CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXII, Issue 13603, 24 November 1904, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

STATE pike INSURANCE.

Some of the difficulties the Government has had to face in getting a start with its fire insurance business, are indicated ter the insur-

a nee correspondent of the London “ Times.” Ho explains that the Government first approached colonial companies with the object of getting reinsurance for, its excess lines, but they declined to do business with the • Government on the ground that the whole object of the new department is to compete with the companies and to reduce rates of premium. Then, through its representatives in Great Britain, .the New Zealand Government approached members of Lloyd’s and endeavoured to effect with them a satisfactory reinsurance contract. Without going into all details of this proposed contract, the correspondent explaino that some -underwriters ■ who have been negotiating in the matter have agreed to accept excess lines at premiums hot lower than 10 per cent under the “ tariff ” rates of fire insurance companies in New Zealand. As the fire insurance companies are bitterly opposed to Stats insurance in New Zealand, says the correspondent of the “Times," there is every probability that they will reduce their “tariff" rates to any point which may be necessary to defeat the Government. Lloyd’s underwriters may, in these circumstances, find themselves compelled to accept, reinsurances, varying from four to eight times the amounts retained by the New Zealand Government, at 10 per cent below any rate to which this fight may depress premiums. Fire insurance, in a country of earthquakes and wooden buildings like New ■ Zealand, weave told, is very hazardous, and the Government will be subject to all - sorts of pressure to accept the worst and most highly rated risks at inadequate rates.' It will not he able to select and sift business, a process which is often the essence of successful insurance, and if Lloyd’s underwriters consent to .accept the excess lines they may find themselves committed to hazards of which at present they have no conception. New Zealanders are further warned -that among the fire offices represented in New Zealand are some of tlie best known and most powerful companies in Great Britain, v and that in a war of rates the New Zealand Government would have to deal with “ combined financial institutions many times more powerful than itself.” Our London friends naturally do not represent tbs position in the most hopeful light, and we have no doubt the Government will be able to carry through the scheme successfully. .

TOO ZUAI.OUS NURSES.

The Japanese -army authorities have been complaining, it seems, that some

W estern-trained nurses, though they are zealous and seif-sacrifie-ing, have precious little common-sense. When the war broke out it was announced that the Japanese Government did not desire the assistance of any foreign nurses, British or otherwise, and so far as British nurses are concerned the assurance seems to have been generally accepted. In the United States, however, a different view of the matter prevailed, and a certain number of American nurses persisted in going to Japan. They were, of course, received with courtesy, and even with compliments, by the polite officials at Tokio. But, as the New York “Medical Record ” now frankly states, they were not wanted, and they “have been a source of the greatest annoyance and anxiety to the Government.” The authorities expressed

the utmost gratitude and appreciation of the services the nurses wanted to render, but, like most Westerners, the good ladies failed quite to understand Japanese methods. They mistook politeness for readiness to engage them, the blunder some of the war correspondents made, and very soon, we arc told, the Medical Department at Tokio found it-self “ frightfully embarrassed ” by the attentions of theforeigners. They were ignorant of the Japanese language, they could liot eat Japanese food or live in Japanese style, and even in the home hospitals they were next to useless. Naturally, they could not be sent into the field. Japan possesses a wonderful army medical organisation, probably, the most complete in the. world, and the advent of foreigners was not at all to its liking. Most of the nurses have been sent back to America, and some of them managed to 'work their way into the hospitals. The “ Hospital ” says that the experience is a repetition of, incidents of the Cneco-Turkish war, when, women volunteered in large numbers for hospital service without in the least appreciating the nature of the Work they wanted to do. In the Boer war, of course, it was the amateur nurse who proved herself such a nuisance. There are always well-meaning people anxious to push themselves where they are net wanted, and nothing is ever likely to keep them at home. The Japanese Government certainly has reason to complain bs-. cause ,it was careful to advertise the fact at the out&et that it would take no foreign! recruits for its army, its navy, or its supplementary services.

MB STEAD’S INVESTIGATIONS.

After much preliminary blaring of journalistic trumpets, and several postponements, Sir W. T., Stead,

on September 23, paid bis first -visit to a theatre. Mr Stead bad reached the age of fifty-five without- entering a theatre, but decided for once to set aside his scruples in order that lie might bo in' a position to authoritatively criticise, the stage. His impressions occupy about sixteen columns in the “Review of Reviews,” and are interesting,. if not particularly enlightening. He commence® with a sort of prologue. “It was a misty night of be states. “The long spell of summer weather had broken. There was a nipping chill in the air, a slight mist, hung over the streets, .and it rained a little.” Then follows a column and a half of Mr Stead's reflections as he drove through London in his cab, thoughts about Charles I. and the wife of the Elector Palatine, Frederick Yand Prince .Rupert of the Rhine. Aii length he gets himself safely to His Majesty’s Theatre, where “.The Tempest” was to -be played, and intd a teat in the front row of the pit. His first “impression” throws a light on his previous attitude of mind towards the unknown theatre. “The audience,” he says, “so far as I could sea it, was exactly like that at an ordinary concert or popular lecture.” Apparently he was surprised that there was no bloodshed before the curtain . He deals with the play itself in considerable detail, and arrives at the conclusion that it was an honest, and, on the whole, successful effort “to represent Shakespeare’s work.” Prospero did not please him. “This man,” he writes, “materialistic to his finger-tips, with not a glint of the occult w'orld discernible by the psychic sense visible in- his eye or accent—this man to he Prospero, whom I had pictured as a combination of Roger Bacom Faust and l Shakespeare; it was a shock' froin which I did not recover for some time.” Ho also introduces Lobongul-x and Rhodesia , and Lord 1 Rosebery, and Mr Chamberlain, and other Interesting matters, but it is satisfactory to find' that he does, not regard the theatre as utterly depraved. “If all plays are. like this play, then the prejudice against the theatre is utterly absurdj” he concludes. He does not state whether he intends to work down through melodx-ama- and musical comedy to the music-hall.