HERE AND THERE.

Evening Star, Issue 10412, 6 September 1897, Page 1

HERE AND THERE.

For an illustration of the dignified calmness and deliberation that should characterise the proceedings of a legislative body commend us to the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois (U.S.). In a party wrangle over a revenue Bill an attempt was recently made to drag the Speaker from tho chair, and in the riot which ensued furniture was smashed and waste baskets were hurled across the hall. One member was severely wounded by an ink bottle aimed at the Speaker, another, who tried to pound heads with a wooden mallet, was forced to the floor with others on top of him, members pulled off their coats and stood on top of their desks, stamping and gesticulating wildly, while everybody shouted themseiVea hoarse, and a free-for-all fight was, it is stated, only prevented by the action of a few cool-headed members. Tho disturbance lasted an hour and a-quaiter and was heard six blocks away.

How superficial is the peace that prevails among the sects was ehown the other night in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, when a motion was moved that free railway passes be granted to children attending convent schools as well as to those attending the State schools. The Catholics claimed that they arc not only entitled to passes as well "as others, but that they save the State a large sUm of money every year, and give the children a better education. The motion was opposed on the ground that the State does not recognise religion, and if any sect refuses to take advantage of the Government teaching they must do so at their own expense. The Treasurer (Sir P. Fysh), in the course of his remarks, spoke of the " Romish Church," whereupon uprose a Protestaut clergyman, who is in the House, and said that there was an "Anglo-Catholic Church." Then the clergyman proceeded to back up the Catholics, declaring that the churches gave a cheaper and better education than the Government, and deserved full recognition, which they did not get. Somebody deprecated religious discussions in the House, but one member said that the day would come when such questions would be freely debated, whereupon another hon. gentleman said that he hoped he would be in the gallery to see the fun, but not in the House to share the certain strife. At one time there did seem danger of a tolerably lively debate, for members had awoke to something in which they took a keen interest, aud the usual languid toleration vanished in an Behind all were the free, secular, and compulsory people, who are very hot on the education question, and who will sweep the polls if they are ever called on to vote. In the meautime (says tho ' Argus's' correspondent) it is instructive to note that these contending sects live side by aide, and get on very well together ; whereas, in former ages, they would have fought the business out. The motion was carried, for there was a belief that all children should be treated alike ; but before long the free, secular, and compulsory system will be in evidence in Tasmania. •-♦* Legislation in the United States for the suppression of the evil of cigarette smoking by young people has admittedly proved ineffective, but as a result of the municipal by-law passed by Chicago, under which retail dealers in cigarettes are obliged to take out a license costing £2O, the number of places where they may be bought has fallen from 5,000 to about 100. The margin of profit upon cigarettes is said to be so small that the smaller dealers cannot afford to purchase the license. This is not an ideal way to combat the cigarette evil, but. experience seems to prove it the most effective yet devised. Dr Youl, Melbourne's humorous coroner, died as he lived, on terms of easy familiarity with death. "If I'm to have'that champagne, Mollison, you better hurry up with it." He drank his glass of champagne, smiled, as though thankful that even then he knew the flavor of good wine—and passed away. The ' Australasian' has been retailing anecdotes of the deceased official, and not the least racy of them is this one : On one occasion, during an inquiry into the * causes of a suspicious fire at North Melbourne, the persons most interested advanced the bald and unconvincing theory of rats. Dr Youl smiled, the jury returned a verdict of unknown causes, and they were about to leave the room when a constable was almost paralysed by the discovery that the evidence had been taken on a copy of Johnson's dictionary, supplied by the landlord of the hotel in mistake for a Bible. " Never mind, gentlemen," said the coroner, "you have abundantly satisfied yourselves on the strength of, a dictionary oath that this fire was the work of rats—and fire rats are so very mysterious in their ways that I feel sure the repetition of the evidence on a Bible will not help you to identify any of the animals."

The member for Hawera is far from satisfied with the prospects of the small settlers that the Minister of Lauds has located in his electorate. He declares that they are not likely to bscome settlers in any legitimate sense of that word. In the first place, they have not sufficient land nor sufficient means to make a decent living out of it. A"hundred acres is not enough. They are, he affirms, "working a dead horse" from the time they go upon the land until they leave it. Men, he flays, arc sent in for bushfelling, and are paid 303 an acre—that is, 10s more than is paid to an ordinary contractor. Grass seed is given to them, and they are pajd an extra price for sowing it. But they do not become permanent settlerß; they only stay on the land as long as it suits them. They have no capital, and, aa a rule, they make no permanent ' improvements. If due care had been exercised they could have been placed in such a position that they would get employment from the well-to-do farmers, to the permanent advantage of both* As the area of land is not sufficient, and employment cannot be had to help the new settler in overcoming the difficulties of his first efforts, he looks forward to an escape from the place as the only relief available, so in course of time he leaves the land and abandons the idea of establishing a house upon it. Every such failure is an additional burden on the old-time settler, because the distriot is handicapped.by the importation of incompetent persona.

The Canterbury folk are crying" opt (<*ni not without, reason) against tho wretchedly blo.w pics at which the trains on the Southbiid'g'a and £<priugfieid eectious uro permitted to trivet. We have had expedience ourselves of the latter acdtiotiy and can endorse every word that tho ' Presa' Writes concerning it:—

Here we have a main line, a tourist routs; and what is more, the only means of access by which invalids travelling from the South call reach tho Hanmer Hot Springs. Yet the department thinks it hus done everything that can be reasonably rehired by the public when it gives us a train service which takes very nearly five homvi—or to be exact 4h 45min—to accomplish sixty-niiw miles. This gives the stupendous overage of fourteen »nd a : half miles an hour. A3 the country traversed is not particularly interesting, one can easily imagine What si period of, suffering this must be for invalids, more especially, as the evil is intensified by a very tedious fcoaCh journey on ledvfns : the. train. The consequence is fhsrt, although Haniricr Springs are not more than a little over ninety miles from Christchurch, the invalid has to start from the latter place at the unearthly kopr of 7.35 iu the mornln;;, and it is usually about half-past five at night before he reaches his destination. How can the springs pds» sibly attain their full popularity or extend their full benefits to visitors under such a system as this?

Comparisons are drawn between the slbw-as-a-funeral pace on theCulverden section and the fair rate of speed attained on the Auck-land-Rotorua.line, where the 171 miles are done iu a little over seventeen hours. There is no reason whatever ifby the Christchurch•Gulvcrdeu setvice on at least two days in the week, during the summer Season, should not be performed at an average speed of seventeen miles an hour the same as on the Wellington - Masterton section, where the grade is about the same. The Government have lately spent a couple of thousand pounds ia erecting a sanatorium at Hanmer, but that moQey will be largely thrown away unless the time occupied in getting there is .accelerated and the fares brought well within the means of the majority of the people who would be .benefited by a cour3e of bathing if they could afford to visit the place. Private enterprise has shown itself quite prepared to second the efforts of the Government in that respect; the re3t is in the hands of the Canterbury membars. If they make united representations on the subject, and pull together, Ministers, who are very lethargic otherwise, will find it convenient to do all that is necessary to make Hanmer as popular a resort as Rotorua has become.

Many people will be inclined to agree with the conclusions of tho ' Insurance and Finance Journal' on the recent examination of the Hon. George M'Lean :

1 ; . We are not concerned to know whether the general manager, the board of directors, or the chairman, of the Board are primarily responsible for the policy which has since turned out to be such an erroneous policy. All those who were more or less responsible have now had their say, and in some degree have attempted to shift the blame from the shoulders of one to another. What we are concerned with is this: Whether the six or seven first-rate men of business amongst whom the blame must be divided were justified in considering Mr Ward a substantial man four or five years ago. Now, carefully putting on one side all the revelations since 1593, they ought at that date have know u that, owing to the fall in market prices, Mr Ward, in common with all those who conducted similar operations to those with which he and his Association were connected, must have made enormous losses. It was in the middle of 1893 a matter of common conversation in business circles that " Ward was in trouble." The directors, managers, aud inspectors—we group them all together for this; one purpose—ought to have known, and we will go so far as to say actually did know, that there were at that time grave suspicions afloat as to Mr Ward's solvency. We simply do not believe that Mr M'Lean and his co-directors were ignorant at the time of the rumors current, which rumors were based on a series of market quotations at the disposal of the public. Whatever the management mav have thought up to that time, we say that in 1893 it was their duty as prudent men, having charge of the shareholders' money, to make the most stringent and careful investigation into the whole of Mr Ward's affairs, with a view to ascertaining accurately what his financial position really was. Wo cannot say that the management exercised the same care that a prudent man would give to his own affairs in neglecting so obvious a precaution. The same comment applies to the conduct of Mr Rylev's account, since the man in the street habitually remarked that the roller mill in Manor place would be a heavy burdon for the Colonial Bank, while it was equally a matter of common report that Mr Ryley had been unfortunate in many of his business ventures. The Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England have declared that the disciplinary powers which they possess do not entitle them to question the position of Fellows and' members acting as medical officers to "medical aid elubs and similar societies. And the Council intimate that they cannot ev.iorse the action of those members who lefused to meet such medical officers in consultation.