The Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6935, 26 October 1900, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Although- th'fe delegates from' the" rations j I'obal bodies who met. on Wednesday even*-' ing to discußs • the question, of " Greater Christchurch " strove to preserve a courteous attitude towards the proposal; many of them unwittingly betrayed their opposition to it 1 in more ways than one. The fact is, wefear, that some of the representatives of the suburban boroughs are 7 oppose&J to amalgamation with the city at any price". They have tasted authority an their own districts, and they are not going to relinquish it iff they can help it. Nevertheless, we do not regret that the subject was ventilated on Wednesday. Some day, no doubt, the suburban boroughs -will elect representatives possessing broader views on the question, and in the meanwhile the supporters of the movement) <j 0 n o Harm br .submitting their ideas to public consideration. . ' Tho additional Minister authorised by Parliament ha^ been appointed, and, as was generally anticipated, the portfolio: has been! conferred on Mr C. H. Mills. The' new Minister will strengthen the Cabinet in many directions. He may not be a powerful debater, but he is an earnest, . conscientious ■■ p*oliticiari, well educated in Hs- profession ; Just the man, in fact, who can ba trusted !to superintend the work of his depirtqlienij and protect the interests of the country, [t is reported that He will take tie" portfolio of Justice, and possibly that of LaTjour also, and we. think that all but a few interested Conservative critics will agree that ho will fill both admirably. Who is to be the first premier of the c Australian Commonwealth? This is the question which is being asked on the other side of the Tasman Sea just now. If public opinion is a trustworthy -forecast Mr Barton will be appointed. It is said that he would be acceptable; to the great body of tlie Federal electors, and also that his appointment would give satisfaction in England. It is believed, indeed, that Mr Chamberlain and Lord HopetounV have agreed that Mr Barton shall be given the task of forming a Ministry, arid if this is correct it niay bo taken for granted that he will be the first premier. No\ politician has greater claims oil the position than Mr Barton, but for whose labours Australian Federation might not hive been accomplished during the present generation. Lord Roberta's grandfather, the Rev John ' Roberts, was a benefjeed clergyman in the Irish Established Church. Lord Robertas maternal grandfather was a minor canon of St Patrick's Cathedral. It is very strange, (says the "Belfast News Letter") that relatives of three famous Irish soldiers should have been closely connected with Sb Patrick's. Tho Very Rei? the Hoh Henry Pakenham, who was Dean of St Patrick's from 1843 to 1864/ was a brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, and the Yen. Cadwallader Wolseley, who was a canon of St Patrick's, was a cousin of Lord Wolseley. Mention of Lord Roberts reminds us that Mr Julian Ralph.in last; month's " Harper's Magazine," sets himself the task of defining the distinguished commander's secret of success ; and he decides that it is thiS: — He trusts .every man implicitly untdl he fintis himself mistaken in an individual ; then it is not comfortable to be in that mail's shoes. He is never angry. He controls his temper as he does his appetite, for he never smokes, and drinks hardly at all. He lives, in war? as plaintly as anj' colonel under him, to say the least. Beyond and behind and above all eke that distinguishes? him is this .- that though he is a general among men, he counts himself, before God, a humble soldier, for without ever intruding the fact, he is 'a devout Christian.