THE WEEK, THE WORLD. AND WELLINGTON.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 125, 3 June 1910, Page 2

THE WEEK, THE WORLD. AND WELLINGTON.

(By Frank Morton.)

The winter is upon us, but so far ■there has been no-reason to complain «>f the weather. We have had _httle rain, and no long continued downxjour. The days are warm, and the nights not unpleasantly cold. Ottne general lack of employment of which, there was so much talk last winter there is no sign this. A few people are out of work, as is usual at this season, but there is no great or conspicuous distress. Politically, we are in the throes of a typical before-the-session dulness. Mr Massey has assailed the Government, and bir Joseph Ward has emitted his rejoinder: but no one is much the wiser, and few people pretend any grave concern. This is the slack season. • . . ■

LABOR'S MISTAKES

The Labor crowd in Auckland that lias censured Mr Rosser for sending Home a note of sympathy touching the death of King Edward seems to lave made a pretty complete fool of itself, A man may be a thoroughgoing republican, and still feel no shame in expressing sonn* natural Tmman feeling on the death of a great King. There is another, and more important, aspect. Under the present system, the King of England is the visible symbol of all that we Tevere and enjoy in the matter ot British freedom and security. lo fail in due respect for the King is -to fail in respect for all that is best and noblest in our British heritage. This behaviour of the little Labor crowd in Auckland is an offensive absurdity. ■ But I do not think that it luis been deliberately offensive. "Labor is the creature of its prejudices, and these prejudices diffei somewhat in almost every locality. Organised Labor must be for ever making a noise, and it is too apt make whatever sort of noise first suggests itself. Its dreams are too chaotic to be realised- It should lians a text from Carlyle m all its meeting-places, "Be no longer a Chaos, but a World, or even Worldkin. Produce! Produce. Were it Imt the pitifulest infinitesimal fraction of a Product produce it. m Cod's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee; out with it then. Up, tip ! Whatsoever thy hand nndetn to do, do it with they whole might. "Work while it is called To-day, for -the Night cometh wherein no man can work." m .

DR. HOCKEN

There is no suspicion of cheap flattery in the statement that the late T)r* Focken was one of the best men in' New Zealand, alike from the -public and the private standpoint. It was my privilege to see something of him during a considerable period -wrlieri I first came to this country, and I never caught him doing anything for advertisement or anything for effect. He was a humanist without guile. He loved his fellows, not because it was the right and fitting thing to do, but just because he wouldn't help it. He gave honest advice, without any affectation of superiority. In a somewhat narrow community, he was always wonderfully tolerant. His disposition and character were of a wholesome sweetness ' All sorts of meanness and charlatanism he instinctively despised, fcut ho was' never harsh to the erring, and the common instinct of charity to smash a broken man was foreign to his nature. He loved New Zealand, as he would have loved any other country in which it might have "been his fortune to live and work. He was untiring in his efforts to promote the good of the Dominion while lie lived, and he has so bequeathed Ms possessions that the good he had it in his heart to do will continue actively now that he is dead. Essentially a just man, his justice was untainted by any savor of seltrighteousness. A staunch triend to his friends, he made no enemies. He dies at a good age, but he was a man New Zealand could ill afford to lose. * * ■* ■ , .

THE OPERA

I went one night recently to see Mr Williamson's Grand Opera Company in "Madam Butterfly," and found charming entertainment. The orchestra is the finest that has ever -travelled with a company in New Zealand, and is admirably conducted hy Signor Hazon. The company, a little thin in places, is pleasing. 1 did not see Miss Amy Castles, because to me she is not thinkable in opera. But I saw Mdlle. Bel borel, who is very effective and chic, and •who acts with fine discretion. Incidentally, I am more than ever convinced that it is a stupid mistake to give these Italian operas in English •versions. Some of the principals in this company only know English well enough to murder it most execrably. In any case, the language is foreign to the note and atmosphere of the opera, and it doesn't matter, so far as the public is concerned, what language is spoken. Most of the time, it is impossible to follow the words. However that may be, I earnestly advise you to see this company, if the chance comes your way. • « •

LORD PLUNKET

, Now that Lord Plunket is Hearing the end of his stay amongst us, it is decent to note that, as governors go, liord Plunket has been a very good governor indeed. He is not what you call a brilliant man, and he has Itrever pretended to be anything of that sort. But he has taken a constant interest in New Zealand; he has given virtually all his time to his official duties; and he has otherwise proved himself a good man and a •worthy representative of the British power in these islands. I have known brilliant governors do vastly indiscreet and troublesome things: Lord Plunket has been a model of discretion. I have known brilliant governors who have been arrogant and overbearing in their social and official relations: Lord Plunket has invariably been agreeable and amiable. Xiady Plunket has endeared herself to everybody. We may have more notable governors yet, but we can never liope to have one better esteemed.

CORKHILL

All men being fallible, and most of us being born with some sort of bad -twist, I believe in mercy. But, things being as they are otherwise, 1 think that the sentence of six months' simple imprisonment passed on the bailiff Corkhill is dangerously lenient. The facts will be remembered. Corkhill went to a house of which he was to take possession for a creditor, and there had trouble with a man named Smith. Smith pushed Corkhill out of the house, and Corkhill drew a revolver and shot Smith, ■who was killed, on the spot. At the ifcrial, Corkhill admitted that for two years he had been* in the habit of

carrying a revolver: only, however, with the intent of frightening anybody who made trouble. ■;■> # Fo^ the purpose of causing frights it is not necessary to carry a revolver loaded in every chamber, Cor.khill ,is an old man, hut aga is a poor -excuse for manslaughter. So light a sentence will pass with ignorant and thoughtless people as an excuse for the offence. In the minds of bailiffs, it will seem to reduce the risk of carrying firearms, and to that extent it must bring the law into contempt. It is perfectly true that it is wrong to assault bailiffs; but, human nature being as we know it, the temptation to assault bailiffs must always be especially great in the case of hasty or hot-tempered men.' Bailiffs discharge a humiliating and highly disagreeable office; they are not pleasant men to have about a house. The law as it stands gives them ample protection. If they are encouraged to carry fire-arms, the position will become altogether intolerable.

FOOTBALL FATALITIES

Two football fatalities of a somewhat unusual sort were reported on Saturday. One spectator dropped dead in Wellington, and one in Palmerston North. Both were men of advanced age, and both were keen enthusiasts of the game.

It becomes necessary to inquire whether men of advanced age and excitable temperament should attend football matches. In New Zealand I have seen no other excitement to compare with the excitement that prevails among the spectators of football matches. I have seen respectable young fellows and young women of good class howling like lunatics. I have heard elderly mothers of families shouting with all the strength of their lungs. This lungexercise may be a good thing when it is not overdone, but the excitement may prove dangerous or fatal in special cases. Over-excitement is bad in all cases.

DUTCH AND ENGLISH

A lady who has just travelled to the East in a Dutch boat writes me in these terms; "If ever the wandering mania takes you again, and you think of travelling on a Dutch boat, remember the advice of a saddened woman, and—Don't! It all looks so nice and tempting ml the advertisements, and it is all so very different. The ships are not "a scrap cleaner than English ships travelling in these waters, and they are in some ways far less comfortable. That is, if you happen to be English. If you are Dutch, I suppose it is all right. There is no getting away from the fact that the Dutch—or, at any rate, the Dutch of the East Indies—hate the English, and make very little attempt to conceal their feeling. One feels, that very keenly on these Dutch boats. One knows that one is not of the family, but is regarded with the hostility due, to an interloper. There is nothing of that on French or German boats, but the Dutch are different. English people resident in Java feel just the same way about it. Dutch and English are nationalities that don't mix well."

WOMEN AND DIVORCE

The English suggestion that six women should serve on every divorce jury'is very interesting in some aspects. It is not at all likely that the system would tend to lessen the number of divorces, the average woman (whatever her own practice) holding that the sooner an unhappy sister is divorced, the better. On general grounds, it should be a good thing to have women on juries in all cases where a woman" is concerned, since women will sometimes understand a woman when nobody else can. Anyhow, in common justice, a woman should be tried by her own sex, if she wishes it. I don't think that inthe average case she would wish it; but that proves nothing. The other proposal—that facilities of divorce should be increased in the case of poor people—has naturally aroused strong antagonism among the clergy of the Established Church. And yet that proposal also seems to be merely common justice. If divorce is properly granted to well-to-do people, it cannot properly be denied to poor folk. The Catholic Church does not recognise divorces; and that, controversial matters all apart, is at least a logical course for a church to pursue. Dealing with men of all religions, and of none, the law must always look upon marriage as a civil contract, determinable when the contract is broken by either party. The law can have nothing whatever to do with the religious aspect of the business. And there can be no doubt that the difficulty of securing divorce in the'case of poor women leads to countless miseries and great suffering.

SUNDAY PICTURES

The English courts have decided that the London County Council has exceeded its -powers by prohibiting cinematograph exhibitions on Sundays. This is very interesting, in view of the fact that the Wellington City Council has done exactly the same thing, and the second fact that the powers of the London County Council are admittedly very large

indeed.-. It is a matter of individual opinion; but I never could understand why pictures should be prohibited on •Sunday nights. They form a very harmless and often a very instructive sort of entertainment. There are large njumbers of ', young men and women; w,ho do not go to church, and it is hard to believe that these would not be better employed watching a picture show than they are when roaming the streets and by-ways in the fashion now prevailing. The City Council here allows the use of the Town Hall for orchestral concerts on Sunday nights. It is all very difficult to understand.

DEADLY WAR

The latest invention, Mr Martin Hales's' "flame-killer," entirely eliminates the flash at the muzzle of a rifle, without diminishing the velocity of the projectile. If that is so, another terror is added to the grim business of war. Smokeless Eowder added a daylight terror, but ashless rifles will be an awful horror in the dark. Nothing could well be more fearful than a hail of death from an unknown direction. Darkness, in any case, takes much of the heart and courage out of men. Panic conies more easily in the dark than in the daylight. Death is a direr menace when death stalks unperoeived in the shadows.

But there is always the possibility that these new inventions, by increasing the terror of war, may diminish the probability of it. Men and Ministries move more carefully when they have to face the risk of annihilation, and the greater the risk the greater the oare.

MILITARY SERVICE.

Sir Joseph Ward's announcement that the age Of service under Lord Kitchener's defence scheme is to be extended from 21 to 25 years should provoke discussion. One would think that a man is better fitted and better able to serve at 21 than at 25, when the average man begins to think of settling down and founding a home. Certainly a man of 21 is not too young for military service. It is a pity that Lord Kitchener's scheme should have had to suffer the tinkering of politicians at all. The FieldMarshal probably knows much more about Ms business than any of our politicians do.

INHUMAN MOTORISTS

There are disquieting rumours of the inhumanity of occasional motorists who run over dogs. It is probably impossible to avoid running over a dog at times, but to leave the poor animal to die a lingering death by the roadside is a thing altogether brutal and abominable. But that is what some of the niotorisis in Wellintgon have been doing. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should see to it. When a dog is fatally injured, it is not a difficult thing to make an end of it. In any case, a motorist should wait to see what injury has been done. In the cases as to which complaints have been made the motorists have not waited.

• • • THE WHISPERERS.

We all of us suffer more, or less from the insidious onslaughts of slanderous tongues. But the open slanderers are the least dangerous of all that evil family. The law provides ways of dealing with them. Far more dangerous are the whisperers, the "confidential" vermin, the writers of anonymous letters. There has been a pest of anonymous letters in Wellington for many months past. ■Some of them have been taken to the police, but it does not seem that the police have been able to do much. It was not to be expected that the police could. It is as a rule exceedingly difficult to discover the author of one of these venomous effusions, and work so delicate scarcely falls within the province. of ordinary police duty. Of course, the proper thing to do is to treat anonymous letters with contempt and take.no notice of them. That is all very well as a counsel of perfection, but human nature is credulous and otherwise full of flaws. If you throw mud enough; and keep on throwing long enough, some of it is sure to stick, and if you throw cleverly from behind a fence it is probable that no one will notice the condition of your hands. Slander is the weapon of the meanest sort of man, and the cheapest sort of woman, and it is to be feared that the women are the worst offenders. Often enough, there is no intention to do specific injury, tut in the case of women what may be called the conversational temptation is always very great. It is a matter on which the public conscience needs to be aroused. Slander is really a much worse and viler offence than the ordinary sort of theft. Ruined reputations mean, ruined homes and ruined prospects, far-reaching misery and shame. Many

fa man has gone to the wall merely because prattling fools have told idle lies about him, and many a woman has suffered nameless degradation for ' the same cause. As a.' general thing, if I can find nothing good to say of a man, I prefer to say nothing at all. That's a good working rule. J That' is, of course, as to a mans private actions. His public actions i are proper matter for criticism, and jif need be condemnation. No man is forced into public life, and when he enters it he knows the rules and the risks. But the public has nothing to. do with such of any man's private actions as aro not criminal. * • . •

THE WANDER LUST

A man who has lived and labored under many skies confided in me the other night. He said: "The worst of it is that if you keep moving too long there comes a time when you can t settle. That time has come to me. I could not Jive all the time in one place now aif I were offered a million of money to do it. Directly I get comfortable I grow fidgety. As sure as things go well with me and I m making money, I have to shift; and whatever money I may have made goes in expenses before 1 decide on the next halt. Getting married is quite out of the question, and there : are times when I want to get married pretty badly. But no man has any ■ right to tie a woman on the end of a > tow rope and be for ever dragging her ■' about the world, even if he can afford : to do it. What a woman wants is a safe nest in a snug corner. She wants : .to live among the same scenes and the ; same people. She likes to strike her ; anchor good and deep. Whenever I ye | wanted to marry a woman I've always i liked her too well to ask her. Ive i been afraid she wouldn't forgive me j afterwards. So I'have to go on bymyself. I'm grey now, and soon 1111 be' white; but I'll have to play a lone hand to the finish." It's bad to be parochial and rooted sometimes. But there you have the other side of the subject. The man who wanders long keeps on wandering because he must. It's a small world, and new places soon lose their essential novelty t® him; but be has to keep on the grim round, like a fellow on a treadmill. * * * *

PAWELKA

In Wellington there is a general feeling of satisfaction that Pawelka has been acquitted on the murder charge. There has been an idea on all hands that the evidence was too thin. And with that there has been a sort of unexpressed sneaking sympathy with the man himself. It is always so when the behaviour of any offender develops a certain pictnresqueness. The public overlook the squalor in its haste to see the show. In this case there has been a strong disinclination from the outset to believe- that Pawelka shot Maguire, and1 the feeling of the public generally represents the feeling of a jury that forms part of the public. In so far as Pawelka showed picturesquely, the public is inclined to make a pet of him. That is the public's way. It's no use reasoning about it. * , * * * :'

WITH A GUN

We haven't had any pea-rifle tragedies this last .week or two, but when a couple of men were out rabbiting on Sunday last one of them accidentally shot the other. The man shot was jin front, and the man behind swung his gun round with his hand on the trigger. He was excited, and the gun went off. The man in front died shortly afterwards, living long enough to make a plain statement of the facts. The oftener I see men out with guns, the more I marvel that accidents are not more frequent. When out rabbiting, nine men out of ten seem to carry their guns with their hands on the triggers. And still, by some Providence, accidents are rare, for thousands of men go rabbiting every week.