NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 169, 13 April 1921, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Farmers, traders, and others who have been resentful over the attitude of the banks in the matter of advances will have their eyes opened by the figures which we publish this morning of the quarterly banking returns. The’’ increase of in the advances and discounts speaks for itself. It is an enormous figure, and proves clearly enough that with the resources at their disposal the banks hare done their utmost to assist their customers to tide over a difficult situation. Perhaps the most striking feature of the quarter’s returns is the fact that the total advances made by the banks to their customers exceed the deposits by 5J millions. At this time last year the deposits exceeded the advances by over 18J millions.

Serene and placid, a pattern of the domestic virtues, the ex-Emprees of Germany was the opposite of her impetuous husband. Some months after the Kaiser’s flight the ex-Empress left Potsdam for the Netherlands to share her husband’s exile, and Inst year she seriously over-exerted herself in connection with the removal of her household from Amcrongen to Doorn. As a very young man the Kaiser fell in love with this fairhaired princess, and the attachment of the royal couple seems to have been deep and lasting throughout their forty years of married life. "I could wish no better for the men of my nation,” once said William 11, "than that they should find among the girls of Germany wives who would follow the example of the Empress, and devote their lives, as' she has done, to the three K’s—"kirche, kinder, and kuchen” —in other words, “church, children, and cookery.” As a wife and mother to her six eons the ox-Empress was a model to the nation. She never concerned herself with politics; and pulled no strings in the Court political ecto. It was the ex-Empress Eugenie whose meddling and intrigue did most to bring about the Franco-Prussian war and the downfall of her consort, Napoleon 111. That war put the German Empire on it« feet, but for the misfortune of this other war that ended it, the ex-Kaiser has only himself to thank. In the one case an ambitious Spanish beauty pushed an Emperor to disaster. In the other a model ■housewifetended her duties placidly at home while her lord, swollen with ambition, crashed to his fate. W • • •

The municipal miik supply comes in for criticism and hard knocks from many quarters. On Monday evening it received a certificate of merit from the Plunket Society. That society is concerned with the welfare of mothers and babies, mid in its annual report it' stated that a valuable factor in the work had been the improvement in the quality of the milk in the city under the municipal scheme. As Dr. Trnby King pointed out, proper care and feeding in the first months and ■years of life is essential to building up a virile and healthy population. With an indifferent and contam.nated milksupply proper feeding becomes impossible. The municipal supply depot is giving us purer and cleaner milk than Wellington has ever had before. It has had many troubles to contend with, its organisation is far from perfect, and much remains to be done to put it on a thoroughly secure footing. As it stands, however, it is a most creditable achievement, and that thanks mainly to the energy and enthusiasm and the great amount of time given to it by Councillors Norwood and Bennett.

It has been said by libellous southerners that the Scottish people owe their remarkable qualities to the circumstance that the Scotch winters kill off all the weaklings. Sir Robert Stout was born and bued in Scotland’s farthest north —the Shetland Islands—and perhaps that is why h” possesses the sterling characteristics of the race in so marked a degree. In a few dnys time he and Lady Stout leave on a voyage to the Old Land, and they will carry with, them the good wishes of New Zealanders from end to end of the Dominion. It is fifty-seven years since Sir Robert Stout arrived in this country, and few, if any, of its citizens can look back on a fifty-seven years so crowded with honourable and distinguished service. For a while he continued his youthful occupation of school teaching, but in a few years qualified for admission to the Bar, and in 1871 began his public career as a member of the Otago Provincial Council. Before the seventies were over he was » Minister of the Crown, and although most of his colleague# of those days are now no more than names buried in tho records of the past, Sir Robert remains with us ready for as herd a day’s work in Court as any barrister in his prime—a harder, in fact, than most care for. In the eighties he was Primo Minister of New Zealand, from 1884 to the present day ho has held the office of Chancellor of the University, and for twenty-two years wo have known him as our Chief Justice. In his laborious career Sir Robert Stout has always found time to support movements for social betterment, and in this Lady. Stout has ably seconded her husliand, so much so that a deep debt is owed her by women’s organisations throughout the Dominion. We hope that on their return it will be the pleasurable duty of Thu Dominion io chronicle the activities of Sir Robert Stout and Lady Stout for many more years to

The Marie ( Tem|>e.et comedy season which closes at the Opera. House this evening has proved a source of real enjoyment to Wellington playgoers. Miss Tempest has been before the British public for many years, and all her yesterdays glow with splendid achievement, on fhn’ operatic, musical comedy, and comedy /'ages. from hor graceful and stimulate’# Dorothy' in the opera of that

name down to Mrs. Cannot in "A Great Adventure’’ and Mrs. Dot in Somerset Mpughtun’s clover comedy. For the privilege of having witnessed Miss Tempest and her able coadjutor, Mr. Graham Browne, in. a series of capital English comedies, every lover of the tflieatre will be grateful, ami the regret felt in their departure will be tempered with the hope that both will return to this country to again delight us with their consummate artistry in comedy.

Last year The Dominion suggested that it would be profitable io New Zealand and helpful to a deserving institution if inducements were offered to the managers of Barnardo s Homes to bring out children and train them up in a home hero for life in the Dominion. Illis morning a message from Sydney announces the establishment of a Barnardo branch homo there, and states that fifty boys are to be sent out immediately. This is a branch of immigration that deserves attention. Much the best immigrant is his lordship the baby born end bred on the spot, but the next best is the immigrant caught young and educated and trained in the Dominion. The Salvation Army in its farm settlement at Putaruru proposes, we believe, to bring out ohildfen, but the work is worth extending. It is a form of immigration that would result in no flooding of the labour market, as the children would go on with tlieir training until they were past school-leaving age, and then be gradually absorbed into industrial lite. At the same time we should be opening a real door of opportunity to the children. Barnardo 'boys and girls have made good all over the world, as the fine record of the homes shows; tens of thousands of them are developing the resources of Canada today, and we might equally as well have our share.