CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 88, 15 April 1896, Page 2

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

Land for Gumdiggers.— T. Hall, gumdigger, Mangawai, directs attention to a piece of bush containing a large amount of puriri which he thinka would be very suitable fer nebtling gumdiggera upon. Those interested should address a memorial to the Government on the subject.

Overloaded Tramcars.—" Humanity " writes to express bia "strong sense of indignation and profcesb ab the manner in which our tram horses are sometimes driven and worked." He quotes a case of overcrowding which came under hia notice. As the city now possesses a zealous Traffic Inspector, complaints of this nature if forwarded bo him will, wo havo no doubt, receive prompt attention.

Adam and the Adamite.—" Anti- Humbug " commenting upon an interview with Mr Ah Cheong published by our morning contemporary, ventilates his views upon the subject of the pre-Adamite mait. We cannob devote space to the controversy. The one thing opon which modern science is in perfect harmony with whab may be termed orthodox theology is the common origin and brotherhood of mankind.

The Pjuce of Milk.—X.Y.Z. protests against the recent rise in the price of milk. Ho says : "If the poor farmer gob the benefit, well and good, bub he doesn'b. Creameries are supplied ab 2Jd a gallon, and we have heard bo complaints, neither have they risen the price of bubter." He strongly objects to combination for the purpose of increasing the price of an article of food so necessary as milk. .

The Temperance Cause.— J. H. Hopkins, Arch Hill, wishes "to draw the attention of the people of Auckland, especially the temperance portion of thorn, bo the fact thab wo have in our midst one of the best and moßb earnesb workers Sydney possesses, viz., Mr George Perry. Seemingly, ho is almost unknown hero, bub in Sydney ho is known by his labour far and wide, while by his persistency and kindness he has been the means of bringing happiness to hundred? of homes in his earnest endeavours in the sauae of temperance. His sbay in Auckland being very short, I would suggest a committee be formed to asfiisb him."

A Gdmdigger's Grievance.—" Paddocker" writes :—" Kindly allow me a Bmall apace in youf valuable paper to describe the injustice gumdiggers are subject to. A man had been dealing with a storekeeper for two months and selling his gum every week to pay his account. The storekeeper oftered six shillings leas a cwfc. one week than the week beforo for the same class of gum, there being apparenbly no decrease in the market. The man asked the reason of the decrease, and the storekeeper told him that if he did nob sell ib he would have to shift off his ground. Now, if thab is justice I don'b wonder at a lob of men walking aboub town looking for work."

Impbbiali Customs Union. —C. Bruce writes in support of tho suggestion made by Mr Chamberlain for a Customs union embracing the United Kingdom and the colonies. He Bays :" If we cake Lord Ripon'a figures, as you give them, we find bhab for the five years, 1889 93, the total British imports were £2,112,252,916, while the exports for the same period only totalled £1,521,736,951, so thab the dear old land went to the bad during theße five years to the tune of £590,515,965 ! And in the face of this enormous leakage in the balance of trade of the Mother Country, we find Mr Preebrader-Run-Mad Reid prognosticating all kinds of evils if Mr Chamberlain persists in his scheme for bringing aboub a more satisfactory state of things."—We are afraid our correspondent has nob been a very cloee sbudent of political economy. If England had, as he says, been " going to the bad" at the tremendoufJ pace stated, ib would havo been bankrupb long igo. Tho fact is thab paymenb has to be made to England for interesb upon the immense amount of capital she has invested all over the world, for the freights earned by her vasb shipping trade, and for the profits earned upon her exports. As Enplane! is nob becoming indebted to foreign countries, bub is rapidly increasing the volume of her capital at) Home and abroad, ib ia evident thab the difference between imports and exports stated by our correspondent does nob represent the rate at which she is " going to the bad," bub is really the tribute paid to'her by the rest of the world bo settle their accounts with her manufacturers, shipowners and financiers. Our correspondent proceeds: "Mr Reid's reference to the late American-Englifh scare is as thin as Auckland milk. Whab happened was this : As soon aa Brother Jonathan found be stood to drop pomebhing like from £80,000,000 to £90,000,000 of biz per year he began hurriedly to climb down, and is now ready to stake hie bottom dollar that J.B. waa right, and the sooner the Venezuelan brigands cash up the better. Now, Mr Editor. I. too, arc a freetrader to tho backbone and spinal marrow — providing always that ' the other fellow' is the same, bnt when a trader cuts the painter and says he will have none of me, then I stiffen up and bar the door to thur, man until he repents of his folly and is willing to share the oyster, free trade was all very well for England while she practically did the manufacturing for the world ; but times have altered, and free trade as Bhe has known it, is played out. All the rest of the world cannob be wrong and she alone right, and signs ore nob wanting bhab she is waking up to the true position of affairs, and thab if Bhe is to hold her own ehe must more or less do as pho is being done by. In her relationship with, her colonies she has pampered and mobhered us bo thab exbenb thab we have come to believe that without us ehe must crumble and die ; and it never by any chance occurs bo us that there may possibly be another aide to tho shield The foreigner who

will have none of our mutton, butter, etc., within his gates is placed on equal terms with our own countrymen who take all we can produce at top price and free of all duty! But I venture to think, sir, that the time is near at hand when this unfair, onesided policy of ours will get a rude check. Let us take the smothered grumblings of our kin ab Home aa a warning to mend our ways- Let our tariff be re-cast, so as to give her the advantage over the foreigner that she is so justly entitled to."

Police Administration of the Vagrancy Law. —"Geophile" questions the wisdom of the course adopted by the police in administering the law relating to vagrancy. He says : " Suspicious and dangerous characters against whom nothing of a precisely definite order can be adduced. mußto, presumably, exist) here- as in other cities, colonial, European, American or Asiatic. The ' fugitive and vagabond ' commenced his reign in the very earliest (Mosaic) days, and there is no justification for supposing that he will ever be quite dethroned. Yet the creature is of two kinds : the one self-caused, the

other the victim of circumstances, who would, bub cannot, reinstate himself and regain the little height from which he has all too easily, perhaps, descended, With the former the Law (seasoned with Justice) must, of course, deal; the latter ie surely a problem to be solved by gentler methods. Place him in tho dock, and let) him be acquitted, bub the evil is done, both to him and to society. Partially destitute he will become wholly doeporate. Is there do via, meaial Our constables are, of.course, placed ab times in dangerous, difficult, and even delicate positions. They hold ib in tbeir power to mar a life or to make it, by enforcing their authority, or by calling their humanity into play. It ii unhappily the fact that there are msiny in the streets who would, in a sense, be better off in gaol, bub there must be a substitute for this hideous alternative, and I venture to think a little mental energy would discover that substitute. Ib will nob come unbidden."