CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 37, 7 August 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

"RATTLE HIS BONES." A man won a bout race, lie obtained enough cash to push poverty a long way out of reach. A huge Ethiopian danced round a white man for something under an hour and struck him several times. He rides in a motor car and "guessed he was going right away to England to see that Oorge V. was properly crowned." A jockey managed to flog quite a number of horses past, the judge's box, and died worth one hundred thousand pounds. He was the. friend (or at least the confidant) of peers, the idol of the people. But why extend the list of heroes? On Saturday there was an unobtrusive cablegram in this paper setting forth that a man named Stagpoole, who had won the Victoria. Cross for valor in the New Zealand war in an engagement only a few nnles from New Plymouth, had died in in the Ware workhouse. That is to say, he died a pauper, clad in charity moleskins, subject to a charity' master,

controlled by a board, and having no I comforts of any kind except those pre- [ scribed for him by the Poor Law of * Britain. "Rattle his bones over the stones; he's but a poor pauper whom nobody owns"—although he won the most prized military decoration in the gift of the Army. "If poverty's his crime, let mirth from out Ms heart be driven; It is the deadliest sin on earth, and never is forgiven." In glorious Britain, where the soldier is worshipped when he's "off to the front" and execrated when the people's job is finished, it is common enough to let heroic veterans (who don't happen to look well enough to get into the "Beefeaters," or who are not knocked about enough to enter the Royal Military Hospitals), it has become a habit to allow ancient military wrecks to founder. Quite recently, after 40 years of poverty, | an old soldier of eighty was awarded a 1 pension. A late picture in a famous Home paper showed a line of war-scar-red veterans being patronised by some general officers. There were Crimean and Mutiny heroes there and at least two wore the "four pen'orth of bronze," but all were worn out, tottering and ragged, simply paupers grouped for a spectacle, a spectacle that is utterly shameful and a, disgrace to the country for which they fought. Even a Liberal Government does not stamp out the system of sinecurism that handicaps real talent and throws gold into the laps of the already rich; even a Liberal Government pensions people whose fathers did the deed for which the pension was created, but all British Governments allow Victoria Cross paupers to dio in workhouses, and the ancient wrecks of Empire to strew the country. And these neglected wrecks are duly grateful when a stray general or an immensely rich notable shakes them by the hand—and lets them go back to their workhouse and their charity skilly, and their paupsr's grave.

A SERIOUS POSITION. Two Labor members of the Queensland Parliament, Messrs C. Collins and G. Ryland, visited Sydney a week or two back with the object of securing help for the sugar strikers. They were able to give the newspapers a great deal of information about the troubles which have placed the important sugar industry of the northern State in a very serious position. At the beginning of last week there were 5000 men in the strikers' camps, and it was expected that their number would be increased to 7000 within the next few days. In addition, a number of men who could afford it were staying in hotels and boardinghouses. Mr. Collins and Mr. Ryland both declared that the men were more than justified in the action they had taken. They had been doing "the hardest work for the least money in any part of Australia," and only want of organisation among them had prevented serious trouble in the past. The men employed in the sugar fields worked eighty hours a week, and those in the crushing mills seventy' hours. In many cases the wages were not better than 22s fid a week and food. The State mills allowed Us Gd a week for board and lodging, so that the workers were receiv- i ing equivalent to 34s a week. The wages I in one State mill reached a minimum of threepence an hour, but the food supplied by the State was much better than that provided by private employers. The Queensland politicians stated that the strikers were assured of victory. No work was being done, and if sugar were produced the strikers expected that the transport workers would persist in their refusal to handle it. If the employers remained obdurate the sugarcane would deteriorate, and their loss would be considerable. The effect ef the strike upon the railways was noticeable, In . the Bundaberg district last ] year seven engines, 3od trucks and forty men were required for the transport of I sugar, and a few days ago the work was I being done by one engine, nine trucks j and ten men.

AN ARMY WITHOUT NURSES. It is a curious fact that although New Zealand is rapidly setting up a little army, it lias evidently forgotten all about a nursing corps. Years ago there was an enthusiastic suggestion that a nursing corps should be attached to the volunteer defence forces and a "paper" force of! nurses, with instructions of rules and regulations a couple of yards long. | The New Zealand Nursing Corps consisted of one lady and she was, if memory serves, the "Director-General of the New Zealand Nursing Staff," which did not exist then and does not exist now. There was no enthusiasm among nurses to join, 'and we do not know that there was anything to warrant them being enthusiastic. The then Defence Department was not a, concern that one could work for with enthusiasm. Things have changed a little since, however, and. there is a good deal more business than braid about matters military. If the New Zealand Territorial Army had to do the business for which it is "being created—kill the invader—it would get hurt quite a deal. At such a time hundreds of heroic women who knew nothing about gunshot wounds and gaping 'bayonet gashes and enteric fever and dysentery would rush to join. If New Zealand ever fights she will want nurses. If it is necessary to train the boys who are going to siay the invader, it is necessary to train the girls who are going to nurse the boys who are wounded by the invader before he dies. We believe that the New Zealand nursing corps of one has not yet been disbanded, and this will be a nucleus for a particularly necessary service. It has been comparatively simple to enrol civilian doctors for military medical duty, and there should not be a very great difficulty in embodying such a corps of nurses as each of the Australian States possesses..

HOW FAR A SOVEREIGN GOES. "A great deal has been said about the price of food, and what it costs to live, but so far no one has voiced the opin : on of the person who really knows—the housekeeper," declared a charming little woman living in a modest cottage within the "tuppenny section," at which an Auckland Star reporter paid a haphazard visit the other morning, bent on getting the only side not yet published in connection with the dear food controversy. "They tell us that the price of actual necessaries of life lias not gone up, and that we have a free breakfast table. All that I can say is that, strive as we will. I cannot make a sovereign go as far now as, I could make fifteen shillings a few years ago. Happy I am if thencomes a week when my* housekeeping account for the week does not exceed -25s for the bare necessaries of life. Fifteen shillings a week rent brings it to £2. As a careful housewife I keep an account of every week's transactions, and so I can show how the increase has gone on. Butter is a luxury, the meat bill is just awful, eggs we can only have once in a while, and even in such items as tea. milk and bread we have to be careful. Here is an account of how far I can make n sovereign go now, and it deals with absolutely essential things, and does not include coal, gas, fruit and tables:1001 1011 s. d. s. d. 141 m potatoes 0 i q 12V 2 lbs flour 1 10 17

One dozen loaves 3 fl 3 <i y 2 lb te«|f 10% 10 31bs sugar 7% 8 lib mixed biscuits ... / 5 ] / 3 4 7qts. milk 1 9 2 4 31bs rice :.... V/ 3 6 lib cheese 0 8 Idoz. eggs 8 1 4 lib butter 1 0 1 4 lOlbs meat 3 4 42 lib dried apricots .... 10. 11 51bs oatmeal BV 3 11 21bs honey ". 11% 1 0 41bs sago ($ 1 0 lib bacon 8 11 21bs jam 8 8 20 0 23 8 Add to this the cost of a tailor-made suit for my husband once a year, the cost of clothing myself and the children, and see how much there is left out of a salary of £3 per week," was the financial proposition with which the practical housekeeper concluded her argument.