MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1933, 17 February 1888, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

-" Among the gifts lately presented to Prince Bismarck was an immensely mMsWe and heary writing desk, made of cannon balls, sent him by an English admirer. When he saw it the Chancellor exclaimed: " G-od grant that cannon balls may be always fts peacefully employed." Nothing is safe from these Tories. Not satisfied with putting Irish members; in prison and shooting Irishmen, they cannot even leave monkeys alone. From time immemorial there have been some monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar. They once saved the garrison from being surprised, as the geese did the Roman capital. But it would seem that some Tory has discovered that they interfere with rights of property and they are to be " removed." One of the difficulties and anomalies of our national system of education is that it allows of no religious teaching whatever, while the law says that every person who takes an oath must have a certain amount of religious knowledge. An illustrative case occurred the other day at Napier. A lad of fifteen years of age was placed in the box, and was about to be sworn, when it appeared that he knew nothing at all about an oath. No doubt he was familiar enough with swearing in the language of the larrikins in the streets. It does not appear that he was anything of a larrikin, however. Apparently, he had been educated at a common school, and had received no other teaching. He was well enough educated for all the business of life except taking oaths. When asked by the Bench if he knew the nature of an oath, he frankly enough said he did not. He knew it was required of him to speak the truth. He had been taught " a little Scripture, but not much ." He did not know what would occur to him if he did not tell the truth. The way adopted out of the difficulty wad to allow him to make a statement which was "to be accepted for what it was worth." It is clear that we will have to do one of two things. Either the State will have to issue a primer on the subject of oaths, to be a text-book in the common schools, or elst oaths will have to bo aboli&hed. There seems to be nothing else for it, because under the present system of education lads like the above mentioned will soon be numerous enough. — 'Auckland News.' The London • Spectator ' in the course of a long article on the Australian centenary states that by the next centenary Austra'ia wil be possessed of powerful fleets and strong armies. She will also have contracted international alliances, and be a great factor among the nations of the world. Her alliance and strength will place her beyond the grasp of unscrupulous Powers, and she will be mistress of the Pacific archipel-, ago and able to defy Europe. The people then will resemble the Americans, and possess some of their characteristics , but the genial climate will produce a gentle manner. They will be a people fond of art and luxury. a Dummying " land must have at one time been quite as rife in the United States as in the Australian colonies ; indeed, necessarily more so by reason of the larger extent of the country. Those who have thus acquired land in the States have,since the election of President Cleveland, found to their cost that their properties were not so secure as they thought, for the Com* missioner of Lands ha 3 of late been very busy investigating the titles of nominal owners, the result of which has been that 30,000,000 million acres have been restored to the public domain, and there remain 10,000 cases in which fraudulent possession is suspected. In the course of the investigation over 5000 cases of perjury have been detected, The Earl of Derby, speaking at a Mayor's banquet at Liverpool recently, said he was not an alarmist. He did not believe that our democ~ racy were fools enough to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs ; but he did see two dangers ahead which we ought not to exaggerate, but which we must not ignore — one being the growth of the population, and the other the growth of the public indebtedness. This latter question he thought did more than anything else to create and to increase the danger which arose from Socialist ideas. France, Italy, Austria, and Kussia were worse in this respect than ourselves, and there could only be two alternatives — repay men tor ultimate repudiation. He had a strong im pression as to the alternative which most States would adopt in the end ; but he hoped it wonld not be ours, for he believed we should be prudent and far-seeing, in order that we might be honest. The annual interest on the European National Debts was £160,000,000, Ballance, the unruly steed which bolted with the Commander of the Forces on his last parade, is an animal of some note, and has more than once been the subject of mention on the political platform and in Parliament. He was originally the property of the -late Minister of Defence, but not being of a sufficiently staid and orderly character to bear Ministerial responsibility, he was sold into the defence force, a transaction on which Mr. T. Carter descanted at some length during his recent electoral campaign for WeU lington East. After remaining at Mount Cook for some time, where he Was named after his former owner, Ballance was transferred to Christchurch police station, where, we suppose

he was obtained as a: charger by Major-General Whitmore, A. St. Petersburg correspondent, writing on 6th November, says :— "The present (situation of Europe reminds one strongly of that of the beginning of the century, the part of France being now played by Prussia. Kussia is again menaced by a powerful coalition. At first the European P resa began a vigorous attack against her, and by insinuations, and not unfrequentiy calumny, poisoned the public mind in Europe against her ; then began a war against her economical interests, her commerce, her finances. Now Europe, armed from head to foot, joins forces to meet, and if not annihilate, at least so weaken thi3 colossal Empire as to render it harmless ; and in a diplomatical, economical, and financial sense, Russia is in a state of siege. The question is, has Kussia very much to fear from this coalition ; and, in the long run, will not her enemies suffer more from the gigantic struggle that is preparing thaa she will herself ? There is every reason to believe that, far from weakening Russia, the impending war would awaken her dormant energies, force her to take advantage of her great neglected resources, shake her into action, and force her to throw off the unnatural apathy she is labouring under. As to prolonging the present state of things, if it is ruinous for Russia it is still more so for her adversaries. There is no doubt that we are living through a most historical moment, and the most clever and experienced diplomates are at a loss to predict what may happen in a few monthe or even a few weeks."