The Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1895. To-Day.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5163, 23 January 1895, Page 2

The Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1895. To-Day.

His Worship the Mayor will, as far as possible, deliver the tickets entrusted to him to the youngsters whose parents cannot afford to pay for them to visit Fitzgerald Bros.' circus and menagerie tomorrow and Saturday, but should any of the "kiddies" he overlooked, they have only to call at the City Council Chambers, when they will be provided with the neceg- } eary pasteboard. The kindly act of the Fitzgerald Brothers,. and the trouble taken ibyhis Worship the Mayor, will be vary much appreciated, not only by the children themselves, but by all those of our citizens who love to see the livea o£ , little onea brightened now and then. . The members of the Hospital Board of Trustees are to be congratulated on having taken up at once the question of the complaints made against the institution over which they have control. Theremay or there, may not be something in the charges made, but it is obviously the duty of any public body to meet, and, if possible, disprove assertions made as to improper conduct ot an institution of ao much value aB an hospital. The questions which were put in last night's Star have bean asked very frequently of late at the street corner and elsewhere, and it is only right that the opportunity should be given the House Surgeon and the Btafftoshpw that the charges are without foundation. The boating clubs .and themariy bun-: dreds of those who delight in a row on the. river are deploring the fact that the banka are daily becoming more numerous and more pronounced in the Avon. Near the hospital a very large bank, has formed below the sewer outlet, and near the old mill another very large bank is rapidly piling up in the middle of the river.. It is to be hoped that an attempt will be made to have the river dredged and locked, otherwise the stream will in a few short months become, impassable, for boats. It has been pointed oui in this column- again, and again that .the. Avon is not only one of the pleasanteat features of the city, but that is one of our grandest assats, and we cannot afford to see it depreciated. That it is daily becoming more like a dirty ditch than anything, else mnat be apparent to everyone, and that it is also a source of danger to the citizens is, well known to the medical men of Chrisfcohurch. Does it ever strike the parents of the thousands of children attending the public schools of tliis colony wtat grogs libels are published concerning them by a set of people who would ;be horrified if anyone ware to accuse- them of untruthfulnees P If half the stories told by the ministers of religion, for instance, be true, then'our children are the moat wicked, wanton and wilful creatures on the face of the earth, and an orthodox hell is about the best plaoe for them. It is about the first thing these clergymen think of topaintour schools and the children who attend them in the blackest colours, and present that picture to our most distinguished visitors. The clergy of nearly every denomination are libellers of the great bulk of our people and our children, and the wonder is that bo many parents are content to rest under the imputations so freely cast by a number of self-Batiefied parsons. It is a base and ahameless scandal that happy, bright and well-conducted children should be Bpoken of as ours have been, and the assertions of theße clergymen deserve to ba denounced in the strongest possible terms. The autumn season is very hear, at hand, and nothing has so far been done to abate the terrible nuisances existing in the Eiver Avon, and in many parts of the city and suburbs. If the Mayor of the city will order a detailed report to be brought to him by the inspectors and by any other officers whom he may appoint to asaiat them in the work, he will be able to supply the City Council with some startling particulars. The state of the eido channels all over the city ia something deplorable, nnd could only exist where auoh a thing as proper supervision ■is positively, unknown. It ia not too much to say that in! nineteen outof every twenty streets the side channels are utilised by the householders to carry off the greater part of the household sewage, and the stench which arises in consequence is disgusting and dangerous.! If the same thing is allowed to go on, we may expect the usual number of oases of typhoid and diphtheria in the autumn,: when these diseases make themselves felt. His Worship tbe Mayor, Mr W. H. Cooper,! it is hoped, will take such steps as he may deem necessary to compel something like activity and efficiency on the part of the 1 officers of the city who are responsible for the present discreditable state of affairs. The point cannot be too firmly impressed upon the Mayor that the health of the citizenßis at stake in this matter, and that a solemn duty rests upon the chief magistrate. ■ ■;'-•- The offensive conduct of a small band of blackguards who nightly w» fe « tueu:

obnoxious presence felt in the pit of the theatre is one of perhaps the most; deplorable features of p o | ice inactio^ and mismanagement in thi B city of our.. When the Pollard Company of juveniles was here, Mr Tom Pollard applied for police protect.on, and was refused. Mr Inspector Brohara said he could not spare a man for the duty, which reply— not to put too fine R point v it _i fl efaeer humbug. Does the In- j spector forget that while several hun- i dreds of people are being amused inside a theatre there are po many less requiring the observation of tha police on the streets of the city ? Mr Inspector Broham said he would have a man sworn in to do duty at the theatres if the proprietors would undertake to pay a Balary for twelve months! The managements of the various companies are quite prepared to pay for the services of a policeman, but Mr Broham refuses to detail a man for duty. There ia only one other way in which the management can deal with the blackguards who nightly insult ladies who attend at the theatre, and that is by paying a couple of men to go into the pit, secure the names of the offenders, and on the day following summon them before ' the court, when the magistrate will doubt- J less make an example of these offenders against decency. If the management j were to announce that they had engaged a couple of people to attend nightly, there would be a complete cessation of the disgracefully low conduct, for the fellows who insult women are the greatest cowards alive, and would skulk out of eight on the approach of any man who was prepared to ♦ book " them for an appearance before the Stipendiary Magistrate. '