TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 86, 12 April 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr. A. S. Bias, who was a valued member of the City Council for Municipal some years, has eago adAffairs, vice in The Post to-day . for prospective councillors. Ho gives a warning that a reduction of values in Wellington in the near future will diminish the council's income from rates, and it may be added that the weekly returns for the cars show a falling revenue. Without sorting to black Pessimism, Mr. Bice stresses the need for economy. In justice to the' present council, it must be said that the past year has been one of caution. It is understood that tho financial year began with a heavy handicap, but finished with a satisfactory showing. The programme for the new year has been mapped out, and it i& stated that no alarming schemes figure on the list. The Mayor's present disposition is to have a quiet, steady twelve months, and it will be neceeeary to have him supported by a strong council prepared to think deeply and act wisely. The next twelve months will be a very important period in Wellington's municipal history. The tramway business calls for an overhauling, and it ie piain that the- Lighting Department will be in for a- efcienuous term. Townplanning, too, will demand some study. The need now is not for a large expenditure of money, but for a reasonable outlay of thoughtfulness. The council is required to expend some sense rather than funds for the present. The preliminaries will not, be costly, and at least a year will be needed for a proper confcideration .and settlement of the preliminarieA.

Miramar people have complained that they are crowded out The People's oi tho " palaces " by Cars. short - distance riders. The complaint is just, but the remedy is difficult. The Miramar cars are city cars till they reach tho city boundary, and then they pass into the jurisdiction of the Miramav Borough Council. In dealing with tho overcrowding of a Miramar car, while it is in the citj, the city authorities will probably not be biave •enough to discriminate between passengers, according to destination. For the present the Miramar people have to depend for relief on an appeal to the city folks' mercj. If the short-distanca liders think for a moment, they should be impelled to have pity on Hiramar residents crowded out of a cai' and compelled to wail thirty or forty minutes for the next one. The general subject of overcrowding has bean timidly tr.ckled by the "council from time to time, but the evil is as rampant as ever. Tho ivmpartments of "palaces" at the "rush" hours are. stuff ed till it is almost a sheer impossibility for the conductor lo collect all the tickets.

From evidence in our possession wo are satisfied that the traffic arrangements are far from perfect. With a city like Wellington the returns should be much better 'than they are to-day. This glaring fact has been repeatedly impressed on the City Council, but the old pellmell system is allowed to continue year after year. Hero-worship is not extinct, and the gift to the nation of A Great Dr. Johnson's house ia Englishman. Gough-square, reported by cable yesterday, will causo gratification wherever th© English language is spoken. Tho gift is munificent, and reflects credit on the wealthy publisher who has helped to build up the- great Harmsworth concern. The house in Gough-square, in the haarl) of the region of publishers and letter-fciundero, has long been one of the "shrines'' sought by visitors, on account of its associations, and it is a pleasant reflection that, in the future, those associations will be cherished. Happy beyend all other men in his biographer, -'the great lexicographer"' a century and a quarter after his death is one of the best-known men in the annals of his native land. No other conveys like Johnson th* impression of being a personal acquaintance and friend. There were other brilliant) names in the literary roll of tho eighteenth century, but it would not j be easy to name another that has gain- I ed such whole-hearted esteem. Pope's genius all acknowledge ; but his frigidity and bitterness repel. Goldsmith »ye all love, and echo Johnson's happilyexpressed appreciation, that he touched nothing that he did not adorn ; but the irresponsible Irishman lacked the qualities necessary to command respsct. Johnson's faults were such as were plain to ©very eye; he was dictatorial, intolerant, and nearly as thorny as the sage of Chelsea a century later, but he had the grand straightforward veracity, that respect for principle, and that' invincible fortitude in adversity which the Briton rates as first among 't-he virtues. Apart from the work which went so far to give permanent shape to Hie language, he left the world a heritage in other directions, single items of which, by themselves, might have made him famous. flis philosophical tomance "Easselas" has no rival in its line; his essays have depth and dignity ; in his "Livesiof the Poets" he shines as critic and biographer. His remains lie in the royal abbey of Westminster ; his statue stands in St. Paul's Cathedral; his personal memories linger around the old Gough-strset building, henceforth to be consecrated to his memory as a gTeat Englishman and a good man.