CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 254, 6 March 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

"SOCIAL RESORTS."

The sudden decision of the brewers of New Zealand to make hotels "social resorts" would cause a smile to travel from the. North Cape to the Bluff. But Lord Lamington, in the House of Lords, lias introduced a Bill to enable publichouses to become homes of mirth, music and social joys, apart from places where one is welcome as long as one stands with one's waistcoat pressed to the bar imbibing drink. ' The average publichouse in all British countries, as far as the "public" part of it is concerned, is the acme of discomfort. There is never any doubt that the most important part of it is the bar, and no modern architect would be doing his duty if he did not plan for the serving of as many drinks to as many persons as possible in the shortest time. To suggest to a New Zealand brewer that he should wipe out the bar and allow his customers to sit in a comfortable room, whtere they might discuss drinks, food, politics 1 or football would be so very like hitting him in the pocket that lie would probably wail with pain. Only in British countries is alcohol consumed n a furtive and uncomfortable manner. The idea of a continental person entering a public-house merely to pour so many cents'hvorth of something down his throat and to then disappear is unthinkable. The continental person is not ashamed of drinking his wine or his beer, and he therefore does not huddle into a saloon standing wretchedly against a hard counter. He will even sit in a chair on the pavements sipping his wine, and he does not have to "breast the bar." He is there to be attended to, and not solely for the benefit of the pocket of the "house." The Britisher who gloomily invades a bar and polishes the counter with his elbows would probably feel that it was glaringly incorrect and an unpayable advertisement to sit in 'a "beer garden" listening to a band and talking to his family. The Britisher seems to even acknowledge that drinking in the usual hapless style is rather a shameful proceeding, for he does not take his wife and children into a hotel so that they, too, may have the exquisite pleasure of looking through a draughty hole ,in the wall and lolling against some woodwork. If a few leading citizens of any British town who had been in the habit of gazing dolefully over .a bar suddenly developed a habit of taking their womenfolk and children in the "public" par,t of hotels, there would be wholesale exclamations of horror. As far as New Zealand is concerned, there is no chance that brewers will lacerate their banking accounts by making concert chambers of their bars or in providing comforts for the great army of men who, year after year, without protest, patiently accept the conditions that poor Lord Lamington desires to abolish.

A CHAMBER.OF COMMERCE. It was remarked by Mr. Griffiths at the first dinner of the Taranaki'Chamber of Commerce that the body had left a "rut" in holding such a festival. It is refreshing 'that a corporation of representative men should temporarily digress from their collective solemnity to discuss openly topics of moment to citizens. A Chamber of Commerce has a remarkable •pportunity for influencing public opinion, particularly if the members of such a chamber are really commercial men banded together, not wholly in the interest of members, but in the interest of citizens. At the annual dinners of other Chambers of Commerce notable utterances are coniijion, and in many cases recommendati.fins * coming from practical commercial men have foroed recognition from Ministers of the Crown, who are necessarily' guided in their actions by expert suggestion.' It is peculiarly British that a citizen of the Empire oozes ideas when he has dined well. This is perhaps the .only excuse for carefully devised banquets and solemn "feeds" generally. A Chamber of Commerce in ideal is a corporation of which only commercial men can he members, and not, as may be the case, even in Taranaki, a body that provides an opportunity for' professional men to debate abstruse subjects. In this matter the Taranaki Chamber has happily got out of another rut in that its deliberations are not confihed solely to debates having no. commercial significance and serving ho public end. The Taranaki Chamber' of Commerce has it in its power to make effective recommendations on any public work devised to further commercial matters. It is. for instance, within the scope of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce to again gently and firmly insist that the train'service-to the chief town of Taranaki be improved, especially in point of punctuality. It might further be suggested by gentlemen who know the value of aii adequate telephone service that a service be instituted available during the night, the necessity of which is made obvious daily. There is frequently urgent need for such a service after midnight, and it is hoped that the awakened Chamber may mention the matter long before the next annual dinner.

CHINA AND SELF-GOVERNMENT. To an interviewer in Sydney last week the new High Commissioner' of the Pacific and Governor of Fiji, Sir Francis May, expressed some interesting opinions on the development of China. Having spent a considerable portion of his life in the Government service at Hong Kong, where of late years he was Cofonial 'Secretary, Sir Francis knows his subject intimately. Though the Chinese Government has promised to institute constitutional government within a few years, many of the reformers desire to hasten the change, but Sir Francis understands that a petition to 'the National Assembly at Pekin, asking it to hasten the new form of government, has not been entertained. He says that the friend?-of China would like to see the country hasten slowly, since great innovations hurriedly adopted might lead to disaster, and there is no cause for impatience on the part of the reformers, as admirable work' is being> done in a quiet way. Each province has its Provincial Assembly, an advisory body, without executive powers. These Assemblies are taking a lively interest in the work that lies before them, and Sir Francis says that their proceedings are marked by great regard for order and considerable ability on the part of the speakers. Their purpose is to prepare the way for constitutional government, by educating the people to take an intelligent interest in national questions. Chinese students from abroad are assisting in the great Work of uplifting the nation, though they 1 : are apt, according to Sir Francis, "to- make the pace slightly too progressive ,to be wise; in fact, they sometimes want to force things too much for the powers that be." A reference to the plague in Manchuria enabled Sir Francis to say a good word for the development of sanitary ideas among the Chinese. He has found them by no means difficult to handle. They undei stand that it is necessary to keen themselves And their houses clean, to open their windows and let in fresh air. The Government assists the Chinese in Hong Kong by poisoning rats, ami without coercioij, the people guard themselves against other agents of infection. Their readiness to «o-operale with the authorities in fighting disease is one of the most cheering signs of China's awakening.