NEWS, VIEWS, and OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 28, 1 February 1913, Page 13

NEWS, VIEWS, and OPINIONS.

'~,. opium .jU-T-tion in China is once V. „rowin_ ■..-.>:-. The Chinese Gov- I r _'..- % are' ;. 1 i:n_ »!' Indian opium '.-•"i_ .1"! • :; "' accumulations at ''' - r'ort are \ .lined ■>' ten millions ster- '- l -'L.„-t ve.ir Cr.-u Kritain agreed '"' _i ar ] i- nail I n.:-. 0-.. adm t !"{'■-■ i any province which had cea=ed and had extinguished '•'"vjjjirenou- traffic. The Chinese have '"-.'eif;he .i_reenient by excluding In--I,'r"'■'■i-m from various provinces which L 30! '..-ome within its sc ■ !»-. Tie ques- ,. I. ~ becoming .in international one, '.",-...,. eleven foreign banks have lent CVsams nn the o-, mn -stored in Shangy w hankcrf :'..renter to claim com- ,- ,n -Viuir'i whether from China or ■ .- R-r-itiin - nj; .-cur. The opium 1.rP21 Hill.."' .i r ......,, r ; \j\ India arc already claiming -j.ti-". rsat '. r>n fr-rni the (lovcrnment of jji'-i." because they '.vp:.' induced to pay juct sura- for opium in the belief that r-~,. x - Britain would enforce her own ip-eement. Urea: Britain cannot eni,,r c her own Agn-ement. because the rimitrv w.-ml.l never tolerate another »nium war, an.l China known it. So [{ere yon are. The irony of the situai: oa is that, while the Indian opium 't being excluded from China, the native miom i- once more being extensively produced. As -ian-l to-day. tourists can motor from Alexandria to Cairo, the ma-i bein_- practically finished. Indeed, so near completion is it and so much n sp is expected to be made of it. that the sutomobilf clubs have obtained permisrion from the Mini-try of Public Works :o erect indication and danger sigm posts ill along the route. The day may not. be far distant when one will be able to motor from the landing stage at Alexandria to one'- hotel at the First Cataract—about i ;fl 0 miles. The -'sphinx face." which is imputed to the present, aire, may be a eondemna■Jon or a compliment, according to the personal view. The development of the strategic instinct in business may be a contributory caus—. or it may be the bridge habit setting the fashion. Is it not rather the outcome of a patiencesavin" sense in the community? To beam at one another, when there are so many of us. would be almost as tireeoroe as :o wear a perpetual frown. We ~., passive registers for the sake of iur ucial muscles, an.! we cultivate the imtussiveness of raarblp because, perhaps, ire envy its endurance. Sir Edward Carson described himself, i; Warrington, the other day. as a somewhat intelligent and respectable barris•er. We suppose he knows best. But perhaps he came to that conclusion after th* "accident" in the House recently. The "Daily ChronicJ'.e." -peaking of it, Hid that Sir Edward Carson addressed the chair beheaded —an outrage on an old Parliamentary tradition which drew cries of "Order, order!" from a hundred throats. Sir Ed-ward Carson hastily cast about for a hat. A poor substitute for a head . An anti-race-suicide block of flats. ■ahere with large families will hive preference as tenants over bachelors •ur childless couples, is being erected in Montreal, at a cost of some £40,000. lie building wall he triangular in. shape, nnd will enclose a large plot of ground, which will be laid out with flower-beds and a fountain as a playground for children. There will be 24 flats, all designed specially for large families. The flats Till average 10 rooms, and each flat will be aited with a vacuum cleaner, refrigerating plant, and a gas incinerator for .-abbish. Most of the flats have been taken by prospective tenants, and one hither of a fa mil v has signed a 10 years' lease. Traffic was temporarily held up in lm.>_ Street, Birmingham, so far as c: ss:ng the road was concerned one day recently. An ingenious gentleman had tied the reel of a fishing rod to a lamppost near the bottom of the street, and bid unobtrusively fixed the hook in the bjck ot a friend's overcoat near the neck. The result was that the victim up the street gradually unwindthe line, and causing the many people washing to cross this much frequented thoroughfare either to duck under tbe !:ne (with frequently awkward results as regarded ladies' hats) or to wait until tip :nn was finished. The gentleman bfiring the hook and unrolling the line walked up the street with great dignity »™i c-.ntent.ment until he reached Cor-p-TJtion Street, where he was informed 01 -<te inconvenience he was causin°\ -inva.-mg stories of the strictness of "c li.ilkan censorship are beginning to a r?car in European papers: An America photographer wished to send a picL ir° of some guns going through the '*ti. It was stopped. "I cannot send ipaotograph of some guns: it is a secret •'/■■ ie Bulgarian- have guns."' he wired a» tiitor, much to the annoyance of _ ft ! WW ". A " Mlwr - l ph.i Pasha'the cus2 1 was after the war correspondent had *«tfa a dWpat-h to bring it to the held his court in a room eur£w.ded by a rrv.vd of correspondents. --' censor insisted that the corresponv;' the despatch alou.i to j , len 'he censor read it over J*™ to him to make sure that all hoard. s -->:e letters had to pass through the ordeal, and one correspondent, with J°™ of humour, wrote an rmaginurv :-• a-e letter full of the most fervent fe ni _r 3 .f re - '' vhi,h " read out to a jyr Whir.? censor nnd to a batch ■ c » nd tried t0 , oofc a 6 if thp _ ~- 'irtenmcr. —"fa ' 9f i'r "" t0 Srit ' lin '' i recent pur has' S-rv erm R n •. li: " i,li ! , fr,r th * "-" °f the te n ' n a Rr " r 'in journal remarks that. j. -OW. per contra, the Oermnn fl et Cl E f "'I- - 'mite true. a< -~,-'« ' - Christina.----t"« Jl '?' "Kai-er Wilhi-lm 11. und ,- WHcl ' has i,,t;t bc "n P-b- - - - !' Amon ? 0, -her beaut fu! pres t-" - , ' olnure ' 1 illustrations it i ,„.„' Miniature frigate Royal I-uise. J'-Mt iron, William IV. to'the King ' 'rassia, m whiei, ti,„ ,- : 'rrir n„i , t '" present bin-•--el-™ f bro;he '" H-nrv learned Sound P« 5 4 s " anmn,sni P the waters lo r dnm - The next British warr '-~ to Prussia were -Wtn" 1 fn r at<? Ttlolh - Rover, the u^' a '; J ' Jn '| the N'lobe. which is stili tit* "i 3 train,n J. ship for cadets. Ther aiso was the Renown, which ii i-:-I'" ln ~ a ,t a ship at Wilt! »bffi t man - T TVars h w:,s tht Rrafc, ,', or icv,? fal Prussian officers t< te ik T'ofr raUlin;: in ° UT Xhv - v - J usl * t_*, ', ° fficers now SO to Berlin fo, ot educational service in th. **4a army.

It is something of a landmark in our history, remarks an English exchange, that the Dreadnought, after six years' service, has been removed from t-he First Battle Squadron. The arrival of Superi Dreadnoughts has left the public quite unmoved, and it will be interesting to see whether the official deposition of the Dreadnought from pride of place will have any effect on the phraseology of the ] man in the street, who has become so accustomed to the word that he is not i likely to give it up easily. I I Here is a bit of good advice from America to business men: "Advertise. . When a duck lays an egg she just waddles off as if nothing had happened. When a hen lays an egg there's a whale of a noise. The hen advertises." Hence the demand for hen's eggs instead of , duck's eggs. "The truly great are modest, bur in these days of advertisement t-he truly modest never become great." said a great man. But he didn't know the story of the hen and the duck when ' he wrote that. A friend of mit>e met a mud-stained , soldier on a mountain side, who spoke perfect English in a most cultured way, writes a correspondent of the "Graphic." He was in a large way of business in Mark Lane. EX?., where he used to wear a tali hat and frock-coat and patent leather boots. But he had hurried back to Bulgaria and was living among peasants in sheepskins with naked bayonets, and , nasty knives in their boots. For the spirit of nationality is stronger than the ties of wealth and ease. It is a sentiment which exists even in the Mam-mon-worship of the City. Dean Inge seems on very doubtful ground when he laments "the decay of fear as a vital element in religion." I Fear is the "vital element" of those religions which propitiate their deities byact-; of cruelty, and keep their votaries in an atmosphere of superstition that defnes all progress. It is surely only in proportion as nations rejoice in their religion instead of cowering under it that they become fitted to do their share of the world's service. Tf Dean Inge would consult the physiologists and psychologists upon the influence of fear on the human system, he would cease, we almost imagine, to yearn for a further infusion of it in the temperament oi" the day. In connection with the suicides of two life-sentence prisoners at Maidstone (laol, the statement of a prison doctor in the '-Daily Mail," to the effect that, of all prisoners, murderers are the " pleasantest and most interesting we have to deal with," will on doubt astonish many readers. It will also, perhaps, surprise them to hear that 19 out of every 20 murderers have no recollection of the actual commission of their ierirue. They may admit their guilt, but of the deed itself not the slightest memory has remained. The fact is that murders are usually committed in a moment of mental abnormalism; the impulse dies in the moment of its fulfil ment, and the man becomes a normal— and perhaps by no means crim'nal— creature once more. Under these circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that, . to the men at Maidstone, their life sentence seemed worse than death. Interesting details regarding the eon- ,'| struction of the C'unarder Aquitania, . | which will be the world's largest steamer, ( were mentioned at a Board of Trade i inquiry at Glasgow. Application was ' | made by th eClyde Lighthouses Trust to 'deposit 1,000,000 cubic yards of dredged J' material upon a certain -area on tbe lower reaches of the river. It was stated j I that the removal was primarily to per- . j mit of the Aquitania being taken out l' to the open sea. The vessel is expected ito be launched in the spring, and by the f i following year will be ready for'com- ' mission. She is 45,000 tons burden, and , it is intended to widen and deepen the ■ Clyde ehannelway. Mr Raeburn, chairman of the Trust, stated that the Aquitania was a big problem, and every hour of their time would be required for the dredging. Several local authorities ' objected to the application, but after reassuring statements had been m:ide by the promoter* these were withdrawn, and Captain Monro stated that he would > j submit his report to the Beard of Trade. 1 The question of national flags, which arose in the House of Commons during '. the Home Rule debate, was recently beI fore the Courte de Cassation, in France, 1 and drew from the tribunal a decision j j which incidentally involved the temporal I sovereignty of the Pope. According to ! French l_w only the Tricolour, banners '_ of municipalities, and flags of foreign sovereign States may be publicly flown, . and the authorities of Mans prosecuted ! one of the inhabitants for displaying the : Papal flag during the Joan of Arc festh ities last year. The plea was put forward that the flag was the emblem ' ! of the Pope's sovereignty, and, therefore, could be legally flown. The local magistrate admitted this plea, and the case ! then went to the Cour de Cassation. The latter tribunal delivered a considered : judgment declaring that the Pope is not a sovereign, and. therefore, can have no national flag; and, in addition, it was laid down that it is an offence against French law to refer publely to the Pope as a Sovereign. But all civil authorities in France are not so punctilious as those ' at Mans, and the crossed keys on a white ground are still used in many ' parts of France by devout Catholics. - Lord Kitchener has been elected a 1 member of the Egyptian Institute. He * thus follows the example of all the illust trious generals who have been connected 1 with the country, with the exception of I Kleber, who. through an erroneous con- - ception of what the institution was, de- ; clined the honour. If the issuing of i proclamations to the fellaheen fell to ': Lord Kitchener he could, as has been » pointed out. emulate Napoleon, and si.n c them " Kitchener. Member of the In-ti-t. tute." Already he is following in an- • t other direction* in Napoleon's steps. He • ordered a road to be made between Cairo ,s and Alexandria, and now it is announced, .s on no less an authority than the Underd Secretary of State for Public Works, >- that he is studying a plan for covering i! Egypt with a complete series of main t roads. These will be undertaken by the ".Government itself, whilst the auxiliary g ones will be laid by the Provincial Coun- ;- ! oils. It will give great satisfaction to d. every one I wrt-es a " Pall Mall Gazette " •s correspondent), for, apart from the m lir-! tary standpoint, such a system of roads c! will be of immense commercial value, as c it will open up districts that are latent II through lack of communications; it will n . further develop others that are at preis, sent dependent solely cither on the river l-'or the railway for transport, and it will ie I give this country an additional attr.tc■o j tion in the eyes of the tourist, who at it i present can rarely get off the beaten >r | track or obtain any other view of ie Egyptian life than that to be had from | the train window or steamier deck.