THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9146, 30 August 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1888.

The Parliamentary session of 1888 has closed, and the colony will now consider how the Legislature has fulfilled its mission. When it assembled, it was universally felt that it had a more than ordinary function to accomplish. Legislation is generally a slow process, and it is well tint years should be spent over any great change in the law. But this Parliament met at a crisis in the history of the colony, and so far as the people had become aroused to a sense of the position, it had a distinct mandate. And that was, to square up the finances of the country. It was felt that if the colony was to recover readily from the depression under which it has been suffering, the taxation must not be largely increased, because that would prevent capital and the most useful classof settlers from coming in. The only safe course, therefore, was to cut down expenditure. This was no doubt a disagreeable job for a Government and a Parliament, and the people in general would also have to submit to a loss of some of those luxuries to which they had become accustomed. As an example of such luxuries, we mention the obligation which the State has assumed of giving a high-class education to every boy and girl, fitting them for lives of literary leisure, and for nothing else ! It was known to all when the House met that the Government proposed to go on the London market at once for a loan of two millions, and also that, of necessity, this would be the last loan which could be raised for several years. It was felt, too, that even if we could go on borrowing, it would be a fatal policy for us to continue. Railways are constructed in all the most populous districts," and every mile of railway which we now add to the system is simply expenditure without return. Besides, every million which we borrow adds between £40,000 and £50,000 to the yearly cost for interest, and so increases the burdens upon the people. Before the Parliament assembled there seemed a general resolution that all this uncertainty and risk was to be put an end to, and that the Financial Statement would show that at the end of the financial year, in March, 1889, the Treasurer would have a surplus without unduly increasing the burdens of the country. The effect of the Treasurer having done this would be to cause an immediate restoration of confidence. Our bonds would reach a higher price in England, and it would be seen that the colony and all its institutions were safe. Immigration and capital would flow towards the colony, confidence would revive, property would again become marketable, and progress would be resumed. But it must be said that the Ministry and the Parliament have shirked their duty. So far as the imposition of taxation is concerned, Ministry and Parliament were prompt enough. £265,000 additional was placed on the already heavy customs. The Treasurer estimated that a certain revenue would be received for the year 1888-9, and the Parliament forthwith proceeded to vote it away. That estimate will not be realised, and the prospects are that at the end of the year the colony will again find itself face to face with a deficit.

The Financial Statement was delivered on the 29th of May. It showed that the receipts of the year fell short of the actual expenditure by £382,047. A deficit was left from the previous year of £146,556, so that for the two years there was a total deficit of £528,603. Great blame is attached to the present and the previous Government for allowing deficits to accumulate in this fashion, and certainly when Sir Harry Atkinson saw how things had gone, he ought this year to have taken a firm stand, and insisted on having a clear margin of income over expenditure. But he did not do so. The Customs duties were largely increased, and the new duties were estimated to yield an additional sum of £265,000. It has been stated that if the rate of importation in the year ending March, 1889, were the same as in the previous year, the increase placed on the Customs ought to raise a sum of £600,000 ; but that estimate may be exaggerated. There seems to be little doubt, however, that even the £265,000 will not be reached, and that on the Customs there will be a deficiency in the estimate. The railways are estimated to return £1,040,000 in revenue ; but this also is a sanguine expectation which we do not believe will be realised. That large reductions might have been made is obvious. The education vote might have been reduced by £100,000 at least. But the Premier declined to commit the Government on this question, apparently because he thought that such a course would cause a certain amount of unpopularity to the Ministry. In various other departments large slices might have been taken off the expenditure, but the House and the Ministry seemed to grow apathetic about the whole business of making our revenue and our expenditure balance. A committee of members who were earnest in the matter met and discussed the details of expenditure, but they were repeatedly sneered at in the House as " the Skinflint Committee." It is true that considerable reductions have been made in various departments by the Government, but not enough, and everything accomplished ought to have been done years ago. It was thought that

the session of 1888 would have been one of " financial adjustment," but that work has been staved off till a more convenient season, when the country and the Parliament are more thoroughly convinced of its necessity.

If the Parliament had done its duty in this respect we should have looked forward to the coming time as an assuredly prosperous period. The colony has many grounds for confidence. Our chief staple, wool, has for some time maintained a good price, and the wool-grower is well remunerated for his expenditure. There is every expectation that prices will continue at their present level, if they do not rise. Wheat has considerably advanced within the past few days, and in all probability will continue at a higher rate than hitherto, thus giving a larger margin of profit to exporters and extending the area of profitable cultivation. The export trade in frozen meat may now be regarded as being placed on a good and sure footing, many difficulties and obstacles having been removed, and a remunerative price at length attained. With better prices, our exports of all these articles may be enormously increased, thus pouring wealth into the colony. Even the strike amongst the coal-miners in Newcastle, although a calamity as tending to the derangement of trade, may be of advantage to New Zealand. It has already caused an active demand for all the coal we can produce at higher rates than have hitherto prevailed, and in all probability will lead to the working of mines from which no coal has yet been taken. We look forward with confidence to the future, because, but for the embarrassment of our colonial finance, the prospect has not been better for several years than it is at present. But the entire failure of the Ministry and the Parliament to realise the situation, and to make the necessary reductions in expenditure, will do much to neutralise the advantages now in immediate prospect. But for the conduct of the Parliament which has just closed, we might even now have said, "The depression is a thing of the past."

The question of the dispensation of charitable aid is everywhere a difficult one, and in New Zealand it has become particularly urgent. It is not merely because commercial depression has increased the difficulties of the poor, but because the system of our public charity is tending to the creation and spread of pauperism. The casting on local authorities the duty not only of attending to the destitute, but of raising a large portion of the costs entailed, has no doubt a tendency to restrict the evil. But, notwithstanding this, there cannot be the smallest doubt that the official system of dispensing charity, and especially in the form of out-door relief, is developing results that call for a radical remedy. In this we do not reflect on the zeal or faithfulness of the Charitable Aid Board and its officers. We believe they have used every effort, and have largely succeeded, in keeping the expenditure within reasonable bounds, and minimising the evils that seem to flow from the bestowal of gifts enforced, as it were, by Act of Parliament. But it is the system that is at fault, under which charity, instead of being as is said of mercy, doubly blessed, blessing him that giveth, and him that receiveth, certainly has no reflex action for good on the community in the way of cultivating the humane and benevolent sentiments, while to hundreds of people who are the recipients of it, it is a veritable curse in producing in them that degrading, helpless, and dependent feeling which is the essential principle in chronic pauperism. It is of course an accepted principle among all civilised people that nobody should be allowed to starve, but it is an imperative duty on all intelligent and selfregulating people that the carrying out of this rule should not violate another great law of Nature as well as of religion—that "he that will not work, neither shall he eat." There are, of course, the aged, the frail, the incapacitated in any way, who are physically unable to work; and to these the necessaries of existance must be supplied in pure charity, but to support in being men who can, but will not, work is not only uncalled for on principles of charity, but is a violation of the laws of nature, and a robbery of the honest and industrious.

In such circumstances, what, then, should be the duty of a self-regulating community such as ours in the dispensation of charitable relief? After giving help to those who are really unable to do anything for their own subsistence, it is an imperative duty to compel every man that is able to work to earn his own bread. But it may be asked, how of those who cannot find work to do ? Well, it is not the duty of society to find employment for those who are unemployed : and mischief is done by the encouragement that is sometimes given to the belief that it is. It is a man's own duty to find work for himself ; but at the same time it is a fact that from the constitution of our social system, artificial barriers are set up in the way of industrial occupation, through the operation of which many people, perhaps from weakness of character, perhaps in large part from faults of their own, are prevented from fulfilling the duty imposed on them to work for their livelihood. In these circumstances it probably is the duty of society to seek to remove such difficulties out of the way of men who are willing to work for their food, if the opportunity were afforded to them ; and certainly it must be more the duty of society through its representatives to do this than to" give food without work in defiance of the law of nature. This duty of removing barriers out of the way of those who wish to work to live should not indeed be regarded as extending to the duty of keeping them in employment ; but in as far as our social system creates difficulties, as, for instance, in monopolising land from which subsistence might be obtained, it is not unreasonable to say that means ought to be provided by which men who are thrust aside by the fierce struggle of life may be given a helping hand to enable them to work for their living. This, it seems to us, should be the duty of those who are entrusted with the administration of the public charity; first, to most carefully discriminate those that are utterly helpless and incapable, maintaining them by charity, and then to bend their efforts to discover every way in which a man or woman able to do anything for a living should be placed in that way, and then to compel him or her to work, or bear the alternative which the voice of nature and of religion havealikeimposed. This, of course, is not so light a duty as temporarily relieving want where it presents itself, either by the dole of charity, or by what we know as relief works ; but we emphatically hold that in the interests of society it is demanded that the system of administering relief should be put on some such basis as this, at j once to relieve the community from a j

perpetual and increasing burr] to stop the pauperization of thousand of people and their families T country such as this, with many V sources undeveloped, and with ViL > less lands untilled, this duty M?' be nearly so difficult as among old an fixed communities ; and if we com* 4 realise the idea that it is the duty 3 the administrators of . our charitir- ? intelligently seek out ways in 4-? the opportunity of working so [1, they may live, is placed within real of the destitute, it will he found quite feasible to cut down the exrJ'i ture on the relief of the poor to a sS fraction of the present enormous ly penditure. There is probably not man or woman in New Zealand P<l cepting only those who have hoi" pauperised 111 spirit by a long course rif charity mischievously dispensed v} would not prefer to work for a livj n „ « only enabled to do it, rather than tak! the humiliating dole ; and it seem.dreadful thing to ignore and this lever for lifting the poor out of th slough. This should 1 apply to wj and to children equally with men sut ject only to their capacity for 'work and the task that should be regarded • • imposed on those concerned in the administration of our charities shotbe the perhaps a difficult 'one perhaps one requiring qualifications different from those commonly looked for in members of publb hoards or town councils—of discovering aiu mapping out the methods l>ywhi.-V, the poor who can work, and would work in accordance with their capabilities, may be set to honestly work in order that they may live, and enjoy th* while the manly consciousness of earning the bite that is put in their mouths"

Although the situation in Europe at the present moment has not yet reached the critical stage, there are certain phases of it which are well calculated to awaken su<picion, and cause apprehension. The si<f. nificant movements of the Italian and German fleets are in themselves of a character to suggest the possibility 0 £ serious and not remote contingencieswhile the action of the Czar in sending a Commissioner to the King of Abyssinia with whom Italy is at present at war' looks as if the "psychological moment" to use the Bismarckian phrase, were close at hand. A fatal balloor. accident has occurred in England, resulting in the death of Mr. Simmons, the well-known aeronaut. It is notified by the ofi-lcer in charge of the Telegraph Office that mails for" the Australian colonies, United Kingdom, and Continent of Europe, via Melbourne, will close at the Bluff 011 Friday, 31st August, at noon. Ordinary telegrams for the above should be lodged not later than 10.SO a.m., and " urgents" not later than 11.20 a.m. Amongst the passengers who leave Auckland by the s.s. Mararoa to-day is Mr. John Jickell, builder, who goes to .Melbourne to join his brother,. Mr. Samuel Jickell, the well-known engineer, who left Auckland some months ago. Mr. Jickell's many friends regret the depression in the building trade which has caused him to leave, and wish him every success. At the Police Court yesterday morning two persons were punished for drunkenness. Arthur Kirk pleaded guilty to a charge of taking and having in his possession rock oysters during the close season, and was fined £10, with an alternative of two months' imprisonment. Defendant was allowed seven days in which to pay the fine. In July last Kirk was before the Court on a similar charge, when a penalty of £3 was imposed. At the Onehunga Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Captain Jackson, W. McKeever, butcher, was charged with cruelty to an animal. Defendant pleaded not guilty. The evidence of a lad named Olson was taken, which showed that McKeever threw a large knife at a dog on the footpath, which entered its side. Th> Resident Magistrate considered the civ proved, and fined McKeever '20s and costs. Mr. R. G. Fowler, who for five years ha. occupied the position of Chief CounterCkri at the Auckland telegraph office, was yesterday the recipient of a valuable testimonial from his fellow-officers, on the occasion of his dual transfer to the head office at Wellington and to the honourable order of benedicts. The presentation was made in a felicitous speech by the officer in charge, Mr. Furby. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler carry with them the most cordial good wishes of numerous friends. It will interest many to be reminded that to-morrow, August 31", is the "200 th anniversary of the death of John Bunyan, the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress,' the finest allegory ever written. Bunyan died at Snow Hill, London, 011 August 31, 1688, aged 60, and was buried at Bunhill Fields, where a tombstone is erected over his grave. The bootmakers "called out" of their employment at Garrett Bros, factory have actually struck, though, as stated by Mr. Garrett to a Herald reporter on Tuesday, they did so with the consent of the firm, pending a settlement of the dispute. Ac their meeting on Tuesday evening, the Operative Bootmakers' Union passed a resolution declaring the trade on strike, and a levy of five per cent, was made on the earnings of members in employment, in view of the call now made upon the funds, it having been decided that the men who have left work shall be paid "strike wages "by the Union as follows Married men, "25s per week ; single men, £1 p' week. It appears that before joining the Union, the workmen now on strike signed an agreement with Garrett Bros., stipulating that, in the event of their neglecting to complete their term of service they should pay to the firm a certain sum as damages. Messrs. Garrett Bros, claim that they do not break any rules of the Operative Bootmakers' Union.

It having become known that Mr. DFell, who' Has been associated with tr.a Sailors' Home as the sailors' missionary since the inauguration of the Sailors Rest, some six years ago, was about to Auckland and sever his connection with the Home, a special meeting was held las" evening in the Sailors' Home, to bid the missionary and his family farewell. Tne mission hall, which was handsomely tiecorated with flowers, flags, etc., crowded, and Mr. Hemery presided. chairman in his opening address made reference to the great services rendered by Mr. Fell, and a number of other speakers in short addresses testified to the great religious benefits they had derived from Mr. Fell and the Sailors' Home. I" *\ n interval refreshments were handed roun • Mr. Watt said that on behalf of the seaj men and on his own behalf he had I express sincere gratitude to Mr. and - 15 | Fell for their services. Their quiet | work was recognised outside those who as sembled here, and he had heard t _ j spoken of in the highest terms of gratrecognition in all directions. He then presented Miss Fell with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Mr. McArthur then g» ve * brief address. The Chairman then, a i r - s sing Mr. Fell, said he had great P lea in handing to him a purse of scnerei 5': I . subscribed by his friends. He was g d was a somewhat heavy one, the amount of its contents being £4- , 5 . 1 D He could not say more, but he pra)' e . God's richest blessing might iollow ' Fell and his family. Mr. Fell suitably_r* plied. The proceedings throughout w interspersed with musical selection:, concluded with the benediction. At the next meeting of the ParnellßoroUc. Council, Mr. McLachlan is to move • . : 3 That the action of the Town refusing to carry out a resolution Council be considered. Finance Committee be instructed (J into the affairs of the borough ' t ha report thereon to the Council, o. ■ _ advisability of joining the city sidered." The Wellington Post says : "'There. is * young New Zealanuer among? w . of the new flagship on the Aus , ' jjVj wartion, H.M.S. Orlando, which sP fdl tly . ship arrived in Australian wateis r Nlr _ He is Mr. Stanley, son of the K • Stanley, of Dunedin.and grandson o late Mrs. Chisholm, ot this ci , serving as a cadet on the ironcia • b „ tain Lake, well-known here, ij 13 Vgjaou the Orlando out, and takes iI.M- 0 - home in September."

The following is from the Australasian Insurance and Banking Record " Business in Melbourne city property for the month has been considerable, and large transactions have taken place, but in several instances, where properties have keen offered at auction, higher reserves have been required than purchasers were willing to give. The premises at the northeast corner at the junction of Collins and King streets have been sold at £825 per foot to Collins-street, the frontage of 132 f,,t thus realising£loS,9oo. On the measurements supplied (13*2 feet by SO feet 9 inches) the price obtained is equal to £10 4s 4d per superficial foot. We believe that the tale has been made on behalf o£ the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society. The land at the corner of Flinders and Spencer-streets, on which are situated the gjr Charles Hotham and Lord Clyde Hotels, and several shops, was sold for £105,000. This property was purchased about six months previously for £82,000. The piece of land in Bourke-street West (40 feet by ]IS feet), upon which the Saracen's Head Hotel is built, was offered at auction on the 19th ult., but was withdrawn at £700 per foot bid, the reserve being £800 per foot. On the 26th ult. the premises occupied by Messrs Lilly Brothers, in Queenstreet (f outage 7S feet 3 inches), were put up to auction, and the best bid obtained being £510 per foot, the property was parsed in."

For ingenious swindlers commend me to Melbourne (says a correspondent of an exchange). 1 mentioned in a previous letter how the Exhibition was attracting all kinds of thieves and rascals, and I find from the papers that I was not mistaken in surmising That we should be overrun with them. The latest importations in this line brought to book are truly ingenious rogues. Their mode of procedure was simple, safe, and generally effective. Shortly, it was this. To go to a.iy house with a slate roof, that stood next to another also slated. They would ring the bell, and represent that they had been up repairing the roof of the adjacent building, and while there had observed several slates off the roof of the house applied at. They would offer to repair this very cheaply, representing that they could afford to do so, as they had the material at hand from the other job. In this way they generally managed to get 10s or £1 fordoing nothing more than sitting on the roof smoking for an hour or so. Some days they (there were two of them) made as much as £6 or £7, and yet they neither toiled nor did they spin. For ingenuity I have not heard this excelled for a long time.

Rather an amusing incident, says the Aire, occurred on one of the Victorian suburban lines lately. Four railway inspectors were travelling from Oakleigh to Melbourne. They had a compartment to themselves, ami the time passed pleasantly enough, until one of the party suddenly uttered a wild shriek and began to execute an impromptu dance on the floor of the carriage. For a moment his companions thought that, he had been seized with sudden insanity, but the point of an auger protruding from the cushion against which he had been leaning explained the mystery. Someone in the next compartment had bored into the partition, and the point, after penetrating the timber and the cushions, had finall) embedded itself in the inspector's back. The injured person seized hold of the autrer, when it was withdrawn with such violence that his fingers were badly bruised At the next station the officials made a descent upon the adjoining compartment, and discovered an inebriated railway labourer, peacefully reposing by the side of the orfending instrument. He was at once seized and conveyed to the watch-house, where he was identified as R. J. Connolly, a railway employe. The inspector escaped with slight injuries.

The Auckland letter of the Australasian and Banking Record of August 16 has the following : —" Mr. C. W. Hemery, who has long been connected with the Auckland office of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, assumed charge on the Ist of August, in consequence of the resignation of Mr. D. J. McLeod, who has accepted a responsible position in connection with the Colonial Mutual in Melbourne. The permanent appointment of district agent is understood not to be finally settled, but the feeling among local policyholders appears to be that the head office cannot do better than confer it upon Mr. Hemery, who has already rendered the society such excellent service, and who is thoroughly familiar with the Auckland business."

The annual soiree in connection with the Ponsonby Baptist Church was held last iiight, and over 150 persons sat down to tea at half-past six o'clock. The ladies who presided over and supplied the tables were : —Mesdames Gilmore, Turley, Brown, Bigelow, Merrick, Cameron, Newton, Smith, and Graham, Misses Gilmore, Williams, and Matthews. After the tea was finished an adjournment was made to the church, and the Rev. J. D. Gilmore, pastor of the church, took the chair. The annual report was read by Mr. E. Turley, and the financial statement was also submitted. The latter showed that, although the church had begun the twelve months just ended in debt, yet they had raised the substantial sum of £312 from all sources, and had now a credit balance of £14 in hand, which must be considered a creditable record in these times of depression. The report and statement were adopted as read. Brief addresses were then delivered by the Revs. W. Gittos, T. Spurgeon, J. S. Hill, T. Bray, and the chairman, which were interspersed by musical items, concerted and otherwise, rendered in excellent style by the church choir, under the leadership of Mr. Newton. Votes of thanks were- passed to the ladies who provided the tables, to the speakers and the choir, and the meeting terminated bv the Benediction being pronounced. There was another crowded audience at the Opera House yesterday evening, when " Hans the Boatman" was repeated. The greater number of Mr. Arnold's songs were encored, and at the end of the second act the principals were called before the curtain. 'The piece will be produced for only four nights longer.

The prospectus of a large financial institution about to be formed in Melbourne is published in another column. It is designated the Pastoral, Finance, Trust, and Agency Company of Australasia (Limited). The capital is £2,000,000, in shares of £1 each. Power is given to increase the capital, if it should be deemed desirable to do so. The first issue of the stock of the Company will be £1,000.000, and is now offered to the public. It is not proposed to call up more than 10s per share, payable in a very easy way—ls on application, Is on allotment, and the balance up to 10s in calls of Is each, to be made at intervals of not less than three raonths. The company will undertake all kinds of financial and agency transactions, and a court of local directors is provided for each of the colonies. Such a large company, started under so influential circumstances, can hardly fail to be successful, and ? company with such a large eapital, worked is an energetic way, will naturally exert a yerv important influence upon colonial trade to all its operations. Mr. Spurgeon has kindly consented _to deliver his instructive and entertaining lecture on "Dr. Judson, the Apostle of Bur®ah,'' on Tuesday next, at the Young Men's Christian Association, the proceeds to be divided between the Indian Missionary and the building fund of the Young "en's Christian Association. All who have lot heard this excellent and thrilling lecture would take this opportunity of doing so. further particulars will be advertised. A new advertisement of Messrs. Winks a nd Hall's will appear shortly. At Dr. Murray Moore's lecture to-morrow evening on Tennyson," several of the laureate's compositions will be rendered by well-known amateurs. Particulars will be advertised to-morrow. A recital of sacred music will be given by the members of the choir of St. Sepulchre's Church this evening, beginning at 8 o'clock. An excellent programme has been provided, which includes several new anthems, selections from oratorios, sacred songs, and part songs, to be performed under the direction of the organist (Mr. Rice). The church will be open to allcomers. A collection will be ffi *de in aid of the choir music funds. The last of Mr. Martin's course of lectures " Primitive Man " will be delivered in the Masonic Hall, Princes-street, this evening, ?he subject being " Pictures of Ancient Egypt 11 the Light of Modern Discovery." . A Scotch concert will be given this evening J® ot. Andrew's Hall, Lower Symonds-street, ext St. Andrew's Church, by the members w ..''•Andrew's choir ; and the programme, an 10 is . well arranged and very complete, ppears in our advertising columns. The jgair will be taken by Mr. A. Bell. No fuU h choir will be rewarded by seeing a will K° US " an< * our Scotch friends and others hear be glad to have another opportunity of "ng the good old Scotch melodies once