Wanganui Chronicle. and TURAKINA & RANQITiKEI MESSENGER. THURSDAY, 16TH JANUARY, 1868.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 818, 16 January 1868, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle . and TURAKINA & RANQITiKEI MESSENGER. THURSDAY, 16TH JANUARY, 1868.

The London Spectator takes notice of our legislative freak to give the Maoris representation in the General Assembly, and cannot make out whether the members were in inn or earnest. It is hard to say if they knew themselves. The Native Representation Act is one of those sops to Cerberus which, originating in the best intentions, but wholly unfitted for any useful purpose, can be turned to mischief-making. We hope it will not be so in this case, but Mr Carleton, Mr Donald Maclean, or some other warm friend of Maori representation should solve the difficulties of the Spectator in connection with the matter, and in doing so these gentlemen will also give a measure of light to many people nearer the scene of the experiment. The journalist Wishes to know how in a House of seventy members,-*-- and he has little idea of the cacoethes loquendi of some of them, —all the motions, procedmgs, and speeches are to be fa anslated to four Maoris ? And we share in this English gentleman’s very proper wish for enlightenment. The interpreter certainly wi.l have no sinecure. Is there a mortal man could stand it ? For any practical or business purpose the Act is quite unworkable, and was never meant, we daresay , to be anything else.

The London Times takes up a subject of special interest to these colonies. The fol--lowing is put both strongly and well : The food which is life here is in Australia a superfluity. Never it would seem, was there a clearer instance of the law by which one part of the world was fitted to supply the wants of another. But the wise provision of Nature is defeated by the stupidity of man, and 10,000 sheep a week, instead of regenerating the poor of London, are boiled down into tallow. Nature, of course, avenges herself upon us; and because ; thousands of slieep are wasted in Australia, j thousands of men and women perish of pre- ■ mature decay in London and the other great towns in England. Such a story reads like a cruel reproach to modern science . - The attempts hitherto made to bring this wasted food to English mouths have been sufficiently successful to convince us that success is within our reach. The task is doubtless difficult, for there are prejudices a 9 well as natural obstacles to be overcome. The poor are particularly suspicious of strange food, and unless the meat is brought over in a perfectly natural form, it may be long before they will trust it, But the task will be accomplished if men of science will but lend to it the same thought and energy they bestowed upon the Atlantic cable. No subject could be more worthy of their attention. Success would make the difference of health and disease —almost of life and death—to thousands, if not millions in this country, and in other pans of Europe. If once achieved, there need no longer be any anxiety as to our supplies of animal food. There are parts of the world adapted for maintaining vast herds of cattle and sheep, and adapted for no other purpose, and from these the more densely populated countries might be permanently supplied with sustenance.

We have no doubt that science will be able to do much in the direction indicated by the leading journal, but it will never be able to carry meat from the one side of the globe to the other in the juicy succulence it possesses when newly killed. By all means let everything be done that it is possible to achieve, and more may be done than many of us are aware of; but let it not be forgotten, at the same time, that there is a more excellent way. As we cannot send fresh meat to the starving multitudes of London and other great cities, might not the Christianity and the wealth of England remove at least a portion of these multitudes to the food which a bountiful Providence has thus prepared for them. In the range of our fictitious literature, we scarcely know of anything more full of pathos than a chapter of Alton Locke, in which Charles Kingsley touches upon this very point. Sandy Mackay guides Alton to a miserable London

garret, where a wretched family drag out a wo-stricken existence in utter want. Yet the pride of other days lingers there, and the work-house is recoiled from. One girl lies dying on a cold bed, yet enjoying the purest joys of religions rapture. Another

is driven, to avert absolute starvation, from her mother and the rest, to that resource which is surely worse than death. The mother would prefer death to shame, and appeals to Sandy to expostulate with her daughter as to her conduct. The latter, in such tones as may be imagined, and here is the point where emigration comes in, breaks in thus: —“Repent—I have repented —I repent of it every hour—l hate myself, and bate all the world because of it ; but I must —I must. I cannot see her starve, and I cannot starve myself.” And then what inexpressible sadness is here ! —“ Oh, if that fine lady, as we’re making that riding habit for, would just spare only half the money that goes in dressing her up to ride in the park, to send us out to the Colonies, wouldn’t Ibe an honest girl there ! May be an honest man’s wife ! Oh me, wouldn’t I slave my fingers to the bone for him ! ” There are many ways in which the English philanthropist may find an outlet for his benevolence, but certainly very few which promise more permanent benefits than emigration, which would simply be helping the poor to help themselves.