THE WEEK, THE WORLD AND WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9177, 28 August 1908, Page 3

THE WEEK, THE WORLD AND WELLINGTON.

(By Frank Morton.)

Buying a Stamp.—Gagging Legisi.atoeß. —Pitt the Poor Pabents. Wisdom, it seems, is still occasionally justified of htr children. Over and «iver again, I have pointed out the foolishness of closing the General Post Office in the capital at five o'clock in the afternoon.. Trie Post-master-General must have reading the newspapers, for the fiat has gone forth (I think that is the proper newspaper phrase) that after September Ist the office shall be open daily till eight' in the evening. So at length shall a very stupid state of things be remedied. Under the existing system the public is subjected to absurd inconvenience and annoyance. Most of the shops close early, and few of the shops keep stamps. The other night I wanted to catch an outgoing mail. 1 happened not to have a stamp. Neither of the newspaper offices could oblige me; they don't keep them. None of the chemists had any. I wandered disconsolate!/ round for quite a time. I tickled pedestrians by the score. Some of them were amused and some ' iiisu'ted. One young blood was plainly j s ricked at the idea of carrying any . thing that might spoil his shapejj ' Outside the Post Office, I accosted my thirty-first pedestrian. He was not walking at the moment. This is a city of threatened earthquake, ( and he was patriotically engaged in ! propping up the G.P.O. "Could | you/' I said, "cjuld you oblige me with a stamp?" "I am desh'lated," said he, "I couldn't if I would, ani I wouldn't if I cou'. I'm not licensed. Ish against th'law. Ish prchibitish. I'm a lawyer, 'o a proprobishnish." I sympathised with him, and asked him where he worked. His dignity was at ohce assaulted. He said he didn't work; he practised. He.released the imposing pile for a moment while he waved gesticulating arms and spoke a piece—"Novella, a young Bolognese, j The daughter of a learned law- j doctor Who had with all the subtleties | Of old and modern jurists stock'd her, Was so exceeding fair 'tis said, And over hearts held such dominion, That when her father, sick in bed, Or busy, sent her in his stead, To lecture on the Code Justinian, She had a curtain drawn beiore her, Lesc, if her charms were seen, the students Should let their young eyts wander o'er her, And quite forget their jurisprudence.''

I do not attempt to reproduce his accent, which was earthquaky; but he assured me that he loved the lady, because he was in that class. And that, he said, was why he could not sell me a stamp after sunset, though he was fully determined to buy me a drink. I did not want a drink, and he was sensibly perturbed by my unusual foolishness. On the wharf I met a Salvation lassie. "Could you," I said, "could you oblige me with a stamp?" She breathed meekly into my eyes, and said she couldn't; would a "War Cry" du? I said ifc wouldn't, and so left her pondering j under the wisp of moon. On three i ships I could get no stamp, but on i each I was offered whisky; and sol bea'an to regain my faith in human i nature. A policeman on the Quay told me that he knew a bloke at Karon as might have a stamp; he was just one o' them blokes as would. But I filed Karori as a last hope, and triad seven large hotels and a fishshop. Then a bright thought struck, me. I took a cab to the Parliamentary Library, and there won my desire. I always said that the Parliamentary Library was a useful institution. I missed the mail. But that is a point apart. What struck me as a queer thing happened in the House of Kepresentatives the other evening. On the Estimates, the Chairman of Committees (Mr McKanzie) desiraj to address the committee on toe Mines Department vote. Accordingly, Mr Davey took the cljair. Mr Herries objected that the Chaiman must preside whenever he was on the floor of the House. Mr Davey supported the objection, on the ground of a ruling last year, and Mr McKenzie reluctantly went back to the chair. Now, it is at least possible that Mr McKenzie might have had something useful to say on the vote, and I am quite at a loss to understand why he was not allowed to bay it. In Australian Parliaments, over and over again, I have seen the Chairman of Committees hand over the chair to his deputy when he has desired to address the Committee. I have seen the Speaker do the same thing in the House. Why not? Whit earthly good is served by gagging officers? They have to forf iit their votes, in any case; why should they ba compelled to forfeit their influence? Som3 honour and glory (and

some emolument; but who cares for vthat!) attaches to these positions; ibut what of the constituents of the rgentlemen who fill them? It seems to be about the silliest application of 'the gag that one could well conceive. The Hon. J. Barr may yet be :heard of as a philanthropist. What could be more humane than the intention at the back of his motion recently passed by the Council? Consider it:— "That, in the opinion of this Coun- ■ cil, it is in the beat interests of this country that the Government should take into their immediate consider- . ation the devising of some further practical measures whereby the : heavy cost of living'.at present borne by the married workers as compared -with he unmarried may be lessoned, :and that the position of those with families be especially considered, so i that the rearing of their children may be looked forward to with less ;anxiety than at present, and parent' bcod thereby encouraged." It is more than excellent; it is idyllic. It breathes a spirit ot sweet ~~cWidence and a very gentle faith, unfortunately, it docs'not seem that it will affect much. It is so easy to talk of differential treatment of honest citizens with large families, and so difficult to arrange it. And much as I rejoice with all fruitful and industrious soub, I'm not at all sure that any special legislation to relieve Jhem from the results of their welldoing would be just 1 think, in short, that when a man has a large family the responsibility of the family rests upon his own shoulders. Where any man has a larger family - than he can support with decency, his sense of responsibility is deficient or his conscience elastic, and he merits rebuke rather than the applause of legislators. In short, the ■ cry for population at any price is rather overdone. It is one thing for President Roosevelt, with wealth and position, to give thanks for his numerous brood; but in the case of a ; struggling artisan, the cause for thankfulness is by no means so apparent. «I think that a man does thf State and the world far greater service by bringing up two children well than by dragging up t*n children anyhow". I have, you see, an obstinate idea that life owes parents something. Meantime, the Hon. Mr Anstey's suggestion that schoolbonks should be supplied free is exceedingly sound and practical. The State insists that every man shall educate his children, and on that provides State schools to give the children a sort of education.* The man with one child at school has to pay a reasonable amount for school books; but the man with six children, having regard to his means and circumstances, my have to pay quite unreasonable amount. Thus we find, not only that our education system is not a system of free education; but also that its charges , press most harshly on the citizens'' least prepared to meet them. Books are a big item of account in education. If a boy is not provided with books, and kept to them, he may shine with a subdued light, as that bright boy of Sydney shone when he said that the parts of speech were noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, consumption, and indigestion. This thing actually occurred, and it says something for the -enunciation of school-teachers. T _