Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the Wast Coast. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1884. PUBLIC SPIRITEDNESS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 254, 23 September 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the Wast Coast. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1884. PUBLIC SPIRITEDNESS.

It is not pleasant to think that a* tKe civilisation of the world progresses, so does the public spiritedness of the people become less and less. But that this is the case is a fact too well known to be disputed. Still, whilst it must be seen with a certain amount of regret, it does not follow that the state which the world is* coming to is *not a more prictical and therefore a more satisfactory one than that in which it was centuries ago. In olden times there were men, and they could be named, who were willing to devote their lives to the investigation of various subjects, with the hope ot ultimately making a discovery in a certain direction, which would prove of practical service to their fellow beings. The discovery made, it was immediately made known to the world at large, and all were invited, or at least allowed to make free use of it, and the inventor was satisfied in having attained the object for which he had so long been labouring. Not so now-a-days, however. In these times a man who makes a discovery does so, not so much for the sake of the good it will bestow upon his fellows as for the emolument which he hopes to reap ftom it when given to the world. The whole difference between the motives of inventors in the past and present times may perhaps 'e best described by saying that the scientist of the old school would, immediately on making a discovery, rush out into the streets and divulge it to the world, in his joy and gladness, whilst he of the nineteenth century puts his hat quickly on, calls a cab, and drives straight away with closed lips to the Patent Office. The one had studied and investigated for the sake of the world, the other for the sake of himself. But, much as the old genialstate of things seems at first sight preferable to the present, there fare proofs, that after all, the latter are purely the result of civilization, and are really the most beneficial to the world. That is to say there is greater advancement and knowledge to be attained by our present practical method of doing things than by that which the times have superceded. If philanthropy to the great masses of unsympathetic men and women composing the world were the only incentive to research and discovery, there would be few indeed, * and wisely, who would go through the labor which is required for its successful attainment ; and the fewer there are that undertake it, the smaller are the prospects of the enlightenment of the world. Whereas, if the reward i§ honorable, and substantial as well, there is more Inducement for man to enter into research, a greater number will do so* and the chances of discoveries being made will be proportionately greater. By. instituting patent laws, we hold out additional inducements for capable men to work for their fellow creatures, for if their discoveries benefit the latter they also benefit themselves.* We have fower visionaries with whom to entrust the advancement of men, whose motives strike one as being almost too phi)anthropical to be quite sound, and we have in their place men of sound practical sense and determination, who, seeing that an innovation in a certain direction will be of use to mankind, and knowing that the emolument to be reaped from its discovery will be directly in propor r tion \o the time and skill they will

have to bestow upon \i\ Set id work in a definite manner, with a definite object in view, and do not rest Until it is attained. It seems apparent that these are a class of men who are more likely to do good to the world, than those who are perhaps more public spirited, but very much less practical