Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6566, 2 December 1882, Page 3

The lecture delivered some time ago by Mr. W. M. Bolt, in the Lyceum, Dnnedin, on " Land and Labour," has been published in pamphlet form. Mr. Bolt is not very clear in the manner in which he expresses his ideas, but the leading bias in his mind appears to be that the land in each country should be owned by the State, and all the inhabitants tenants. How such a system is to work with democratic institutions is not r.itempted to be shown. His definitions are not always the happiest. "By labour," he says, "I mean not the aggregate cf the labouring power of the country, but rather that large section of the community who receive from employers a3 an equivalent for their services what is popularly understood as the current wages." He seems to labcur under the impressions that in a man's outside surroundings lie his chief happiness. The following are his views on the inequalities in social life: — "Inequality in position invariably gives rise to a sense cf injustice. We are here for a short time only ; we have a lease of the world for the few years we occupy it. Why then should the terms of lease be so different? Why should the struggle for existence be of such a terrible nature with the mass of mankind as to call forth the worst passions of their nature : greed, envy, cunuing, sharpness, business habits as it is called, which frequently meansuntruthfulness, dishonesty, and often murder ? In the midst of increasing wealth, why should want smothfr the charitable promptings of the heart ? In the midst of general abundance, why should a man be induced by the pleading cf his stomach or the destitution of his children to defraud his employer or steal from his> neighbour, and this while the trouble of others consist in not knowing how to increase the rounds of their pleasure '! Inequality is the curse of the present age, not only for thepoor, but also i<T the rich, and is thoroughly opposed to the Christian spirit." He quotes the remarks of Mr. Emile de Laveleye, that " If Christianity were taught and understood in consonance with the spirit of its founder, the present social organisation would not last a day." T.iat is quite true, but not in. the sense in whioh Mr. Bolt applies the quotation. Were thu spirit of Christianity fully acted out in daily life, selfishness would be abolished ; and when men care as much for their neighbours as they do for themselves, a happy social change will be effected. The English mail leaves on Tuesday next. Send Homo the Comet Christmae Card, priee U. Copyright seenred and purchased by TVilfiMs; Rattray, draper and clotliier, 178, 180, »ni ISX Queen-street.—{Ad VT.]