CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9036, 24 April 1888, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

BISMARCK AND GERMAN AFFAIRS,

TO THE EDITOR. Bra, —Kindly allow me to make Borne remarks on the subleader re Bismarck in your to-day'e issue, that I may test its statements in the light of well-known facts. If, after what I am going to eay, it should appear that the writer of your subleader bases his opinions on prejudices rather than on facts, I should humbly eubmit that he is misusing the liberty which on his side he claims for the Press of Auckland. All the world is agreed in lamenting the ead fate of our present Emperor. Nowhere will the mourning for him be deeper and more sincere than with ua Germans, for we do love "Our Fritz." But it is useless to blink the faot that the Germans do not love bis wife, who is certainly, with the Dowager Empress Augusta, the least cherished of ell the members of our Imperial family. A complexity of causes is responsible for this state of this things, the principal one being her own personality, ae anyone can ascertain who is in close connection with German thought and feeling. As lam not going to write an essay pn her characteristics (amongst others freethinking and socialistic, by which she grieved her royal mother most acutely), 1 content myself here with stating that I, as one of the vast majority of my countrymen, in spite of all our deep feeling for one who as a Prince has been a true scion of the noble race of the Hohenzollerns, consider it us nothing short of providential that the task of wielding one of the most difficult and important sceptres in the world is spared to him. For not only is it true to say "Woe to the country whose king is a child," but also "Woe to the country whose king is an invalid, at the mercy of a masterful and shortsighted woman, a stranger to its feelings and sympathies." The following plain fact will outweigh anything Bismarck may be charged with. It is to his policy that Europe is indebted for a peace of eighteen years. (The last Ruseo-Turkish war, thanks also to Bismarck, was localised in Asiatic or semiAsiatic regions, and no one was the worse for it, except the Russians and the Turks.) Now what meaning has this fact for New Zealand? It has been the keeping our country out of the Bankruptcy Court so far ! In our sorry plight cheap money has been our salvation. We were able to borrow money at reasonable rates to pay interest on our borrowed money. However odious such a statement may sound in a financially sound country, where would New Zealand be now if a series of wars in Europe — prevented by Bismarck's illiances — had destroyed or locked up Europe's wealth, forcing us, if attainable it all, to pay 10 to 20 per cent, or more for nterest! Let no one think a European ivar would be a benefit to us by stimulating ihe demand for our products. Certain jelligerente would help themselves free gratis both to our exports, our imports, and nir hard cash, not to name other things, uid these same belligerents would assuredly ;ake care to embroil John Bull in the general fray, knowing, as they do only x>o well, that both Britons in general ind we colonials in particular, have jeen living in a fool's Paradise all ;hese long years. The longer Prince Bismarck can stave off a general European var the more we are indebted to him for ceeping us from utter ruin. Another seriea of facts disposes entirely oi jhrases about the so-called " iron despotism ,1 )f Prinoe Biamarok. The latter commodity, )y the way, waa coined long age in the stereotyped imagination of certain writers, md exists there only, Bismarck being nerely the servant of his Sovereign, whe •efuses, as his father did before him, to ac jept Bismarck's resignation, tendered ovei md over again. The first fact I want t< joint out happened on the 6th of Februarj ast, when in a crowded Bitting of the Ger by free universa

manhood suffrage—every one of the 400 or so of the German nation's delegates, from whatever corner of the Fatherland he might hail, or to whatever political party he might belong—Conservative, Liberal, Clerical, Radical, or Socialist—voted for the new Military Bill. Bismarck, on this occasion, spoke for nearly two hours, after which the leaders of the different parties rose one after the other, expressing in a few worda approval of all he said and proposed. The Bill empowers the Government to call out, in case of need, 700,000 former soldiers, fathers of families, up to the age of 45 years, and to raise about £14,000,000 for their equipment. Here are some other facta of this series. In 1866, after the Austrian war, the faithful Commons of the Prussian Parliament insisted upon forcing a donation ot £60,000 upon Bismarck, though he repeatedly refused to accept it. In 1871, after the French war, the Emperor William intimated to the faithful Commons of the German Parliament that this time he preferred himself to honour Bismarck by making him a prince and presenting him with the estate of Friedricheruhe, near Hamburg, worth £150,000, On the Ist of April, 1885, on accomplishing his 70th birthday, the German nation presented Bismarck with about £137,502, raised by small voluntary subscriptions by Germans all over the world. Recommend me to being the " blood and iron tyrant" of the German Fatherland, which is "plunged again into the night of despotism," etc. Oh dear!

In connection with "bis intolerant oppression of the Roman Cathelics," I have to mention the fact that His Holiness Pope Leo XIII., the great statesman who fills at present the supreme pontifical office, and ■who can appreciate the greatest of living statesmen, has decorated Bismarck in the most flattering terms with his highest order, and insisted upon possessing his lifesize oil painting for one of his private rooms at the Vatican, for which painting Bismarck, by special request, was obliged to give the artist the necessary sittings. " The merciless persecution of the Jews" is exemplified by the fact that the great Jewish banker, Herr von Bleichroder, was Bismarck's financial adviser at Versailles when the preliminaries of peace were negotiated, and that Bismarck employs Jews ajs ambassadors,or in any other capacity in connection'with the foreign office, provided only they possess capability and patriotism. By " the spirit of British liberty " no one Is imposed upon In Germany. Those of your readers who desire information on this point are referred, amongst other items, to an article in the Nineteenth Century (for October, 1887, I think), entitled "A German Opinion of Mr. Gladstone," by Theodor von Bunsen. In conclusi--, I have

to state that it is neither according to facb nor judicious, etc., to speak of the future German Emperor as "a hair-brained and rather good-for-nothing prince." Such acute judges of men and things aa our lamented Emperor William, and Prince Bismarck, and Marshal von Moltke have left on reoord a decidedly different opinion, giving rise to the. most wonderful prophecies respecting his future career. If for argument's sake we would discuss the Herald's unfounded statement at all, we should have to consider that on hia father's side he has as ancestors a line of princes unequalled in the whole world for mental and bodily vigour, whilst on the side of " the little Englishwoman," hie mother —well, the least said the soonest mended.—l am, &c., Penrose, April 19,1888. R. Fricke. P.S. Any one of your readers desiring information about Prince Bismarck's career ie recommended to read a work published byCasselland Co., three years ago—" Prince Bismarck : An Historical Biography. By Charles Lowe, M.A." It costs 10a 6d.

SENDING FRUIT TO ENGLAND.

TO THE KDITOB.

Sir, —I soe a notification in the Herald that fruit-growers will have an opportunity of sending fruit to England by direct) steamer, leaving New Zealand on the 3rd May. It is no doubt desirable that some of our local orchardists should take the opportunity of testing the possibility of finding a remunerative market in the English metropolis at the season of the year when the next direct steamer leaving Wellington will be due in London. That will be abouti the 12th of June, or perhaps midsummer, when early sorts of apples arrive in Covenft Garden from France and the Channel Islands, and when small fruits are plentiful. It would therefore hardly be advisable to risk any considerable shipment of apples at this season. From this, and the time of year at which our best shipping apples are ripe, it will be seen that our season for exporting green fruit to London is very limited. On thia account it is most desirable that the possibility of doing so should not be rendered abortive by the attendant expense. The New Zealand Shipping Company has wisely given the fruit-growers of tne colony every encouragement in the way of providing refrigerating chambers in their fine steamers, in which our choicest apples can be safelysent to England. But the present rates of freight are, in fact, almost prohibitive. The charge fixed by both lines of direct steam transport (£5 per ton measurement, i,e., 40 cubic feet), being equal to twenty boxes containing 8001bs of fruit, ie equivalent) to about £16 10s per ton avoir. When we add to this 10 per cent, primage the carriage to Auckland, freight to port of departure, cost of packing, insurance, loss by damage, and commission, we find that> it will cost the exporter something like £20 per ton to place his fruit on the English market. To this must be added the value of the fruit here, which, being only of the best sorts and quality, cannot be reckoned at less than 2d per lb, with little or no risk of loss. In .order, then, to gain anything in the way of prom) by all the trouble and risks of sending apples to London, the exporter must be ableto count on obtaining an unusually high price there. Otherwise hie venture must be attended with loss. As it now costs more to grow sound fruit than before the ravages of the moth where what they are now, and as the local market is so discouraging, owing to the free importation of greenlruit and to trade depression, it ia most desirable to reduce the expense of exportation as much as possible, where so hopeful an opening for our dejected agriculturists seems to promise both a valuable trade for this colony, and a new source of food-supply for the omnivorous Home demand. By giving the above remarks a place in your influential journal you will oblige.—l am, etc., Karpqs.

;NIGHTSOIL. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As such a feverish agitation is going on in Auckland at the present time, will you kindly allow me to say a few words about what is to be done with our nightsoil and duet. Five years ago a company was prepared to form to concentrate the nightsoil for manure on the following principle :—lst, To deliver a perfect deodoriser into every closet. 2nd, The company's servants to report all cases where the use of it was neglected, so they would all be inspectors for the company's benefit, aa they (the company) would prefer it being equally distributed. 3rd, The dust would be taken from the collector and burnt. The calculation the company made was that all the concentrated manure brought over 35s per ton would go for dividends on the capital invested. We conld get bub one councillor's ear, and no security for more than three' years' contract. That was not good enough to invest in. Other places utilise their refuse; we import bone' dust wholesale, and throw away our own manure.—l am, &c, H.S. ANOTHER VICTIM TO TYPHOID. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In Dr. Hooper's evidence at the City Counoil on Wednesday evening last, he mentions the case of "two brothers at Mount Eden, both taken ill on the eanie day, one with pneumonia, the other with typhoid." I believe lam correct in* stating that the name of the brothers is " Hayle," that the pneumonia turned oub to be typhoid, and I am told this morning that one brother is dead. Dr. Hooper did not know if there was any slaughtering. I can inform him that there Is none, and though constantly passing, and often going in the shop, I have never noticed any offensive smell. But has Dr. Hooper observed the drain which runs along in fronu of the shop, and the foul smell which oftea comes from it? Iα my humble opinion, that is quite sufficient to cause the " slaughtering" of the man Hayle, who died on the. 21st.—I am, &c, April 23. Sanitation.