CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 40, 27 May 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

" UNEASY LIES THE HEAD." Anarchy demands the death of all rulers. People'make kings, so, logically, the anarchist should direct his bomb at the people. The king cannot help being a 'kims. Alfonso of Spain would probably like to be a carpenter or a bank manager. but he is not allowed to be. lie must be a king because he was born to be one. For no fault of his own he is selected as a victim 'by madmen whose chief business is to throw bombs. King Alfonso manages to cheer up wonderfully, and the ruffian who threw 7 a bomb at the wedding party—which seems to have taken place so recently—did not prevent this young Spaniard from going to shooting parties, ruling his country, and being" very "proud of his son and heir, It is really wonderful that kings in some 'States don't hide in an underground bomb-proof shelter, and give up being ordinary cheerful persons with human appetites. In distinct contrast to the perils which surround some monarch* —notably the Russian Emperor—the modern history of Britain is happily almost'free from such incident. Many monarchs invite crime by the extraordinary precautions taken to ensure their safety. British royalties are evidently not in such danger, and walk the earth ia,s if boiribs and anarchists did not exist. T.hc idea of the Emperor Nicholas riding in a street car is fearful in its suggestiveness. On the whole, the pleasure that kings and princes are able to extract out of their lives is well earned. A king of Russia or Spain needs to have a Mark Taplev disposition to be able to indulge in golf between the showers ol bombs. We would rather be the caddy.

THE WIDOW. Queen Alexandra is at the present moment the most pathetic figure in Europe, for she has lost her King and her crown. She is the widowed mother of the King. That is all. and reigns no longer except in the affections of her son's subjects. The sweetness of the Danish Princess has been the pride not only of t'he Empire, but of the nations, and it was evidently thought in some circles that now her great sorrow has come and England is not her England any longer without her King, that she would hide her sorrow in her own country. For foVty-seven years t'he Danish Princess has been beloved of England and the English 'people; she had ;ed Englishwomen, her ideals have been. English, and her home Britain. So that when she personally denies the rumor that she will return to the honi" of her childhood, and declares she will not sever the tics of- affection that bind ■her to the British people, the British people will rejoice in her decision. England. pathetically enough, has been the sanctuary of many dowager queens and of unfortunate emperors and princes, the alLprotecting folds of the Union .lack giving them .peace and safety. England is the true home of Queen Alexandra, for the forty million people there are her friends. Although Queen Alexandra lays down her crown, her great influence for good remains as a precious possession to the English people, as long as she lives. Viewed merely from a diplomatic standpoint the withdrawal of Queen Alexandra would have been a serious step, for the devotion of a great nation to one of its finest women -is not to be lightly treated. Npt onlv because of this but because Queen; Alexandra is still the queen of English heart, '"she will ever regard England as her home."

LOOK OUT FOR THE ENGINE! This is an old story. An American ma>i travelled from London to Edinburgh in the Scotch express. The train gets up a speed of something like 70 miles on one section. The American was ill at ease. Said the Englishman to him :"You seem nervous, sir. Is the speed too great?"' "No, sir; I guess not," replied the man from Chicago, "but I'm mighty feared the train will run off your blamed island!" If he had been travelling in New Zealand he would have 'had no cause to be afraid. ]3y the way, England taught America, the way to run trams, and. incidentally, taught all other nations. New Zealand has never been known to admit that England' can teach her anything. We published a cable the other day saving that an American train had run 224 miles in 3 hours 44 minutes. This is faster than the Main Trunk express. New /.ealand is concentrating on railways of late. It has an epidemic of | railway fever, but in the matter of pushing trains ahead faster it is in the same place that, it was twenty years ago. Tt niav lie that the State recognises the value of the lives of the people and that anything over twenty miles is dangerous. There are fewer accidents on the great railways with fast expresses than on the small slow railways. Another old story. One of the numerous stops on a short section of New Zealand railway. Place, a red-clav bank, tussocks in the distance. Smith to Jones: "Let's get out and pick flowers." .Tones to Smith: "T can't see any llowers." R. to J.: "But T've got some seeds." Somclwdv will reply with heat that we have only narrow .guage lines, that many are not duplicated, and so on, but, the facts seem to be that while there is no disposition to economise on great stations for centres. there is a decided disposition to economise on fuel. We boast about our locallv-made engines, and on the showing of men who know they have no superior. But they don't break any records when they are on the move. ■ Bicyclists should be warned not to attempt racing with New Zealand express trains. The indig-1 nitv of the position when a mere bicycle j beats a compound Baldwin is heart-1 rending! i