CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10597, 5 March 1895, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

There has of late been a cokgo. good deal of newspaper gossip concerning this portion of "Darkest Africa.” It was in January last reported that during February King Leopold would lay before the Belgian Parliament a proposal for the annexation of the territory of the Congo Free State as a Belgian colony. Then we had rumours of a sum of money being offered for the country by a “great English financier,” and of ita rejection by King Leopold, who declared his determination “to maintain the integrity of the Congo State intact aa the future inheritance of Belgium." It was at) first surmised that the Hon Cecil .Rhodes was the would-be purchaser, but the offer proved to have been from Colonel North, who was willing to give for s, large part of the Manyema district;' Then we had etatemoats regarding the “pre-emptive right” of France to acJ quire the Congo territory; later still si disclaimer by the British Government that: any such right existed ; and last of all the news that the French Government had offered the King of the Belgians twenty millions sterling for the country, and that this offer, like that of the Nitrate King, had been rejected. The last-mentioned proposal effectually disposes of the French claim to pre-emption. That claim, wemayez* plain, was based upon an agreement with the International Association which formerly controlled the Congo territory, under which the Association pledged itself to give Franco the preference, "if through any unforeseen circumstance the Association were one day led to realise its possessions.” That agreement came to an end when the Association became defunct.

JrNOT FOB

The Congo Free State was constituted by a general act of an international confer-

ence, which was signed at Berlin on Feb. 26, 1885, when the State was placed under the individual sovereignty of King Leopold. By a will dated August 2, 1889, the King bequeathed to Belgium all his sovereign rights in the State. On July 31, 1890, the territories of , the State were declared inalienable, and a convention dated July 3, 1890, between Belgium and the Free State, reserved to the former the right of annexing the latter after a period of ten years. The King of the Belgians has paid half a million of his own money' towards the development of the Congo Free State, and he alone has a valid claim to the control of that vast territory. Apparently he does not mean to make any proposal for immediately declaring it a Belgian colony. Possibly he recognises the absurdity of owning a colony when he has not a single warship in which he might visit it or by which he might assert his authority. Congo is practically a free state under international guarantee; but Belgium has the option, any time during the next five years, of assuming the complete and sovereign control. In these circumstances the Congo is not open to. foreign exploitation, nor are any of its territories for sale.

Some people ate viewing with a good deal of apprehension the appointment of women to posts in onr Civil

WOMEN TEACHERS.

Service. Not that they object to the women—few could do that, considering the high quality of the work done by them but the boys are kept out of employment by the activity of their sisters. It might be thought from this that boys are already filling all the posts open to them; but this is by no means the case. In the teaching profession, where boys are urgently required, it can easily be seen that girls are fast obtaining a monopoly of the work. It is the same in America. There the official statistics show that the lady teacher holds her own easily. Thus in 1880 it was found that 42*8 per cent of the teachers in the United States were men; ten years later the percentage had fallen to 34-5, whilst in 1891 it was farther reduced to 33*7. In the last-mentioned year, of 368,791 teachers in the United States, 224,342 were women. For some of the States the returns are most remarkable ; thus, .New Hampshire entrusts its educational interests to 305 men and 2829 women. It must be added, however, that economy is the prime cause of this great difference between the number of male and female teachers, for the latter are paid far smaller salaries than the men. In New Zealand the difference in the respective salaries, though not so large, is yet sufficiently marked to hold out a good deal of inducement to male teachers. And yet, what do we find ?/ Simply that the« boys are quietly leaving the work to their sisters.

At a pupil teachers’ examination held in Wellington the other day, out oi

WHT THEY SUCCEED.

tho eixty-six successful candidates only ten were boys. This is a typical case, and it is worth noting that while five or sis of the successful lads were examined for the first year, there was only one examined for the fourth. This does not say much for the persevering powers of our boys. It looks uncommonly as though the arduous training through which a young teacher has to pass frightens many of the sterner sex. As for the girls, obstacles seem only to rouse them into patting forth stronger efforts, and they finally succeed, as they deserve. hJany a girl will teach all day without a murmur, and after a long walk home will settle down to study half the night, and think nothing of it. Few boys are found who will make so great a sacrifice. They dislike what they call drudgery, and prefer an easier life, such as they can get iu an office. Hera the work becomes mechanical to a certain extent, and the evenings are free for recreation. It is by no means wonderful, under the circumstances, that women threaten to monopolise the-teaching profession in the colonies.

Tha csmmittee of the Canterbury Liberal Association has very sensibly suggested to the

HOLIDAY TRAINS AND FARES;

of Railways that ho should alter the time of the departure of the midday north train from Christchurch on Thursdays and Saturdays from 11.50 a.m» ,4© 106 p,m. This alteratiomwouldUiiabl*

ft Bomber of people who are engaged in jfhopa and factories to visit daring their half-holiday one of the moat picturesque ' and intereating parts of Canterbury. But if there is no local objection to the change, we would suggest that it should apply to this particular train on every day of the week. It would be confusing to the travelling public to have a time-table that varied from day to day, and there are many people, besides-holiday makers, who would find it more convenient to leave town at 1,15 p.m. than at 11.50 a.m. And while Mr Seddon is considering this matter he might very well make inquiries with a view to a reduction of the fares on the Christchuroh-Lyttelton line. At present it is possible to travel from Christchurch to New Brighton or Sumner and back for sixpence; but the excursionist who prefers the attractions of Lyttelton and wishes to travel first-class must pay more than three times that amount to enjoy a few hours at our seaport. The intention of the promoters of the railway which connects Christchurch and Lyttelton was to establish a means of communication between the two places that would make them as one town; but we have drifted a long way from that ideal, and it is too late now to hope for the institution of merely nominal fares. There is, however, no reason why the line should not compete with the Sumner and New Brighton tramways in conveying holiday-makers to the seaside, and we trust that Mr Seddon will sea his way to reduce the fares by at least one half.