Round THE Corners

New Zealand Mail, Issue 767, 12 November 1886, Page 17

Round THE Corners

I should think that the Government would not require a second hint to give the hydraulic cement of Auckland the preference over the imported article, for which the Colony has been drained of so many hundred thousand pounds in the past. Government works especially have absorbed the lion’s share of imported cement, but private undertakings have made heavy levy upon it; and private undertakings, in common with Government ones, are now called upon to extend full and hearty support to the local production. It has been shown that Auckland cement is better and stronger than anything of the kind manufactured elsewhere, and no excuse, therefore, can be advanced for not patronising it. And to patronise it ought to be a pleasurable duty to all and sundry. A short year or two ago something like a couple of hundred thousand pounds' a year was remitted to the Old Country in exchange for Portland cement. Say only half that sum is sent now, how appreciably would be felt the retention of so much gold ! And then we establish another local industry, besides; one that would bring 1 people into the Colony. Thus we should benefit in a double sense. If the Press of the Colony is loyal to itself, and to the country that supports it, it will not keep silence on the v subject till the merits of the new cement have been emphatically decided one way or the other. Every one using cement ought to give it a trial. It has been officially tested, and that is enough warranty for commerce to take it in’hand. Auckland cement, and nothing but Auckland cement, should be the cry for a time; and Auckland, in the way of cement, may be made the cynosure of every other part of the Colony.

How precious to conservative prejudices are obsolete institutions. They are like ivy and an old wall in their strong affinity, for the mouldy and crumbling cling to them with the ardor of a newly trimmed groom for his bride. And the jury system is one of these obsolete old concerns. A great many voices hare been lifted up against it during the past few years, and at last it is shown to be in antagonism to the spirit of the age. Nothing can so clearly

render this apparent as the failure of the age to make proper use of the jury system. We have had examples of this in Wellington ; examples of it are > not wanting elsewhere. What looked very like one happened the other day at Invercargill at the inquest held on that wretched infant, said to have been allowed to starve to death by a horrible creature—its mother —said to be a woman. It was shown in evidence that the chiU had been shockingly neglected ; had been left for hours by itself to cry its heart out, while the female, its mother, was away drinking. It was four and a half months old, and yet weighed only four and a> half pounds, just a pound a month. The medical evidence was conclusive as to the cause of death. The child had beenstarved; and yet the jury could not make up their mindthat the female who bore it, and who, if pfc®hadn’t been lower than a sow, would have nourished it, was to blame. It was an astounding conclusion to arrive at.

Evidently that jury was not overburdened with sentiment or emotion. We all remember the sensation that thrilled the civilised world when Harriet Beecher Stowe’s(her memory be blessed!) “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ” was first published. And what feature of that book, of marvellous power and appeal to the human heart, stirred the deepest ? Not Uncle Tam’s death ; not little Eva’s happy departure ; not the troublesand life of Eliza; but that incident in the life of poor old Prue, the Negress. She was compelled to leave her baby alone all day in a-, garret, and the miserable little creature cried itself to death.'' Oh, mothers !. fancy the wailings of a baby dying all alone ! Oh, fathers ! can you not imagine such a thing; and then, when you are empanelled as a jury to decide upon a case of the kind, try and bring the lex talionis to bear upon the per petratress, or perpetrator of such an enormity. Gentlemen of the Invercargill jury, yon should have sent that female to trial. There was nothing to excuse her detestable, devilish neglect.

Juries, indeed ! let me adduce further evidence of their immense- utility, far-sighted wisdom, high-souled impartiality, unselfish devotion to their duties. Such a one was empanelled in,a civil ease, a year or two ago, and the defendant was cast in damages—cost him a good many hundred pounds. A few months since, he was walking in a countryplace, and there met a man who thus addressed him—“ By Jove, so and so, we did make a mtss. Qf that case of yours. I was one. of the jury

and, with two or three others, disagreed with the majority ; but, as we should have lost the train that night, if we had not come to an agreement, we gave way and you lost.” And this is the justice obtained through the medium of a jury ! Heaven help us ! Who would not rather be in the hands of a Judge and capable assessors.

I suppose X may chirp with the rest in satisfaction at the completion of the most public-spirited undertaking ever inaugurated dn this or any other Colony, The Wellington andManawatu Kailway will ever be a standing -monument to the enterprise and pluck of Wellington citizens. There was a good deal of tall talking the other day, at the last spikedriving demonstration, when His Excellency the Governor —God bless him !—didn’t succeed in hitting the nail fairly on the head. Oh! Sir William, it was jolly ; the next time you attempt to drive a spike in a: rail, stand longitudinally with the line. But if we wanted further proof of your being the very jollie3t, -darlingest, “Guv,” that ever blessed this or any other Colony, we had it in your genial good temper and happy adaptation to circumstances manifested on that occasion. But to return to other matters, It was a capital outing, O Company, but just a little wee bit marred by hoggishness. How is it some people hecome so swinish over victuals and drink? The appearance of the “banqueting hall,” half-an-hour after the “grubbing” commenced, was a caution to the sensitive. Some likened it to a menagerie at feeding time, and there was force in the simile. And then the effects of -the swilling ! Some people drank to vomit, and vomited to drink again. It was a disgusting spectacle. Who dare complain about temperence reform being in the way ? Mon will never lift his head with the full dignity that is the birthright of the species till he rises superior to alcohol. There, there, Messrs publicans and others, don’t fume, don’t flurry yourselves. I am not going to preach a temperance sermon or advocate drastic measures. Nothing can prevent you from' having your day. So long as mankind hankers after •alcoholic Btimulants, so long will there be distillers and brewers and places for the retailing of their products. But how long that will be is the question to be considered. A generation or two yet, eh ? But still, O brewers, and distillers, and publicans, would you have any objection to “evolute” to more wholesome occupations; to spend your time in elevating instead of depressing humanity. And some day it will come to this. Now isn’t this wishing you well ? And yet I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if you turned about and reviled me.

In connection with that ever-memorable -spike-driving outing, there was a man who got up early in the morning and dressed to show his calves, and lo and behold before the day was ended he was calf all over. But in justice to the latter animal, I must explain that the only resemblance between them was in the power of suction.

Never saw a prettier scene in my life than two fighting craft conveying a convoy to his destination. The one had him in tow, broadside to broadside, and all the way along was imparting sailing directions, how to avoid shallows, steer clear of rocks, and keep off lee -shores. The other, less complacent, kept sailing round the twain, now shooting ahead, now backing her mainyard, and dropping alongside to „pour in a broadside of remonstrance and adjuration. Something in the sailing of the convoy had evidently ruffled her. Then she would fill away again and shoot ahead. One pretty manoeuvre was very noticeable. She threw her head yards aback and dropped astern, boxed off, then filled, shot across the sterns of the convoy and his consort and delivered a raking broadside into both. Then hauled her wind smartly, and went ahead on the port hand. They finally reached port, and it is to be hoped the convoy benefited by the sailing directions imparted to him.

Socialism still—ever in the ascendant; narrowed down to a shaving, for have we not heard this week that if Thorndon has a recreation ground, Lambton ought to have one too. Lambton and Thorndon—two wards of the city—to have separate recreation grounds ! Next, I suppose, there will be demanded a recreation ground for every street, and the householders will clamor for dignified relaxation and retirement for every house. Shouldn’t wonder a hit if it was narrowed down to as fine as that. The local streamlet once let loose soon assumes torrent-like proportions, We are growing crazy on segregation. As for the Thorndon recreation ground, the Botanical Gardens is the place for it, not the vicinity of railway works, where every available inch of land will be wanted by-and-by. And if Thorndon boys are -too puny and sickly to walk as far as the Botanical Gardens, the sooner they die off -■out of the way, the better it will be for the vace. Never heard such puerile arguments advanced in my life as at that meeting. The redoubtable George had a lot the best of it.

I was very glad, for the credit’s sake of our common humanity, to read the corrected version of that shocking boating fatality at Christchurch. And the corrected version was the most reasonable and, I doubt not, the true i one. When will people in boats observe the golden rule of keeping their seats, so as not to disturb the centre of gravity? It is really ). strange that the instinct of certain kinds of humanity should prompt the doing of that which places them in the greater danger. ; And yet it is so; women, especially, are given lathe very serious and perilous absurdity of t- rising 'up in a boat and screaming. The screaming is nothing, but the rising up is a fatal fallacy. 1 How many lives have been lost through it? Tf people in boats would, only ever bear in mind that their greatest safety lies in their lying low. The nearer the skin the better. The best intentioned boat cannot tolerate the standing up business ; over she anust go, in seven cases out of ten. ASMQDBOa.