DUNEDIN NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1977, 4 March 1893, Page 3

DUNEDIN NOTES.

(From our own Correspondent.)

' Mr Wm. Hutchison, M.H.R., unbosomed himself to the electors ou Taesday evening. The attendance was small, not more than 130 of " the free and independent " putting in an appearance, and the proceedings were about as lifeless and dull as Mr Hutchison's lugubrious style of oratory could make them. The most, or, perhaps, the ouly conspicuous or noteworthy feature of his speech was the studied mildness and moderation of his utterances,, which contrasted greatly with his aggressive deportment when bidding for the labour vote at the last general election. We looked in vain for those denunciations of the bloated capitalist or those empty platitudes on the rights of labour aud the virtues of the workingman that used to form the staple of his ditty iv the old days. In fact, with tho exception of a half-comic reference or two to his " little eight- hours' bill," he let labour severely alone, and said not a word that could be construed into irreverence towards what he used at one time call " the ruthless oppressor of the poor workingman." The Shop Hours' Bill he could not very well at the present time give the go-by to; but he couteuted himself with admonishing the shop assistants to lie low and patiently wait for the millennium. His whole speech clearly indicated a shifting of his position, a change of front, a skilful and tirroly trimming of his sails to catch the favouring breeze, induced by the consciousness that he has been thrown over by the Labour Party, and is no longer an officer of theirs. He certainly ventured a tilt at tho banks ; but that's both cheap and safe, necessary, in fact, to conceal and cover the flank movement he had set himself to execute and which, me* thinks, despite all his adroitness, places him in a hopeless position.

Mr Hutchison made some very interesting revelations iv connection with the Female Franchise Bill of last session, and he made it-very cleaY that the Government were very far from being in earnest in their endeavours lo put the measure on the Statute Book. His arguments, though quietly put, were conclusive aud irrefutable. After repeated conferences between tho two Chambei's, concession after concession was made, he said, by the Legislative Council, except on what is known as thp electoral right to a particular phss of women voters, whose distance from any polling booth was supposed to prevent them from otherwise voting. This only referred to women in the purely rural and out-of-the-way localities, all tho women iv the oities, boroughs, and tgvvns being exorupted and compelled, in order to vote, to go personally to the poll. There are in the colony 300,610 females, and of these 133,561 are over 21 years of age.and therefore entitled to vote. From this latter number take the 73,000 women residing iv the towns and cities, and there will be left in round numbers 60,000 female voters in the rural districts throughout the colony. But even these were not restricted tq the eleptoral right, and could go per. sbnally to the polls iv company with their male relatives, as no doubt) a large percentage of them would. On a wide calculation there, would be about fifteen or twenty thousand women in tho colouy who would avail themselves ol the electoral right, just exactly tho same privilege that had been granted to shearers, sailors and commercial trave lers. Aud very pertinently he asked: "What are these scattered up and down tho whole colony, that the Ulepfcoral Fran* chi§e Bjll Jihat occijpvxt days and weeks jn its discussion and completion, should be abandoned by the advocates of the measure?" No doubt an answer might be given to the question, but hardly one that would satisfy intelligent men or tend to impress them with the sincerity of those politicians who have so loudly been pi'ofessiug their advocacy of the enfranchisement of the other sex.

It is gratifying to know that the contributions to the Queensland relief fynd. app being: given wjth a generosity beyond anticipation, I have been informed by some of the oanvassevs that people of every class aud conditiou in the city are contributing most generously accordiug to their means, and it is expected that the fund, when all the promised contributions are in, will reach a very substantial sum. Large supplies of food and clothing are also coming in freely, and the country districts ar,e §\\oy/-. ing thpir sympathy jn a" most praptipal manner, a spepial traiu bountifully laden having come in frqin the country last Sunday, But while, aH this is gratifying beyond measure, ie is somewhat unsatisfactory that no reliable information — that is, no iuforma:ion of an official kind — is forthcoming to iudicate the probable extent of the relief needed. A cable message on this head was despatched by the relief committee here to the mayor of Brisbane, but no re,ply &.&§ h,euu r.egeiyed, though, from London the information pomes ""'Dy pabl : e'"'tha'fc l the l offipial Estimate' of tlfe damage dqne by the floods is put down at a million sterling, Whether this includes. \ha Jumpy 'dou^s fco Gpver.nppent oji national property it is not possible to say; if it does, the State aud not the contributions of the charitftblo, will moQtt tliQ coat, It Iwks to

me, therefore, that the relief committees are working very much in tho dark ; and that while wo should all look upon it as a duty to assist in the good work, there is no doubt that, wo are entitled to some authoritative information approximating tho damage aud defining the limits of the relief needed. In writing thus, I have in my mind the Kaitangata aud Balclutha relief funds, both t evidences of tho superabundant generosity in an hour of groat and unrestrained public sympathy. Ib is good to be goncrons; ib is good also to know the probable extent to which our generosity i is needed, and tho point up to which ib ' may be productive of present good. At all events, it is the duty of the Brisbane authorities to supply reliable data of some kind.

I was present on Tuesday evening at tho annual meeting of the Technical Classes Association, and was both surprised aud pleased at the wonderful amount of useful aud practical work which this most deserving and philanthropic institution is accomplishing. Ihe pity of it is indeed that, instead of receiving a subsidy of pound for pound, it is not liberally provided for on the Estimates iv a manner in keeping with tho excellent work it is doing. One can hardly help wo idering, indeed, why such a difference should beiuadc between it and our public schools. It is doing exactly the work that those well-kept establishments should bo doing, and if judged by results of a practical character it is certainly entitled to better and more liberal treatment. It has an excelloub staff of teachers, the pick of the profession iv the city ; and it is to their credit that they give their services and their leisure merely for tho good they may do. Lasfc year there were 364 students on tho roll, young mon engaged at trades or business or work of some sort through the day, and classes for the teaching of chemistry and the other sciences, as well as book-keeping, arithmetic, languages, and all tho higher as well as elementary branches of education have been established. Half-a-dozen type writers are also coming out from Home, and other preparations are being made for extending the range of education in practical subjects at present taught by the Association. A curious as well as regrettable feature of the institution is I that^ such classes as carpentry, wood j carving and turuiug classes were established by competent teachers, but had to bo abandoned because the requisite number of pupils could not be found to attend. And yet there are scores of young apprentices iv every part of the city hanging round the street corners at night to whom this proffered instruction would bo invaluable through life. But so it has always becn,aud will be, I suppose, to tlie ond of tho chapter. The "saved drunkards meeting" at the Salvation Army Barracks on Thursday evening was an odd aud unique exhibition even for the Army. It was a " show " of all the reclaimed drunkards, or rather the pick of all the tough cases, that profess to have been hauled out of the bestial slough iv which they had beeu wallowing, through tha influence of i the Army. It was rather a curious sight I to see a man stand up before a listening audience and deliberately proclaim all those things that most men oannofc look back upon even in tho silenoe of their ' own mind without a feeliug of shame aud a twinge of moral pain. And yet here were those men mouthing their degradation to the world. That they had been sots was clear enough ; they carried the trade-mark even yet legibly written on their faces,and their voluntary abasement was in itself a proof of the moral deterioration they had undergone. Anyway, there they were, aud the recital they gave of their lives was anything but flattering to themselves. There was the heavy-jawed, bull-headed gentleman, with the painted noso, a living replica qf the famovia Bill Sykes, who, without a blush, assured the audienco that he used to go home aud " knock the kids about orful, and boot the ole woman for all he was worth." Another of the reclaimed ones said that at one time he " could swipe all creatiou ; but now he wouldn't touch liquor with the end of a soaffolding pole." Bub the ; pride of the meotiug was the man who had been a publican and, to use his own arords, " soaked in it for fifteen long ' years." He didn't miud, he said" whether anyoue came along or not ; he could always get down to the bed-rock of the barrel himself. These were only a few of the brands that had been plupked from the burning, aud they have certainly evory right to feel iv. debted to the Army for the change ia their lives.