The Week in Review.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue 12, 18 September 1912, Page 1

The Week in Review.

Crown Defenders and Uegal Costs. IN the course of the debate on the Estimates, Mr G. W. Russel move 'J the reduction of the item Criminal Prosecutions, £12,500” by £l, as an indication that the Government should appoint public defenders. Mr Eaurenson mentioned the case of a man earning £3 or £4 a week who had been charged with an offence. The case broke down, a juryfound the man not guilty, and he left the court without a stain on his character. But the legal expenses of the defence came to £347, the amount being subsequently reduced to £250 as the man >was in poor circumstances. It does not seem that the bill was in any way excessive considering the amount of work involved in preparing the defence. But the point to note is this. Mr. Hindmarsh said he had been in Court when the case was tried, and he had never known a blacker case against a man. The facts of the case seemed to be that the man (had been standing up for «ome other clerks, earned the hate of his superior officers, and that a charge had been trumped up against him. If it had not been for skilful cross-examination, and for a fact discovered by chance, the man would have gone to gaol. JX JX Unequal Law. This ease shows that unless the man had been able to secure legal assistance he would have been wrongfully convicted. As it is, he is fined a sum representing over a year’s salary. He was practically given the option of imprisonment or a line of £250. His innocence avails him nothing. He has to pay the fine nevertheless. This is a grave blot on our administration of justice. If the Crown san afford the expense of the prosecution, it ought to be able under certain conditions to afford the expense, of the defence. A poor man, ignorant of legal procedure, unable to afford the expenses .of witnesses, and unrepresented by counsel has not one chance in a hundred of proving his innocence. In the case mentioned by Mr. Laurenson it is admitted that but for counsel.he would have gone io gaol. Numbers of innocent men, it is reasonable to presume have, gone to gaol because they have not been able to afford the cost of a defeene. Even if the Crown does not feel in a position to undertake the defence of a person accused, it might at least pay the expenses of a person proved innocent. It is not in accord with the most elementary ideas of justice that an innocent person should be fined far more- heavily than most persons who are guilty. If a fine of forty shillings represents a week’s gaol, then this man was really given a sentence of over two years imprisonment. The late. Government promised to make provision for a public defender. Mr. Herdman describes the contention that it is the duty of the Crown to provide a public defender as ridiculous. It is only ridiculous if we consider the conviction of innocent men a subject for ridicule. ’JI JI Admiralty Changes. Mr. Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, has made a great step forward in the matter of Admiralty reform by the changes in naval administration which he recently 'announced. The main feature of the reforms will be that each member of the Board of the Admiralty will he a specialist. The First Sea Ixinl will be responsible for the organisation for war and the distribution of the fleet. The Second Sea Lord will

superintend the naval personnel; the Third Sea Lord will devote himself to the creative task of design; and the Fourth Sea Lord will look after stares and transport. Of the two Civil Lords, the first will look after works and buildings, while the second will devote himself to contracts and dockyard business. The English Press is unanimously of the opinion that the changes will make for more effective administration and the greater fighting efficiency of the fleet. & Is the World Going Mad ? Barming Asylum, in Kent, England, is so full owing to the increase in lunacy that the authorities have been compelled to request that only dangerous cases shall be sent there in future. The number of patients admitted to imbecile asylums under the control of the Metropolitan Asylums Board during 1911 was 1,038, an increase of 125 over the previous year, and the total number of inmates remaining on December 31 was 7,270, an increase of 228. It was the first time since 1903 that over 1,000 patients had been admitted in one year. Two hundred of the patients admitted were under 16 years of age, and 249 were over 70. These points were laid before Dr. Forbes Winslow, the recognised authority on lunacy and nervous disorders, and his comment was: “ The world is rapidly going mad. Civilisation is on the road to perdition. Cases such as Barming Asylum are sign-posts to a. deliberately blind generation. I can only hope that -they may awaken the national conscience to some sense of the nation’s awful’ peril. To-day there is one certified lunatic in every 269 of our population, and if the increase in lunacy continues at the same rate as it has done for the past 50 years, there will be one lunatic in every four of the population by A.D. 2159. One-quarter of the world will be mad. I have no patience with those who ascribe this terrible condition of affairs to increased competition and the wear-and-tear of modern life. They will go on saying so for centuries. If there is but one sane man left in a world of lunatics, he will -be muttering the same absurd excuse. No. It is a mere shelving of responsibility, and the true causes of insanity are the vices, not the worries, of civilisation. 1 should put the causes of insanity in the following order: (1) Drink; (2) cigarette-smoking; (3) heredity. And until the drink question has been properly dealt with and the marriage laws revised, the nation will continue to go from bad to worse.’ Jt Parliamentary Speeches. Mr Payne, the member for Grey Lynn, has hit upon an original idea for making people read the speeches of candidates at election time. He proposes to introduce' a measure providing that during election time newspapers shall publish a full verbatim report of the addresses given by every candidate, or an approved condensation thereof, and the speaker shall sign such verbatim report or condensation prior to publication, as proof positive that such speaker has approved the report. No political comment, or political article, or advertisement, except the authorised verbatim report, is to be published during election campaigns. The Press is to he licensed, and the fee for a. license is to be £5 for every thousand of the newspaper's circulation. It is safe to say that if the bulk of any paper was made up of verbatim reports of the speeches of candidates the circulation

would diminish to such an extent that few, if any, would be called to pay even the modest fiver for their license. JX jX Three Words an Hour. The shortest speech ever made in Parliament consisted of three words only, but it took exactly an hour to deliver. The incident happened on a May night seven years ago. Politicians were exceedingly active in discussion of Tariff Reform. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, then Leader of the Opposition, moved the adjournment with avowed intention of extracting from the Prime Minister definite declaration of his views on the subject. Evil-minded men on the Opposition benches who averred that there was a certain lack of definiteness in Mr Balfour’s reference thereto, were elate with certainty that they “had got him now.” In a brief speech C.-B. put plain questions that seemed to compel direct answers. When the Leader of the Opposition resumed his seat all eyes were turned upon the Premier. He made no sign, and Alfred Lyttelton, as composed as if he were leaving the pavilion at Lords’, went to the wicket. There followed a moment of appalling silence. It was broken by the Colonial Secretary's remark: “The Prime Minister ” Thereupon from the crowded Opposition benches broke forth a yell of execration. Mr Lyttelton took advantage of the opportunity to arrange the MS. notes of what was doubtless an excellent, speech. Looking up in a comparative lull in the storm, he repealed, “The Prime Minister ” Again the yell, angrier than ever, filled the Chamber, and the Colonial Secretary meditatively resumed the study of his manuscript. Whenever, from sheer physical exhaustion, there was a pause in the turmoil, he repeated his incantation. He never got beyond the three words of which it was composed. For a full hour by Westminster clock he stood at th.e table, exciting admiration' even in the breasts of his assailants by a courage excelled only by the infinite variety in inflection of tone of voice by which he attempted subtly to recommend his remark to an actively hostile audience. At length relief came by interposition of the Chairman of Ways and Means (the present Speaker), who, invoking a Standing Order recently passed, declared the sitting suspended. Marriage and the Unfit. Ono of the most noticeable features of the Eugenics Congress at Home was the stress laid by most of the speakers on the matter of physical fitness in the parents rather than moral or mental qualities. Professor Samuel Smith said that if he were to choose his own father he would rather have a robust burglar than a 1 consumptive bishop. Professor

Schiller laid great stress on the value of athletics, and Professor Michels also spoke in favour of physical strength and beauty. But in this connection it must be noted that great athletes are long-lived, whilst those who work with their brains are, as a rule, long-lived themselves, and their children also are generally healthy. The chief member of the Congress supplied an instance of this. The president was a son of Charles Darwin, who himself Jived to be 73, and whose four distinguished sons are still alive, the age of the eldest being 67. Sir Francis Galton, the founder of eugenics, was a grandson of Erasmus Darwin, and he lived to be 88. and many of the family Jived to be over 90. Erasmus Darwin was a brain worker and a poet, and he certainly handed down his genius to his descendants. Bishops, notwithstanding the aspersion of Professor Samuel Smith, are, as a rule, longer lived than burglars, and have healthier children. It would seem that soundness of brain is of more importance than athletic prowess in promoting the health and welfare of the human race. Brain workers seem to be able to hand down their talents to their children, while very few athletes haw* had athletic sons. J* Speaker Willis and tlie Press. Mr. Willis, the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, has been compelled to abandon his attempt to exclude the reporters of the “Daily Telegraph” from the Press gallery. Thus this particular incident may be regarded as closed. But of far more importance is the whole question of the relation of the Press to Parliament. The Federal Government, no less than the eccentric Speaker of the New South Wales Parliament, has shown a manifest desire to muzzle the'Press. The reason for this is not far to seek. An absurd idea has gained ground that the entire newspaper business of* the Commonwealth is run in the interest of the capitalistic class. It is assumed that the proprietors of papers are op]>oscd to the interests of the workers. A moment’s reflection would show how ridiculous this idea is. A paper is bound to study the interests of its readers, and the workers form the bulk of the readers of most papers, if there are no readers there will be no advertisers, and the paper will not be a financial success. tSo that from the point, of view of the capitalist it would be bad policy to oppose the interests of the workers. But people look to their paper for a fair report of Parliamentary pro oeedings, ami rejiorts cannot be garbled io suit the individual whims of legislators. At first the battle for the freedom of the Press was fought against the Court. The first John Walter of the “Times” was lined, imprisoned, and sen tenced to the pillory, for paragraphs on the princes of the blood. John Wilkes

was outlawed for. re Herting on person*? in high place*. It would s<*-m now that the |H)sition is to Im* reversed, ami that the representatives of are going io re-establish the censorship of the Press for opposing which so many lovers of jirvdom suffered in the past. Daring Bui'glar.v I'he Sydney burglars serin to hr getting more ami more daring. One of their latest exploits was the robbing oi Judge Kitzha rdinge’s house. They secured sonic £4l) as the result of their enterprirr. I he majesty of the law seems to have no terrors for these gentry. Police stations have hern robbed, detectives have had their lioiisi s burgled just the same as | .-oplv less skilled in the detection and presentation of crime, and on our occasion tin- Old Bailey itself was visits <1 by burglars. But the coolest piece of cheek was the stealing of the Courthouse cluck while the Court was sitting. This occurred at Singapore. Two mm with a ladder asked permission of the judge to remove the clock, which was hanging oxer tin l judge’s head. The judge politely mov. <1 to one side to enable the men to get the clock. They set their ladder in place, and unscrewed the clock and carried it away. Neither men nor clock w:*rr ever seen again. The judge in this instance had good cause to complain of peopl trilling with the time of the ("on i t. & J* The Unearned Increment. A correspondent has written to the London ‘Spectator*’ to know why the unearned increment in land is regarded dilTi rent I y from other unearned increments. lie says that some seven years ago he bought Canadian Pacific Ordinary Stock at 175. I lie stock to day stands at 275. He has therefore secured an unearned increment of £IOO on each £175 lie invested, lie admits that he has done nothing to ram this increment, yet it is regard'd as a most legitimate perquisite. If. on the contrary, he had made a similar increment in la ml he would have been regarded as a robber by the single taxor. The question is not easy to answer. The single taxer would in all probability reply that land stands on a different footing from railways ami industrial investments in general. But Mr Lloyd George might do worse than take the hint thrown out by this seeker for information, ami he might devise a tax on all um arned increments instead of confining Lis atteiilioii to land alone.' J* The Cost of the Defence of the Empire. I h<* total cost of tin* defence of the British Empire reaches the enormous total of £11)2.14l).()0H. Of this, the I iiitcd Kingdom pays about 70 million, India pays 20 million, and the Dominion’- ;unl (’row n Colonies provide the balam •. I hr cost per head of population is £| 12 3 for Great Britain. £1 for Australia. 7 for New Z: aland, •>/- for Canada. 3 for South Africa, and 1/lor India. The total seems enormous, hut it represents onlx a penny in the pound on the gross wealth of the Empire, ami only 3 per cent, on the annual income. I h<* combined wealth of the Empire largely exceeds the combined wealth of France and Germany, yet France ami Germany spend £8.000.000 more per annum on defeme than we do. We could Xpeml amdher 20 million ai,2 yet pay less in proportion to our wealth than these two countries. For those who like to dream in millions, it may be of interest to know that, according to the latest figures available. the total wealth of the British Empire totals £24,980.000.000. Of this, the I nifed Kingdom owns 10.000 million. India 3.000 million Canada 2.000 million, Australia 1,000 million, and New Zealand 32H million. But if Great Britain pax s only 70 per cent, of the total cost of Empire defence, she pays more than her share of naxal defenc e. Ont of a t’dal of £48.000.000 she emit i ibilt< s £45,000.000, or 04 per rein. Education Boards and School Committees. I he Auckland Board of Education h.us come into conflict with the City Schools Committee in regard to the question of the appointment of teachers. The actual position is this: I'he Board received 2S applications f<>r a certain vacancy at th-.* Napier Street School. The names ul

these 28 applicants were duly forwarded to the Committee, but the Board only forwarded the necessary particulars of the qualifications of one candidate out of Ihe 28. This practically meant that the Committee must choose the candidate chosen by the Board. • The Board claims that it has complied with clause 55 of Ihe Act. The clause in question lays doxvn the general principle that “no appointment, suspension, or dismissal shall lake place until the ('ommittee has been first consulted.” The clause then proceeds to state: “I'he Board shall consult the (‘ommittee in regard to the appointment of teachers” by forwarding a list of names of alb applicants for the position, and a list of not more than six names of teachers considered by the Board best fitted for the position, along with a statement of their qualifications, and a copy of the applications and testimonials of all the teachers xvhose names appear on this lasi mentioned list. The Committee is to consider these names; if there are more than four, it is to select the two xxhom it regards as most suitable, and the Board must choose one of these for Ihe appointment. If there are less than lour names on this list of eligibles, the (‘ommittee shall select one of these candidates, ami shall notify the Board. In this way the avowed intention of the Act is carried out by compelling tin* Board to “consult’* 'the (’ommittee, and allowing the (’ommittee at least an advisory share in the appointment of •teachers. The Letter and the Spirit of the Law. It will be seen from this that in sending the name of one candidate only the Board complied xvith the letter of the Act, while violating the intention. For the Act clearly contemplates that the ( ommittee shall be 1 consulted./. The Board must send not more than six names. It may. of course, semi only one-, but from the fact that the Act states that the Committee must select from the names submitted, it is clear that the sending of more than one name is intended. If only oiie name is sent, it is hard to see in what way the Committee can be said to have been consulted. The clear intention of the Board is to take the poxver of selection out of the. ha mis of the Committee. The Act just as clearly meant the Committee to have, a voice'in the selection of the teacher. It may often happen that the local Committee knows more of the requirements of the district than the Board does. It may xvant a man with qualifications suited to the needs of the place.' It is quite natural that the Board should xvant to keep all appointments in its own hands. It is equally natural that the residents of any particular district should want a voice in the selection of Ihe teacher to whom is to be entrusted the care of their children. And the Act clearly contemplated that the residents of the district should have this power. 'l’he statement that the Board shall consult the Committee makes this point perfectly clear. I'he action of the Board is opposed, to the root principle of democracy, which seeks to substitute local control for centralisation. Already the Board has large powers. It can reject the majority of the candidates. It seeks to have sole control. It is to be hoped that all school committees will resist this usurpation of poxver to the utmost, even if it means stating a case for the. Supremo Court. For the intention of the Act is so perfectly clear that there is little doubt what the decision of the Court would be. & The Midlothian Seat. Midlothian has for so long been regarded as the stronghold of Liberalism that the capture of the seat- by the Unionists has come as a great surprise to the f« lloxxers of Mr Asquith. At the last, election the Lilierals had a majority of 3157. and this has noxx been turned into a Unionist majority of 32. The result is partly attributable to the splitting of the votes between Liberalism and Labour. The recent by-election* lune gone against Ihe Liberal*. La-t month they lost the North West. Man<h<*ster seat, and at the end of .Inly tin* Unionists secured a groat, x ivlory at Urcxxe. At ( roxvo the Liberal niaiority of 2.342 was turned into a Unionist majority of OGfl. Taking all the by-elections from December, 1910. to the end of duly in the present year, the Liberal* have lost 2(i.0(i5 votes. Labour ba» gaiiH'd 3.247 votes, and the Unionists have gained 11,(h>5 votes. Midlothian luik earned the name of the “Mecyt o(

Radicalism,” the seat having been held by the Liberals for several years past. It xxas ip contesting this seat that Mr. (iladstone conducted the celebrated Midlothian campaign in 1880, which resulted in the great Liberal triumph of that year. Mr. Craig attributed his victory at Crexve to tariff reform and colonial preference, which he described as the constructive policy of the Unionist party. Major Hope, on the other hand, attributes his victory at Midlothian to a desire to secure amendments in the National Insurance Act anda dislike to the Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment Bills. Waihi Strike. It may be said that the prospects for an early termination of the rashly-pre-cipitated strike at Waihi are brighter this week. The decisive action of the authorities in adequately policing. the district so soon as aggressively irritating tactics were adopteil by the strikers, effectively intercepted riotous conduct, and the subsequent prosecution of those transgressing the restricted bounds of law and order calmed the situation noticeably. A significant statement made by the (Toxvn indicated that ample police protection will be given to every man desiring to work, and that in all future breaches of the law the offenders will be ‘harged indictable, with imprisonment to follow. In the intimidation c-harges dealt with up to the time of writing, the prosecution and the magistrate showed full patience and leniency, consistent with the effective maintenance of the’ laxx“, and it is an indication of stubbornness rather than heroic upholding of a principle that eleven of the men have chosen to go to gaol sooner than find small sureties to keep the peace. In the meantime the Waihi company are employing all available labour, and the workers are -forming a ne\x r union of miners and battery hands for registration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. As against these encouraging signs Mr R. Semple has declared, with customary vehemence at ( hristchurch. that the Federation is going on with the contest, which, instead of ‘‘fizzling out” has just begun. He added: “The Federation has surprised the country, ami if the police are used too much it will surprise the workmen and the country as a whole still more. We are not going down without a fight, and if we d*> go we will leave a mark on the industrial history of this younlQ. ’ C-ook Islanders. In the course of their annual reports on the health of the Cook islanders, the Resident U-ommissioner (Captain J. Eman .Smith) and the Chief Health Officer both speak in uncompromising terms of the deplorable condition of things to be found in the islands, especially emphasizing thd dangerous extent to which leprosy has developed among the inhabitants, and the imperative necessity of more effective n ensures for combating the present deplorable tendency. “The time has now*, arrived when it is imperative that the health of the natives should he thoroughly attended to, and, if this is to l>e done, I respectfully submit that it will be necessary for the New’ Zealand Government to provide an auxiliary schooner of about 120 or 150 tons, fitted with an oil engine with horse-power sufficient to drive her from live to six knots an hour. Quarters should be provided in the vessel for the nnslical division, with sick Lays, to convey ailing natives from the various outlying islands to the main hospital, at Rarotonga. At the presentmoment no one can tell how far leprosy has spread in the Cook Islands, but I can say. for I have seen it myself, that it is there to a considerable extent, ami the manner in which the lepers now live id nothing short of disgraceful. The num* her of lepers is not sufficient for it to be assumed that leprosy is of indigenous origin. It has evi<ieiitly been imported in comparatively recent years, and steps should he at once taken to prevent it becoming ~ Deplorable. Ihe Chief Medical ()lli<-er (Dr. M. Percival) states that the health of the islands at a whole is deplorable. As to leprosy, it i« rife on every island except Rarotonga. He goes on to say:—“l know myself of thirty-seven or thirtyeight cas<‘H, but the natives hide the eases. m>, in all probability, there are many more. The leproay is of tin* tubercular nodular form and of nerve degeneration. I

xvould strongly advise that, in the interests of the patients and in the interests of the inhabitant*, in having regajj'd ta the fruit trade, all these casefTshould be collected by a Government vessel,' and isolated at Penrliyn; that the children of lepers should be removed from the leprous surroundings; that the voluntary isolation of lepers in colonies on the islands should be encouraged. As the leper patients are now the situation is distressm/ in the extreme. No fresh water for washing, no soap, no change of garments. .Fill li predominates. Yellow Fever from Panama. Dr. 8. Perce Baldwin, in his report «;n Ihe same subject, observes an important reason for the necessity of putting our islands in a state of health is the opening in the near future of the Panama, (’anal. “I have been in communication with the authorities of the ('anal zone, and they have told me what measures they intend to take to prevent as far as possible yelloxv fever getting past them. These measures, however, may not always be successful. lam axvare that- the mosquito. which is suspected of conveyingyeL loxv fever, exists in our islands, and measures must he taken for the destruction of these mosquitoes before there is any chance of the fex’<*r reaching ns? ” Trade With Cook Islands. Captain J. Eman Smith (Resident (ojumissionor), in the course* of his report, points out that, although there was a. very largo output of bananas •luring the year—l oß.s2o cases ami 1},441 bunches, as against 105.508 cases and 11,814 bunches in the previous year —the values dropped from £35,807 to £24,907, which he ascribes to. the fact that steamers often arrive simnl'taneously at Wellington, thus glutting the market. 'This, he contends, emphasises the necessity of a rearrangement with the Union Steamship Company. Oranges showed a satisfactory increase, the value of exports rising from £14.220 to £19.922 ns the result- of the adoption of the New' Zealand ( ustonis tariff’, with one or two alterations. Practically the whole of the trade of the Cook Group is in the hands of the New- Zealand trader and producer. In return, declares Captain Smith, the Cook islanders receive practically nothing, Ihe fruit of Australia. Fiji, Tonga, and the French Society islands, none of which gives New Zealand preferential' treatment, being all allowed Io compete on the same basis with the Cook Island fruits. “As fruitgrowing is practically the only, industry,” says the Commissioner, “with the exception of copra, in these islands, it is only fair to suggest that New Zealand should protect the industry. In return for the protection which she receives from the Cook Islands, 1 would suggest that the Nexv Zealand Government levy a duty on oranges and bananas imported from outside the Cook Islands, from, say, March 1 to September 30 in each year. If this were done an immense benefit would be conferred upon the ('ook Islands Group.”