TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 106, 31 October 1908, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

While all the. others Ministers of the Crown are having The "Campaign of a very easy time Calumny." in their constituencies, and in some cases are merely encountering a nominal opposition, which is aimed at securing a valid licensing poll, all their normal share of anxiety is being concentrated upon the unfortunate Minis ter of Education. Feeling is evidently running very high in the Grey Lynn electorate and the contest is expected to be as close as it is keen. From- tho outset the supporters of Mr. Fowlds have complained very bitterly of the "campaign of calumny" which has been directed against him. Except in the case of the Te Oranga Home, the details of these alleged calumnies have not been revealed, but if they are all as groundless as in that case, the intelligence of the Grey Lynn electors shoifid have little difficulty in setting them in their proper place. We strongly condemned the hair-cutting, aud we still bolieve that the day for this method of correction has gone by ; but the Minister, acting in deference to the advice of the matron of Te Oranga, believed that an unusual remedy was necessary for a, specially desperate ease. It is absurd, of course, for Mr. Nicholson, or anybody else, to point to Mr. Fowlds as a monster of cruelty, and no imputation upon his humanity or hie competence can fairly be based upon anything l that was revealed before the Commissioner who dealt so exhaustively with all the wild charges that had been levelled against the management of Te Oranga. Tho liquor question is no doubt contributing liberally, to the bitterness of tho contest Like other reformers in office, Mr. Fowlds has to pay a double penalty. • ll is friend? think him lukewarm because he has not accomplished more for their pet reform. His enemies fight him all the harder because tho poorer and dignity of his office make him the more dangerous m their eyes. But whether as prohibitionist or as single-taxer, Mr. Fowlds has neithtr pressed his fads nor betrayed them as a Minister of the Crown, and he has shown himsfilf exceptionally conscientious, painstaking, and fair-minded in all the laborious work that he has had to do. The misunderstanding over the teachers' salaries question has occurred at a very awkward moment to add to the Minister's misfortunes, but we hope to see him rise superior to them all. Whatever their political colour, men of such ability, high principles, and public spii'it can be ill spared. The Emperor William of Germany, with his faculty of sudden exThe Kaiser plosion, gives his people Once More, the sensations oi the American tourist who hastened away from Rotorua. with the remark that it was a mighty fine place, but he was never sure when the darned show would blow up. The Germans are never sure when the Kaiser will blow up ; but in tho interview reported in a London paper he seems to na\ c wounded them a little more than usual. Even his favourite journal says it is> evident that Germany must leckon on the lobtlict. of two policies — the Government's and the Kaiser's. And the Kaiser is astonished and pained. In oider to show England that Germany was really her friend, he explained how he had rushed to her assistance in the "black week" of the African war, after Stormberg and Mageisfontein. In his capacity of military export he studied the situation, and suggested a new plan of campaign. , This plan was ''very much on the lines" ot the plan afterwards adopted by Lord lloborU ; but the Kaiser's modesty impels him' to suggest that the similarity iiiay have been the result only of :i "curious coincidence." Any way, tho Kaiser's inten- , tion was manifestly good, unless his intention was chieiiy a desiro to prove how mum better he could conduct a campaign than tho British generals could. But the Kaiser, with all his mind fixed on England, forgwt how his disclosure would be regarded, in Germany. All through the war Gorman sentiment was. on the side of the Bows, and every British defeat was hailed with exultation, as the final British triumph was received with regret. All the help that Germans could give the Boers unofficially they endeavoured to give- them. The Kaiser's telegram of .sympathy with Kruger was a true reflex of the German mind. Thus Qwmany, going to the essentials of th« matter, is angry that, whether tho Kaiser's plan of attack was intelligent or not, a plan for the destruction of the Boers should have been given to England at al) by tho Ktviser. Tho Pans chancelleries are reported to be alarmed. The diplomacy of ©very nation has its little secrets ; and the chancelleries do not know what cat may next spring out of the Kaiser's bag. Besides, tho Kaiser is represented as hinting that France, ouv Vriondly France, might have joined with Knwiia and Germany to put pressure on Britain at a critical time — if only her terms had been met by Germany. No wonder tho Kaiser feels sad. lie has given his word that he is leally to bo regarded as the univeisal Peace-Maker, and his word is looked at askance. Of course, the Kaiser, though a- constitutional monarch, is not a constitutional monarch in the British sense. Not only does ho reign : lie rules ; and at Berlin they say that hib finger is in every pie. In his veins still throbs the autocratic blood of the great Frederick ; and he defers very unwillingly to the popular vote. In that way, he is an anachronism,, and his clock does not keep accurate German time. Why should ij ? — he i would ask— teeing that he ;» Kaiser.

Quietly the Government is progressing with the work cf A Station— not a giving Wellington Palace. a new railway station. Some time ago we announced that the State had taken over the land reclaimed by the Harbour Board, near Waterloo-quay, to give the railways and other departments more elbow-room^ and that the new i station would have its main approatli from Bunny-street. It is reported no-.v that the plans provide for a structure with its principal frontage on Bunnystreet, and the scheme now outlined should give ample accommodation for a few years to come. - One important matter is the connection with the ferry steamer for the South, and it is still , hoped that the department will be able to work a passage to the King's Wharf or thereabouts. Wellington has waited long, and with commendable patiencej for a new station. The citizens, grumbling a little at rare intervals, have tolerated a luggage-room scarcely large enough for a village. A new station had to come, but the people will be content with something less pretentious than such a palace as Dunedm's. They need a serviceable place, where use \vil) be more a consideration than ornament. The department will need to look a few years ahead, but not a few centurie?. The buildings should be on a plan that will allow for additions comfortably according to the requirements of the remote future. New Zealand needs economies, and the capital should be the first to set an example to other cities and the minor settlements. The important place filled in modern life by the Young Men's A Boon to Christian Association Lonely Girls, is now almost universally recognised, and the fine buildings in our principal cities wherein these institutions are housed bear testimony to the place they hold in public appreciation. The time, we trust, is not far distant when the value of like institutions for young women and girls will be equally recognised, not in theory only, but by the practical method of substantial support. On Thursday we recorded the celebration of the second anniversary of the Young Women's Christian Association, and the brightness of the celebration, with its characteristic feminine touches, was a pleasant and gratifying feature. The addresses of Mr. J. G. W. Aitken, tind Mrs. A. R. Atkinson, emphasising the benefits of the institution and its needs, were very much to. the point. In a large city, with its changing population, the lot of a young girl, a stranger, is almost always a lonely one, for her opportunities of finding congenial companionship, and what is still rarer, genuine friendship, are less than those of the young man in like circumstances, as the dangers besetting her are greater. Loneliness, sometimes associated with inadequate means and anxiety for the future, impair health and induce melancholy/; and it is just such cases as this that the institution is designed to meet. It is still in its day of small beginnings, but xs not on that account to be despised. We trust that it will meet with public sympathy no less hearty than / that which has done so much to make the Young Men's Christian Association what it is; and that before many more annivsrsaries are celebrated, it may, instead of its present hired quarters, be housed in its Wn handsome and commodious building, worthy of the important use it serves in tho community. Wellington has had some quaint con> troversies, such as The Free Place the debates about Muddlement. the " cab shelters," the site for the fever hospital, and "free" places for pupils from the primary schools at the secondary colleges. The Board o£ Governors says that it cannot carry on business without "paying guests ; it cannot serve up Latin omelettes and French beans unless it gets enough money to pay for the cooking. It says "no room " to the " free " lodgers who arrive at the threshold with certificates from the Government. The chairman, Mr. A. de B. Brandon, says that the Girls' College cannot* take "free placers" unless the Government pays more towards the cost of properly educating the additional scholars, and the Government seems to believe that it is doing enough to compensate the board. " Oh, we will go on our own cheerful way until they come along and make some proposals to us,'' said Mr. Brandon yesterday, and this cl.eer f ul way will be very drearful to the unfortunate girls who desire to take deep draughts at the founts of knowledge, and the parents may be getting ready for such indignation meetings as they held over two years ago when their boys were shut out in the cold. Mr. Brandon has much right on his side, as ,we have admitted. He had his way previously with the Government, and hopes to get it again. In the meantime there is a very farcical situation, likely, however, to cause more frowning than smiles. A Minister of the Crown has declared that the deadlock cannot continue, but the days pass, and the bewilderment of the public increases.