CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 7, 3 July 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

WIIY WE I'ROGKKSS. j The Auckland Magistrate (Mr. 0. Kettle) is a plain-spoken gentleman,' whose court utterances are frequently most useful. The other (lav u smart woman appeared before liim in a separation case, and the Magistrate, apparently guided hy the circumstances before liiro, said: "There was a time when wives would go into the country with their husbands, and brave the hardships of the haekhlocks; but now, I. am sorry to say, many of tlicm prefer to live in the towns and enjoy themselves in gaiety and pleasure. Thank (iod, however, there are still some women who are not afraid to endure hardships, and that is why this country is progressing." llalf-a-dozen sermons might he preached on that text, and a dozen conclusions arrived at. ( The supposition is, of course, that some remarkable way woman is changing. As a matter of fact.' she isn't, except for the 'better. Tlit'le are good and indifferent women in the same proportion as there are good and bad men. The women ''who prefer to live in towns and enjoy gaiety and pleasure" are well placed in the said towns. To transplant them to a position in which they would he useless by inclination and instinct wouldn't cure them. Unfortunately many people judge that the race is "going to the dogs" because a proportion elect to travel to the "demnition bowwows" (as Mr. Mantul'mi said). The proportion of "good" people—that is, normal battlers —does not vary much from generation to generation. The failures appear to be more numerous because more publicity is given to their failings. Of the great army of women who are just as orave, just as true, and just as motherly as ever we hear very little. We admire normality. If we are asked to admire the struggling back- I blocks woman we do so. but in the majority of Cases the struggle is her happiness, just as the floral hat and the .hobble skirt and the "smart function" is the happiness of some of the women' about whom Mr. Kettle boiled over. Most of us are still normal enough to know that town delights cannot super-' cede natural affection. We know that the gently nurtured woman who has lived a sheltered life if spurred by affection! can gladly relinquish apparent advantages and find pleasure in facing the wilderness." It is merely a question of a fight between artificiality and reality, affection and conceit. Nobleness is merely naturalness, and affection only normality. We admire qualities that are common to the majority of people, emphasising the discreditable belief that human nature is/so bad that an honest man or an affectionate, loyal woman is a rarity. In the matter of the women of the backblocks it merely resolves itself into the primal question of mutual sex affection. The woman who prefers hats to home and town to husband is not properly mated. "The ends of the earth" is not too far to go for the man ana the woman who are "one" in it« beri sense.

MILITARY TRAINING IN INDUSTRY. Mr. George Westinghousie, of air-brake fame, believes in military training as a seiu pre-eminence of German in indus-i trial matters arises very largely from .the military training and discipline to which each of her citizens must submit.. The American Machinist says that this is an authoritative statement of a conclusion reached by many persons who have studied the industrial growth and condition of Germany, although not an. attractive doctrine to Americans. The industrial and manufacturing expansion of America, which took place in the last decades of the last century, was carried forward largely by men who had seen active military service in the Civil War. To this training in part Mr. Westinghouse ascribes his own success, for in this same address we read: "My early greatest capital was the experience and skill required to submit, and the acquirement of a spirit of readiness to carry out the instruction of superiors." It is a splendid thing for any man to know how to obey, to know how to carry out the instruction of his superiors, to knowhow to work with others for a common end. This is the thought often intended to 'be conveyed by the word cooperation.. It is a little less harsh to say that a man must co-operate with his superiors than that ho must obey hij superiors, and inasmuch as it is lest harsh, it is k'ss forceful. In the case of Germany the advantage to her industries through the training of her voung men in the'army is but incidental and is not the aini or end of her military activities. ■ At the .same, time this advantage is very real, and when considered in view,of American conditions lends considerable weight to the recent state' ment of President Taft that the introduction of military discipline into American schools would be of greater benefit to the country than the development of athletics as at present carried on.

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. At the conclusion of an article on the country as seen in a trip from Port Augusta to the Macdonnell Ranges, the writer, W. M. Burton, says:—"ft is estimated that there are 80,000 square mile* of good pasture land in thin portion of Central Australia. Horses bred here are noted for their stamina and general development, and it appears i.o me the Angora goat would thrive, (ioats are to be seen in large herds, but oulv the common variety. The trip to the Macdonnell Banges from I'ort Augusta does not impress me as a great national railway route. The writer has travelled from Pine Creek to Tennant.'s Creou and across the famous prairie lands of the Barky Tableland, and down the Geoigiim river This country leaves a lasting impression, and it would appear to be the most suitable) route for a transcontinental railway. Central Australia, if not a desert, runs.pretty close to it.. But the possibilities of the range eountrv, with a lOin rainfall, are not to lie overlooked. It is a good pastoral country, and agriculture is quite possible. The, eountrv to tho west of the Queensland border is very j,'ood pastoral country, but water is scarce. \o permanent water exists. It can be obtained, however bv sinking a few feet. The water is sup. posed (.0 be, an underground channel of ""e. ®f< those great Han.lv rivers which dram a large area of the Macdonnell Ranges. The conserving of wator bv dams Rimnld be easy. A Rr «.t quantity of good pasture land has erroneousl'v been sTVled desert by many explorers and travellers.