MISSIONARY LABOURS. (FROM THE SYDNEY "EMPIRE," APRIL 5.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2103, 16 April 1864, Page 6

MISSIONARY LABOURS. (FROM THE SYDNEY "EMPIRE," APRIL 5.)

Thl Bishop of Melanesia, who left Sydney lasfcmghfc fot Queensland, lias, (lining bis shoit stay, called the attention of the public heio to the 1 elation in which the l'.ntish colonists of Austialasia stand to the vauons tubes ot the human family which have long occupied this qtuuter of the woild. And while the Acclimatisation Society is teaching us how to fullil one ]wit of man's mission, hy bringing the most valuable animals to new habitats, it u>\\ell for lib that men of wide human sympathies should sometimes leinmd us that the occupation of tenitoiv, fiom which the oiigmal inhabitants have laded away, and the occasiou.il acceleration of their extinction, do not constitute the whole duty of the Anglo-Saxon man towaicls the laces that have pieceded him m Au-,tialasia and Oceamca. The anticipations of the fiist exploieis as to the destined influence of Euiopeau cnihsatuni on the futuie caieei of the Austiahan arid Polynesian tribes have not been leahsed, and the lntp'p^t felt iv the weltaie of those tubes has in man} ucJmcd to /eio But tnuse who luve studied the languages aud characteiistics of the lereding laces have seen enough to assme them that, however disiegaidod at piesunt, the eoudition of these peojjlo will become a&ubjeib of Listing mteiest Allowing tli.it out cuiient estimation of the pie eminence ot the Anglo Six on ivu' be free fiom all e\agf;ei ation, it may j cd be woith consideiing that in no department ot nitnie does excellence consist in unifoimity and excl-i^is encss Diversity is as iiDiven.il ,i cliaiacfceitstic of the Divine woiks as harmony. And the lose might as well dispense with the pmnlose, as a bianch of the great human family pretend to make the woild complete without the pie°ence ot difteicnt and even nifeiioi laces. It is diflicultin a city wheio so muiy inteiesfcs aie concenttated, to awaken much consuleiatiou toi laces who cannot .issei fc then 1 own claims. But when we aio visited by a man like Bishop Patfcesou, with a mind alive both to the enjoyment of philological leseaich, and to the linpuNcs of missionaiy zeal, some recognition may be elicited of the desnabitness ot adding to the lecouls of ethnological science accurate knowledge of smtouiuling races and of a moie earnest consideration of the question whether some thing might not be done for then piesenation and lmpiosement In yesteiday's, Hnipue some mi poitant stitemeuts weie published in lefeiencc to the islands of Aneitum, Iviua, and Fotuua, >-how mg the commeieial importance of those islands , and the leniiii liable '-uccess which has attended the labouib of the Olni->ti.in missionaiy in Ancitmn, wheie heatliLii piactices including cannibalism and the murder of w ives on the decease of then husbands, have boon completely abandoned. It is tiue Emopcan disease- make fearful havoc among the ]ieo|>le <it these l-lamls ; and appiehensions of then appioaeluug extinction aie expressed. But if the common e\peotation in lefeience to these people and the A-us.iiahui aboiigmc-i be fulfilled, miny years, and sexeial must inteivene befoie that melancholy consummation aiuves. And much m,<y m the meanwhile be guned for the cause ot science aud philantlnopy by the excr cue of justice and benevolence towaids them A mi--s'on l '"y ship, the ' Day Spiing,' is now at Melbourne, and is shortly expected in Sydney, be\ung sc\eial missionaues to the New flebiideo, Aueitum, rvud tne neighbouiing lsiaucli. The couimeicnl I'iteicouise between and some of these lblam's, and with other laigc groups m the Pacilic is maeaMng , andwhon, some ten months ago, news aruved here of theciuel conduct of the Permian slavers m canying of! liiiiidicils, of tlit^e simple and liolpless lslandei-., the indignation ev-pie->spd heic shoved that then- natural nght-j woe not akogethpi ovei looked The pioposition then suggested as to an inteinationnl anangement between the gieat naval poweis foi the piotection of the islands of the Pacific from pii.acy, andc-pecially fiom slave traders, may be realised befoie long Aud our po->itiou in lelatiou to them furnishes many leasons fo.- taking a more practical concern in the piogiess of these tubes.

. The ItAFGiTiKEi Murder. — We have leceived, vi.l T.u-anaki, a copy af the Wunganul Chronicle of Apnl 9, in which the following appeals with ie->pect to the tual of Tiiclto, for the Hangitikei rauidei .—. — "As war to be expected, the speculations on tins ca->e me numeious and wild ; and te repeat any of the gossip cuiient heie would be quite out of the question. It may be mentioned, however, that the friends of the pribonei Tricker — tho->e who were most about him at the time ol tho muuler — aiu cleaily of the opinion th.it his wheieabouta can be accounted foi by them, fiom Tlnusday .tftcinoon till Fiiday at noon. It will bo remeinbeied thab when the former investigation took pLieo, at which tune the muuler was supposed to have been committed dining the night, Tiickei's innocence was rkaily established. The change of time now makes a dilFui euce, the result of which will piobably be brought out by this, new inquiry. Tiickei is a man of about 40, of lather stem appeaiance. lie shows no emotion of any kind while in the dock, but evidently listens attentively to the evidence. He has home a good character lntheito, the oj'ly stain on it being the cisc of cittle ntruhrig, for which about thiee years Hince lie was bciiluiccil to eighteen months' impimonincut Ah tho shooting of tattle w»s common in tho coiintiy at that tune, and otliure were supposed to bo equally h ililo to piosccuMori, considerable coinifiUcid' lion was felt for )inn, which v/m shown by a petition from the district, uumcioiisly and respectably signed, praying that tho term of imprisonment might be ahoitpucd ; and he was liberated afc the end i>t n, yeM, 'J'he violent language he hfld made u?e of regarding I'ayner, who had been active in his prosecution, nfc once directed suspicion agAinst him when the murder was committed. He has a wife and three children ; and the formei is very mnoh thought of in her neighhouihood. Jlangitikei ii divided into two parties, tot and against — wlio, as usual in such cftseB,ho)d extreme opinions on tho side they have espoused. As will be seen by the deposition", the evidence hitherto has been of a very conflicting and contradictory kind." On referring to tho repot I, we find that the prisoner wnt committed for trial on the chnrgo of murder at tho next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court, Wellington. Much mow? AprnorniATK. — A pamphlet is jimt published which broaches the marvellous theory that "a man is what a woman makes him!" According to the authoi'n dictum, we piesumo that when a wife makes liei husband a pudding, he is a pudding. An Ameiican chemist has lately discoveied a fluid of such extraordinary cleansing powers that it will not only remove marks fiom all ni deles of disss, &c, but could even, it is asset ted, take Staines out of Middlesex,