TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8541, 22 July 1893, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It is impossible for us The Decadence to say whether the •of compUmtsmadeasfoths

Hansard. inefficiency of theflansarc*

reporting are doe to the nnskilfuluess of the t reporters' or the defective elocution of members. Of the two the latter is at least as likely to be the real fault. The Government,.however, are cer. tainly not going the right way to work to secure an efficient staff of reporters, when they completely ignore the reebromendatioos of the chief, of tbe corps, and appoint private secretaries of their own, who have little or no repotting experience. The Reporting and Debates Committee are not likely to mead matters when! they suggest that the chief of the staff should be debarred from exercising his present discretion of striking out irrelevant matter. If they mean that every speech is ; $o be reported verbatim —that every precious i syllable men -like Mr B, M. Smith may choose to utter —is to be embalmed in print and carefully treasured up in the Parliamentary archives—then Hansard will very soon become a. laughing stock and" a thing of scorn, and the country will clamour for its abolition.' If it ia intended to let every reporter exercise Jbis own discretion the result will be that there will bm no ays. tern about the condensation, and certainly the danger of political bias,- which the Committee seems to dread under this new Systran, will not be in any way diminished. To place Hansard on a proper footing the Chief Reporter should be made responsible both for the efficiency of the staff and the fairness of the reports. His recommendations as to appointments should not be set aside without very grave reason. The Chief Reporter is also the best judge as to the way in which a debate should be re. ported. If auy signs of political bias ever

appeared the House wofild at emm *\__~ whom to blarney and eoold very call him to account. ~v—mf It is hard to ___, School Teachers what there is j^ and larly funny »b^_*_ the Mes-les. mearies. Iti»,J tressing and even fatal complaiat, which gives deal of trouble and uneasiness to *a_riZL mothers, and yet by common usually treated as if it were a kumij? There is, however, one class of the sity who find it anything bat refer to the hard-worked oa» public schools. To them it 4 _**". deaL Their classes are work of the school is in many cues t*'_spea&a and, where the exazninations already taken place, they have to© reason to fear that they will not he *uH! make anything like the good record of pom. which they have been working toe & ,_, lously. Independently of this, tmk_| Government makes allowance for tfo ,_ ceptional circumstances, their incomes ttM be seriously curtailed, paid as they _>* according to the strict average at the schools. Their lot is a little hard}, this respect. Whether it is an -t_i? ffilt __ or a long spell of inclement weather o? % visit of a circus, which lowers the _fct_a_. ance at a school, the unhappy although he certainly cannot be morally responsible for any of tbn» visitations, is treated by the Detsrt ment as if he had brought them* if about of his <own malice aforeUjoagk* and is punished by the docking of __ »-. This is certainly illogical not to say Possibly somebody ought to be offered t» as a sacrifice to appease the offended deit_a who atHict us with the measles, bat why % pocr school teachers ? IS it were propoi«s to make a holocaust of the Central Board _f Health, or even of an inspector of B-aj_ascm we could understand a certain ame_trt $ appropriateness in the proceeding. _$_>'-'' teachers, however, ought not to heat- Us whole brunt, and we hope that their cam will be properly considered and airly dealt with.

, Much attention has bees Weights drawn to the fact ths* _, of Freezing the six months e_di_g % Lambs. 30th June last, there Wets

shipped from Lyttelton s. fewer than 223,771 lambs, while from Wei. lington, which shipped more carcases, thers were exported only 32,161 lambs. It mjg_t be thought that in Wellington aad » Napier, which sent away 26,195, _^_ taken to ship away only the ibesl hut _ startling £ favour of Cansrj-bury. The average of lambs ship' ped from Lyttelton was a atd» over 38ib, f-o m Wellington 541b, wtflj*} the averar_ e of those from Napier vat eg!? 311b. An average of 311b contrasted wtlil one of '38 needs no comment, except to eoagratir'latc the farmers of Canterbury opsa t he splendid results achieved by them rathe fa ca of a less genial climate. It is a triumjA for**the entire district.

At a meeting of the Knig&ts | What of Labour at Masterten ths I: •it other day, Mr Earasha.*, 1 Means. M.H.R., stated fraakly I enough the goal for yr__\ m the : Labour party is striving. The Gofers* I most t, he contended must go a step fa-fiber 1 ami provide for all men and women who i are in the open labour market A 1 wr-I-jr in the Wairarapa Daßy Tkui 1 cojaj .menting on this declaration points I out the probable result of »___ " a | policy. "If tho Government,' he s&ya, I " irj aye to provide for all comers saskiaf 1 emjployment the people of the colony wiQ | ha** eto be taxed specially to enable the lis* & Y£W nment to do so, and the tax would he a £*! crushing one, as destitute people [ o*if ■ai.Je from *U parts of ths'aarUTktMttt' -^ Z&U'and and people already lining km «&. i 1 disii'ked their employment would surrender $$ —cd'iova themselves to be beaten-—<m& jpfef 1 theniselves on the list of those for t-?&o~t &t -1 Stcjle must provide. Rut, ho&eeerndß&wmk* ' J 3*rofM>sal viay be it is the logical consequetst ' I of i$U labour policy of the party **» pmf?, | and%ifitbenot accepted by the(leaders oi% | ther&that policy is a sham and a &dugks>* f Tb'PJ*e is no doubt this ia the cos-t-SS 1 a view of the matter. * |

' 'J* *■ T_o_ recent de&ro.U'rt - | ** Simmery - fire in tbe city of Lws&M | ,- Axev" has drawn public sttajj-. '-' i ■~,,'t; .' tion to a e___s_*«-:f-|»t | that* ;of St. Mary Axe. It was far., ~® | a4mariiraof •"«The Sorcerer will reneo-V, . | thatrr*_fr Job-* Wellington Wells hid felt | jempprium :— ; - J

' "J: If anyoneanything lacks, * -" :f APe have it ail ready in staeka, „„ "" "J only loot moo jjia rtsid-Bt _P«** |i jm "timber Seventy Simmery AxC m The it!iyme is useful as giving the logal f**"-» - 1 nuncifaaioo of the name. As for i_r deri**-* / 1 tion, s >ne authority tells us that iijgtmmff' 1 from iihe Church of St. Mary at th* Al* J —thak" is to say, at the sign of the A-***** | thus parrying us back to the thus I****** I nearly all the shops in London were to- „J| tingnfy hed by signs," as jmhMchoffiti. at* | now, h istead of by the names of the owift ' : | St. Miry Axe is situated at the Ces-Wi; ,| end af Leadenhall street, in the ce_lrt*#f 1| what yi*as at one time a vary large Jswi-*'- ! | quartta. This fact gave rise to tie itEkrtr"*-- II ing irrJifverent couplet:— » -=" | " Jews.-Jfrom St. Mary are for jobs so *»*r?» *• ! i That f tlr old clothes they'd even axe St. ___*f-r •* |