ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 15, 29 July 1843, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — Any legitimate means employed to prevent a palpable public evil, to counteract its vital and devastating influence, and to proscribe a salutary and infallible remedy, must bo hailed by every well-wisher of his species, as highly meritorious in either the individual or association, which labours to effect so desirable a measure. Therefore, it is with hinccro gratification, I havo read your avowed public opinions on total abstinence, as a proludc to the happy events which generally result from the talented advocacy of the cause of suffering humanity. In the last number of your Journal, you havo adverted to tho report of the " Auckland total abstinence society," in reference to tho Press ; and in order to prevent misconstruction, by quoting only garbled extracts, I will transcribe the passage alluded to, verbatim : " Tho Press is a powerful weapon to wield in any cause, how much more effective in that of suffering humanity, and to its talented advocacy of the principles and advantages resulting from total abstinence, may in a great measure justly be attributed the irrefragable position which that all-ab-sorbing measure has attained, particularly in our native countries. "Tho Auckland Standard supported us with an enthusiastic zeal, deserving a better fate, its immediate successor, the Times, during its transient career, treated teetotalisna with " absurdity," and absurdly accele-

rated it?; own annihilation. Tho Chrnnlch and Southern d'vi>s, observe a cautiou? neutrality, but we cherish the fond hope, that the Southern Con stollaliun which illumes these Antipodes, will shed a benign ray on a subject paramount to tho^c which it illuminate? and adorns." I quite agree with you, Sir, that " total abstinence" is tho only cure for the drunkard, and I am satisfied that the salvation of this pitiable and deluded class, is the primary object of all total abstinence societies. And what nobler conquest could be achieved, or act of true Christian charity performed, than to rescue from ignominy and perdition tho soul, which tho' bullied and dishonored, irf still Divine. I agree with you, in " that no man ought to chcri.-h pride because lie is not a Beast, "^ but 1 submit that any person has cause to exult, and fool much peace of mind, and internal consolation, in surmounting and subduing pn^ions, or momentary gratifications of a vile and injurious tendency. And that acting on the principle of drinking only what nature require, is botli judicious and expedient, especially in thcrfo degenerate tim.es. J feel that I have trespassed too much on your valuable time and space, but I cannot conclude without consrratiilatinrj you on the eminent position you have attained among your fellow-colonists ; you wield a powerful weapon ; exercise it with prudence, moderation, and philanthropy. You express the feelings, and assert the rights of the people ; your Journal was much wanted ; it ought, and 1 sincerely hope, will be deservedly supported. I remain, &c, Abstemious. Auckland, July 20, 184.3. [Drunkenness, wo boliove, to have its origin in a state of tilings, almost unhappily beyond the eifectivo influence of total abstinence societies, and while such societies may doubtless do much good in reclaiming individuals who are already tho victims of intemperance, something more is necessary to eradicate the poison. The evil is not accidental, but consequent upon the present state of society, and social government. To do away with intemperance, it wore necessary that the framcrs of our laws and institutions should make themselves better acquainted with the moral and physical constitution of man, and study the science of social happiness more than they have hitherto appeared to have done. If every man were permitted to occupy his own proper sphere, and to exercise rationally tho virious faculties which his Maker has bestowed upon him ; appropriating a certain portion of his time to healthy corporeal exertion, to intellectual or mental improvement, to moral and innocent amusement, and if circumstances had not converted some men into hard grinding machines, perpetually operating upon tho rest of their fellow-men, keeping them in want, misery, and wretchedness, drunkenness like other vices, would hide itself in shame. A complete social change can alono cure it. While Englishmen love money more than happiness, and mistake the one for the other as the real object j of their exitence, so long will this and other crimes continue. While our rulers are merely occupied with schemes for raising money to support themselves and others, whom chance or circumstances have raised upon the surface of society, and while our laws are framed in ignorance of our nature, and with tho view of keeping down, and crushing intellect, mind, and heart, so longmust that society bo defaced by vice. A temperance society may stem for a time (and so far do good) an individual stream ; but the flood remains. General, intellectual, moral, and social improvement, among high and low, must be sought after as the great cure. It is tho shame, and tho disgrace of tho government of England, that more of its revenue is proportionately derived from tho crimes of the people, than in any other civilised country; and while tins is tho case, tho people can hardly expect that those who live by these crimes, will be very anxious for their improvement. England requires a government and laws based upon reason, and a proper knowledge of mankind. Wars and murders might please old John Bull, but we trust the schoolmaster is now fast changing his taste, and if the rulers change not with him of their own accord, he has still determination enough to compell them, even against their will Er>.]

j To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — Of all the departments and intricate ramifications which constitute the kind of Government with which the Colony is at present burdened, that which has for its object the preservation of the peace and property of the inhabitants is perhaps the one which has hitherto least frequently come under the just censure of your scrutinizing pen ; neither is it at tho present time from

any source of gratification i\i? + I fool in discovering defects and omission \ rather than the effective men suits of any brauch oi tho public service, that I seek to point out any in the discharge of the Police Duties of thw district, but merely that 1 think that thy moment has arrived at which the whole energies of this department will bo required for the suppression of crime, and thai, t\\\< is a fact which thoy neither appear properly to understand nor nnxious to provide f.n\ — Tho Police Magistrate has hitherto had few other cases to adjudicate upon Ihaii those of drunkenness, for which no oth^r crcrtion on liis pari, was rcquHlo, than tho taking down of so and fo'.s evidence! tint ro and »o was found endeavouring to light his pipe at tho pump, lV'c, and lining so and .-o i'ov such breach of tho peace. But indeed such extensive wisdom was shown in cn.<es of tlii^ kind, that however much tho eommurity bowailod the loss of a talented Surveyor General, the fact of 3iis being restored to them in tho shape of so loarnod a Police Magistrate, was a consolation univcrsallv felt. — But the time, I repeat, has now arrived when the gross mismanagements of every branch of Government are becoming too serious to be much longer tolerated. Numbers of tho labouring class, destined under any but a mock-government to become peaceful, sober and industrious subjects, after parting with every article of their clothing, but what rags they carried on their backs, are forced (I speak from personal knowledge) both in the town and country to work for their bread only, and many of them can find no employment whaicver. Gaunt misery and hunger stalk in every direction over tho country, and unfortunately, though as a matter of course, crimo is following fast after. — During tho last fortnight numbers of thefts have been committed in the neighbourhood of the town ; among&t many I may enumerate a few : A poor woman named Thomson had £5 worth of clothes stolen ; a poor Chelsea pensioner. Pilkinton, bad his little v:arre literally cleared out ; Mr. Lardncr had £10 worth of clothes stolen ; Mr. Elliot and some servants of o 'Mealy'sy 's had also a quantity of clothes stolen ; Mr. Cleghorn had a clothesline cut, with a view to take some clothes attached to it, but discovered the thief in the fact, though he could not apprehend him. Such, Mr. Editor, is tho beginning of a stato of things of which your inspired pen gave us true and timely prediction, though, like Cassandra tho prophetess of old, I believe it is destined that your oracles shall never bo regarded, at least by the present unhappy rulers. But, to come more immediately to tho subject of my letter, the Police Magistrate has, I believe, received information either directly or indirectly, of all these acts of theft ; and as far as can be seen or learnt, he has not taken one single step towards the discovery, or dotoction of tho offenders. Such conduct, Mr. Editor, if true, you must allow to bo intolerable. The Police Magistrate surely does not imagine that his duty is confined to attending from 10 to 12, or to o o'clock, at a particular office, lie is mistaken. We expect him to be continually officiating, day and night, indefatigable in his researches in whatever quarter crimo may have .shewn itself, and though like tho Coroner and some others, he will say his salary is insufficient ; that has nothing to do with the public — he can resign. But, unless the settler can be afforded security for his person and personal property, he must in evitably abandon the country. Indeed, Mr. Editor, the only remaining inducement for any one of us to continue here, is the confident expectation we entertain that when tho great incubus which now broods over the colony like a pestiferous malaria, is removed, all these diseases which the incubation has engendered, will also be removed, and for a speedy delivery therefrom we all most earnestly pray. ■ I remain, yours, &c., Aquila. Auckland, July 20, 1843. [We strongly suspect that many of tho thefts complained of by our ablo correspondent are more justly attributable to tho Parkhurst delinquents, than to the famished-by-Shortland emigrants. Tho conduct of the Police Magistrate is, in either case, reprehensible, though we can scarcely hope that the remarks of our sensible correspondent will produce any effect upon him. lie is one of those who can never do wrong, at least he would appear to think so himself. ]