Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 47, 4 October 1890, Page 2

Our Wellington Letter

(FBOM OITB OWW COBBEgPOITDENTr} Wellington, October 2. The Unionist; procession last Saturday had both its humorous and' pathetic side* On. the one hand there was the good natured chaff which was indulged in at the expense of the free laborers, a specimen of whom was hung in a conspicuouspart of the procession, and eves though the afternoon was wet and miserable, the " strikers " turned out manfully and smiled and cheered and groaned heartily all along the Ime of route; but as I stood watching; that large body of men, whose presence signalised that they were . all out of employment and that probably the loved ones at home were suffering severely through this unfortunate trouble, my attention was attracted by a conversation that was being carried on at my elbow. I heard a wife telling how her " Bill " had only got 10s last week and.' 14s this from the strike fund, which really only paid the rent, and if it had hot been for the fact that her grocer kept her credit going she and her family must have starved, and that if the strike kept up much longer she thought something: desperate would be done. Ah II thought, and how many dozens more axe there is the same plight ? Already' one* sad affair has resulted from the Strike, in the case of aa expressmen named Dean who has been " called out," and w, ho has in consequence brooded so much over his financial difficulties that his reason has left him, in which condition he took the life of his little favorite daughter. Hopes are expressed on all hands that the Conference may be able to arrive at some amicable settlement, as the present difficulty is commencing to tell on all classes. ' It. has been said that when men are reduced to starvation all the qualities of theanimal become prominent in them. Whether that was the case,, or not, in : connection with an unmanly act which' occupied the- attention of the Court a few 1 ' days ago, when s big, strong, muscular fellow was convicted of having struck- a- - woman a violent blow" in the eye because she "shoved him," it is hard to say, but the presiding Justices gave the scoundrel a severe castigation, and sent him to durance vile for a couple of months. Another of the same gang, who brutally assaulted an aged free laborer on Satur- ; day evening, also fell in for a similar dose. The Justices consider that they are called upon to do their duty with an unflinching hand, for if lawlessness got. the upper hand at the present juncture, . we might have something approaching V civil war. It does not take the stranger long to find out that coal is very scarce in our city. He has only to stand at the en- '. trance to the Queen's Wharf when a cart- ' load is coming- off, and watch the host of youngsters who have been detpatched by their anxious mothers to see what they can pick up, and who follow the cart and endeavor to entice the " black diamonds "" to leave their lawful resting place, to find that ont. It haß been a most amusing sight during the past week to watch these boys who follow in the wake of every cart, one holding bis bag wide open just under the tail board, whilst another • of the same flock, having possessed himself of a wheelbarrow, keeps that vehicle in close attendance to the aforesaid bag, and then mutual prayers are offered up that a transfer of the coveted mineral may take place ; but, "as the prayers of '\ the wicked availeth nothing," they watch for an opportunity, and when the eagle eye of the carter is not backward thjey assist the transfer, even to climbing into the> cart and removing some of the coal* when the horse feels a sudden lightening of his; load and bounds forward, with the resultthat a bonntif nl shower follows the efforts of the young pilferers. These are incidents which can be witnessed daily, and when I saw them I said, " truly poverty leads to crime." All the world over boys will be boys*;, and where boys are* there mischief will be rife. There is no sin in a little harmless necessary fun, but this tragedy at tho Hutt shows us clearly that sometimes the spirit of " having a lark" is carried: too ; far, and this ending to a spirit of mischief should be a warning to our youth, the whole colony through, to see that they do not allow their desire for a little fun to . develop into larrikinism, as was the case in this Chinese embroglio, and which has ended so sadly. The almond-eyed, pensive, and childlike "John" is not a favorite amongst our youth as we all know ; in fact a friend of mine, when he heard of this affair, vowed that the Asiatics should be outlawed, and that the colonists should be invited to go out for a day's shooting. That sounds very nice, no doubt, to one side of the party, but young New Zealand must learn that as long as Englishmen are allowed freedom in the Chinese Empire, the subjects of China must be protected from violence whilst in English countries, hawever distasteful their habits ' and appearance may be to Englishmen who behove in the maxim "live and let live." '■-.-.