CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 4, 29 June 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A VAUDEVILLE ARTIST. Lately we picked up a not very ancient little book in which the render was instructed how to write a. letter in anv conceivable circiinistanocfi. It told tin.' ardent lover exiietlv (he terms lie should use in writiiu; to his best cfirl; precisely v.-liat lie should *ay in asking « busme»« man to fill an order, iind the various depths of grovel (in pood Elijah) into whieh he should descend should he hare occasion to address a. superior person. Them ranged from "■! have the di.rtinetion to be your verv humble nnd moat oevoted servant*' to "yoims truly." The little book showed that nny maJe person ("except a person wlio m known to live by trade") may be addressed as "Esq.''; and -fives whole tables of decrees in eali.itrapliie prostration necessary in approach in.-,' kin:?-. ilucliw.w, ncwlv-Hcdjjed lm'Oßßls (who .scorn to be «nial] potfltoes and few to the, root) to menials and scavengers. Mr. Kin'.' OM'allev. Federal Minister of Home Maira'. is iroing to put. ;i stop to "this crawling flunkeykm" as far as his Department in cmu-eriK*!. lie lajsafgofc? to fhs.7s tlic hoaoi'" c

being "your obedient servant" any longer. We don't really blame nim. but we should have thought more of Mr. King ] OMalley if lie had not been so raucous i about it. Why couldn't he puta stop to "crawling llunkeyism" without shouting around the earth about it? The earth is called upon by Mr. O'Mulley to admire Ins rampant democracy, lie might just have stuck up a notice in his office and all his devoted underlings would have been boiinu to obey his instructions. The truth is that we simply don't think of tho meaning of these conventional tags to our communications. To begin a communication, "May it please your lordship," is really asking his august lordship's permission to write to him —which is absurd, seeing that you write whether lie likes it or not. The Minister who tells the small farmer that "I have the honor to be" doesn't mean it. He really means that tho farmer has the honor to be addressed by a great potentate. The Governor lately had the honor to address Mr. Jellieoe about the late Tahi Kaka. Mr. Jellieoe, although obviously annoyed, "had tho honor" to reply, and of course had to get in the conventional expression about "his Gracious Majesty." Cut-and-dried expressions become a habit just like smoking tobacco or going to football matches. They don't do any harm, and they certainly don't do any good'/ If we amplify the wind-up of a communication to "yours truly," it is probably just as meaningless—we may be trying to beat our correspondent in busine&H we may not know him from the proverbial "bar of soap," and so on. We use many harmless conventional forms every day of our lives simply because three out of four of us are merely imitative and not creative. The only more or less, original conclusion we have ever received jn this office is, "Yours till the cows como home," which, emanating from Taranaki.hasa special meaning and seems to infer, if the letter arrives in the morning, that the writer is "yours" until the afternoon. On the whole, Mr. O'Malley seems to excite himself unnecessarily. A lot of depraved "flunkeys" will go on writing "I have the honor to be," without in the least thinking of its significance. Social reforms who attack a microscopic evil with a steam-hammer are merely vaudeville artists in disguise.

OUR PRISON SYSTEM. The Rev. J. L. A. Kayll, visiting adviser to the New Zoaland'Prisons Department, who has been lent to the New South Wales Department to assist in its reorganisation, in an interview in Sydney last week gave some interesting particulars concerning the system now existing here. He says that the classification of prisoners decided upon last session cannot be carried out in its entirety until our reformatory is built, but we are working towards it, as far as the limits will allow. There will be two points observed—one according to type, and the other grade. This will apply to gaols as well as prisoners. During the last session of Parliament the Crimes Act was amended to give additional powers in awarding sentences to both judges and magistrates. Heretofore a judge could give a man a sentence as provided by the Crimes Act, and if his criminal career showed a certain number of previous convictions the judge could declare him an habitual criminal. Having been declared an habitual, his release depended upon the recommendation of the judge. Now, under the Crimes Amendment Act, a Judge has, in addition to those powers, a further power of being aole to sentence a prisoner, in addition to any sentenne under the Crimes Act, to be further detained for a period not exceeding ten years, or he can give a man a sentence without any minimum at all, and with a maximum not exceeding six years. Magistrates can also sentence a prisoner, no matter whether it be a first offence or not, to be detained for a period not exceeding three years, this sentence being independent ot, or in addition to, any other sentence he is empowered to impose. The release of all men declared habitual criminals, or sentenced by the judges or magistrates to this form of indeterminate sentence, would depend upon the recommendation of the Prisons Board, which is also provided for in the Crimes Amendment Act. The Prisons Board consists of seven members, the Chief Justice as chairman, two departmental members, and four civilians, one representing each of the four big centres.