TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11483, 16 January 1903, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Life in Norfolk Island seems to Norfolk be an easy, oomfortabje, happyIsland, go-lucky kind of existence for the half-a-thoasand people who inhabit that fertile spot in the Pacific. A missionary who returned to Sydney the other day from a visit to the island gave quite an idyllic picture of the erstwhile convict station, now the home of a prosperous and wel-conducted community. "The life of the resident," he says, "is an easy one, because be knows nothing of that intense struggle for bread noticeaJble in populous centres. There appears to be no 'prevalent desire to amass wealth, for even if any one hugged that motive, it Us hard to see how he oould succeed in his aim- For each and all there is full and plenty, and the person who wants more must go elsewhere, when he generally finds that he fares worse." With the exception of tea, sugar, and a few articles of diet and clothing, the people of the island provide all the necessaries of life for themselves. Very little money is handled, for the settler gets along very comfortably by exchanging his services for those of his neighbour when required. Instead of paying taxes he gives up so many days in the year to the work of making roads, or any othear public which the authorities may deem necessary. He does not drink, for there is no hotel on the island; and crime is practically unknown. When a man decides to marry he receives a land-grant, and his friends hetp him build the house. When he dies the authorities defray the burial expenses, including the erection of a tombstone. Life is supremely uneventful, but with tennis, cricket, and football, and music and dancing in the evening, the islanders contrive to enjoy themselves. Norfolk Island has within the last year become connected with the outer world by means of tho Pacifio cable, but the stir which marked the landing of the cable soon died away, and the i__ land seems to its inhabit ants as remote from civilisation as ever. "The islanders," says the missionary, "know little of what is passing through the cable to Australia, and it is only when some great event occurs that the news trickles direct to them. Australian papers arrive by the monthly mail, and these are eagerly i»ad." Latterly en element of unrest has become manifest, due mainly to the uncertainty which surrounds the poCitical future of the island. The majority of the people object to being merged in the Australian Ck>mmonwe_lth, preferring, if there must be a change, to 'become joined to New Zealand. But for the most part the Norfolk Islanders would rather remain as they are* Small boys do not geneA School rally hold their school in Breaking-Up. reverence, but it is rare, we should hope, that their lack of respect for their Alma Mater takes the form of such wilful destruction as was lately perpetrated by four Sydney youths ait the Paddington School. The school bad been closed for the holidays, but the attention of a passer-by having been drawn *o unusual noises proceeding from the premises, he looked in and saW four boys busily and happily engaged in smashing the school furniture and tearing up book", making neat piles of the debris in the middle of the floor. The entrance of a policeman through a window disturbed the sportive young gentlemen, who fled in different directions, and in the scramble among the wreckage two managed to escape. Examination of the premises disclosed an extraordinary amount of damage. Cupboards had been broken open and contents strewed on the floor, books torn to pieces and splashed with the contents of tne inkpots, and docks -smashed beyond repair, while the attention paid to tbe piano with an iron bar bad destroyed tbe instrument's appearance and asefuiness. A raid bad been made on the sewing room, but the official i_twtHp-W» hod prevented «»y serious damage being dons then. Th*

operations in the oooke-y-room bad beta much more successful. l"be raiders bad made cocoa sod coffee for their own lefiwhinent, and had piled all the other commodities they could find—flour, sugar, currants, raisins, etc.—into one glorious heap on the floor, and mixed them up with water and the remains of a tin of Japan black. For a school the place seems to have had a rather more eventful career than most establishments of the kind. This is not the first time it has been broken into, and y*-** ago it was tho scene of a "ghost scare," which for some time kept the neighbourhood in a state of terror. "A couple of residents, on frivoMty bent, used to toll the bell at night bo regularly, and so mysteriously, that superstitious folk believed the place to be haunted. Dressed in a white cheat, one of the pair used to walk the ridge-capping towards midnight, while his companion tolled the bell at long but regular intervals. This game was earned on for a long time, till one of the ghostly visitors narrowly escaped being shot." The latest intruders will be exorcised in a less violent, but more prolonged method, and i" the cool retreat of a penitentiary will attend school with more regularity than it appears they have hitherto done.

Major Taylor, the coloured A Model cycling champion, is a Bapti_t Cyclist. and an unyielding opponent of Sunday racing and riding. During his present visit to Australia he lias been interviewed at length by the New South Wales "Baptist"—the official, organ of the Baptist Church—and in the course of his remarks has had a good deal to say about bis religious convictions. '"Yes, sir," he told his interviewer, "I am goad to say that I am a Christian, and it doesn't make any difference who knows it- I don't make a secret of it, though I don't go round sounding a trumpet. lam answering all your questions, but I don't wish to convey to you that lam any more than I really am. I have simply tried to live a* a Christian should live." To this determination, the famous cyclist attributes most of his success. It does not follow, however, that every man who tries to "live as a Christian should live" may hope to excel as Major Taylor has exce_led on the cycling track, or win the amount of money that he has woo. . What he means is that he has endeavoured to act "squarely" by all with whom he has come in contact, and that be has found in his own particular profession that honesty is the best policy. As for Sunday cycling, M&jor Taylor estimates that he has lost at least 50,000 dollars by not racing on Sunday, but he does not regret his decision in the least. 'There are people," ha says, "who don't know what it is to feel here (placing his hand over his heart) that they axe doing right; but the man who does know would not be without it." Major Tayuor, it will be seen, is decidedly an earnest young man, with the courage of his convictions. As for his training for the cycle track, he recommends total abstinence from alcoholic liquor and tobacco, and light exercise daily. "I have had one great advantage in keeping in condition," be says, "which anybody knows who has followed my example. I have never used ox tasted any liquors in my life, a»d I have never smoked or used tobacco in any way. Abstinence from these is the mast important factor you can name in training. I don't miss then., because I have never been used to them-" If he had, he might take a much more charitable view about their effect when taken in moderation.