Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9386, 4 March 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, MARCH 4,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

PEW people who have not studied the question aie aware of the magnitude of the negro problem in the United States. According to the latest statistics there are close upon ten million negroes and persons of negro blood out of a total population of eighty-nine millions in the States. Of the ten millions about four millions are of pure African blood, and the remainder have some admixture of white blood, at least two millions being quite as white as Europeans of the Mediterranean basin. Blonde hair and blue eyes, and even red hair, are very common among this whitest type of negroid. Sir Harry Johnston, who has had a long experience in Africa, remarks in a recent article in the London Times:—‘Even if the American negro is of absolutely negro stock there is a distinction between the few remaining ex-slaves of direct African origin and those born and bred in America, the difference in favonr of the last-named consisting in the greater refinement of facial features and a moro marked intellectual development in the shape of the head. I had brought over with me to the United States many photographs of'aboriginal Afxican types; and iE interested me to compare the negro of Africa with the negro born and bred in America. The improvement of the modern American negro in refinement of facial features and increased brain development appears

to me as great as the difference between some Proto Caucasian type of white man (such as the Ainu of Japan or’ the peasants of [central Russia) and the educated peoples of northern and western Europe.” This in an interesting observation and .'shows that possibly as the result of education the negro race may in course of time reach a level of civilisation comparable with that of the whitp races. At present, however, there is a very strong feeling in the States against any association between whites and anyone with the slightest tincture of black blood. Mr Washington Brooker and other educated leaders of the negro race make no attempt to fight against this feeling, but simply endeavour to train all classes of coloured people to become efficient agricultural and industrial workers. This work appears to be meeting with some measure of success. To make the negro industrious and intelligent is undoubtedly a good object, bat it may only make him conscious of the unkind fate that has placed him in a land where he is looked down on and despised. What the solution of the difficulty will finally he no one can tall, and the whole question is one of the most interesting that has ever arisen in the history of the human race.

MUCH amusement is caused when foreign newspapers trio over the titles of British statesmen and talk of Lord Gladstone or Sir Asquith, but journals in the Dominion show an even greater capacity for going wrong in the use of titles which should be perfectly familiar to them. We have no very great admiration for the present Minister of Labour, but it is really too unkind to write of him as Hon. Hogg, a very frequent error. The abreviations Hon. and Rev. cannot rightly be used directly before a surname, and should be followed by initials, or, failing those, by the I word Mr, There is, however, no need to use the title Hon. at all, 1 except in formal documents. The ignorant journalist who knows that Ministers in New Zealand have the title Hon. proceeds to appty it to every British Minister, and thus we see daily in papers, that should be well informed, such enormities as the Hon. John Burns, or the Hon. Mr Asquith This use of the title would only be allowable if Messrs Burns and Asquith were the sons of peers. If Mr is not sufficient, the Right Hon, may lawfully be used, because both the gentlemen referred to are members of the Privy Council. As a matter of fact, however, this title is rarely used, except on formal occasions. Another curious title, for which apparently the women writers of socalled society notes, are responsible, Is the use of Mrs (Dr.) to describe the wife of a medical man. ‘The title Dr. is properly only applicable to those who have obtained theM.D. degree, and no woman can share this distinction with her husband. If, however, Mrs (Dr.) is to be allowed it is only fair to give the other women an equal chance, and we should have Mrs (Rev.), Mrs (Cr,), Mrs (S.M.), Mrs (ex-Mayor), and Mrs (J.P.). It may also be noted that there is no justification for describing the wife of the Governor as Her Excellency.