THE EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 5, 9 April 1842, Page 20

THE EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO.

MISERY OF THE BULK OF THB PEOPLE. Generally, a man understands his own affairs better than other people understand them for , him. . The common people of London have"~a saying, lately adopted but now proverb jal—, "To live, be a pawnbroker or.keep a gin-shop,*' Here the increase of gin-shops is explained in ten words. Pawnbrokers and keepers of gin* shops depend on the common people: the common people' are distressed, that is, they find it bard to live: Jtheir..distre.sB drives them, first to the pawnbroker and then to the gin-shoprj they pawn -their goods to pur^has^-— what l\ poison : yes, in the long run, but fo/ine moment oblivion of their misery. Misery to' 'f3m common people is wealth to pawnbrokers an)| keepers of gin-shops. The common people are very miserable ; therefore the demand for gin! is very great, therefore the profits df selling gin are very high, therefore gift-shops increase. This conclusion is supported by some who take pains to know the sentiments of. the.common people, and who earnestly advise them; tb abstain from gin; I mean members of the Temperance Societies, quakers for the mOs^/part/i diligent in works of benevolence, gentle, patient,, persevering, not proud, but feeling with the! poor as well as for them. These, addressing the common people in friendly and common language, say — " Believe us, it is a mistake to suppose that gin will keep the cold out of your' stomach. What warms you to-day will not have that effect a month hence : by and by, in order to feel warm, you. must double the quantity. But twice the quantity, as soon as you l are used to it, will not make you feel warm. At last, no quantity will warm you ; your sto-1 mach will be destroyed, and you will die of drinking gin to keep the cold out of youj stomach." Thig is all very- truss and it s.iowi how well the quakers understand those feelings of the common people which lead to dramdrinking. Cold in the stomach! but neither the Spitalfields weavers, nor their friends of the Temperance Societies, suppose that cold is matter which enters the stomach. Cold in the stomach is a figurative expression, meaning either hunger or despair, or both. " Sir," says a Spitalfields weaver in reply to his friendly adviser, " all that you say is true. The more gin we drink, the more we want; but also the less we drink gin, the more we feel the want of something else. Give us bread, meat, beer, and fire j then we should feel warm without gin. £ am not begging : we are all ready to work. I work, God knows, morning, noon, and night : work, work, work; we have plenty of that. If! we did not work we should die outright. But what does our work bring ? work and hunger, work and cold, work and sorrow. I get about! fourteen shillings a week, out of which there's rent to pay — we can't lie in the street, — and! clothes to find, such as they are — but we must be covered; what remains for fire and food! amongst six of vs — four children, their mother, ' and me ? Enough to starve upon; and that is all. The children cry for bread ; they must wait : their mother cries because they cry ; she is sick with crying and what not, and wants some tea; she must want. In cold weather we all shiver for want of fire: the children and their mother may lie in bed to keep themselves warm; but I, hungry and cold, must work on. I do work; and when I drink gin it is to keep myself from going mad. I allow it — my wife drinks gin sometimes, and the children, too, poor things, now and then, to pacify them. It you were as poor as we are, sir, and had to work as • hard as I have, without hope, youwould be apt to learn that gin is bread, and meat, and fire, and hope, all in one. Without] gin, I should not have heart to work, and we must all go to the poor-house ; or die, for the poor-house is choke full, and the rates are not paid. We say cold in the stomach; but we mean hunger in the belly and despair in the heart. Gin cures both for a time ; but it kills, you say. Well, we can but die, with gin op without ; and life such as ours, without gin, isi worse than doath." - Juot co t those who fre-| quent gin-shops best know why. The ginshops in Spitalfields are many and magnificent because the trade of Spitalfields is going to ruin.' In other parts of London the poverty of the common people enriches pawnbrokers and keeper* of gin-shops. At Manchester, Bolton, and Blackburn, the cause of gin-shops is Irish wages. Verily, the life of the bulk of the people i of England is worse than death. — JVaJeefield's\ England and America. FRIENDSHIP. When I see leaves drop from then* trees in, the beginning of autumn, just such, think I, is the friendship of the world. Whilst" the sap of maintenance lasts, my friends swarm in abuudance; but in the winter of my need they leave! me naked. He is a happy man that hath a true 1 friend at his need ; but he is more truly happy j that hath no need of his friend. — Warwick's \ Spare Minutes. !

I We beg to inform (for/riends residing at the Port' that copies of this paper can be had of Mr. Moore* and of Mr. White. ' ' ' •• ! ~

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