TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9307, 7 January 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It appears from an article Education in the South African in Review that one of Johannesburg, the greatest complaints brought against the Boer rulera by the " Uitlanders" of Johannesburg has been the utter indifference of the former to the necessity of providing a thorough system of education. Some time ago, in answer to appeals for an improvement in the existing state of things, the Boer Government did make a move, but it waa in the direction of establishing more schools to teach more Dutch, and this seems to have proved the last straw to the "Uitlanders." Parents, says the writer, soon discovered that it was not worth while, even if they could afford it, to give their children more than two or three years' schooling in learning a language they were never likely to acquire, to the absolute exclusion of all that was likely to be of use. By neglecting the proper education of the children the Boer Government created a feeling of intense bitterness in the minds of the European residents of the city. Johannesburg, nnder these circumstances, we are told, rose manfully to iis duty, £50,000 was promptly subscribed, a Council of Education formed, and an enlightened Director-General procured. The latter made an investigation into the existing facilities for education in Johannesburg, and presented a report which rerealed a disgraceful condition of things. The private schools were said to be doing an incalculable amount of mischief, for most of the teachers were unfit to teach, their discipline was not even a- name, their buildings were dirty and insanitary to a disgraceful and dangerous extent, desks and ordinary school apparatus were conspicuous by their absence, and the books were of all sorts and apparently mostly use-, less or out-of-date. The effect of soon

education as was received nnder these circumstances by the children was to produce in them uncouth' manners and sullen demeanour distressing to witness, and the state of slovenly ignorauce in which the children were growing up was also declared to be one of potential misery and crime. It was, of course, not sufficient The to expose the evil ; its cure Proposed had also to bo faced, and in Cure. his report the Director-General

specified the ineaus necessary in his opinion to Bet matters upon a more civilised footing. His suggestions included the supplying of good elementary instruction' for children of workmen -ilong the miuea; less advanced instruction in tho poorest parts of the town ; at least two High Schools in Johannesburg ; and aid to existing echoola. The cost of this, it was estimated, would involve a building and equipment fund of £67,300, and an annual maintenance of £5920. " With its own Sanitary Board and its own Council of Education, established as a State within a State, Johannesburg," cays the writer of the article referred to, " may flip its fingers in the face of the bloodsuckiug Boer so far as immediate concerns are at stake. It has been over and over again peremptorily and sneeriugly denied that status in the Repu plic which its wealth and comparative importance deserves, and now its Republican masters have before them the spectacle of the younger generatiou being educated, despite their tyranny, in the knowledge before which no such autocracy can stand. The Council of Education will achieve in a few years what could never be acquired through Boer sanction—the trainiug ot its youut; people in such culture and enlightenment as will make them irreconcilably hostile to the dominance of the uneducated and retrogressive Boer. The position aud the way out have been explicitly defined by Mr Robinson ; it is for the Kruger officials, iv consistency with their general attitude, to refuse to permit the adoption of this scheme or the erection of these schools, to declare tho Council of Education a menace to ' Dopper' rule, and the inevitable and desirable upheaval will be precipitated." This passage shows the feelings entertained by the " Uitlanders" and their sympathisers towards President Xt uger and his Government, and it reveale a very inflammable conditiou of public opinion which may yet have to be reckoned with in the settlement of the trouble in tho Trausvaal.

Oα November 22nd a theatrical A event of a remarkable nature "Veteran occurred in London, when Mrs Actress. Keeley, the veteran actress,

who that day celebrated hor 90th was entertained at the Lyceum Theatre, where she had made her debut seventy years previously. That was actually in 1825—and ten years after the battle of Waterloo ! Mia Keeley was, of course, the recipient of numerous presentations, and the old lady seemed thoroughly delighted with the cordial felicitations! that were so lavishly poured upon her. The entertainment provided on this occasion was a matinee, at which separate acts of variouh plays then runniug iv London were performed, and was under tho patronage of the" Queen aud the Royal Family. The profits were devoted to "a number of charities named by Mrs Ke,eley. the middle.of the programme tho old lady held a recep. tion on the stage,"attended by hibst of the leading actors tind actresses of the day, and was presented with a congratulatory address by Mrs John Wood. In reply the veteran, actress made a charming little speech,' delivered with such perfect elocution that every syllable was distinctly audible in the remotest corner of the crowded house. Mrs Keeley wore a handsome dress of ruby velvet, and alone of all of her aex preeent Oα the stage had no J head-covering. She looked the very picture of hale, hearty, happy old age, and utterly disdained the ohair provided for her, insisting on standing to make her speech. But at last the continued enthusiastic cheering and excitement became too much for her, and she was led off, saying with deep emotion:—" Thank you, thank you; God bleee you. I caunot stand any more!" Incidentally she mentioned that she had sung with Kitty Stephens, Mali* bran and Braham, for she was once a charming singer; ' indeed, it was for her that Weber expressly composed his "Mermaid Song " in " Oberon," and she saug it under his personal direction. That she had acted with Macready, the Kembles and the Keans, and that she had shaken hands both with actors as widely separated by time as Edmund Kean aud Henry living. Among the veterans present on that stage besides Mrs John Wood were Mr James Doel, aged ninety-two, the oldest actor in the world, who came all the way from Portsmouth to be present on the occasion; Mrs Alfred Mellon (Mies VVoolgar), MreParkesGoostry (Amy bedgwick), Miss Julia St. George, Madame Louisa Pyne, Miss Henrietta Lindley and others. ' There must be in New Zealand many old playgoers to whom these well-known names of the past will recall a host of pleasant memories of bygone enjoyment.

, While general eatiafacThe Trial' ' faction was expressed in of England at the heavy Jabezßalfoar. sentence of fourteen years' penal servitude inflicted upon Jabez Balfour, the great " Liberator" swindler, hia trial, we are told, was a., deep disappointment to many people, who imagined that crimes so gtgacitic ea those of Balfour must needs be rich in startling and seneacional detail. When it tamed out that the whole affair was one of intensely dry and mostly incomprehensible figures, the attendance, at first crowded, rapidly fell off, and during the last few days the drama was enacted to very thin houses, until the end arrived, and the day was fixed for sentence. Then the rush was renewed in full force. < Balfour took his sentence very calmly. Indeed, he must have been prepared for it. As a matter of fact, if he conducts himself well in gaol—as he is sure to do, being a dietinotly shrewd person—he will get a ticket of leave when he has served little more than ten years.' Thus, if all go well, he may be free early in the year 1906. No new or unsuspected forms of swindling were disclosed by the proceedings. A aeries of fraudulent and bogus transactions of the most ordinary and sordid kind, but large in amount, contributed the sum of his offences, as, fpr instance, when h<?, as a Director, made his Company pay £20,000 more for a property than the seller was to receive and pocketed that difference, concealing the transaction under a sham " agreement," A very sanguine person might hope that the downfall of Balfour would effectually discredit the " pious impostor" type of swindler. But men are as forgetful as they are trusting, and Jabez will probably have successors in his own particular line ac long as human nature is what it is.