TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 123, 25 May 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Ifc is fervently hoped that if Wednesday proves -"to- be summery Concerning the Wellington Rugby Football. Union wil 1 not postpone the match with Britain in a fear that a hot sun might melt the local men. On Saturday afternoon lady hockey players didi not shrink from the threat of a little rain. They went out in tlieir short skirts, alid were not afraid. Yet the motherly Match 'Committeo of the Rugby Union thought that the heavens boded no good for the sturdy jerseyed folk, and) decided for a postponement when players and the public were on their way to tho grounds. Naturally the great army of the indignant mentioned "gate" to explain the strange announcement. It would be scarcely fair to attribute such sordid motives to the promoters of an amateur sport, but they cannot bo acquitted on the charge of a lamentable 1 error of judgment. "Postponement' seems to be a word much loved by the heads of the local union. The selection of Wellington's representatives for the battle with Britain was deferred till almost the end of the conflict, and thus the chance of victory for tho capital was considerably discounted. It is prayed that the authorities will remember that Wednesday is the day appointed for the contest, Athletic Park the place, and that many thousands will surge into the ground, weather permitting. The officials should not unduly postpone the arrangements necessary for making tho great volume 9i iwmaft &*fli« ?bk mkJte^mAv&ix^

At last the barriers are up, the ban is lifted. People may go along A the Shelly Bay-road without Great Road getting a bare bayonet preby the Sea. sented at their breasts. Wisely, graciously, the Government has listened to the dictates of common-sense, and will permit the public to wander along a pretty reach of road on days when the artillerists are not practising — a reservation which citizens will no doubt gladly respect. The petition for this boon was begun years ago, and the joy of the granting S,s all the greater for the long, unnecessary postponement. The red tape that was stretched across the path was always a farcical obstacle, when it was remembered that prisoners, not blindfolded, persons whose patriotism would be no deeper than a pint-pot, were allowed the freedom of the coast, and free men were warned off. The snapping of the tape will revive an ambition cherished by enthusiastic Wellingtonians — the desire for a marine drive second to nothing in the Southern Hemisphere. They have visions of a road from sea to sea, from the peaceful boat harbour to the wavefretted rocks of Island Bay, fronting the open ocean, with Evans Bay, Shelly Bay, Worser Bay, and Lyell Bay as the intermediary stretches. That would be a place for a "breather," a magnificent road for ozone, a drive to watch the sea in all its moods. It would be a priceless asset for Wellington people themselves, and a much-prized resort for visitors. It is a proiect which deserves much more than to be " kept steadily in view."

A Stipendiary Magistrate at Napier has been obliged to comThe ment strongly on. the Obßcene Person prominence of the Again. obscene person again ia the streets of New Zealand. ' Drunken persons, s^id Mr. M'Carthy, S.M., "polluted the air with filthy language." On Thursday evening a member of the Wellington Shopkeepers' Association spoke about the "spielers" and larrikins who congregated in doorways as soon as the premises were closed up, and made remarks about passers-by. The police break up these coteries, but they re-assemble, and continue their irritating ejaculations. Obscenity, like other vicious practices, seems to ran in epidemics. Periodically come complaints about it from various towns, but a few severe penalties make the foul-mouthed set a guard upon their ' lips # in public places. It is possible, almost any day, in any central street of Wellington or any other city, to hear beastliness loudly expressed. The police, of course, cannot bo everywhere at once, and when a constable, in uniform, does loom up, the average professor ot profanity is discreet enough to seal up his coarse lips till the enemy is out of hearing. When tho police do happen to catch these offenders in the act they should extend no mercy; they should give no futile warning. Any man who utters vile words in the street is not usually a first-offender. The degree mentioned by Mr. M'Carthy requires some apprenticeship; these practitioners are fit subjects for the court as soon, aa they are caught. Cabinet deserves the thanks of New Zealandera and people The Passing who live in other of the Forest, lands for its decision to reserve 26,000 acres of bush along the banks of the Wanganui River. Last summer Maori vandals ruthlessly burned off beautiful forest on the scarps of the upper reaches, [ why, no one know 3. They cleared the lovely trees from land which would never Berve to grow anything else. They left bare banks for the rains to scour. They consumed the verdure, and helped to spoil a water-shed. This is the kind of destruction which brings sorrow to all New Zealanders who love their country. The axe and the fire-brand must, of course, have their way on hills and daks where grass and corn can take the place of the forest grandees, but the destroyers have sped their way, too, j in places where nothing will grow on the site of the bush. For ugly patches of | clay where emerald once gladdened the eye, the Government was largely to blame not Jong ago: To fulfil the conditions about "improvements" a settler j was obliged to hew down the bush, whether the Act was profitable to himself or the country or not. Thus millions of feet of valuable timber went up in smoke, and the result was a wilderness, a waste space of clay, an eye-sore, no I good for man or beast. It was a castiron rule,' and its rigidity in the past wrought much evil. However, the presI ent Government is more enlightened, and is doing something to make amends for past mistakes. It is reserving bush where common-sense demands its preservation, and is busy with re-afforestation schemes.