Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

MOTES ON THE NEWS OF THE WEEK.

As during the last week or two the

MRPiraxi’s speech,

Premier has been travell ug over the North Island, and the Opposition has languidly

made itself heard at different points, it was only to be expected that the energetic members of the ‘'Left Wing” should make an attempt to justify their claim to recognition as a party. Hence Mr Pirani’s address at the Exchange Hall last evening. His task hi prevailing on the audience to treat him seriously was of course a difficult one, and was only successful in a negative sense. That is to say, he was goodnaturedly treated,, and accepted as innocuous. So far as the subject matter of his discourse was concerned, it consisted in great measure of abstracts from the Premier’s speeches, on which were passed a running commentary. There was hardly anything in the speaker’s remarks calling for special comment, being confined as they principally were to matters that have already been discussed. It would be attaching a higher importance to Mr Pirani’s actress than it deserves to ascribe to it any special significance or weight. Neither that gentleman nor his associate “wingers” are regarded as other than irresponsible political bandits, whose principal object is to harass both sides of the House with charming impartiality. Mr Pirani, by speaking from a Wellington platform, may have deluded himself with the pleasing notion that he is a political leader; but before he can be accepted in that role be will have to deal with weightier subjects than the trivialities to which ho devoted himself on tins occasion,

From time to time the cry of the Russian

FAMINE IN RUSSIA.

poor has penetrated through the officialism that hedges the Czar and reached Ids Imperial ears. Although

the Emperor Nicholas is “the father of his people,” he has been more intent recently on the construction of military railways and the building of warships than he has been to relieve the distress and suffering of his subjects. There is a cruel irony about his constituting a Peace Conference in contrast with the internal discontent of his own Empire and the depressed and tax-ridden people that dwell within his realm. But man plays many parts; and while the Czar may build ships, and add region upon region to his vast dominions, he cannot order the seasons or stay the ravages of famine. Right in the Reart of European Russia there are five million famine-stricken peasants. They represent half of the inhabitants of an area comprising nineteen thousand square miles. Our cablegrams have repeatedly informed us of the dire distress that prevails. Now we learn that to the ravages of the famine has been added the scourge of disease. Scurvy is spreading in an alarming manner through the famine-stricken districts.

Upwards of one hundred and fifty towns and villages have been attacked by scurvy and typhus. The local authorities are unable to cope with the tearful ravages of a death-dealing calamity; and it is confessed that the members of the Red Cross Society, though numerous and zealous and indefatigable, are quite unable to mitigate appreciably the vast aggregate of suffering. An appeal has consequently been made to British benevolence, and Englishmen are asked to go to the relief of their hereditary foes. During the last Indian famine, some wealthy Russians ostentatiously sent subscriptions direct to the suffering natives—palpably with a view to furthering Russian influence in that country ; but we may be sure that British donations to suffering Russians have no sinister political intention behind them.

Intelligence received through St. Petersburg gives harrowing ae-

awftjl sufferings,

counts of the sufferings of the peasantry m the Rus-

sian famine region. One account says that the people have practically no movable property left, their whole furniture consisting of a bed of straw and a table. The cattle have long since disappeared ; what could not be sold for a song died for want of fodder. Perfect skeletons greet the visitor as he enters tlie huts, skeletons with the famine fever gleaming through their eyes. Some are lying stretched on tlie floor to gather strength. The sight of a family of children is heartbreaking. As one cros-.es the threshold they rush forward weeping and begging for a piece of bread. In tne. Ufa district the people often have been three or four days without a bite of food, and the distress is everywhere appallingIn their efforts to mitigate the effects of the famine the members of the Red (’ro«s Society have taken hundreds of suckling babes from their famished mothers and have erected temporary hospitals where the infants are being artificially nourished. Their work has been considerably hampered by religious difficulties. A rumour arose among the Mahommedau peasantry that if they accepted f -od at the hands of the delegates of die Red Cross they would have to become Christians. In many places it is said that the sight of the cross led to the Mahoiumedans committing deeds of violence against the wearers; but others were so weak with hunger that they offered to wear two crosses if doing so would bring them food. Money is already being sent from England in response to the representations of the English residents in St. Petersburg. But it would be well if the Czar Himself and his responsible advisers were to take a little more time irom the prosecution of designs of further aggrand-

isement to think how they can best: relieve the appalling ravages that famine and disease are making among the Russian peasantry. Surely to a benign ruler the lives gi his subjects ought to be of more concern than territorial expansion. A correspondent, writing from Pahiatua,

TELLIXG LIES I'OH LIQUOK.

reminds us of a fa#t that we had overlooked when commenting the other clay on the activity of the police

ill prosecuting persons who falsely represent themselves to be travellers or lodgers, with a view to being served with liquor during prohibited hours. The Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act Amendment Act of 1895, in addition to modifying the Act of 1893, amended in some respects the Licensing Act of 1881. Perhaps the most important of the latter amendments is that enacted by sub-section 5 of section 22 of the Act of 1895. This reads as follows: —“(a) It shall be lawful for, but not obligatory upon, a licensee to sell liquor at any time to any person being really a lodger living or staying in the licensed premises, or a bona fide traveller seeking refreshment on arriving from a journey, provided that the liquor so sold is personally consumed on the premises by such traveller and h J no other person, (b) i.he burden of proving any person to be a lodger or traveller shall be upon tho person alleging the fact; and any person falsely alleging himself to be a lodger or traveller shall be'liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.” This provision seems perfectly explicit and sufficiently drastic, so that it is difficult to imagine why the police should have elected in recent cases to proceed against mala fide travellers under the Justice of the Peace Act, on the genera! charge of ‘'counselling and procuring a breach of the law.” As we pointed out the other day, proceedings under the lastmentioned Act might fail in cases where the “counselling” had not gone the length of “procuring.” The clause from the Act of 1895 goes much further, however, and will enable a person who made false pretences to be convicted, even though his attempt to obtain liquor did not succeed. This is a highly desirable state of things ; and in the interests of thosa publicans who desire to do legitimate trade, the fact cannot be too well known

that everyone who tempts them by false pretences to break the law is liable to a fine of £lO, and is presumed to be lying unless lie can prove the truth of his representations. The revelations made before the special

secret commissioxs.

committee of the London Chamber of Commerce regarding the prevalence of secret commission payments

by English traders, have led, as has been previously indicated, to the introduction of legislation with a view to preventing a continuance of these practices. The object of the Bill introduced into the House of Lords by the Lord Chief Justice is “to check, by making them criminal, a large number of the inequitable and illegal secret payments, all of which are dishonest, and tend to shake confidence between man and man, and to discourage honest trade and enterprise.” The preamble is, in effect, a copy of the finding on this subject by the Chamber of Commerce, and was adopted by the council of the Chamber in 1898. lender the Bill, making a gift, offer, receipt or solicitation of a corrupt character is determined to be an offence. Various cases in which illicit practices have been shown to exist are aimed at by the measure, which deals thoroughly with the whole question, and a special attempt iliiade to put down the circulation of falsified invoices, which it appears is very prevalent. Persons convicted of tne offences enumerated will be liable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, or to pay a fine not exceeding £SOO, or to both imprisonment and fine, and in addition may be ordered to repay the amount of the consideration received. It has been pointed out that one of the greatest obstacles to the practical working of the Act may be found in the difficulty of obtaining the necessary evidence, but it is hoped that, if the measure becomes law, the conspiracy of silence as well as fraud may be broken up.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL18990615.2.126

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 48

Word Count
1,622

MOTES ON THE NEWS OF THE WEEK. New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 48

MOTES ON THE NEWS OF THE WEEK. New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 48