TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

If we say tha* Disraeli said that seuoiblo men aro all of Sensible tho samo religion, wo . Civilisation, aro aware that we leave a flank open to seven pernickety OH-respondents who will astrnro us that Disraeli never said it— as if anybody or Disraeli himself could ,set boujids to what Disraeli said! If, on the obhev hand, wo say that sensible men ar-s all ol the same religion, wo expose tho other Hank to nino careful Marthas of correspondence who will inform us that Disraeli said it first. Therefore, with iho caution that belongs to experience, we say nothing about tho religion of sensible men, and suggest merely that sensible men are all oi the same politics. And, since ha happens to agree with us, we cite Mr. Winston Churchill in support, endowing him with all the honours of the allusion. "Tho trend of Liberal policy must bo increasingly to build up n. minimum standard of life, and to labour to provide that above a certain level of decent comfort competition must be free, but below that level no one shall be permitted to laboui 1 ." It is not novel doctrine, this speech that i 3 sent to us by cable ; but it is still unfamiliar in Britain, where Heaven helps those who have helped themselves, and the Devil regularly takes the hindmost. It means that Civilisation, being noble, has an obligation to its weakor dependents; and that Politics, being practical, meets the obligation. There is a variable line that every community can draw between its competent and incompetont citizens. It should bo drawn, not at the subsistence minimum, but at the comfort minimum. Wages and conditions of labour possibly can bo maintained at such a level that those who earn the wages and deserve the conditions may live tolerably with a chance of living bettor. Criminals, wastrels, and wealdings — the community'g failures— must be. the subject of organised assistance, given with one hand stretched in en< couragoment and the other list clenched in compulsion. The British Radicals have found a new stick to beat the Tory Stodginess. dog with. Two, months. ] ago, Reynolds' 8 Newspaper — scarcely, we think, a respectable j scion of the British press — suggested that if the tariff reformers were sin-* cere, they should sharpen the other e<Jf/e of their sword and add the Conimrfliwealth's "new protection" plan to tr/Bir programme. That plan, as most rea<iors know, is to protect the labourer aa well as the manufacturer, and tho community as well as the individual whova the community protects. In what r^fcscuro brain tho idea of a British application originated wo cannot say — the idea is obvious enough to have occiuT'#d to ten thousand British brains. Tiro© passes ; seasons change ; tho old earth makes so many revolutions as per f ormula; and the idea .is solemnly conve,yed by that excellent old grandmother <oi journals, The Spectator, and is'huj/»icdly cabled to Australasia. It has waa its cachet ; it has grown respectab'^e by ago and adoption. The Spectator is unable to make up its elderly '.nind to approve th& new idea ; but it has no objection to ueing it as a dart to enrage the Tory bull. It is "an ex a-avagant intcrforenco with commerce/;" nevertheless, sincero tariff reformer/ 3hnuld adoct it, although extravagar/f,. Why? Tho Spectator would bo ur/ible to give a convincing reason beyo £d the reasonable aim of partisan warfare to weaken tho other side ao much v; possible. The "new _ protection*" si{; course, in paly aoethec

phaso of Mr. Winston Churchill^ argument for "a minimum standard of life." Either you follow the principle of let alono or you don't. And once you start checking the' primitive brutality of free competition) counterchecks follow inevitably to the limit of their proven efficacy. That efficacy can be tested only by experiment ; and Tho Spectator should thank the Commonwealth for trying "new protection" on the colonial clog. The eminent rectitude of The Speclator is a concomitant of its ago : it refers to tho slow blood, the siiflf joints, and the. clotted brains that befall wayfarers who, by long plodding, have learned the limitations of the rut. And, of course, eminent rectitude is essentially admirable ; but one does wish The Spectator were not so super-rminently stodgy. Max Gotch, an uncjiialified medical practitioner at Aucki A Jorum land, has been ordered for the by a Magistrate to Public Good, forfeit £30 of tho large profits which, on his own showing, he abstracted from the public. The report furnished by The Pest's special correspondent makos amusing reading, but .the medicine lcayos a bitter taste in 'the mouth. It proves that with a "manner," with plenty of assurance, a man may make a very comfortable living at the expense of the people's pockets and, possibly their stomachs. ..They may rot only loso their money, but. also thai, which they go to soek-iheaifch. Much of tho credit for getting Gotch fined is due to Mr. Bennett, one of the Health Department's inspectors. . In securing evidence for a conviction he. tried to get a nostrum for anaylsis, but the wily Lrotch made him consume the jorum on the premises. What was Mr. Bennett to do? Hq had no trust m the "doctor," and less in the "preparation. Probably some such thought as England expects. . . " flashed into his mind, and he decided to immolate himself, if necessary, upon tho altar of public duty. He has survived t te il the tale > a . nd tha recital haa cost Mr. Gotch thirty times as much as a box at a Clara Butt concert. The incident will do something' to convinco the public that the Health Department is keen in its desire to suppress quacks. , The Premier, in the course of his Auck- * land spp^ch, reminded his Does the audience- that concessions, Consumer amounting to £405,000, Benefit? had been made the public throu£h tho remissions of Customs duties. Yd a beliof appears pretty general that ihe whole of this! substantial benefit does not find its way ' to the consumer, but is drawn off by th° middlemen. '-Off Dnty's" letter, which appears in our issup of to-day, puts this suspicion into concrete form. He names certain items which benefited oy the tariff, and after examining the wholesale^ price lists of the months prior and subsequent to the Ist Movembcr, cannot find any evidence that the public is able to make its purchases any more cheaply now. The position 'is worth a rapid survey. "He that can tell his money, hath arithmetic enough." Each individual is accustomed to protect himself against exploitation to tho best of his ability and his humour. Put shortly, it is indeed a healthy sign when the public} tho Atlas that shoulders all burdens, evinces a keen interest in tho value obtained by the expenditure of the household purse. From a cursory examination it does not at present appear that the public is being exploited. Of the- .. J34-Q5.000 which the remission of ' duties ' represents, almost £300,000 was formerly" 1 derived from certain articles of food. The item_ of sugar alone accounts [ for £205,000. The other wero calculated to be as follows :— Dried fruits (chiefly currants and raisins),, £32,000; figs, dates, and prunes, £12,000; treacle, £6200; cream of tartar, £6500; mustard, £2200; cornflour and maizena, £1200; nuts; £1000; soda, £600; total, £61,700. Jt is admitted that sugar, currants, figs, prunes, ' and dates are cheaper •to the full extent of the tarjff remissions, an d the footnote to our correspondent's letter puts the others, except' cornflour and cream of tartar, in the same category. & Mormon who tried to address a crowd in the open air at .Running Christchurch last nighfcis Comment. probably reflecting bitterly this morning about the perversity of the popnlace. He was actually chased last night, and not he alone, but some of his associates also. It_ was not a spasmodic sprint that the missionaries wero required to do ; they had to put their best feet forward "through a number of streets," and eventually the fugitives were protected by the police. These apostles may be wondering what has come over the citizens of ChTistchurch. It is several years since the inhabitants of the capital of tho plains had one of their fits of new religion. They have bowed the knee and havo bestowed money upon individuals who af forwards proved unworthy of these attentions, and it seemed that" the time was just about ripe for another bout of fervour in a, new cause. The Mormons may have thought bo early on Sunday evening; they do mot think so now. By all the canons they came into their own, and their own received them not. Has ChTistchurch changed? What is this strange spirit of intolerance in a place which onco opened its arms to all ? Once Cathedral-square, even at the base of John Godley's statue, was a pulpit for any man who thought he had a, message for .the masses, but it appears that the people draw the line at some things. Oriental potentates are not easily "drawn," and a Sultan Abdul submitting himself to an and his ' interviewer" and disclosing Friends, the history o| his secret I ' negotiations is something new, especially when tho narrative is a cucumstantia] admission that he has been playing fast and loose with the Powers. Tet, if we are to believe the story of the Matin in our cable news to-day, the Sultan, of Morocco has told the representative of that paper how he accepted the German Emperor's offer "to protect Morocco against French severity," but, as the other party did not fulfil the agreement, he "lest all confidence in tho Kaiser, and again went over to France," in view of which he asks Francs to come to Jiis aid. While we have some doubt as to the authenticity of this interview, we soe no reason to question the substantial truth of the story. European statesmen are sometinies indiscreet in their utterances, but few, if any, would confess to double-dealing such a 8 this. On the other hand, no odium would attach to it according to tho ethics of the East. Reticence there, however, 13 a cardinal virtue, and such ill-judged candour would damage a rulor more than any diplomatic deceit or treachery. There is much reason to suspect that tno German Emperor has done muoh to stir up strife in Morocco, and so far he seems to havo gained very little by so doing. Of late it haa been reported that he 's seeking to arrange some kind oi co-ope-ration with France in connection with 'Mororcan affairs ; but Franco is naturally a little suspicious. We read today that Prince Ejtel, on his return from the Royal funeral at 'Portugal, is |to visit France. It is not impossible that this visit may have eomp hoaxing 1 oa the aliened overture*-

Though the old-fashioned rat and tho match have not ycfc been spontaneous blamed 'for the great Combustion. Christchurch fire, other stock theories aTe quoted. Tlie "fusing of an electric wire" and 1 "spontaneous combustion" have rather ousted the match-eating rat, which seems to be 5.0 fond of scorching its whiskers by nibbling phosphorus. Both those agencies have been mentioned as possible causes of the flames which destroyed part of the Christchurch. Hospital The contractor who was t°moving charred remains placed a heap of felting on the ground in the sunlight. The pile was subsequently discovered on fire, and straightway it was assumed, by tho contractor, that it was "highly probable thai spontaneous combustion of the roofing felt was responsible for the outbreak." This opinion was repeated' to Professor Easterfleld this morninir, but, of course, he could not give nn absolute rebuttal on the spur of the mo* ment. "It does not seem to bs in the least probable," he replied. Before felting is found guilty on the grave charge brought against it, ,lh*re must be considerably more evidence advanced. The CkristehuTch contractor's casual statement is poor testimony to establish so sweeping a verdict. It is rather a pity that the phrase to describe this peculiar ignition is so grand as "spontaneous combustion." The syllables roll gloriously fiom the lips which itch to use them a» soon as the cause- of a fire is sought. liuman carelessness seems to have mostly gone- out of fjshion in the explanations of fiies, but people are not yet perfect.