CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 276, 12 April 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

*■ THE "HOI POLLOL' On many occasions we have shown by the publication of the names of successful New Zealanrters that they find the best fields for their M'lents outsiders country. We have in New Zealand at t a 6 moment Dr. Malcolm McLaren, a distinguished geologist, who was years ago offered £4OO a year by the New Zealand Government, but who preferred to become geologist to the Indian Government at a salary of .£looo—with extras. Dr. McLaren has put the matter very plainly in conversation with an Auckland reported f *'l have met them (New Zealand-1 era) all CV C ; *-! ™?r! d ;Mlear" water* 0 { the Irawadi, beyond Myukyina, tiie frontier post of India, in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and nearly all occupying prominent and responsibe positions," remarked the doctor, adding, "and the question arises: Cannot New Zealand stem the loss of men who should be among the chief assets of the country? The education system of New Zealand is quite as good as that of any other country, not even omitting the much-vaunted Germany, and men trained by it naturally seek a more congenial sphere of work elsewhere. There is, it seems to me, little encouragement given to highly-educated men to remain here, either by the Government or by the country at large. The Cabinet has recently reduced the salary attached to the position of Government Geologist to £<(0O per annum, and has" thereby materially reduced the field of selection. Such a course might be expected from a 'Dopper' Government. The stagnation of the country and its indifference to intellectual progress is indicated by the subordinate position occupied in New Zealand by the professorial clement in the various towns. The effect of the attitude of 'Hoi Polloi,' here in New Zealand represented by the trades unions, towards technical men is best illustrated by a story for the facts of which I can vouch," contonued Dr. McLaren. "Some ten years ago on the Thames a small battery was worked by the School of Mines' students. The mine was small and barely paid its way. By running the battery, however, for the "full time, nine hours, during which the water was available, the revenue just met expenses. The fact that the battery ran a shift of nine hours instead of eight was communicated to the local Miners' Union, and a communication was received from the secretary of that body demanding the discontinuance of the longer shift. No attention being paid to this request, the assistance of the Inspector of Mines was invoked. A prohibitory notice was served on the students. The senior decided that a country in which a man was not permitted to work as long as he wished was not a satisfactory one in which to remain, and within two days was on his way to America. To-day he is the leading cyanide specialist in the United States, and New Zealand is the poorer for his loss."

A REMARKABLE INDIAN. The great hydro-electric power scheme, in connection with which Sir George Clarke laid the foundation-stone of extensive works at Lonauli recently, owes its inception to the prescience of the late Mr. Jamsetjee Tata. In some respects Mr. Tata was unquestionably the most remarkable Indian of his period. He had great foresight, exceptional courage, and the habit of spacious thinking, and he had amassed sufficient wealth to enable him to start huge schemes. Though progressive in politics and a silent sympathiser with the aspirations of Indians for a greater share in the control of their own affairs, he saw clearly that the salvation of his country lay largely in the development of industrial enterprises. As a pioneer of Indian industry he stood entirely alone, and so far he has had no conspicuous successor. His articles of faith were that India could not subsist almost solely upon agriculture, that the country had vast unutilised resources, that with her abundance of raw material and cheap labor India might develop great manufactures, and that Indian, brains and Indian capital, wisely associated, with Western experience, ought to do the work. For years he spent money and devoted his exceptional business capacity and his inexhaustible energy towards these ends. The boldness of liis projects staggered and sometimes frightened his contemporaries, but his wisdom is gradually receiving posthumous justification. Whenever he conceived an idea, he sought the aid of experts and did not move further until its possibilities had been investigated with minute scientific exactitude. Though most of his enterprises were primarily conceived with a financial object, they were always associated with the dominating idea of the betterment of India, which" lay ever at the back of his mind. Even his great land speculations in and around the city which remained his principal home were intended to assist the creation of n healthier and more beautiful Bombay. His mind wns essentially practical, lie asked why raw cotton should not be brought to the coast to be manufactured, and established mills in the centre of the cotton-growing districts which are to-day a pattern of good management and success. He asked why India. in a great railway-building era. should liny vast quantities of steel rails from Europe. His agents scoured the country until they found iron ore and coking coal and limestone in fairly contiguous positions, and the extensive iron and steel works now in process of creation at Kalimatti are the result. He perceived that his countrymen needed training in the application'of scientific research to modern industry, and gave nearly a quarter of a million sterling to establish an Institute of 'Science at Bangalore, He was a Parsee, and his interests centred in Bombay, but his spirit rose above

the restraints of race and creed. He belonged to the whole country, and did Jnore for its regeneration than any other Indian of modern times.