CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 220, 11 January 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A COUNTY ENGINEER. Prejudice and conservatism are hard to fight, and seemingly there is prejudice and conservatism in the ranks of the Jaranaki County Council. In the discussion at Monday's meeting on the question of engineering within the county, Cr. JlcAllum made out a complete and incontrovertible case for the employment of a permanent engineer. He showed, as has teen shown before/ that the Council paid in fees to casual engineers as large a yearly sum as would be necessary to employ an engineer solely for the work of the county; and he further emphasised the conservatism of the council by pointing out that only one of the seventy-one councils to whom he wrote asking for information depended solely (with the help of casual engineering advice) on road foremen. As was pointed out, important engineering work is contemplated within the county, and it is impolitic and unworkmanlike to depend for the stability and worth of the work on casual engineers. It i?, of course, possible that casual engineers will eive every satisfaction, but the nosition is that the employees of the Council, both foremen and others, however good they may be, need 'a permanent overseer, adviser and leader. The absurdity of a former contention that the appointment of a permanent engineer would be resented by the foremen is too patent to require further comment. It would be equally reasonable to dispense with the services of an official chairman of the council and to obtain the services any casual person happening to have some knowledge of county affaire. We do not believe that the great trouble to which Cr. McAllum went in collecting facts will be without benefit, even though in its conservatism the Council defeated his motion favoring the appointment of a permanent engineer, and hope that the little liberal yeast in the conservative loaf will yet leaven the whole. It is inevitable that ancient prejudice must disappear before the march of progress, and that Taranaki must become as modern and workmanlike in its methods as other councils. Sooner or later the engineer must be appointed. A "general" is wanted as badly in Taranaki as elsewhere, and the conservatism may vanish in tim? when county work increases sufficiently to make the employment of casual engineers even more unpayable and impolitic than at present.

••RABBITOH!" Tn a wc-Mi moment the other day we quoted an opinion that if sharks could be utilised industrially they might become fewer and bathers would be safer. Xow a cable from Sydney reminds one of an animal that has been fought with tremendous persistence for thirty yuirs and which still thrives, undeterred by any means taken for his destruction. A "rabbit-ring" has been formed in Sydney, and this shows that the supply keeps up, and that there is money in the vermin—for vermin it still is to the landowner. In Australia, during the early days of the rabbit fight, men made fortunes'trapping and poisoning bunny. Bunny ruined many men. Bunny was the reason why the rabbit-proof netting business began and nourished. There are tens of tlmusands of miles of more or less rabbitproof fencing in all the Australian States and every man in the country wages incessant war against the persistent and prolific quadruped. Probably his use as an article of food has given him a newlease of life. Possibly poisoning operations are not now so extensive. It used to be quite a common occurrence for a single station to poison a million rabbits in a month or so. Twigs dipped in a solution of sugar and strychnine were one of the favorite agencies, while many squatters liberally dosed water-boles with poison and thus reaped an odorous crop. Innumerable machines for fumigating the pest to death in his own home sprang into existence; hundreds of men did nothing else but rabbit trapping and poisoning; a poison cart for dropping doses of death-dealing pollard were as necessary as ploughs and harrows; and every little, country boy got his halfpenny or penny for a scalp, and consequently became an expert destroyer. The kangaroo is practically extinct in many parts of Australia; the destroyers have wiped out the American buffalo; the bucks, the lions and the giraffes are disappearing before the South African hunter's riflebut the tremendous war waged against the Australian 'rabbit leaves him as frisky, as prolific, and as destructive as ever. Huge rewards have been offered for an agency that will rid Australia of the pest, and even the famous Dauysz with his virus failed to kill it. So with an absolutely limitless supply the Sydney rabbit ring sees chances of making fortunes, and the squatter sees chances of an increase in the pest, for wholesale poisoning cannot be resorted to in territory where rabbits are killed for the London market. The only hope for the extermination of the rabbit is close settlement. It is impossible to closely settle Australia without forty or fifty million people, so the rabbit has still a long way to go. lie is a much more persistent animal than his British relative, for he swims rivers, kills trees and (many bushmen will tell you this without a smile) climbs them. lie is even credited with striking up domestic partnerships with cats, one of his natural enemies. The gentleman who introduced the rabbit to Australia to make it "look like England" was not looking for a monument, but the pile of curses that have been poured on his memory would form a monument that would make the tomb of Caesar's look like a piece of road metal in comparison.

MILITARY APPOINTMENTS. To anyone who has carefully followed the tread of matters military in New Zenland, it will lie obvious that the Defence Department has totally changed its tactics. Thus it is clear that the number of young officers who have been drafted into the Territorial force conditionally

on their success at the camp at Tauherini'kau have been selected for their known ability. Formerly appointments were made to the "staff" positions without examination of any kind. It is gratifying that all officers under the new scheme will have to ''show cause" or be dispensed with. The completeness of the change is shown by the fact that even an officer commanding a district may be called on to attend this examination camp and to '•show cause" equally with the volunteer captains or subalterns who are now being given a chance to qualify for permanent employment. It merely represents the substitution of military command for political intrigue. It is well known that for the positions that have been tilled (conditionally) by young volunteer officers there were a vary largo number of applicants. As might have been expected, warrant and non-commissioned officers; who have been permanently employed liv the Defence Department lor many year's were among the number. Many of 'these sergeants-major have- literally "made" the men who arc now given the'chance of permanent commissioned rank. Not a single one of the warrant or non-commis-isioned instructors has been given a chance to qualify at the camp for a district adjutancy or for any other commissioned post. There may be very good reasons for retaining these sergeantsmajor in their old positions, but the reasons cannot include the one that they are unfitted to take commissions. Instances there are in New Zealand where a ser-geant-major instructor is in possession of a commission, but even in such a case he is not given the chance of getting a step higher. Seeing that the final selection will be made only after all hands have proved ability, it would have been reasonable enough to give the very able men referred to a chance of qualifying.