CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 215, 30 January 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Tlltf "HATIXO QUESTION*. Tn towns of limited area carrying a large population, and where a quantity of land is being held by owners for speculative purposes, and the landless ones cannot obtain the homes they require, then a change to the sy-tem </ rating on unimproved values for a time is useful in compelling those landholders to pay more in rates than they have paid in the past and inducing them to part with their holdings in the market.— in. other eases the system lias many drawbacks which more than outweigh its advantages. —Pa tea Press. THE VALUE OE PUKPAUATIOW The military mobs of Slamboul forget that between them and Adrianople lies an army of disciplined anil veteran troops who have learned on the parade ground and in the training camps to move and act in unison, and who have been armed to the hilt by the economy and the foresight of a virile and ambitious nation. If the people of the Unit-

Ed Kingdom were wise they would perceive in the. irresistible march of the Balkan States across all open country Die enormous advantages given by universal training and in the wild frenzy with which disaster is greeted by the helpless multitude at Stamboul a hint of the temper that may be shown by those who in time of peace refuse to prepare for war. There are, indeed, many lessons in the Balkan war, but no lesson is more pregnant with warning than Die revolutionary outburst whiea rends the Turkish people in twain when the penalty for long years <>■' mal-admin-istration has to be paid. —Auckland Herald. MOD X'TAIXEERING SAFEGL'ARDS. Suggestions for ensuring the safety of climbers attacking Mt. Egmont are, as a result of Sunday's fatality, as "thick as the leaves that strew the brooks in Valombrosa." One reader suggests that the caretaker of the hostelry should keep a supply of compasses and hand 'one. after giving instructions regarding its reading, to each party. Tf this were done, he, says, no one could possibly lose his or her way. Another reader offers the suggestion that a pair of dogs, trained in rescue work, should be stationed at the hostelry. We pass the suggestions on to the management of the Mountain House. THE OIL FTELD. Tho news we publish in another column of a gas vein being struck at the 1230 feet level of the Bell Block bore is of considerable significance. Experience has shown, at any rate in Taranaki, that wherever a gas vein exists oil is in the vicinity. The Bell Block bore is about eight miles as the crow (lies from Moturoa. Good oil indications have been discovered at what is known as Hadley's bore, about eight miles up the Carrington Road, as well as at the Oil and Freehold Company's bore lower down the same road. This serves to show that the oil field is of extensive proportions. Oil, too, has been got in small quantities in the Inglewood district. Mr. J. J), Henry, the. "English expert, was firm in his belief that in North Taranaki we had one of the largest and most likely petroleum fields in the world. It looks as if his opinion will be borne out by results.

THE MALAY STATES fITFT. Denying a statement that an official hint was thrown out to the Federated "Malav States prompting them to offer a Dreadnought to the British Xavy. Mr. Mareourt, Secretary of State for the Colonies, said:— "I have seen it hinted that this gift may have been pressed or suggested from Home; I should like to take this opportunity of emphatically denying the ..statement. The gift came to miAvith as much surprise as it did to the public; the first intimation 1 had of it was only a few weeks before the fact, in'a private letter from Sir Arthur Young to Sir John Anderson. Tt appears" that the whole Council—rulers, officials and non-officials—were, unanimous in their desire and resolution to .take this step, and from first to last no member of the "British Government has taken any share in its promotion. I have observed a fear expressed lest the. cost of the Dreadnought Malaya should impose some added or undue burden upon the native populations of the States. Such a suspicion could only: arise in the minds of those who are wholly ignorant of the financial circumstances of those territories."

DEATH FROM COLD. Is death from cold painful? This question has been exercising the minds of many people during the past few days. and a correspondent has satisfied himself that it is not. He says:—"Dr. E. K. Kane, who conducted the second Grennell expedition to search the Arctic legions for traces of Sir John Franklin and his party, gives ample evidence in his well written diary that death from exposure in cold regions is practically painless. After Dr. Kane with his party had unsuccessfully searched for more than two years for evidence of the missing men, "he wa.s reluctantly compelled to give up on account of provisions giving out. He found" it impossible to release his ship from the ice, and to avoid certain destruction, of himself and party, he decided to return over the ice packs and glaciers to the nearest whaling port situated in the far south of Greenland. It was a desperate undertaking with a handful of half-starved men suffering as they' were from scurvy and frorit bite.ii {id' in view of the fact that some thousand miles had to be traversed. In addition to provisions 'and camp material the partv had to drag on sledges two large 18' or 20 feet boats-,'as in the latter part of the journey these were necessary to gain the port. The journey was successfully accomplished in face of stupendous odds, and the party was saved. In some of the. severe marches Dr. Kane- tells how the men suffering from cold and privation became extremely drowsv. and prayed to be allowed to have a short sleep. The doctor with indomitable will, refused, and.urged the men forward until some began to fall. Dr.. Kane well knew that if men in such straits were allowed to slumber for more than a few minutes they would never awaken. When it was impossible to keep the men awake longer he would from time, to time call a halt, and allow the weaker members to sleep for exactly two minutes. The sleepers were then rudely awakened by roughly shaking, hitting with sticks, or pricking with the point of a lancet, and the march would be resumed for perhaps another half hour before a further halt would be allowed for a two minutes' sleep. This proves that men suffering exhaustion quickly and calmly perish when once they cease active motion or exercise, (hough it may seem strange -that excessive cold should induce so great a desire for sleep."

LABOR CO-PARTNERSHTP. Viscount Hythe, who is a prominent figure in the' industrial world, told a gathering of the members of the London Chamber of Commerce recently that copartnership was the only solution of the Labor problem. His own experience as an employer had been very wide. His grandfather had been a railway contractor on a large scale, and sometimes bad as many as 70.(100 men working for him. That member of the family had made a fortune in industry, and had never hud a conflict with his employees. Viscount Hytbe himself had served for some years on the board of directors of one of I he largest coal-mining companies in South Wales, and since 3000 he bad been the manager of a business which employed between 4000 and 5000. men. lie was convinci d, as a result of his own observations, that the reason, why the workers had become discontented was simply that they bad absorbed education and realised what good things life had to offer. Other special causes were "the loss of personal touch between employer and employer, want of consideration for the worker by the staff of the limited liability company, the rise in the cost, of living, and bad housing." Labor co-partnership, which could be adapted to all forms of industry, would give each worker a share of the profits which his toil had assisted to create, and the capitalisation of his profits would enable him to acquire an interest in the business and a voice in its management. Viscount Hythe added (bat profit-sharing schemes which took the form of annual distributions of cash bonuses did not offer any real solution of the labor problem, since they did not help the workers to appreciate the point of view of the capitalist, who had to provide for the

development mid extension of industry. It there were to lie industrial peace, the workers themselves in list be induced to irake present sacrifices on occasions for future returns. A hand-to-mouth policy which counted nothing hut the facts of to-day would he fatal to workers and employers alike.,