Our Wellington Letter.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 5, 31 January 1912, Page 4

Our Wellington Letter.

January 2C. Politics. TUB political excitement has long since simmered down, and the rumour-monger and ‘the amateur Cabinetmaker are hardly receiving the attention they did a few weeks ago. Most people are content to wait and sec what the gods will give them at next month's session. We have heard a good deal about the personnel of the Massey Government that io to be, and some people seem to delight in ringing the changes in the matter of portfolios. The rumour is busy with the name of the Hon. J. A. Millar, who ■is said to contemplate abandoning politics altogether, in order to go to Sydney and manage a big shipchandlery business or something of that sort, at a handsome salary. However, Mr. Millar is not troubling about these reports; he is making happy holiday up at Taupo, smoking the pipe of peace, and catching his twenty or thirty trout a day. At* for Sir Joseph Ward, he, too, has been busy with his rod on Taupo’s waters, but he is being dragged away from the sweet seclusion of the Island’s heart to assist at the Napier-Gisborne railway eod-turning, which takes place on Monday afternoon. Next month's session will be a very short, iif merry, one. It is not expected to last more than ten days at the outside. In the meantime, political prognostications are but vanity and vexation of spirit. Suburban Air Spaces. The Miramar Borough Council has taken a sensible stand on the subject of parks and breathing spaces in residential areas. The trail of the land speculator is over the suburban district of Miramar, and little regard has been given to the public good nr the y’ inning out of the building areas. The idea of the land Companies which monopolise these areas has been, of course, to pack as many houses as possible on the land. Now the ■Recreation Grounds Committee of the Miramar Borough Council has had this matter under consideration, and last night it reported to the Council, recommending that the question of the land companies giving land for recreation purposes in lieu of street-formation be considered. Mr. Brodie, Mayor of the borough, explained that a great many of the roads constructed in the district In the past were practically useless, and Would only become a burden on the Council for maintenance. If the land companies, instead of constructing the roads, had given the Council four or five acres of land here and there, and allowed the Council to make streets when and where required, there would have been a great saving. The playing fields need not be very large—four or five acres would debut they would be very much appreciated when Miramar was built over. Without such air spaces, Miramar would he an unhealthy place in the future. The Council generally approved of Mr Brodie's idea, providing the Council were not committed to any policy- of purchasin'* land in all eases that offered. It was decided to write to the various land companies interested in Miramar flat, with a view to bringing about the arrangement suggested by the Mayor. This is undoubtedly an excellent proposal; the only pity is that the municipal body controlling the Miramar Peninsula—and the suburban bodies as well did not have the forethought to propose it years ago. The Miramar flat - it was a fresh-water lagoon of several hundred acres in the ancient days—is being closely built on, and public recreation grounds and parks will be badlywanted in fhc future. The surrounding hills, too, are being studded with houses. The flat is shut in by these hills on nil sides but one—that facing towards tho sand-dunes of Lyall Bay—and in summer time the heat is great. For the «ake of the Miramar of the future, let us hope that the Council will succeed in its rather belated crusade for airspaces. This is the first step in the direction of national town-planning that has been taken in Wellington; one trusts that many more such steps will yet be taken, in tho suburbs. As far as the City itself is concerned, the town-plan-ning comes too late.

Passing- It On. As I predicted last week, the Wellington Harbour Board is going to make the public pay the money which it is forced io hand over to the waterside workers as the result of the industrial agreement entered into lately. The Harbour Board will have to find an extra sum of £6OOO to meet the new demands for increased pay. The Board had proposed to make concessions to the tune of about £7OOO, in inward wharfage charges, and in a reduction of the harbour improvement rate. The wharfage charges were to have been brought back to what they were about two years ago. However, the Board this week debated the desirability of rescinding its resolution granting the proposed concessions. It must find that £6OOO somehow. “We could only pass it on to the consumer,” said Mr. Cohen. “The general public will have to pay,” said Chairman Fletcher. The question of the revision by the motion was eventually postponed till next meeting, but it looks as if the concessions were doomed. So the importers and the shipowners will pay that £6OOO, per medium of the Board, and they in turn will pass it on to the public, who buy their foods and ship by their vessels, and the shopkeeper will do his little share towards it, and the wharf-labourer will pay hie share to the shopkeeper, and so the game will go on. It all comes back to the public's slioulder in the long run. University Reform—The Study of History. Some decidedly important innovations were decided upon at the session of the New Zealand University Senate in Wellington this week. The principal change introduced in connection with the government of our system of higher education is the decision by- that Senate to arrange for an annual conference of representatives of the various professorial boards, to act as a sort- of advisory board to tlie Senate. The Conference will, of course, have no legislative powers, but it will be able to .give invaluable assistance to the Senate in the matter* of courses of instruction and degree examinations. The Senate has long been in need of sucli advice from the professorial body, notwithstanding the vigorous assertions of one or two Senators that it"can manage its business all right without the advice or interference of the College teachers. Another important change was in respect to the study of history. A recess committee, of which Mr. von Haast was chairman, presented a report on the subject of history-, making the following recommendations :—- “Junior Scholarship.—For history in the Junior Scholarship Examination, the maximum marks obtainable should be 600. , | B.A. Degree, Repeat and Senior Scholarship.—History (including Constitutional History) should be a single full subject with an extended curriculum worthy of the increased importance of the subject. Jurisprudence and Constitutional History together should also be a separate subject for the B.A. degree, but not for repeat or seijior scholarship. “M.A. Degree and Honours in Arts.— History should form a separate group with an enlarged curriculum. Economies should form a separate group and include history treated from the economic side. "Languages for Arts Degree.—The prescription for a language, either ancient or modern, for the arts degrees, should require from the student some general knowledge of the history of at least ths period to which the set books belong.” The report was adopted, and it was decided to communicate the recommendations to the Minister for Education, and to press upon him the importance of history and study in the primary- and secondary schools. Undoubtedly history is a neglected subject in our system of education. We all remember the foolish old fashion of teaching history in our schools—a mere string of dates of battles ami accessories, and a list of kings and queens and the various manners of their deaths, from a. beheading to over-eating. •Nowadays saner fashions prevail, but history has hot yet taken its proper place in our schools and colleges. As Dr. Hight very sensibly remarked at tho Senate meeting this week, it Is especially important in New Zealand, because of

our extreme democracy, that history should be studied. Our civic system, the doctor pointed out,, is based on the assumption that everyone over twenty-one years of age is an expert in history. "There should be this knowledge of history if our young people are to enjoy properly the privileges thrust upon them. It is important also because of our isolation. We tend to become parochial. We must regard other nations in the proper light. We can do that, and discover our real relations with them only by a study of history and perhaps of prophecy.” Wise words these, that were echoed by most of the other members of the Senate. So history is now to take its proper place in our educative system. It might also be well if our schools and colleges of all grades were to devote a little attention to New Zealand’s own history. It is perhaps a smaller matter, but we have a history that deserves study. The average New Zealander is strikingly ignorant of his own country and its story. A good working knowledge of the Dominion’s past is a desirable, in fact, a necessary acquisition. But the average young New Zealander knows a great deal more about football records and cricket scores than he does of the stirring story of the land he lives in.

Lord Kitchener. Loth Kitchener’s popularity in "Rgypt has increased since his appointment as British Agent in such a manner as to. bring about a remarkable change in the country (writes the correspondent of the “Daily Mail” under date of the 2nd ult.) The Nationalist movement has for the time being almost died out. The Egyptians go to Lord Kitchener for everything, and he sees all who come. There have been no times like these since the early days of Lord Cromer. During the early days of the war in Tripoli some Bedouin Sheikhs went to see him and explained, that they wished to go to the assistance of their friends and relatives in Tripoli. Lord Kitchener listened gravely and answered, "Yes, you may go, and as many of your men as you like to take, and I hope you will have good luck.” Then he paused, and sakl slowly, “Now, you Bedouins are exempt from military service by the favour of Mohamed AJi (the Khedive), but of course if you go to "Tripoli and beat the Italians the exemption would be cancelled at once, for it would never do to lose the services of such good soldiers.” The Bedouin chiefs were content and did not go. Some Egyptian officers also asked permission to go to the war and to take a regiment of the Egyptian soldiers with them. “Yes, certainly,” said Lord Kitchener, “you may go, and at once.” “But it will take a long time to arrange transport,” said the officers, “and there may be objections.” “Oh, no,” replied Lord Kitchener, “if I say you may go you may go. Pray start to-morrow morning. There is only one thing, though. The standing army of Egypt is small, and at this time I must have trained troops. If you take a regiment with you I must send to England for an English regiment to replace them.”

Needless to say the matter dropped and the men did not go. In discussing the war with some Arabs and Egyptians, I was staggered by the question, “But why did not we (the Egyptians) annex Tripoli?” The thought of the Egyptians annexing anything by force of arms took my breath away. I pointed out that to have done so would have been to have brought down the wrath of the Turks and they would have made war upon Egypt. "Maleah” (Never mind), was the reply. "Kitchener is here.” They do not regard Lord Kitchener as being so much associated-with England as was even Lord Cromer. They seem to have annexed him, he belongs to them. Egyptian officers and men who have served under him simply idolise him. “I was with *K.’ in the Sudan” stamps a man with honour at once. Private Wireless. Instructions have been issued by Hie Post and Telegraph Department to the owners of the 15 wireless aerial installations in Christchurch and vicinity to dismantle them forthwith, or otherwise they will render themselves liable to a penalty not exceeding £SOO. It is understood that the Department has taken these steps

ftwing to a wireless message sent from Wellington to a steamer in tl>e vicinity of the coast of New Zealand having bee* tapped by one of the private installations In Christchurch. So far as is known, there is only one set of wireless apparatus in Auckland, that installed at the Sacred Heart College, Richmond-road, and this seems unlikely to be disturbed until a Government wireless station is established close to the city. It is understood that the Government does not intend to proceed with the erection of the Auckland low-power station until the highpower station at Awanni, in the far North, is in full working order. The erection of the necessary buildings for this station, which will have a range of 1,250 miles, has been placed in the hands of the Public Works Department, /which has made a road to the site, and started on the work of erecting the (buildings, etc. On the completion of this part of the construction, the station will be handed over to the Australasian Wireless, Ltd., who will instill the plant, ineluding dynamoes and aerial wires. The complete plant will then be tested by the Government experts, and if all is necessary will be taken over at once. It should be sufficiently powerful to communicate with Sydney and the Islands, and will thins have the longest range of any station in the Dominion. The low-power station which is to be established later on in the neighbourhood of Auckland will have a range of not more than 500 miles, and should serve as a connecting link between the Awanui station and the station lately erected on the Tin.akori hills, Wellington, besides being capable of talking to ships some two days out from the port. The Awanui Station may possibly be complete within about six months, but at present the station nearer at hand is so much “in the air” that its exact site has not even been decided upon. P. and O. Steamship Company, The report of the “Ist ordinary general meeting of the proprietors of the Penin-

miler and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, held at the company's offices, London, on December 12 last, is now to hand. Sir Thoe. Sutherland was in the chair. The chairman, in presenting the report, said that the same dividend and bonus would be paid as had been done for some years past. The handsome sum of £559,542 would be carried to the depreciation and reserve, and a sum of £67,617 would be carried forward to balance. (These, he considered, very gratifying figures in the peculiar circumstances under which the company had been working for a good part of the year. He hoped that no one would forget that the prosperity of the company was due in a great measure to the safe navigation of their ships and to the. general efficiency of the service. Perhaps the most interesting figure in the report was that of the passenger traffic, which amounted to £1,294,421, an increase of nearly £47,000 over the traffic of the previous year, and the largest amount the company had ever earned that particular head. The freight account amounted to £1,72LG66. which was a few thousand pounds short of the previous ' year. This was owing, of course, to the fact that the company had disposed of a good many cargo vessels. There was one part of the business which he was glad to say had turned out favourably, the purchase of the Blue Anchor line. They carried on that line only one class of passenger via the Cape to Australia. In regard to expenditure on the whole £20,000 less had been spent than in 1910. This was due to the fact that the mileage covered had been somewhat less. The general tendency of the expenditure was, however, to rise very rapidly, and in three years from 1907 to 1910, navigation expenditure increased at the rate of £75,000 per annum. Half of this increased cost was due to coal. Not only had the price of coal increased very considerably, but the speed and size of the latest mail ships called for more fuel. Fourteen of the company’s steamers had been held up by strikes, which meant a

loss iu freight of about £35,000. lie wished to call attention to the company’* capital account. They I ■' I a fleet of upwards of 400,000 tons standing on the books, net, after al’cv.< ;ig for cash reserves at between £ • and £4 per ton. On the chairm tn’s motion, seconded by Sir Wm. Adamson, the report was adopted. Predicting Storms. While in Australia, Air. D. C. Bates (Dominion Meteorologist) inquired into certain meteorological matters. “I find,” he told a reporter in Wellington, “that there have been great developments during the past three years. It is proliable that about £20,009 has been spent in instruments alone during that period, and the staffs have been greatly increased, the results thoroughly justifying these steps. Still greater things are expected in the future, and the new capital site will be the centre from which these developments will emanate. Mr. H. A. Hunt (Commonwealth Meteorologist) intends to establish an observatory for the special study of solar physics, and preparations are already being made in that direction. At (Melbourne, every opportunity was afforded me of seeing the system and equipment of the Commonwealth Bureau. I also visited the State Bureau, under the divisional officer, Mr. Stewart Wilson. This Observatory is now of secondary importance. Others I saw were at Newcastle and Wagga Wagga. One thing that struck me very forcibly was the use of rainfall maps and telegrams. and also sheets showing the rainfall for every day in the year at each place. I am sure we could do much in this direction, and I know our postal and telegraphic authorities arc only too anxious to do all in their power to assist. I hope my visit will prove profitable, for I have reaped in a fruitful field where many good and clever men are devoting their lives as priests of science, and the study of the weather.” Mr. Bates' experience has revealed a new use of wireless telegraphy, wlikli, he says, opens up great possibilities in

weather forecasting. As the telegraphic system made possible the synoptic charts on which weather forecasts are based, so we may expect still further advances from wireless. “The weather,” said the Dominion Meteorologist, “depends upon the movements of the low and high pressure areas or departures from the normal. For instance, if I get a liarometrieal reading of 30.50 at Wellington, and 29.00 from a ship at sea coming towards New Zealand from the West, I should know that we would have a severe cyclone with northerly gales. A knowledge of what is happening on the sea where storms travel, develop, and dissipate would be of the utmost value to meteorologists, and add materially to the. value of the daily predictions. We are I’o9 miles from the nearest observatories, and estimation of the course, development an! duration of storms is a most important desideratum in our work. I have no doubt that the steamship companies will gladly fall into an arrangement to supply such information daily to the variour bureaux; and the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, Mr. Donald Roliertson, has already given me great encouragement to develop tlia activities in this direction, while the Marine Department has allowed me to supply a few reliable barometers of our own standard to steamers equipped with wireless.”