CURRENT TOPICS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 460, 5 April 1890, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

(By Zamiel in Auckland Star.) Comprehensive as the scope of the Sweating Commission certainly is, there is no question that' it is not comprehensive enough. It is too one-sided. The interests of several oppressed sections of our community are wholly overlooked, and I may be pardoned if I put in a word or two in their cause. One would have thought that when an inquiry of this kind was being made something would have been done on behalf of the unfortunate business man. Nighbafter night he is dragged off to town to attend to matters of great importance, and it is only in the early hours of the morning that he is brought home in a street cab so exhausted by the labours of the night that he tries to open the door with the boot scraper and winds up the clock with the door key. Poor fellow. His case is a bad one. And if the Sweating Commission is induced by my remarks to make inquiries under this head they might also endeavour to ascertain' why business is usually more pressing on the opening night of a new theatrical show, which advertises an attractive ballet. The matter is worth looking into.

Our bank clorks, too, deserve a little attention. Now, why in the name of all that is reasonable should these estimable young men be compelled to graft at the bank nine nights out of seven ? It is scarcely reasonable. They have the sympathies of Edith in Parnell and Angelina in Ponsonby, both of which ladies shed tears over the late nights at the bank. I am sure the ladies at, all events, would like to have some little light thrown upon this department of sweating, and maybe the Commissioners would find the study an interesting one. They would at all events get a wrinkle in the art \of running an eastern girl as well as a western one, and of course they would blame that nasty bank.

Then, again, there are a crowd of young warehousemen who have to labour in town ever so many nights, though perhaps their labours may occasionally involve them in some expense through a miscalculation on the prospects of a “ fifty - break ” or the odds on Hilda’s chances for the Cup. I mean the Warehousemen’s Cup, young ladies, and of course that is not the cup that inebriates. I hear in my mind the voice of sweet Nellie saying—” Oh, yes, do inquire into the sweating in the warehouses.” From the bottom of my heart, I add—-‘‘Do, but, my dear Commissioners, you were young yourselves once, and if you should inquire don’t be too hard on the poor fellows. Business must be attended to.”

But enough of joking. It is a pity that some inquiry cannot be made into the financial sweating or usury which is one of the disgraces of our nineteenth century civilisation. Here is an incident, which is wellauthenticated and which fully illustrates my meaning. A country settler was in town three years ago, and borrowed the paltry sum of £5 from a money-lender, for which he gave as security a bill of sale over his furniture ana a pretty farm. In three years he paid £l7 10s as interest, and several weeks ago one of his payments was not forthcoming. A bailiff was put in possession, and further expense incurred, and then a friend came forward and paid the debt and costs. It was then discovered that the total amount which the usurer received for interest and principal returned with costs added was £3O and some shillings. And all this for £5 for three years. Surely the time will come when the Legislature will limit the rate of interest chargeable.

There was something inexpressibly touching in. the death by drowning of Miss Laura Cowper at Onehunga last week. Poor girl; how little she dreamt, whilo enjoying her holiday visit to Auckland, of the cruel fate that was in store for her. She was a bright and clever girl, gifted with a degree of poetical genius that augured well for future career. Very recently 1 perused some lines from her pen, in which it was not difficult to find evidences of talent as well as a depth of thought rare indeed in one so young. Every prospect of a bright career lay before her, but how cruelly it has been closed ! A propos of the failure to discover the body, the following lines have been sent me by the author:— Somebody floats by I.lic dark river's side, Bear her on gently, O pitiful tide ; Bear her on gently, where she may find Hearts that are human, souls that arc kind; Waft her, ye breezes, where she may rest Safe from the storms that now ruffle her breast; For floating along by the dark river’s side. She’s one oi God’s darlings, asleep on the tide.

Burglary is not a pleasant occupation. It is full of surprises, and they are not all of an agreeable character. Exceptions to the rule, however, occur occasionally, and an individual who was experimenting in the business a week or two ago has since been assuring his acquaintances that his capture flagrante delicto was the best bit of luck that has happened to him for many a day. He happened to fall foul of a man who is considered a “ very good sort,” and as a consequence he claims to have had a most enjoyable evening and a comfortable week’s living subsequently. Such good fortune may nob, however, befall all captured burglars, and my advice to them straight is not to go and do likewise. Perhaps they would be interested by the experiences of the individual in question, so here they are.

He had been burgling neither wisely nor too well in a suburban mansion where a boy is kept. This black boy was enjoying the sweet society of another black boy when the burglar made his advent. They heard the unwonted noise, and by a strategic move which did them infinite credit, descended suddenly upon the intruder. He, poor fellow, was so surprised by the sudden appearance of two unprepossessing “ studies in black,” that he surrendered at discretion, believing in the moment of his surprise that no fate would be so harmful as resistance. The boys were proud of their conquest. They tied the captive up securely with a rope, and then awaited the return of the master and his approval of their action.

They received both, and were gleeful when the master got his revolver and announced his intention of shooting the burglar. Poor burglar ! He, at all events, was nob gleeful. He squirmed under the restraint of his coil of rope, and pleaded earnestly for the life that was so ruthlessly to be taken. He implored for mercy, bub the master was obdurate, and the only answer to his entreaties was the shining barrel of the

revolver pressed close to his cheek. He was satisfied that his last hour had come, but made one last effort. Appealing to the sympathies of his tormentor, he besought him as ‘‘one gentleman to another. '’ He had touched the would-be shootist on a tender point. Yes, he explained, he was a gentleman, but he had fallen on evil times, and he. was starving. Any fate was worse than that. “ Boor Chappie,” sighed the listener, and the revolver fell from his nerveless grasp. The burglar saw the impression he had made, and followed up his advantage with so much address that five minutes afterwards the two 1 men were sitting like bosom friends at the ; table discussing a bottle of whisky, while the black boys in their corner mutually agreed that they couldn’t understand it at all. ( *** * * * * * * Nor did the good offices of the gentleman whose house had been entered end here. So deep was the impression made upon him by the gentleman burglar and his narrative that he mentally decided to obtain for him some more honest employment than that of burgling. The whisky < finished, it was quite impossible to leave the repentant and fallen gentleman to the mercy of circumstances, so the carriage was ordered out and the couple drove into town. Quarters were engaged for the repentant one at a city hotel, and there he was left snug enough in all conscience at an early hour of the morning. I have not heard whether the experiment of starting the repentant burglar on the road back to gentility was a success, but I am certain that if I were to locate the mansion where these events transpired only a few nights ago it would be invaded by an army of burglars, all of whom are sons of earls and would be glad to get a start back to the ancestral halls of their sires.

Our bankruptcy laws come in for a good deal of angry animadversion now and then from creditors who see a debtor quietly escape from his responsibilities by the process of “ white-washing.” Poor people are frequently ruined by the bankruptcy of some apparently prosperous business man, and their anger vents itself in threats “to have his blood,” to “ hang to his throat till he’s choked,” and others equally awful. But all the anger and all the threats are of no avail, nor will they bring back a penr.y of the money that is gone. Mr Bankrupt goes through with a clean sheet, and the largest creditors, not wishing to throw good money after bad, or having perhapsafellow-feeling for the rogue who is “going through,” pass a resolution not to prosecute. So he escapes all the consequences of reckless or dishonest trading, and the poor devils who have trusted him are left to whistle for their hard-earned money.

*** *A* Now a remedy has been sought for this state of thing.® by making the laws stricter. I have before suggested that our law should be made to conform more to that of France in the way of demanding stricter accounts from bankrupts, and of giving greater power to the public officials in the way of prosecutions. But it has occurred to me that perhaps a better plan would be the total abolition of the laws relating to bankruptcy ; and with them, of the power to recover small debts, say of £lO or under. Many will cry out that such a proposal is absurd, and that it only opens the way to further roguery. They will say that there would be no punishment at all for those who do nob pay their debts, or who allow their aflairs to get into culpable confusion. Bub I fancy that a little thought will show many arguments for the plan I propose.

Everyone will admit that “ prevention is better than cure.” Now, that is just what I propose, that we should prevent the incurring of small debts, rather than that wo should punish those who fail to pay. The latter is at best tut a poor means of cure, if the debtor has no means. But if one knows that he has no means of recovering a small amount, he will bake very good care not to sell his goods for aught but cash, or to anyone like a “ bad mark.” He will be sure of his debtor before he gives credit. And great advantage would accrue bo the would-be debtor, for he would have to be very careful about his expenses, and would have no encouragement to run up small bills here and there. He could nob do it.

Then as to bankruptcy. Merchants and everybody else knowing that they had no means at all of punishing their debtors by a Bankruptcy Court, would bejusb as careful as small dealers in finding out all about a person who asked for credit. Business would be conducted on healthier and less speculative lines ; and instead of forcing goods on men. merchants would only allow a lair amount; of credit. The credit system would nob be abolished, but it would work on a sound basis. And what a saving in expense to the country there would be if the courts dealing with small debts and bankruptcy were abolished. Half the business of our lawyers would be taken from them ; and useful as they may be at present, nobody would bo sorry to see them have less work.

He was the mildest-mannered and most inoffensive young man in the office where he is employed, and there was no reason in the .vorld why he should have been made the subject of such a cruel practical joke. And a very cruel joke it was. You see, this poor young fellow has a liver. I might relate his complex diversity of bodily ailments wi h much circumlocution, but it will save space, and tire nob the patience of thereader, if Isimply use that mostsignificant of expressions and state that “he has a liver.” Why this expression has the ordinarily accepted meaning I know nob, except that it is stated on the best medical authority that a man bo be healthy should never feel that he has a stomach, and the same probably applies to that other troublesome organ of the human corporation. To further do justice to my friend, I must hasten to explain that his bilious organ is not an irascible organ, as are most livers of the omnipresent order, but it is a very disagreeable portion of his anatomy nevertheless. Having tried the thousand and odd cures that are applicable to this almost universal malady he eventually came to the conclusion that his system demanded a tonic and stimulant. Some of his amateur medical advisers thought otherwise, bub of this anon.

With a square bottle, of very suggestive shape, and labelled hop bitters, under his arm, the invalid made his appearance at his daily employment the other day, and congratulated himself upon the prospect that by an ocr casional use of the contents of the bottle he would be able successfully to keep at arm’s length the knowledge of his objectionable organ by indulging in “ a v/ineglassful every two hours ” or thereabouts. This was the formula for the first day, and the invalid showed no very marked improvement. His chums condoled with him in his distress, and suggested that lie had surely gob hold of the wrong sort of hop bitters, but the Invalid stuck by his purchase,

and resolved to finish the whole bottle even lif he perished in the attempt. His friends then became anxious for his welfare. Thero was a hectic flush upon his cheek, his head ached, his eyes were dull and heavy, it was very evident some strong measuros would have to be adopted to save his litc. A council of his friends was called, and after much consideration and mature deliberation they resolved to take the invalid in hand. Surreptitiously they obtained an immense package of Epsom salts, and while the invalid had, in a thoughtless moment, left his precious bobble of medicine unguarded, the salts found its way into the bottle and was carefully shaken up amongst the contents. The bottle was left to await developments as iunoconblooking as ever.

The victim of the joke is better now, or at least he says so. He has a high opiniou of the bitters, and he assures his friends that they are effective against either influenza or typhoid in the incipient stages. He believes ho had both, bub he is nob sure. However, he is satisfied that as a drastic remedy bitters cannot be beaten, and he wants to give the bitters man a testimonial to that effect. His comrades listen silently to the recital of his experiences, and then lock theinsolves up in turns in the office safe and indulge their laughter without restraint. They haven’t told their victim how they fortified his bitters, and thus made them so effective, and they don’t intend to.

* * * *•** * * Our friends, the Education Board, the teachers, and the committees, require a considerable amount of watching. I have just received a letter from a parent in a country district near Auckland, in which he complains of the expulsion of a child from the school solely on the authority of the teacher and the chairman of Committee. He states that there has not been a meeting of the School Committee since their election, and that the chairman virtually rules the roast. This chairman being a crony of the teacher’s family, all goes on swimmingly, bub discontent is growing strong among the people. Now, the chairman has no right to permanently expel a child from the school without an inquiry by the Com* mittee, and the parent should insist on such inquiry. If it is not granted, let the matter be laid before the Board of Education. With regard .to the Committee nob meeting, it seems impossible that the business oftheseuool could be conducted for a length of time without a Committee meeting. But if none has been held the best plan is to ask the chairman a few pertinent questions at next annual meeting of householders ; and if they are not satisfactorily answered, the electors will no doubt deal with him. In small country districts there is very often too much tendency on the part of the “ big man ” of the place to overstep his authority, and he needs curbing.

My correspondent makes a suggestion with regard to teachers and the danger of their forming cliques in a district? He thinks they slmuld be shifted every third year, so that they may be disabused of the idea that they are anchored for good and all in any one place. The suggestion is a valuable one, and worthy the carelul consideration of the Board and all others interested in education. The Wesleyan Church finds the triennial change of stations a very good plan. It might not work so smoothly under the Board of Education. Bub it would benefit teachers by giving them a chance of wider experience, and by making them more independent of their immediate surroundings ; and it would benefit the children by giving them changes in the system of teaching. In teachine, a dull routine docs harm both to teacher and pupil, and change is of the highest value bo both.

A genuine “ bull ” was made one day thi week by a well-known M.H.R., who, by the way, is not a native of the Emerald Isle. Ho was chatting with some friends, and the question of the Easter holidays was raised. One gentleman remarked that Good Friday would be in this week, whilst another argued that his friend was seven days toosoon. At length the member remarked that evidently some had nob been attending the Lent services, and pulling a memorandum from his pocket said, “Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, therefore the following will be Easter Sunday, and the Wednesday previous will be Good Friday.” Scarcely had the words been spoken when an Irish M.H.R. said, quietly, “Sa it again, please, and say it slowly, so that these gentlemen may note that it’s not an Irishman this time that made the bull.” This caused an explosion of laughter, in which the English M.H.R. led the way.