Treatment of Cronje in St. Helena.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume VII, Issue 68, 19 September 1901, Page 3

Treatment of Cronje in St. Helena.

Lives Like a Country Gentleman. Cronje is not imprisoned as a criminal and therefore he is not doing " hard labour," as a great many people believe him to be. Cronje is only "detained." Nothing more than that. In other days it would have been very different, of course. In old Judea he would have been leisurely dissected. In Carthage he would have been crucified, but upside down, with his feet, not his head, in the air. In Rome he might have been hamstrung or impaled. Had he made it as hot for any of the C.esars as he did for the British he would have been led in triumph to the Tullianum, and, after entering there, presently a herald would appear, shouting: " He has lived !" meaning that he was not then living. Charlemagne would have had him and his followers promptly exterminated. Had Henry IV. of Franco caught him, he would have been burnt at the stake. Had Bonaparte taken him at Jaffa, he would have experienced a momentary uneasiness which would have been followed by an eternal rest. Had one of the early Hanoverian monarchs captured him, ho would have been thrown into the hold of a hulk and left there to stifle. Had Boadicea, instead of Victoria, defeated him, she would havo dragged his dead and naked body behind her chariot. As it is, Cronje is having a good time, with nothing to do, and plenty of time to do it in. He is leading the life of a country gentleman, and is looking in the "pink" of condition. Members and Debtors. On the 9th March, 1542, Mr. George Ferrars, while taking part in the deliberations in the House of Parliament, was arrested for debt and sent to the Compter Prison. This was regarded as an attack on the dignity of the House, and it was resolved to send the Sergeant to demand his release; this was resisted, and an affray took place, in which the Sergeant's mace was broken. The House in a body repaired to the Lords to complain; when the contempt was adjudged to be very great, and the punishment of the offenders was referred to the Lower House. On another messenger being sent to the Sheriffs by the Commons, they delivered up the member, and the civil magistrates and the creditor were committed to the Tower, the inferior officers to Newgate, and an act was passed releasing Mr. Ferrars from liability for the debt. This incident was the basis of that rule which exempts M.P.'s from arrest. A Magnetic Island. In the Baltic, the Danish island Bornholm, which is situated about twenty-four miles, east by south, from the nearest point of Sweden, may be regarded as a huge magnet. This fact causes a good deal of trouble to ships, for the island oxerts such an influence on the magnetic needle that it causes a ship to turn perceptibly aside from its course. The effect of the island magnetism is felt at a distance of about nine and a half miles. On the island of Carina (one of the Argyllshire Hebrides), situate about three miles north-west of Rum, there is a hill which has magnetic power sufficiently strong to affect the compasses of vessols passing near it. The island is a mile in breadth by four and a half utiles in length. How Flies Spread Disease. There can be absolutely no doubt that fließ and such insects are important factors in the spreading of disease germs. A moment's thought will prove the truth of this. Take one day of a fly's life for example. Up in the morning early, the little insect, being hungry, alights on the first heap of decomposing vegetable or animal matter that comes in its way. Having satisfied its craving, the fly will seek for pastures new—probably the skin of the, human being. Thus the germs bred by the decaying of the neglected refuse are transferred to the human body with consequential evil results. Hadn't Heard of It. "What did he want?" asked the head salesman of the wholesale grocery house. " It was some fellow who had taken a drop too much, I fancy," replied the new clerk who had answered the telephone call. "He wanted to know if we had any dry wine." " What did you tell him ?" " I told him wo had plenty of dried fruits and vegetables and fish, but our wine was all in a liquid state." A Safer Place. "Mv man," asked the magistrate of a soldier who had delivered himself up to the civil authorities as a deserter, ''what induced you to leave the regiment ?" "Well, sir, I'd got married off the strength, and my wifo persuaded me to " And you find there's no place like the barracks after all, I suppose ?" " Well, your worship," pointing to a cut face and a black eye, " I think I'll be safer there."