TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 35, 11 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

From the official report which we present in another column, The Main it will be seen that Trunk Line, there is every prospect of completing the Main Trunk Railway within the next twelvo months, and at last of fulfilling the Ministerial forecast of finality. The date when through trains would bo running between Auckland and Wellington has been deferred from time to time in estimates as the magnitude of the task before the engineer became more apparent. It is only by the concentration of energy on the central unfinished portion during the last three years that real progress has been made. Wonderful have been the changes within that short period. t The rails have mounted the lofty plateau ort each side of Euapehu and pierced the vast forest at its western base. Townships have sprung up like mushrooms, but perhaps with a better expectation of permanency. Sawirlills are- preparing to exploit the finest timber in the adjoining territory. Settlers are falling and burning the bush to make homes for themselves in the wilderness. The Waimarino, not ten years ago practically virgin bush, where the white man's foot never trod, is today in a fever of settlement. Such has "been the fruit of railway construction. At present the chain of continuity still lacks a link of less than twenty miles m length in order to be complete. This gap is at present bridged by a coach service through one of tho most beautiful countries imaginable. When the rail-heads meet next summer, fie through journey will be worth while if only for the sake of • the magnificent scenery and the sight of the great engineering structures on the way. The Main Trunk Line has been scandalously long in the making, but when completed it will be recognised as a work of the first magnitude. The road to heaven ia paved with mistakes ; it is only -when Wise man neglects to profiVby Precautions, his mistakes that he cobbles a track to the other place. Therefore, Christchurch is finding salvation in the mistakes of mea responsible for some of the defective building in the block destroyed last week. Mr. J. T. Hall, chairman of the Fire Board there, has had a bylaw drafted to give tho City Council control of the internal arrangements of all new buildings erected within, its territoryi and tlia.

Mayor (Mr. G. Paying) has expressed a belief that the bylaw will be adopted. Tho council would certainly be wise to prevent peoplo from ruining up potential furnaces to the danger of the general public. The liberty |of the subject should undoubtedly b<f restricted when the abuse of that liberty is likely to inflict great lo&s upon tbe innocent wellbehaved. In all the centres the precautions against fire are tot perfect ; there is always a kink somevhere — the watersupply, the appliances^ the huddling of housss. In the matter'of stipulating for fire-resisting internal walls Wellington could well watch the example which Christchurch intends letting, and also should not allow persoijs to huddle their wooden houses together! There has been an attempt to get a line of • safety between the habitations ,here, but it has been far from successlul. The builder has mostly had his way, and unless he is keenly watched he wifl continue to do more or less as he pleases. Those readers who hivo followed the reports of^ the discussions A at thß conference of the Practical Congregational Union can Body. not have' failed to be strurk by- the practical bearing of the debates) This has been noticeable throughout, i and in no case more than in the discussion last night on tho church as teacher. The objects .and methods of Sunday school work, the defects of the present system, and the directions that reform should take were discussed by somd of the foremost educational authorities in our icommunity. It is characteristic of our time that any discussion on methods soon finds its way to root principles, and jt became plain that the educational problems which the churches are called on to solve are for the most part identical, or nearly so, with those that face the secular teacher. ' Not only is it now being recognised that the time has passed for the unsystematic methods ••esulting from inadequate instruction given by voluntary teachers who, even when possessing zeal for their work and affection for the children, were often ill-equipped otherwise, but the elaborate "international" lesson schemes, embodying tho careful work of exports, were unfavourably criticised. The general conclusion wa3 that minute exposition was less necessary than the enforcement of first principles, and that true rehgioui education 'involved the teaching of doctrine with perpetual reforenco to its bearing on life nnd con- | duct. No branch of cljurch work compares in importance with the teaching of tho children who are to constitute the church of tho futurp. The marvellous persistence of Judaism through centuries of adversity seems mainly due to tho diligent training of the young people in the principles of the creed. The religious bodies that best fulfil their duties in this direction will be the strongest in years to come. This is bad news from Morocco. The British Empire has been Britain beaten by H brigand. That and a small, barbaric potentate Brigand. Raisuli, inaccessible in Africa, has made his own terms for the release of Sir Harry Maclean, captured and held as hostage; and the terms are little more than humiliating. The Empire in all its might had no terrors for Raisuli : he was too small a thorn k> be extracted by an army, and the Dreadnoughts could not reach him in his torrid fastnesses. Britain captured some of his men now and again, and even a few of his wives, but that did not trouble Raisuli : adherents were plentiful, and wives were cheap. Yet Sir Harry Maclean, having 'incautiously walked into Raisuli's trap, could not j be left there. It was necessary to r make the best of a bad job. So Raisitli get his wives back again, and £20,000. for J the Kaid's Tansom— 'and he- and his kin'| are taken under the shelter of the grand old flag : they become British protected subjects. In other words, having fail- I ed to conquer Raisuli os an enemy, the Empire makes a friend of him, and pays the ransom by instalment to keep him friendly. It is high diplomacy, what- i ever it appears. Raisuli, indeed, has made his little war so well that it might be urged that he has been a Briion all along. The glorious Elizabethan buccaneers probably would have owned him as comrade. Britain does own him as a man and a brother — at his. own price. " 'Midst pleasures and palaces there's , no place like home," The Discomfort sighs the weary citiof the zen after his shins "Palace." have been frayed and his knees bruised in one of the Corporation "Palaces." The humblest man, in the tiniest of "little wooden huts" — which are very plentiful on the Te -\ro Flat, by-the-way — is happier far than he who is seated, generally only half -seated, in one of the city "palaces." 'The council meant well when it decided to turn these vehicles loose in the streets. There is plenty of glass about them; they are bright by day or night, and well ventilated ; but when men and women decide to trust themselves to the "palaces" they must say good-bye to comfort, and farewell to peace. It is the high step that gives most of the sorrow, and a left-handed grip may increase the x pain. It may bo aristocratic to have a high in-step, but the average person does not admire this feature in the' palatial bruisers. The Mayor contends that cars of the palace type, vhieh can pack away a large quantity of humanity, are necessary to cope with the Wellington traffic, but h© admits that the high step is riot an essential part of the scheme. Getting stuffed into one- of the little compartments, raked by a cross-battery of knees, is bad enough ; one does not care to be maimed as well. However, the citizens may trust the Mayor to get these cars made a trifle less disagreeable. The Afridis are at it again. A few years ago these hardy Another Indian highlanders gave Punitive the Imperial troops some Expedition, sharp fighting, and they j are courting further correction, according to a cable message to-day. It is alleged that they are "making constant raids and are demoralising the districts on the Indian border." Therefore Lord Kitchener is preparing an expedition to punish the tribesmen. Lord Kitchener is a stern man, thoroughly military. He will send out legionaries to convince the invaders of the frontier that they must mond their ways. The punitive expedition will mean that many Afridis who dearly lovo a fight will raid no more in this world, and their wives and children will have to struggle along somehow. It is in the nature of tho Afridi to raid just as it is in tho nature of tha tiger to leap upon a man in the jungle. Tho tiger is shot; it is sad for the tiger, but good for the man. Must- the Afridi ha shot, too? It is not pleasant for the raider, but tho raided have- their rights. It is a situation which would leave Mr. Balfour in an ecsta&y of doubt, and ho would be loth to ever descend from the sublime heights of indecision about the merits of the case. In the meantime the Afridis will be punished ; the Empirebuilding will go on. Always the white man is shooting at the black somewhere on the. British Empire's immenso reaches of frontier.

The Fiie Brigado waa called out at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon to extinguish a crass fire at Rc-seneath,