Oxford and Lust Observer PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, September 7, 1889.

Oxford Observer, Volume 1, Issue IV, 7 September 1889, Page 2

Oxford and Lust Observer PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, September 7, 1889.

The time is possibly not fai off when ' the worshippers of the rising sun will begin to rub their eyes and discover ■ that they have always thought woll of . Mr "Verrall. Amman's success is a wonderful eye-salve for those who had previously "been unable to see anything m him. Verrall has been hitherto the object of some pity and more ridicule, as tbe victim of an hallucination, the man- with one idea, and that a chimerical one. He and his State Bank notion have furnished food for witlings any time these five years. We beg,

therefore, to direct attention to tlie "*""* following clippings- := — An Adelaide telegram of June 29 says: — " The State Bauk Commission has reported against the establishment of a Mint Bank, but suggests that the Government should issue paper currency notes of values from 5s to _310." m From the above statement it will be observed that, the main principle for whicli Mr Verrall contends, the issue of a paper currency, has been deliberately affirmed m the colony of South Australia, by a body of men charged with the duty of placing its finances on a sound footing. Row for the other clipping:— Mr Perceval resumed the debate on Mr Verrall's amendment to Supply, * that it is desirable that a State Bank should -be^itat^ lishei.' He said the Premier should haw given some expression of opinion on suoh an important question.' It was one that might very well be inquired intq, and he hoped that a Committee would be appointed next. session to go into the whole Bubjeot. Mr Ward hoped the Premier would give some information as to when it was proposed to take the discussion on tbe San Francisco service. „ '•.«■■■ 7 '.. . Mr Ballance -said Mr Yerrall's amendment was ova of great importance, but the House had nothing definite to go upon at present. He suggested that the amendment shou d be withdrawn, and that', a Committee should go fully into the question next session. Mr Duncan also hoped Mr Verrall would I not press his amendment to a division, but / would take Mr Ballance's advioe. Mr Verrall refused to withdraw his amendment, which was lost by 42 to 18." Here we see that Mr Verrall's amendment is the occasion of several speeches, is pronounced to be of great importance, and is finally lost by forty -two votes to eighteen. Last year, if we are not mistaken, the same amendment, moved by Mr Verrall m a like manner and at a similar stage of the Parliamentary; proceedings lapsed lor want of a. seconder. What an advance, then, is here ! Honorable members urge the appointment of a Committee to report thereon. Yes, and next year Mr Verrall, if he perseveres, will score this and even something more than this.^ The idea which has been flouted as a madman's dream is steadily gaining on public apprehension, both m this colony and beyond it. Honour to Mr Verrall, with his brave persistency ! It requires no small courage to persevere m the: advocacy of a great reform despite the laughter of fools. It require*.: some courage also to confess that the man who. has been the fount of facetiousness - for his critics may be shrewder than those critics thought. This latter courage will be required/we suspect, of a good -many; people ; one ; o|4j| these days; they, will have to confess their mistake m the past, if they desire to pose as sagacious- men for the future.

Let the fortunes of war be what they may, we shall always stick to our colors. This .is a liberal age, thank Heaven, and wq, as calm observers of surrounding events, intend to keepr pace with the times. Oui* aspirations are rather to lead than to iolloWi and .we have no hesitation m doing so, $&. we are confident m our ability' to^ work, and the honesty of our aims. It^ is the proud privilege of the honest *" journalist to direct, as well as to refleot, public opinion. The ever-active, toiling, struggling world, taken as a whole, is too busy to think, it acts, and its couolusions are the iresult.of , circumstances, not of deliberation. The war correspondent, who watches the .battle, jknows more about v it ww} v ■ ■■-.■■ ■-■•■ -^ j . v y*-\

the soldiers who fight; he is the observer. So we, from the look-out of our editorial chair, watch the progress 'of the world's fight, and we see, as plainly as the noon-day sun, the ever-increasing power of " the people," the growing intelligence of the masses, and we claim no special insphation when we declare the triumph of Democracy to be inevitable. We should feel that we were disgracing our intelligence if we wasted our ink on "chaff" and twaddle about "the rights of woman," and the far distan* consequences of " woman suffrage." The condition of woman m the wide field of industry has greatly changed, of late years ; her social and political influence too, has grown to large proportions, and we are fully confident that all her rights and privileges will he secured by society when she learns to know and value them. The more conversant she becomes with the rights and duties, the wrongs and errors, the hopes and sorrows of her brothers, the better fitted will she be to appreciate her own. In fact, when men and women devote their minds. . to working out the problems of practical life, instead of speculating on abstract theories, and dreaming of the impossible, the wiser and better they will both become. At the present time one- of these important problems to which we refer is forcing- itself to the front. In our first issue we stated that one of the planks of our platform would be " Enquiry into the relations between Labor and Capital, with a view to their fairer adjustment." We have thus tacitly acknowledged that the present relations are [not fairly adjusted, and we assert that the present conditions of society prove the fact beyond the possibility of contradiction. Our readers bave been told of the great struggle which is now pending between Labor and Capital m and around London; Few, if any, of the people of this Colony can form an adequate conception of the fierceness of the battle waged daily at the gate of the Docks which lie along the banks of the Thames, and for what ? For the right — the chance" — of earning two or three shillings. Many a time have we seen hundreds of poor fellows who bore upon them the unmistakeable signs of penury and want, struggling, and 7 absolutely fighting, to get near the gate, where ithe ganger stood to select perhaps half a dozen men for a few hours' work, work which none but the stalwart and the strong could do. Many a poor half-starved wretch have we seen thrust back, after the life had been- nearly squeezed out of him, rejected by the ganger, and unpitied by his hungry comrades, to slink away exhausted m body and broken m spirit. We have seen a few of these men m their sqUalid homes, where the sorrowing mothfer and craving little ones have met then, with the despairing cry, " Oh; father I father! no work again to-day IV - While competition such as this is continued, Capital, daintily fed and richly clothed, could fold its jewelled hands, and complacently admire the increasing piles of accumulated wealth. Reader ! Dost thou like the pictures ? Years since, they were photographed on

our memory *, buc, mil of hope ana wie Btrength of early manhood, we sailed for these fair Southern Isles. Since then our own children have grown to maturity, and their little ones are springing up to take the place of their parents m our hearts. How shortlived were all the early advantages of this young country ! Labor, while the demand for it exceeded the supply, held up its head, and m some few instances such unwonted prosperity made it insolent. A few shrewd and unscrupulous men climbed the slippery ladder, and took their stand side by side with their old masters, on the pedestal of Capital. They were but few, and hundreds saw them rise, and learnt when it was too late that there was no hope for them. Capital ruled the land, Capital* held the land, and used it for its (Capital's) own aggrandisement, Capital cried aloud for cheap labor, 3^*y> u t of the revenue raised by the sale joftiSc. National estate and the taxes levied upon industry, Capital imported more toilers to compete with those who were already descending m the scale, and rapidly approaching the level oivtheir brothers m older lands. We chav^len^e-- those who know anything of Zealand's history to refute our statements if they can. To-day the unemployed stand about at street corners, and crowd the back yard and entrance to the Charitable Aid Office. All sections of the public Press have teemed with denunciations of the " sweating " system. In Dunedin the women and girls employed m the clothing trades have formed a Union, and m Christchurch, a few weeks ago, the bootmakers were out on strike. Is it necessary to produce more facts to prove that the relations between Labor and Capital are decidedly strained, or that "m this new land or ours" the industrial classes have been brought into a strictly parallel position with the working men of Great Britain ? It is, unfortunately both necessary and possible. But this article has reached a reasonable limit of length, and we propose to return to the subject next week.