AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 15, 13 October 1909, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

Land for Selection. During the month of October areas of land totalling 54,000 acres will be thrown open for selection in the Dominion. In the Auckland district, next Monday 30 sections in the Te Akau Block, comprising 14,178 acres, will be offered. The following Monday 17,672 acres of Maori land in the Te Karae Block will be offered for lease by public auction at Hokianga. Other smaller village lots will be submitted during the month, including an area of 559 acres in Matamata, Waipa, and Whakatame counties.

A Hideous Thing. “It is, to my mind, a hideous thing,’’ declared Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., when speaking at the Otaki Maori College opening on the alarming increase of mortality among native infants. It wae within his own knowledge, he said, that this mortality, though not, perhaps, increasing very much, was still of a very alarming character. Maori babies were bom with all the possibilities of life, and, given ordinary care and attention, should grow up strong and well and make good citizens; yet as the result of ignorance and neglect scores were dying off. This lack of proper care was a serious matter, and it was very regrettable that nothing was being done to remedy the evil. W hat was wanted was for some strong man or woman to get up and insist that something must be done—something such as Lady Plunket was doing for the mothers and children of the other race. Her work in that direction was so valuable, that long after she had left New Zealand people would b ar her in grateful remembrance for it. Some people said that the Maori race was doomed to extinction, but he could not agree with them. It need not die. Given care and proper attention, and by doing away with the ignorance and carelessness that now was so pronounced, a better state of things was sure to come about. In the days to come, no doubt, there would be a welding of the two races, but for long years yet the natives might live as a separate people. They were worthy of preservation. There was much in them to admire, and that was why he strongly urged that every effort should be made to cure “this dreadful infant mortality.”

Land Board Breeze, A breeze occurred at the meetin" of the Land Board last week. The Commissioner ruled that Mr. 'Eustace lane, a member of the Board, could not refer to some Napier case when a discussion was proceeding on the question of the Board’s power to grant a transfer. Mr. Lane refused to submit to the Commissioner’s ruling, except th e majority Baid he should do so. A constable was sent for, and on his arrival the Board’s secretary touched Mr. Lane on the shoulder and conducted him out of the room. The latter remarked that an

assault had been committed, and that he had taken the stand he had for the good of the country.

Sweating and the Consumer. In his charge to Sydnod last week Bishop Neligan had something to say concerning the responsibility of the consumer and the investor in the matter of dealing with sweated industries. After pointing out that the social and industrial problems of every country are to some extent peculiar to each country, the Bishop said that though we had nothing approaching the “ sweating of the Old Country in New Zealand, yet the very allusion thereto suggested a whole tram of thought concerning moral responsibility for the continuance of the conditions broadly described by this malevolent word. “I mean in this way,” the Bishop continued. “You buy in a shop an article manufactured in New Zealand, you may grumble at its apparent dearness as compared with a similar and cheaper article from Home, you may possibly think the Homemade article better made, but put against these pos eible growls this entirely glad and thankworthy fact: that New Zealand-mado article was manufactured under humane conditions of labour, not under conditions that could possibly mean ths life-blood of a human being. Well, all this is a thing to rejoice over from th : s particular point of view. Now consider the moral responsibility of the purchaser; consider it as it is to-day owing to the almost inextricable complexity of modern industrial and commercial life. For one cause or other, good or bad, you buy the cheap article—the thing tha t is called ‘ a marvel of cheapness.’ Where do you stand, morally, as to the conditions in England, America, or elsewhere, under which that article has been produced? Has the purchaser, or has he not, any moral responsibility in the matter at all. If he has —as, personally, I sincerely believe—how is he to discharge it? There is the real crux of the whole thing: how are we to know? what can we do even if we know? The thing is more complicated here than at Home; there very many of us never dealt with a firm whose conditions of labour were known to be unfair and unrighteous, very many of us made it a matter of conscience to inquire about the conditions under wnich the articles we required were produced. Although such a course of action was not free from inconvenience and difficulty, yet it was capable of adoption, and was, and is still, adopted by no inconsiderable number of persons. Here, however, we are 13,000 miles away from the centre, and so the complication is increased; but that is not an excuse for refusal of effort to discharge a moral response bility. I am sure that the moral result of asking questions, of being inquisitive, when buying an article because 4. its cheapness, is quite good. The temptation, and sometimes the dire necessity, of buying the cheap article is real in its moral origin and issues. The complexities of commercial life undoubtedly tend to obscure both; but, none the less, they are there, and not connected alone with sweated industries, but also with dangerous ones. Think of such things as cheap glazed ware and cheap matches. When we buy them, do we ever think of the hideous diseases among the workers in the potteries arising from a certain process of glazing, or the loathsome “phossy jaw” among the workers iv some match factories? Honestly, there is a moral responsibility extending right out to us here in all these matters.” “ Much of our New Zealand industrial legislation is simply admirable; but unless we think of morals as well as legislation, while priding ourselves on our advantages, we may quite easily neglect the principles of indH trial brotherhood and rivet the bonds of industrial slavery and physical suffering upon men, women, and children of our own as well as other races. The cost of living is, undoubtedly, higher in New Zealand than in England; but this comparison is usually limited by pounds, shillings and pence. There is another and a woeful cost, bred by cheapness, encouraged by the seller, sought after by the buyer: the cost of human life, the sufferings of men, women and children in sweated or dangerous industries. The responsibility for the continuance of such conditions is a responsibility not evaded, though ignored, by the pious pharasaism of: ‘Thank God, we are not as other men are in our industrial legislation.’ The responsibility is moral and is individual. ‘Verily, there is a God that judgeth the earth.’ ‘The earth’ includes

buyers as well as sellers, investors a. well as directors. There is, admittedly overmuch irresponsible competition is the Old Country. 1 cannot avoid the conclusion that there ie overmuch irresponsible collectivism in the new countries. The wise householder will bring forth out of his treasure things both new and old.” “ I hold that every investor in mining, timber, dairying, freezing, or other commercial combination has a moral responsibility towards the persons employed. It is the responsibility of the investors, through whose joint action a population is gathered together in any one particular area, to see to it that opportunities for spiritual ministrations and for social advancement are afforded to that population. I see difficu’ties, particularly in this country, in a boa'd of directors, as such, financially aiding relig - ous bodies in this manner; though, even here, those difficulties are not insuperable. But I see no difficulties —lather, the contrary—for the individual investor; indeed, to my thinking, he is morally responsible for supporting the religious body to which he belongs in its efforts, spiritual and social, in the place which his investment has contributed to create. Or, again, think of a syndicate formed to acquire land in a neighbourhood likely to develop. The moral resp risibility of the investors in that syndicate is not discharged, as I believe, by covering the whole area with houses and shops, and without any regard being had to the ex isting or probable needs of the population, thus brought together by the syndicate, for public worship or social intercourse. Thank God for the example of many a churchman in this dioceseaye! and many a non-Episcopalian also—in this particular direction of the discharge of moral responsibility. None the less, the principle needs emphasising over and over again.”

A Royal Wedding. Royalty, when wedding, demands an accompanying pomp and circumstance fitting the augustness of the occasion, and among other of the panoply in which the outward and visible signs of that augustness is manifested, the wedding cake is an essential. Lesser mortals may dispense with this time-honoured concomitant if the bride be sufficiently emancipated from the thrall of custom, but not so Royalty. And so Mr Walter Buchanan, of Karangahape-road, has, by royal command of his Majesty King George 11. of Tonga, designed and built a cake for the coming nuptials of that Christian poten tate which has probably never had its peer in the annals of Auckland cakes. It is a dazzling creation of sweet and daintily-conceived toothsomeness, measuring 4ft across its base, and standing in its five tiers, surmounted by the crown and bouquet, a full eight feet. On the panel of the lowest tier are the initials of the King himself, and on the successive tiers appeal- the bride's initials, the facsimile of the Tongan crown, the Tongan coat-of-arms, and the King’s coat-of-arms. The whole fabric weighs 5001bs, and is a revelation in the art of building wedding cakes. The identity of the lady upon whom the King’s choice has fallen is being kept a strict palace secret, even to the extent of veiling her initials from the vulgar eyes that gaze on the cake in Mr Buchanan’s window. Her initials were communicated to the cake-maker strictly on this condition. It is understood, however, that there has been some competition for the royal hand, and this unusual secrecy respecting the name of his Majesty’s future consort is suggested as being a simple method of avoiding the tears of disappointed hopes until the actual day of the ceremony, which will take place shortly after the arrival of the Tofua with the indispensable wedding cake.

Capital and Labour. A large part of the charge delivered to Sydney last week by Bishop Neligan dealt with the aims and ob jects of organised Capital and organised Labour, and the relations of the Church thereto. At the present time, said the Bishop, we are face to face with the question: “Has or has not the Church seriously endeavoured to win the sympathy and regard of those who seek an ideal so largely in accordance with the Lord’s own principles ?” “It is just here,” his Lordship continued, “where I find it hard to strike a balance. As I read the historical facts, they tell on one side of action and inaction on the part of organised Christianity which appears to be wholly

Nameworthy; on the other aide the nine action or Inaction appears to be ■wholly praiseworthy. “I put before you my thoughts on the position for what they are worth. They have, at least, this advantage: they are the outcome of personal touch with Competition run riot in the Old Country, and with Collectivism beginning to run riot in a new country. When I lived in the Old Country, I firmly believed in legislation as the panacea for all industrial problems. Thankful as I am for much of our industrial legislation here, I am bound to confess that, having spent the best part of seven years in close touch with life here, I do not believe, as confidently as I did, in legislation alone producing either more brotherly feeling between Labour and Capital, or in Collectivism, in its evolution up to to-day, reducing the output of selfishness.

“Is the fact of the separation between organised Christianity and organised Capital or organised Labour a fact wholly to be deplored? For myself, the answer is in the negative. The separation between organised Christianity and organised Labour, evident today, is partly to be deplored, for it is the inevitable result of lack of sympathy on the part of organised Christianity, of all sorts, with the efforts of democracy towards securing the opportunity for all men of living a true human life. Yet I do not personally wholly deplore the present day separation between organised Christianity and organised Capital on the one side, or organised Labour on the other.

“Organised Christianity at the bidding or under the domination of either organised Capital or organised Labour may, for a time, retain its organisation, but to a certainty, it will lose its Christianity, because the means used by the organisations to attain their ends are, in our times, fundamentally different.

"The pressure upon organised Christianity to take sides, to join in the means used, is, quite intelligibly, more evident from the direction of organised Labour than that of organised Capital. It is regrettable, but true, that occasionally one does hear of, or come into contact with, instances where organised Capital, in some form or other, has endeavoured to capture some section of organised Christianity. So far as my experience goes, those occasions have been rare, and are the more noticeable because of their singularity. Capital, as represented by substantial financial assistance on the part of individuals to Church objects, is, I believe, almost entirely free from any suspicion of seeking its own private interests and preferences.

“The real anxiety for organised Christianity to-day is not so much, if at all, that organised Capital may capture it and use it for its own ends; the anxiety is how best and most effectively to stem the hideous materialism, the direct product of luxury and wealth, which is eating into the heart of national life in the English-speaking world, sapping the foundations of character, worshipping Mammon, rejecting God revealed in Christ. Organised Labour may, and sometimes does, assert that religion is incredible. That is a far less dangerous mental attitude than that of: Religion is unnecessary. The dominant organisation, Capital or Labour, that lives its life on such a belief must, sooner or later, absolutely ruin the country in which it is supreme. Organised Capital provides the illustration on the most dramatic scale to-day. Organised Labour is not wholly free of infection from the same deadly disease. Materialism, as a practice, is not confined to the customs of life of the capitalist. The practice finds other forms of exhibition in the customs of life of the democrat. The creed of materialism is: Religion is unnecessary. The fabric reared on that creed, whether by capitalist or democrat, is the abode unto which the unclean spirit of man always returns, and. finding it swept and garnished by money or by legislation alone, he ‘ taketh to him seven other spirits more wieked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.’ ” Turning next to the pressure upon organised Christianity from the direction Or organised Labour, the Bishop enumerated reasons why the separation between organised Christianity and organised Labour is not wholly to be deplored. “(a.) The separation does not mean that the labour movement (as for convenience we shall now call it) is in

itself either atheistic, anti-Christian, or unaffected by Christianity. “(b.) The lifting power of the Labour Movement, in the direction of national righteousness, derives its force not from politics, but from Christianity. “(c.) I hold it simply to be untrue to assert that the artizan, mechanic, workman of various trades, is, as such, alienated from or antagonistic to the Christian Revelation. It can be affirmed with truth that there are very few vestries in this dioeese, rural or urban, upon which men, definitely from the ranks of Labour, do not sit.” On the other hand, — “(a.) The Labour movement at times makes an appeal, not to our Lord, but to utter selfishness and absolute classinterest. When such an appeal is made, organised Christianity can have nothing to do with it as an organisation. “(b.) The Labour movement at times in its preaching of the gospel of environment as the only gospel, runs so counter to the teaching of our Lord about character that organised Christianity is bound to stand aloof from it and to oppose the exaggerated teaching as being alike religiously and philosophically false. “(c.) The Labour movement at times must be a political movement: only through legislation can certain things it deems necessary be accomplished. An alliance between organised Christianity and a political party may, conceivably, benefit the political party; but it will destroy the spiritual effectiveness of the Christian organisation which, as a Church, enters into such an alliance. The modes of operation of a church and a political party are, whether for weal or woe, essentially different.

“(d.) An intimate acquaintance with industrial economics is, no doubt, a highly desirable possession for any leader in organised Christianity; but it is not a necessity. The number of clergy, Anglican or Roman, Presbyterian or Methodist, who are competent by knowledge of economics to pronounce judgment on an industrial question is not large, but they hold the key of knowledge which opens the only door leading to permanent industrial contentment and true commercial righteousness.

“There are elements in our New Zealand industrial legislation for which any Christian man cannot fail to be thankful to God. There are, at the same time, features and tendencies in our legislation and our public life which must make any Christian man fearful of the national consequences, unless we get back and right down to the heart of all life: God revealed to man in Christ. Life is a sacrament, great and holy. Any theory of economic reform which is based, tacitly or frankly, on the postulate of selfishness, eannot offer a permanent solution. The system which embodies it will crumble before the attacks of a stronger selfishness, better equipped with brute force or intelligence.

“Legislation by itself may. and often does, produce humaneness of condition of labour; but, however admirable, it cannot secure humanity as between man and man, it does not necessarily promote brotherly love and kindly sympathy. National righteousness can only be the expression of individual righteousness. The fount, origin, source, strength of individual righteousness is belief, hope, trust, life in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Only Son of God and the Saviour of the world. The moral witness of the church is to proclaim that truth.”

Auckland Drainage Scheme. The importance of proper drainage is always made more manifest in the hot weather, consequently it will be pleasant information for the residents of Auckland that at last work is to be commenced upon the main drainage scheme. At a meeting of the Works Committee of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board, held last week, the tender of Messrs. Mays and Gordon was accepted for the first section of the drainage scheme, the price being £12,514 19)9. This work has to lie started forthwrh, and completed within 12 months. The first section of the scheme entails sever formation, tunnelling, and reinforced concrete work of the main sewer fron the tank site, across Okahu Bay. underneath the hill at Orakei, coining out at Bobson's Bay. The committee also decided 1/ invite tenders for No. 2 section, from ilobson’s Bay to Campbell-terrace. PaWi‘ll, and also for the Arch Hill sewer, wtyt.'h, under

the terms of the agreement, has to be constructed simultaneously with the main sewer. These tenders are made returnable at the next meeting of the Drainage Board.

East Coast Railway. In the course of ah interview here the Minister for Public Works (Hon. R. McKenzie) said a station would shortly be opened at Waikohu tunnel, three miles beyond the present terminus. There were about 600 men on the works at present, and the monthly expenditure was £6OOO. Questioned respecting the probable route of the railway beyond the present work, the Minister said that the survey extended from Waihi beyond Whakatane as far as Taneatua, and the work required to be completed between there and Motu. It was practically decided to adopt the Taneatua route in preference to adherence to the coast. There was no thing, he considered, to be gained by taking the latter route, while there would also be a climb over a hill about 1000 ft. high just outside Te Puke. The best saddle was obtainable on the Taneatua route, which also was more direct than the other. In answer to the question: “Is the Rotorua route out of the question?” the Minister replied: “The line will come down from Waihi, and. striking inland, a short branch line will give communication with Rotorua.” Mr McKenzie went on to say that the line would pass within a mile and a-half of Motu township. The descent from the high Motu tableland—1500ft. —to the Bay of Plenty would be almost as difficult as the aseent from the Gisborne side. Several trial surveys had been made, and it had been found that a route was practicable via Pakihi, but pending a final survey, the actual location of the line had not yet been decided. A tunnel 15 chains in length would probably be required close to Motu. “Is there any prospect of the work being started at the Auckland end?” “That,” replied the Minister, “is entirely a matter of finance.” With regard to the survey of the Na-pier-Gisborne line, Mr McKenzie said he could not hold out any prospect of this being undertaken for three or four years. There was only a gap of 30 miles to complete. He had ordered the cessation of trial surveys in different parts of the Dominion, as they were costly and of no practical use unless a line was about to be constructed.

North Auckland Railway, In the course of a letter to the secretary of the Whangarei Chamber of Commerce, replying to a resolution of the Chamber advocating the eastern route for the North Auckland Main Trunk railway, the Minister for Public Works states: “The Government has definitely decided to adhere to the western route.” :