CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 383, 7 May 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

I TIIE KING, j The King is ill and the nation is anxious. The gravity of the ease is clearly indicated in the cablegrams we ' publish. At a moment like the present, , when the Sovereign's prerogative is questioned in the Commons, when Commoners rise in their seats and attack the Crown, the illness of His Majesty is of graver moment than it would be : under ordinary conditions. When it is j considered that King Edward, bv the 1 accident of his birth, is the greatest lii-.ui on earth so far as .position is concerned, he who remembers, whether ! Royalist or Socialist, Radical or Tory, must recognise the enormous res.pon.si- , 'bility of his position and the wide in- | fluence he may wield for good or evil. I Not only because of his kingship is our | Sovereign eminent. Me is in" reality the Royal democrat. His tact is a matter of international ipride. his methods peaceable, his influence unbounded. . There is 110 monarch who is so welcome | and so safe 011 foreign soil as King Ed- | ward. He is as beloved 011 the Conti- ■ nent as he is in England, lie is 1111I afraid, and in all his unprotected wan- ] derings only once has a hand —ami that of a maniac—ever been raised against ! him. llis diplomacy is of the heart, and 1 has cured international feuds, cemented international friends hips, and charmed j republics. He is personally great, bc- | sides being the greatest monarch on earth. He in himself typifies us—--1 Britain, the colonies, the Empire. The Empire cherishes monarchy, not altogether because monarchy has become a, habit, but because, Edward is Kincr. j When we honor the first of all toasts we honor the Empire. When we honor the Empire we honor its head. King ' Edward since his accession to the 1 throne lias given faultless service to his own people, anil <?reit service to th« .j'.h'y lair'-. lie hV~

averted war. he has used his Royal prerogative in the interests of peace, he has been responsible for many great acts of statesmanship and diplomacy. The nations have called him "Edward the Peacemaker," and he has earned the title. And at the moment when he is gravely ill the Empire will anxiously ■await any news that he is recovering, and will with more than usual warmth breathe the commonest of all Eng'i-h prayers, "God Save the King.''

THE POOR MTXERS. No miner was ever,paid a sufficient wa;;e for the risk he runs, and no miners e\\ r yet worked in absolute safety. Americi. which always does things on a mfe scale, manages to have more fatal mining accidents than any other countr _.\ Our cablegrams tell the bald story of the death of 185 men in an Alabama coal mine. We must have coal to bum. and so men must die. The horror of a miner's death is beyond the understanding of people who burn coal and give no thought of the place from whence it comes. Sometimes a huge, corporation, living on the sweat of the miners, arise* in its wrath to say that miners are overpaid. One, hundred and eighty-five •have just been paid off in Alabama. The frequency of mining disasters, the unhealthiness of the life, the extraordinary conditions that compel a man to work out of his natural environment, would, one might suppose, •prevent men from undertaking the work. But, curiously enough, as many 'people can •'.!«' found to undertake deadly trades awholesome occupations. New Zealair! •has hundreds of men suffering with miner's complaint. But in the matter of accidents the miner is not ahwiv* blameless, and where explosions occur they are sometimes brought about hv the use of naked lights. Men who are in the presence of danger treat it with contempt. That is why miners "thaw" dynamite over the hut fire, or bite a dynamite detonator round a fuse, or tamp a shot with an iron bar—or any one of the dangerous habits common to the craft. There is one point that stands out. The miner, above all men, has the best opportunity of becoming a ■hero, and there is no class of worker who takes the opportunity oftoner or achieves better results. The heroism of Hughes, who rescued Varichetti in an Australian mine, is fresh in the mind: the, heroism of a mine boy who crawled head foremost down an English mine and in the daric saved a man (who was jambed in the tinrbers) by chopping tim■ber for five hours, is an inspiration. There were heroes at B-runner, too. The history of mining is strewn thick with instances of splendid couraze. Perhaps only a hero would tackle work in the bowels of the earth, especially if the masters —who remain on top —care more for dividends than lives. In America the Dollar is first and Man a bad second. The Otira tunnel accident is a reminder that in Xew Zealand we have all the materials for very extensive catastrophes, and it is the duty of all corporations of ' employers to protect their men, whatever the monetary sacrifteo entailed.