CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

CURRENT TOPICS.

MEXICO'S -(iHAXJJ 01,1) MAN." It is four years since Porlirio Diaz, Mexico's "grand old man,' as lie. lias hem termed, left the country over which lie had ruled for thirty years, lie was then eighty-one years of age, and his intention was to spend in Spain (he closing days nl' an extraordinary career. Ex-President Diaz was horn at. OaxiUM, was educated for the Church, became a kniyir In- choice, and a soldier by necessity, lie greatly distinguished himself In lli.- resistance to the French invasion in I KM. and four years later he became commander of I In- army of the East, to which the capital surrendered after (ho execution of the Emperor Maximilian. Diaz took hut little further part in public affairs till 1870, when he was in inns against. President .Imiroz, and ill the election of IS7I he was a candidate or the supreme post. Tfe was declared .institutional President, in May, 1577, l.ordo being overthrown and forced iule xile The first, term of the new Piesi. dent. \ias marked liy some unsuccessful attempts at revolution and by the resumption of diplomatic relations villi most of the Kuropean Powers, H.'U'ih it was not until 188;) that relations will-, (heat r.ritain were renewed. Diaz continued to be re-elected, and twice the. Constitution was modified expressly to allow him to continue in office, His policy was to keep down disorder with •i strong hand, to foster railway develop. menl. to develop native manufactures by protecti\e tarill's, to improve education, and. above all, to place the national credit on a sound basis. Occasionally the church gave trouble, and there wcrIndian risings, repressed someiime, with ureat severity. In September, 1897. an at tempt to assassinate the President was made by a countrym:: a mimed Arroyo, who was seeur d and lynched in the Central Police oilice, partly by members of the force, leu of whom were sentenced to deatli for the crime. One well-known writer has described Porfirio Diaz us "the regenerator and dictator of Mexico," and "one of the greatest figures, beyond (juestion, of modern times, after .Napoleon and Bismarck."

ARMING MERCANTILE MARINE. The tragedy of the Ley land liner Armenian emphasises (he case for the arming of all our large merchant slcar*ers, and indeed of every craft thai, is worth the defending. Had the Armenian carried even a single gun she would have had :i very fair lighting chance. Here was a big steamer chased for an hour by a submarine, which for the purposes of this unecpial combat was a gunbon! pumping shell into the helpless liner. The circumstances were exactly those in which a handy 1.7 gun mounted in Ihe stem of tin- ship - the weapon wuh which a number of our ocean liners, are furnished would in all probability ha e disposed of the pursuer. The Corim-m submarine, however, may catch a Tartar

if it attempts a surface pursuit of sonic liners which need not be named .jiisl now. The captain of a While Star steamer which arrived in London Iron an Atlantic port recently declared: "I am not going, if attacked .to take our fate lying down. We have tuo 1.7 gnu, on the poop served by a trained crew. We have r. strong prow, and 1 sin manoeuvre my ship very rapidly, mil I think if we are attacked it may be worse for the submarine, and if we are torpedoed f calculate that our watertight compartments and our cargo will keep us afloat some hours at lca-l i enable us (o gel to a place of safety. The only pity is (hat such arming is not imp. ersal and compulsory in Hri. I -.inV mercantile marine, and the cap

lain of the Armenian must have realise! I that necessity very bitterly when he was | •erecd io lake his own fate "lying dovn." viliuuit being able lo (ire a su'iliiry sin 1 in defence of his ship an i passenger, and "row. W'iMEN (iTNSTAIiI.KS. 'lie two v,,img women appointed to Hie Police force of New South Wat-, I •;-.■ neillui- ' lepbauline in lmihl nor innsI ciibne in !„anng. They arc iu,( oidnimeiit of having »,,,..)■ . !;, 11,.. i,„c v.v • "f coin-,,., thankfully i .reived i.- num..ists and witlings of . ■■ eri d ' . d ■.- idea of women -on the beat." e; ■■ ..men arresting armed burglars . r tigiiii;:,' drunks, of thciu chasing the siniilfimv of thi' suburbs ami other sm-l, ab-nrdi-tics is capable of indefinite expansion. Hut ridicule of ||,e Hamlio'.-uii kind •-. in a mailer of Ibis kind, wiilmiil pom:.. 'flic view taken 1m Hie Police Depariincut is thai men make a sad hash "I certain tonus ■•! police war;:. ■,. hi.'h could be salisfaeloi-ily taken in hand ie wouna,. Tl„ re aie mailers relating !., (he condition of children, the cuviro • menl of voiuig gill.-, i he ;is-oci:i!ion / girls in little "pushes- rollllll |'ie stre.-l corners there are iuiuiim-mble sordid occurrences in the undoiwovlil of ciimand poverty to which :i male e„„st,,i,i,. can .bring nothing more to bear than a copioii- incapacity to get at ll.e fad-. Tlmsc women will have idcntv (~ ,|.,. and it MM',a- reasonable lo exprcl iliil lb ■ experiiuelll will prove wholly salisia.lory. Wa, it iii.l Mr. Seildo,, who vv iliccllsloincil to at times speak alum liming Urn sfreels ~,,1 rolled by "discro-i women'"; The plan adopted here is no,' quite the same as Mr. Scildon bad in blameless Amazons being a! large in j Sydney - but it rests upon a eoitclu-i.-n j common to both. There are several j police ollicers high up in ilia sec, i.-c dm I prophesy (lull the experiiuelll will. Ml I the light of experience, be found o ; justify a very material expansion in Hi' ' number of women cinploved. ■

DISEASf IX WAKFAUH. Probably U-w oilier Hum medical observers realise I'ully Ihe pari disease is playing during the present world iv.ir, and will colli inuc In play, when Ihe war is done, liy reason of (lie predisposition, brought si limit liy w'ur's stresses, say s tlic Scientific American. Aliliongli I'm medical military service is probably

more, perfected (ban in previous cor llicis, yet several men are dying of dis.jase to on,, slain by ordnance. liiHc(ion ha.-, indeed modified the course of all and lias abruptly terminated -., ■ wars. Campaigns «hieli should, by nil ed. haw failed because cholera, plague, typhoid, lyplnii smallpox, malaria, dysentery, and yellow fever hare cheated shot and shell of their victims. And war's al'tumath. The unusual physical

.-ires-cs of -...-,-.. ;,„(! (he enduring ollVct of its horrors upon the psycliism. predispose to degenerations and organic (lis. eases. Wherefore there is in (he feu years after every war unusual sickness and untimely death among (he survivors, from anaemia, debililv. liver, heart, kidney, and other diseases. Tuberci losis In., long manifested it-elf. in its

insidious and malign way. in (lie world's large armies. Many enlisted men have the disease latent in tlieiu. either to burst forth under the strains of campaigning or to appeal- soon after the exhausting warfare is ended. Thus, when one computes (he awful life destruction in war's criiage, one must multiply the loss several fold by reason of disease. HLUMAXY'S SCUITUSES." In a recent, cablegram a' neutral author who recent!;,' visited Germany was reported as having said: "Wo neutrals fear I hat England imcler-rat.es the running' of her foe. and does not reali-e that, she is always plotting mechanical and chemical surprises." This subject was recently discussed by Mr. dames Dunn, who wrote from Rotterdam to a London paper. Talking to a young German chemist the other day. he said: " 1 asked him why he was not at the front." "There are no chemists in the firing line," lie replied. "One chemist is worth more than a battalion of soldiers to the Fatherland." At. the. lime t thought lie was referring to the preparation ol drugs for the hospitals, but when. I heard, of the German use of poisonous gas T realised what he meant. 'flic fame man declared: "Sooner than tiermany should lie wiped out, as a nation, we would destroy Europe. We would not hesitate to let loose cholera bacilli on tiie annies of our enemies." That is (he way Germans talk when tfic.v are overcharged with food and patriotism. Like the fat boy in Pickwick Paper,, thev love lo make one's 11,-1, e'reep. What, are < iorinaiiy's. posit he surprises; Some we kui.w to our cost : others ar-' in the making. When the war broke out most of us chough! lluit Germany had le.-s tli.ii, ; , -core of submarines. How many she ha, now bnili ami is building can be imagined when it iknown that, lirnuaiis. boa-l lh.it submarines are being iurm-d out at the rate

of one a. forliiiglil. Thai is proba.blv an exaggeration, bul I know lor a fad thai within Hie hft three or lour mouths (welve have been cou-tru -led a I the JTobokcu works at Antwerp. These, however, are not Die large live thousand mile radiu- bonis which threaten our great, liners, but (hey are very dangerous to our merchantmen in the North Sea. The new giant submarines which are (ii-rnmny'- particular pride and boasv at'!, even when awash. Their system of air storage is remarkably ingenious, and their speed is something like rightoi n knots. If. and when, the Herman grand Heel, pomes out to fight, it will be guarded hy a ciim,li„c of -iibniarines. C. 11. I'oele continued Hie dc'hafo. IiEI.-MA.VS AND WOMEN. A J.iniih journalist who has liau long experience of the Henna lis and an Englishman has t-vvn a .-ixlorii-stono licriincr crowd two or three tired women out. of their -cits in a tramcar he needs no fin ther iii-ighl into the modern derma iuvpliou of ivomau's worth and In r appropriate mare in the world. Hut morali-aiion „!' llcrlin. and other gical vvitli ia|»id strides in recent year.. It i- a. commonplace with historian. Hint ioulempf for wo n and their rights lion and deeadell -e ill any lialion that it. uilecis. -in.l we can hardly tail I" (■..(Hie: I Ihe decline of Wolliali's ilillllelic.' and her imposition from Hie high place j -he ,o„ e held ill HIC liellllall lllilld illld Heraian life wiih the fVII -dillarv Iran,fori,ullioii villi !i lie- ill m nil vca~ pa--el over -oi-ial iil 'e iii ||m Henna n capital. 'I he s.ihjecl is i ..Irrmclv niisavorv one and Hi- eviih'in e e, far 100 copious 1,, deal wiih here Max niiliaii Harden has draw,, an appalling pi, lure ~f the mora! decay of modem lie in;, ill hi- "Type-." and tile social hi-lory of llcrlin fr, he da.v - of Hie l-'iihiiburg -caiidal down to (lie his! cscanade of H,e iiicll'able rrown Princ ha.-, been ivplele ivilh every sign and proof of -oris! and <i.i. ial i-or, uprion. All till- is hrgeh Hie peliall.v of Hie ,|e|il,erale aliellipl l„ I elog.'l I C Wolll.'lll |,, ;, penmineiiHy low level in (he social -;,■!,. m, and. afl.r all. Hoae i, a fairlv obvious conned ion between (lie horrors of " fright fulue -s " that |he Her mini soldiers have been encouraged to perpelrale iii lielgiiim and Ki-niic and ; •bis s| range spec) mde tliai ii-,r came j message reords of " women of gentle birlb" working a, navvies i„ tin- Pcilln i ofaiiis. - Auckland Star. j