WOMEN'S FRANCHISE—WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH IT ?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10289, 21 February 1895, Page 2

WOMEN'S FRANCHISE—WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH IT ?

No. lII.—POLITICAL LYING. TO THE EDITOK. Sir,—Lying is tho fetid root from which all vice springs, and is a moral wepd growing with the greatest luxuriance amongs rx emascnlated people. It is generally dwarfei. in proportions where a nation is brave and strong, for it is the intellectual weapon of the weak and cowardly. A liar is inherently a coward, whether morally or physically. The physical coward lies to protect his person, hoping to avoid punishment for misdeeds, through deoeit. He lies because he is afraid of the truth. The moral liar liea to murder truth. Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts of miechief. Of the two the latter is the worse. There may be Eoine excuse for the first in physical debility; there can be none for the last. A liar is the parent of crime. He is a coward, for he is afraid of the truth ;he is a thief, for he robs his fellow creatures with his falsehoods and hypocrisy—which is a life of continuous lie —sometimes of millions of money, according to his opportunity and ability. He is a murderer, for he kills reputation, social position, and frequently, through such loss, tho very life of his fellows, more particularly women. The spirit of evil, or Satan, or the enemy of mankind, as he is variously called in the different theologies of the world, is styled amongst what are tanned Christians as " the father of lies," as indeed also amongst those we oall heathens, thus accentuating in the minds of humanity lying as the hotbed of all evil. To the normal Anglo-Saxon mind lying is not indigenous. A strong, brave, and conquering race is not in harmony with mendaoity. Itß natural tone of thought is adverse from its very vigour and oonsciounness of power, and repudiates the meanness ef falsehood, which to softer j peoples comes as to the manner born, and is I raised to the position of a fine art. Tho British public school boy has been for years toe educator of &c statesmen and legie»l

lators of the kingdom, of its Eastern Empire, and of the brave Pilgrim Fathers in its various posusssione, in this branch of social ethics. He is a l»w unto himself—holds his court*, and adminietcw its decisions with despatch and vigour. Woe to the boy convioted of a meanness or a lie I It were better for that boy he had not been born—at any rate while he remains at that school, —for he gets a taste of Hades on earth. Thare is no sycophancy there: my lord fares no better than Tom Hodge in that pure republic. It will be well for the future of the colonies if tbia tradition of the British public school becomes indigenous in them.

Strange to say, alongside this wholesome plant—truth—there has been allowed to grow the noxious weed political lying. It fc&» m long bean looked upoD as venial, and hns reached such a vigour of growth, that there is danger of ifcn better companion being altogether choked. . It is only reasonable to conclude that the man who has got into the habit of lyini? on what is termed venial subjects will ultimately become untruthful in every circumstance of life, and the people become a. Dation of liars. But is political lyin^ venial ? Wbafc is the harm of a lie ? Its sting ia the endeavour to deceive another, for purposes of revenge* mischief, or personal aggrandisement at his expense, whether of money or reputation, the two gre»t motives mci'ing the liv being the thirst for gain or the thirst for applause. Tha ordinary unofficial man who lies to his fellow injures one individual, or possibly through the latter innocently disseminating the falsehood a score or so; but the political liar who on the huntings lies to his constituency to get elected, or Minister who makes a false statement either in Parliament or in addressing crowds during the recess, does infinitely more harm, aa the mass affected is greater. A lying Financial Statement injures a people, discredits a nation; for be sure lies, .like chickens, come home- to roost. Unfortunately the harm they, do is sometimes immeasurable before the roost is reached. Lying politicians, and men in public positions, have been the curse of the United States; for, owing seemingly to some "fault" in the formation, the political lias1 finds the most perfect root in democracies, and always has. While Stephen Marcel in France, Bieozi in Italy, the Van Arteveldes in Flandsrß, the true friends and leaders of the people, were slain by the citizens themselves, the demagogue, fluent of tongue, with not a rag of conscience to act as a break, lying readily, and lying hard, succeeds. As it was in the past, so it is in the present, and so will it always be, unless woman in the exercise of her new-gained power prevent it. Education in its ordinary acceptance has little to do with it. The democracies ia the middle ages in Italy, in Greece, and elsewhere were intelligent enough; but the educated fly was caught by the treacle pot as readily as the ignorant midge. It was the moral eduoation that was wanting. We are very proud of calling ourselves a democracy, and our duodecimo editions, of demagogues are constantly patting us on our backs and informing us of the fact; but "all is hot gold that glitters." Plato has said that "tyranny more naturally results from democracy than from any other form of government"; while his great pupil, Aristotle, says: "The people, knowing itself to be en absolute king, assumes all bis pretensions and exercises all his prerogatives." True, they were men of yesterday; but it will be long before the man of to-day wipes them out. They lived ia the palmy days of the brightest democracy tha world is ever likely to see, and the Tom Thumbs of New Zealand can hardly, even in their wildest conceit, imagine themselves' a Demosthenes, a Themistocles, or a Pericles.

Here is a field for the enfranchised woman to work in. If she will but eradicate' the baneful weed "political liar," she will nobly earn the lasting gratitude of the unborn million fellows.—l am* &c, .

Wai/ibb H. Pjbabsok.

Dunedin, February 12.

FAIR RENT. TO THE EDITOR.

v. Sis, —It is well known that for the list eight oriO years the ground tenants of Dnnedin have been rack rented. Many good and enterprising citizens have lost their all and gone to the wall through the grasping rapaoity of their landlords. Through continued bad times other citicß in New Zealand and the country generally now recognise that there should be some readjustment of rents and land values en a, fair and equitable basis to landlord and tenant.

You yourself have pointed out th« great falling away in city land valuei, as witnessed in the great reduction made in the recent corporation leasehold sales in Princes street, where land only realised a-fonrth or a-fifth of what it did 20 years ago. These leases are now let at a fair rental according to the present state of business, but we must not think that Dunedin is 'going to remain under a depression tor ever. In a short time brighter times will smile npen us, we all hope. Then it would be monstrous, should these corporation leases be again worth four or five times their present values, that the taxpayers of this city should be deprived of such increase for 21 years simply because the leases were sold in a year of depression. Tho thing is absurd, and shows how little wisdom it reqnirea to govern;

Another sale of corporation leaseholds toot place a few months ago in Maclaggan street. The land, after fair valuation, was fired at 30s per foot frontage. On portion of the land were built the extensive premises of a wealthy firm; adjoining were the shops of small but enterprising tradesmen, who by years of industry had built up fair and payable businesses, which now became part and parcel of the nbops and the site. The wealthy firm had no competition for their lot, as it would have required great capital and experience to have ran their business, and they purchased at the upset rental of. 30s per foot. The small businesses were ran up to £3 2s 6d per foot, at which the owners had to buy in to save their trade. These leases are aleo let for 21 years. Is there any fairness or justness in this ? When the ground rent is fixed where a tenant has his business, I think he should have the first option of purchase at the upset, otherwise it is his business and not the land which increases the rental, as in this instance. Were the land revalued every three or five years, then justice would be done to tenant and landlord and a great deal of unjust speculation done away with.

You state in your article that a Fair Kent Bill was brought in by a Conservative Government to give relief to Crown tenants and ifc dropped through, bnt you forget to mention it was through the opposition of Sir George Grey, who would not support it unless it were made applicable to private tenants as well as to Crown, as he could not sea any distinction in reason and justice between them. This the Conservative Government would not consent to, and the bill dropped.

Private leasehold has been, and is, without a Fair Rent Bill, a blight and a drawback to Dunedin and, inferentially, to the other cities of New Zealand. For years past no one has built anything but shells of premises on leasehold, as this kind of property is looked upon as valueless and is only used for the exigencies of business. Why do so many paltry business places disfigure Dnnedin's main streets ? Because they are leaseholds. A row of shops were recently erected in one of the main streets: I have heard it stated, and I believe it, that no city in Australia would allow them' to disfigure their streets. The reason—built by a speculator to last only till his lease is out. Leaseholds are now so dreaded that no man will build otherwise, and so our fair city becomes dia« figured with cheap and nasty work.

A Fair Rent Bill would alter all this, and give encouragement to traders to build fair and substantial work, for which they would receive a fair return, and not bo at the mercy of a hard and nnrelentiug landlord should times of adversity fall upon them. I have no doubt that such a bill would give a great stimulus, to the building trade, as no man will lay out a shilling more than he can help on his leasehold, and many shanties would be pulled down—the corporation should insist upon it—and ba replaced by more snitible buildings.

As for myself, I am paying three or four times what should be a fair rental for my leasehold, but my landlord will not abatn oce jot. Bad times do not affect him: he is amply secured in his rent by my buildings, and he will have the bond.

I may mention that a sound lawyer like the Hon. Doirnie ftewart expressed himself infavour of a Fair Rent Bill for young countries like New Zealand, " where circumstances change so quickly from prosperity to adversary and vice versa." —I am, &c,

February 19,

A SUFFEKEB,