CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 317, 31 May 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A NOTABLE PERSONALITY. Lord Avebury, whose death at the age of seventy-nine years is just reported, was an. eminent banker, politician, scientist, and author. He was born in London on April 3, 1834, and was the son of Sir John Wm. Lubbock, a highly distinguished man of science, He was seat to Eton in 1845, but three years later, when only fourteen years of age, was taken into his father's :bank, becoming a .partner when 22 years of age. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 18(55. Lord Avebury was a keen scientist, and his love of science kept pace with his' increasing participation in public affairs. He served on commissions upon coinage and other financial questions, and at the same time acted as president of the Entomological Institute. Early in his career several banking reforms of considerable importance were due to Ills initiative, while such works as "Prehistoric Times" (18G5), and "The Origin of Civilisation" (1870) were proceeding from his pen. In 1870 and again in 1874 he was elected a member of Parliament for Maidstowe. He lost his seat at the election of 1880, but was at oince elected member for London University, of which he had been vice-chancellor since 1872. He held this seat until his elevation to the peerage in 1900. Lord Avebury carried numerous enactments in Parliament, including the Bank Holidays Act (1871), and Bills dealing with absconding debtors, and shop hours regulation, public libraries, and the preservation of ancient monuments. Deceased was elected the first president of the Institute of Bankers in--1879,. was .president of the British Association in 1881, and president of the Linnaean Society from 1881 to 1886. He received honorary degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Wurzburg, and in ' 1878 was appointed a trustee of the ; British Museum. From 1888 to 1892 he was president of the London Chamber of Commerce, and from 1889 to 1890 vice-chairman, and from 1890 to 1892 chairman of the London County Council. 1 He also served on royal commissions on education and on gold and silver. In 1 1890 lie was appointed a Privy Couni cillor, and was Chairman of the Committee of the New Coinage in 1891. In , January, 1900, he was raised to the peerage under the title of Baron Avebury. 1 Many other public positions, in addition to the foregoing, were held by deceased at various times. Lord Avebury had few rivals in his day as a thoughtful populariser of natural history arid philosophy. His writings include: "The Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects" i (1873), "British Wild Flowers" (1875), . "Ants, Bees, and Wasps" (1882), "Flowers, Fruit,-and Leaves" (1886), "The ! Pleasures of Life" (1887), "The Senses, ; Instincts, and Intelligence of Animals" (1888), "The Beauties of Nature" (1892), "The Uses of Life" (1894), "On Seedlings," and the "Primitive Condition of 1 Man," "The Scenery of Switzerland," : "The Scenery of England," "Coins and , Currency," "Free-Trade," and numerous other works. AUCKLAND'S DAIRY PRODUCE. The Auckland Herald beats, the big .drum: —The annual dairy produce export values of the Dominion have increased , since 1910 from £2,880,000 to £3/290,000. ,In Auckland province these values have .increased from £070,000 to £1,030,000. .Taranaki still leads, for it has increased .its dairying exports from £1,117,000 in 1910-11 to £1,427,000 in 1912-13, but its superiority has been greatly reduced, and' we may confidently anticipate that a wiser land administration will within a very few years give the first place to this huge province of Auckland.' No patriotic resident of Taranaki would lament such an eventuality, for Taranaki —like every other province—can only gain by the effectiveness and profitable occupation of all waste lands and by their being thus made contributory to ,the national exchequer. The fact that Auckland has so far confined its dairying energies to the making of butter and has done little cheese-making is interesting, but does not affect the situation. The suitability of Auckland for dairying is demonstrated by its steady, rise towards pre-eminence in this important branch of agriculture. Its suitability for wool-growing and meat-raising has ' been similarly proved. It is coming to [ the front as a fruit-growing district. . There is no form of temperate climatic ' agriculture in which it does not promise > to excel. . . . The public works policy i of the Reform Government should be to 9 spend all available money, firstly and r foremostly, where it will foster production. Thus exports will increase, re- ' venue rise, money become plentiful, inr dustry flourish and prosperity be assured OLD AND NEW EGYPT, The astonishing feature of Britain's * success in the land of the Nile (wrote Colonel Sir Henry Knollys, K.C.V.0., in an article which appeared last year in - Blackwood's Magazine) is that it has * been attained in defiance of the original 3 strenuous efforts to cast off this now 3 brilliant factor of "our Empire. No other s civilised nation would face the invidious " task demanded by civilisation; and now it cannot be questioned that under our . reluctant rule Egypt has been progress- . ing with seven-league-boot strides, almost s without a parallel either in old Egypt or new Egypt. In 1901 the condition of the streets of Cairo compared favor- - ably, it is true, with the dead-dog and 1 rotten-refuse prevalence of 10 years prer viously.- But now not only in the capif tal, but in such towns as Assiout, Minya and Luxor, there is an excellence of b cleanliness, both of sight arid smell, r amidst populous poverty, barely to be ; found in London, notwithstanding the I reckless squandering of the County Council. Formerly the water supply, thick and fetid with decaying organisms, was ' to be regarded rather as an eatable than I as a drinkable substance. Now, the "Nile . champagne," as the natives call it, ( though in summer it still kills swarms of ' babies, no longer annihilates them as ! completely as a hive of bees stifled with , sulphur. Numerous slums have been t swept away,'together with some of the horrors of drainage or. rather, of non,drainage. Even parts of the Mouski, so entrancingly suggestive of "The Arabian ; Nights," of Haroun-al-Raschid, and of Sinbad the Sailor, are in process of being turned topsy-turvey in the warfare against sickness, suffering and death. NATIVE LANDS. ' Said Mr. J. 0. Wilson in his inaugural address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union at Masterton on Tuesday:—The native land question still seems to be difficult of solution. In many cases it would be much better for the owners to sell the land which is returning' thorn nothing, and yet is interfering with the settlement. of the country, rather than hold it. The Minister, Mr. Worries, says that the land must he individualised before this can .be done. Meanwhile tile p;iki i lia is improving the surroundjng land: roads and railways are being made at his expense and the Maori's land is a block to further progress. There is much to be said for Mr. Tlerrios' view that if once this principle were adopted to allow Europeans or even the Government to take this native land before iiulividnalisation, that ith niiclit lead to a scramble and speculation; but a statesman dealing with this.) this question—it is not a very pressing J one in the Wellington province, though in some districts of the North Island it

is a vital one—should be able to hedge | round the rights of the Maori. It does not seem reasonable that when the land is taken from the European, who is turning his land to account, that the Maoris should be exempt although his land is unused. I saw a case lately at Rotorua. About five miles out of that town, Europeans had been able to buy .their land, fiood houses had been built; i the scrub fallen, the land ploughed and .manured, and in really good order, and supplying the town with milk and other '.necessaries. Across the fence was Maori land unfenced, uncultivated, running a piiserable horse or two and growing scrub land weeds. Yet there was a metalled i road and a railway through it. The owners were no doubt dancing, hakas in ,the town, and acting as guides to the visitors while their land was lying idle.