PASSING EVENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1686, 22 June 1904, Page 45

PASSING EVENTS.

History is philosophy teaching by examples. —Thucydides.

When speaking the other- evening Lord Ranfurly took occasion to impress upon the people of Wellington the necessity for inspiring the rismg generation with a lively sense of their duties as citizens of a great Empire. The older generation were no doubt truly loyal and thoroughly attached to the Old Home, but unless their boys and girls were educated Imperially and trained to loyalty and devotion to the Mother Countrv there was danger of drift and perhaps of severance. His Excellency laid stress upon the necessity for an Imperial education. The pupils at our schools should be taught more of the greatness of the Empire, of the great, men who had created it, as well as something of the basis on which it was established, and of the aims and ambitions of the statesmen who were labouring to tv eld together all its distant parts in one homogeneous whole. X» was gratifying to hear Lord Ranfurly announce his intention of upholding the gcocl name New Zealand lias already won in Imperial history by the sacrifice she has made when the Empire called upon hex self-governing possessions for assistance. The soldier-like qualities of New Zealand’s sons in South Africa will remain as. ensamples to- the youth of’tliis country for all time, and. will inspiro any generation of New Zealanders to the performance of as brave and as gallant conduct. It was at our suggestion thru, the names of the boys who served in the war have been enrolled upon honour’s boards in the schools where they received their early training, and we are sure that this way of honouring the boys who fought for the flag in South Africa will have an ennobling influence upon succeeding generations of school children. It may bo ail evidence of prudent and far-seeing statesmanship to bind the various ports of the Empire closer together by commercial ties, but kinship, common origin, common history and common sentiment were after all the main sources of the strength - and adhesiveness of the Empire; and ‘if we can stimulate the young people to honour aiid revere the Mother Country whence their forefathers emigrated to found other Ehglands, Scot-lands and Irelands across the sea, let our educationists devote some time to devising how best this Imperial work may be done. We are beginning to take a larger view of Empire, and this exercise will doubtless remove from our minds that narrow provincialism which has been for so long the bane of our public men. More comprehensive ways of looking at tho Empire and its interests are being suggested. and no doubt- practical good will result. - Tho colonies-must be invited sooner or later to take part in tho councils of the Empire, for if we are to carry some of the burdens of the Etmpire then it is only right that we should be consulted before arrangements. are made with foreign powers that might affect detrimentally the interests of Great Britain's self-governing possessions. When at Home Lord Ranfurly will doubtless voice the sentiments of New Zealand on Imperial subjects’, and may. he instrumental in forwarding the constitutional or political union of tho Empire/ - /

Criminality, like poverty, is always with us. It is,-however, m tribute' to, t-jie civilising influence’s of education that there are, proportionately to tlie population, fewer criminals to-day than there were several generations ago. One of Wellington’s medical men recently wrote a treatise on the treatment and cure of

criminality, and while holding with much that he recommended, we could not, approve of the most drastic remedy lit suggested for the total suppression c f the hereditary criminal. adequate solution has been yet offered of,the problem. Humane as well as just njen have studied the question with The. ■ utmost concern. Realising that the criminal should be. punished, they are-not satisfied that our methods of punishment arc sufficiently 'reformatory. In support of their contention, it is shown that- once a young man'starts upon a career of crime and undergoes his first term c f hr prison ment, there is nothing in our treatment of his case to indicate that the State, for its own safety- desires his reform,. or that it makes any effort to secure it. There is likewise no uniform system of punishment. That is to say, that an offence, similar.in flagrancy and extent, perpetrated by two persons, may be punished by varying terms of imprisonment. Even -it sometimes hap- - pens that one judge i§ severer than another, and so criminal advocates sometimes contrive to have certain cases taken by the more lenient judge. These tactics would be obviated were a maximum and a minimum sentence provided by the legislature for each offence. Those who seek to institute this method would not abolish but rather extend the application of the leniency to. first offenders. Then, for second offences, the judges might be permitted.to exercise their own discretion, but that in the matter of third offences the Taw determining the punishment should bo allowed to take its course; and that for each similar offence by the same criminal the punishment should be doubled. Although some may be ready to protest against vvliat may be stjde'd machine-made sentences, many will be willing to support this amendment to our criminal laws; but the contention of the reforming humanitarians is not met by such a procedure. They urge that a man taken in crime may not be a criminal in either thought or habit. ..The circumstances of the man and the- temptations of the offender at the time are worthy of consideration, and to herd such a person with habitual criminals is at once to drag him down to/their level. *’ this point comes the plea for classification, but the establishing of a system of classification does not solvo the problem, for the prison authorities have adopted no reformatory measures, and are not at all concerned with tlie moral betterment, of offenders. The advocates of the Elmira method assert that the institution of the indeterminate sentence system, would supply the-'essence of reform in the matter of dealing with all law-break-ers punishable now by imprisonment. Those who regard the present method of criminal punishment treat any proposed reform with contempt as it would, they say, induce to favouritism among the prison- --authorities ydmfc this is not a serious obstacle in the way of prison reform. On tho principle that a criminal reformed is better than one punished, the indeterminate sentence might be tried.

Mr Mel. B. Spurr is one of the most delightful of entertainers. His style of entertainment is hot one to which New. Zealand a-udiences are accustomed, but it is one wliioh they cannot fail to appreciate. Our visitor made a name, for himself long before lie decided upon a tour of the colonies, and doubtless his reputation will be. still further enhanced by the popularity lie is certain to acquire during his sojourn among us. Much of his repertoire is new, and to everything he gives a freslmess. a finish, and a virility that is altogether charming. While listening the other evening to Mr Spurr’s sparkling witticisms and to the “bulls” and mixed metaphors of after-dinner orators, we were reminded of several matter-of-fact persons who have in our hearing on similar occasions, attempted to embellish their speeches with metaphors, - those flowers of poesy so attractive to imaginative minds. S-orne bulls have become matters of literary history, and it is only necessary to mention the name of Boyle Roache to bring to memory; several striking and well-known cases of “mixed metaphor.’’ It is when the fanciful speaker casts off restraint and, as the saying is, “let’s himself go,” after dinner that we obtain some of the finest gems of metaphoric mixture. A certain councillor, feeling the importance .'of his position as the town's, only representative at a public dinner, and realising how he might venture upon the.criticism of certain works proceeding at the time in tho borough, described .the new public baths as a millstone hanging round the necks of the burgesses like a white elephant! Tlie use of the simile in speech- or written prose is not always accompanied with tho happiest results: and few there be who can weave into an extempore utterance a happy and apt metaphor. The speaker who.is'able to do it with success domes very near to the rank of orator, for its use is perhaps the best evidence of originality, and so many aspire to produce the finest statuary when they ought to be modelling in common clay. An orator recently observed "that “the muddy slough of politics is the rock on which our party has split in twain, and fallen to pieces from the pinnacle of imperishable fame. Let* Ms .gird up our loins, so that Ave may go forth with a clear head.” This jubilee of metaphors may be set in apposition to that which made Mr W. J. Bryan famous when in advocacy of the free coinage of silver he depicted his country as beina “ct-uoi-

fied upon a cross of gold;” and although it was afterwards shown that it was a clever adaptation from a classic source it did not detract one iota from the strength and effectiveness of the silver-tongued orator’s metaphor. It ,was the means of bringing him very near to the presidency. Newspaper Writers sometimes discover the dangerous character of figures of speech. One the other day observed that his journal Would “probe a mystery” connected With the local politics of the place “to the very dregs.” And was it not one of Mr Spurn’s characters who in an after dinner speech on “the ladies” warned bachelors against those fascinating .waists and ankles calculated to lure them into the surging depths of the matrimonial maelstrom!

Interest in Imperial politics and the fiscal question has been revived by the Hon. Joseph Oiamberlain’s recent speech at Birmingham. In it he exhibited all that self-confidence he displayed at the {beginning of his campaign to educate the nation up to the acceptance of his proposals. The exSecretary of State for the ■Colonies is not to abate one jot or tittle of his avowed policy with respect to a system of preferential duties whereby British industries would be encouraged at Home by being favoured abroad in the various parts of the Empire, and the consumption of the products of Great Britain’s over-sea possessions increased at Home by the imposition of a tax upon foreign foodstuffs. But -while confident that his proposals will be ultimately carried, for the interests of the Empire will necessitate a change, Mr Chamberlain is now not so sure that at the next general election, which cannot now be much longer postponed, the nation will agree to at once put into operation a new’ fiscal tariff based on the proposals he has put 'forward so strenuously. It is the conviction of Mr Chamberlain that the foremost men in the nation are ready to accept a change because change is desirable, and the fiscal question was one that could not be disposed of by the weaving of old rags and the clattering of tin cans.” It is not a question of protection as against free trade, but one of Imperial unity and common interest as against disintegration and industrial ruin. For years past various industries have been transferred from Great Britain to the Continent and to America, (because of the advantages other countries offered to manufacturers, and it is the conviction of eminent men, and the expressed avowal' of manufacturers themselves, that' if Mb' Chamberlain’s proposals succeed some of these industrial ventures abroad would be brought back to England. But the Balfour Administration will not commit itself to the entire acceptance of the Chamberlain programme. Its half-lieartedness has induced disintegration, while the unpopularity it has quickened against itself over education, licensing and Chinese labour will make practically certain its defeat at a general election which cannot much longer be delayed. What Mr Chamberlain would like a chance of taking would be the mind of the electors of Great Britain on the fiscal question *>y means of the referendum. This is rather far ahead of practical politics at Home; and although Mr Chamberlain's idea is excellent, namely, to obtain a straight-out vote upon one question of such vital importance to the nation, it is not likely that his suggestion will be adopted. In anticipating defeat at the next elections, Mr Chamberlain is not downcast. The Unionist Administration must be resigned. Other governments have had to “suffer for their virtues,” although their opponents called their, performances by another name. The colonies will, however, expect any succeeding Government to do something, otherwise all the talk of Imperial unity on a basis of commercial interest, will indeed he as “the waving of rags and the clatter of tin cans.”