CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 196, 17 February 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

PAYIXfi ONTS'S DEBTS. A great habit in Xew Zealand, said Canon Sedgwick (Bishop-elect of Wuapu) iu a sermon in Christchurch on Sunday, was not paying one's debv.'. This vicious habit had got a big hold upon the people of this country, and the Canon recited the case of a dressmaker and her {laughter, whose piano had to be sold because they had not enough money with which to buy thu necessaries of life. Yet he knew these women were always working hard, and (numbered pimong their clients many people of high standing in the city of Clmstehurch. He (the Canon) w.us shocked at the removal of the piano, because lie knew the mother and daughter ware refined people who could ill spare an instrument that produced the great: est cheer in their home. He questioned them '-Why must the piano go?" "Because," they replied, "we cannot get our money in. If we were to read you the names of the people who ows us money you would receive the surprise of your life, for many are the leading ] people in Christchurch. One family has just gone Home for a trip, so we 1 know we shall not get that money for at least a year." He (the Canon) l'earnI ed also that these two women had been I living on bread and butter for two or three days because they eounld not get '"their money" in and on principle would not buy what they could not pay for. This case so stirred him that the following Sunday he preached on the subject [ of paying one's debts in a manner that he never preached before and he had the pleasure of knowing that the following days numbers of debts were paid J throughout Christchurch as the admitted result of that sermon.

RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS. "In common with most Oxford men," said Mr. E. A. Belcher, headmaster of Christ's College, at the annual distributioß of frizes last week, "I deplore the present system of selecting Rhodes scholars. I have the best of reasons for knowing tliat the Rhodes .Scholarships were never intended by the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes to bo a post-graduate course. I bcliovc the fact that in so many cases these, scholarships were awarded to colonial graduates instead of to schoolboys arose in a very curious way. I was on the original committee that framed the regulations for one colony, and when we came te rb this it was '-ointed out very prooerly that to confine them to schoolboys meant making them close scholarships to two or firee schools." Such a difficulty, the speaker continued, need never arise in New Zealand, because the admirable system of higher education in this country made it possible for the poorest boy to continue his education to a university age. Mr. Belcher said he hoped that' the whole question might engage tho very serious attention of educationalists in New Zealand this year. The Junior Scholarships as a qualifying: and not a competitive examination, would make an excellent test for the first clauses of Mr. Shodcs's will.

AN IMPERTINENCE. Etirl Grey has taken an early opportunity of making himself disagreeable to hi 3 Australian hosts. He. has said bluntly that the inhabitants of tk« Commonwealth over-value themselves, that they have much to learn, and that they are not yet entitled to flatter themselves that they are better than the lEnglish. This impertinence Was uttered when Earl Grey had only been a few days on the eontinent and had not even seen enough of it to justify him in writing a book. Probably he was repeating parrot-like the utterance of some disgruntled club man. The Australians may not have any warrant for flattering themselves that they aro "better than the English," but in respect of manners they are immeasurably superior if on this showing Earl ttrey can be taken as a type.—Christchurch Star. THE FRONTAL ATTACK.

A striking article on tho futility of "direct action" on the part of the workers has been published by the Adelaide Herald, the most up-to-date Labor newspaper in Australia. This is the Herald's opinon on the. general strisc: We are not blaming the general strike advocates, neither arc we questioning their sincerity. We can only say of them, as Mark Twain said of the bull charging the locomotive, that while we way admire their pluck we despise their judgment. The point we desire to impress upon the democracy concerning the general strike is its utter and pitiful futility. The spectacle of unarmed men, fired by a splendid cause, charging a perfectly disciplined and armed bat. talion may bo splendid, but it is not war. The courage of the Dervishes who at Omdurman raced into the rain oi Maxim bullets was inspiring, but to fling away life in -that fashion did not promote the interests for which the Dervishes fought. Long ag« when the Chartist agitation was' at its height the genius of that movement, Francis Place, taught the workers a lesson they should never forget. Instead of leading hi? followers against Wellington's soldiery, which would have meant certain death, Place placarded the hoarding's of London with the words "Go for Gold." The financial stability of England was thereby threatened. Wellington capitulated and the Reform Bill was passed. ToI day the weapon used by Francis Place would be indefensible from any point of view, but when industrial trouble threatens it is a Labor man's duty to say to his followers, "In the name of common-sense, of the experience of the centuries, do not play the game of capitalism. Don't strike, but vote* Every strike depletes Labor's treasury, diverts the attention of the workers from the only moans of industrial salvation, and makes their task more difficult. The labors of Sisyphus, who was condemned to roll a stone up a hill for ever, only to see it fall back again, supply a moral which should not be. overlooked by the few who, forgetful of the fitter lessons of tho past, still champion tho general strike.