The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1496, 2 December 1878, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1878.

At tho last mooting of the Lyttelton Harbor Board tho chairman read an opinion from tho Attorney-General to the following effect: —“ I am opinion that a sailors’ homo is not a harbor work within tho moaning of tho Lyttleton Harbor Board Act, 1876, or of tho Harbors Act, 1878, and that, therefore, tho Lyttelton Harbor Board cannot legally vote the sum of ,i'SOU to assist in the establishment of a sailors’ homo.” It is scarcely possible to believe that the gentlemen who submitted this question ever expected tho answer would bo other than what it is, whatever their hopes may have been. Yet in view of a recent legal opinion, given on what seems to us a precisely parallel case, we are not inclined to bo too dogmatic in our judgment. Quoting from tho report of a meeting of the City Council not long ago ; —•“ The Mayor read tho solicitor’s opinion as to the legality of voting money for tho Anniversary sports. Dr. Foster’s opinion was to the effect that while such an appropriation was not contemplated by tho Act, it might be considered (to quote a decision in a recent case) ‘ not go clearly contrary to tho spirit

of the Act. as that tho Court would interfere with its being made or would disallow it.’ ” And tho Council accepted tho opinion as freeing them from question in the matter, and voted £25 for the purpose sot forth. Now it will bo soon that on exactly similar issues, doctors and corporations have disagreed widely; tho right lies with one or the other party, but, who is to know it ? And possibly tho Harbor Board may have reckoned on finding as complaisant an advisor in the Hon. Robert Stout as tho City Council found in Dr. Foster, and wore as disappointed, as tho others must have been gratified, at the law laid down for them and tho decision they elected to work by, and if the objects of the proposed subsidies are compared, there will be no difficulty in deciding which ought, if possible, to have been granted. Anything that the sports committee can do, or pretends to do, is of so fleeting a character as to be forgotten almost as soon as it is done. The sum granted, to be sure, is small in amount, but it comes from a fund that can less boar depletion than that from which the Harbor Board proposed to draw their donation, and, no matter, small or large, the principle involved is the same, one decision is right, and the other wrong. We leave it, as one of those contradictions which often occur in popular Government, to be explained by those immediately concerned, and, as far as the sports’ grant is to be considered, wo will say no more than express a regret that tho members of the Council did not act on the suggestion of the minority, and be liberal out of their own pockets, instead of out of those of the ratepayers. Merit does not ensure success; it is the same with measures as with men, and, to confine ourselves to tho case in point, if nothing more were required, eaclx seaport in Now Zealand would now, or soon, be furnished with a seaman’s home. It is not, perhaps, desirable that such institutions should bo either wholly or partly under Government control, which, if constantly JJsubsidised by the Government, must, to a certain extent be the case, and there seems to be, under such circumstances, a tendency to convert what should be, as their name denotes, “ Homes,” into something very like workhouses, or even prisons. It seems to be a very easy thing, by a careful provision for their mental and bodily wants, to separate seamen from the squalid haunts and vile company which, too often, is their only resource after months, or it may bo years, of privation; but it is a fact that where the finest Seamens’ Homes exist they do not got anything like their pro rata share of patronage, while dens of the meanest and most dangerous description are filled to overflowing. And this is chiefly because it is endeavored to make Jack as amenable to discipline ashore as he is forced to bo at sea, and it does not work well, but no other system in largo establishments, and least of all in Government establishments, would work at all. So a little consideration will show that in starting such a thing the risk of failure would be very great. Perhaps tho system pursued in some parts of the United States would be found most suitable for this colony, A sum of money is raised by voluntary contributions and Corporation grants in aid —special grants—not of money hawed to some other purpose, and a building is erected. The usual assistance of building societies enables this generally to be done without groat trouble, and after starting, the trustees, in whom it is vested, soon find out whether they have chosen a good manager, whether their business is good enough to bo self-supporting, or whether there will be for some to come necessity to call upon the public for aid. Mostly, these establishments do require assistance for a few years, but there is little danger of their eventual success if an interest is taken in their progress by their founders. If some such plan as we here sketch were followed, there would bo no disgrace in going to the Government without disguise for a grant-in-aid as an unhampered gift. No better or more useful way can be found for the disposal of a very small portion of the largo revenue derived from the working of our seaports, and if really Homes, not Penitentiaries, are set up, no doubt but there will soon be inmates to fill them.

This is the way telegrams come to infuriated journalists :—“ Special London 30th Afroedis attacked (signalling party Kyber Pass which was blocked by convoys but were stopped heavy firing at Ali Musjid only one tribe hostile London Ist Diplomatic correspondence from Central Asia shows Kauffman in constant communication with Ameer Russian Q-ovt first day their troops macking Oabool but afterwards treated the matter as independent act of Kauffman Declaring he only on sick leave and motive one of simple courtesy to Ameer Russia repeats past assurances no intention invention Afghanistan affairs.” This is a favorable specimen, if read with our translation, the difficulty of the language will be understood.