TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 50, 28 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In athletics the sceptre of power is passing to the younger Test Cricket, nations. In certain fields of skill and endurance the laurel wreath already graces the stalwarts raised in the younger pastures. The causes may be hard to trace ; the effects are obvious. England's cricketing prestige has suffered by the disastrous campaign of Jones's team. Cricket appears to have joined tennis, rowing, Uugby, swimming ; a few sports in which English supremacy has been successfully challenged by colonial youth. The English press will again discuss the fruitful theme "Is Britain plnyed out?" T'n cricket this season she has most certainly been out-played. In the match concluded yesterday one could not help feeling that whrftever their lcawny on the first innings the Australians would ultimately win. The tsst matches have emphasised two things. The first is that Australian cricket ie as virile ns ever, and that her represe ttatives still play a masterful and resourceful game. Above all, they have versatility. Witness the success of Hill and Hartigan at Adelaide, Armstrong at Melbourne, and Trumpsr at Sydney. The second point is that England, if she is to preserve her ciicketing reputation, cannot afford to be represented by any eleven but the very best. It must bo truly international. We now see that the estimate of Jones's eleven as a good M.C.C. team, only, has been confirmed bj, actual results. Whilst regretting that the Englishmen did not achieve a more .generous measure of success, y<?t full credit must be accorded Noble and his men for their brilliant victories. It is a gratifying sign that the "Young Maori Party is giving The Maori serious attention to the and question as to the nature the Land, of employment best suited to the skill and capacity of the native people, and especially tho landless Maori of tne future. For it must be admitted that of all the evils that menace- that fine race- nono are mors mischievous than that of tho indolence of the younger generation. The Maori of old despised above all things the idler, who, in the ancient proverbs, 13 a standing subject of contempt; but contact with the European, removing the former necessity for the "strenuous life," has also brought out a weakness of moral fibre, the sole remedy for which is useful work. No European has studied the Maori character with more sympathy than Mr. W. Baucks of Te Kuiti, and at the recant conference at Orakei, of which w.e published a special report yesterday, he enlarged upon tho invontive and constructive genius of the native, and foresaw a great future for him in craftsmanship. But, though the Maori's gifts in this direction are of a high order, the Lict remains that ho has not shown any great tendency to develop them under modern conditions. We are inclined to agree- with those who hold that his future must be chiefly devoted to developing his heritage, the tribal lands — otherwise, even if they are inalienable, he will find himself dispossessed by European leaseholders ; and, living an idle life, supported by his rents, tho process of demoralisation will bo more marked than ever. The old Maori was agriculturist as well as craftsman, and can, and often doe 3, faun his ov*n land with intelligence and profit. In that direction, we believe, lies tho salvation of the race. Young people with a spe.cial genius for craftsmanship, and with tho advantage of technical schools, may even now, conditions being favourable, find their vocation if they so choose. If a member of the Education Board had moved thafc this A body should buy copies Commanding of the Ton Command Boaid. mentis for the walls of ihe primary schools theproposal would have probably been lost, and denounced by all supporters of the secular system. But a local sciiptural enthu&iaet gave rolls of the Decalogue to the board, and tho bonid thought, apparently, that it would bs »i p,ity to waste them. It had something for nothing, and decided to distribute the largesse among the schools of the district, in plain contravention of ths spirit of tho Act. It was left to one of the school committees to let the board know that it had made a j»rave mistake. Yesterday whin this topic again came bafore tlie members they were content, to let the matter drop. Sermingly th;y realised that they were in danger of stepping into a mot ass, find preferred tho non-committal path. The board has made itsalf slightly ridiculous by Uk- incident; it in well sometimes to look gift hors&s in the mouth. If ths board is to accept tho Ten Commandments for suspension vi thr> schools, why not illuminated texts, why not thn whole Bible, why not the peculiar opinioiib of any p-isun who t^oes to the expense of having them priiilcd for picscntation I No Education Board should have

! any power to introduce any religious i element whatever into the secular system of New Zealand. It is good for the control to be reasonably local, but the basic principles must be national, , above tho whims of local experimenters. The board has burnt ite fingers ; it should be more careful with file. Kapiti is a beautiful sanctuary for birdo to-day ; it may bo an Maoris and a ashen wilderness toSanctuary. morrow. It was shown in yesterday's Post that the reserve will be in danger while Maoris are permitted to occupy a portion of tho island. Fire, which spread from the natives' land, has already threatened the forest, and the flames. may make another onslaught any day. It is essential that Kapiti should be very strictly preserved for posterity, and unless tho present arrangement 'is altered, the sanctuary may bo ruined. ■ It was thought advisable u o reserve Kapiti, and it is necessary to have the island thoroughly safeguarded. The goals must disappear, the wild cats must be eliminated, the Maoris must be allotted . other territory in exchange for their . holdings. It is not desired, of course, to have the natives harshly treated, and it is equally not desired to have them in a place where an act of carelessness might dc irreparable harm to Now Zealand and to the world, *or the scientific world is interested in this country's sanctuaries. It should surely be possible to offer the Maoris an equivalent of territory on tha mainland, near their present abode. This course would be much preferable to a payment of cash, which might bo rapidly squandered uselessly. The "drum ecclesiastic" is beginning to boom, in England, and The Drum the gun ecclesiastic is beEcclesiastic. ginning to shoot. -Mr. r _ MTvenna's Education Bill is proving no more like an angel of peace tka.il Mr. Birx-ell's, nor has his appeal for sympathy and the abandonment of ' partisanship softened the stony hearts of 1 the champions of denominational education any more than Mr. Birrell's ironical but touching plea that the interests of the children were not to be entirely forgotten ; (imid the superior attractions of sectarian ; warfare. "Unworkable" is the epithet applied by one distinguished Churchman t to the Bill; "impossible" says another; and "fierce denunciation," of which other details have not been supplied to us, is the ecclesiastical order of the day. Ou . tho other hand, the lukewarm approval which is all that the Nonconformists could display towards tho Bill on its first , appearance seems, as wo conjectured, to . have bsen rather a timely dissembling of , their love than a real estrangement. Mr. ' Perkb put his finger on the weak spot in the Bill from their point of view when , ho .urged the reconsideration of the UTban , clauses, but taking it as a. whole they now see and admit that it is an excellent measure. "Unqualified approval" is the pu-iriprt of the resolutions passed by Non- . conlormist M.P.'s and "Welsh members . not committed to either group." What- . ever his formal commitments, there is never any doubt as to the sympathies of i the avarage Welsh member. "Gallant '. little Wales" has felt itself to be under i the heel of the Church for years,' and it • rose as one man when Mr. Lloyd Georee l sounded the tocsin against the Education > Act of 1902. The brawl of church and i chapel seems destined to proceed until a '■ wearied public seeks peace by enjoining 1 both from meddling with the State 1 schools. ! "Look at the cost," is the usua' exclamation when a sanita i Cleanliness tion scheme is proPays proposed by fevel- ! Handsomely, headed men in a district, and the recommendation which the objectors make is the very thin gwhich they forget themselves. They do not look at tho 1 cost to themselves. They see a bill, in a lump sum, for a change for the better, but they do not see the countless ills and -"bills which defective sauita- ■ tion involves. Dr. Purdy, District 1 Health Officer for Auckland, estimates that typhoid foyer costs Auckland £15,300 a year for hospital cases alone, a sum which would capitalise at £300,000. Ho says that probably the ; total cost of enteric fever would equal • tho cost of Mr. Midgley Taylor's drain (tgc scheme. By n proper system of sanitation the people will not only gam in the decencies, but will save money ; and years of life. Yet it is hard to , convince the public in matters of this kind. They bee only the added rate ; | they are bliad to Ihe doctor's bill and the prospect of a wretched constitution. Wellington once paid a heavy toll to typhoid, but good drainage routed the deadly baccillus. But the same old lack of common-sense, ,-which handicapped Auckland so long, still charac- ; tenses Wellington. Daily the people run risks with the milk, because they do not seem to thine that it would pay to have an improvement. It is a error. The City Council's committee is dilatory, but its lassitude i 3 largely duo to public indifference. Tliß somnolent committee, and the slumbering public are ndvised to peruse a letter by Mr. A. J. M'Curdy, in another column of this issue.