POLITICALLY MAD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 268, 18 September 1879, Page 2

POLITICALLY MAD.

[To the Editor of the Wairarapa Daily.]

■ Sir,—The remarks contained in your leader of the 12th instant are very appropriate. I extract from Figuer's" History of the human race" the following:-" The bourgeois reads only the papers. Unfortunately French journalshave always been devoted to politics. Literature and art, science and philosophy, nay, even commercial and current affairs, that is all which go to make up the life and interests of a nation, are excluded with the most jealous care, from the greater part of the French journals, to make way for political subjects. Thus it is that politics, the most superfluous and barren of subjects, have become, among the French, tlie great, and only object of consideration." While not exactly agreeing with the author in his use of the superlative, "that politics, the most superfluous and barren of subjects," I cannot help saying, God save New Zealand from following in tho late political footiteps of France, California, and Victoria I have, Ac, Rusticus. a Wairarapa, Sep, 16th, 1879. '"

tmu lIIIMMIMMHI **■ ; LADY GAMESTERS. The mania for gambling is undoubtedly fast increasing among the women of Eugland,_and we quite concur with Pater- , familias, who has written to a contemporary on the subject, that something should be done to stop the practice. It is, as he says, the harmless bet of a few pair gloves at race meetings is now considered far beneath the notice of a dashing matron or fast maiden. There are ~ not a few femalo " plungers" on the turf who " put the pot on," as the idiotic jargon of the race-course has it, with as much eagerness as the most dissipated subaltern of the Raleigh, who standi to win a heap of money at Ascot or at Goodwood with the alternative of ruining his old father the country rector if he loses, and allowing his sisters' portions to be swallowed up in paying his" debts of honor." Some ladies who bet can afford to pay, others cannot, and the position of a woman, whether married w unmarried, who lus to owe to an admirer the moitby, for which she dare not ask her husbanS or father can be better imagined than del scribed. In the case of a woman wlio rules a household and has a certain amount of money at command, we know, too, what often happens. Swift spoke only of the evils of his own day, but the lines were prophetic in which lie makes . his " modern lady" pay h«r gambling debts with the money her husband had left for certain household expenses. When once a woman has done such a thing, the theft, for. it is as well to call things by their right names, becomes easier the next time she has occasion to help herself to the household funds, and the misery caused by such conduct is incalculable. If the female plunger be unmarried she has recourse probably to some accommodating '•■ dress-maker, or worse still, she accepts pecuniary help from seme male friend, and perhaps puts herself for life in the power of a man who will ono day make her pay dearly for the indiscretion. Card-playing, as well as betting, is also on the increase in certain circles. In too many country houses one hears of" Vingt-et-un" and " Napoleon," played for shillings and half crowns, games at which young people lose far mere money than they can afford, and which lead to lamentable exhibitions of greed and bad temper. All who have *-■« frequented continental gambling tables can testify how eagerly women take to gambling. Nor are they particularly scrupulous as to the means they adopt to win. Thero is, perhaps, no spectacle more sorrowful than the sight of a number of fresh-faced English girls rejoicing in their winnings or lamenting their leases at cards, and wrangling ovor a game at which they would never quarrel wore it not for the stakes. Here, then, we are witnessing a revival of a bad old fashion, which ought to be at once stamped out by those who have any authority over young people. If something is not done, the fashion, the mania (call it what you like), will spread until the scandals of a past generation are only equalled by the exposures of the present. There is nothing which adds so much to the allurements of vice in these days as the idea that certain . habits are fashionable. The throe bottle business died out when it was considered disgraceful, from a society point of view, to stagger into the presence of ladies in a state of vinous excitement; and those who hold high positions in the fashionable world could do much more to mend'our morals than they imagine, only, unfortunately, they do not always set the best examples. Once let those who rule us in society pronounce it "bad form" for ladies to bet, or play at cards for money, and the pernicious habit will die out, as it did aforetime with powder and patches,

A BISHOP ON WAR, %&. The Right Reverend Dr Magee, Bishop of Peterborough, in proposing the toast\of " The Army, Navy, and Reserve Forces" at a dinner in London recently, spoke as .- follows:—I am not at all sure what will JB be said of me—a man of peace, belonging to a peaceful profession, and a native of a • country which is aversa to all strife and contention—(Laughter)—if I venture to propose this toast. It is in my capacity as a man of peace, too, that I offer this toast because, being naturally averse to fighting I have aPgreat respect and admiration for those who do the fighting in n.y stead—(laughter)—and while the world and human nature are what they are, there must ' be some fighting to be done. I am of opinion that it is quite as lawful for a nation to defend itself, its rights, and its property, as it is for an individual to do so—(cheers)—and I venture to think that those peaoeful individuals who are anxious

for the disbanding of our army and the dismantling of our navy, and who on Monday will be denouncing mo as a bishop who had been advocating bloodshed, might well try a little disbanding and dismantling on their own account. They might carry out their own principles to the extent of taking the lock off their area gate, and requesting the policemen on their beat to ignore their houses. (Renewed laughter). I think that the result, would be that having got rid of the armed protector of property and life, which after all, is what our army and navy are, the next thing you would hear would be of an invasion of their particular house in the shape of a burglar, and next that the ■ ' owner of the house, acting upon the instinct of self defence, has bought a revoland next that, being unskilled in tho N ; -Bpfef deadly weapons, he had injured 'Tuniself or somo of the members of his household in consequence of the revolver going off by accident. (Laughter). If we did disband our army and dismantle our . navy we should have a burglarious invai sion of our country and then we should ,/. all have to turn soldiers, and not being ' skilled soldiers we might hurt ourselves. I believe that war has virtues as well as peace, and within the last few weeks, in places where our forces are engaged' in defending the honor and possessions of Great Britain, we have seen instances of virtues of war, of its heroism, its discipline, and its sacrifice of life for others, that are very noble and demand the admiration of all of us. (Cheers.) When I read of the heroism of these two youths, Bromhead and Chard—(loud applause)— and such instances of that of a gallant officer compelled to flee for his life at the

last moment from an overwhelming horde of savages, stopping at the risk of his own lifo to help a poor bandsman of his regiment who was wounded to death, or that of the military surgeon stopping to bind up the wounds of the dying, and sacrificing himself in doing so, I felt inclined to take off my hat to my fellow creatures who had taught me a lesson of heroism, of courage of self-denial which I should not bo ashamed to preach from my pulpit.— (Cheers.)

THE NEWSPAPERMAN The Rev. Mr Talmage thus perfectly describes the newspaper man and his position ;—" One great trial of newspaper men is that they are compelled to see more of the shams of the world than any other profession. From the editorial and reportorial rooms all the follies and shams fire seen day by day, and the tempation is to believe in neither God, man nor woman. I only wonder you believe anything. Another trial is inadequate compensation. Literary toil has never been properly requited. The world has a grudge against the man who gets his living by his wits, God knows that there are no harder worked men than the newspaper men of this country—and it is not on account cf the hard times; it is the same in all times. The vast majority of them have to struggle for a livelihood, A third trial is the diseased appetite for unhealthy intelligence. You blame the newspapers for i!ivin« prominence to murders, &c., but no paper would do this if the people did not demand them. They ask for moral slush instead of solid intellectual food. It is only a matter of supply and demand.. Newspaper men are not fools. They know what you want and give it to you, Another trial of the profession >s the allurement that surrounds it, There is a great draught on the nervous forces; / the brain is racked, a.ul men are tempted f to the use of artificial stimulants. And j- then no one seems to care for their souls. They are expected to gather up religious intelligence, but no one expects them to be be saved by the sermons they re-port."-Pittsßeld Sun.