Flotsam and Jetsam.

Manawatu Herald, 29 May 1894, Page 3

Flotsam and Jetsam.

"*' - ~ "^r ' ■.'■■■■■ (By MoTunii) In a recent article, "How to Help the Unemployed," written by Mr Henry George in the North American Review, the following passage occurs :— " Work is in itself painful and repellent. No human being ever worked for the sake of working. I write this article that it may be published in the North American Review, and that I may get the pay for it, and communicate my thought to others. But the work of writing it is as irksome to me as sawing wood. So with all work.' This truthful statement .of. Mr Henry George must bo qualified by excepting the work of the clergy. That, of course, is d.;ne from different molives, as everybody knows. But, speaking generally, Mr George is right. Nobody wor.k,s. for the sake ■of working,... Men work for money, or for "moneys worth J '~tor reputation, it may be, or credit, or what not. For example,' ..'"having had enough ...of bush-felling and drainmaking over Shannon, way for the last six months, I drifted back into Foxton some days ago, and have been having a pretty good time since. I have not exactly painted the town red, uor even got an eye blacked] but— yes, I have had a pretty^good time of it, thank you! And' now I find myself commencing a column of " readable matter" for the ; Mavawatu .Hiei&in. . .."Why 7 Because T lrke the woi-'c of writing columns ol readable matter even .for the enlightened readers of this excellent country newspaper ? Go to. I am writing this column of " raadable matter " because I know that I will get paid for it by the able editor and proprietor, and I want the money ; because I am well aware that the facetious " printer's devil " will grin a demoniac smile as he hands my " copy " to the intelligent . type-seltur, who will use language of i\ shocking character, I admit that my. penmanship is neither dear nor prutty ; but why ihe '• devil " should smilii and the printer use language, that surely is moneys worth ! And then I know that a heap of men, quite half-a-dozen, when they take up their Heralds in the bosom of their families, or in their favourite , bar-parlours, or billiard rooms, and see the old Flotsam and Jetsam heading will say — •* What the d— l is Motuiti up to now ? We thought he was dead, or bust up, or in gaol. Hang him ! And who the mischief is Motuiti ?" Which is Fame. Just ao t For these sufficient reasons I am now writing. The next thing to consider is— about what? At this moment I give you my word I oannot say. Give a fellow five : minutes to think. As Bobbie Burns has it — " How the subjeot theme may gang Let time and chance determine i Mayhp,p it may turn oot a saag . Mayhap turn oot a abrniqn." Just so 1 As I was strolling- about ' the town on the Queen's Birthday, I heard a good deal. of loyalty talked and (somewhat to my 'surprise) some little disloyalty. Disloyal talk, in the freeest country under the sun, is cheap and does little harm ; yet it vexed me a bit to hear men old enough to have more sense gabble folly out of the fulness of their own ignorance. The"outragftons Co3t of the Royal Family " was, as usual, thu main *<hing alleged. Now, I maintain that the English form of .Government, which is a crowned democracy pure and simple, is not -only the cheapest, best, aud safest fowu of governmrat for -the British people, but that the Queen of Eng land, instead of being faupported at an " outrageous cost " by the nation, is actually giving monjy for the privilege of being our Queen. Let me prove this statement, which, although it may sound extreme, is mere sober fact. (To be eontinuetf.)