CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 13969, 27 January 1906, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Once again the fabulous El Dorado, which is to bring untold wealth to the world, is being paraded before a credulous public. This time it is a chemist, who is pointing out that the sea is full of gold which has been dissolved in its depths for more centuries than man can count years. A grain of gold, which is worth about . twopence, is supposed to exist in ©very ton of water, and as there are about sixty thousand billion tons of water in the ocean, anyone who can recover all the gold will have a nice little fortune of about £625,000,000,000,000,’ or over five thousand million tons of solid gold. The particular chemist who has discovered the latest method of extracting the gold does not all this let in one lump. He would probably find it difficult to handle. His system is based upon the popular belief that gold regions grow with advancing years. This action is mysterious even to the scientists. One authority suggest® that a piece of iron pyrites has been lying in the water, and that the geld has been deposited upon it by a sort of electrolytic action, the iron pyrites being the positive pole and wasting away the iron into hematite, which is often found near a nugget, and the sulphur into sulphuric acid, while the gold keeps attracting more gold from the water, and thus ie continually electroplating itself. One thing is certain. Nature leaves a substance in the rivers bringing dissolved gold from the mountains which attracts the gold into nuggets. This is just where our chemist comes in. If Nature can do this, he asks, why not man? Continuous experiments have been going on for years, and several substances have been found to possess the power of precipitating dissolved gold. Strangest of all the discoveries is that of the influence of organic substances on gold, its affection for matter which has formed/the living tissue of animals or plants. The difficulty is to get a substance which will not only precipitate the gold, hut will also collect it. Otherwise, the gold will merely flow away like powder and settle on some forgotten sandbank miles away from civilisation. It is this substance which the particular chemist claims to have discovered. It ie only reasonable,, of course, that, with rl fortune in hie grasp beyond the dreams of avarice,” he should decline to disclose the «3t.aot nature of hi.s discovery.

EL DORAPO.

Neither, the German Emperor, as the eldest son of the eldest child of Queen Victoria, nor Princess Louis of BaVaria, as the senior lineal representative of the House of Stuart, seems particularly anxious to step into the shoes of King Edward as the rightful occupant of the British throne, but Mr James Ord, of No. 201, Osgood Street, Chicago, is more ambitious than his distinguished relatives. Mr Ord claims to be a direct descendant of George IV. and Mrs Fitzherbert, and many of the American newspapers profess to believe that ho will have no difficulty in establishing the truth of his story. Hia great grandfather took the name of his guardian, Mr Ord, in order to keep the royalty of his birth secret. The boy was educated at Georgetown College, which ho entered in 1800, and before he left there his so-called uncle died, leaving a will dated October 11, 1801, now on file in the City Hall in "Washington, leaving most of his estate ‘‘to my beloved nephew, James Ord.” Three of James Ord’s sous went to Georgetown College, and one, Dr James Lycurgus Old, it is said, closely resembled George IV. in his features. After leaving college, James Ord entered the Government service and lived to a ripe old age, dying in the homo of his son, the late General Ord, at Omaha. If James Ord was a son of George IV., then his eldest eon, the late MajorGeneral E. O. C. Ord, became the rightful heir- to the British throne at his father’s death. General Old was one of the prominent figures of the Civil War. He belonged to the army of the Tennessee from May, 1862, but a wound received at Corinth kept him from serving in the earlier part of the Vicksburg campaign. When M’Clernand was relieved on June 18, 1863, Oxd was given his command, the Thirteenth Army Corps. James Ord, who contemplates suing for his share of hia "'great-grand-mother’s fortune, is the son of John Ord, one of General Ord’s brothers. Mr Ord lias stated that lie knows of money which was sent to the United States for the support of his grandfather, not only by Mrs Fitzherbert, but also by the British Government, and there are letters from prominent officials begging the first Ord to stay in , the United States, and promising him liberal rewards if lie would do so. Incidentally, the claimant null prove that Mrs Fitshorbert was legally married to George \ IV., and in this way will settle an. old controversy.

OUB BIGHTFUL KING.

CHINESE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The cablegram in whicn tii-e Earl of Elgin, the new Colonial Secretary, announced the intention of the Liberal Government to stop the importation of Chines© to South Africa was a very lengthy one, and set out ( in detail the reasons for the change. “ While reserving their opinion and freedom of action in the whole matter,” the Colonial Secretary commenced, “ his Majesty’s Government considers that the experiment of the introduction of Chinee© labourers not be extended further until they can learn the opinion of the colony through, an elected and really representative Legislature. They have accordingly decided that , recruiting, embarkation and importation of Chinese coolies shall be arrested pending a decision as to the grant of responsible government to the colony. They;; are not prepared in all the circumstances to be responsible for further importation.” Dealing with the historical aspect of the question, Lord Elgin stated that from the first the importation of Chinese into South Africa bad been regarded as an experiment. Chines© labour had been permitted as a supplement to, and not a substitute for native labour, arid the Imperial Government had'required to betcesured' tha't tne numbers ■ introduced were well within the powers of supervision and control of the Transvaal Government. Later it had become clear that better control of the .Chinese labourers was necessary, and an amending ordinance had been passed giving the necessary magisterial powers to the superintendent and the inspectors. Uneasiness had been caused- by the lawless acts of certain wandering bands of Chinese. “I understand,” continued the Colonial Secretary, “'that you are fully -satisfied that there is no reason to apprehend any serious trouble in the future arising from desertions and lawless acts. But it is clear that there are indications of local opposition to the importation. The real wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of the Transvaal in regard to the> 4 importation. or as to any limitations or restrictions by which it should be confined, have , not yet been authoritatively expressed, and cannot he ascertained until an elective Legislature has been called together.” In conclusion the cablegram stated that the amount of native labour available had largely increased, and that the Government had* taken its step deliberately and after a careful review of the situation.

In an article contributed to tli e London “Daily Express,” Mr E. Fitger, a well-known Gorman journalist, denies that Ms country is in any way antagonistic to Great Britain. Tbs report that the German Emperor endeavoured to prevent the conclusion of peace between Japan and Russia is, lie states, utterly incorrect, and lias been disproved by the Kaiser’s action in assisting President Roosevelt as a peace mediator. The unfortunate Doggefbank affair was at the time ascribed by French newspapers to German influence, it being alleged that Germany had made the Russians nervous by warning them against Japanese attacks in the North Sea. “Nothing of the kind happened,” writes Mr Fitger. “The testimony of the Russian Government can he appealed to; nor were any such assertions brought forward during the proceedings of the Paris/tribunal. A long list of similar untruths, calculated to cause differences between nations, might be given. I might expatiate on the accusation that Germany wishes to swallow Holland, or on th© network of assertions that Germany wishes to Germanise, and then annex, Austria-Hun-gary. Germany, who cannot even cope with her three millions of Poles!” In conclusion the German writer states that it cannot be denied that Germany possesses a “ Chauvinistic Press which has on its conscience the insulting of other nations, England in particular.” These papers were constantly providing foreign countries that were unfriendly to material for casting

FRIEND OR FOE.

suspicion on German policy. Foreign correspondents omit to mention that such newspapers represent no party worth mentioning, and convey no indication at all of the real German'policy. “ Chauvinists are, unfortunately, to be found everywhere,” the writer points out. “No nation can rid itself of them. Telegraphs and press confer upon them a great power. All circles enjoying a higher political knowledge, especially those who perceive the good of the people to lie in peace, should endeavour to put them down rigorously.” The defence is in a measure satisfactory, but it does not get over some of the “unfortunate” utterances of the Kaiser, nor the fact that the recent German naval expansion is admittedly levelled at British supremacy.