CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 219, 16 March 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE BRISTOL MOVEMENT. In a letter to the Otago Daily Times, Mr. H. I). Vavasour, a well-known Marlborough pastoralist, says:—''l consider the Bristol movement will have a farreaching effect for the betterment of the trade. The wholesale price of mutton in London is, roughly, say, 4d per lb, and English mutton is," say, Bd. Both arc sold at the same price. Query: Where does the other 4d go to? We want to chase it. We have to thank Mr. Lysnar and Mr. Wilson for the hard work, energy and the time they have given to this business. Mr. Lysnar has spent a large amount of money out of his own pocket in this matter. I have heard it stated that he has made a good thing out of floating the Bristol Company. I can assure your readers he has not received one penny. When he sent in the account for the dotation to the board in Bristol, the board wrote and told him that he had not included his personal expenses, and asked him kindly to do so at once. Mr. Lysnar replied that he did not wish to charge anything."

NATIVE LANDS. Why should the tedious process of individualisation of native titles be allowed to delay settlement? Would it not be better if the State took ovei the whole of the native lands and sold them to energetic settlers, using the money obtained from the sale to create a fund to be held by the State in trust for the natives, paying them the interest in proportion to their share of the properties? The natives would thus have assured income, and might be trusted to speedily settle among themselves the question of individualisation—and the State would benefit by the impetus given to settlement and productionManawatu Times.

MILITARY DEFAULTERS. It is the duty of the military authorities under the regulations to send the names of defaulters to the civil authorities, but -having done that their official connection with the proceedings ends. If an officer is called upon to prove that a youth has failed to render personal service, he does not appear in Court in his military capacity, but simply as a witness to facts. In justice to General Godley and his officers it is only right that this point should be emphasised. The Commandant has spared no effort to make the system acceptable to the community. He has listened to complaints with infinite patience, he has promptly removed any real grievance and he has consulted the convenience of the men in every possible direction. As far as we have observed his officers, speaking generally, have been inspired by the same admirable spirit. If there have been unnecessary prosecutions or harsh administration of any kind, the fault lies with the civil authorities. If the law itself is to blame the Minister of Defence must answer.—Lyttelton Times. A STATE BAKERY. A State bakery has been established by the New South Wales Government at Stanmore, a suburb of Sydney, the reason given being that master bakers were not in reality competing for Government contracts. The Minister for Justice (Mr. Hall), in opening the bakery, said that recent tenders were 28 per cent, higher than for the prveious year, although flour was cheaper and wages in the trade no higher. The Government, therefore, decided to bake its own bread. During that night, he added, the bakery would turn out 5000 loaves. By putting in other ovens, if they chose, they could turn out 30,000 loaves per day. It was thought there would be a difficulty in securing flour, but the Government had secured a year's supply at £8 10s per ton. The Government bread, despite the fact that several contracts had unfortunately been let, would be supplied cheaper than any of the offers by tender. If they did not succeed in supplying bread this year at Id per. lb, certainly they -would next year, when all the State institutions would avail themselves of State bread. If they could turn out bread for 2d per loaf, 3y 2 d was too much for the master bakers to be charging the public. It was not his business to teach master bakers theirs, but he believed they would be well advised to see if they could not effect economies, and produce bread cheaper and sell it at a price approaching nearer to that at which the State factory would supply its own institutions. If they did not they would always provide a great temptation for the State bakery to open depots and sell to the public at a lower price.

TO TRAIN THE MIND. When yon have acquired mastery of yourself, of your manner and of your argument, practise in debating has an additional value still greater (says a writer for Boys' Life). You will learn to recognise sound reasoning and will detect the false. Without conscious effort on your part, you will apply to the casual argument as you meet it, to the public address, to the written article, to the newspaper editorial, those standards by which you have built up your own argument. It will be difficult for you to overlook inconsistency and false reasoning; for you are accustomed to exact and clear thinking—your habits of thought have become (standardised, as the factory expert would say. There is a difference between argument and persuasion. Argument is addressed in the first instance to reason alone; it may or may not be combined with persuasion, but the two are absolutely different. The perfect argument would be so absolutely convincing that its hearers would be compelled by its very force to follow its conclusions.