PASSING EVENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4867, 5 February 1894, Page 2

PASSING EVENTS.

• j A Wellington case, re- ! unsound ported last week, indicates j fbuit— and some need for an alteration i law. in tbe law with regard to ■ prosecutions for selling un- • sound fruit. Lee Way, a Chinese fruiterer, ;' was charged with selling a parcel of I banaua3 which were unfit for human food. ] There seemß to have been no doubt as to j the sale and the unfitness; but Mr ! Skerrett, for the defence, contended that no • 1 conviction could take place, because the ' fruit had not been seized when exposed for j sale. This view of the matter was upheld by | the Eesident Magistrate, who found the ! Act to be bo drawn that it is no offence to j sell unsound fruit, though it ia an offence ; to offer it for sale. In other words, that j " hasa," the law, declares it to be a vice ! ■ to attempt, but a virtue to succeed in the j foisting of rotten fruit upon the public. ! j This is reminiscent of Bedou : n ethics, ] which pronounce stealing to be meri- j torious, if successful, but flagitious if the contrary. It is open to question whether, ! in the case of unsound articles of j food being seized, there is any power to punish, the person who exposed them for sale. Mr Martin holds that when such food is seized, and duly j "condemned" by a Justice, a penalty may be inflicted; but itmaybe recollected that some few weeks ago the Couit at Auckland took the opposite view. A quantity of fish in an offensively "high" condition waa seized and the Chinese vendor pro- ' sec -ted, when it was ruled that the Court had no power but to condemn the goods and order their destruction. There jis evidently something wrong in the law or in its interpretation ; and as it bears upon a matter directly affecting the public health, it is to be hoped that an ' authoritative ruling or an amendment of the statute will set all doubt at rest. The amendment of the law would seem to be j the proper step, so as to reach dealers who can now with impunity sell Btinking fish ', and rotten bananas, so long as they do not expose them for eale. By-the-way, a good i maay bananas, in apparently "unfit" 1 condition, are exposed for sale every day ' in Christchurch, at such prices aa forty for j a shilling; but we hear of no prosecution : or seiznre. A list of fatal accidents in football's the English football field tax; last season— which a newspaper correspondent de- . ' scribes with gruesome humour as " the ' butcher's bill " — has been compiled and - published. The number of fatalities, without counting three deaths that were ascribed to illnes3 incurred while the vie- . Tims were taking part in the popular ■ game, was twenty-three. Among the ' causes of death were "Bpine fractured ■ while tackling a rival player ;" " struck i violently in tfhe abdomen and died two l days later, after suffering terrible i agony;" "kicked in the stomach;" ; " injured internally while being tackled;" > "killed by a kick in the stomach, re- - ceived in a scrimmage 5" "so severely ■ trodden upon after falling upon the ball i that he never recovered consciousness." • On the strength of thi3 list tho Lancet, 1 the chief medical journal of England, calls I for a radical reform, and the Eecorder of : Manchester declares " that violenoe on » the football field, where au attempt was ; made to counteract skill by brute force, • was just as much a criminal offence as a 1 bare-knuckled fight." Every true friend s of manly sport must sympathise with the 1 Lancet and applaud the learned Eecorder, [ but the difficulty is to suggest a reform . that would guard entirely against these , deplorable accidents without depriving , the great national game of all its . healthy features. A certain amount of 1 brute force 13 inseparable from football, and, for the matter of that, from every other out-door game; The "good big man" is preferred to the "good little man" because he has more muscle and weight to assist his skill. But the point ia that no reform in the rules of football that has yet been suggested would ensure immunity from any one of the accidents we have enumerated. While playera are contending for opposite goals they will do so, if they are worth their salt, with an amount of vigour that exposes them on rare occasions to fatal accidents. The good excuse for the continuation of the game is that the number of serious accidents bears a very small proportion to the number of players. Twenty-three deaths in a single season are alarming enough. But look at the thousands of men and boys that play throughout the winter. If these thousands were deprived of their favourite pastime and driven to occupy their leisure with some milder sport— croquet, for instance — the suicides arising from ennui : would alone probably outnumber the casualties on the football field. Then there is something to be said, in all seriousness, for the moral effect of the "good old English games." The boy who plays football or cricket requires stamina and nerve, and he soon finds that these qualities cannot be fed on tobacco smoke or cultivated on dissipation. With the object of keeping in good condition—which is a higher one than many people admit— he leads a wholesome life, and the world is better for his Belf-denial. If one player in ten thousand is sacrificed on the field, his friends may at least console themselves with the reflection that hundreds of young fellows who cannot submit to the discipline required from a successful footballer are exposed to a worse fate. j ,

to repeat the venture, and that two or three Australian firms are contemplating a descent upon the Eouthern seas. In addition to these prospects, we H-e told by the Auckland Herald, of a Dr Frederick A. Cook, an American gentle-inn, who has a project for a purely ec-'entifis expedition to the Autarctic. Dr Cook has already been engaged in Arctic exploration, having accompanied Lieu-tt'-Jiant Peary on his expedition. He alao lately mado a two months' cruise along the coast of Sonth Greeahnd, obtaining j degs, fure, .kins, and other equipments ■ for Autarctic use. He intends to get a Bteam whaler, and to leave New York about Sept. 1. He will go to the Falkland Islands, where ho will replenish and ste.'iii directly for Terra Louis Philippe. On ono of the islands off this coast he I will deposit one of his lifeboats, with ! provisions enough to reach the Falkland I Islands. . Dr Cook will then endeavour |to reach as far south as possible, and ! or. rinding a harbour, establish, head- | quitters, und begin systematic scientific j observations. The expedition will remain | there during the long, gloomy Antarctic : eight. A detailed geological and topo- .; graphical survey will be made of the '; surrounding country, and meteorological j observations will be continued nnremit- | tinsly for a year. Short sledge journeys ' will be made with the dogs in moonlight. ; If the veEsel should be lost, the retreat is I so planned that by the use of a combinaI tion of email beats, which, can be drawn | over ice, and Bledges, the party, which | will not number more than twelve or | fourteen, including the ship's crew, ; will be able to reach the lifeboat 'at Louis Philippe Land, and in this I cross over to the Falkland Islands. ! The coßt of the expedition, it is ' reckoned, will be not less than JJIO.OCO, j more than half of which will he expended ;on the vessel. The money is to be raised ' by private subscriptions, and through the ! aid of the scientific societies. The develop- | ment of thiß bold programme will be ; watched with much interest.