CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 30 December 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

GOOD HOUSING. Evidently there are other weapons for fighting drink than the ballot box affords, and although there is no "prohibition" issue before the'electors of Britain, tilers has been a tremendous diminution in drunkenness and its allied evils in the Home Country. Mr. John Bums lately visited Liverpool as an advocate of '•'town-planning," His contentions in a public speech were highly interesting,

coming as they did from a man of great experience and knowledge. He showed that in twenty years Liverpool had got rid of 700 licensed liquor houses of one kind and another, and that this reform had gone hand in hand with increased facilities for home-building. Thirty years ago, as Mr. Burns pointed out, "there was a band of reformers in Liverpool •whose idea of progress was to publio house the men, warehouse the women and children, and workhouse the aged." The new reformers asserted that what was wanted was and' cheaper houses. His contention seemed to be that private homes would wage a quiet and effective war against public-houses, for where home life is uninviting, the hotels' welcome is the loudest. One is very glad to know that the influential Mr. Burns wholly deprecated the constant additions to the shower of libraries poured out among the people, who would be much better served by being adequately housed. In fact, it is to be hoped that in time "anti-Carnegism" may assume some proportions, and that real essentials may not be overlooked in philanthropic schemes. Even under crowded conditions existing in Britain it is gladdening to note that steady war against insanitation and disease is effective. Here is a useful fact brought out in Mr. Burns' "better houses, less drink" speech: Urging town-planners to remember that in widening their, roads {foey ought to narrow their tenements, he said the reason this country was freer from disease than any other country, possessed less infant mortality, and had led the world in Factory Acts, was due to the fact that the inhabitants of houses had ranged from five to seven, while in such superficially beautiful cities as Paris, Vienna and Berlin they ranged from thirty to seventy per house.

MEN AND MINES. The resignation of Dr. J. Mackintosh Bell, director of the New Zealand geological survey, was not unexpected (says the Lyttelton Times)'. Dr. Bell is a geologist of wide experience and considerable distinction, and no doubt he has realised for some time past that he could use his ability with greater advantage to himself in a wider field than this country is able at present to offer the experts in his particular branch of science. The surveys which have been conducted under his have been models of thoroughness, and his published re' ports will be standard works of reference for all time; but he has been collecting and recording information that New Zealand is very slow to use.. Unfortunately, Dr. Bell is taking with Mm Mr. Colin iFraser, a very capable geologist, born and trained in the Dominion, who has done very valuable work for the Mines Department, and losses of thia kind will be inevitable so long as local mining enterprise confines its attention almost exclusively to coal and gold. No really serious effort has been made to develop the mineral wealth of the country in other directions.. A small quantity of poheelite is mined in O.tago and sent for i the most part to Germany, where it is i used' in the production of steel of the j very highest grades, but the wonderful deposits of iron ore at Parapara and New Plymouth remain idle. Copper, tin, lead, antimony, zinc and : other metals have been discovered, but scarcely a,ny attempt has been made to develop the deposits on a business basis. The time seems ripe for the Government to give its earnest attention to the position. The Dominion fa "raising" its own geologists and if a method were devised by which their skill and knowledge could be applied to the thorough study of the mineral areas from the commercial standpoint doubtless a profitable use would be found for some of the cheap water-power which is to be made available during the next few years.

THE COLOR QUESTION. The special commissioner of the Melbourne Age in South Africa is deeply impressed with the gravity, of the native problem. The dependence of the whites on the blacks for manual labor, and their refusal to do any of the work that custom decrees must be done by blacks, are dealt with at some length. The biack is the industrial basis of the African economic system, and the- whites are merely overseers. Unskilled work has come to be regarded as Kaffir work, and the whites will not touch it, for transgression of this unwritten law leads to social ostracism. Nearly all white artisans have one or two natives in their employ. Every white workman insists on having a native to carry his implements and do the rougher parts of hia work. A Kaffir walks behind the carpenter, carrying >his kit of tools, and "bricklayers do nothing but put the bricks in I place in lordly fashion," the rest of their I work being performed by blacks. The poor whites are one of the tragedies of ! South Africa. "They throng all the large towns and cities, and their condition is lamentably degraded and miserable. There is plenty, of work for them to do, but they cannot undertake it except at the cost of being declassed and ranking ever afterwards as Kaffir men and social pariahs; so they prefer to starve!" The correspondent is struck by the corruption of manners induced among the whites by continual contact with people whom they hold in contempt. Hie describes an incident he witnessed in Durban, in which a big, hulking Kaffir, a small white boy, and a newspaper shop figured. The Kaffir bought a bundle of papers, laid them respectfully on the steps at the child's feet, ' and moved away. "You cheeky devil!" cried the boy, "how dare you leave the papers there? Take that bundle into the shop at once and untie it." The Kaffir obeyed without a sign of resentment. "Now sort the papers," said the boy. The Kaffir did so. "Get out!" said 'the boy, pointing contemptuously to the door. The Kaffir inclined reverently and backed out of the shop, as though taking leave of royalty. The natives do not retaliate against this .kind of treatment, but they think, and the results of their thinking may some day be excessively awkward for the whites.