TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7417, 7 December 1889, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

fesTcabie' message which we publish in another .column announcing the serious accident which has befallen Emm Bey'at Bzg&motfois sin eifcraotdinary instance of what ia sometimes called the irony of fate. After escaping, all the manifold perils by which he wa» beset Africa— the .fevers, encounters with Mahdist enenues,and'Wfbrth—it is indeed remarkable that on his arrival at the outikirtfffof civilisation, when,.humanly speaking, all Jus-perils were *.t an end, he should meet with au accident -which jeopardise hi§ very life. As * most people are aware, |2min Pasha iejasn doctor, his real name being- Eduard Sohnitzler. 'He w,a3 born ia- IWfit in Oppeln,, Silesia, and after being educated at the.Neiwse .Gfymnasjuin, studied medicine in 1658 at Breslau and Berlin. ■ Abont 1864 he went but * t<£ ' Turkey, " travelling through •Armenia, Syria], _ and Arabia with Hakki Pasha. Jμ 187© he was a surgeon in ths Egyptian Army under the title' of Dr. . Emm - ESeadi, and in J the course of duty was stationed, at Khartoum. Iα 1878, when Gordon wae .Governor, of t&e. Soudan, Emm wasap, pointed Governor of the Equatorial Province After the Mahdiat riainj? he,was cut oil from, comamnicatiori with the civilised world, but managed to keep .together a „ garrison to hojd h?s chief station being Wadelai, on the Lake Albert Nyanza, where he had two steamers. In 1886,, ifc will be remembered, he appealed for help, stating, however, 'that her would not leave his people, but that all he -required was arms, ammunition, and medicine. It was in consequence* of this * appeal that the expedition under' Mr Stanley'was sent out in January, 1887. It was organised by jitr MaQkinuQn 'of BaUvakill, and the Egyptian Government subscribed £10*000 towards it.' 'Ihe project also bad the Support of the administration dt the Congo 3Tree State. It will be remembered bow .Stanley made his. way up the Congo, and then np its great tributary, the Aruwhioii. He established a camp oa the latter sod placed it in charge of Major Barttelofc. for months the whereabouts of the gry&fc explorer vr&S bidden Iron* the world. $ews ■at* i? 6& that Bartfceiofc was sbot by one of his' followers, and that Mr Jamesoa died from fever.. were tumors from time to time of a "White at Banr-eVGhazal, but little importance was

attached to them. About a year ago a German expedition, uader the command of Lieut. Wiseman, was organised ioproceed to relief, but little bop© waa enter, tamed that either he or Emm Bey would ever retura to civilisation, alive. Whea tfc *res wm&y knows that they wew&Jwe, and after thai aaosfc providential eacapee

from terrible >perila, were. tohelHS the eoaetrthe news seemed good to be true. We sincere y £ that the accident to the ,3 Austrian explorer ia not so S eX as reported, that he may over, and reoeife ia Europe Biait!o»«DOgnifcieaof his dating anj a 2 which the moat eminent circles are to accord. ■-?>&*

An animated quarrel is goinjr on betw the New Zealand'HerUld, published at A.v land, and the Evening Post, Wellington, as to what ia the real bitty? of the colony. The Herald contends ft! Auckland ia the real ; birthplace 'J& colony, and the 29th of January, 18 JT natel day, because it is said that wu!t day on which Governor Hobson the Queen's sovereignty over the cqW? Its stwmg" card »i s the Q«eeaV«m? tulatory message on the opening O f«! Exhibition, whioh. mentioned the M January as the date of the proeW tion of her sovereignty, and hints t2! faceof fcbisit, Fould be disloyalty flat treason. to : hold out for any other '£ Tlw Wejlipgton people, on have always contended that the 2S January is the real anniversary of (J colony, it being on that- day Vα the first of the New Zealand Com'J* emigrants landed at Port Nicholsoaj the risk of being thought dialoyal' £ contemporary contends that the not infallible aa to mattera of fact, andk simply been misinformed aa *> th' e date! her own sovereignty over New ZealM In the first place it showa that CaZ Hobson a first proclamation not; $2 on the 29th January at aU, but oX 30th January, 1840,: Thumerely deolaS that by letters patent, bearing date l 2 June 1839, the former boundaries of 2 South Waleswere-^teudadastocoml' be. acquired m her heirscr successors" also that he hS taken ,**.. *Mfc. add: tntared [on th, d «tW3 T .of Lwutewat-Qoyemop of auoh effect, that no P«rfc of N ttW Zealand had i then beeu acquired by aad th a it ia absurd to treat ftia grq^amatibn 5 aa a declaration of sovereignty. When, thea was such sovereignty declared? Oa the sth February, IWQ, t the f atnoa} Treaty of Waitangi waa signed by Captaia Hojtepn Jof the oa* part, %fa Oh'iefa of the Confederation of the UaiteS Tribes ofNettri fcealand, attd the Separate and Independent Chiefs if Ne.w.ZeaUy, : not mem|era of the other; aad further Wifi-ni andoonlcmei by the udherenue of the Principal Cttiefs ot; this iejaud of New Zwilaad, cpiflawgj caUed .Northern' ''%&£&?'■'. treaty "all the rights and povvera of soitf reignty over the caul Northern Islaai were cijded-fco her. tbq Qaeeaof Great Britain and IveiaaiabsolulalFaaiJ without reserve." O«i tlia 2lao May, 18^ Hobson " isstied iewif the Treaty, and theroupjn " pi # oolaiial» and declaring to alt" iueu " that from sal ~«rt*w:. the date of jfche Treaty sovereignty of the Northern islaaj vested in her Majesty Queen Viotom, it&■ euccessora -for < Concurrently -with., this a sepond proclamation was issued stating that Hobsoli| had ;, it; ia':. coinuiaai isxm bi Majesty " to assert the rightpS het the Soubliern Isl&riid New Zealand; commonly called the Middle Island, and Stewart's Island, aad also tly islknd coraEDJbnly'bailed the Northew Island, the same having been coded to sovereignty to her Majesty." The dwf ment then proceeds: — "Now, th§refore, rl,, William Hobson, Lieutenant- ; Governor of Mew Zealand, do- hers. iby proclaim and declare to all men that, from and after the date of that pretend soveroifituty of 'fhi Islands of New Zealand, extending froa thirty-font = degrees -tea minutes latitude, and between, one huadred ssi B ixty-&ix degrees five minutes, to m huadre4aud eerenty-nine degreed of longitudl, vesta ia her Majesty Queen Vi? toria, her heirs and successors for What the Post, asserts, is tbsHf the declination of the sovereignty is £o regarded as the birthday of the oolaaj' then the 21st May is the correct date. # B tiU holds, of course, to fibe tlisosry it*! the Company's immigrants miub be & garded aa the tzue founders of the coiotJJ* aad the date of their arrival as tbe-xvs date of the colonisation of New Zoalai Thia ia a'point on which, however, thew? sure to be some difference of opinion. % proclamation of sovereignty is & ,$0? definite event to reckon from, and tosi this point of view our Wellington eostemporary cerijainly eeema to have out a good cast* ia favor ot theSistßft 1890, being'kept as the roal jubiieo of coiemy. _--; .