OUR STREET NUISANCES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1267, 11 June 1896, Page 33

OUR STREET NUISANCES.

Complaints have been common with reference to the obstruction caused to tho traffic by tho crowds which are attracted by street preachers and lecturers, especially on Saturday night, and as usual the blame is laid on tho police for allowing such crowds to congregate. From enquiries made by a Mail reporter it appears the police are not to blame, as they are powerless to act. There is no by-law against such obstruction, and when the police authorities have proceeded against parties, under tho Police Offences Act, they have been invariably defeated. It has been decided by tho wonderfully wise judicial mind that a crowd is not an obstruction, unless tho street is completely blocked, and then unless it can bo shown that the street is blocked for vehicular traffic. Of course the pathways can bo kept clear by the police, but apparently this is as far as they can go. As there wero more than half a dozen of such crowds on Saturday night, it would require a policeman to each of them to keep tho footpaths clear, and although the constables made evory effort to do so, yet no sooner had they passed on than the footpath was again blocked, to tho manifest inconvenienco of people who wanted to pass. This was VERY NOTICEABLE IN WILLIS STREET, in front of a building where some show was being held. An individual in tights, assisted by two women in loose Mother Hubbards, was inviting people to enter, and his “ jabber ” attracted a motley crowd, some of whom wore inclined to bo obstreperous when required to move off the footpath by tho police. The exhibition was in itself positively indecent. If tho City Council cannot pass a by-law preventing tho streets being blocked by street lecturers and others, they could, at least contribute to tho convenience of the ratepayers by refusing to license such places. A

mixed crowd gathered at the corner of Dixon and Cuba streets to listen to an individual who preaches on temperance in language most intemperate and vituperative, and certainly not such as the subject of his discourse would suggest. His usual stand has been at the Jlank of New Zealand corner, Cuba street extension, but the Salvation Army had possession of that point of vantage, and he was compelled to pitch his tent elsewhere. It was evident from the remarks of many who composed the crowd that they were not attracted by tho expectation of hearing anything that would he for their benefit, but were there in tho hope of enjoying tho “fun,” and gratify that base desiro of mankind to hear somebody abused. The crowd completely blocked the footpath and the greater part of the roadway, to the evident inconvenienco of people who had to pass along tho street. If a cabdriver or an expressman were to cause a tenth of tho obstruction which was caused by the crowd collected to hoar the fulminations of this alleged temperance preacher lie would bo PROCEEDED AGAINST AND PROBABLY PINED. i This is tho result of the law as it stands at present. In Sydney and Melbourne preachers and lecturers are not allowed to monopolise the streets, to tho inconvenience of the great body of citizens who do not come out on Saturday night to have either politics, religion, or temperance views screeched into their ears at every street corner. Tho majority of citizens attend one church or another, where they receive spiritual guidance according to their particular ideas, and accordingly do not stand in need of the admonitions of every individual who has got an idea that he is specially selected by Providence to warn men of their spiritual responsibilities; neither are they addicted to the vice of intemperance that they require tho guidance of self-constituted temperance advocates. Outside of the enthusiasts, fanatics and sensation-seekers, who compose tho inner circle of such gatherings, there are those who come to scoff or to criticise, and those who are there for no good purpose, whose comments and conversation are neither edifying nor elevating. Apart from the obstruction caused to traffic and the inconvenience to women and others by such crowds, there is the great annoyance to persons lying ill in tho vicinity. Those A/ho are ill require quiet and rest, and it is nothing short of torture to them to have to listen to the shouting of these preachers, who are very often so devoid of good taste and humanity as not to cease or move on somewhere else when requested to do so. If people want to advocate their views in the open air on any particular subject there is plenty of room for them on the reclaimed land, where they can “orate” to their heart's content without being much of an inconvenience to anybody. Hut if

the law as it stands does not empower our City Fathers or police authorities to keep the streets clear, the sooner such an enactment is placed on the Statute Hook, tho better it will be for the comfort and convenience of the citizens of Wellington and other centres in the Colony.