NOTE AND COMMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3736, 10 May 1899, Page 4

NOTE AND COMMENT.

There is still no sign of the publication i of the accounts of the colony the for .the financial year that public closed six weeks ago. The accounts. Colonial Treasurer is back

in town, so it is now evident that his absence has nothing to do with the delay. As a matter of fact, the Auditor-General has not yet reported to the Treasury Department upon bis statutory examination of the accounts, and until that is done they cannot be published. By law, the accounts remain open for two weeks after the 31st March, and it would therefore be the 14th. of April before the audit commenced. If, however, the Audit Department was at all efficiently equipped, it should have completed its work well within the four weeks that have elapsed since the date named. The work is no doubt considerable, but it should ht pos-

si bio to overtake it in twi weeks at most; and if the staff is insufficient it ought to bo temporalily increased at the time of the annual balance. me delay this year is quite tho usual thing ; it was about the 23rd of May befcio last ycai’s accounts were published. Parliament, when it meets, should insist upon a reform being effected in the Audit Department. Everyone is of course satisfied that the affairs of tho country are prosperous, and that there will bo a phenomenal surplus announced; but it is unreasonable that people should have to wait so long for the accurate figures of the colony’s stocktaking. Tho interesting pastime of wagering with “tote-bettors,” so freely injjook- dulged in by all classes of jiakbus tho community is not carand ried on by its devotees withC'MKNTS.' out a considerable 'amount of friction arising on both sides. Tho “metallician,” skilled in all the devious methods of tho racecourse frequenter, is over on the alert against being made the victim of some deep-laid plan to take an unfair advantage of him, or to directly work a swindle at his expense. Dealings with all sorts and conditions of men have naturally made him particularly wary in this direction, for tho instinct of self-preservation is ever strong in tho sporting breast. But, unfortunately, this knowledge that schemes to entrap him are frequently hatched, has made the lower type of bookmaker absolutely unscrupulous in laying charges of. corrupt practices against winning clients. Some of these gentry will sometimes refuse point-blank to pay up, basing their refusal on a real cr imaginary deflection from the path of honour on the part of those with whom they had a particular transaction. Should the latter make any show of indignation, they are met with tho reply that if any more is said about tho matter, tho whole of tho circumstances will be laid before tho employer of the person who made the investment. Tho same threat is also employed in cases where misguided individuals have been foolish enough to get into a bookmaker’s debt. People who are threatened in- this way ought not to allow themselves to bo ! terrorised, for they might well allow their employers to be approached without fear of the consequences. Employers with a knowledge of the world, who might bo approached by a bookmaker with regard to an employee’s debts, would probably proceed to kick the visitor out into the street after learning tho facts, and then lay an information against him for a broach of tho Gaming and Lotteries Act. If this were done once or twice, it would put an end to tho terrorism now exorcised over, many young men in this city. To strike at tho root of tho evil, however, employers should take caro that betting touts are not allowed upon their promises, to tempt young men to wager.

It is frequently remarked that the system • of charging for telephones' hi tele- voguo in this country 'does phone not place the burden equitohahoes. ably upon the users. A largo business establishment where perhaps a score'or more of persons use the telephone daily, pays no more than the small shop or private hquso where the instrument is hut rarely in use. The Swiss Government has a method of charging for telephones which would to a large extent (remove this inequality. Under this system each subscriber pays £4 for the first year, £2 16s for the second, and afterwards £1 12s a year, and at the rate of 4s per hundred calls. This charge, according to calls, is homo by the person calling, not by the one who is called. Messages can bo sent by non-subscribers from call offices, arid delivered to non-subscribers by express messengers. >Each message sent by a subscriber is numbered and an account against him is kept. It follows, under this system, that every telephone can be used by the general public instead of being confined to the actual subscriber, with the result that in many towns every .shop or place of business which has a telephone becomes in practice a public call office. This system, widen by its elasticity, enables the telephone service to be much more largely availed of than it is here, is that which is to bo adopted by the British Government when the London telephones are taken over. The subscription proposed by Mr Hhnbury is £3 per annum, which will probably allow of the price per hundred calls being fixed , at 2s to 3s. It can hardly be doubted that uie adoption of a similar plaiv in New Zealand would greatly increase the popularity of the telephone and also the revenue derived from the different exchanges.