TELEGRAPH CLERKS.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 122, 15 February 1873, Page 3

TELEGRAPH CLERKS.

Ax Auckland contemporary, we think it was, which first mooted the question of the inadequacy of the rates of pay awarded to tolegraph clerks. The mutter has since then boen pretty generally taken up by the Press of the colony, which on this point have been wonderfully unanimous ; Ministerial and Opposition journals alike condemning; the parsimoniousness of the Government in the payment of this class of public servants. Economy in administration of public funds cannot be too highly commended, but when that economy dogonerates into stinginess, it is no longer economy, and just in proportion, as that economy is "fine drawn" so in nine cases out of ten do wo find the payees' capabilities. Good wages generally commands the services of good men, and bud wages those of inferior. AYe must allow , though, that in tho case in point, Govermcnt hnve been exceedingly fortunate in securing, for a most meagre lMtc of pay, a very good class ol servants. But this fact, does not'in any way alter the position of the master — tho public — on tho one side, and the telegraph clerki on t 1 o other. It only shows that there are in the colony a number of young men who, like the steward in the parable, cannot dig, and to beg arc ashamed, and who are compelled to take the miserable pittance given by the Telegraph Department. A miserable pittance it is indeed wlieu the nature of tho work for which it is given is considered, the responsibilities involved, and the capabilities required. Take the capability question first. The man must be possessed of a certain amount of education ; he muit be quick of hand and eye ; and, moreover, have an undoubted character for honesty and •obi'^y. The responsibilities of the office oblige him to be methoaical aufl careful, and, above all, reticent; and the nature of the work, especially in small officss ■where but one clerk is kept, is irksome in the extreme, being in many ca°es unremitting from the time he enter* the office nt 9 am. to 12 o'clock mid"ight. Of course all these hours he is not actually at work, but he dare not leave his poat fearful of a call. For this educition, for the long hours of work, for the responsibility ho undertakes, he is paid in many cases lil tie better than fie labourer, whoso work is but for eight hour* ncr diem, whose education is little, and whoso responsibilities arc comparatively insignificant. We say that hero i« an anomaly which should be roneeted. Make some distinction m the matter of payment between the man of education holding an important trun f , and tho man •whose only capital is his pair of stout of hands. As long nf brawny labour is ainjilv rewarded, why not reward in like ratio the man who*» e.ipitnl is in possession of bnuns s The one's sphere is of rour->e honourable, the other relatively more so, and the telegraphic clerk is remunerated m many instance* at a figure bareh sufficient to supply the necessaries of life.

A cheap war of getting credit for liberality was deviled by lie managers of a f.ur in Tlluuvs, who ollered a premium to tin 1 oldest spinster present Of course nobody claimed it. A, western paper thus heads an article I—"Sad1 — "Sad Scene in a Sodii Shop 1 A Reputation Nearly Blasted by a Sarsaparilla Singer's Smnrf nc"»s " A Sodhomorc at Columbia whose window is fronted by a room, only a few feet distant, occupied by an Aurora-like joung lad\, has commenced to build a bridge of sir/hi from hi« room to hers. It is desirable that the size be sufficient to beur his weight. Many a "good match" bas> proved a Lucifer. A western p.iper putt it gently bv Haying that " fifty-four persons took up their residence, in the cemetery at Lafayette la-.t week " Of a miserly man wbo died of t-oftemug of tbc brain, a local American paper naid, " His be.id ga\e way, but lm hand timer u\ I. Hit* brain noftened, but his lirurt couldn't." H (frcele\ has been done in sug.irby nn (.Mitcrpriiing eonfpotionor, and n>w every little shaver in the country goes in for licking him. There are now five ex-Lord Chancellors, each in the receipt of £ jOOO a year as peu <>on — Loi dSt Leonards, Lor 1 Chelmsford, Lird Westburv, Lird Cairns, and Lord Tlathorley. A umu advertises m the St. Louis R°puhboan for " a good girl to cook." Wo h*vo bsxm some that almost looked good ©, t A£;l-. to ca'. raw.

Tnc Cnivrsi: ix Oiaoo— The Bruce Heruld conta-ns the following — In consequence of the dißpute winch has arisen as to who was liable I'm* the payment of wage* due to the Chinese who haw for some tune pu>-t been engaged upon the railway woiks in tins >nghbourhood, fi laige number of these men have been wailing for a decision of tho case by 1 the Resident Magistrate here. Thc\ of course li.no bad no wages for the past month, and a rcpoit gut abroad that a party of about thirty, camped near to the township, were starring for want of food. In order to find out the stato of the matter, we, along with the Sergeant of Police, visited the camp on Saturday morning and examined c\cry tent. We found that besides a quantity of potatoc, supplied them gratuitously the pre\ ions day, and the remains of a few loa\cs of bread gi\en them by som c of the inhabitants, they were destitute of food They explained that lhe\ could not leave or look for work until the decision of the ease on Monda; , and expressed their willingness to commence any kind of work that might bo offered to them. After consultation, it was arranged to collect a few pounds in the township and set men to work so that they might earn as much as would procure a few days' food. Messrs A. Jones and J. L. Gillies, two of the trustees of the Recreation Ground, were consulted, and it was arranged to set the men to work digging round the trees, cleaning the hedges, &c. About 22 of them went to this work, and as tools could not bo found for the remaining eleven, they wero oifercd to the Town Surveyor, who employed them in cutting a drain in Mill street. It is duo to the men to say that they went cheerfully to work, wrought diligently, and performed their labour iv a very satisfactory manner So lar as the drain is concerned we believe the work done was measured by Mr Brown, who says that had it been performed by contract by Europeans it'would amount to 3s each man for the afternoon's work. At 3 o'clock each man was paid 2s fid a* previously agreed to, and they returned to their camp nil well satisfied. We may add that the money requned was cheerfully contributed by the nilubitauh, who sympathise with these men in the unfortunate position m winch they havo been placed.

AMiGiirT Throw or A Ckickkt Bvll— A wonderful throw was witnessed, says the Australasian, by the spectators at the Cleremont cricket match on Boxing Day. Hie telegram sa\s that between tbe innings some discussion arojo amongst tne players as to the distance some of them could throw, and it was decided to test the powers of those who professed to excel in this lnw by a match. Amongst several good throwers, Billy, the aboriginal, astonished even one by s-ndin<r the ball a distance of 140 jards as measured with a tape. This throw surpssaes the best, wo ever heard of m the colonies or in England. It takes a good thrower to throw 100 wds ; and in athletic sports in England the man who cm q t beyond 110 is al.nost certainly the winner. A 120 yards throw is very rarely heard of, and hitherto a throw ol ViO has been quite unknown. The Kelson Examiner says :— The progress this colony is making was well exemplified by a few striking figures which fVined part of an article in a recent issue of this journal, s' lowing how the colonies have gathered wealth irom the rich mineral deposits of what was only a few years ago a comparative wilderness. It was shown how our live stock and onr produce had increased; how our imports of 1871 doubled those of 1860, while our exports, which amounted in IH7O to close on five millions sterling, was nearly nine times the \ alue of those in 18G0. We learn now, as an instance of si ill growing progress, that Otngo during the year 1872 expjrted produce to the value of £1,770,012, or about 22 p.c. m excess of the exports of the previous year. And while these c cports are a sign of prosperity, there is a further fact they do not show. They do not by any means display the real value of our productions, inasmuch as a very large amount of these enter into home consumption, for, in addition to the ordinary articles of colonial manufacture and growth which provided for our own population, we are now lessening our imports by producing manufactured articles, for which we had hitherto solely to depend on the Mother Country and neighbouring colonies. As yet these manufactures are still in their infancy, but their rapid growth and ureat success, especially in" some comparatively small articles, arc the best warraut* of a hopeful tie feeling in the future that these manufactures which this colony is so woll adapted to produce, in consquence of its large mineral deposits, will one day, and that sooner than even sanguine | minds may anticipate, exhibit a nourishing luxuriance. We may hare times of depression, that ia the fate of all countries, young and old ; but the material and the energy are \s lthin our borders, and the future of the country may bo viewed with a feeling of trustfulness for ourselves and for our children who shall come after us. A singular grievance forms the subject of complaint in a I letter written to The Argus. The writer feels hunselt called j upon, when iho Polynesian slave trade is attracting so much I notice, to call the attontion of the public to " another branch j of slavery." According to this correspondent, two squatters j on adjoining stations on the Murray have been aocustomed for some time to get young men from Europe to pay premiums to be instructed in station management, the conditions being that they pay £300 for three years' instruction. When they arrive they find awaiting them as grand a di«ap pointraent as Nicholas Nickleby found at Dothcby's hall, and Tie employers, in emulation of the economic plan of Air Squeers, begin their course of practical instruction by setting the youthful squatters to chop wood for the purpo-rs o ' the household. This can hardly be regarded as a branch { o/ knowledge necessary for the proper management of a s ir,ion ; but what follows is worse. If tbe victim is found to be incapablo of miuual libour, he is according to tic writer, treated so that he finds it impossible to to remain, and prefers to forfeit his premium rather than t ) cont nue his studies in the "real-school" which has taken char.c of his squatting education. Out of seven of such pupik only one has lemaiucd bis full three years, the general result beiu^ that they have accepted theii disappointment, and have preferred to sacrifice their time and money as waited rather than continue at the work set before them. It is not to be supposed, of course, that the two squatters alluded to are representatives of their class, and it is possible that the proceedings in their case luue been exaggerated or misrepresented by the writer; but if facts are as he stated them, it is well that they should be properly known, that these bucolic rivals of the Yorkshire schoolmaster might bo guarded against. "It would seem," says the Spectator, "that Mr Bessemer's delightful plans for saving us from sea-sickness m crossing the Channel are really maturing, and that Mr E J Xt-ed, formerly naval architect to the Admiralty, is now settling the plan 3 of a couple of vessels, with saloons 90 feet long by 30 feet broad, and 20 feet high, which arc to be kept steady by hydraulic apparatus, even while the rest of the vessei is virtually tossing in a storm. Above the saloon will be a promenade deck, 70 feet in length, of, of course, equal stability. 'In the roughest weather,' says Mr Bessemer, ' this salooon and the deck w ill not be subjected to a greater amount of motion than is folt in an ordinary railway carriage.' Surely Mr Bessemer's name will be blessed for e\er if he succeeds. Ought there not indeed, to be a sort of secular canonisation invented for such benefactors of their race as these ? Of course, to make the thing complete, the steady part of the vessel will be in full sight of tho unsteady, wheic the pasaengengcw unable to pay for exemption from SHi-Mckness will be visible, and so give tho richer even a costlier luxury than that attributed by the great Latin poet to the safe observer of shipwreck. Our ago is not cruel enough to enjoy neemg terrible suirorings from a safe position, but we think the sight of the worst of discomforts from a position of perfect immunity would not bo disagreeable to it. A contemporary speaking of the "shouting" custom, says that the reckless and senseless custom of what is called "shouting" is hurtful to all but the licensed publican is indisputable : and being a prolific source of gain, i . of com so greatly encouraged by them; and that tins objectionable mode of drinking does foster and stimulate drunkenneas is so well known and admitted that further remark thereon is unnecessary. It would be a right good move to start a ' ' non-shouting society " here ; such a combination is desirable for the purpose of breaking down so bad a practice. It has been tormed elsewhere to the great benefit of the moderate-drinking public, ami among other advantages to bo gained by it will be that of ridding the bar parlour of th it despicable character, the "public-house fly," -who is ever at hand to dip into a glass whenever shouting is going on. Mr Justice Mcllor, m his charge to tho grand jury al Liverpool, paid a tribute to the memory ot the late Mr Jutsicc Willis, who sat for the lait time on that bench at the summer assizes in that town. Mr Justice Mellor described lus lamented colleague as a man of eminent learning and ability, possessing not only a sound acquaintance with the law which he administered, but w ith almost every s} stem of jur'sprudenco in the world, lie was a law reformer of a practical type, not sitting down with pen, ink, und paper, and framing anew constitution theoretically, but proposing, after searching inquiry and careful deliberation, reforms which would immensely improve our jurisprudence. Iler Majesty's ship Princess Royal, which was lately condemned as unserviceable, was sold last Saturday to Messrs Castles, ship-breakers, for £8,500 without her machinery oilier copper sheathing, whereas a little more than a jear ago, her Majesty's ship Hero, a similar line-of-baltlo ship, onH fetched £10,500, including her machinery and copper sheath ins;, which two last items alono realised for the puichaser £6,200. In reference to a meeting at Exetor Hall on behalf of flic agricultural labourers' n^cment, tho London corrcspomlen of the Manchester Guardian sa\s that the Lord Major, who had been announced as the chairman, camo to tho hull fm the purpose of presiding, but that upon leirning that S.r C Dilke was to be one of the speakers In- refuse! to have inn thing to do with tho business, and left the hall m dMgu-t Rowing seems to be lecogniscil m New South Wales m -i recreation for ladies Tho Neircaitfp Chrouivle states • "W> understand that it is the intention of the rowing club, can nrquent upon tho snlpndid rowing of the twoM.ss Doni|w\i- & the late Newcastle regatta, to invite them to go to Sydnox and contest Ihctaco for the honor of the Hunter R vcr dii trict. Should tho ladies accept the invitation, wu hate but little doubt as to the result of the race."

The Christian World says —'' Whether women ought to preach depends upon whether they can prench. Experiment should bo made, but cautiously, and on a small scale." Ciiora fop. Two — " I once called," said Theodore Hook, "on nn old l.uly who pressed me so urgently to stay and dino with her tli.it, as I had no engagement, I could not rcline. On sitting down th servant uncovered a di->h which contained two mutton chops, and i\\\, old irieud Hud, ' Mr Jlook, ymt-ee a our dinner. 1 'Thank \ou, nia'um, 1 said I, but whore's jours 9 '"