The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1898. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9108, 8 March 1898, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1898. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

We recently commented upon the Queensland banking swindles. In connection with this matter it must not be forgotten tb_t the Government of that colony are displaying—outwardly, at least—more regard for honesty and rectitude than are the Government of New Zealand. The Queensland Attorney-General, as was made known the other day by cable, has decided to prosecute a number of those c.nnected with the bank, on three ground.. Those are (a), offences under the Larceny Act (b), conspiracy to commit such offences, and (c), conspiracy to defraud the shareholders of the bank and th 3 general public by false representations as to the bank's solvency. Why do not the New Zealand Government prosecute those rascals who are known to have been guilty of similar crimes with regard to the Bank of New Zealand and the Colonial Bank ? Is it because in this colony we have not such a member of the Executive as an Attorney-General ?

It would be interesting in any case to know why we have not an AttorneyGeneral. Till Seddonism got on top the colony always had such a functionary. Indeed, there was an AttorneyGeneral for some time after the Premier, " Honest Jock," and honorable "Ward ran the country. The position was filled by the late Sir Patrick Buckley. When he was made a Judge the office of Attorney-General became vacant, and the Government, although frequently appealed to, have failed to fill it. Why is this ? Are they afraid that if they appointed a capable man to the position he might prove honest, and determine to prosecute the well-known thieves to whose depredations and false representations the banks owe some of their greatest losses ? Just after the banking legislation began to stink in the nostrils of the people Sir Patrick Buckley was appointed Judge. That was in December, 1895. Since that time the colony has been without the functionary whose duty it would be, if in office, to prosecute the rascals whose villainy not even the farce of a " Banking Commission" could smother up. Once more, then, and a fortiori in the light of the determination of the Queensland At-torney-General, why have tho New Zealand Government failed to fill the position rendered vacant when the late Sir Patrick Buckley was made a Judge ?

Some seven or eight weeks ago a cable message was published setting out the conclusions arrived at by antiquarians in the United States in connection with a remarkable discovery in Arkansas; It was stated that a hugo battlefield had been discovered, and that the remains in it were those of a vast army who perished twenty thousand years ago. We have carefully watched for further references to this matter as papers came to hand by the mails, and have been rewarded by finding a detailed account of the affair. It

appears that a few months ago the Kansas City and Gulf Railway was being extended through country hitherto held by the Choctaws. The excavations made revealed human bones in such extraordinary abundance that it was quite evident a burial place of exceptional magnitude .had been struck, or else that the remains bore witness to some terrible cataclysm. The attention of scientists was drawn to the discovery, and then it was found that the human remains were thickly scattered over an area of thirty acres, and that they represented the skeletons of from seventy to a hundred thousand individuals.

I Amongst others who studied this find from a scientific standpoint was Professor Walters, an archajologist of .cyule. He speut weeks watchiDg the workmen turning up bones and remains of weapons as they graded the track for the metals of the railway, and later he extended his researches. To his amazement he found a large tract literally underlaid with these relics of a forgotten race. The skulls were mostly pierced with darts or arrow-heads, one specimen containing thirteen moss agate arrowpoints. This proved that they died in battle. The skeletons* were found buried in sand, and above the sand were two distinct strata formed in different geological periods. These facts enabled Professor Walters to compute approximately the period when the battle occurred. He has compared the facts just learned with the result of seventeen years' previous study of the mound builders of America, and formed the theory that the battle was one of a long series of sanguinary encounters between that mysterious race and the Mayas, which latter race came from Central and South j America and sought to gain possession j of North America.

It would be interesting to know why it was that both the Wellington papers failed to publish the affidavits relating to honorable Ward and others, published by ns and other newspapers on Saturday last. One can understand why the Premier's paper should find such a contribution from the Press Association awkward, seeing that an election is in progress in Wellington, and that the publication of the story of honorable Ward and his alleged "intimate friend" McCaughan might arouse memories of the friendship between honorable Ward and some of those patriots who are now running a Seddonian nominee with such vigor. But why should the Post follow suit ? Has the Premier " nobbled" that paper also, or did it fail to publish the message because it was suppressed when it found its way into the office of the subsidised journal which is owned by the Ministry and their subservient following ? Surely the latter mußt be the explanation ! The general character of the Post is so high, as compared with that of the miserable sheet which does duty as a morning paper in Wellington, that we are forced to conclude that the blame lies with the latter.

A correspondent writes asking us to draw attention to the danger which threatens the public from boys being allowed to drive carts about the streets. There is something in the request. The law is pretty sharp in the matter of boys being allowed to work at a handicraft, but apparently any youngster may be trusted with a horse and a cart, although in the event of the horse getting out of control serious accidents to the general public may occur. There is also another aspect of this question, apart from risk of accidents. Boys entrusted with horses do not as a rule treat them well. And this failure does not arise so much from cruelty as from lack of thought. It is no uucommon thing to see a boy forcing a horeo up a hill at a greater speed than he should go, or trotting him down a hill, and tho " driving " in the ease usually consists of sawing and pulling at the animal's mouth, this being varied by applications of the whip. Of course, thoro are boys and boys, and the question is one not without difficulty, since it would be as wrong to refuse to allow a capable youngster to drive as it is to permit so many incapable juveniles to be in charge of horses. A little judicious action by the police would tend to remedy the evil of very young or incapable boys being placed in charge of horaes.

It is obvious that tho cable message wo published yesterday referring to Russia preventing British ships trading at Russian ports could not be used as a means for forming a rational conclusion as to the relations botween Russia and Britain. To take tho message as it stood would be equivalent to rending into it a declaration uf war. The fact that no news of a rupture of amicable relations between the two countries is to hand is sufficient

proof that nothing of the kind is involved in Russia's action, and the m_3sago itself therefore stands as j another example of the fatuity of those responsible for its wording. It is plain that Russia cannot without brooking oft diplomatic relations with the Mother Country subject her shipping to disadvantages that do not affect the shipping of all other countries. Moreover tho message wa3 at fault in not giving a clue to what part of the world was included in the phrase "Russian ports." For our part we think some reference to the Black Sea was intended, and that it was jumbled into the assertion that Russia had notified her intention to stop British trading vessels sailing between that sea and the Far East. As to notify anything of the kind would he in itself a declaration of war the cable message is obviously as reliable as that which announced the discovery of the tombs of the three Egyptian gods.