TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 8, 9 July 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It is very unfortunate for the genuine unemployed, the men A Discordant eager to turn their Minority. hands to honest work of any kind, that a few melodramatic "revolutionary irreconcilables" are making a large quantity of noise. The Chris-tchurch. City Council had work on offer yesterday, but the prospect of manual labour did not appeal to some agitators, who professed that they- i.ceded an occupation. They preferred to meet and talk wildly about dynamite and "pillaging the shops." The .shopkeepers of Christchurch will not feel called upon to stand guard by their windows all night. Certain individuals down there, as well a& in other cities of New Zealand, have spent much time dining recent years in lurid denunciations of New Zealand's {.ysleni of living, and these few expo.slulators have created fconic annibement, but no alarm. At ordinary limes their talk of bloodshed hurts, nobody any more than tho air into which the oratory is hurled, but to-day the reckless language may possibly do some harm by tending to alienate sympathy from the general body of the workless. Citizens should remember that the tempestuous declamators, who seem to be filled with rage at the oflcr of work on any tcims except those of UlW' own rliWiingi «.»•»» ncgligibla qnaiv tity, They ars a very trifling percentage.

of the army. The tired "irreconcilables" constitute only one or two per cent, of the regiments that are anxious to take the field of honest work, wheiever offered. The irresponsible element made its foolish voice heard at last Monday's meeting, and pome of the ab surd remarks and ejaculations may have plugged up the spring of practical sympathy in some quarters. It is well to remember that the great majority of the deserving should not be judged for the sins of the inconsequential minority of undeserving. The discordant note comes from a handful. The others are patiently waiting for the work, of which the quantity will depend on the measure of the people's res-ponse to the appeal for funds.

"Stop ! Look out for Wellington." Such was practically " That Head, the , advice given by That Mouth." an Aucklander last night to his fellowcitizens who were assembled to condole with him about his transfer to Wellington. He recited the myth of Maui,-the mighty fisherman who hooked up the North. Island at one cast. But Wellington, alas, was tile head and Port Nicholson the mouth. ''Watch that head, that mouth," said the' gentleman who was taking a sad farewell of the Queen City. The capital was half-seriously, half-humorously, pictured as a cunning head with cavernous mouth — a sort of "grim wolf, with privy paw, daily devouring apace and nothing said." The hands of Auckland toil and spin, and that bell-mouthed lily of a Wellington is ever agape for the tit-bits due to people of other cities. In the vision presented to Auckland the North Island is a fish with the Wellington head trying to swallow the Auckland tail. But the head, which is at least credited with some subtlety of intellect, is probably aware that the tail is spiky and indigestible. Wellington citizens, who are said to ponder little about Auckland except once a year when the Rugby representative teams meet, may be puzzled to know why the inhabitants of the ex-capital have such peculiar notions about the motives and practices of the capital's people. The post and telegraph service have long been regular and rapid, and the through trains have been running for months, Auckland seems to be as remote from Wellington, just as much out of touch with the daily life and thought of the centre as it was in those romantic days when the trip between the two cities was made in sailing vessels, sometimes via Australia. It is a phenomenon, beyond the comprehension of ordinary plain mortals. It is 'a subject yphich only a savant, wellversed in psychology, may satisfactorily explain. Wellington has done its best to be understood just as it is, a city peacefully minding its own business, or a part of it (we except the art gallery and two or three other neglected items), but Auckland seems to see only "that head, that mouth." One has to sigh and leave time to gradually improve^ Auckland's vision. In Christchurch, where motor-cars and motor-cycles abound, Trapping the and the multiplicity Motoring of corners in the "Wild Fowl." chess-board city -involves perils for the walker, the police are setting traps for careless, reckless motorists. The plan is to have watch kept on a measured length of roadway, to enable constables to exactly assess the velocity of a "scorcher." The motorist has been a difficult bird to trap. Estimates of speed varied so remarkably that magistrates were set an almost impossible task in deciding whether an alleged offender had been machining at a dangerous gait. The traps were not long waiting for captures ; three drivers of motor-cars were fined at Christchurch yesterday. In Wellington the risks to the public from the selfish tactics of motorists are not so numerous as they have been in the South, but they have been plentiful enough. Lately a spirit of reasonableness has come to some who were wont to whirl through the narrow streets and whizz around sharp corners. Fractures of the rather vague "reasonable rate of speed" have not been so pronounced as in former times. A constable at strategic points in the inne'* area is a common spectacle, and yet some incorrigible chauffeurs continue to court disaster. While the police are watching the antics of motorists, they should not overlook the comparatively humble pedaller of the common bicycle. Some of these persons scurry along the main thoroughfares at almost racing gail, and swoop_ unexpectedly around the sides of electric cars, to the terror of people who have not suspected the charge of the light brigade. Cyclists should also be prohibited from riding in and out of alleyways across footpaths. This habit, which is always annoying to the pedestrian public, ancl sometimes damaging, is too common in Wellington. Pigeon-slaying spears, used by the i Maoris of old— deWild Animals scribed in yesterday's in Post — were generally New Zealand, tipped with human bone. This was about the only material at the natives' disposal, as their supply from other useful bone-producers was uncertain. But bone-growers, of the lower orders, from man's point of view, have been increasing and multiplying since Captain Cook introduced the larger mammals. The deer of a kind jealously guarded< in rich people's parks in England have thrived in some parts of New Zealand til] settlers have protested against them as a nuisance. The lordly stags are held in such scant respect that if their antlers show signs of even mild malformation, they are condemned to summary execution. The ordinary rules of warfare are suspended to enable the graceful "offenders"' to be "shot out." The great wapiti, the nimble chamois, Indian thar, and other providers of thrills for huntsmen, have found congenial quarters in the wild mountainous regions of these islands. The latest arrivals are three Baral sheep, from the lofty uplands of Central Asia. These giant members of the peaceful sheep family are now on their way to Mount Cook. They like height ; they disdain anything lower than 10,000 feet. These lovers of eminence may be chagrined to find that Aorangi can do nothing better than 12,345 feeb for them, but they may skip content with degree of elevation, and settle down to whatever pastures they may find among the rocks and ice and snow, ancl incidentally promote the mountaineering habit among ambitious sportsmen by-and-byo. Enthusiasts and experts are still busy at adding variety to New Zealand's fauna, and provided their ideas do not run to harmful animals and (\eslcoyers of pas- I tures in law-abiding settlements, they may do no harm. Of more interest to the general public is the acclimatisation of tho lobster-at Portobello and the cultivation of the salmon. There seems a reasonable prospaet of success rewarding the patience of the men who are ceaselessly trying to enrich the rivers and ceastal waters with delicacies from waters far away./ It i« expected that Ropcneath will be lit by electricity in the beginning of December next. The city electrical staff hopes to make a beginning on the work in a few days' time, but the progress will be slow, pending the arrival from England of somo necessary supplies. A commencement is to be made at Brooklyn iiftex- the lfosoneuth job lim> been fau'l,v started.