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NOTES AND COMMENTS.
By way of acclaiming the Queen's Record Reign, many persons just now aresinging hosannas to our civilisation. No doubt the singing is partly justified, but in our social conditions there is also much that might well call forth sighs or tears. How grimly suggestive, for instance, was that incident in London the other day when one hundred roughs surrounded and upset the cab in which the police had placed some exconvicts whom they had arrested in connection with the robbery of the North-Eastern Bank at Sunderland. Naturally there was a fierce struggle between the opposing parties, and the police were severely handled and nearly murdered. Of course it was fellow, feeling which sent the roughs to the rescue of their brethren in custody, and that has its bright side even when it is exhibited amongst demons. Rightly acted upon, that very feeling might become a means of leading the urban barbarian from social and moral dirt and darkness to cleanliness and daylight. But there is the rub. The vital fact of the whole incident is that in the wealtluestandmost civilised city of the world the representatives of la w and order could be handled in that way by the representatives of license and chaos. Hundreds of thousands of persons in London are of this social order. They are, so io speak, rotten-ripe for redemption, economically and spiritually; but those who should and might work the necessary change are, on the one hand, too busy with fine speeches, glittering pageants, personal pamperings and social dissipations, and, on the other, too much absorbed in carrying out the ceremonies of a ritualistic religion, or in sending out missions to the heathen. Are these conditions compatible with anything worthy the name of civilisation, Christianity or reasoned humanity ?
Nor is it only in the Old World that the most gruesome anomalies claim attention. Here in New Zealand, a young, richlyendowed, thinly-populated country, the accurst cancer of poverty already manifests itself in the body of the commonwealth. In Christchurch during the past week there has been the humiliating spectacle of hundreds of men, women and children treading on ,each-others’ heels to. obtain- doles of coal and blankets, offered in fulfilment of a bequest made by a benevolent man who now sleeps the sleep of the just. It is practically certain, too, that a similar offer would lead to a precisely similar exhibition in ovary other populous town in the colony. The secondary causes of all this are, doubtless, numerous, but there is, most likely, only one primary cause, from which the others foßow as a matter of course. Like iEneas of old, when he left Troy for Italy, Englishmen have carried their household gods with them to these new lands; the same institutions, the same social and commercial ideals, the same economic principles. Above all, they have transplanted the upas tree of Individualism, and hence poverty and its kindred anomalies in a plenteous laud. Happily, Socialism is a plant of vigorous growth, and many just men, are wisely applying themselves to its cultivation. Cheer up, lads, the Delectable Mountains are coming into view.
Even generous men like to know what is done with the money which they give away in the fulness ■of their humanity; Many eyes, therefore, are just now turned towards Napier. Up to the first of the present month ,£10,233 17s Id had been received by the Hawke’s Bay Flood Relief Committee, which has its head quarters at Napier, and less than .£9OO had been spent in the immediate relief of sufferers by the floods. This leaves a large balance, and the Mayor of Napier and his colleagues must feel the responsibility of their position as its custodians. No individual, no community, can possibly grudge a penny of the money subscribed, but all concerned will wish to know whether all the money is needed, and how it is to be invested or expended on behalf of the sufferers by the floods. This they will probably hear of fully in due time. Some communities freely gave funds intended for benevolent purposes within their own borders, and in such places there is probably a greater desire than elsewhere to hear of the final decisions. Perhaps when the stress and pressure of the Record Reign celebrations have eased off, the Flood Relief Committee will be able to let the country know its plans and proposals. One thing is quite inevitable in connection with the new woman movement; it is that women must, accustom themselves to Bear criticism with comparative, if not complete; composure. At any rate, criticised they will be, however they may bear it. It may be said that they always have been criticised, for literature abounds with proofs. Until lately, however, women have not been geherally readers, and in the past they probably knew little of was written about 1 them. But these are'Tfirr' days of much reading and many mewspapers, and women now cannot help knowing what is said about - them, especially inpublic. .What will they do?' Will they passionately despise, pr will they wisely learn from their critics? What for instance, will they do in , conncstion with critics of their own sex like the lady named Mrs Niecol, of Wellington? This lady has been tilling her sisters at Auckland that; "women are willing to sacrifice their: .political principles for the sake of getting positions in the public service; that in one league in Wellington most of the women were looking for billets”; and “that women must rid themselves of the feminine attributes of jealousy and spite, and not split into small coteries.” This Is 'plain speakihg,' and those to whom it is addressed'will show what they are by the use they make of it. Is it justified, and if it is, will women continue to render it justifiable ? It is true that in politics many men sacrifice their principles for the purpose, of obtaining billets, but are women willing to make confusion worse confounded by following their vicious example ? " One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin,” and, with gullibility in Christchurch, gullibility in Rome shows that human nature is the same in both places. The Papal authorities have long been willing to believe the worst of "brethren of the mystic level,” and recently, when a Frenchman named Taxil, and his typewriter, Diana Vaughan, made out that Freemasons were addicted to devil-worship and divers forms of disgusting immorality, Taxil was honoured with a private audience by the Pope, who sent his blessing to Miss Vaughan, and rebuked a bishop for doubting the revelations of the pair. However, in Pails a few weeks ago, Taxil publicly confessed that the whole thing from beginning to end had been a huge swindle, of which he had been the concocter. Miss Vaughan, his type-writer, haying jocularly allowed her name to be used by him in letters and pamphlets! The incident may give some satisfaction to citizens in Christchurch.' They, in their time, have been fooled . by , Glampett-Worthington v adventurers, but they can .now claim, the fellowship of common experience with: Rome, where Papal infallibility itself has succumbed to the preposterous fabrications of a Taxil. • ,
It is supposed to be the business of Parliament to pass laws that are just in principle, clear in expression, and workable in practice. Any of these three conditions is just about as indispensable as the other two, but of late the Parliament of New Zealand has not acted as though it thought so. Some months ago the Lyttelton Times pointed out a grave inconsistency between the text and the schedules of the People’s Claims Act, and recently a similar blunder has been discovered in connection with the Licensing Act, 1895. The Act of 1893 fixed the number of members of the Licensing Committee at nine, with five to constitute a quorum. In the Amendment Act the number of members was reduced to six, but no alteration was made in the clausa regarding the quorum. The usual ratio being thus left out of the reckoning,' much’incdnvenience arises from time to-time. It may be said that it is the
business of the administrators of any given statute to knownfc exactly as it stands; ■ but it. is assuredly equally the business of the lawmakers to see that every statute is clearly and consistently set forth, and that ’ all; amendments are brought into harmony with first principles and current ens ; tun. Every member is individually respom jble for this, but the thing can be seen to only in committee, where there happens to be no scope for theatrical talk and public po storing, .and hence careless and bad legislation. MembSrs, however, should he made to. bear the brunt, and taught to understand that speech-making is merely a subsidiary part of parliamentary duty.
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11293, 12 June 1897, Page 6
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1,461NOTES AND COMMENTS. Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11293, 12 June 1897, Page 6
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NOTES AND COMMENTS. Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11293, 12 June 1897, Page 6
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
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