Correspondence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 330, 14 February 1874, Page 3

Correspondence.

ALEXANDRA FROM "A MOTHER'S" POINT OF VIEW. (To the Editor.) Sir, — I have been always under the impression that your Alexandra correspondent was a married man with a largo family ; but from the tone of his last letter I am inclined to think he is a bachelor, or he would have known the provocation " A Mother" endured before she had recourse to the step. He has, I supposetiever heard of the Seven Yeai*'s War. This war of words might be designated as the Battle of the Hinges, or in other words the struggle to get the school properly ventilated. The taking of Sebastapol was nothing in comparison, and the victory of the mothers was only achieved by stratagem. When the school was built, two windows were made 12ft. high ; but by pome oversight were left without hinges, and consequently could not be opened. Although there were six windows in the room, each one had a reason of its own why it should remain closed. One blew the I maps, another the lamps, a third the copies, and so on, and the two which were available had no hinges. It is useless to grieve for tho amunition wasted on the lords of creation, suffice it to say the conclusion came to was to get a mistress, as no lady could or would breathe the • vitiated atmosphere. The ruse succeeded admirably, as in a few weeks after her arrival the hinges were put on, the windows opened, and the school properly ventilated. "Bo wise as serpants "is a saying as old as the New Testament,, and the wisdom of one species at least is to cover over its victim with a slimy coating to make it pliable and easy to absorb. To some such test as this every action attempted in the district is submitted. The generosity of the people in Alexandra is astonishing. Could what has been given in donations to the school alone be counted it would scarcely be believed. The gentlemen some time ago raised a handsome sum for prizes, and the ladie3 not to be outdone collected £17 to give' the children a treat; part of the money was retained for special prizes of merit, when lo it was discovered that one -individual disapproved of giving prizes altogether. How any one sjioulcl do so is a mystery, but that the money subscribed by the public should be locked up for years is a greater still ; neverthle-s such was the case. The usefulness of tho ladies who had interested themselves on this occasion, and who had done more for the benefit of education here than all the others put together, was checked, and tho public could scarcely be a^ked for subscriptions while, this money was locked up in the bank. A donkey was likewise purchased for the amusement of the child en, and for some time was an object of interest to those of larger growth, when iv an evil hour lie was given in charge to a member of the School Committee, -wllifli -was n. ei^iin.l for hiu disappearance to the neighborhood of Cromwell. Although this donkey was purchased by the people, and tho properly of the children, a-iJI cost originally £10, it was sold br a member of the School Committee for £2 10p. I suppose donkeys arc scarce in the immediate neighborhood of the Governor, Sir James Fergusson, as he has carried this one off in triumph. It was the same with music. Money was subscribed for the purchase of a harmonium, and it was considered all right, when 10, like Jonah's gourd, there was a worm at the root, and it perished in a night. This suicidal policy has been carried so far that business meu are in the ha' >it of riding miles to mark out claims for Chinamm, write j applications, and even conduct cases in the Warden's Court free of charge ; not I am afraid to confer a benefit on. John Chinaman, but to entail an injury on sorre of the European residents. Yet there iu*e many intellectual Samsons with clear heals, large hearts, and generous hands, who are foremost in every good work, who arc nevrr tired of doing good, although often reqaito.l with evil, ami when left free and uutraiamelL'd are each a host in themselves ; but when subjected to the slimy process, like Samson when his hair was shorn, they become weak as other men. If people would enly consider that little over four years ago this was a fine flourishing township, and that by the action of a subtle but deadly agency this place, with its resources almost untouched, is likely to become in a few'yeai-s more unknown, except to a few squatters and men employed on their stations, they would pause before sacrificing the substantial benefits of the future for the questionable amusement of the present. I think if the School Committee require a motto, it ought to be a. dead body reanimated by a copy of the Tuapeka Tijik3. — lam, &c., , A Mother. Alexandra, 7th February.