NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 576, 3 August 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

It is reported to-day that for .the. year, ended Juno 30 the Now South 'Wales rail-/ ways showod a final profit, after paying all charges and fcho interest on capital, amounting to £388,000. This Burplus is a good deal less than in the preceding, years., owing to the expenditure of larger on repairs and renewals (which, by the, way, arc generally paid for in this country, out of/loan money).;' Speaking a fey days ago to a deputation of agriculture !ists the Chief Railway,', Commissioner, i': Mr. Johnson, admitted that, his.! great need was money froni the Government for duplications and extensions. It appears that the system is by no means the best kind for giving good results., The Sydney Morning Herald says that ,tho State , is only, "half-served by lines {indifferently co-ordinated or only partly efficient in a. I rush of traffic." • And despite-this,fact— :despite, the fact'.that the'" system.is not .nearly so well fitted to produce good results as the New Zealand.system, faulty 'as our system undoubtedly-is in'sortie re-jspccts--£he management; of the Corrimis-' Isioners is so good that their difficulty, so ;far as the balance-sheet is;concerned, is •to prevent the filial annua! surplus from becoming Brobdignagian. -~The' Chief Commissioner., told .the deputation. re- | ferred to that. "he could.not,help:it;that Jwheri he arrived in' Now South .Wales, ithere was a surplus—the financial year <ended within three.months of !his.arrival! ; But he reduced it in:his first.year, and still 'further reduced it in his ; second !year.,..And he could promise.them'most heartily, that he would, go ; ,on reducing it. |He quite agreed.'that the railways, and •■ tramways of !the! State/ought not/to show, too big a profit,- but they ought 'to' show; a reasonable profit' to allow,for, contingencies, because! there were such; things as '•bad seasons and-.unexpected.,'''repairs: to. provide for!'' Rather queerly in contrast, .all this, to the position in,this country. ;The railways .there, so fai'"as!'they/go, give general satisfaction; .-The only; complainants are the farmers','? but their complaint is not against, the Commissioners, but against'the Treasury. And even they" have received coriccssions'' amounting to £370,000 ,in the The freights on grain,chaff, manure; etc., are very. low. The/result of the.year's work.ing; is- an„unanswerable .proof; of /the of independent; management over political control, , '/; /■•■;■;!/'.• .V:.;" : .',,.',. .'■

~lt was. a>- very- pleasant .picture! that Sir RonEßt STOUT.painted ,when ;'he dis- 1 Icoursed; at -the iNow.. Zealand dinner, of the future of tKis'cpuntr^.; Wu are to. be more idealistic, 'it'' !appears,, than:,' the Englishman/' The! future New Zealahder 1 will hitchhis 'wa'gori ; 'to a 'starjho will .not be content with-past or present,,but ."have his oyes/to the'future; looking to /build up the best, world,the race',' has;over rseen.f'/"High' ideals'"have!lectori '"the legislators of the-past." •Iri thirty, years, .Sir Robert,concluded;';it, would! be seen. J what the New'-'Zeillander lia'd become.. The occasion, of courser constrained otir Chief Justice:.to judged as-.a work of,art,,his; speech, was"' cortairily a very successful' one.;' Nor "do. we intend to'judge tho. speech by' any other standard-r-to do so would be 'as ab'surd and unfair-.as to .ask-the,'poet,to make love along the lines of-his -passionate But the'speech is worth-the'atten-tion of New'Zealanders as a picture of. 'what/the nation might be, but Virhat,',it most-certainly'-is'nbt and' most, certainly! will not be-unless some radical changes, take place in the*Now'Zealande'r's way of thought: and way; of life.'- Just'as you 'may dam a stream until ypji have-a mag-: 'nificent lake without /making the',--water" rise above its source,! so;; you cannot 1 by any -means, make the, moral' and; intelleb-' tual qualities of thejnatipn rise above the moral arid -intellectual level of the component individuals.'The teridency v in this country has been' to weaken the fibre of! tho-peoplej whatever effect' it may,have had upon their". imaginations. New Zealand, may indeed become a nation-of idealists and poets/ We ;r would much, rather see it become a nation of earnest and industrious'men and women, j

Who said it? It is surprising: how many, different answer's are, often'/; given when this question is put regarding .the origin/of some historic flash-of /\yit or brilliant repartee.,"' It is' just! possible that some of these_sayirigs i may:'ha\'e originated by happy, inspiration in. two separate and unconnected quarters, but it is more probable that some hearer: has fastoned upon, a borrowed, use believing it to be the original utterance, and in this way two.or more traditions, grow up. The:variations of the words or. circumstances 1 which often occur, in the ■ different traditions are also most interesting; Take, for .instance, the plevef "hit," "We! arenone of us infallible—not even the young'est of.flS)-' attributed - by Sir. Charles LucAgithe other day, to Dr. Thompson, the late. Master of Trinity (Cambridge), and which evoked a suggestion ' in. The Dominion the;next day that.the famous Dr.-Jowett, Master of.Balliol (Oxford) was the real author. A Cambridge man living in Wellington,' .however, declares that Dr. Jowett has, no claim whatever' to'this honour.which some would thrust 'upon him. He asserts that Sir, Charles Lucas was quite.right, and states that he remembers quite ~well,:tho circumstances' which evoked the caustic remark/-A very clever and (self-assertive,' young man,' Vbrrall name, had/! just, made, a, strongly' opinionative speech, and'.. this' drew forth the.very quiet, but none the less cutting, words from Dr. > Thompson, "We are' none of us infallible—not even the youngest of us."- This same "hit" is referred to by Mb. G. W. E. Russell in his arid Recolleetioris,." arid he also attributes it to 'Dr. Thompson, but he, states that, the/victim ;.w,as;! the. Right : Hon.. G: W. Balfour, who was then a junior Fellbw of Trinity.. . 'Dr. Thompson was noted for his biting sarcasm, and it was_ once said of'him: "He casteth forth his'ice like morsels.' Wh6 ; is' able to abide his frost 1" Another fofihis victims,was.Sin John Seeley, . Chafes. Kingsley's appointment as Professor of History at Cambridge was much criticised in University circles, for though he Was a fine man, an attractive writer,.and a great social reformer, he' : was/-, r not'!'.'a treat-historian. Kinosley was succeeded y.Seeley, arid he, too, was'not,in' t-lic very front rank of historical" scholars.' After Seeley's inaugural lecture Dn. Thompson's only remark was:. "Well, well. I : did riot think wc could, so soon, have had occasion to regret.poor.'KlNoSley."..hMr.; Russell says it requires, an ■ cye-wltnefes of :thc scene to do justice to the exordium to.'DR. Thompson, s. sermon on, the parable of the' Talents, addressed iu' 'i , xini±y':Chatol : ' to,.wliaf it-1

self,,and.not without justice, the cleverest congregation in the world. "It would bo obviously superfluous," ho said,; "in a 'congregation such as that which I.now utldrcss to cxpfi.tiate on the responsibilities of those who have five, or even two, talents, I shall therefore 'confine my observations to' the more ordinary case of those of us who have one talent." An insight into the history of "famous-say-ings is perhaps supplied by the ing anecdote.:—An unknown humorist, so the story goes, started the rumour that Sydney Smith, that wittiest of Churchmen, on being nske'd by a celebrated painter to sit for his portrait, replied: "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" When on a subsequent occasion Sydney Smith and .'the painter ,'met they agreed that the story wa3 so,good that it ought to be true. And they adopted it.' : ; ■ Commenting on a report by' a medical committee 1 on. the evils of .the cigarette habit, so we. are inforineu to-day, the Premier of Victoria has expressed the opinion that "cigarette-smoking, is so harmful that it ought to be prohibited, like opium-smoking. \AVc feel almost inclined to endorse that view, drastic and oxfcreino as it may be. Most, men who smoke cigarettes will admit quite frankly, that they ought not to do so, that the habit is a bad one, and that they will endeavour to prevent their sons from smok,ing anything but the pipe. There was a :day, we believe; when, the boy ' who wished to ; smoke sub rosa. had no choico in the matter. -He had to a pipe. j And those boys grew upas pipe-smokefs. : No widespread.harm really results;frqm, , cigarette-smoking before the age." of . i: is, . beyond the cultivation of the. habit;,.tho harm is donc'in'thc late,.''teens.andthe, .early twenties. If the cigarette is doing damage to,the manhood of the nation, the harm, will not be .stopped'By restrain-, ing tho'children. What is really required' is some way of securing that the youth of 'seventeen'shall.smoke a.'pin'o if he'srookes ,at ajl. There are'possibilities in a revision of the tobacco duties in the direction of making cigarettes of all kinds very expensive, and, good pipe /tobacco: a'iittlo cheaper than it is at 'present.. > It'"is;.a ; question that DrT \Findlay might [ give (Some attention,.to. /.'. ..'