"PECULATION."

NZ Truth, Issue 81, 5 January 1907, Page 4

"PECULATION."

" Its Prevalence m Wellington."

" A Conspiracy of. Leniency."

Under the above headings the N.Z. "Times" of a recent dale published an essay of a.' startling character, which is also peculiar, m several res- I peefcs, r lhe composition has an air of inconii-kipiiess and ambiguity abpuji.it which suggests censorship.before "publication itf '.; the .intereis£; of caste. Though "-"peculation" and "conspiracy of leniency" are mentioned, the terms are noifc discussed. We are given to understand that "there exists a substratum of dishonesty that is highly discreditable to a community, the moral tone of which, broadly apeaking, is of a fairly high standard." When we come to that part of the essay which, deals with "common or -garcfen thieving, of grocers', stores," .the". modus, operandi is described. It is, however, made clear that it is "the dear pld public," i not; the employer caste that has to pay, for tha practices of the dishonest assistant- That which would be intdrostin?;— a description of how this piece of jugglery is ~ Worked— is not given. Next on the list of delinquents come the drapers' assistants, male and female. And. inter alia, a nice sort of cat-watch-the-mousp pi-o.fessio'n that of -drapers' assistant's appears to be >! Wben it is remembered that this trade survjii-cs a considerable proportion "oE those who aKect Y.M. . andY.W.C.A.'s and get on the. . preach at street corner;* the suojecb . becomes, a puzzle. Then there is th£ story of tho milir- ' man. He seems a' bad sort, and mustin time, unless he reform's, ruin his boss. . Still prices of dairy farms coitj tinue to rise. Ij. the.. cooks, and stewards do not rriend' their ways, the JU.S.S. Co. will have to. get some inventive genius to provide inethanie&l substitute-:; on •■the clockwork principle. -Th.3 stprv 6'f the* barmaid, is a touching ort',}, and whows that bad Woman up vividly. .But it is to be rememlvered that there :is inoro than one version current, none. ■ of which, however, overflow with ayinpatliy foi THAT publican. . With a* none too flattering .allusion to the 'Renera.l office hack, and the lawyer's clerk,, the essay concludes ' thus : "Dishonesty, 'like a worm i' Ah' w.oo<V runs through trade assist-ancy. The. employer knows it, and,: the public pays for it." How. it may be asked, doss the employer work, the trick ? The, average employer follows the policy' he thinks best suited to pay him. If lie winks at ths practices pf a dishonest, assistant, he. has liis reasons for doing so. The question .is;. is he hon<?st- m taking an unrighteous toll of the public to make ■up delinquencies ? That difihonc'Stty is prevalent is very generally believed ; but- very few admit that it prevails only m the tradeassistancy caste. Those who would deal with the vice must do so without distinction of caste. . The peculator, robbing the public or State (which is the true meaning of the word peculate, which is misused by the "Times") in -whatever--. form, is equally despicable with ;thc. " petty thief who robs a private • individual, a society or a company.. It .is to be [hoped that -this- subject .will be taken up and examined m all its details, with a y iew to the creation of a public opinion dead ;set 'against dishonesty of all kinds, and .under any circumstances. . There, are, no doubt, man^ causes for tbis outbreak of a spirit of : thieving. . If we look around on the. portion of -the .globe on which we dwell, i.e., Australasia, we s find neo^'e of all. castes Ireing discovered m the practice of dishonesty. Land swindles, customs fraud, burglary, fraudulent contracting, adulteration, m fact, ever^' kind iof thieving, arid of every degree. These things, have got so common' .that they attract little miblic attention. The people seem' to have' got' hardehed to it. Wh«t are the causes of this ? *.- •. ■■ . ; * . Let us take one exaniple. Some seven years ago, Britain went to war with a section of a- small white nation m South Africa. . We are not now concerned with the merits or demerits of that war ;- but : to enquire into some of its effects upon- themselves; Unfortunately ' for Australasia, it contained among Its people some who coveted wealth and titles, and were on the make generally. These, using their newspapers and their talk, and with help, countenance and benedictions of . all varieties of ''Spiritual Guides," organised bands of men which they termed "colonial contingents. ' ' These were dressed and equiped to look like soldiers, and sent to South Africa' "to, 'as the saying ran, "help save the Empire." Their strong point was said to be "Moral Effect !" Well, soon- after the departure of the first of these contingents, the communications of "special correspondents," who were included m them, and letters from other members to their friends, began to appear, and continued to do so, m the daily papears, with effusive eulogy. If we refer to those communications and letters' we find ' them to be pervaded with accounts 'of acts morally the same as those which the, "Times" now stigmatises. And if we look into the personnel of these contingentti we find that the greater part were of th? same caste which the "Times" now holds up to public, reprobation. When the daily papers, including the "Times," published with pride these communications and letters recording acts of thieving from private houses and churches, even describing- the articles stolen, which ranged from babies' from babies' booties to the furnishings of the, churches of the South African people with whom Britain was at war, and commended all these do? in^s m the name 'of "patriotism," 1 what were the chief priests and scribes

and rulers of the news-agencies thinking about to forget that "chickens come home to roost?" Let the people of Australasia get a move on, and drive from their borders the curse of dishonesty m all its forms ; remembering at the same time that the scourge is, to a large extent, the outcome of the sordid actions of many of those whom they, the people, put into place and power. While holding fast tp the policy of a "White Australasia " see to it that the Australasian is white right through ; and not - bastard tiling with the skin of a white man, and the commercial morals of a Jap.