TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 52, 2 March 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

More pleasing than the voices of all the Clara Butts, Melbas, JThe Gladdening and Pattis was the Rain. voice of the rain upon the roofs last night. People awoke jt midnight to hear the gladdening shafts thumping upon tho iron with the news that th-a clouds which had so often broken their promises had at last bioken their rcsarvoirs. To-day the steam of the earth is a sweet savour. So long had the downpour been withheld that man had begun to think that Tain had vanished froir the earth, but to-day his faith is restored and his face is bright again. When he went out this morning the littla channels scoured by the torrents on roads and footpaths gave him t>r-eat joy. Yet the jubilation must not lead him to extravagance. During the night tho level of the Wainui reservoir roso fivo inches, and the fillip which the stream 'received, is likely to last during tho day, but further showers are., needed beforo the- people ciin assuro themselves that they are out of tho wood. In the middle of tho morning, though black clouds were about in plenty, there was a^ feel of clearing-up in tho air. The skies have relented, but they still seem inclined to put the city upon rations. This pleasant visitation must have brought delight to many a heart up the vajley. With a little more moisture, and a continuance of this warm greenhouse weather, the drab brown of the hill-sides, which has been saddening man and his animals for many a. .week, should soon be replaced by vivid green. In a fine spirit of wholesome emulation, the picked youth of Tho .Mew Zealand and Australasian Iho Australian States Championships, met last Saturday at Hobart in the Amateur Athletic Championships. Their aim was to prove to us by tackling records and beating standard times, by running faster, jumping higher, and "putting" further, that there was no degeneracy in colonial athleticism. They did not always beat tho standards of the champions of the past, but they 'went near to them. Properly carried out these meetings aro beneficial becauso they spur on youth to fit himself bodily and mentally. And it is this broad aspect of athletics which makes the doings of a New Zealand team so interesting. Two championships were secured by our men on Saturday. Kerr's success would he particularly gratifying to thoso enthusiasts who paid his expenses, and indicates probably that the judging at tho recent championship nicotine at tho Basin Reserve erred on the siao of severity. Orbell won tho high jump with a leap above the average, and both these men should socuro further distinction to-day, when tho meeting, is concluded. Our splinters have failed us, Out we cannot oxpect tnon of the stamp of J. H. Hempton anYl G. W. Smith every year. Tho Amnteur Athletic Associations should not content themselves with the production of a selected few; they "should, in addition, constantly strive to raise the standard of tho average ; and they should guard against a growing disposition on tho part of our youth to become merely spectators and not actors in athletics.

Australia is now thoroughly aware that' the pests which ruin fruit Fighting must havo a war of tho extermination declared Fruit Fly. against them. A conference of Stale Ministers hna adopted a comprehensive scheme for combined action in coping with the insects which prey disastrously upon orchards. This decision is the sequel to ths assombly of State experts a few months ago. They agreed that concerted action was necessary, and the powers behind the sentinels have wisely resolved to take action on the lines set out- for them. The principal enemy of the Ofhardi&t is the Mediterranean fly, a hardy spoliator whose grub is omnivorous. This wholesale destroyer gained a slight grip in threo districts of New Zealand, but the officers of tho Agricultural Department, by prompt and drastic methods, managed to hold ths invader in check. Consignments of fruit from over-seas are carefully picked over, and this vigilance should not bo re- j laxed. New regulations, give the departmental officers additional powers, and they should not scruple to use them. It' was a reprehensible relaxation due to "local influence," which is seldom patriotic, that allowed the ily to slip through Auckland last slimmer. The department should sternly sot its face against special aitd specious pleading. Even total prohibition of fruit from infected countries should bs ordered if the authorities ever believe that this course is advisable. The farewell demonstrations to Commissioner M'Kie and : The Secret Mrs. M'Kie, of of the "Army." the Salvation Army, have an interest apart from that attaching to a well-de-served personal tribute. The Commissioner, tho state, of whose health makes a change of scena desirable, is an earnest and strenuous worker, who has gained the esteem o£ those who have come in contact with him j tha same may be said also of his wife; and it was right and natural that these feelings should nnd public expression. What, however, chiefly strikes tho outsider, especially at such a gathering an filled Ihi; Opera House last night — a "purely evangelistic" meeting — is tho fact that tho Sslvation Army posss.sse3 a valuable secrot which the denominations would g,ivo a good deal to recover; n:id that it does not seem to be greatly perplexed by tho problems which call for such gravo discussion at evory church council and synod. Tho army does not ask why pe'& pla do not attend its services, because, they do attend ; it does not complain of deadness and lack of interest, for it meets with enthusiasm unrs&trained. Nor does it resort to tho desperate experiments to which certain clergymen in tho great cities of the Old Land"havo been driven, such as advertising ''Bring your pipes"; or, woi-s-o ptill, taking sides in party politics with a view to paining tli3 sympathy of "tho man in the street," who, as a rule, has little respect for such methods Thb big drum,_ disturbing the Sunday quiet may havo its obj actionable aspect, but it has ! also its use, and so far fulfils its purpose j that rival big drums and processions ] would do moro harm than good. The army does not gain its proselytes by the offer of mi easy yoke and a light burden — on the contrary, it enjoins pelf-de-nial and rigid discipline. Perhaps, after all, its compelling secret is its whols-hearted belief in its mission, and in the transcendent importance of its work. .The fierce light of criticism flpshta' ' • » > Im'-i ii/ftiWte the m'.KW Zb'£-, Tho Price of land MilleTs' Combire. Flour. "Wellington Merchant" tilts at them, and makes out what, on a superficial glance, ssems a ! ca£o of Dutch commerce — of "giving too ' little and asking too much." But closer examination dispals this. It must first of all be impressed npon tho consumer that since 4ast October the wheat and flour trado has b-sen dominated by a. set of spacial and well-nigh extraordinary circumstances. The crux of the charge by our correspondent, whose reply to the agents of the millers appears in thie issue, is that millers, whilst paying as high as 5s 6d a bushel in December, could afford to sell flour at £11; ergo, what immense profits must now be possible with wheat a shilling cheaper and flour unchanged. Let us retrace a few months. In the beginning of November last Canterbury wheat touched 6s ; drought was raging in Australia, and London was paying the record piice (for very many years) of 45s per quarter Tue world seemeds faced with a grave shortage in wheat. Flour went to £14 a ton in New Zealand, and was not much less in Australia. Two things then happened. Rains tell in Australia, breaking the drought, and the American money crisis flooded European markets with cheap wheat. Immediately flour and wheat dropped in Australia, and the New Zealand industry was l&ft on the horns of a dilemma. If millors adhered .o quotations which on- I abled profitable milling, they surrendered the market to their Australian competitors—Ji& £1 duty being useless in the taco of a £3 drop in, flour— or if they cut prices they were mulct in heavy loss on their wheat, bought in many cases at top rates They decided on the latter couise, ftnd lost, as the agents show, as much as 33s per ton. We have only space for ono Other matter. If flour oan now be bought in Melbourne at £8 10s, it must mean a fiuther reduction m the price of the New Zealand article. With duty, freight, and , charges, flour could be landed at about £10 ss. It is apparent that the Millers' Combine can obtain merely the Austra- ! han price, plus the £1 duty, the intercolonial freight being almost offset by the coastal freights. Any further decline therefore m Australian flour will benefit ' the consumer here, but latest cables indicate a firmer tendency in wheat prices the world over. Tho remarks of Ling, the "prominent nr t • Chinese student fl who is V'nu- lng> .vIS). vIS) ' ttign g Australia, are ol China, judged worthy of cabling to New Zealand. We surmise that prominent Chinese students have acquired our familiar John's talent lor displaying the goods which pleaso the customers; and we have no belief thj Mr. Ling said anything whicn he did not judge it entirely judicious to say. Ac his information that "China is waking up" has been printed te-n thousand tunes already, in ten thousand newspapers and with ample corroborative detail, Mr. Ling deserves a pinch for stale news. His statement that China is following the lead of Japan is also matter of history. His affirmation that it will not be long before Japan is surpassed in progress is a piece, of creditable patriotic sentiment which will be tested by the event. There Mr. Ling apparently stops. Tho significant thing about him is not what he thinks fit to say to an interviewer, but his presence in Australia in what seems to be sonic sort of quasi-ambassadorial capacity. Ling is enquiring, seeing things, going to places, asking "What for? 1 ' If that is his function, or a part of it, then he carries about with him his own evidence that China iswaking up— though ho is not the first of such independent or State-aided envoys. Wo may take him as another forerunner of trouble that is bound to come. Ghinti must go through the regular stages of progress. First she has to acquire idens; then she hfls to disseminate idens ; then she has to apply ideas. Tho third stage means action j and Australia and New Zealand arc in tho sphere of China's active development. Both' have a Chinese population

whose treatment — if applied to Europeans in China — would bo considered a fair ground of quarrel at any time. The conclusion i 3 the old conclusion of "Johnny, get your gun !" China asleep was negligible : China awake is another source of Australasian danger. Mr. Ling is a straw on ths waters, and tha newest argument for an adequate Defence system. "Oh, for the touch of a varnished ham, and the sound of a The Trail pig that is still!" of the The pigs had -been Varnished Ham. still a long time, bo long that somsbody had deemed it prudent to batten down the wild nroina with varnish. Counsel for" S}. H. Cousins, the defendant at Mastertoa, pleaded that his client was a "poor man." On defendant's own evidence it was plain that he would, not bo a. ''poor man" very long if he bought hams at 2-Jd v lb, and retaikd them at 6d. He invested £20 on putrid meat, and stood to get a gioss return of about £53 — not a bad profit on th.j varni3h. This person knew a trick even better than the alleged Yankee who \va6 credited with foisting wooden hams upon a distant, unsuspecting public, but the wood was not unhealthy. The buyers of Cousins's hams stood two chances of being poisoned — one with tho varnish i>nd the other with the ? corrupt meat- It is phasing, therefore, '" to hear that the court discouraged thp "poor man" with a £10 fine. . Some amateur distributers of even-handed ' justice might go further and suggest - that a more mete punishment for the poor, but not hone:t man, would ba solitary confinement on a diet of the hams which he tried to pass on to the public. The police should not bo content to allow the trail of the varnished hum to stop at Cousins. They should trace t)he smellful articles to their source ; the task should not be difficult. Where did Cousins buy that £20 consignment? Are the wholesnle vendors to escape?