TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10924, 13 November 1913, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

PANIC STRICKEN. The Massoy Government seems to be in a statu or panic. They have doubled the guard over tho incarcerated strike leaders, tho men carryiug rifles loaded with ca-rtridgo and buckshot, and being placed under orders to use them if'necessary, says a Wellington telegram. All tliis theatricalism may be intended to impress tho public with tho strong, firm policy of tho Administration, but the general impression will bo that Mr Herdman and his satellites aro quaking at tho knees. Tho most obvious thing 1 about all this stupid and futile parade is that "money is no object. llie short-lived Ministry will not have to foot tho bill. THE WOMAN A~MAN. COULD LOVE. Outside of dreams, says W. B. Maxwell in tho " Strand Magazine," we ordinary men want a woman who ie so pretty that we are always proud; and 60 good that we are never uuqis-y; a woman who wears well and looks her best in a two-year-old gown; who considers the entrance fees for men's clubs reasonable and the price of ostrich feathers iniquitous;" who employs tho adjective important in relation to our work, our food, and our desire for unfetter holidays; who laughs at our small jokes and preserves a marble face whou we arc scored off by With whom wo have tho massively comforting sensation that she will never now recognise the plain staring' fact that we are not bravo, not wise, not kind, and not clever; who goes on loving us grandly, without thought of the past or fear of the empty future, but just as little girls love their broken dolls, as mothers love their disgraced children, as angels love the wingless beings they soo far down below when they look out .of God s i great window, and tho most incredible thug is that wanting all that—wc sometimes get it I SCANDALOUS 1 The "Dominion" newspaper has worked itself up into a state of unreasonable anger in connection with the Second Ballot Abolition 1 Bill (says the Naoier " Telegraph "), contending that it" is a scandalous thing for the to challenge _ the > Government's policy while a strike is in progress I It claims that the Government is so worried, having to look after its thousands of special constables, that to -worrv it by opposition to its electoral policy is very unkind, very wicked, very " wliat-you-like " in the way of wrong-doing. But, surely, if be-. cause there is a strike the Opposition is not to oppose the trickiness of the Government in its endeavours to carry out a cunning attack upon the rights of the electors, it is as necessary for tho Government to abstain from trying to gets its own way in those things while the strike lasts. A truce cannot be all on one side. If it Is the duty of the Opposition to forego its just political rights in the House because there is a strike/it'-must also be the duty of the Government to refrain from trailing_ its reactionary coat (lined with rat skins) on the floor of the House-and yelling for its tail to be trodden on. A STUDY IN AUTHORITY. Among the cargo hung up in Wellington by the strike trouble was A large quantity of scenery and "props" belonging to the Julius, Knight Company. The effects had been stored at tho Opera House for some time, but on Friday the Strike Committee decided to allow the scenery to go through to Sydney - by the Maungaiiui on Saturday night. When the lorries'arrived at the Queen's Wharf gates in the afternoon some of the strike pickets objected to the goods being allowed access to the wharf. A member of the Strike Coin- 1 rnittee, who' was on the spotexpostulated with the men. " What's the good 1 of the Strike Committee," he asked, "if you don't obey it?" An argument ensued, and the upshot was that the vehicles proceeded round to the King's j Wharf, where the 'Maunga-nui was j berthed. The sequel occurred when the vessel was upon the point of sailing. The sailors gave notice that it was their intention not to work the boat to : Sydney unless the "props "—which were safely stored aboard—were 1 re* moved. Argument and persuasion availed nothing. There was nothing for it but to remove the .effects. This was done and the, Maunganui let loose | her lines shortly before midnight. TWO GLARING MISTAKES. Says the Dunedin " Star " :—The British Government,. despite their talents and labours, are far from -popular, and they have made one i>r two glaring mistakes. It sounds strangely to hear that the imprisonment of Mr Larkin, the leader of the Dublin Transport and General Workers' Union, shouid have been a factor of moment in the result of two important by-elections. Yet the reason is simple and obvious. Mr Larkin ought not to have been arrested; prosecuted and sentenced as, he was by a Government who "• have calmly looked on while Sir Edward Carson was proclaiming from a score of platforms that which he (Sir Edward), as a constitutional lawyer of the first magnitude, knew was illegal, and who not only threatened to continue liis illegality, but challenged tho Government to arrest hirn. This apathy of the authorities, as far as the workers were interested therein, was interpreted by them to mean that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. Unlike the wild and lawless men who are endangering the industrial and social life of this dominion, Mr Larkin had a reputation as a temperance worker and practical reformer. He was standing, too, for the betterment of the wages and conditions of labour in Dublin, which, as even the London "Times" admits, 1 ' urgently require the most serious attention." MONEY TALKS. There is going to be a quick change in the Mexican situation now. Huerta, apeing Diaz, and therefore setting up as dictator, has concluded that he can better the methods of Diaz. Tliese were founded on the principle that whatever happened in Mexico,; the foreign moneylender should be paid his interest regularly. This purchased for him the suonort of capital in all parts of the world" having money to lend to foreign Governments. Huerta liss changed all that. He has followed the examplo of many another bad reasoner who lias preceded him, and plumped for fiat money. Fiats aro not worth a penny a bushel unless backed by omnipotence,- and Huerta's paper money may be surely counted in as making for his downfa.ll. London is restive already, and we may now expect to hear ! from that quarter that it is tho evident duty of the United States to intervene with its army and navy. As a by the way it may be noted that Germany is despatching two battleships to South America. It is said that this is with a view to obtaining orders for 'German shipbuilders. Perhaps German bondholders are also thought of. The lesson of Mexico seems to be accentuated in China, where Yuan-Ehih-Kai, a j man more resolute, a man more reckless, a man of more WILL, and a man ' probably more dishonest than Diaz and Huerta combined, now has the support of the Legations because ho has made a coup d'etat in favour of "the quintupleloan." The plain English of this is that he is fighting tho game of the capitalists of the Jive Powers interested, and will have whatever support these can induce their respective Governments to giro him. WAR AND CHRISTIANITY. Mr G. Bernard Shaw, about his play " Androcles " :—"Wlien I travel about Europe and see Germany studded with colossal images of the 'Man of Blood and Iron, the latest being also the hugest' and the most irresistibly suggestive of Dagon and Moloch; when 1 read the recent history of the triumphs of Mars in Tripoli, in Morocco, and the Balkan States.; when I see compulsory military service rapidly becoming universal and Mars achieving the miracles

of the submarine and the aeroplane in a few years., whilo Christ cannot in as many centuries get rid even of such a blazing abomination as the mixed general workhouse, I really cannot sco how any snno man can nil ego that Christianity has gained an inch since the Crucifixion. If you dramatise the world as a struggle between Christ and Mara, Christ is down and out, despised and rejected of men, epat upon, nailed up, laughed to scorn, not even allowed the right not to be kicked when He is 1 down. . . . My sympathies may bo diseased and cowardly and sentimental. Most men who take the blood, and iron pose would say bo. But of one thing I. am absolutely certain, and that is that nothing but mischief can bo done by pretending that Mars and. Mercury, Militarism .and Commerce, aro Christianity. I know that most people do not believe _ that Christians were really killod 111 the arena at all, and are shocked at the idea of their being callously called to their deaths as numbered turns in a variety entertainment by a vulgar cnll-boy, instead of simply being_ painted by Royal Acndemicians as being politely led up to Heaven by angels with palm branches. And it gives me an extraordinary satisfaction when the shrieks of those poor creatures prove that I have brought them face to face for the first time with the grim reality of persecution and thoir own .daily complicity in it." STRAWBERRIES. A correspondent writes: The strawberry season is, I fancy, rather later than usual this year; but before many clays are gone there will be a'plentiful supply of the berries, and we shall all be looking up old ways and new ways of using thorn. Fortunately, most people prefer to eat them uncooked, with cream, so that they provide a respite occasionally from the labour of cooking.' To those who cannot take cream at all, or who consider that the flavour of the berry is " smothered " by eating it with cream, I would suggest tho, Italian fashion of serving tho fruit. "Sprinkle it lightly with castor sugar, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it, and set it on tho ice, or in a cold place, for a couple of hours before eating it. In any case, to prevent cream from " smotheringthe flavour of the fruit it should be lightly whipped, and the well-beaten white of an egg added to half a pint of whipped cream makes it even lighter. JSvon better than strawberries aud cream, however, are strawberries and. icecream, especially ice-cream with a passion fruit flavour. There are a number of puddings, too, wliich are delicious when eaten cold with rip© strawberries, either whole or converted into a puree by being rubbed through a sieve, sweetened and served as a sauce. A blanc-mange, made by cooking two dessertspoonfuls of arrowroot in two breakfast-cupfuls of sweetened _ milk, and whilst still hot whipping in the stiffly . beaten whites of _ two_ eggs, is made perfect by eating it with" strawberries. The blanc-mange should be sweetened with a little vanilla ,or almond essence. Bread-crumb custard, nicely baked and. allowed to become cold, may ha,ye strawberries piled on of it. Castor 6Ugar should be sprinkled over the fruit, and on top white of egg whipped stiff with a very little castor sugar . may be heaped roughly, or the cream ana whits of egg mixture may be used instead. ...... A SILLY REGULATION. ' ■ For a long time there lias been in the public rniud, a feeling that; the law whicii makes it an offence for the original purchaser of a railway ticket to iieJl it Or give it to anyone else is indefensible, says, the INapier "Telegraph." If A buys a ..railway ticket and finds that circumstances prevent him travelling, why should he lose his , money P . Me knows somebody who is able to travel and intends to travel, 'WhyShould not A ,sell him-his ticket?; '.Nobody is wronged, any .more thatf anybody is wronged -if tlie purchaser of a tlieatro ticket sells it to another. The train will run, w.ith or without A,' and the theatrical performance will go on just the same whether the seats are occupied by the original purchasers of tickets or by others who have purchased from them. Apparently the Government, considering the feeling in the public mind we nave referred to, lias determined that the public is an Ass—Ass enough to stand lacking and contumely, anyway—and in bringing down a Bill to amend the Government Railways Act, has seen lit to reassert the silly old principle that to transfer a railway ticket is a. crtmQ.. and, to make the punishn*ent for the offence range up to a £lO fine or two months' hard labour in gaol. At one time there was a weak , but, colourable excuse for making a railway ticket non-transfer-able. This was when a return ticket cost less than tw;o single tickets. By allowing transfer' it would have been possible for two conspirators, one (say> in Wellington and one in Napier, to arrange by letter to swindle the Government out of a few A in Napier, wanting to go to Wellington, might arrange by letter with B in the other town, who happened to want to come here, for a timing cf the _ two journeys so that one return ticket would serve tho pair. Each might then, as a solatium for the time and trouble, involved by- the conspiracy, make two or three drinks each at the cost of the Government. . The idea is far-fetched, but not out of the range of practicability. With no difference made in the cost of the return journey even this danger vanishes, and that- it should be now made a crime to transfer a railway ticket suggests a form of red-tape silliness approaching to lunacy.