HEREDITARY HONOURS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1787, 18 December 1883, Page 4

HEREDITARY HONOURS.

(Timahu Herald.) Ove of those odd eases whioh furnish so powerful an argument against the principle -of a' hereditary legislature, or "hereditary' privileges of any sort, hajust occurred nt Home. Stephen Moore, Eavl of Mount Cashel, the ehlest member of the House of Lords died on the 10th of October at the age of 92. He was horn in 1792, when George the Thml was still in the prime of life, with William Pitt as his I'rime Minister, when Louis the Sixteenth's head was still safe upon his shoulders, and when Napoleon was still a sub-lieutenant in fcha artillery regiment of the la Fe"re. Ho succeeded his father in 1822, and being elected a Representative Peer for Ireland, sat in the House of Lords for nearly sixty years. It would be more correct, perhaps, to say that lie held a scat in the House of Lords during nil that time ; for the Earl of Mount Cashcll did not really take any part in the proceedings of that aujrust Chamber for many years before his death. At no period of his life was he remarkable for the strength of his mind, and as legards public affairs he has been for the latter quarter of a century or more, what the mashers call " awf'ly out of it." But lie came of tough Anglo-Irish stock, ami his body obstinately pel sisted in living on, comfortably enough on the whole, long after his mental faculties had ceased to be of any particular use to himself iv his country. His mother was one of the Kings of Roscommon, daughter of that E-nl of Kingston who figures conspicuously in Hoiace Wai polo's lettcis and other gossiping chronicles of the middle of the eighteenth century ; and it is iemarkablc that no fewer than six Earls of Kingston have come into the title, boine it with greater or less distinction, and gone where heraldry goes for nothing, during the life of a single kinsman of theirs. Now, it must strike the stiffest champion of aiistocratic institutions that there" is something anomalous in a half imbecile nonagenarian having the power to make laws for his fcllowmen, and ncbunUy representing to the end in the Imperial Parliament, tins highest order of his countiymen. This in addition to exercising all sorts of local authonty in Ireland by virtue of appointments which have always gone w tli the title. There seems to bo a need of some provision by which peers should be compulsoiily retired, like officers in the Army or the Civil Service, at a certain age, or a certain stage of incapacity. But the anomaly in this ease is made doubly glaring by the circumstance—comical oi pathetic, according to tha way you look at it— that Lord ""Kilworth, eldest sou and successor of the E.irl of Mount Cijhell, is an incurable lunatic. He has for many yeais been confined in a private asylum. The poor fellow, piolwbly, is not even capibie of being made awaiu of his elevation ; and thcie is not the smallest likelihood of his ever being able to fulfil the duties ot his position,— whatever these may be supposed to be. He is only ."iS, however, and it is quite possible thot he may live to as great an age as hi 3 father. Should he do so, the Kaildom of Mount Cashell will have been practically a dummy Earldom for half a century. Thu next heir, brother ot the present Earl, who inairied au heiress named Smyth, and took her name with her estates, has a son of 24 ; but even this young man's chances of ever succeeding to the peerage are remote enough. It was originally created in 1764, to leward ono of the political supporteis of the piofligate (Irenville.

Hhimivc.s have appealed in such masses on the English coast as to destroy the lislici men's nets. Tjib first missionary to South Afiica was (Icoige Schmidt, who was sent out by Moiavians in 1737. He preached to the Hottentots, and at the close of five years had gatheml a little chinch of forty seven members. A roimnsi'OMiKNT of the London Cluistian writes that two women, converts of a natnc Wesleyan evangelist, me prOAching the Gospel to the Kaffirs with great stieee&s. A iuxjj.nt police return states that theie ate not less then 200,000 " vagabonds,' sti oiling thiough Geim.my and begghig for aims. They arc clnefly men hi their \nime or young people in full vigour who a) o too lazy to u ork. O\ tR 200 Biitish, Ameiican. and German missionaries in China have addressed a petition to the British Government praying for the abolition of the opium trade. The treatment of leprosy is becoming a hard problem in India. In the Bombay Presidency 9483 ca&es arc under treatment. The coloured Baptists of Texas have 612 ordained ministers, 539 churches, and tt membership of 61,789, A BlUTisn ooulitt, writing for a London medical journal, says that as cultiue of intellect met cases the human eye Hi'ows annller, and gazelle-eyed sirens and ox-eyed Junos \anish fioin society. The British aic lapidly extending a liet'Mork of niluays over lndii. About £(i.000,000 will be spent this, year in the construction of new roads. Two thousand clergymen attended the Lutlier celebidtion at Wittembuig, Germany, on September 13th. Jons* B\knktl\ the first lailroad conductor employed m pxsbcnger ti attic, died lately in England. He accompanied the old No 1 engine in its trial tiip with George Stephenson. It is a strange fact, but nevertheless it is a fact, that there is no portiait of Charlotte Bronte in existence. That affixed to the first edition of her life by Mrs Gaskell was a mere fancy sketch, Pope Leo has given oideis that the priceless ti easures of the Vatican Libi ai y shall hereafter be accessible to students of every sect and opinion from all pai ts of the world, with no lestuctions beyond those that aie neces&ary to ensure the safe keeping of the books and document". J)K Fmxt, Professor of Divinity in the University at Edinbuigh, lias been elected a coriehponding member of the French Institute, an honour never before confei red upon a Scottish Piesbyteiian minister, with the single exception of the late Dr Chnlmeis. Pomi: original lemaiks on the subject of larrikini&m were recently made by Mi Kobert Stout duiing the course of the lee tu re he delivered before the members of a Freethought Association. He said he thought far too much was made of the matter. If the colonists wished the young lads who were growing up around them to lead regular lives and become good citizens, they should, to use an old phrase, be given " a hobby in life." Let parents and guardians cultivate in children under their care a taste for botany, geology, music, and so on, and he guaranteed that less would be heard of larrikinisni, whilst the race of the future would be much better than that of the present. The lads in this colony were possessed of superabundant energy, which only required to be pi operly directed to fit them for creditable positions in life, and if it could be directed into the proper channels, there is little boubt that larrikinsim would be seldom heard of. Hats axd Mick. —If you wish to dekjtroy them get a packet of Hn i.'s.M \gic Vprmin Ptfirri r in packets, 6d, Od, and Is, to be obtained aJfajl storekeepers, or from T. B. Hill byen3B'iniriii' e\tr.i stamp. ■■Onk SiiitiLTNc. — Francis J. Shortts' Rrapul.tr Art Union. — I'en first-class Oil Pa.intlinfjs by celebrated artists. 5000 tickets at Is. ' The pn/.es are magnificent and costly. Country subscribers sending stamps or otherwise will have tickets by return post. Enclose stamped envelope for rcplv. — Fkavcjs J. Snoulr, 140, Queen-street, Auckland. — fAvvi.] Like in tiie.Bpsjt— Then and Now. — It is generally supposed that in the bush we have to put up with many discomforts and privations in the,,shape nl food. Formerly, it was so, but, now," thanks to T. B. Him, who has himself dwelt jn the bush, if food does consist chiefly of tinned meats his Colonial Saucb gives to them a most detectable flavour, niafcjn? them as well of the plainest food most enjoyable, and instead > as hard biscuits and indigestible damper his Im- ' provkd Colonial Baking Powdhr makes the < very best bread, scones, cakes, and pastry far , supefior and i more wholesome than', yeast or) leaven. Sold by all storekeepers who can ob-j {•aty it from any MKCtoRt iv, Auckland.;