The Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 182, 20 November 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1876.

** Word* arc thins*, ami a dr»p> of ink falling »tf">n a thought may prnrtrwt; that which make* thousand.* think."

It would appear our remarks upon the struggle between the shearers and their I employers have not been relished in cer- \ tain quarters, and because squatocracy is not allowed to dictate »ts own terms, the ■ men do not think fit to bow their heads in quiet submission, and we have had the audacity to wield our pen on their behalf in defiance of the high and mighty, we are accruod of giving publicity to "fates and mendacious '* reports. Tis true, the words qnoted were originally used by us to characterise the statements made by [ station-holders or their managers, but so { far from ratra'cttng or qualifying the terms employed, wc reiterate them with doable vigor, for at the time of their first utter- | ance we were not aware of the full extent of the parEdioas duplicity and disgraceful stratagems usjd to trap the men into ac- [ the prorvxwd terni3. Can any- I thlnii h$ rtvK-j fu;:>.;itiattn£ than ths ey?J*s j of the t-ioiicj einpluvvd, as shown in : '• Shearer's " letter in our isiua of Satur- ! day, and what will the Champion]

f " Squatter " say in response. When such disreputable dodges are resorted to to form a ring, can the men be blamed if they, too, resort to extreme measures to insist i upon their demands ; and from the tone of the following letter, which we clip from a Canterbury paper, it is just possible the squatters may find the tables turned upon them. The writer says :—" Under the present circumstances, it appears to me prudent that we should insist upon our rights. To this end we should postpone shearing for a month. The reasons for so doing will be obvious to every shearer wlten they arc informed, that the whole of the flocks will have to be shorn simultaneously, and we will then be able to demand our own price. The expediency of this course will be plain when I tell yon that many drafts on the Home Country, and in New Zealand, will De dishonored, should such an event occur. Threats in the Timarit Herald regarding Mongolian and Victorian importation of shearers you may eat with disdain. During a period of fifteen years' experience I have met but two .shearer.* hailing from the Celestial Empire, in any shed either in New South Wales or Victoria. As for the Victorians (I am one) be not afraid, we will never try to undercut our brother shearers in New Zealand, and also that very few men can leave Victoria at the present time, shoarers being in great demand at the present time up at the Darling, and elsewhere. In conclusion, 1 ask yon as men, to pass the Levels shed for fear an infection from the few " crawlers" on the board, even if you were oa.-re:l twenty shillings pjr hundred to-morrow. If you stand firm, you will not have to (as your " Traducer " has done in Wellington) eat Humble Pie." "Squatter " complacently sneered at the various sheds which we enumerated which were paying the twenty shillings, but for his edification we will give him an extract written by the Hyde correspondent of the Mount Ida journal, who says; —" Lj.v down on the Strathtalori, the squatters have come to the shearers' terms, aril pay the £1 per 103. I .hear, ac Murray, Roberts, and Co.'s station, there was a strike by parties who commenced work at J 7s. G..L, but thtry have since commenced w«rk at the desiderated Kite—£l. As the I thin end of the wedge has been slipped in, [ the burst up, no doubt, will become general, and twenty Colonial Roberts be the prevailing raie." It has been urged that the low price of wool will not admit of the demands of t>.c men being conceded, but the latest intelligence from the London market ad vis.s of a rise in that staple to the extent of lhd. per lb. This little windfall will make a difference to the squatter of no less a sum than £2 10s. on every hundred sheep. So that their real position now is, that even after giving the men £1 per 100, they will yet their sheep actually shorn for nothing, and still be £1 10s. more in pocket than they expected to have been. With t.113 flourishing aspect staring them in the face, we will see how they will act. Should they still refuse to giant the concession, it will be quite apparent the plea that their profits cannot afford it, will not hold water. Tiie self-sitidkd sneer of " Squatter " at the smallni.ss of Messrs. Camerox andEASios's sheds reminds us of the excuse one of his class made for his nig ardlincss. On being told that a neighbor of his had ungrudgingly given xhe higher rate, lie replied with a tone of injured innocence, " Good God, man, you don't mean to compare him with me ; he can afford it. Cut I shear a thousand for every fifty he does." The large minded individual had quite 1 overlooked the fact that, while the profits \ in the one case would be £7, in the other ! they would be £l3O. But so it is, each one looks through the end of the telescope which suits him best, and can so regulate the focu3 as to obliterate disagreeable facts which might otherwise hurt the ey<\ In conclusion, we might point out that it was a •singular coincidence that "Squat- | ter's" letter, in which he triumphantly j referred to Mr. Sutherlan-d's authority hat B-sam-jre and Karo.v ha.l full shads, j should be immediately followed in the j same issm and column by a flat denial by j one of the men actually at work at the i sh-jd. Wu have no desire to fan the flame, j or pit the nun against their employers, j and as on j of the givat arguments urged ' against the concession lias been swept away by the fortunate rise in the market, ; we trust an amicable arrangement will at \ once be nude.

Zeai in the discharge of official duties is a most commendable qualification, and we know of no branch of the public service in which it is more necesoary or beneficial than in that of the Police Force. However, there is an old saying that "too much of one thing is good for nothing," pnd it is just possible to have too much even of a good thing. Unless zeal be tempered with judicious discretion it is very apt to prove a nuisance to the public a cause of trouble to its possessor, and an injustice to the unfortunate victims who are brought within its scope. Our remarks have no allusion to our local guardians, for although they are not lacking the commendable commodity referred to, we have no cause to complain of its undue exercise to the detriment of any individual or class. They have been penned after the perusal of a paragraph in a northern paper, which we give as a case in point. A man posssssed of a most respectable balance at his bankers, was arrested on the charge of being a vagrant and having no lawful visible means of support. The evidence of the arresting constable went to prove that the offender had been seen " boozing " about the town for over a week, and the logical arrester came to the conclusion that as he had not worked for a living during the week under which he had been under his watchful and lynx-eyed guardianship, he became a vagrant jmr et simple, and so he " run him in." We freely admit that it was a most reprehensible coursa to be pursuing, to go -'' nobblerising" about instead of still gathering hone", even supposing that the fruits of past labours would admit of such relaxation, but we imagine if each one who took his hand from the plough would come under the ban, the "running in" should not take place singly but in battalions. There are some prudists who cavil at the innocent little impositions practised at bazaars, quite oblivious of the pleasure experienced by being fleeced by the fair enchantresses whose witching smiles exert a magnetic influence upon stray halfcrowns, causing them to disappear from tightly-buttoned poc!:ets and firmly-clasped putses with the ease and ability of a conjuror, and against which the owners seem powerless to contend. We are firm believers in the axiom " The end justifies the means ;" but that motto, like everything else human, must be taken with certain reservations, and have its limit, for although we can see no harm in having the money chests of our charitable institutions filled to repletion by the funds " wiled and smiled" into its coffers by the presiding divinities of the Fancy Stall, the Bazaaric Post Office or Art Union, the line must be drawn somewhere. Our neighbors of Victoria, however, seem in flicted with no such troublesome scruples, and would appear to have acted upon the advice cf a certain dying father to his son, "To get money; honestly if he could . but get it at all risks." Three years since the excellent expedient was hit upon of instituting an Hospital Sunday, which resulted the first year in supplementing the funds by £4,218; the next year the amount had risen to £5,408 ; in 1875 it was one thousand pounds les3, or £4,541; but this year it is calculated it will not reach £4,000. Under those depressing circumstances a novel means was hit upon for "raising the wind," and a prize fight was arranged between Abe Hickek, a professional bruiser, and a Mr. Christie, at one time a prominent member of the Detective Force. The fight came off in the Priiicess Theatre, Melbourne, and although the men fought with gloves, they were decidedly vicious, and after hammering each other to the delight and edification of the audience, the police stepped in and separated them. It is a somewhat significant fact that while the largest sum collected on Hospital Sunday at any one place was £l3o—at St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church—the receipts from the questionable source was fully one-third more, the proceeds of the prize fight being £2OB 17s. lid. Although with that very respectable sum in hand a vast amount of good might be effected and misery relieved, it would require a deal of elasticity of conscience in this case to make the " end justify the means."