NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Mr. A. W. Hogg will doubtless bo glad to hoar that his at this week's meeting of the Education Board, against the suggestion that frcc-plaoe scholars must obey tho law 011 defence, has found a supporter. But he will doubtless wish that his supporter —the Opposition organ in Christchurch—had used bettor arguments. It makes no attempt to show how it can be undesirable for tho Education Department to insist that the State's bounty to scholars must be contingent upon the beneficiaries' due performance of the duty prescribed by law: it Rspks to condemn the proposal by calling it an "unfortunate attempt to introduce military rule into our education system." We had thought that that empty rubbish was the copyright of Mr. Sbjiple and his friends. Tho Christchurch paper drags in, for what'reason we arc unable to see, a suggestion that military training should be obligatory upon Cambridge University students, and quotes the Daily News with great approval for having condemned this idea as "blackmail and treason to science." Of course, if our contemporary wants to take up the attitude of the Daily News, it is entitled to do so, but it should remember that its exemplar is the bitterest antiImperial journal in Britain, and the bitterest and most unscrupulous onomy of tho New Zealand dofenoo system. We are to

assume, 110 doubt, that the Christchurch paper is seriously thinking, for all its pretence of "a sincere aoncern for our system," of adopting the Daili/ News attitude for it concludes with what is practically a threat. "It will be useless to talk about keeping the question _of defence away from party politics," it says, "if the Education Department's rule is enforced." But wc fancy that it will find itself parting with Mn. Myers and a good many other members of the Opposition if it should venture to carry out its threat.

Wellington is notoriously slow in working up interest in parochial matters. Its citizens respond spontaneously and liberally to any deserving call on their good nature, but it is difficult to get people here, to work up enthusiasin for any public movement having in view tho bea/utifying or tho advancement of the city. Those enthusiastic and public-spirited citizens who have taken in hand the proposal to hold a carnival here at Easter have in the circumstances every, reason to be well pleased with the progress so far made. As is almost invariably the 'case, tho main burden of tho work scorns likely to fall upon the shoulders of the comparative 'few, but they have entered on their task in the right spirit, and have mapped out a programme which promises to make the occasion a memorabls one. There is time yet for tho ranks of_ the workers to bo reinforoed, and it is hoped that during the coming week there will be a substantial addition to their forces. There are some, perhaps, who have held aloof, fearing that the movement might not be proceeded with, but now that it is firmly on its feet, and with every chance of being brought to a successful-end, thero can be no justification for doubts of that nature. Apparently some of tho sports bodies have not yet interested them soiree as much as they might have done, and, seeing that tho success of tho carnival is really a. matter of greater concern to tho younger generation than to anyone else, we would suggest that they should give, the matter their early attention, and bestir themselves vigorously.

The business of deciding upon a New Zealand memorial to the late Captain Scott is not likely to prove an easy ono, if it is to bo a matter of taking tlie greatest common measuve of all tho ideas current on the subject. Bishop Julius, of Christchurch, has suggested a great cross on some eminence near Lyttelton, and this idea was submitted by the Press to,various people for criticism. One, a business man, wanted "some gigantic figure on Lyttelton "a farmer" suggested "something useful," such as a scholarship or an institution for seamen; and "two Labour men" i also approved of the scholarship idea. One .City Councillor favoured a memorial in the heart of the city,- and another advocated the erection of a statue in the beautiful Christchurch Gardens. Several others simply said that Bishop Julius's idea was- the best. "A-scientific man" put in a plea for "a little gem of statuary"—a group commemorative of the five men who died—to be placed at the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace, presumably on the lawn opposite the City Council Chambers. Our own opinion is that no plaoe is so proper for tho location of New Zealand's memorial, if it is to take (as we certainly think it ought to take) a material shape, as Christ-church or Lyttelton, the established _ base of British Antarctic expeditions. A fine stone cross, of heroic dimensions, on some well-chosen peak of the Port Hills, would be an admirable memorial, and the rest of the country will gladly approve of the suggestion that Canterbury ie the right place for the erection of New Zealand's monument.