THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1894.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9959, 30 January 1894, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1894.

Is corporal punishment, like marriage, a failure ? Is the ferule played out ? The mere idea is enough to perturb the didactic shades of the Keverends Keate (of Eton) and Bomb (of Christ's Hospital), but nevertheless certain tender-hearted and tender-skinned New Zealanders are prepared to answer these questions in the affirmative. It may be suspected, however, that the birch (or its equivalent) will die hard. It has;the sanction of the ages on its side, and that possession of the field which is said to be nine-tenths of the law. An interesting book might be written on the lore of flogging: interesting, at all events, to those "old boys" who look back on their puerile experiences in this line through the sentimental halo of dividing years. In one of those excellent grammar schools founded by King Edwaed the Sixth, " the boy patron of boys, the iiower of the Tudor name," the school seal, still used by the governing body, depicts a master applying the birch to a hapless youth, swung suitably across his knee, the unbirched fellows looking on with rapt interest. Above the master's head hangs the motto (in Latin), " He who spares the rod hates the child." The young founder himself was wont to take his " swishings " vicariously: has not Mahk Twain told the tal6 of the king's " whipping boy" in his book, "The Prince and the Pauper"? Many a youngster lias read that story and wished that lie too had a whippingboy ; but perhaps there is consolation in the fact that the Royal privilege is a thing of the past. We have Canon Paltoh's assurance that the Prince of

Waxes's sons were duly corrected when occasion ai-ose^ . Nvitli the full concurrence, oil both Prince and Princess, find (adds the Canon) "a peer at Eton or at Winchester iaay he, and sometimes is, flogged with a seyerity which, if shown by a Board schoolmaster to an artisan's son, would be followed by a scene in a metropolitan police court." No doubt mistakes may be made. One of the uiany tales of Dr Keate's enormities tells how a shamefaced youth presented himself in the dread sanctum and was incontinently Seized and soundly flogged by the Etonian Bhadamaxthtts-, who doubted nothing as .to the purpose of the visit, until (the operation over) the Lad sobbed out, " Please, Sir, I came to be prepared for confirmation ]" r.To KEATE's.mind the rod could do everything. " Boys, see that ytfiX have pure minds; if you xlttirt have pure minds I shall flog you." It may be said for KeaSe that lie was no toady. According to Sir Pkaxois Doxle, " he had no favourites, and flogged the son of a duke and the son of a grocer with perfect impartiality." Doxle adds that "he was also thoroughly manly and right-hearted in the depth of his nature." As for Boter, of Christ's Hospital, his famous pupil, Coleridge, remarked that it was well for the cherub boys who conducted him to Heaven that they had nothing but heads and "wings, or he would infallibly have birched them on the way. We may remark, in passing, that there will be no more flogging in the place where Boy.br ruled: Christ's Hospital is to be forthwith removed into the country, and London will know the blue coats and yellow stockings of "Edward's race "no more. There is little sentimental shame about the normal schoolboy, and it cannot be said—or at least it could not, consuh Planco —that flogging is regarded as a dire disgrace. In one of the old public schools it was a recognised rule that the rod (formed of twigs, and consequently more or less spoiled by the operation) should be regarded as the perquisite of the sufferer, who treasured the painful relic with no small pride—omitting, however, to exhibit it at the parental abode. To descend in the educational scale, a passing word is due to Mr Squeers, whose wholesale views on the mission of . the birch were akin to those entertained by the more aristocratic Keate. When " the juniorest Palmer" expressed a wish to exchange Dotheboys Hall for Heaven, his preceptor determined to flog such impious thoughts out of him, and it would be a mistake to suppose that Squeers belonged only to the world of fiction.

But those days arc gone by: flogging masters," as such, are rarely heard of, and corporal punishment has become civilised. Probably there, is something nlorbid in the. demand for its • total abolition. The plain truth is that nothing more reasonable and effective has been found to take its place, and doubtless under proper restrictions the rod has yet a future of its own. Detention, impositions, and other punitive methods may be useful in their way, but there is a forceful: simplicity about the timehonoured plan , "which educational reformers find it hard to better. Moreover, there is a false Bentimentalism about some people's notions concerning the management of children — a phenomenon which, should, it spread, would augur ill for the future hardiness of the race. The Battle of Waterloo, said the Great Duke, was ■won in the playing fields of Eton, but perhaps Keate's ferule had something to do' with it, after all. Anyhow, so long as-the rod is wielded with circumspection and moderation, we have no sympathy -with the ultra-humanitarian propagandise. That influential instrument is no longer pictured upon the school seal, but it may have its proper place—behind the headmaster's desk. We must not forget, howe^r, that some of the New Zealand controversies upon this subject relate to the punishment of girls, and upon this point we would not a touch with levity. While not prepared to urge that young girls should be entirely exempt from corporal punishment, we must say that the moderation and circumspection just mentioned are in their case more than ever imperative. Moreover, there should be an age limit— say, when they reach their teens. A mischievous little girl may bo all the better for a few sharp strokes on the palm of the hand, but it must be borne in mind that the comparative shamelessness which, as we have said, usually characterises the genus boy has no part or lot in the boy's sister. It is easy to understand how a girl, without being in any way morbid, might bitterly feel the disgrace of a punishment which to her brother would mean only a transient physical incont venienee. We do not think that girls j over 13 years should bo corporeally I punished: the teacher must endeavour [to influence them chiefly by drawing I upon his stock of moral suasion. The overland telegraph line in South Australia is again interrupted, and we are thus deprived of our late European cablegrams this morning. At the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand, held at Auckland yesterday, an interim dividend of 5 per cent, for tho halfyear (payable about February 10) will be declared.

Mr W. M'Millan, tho ex-Treasurer of New South Wales, is at present on a holiday visit to New Zealand.

Those who are liable to pay income tax should not overlook tho fact that to-morrow is the date appointed for payment.

The State schools and also a number of private schools reopened yesterday after the midsummer vacation. Although there is a good deal of sickness abroad tho attendance in most cases seems to be up to the average.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held immediately before the quarterly meeting yesterday, a resolution was adopted confirming the alterations in the constitution of the chamber previously decided upon. The proceedings at this meeting were merely formal.

We learn by telegram from Mr W. Fraser, H.H.R., who is at present in Wellington, that he has arranged that Mr Murray, the Victorian Government geologist, shall visit Otago next month with Mr Gordon, inspector of mines.

A Wellington telegram states that the erection of the lighthouso on Stephens Island is now completed, and the light was shown for the first time last night.

While fishing off The Caves, beyond St. Clair, on Thursday last, Mr J. P. Simon, of the firm of Simon Bros., was swept off the rocks into a heavy sea, in which, although able to swim, he found it impossible, owing to the streßgth of the backway, to make his way unassisted to the shore. Noticing Mr Simon's awkward situation, a lad named Welby Fisher, a son of Mr T. R. Fisher, who had also been fishing from the point, gallantly plunged in, fought his way to Mr Simon, and assisted him, the tatter's hand on his shoulder, towards the rocks, when they were both helped out of tho water by a ropo passed dowu by another lad named Edward Bennett.

It was Mr H. I. D. Bell, M.H.R., who was nominated Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of New Zealand at Oainaru on Friday,

It is notified iv the Gazette that the following local rates will come into operation on the Hurunui - Blufi section : — Pelts, from Maheno to Woolston, will be charged 22a per ton; minimum quantity, four tone per trnclc.

Another of the Labour Acts passed by the late Parliament turns out to be so defectively drawn as to be unworkable* the possibility of: driving tile jftoX'ertfial coach and .s.ix horses thtongh the Factories Act wab recency demon'" strated, and now it is " The Contractors' and Workmen's Lien Ast 1892" which proves powerless bo effect the end for which it was devised. An action under it was recently initiated by two workmen in Dunedin against a contractor, who is said to have absconded, the men applying to have a lion on their behalf registered against the land in connection with which the work w&3 done, but upon the case being called f.t the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday morning Mr Fraser withdrew tlie proceedings because the lien had been rejected on technical grounds by the district land registrar, and beoause he would gain nothing by a long argument of the first claim. " The act is a perfect disgrace to the draughts- j man," he said; and Mr A. S. Adams, appearing to represent a client who alleged -that he -was prejudicially affected by the claim, chimed in with the observation that " the act ia a disgrace to whoever drew it.' J "Every section contains a blunder," Mr Fraser comprehensively declared. "I do not know any act on the Statute Book which sets so many problems," echoed Mr Adamß. "Itis an absolute disgrace to the Statute Book," repeated Mr Fraser. "This act is co hopelessly defective in almost all its provisions," added Mr Adams, "that litigants attempting to enforce it are simply inviting disaster, and if the Legislature can frame a better act it should be done next session," Without expressing any opinion regarding the draughtsmanship of the statute, the magistrate could find no interpretation given of the word "claim," and Mr Adams suggested it was used in two senses. Finallyt both counsel, concurred in the opinion that under the provisions of the act, a man was safe so long as he committed the worst frand which it was intended to prevent, but if he perpetrated a little wrong he might be caught..

The Government have decided to offer the sum of £2000, voted last session for tho encouragement of the hemp industry, in two bonuses. One bonus of £1750 is to be for an improved machine or process of' dressing New Zealand hemp, and the other of £250 will be offered for a process of utilising the waste products of hemp.

The Minister for Lands informed a deputation from the Oamaru Borough Council, introduced by Mr Duncan, M.H.U., who applied for assistance to extend the borough water race a distance of three miles, and so avoid the pollution caused by the Maerewhenua river being declared a sludge channel, that as the period allowed by law for making complaint or claiming compensation had expired the Government could do nothing. There was, besides, no money available. The Minister, howover, promised to obtain the services of Mr Gow, mining inspector, to report on a small extension of the race, it being understood that this did not commit the Government to any liability.

The annual meeting, of the Otago District Law Society was held in the Supreme Court building yesterday afternoon, Mr Woodhouse, president, being in the chair. Tho report of the council for the past year was read and adopted; and the following officers elected for the present year • — President, Mr D'Arcy Haggitt; vice-president, Hon. W, D. Stewart; council—Messrs F. R. Chapman, HoskiDg, Woodhouse, Gallaway, Stilling, W. O. Macgregor, and Sim ; honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr W. A. Sim.

Mr Kenneth Kennedy, of Wellington, has informed the Agricultural department that he knows of an effectual remedy for tho bot fly, which c&uses its instantaneous death without doing harm to the horses. Mr Kennedy also professes to be able to cure lung-worm in sheep.

Mr R. O. Bruco left for the north yesterday, several members of the Caledonian Society, Burns Club, and Gaelic Society being present at the railway station to hid him good-bye and to thank him for travelling to Dunedin to do honour to Scotland's national poet.

Lachlan M'Bean, a squatter, 84- years old, and reputedly worth £2,000,000, was killed by a buggy accident when driving into Deniliquin on business.

A return haa been prepared of the inquests held in Melbourne during 18934, which shows that the total of the inquests was 391, of which 73 were held in respect to suicides in which the suicidal act was clearly established, and in 32 olhers verdicts of " found dead " were returned, and the circumstances of these cases lead to the assumption that the most of them were the acts of suicides, though the evidence was not clear enough to establish the fact. Accidents are represented in the list by 136 inquests, infanticide by 32, and tho Infant Life Protection Act by 69. Drink was responsible for 21 of the suicides, 21 of the accidents, 10 of the number " found dead," and 21 of the total in the miscellaneous class.

It is not often that an offer of £24,000 for a mine has to be recorded. On Saturday (cays the Press) an offer was made of £24,000, half in cash and half in paid-up shares, for the Shamrock Lead gold mine, Addison's Flat. Tho shareholders, however, thought they could do better, and deolined the offer. The chairman, Dr Stewart, in his opening address to the meeting, epoke in the most sanguine terms regarding the futuro profpects of the mine.

It is alleged that, so far as agriculture is concorned, ono of the greatest scientific discoveries of the age is the result of experiments made by Messrs Garton, in Lancashire, who for some time have been engaged in crossing cereals and grasses in order to obtain new and superior varieties. At a recent meeting of the Highland and Agricultural Society, Mr M'Alpine, the botanist of the society, reported that he had visited Messrs Garton with a view of seeing the experiments carried on with the propagation of new varieties of grain, &c. He stated that Messrs Garton had been so successful that they could now give them what varieties they liked. They were now in a position to get breeds of cereals to suit the country, so that other countries would not have better sorts. . A committee was appointed to consider the matter. The Leith Valley Committee have nominated Messrs Fraer and Fraser for the Education Board ; the Blacks Committee, Messrs Cohen and Pinlayson; Stony Creek, Messrs Anderson and Fraer; Ngapara and Waikoikoi, Messrs Borrie and Fraer; Taiaroa Heads, Lauder, Hooper's Inlet, and Moa Creek, Hon. Mr Macgregor and Mr Fraer; and Wakari, Messrs Fraer and Cohen. ♦ Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co. will sell on Saturday the corporation leasehold in Moray place known as Brown's furniture warehouse, formerly used as a skating rink, and a freehold section. Messrs Brewer and Trembath will sell at Gore, on Saturday, Mr A. Anderson's trotting stock; also the horse King Harold, and draught mares and geldings. The partnership between Messrs Quick and Vivian as sharebrokers, &c. has been dissolved, and Mr Quick will continue the business. The new steamer Maori will leave Port Chalmers for London about the 10th February. Mr O. M. Spedding wttl sell tomatoes and paper bags to-day, and groceries, tea, &c. on Wednesday. Messrs Howden and Walton will sell a section at the corner of George and Duke streets on Friday. G. and T. Young, 88 Princes Btreet, are now selling Taylor's first quality Bowling Green Bowls at 19s; extra quality, 22a 6d a pair. G. and T. Young have an efficient staff of watchmakers and jewellers. Repairs a specialty; moderate prices. [Advx.] • • '' ' A Fact !—Peter Dick is tho most reliable Watchmaker, Moray plae?, Dunedin (opp. Coffee Palace). Watches cleaned, ss; mainsprings, 4a Gd.-[AnvT.] John HiSLor, Watchmaker and Jeweller, 74 Princes street. The oldest established house in town." Repairs of all kinds. Good assortment Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery. Spectacles to suit all sights.—[Advt.J Messrs A. and J. M'Farlane beg to call attention to their advertisement over the leader. Any orders entrusted to them will receivo the best attention.—[Advt.] " In chest affections your sodawater, when combined with milk, contains more nutriment than beef tea." — Dunedin Practitioner to Messrs Thomson and Co.—[Advt.]

— The Umbria has the largest propeller of all the Atlantic liners. . It is 24ift in diameter, and has four blades, each of which weigh seven tons, and the complete screw weighs 39 tons.

Advice to Mothers [—Are you broken in your rest by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth ? Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syhup. It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harmless, and pleasant to the taste; it produces natural quiet sleep by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes "as bright as a button." It soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup is sold by Medicine Dealers everywhere at la lid per bottle.—[Adyt.J