CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10037, 25 January 1896, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

SOCIAL REFORM. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— your sub-leader this morning yon make certain charges against myself and all others opposed to the C.D. Acts, which cannot be passed over in silence. You say, "We hold them up to public censure because they oppose even inquiry into a great evil, because they insist that nothing should be done to mitigate that evil or to bring about reform, and because they themselves havo not "attempted to do anything in any direction." Charges so definite and so serious should be capable of proof. I herewith challenge you to the proof. As the matter is one that affects the good name and fame of a large number of people in Auckland, I ask you to state on what evideuce you make such grave charges. I may remind you that the " oppositionists against whom you so iudiscrinu* nately level your censure include representatives of every section of the Christian Church, including the Salvation Army. Let there be no shuffling off into Bide issues and abusive personalities; let us have a fair and square statement of the evidence on which you have presumed to hold us up to public censure. The charges have been publicly made; let them be as publicly proved or else as publicly withdrawn.— am, etc., January 21,1896. Wm. Jas. Williams. [Mr. Williams has evidently lost his temper, when he talks about "shuffling," His angry epistle is easily answered. In his letter ho said:-" It is rather hard that men and women who are among the hardest workers in every kind of reformative agency in the city ami neighbourhood should be held up to abusive censure," etc. We would have b"en entitled to have called upon him to prove that all or any of the gentlemen who had written to us on the same side as Mr. Williams were " among the hardest workers in every kind of reformative agency in the city and neighbourhood." We had a right to call upon him to prove his assertion, without any shuffling. Mr, Williams expects everybody to believe his mere assertion. Wo questioned it, and now he calls upon us to 'stateonwhatevidence,"and not to "shuffle." He is_ in duty bound to prove his positive assertion before he calls upon us in this angry tone to prove a negative. But we will state out grounds for the assertion we made. The persons who have written to us on that side of the 5? bje ,S, fc .,i l . re: Mrs. Aldis > Mr. Aldis, Rev, Mr. Williams, Rev. Mr. Collins, Rev. Mr. Peters, Mr. Edwin Cox. There is in Auck. land a Rescue Society, the object of which is to save girls who are on the verge of prosti* tution, and to restore them to a good life. That society has been in existence for some time, and the members of it, or some of them, make personal endeavours to carry out its object. They have appealed to all clergymen', and to the benevolent and philanthrope citizens generally. Not one of those we have named has apparently taken any interest in the society, They have not become members. 1 hey have not contributed to its funds. That fact alone ought to be sufficient to prove that those persons are not "among the hardest workers in every kind of refomatm agency in the city and neighbourhood." That society is the " reformative agency" above all other associations. Then there is the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Womeu and Children, a copy of whose last annual report we have before us. That report gives some distressing cases, in which the society has taken an interest. Wo have a list of the president, vice-presidents (nine), committee (sixteen), treasurer, hon. solicitors (twelve), secretary. The persons named above, and who, according to Mr. Williams,' are ( among the hardest workers in every kind of reformative agency," are nowhere but we may remark that we find the names of several gentlemen who have been amongst the most prominent in promoting the inquiry now being carried on by the City Council. We have not the list of subscribers, but it would be pretty safe to say that the amount contributed to this, which is a prominent "reformative agency," by those persons abovenamed, did not amount to a threepenny piece. We have made inquiry of a gentleman who knows more of reformatory work than auy other in town. When we asked him if he knew of any of those persons doing anything in the way of reformatory work, a very sad smile came over his face. He had never heard of any of them doing anything. Ho even ventured to say that hole new they did nothing. Moreover, wo ourselves have opportunities of knowing who engage in that kind of work. If any of the persons named had employed themselves in reformative work, we must have known it, not to say if they had been " among the hardest workers in every kind of reformatory agency." We never saw any of them at night'.in the disreputable quarters of the town, endeavouring to do good. We have proved our assertion that those persons who have been so furiously active in opposing the proposals for reform made by others do nothing themselves. In the face of the greatest evil of this age, they insist upon nothing being done, which, as we said before, is the one attitude which is impossible for a truly Christian man. And surely it is the very height of absurdity for Williams to Ret angry at the charge of doinj nothing, when he and those who think with him keep constantly repeating the foul and false charge that the object of ourselves and of others is to " make it safe to sin."—Ed.]

FIRE ALARM BELLS. 10 THE EDITOR. Sir,— observe the Devonport Borough Council are considering the poiition for the erection of a fire alarm bell. If tho district is supplied with telephone communication, it is a mistake to have these bells. They 'create a deal of alarm: they cause crowds to congregate who are often worse than use* less, because they impede tho brigade in their work. With a brigade residing close to the station, and telephone communication, it would be far better if all alarm bells were abolished. Fully half of the alarms are not only useless, but expensive.— am, etc.,' Pro Bono Publico, •