CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 82, 27 September 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

AN ENTENTE WITH GERMANY. In the course of a recent address to thl University Extension students at Oxford University, Lord Ilaldane, who chose for his subject "Germany and Her History. with Special Reference to the Evolution of Modern Germany," said that a period in national history lvad arrived when it became the duty of the statesmen in each country to fathom the currents of public life and opinion in the other. To this end, the study of national spirit was essential.' Tlow often ho had seen in the newspapers of both countries articles which missed the point, and frequently attributed unreal motives, simply because the writers were wanting in knowledge. The difference in the mental habits' and traditions made it difficult for Englishmen and Germans to fully understand each other. Self-re-straint was essentia! to a 'better understanding, although, unfortunately, it was not practised by public men to the extent it should be. The German language was the cause of hindrance to Englishmen, who would do well to go to Berlin awl learn something, not only of the language and intellectual history of Prussia, but of the standpoint of her people, and of the disadvantage as well as the advantages of an excessive lucidity of conception. If judges, merchants, and diplomatists could be led into wrong impressions, how much more were the multitudes, who had no direct knowledge of foreign habits in mind, likely to make a mistake. Frenchmen and Russians now appreciated Englishmen more than they did simply because improved international relations had at last led them to look for the good qualities rather than to look for the deficiencies. A change for the better had recently coma over our relations with our relatives in the United States. What an excellent thing it would be for tho peace of the world if the process were to set in all round. Such a change might. not supersede considerations of self-defence, but its tendency would probably, be in the direction of lightening tho financial burdens which that entailed. What was wanted was education and mutual understanding, Nothing could be more dosiratble for the world than that England and Germany should come to ail understanding with each other, and this understanding was only possible on the .basis of study and tlie knowledge that was born in it. Probably wo were more deficient in this study than the Germans. The English were credited With the desire to annex more and more of the surface of the earth. What we had actually done in that direction was not the. outcome of a preconceived or thought-out policy, but because for a long time we were the only people on the spot, anil because'at the moment it was the obvious thing to do, and we were the only people ready to do it. "Germany had the ill-luck to be born 100 years late, but she was already one of the great nations of the world in virtue of charncler and intellectual endowment, and where she penetrated it was for the profit of mankind. Englismen were inclined' to be. narrow, and to provoke the world by our apparent unconsciousness of the transitory nature of national institutions. and we would do well to study the lesson of how to understand our neighbors all round. Neither Great. Britain nor Germany should fail to realise the magnitude of its responsibility.

ELECTRICITY IN THE KITCHEN. Owing to 'the greater display of enterprise that is now being evinced by electricity generating corporations, in conjunction with inventive effort,, the advantages of cooking by electricity are being brought more forcibly before the housewife. Certainly it constitutes the nmsfc hygienic and simple form of preparing dishes for the table that lias yet been devised, free from a.ll danger and the risk of contamination from fumes of combustion such as arise from the use of gas. The one. great drawback to the system, however, has been the woeful lack of initiative on the part of (lie supply concerns. They have failed to profit from the experience of the gas companies. The electrical cooker is expensive in first cost, and there are very few people who are prepared to purchase

a cooker, whether it be operated by gas I or electricity. Oil the other hand, if the | stows were Hired out upon a monthly j rental, as Is tin- practice among the | gas companies, the resort to electricity l for cooking purposes would advance by! leaps and bounds. The electricity gener- | ating companies.. have shown more sympa thy witli tlie movement of supplying current at a low rate for cooking purposes, and this lias enabled electricity to compete more favorably with is powerful rival. Inventive ingenuity has secured improvement upon improvement to such an extent that the electric cooker is now highly economical, and the utmost service from the unit of current is secured. In the "trieity cooker" which has been devised by M*r. A. F. licny. the designer and builder of the special high-pressure transformers employed to transmit the first Maroonigrams between Great Britain and America, cconomy has bi>cn brought to a high stage of perfection. With this cooker the loss by shrinkage during cooking has br/'ii reduced to the minimum. Comparative tests have shown that where a 101b sirloin of beef lost nearly ,11b when prepared in the ordinary cooking range, and where there was a still greater waste i under gas cooking, when submitted to the "trieity" appliance the loss was but r l%lb. Such a saving in cash alone is ' sufficient, to pronounce the advantage of ! this method. The temperature can be i adjusted to a nicety by means of s switches, which is impossible with either , gas or coal. The consumption of fuel is also to the advantage of the new system, as less current is consumed to prei pare dishes for tho ta.ble by this system i than any other. The more enterprising , electricity supply companies of London axe hiring out these cookers, and the simplicity and perfection of the system ' has created such a favorable impression [ upon the housewife that they are com- . ing rapidly into vogue.