CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 295, 6 May 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

AGGREGATION OF HOTEL LICENSES.

The hotel license, although attached to a specific building, is a personal privilege granted to and exercisable only by an individual, and no one man, or association of men, should have the disposal of more than one under control. The Reform Government will find hearty support for any measure it may bring forward to break up the maleficent aggregations which exist. Neither moderates nor prohibitionists could offer valid objection, and we should require neither .nationalisation, municipalisation, nor, the last resort, prohibition.—Hastings Tribune. | THE WRITING OF BOOKS. Sydney papers now to hand bring us the full report of Sir Rider Haggard's remarks (briefly summarised by cable) to the New Soutli Wales Institute of Journalists on the writing of books, and base books. The chairman had congratulated Sir Rider Haggard on never having written anything base, and the.! popular romancist replied that he had tried to make that his object. After referring to the suggestive novelists, mostly women, who ought to "turn off the tap," Sir Rider Haggar proceeded:— "We are all men of the world here, and we know that there are enough things to avoid in life now, that there are problems enough confronting us now without trying to increase them, especially amongst the young. We all have a pretty stiff fight to put up in the world, and I think it ought to be the effort of every decent man and women to make that fight easier, and not to make it harder. These are my old, antiquated views. I believe you call them, here, the views of a wowser. (Laughter). Still, I hold to them." He would undertake, to-morrow, to write an evil book that would sell by the hundred thousand, and yet avoid the law, but not for a million pounds would he do it. Those are not the sort of views which make a man a "wowser." They are the sort of views whick demonstrate his manhood.

THE CROWN OF GREECE.

The accession of King Constantine to the throne of Greece has created a deep impression among those of his subjects who are superstitious. The wife of Constantine the Great was called Sophia, and a tradition which has found currency for several centuries relates that "when a Constantine and a Sophia shall once more reign in Hellas, Constantine will belong to the Hellenes." The first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled, since the names of the new Queen of Greece happens to be Sophia. It is interesting to remember that at one time the Crown of Greece was going a-begging. After the country had thrown off the Turkish yoke a President was installed, but he soon fell beneath the knife of an assassin.- Then Otho of Bavaria was chosen King, and after a stormy reign he abdicated. The Greeks looked to Britain for assistance, and offered their Crown to the Duke of Edinburgh and the Earl of Derby, who both refused it. It was common talk at the time that Mr. Gladstone "could have had it by the lifting of an eyelid." Finally a Danish prince, a brother of Queen Alexandra, was persuaded to go to Athens. THE MONEY MARKET. The supply of money (saya the New Zealand Trade Review of May 1) still continues very restricted and lending rates remain very firm. The bank return figures which we review in this ißsue show an improvement in the position as compared with the previous quarter; there is an excess of deposits over advances for the quarter of £804,799, as compared with an excess of advances of £439,704 for the December quarter, and an excess of deposits of £887,353 for the March quarter last year. The improvement in the quarter is, of course, from the realisation of the season's produce, and this improvement should be continued in the current quarter. The imports and exports, apart from specie, compare as follows for the past three years ending with March 31:—1912-13: Exports £-22,643,205, imports £21,309,088; excess imports £1,333,577. 1911-12: Exports £22,043,205, imports £21,309,517; excess imports £770,660. 1910-11: Exports £21,497,187, imports £17,385,060; excess-exports £4,112,121. The latest figures show an improvement of £2,104,243 on the previous year, though, owing to the rapid and heavy growth of imports, there is not as good a balance as there should be, in spite of the fact that our exports show a larger total than ever before. The Post Office Savings Bank returns show an excess of withdrawals over deposits for the March quarter of £57,092, showing that the general demand for money and high rates are attracting these funds to other investments.