FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 111, 12 May 1934, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS "FROM " THE POST "

UNEMPLOYED AGITATION

"Colonial history very often repeats itself with almost literal exactness, and this has l>eeii particularly the case with regard to meetings of the unemployed," remarks "The Post" of this date fifty years ago. "They were- common in the richest city of the Australasian colonies (Melbourne) more than twenty- / five years ago, and there has been an- - other meeting of tho same kind just held in Sydney and a petition from it praying for relief presented to the Government^ In all cities there are loafers who believeyWat their mission in the world is to/loaf, and who are fulfilling their mission with the utmost fidelity. But there are also mechanics and labouring men whose greatest pleasure is to work, but who cannot get work to do. The above ; applies to meetings of the unemployed held in Christchurch and Dunedin a few months back. At both those cities •there were probably some few honest but unfortunate men looking in vain for work, but there was a still larger ' number of those happily characterised once as 'begging for work and praying to God that they might not get it.' After all, the grand remedy is for people to.help themselves, and Canterbury and Otago, who recently wanted outdoor relief from the Government, might take a lesson or two from Wel- . lington as to the providing of employment. Our Manawatu railway is being made, and 'bur frozen moat and other factories are being carried on by the enterprise of our own citizens. So the south can beat us, even in the number of its paupers, and the scarcity of its employment for labourers!'' FIRE VERSUS WATER. "The wonderful immunity from lire so long enjoyed by this city appears to have come to an end. Within the last week there have been several alarms and two serious fires, at both, of which : it was made painfully apparent that the arrangements about water supply fluxing the night are far, very far, from being adequate. The loss at the Willis Street fire would undoubtedly have been* much greater hacl it not been that tho water was turned on some time before owing to the Taranaki Street alarm. Last night, when Captain Steele's house caught, the brigade was quickly on the spot and the man in charge of the mains turned on the :-. water promptly, but it was, of course, a long time in finding its way to the top of Ingestre Street, and until it got there the brigade could do nothing to check the fire. The delay caused the . loss of Mr. Preston's house, and seriously endangered Mr. Louis Blundell's. Indeed, had it not been for the supply of water obtained from two large tanks ' on the premises, the latter wou]d certainly have been burned; Had the mains been charged when the alarm was given, Mr. Preston's house could easily have been saved, and probably a great deal more of Captain Steele's : property saved. Tho Corporation assumes a very heavy responsibility in turning the water off duriDg the night. Some night a very extensive fire, possibly involving loss of human life, will be the consequence. The waste or consumption of water during the still hours of tho night would necessarily be very small, if the water were regularly turned on, say, about 11 o'clock each night until tho Wainui supply is available, when we suppose it will be on at all hours. The knowledge that -~ the mains were charged would enable a great many "people to sleep rribr^cdm- • fortably at night. We trust the Corporation will see to this at once, and SO pos/ibly avoid a fatal catastrophe." ; AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS. . Body-line bowling was not agitating ...the-world fifty years ago, but never" theless _ there - was great interest . evinced in a, visit to England of a team ■ of Australian cricketers. A loading article in "The Post," headed' "First Blood," remarks:—"The Australian Cricketers may be congratulated on the insult of their first match in England. To win a match against a first-class English team, including the great W. G. Grace himself, in one innings with six runs to spare, is no mean honour in the cricketing world. Anthony Trqllope told us some time back that the Australians are 'given to blow,' but certainly it would seem as if ia some matters they have 'something to blow - about.- When tho first All England Eleven played in Melbourne 21 years ago, with a far inferior team to that just defeated, it was thought by outsiders an absurdity for even a Victorian eighteen'to expect to make any show l against them, and at the end of a four days| match the Englishmen won in one innings with any number of runs to spare. Several years afterwards, though Australian cricket had improved considerably, another first-class eleven came out, and as the champion W. G. -, Grace was among them, it was given - out even by the knowing, ones that ajjain Australia would be miserably defeated, and one cricket expert wrote m anticipation of W. G. Grace making 350 off his own bat. Nevertheless, tho great man, who was reckoned to be in himself 'a whole team and a dog under the wagon,' was beaten. Now there is a still further advance in Australian cricket. Another- team, sails from the ;■■■ Antipodes, and when just fresh from . a sea voyage—probably with sea-sick-ness accompaniments—meets one of the • strongest elevens that can be collected in the United Kingdom, with the crack cricketer of the Old World, W. G. Grace, among them, and the result is as follows:—England, first innings, 86; second innings, 120; total, 206. Australia, first innings, 212; winning by one innipgs and six runs. The colonies are certainly progressing in some things." A NEW ZEALAND EXPLORER. "Professor Yon Btaast, Director of the Christchurch Museum, has received intimation by cable from London that the Koyal Geographical" Society has awarded him its gold medal for his geographical researches , and exploration in New Zealand." OVERSEAS NEWS. . "Intelligence is to hana from Zululand that^. a serious rising of the tribes has occurred there, and Mr. Osborno. the British Resident, has asked the Imperial authorities for immediate military assistance." "Dispatches from tho Governor of Dongola announce that the country to the south of Debbah is in open rebellion, and that Khartoum is completely invested by the rebels. Messengers whom he has dispatched to the latter place have been unable to reach it " "It is reported that Lord WolseW will, in October next, lead a force of 10,000 men to the relief of Khartoum." "A treaty has been concluded at Tientsin between France and China for the cessation of hostilities and the <=et- '- tlement of the Tonquin difficulty By the terms of the treaty it is agreedthai; • China shall recognise the French protectorate over Tonquin and Annam with the existing frontiers; that Tho towns of Kuanghai, Quangtung, and Yunnan shall be opened to international trade; and it is also agreed that the French Government shall waive its claim to a war indemnity."

"Lord Derby's dispatch to Goveri itors of the Colonies is of a confidential nature, but it is bolievcd4hat he purposes a scheme for the control of tho Pacific Islands pending federation by "the' Crown.-