SOCIAL REFORM : ITS DIFFICULTIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8557, 27 July 1889, Page 4

SOCIAL REFORM : ITS DIFFICULTIES.

The second of a series of lectures, under theauspices of the Social Reform Association, was delivered in the Athen:eum Hall last evening by the Rev. Dr Belcher, who chose as his subject " Social Reform: Its Difficulties." Mr A. Bathgato (president of the association) occupied the chair, and there were about 100 persons present' including a number of ladies. Dr Belcher, who was warmly received, said that to his mind the present social movement, which occupied the thoughts of all attentive men, practically began in the year 1871. The Commune in Paris in that year destroyed the labours and the works of many generations in a sort of blind outburst of passion. He did not think that the Communist leaders of 1871 knew precisely what they wanted, and even at this distance of time it was difficult to understand what object they put before themselves. The French were now celebrating the great Revolution of 1789, and in that year they raised for the first time before the eyes of humanity the great banner of " Liberty, equality, and fraternity "; but he asked anyone who was a lover of these things whether the bloodshed, terror, and disorder which were associated with the action of the French people on that occasion did not set back the work that was connected with these great watchwords. The remarks he wished to address to them—to put himself beyond the power of misconstruction— were not intended to be devoted to the mere bye-ways of human life, to some of the smaller evils or abuses indissolubly connected with the present social order, but to deal with' the social order itself. The lecturer traced the basis of society from the slavery basis, through the serfdom period, to the present economic system— that of the wago class. From the time of Edward 111 down to 1824, when Huskisson's Act was passed, there had been successive acts passed for the repression of labourers. In Dunedin recently a meeting had been held—and rightly, had been held—on the sweating system, and plenty of evidence was brought before them of the sweating system, and reference was made to what had gone on in New York and in London, and in the great centref of civilisation and industry, bnt he declared that what we read or saw was.nothing'compurablc with what took place in 1801, in 1804, and up to 1840. In the beginning of the reiga of Queen Victoria, the birth of national freedom, as wo understood it, took place, and thai freedom our forefathers considered to be a panacea for all human miseries and all human ills. The opposite extreme to the lais-sez-faire system, as it was called, was the system of state interference, but social reformers, it was hoped, had the proverbial third course between I these extremes. After 1840, there followed -t series of strikes, and the rise of trades unionism Trade unions wera extremely beneficial. for strikts made the large employers oi labour feel for the working men what he had never felt before—respect,—(Applause.) There was not the slightest doubt that any organisation for carrying on strikes brought about a feeling | of co-operation among working men, and a desire that each should suffer for the other in order to promote tho common good. Capitalism and competition were then dealt with by the lecturer. The world conld not, he said, proceed without capital or without competition, and the social reformer did not quarrel with leen conpetition, but he quarrelled with dishonest competition or unrestricted competition. The service that now commanded the greatest respect was service of fellow creatures. Who would think of mentioning in the same breath Mr Vanderoilt and Mr Gladstone, the Bonanza King and Mr Parnell, Mr Astor of New York aud Mazzini?— (Hear.i It was unrestricted competition that brought abont the sweating system—(hear)—and it was unrestricted competition that filled the factories of England ii. 1824 and 1840 with babies, girls, and boys. To sum up, he thought the difficulties ahead regarding social reform were briefly three. Thefirst was the control of the industrial operations necessary to carry on society—in other words the transfer of capital and that which belonged to the management of capital. The "second difficulty was: In what direction was competition to be reasonable, or in what direction was it to be restricted, so that the force of mischievouicompetition uiight be repressed. The third difficulty was in ourselves. He held that in th«future —he did not say whether it was very near or far—these would be the three great" prini ciples to guide Bociety in its ultimate reform. In politics it would have democracy; in morals it would have an enlightened and purified Christianity; and in economics it would have co-operation.—(Loud applause). Mr XV, Hutchison proposed a vote of thanks* to the lecturer, which wag carried by acclamation. The Chaibman, in conveying the vote to Dr Belcher, intimated that the next lecture wouli! be given on the 30th August by ibe Rev J Gibb on " The Moral Aspect of Some Social Questions."