DAY BY DAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 9895, 27 January 1911, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

Re=construction

Every year it is being borne in upon us, that the present condition of society is iutolerabl9—that it is a rotten crumbling fabric, aud that it cannot much longer exist at all. The conviction finds expression in Socialistic visions, in anarchical schemes. Some dream of a fair day, of a new world; others try to hasten the coming of that good time which still seems so far off, by some sensational act to make men stand still aud bethink them 1 How is Society knit together? By the ties of expediency, of necessity. The savagery of a bygoue time is veiled, but it is not departed. What mighty upheaval is at hand?

A Land of Promise

The more thoroughly the Asiatic territory of Russia is developed, the more wheat and tea aud olives, etc, are cultivatd there, the _oro will the institutions of Russia improve. It. is in this brighteniug of life within her own borders that Russia's hope of salvation lies No Napoleon, or no Lycurgus, is going to awaken her martial spirit, or purify her laws; her reform is going to be gradual and spontaneous. Aud it is good news for the world,that Russia (long the bogey of Europe) should some day become beneficent as well as powerful, The ambition of Peter, which he transmitted to the autooracy, the ambition to occupy "the roof of the world," and thence to dictate to submissive nations, has faded away, in the light of the rising sun of a democratic era.

The Curse of Temperament.

No heavier curse has fallen upon humanity thau diseased temperament, and ie is a more common source of misery than most people imagine. Temperament is not "character." That is a social product. It is the natural bent of the disposition born of the.physical conditions. In some oases, where there is a strong will, that may conquer even temperament— but how few possess that; how many there are who" are the helpless victims of a daspoudency. They are always lingering by the gate of suicide. Nature bestows no greater blessing upon a human being, thau the sunny temperament which is produced by a free circulation and organic fitness, to whom life is what Balzac calls ' the human comedy."

Complacency

Has it really come to this in New Zealand, that a visitor of some acuteuess of perception and soundness of judgment, should reproach the workers of the Dominion with complacency? Yet thus did Mr J. Hodge, a Labour member of the House of OoturaoDS, when addressing au Auckland audience the other day. He evidently thought the workers in New Zealand had travelled so far ou the road to success, that they had become rather too satisfied with themselves, and scarcely realised the exteut of the blessings they enjoyed, which condition, he thought, had beeu produced by bßiug "spoon-fed by the late Dick Seddon." There is some shrewdness in this (a good deal more, by the way, than was shown- by a much more distinguished visitor—to wit, Foster Fraser), and Mi Hodge also pointed out to them, that in the Old Oouutry many of the things that the State owned aud controlled in

New Zealand were the"'property of private companies. The workers of NewJJZealand have indeed much to be thankful for, aud, without becoming tco complacent, it is well that they should make tbe best use of their advantages, and set up a superior scheme of life. , Thafc, no unprejudiced observer can deny, they are doing. The improved condition of the workers here is a splendid feature of our sooial fabric.

The Islanders

We are not, however, oonoerned about Crete and her political relation; our interest is ethnological, and Crete affords a 'unarming field for study and speculation That the Cretans were a power and a very great power, in the development of vanished civilization, is certain. That little community is all that is left of a people, who not only impressed their individuality upon all Greece, but who carried the lamp of learning and culture iuto remote countries. That they had intimate relations with Egypt in the days of the Fharaohs, is beyond doubt. That they were a type, a human type, not improbably the antetype of the Greeks, is possible, and arcniologists believe they were originally of northern origin. Those northern races that we are used tc over as commonplace, may have been the source whence the cultured southern communities came-—as later on, in the case of the Normans. The story and the contemporary history of Crete are worthy of study.

Weary of the Burden

"Be fruitful and multiply!" Humanity has been fruitful for ages, and has gathered itself together in great numbers in small areas, and most of it. has beeu ever wrestling with the problem of how to live. And in this congestion, healthy fruitfuluess has degenerated into the perpetuation of unfitness, in alarmingly growing bulk. The stunted growth, the defective interior, the organic troubles, have reacted on the mind; and the natural result is that the community is putting forth a hideous crop of lunacy, mania and deformity. Yearly there are born into the world numbers of persons, whose physical or mental unfitness grows so upon them that by-and by it appals them. They look forth upon a world in which they can play no part, where their efforts are a failure, and temperament hampers aud handicaps them. Then, in despair, they ask—Cui bono? One touch with the "bare bodkin," one flash of the death-dealing revolver, one dose of a deadly poison, and all is over! It is a leap in the dark, but the misery, the appallingness of it all, are harder to bear than uncertainty. Whatever may be beyond, they argue, cau be no worse thau what is here, and it may be better. And this is a miserable product of our civilisation !

The Story of Crete.

In the loveliest part of the "blue Mediterranean" below that wonderful historic region known as the Archipelago, lies the island of Candia, better known uow-a-days as Crete, productive aud carrying a population of less than half-a-million ; one of those surpassingly beautiful spots which the old poetic fancy might well regard as a resting place of gods and a home of heroes. Of its pauple, the original Cretans are not In the irreat majority that they should be. "J.nvs, Turks and infidels" swarm there, and although under Turkish jurisdiction they are nominally iv the enjoyment of self governing powers, the odious tyranny of Turkey does not seem to have beeu diminished hy the change from the old and the new Turkish party. Cretans are growing restive aud are calling attention to their condition. No question of international importance hinges upon this, and therefore they will probably have to fight their own battle for freedom. It is to be hoped (though hardly to be expected) that they will do it more effectively,than did the Greeks of the Mainland. Briefly put, the trouble is this—that the Cretans took the courageous step of expelling from their Parliament the Mahometan members. From that moment relations between Crete and her suzerain, have been anything but cordial and perhaps when Turkey has finished with the Arab rebels of Yemeu,' she may (if nobody interferes with her) put her iron heel down hard on Crete.