CURRENT TOPICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1267, 11 June 1896, Page 34

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE COAL TRADE. There were, it was telegraphed all over Now Zealand the other day, great rejoicings at Westport fit tile departure of tho pioneer outside trader, a largo vessel bound for Valparaiso with a cargo of tho famous coal which carried 11.M.5. Calliope safely out of Apia Harbour when all the other ships in tho roadstead perished. The departure was opportune; just in the height of the Newcastle strike, and at tho time when the reputation for the Newcastle product as somewhat unsafe to tho carrying ship is getting bad. In common with all colonists worthy of the name, we joined in the hopes and congratulations of Westport) and we remarked that hitherto the West Coast coalfields had largely disappointed tho expectation of a largo foreign expoit on which the largo expenditure on its harbours was based. Since then wo have seen a copy of the report made for tho Westport Harbour Board by that competent authority, Mr Napier Bell. As throwing the strongest light on tho past history, present circumstances and future prospects of the Bailor port, the report is most interesting and hopeful reading. First as to tho trade of the port. As yet tho oversea trade is nothing, all the coal produced in tho district being consumed in New Zealand. In JSSS, when tho expenditure on tho harbour was authorised by law, the 'export was 78,000 tons ; in 1888, when the works had deepened the bar of tho Bailor, it was 130,210; in the year 1895 it had risen to 222,928 tons, or 72 per cent, in tho seven years following tho deepening of tho bar. The rate per day is about 790 tons.

The mines now being worked aro tho Granity Creek, Westport, Cardiff and Mokihinui, tho two former being the property of tho Westport Company. Tho three companies expect very shortly to bring up their output to 2000 tons per day in tile aggregate, the Granity mino contributing 1500 tons, tho Westport 800 tons (as now) tho Cardiff 350, and the Mokihinui 250. That will bo, it' tho estimates aro realised, and tlioro seems no reason to anticipate they will not bo, an annual output of nearly 900,000 tons a year. In other words, tho output of tho mines in tho Westport district is about to bo quadrupled “in a short time.” Tho news is most satisfactory. If Mr Bell had only given us tho exact value of tho “ short time ” there would not bo anything left to desire, except tho opening out of fresh mines and all preparations for another quadrupling of the export in another short time.

In view of theso facts, possibilities and expectations, the stato of tho harbour works becomes interesting, and so do tho shipping facilities, actual and prospective, and the financial aspect of tho question assumes tho gravest importance. The harbour works aro two breakwaters, and two complete training walls, and some dredging has been done in tho usual way. But the great bulk of tho dredging luis been done, and will bo dono’i.' all time, by tho current of the rivor directed by tho training-walls. A depth of 30 feet low water on tho bar proclaims tho groat success of tho works, and so does tho lino navigablo channel inside, and so does tho fact that oven in tho worst floods—they run as high a 3 10 knots, or 11 j miles, an hour there is complete safety at tho wharves for the shipping. More wharves will bo required for an increased output, and deeper berths, as well as more loading facilities. All this can bo done—with tho exception of tho railway extensions, for doubling the present linos and reaching tho new wharves, which work is the province of tho Railway Department for ,£74,000. The number of berths available for coal ships will bo 15, whereas now only four can load at a time ; and vessels of 300 feot will find no difficulty in turning in tho river.

Financially, tho port is as sound as any in Now Zealand. For tho current year tho estimate of revenue —railway and wharf, 2225,000; coal royalties and land endowments, =£ll,ooo ; Capo Foulwind railway, =o4oo—is =£3fi,4oo, and that of expenditure is—interest and sinking fund, =£25,030; harbour expenses, <£2so0 —=027,530, giving a profit balance of 218870. For the increased requirements the revenue estimate reaches .£1)2,900, tho expenditure advances to .£3o,7Bo—after allowing interest and sinking fund for a new loan of .£lu;i,O(io—and the profit balance to tho respectable sum of =£32,120. To sum up, it is clear that Westport is a good harbour and will bo made convenient, that it will bo callable of accommodating an export trade of a million tons for an extra expenditure of .£75,000, that it can work that trade at a profit of .£32,000 a year. On the whole the jubilations at Westport over the departure of the pioneer over-sea coal trader, and the echoes of tin* same .all over New Zealand, have a good basis to stand upon. Thu inline looks both solid and bright. THE FADDISTS AND THE MARRIAGE LA WS. Jr was decided (ho other day by the Full Court of Now South Wales that the free pardon granted to Dean did not do away with any of tho consequences of the sentence, except the imprisonment specified in the sentence. Now it is positively startling that a learned body of Judges should "declare such an inconsequential thing fo he the law. Simple justice requires th it a ftco pardon given for an oHence should, as far as is humanly possible, free tho innocent victim of a wrongful conviction to his status as a free citizen. Governments have occasionally gone i urlhei in cases of pardoned innocence tho term is a satire on the methods j of the law which aro sometimes fearful and wonderful by paying heavy sums as some sort of compensation for punishment undeservedly suffered. Now in tho Dean case tho convict

cent of tho charge on which ho had beoti convicted. Tho decision of the Court; therefore, was that a free pardon is hot what it ought to be by any means j at all events in New South Wales. Either the law there is barbarous and monstrous, or the Judges are men of imperfect erudition. Inasmuch, however, as they expounded not the statute law of their colony, but the common law of the Empire, their decision is of general interest. Its special interest in Now South Whiles lies in the fact that the now divorce law of that colony makC3it criminal conviction in certain cases ft sufficient ground for divorce. The I‘ceont judicial decision means that this grown l remains sufficient even after a free pardon has followed tho completo demonstration of a convict’s innocence. As it happened the establishment of Dean’s inuoceiico was followed by tho reestablishment of his guilt. No harm was therefore done by granting the divorce to the wife ho had tried to murder. But had it not been so, and had tho wife still insisted on divorce—tho theory of tho husband’s innocence necessarily involved guilt on the part of tho wife of some kind fatal to tho chance of further domestic happiness tho Court would, according to its own showing, havo had to grant her a decree. The possibility of such a monstrous proceeding does not seem to havo struck the faddists who are always wanting to tinker with the marriage laws. Perhaps they will condescend to take warning by what lias transpired in the Dealt case.

LIBERTY AND LICENSE. Luierty is good, License is bad. Of Liberty it was said on ft famous occasion, under most painful circumstance by a heroic soul, that Very strango things are done in that sacred name. Madame Holland, who had struggled in tho front ranks for freedom, protested against the license which sent her to tho scaffold by the grossest procedure of unmixed tyranny, ft was an abomination of desolation to that proud soul, and every soul worthy of their common liumauity, and quick with its legitimate passion for freedom, felt that its sentiments were voiced under tho shadow of that hideous guillotino. That was a great historical episode. By no moans can anything happening in our quiet, reserved nineteenth century life, in a steady and remarkably free Colony, bo compared with it. But the great principle which that famous and capable woman invoked in tho hour of lior last agony is the same now as it was then. It exists for all tho ages, it applies to all generations of men, it proclaims the only condition on which tho well-being of society can bopo to permanently depend. Tho principle is that true liberty is freedom for all without inconvonionco to any. It teaches that in order to secure tho utmost freedom for all, tho individual must submit to cortain obvious restrictions. Tho mon who havo by force of character and force of arms won their freedom from despotic tyrants must not be allowed to become despotic tyrants themselves towards thoso who differ from them ; simply because they happen to differ from them. That is not liberty: it is license ; not tho samo awful dogroo of license which the dying light of the Girondists protested against, but just as truly license, and as much to bo opposed a 3 the license which tho terrible pathos of her over memorable protest denounced for all tho generations to come after her.

This license wo have in our streets, a 3 shown elsewhere iu a special article against street nuisances and tho fanatics who perpetrate them. Theso street obstructors tyrannise over tho public, ridn over the public roughshod. It would matter comparatively little if the nuisance were confined to tho passers-by ; if it wore, in other words, a more nuisance. But it is not so confined by any means. Not only do these fanatics obstruct tho thoroughfares, but they positively take delight in invading tho rooms of tho sick and tho infirm and tho dying with their most abominable noise. Even when the danger of death is advanced as tho plea for surcease of their noisy blatancy, they reply with insolence, and they go on torturing delicate nerves, banishing sloop from tho couch of fever, making recovery in critical cases absolutely impossible. In short, they aro in their lieenso as callous and brutal as tho worst despots who lmvo soiled the pages of history by their horrible misdeeds. Why do wo lino the street with tan when people aro sick ? Why do wo mullle the door-knockers ? Certainly not to enable Salvationists and temperance ranters to destroy the life wo havo saved from tho noise of rumbling vehicles and thoughtless callers.

The law is powerless to stop these atrocities. All that can bo dono by tho most zealous policeman, and there aro very few policemen in theso days, is to keep the footpath clear in his immediate neighbourhood, a thing which must bo peripatetic like himself. Hitherto tho street traffic has been governed by a law of very elastic character. That elasticity tho fanatics have abased to their own fell purposes. They have converted the liberty given to them in common with all citizens who are supposed to respect the principles of true liberty into a tyrannical dominion over their neighbours. I he liberal spirit of tho law of freedom they have destroyed by abuse of the law s letter. They havo demonstrated their total unfitness for tfio discretional liberty allowed them. They have proved that the necessity for driving out of the field^t 110 license they havo usurped is urgent. Tho session of Parliament is at hand. It should not lie allowed to pass without the enactment of a statute which shall teach these fanatics tho difference between wholesome liberty and tyrannical license. They all havo their churches, chapels and halls. Lot them c inline their license to their own precincts. Outside of them they must conform to the

community in which they are but insignificant portions.

TELEPHONIC ENTERPRISE. A little learning is a dangerous thing. It impels people into all sorts of speculations, it makes them worry their neighbours out of their lives with rash suggestions, and drives them into tlio oxtremost curiosities of criticism. For example, our evening contemporary has run across somo statistics about telephone work. At once it jumps to the conclusion that our New Zealand servico is a vory circumscribed affair by comparison with the development that has lately taken place in England, and after mentioning various long linos in England and America over which conversations can bo held concludes as follows “ Nor are our Australian cousins quite behind, for between Melbourne and Geolong, 45 miles apart, there is a telephone servico available for privato use at a fee of it 15 annually. Our Postmaster-General has shown tho spirit of enterprise in ombarking upon his sixpenny telegram system. When shall wo hoar of interprovincial telephones?” Our contemporary is evidently quite unaware of tho fact that there are and have been for years telephonic communication between tho principal towns in tho Otago and Southland districts. Dunedin has as branch exchanges Port Chalmers, with some 12 subscribers, ( J miles distant ; Milton, 8 or !) subscribers, 85 miles distant; and llalclutha, 17 subscribers, a2 miles distant. Invercargill has BlulT with about 18 subscribers, 17 miles distant ; Winton, 18 miles, 2 or 4 subscribers ; Thornbury, 20 miles, 3 subscribers; Woodlands, 11 miles, 5 subscribers; Mat-aura, .12 miles, with 8 or ( J subscribers; Gore, 40 miles, with 45 subscribers; Riversdale, 08 miles, with 4or 5 subscribers. In addition to these subscribers whoso premises are connected to branch exchanges for tho usual foe of <£s per annum, and who pay an extra charge of Gd for every conversation of six minutes’ duration over trunk wire, tho local telephone stations working into tho small centres and branches can all be connected to central exchange, and with each other; tints Balfour, 9 miles beyond Riversdale, may be connected to Invercargill or Bluff or to any of the branch exchanges or bureaux in tho district. Tho New Zealand Telegraph Department has thus probably met all our present requirements with regard to trunk telophono communication between towns. Hastings, in the North Island, is about to bo sorvod by a branch exchange there and a trunk wiro from Napier. Then thero are miles of telephone on the Mauawatu line. To erect efficient trunk telephone wires for long distances, however, is vory costly. In America and England thoso arc constructed specially with heavy copper wires for conductors, and with metallic circuits; also where cables aro brought into uso as between Scotland and Ireland (Donaghadee to Port Patrick), and between England and France, thoy must bo specially designed for tho purpose, England has expended recently somo .£IOO,OOO on those trunk wiros. Tho miloago given 1270 —probably includes tho tot al length of trunk wires erected. The longest distance to bo spoken over where cable is used, from Dublin to London, would bo under, 500 miles. A young country liko Now Zealand could hardly go to such expenditure for long linos, and the fees, varying from 2s Gd to Plymouth to 7s Gd London to Dublin, would bo considered by thrifty Now Zealanders as too expensive for every-day use; and all the more so sinco they can send a telegram from the North Capo to tho Bluff for Gd. It is obvious a distanco rate for telephone conversations would have to ho tho basis of charges. Now Zealand, by tho way, has, we believe, tho distinction of establishing tho first telophono station in tho world to bo conducted precisely the same as a telegraph office. '1 hat station, Portobollo, was opened to the public about January, 1879, to do all tho business usually done by a telegraph office, and the local storekeeper, who had charge of tho post office, was appointed telephonist.

FANATICAL 0 B STB U CTI ON. By tho courtesy of His Worship tho Mayor we aro enabled to give tho text of a bylaw which ho has had drawn up, and proposes to submit to tho Council at an early dato. Its chiof provisions aro as follow Every person who shall sound or play upon any musical instrument, or sing, or deliver any lecture or address, or make any noise whatsoever in any street or public place or near any liouso within the city of Wellington after having been required by any householder resident in such street or house, or by any police constable, to desist f rom so doing, either on account of any illness of any inmate of such house or for any reasonable cause whatever shall be deemed guilty of an oll'encc against this by-law. Every person guilty of any offence against this by-law shall he liable for each such offence to such penalty not exceeding live pounds (i!5) as tho Court inflicting the same shall in its discretion think lit. This proposed by-law was, tho Mayor assures us, being concocted at tho very time tho New Zealand Times opened firo on tho subject. It appears to be drastic. But by-laws that aro not drastic aro useless. By-laws of the kind have, wo must remombor, been set at naught, by braggadocio, martyrdom, bunkum, tears, ridiculo, special pleading, legal technicalities, ingenuities, acumen of all sorts and pretences specious and otherwise. Therefore, if wo aro to have a by-law—and a by-law we must have—that by-law must be strong enough to stand against the whole legion of braggadocio, martyrdom and company even to tho attendant acumens and pretences. It is time a high hand were taken. Only the other night, before tho ink of our article on tho subject was cliy, a request was made to a howlor to desist, on the ground that a lady was lying ill hard by, and was refused by tho howler, who suggested, with characteristic rashness tvnd tyrannical impertinence, that it was a

case of too much whisky. In Sydney the streets aro kept free for the use of tho public to whom thoy belong. The authorities there recognise that the streets were made for the convenience of the citizens, not for tho objects of individuals. There the individuals who wish to pursue their objects aro relegated to tho Domain. In tho Domain they have to wait their turns to address the crowds, and it is amusing, we understand, to watch the details of their rivalry. Into that aspect of the question wo will not enter. We prefer to respect tho good motives of tho many who have good motives, and aro ready to spend themselves ill forwarding what they regard, and what very often is, a good cause. But the streets are not the place for this sort of thing. The reclaimed land offers space to all, both to those who have the purest motives and to thoso who are merely fanatical howlers bent on notoriety. Let us have a good drastic bylaw, therefore, which shall effectually save the streets for the citizens, without preventing tho preachers from inviting crowds to hear their oratory in secluded places. THE TRADE WITH JAPAN. We remember somo very enthusiastic reports presented by sundry roving commissions sent out by sundry Australian Governments. They traversed the East from end to end, they camped in bazaars, they paced the open spaces where merchants most do congregate, they gave banquets at which tlmy exhibited their commodities, wines, ales, woollens, cheese, butter, brandy. While holding forth to their guests, soot bed with choice tobacco during the benign influence of the post-prandial hour, they did not fail to hold forth not only on the superexcellencies of tho things they had brought with them, but also on thoso which had remained modestly behind. When they returned from those pleasant wanderings they gave a liair-curling account of their success. The European in the East was a cormorant for everything Australian. Just now in tho matter of wine lie preferred whisky, because tho vintages of Europe had for some reason palled; but it was certain—thoso Calebs saw it in bis somewhat lustreless and livery eye —that having tasted of the vintages of Australia lie intended never to drink anything else. This seemed hyperbolical ; but it faded into the humdrum of tho commonest commonplace beside tho allegation that tho Eastern consumer had discovered and proclaimed tho enormous superiority of tho laager beers of Melbourne to the product of all the breweries of the world, including those of Germany. After that a certain flavour of suspicion scorned to attach to the statements tho Calebs brought back about butter and cheese, mutton and ether things. As to the reference to mutton we confess we were inclined to set somo store by it ourselves. The allegation that the Japanese aro fond of mutton, and quite ready to eat quantities of the frozen article, seemed so natural. Is it not our mutton ? lias it not conquered everybody at tho centre of Empire, everybody except tho retail butcher, who sells it as “ best Scotch,” and thanks Heaven once a week in the churches that lie is not as other men aro? Aro not tho Japanese the newest people, with the newest tastes ? Have they not cut themselves adrift from all the prejudices of the old centuries ? Clearly there must bo a Japanese rush for our mutton, in spite of the rather enthusiastic reports of tho Calebs of Australia. In tho same way thoso men had said that tho Japs, would take all our wool in one bite, and convert it into clothing straight away by processes for which they were buying machinery even then all over tho woild. Tho zani of the Yaloo were certainly dinning wonderful tidings into Australasian ears. Alas! we liavo before us tho last report of the British Consul at \okohama. “Sentimentally speaking, a Japanese,” says this authority, “ would as soon think of eating mutton us a respectable English mechanic would of eating horse-flesh. . . . The odour of mutton is to the ordinary Japanese intolerably offensive. All tho mutton now imported into Japan is consumed exclusively by the foreign residents. Though retailed iu Yokohama at Is per II), the whole cost landed there is 3d.” In his opinion the Japs will never take to the Australian mutton. As to the wool, they have not yet taken to establishing factories, and show no signs of wanting to do so ; neither does tho bulk of the people appear to suspect that wool is better wear for all weathers, both hot and cold, than cotton. A good deaFof education will be required before our chief productions can he taken by Japan. On theother hand they are of course ready to trade with us. Rice, silk goods, ooLtuii carpets and fancy goods, matting, bronze, porcelain, lacquer work, fans and screens these thoy sell to us now in limited quantities and would like to sell more largely. Thoy also intend to cheapen every other tiling wo make, and it would delight them to win in any industrial competition, and under cover of the victory to come over and settle among us and Japanese us. On the whole there is no overpowering necessity for making any commercial treaty with Japan. One-sided arrangements with Asiatic races are not things to be pursued at all costs by AngloSaxon communities.

Some time ago four gentlemen who were strangers to each other were playing whist, when one of them hail the whole 13 trumps dealt to him, and yet ho did not win. 1 Impossible !” you say. Not at all. His partner led an ace, he trumped it, and his partner flung down his hand in disgust. The only “ trump ” that never fails is the now Wator-s b ury Watch—a marvel of cheapness. Obtainable everywhere. Tho Christchurch Grand Jury throw out the Dill presented against Richard Brown, formerly dresser at the Christchurch Hospital, for alleged perjury in connection with the ease of Dr Doßenzi.

EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. On this great question wo broke ground the other day. It is a great question, because the world is organised on certain lines. Were we living in an ideal condition of society, in which everybody married, and married early, there would be no difficulty whatever. Thero would be no question of the maintenance of any surplus female population. There would be no surplus female population. In every country on tho earth’s surface nature takes care of that by seeing that thero aro more men children born into the world than women. The wear and tear of man’s life being greater man starts with a handicap of numbers in his favour. If the conditions of society were the simple natural conditions we have indicated, the balance of the sexes would never be disturbed, and there would be uo anxiety about what we shall do with our girls. But social conditions alter, the opportunities of life fall to the few, tho many, as we showed the other day, requiring assistance from outside. Life becomes more and more artificial, with the giowth of luxury comes the growth of selfishness; from which cause it happens that many men cannot Dr will not take to themselves wives, and therefore many women deprived of their natural protectors are without the means of subsistence. Tho number is furl her increased by the fact that enterprise and a spirit of independence takes many young men away from the populous countries, and sends them to hew fortunes out of the wilderness. In Great Britain the excess of women from this cause is about a million. In parts of Now Zealand it is large, notably Canterbury and Otago. Thero is, further, a large number of women who have to maintain themselves without being in a majority by any means, as here in tho Wellington district. The question is what to do with them. ’To somo extent that question is answered by theemploymont of women in many lines of business. But as a rule tho work given to them is the poorest paid, aud least rich in the opportunities for advancement. In this respect, however, it must be admitted that there has been a distinct advance in tho last few years. In this direction tho advance has kept pace with many other lines of advancement. But what the world requires in order to make the advancement equal tho occasion, the requirement , of which is the granting to women of a fair share of tho opportunities of life, what is required for that is the general realisation of the fact that many women are practically abandoned to their own devices at the threshold of life. The old theory that marriage cured everything is no longer tenable. It is useless to ask thoso who have embraced the opportunities of life whether the same sorts of opportunities cannot bo opened to the women. Naturally, they will tell you, as most of tho men interviewed on tho subject told our representative, that the thing is quite impossible. Neither is it a thing about which any mail can dogmatise. It is a thing for the women themselves to take up. They have now political power; the franchise for which free men have fought in every ago of tho world. It is for them to use that power. It is for them also to say what it is thoy want. First, they liavo to bo heard on tho great question of whether the payment of women in tho various lines of life now open to them is fair iu comparison with the payment of men. Secondly, they have to say what professions and higher walks of employment they wish to enter. All professions ought, whero there is