TOPICS.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13531, 27 July 1914, Page 2

TOPICS.

It is (says the "Lyttelton Times") more than a little curious that whel•ea^s the building up of adequate and efficient schools and colleges was considered by +.l\e pioneers to be a pi'ime duty of isttizenship, the attitude of the public towards the welfare of those institutions is now almost ono of indifference. The enthusiasm of the pioneers in the cause o? education was responsible for the development in Canterbury of primary schools, secondary schools, a University College, a Museum and a Public Library that challenged comparison with any in the Dominion. Canterbury used to be preeminently the educational centre of the country. Canterbury College waa at the head-of the university colleges. The Museum had no equal, and the Public Library was admittedly the best institution of the kind in Now Zealand. But unfortunately the province has rested on the labours of the pioneers. Canterbury College ha-s gained little hy the generosity of the public; the Library has had one considerable gift and one mo'e modest; the Museum is neglected by the people who might help it financially.

Until ten years ago the street railway and electric light wore practically unknown in China, says an American consular report, for prior to the Boxor outbreak of 1900 all Western innovations were looked upon with disfavour Now the desired innovations can come only as fast as the Chinese can pay for them. Chinese with money are found principally in and about the foreign concessions, where trade proceeds without restrictions and life and property are safe.. Among such Chinese street railways and electric lighting are now flourishing, arid their extension to the native cities of the interior awaits only the establishment of a strong Government, improved avenues of trade, and the development of China's resources in l&nd and minerals. At the present time only four cities in China have electric street railways; and of the four, three—Hongkong, Shanghai and Dalny —are only nominally in China. Of Chinese cities proper Nanking has a light steam railway seven miles and a half in length which provides facilities for only a small part of the city. The city of Mukden, Manchuria, has about five miles of track on which very small horse-cars are operated at irregular intervals, but it is proposed to electrify the line when the necessary funds can be secured. In Shanghai five miles and a half can be travelled for the equivalent of 11-d.