TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

After iloquentQy opening a piece of railway the other day The Philosophy the Hon. J. Carroll of "All Eight." had a comparatively restful time. He .needed the spell, for was he not preparing to solve a problem with which the millennium-mongers at Christchurdi are merely playing? On Wednesday the Acting-Premier was ready for his work. It was at a banquet, of course; the Carroll flower of oratory blooms better at feasts, pakeha and Maori, than ou the hard floor of the House of Representatives or the platform, though it is conoeded that these places have seen him in full blossom. Somebody said ■bhat Capital and Labour were at grips, struggling for supremacy. This gave the geniat Minister his cue. "The Government," he remarked, "had tried to solve the Laboui problem by legislation, but tile employers were on one side and the employees on the other, and ■neither were'sstisfied. He believed they Avould yet find imbued in all sections of the public a true sense of fair play. When they arrived at that understanding the problem was solved." After shedding this light it should be only fair to allow the Carroll sun to dip behind the soft clouds of ease for a space. It would not be reasonable to expect .the Acting-Premier to do any more in the Labour-Capital sphere till his chief returns. It would be absurd to expect him to go into details. The sun of the heavens gives light, and leaves the scientists to analyse tho beams. Si> with Mr. Carroll. He has given a broad generalisation; he has pointed to what the Government has done ; human nature can do the rest. "Wait a bit," advises the philosophic Taihoan in effect, "and all will be well. Fret not, and funw not. Don't worry.. The eternal laws of the universe are working for you. Sit back and wait for the great good." What is the next noble purpose for Mr. Carroll after his next rest?

Mr. Le Soeuf, of Sydney, must havo convinced WellingA "Zoo" Policy ton that he is well in Prospect. versed in the lore of animals. He has been their observant friend as far back as he can remember, and he has travelled far to note the best methods of holding them in comfortable captivity /or the enlargement of man's education. Perusing the expert's preliminary stateaianU, aa^ flkrewd reader's principal im.

pression is that the beet function of a Zoological Garden is not the collection of a large number of animals and birde. Quality, not quantity, is the note struck by Mr. Le Soeuf. His remarks amount to a. declaration that a "Zoo" should have no more inmates than it can eensibly accommodate, both from the view point of the prisoners and those who find the money. The great object should be woll-selected creatures, with the proper spjtce and setting to enable them to retain their natural individuality. This is the kind of policy which The Post has long advocated. The growth up to the present has been rather haphazard. A strong appetite has developed for variety of animals, irrespective of suitable accommodation. Wellington will not be able to afford a large "Zoo" elaborately equipped and stocked. The upkeep, at present, requires £1000 a year, against which the council sets returns from car traffic which the "Zoo" promotes. The "Zoo" is distinctly a city asset; it must not become a city burden. The idea.! should be not a miscellaneous menagerie of many things, in all styles and sizes, but a comparatively modest family intelligently domiciled and well kept.