The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1897. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7988, 13 February 1897, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1897. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Mn Mackenzie's defence of his conduct as manager of the Colonial Bank, and his further defence of the directors of that institution, constitute the dreariest exposition of fatuity we have ever read. He says the Bank did as it did " for tho best." Very likely, but the best for whom ? When its own auditors reported that the bad and doubtful debts were £131,000, and the directors appropriated the magnificent sum of £5000 to meet the deficiency, calmly declaring a dividend out of " profits " in the meanwhile, no doubt they did act for the best—from their point of view. Mr Mackenzie says that one reason why the Bank trusted John Bylej was because he had been a Presbyterian minister. The obverse of this should be, we suppose, that the Bank trusted Joseph George Ward because he bad not been a Presbyterian minister, but preferred the church stigmatised by men of the Mackenzie type as the " Scarlet Woman." However, we may be thankful for one thing. That is that Mr Mackenzie has proffered himself for examination by the liquidators. He and they aro apparently not on good terms, for he objects to their report. Let us hope that as they and he have fallen out, the dishonest men who have swindled the shareholders may come by their own—whatever that may happen to. be. By the way, talking of Joseph George Ward, why is it thought necessary to repeat that he is to be allowed to retain the title of " honorable ?" As a matter of fact every New Zealand Minister is allowed to retain the title of " honorable," and the formula is that " Her Majesty has been graciously pleased, Ac." It was announced two months or more ago—just after the Judge in the Ward Association case had made those unkind remarks upon the inadvisability of certain people being allowed to continue to roam at large in the business world —: that Joseph George Ward was to be allowed to retain his title of " honorable." Is tbe trotting-out of this stale information again at this juncture to be regarded as the Seddonian reply to the report of the Colonial Bank liquidators 7 It looks like it.

But let us get back to John Ryley again. What a strange affair that was of the Justices of Dunedin all clearing out rather than allow an information against him to be sworn before them ! Are we to understand that all the Justices there are Presbyterians, and hold the Mackenzie view about the inherent immaculateness of Presbyterian ministers ? Or is it because they think he is no more worthy of judicial keelhauling than the " honorable" Joseph George Ward is ? Then there is the Magistrate. He is asked to hear the informations, and he only consents to do so when one very serious charge (that of presenting false balance-sheets) is abandoned. Truly, the administration of justice in New Zealand seems to have reached a peculiar phase.

There are some interesting statistics in the British Home Office Report on the Mineral Industry in 1895, and among them the statistics of the coal trade in particular bulk very large. Out of tho 733,657 persons engaged in mines and quarries in the United Kingdom—and the report at present deals only with quarries more than 20 feet deep, worked under the Quarries Act —no fewer than 087,371, or 93 per cent, are connected in some way or other with the coal trade. Only some 10,000 persons are employed at iron mines, and some 30.000 employed at other mineral mines throughout the country. If we look at the quantities of minerals produced, wo iind that 189,601,302 tons of coal were raised during the year, against 12,015,414 tons of iron ore, and still smaller quantities of sandstone and limestone, of copper and lead, of tin and gold. Generally speaking, there is a decline in prices as compared with the previous year, and in gold in particular—of which the output of Great Britain has more than doubled — the decline in value is very marked. The output of coal has now reached a figure never touched before, and those who like to dive into the future may amuse themselves by speculating as to how long this phenomenal yield can last. The statistics of accidents, unhappily, continue to be very large, and the records of 1895 show a loss of 1198 lives. The report calls attention to the fatal carelessness with which the men still take naked lights into the mines, and to the still more hoinous offence of the mine-owners who refuse to introduce safety-lamps, and of Magistrates who refuse to punish negligence of so ruinous a kind.

On Thursday we referred to the awful state of things caused by the famine in India, and undertook to receive and acknowledge any subscriptions towards the relief fund. The Town Clerk writes to us pointing out tbat his Worship tho Mayor is moving ia the matter, and is arranging to send subscription lists out, and also to ask the clergymen of the borough to make an appeal from their pulpits. Had we

known Mr Swan was planning to take action we probably should not have penned our appeal, for divided effort is always to be avoided in affairs of the kind. But his Worship, if he will permit us to say so, was just a little bit too secretive in the matter, and quite slow enough. He should have secured all the publicity he could. Instead of that we had not the slightest notion he had taken any action, or contemplated taking it, until the Town Clerk was prompted by reading our appeal to inform us that Mr Swan was moving.

We believe we are correct when we say that the employe's of the Harbor Board are never drilled in the use of the rocket apparatus. Some years ago, when the Northumberland was wrecked, the apology for a rocket apparatus then possessed by the Board failed to work. Had it not been for a brave man, Mr R. Lynam, swimming out through the surf to secure a plank, with light line attached, thrown over from the ship, it 'is questionable whether the crew could have been saved. After that startling experience the Board decided upon obtaining a proper apparatus, aud one was imported. It was also decided that a crew .to take charge of it and work it should bo formed from the Board's employed, and that they should be periodically drilled.

We are not prepared to say that drills have never been held (although we have been credibly informed such is the case), but we do say that for a long period nothing answering to what constitutes drill has taken place. This is quite indefensible, and something like keeping the life-boat with a big hole in its side, so that it cannot be used if wanted. We have heard, by the way, that this life-boat is not worth what it would cost to repair, but as its value is set down in the Board's statement of assets at £300, either that valuation is ludicrously absurd or tho excuse for not repairing the boat has tho demerit of not being founded on fact. But, to return to the rocket apparatus, is it true that no drills aro held, and if so, will the Board take the proper steps for rectifying such an unsatisfactory state of affairs ?

"Yesterday we published the following cable message, forwarded by tho Press Association : —

The Madras authorities aro appealing to Lord George Hamilton, Seoretary of State for India, again&t the decision to open the port of Mecca to pilgrims

We have three reasons for holding that the message is unreliable. The first is that to open the port of Mecca cannot prejudice the Madras authorities, and that therefore they are not likely to object to it. The second is that it does not depend upon Lord George Hamilton, or any other British subject, whether the port of Mecca is open or not. The third is that there is no port of Mecca, the town of Mecca being situated in the desert, and over sixtyfive miles from the sea.

The third reason might have been given first, of course, but then something must be allowed for " symmetry." As to what tbe cablo rneasage was intended to mean, that is not difficult to guess at. Madras is a port, and through it pass every year large numbers of Indian Mahommedans going to and returning from Mecca, the " holy city " of the followers of the Prophet. Returning they usually bring back cholera and other diseases with them, for Mecca, although very holy, is also extremely unsanitary. It rests with the Indian authorities to regulate the pilgrim traffic, or to prohibit it altogether. Apparently it has been decided not to prohibit the traffic this year, but tbe Madras authorities, terrified by the plague now ravaging parts of India, and fearing that it may be brought to the Presidency, are protesting against the decision.

It is cabled that three months' bills are discounted ia London at 1£ per cent. This may mean " per annum " or for the term of the bills. It can hardly be the former, seeing that consols, the safest security in the whole world, pay but per cent per annum. Moreover at this time laut year, or thereabouts, three months' bills were quoted at -| per cent, or at the rate of per cent per year. But if we are to understand that trade bills are discounted at the rate of 1£ per cent per quarter, we are face to face with very high rates, for 1\ per cent per annum in England suggests war risks. Doubtless the disturbed state of affairs in connection with Turkish misrule is the cause of this jump upwards of the discount rates.

Greece is taking a very decided stand. M. Delyannis, the Premier, although be protested against the despatch of the Greek fleet to Crete, now talks of Greece being able to remain indifferent to the Cretan demand for union with that country. This means that he has gone over to the war party, we should say. Thi3 idea is strengthened by the statement that Greece and Bulgaria are parleying as to proposed united action with regard to Macedonia, which in plain English means that they are trying to arrange for cutting up that territory between them. The Times protests that the Powers will not have their hands forced, but as there aro the strongest reasons for holding that neither Greece nor Bulgaria would dare to talk about united action against Turkey, apart from an understanding that Russia does not object, it looks as if the hauds of the Powers are being forced all the time.