The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1920. INCREASE OF CRIME.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3436, 16 March 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1920. INCREASE OF CRIME.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News,”

There is no more revolting example of the most hideous and frightful crime, and of the criminal, than that which is reported from Auckland. An unsuspecting, upright, generous, goodliving man, a man just upon his three some years of usefulness, having served his country" honouralbly and well for forty years, is surprised by‘ his murderer, and before he even realises the situation he is shot and‘ killed, left lying dead upon the floor of his home to be discovered there by his wife long after his murderer had gone to complete the purpose and scheme, of which this almost unbelievable life-taking was 0-nly the firstl act. To rob a. safe; for a paltry hundred pounds, this moral derelict, in‘ cold blood, deliberately and with full knowledge of the awfulness of his Crime, by stealth and without hesitation ended the career of a man who‘ had been a faithful servant of the! public for two-thirds of his whole} lifetime, an example of life that are all too few and too seldom met witln It was not a case of revenge, or of re\'olt against injury received. but it is not beyond doubt that the deceased officer was a victim to the disregard of the sacredness of life and of all that pertains thereto. It is a notable ‘fact that such acts, blood-curdling lthongh they be to some, hardly create ‘surprise in others, and in only a few [days the most horrible and revolting, iunnatural crime will be forgotten ,while we pursue our pl'ofi'teer{ing and exploitation ways. Crime ‘begets crime; the ultimate of this murderer was not murder, the raking ‘of life was only a means to the (.-nd; it was the hellish appetite f.or money. I The craze for money is an insane de- ] sire to found an Utopia on the health. jrights and lives of our fellowmen; the Utopia of unmingled greed; the UtoIpia in which tyranny, beggar-y, helplessness, hypocrisy, and fraud has the upper and the higher hand; the lTi.opia in which he who kills most and causes most human pain shall be as a god, while his victims are nothing{nessh the Utopia in which law is an'other name for villany, and taxation for swindling the poor. Such is the lUtopia that madmen are striving for ‘today. To rob, plunder, exploit rwnd lthieve are no more law than the act {of the inhuman thing that took the llife,without warning, of the good lpostmaster of Ponsonby. These 01'igies of immorality, the concomitants of the Utopia of greed, are becomi‘n:~§ more widespread, and iiicreasiiigly frequent. Is it not time to take stock of our progress towards this Utopia [which ilivolvcs the rights and lives 01’ lthousands of our victims? Man is an imitative animal; whether for good 'Ol- evil one has only to give the exI ample for others to fall into line and follow. There are millions to-day: lse:ar(:hing' for menus wliereby they

111113’ imitflll,‘ tho p1'01’l1:001‘ 111111 exploifor, alml 1113113’ will finil Illnso 111021113 though ‘CII-11' att.:1i11111om lies tllrnllgll the 111111(l<—'r of _:;0<)(l, i110fl'o11;<i\'1:>. .‘_loll~ (>111?-.l;l1’. grln<=l-0115 1111’-11. lt~lllusl nnf -l)1- I}lollglll. 11:11‘ 0110 111111110111’ l;l1z1t il. is llll2llzllll_\' ;ms:<ibl(~ 10 pl‘(avellt Hlll stlil':7n:4 I'ol t.lli.< 110 w Ufopia b(>,1:01‘11ing llmtm-, more intense. 111111 ITles]l<_-12 zttv. 'l‘llo (:11ll'111'0 of _L{l‘C'(é(l will 1lo11:‘ ish 111113} 11111112111 blood will he no lu'1“1' 11; its 1_11':1(-.t1'(?o, al ll_-:ls:.'r. all 1‘~\.'l(lo11(-9 cf l1l‘s10:‘3' :an_r_;pol~t_.; 3119?; '1 clninl, and

it cannot be denied by the most hopeful €lmollgSt us that the future is overcazst by shadows of storms and wrecks that our intelligences shrink from. and we hope against hope that those shadows may never materialise. It is claimed that war is responsible for the stampede of morality, for the suspension of all those healthful forces tending to progress in civilisation, prosperity and happiness, and yet it may truthfully be said that health-destroying forces set in mo'El'on by those in quest of the Utopia that lies. through an unnatural orgy of

greed, never reached such heights of" destruction and human unrest as they are creating to-day. Law Court reports in daily newspapers SD-eak in strong terms to us about the increase -of crime, of robbery, cheating, fraud, forgery, profiting in anyway but s)’! that which is honest. It is nothing, more than a mere apeing Of I‘o'bb€l*S,| cheaters and frauds of a class that: enjoys immunity from the laws Which‘ were enacted to suppress and punish such immorality. It is all a matter of ! conscience, o-ue thief is just as great} a danger to society as another, and who will say those greed-steeped traders who by lying and fraudulent representation take twenty shillings from a poor woman for an article that ‘ is legitimately worth only five shil- I lings, because that woman is weak and does not know she is being rob‘ bed, is not as despicable and detest—i able as the low hound who would deliberately take half-a.-crown out of her purse? War ever was, and ever will be the result of greed for money and lust for power, and it is because of this fact having been brought home to the nations of the earth rather more! fdrastically than hitherto, that they. jthrough a League of Nations, are icommencing an endeavour to exorcise lthe war spirit. They have found that , }war is the ultimate of greed, and the nat.ions would exorcise the war spirit [whne leaving that greed in full play and operation which. is the sole cause !of war. Are we as a people humbuglging ourselves? The beam in the eye of the thief who steals the woman's half-crown looms very large in our vision, but we fail to see the en-| ormity of the constant series of crimes} against civilisation and humanity! flowing from ourselves. and our conlscienceg have become so perverted or dead that we do not realise that we are the main cause of the increase | and spread of crime. The advent of an occasional cold4b«looded crime such‘ as that reported from Ponsonby momentarily arouses our susceptibilities.‘ {but we never go so far as to give any 3 serious thought; we pursue our way of greed at the end of which we hope to discover the Utopia, and we findr ‘there nothing but an inferno of pain’ and death. Narrowing down the world peispective and focussing the view upon New Zealand. do we see anything to arouse feelings. of pride or confidence? VVe see the elements of disruption so thickly that they overshadow everything else, and we long for the strong man that could and would avert the storm. The ways to peace are all being feverishly blocked by practices of greed; the administration of law is clogged and laws against greed are rendered inoperative thereby. YVe completely .realise and admit. that all war is the result of greed, yet in happy llj\'pnotism of greed we are unconscious that We are rushing on towards war, that most accursed of all strife, civil war. |We are in a frenzied CoW:‘follSll'9~°-S. coveting overything which belongs to our neighbours, friends, relations and enemies. never before was the christian's tenth commandment so discredited by presumedly christian people. Would it not be profitable to us and helpful to the country were we to indulge in ever so casual an intro-SD9O tion in an endeavour to locate the ultimate of the way we are fl'9I!Zl(-‘(ll)’ ‘rushing along? From the View of things within focus and from the isliadows in the distance. there seems la. possibility that greed has got so near to its ultimate that the countr.V" cannot be rescued. Never was :1 Prime Minister found in greater dilemma than Mr Massey fin«lr—:. himself in to-day. Factions men are sure he ‘will pull through. and all are hopeful that 119 may, but all averagely intellifzent thinkers will realise that there is 01113’ One Way to industrial peace and honour. Tinker-ing with a ravenous greed tends to make the end worse when it can “C }m-,,<_§r_-,- 1-,-.9 _«~.l;;r\,-. ed off. Profiteers in conference make hOll€‘-St men blush with shame by the dishonest. nature of outrageous pro-DO-“itimls find proposals they have the L‘-llL‘‘-11(‘if.\' *0 3DDl‘O2lCll the Prime Minisitvr with. 'l‘lle_v clamour for the UlO- - ill W‘-licll the pleasln'es of ]‘.mfi—!l,(*el'illgf’2'.’\llt'l and x'ol’)l,v.‘-r_\' 3,-p sq

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with the fact‘ rlmt. public .s‘Gl“y"ir.“C-:“.~. ax-0 no Inngol' able 10 pay the wages thai I)rci'ite<.=l'illg 113$. I‘elldm-ed iln‘pel-ative. 0111' sl)lelldid civil service has been Lmder-mined by the pl'ofit€=.el- and it is :21:-ntiwlv s:hakimr and 2:1:»:« yet oollamo.

It is not railways alone; it is the whole service, and yet we are so busy with our efforts to reach an Utopia through conscieliceless greed that we shall not realise the truth until the crisis is upon us. We are only 1110mentarily startled even by the greed t.ha.t is so gross that it deliberately shoots down good citizens who are in the Way of its practice.