NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16358, 30 September 1913, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Of the pioneers who came to Canterbury in the first four ships, the living representatives are, for the most part, those who belonged to the very young generation, and even the youngest of them, with the added threescore years, are becoming venerable seniors now; but of the fathers and mothers who made that early voyage, very few remain alive. One of them, Mrs Edward Dobson, yesterday celebrated her ninetyfirst birthday, and every son and daughter of the province will desire to join in tho felicitations of her friends on the occasion. Her son, Mr A. I>. Dobson, is continuing tho traditions of his race by serving the publio in an important capacity. Mr Edward Dobson was, of course, tho Provincial Surveyor during many years. The present generation is apt to forget what it owes to the courage and industry and public spirit of the men and women who converted the wilderness into a garden, and, if it remembers at all, it probably awards all tho credit to the men; but the men themselves could have told a different story. It foil to the lot of the mothers to bear hardships, to train their sons in British traditions, to sustain their husbands in adversity and to bring sweetness into the stern, arduous life of the young settlement. There coulcl have been no finer type of pioneer than the venerable lady to whom the present congratulations we offered. Her life in Canterbury, her services and her sacrifices have proved her to possess the highest qualities of British womanhood.

Mr James Cow, of Tinwald, who was mentioned by the Wellington correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times" as a probable candidate for the Ashburton seat at the next parliamentary election, disclaims any intention of wooing the favours of the constituency just now. Mr Cow is a busy man with plenty of work on hand apart from politics, as ho puts it himself, to engage his energy and hie attention, and he is also a modest man who would not think of thrusting himself into the field without a very definite invitation from the electors. That he would make a very excellent member of the House of Representatives, on whichever side lie sat, those who know him best readily admit, but in Ms present mood ho is not inclined* to seek the distinction and worry of public life on ihis own account.

Sir Alfred East, whose death is announced this morning, was bound to be

an .artist. Ho could draw before he could talk; but if his parents had had their way, he would have followed a much more prosaic career. It is related that when lie was ten years old he turned his artistic gifts to account by improving the pictures carried by a travelling lecturer, receiving payment in tickets for the lectures. His parents went to live in Glasgow, and there he came in contact with artistic people, and, incidentally, studied under a most capable master. From Glasgow he went to Paris, and in France, falling under the influence of the romanticists, he became a confirmed idealist. " Alfred East is one of the painters w!k> can see in Nature only what they want to see," was the blunt comment of a materialistic critio many years ago; but the truth was that East simply expressed in his pictures tho phenomena and the natural relations that appeared to him to give a landscape its distinctive characteristics. His greatness as a landscape painter was never really questioned after his return from Paris to London, though some of the critics professed to grow tired of his "restful pastorals." A tour of Japan gave his colour a more vivid note than before, but to the end ho preferred Nature in her quieter moods.

The Reformers are naturally anxious to closo the discussion regarding the appointment of tho Director of Physical Training and to turn to topics less unpleasant to themselves and their leaders. "A fair-minded public," says one of their organs, "will insist that the matter shall be allowed to drop, and that Mr Royd Garlick shall be ipermitted, without further molestation, to proceed with his work. The results will soon indicate whether he is a good man for his position or not, and by results he should be judged." What the Reformers are really hoping for, of course, is an absent-minded public, which will accept complacently the argument that the end justifies the means.

Robberies of mails in transit to Brindisi are becoming altogether too common. It is quite evident that a gang of expert thieves watches this mail routo very closely. ' Its "intelligence department" appears to be in touch with useful sources of information, for when the gang operates the haul is a substantial one. The gang, naturally, does not confine its attention to one country, but the French police believe that it has its headquarters either in France or Northern Italy, and that many of the minor robberies reported in France are its work. Occasionally, the police are able to lay their hands on individual members, or, at least, on clover thieves, who are believed to be members of the main international organisation, but the tracks of the others are always well covered, and, although the finest detective talent in Europe has grappled with the problem, the investigators do not know with certainty who the organisers are. The gang's biggest successes have been achieved on the Brindisi route, and it is apparent that the supervision of this line by tho police is either not continuous or is inefficient.

The "Wellington "Post" makes a very delicate and dignified protest against the regulation of the Education Department which prescribes that women teachers when giving physical instruction shall wear short dresses—very short—regardless of conditions and circumstances. "Objection to this latest absurdity of the official mind," it says, "is not a matter of British prudery or namby-pambyism. It is possible for women to feel humiliated by a stupid older, blindly imposed, a.nd their objection to the proposed tyranny will have the support of all classes of the community. We cannot imagine that the Hon J. Allen will approve a regulation which the teachers will firmly resist—and successfully, because publio opinion will be in winning force on the women's side. It seems that somebody under the Minister yearns for the notoriety of a short-skirt rule, even when the exercises have to be in playgrounds beside busy streets. Tho complainants admit that the suggested costume is proper for a gymnasium, but not for grounds adjacent to public highways." The protest seems reasonable enough when put in this way. The woman teacher, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is a broad-minded person who cares a great deal more for the welfare of her pupils than she does for her own personal appearanoe, but for the sake of her pupils quite as much as for the soke of her own dignity she would hesitate to dona gymnasium costume in one of the oity playgrounds and in full view of two or three hundred giggling boys and of every passerby lead a class of girls through a series of physical exercises. The teacher's own common-sense would suggest a, suitable dress for such work, but it would not be of a kind to suggest any ludicrous incongruity to the minds of the pupils. There is no need for the Minister to withdraw the regulation—that would look too much like climbingdown—but he should set up a committee to consider it and in the meantimo suspend its operation. He has a precedent of liis own creation for this course in the Defence Committee, which is now helping him out of some other ill-considered regulations.

If the full strength of the Australian fleet is sent to New Zealand m response to the Government's invitation the peoplo of the dominion will have the opportunity of seeing the Australia, a sister ship to H.M.S. New Zealand, the cruisers Sydney and Melbourne, and the destroyers Parramatta, "Warrego and Yarra. The Australia and the Sydney are the latest additions. Ultimately Australia will have a fleet of fifty-two vessels, including eight Dreadnought cruisers. The flagship of the Commonwealth fleet differs in some essentials from the battleship-cruisers of the Imperial Navy. Instead of 12in armour she has only Bin armour, and instead of 18.5 in she carries 12in guns. The saving of weight is important, because it gives the Australian ship a greater scope of movement on a given coal consumption and permits of a marked increase in speed, the authorities considering it wise to emphasise the cruiser rather than the battleship. It was impossible, of course, to man the new ships completely with Australians, but already of the 1200 or 1300 officers and men on the Australia and tho Sydney 47 per cent enlisted from the Commonwealth.

One of the most daring of the Conservative newspapers ignores facts in a characteristic way by saying that Ihe land reformers "have never attempted to give any sound reason, any reason which does not infringe the basic principles of justice and democracy, why,

the owner of land should be ta-sed rather than the owner of property of some other kind." The reason why the owner of land is treated in a special way has been stated clearly every time the subject has been discussed in public, and it is apparent without explanation to any person of ordinary intelligence. Tho land is a vital necessity of huniiu oxistenco. It was not made by man, it is as much the common horitaga of the race as the air is, and instinct and common-sense alike demand that it shall not be placed unreservedly in tho hands of tho few, who would then decide whether or not tho rest- of humanity should have tho right to live. The special taxation placed on land is not punitive at all; it is merely the nation's ntfempt to check land monopoly, the worst evil that can afflict a people. " Three or four years ago," adds the Conservative journal, "an acute controversy on this point in the 1 Westminster Gazette ' was transferred to the House of Commons, and in each place the land-taxers were forced to fall back on the plea that the fact was that land -was easier to get at than anything else." The statement is as absurd as it is inaccurate. The " landtaxers " n.ade their position perfectly clear in the controversy mentioned and had by no moans the worst of the argument

Tho suggestion advanced by the Swedish transport workers at the International Congress in -London, that' tho workers should put a stop to war by declining to manufacture or handle tho munitions of war, was discussed last year, and it was agreed to bring the proposal unofficially before tho labour organisations in all countries. The idea looks impracticable, because theoretically the unions have nothing to do with tho character of the materials they handle and because they have other business to occupy their attention without bringing, themselves into conflict with tho Governments. The manufacturers of warlike material, threatened with an anti-war movement, would of course take steps to protect their interests, and if they had reason to suspect the loyalty of the factory workers they would endeavour to utilise only free labour. But the transport workers, if they were in complete agreement on the point, certainly could embarrass any Power that wanted to go to war, by compelling the Government to employ troops to handle all the guns and ammunition. The idea, however, could not be carried out unless the international unions were in complete accord, and an agreement on ' such a question does not look immediately probable.