AT THE CORNER.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4715, 16 February 1884, Page 2

AT THE CORNER.

Samo sum, humani nihil a me alienum pufo.

That some men will grow rich where other and better men Will starve is well shown in the case of those youths who call themselves leaders of the Salvation Army. They hare none of those qualities which bring success to the ordinary honest man. They have no skill as mechanics, no learning, no education, not even rude bursts of eloquence ; >nd yet they gather in the needful! They appear to boast of their prison experience (8.G.) and of their former mighty depredations (B.G.)i and yet the parents who go to listen to these men would disown their own children if guilty of suoh conduct. What would any respectable man think of his sod who could boa6t*—" Some time ago I Iked by my wits—l used to Bteal; now I live by my wits, but the people give (B.G)?" In a teacher of religion we expect that his life has been pure, 4ud bis character upright, eince he has to speak

of the hopes and fears of the pure-minded women and men who are listening to his teaching ; but here we have the very taint of base living as a qualification, and tbe being who can state that he was familiar with every degrading habit that animal appetite can evoke becomes the instructor in purity of life. What will the effect be on pure-minded boys and girls, where depravity is regarded as the only step to destruction ? Surely credulity can go no further than believe that such men, who have not done an honest day's work in their lifetime, can do good P

So the congregation of St. George's have at last decided on a Minister, and it is to be hoped they will not regret their choice, but it has occurred to me that the itching ears of a portion of the very orthodox members of the Church will require a stronger injection than will be prepared by the chosen one.

The concert given by tbe Choral Society on Thursday was a success, so far as the performers were concerned. I am afraid the society will have to arrange for a nigger minstrel performance to be part of the programme. Wouldn't that draw ?

What a pity it is that so few people can be found able to write a good newspaper critique on a musical performance. The ordinary stereotyped form of "Mr So and So's voice soundfd well in the hall," or, "such and such a piece was well rendered by-Mr Jones," gets monotonous.

<X X X It would be a most excellent thing if a boot factory is started here; there is a plethora of the juvenile element in the Thames, for which, employment must be found, or the Devil will find some mischief for their idle hands to do.

A friend has sent me a clipping from r > Australian paper stating that a good callmaking raining company was " getting on very well with the dam," and a large holder in ''calling''companies says that he has been very good on the same thing for some time past. This is somewhat con-demn-atory.

XXX Those Parawai petitions are productive of much fun. Severe agitiationnas been going on for some time with regard to the annexation of the southern adjacency of the Borough, and after much labour a slice of the County has been tacked on, this small slice causing'a roll of 12 rate* papers to be made up, and entailing the election of three councillors to represent them. This seems very absurd, and it looms out in the dim distance that this new addition might become disaffected with the Borough and form themselves into a body capable of electing councillors and a mayor of their own. Two very satisfactory rights which the Borough has obtained by the annexation are the privileges of a supply of a few more gallons of water daily, and the right to undertake the responsibility of the County overdraft.

A few days ago I heard portions of the conversation of " runners " of the Star. They were comparing notes as to the amount of money earned by them i weekly, and one or two who it ap- ' pearod were engaged in the vicinity of Grahamstown and the creeks, complained in stroug language of the manner in which their customers paid them—some people owing the youngsters no less than 4s and 5s each. If this is so, I hope this hint will be sufficient to make them square up, and not keep the youngsters waiting for their hard«earned money. Old Thames would feel sad without those old associations in the shape of the wonderfully constructed docks which are the boast and glory of the commerce for which they were placed in their present position; but it is with no vain regrets that I see our Thames docks removed in fact, I hardly wept when I saw a man with a scythe in our principal stre. . mowing down those persistent weeds which have in the new chum.minds " docked " the growth of any idea as to our prosperous condition.

Owing to the beneficence of a charitable Government but little local interest is taken in the Hospital, and this seems a pity. Not long ago some steps were to have been taken in the matter of increased accommodation, and several desirable additions were to have been made; but tbis matter seems to hang fire. Another thing which cropped up at the last meeting of Committee was to the ordinary travelled mind rather astounding. It seems that while it is a common practice in hospitals generally to have a ticket placed over each patient's bed, showing the name, age, disease, and other such particulars as are necessary for the proper regulation of the wards. Of course, in what may be termed a " one-horse" institution as we have here, where only partial medical su per vision is given, these matters may not be urgent, but I think they should be attended to. Of course many medical men' do not like to undertake the responsibility of immediate diagnosis, and others reluctantly keep "ease books," but it would appear reasonable to most people that the governing body of such an institution as our Hospital, should have the general rule carried out in such cases.

The last strike on the list, that of some of the miners in the Euranui Hill, appears to have been without effect, the directors having replied that they will not increase the wages to 7s 6d per day, as the mine is in a poor position, and is not paying. This reason may seem good enough to the directors, but methinks if one of them bad to keep himself, his wife, and four or fire children, on the munificent salary of. 42s per week, as well as supply working clothes and boots, which the peculiar calling makes a heavy drag, he would not grudge the miner an extra 6d per shift. But in one thing, I think, the men made a mistake. Instead of : five or six 4f them striking* they should have get all the men in the mine to agree to &.plan of action, and stick to it until their'wrongs were redressed. By splitting into two sections they halfdestroyed their chance, as, the directors naturally thought that if some oXtbe men were content with their wages, the manager would have small difficulty in filling the vacaneiep. Nemo.