POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8547, 16 July 1889, Page 2

POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Whilst casting about for better ways of administering our public charities, it may be useful to glance at an example of successful poor law reform based on principles altogether new, or at any rate never yet adopted in any British community. This example is furnished by Holland, in which country, since 1870, there have been no "unemployed," and the streets have been entirely swept of beggars, whilst at the same time public expenditure for charitable purposes has been greatly reduced, and in the towns is now limited to the maintenance of hospitals, almshouses for the aged, and orphanages for destitute children. What becomes, then, of the able-bodied pauper who elsewhere is so serious a burden on charitable agencies, public and private .alike ? He finds a home and work suited "to his capacity in one of the great industrial " colonies " to which, in Holland, must go, either voluntarily or under a magistrate's commitment order, all beggars, vagrants, and, destitute unemployed persons, male or female. These "colonies," three in number, were originally private charities; but in 1859 two of them were taken over by the State, and have since served, with complete success, all the purposes sought in other countries by elaborate systems of out-door and in-door relief. The two State colonies have between them an average population of 3000, who are employed in farming, dairying, gardening, and a variety of handicrafts. The total cost of maintenance, including all salaries, together with the support of local hospitals, libraries, and churches, Protestant and Catholic, is under L 30.000. Compare with this the cost of poor relief under the English aystem. The Liverpool Parish Workhouse, jn 1885, with an average of 6493 recipients of aid, in-door and out-door, spent L 103.000 j the West Derby Union, with an average of 4000, spent LIOO.OOO. The enormoife difference in favour of the Dutch system is due, of course, to the fact that in the one case the poor are relieved by doles, and in the other are provided with work, more or less productive. Mr Herbert Mills, author: of an excellent little book on the poor law question entitled " Poverty and " the State," has recently published an account of a visit of inspection which he made to these " beggar colonies " in Holland three years ago. "The utili- " sation of the labour of beggars/ he says, "has converted an enormous■ " estate from a wild waste into " a garden ; from a deserted plain " into a home of industry; and, " strange to say, a home of con- " tentment. Veenhuizen, in the pro- " vince of Drentbe, and Ommerschans, " in the province of Overissel, are both j " places of this description, both the j " property of the Dutch Government, " and both beggar colonies." Under the Act of 1870, any person found soliciting alms is arrested, and, on conviction, is committed for two years to one of these estates. There ho is fed, clothed, set to work, and earns a small wage, two-thirds of which he may spend in luxuries not included in the dietary scale. The other third is reserved to the end of his term. Generally he leaves with a sovereign in his pocket, which he hastens to spend in order that he may become qualified for another two years' sojourn in the "beggar colony." This system has now been in operation nearly 20 years, and has passed beyond the stage of experiment. In Holland it is looked upon as a complete success. As a method of dealing | with loafers, vagrants, and sturdy beggars, it leaves nothing to be desired, except, indeed, that this class of paupers should be made to return to the community the whole cost of their maintenance. According to Mr Mills, this result would easily be secured in the Dutch beggar colonies were it not that competition with outside labour is avoided. Nothing is produced for sale; as a consequence the men are not fully employed 5 life in a " colony" is too easy-going, and the great problem of the managers is to find and make work. At Frederiksoord, however, where an institution on somewhat similar lines has been created by private, philanthropy, all the usual motives to energetic industry have full play. Like the two State

olonies, Frederiksoord is a paradise ron from the wilderness. The estate omprises 5000 acres ,of land, livided into six large model farms ,nd 224 small farms, each of which imports a family and contributes on annual sum, by way of rent, towards ihe maintenance of new arrivals and ihe infirm. There are three churches md a Jewish synagogue, in each case ivith manse attached, and five schools. When first admitted, a man with _ a 'amily is employed on one of the six model farms; in time he gets a small tarin of his own and pays rent. The average population during the last 10 pears has been 1800^persons, divided Into 90 families of labourers, 224 families of independent farmers, and 120 orphans and aged, boarded by the different families. A Frederiksoord colonist usually lives and dies on! the estate. He may be expelled for ] continued drunkenness or gross immorality; but there have been only four expulsions during the last ten

years This picture of Arcadian simplicity and happiness might be taken for the dream of some Oommunist visionary rather than for what it is—a portrayal of actual fact. Both in the management of incorrigible paupers and in charitable endeavours to help the deserving poor, the Dutch seem to be in a position to read a lesson to the rest of the world. Their "beggar colonies" under State control are a vast advance on the British Poorhouse system, with its capacity for muddling away millions, and its results in ever deeper pauperisation. In an equal degree the cooperative settlement at Frederiksoord puts to shame our wretchedly ineffective attempts — never-ending, stillbeginning—to devise relief for that class of poor who may be described as the of unrestricted competition. " The experience of the Governors " at Frederiksoord, since 1870," says Mr Mills, " goes to show that " there is a class of the population " which cannot earn a living under " competitive conditions, but which is " willing enough to work and become " independent under co-operative con- " ditions." In every community there are these weaker members, for whom the stress of competition is too severe. The true and only way to help them is not by alms-giving, which must be continually repeated, and which leaves them no better in the end; but by creating for them —in the form $>f a special community on co-operative principles—a little world apart, in which it will be possible for the failures of competitive society to earn a subsistence. To create such a special community would cost money ; but how much money do we spend annually in misnamed charitable aid without lessening the burden and scandal of pauperism one whit ?

In the Supreme Court yesterday morning, the case of Murray v. the Liverpool and London ani Globe Insurance Company was mentioned by Mr Hosking.who asked that it might be allowed to stand over. There were, he ssid, negotiations proceeding between the parties, and the case would probably not come on at the current sittings.

The civil case of Schmidt v. the City Corporation, in -which the plaintiff claims £200 damages for injuries alleged to have been caused to his house by fumes from the gasworks, was commenced before Mr Justice Williams in the Supreme Court yesterday,-and 16 witnesses were eramiued in support of the plaintiff's case, which was, however, not concluded when the court rose in the evening. The issues in the present case are exactly the same as in another case on thn list, that of Gordon v. the City Corporation, and it has been arranged that the latter caso shall be governed by this one, so that two trials will not be necessary.

At th<j inquest held yesterday at tho hospitul, by Mr Coroner Oarew and a jury, on the body of tha man who was killed on board the Inycrcargill, the resident surgeon, Dr Barclay, in his evidence said he thought there should bo some apparatus at the wharf, such as a stretcher, for removing people who were injured in the manner the deceased had been. The man had been lifted out of the hold in a coal basket. It was true that his injuries were of a very serious naturo and would have proved fatal in anyeaae, but it was quite an easy matter to convert a small injury into a great one by having a man doubled up in a basket, and it might be tho cause of fatal results. The jury in giving their verdict concurred Btroogly with the doctor's remarks, and added a rider thßt they thought the Harbour Board or other authority should provide proper appliances as suggested by Dr Barclay.

A fire broke out shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday in a house in George street, Port Chalmers, owned and occupied by Mrs Miller, dressmaker. As tha next building—owned by Mr D. Law, and ocoupied by Mr Jolly as the Crown Printing office—was only cut off by a light wooden partition, the fames soon spread to it. The Fire Brigade under Captajn Mitchell were promptly on the spot., and although there was a strong wind blowing, there being a plentiful supply of water, the fire was principally confined to the two buildings. The printing office, although only partly demolished, was completely gutted. The Ked Store, which is owned by Mr John Joyce, on the other side of Mrs Miller's, was slightly damaged by fire a-,J water. Mrs Miller was insured in the Northern office, we understand, for £80; Mr' Law bad a policy on the building of the printing office for £200 in the Equitable, and Mr Jolly on the stock and plant a policy for £300 in the saino office. The Bed Store was insured in the Norwich Union office.

Our Arrowtowu correspondent telegraphed yesterday:—" The weather for many weeks has been extremely cold, and last night rain fell copiously, followed hy frost, which has covered the whole district with a fayer of ice.; so that it is very dangerous, and in somo places quite impossible, to got about."

The small bird nuisance is declared by farmers in Southland to be worse than the rabbit pest. At a meeting at Wallacetown it was resolved to levy a rate of Id per acre on laud intended for oropping tbis 6eason to raise funds to destroy the small birds.

Mr W. L. Bright, M.F., who is at present in Auckland, intends on his return to England to ask a question in the House of Commons relative to the action of Admiral Fairfax in allowing the men of B.M.S. Orlando to take part in an Orange anniversary.

Great indignation has been excited in Belgium by some criminal proceedings instituted at Mons against 27 Socialists accused of a political connpiraoy, for it ,came out in evidence that the whole plot was got up by the police and their agents, and that the writer oi an in^ammatory article in a socialist paper was one of them. These facts were acknowledged on oath by their superior officers, and it was admitted that the explosion of some dynamite, apparently directed against the Hall oE Commerce at Louvidre, was the work of a police agent named Pourbaix.

Burglaries nod robberies of one kind and another are largely ou the increase in Sydney, and even yachts lying at anchor in various bays and harbours are being robbed. Early one morning recently Mrs H. Dickenson, who is living with her family at Croydon, was awakened by a noise. Bhe discovered a burglar in one of the room», aud tried while shouting for help to detain him. Finding that the man was getting away, she discharged a small pistol loaded with shot close to the man's back; but the burglar, who must havo received the full charge of 6hot between his shoulders, managed to escape, and, so far, has not been apprehended.

Mrs Elizabeth Taylor, of Kichmond, near Melbourne, was arrested on the 4th inst. on a charge of the murder of a young woman named Ellen Nowlan, who died at Carisbrooke on the 12th ultimo. The body was ezhumed, and a post mortem examination revealed the fact that an illegal operation had been performed. This is tlie fifth time Taylor has been arrested on a similar charge. About a year ago she was released after serving two years' imprisonment. .

" An interesting report on serious crime in an Indian province has bgen_prepared by Mr | Eustace J. Kitts, of the Bengal civil service^ say 3 The Times. " The province is the important administrative division called ' the NorthWest Provinces and Oude,' and the period treated upon is the 10 years from 1876 to 1886. To those who think that the existence of dacoity in Burmah demonstrates the slender hold we have on that country, it will be some encouragement, perhaps, to learn that the same sort of thing exists in districts of India whore our authority has been unquestioned for a century. I Dacoity is only another name for highway robbery. Of 4530 murders committed during these 11 years, 72 were perpetrated by dacoits and 388 by highway robbers. Thuggee, which used to be a scourge of the people of India, was in 'the same psriod responsible for only six murders, but the report goes on to state that if' thuggee has died out, professional poisoning has to some extent taken its place.' Mr Kitts mentions many cases of professional poisoning to justify this statement. Another curious practice, which reminds one of China, is the murder of a relative in order to throw suspicion on a personal enemy who is accused of the crime because the body is found on his premises' The Kanjars seem to be a formidable tribe of expert footpads. Their numbers are fortunately few, and ' their women, in the Deccan at least, are noted for their handsome looks, their command ef native Billingsgate, and their extremely filthy songs.' In the period discussed there were 500,000 cases of housebreaking and 700,000 cases of ordinary theft. The significance of these large figures is diminished by the individual offences being as a rule trivial."

Three or four youths in Adelaide succeeded in obtaining from the Commercial Bank gold to the value of £1000 by means of a blank cheque, stolen from the office of Mr Alexander. It appears that a youth, "supposed to be Alfred Levioe, 16 years of age, went to the telephone at the Royal Exchange, and inquired of the Commercial Bank if it would honour a cheque of £1000 in Mr Alexander's name, the reason adduced being that the money was wanted in order to transact business with a leading firm of brokers, and would be paid into the bank in the afternoon. Shortly afterwards Levine appeared at the bank, and the cheque for £1000 was readily cashed. On the fraud beiog discovered Levine was arrested, and in a bag which the lad had hauded to the barman of a suburban hotel for safe keeping the bulk of the money was found. A brother of the lad, on being arrested, ; took an overdoso of morphia, and had to be taken to the hospital. On him were found two first-class railway tickets for Melbourne. With the exception of £30, the whole of the money has been recovered.

Five hundred men were engaged recently for operations on the Nicaragua Canal, which therefore will be begun immediately. It is by no means certain, however, that it will not soon be laid aside in favour of an American attempt to complete the Panama project. Months ago an American association, in which Vice-president Morton was one of the leaders, endeavoured to obtain control of the old company, and they are still conducting negotiations in that direction. If successful at all it must be immediately, because a Single rainy season will efface nil the work hitherto done. The joint resolution of Cougres3 precludes the possibility of any help being given by the French Government, and these American speculators are the only private capitalists willing to venture money in the farther prosecution of the enterprise. And nearly, if not all, of this American capital is money made out of profits on contracts let out by tho Do Lesseps management to a new York dredging company. It would be a stroke worthy of Jay Gould himself to buy out the original owners with the money thoy had foolishly squandered, and then make tie scheme a lucrativa success. But, of course, if this project fails, the Nicaragua Canal will be aotively pushed forward, and many engineers believe that in any case it is the safer and cheaper route.

As if to emphasise the views of those who believe Irving Bishop, the thought reader, was in a trance, and not dead at the time of tb e autopsy, the New York papers published iv the same week accounts of two oases of Expended animation under very similar circumstances. Tbe most remarkable ot these was iv Boston, and the subject was a young woman named Patten. On Thursday, the 16th May, Miss Patten was taken ill with tonßilitis, and her doctor says it developed into diphtheria. Shu grew rapidly worse, and on Friday her speech stopped, her eyes closed, her breathing ceased, and the doctor in charge pronounced her dead. Miss Patten's father did not believe so, and another doctor was called in and agreed with tho first. They were about to send for tho undertaker when tho woman open her eyes and said, " I am not dead." Two hours later tho same thing happened, aud the doctors were summoned again! this time they hesitated, but 'the &igns of life were so completely gone that they once more called it a case of death. She revived an hour later. On Saturday a worse attack came on than before, and this time all round the bedside, iucluding the father, who had at first been doubtful, agreed with tho doctors that the patient was no longer alive. This time the undertaker was summoned and a coffin was brought; but at the present writing Miss Patten has do use for it, as ehe " came to " once more, and at last accounts was getting well. Sad news reaches us (Bays the P»''y News of 24th May) iv confirmation of our recent nota on the condition of the people in the Western Isles. A lady correspondent writes :—" I was iv Scotland throughout April, and can testify that there is a fire smouldering in the Western Isles which will astonish England if it breaks into flame. Tho people are half starved, the potatoes do not ripen, tbe oats don't ripen, or, if they do, the cottars have to sit up all night to watch them, or else the deer come down and eat them. Just now lastyear'B potatoes are getting scarce, and things are very bad." In Portree, ißle of Bkye, where there have been of late serious outbreaks of famine fever as well as of typhoid and typhus, it has been determined to found a cottßge fever hospital. Mrs Isabella Reid, convener of the ladies' committee, writing from tho Free Church manso, Portree, says:—" Last year an old cottar woman, while lying ill of typhus fever, was burnt to death in her house, the ooSined remains of her sister, who had died of the same disease, being, along with the dwelling house, burnt up at tho same time. Another oottftr in another end of the parish lay fevered in her hut with very inadequate attendance till she died; and while attending to cases of typhus in tho suburbs of Portree, our late estimable medical officer, Dr Ross, lost his life, alio through fever." These mournful facts apeak for themselves. Notwithstanding the wretched weather which prevailed last night, St. Paul's schoolroom was crowded on the ocsasion of the fourth production of the kinderspiel entitled " The Flowers o' the Forc3t." The young folks acquitted themselves very creditably, and frequently succeeded in gaining the hearty applause of the audieuco. The kinderspiel will be repeated on Thursday.

Oar Palmerston correspondent writes: — "The concert promoted by the Flag Swamp School Committee to raise funds to repair the residence of the female teacher was held on Thursday evening, when the schoolhouse was packed and many were unable to gain admittance. Those who gave their services to carry out the programme, and wero eminently successful, were: Meedames Keen, Russell, Misses Puddy, Aitken, Findlay, Russell, Reed, Messrs Lawson, Reed, D. Findlay, Keen, and Aitken. The Vivian praraalic Company made their final appearance at the Princess Theatre last evening, when a benefit was accorded to Miss Helen and Mr Arthur Vivian. The programme that was presented consisted of the dramatised version of "Lady Audley's Secret," and the farcical comedy " Sam," both of which serve to display to the heist advantago the abilities of the members of the company. In " Lady Audley's Secret," Miss Vivian, in the -character of Lady Audley, bore the brunt of the play most successfully, aud she received adequate assistance from the other performers. Deserving of special mention is Mr Beresford, who, at short notice, supplied the place of Mr Carey, as Robert Audlfiy. Mr Peresford was not only letter perfect, but he emphasised the points of the oharaoter as distinctly as if he had been used to the part. 'In the representation of "Sam," Misses Vivian and Wilton, Messrs Vivian, Beresford, and Bateman, as before, carried the audience, which was a fairly large one, completely with them. The Hugh Buffalo Minstrels, who appear at (ihe Princess Theatre on Wednesday evening, concluded a very successful season at Christchurch last nighi Two o^ the members of the company are new to Duusdinj but the others nee old favourites, .'

We are requested to draw attention to the announcement that Mr Morgan O'Menra, of Queenstown, in conjunction with Messrs Wright, Stepheneon, and Co., are prepared to treat for the »ale of that valuable and well-known property, Kichardt s Hotel, at Queenstown, and also 30 acres of freehold. Messrs X, O. Reynolds will sell on Wednesday, at their rooms, tea, raisins, butter, &o. On Wednesday evening Dr Stuart will deliver ft lecture, entitled " Reminiscences of a Recent Trip to the Old Country," ht the hall of the Roilyn Institute. The proceedn are In aid of the library fund of the institute. , The commencenent of the third quarter of the day and evening classes at the School of Art is announced , Ladies and gentlemen who wish to join Dr Bulau a private clubs for the study of languages, will please apply Lome House, George street. Fee, one guinea P(Say rit'nofc tiTilnyof the small fry that tho Cooperative Meat Supply Company are selling best boiling beef at lid and nice chuok roasts at 2d in the shop; also, taat their Melbourne sausages at 4d are equal to Cambrldges and similar nondescripts ; fore-quarters of mutton, 2d only, and legs Explorers' and athletes, try the magic properties of tho kola nut in Hudson's Kola Chocolate.— [ADVT.] .^__«.