A WRONG-DOING IN OUR MIDST.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 115, 17 May 1877, Page 4

A WRONG-DOING IN OUR MIDST.

Tba (Rev. R, L. Stanford preached at JAU Church, Danedin, on April 29. In the course of hia sermon tho reverend gentleman said:— " I want, to speak more especially aboat a wrong-doing in our midst which does, I fancy, escape attention, but of which we; shall, sooner or later, have to Hear . the consequences. I refer to the wretohed habit of keeping baoks especially, and also some of our commercial houses, open half the night. Openj tijat ; «*» ia SO far as the clerks are concerned. In the first place the forph.^ young men Jo stay till 9 or 10 o'clock at least, at work night after night, is a defrauding of a neighbor, for there ia an unwritten law here declaring tbat a certain wage is given for ; a certain time of labor. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that it is becoming the settled, habit of the banks to kaeip the men in their employment at work till 10 or II night after night, by a sort of irresistible moral pressure, whioh it ia utterly impossible for them to resist. This miserable policy arises from two causes. One great cause of it is simply bad management. The other mere greediness. I understand that these young men are often by no means too busily employed all day. In some of these institutions which are the W0..4. . offenders, and where this is the ;Oase tbe evil is one solely of bad m-fflagetaent. In those casea where work goes on all day and half the night, it is simply a question of greediness. The place is short-handed in the desire to give larger dividends, and every shareholder ia concerned in the sin. I am well aware of the difficulty of dealing with a subject like this. It seems when wa enquire into it to be just nobody's fault. It is one of tbose matters that ought to be banned by public ?$?..?J?i a . D - d .**- can, I think, be cured io no other way. I should like to point out to you, some of whom may have brothers, or husbands or sons, suffering under the enormous evil, the consequences tbat are almost certain to follow from this wrong-doing. It is ■irop'y impossible to hope that this young man, often a mere lad, entering one of these places, can go on leading «v.be»Hhy, God-fearing honest life, with nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to conceal, such as I love to think of as the ideal of a young man's life. God bas implanted instincts of happiness and animal spirits in your son, which will find an outlet, healthy or unhealthy as the case may be. To turn him out of his office at 10 or 11 o'clock at night after a whole day spent more or less in the vitiated atmosphere, is to deprive him of ail means of healthy recreation* and as an inevitable consequence, to drive him at last to unhealthy amusement. Don't suppose this a far-fetched prediction. Ihave seen this happen with my own eyes again and again in this country. You, the managers and shareholders in banks, you who have some influence more or less, and who are shutting your eyes to, and holding your tongueß about this monstrous crime, are responsible before God, for the ruin, moral and physical, of many a young man who might have lived to be a useful member of society. I trace swiftly bis career. No cbaoce is given tbe lad for cricket or boating, and so on. Every chance is given him for gambling and drinking at midnight. Gambling leads to debt, and debt leads to thieving. I say tbat we have all known young promising Jada run the gamut of disgrace, aad lose their life's chances through nothing else but this miserable crime of keeping them at work all tbe evening. Do you 66k how you can interfere ? Oh, you nan find plenty of ways if you really desire to bring about any moral reform. You can but out tbese ulcer, if you choose. Would to God it were only as easy to cure the ill effects they have left behiod them. By your silence you are giving consent and approval, aod helping the immediate manager to defraud his servant and rob him. Rob him of heath, happiness, honor, and honesty. I speak sirongly of this social fraud, because I think it wauts attention attracted to it, until it becomes well understood tbat an office that requires to be constantly open ai eight ia thoroughly badly maoaged. I have nothing, of courae, to say about occasional pressure on mail nights. There is a great deal of nonsense, remember, aboutall this pretence of hard work, tiiat wants exposing. I repeat if, and challenge contradiction; in every case where late hours have become the hubit it is either owing to miserly management or bad management. Once more, and in connection with this subject, I remind you of the social ein of late shopping on Saturdays, by whicb you defraud your neighbor, and rob bim of his holiday. The free-thinking part of the community are, I fear, strong enough to keep the shop, open in their .elfish indifference to tbeir neighbor's wrongs. I am sure that no servant of Christ, when once his or her attention is attracted to the question will goon repeating the sin. The wrong done to the shopmen oi this town is of the same nature as that wrong done to tbe bank clerks: it is greater in the numbers of the sufferers, ie is lees as regards tbe effects, because it is only on oae night, not every night, that it is perpetrated. The offenders will answer for tbeir sin someday, when it well seem a very poor excuse to say that you never meant auy barm, or that you never thought of what you were doing, or you never remembered what the consequences migbt be. You cannot escape tbe responsibilities under which you lie with regard to your brethren.