TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10886, 29 September 1913, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

SAME OLD TROUBLE. A German aeroplanist says there is a new peril to aviators in flying meteors. Meanwhile the old peril of the earth suddenly flying up to meet your aviator means disaster enough. MADE IN AMERICA. The United States exports automobiles to the value of £8.000,000 a year. Canada buys .more than are sold to any other country. Great Britain is second_ and the British colonies in Australasia stand third. Germany is weli up in the list of buyers of American machines, and many are sold to France. MORE "SOCIALISM." The sawmillers, who run a liTtle ring and combine on their own, object to the State cutting the people's bush with tlie people's saws. They went to tell Mr Massey this on Saturday, but the man who climbed into politics off a. hayrick was unavoidably absent. | The " bold and fearless statesman " is ' a little nervous just now. We liopo riaiiiaiaitiiiiilUatiiaitl

of least resistance and continue to b® absent. RUSSIA'S MOTTO. Russia, may bo backward in many respects, but there are points on which sue leads the directors of .schools in more " enlightened " countries, Iho Ifussia.u Government, instead of dismissing a woman teacher for the ernno of becoming a mother, grants her leave of absence on lull pay. Its motto is: " By all means bring children into the world." A REMINDER. A speaker at the Labour Conference on Saturday said " Labour had taken the Defence Act lying down." Our friend should bo reminded that many of the more intelligent of the Labour men in New Zealand are in favour or compulsory training and helped in tho agitation for its establishment. It was a Labour Government which instituted compulsory training in Australia. WOMEN POLICEMEN.

It is refreshing to know that the women police are to be young and spry (says an American paper), but it is to be hoped that this will not cause an undue rush of male persons eager to be arrested for trivial offences. When tho British suffragettes iirst started to raid the House of Commons they were carried out in the arms of a tall and decidedly handsome officer in uniform. Pictures of those # arrests' caused a great number to join the ranks of the militants. BOWLED OUT. We have never had any doubts as to tho insincerity of the "Reform" Government in regard to the reform of the Legislative Council, and this impression is justified by the attitude of the Ministerial Press at a. moment when what is ostensibly a policv measure is in danger. Tho Hon Mr Bell refuses to receive any suggestions for the improvement of the Bill now before the Council, and the friends of the Government rnent of the Bill now before the Councillors —are voicing the opinion that the elective principle is not tho most reliable.—Southland " Times.'' KEEPING THE POSTMAN. Tho citizen who erects an aperture plate on his premises for the reception of postal matter does two things. Ho relieves the arduous task of the lettercarrier, and he facilitates the_ delivery of letters to himself and his neighbours. The letter delivery in Christchurch could bo got through half an hour sooner each day if aperture boxes were erected at each front gate and the postman would not have to carry letters back with him in tho temporary absence of the housewife. We expect the Postal Department to be up-to-date. Let us help by setting the example. MUNIFICENT. Sir SamuelM'Caughey,' M.L.O. of the New South Wales House of J ossils,is losing his grip. He has spent a long life in accumulating great wealth at the public expense, and, iindinir that he is getting too old to enjoy it, lie has cabled to the Ulster revolutionaries that they can call on him for " any sum required. £ LU-;? (2 % \ i; Te It f —nT 'i l; ' $ « iT. moting strife and bloodshed in the country of his birth. Tho aspirations of tho Irish for self-government are to be crushed with the help of an Australian gold-bug. No wonder the " Dominion newspaper—tho organ of reform —cannqt, conceal its exultation I SPLENDID 1 The "Wairarapa Age," an ardent sham-reform journal, apes its elders—we had almost said its betters —at the righteous indignation business. Hfre is its breathless" contribution:— In order to cover up the confusion and shame that has befallen itself in respect to the reckless and extravagant charges made against the Minister of Education over the appointment of Mr Royd' Garlick, tho Opposition has resorted to the most glaring artifice, the most transparent exaggeration, the most wanton hypocrisy and the most unscrupulous humbug. . . With such shameless effrontery the people will have no patience 1" Sounds almost like the Opposition organiser, with steam up in both boilers! A FINE POINT IN GOLF. A new point in golf obtruded itself on the Dannevirke links the other day. It concerned two ladies. One, having finished her game, proceeded across the links to participate in afternoon tea. As she walked she bent her head in meditative mood counting her score. She crossed the line of another lady, who pulled a shot and send the hall on a mission to cover thirty yards. The lady who was walking felt something strike her head. The lady who had hit looked alarmed. A laugn followed, and the lady who had been hit shook her head to shaJke the ball out of her hat. Nothing was dislodged, and she looked on the ground. The ball was not there. She put her hand to her headgear to search there, and—found the ball stuck on her hatpin! _ The question is could the striker insist on "playing it out" from that positionP "THE MAD AND THE BAD." Mr T. H. Steadman, Mayor of Whangarei, who has just returned from a visit to America, in an interview, referred to Califoria, stating that he thought the racial problem was going to be one of their keen social problems in the near future. " What strikes you very much," he said, "is the comparative lack of children, or of any provision for the amusement of children. People live in apartments and there is comparatively little home life such as we know it in this country. One man said to me: ' Twenty per cent of the women in this country are mad: 50 per cent are bad, and the rest are real women and devote themselves to their homes.' Everything (.Mr Steadman went .on to remark) tends to the living of the fast life. People rush about in the search for pleasure. There are 196,000 registered motor vehicles in tho State of California alone." COUNTING THE HEADS. A Taranaki paper has the following as a preliminary to an obituary notice for the Whitewash Ministry :—Figures, according to an accepted adage, "cannot lie," and for this reason tlie divisions in the House of Representatives are always both illuminative and instructive. Thero ought to be some edification in the figures of the first five divisions since Sir Joseph Ward assumed tlio leadership of the Liberal Party. On the first occasion he was followed into tho lobby by 19 members, on the second by 22, on the third by 24, on the fourth by 27, and on the fifth by 31. It is quite evident that the new leader is licking the party into figlitable shape, and the figures must be creating some apprehension in the minds of the Government. Tho last division of 37 to 31 was over Royd Garlick appointment, and it has to bo remembered that the Opposition were short of five certain votes, owing to the absence on private business of five members of the party. PORK AND SQtfEAL. The Pork Inspection Committee of the Wellington City Council ha-s got; some very interesting things to tell the I Minister of Agriculture about the way i the people are being poisoned by the uninspected nig which gets into the market by the" back door. They have made three appointments with the man who entered polities from a hayrick, but each time he has sent along an excuse. The chairman's name is Frost, and he has had sonic stinging things to say. " The members of the deputation feel thev have been slighted (says Mr Frost), and it is their intention not tqiytako any further steps towards seelifg the Premier." _ Which shows that it's no use being bitter, and its worse to be a quitter. The deputation ought

Mr Massey came out. Presumably tho people will continue to be poisoned whilo tho Frost gentleman sulks in his tent. If it had been a deputation from tho Racing Conference or from tho Farmers' Union, Mr Massey would havo stayed up all night. CHRISTY MINSTRELS. While Parliament war, discussing a motion to reduce INIr Royd Garlick's enlary from £6OO to £4OO, tho House thinned out and one or two of tho Opposition's nose musicians began their usual concert. This prompted one backblocks member to bring into operation a particularly reverberating artificial snore. This rang out while Mr Russell was upon his feet, and he resented it immediately. " Somo honourable member," he said, addressing the temporary chairman, Mr Lee, " is deliberately snoring in an insulting manner, and I will ask you to order him to leave tho room if he persists." At this remark the snoring ceased, and Mr Russell commented: " You will notice that it has ceased." This was proved false on tho instant by a raucous outburst, at which tho whole Chamber laughed, but Mr Russell sarcastically observed: "If honourable members want to reduce this Parliament to the level of a Christy minstrel ( show they ought to go where they can at least earn 7s 6d an evening." CHARACTER DISCOVERER. Mr Cosmo Hamilton, in his new book " A Plea for tho Younger Generation," writes: —"I am all tor the appointment of a professor of character in schools and colleges, a man of wido sympathies and much imagination, who shall do nothing but hold a watching brief for parents, who shall spend all his timo observing closely, rising tho arts of his personality to gain the confidence, tho esteem, and tho friendship of the boys and the young men who pass under his hands. He need not be a person of great scholasticism. It would bo far bettor were he not. But lie must be a genial, cheery ( simpleminded, manly fellow, of sporting proclivities, and the right way with him. He would be a character-former and a character discoverer. He would catch boys on tho hop, 6o to speak, and he would lift out an infinite number of square_ pegs from the round holes into which unthinking parents had placed them. He would, in a word, supply tho much-needed human note in our mostly inhuman schools and colleges." A WRONG PRINCIPLE. The " Otago Daily Times" protests against a recent attempt mado by interested parties 1 to secure the release from_ gaol of a Marlborough resident convicted_ and sentenced to three months' imprisonment for using filthy language to some priests in a railway carriage. Out- contemporary rightly says:—"Whatever the merits of this particular case, and however painful the circumstances may be upon an offender who had previously enjoyed an excellent character, it is to be hoped that Parliament will realise that a | very dangerous precedent will bo estab- [ lislied by it if it ever sets itself up as a court of review of sentences that have been passed after adequate inquiry by the judiciary. The appeal in i such a case would be an appeal from !a n authority that was fully seized of the facts to an authority that was not in an equally favourable position to assess the punishment, and that was, in addition, liable to be sw r ayed by sentimental considerations. For the reason that Parliament does not possess the information which would enable it to discharge efficiently the funotions of an Appellate Court, and for the additional reason that it must jealously safeguard the authority of tha judiciary, the protest which Mr Russell raised was sound and timeous." DRY TACK IN CAMPS. Says the Melbourne " Age":— For the first time last year over 20,000 lads who had taken their places in the fighting line as a result of the compulsory service clauses of the Defence Act, were called upon to attend camps of continuous training. Most of the young soldiers were accustomed to the comforts of the average suburban home, and they found the rations ser/ed out for each day's consumption not entirely toothsome. One of their loudest complaints was with referenoe to the fact that bread had to be eaten " dry," and this might be regarded as a real grievance in a land in which butter is served with dinner in almost every household. During the present financial year the boys born in 1895 come into the ranks, and unless some steps are at once taken to provide a remedy the grumbling will be renewed. The new Minister of Defence (Senator Millen) has decided to abolish " dry tack " if it is possible to do so. The Minister stated that he knew from practical experience what dry bread meant to a growing lad, and he had asked the quarter-master-general Sellheim) to have inquiries made as to the cost of supplying some little luxury that might make the existing ration more tasty. Senator Millen was not prepared to state exactly what he had in mind, but it is safe to say butter will not be served. If the idea develops as anticipated it seems likely that treacle or jam will figure on camp hills of fare.

WOMEN'S POWER IN POLITICS. Mrs I. H. Moss, in the course of an address at the Woman's National League Conference at Ballarat, gave some very interesting facts about " Woman s Place in Australian Politics.'] She began by contrasting the position of women who were fighting for their rights in other countries, and the assured place in which Australian women stood. The demand for the franchise was widespread amongst women of every nation, as shown by the attendance at the Budapest Franchise Convention. Even China and Iceland sent delegates. Behind the barred_ doors of the harems of Mohammedanism _ women dreamed of their emancipation. The women of that congress looked with envy upon the delegate from Australia. In 1903 the percentage of women on the Commonwealth rolls who voted was 39.96, against 53.9 men. This was the first time women used their vote. In 1906 the percentage was 47.30, in 1910 the percentage became 56.17, in 1913 it rose to 69.71, only 7.51 per cent lower than the men. Australian women were recognising that the franchise meant much to them, for the tendency of modern times was to increase the number of women bread-winners. Nearly all the barriers to the employment of women had been thrown down. In Victoria the percentage of women bread-winners was 32, hence the necessity for women taking an interest in the political life of their country, and legislation must be framed for them. When women realised their power the strike would be universally condemned. Thev_ knew that Socialism meant and stood against any such revolution, and voted, as they would vote again, to uphold the existing conditions. The mothers and women of Australia were alive to the necessity for defence, and, seeing that federation and defence were synonymous, had quietly accepted the Defence Act, and wore instilling discipline into the minds of their sons. Women to-day as ever had been the sentinals to guard the shrine of home.