CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6215, 1 August 1898, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Of all the cities in the children United Kingdom Liverpool of the should be worthy of the street. greatest attention as far as

neglected children are concerned. As a matter of fact, however, its municipal authorities have taken no very stroner steps to deal with the evil, and the state of affairs there now is little short of appalling. Recently they were compelled to bestir themselves, and therefore the Corporation promoted a Bill in the House of Commons, in which it sought for power to license boys under fourteen and girls under sixteen who engage in street trading, to send unlicensed children who traded to an industrial school, or to the care of some fit person, to provide municipal lodging 3 for the licensed children, and to have inspectors, if necessary, to carry out the Act. The evidence given before the Police and Sanitary Committee of the House will show that the power was needed. According to the statement of the Head Constable, in the streets of Liverpool many more poor children were to be seen trading in newspapers and matches, or begging, than in London, Manchester, or any other great city. Many of these were girls who were beginning to lead evil lives, and who somatimes tried to blackmail men. In 1896 no fewer than 654 children were dealt with in Liverpool for neglect or cruelty in connection with street trading, as against 376 for the whole metropolitan police, district, 157 for Manchester^ and about 50 for any other large town in the kingdom. The children were half-naked very often, and frequently refused better clothing of fered by the police and Clothing Association on the ground that it would lessen public sympathy for them. Parents could be prosecuted for allowing children under a certain age to so trade or beg, but the difficulty was to get evidence to convict; and there was no law- against the children trading. In the cases of 1144 children found begging or selling during prohibited hours last year, only 66 parents were made amenable. Finally, the committee agreed to give the power subject to certain modifications. Happily, in New Zealand cities street trading and open begging by children are not very common, though far more begging is actually done than many people are apt to think. The establishment of a Children's Aid Society in our midst gives us reason to hope that, as far as Christchurch is concerned, the growth of the neglected children evil will be considerably checked.

It is a curious thing that the capital nothing has been heard of china, lately of the proposal to

remove the seat of government in China from Pekin to Se-gan-fn. All the English papers .accepted the statement as expressing the actual decision of the Tdung-li-Yamen. The "Globe," for instance, published the information " from exceptionally av ell-informed and trustworthy sources." There was, of course, an leWeilfc of probability in the rumour, for ffekin is very near to Eussian military bases, and is, moreover, somewhat easily approached. The Hongkong papers, however, which came to hand by the last China mail, ridicule the idea. Se-gan-fa, the capital of Shensi, is, it seems, next to Pekin, the most important* city in Northern China. During the earlier history of the Celestial Empire, before the Mancbus descended into the plains of Chili, Se-gan waa the capital of China, andit held this position for nearly a thousand years. To-day it is the chief military town of the eighteen provinces, and boasts a population of rather over a million inhabitants, while its considerable extent is unusually well protected by strong walls. All these features are in its favour as a capital of the Empire. But the position has its drawbacks. Distant from Pekin some six hundred miles, and situated on the Wei-ho, the chief tributary of the Hoang-ho, Se-gan-f vis practically unapproachable, being reached only by caravan. The Hoang-ho, despite its course of 2500 miles, is utterly unnavi gable, and its native title of "China's Sorrow" has been earned by its capacity for spreading famine, destitution and pestilence in the periodic flooding of its watershed. In 1887 the waters of the Hoang-ho drowned 1,600,000 people, and rendered 5,000,000 more destitute. Se-gan is situated about the middle of the river's course, and at times is practically without food supplies. In this out-of-the-way spot the Court would have practically no influence over the more important coastal provinces, and the mov<s, if made, would, in Bhort, advertise to the world that China had given up the battle and had retired to the fastnesses of her innermost regions, abandoning her coasts to the rapacity of her foreign conquerors. Under these circumstances it is to be expected that the sacred person of the Chinese Emperor will be domiciled in Pekin for some time to come.

nfluence it may possess to advance any cause that can afford to pay for its favours. The difference between this and the transactions described by Mr Hooley tis enly a question of degree.