Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8912, 4 September 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4, 1907. EDITORIAL NOTES

IN the course of an address to the graduating class at» Staten Island Academy (U.S.A.), some useful advice was' given by the speaker, who said:—“Some persons devote much time to passing opinions, stating what they think. It does not make much difference what you think about things; it is what you do about them. There is even

danger in thinking too much unless thought is intuitively coupled with i action. Your thought may some- : times wander harmlessly, but your acts need ho rigid all the time. If you cau now begin with the elementary education you have received in a good academy, or even the more, extended but still elementary education which some of you will receive in college, you can proceed to make your personality effective in doing those things which your natural tendencies lead you best to do. Aou will then, in the course of perhaps twenty or more years, fairly educated as measured by the standard of human performance related to the average span of life. Humanity is composed of all kinds of people, possessing widely different temperaments, tastes, and abilities. It is well that they arc not all alike. Any one will achieve the greatest effectiveness through the opportunities and training which develop native powers. Any other training is likely to stunt thejnatural growth. Variation in progressive development should bo in the direction in which one tends to vary. This assists in the survival of the fittest, the survival of the unlike, the survival of the effective. Manifestly, there must be as many kinds of education as there are typos of people, and fortunately the number is not so groat but that they can he readily supplied, at least within our higher institutions. So long as education was confined to one chnancl, those whom the channel precisely fitted wore somewhat benefited; those whom the channel somewhat fitted wore somewhat benefited; those to whom the channel was a misfit were injured, because, during the formative period, of their devcloment, tiioir native power to vary was resisted, their minds forced away from their natural trend, and energies which could have been potent for good in certain directions wore dwarfed by the compulsory exertion of uninteresting, unproductive effort. This results in a kind of mediocrity which is stagnation. Vou can’t make anything good of a man except to make him hotter in jjiat which he is. You can’t unmake i him and make him over again.”

THE recent advices relative to the prosnects of the markets for our staple products should put heart into the' farming community. The other day we were advised that the wool market would give excellent returns this season, and yesterday advice came that the prospects are that the market for dairy produce will he very good. This news will help the farmer to believe that there is a silver lining oven to the cloud with which the labour sky fyis been overcast. The people also may rejoice if our produce finds profitable market, because this means more employment for workers, more money, and greater trade. To a large extent the benefit which should be obtainable from increased values for our produce is discounted by the artificially increased prices of supplies of what we receive in return, and by an extravagant system of administration, but the higher values will at least bo some compensation.

SOME of our contemporaries have boon discussing the reason why there is such a dearth of boy sailors, and why the youth of the present day rather shrinks from a seafaring life. The Wairarapa Times considers that this is in the first place due to the fact that “there is now little romance about sea-life,, and romance was a stimulating factor in youthful life. Tho uneex-tamtios, as well as the risks, of seafaring have been minimised. Tho legends ol: the Csrribeau, of wonderful cruises where one might bo ‘ the first that ever burst’ into some ‘silent sea, ’ of cautious and wondering entrances into unknown harbours, of strange savages, of luxurious mouths on tropical islands, of rest under the shade of palm trees, of tho pride of the seaman in iiis ‘ whito-winged bird’ audjhis achievements,with her, against hurricanes and mountain waves—of all these there is now but a faint reminiscent murmur. There are no more worlds for a Oook or a Raleigh to discover ; modern charts have driven heaving the lead almost out of the sphere of sea duty; steam and machinery have reduced voyaging to a matter of exact calculation. And, besides the transition of sentiment thus caused, modern develop-; 'ment has opened up so many industrial avenues to youth, the desire for wealth has become so consuming, and perhaps the growth of tho calculating faculty (and its corollary tho gambling spirit) has so changed the disposition and ideals of youth, that tho sea attractions no longer. And if the growth of the foreign element in our marine is abnormal, it will not be The people of every nation, as they come into industrial lino, and as settlement all over tho world becomes more extensive, will ex-. perioncc tho same shrinkage of their, maritime spirit. What has happened to Britain will assuredly happen to; her rivals in -their turn. The sea was the field of the adventurer, oftho seeker after tho unknown, and ; this is au ago of calculation rather than impulse; besides the veil of mystery has been rent in twain, and the sea is now interesting only as affording beaten trade routes, and despite tho groat farm amen to of today it is as sure as fate that the; civilised Powers are all heartily desirous of -maintaining peaceful commercial relations. the interdependence of nations is more .clearly seen than ever before. Thus the activity ot other forces in international development makes the question somewhat less serious than appears at first. Provided that for t!io present our naval strength is maintained, we have little fear that British interests will suffer ■materially from tho competition of. foreign seamen in our mercantile marine. ”