ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 9, 26 August 1908, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

LONDON, July 10. A paragraph describing the New Zealand Court at Hie Franco-British Exhibition, and announcing reduced-rate passages to New Zealand, appeared in n® fewei' than 140 newspapers in the United Kingdom in the course of last week. This is, I think, a tribute to the advertising capacity of the New Zealand High Commissioner's Department. The Australasian competitors at th® Olympic Games have been trained at ths Stadium by Mr. G. W. Smith, the. famous New Zealand runner and footballer, who is now living in this country. He is no believer in the old-fashioned dieting methods for athletes, and even allows his men to smoke cigarettes during their training. “I’ve smoked cigarettes myself just before starting to win my championships, and felt quite contented,” said Mr. Smith. “Fellows who arc hungry for a smoke all the time arc fidgety and miserable. As long as men avoid pastrj and starchy stuff, and drink three or four pints of draught beer a. day—not bottled ales—they need not worry about their diet. The more they cat the better. The pink of condition is natural fltnesg, obtained without altering all one’s habits.” The Hev. A. J. Griffith, M.A., Brisbane, dealt with “ Elementary Education iu Australia and New Zealand,” at the International Council of Congregationalists held at Edinburgh this week. The old pupil-teacher system, be said, was doomed —it being recognised that if they were to expect the best results they must not trust the junior and infant classes to pupil-teachers. At the present moment they were building up in Australia a. National Guard, and in course of time they hope! to have 80,000 men d'rilled and well armed. They had no desire for conquest, but they in England had & singular little way of occasionally requiring their service to assist in defending the common flag. (Applause.) They were closing their gaols because the accommodation exceeded the requirements. They had manhood and womanhood suffrage; and they were determined, if they; could! not make men pure and sober by Act of Parliament, they would have their Acts of Parliament made by pure and sober men. It was the elevation of each individual citizen in solid, permanent well-being that guided their legislative! acts. At the same congress the Rev. Dr. John Fordyce, Sydney, read a paper on the progress of temperance legislation in New Zealand and Australia, expressing full belief in the popular control of th* liquor traffic.