CURRENT TOPICS

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

CURRENT TOPICS

(By Frank Morton.)

Since it is always linnet, to give the outlying provinces their due i am ||orc to admit thai just how Wellington seems rathoi dull after Auckland. True, you may moot wise tomnoddies all over the place who will unsure you that Auckland is depressed anu «-i*(l; but on the evidence of your own eyci you'll never believe it. To me, i: seems that Auckland is bright and cheer ful, although iliis time the weather was continuously pale and grey. The Auckland people are glad by natural instinct, and weather apparently docs not affect them at all. To mo the fact that Auckland cai have bad weather came as a rather shock ing discovery. One lives and learns. 1 go. out of the train at Auckland j into a thick drizzle of rain, and that drizzle hung ovei Hie city like a pull during the whole of my stay, fliis was Auckland at its worst, an. J give you my hearty assurance that whet Wellington weather sets out '" be bad it can be vastly worn- than that.

So I ni, iniain my opinion that Aucklam would b the one big city in New Zealand for a fellow t,, lh,> jr., if a busy writing fellow cuuld pe.-stbly arrange or affoid t< live in a place so strikingly remote. I sup pose that i; in thi-> remoteness of Aucklam that makes the Aucklandors so inlerdepend eut on one aim:her, so helpful, so kind. .-» glad, v.? ready to Iv touched l»;> considerate liTatment. They set in (o say: "Mere w< are. (|ui{e out of the world. Let us tnk* pains t.o Ih> good [c. one another."

THAW. By this time we are all praying that we are not in for another horrid overdose o! Thaw. We had Harry Thaw served ii| daily for breakfast, dinner, and tea sonu ycutf ago till our very stomachs sickened < him. Now once again the cable-man i» getting bitten by the Thaw mania. Sonic times I think that the cable-man i.» not specially skilled in his business. Some u the news he sends out interots few peopii and some of it interests nobody Very few people are interested in the lasi dregs of the Thaw caw, ami the cable-mat might with fairness cease to inflict. Ihe fel low on the public. Thaw never was a proper object o sympathy. He became violenlly jealous o one of his wife's pasl 'over-. brilliant architrc! named Stanfon White. And so one nipht h< took out a revolver and murdered While ii a public restaurant. Surely not a heroii performance. There is anoihrr a.-luxt e the thing. If Thaw had Ihvii slut n «oul on earth would have been <mo whii worse, oft. He is a sloppy American tie generate, and never since lie was born ha done .a single thing to help anybody Now. White was a; least a man of profit sional ability and repute. lie was an ad mirable architect, and really admirabli architects are f(>w. Thaw tnurdiTcil White, and then evadei reS[)onsibilJty for what he had done, tiles the arrant toward he has always Ik-cii. Thworld was treated to one of iho-- rathe disgusting farces that seem to be characti rie tic of what is known in America a- ju*tic< Thaw was a<- guilty a- he we:! could ! <m the face ol it—*o guilty that even in Aiuei iea hi> money could nor buy Intii com plete ininiuiiiiy from punislimenl. lie ha. now escaj>ed. not from prison, but from : luxurious suite of rooms that form part o a criminal lunatic asylum f- r America' criminals of iveallh or sjiecij.l eccentricity From thai ph:c< he recently got away in .. motor car. breaking Ins parole. He wa speedily re-captured. and the farce of American "justice" was «et agoing one* more. Why sh<:uld we be bothered abottit? We don't (are whether Harry Thav lives or dies, whether he is excused o hanged—though on the whole we migh' prefer to eee him hanged. We don't, want to hear any more about, him. Wo are sick of his very name. As to so stunid and tin wholesome a fellow the cable-man might reasonably now leave ih in peace. ANOTHER WRECK.

There iuic- been an epidemic of had ship wn-cks on the toasts of New Zealand for some years past row. commencing with th dreadful wreck and loss of the Penguin fulminating in the wreck of the Devon oi the rocks Ivlow Pcncarrow lighthouse a: Wellington Heads. The wreck of thDevon has 1 .en unattended with any loss o life, ~11(1 tlnv is nothing especially picture ♦-que and sensational about it. W'o shall doubtless hear why and how it happened ii. a few days, now. In the meantime, there ino reason whv a lot of fatuous should b.« talked about the dungerounature of the entrance to Port Nicholson In point oi fact, when steamers at* capably handled, the entrance is not in the least, dangerous under ordinary circumstances. Under extraordinary circumstances, wrecks occasionally happen in what are apparently the safest places. The Devon lies aci ■ s the water from my house—a forlorn enough spectacle alriudv. though her maMs and funnel and upjK>r gear are still standing. Slie ivi edged among a particularly grim and ugly lot ot rocks, and though iho sea has now gone down considerably the swell i? still breaking over In r astern. The Devon will ride the seas no more. (ANT.

There arc various kinds of cant. The cant, of religion is no more hateful thai: the cant of infidelity, and the mere cunt of patriotism is as stupid as the cant of sedition and revolt. All cant is stupid. Political speeches arc mostly cant. Gn.it numbers of moral homilies are cant. Cant is one of the most prevalent and most malignant diseases of the age. It infects all classes of society, and there no known cure for it. Take the cadet in Victoria who was rocently charged with failing to attend -.hills. He pleaded thut as a C'nristian he could have nothing to do with military training, and ho "claimed liberty under the Union Jack." All cant. But thero is worse, lie said that the Bible encouraged him in hie malingering, and he referred to tho old sad story of Queen Victoria and the dusky potentate whom she informed that Bible was the scent of England's greatness. This is the very cant of bigotry. As a matter of fact, the old Queen never told any dusky potentate anything of the sort. Tho story was authoritatively denied lx>foro her death, and lias hern authoritatively denied many times since. It is a fair example of the sor| of mildly '"improving" stories that unprincipled zealots invent concerning innocent old queens who are not in a position immediately to defend themselves. STEPHEN ADAMS,

j Tho death is announced of Michael MayI brick, otherwise known as Stephen Adams, composer of various English song* that, do not, matter in the least. He never composed anything that may not now bo decently let die, and most of his songs tended ! to a debasement of public taste in regard to music. But ho will bo remembered in another connection. Ho was the brother of Mr May brick whose death was followed by the most sensational murder trial of modern times. Mrs Maybrick was found guilty and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted and she spent many years in gaol. She has written her owli story since she was released sonio years ago. 1 am not judging her by that. " To me it seems that any cool and dispassionate consideration of the evidence must convince an unbiassed man that. Mrs May. brick never poisoned her husband. That opinion was held at the time of hi* death by one of the. greatest of modern English lawyers, who defended her on her trial.

A FRUGAL SOUL. At homo in England there is trouble in the very highest society. Queen Mary is angry with her husband's aunt, tho Princess Christian. And i( is HI because the Princess is an industrious, indc|)ondent and somewhat frugal soul. Her offence, against the consort of Majesty is that she has actually made scent a! ' Cumlwrland Lodge, and actually sold i', with the name of Cumberland Lodge on ih.> bottles. Here's a terrible business. It is ba<l enough for a royal personage to do anything that may |> e called useful: but that she should do if openly and not blush for it—here is a hitter pill for a Quocn to swallow : i

None the loss, honesty compels tho admission thai Princess Christian is n woman of (uaructer and charm, and with that a poor woman as royalties >_o. It docs not seem at all iikoly that she was driven inio the perfumer's business by any actual fear of starvation. The f.irt i>, that Princess Christian and Queen Mary dislike each other profoundly. The Queen's temper is not always quite angelic, and her manner is occasionally domineering. She does not. like American women, and so i> invariably rude to them. She does not like gaiety of any kind, and so work' day and night to keep the best society solemn and sad. She lack? Hie qualities that made Queen Victoria great and the qualities that kept Queen Alexandra for so many years secure

intho adoration of the people. Imfoct, if Queen Mary were o mere common person like you and me and Mrs' Smith, i; would be fair to remark that she is inclined to Im> catty. Queen Alexandra loves u cigarette; Queen Mary holds thai a cigarette is « vice in woman. Princess Christian loves mirth; Queen Mary holds tint. .11 mirth is unseemly. ,So dint one way and another the atmosphere about Windsor in occasionally electric

However that max be, Prineesj Chrif.ii.iii .mist In' in very !i >t .vat r indeed, \\|ien ihe loyal eable-tnan ventim to take :-:c' of ;t. and lb.- Kim; tuusi <ind Ihc position viiiiewhat unpleasant. 1 have ,i lot ol sympathy with kinjrs.

TICKLING. Tli" City Tramway Appeal Board 10-day dismissed tli appeal ol a conductor nli • had iieeii suspended for two days 1 r t;>kiing a '.ill |>. f.'ngor under t',.' ebin. I merely mention the fact a? Ir v, •:: lev. Mit 1; afraid ih.< < i:. is of < ffciidini! its ram-conductors. Tl.e :ii v.:!s ~:.);■■••-.. mi» the conductor, n:itl th lick line; was n illy hi ns*aull on a wi man pr.> -'e t travelii>;j in a public con eyaiice. The least one Vutlld evinci in Midi a (■,!>• wiiulil be tho tismissul <; id ■ offend'T. But tiu> conitictor was suspended for two dry;, and ippealod against the set, :••':(• •. 1 suppose hat if !i ■• hail kissed i 'ventpoii l irh and ised ..!.-•■,.. ii language to ,: bi hop's :.iei,> would have been suspended t <r ; v.. k. It i. v.- ■■: -,.,;, : . from th.« Slat il ••>!!•• f

.11 in e unionists i»m I su'.ipt ■•■■ thai ih • uthorities have f< m-!l\ u n 1; t'leir fticial displeasure wh n a conduct) r _ hlulges in .mmu ■ -mmi of this - xt. V r;. na'nv yoiiUß fiirh travel by tr;.ni. aid iometimes they are vithoul i. •••.•.. On iuburban lines tli—j mi'V upon <•(■■••:; ■yen be alone in a train. It i- probably a sort i f duty of the auth u-ities to s e that *irls in such circuit; tanci's ar<> not I'Xinwil to insult ; but the position of the autlu :- ties i« rather precarious in ■■'■>'■ '" * ■ •' ,;,.. suspension had I n for I■ i d: 1 ;.- .i i a half, the wh le body of eonduefi rs might have felt insulted, ami th "i tin re can h ■ no telling what huklil not have happened.