ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1962, 3 February 1885, Page 3

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE.

Onk of the most shameful scenes that has ever been witnessed in Auckland was enacted on Sunday afternoon at the general cemetery, the occision being the funeral of the unfortunate man, Holmes, who met his death at the recent fire in Elliott-street. It seems that the ftiends of the deceased had determined that he should not fill a pauper's grave, but that he should be buried like a Christian. They accordingly raised sufficient money by subscription" to pay for a respectable funeral, and arranged with the Rev. W. Tebbs, of St. Matthew's, to perform the burial service. However, M.icVinlay, the deceased's landlord, professes to bo a Fieethinker, and so he and some of his friends decided that the funeral services should be conducted by a Freethinker, and asked Dr. York to officiate. He was unable to be present, and so appointed a Mr Ellis to act in his stead. When the funeral reached the cemetery, Mr Tebbs began to read the beautiful funeial service of the Church of England, when he was rudely interrupted by some of the Freethinkers. (By the way, it seems Tery strange that those who claim the right of freedom of thought for them selves should be so very much averse to permit others to enjoy that light) A parley ensued, nnd the Freethinkers attempted to prevent Mi Tebbs continuing the service, but they had completely mistaken the character of the man with whom they had to deal, for if there i* one man in Auckland who is above all others determined to perform his duty, that man is the Rev William Tebbs I'espitc the disgiactful and uns-emly inteiruptions of the Freethinker*, he persisted in performing his duty, and the unfur tunate man, Holmes, received Christian burial. It is truly UmeuUble that people should attempt to interrupt so sacred a ceremony aa the burial of the dead. The untutored savage would not ao such a thing, so it was left for the enlitrhtened (?) Freethinkers to exhibit the value of their ci\ilisat on Bv a. stiange coincidence, on Monday last, I came across an extract from an old book, bearing on this subject, in G. A Sala's " Echoes of the Week " in the Illustrated London News. It is remarkable for the force and beauty of its language, while the frequent use of capitals na\ou-s more of modern German than of English. It is as follows : — As it is a work of the Law of Natnie and of Nations, of Human and Divine Law, to buiy the Dead, so is it to administer that which necessarily conduceth to it — the Place and Office of Burial. If man were so impious as not to alford it, the Eaith, to his Shame, will do it ; she w ill open the Pores of her Body and take in the Blood. She will send forth her Children the Woi ms to bring in the Flesh of thnr Brother, and with her Mantle the Grass, as with a Winding Shtet, She will enfold the Bones and bnry all together in her own Bosom. Men (in Passion) often refuse to do it to their Enemies, to wicked Persons and to notorious offenders, but she asn natural mother that can forget none of her C'lul dren doth thus for them all, both good and bid. * The Hospital Committee certainly have anything but a pleasant time of it. They have plenty of trouble and not much besides, so much so that I should think it will be ditlicult to get gentlemen to act. They have absolutely no authority, as was proved when Dr. Bond, the House Surgeon, in direct opposition to their instructions, acted for a month or more as Medical Superintendent at the Lunatic Asylum. Now they find themselves called upon by the Government to hold an inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Pattetson who died from injuries received when he was run over on the race course. They have very properly refused to do so unless they have full power conferred on them, to enable them to take evidence on oath, &c. It is to be hoped that the stand they have ; taken will be the means of putting an end to the present anomalous state of affairs. Either the committee should be invested with full power to manage the Hospital or else it should be abolished as useless. Many people look back with regret to the timo wheu the hospital was under the control of Dr. Philson, for whatever the faults of management were, and they were not few, owing to the parsimony with which the institution was treated by the Wellington authorities there was not a divided control as theie is now. Dr. Philson was absolute, nnd did what lie believed to be right, and an appeal could always be made to him by anyone who had a grievance. Now, the House Surgeon absents himself from the hospital whenever the exigencies of lawn tennis demand it, and the committee is powerle»s to prevent him. Either he should bo placed under tho control of the committee, or that body should be abolished, and the House Surgeon should be entrusted with sole control. The celebrated P. T. Barn u in has been called the Prince of Humbugs, and if one half of the atones told of him are true, he certainly deserves the title. It is doubtful whether English people would submit to be humbugged by him as the Americans did, but the latter seem to admire a man who is smart enough to fleece them. Nothing could well be more barefaced than the trick he played when he charged people for admission to a place where there was a horse with his head where his tail ou^ht to be, and when they went in they saw, instead of a lusus uatuut, an ordinary horse standing in a atible with his tail towards the manger. When the people found that they had beui hoaxed they went out and sent in their friend* to sli.ire the some fate Another trick of Ins was to hue a large number of steameis and to announce that he would take people out to a certain iM-itid, free of charge. Thousands of people Hocked down to the steamere to enjoy the cheap excursion. Barnum fulfilled his promise, aa he charged nothing for taking the people out to the ishnd, but he charged them double fare for bringing them back. Though he is the Prince of Humbugs, or perhaps becauie he is, he does not see the force of acting as showman to another humbug, and so has refused an offer made to him to "show" the Tichborne Claimant. Of coutie, there are some people who believe that the claimant is not a humbug, but that wa« not the decision of the jury who tried the case, and the majority of people will want to see very conclusive evidence before they will believe that thfl jury arrived at the wrong verdict. At any rate Barnum does not believe that "there's money in it," aa Mr Greenwood, the auctioneer, declares with regard to each block of land he offers for sale. * « * It would be a very good thing if something practical should result from the proposal to bring out a number of Higl • laud crofters and settle them on land in New Zealand. There seems to be no doubt but that these people would make excellent colonists, aa they are honeot, industrious and hardy, brought up to work hard for every insignificant results. years paat many of them have been unable to earn a living, to say nothing of paying rent. Not receiving their rents, the landlords have evicted them, and terrible tales, unfortunately true, have been told of the privations Buffered by these poor folks. This must be said of the landlords, that the loss of their rents has been a serious matter for them and that they know that the condition of the crofters is almost sure to get worse instead of better, and that, cruel as the evictions may seem, they arc the only way to compel the people to improve their prospects by emigrating. Here we have thousands upon thousands of acres of good land lying unoccupied and improductive. It should be an easy matter to arrange for tho introduction of a number of these Highland crofters, the Imperial Gcverumeut paying for their

outfits and passages, and our Government giving them grants of land and rations until they have time to get their first gathered in, also providing them with need and implements to bo paid for by instalments By this plan, which 11 similar to that advocated by Lord liiaba/on iv the contemporary review, the Imperial authorities would be enabled to remedy a crying evil while we should gain «i numbei of very desirable settleri. St. Mum.o.