TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18, 23 January 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

An institution which deserves far better support from the public In Need than it has hitherto received, of Help, is the Young Women's Christian Aesociation. The Wellington branch was established a little more than four years ago, and has succeeded in accomplishing an excellentwork in spite of adverse conditions. A I good idea, both of the difficulties that have to bs faced and of the' work that has nevertheless been done, was given 'by the speech of the president. Mrs. M. K. M'Clay, at the public meeting called on Friday last for the purpose of enlarging the liet of subscribers and members. The yearly income has averaged a little | more than £300, of which £100 has had ;to be paid as rent. The association has accordingly had some £200 out of which to pay a secretary and meet all tho other expenses of management. It is i remarkable that with so slender an in- [ gome and .with (during th§ greater part

of its career) only a single room at its disposal, the institution should not only lia\e been kept going, but should have been able to provide for a daily average of 40 or 50 girls. The range of its usefulness could be extended almost indefinitely by an increase- of funds. Thb provision ol roomier accommodation and better equipment would increase the membership and the revenue, but the firv which destroyed the piano, th& library, aud even, the membership records, ha« made it an exceedingly difficult matter to carry on at all. At Friday's meeting the Mayor expressed his surprise that there was not a larger attendance of men. The unsfneational and unostentatious way in which the society does its work and the general ignorance of its merits and its neede are quite enough to account for the apathy which astonished the Mayor. We hope, however, that tho meeting will ha-ve effectually reminded the public that one of the most deserving institutions in the city is sorely pressed for lack of funds, and stands in immediate need of £500 to replace the assets which it has lost by fire, and to enable it to face an increased rental. We are glad to see that the Y.iI.C.A. provided a room free of charge for Friday's meeting, but we cannot but think that the tmnieroua members and friends of that institution might reasonably combine to dc- a good deal more. The V.M.C.A. fully deserves all the support that it has received, 'but it will not be to the credit of Wellington if an equally meritorious instikition is allowed to languish for the lack of the very small sum that is needed to tide over its present difficulties. It is very comforting to this generation to know that posterity Posterity's will be a very big broadBurden, shouldered body. Hence tho air is dark with heavy burdens curving forward mcely for tho giant shoulders below the horizon. The Hon. G. Fowlds has pointed to one way in which the people of to-day are moving to sorely embarrass their descendants. He has referred to the blind method of town-making, the packing of suburbs with houses, and never a thought oi" breathing and playing spaces. In a previous note on this subject we indicated that a splendid opportunity lay to tha hand of any capable public man zealous for national service, and it may be expected now that Mr. Fowlds will set an example which will inspire others to assist him. He has undertaken .to commend the importance of town-planning to his Ministerial colleagues, and as he says that he has returned from South Africa with strength redoubled by the change of air and scene, his plea should be forcefiu. While New Zealand, during the past fifteen years, has ventured ou industrial and social experiments about which older countries are nervous, she has overlooked a few simple things that have not lacked attention in the Old World. One of these is town-planning. If Mr. Fowlds perseveres with his promise he will be qualifying for a very hearty vote of thanks on posterity's part. More than ordinary archaeological interest attaches to the- cable In the Days news on Saturday from of Jezebel. Berlin recording the discovery in the ancieut royal city of Samaria of a hundred clay tablets, apparently from the library of Ahab, the seventh King of Israel, who, after a reign of twenty years, was slain in his chariot by a random arrow, which found the weak point hi his armour in the field of Ramoth-Gilead. The stormy days of David and tho pacific and voluptuous times of Solomon with their ostentatious profusion are outdone in human interest by the age of Ahab, which not only occupies a large portion of the First Book of Kings, but is supplemented in the Second Book by the episode of the murder of Jezebel and the extermination of Ahab's family. The king is but a poor figure, whose very contradictions, his personal bravery and inexcusable cowardice, his flagitious sins and fleeting repentances testify eloquently to the general truth of the picture. But the< strong-minded and unscrupulous Tyrian queen who moulded him like wax— the devotee of the vile worship of Astarte, whose name ranks for all time- with Mossalina, and Agrippina- of a later age — the stern patriot and seer whose life she sought with implacable hate — it is on these 'that human interests centre, and the successive sieges of Samaria by the Assyrians, art-k-ssly _ narrated, complete a classic of perennial interest. Some discrepancy in dates of beginning and end of reigns, attributable apparently to some temporary regency preceding actual kingship, leaving the precise period about twenty years in doubt, will cause these new tablets to be keenly scanned by chronologists for light on a much-dis-puted question, and keen curiosity will be excited by an actual letter to Ahab from an unknown Assyrian kjng. But kings were known by more than one name, and it is not impossible that one or both of the two documents specified may relate to a recorded episode which reflects little honour upon Ahab. A worshipper of Baal and subsidiser of tho Baal priests, ho practically left religion to his wife. He allowed her 'to massacre all the priests of Jehovah upon whom she could lay her hands, and at her instigation obtained oaths of extradition against Elijah from the neigh- < bouring kings, but was quite indifferent when the patriot-prophet in turn slew all the priests of Baal— a deed which goaded the queen to frenzy. In fact, appeased by the breaking of the drought, he was for a time on good terms with the prophet. Later, when Ben-haded of Syria, with thirty-two tributary kings, besieged him in Samaria and sent the insolent demand, "Thy silver and thy gold aro mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine," Ahab returned the pusillanimous reply, "My lord, 0 king, according to my saying, I am thine, and all that I have." Net content with this, Ben-haded demanded further that the allied hosts should enter and sack the city. This was too much. The citizens objected, and the humiliated king, encouraged by a prophet, gavo battle to such purpose that the Syrians were routed and .their monarch compelled to sue for his life. Is it possible that the I letter from the King of Syria to the lung of Israel, or Ahab's invaluable inventory of "all that I have" or so much of it as covers his palace furniture, are associated with this transaction? Banks Peninsula—plain Canterbury's „ r «gged nose— is chiefly Meeting by known to the outside the Shore, world for two things, which are graes-seed and Akaroa's mixed bathing. A telegram on Saturday mentioned that the Akaroa Borough Council had members whose minds were fretful about the mixed bathing. Such perturbation of spirit fila ill with the restful aspect of the little town, half slumbering now on a romantic reputation which dates back to Ranparaha and the French pioneers. It is possible to think evil of mixed bathing at some places, but not at Akad'oa. The municipal bath is a little enclosure on the shore. There ia no attempt to closely screen the bathers from the gaae of those who bask on the beach. It is a matter of indifference whether one takes a dip in the bath or out of it— - Honi soifc ... at Akaroa. One may leave clothes stuffed with gold in a dressing shed, hop over the bath fence, and swim away to white sands for a sunning, and the gold remains. Crime

and sin do not seem to abide in Akaroa. One sees a grim-looking court-house, and one smiles*. Police and lock-up eeem as ill-suited to Akaroa as to the Silverstream golf-links. If people were once wicked in Akaroa they have now forgotten how to be, and it is well. A thirsty person who strolls into a bar may have to ring a big cow-bell two or three times before a dispenser arrives. That is the place fon resting and forgetting tho world and its work. New Zealand need not be shocked about Akaroa'e inix?d bathing.