CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12550, 11 July 1901, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The visit of the Duke of York to Quebec will be celebrated in a very .fitting man-

THE HEIGHTS OF ABRAHAM.

ner, for on Sept. 16 he wi 11 open the Plains of Abraham as a public park. The mere mention) of the name calls up. memories of that grfcafc year 1759, one of the most glorious in annals of the British race. Speaking of it, Horace Walpole declared that "it was necessary to ask every morning' what new victory there was, for fear of missing one." The year opened with the capture of Goree in Africa, and scarcely a, month passed without the arrival of mews of some new victory. Guadaloupe, Minden, Lagos, Quebec and Quiberon, five great victories, all Wong to the year 1759. The story of Wolfe's great achievement has been told too often, to Weed repetition now. It was on the morning of Sept. 13 that he scaled the heights of Abraham, and five days afterwards Quebec was surrendered. Wolfe has his monument in Westminster Aooey, but on the Plains of Abraham a simple obelisk marks the spot where the British general fell in the mroment of victory. It reminds the passer, too, that the same battle brought death to a, gallant and chivalrous enemy. The names of Wolfe afcd Montcalm are linked, also, upon a memorial in the city itself, the Latin inscription telling that posterity raised this monument to the' brave men who were joined in death and in history ; or, as- Sir Edwin Arnold paraphrased it: . Their valour gave a, common fate; Their -worth a common 'fame; English and French, we here' inscribe t# In common love, each name. The opening of the »ew park will thus mark the anniversary of a great victory and of the death of two brave men. We may be sure that at such a time the qualities of Montcalm will not he - forgotten, and, indeed, th& greater part of the population of Quebec will remember the vanquished rather than the victor, because Quebeo is still intensely .French. The plains are «aid to be inamed after an old pilot, Abraham Martin, who was known for many years on the river as "Maitre Abraham."

THE BELUCHISTAN INCIDENT.

The decision of the House of Lords in the Beluchistan case, mentioned in the cablegrams this morning, confirms the view that the of-

ficers of his Majesty's vessels have very wide powers in the suppression of contra? band trade in all parts of the world. The plaintiffs in the case, Messrs Francis Times and Co., shipped 'a, quantity of arms and ammunition from London by the British steamer Beluchistan, con-

signed to Muscat. Indiscriminate trading in arms was prohibited under the Persian law, and the traders therefore endeavoured to get their goods into lh-3 country by " back-door " means.. Thus Bushire and Muscat really became distributing centres. Arms intended for Persia were seized at. Bushire, and then the Sultan of Muscat issued <i proclamation restricting the importation- of arms into his territory. In January, 1898, Commander Carr, of. H.M.S. Lapwing, seized 1 .the Baluchistan shipment in Muscat waters, and handed the arms to the British. Consul. An action raising the legality of the seizure was heard before Mr Justice Grantham in the Queen's Bench Division,'the plaintiffs declaring that they acted in ignorance of the Sultan's proclamation, of which they ■had received no warning. For the defendants it was contended that Commander Carr had' acted according to Muscat law, which was in operation at the time and place of seizure. The Attorney-General laid that the plaintiffs knew perfectly well the danger of ■ landing arms and ammuniticn. in. Persia, thai, in fact, such a trade was unlawful, according to Persian law. This had caused Muscat to become a- depot for arms intended for Persia; there was na real trade of the kind' with. Muscat itself, and there was no- good reason for marking arms intended for Persia, "Muscat, optional," the only ground for iD being the knowledge that a trade of that kind with Persia) was illegal. The goods now in. question, he submitted, were never really intended for Muscat at all, they wera for Persia. Goods of this kind had been previously seized at Bushire, and, therefore, the plaintiffs must have be-sii aware tha.i the Persian Government was alive to the corruption of-their servants, and that they allowed this illegal trade to be carried on. Generally his contention was that Commaiider Carr had acted in accordance with his duty, and that the condition of the law in. Persia and at Muscat was a complete answer to the action. On the facts ths jury practically found for the plaintiffs, but '.Mr Justice Grantham ruled agak'St them on points of law.

IN DEFENCE OF SKIPPING.

In an age which is notably prone to tolerance, there are not wanting-def enders of faiths whose tenets aro unpardou-

able if precedent counts for : aught. From the paradoxical pea of the casuist lying comes forth purged to the whiteness of a standard virtue, murder becomes a> fine art, politics are transformed into a profession of sanity, and poetry is held up as a thing of beauty. The little faults and foibles of life, which we had grown to regard as,-at best, amiable weaknesses, grow into unsuspected virtues, and one is forced to the comforting conclusion that to be really good l it is only necessary to be thoroughly bad. But the sturdy critic who writes to " The Pilot" in defenca of "skipping," will find waiting for him a noble army of adherents. If "to know what to leave out" is the,secret of success in writing fiction, surely the same golden rule should apply to the reader as to the writer. If it is a "feminine privilege to begin a book at the end, >i!b might well be accorded to the experienced novel-reader that he should omit certain, passages, the exact value of which he can gauge from their opening words, without its being held up against him as a reproach. Wheni onei meets a paragraph which begins, "It is now necessary to retrace our steps somewhat to explain. , » ." or " The crimson sun by this time neared the horizon. Far over the Mils stretched a. vault of heavy cloud, its strange purple.tints fading and dissolving into . . * ."■ or " But the contents of this room—Txisf 'sanctus sanctorum'—deserve more detailedklescription. . . ." or " 0 strange, unfathomable mystery of existence, compelling our purblind race. . . ." the temptation to go looking iqt the story is irresistible. And yet the charge, as one lays down a book, "You've been skipping," draws from human, weakness a sturdy denial, or at least a grudging admission of " Well, only a, tentencet or two." The man who skips is a discriminator, his immorality is a testimony !to his wisdom. He is a . dodger of exi crescencesj a Jack Spratfc among literary ' meat, whose methods are more than justi- ! fied by the endlessness- of written books.