THISTLEDOWN.

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1742, 25 May 1895, Page 2

THISTLEDOWN.

' “ A man may jest arid tell the truth.” ■—Horace. I see they are still growling up North about Canterbury men being brought up for Government works. .Mr ‘Marsden Thompson signalised himseif last season by a bitter personal attack on Mr Reeves for rending the Christchurch unemployed to the Hikurangi Railway work, and got pretty well sat on for his pains. This is the gentleman who about his . first session showed his good taste by snerririg at Vogel s physical infirmity, and later on made a rancorous attack on Mr Sperry, late Iropery' Tax Commissioner, after this tor which he. was most deservedly and most comp’e'.ely dressed down by Captain Bussell, Mr Hogg made the best reply to his complaints last sesson. As he pointed out Government works are paid for out .of the taxation of the whole colony, Canterbury has now in progress, her roads, having been made in the Provincial era, nor has she bush or gum; further contractors carried men, horßes and plant all over the colony without a growl. farmers local industry. My object in alluding to the matter is not however to take sides one way or the other, but to point out that labour is, in this case, taking up the same attitude as capital did over five-hundred years ago. By the "reign of Edward the Third villeinage had- been largely commuted for fixed and definite dues in money or labour. The Black'Death or great plague of 1349 swept away from one third to one half of the population. Labour was therefore scarce, wages rose, and the surrounding villeins sticking closely, to their customary, rights made a good thing of it on outside manors, leaving their own lords in the lurch. The’ first statute of Labourers passed in 1319 imposed severe penalties on Such* but the repeated enactment of the same had with continuously increasing penalties shows-that the efforts of the landed class to localize and so cheapen labour must have proved largely unsuccessful. Curious that in the Nineteenth century working men should adopt the ideas of their employers in, the Fourteenth.. Truly the whirligig of time brings about strange companionships. ' . . Q o e o

The an - ouac eth ent of Lord Pembroke’s death recalls what was in its time a very pretty little quarrell. . Shortly after attaining.his majority, the earl,accompanied by Dr' Kingsley, went on a yachting'oruise in the Pacific, * South Sea Bubbles ’ by the Earl and the Doctor was the sehsational book of the season. Its authorship was ari open secret, and the saintly character of Lord Pembroke’s mother, Lady Herbery Lea, gave a,keener zest to the enjoyment - with which- all but the goody-goody read of the shittishness of Island ladies,, from Queen’s •downwards, -when the .padre’s back was turriedh 'What put the fat in the fire, however i was the charge made by the authors against bettain missions of insisting on European dress among their ..converts, for the. purpose of pecuiary gain and' generally of subordinating pure conversion, to what Anci.mt. Pistol would.' probably call ‘ comiriercial conveyance.’ No doubt the statements were at least exaggerated, but, r o bitter was the feeling aroused that,when year's after Disraeli. appointed Lord: Pembroke .Under-Secretary for the 1 Colonies, all Exeter Hall was tip in arms, and jndignari.t di patations besieged the Premier to protest against the promotion of this trouble of Israel. ‘ . ■ > .- . . ■ ■ .« : o •' ; c«. o ■

In the success of 'their loan Ministers have distinctly' scored over the Opposition. In the debate'on : the Advances to Settlors Bill speaker after speaker from the lips' of the chair ’ demonstrated the ' impossibility of raising revenue iri England at centV'. Mr Ward floats a 3 par cent loan, and has the four times the amount he asks for oflered him at considerably less than 3 j per .cent. Investors too -gave, a complete answer t.. t’ e Times which doubted- if our prospeccs warranted our 3J per corits, being quoted at 1044 as they accepted less interest for the new 1 issue. What renders the result more gratifying is that the general public, we are told; were the subscribers, not a limited number of financial magnetes seeking to make a profit by disposing of the stock at a profit; The high price of 3 t per oent is also-the more gratifying when we remember that the half? years dividend has just been paid, and holders have six moriths to wait for the next. - '. ■ ■ ' # ' * , . * # ; It is pleasant to hear that the Te 'Aroha West factory will probably have a much larger supply of riiilk next season. I hear' of one new Bettler who talks of sixty cows, and no doubt the Manawaru estate will also add to the supply. It is hoped however that prices for butter will rise at Home, as 76 to 80 per cwt. spells ruin to Messrs Reynolds, the settlers,- or both. I see the Government are ■ offering to pay half freight on hbrses t 6 England and India, Dairying is a far more important.-industry than horse breeding, and I fail to see why they cannot at least reduce railway freights on cream and butter.; I used to think it was unpatriotic in an Aucklander not to backup the Frisco mail service—-I am, I I fancy, wiser now and would strongly advocate giving Direct Steamers a subsidy on satisfactory conditions as to cool ..storage and., less freights. The Cable ' has practically supplanted the mailboy aef the medium of commercial eoinmuriication and private letters would riot suffer by a week’s delay. ■ .' ‘ ■- . '

Who says the policeman’s lot is not a happy one ? What else can it be when we have Kerei Kaiktn and the TJreweras taking turn about, in giving them an excuse for a picnic, cloaked under all the pomp and circumstances of war P The, returned heroes, however, must feel quite sheepish, or at least muttonish after the lavish hospitality of the' TJrewera. Such city cooks as can’t spare a pheasant or a pigeon for ‘ the foorce’ had better stick to beef lor a while. ' And lest they should feel''humbled by going where no glory waited them, the larrikins of Karaugahape road got up ‘ a pitch battle ’ (see Herald; for them on their return. Really those larrikins showed an amount of sympathy with the peelers j for which I was not prepared to give them credit. . . r 0 ; ft; ft O The Premier comes out badly in his-con-troversy with Hone Heke. V So far from stircing up strife the meinbers for "the NortheimMaori distriqt appears to have been the main factor-in preventing At. present he is the real Maori leader, and has won a more commanding position for the Ngapuni by his eloquence than ever Hongi did by force of arms. He has indeed far more influence than Tawhiao had at his best, though a duly elected monarch. Mr Hee Hem Smith, who sits in the House for New Plymouth, probably because his dropped aspirates prove useful for paving his native town, had the cheek to pat Heke on the back in a most superior style of condescension, and was bluntly,told that the native spoke better English, not merely than himself, but than all but one or two in the chamber ; this too ty probably the best I judge there. ■’ Jams. '