OCCASIONAL NOTES,

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3062, 1 March 1892, Page 3

OCCASIONAL NOTES,

THAT was a neat, quick-witted rise which Lord Onalow took out of the Ministry, in replying to a farewell address presenter to him by a deputation representing the Loyal Orange Institution in Anckinnd on the Monday proviou.s t>i his departure. It was done so neatly, and in such a gentlemanly manner, that to those who can appreciate dry humour the reading of Lord Onslow * reply was quite a savoury morsel. The address in question gave expression to the desire of the Orangemen to place* on record their appreciation of the services rendered to the colony by Lord Onslow as Governor during the past three year*, and then went on to draw a comparison between the condition of the colony at the time of his arrival in New Zealand, and its more healthy oondition Rt the present date. The removal of the depression these loyal Orangemen assured the Governor they attributed (to use their own words), " to you and your benign government." It would be a libel on the intelligence and sagacity of Lord Onslow to think for a moment that he did not perceive that the word " government " as here used referred to his own act of governing, and not to the Ministry, and that the loyal Orangemen were ascribing the credit ot restoring the affairs of the colony to a sound financial condition eolely to the efforts of the Governor himself. Were he to have accepted the honour, it would of course have been equally just for him to have taken the responsibility for all acts of the Ministry, and this would have been altogether too much blies for Lord Onslow —he would rather the flattering unction were laid to any other soul (or set of souls) than his. In his reply, therefore, Lord Onslow took care to lay the honour on to other (although quite undeserving) shoaldere. He stated that the improvement in the colony's affairs had been coincident with, and not consequent upon, his tenure of the office of Governor. "It is more reasonable," he went on to s'vy, " to attribute it to those who have the conduct of the colony's affairs —my Government, which you are pleased to describe as 'benign.' " Now it is quite apparent that the Orangemen, or at least the party who drafted the address, did not intend to apply the term "benign " to the Executive, or to any of their acts, and the Governor in so neatly applying it to them gave evidence that he can use the weapons of satire and sarcasm in a truly masterly manner. Having thus inserted the nail, Lord Onslow proceeded to drive it home, and in getting ib home he certainly succeeded. He said, " I regret that owing to the indisposition of the Colonial Secretary, no member of it (the Government) is present to-day to hear these words. Such expressions fall all the more pleasantly the less accustomed the ears they are intended for are to hear them." From the last sentence we may infer that in Lord Onslow'e opinion the policy of the Government is not viewed with much favour, and meets with but little approbation at the hands of the colonists generally. It may, perhaps, be asked how am I aware that the Orangemen did not intend to describe the Ballance Ministry as a "benign" Government? It is an obvious conclusion, and this is how I reason it out: In the first place, if the Orangemen were Conservatives, or even True Liberals (that is Liberals of the old school), the word "benign " would have been the very last adjective in the English language they would have used to express their opinion of the present Executive. In the second place, were the Orangemen Advanced Liberals, the presentation ot an address to the Governor, congratulating him upon the beneficent effects of his rule, would have been the very last thing in the world they would have thought of doing. " Liberals of this stamp profess no loyalty to the reigning head of the British Empire, nor to her representatives in its various dependencies, and our Governor is regarded by them merely as a puppet—a man whose office is a sinecure, and whose functions are ornamental. Lord Onslow's refusal to swamp the Legislative Council with Trade Unionists or their nominees may tend somewhat to dispel this illusion, and give these Advanced Liberals practical proof that he has more weight in the government of the country than they relish. The members of the Orange deputation must either have been quite ignorant of the spirit of their own address, been paralysed and rendered speechless by the pomp and circumstance of the occasion, or have been completely flabbergasted by the ready wit of the Governor in so audaciously misinterpreting their address, for from no other cause can I explain their submitting without a protest to the construction Lord Onslow was placing upon the words, "your benign government." In attributing the returning prosperity of the coiony to either the Governor or to the Government the Orangemen were displaying a sad want of general knowledge—neither have had anything to do with it; it has been brought about solely by the industry of the colonists themselves in developing the resources of the colony, encouraged thereto by the opening up of profitable outaide markets for their produce. True, Lord Onslow did export six carcases of mutton, consigned to certain epicurean haunts in the West End, but that could hardly have had any appreciable effect upon the condition of the colony—no, not yet, certainly. The subject matter of this note may, perhaps be thought to be rather stale, but as the information upon which it is based was not published in The Waikato Times it escaped my attention earlier. In taking up a paper in the Library the other day, my eye fell upon an article headed, "Annual Church Meetings," and following this was a report of the annual meeting of parishioners of S. Stephen's, Tamahere. I may say that I take a lively interest in literature of this description. I regard these annual reports (always taken in conjunction with the balance-sheets), as spiritual thermometers, for by them we are enabled to gauge, and that pretty accurately, the degree of spiritual fervour and ardour which pervades the various congregations. An annually-increasing debit balance betokeDS spiritual frigidity; an annuallydiminiahing debit balance (should such a balance exist at all) denotes that a healthy glow and warmth permeates the members of the congregation — spiritually, again, of course. When such a happy state of things exists, we may be almost certain that the members are filled with genuine devotion to their religion, their sanctuary, and their pastor. In the report of the meeting in question, however, no statement of the annual accounts is given—not even a skeleton statement; the thermometer was hung in the shade. The reading of this particular thermometer as a gauge of the satisfactory internal working of the congregation would, however, I fear, be misleading, for there is a fly (not solely disconnected with finance) in their ointment. The chief business of the meeting appeared to be the fixing of the amount of stipend to be paid by the congretion to Archdeacon Willia during the ensuing year, and a proposal was made which I think His Lordship the Primate would have characterised as being •' counter to what had been the tradition of the Church from the beginning up to the present time." The proposal meant nothing more or less than that the parson should be put on piecework; he was to contract, ind be bound down to discharge, certain duties in consideration for a certain sum—£36 pel annum. He had to devote one day at least in each fortnight to visiting the Tamahere parishioners, mid to hold an occasional morning Communion service; this latter, presumably, in addition to the_ services as at present held by him. Considering th< large liability they were incurring—if w( put the number of parishioners down ai twenty, this would amount to a weekl] contribution of BJd (or nearly threi thr'penny bits) each—the Tamahere peopU cannot be blamed for any lack of prudenci in conducting the financial affairs of then church—they are evidently determined t< obtain full value for their money, A motion was proposed giying effect t< the terms the parishioners wished to maki with their parson, but the Archdeacoi would not submit to any hard-and-fast ruli being made as to what clerical work shouU be undertaken by him, and refused to pu the motion—and he was perfectly justifiet in taking the stand he did. He could no have agreed to such a contract without los of dignity, and the fact of such a motion a that referred to being proposed was in itsel a reflection upon his zeal. The Tamaher parishioners—it is a fair inference to inakethought Mr Willis had the opportunity au(

ample time to do as they desired, but lacked the inclination. This inclination they sought to awaken by making it with him a question of pounds, shillings and pence. The meeting eventually adjourned without any determination having been arrived at, the parishioners present being evidently resolved to enforce tho terms of the contract they desired to make, and the Archdeacon remaining firm in opposition. The stipendiary difficulty was therefore left to the new committee t» overcome ; let us hope they will succeed in overcoming it (if they have not already done so), on a basis satisfactory to both parties. FCSEE.