PUBLIC OPINION

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12643, 31 December 1926, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION

IN CONCLUSION (To the Editor, “N.Z. Times.” Sir. —Apropos of the assertion by your correspondent as to the bigger percentage of Catholics among the criminals of the Dominion I thought that .this assertion had been laid by the heels long ago. Does not everybody know that for the purpose of getting out of church parade and other “privileges” nonRoman criminals are in the' habit of asserting tljat they are Catholics?—l am, etc., T.F. [This correspondence may now fitly be concluded.—Ed.3 WATCH THE ASIATIC I (To the Editor, "N.Z. Times.”) Sir.—For the last 50 years I have heard the remark, as each generation merges into middle age—“things have changed since I was a child.” Yet how few of us ever seriously consider how great those changos really have been. Everything connected with electricity was a marvel. I can clearly recollect my father laughing heartily at the suggestion that electric light would some day take the place of gas. If I had suggested to him that a photograph of the skeleton of a living man would be quite commonplace, he would probably have had me medically examined. That master scientist, Lord Kelvin, has said that we are only op the fringe of things as yet! Imagine if you can what that may mean! Or can you imagine a human being able to see without eyes. Yet science says that in time it will be possible. The day of the surgeon is rapidly passing. There is one surgical operation which has never been known to succeed, yet year after year they go on performing it. Better death surely than such barbarity. Electrical treatment can now be had suitable for almost all complaints, and there is very little doubt that the surgeon’s scalpel is destined for the dust heap. It is well to consider that this advance in all branches of science is destined to alter the whole world The Asiatic is keenly interested and is making immense strides, but the white man will not even consider that there is a remote possibility of his catching up much less passing him. Why I cannot conceive. Printing, the magnetic compass, hydraulics were familiar to the Chinese long before wo had achieved anything, I possess an astronomical chart 1100 yearß old, and there are charts in existence much older than that, and accurate charts too I Flying also is now quite commonplace. There is a regular service from London +o Paris. Accidents happen, of course, but so they do in trains, boats and motorears. When I crossed over to Paris 1 spoke by telephone with my biether in London. Rather hard to believe I know. The Japanese are particularly good at flying and are quite up-to-date, the pilots are splendid. What it is all leading to one cannot even guess, but unless the League of Nations or some similar and more efficient league arising out of it can create a thorough racial understanding with goodwill as a base, then we are in for a terrible experience. The Asiatic (1 speak with knowledge) is tired of being sat upon, and the time of revolt is approaching very fast.—l am, etc., MAJOR FARN KWEI.