MR MACANDREW'S ADDRESS.

Evening Star, Issue 6916, 1 June 1885, Page 3

MR MACANDREW'S ADDRESS.

TO THK EDITOIf.

Sin, —I cannot help admiring your trenchant article on Mr Macandrew s speech at Port t'halincrs on Friday night, and I believe you have truly expressed tire opinions of the majority of your readers in the working ranks. Indeed Mr Macandrew s wild dream asrent the Skye crofters has been the subject of much mirth and derision among the working class of Otago. His attempt to introduce those people by stirring up the government with tho long pole yclept the Laird Bill gave rise to a great deal of discontent, and naturally, because charity should begin at home : hut Mr Macandrew thinks it should begin abroad. Having “the sea at their doors full of golden sovereigns,” should have elicited thunders of applause ; hut it seemed to have fallen on empty space—it would if many of tire Port fishermen were present, what with the Deep-sea Fishing Company “ gone to pot,” and their appliances scattered, and those fishermen who, hanging on and getting the merest pittance fur their catches—for instance, baraeouta, 2s per dozen, and groper, from (id to is (id each at the Stuart street jetty. The hou. member must have meant to have said “ with the sea full of copper pence at their doors.” I wonder if Mr Macandrew ever tried fishing for a living. If he had he would have spoken very differently on it. Mr Macandrew’s word-picture of the unemployed nicely settled upon ten acres of land is prodigious; in fact, it is, as he says, astonishing—nay, more, it is astounding. How comfortable the “ unemployed ” man can be, with a day or so in tho week at work somewhere. Egad, let Mr Macandrew try it on—give all his surplus cash to the Hospital or some other fund ; or, better, let him set up a dairy for dispensing the milk of human kindness (otherwise called cash), and commence on ten acres a model establishment, thus setting us a good example. “ Do as I say, not as 1 do," is Mr Macandrew’s motto.

Now, sir, I have seen a great deal of the colonies, and very rough work have I found it. I have done all sorts of things for a living, from keeping a set of hooks to navvying, and from driving a team of horses to driving a steam engine, and I have been strong enough to carry llewt on my hack. 1 am married now, and am one of the class who, according to Mr Maeamlrew, are to astonish the community at large by being extremely comfortable upon ten acres of ground waiting for the crop to grow, and relying on the milk of human kindness to see me through uuril my crop is ready. Let me tell you, sir, that the cows who give this wonderful lacteal nourishment are nearly, if not actually, extinct. (Query ; Did the species ever exist?) This year I carried “ hlney ” on my back many a weary mile during harvest, and earned L4Ts. Since I came to town, nearly four weeks ago, I have earned 4s, for three-quarters of a day’s work. I have tried all tiro works in and around Dunedin, without success. My wife is in ill health, and of course there is a little money owing by me. Those to whom the largest amount is owing talk about seizing rny few articles of furniture. The amount is , quite a trifle in the eyes of prosperou ygentlemcf.j’ikc ; but lam getting personal. Still, £ should like to see how some of our philanthropic representatives in Parliament, who think the more passing of a Bill will cause money to flow everywhere, would shape if they stood in a position similar to that of myself and many more in Otago. We should then hear rro more of the milk of human kindness. Here is a chance for it to flow. One cannot help speaking somewhat bitterly, for poverty will sour the best of us when it hangs around too lomr, all for the want of being known; or, as Mr Maeandrew puts it, because of a scarcity of the milk of human kindness. — 1 am, etc., Diogenes. Dunedin, June 1.