TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 48, 27 February 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It is comforting to see a Minister ofthe Crown., the Hon. G. Civic ' Fowlds, joining vigorously in. Pride, the town-planning campaign. Hie speech at Christchurch. ort Friday, pleasantly chows that he is eager to induce New Zealand people to have more pride in the appearance of their towns and cities. The theory of filar. Fowlda is that New Zealandejs ha-ve been co much occupied with national and Imperial iesues that they have not had time and energy to have a proper care for local things. It is not easy to agree with this sweeping generalisation. New Zealand's history resemblee the history >of other new countries, American and Australian. In the early yeaire the pioneers have to be 'busily concerned with utilities. They have to make a living and aasure a future for their children before they can spare much thought for the aesthetic. Unhappily the neglect of "the amenities" is apt to continue long after the excuse hae lost its force. It is not many years since civic pride was thoroughly aroused in many of the smaller American cities and towns, but now that the fervour hae set in some wonderful progress is being made. Very many enthusiasts are at work, with voice and pen, fostering a love of the beautiful in the surroundings of the home and the town. This good result is being achieved in two_ ways — by the elimination of the spirit of de&tructiveness or vandalism, iand by substituting the active spirit of beauty-culture. Much has to be done in New Zealand in the-prieliminai'y work, the 'checking of vandalism. In some places it is almost necessary to have an. armed guard on duty, night and -day, to safeguard young trees in public places. The great need to-day is the presence of vigorous men and women capable of giving a lead in work for which there is immeasurable scope in New Zealand. For five or six weeks the Prime Minister has travelled rapidA Ministerial ly between Auckland Muster. and Sbewarfc Island. He has received enough, illuminated addresses to light up any quantity of darkness. He ha 9 been to many places, each requiring a speech of one to two hours' duration, and wily deputations have sprung upon him in all corners of the two islands. Day after day he has been ceaselessly on the move. Sir Joseph and Ids secretaries have toiled late and early, and yet Sir Joseph has returned to Wellington fresh after a rushing strenuous enough to jade a Sandow. The Premier has undoubtedly a remarkable vitality. People may have arguments about the quality of some of his speeches and general political work, but there is little room for difference about the quantity. And now has begun the final rush to clear the way for Friday's journey Londonwards, for things Imperial and Coronational. "Deputators" have beenwarned off the preserve of Government Buildings, where Cabinet is to meet every day till Friday. To-day the Hons. J. Carroll and D. Buddo are the only absentees, ,and they will soon be here to join the- other Ministerial travellers in a busy round of work. Many sums appropriated by Parliament will be allocated by Cabinet this week, j Many a district of New Zealand will wonder what this week will bring forth. What will be Sir Joseph's instructions to the Hon. J. A. Millar about railways, and to the Hon. R. M'Kenzie about water-power and tramways? The PrimeMinister's colleagues have to be carefully _ "briefed" in the matifer of preparations for the general election. Sir Joseph is to be buck by August, buc much, of the Government's work for tbe polls will be done between now and August. When Sir Joseph made his "dash" to London in 1909 for the Imperial Defence Conference, his colleagues were nob required to do much work that called for shrewdness, but the case is different now. A severe test is looming up for some of them. Many of the oddities of feminine- <( fashion are trace-Harem-scarem." able to man. An autocrat in Paris issues an order which even the militant snffragetfees ultimately obey. This Tsar of Russia-leather is fired with a zeal to 'popularise the Turkish harem raiment, of which trousers are a conspicuous feature. A few weeks ago two Parisian ladies, probably commissioned by thedictator of fashions, fluttered on to the boulevards in more or less Turkish trouserings, and they were presently ,glad to vanish with all possible des,patch. _ A curious crowd was too em- - barrassingly inquisitive. The Parisian populace is not easily startled by novelty in woman's dress. A long succes- , sion of weird "creations," topping off -with "hobbles," hardened the public to almost anything, but the Turkish drees ■was something "extra-special," as the drapers say. Hence the rush, and the rapid flickering flight of the trousered ankles. In Madrid and New York tie "divided skirt" experiment has caused more trouble than in Paris. A cable message to-day announces that the unusual costume provoked riots. Perhaps the Turkish association has helped to create popular resentment. Otherwise, od th& score of health and comfort, much may be said for the new cut. It is doubtful, however, whether convenience is a motive among the bold leaders' of the latest fashion. They are fresh from endangering their lives in the ex. aggerated "hobble," and they have cheerfully suffered other discomforts at the command of the despotic mode-man. They apparently crave for notoriety, at all hazards, and are in a fever to be off with the old and on with tha new, as soon as they see themselvos widely copied. ( Still, it seems that the Parisian dictator's ambition has bsen too vast/ this time. His dream of a Turkishtrousered world of women appears doomed to fade soon into nothingness. Even if the crowds do refrain from throwing cabbages and fish-heads, the hsKEem notion appears sure of short shrift for the present. A few types of women may enjoy the stares that the trousers command, but the majority will prefer something _ less likely to make them lead a comical procession in thestreet