SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9026, 12 April 1888, Page 3

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, Some time ago there was a great cry for retrenchment, not for retrenchment with justice, which is indeed an urgent necessity, but for the saving of money by any means, fair or foul.' Nevertheless we continue to pay a number of men £44,800 a year to make laws which we might very well do without. For it is probable that if we could make a bonfire of almost all the laws which have been passed during the last twenty years, and at the same time sweep away what Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson calls " the spawn of inspectors" which they have cast over the whole land, there would not only be a great immediate reduction of expenditure, but various industries—set free from the ruinous system of constant meddling — would soon begin to revive and prosper. The late Government are responsible for an ex[jenditure which, according to your Welington correspondent, amounts to £1 per head, for every man, woman, and child in New Zealand, for " utensils of war," and other military matters. The present Government, finding the country already crushed by this wicked extravagance, still carry on the costly farce of defence. They have indeed brought about the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief, but your Wellington correspondent tells us that another is to succeed to the place and to the emoluments, and to the endeavour to do thati which cannot possibly be done except at the cost of the ruin of the whole community. It is sometimes said that we want capitalists to come and settle among us. .When they do come how do wo treat them? The Herald has lately told us of one such, whose capital of £500 dwindled to nothing through successive delays and the bad faith of the Government, till he was reduced to work upon the roads, and then when even this failed, harassed no doubt by vexatious delays and disappointments, he was suddenly seized with illness, and died, leaving his wife and family unprovided for in whab they must feel to be a strange and cruel land. That is the way we use our own countrymen. But we have also among us members of an immense, a powerful, and at present a friendly nation. On them we impose a special and heavy tax, and otherwise ill-treat and oppress them. As you, sir, have pointed out, the British nation, at a great cost of men and money, forced a way into China against the wish of its people, and we have therefore no right to object to the presence among us of Chinese subjects on the same terms as British subjects are living in China, though as a matter of fact, thab is more than they ask. It is said thab Chinamen are not up to our standard of morality. Our morality ! What must they think of it when, against the entreaties of their rulers, the British Government has forced upon theirs the infamous opium traffic ! Our morality !when in China, as everywhere else where British arms have been carried, the moral rulers of Great Britain have insisted upon the establishment of the Contagious Diseases Act in order to try to make it safe for Englishmen to sin ! The Chinese, having been forced to admib the foreigner, have learned his methods of warfare. If we bring down upon ourselves the just resentment of this great nation, how can we expect the Home Government to protect us from the consequences of our own ' shortsightedness ? Then, indeed, we have need of defence, and be powerless to provide it. Men, who have the power which we women have not, are you blind and deaf that you content yourselves with making a great fuss at election times? "An' think you're a kind o' fulfillin' the prophesies, w'en you're on"y jest changin' the holders of offices," and then let the country drift ? Is there nob need for a system which shall ensure that every man who has a right to representation shall be represented, which is not the case at present? Would it not be well to look into the question of manhood suffrage run mad, and see whether those who either cannot, or will not work for themselves, and who are therefore supported by the public, ought not, in justice, to be refused a voice in the spending of the public revenue? Whether, also, convicted criminals and fraudulent bankrupts should not in justice be disfranchised? Mew Zealand needs a saviour, and a great one, and He is ready at hand. His name is Righteousness, His word is the Truth, His power is omnipotent, and there is none beside Him, for it is righteousness which is the only firm foundation for national prosperity. But we turn aside, an l place our hopes instead in a mining boom;- while yet we know that whatever may have been the case' with the few, the record of mir'ng shows that to the many ib means disastrous loss and ruin. Thinking of all these things, J cannot help asking whether if women had a share in the government of this beautiful country, as in justice they ought to have, they could possibly make a greater muddle oi affairs than has been done by men alone ?—I arc^etc. Mary Steadman All??, ' April 10th, 1888. 1