FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 12, 13 July 1935, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FEOM "THE POST"

LET THERE BE LIGHT

"Wellington will be quite en fete during the period the Exhibition is open," remarks "The Post" of this date fifty years'ago. "In fact," an article goes on to say, "everything points .to the time being, one continued festival— what with the visits of the various ' bands from other parts of the colony, concerts, dramatic shows, and electric 'lights. Of these" latter illuminators, i we shall have two in the open air, in addition to the electric lights within < the Exhibition. A hundred-foot mast i for an electric light is to be erected I in proximity to the Exhibition Buildling, and the Harbour Board have decided to erect a 60-foot mast with a i 3000 candle-power light in a convenient spot on the Queen's Wharf, provided the City Corporation provide the water power free of charge. At yesterday's meeting of the Harbour Board, the. chairman of. that corporation expressed himself strongly in favour of having the wharf well lighted at night, not only in order that a pleasant promenade might be afforded the citizens, but that a stop might be put to improprieties, which he heard were of ( nightly occurrence there. He hinted that if the light were once fixed, the board would not care to part with it after the Exhibition was over. He had been much struck with the advantage of the electric light on. a wharf ; when visiting Lyttelton recently after nightfall. The light at that port rendered every object as clear as when the sun was lip. Good lighting in our city is becoming a crying necessity. Very serious danger is incurred Dy those who pass through lonely streets or places after nightfall without adequate protection in the way; of escort, for unfortunately there are at present some very atrocious ruffians at large in the city. An influx of criminals may, indeed, be looked for in connection with the Exhibition, and while our citizens should adopt all possible precautions on their own part the Government should certainly afford increased police protection, and the detective department, might well be strengthened from other towns." PUBLIC WORKS BORROWING. . "One of the essential features of the financial proposals of the present Government is the authorisation of a fresh loan of one million, to be raised early next year, to : carry on public works during 1886. This proposal, it is .understood, will be very strenuously resisted- by- a considerable portion of the House. We cannot doubt, however, that-it will be carried; any more than we can doubt that a similar proposal would have to be made by any Government which might chance to be in powerl The policy which the present Government proposes to carry out renders further borrowing unavoidable. The colony, having committed itself to a great scheme of; public works, 'must persevere until that scheme is complete. The trunk.'lines from Invercargill to Picton, from Wellington .to Kawakawa, from Dunedin to the grand central plains of Otago, must be completed, as well as several other works.to which the colony has already: "committed itself.. To stop now would be suicidal. Our hand is to the plough and we must not look back. The only question really open appears to' us to be whether this authorisation of loans by. driblets is - desirable, or whether it would not be preferable to at once estimate the total cost of completing. : absolutely necessary arterial works and boldly ask Parliament to sanction a loan for the total sum once and for all. In no other way are we likely to arrive at any .finality, or give either the colony or the English moneylender any guarantee that the works now in progress will be steadily prosecuted to completion, so as to afford them, a fair chance of becoming really •.and fully reproductive. If once we were in the manner advocated committed on "the English-money market, we should perforce have to regulate pur domestic finance so as to keep ordinary expenditure within revenue, or, in other words, we should have to live within our 'means. This would not be one of the least advantages of the policy in question." ■ ACQUAINTANCE WITH BARMAIDS. - "Mary Melrose in 'Our Boys' says ; that she does not know, much about ■kissing, but is willing to be taught an awful lot. We cannot help thinking that a considerable number of members of the House are in a similar .position with regard to barmaids. At ■ least, a great many of-them, including the Premier, evidently.know very little • of the subject, and:some, if not all, . are, we believe, .quite willing to be .taught an awful lot. Those members ■ who had the courage. to admit that they did know something,, were • laughed at, .but there was an evident • spice of envious admiration in most of the cachinnation. We advise the Premier and other amiable and virtu* ous gentlemen who, no doubt with the best intentions in the world, tried their utmost last night to inflict a cruel wrong on a large class of defenceless girls by supporting.a measure which would deprive them of their living, to devote the recess to a special study of barmaids. Mr; Stout has already been called to one Bar, but before he is qualified to guide legislation on such a subject as barmaids; he'requires to graduate before another bar. If these gentlemen who air their eloquence and display their virtue in running "down barmaids would but inquire a little they would discover probably ■ that in the best social circles with : which they = have any acquaintance, there are many estimable wives and ' mothers who have been barmaids in ■their time." THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY. "Although we have never been able . to,recognise the necessity for what is termed legalising the eight-hour sys- , tern, by which is meant passing an Act to declare that eight hours shall be : a legal day's work, we are excessively glad that the desperate efforts made last night to get the House to say that boys' might be required to work more than eight hours in the day were indignantly rejected by an overwhelm- . ing majority. The eight-hour system is a blessing to the country. We hope ..'most sincerely that it never will be altered, or any extension of the hours of labour countenanced. Our only objection to it being 'legalised' is that we do not believe any man could draft a Bill which would be of the slightest avail in maintaining the system, or which would avoid causing grav.e inconveniences, and giving rise to niuch litigation. To ask the House, , however, to legalise the employment .of boys for, ten hours per diem is simply monstrous, and the attempt was most properly resisted." CARRIED IT TOO FAR. "There is a case on record, perhaps not in law books, of a person who was charged with stealing a pair of boots from outside a shop. He pleaded that he had taken them in joke. The Magistrate asked what distance he had carried them. The answer was about ; half a mile. 'Ah,' said the Magistrate, ' 'that was' carrying a joke too far,' and he gave the man six months. A Wellington jury has just decided that it is not a criminal act to take a horse found tethered' on the roadside, put upon it a convenient saddle and bridle, ~ and ride it thirty miles. What is Ithe , distance a joke may be carried before jfijtoecomes! an pfCence?^