Untitled

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 4464, 4 June 1875, Page 2

Thbsb are the days of sturdy beggars,. The Provincial Council approves of mendicancy when it is well fed, decently Clad, and thoroughly able-bodied. Individuals who re*; present the mendicant interest'have found out the weakness of the Legislature, and they have come forward with the begging claims of their protegSs with a unanimity which is the only thing that does honour to their, efforts. Hr Gray preferred one of this species of claims yesterday evening, and the amount of support he obtained was perfectly astonishing. . The Government protested that they could not see that the Agricultural and Pastoral Association were entitled to the grant of £250 which Mr Gray begged for. Mr Haskell pointed out that the Association had promised last year, when they got their last grant, that they would never ask for any more. He further showed that the Association owned a fine piece of land, very valuable, that they owed nothing to any one,'and that their revenue was fairly equal to providing for their necessities. He pointed. out, in addition, that the Society’s mid-winter show-was notoriously a financial failure,' and, he recommended the Society to eliminate this element of loss from the programmes of future years. In conclusion, the Provincial Secretary argued from, past experience that this grant would become annual, an d he' protested vehemently against such a thing, and very properly too. A more complete, case we have never heard put. We are not going tp deny that the Association is a most useful institution. On the contrary, we think every reasonable man in the country will allow that the benefit that body is yearly conferring on the community is almost incalculable. Never* theless we must agree with Mr Haskell that the Association had no right to any grant this year from the Treasury. The majority of the Council tho'.ight otherwise, and the majority broke its usual silence in a remarkable manner. The sum of the speeches laboured to show that the Association was in some way educational—a sort of beef and mutton college, we presume—a kind of seminary for pigs and the lower animals generally, and a polisher of the rustic intellect in the matter of wool, and other things bucolieal. This argument we do not think requires anything more than its mere ap* pearance in black and white to refute f it utterly. We pass on, therefore, to the next point. It was also hoped by several eloquent speakers that the matter involved a question of railway management. The true principle of efficient management, according to them, is to make grants to those who contribute' to the increase of the railway traffic. The logical consequence of this it is not hard to find. If the principle prevails, every one who pays freight tor his goods will be entitled to receive some portion, of the money ho pays, on the. ground that he has contributed to the increase of the. traffic. In the same way pasiehger, When buying bis ticket, will be able to claim a reason* able discount. This sort of thing will in time produce a reduction of fares. This reduction, will, by means of the usual allowance made in accordance with the principle laid down, be still further periodically reduced, until at last the result of the true principle of efficient railway management, will. bo W annihilate the. ,railway revenue..... Mr idsM— Mr Walker was the champion of this new>faith-T----are benevolent, but ■ they dba hardly -recommend themselves tothe Secretary for Public Works. He was wrong when he told the

Council that he was, looking at the matter from a railwajr rffint been more coryiep to haye said philanthropic. There wittahother point tirged in favioorl of ‘ the Association, a point discovered by Mr W. ;B.!TMiwill,; That; hob gentlemsp said thatas £SO had b?en|giren to the Lyttelton Regatta, the Association was entitled to five, times that amount, os, in fact, they were demanding. Now, it is hard to see the proportion ; it is also clear that two wrongs cannot make a right; but Mr Tusswill did not enlighten the Council on these points. The oases besides are hardly parallel. The Regatta probably would not have come off without the' Government grant. If: it had it would have been shorn of its splendour considerably, and it is splendour of this kind that produces good meetings, whether aquatic, racing, or otherwise. And upon the attendance at these meetings the extra revenue derived by the railway from them very much depends. The Agricultural Show, on the other, hand, does not in any way depend, this year for its attendance, on the Government Contribution to its funds.

Notwithstanding the transparent fallacy of the remarks in favour of the grant, regardless of Mr Mashell’s masterly exposition of the Society’s flourishing condition, that sturdy beggar bad it all its owu way. The majority in the Council have not. scrupled to throw: £260 to an institution that is well enough off to provide many times the sum for its wants. The numerous gentlemen who take an interest; in the Association, and are fond of vaunting its usefulness, have not been able to put it in; the way of ratting a paltry £250. Rather than do this, they have asked their friends in; the Council to beg for this sum in formA' pauperis. This is creditable neither to theirj independence, public spirit, or business capacity,