SOCIAL AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 209, 12 October 1878, Page 5

SOCIAL AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.

(Correspondent of " Sydney Mail.'') A crusade has been commenced against improvident habits, not merely among the laboring elassea, but also among the higher social grade*, even our " uppertendom." At the Mansion House, Miss Emily Eaithful delivered an addreaa upon " The Extravagance of Modern Life, its Causes, and its Cures." in which she said that people lived but for the present moment, working hard, but spending hard at the same time, and leaving nothing behind them for their families. The prodigal display of dress, among women especially, was but an outward sign of what was goiu r on throughout the system, and, instead of abating, the evil was on the increase, men and women both endeavoring to vie with their neighbours in display and glitter. Love of novelty was not confined to the wealthy, but pervaded all ranks of society, " fineladyism " having forced itself into the kitchen. One indirect promoter of extravagance was the modern fusion of classes, springing from internal prosperity. Thousands who in the last century would have prospered as mechanics or tradesmen now found the necessity of making an appearance for which their means were altogether inadequate. The upper ranks of society, she urged, whether they wou'd or not, led the lower, and the charge she brought against the extravagances of the day was not so much that they cost money, as that they lowered the standard ot" life and confused and perplexed the motive forces which impelled mankind. One of the greatest evils of the extravagant system of the day was the credit system aud its twin sister debt; which frequently led to dishonor. ci Owe no man anything," said St. Paul, and she would like to see that line written in the house of every man, whether rich or poor. 4 s to fc be cure, she said she had no magical panacea, but thought much might be done by outspoken writers and instruction given to our children in the national schools. Very, much had been done in the promotion, of the improvement of the cou-

dition of the poorer classes by the establishment of the post-office savings' banks. She recommended, as a means of preventing extravagance, the adoption of the ready-money system, and that an effort should be made to check credit.

It is a very unpleasant state of affairs to contemplate, yet it is leaa discouraging than that occasioned by what seems very much like a practical recognition of a portion of the demi-monde in fashionable society. It is not co very long since that a great outcry was raised respeating the shop-windows being filled with photographic representations of semi-nude females, professing to belong to the theatrical profession, bat who were generally to be found at Cremorne or the Argyle Booms. The complaint was a most justifiable one, for io not a few iustaoces the portraits were of a very gross character, and tended to bring discredit on a profession which already has sufficient to answer for without being burdened with the sins of others. Now, however, we have become exceedingly virtuous, after a fashion. The ballet-girl has given way to the handsome woman of private life. Who the latter may be only the initiated know; but her portrait is to be seen everywhere, not merely in the shops of photographic publishers, but even iv our picture exhibitions. "How beautifulj" "How ladylike 1" "How n^odeatly attired !" Such ere the exciamatibna oif the crowd. ,Jsut they are not! a ware that the obj act of their admiration, although moving in "society'' and mixed with the " bluest of the blue," is one coacernhg whose private character it ia advisable not to enqaire too closely. True, her husband is ever near her; true, her demeanor in public is perfect; true, she haa never bean detected io even the faintest ,inpropriety; yet there are few in the circle of her acquaintances who do not have a pretty accurate idea of the manner in which, with only an income of £1000 per annum, and without running heavily into debt, she lives at the rate of £100 per week. That such women should have become a power in fashionable society, thai pure nod innocent English maideus ehould become envious of their surrounding?, and that their portraits ehould be treasured in homes where their presence would be a contamination, forms one of the most gloomy and ominous features of modern English life.

You hear little of the progress of Socialist fchowght and feeling in this country, yet never— not even in the days of Robert Owen — was it more prevalent or more powerful than at the present moment. Curiously enough, the spirit of discontent has become increased by an act, the success of which has been interpreted by Government officials in a very different spirit. We allude to the calling out of the Army Reserves Nothing could be more patriotic than the almost unanimous response of the men to the demand for their services. Hundreds of them left, at a moments notice, situations in which they were earning good wages, that they might aid in defending thenatiooal interests. Yet they have been treated worse than mere paupers. They have had to pay their railway fare from their respective places of residence to the various head-quar-ters, and their wives and families have become dependent upon parochial relief for the means of subsistence. It is impossible to describe the indignation thus aroused in the hearts of the men, nor are their angry feelings soothed by the rumor that the Conservative Premier is to be rewarded with a dukedom. "We make all the sacrifice, and others reap all the glory and reward." Such is the sentiment which finds universal expression in the barrack-room. But do not imagine for a single moment that our reserves are not to be depended upon in a case of emergency. They will do their duty, even at the cost of their blood or their lives ; but they will be none the less ready to give ear to those doctrines which in Germany, as in France, threaten to disturb, at no distant date, the very foundations of society.