The wonders that blind people can be taught to accomplish nowadays are generally familiar; and yet one can never read of them, as in the report of the address to the Educational Conference on Wednesday, without new amazement. Reading, modelling, music—all these one may understand, but that blind men should learn to play football or hockey seems incredible, and all is due to the men who are on a great work among the thousands of the blind in China to-day. That part of Mr. Fryer's lecture, however, which one would specially emphasize for Chinese readers, is the story of the blind boy whose sight might have been saved when he was a baby by a lotion costing three cents. Some years ago Dr. Billinghurst, lecture at the Chinese Y.M.C.A., laid stress on this very point, the vital importance of keeping a baby's eyes clean. He also had a good deal to say, it may be remembered, about that most dangerous practice, in Chinese theatres, of handing round hot towels for the audiones to mop their faces with—whence, there can be no doubt, come many of the discases of the eye 80 rife in China. These things belong to the awakening of China's medical conscience of which a good deal hee Intely been said; and surely they are elementary enough, with a gain out of all proportion to the trouble of observance. it is the duty of every Briton to concur in this view, the utterances of officials on the subject of our defence forces have been strangely inconsistent. We know, for intance, that the total personnel of the Navy is to be brought up to 250,000 immediately, while Lord Kitchener, who has disproved the German assertion that there was not aman in Great Britain who could raise a new army of a million men, long after such an army has been raised, has intimated that he will take every man who makes himself a fighting man. A White Paper, issued on Friday last, indicated that the British Army Establishment at Home and in the Colonies, except India, totalled 3,000,000 men, while the Viceroy of India, on January 12, announced that "we have despatched or are despatching nearly 200,000 men overseas to fight for the Empire." A few days ago the Premier of Canada announced that in addition to 30,000 troops overseas and 1,000 in Bermuda, there were 10,000 ready to go and 50,000 more enlisted to go when needed. Sir Robert Borden added that Canada's further activity was only limited by the requirements of the Motherland. Some 60,000 Australian troops composed the first contingent; the second has ived in Egypt, and on Friday it wae announced that another force 10,000 strong had been offered and accepted. with an additional 4,000 reinforcements monthly.—Mr. Tennant may leave our enemies to guess what the size of our future army will be, but they are by this time fully aware that the Empire is at war and that however great, all requirements will be met.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.