Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 52, 29 December 1904, Page 1

Current Topics

Greetings ! A New Year's greeting to all our readers ! And blessing ulpon them while the -' Years roll through line palm of ag*es As the dropping of the Rosary speeds Thrdu^h the cold and passive fingeirs Of a hermit at his beads.' The Cardinal's Jubilee One of the wisest of women's heads wias that which adorned t#ie amiable and neglected Polish wife of Louis XV. of France. A dictum of hers was "bo this effect : that tlhe people w"ho are g,real should not be great excap t tor the oake of I)he people who arc little. The •des'oriptian seems to us to apply i<o the great Prince of tlhe Church, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney, wh\o (a,s rflportefcl elslowhere in our column*) has recently been celebrating his sacerdotal golden jubilee. During tine last nineteen years of his jubilee period he has been, perlbiaips, tihe most commanding personality in Australia, an|d his espi-scio^ate has been marked by great aad dejvoteld w.ork for the children, the poor, tihe sick, the neglected, amid, generally, ' for the salke of tjhe ipeople who are little.' A gTeat oh'urchm.aw and a great patirfot, Qandinal Mooj^n sees a bright and glorious to-miorrow tor tdae atiopted land which he loves so well, ' I am oon4vrnced,' siaUd he in reiply t)o a congratjulatory address £norn his clergy, ' that a great future awaits Australia. It was not without a .view to a special religious mission that ProrcMence permitted this vast isltartd tontinont, tholu^h on the direct highway of commerce, to remain unknown etud hidden away from the civilised Wiorlid till the clpse of the eighteenth century. She enters late in the field, but wiMi her vast respßirces and gilajnt energy she shall attain her destiny. We have had as pioneers in this fair land golden Bishops and golden piiasts, anid long may their traditions aaid tbeir example be tlhe heritage of flhe Australian ClWurch. But, fur their more, we have a golden laity, truly gplden in their piety and in their desire to promote tihe interests of flharity a«d religion and at all times ready to gemerotuslly co-operate with tftieir clergy in every gp v dd wiork.*

\Ve cordially wish the eminent jubilaria<n life and strength 'ad muitos annos ' to work • pno eeclesija Dei' — fior tihe advancement of God's Church on earth.

Young i i &i cil On Christmas Day— autfpiciolus date— th^ representatives of New Zealand's Catholic Young Men's Societies met in Diinedin. The 'associations are engaged in the noble work of leading other's up the heights at that critical period of life when the bu'ddiaig life comes into contact with t(he thausand-aild^one dangers arising from idleness, evil companions, drink, dissipation ; when wrotog tjur,ns aJre most readily taken ; when pitfalls most aboiuind ; when faith is sometimes undermined or lost ; when promising lives are often sfhaikem 'out of their true centre of gravity. Qur Young Men's Societies all run in 'practically the same gnoove. M'utlual iraprovement is theitr ohief aim ; their means, debates, readings, music,, dramia,. recitations, practice in public sjpeakiing, the whole seasoned with wholesome aad elevating compainiolnsdiip amd associations that make for the formation of tnue mon as we need them.

It is t^ie ■Ctommo'n experience that in suqh societies there will usually be a picked liody of young GLdaonites Who hiold fast with the grip of a steel trap tb the principles which jflio'uld gjuMe them in toiling up the steep. Outsijde tjiese there will ordinarily be a shifting an-ci uncertain Irinige of members AV)ho taJ^e a sihy, dainty, sipasrmo/dic, half-hearted interest in £he wnrking of the as^ociia,tia(n., but a'ppqar in full iorce a.nd upholstered in their m,os't expensive drapery wthen the circling months bring the animal slocial or picnic arapnd. This is not as 1 it sjhduld be. Voltaire threw himself wholly int,o his lying and profane buffoonery against the Cfturc'h. One of fhe netfls that cary aloud m siocie-tieis. of the kfti'd ivnlder consideration is all-rolu/nd earnestness in good. Enthusiasm is not necessary. It is often as shiortliveid, if as brilliant, as foam out oS from the water. The chief tthi'ng needful is merely c,ooHieaSded, soliid, hardj-faced eartnesitness : the lvind that sets its teetjh and buttons its coat and marches defiajntly against the storm^ anid keelps on in rain and sleet apd sihine from New Year's Day to St. Sylvester's. * Tihe trouble— where there is listlessness or trouble — lies not in the aim of our Qatiholic Young Men's Socie/ties. Nor is it necessary, we bolidve, to seek it in the mjain lines of their management. It will probably be rriAst freqiueaitly found in causes Mi)at lie ou"tsi)de bptih aim a*nd management. Defective sahool tirajinitng, (we

riefer especially to State soWols), imdesirable homa.as'sociatibns ot comp,a\nionsihiips, amd, to some extent, the character of flaVotad pursuits or amusementisiijfrequontly evolve, directly or indirectly, tastes and feelings that

a*e incompatible with a tiecj), practical interest in the work of mu'tjual impifovememt societies sjuch as we describe. Helnce a laqk of appreciation of their benefits, or, am iidqa t/hat the gains .are not wartlh the pains. A,nd hence again, sp many yokiths are satisfied to loaf aad drome arfnd dawdle their precious evenings away, pr,o|p|pijng up verandaih-posits and house corners, turning gut tjheir minds to grass— till their intellects, for lack of exercise, lose then- grip 'of things In this respect they resemble the fortune-sipoiled, aim! ess-lived m|an of wihjom Dale-Owen writes m his au to biography. ' 1 have let my mind gio to seed,' said 'he remorsefully, ' I have thrown away ai life.' And he 'haid taut one life to throw away.

The fresh impetus, the new ver>ve antf stparkle, imported into Young Men's Societies by Wie recent Cathlolic Congress is, we hope and beliewe, w.orkilng like a usefKil leaden in our federated associations in New Zealand. So m^ich, at least, we gather tnom t3ie recent meetings iln Dunediin. We wisTh the Viaung men (iodsipc^/d m tlieir noble ap'ost'oliate among their felLowypuths w}hjo are majrcihtaig with them sHioulileir to shoulder along the road of life. • All in a Fog.' Njova Scotia, CalifoTnia, and Oregon pyos'sess fiogs t(hat have wion a name for themselves "ftr tlhe literature of meteorology. liut Lon'don's own (particular tog may claim to be tlhe gold-medallist among fogs. Oscar Wilde wqote of it thius :— ' The yelltow fog dame creeping dtown The bridges, till the houses' walJs Seemed changed to sihaidows, amd St. Paul's Doiomed lilke a bubble o'er the town.' But tjhat was a thin, tame, airfd inadeqiuate fog. One, for tastam.ee, settled down on London in the begi\ntnl\ng of Navemlber, 1879. It wiped out .all yieiw of itlbe city* cljung on till the following February, raised the tieathr/ate to tarty-three per cent, above the average, and swqpt into an/other world more people suffering with asthma, brtoncihitis, and other respiratory tifloiubles tftian ha)d ever had the partnership between body ajnd soul in tjhe worldncapital during the same period. Here is a cabled description of a London fiog from last Friday's daily papers :—: — ' A", very derise fog stopped vehicular tiriaffic in Lond[an last nigiht, and disorganized the railways. Pedestrians were boDelessly lost, and there were numerous accildetnts. Queen Alexandra was unable to travel to SaawLrimg)h'am. The fiog continues, causing great Loss to tlhe London Christmias trade.' A f,og is also in many ot£er ways a costly visitation to Ltodoin. A simple eight hours' day' of it may involve a»n extir.a positive expeinditure of from £50,800 to £10|0,,000 in ohinking coins of the realm. A goodly ;prop,ortjjo,n of this finds its way into tihe hands of tjhe gas aji|d electric light companies. A fop; also brings miucih danger, ttibulution, antf expense to tlhe railway qomlpjajnies. % « Fog signalling,' says am Emiglish railway Placer beiore us, 'is expensive. At Cla^pjham Junction alione £5,0 has been spent by a single railway comipany diariing a day's f,og iln extra pay t/o the platelayers. Whon the red light Cannot be seen at a diatiance of a (h,u]nWrefcl yia-r'ds the platelayers become fog signiallers. For tftiia they are paid a Shilling a day in addition to their regular wages atiti fourpence per hour qvartime, provideid the overtime does not ii^n into a second shilling.' But extra lig/hting and fog signalling repiresent only a part of the cost of the colling yellow visitation,' and Lctndion is fi|ne city to live out of when it is l all in a tog.' The Grey Statue Once ulpqn a time the Fool of Brederode tramped heavily ac,i|osis some freshly plojugheid fields, making, as he went, Uhe ntotions of a man who is sowing grain.

' Wlhat are you slowing ? ' said one to him. 'I sow fiQols,' he replidd. ' Why do yo,u not sow wise men ? ' " Wihy ? ' echoed the Fool ; «■ just because bhe earth does not produce them.' Yet, with the good leave of the wearer of the cap and bells of Brederode, this olid oari,h has produced a goodly crop of the wise and great. It was a dictum of Sir William Temple that ' some ages ■produce many great men and few great occasions ; other times, on the contrary, raise great occasions amd few or no great men.' New Zealand's early r days produced some great occasions ; they likewise produced the men to fit them. ' There is nothing,' says William Pember Ree\es in ' Tlhe Long White Cloud, 1 ' like tlhe colonial grindstone for putting an edge on good steel.' Sir George Grey's commanding faculties were sharpened by his New Zealand experiences till he became one of tjie masterbuilders of the Empire. His memory will long remain in New Ze,ala\nd as the man w<h'ose mirfd ,sftretche»d out a gelneriation in advance of his day, apfd Auckland honors itself as well as him in the noble mofuimant which it uweiled last week to perpetuate the fame of his name by the waters of the Waitem'ata. Grey landed in New Zealand as Governor ijn ltflS. Heke's war was then ipti full blast, and a great fear had sottle'd down uijion the sicatterod white pjop'ulation of the infant colo-ny. He was them a yoluthf/ul officer of t'hree-and-thirty years : blueeyed, reticent, courageous, coiirtecVus, anjd as strongjawed and tenacious of his grip of a purpose as a Bordeaux masftiff.

The following; lrnes have been aptly supplied to 'Good Governor Grey ' :— ' No hasty fool of stubborn will, But priidont, wary, pliant still, Who, since his work w,as gpod, Would do it as he could.' To New Zeal and of sixty years ag-ohe Sir George Grey was im a minor way, to New Zealanld what the great silent warrior, Field-Mar-shal Molt'ke, ,wa's, in a late* >da,y, to the German FaMicrland— ' tier SriiraditenlCnker, dor SdhlacJitetndenker ' (the battle- rtiler, the battle-thinker). He 1 smiaihed ' ttlie insurgent Heike and his men— who marvelldd at seeing the Pakeha warriors march totjo Hfoe red hoart of battle wifh their clothes an and great packts (kfnapsacks) uypon their backs, awl without a 'hint of tlhe fierce yells and contortions and obstreperous hullabaloo of the wiar-<dance. But Grey had courtesy as well as courage. lie possessed first^-cl/ass talepts as a 'pfaeificatfor ; 'he made his enemies his friends', and they laaimed to love— e\ en to idolise— Mm ; he restored tranqaiility to the country ; he ketpt guns a,md gjunppwder ou-t of the ha/njds of the Maori arid waipiro (fire-water) out of their mouths ; he started useful public works ; and the set white man ana brown main in the La,ad of the Lang White Cloud on the high-road to smew peace ajnld p,so<rpexity as they ha(d never known beftore. * In New; Zealand history, says Reeves, ' Grey is the greatest figure, and most attf active aftd complex sttudy. Of Such >a man destiny might have m,ade a 'great visionary,, a qapable general, an eloquent tribMne, or a graceful writer. He had in him the stuff for any of these. Hut tihe wing of tfhe British Empire had to be built* and the gods made Grey a sfocial architect In the guise of a {pro-consul. Among Hhe ctokmies of the southern hemisphere he is alreaidy a figure of history, and amiqngj them nso man has played so mr«ny parts in so many theatres with so mluc'h success. Not merely was Tie the savior and organiser of New Zealand, South Australia, and So'utjh Africa ; >not merely was he an explorer df> tlhe deserts of New Holland, afcid a s,uccess~ M campaigner in New Zeala'md btus,h-warfare, but lie found time, by way of recreation, to be an ethnologist, a literary pioneer, arid an atfdent book-collector who twice was generous enough tio found libraries with the boiojks which htaid boan tihe solace and h^ppfoiess of his warkilng life.'

There are spots on the glitn, and Sir George Grey SvOd, li/loe other hei-oes '<tnd s'tiattomen, his share of the petty; defeats from whioh even the best are by no means free. But, as Mr. Reeves points out, ' before a life so stiretrtnous, so dramatic, and s,o fruitful, criticism— at least colonial criticism— is inclined resipectfully to lay down the pen.' As to the rn'^n himself : he certainly dimmed tihe lustre ol his fame when he stepped down from his Governor's pedestal to push a<iid elbow and tussle wiWi his inferiors in the ' scrum ' of New Zealand's party politics. 'In a lung life of bustle and chalnge,' says the writer already quoted, ' his strong but nlixed oharacter changed and moulded circumstances, and circuits La-noes also qhanged and moulded him. The iginarant injustice of some of his Downing Street masters might well have wanpod his -disposition even more than it dM. The many honest and aoute men who did not keep step with Grey, who were disappointed Jnhim, or repelled by and embittered agailnst him, were not always ,vrong. Some of his eulogists h^ve been -.illy. But the student of his peculiar nature must be an odd analyst who does not in the end cohclulde that Grey was on the Whole more akin to the Christian hero paintod by Fronde and Olive Sdhreimer tftran to the malevolent political chess-player of innumerable oolonial leaderwriters.' Take him all in all, we shall not for many a day look upon his like again *n New Zealand.