POLITICAL GLEANINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 11077, 1 October 1896, Page 2

POLITICAL GLEANINGS.

Mr J. D. Sievwright announces his intention of being a candidate for the Oamaru constituency. Mr Donald Fraser has retired from the Otaki contest in favour of Mr H. A. Field. It is said that business reasons will prevent Mr Scobie Mackenzie being a candidate for Parliament. Messrs George Whiteombe, of Pahiatua, and . Robert Manisty, of Woodville, ■ announce themselves as . Opposition candidates, and Mr John O’Meara is standing in the Government interest for the Pahiatua seat.-;; •• It appears to bo. the opinion of manj that Mr .James Allen will have to fight hard to retain his seat as the Bruce representative. , .It has been stated - that Mr Allen Intends standing for Dunedin City in the. Conservative interest, but those who should, know say that there is.no truth in the statement and that he will stick to Bruce. Here is the agonised, yell of a squatter’s dummy extracted, from the correspondence column of the Waipawa Mail: —“ln the name of all that is righteous, will the people rise to the, occasion and return honest men, capable of understanding and true liberality, and no longer be craftily hoodwinked by arrogant bluster, specious promises of knavery, to the utter damnation of the colony.” A requisition is being extensively signed throughout the Hunterville and Ohingaiti districts, asking Mr W. A. Floyd to contest the Eaugitikei electorate. , Mr- Fitzroy, ■ Mayor of Hastings, is definitely out for Wiuapu, to stand in the Opposition interest against the Hon J.,' • Carroll,., Mr : Tomblesoa, prohibitionist having retired. Mr Donald Fraser, in retiring from the contest ..for . the . Otaki' seat, has set.an example which Liberal candidates who “ lag superfluous ” in the electoral field elsewhere should strive to imitate.' His object in retiring, he states, is to avoid dividing Liberal votes, and to leave one candidate to do battle against the Conservatives. A tribute to the Liberal Goyernment was uttered by Mr Jones, one of the co-opera-tive delegates from England. . Speaking at the banquet in Bellamy’s, he said : —“ Since wo landed here on Thursday night week we have heard a great deal about your present Government. We have heard both good and bad; and from all sorts and conditions of men. When I was told there was a Lancashire man at the head of the Government I at once took sides with the Government—(laughter and applause)— and after travelling the length of the South Island and part of the North Island, and listening to all sorts of opinions, I have come to the conclusion that you have a splendid Government and a splendid man at the head of it.” Mr Sinclair, who will contest the Invercargill seat in the Government interest, js receiving many encouraging promises of support. Mr Sinclair, who is a son of Mr J. Sinclair, of Berwick, is now Mayor* of Invercargill, and as he has made hosts of friends, his election is thought by his friends to be assured. The following amusing “ tit for tat ” is from the Southern Standard :—The leader of the Opposition takes a wonderful delight in using alliterative phrases. His famous bounce, bluster, banquets and "buncombe” phrase applied to the Government’s policy is supplemented bya description of the Loan Bill as a measure “ to borrow, barter, bribe and bamboozle.” Ranting, rattle-headed, Russell raves right rabidly with resounding rhetoric.: He wants the, rabble to remove Radicals who rightly repel roaring Russell’s ridiculous rubbish; but rascally rabble readily recognises Radical reason and lets Enssell roam restlessly in regions of reckless remorse. Wretched Enssell! The other day the Wellington Evening Post commended the Government for its invariable regard for the interests of the colony in making appointments to high offices. Now the same,Everting Post, appa-rently-in a different mood, says that the Government “ are actually considering the appointment of yet another Judge, who may prove more complaisant than Mr Justice Williams.” The Post knows, and has admitted, that complaisance in the light indicated is no consideration with the Government. Why, then, does it write such silly things P — Wairarapa Star. Says- the -Titapeka Times :—The Opposition are once again as ineffective, as incapable, and as harmless as they , were at any time since they assumed the functions of an Opposition. There is not a single man among their occasional allies who would suffer them to remain in office for a single day, did they by some unexpected accident happen to displace the party now in power. They have not, even among themselves, the material out of which to fashion a Government, nor is there among the party, a single man whom either Parliament or the country would accept as leader. Ministers may be deposed at the polls and their power broken, but that will not at all mean a return to power of Captain Eussell, nor necessarily of anyone associated with him in Opposition. INTELLIGENT - CRITICISM. A Correspondent writes to the Napier News :—A day or two ago I had an edifying conversation with a couple of real old true-blue Tories . on the subject of the present Government. They were great on generalities, like your contemporaries, but when I tried to pin them down to particulars, they floundered and squirmed most ludicrously. "What is the matter with Mr Seddon ?” I asked; “ tell me of some one crime that he has committed F” " One! There’s thousands!” “ Well, give me just one.” "Well, there’s the banking affair. Why didn’t Seddon let the bank burst, and save the shareholders from having to pay calls?” "Yes,” I admitted, “that is crime No. 1. For of course the shareholders would not have been called upon to pay anything if the bank had smashed —of course not!” " No, of course they wouldn’t.” “ Very well, what is the Premier’s next crime?” “He’s a Autocrat.” "And you don’t like being governed by Autocrats.” “No; I don’t. I think it would be much better if New Zealand was made a Crown colony and run by a Governor.” I did not pursue the argument. What I have related is word for word what actually took place. No wonder the Tories have always tried to stand in the way of education. MAJORITY REPRESENTATION. ; .. From all parts of the colony there comes information that the coming, general election will produce quite a. crop of candidates for parliamentary honours. It is, therefore, the'Oamaru Mail remarks, quite clear that there is to be a great splitting of votes ; and - that, unless the law is amended, the new House will contain, as does the present, a number of members returned by minorities. It is needless to argue that such a condition of things is eminently unsatisfactory. Every representative of the people should represent the mind of his constituents so far as it is possible for a majority to be in agreement upon political questions. No man, however ready he might be to accommodate himself .to all the varying idiosyncracies of the electors, can be thoroughly representative of everyone who votes for him; but the parliamentary representative should be the exponent of the mind of a majority of the electors upon. the broad political questions upon which the country is called to pronounce, an authoritative opinion. If it were, otherwise there would really be no merit in periodical appeals to the people. It follows, therefore, that if a man is elected by the votes of a minority he cannot in any sense of the word be called representative. It is one of the blemishes of our electoral system that it

should be possible for one who 13 . m touch with the electors to be elected because of a division of votes amongst a large number of candidates. As it is the inalienable right of every man to become a candidate, there remains no cure for the existing blemish except to make it imperative that a candidate shall receive a majority of the votes polled before he can enter the House. The second ballot would ensure this, and we hope that Parliament will not rise until, , provision has been made for taking a second ballot where no candidate obtains a majority of the votes cast at the first poll; : THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY. The following reminder is from the columns of the Waikato Times : —“The late Tames Edward Fitzgerald, AuditorGeneral of New Zealand, wlio was one of the ablest statesmen in . the colony, and, of whom the Tory Press has lately been speaking in tones of the highest reverence, in a speech made by him some .years ago said (of course, it is quite unnecessary to say that the Tory Press' when eulogising him as a great and heaven-born statesman, did not quote this as proof) .—And not less in these colonies of our own Empire, which have grown up as if by an enchanter’s wand on the shore of the Pacific, not less on ns, though on a Smaller stage, does the duty lie to meet with courage, the demauds of the future. We stand in a position peculiarly fitted for the attempt. Tradition and precedent and old-world forms and prejudices, and a superstitious reverence for private over public rights, have not yet. woven round us their inextricable web. The memory, though yearly growing fainter, still lingers among us of those early days in these settlements, when a community of toil and an almost equality of wealth bound us all, class to class, together in a strongcommunity of feeling and interest. To us, then, more than to all others, has fate, allotted the task of dealing with the problems of the future. By what; specific lavvs it is not for ixs to suggest, but-if.by legislation we confidently r belieye it must be” based upon such a ,reconsideration of the rights of property as shall tend to redistribute more equally amongst all the joint results of the productive powers of the earth and the creative energy of. .human labour.” • THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS. , The Waikato Times says:—“ At a large and enthusiastic meeting of the,Waikato Liberal Association held at, Hamilton on Thursday night, at which delegates from various parts of the district were present, it was unanimously resolved to invite the Hon A. J. Cadman to stand for the newly constituted Waikato electorate at the approaching general election. . We believe that this decision of the meeting is only the formal expression of widespread opinion in the district. Mr Cadman came to. Waikato three years ago as a'comparative stranger, though he, of course, enjoyed the prestige necessarily attaching to a successful administrator of public affairs. In the interval he'has not only vastly increased, his reputation as a statesman, haying secured the applause of the whole colony for the strikingly successful management of the Railway Department, but he has won for himself a. host of warm and devoted friends.” The Egmont Settler, which . circulates in a portion of the Egmont electorate that is now tacked on to Waikato, quotes the above and adds: “.We most heartily endorse every word of the above, and feel sure our readers will do so likewise. As far as this end of the district is concerned Mr Cadman will get a block vote. Indeed we hope to see Mr Cadman have a walk over, a compliment he richly deserves.” THE CHRISTCHURCH ELECTION. The Oamaru Mail of,,Monday last remarks editorially:—Some people seem to be utterly incapable of taking a hint, even when it is given in the particularly plain fashion attributed to Hibernians. Mr E. M. Taylor, the ex-member •, for Sydenham, is one of the class upon whom a palpable hint is wasted. He has been told pretty plainly that'the electors of Christchurch do not want his services as a representative ; but, despite the fact that he has been twice rejected with scorn, he has come up smiling, with an: offer to again do battle. He is announced to open the campaign this evening, and it is to be : hoped that the electors will at once tell him .that- he is not wanted in the field, and'that if he persists in fighting lie will do so at the peril of being written down as an enemy of the Liberal cause which he professes to be anxious to serve. ; At the .last general election he was badly beaten, and in the by-election of the recess, with; all the influence of Ministerial countenance and Ministerial orations on his behalf, he was at the bottom of the poll. Ministers are not likely to incur odium in supporting hjs candidature, and left to his own limited resources of speech and influence, where does he anticipate getting in the poll at the coming general election ? The fact is that the Christchurch electors do'not want Mr E. M. Taylor as a representative, .but tbe trouble is to get him to recognise the fact, and act upon; it. .; THE LORDS AND THE LOAN BILL, , (Egmont Settler,); The question of the reform of the New Zealand House of Lords is one to which candidates at the coming-general election will be expected to devote some - attention. There is no doubt ' that the time has comelwhen something- must be done to reform the Upper Chamber. During the whole period of the existence of the Liberal Government the Lords have systematically blocked all efforts on the part of the Government to remedy existing abuses. If any proof were needed, that this opposition comes from: party feeling rather than from principle, it is to be found,, in the childish manner in which they acted over the Loan Bill, which was passed in the early days of last week. On the plea of getting further information, the Bill was delayed for a whole week, the Liower House and the Government being seriously inconvenienced thereby. Being a money Bill, only one of two courses was open to them,"either to reject Or accept it. Not having sufficient backbone to reject the Bill .and take the responsibility of so doing—a light one, judging by the utterance of the Opposition in both Houses—and loth to lose, an opportunity of having a slap at the Government, they, as we have said, postponed it for a week. At the end of the week, when the matter came up,again, they ate the leek, and, having relieved their feelings by passing a spiteful resolution, swallowed tbe whole Bill at one mouthful, and without discussion. A more complete backing down has seldom been seen, even in the annals of a House notorious for its inconsistency. Their undignified retreat over this measure makes one .think it a pity that the term of office —sevCn years—for which some of the members have been appointed is four years too long,-and that the Council would be vastly improved if some of its members could. be relegated to private life. Hitherto we have always given' the Councils credit for acting on principle, but it is very clear that they are solely actuated with a desire to hamper the Government in every possible way, quite regardless of the merits of the case. Of course there are honourable exceptions, our remarks only applying to the majority who voted against the Government. A TYPICAL OPPOSITION CANDIDATE. (Oamaru Mail.) Mr Murray Aston, who is a candidate for One of the City of Dunedin seats, opened the campaign on Friday night. He fired his first gnu upon the heights of Ravehsbourne, in the presence of some fifty electors and prospective electors, but does not seem to have made much impression. He gave seven reasons why he claimed the support of the electors. The first and greatest of these was that he is an opponent of the present Government, and wishes to be a follower of Captain Eussell, Mr G. F. Eichardson and Mr Scobie Mackenzie. As the last - named gentleman cannot be induced to seek election, as Mr Richardson’s rejection of three years ago will be confirmed, and as Captain Eussell will probably be sent into retirement, Mr Aston can only have his desire to follow these gentlemen gratified

by being rejected at the poll. If we may bo permitted thus early in the contest to indulge in prophecy, we should say that Mr Aston will-receive instructions to follow hjs chosen chiefs into the seclusion of private life. According to Mr Aston, what the country wants to make it prosperous is a change from a Liberal to a Conservative Government, supplemented with • loans, liberty of contract, liquor licenses, Scriptural instruction and strict economy. , All these things Mr Aston promised to support for an honorarium of £IOO a year, which he thought was sufficient to pay a member of Parliament. It must at once be admitted that Mr Aston places a modest value upon the services he would be able to render as a legislator; but we are strongly of opinion that the electors of . Dunedin will deem him dear at the price, and will refuse to conclude the bargain he offers. A cold and unsympathetic vote of thanks'was all ho got for his address, which, if we are to accept the report -in the Otarjo Daily •ff’tmes'as-ldoing him justice, does not seem to have been worthy of the occasion, though there were only some fifty persons present. THE MINISTERIAL LAND POLICT, (Oamaru Mail.) The unanimity with which the Bill to amend the Land for Settlements Act has been received by the House of Representatives is a remarkable tribute to the prudence and sagacity of tho Minister of Lands. It. is, indeed, something more ; it is an admission of the wisdom of the policy of acquiring by purchase large estates for the purpose of providing land for a landless people. It dndicates a very remarkable change of attitude - towards the whole question on the part of the Opposition. It is but a little while since the resumption of private estates for settlement purposes was denounced by the Conservative Opposition as confiscation, spoliation and robbery. The Act, -it was loudly proclaimed on the floor of the House and- upon a hundred platforms, and echoed through the columns of every Opposition newspaper in the colony, was an . outrageous violation of rights conferred, and we were warned that it would scare people from investing in New Zealand, and drive,affrighted capital -from oiir shores. We were told, too, that it would be. used by the Ministry as an engine for rewarding friends, for corrupting pliant opponents, and punishing incorruptible enemies.; We were.warned, further, that it would be productive of disastrous results—that those who took up the land acquired under the Act would become sickened and disheartened by inevitable disappointments, and that crushing burdens of taxation. would consequently fall upon th® people. But Parliament, undeterred by these dismal prophecies and wild denunciations, passed the Bill into law, and the people recognised with joyous acclaim that at last a means had been devised whereby the work of settlement, with all its concomitant power of additional wealth production, might be vigorously prosecuted. How the purchases made under the Act were unsparingly denounced is a matter of the history of but yesterday. But the Ministry were in no way dismayed. They were full of confidence of the ultimate success of their bold and beneficent policy, and that the results would-be such as to silence for ever their critics. Now has come the hour, of their triumph. A Bill to amend the Act in details where experience has shown improvements could be made has met with the unanimous acceptance of the House, and the proposal to extend the operations of the system has been sanctioned, not only unchallenged, but with highly commendatory speeches from the very men who taut a short time since so unmercifully condemned the whole thing. The triumph of the Ministry is complete, and no greater tribute to the wisdom of the policy could possibly be desired than that which is afforded by the spectacle of the House unanimously affirming that the principle is so good, so wise and so beneficent that its extension to embrace a larger number of people and a new class of settlers is highly desirable. A LITTLE LIST. ■ (Wairarapa Star.) . At the present time the Opposition journals of the colony are devoting themselves to exposing the shams and bungles of the Government. This is perfectly natural. But whilst ..they exhaust the resources of their most fertile imaginations in decrying, the Seddon Administration they most religiously omit to make the slightest reference to the many .useful measures that have been introduced and placed upon the Statute Book by the Liberal Government. Let us refer for a moment to a few of them. First and foremost there is the land and income tax. This form of taxation was introduced to relieve struggling settlers of the oppressiveness of.the property tax. The change was strenuously opposed by the Opposition, but it was, nevertheless, brought about. And we have only now to ask small settlers if they are prepared to oust the: party which ( affoi’ded' them so much relief and return the party which will reinstate the property tax ? Then there is the settlement of the land. Hundreds of small settlers owe their start in life to the facilities offered by’the present Government 'for getting upon the land. Are these settlers going to show their gratitude by turning their benefactors out of office? Are they going to reject a Government which introduces such measures as the Land for Settlements Act and Advances to Settlers Act, both of which have tended to promote the settlement of the country and the development of its resources ? Again, to turn from these matters, are the women of the colony going, to vote against an Administration which extended to them the' franchise? Are the prohibitionists going to turn against a Government which has given them greater facilities for promoting their, cause than any previous Government ?' Are the shopassistants going to forget their half-holi-day, the labourer the protection of his wages, and the shearer his improved accommodation? Are the people of the colony going to forget the hundred and one different' measures introduced for their special benefit? We think not. They are possessed of intelligence. They are competent to judge between the legislation of the ' Conservative and Liberal Parties. They know where their true interests lie. And when the time comes they will unhesitatingly affirm that the legislation of the present Government has been for the general weal, and, they will show their gratitude by returning them to power with a substantial majority. THE CONSERVATIVES AND THE WORKERS. (Oamaru Mail.) The debate on the Master and Apprentice Bill once more showed how little sympathy the Opposition have with the working classes, and that all their protestations of solicitude for the workers are a shallow pretext. The object of the Bill is to ensure two things —that lads going to any trade shall have a fair opportunity of becoming proficient workmen, and that when they have completed their apprenticeship they shall have a reasonable prospect of obtaining employment at their trade as journeymen. These objects are to be-at-tained by regulating the proportion of apprentices to journeymen, and making the conditions of apprenticeship such that apprentices shall receive instruction. No reasonable person can dispute the wisdom of such an enactment. Where boys are out of all proportion to journeymen it is utterly impossible that they can acquire a thorough knowledge of their trade, and the result has been, and must continue to be, the turning out of a lot, of indifferentandincompetent workmen. * * * Sir Robert Stout asked what was to become of the youth of the colony under the. Bill. What, we ask in reply, is to become of the men —the husbands and fathers — without the Bill? Are they, after spending years -in learning a ' trade, : tojjbe hustled out of employment at it to make room for cheap, beys' labour, and driven to

some other employment for which they are not fitted and for which their earlier training in a great many cases disqualifies them ? Are their families to starve because employers, spurred thereto by an unhealthy and ruinous competition, demand child labour that is cheap P Are wo to see men who ought to be at work under a sensible and reasonable industrial system, forced into idleness, while their children, who should still be at school, are driven to work to earn something to avert starvation in the family ? That is what is happening at this very moment, and Sir Robert' Stout should recognise the fact and . lend his aid to devise means for eradicating a serious evil. But blinded by political animosity he declines to see the truth, and lends himself to the frustration of a sincere effort to raise the standard of industry in the colony, Bet • it at once be clearly understood that the industrial classes, reap no benefit from low prices, for low prices are only obtained by reason of low wages, and low wages necessarily entail arestricted purchasing power. \ The few. who labour not and the professional class whoso fees undergo no diminution with fallingprices are the only people who profit by cheapened commodities. The whole tendency of low prices is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and to cripple industries by restricting the general purchasing power of the people. It is a well authenticated truth that that country is most prosperous where wages and prices rule high, and could our manhood be maintained in employ ment our industries would not need to rely upon cheap boy labour. THE BANKING INQUIRY. {Wanganui Harald.) The report of the Legislative Council Banking Committee, contrary to the hopes and expectation .of the Opposition, has entirely exonerated the Government and the Hon J. G. Ward of any improper acts in connection with the banking legislation, or of having any knowledge of any of the particulars relating to the A, B, C and l) lists of the Colonial Bank’s business taken overby the Bank of New Zealand. The Council’s Committee was expected to dig deep into the secrets of the banking legislation, and subsequent events connected therewith, as it was composed of men not favourable to Ministers or their action in forcing on an inquiry into the Bank of New Zeidand’s affairs and losses, and had furthermore the advantage of sitting in camera, as the Press was not admitted, nor its proceedings allowed to be published. Questions which the Bank of New Zealand officers would refuse to answer before the House of Eepresentatives Committee, whose business is made public, were freely replied to before the former body, and Mr Ward’s business affairs ripped up without compunction. So far from this latter injuring the ex Colonial Treasurer; it has done him a great and timely service, as it has demonstrated the truth of his assertion that he had done nothing dishonourable, or in any way taken advantage of his official position to benefit his commercial interests. Indeed, the Committee report that he suffered severely in the latter in consequence of the former. The report is a great surprise to the enemies of the Government, who have gone about hinting that when the Council’s Committee had finished its investigations m the Government’s connection with the banking legislation and. matters thereby affected, there would be some most damaging revelations which in all probability would lead to the downfall of the Ministry. How sorry a figure these pitiful slanderers and false prophets cut now that the very body they relied upon to carry out their, damaging predictions, has completely acquitted Ministers of the dishonourable .actions laid to their charge by the Opposition in connection with the hank troubles ! * * * The electors of the colony will do well to ponder over this further proof of the unreliable character of the charges the Opposition have been trying gp long to prove against the Government without success. They should furthermore remember that the coiners andutterers of these falsehoods .have been themselves convicted of the very misdeeds they wish the " people to believe the Government have also committed. The cause must be a bad one and rotten to the coi’e that has to be propped up by such despicable tactics/ However, it is some satisfaction to know that the people of the colony are not to he hoodwinked into deserting their true friends for the ranks of their enemies, but that they will on the contrary return a Liberal majority at the approaching general elections that will effectually prevent the present Opposition from getting into power for some years to come. THROUGH FOREIGN GLASSES. (Waikato ’limes.) When a few interested in declaiming against the policy of the present Government are daily howling that such spells ruin to the colony, it is pleasant to turn from such discordant champions of a “ slowly-dying cause,” to listen to the utterances of a broad-minded and highlygifted outsider.. Such we have in the person of Olive Schreiner, the famous author of “ The Story of an African Farm,” who has just published another Volume, bearing the title of “ The Political Situation,” in which she deals with the political aspect in South Africa, and loudly denounces the existing. state of things. . Writing of the limited franchise she says;—“ While in all civilised countries where representative institutions prevail the tendency is to move without intermission in the direction of a broadened electoral basis,, so that, in several of the English colonies to-day we find manhood suffrage, or one-man-one-vote, or adult suffrage, and while even the most backward of European countries are rapidly tending year by year'towards these conditions—we, I believe, alone among civilised peoples, have deliberately, during the last few years, narrowed our basis.” Referring - to legislation on behalf of the labouring classes, for attempting which in this colony the Seddon Government have been so loudly reviled, she remarks: the tendency, as each country advances, is to consider more and more the welfare of the labouring classes; to remove oppressive restrictions; to endeavour by every lawful means to increase their wages; and to regard the labourer, not merely as a means for increasing the wealth of other sections of the community, but to legislate for His -welfare, and to regard his happiness as one of the pressing considerations of the State.” Respecting the system of land tenure, another provocative of New Zealand Tory maledictions, she writes thus: —“ So again, with regard to land tenure. In all progressive countries there is a tendency’to obtain and retain as large a part as possible of lands, mines and great public works as the property of, and to be worked for the benefit of, the nation as a whole.” Proceeding to a comparison of the country in which she lives with our own, the following results :—“ While in New - Zealand and oilier advanced colonies, every legislative effort .is being made to retain the land for the people, we are quietly allowing ourselves to be stripped bare, and areconfiding our possessions into the hands of the speculator and monopolist.” It is difficult to turn from the perusal of such utterances as the foregoing, coming as they do from a singularly gifted and observant woman, to the prosy pessimistic diatribes of Tory groundlings, without smiling at their emptiness, or feeling sorry for their woefulness. Like, the old crank, who in the seventeenth century ran through, the London streets with a brazier of hot coals on his head, crying “ Woe ! Woe!” so do our Tory dismal Jimmies run about, with heads full of old grandmotherly ideas; and cry “ Eum ! Ruin !” while outsiders in less favoured lands envy us the means that we axe taking to accomplish the Tory prediction. MR WARD AS POSTMASTER GENERAL. (Auckland Star.) y Experience of the changes favourable to the public introduced by the Hon J. G. Ward while holding the portfolios of Post-master-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs, demonstrates ‘ the readiness with

which people avail themselves of a cheaper rate ; but it also shows that reduction in charges will not always result in an increase of business large enough to sustain the revenue at the level maintained with the higher tariff. Among the changes which met with the most ready appreciation was that made, in 1891 by which the number of words covered by the initial rate in delayed telegrams was increased to eighteen. The effect of this concession, acting in connection with an alteration made some yeais before greatly Expediting the delivery of delayed messages, was a very rapid increase in the vise of the delayed rate at the expense of ordinary telegrams bearing a higher charge. In 1885 the proportion of delayed to ordinary telegrams was 1 to 4‘14. In 1894 the proportion had increased to 1 in T 52. The annual report of, the department laid before .Parliament last week, states that the revenue from the cause named suffered to such an extent that upon “ mature consideration it was decided to revert to the practice'of posting delayed telegrams after office hours; as from Dec.'l'last. The effect of this was. that the number of delayed telegrams, in comparison with December, 1894, fell off in December, 1895, 13,195, or about 26T8 in value, and ordinary telegrams increased 15,848, ox 19-12 per cent, and .£7Ol 15s Bd, or 15 - 07 in value—a net increase of .£293 11s" 4d.” * * * In point of efficiency, public Utility and popular appreciation there .is no branch of the public service which has more friends or fewer unfriendly critics than the Post and Telegraph Department; and deservedly so. The public come in contact with it in many capacities, because the tendency of late years has been to utilise its widespread agencies throughout the colony for. all sorts of services. How considerable the work entailed by some of these additions is, may be estimated from the fact that last year under the Advances to Settlers Act alone the Department received £314,288 and disbursed £308,746. And in every case the work is done in a manner that ministers materially to the public convenience and at a minimum of cost. In connection with Mr Ward’s five years’ administration of the responsible duties vesting in l the Ministerial head of this department,’the report contains the following paragraph, which, without undue eulogy, might have been rendered much more laudatory in its expressions of appreciation for the valuable public service which Mr Ward rendered in this capacity : The Hon J. G, Ward, who assumed Ministerial control of the department on Jan. 24, 1891, resigned office on June 16 last. Many improvements in the service, and liberal concessions to the public, were made during his term of office. Among the latter may be mentioned the reduction of international and intercolonial telegraphcable rates, the reduction of telephone exchange rates, the introduction of £5 postal notes and letter cards, liberal amendments in the commercial and printed paper post, and other material reductions in the postage rates, following the colony entering the Postal Union, as well as the introduction of sixpenny telegrams on June J last. HOW PRIVATE “BENEFIT” SOCIETIES ARE WORKED. (Oamaru Mail.) When the Private Benefit Societies Bill was before the House a great deal was made of the fact that the employes of the Auckland Sugar Refining Company had petitioned Parliament against the passing of the measure. That petition, was paraded as affording valuable voluntary testimony from employes as to the inestimable advantages to working men of employers being enabled to compel them .to subscribe to the funds of a sick benefit society about whose management they were allowed to know little or nothing. Parliament was implored by the petitioners not to pass a Bill which would have the effect of cheeking the solicitude of employers for the welfare of their employes, and altogether it was made to appear that the Auckland Sugar JRsfining Company existed almost as much for the noble purpose of sweetening the lives of its workers as for anything else. The petition, we were told, was the spontaneous outburst of thankfulness by grateful employes for the studious care With which the company watched over their interests, and Parliament was appealed to not to rudely break the bond of affection which existed between employer and employed. Well, the truth is out, and we now learn that there was no element of spontaneity about the whole business; The workers wore forced to sign the petition at the point of the bayonet as typified by dismissal from employment. The beautiful picture of touching solicitude for the welfare of workers so skilfully drawn by the advocates; of these private benefit societies has been shown to have been the product of imagination played upon by deception. An ex-employe Of the company, Mr Henry M’Laehlan, has by petition to Parliament, made known the real state of the case. He states that “the employes of the works were compelled to sign letters and petitions against the Bill at present before the House; but he with others signed a petition to the Premier congratulating him on the success of the Bill, and for this the manager called him up and informed him that he was dismissed." Mr M’Lachlan confirms what has previously been said by others—that there is no such thing as freedom of action in respect to these private benefit societies. He says that when he declined to join the benefit society run by the philanthropic managers of the Auckland sugar works he was told “ that they were intending shortening hands soon, and preference would be given by retaining thosebnly who belonged to the society.” He protested that ihe/had -already made provision for sickness and death by joining the Oddfellows and Foresters, but the only acknowledgment of his forethought vouchsafed him was a suggestion to give up those societies. To save his position he joined the company’s private benefit society. * * * The case of Mr M’Lachlan is not an one, nor does the private benefit' society ,in connection with the Auckland sugar works differ in any material respect from other private benefit societies. Not to mince matters, we say fearlessly that these private benefit societies as at present conducted are a menace to the freedom of the workers of the colony. They are not promoted and carried on from any purely philanthropic motive, but are •cunningly devised to render employes helpless instruments in the hands of designing employers. They may, and probably do, afford assistance in time of sickness, but that is only a secondary object of their existence, their main purpose being to give the employers a power of control over their employes which in a large measure reduces them to the. condition of serfs. They, therefore, trample under foot individual liberty and become a .menace to the well-being of the State. 9695