Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1913. HIGHER STANDARDS WANTED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9586, 2 September 1913, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1913. HIGHER STANDARDS WANTED.

Notadli addresses have been delivered by Lady Stout in Palmereton and Wanganui during the past week. Dealing with the responsibilities of fatherhood Lady Stout made a powerful appeal for the more general recognition of the principle that a higher standard of life and morals should govern men. equally with women. If it U necessary and right that ,i;irls and young women should be educated upon the responsibilities of wifehood and motherhood, it is surely equally important that our youths and young men should be instructed in the duties and responsibilities which they will assume later as husbands and fathers. Healthy minds, filled with wholesome thoughts and ideals, arc just ns essential to the well-being and comfort of the coming generation as healthy todies. The "sins of the fathers" that aro "visited upon the children" arc almost invariably these that have their outcome in dissipated habits, loose morals and a general disregard of the laws of health. No decent minded citizen would contemplate with other than feelings of aversion the idea of handing his daughter in marriage to a man whose habits he knew to be dissolute and immoral. He would avoid, and would counsel his daughter to avoid, the drunkard and the roue. But it is not always poniblo for the father to safeguard his daughter against forming an undesirable alliance. Men are commonly believed to have looser ideas upon what constitutes, or should constitute, their attitude towards the other sex. That which they won l '! regard as merely trifling peccadilloes in themselves become deadly sins in w mien. Lady Stout evidently holds the opinion, and its correctness cannot bo gainsaid, that the one standard should Isold good for both sexes. If it ia right and desirable that ;i young girl should be trained along the lines of purity and goodmes; if it is necessary that she should retain her virtue and reputation Mnsullied again.it the day of her marriage; then, surely, it is equally desirable that our the future husbands and fathers of the raca-ahould be similarly taught that purity and goodue** are ilio very gait*

of life, and that indulgence in tkm end thoae body-blighting eine which are held by medical men end othere to be responsible for more than half the dinraflre that afflict mankind, can <wily lead to wretchedness and misery mtihe near future. The fake delicacy -which » for so long practically, prohibited tHe discussion of certain much vexed social questions, including aexual problems which have long . been the despair of those who recognise and have to deal with the evils which they occasion, is to a> large extent vanishing, and that is a hopeful sign of the times. Prurient minds will always feed upon certain physiological data that every growing boy and girl should be acquainted with, but the prurient mind* are the unhealthy minds, and it should be the endeavour of the teachers and guardians of the young to eliminate unhealthy thoughts,

habits aud imaginings from the minds of their charges by inculcating healthy modes of life, physical exercises and recreations and a judicious course of reading, such as will tend to dispel morbid thoughts and fancies and elevate the mind. The Education Department has not hesitated to point out the evil effects of alcohol and to issue school placards enforcing the moral that indulgence in strong liquors tends to impair the health of the body; the Legislature has taken action in the direction of discouraging smoking on the part of boys under 16 years of age, and the licensing law makes it an offence for publicans to serve alcoholic liquor* to young fellows under 21 years of There is thus a partial recognition of the State's responsibility in certain directions where the welfare of boys and young men is concerned. But it is impossible for the State to make its people moral by Act of Parliament, nor do we believe that mere repressive legislation can possibly make us a virtuous people. The hope of the future is to be -found in the adoption by society generally of healthier modes of thought and living, equal standards of morality for both soxets, and a recognition of the principle that the future of the nation depends upon its sobriety and morality. Lady Stout is rendering the community valuable service in her efforts to arouse public sentiment upon questions that have boon too long kept in the background. While we do not altogether agree with her statement that "in New Zealand tho many youthful imbeciles have to thank their fathers for their affliction/' we can and do heartily concur with the

opinion flic inferential)? expresses that the standard of morality society demands from its women should aleo be enforced in the case of men*

One of the jockeys who scored at the Newmarket July meeting was Pullin. What's in a name, after all? A Mastcrton resident it.trying the experiment • tff cultivating .tomatoes in kerosene tins. 'He ft** over a thousand pldntu put down in this way. - »lj» , > ' x Ye9tentarthe New Zealand* FaYroerif w .V. nJrtrt handed over its creffHlerH- in Woodfrlle to the new co-operative companv' m that town. " The old Theatre Royal building in Wellington, where vaudeville has reigned for many yean, is to, be pulled down and a fane up-to-date theatre erected on the site bv the Brennan-Fuller Company. Tho Postal Department notifies that on and after to-day all parcels addressed to persons within the Borough will be deJiTered by the Department free of charge to tho addressee*. Messrs Mellsop, Elictt and Co., agents for the Shaw, Savill and Albion S.S. Company, are in receipt of cable advice that the lonic, from London, left Hobart yesterday, and is due to arrive in Wellington on Saturday morning. The following figures :-how the quarl-ty of butter in cool stores at various porls throughout the Dominion on 31st August: I- —Auckland 1895 boxes, New Plvmountßß4, Patea 400, Wellington 2228. Lyttelton 117. Dunedin 121; total 5615 boxes. The total on the 31st August, 1912. was 8542.

An excellent, lambing season is being exSerienced throughout the Wairarapa. Many ocks in the Masterton and Carterton districts have yielded returns well over one hundred per cent, while Mr F. White, of Parkvale, has obtained 200 per cent of lambs (save the Wairarapa Times). A Canadian paper says that the Post-master-General there recently issued instructions that telephone girls were to be allowed to marry. Almost immediately 300 of them took advantage of the liberty, and the Postmaster was asked to be best man at each of the weddings. It is currently reported that a farm on the Plains which changed hands tho other day brought somewhere about £BO per acre. The pastures of South Taranaki have seldom looked better so early in the •pring than is the case this year. There is an excellent growth visible already.— Hawera Star. Next week Palmerston residents will have an opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with grand opera. A local picturetheatre is presenting the world-famous opera "Carmen" in picture form. It is described as magnificently spectacular, and is to be accompanied by the appropriate opera music.

A special message to the Raetihi paper says:— Raetihi and Ohakune residents will be pleased to learn that the Ohakune-Rae-♦iiii branch line is to be proceeded with immediately. Another traflic manager is to be placed in charge of a new district between Hamilton and Mart on, and will, it is understood, reside at Ohakune. Presently Port Chalmers will bo the only big port in the Dominion unequipped with wireless. Just the other day (says the Otago Daily Times) the Suffolk failed to find the entranco in a fog. and was only picked up by the pilot boat after a wireless message from the steamer to Wellington notifying her position, had been transmitted by telegram to Dunedin. The flower show recently held at Sandon, m aid of funds of St. Thomas's Church, will result in a profit of over £25. The committee are indebted to Mrs A. Harris. a successful Palmer&ton exhibitor, Mies Dulei© Harris, Miss Bennett, Marton, and M«*rs A. K. Drew. W. Cheek and Knowles, each of whom helped in no small' degree to make the show the success it was.

Mr George West, Ruatiti (Main Trunk line), was the victim of a serious mishap, which nearly ended fatally, on Thursday. He came into contact with a driving belt al Mr Epps' mill, and was only saved by the timely action of a bystander, who dislodged the belt by\j.imbing the saw. Mr West sustained a badly-broken leg and other injuries, and was* taken to Taihape Hospital. The Postal Department notified the Chamber of Commerce, last evening that 1,776,057 letters had been posted in Palmerston North during 1912. and 1,918,657 delivered. Other figures supplied were as follows:—Postcards posted, 167.271; delivered, 202,475; books.posted, 897,854; delivered, 1,104,961; newspapers posted, 389,688; delivered, 658,307; parcels posted, 25,532; delivered, 28,366. Some thoughtless individual emptied tho drair.ings of a petrol tin into the side channel in Oashel street, Christehurch. Almost immediately afterwards a lighted laatoh was thrown into the gutter, and in a moment the whole length of the channel was ablaze. The petrol quickly burned itself out, and as it turned out no damage wa» done, for all vehicles standing near the {utter were hurriedly removed when the r* started.

A correspondent who had noticed a discussion going on in the columns of a Christchurch paper concerning tho cost of living forwarded to the editor the price-list of a loading firm of Glasgow grocers. Bacon is quoted on the list at 7Jd per lb, ham lOd pet lb, sugar lfd per lb. cocoa Is 4d per lb, coffee lis 2d per Jb, condensed milk 2d per tin, confections 3jd per lb, cornflour 2d per ib, currants 4d per lb, tobacco 4s 4J per lb, treacle per lb, baking soda Id per lb, pearl barley lid per lb. Of course, quality is an important factor in determining prices, but the list from which these quotations aro taken is issued by a firm of the very highest standing. For some years it has been the custom for trains coming from the North to drop thoir mails off in the Square opposite the Post Office, where the postal officials receive the bags. In this way the sorting and delivery of the letters is greatly expedited, the time being saved that would otherwise be occupied in conveying the mails from the station to the Post Office. Tho Railway Department, however, has issued an instruction forbidding the dropping of the bags from the trains. In drawing attention to the matter at last night's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, the president (Mr Eliott) said the practice hitherto followed had been a very convenient one, saving considerable time and enabling business people to reply to their correspondence before the afternoon mails closed. Mr Eliott suggested that tho Department be approached and asked to erect a net near the Post Office for the purpose of catching ~ the mails. The suggestion was approved by the members present, and it ▼as decided to send a recommendation to the above effect to the Postal Department, at the same time pointing out the convenience of an early delivery.