TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11245, 10 April 1902, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr Edgar Wallace, the ' Why the War well-known war corresContinues. pondent of the London

"Daly , .Mail," has been interviewing a number of military men and civilians in South Africa, to see if there is any general consensus of opinion as to the reason why tbe war etill drags on. But the answers obtained leave the question as debatable as ever. Mr Wallace put Ms queries to over a hundred persons, and received in reply almost as many theories to account for the continuance of the -war. Civilians blame the mlitary officers for inefficiency; officers blame the civilians for coming back to the war-swept territory top soon. Some cay the transport system is at fault, others declare that more colonials are required to finish off the ■war. "Lord Kitchener has been allowed too free a hand, says one man. The war would have been over long ago, says another, if Lord Kitchener's hands bad not been tied. And so on throughout the series—"so many men, so many opinions." The views of the gentleman who advocated the use of more colonials wiK, no doubt, be read with interest. "If you'd have employed only colonial troops," he told the correspondent, "the thing would have been over a year ago. Men who knew the country and the Boers. Let 'em go where they like, and have no wretched red-tape to contend with. That's the sort of force you want—a force without side, without any of those foolish chivalrous notions which characterise the regular Army." A truculent critic this! His praise of the irregulars is in most cases wel£-deserved, but the reference to "foolish chivalry" is in the worst possible taste. Diametrically opposite were the views of another authority. "The Imperial people should have taken this job on, and finished it themselves," he declared. "The curse of this war has been the scallywag corps. They have unnecessarily irritated lie Boers by wanton destruction; they have worked as much mischief as the Boer commandoes on loyalists* farms, aand in many ways have been more hindrance than help. There can be no possible doubt that the Boers fear a British infantry ~ regiment more than half-a-dozen irregular regiments. ,. In such a hopeless diversity of opinion most outsiders will feel inclined to agree with the "full private" of the Welsh Regiment, who, in reply to Mr Wallace's question, said the thought it was because the Boers would not surrender, and refused to be beaten.

air E. G. Guthrie, of

A Otago "University, one of Thin-skinned the undergraduates taking Sassenach. part in the debating con-

test -which formed a feature in the recent inter-collegiate tournament, has had an odd experience of the diseased patriotism of one of his hearers. 'Mr Goihrie, with, a college mate, had to oppose a motion by CbnterWrv College for Imperial Federation, and in the course of his speech he predicted t&at, after the Isthmus of Panama had been cot by a canal, "the movement of the centre of gravity of htunan interests from the Mediterranean to ths Atlantic, on tie discovery of the Xew World, would then be continued from the Atlantic to the OPaeifit?, raising at oaee the importance of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc., and majtbe causing fche decline of Europe and our own isolated political

centre. Thus -the Federal Parliament •would in all probability be found far from Great Britain's shores." "Alas, poor England!" was his comment upon-the picture he &ad drawn. It was an innocent and not unnatural little remark, but as it proves it ronsed one aggressively patriotic Sassetraoh to a state of savage fury. He sa>w in itt apparently a Scotchman's sneer at* England, and, in default of shedding Mr Gothrie's blood, which is obviously what he would like, he satisfies himself by writing an extraordinary letter to the orator. In this he remarked that he had no dodbt Mr Guthrie's heart was as bad as his manners, and accused him of ingratitude, in repaying the kindness with which he &ad been treated in Christchurch with contemptuous references <to the country ''from which the balk of tie people here (thank Gcd) come." Then followed a ferocious attack upon Scotland and Scots. "Nearly 200 years ago England allowed you to be united to her. Your ancient ally (France) flattered your vanity, and in return you were her catspaw. You obeyed lier orders, and did any and every dirty trick to England that she and your own nature prompted you to do. Well, England took you. in, housed you, fed you, clothed you; you had nut much* to boast of in that respect before. . . Now, with the true instinct of the beggar's brat, you are hoping and praying for her downfall; and the. 'hopes that buoy you up chow how your alwminabla desires cloud your judgsnent." There are also some pleasant insinuations that in time of trouble Scotland ■vrouJd be the first to leave England in the lurch, and so on. Mr Guthrie is not likely to lose his sleep at night by worrying over (the incident, otherwise we might endeavour to convince him that the letter "From One Who Does Well to be Angry" is as foolish a .piece of work in the opinion of Ohristchurch as in that of Dtmedin. But it conveys the useful warning to anyone who might feel disposed to deprecate anything done by England, or hazard any suggestion that she is not tlie supreme earthly ruler of the entire universe, that some person in Christchurch—or Sunnyside —has taken England under his special protection, and is ready to go to #he extreme iength of writing insulting letters on her behalf.

It is rather early yet Preparing to get any definite idea for of the extent to which The Coronation. London will be decorated for the Coronation, but the preparations already set on foot indicate that the spectacular effect on June 26th will surpass even the great sight witnessed at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The announcement made in a cable message that the Agents-General of the Colonies each intend to spend £150 m decorating their offices in London should meet with general approval, for it is well that the colonial element should 1 figure in these Imperial celebrations as prominently as possible. As for the general decorations, they are sure to be carried out at an enormous scale. Already, according to a London paper, vast preparations have been made for the supply of every kind of bunting, and orders have been pouring in, not only from London customers, but from municipalities and business men all over the kingdom. The new Australian Commonwealth flag, with the Southern Cross upon a red background, is expected to figure largely in the decorations, while the flags of the individual Australian States and of New Zealand, Canada, the Cape, and other colonies, are all being specially manufactured for the occasion. Besides these, a great many fanciful designs have been evolved by ingenious brains to add fresh brilliance to the blaze of colour on Coronation Day. As for" the usual festoons of paper flowers, these are being manufactured literally by the mile. Among the big illuminating houses the same rush of preparation has set in, and every week brings an increase in the work. Some very elaborate transparencies are being manufactured, and immense quantities of Chinese and Japanese lanterns have been imported. A boom is expected in Coronation souvenirs, for which a wonderful variety of designs have already been invented. Thus the patriotic subject may wear next June a Coronation neck-tie or a •'miniature photo" of the Royal pair, attend Church with a Coronation prayer-book, : play euchre with Coronation cards, blow his nose with a Coronation handkerchief, stir his tea with a Coronation spoon, and, in short, identify himself in all'bis ways with, the great event of the year. The craze for Coronation souvenirs is sure to be carried to extremes, but, as one tradesman remarked, " there's I money in it." -