THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9083, 7 May 1908, Page 6

THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

'(By Frank Morton.)

In these weekly notes just now, you will notice, thare is rather more World than Wellington. That is because Wellington seems to bo standing at a point of modest pause on the brink of new experiences, like a naiad just risen hesitating with her toe in a brook.. The oxperience (shall we,say ?) premeditated is the coming General Election. It seems as though everybody in just wondering witn subdued eagerness when everybody else is going to- start ' and. let loose the fkx.ii of oratory. The reporter also arj wondering, not without shudders. And meantime the report is, as a general thing, njthiu' doi'.i'. • 1 went a few nights ago to hear Sir Joseph-Ward talk to the Liberal and Labour PoJeration. He talked figures; and the figures were, on the whole, extremely comforting. It would be the merest twaddle now to pretend tnat the country is not in a high state of what you' call national prosperity. Tue people are paying so much by way of taxation that there is something left over to pay for things that wew tot fully provided for in the Es i nates last year. The Post OtiUa (although you can't buy stamps after rive o'clock) is doing a lot of work. The railways, however slow the trains, do a big business and continue to pay. And there is no need to anticipate any immediate increase of taxation. , Tuat is. a good hearing. True, Sic Joseph rather more than hinted that at some period in the dim future that is 1 not altogether beyond anticipation an increase of taxation might become' necessary. And ho assured his entirely sympathetic hearers that the smiling people would be quite prepared to pay. A man of strong and constai.t faith is Sir Joseph. I met in the street to-day my indomitably cheerful and all-loving friend, Nelson Illingworth, the sculptor. I acceded to his suggestion that he should straightway buy something; and he also said that this was a very prosperous country. As he did away with His portion of the thing, purchased, he told me that he could already conjugate in Maori. He offered an example, which certainly sounded striking. He is, you know, retained to go forth into the length and breadth, the bosky dells and fastnesses of the land, and perpetuate Maori types for the men of 2376 to "admire and reverence. In spite of nll.temotations to sculp for other nations', he means to do it. He says the work is inspiring, but the models are.trying. One day the model will come to time; and certain other days, sometimes a long succession of days, the model will not come at all. In the whirling city, it seems, these children of nature are proud and shy. So Nelson Illingworth; my indomitably cheerful and all-loving friend, says that he shall shortly hie him to their, baronial halls. That is why he is learning to conjugate. I assured him that 1 very glad, and his beaming smile made me confident that he believed me. It is good to be .young and famous and strong and beautiful and sweet; but, oh, it is better to be Illingworth! The new or newish morning paper in Wellington will be educational, whoever says it nay. If you doubt me, read the leading [article, Saturday May 2nd. The suDJect is Heredity and its Laws. If you are making any mistake about the provisional hypothesis of pangenesis, that article will set you right and make you thankful. I saw a man in a tram weep with gladness over it yesterday. They have found a tuatara lizard somewhere down by Christchurch. As the tuatara was caught by a Christchurch man, it easily escaped. Still, as the villagers had not discovered a new religion for quite three weeks, the vision of the tuatara keeps things moving. Mr Henniker. Heaton is advocating an Imperial cable-service, with a rate of a penny a word. He has done much for postal this breezy optimist, but his new idea will make ' the ordinary reformer breathless. Of course, all things are possible. By and by, when our grandchildren are able to go for a week end trip to London by'aeroplane at a cost of thirty shillings, the Imperial cable rate may not be mora than a halfpenny a word. In the meantime some of us wjuld ba.quite happy to see it colme uown to a shilling. As to the Bible-in-Schopls controversy, an interesting sidelight comes from London, where a popularity-test of booki in circulation among the children of elementary schools has . been in progress. Andersen's Fairy Tales comes fir3t, 5,877, «nd Grimm's Stories second, 4,227. Pilgrim's Pi-ogress comes sjventeenth and last 1,244. It is the only definitely religious book of the seventeen. The only book dealing directly with biblical scenesjand characters, "The Land and the Book," has been withdrawn from the list by the Education Committee of the •London County Council. There was no demand for it. Children in these schools have scriptural instruction. Which is to say that the Bible is not barred. .Bishop Neligan, who has latterly had so much to siiy nbaut pagan New Zealand, might reasonably be asked to explain.