OPEN COLUMN.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4345, 1 May 1901, Page 7

OPEN COLUMN.

BOTANICAL GARDENS AND RECREATION GROUND. Driving round the Uplands Estate and Sydney street v.’ith some friends (writes Mr Chas. PhaiSizyn, under date 9th March’', we were all greatly impressed with the value of the scheme I ventur. j i cd recently to propose to the City Coun- | oil. If carried out. the advantage- to i Wellington will be incalculable, and no of detail, or petty motive, be allowed to stand in the way. The proposed recreation ground, in the Sydney street gully, would be simply perfect for the purpose, as if the material for filling is obtained by cutting broad roads and spaces on each side of the ground, seats can be arranged so as to give a most perfect view of any, sports. Fences on the roads can/ bol erected so as to prevent any but tboßOil ‘ who enter at the gates from anything, and the shelter from all winds can he made perfect. Probably, it may her necessary to obtain Parliamenj tary permission to make charges at the ' gates on certain days, but tin?, is onp of the details which can be included in the scheme. I regret that, as I leave for London, I shall not he able to take any further part in so important a' work, but trust that on my nest visit to Wellington I may find it all complc-' tod and the Victoria College in course of being erected on the Kelburno site, when I shall bp happy to pay my promised contributions.’ _ , Writing on the same subject, ‘‘Tina-, kori Road Resident’' says:—Repeatedly wo hare read about the scarcity of re-) creation grounds in Wellington, yot, l strange to relate, one of those avail- i ablo for tho uso of our citizens docs’ not meet with the popularity it honest. l ly deserves. Possibly there are thon- J sands in the city who are unaware of; ■ Itho fact that wo hav 0 within ten min-!', jutes’ walk of the Government Buildings a place that should bo unrivalled as a i pleasure resort or for picnic purposes, I ■ and while various schemes are 'being-i [enumerated to charm tho fancy of bur. 1 gosses at this particular hour, no pro- j i gramme can bo complete unless it in-' J eludes the popularising of tho Botanical ■ Gardens. I nm pleased to notice that 1 Mr Allan Orr has suggested several mat. 1 ters in connection with the al/ovc, 1 which, if carried out, will hav e the desired effect. To those who are acquaint- 1 I ed with the public gardens in other cities, it must be a matter for surprise ‘ that the chief beauty spot of this city . should be comparatively neglected and • unknown. Mr Orr suggested Zoological Gardens, fisheries, swings and other ar- i rangements, in order to render this : place popular; and with an electric : tram service up the Tinakori Road we , would find tho Gardena unequalled as a’ ! pleasure resort, and wonder its,-

ieanties have been so long neglected. .Now that Air Orr has drawn attention (to the need of arrangements to make (the Gardens a place where city folks imay spend their Sundays and holidays, H hope he will continue to advocate this | matter till something is dona by the ■ Council in order to bring about the popularity earnestly desired hv many. OVER CP. O WDIN G ON STEAMERS. Air P. J. O’Regan writes-.—Will you allow mo to ventilate a little grievance in your columns in connection with overcrowding on the Union Company’s steamers plying between Wellington and the West Coast? It is scarcely to be expected that passengers should rinod everywhere, even in the “social I hall” and smoking-room, in the early • hours of the evening, and it certainly is jnot conducive to the health, not to say I pleasure, of the travelling public. It |is unnecessary that I should give my own experiences; but in complaining I am voicing the feeling of a large number of people. The West Coast Hade is surely payable- enough, certainly fares ■ are high enough, to warrant sometfling like adequate accommodation. I gay nothing about four people being crammed into one cabin, because, presumably, that is allowed by law. But passengers have a right to demur to being ordered out of the smoking-room at 8 p.m. to make room f.or sleeping berths — to being obliged to choose between the alternatives of facing the decks on dirty night and retiring to a stutfy cabin. Besides, overcrowding is not fair to the staff. The Union Company’s employees are ns civil and considerate as could be wished, but it must try their tempers, as it certainly does tho passengers’. to have an excess number to cater for. Presumably, the matter has only to be mentioned to be remedied. At any rate, I hope so.

NEW ZEALAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH. Air H. Legor, writing from Korokoro, says:—ln your leader on federation last Saturday you say : “In the face of th 0 appalling lack of progressivencss shown by a largely-circulated and professedly Liberal journal (the Sydney ‘ Daily Telegraph ’) it would be criminal to shut one’s eyes to the danger of an Australian coriibination against true Liberalism and progress. The danger is real enough to make tho people of this country pause.” These words should ho pondered over by every man and woman in New Zealand before he or she commits the fatal blunder. I am fully convinced, through several years of observation on tho spot, that federation was engineered chiefly for the purpose of chocking the onward march of democracy in Australasia; and anyone who uses his thinking apparatus oould make no mistake about that. What drove tho Australian lawyers arid orthodox di. vinos in such haste into federation was no sentimental ideas or abstract patriotic notion about union so much as their fear of the democracy, as represented by tho fast-growing labour parties in the State Parliaments. Air Brupo Smith, on tho one side, and Caru.nal Moran, on the other, made little secret of it at the time. Have they nob tbs example" of America, where the aspirations of the democratic States have been checked for generations, and where Conservatism and .Pluto ' sign supreme? This coalition between the big lawyers, the influential press and tho orthodox churches was quite successful in its avowed object of defeating all labour, and nearly all democratic candidates for the framing of the federal Constitution, tho most momentous question for a century or more. I shall never forget tho deep contempt I and many democrats felt for the treacherous volt of ace of nearly the whole of, the Sydney press in favour of the unholy coalition. It was a conspiracy against tho liberties of tho people who, taken almost unawares, and after many years of depression and hard times, were prepared to accept anything. As a result, Trenwith, Quick, Isaac, Reid, Kingston, and one or two others, that is, six or seven out 1 of fifty delegates who framed the federal Constitution, wero fairly democratic, as lawyers go; but tho other forty odd were mostly chips off the hardest Conservative rock in Australasia. Of the Constitution which they drafted, some say it is more democratic than that which Uncle Jonathan drafted nearly a century ago. I have read it carefully, and find it quite safe enough, 'as the Conservative spider’s wob, to catch the democratic fly in. Let dear old New Zealand, for its own sake, and for the sake also of Australian democracy, and of humanity as a whole, keep aloof from it. By that means wo may yet defeat the purposes which the enemies of progress had in viott.

! WORKMEN’S COTTAGES. '■ It has been mentioned (writes Air Edwin Arnold) that Che City Council should build houses with two or three flats,, so that they could be made to accommodate two/ or three families. This, I trust, will' never come to pass in Wellington. There is no necessity for such. To take valuable blocks of land in a thickly-populated city and crowd poor people together like sheep in a pen is vicious. In London, New York and other great cities this has been found , to- be the hot-bod of crime. In England, lit is,said, the City Corporations do not Iknow where to put tho people. This •js not so in Now Zealand, and as wo are building up new cities in a new country let us do all wo can to avoid putting throe or four families in one house. If tho public wish to know of tho terrible results of these crowded dens, let them read the English papers, and more especially the “New York Worla'' of late. If our new Council intends to provide workmen’s homes, let it build nice little cottages a good distance out, and as tho Corporation now aro masters of tho trams, they could run cheap trams night and morning to bring in tho workers and take them home in tho evening—say one penny to Newtown, three half-pence to Island Bay; and if this were done we should have a more healthy people and less crime; but do.not let us have three or four families in one house. I hope the day is not far distant when the Government of this country will purchase land adjacent to all towns and lease it at a very long period to the artisan and the labourer, so that they might build a home for themselves—tho Government advancing them a portion of the money at such interest as will in time liquidate the small loan as well as pay the interest, while the land would still remain the ■ property of the Government, If it has been found a good thing to settle people on small farms and to assist them with small loans at low interest, and as this has proved a great benefit to many, I am sure the Government will see it is only right to lend a helping hand to those who live in the towns, for I believe the townsman only needs to be shown that some one is interested ,in him and ho will do all he can to help himself. I

MEAT EXPORT TO SOUTH AFRICA. "An Old South African” writes : —The company which has practically the entire retail meat trade of Cape Colony under its control, and which has paid 90 per cent, to its shareholders, was formed, I presume, by Combine and Sons, whe were largo wholesale and retail butchert

in Capetown, and controlled all the retail trad® of that town when I loft but not by any means all South. Africa, and as by far the largest trade will I* done with the great goldmining centres of the Rand, now is New Zealand's threat opportunity to seize her share; but thj« can only bo done by prompt action in erecting freezing works at, say, Durban, whiehconld compete at present with Delagoa Bay, having refrigerating cart on the train and cold storages for distributing at Johannesburg and Bloemfontein. The rinderpest and the war having made great havoc amongst the local stock, the price of me*t will be very high, with a very large population to feed, as before the mines closed down there were about 90,000 natives alone employed in the mines. All these had meat rations, and by contract with t.V great mining companies a safe and splendid business could be done. When I left Johannesburg beef was selling retail at Is 2d per piound, and butter at 3s 6d (frozen). If a strong New Zealand company was at once formed, with this in view, nothing could stop it from great success, but it would have to bo done at once, and thoroughly, as I happen tc know that America is going to compete for the trade and also Argentina. At present there is only this local concern, but they have a good hold, and are first in the field. At present this great Capetown company is doing all tHe business, as the town is full of refugees from the Transvaal and Orange colony; but when the war is over there will lie a great exodus from there. Then this company will have to at once extend, or lose tho" great Rand trade. This is why they have manipulated Delagoa Bay by some concession or other, as they could not do it from Capetown, 1100 miles by rail. If this company can make 90 per cent, in Capetown during the past twelve months, what scope does it leave for enterprise* to manipulate the great markets of the Rand, when Johannesburg is once more in full swing P AVhy. it is immense; but, remember, other countries will see this jtreat chance as well as us. Lord Beacoitefield says that the man who succeeds is ho who is in the position to seize his opportunity when it occurs. Is New Zealand in that position, as the opportunity has come?

THE EIRE INSURANCE RATES. Writing on this subject, Mr Jas. Horn Hall savs From the "Times" paragraph under the above caption, it would seem that the pioposed increase of rates by companies seeking fire indemnity ;n this island, has caused a considerable flutter in commercial dovecots. The compiets agreement in the views of the Wellington citizen, interviewed by your repr63cnttitiv9| with tho 96 expressed in ths letter from the secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce to the Eire Underwriters' Association, while demanding all due respect and consideration, yet seem to me, in their suggestion of over insurance as the main cause of ihp excessive fire laws in this island, and -the consequent reflection upon the business methods of the underwriting profession, to savour more of assertion than logically demonstrated conclusion. In the first place with regard to Mr Carroll's suggestion that joint action should be tai_en by underwriters to cause owners to beevr a fair proportion of the risk, I can suite positively that nearly all companies insist upon this now, and have done for many As respects over-insurance, I vJiink a fair analogy exists between overinsurance and over-credit, inasmuch as both are caused by unwise competition. Sold in both the evil results reach beyond the particular cases of wrongdoing; but I maintain that our profession is in no larger measure guilty of the former than is flie commercial trader of the latter. This brings me to the suggested appointment of a general inspector to examine all risks.. Maw Ibe permitte<Uto ask Mr Carroll if the wholesale traders will ■ agree to the appointment of a general inspector to inspect the sale boots, etc. of their respective V firms, with a view to prevent over-credit P When they do, doubtless the underwriters will follow suit; but I think we may safely relegate the date of both appointments to the Greek calends. In conclusion, while I admit that over-insurance has caused some fires, over-credit and its consequences has caused as many; but to my mind the most potent cause for the excessive losses in this island is that indefinable something, call it recklessness, instability,(low morale or what you will, ever incidenfto the business exnansion attending the rapid settlement of new country.