CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 11053, 3 September 1896, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

It was a celibate priest who objected to having cows about a place, be-, cause where there was a cow there was always a

WOMEN AND CATTLE.

woman, and where there was a woman there was sure to bo mischief. This truism seems to have some bearing on the recent troubles in South Africa. In the interview between the Right Hon Cecil Rhodes and the rebel Matabele chiefs, the latter complained that their women had been improperly treated by the Europeans, who had also stolen the cattle of the natives. The wealth of a Kaffir is represented by the number of his cattle and wives, and it is very natural that any interference with these Should be resented. It was stated some weeks ago by the Johannesburg Standard and Diggers’ Neivs that the behaviour of many of the white military settlers in Charterland toward the native women was largely responsible for the revolt. As for the charge of cattle-stealing, it seems to be well-founded. It appears that the great bulk of the native cattle, which are the sole wealth of the Matabeles, were injjobengula’s time the nominal property of the King, but the natives had the use of them for milking, and to slaughter any of them for meat was unusual. The Directors of the .Chartered Company chose to consider that all these cattle belonged to them by right of conquest, and they were much chagrined to find that many people after Lobengula’s death asserted that they had rights in the herds. The Directors proposed to co nfiseate the whole and give back what they thought fit. The Colonial Office only assented to this course on the understanding that the cattle so appropriated were still to remain in the custody of the natives as before, and subject to their rights of having the nnlk, which was their ordinary food. It does not appear that the Directors paid any heed to this understanding, and they seized and redistributed arbitrarily the whole of the animal wealth on which the people relied. Official inquiries made by Mr Chamberlain prove this to have been done, for it was admitted by Lord Grey that “ about the time the rinderpest broke out the Company had taken some 32,000 cattle out of 72,000 in all, and distributed the rest among the kraals.” The natives could not understand the wholesale slaughtering of their cattle in order to stamp out the plague, and the departure of the Transvaal raiders gave the opportunity, as they thought, for driving out the whites, seizing their property, and, in the language of the witch doctor who incited them, “ setting themselves up as white men and living in comfort/* It is to be hoped that the trouble is at an end, though a number of the natives have not yet formally submitted; but the opinion gains ground that, the Company’s charter must be withdrawn and the administration of the territory undertaken by the English Crown.

LI HUNG CHANG IN 1 EUROPE.

It is not easy for Europeans to take a Chinese statesman seriously. Li Hung Chang has now completed his state progress through Germany,

France and Great Britain, and has had more or less formal interviews with the representative men of each country. He has been interviewed in Germany, j'i-if.d in Prance and decorated in England. But there is no doubt that the European statesmen who have received him have been more anxious to get rid of their visitor in the most courteous manner possible, than- to exchange confidences with him about the secrets of empire. There is a “ fatal note ” of rhetoric about the complimentary remarks with which Bismarck received the Viceroy, just as there is a masterly ambiguity about President Fame's references to the future diplomatic relations of France with China. To the public, of course, the Oriental is only a nine days’ wonder, whose visit has been happily promoted to make a national holiday. The novelty of the visit appca ’ to have struck the populace most forcibly in Paris, where the occasion was celebrated by all the idle and curious, as Avell as a large proportion of steady-going citizens, turning out m masse to stare at the Viceroy and cheer him all the way to the Grand Hotel, According to one witness the great Chinese statesman had a “ curious shut-up look, increased by his gold spectacles. Nearly all his secretaries also wore spectacles, but he alone wore the imperial yellow. He looked dark and as if sunburnt. His beard is thin, but not a wrinkle on his face reveals his age.” An interesting part of the ceremony was the reception given by the Chinese residents in Paris. His Excellency Ching Chang, the Chinese minister, extended the formal welcome, and a number of children presented him with flowers. These Chinese children,from the Embassy were “ innocent and angelic, with wide-open eyes, and just enough of the Chinese type to give piquancy. They were most beautiful children, and upon them the Chinese dress sat with perfect grace.” The Viceroy was deeply gratified with ’the day’s proceedings, an accidental circumstance adding to his satisfaction. As it happened, he had arrived on the eve of the day of the national /vie, and the bright colours of the French flag were flapping down through the perspective of every street. The frontage of the Gare du Nord was all ablaze with the national red, white and blue, and the Viceroy, not being informed to the contrary, naturally Concluded that the bunting was shown in his honour. Altogether the affair was flattering to Li Hung Chang and amusing to the Parisians, and it will probably have the effect of inspiring the visitor with friendly feelings towards his hosts.

THE CATTERTHUN GOLD.

The recovery of the gold from the wreck of the illfated Catterthun appears, from the accounts published in the Sydney news-

papers, to have been an unusually formidable undertaking. The treasure was lying at a depth of 170 to 180 feet, and was contained in a “tank” that had to be forced open with a charge of dynamite before the divers could reach the object of their .search. But thoweather, and the strong

current seem to have been the greatest obstacles to the progress of the work. There was not a great deal of difficulty in .the first instance in finding the position of the ship, but when this had been accomplished bad weather interfered with the progress of the operations, and on more than one occasion the work was delayed for days together. The two divers agree that it was the hardest job they had ever undertaken. They took it in turns to descend to the wreck, and at times remained under the water for more than a quarter of an hour. This long immersion was a terrible strain upon their powers of endurance, and when they returned to Sydney ten or twelve days ago they were suffering a good deal from the effects of their exertions. Seven of the ten boxes of gold that went down with the Catterthun were recovered. These included the large box containing .£SOOO belonging to the New Zealand Insurance Company, and altogether the salvage, amounted to about ,£BOOO, The three unreoovered boxes contained only ,£1450, and it is supposed that they were broken up by the collapse of the tank. The boxes brought to shore bore few traces of their long submersion. They were made of ordinary planed pine, about an inch in thickness, dovetailed at the corners, and fastened with 11 in screws, the ‘heads of which were deeply countersunk. The pine had been very much darkened by the seawater, and the heads of the screws were corroded to such an extent that it would have been impossible to turn them in the ordinary way. But the boxes were as sound as they were when the gold was first entrusted to their safe keeping. They were fished out of the tank with an auger about 10ft long. When the divers discovered the position of a box by means of the electric light they screwed the auger into it, and, having lifted it to the floor of the chartroom, placed it in the hauling not, by which it was raised to the surface. In addition to the treasure the divers brought up a few souvenirs of the wreck. These consisted of the cover of the bridge binnacle and the compass, the compass from the chart-room and the log-reel and line. The glasses of the compasses and binnacle were thickly encrusted with minute shell-fish, and the reel was completely cobra - honeycombed. They will form interesting relics of the vessel that is now crumbling away at the bottom of the Tasman Sea.