CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 235, 22 February 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A NEW AGE. "We arc en tering upon a new ago," snys Dr. Woodrow Wilson, the Presidentelect of the United States. "I do not mean merely we of the United States: I mean that the world is facing the future with a new attitude, and a new outlook upon the opportunities of life. Tt is singular how the drama of the world is cast, as if each century were an act in the drama, and in these early years of the twentieth century we are again assuming the attitude which we assumed in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The nineteenth century looked forward to an age in which humanity, the rank and file of men, should be served, and honestly served, by the institutions of the Government, but we Americans had set up this happy experiment in a country so abundantly furnished with wealth, so extraordinarily provided with opportunity for all sort's and conditions ui men. that suddenly we got drunk with the wine of prosperity, and for a little while forgot that our mission was not to pile up wealth, but to serve mankind in humanity and justice." The magmtes of Wall Street call Dr. Wilson a '"theorist" and a "visionary" because lie says things of that kind. 7Jut his wisdom is the one the masses, of the people in every civilised country wish to see dominating the politics and social conditions of the whole world.

GERMANY'S DTRTfiTBLES. The "formidable load" which flermanv possesses in Hie ma Iter of military dirigibles. ami which. according to a cablegram published (lie other morning, is causing some anxiety on the part of the French military authorities, lias been brought home rather vividly to people in various parts of the British Isles during the last fortnight or so. A special cablegram to tlie Sydney Sun quoted the London Daily News and Leader's editorial comments on the fact that dirigible balloons, believed to be Herman, have been seen hovering in the air in different parts of Britain. The London journal states that visits of foreign airships are becoming unpleasantly frequent. and suggests that this form of aerial espionage is an intrusion which Britain has every right to resent. Tt appears fairly obvious that important details regarding coastal fortifications and harbor defences be ascertained by anyone ns immune from the hnvs of trespass and the activities of sentinels as the a via lor is, and the assertion that this immunity is being presumed upon by foreign nations is certainlv disquieting. The Daily News and Leader suggests the fiirmation of an aerial police corps, and if the danger of espionage from the skies is as srave as it apptars to be. some provision of the kind will have to be made.

WAR fT!RREf!PONT>ENT!s\ Some extraordinary stories are told of flip newspaper correspondents wlio hurried to tlip Balkans in scores, even in hundreds, on tlip outbreak of war between Turkey .and the Allies. Some of flip journalists were experienced campaigners, capable of looking after themselves under all circumstances, but ninny were city-bred men who did not know enough of war conditions to provide themselves witb water-bottles and haversacks. They could not ride, and thev expected to find lodgings every night. One of these amateur war correspondents aroused a neighbor at dead of night with the news (hat his horse was ill. and when he was asked for details of the trouble he said that despite all persuasions the animal hid refused to lie down and go tr slcp.p! Another man rushed to the Turkish headquarters with a complaint that the ground assigned to him for his camp was so hard that he found if. difficult to drice in his tent peps. The Turks seem to have treated these troublesome guests with unfailing courtesy. Puring the retirement from Tehorlu a. hungry correspondent came upon eight

Turkish officers who had seemed a large cabbage and. were preparing to break a long fast. The soldiers cut their cabbage in halves and gave one portion to the foreigner, keeping the second half to divide among themselves. Courtesy could hardly have gone further. STRENUOUS MATRIMONY. One of the native teachers working i:i the Melanesiau mission field found himself faced with a very dillicult problem when he landed on a strange island. The story was told by the Bishop of Melanesia at Christchurch the other night. Shortly after the man lauded a. woman (brew her arms round his neck and said that he must marry her. The teacher said that be had no intention of marrying at present, but the lady seemed to be set upon it. However, the teacher stood firm and refused the proposal. Later the woman explained that as he would not marry her she must kill herself. The tribesmen explained that what the woman said was true. As a rejected woman she must kill •herself. It was made plain to the teacher that although he would not be killed he would be set adrift in a canoe with a minimum of food. Under the circiimsiances the teacher capitulated.