TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1911, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The "-Hon. J. A. Millar ie again feeling that it is not altoAn Embarrassed get her comfortable Minister. to be head of a. iJolitical system of (railway administration. Worries crowd ■upon him. He has just been obliged in Christchurch to grant to Canterbury fruit-growers "a hundred miles free railage and a nominal rate for the rest" on timber for truit cases. Ho was asked every day, he complained, to incrcae© railway facilities, yards, and wages, and to reduce fares. Unjtop of this troublo comes the protest against tho "spotters," practically private detectives, who board trains at Hag-stations to sea whether the guard will ask them for a fare. Of course, tho "spotter" or inspector system has a vogue on tramways throughout the world, and if it is iair to have a check on tramway conductors it is fair to havo a check on railway guards, in New Zealand, however, the tramway conductor is in a happier state than tho railway guard. If two people get in at two (liflerent flag-stations the guard ie entitled to sympathy. Who has not pitied tho guard (and tha passenger) when a fare has to bo collected on tho train.? Tho Railway Department &eeme to have evolved an impressive method, but not an expeditious one. Tho guards complain that the system is antiquated, and v puts them in an unfair position. Men in Auckland have resented tho "spotting" as now practised, and when, Auckland is against anything departmental it is ail anxious time for the Minieter. Mr. Millar lias still another grave care, though h© has prolassed that he is not bothering about it. The railway officers havo not withdrawn their charge that the department is exposing the public to serious risk by filling important responsible positions with comparatively low-grade men. Fairly definite accusations were made, which the Minister has not deigned to answer. In such a caee silence is not the best possible method oi meeting the argument. Tho charge stands till it is refuted. . Mt. Craigie, M.P., who appears to have a permanent appointGood for ment as Mayor of Mr. Craigie. Timaru, is about to thoroughly distinguish himself. He has put away the "usual banquet" at which, in Timaru custom, tho newly-elected Mayor and council have been wont to do the "jolly good fellow" act, at tho ratepayers' expense. Mr. Craigie has announced tliat the money, which would otherwise havo been absorbed in unnecessary food and drink-stuffs by well-nourished men, 'will bo invested in books for tho public li« brary. Thus tho money will get lasting benefit for the many, instead of fleeting joys (with headaches and stomachaches, perhaps, t& follow) ,for the few. This substitution has the merit of fairness and common-sens© intrinsically, and as an example it is priceless. A system of_ fuss and mush over comparatively minor events has intruded and expanded in New Zealand. The smallest stonelaying sometimes promotes a distressing volume of cackling, at a cost to the country's nerves and pocket. Ther© is very much .energy of spirit, energy of body, time and cash wasted on ceremonial flash and glitter, in a patheti•cally petty manner. If New Zealand was an old country with a burdensome weight of wealth, it might be excusable to dine and wine away a proportion of the '-'so say all of us" assemblies over little tilings, but New Zealand is a country which has plenty of scope for the investment of cash and energy on. things calculated to help in Uio reduction of the huge public debt. Therefor© Mr. Craigie. has done nobly ; Timaru is lionoured. 'xhe turbulent Cantonese are once more in arms against the Ihe. South Manchu Dynasty, and China Rising, the heather's afire in ...... South China. In all probability this rising, as so many of its predecessors, will bo crushed, but tho flame will be only smothered. Tho whole of the Southern Chine&o are united m their hostility to the present rulers of tho Chinese Empire as invaders, which, as a matter of fact, they are. Traces of the old Ming family, or pure Chinese dynasty, are almost obliterated, and although if reinstated at the old capital of Nanking, as has been proposed, they might not bo acceptable to the whole Empire, it has been made abundantly clear in recent years that tho Chinese of the South are determined that the Manchu must go. Tho present trouble will not take an anti-European ionn unless there i& foreign intervention ; but thero may bo violence and looting, mYx e u feigners may be the sufferers at the hands of rowdies out for plunder at any time. Fiery in temperament, powerful in physique, progressive in thought, the people of South. China, particularly tho Cantonese, are capablo of great things for tho good of their own country. In the opinion of many authorities they would make admirable administrators of public afiairs, given full opportunity. They havo 'but one dream : China for the Chinese. This dream is shared by their exiled compatriots in the East Indies, United States, Australia ; in fact, wherever Chinese aro aliens. Secret societies, under the guise of mutual improvement or social clubs, meet in the countries mentioned with a single object the overthrow of the Manchu. The present rising will no doubt be suppressed with much bloodshed, but it will recur.