TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2604, 11 September 1909, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Thosp pastor ala sts • who have recently become alarmed, at the A *Wortliy prospect of the übiquitCbase. ous and prolific bunny overrunning the lands of Poverty Bay have really no eause for worry. The matter which is . giving, them such grave concern is in good hands, for Mr. William Douglas Lysnar has sworn a dreadful oath that never a solitary rabbit shall set foot in Poverty Bay. Anybody who knows the i geiitleman in question will -understand that what hp says goes, and that once an. idea really penetrates his cerebral membranes no force on earth or elsewhere can withstand it: the thing, simply has to go through. The wily bunny has fooled all the farmers, all the politicians, all the know-alls of Australia, and ui many parts of New Zealand he has completely mastered the position. <Xn Hawke’s Bay he is at grips with the sheep-men and is already casting longing eyes at the verdant pastures or this greatly-favored zone. But—and this is a very big but—our own William Douglas blocks the way. And* when .the hapless bunny learns of the relentless-purpose that has entered, the stern, adamantine soul of Mr. Lysnar die' will surely realise that the game is up. For huge fences, many miles in length, are to be. constructed at both ends of the district, and a ceaseless, vigilant watch is to be kept for any stragglers that may crawl under, or jump over, the barricade. So keen is the rabbit policing to be done that any who do arrive in the forbidden territory will find their reception inhospitable, and they will surely come to an untimely end. The spectacle of a fight to a finish between our hunky townsman, and a miserable little rabbit may, at first sight, seem nearly as one-sided as coursing, but all the same we feel that W. D. L. has, at last, a foe worthy of his steel. For the pretty, innocent, little bunny has a persistent way with him and, laughing at almost all human obstacles, pushes his way ahead. While fighting No-license, at last election, Mr. Lysnar declared that if the measure were carried he would leave the town., and it is quite on tlie cards that if worsted by bunny, he would leave ’ the country 'in disgust. Wherefore we sincerely trust the big man will'win, for with all his drawbacks he is never likely to. work the tithe of the mischief that would be achieved were the rabbit to take up permanent lodgings in this locality. We wish W. D. L. all possible success in his rabbit campaign, if only for the reason that those unfortunate Hospital Trustees, who dared -to affront the dignity of Mayor and Council, may, by the diversion, be spared the ignominy of being publicly hanged from the top of the Firebelf in Gladstone Road.

What Mr H. G. Wells would call the fetish of property has Polar at last made itself evlProperty. dent -in connection with the discovery of the elusive 'North Pole. Very little of this world is free now-a-days, and one would have thought that the North Pole, at anyirate might have been left unappropriated. But apparently if tho tourist is to be allowed to scratch his name on the glacial protuberance that adorns the top of the globe, or the drunk of the night before wishes to cool his aching brow on the Pole’s surface he will have to do so subject to the permission of some Government or other. Already Home and Canadian papers are'claiming the long-lost'spot under old boundary arrangements, and it would-be on a par with other silly outcomes of modem civilisation if the question were to come before a tribunal of! international arbitration. In "the meantime Commander Peary has gone one better and assumed private ownership on the policy of “finding’s keeping,” despite Dr Cook’s ialaam. Peary has had the sense to realise not only the uselessness of the Pole but his’ inability ,to retain possession of it single-handed) and has wired U President Taft offering to place his discovery at the State's disposal. Ihe President had & saving sense of humour and did not take the matter seriously for he telegraphed back that he didn t know exactly what to do with the gift, and sums up the question of ownership as well as anything. As regards the actual discoverer of the Pole, however, there are likely to be sonle gloomy arguments. Peary dismissed Cook s pretensions with the terse phrase,- 1 have him nailed,” while the doctor ignores the other’s accusations. Mean.whiie the world at large -can only await