TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 89, 17 April 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

"Speaking at the luncheon the Hon. J. Carroll ,held out In the Near great hopes of progress Future. and the advancement? of this part of the Dominion in the near future," says a Press Association telegram from Kawakawa. Ihe Acting-Premier, prior to the luncheon, had opened a section of railway,in the presence of a stray Royal Commission, Public School Cadets, and magnates of Whangarei. "In the near future" is a rough translation of "taihoa." We hope, for Kawakawa's sake, that the "near future" will not bo the customary "near future" of the Carroll braaitl. With him to-day is given as an opportunity to say "to-morrow." He lulls himself to gentle rest with a crooning of "by-and-bye." The murmur of the river and- the whisper of the wind are a melody of "to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow." When one debtor book of procrastination is nearly filled the eloquent Minister makes a thrilling speech, and turns over a new leaf of procrastination. So the days and tho weeks, the months and the years, glide away, and the Hon. J. Carroll's life is a song of sweet content and restfulness. His frame of splendid placidity is reinforced concrete which no quake can disjoint. From Maori feast to pakeha luncheon he flits as a bee from flower to flower with leisurely wing, pinging the while. Yefc he has opened a piece of railway. This may be the beginning of the strenuous life. Perhaps he has resolved to spoil his record by justifying the first word of the compound "Act-ing-Premier. " Another "Little New Zealander," sub ™. t> . scribing his letter The Defence "Self - Respect, ' ' calls of Liberty, upon the "young manhood " of this ccninh-y to ; cry havoc and let clip the dogs of war against compulsory military service on the present basis '(territorial duty for youths under twenty-one years ° f age)- Even if the Government, as aelf -Respect " and other complainants have suggested, was induced by political considerations to give no heed to Lord Kitchener's recommendation of the twfenty-fave-year limit, the fact remains that the present plan is a good beginning. Tho Poet favoured the full measure of the great authority's advice, but because this wise counsel was not wholly accepted the present Act does not deserve the peculiar abuse piled upon it by young Britons of the order Never, never, never shall be slaves." The system does not make such a strong military start with the twenty-one year hmitation, but this scheme involves lota e-eonomic and social disturbance. " SelfRespect" and others like him seem to nave strange notions of "liberty." They appear to think- that they have enjoyed peace and plenty year after year ' by leaving defence to chance and a deter mination to snatch a rifle from the wall if a sudden need arises. Liberty is not' conserved by singing "Britons never, never, etc., and "They can't beat boys of the bull-dog breed " on Saturday nights. We are sure that " Self.Respect's" narrowness and his ignorance of the meaning of tho word liberty are not shared by any appreciable proportion of New Zealand's youth. " SelfRespect's " talk of migrating is as droll as much of hie other argument. He may easily shift from the frying pan into the hie. He will have to go further than Australia for a chance to shn-k a duty to home and country. His task is to find a no man's land. The nearest is Antarctica, and even there " Self -Respect " would have to fight hard for existence. A correspondent complains in The Post about the .gruesomeiK;** Ihe Moving of a kinematographic Picture. film recently exhibited in one of Wellington's theatres. The picture portrayed a "fake" of the assassination of Admiral de Coligny, and bodies of Huguenots massacred by the Guises, with thude by a hired man behind the scenes, to enable the spectators to sup full of horror. The representation in iteeli was objectionable enough a 6 a prelude for horrible nightmares, but the principal vioouenees was incidental. The incident, "got up" for show purposes, was an offence against good taste. "Disputes, about that dark episode in the history of France have caused much bitterness, Buffering, and bloodshed during the past three centuries, and there is no call to-day for a public revival of ill-feeling. When such scenes have to be constructed out of literary records, with full allowance for "modern requirements," they are best left alone for readers rather than for sightseers. The world is largo; the range of subjects for moving pictures is infinite, without any undesirable digging up of graves. " Probably it just needo a word to the various managements to be on guard against the repetition of simitar blunders. The moving picture has proved a boon in the way of amusement and education, and it can well continue to be a boon without, the introduction; of tilings gruesome, whether representing realities or "fakes." 1 If the agitation for the censorship ie to be silenced, the picture managers must ever have a care for the decencies.

Two whales — a, cow and her calf — wer© stranded last week on the Spit at Otago Heads, says the Dunedin Star. They were left on the long sa-ndy beach by the receding tide, and lie about 400 yds north of the mole. Mr. W. Sutheiiwid, who looks after tho leading light and beacons, visited tho place-, and found the whales alive at 6 o'clock. He put his mark of ownership on them and secured them. The cow is 30ft long and the calf 15ft. They are of the bottle-nosed variety, and are expected to yield some valuable oil, but u&t a largo quantity.