TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 29, 4 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

'It seems to mo a peculiar position," remarked Mr. R. Flet"A Peculiar cher yesterday, when the Position." chairman of the Hjrbour • Board (the Hon. T. K. Macdonald) had ruled out of order Mr. Fletcher's motion to "rescind the resolution authorising 1 the construction of the dock at Clyde-quay." The chairman's ground was that there was no resolution ,to rescind ; the project was the result of an agreement between the board, the City Council, and Parliament. Mr. Fletcher, however, could not understand that ; it was possible for the board to be in a J position of havinjr n^> resolution about this matter in its minutes, and the chairman did not seem to be absolutely sure about the point. Still, he /ruled that whether there was a resolution or not, it would not affect the issue ; tb« agreej ment had superseded all previous vesoI lutions. This unexpected "termination of the debate does not put Mr. Fletcher out !of court. The contractors aireto bo, aikj ed about the terms on which they would agree to have the present contract cancelled, and if their reply 'is satisfactory I from the board's point of view, t\& whole matter may' be threshed out. • The city wantsf to know definitely ' whether it | would or would not be a mistake — a. j serious mistake — to have the dock at ! Clyde-quay. We ar<j aware that in 1884 Mr. Napier Bell did report that CJydequay would furnish the most suitable site, but 1884 is not 1908. Since 1884 the city has developed on lines which Mr. 801 l did not anticipate. Mr. Fletcher's plea, for a chango has not yob been answered, and the community should' not rest content till his arguments for a change have been rebutted. While the sympathy of the world goes out to the Queen Regent The of Portugal, bereft of Portuguese husband and son at a Situation, stroke, a special interest attaches to her sole surviving child, Manuel, called ' so early and so unexpectedly- to assume the crown. Born 15th November, 1889, he has not long completed his eighteenth year; and, so long at any rate as the regency continues, must remains under the lestrictions and limitations incident to his youth. He has not hitherto come prominently into view ; but is beli&ved to be, lik<j his murdered brother, more enlightened in his views and more in sympathy with the needs and aspirations of the people than the late King, and is popular accordingly. He has pledged himself to maintain the State religion and the integrity of tho kingdom, to observe and cau§e to be observed its political constitution. This would naturally be taken to mean a reversion to tho order existing before his father took tho arbitrary step of suspending the constitution, and the latest telegrams to hand to-day confirm this impression. It would appear that the horror of the crime — and probably the prospect it has opened of possible anarchy and civil •war—has had tho efject of uniting rival parties for the time with, the common object of maintaining order. The dictatorial Ministry has resigned, and a coalition administration is to be formed. In any case there must be a transition period and many readjustments, all the more difficult in view of tho financial weakness of the country and its internal discontent. The agents of revolution may find that instead of profiting by their crime they have only lost an opportunity. It is to be hoped that tho country will settle its owh affairs without report to violence, and | without any outside interference. A change of rulers will almost necessarily imply a changed policy — wo trust for j tha bettor. The German Consul for Australia, declining to attach irnConvicts in portanoo to tho proposal ■tho Pacific, to send convicts to German colonies in the Pacific, allays a natural aiixiety. Ho says that the party in the Reichstag responsible for the idea is a small party ; and that in any caso tho plan is prohibited by the trade agreement existing between Britain and Germany. The difference between the discretion of the Commonwealth Premier and of the Premier of New South AValos is measured by tho words attributed to each before the Consul had spoken. Mr. Wadethought protest should bo made; Mr. Deakin said, what is evidently true, that even comment was out of place at the stago to which the matter had been carried. But if the occasion for comment should arise, then Mr. Deakin ■s% ould offer — not p rotes L : tho word was too gi-oss for the circumstances in which be spoke; but— regret for ths German

settlements. We_ admire the delicate treatment of a situation in which apprehension soems fortunately to be groundless. The' ratort to Mr. Wade's "protest," were it made, would be the crushing admission that New South Wales should certainly know better than any other State the objections to convict 6ebtl6ments in the Pacific. As Britain and Prance in turn have admitted error, and have ceased to believe that colonies on this side of the world can be built well out of prison material, it is not likely that Germany will demand to buy old knowledge with new experience. And that is all that need be. said until we hear that the Reichstag is thinking seriously of the project. If sentiment alone would have saved our native forests, we "Tho Passing should not have had of the to deplore their rapid Forest." disappearance. What has never been realised, cither by the public or- the Administration, is, that the question is not only a vital one, but thoroughly practical. Naturalists have taken up their parable almost from the first; bub the man of science is not greatly heeded by the "practical" man— the latter term, as usually understood, indicating the one whose leading object is to accumulate wealth. No reasonable man can object to the use of any of oarth's products : the two things to be avoided are, waste', whether wilful and wanton or merely careless, and the neglect of measures ,to replace what is used. We would call attention to an excellent letter in another column, which not only sets forth suggestive facts, but makes excellent recommendations, based on th« experii ence of older lands. The suggestion of the_ abolition of timber import duties deserves attention. The destructive fires of the past month will have served one good purpose if they awaken the general public to a sense of the danger with whidi the country is faced. The demand for timber increases in the ratio of the population, while the natural supply disappears in a proportion vastly greater. When the country was first colonised, its supply seemed inexhaustible — a great part of our own city was hewn out of the "bush," and practically all the Hiilt, Wairarapa, and Manawatu wore dense forest — "the most precious crop the land will ever bear." It has been estimated that our devastated forests would have gone far to pay for our railways ; but tho country was impatient and began, as it too often begins still, at the wrong end. It is time that we conserved our trees as we are trying to conserve our fauna. Conservation and afforestation, scientifically carried out, are among the most pressing needs of the country. They have been neglected too long. The Transvaal Government has yielded to pressure; and some The Transvaal of the pressure, it is Compromise. likely, has come from the British Government — facing the turn of the popular tide and tho ominous trickle of byeelections. The Asiatic Registration Act 's to be relaxed by dispensing with tho decried finger-print identification, except for Indians who cannot write 'the substituted signature. No opinion on this side of the world is worth anything as to the discretion of the change of front : the Transvaal must be given the credit of knowing its own business best. Yet what has become of the famous Boer, obstinacy, that would dio but .never surrender? Premier Botha is fighting his battle coolly, like a diplomatist. The presence and competition of the Indians are the real sources of the Transvaal's trouble : it has to accept the unlucky legacy of predecessors' blunders, and of the blunder of Natal. Tlie fight has gone against Premier Botha fo* the moment: the land lost where the dykes were down cannot yet bo recaptured,; but.the Dutch and their descendants are a patient race, and bide their time. If no more Indians enter, the locust-swarm of this generation will disappear by degrees. Meanwhile the Transvaal gives way; and the friendly Liberal Government in Britain is shielded from one weapon of attack at least. Sir William Jukes Steward, whose bosom is ever thrilling The Knight in nobl© causes, has and , gona forth with sword the Maori, and buckler, and has challenged tha Lords of tho Admiralty to show good and sufficient cause why "a Maori of good character and physique" should not bo admitted to the Navy. The gallant Knight has been considerably surprised to learn that only British subjects of pakeha extraction are eligible for berths in the Navy, and he is, therefore, bent on obtaining nothing lees than "an amendment of the Naval regulations." We are afraid that Sir William 1'?1 '? voice, however seductively it may croon over the wasto of waters, will not mova the Sea Lords to agree to that amendment. Sir William lorgels that New Zealand is, after all, only a very small portion of the British Empire, and that the population is only about/ a million in a total of four dundred millions. No doubt the Indians, with a civilisation as old as the Pyramids, firmly believe that they should be admitted to the Nayy, but ( they are excluded. Everybody concedes the qualifications of the brave Maori, but his admission would be a dangerous precedent, to which Britain would not assent till tho press of a foreign enemy was very grievous. If a day comes when Kew Zealand's Amokura will be much multiplied, the people will- probably be glad to see Maoris enlisting, but in tho meantime th© Waitaki Knight's proposal is impracticable. Tho sorrows of Bill, alias Sikes, havfc appealed to Mr. 'T. M. WilBill, ford. "I submit," he said alias yesterday, "that if a prisoner Sikes. is indicted in more than one name, it muet tend to prejudice him." This line of argument did not appeal to Mr. Justice Chapmnn, who remarked that a prisoner was tried lin the names under which he had gone. His Honour's ruling is only I fair to organised society. A man whostarts out in crime is well aware that if he resorts to misrepresentation to gain an evil end, his mode of procedure will be brought in evidence against him if he is detected. If his name is A, and he deceives society in the guise of B, C, and D, then when he is caught he should be indicted as A, alias B, C, D. This country does Dot wish to make a criminal career a rosy enough one to appeal to a "born gentleman." It does not seek to give Sikes an impression that he may "crack cribs" under the cognomen of Tikes, Mikes, Likes, and afterwards to be tried only under one name, and, if convictp.d, to be gently immured in a honso, "with all modern conveniences." Tho omission of tho aliases would certainly prejudice tho accused's c;ise, for it might tend to give judge and" jury a better opinion of tho prisoner than his sins deserved. The criminal knows that he takes a risk j ho must cheerfully abido by the consequences.

At yesterday's meeting of shareholders in the Wellington Gas Company the chairman of directors informed a shareholder that the terms under which Mr. Ferguson had been engaged as manager of the company gave him no right to private practice. His takiug of offico as consulting engineer to the Wellington Haibour Board was sanctioned by tho > directors in th© interests fif the .citjj;. j