CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 282, 21 April 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP. We join with those newspapers which hold the opinion that the only leader in view at the present moment is Sir Joseph Ward; but we do not join in their optimistic opinion that Sir Joseph will accept the position. He declined it twice last session, and now that he has got over the temporary sting of defeat, and enjoyed freedom from the cares and worries of office he may not be at all anxious to take up the onerous duties of Leader of the Opposition. The weakness of the Opposition at the present moment is internal. They are strong in numbers, but they have in their ranks certain ambitious men, whose ambition far exceeds their ability; consequently there are too many seekers for oilice.—Eltham Argus. CENSOR OF PLAYS.

A cable the other day stated that the House of Commons, without division, agreed to Mr. Robert V. Harcourt's (M.P. for Montrose Burghs) motion to abolish the censor of plays, and also the distinction in the licenses between theatres and music halls. During the past three years the matter of the censorship of plays and the distinction made between a theatre and a music hall in respect to the performance of plays have occupied the attention of Parliament from time to time, chiefly on account of the energies of Mr. Robert Harcourt. In 1910 a Joint Parliamentary Committee wa,s appointed to enquire into the question of censorship and theatre licenses. That committee recommended the institution of a censorship under which it would be optional to submit a play for license, and legal to perform an unlicensed play, whether it had been submitted or not; and tlie abolition of the existing differentiation between a theatre and a music hall, so that each should be allowed to present whatever form of entertainment it desired (as iu the colonies). In 1911 Mr. Charles Brookfield was appointed joint censor with Mr. Badford. The change' did not prevent anomalous mistakes, however. The abolition of the legal differences between a theatre and music hall is held to be only rational.

"AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

Two of the New York railway companies have initiated an interesting experiment by opening six shops for the exclusive use of their 25,000 employees. The stores will sell groceries, meat, fish and other foodstuffs at prices some 30 per cent, below the ordinary retail rates, and so will solve in part the problem of the increased, cost of,living, as far as it affects the railway servants. It is deflared, indeed, that the companies will really sell the goods at cost price, and bear the cost of running the shops themselves. The proposal is not quite as philanthropic as it might appear at first glance. The railway corporation may find it a great deal cheaper to lower the cost of living to their employees than it would be to provide the largely increased salaries which the railwaymen are demanding.

PLAGUE IN AUCKLAND.

The authorities kept so quiet about the matter that scarcely anyone knew that two years ago Auckland was suffering from what the local Health Officer called "the first indication of anything approaching to an epidemic of plague." The Parliamentary papers giving particulars of the outbreak have just been issued—without any apology for the delay in their preparation—and they make rather interesting reading. The first case of plague appeared in Auckland i" 1001, and since then there have been nineteen other cases! There were three canes in 1903, two in 1004, three in 1907, three in 1910 and eight in 1911. Rats, of course, have been at'the bottom of the whole trouble, and remembering what a favorable breeding-ground the Queen City is for the noisome rodents and what perils they run of infection from their maritime , brethren it seems a wonder they have I not done more harm.

A PLUCKY MONARCH.

King Alfonso of Spain, who has been attacked in the streets of Madrid, has on several occasions escaped narrowly from death at the hands of assassins. On his wedding day, just upon seven years ago, Alfonso and his young bride were driving from the Cathedral to the Palace, when some miscreant threw a bouquet containing a steel bomb, which exploded between the ho:ses and the front wheels of the carriage. A groom and some soldiers, policemen and spectators were killed, and the carriage was wrecked, hut King Alfonso and Queen Ena escaped unharmed. • A curious fact about the occurrence was that the bomb was thrown from a home owned by the King's mother, which was let and used as a boarding-house. The attack was made on the anniversary of an attempt on Alfonso's life while he was on a visit to Paris. The Spanish Sovereign is highly popular with the majority of his subjects, and goes about his country with a carelessness that is almost startling, when the disturbed condition of Southwestern Europe is taken into account. He is a good sportsman, and laughs at at those who fear for his safety, and it is this confidence in the love of his people that has worn down the opposition that faced him when he first came to the throne. It is only from the madman that he need fear assassination, but the peril is always present. The people of Spain say that Alfonso is like his father, which is the highest compliment they can pay him. He is described as a man accustomed to lead, and his actions since he Came to the throne have .proved that he takes a keen and wholesome interest in all that goes on around him. His home life is described by the Spaniards, as an example to the nation, and this despite the fact that Alfonso defied public opinion when he married a British princess.