TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 74, 30 March 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Churchmen in Australia and New Zealand ar« admirably Churches supporting laymen in to the Rescue, working to strengthen the national defences Loaders of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and other congregations have exhorted the people to prepare to guard their own. Aichbithop Carr, addressing the Catholic Young Men's Society, Melbourne, v day or two ago, appealed to his bearers to ever have in mmd — and to cxeicii*e— that duty to , country which enjoined men to train thenißeJves in arm*. This pleasing exhortation, following similar pleas from other clergy, should help 10 put vim into the secular arm. A wonderiul retord of representative opinion favouring com-mon-sense defence — on the coinpulbion basis — has been set up in Australasia, and Governments should be bold to take full advantage of tho popular fervour. In the Commonwealth the authorities have accurately read the public defence barometer, and have adopted Lord Kitchener's recommendation tuat the training period of a citizen-soldier's life should be extended to the age of twenty-eight. In the case of New Zealand he specified twenty-five or twenty-six, but e?en this modification seems to appear too formidable to the Government. It is not eaay to understand why there should bo any discrimination between tho two countries ir tho term deemed necessary to qualify a man to acquit himself woii in the field. The Kitchener scheme maps out a similar course for Australia and New Zealand In the Kitchener military view, New Zealand is a portion of Australia, and the system which he recommended was designed to enable the fighting units of the two countries to co-operate readily. The attainment of such an object surely presupposes similar pciicds of training. Tho Government should muster its courage between new and the meeting of Parliament. The increasing interest in the early history of New Zetland Mr. M'Nab's shown in recent years Researches. is very gratifying. Not only has there been great enquiry for early publications bearing on the early colonial and ante-colonial days, but publishers have found it worth while to issue numerous reprints of the scarcer books. Many of these early books, however, are disfigured with errors, some of which have been followed so often by later writers as to become traditional; *nd even the most complete collection of the earlier New Zealand literature would leave many gaps to be filled iv by conjecture. With the passing of the pioneers and disappearance of manuscript lecords, the work of supplying these deficiencies becomes increasingly difficult, and few who are really interested in the fubject have the time and means to undertake systematic research. The Polynesian Society, for eighteen years pasA, has done valuable historic work, but it has been chiefly in the direction of collating and coordinating Maori tribal tradition with the view of solving ethnologic problems of great interest; but in the work of research as to the first occupation of these islands by Europeans, tho Hon. Mr. M'Nab stands out prominently among successful investigators. In a few years more it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover much of the material he has brought to light and given to the public in his "Murihiku, Vapart from the early official records he has arranged and rcpublifthed. In his quest, he has ransacked forgotten Australian archives, has studied tho quaint log-books of American whalers in New England port?, has investigated neglected records in the British Museum, and has had Russian and Spanish navigators' voyages translated for the fir«i time into English. The interesting letter of our London correspondent, published yesterday, shows that ho i& still actively at work, and gives «omo idea of the difficulties of his undertaking. Among the results of his investigations is the proof that the element of myth has entered so largely into Borne of the accepted stories of conflict between traders ana natives us to necessitate revised versions ; and also his discovery of the manner in which even Captain Cook's records have been garbled in the printed accounts of his Toyagea. Mr. M'Nab has still to prosecute hie researches in France, and much may be hoped for in this djrection. The early French settlements in New Zealand, of which such definite evidence ciill remains at Akarot, constitute a most interesting but almost unwritten chapter of early colonial history ; and if any nun can satisfactorily reconstruct it, it should be Mr. M'NnD, with his faculty of patient and accurate investigation. His fellow-colomttH will wish him every success in his self-im posed and patriotic tat-k. "Wanted, married couple ; no encumbrances," is a familiar "Xo legend to the public Encumbrances." of AuMrulb and New Zealand, and the rigour of the Cold words is getting some prominence in print at present. The debate began a iew aay 3 ago, when a corj respondent declared in the London Time* that Australia did not welcomo married immigrants. This generalisation was, no doubt, unjust to the Commonwealth as a whole, but the writer could quote good argument to prove that many employers in the country dictrictx took care to ptipulatu "no children" when engaging married couple*. The fail in depionvble, but how i« t'uir licutincitt to be ns.su red for tho^c who have childien? One ciitii 1 , d clergyman who once lived in New South ,\Vale«, wems to beliete that retribution May comi «t the hand* oi th* Govern' meat of mother diy, a Radical udmiau*

tration which would tax the squatters out of existence «r cut up their estates, but that remedy is more academic than practicable just now. Industrial, commercial, and other competition is ever threatening the children. Those who feel the pinch of life's battle desiie ''no encumbrance' 1 ; tlieso wlio wish to crowd a, maximum of pleasure into life also favour "no en-. ( umbrance." The "unwelcome" for the little ones has been growing with the complications and tstret>s oi modern living, and the hostility to children is revealed in peculiar ways. A member of Parliament, two sessions back, was so impressed! by tho "no children" stipulation of hotelkeepers, owners of other accommodation houses, and private habitations, that ho desired the people's representatives to intervene. It is not easy to see how Parliament could safely dictate in this matter. Is there not private enterpriso enough to specialise in suitable accommodation for parents- and their children, if th« demand is worth while? And the demand is said to be sufficient. For the larger problem of "no encumbrance" the reformers have to look to public opinion, and public opinion will not be helpful till the public are well stirred and educated. The public opinion has to be made, but no great maker stands '. j out to-day in Australasia. Germany's drink bill, estimated at £145,000,000 for the Hard Drinking, past year, is creep- | ing up to the tally of , Britain, where liquor goes down to the tune of about £161,000,000 a year just now. In 1908 Britons averaged £3 12s 3d a year per head, but Germans are not yet much beyond £2 10s Id. However,, the Fatherland's lovers of lager are spending enough in alcoholic liquids to pay foi the army and navy maintenance twice over. Beer, wines, and spirits i cost Germany five times as much as edit- ' cation. If the Germans are the "salt of the earth," as the Kaiser claims, they aro busily diluting the salt. Yet New Zealanders cannot afford to despatch any pity to Germany. During 1909, according to the figures compiled by the Rev. Edward Walker, New Zealand's liquor bill amounted to £3,628,137, equivalent tj £3 j.j.s Oid per head of population. This immense sum is equal to nine or ten times the amount which New Zealand devoted to "army and navy" last year, and is four times the allowance of public money for education. Happily, New Zealand's disbursements on drink . last year showed a decrease of 43 5d per j head compared with tho preceding , twelve months. The diminished drink- i ing may havo been due to the "tight- j ness" of money. Throughout New Zea- I land there was less money to spare for unnecessaries last year than in 1908. It is well known that the fluctuations of a country's financial affairs are revealed in the liquor barometer, but factors not connected with tho shortness of money ir.ay well have helped to knock that 4s 5d from the heavy toll of a burdensome expenditure. New Zealand would be the better for the docking of a few more four-and-fivepeiices from the £3 11s Oid.