Current Comment.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue VI, 10 February 1900, Page 255

Current Comment.

BOGUS BIDDING AT AUCTION. On the subject of “ trotting,” or bogus bidding at auctions, the “ Morning Post ” of Timaru makes some very sensible remarks. It says : The system of “trotting” has now grown, by common practice, to be so much a part of the auction system that people are never certain whether a bid is genuine or not until the lot is knocked down and the buyer announced, and not then very often. This uncertainty unquestionably demoralises and retards genuine competition, sellers as well as buyers too frequently suffer injustice, and the true market value or demand for goods or stock sold cannot, in consequence, be accurately ascertained. Ostensibly, a sale by auction means that “ the highest bidder shall be the purchaser,” but this is not strictly so in probably the majority of cases, for “ trotting ” so discourages bidding of the genuine order, that many people refuse to bid, and lots have to be sacrificed because of the mistrust of the system. Public confidence is shattered because of the prevalence of “ trotting,” and a remedy is loudly called for. It is proposed to make “ trotting ” illegal by statute, and to impose legal restrictions upon auctioneers and bidders alike, in order to stop it ; but the matter really rests with the auctioneers themselves, in a very large measure. If they were to set their faces collectively against the system it would almost disappear ; but that is hopeless, for while some are anxious to stop it, others will not attempt improvement.

IS THIS TREASON ? A WORKING MAN (?) AGITATOR'S OPINIONS. British nation ! British Government I What do these people mean ? Are there certain territorial areas owned by the whole people of the areas ? Are there certain legislative bodies which control these areas in the interest of the whole peoples of the areas ? If so, then it may be a question for debate as to how far the people of one area may go in for wiping out another people whom they may regard as opposed to their ideal of life and progress.

But as an old-fashioned Internationalist, resting my logic upon the truth of the class war—worker versus capitalist, I have believed that there are no nations and no governments in the true sense of the word. What we have in all countries alike is the means of life monopolised by a class. What we have in all countries alike is a legislative club in which members of this class sit and make laws in the interest of their class. The peoples have no country ; the peoples have no Government. What, then, do these men mean when they shout, " I’m an Englishman ! I stand by the Government !” The first means to me that I happen to have been born in a certain spot of earth in this country. But I have not any of the country ! I am simply a landless and tool-less creature to be exploited by the people who have nobbled these. If I had been born in France, in Germany, in America, there are the same people who have got the means of wealth, and I should simply have been a bit of food for their exploitation.

And yet we know that the bulk of the workers are in this position. And yet we know that the so-called Governments of the nations treat the millions of the people in this manner, and our so-called Socialist gentlemen would encourage them to shout, “ Aly country ! My Government ! I’m an Englishman,” and would waste their energies in petty race quarrels ! Fie on them ! Eie on them ! I would rather be a dog and bay at the moon, than such Englishmen. John Tamlyn in “Justice.” ♦ * * SOLDIERS OF THE NATION. WAR BY DEMOCRACY. The fact that this war is being waged under new conditions is slowly coming home to the British people. It is not only fought "under a microscope,” every detail being subjected

to close and instant scrutiny in a way which, as Mr Asquith says, might have unnerved our Marlboroughs, Clives, and Wellingtons, but it is the first great war conducted by England as a democracy. The momentous struggle against Napoleon was carried on by an aristocracy, the Crimean war by a Government controlled by the middle class. This, observes the "Australasian,” is the first time that the democracy in power has entered upon a struggle of real magnitude; for there can be no doubt that it is the masses of the nation who have given the word for war, and are resolute to see the contest through. Until their consent was obtained—until, as Ministers phrase it, the country was at their baek—they dared take no decisive step. Hence the backwardness of our military preparations, which a bureaucracy like Germany would have quietly completed long before the dispute with Pretoria grew critical.

One of the most striking circumstances associated with this change is the solicitude which the democracy displays for the safety and welfare of its soldiers. This is a development which may be separated from the allround amelioration that has taken place in the conditions of every sort of service during the century. Brutalising floggings in the army and navy, and the general treatment of the men as belonging- to a lower species, are ugly features which have dropped out of memory, not because the democracy has the reins, but because the age has undergone a softening process. But it has been reserved for the governing masses to attach a. new- preciousness to the safety- and comfort of those who take the field. So far from being neglected and underrated as of old, the soldier is nowadays far more likely to think privately that his exploits and perils are magnified by the millions who wait in quivering expectancy at home.

TO THE EMPIRE’S CALL! ARE THE LAND-OWNERS RESPONDING LOYALLY? You can stand upon the highest point of land round Waipukurau, Hawke’s Bay, and get a view of thousands of acres of land that is contributing’ nothing - towards the equipment of those willing to go to t'he front, and the reflection is forced upon our minds that its numerous owners are doing nothing towards the maintenance of their ancient titles. For the honour of our race, if not from a sense of the obligation handed down from the days of old, let those of our sheepfarmers who have not yet contributed, now come forward and find the means to put at least 100 robust yoemen under the Union Jack in South Africa. We have nothing to do with what other provinces are sending, urges “W.A.C.” in the local journal, and for so rich a district too is not a great number when we consider that, under the feudal system from one estate less in area than many in Hawke’s Bay a much greater number would have been led forth by the owner of the land to battle for the Crown. The workers and small settlers will supply plenty of men if the moneyed men will divert sufficient from their usual accumulations to pay the piper.

ARMOUR-CLAD SOLDIERS. Several newspapers in Great Britain have seriously taken up the question of supplying the troops of the British army with armour. Though they do not go to t'he length of suggesting that each man should have a thin of Krupp armour to hang in front oi him as he advances to the attack, they do not think it is wise to pass the thing over with a mere laugh, as many people, at first glance, are naturally inclined to do. One writer, who elais orates t'he idea in “Engineering," ajid who seems to be quite fascinated with it, avers that the armoured soldier is not so rare to-day as might be believed. The fairly large supply ol coats of mail, he says, indicates a much greater demand than can be produced by capitalists and royalists in dread of assassination. He asserts positively that coats of mail were adopted in expeditions against enemies who used somewhat autiquated weapons, and he surmises that a good many have gone to South Africa, though he doubts their utility against modern bullets, except when the latter are fired from long distances. —Lyttelton “Times.”

THE RIVAL CABLES. We think that Mr Seddon is quite right, in looking somewhat askance at the gifts which the Eastern and Australian Cable Company are offering us in the shape of an “all red” cable line via the Cape, says the “Press.” We have not the least objection to such a line; on the contrary, we should welcome it. The point to be borne in mind, however, is that it may be purchased at too dear a price. The Eastern Company have at present a monopoly, and they are naturally very anxious to preserve it. It is to the interest of these colonies that the Pacific Cable should be constructed, if only for the purpose of breaking that monopoly. What we have to be careful about, therefore, is that the concessions we make in favour of the Cape Cable are not such as to render it unprofitable for the colonies to undertake the construction of the Pacific line, as they proposed to do.

WELLINGTON AND THE PLAGUE. There are hundreds of houses in Wellington not connected with the sewerage system, and many old drains, and we are infested with rats. These invite the plague. If the plague were to spread the death-rate might rise as high, as long as it was with us, as it did in London in 1665 in one year. If it did the deaths would be about 7000, and if we consider the misery and the loss of trade that the plague would cause, the injury to Wellington would be incalculable. Property would fall in value, landlords would not get their rents, the shipping would have to be done from other centres, and the loss to the city alone would be more than a million. It would take many years before Wellington recovered. Parliament would have to meet in some other centre, an I all who have means would Hee from the city. And yet (writes “Alarmed” to the “Post”), with all the possibilities of what this dire scourge might be, our municipal functionaries seem to be exceedingly quiescent. No proper or efficient effort has been made to compel sewerage connection, to shut up old drains, to kill the rats, and to insist on cleanliness, and I believe there are other cities in the colony just as bad as Wellington.

THE BITTER CRY OF THE 1• RO IESS 10 NA L AG J T ATO R.

That precious claptrap scribe ‘"Bystander” iu the Queensland “Worker" thus vents his ill temper concernin" the magnificent outburst of loyalty in the colonies. Freedom of speech adverse to the war is suspended by order of the venomous and vulgar jingo mob. Citizens are being assailed by larrikin barraekers. egged on and encouraged by the braggart press, and the boycott against business people holding opinions not in accord with the vulgar oligarchy is covertly commended and applied. Fatman's prerogative of “ the saek ” is also threatened and acted upon, and the consequence is that timid opponents are eowed into silence or submission. Against this gross violation of the common rights, the men and women who believe as firmly now as ever that the present war is a brutal and unjustifiable aggression will need to assert themselves. That other large section Of the public who deem that the liberty to think and speak as •their convictions, and not the daily press, dictate, is a right worth fighting for by itself, will need to manifest themselves. The jingos are afraid of criticism. They are endeavouring by brute force to apply Carrington's doctrine preached recently to the English workers and summed up in the sentence “ Stop thinking until the war is over." I.et every honest man oppose this cowardly and slavish doctrine, whether he be German or Scandinavian. or Britisher. Against such attempted brutal coercion let him assert his mental independence without fear, or lie for ever proclaimed a coward or a slave.

It is useless, the “ Graphic " thinks, to l»e angry with a creature who writes in such a strain, but. gracious powers. lilw one would delight in seeing the fellow well ducked in a horse pond.

A COLONIAL ARMY CORPS

The supercilious indifference with which the WarOttice at first treated the offers of armed assistance made by the colonies has utterly broken dawn in the face of the very surprising developments of the South African campaign. This is in a measure due, thinks the “Daily News” of Taranaki, to the unexpectedly heavy demands of the situation for which the British army was quite unprepared, and also to the high efficiency and usefulness of these colonial troops now on the scene of action. The British military authorities have had their cheap opinions of colonial volunteer troops quite altered, and thinly-veiled contempt has given way to open admiration—so much so that we may expect to hear of our men taking an increasingly prominent and important part in the war operations.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

One of the most interesting features of railway management in this colony is the comparative immunity from serious and fatal accidents. Once in a quarter of a century there is a Rakaia disaster, and now and again a careless passenger falls off a train and is killed, or an over-confident and reckless shunter is injured fatally. It may even happen that two porters, as was the case last month, may be killed within a week, but this goes no way to prove that such accidents are the results of mismanagement or defective rules for the gutdamee of the Government railway employees. That accidents are less frequent than they are is due to some extent to the improved modes of working our railways. and the various mechanical appliances which have been adopted to secure the safety of the travelling publie and railway servants. There are few countries in the world that have a greater mileage of railway in proportion to population than New Zealand. Over our 2090 miles of often railways over five millions of passengers were carried hist year. There were 641.1 employees engaged, and the figures with respect to accidents, inclusive of the Rakaia disaster, showed that seventeen persons were killed and four hundred and two injured. Some people are inclined to blame the Railway Department for this loss of life, but that is altogether unwarrantable and absurd. We know that the officials exercise the utmost care to prevent accidents. Despite their vigilance, accidents will occur, and frequently the persons affected are themselves blameworthy.

OUR BRAVE BOYS.

The colony has now sent a second contingent in order to maintain the sceptre of Britain in defiance of foreign aggression. The enthusiasm that marked the departure of our troops from Wellington on Saturday was unlxmnded in the extreme, and t'he patriotism shown by the vast concourse of spectators must have sent a thrill of warlike ardour into the minds of the troopers as the troopship put out to sea. We are but a small segment of the British nation, and are separated from the Mother Country by a vast expanse of ocean; yet we are facing the roar of cannon regardless of the dreaded consequences. Our troops are doing noble work in the field, and are tasting the bitterness of the ghastly struggle now going on In order to assist in setting the nation free from the dominant insults of t'he Boers. Their gallantry has been acknowledged by the cream of British commanders, and when the struggle is ended the reception t'hat will be accorded them on their return by the people of New Zealand will be such as has never before been witnessed in these parts. There is one t'hing to be said as a compliment to our colonial soldiers, and that is; Although we have lost members of our own kith and kin in the fray, vve 'have gained the confidence of the Empire in our endeavouri to show the British soldiers what can be done by colonials in the field. Our troopers are not one whit be'hind their compeers in dashing field work, and their capacity for individual fighting is up to a standard that few could expect from men that have been in regular training only for a short time. Their intrepidity has been especially noticeable throughout the campaign, and goes to prove the quality of the stuff our troops are made of.

ANOTHER APPEAL FOR CHRONIC “DRUNKS.”

It is high time that the provisions which are made under the Inebriates Institutions Act, 1898, were brought into operation in order that helpless and incorrigible slaves to the drink habit might be removed from temptation and deprived of the power to work evil in the community. When that measure was before the Legislature those in authority exerted all their powers of persuasion to make it law. and last session the Government again displayed some anxiety to give effect to a statute which, up to that time, had been a dead letter because no institutions had been provided. But there 's even now no practical result of all this solicitude, and the statute might just as well have never been passed. Confirmed inebriates—shocking examples of self-abandonment — run their course unhindered, as thoug’h it did not matter what became of them, or that they shed a malign influence on all around them. This is to be greatly deplored, for there are numerous persons addicted to the habit whose friends, as well as the public, would be glad to know that they were where they could not continue their self-nbasement —- where they would cease to annoy and corrupt others, and where there would be some hope of their reformation being effected.—Oamarn “Mail.”

PUBLISHING OUR SOLDIERS’ PRIVATE LETTERS.

SENSIBLE REMARKS ON THIS BY THE WANGANUI “CHRONICLE.”

The free use that is being made of the letters of the members of . our First Contingent, now on active service in South Africa, by publishing them in full in the newspapers of the colony, with the names of the writers attached, is likely to cause some embarrassment to our men. and very likely a good deal of annoyance, and of ill-will on the part of other colonial troops whose conduct has been severely inamadverted upon, when our New Zealand newspapers arrive in camp. We have ourselves printed private letters from some of our Wanganui boys

—but we have taken care to excise passages in such letters that were evidently only intended for the recipients of the letters, and the publication of which might have subjected the writers to unpleasant comments from their comrades in the field had they been published. In nqost of the letters that have been published recently passages occur in which the writers speak with pride of the appreciat'on in which they are held by the Major-General in command, and of the honour that has been conferred upon our contingent in being attached to the Royal Horse Artillery—but some of the writer* go much further, and

speak contemptuously of the New South Wales Lancers, and tell of the snubbing they received from tbv General for turning out late one morning, and so on. Now, all these things are perfectly legitimate subjects for the freest kind of comments in letters that are intended to be kept strictly private, or that are merely to be circulated among the writers’ private friends. But it is quite a different thing when they are allowed to appear iu print, and without the slightest editorial supervision being exercised over them.

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