IF YOU HAVE AN OUNCE OF CHRISTIAN MERCY

IF YOU HAVE AN OUNCE OF CHRISTIAN MERCY......SAY A PRAYER FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOUL OF THOMAS PITT A "CLIMBING BOY"

HE DIED ON THIS DAY IN 1813  199 YEARS AGO  

YOU WILL FIND HIS STORY HARD TO CREDIT - BUT IT IS SADLY TRUE:

A CLIMBING BOY AND HIS MASTER

EX LIBRIS:” THE FABER BOOK OF REPORTAGE II -"The Climbing Boy"

“The regular reader (I believe there is one!) will recall that I offered an extract from the FABER BOOK OF REPORTAGE only a short while ago concerning the loss of H.M.S. Queen Mary at the Battle of Jutland in WW I. But the book is such a rich source of interesting stories, that I thought you deserve at least one more. And so I offer you "The Climbing Boy":

"

DEATH OF A CLIMBING BOY, 29th March, 1813

Evidence taken before The Parliamentary Committee on Climbing Boys, 1817

In 1817 a Committee of the House of Commons recommended that the use of climbing boys be prohibited, but the recommendation was not carried into effect.

On Monday morning, 29th March 1813, a chimney sweeper of the name of Griggs attended to sweep a small chimney in the brew house of Messrs. Calvert & Co. In Upper Thames Street; he was accompanied by one of his boys, a lad of about eight years of age, of the name of Thomas Pitt. The fire had been lighted as early as 2 o'clock the same morning, and was burning on the arrival of Griggs and his little boy at eight. The fireplace was small, and an iron pipe projected from the grate some little way into the flue. This the master was acquainted with (having swept the chimneys in the brew house for some years), and therefore had a tile or two broken from the roof, in order that the boy might descend the chimney. He had no sooner extinguished the fire than he suffered the lad to go down; and the consequence, as might be expected, was his almost immediate death, in a state, no doubt, of inexpressible agony. The flue was of the narrowest description, and must have retained heat sufficient to prevent the child's return to the top, even supposing he had not approached the pipe belonging to the grate, which must have been nearly red hot; this however was not clearly ascertained on the inquest, though the appearance of the body would induce an opinion that he had been unavoidably pressed against the pipe. Soon after his descent, the master, who remained on the top, was apprehensive that something had happened, and therefore desired him to come up; the answer of the boy was “I cannot come up master, I must die here". An alarm was given in the brewhouse immediately that he had stuck in the chimney, and a bricklayer who was at work near the spot attended, and after knocking down part of the brickwork of the chimney, just above the fireplace, made a hole sufficiently large to draw him through. A surgeon attended, but all attempts to restore life were ineffectual. On inspecting the body, various burns appeared; the fleshy part of the legs and a great part of the feet more particularly were injured; those parts too by which climbing boys most effectually ascend or descend chimneys, viz. the elbows and knees, seemed burnt to the bone; from which it must be evident that the unhappy sufferer made some attempts to return as soon as the horrors of his situation became apparent. "

What can we say, in the face of this horrible event? And in the face of the equally horrible failure of the Parliament to act to protect these little ones? This was only 200 years ago, scarcely three modern lifetimes, and in "England's green and pleasant land" the Protestant new "Jerusalem".

It is, for me at least, impossible not to be moved near to tears on reading, and even now after a few years, on re-reading, this starkly tragic story.

I have had it in mind to do this post for several days, and was particularly impressed by the contrast in circumstances of the little boy Thomas Pitt and those of an Anglican clergyman, no great Church dignitary, or noble ,the Rev'd John Simpson, who was born some years earlier and died in his eighties about the same time as poor little Thomas.

PARSON JOHN SIMPSON'S HOME STOKE HALL DERBYSHIRE

This parson had built himself a mansion of thirty rooms now known as Stoke Hall which featured on a BBC “HOME RESTORATION" programme screened here last night. The house was sumptuously decorated, in conception grand, aping the stately homes of England and especially nearby Chatsworth. How obscene that someone earning his income from rents on surrounding Church land (probably stolen at the time of the Protestant Deformation) should use this income for personal aggrandizement and not for religious works. His will, which was granted Probate about the time poor little Thomas died, was a compilation of his vast wealth , once again , largely the result of Church lands, but bequeathed to his family in the greater part -  obscene and in reality corrupt, bringing to mind Anthony Trollope's "Barchester Chronicles".

Spare a thought and more importantly a prayer for little Thomas Pitt (who at his cruel death, was the same age as my dear Grandson Stephen is now - 8yrs). Don't be worried by the passage of time. Thomas is alive in Eternity which has nothing to do with time. 

*A PRESENT FOR SYDNEY

VISUAL BLIGHT TO BE REMOVED
NOTE THE NO.1 DIXON AD - EVIDENTLY A CHINESE RESTAURANT ON ITS ROUTE
NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS DIXON!

It was indeed a great joy to read that the N.S.W. Government has bought the Sydney Monorail in order to demolish it!!! HURRAH!!!

I did travel on it 3 or 4 times but felt guilty doing so because I loathed that wretched eyesore from the moment it was announced and my loathing went up several notches when I saw the reality. dragging itself past city windows at First Floor height with ugly pylons all over the place.It was a blight on the City's sightlines. Now it seems it will be gone by 2014.
An additional benefit from the purchase will be the facilitation of some new developments which the monorail obstructed and facilitation of more tram services ,  upon which the Monorail has had a contractual veto! 





                                                                                                                  

END OF SPIN

THE END OF SPIN

Defeated Anna Bligh

Anyone who knows me, knows that I take a close interest in politics at both the State and Federal levels, and that accordingly my interest in Elections  is intense, in fact our Election Night parties - in the times when we could afford them - were regular events for our close friends of a conservative hue!

So it would not be me, if I did not comment on last night's Election results in my beloved Queensland. In a remarkable result the 14 years old Labor Government was wiped out in the most comprehensive way by a Liberal National Party revitalised and united behind its new Leader Campbell Newman the former Lord Mayor of the huge Brisbane City Council which itself has a larger Revenue than some States and Territories.

It is hard to disagree with the Federal Coalition Leader Tony Abbott's summary, that the former Labor Government had been characterised by incompetence,lack of integrity, deceit and spin in place of substance. As he says the "Labor brand is toxic around Australia".Former Premier Anna Bligh who was one of the 7 Labor members returned to the Parliament - won her seat very narrowly, and in her absence it may be lost at the coming by-election. She was admired universally for her handling of the Flood Emergency one year ago. But the voters were not sentimental enough to forget the extraordinary blunders by her Government - e.g. where the massive Health Department changed its payroll system resulting in some nurses and others not being paid at all for weeks, others being mightily overpaid and yet others unable to tell where they stood. Then blundering from error to error, they began to threaten to sue those overpaid , until Union action was threatened. then they refused to take ANY repayments until some administrative procedures were developed - it was like a massive comic opera. On and on the scandals went. Labor supporters were particularly  offended by the sale of State assets ( specifically foresworn before the last Election) and this was made crystal clear in the loss of Labor strongholds like Ipswich and Ipswich North - both former Railway Towns.Under immediately previous Labor Premiers the Labor Government became known as masters of "spin ". Indeed Peter Beattie who preceded Anna Bligh had been described as a "Media Tart"a reputation he continued to enhance out of office to Bligh's discomfort. Anna Bligh never quite achieved his "spin"virtuosity!

Now they are gone and are become the butt of jokes about Labor Caucus meetings to be held in a Shoe Box!

TONY ABBOTT AUSTRALIA'S NEXT ELECTED PRIME MINISTER
AN HONEST AUSTRALIAN

But in Canberra, anxious Labor backbenchers will now , even more than before be looking to their own fate in the next Federal Election perhaps not so much more than a year away. They are already as much "on the nose"with the National electorate  as Bligh and her colleagues were with the Queensland electorate.They know that the baseball bat is still ready to be swung at them. 

Meanwhile Juliarr Gillard as she is often referred to, is on a Commonwealth VIP Aircraft heading to an international conference in Seoul.Just because Parliament is not sitting , she would be foolish to think her colleagues minds and tongues and ears are not at work. To whom could they turn? Labor's former NSW master of spin Secondhand Carr whom she brought aboard as Foreign Minister perhaps? - He has already been busy prancing and dancing before the TV cameras far beyond the call of his new role. Or perhaps Steven Smith, but then his recent shameful run- in with Defence institutions, has left him permanently tarnished. Then the plotting, faction manipulating, Bill Shorten is always waiting in the background - the very embodiment of all that is wrong in the Labor Party.One way or another, Federal Labor is heading for the same slaughter Queenslanders handed out to Queensland Labor!

"CAN DO "CAMPBELL NEWMAN - WHY WOULDN'T HE LAUGH!!

Welcome to centre stage "Can Do "Campbell, Premier of Queensland. And Mr Abbott we await your accession to the Prime Ministership!  

"HERE'S ONE I PREPARED EARLIER"-EVERYONE IS IRISH TO-DAY

ST.PATRICK FROM THE CATHEDRAL IN ARMAGH

The following post was prepared on St. Patrick's Day , but due to a major distraction, never was posted. Inauspicious start and end!


"
My Saint Patrick's Day got off to an inauspicious start to-day, when I put on a brick-coloured Polo Shirt and headed out with my wife. Only in the building's lift did it dawn on me that many would see this colour as ORANGE!! I could end up with a black eye!!! People all around through the day were wondering at the sight of this Orange clad old gent smiling benignly at littlies dressed in green going about with their green clad Dads.   ( Does your heart good!)


Then when I went to buy my customary Saint Patrick's Day  Guinness all they had was six-packs! Some days....


Anyway I am off babysitting to-night and I shall change to a GREEN T shirt in order not to lead the littlies astray!


Still miss that GUINNESS.........




But this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miIECtoNQ4M&feature=related restored my state of mind.
And my Grandson 5 yrs old  greeted me with "Grandad.....you are wearing a green shirt because it is ST>PATRICK'S DAY! "Did my heart GOOD!

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT AFRICA ?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT AFRICA? - NO, REALLY? 

NIGERIA FOUND

I don't know about you, but my detailed knowledge of global geography is not something to marvel at. Sure, I can get almost any country into the right Continent , and usually into roughly the right Region. But there are , I have discovered , some areas of particular deficiency. I shall by-pass the subject of all the various "-stans"and "- zhans" which seem to have proliferated generally "up there"in the former Soviet Union. It was rather comforting in those days just to have one whapping great lump of baddies , and easy to know where they were, hemmed in by the CIA, MI5 or is it 6? and the Polaris submarines. Alas, now we have Russia and Vlad Putin trying to stay Vlad the Terrible forever and ever.And this host of feverish "- stans"and "-zhans" all generally unknowable and one suspects dreadful - somewhere "up there".


But Africa  -  she cannot be ignored. Yet there is a problem. Those of us of a certain age.....learned what we know about Africa  through British lenses, when Britannia still acted as if she "waived the rules"and governed great chunks of Africa as colonies.So, what was Africa to us, was British Africa . Thus we knew about the Zulus and their terrible reputation as fierce warriors, and the Masai and their spears, and the tall willowy Swahili and their dancing. But we couldn't accurately place them on the map necessarily.Then the whole thing became much more complicated, Britannia discovered the reality of no longer being able to "waive the rules"at Suez in 1956. Earlier,  The Sudan had won its independence from England and Egypt in December ,1955. It has of course largely proved to be a pyhrric victory.


But a relatively short time later Ghana, won her independence from England and Germany in March, 1957.On the first day of 1960 Cameroon won its independence from England, Germany and France after a rebellion. By 1st July,1960 Somalia had won its independence from England and Italy; it is still in ferment.And on October 1st. 1960 Nigeria won its independence from England.


There was a great procession of countries winning their independence from England in the following years. And as I discover how little I know about them and try to correct that ignorance, we may have the stuff of many more posts. But for the moment, let us keep our gaze on Nigeria.Because it was specifically Nigeria that brought me up short, when I realised I did not know where in Africa it is!


You see, I have the privilege of getting to form a friendship with a Nigerian soon to come to Australia to study. So when I learned where he lives , I went confidently to the map of Africa and found that someone had moved Nigeria! And in its place was Uganda!!! Then slowly, my confidence crumpled and I realised that if I had ever known where Nigeria is, I had forgotten. And then humbly , I had to begin to search for it on the map! Of course I found it where it has always been in the very  "armpit"of West Africa!


That was not all I did not know, my friend's great country has a population of 172.000.000 plus  people . This makes it the most populous country in Africa.And the seventh most populous in the world. And I didn't know where it is!!


Nigeria has three main Tribal groupings:


the Igbo , the Yoruba and the Hausa.


The Igbo kingdom can be traced back archeologically to the 10th Century and lasted until British conquest in 1911 .There is evidence of highly developed metal working techniques and pottery from an early date.


This is a very poor thumbnail sketch, the beginning of my education as I prepare to meet my friend with whom I already have excellent communications.


The West is largely an open book collectively, like Americans we are known better than we can generally know about others. As a courtesy I think I owe it to my friend to learn far more about his country , which contains 25% of the entire population of Africa!  


Watch this space!

SIGNS OF MADNESS

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

I am more and more inclining to the view that the multiplication of the number of signs in our modern world , and the increasing idiocy of their use, are themselves a "sign"of a society wide psychological breakdown.


Anywhere I sit in a Sydney suburban train there is a list of prohibitions, each within its own red circle with diagonal slash banning eating, drinking, alcohol,feet on seats, loud music, etc. etc. Big Nanny takes NOTHING for granted - certainly not the possibility that you might be a normal well adjusted gentlemanly/ladylike -as the case may be- citizen.


Road signs are far worse and visually aggressive, and repetitive and often contradictory or unclear or silent about what you want to know. "STOP", "GO BACK", "WRONG WAY" assume every driver is suffering dementia. Yet those suffering dementia are not going to comprehend the screaming message in any case. Speed limits go up and down at varying distances apart - but in this instance there is a good reason : the idea is to ensure that you cannot remember the limit and will inevitably be caught by the Police Camera and suffer the loss of "DOUBLE DEMERIT POINTS"as screamed at you in brilliant orange lights on numerous occasions along your way AND pay a hefty Fine to the near bankrupt Government. 


Another over generous source of multi faceted signage is the dreaded School Zone. These are carefully chosen areas near schools where children are rarely seen but nevertheless from 8.30 to 10.00 and 2.30 to 4.00  the driver is obliged to drive at 40 kmph whilst observing a vast array of painted patterns on the road itself , speed signs, time signs. Speed Camera Signs, Caution signs, CHILDREN CROSSING SIGNS ( they never do - Mummy has always driven the little and not so little ones to and fro . And there are so many Mummies on the road that the traffic is reduced to 10 Kmph or to Gridlock.


All of these things did not happen in the '40s and '50s.We actually walked to School or to the Train/Tram/Bus . But parents t0-day are so insecure that they dare not let the littlie walk. Strangely enough the "littlies"are now not so little and there is an immense vested interest of nutritionists( ever seen one who looked healthy?) to tell those Mummies that junior is OBESE - the chart says so! And if the littlie does walk to School , likely as not Mummy will be dobbed in by some officious School Security Staffer to the army of Department of Child Services Fascists for Child neglect!!


You might get to think I believe we are on the wrong track! You might be right!


This is an official RANT - some hyperbole has been used in its production, but no actual littlies, parents, teachers, social workers or sign makers, or erectors have been  hurt in the process. 


That feels better!