CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 213, 17 December 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

SHOOTING EFICLENCY. The defence system of the Dominion is at present undergoing a complete alteration. The real and only use of a defence force is for offence. The offence does not mean big words or political warfare —it merely means killing the other fellow. The method by which most men are killed in modern warfare is by the rifle. The big machine destroys the "morale" of troops, but the rifle destroys the individual. It cannot be too plainly explainedl that the only excuse for the existence of every Territorial and cadet in New Zealand is that he shall be capable of slaying, men, when the time comes for his training, real or alleged, to be put to the test. If one cares to examine the daily papers of New Zealand and to read the shooting news one will find that if any company challenges anotheT company, that company always trots out the same string of "shots." Their names occur in the papers of the Dominion with wearying reiteration, and the winning of trophies, cups, "pots," or whatever you like to call them, does not help the defence of this country by one cartridge shell. Volunteer companies (you can call them "Territorial" if you know what system is in force) exist to a large extent to cater to the useless hobby of a few men per company. New Zealand has no interest from an offence standpoint in the winning of a cup by a soldier who has been perforating bullseyes for years. It wants the soldier who cannot "hit a haystack" to learn how to puncture a moving man at an unknown distance. Many people may hold the belief that the occurrence of a string of the same names in. volunteer news year after year is evidence of sound defence. It is evidence of sheer, profound, useless expenditure, and we are among those who sincerely hope that Major-General Godley will butt into this target perforation system, by a limited percentage of his command and make it impossible for the pot-hunter to advertise the uselessness of the system which makes 50 men of a company feel their utter insignificance in the presence of ten or a dozen men on whom the limelight is for ever turned. TOYS. If one judged the originality of the Briton by his acceptance of Santa Claus as the embodiment of Christmas, one would conceive Mr. Bull to be a very dull person indeed. If we New Zealanders get out of the groove we should not represent the festive old soul with wintry whiskers and frosty pow, dressed in snow garments. We should trim his beard and clothe him in summer garb, hang bush blossoms on his brow, and a necklet of green peas round his throat. But we can't accuse Mr. Bull of originality when he begins to loan Santa's sledge up. From the unbeautiful penny Dutch doll chopped out with a pocket-knife by hungry folk in cheerless attics to the imposing "teddy hear" as big as a six-year-old child, is a long journey. The humble tiny toys that break at the child's first glad clutch are produced in myriads by equally humble, workers in Continental industrial villages. 1 John Bull is hard at work from January to November making halfpenny toys for the slums and "hundred pounders" for the millionaire's infant. Toy designing and making are vastly more important than the average person suspects, and the greatest artists and designers are not too haughty to make big salaries in preparing the foundation for children's Christmas joys. The feature of the latest toys is that they are "reallytruly." Even a Supreme Court judge would be pleased with .a barking dog, and the gravest medico would be interested in the digestive apparatus of the new artificial animals that consume food, the asses that conversationally outclass Balaam's humble friend, and the woolly "grizzlies" that walk round the nursery and growl. Although the tin train that used to make a three-yard journey and then go on strike is still with us, Mr. Bull is flooding the wealthy world with exact replicas in miniature of the Scotch express, perfect in every detail, and fit for the heaviest doll traffic. He has seen that the motor car which starts its journey at the kitchen safe and winds up its ignominious career against the table leg is not a joy for ever, and so he sells a car nowadays that is staunch and complete, even to the smell. If Mr. Bull did not aeroplane with much vigor until he saw how long the fatalities abroad kept up, he entered the aeroplane toy field with great promptness, and the atmosphere will be full of them this Yule-tide. It is rather a curious point about children that expensive and wonderful toys do not always meet with their approval. One recent picture in a humorous publication showed the millionaire's child surrounded with a monstrous collection of valuable presents. His doting family is watching his horrified expression and listening to his dismal howls: "I want me a bit of toffee," he wails. Have you ever seen a little girl leave her magnificent wax princess under a wet hedge to turn her motherly affection on a disgraceful rag doll ? Of course you have.