The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1888.

Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 17 August 1888, Page 21

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1888.

PASSING NOTES.

When 12 years ago Professor Macgregor contributed to the " New Zealand Magazine," of fragrant memory, his "Problem of Poverty " articles it probably did not occur to him that one day he would have to grapple with the problem of poverty in a practical way from one end of New Zealand to the other. That the Fates designed him for such a labour of Hercules was mercifully hidden from him. The Professor did not bottom the problem of poverty even in its theoretical form. His articles were never finished — he simply left off writing them ; and I remember seeing in the Athenaeum copy at the end of the last one the pencilled criticism, " Got tired of it his-aen." I won't say that the Professor — who is now the ex- Professor and the In-spector-general of Charitable Institutions — has not at last bottomed the problem for practical purposes ; on the contrary, I believe that he has ; but before, he sees effected the reforms advocated in his report the chances are that again he will " get tired of it his-sen." He tells the Government that they must abolish Benevolent Committees and build workhouses. Some' years ago an emigration lecturer reported that when he descanted to English farm labourers on the non-existence of workhouses in New Zealand, they shook their heads and said that " that was no countiy for a man to go to." The establishing of workhouses might add to the attractions of the colony as a field for emigration, but even with ,that inducement I fancy the Government will jib at their inspector's programme of root and branch reform. Then all other aid to the poor is to come from voluntary charity. The very select company of gentlemen who assembled themselves at the Town Hall this week to consider the matter shook their heads at this. They talked about it and about it, appointed a " committee to inquire," and will keep the thing steadily in view— and that is about all they will do. Meanwhile rival charity reformers are in the field, impartially falling foul of each other and Dr Macgregor. The latter's report one of them describes as written in the style of " a Scotch Malthus swearing at large ! " As things are looking we shall have much entertaining controversy on the imperative necessity of charity reform, and shall go on exactly as before.

It is curious how very right ever} body is who has spoken on this mucli vexed charitable aid question, yet how very far we are from having everything "as right as right can be." Dr Macgregor is, without a doubt, right in his Draconian maxim that the duty of the State is only to keep people from starving within its borders, and that all else it is the province of private charity to supply. Economists will bear him out in that. But then, on the other hand, so is Mr Robin right in saying that a heavy burden would in that case fall solely upon the benevolently disposed, and that those not so disposed (their name, too, is legion) would get off scot free. How escape from this very evident perplexity. The logical way of escape is, of course, to be found in the reflection that the small section of the charitable will be accumulating that unseen treasure which is not to \>e corrupted by moth or rust. But somehow in these bad times such a reflection — although it goes a long way with many good people — does not go quite so far as it ought to. For a fraction of the people to bear the whole burden of succouring the destitute would be to dangerously strain the quality of mercy. Hence our poor laws and charitable aid Acts. " Whene'er I take my walks abroad, how many poor I see." Too many. That is the difficulty. We agree with Dr Macgregor that funds collected by the taxpayer and distributed by a public official represent in no sense charity. The voluntary unbuttoning of a bieeches' pocket, and the bestowal of relief at first hand is the most cheery and healthful form of almsgiving, as far as the donor is concerned at least ; bat the demon of professional pauperism and imposition has spoiled this good old practice. Breeches' pockets unbutton stiffly nowadays, and too many don't unbutton at all.

Once again the stress of business in the House has been relieved by the agreeable interlude of a " stonewall." Never before has this interesting development of Parliamentary institutions been seen to such advantage. We have at last been privileged with an exhibition of the art and mystery of stonewalling reduced to its lowest terms, divested of all obscuring elements, and placed before an admiring country in its naked beauty. This boon we owe to Mr Taiwhanga, who in his single person, with occasional " assistance " from Mr Taipua and Sir George Grey, stonewalled the Native Lands Bill for 17 consecutive hours. Prayers, entreaties, threats, promises, were tried upon him in vain, and had not the Premier beguiled him into a delusive truce on condition that certain Maori chiefs should be heard at the bar, it "seems probable that Mr Taiwhanga would have gone on stonewalling till he died on the floor of the House. Picture the condition of the other 90 odd members paralysed , and helpless under the spell of this fatal Maori haranguing them for 17 hours through an interpreter! The interpreter, indeed, caved in exhausted after eight hours of it, from which point Mr Taiwhanga went on serenely in his native tongue uninterpreted. That, of course, made not the slightest difference. The essential fact was that Taiwhanga was "visibly there and audibly talking; it mattered not though he talked Choctaw or Pawnee. The rules of the House permitted him to talk and did not permit his fellow legislators to throttle him — which facts will inspire us all with new veneration for the wisdom embodied in the rules of the House.

Itjwas a virtuous thing in Mr Fish, when this Maori sConewall was in preparation, to object to the prospective loss of time— a virtuous and a self-sacrificing thing, inasmuch as f orihis pains he immediately got his knuckles rapped by Mr Speaker. A fortnight ago Mr Fish was himself engaged in

stonewalling ; the more exemplary, therefore, his conduct on this occasion. In his zeal for pressing on the business of the country and saving the valuable time of 90 odd able-bodied legislators at, say, 40s each per day, Mr Fish referred to Taiwhanga and his friends as "those confounded Maoris," using at the same time other opprobrious expressions, for which the Speaker sharply rebuked him. Mr Fish's reply was pathetic. Why is there not a code of forbidden expressions — he complained — so that a fellow may know exactly what is Parliamentary and what isn't ? This remark illustrates the painful disadvantages under which some hon. members labour. A patriot goes up to Wellington with the best intentions, but with a scanty and fitful command over his h's, and a vocabulary that may expose him to snubs and ignominy. What is the result ? A Maori from the woods may successfully obstruct the business of the country for 17 hours, observing, like a gentleman, all the decencies of debate, and retire finally with the honours of war, politely acknowledging the courtesies he has received. On the other hand, the patriot who righteously objects to this waste of time is rebuked for unseemly speech, and told, as Mr Fish was told, that he may take a lesson in Parliamentary etiquette from the noble savage 1 All this is very painful. It may be suggested to Mr Pyke, now that the Otago Central is off his mind, that he should prepare and publish a Parliamentary vatic nneouvi or Complete Wrangler for the guidance of politicians whose education has not included the " tuppence extra for manners."

The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce " has a delicacy" in urging the Government to assist the representation of New Zealand atthe Paris Exhibition — a delicacy solely due to financial considerations. It is noticeable, too, that in European countries where the French have announced their World's Fair for 1889 delicacy has also been felt, although evidently on different grounds. In Austria Heir Tisza felt so extremely delicate upon the subject that he issued an official notice warning his countrymen emphatically against exhibiting at the Paris Universel as likely to lead them into all sorts of foreign co i plications and entail disastrous consequences upon the two-headed eagle. Even Lord Salisbury, as representative of free and merry England, where a man may celebrate anything he likes to any extent provided he has a friend to see him home safely — Lord Salisbury even has firmly declined to lend any official countenance to the effort of the Republic to commemorate the sanguinary drama enacted in the Paris of a hundred years ago. What such autocratic powers as Russia and Germany think of the proposal it is scarcely worth while inquiring. It is nice to be volatile — to be able, like the French, to upset dynasties in favour of republics and supplant republics by new dynasties just as the fit may take them ; but these are indulgences for which they have to pay something. They have to endure the unspoken reprehension of countries where government is stable and law and order less liable to eclipse, and they will probably have to endure' an international boycott for their Universal Exhibition of 1889.

Something not unlike a boycott oppresses France already. She is waging a deadly tariff war with both Italy and Germany, whilst Eussia, her most likely political ally, is being coquetted with by the young Emperor William. So much so that "it is believed," according to the cable, "that the Czar has promised to assist Germany in the event of hostilities breaking out. between that country and France." This read in contrast with the European situation of a few months back is startling; but nothing ought really to startle us now. Young William has been kissed by the Czar at Cronsfcadt and snubbed by King Christian at Copenhagen. Boulanger, cheered to the .skies yesterday, is despised and rejected to-day ; Lord Salisbury, at the Mansion House, applauds " Eussian valour" in Bulgaria. All this is more or less surprising and unexpected, but no doubt true and capable of explanation. Christian of Denmark has the courage to show pointedly that he has not forgotten Scales wig-Holstein ; Boulanger has struck a run of bad luck ever since he was pinked by Premier Floquet; Lord Salisbury feels that circumstances alter cases, and that what at the time of the Berlin Congress was unhallowed aggression on the part of Eussia may now be viewed as Christian valour. The changes in the political kaleidoscope are past speculating upon, because they are governed by on-ly one rule — the rule of expediency. Some day it will appear expedient to one Power to hit out from the shoulder instead of finessing further, and for ;i brief space hard knocks will take the place of diplomacy. But there are hopeful signs of th^i; acute condition of affairs called in Europe " p§ace " not being broken for awhile. Everyone is so very wideawake, and it is more convenient in beginning a little affair of this kind to catch your adversary napping if possible. Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just, And four times he who gets his blow in fust. It is on some such terms as this that balmy peace is permitted to pervade Europe for a short time yet.

Do the Chinese possess nerves? An absurd question, one would say ; yet the North China Daily News devotes a long and learned article to the discussion of it, and finally, in all seriousness, decides it in the negative. In tbe mere anatomy of him, the Chinese is made like other people, has nerves similar and similarly situated to those of a European, but they are nerves that don't behave as such. As a baby tbe Chinese- never squirms or wriggles, as a school boy he can sit still for any number of hours, as a workman he' can repeat automatically tbe same acts without a rest from morn till dewy eve. It matters not to him how long he remains in one position, nor where, how, or amid what disturbances he sleeps. Says the writer, "It would be easy to raise in China an army of a million men — nay, of 10 millions — tested by competitive examination as to their capacity to go to sleep across three wheelbarrows, with head downwards, like a spider, their mouths wide open and a fly inside I" If he is hurt and taken to a hospital " he will bear, without shrinking, a degree of pain from which the stoutest European would shrink with horror." Finally he dies with the passive indifference of a sheep. " Those who have

witnessed the perfectly quiet starvation in: times ,of devastating famine of millions will be able to understand what is here meant." Thus the writer in the North China Daily News, and apparently we may adopt the doctrine that John Chinaman has no nerves — a comfortable doctrine, having regard to the treatment he has been receiving in some quarters of late. On the other band, if John comes in his millions and we have to fight him, sve should find the possession of nerves a very serious handicap. The writer I have quoted closes with this very suggestive question : — " Which is the best adapted to survive in the struggles of the twentieth century — the ' nervous ' European or tbe tireless, all-Dervading, and phlegmatic Chinese?"

Here is something more anent the Old Boys' dinner : — Dear Civis, — Last week you declared your inability to explain the conundrum submitted to the Old Boys at their dinner by Dr Belcher in his story of the female elephant who, having inadvertently committed perdu icide— that is, having squashed a perdrix, or partridge, by stepping on it, — soughfc to make reparation and at the same time gratify the yearnings of her own maternal heart by sitting down on the nest of young ones. I have no explanation to offer you — that is not why I write, — but I thought it might interest you to know what diggings the classical doctor had been working. I find the following in the " Puff" column of the Wellington Evening Press : — " I say,have you ever been to Dunedin ? — Oh, yes ; I know Dunedin well. " Are the people very original there ? — Very much so indeed. Why ? " The misleading Wellington morning journal published a splendid witticism to-day which a speaker at a recent at Dunedin got off, showing that it is not everybody who is qualified to be superintendent of an orphan asylum I-JSo ? Is it really good ? " Yes, it is splendid ! But it happens to be as old as the hills ! It is one of George Washington iEsop's Fables, and was published in • Halfway House ' in the Evening Press two years ago! — Bless you, dear boy, is that all? Then it's quite original enough for the folks at Dunedin and a startling novelty for the misleading morning journal." — I am, &c. O. K. The Evening Press is somewhat hypercritical. An after-dinner speaker is not bound to invent even his jokes, much less his parables and his allegories. Let him get them whence he can ; it is all one if they please bis audience. With anecdotes, perhaps, the case is different. It is best to invent your anecdotes, also your facts and figures— if any, which generally is not advisable, — then you can have them exactly to your liking and exactly adapted to the point you want to make. The ethics of after-dinner oratory is a subject upon which the Wellington paper appears to be in heathen ignorance. Civis.

A long meeting of the Dunedin Presbytery was held on Wednesday, when the proceedings were of somewhat more than ordinary interest. In the first place the recent utterances of Mr Keith Ramsay in connection with the discussion in the presbytery on " The Reign of Grace" pamphlet were brought under the notice of the meeting. The question disco?£ed was only one regarding the ruling of the moderator of the First Church Session regarding a motion which had been, tabled by Mr A. C. Begg. As the ruling of the moderator was held by the presbytery to be iueorrect, the session will no doubt consider the matter again, and probably more will be heard of it. Dr Silmond's case was subsequently brought before the presbytery, and a letter written by him, in which he stated that no further cdi( ion of his pamphlet would be published, was deemed so far satisfactory that it was decided to terminate the proceedings in connection with the matter. It is stated that the Hon. Mr Larnach has instituted proceedings against the proprietors of the New Zealand Herald, Auckland, for libel, claiming £2CC3 damages, and has retained as counsel Sir R. Stout and the Hon. P. A. Buckley. It is reported that the coal and shale measures, till recently held by the Orepuki Coal and Shale Company, and now by Mr Albert Cassells, have been sold to a Sydney firm for £12,000. They will erect works for the d'stillafcion of kerosene and other oils from shale. Orepuki is the western terminus of the railway system. The coal is of the ordinary brown kind, but the shale has been proved of excellent quality, producing 50gal of oil per ton. It exists in great quantity near the surface. Messrs Bowden and Casey, of Miller's Flat have been engaged for some time in cutting a race and opening out their claim. This party have gone to a good deal of labour and expense, and we (Mount Benger Mail) are pleased to hear they have now a very fair prospect of success. There is plenty of auriferous ground, and with a good supply of water this claim is almost pure to become a valuable one. The several claimholders at Bald Hill Flat have been dcing remarkably well for some time past, and judging from the amount of ground that haa been gone over handsome rewards must have been obtained. It is stated that on account of the high prices prevailing in the South for sheep large orders for mutton for freezing intended to be executed in Otago and Canterbury have been transferred to the North Island. \ The police received information on Wednesday that John Griffiths, a rabbiter, had been found dead on Mr Henry Orbeli's run about 20 miles frotn Waikouaiti. No other particulars are to hand. Our London correspondent writes :—": — " Sir Julius Vogel has engaged a flat in St. Margaret's Mansions, Westminster, and will reside there during the time that he remains in London. He does not seem to be making any great progress witts his company.— Mr Fergus Hume's new novel will be called " Madame Midas," and will be dedicated to Miss Alice Cornwall." Our Taieri Ferry correspondent, who drove from Waihola to Greytown on Tuesday, writes : " The embaukmeut between Mr Walsh's farm and the late Mr Shand's farms is broken in four places. The bank s giving way on the north side of the Otakia railway bridge saved tbe township of Otakia from tvhat I believe would have been total destruction. Before the embankment gave way the water had risen B|in higher on the township than it v had ever been known before. 'On Mr H. Palmer's farm the damaze done to his .'stable is considerable. Nearly all his stock yard is swept clean away, and a hole 14ft or 15ft deep, covering fully an eighth of an acre, occupies part of the place where the yard originally was. Ido not 'think there is more than 30 acres on the farm f rvee from water. Mr John Palmer's farm, which adjoins his brother's,

is in the same plight as regards water. Mr William Palmer's farm is freer from water than either of his brothers' places are, and the nearer the traveller approaches to Greytown the effects of the flood from the road appear less visible. Men have been put on to dig openings in the embankment about Henley, through which the water is rushing from the plain into the river. I am pleased to be able to report that there has been no less of live stock. The greatest damage and cousequent loss will be in broken fences, stacks destroyed, the land more or less injured for cropping and grazing purposes, and the loss of the turnip crop, which by those who have cows will be severely felt." The Southland Times says:— "Mr Sidney Cook, whose happy thought to seize the dinner bell of the Albion Hotel and ring a rousing alarm on Saturday morning without doubt saved several lives, has had a very nice acknowledgment of his action; Messrs Glendining and Dobie, who were among the boarders in the honse on that eventful morning, have /presented to Mr Cook a very substantial memento of their appreciation of his services in the shape of a solid gold pen and pencil holder in a case which will have an appropriate inscription engraved on it. Mr Cook might have used the few seconds left after be discovered the fire in looking after his own interests, but he thought of others and lost all his personal effects." Strikes are of frequent occurrence in Australia. The latest has been with the ironmoulders and their employers in Melbourne, when, on the foundry masters refusing to an advance of wages to 11s per day, nearly 500 men went out on strike on the 6th insfc. On the 7th inst. the Longlands Company agreed to the demands of the men, and it was expected the others would follow. The Melbourne Age states that Frank M. Tarbou, who was arrested some few days ago on a charge of conspiring to defraud Herman Koekkoek, a picture dealer, of the sum of £482 10s at play, answered to his bail at the City Court. Mr Gillott, who appeared for the prosecution, said that it had been decided to withdraw the charge. In consenting to this course Mr Call remarked that he had in the first instance been unwilling to issue a warrant for Tarbou's arrest,' as in his opinion Koek-koek had himself to blame as much as Tarbou and his associate, Clark. . A determined attempt to commit suicide was made by a married woman named Mrs Greer at Melbourne recently. She threw herself off the Victoria street bridge from the spot from which Laura Swain is believed to have jumped, but her intentions were frustrated by the courageous act of an elderly seaman named Robert Harper, who happened to be passing at the time. He plunged into the water without hesitation, and at serious risk to his own life succeeded in keeping her afloat till a boat was got. off to their assistance from the banks. Mrs Greer is about 30 years of age, and has been married about 12 months. Sbe and her husband, who is employed at the Australasian Electric Light, Power, and Storage Company's works, have lived happily together. During the last six weeks Mrs Greer has been suffering from melancholia. During the whole time of the Laura Swain tragedy she took an unusual interest in the case, and had so frequently spoken of it that when her husband heard, on returning from his work, that his wife was missing, he at once concluded that she had attempted to take her life in a similar manner to Laura Swain. Mrs Greer, after being revived from the effects of her immersion, was taken to the Melbourne Hospital, where she soon recovered. The divorce laws were re-enacted in France about four years ago, and it is estimated that up to the present 30,000 spouses, or 60,000 individuals have been divorced or separated. The motive for applying to the court was, in 3626 instances, misconduct and cruelty. There were in 1856, 3017 applications for legal separation, of which 2564 were from wives. Separation is only the overture to divorce. It results that in every 1000 marriages contracted in France 14 are subsequently dissolved, and that while 47 per cent, of these smashed unions occur in the department of the Seine, the ratio is only 1 per cent, in the Vendee and the Cotes dv Nord. It is a curious fact that divorces and separations are next to unknown in the departments most educationally backward, and it is precisely these departments that are least Republican. An elephant belonging to Sanger's Circus (says the Scotsman) got loose while at Govan, and breaking open the door of a grocer's shop in Hammertou road, it seized a bag of potatoes, scattered them on the ground, and destroyed a large quantity. Two members of the police force made an attempt to get the huge animal away ; but it made after them, and they sought safety in flight. It was not until the keeper was aroused that the elephant was secured. The Leeds Mercury} gives the following account of an heroic act by a curate: — "At Morton, near Gainsborough, the mother of three children of tender years fell ill of smallpox, and was eventually removed to the Smallpox Hospital. No one of the neighbours volunteered to care for the woman or the children, and the authorities did not deem it their duty to interfere with the children. Under these distressing circumstances the Rev. E. Keene, curate of St. Paul's, showed that he has -the true courage of a hero. He visited the woman's cottage for several days, doing the housework, and dressing and giving food to the children, and putting them to sleep. Then, when the woman was removed to hospital, he took entire charge of the house. At length his example stirred several ladies into action, and the children are now placed out among friends." We are requested to draw the attention of anglers to the announcement of Mr Wm. Bremer in our advertising column r. Mr Bremer'a stock of fishing tackle and anglers' requisites has been considerably strengthened this season.