TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 95, 19 October 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It was sure to come; a correspondent has suggested that, A Prison-Gate the much-debated on the Town Belt, prison-gate should be situated on the. Town Belt. At a time when there is a plea for jewels to be studded in the severely-plain Belt, it is seriously submitted that the spikes of a prison-gate should be fastened upon it. The argument used to support this weak case is distinctly quaint, in view of the line of reasoning taken by the objectors of Island Bay. "There are plenty of suitable places on the Belt," it is stated, "sufficiently far away from the thicklypopulated centre to make such a home safe and desirable, and, being for the public good, there should be no obstacle in the way." Island Bay"s protest against the placing of the prison-gate out there is based on the fact that it would be in a district which was not thickly populated, and therefore people would feel less at ease than if the suburb was more closely settled. We have already expressed our sympathy with the Good Samaritan ideal which the hard-working Salvation Army has in mind, but a desire to see the exprisoners comfortably housed and kindly treated cannot be allowed to unduly interfere with the rights of other people. The Town Belt was reserved for the public good, as a breathing space, a place of recreation^ good to contemplate, good to walk in, an estate for the comfort of young and old of this generation and others to come, a. stretch of hill and dale where adults and^children might throw care aside for a time. For obvious reasons, therefore, wo do not welcome any proposal for the thrusting of a prison-gate on to the people's park. This, encroachment on the people's reserve has already gone far enough for the present. An honest commonsense- regard for the intentions of those men who secured the Belt for Wellington City should demand Sa, very conservative policy on the part of the people's present representatives. Canada has evidently been vigorously enforcing its law against Going off the smoking of cigarettes in Smoke, by boys. A cable message yesterday mentioned that the consumption of the insidious little tubob had declined by thirty millions in eight mouths. Various State Legislatures in the United States have come to believe that 'the ban must bo put upon adults as well as juveniles, and they have totally prohibited the sale of cigarettes. The "habit" had established itself so strongly that men who wished to conserve the health and stamina of the race realised that that drastic procedure was demanded. In Xew Zealand the cigarette has largely increased its popularity, but has not become such a startling evil as it is represented to be in America. The Legislature • here has endeavoured to check the smoking of, tobacco in any shape or form by persons under the age of fifteen years, but the provision does not seem to be very effective. The forbidding extends only to "public places, ' j but as private places are much more ( plentiful than public places the small boy "has very little restriction on, his indulgence in a "fag,' as he calls his iiimsy, deleterious luxury. A few fines have been indicted since the Act came into force several years ago, but so little is heard of the legislation that its existence is probably forgotten by the bulk of the public. Periodically the doctors decry the cigarette, of which the abuse can work havoc with the human constitution, but doctors themselves may be Seen iD Wellington's streets gaily puffing the thing which they condemn. Some two sessions back it was thought that Parliament wa< More Holiday about to straighten out Confusion. Lha tangled holiday 1 system, but the promise had a very meagre measure of ful filment. Even members of the Ministry, notably the Hon. T. Mackenzie, have admitted that the State puts up the shutters on too many days in the year — saints' days and others which are not public holidays. The legal profession and the bankers have also homo respect for tho saints and minor days, and this veneration, which demands a locking of doors, is an irritation and inconvenience to the merchant and shopkeeper, who feel that they are obliged to cont&iuu their search of a living on days when tho banks are piously shut. The work-a-day folk have the regulation public holidays, of course, but these may sometimes involve more annoyance than pleasure. For example, a correspondent has pointed to King's Birthday, which, falls this year on a Tuesday. Unless the holiday is Mondayised, the workshops and factories will be undei aii obligation to ease off on Sunday, resume on Monday, and run down on Tuesday. This working week will not really begin till Wednesday is some hour*, old. Clearly, this is a case when the loyal honouring of the Sovereign's natal day should be shifted forward some twentyfour hours,. This Mondayising idea has been, before Parliament, and has received considerable support in and out of the House of Representatives. The time has come for the people's representatives to debate the whole problem of holidays, public and semi-public. So far as the people are concerned, the main purpose of a holiday is to furnish some hours of escape from the bench' and the desk, but tho object is largely defeated unless the dispensation of recreation days is placed on a sensible basis. The twelfth annual report of the Society for the Protection of Friends of the Women and Children Friendless. is a record of valuable work by a humane institution of which the city is justly proud. This year it has a note of mourning in recording the lamented death of a fellow-worker, the late Mrs. T. W. Hislop, who always took an active interest in the institution. How the society comes to the aid of the friendless and defenceless may be -inferred from the mere outline of the "cases" it has taken in hand during the year — seventy-sis in all, making a total of seven hundred and thirty-eight since its inception. Thess comprise maintenance cases, of Mives, mothers, and children, including illegitimate and neglected,

adoptions, homes sought and found for little ones, children committed, committals to asylums, "undesirable home," "uncontrollable girl," cruelty to wives and children, wife desertion, and separation and maintenance, besides advice and practical help given. There is a very seamy side of life in a large city, and it is with this that the society concerns itself. 'I he duty is far from pleasant, but it engages some of th«s best of our womanhood, and requires very exceptional wisdom and tact. In these respects the society's record seems to be as unimpeachable as its work has been efficient. Brought in contact, as the members are, with some of the defects of our social system, their recommendations aie worthy of consideration, and some of these are embodied in the report,. They hope, in respect of guardianship of children, that the law may be so amended as to make it "impossible for a man from mere whim or caprice to remove his children from the care of his wife without her consent, or to leave them at his death in the joint guardianship of a person to whom she objects -, neither should it be possible for him to dictate in his will the religion in which they shall be brought up without reference to the mother's wishes." Further, the society would have it made impossible for a man to sell or- mortgage the family home without the wife's written consent. It is pleasant to find that the public continue to show practical sympathy with the objects and work of the institution, which once more we commend to their generous consideration.