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South Canterbury Times, Issue 6262, 8 July 1890, Page 3

Mr Vorrall, of State bank fame, declares that the colonial finance is neither sound nor sober, but idiotic. A cablegram from London this morning speaks of the strike of the Bow Street police as a mere trifling matter. “ The Bow Street police who go out on strike to night”—as if it were a mere change of beat. It may prove to be an unimportant matter, but we can hardly anticipate that. There appears to bo wheels within wheels in this movement, " a " general ” strike of police being threatened for to-day unless certain demands are complied with. Crbles received to-day are of a more serious tone. Attached to Mr Tanner’s Bill for Bible reading in schools is a long schedule of the portions of Holy Writ which are approved as being specially suited to the study of the rising generation. They are wholly taken from the Old Testament, the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. The Bill provides that any school committee may sanction the daily reading of the portions indicated in the schedule without comment, cither at the commencement or the close of the day’s studies. It is proposed that any scholar may be withdrawn by his or her parents or guardians during the lime of the reading without forfeiting any of the other benefits of the school.

The Scientific American gives a description and plates of a monster suspension bridge which it is proposed to construct across the Hudson river, to connect Kcw York with Kew Jersey, The principle of construction is the same as of the big Brooklyn bridge, but the design is neater. As to size the central span is nearly as long as the whole of the East River Bridge. The total length, with approaches, is 6500 ft, the central span, in the clear, 2850 ft, or over half a miie.

J Mr 8011, a Southlander, has published a few figures showing how differential rating on the railways affects the Waimea district. The comparisons made of the railway rates for goods between Port Chalmors'and Invercargill (147 miles) and Dunedin to Invercargill (139 miles) with those from Port Chalmers to Gore (108 miles) and Dunedin to Gore (100 miles) show that instead of the proportion being direct, according to distance, as it ought to be, it is an inverse proportion, and to a most remarkable degree against the places that are nearest to one another. To such an extent is this principle carried that it is actually cheaper to send native coal from Stirling to Lumsden by way of Invercargill —that is, a distance of 139 miles—than to send it by way of Waimea, a distance of 87 miles. The charge for the first, the longer distance, is 11a lOd per ton, and that for the second, the shorter distance, is 14s lid. Certain classes of goods from Port Chalmers to Gore (108 miles) are charged sls 4d and 42s lOd per ton, respectively, while the same goods from Port Chalmers to Invercargill (139 miles) are charged only 25s per ton.

In an article in one of the latest monthlies, Professor Huxley says "Wo have heard a great deal about the tyranny of capital. No doubt it is true that labour is dependent on capital. No doubt if out of a thousand men one holds and can beep all the capital (using the term in its more restricted sense}> the rest are bound to work for him or die. But if on this ground labour may be said to be the slave of capital, it will be equally just to say that capital is the slave of labour. The naked millionaire with his chest full of specie, might be set down in the middle of the best agricultural estate in England, but unless somebody would work for him ho would very soon perish from pold and hunger, having previously lost everything for lack of protection. The state of things attributed to the tyranny of capital might be far more appropriately ascribed to the self enslavement of the wage earners. It is their competition with one another which makes the capitalist’s strength.” Hawke’s Bay is noted for the number of its race meetings every year, and the big total of its totalisator investments. A Hawke’s Bay man complains of the big profits made by the clubs out of the investors. He says ’• Ten per cent on the amount invested is what supposed to get; but when the matter is gone into it will be found that 40 per cent is nearer to their takings out of the actual amount invested. For illustration we will suppose that £3OOO goes through the machine at one day’s racing (and that, I think is putting it at a low average) 10. per cent of this will be £3OO, but it must be remembered that the same money goes'through the machine several times during the day—some investing on every race, other perhaps only on one, two,, or three. We will suppose there are seven events on the card, aud take the aver* age number of times each investor will take a ticket as four out of seven—which I think will be pretty near the mark—then we find that the money goes through the machine four times ; in other words, instead of the amount being £3OOO it is reduced to £750, out of which the club has taken £3OO, or 40 per cent. No wonder racing clubs thrive and can afford to give such high stakes. If those who are in the habit of frequenting races would look a little closer into the matter I thinkjthey would admit they are paying too much for their pleasure.