NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 7332, 3 October 1887, Page 4

NOTES.

De Lesseps the indefatigable is trying to negotiate a new Canal loan in The Panama France, and it is said that he is Ciinnl. meeting with at least partial success, and has managed to interest people of slender means in his scheme. The conclusion cannot be avoided that this must be largely due to the ignorance of the French people. It is certain that ho could not float a loan of this kind in England ,or the United States in the face of the adverse reports recently made as to the progress of the work, and the prospects of its completion, There are few people in England, at all events of the investing class, who are not acquainted with the present condition of the Canal —the waste and mismanagement which have attended its. progress thus far, and the probable cost and time of its completion. In the United States thP f£ ate of affairs is very fully understood, ajid PS P» ne man oi business would invest a cent in the Canal. In France, however, it is very different. Outside of Russia, there is probably no country in Europe where ignorance of everything whjch lies beyond their own borders is more dense than in France ; whilst the practice of dividing Government loans fnto very small debentures has familiarised the masses of the peoples, especially the agricultural class, with this method of investment. We apprehend that they are likely to be considerably taken in by this Panama Canal scheme.

Whatever may bo the outcome of the aotion of the Germans in Samoa, Bismarck it certainly seems extraordinary the Pacific that the assurances as to comtne iacinc. b . ajd s0 yery long ago exchanged between the three Great Powers interested, should have been so completely overridden by one of the parties to the compact. It is not possible, with the scanty information to hand, to understand what has been the result—if any definite result there has been—of the Conference quite recently held at Washington in regard to Samoan affairs; but it is sufficiently clear that the revolution precipitated at Samoa by the arbitrary action of the German Admiral was a complete surprise to the representatives there of Great IJritain and the United States. The cruel treatment of the islanders in the destruction of their villages, cocoanut groves, and crops was, moreover, entirely unjustifiable. One fact,

however, stands out very clearly from this and other occurrences —namely, that the days of Native rule in the Pacific are numbered, and that the end is not far off. The general policy of England in respect to the islands and Native sovereignties is both liberal and benevolent. She would, were it possible, have the Natives protected in the development of self-governing power, and encouraged to such a point of civilisation as may be consistent with the circumstances of constitution and climate. Such ideas do not come within the notions of the aggressive statesmen of Germany and France; but even if the Great Powers should forbear interference, the Natives would be the prey, as they have to a great extent been, of private adventurers. Tahiti, New Guinea, the New Hebrides, and Samoa itself illustrate this danger, whilst Tonga affords a very notable instance. The Government of New South Wales have recently, at one fell swoop, The Great added 500 names to the CornUnpaid, mission of the Peace ! Such a wholesale manufacture of J.P.s has never yet been perpetrated in this Colony; but it may bo expected that, in accordance with precedent, Ministers on their retirement will distribute "leather medals " in this and other cognate ways to faithful adherents and their friends. Men useful in elections, prominent local politicians of the party, have a sort of prescriptive right to these rewards of merit; and so it has come about under the present Administration—the example having been set, it is fair to say, by the Grey Ministry—that qualification for the office is but little rscommendation for the appointment. There are signal instances of this without travelling beyond our own province; but in Wellington and thereabouts it amounts to a scandal almost as bad as in the old times in Victoria, when O'Shannessey ruled the roost. All sorts of men would seem to be considered eligible for the Bench. The clerk who writes down the depositions in the Police Court must pass the Civil Service examination before he is appointed; but the Magistrate, who is entrusted with the liberties of the subject, and_ has in truth very large powers, especially in criminal jurisdiction, is not obliged to have any mental qualification for his office at all. He may be ignorant, uncultured, dull of apprehension; but there he sits, vested with powers personally superior to those exercised by a Judge of the Supreme Court, since he can commit to prison without the intervention of a jury. The worst of it is that these appointments are permanent, and unfit persons placed on the Bench, for reasons more or less apperta'ning to politics, are administrators of the law in the inferior Courts for life. At a period when many crucial reforms are in contemplation, it might at least be worth while to consider whether a new system of making these appointments could not be introduced. Volunteer officers have to pass an examination in their duties; why not gazette gentlemen as Magistrates subjeot to- their satisfying the Judge of the Supreme Court district that they are reasonably competent ? The compliment of the provisional appointment might then be paid to all sorts and conditions of men, as at present, but no permanent mischief would be done, since only fairly qualified persons would adjudicate on the persons and properties of Her Majesty's lieges.

Sib Henry Parkes is Premier of New South Wales, and has,.during «KU ie - " e P arnamentar y recess > Deen If making a tour of certain country districts, no doubt (after the fashion of colonial Ministers) at the public expense. The local toadies have been, as usual, to the fore, and one particular development has rem the presentation of addresses by the children of the public schools. How Sir Henry could manage to keep his countenance under the infliction of some of these, as reported, is marvellous indeed. He had, for instance, to listen gravely whilo the scholars in one district declared that "they would always sing in voices of praise while there is such a valuable and fertilebrained captain at the head of the State." But consider the quiet irony of the following: " VVe, the children, do heartily thank you for the many hours of self-sacrifice spent by you in maturing a plan for the benefit of our education, and for the many lenient alterations made in the Act which enable our parents to provide us with a good education without either expense or inconvenience to ourselves " ! In conclusion, the abominable little prigs " trust that the journey undertaken by you at your stage of life, and at so unpropitious a season, will prove beneficial to you and to the country " ! Can the force of humbug go much further? Happily in New Zealand we have hardly got to this pass, although there is a good deal of humbug about nevertheless.

The abstainer from spirituous liquors has never been disposed to hide his Temperance light under a bushej, but a rude Drinks, blow has recently been adminis-

tered in America to the teetotaller, who, while thanking Providence for his superiority over the publican and his cocktail-consuming customers, is yet sensible after each temperance drink of an agreeable titillation of his palate and digestive organs and an exhilaration of the whole inner man, which, naturally, he is wont to attribute to the workings of a good conscience. Some malign demon, jealous of the self-satisfaction which radiates from the votaries of total abstinence, has put into the heads of irreverent chemists to analyse a number of the most prominent temperance drinks, and the revelations have embittered the existence of thousands of most respectable and highly principled citizens. The sinner who drinks his soda water, tempered with brandy of 50 per cent, alcoholic strength, is only about 5 per cent, more of a sinner than the exemplary person who quenphes his thirst with a dilution of Hochstetter's stomaoh bitters of an alcoholic strength of 44.8. Most of the bittsra and tonics advertised as free from alcoholic stimulant were, as a matter of fact, found to oontain a large percentage of alcohol. But worse remains behind for the unhappy total abstainers who form so large and, in many localities, influential a body in the United States. It has been proved to demonstration that of all drinks, temperance and otherwise, that can go down the humq,n throat, iced water is ths most deadly. The New ¥ork analysts have discovered that occasionally it is nearly pure sewage ; and this, it appears, possesses a sparkle and a delioacy of flavor that recommends it very highly to the fastidious palate. The ice from the Hudson, with which New York is principally supplied, is, the analysts report, rich in disease germs, and experience has proved that the organism which is supposed to be the cause or carrier of typhoid fever is specially messed by Nature with the power of resisting the temperature at which water freezes. The problem of what to drink is by no means an uncomplicated one. Snares and pitfalls are spread alike for the spirit drinker and the water drinker, and as there is no escape from the consumption of water either defiled or undefiled, the rule should be observed, unless the source is known to be pure, of both filtering and boiling before use.