TOPICS OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXII, Issue XVI, 22 April 1899, Page 508

TOPICS OF THE WEEK

UAB WJi BEEN THERE. THE talk of the last week has been the Samoan business and the unfortunate brush with the natives, in which seven of the European force were killed and seven wounded. Tt appears to be the universal opinion here among those who know the Samoan bush and the native methods of warfare that the affair ought never to have occurred; it was a clear case of mismanagement somewhere, as anyone, with or without military knowledge, can see. The incident is of service to us as showing what kind of fighting our boys might have been called on to take a hand in, and for which they must have proved a good deal less fit than the sailors who formed the European portion of the landing force. I think that all things considered we. may thank our stars that our boys did not go to Samoa. It is all very well dreaming of the glorious things they might have accomplished, but it would have been quite another thing if these inexperienced lads had been surprised by the natives and cut to pieces. The Premier is represented by a Wellington correspondent as deploring the. non-despateh of the Auckland contingent, which had it been sent promptly would ‘have been in time to wipe out the recent repulse.’ Such an expression, if it really fell from the Premier, shows clearly that he has been as completely carried off his feet by the tidal wave of martial enthusiasm as any of us. He, too, has been dreaming of his gallant New Zealanders storming the deadly cover and carrying the enemy's position at the point of the bayonet, and has lost sight of the less romantic but more common-sense aspect of the business. Those who look at it in the latter light will hardly repress a smile to hear Mr Seddon speaking of the Contingent Iteing ‘in time to wipe out the recent repulse.’ and a feeling of thankfulness that things turned out as thev did.

IF REEVES CAME TO NEW ZEALAND.

THE Hon. Mr Reeves, our AgentGeneral, is ascending the ladder of fame with a rapidity which is making his enemies here green with envy. He could never have done it had he remained in the colony, for the simple reason that the upper rungs of the same ladder he was endeavouring to scale were occupied by two other gentlemen. who showed no inclination to make room for William to pass, and who certainly would have quickly resented any attempt on his part to climb over them. William recognised the position and went Home as AgentGeneral. The post offered opportunities, though scarcely of the very first order, and he made the most of them. By combining lecturing on social and political questions with a downright devotion to the frozen meat and butter trade, which does credit to his powers of adaptation, he

got up a name in the (lid Country, unci now we hear that he intends going in for a seat in the House of

Commons. Bttt-here the trouble comes in. Can he be the colony’s paid butter and meat man. and a representative of a British constituency ? It is the old question can a man serve two masters. Will he not neglect our meat and butter for the sake of his constituency, or vice versa. Rumour has it that the Opposition intend to bring this matter up next session, and if they are able, to veto any attempt to permit William to serve in the dual capacity. The same uncertain jade also says that Mr Seddon is favourable to William’s ambition, fearing that if some avenue is not found for the ascent of his young friend he will be trying to usurp Dick’s own throne. We must never forget that Mr Reeves is the high priest of State socialism in this land, and if he came back there is no saying what a following he might command, or what he might achieve. Since he left labour legislation has been comparatively nonprogressive, to the disgust apparently of same sections of the laliour party. But if he came back again with a whole cookery book of untried legislative recipes there would probably be enough messing about the big kitchen in Wellington to please all those amateur cooks who threaten to make a terrible devil's broth of our statute books. It is to Mr Seddon's interest that William should stay where he is ; and perhaps to our interest too. Certainly the Opposition should not desire to look upon him again if they are sincere in their denunciation of all his works. Rather than grudge him the Agent-General-ship in the event of his becoming an M.l’., they should be quick enough to perceive that his absence is cheaply purchased at the price.

MAORI NOMENCLATURE. TS it true that the Government has christened a new township ‘Tau-matakakatangi-haugaao-auau?’ If so, I can only explain this deliberate attempt to damn and blast the infant settlement in its cradle on the supposition that it is likely to become a stronghold of the Opposition party; and then I must say the act seems to me unfair, even as judged by the rules of political warfare. Is it right that any place, whatever its political faith is likely to be when it grows up, should start life so cruelly handicapped? Think of it: would any man with his senses about him dream of taking up his abode in a place with such an unwieldy load of a name? He would virtually shut himself off from the rest of the world, for who would ever venture to address a letter to such a place, and who but an insane reporter or a delirious linotypist would ever think of trying to chronicle or print the doings of the unheard of settlement. To a certaintv they would shun it as birds do the I pas A alley. Here is an admirable illustration of the foolish extremes into which we may be led by a zeal to perpetuate the Maori names. The folly of the thing is surely self-evident, even to those who have advocated the system. Mr Seddon, 1 believe, has been one of these, and is therefore in a wav responsible for this latest monstrosity. It were enough to condemn him unheard, but unfortunately he has already been condemned in this matter more than once out of his own mouth and never so directly as the other day at the unveiling of the Kainpoi memorial. In his speech on that occasion he had, over and over again, to refer to the Ngaitahu tribe. According to a Canterbury paper his first reference was a triumph of pronunciation. He placed the vowels, and sounded them as to the manner born. But that was only in the opening of his speech, where he had evidently schooled himself to correctness. As he proceeded, and his oratory became, so to .speak, more and more extempore, the letters of the name got transposed and mixed up in the most extraordinary way, to the astonishment and bewilderment of his listeners. First it was 'Nnhi-hatus,' then it was ‘Nati-tuis.’ and in its

metamorphosis it had degenerated into •N atty-toos.’ Imagine the indignant chiefs being addressed as ‘Natty-toos!’ No wonder they felt hurt. It is well that the Premier should know their feelings on the matter, as it may teaeh him to see more clearly some of the objections to the perpetuation of the Maori nomenclature.

THAT NATIONAL COUNCIL. OF COURSE it is somewhat premature to say what effect the meeting of the Women’s National Council has had -in Auckland, where the body has been sitting. The murmur of the discussions has only just ceased. But it is interesting to speculate on probabilities. The President of the Council let it be understood that the delegates in holding the convention in the Northern city meant to do more than confer on Auckland an honour other cities of the colony had enjoyed in turn. She indicated that so far as the objects of the Council were concerned we here were a community of Gallios, and that it was the determination of the delegates to convert us. Now the question is how many converts have they made ? I know of several ladies and gentlemen, too, who

were present at some at least of the discussions, and had a. chance of judging with their own ears and eyes of the character of the organisation, but to what extent and in what direction they have been influenced, they do not say, and very likely do not yet know. By degrees, however, the seed that has been sown will spring up where the soil has been favourable, and then we shall see what we shall see. 1 dread the results in some households where the meek uncomplaining wjfe has hitherto quietly submitted to the commands of her lord and master, simply because she has been taught that it was her bounden duty to do so. What if the call to enfranchisement has reached that peaceful hearth and urged to revolt that sister in her bondage ? You smile, sir, but have a care. Mayhap at this very moment you are cherishing in your bosom the conspirator who a month hence will have set your authority at defiance and have joined the ranks of the enemy.

( BUCKING OUT. IT'S EXCELLENCY the Governor, "ho is now on a visit to Rarotonga, no doubt contemplated nothing further than a pleasant sea trip, and a delightful sojourn in the isles of palm, when he decided to go there. But he is likely, in his official capacity, to be called on to transact business the reverse of pleasant. I here appears to be confusion tn that little island community under the system of half native authority, just as there is in Samoa, and the Governor is to be appealed to in order to set matters right. The new DeputyCommissioner. Colonel Gudgeon. I fancy, finds his task no easier than Mr Moss, his predecessor, found it. Acting as guardian of the peace in these lands, and endeavouring to deal out equal justice between white and brown and white and white, is a business which you have to try your hand at before you appreciate its difficulties. For instance, the other day a request was presented to the Deputy-Commissioner from some of the leading chiefs praying that certain Europeans, seven in number, should lie deported from Rarotonga, as their presence was inimical to thepeace of the community. Fortunately for the Deputy he was able to-

avoid the awkward position of deciding the fate of these gentlemen by pointing out that the Governor would shortly visit the islands, and that the matter could then be laid before him. This method of getting rid of inconvenient personages seems to be much in favour in the Pacific. In Samoa the triumphant Mataafa recently resorted to it on an extensive scale, and the practice is in vogue in other groups, 1 understand. Under our present day complex civilisation it has disappeared, except from among such primitive communities as the Samoans. the Karotongans, and a few other peoples. Tn earlier times, however, its advantage was recognised universally. In Greece and Koine banishment was a common punishment for citizens considered undesirable by the ruling party; and in our own England it was evidently regarded as the next safest plan to hanging or beheading the man, and a more agreeable alternative to him. There is little doubt that in these days it was a useful device, and that makes one wonder whether in young States like ours here, where the conditions of life must be in many respects similar to those which obtained two or three hundred years ago in Europe, banishment might not be introduced with advantage. Are there not in New Zealand scores of men who not only would never be missed, but whose absence from our shores would be an enormous advantage to the colony ? As it is, there is no way of getting rid of them. They do not nut themselves within reach of the arm of the law, but none the less they are a nuisance and a dangei in the place. We have all got little lists, from which, if the good old practice of ostracism were to be allowed here, we could speeddy sug<rest no end of names. Not only in the political arena, but in the social one, too, 1 could — but there, why dream of what may never be.

THE NEW MEDICINE. rn H E latest little hospital mystery 1 belongs to the Auckland institution, and is in a sense spiritual. Tt is this. During the past year the consumption. presumably by patients, ot alcoholic stimulants has been unprecedentedly great, the figures in fact showing an increase of 200 per cent, over the consumption for the preceding twelve months. Without there having been any very noticeable increase in the number of patients treated in the institution there has been seven times as many prescriptions of port and three times as many ot brandy, whiskey and ale respectively served" out as there were in 1897-98. Only on the assumption that the medical authorities had recently adopted the homoeopathic system in dispensing the liquor could such a state ot affairs be passed by without comment and A

investigation ; and seeing that there is nosuggestion that drinks were given in other than the usual quantities, 1 am not surprised that a member of the Hospital Board has started an inquiry into the. matter. The medical superintendent, while admitting the increase, regretted that he was unable to account for it, and the Board thereupon decided to ask the honorary medical staff to throw some light on the matter. In private households

similar mysteries are generally explained by the well-known cat theory, but of course in this instance such an explanation is inadmissible even if we allow that all the eats in the neighbourhood had access to the hospital cellars, pantries and cuplioards. But putting that solution aside, what, other is there ? Is it possible that the comparatively enormous consumption of liquor in the institution is the result of some modern method of treating disease that is now in vogue there ? If so I should advise the Hospital Board to be careful what it does in drawing public attention to the fact, or they may have the institution inundated with patients. The prejudice which many people cherish against hospitals would speedily vanish when it became known that residence there not only did not mean the relinquishment of those liquid comforts the patients had grown accustomed to. but free drinks in one’s favourite tipple. The hospital would vie with the public house in popularity then.

THE CREDIT SYSTEM. FOR a month past an intermittent correspondence has been going on in the Auckland ‘Star’ on the subject of bad debts and the credit system which is largely responsible for them. All the writers speak feelingly of bad debts, having apparently suffered from them, but while ; >me advocate the abolition of credit altogether, others declare that such a heroic remedy is out of the question. Without the credit system, says one correspondent, civilisation would disappear. and men and women would

become savages, living literally or one another. Such a prospect of cannibalism is of itself enough to make us all forswear ready-money payments in the interests of the. race, and who knows that it may not be an instinctive fear of what would be an awful retrogression on the part of us New Zealanders that makes us such staunch upholders of the credit system. That we are more thoroughly wedded to the system than many othet communities seems beyond question. These old saws about not owing any man any thing and going to bed suipperless rather than rise in debt on which our forefathers were nourished hardly appeal to us. Even where we have the cash in pocket and are able to pay for what we get as we go, there is a curious reluctance to do business on these lines. To break us of the prejudice which in the case of improvident people -s a most vicious one to have contracted would be a herculean task, and it is plain that few shopkeepers would care to take the step singly, as it would probably mean a loss to their trade they coujd ill afford. So the evil of bad debts is not to be met i>y a general breaking up of the credit system. Recognising this, another remedy has been suggested. A i i-o--posal is now on foot to form an Auckland creditors’ association with rather more extensive functions than are usually held by such organisations. As explained by one who has evidently been pondering the matter the rntans by which the association in to get to know the unprincipled debtors art novel in the extreme, not to say inquisitorial. The idea is that :i sort of vigilance committee should lie formed of the inemlrers of the association whose business it will be to shadow customers and find out >n w they spend their money. Eor instance one or more members of the

committee will be told off to attend the racing meetings ami to make a note of any customer who may be found there patronising the book'es or wooing fortune at the totalisator. The name of such an individual will be made known to all members of the association, and when he excuses himself from paying his bill on rhe ground that he is short of cash the tradesman will promptly confound him with evidence of his gambling; ask him how he manages to spend money on the tote if he can't pay .iis butcher and baker; and finally indignantly refuse to grant him any more credit. In the same way the ways of the beer bibber and the theatre goer will be carefully mark'd, and they themselves called to prompt account. It will lie seen at cnee that the system is capable of great extension. But that it will be a powerful instrument in the hands of the creditors I am not so persuaded. The worst of debtors in common with the best may naturally resent being followed about in the way proposed, and there may be combinations on the one side just as much, as on the other.