TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 22491, 28 January 1935, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Scientific Indigestion. “The results of science come up more closely against the ordinary man than ever before,” said Lord Tomlin, Lord of Appeal, in responding for the guests at the annual dinner of the Royal Society. “Facilities are daily afforded him, notwithstanding the benevolent efforts of the Minister of Transport, to kill and be killed. Mem-

bers of the public who have escaped the dangers of the public streets, when they get home cannot but regret that the sounds of their neighbours’ gramophones and loud speakers have not become as inaudible as is reputed to be the perpetual music of the spheres. This century has seen changes which are apt to bemuse those of us who belong to earlier generations. The world to-day is really suffering from a violent attack of indigestion, brought on by an excessive and too hasty assimilation of new inventions. I do wonder whether we might not have a pause just to give the world an opportunity of digesting what it has done, and also to let the few remaining Victorians go down to their graves in peace, if any such peace remains.” Anglicans and Orthodoxy.

There has been a long controversy in England over the action of the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr David, in allowing a distinguished Unitarian, Dr L. P. Jacks, to preach at a special service in his cathedral. In due course the Convocation of York decided that no one should be invited to preach in a cathedral or parish church who was not prepared to receive the Nicene Creed. Discussing the matter in a recent address, the Archbishop of York, Dr Temple, said that to take the Nicene Creed as a standard could not be regarded' as imposing any novel test of orthodoxy. Anglicans were sometimes ridiculed for confessing their faith in terms of an obsolete philosophy. The jeer was unjust. Theological and historical propositions should be the basis of church membership rather than some expression of moral aspiration. It was often said that what a man believed was unimportant. What mattered was his life. “But his belief is at least part of his life, and if the world belief is taken seriously it is the most important part," continued Dr Temple. “Life is much more than conduct.” The Church could not accept as leaders of its worship or instructors of its congregations in religious matters any who were unable to accept that faith. However, the Church’s exclusion of any man from its teaching ministry in no way implied even the least censure of his character. Anglo-Indian Colonization.

News of a hitherto unknown venture, nothing less than the settlement of Anglo-Indians on the land in India, has reached England through the medium of an article in the Karachi Gazette. The paper sees much significance in the fact that a new township in the Ranchi district of Bihar and Orissa has recently been given the strange hybrid name of McCluskiegunge. The place has been named in honour of the foimder and moving spirit of the AngloIndian Colonization Society. Mr McCluskie, as a member of the AngloIndian community, realized some time ago that the latter would finish in the New India unless it had its roots in the soil. In four years, since the publication of the Simon Report advising Anglo-Indians to help themselves and not be dependent on the Government, he has acquired land by purchase without any Government aid, and has settled 66 people upon it. The association has now obtained 10,000 acres of land on perpetual tenure from the Maharajah of Chota Nagpur. A year ago 2000 acres were taken up for clearing and settling, and in November 4000 acres had been applied for by 283 intending settlers. . The. membership of the society has risen in the past year from 740 to 1056. In the township a dispensary, a rest-house and other community buildings have been erected. An experimental dairy farm supplies the settlers with butter and pure milk, and one settler from Lahore has 150 head of cattle. A “pensioners’ village” is being laid out for those who wish merely to retire, and not to work, in rural surroundings. The scheme is held to mark a new development in Indian life; it settles an unsettled community on the land, gives them a real stake in India and makes them one with the remainder of their fellowcountrymen. Altogether it augurs well for the Anglo-Indian community, and for the New India. A National Hero.

“It is pleasant to see that M. Adolphe Max, of Brussels, has just been celebrating the silver jubilee of his Burgomastership, upon which he entered in 1909,” writes “Atkins" in the London Sunday Times. “He did not desire the celebration, but his innumerable friends insisted, and he returned thanks with a fine appeal for national unity, so that Belgium might remain ‘puissante dans son independence et dans sa .dignite. To the younger generation in this country the name of Burgomaster Max will signify little, but those who remember the autumn and winter of 1914 will recall the indomitable spirit with which he faced the German occupation of Brussels and the polished irony with which he countered the Prussion mailed fist of Field-Marshal von der Golz. A German general once began an interview with Max by ostentatiously placing his revolver on the table. The Burgomaster replied by taking his fountain pen from his pocket and placing it in a similar position. Without a word, the moral victory was his. What could the Prussians do with an antagonist who came to pay the war fine inflicted on Brussels in the requisition notes of the Germany army. ‘Do you dare to mock me?’ shouted the fieldmarshal. ‘Your officers,’ retorted Max, ‘assured me that these notes were as good as bullion. I return you your gold.’ The only way to silence such audacity was to pack him to solitary confinement in a German fortress and keep him till the end of the war. Burgomaster Max was a national hero of Belgium, second only to her patriot King.”

evening the Dominion Meteorologist issued the following information: A moderate westerly depression is crossing the Dominion to-day, while an anti-cyclone of slight intensity is passing to the north. Forecast: Winds moderate to fresh north-west to westerly backing in places to south-west-erly Seas in New Zealand waters rather rough south of Cape Egmont and about Cook and Foveaux Straits; elsewhere smooth to moderate. Eastern Tasman Sea: Moderate west to southwest winds, and moderate seas. Weather for the most part fair to cloudy, but some scattered showers likely, mainly in districts with a westerly aspect. Temperatures becoming cooler.

A correspondent in the editorial columns on Satuday, referring to the discussion by the City Council on Tuesday night regarding the Waihopai Embankment scheme, mentions that his Worship the Mayor was reported to have stated that “people buy sections on low-lying ground and then come along and expect this council to shoulder the burden and protect them by embankments. It is not a fair thing.” His Worship states that he did not make these remarks; a councillor did.

Householders in Taradale, near Napier, who have for years enjoyed fruit picked from their own gardens, received a surprise a few days ago, when they were visited by a Government inspector who ordered wholesale eradication of trees affected with blight. Some of the residents have taken the matter rather philosophically, and are busy uprooting the condemned trees; others are incensed because they say they have sprayed and cared for their trees to the best of their ability. The trees are affected mainly with codim moth and mussel scale.

Subscriptions which have been made towards the National Museum and Art Gallery in Wellington totalled £70,300 at the end of November, 1934. The amount then still outstanding to reach the sum required was £21,850, of which £5228 was to come from the general public, £3OOO from the Wellington City Council, which has already subscribed £12,000, and the proceeds of the sale of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Whitmore street, Wellington. It is considered that wit h *he Government’s contribution of £lOO,OOO the financial position need present no insuperable difficulties. The work of constructing the new buildings is well in hand, and should be completed the date at first agreed upon.

The visit to New Zealand of his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester has had at least one influence on the fashions of the men of the country. It has persuaded large numbers ot them to cultivate moustaches, reports a northern paper. When several office staffs in Wellington resumed work after the Christmas and New Year holidays it was noticed that there was a. decided, increase in the number of men inducing the growth of hair on the upper “PThey had conveniently taken the opportunity of the holidays to negotiate the preliminary stages of the P ro When the Prince of Wales was in New Zealand he frequently wore a grey suit with a red carnation as a buttonhole. For years afterwards that was tne “correct** wear for many men.

One of the rarest and most interesting species of fish, the mudfish, socalled because it can live equally well in mud and in water, has been noticed by workmen cleaning a drain at Kiwitahi, ten miles from Momnsville, near the source of a tributary of the Piako River (states the Auckland Star). Mi R. A. S. Browne, of Tauhei, Morrinsville, who is an authority on mudfish (the scentific name for which is Neochanna apoda) states that he _ found specimens in Westland, at Feeding and Turakina, in the Manawatu district, and at Pirongia, in the Waikato. At the time of the Dunedin Exhibition he collected specimens and posted them to Dunedin for the aquarium, the fish being packed in moss. Perhaps queen bees are the only other live creatures which are sent by post. The mudfish is distinguished by the absence of ventral or belly fins, hence the scientific name apoda, meaning without feet. The first people to note the existence of mudfish were astonished to find it in the soil of swamps where stumping and draining operations were in progress. It is commonly found in drains that end in raupo swamps. It can travel overland from water to water when necessary, and when kept in an aquarium has been known to leap out of shallow receptacles.

The public servants of Southland intend holding their annual picnic at the Riverton Rocks on Tuesday, 29th instant. ( Advt ‘>

Attention is drawn to the Railway Department’s advertisement in this issue concerning the delayed running ot the evening train from Lumsden to Invercargill in connection with the Sports Meeting to be held at Lumsden on January 30. (Advt)

That the people appreciate the policy of the Railway Department in providing fast and comfortable travel at extraordinary cheap fares, has been proved by the patronage accorded tne Invercargill-Dunedin Sunday trains since their inauguration. The Department has decided therefore to run a cheap Day Excursion to Queenstown when the First Battalion Regimental Band will also travel and render bright and popular music. Limited accommodation will be available for a special day trip to Eglinton Valley, run in conjunction with this excursion. Full particulars appear on the front page of this issue. (Advt.)

Back to school soon. Mothers get best Values in Girls’ Vests, Bloomers and Hosiery at Wicks’ Ltd., Cash Drapers, Invercargill and Gore.—Advt.

DEWAR’S WHISKY DEWAR’S WHISKY DEWAR’S WHISKY. —Advt.

A Sale Bargain in Infants’ Silks and Wool Suits, Rompers, or Coat and Hat Sets, were 12/6, Sale Prices 5/11, at Miss Noble’s, The Baby Shop, Dee street.—Advt.

Country customers are advised to make full use of Thomson & Beattie’s 8-page Sale Circular. Orders for most lines advertised in it, can be executed and sent by return post. Carriage is free on lots exceeding 10/-. (Advt.)

SNAPSHOTS that are pictures. Brown, The Chemist, will produce the best possible results. GEORGE H. BROWN, Chemist, 125 Dee Street.— Advt.

Super quality School Hose 2/6, all sizes. All schools, including Technical and High Boys’ School. Shirts 1/9, all sizes; School Belts 9d; Boys’ Singlets lid, and many other bargains at Carter’s Stock Reducing Sale. See advert Front Page.—Advt.

PRINTS that will not fade, discolour, or lose their first day brilliance. That’s the kind we make. GEORGE H. BROWN, Chemist, 125 Dee Street. —Advt.

There is nothing my lady wears that is so much appreciated as Furs. The gift of gifts, there is nothing looks better, wears better and gives that added charm as furs do, and they are to be bought cheaply these days. We have the finest selection of quality goods in Southland at prices in keeping with the times. The Mutual Fur Co., Tay street. —Advt.

FlLMS—Bring them to Brown, The Chemist, and get better results. Bright, snappy prints. That’s the kind we make. Prices right too. GEORGE H. BROWN, Chemist, 125 Dee Street.—Advt.

FOR BEST RESULTS Let STEWART’S PHARMACY Do your DEVELOPING and PRINTING. —Advt,

BUY “BAXTER’S” FOR SAFETY. For its effectiveness as a cough remedy Baxter’s Lung Preserver has no equal. But that is not the only point on which the famous specific excels. “Baxter’s” is the purest, safest remedy always recommended both for children and adults. Taken as directed “Baxter’s” gives quickest and surest relief from stubborn chest troubles or influenza colds. Has excellent tonic properties too. At all chemists and stores in 1/6, 2/6 and 4/6 sizes.—Advt.