THE GOOD TIME COMING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1908, Page 8

THE GOOD TIME COMING.

1 (To the Editor.) [ Sir, —I certainly think that a much ' better time is coming. As the poet has expressed it— - It's coming up the steep of Time, [ And this old world is growing brighter; i We may not see its dawn sublime, But high hopes make the heart grow .' lighter. ; Onr dust may mingle with the ground, , When it awakes the world in wonder; let we have seen it gathering round, A.c have heard its voice of living thunder It s coming, aye, it's coming. i Those of us who are passing into the ; sere and yellow leaf, and whose memory ; can go back clearly for a space of GO , years, have lived long enough in the , world to see great changes, the result of inventive genius, and simultaneously' there has also been a gradual improvement taking place in the social conditions of the people. Less than 100 years ago in our Motherland the death penalty was inflicted for theft of the value of five shillings and upwards, and I have '. often talked with one who had seen a '. man hung for sheep-stealing, and who : used to describe how just at the time the unfortunate man breathed hid last, a. horseman Was seen in the distance, riding furiously and waving a paper in his ■ hand, which was a reprieve that arrived too late. When, in 1810, it was pro- I posed by bill to substitute for the death penalty transportation for life, the meas- ! lire was rejected in the. House of Lords ■ and, incredible as it may seem, not a single bishop voted in its favour, their ' plea for not supporting it being that , they must guard against innovations that might shake the foundations of reli-ion Although most of the barbarous laws , had been previously repealed, the most . improvement in the condition of the masses has taken place since the Reform Bill of 1532. Previous to that measure being passed, there were only 15,000 electors in a population of 30,000,000 The determination of the House of Lords to stop reform was shown on October 7 1831, when they rejected the Reform . Bill, and when 21 out of a total of 26 . bishops of the Established Church voted with the majority, His Grace of Canterbury declaring that it was mischievous m its tendency, and would be extremely dangerous to the fabric of the Constitution. After nearly driving the people into the horrors of a revolution, the Reform Bill passed the Upper House by a vote of 184 to 175, when 15 bishops voted m the minority. The passing of the R_ . form Bill in 1532 was followed by . om"° . amount of a spread of education and in~ . -elligence amongst the masses- of the . people; and this was largely owing to the establishment of unsee'arian schools . which were supported by the State, and the legislation to secure which met with _ great opposition in the Upper. House espec;_lly from the clerical party In the f 25 years following the passing of the Re- ! form Bill much legislation conducing to ~ the welfare of the people was pasted: v and perhaps the most necessary measure ) . _ .', aS . that of the Ch «dren Re gu _a- J tion Bill, 1842, the object of which was the protection of children from the crush- > mg, degrading and demoralising toil of the coalmines and factories. And the pub- ? he conscience was stirred regardin- their duty in this matter, not by tho_e who t were m duty bound to use their _.c. a t I opportunities and influence, but by "that gifted poetess, Elizabeth Barrett after- ". wards Mrs Browning, who wrote and _ published "The Cry of the Children " „ which is perhaps the most pathetic I poem ever penned in our language And even this necessary measure was nmti- ! lated in its passage through the House t of Lords. The determination of these „ hereditary legislators to thwart the will + of the people and block reform is still shown in the Homeland, and in this !' course they are still supported by the l spiritual Peers; and yet there are those amongst us who contend that all real +. social reform should be initiated by and oan only be successful through the S ' isation of the- various churches.—l °am P etc., ' P WALTER CRISP. 1. Feneourt, June 22, 1808. ,