The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1880

Temuka Leader, Issue 281, 14 August 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1880

W hat is t all coming to ? Some slioit time ago we commented on the dt generating ten iencyof th age ; that in many paits of the civilis ed world a species of liberal principles are b iug disseminated that are not calculated to raise the moral tone of the inhabitants of those parts, and that even in the Australian Colonies all society is being tinged with it. Not very many years ago a tragic affair hapyened in New York that set the ball spinning down hill with greater velocity than it had done for at least four or five centuries. A gentleman in that city, walking in the highest circle of American life, had married an Italian beauty. This lady was the admired of all admirers It happened on a time, when this lacy and her husband were at one of those social gatherings, for which New York u so much famed, there chanced to be a dashing younggentleman present whose name, we think, was Fox, These two, highly favoured by nature, were caught in the whirl of crime, and went idling down hPI together. Some observant individual noticed their movement, and acquainted the husband of. 1 1 is charming Italian of their unlawful meetings. The husband—Mi Cyckles—received the anonimous letter, accused his wife of the crime, which she confessed ; but not willing to act on this, and probably bliad d by his affection, would like to have proved it a He, waited for the sign named in the letter. At he time specified Mr Fox passed the window, and held up the handkerchief which sealed his doom, the injured husband rushed out and shot the seducer of his wife dead on the spot. The murderer fled, but soon returned, was tried, and acquitted, on account of the great provocation which he received, an 1 his wife had to absent herself from ills home ; but, after a time, the husband consented to take her back to his family. Now, what comes of all this ? Some will be ready to ss/, only this—that it gave a great impetus to crime, and the moral tone of society became suddenly lowered. Crimes ol the sort named became not only more frequent but fashionable, and from that day to this New York has not only been one of (he most wicked cities in the world, but is a real hot-bed for nursing crime to scatter all over the world. England ?lso has had her epochs of crime. Wno has not read of the days of the wicked Henry’s, and Mary’s, and Yiliiam’s, and George’s, and others who have not been designated by historian’s (Miss Strickland’s and others) fulsome promoters of crime and deb uchery of the English Court during these times, and who is blind to the low state of mora’s, especially in the higher ranks of people during those times ; and did not the wicked example of crowned heads, and men and women high in power, go far to stimulate the growth of this sensual brutish life. It is difficult to resist following the example of our superiors, even to gros< wickedness. The weak fall, and the strong in principle is eithei overawed, or lose heart, and so the destructive ball is dashed forward, carrying moral ruin and destruction far and wide. Coming nearer home, have we not at our very doors proois of the force of exarap’e. The history of the murders that has taken place in the Australian colonies ! during the last twenty or thirty years ! would, one might think, appal the j stoutest heart ; and the details that one is invited to read, week after week, of the filth and polution that is stirred up in our midst, one would think, would disgust the most callous, but il is not so. These moral health destroying diets that are set before the readers of our public literature are instead devoured with great avidity. If we are asked how can we prove tins, we say by the column after column of this garbage th it appears in a portion of our public Press—even in our dailies. Were these stinkpots not opened, and the sickening odour not inhaled, the publishers would not repeat the dose. Sometimes one would be amused, were bo n >( enraged, at reading this or that public journal's condemnation of a sickening duel, a sham •- ful abandonment by a father or a mother of a lovely familv, to glut in the lu tful embraces of a worse than brute, or the abominable details of a daily life of crime, carried on in the br.oad day light, while these journals are, crying down these worse than heathenish crimes, they are all the while narrowly scanning the pointed atmosphere that sends forth these pointed odours, with the view of picking up any filthy crumbs t ey may be able to lay their hands upon, in order that they may supply the demands of their readers. Are we not going back ? Are we not morally degenerating ? What is our educational industries doing for us, when c asiically educated young ladies, of twenty or under, unblushingly relate the circumstances of their ci'ime in the way that Mrs Grear did and does. We ask, are we doing right as journalists and public educators, to bring before our readerssuch handfuls of damning rubbish as some, even of our dailies not a hundred miles from Tiraaru, appear to luxuriate in. It is unnecessary tore-

remark here that the latest upon the boards is the Kelly crimes dramatised. Are the barbarous and cruel acts of these ferocious criminals so praiseworthy, so meritorious, that our public journals should encourage a re-enactment of them, lest the memory of them, should slip out of their minds. If our theatrical entertainments are to be diverted to such unhallowed channels, it would be better for us to close our purses, close our ears, and close our .doors against theatrical entertainments altogether- If no check is put to this class oi entertainment, we will, in a week or two, have Mrs Greer, with her impudent prostitute’s face ; Monsieur Soudray hugging h>s “ fine frovv ” in our dress circles, and poor infatuated Greer stalking about, pistol in hand, laughed at by some depraved young Irdy who has made him her dupe. There is no need to enlarge. In a former article we gave it a« our opinion that this colony, with other Australian Colonies, is sinking in the moral scale. What took place in Australia the other week, and what has taken place in the Otngo goldfields the other day, are proofs cf the truth of our statement. One question let us ask before we are done. How comes it that none of these crimes can be sheeted home to the perpetrators in Otago ? We give, as our answer, that our detective force are deficient in, for instance, the bump of penetration. On one occasion we recollect a great forgery of bank notes that had evidently taken place in an obscure village. The firs! issue was traced to a clownish plough boy and his sister, but on the police visiting their humble hut, they scouted the idea of such unlikely individuals being the forgers ; to satisfy the authorities, however they made a thorough search of the house, and out of the house, without effect, and were about to depart, when an old thief, “ born and bred,” pointed to a dirty rag placed in a broken pane of glass, and asked the police to take it out. They did so, and lo and behold a bundle of new fangled notes fell out, and from this the crime w a s brought home to these unlikely instruments, when the clownish brother and sister (who could hardly sign their own name) had to pay the full penalty by a long imprisonment. Is there not something of the sort needed in Otago 7 It is said to be a good plan to set a thief to catch a thief, and why? Simply because their mind always runs in one groove, and they are fully conversant with every turning of th Jr wicked path. If so, what better material could be got than an old thief born aud bred. Otago is behind the times. We cannot say so of those who are educating up to crime. Above all things, it is the duty of public journalists who rack their brains from day to day to bring forth things, now and old, to be careful that their productions have not criminal tendencies by a to) great eagerness to make their publication sell. Public journalists have a duty to perform to society, and that duty is to elevate, not to lower. Does the matter that appears in many of our weeklies and dailies prove that they are fulfilling their high and honorable mis sion ? Echo answers are they.