TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 3, 4 January 1908, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Tho financial news i*egarding a reduction in bank rate makes An the best reading of its Improving kind we have had since Outlook. tho American crisis in November stunned the monetary world. The past two weeks have revealed a peep of blue in the heavy clouds, and tho reduction of the bank rate to six per cent, is a positive gleam of financial sunshine, and it ia moreover a plain intimation, in the opinion of the cautious men who handle the reins at the Bank of England, that the worst of the storm is over. The open market is even more optimistic than the bank, for ample funds are available at a shade over live per cent. The seven per cent, rate was practically a prohibitive ' one, and the world's trade in consequence shrunk to absolutely hand-to-mouth dimensions. The high rate served its purpose by attracting hoarded gold, and during the last week the resources of the bank were swollen by the hug© sum of eleven millions, of which nearly eight millions were- immediately lent to an eager maiv kct. , Competent authorities have all along maintained that the financial stringency was the main reason for the lower prices ruling for wool. That their theory was correct is now confirmed, and the Bradford market hna at once reflected the improved conditions. Further evidence of the turn vof the tido is furnished > by tho continued rise iv Consols, which have hardened H por cent., whilst Australian and New Zealand Government securities aro higher all round. Tho Januaiy wool sales may be fixed too early to benefit any appreciable extent from Lho revival of confidence ; but we arc hopeful that our forecast of better wool prices in tho spring has nov. a fair chance of being realised. , It is a .truism (hat all the world, including tho reddest of the Sermons Radicals, is conservative, fov All The people have bscn.accusby All. tonicd to hear only one sermon, from oilo man, at la church service. Why? Etfmpjy because they liafo basn accustomed to this system, and do not care to change it. Mrs. Cooley, a Spiritualist visitor from America, seems to see no reason why the old order should not be replaced by another. She said last night that she thought there would be less distinction by-and-byo betweon the proachers and the listeners. Sho pictured a time when all the members of tho congregation would be at liberty to exchange ideas in church. They do this to some extent now, by whisper, but that is not Mrs. Cooley's meaning. Sho hints that the preacher will be greatly multiplied, and that instead of one sermon, there may be dozens. Persons who feel the spirit me ring them will be thanked for letting it flow among the others. The congregation will be a sort of co-operative preaching company, unlimited. Possibly the garden of life may be made more beautiful under this regime. Perhaps fewer flowers will be born to blush unseen if tho pulnit is free for all on Sundays. Will this scheme at last get the men to church in overwhelming numbers? "Boys ill blue" endeavoured to paint Christchurch a little red Eowdy on Thursday night. Bluejackets. Thoy upset a performance at the Opera House, smashed the windows of a boardinghouse, and made themselves a nuisance in other respects or disrespects. The offenders were from the- Powerful, and with tho stimulus of liquor they were carried away by tho glamour of the name. Apparently they believed they could take charge of the town, and that no civilian had any right to resent their conduct. Ultimately they were arraigned , before their officers, and admonished, with tho result that the behaviour of the squads which visited the city yesterday showed an improvement. Of course, bluejackets, after they have been penned up at sea for a time, tend to "spread" tnemselves to some extent when they go ashore, but the people of the ditiea would like to see proper bounds set to the "spreading." Wellington has not been without disagreeable experience of disorderly sailors from warships. The punishment for gross abuses of the liberty ashore should be severe enough to thoroughly discourage the law-breakers. •An employer at Stratford, is enquiring for thirty of tho gentie"The Right men who are claiming to "the right to work," Work." but his good money — 9s a day foi' pick and shovel men — is still unspent. Members of the Political Labour League met in Christchurch, and decided that all should have the right to work ; whilo the debate was progressing the country was clamouring for toilers — real toilers — willing to give value *for cash. It is the experience- of most of the labour bureaux in 'New Zealand that f men aro loth to leave the cities, even when they navo no special ties here. They prefer to take their chance in the towns, and even suffer hardship rather than migrate to tho country. Their vote goes for standing in the market-place all the day idle rather than bustling in the vineyard. To them the country looms up as a dreadful place where tho hands must be vigorously moved, and tho perspiration will como on tho brow. It is a cold bath, from their point of view, into which they are reluctant to step. I (Some of the representatives of the Labour parly speak as if opportunity had fled away i'or ever. While they are lamenting in the cities lortuno is apparently smiling at them from the country, but they consider that the goddess is too far, away They .evidently do not wish .to go to I'ortune ; they v wftgt FfstjLOg tg cfims to them t

It is no doubt .unnecessary to remind New Zealandera ' that "A Peculiar Hutching is a member Flick. '' of the English cricket team. As soon as the name Hutchtngs is mentioned people think of a great man who has developed a "peculiar flick," a twist of the wrist which recalls memories of Rangitsinhji, subtle batsman, popularly credited with swivel-jointed wrists. Lieutenant Shacldeton may reach the South Pole, ond Colonel Templar may invent a ship that will fly safely in all weathers, but Hutchings need have no fear of eclipse byother aspirants to fame. For the hou? he is the man on whom the eyes of Great and Greater Britain are fixed. The masses in the New and Old Worlds are watching- the turns of that sinuous wrist. Seriously, the discovery of this power in Hutchings will be something which will keep tlie expert critics busy for a time. In a long day, during which the play in the great second test was inclined to bo Uow, it was the "peculiar flick" that made the spectators feel, that they were getting their moneys woTth. The wrist will be placed upon the autopsy table, it will be dissected, and in tho meantime tnousand_ of cricketers will be curious to knotr whether the wrist is a freak, quite peculiar to Hutchings, or the result of culture, something within the reach of anybody with the necessary patience.