ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1403, 19 January 1899, Page 19

ECHOES OF THE WEEK.

BY SCRUTATOR.

Not a few people will be very much taken aback by isome of the statements made concerning the tariff by certain witnesses appearing this week before the Conciliation Board. If a duty of 25 per cent, cannot "protect" the local iron and brass founder, what is tho good of the duty as a "protective" element? And yet, curiously enough, I believe the iron and brass founders of the colony were at one time the strongest supporters of protection. The tariff undoubtedly needs overhauling, and were it not for the awful loquacity of Parliament, the task might be undertaken. But fully half the members of tho present Parliament seem to imagine that to "talk, talk, talk" is the best and only way of discharging their duty to the country. The question of tariff revision must come up to tho front sooner or later. The present tariff is neither a protective tariff nor a re-venue-raising tariff—it is neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring. Sooner or later there will arise a cry right round the colony for some heavy, really appreciable reduction ia the dutie3 on the necessaries of life. Wages are not likely -to get any higher,—the ten dency, on tho other hand, is decidedly towards a decrease. This is a natural outcome of several causes, into which it is not necessary here to go. The emEloyers do not wish to reduce wages. o long as they get a decent profit they would, I feel sure (all save a few selfish, mean men, such as exist in every branch of life), just as cheerfully pay a high as a low wage.

But competition in production, the rage of the public for anything that, is cheap, and the surplus labour which is ever and again to the front, are all factors to account for the lessened earnings of the workers. On the other hand, rents—especially in Wellington—are frightfully high, not so much, as many people think, owing to the greed of tho landlord, but to the excessive original price of land. Now lowered wages plus high rents force the working class to live as oheaply as they can, jand the tariff presses very hard upon them. Were parliament to formally set aside all other business for a month, and devote itself to the consideration of tariff anomalies and injustices, it would be deserving well of the country. But the everlasting "jaw" of so many members renders such a possibility hopeless. More than ever does Carlyle's definition of parliament, " The Talking Shop," apply at the present time. All the same, though not as a rule given to prophecy, I venture to predict that within a couple of years from now the one political fight in New Zealand will be on the question of direct versus indirect taxation ; the customs duties on the necessaries of life will have to go, just as they have gone in New South Wales. The cost of living is becoming oppressively heavy and must be reduced. The burden of taxation is not yet equitably distributed. But this is far too serious a subject for a column like mine, and tempting though it be, I must leave it.

It seems to be part and parcel of the "plan of campaign" of certain prohibitionists to neglect no opportunity for insulting members of the Anglican, Catholic, and Presbyterian communions. These churches do not, as a rule, furnish many prohibitionists, and in consequence they are marked out for the most rabid abuse by some of the more fanatical of the prohibition leaders. There are men in the prohibition ranks who would do honour to any cause, men who honestly hold their own convictions as to the best way of dealing with what is admittedly an evil—the abuse of strong drink—but who can argue without dealing out personal insults to all who differ from them. Unfortunately, however, there are others, like Mr Isitfc and now the Rev. Dr Hoskings, who appear to completely lose their heads and disgrace themselves and the churches to which they belong by making the most madly intemperate statements concerning ministers and church members who refuse to accept the new gospel that prohibition is even more important than religion itself.

The Hosking person was for some time a resident in Christchurch, where he basked in notoriety for eccentricity of speech and action and was in his own way quite a "personage" in that city of fad» and faddists. He is now up in Auckland, where he has been cheerfully alluding to the Bishops and curates of the Church of England in that province as " a drunken lot." For this, and similar statements he has been severely and very properly taken to task by the Auckland press. All this sort of thing tends to bring prohibition into contempt with thoughtful, moderate folk, who begin to ask themselves whether any good purpose can possibly be served by such wild intemperate assertions. Not all prohibitionists, thank goodness, are of the Isitt, Hosking class, and in the ranks of the older temperance organizations there is, I know, a growing feeling that the policy of slander and insult is calculated to do far more harm than good. There are thousands of people in New Zealand who honestly wish to see a reform in the drinking habits of the colony, but to whom tho tactics of such men as the Rev. Dr Hoskings must he peculiarly offensive. By the way, where did this slanderer of the Anglican church get his degree of " Dr" from ? Is it an English degree, or one of the American species?

The question of candidates at the next general election is agitating the minds of the Hawke's Bay Liberals not a little. In Napier it is recognised that the one man to win the seat is Mr H. Cornford, a clever and popular barrister,

who is one of the most dashing and attractive of political speakers—he is almost an orator—that we have in New Zealand. The ex-Libaral member, Mr Cnrnell, is an ardent Liberal and in many ways a very estimable citizen. But he lacks the tact, the ability, tho power of speech, an 1) above all tho personal magnetism rnd popularity of Mr Cornford. It is perfectly well known that at the last election large numbers of Napier Liberals simply would not vote for Mr Carnell en account of his prohibition views, and for other drawbacks which do not exist in Mr Cornford's case. The sitting member, Mr McLean, represents wealth and sheep, but many of the business people in Napier who voted for him in 1896 would cheerfully drop him should Mr Cornford appear as a candidate. The Hawke's Bay seat is a harder nut to i crack for the Liberals, but Mr T. j Tanner, who has done so much for Hastings, intends, I believe, to storm " the Captain's" fortress, and should poll well.

Special interest is taken in the Waipawa seat. Mr Hall, who was strong in tho Bush, is not very well known at the Waipawa end of the district and his chances of ousting Mr Hunter would always be very poor. But there is another gentleman who, if he could but be induced to stand, would, it is confidently thought, turn the tables on Mr Hunter, and this is the Hon. W. C. Smith. Mr Smith it was, who years ago, stepped out of his modest store at Waipukurau and defeated the so-called " King of Hawke's Bay," tho great Mr Orraond, and never again did Mr Ormond sit for that district, but exocuted a diplomatic retreat upon Napier. Mr Smith has a splendid record as a public man. To his unremitting industry, energy, and power of putting their needs before successive governments the settlers of the district owe roads and bridges innumerable, and those who know tho history of the Liberal party can testify to the staunchness of his support to the late Mr Ballance.

A movement is on foot, I hear, to ask Mr Smith to resign from tho Upper House and once more step into the popular political arena. If ho chooses to sacrifice his personal comfort, come down from the Council and try conclusions with his old opponents, there will be such a fight in Waipawa next December as will be good to see for all who love a fierce political struggle. What is more, there will be also, I firmly believe, the capture of an Opposition seat.

Not only in Hawke's Bay, but in other districts, is the question of candidates coming prominently to the front. "A Waitotara Liberal" writes as follows :

Lear " Scrutator/' —What is this I see in a Wanganui paper about Mr Pyemont contesting the Waitotara "in the Government interest" against Mr Hutchison ? Mr Pyemont may save himself his time and money, for he would not have the ghost of a show, considerable time now, and apart from that there are many reasons why he would be quite an impossible candidate. .Mr Remington made a good fight at the last election, but he would not receive the) same support again; he is not " class" enough, as the sporting men say, for Mr Hutchison. The only candidate who could win the seat for the party and win it hands down, is John Wilkie, of Waitotara, a real "white man," a good settler, and popular with the settlers, a man of substance, generous-hearted and not stingy with the money he has made by his own industry and grit. Depend upon it he is the one and only man to "take down" the bumptious George, and all other candidates, if they are genuine Liberals and unselfish supporters of the party, should stand aside and give him a fair chance to vanquish the most bitter and unscrupulous enemy the Liberal Party have to contend with."

According to a. Copenhagen cable an expedition is to be sent out in search of Andree, the missing aeronaut, in 1900! Why not at once ? If there is to be any chance at all of discovering the lost explorer surely it will diminish with every month that passes by. Can anyone point tho actual benefit to civilisation of these Arctic expeditions ? Nearly every expedition sent forth requires another to search for its remains, but what is the good of the whole thing ? One more or less daring explorer may get 50 or 100 miles nearer the Pole than his predecessor, but how does that fact increase in any way whatever the world's welfare or happiness ? Beyond affording an opportunity for a lot of celebrity hunters to lionise the latest Discoverer and for the illustrated papers to use up a lot of old blocks—for all Arctic pictures are as like as two peas—beyond the puffing of the particular brand of soap used by the explorer—if he did use any—or the cocoa or whisky he drank, beyond these and other matters of no importance I fail to see what practical advantage results from these expeditions to the world at large.

The Yarra mystery has an indirectly special interest for New Zealanders, in that the woman chiefly implicated has a husband who formerly practised as a masseur and electric healer in this colony. There may be certain aetvantages to be gained, in certain cases, from massage, but under cover of this new panacea for bodily ills often lies the imost unblushing quackery—and worse. In London the West End " massage" establishments are notoriously used as assignation houses, and in many cases, have been proved to be nothing more nor less than absolute brothels, indeed the local authorities of Soho have quite recently instituted a new crusade against what were mere dens of immorality—for further par-

ticulars, quite unprintable here, the curious may go to certain London weeklies of last year's date—m tact at Home it is now recognised that massage establishments and masseurs ought to be registered and controlled by the local authorities. As to the profession" of electrical healer, it is too often tho last resort of discredited quacks, who, in Australia especially, seem to reap a rich harvest. And fully half the quack tribe, in America and Australia alike, are abortionists. It is a matter for congratulation, I think, that in New Zealand these gentry do not appear to have got much of a hold.

The Austrian Consuls at Auckland and Sydney have been blustering away about what is to happen to Mr Seddon when an Austrian man-o'-war arrives in New Zealand. Bluster and a supreme sense of its own importance are peculiarly the attributes of German and Austrian officialdom, and Mr Langguth, of Auckland, in private life " something in the fancy goods line," so I believe, doubtless imagines that he is playing a role of quite Imperial significance. As a matter of fact, there is no insult or injustice to Austria whatever in the determination of the people of this colony that New Zealand shall preserve its British character, and that hordes of European paupers shall not bo permitted to come here without their wives and families, and dump themselves for a year or two, then returning to their own country with the money they have made out of gumdigging. No one bus any objection to Austrian or any other European immigrants, if they will come here as permanent settlers, determined to make the country their home, to rear their families here, and become British subjects. Mark how, almost without exception, the Opposition papers have studiously ignored the fact that these men never bring their wives, that they are mere sojourners in the land. A clearer case of tho suppressio veri suggestio falsi there never has been.

But the Opposition papers are never very particular about tho methods they adopt. The Christchurch "Press," the other day, printed, to its eternal disgrace, a long and laboured, so-called " dialogue" between a Liberal and a Democrat, in which it was stated that the fact that the Premier was "an Orangeman and a Freemason" was influencing him in excluding these Dalmatians, who are Catholics! Coidd you possibly have a more tasteless, idiotic attempt at stirring up sectarian foeling ? Surely the "Press" must give the Catholics of the colony scant credit for common sense, when it endeavours to use them in this way. The article is jct only silly, it is more, it is an exhibition of journalistic blackguardism of the lowest kind. During the session Mr G, G. Stead, one of the owners of the " Press," sharply rapped his own editor (in the editor's own columns) for the meanness of certain methods of criticism cf the Government action. I wonder whether he has seen the recent effusion to which I have just referred.

That over enterprising young gentleman, ex-Councillor Joseph Myers, has been arrested at Monte Video, and duly identified by Sergeant Wright. Various rumours have been in circulation as to the actual amount of hard cash Joseph had in his possession on leaving Wellington but if the phras?. "Myers had 20" means that the absconder only possessed a beggarly twenty pounds, the possibility of his "squaring' a friendly Paraguayan jailer is but small, for like the estimable Pooh Bah, tLe South American official—if Jabez Ba- four's experience may be taken as a precedent—cannot be " insulted " under a very substantial sum. But it is not likely that Myers carried his total wealth about on his person and it is by no means certain that Sergeant Wright wUI be able to get him away safely on board a British steamer for a good many months to come. The greater the delay, the greater the disappointment of the Wel'mo ton public whose ears have been agreeably titillated of late with sundry curious rumours as to the young man's alleged accomplices.

Those who said there was no need for the Old Age Pension scheme would do welt to spend an hour or two at the Stipendiary Magistrate's Court at the time the claimants for pensions are in attendance. Many of the old folks tell the most pathetic storiss of how an unkind fate has stricken them down and impeded their passage along the always treacherous path which loads to fortune. Some there will always be who will " fall by the way," and that through sheer illluck or adverse fate. Many of the applicants tell their stories with touching dignity, and meagre though be the pi£ tance they are to receive, the satisfaction and evident gratitude with which an accepted claim is hailed by the applicant do one good to see. To these poor folk even £lB a year comes as a timely and deeply appreciated assistance.

Talking about Old Age Pensions it is announced, I notice, that the Belgian Government has under consideration a Workers Pension scheme. Within the next two or three years, I make no doubt the example set by New Zealand will be widely followed.

Those mysterious creatures, "the Mahatmas," of whom the Theosophists speak with such bated breath, have been in evidence again during the week, being reintroduced to public notice by Mr and Mra Draffin, two very worthy Aucklanders whose mission it now is to preach the gospel according to Blavatsky to a rudely sceptical world. One would have imagined that after the conclusive exposures of tho fat, vulgar, and silly old person who so long duped her adherents,

the Theosophists would have treated Madame Blavatsky as the Spiritualists do a medium who has been " bowled out" —as so many have been—in some impudent trickery, that is, discard her as a fraud, an enemy to the true faith, whom Satanic or other noxious influence has employed to discredit the genuine article. But no, good Mrs Draffin appears to believe as firmly as ever in the Blavatsky humbug, despite the crushing disclosure* of a few years ago, and further deludes herself into the belief in precipitated letters, concrete, black and white "proofs" of communications from the astral world. That such wilful, stupid credulity can exist at the end of the 19th century is positively astounding. Once more let it be said, that whenever and wherever the so-called Theosophical doctrines —so far as they concern " precipitated letters" and alleged communications between "the Mahatmas" and ordinary earthly persons— have been tested by shrewd scientific seekers after truth, they have been without exception proved to be a tissue of silly superstition, impudent fraud and astounding ignorance.

Dear " Scrutator,"— Touching the Queensland horrors, there is a depth of brutality amongst a certain class—a small c l ass — o 'f Queensland bush settlers that is almost unfathomable. As an example take tho case of a horrible creature in the form of a woman who was fined £25 in September last at Roma for most fiendish cruelty to a boy." The woman, the wife of a selector, was proved to have imprisoned a boy of five, not her own, in an iron tank, and to have kept him there like a dog, leaving his clothes to rot from his back. The child became utterly brutalised, " would eat ravenously of bullock's entrails, drink blood, and bite bits from living animals. From long confinement the poor boy could only crawl, and he lost the power of speech." And for this ghastly crime the brute in human form was only fined, which again gives you an idea of the particular kind of J.P. which the Queensland Government inflicts upon a suffering public,—Yours, etc., CT.

To Correspondents : —A Waitotara Liberal—Have had to excise certain parts of your letter. Too personal.—"Rimu" Thanks for valuable contribution. Will appear in "Farmer" pages next week.— "Thorndon Girl"—Thanks, but if you will look up last week's " Mail" you will find we do not trip in the account of recent society wedding. A silly attempt was made, in the interest of the correspondent of a southern paper, to mislead our contributor, but it failed.—" Pakeha " (Danevirke)—See "Echo" on the subjeeb you mention. With good management all three seats can be won. " Times " will be an eight page daily in a few week a time.—J.M.S. and others—No more original poetry for a month or so, an you loyo us. Have a plentous stock of verse in pigeon holes.—"A Mere Bush-whackev (Stratford)— Your good natured reproof duly noted. One's personal tastes must creep in at times. Case of "not guilty, but won't do it again." Am sorry, however, you are so deluded by the mans flashy style. His letters literally reek with error. Read, say, London Weekly Times" or "Spectator" (even the old numbers are good) and you will see tor yourself.