TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 50, 28 February 1914, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

"The use of filthy language in the streets is becoming Obscene too common in "Wei" Language and Hngton, and the Indecency. penalties so far imposed do not seem to act as a sufficient deterrent," said Inspector Hendrey at Court the other day. This is an old complaint here. By night and day, _ on the wharves and in some of the main streets, disgusting and obscene words come from men, who have not the excuse of drunkenness. The gross offenders do not seem to care whether women or children are near or not; they do not whisper their vile phrases ; ' the revolting language • is audible yards away from the foul source. At intervals an offender is caught and punished, but th^ campaign against shameless culpritß is not as drastic as it should bo. It is one of several surprising things the toleration of loathsome spitting on footpaths) that the joersons who pollute the public air with obscenity and profanity are not sharply impressed with a respect for the decencies. Detection is very easy; a few plain-clothes men could get convincing evidence against a_ score of*foulmouthed persons in public places any day or night. Leniency is a deplorable mistake ; any plea of ignorance of the law is sheer humbug. If an abominable> practice is to be checked, the police should be as energetic against the obscene as tlwy are against the pak-a-poo players of Haintng-street, where the gambling is unobtrusive. It is a painful anomaly that coarse speakers and spitters can break laws and in broad daylight with impunily ; the prosecutions for these street offences are so rare that the transgressors do not appear to be afraid of any possible penalty. Another evil demanding suppression is .indecency in the public parks and gardens. It is very good news for citizens tha£ one callous brute, who offended in the presence of women and children, has been sent to gaol for two months, with hard labour. A few more similar sentences should greatly help to educate those ignoble types of uncivilised men. Though it. was known by wireless a Jong time ago that LieutenHeroism in ant Ninnis and Dr. Polar Wastes. Mertz had been lost while sledging with Dr. Mawson in Adclieland, the manner in which they met their death has only now been given to the world. Back in his native Adelaide, the leader of the expedition has cabled out the etory, which is in effect that Lieutenant Ninnis ca,me to a. sudden end by falling into a crevasse, and with him went the sledge "carrying most of the vital necessities." These being lost, Dr. Meftz later on died from weakness. Piecing together the narrative in the Daily Mail and statements made by Dr. Maweon in Adelaide, it seems that Ninnis and the main sledge and dog team were lost lon 14th December, 1912 (on 14th. December, one year before, Amundsen gained tho South Pole), and that on 7th January Dr. Mertz died, after which Dr. Mawson was for thirty days absolutely alone, but managed to regain the hut, from which the party had been a hundred miles distant on Ist January. After tho loss of tho sledge with the necessaries, Dr. Mawson was soon in the trying position that Captain Scott and party were in—ihandicapped by a dying companion. Dr. Mertz died soon enough to enable his comrade to regain safety, and Seaman Edgar Evans, poor fellow, did not. It was to avoid such a consequence that Captain Oates, later in the struggle, walked out into the blizzard to his certain fate. In a dying man such heroic anticipation of death is not always possible, and it is on contingencies such as this that the liv« Bof & whole party in the Polar wa«tes may depend. Even after death had removed Dr. Mertz, Dr. Mawson's chance of life was a very remote one, and his regaining of the hut was due to his accidentally stumbling upon food. The courage and endurance, of the dead and tho living alike, have added a new page to human d«eds of heroism, and Mawson's dash will rank with Scott's among the greatest of British achievements in the teeth of hunger, suffering, and the d«adly crevasse. From one shocking outrage the wild Suffragettes go to | The Infamous worse ones in their Suffragettes. frenzied demonstration of fitness for the vote. By maniacal anarchy these peculiar revolutionists are hoping to qualify for a responsible part in affairs of good government. By orgies of destruction they expect to convince the British public that they have valuable constructive ability. Their " appeal" is in effect: — "You see what we can do without the vote ; try us with the vote. You see the smoking ruins of churches and pavilions ; you have heard i.tk-G .washing and Ih.? smashing gl hallo

that were nob hurt by the passions of men. but havo been wiped out by the passion of women, without the vote. Try her with the vote." So the battering of John Bull continues— and it is darkly hinted that the bomb will help the brick-bat, the claw-hammer, the corrosive acid, and the fire-brand, if Parliament does not surrender to the screeching sisterhood. The latest crime is one to spread sorrow and anger through the whole Empire and the United States. The Furies and the Harpies have sacrificed to their madness the East Lothian Church at Whitekirk, which dates from the end of the thirteenth century. The frost and storm of six hundred winters, civil wars! and all the social and religious turmoil of a score of generations, left that church for crazy Suffragettes to destroy. This surely will mark a limit to the patience of the stolid British public. A while ago some prominent men of London, urged that violent Suffragettes should bo deported to a healthy island, where they would have an opportunity to recover from their fits of madness. The culprits deserve a pitiless sentence of exile.