The Evening Herald. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4 1876.

Wanganui Herald, Volume X, Issue 2697, 4 February 1876, Page 2

The Evening Herald. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4 1876.

The " Problem of Poverty in New Zealand " is the subject of an essay in the new quarterly which has been recently launched at JDunedin. It is a striking title, for the reason that no one ever thought of a problem on the subject, poverty not yet having taken shape in the colony. No doubt there is distress here and there, but it is -casual and fleeting, and permanent pauperism has not yet taken root amongst us. The germ may exist, and. the state of society here may tend to assume the form it has done in the mother country. Professor Macgregor of the Otago University, who has attempted to solve the problem, does not directly deal with the question in its relation to the colony, but gives a sketch of the social condition which has fostered or permitted poverty in England. "It behoves us (he says) in considering 1 the problem oi poverty to study the causation and growth of the complexities that so involve the question in Europe, and especially in England," The ±*rofossor shows that Competition is the great, indeed the sole cause, and dwells on the doctrine of Natural Selection — the strong is preserved, the weak goes to the Avail. Yet, although he deplores the effect,]by a strange logical perverse* 1 ess the Professor clings fondly to the cause. Me says — " The whole movement of civilization has been away Irom this primitive socialism in the direction of individual liberty of action and consequent responsibility. This simple fact alone is sufficient to shew that socialism can never be anything more than a foolish ideal that lingers in the minds of amiable philanthropists." Again he remarks — " The progressive peoples kept moving with the current. While retaining- their outward purity, they re-admitted the saving power of competition, and suffered it to act under constantly lessening restrictions." This apotheosis of Competition is more than we should have expected from the same source. For it is an admission that the problem is incapable of solution. That is not a solution which lays bare the effective sause, but fails to provide the remedy. We are very much inclined to doubt the soundness of the philosophy which is embodied in the following sentence : " It seems that progress is impossible without freedom ; and for the weak and poor this can only mean freedom to perish and go to the devil in any way they please." But absolute ireedom is only approached in a state of barbarism, and the restrictions which are placed on freedom by the State seem to be essential to the march of civilization. It is quite possible to conceive Competition being lessened, and increased civilization following as an effect. In some countries social custom prevents marriage until the husband shows a reasonable prospect of maintaining a wife. It is quite possible therefore to conceive the effects following from this custom as directly opposed to the Professor's assumptions. First, competition would probably be lessened ; and, secondly, there would be less poverty. We admit that progress would be impossible without some freedom. How much, is another problem of which the Professor forgot to attempt the solution. In one part of the article the Professor assserts that morality and ; religion are doing much to mitigate the sufferings and destiny of man, and that "the multitude that perishes in the I outer darkness is being slowly but surely i diminished." ] n the following sentence he appears to contradict himself, when he says :— "Civilization, with her handmaidens, morality and religion, together with something else that is now-a-days called culture, are operating with some success on one flank of the perishing masses, while on the other famine, pestilence, and the hangman are far more efficiently fulfilling their functions. Ultimate cure of poverty, the running ?oro of civilization, seems to be universally despaired of as a realizable ideal." Now, if " a gradually increasing number " is being reclaimed, why should an ultimate cure be despaired of ? But, on the other hand, how can there be a gradually increasing number, when famine, pestilence and the hangman are operating "" more efficiently " than civilization with her handmaidens ? We are afraid that the problem of poverty in England is a longway from being solved, while the problem in New Zealand is hardly referred to incidentally. We notice that, though Mr Bageliot is largely drawn upon, the views of the writer on "The Future of the Working Classes " are not even alluded to. The doctrine is laid down that civilization and progress depend on Competition, and that from this there must be ever a large residuum of poverty. No wonder the Professor concludes, in spite of his reference to the achievements of morality and religion, by asking :—": — " Which of us has not felt as if the whole destiny ef man was being shrouded in the gloom of pressimism '

by this ostracism of charity "? No one fortunately is compelled to accept excathedra dicta however solemnly enunciated, and it is some relief to think that other authorities incline to a rational optimism which encourages a hope that if poverty cannot altogether be got rid of, it can be oTCiitly lessened. This is the problem that calls for solution, and one which the Professor never touches. He obscures his subject wilh many words to toll UK no inoiv than that Competition, which is necessary lo civilization, must produce poverty. Not even by inference does he show how New Zealand will fare in tho matter of pauperism, and he fails to suggest a single remedy for it in the mother country. He overlooks entirely the obvious reply to his argument, that the degraded condition of the agricultural classes in England is due not so much to Competition as to Protection ; that the custom which has attached them to estates prevented that free interchange of labour which would have imparted self-reliance, prudential habits, and forethought ; and that the provisions of the Parish Union prevented such habits from being formed. He never seems to recognise that competition can. be pushed too far, and that there are degrees of it which may be regulated by society. The pro'foundest' thinkers on the subject have rejected the idea of any heroic | remedy for poverty being discovered ; and, while recognising the noble and benevolent intentions of Robert Owen and the Socialists, they have relied on tho experimental method of ameliorating the evil. It is arecognised fact that there is less poverty in one country than another, and tho answer we suppose would be because there is more or less Competition. We should prefer the^ reason that there was greater or less distribution of wealth. Without expressing any very great admiration for tradeunionism, this is undoubtedly a powerful means of causing that distribution, and hence one of the means of reducing poverty. But there are intemperance, absence of elementary sanitary information, the selfishness of the wealthy governing classes, bad laws and imperfect administration, all tending to make the rich richer, and the poor^ poorer ; and surely some amelioration in these matters may reasonably be hoped for. The problem is to be solved rather by gradual approach than a tour deforce — by careful observation rather than the discovery of an a ftriori principle.

Australian papers announce the receipt of the first number of the Skanclia, and comment on it in most favorable terms. Doubtless the undertaking will be patronised oven at that distauce.

A proposal to supply Milton (Otago) with water, has collapsed, as only 2,500 out of proposed G.OOO shares were applied for.

The Times says : "The over-crowded condition of the Mount View Lunatic Asylum is becoming a rather serious question. When the Inspector made his last report ho referred to the want of increased accommodation( but nothing has been done towards providing it, yet almost every week some additions are made to the number of inmates. This week there are two — one, a man named Seymour, comes from Wanganui, and another, uamed Peters, is from the Wairarapa. The patients are mixed up altogether, and proper classification is becoming simply impossible. Unless something be done, the next annual report will probably show an increase of deaths, or a poor per-centage of patients cured." This is somewhat surprising, for when the Asylum was built it was calculated that no extension would be required for years to come.

Mr Stanley has revisited in Central Africa King Mtesa, ruler of Uganda, who was formerly a mere savage, but who has embraced Mohammedanism, and organised his kingdom, which covers five great tracts, upon a semicivilized basis. In the course of conversation, Mr Stanley convinced Mtesa that Mohammedanism was erroneous, and the King now asks for a Christian Mission to instruct him and his subjects, and apparently open up trade. The story, with the suddeu conversion of King Mtesa in a few hour's talk carried on through an interpreter, reads very oddly ; but Mr Stanley clearly believes it himself, and his demand has been at once complied with. A gentleman has promised £10,000 to the Church Missionary Society if they will take advantage of the opportunity thus opened, and the munificent offer has, pending further discussion, been accepted. If the Mission reaches Uganda before Mtesa changes his mind, it may have a career before it, more especially if the Missionary selected is a man who can organise a State. Negroes in Central Africa want laws almost as much as doctrines.— Spectator.

At 'the last sitting of the Bankruptcy Court at Wellington Mr Halt moved for a declaration of complete execution of a deed of assignment in the case of Phillips & Meyer, of Marton. The request was granted.

A hermit wlio had for some years lived near Newcastle, New South Wales, was recently found in a frightful state. Hehacl a cut in the face, and from tliis opening maggots had made way to almost every part of his face. He died a day or two after being found. The man was well off, and belonged to a good family at home. The new theatre at Dunedin is to be finished some time in March in time for the races. Two children were recently burned to death in New South ' Wales through playing with matches,

The popularity of the Dunedin SwimmingSchool is rapidly increasing, the roll now numbering nearly a hundred pupils*, including ladies. There is a new rush to the head of Palmer river. Numbers are going. The ground is very extensive and rich, but water is very scarce. Diggers are stacking Avashdirt. One man is reported to have got 24 pounds weight of gold in three weeks.

A strange story of a child living after its scalp was completely gone coined from the lUvorina Country. A tree had fallen on a little girl and fractured her scalp from ear to ear, and it had to bo removed. She got over it all, and seems quite lively. Her head is carefully bandaged,

A girl about eleven or twelve years of age j named Fanny Taylor (states the Argus), was brought before tho Melbourne Police Court by Mrs Smith under very peculiar circumstances. Mrs Smith, who keeps a small shop, told the Bench that on Christinas Eve the girl came into her shop for a shilling's worth of lollies, and as there was something strange about the girl she questioned her. The girl said she had been landed at the wharf that afternoon from the steamer Argyle, and that she had been put on board that vessel at the river Mersey by her sister-in-law, who haa told her that her mother would meet her at the wharf at Melbourne. There was, however, nobody to meet her at the wharf, and she would not know her mother if she met her, as it was many years since she saw her. Mrs Smith then kept tho girl, who was very poorly clad, iv her house ; and from further inquiries of the captain of the Argyle, it appeared that the girl was put on the vessel just as she was leaving Tasmania, and he did not observe her at all until they got to sea, or know that she was on board. No passage money had been paid |for her by anybody. Mr Stnrt asked Mrs Smith to take care of the girl further, and he would see she was paid for doing so, and he also directed the police to i make full enquiry into the case.

A case involving some nice points was heard iv the Resident Magistrate's Court this (Friday) morning. A carpenter named Eoss left a chest containing tools at Turakina and went to Auckland, and subsequently to Fiji, where he was murdered. His brother, living at Switzers, Otago, obtained letters of administration, and the box having been removed to Wairoa by Mr Murdo McLean, instruolions were sent asking him to give it up. This he refused, and an action was entered for its recovery. The case came on in December, but was adjourned till to-day, the 4th February. On this adjournment hinge some important points of the case. Major Edwards had jurisdiction up to £100 from Egmonfc to Otaki, and could therefore properly have heard the case. Mr Hodge, who appears for defendant, submits that that Dr Giles is appointed for AYangauui only, and has no jurisdiction in either Wairoa or Turakiua. His Worship reserved his decision on this and several other points. It would be a curious thing, as Mr Hutchison pointed out, that a case should be properly before the Court in December, and upon being adjourned for about two months, come on again and be oat of it, merely because there has been a change of Magistrates. Should it be found that Dr Giles has really no jurisdiction outside of the district of Wanganui, the inhabitants of Eangitikei are placed in a most unpleasant dilemma. The Resident Magistrate there, as was stated in Court to-day, has a limited jurisdiction, and therefore parties suing for anything above that limit, have uo remedy, as they formerly had, but must simply allow matters to remain as they are. The difficulty should be at once removed, by giving Dr Giles tho jurisdiction on both sides of Wanganui which was held by Major Edwards.

Some cases having been lately brought in the It. M. Court against givers of promissory notes for their passages out, His WorWorship reserved his decision, and to-day gave judgment to the effect that such debts could only be recovered iv the manner provided iv the 6th section of the Crown Debts Act 1866, and that he therefore had no jurisdiction in such cases.

A correspondent writing from Putiki give 3 au account oi a fight which took place below Churton's Creek yesterday afternoon, in which one of the parties got most severely handled. Our correspondent asks " where were the police ?" Such things should certainly be put a stop to, but the scene of the affray was outside of the regular beat, and unless information were given.they could not be expected to be present. The publication of the letter sent to us does not appear necessary.

Trade rivalry —by some students of euphemisms called " journalistic " rivalry — has brought to the side of the Municipal Council an eloquent or excessively wordy advocate ; but as that moralist ingeniously declines the taste of defending the more glaring errors and peccaucies, the Council stands in no better position for so much linguistic dissipation.

« I've lost the T. B. Taylor " 1 Such was the melancholy refrain which fell dirge-like on the ear of the passer-by an evening or two ago in the direction of Mr Pawson butcher's shop in the Avenue. Why the strain should have taken this peculiar turn, why " the T. B. Taylor "—this abused but venerable name —should have formed the wail of any human being is more than could be imagined. But so it was. Approaching closer the stern reality broke upon the listener. Mr Pawson, in the act of putting up his shutters, was musiug with the winds on a calamity which had just happened lo him. The prose of the matter briefly is this : Mr P. had been

in the habit of supplying the schooner named " the T. B. Taylor " with meat, and he had just found, in consequence as he alleged of his electioneering proclivities, that he was to supply it no longer. With dim forebodings of the consequence, he was sadly " putting up his shutters " ejaculating discordantly and weird-like the doleful phrase ns given above . "What made the matter worse, Mr P. had just before lost the " private account " from the same cause ; and hence the strange imitation of,lh(! Haven — "Never more"— for he felt that life's prospect was mined, and " the potentiality of a great estate " dissipated like the " baseless fabric of a vision." May he longlive, but if anything suddeu should happen, what more fitting epitaph than this — " He lost the T. B. Taylor !"

Water was yesterday (Thursday,) turned on as far as the stop-cork at Glasgow street and notwithstanding all that has been said about the unsoundness of the pipes they stood the full pressure that was put on. The joints all proved remarkably good, there being only one small leak|on the descent, which was repaired to-day. To-morrow the Foreman of Works will turn the water into the remainder of the ten inch mains in the Avenue. We are pleased to hear that the result has proved so highly satisfactory, as it was feared that a number of the mains would prove unequal to the pressure. There is now no reason to doubt that the town will have a proper supply by the end of the month, by which time all connections must be completed.

Borough politics have been pronounced a failure by Cr Duigan, and we are given to understand that his resignation is now in the hands of the Town Clerk.

The Kangitikei Advocate learns that the locale of the reported find of gold between the Manawatu and Ohau rivers is in the ranges some 40 or 45 miles from Foxton. It is said to be promising country, with goodlooking stone, though gold is not visible to the naked eye. Some of the stone has been sent to be tested.