CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 277, 15 April 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

YfSIT OF THE DREADNOUGHT. It is very satisfactory to learn that IT.JLS. New Zealand, "Our" Dreadnought is, after all. to visit New Plymouth. She is timed to he here on the 17th June. The visit will be a very brief one, for she will come and go on the same day, and it will not be easy to arrange for the many thousands of people who are hound to flock to the port to inspect the vessel. As for entertaining the officers and crew, which the energetic local Sports Ground Committee are already mooting, that seems out of the question, unless a portion of the ship's complement arc allowed to stay a day longer and make the next port bv rail, as was the case with some of the men from H.M.S. Cambrian when that vessel last visited Moturoa. To get the vessel here for even a day, however, is something to be thankful for. and the Government are to be commended for including ports like ours in the itinerary. That the officers and crew will receive n warm welcome in New Plymouth goes without saving, for there is no town in the Dominion that owes so much to the Navy and was so closelv identified with both the naval and military branches of the Service as we were in the old days. But for the timely assistance of the men of TT.M.S. Niger. New Plymouth would probably have been destroyed and its inhabitants murdered. In those stirrinc days many men-of-war visited Moturoa and used ifc ns a. kind of base. Who know? that with the development of our oil. itlic may not asuiu be employed as a base for His Majesty's war vessels! HARBOR BOAT!!) 'ELECTION. It looks as if Art. C. A. Wilkin-.on, M.P., representative on the New Plymouth Harbor Board for the towns of Inglewood, Stratford and Eltham, will be returned unopposed. Nominations close to-morrow, and, so fur as we know, the name of no one else has been suggested as a candidate. We hope this will be the case so far as this seat is concerned. | Mr. Wilkinson has rendered the district 1 invaluable service on (lie Board, and it i would be impossible to find anyone more i fitted for the duties. This fact is evi- s dently realised hv his harbor eonstitu-

ents. Mr. Wilkinson occupies a high i position in the public life of Taranaki— I and, in our opinion, deservedly so—and the Harbor Board, or the community, cannot afford to be without his services, particularly at the present juncture. THE MOUNTAIN TRIP. In the course of a letter to the New Plymouth Expansion and Tourist League, read at a meeting last evening,-the manager of the Northern Steamship Company stated: —"One of the attractions of your district is undoubtedly the Mountain Hostel, but at present only people of means can avail themselves of it, owing to the heavy cost of getting to it from New Plymouth. If it were possible to get up and down for, say, 15s many more people would visit it. We hear of quite a number who declined to go when they were informed of the cost of getting to and from the house." The question of cheap transit to the Mountain Mouse is one that must be faced before the next tourist season, if justice is to be done to this attractive rendezvous. What is required is a raotor-bus capable of negotiating the gradients and somewhat sharp turns of the Mountain road. There is a motor-bus—we believe it is called a touring car—doing service in Auckland, and a thorough success it is proving. It has accommodation for about thirty passengers, and trips are taken to the many points of interest in and around the northern city, being utilised as well for picnic parties. It does a thriving trade. A smaller motor would, we are convinced, prove suitable for the Mountain service, and do a remunerative trade. It could easily make two trips a day, and, with a moderate tariff, like that, for instance, suggested by the manager of the Northern Steamship Company, it should not want for patronage. Here's a chance for local motorhirers or for a syndicate! PROTECTING THE PUBLIC. Following on the recommendation contained in the town clerk's annual report, the Council decided, on the motion of Cr. Clarke, seconded by Cr. Buxton, "that before any person is licensed to drive a motor-car for hire, the inspector be instructed to require him to submit with his application a certificate of proficiency signed by Mr. Rollo—provided that that gentleman will consent to act—and that the question of fee to be paid by the driver for such a certificate be referred to His Worship the Mayor to deal with." Citizens of the town are indebted to Mr. Bellringer for his action in draAving attention to the present laxity of control which leaves a loophole for incompetency on the part of the man behind the wheel. The Council's ready response in the shape of the foregoing resolution will also be much appreciated by those who recognise that its first duty in the matter is to protect the general public who patronise automobiles. Incidentally, our civic fathers might go a little.further and endeavor to protect those who do not ride in cars from motorists who indulge in furious driving. In this respect the offenders are invariably strangers on a flying visit to the town.

CURE OF CONSUMPTION "If medical history is to be trusted, chances are ninety-nine to i ji'e against the Friedmann re.n.'dv beii.g a consumption cure," states a scientific writer in the New York ''Po-u,'- wiki asserts also that, contrai'y to oopular supposition, it will taice months, perhaps years, to test the metaod iirope!l) T . He expects that different results will be experienced with different patients, and it will take a long time to crllal'' them. The weakest part of i)r. Friedmann's case, according to the ' Amnri-l-an Journal of Surgery," is to be found in his own admission" that animals ii»-' •munised by his vaccine did not i coover, as was to be expected, although thev lived more than twice as long as those that were not immunised. This journai concludes from the demonstrations and discussions of the treatment that ''Friedmann lias enunciated a principle of farreaching consequence, and has probably discovered a remedy that influences tuberculosis favourably. -The probability is also very strong that Friedmann claims too much." The discoverer, to this critic, '•'seems to lack the poise and self-criticism of an investigator carrying a large message '' PRIME BEEF. An analysis of the annual report of Mr. T. J. Iteakes, manager of the New Plymouth abattoirs, discloses the unsatisfactory intelligence that last year the number of cows killed at the works for local consumption showed an increase of 245 head, whilst there was a decrease of 202 in the number of bullocks killed. Lovers of good prime beef, and epicures in general, will eve this information askance. There is no- ; thins to be said against making the abattoirs a depot for the despatch ot superannuated dairy cows to their happy hunting grounds, but it is expecting too much of the masticating powers of "New Plymouth householders to aalm their carcases off as "prime bocf." ' All would be well if the deceased bovines made their journey into the realms of the unknown in the flesh as well ,is in spirit but, unfortunately, this world—New Plymouth in particular—is burdened with the materialistic part of the animals. To masquerade a haunch of old cow as the best sirloin is as glarin" a deviation from the rules of commercial rectitude as to foist Argentine sheep on the inhabitants of the Old Country as New Zealand mutton, and yet the latter is treated as an offence punishable by J' w ', wl,lle the former practice may be indulged in with impunity, to the i lunation of many a good digestion.

: counter lunch. > The attempt of the Svdnev publicans , to abolish the free lunoli counters has < failed completely. The trade felt I strongly that it was absurd to «ive a . man a meal with a glass of beer and , moving stories were told of the number of sandwiches and sausage rolls con- . snmcd b.v the purchasers of threepemi* , drinks. But the agreement to provide no free lunches was not observed in all the hotels, and the houses where food was still given awav attracted custom from the rival establishments. Then the counters made their appearance in the bars again, and now the hotels are reported to be "competing with one ■another in the sumptuousness of their free lunelies, some even putting on a couple of ducks, in addition to stewed rabbit, curried chops. Irish stew, pressed tongue, whole hams, pigs' cheeks, salmon. herrings, sardines on toist, sausages. patties, black, white, and German sausage, sliced cucumber and beetroot. as well as bread, biscuits, cheese lettuce and rock cakes. CORRUPTION' IN JAPAN". An inquiry into a remarkable, suicide in Korea closed at Tokio a few weeks ago. The victim was ATr. Nakanmra Ryoshu, Judge of the High Court of the laikti district. _ The circumstances of the case are rather curious. According to the Japanese vernacular Press, the deceased Judge was a man of the highest moral character and of almost martinet disposition. It appears from the details now disclosed that Judge .Vakamurn had recentlv discovered that cerI tin 11 subordinate officials under his control were guilty of bribery and corruption. lie investigated the matter, reported the guiltv officials, and secured their dismissal from the service. They / in revenge combined with other male- I 1 voleut spirits to put up a case of a I ! similar nature against the Judge. De- ' famatory stories were widely spread i\

| damaging his character, and, in desperI ution at the meanness of his enemies, he > determined to commit liarakiri as a publie protest against the corruption rife |in the Government service. On Decern- ? l>or 28, therefore, on the closing of the Courts for the ,\>w Year vacation, the Judge, dressed in his official rotes, committed old-time liarakiri before the portrait of the Maiji Teimo. He left 'hehind him, according to custom, a will indicative of his reasons, and stating that, his suicide was a protest against the prevailing corruption in official quarters and an expression of the hopelessness of preserving' the sanetitv of the law or successfully administering justice under the administration of Count Tcrnuclii. The clianres illicit were brought against Judge Xakamura bv his dismissed subordinates have now been investigated. and proved to be false.