Topics of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue III, 20 January 1900, Page 109

Topics of the Week.

THE DISBURSEMENT OF THE PATRIOTIC FUND. SOME DIFFICULTIES AHEAD. The truly splendid generosity of the people of this colony, as manifested by the contributions to the Patriotic Fund, will result in a few days’ time in some very large sums of money being remitted Home to the Ijbrd Mayor of London. Probably the total sum forwarded will be considerably above rather than below £20,000, and it is but right to the subscribers of so noble a sum that some thought and attention should now be directed to the question as to how th’s Lord Mayor's Fund is to be administered, and to see if there is not some chanee of a misapprehension as to our own position arising in the minds of those at Home Who will have charge of the disbursement of the princely wealth poured in from every town and hamlet of the Mother Country, as well as from the. uttermost corners of the Empire. If the matter is properly understood, if no misconception exists, there is no doubt. I take it. that the sufferers in our own Contingent would be treated with full justice by the trustees. Rut unless the matter is made very clear to start with, there is at least a danger that the trustees of the Lord Mayor's Fund might imagine that our own fund for our own men was quite sufficient to meet our own cases, and that the very fact of our sending ,i«me large sums was evidence that this was a surplus over our own requirements. That this 's not a chimerical danger is. I think, evidenced by the fact of the "Daily Mail” contributing £5OO to the New Zealand Patriotic Fund. Now, if it had been understood that our money was to be remitted Home to the Lord Mayor’s Fund, and that our claims would come on that fund in due season, what was the object in the double transaction, and in giving us money to hand back again? As yet we know nothing of the lines on wh’c<h the trustees for the- fund will administer. it. If of course each colony or portion of the Empire is to be allotted a lump sum in exact proportion to that it itself contributed, the incident of the “Daily Mail's” donation of £5OO would be explicable, for at would show a desire to swell our subscription in order that our dividend might be the more handsome. But- it is to the highest degree improbable that this is the method which will be followed. There will be, I take it, a committee of investigation, who will examine the claims sent in, and will deal with them as generously as they are able, and as the facts of the various claims suggest. If this is so. it must be at once patent that the situation of our own wounded, or the relatives of our own killed, will not be in as satisfactory a. position as it should be. How tire they to receive the help which is their due? Who is to investigate their eases? If they send Home, direct, is it not inevitable that the Home committee will write out here for the formal enquiry, and will have to be replied to; and then, again to reply granting the claim; so that under the swiftest and most favourable circumstances, with the minimum of red tapeism possible, it must be fully six months before a claim could be established. And is it not probable that the circumlocutionary methods which are so apt to creep into affairs of this sort managed thirteen thousand miles away would cause a very much longer period to elapse before the relief which might be urgently needed could be forthcoming. Take, for instance, the case of poor Trooper Bradford, the first of our brave lads 1o lay down his life for his Empire. Happily, we learn, he had no relatives here and no one dependant on him. But supposing there had been, and that the help had been wanted (as it may be in other cases)

urgently by one of those families "too proud to beg or speak.” To whom would they apply. There is no executive in New Zealand. Once the money has been remitted our part in the operation is finished. It cannot be argued that urgent cases are improbable. Trooper Hunt, who returned injured in the Waiwera might easily have proved the contrary. Ills kit had been sent to the front, and when he had to mn’re the return voyage all the clothes lie had wore a pair of patched trousers and an old coat which were given to him. Fortu-

case with others, they had been dependant on him, what would have been his case, landed in a miserable apology for a wardrobe and probably soon in financial straits? Just at the present, of course, with the war excitement on amt all pursestrings loosened by patriotic sentiment, the case would be instantly taken up. But remember that when many of the wounded come back all this will very likely be changed. It may be months after the war is over before many are well enough to be moved. The excitement will then have subsided. The cheers over the heroes who have returned strong and well, have died away and the interest in the war and its survivors will have utterly collapsed. Then it is that eases of hardship might creep in, and it is our duty to guard against even a possibility of such a calamity. It is easily done. It has been wisely suggested that the Agents-General for the various colonies should have a seat on the Board which administers the money in London. This is good, but it is not enough. A New Zealand executive should be appointed in Wellington with full power to aet on behalf of the London Administrators of the fund. It would, of course, be advised as to the maximum which the funds will allow to be expended in the individual cases, and it would then aet instantly as occasion arose, dealing with each case as circumstances demanded. The Mayors of each of our principal centres would be ex officio members of the executive, and claims submitted to them could be at once locally investigated and thus met without delay. Some arrangement of this sort (no doubt it might be improved) will certainly have to be made, and the promoters of the fund in various quarters should look to it. One thing more. While not desirous of appearing ungracious, suspicious or officious, mir people have a right to ask representation on the Board of disbursement in London and to insist that the official administration shall be carried on with as rigorous an economy as is possible in the matter of office mauagpement. ® ® ® THE COMING STORM. It has long been evident, that a verv unpleasant quarter of an hour would sooner or later have to be faced by those in authority, with retrard to t’he blundering ignorance, and unpreparedness which have caused the extremely serious and unpleasant present state of affairs in South Africa. “Somebody will have to answer for all this.” has been for some time back t'he universal thought, but according to recent cables the day of reckoning is to commence somewhat sooner than we had at first imagined. The "Tinies” and the "Standard” are the great organs of the Conservative Party, and it is very significant and very ominous for those who have blundered, that the severest strictures and the most imperious and imperative demands for an explanation should come from these two papers, which, as everyone knows, speak not hastily, or without a due sense of their great responsibility. We may take it for granted, that the feeling in England of indignation and anxiety must be universal, and terribly tense, when such papers as these speak in such unmistakable tones of disapprobation and distrust, and when it is necessary to call Parliament together for explanations after so verv brief a recess. Mr Balfour has tacitly admitted that there is blame (and a heavy load it is), but has remarked light-heartedly that it is divided up over so many shoulders that the burden will press heavily on no one or no office. This pronouncement will not increase the prestige of the leader of the House of Commons, nor will it be favourably received by the public, who will most assuredly insist emphatically on making some units feel the responsibility, and on making them all feel it heavily. The burden as Mr Balfour is likely to find out will be made to fall with such crushing weight on some shoulders or other, that they will never emerge from under it. It is necessary for our safety that this should be so. We would not for n moment tolerate the assertion of the commander of a steamer, that the responsibility of a wreck or a collision

ent. or his ship was not properly found. It was his place to find out if they were incompetent, and if they were to insist on their being replaced, The War Office, the Intelligence Department, may be hopelessly incompetent, but that is not our concern. The blame must be sheeted home to them by the Government in due course, but so far as we are concerned it is the Government who stand on trial. If their service is incompetent, it was their plaee to have discovered it and to have provided a competent oue. Theirs is the sole and entire responsibility, and if there is disgrace to be borne, it is they who must bear it. It is a hard law, but it is the only one for public safety. The I’, and O. captain whose ship is lost through the fault of a subordinate, must go, ami t'he same applies to Governments. There have, the “Times” points out. been 8000 casualties before the enemy's territory has been reached, and the deaths and wounds of these men cry aloud for explanation. Does Mr Balfour pretend that in this terrible list there is not weight of responsibility enough to crush even so strong a Government as that to which he belongs? Does it sit lightly on his shoulders? If so he must be a remarkable callous, unemotional and unimaginative man. Does the crass stupidity of the Intelligence Department, where no intelligence apparently existed, does tho parsimony which hired slow tubs for transport, do the muddles of the Bar Office really leave his withers unwrung? If SO it is time the public forced him to see and to feel the heavy responsibility that lies on every member of his administration. We eannot do or say much yet. We must "see it through” now; but when we have time the sense of responsibility and the burden thereof should be brought home to those concerned in such fashion as the world will never forget. ® ® ® WHEN THE BRITISH AT THE CAPE WERE DISLOYAL. Just at present, when we. are all so naturally indignant at the disloyalty amongst a section of the colonists at the Cape, it is curious to recall the fact that once on a time the discontent amongst Britishers at Capetown appioachesl disloyalty aaid open rebellion so closely as to lead them to attempt to starve the Governor, to boycott the officials and troops, to refuse to victual Her Majesty's ships, and even to commence arming themselves. Few people, have. 1 believe, heard the svory, which is really of considerable, interest, as well as being in its way amusing. The Colonial Office was practically unknown in those days. Every one spoke of Downing Street when they had any grievance to complain about. South Africa was a Crown colony, and Earl Grey was the powerful personality at Downing Street who nearly drove our English colonists to treason. It was in 1849, and the occasion of the disturbance was the obstinacy of the Gov eminent in insisting on land'ing transported convicts at tl.o Cape, thus making it a penal .settlement, against the wishes of the colonists. Appeals, entreaties, petitions, and prayers were not only absolutely ignored, but Earl Grey deliberately stated that the. colonists in South Africa wanted the convicts, or at all events had no earthly objection to landing as many shiploads as the Government thought fit to send. Patience beiug at an end, it was resolved to make things so mightily uncomfortable for the Governor and Government officials that he would lx 1 obliged to advise the authorities at. Downing Street to yieiu. Accordingly one fine morning His Excellency found that there was no milk for his matitudinal meal, and hardly had the irritation caused by the supposed forgetfulness of lhe vice-regal milkman subsided, when the horror-stricken house steward reported with ashy countenance that neither the butcher, the linker, tho grocer, or any tradesmen would supply one six pennyworth of provender for Government. House. While this pleasant item of information was being digested (it seemed as if it. would be all His Excellency would have to digest), messages began to pour in from all Government officials and employees telling the same tale of woe. The people had cut them oil', boycotted them, as we should now say. They could get neither provisions nor service. The state of mind of a somewhat rough customer like Sir Harry Smith may be better imagined than described. Argument was useless; the traders were firm. If Sir Hurry wanted anything for his own house, or for the employees of the t.ovcriune.it he must send an armed

iuaue no resistance. Such a state of could not, however, continue, and the Governor, with no doubt a very ill. grace, was obliged to promise thill he would not allow another convict to land until he had made representation to Downing Street and got a reply. Meanwhile the anti-convict movement grew in vigour. Tradesmen, workmen, artizans, boardinghouse keepers, hotel hosts, drinking saloon keepers, boatmen, in fact the entire population, bound themselves by a solemn oath to refuse to sell anything to a convict or to give him shelter or employment, and they agreed, moreover, to treat as a traitor anyone who did any of these things. At this juncture the convict ship Neptune. with a full complement of convicts. arrived at (’apetown and dropped anchor in the narbour. Not a convict was allowed to land, and the ship, with all her officers, etc., were immediately tabooed. Not one atom of fresh meat, not one drop of water, or any provisions would the inhabitants supply. The captain himself went ashore in a blazing passion. He could obtain nothing: the people would hold no intercourse with him, and he had to return on board hungry and thirsty to dine on salt junk, for the fresh meat supply had been entirely exhausted on the voyage. Further than this, to coerce the Governor into sending the ship away, the Government House starvation tactics were again set. in operation. Contractors for the supply of all Government departments declined to fulfil their contracts, and sacrificed their deposits. No printer would print placards calling for new tenders, and written notices attracted not one single Tender. The loss and suffering entailed on shop keepers was naturally very severe, but with magnificent esprit de corps they manfully held out from September 19. 1549, till the* middle of Feb. in ISSO, when despatches arrived, ordering the Neptune away. Had the colonists had arms they would certainly have risen before then, and there .would have been a war which might have resulted in the history of South Africa, being very different from what it is. The story is worth recalling. as it shows that in one instance at least there is truth in what has keen sa'd concerning the disloyalty the Cape, namely, that it is to some rxlent due to an inherited belief .hat English and Cape interests are tiot identical. Of course now that the Cap? is self-governing this cannot be urged, but amongst the Dutch and Anglo-Dutch old prejudices and old beliefs die hard, and pass from father to son. so that the hatred bred in the Crown Colony days has ripened into active disloyalty long after causes for discontent have disappeared. © © © BED TAPE IN EXCELSIS. It is our custom, and the custom of most of our friends, to regard NewZea I a ml as one of the most progressive ami enlightened countries in the world, and we are prone to specially congru Dilate ourselves on the absence of that strict convention and rigid regard of custom which forms in the eyes of ex-New Zealanders one of the drawbacks of residence in the Old Country. It might have been imagined then that we should have abolished in this colony that plague of “red tapeism” which is the bane of almost every government department at Home and on the Continent. This, however, is not the ease, and we stick to, cherish and encourage a system of red tape in our Government service which is equal to anything achieved in England, or anywhere else so far as I know. As an instance let us take the methods of the Post Office Savings Bank. One deposits a trifling sum, say one and s'xpence. It is added to one’s book and one takes one’s departure. Some ten days after, one receives by letter carrier a scaled acknowledgement from Wellington, that the money has been received. Now* what does this mean? It means an advice has had to be sent from the clerks at your local post office to Wellington, and an advice from them back to you and the local office, besides the necessary entries in ledgers in Wellington am! here. In similar institutions not managed by Government you would have been given a receipt for the money, have had it entered in your book, ami there, save for one entry in the ledgers, would have boon an end of the matter so far as clerical busimss went, that is, three letters of adv’re and postal delivery would have l>ecn saved. But the acme of red tape ism in this

friend just during .the last few days. A certain- gentleman had died leaving my friend, whom we will term A. one of the executors with two others. In going through the estate in the usual manner, it was discovered that there was a trifle of some three and sixpence in an account (which the deceased doubtless imagined he had closed) in the Post Office Savings Bank. Armed with the probate order from. the Supreme Court, and accompanied by the two other executors. Mr A. presents himself before the authorities and essays to close the account. But no, the probate order, which gives full power to deal with the thousands of pounds in the estate, which allows The absolute buying or selling of everything, or anything, is not to be accepted by the Post Office Savings Bank! What all other business firms, banks, lawyers, companies, etc., etc., accept without question the Savings Bank authorities refuse. They must have the certificated copy of the will forwarded to Wellington and examine it themselves, though this has already been done by their own judge of the Supreme Court and pronounced correct. Endless delay is caused, quite inexcusable expenditure is thus incurred, and the only object served is the employment of so many more civil servants! Can one word be said in favour of this monstrous procedure? It cannot be that safety and caution are the objects. Surely what is sufficient for all other portions of the estate and parties connected therewith is good enough for the P.O. Savings Ba*k! If the department would release one or two of their clerks from useless labour of this sort and allow them to relieve the pressure on the absolutely necessary portion of money order and savings bank business, much irritation would be saved. Both these dejrartments are outrageously under-manned so far as the counter is concerned. Just before the holidays there was a crowd ten deep and fourteen or fifteen abreast in front of one harassed clerk at the Auckland Post Office Savings Bank Department, and at the money order counter one has usually to wait from a quarter to half an hour to be attended to. The same state of affairs prevails in all our large cities, and the matter wants setting right at once.