TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 72, 25 March 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

— +__ | A. foundation stone has been laid in Par- 1 liajnent grounds, but the Love of the rearing of the building Limelight, from "the cosy nest will be a long procees. It iva« a laying probably without precedent j ill this country — a. foundation atone for a structure not yet finally planned. At least, a few days ago tho Minieter of Public Works admitted that tho deeign bad not been definitely settled, and nothing has been said since to show that the way i*» clear for the" builders. 'The Government was moie eager lor a ceremony than for t-lie eerioiw busineßft of filing t,h* lines f>f tho work, and there(or« *ttf igiuuLatiaa at<fiu w«* .tlu'own at

the public eye on Saturday. It may be a lonely ston« for a long time, but it has served its purpose. It is a piece of granite, blazoned and much engraved, and across the shining face is the name of the retiring Prime- Minister, in full style and title Wo note this fact in no carping nor sneering spirit. It is human to be a little vain, and it was therefore nob unnatural for Sir Joocph Ward to desire to have life name tiCored into the foundation stone before the plans for the building were complete. Ho has lately displayed an ardent love of limelight ; indeed, he is going out of the political eky after tho manner of Halley's comet, trailing an incandescent tail. However, the people who pay_ may not bogrudgo Sir Joseph his flourish on the ceremonial stage on the eve of hie dropping of the Prime Ministerial role, but they may hopo that the construction of Parliament Buildings will bo more in order than the hasty laying of the foundation stone. It i» a sad time for the planning of a building to serve for a century or more, when a political house, to endure for a year or two, has to be patched up with "scratch" materials. The probability is that tho new Government will have 'too many'internal and external worries for Parliament Buildings, now that Saturday's ceremony 16 a matter of history. Christening ceremonies are. occurring «r, .. °X erv day among the t WhaU political parties. This is m a Name? a time for looking v backward and forward, and the retrospect brings up a weird array of names and nicknamee. Time wus when the politicians grouped themselves, without apology, as Liberals and Conservatives. With the passing of the years and the powerful uae of the popular franchise, the name "Conservative" began to lose ite charms for the opponents of the Liberals. Moreover, different men, with different ideahs, joined the Opposition which eventually claimed to be the "real Liberal Party ' and the "true Democratic Party." Mr. Maesey's personal followers and prese backers have bellowed * rich variety of epithets on the supporters of Sir Joseph Ward— "Sham Liberal," "Bogus Liberal," "th© Back-down Party," "the Played-out Party," "the Gliborals," "the Spoils Party," "the Forty" (which may havo a «ly suggestion of the story of Ali Baba), and so on. The "Wardites" have been just as free and frank in their naming of the "Maeseyites," who Live been dubbed "the Deform Party," "the Chloroform Party," "the- Purist Party," "the Prude Party," "the Rude Party" "the Old Tory Party." The Liberals have complained that they have, been injured by some of the names hurled at them, bub it has been really a case of Greek against Greek in this sort of verbal warfare. The Oppcsitioimto have just as much cause to grumble as the Ministerialists. Both sides have given their tongues ample exercise with epithets, some-times to the amusement, and eometimee to the disgust, of tho public. The partisans, if they reflect — as they must do occasionally, we presume— should surely feel a little foolish in this business of nicknaming. It has been much overdone j the finding of now gibes has become a Btrain ; it is an eli'ort, tiring: to the phra^e-makera and tiresome to the public. The mystery attaching to the cruise of the Kainan Maru in A Mysterious the Antarctic is by no Cruise. means dispelled by the statements made by Commander Shiraa© and other member* of th© expedition. For instance, it iii not yet clear whether the expedition really set out to plant tho flag of th© Rising Sun at the South Pole nor whether any part of the forbidding coast of the Antarctic has been named Niitsuhito Land or if the Okuma Mountains have been so designated. After visiting and 1 returning to th© Bay of Whales and i King Edward VII.' La,nd the , expedition went into "unknown parts of th© seas." Where and what those unknown parts were is not revealed, As scientific men the Japanese are to be taken, seriously, for the results of their investigation are as eagerly awaited by the world at largo as any pursued by the savants of the Western world. It may be, then, that the cruis* of the Kaitian Mam has been purely scientific, as it is declared to be, and of no more or less economic valuer than those of Amundsen and Scott. At any rate, what they know the Kainan Maru party can well keep to them«elve», giving evasive answers without brusque- . ness, telling nothing while appearing -to be effusively communicative. Judging by the extremely robust appearance' of the party on its return irorn the ice to Wellington, itjs quite possible that living is possible In parts of Antarctica. The Japanese prefer the sun, but as whalers they are inured to the climate of the Arctic north of Behring Straits and Alaska. It is possible, then, that a Japanese commercial station may bo established in time to come in latitudes no farther from* the South Pol© than these hardy jjeople of the East *re accustomed to work in in the Northern Hemisphere. They have apparently solved the problem of how to keep body and soul together afloat and ashore ill high latitudes, which is not th© least important part v of Polar exploration work.