TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 60, 8 September 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Not long ago The Post commented on cases concerned with Receiving a series of thefts from Stolen Goods, warehouses, and the temptations placed in the way of-storemen by an unscrupulous individual who made it a profitable business to. traffic in stolen goods. The subject has attracted the notice of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which has decided to ask the Minister for Justice to give assistance in inducing dealers to be wary in accepting bargains in new goods, at 50 per cent, below cost price, from persons not regularly in trade. The Minister may reply that Parliament has already provided some sort of a safeguard in section 284 of the Crimes Act, referring to the receiving of stolen goods, but an analysis of this section does not seem to show that it will be remarkably effective in checking the malpractice of a systematic "receiver." A delinquent is liable to seven years' imprisonment, but the hare has first to be caught before tlie gaol soup can be served. The subtle receiver's protection is that knowledge of the theft has to be proved against him, and it is very difficult to secure the necessary direct or indirect evidence. The Act allows two methods offastening "guilty knowledge" upon an accused person :— (a) The fact that other property obtained by means of theft was found in his possession within twelve months of the time when he was first charged with the crime for which he is being tried; (b) the fact that, within five years of the time when the accused was first charged with the crime for which he is being tried, he was convicted of any offence ef a fraudulent or dishonest nature." Possibly a widening of the phrase "found in his possession" in subsection a, might help some thoughtless dealers to be more prudent. The requisite alteration will need very cautious drafting, but it should be possible to prevent semicormivmg traders from profiting by unfair competition with more conscientious dealers, at the extra cost of inciting the weak to steal.

The Hon. J. A. Millar's peculiar confession at the opening of Houses and Tattersall's Club on Horses. Monday evening has caused t sojne comment. He remarked that "for' many years he had held the view that there was no real difference between his taking £100 to 10s about the possibility of his house being burned down than taking £100 to 10s about the result of a horse-race." Mr. Millar has the reputation of being a shrewd, level-headed man, and therefore that peculiar Tattersallian economic doctrine is sure to create some wonderment throughout New Zealand. In the first place, the_ startled reader of the quaint declaration tries to account for such a belief in a responsible Minister of the Crown. The "many years" during which Mr. Millar has held the view about the exact parallel between houseinsuring and horse-racing half implies that there was a time when he thought otherwise. Were his earlier views more favourable to house-insuring than horseracing, or vice- versa? Is his present view due to the study of text-books on economics? Can any of the blame be thrown back on old Adam Smith, John Sfcuart Mill, Ricardo, Marshall, Walker, Henry George, Karl Marx, or the others ? Or is the view Mr. Millar's "very own" ? If it is his "very own," New Zealand, which hopes to see the railways run at a profio, trusts that it is not too late for the Minister to learn that there is a very real difference between "laying 10s to £100 about the safety of a house and 10s to £100 about the result of a horserace." Merely on the cold, hard figures, apart all other considerations, Mr. Millar convicted himself of a blunder in his financial reasoning. In the mere matter of odds, what sort of a "good thing" — as the sporting phrase seems to go — can be secured on the turf at 200 to 1? In addition to the obvious vastly superior advantage for the insurer at 10s 'to £100, Mr. Millar has to remember another equally obvious fact that premiums paid for insurance in New Zealand are mostly reinvested in enterprises from which the community gains a distinct benefit. The insurance money largely . goes into reproductive channels, without ferment. It seems rather platitudinous, of course, to state these truisms, but the extraordinary Ministerial utterance is sufficient excuse. The words may have fallen thoughtlessly from Mr. Millar's lips, but, inevitably, they will produce comment enough to convince the speaker that elementary reasoning should be a necessary preliminary to a statement of economic views by a Minister who expects to reduce the large annual losses on the working railways iA member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Friends to Animals complainof the Animals, ed yesterday that the authorities were not now as vigilant as formerly in preventing men from ill-treating the domestic animals. This statement supports the recent contention of the inspector (Mr. Seed) th^t representatives of the City Counpirf^vere not sufficiently sympathetic with the society's effort to give a memorable lcsttin to the pitilgss drivers of overloaded horses. A list of cases was handed to an officer of the corporation, but he took action in only a minor proportion of them. iMr. Seed was indignant, and announced that for the future the society itself would take the cases direct to the court. We do not know the merits of the cases that were reported, and put aside by tlie municipal officer, but we do know that the time came long ago for the salutary punishment of some types of carter, and it has been frequently complained by the society's executive that it is very difficult to get sufficient dirept evidence to ensure a conviction. The practice of forcing overburdened horses up steep grades, with whip and boot, hap not yet been btamped out. It has been often mentioned that, apart the gross brutality, this slave-driving is costly in horse flesh, it is not a piofitablc policy from dhy point of view, and if the lovers of it cannot u&der#tnad

that it is to their own advantage to be more merciful to the horses they should be suitably instructed in the Magistrate's Court. It is very pleasing to see that the animals' (the lower animals'} friends are on the watch. The society can point to an estimable record of work, and has no disposition to rest on its laurels. Its policy is not one of persecution and prosecution. The inspector gives ample warnings, but long experience Has shown that warnings, without penalty, are not always effective. Tne medicine dispensed* .by the Court doctor is necessary to give a better tone to some of the hardened A feram conductor has been found guilty of manslaughConductors ter in Auckland, beand the Public, cause negligence, in the jury's opinion, was proved against him. He was at the front of a car instead of at the back, where he should have been, at the particular time. A passenger rang for a stop; and the motorman pulled up the car. The conductor glanced around on one side, and saw one passenger alight. He assumed that no others wwo getting out, and signalled the motorman to restart the car. Just at that moment three' ladies were endeavouring to step on to tho roadway, and a fatal accident happened. It was established in evidence, that if the conductor, even from his awkward position, had looked around carefully on both sides he would have noticed that moro than one person was preparing to leave the car. The lamentable incident has ajready provoked a member of the Christchurch Tramway Board to remark that in that city "some of the conductors were not as careful as they might be in regard to the safety of passengers," and such a general statement brings the tactics of conductors, as a body, under review. Wellington had disagreeable experience of the "hurryon" and "hurry-off" conductor three or four years ago, and it is sometimes complained nowudays that an impatient or thoughtless conductor gives some cause of alarm to travellers, especially those who may not be trained athletes. But it must be conceded to the guards that the blame is small beside the praise bestowed upon men whose duties are much more arduous than they might appear to a casual assessor. To present accidents of the kind that brought death to a passenger in Auckland, an experiment is being tried in some parts of the United States. Special mirrors have been fitted to the motorman's cid to give him a 1 view of the events taking place behind his back. It has been found in America that even a very careful conductor may give a signal that may .result in an accident. The mirror attachment may be found worth a trial in New Zoaland, but in the meantime Mr. Justice Edwards has very impressively warned all conductors about the ,pains and penalties that may follow neglect to exercise reasonable precautions for the protection of the public.