CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 52, 10 June 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

WANTED—PERMANENCE. | The reason why every person 171 Nowl Plymouth should attend the Winter I Show, whether the weather is good or bad. is that the future success 01 the; enterprise largely depends on its success for this year. Patronage is everything to the show, for if the splendid exhibits are not seen by a large number of people, exhibitors will cool off, and will send their goods elsewhere. It is hardly sufficient that the enthusiasts who promoted the show should put in a great deal of strenuous work and much of their time in getting together a creditable exhibition. The need of individual and collective effort and general patronage is so obvious that the point need not be elaborated. Townspeople can do as much in their branch, as country people can, to make the show an annual fixture, and they would help a great deal by attending and showing the interest in the industries by which they indirectly live, for, of course, every townsmen will admit without • question tliat New Plymouth , would be unnecessary but for the man outside it, who feeds its merchants, its shopkeepers and its port. It is not at all certain that Taranaki people who did not exhibit products of the soil or their handiwork, have not specimens at home equally commendauie to those shown, and, indeed, remarks were overheard that indicate clearly flkat people who did not. exhibit could have beaten the people who did. The fostering of a spirit of emulation is the whole reason of the show. If one tarmeT believes he can beat the other, it is natural for him to try to do so, and if he does not do so he is not helping Taranaki as much as he might. We sincerely believe that the non-exhibitors who think they can beat the exhibitors, will, if the opportunity occurs, demonstrate their ability nevt year, and in the meantime, during the remainder of the exhibition, it is hoped that every person who is able will show an interest in a demonstration that means much for the improvement of everything the land in Taranaki grows and the many industries in which the people are employed.

ITOMAN THE POSTCR/IPT. Sir George Reid is filling a larger space in the view of the British public than any other colonial representative, probaßly because he is so original. No one can conceive the quaintness of the famous lawyer unless he has seen and heard kirn, and possibly when he recently mentioned that women had too long been regarded as "postscripts to men" the fongress of Women to whom he was talking laughed greatly. It is no laughing matter. Although Sir George Reid inferred that from the time of Queen Elizabeth down to the time of Queen Victoria (both of whom were leaders), there have been no women leaders, it would be easy to prove that nearly all the women have been leaders. In evenphase of life, men who are worth their salt are chivalrous enough to admit that they are led by some woman. The natural complement—but not the postscript—to a man is a woman, and he is not at the top of his form unless he hears, understands, and is led by tile "still small voice" of the home. The man who does not admit the influence and the lead of women is lacking. One has only to say a word or two about "mother" to bring him up all standing. Sir George Reid's example of a woman ruler was unfortunate. The only noint worth considering about Queen ElizaIwth is that she had no real feminine characteristics, and was predominantly masculine. Woman's rule is not to be in the forum, on the house-top. or anywhere else but in the home. If by her gentleness she dominates the kitchen and the front parlor, she also dominates, without knowing it, the legislative halls, and any other place where men gather to tell how much they know. Women in the bulk will never worry about what wild masculine feminines call "rights" and "franchise," and the "suffrage." Never mind about Joan of Arc ami Queen Boadicea Elizabeth or the other great women who ought to have been men and who 'were in reality freaks of nature. The women who count and who really lead, are the women whose feminity is definite and who know their power without shouting about it. These, women do not care whether the world calls them "postscripts" or addresses. They quietly rule all mankind.