TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2610, 18 September 1909, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

All the portents indicate that ere long' the ordinarily peaceful

Concerning s Uluminants.

citizens of Gisborne will be engaged in a heated controversy on the

various merits or demerits of coal gas and electricity for lighting and other household purposes. Mr. J. R. Jones, a quiet-mannered individual of studious bent and much learned in electrical matters has unwittedly kindled the sparks of discord by stating that as much light can bo obtained through electricity for £IO,OOO as is at present being provided .by the gas company with a plant that it is walling to sell for £60,000. Mr. Hoare, the local manager of the local gasworks, is built more on agressive lines and no one is surprised that he has quickly taken up the implied challenge, and declares Mr. Jones’ figures to be absurd. Incidentally he alleges that gas, as. an llLuminant and heat producer, is becoming more popular than ever throughout the world. This fact can probably be born out by statistics, but it nevertheless constitutes no argument against the Gisborne municipality arranging for an electric plant to supply the lighting for its own streets and such private consumers as may wish to use it. Electricity is likewise making tremendous strides, and in most important towns each appears to have its own special sphere. Which finds most favor in particular localities depends very much upon local conditions. If the Gas Company is able to obtain coal fairly cheaply, and is provided 1 with, the most modern plant so as to give economical production it will probably more than hold its own, but even then electricity is necessarily a most powerful rival. On the other hand a company possessing an obsolete gas producing plant and working on excessive capitalisation, is certain to have a bad run if opposed by a concern producing electricity by the economical methods that are now in vogue. The topic is a ripe one for controversy and Gisborne folks will probbably learn a good deal moreof it darling the next few months than has hitheito come to their knowledge.

A most deplorable feature in connection with the unrest that ex-

White Prestige.

ists in Egypt regarding British rule is the action of Messrs. Keir Hardie

and Barnes in attending the Young Egynt Congress at Geneva. While the ethics, religion, or sentiment that guide Mr. Hardie’s sympathies may bo perfectly sound theoretically, it must be remembered in dealing with Egypt as with India, one has to do with a ; people of an entirely alien nature, whom it takes long and close study to know i passably well—let alone understand. Of the real situation in Egypt, of the aspirations, of the dissensions, of tbo true feelings of the people Messrs. Hardie and Barnes can know no more than the former did of the Indian Nationalists who exploited him so successfully two years ago. Even if Keir Hardie had a thorough grasp of matters Egyptain, the damage to British prestige that must follow on an. Englishman presiding at a congress ot Orientals antagonistic to British supremacy would far outweigh the good that might -arise through, the attendance of _ a competent statesman. And Mr. Keir Hardie is not even a good politician where foreign affairs are concerned. There would be no harni done if England had to fight against ordinary influences in these matters, but she has to deal with a vernacular press that will magnify the support of Mr. Hardie and ihis friend to suit its own purposes. In Egypt and India there are millions who have only second hand news from the native press and the i utterances of the street speaker as political guides, and these millions are unscrupulously exploited by the agitators and their agents. An. instance of 'this occurred in Calcutta when Keir : Hardie incautiouslv remarked that only a million out of England’s forty-four millions of people gained any direct benefit from the possession: of India. . Next day a section of the native press | told its readers that they had only to I rise against-the British Raj and they ! would have the supnorb of forty-three ! million oppressed white .people in England! This sounds amazing, but it is nevertheless true, and is the sort of | mischief that, must invariably arise • from indiscreet meddling in Eastern / affairs by those who do not understand them. The question involved is more | than a national one, for it is by no ' means impossible that the hegemony lof the white race mav be at stake withjin a generation. Under the circum- : stances no condemnation can be too : strong for those who endanger the presItige of their color for a cause winch i they do not even properly understand, * and' for people who could never be in ! real sympathy with Europeans or European thought and sentiment.. “East is East, and West is West, and never the ■ twain shall meet.”