TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13121, 8 May 1903, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

PEACE AND ITS PRICE. THE NEW IRISH LAND BILL. [Feom Our Correspondent.] LONDON, March 27. The first impressions of the Government scheme for the abolition of landlordism in Ireland and the creation of a peasant proprietary, which Mr Wyndham. to some extent explained in the House of Commons last Wednesday evening, are favourable, but the measure is most complex, and needs most careful scrutiny in all its manifold details and everywhere caution is the order of the critics. Yet on all hands the Go-vernment-is given every credit for an (honest attempt to settle finally the Irish land problem, though most-i of us doubt the ability of mortal (main to frame a measure that will cause the Jrisli M.P.'s at Westminster to "oeaso from troubling" or bring such peace to the land n-s will do away with the necessity of keeping the Irish Constabulary equipped, more like soldiers than mere guardians of the peace. Anything liko a detailed criticism of the Bill would l)e futile at this juncture. The Bill will, no doubt, bo considerably altered, and perchance greatly improved in its passage through Parliament, but the main outliner, seem likely to be preserved, for even as it stands, the measure gives a better prospect of closing a melancholy chapter in Irish history than has ever before been provided. It is, -undoubtedly, a courageous attempt io utilise a -good opportunity, and as the British taxpayers' burden does not seem likely to bo materially increased by the operations of the Bill, tho opposition to it, save in small matters of detail, does not seem likely to be severe. So far, at any rate, amendment • rather than destruction seems to be the notion of all parties. " What does the Government propose to do?" ''What will to a the -cost of the op-ora-tions?" are the questions the general public are asking. It would be difficult to frame answers to them in a few words, but one may say briefly that tho Government propose to advance money to tenants who are willing to buy—when their landlords' are willing to sell—on terms which will give them the promise of'future ownership at a figure substantially lower than, their present rents. The great majority of the Irish tenants may bo divided into those who have had their rents twice reduced by the rentfixing Courts, and those who have had them oncß°re-fixed, tho second-class being the larger of the two.'" The tenns offered to the° tenants who are paying second-term rents will, according to- Mr Wynham's explanation, become prospective owners at a charge which will vary from 10 to 30 per cent less than the rent which they are now paying. The tenants who are paying firstterm rents will become future owners at charges which will leave th-sm- first 20 and then 40 per cent better off than they are at present. In order to effect these purchases, the State will advance up to five millions pounds ini the first year, and in the next few years, but as time' goes on Mr Wyndham hopes to "force the pace," and to advance larger sums in each year. The whole sum to be advanced is fixed nominally at a hundred and fifty millions sterling, but the Chief-Secretary did not think that more than a hundred millions will actually be required. In order to enable the landlords to meet the expenses of showing that their title is good," there will be a free grant of twelve millions out of the State funds, and this sum, though it will really go to the solicitors, must, by an irony of fate,'' be taken to go to the landlords. Whether it will be needed or not remains to be seen. In any case, when the landlords and tenants agree to terms, they can go before a Commission of three officers appointed under the Act, and the terms may be approved, and the contract sealed, by the Commissioners. Where there is no agreement out of Court, an application may be made by cither party, and tho Commissioners have then power to fix a price. Mr Wyndham proposes that if the ienants who are willing to ■ buy represent more than three-quarters of the value of 'the estate, the commissioners msy coerce the minority to acquiesce in. the course desired by the majority. The tenants will repay the advances from the State by annual iustalments of Si per cent, on the money ad-' vanced. ''The States Commissioners on receiving • this sum, will use only seveneighths of each instalment for the service of the loan, and will retain the remaining one-eighth aa a permanent charge due by the tenant to them. By keeping this direct charge of one-eighth, it is believed that the Commissioners will .halve some control over the purchasers, and be able to prevent them from assigning and sub-letting. The annual payments are to run on for a period of 684 years, by which time the loan and interest will be" repaid, and Ireland, as we are told, will be owner in fee-simple by an occupying proprietary. Various proposals- as to the Congested Districts Board, and tho improvement of the Labourers' Acts, are also ' contained in the Bill; but these are subsidiary to its main purposp and need not be discussed here and now!

The free grant of £12,000,000 is the only cost; of the great scheme which falls on the British taxpayer; and the spending of this has beero so arranged that the proportion of it charged on the estimates in any on© year cannot exceed £390,000, and that amount will only bo reached when the schema is in full operation. . At the commencement the annual grant will be much smaller. Against this charge, the Government pledges itself to save £250,000 a year, by reducing the constabulary, and making other economies. The- quarter, of a million pavinc begins at once, and must be deducted from tho £390,000; so that on the whole the annual cost to the British taxpayer of this reform- in the opening years will be nothing, and at the. outside in later year's will not be more than £140,000 per annum. Perception of this fact has greatly impressed the Engiish members who were murmuring threats of opposition in case the scheme should impose any very heavy burden on taxpayers. Ireland is to pay out of her own resources all the cost of. floating the necessary loans to raise the money required. 'A GALLANT DEED. FIREMAN PEEL'S HEROISM. Londoners have reason to be proud of their Fir 6 Brigade, or, at any rate, of its human ekm.'nt. Its engines may nob beso good aa those of the chief American cities, and its material generally inferior to that, possessed by the best-equipped brigades over the water; indeed, the critics would have, us 'believe that in these matters our London Brigade lags far behind many of its, Continental rivals. It, may be so,, but at least, in the matter of men, we can claim to possess a, Brigade that cannot be beaten for pluck and resource. On Monday morning last, in Whitechapel, the men from the local station gave a-splendid example of both when rescuing a dozen Polish Jews of both sexes and all ages, who were sleep-, ing over a tobacconist's, which caught fireabout one o'clock in the morning. Caught, unawares, and their only means of egress blocked by a rapidly increasing volume of flame, t'licv jttond in. imminent danger of dvin-g a terrible death. Their salvation was a* matter of seconds, but, happily, the horsed escaped—but newly added to the station—arrived with just 'those seconds to spare. Any slower means of would ce-rtain.lv have arrived too late, and instead of a splendid rescue from the veiy jaws of death there would have been to chronicle a sad lkit of fatalities. But the swift coming of the escape would have availed' nothing if with it there had not been men ready and willing to face death. Nothing finer has been recorded in the annals of the Brigade than the final rescue* of a helpless babe by Fireman Peel while his comrade kept) the flames- at bay with his hose. The fire broke oue an a three-floored building, the tipper floors being occupied.by foreigners, mostly Polish Jews. Eighteen persons slept in the place as a rule, nine on the .top floor, seven on the first floor, over the shop, and two in the basement. When the firo broke out there

were eleven persons asleep in the building, tho other lodgers not having returned from tho cilubs to which they invariably resort on Sunday night. On the first floor tho occupant of the shop was sleeping with his wife and their .three, children, aged respectively nine, six and three. On the second floor three children were asleep. In the basement were a man and a woman. The fire burst out with great suddenness in the front shop, and ma'do amazing progress. The inmates, awakened by the blowing of policemen's whistles, knocking at the door, and the shouts of the excited crowd outside, found a fierce fire raging beneath them, and their chance of escape by the ordinary means entirely cut off by the flames and smoke which filled the staircase. The terrified pooplo threw open the front windows and shrieked piieously for help. One woman, in spite of the shouts of the crowd that the firemen were coming, threw her baby out from the first floor window. It was caught, happily, ('by a police constable, and was uninjured. Half a minute later a young Jew leaped out of -the second floor window and fell heavily on tho ground. Aa he fell the- horsed escape crew turned the corner and a tremendous cheer went up from the crowd. The escape was placed in position and the rescue work carried on with great celerity. Four members of one family, father, mother and two daughters were brought safely to tho ground, all in.\ihsir niqht nttire," by means of the first floor., ladder, while other firemen used the main body of the escape to rescue from the .second 'floor windows tho three children' and a young man. The firemen then had their attention drawn to the frantic screaming of the man and woman Youfneski, who were in the- basement, imprisoned like rats in. a trap by tho fire over their heads and aai iron grating in front. The bars were soon knocked away by tne firemen, andi the man and woman rescued. After these rescues the firemen came in for an ovation from the crowd of foreigners, men and women patting them on the backs and calling out, "Bravo men." In the midst of the excitement, Superintendent Anso'.l ascertained that'there was still a child in a back room. "For God's Make, men, don't let's spoil a good job by losing a. life!" he shouted, and though the place was now well alight, Fireman May ran up the ladder with a line of hose, and essayed to beat, back the rapidly-increasing volume of fire, while Fireman Peel, following him up, dropped on his hands and knees and sought to make his way to the back room. Tho fire was rolling up the staircase, but, luckily, the door was closed. Peel managed to get it open, and, groping about in tho room, found the unconscious body of Ruth Sakolovitch in a cot. Dragging- tho child to the front window, he handed it to Mr Ansell, and then himself collapsed, vomiting and half-choked, and had himself to be carried to the/ ground. The child came to when artificial respiration was resorted to, and it was found that this completed- the task of rescue.

Such an action as that of Fireman Peel surely deserves public recognition of some sortv For him, thercvilj no Victoria'Cross, but no finer display of true heroism was shown in the course of the late war. At least, it -desrve-s as wide a publicitv as that given to tne gallant deeds of our V.C.'s.

IN NORTHERN NIGERIA.

THE CAPTURE OF KANO. ANOTHER OF JOHN BULL'S "FLIRTATIONS.'' At present John Bull is " at peace with all men,". so far as the man-in-the-strect is concerned, hut in reality he has two " little flirtations" on hancL in which rifle and maxim play a prominent part. One is the expedition against that by no means to be despised adversary, the so-called "Mad Mullah'Vin Somaliland, the other the suppression of a dusky individual known as the Emir of Kano, who has been disturbing the harmony of Northern Nigeria. Colonel Morland is the head of the expedition, entrusted with the task of bringing the Emir to a) proper frame of mind, and we.have jusb heard full details of his capture of Kano, the Emir's stronghold, and a very- formidable place for a, small force, unprovided with heavy artillery to attack. Colonel Moiiaud's expedition, entirely composed of coloured troops, officered by whites, left its advanced post a;t Zaria'on-'January 29, and, marching in the direction of Faki, met with no opposition for a couple of days; but on February 1, ;ii few miles fonri the, town, "they mot some of the enemy's cavalry, who were promptly chased into the city by Colonel Morland's niountsdi infantry. Tho town, being' strongly held, was) a safe refuge for the Emir's ileeing cavalry till the main .body of the Colonel's column came up. Then a demand was made for the surrender of the place, but as the Faki people refused to submit" and lay down their arms the guns began to shoot and very soon the main gate was reduced to a splintery mass.. Next a storming-party, armed with axes, was led by Captain Mackenzie to demolish ths re-

niainder of the gate, and this being accomplished without loss, the party entered the town. They found that the local king and three of his chiefs had; met death by the shell fire, and that the defenders had ' " cleared out." Later the t&wn'speople surrendered at discretion, and leaving Faki in charge of one of the remaining chiefs, Colonel Morland set out for Kano, some five-and-twenty miles distant, and driving the Emir's cavalry-before him; encamped about six miles from, the city. Here he constructed a formidable zareba, left his commissariat in the care of four-score soldiers and a Maxim, and, next morning, marched on to Kano. Halting his force less than half a. mile, from the city walls, Colonel Morland reconnoitred. The defences of the city were formidable. The stout loop-holed walls were nearly forty feet high and strongly man-cad, and the moment the column halted the enemy commenced a fierce, though, happily; very "ineffective fusillade. Nothing... daunt-; ed, the Colonel brought up his Maxims to within a quarter of a mile, and his, four 75-millimetre guns commenced operations on the main gates. For am hour they banged 'merrily, but the gates held, and the walls, which were forty feet thick at the bottom and four feet at the loop-holes, proved quite impervious to the 75-milli-metro guns. . So, leaving a force to watch the main gate, the Colonel removed his main 'body westward, and concentrated his attention on another gate, which seemed to promise a less stout resistance to his somewhat light artillery. Half an hour's bomybardment proved enough to make a hole in *this second gate, and as soon as daylight could be seen through it a storming-partj under Lieutenants Casccyns- and Dyer was despatched to demolish the remains; This body was followed up by a party under Captain Farquahar, with sealing ladders, and undei'Ja heavy fire the two forces .made a dash for the breach. They soon effected an entrance,, and. as they did so the qiemy " skedaddled." Meanwhile, the guns had , been taken through the- gate, and the whole force started m pursuit. A large force of 'i the Emir's .cavalry re-formed as if about to charge, but bolted on some shrapnel being poured into them. The main l gate was now . evacuated by the enemy, but it took the British force there twenty minutes to force an entrance. Within the city walls there is an intervening space of two miles before the city proper is reached, and Colonel Morland endeavoured to get all the fighting done here, so as to prevent damage to the . houses or conflicts in the narrow and tortuous streets. On reaching the inhabited portion of the city, the troops,-, were, reformed in readiness for another attack, Herat r.o further opposition- was encountered, and Colonel Morland. marched to the king's palace and 'occupied it. The palace was found to be ,o. ■ strong fort surrounded by a high wall, and covering fifty acres of ground. The king had fled, having started off for Sokoto with a thousand cavalry, on Jan. 2, but he had left his leading fighting! men behind, with orders to fight.to the] death. His armoury, was also left intact under a custodian who died at his post. The enemy's fighting force included 800 cavalry and 5000 infantry,, of whom'"3oo, were killed. ' The. -British." horses, several rifles, several and a large quantity of. powder' ; and,car: 1 fridges. The British, casualties were insignificant ; Lieutenant Dyer was wounded twice in leading the storming party, once severely by a sword cut on the wrist, and slightly wounded in the arm, and twelve men have been reported wounded. •