TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 28, 1 August 1907, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Again Mr. R. M'Kenzie's Noxious Weeds Bill has produced "Mentally a rank growth of nonObfuscated." sense in the House of Representatives. It looksas if this hall of tho legislators is to be a "continuous house"— a place where vaudeville runs riot night and day. Is one of the four citting daj'S of each week to be given up to buffoonery? "Mentally obfuscated," a phrase used by Mr. Remington yesterday, i* but a genial, merciful way of describing soma of the members who wore responsible for squandering hours of time for which, the conutry has to pay dearly. Again, tho object of the childish, stoiioirall was to block the way to discussion of measures for the abolition of the duty on flour and the ending cf plural voting, which are associated with Mr. Hogg s name. Again, several legislative ostriches, by burying their heads in the sandi> of their own 2>uorility, thought they would escape the danger of being dragged into a commonsense debate. According to My. Hogg's complaint, Mr. M'Kenzie's Bill has been persistently used to impede progress, and the member for Masterton had just cause for arming his words with barbs which, though sharp enough, failed, apparently, to jjierce tlie crust of the malcontents whose heads were put together to mako a stonewall. The Premier wa.B querulous, but his wrath was directed against Mr. Hogg rather than against tho irrepressible Mr. M'Kenzie. Sir Joseph missed a good opportunity of thoroughly pleasing tho public when he omitted to rojndly thwack the persons anawcrable for Hie inglorious deadlock.

Additional messages published to-day show that there is much more Alien in the Japanese-American sitPerils. nation than the diplomatists of each country are inclined to let the public believe. Large numbers of Japanese have boon trooping into Vancouver from Honolulu and over the United States tiordcr from Mexico. Whilo those persons, probably labourers, arc ! invading the great American Republic, J Viscount Hayashi announces that Japan declines to consider a new treaty with tho United States based on the oxclusic of Japanese labourers. Some lecturers and writers nover tiro of preaching that | the Japanese are a stay-at-home people, who have enough work in their own' islands, aud on the other shore of the Sea of Japan, to keep them quiet there for a century or two, but these assurances will hardly fit in with recent developments. Japan's success against Russia has no doubt put very big"ideas into the little heads of the men of Nippon, and very gently, but very determinedly, the race is 'claiming all the privileges of members of the European concert. The fyrown men are striving for the right to enter other countries without restriction, and it seems that they will be content with nothing short •of a latch-key to give them admission into any port at any time. Indeed, a skeleton key has just been used to let aya v number into the United States. New Zcalanders have been largely disposed to " enthuse " over the Mother Country's allies, and the Asiatics have smiled under the admiration, but the people here must be prepared to see the subtle smile change into a frown some day i when the whites are unwilling to give tho yellows exactly what they want.

In Dunedin Captain Douglas intends asking the Employers' AsFor iociation to grant preferDefence. ence to volunteers, owing to " the lack of public interest in regard to tho volunteer movement." Though the apathy of the people may not bo so disheartening in other centres, it is sufficiently marked to^adden enthusiasts. The Minister pf Defence (the Hon. R. M'Nab) has repeatedly given assurances that ho and his colleagues are in tordial sympathy with projects for improving the national dofonsivo system, and they have furnished evidence of the sincerity of their declarations, but Governmental activity will accomplish nothing if the peoplo are content to remain shiggi&h. The Minister himself has found cause to appeal to omployers to bo considerate (in their own interests) with volunteers in their service by allowing them reasonable facilities for making themselves competent soldiers. New Zealand has been so long enjoying pence and plenty that there has grown up a disposition to regard tho volunteer as a costly ornament, rather than a very useful insurance against foreign invasion. Tho volunteer does ! not give up his time and comfort in the present and engage to risk his lifo when required for his own amusement, but the attitudo of the public sometimes implies a belief that the citizen soldier is an automatic toy. manoeuvring "just for the fun of tht thing." These thoughtless people risk a very disagreeable awakening.

As a political candidate, the Rev. It. J. Campbell , the well-known Back to Congregationalist minister, the Land, should be decidedly intercbtinar; as a member of Parliament ho would probably not be a success. Mr. Campbell has by hin s more recent utterances caused quite a flutter in theological ejrcles; and those who know him as a person of much fervour and decided opinions will, while not, perhaps, seeing oyc to eyo with him, respect him as a very able man who has the courage of his convictions and whoso sincerity is undoubted. About forty years of ago, he is •of pleasant appearance/ and, by the way, totally unlike tho Socialist of popular imagination—tho Socialifct with bair all over his face, and wearing belts full of bowic knives. Ho has a fine voice, and as a preacher has never failed to draw crowds to tho City Temple. His fame h&n evidontly reached Wales, where they often tiunk of politics when football is not to tho fore (this is the close season for foot, ball in the Principality), so some of tho Welshmen of Cardiff, liking a vigorous speaker next tc a vigorous footballer, have asked him to stand for tho coalonolis, and in the Socialist interest. Mr. Campbell, if the cable message in today's > issue is not misinterpreted, is, liko Barkis, "willin'," and he has already spoken at Trjdcgar. The keynote of his address was ovidently the oternal land ciuestion, which troubled the ancients, and will doubtless continue to be a bone of contention for all time. Tho first commandment, he said, was " get hold of the land," which is" good advice, if only satisfactory ways and moanß can bo^dovised. Mr. Campbell, as nn impracticablo politician, is, however, hardly the one likely to accomplish that difficult feat. Still he may provo a magnetic leader in a great crusade.

With Consols down to 82j[, tho lowest price touched since !818. tho Consola. year of tho gront Irish famine, many peopln who ordinarily take no interest in tho movements of gilt-edged finance arc curious to know what factors are responsible for this constant whittling in the price of Britain's greatest security — one that has been synonymous with all that makes for strength, stability, and safety in an' investment. Many explanations have bpen given, and a few weeks ago Lords Rothschild and Avebnry were reported by cable to have asserted that the principal agencies in causing tho decline. ir> the quotations woro President Roosevelt's attack on the railway intcrestß in the United States, tho French Income Tax proposals, and .the Socialistic movement in England— which combination was " killing tho gooso that lav 3 tho goldon eggs." On the other hnnd, emiuoat city financiers, such M Mr. Alban

Gibbs, of Messrs. Antony Gibbs and Sons, attribute, and with ranch roasou, tho decline to the creation of new securmes on terms more favourable to investors than thorn acceotable a few years ago, and H is thJj constant addition to tho list of f.rst-rlass securities returning a higher rate of interest than Consols which is tho prime cause of the falling off in the demand. Again, tbo last three yeara have witnessed an Jibnormal oxpansion in industrial enterprises all over tho world, and with the strong demand for money to finance these undertakings has coroo high rates of interest. Should a halt bo called in this feverish onward march of industrialism, which appears probable in Germany and tho United States, then the average rato of interest will fall and thp price of a security liko Consols will rise. Quotations will also bo powerfully aided oy tho renewal of tho annual provision for reducing the National Debt, and in this connection, Mr. Asquith, the Chancellor, is this year devoting over nine millions to tho purchase of stock.