The Week in Review

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 19, 6 May 1908, Page 1

The Week in Review

It is a common saying that “electricity is but in its infancy,” and that alt the wonders achieved by this potent and mysterious agency are but slight foretastes of the greater wonders that shall be. People had Hardly ceased marvelling over wireless telegraphy when there came news of an electric gun yiat would enable London to bombard Paris, and “vice versa” of course, for it’s a bad gun that won't shoot both ways! This week we have the astounding news that a Frenchman has discovered electrical means for enabling us to see long distances —New York to Paris being named as within the possibilities; and on top of this comes the announcement that another inventor has demonstrated that pictures can be transmitted over immense distances by wireless telegraphy. These inventions, if they ever come into general use, will give rise to decidedly “uncanny” sensations. It will not be pleasant for people to awake some morning and find the city in which they live being bombarded from a distances of some hundreds of miles, by whom they know not. But, stay! They can soon discover the enemy. They will only have to bring their long-sight electric apparatus into action, survey the face of the globe, and find out whence the deadly balls and shells are coming. Having done so, their next step would naturally be to trot out their electric guns and return the bombardment. The longsight machine is likely to cause something like a social revolution. Let us suppose a New York merchant resolves to pay a visit to Paris—on business of course. His wife may take a fancy to see how he spends his evenings, and, by turning her electric telescope on to him, may follow him in all his pleasuring in the haunts of “gay Paree.” She may even, by pre-arrangement, be able to hire someone in the French capital to send her a “wireless picture,” showing “hubby” enjoying a close “tete a tete” with another lady—convincing proof for the Divorce Court in a land where divorce is easy enough already! Whether these inventions will make for peace and morality, or for war and social chaos, is a question that only the future can decide. “The Country of Common Sense!” This happy definition' of our fair Dominion is credited to a recent writer, and it is so much better than “God’s Own Country” that it ought to be definitely adopted. A French author a few years ago wrote a book entitled “Social isme Sans Doctrines," in which he described the various institutions of New Zealand as being practical Socialism, applied without reference to theories, but on a purely experimental and utilitarian basis. That writer, as clearly as the more recent one, perceived that commonsense is the guiding principle in the government of this country, and that whatever of Socialism may here be found is in strict accord with morality and economic justice. It is above all practicable. Mr. Massey is foreshadowing a great crusade against Socialism in connection with the general election in December next. He may as well sjiare himself the pains. The Socialism that he seeks to combat is the vapouring of a small band of extremists io whom nobody pays the least attention. Hie supposed leaning of the Government towards these people exists only in Mr. Massey’s imagination. The Leader of the Opposition is too astute to declare War against the practical Socialism that isembodied in our laws and institutions, because that receives the sanction of practically the whole of the people—it being Common Sense in expression. And

if the electors maintain their sound judgment, they will take good care that the pernicious “three-party system” shall not obtain a' foothold in this country. An attempt will, no doubt, be made to dissociate Labour from Liberalism; but. it must prove as futile as former efforts to draw away the country party from those who have done so much for land settlement and the prosperity of farmers. Thus the union of the three L’s—Liberal, Labour, and Land—will be maintained, and Common Sense will still hold sway. Let the Muse descend and explain some of the reasons why this is the Land of Common Sense: — The country of Common Sense! What, really ? A land where oysters grow on trees, And rats climb up to open them freely! You can’t gull people with “facts” like these! A country of wooden caterpillars, - Where cabbages grow like forests dense; Go tell such tales to the jolly millers! That’s Topsy-Turvy, not Common Sense! Where the South is cold and the North is torrid, Where people get paid for growing old; Where woman is equal to man (that’s horid!) And December is hot and June is cold. Where whites are for coloured landlords toiling; Where ginger-beer, at but small expense Can send the toper home, reeling, smiling— Is that like a Land of Common Sense? But wait ere you reach a rash conclusion; ’Tis not tlie land, but the men and laws, That show the absence of all confusion And the sweet accord of effect and cause; For every man here loves his neighbour, And there’s fair division of pounds and pence; There is work for all who wish to labour— We are the People of Common Sense! “Equal sacrifice” guides taxation; Millionaires cannot flourish here; No Socialist theories vex the nation, Yet all are Socialists, sane and clear. Land is reserved for those who use it— Monopoly here is a rank offence; Liquor is barred when men abuse it; These are the methods of Common Sense! Prince, and “new chum,” and gay “globetrotter,” Ye who are yearning for sun and smiles — All, in short, save the worthless “rotter”— Come and rest in these Blessed Isles! Seek no more for a far Utopia, Search not the earth with zeal intense; You see it here—if you’ve not myopia— This is the Land of Common Sense! The clamour which continues in the daily Press of Auckland over the utterance of Bishop Ncligan concerning the alleged “paganism” of country settlers and others in the Dominion is making the Northern city somewhat absurd. In an emotional and indeed somewhat hysterical sermon, an extremely earnest but rather excitable Anglican prelate made a remark which was neither very correct nor very wise. Emotional and excitable people are always falling into similar mistakes, and though this is unfortunate,

when they occupy responsible positions, it is rather ridiculous to make quite as much fuss over the matter as is being done in the case under notice. The importation of Sil' Robert Stout into the weary controversy is to be deplored, in that he adds something of colonial importance to that which merely concerns those Anglicans who have taken the London utterances of Bishop Neligan seriously. A fresh body of controversialists is already in the field against Sir Robert, and a subject which should have been allowed to drop seems likely to continue to arouse “hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness” for an indefinite period. But why continue to argue? The remark was, as is patent to everybody here, incorrect and sensational. Let it rest at that. What is, however, of importance, and of very grave importance, is this: that the worthy Bishop would appear to be, in slang parlance, “going round with the hat” on behalf of the Home Mission in New Zealand. If this is the case, and there seems to be no doubt on the matter, the action is one W’hieh most of us in the Dominion will cordially deplore. We boast our unexampled prosperity, and of that prosperity the Anglican body enjoys its full share. Is it right, is it decent, then, that it should go begging to London, where there are a thousand causes more in need of money than the Anglican mission to the white “heathen” of New Zealand ? Would not the Bishop be better employed if he were to” exert his emotional eloquence in efforts to open the money-bags of wealthy Aucklanders, and thus procure the necessary funds for the work he has at heart? Alas! he probably knows well that his seed here would fall on stony ground, for the simple reason that his pictures of the pagan back-blocks would be received with incredulity. “Distant fields are green,” so are distant people when appeals are made to their benevolent feelings. We have all seen how New Zealanders contribute freely to sufferers by disasters in far countries, and give liberally to missions in China, Persia, or India. The people of London are equally big-hearted, and are ready to assist sufferers from Turkish “atrocities” or the victims of “ghastly” neglect in New Zealand. The good Bishop, therefore, displayed sound worldly wisdom in going far afield with his appeal; but, for the credit of the Dominion, it would have been better had he refrained from statements that east a slur on the Anglicans of his diocese and of New Zealand Generally. 'J* J* There is a dawning suspicion in some minds that the no-license'agitation has a commercial as well as a moral motive, and that one of its chief objects is to divert custom from the brewers and hotelkeepers to the manufacturers ami purveyors of “temperance” drinks. An insidious suggestion, tending in the same direction, was made by a correspondent in the columns of a contemporary the other day, to the effect that a law should be passed restricting the strength of ale and stout to 2 per cent, of alcohol. What the effect of this would lie may be inferred from the strength of the ginger ale and beer that is retailed in the prohibition districts of this country. Why, the whole position would be reversed; the “temperance” drinks would be the strongest intoxicants procurable, and the breweries ami hotels would perforce be patronised by the followers of Taylor, Isitt, Richardson, and Co. The growing consumption of ginger beer is not confined to New Zealand. A few days ago, at Warrnambool, Victoria, a Mrs. Threlfall was proceeded against for unlawful manufacture of beer.. It was shown that an officer had purchased ginger beer and herb beer from Mrs. Threlfall. The former was alleged to contain 8J per cent., and the latter 3 per cent, of proof spirits. It wns stated that ordinary beer contained from 10 to II per cent, of spirit, and that the gin-

ger beer was nearly as intoxicating as ordinary beer. Mrs. Threlfall was proceeded against in February of last year in consequence of it being reported that children had been seen coming out of her premises “reeling.” Small wonder that a "Bulletin” bard should burst forth into song on such an exhilarating sub ject as an orgy of schoolboys thus: — Fill a glass with ginger beer. Drink it down and fill again : You will wear a sleepy leer, And you will not feel the cane Spend your pennies like a King, And. when all the liquid's stowed Lift your squeaky voice and sing As you’re reeling down the road. Yes, the good old, rare old, fermented ginger beer! It sparkles and it bubbles, and it's not too bloomin’ dear. Don’t waste yer time! You wait yer chance, and got away from here. An’ go down and have a pint or two o' ginger! It may be respectfully suggested 2S aur temperance reformers that they might give a rest to the no-lieense movement and devote their energies to a crusade against ginger beer, herb beer, and the various other “temperance” drinks that bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. J* J* In the Old Country, too, “temperance” is making progress, and it will surprise nobody to learn that the demand for ginger beer, dandelion stout, and other teetotal drinks is going up by leaps ami bounds. Of some 4,000 samples of such beverages analysed by Government officials, nearly one-half were found to contain between 2 and 3 per cent, of alcohol, while others were much stronger. A correspondent of the London “Daily Mail” points out that, during the last four years, samples of teetotal beverages were found to contain alcohol in the fol lowing proportions: -’— 1904— Ginger beer, 8.3 per cent. 1905— Ginger beer, 9.5 per cent. 1906— Herb beer, 10.5 per cent. Dandelion stout, 12.3 per cent 1907 — Herb beer, 8.5 per cent. Any of these drinks is therefore more intoxicating than claret or hock, and nearly as “elevating” as champagne. In view of the fact that these beverages are largely consumed by boys and girls, may we not reasonably look to “tern perance” drinks as being among the most prolific causes of drunkenness? Many young people undoubtedly acquire their taste for intoxicants by indulgence in those drinks that are supposed to keep them in the path of sobriety; and a crusade for the suppression of ginger beer would bo a more rational and truly temperance movement than the outcry for the closing of hotels and publichouses where youths arc not allowed to drink. The entiled statement that "there arc three millions—some accounts say four millions—of unemployed in the United States, and the further report that a labour dispute in the North of England is throwing idle many thousands of workers, are not pleasant reading for any one, least of all for the advocates of rampant individualism, the unre atricted sway of Capital, and the sacred right of Labour to go “on strike." But these happenings have their special use, at a time when a number of silly people are decrying the labour laws of our Dominion, and asserting that the Indus trial Conciliation and Arbitration Act is a failure. As a matter of hard fact, New Zealand, as compared with other countries, is a land of industrial peace, con tinuous activity, ami abounding prosperity. We make a great fuss over a dispute involving a score or so of workers, but every such ease ends in a triumph of good feeling and common■ sense. So may it ever be!