CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7141, 31 May 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

FOREIGN MANNED BEITISH SHIPS

The fact that there are nearly -1(1,000 foreigners (including SOOO Germans) in our mercantile marine is a standing reproach to Britons (says a Navy League publication). The League in the Old Country is doing something towards the removal of this reproach by the establishment of .several additional training brigs on rivers in some of the inland districts. Already over 500 boys have b?en sent to sea from the Liseard establishment and the sea-training brig at Windsor.

BLACK PROBLEM IN FIJI. • The Fiji correspondent of the Sydney | "Telegraph" writes, under date May 6th :'—"The second of this year's coolie immigrant ships, the 8.1.5. N. Company's steamer Santhia, has arrived and departed, leaving with us'its cargo of 1000 I'oolie immigrants, to be drafted out to the different plantations.- W,e are- to receive .over 4000 East.'lndians this year, while somo 503 are all, out of the 30,000 living in Fiji, who wish to return.-to their own country. , Our coolie popular lion is, therefore, a nett gainer to the tune of 3500 for this year, without natural increase. The numbers . transported have a tendency to increase each year, and when to this one adds the fact that the coolie multiplies rapidly, it will readily he seen that in a few years these beautiful islands will have a black mass of coolie population. The trouble could be remedied if our Government would arrange with the Indian Government before the coolie was recruited in India, that he was to remain as long as ho resided in Fiji as on agricultural labourer, purely and simply. He should thus be restricted from entering into trade competition with the white man, and from ownership of land, except perhaps in. individual areas not exceeding five acres. At present, when a coolie finishes his term of indenture, he will probably take out a travelling-hawker's license, or open a small store, the building of which is made up of old iron or biscuit tins. Tliis store forms a general meeting place for "* coolies, where crime of' every description is hatched. White men who know the wily Sindoo state that most of the crimes perpetrated in Fiji by ccolies can be traced directly or indirectly to the workings of the free coolie, and more often- than not to,the free coolie who is a storekeeper; He is too wily to be caught in the -law's * net himself, .. but , using others, mostly indentured .labour, as pawns in tho game, lives on to continue bis career, and hoard up his ill-gotten ] wealth. The whole coolie question is I one that should be seriously considered, | not only by tho white people here, but also by the people of-Australia and New Zealand, to which colonies w\o are ad- . jaoent, and especially so to tho people of;.'a- "White Australia.' We have tho object lesson of the coolie trouble in ■! Natal to teach us, and if wo would only tackle', our problem now in its infancy, a world of woo would bo saved in the years to come." THE LOSS OF THE SWANHILDA. The cablegram in ' Saturday's "Times" chronicling tho wreck of the barque Swanhilda at Staten Xsland, Terra del Fuego, revives interesting reminiscences of the notorious Glenbrook (New South. Wales) murders bv the man Butler and his escape on the Swanhilda,, then in idommand of Captain Fraser, in tho earlier part of 1897. Butler committed a series of brutal murders. :; His plan was to advertise for partners with small capital to join him in mining ventures in Now South AVales. Once arrived in tho interior ho shot them and made oft with the-, men's savings. Several men were done to death in this way, including Preston, a student of mineralogy at Sydney University. Butler eluded tho detectives and booked as a seaman on tho Swanhilda lying at Newcastle, bound for San Francisco. Then began a chase across the ocean. All outward bound steamers for America kept a look '.out . for the Swanhilda. It was, however, soon known that tho captain had placed Butler in irons, as the result of signals from the s.s. Taupo (Captain ITcßeth)) near Honolulu. On the arrival > of the Swanhilda at San Francisco Butler'was handed over to Detective McHattio and Constable Conroy, / of Sydney. Butler, whose trial was one of tho most sensational in Australian criminal procedure, suffered tho extreme penalty for his atrocities. PRISON KEFOBM. The Minister of Justice, Hon. Dr. Findlay, speaking at Whangarei on the subject of prison reform, said the prison system which' until recently, prevailed in New Zealand was that observed in England forty years ago, and he found that young men were sent to gaol and kept in their cell lor twenty hours out of tho twenty-four. That he considered hardly tho tiling for a Christian people to countenance, and so ho stopped it and introduced a system of classification. At Invereargill the old men undergoing sentences were employed as gardeners, and one man was producing as much as £7B worth of vegetables per year from an acre patch, while five others had between' them raised and sold £360 worth. Likewise, on the tree-planting stations, the men were, earning money i for their families, and were. actually •isking permission to work overtime. He had been approached by tho parents of one youth so employed, asking that their son, might be detained at the tree-planting" station for a further period, as the enforced employment had done him so much good. The question of a post prison system was important, and he intended asking Parliament to sanction one. On these tree planting stations something like ten million trees had been planted, . and seventy years lienco would bo fit for use for timber purposes. The question arose, however, as to whether prison labour could not "be employed to even better advantage by planting fruit ' trees instead of pine trees, and so establishing orchards instead of forests in such a district as that of north of Auckland. He believed it would be a splendid thing to establish, and lie intended bringing the' matter "before Parliament nest session. ' " CHEAP DOCKING. The present is stated to be an opportune time for shipowners to get their I vessels cleaned and painted in dock at Port Chalmers at an exceptionally cheap rate. Tho opening of the .new dock

(says the Dur.edin " Star ") has extended docking facilities to such ur.i extent that it is reasonable to expect a large increaso in the number of vessels docking at this port. This increase is closely gauged by the pcopb who are prepared to dock, clean and paint vessels by contract. The possibilities of piolit must bo deemed promising, for a keen cutting of prices is already evident. A large stevedoring firm are said to be making p. determined effort to secure dock contracting business, of which it seems they had souio little experience at. the old dock. The new dock inspired the new activity. Small contractors who occasionally' did a job at the old dock are reaching out to participate in the newdock trade, A crossing of swords has taken place in connection with the docking of the Svcrre and the Lauderdale. The docking of the former vessel was secured by a small contractor. Whether this incited tha larger firm to an extra spurt is uncertain, but it was freely stated in shipping circles- on Thursday that the stevedoring firm had secured thy docking of tho Luuderdale for a price that is a good many pounds less than tho labour and material cost whew she was docked here some time ago. If the small contractors can keep going and the largo linn is prepared to go on for a while'losing money in order to secure, from competition tho making of moro monev, then docking at Tort Chalmers is likely to attain a reputation for cheapness that will enhance the prospects of the men who look to dock work as their principal source of income.

NO-LICENSE AND THE COMPEOMISK The ".Ota-go DaiJv Times" referring to Mr T. 1- Taylor's change of front on tho licensing question says:—The member for Christehurch North was credited List year with the possession of tho opinion that-the no-license party had committed a grave tactical mistake in entering, even tentatively, into any compromise with those engaged in the trade. 1 few nights agO, however, he dcdai-cd in Christehurch that "it was only when one sat down and thought carefully that one remembered what had been done in past years, and realised that they might have acted hastily in'rejecting the compact.'' The Hev. L. M. lisitt, Quite, clearly, does not see eye to eye with Mr Taylor on the point. He is apprehensive lest the adoption of the compromise and tho enactment of its terms might be seriously prejudicial to the success of tho nolicense party. He fears that tho introduction of a provision under which every vote that was caet for local iio-1-iccusa would count as a. yoto in favour of prohibition throughout the Dominion would cost the no-liceiise • movement between, 30,000 and 40,000 votes. Wo.are not prepared to offer an opinion upon tbia point. We have been assured upon many occasions that the existence of the local option system really involved the nolicense party in a handicap, since, at was alleged, large numbers of persons who would not hesitate to vote for prohibition, throughout New Zealand were not prepared to give their support to oiiy movement which might bring about, as it has brought about, the anomalies associated with tho operation of local nolicense. This may not necessarily be inconsistent with the statement that is now made that there are many people, who, while they would vote for the adoption of local no-license, would be unwilling to risk the introduction of a wvtstem of prohibition througlimit tho Dominion. It is possible that both statements are true. If so, there is the "roater cause' for satisfaction over th» failure of the efforts last year to amend the law in the direction contemplated m tho compromise. Our own view on tho point has not undergone modification. Any arrangement which might lores an elector to abstain from voting if he did not wish to cast a vote which wo,ju- do violence to Ins convictions is ir-~>rrr,.; y bad. We have ho objection, toti*. inclusion on tho ballot paper of the issuo of national prohibition, but this issue should not be hinged to tho -local noJicense issue in the- manner that was contemplated in the -compromise last year The 'elector who is opposed to local no-license should be given the opportunity of voting in'favour of national prohibition, and the elector wiio is in favour of local no-lieeuso should bo enabled if ho so choose, to vote against the adoption of prohibition throughout the Dominion. '■■''.:'. THE WINE ;INDTJSTUY. Tho "Wairarapa Daily Times," refers ring to tho recent test case to determine tho responsibilities of vignerons lnno-1-censo districts, says:—So, far,, there ore'but seven hundred acres of vines in New Zealand, yielding crops which may be worth .£200,000 per annum, .ito is not a largo sum, but it .constitutes a. local industry of .a decided value, and tho bull;: of the money is spent m labour. Tho community generally 'approves of this industry. There hare been no scandals in connection with tho'+eaJo .or tho distribution of the excellent wines " turns out, and on moral grounds thcro does not appear to be any reason for; objection. Mr Lamb and his fellow, vignarons whoso vineyards are in or near prohibition districts have, been kept in a -state of suspense, for the past six'.' months. They had -hoard ~'*f .the legal kink, and did not know whether it Would compel them to give up their vineyards and start the ! . world again with some other occupation. All, has ended happily, but a body of rw.pect-a-hlo and industrious settlers ought not to be subjected to worries of. this kind. when theyaro building -up a, local industry. We snould not have Teferred to this question only that it has absolutely nothing to do with the broader issue of License and No-license. On tho latter Masterton is, a little divided, but it .is quietly collecting evidence which will, wo feel sure, lead to a right conclusion, when the time for -action arrives. - HOLE AND COEN T EB. Savs the Napier "Telegraph":—lt has lxen" said of tho late Walt \Y hitman that he wrote neither poetry nor prose. That may be so. But he set people thinking, and while lie wrote kept them thinking.. Ho once compressed into five words a whole sermon, mora than a sermon. It was when he spoke of "Tho Inflolenco of Elected Persons." The world is full of examples of it. Tho latest illustration is afforded by tha Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, which has resolved to hold its committee meetings with doors closed to press and public. Nine members of the board carried this against seven others holding a more appropriate view of their functions. Then the moro sensible portion of the board tried to carry a motion providing for statistical information being given to tho press after meetings. Even this was defeated, by tho casting vote of the chairman, and the meetings are to be held in secret. This 19 sheer insolence. So insensible, however, aro some elected persons to the sorry figures they cut as pinchbeck tyrants and prunella absolutists, that the reason given for rejecting the last proposition was that "It would . leave loopholes for the leaking-out of other information." The whole business is so preposterous, so insolently preposterous, that one is at a loss now to further describe it without offending against tho canons of good taste. It is persons of this class who are tho true enemies of the people. They have not learned even tho element's of democratic rale, and in consequent? have bc-pn able to persuade themeelves that they, as circled administrators of a State institution, are itr proprietors. DOMESTIC SERVICE, Although it would appear that th( domestic servant is still very difficult to obtain in Wellington, the officer in charge of the women's branch of the Labour Bureau states that day workers and charwomen are offering their services in large numbers at the present time. Many mistresses are reported to be taking (advantage of the help of these women for two or three days a week, and are thus able to manage without other assistance in the house. Only a few domestics arrived from England by 1 the Kuahine yesterday, and those -n<* already engaged will be placed immediately I by the., department.

WOOL KINGS. Mr J. Vigor Brown, M.l', for Napier, .speaking ut. tho annual dinner or tlio Auckland Provincial Farmers' Union, »aiil that in llawke's Hay ho knew «'' «• .stretch of thiity or forty miles of conntry ouo could truvi) over, and yet r»as.'i through tho -estates of only throe or four poisons. In his district thorn were a largo number of people each of whoso Hock of sheep produced over 1000 bales of wool. CI.OSEH SETTLEMENT. Speaking at I-'nirlie, Mr T. Buxton, M.1.'., said that tho cutting up of big estates was bound to becorno general. T.I: wa:J ono of tlio things they would have to face; 1 those who were without hud, yc-t wanted it, must have it, and it would bo given to them sooner or lalor, Tho day was not far distant when a more intense system of fanning would bo adopted in New Zealand,when muclt more would be extracted from tho soil Jlian ivn., being taken from it now and when the land would support: thou-i-ands more than it was supporting now. lie would never be a. party to taking irom any man laud which 'lie was properly cultivating, but where there wcro l.ig bli.-ks of country not being turned I ■ the bet account, lie would assist, to tin- utmost of his ability, whoever might bo in tioirer, to get that land for landless people. HOLIDAY LEGISLATION. Tho systcmafising of New Zealand's public holidays is the difficult task tho Jinn. D. limldo has in hand. lie informed a •' \<,w Zealand Times" representative (hat considerable variation of opinion was shown on the subject, but tlio proposal (o group as many us po.-siblo „i; the holidays at week-ends received a great deal of favour. "No doubt.' he remarked, "the public will be pleased to have finality in the arrangement of these days, no that all services, public and private, will have a uniform practice. At tho sumo time, tho subject is hedged around with considerable diflio.uUies owing to- tho fact that tho Hanking Act specifically lays down that certain holidays which are not generally recognised by the industrial community aio to ho observed by tho bunks. I am at. the present time trying to arrive at something definite—trying to arrange a list -which would bo generally applicable, and, as far as possible, convenient." LETTER FROM MR WILL CIiOOKS. That the i'uhiro is with tho Labour party there is not the slightest doubt (writes Mr Will Crooks late M.P. for Woolwich, to the Canterbury- Trades and Labour Council), but for the'prcsent our bif foo is money—a wicked thing, but wo have to face-, it. Just think, my election rest 0:930 3s Kd—enough to kill tho Labour movement altogether. That tho money was raised is a groat tribute to those who believe- in our cau.se. Although I only arrived Homo on the Sunday night, and the election was next day, out.of a poll of 17,120 I just got beaten by 205 votes. We can wipo that out next try I think. In the House of Commons; all scorns to bo chaos, but it will epin out right. Tho fight is stiff, but the causo ds worth it. What a story we shall liavo to tell whon it is over! So far as I am concerned, I imi a thousand times more in demand over the country iiiK'o mj" exit from tlio House than ever before. Well, our follows have to stick at it, and I am trying to keep their engagements, going into their constituencies, so that I have no time to lament over my deferred victory.