RANDOM REMARKS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 571, 28 May 1913, Page 2

RANDOM REMARKS.

By Onlooker.

In view of recent happenings one is moved to speculate on the fleeting nature of things. The thought is not new. It is a good many years since a tired monarch concluded that all was vanity, and his opinion was duly proclaimed by a faithful chronicler. Still there is just that shade of difference between the two opinions which inndicates the different outlook of the young as compared with the old. One can only arrive at the conclusion that "all is vanity" from hard and bitter experience. The very expression of such an opinion proves conclusively that the person uttering it has reached the age at which the individual is utterly callous to outside opinion. It is a remarkable fact that these old people who become completely indifferent to the opinions of others continue to exercise a blind and implicit faith in their own opinions. The truly considerate philosopher makes his utterances posthumous.

Not being a philosopher, I claim the right to pass an ordinary person's frivolous opinion on the fleetingness of things which constitute the sum of human existence. The battleship visit to the Dominion was one of the most important events in that portion of New Zealand's history, which is linked with the Imperial Idea. Just who is responsible for the said Idea would be hard to determine, but that mav pass with the fleeting things or be elucidated by posterity according to the taste and fancy of the individual. The important thing is that the idea exists, and equal im portance is the preservation of the idea in the heart ot every unit of the Empire. H.M.S New Zealand is the material manifestation of the great idea, and the visit of the ship to New Zealand waters is calculated to impress even a light thinking community with the responsibilities attaching to all true sons of the Empire. The chief value of the visit, however, is the impression conveyed to the growing sons of the Em pire, and no doubt the seed planted in the youthful mind will bear fruit anon. True wisdom in respect to great things provides for the perpetuation of ideas.

Thus while the visit is fleeting the impression remains. Which serves to indicate that the chief value ofanything lies in the effect. One could pro ceed to analyse the various brands of effect ad infinitum, but the average individual is commonly confronted with simple isßues. Moral effect we have frequently hear? of, and it seems to consist chiefly in frightening the other fellow. Moral effect on a subject who is not susceptible to fear is a blank failure as a rule Physical effect we are all acquainted with, and a blending of moral and physical effect is to be observed on the morning after the night before. The chief ailmentß of humanity are a blend of the moral and physical and these are the things worth avoiding. A particularly virulent ailment in the form of dyspepsia is a blend of all the imaginable effects working individually and continuously, and all having separate and delicate methods of their own. Fortunately the dyspepsia microbe cannot exist in the King Country air.