TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 10, 12 July 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

"New Zealand is a laboratory for social and industrial experiNew Zealand ments," is a remark as a that has more than once Laboratory, been uttered by visitors to these shores. New Zealanders arc asked to picture themselves iis chemists, cheerfully experimenting at their own risk ; and other countries, at a, safe distance, watch interestedly for the result — a success or an explosion. Some Americans have had an impression that the people of these islands live solely for the joy- of experimenting, "trying out" whales of problems which larger lands are chary about tackling. Englishmen, Russians, Swedes, Americans, and representatives of other countries, have come here to study, and their observations have led them to various conclusions, mostly flattering to New 'Zealanders. But side by side with the admirer is the reviler. A distinguished visitor, in no need of a favour from anybody here, public or private, goeti into a sort of ecstasy about the scenery and the people, the result of a cursory inspection of the country, and he has mild raptures about the people's healthfulness and breeziness. Another arrives from South Africa, for example, and anticipates that he will strike a rich pasture. He is disappointed — and New Zealand, in his vie'v, is as much a last, lost country, in fact, as it is on the map of the globe, a "fag end of the earth, where' the people and their institutions, their present policy and their aspirations, are all hopelessly, chaotically wrong. A letter in The Post to-day supplies a view of New Zealand as the country appears to a critic of that sad type, and an article by The Post's Australian correspondent shows how' New Zealand looms in Australian ejes, alternately dark or brightly alluring, according to whether the eyes that gazo across the Tasman Sea belong to Conservatives or members of the Labour Party. The same set of facts, not properly understood, is use<l by each side to confound and confute the other, when chance supplies the opportunity, and each has a turn at winning and losing. Not even facts are essential for this game of high politics. The counters are partisans' views of facts, and political colour-blindness does not get a very accurate \iew. Yet possibly New Zealanders may get some exhilaration out of the process of being bandied about and tossed about in arguments in the Commonwealth, even if the arguments are beside the truth. Sooner or later the treasured art collections of the man of Wanted — wealth find their way An Art tp public galleries or Revival. libraries ; and he is thus, according to the measure of his judgment, a benefactor in the long run, though in following his hobby he may have sought only his own gratification. Our cable news today records the sale oi *Sir Cuthbert Quilter's noted collection of paintings, which, we read, realised £88.000. There will be found few to question his judgment in selection, and it is interesting to find that two notable works have been secured for Melbourne, by the trustees of the Felton bequest. Former purchases from this fund have been commented upon severely, both as regards taste displayed and the price given, which in on<! notalile instance was double the ordinary market value. It is satisfactory to note that for eleven hundred guineas two works of art have now been secured, one by Constable and the other by George Pinwell, better known as a black-and-white artist than as a painter. He was one of the brilliant band of black-and-white men whose works, interpreted by the wood-engraveis of the 'sixties, marked the highest point the art had ever attained. In this field other distinguished painters — Birket Foster, Millais, John Gilbert, and others, as well as the veteran Tenniel, who is s^t ill with us, gained distinction. The particular works secured are not named, but the name of Sir Cuthbert Quilter should be ample recommendation. It would have been gratifying to have learned that New Zealand had secured a share also — but in no direction do we lag«behind so much as in art. We have no Felton bequest; we have few, if any, private collectors ; we have no public gallery worthy of the name; we seem to have

no men of wealth sufficiently interested in art to give or bequeath funds for its encouragement. In these things the people of the Commonwealth have .the advantage. We have our schools of art and decoration ; we have a worthy band of art teachers, but we lack stimulus. When shall we have an art revival ? True to its old habit, the world is "on the eve" of discoveries War by destined to "revolution- ' "Wireless." he modern warfare." Ever since the first Dreadnought was headed out to sea, a year or two ago, "revolutionising" ideas have been prevalent. Some eager inventors, scorning such base lethal media as gunpowder, lyddite, lead and steel, look to the ether to deal death and destruction. Ihese consfderate, cleanly slayers hope to "shock" men to death, swiftly, without fuss. in this category of inventors was the German who patented "a huge magnet, in the shape of- a cog-wheel," biiolly described on Saturday. The purpose of this dreadful wheel was to break battleships by driving them out of their course, by making their machinery run amok, by taking the sting out of- their Euns. Ifc is not surprising to be informed to-day that London experts regard the magnet as "impracticable and unworkable, for many reasons." Possibly, on a small scale, the magnet worked wonders. It may have worried penny model warships, and so led the hopeful inventor to believe that the rest was a matter of simple multiplication. It is apparently one of many cases in which an experiment on a small scale raises hopes which are promptly shattered when something stupendous is attempted. The first of the "many reasons" to put that "huge magnet" out of range for the present, would be the difficulty of generating and accurately manipulating the power to do the vast work required. That "blessed word electricity" works miracles, but always there has to be the "power behind," and the power put in has always to be greater than the power got out. However, the mere alleged patenting of the magnet, despite the impracticability and the possibility that the whole tiling was a hoax designed to arouse Germany at "nervy" Britain's expense, is a sign of these times when torpedoes are to be controlled by "wireless." The duel in naval warfare, for example, has been between projectile and armour, but some experimenters are hinting at fresh phases, insulation v. electrification, with all the space between the earth's surface and the upper strata of air as the battlefield. Man's ingenuity has long been threatening to make war impossible, and "wireless" may nobly assist the Hague Conference. Subscriptions from the public of Wellington to furnish emHelping the ployment for the workUnemployed, less have not been offered in the volume that was expected. After more than a week's canvass and lengthy advertisement of the needs of many families, the fund this morning stood at a modest £500, x which represents a contribution of less than 2d per head of population, after excluding, say 5000. deemed to be unable to afford any offering. Still, with the Government subsidy, a sum of £1000 is available to comfort men who have failed to find engagements. Openings for forty men will be found on the grounds of Victoria College to-morrow. This, number will be up to the full capacity of that improvement work for the present, and therefore ,the Citizens' Committee will be obliged to look about for further suitable tasks. The policy now is to straightway engage men whose unsought idleness involves suffering for their families as well as themselves, and those whose need is less pressing will be taken on by ballot till work becomes plentiful enough for all. That is plainly a fair dispensation ; it will largely "depend on the subscribing public how long and how much the ballotbox will figure in the allotment of employment. Though assistance by direct gift has been lagging, the impulse towards generosity may be quickened in the near future when the time and the hour more plainly reveal the plight of many of the unemployed ; the revelation is already sufficient for those who care to look closely. Also kind people are bestirring themselves in promoting entertainments to help a wortljy cause, and thus the fund should be increased sufficiently to supply two on three months' useful occupation for those who may find the times better in the spring. The observers of the signs are confident that the turn of the year will see a tv-rn of the tide, but there is an interval, which the citizens are asked not to forget. Russia supplies many tragedies and just a few comedies to emphaThe Tsar's sise the sombreness of the Protector, darker drama. It is reported to-day that the man Ilartling, chosen for the task of safeguarding the Tsar during his visit to Cherbourg, was condemned in France in 1900 for the manufacture of explosives. He managed to be absent from the trial, but a sentence of five years was recorded against him. France's amour-propre is injured by the appointment, not because it is feared that the quondam bomb-manufacturer may be seeking a little of that notoriety which it is his present function to prevent, but because an honour has been bestowed on a person who owes France five years' hard labour. In thus standing on Her dignity, France may be decorously amusing to outside countries, whose thoughts will be principally centred on the character of the individual entrusted with the arrangements for excluding assassins from the path of the Little Fathe* of All the Russias. Perhaps the Tsar's police inquisitors knew about the antecedents of Hartling without needing the declaration of the spy Azeff to proclaim the man's identity with the "wanted" maker of explosives. Hartling has been on trial as chief of the Russian police in Paris, and ha.« obviously pleased his employers. It may be assumed, too, that he has been plentifully spied upon by emissaries of those sinister heads of the Russian Police Department,* whose ( watchword is "suspect" and guiding principle is "shadow." On ihe principle of setting a reformed bomb-maker to circumvent wily terrorists, the Tsar's advisers may believe that they are doing a master-stroke of cunning. Whatever the purpose that lurks behind the engagement, the news, as briefly recorded, gives a Gilbertian touch to the Imperial vi&it. It looks like an application of the old prairie principle of euiDloying fire to fight fire.

Dr. Gibb preached, at St. John's Presbyterian Church, yesterday, a powerful sermon on Calvin, using the .Reformer's favourite text, "If God b<? for us, who can be against us?" The Doctor retei-i-pd at some length to the kind of fatalistic doctrine which was generally attributed to Calvin, but for which his successors were responsible. Calvin was largely responsible for the death of Servetus, but, then, religious tolerance in those days was understood by no one. The preacher drew forceful lessons from the Reformer's life and doctrine. The musical portion of the service consisted of selections from those psalms which most commended themselves to the zealous reformers, the psalms being set to tunes of the period. Dr. Gibb will follow the sermon up with other addrcs&es on the great creative personalities of the Church, and the choir will sing some of the ancient psalm tunes.

The Hon. R. M'Kenzie left Colling;wood to-day for Takaka. He is not expected to return to Wellington till the end of the week. An order was made in the Magistrate's Court to-day that Robert M'Nalj should contribute 10s per week towards the support of his mother. Defendant did not put in an appearance. A deputation from the Hutt and Petone local bodies will wait on the Minister of Railways (Hon. J. A. Millar) ?.t noon to-morrow, to urge the acquisition of the Hutt Park railway by the Government. 'Driving an express on the wrong side tof Thorndon-quay was an offence for 'which Albert Crampton, in the Magistrate's Court to-day, was fined 10s, with costs 13s. For leaving his cab unattended in Cuba-street, Robert Parker was also fined 10s, with costs 7s. Mr. H. R. Spence, who has oeen appointed Collector of Customs at Invercargill, arrived by the Main Trunk railway on Saturday, en route from Auckland. 'He is accompanied by Mrs. Spence and family, and is staying for a day or two at the Hotel Cecil. A remand to next Monday was granted in the S.M. Court to-day in the case against a young man named i*eedham of being about to leave New Zealand without making provisions for the maintenance of his alleged illegitimate child. Bail was fixed at £80, in one surety, or two of £40 each. The anniversary services in connection with St. David's Presbyterian Church, Petone, were held ' yesterday, the Rev. Dr. Gibb being preacher in the morning and the Rev. Dr..Porteons in the afternoon and evening. There were large congregations. On Wednesday evening the congregational "social" will be held. Wirth Bros., circus proprietors, have been sued by one Rosanna Teresa Lehinann, for £2000 for damages sustained during a performance by the circus at Orange, N.S.W. A sudden squall brought down the circus tent, severely injuring the plaintiff about the head, and causing partial paralysis. Negligence on tlie part of the firm's employees was affirmed. The case stands adjourned. The necessity of the construction oi protective works on the banks of the river* at Waikanae is becoming very great, and Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., is endeavouring to secure a visit from the Minister of Public Works (Hon. R. M'Kenzie) with a view to obtaining Government assistance in carrying out the work. The bush that _has been taken off the hills allows the rain water to flow unrestrainedly down the hillsides, bringing with it shingle and other debris ; with the result that the river bed is becoming higher than the surrounding land, which has been washed away in places to quite a considerable extent: Visions of desperate men boarding mail vans at wayside stations, overpowering the solitary attendant in charge and escaping with large quantities of "loot" — after perhaps hurling the body of their victim on to the roadwal — were conjured np by a part of the evidence given before the Postal Commission (says the Melbourne Age). The point made by one of the witnesses was that it was unwise of the department, to say the least, to send valuable mails, some of them worth thousands of pounds, travelling through the country districts of Victoria in charge of a single letter sorter. The witness said he had ii'equently had the custody of such valuables, and had felt extremely anxious on more than one occasion. "I really did," he assured the "chairman, who was anxious apparently to find out whether the risks were real or imaginary. Two guards at least, this witness asserted, should be in charge of every mail van; otherwise it was only a question of time when an extensive robbery, perhaps involving a tragedy, would j eventuate. The witness suggested that the inionnation with regard to the unprotected state of some of these vans should not be made public, but the chairman was against him, finding that the best way to get the department to take Erecautions was to make the facts nown. The president of the Victorian Postal Sorters' Association had previously read a statement, in which a similar opinion as to the unwisdom of having only one man in charge of valuable mails was expressed. Another feature of the evidence was the announcement by a letter sorter that he had to "memorise" the names of 1600 Victorian towns— a feat which, he suggested, ought not to be required of a man. whose maximum salary was in the region of £3 a week. C. Smith, Ltd., advertise special reductions in English and colonial blankets. These reductions are for six days only, commencing to-day and closing on Saturday, 17th July. Sister Avabamia, representative of Vedanta, of Calcutta and New York, will lecture to ladies only to-morrow afternoon, at 3 o'clock, at the Masonic Hall, Boul-cott-street, upon "Life's Secrets." Admission to the lecture is free. Messrs. Le\ien, Shallcrass and Co. advertise a large catalogue for the sale of household furniture and effects to be held at the Central Auction Rooms to-morrow afternoon' at 2 o'clock. Messrs. T. Kennedy Macdonald, Ltd., insert particulars in our auction columns of a sale of household furniture,, at No. 22, Kent-terrace, to-morrow, at 1.30 o'clock, on account of Mr. D. D. Hyde j (late Chief Poultry Expert), who is leaving Wellington. The furniture will bo on view on morning of sale. The firm also insert particulars of their weekly sale to be held in their rooms on "Wednesday, at 1.30. H. M. Bertenshaw announces in this issue that he will sell by auction at Watts' Horse Bazaar, Dixon-street, on Wednesday next, at 2 p.m., a consignment of eight horses direct from the country, suitable for tradesmen, expressmen, and others. Further entries are solicited. MeEsrs. S. S. Williams and Co., Ltd., advertise in this issue some particulars of the large and varied stock they carry, comprising furniture of every description manufactured in their own factory. A wide assortment of carpets and linoleums ■will also >be found at their place of business, 117, Taranaki-street. At 2 o'-elock to-morrow Messrs. W. H. Morrah and Co. will sell by public auction in their rooms, Willis-street, piano and household furniture, the contents of a seven-roomed house. A summoned meeting of Excelsior Lodge of Druids will be held this evening. On Wednesday next, at 1 p.m., at the Fruit Exchange, Blair and Allen streets, Messrs. Thompson Bros., Ltd., will sell, on behalf of Mr. W. B. Hardy, of the Blackbridge N>irseries, a large quantity of Hultgrown nursery stock, including roses x carnations, veronicas, flowering and ornamental trees, shrubs, plants, etc. Messre. Laery and Co., Ltd., draw attention to an assortment of pot plants to be uold by them on Wednesday, at the Fruit Exchange, Allen-street, on behalf of Mr. J. N. Anderson, Terrace Nurseries. Napier.