THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1900.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 30, 9 August 1900, Page 2

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1900.

The Waimate Fire Brigade 1 occupies a somewhat unique position in Waimate, inasmuch as being the institution deserving of the most support from the public, it receives the least. Some years ago theinsurance companies withdrew all support from the . Brigade, and since thsn the latter; has had to make ends meet on the subsidy granted by 'the Borough Council. Fortunately tor the~ Brigade, the Council is liberal, and the £25 they grant each year is very useful. At the same : J time, it is a great pity they cannot afford mor« •; and we are sure it would bo put to a very good purpose if tSiey could do so. 1 , There is one thing, however, that the Borough Council could, and ' should, do, and that is, put a tank at the corner of Leonard and Queen Streets. In the event of a fire, say at any of the four ! corners of the " square," the tank • at the Union Bank corner could not be used, and with their rather { antiquated plant, the Brigade | could not be expected to bring ! any groat supply of water from either the High Street tank or the one near Kiiox Church. The Council should certainly assist to the utmost the plucky band who ungrudingly give their time to protect the property of others, not expecting, and very seldom receiving, thanks. At the recent fire we had an example of what the Brigade can do in the way of fire prevention. One anomaly is the fact that whenever a fireoccurs, those outside the Brigade who assist at the pumps are, paid,, while the members of the Brigade who have the bulk of the work to do get nothing. This is not right, but it cannot bt> remedied as the ! has no money. There not being;j | enough uniforms to go round, the firemen wear their own clothssat ; a fire, themselves bearing any loss or damage sustained. This is not as it should be, and it is to be'; hoped that now attention is drawn to it, the public will no"t be slow', in coming forward to help such a deserving institution. .

THE principal aim of the latterday Anarchists seems to be the" purposeless assasinatiou of kings ! and princes and the destruction' of property. This is very far indeed from the rather elaborate creed which Proudhon and Bakounlne enunciated. Anarchy, as they preached it, involved the absence of ttll restrictions of government and 4he community of property. The Berne Conference of 1876 declared that a; clean sweep should be made of the fabric of existing society, that an end should be put to authority of every kind, to international distinctions, and to every form of property and privilege. As an Anarchist manifesto puts it, i l when men have learned to do without rulers and governments, that is to say, without masters and oppressors, the principles of equality, liberty and justice will no longer be vain formulas." In its more -recent manifestations, Anarchy simply means hatred of all aristocracy and of the propertied classes generally. Murders like that of the Empress of " Austria are dictated generally by love of notoriety, while no doubt some bitter political feeling; marked King Humbert of Italy as a victim. The activity of Continental Anarchists at the present time \?ill, of course, lead to severe repressive measurep, and already eighteen hundred persons hav\f been arrested in Italy. It was the Italian Government, of course, which summoned I the International Conference at j

the end of 1898, for the purpose of devising more effective means of checking this danger to society. The principal proposal discussed was the modification of extradition treaties, to permit Anarchist criminals being handed over to the country of their origin. Britain and America were not ready to subscribe to the rigorous, and possibly unjust suggestions of other Powers, and at present we are told the United States "Government refuses to extradite thirty Italian Anarchists, probably on the ground of the insufficiency of incriminating evidence. Great Britain's attitude has always been one of leniency towards political refugees, but the British Government has ample power, under the Explosives Act, ■to deal with actual-criminals. In Italy, where Anarchy stems to' flourish, no clear lin« is drawn between tho real Anarchists and political malcontents, and probably the greater number of the eighteen hundred persons now under arrest are ultra-red Radicals, whom the Ministry will be glad to hive out of the way. It is clear, however, that the detective forces of the various nations will have to be much more watchful if a repetition of these fiendish outrages is to be prevented.