The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1907. THE LAND AND THE TELEPHONE

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13330, 6 July 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1907. THE LAND AND THE TELEPHONE

The menvber for Geraldine. who h;\\ in times past displayed 'sufficient, ability to 1)3 eialrusted by th f Government with <: lt . duties of Whip, and who last, year was given a. dial as deputy-chairman 'of committees, appears to have excited the hmgsulfering indignation of the Ministerial journal in Wellington by his contribution to that, most, farcical of proceedings—lbsdebate upon the Address-in-Reply. We agree with the parliamentary correspond :.it of the " New Zealand Times" that it is wasteful and ridiculous excess for a country to support, at a, cost of £7O an hour, an elaborate! institution for enabling garrulous politicians to retail such " barndoor reminiscences" as those in which Mr Flatman has been.- indulging, but so long a r < the absurdity of the debate on the Addr.ess-in-Reply is tolerated, w? do not know thai; it matters a, very great deal if Mr Flatman does happen to carry the farce a littl-e further than would ho ventured ""upon by less experienced members like Mr C. M. Gray, who arrogate to ■themsehes tlia virtue, of seriousness. After, r\\, there may be more in/Mr Flalman's lapse into humour than there is in the elephantine seriousness of the prosaic members who have laboriously dug over tho'groiud thai has b?en covered ,i dozen times in the course of the debate-, and if he ha* done nothing eke, the member for Geraldine can Hatter himself tlwit he has r.r. least brightened the lives of' his fellowlegislators and fellow-colonists .' who have laughed over .the remarkable speech which has brought liim m> much notoriety. Mr Flatman, of course, is not the first person who his put -forward the theory that telephone, extension in tho country districts, is. desirable, in the interests of■ settlement, and in the .interests'of those -who reside in remote: localities. .The same suggestion has bo»n made often enough in New Zealand, in older countries it has actually been pur into practice. When Mr Rider Baggi.-d visited America, last year as Government Commissioner to report on the Salvali.m Army colonies, he was informed by th-">. Secretary of State for Agriculture-that in several districts they had actually sue-, ceeded in stopping the exodus from !he country into the towns—an exodus wh ; cii was puzzling America as well as other nations. They had solved the prnblc.it, and kept-the men on the land, by fixing up a telephone in every house. When he returned to England, Mr Rider Haggard suggested that, the telephone might be used in Great Britain as in America, to effect a, cure of the, evil of rural ik-/ population. The suggestion prompted an article in the "Spectator," the tone of which anticipated with remarkable, fide]i'.y the arguments adduced in Wellington on Thursday evening by the member 'ov Geraldine. We have space only for tJu conclusion of Ihe article in which -.:,e possibilities of long-distance love-making ars analysed in more detail than Mr Fhtman descended to the other evening. " Think of a man in town talking to hi.s sweetheart 1 in the back country,"-said ouc Geraldine friend. "It relieves him from going mad," he exclaimed amidst roars of laughter. Much in the same spirit, Ik-. "Spectator" predicts the addition of a new method of rustic courtship to 'he three stages already existing, -and known as "walking out," "courting," and " hai-ig engaged." The fourth stage may perhaps be described as "talking," though, a* 'lw conversations of loving couples are believ-it to consist mainly of impressive silencjs,, conversations "on the wire" might pr:wa a, trifle monotonous. Still, Die opportunity to say something if he had anything tn say, might, as Mr Flatman .-.ssuied the House, ■ keep the absent lovtr from losing his mental balance, and ther >'iy warrant the expenditure which in a move or le.ss discursive fashion has been adv icated by most of tho participants in the Addre-ss-in-Reply debate.