockeys and pedestrians, " would not be denied " in making his filial effort. The Daily Telegraph handles him rather roughly for this and other statements made, showing that though Sir George Grey,^ike any other speculators may have invested money in mortgages which ft was hoped would prove remunerative, yet that he never purchased for the people there any public estate, for doing which Mr llees claims that Mr Buchanan should be supported. * "We hope this lesson which they have received at Napier will teach the Auckland Central Committee the folly of attempting to force down the throats of others their own party and selfinterested views, and further that whenever these tactics are pursued by them the same result will follow as followed in the case of Napier. The attempt lately made at Napier was an insult to the electors there. Either they are fitted to exercise the franchise or are they not. If they are not, and it can be proved so, let them be disfranchised ; if they are fitted surely they are capable of choosing their own. member without dictation on the part of Mr Eeea or Mr Sheehan.

The slightest innovation here at the Thames in connection with the semces of the Church of England seems to make some people imagine that ritualistic practices are being introduced into our simple form of worship which ought to be nipped in the bud, and so acting on this mistaken idea they do all in their power to throw vcold water on thiDgs perfectly harmless if looked on in a simple and straightforward way. They see, like commentators on Homer, mean* ings" which were never meant to be con-

veyed by the words said or the deeds I done, and though doubtless they are right to regard with suspicion the thin end of the wedge, yet it is quite time to withstand the same when there is shown any sign of using it. When we speak of "the slightest innovation," we j do not allude to any practice which is not in vogue elsewhere, but simply to some things which old in themselves are disapproved of by some people simply because they are new to them. They have never seen them before, therefore they argue they must be new. It is not our intention here to enter into a theological discussion, j which might be long and would be sure to, be tiring, but simply to quote a few instances of what thing* are done in churches j elsewhere, so that men who look with suspicion on the most harmless rites or the faintest approach to make the church more beautiful at certain times than on ordinary occasions may see how very far removed our services here are from the faintest tinge of Ritualism, the following of which has given rise to many unseemly disturbances not only at meetings of parishioners but in the church itself. Quoting from a late paper giving an account of a Harvest and Dedication Festival at Edgely, we find that the church had been tastefully decorated with flowers, crown, crosses, &c,, and that " shortly before the service commenced, Mr J. Webb, one of the wardens, and Mr T. Turner, sidesman, entered the chancel from the vestry, carrying the communion rails, which had been removed, and in a very business-like way fixed them in their ordinary position. These rails we understand, had been removed, by some one's orders, several times within the twentyfour hours, and brought back as often by the gentlemen already named." This was the beginning of the disturbance, but in other respects the service passed off quietly enough. The after part, which was the admission of certain candidates into the " guild of St. Matthew," did not go off so quietly. When the greater part of the congregation had left the church the; standards were re-lighted, and the members of the guild in black cassocks, short surplices and metal crosses about two inches long, formed a procession, while a gentleman distributed several crosses, with ribbons attached, to some ladie& present, and placed others on the communion table. On seeing this, Mr Webb, the churchwarden alluded to above, went to the incumbent and remonstrated with him in the name of the congregation, receiving as a reply that he (the incumbent) would do just as .he liked in his own church. Mr Webb said the church was not his. Mr Mitton (the incumbent) seems to have forgotten that portion of the rubric which says that nothing shall be proclaimed or published, &c, &c, but what is prescribed in this Book, i.e., the Book of Common Prayer, when he proceeded with a service taken from " a small book, of which only the members of the guild had a copy," and " the only authorised portion of which was the Lord's prayer." The scene that ensued baffles description. Mr Morgan, another clergyman of the church, openly protested against the service being carried on, and several gentlemen sided with him, and after a very angry dispute the installation of the new members of the guild had to be concluded in the school-room, which was decorated with pictures, crosses, &c. .> We should imagine that even the most devoted of his followers could hardly praise Mr Mitton for his action in the matter. .