Topics of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XV, 13 October 1900, Page 674

Topics of the Week.

Peace Celebration Day. 'The Government have done right in fixing a day for Che peace celebrations rn the colony, and the day they have aettFed on, the Prince of Wales’ day, in undoubtedly the best that could have been chosen. We should alf have preferred a <sy that was universal throughout ttta Empire. Ft would have been doubly significant of Imperia! unity had the rejoicings been simultaneous, a repetition of what happened at rhe Dia-* mond Jubilee, when from every cjmjr-* ter and corner of the globe where the British race has curved out a foothold for itself <he Te Dennis arose in bie grand choral strain. But the cfreumstanees under which the war has virtually came to a close have unexpectedly deprived us of that general signal for jubilation—the formal d_e-‘ etaration of peace— for which we were waiting. Failing that signal there’W no other arrangement for a comment day of thanksgiving throughoutEmpire, nor is there any indication Of any intention on the part of the Hoiritf authorities to make any arrangement. U is apparently to be left to the individual divisions of the Empire to do their rejoicings independently. f regard it as a great mistake to let slip such an excellent opportunity of fostering the sentiment of national unity; yet unless the matter is taken np at Home we here cannot hope to influence the position, and perhaps it is as dell that we should not delay until our enthusiasm has cooled to give expression to it. There is a danger in postponing the occasion of our celebration too long. Patriotism and loyally are so I hl, substantial elements in our character, always there when the call is made upon them, but the emotional spirit that prompts their outward display is an evanescent quality. A few months hepee it might be •fcrite impossible to evoke the same Imperial enthusiasm which the war has called forth. So let. us 'by all means rejoice while we are altogether in the mood to grve unrestrained expression to our feelings. We have a month before us to get ready f6r our celebrations. Let ns see that during that time we do not suffer our enthusiasm to wane, so that when the dnv arrives we -may' make It an occasion to be remembered by everyone in the colony who witnesses if. If we cannot have the satisfaction of feeling that the rest of the Empire is rejoicing with ns at the same moment. we ran make our celebration so emphatic as to draw the attention of those not similarly engaged. Rut we should not wonder that Australia makes choice’ of the same day as ourselves. thus giving to the celebration a much more imposing character than it would otherwise, have. No other •lay seems so appropriate and convenient as the ninth of November, the Prince of Wales' Birthday. Being already a public holiday in the colonies the choice of it will in no way disorganise business, and the loyal sentiments connected .with it will help to stimulate the enthusiasm the occasion calls forth. That Island Home. A little while ago New Zealand definitely settled the precise form of her flag, and now ,shc is tilled with seal to see. if flying over as wide, a of territory as possible. I snpjipse she inherits the trait from the Mother Country, whose sons c wherever they go, are never free from the suspicion of having- concealed about their person a Union -Jack, which they are ready to hoist over any country in which they may sojourn or visit—if sufficient inducement offers. Apart, from that supposition, the desire for more land would surely be unwarranted in a young community like this, whieh has more territory already than it tan make use of, or is Hkely to make use of for years to come. But, of course, it is the thirst for dominion boru in us that has made this colony reach forth its hand some fifteen hundred miles and more and gather to itself these isles ami islets of the Pacific. These are among the first fruitp of that Imperial spirit that, cheerfully and enthusiastically sent our best blood to water the South Afrcan veldt. It shows itself in more ways than one. These archipelagoes of the

great sea are plainly destined to be the appanages of Australia and New Zealand. A little time and their partition will have been completed, and every island, from the largest to the tiniest coral atoll, will be attached politically toj the great continent, or Maoriland. i’nder the new arrangement they may certainly add lustre to the prestige of their new possessors. but one wonders whether it may nolj lx* in somewhat the same way as the fireflies add brilliancy to the headdresses of the ladies who pin them alive to their hair. I’nder the Union Jack the natives have been free to live their lives in their own fashion. British sovereignty meant Tittle more than the assurance of a strong arm to shield them from their foes. Her Majesty's Government barely interfered with them more than to mark them red on the map. How will it be for them under the more immediate sceptre of a pushing little colony like this? We shall certainly take a more active concern in ther internal affairs. They shall be represented in our Parliament, and we shall make laws for them: and with what results? Will it come to pass that the spirit of our legislation will make its way among the eoeoanut groves and the banana fields? Alack and alas for the romance that yet lingers among lhese summer isles if its careless children are to be brought under the influence of artificial restraints they have never known and can never be expected to appreciate. The touch of the trader has already taken much of the bloom off the Pacific islands, but even the trader could not do what I fear the unsympathetic handling of their new landlords may effect in the desire to mould these simple communities into more civilised forms. In the stress and worry of life it is always delightful to think of some happy haven where the good people pass their existence as delightfully free from eare and trouble as onr first parents. Civilisation has already narrowed the area'within which sneh an Eden'might he found, until one only looked for it somewhere in the Pacific. But where now is that island where "never comes the trader, and never floats a European flag?” It is just possible such , a place dues exist. At least, there are several where neither trader nor flag.have, obtruded themselves to any very serious extent. But what now must happen when, in place of the old good-natured British flag the perky pennon of a parvenu democratic neighbour flaunts itself over these lands, and the occasional trader wafted thither often . by chance makes way for the ever-pnne-tual steamer. Will the charm of the islands wither under the new touch? I cannot say. but this I feel, that the island of rest my world-tired soul sometimes sighs for ean never be a place where perchance there are Arbitration Courts sitting to discuss labour problems. This annexation has added to our actual territory in one way, but in doing so it threatens to sadly curtail the realms in whieh our fancy could most freely disport itself. fhe Inevitable “ Flu.” “Spring's delights are now returning." as Ashley Sterry sings, ami with them, the inevitable —I feel almost tempted to say the infernal influenza. Its victims are laid low, "not singly but in battalions.” and from Reinga to the Bluff, there is scsweely a hamlet where every second residence, proud or humble, rich or poor, one of whose inmates is not- attacked. But though the disease is no respecter of persons, and penetrates into the imisl carefully warmed rooms as relentlessly as the draughtiest. attic, yet it does seem to prefer- townsfolk to the country people, for not only is the spread of influenza far less—evru proportionately—in the country than in towns and villages, but those bueolics who are inflicted escape with a far lighter attack than that meted out to the urban resident. The annual visitations of this really rather mysterious disease are becoming more and more serious, for there is not the smallest doubt that every year sees the scourge gain in it* hold and increase in its malignancy. Several years ago, • the influenza was a mere nothing, a sort’of fashionable and handy ailment

by which one could be attacked at any time when there was a disagreeable engagement to be escaped. Om- eouM have it one day, and appear cheerfully the next. All this has hern changed in snceessive years, ami bow there is no mistaking either an at tacit er the appearance of those who have suffered from one. The old remedy of a good novel in front of a good fire, will now not avail. Bed is the only plan, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred splitting headache and smarting of eyeballs make reading impossible. But if this were *H. if ft was a mere matter of laying up there would be no- very great need to greatly fear this übiquitous foe. It is the “afterwards” which is mowt serious. VVe have lately had much scare about plague, but where plague has killed its units, the influenza and its followers have slain t.heir thousands. As an absorbent of human stamina, influenza stands unrivalled, and though it itself seldom kills directly. it leaves us so utterly undone—unconsciously so very often—that any two-penny half-penny attack of any sort of cold or disease is at once able to sweep us off the- board of life. Looked at in one way. the affair is of no great moment. Death comes sooner or later with absolute certitude; so if a new force is added against life, which reduces the general average of longevity, well, though of course it seems hard from one point of view, what after all does it matter? A few years more or less, what are they? We all think ourselves fond of life, but when death approaches, there is scarcely one of us young or old who is not (when the moment actually arrives) content enough to go. o o o O O Municipal Clubs and Other Things. Having braved the terrors and responsibilities of owning an opera house, it is now suggested that the Wanganui Borough Council should make an even bolder experiment, and establish a Municipal Club. A chib, especially a Young Men’s Club, is, it appears, urgently required in the progressive city by the river, and this, notwithstanding the fact that it is only the other day a Working Men’s Club, with an enormous membership, was opened with much pomp and ceremony. No doubt Wanganui people know well what they want, what they can afford, and what they will support, and but for the fact that it is proposed to run the Young Men's Club as a municipal affair, its establishment or that of half a score of similar institutions would scarcely be of any general importance. But this progressive tendency to run social establishments on a municipal basis is decidedly interesting. The Opera House- has given the City Fathers of Wanganui considerable anxiety, and there have been occasions on which the “game did npt seem worth the candle,” or, to speak exactly, the eleetrie light, which would not light up. But, despite annoyances and blunders, and notwithstanding occasional failures and fiascos, the financial results have, I understand, proved satisfactory; and. satisfied with the success achieved here, the Councillors may not be unwilling to start the club as proposed in the local press. The “Tunning” of a club, if one may be allowed to use an expressive slang expression, is not likely to be less anxious than the conduct of an opera house. For example, it will have first of all to be settled whether there shall be any application for a license. If it is decided to run the affair on temjierance lines, there will be fewer difficulties, comparatively speaking, but onde an attempt is made to allow the dispensing of alcoholic refreshment's, trouble will begin. The abuse of the prohibitionists will be “frequent and’free,” and most assuredly the hotel-keepers will not sit quiet and see the establishment of an institution, which would of necessity curtail their business and profits. But supposing all dangers and difficulties overcome, what will be the next move? Municipal stores for the sale of comestibles, or in fact every sort of commodity, would probably suggest itself, and could be carried out without any very great trouble. Wanganui might in this way soon give a very interesting object lesson to the rest of the colonies, and we should watch her experiments with much -the same feelings of mingled -imiif ment, admiration and amusement with which the good people in the OK Country regard onr New Zealand legislative experiments. Personally, 1 cannot see why a municipality should

not supply me with good **”* eheap toed .just as rt supplies or ought to ■apply me with good anti eheap war ter. Nor do i know any mason why heating should not tee supplied by a Borough Copneil as well as lighting, and, after all, if they eart away my ashes, why should they not bring my wood. Those tiresome people who always must .bring up an argument about any trilling reform would doubtless argue us to how the dispossessed tradesmen were to lire. That is a question it is not now eonvenient to discuss at present. We—l speak for others as well as self—wish to see some experiments; and our word to Wanganui is “go in and win." O O O O O The Correspondence Column. Few persons can have failed to notice the extraordinary activity of the casual newspaper correspondent during the past month er so. For some time the Boer war practically closed the correspondence columns of the daily press, but now that news from the front is becoming “sopnvhat musty,”editors have again become tolerant," and the gentlemen who delight in inditing letters to “the paper” have had ample encouragement. There can, 1 think be little doubt that for ordinary individuals the habit is dangerous. because so insidious. It is like taking to drink or to morphia, or to punning. Everyone thinks he can leave off when he likes. One sees a man start writing to the paper; to his surprise his letter is published. Unless the man is of quite exceptional strength of character, he is from that time doomed, a condemned, a hopeless literary bore. He begins, perhaps, by one letter a week, or even a month. But “increase of appetite grows on what it feeds on.” and sooner or later you will find that man in print on fvery possible and impossible occasion. Stories have often been told of the cunning of victims to the drink habit, and of the clever artifices to which they will have recourse to obtain the wherewithal to gratify their passion. Of a publican's business I have no acquaintance at least, I mean no acquaintance from behind the bar; but as a journalist I can assert that the lengths to which men will resort, and the tricks of which they will be guilty, in order to see themselves and their letters in print, are beyond belief. For a man to write half a dozen letters backing up and contradicting his own original, is, of course, the most usual attempt; it is indeed so elumsy and common as to rarely succeed. When It does, the Editor is usually short for copy, and is in good truth partieeps eriminis. It may, of course, be urged that the habit is not vicious, and affects no one but the victim. This cannot, I think, be sustained. “It pleases him,” no doubt, but it would be incorrect to say it does not hurt ns. The letters of these cranks take up valuable room, and the reading of them, unless the habit is carefully crushed, is only less injurious than the writing. There are so many limits imposed on us nowadays that a further step should be taken, and per s ms so irretrievably given to writing to the press as to be a nuisance to the world at large, should have a sort of literary prohibition order taken out against them. I commend the idea to Mr Seddon.

Coming Events. The appearance on the streets of the Christmas numbers of various illustrated newspapers, reminds one of the frequently stated fact that “Christmas is coming,” though one may perhaps abject that close on three months is rather far ahead to begin arranging for and celebrating the event. So long as rival publications attempt to come out ahead of each other, we shall continue to get further and further back into the year with our Christmas cards and annuals, and it needs no very great gift of prophecy to foretell the day when we shall start posting these to our friends at midsummer. Seriously however, the advent of the Christmas number has opened at once the inevitable question, what are we going to do during the holiday week. For thia reason I think their early advent may be pardoned. With the exception of a holiday itself, nothing is more restful, nothing more delightful than arranging and planning tor one. Indeed, how often ape not our anticipations the bettor part. One can, when Christinas actually arrives, only be in one place •t a time, but beforehand one saa

spend the week in dozens of different localities. Mid in half a score of ways and these “amtieipoting" trips are so cheap. Moreover, in anticipation tinweather in always perfect. a«l. as you must admit, this is a great jioint. Again in laying n»t the plan of campaign for a nice holiday one has necessarily to look buck over those that have gone before. And though anticipation is pleasant. I doubt if it ever equals retrospection. Looking buck over port holidays is an altogether pleasant occupation. There may of course be cirvomstanees which make it "sorrows crown of sorrow," biit generally speaking nothing is more delightful. AH the vexations of the time if such there were are either forgotten or are looked at through a softened atmosphere which makes them almost akin to pleasure. We forget, for instance, our mortification at the incessant rain, but remember old and his stories, and the great games of cards we hud. and what a glorious last day it was when the rain did finally elear off. Or if we suffered cold and fatigue or hardship. we forget all these and remember only the glorious supper when we did arrive—w herever it was—and had changed, etc., etc. Anyway, both ddors have now been opened, and we have for close on a quarter an opportunity of fixing np our future holiday and looking backon those which have passed. It might by the way be a good and useful thing if readers would contribute brief descriptions of enjoyable ways of spending a holiday, setting f 'rth, in as few words as possible, where t , go, how to go. what there is to do. and what the cost may be calculated at. An exchange of experiences such as this would entail, would undoubtedly be- sure to prove both useful and amusing.