TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12378, 18 December 1905, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

One should read rith tho German cable news which we pubMethods, fish this morning about the change in. the behaviour of tho Germane towards the English in the Marshall Islands, an article by Mr Louis Becke in a Sydney paper, on tho r'ißo of Gcrmam conimerco in the J Pacific. Mr Bccke knows what ho is talking about, for he has been.a labour recruiter and trader, and has worked for the pioneer German firm in tho Pacific. Nearly forty yeans ago, says Mr Becke, a German house at Valparaiso saw tho potentialities of German trade among the islands, and made a start, and when in 1872 the firm was nearly insolvent Bismarck gave it an Imperial gift loan I of one million marks. Then it was that the firm set out, with a large fleet, of vessels (many sailing under the English flag), to oust British commerce. The manager of the .firm, who was stationed at Apia, enticed all the British traders ho could into his nervicc, paid all his employees well, and gave them.very explicit instructions. "Should there bo a foreign (English or American) trader located in your vicinity, you must uoder-eell him, especially with regard ' to firearms, hardware, and print's. Whatever loss you may sustain will be taken into consideration." One of tho most important things to be done was to buy a tract of land from a local chief and hoist the German flag as soon as the ealo was concluded. In no case must

any of the firm's emplorees remder aseist&noo to an opposition trader, on any excuse whatever, either by. selliKg, or lending him provisions, lending him a toat for tradinfi 'purposes, or in any other way affording him facilities for carrying on, his business. Tho advent of an opposition trader had to be ix> ported to headquarters, with all possiblo partkulars concerning him. The Germane, says Mr Becke, camo into the Padfio under our flag and prestige, and in,tho early days, when they had no navy, they were glad enough to tako refuge with British neighbours and appeal to British ..warships for protection and reinstatement. , Now they think they are much better men than tho British, end dislike them intensely, utterly forgetting all that tho British have done for Melanesia. No one who has not lited in tlio Pacific Islands— and especially in tho German spherecan -believe how jntense is the disliko of tho Germans towards the .British. Mr Becke goes so far as to state that the managers of tho German trading j companies are often" in receipt of secret I service pay as a reward for "blocking" British trado, inciting the natives to miechief against British traders, and injuring British interests in any way. And Prince, yon Bulow laj"e British distrust of Germany at tho door of tho Socialists 1 "Wo live by admiration, Occupation, hope, and love," said arid Life, tho poet. A psychologi-cal-medioal writer has recently declared wo live each Ly come special means or modo cf life which habit has identified with our very natures. Tho intellectual man, for instance, depends for more existence upon his intellectual activity. "Once a man has committed himself to brain-power as hds special form of energy, a«d it becomes bis principal source of vitality, it is almost impossible to leave off working up to liis full streaifith until ho neans the close of his career. Tlio amount of the work accomplished will gradually lessen ac afio creeps, on; but, wholly deprived of intellectual exercises, the 'man of mdnd , first becomes unhappy, a victim possibly of melancholy, then falls ill, and quickly dies." Any relief from his wonted occupation ehould, then, take tlio form merely of a change to some new department) of mental industry, till the spring of lifestrength, etall fed by mind-force, is completely and naturally restored. In the same way, tho strong man droops when deprived of his field-sports and athletics, "because the physically idle state does not call forth that particular form of energy by which he is accustomed to live." Tho man of nerves lives by favour of his intensities and interests in whatsoever the affair of the moment happens to be. By the unconscious habit of yeans wo have- established a dependence either upon mind, muscle, or nerve, but with the condition attached that, ehould things interfere With, this source of supply, the stream .of vitality may bo cut off with it, and existence cease. The moral ie drawn that while in. youth it might be wiser to cultivate a less "single-barrelled mode of living," in maturity a hat it should be respected, and only slightly varied from time to time, einco nothing is so dangerous as giving it a complete holiday. Modern science will evidently have, none of Emerson's counsel to "cast aside thy puny habit,"'and returns to the much earlier motto that tho cobbler' should stick to his last. We trust wo may be in time to arm our readers against tho rule-relaxing and holiday-tempting air of Christmas. The mental worker must at least resolve to maintain hie "lifestrength" (even at the oxpenso of hie ] family) by a sufficient quantity - of", Christmas verse. Tho athletic specialist | may be quite appropriately disposed of ! at "Turn the Trencher , ' or "Blind Man's Buff" if any superfluous energy remains to him after present-buying in the wrestling crowds of Christmas Eve. The nervous^temperament may exercise its peculiar gifts in meditating how many friends have been omitted when sending round the season's cards. And the business man'will find perfect safety in calculating tho cest of tho season's dinners, and their probable effect upon his New Year's bills. Additional point is given "Africa to the cable news this for the morning of the South Africans." African preachers who ere' preaching , "South Africa for the Africans," by an article in the " Empire Review," by Mr L. Ehrui Neame, news editor of the Rand " Daily Mail," in which it is contended that v t3ie Ethiopian, movement among tho natives of South Africa is distinctly menacing. A great- deal of evidence was' taken on the subject by tlje recent Native Affairs Commission, whose report is said to bo tho most valuable volume ever issued on the blacks of South Africa. Mr Neatne tells us that there was practically o;ilyono subject on which tho white witnesses agreed, and that was Ethiopianism, ard that tho evidence against the Ethiopian Church was df the strongest character. It was stated that the Ethiopians do not go to the heathen natives and attempt to convert and civilise them, but simply go to a white man's church and <uideavour to draw away members, by enlarging upon racial differences. It was further stated that ther purely black churches wero deteriorating, and the Commission remarked that " it is alleged, and the Commission fears with truth, that relaxed strictness in the moral standard frequently occurs." But the political tendency of Ethiopianism is said to bo tho gravest danger, magistrates as well as missionaries testifying to the pernicious influence of tlno black church movement. The Rev. J. White, general superintendent of the Wesleyan. Church in Rhodesia, said he though' that the primary object of the Ethiopians was not the spreading of the gospel, and that it seemed to him that their battle cry was " Down, with everything white." Ono of tho Ethiopian teachers was reported to have told congregation that " the black man should drive tho whit© man into the sea, and the natives ehould not go and- work ac servants for tho white menj let tho white men rather go and work as servants for them." A great deal of evidence of a similar kind was given, and tfiio statements in defence were very few. The Commission adopted th© following resolution:—"The Commission haajittk sympathy with the movement, as there can be no doubt that its leaders have not yet arrived at a stage when dissociation from tho control of European missionaries is likely to contribute increased wisdom in Church administration, or more enobling examples of personal self, s&crinco and piety, but $o long as it remains unasiociated with mischievous

pob'tical tendencies, members ndvuiing that any mcasuro being represented as religious, tion sliould be avoided," a finding Mr Nearao evidently thinks too It is significant that the BJiodesia, tho Orange River Basutolund and Bcchuanaland, considered the movement s ufficwajflV!ifßl dangerous to justify them in allow tho leaders of tho African dist Episcopal Church to cress ibij£^B]