Passing Notes

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 5, 16 April 1920, Page 3

Passing Notes

BY JACQUES.

Uaugh wKere we must, be candid wherewo can. — Pope.

Those headlines again! The Sotuhland Daily News recently had the following THE MODERN CRIMINAL. OPERATIONS IN BRITAIN. EVERY MAN AN EXPERT TTIIEF. Rather sweftping, this.

Tales are being told out oi school regarding the recent visit to Samoa. The Parliamentary Party's pretext for the pic- | nic was that they wished to investigate thoroughly, and at first-hand conditions in i our new dependency, and the labour mem- S ers reason for joining in was, accord- j ing to the member for Grey Lynn that it was as well to ' 'watch the other fellow'." > And it was. It would seem- that the tweedledum — tweedledee crowd were disposed only to enquire in one direction — • that of the cheap — labour -loving planter, ' who -was fully prepared for the party's advent, and had them abundantly suppiied with pamphlets and other literature to prove the need for indentured labour. !■ Independent enquiry of the Samoans themselves was severely discouraged, not only by the planter, but- by the bulk of the parliamentary party. True, on one occasion there was an interview with some chiefs, who, had beeh instructed by the Samoans to ventilate .certain matiere, but, according to Mr Bartram, Captain Cotton and Sir James Allen reached the chiefs first, and somehow tied their tongues. Still, despite all obstacles, the independent enquirers managed to el'icit from the Samoans some of their opinions, and have been tellihg us about them. First we are told, there is no shortage of labour in Samoa at present — or "would not be, if the planter was prepared to pay a decent living wage to the Samoan worker. The planter says that the cocoa and copra industries will not bear high wages. I! that were true, it would be well to let them die, for, as the late Richard Seddon once stated, no industry which could not afford healthy living conditions to those engaged in it was any good to any country. But its truth may be doubted in view of the fact that the Samoan worker, on liis own scrap of land, and with his own crude methods and appliances, can make nearly as much a day as the planter wants to pay his labourer in a month. Secondly, it is said that the Samoans wisn to preserve their racial purity, of which they are very proud, and which ^s threatened with destruction by the wholesale influx of Chinese and other coolie labour. If this is their desire, then it should certainly take priorityover the planters' greedy wish for cheaper labour., Our rights in Samoa are narrowly limited by those of the Samoans themselves, and if we ignore this fact it is probable that the Samoan will grow to think that the difference between German rule and British — or New Zealand — rule is just the difference between the frying pan and the fire. Reports of motor accidents make flat reading, They are "stated by frequence into commonest common-place." There is a dreary sameness ahout them all. Somebody is either incompetent^ or reckless — and hey presto! several beds are requisitioned in the nearest hospital, and the local undertaker finds it ha-rd to keep the smile off his usually severe face. Sometiiiies the reckless or incompetent one breaks his own neck only, and then the world goes on its way rejoicing. But { more often he escapes Scot free, worse luck, while his passengers, or some wretched pedeslriaiv wake up in heaven or the hospital. And, nearly always, it is a "regrettable accident," no blame being attachable to anyone. But is it not ahout time that some steps were taken to' safeguard the public's lives and limbs. True, we already have some half-hearted regulations, limiting speed, providing a minimum age limit for txai-drivers (though not for the drivers of privato cars) etc. But these fall far . short of the public need. It is time that the powers that be took , the matter up in earnest, and insist that no one shall drive a motor car in public until he has proved his fifc- ,

ness by the most rigorous tests. This, while not annihilating the possibility of accident, would certainly reduce the present jeopardy to life and limb. Speaking of motor hogs. I recently" came- across a curious passage in an old hook, which had a strange ring of historic coincidence or propliecy about it. It ran as follows : — "At the close of the eighteenth, and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the borderland between France and Germany was infested by bands of desperadoes, who were a terror to all the peaceful inhabitants. Bands of brigands roamed about, committing every kind of atrocity. They were often called Chauffeurs, or Scorchers. . . . Sometimes they were called Garotters, or Stranglers." Well they must have been milder mannered people in those days. Now the man .wlio has just managed to save his skin by skipping nimbly out of ihe way of a Chauffeur or Scorcher does not call, him a Garotter or Strangler. He generally calls him a — • — — — ■ — — - And, as a rule the epithets are quite in place.