ROUNDS THE CORNERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 934, 24 January 1890, Page 17

ROUNDS THE CORNERS.

DEGENERACY. ‘Any means to an end,’ * fight.to win, fairly* if you can, but mind and win.’ These are thelegends of latter-day ethics the goddess Ex--pediency is in the ascendant and her worshippersare the million. Ends have to- be served;; objects must be gained, and the only concernis to serve and gain. The old axiom of ‘ fair play pnd above board ’ is seldom, qgofced now-a-days. It is studiously kept in the back ground as unsuitable to the circumstances of the age. Hitting below the belt is not only winked at, but is allowed to be legitimate, that is, if you properly double up your adversary and win out

of hand. Ah ! the winning is the thing. If a court of law will only dab you winner you are right enough, it matters not much how the higher, purer, ethics were outraged during the contest. This miscrupnlousnes3 is very apparent in mast walks of life. Society is •saturated with it. Presenting false issues to mislead and harass an adversary is practised with impunity. In commerce and policies ■dodge is piled on dodge to score a win, but in politics especially do men descend into deep •abysses of reckless mendacity to cast discredit ■upon an opponent and wm support. Some 'newspapers are heinous sinners in this respect. 'Nothing is too far fetched if it only makes a mark. Say he did it whether he did or not, •and let those who will t?.ke the trouble find nut the mistake. THE GULLIBLE PUBLIC. To raise public dander perfectly no surer way than to tell the public it is easily gulled. And yet it is true, nevertheless, and all because the public is too idle to reason and investigate, and is prepared to accept anything, almost, firsthand. No matter how reckless the assertion, it will find credence somewhere, and after it has effected lodgment anywhere to dislodge it is no easy matter. Folks do so •object to admit having been deceived or misinformed. Many deliberately prefer to propagate error and brazen it out. There has been a good deal of mud-throwing in connection with the recent cemetery site selecting, and the absurdest motives were attributed to sundry councillors that wouldn’t hold water for one moment when submitted to the test. And it was by the merest luck that the test was applied in one ox two instances, while Suill false impressions have got abroad and stay there. There really does seem to be a prevailing inclination to impute evil motives. Charity is at a discount honourable consideration out of court. RETURNING PROSPERITY. In the classic days of gold-mining the prosperity of a ‘ diggings 5 was estimated by the quantity of ‘drink ’ consumed. Given outward and visible signs of this in abundance, and the new-comer threw down his swag, and up tent with a light heart and contented mind. Men Kn a variety of stages of ‘ sea-overines3 ’ and rattling stand up fights, every day meant business. ‘ Bulldog flat is the peace, Bill,’ wrote one old mate to the other. ‘ Never saw such drinking anywhere—be quick, old man, and come while it lasts.’ And ‘ Bill ’ rolled up, and toddled, and then rolled in, and came out pretty chirpy on ’fcother side. And the test of those days still finds applications only muchly modified. But it is still a fact that drinking and roystering. generally, ebbs and flows v/rth ‘ the luck of the times.’ Polks become mighty virtuous under .compulsion, but just relieve the pressure, and note the results. Only tfie other year congratulations were exchanged on the decrease of drunkenness and its accessories. The colony was then strictly on the retrench, the new flax gully hadn’t been opened, and .frozen meat flat was only finding development, while the hard hill of loan raising was completely worked out. As a consequence virtue was in the ascendant. Drinking decreased, and men didn’t swear much, except in their beards. And now the record is a bit the other way, and ail because new ground that pays’ well has been opened. There is yssore money about X&ds, and some of it goes the old, old way, as was shown by the published records of the U/ellsngt.on R.M. Court for last year. There was quite a marked .increase in the •convictions for drunkenness and bad language. Ayej just as ever, ‘ When the devil was sick, it he devil a monk would be, when the deyil yns well the devil a monk was he/ THE JUBILEE BUSINESS. We’ve had oar Jubilee, and a jolly turn out it was, ant? we held it on the 22nd, too, the day Wellington has celebrated for the last forty years anyhow. SUout hip, hip, hurrah ! And laud our noble selves, and why not 1 Having kept its anniversary so long on one day, and there being no unanimity in the colony for any other, Wellington did right in abiding by old land marks. It is a pity, however, that the question was not considered in good time last year, that is, during Parliament, and the day of thanksgiving—the Colony’s birthday—positively fixed, so that the Jubilee could have been celebrated on it from end to end of the Colony, and an end would have been made of the many bewildering provincial anniversary days. Better late than never, however, and if Parliament will only do it this year it will do the Colony a singularly good turn. It is strange that Die fact of the 29th of January having been officially announced should have so completely £a«efi out of memory as only to be restored by 'ruinmag' I’ng 1 ’ng old records. It really seems as if the 29tli was the official day, and perhaps it will be wail to make it so. And the Government lias dune this by proclaiming the Jubilee ■holiday on that day, but the action was taken too la?e to be of any seivice in inducing unanimity. OUR TREASURES Blessings nri the children ! How well they looked in the Jubilee pcoces ion Well fed, well dressed, r =sy, and contented, and plenty •of’em. Ah! that’s the noi.fi. The turn-out was just tip-top, and challenged the assertions about the failure of marriage. Well, all I can is. that if that is the result of marriage being a faiiwre. the effects «»f the success of marriage, in these putts, wmiid be seriously perplexing. What should we do, then, with all the ‘ little people.’ Ashodeus.