TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9521, 14 September 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr Rxtdyaru Kipling's old Kipling editor, Mr Robinson, of the in Civil and Military Gazette of India. Lahore, has been giving the world, through, the columns of an English magazine, his opinions of his former assistant. Kipling seems to have acted as sub-editor of the paper, and Mr Robinson says that while he has the greatest dislike to use a razor to cut grindstones, he was obliged to burden the young man with a good deal of daily drudgery. "My experience of him as a newspaper hack suggests, however, that if -you want to find a man who will cheerfully-do the office work of three men you should catch a young genius. The amount of stuff that Kipling got through in the day was indeed wonderful, and I am sure that more solid work was done in that office when he and I worked together than ever before or after.' There was one peculiarity about the way in which Kipling did his work, and that was the inordinate quantity of ink lie flung about. His office costume during the dog days of the Indian summer consisted of white cotton trousers and a thin vest, and as he invariably dipped his pen as far into the inkpot as it could go and all hia movements were abrupt at the end of the day he was spotted like a Dalmatian carriage dog. He was always the best of company, bubbling over with humour. Mr Robinson places sensitiveness as hia famous assistant's second characteristic. This was so marked that he would not, if he could help it, dine at the Ciub, where he. was very popular, because one of the members disliked him, and always tried to snub him. Kipling was a master of repartee, aud could retort in most tellhig fashion upon his assailant, but despite his success in this respect the man's animosity hurt him, and he avoided him as much as possible. Mr Robinson pays due acknowledgment to Kipling's " marvellous faculty for assimilating local colour without apparent effort," and to his zeal in acquiring experience. "Of the various races of India, whom the ordinary Englishman lumps together as 'natives,' Kipling knew the quaintest details of habits and language and distinctive ways of speech." His writings convey so keen a sense _of absolute fidelity to detail that we hardly needed this corroboration of one's impressions on reading them. Many of his admirers have wondered, however, how he obtained such apparently vividly truthful pictures of life in the remote northern districts of India as are found in some of his stories. Mr Robinson gives us what is no doubt the correct clue. "I remember well," he says, • 'one long-limbed Pathan, indescribably filthy, but with magnificent mien and features — Mahbab Ali, I think, was his name—who regarded Kipling as a man apart from all other * Sahibs.' After each of his wanderings across the unexplored fringes of Afghanistan, where his restless spirit of adventure led him, Mahbab Ali always used to turn up travel-stained, dirtier, and more majestic than ever, for confidential colloquy with ' Kuppeling Sahib,' his ' friend'; and I more than fancy that to Mahbab Ali Kipling owed the wonderful local colour which he was able to put into such tales as ' Dray Wara Vow Dee' and 'The Mt»n Who Would be King.' " The skc.-li of the newspaper office in the latter remarkable tale is evidently drawn, from personal experienc o , and no doubt the author's wild visitor supplied him with some of the legendary lore and the wonderful and convincing local colour .on which the story is based. But only Kipling could have made such use of the material.

Thb French do not seem Affairs to havo been hitherto very in successful in their manageMadagascar. ment of their new possession, Madagascar. A cable message in Saturday's paper stated that 20,000 Fahavalo natives were ravaging the northern part of the island. These Fahavalo, anative term signifying "enemies," were reported three months ago, by a European resident of the island, to be holding all the country beyond a certain distance outside the capital, and doing pretty much as they pleased. They include robb.rs, runaway slaves, and malcontents, and those experienced in Malagasy ways say they will be a cause of trouble for years to come. The French declare they are simply highwaymen, such a. have always existed in the country, but it seems that the movement has a much deeper . political importance than would attach to the ravages of mere marauder., aud quite lately some intercepted correspondence between the. leaders of these Fahavalo and individuals in Antananarivo showed that an attack upon the city was in contemplation. The broken nature of the country, with which they are perfectly acquainted, makes the crushing of these guerillas by any organised force a matter of great difficulty. The European resident above referred to spent several months with a Malagasy army last year, during a civil war, and his account

of their capacity for endurance and rapid movement makes their easy conquest by the French seem a remarkable feat. " For week after week tho Malagasy would be content with one meal at 5 a.m., march fifteen or twenty miles to the places to be attacked, spend four or five hours skirmishing, fighting, and moving about, and return the fifteen miles to camp by 7 p.m., without having tasted food in the meantime. Unencumbered by baggage, always knowing where they can procure food, they can move forty to fifty miles whore and whilo French troops will make twelve or fifteen, and their resources for food and shelter are as extraordinary as they are rapid." The Fahavalo aro the enemies not merely of tho French conquerors but also of the Hovas. They declare that France succeeded in getting so easily to the capital by an extensive system of bribery, and that each time the Hova generals evacuated a position they received 20,000 or 30,000d015. Tho latter having sold their country, and with it the independence of the natives, are now willing to enjoy the liberal hospitality of France. The Fahavalo would probably have done the same if they had had the chance, but apparently they did not share in the palm-greasing, and therefore they aro in. diguant all round. Apart from the trouble caused by these guerilla bands, Madagascar is in a deplorable condition. Trade is practically killed, and there is little security for life or property. That British residents are being ousted and their means of living taken away wherever possible, goes without saying.