NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 137, 10 June 1911, Page 13

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

4 underfill change i- Liking place in the American. The ton.-en.-, ..( the feature which came in with the gospel . strenuous life i- relaxing, and uV saiiling Uwc is now the fashion. We mtber tbot the 'Viiiilc cure" i-.1 thin- to I taken very serioiidy. line has to nraetice J* |ir - l ' vr '''' l ".-cks smirking o.v jh.ilv before a iiiiri'ur! Then, 5,,-jnff to the fact that actions have .... isJlaSicf on one.- feelings, the in.chun"i -mile i= »ulili\ truii-formcd into a Luine expression' of habitual gladness. Lock happy, m "''"'• ""•' you will he happy- t'ndoiihtcdly there i- -oine sound .pjs-e'in the late-t of American fails. The Japanese are traiuej t.i preserve in all jtljciiltie- a smiling count,.nanco. They v ;; c ve. with R. L that inw t,'rate cheerfulness is a duty, and ,'j,'v have long since reduced their 1.0---liei'to - a national habit. U requires ,ome seif-contro] In -mile away all cares ~,1 worries; and it is pn.lly from the touragc of soul liiat keeps men and uomen smiling nnd cheerful in the face „f difficulties that true 0; ippln. ss >of heart is horn.

\ story of a judge's decision in the Western States of America is vouched for by the curre-pondent of an English maerVho is generally accepted as in th<main adhering to the truth. A man of ■'1 embezzled ">00(i dollars urn] spent it ":lying high," !(<• confessed in court. The judge might have put him in prison (or a period covering the flower of his Eianhooil. Pint the court pronounced this sentence: "Yon shall slay at home nijhts: vi»u shall remain within the limits of this country : yon shall not play billiards or pool, frequent cafes, or drink intoxicating liquor: and you shall m immediately tn work,and keep at it Ult.l you have paid lu,x every dollar you stole: violate these terms and you bo tn prison.'' It sounds like a busy time |or the probation officer.

It wns nt the old Rod f.ion at Henley that the poet Shenstono wrote his wellknown lines: — irho e'er lias travelled life's dull round, Where e'er his stage- may have been, May sigh to think he still'has found The narmset welcome at an inn.

I It was nt the old Red Linn at Henley I the other nijrlit that burglars found the 1 truth of She.i =tone's lines. ].t the i kitchen they found the welcome so well I came up to the poet's idea tliat they | stayed and enjoyed a meal. i;.it they I flayed their welcome out, and in their I hurried departure to avoid perhaps a ■ warmer welcome from their disturbed I host, they left much of their booty bei hind.

During the voyage through the Indian Ocean of two British submarines and their escort, recently on their way to the Far Fast, one "of the officers, who was sittinrr in bathing costume on the bridge deck enjoying the glorious weather, fell into the" sea. As ho was not picked up .for a quarter 01 an hour, there was considerable excitement, which was relieved when the Commander ol the flagship wired, "Reprimand Jieutednt for breaking ship. Officers anrf men must nut leave without first 1% permission of the captain." Tbe Sfly signal read, "llegrot having hroken sSp. I'lea.l extenuating cirei.instances. Jirow myself upon mercy of the Court."

One cannot help but bo attracted by "The Family MSC" a kind of time-table to health, cleanliness, and cooking, kiod the other day by Messrs. Simpkin, Marsh all, Hamilton. Kent, and Co., a Brm whose only fault is a certain multiplicity of names! The alphabetical arrangement of "The Family ABC" leads to amusing juxtapositions. One sees at « glance all about Haemorrhage and Ham, Ringworm and Roses, Housemaid's Knee and Humanised Milk, lees and Indigestion. Jam ami Jaundice, Ketchup and Kidneys, Leanness and leather, .Microbes and Milk, and, last out not least. Servants, Sewing Machines, and Shaving. Rabies and llacon ought not, perhaps, to have been so closely associated—actually on the same page-but we particularly approve of the essays on Wrinkles and' Writing.

Diamonds to the value of four millions sterling are extracted from Kimberley annually. Everything Impresses you at * amies except the diamonds, Vavs a "Titer in an English paper. Shaken by tiMimes on to grease tables, over which flirty water is constantly passing, they "" D 0 lustre in their raw state, and «'en when seen in heaps of all sizes on no office counters it is impossible to »«* of Hatton (iarden deques. The Wptation tn pick up a handful of ones and go away a millionaire is Hided by the knowledge that I.D.R. is ®>n rigorously suppressed here than »«rwhere. PllssinK Pnvv is followP(1 by bonder that minerals so plentiful and o cheaply extracted (the cost may "Uglily he given as .>/« per load and tho Md 19/7 per load) should be the ™«ted hall-mark of wealth and fashion. «»•/ lnfin -itely mors beauty jn a »mc flower-until you see the diami fashioned at .Amsterdam.

The recent census in the Cited Kingw the fossk ' kor in IWti < h MvWW mUsty tnmM at work - Among inV,"'' int "esting facts he ascerMdtliat there is a record of a een"'ll China as far back as tho -year 2042 Stall ?' mi " ln ' T "^ n in " lh <" l!,St 2 *** before Christ. Cnder the Con"r'°?. 0 / S°l°n the citizens of Athens Mivided and registered in four •MM, according to the amount of their C Pr °K ny " r i,H "' l1 "' The Roman tic" tV hur ' 1 """' 1 "ill, more statists ,;" a " v *' f '•»■«■. however. Tt <*te , f n R " n,,pr s, ; rvu,s Tu,,ius - "mile* ? . '" m "' :lnil was an nfrnir loan 50lpm "».v. Kvery citizen had upon thcraiiip.isMar.ius aud dwelliL Pr "! '! is "' Uh his " ;l111 " : >'" l •» eMh^' l "T v '"' h ." ■''■ »'i- Proper,,-, li «l record o m ° st ? ttnont slati " Bible -A f " '"'" MX '•" f "">"l in the '"the «ii,i "' ns " s " as l '' k "" hy Moses Stst eh ', r "'" S a n *»*n by the niSJU tlu ". »«■"»"«. "th" sun, of all con, r v , |]i(i MMrpn n _ their ZJ llm - WnU "'" •"""''" nf ftomt cs ' evpr .v ma!" by tlmir pollsC;; n Y' f «"*l «"-l "invar'd.al 7, are able to co font i , tSfaeb »t ■ Mi tli lo war in r J t::::::-::• tterelv njr " r ,!h,n " i! " ' l! <v. l.eing %UiL a COnmin - " f "'" I'* l '"!* "f the tWtrinnT 1 - U " w,,,,, " n •""' ''hildren 8 -.,"'' """ " M """ «•"- ™t W ' no " 11 " 1 ' • A " r " the l.evites n„m- "' om '" Thn?o Whn ,li " £60, pto bo uumbcred totalled 603,-

Mediaeval England had a more I .in.l-rro.Jy way of ensuring the good beM , r V, Chur n ,ill'° nS Umt SC ' out in Mr Church.lU „ cw measure, some dej tails of winch were given on this page I:.-I »eel< According to the Saxon latv ot frank-pledge uh.ch remained in force until 1.1.0, no hosteler might entertain a foro.gnor longer than a day and a night, unless he undertook to answer for his • guests behaviour. No foreigners were allowed to keep hostels in London. >o,„o became naturalised in order to ■l"alif.v lor tins privilege. Even these «tp not sullered to compote on equal i; r "'l' V ' t,le , nntiven, being required ■ keep their houses "in the heart of the ( ity. mid rigidly excluded from the more profitable regions on the banks of tne lhan.es.

Hustling America our. certainly show slackness upon occasion. The disaster ■it Allwinv has led to an inquiry into the provision made for extinguishing fire at the ( , pitol in Washington. 'That im.hling containing many rooms filled will, papers and books, has been found to possess no equipment for sending instantaneous fire alarms. The chief orf the tapitol police, on notifying to the head of tho Washington fire'brigade his discovery that he had no fire alarm boxes tinder his care, receive! the reply on are charged with then, on the records Further investigation disclosed the fact that about fifteen years ago a number of boxes were sent to the Capitol to be installed there. Thcv found their way to a store-room, whore they nave remained ever since.

Canon Lyttelton, who has suppressed lIIe historical practice of birching at hton and replaced it by the more painful cane, was ever a votary of the latter instrument of education and torture. \\ hen lie was headmaster of Hailevbnrv he beat 110 boys in ono night. The rea. son of this (logging Juggernaut was as follows: The Canon had rofusoa to «ivo a holiday in honour of an English success over the Boers. This incensed the boys as 120 had left tho term before especially to go to the front, so they struck work, broke Lytt-elton's window, and marched round tho countryside. In the evening the Canon announced from the pulpit in chapel that he "would visit the houses." No one quite understood what he meant till ho appeared accompanied by his manservant holding a sheaf of canes. In each house ho called out tho upper school boys and beat thorn. This took him over' throe hours, the number of strokes given to each delinquent ranging from four upwards.

Some statistics published by tho founder of the League of Large Families show that there are nearly .'1,000.000 families in France in which there is one child. Families witl. two children come next; but there are more families with no children at all than three. The families with four children are less than a million in number, and those with five only just over half a million. The curious thing is that the families with seventeen children are more numerous than those with sixteen. Oniy at that late point in the calculation does one come upon a symptom of the record br-.iking spirit of the age.

Why the Argentine Republic recently gave a big naval contract to certain American firms is a question that has puzzled many minds, as in naval circles in this country and the I'nited States it was thought, certain that a British firm would be given the work. The whole story (says a London daily), a part of which was suppressed because of possible action in Washington, is interesting. It seems that American government officials took it upon themselves to offer the Argentine naval authorities certain concessions if the contract went to American firms. Argentine officers were allowed on the latest American battleships, and in the Navy Department in Washington they were given information concerning the. innermost secrets of the American Navy. This was all engineered by a big trust, who 'brought its gigantic influence to bear on a high-placed Government official at ; Washington. This is why a certain British shipbuilding fLr.m is now lament)ing the loss of a good fat £2,000,000. the price that will be paid by the Argentines for their new battleships.

The story of th.i ugly duckling seems an appropriate fable to turn into" reality at a zoo. and though this sort of surprise is familiar enough in these topsyturvy times, it do- 1 ., not occur very often in the religion of hard-and-fast classification which we know as natural history. In Hanover-square, London, where the Royal Zoologists keep their archives, they will show yon all the nations of the earth, zoologically speaking, and almost try to persuade you, as Faust paid, that, there is nothing more to know. Yet species keep on turning up in remote places, and these learned gentlemen are continually lecturing on novelties. This lime the all-surprising "find" has turned up, nnt in the centre of Africa, but in the heart of Regent's Park, in the London Zoo. An uncouth amphibian that has been enjoying a life of "slnppiness" turns out to be a rarity unguossed. Some savants pointed to his fins and .said he was a Ross's seal: others discoursed upon his habits, and pronounced him something else. It now turns out, that his nose, is lengthening "wisiblv," an,l in little or no time he will be a full-blown sea elephant. We hope they will break the tidings to him gently, for we dare swear that, like the rest, of us, his ambitions run counter to his state of life.

There is probably no exact parallel to the course which has for some years been followed and which last month was practically completed by Dr. Daniel K. Pearsons, the Chicago philanthropist, in the giving away of his fortune. He has given away about £1.000.000 in sums of various sizes, to a great number of c lucat'ional institutions in all parts of the States and in other countries, until now, at the age of ninety-one years, he "retires from public life"—that is. stops making these gifts—for the reason that be has left only enough to maintain himself for the 'rest of bis life Tt is a unique r.voi-.1. and it is one which will probably not bo numerously imitated; indeed, it probably could not he followed in very many cases. lint it comprises

sonic features of more that, ordinarily instructive interest. There is much ]iri:li:il wisdom in thus givnu a.v.v money during the giver's lifetime instead of leaving it in a will. The tax on legacies is avoided, in which respect the state is, of course, the loser; the danger of costly will contests is avoided: the Liver is able to see that his gifts are applied as he wishes, and he probably rewives a larger degree of personal enjoyment from bis benefactions. Moreover, the beneficiaries receive the gifts inr.-h more promptly than they would if they had to wait for his death. The course is also commended by some higher ethical consideration* which need not here he discussed in detail. Tiiese features are common to tho benefactions of many other persons who have been and are large sums during their lives, the unique characteristics of Dr. Pearson's ease being that he has given away practically all that he is possessed of.