CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 293, 3 May 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

OUR DUTY. Premiers come and premiers go, j mayors and chairmen have their brief day, the greatest king and the most popular governor to-day are and tomorrow are not; but the nation may be immortal and the State to which citizens are truly loyal grows with the years and strengthens with the centuries. Good work lives and only good work. Whether it be the statesman wearing his life out for the common weal or the common man doing his best at the -work that confronts him; whether it be the civic chief, guiding and ordering, or the unknown citizen, watching and working; there is not one honest njan or woman of whom it can ever be Baid that the nation had no need of them or that to the State their loyalty and their labor were in vain. The elemental truth of society is that every individual effort which in no way profits and benefits others is in the utlimate wasted and void, and that the greatest and noblest thing which any man or any woman can do is to make their State and nation and people the better and the stronger and the happier for their having lived. This every normal man knows and by this, in his inner heart, he judges his own doings; this every normal woman feels to be sure when she crave 3 above all things that her little ones may be unselfish, strong and brave. —Auckland Herald.

DUBLIN GROWN JEWELS. It was cabled, recently that the mystery of the Dublin Oown jewels would shortly be revived. A libel action had been set down for hearing under which an officials sought to vindicate his personal honor. The evidence, it was added, would involve the publication of the full history of the mystery. The action will be followed with great interest. In 1907, some time between June 11 and July 8, jewels belonging to the Order of St. Patrick were stolen from a safe in the office of arms in the Upper Castle Yard, Dublin. This office is directly opposite the State apartments, and behind it, at the entrance from Cork Hill, ia the military guardroom, outside which a sentry was posted day and night. Policemen were constantly on duty in both the upper and lower yards. With the office thus well guarded, it was almost impossible to conceive that anybody could bave reached the building unobserved. The keys were in the possession of Sir Arthur Vicars, Ulster King-of-Arms. Various rumors regarding the whereabouts of the jewels have been circulated from time to time, but the mystery has never been cleared up. The ad at £47,000.

THE COLOR PROBLEM. Says the Wellington Post:—Sir Joseph Ward is distinctly an evolutionary in politics, more affected by environment than by hereditary impress. His sentiments are fluid; they fit the mould of the moment. "Give the people what they want," is one of his axioms, and another is, "When in Rome, do as Rome does." At a banquet in London on St. George's Day the toast of "India" fell to the ex-Premier, perhaps by an unlucky accident. One would think that he should have exerted himself to escape embarrassment; or if it were too awkward to decline the invitation, that he would liave taken an opportunity to diplomatically air bis old-time "White New Zealand" policy, while bestowing some compliments on Indians as Indians, on Asiatic soil. Instead, he said (according to the cable) that "it was necessary that the dominions should be sympathetic towards the Indian standpoint when dealing with the difficult problem of the treatment of Indians in South Africa and elsewhere." Well, "elsewhere" presumably includes New Zealand and Australia. What can Sir Joseph mean by "sympathy" except a less rigorous immigration law? It is well known that South Africa has drastic regulations as a check on any Indian influx. Sir Joseph implies that this Is not the "sympathetic standpoint" for "South Africa and elsewhere." A few years ago, in response to promptings of the Press, Sir Joseph was a vociferous and valiant "White New Zealander." To-day he advocates the "sympathetic standpoint" for color, provided it has the Imperial seal. However, no amount of "all-redness" will change black or yellow into white. Has Sir Joseph lost iiis politics or politeness?

LIFE IN POMPEII. Centuries, it seems, make no difference in human nature. Such is the impression forced upon Mr. E. J. Sewell, after examining the ruins of Pompeii. He writes: —"As one stands in the streets of the town and sees the ruts worn in the stone pavement by passing vehicles, the last of which travelled there more than 1800 years ago, or spells out the inscriptions painted on the walls, such ag one calling on the citizens to vote for

a particular candidate as aedile at the i coming election, one realises with great | vividness the-busy and varied life that once throbbed in those streets, now empty and deserted. When one finds in a wine shop a notice that goods can be had only on cash payment, or, on examining some ivory dice found in a house discovers that they lire loaded so as always to th'row double sixes, it is brought home to one that human nature in many of its manifestations was exactly the same in A.D. 70 as it is to-day. As a place combining business interests with being a centre of pleasure and recreation, we may compare Pompeii with Brighton, though, of course, Pompeii was much smaller than Brighton. The theatre was in the open air, but its southern aspect and the hot brilliant sunshine rendered an awning necessary over the seats of the spectators. There was also just outside the theatre a deep reservoir of water, which was used for sprinkling over the theatre to cool the heated building. Those sprinklings were called sparsiones, and there arc still to be seen painted on the walls advertisements of performances in which it was mentioned as an attraction that there would be awnings and water sprinklings. Among the photographs illustrating the address are several articles belonging to a lady's toilet, including a glass box containing rouge, and among a number of surgical instruments found in the residence of a surgeon, one which had been completely forgotten until it was reinvented in comparatively recent times by a French surgeon."