TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 13, 16 January 1909, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Delicately the Prime Minister is endeavouring to allay Palm"Without erston's anxiety about Authority." the proposed dairy school. The Post has indicated, 'that the much-discussed project, once definitely mapped out for Palmerston, might be deterred sine die or abandoned. The ground was ready ; Palmerston's rejoicing over the promised advent of the institution is ancient history — and then came The Post's news to give sad thoughts to the inhabitants of the expectant town. The Premier has informed the Manawatu Standard that "he knows nothing of the statement (The Post's), and suggests that it is without authority." The head of the Government has aiso diplomatically given other replies, but they arc not exactly comforting to Palmevslon. In fact, it is mentioned that Palmerston harbours a "strong suspicion" that there will be no dairy school in the environs of the town. It is plain from Sir Joseph's comments on the "without authority" announcements of The Post, that the dairy-school question has changed. A little while ago the path was leading straight to Palmerston, but something has happened. Is there to be a deviation ? Or has the work ceased ? But it is too soon for Palmerston to utterly despair. The "no" of Cabinet to-day may bo a "yes" to-morrow. Let Palmerston remember the "blank cheque" of the pneumoconiosis trouble. If there is much noise, the comforting solatium may not be long delayed. "Give the baby the clock, the moon — anything to keep ib, quiet," is the latter-day policy of the political fathers of the country. It is "peace at any price," when the foreign money-lender supplies the cash. Despite frequent warnings and the persistent watchfulness of Wandering the City Council's officials Stock. — for the year just concluded there were 143 convictions, accompanied by fines amounting to £113 — wilful and careless owners of slock on the outskirts of the city continue to display a good deal of disregard for a certain city by-law, by permitting, knowingly or otherwise, their live stock to roam the open streets untended. Duiiug the progress of gome prosecutions for breaches of this nature at the Magistrate's Court yesterday, Inspector Doyle told the Bench that the evil was not decreasing, and the presence of wandering quadrupeds in the suburban areas is a perennial source of annoyance, both to the residents and the municipality. Newly-laid asphalt footpaths are gashed and disfigured by clumsy sharp hoofs ; material damage is done to the ireshly formed streetways ; and lastly, but more important still, the well-tend-ed garden plots nestling behind the picket fence are despoiled by, ruthless mouths of night marauders, with a result as hopeless for the present inmates of the gaiden as for their owners and guardians'. And then the stricken householder, when his dew-laden Gloire de Dijons have been butcheicd to make a I milch-cow's early breakfast, aiud his much-loved parterree ha& lostt most or all of its glad beauty ; and the breadwinner on his' late way home from the office, j who falls over a bovine asleap on the shadowy track— mu^h to the detriment of his clothes and temper ; both writq" indignant letters to the council alleging lack of vigilance on the part of the officials. To emphasise the council's attitude on the matter, the Inspector, in one case yesterday, asked for a substantial penalty ; and the Justices of the Peace inflicted a fine of £3, plus 7s costs. This salutary penalty, which a straying steed earned for its owner, will doubtless hit the careless people where tht-y live, and impress upon their thoughtless souls the fact that the municipal law, though, long suffering, will not be mocked*

[ Mr. H. Baillie has been asked to report how far public libraries, The Microbe which circulate books, and may also disseminate The Book. germs of painful diseases. In our news columns we give his summary of the procedure in vogue in America, and it will be plain from his references to America's experience that the bacillus bogey need not ha greatly feared by people who desire their literature cheaply. In the ordinary run from hand to hand, and from one tongue-moistened thumb to another? a book picks up many ferms, but they are mostly harmless, 'he thumbers, or " goups " as they are called in America, may deposit the bacillus of consumption, but even this danger, though eminently undesirable for the book's sake as well as the booklover's, is not very serious. Complications aye to be feared when a book goes into a house where a person is suffering from scarlet fever or other highly infectious or contagious ailment. Mr. Baillie suggests a closer co-operation between tho Health Department and the library authorities, but more important than any official action is the educating of the public conscience. It is known that books taken by healthy people from the public library here have been passed on to patients of the local consumptive shelters, and as this practice may quietly continue unknown to the librarians, the general public may be exposed to a risk of contracting disease. It would do good if the next series of library lectures included a discourse ofl books, with a few lantern slides showing the colonies ot bacilli left by '" goups" and. the display of books disfigured by the irritating thumber. "The Kea; a New Zealand Problem," just published by the The Kea author, Mr. George R. Found Guilty. Marriner, F.R.M.S., the Curator of the Public Museum, Wanganui, is a valuable and solid contribution to the natural history literature of New Zealand. Quite apart from its literaiy merits, which are high, it is a model of judicial and impartial investigation. Few people can have first-hand knowledge of the kea, which breeds in the heart of winter in the most inaccessible mountain regions of the South Island. It was first discovered in 1856 by Mantell, up to 1882 its egg was unknown to science, and the eggs are now worth £1 each. The "nest" is usually a rock-tunnel in an almost vertical face, and appears never to have been photographed till 1906, when Mr. Marriner obtained, under extraordinary difficulties, the photographs shown in his book. It was in 1867 that the bird was first accused of sheep-killing, and stories of its propensities lost nothing in repetition, until its slain amounted to tens of thousands on single runs, and stations were said to have been abandoned on | account of its depredations. "It is i rather surprising," says Mr. Marriner, that no one questioned the evidence J until 1905," in which year the question was raised, not formally, but casually, both in Christchurch and Wellington, at meetings of the Philosophical Society. At that time, according to Mr. Marriner, such accessible evidence as there was was "flimsy and unscientific." "I think I am justified in saying that all the literature published up to 1905, stating that the kea was guilty of the crime, had given to the world, as a substantiated fact, a statement that could not be prove/1." In fact, a myth was abroad ; and Mr. Marriner went systematically and laboriously to work to ascertain the truth. He lias made extensive enquiry, and has found a few —very but trustworthy — eye-wit-nesses, including Mr. J. Macdonald, the first man to report the kea's depredations. He has personally explored tho difficult "kea country," at no little personal risk, and his marshalled facts and valuable photographs are here brought together. While there was e/ery warrant for scepticism three years ago, we think there is very little now, and that the unprejudiced ,-eader must acquiesce, I however reluctantly, in Mr. Marriner's vei'dict of "guilty." Has time brought revenge for the small _„ , birds slaughtered by Qhe Bird the thousand in Canand terbury? Battalions the Caterpillar, of green caterpillars, hea'-y dragoons and light infantry, giants and Liliputians, bave ravaged the crops about Cheviot and parts o* the plains lower down. Armies of the destructive creepers rose nearly simultaneously on the north and south of the Hurunui River, and left broad, tiacks of withering stalks in place of the healthy bearded grain. A Christchurch journal sent out an investigator, and this is the verdict :— "The reporter found a general feeling among farmers that they had been a little too hard on the small birds." Is this not heresy? A few years ago "Mt. James prmnmoitd, who contributes the interesting column "In Touch with Nature," for Saturday's Post, sat in judgment on the small bird. He sent circulars throughout New Zealand, and gathered a great volume of evidence. The judge in this case was a lover of birds, but he felt obliged to rule that the weight of testimony inclined against the birds. At that "time, however, the farmers, as a whole, had not been troubled with insect pests for years Many of them thought only of the grain which the birds devoured, and heeded not the grubs and slugs which they might have- held in check. The caterpillar in Canterbury is re-opening the whole question, and we may make a hazard at the conclusion which may ba reached by-and-bye. Sensible opinion may counsel a policy of caution in the warfare against small birds. Some observers have noticed the birds harrying the caterpillars m the smitten areas, but the attackers' numbers were not laige enough to annihilate the legions of little reptiles. Canterbury may be disposed to call for a "close season" for email birds, to ensure a margin of safetj agyinst worst pests It is an evil to have 100 many small birds, and it is an evil to have too few. How is the happy medium to be attained and maintained? We may expect to hear some wise suggestions from Canterbury soon.