News, Views and Opinions.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 41, 17 February 1900, Page 1 (Supplement)

News, Views and Opinions.

! During the Crimean Avar a vessel arrived bringing boots for the troops; the boots were greatly wanted and the cargo was naturally -welcomed, jhe enthusiasm diminished, however, jvhen it was discovered that the consio'iiment consisted entirely of right hoots; the left- boots were in another ship and arrived days later. Sometliiijo- of the same kind appears to have"happened in the despatch of reinforcements to South Africa. The arm most in demand was undoubtedly artillery; mounted men were the next essential. If there had to be waiting-, it was best to wait for the infantry. But apparently the reverse order was preferred; the infantry came first, the artillery came last, while a great part of the cavalry has yet to arrive. Hence much of the difficulty with which our generals have had to contend.

■ Some of the old back blocks Boers I ■would appear to look upon the prom- : ises and threaten ings of the Old Testament as personally addressed to themselves and their forefathers They worship a purely tribal God! who has given over "ti*e heathen as a prey to their teeth/ and they, feeling themselves justified, in so doing, act towards the said heathen accordingly. The "Daily News" tells a typical story of a missionary who, visiting a Boer family, found that they were daily using and wearing out a Bible brought over with the family three centuries before from Holland, and containing all the, family names ever since. He pointed out to them that it was a treasure not to be ruined. They agreed, but did not know where 'to get another to replace it. He promised to make them a present of one. The old Boer was aghast. "But," he said, "the English do not know anything about "the Bible!" However, the book, printed in Dutch by the Bible Society, was duly presented. Of course, instead of the Dutch Arms it had the English Arms on the_ front page. The old man pointed this out. "That is not the Bible," he said. A little further examination showed him, however, to his amazement, that 'this was only a matter of printing, and that otherwise the two were identical. The explanation as to the ■Arms led to a reference to the translation. "Translation?" said the old man. "This is no translation. The •words were original!}' said in Dutch."

The bloody side of war is only conveyed to us "by an ocasional phrase in the letters of the correspondents. We I .read so much about the rapidity with which the wounds caused by Mauser bullets, heal that we are rather apt to think with Sir Lucius O'Trigger that, in spite of the appalling fusilades of which we read, '"you may get a ball, or two clean through you and never hurt you." It is just as well, therefore, to be reminded by Mr Churchill's letter to the. "Morning Post" of the effect of a Boer sheil at Estcourt upon the arm of a private in the Fusiliers. The whole arm was smashed to a horrid pulp, bones, "muscles, blood and uniform all mixed 'together. At the bottom hung the liand, unhurt, but swelled instantly to three times it's ordinary size. The "Times" correspondent, in his account of the battle of the Mpclder, tells us of a soldier.who, sitting down, had both thighsAlowir oft by a little shell landing on the\ground between them from 8t lib Viekers-Maxim gun. This handy 'little weapon, .christened the "Bong-Bong-Bong," from its sound, seems, although actually not so effective as the ordinary Maxims, to be more terrifying. It fires 5 or o shots a second, is extremely mobile and "wholesomely respected" by all the Tommies. It is interesting to note that the patent of "Bong-Bong-Bong" was, in '92, offered to—and, of course, declined by —the Government.

Part of the "Ladysmith Lyre," the newspaper which caters for the besieged garrison^ has been reproduced in a London journal. Its prospectus states that it is published to supply a long felt want, and says that "what you want in a besieged town is news which you can absolutely rely on as false." Only one quarter column is reserved for true news, if any should 'unavoidably creep in.' " This quarter column, it appears, usually remains blank. The "Personal column" begins with the following advertisement: — "Piet: Eeturn home at once. Everything forgiven.—Paul." Under "Exchange and Mart," a collector advertises for stamps bearing the Ladysmith postmark, and offers in exchange his large and valuable collection of shells, which include "perfect examples of Long- Tom, Pompom, etc."

Since the beginning of 1899 it has ibeen noted at the Bank of England that an unusually large number of 'light gold pieces are in circulation. Pinalljr the Mint authorities instituted an investigation, resulting in the dis- ■ covery that such coins are being sysc tematically by immersions in acid. Those engaged in the operations are not common swindlers. They have capital and brains, and are not Actuated by an over-reaching greed. ihe-.Bank of England records show •ttiat the average amount of gold "sweated" has been six grains from eacl'i Wereign, which would mean_ a profit \f about one shilling per com. Up to fte present the Tost Office has been,the\chief sufferer, and. the matter has Become so serious that the PostmasteitGeneral has issued a . special waiW to officers in his department. H? warns the staft that all gold coins, received at post offices should be sen\ to the Bank of England for examination, and that those found short should be cut in two and the deficiency matle up by the officers who received themv The headquarters • of the "sweating" g-ang are believed to be in some provincial town, but all efforts of the Mint and Bank of England detectives to locate the g/uig have so far failed. ' !":

An amusing- incident, which has the, merit of being true, tooi place in a village-in the west of fecotand a short ■time before Mr Gladstone died. A . servant girl in one of the mansions near the village had a pet cat at home .called "Gladstone." Feeling the want <?f companionship, she sent for it, and when it was despatched her..friends telegraphed asking her to meet. Gladstone" at the railway station Of eoftsge the news that Mr Gladstone was coding was soon spread through >he village- by the post-office officials land the whole population turned out *o give him a hearty reception. It was a good humoured crowd, and wlien they found that the object of 'all this ceremony was n. Nat tlieil 'amusement knew no bounds.

A very important operation was lately, reported to the French Acatlemie de Medicine by Professor Jonnesco (of Bucharest), who asserts that he has completely cured a boy of thirteen

of a confirmed stammer by craniec-

tomy. His theory is that the cause of the impediment is often a flattening ■ (of the left side of the head, which pre- . | vents the proper development of the skull, and consequently a compression of the brain at the very place where ' Broca thought that he could localise the faculty of speech. He therefore ■ cut away such portion of the tissues '; as appeared to confine at that part the ' j dura mater, and found the experiment 1 I completely successful. One wonders ' | whether this, too, was known to neo- ' lithie man. Many neolithic skxills have i been found from which a small civ- '; eular piece of the bone has been re- '! moved, evidently during life; and it ; has also puzzled anthropologists to as- [ sign a cause for this primitive kind of \ , trephining. But if we asstmie it was ' j done to cure stammering' all clifficul- ' ty would vanish.

The interest attaching to anything1 connected with South Africa at the present time has resulted in the reprinting1 of an immense number of stories, of which perhaps the following is not the least remarkable: —"Some years ago, in South Africa, a woodcutter was proceeding through the forest when he suddenly saw crouched in the road before him an enormous lion. Seized with terror, he turned round and ran off, when the lion pursued and went past him, and on reaching a certain distance in advance again lay down, as if to await the man's approach. The man again turned round and went back; the lion once more rushing beyond him and lying down. This manoeuvre was repeated by the animal several times, when the man at length fell to the ground, exhausted by fright and fatigue. The lion then approached him. and, after examining him from head to foot, walked off with a friendly roar, as if expressive of its pleasure at the trick it had played him. The man was confined to bed for some days after."

They have some bold menfolk in America, at least we judge so from news from Detroit, where the Board of Education has done a thing thateven the most hardened members of the New Zealand School Boards would shudder to attempt. The Detroit Board has been studying hygiene and high art, and have come to the conclusion that, its women teachers would look more Grecian and graceful if they abstained from wearing corsets. Therefore the Board in its wisdom has decreed that they shall not wear them, and has issued an order absolutely forbidding its female teachers to use those articles of attire. In its order the Board explains that in its opinion "corsets interfere with the teacher's efficiency in taking graceful poses," that the ladies "would look more elegant" without the prescribed oarment, and "could more effectively impress their scholars and educate them in an appreciation of the beautiful " The teachers have revolted, and the Board is now puzzling itself how it shall enforce its order.

Burin"- one of the half-hearted battles "fought between the Chinese and the Japs a few years affo, nn incident" happened which would be ah but incredible were it not vouched for on the highest authority. A Chinese foot soldier was kneeling m the trenches, tnWnsf aim at a Japanese officer in the distance, when a bullet from the enemy entered the muzzle of his rifle, passed clown it, exploded the cartridge, and blew the mans face off Strange to say, a very similar thin"- took place during the bombardment of Alexandria by the British in 18S2 The Bes-el-Din fort offered a stubborn resistance to the warships, and several of them had to train their °rins on the place before its big guns were finally silenced. During- the thick of the engagement, just as one of these monsters was about to 'be fired, a huge projectile from one of the ships entered the fort and wedged itself firmly in the muzzle of the gun, entirely precluding its further use. When 'the victorious bluejackets en-, tered the fort they found the cannon, with its strangely plugged muzzle, and photographed it. Marvellous to relate, the heavy charge in the gun was not exploded by the shock.

The Norwegian army has organised a corps of infantry which can cover a distance of 80 miles in a day's nmrph. This extraordinary record, which equals the performance of the best trained cavalry in Europe', is only possible because every man m the corps is a. highly skilful skater, and when in marching trim is provided with a specially constructed pair of skates. The corps can be manoeuvred with extraordinary rapidity. The heels of the skates are so sha.ped as to enable the men to spin round as if on a pivot, at the word of command. As a matter of fact they can perform the " I'ight about face " far more quickly than any crack regiment of infantry. The evolutions of the corps are naturally confined to the great fiords which indent the coast of Norway, and which, during fhe long winter season, are frozen solidly over. For patrols and scouts duty these soldier skaters will be of the greatest service. The men are the pick of a skating nation, and their commander -was once the champion skater of this country.

A press man is responsible for the. following- pleasing little effort of imagination., He says : One day we ran into about forty thousand million sharks. There was a lot of them, and I wondered if they were all there for me. Ido not- think sharks give everybody a sort of creepy feeling. We ■had gome fun- with them. There was a. passenger on board who had had some experience with the beasts before.; He went to the cook and got him to mnke a. lot of dumplings. He came on decK with three or four dozen of them and began tossing them to the sharks. They snapped them down eagerly. Now you must bear in mind that these dough balls in coming from the cook had'time to cool on the outside so that as they slipped down the shark's throat he did not notice anything out of the way. But the inside of that ball was like a fiery furnace, and in a. minute after it had been swallowed the heat began to act. I don't believe there is anything hotter than hot dough and if not exposed to the air it keeps hot. Well, you should have seen those sharks jump a.nd plunge and throw themselves. I never saw ■anything like it in my life, and, while I am always opposed to cruelty, it doesn't seem as if there was any harm in doing1 anything- to a shark.