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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2453, 28 January 1881, Page 2

The Auckland Bench would seem to be an eccentric piece of judicial vvoodware. A few days ago the Resident Magistrate there sent a poor man to gaol because he could not contribute to the support of his mother in a separate home and at the same time provide for his family, Mr Barstow passed the sentence, we are naively told, with great reluctance, but he had no option, lie was compelled to enforce compliance with the order of the Bench, and as Duff could not pay live shillings per week he had to go to gaol. There was, however, this option, that if the expressions of benevolence and commiseration heaped on the prisoner were worth a cent, an effort would have been made by the sympathis ing Bench or the charitable public to contribute the money, instead of button, ing tbeir pockets and wailing over the imprisonment of a poor hardworking

and deserving man with a large family. Had the sympathy uttered assumed a genuine or tangible shape the difficulty might have easily been surmounted, and the victim of this harsh > magisterial order would have been 'saved the ignominy of the felon's abode. We now learn that this same* Auckland Bench has sentenced a number of boys to whippings and from one to three months’ imprisonment for robbing orchards. The magisterial luminaries of the North have evidently a greater regard for the orchards than they have for the boys. The hitter have been got rid of for the fruit season, but what will they be when they emerge with sore backs from their lodgings ? , Will they stick at fruit stealing? Are they not likely to emerge with dispositions soured, implacable young vagabonds, determined to wage war with society for the rest of their lives ? The Auckland Bench, in our opinion, has taken an effective method of preserving fruit by the manufacture of crime. Something should be done to > keep it in restraint. A Bench that without the slightest hesitation consigns hardworking men, whose only sin is poverty, and frolicsome juveniles to gaol is a dangerous nuisance, and ought not to be tolerated.

Steps are being taken to form a Working Men’s Club in Tiinaru. We have every sympathy with the object of the founders so far as the establishment of an institution where working men can assemble and enjoy themselves in a legitimate manner after the toils of the day are over. But the Working Men's Clubs of New Zealand have not generally proved a success, and we trust the promoters of the Club in question will avoid the rock on which others have split. In neither of the larger centres of population are Working Men’s Clubs patronised to anything like the extent that they should be. The Dunedin Working Men’s Club is perhaps the most prosperous institution of the kind in the colony, and what do its statistics show ? That its numerical strength is not equal to that of a decent boot factory. The better class of working men instead of becoming members, carefully avoid it as they would a poisonous reptile. And why do they cultivate this aversion? What stands in the way of the progress of this club and dwarfs its growth ? What is the secret of its dead-and-alive existence ? Is it not because instead of being a purely social and literary institution it has degenerated into a cheap dram shop? About nine-tenths of its revenue is derived from the sale of liquor and billiards. Instead of promoting social comfort and affording a legitimite means of recreation, it seduces working men from their firesides, and brings them into contact with the worst of vices. If a working men’s club is to be a popular institution, it must be established on temperance principles. As a cheap dram shop, such an institution may exist but it cannot thrive. The literary institute and drinking saloon form a pernicious combination, and a club of this kind can hardly expect the sympathy and encouragement of the more reputable class of working men. We trust the promoters of the Timaru Working Men’s Club will seriously reflect before they introduce the beer-engine on their premises, whether it would not be better to invito the support of all classes by establishing a Working Men’s Club on a strictly sober and harmless basis. In all probability the next Licensing Act passed by the Legislature will deal with Clubs generally in such a way that they will enjoy no more than the common privileges of public houses. If this is done the dram-drinking Working Men’s Clubs will have to be carefully managed to prevent a financial collapse. Should a club be established in Timaru which will exclude everything but temperance refreshments, we have no doubt it will be adequately supported. It may be that we are too sanguine. If however, a Working Men’s Club cannot earn a decent livelihood except in the capacity of a she-been-house in disguise, then it would be far better for the community that such an institution should be still-born.