TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

! To-day the new railway time-table, unaltered by its A Tempest-Tossed rough handling, ia Time-table. ruling the trains. It has been buffeted by Taranaki, by Hawkes Bay, by the Wairarapa, but its makers have decided to give it a run of life. Objectors are condemned to wait at least a few weeks before readjustments can be made. The test of a time-table is the running of it, and the verdict must be by a majority of the jury. The Railway Department has to remember that the whole is greater than the part. Napier and New Plymouth, for, example, do not like the later hours of the express trains' arrival there, but Wellington may be better pleased by the change, and the South Islanders who have occasion to travel northward nvill certainly be gratified by the lengthening of the interval between the steamer and the train. Choruses of approval and disapproval have been chanted, but the notes of the opposition have been the stronger, which is the usual thing ; people who are hurt make more noise than those who are pleased. A pained minority will make much more__reverberation in the land than a pleased majority. Still, the next few weeks may prove that some of the grievances reported deserve redress, but it will be necessary for the plaintiffs to have a well-ordered case._ It will take a strong body of opinion to induce the Minister to rearrange the schedule, especially " as he will be supported by considerable sections of the public that will be content with the present dispensation. This is a period* of revising in New , Zealand. Foreign Revising the markets, defence, Education System, industrial" legislation, education, and other vital matters are under review. Systems in various departments of national activity have had a trial, and men are wondering whether basic amendments can be effected. Education has been in the hands of the critics for some months, and there is a bewildering confliction of theory. University professors and other experts are in conflict about higher education, and there is similar turmoil in the lower grades. No all-surveying master mind has covered the whole field. It is a dispute of factions. The Educational Institute is working at ideas calculated to benefit the primary schools, and the other educationists are similarly v engaged on their own special preserves. The latest | side-issue is an old one — the matriculation examination. University authorities argue that this test is not sufficiently searching, and permits persons of very meagre scholarship to enter the university colleges and become a drag on the wheels. Some masters of fecondary schools admit that this examination may open the university door too widely for the unfit, but plead that it serves excellently as a "leaving examination'^ for the secondary schools. "Passed matriculation" is believed to put some sort of valuable stamp oir> the output of the secondary schools. Another theory is that entrance to the university should be by certificate from responsible people, testifying that the bearer is qualified for the higher instruction. These are only a few aspects of a problem which daily becomes more complicated. Who is evolving order from the chaos? Whose ear can catch the various notes and write a score without discords? Though many reminders have been given, we have not yet received evidence that educationists, interested specially in sections of the education work, are collaborating for a proper co-ordination of the parts. Tke Minister (the Hon. G. Fowlds) would do New Zealand signal service if he secured a thoroughly good personnel for the projected conference. Everybody admits that wide streets axe desirable in a city, and Streets even in its suburbs. The - and Streets. Premier and the Hon. R. M'Kenzie, when opposing the Wellington Streets Empowering Bill on Saturday, uttered excellent philosophy in general, but not convincing arguments in detail. They eeem to see danger in any permit to the Wellington Corporation to take over certain private streets, of whfch the formation does not exceed 33ft, in the hilly districts of Roseneath, Kilbirnie, Brooklyn, and Wadestown. The civic government is willing; the general Government, which has "precedent" and posterity to remember, and general principle to consider, is unwilling for the moment. It appears, however, that the Premier has not sufficiently regarded the special circumstances of the Wellington case. We tnke it that the Wellington City Council is not moving for tho approval of narrow streets, but comparatively narrow road formation in localities where it would be costly, and possibly impracticable, at present, to carvo out a roadway of more than 33ft in width. Wellington members have said that adequate air space will be secured ; the proposal will involve no oongestion. no danger p.f encouraging tho development of

slums. Mr. G. W. Russell, of Christchurch, fairly put the argument for Wellington when the Bill came up for its first reading. He expressed himself in favour of wide streets, but readily conceded that it would be unreasonable to insist on a 66ft formation in the uplands of the capital. We are confident that when Sir Joseph Ward comes to study the matter closely ho will see that it will be possible to secure fair treatment for the public of this generation, and generations to come, without insisting, for .the present, on a full-width formation for thoroughfares on Wellington's formidable "high levels."