The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 11, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 953, 11 February 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 11, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Mayor and Cr Gibbs have been appointed to represent the Foxton Borough Council at the important conference, convened by the Mauawatu County Council to be held at Marton on Tuesday next for the purpose of deciding what further action shall be taken in regard to the proposed extension of the Foxton-Sanson tramway to either Greatford or Marton. Local bodies are invited to be present at the conference from Levin to Ohakuue. The governing bodies, representative of this vast area, have already approved of the extension suggested and last year petitioned the Government to render assistance to this end or empower the local authority to make the extension. The Parliamentary Committee, it will remembered, also recommended the petition, from the bodies above referred to to the favourable consideration of Parliament. Owing, however, to the stubborn opposition of the Hon. Mr Millar, Minister tor jßailways —during which he uttered the notorious threat to make Foxton “go bung,” the envious and oneeyed criticism of Wanganui’s member, and the dog-in-the-manger attitude of Mr Poole, the matter was “talked out.” But those who have the extension in hand are determined not to be bulldozed by :he threats of the Minister, or the foolish arguments urged in other directions against this important connection, and the conference will discuss details for further action. Foxton’s representatives need no reminder from us that the extension of the tramway is of vital importance to the town and port.

The intrepid “little brown men” are determined not to be left behind their western brethren in an attempt to discover the South Pole and, if possible, plant the banner of the Flaming Sun in that cold and lonesome land. One cannot but admire the enterprise of this pushful nation. It is this spirit of enterprise and expansion ou the part of Japan that is causing a certain amount of unrest in Australasia. But this is beside the point. A Japanese

expedition to the South Pole set out from Tokio on 29th November last in a barquentine called the Kwai-uan-maru (“boat to open the South’’) and called in at Wellington for provisions and coal last Wednesday. Tbe expedition consists of 27 men all told. These include Mr I'akeda Tcrutaro, formerly a teacher in the Fifth Higher School, who will interest himself in a meteorological survey of the land traversed and its natural products, and Mr Kurino Telsuzo, an instructor in the commercial department of the Waseda University, who will take photographic records of astronomical pheuomina in the lone white land. The expedition is not so scientifically equipped as Captain Scott’s. The final dash for the pole is to be made with the aid of a dozen Esquimaux dogs. When the dogs give out, the men will rely on their own stamina and pluck to “get there.” They will make their big effort to reach the Pole in the middle of September. Speaking at the departure of the expedition, Count Okuma, president of the society backing the undertaking, said that the heroic enterprise of Lieutenant Shirase was a more sublime and greater undertaking in the interests of science than the action of a brave man who stood up with a sword in his hand. Such a heroic enterprise was unprecedented in the annals of Japan, and it would infinitely elevate the spirit of the Japanese people and influence them in a favourable direction. Lieutenant Shirase’s action was not an empty bombastic example of grandiloquence, but was the firing of the shell itself. This shot would awake the indolent nation from its slumber, and inspire it with alertness and vigour. The profound faith of the Lieutenant would not fail to crown him with success in the exploration. He (the speaker), in common with the people assembled, would bid good-bye to the heroic Lieutenant and his party, and hoped to welcome the party at the head of Shiuagavva Bay on their triumphant return. Lieutenant Shirase and Captain Nomura, master of the Kwai-uau-maru, thanked the Japanese people for the support given them, and assured those present that they would not fail to accomplish their object It would appear that Captain Scott is not going to have it all his own way down south.

An important speech, touching the educational question, was made by the Hon. Geo. Fowlds, Minister for Education, at Auckland this week. The Minister, after referring to the progress of education under the national free, secular, and compulsory system, said he had always avoided anything in the nature of political partisanship in the administration of his Department. Many political opponents had publicly testified to this fact. It was true there had been agitations in favour of introducing Bible lessons, but at election times the great mass of people had been unmistakably in favour of maintaining the existing system, which has served the country so well. The present Government stands by the present system. Personally he stood unequivocably for the maintenance of the existing system. Rather than be a party to any fundamental change he would prefer being excluded altogether from the public life of the Dominion. The will of the people must prevail. The democracy of this country would look critically at any proposal tending to take us back to the dangerous and unsatisfactory by-paths of deuomiuatioualism, from which we escaped after much tribulation iu 1877.