NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 143, 18 June 1910, Page 11

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

' (He excitement over M. Paulhan's brilliant flight is now calming down, and people are beginning, says the "Pall Mall Gazette," to consider the situation in •vririch we stand in this matter of the conquest of the air. There was a very Bjieresting letter in the "Times" from Major Baden-Powell, in the course of which he reminds us that it is now known that aeroplanes can ascend to over 4000 feet, that they have carried four people at a time, that they can lift over a ton, and that they can successfully encounter strong winds. Comparing with these facts the disasters -which have lately been overtaking the great airships of the Continent, he asks the question: <r What is the advantage of a huge dirigible over a comparatively -v small and cheap aeroplane?" It will be more easy to answer that question by and by, when our own naval airship has revealed, its possibilities, than it is at , the present moment, when practically all we iave to go upon is the fact that Germany has a dozen steerable balloons, is increasing its fleet with the utmost dispatch, and is busily establishing bases of oDerations for it. The French Government seems to be attaching more importance to aeroplanes; while the British Government has not, up to the present, revealed its preference one way or the other, or demonstrated whether or not it has any preferences to reveal. And most of our people are only just opening •their eyes to the fact that aviation i 3 upon us all. Such is the situation. It makes for, thought.

The other day we -were- asked solemnly to believe that cows are susceptible to music's charms, and yield particularly good -mil Id tig results when, their musical sympathies are appealed to during the process. And now the world should be grateful to a. learned member of the Royal Society for the discovery that the wa-ter-flea is also endowed with the musical sense, and is "particularly sensitive to certain notes on the tenor trombone." Neither a trumpet, a tuba, a saxaphone, nor any other wind instrument, we gather, makes the smallest impression on this discriminating insect, which, "when imprisoned in a microscope live box, preserves a stolid indifference to most musical sounds." Only the majestic tones of the trombone— the tenor variety, mark you, not the alto or bass—serve to wean it from its accustomed, apathy. There is one note produced by the instrument, however, for which this discerning insect has an almost morbid aversion, for we read that "when the B flat below the middle C of the trombone is in full blast it expresses its displeasure by flexing its first pair of antennae under its body." With a. trombone "in full blast," this is perhaps easily accounted for, and it seems, on the "whole, an inconsiderate thing to subject the harmless prisoners of a micro-scope-box to such an infliction. However, we tha-nir the learned scientist for his amiable researches. Let him now discover some instrument 'that will keep the influenza microbe out of our concertrooms, and a statue shall be erected in Ms honour.

The bete noire of the Gainsborough Bench (Bng.) is evidently the poor, hungry devil who tramps the road begging a crust and sleeping out by the way. A commercial traveller teHs "John Bull" that being on. the railway platform at Gainsborough recently, he saw two cleanly-looking lads handcuffed together. They were on their way to do seven days' hard labour in Lincoln Prison. Out of employment, they had talked five miles with the object of finding wort on a steam trawler at Grimsby. Unluckily, a policeman saw them asking for bread at a cottage, and lan them in. Though they had never previously been in trouble, the Magistrates sentenced them as stated, and the police did the rest. Seven days' hard labour and handcuffs for lads of IS or 19, charged with begging a little food for their empty stomachs! Thank God, we live in New Zealand.

Amongst those that travelled from Newcastle to Liverpool to see the great football match, just before the last mail left on May 6th, was a pitman from a local colliery. When dinner time arrived, Geordie being near the Everton ground, went into a hotel in the neighbourhood to have something to eat. After a look at the bill-of-fare, Geordie ordered a steak with potatoes and sprouts. After finishing his dinner, and when he had settled, the waiter enquired: "How did you find the steak, sir?" meaning, of course, was it all right. "Wey," replied Geordie, remembering its small size, "Aa •think it wes just through parseverance !Aa chased it through aznang the taties, and at last Aa fund the little beggor hidin , under yen o' the sprouts."

I do not say that a ■woman gets more material value for her money when she goes shopping than a man does, but 1 certainly maintain she gets more fun (says an amusing writer in an English paper). A man spends a pound and receives a pound's worth of goods; a woman spends her pound and gets, in, addition to her moneys worth, a large quantity of entertainment. When a woman contemplates a shopping excursion, she invariably endeavours to persuade a friend to accompany her. She seems to think that whether she is buying a new dress or a length of kitchen towelling, the transaction cannot be satisfactory unless she has a confederate to support her. This friend as seldom called on for advice; all she has to do is to agree -. with the shopper's decisions, and murmur, "It does suit you, dear," or "Yes, it is expensive," at the proper moments. And, in reward, the shopper will treat her to tea at a tea shop. Now, a man rarely persuades another man to come with him just to witness the purchase of a tie or a pair of boots. I can only think that the ladies take friends •with them in order to feel they have some moral support behind them when ±hey commence to harass the shop-assist- ' ant. Or is it because a sample may be refused to a single lady, while two ladies together might be incautious? When iwomen 20 shopping they inevitably spend a preliminary half-hour changing their dresses and other smartening up their personal appearance. Why this custom should prevail I cannot see. The man who contemplates the purchase of a pjfir of gloves seldom troubles to put on his frock-coat and top-hat for the ceremony. But a woman will dress like a duchess merely to go into the next street to buy a packet "of hair-pins. And then she ! wi.'] wonder why she is overcharged. ■Feminine shop-piug is largely a matter ot careful selection and inquiry and cora- • parison. " Shopping"' , is a mere incident a iiiiin: with a woman, it takes on ;JB nature of an ep,och.

"We ihave been hearing rather more •fchan usual of Justices' justice lately, saye an English paper, but really the case reported from. Ivybridge beats everything. The Hon. [Francis Lascelles cycled into a carriage, was violently ■■tiixown from -his machine, bad ihis ear ■badly cut, his collaT-foone broken, and one of his legs considerably 'bruised. In the commotion -winch ensued he so far forgot 'himself as to emit the word '"D n!" and, as a result, he -was haled before tie Ivybridge bench on a charge of using obscene language. Said the police-superintendent in cross-ex-amining him, "You admit using the word D n?" "I do," said Mr LaseeUes, "bat owing to my injuries I -was scarcely responsible." "Well, that is what you are charged with," replied the uniformed potentate; and the bench Iheld the case proved, and fined Mm one pound. Comment on this is really beyond us. We can only laugh. And when we have finished laughing we can only offer our congratulations to Mr Laseelles upon having seen with his own eyes the bench of gentlemen who found an outrage in such a monosyllable, rapped out under such trying conditions. How much does a boy cost when he goes to a public school in England? This question has been" widely debated in London recently, inspired by the discussion in the columns of the Press as to whether habits of luxury are enervating the efficiency of our schools. Mr. Page, the Sixth Form Master of Charterhouse, is inclined to think that they are; Mr. Somervell, the Bursar of Harrow, thinks that they are not. Scholastic agents agree with Mr. Somervell. They declare that there is no need to spend £200 per annum on a boy's education. Several of the newer public schools, they say, give an excellent education and training for £100 a year. It is only necessary to go much beyond that figure when a high degree of social exclusiveness is desired. A father who has had three boys at Marlborough estimates the annual cost, clothing, and railway fares included, at not more than £160 a year. That, of course, comprises nothing for the three months of the year during which the boy is at home or on the family holiday. It is improbable that many colonial parents will send their sons Home for such expensive "culture," but an English public school education is worth its cost for the thoroughness with which "side" is kicked out of any lad who attempts to put it' on, and for the 'better manners it teaches.

An Aucklander was asked to assist at the funeral of his neighbour's third wife, and, as he had attended the funeral of the two others, his wife was surprised when he declined the invitation. On being pressed to give his reason, he said with some hesitation: "You see, Jane, it makes a chap leel a bit awkward to be always accepting other folks' civilities when he never has anything of the same sort of his own to ask them back to."

English railway companies are contem-' plating the abolition of first class passenger fares. Observation shows that one person per first class compartment is not an unfair estimate of the average loading of express trains apart from exceptionally favoured lines. That is to say, about three-quarters of the.accommodation provided is unoccupied, and the cost is incurred of hauling many tons of rolling stock without any return in the shape of revenue. The tendency, indeed, appears to be towards one class only, and possibly this will be the ultimate solution of the problem, perhaps with some system of reserving compartments, or limiting the number of occupants, on payment of an extra fee.

What a pity that during his recent visit to Hungary Mr. Roosevelt did not take a trip to the Slovak village of Zakopese, in the Trenesen county! The overwhelming majority of its three thousand inhabitants know so little Magyar and so much English that when, the other day, Baron Ludwig Levay appeared there as a candidate for election, and began to address them in their official tongue, he was interrupted with a general cry of " Speak English! We don't speak Magyar!" It is a good story. As it appears in the "Times" from its Vienna correspondent, it is obviously also a true story; and the explanation given is that eighty per cent of the inahbitants are returned emigrants from America. Perhaps, therefore, on second thoughts, it is as well that Mr. Roosevelt did not take the trip to Zakopese. He might hays had a bad time there. The eighty per cent might have been rather pressing with their reasons for returning. But is not the story a further and very interestin"- illustration of the fact that the coming universal language is not Volapuk or Esperanto, but —English? (asks the "Pall Mall"). Slowly, but surely, international bond 3 between the different countries are increasing and multiplying, and the mort recent link that it is proposed to add to the chain is an Institute of Linguists. Its international nature is best seen from the fact that the first list of its council contains the names of their Excellencies the French. Russian, and Spanish Ambassadors, of his Excellency the late Italian Ambassador, and his Excellency the Belgian Minister.

But this is only one side of its character; the. institute proposes for its aims the furthering of the study of modern languages and the union in a corporation of persons, whether British or

foreign, who, either as teachers, scholars, or men of letters, interpreters, or foreign correspondents, desire to co-operate in this endeavour.

This is a very' catholic proposal. Hitherto those interested in modern languages, whether from the point of view of literature, business, or education, have been split up into groups of disconnected associations, societies, and coteries, if they have not been living in a state of complete isolation. The council of the new institute is evidently intended by its promoters, among whom one may specially mention Charles E. Jerningham, to embrace prominent representatives in the world of letters, business, and education.

There is room here for the literary man and the captain of industry, and especially for members of our larger chambers of commerce, for it is obviously not intended to confine the movement to London (says a London correspondent). Again, on the educational side it will no doubt include not merely the student and the teacher, but representatives of our leading Universities, as the institute expressly professes neither to --rival nor supersede the examination of the Universities and other trained bodies. On the contrary, it is meant to act as a general clearing house for all matters connected i with languages.

Another category who should also iind representation on its council are the chairmen of some of the principal education committees throughout the eountrv especially of those towns which are closely connected with trade and industry. Finally, it is proposed to apply for a Royal Charter in order to give it the necessary status.