CONSCIENCE MONEY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 245, 26 January 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

CONSCIENCE MONEY.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES. No man in his senses would say that, on the face of it, conscience money is a development of the Stono Age. Of all forms of coinage, this must be the most modern; and yet a learned scholar was heard to remark quite lately that the origin of conscience money was to be found in the sacrificial rites of tho heathen to their gods. What particular brand of heathen he did not specify; but ho affirmed that the germ of it lay in the fact that if a calf, about to be sacrificed, was found have a blemish, that blemish was carefully painted over so that it should not bit noticed by the gods. This assertion sounds, prima facie, extremely plausible, but the more one thinks it over the less logical does it become; for surely the action of the worshippers in trying to hide up from tho deities their own shortcomings, or, rathter, the shortcomings of their offerings, is in singular opposition to the whole idea of the modern conscience seeking peace by confessing (although anonymously) to shortcomings of its offerings to tho exchequer. And although that is looking upon tho subject in a most narrow sense,_ it is how nine out of ten people will think of it.

It is crystallised in their minds in som.9 such concise form as this: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges the receipt of £IOO conscience money from A" —and one may admire tho broad and generous lines of the offering. "A" was not cursed 'with a petty nagging conscieneb that insisted upon going into every farthing. Ho probably owed tho Exchequer something between £IOO and £llO. "I'll send ono hundred pounds," ho says, rather largely, to his conscience, and tho latter acquiesces at once, and as often as not pats him on the back for rather a good fellow.

THE TIRESOME CONSCIENCE. But they are not at all the same, tlieso consciences. Some. are exact, meticulous nuisances which are a bane of their owners' lives. " foil owe the Exchequer money," they keep dinning into unwilling ears. " Very well," says 0110 man, tired of being worried by the thing. "I'll write a cheque to-day for £2O, change it into notes and post : t to-night." "But that isn't quite the right amount," the wretched conscience will persist. "It is £2l us. 2d." "But surely," the indignant man retorts, " 'f I give £2O voluntarily to the Government, that is enough. What is left will buy mo a good box of cigars, and what, alter all, is twenty-five shillings t? a wealthy country like mine?" "You owo £2l os 2d,' - reiterates the tiresome creature, and in sheer self-defence the man gives in. It costs him endless trouble. Ho has to mix up five pound notes with postal orders and tuppenny stamps; but ho buys temporary peace with it —"temporary," because no one with a conscience like that would ever rejoico in any permanent quietude of mind. It would bo for ever on the lookout for some other direction for its energies, and then .come, with its annoying tweaks, io its hapless own'er. It is amazing, too, to discover that even very rich men are sometimes burdened by consciences. One would have thought that somehow, as they from pinnacle to pinnacle of riches, they would liavj managed to rid themselves of such a pestilential nuisance as a conscience. Indeed, it is commonly supposed bv quite a large section of the community that the first step necessary t> the attainment of wealth and fame i-; to devise some means of lulling inner principles to slumber. One can only conjecturo that tlivro is no drug on the market guaranteed to make that slumber permanent. There have been cases when tho sleep has lasted for many, many years, and then, of a sudden, conscicneo will stir uneasily and stretch itself, and gradually awaken to full strength. It is then that after a while tho morning papers will print a brief acknowledgment from theXoinmissioners of Inland Revenue from X of £SOO on account of super-tax. A cynic once remarked that these notices represented a return of one per cent.

THE TREASURY'S COXSC'IEXCE. A matter deserving of far more sorrowful reflection is th'e fact tha.t althoug'i tiio Chancellor of the ExcheI (pier acknowledges almost daily the reI ceipt of conscience money from erring taxpayers—no newspaper in the king- ' dom has so far ever inserted in its columns an acknowledgment by a, poor j taxpayer of conscience money from tlie Chancellor of the Exchequer, l'or ts own sake, 011,1 can only liopo and ti u>t t! lat an Exclii (pier is horn without a conscience, and as no sign of such .1 j thing has e'.or b noticed hv anybody, 1 110 undue anx'ety ncd In- felt f>y th • | peopf.t of tlio country. Imagine for one instant the upheaval j that the nation would experience* at ! r. ailing headlines of a daily pap r such as these: Government Sensation. Ex- ) ehcouer voluntarily refunds over-paid 1 Jin onie-tax." J How many lonely women breakla.stin'j; rather .scantily on tea and t-m.-t I would look forward with hop- and inv ■ t the addition of eggs and bacon when ! the. eonsf-iem eof 11:0 Exchequer had 0 far prodded it that even their humbh ; ces'\. ; had be. 11 set •traigld, and i;v r- ! charges refunded! I!ut sn<h dreams ! a>M I'topi-m—line might almost <=;iy >i:per-l't'ipian—for not ev. 11 the imagination of Mr. 11. 0. Weils has soared t 1 : :>i-1j hei'-'hts.

CONSCIENCE AND CHARITY. Another kind of conscience money, and ono not generally regarded a.s such, is that which conies under tha heading of "Charitably Bequests." "Mr. Money Bags, who died worth £'30.000 .odd, left £IOOO each to various hospitals and £ooo to each of his nephews and nieces." They are all forms of conscience money in uisguise. Mr. Money Bags was so busy accumulating his thirty thousand pounds that he had no timo to look after tha health and wellbeing of his fe'low men—and he leaves a thousand pounds to a big London hospital to euro or alleviate cases which might never have needed treatment if only he and other men in his position had been less anxious to amass money, and a little more careful of the lives and th'a health of their clerks and employees.

And the legacies to his nephc-ws and nieces. Ho could never spare time to learn to know them, „or to enter into their hopes and ambitions-—and he leaves them five hundred pounds apiece when tho money is no longer of uso to him, to salvo his conscience for his neglect of opportunity. A SIGN OF PROGRESS. And yet tha very existence of conscience money in modern life 'is a. hopeful, encouraging sign that we are marching towards progress in this odd, complicated civilisation of ours. Somehow, in tho depth of us, we realise that it is not enough to defraud l our fellowmen of what oelongs to them in this world, and pray for forgiveness in eternity. In our funny primitive way Wo set about trying to straighten the account while there is yet time, on this sido of tha Styx—and whether our endeavours take the form of hank notes to tho Treasury, donations to hospitals or endowments to rescue hemes, 't is all one. It is an attempt on our par: to pay back to society a debt that we all owe her. and tho happier the individual, the bigger tho debt. There is a strange theory that happiness, like money, is not n litvii • that tha mere one individual alvrrSs. tho less there is left for tin re-t J tl.e community. If this be so, surely he l.i st 11. n of conscience money pen tc al! mankind is a diffusal of tho joy that is in him, by his taking a cheery outlook on life generally, and inspiring his fellow men with the feeling that happiness Is there, awaiting them on tho threshold, if only they will go half-way to meet it. THE CYNIC REBUKED. To tho cynic, who has always thought the worst of tho human race, the gicat war must havo been a rude shook, for the timo of stress and patient endurance on the part of the whole nation revealed qualities in men and women which wero believed to bo quite nonexistent. Conscience was awakened on every side, urging men to acts of thoughtfillness and consideration of which in normal tunes they would neve- havo dreamt.

Five thousand pounds was return.>d t- tho Exchequer in ono lump sum the other day as conscience money, and never since the Income-tax was enforccl had the Commissioners so little difficulty over returns and collection. The man who had habitually tried to get tljo better of the Commissioners over his return fills in every farthing, and those who had liked to feel in the old days that they were taking a rise, out o'' tho Treasury officials by keeping thorn waiting an unconscionable time for their money now send their cheques as soon as they arc asked for them.

We are getting some idea of civic spirit, and among the many forms in which it manifests itself, conscience money, whether paid in coin or in service, looms very large.