CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 224, 10 February 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

AN EXPERIMENT WORTH TRYING. Mr. Masscy and some of li is friends | may be expected in this district shortly. It will probably be "good business" to motor tlie;n thoroughly over the district and banquet them. Banquets were made popular in the iate Mr. Seddon's time, and are popular still. True, the, Opposition of Mr. Seddon's day indulged in much cheap raillery at these feeding functions, but Mr. Masscy and his friends appear to take to them as naturally as- a duck takes to the water —and we find no fault with them for doing so. We do not think that Ministers hanker after banquets, but if the electors of a district proffer tliem it would savor of churlishness to refuse. When the Ministers arrive we hope to see them well treated in Egmont—and we are sure they will be. Whether a few dinners will expedite the progress of the Opunake railway we cannot say, but the experiment may be worth trying. It might be possible at a banquet—at the liquer and coffee stage—to get some inkling of the route favored by the Government. -Jt is currently whispered that the route likely to be chosen is one that is warmly supported by the member for Patea. If that should prove to be the case, then the day that the first sod is turned will be a cold day for Etham. —Eltham Argus.

SAVING THE PENNIES. Results surprising to even the most optimistic, have attended the establishment by the savings bank authorities in j Victoria of a scheme for the collection and storing up of the pennies of school children. The scheme was put into operation only a couple oF months ago. At the end of December 7284 accounts had been opened, and -£857 stood to the credit of the juvenile depositors. One day in each week is appointed for the receipt of deposits at a school. Each deposit is recorded in a simple kind of passbook given to the depositor, and the headmaster puts all the deposits into the nearest branch of the State Savings Bank. Withdrawals cannot be made through the school. Aijy child who wishes to withdraw money must attend for the purpose at a branch of the Savings Bank. Over 300 school teachers are co-operating in the scheme, which is voluntary as far as they are concerned. ■Excellent results have been achieved in Western Australia and South Australia, where, the system has been in force for two or three years. On -Tune 30 last there were 12,300 children's accounts in Western Australia, with a total credit of £12,751. In South Australia oil the same date there were 0083 depositors, who had £BlOl standing to their credit. CHURCH UNION. The union between the Methodist and the Primitive Methodist Churches of New Zealand, which was finally ratified and cr.nsiimmated last week; will be hailed with satisfaction by people of every shade of religious thought. Each of the churches concerned has had a history of which it has every reason to be proud, and in consenting to the act of union neither of them was required in any shape or form to repudiate its past or to cast aside any of its fundamental principles. It is not a case of the mere absorption of the smaller body by the larger, but it is a free union on equal terms, arrived at after full discussion in a most frank and brotherly spirit, which augurs well for the future. The united Church will have 193 ministers and 03

home missionaries. ,- Its properties have icost/ £516,277, the debt upon them being only £94,055, while the attendants at public worship, including Sunday ! scholars, will aggregate over 100,000. A great institution like this, backed up by the enthusiasm and more efficient working which united action will supply, cannot fail to exercise a far-reaching influence for good directly oil its own people, and indirectly .on the community as a whole. The Methodist Church of New Zealand, therefore, deserves the best wishes of all who have the welfare of the country at heart for a happy future, and one which will be successful in the best sense of the word.—Dominion. TREATY OF WAITANGI. Wednesday last was the 73rd anniversary of an event of considerable importance to New Zealand, the signing of I the Treaty of Waitangi. on February fi, 1840. This treaty, which has been called the Magna Charta of the Maori, is a singular instance of humanity and generosity to a comparatively savage race, not to be found elsewhere in history, and nothing rebounds more to the credit and justice of the British nation than this treaty. The treaty provided that her Majesty the Queen of England guaranteed to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of the lands, estates, forests, fisheries and other properties so long as it w-as their desire to do so, reserving to the Crown the exclusive right of buying such hinds ns the proprietors may be disposed to sell at prices to be agreed upon. This treaty has had a great effect upon New Zealand. To the Maoris- it gave rights and privileges never before given to a native race living alongside a civilised race; it fortified them against land-grab-bers. To the white man it was also full of import. Tt led to wars and misunderstandings; it has hampered development and settlement; it has created a Maori aristocracy that is to-day living in some measure supported by the rents oE white settlers. .Against all this, however, it has afforded New Zealanders an opportunity for the display of self-reliance, magnanimity and generosity to a subject race.

AGAINST TIPPTNO. There is an agitation in Melbourne against the tipping system. In an article on t'ne subject, the Age sny»: —"It is known tliat at certain liotels men liveon tips alone, and are encouraged by the management. Such men are simply out to make a living. Tt does not enter into their minds that in accepting t, tip they are placing themselves upon a plane of social inferiority. But the hotel 'guest' feels the pinch. TTe. speaking collectively, must pay, in addition to the fixed residential charges, the wages of men who are indispensable to the management. Nothing is more annoying to visitors, country visitors especially, than to have the baggage man shadowing them at every turn. They are told at the office that the charges are so much per day: but always there is the commissionaire, or porter, or chambermaid, to be reckoned with. Tn some cases, certainly, where extra service is rendered, it is only fair that a gratuity should be doled out: but ordinarily, where no tips are forthcoming, one's room is badly kept, the hall porter is inattentive, and the waitress is generally busy looking after the needs of someone who understands the value of tipping, however degrading and 'insulting' the disbursements might be to tbe recipient. There is a strong feeling in Melbourne that the tipping nuisance should not be allowed io develop. Tt is opposed utterly to Mr. Fisher's dictum, displayed daily from n boarding on the silt- of the Oomniotnveallh offices. Strand. London:—'We ofler a fair wage for a fair day's work.' The evil is not so bad in Melbourne restaurants since the adop-

tion of the Wages Board award. The trouble is that many waitresses, knowing that tips will not be forthcoming, strut about like ladies suffering from ennui. They go to the kitchen and announce their orders in a haughty voice; they return lackadaisically to the table where the customers are fidgeting and, very slowly, serve the meal. This is the consequence of the glorious independence of spirit following on the Wages Board award."