CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 270, 7 April 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

MINISTERIAL VISITS. At New Plymouth on Friday evening. Mr. Massey stated that he had seen more of Taranaki in the three days he had been here than probably any Minister of a previous Government. This is not so. His immediate predecessor (Hon. T. Mclvenzie) had been all over the ground he traversed, besides through to the Mokau and Whangamomona districts, which, we trust. Mr. Massey will also take an early opportunity of visiting.

TIIE MASTER OK THE EARTH. The ant is supposed to he lower in the scale of life than man. It is so insignificant that we rarely dream of the wonderful, most wonderful, cities which have been built and organised by these little creatures. Send a tornado into an anthill and see what happens! Poke a stick into the swarming city, breaking down walls, destroying avenues, overwhelming thousands with unforseen disaster—and what happens? Not an ant shirks. Not an ant seeks its own safety. Not an ant but rushes to its appointed place ready and eager to die if it must die, doing its duty. You may see the dauntless nurses rescuing their ebarges, the little sappers instantly at work to restore order from chaos, the army that never retreats pouring forward in a flood of attack and resist and repel. Neither fire nor flood, nor shock, nor any other disaster, can break the ant organisation; ye we say they are low in the scale and that Man is the master of the earth. The reason why the ant ' organisation Is stronger fliaoii our sivilised organisation is plain: The ant does not allow the worthless and the unlit to breed and multiply, nor has it any criminal class to lie in wait for disaster to its society. In amazing human frill v. deluded by a little knowledge, misguided by a false philanthrophy. deceived by a topsy-turvy humanitarianism, human civilisation not only tolerates worthless and dangerous elements, but actually makes it easier for the worthless to multiply than for the worthy. Civilisation thus stores up for itself the inevitable retribution, assuring itself of anarchy the moment the machinery'.'breaks down by which the criminal is held in check. ■—"Tohnnga," in Auckland "Herald."

HELPING THE SALESMAN. ' There is no better help for a salesman than a sustained advertising campaign. This serves to make the firm he is working for and their line of goods well known. There then need be no preliminary explaining. The salesman is already introduced and can embark risrlit on the merits of his line and other strong selling arguments. Rut the salesman who has no advertising to back him up must depend entirely upon his personality and persuasiveness. He might succeed, but then think how much time he is losing in getting acquainted, A salesman has only a certain amount of time. He cannot turn night into day . Every minute, therefore, counts. This possibility of advertising should not -be overlooked by wide-awake advertisers.. That business which is a success in a small way without advertising, will be a big success with advertising. And by advertising, the time required to build success will be infinitely shorter.

MR. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. Speaking recently at West Rirmingham, Mr. Neville Cliamberb'in said: "My father has had manv trials it) the eoutse of a long life. Tie has had domestic sorrows, he had had political disappointments; he has had to suffer the frustration of his ambitions and the loss of friends; and now, in his closing years, he isc suffering under a disabality which is, perhaps, more painful to him than to most men. because all his life he has been a man of the greatest activity; hut his immense courage and his extraordinary patience have enabled him to go through all his trials—not excepting this last one —with an equable mind and in good spirits. ..A few days ago I went as far as the other side of the Channel with him on his way to France, and thought that next July he would be seventy-seven years of age. T could hardly believe it true. He still looks so young. My father is.happv beyond most men in having earned and received in "(Overflowing measure the (ilYection and gratitude of his fellow-citizens in ■ Rinningham.

A SUBSTITUTE FOR SLEEP. Close upon the heels of Mr. Thomas A. Edison's statement tliat the average noninil iiilnlt Tfqiiiits oulv four or five hours' sleep yier diem comes the announcement from Professor Ministerlinrj;. of \e\v York, head of the Department of Psychology. Iliat in cotijiinftion with Di\ 1.. If. Tlorton. of the Massachusetts State Psychopathic Hospital, In' has devised a suhslitute for sleep which permits (lie brain to remain active diii'iiijr tin 1 whole twentv-four hours of the day. The full details of Pmfes sor Munsterberjj's experiments have not yet heen u'iven to tli" world, hut it is asserted tliat a chair has been constructed in such a way as to afford perfect rest and relaxation to every muscle in the human hodv. Thnep who have formed the subjects of (lie Prufcssor'!iivcsi.i<valions have been mostly sufferers from insomnia. Emir hours daily in the Munsterbere; chair .save these persons |he rest and refreshment usually obtained from oii'la hours' sleep, without the slightest" loss of consciousness, ft is slated (hat on- of the. Professors at ITarvard University has used the Muusterbere chair for many vears, dur-1 ing which he has not once slept.

A H T!TM PICTURE. A grim picture of an incident of the bailie of l.ueli Rursis is presented laMr. R Ashmeud-P.arllet.t in his account of the Thracian campaign, which be witnessed as a war correspondent. The first day's struggle was indecisive and on the second day the Turkish coni-mander-in-ehief sent bis army corps to aMack the TSulgariau position from the front. "A firing line nearly half a mile long was formed," writes Mr. Ashniead-P.artlett. "and swept,'forward over the open ground until it became almost hidden from view amidst Ibe low sbrnbberv Suddenly a

deafening roar of musketiy rent (he-air, intermingled with the tragic hum of innumerable machine gnus. The noise was infernal, but it only lasted for a short time. Then suddenly there appeared rushing from the wooded ground the remnant of the Turkish firing-line. Full 50 per cent had fallen and the re-

J maindor, losing all semblance of order, / dispersed in small groups, and under a _i perfect rain of shrapnel, dashed back on "Mhe supports and reserves." After thai "i repulse the fate of the Turkish army was J not in doubt. The disheartened troops J could not have been persuaded to repeat, their disastrous attack.

LAND AUCKKtI.VriOX. Following the lead of the "Post." the "New Zealand Times" is joining in the crusade against the aggregation of land Ilia I. is goine- on iii \Ycl!iii2lon d'-lrici. The -TinK -,.■• „f Wednesday, says: ■- lie! ween Tail a and Silvci-i.ronin is a district kno\Mi a. Stoke* Valley. The 1 valley is only some two miles in extent, and until reccul.lv ten families resided on its slopes and earned their, snsien-! a nee from fanning and -mall holdings. To-day there remain lint, two families. j for the land grubber ha- lio.-'i at work, and the small hold;-,- lias had to depart. I The land ana of Siokc- Valley is an proximately 2r>l)l) acres, and of this area one person has acquired 200(1 acres, and it is alleged that he is acquiring the holding of one of the remaining farmers and is in Ireaiv for the purchase of a further block, the pruper,tv of a Miss liusscll. One of (he most severe cases of hardship falls upon the shoulders of a man. who. with his familv. took up 2IS acres of land, the purchase price of which was• i.'2(i(lrt. II i« .•die-red that he L'ot an advance from the Advances to Settlers' Office, and geHint; behind with his interest payments, is alleged to have approached another party fur an advance on a second mortgage. The accommodation, it is aliened, was not granted, and the ik-x* intimation the settler received was through the Advances to Settlors' Office, slather I hat ■ he had been given ehancrs. and tliat the aforesaid aggregator had paid up all the back interest, and was taking pos- ! session of the land. This is (he kind of thing that is <roin«r on while the Prime Minister and his colleaL'iies prate about closer settlement. It is a most painful story that we. have unfolded. Proceedings of the kind described are a mockery on progress. Thev ) call for urgent and very close attention. !for aggregation spells stagnation. An illustration of this is to bo found in the history of the Stokes Valley school. Twenty-one vcars ago the residents approached Hie Wellington Education Hoard to have a school erected. The request was granted, (he settlors, "ivim,' the land for the liuihlite; and finding the. labour and material for fencing. To show the ell'ecis of this aggregation noon the school, the following official figures may be ipioted: - Roll. Average Opened. ISO2 If) 17 Dec., Mill M) ~ 17 Dec. 101-2 10 ' fl March, 1013 f,

Tn all probability the school will have to bo closed. The. result of the bind ngsresation is that property has denreciated in value, and tradesmen, finding that j (lien? i* not .■mfl'ieicnt inducement, have 'stopped visitiiig:the valley.