THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14142, 18 August 1909, Page 9

THINGS IN GENERAL.

'■ THE TWO LEADERS. Sir Joseph Ward has had an interview V .;th the King So far the only outcome , has been His Majesty's gracious message to jjew Zealand, but there are many who look to this being followed, at the psychological moment, by the announcement that I Sir Joseph has been offered a title. It's a . topsv-turvy world. Here, on the one ' 'hand, we have the lucky politician who ; suddenly finds himself at the head of a. Government which has been in power so I lone that the people have forgotten that :- ; '-''"■- they are in a position to demand a change. ami On the other hand we are, this week, doin',' honour to the Leader of the Opposition, a man of such integrity of character, and earnestness of purpose, that the fact of v his not holding at least Cabinet rank is a / ' real calamity. Supposing that Sir Joseph '■■"■■ Ward obtains his title, will the honour of - it equal that which falls upon Mr. Massey .'!■',• hi the shape of the great testimonial the people of the .Dominion are giving him? -" Somehow it seems to me that honours are ■:'■:'.". jnipty things unless one gains with them . : :ho people's universal esteem. And, from ' : that standpoint, I fancy I know which of '■'■ . the two is the more to be envied Sir O Joseph Ward, who leads a Government ..'. that has outstayed its welcome, and who ■V'''' stands a prospective chance of a peerage, ,;. or W. P. Massey, who has so sturdily and ..--.' unflinchingly opposed that continuous Go- ; vernment — backed at times only by a devoted few—throughout its reign. Will it'..be much longer now before the political tide turns in New Zealand? Or will things '.".■ always be as they are?

DRIFTING STEAMERS. The American and English Governments are each considering the desirableness of legislation to compel ocean-going passenger steamers to cany a wireless-tele-graphic installation. The necessity of the thing should be obvious enough, and the cost, in comparison to the value of ships and freight, apart altogether from the value of human life, is small. Apart from the danger of it, drifting is a misery. It is a misery in a sailing-ship, after the first day or two, and in a steamer it is worse. I once drifted three weeks in the China Sea. The heat was tremendous, and the food was very ordinary. Each of •us grew sick of all the others' faces. If the amount of drifting to be endured can be limited by Act of Parliament, the sooner the Act comes, and the more stringent it is, the better.

THE GENTLE COW BELL.

"For the information of your readers, ' r, writes a thoughtful Raurimu correspondent, "I woidd like to tell them where Raurimu is. It is at the foot of the spiral on the Main Trunk railway, and when the express is travelling along in the dark, and you hear a cow-bell ringing for refreshments, that's Raurimu! lam not the proprietor of the said cow bell,"adds my correspondent, which shows his disinterest- ' edness. It is nice to have some means of knowing when to get out if one is due to arrive at one's destination in the middle of the night. That is why I publish this information. Not that I ever heard of a living soul who wanted to get out at Raurimu. That cow-bell idea, by the way, is not a bad one. At most of the stations on the Main Trunk, where so- ;' tailed "refreshments" are obtainable, the sleepy traveller is aroused by the piercing clang" of the boardinghouse dinner-bell — " .. an abomination at any time. Now, a cowbell is soft in tone, and musical withal, so that it does not awaken one with such a - start. The tinkle of it raises visions,S: moreover, visions of green pastures and . pink-cheeked dairymaids. Such dreams are calculated to vary the monotony of train "-.. " nightmares. They are soothing. In a sense, therefore, Raurimu is to be, congratulated upon its considerate refresh- . ment-room proprietor. ; " THE " TAIHOA" DEEP LEVELS; The "taihoa" tactics of the dear, delightful Government are being extended in all directions. Indeed, the only direction in which any energy is being shown by the Government at all is in the spreading of this " taihoa" policy. It is firmly established in connection with the land— pean and Nativeand with several other - urgent questions, and the latest application of it is in regard to the Thames deep levels. Everybody who has the slightest acquaintance with the history of the Auckland goldrields is aware that this deep levels work is the most urgent, and the most pregnant of possibilities, that has ever presented itself at the Thames. It has taken years for the companies interested to arrive at a joint agreement. Now that they have done so, the Government blocks the way to a commencement of the scheme. Tile present ambition of mining men is that their children may still ■ '"' ' be alive when the "taihoa" deep levels are started. (They have long since given up hopes of seeing them started themselves.) I trust lam not over-pessimistic, but. mv idea •is that even our children's offsprings will not see the scheme in operation unless a miracle happens. _ The Thames deep levels will, so I imagine at any rate, become a legend. Some future '* ■ historian will tell how generation after ' generation of directors and secretaries bravely persisted in corresponding with generations of Ministers on the subject. "In the course of time," this historian will : : relate, "as one secretary after another be- ■ came grav-headed, as one director followed ■ another to the peaceful grave, the telegrams that passed became so stereotyped : that the committee had a supply of their messages printed, and the Ministerial replies were likewise kept in stock. _ At .I monthly intervals through the wearisome ': years the following words would flash across the wires to Wellington: Thames deep levels. . Can we have that -. £5000 subsidy and commence work? All the original promoters of the scheme are ■i dead, but we, their descendants, have determined to devote our own lives to finishing what they began. Age is telling ' upon us. Our children are being edu- ;-\ cated up to carrying on our efforts. We know you are busy resting, and do not like 5 to unduly hurry you, but will this century see the consummation of our hopes?' And the reply would come back: ' The Government is giving the matter careful consideration, and the regulations are still being prepared. It must be remembered that M those who are preparing them have not the . knowledge of the original officers of the Department, who were long since wafted. ■" Taihoa!'" THE NOBLE ART. h% ' The "noble art" should gain many votarv, ies amongst those who'ktely read the beauI tifully expressed sentiments of Mr. Jeffries O regarding Mr. Johnson. The former is said to have stated, in effect, that he will half murder the coloured gentleman when he gets ;;-*•'-■ him into the ring. If he has been reported correctly the white man means to make the coming'"boxing match" for the world's championship an out-and-out fight, with heartfelt enmity to put a sting into his blows. It is curious that the public should be willing to pay almost any price to see ,-- k such "boxing" contests, the pretext being, of course, that they are manly expositions of science and strength Such combats used to be boldly termed ' prize rights," but it sounds so much nicer and more refined to refer to them as " boxing championships," does it not? NEW ZEALAND'S BLIGHT. ; The potato blight in Queensland and Tasmania is naturally creating some conf - sternation. We have had the same kind of thing in New Zealand. We have also had destructive pests that have had to be eradicated to save our fruit. In short, there is a ceaseless war against blights and pests of every kind—except one. This, the fa- '; voured 'exception, is the "taihoa" blight Son the land and other things. In- .' stead of being the object of an aggressive campaign this "taihoa" policy is being allowed to spread. It was . [ introduced by the " taihoa" Government, "."' and is being nurtured and multiplied in every conceivable direction by the same /* authority. The only known lapse from ■v what is "fast becoming a traditional policy I Was recorded the other day. It was pro- ■ • '■■'-'"■'"

posed by the Australian Government to exclude Maoris from the benefits of the Commonwealth old age pensions scheme. No sooner did the Acting-Prime Minister hoar of this than his blood actually boiled. Within an incredibly short time he haci despatched a cable to the Australian Government pleading for an alteration of their edict.' Now, why this unusual haste, and this Astonishing activity, upon the part of the usually somnolent one? Can it be that the "taihoa" policy of the Government is disgusting even some of the flower of the native race, and inducing them, as well as Europeans, to turn their eyes longingly towards more progressive lands? LESS TALK, PLEASE. The ways of city councillors are quaint. Presumably for the* sake of economy in time the Auckland City Council has set up subcommittees to deal with various matters referred to them. These committees debate the subjects and come to decisions which are reported to the Council at its subsequent meeting in the form of recommendations. It might be supposed that, in view of the consideration given to these various questions by the committees, their pronouncements would be accepted by the Council as a whole. But not a bit of it. The very existence of the committees is sometimes stultilied. A section of the present Council consists of gentlemen who like to have a say on every point. They criticise pretty well every clause, of every report that comes down from any committee they themselves do not happen to belong to. It seldom happens that these quibblers have had the same opportunity of going into the subjects debated as have the members of the particular committee making the. recommendation, but that does not deter them. The consequence is that no end of time is absolutely wasted at City Council meetings in order that certain councillors may air their views on frequently unimportant matters. It ought to be a rule in connection with the City Council and all local bodies that there should be only one speaker on each side of a question, the rest to give expression to their views by the simple expedient of voting one way or the other. The time saved would be invaluable. As it is many of our municipal bodies are "talking shops."

The General.