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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 2
[trade dispatches]
« Inkoleum » has been classed by the Customs Commissioner as un-emumerated stationery (!), and taxed 15% ad valorem. The officials have still to learn the difference between printers' appliances and writing materials.
How easy it is to write an average « scientific » paragraph for the press! Here is a gem in its way: « It is asserted by scientific writers that the number of persons who have existed in our globe since the beginning of time amounts to 36,627,843,273,075,000. » Note the beautiful precision of the figures. How many « scientific writers » would undertake to give the present population of Europe, even, to so close an approximation as one thousand?
It is often matter of comment in the colonies that well-to-do churches are content to receive pecuniary grants from charitable and missionary institutions at home; but it is something new to find a colonial ecclesiastic asking for « more. » Bishop Neville has been « pleading for assistance » in England; and asserting that £10,000 is « wanted for Dunedin alone. » No doubt a good many things are « wanted; » but we are glad to see that the Bishop's action meets with strong disapproval in his diocese. New Zealand colonists of all denominations are able to maintain their own churches without outside charity.
A contributor to Stationery, who has been on a business tour through New Zealand, gives a lively account of his experiences and impressions. He is as inaccurate as most of our flying visitors. He saw Napier for a few hours on a Sunday only. He says « I saw a church door open, through which some Maoris were entering, and, always thirsting after knowledge, I entered also. It was, I think, a Wesleyan Chapel, in which services are conducted alternately in English and Maori, as in some Scotch Churches English and Gaelic services are held. Although I understood nothing that was said or sung, I watched the people carefully, and was impressed with the fine physique of some of the men. They are short in stature, but are well-made and muscular. The women retain their native dress and manners, and with the quaint tattoo marks on their faces were, to say the least of it, peculiar. » Napier folk will be at a loss to identify the church in which service is conducted in Maori. Very few natives are to be seen in Napier on Sundays, though they crowd into town on Saturdays. As for the becoming « native dress, » that, we are sorry to say, is a thing of the past, except in the almost impenetrable parts of the interior.
During the past two months all we have received from our Wellington correspondent has been a line to the following effect:— « Trade fair; nothing to report. »
The Bruce Herald has suddenly become a convert to free-trade. An extra penny a pound on candles has opened our contemporary's eyes, and its ire is awakened against the candlemakers. « Although not actionable, we have no hesitation in saying that their action is dishonest. If this is the way New Zealand manufacturers are going to swindle the public, then all we can say is that they do not deserve protection, and the sooner the tariff is re-framed on the widest free-trade basis the better. » Our contemporary is too angry to be just. The manufacturers are neither « dishonest » nor « swindlers. » The new tariff was specially framed to secure them a profitable monopoly, and they are merely taking advantage of their privileged position.
An erudite lady, whose handwriting is a marvel of illegibility, is a regular contributor to certain weekly papers, Lately, in one of her articles, she referred to Emerson as an « indefatigable keeper of a diary. » In print it came out « heifer of a dairy. » —A poet's line, « Statesmen, princes, rulers all, » was read by the comp as « Steamboats, schooners, tugs, and all. » —A contemporary recommends « a more drastic lopping-off of excrescences » in a Government department.—Mrs H. B. Stowe is said by a North Island paper to have distinguished herself by her writings on « the great salary question. »— « Births » is the heading a Wairarapa paper puts over the birth notices.
The Library Association of the United Kingdom held its eleventh annual meeting at Glasgow on the 4th September. In an article on the subject, the Standard says: « Another subject which comes up for annual discussion at the Conference is the decadence of our new English books; and, in regard to this matter, unstinted condemnation has been distributed all round. Authors, publishers, printers, ink-makers, compositors, machinists, and binders have, one and all, come in for a good deal of criticism. Without going into such a wide question, it is certainly to be hoped that Librarians will direct attention to one growing evil. It has, within the last few years, come to be less and less the fashion to sew books, the sheets being fastened together with tinned wire. It is a question of time how soon this sorry substitute for the enduring thread rusts, and either drops out or eats through the sheet, with the result that the book is done for. Nor does this remark only apply to cheap and popular books— although, in these cases, it often entails loss which can ill be borne; but handsome volumes are commonly being put upon the market with the same radical defect. »
Vizetelly has been fined £100 for circulating French obscene novels. This is about 1 per cent, on the profits he has made. For four or five years he has made this line a specialty, and when lately « interviewed, » said it was a bad week when he did not dispose of a thousand volumes. There is practically no demand in English lands for filth of this kind except what is created by the supply; but the market has now ben thoroughly established. Action should have been taken long ago. In Parliament, astounding revelations were made as to the systematic manner in which the young—especially females—were being corrupted by this class of literature. As usual, when the mischief is done, the chief offender escapes with a nominal penalty. A long term of imprisonment, varied by the application of the « cat, » would have been more appropriate treatment.
Queensland is in more then one respect unfortunate, but chiefly so in its Premier. The late excellent Governor is now where the wicked cease from troubling; but his successor—if the present party remain in office—will find a nest of bull-dog ants preferable to his executive. The Premier, in the most insolent manner, has demanded that the appointment of any future Governor shall be subject to the approval of the colonial ministry. Even in the rare case of a statesman being in office, the proposed experiment would be mischievous in the extreme. Party feeling runs high, and the chosen of the ministry would always be obnoxious to the opposition. But the Queensland Premier is no statesman. He is merely one of the caudal vertebræ of the Irish land-league ophidian, and his demand simply meams that the next Governor shall be the nominee of Mr Parnell. « It is utterly imprudent, » as the Wanganui Herald well remarks, « to import the feuds of Irish politics into a self-governing colony, » and the Queensland Premier's intermeddling with Imperial concerns may yet lead to serious trouble. The home Government exhibit deplorable irresolution in the matter, and the appointment of Sir H. A. Blake remains in abeyance. He has acted throughout with becoming dignity, professing himself still ready to undertake the duties of his office, and so fulfil them as to « live down » the insult to which he has been subjected.