Untitled

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 803, 19 January 1903, Page 4

Before British sway in India, the whole country was never under a single ruler. For nearly a thousand' years before its conquest hv the British, it was the scene of perpetual cou(licis between the peoples inhabiting it. About three-eighths of the country is now left under the immediate sway of native monarclis. There arc about, .sill) feudatory slates in India,

some being very small.' Foremost among I hem are the seventeen principalities ruled by Rajputs who rep resell I tlie purest Hindoo blood and govern in Ihe old patriarch ial fashion. Great Britain makes no progress in holding India otherwise Ilian by might of conquest. Assimilation is out of the question. The late Sir Waller Bcsa.nl. said : “ ’l’iic complete amalgamation of the conquering race which holds India with the Hindus is impossible ; it seems equally impossible that Hie various races of India should themselves amalgamate. We are, therefore, forced to the con-clusion-that unless India can be aban-

doned to the internecine wars which would certainly follow, or unless ft is ceded to or conquered by some other Power, the English occupation of India must remain, as it is, a strong, just hand, restraining and leading,but the hand of a foreigner.” The “ Amended Obituary ” is a delightful vision recently called up by

Mark Twain. In a contribution to Lloyd’s Weekly, he points out that the habit of leaving important matters to others has consequences often most regrettable. “Of necessity an Mutuary is a thing which cannot he so judiciously edited by any hand ns by dial of the subject of it. In such

a work, it is not die facts that are of chief importance, hut the light which the obituarist shall throw upon them, the meanings which lie shall dress diem in, and die judgments which he shall deliver upon them. The verdicts, you understand ; that is die danger-line.” He suggests then,with a view to his own future interests, that the press might allow him access to any standing obituaries, with die privilege of altering, according, to his better knowledge, ” not the facts, but die verdicts,” and lie proceeds to work otn the idea with all humorous gravity. “It is my desire that such'journals and periodicals as have obituaries of me lying in their pigeonholes with a view to sudden use one day, will not wait longer, but will publish I hem now, and kindly send me a marked copy. I will then correct them, striking out such clauses as could have a deleterious effect on the Other Side, and replacing- them witt; clause,: of a more judicious character. T should, oi cogrre expect to pay double rates for both the omiss oils and the substitutions ; and I should also,expect to pay quadruple rates for all obituaries which proved to be rightly and Wisely worded in the originals, thus requiring no emen-

dations at all. It is my desire to leave these emended obituaries neatly bound behind me as a, perennial consolation and entertainment, to my family, and as an heirloom which, shall have a mournful but definite commercial value for my remote posterity

The Kobiri correspondent of the Grey River Argus states that the sawmilling industry has not been very brisk in that locality of late, owing partly to bad weather and other small hindrances, which tend to make up broken time. Taking all things into consideration, the correspondent considers there cannot be —>« Meat re&nou for complaint. ‘“-j " - -« the New South At a recent meeting o. Wales Boot Clickers’ Association, tne president stated that the past year was the worst on record for the boot trade in that Stats, and had it not been for the foresight exercised in forming a union, the condition of the clickers would have been deplorable. By combining they had secured benefits hitherto denied them. After a conference with the officials ofhis Department, the New South Wales Minister for Works has decided to start a large number of relief works in various parts of tbe State which will give employment to a large number of persons. These works will deal chiefly with the conservation of water by means of dams apd weirs,