The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1892.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8072, 15 January 1892, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1892.

On Tuesday last the Mayor of D\mSim waa waited upon by ft large deputation of unemployed, The spokesman aaid there were more than TOO moo jji the city compulsorily idle. Some $f them have ha£ u° work for nearly two mouths, nor would there seem to be much hope of any of them getting employment in the ordinary Industries of tbe colony. Considering that j<? Is now midsummer, or at least the bueiast time of the year, this state- of things does not say much; ,fox the policy of ,lsbe Government, ,a pjo|ioy whioh was to restore prosperity and give everybody a ohahce of getting on, It is true that they have been only a year tii pffice, and some will say that any .marked change for the better could not have been expected in suoh a short time. But there has been a marked change for. the worse. Notwithstanding that the Government have been giving a large amount of What is practically relief work, here are over 100 able bodied men, willing to work, who say they are on the verge of starvation, and this an the middle of January, when as a rule there is plenty of employment for everybody. A policy which has been purposely framed to stimulate enterprise and industry would certainly have , produced some visible effect in the desired direction within a year had it been a proper policy. The* tendency of such a policy is at once recognised. It is no sooner announced than there are signs of renewed activity, a stir and motion betokening hope and the commencement of a new era. But the tendency of the opposite kind of policy is also quickly perr calved, and Mr. Bal-ahcs never made a greater mistake than when he imagined that his new taxation would improve the condition of the colony. The honourable gentleman, however, is, as a statesman, simply hopeless. That he should believe his policy to be fulfilling tho purpose ho intended, when he sees it driving moaey oufi of investment into the safe 'keeping of the Banks, shows Into what a muddled condition his ideas aa to the economy and prosperity of a country most .have been thrown through th@ inwhich control his action. At .least, we do not think he could have imagined iq Jy# be&e? .days time tho way fos a coualsy t_ prosper was to la* „pita,

money ia an old stocking. Everybody knows that t_ei& ia A large amount of money in the colony ready for investment, and it v ia bight time every-! body knew that the reason w]by so much of it lies idle is.neither more nor less than the disturbing find depressing influence exercised by the Ballahos Ministry. Even bad their policy been undeniably just, prulenco would have warned them against in-? trod_ei_g isholasbolas, aa any sudden? and extensive change ia tbe economies of » community is sure to cause derangement aud alarm. And this, of course, is specially the case when j tbe new measures betray the existence of * spirit hostile to all existing institutions. When tbe present Government came into office the colony bad commenced to recover from the effects of tb& strike, largely in consequence of the discovery on the part of employers and employed that they bftd common interests and common aims. It was seen that both were necessary to the production of wealth j that if labour was an important factor towards that end capital was equally necessary. The healing process waa, however, rudely disturbed by the proceedings of the Ministry of all the fads and Ignorances, which is now in office. The disturbing process has gone on ever since, and will continue till the majority of the electors recognise that the only road to prosperity is by allowing the industries of the colony to develop in a. steady and natural manner. Then, aud not till then, will employment be plentiful and wages high, As we have frequently pointed out in these columns, the first duty of every colonist is to create wealth, and when it has been done we have every confidence that those who have taken an important part in that production —the wage-earners—will have no difficulty in obtaining their full share of it. But aa long as a Ministry is maintained in power whose chief policy has the effect of driving capital out of productive use, so long may we expect to find, as is tbe case in Dunedin, men able and willing to work out of employment in a land of plenty, and misery and privation reourring incidents of our colonial life.

Thb telegrams are still giving their reports about Morocco, and in the oaso of Morocco the mere faot pf their continuance betokens that something unusual is going on. In truth, ever Since 1880, not to go further back, the accouuts which have appeared have simply rung the ohaages of a raisgoverament worse than even that of Turkey in Asia Minor. "We do not, however, propose to give any account of it in this article, We shall simply select a typical instance, not the less interesting beoause the victim or tho hero—whichever pur readers please to consider him--happens to be an Englishman. No longer ago than the Christmas Uve'Qf 1890 an English gentleman in the pursuit of spar& was stopping at Wazan, or "Wessan, as,it is sometimes | spelt, a town of peculiar sanctity in Morocco/ on the direct route to Fez, aad about seventy or eighty miles to the south of Tangier, He was well known in the place, and, in faot, was at the time on a visit tp the Sherifs of Wazan, At the precise moment he had been drinking coffee with the youngest of the Sherifs, Mu_ir Tsa-I, the third son of the Great Sherif. Jt was near midnight, and he had j ust, said good-flight to n"> host, when ha found himself suddenly seised behind, by his Highness' order, who announoed his intention of amusing himself, by seeing him flogged. "Mr, Harrils," for here we must quote. "Mr, Harris was without) firearms, but made what resistance he could; but being attacked by some half dozen men, including tho Sherif himself, was overpowered and thrown heavily to the ground, bis bead striking; the stone floor!* He then became insensibly aad apparently MuttST Thami and his men, chinking him seriously injured, abandoned tne idea of further outrage, and fled tQ another part of the house. Mr. &Hoovered consciousness .at,'. s.. a.m. on Christmas morning, aud escaping from the placp, made his way to the bouse of MjWSY ".jjJi+Aßßi, the eldest jot the Sherifs, ( with, whom he was staying." pp, far the victim. What follows may gi?e at pbco an Englishman's notion of retributive justice, when, he is once fairly roused, and at the same time the ideas of law and order prevalent in Morocco, There was no European at the time, we are told, within sixty miles of Wasan, except Mr. Harris himself. This did uot prevent him from insisting with the elder Sherifs that J&BLsy. Hassan should at once, be publicly flogged. This we are told was "at * once agreed to." " And in the presence of Mr. Harris and all the Court and slaves, bis Highness reoeiiad HO > lashes with knotted ropes. Mr. Harris then further insisted on his being thrown into irons, and sent to prison, which was immediately done," Mr, Harris remained in Wazan long enough to arrange with the Great Sherif as tp what punishment Mt/üby Thami was to receive (tlie flogging and imprisonment, we suppose, nob counting) with the understanding that if the sentence passed by tbe Great Sherif should not be sufficiently severe, he would put the case into the bands of the British authorities at Tangier. We take the above account from the Times of the 23rd January last, It is stated that there was absolutely no reason for the outrage. Mr. Harris was on. good terms with Muley Thami, and there had never been any quarrel between them. Mplsv Thami himself is a man not without some teachings of civilisation. At least he was for some years tat the French Native Army in Algeria and speaks French fluently. The Sherif, we need not say, could not have proceeded to these extremities without the willing assistance of the attendants whom we have mentioned, and our English friend thought it necessary that they too, and others who might be like-minded with them, should know for the future what it was to interfere with an Eaglishman. *',Mr. Harris sent criers* through the town to call tha people together, and the men were flogged before hundreds of ta©townspeople, Mr. H. himself striking the first blowto each." Wedo not doubt that our compatriot was amply justified in the course he took throughout, but wis cftunQiJ forbear the reflection, first, whafe.ton* of law mad order wbere «05lv-aa,

outrage is" possible and whirl a foreigner is able to dictate to the authorities what redress he is* to receive, and also what might easily have been the consequenoes to himself had he shown less resolution in bs the matter.