Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 17 September 1908, Page 22

Notes

On One Leg The British Weekly (a Nonconformist organ) commends the Pope's action in regard to Modernistic errors as the only possible one; for it recognises in that rehash 01 old heresies . the active principles of ; outrig-ht infi- * y ™ i?" thC Ot^ er hand ' a ' y ellow ' cleric & writer in a Wellington politico-religious contemporary opines (with much fervid speech) that, on account of its resistance to this infidel movement, the ' Romish ' Church has got one leg into the grave. Which reminds us once more of a saying of Douglas ■ Jerrold : ' Peoplwith one leg m the grave are so terribly long before they put m the other. They seem, like birds; to repose better on one leg. ' * The Idol-trade A returned missionary, now -touring New Zealand scaring up.' funds (as our American friends put it) has much to say regarding the idolatrous practices of the people that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death in India. He might have added that a good 171 7 number of the idols are supplied by manufacturers ii, Birmingham and Philadelphia who (for all we know to the contrary) may be piously subscribing to missionary funds with one hand, while polishing off a Buddha with the other. In fact, the chief market for Phila-delphia-made and Birmingham-made gods' is said to be India.' The chief demand is (we' are told) for Buddhas and Ganesas. The most expensive kind are marble Buddhas, two feet high, which sell for £12. 'The models,' says an authority before us, 'must be accurate, for the, devotee of , India must have all derails .exact, as every band, every color, every

little decoration has some symbolic meaning. The god Gahesa, with his four arms and elephant's head is no less costly. Plain and undecorated Ganesas ca'i ?e? c "fa for £io. A bit of color slightly .inaccurat,: in shade, or- an ornament improperly placed, may n^l the most Picturesquely hideous Ganesa or Buddha absolutely worthless to a Hindu.' Neurotic Fiction . v We need,- heaven knows, what the. Autocrat ofthe Breakfast Table calls ' a professor of books.'- This need was brought heme to us -with. singular force as we recently handled, one by one, a shelf-load ofthe printed fiction-trash — of literary whipped cream or chiJl-chutnee — rjvith which our circulating libraries are corrupting the taste, if not endangering the moral tone, of Christian homes. To some of the unwholesome and contaminated stuff — chiefly, alas! the work of women--we might apply the words that Cadurcis spoke in . Beaconsfield's Venetia :' I have written like a boy I found rhe_public bite, and so I baited on -with tainted meat.^ I have never written for fame, but" for notoriety. This is the spirit which produces, among a class of female writers, the sort of poisonous fiction that has been aptly, described as 'neurotic, erotic tommy-rot-ic. ' But there is this difference. The surfeited soul of Cadurcis revolted at length against this prostitution of mind and pen. The conscience" ot some of his later imitators seems to be armor-plated against the impact of remorse. • Gibble-gabble ' . ' But far more numerous is the herd of such Who think too little and who talk too much.* ' The man who would invent a spancel to restrain unruly tongues would do more service to our race than lu> that would make two blades of grass to grow wher* only one grew before. One of the pet despairs of the anxious pastor .of- souls is the evil thaf is wrought both socially and in the moral order by the tongueclacking of irresponsible females of both sexes There are full many who add to the woes of this ' wale o' tears as did Timson of David Harum. Talk (as David remarked to his friend and confidant John) ' mus* a ben a kind of disease with him. He didn't really mean no harm mebbe, but he couldn't no more helo lettin out any thin' he knowed, or thought he knowed than a settin' hen c'n help settin'. . . He was honest enough fur's money matters was concerned • but he hadn t no tack, nor no sense, an' many a time he done more mischief with his gibble-gabble than if hed took fifty dollars out an' out. Fact is,' added David, the kmd of ' honesty that won't actually steal th/ll- 11 !? ?£ fO ? ! hh ° neSty that ' S comm °n enough; but the kind that keeps a feller's, mouth shut when he hadn't ought to talk 's about the skurcest thing And so say all of us. Race Suicide V TT RGR G f d J ance s o heets of th « New Zealand Official i ear-Book for 1908 contain, on p. 246, an interesting and instructive table showing the decrease' in th! legitimate- birth-rate, of various countries during the twenty-year period 1880-2 to 1900-2. We not? the countries (or States) hereunder in the order of the rates of decrease. New South Wales, 30.6 per ce^t South Australia, 28.0; New Zealand 24.5 ; Victor a' j.4.2; Western Australia, 23.9; QueenslaSdV^.aTfthe ' figures for lasmania are not available); Belgium 19.8; France, 1Q . 7 ; England and Wales 17.7; Sco^ land, 12.7; Denmark, 9 .8; The Netherlands, 9 3 .German Empire 8.4; Sweden, a 2a 2 ; Prussia, 7. ; Switzerland,- 6:4; Norway, 3.7; Italy, 2^ s . £ vu 7t7 t o f twentvtwo countries or States mentioned in "the table on y hre t ? how a » ">crease in the legitimate birth-rate And these are the three Catholic countries Ireland £.3 per cent, increase), Austria (0.8), and Spain (o ? ) To these should, In all probability be «dded Italy where great numbers o f true Christian mardages l?e held to be irregular unions by the State, andtheL? issue illegitimate, on account of the refusS of the

contracting parties to go before the registrar orxivil official. In Austria considerable numbers of Catholic same way fo ! lac * of civil - Drinking the Moon that knt OO HVH VV VV U \ ViV^u tellS \ St ° ry ° f a - rUStic iackwit !?« -£ • s h ° rse because (thought, he) it had drunk up- the moon—which the aforesaid rustic could ill spare. So it befell that he slew the luckless beast «t lunamredderet >so as to make it give up the moon. Poor beast,' said Vivfcs,. ' he had drunk not wa e te?-P.' bUt thC refleCti ° n ° f tke moo « in *» <^ /, perp cr f ss ; the 7iJ sman Sea - some of the wiseacres of the Protestant 'Defence ' League are heavily flailing • Ih ° lIC , b °. dy /° r • havin « swaUowed- the 7 moon-? exatin r flt W ° '• tOr i aVm ?' at com Petitive- public-service examinations m Victoria, carded off a bigger percentage of honors and the rest than their kss well equipped rivals. This familiar incident' of public examinations across the water was roundly denounced as unfair (in regard to certain questions of history) by Giand. Secretary Batley. He hotly objected to ' the manner in which 'the political powers ■ and positions are being grabbed by Roman Catholics,' called for an hat ir L m n°J f h ? f"lf tter -' a \ d W * nied th^" State P«"Sr > / llen ,»3 the .esteem. of -trustful Protestants (meaning those of the 'Defence ' League). The Deputy Public Service Commissioners,' sayfthe Melbourne Tribune of September 5, • thought it advisable to explain that the examination pafer as t by a member of the Church of England, and that as $ E^? Tw r^ tak f ? fr ° m the Prescribed textbook of English history, and from the selected period thereof -namely, from ,770 to the present time-there was no reason why a Protestant candidate should not " as well versed in the facts as a Catholic." ' The Protestant ' Defence ' League (like a kindred association on this side of the Tasman Soa) spendTa fnd at cat e h!n^re. "* h ™**